The Defining 30 years of Steve Jobs’ Life

Whatever did we do before the iPhone came out? Verizon held the coveted brand, ‘Can you hear me now?’ There were hundreds of mobile phones out, but none were better than the others. Then Steve Jobs hit the scene and iPhone became the coveted mother.

Do you FACETIME? I do!
Thanks to Steve my phone shares the view.

[FoxNews.com/Tech] – The first film on the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs since his death, with Ashton Kutcher in the title role, is to make its debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

The movie, which is called jOBS and is directed by Joshua Michael Stern, chronicles “the defining 30 years of Steve Jobs’ life,” according to the Sundance Institute.

The film, which was written by Matt Whiteley, is described as a “candid, inspiring and personal portrait of the one who saw things differently”.

The movie aims to tell the story of Jobs’ life from wayward hippie to co-founder of Apple and revered creative entrepreneur.

A Facebook page for the film said jOBS is an “incredibly powerful and true story of the visionary who set out to change the world, and did”.

Sony Pictures is also developing a movie about Jobs, based on the bestselling book by Walter Isaacson that was released after the Apple chief’s death last year. It will be scripted by Social Network writer Aaron Sorkin.

Kutcher, 34, was best known for TV shows including That 70s Show and Punk’d before he replaced Charlie Sheen last May on Two And A Half Men.

Steve Jobs died October 5, 2011 at the age of 56 after a long battle with cancer.

Kutcher’s movie, which closes the festival, which runs from January 17 to 27 in Park City in Utah, is one of 18 star-studded premieres announced for Robert Redford’s independent cinema showcase.

Lovelace, a movie about porn star Linda Lovelace, is also on the bill.

Amanda Seyfried plays the title role in Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s portrait of the Deep Throat actress who tured her back on the industry became an anti-porn crusader.

Adding to the premieres list is Before Midnight, director Richard Linklater’s third film collaborating with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy after Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, in which the audience encounters their characters nine years later in Greece.

Australian actresses Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Jacki Weaver star in psychological thriller Stoker, which marks South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s English-language debut.

Behind-the-scenes tales of pornography will also be explored in British director Michael Winterbottom’s The Look Of Love, starring Steve Coogan and based on British adult magazine publisher and entrepreneur Paul Raymond.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/12/05/kutcher-as-steve-jobs-sundance-debuts-biopic/#ixzz2EFPYwdxy
___________________________________________________________________________________

I recently saw a live production at Herberger Theater via Intel
That told the story of APPLE &  Steve Jobs — and told the story well.

I was so caught up in the detail divvy of the shiny apple of wealth
that I felt like it was Steve Jobs telling the tale himself.

I never knew as much about Steve’s pioneering – he was no whiner.
We also learned a great deal about APPLE’s manufacturing in China.

Immediately as we were leaving the theater, news broke loose
that Chinese workers were rioting – APPLE’s golden egg goose.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect to validate the details of the show.
Steve Jobs imagination was a mob, but outsourcing wasn’t the best way to go.

Workers in China were working 18-hour days
under intense pressure with very few breaks.

And if a piece of merchandise were to drop and break,
it was the ass of the worker that the forman would take.

One guy was beaten pretty bad, because a device could not be found.
Then “allegedly” committed suicide while in security custody and bound.

The workers had no benefits and iPhone 5 productions were pressing.
The revelation of how workers were living, without a doubt was very depressing.

I sat on my seat, with my iPhone 4S in hand
and seriously considered abandoning the APPLE band.

I’m into film production and my MacBook Pro is one of my best friends.
For it with Final Cut is just what produced NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

Post the awesome theater production, I put the story on my back
and told everyone who loved the iPhone – about the human rights issue that outsourcing lacked.

Though I am happy to report today, due to President Obama vowing to tax
all who outsource US company work — APPLE production is coming back.

The next story will divvy more info on that….

