Carrie Ann Inaba engaged! and received an extra special engagement ring from Jesse Sloan. Ann Mangini of Santa Monica’s Rafinity jewelers tole PEOPLE mag “Jesse came in a few months ago,”  about the said engagement ring.

Jesse Sloan was secretive about his proposal and of course his big purchase. Sloan played it very cool when he proposed to his longtime love on live television.

The Ring.

“He had a very clear idea of ring style and diamond cut: princess cut in a clean platinum mounting.”

“Since the ring was so very simple, for a little flair I suggested we set both his and Carrie Ann’s birthstones hidden on the inside of the ring,” Mangini says. “[It's] a Rafinity signature detail and a way to symbolically join the happy couple.”

Sloan and Mangini worked together to design the ring, Mangini presented him with several different sparklers, and Sloan ultimately selected the 2½-carat, D-color, princess-cut diamond he presented to his girlfriend of two years Thursday morning on Live with Regis and Kelly.

As to the few details, Inaba’s birthstone, garnet, and Sloan’s birthstone, which happens to be diamond, are both “artfully” embedded in the ring, as well. Says Mangini, “He was the picture of a handsome excited-to-ask-his-girl-to-marry-him gentleman!” –

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Carrie Ann Inaba engaged! and received an extra special engagement ring from Jesse Sloan. Ann Mangini of Santa Monica’s Rafinity jewelers tole PEOPLE mag “Jesse came in a few months ago,”  about the said engagement ring.

Jesse Sloan was secretive about his proposal and of course his big purchase. Sloan played it very cool when he proposed to his longtime love on live television.

The Ring.

“He had a very clear idea of ring style and diamond cut: princess cut in a clean platinum mounting.”

“Since the ring was so very simple, for a little flair I suggested we set both his and Carrie Ann’s birthstones hidden on the inside of the ring,” Mangini says. “[It's] a Rafinity signature detail and a way to symbolically join the happy couple.”

Sloan and Mangini worked together to design the ring, Mangini presented him with several different sparklers, and Sloan ultimately selected the 2½-carat, D-color, princess-cut diamond he presented to his girlfriend of two years Thursday morning on Live with Regis and Kelly.

As to the few details, Inaba’s birthstone, garnet, and Sloan’s birthstone, which happens to be diamond, are both “artfully” embedded in the ring, as well. Says Mangini, “He was the picture of a handsome excited-to-ask-his-girl-to-marry-him gentleman!” –

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For some reason, this tune reminds me of "This Boy" by the Beatles. I wonder if McCartney-Lennon were listening to this and then wrote "This Boy" ...

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I WANT IT NOW YESTERDAY!

Now that you've been told how to 'think outside the pixel' ... you might want to think about the virtue of patience. Newer generations seem to have less and of it. I don't think that's a good thing for anyone!

Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and the author of the coming “Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn,” has also drawn this distinction between what he calls the Net Generation, born in the 1980s, and the iGeneration, born in the ’90s and this decade.

Now in their 20s, those in the Net Generation, according to Dr. Rosen, spend two hours a day talking on the phone and still use e-mail frequently. The iGeneration — conceivably their younger siblings — spends considerably more time texting than talking on the phone, pays less attention to television than the older group and tends to communicate more over instant-messenger networks.

Dr. Rosen said that the newest generations, unlike their older peers, will expect an instant response from everyone they communicate with, and won’t have the patience for anything less.

“They’ll want their teachers and professors to respond to them immediately, and they will expect instantaneous access to everyone, because after all, that is the experience they have growing up,” [The New York Times]

So, my readers, your lesson for today is to be patient! If a webpage or a blog doesn't load within 30 seconds, chill! Go grab a snack and come back! Or treat yourself to an adventure in dial-up technology!

Awesome Ultimate Blog Promotion Guide! FREE! There's no e-book to purchase and download. Nothing to buy. All you have to do is read this entire post and then you can link to a few truly wonderful articles that will help you be a better blogger, if that's what you wannabee!

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1. Dave Lucas says:

   March 31, 2011 at 1:51 pm

   It’s frustrating when trying to leave a comment, and any of these things happen:

   (1) The REGISTRATION process some bloggers employ is a huge pain in the ***!
   (2) The comment system (platform) doesn’t open, and eventually freezes the screen
   (3) You write on what seems to be the comment box but it turns out it’s actually a FACEBOOK box and when you try to submit your comment it vanishes.
   (4) The blogger has so many widgets and other gizmos, you can’t leave a comment because the page stopped loading thanks to gizmoXYZ
   (5) Comments are closed. Why bother soliciting and publishing them if you are going to set an arbitrary cut-off date and shut-out people who may something valuable to contribute, or even an update?

   But HERE’S THE BIGGER NEWS::: COMMENTS ARE GOING BYE-BYE ON THE “NEW BLOGGER ALTERNATE VIEW SYSTEM” – check this out!
   http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/view/timeslide#!/
   Dave Lucas´s last blog ..Points of ViewTwitter: davelucas

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Tired of viewing my humble weblog in the same old way?

Fatigué de voir mon blog de ​​la même manière ancienne?

Now you can look at it this way: check out my posts as SIDEBAR entries!

For my French blogging friend Olivier, and others who may have had some screen-loading issues: TIMESLIDE!

Maybe you'd rather look at things this way: My blog in PICTURES!

