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Online study doesn't mean a second-rate degree when it comes to earning an M.B.A Click And Learn

The Blog, The Press, The Media: Build a kick ass company
How We Find Companies to Profile

We find new companies primarily in three ways. First, we scour hundreds of blog and news feeds daily to see what’s new. Second, we get a number of tips (often anonymously) about new stuff – usually these are the most interesting new products. The third way is a direct request from the company itself.

• Top Ten Things You Can Do To Get Blogged [Yes Virginia, There Are Still "Communicators" Who Don't Know What a Blog Is Blogs: Collective Wisdom of Crowds ; Darren Rowse became a celebrity in the blogosphere earlier this year by saying, "I expect that this year my blogging will generate a six-figure income." Blogging-for-profit course attracts 800 ; Radio National interview on blogging and PR Trevor Cook;]
• · Blogging has essentially developed in waves or generations, each of which was notable for the backgrounds of the majority of people entering the blogosphere at each point The demise of the geek bloggers ; When bloggers talk about your company, knowing how to respond - if at all - is key Is "free" all it's cracked up to be? ; Should PR ignore the long-tail?; You can't ignore blogger 'fact checkers' even if they are sometimes cruel, because often they are also right Women and blogging
• · · Instead of a party, healing and revelation Reporter finds his 'good heart'; Media Ownership Regulation in Australia
• · · · Project Censored presents the 10 biggest stories the mainstream media ignored over the past yea Censored!
• · · · · You may think Google is powerful today, but it's still only using 5% of its brain. Search Lite ; And the race is on to become the Google of blogs New Search Engines: Help Users Find Blogs ; SAPO Already Does IT!
• · · · · · Tajikistan: Crisis Of Independent Media Sparks International Criticism Over the past year, Tajikistan’s independent media have suffered one setback after another. All the major opposition newspapers have been shut down, and recently the editor of one of those newspapers was jailed on what many say are politically motivated charges. In the last week, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has expressed concerns about Tajikistan’s media environment. Crisis Of Independent Media Sparks International Criticism ; The Power of the Internet "Movement" News ; Study Links Broadcast Indecency To Ownership Consolidation ; Indecent Proposal

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Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, But beautiful old people are works of art
-Eleanor Roosevelt

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years.
-Mark Twain

Thoreau deplored the supremacy of work in this way: "It would be glorious to see mankind at leisure for once. It is nothing but work, work, work." And this is all that my wife is slaving 7 days a week and she will even miss on Alex’s birthday party due to some IT migration issues. Strange world we are living in ...
We often forget that going to work every day is often more a chore than a pleasure Working Hard at Nothing All Day
Nettle suggests that we would all probably be happier by trading income or material goods for time with people or hobbies. But most people do not do so. My enemies should never enjoy such a book! The Science behind Your Smile

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: What Women Want
Why do the poor have children out of wedlock? It's not just a matter of money

When it comes to single-parent families, Everybody's Doing It. That, it seems, is the received wisdom--but it's not true. As Charles Murray noticed decades ago and demographers have known for some time, the structure of families has diverged drastically by social class. The out-of-wedlock birth rate among women with no more than a high-school education has skyrocketed since the 1960s but remains very low among college graduates. Divorce has declined among the well-off but is climbing among the unskilled. Although almost all college graduates still marry eventually, marriage rates are dropping steadily among those without a high-school degree.

• Times of Me Me Me [It's time to recognize that America's poor need more help than we're giving them Castaways And Cuts; Pro-lifers branch out to poverty, health care—and war ]
• · If you want to finish your dissertation, it’s time to stop worrying about greatness and to start focusing on good enough Words on Paper ; What these firing-squad lists declare is not only what we should be reading but, of course, what we should not be reading Classics, literary canons of "great" works, prize short-lists and long-lists, certainly are exclusive ; Literary letters, lost in cyberspace Wilson: the search for love that fed a career in letters
• · · The struggle to get ahead in the suburbs makes for a memorable Australian movie Sink or swim ; NYT science writer Dean's evolution coverage wins praise: Cornelia Dean "presents a leading example of how not only to report on but also how to contextualize the intelligent-design strategy," write Chris Mooney and Matthew C. Nisbet. They note that the Topeka Capital-Journal appears reluctant to go beyond publishing letters on the evolution debate, running only two guest op-eds (both in support of evolution) and no in-house editorials or columns. "Silence is no way for an editorial page to respond to an evolution controversy in its backyard." Undoing Darwin
• · · · Podcasting for Readers ; Those weighty collections of reference books are making way for fast online version Give us the facts
• · · · · A book a day keeps the doctor away" is the theme of this week's Nonfiction Chart, with You: The Owner's Manual, by Michael F. Roizen, M.D., and Mehmet Oz, M.D., at No. 1; When Mehmet Oz was on Oprah on May 3 of this year, he made quite an impression with frank talk of a...personal nature: the ideal bowel movement. "It should hit the water like a diver from Acapulco hits the water," he said on the show. "It should be an S shape." An Insiders Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger ; In defence of advertising
• · · · · · Regents ask, 'What's in a name?' ; An elementary look at what may have happened if pioneer pop stars had ditched sex, drugs & rock ’n’ roll Rock vs. School: Because a waste is a terrible thing to mind ; The Sound of Music is a seriously religious film, its plot a fairytale version of modern Christian history Hegel with songs