APPLE ROCKS RELOCATION

By Ronnie Polidoro
Rock Center

Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that one of the existing Mac lines will be manufactured exclusively in the United States next year, making the comments during an exclusive interview with Brian Williams broadcast Thursday night on NBC’s “Rock Center.” Mac fans will have to wait to see which Mac line it will be because Apple, widely known for its secrecy, left it vague.

ROCK CENTER EXCLUSIVE –
“We’ve been working for years on doing more and more in the United States,” Cook told Williams.

This announcement comes a week after recent rumors in the blogosphere sparked by iMacs inscribed in the back with “Assembled in USA.”

It was Timothy D. Cook’s first television interview since taking over from his visionary former boss, Steve Jobs, who resigned due to health reasons in August 2011. Jobs died on October 5, 2011, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The announcement could be good news for a country that has been struggling with an unemployment rate of around 8 percent for some time and has been bleeding good-paying factory jobs to lower-wage nations such as China.

Cook, who joined Apple in 1998, said he believes it’s important to bring more jobs to the United States. Apple would not reveal where exactly the Macs will be manufactured.

“When you back up and look at Apple’s effect on job creation in the United States, we estimate that we’ve created more than 600,000 jobs now,” said Cook. Those jobs, not all Apple hires, vary from research and development jobs in California to retail store hires to third-party app developers. Apple already has data centers in North Carolina, Nevada and Oregon and plans to build a new one in Texas.

Apple has taken a lot of heat over the past couple of years after a rash of suicides at plants in China run by Foxconn drew attention to working conditions at the world’s largest contract supplier. Apple and other manufacturers who have their gadgets produced by Foxconn were forced to defend production in China. Earlier this year, Apple hired the nonprofit Fair Labor Association to examine working conditions at Foxconn, which makes some of Apple’s most popular products: iPhones, iPods and iPads.

Given that, why doesn’t Apple leave China entirely and manufacture everything in the U.S.? “It’s not so much about price, it’s about the skills,” Cook told Williams.

WATCH VIDEO: Apple CEO announces ‘Made in America’ plans

Echoing a theme stated by many other companies, Cook said he believes the U.S. education system is failing to produce enough people with the skills needed for modern manufacturing processes. He added, however, that he hopes the new Mac project will help spur others to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.

“The consumer electronics world was really never here,” Cook said. “It’s a matter of starting it here.”

Cook said he still misses Jobs, his friend and mentor, but that Jobs’ advice to him before he died was to do the things he thinks are right and not try to guess “what Steve would do.”

“I loved Steve dearly, and miss him dearly,” Cook told Williams. “And one of the things he did for me, that removed a gigantic burden that would have normally existed, is he told me, on a couple of occasions before he passed away, to never question what he would have done. Never ask the question, ‘What Steve would do,’ to just do what’s right.”

Apple today is worth about 43 percent more than when Cook took over. Under his leadership, Apple has released three new iMac models, two iPhones, two iPads, and the iPad mini.

That’s not to say there haven’t been some speed bumps. Most notable was the release of “Apple Maps,” which replaced the Google Maps app on the iPhone and was widely panned for misleading directions. Cook admits they screwed up.

“On Maps, a few years ago, we decided that we wanted to provide customers features that we didn’t have in the current edition of Maps,” Cook said, “It [Maps] didn’t meet our customers’ expectation, and our expectations of ourselves are even higher than our customers’. However, I can tell you, so we screwed up.”

The Maps debacle led to the defenestration of some company executives, including reportedly Richard Williamson, who oversaw the mapping team.

“We screwed up and we are putting the weight of the company behind correcting it,” Cook told Williams.

Customers still snapped up the iPhone 5, however. According to Apple, five million of them were sold in their first weekend after the device’s launch in September.

Speed bump No. 2 was the redesigned connector for the iPhone 5, which was widely criticized by many because it didn’t fit many of the accessories Apple fans had already purchased for their earlier iPhone versions. It forced them to purchase an adapter, which some criticized as an inelegant solution. Others argue, however, that the new connector was worth it because it allowed Apple to make a smaller device.