Take your chances viewing posts as a MOSAIC... or even in FLIPCARD mode!

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Hudson Valley poet Paul Clemente will read his work at the next program in the Poetry on the Loose Reading/Performance Series. The event will be held in the rear room behind the Utopian Directions bookstore at 7 West Street in Warwick at 4:00 p.m. on April 2. Following the feature, others are welcome to read original work. Admission is free.

Clemente is known not only as an original and compelling poet, but as the producer of the Read for Food Series that raises money for local food pantries. He locates himself in the region’s time-line as “young enough to have missed Woodstock and old enough to remember the mothballed WWII fleet that was moored for years in the Hudson River’s mountainous Haverstraw Bay.” Professionally, Clemente is a scientist with the DEC.

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State lawmakers planned to work into the evening in an attempt to finish up the NY state budget one day before the deadline. They had company: protestors who vowed to camp out at the Capitol to demonstrate how they felt about the budget as it is written...

This afternoon I walked downtown to check out the protest at the State Capitol. Even though I was very early, it took quite some time to get through security (the line at the door trailed out onto Washington Avenue).

There were busloads of demonstrators from all over the state!

Another fun luvvin' UAlbany student?

By the time I got up to the 4th floor where the action was, I (and a few other reporters) were unable to get close enough to catch those individuals speaking. NPR's Karen DeWitt must have arrived much earlier, as she had a great spot (for microphone purposes).

The event was a mishmashed hodge-podge of sights and sounds! People were everywhere, and I used the event as an opportunity to introduce myself to several individuals I have seen around but until now hadn't been able to talk to!

Although the protestors may not change much right now, their presence sends a message that they ARE concerned about the government and the actions the State of New York is taking in the matter of Governor Andrew Cuomo's budget.

One of the "highlights" of the event sent out to the media was "the largest single delivery of pizzas in the area" - 70 of them - to feed the hungry demonstrators! I'm not sure if that's true... any documentation for that?

According to Karen, the crowd of demonstrators at the State Capitol shouted "no pizza, no peace" when the big pie delivery was blocked around 5:50pm... they also chanted "Cuomo,Cuomo shut us out, now he's keeping our pizzas out" - not a very nice thing for an Italiano to do!

From the Times Union: "...Sen. Bill Perkins, D-Manhattan, arrived to help haul the pizza upstairs to where the bulk of the demonstrators are. Perkins, as some readers know, is a darling of teachers unions and school funding advocates who were especially pleased with his criticism last year of charter schools.

But Perkins was initially told the pizza’s weren’t being allowed in the building, at which point some of the demonstrators started yelling and chanting. Fearing a potential food fight, Alliance for Quality Education’s Billy Easton, one of the event’s main organizers, tried to pipe the crowd down, assuring them that “Sen. Perkins is working on it. Just hang in there. We have a right to eat.”

With a little last-minute diplomacy from Perkins and renowned diplomat Sen. Kevin Parker, a squad of young people finally carried the pizzas through the freight entrance and whisked them in the direction of the Western Staircase.

Paul Rivera, a top Senate Democratic staffer, was there, looking mildly irritated and I told him this whole thing seemed a bit absurd — we reporters and photographers were chasing a bunch of cheese and pepperoni pizzas while the state is trying to pass its budget. He agreed, quipping that since there’s not much else to do, as there are at this point no bills to vote on..."

Lord Allah from the lower east side

This gentleman was worried about cuts to education (he had his young son with him) and he was quite concerned about stabilization of rent control in the City.

So, how is it looking for the so-called "Albany Sleepover"?

During the 6pm newshour, local tv stations were reporting that it is "unlikely" protestors will be allowed to stay overnight at the Capitol.

WBEN Newsradio out of Buffalo reports as of 8:19pm "They expect chanting, folk songs and marshmallows, in what fliers refer to a massive "Capitol Camp In" overnight. " Groups plan to hold speak-outs, teach-ins, and even a dance party throughout the night to keep their spirits up," according to a statement from the Alliance for Quality Education.

I'll check out the news at 10 or 11 and see what developed...

Tags: Capitol Protest, Albany

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...and who wouldn't? Yahoo tried to copy Google's success in accumulating existing programs (like blogspot/blogger and youtube) by snapping up MyBlogLog. But now they are shutting down the service in May. I really liked MyBlogLOg and actually found it superior to BlogCatalog. It would be a feather in BlogCatalog's cap if they could persuade Yahoo to turn it over. But if Y demands cash...

Anyway, I'm sharing with all of you this letter that showed up in my email just a few minutes ago!

BLOGGERSUNITE

"United We Stand, Divided We Fall" - Aesop

You don't need me to tell you that the world has its share of major catastrophes and disasters.

The people of Japan are in desperate need of our help & bloggers and other social media participants continue to raise millions of dollars for those in need.

I am grateful to say that BloggersUnite.org, thanks to a large number of bloggers, has been active in raising funds and awareness for those in need.

I am writing to you because there is a story that while it clearly does not rise to the same level of human tragedy, I believe strongly will make a major difference to the future of blogging.

Yahoo! recently announced the imminent shut down of MyBlogLog. While this news has been largely ignored by mainstream media, the event is disturbing because it shuts down a major channel of the blogosphere.