Mis Quince Anos, Alexandra Imrichova 2005

Mis Quince Anos, Alexandra Imrichova 2005
Originally uploaded by jozefimrich.

Happy Birthday, Daughter of the Velvet Revolution, Alexandra Imrichova ;-)

I love you past the sky and past the oceans ;-)

In Latino culture, a girl's fifteenth birthday party is a religious and social occasion that ushers her into womanhood. Learn the traditions of this Coming-of-Age Celebration: Quinceanera Celebrations

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Bush and Blair - and Howard! - are spreading "freedom" everywhere, they're making the savage and the heathen in the darker continents familiar with our brand "democracy" and they're fighting a war against "terror" at home and abroad that will enable a great many of their people to live on the edge of misery - and on the edge of "terror" about what the future might hold James Cumes

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Pollies and their journo friends
Everybody's getting their quid's worth in the wake of John Brogden's travails this week

The media loves nothing more than self-analysis and it will no doubt begin in earnest following John Brogden's downfall and subsequent sad suicide attempt this week, Mark Latham's former press secretary Glenn Byers writes in The Australian today. Byers has a particular beef with how the meeja reported the story about his old boss and that video

• Never trust a journalist [Gross domestic product calculations put too much spin on society's progress A measure, not of wellbeing ; Wasn't it Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky who said you shouldn't skate to where the puck is but to where the puck will be? A true idiot will miss the metaphor ]
• · Catholic World Youth Day Politics and religion in Australia; Wouldn’t recommend this Telco to my mum! You're a disgrace, PM tells Telstra
• · · Have civil liberties in Queensland slunk back to the dark old days? Are Queensland's police out of control? ; The Liberal Party is a broad church, it's got a lot of views … David Clarke Hockey kicks along Libs' rolling brawl ; Dancing on the graves of the moderates; Lateline of political life line
• · · · Mum v Mum: the new custody battle ; 'Born bad' NZ millionaire jailed indefinitely
• · · · · A debate about the role of the state in light of these tragic events Thoughts On New Orleans And What It Means ; Beyond New Orleans, Katrina Destroys Music History Too
• · · · · · What to do when the boss is a jerk? According to Forbes, managing a stupid boss is about idiot engineering When the boss is an idiot ; My boss follows me around the building if I am out of my chair for more than ten minutes. The funny thing is, he thinks I don't notice! Coping with a toxic boss or a lousy job can take a severe toll on your productivity - and your life

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September 8th World Literacy Day: International Literacy Day is a grassroots event

I'm a clear-cut case of a condition which is called exile. Like literature, exile invents its own rules. ‘There is a reason why the language we inherit at birth is called our mother tongue,’ writes Mukherjee. ‘It is our mother, forgiving, embracing, naming the world and all its emotions...’ Yet exile teaches us to embrace our adopted mother with real passion. Today marks the quarter of the century of those special goose bumps one gets when we focus our eyes on our new adopted mother country. My Lucky Country ... What is that impresses most when we finally spot the sanctuary of Sydney Harbour ... peering through the 707 tiny windows? Its sheer size? The way antipodean sunrays pull the trigger reflections out of self-interest? No. Nothing makes an impact like those dark reflections, impenetrable emerald eyes. Those chipped emerald mirrors rival literature, geography and even history and just like mother’s breasts they shout: Ach, drink me up!
Sydney is the mother of exiles. If you were a political refugee in Sydney in 1980 all roads led to our new homes based at Villawood or Coogee Hostels. For me, Villawood became my Hollywood and the script written in English come to me in strange frustrated waves. Driving from the airport on the wrong side of the road is one thing. But not being able to spot any red ferns at Redfern was another. No one could explain to me what could possibly be new about Newtown? Those strange descriptions and words rolled over me, and though they almost smothered me with hard to express sentences, the sentences left me with a unique accent and unique expressions ... But it is the unique kindness of strangers that I will rembember most on my deathbed. Endless mentors: From Dr Dorman to Dr Cope; Soulmates: from Mary to Lauren; Strangers who became friends and then Godfathers to the Daughters of the Velvet Revolution: Christopher & Steve; Adopted family: From June to Minna; Greatest Treasures: Alexandra & Gabriella; Adopted homes: From Villawood to Darling Point to Bellevue Hill to Scaborough to the Shire and only destiny knows where else ... [Lest we forget: Donald Horne's irony was lost on Australia ]