For years now MyBlogLog has been ignored by Yahoo and now they are shutting it down because it doesn't fit within their corporate strategy.

What does a MyBlogLog's closure mean to you?

• You may think it doesn't mean anything or even think whether they still exist, or whether you even have heard of them, the truth is that MyBlogLog is a valuable blogging network that distributes tens of millions of visitors to blogs each year.

Yahoo! has shown no respect to bloggers through ought its 4 year ownership of the site. Once again they are failing to follow through on promises and responsibilities to bloggers. Perhaps Yahoo believes it has no responsibility to bloggers.

The closure of MyBlogLog represents a lack of respect to bloggers who have built tens of thousands of communities on the network and spent countless hours adding MyBlogLog widgets to their blogs

Yahoo! has made no attempt to dispose of MyBlogLog, yet it represents an important channel of distribution for blogs.

Why you should care?

BloggersUnite.org and BlogCatalog are ready, willing and able to take over MyBlogLog and turn MyBlogLog into a valuable tool for bloggers and blog readers. We shared our interest with Yahoo over a year ago to do this. Yahoo ignored our requests to talk to them, we had a brief conversation, they wanted to know our strategy for making the site more valuable and because we refused, their communications with us ended.

So, what difference will it make if I join this event?

The more members we have on BloggersUnite.org the greater the positive impact we can make to the world. A combination of BloggersUnite + MyBlogLog + BlogCatalog is "The Right Thing."

To-date, together with your help we have saved lives, made material differences in the lives of school kids, raised money for Haiti, helped build clean water wells in Africa, worked with the CDC to raise awareness about STDs, united refugees with their families, worked with Aids.gov to harness the power of the blogosphere on AIDS Awareness Day and we had hundreds of thousand of bloggers unite on Bloggers for Good Day; where bloggers from BloggersUnite were featured on CNN doing good deeds.

It makes little sense when people in this world are starving and dying because they lack clean water that Yahoo, one of the largest technology companies in the USA, would shut down an asset that has value.

Why not sell it and give the money to a charity? Their site has value. As Warren Buffet says, "stupid in small things, stupid in big." I humbly ask that you please unite with thousands of other bloggers and explain to Yahoo management what would be the "right thing" to do or ad an Action Badge to your blog, or perhaps both.

To do this please click BloggersUnite because unlike Yahoo we are fully aware that when you combine your voice with the voice of other bloggers, that there is no greater force for good in the world today.

Best,

Antony Berkman
BloggersUnite for Good

©2011 BlogCatalog | 7126 Eckhert Drive | San Antonio TX | 78238

Tags: MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog

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Is there any news following the terrible attack on the holy thorn at Glastonbury last December? - Kes

The Holy Thorn grew from a cutting of a tree said to have been planted by St Joseph of Arimathea two thousand years ago before it was cut down by what many now believe were four men with a chainsaw. Needless to say, they carried out their act of malice under cover of darkness. There is no news so far leading to the culprits being reprimanded; though community leaders in Glastonbury set up a fund to try and find out who vandalised this sacred tree. Thousands of people arrive each year to pay homage to it as part of their pilgrimage to a place full of reminders of our earliest Christian heritage in these Isles. If no culprits are identified the money raised will go towards the replanting and future protection of the tree. Local folk are convinced that more than one person was involved, and an increasing number are reaching my view that this wanton vandalism was the work of those on the Left-hand Path.

Television interview about St Joseph of Arimathea and Glastonbury.

St Joseph of Arimathea visited Somerset nearly two thousand years ago and drove his staff into the soil at the spot where the Holy Thorn was vandalised three months ago. The staff is thought by many to have once belonged to Jesus, and while most hawthorns only flower in the spring, the Holy Thorn flowers at both Christmas and Easter. It is, therefore, heavily symbolic of the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The sacred tree has been protected by a metal cage to discourage such vandalism. This did not deter the diabolical group who attempted to remove the cage in order to dig up the entire tree in the dead of night. Once this failed, they resorted to cutting off all the branches leaving an iron encased stump. This means that with the stump still intact the tree might recover in due course; although we won't know until Easter. Until then, what remains of the Holy Thorn would best be watered with our prayers.

Personal images of Glastonbury with the Holy Thorn (bottom, left) prior to being vandalised. Also seen are the site of St Joseph of Arimathea's church (top), the Abbey grounds and Glastonbury Tor.

I am delighted to report that this month a new shoot has appeared on the vandalised tree despite it being mercilessly cut down. We wait to see if this will survive to herald the return of the Glastonbury Thorn. 

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Two weeks ago Xiaxue tweeted that she hates blogs that feature videos and blogs that beckon one to "read more" ... like this one.

According to PCWORLD ::: dial-up business still accounts for about 40 percent of AOL's revenue; AOL still has about 2 million US subscribers to that service! Xiaxue's blog loads on dial-up! But lots of other blogs don't!