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For me, it's a really, really big responsibility that Webdiary works, because if it works, other journalists will join the independent media movement.... Webdiary movement doesn't just have legs, it has tentacles Webdiary's offer to journalists: journalism bringing more passion to the table ; Confronting ethics in the netherworld between politics and the media

The Blog, The Press, The Media: Losing the next generation of idealists
Edward Wasserman says young people want to do something "active" -- to make things happen instead of reacting to events the way they do in newsrooms. "Students come back from summer PR internships with exciting tales of scanning the next day's papers for stories they helped bring about," he writes.

Journalists have enough worries: cutbacks, bloggers, a geriatric audience. But here's one more: They should worry that bright young people who might once have been heading into newsrooms are going into public relations instead. Worse, these people aren't going just for the money. Journalism -- assailed by self-doubt and public mistrust -- is in danger of losing its next generation of idealists to PR.

• Is journalism in danger of losing its young idealists to PR? [Use it as a guide, not a crutch: Jeff Jarvis: The goal is to be ready — God help us Recovery 2.0: A call to convene ; Who is the one person you would not want to read what you have just written? Heather Armstrong ]
• · Microsoft CEO: 'I'm going to f---ing kill Google' ; New Haven has a new online daily newspaper: New Haven Independent
• · · The American blogosphere has been criticised for its lack of reponse to the media's portrayal of those devastated by Hurricane Katrina since it hit New Orleans last week American Bloggers Come Under Fire ; Online campaign begins for Bill of Rights
• · · · Vega 91.5, the much anticipated brainchild of DMG has kicked off its first day of programming this morning A New Boomer in Town ; Affiliate site to sell for $1.3 billion dollars (via Blog Herald) Empire Poker
• · · · · Blog Herald: Blogs starting to make an impression in German Elections ; The future will make liars out of many current Political Masters WH to press: The time for bickering, blame-gaming is later
• · · · · · That's one question from today's Howard Kurtz chat. His answer: We don't have to deal with bureaucracies, just editors. We just get up and go How did journalists beat relief workers to New Orleans? ; A Gathering Storm for the Media: Misreporting on hurricane further eroding public's trust of media Ham blasts "putrid reporting" of Katrina by the mainstream media ; Search Engines Indexes Sites With Info on Hurricane Survivors and Missing Katrina Missing Persons Site; Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans? Drowning New Orleans

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The fault I find with our journalism is that it forces us to take an interest in some fresh triviality or other every day, whereas only three or four books in a lifetime give us anything that is of real importance.’

We act recklessly and pretend we can order nature around, and are shocked when nature overwhelms us. We fail to plan for the worst and then act shocked when eminently predictable crises occur. Usually we can spend or rebuild our way out of them, but shouldn't we at least ask whether it's a good idea to do so? Why Isn't House Speaker's Question On the Table?

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Bad Vibrations
Modern social science has banished concepts of good and evil. But, argues Amos Oz, literature, from Shakespeare and Goethe to Grass and Böll, gives us truer insights into human nature

Job's Satan, like Faust's Satan, enters upon a wager. His big prize is neither a hidden treasure, nor the heart of a beautiful woman, and not even a promotion to a higher position in the heavenly hierarchy. No: Satan enters a gamble out of some kind of didactic urge. He wishes to make a point. To prove something, and to refute something else. With enormous argumentative zeal, the biblical Satan and the Aufklärung Satan try to show God and his angels that man, when given the choice, will always opt for evil. He will choose bad over good, willingly and consciously.

• The devil's progress [Spielberg? Hitchcock? Ed Wood? Kevin Smith? Who should be given the task to direct the film of your life story? Based on action/romance, comedy/drama, complex story, and financial budget requirements, this test will select the most appropriate of 24 selected film directors to commit to celluloid the story of your life ; The fastness of friendship; the treachery of one's nearest; the destruction of good by good. Passion which overrides reason VIOLENT AND PROUD DEATH! ; I'm delighted to report that Cold River mania continues to spread, slowly but surely, through the web: Ralph Kaiser writes: 'It's hard to read this work and not shout, Bloody Hell!' Experimental River ]
• · Does allowing a man to open a car door or to slide out a chair at a restaurant perpetuate sexism? A Feminist’s Dilemma ; Sierra Club at a Crossroads; Fiction and Memoir ; The gift of the perfect sentence
• · · There's no place like ancient Rome—except for sweltering modern-day New York City All hail the "monstrous city"; "Teledildonics," quick and easy cybersex is becoming an option for anyone with a mouse Single, white with dildo ; Is monogamy dead? ; The saddest thing about the whole rather sad story of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is the publication of his one, world-famous novel, The Leopard, because it could be said that it was the only extraordinary thing to have happened in his life, although it happened, in fact, in death, sixteen months after he had departed this world How To Be Bored
• · · · Once it was a secret; then it was a "right"; now it is a duty Good Vibrations ; If size really matters, pornography now ranks as one of America’s most prominent industries How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives
• · · · · Image is (almost) everything ; Local communities in a big, tough world ; Authors, Librarians Unite
• · · · · · Increasingly, I'm interested either in forgotten greats of world literature or modern marginal stuff (mostly, but not exclusively, in translation) Odds and Ends ; Ready Steady Blog ; Polish poetry and history

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Happy Birthday Lauren ...
'Love means loving the unlovable - or it is no virtue at all ...'
-G. K. Chesterton
I am soooo unlovable!

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There'll always be some people at the fringe playing political games, but the rest of us are getting on with the job Debnam unveils frontbench team

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Timing is everything
I 'm having trouble articulating just how angry I am at pundits, writes Nic White, both in the media and the blogosphere, who are capitalising on this disaster to score political or ideological points:

Stop right there. First of all, "politics" mandates nothing. It's an abstract noun. It's like beginning a sentence "Morality dictates that..." Morality dictates nothing. It's how people interpret morality, and how they apply it in certain situations which evolve over time. Politics are people, and what they make of their political situation, and when the realities of their lives demand that the political and economic circumstances of their lives change. It isn't something to put on a shelf and used only when the climate of opinion permits

• James Wolcott [Two men in Villawood detention centre have not eaten for 14 days and say they will continue the hunger strike until they die Detainees vow to starve themselves to death ; Antony Loewenstein on Labor MP Michael Danby Saga goes mainstream; Records show misuse of town credit cards
• · Democracy the Worst Form of Government Ever Tried ; Home Ownership Riskier with New Bankruptcy Law
• · · In the Spring of 2005, workers' votes in France and the Netherlands made the difference in defeating the draft European constitution and ending socialist party control of the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg Europe, Capitalism, and Socialism ; The Russian Revolution and the unresolved historical problems of the 20th century
• · · · And Moisés Naím on how John Bolton and Robert Mugabe might be the two best things to ever happen to the UN The Bad Boys of Global Politics ; John Quiggin Simplifying taxes
• · · · · His bestselling The Purpose-Driven Life has made him a superstar, but is mega-pastor Rick Warren's true purpose strictly political? Rick Warren, 'America's Pastor' ; Accusing one’s political enemies of lying is certainly an old tactic, and often enough an effective one Seized by the Political Spirit ; The Struggle for Civil Rights for People with Disabilities Able to Fight
• · · · · · Abbott leaves 'sorry' message for Brogden ; Brogden sex claim branded a lie ; The Tele's sordid shame ; Mark Coulton has a colourful history in importing Fined $2m, tobacco smuggler could now face 10 years in prison

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Bloggers have lost jobs, friends, and even spouses over things they revealed in their journals. Bloggers have to make the conscious decision from the start that what they write today may come back to haunt them tomorrow, and be OK with that choice. That’s the warning from one of the best veteran bloggers. They share their tips and experiences.
Corporate Engagement is peppered with colourful insides of many topics. So czech (sic) out those three veterans Trevor Cook , Keith Jackson, Ben Haslem Corporate world without boundaries

The Blog, The Press, The Media: Trevor Cook
What is the state of Australian blogging? Trevor Cook notes that overall, he is 'pretty bullish about the state of blogging and podcasting in Australia.’