Here's one blog landing page that's really confusing! There's no need for the "slider" at the top, as it displays post after post without any apparent dating, although it does show the number of "views" which nobody cares about, except maybe for the blogger herself (no offense, Ms. Lainy- this post is for instructional purposes only, and you are entitled to run your blog any way you want)... there's a lot going on, a lot to load on this particular blog, and you really need high-speed broadband to experience it (once you get past that bewildering slider!) I checked the blog's HTML Markup coding (through a 3rd party) and found "395 Errors, 212 warning(s)." In profiling the readers of the "Lainyblog" I found they are of this ilk:

"When the Wi-fi doesn't connect to a teenager's laptop instantly, there's a cry of "It's not working!". Followed, inevitably, by a "OK!" five seconds later. I understand that it might take the laptop's OS a few seconds to get itself hooked up with Wi-fi and negotiate the appropriate protocols and encryption (and even then I marvel that it's all taking place so quickly), but the modern user doesn't and subsequently gets frustrated because it doesn't happen 'instantly'.

When a modern user clicks to 'upload' their latest photo to Facebook and gets fed up after 15 seconds because it's "obviously not working", cancelling the process and doing something else instead, I think "But you've just taken a 5 megapixel photo, it's 1MB in size and you're only on vanilla 3G connection, so even going as its fastest it's going to take at least 30 seconds". There's little appreciation for the facts and figures, for the nuts and bolts of technology anymore.

In a corporate context, I'm often hearing of users complaining that their "email is slow" - when a system manager looks into their case, they've usually accrued something horrendous like a 10GB Outlook PST file, of which a substantial portion is made up of those 'fun joke emails with videos', stored multiple times as they get forwarded around the office...[SouRce]"

I can understand that videos would certainly annoy some people. I put them up on my blog here every now and then. Those of you who regularly visit here know that I use dial-up extensively, and believe me, videos DO NOT slow down loading time! I find that, for example, youtube videos load up just fine... it's the act of PLAYING those videos that you really don't want to think about doing on a slow connection!

So, what have learned today?
K.I.S.S.
Keep it simple, stupid!

Strip the excess widgets, graphics and garbage as best you can from your blog. Take a look at this PR7 blog, then compare it with this blog. You see you can still present a popourri of posts, links and information without choking the broadband pipeline or shutting out dial-up netizens!

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Hmmm. I can spell but my brain-to-keyboard skills sometimes render incorrectly spelled words (I ditched the spell-checker because it kept screwing up my blog posts in other ways!)

But when you see a company online that claims to offer "PROFESSIONAL photo editing & graphic design services" and then you see a GLARING error on the company webpage (A very simply laid-out page; the error quite obvious)...



Hopefully, these folks are honest and will fix the error. HOWEVER - I am preparing a post that tells the true story behind a lot of "bargains" for products and services on the net that are nothing short of scams.

Devious companies will charge small amounts - like $10 up to $49 - because they know they can keep your money, send you nothing in return, and there is NOTHING you can do about it!

In the case of fotodesigners, I couldn't check on how to pay for any services because there is a registration requirement (another possible 'red flag'?).

The website places company offices in cities in the US and Canada. So unless they threw their website up in a big hurry, it's hard to believe such experts would make such an obvious error.

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Everyone seems to be surprised today when they learned that Make It Or Break was back tonight on ABC Family. What makes it worse are Vampires. Is Make It Or Break It wanted to slice an audience in today's trending characters?

Relief! At least the vampires were only just Kaylie’s weird dream that she was describing in group therapy in rehab for her eating disorder.

That bizarre trick of trying to cash in on vampire popularity aside, here’s what’s new with the girls of Make It Or Break It:

In the said episode, Emily was on probation for stealing her brother’s pills and had to wear an ankle tracker to go to a gymnastics exhibition. Later, Emily confessed what she have  done and apologized for letting everyone down.

Lauren continued to be mad at her father for keeping her mother from her. She also threw herself at the new boy on the show. By the end, she had moved back in with her father.

Meanwhile, Payson wants Sasha back and finds a possible love interest to Lauren who was throwing herself at earlier in the show. Kaylie on the other hand is in rehab for her eating disorder and finds a friend in her model roommate. Her roommate promises to help her fake her way out of rehab, with the girls agreeing that they just need to be thin for their careers.

What did you think of the Make It Or Break It premiere today?

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Everyone seems to be surprised today when they learned that Make It Or Break was back tonight on ABC Family. What makes it worse are Vampires. Is Make It Or Break It wanted to slice an audience in today's trending characters?

Relief! At least the vampires were only just Kaylie’s weird dream that she was describing in group therapy in rehab for her eating disorder.

That bizarre trick of trying to cash in on vampire popularity aside, here’s what’s new with the girls of Make It Or Break It:

In the said episode, Emily was on probation for stealing her brother’s pills and had to wear an ankle tracker to go to a gymnastics exhibition. Later, Emily confessed what she have  done and apologized for letting everyone down.

Lauren continued to be mad at her father for keeping her mother from her. She also threw herself at the new boy on the show. By the end, she had moved back in with her father.

Meanwhile, Payson wants Sasha back and finds a possible love interest to Lauren who was throwing herself at earlier in the show. Kaylie on the other hand is in rehab for her eating disorder and finds a friend in her model roommate. Her roommate promises to help her fake her way out of rehab, with the girls agreeing that they just need to be thin for their careers.

What did you think of the Make It Or Break It premiere today?

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In the news today, Britney Spears confirmed her forthcoming summer tour. Fans were more surprised when Pop singer added that she's going with Enrique Iglesias to, saying  “I’m going on tour with Enrique Iglesias in June.”