This is a difficult question to answer - it goes to the heart of what blogging is about (fat heads vs long tails, media rivals or new ways to fill gaps in the landscape and so on), it is hard to get evidence of how many Australian blogs there are because a lot of people use US services (blogger, typepad etc) and it hard to judge the influence and impact of blogging in Australia....

• The state of Australian blogging [ Feedster has produced a top 500 blog list ; My Mate has a blog: Donald J. Trump Donald the Blogger: You’re fired; Quick spring cleaning tips for your blog ]
• · James Governor: Should we solve one-click subscription by turning the HTML off? The web browser as a coccyx, HTML as an appendix ; As marketeers we are living through fascinating times
• · · Darren Rowse More on Blog Pay Rates ; Blogger Earns $16K in August ; 'The State' (Columbia, S.C.) Launches Community Blog, Citizen Journalism Push
• · · · Personal blogs, media blogs, and organisational blogs Disruptive and non-disruptive blogs ; Websites contain many things, but not the answer to all question Value the fruits of free speech; State Rep. Daylin Leach said the Web site was being pulled "permanently." He had vowed Thursday to put it back online Blog by legislator to remain off-line
• · · · · James Cherkoff on how 'citizen hacks' are challenging the might of corporations the world over You, too, can become a global broadcaster ; Today, when you lose a customer, you don’t lose just that customer, you risk losing that customer’s friends In Blogs & Blogging, Marketing & PR ; Citizen-journalist bloggers in knickers-in-twist shock ; Writing individual websites – or blogging as it is better known – is helping young Syrians re-engage with politics, users say, with dozens of web logs or "blogs" coming on line in the last year, promoting freedom of speech Focus on freedom of speech through the internet
• · · · · · A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy ; Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy

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I did not sleep very well last night. I was haunted by the faces of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the US Gulf Coast on Sunday. I kept seeing an African American woman holding two babies, screaming into the camera. I know all about dying ... Help us, we are drowning

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: The hurricane from Hell
It's a sight that even had hardened news reporters saying they couldn't believe their eyes. One said:

It just didn't look like America any more, little babies taking a bath under a water spigot that had just been turned on. What they were referring to was how a hurricane had turned parts of America into a Third World country in the space of four days. The famous world-class city of New Orleans has descended into anarchy, with dead bodies floating by in water that covered 80 percent of the city, looting, gun battles in the street, houses set on fire. An Australian couple, stranded in the city on tour, were forced to go to the Superdome in New Orleans and said they feared for their lives. A Canadian tourist told the Associated Press he didn't know if he'd get out alive: I'm scared of riots. I'm scared of the locals. We might get caught in the crossfire

• The fear and frustration grew inside Flooded Orleans [Hurricane Katrina Interview: Alexander Downer ; Thousands of Blogs Cover Hurricane Katrina's Impact ; Both sides of the anti-terrorism dialogue must give ground Listening, not lecturing, is the answer ; List of bloggers who've been posting from/near/about New Orleans and the Gulf Coast Live from Katrina ]
• · It was a golden run. For hard-hat man John Roberts, the job of building Sydney’s Olympic stadium was a shining reward for a lifetime of toil. For Multiplex, the company Roberts had founded 40 years earlier, it was a launch-pad to even dizzier heights – the $1 billion contract to redevelop the spiritual home of soccer, England’s Wembley stadium Road to Wembley ; Lobbying is out of control
• · · Siek Toon Khoo and John Ainley examine how attitudes influence decisions to continue with school and education beyond school Attitudes, intentions and participation ; Restructuring and governance in the Australian health system 2004–05 (Re)form with Substance? ; How Al-Qaeda defeated New York Ground zilch
• · · · Colourful personality, Moira Coombs, describes the excision process and its legal implications Excising Australia: Are we really shrinking? ; Timetable for the next Australian elections
• · · · · How effective has the United Nations human rights system been in promoting human rights observance by Australian governments?; After the New Economy Actually existing capitalism
• · · · · · Young revisionists in South Korea are rethinking who the villains and heroes were in the Korean War. The Unwanted General; A look at the unintended consequences of the Kremlin's power grab over Russia's regions Beyond Siberia ; Mikhail Khodorkovsky Jailed Tycoon Plans to Run for Office

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Communication is all about sharing a (hopefully) passionate story with another. In doing so we often use shorthand — jargon, references to other cultural material to give additional flavour or ‘back story’, even clothing. Nonverbal communication: What’s your story?
A growing number of social scientists fear that marriage may be on the rocks and few doubt that matrimony, as we have known it, has undergone a wrenching period of change in the past several decades Can Marriage Be Saved? From the bedroom to the courtroom, The Purchase of Intimacy opens a fascinating new window on the inner workings of the economic processes that pervade our private lives The Purchase of Intimacy

The following techniques to telling if someone is lying are often used by police, and security experts. This knowledge is also useful for managers, employers, and for anyone to use in everyday situations where telling the truth from a lie can help prevent you from being a victim of fraud/scams and other deceptions. Warning: Sometimes in Marriage Situation Ignorance is bliss

Art of Living & Saddest Father's Day Across Frontiers: Follow Your Heart!
For some unknown cultural reason we have not been taught and reinforced to address our emotional health in the same manner as our physical health. This is a mistake. I identify with people’s loneliness; I have been there many times; after all I am a Man Without A Country as the old Czechoslovakia no longer exists ... Migrants are often its greatest victims of that stange cold feeling in the bones Loneliness must be one of the most painful experiences of life. It can gnaw away at the very soul of a person's being. What is tragic is that, when a lonely person becomes desperate for human contact, others often sense it and are scared off or repulsed by it. The lonely soul hence becomes the avoided soul and so a downward spiral begins which can push people to despair ...

In western culture we are raised and constantly reinforced to believe that proactively attending to our physical health is appropriate and responsible. Such old sayings as: 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" persist in our culture. Regular physical malady we diagnose the ailment and develop a course of treatment. In short, we develop a plan and take action! Occasionally, we determine that the physical ailment cannot be addressed independently. Thus, we seek professional help from a health practitioner.

• It's Ok to Need Help Peter Bakowski and his poetry on loneliness succeed in raising public interest The loneliness of the long-distance poet
[Winning when you knew you were going to win all along is Boring with a capital B. No one wants to play a game that they can win every time. Scoring with a sure thing is fun.. but only for about 15 minutes If you can no longer trust your instinct that tells you that you are right, get out; Raising awareness, increasing the dialog about cancer, building internal and external excitement Blog For Hope ]
• · David Kipen writes his farewell review ... For book critics, keeping a diary couldn't be more unnecessary. Any critic worth his oats adds to his serial public autobiography with every book he chooses and every review he writes. A perfect book for making you miss California ; Storytelling is Dana Adam Shapiro's weakness Never lost for a story ; From the bedroom to the courtroom, The Purchase of Intimacy opens a fascinating new window on the inner workings of the economic processes that pervade our private lives The Purchase of Intimacy
• · · MJ Rose: Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination What's New in the World of 16.3 Million Blogs? ; Susan Schwartzman: Book Publicity News; A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette 'A polite librarian is a good librarian'
• · · · The trend to put very young children in long-day care is leaving us with a behavioural time bomb I just want my Mummy ; Modern dads revel in hands-on parenting; Elisabeth Lloyd tells us a story why some feminists hate “The Case of the Female Orgasm,” and why they shouldn’t. I float here an analysis of why many women and feminist bloggers and journalists are so enraged with me. And trust me, there are lots of unhappy campers: More orgasm
• · · · · Meanwhile: Let's put a collar on the thief of time ; Polka Dot Mittens: nursing students don't just drink all the time
• · · · · · And that is exactly what Kamal Aboukhater, the producer of the movie Blowing Smoke, has just done Doing it my way, all the way... ; Tough times for lords of the manor

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Three things distinguish living from the soul versus living from the ego only. They are: the ability to sense and learn new ways, the tenacity to ride a rough road and the patience to learn deep love over time.
-Clarissa Pinkola-Estes "Women Who Run with the Wolves"

The effect of Hurricane Katrina in terms of human lives is appalling, and its destruction of property and infrastructure devastating. Time isn't just money in this catastrophe. It's lives... American bewilderment turns to fury as the richest nation on earth fails to rescue its own people from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina
The foretelling of a deadly disaster in New Orleans: Civic arrangements work or they fail. Leaders are found worthy or wanting. What's happening in New Orleans and Mississippi today is a human tragedy. But take a close look at the people you see wandering, devastated, around New Orleans: they are predominantly black and poor. The political disturbances are still to come. Bodies, gunfire, chaos and anarchy in New Orleans' streets

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Neil Mann
The States are losing not just a Mann, but also a strategic Thinker:

Well it’s time for me to say goodbye to you all. I start a new phase of my public service career from Monday, 12 September when I transfer to the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs to head up their new Compliance Policy and Case Coordination Division. I can certainly say that it isn’t without some regret that I leave GST. Looking back over the past twenty two months and seeing everything we have achieved as a line, I am very positive about the future for GST.