Spears huge announcement were made in between songs at her pretaped San Francisco show on “Good Morning America,”

Huge number of fans were gathered at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium to enjoy Spears' shimmy way through Femme Fatale tracks “Hold It Against Me,” “Big Fat Bass” and her latest single, “Till the World Ends,” in varying body-hugging sexy costumes.

“Thank you so much for all your love and support. You guys are beautiful,” she told the audience. “I love it. I love music. It’s my world. It’s my everything.”

“As a huge Britney fan, it was amazing,” Pollo Del Mar told us. “I was excited just to have Britney Spears here in San Francisco, but to participate and be a part of it was amazing.

What's your take on this? Are you going to watch the music icons perform together?

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In the news today, Britney Spears confirmed her forthcoming summer tour. Fans were more surprised when Pop singer added that she's going with Enrique Iglesias to, saying  “I’m going on tour with Enrique Iglesias in June.”

Spears huge announcement were made in between songs at her pretaped San Francisco show on “Good Morning America,”

Huge number of fans were gathered at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium to enjoy Spears' shimmy way through Femme Fatale tracks “Hold It Against Me,” “Big Fat Bass” and her latest single, “Till the World Ends,” in varying body-hugging sexy costumes.

“Thank you so much for all your love and support. You guys are beautiful,” she told the audience. “I love it. I love music. It’s my world. It’s my everything.”

“As a huge Britney fan, it was amazing,” Pollo Del Mar told us. “I was excited just to have Britney Spears here in San Francisco, but to participate and be a part of it was amazing.

What's your take on this? Are you going to watch the music icons perform together?

Read more »

BRACELETS ARE IN!!! The support ♥ bracelets for Marizela Perez have arrived. They are orange with the words "lahat ay magiging maayos" (all will be well) on them. They are $5 - ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE PEREZ FAMILY.

All Will Be Well (Coffee House, Benefit for Marizela Perez)



The search for Marizela Perez continues. Hopefully, wherever she is she will be okay.

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Do you recall that old saying "you only have to do one thing and do it well?" Well, it seems that Andrew Cuomo has mastered the art of being Governor of New York State.

But his success is so much more than that. If you read about his present and then research his past, you'll see there were a few bumps along the way as our "guru guv" strove to get to where he is today,

A lesson for all of us - so if you are an aspiring writer, musician, politician, whatever - Andrew Cuomo's example could serve as your template for a better you!

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Alec Baldwin's angriness to Kim Basinger is still there right? Well how bout Kim Basinger making Alec even more angry to her?

According to news from Chicago Sun Times, Basinger who tipped to paparazzi's about the actor's condition led into "major misunderstanding". Well, it just made her ex-husband Alec Baldwin mad again to her.

Here's the clip from Chicago Sun Times:

A major New York paparazzo claims he and other shutterbugs were tipped off by Basinger about daughter Ireland calling 911 last week. Now called a ”major misunderstanding” by Baldwin’s camp, that incident led to Baldwin briefly going to a New York hospital, before being released and declared perfectly healthy.

When Baldwin got home, he was infuriated by the huge number of paparazzi lurking outside his Manhattan apartment building — and had to be restrained from going after a photographer he claimed hassled him physically.

While Basinger’s camp denies any contact with paparazzi, my source insists it was the actress whose call came through immediately after the paparazzi picked up the 911 call via police radios.

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Alec Baldwin's angriness to Kim Basinger is still there right? Well how bout Kim Basinger making Alec even more angry to her?

According to news from Chicago Sun Times, Basinger who tipped to paparazzi's about the actor's condition led into "major misunderstanding". Well, it just made her ex-husband Alec Baldwin mad again to her.

Here's the clip from Chicago Sun Times:

A major New York paparazzo claims he and other shutterbugs were tipped off by Basinger about daughter Ireland calling 911 last week. Now called a ”major misunderstanding” by Baldwin’s camp, that incident led to Baldwin briefly going to a New York hospital, before being released and declared perfectly healthy.

When Baldwin got home, he was infuriated by the huge number of paparazzi lurking outside his Manhattan apartment building — and had to be restrained from going after a photographer he claimed hassled him physically.

While Basinger’s camp denies any contact with paparazzi, my source insists it was the actress whose call came through immediately after the paparazzi picked up the 911 call via police radios.

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Corey McGriff described himself as "THE most talented DJ known to man." Police say the 32-year-old NY/Philly deejay was found dead on a Staten Island street Sunday morning with a gunshot wound to his chest.

Tags: DJ Megatron, Corey McGriff

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It's really very simple... anyone who enters the New York Times via Facebook or Twitter can read anything they want to, absolutely free. What paywall? Shut up! There is no limit to FREE!

Up until now, we’ve seen paywall enthusiasts like The Wall Street Journal offer such loopholes. But they’ve done so via Google. It’s a trick that most web-savvy news consumers know. Is a WSJ article behind a paywall? Just Google the title of it. Click on the resulting link and boom, free access to the entire thing.[1]

This is FANTASTIC news for Facebook and Twitter!

Tags: FREE access to the New York Times, New York Times paywall, Facebook, twitter

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According to Hollywood reports, that Amy Adams has been cast as Lois Lane in Zack Snyder's upcoming "Superman" reboot.

Zack Snyder confirmed that Adams had the role to the Los Angeles Times, saying that he reached out to her by phone while in Paris on Sunday.  "There was a big, giant search for Lois," Snyder told the paper. "For us it was a big thing and obviously a really important role. We did a lot of auditioning but we had this meeting with Amy Adams and after that I just felt she was perfect for it."


Adams recently was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in "The Fighter." She joins a cast featuring Henry Cavill as Superman, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent.

Adams joins a cast that includes Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Kevin Costner as Pa Kent.

Zack Snyder didn't comment about the plot of the Superman reboot over the weekend but did imply that Lane would be important in the story saying:

"What’s important to us is making [Superman] relevant and real and making him empathetic to today’s audience so that we understand the decisions he makes. That applies to Lois as well. She has to be in the same universe as him [in tone and substance],"

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According to Hollywood reports, that Amy Adams has been cast as Lois Lane in Zack Snyder's upcoming "Superman" reboot.

Zack Snyder confirmed that Adams had the role to the Los Angeles Times, saying that he reached out to her by phone while in Paris on Sunday.  "There was a big, giant search for Lois," Snyder told the paper. "For us it was a big thing and obviously a really important role. We did a lot of auditioning but we had this meeting with Amy Adams and after that I just felt she was perfect for it."


Adams recently was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in "The Fighter." She joins a cast featuring Henry Cavill as Superman, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent.

Adams joins a cast that includes Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Kevin Costner as Pa Kent.

Zack Snyder didn't comment about the plot of the Superman reboot over the weekend but did imply that Lane would be important in the story saying:

"What’s important to us is making [Superman] relevant and real and making him empathetic to today’s audience so that we understand the decisions he makes. That applies to Lois as well. She has to be in the same universe as him [in tone and substance],"

Read more »

Are you miffed because nobody bothers to comment on your blog? Could that possibly be YOUR fault? Here's a FAST FIX!

(1) Make sure your blog loads quickly, free of annoying pop-ups...

(2) Set Your Comments free! ("How-to" on BlogWorld.)

Blogspot users now have the ability to turn on a switch that makes any blogger blog "smartphone friendly" - there are also services that will do this for you if you are blogging on a different platform.

Yes, some people still use dial-up to access the Internet. In fact, a lot of people in the world have dial-up Internet. According to a report by the Pew Research Center, as of May 2010, 5% of people in the United States were using dial-up. Compared to broadband users at 66%, that number might seem small, but that means there are over 15 million dial-up users out there. World-wide, that number only rises.

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Yikes! The package is almost as big as the netbook!

TESTFREAKS Blog not too too long ago reviewed the Broadband2go service, complete with COVERAGE MAPS, SPEED TESTS

VM has just recently capped the service and if you didn't get in on the $40 Unlimited plan early on, you can't get it now (however, those who already are on it, like little ole me, get to stay on it!) Broadband is awesome! If you've got it, maximize your use of it!

Among those who disfavour caps, The Michigan Telephone Blog ::: "...companies should realize that broadband caps are eventually going to hurt them in the pocketbook. Consumers are going to be far less likely to buy devices, such as game consoles and home theater equipment, that depend on a broadband Internet connection if actually using their broadband service is going to cost them an arm and a leg." MTB continues on to quote and link to Stop The Cap.

Tags: Broadband2Go, Virgin Mobile

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Here's a bona fide treat for you, and a bonus BLOGGING CLASS post!

Here is the article I would have submitted to the Blog Engage contest, had I been able to meet the requirements for entering!

10 Ways to Blog Better


1 - Make 'em real; Make 'em feel

People who write about real life experiences and current events (like Xiaxue writing about Peter Coffin, for example) increase the odds of having any given blog post tweeted and repeated by about 33 per cent, according to a 2010 study of popular blogs.

When you craft your article, read it aloud before uploading it to your blog or better yet, read it to a friend or ask them to read it and see if they can "feel" your emotion coming through in your words...

2 - Give Your Blog 5 "Kicks"

You wrote a smashing post! Now, (a) tweet it (b) post it on facebook or linked-in (c) leave it as your URL in comments on a similar article on someone else's blog (d) ping it individually on pingler.com and (e) drop it on digg or reddit

3 - Don't Gum Up The Works

Strip your post of any surplus verbiage and don't link to other blogs or websites unless you bring them value and vice-versa

4 - Be Social and Interact

You know already that it is important to give your blog those 5 abovementioned "kicks" - now you also need to get out there and mention your greatest post to others! Tell a friend on myspace or Linked-In; tweet it to particular individual using twitter's "@" feature; mention it in an email to a colleague or add it to your email signature just for a day or two!

5 - Taste the Rainbow that is the Blogosphere

Need ideas? Hop on Global Voices or Drudge or Global Blog to see what everybody is buzzing about - each of these sites represents a snapshot of current events and pop culture!

6 - Keep Your Blog "Light"

Get rid of slow-loading widgets and those that might seek to re-direct your readers elsewhere. NOTHING IS MORE ANNOYING than those "SUBSCRIBE HERE" pageover pop-ups. There are about three blogs I actually tolerate seeing these on, only because I love the bloggers themselves (otherwise they'd be on by X list!) There are many services available that will check your web page load time. Find one you like and use it!

7 - Spread Linky-Love

People who write great articles should be rewarded! If you run across an article on another blog you really enjoy or find helpful, tell the whole wide world about it: on your blog, on twitter, on any social network, on digg! Even if the author has closed comments, he or she will notice that you have spread the word about a great article. They'll remeber you, sooner or later!