Like Collingwood coach Neil Mann, who sought to inspire players before a 1955 semi-final by releasing a crate of magpies in the centre of the MCG, younger Neil is leaving the office on a positive note. The Goods and Services troops appreciate his common sense views on zero alcohol policy. Good on ya Neil as even John Tadros supports the sentiment ...
• I know that many executives, like Kathleen Gibbings, will miss the easy-going leadership style of Neil Mann Speech by Neil Mann; No ifs or Buts [Months before John Brogden's racist, sexist slur, which led to the end of his career as NSW Opposition leader this week, his opponents were plotting his demise and seeking to install their own candidate How Brogden fell into a Machiavellian plot ; Nothing gained in pointing the finger ; Ah, the tears of crocodiles ; Such lack of discipline takes the cake]
• · This journal has become the Survival of New Orleans blog The Interdictor; Bookseller Relief Fund Book Industry Responds to Katrina's Catastrophic Effects
• · · If you read one thing about New Orleans, read this email to Boing Boing by a rescue worker. And the waters shall cover the sea ; via Barista
• · · · Harry Heidelberg's Sydney Opposition is in a political sense only ; My objective is more to make observations which could even be helpful to the Webdiary operators Webdiary Watch #1 ; Webdiary watch #2
• · · · · Dream of city life gives way to need for space ; Steep housing costs spark skills exodus ; Mystery millions: Crocodile Dundee swept up in tax net
• · · · · · It's more than a question of rebuilding our political leadership. We have to rebuild our shattered faith and sense of purpose as Liberals O'Farrell a target of whisper campaign ; When it comes to smear campaigns politicians should look no further than over their shoulders Private lives, public scandal ; A secretive police taskforce has for the past seven months been investigating serious allegations against officers of the Wood royal commission Taskforce explores case that cost three top careers

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Dreaming of a rapidly growing and increasingly important independent media Dreamers & Doers
The wire services on which newspapers like these tend to rely for breaking news are coming under increasing pressure from blogs - particularly in the area of technology news Blogs beat the wires

The Blog, The Press, The Media: Citizen? Journalist? She's Both
Emily Metzger, a community columnist for the Shreveport (La.) Times, is using her personal blog to convey the passion, urgency and anguish felt by so many other journalists during the tragedy along the Gulf Coast

I don't care how many efficient federal or state press conferences announce that the relief process is underway. It's not enough. I don't care how many dry, well-fed but no doubt anguished officials proclaim to the world that help is on the way. It's not enough. There are still thousands of people trapped in New Orleans and they're starting to die. Whatever's being done is not enough."

• Human Tall [Emely Metzger ; Unbelievable story here, received via a trusted friend ; Katrina update | Jon Lebkowsky ]
• · more via Tim Porter : Prescient Reporting ; Want to know what it's like to be a reporter right now in New Orleans? I'm scared. I'm not afraid to admit it. I'm getting out of here Dangerous Ground in New Orleans
• · · Finding Purpose in Journalism ; Katrina Coverage: Dining at the Media Buffet
• · · · Catallaxy on Margo Kingston Making Citizen Journalism Pay ; Aussie newspaper blogger goes solo Margo Kingston ditches Fairfax and goes solo ; When reporters don't stand up for rights, we all lose liberty Press freedoms aren't free
• · · · · Over at the Blog Herald, Duncan Riley detects a generational change in blogging ; Deep in the midst of this saga, I am increasingly thinking about what will happen if one of my neighbors accidentally stumbles across it. Writing About Real People ; Did Sydney's Daily Telegraph go too far in hounding disgraced Liberal MP John Brogden? The moral balance of daily journalism is more like a playground seesaw than the demure scales of justice we'd love to claim. The ups and downs can be brutal: Brodgen chase sparks ethics row
• · · · · · Are you a blogger? Know of a prize-worthy Weblog? Want to see what's captured bloggers' attention in other countries? Submit Your Favorite Weblogs and Podcasts ; A weblog covering security and security technology: Trusted Computing Best Practices Schneier on Security ; Google's entry into net phone has set the industry abuzz Google Talk makes a big noise

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Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family—but to a solitary and an exile his friends are everything.
-Willa Cather, Shadows on the Rock [Steve, Minna & Helina your soulful friendship is impossible to describe. However, in the context of the bestseller, Friends are like bras, a good one never lets you down ;-)

Last week, I was told to watch out for Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini. But it seems that readers did more than just watch—they also bought the book. Why Do Men Have Nipples? shot to No. 2 on the Adult Fiction chart. Ironically and tragically, I actually have four nipples. Will that make Cold River a bestseller too when it finally comes out in forest version? There is a degree of anxiety that comes with releasing your memoir in paperback version. All those years of shaping the story are distilled into a surreal monogragh, waiting for the world to pass judgment Alert and over-alarmed

As a nation that is – or rather, as 20-odd million people (or is that 20 million odd people?) on our wide brown island continent How are we going?