8 - Get Intimate

I again call your attention to Ms. Wendy Cheng. If you have a few hours, go back through the multitude of posts on the Xiaxue blog. Here's a gal who has become a superstar celebrity but shares the most intimate details with her readers. Note: I didn't say spill the beans or give up personal details. Just sahre a little intimacy through your posts!

9 - Finish What You've Started

I carry a little green notebook around. I know other bloggers who use cellphone voice memo recorders to capture ideas when they emrge. You just never know when you'll get inspired, so don't let the moment escape! WRITE IT DOWN! Even if it's on a piece of scrap paper or a paer napkin, a few small words could be the seed for what may become your greatest post!

10 - A Time to Sow, A Time to Reap

Don't subject yourself to "sleep deprivation" and the bad things that can happen as a result it (getting fat, heart disease, more likely to catch cold or flu) because you're spending too much time online. Do your thing, prepare your materials, post and share... then, like a great chef, let it all simmer awhile. Get your rest and spend the time you need to spend in "real" life. The "virtual life" will consume you if you let it... if you really wannabee 24/7 on the web, look into automating (i.e. time-released) blog posts and tweets! Heck, your internet persona can live on long after the material you is gone!

Tags: BlogEngage, BlogEngage Contest

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Blog Engage and Affiliate Lights are wonderful web services for bloggers! Having said that, I'm NOT entering the contest! Sure, I have great writing skills and a plethora of previous posts that could be updated or rewritten or re-imagined. I just can't fill the requirements! Here's the details (my comments italicizd)! I only have two small problems, as you will notice. Small problems that are big enough to discourage me from entering the contest.

BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU? WHY NOT JOIN BLOGENGAGE AND TAKE A STAB AT IT!

Who can participate?

All Blog Engage members can write for us and have the opportunity to win any prize offered in this contest. We only ask that you have a valid paypal account to accept your winnings and prizes.

Post Guidelines

1. Guest posts must be at least 450 words, not to exceed 1000 words.

2. You may have as many links as you wish in the body of the content. However, please limit links to your projects or websites to your bio. Absolutely no affiliate links allowed.

3. Your bio must have a Gravatar. Please use a picture of yourself and not a logo.

PROBLEM FOR ME! My gravatar is a cartoon logo. I have no intention of changing it!

Keep your post relevant to the overall theme of this blog. You can write about any of the following topics Making Money Online, Blogging Tips, Traffic, Design, Social Networking, SEO, Marketing, Technology and other industry or niche specific topics you think blog engage members would be interested in reading.

All awards and prizes will be delivered 15 days after the contest is closed. As already stated a valid paypal account will be needed to accept any money prizes.

How To Win

• You must be a member of the blog engage community

• You must write about the contest including the contest sponsors links When done e-mail me the link (admin (@) blog engage dot com

• Register for an account here and fill out your bio info Also please get a gravatar if you don’t have one.

• Contact me admin (@) blogengage dot com letting me know your username

• We will review your account and upgrade it so you can write for the blog

• Write your post, save it and it will be reviewed and published

• Write a post about the contest to help spread the word in the blogosphere. Your post (contest submission) will be judged First on quality of the content and style of the post.

• Add Sponsors links to your post using the correct anchor text and make sure the links are do-follow. This is extremely important and your post won’t be eligible to win if you haven’t fulfilled this requirement. The sponsors are the ones making the cash prizes possible, so show them some link love.

• A high value is placed on the number of and quality of comments received on your guest post. Also, be sure to interact with and respond to your commentators. This will help you win! Ambiguous and/or spammy comments will not help you.
• PROBLEM FOR ME! I barely have time to manage my own comments on the 20+ blogs I write for!

• Spread the word about your post through all your social media channels: Twitter, Facebook, Sphinn, etc. A high value will be placed on number of Tweets and overall social media promotion.

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UPDATE!
Xiaxue finishes crushing Peter Coffin! -or- as I tweeted, "puts final nail in coffin" :)

Recently Xiaxue posted two articles critical of another blogger, a sort of digital stalker-taunter-shuckster who writes as " Peter Coffin" - and in no time at all, the story went GLOBAL!

Here's a rip from nowpublic.com: "Peter Coffin threw a brick at Xiaxue, and she responded with a nuclear bomb..."
Peter Coffin: The strange story of a boy, a model and his 'girlfriend' Metro.us -Kimi Kobayashi, who none of you know because she goes to school in the next school district and she has super-strict parents so she can't come out. ...
Web 'Comedian' Peter Coffin Caught Being His Own Girlfriend‎ - Switched
How Peter Coffin Got Busted For Having a Fake Girlfriend‎ - Urlesque
Peter Coffin Speaks as the Internet Taunts Grow: 'I'm Just Going ...‎ - Village Voice (blog)

Xiaxue's pair of articles about Coffin and the female persona he created "Kimi Kobyashi" must have triggered a rash of searches for another blogger that Wendy Cheng (Xiaxue) feuded with some years back, the Arissa Luna-wannabee herself, Dawn Yang. Some of those searches brought Singaporeans here to my humble weblog! (Thanks for coming by!)