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: The Bias of Survivorship

I remember in eighth grade watching a movie in class about a man who had had a heart attack and went out jogging to try and kill himself. Much to his surprise, he survived and kept on running and became so fit and happy that he no longer wanted to die. Another guy had lost his foot and somehow found a way to run. The moral is if these guys could do it, against all the odds, so could you.

• Space to dream: Literary Life [Bill Leak's powerful first novel deals with the ruinous effects of alcoholism and drug addiction Picking up the pieces ; Josef K: Roberto Calasso turns his elliptical style of enquiry to Franz Kafka in K. But examining Kafka's work can be tricky, however devoted you are Special K ]
• · The Tragedy of the Political Exiles ; The feeling of inferiority makes people/men either timid or audacious. [...] Like a pendulum, they swing between a fear of inferiority and a claim to superiority Melancholy and the ‘other’
• · · Emotions as Reasons in Public Arguments ; Caught between loyalty and sedition: Patriotic politicians who have dissented during wartime
• · · · Women 'eye property in divorce' ; What should a new faculty member value most about his or her institution? Salary? Library holdings? Student SAT scores? Health plan? Believing in Parking? ; The politics of parking; The number 1888081808881 is interesting on several counts ; Body politics: why are we obsessed with our flesh?
• · · · · Uma Thurman is just crazy about her Louis Vuitton bag Are you a branded slav(e)? ; Another Slav, James Surowiecki dives head first into the politics of tipping Czech Please
• · · · · · Everyone knows looks shouldn’t matter. Beauty, after all, is only skin deep Looks Do Matter; Baby study suggests beauty is not in the eye of the beholder

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Margo Kingston has a unique position in Australian journalism. She's one of our most senior reporters but over the last three years her focus has been a weblog on public affairs - Webdiary. Until last week, Webdiary was the property of Fairfax but no longer. After spending most of her career at the company, Margo Kingston is unplugged. We find out why she left and what she plans for Webdiary Margo, Unplugged

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Democracy at Risk
Democracy at Risk reveals the dangers of civic disengagement for the future of representative democracy.

The authors, all eminent scholars, undertake three main tasks: documenting recent trends in civic engagement, exploring the influence that the design of political institutions and public policies have had on those trends, and recommending steps that will increase the amount and quality of civic engagement in America. The authors focus their attention on three key areas: the electoral process, including elections and the way people get involved; the impact of location, including demographic shifts and changing development patterns; and the critical role of nonprofit organizations and voluntary associations, including the philanthropy that help keep them going.

• How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation, and What We Can Do About It [A page on constitutional law case book reviews ; If the law is an ass the law professor is a donkey ]
• · The NSW Liberal Party is taking time to heal its wounds after the apparent suicide attempt of former Opposition Leader John Brogden, newly elected Liberal leader Peter Debnam says NSW Liberal Party is healing ; Politicians and journalists have to live in each other's pockets. They naturally become close Peter Coleman: Candid remarks bite back; The question everyone's asking is: did the Telegraph go too far? State Libs healing: Debnam <
• · · Empire' only became a dirty word in the twentieth century Emancipation & empire, from Cromwell to Karl Rove ; Beyond imperialism: the new internationalism; Empire: a blunt tool for democratization
• · · · Once a liberal pin-up and intellectual leader of the global human rights movement, Michael Ignatieff has fallen out badly with some of his best friends and colleagues No more Mr. Nice Guy; We may have seen only a hint of hip-hop's political promise Hip-Hop Voting Bloc?
• · · · · I just returned from a lovely little respite from the usual grind and its daily dose of news alerts and fire alarms A tale of 4 ethics ; 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America': Who's No. 1?
• · · · · · The history wars ; A Geoffrey Robertson Hypothetical: Australia under attack ; The sacrosanct seats of the lords of creation: n 1925, in the ‘bear pit’ of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in Sydney’s Macquarie Street, Millicent Preston-Stanley gave the first speech made by a female Member of Parliament (MP) in this state and only the second in any Australian parliament Preston-Stanley and Women MPs