The War
http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/2008/07/xiaxue-vs-dawn-yang-its-war.html

Is Over
http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/2008/07/around-blogosphere-07-july-08.html

One problem with some of the past "feud" posts on Xiaxue's blog involving Dawn Yang is that some of the material was deleted... so if you have come here expecting to find links to deleted posts you'll be disappointed. I'm sure if Wendy removed any content it was for good reason.

To the left, a pic of Dawn + Wendy in happier times (if ever there were any!) Below is a content "lift" off of the MyBlogLog popular links widget (which I imagine will be shut off when MyBlogLog vaporises in a few months.) If you click on the first link, you'll find it to be a dead-end.See Also:

• Dave Lucas: The "Lost" XiaXue Posts
  

Something seems to have triggered readers to search for anything Xiaxue: it must be Peter Coffin!

Peter Coffin: "Kimi's account used some photos of a Korean woman. Possibly a model. Yes, I am a huge fool for believing it. We don't need to talk much about why - I have chatted, emailed, skyped, etc with this person..." WAIT A SEC! HE SKYPED? AS IN VIDEO? Most people use Skype for the video aspect...

Tags: Xiaxue, Peter Coffin

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One Wednesday morning, not too very long ago, upon awakening after a night of stormy, troubling dreams, I tweeted out:
After all, someday, one day, the journey ends for each and every one of us. But in the meantime, humans are daily interfacing with computers more and more and more! It cannot be avoided, it seems! The PC at home, work, school... the ubiquitous "smartphone" and air card, the bank ATM, the computer panel at the gas pump, the Ipad, Kindle, etc. etc. etc.
Coincidentally, as I was dreaming and wondering, other bloggers were at work, debating online about almost the very same thing!

(See Quality trumps quantity.)

Is all this blogging meaningful?

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The Dutchess County SPCA seizes a puppy and arrests store owner and employee following complaints of selling an unhealthy puppy.

I'm always saddened when I hear about cases of animal abuse or neglect...

HYDE PARK, NY (March 25, 2011) –Yesterday, the Dutchess County SPCA seized an unhealthy puppy being offered for sale by Puppies and Kittens, a pet store in Wappingers Falls, and charged the store owner and an employee after a local veterinarian examined the dog and found him to be unfit to be sold.

DCSPCA Humane Law Officers were contacted by a customer of the store who had purchased the puppy. Her veterinarian found the puppy to be unhealthy and advised her that the dog should not have been sold. She returned the puppy to the store, which offered him for sale in the store’s window the next day. DCSPCA Officers Jami Landry and Daniel Flaherty investigated and charged the owner, Richard F. Doyle with two counts of Section 357 (Selling Diseased Animals, Unclassified Misdemeanor) for knowingly offering an unhealthy puppy for sale twice. The owner was also charged with one count of Section 353 (Animal Cruelty, Class A Misdemeanor). An employee was changed with one count of Section 353 (Animal Cruelty, Class A Misdemeanor).

The defendants are due to appear in the Village of Wappingers Court on April 7th. The 11-week old Teacup Yorkshire Terrier is being nursed back to health by the DCSPCA’s Animal Services team. He is not available for adoption. He is the eighth puppy officers have seized from local pet stores in the past month.

Last month, the DCSPCA investigated similar complaints about Pet Fashion Pet Store in the Galleria Mall. Six employees and the owner now face a total of 66 charges stemming from allegations that they offered puppies that were too sick to sell.

The investigation is on-going. Anyone who has purchased a puppy from Puppies and Kittens pet store in Wappingers Falls that has or had an infectious or contagious illness should contact the DCSPCA’s Humane Law Department immediately by dialing 845.452.7722 ext. 4

The Dutchess County SPCA, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, is the lead agency for animal rescue and adoption in Dutchess County. The DCSPCA is a no-kill shelter with a 140-year history of concern, caring and providing shelter for unwanted, abused, abandoned and neglected animals. Central to the mission of the DCSPCA is the securing of caring, responsible, permanent homes for the adoptable animals in its care.

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Does our boxing superhero knocked-down by critics after his controversial Twitter account? Manny Pacquiao made his decision by posting at Twitter his last message “Sorry everyone but hanggang dito nalang delete ko na account ko thank you very much to all your support.”

According to news, Manny Pacquiao's Twitter followers became upset he replied one of his follower's question "why he ever ran ran for Congress despite his obvious lack of the House proceeding" with “e di mag reklamo ka sa lolo mong panot”.  The issue started during the voting of congressmen on impeachment trial of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. Although Pacquiao said that he would vote "no", his vote wouldn't be counted if he is absent.

With celebrities/icon like Manny Pacquiao with thousands of followers, it is expected from them to be very cautious with their words.

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Does our boxing superhero knocked-down by critics after his controversial Twitter account? Manny Pacquiao made his decision by posting at Twitter his last message “Sorry everyone but hanggang dito nalang delete ko na account ko thank you very much to all your support.”

According to news, Manny Pacquiao's Twitter followers became upset he replied one of his follower's question "why he ever ran ran for Congress despite his obvious lack of the House proceeding" with “e di mag reklamo ka sa lolo mong panot”.  The issue started during the voting of congressmen on impeachment trial of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. Although Pacquiao said that he would vote "no", his vote wouldn't be counted if he is absent.

With celebrities/icon like Manny Pacquiao with thousands of followers, it is expected from them to be very cautious with their words.

Read more »