“It was one of those things where we couldn’t make this product with that connector,” Cook said, “But let me tell you, the product is so worth it.”

What’s next for Apple? Did Cook leave us with a clue?

“When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years,” Cook told Williams. “It’s an area of intense interest. I can’t say more than that.”

Click here to watch Brian Williams’ exclusive interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook from Rock Center.

The 2-Minute Checkup

We don’t all have time to stop by the doctors office for a tighten and sway,
Perhaps we have time to peruse Ebony Mag‘s 2-Minute Check up today?

Q & A is rolling in:
Is diet soda a calorie building sin?

I constantly drink diet soda. Is it true that these zero-calorie drinks have been linked to weight gain?

There’s little direct evidence that diet soda –or the sugar substitutes in them — actually causes weight gain. Support for the idea that artificial sweeteners may alter insulin function or change the “food reward” system in the brain, however, is growing. Experimental data suggests that sugar substitutes promote increased calorie consumption by altering the communication between the taste buds and the centers in teh brain that tell us we are full, leading to increased cravings or defective calorie sensing. The counter argument is that people over consume diet soda because they wrongly assume that doing so means there are calories to spare (when eating a burger and fries, for instance). the bottom line is that the debate is far from over.

Here’s what we do know: If you overeat and don’t exercise, your weight will go up. Many people never touch diet soda and struggle with weight. So don’t look down in amazement at your growing waistline and blame it ll on diet soda.

Are food allergies inherited? My mother had a bad allergy to penas and it seems to now be hitting me at age 28.

Although food allergies can occur later in life, it’s more common to develop them in childhood. Research shows that siblings of those with food allergies are at increased risk, yet parental allergies may also be a risk factor. The primary strategy for managing these allergies is avoidance of the culprits, which is easier said than done; tree nuts are used in many food and nonfood products. Unintended exposure through cross-contact of foods must also be avoided. Finally, exposure to allergen-containing saliva may occur during kissing or utensil sharing, so be careful and always remember to tell restaurant servers that you have this allergy.

What causes fibroids, and how can I manage them? My periods are beyond horrible — I almost always have to take a day off because the cramping and bleeding are so bad.

Fibroids are non-cancerous muscular tumors of the uterine wall, and the causes can be varied. While your own hormones, particularly estrogen, can lead to fibroid growth, they don’t actually cause the tumors. There are a number of risk factors, however, that predispose women to fibroid tumors, including family history, young age at first menstrual period (younger than 10 years old), obesity and race. In fact, Black women are two to three times more likely than White women to develop fibroids.

The classic symptoms you describe, heavy and painful menstrual periods, are heavy and painful menstrual periods, are more likely with fibroids larger than 4cm. In fact, fibroids can be so large that they push on the rectum or bladder and cause constipation or urinary difficulty, respectively. They can also lead to reproductive problems, causing infertility and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Many women experience relief of symptoms at menopause (in the absence of hormone replacement), since fibroids tend to shrink at this time.

Schedule a visit with your gynecologist, who will want to examine you and perhaps perform an ultrasound. Depending on your age, the size and location of the tumors, and your plans to become pregnant, your doctor will lay out the options for treating your symptoms. This may require surgery or a minimally invasive procedure.

____________________________________________
Dave Montgomery, M.D., PhD, is a board certified physician, health coach and EBONY’s Special Contributing Editor, Health. Web: davemontgomerymd.com.
Illustrations by: Daniel Krall

I don’t drink diet soda but I do crave a Dr. P every now and then.
I do have food allergies against iceberg lettuce – my health sin.

I did have fibroid tumor issues — likely because I’m black.
It’s a cultural medical issue – can’t play the race card on that.

Medical Science – today is duly on my side
Now if only I could rid the extra pounds from my leisureful hide…

I’m working on being more fit. Keeping my metabolism up is rough,
I’m Qui 
Sharing these concerns with you via this quick 2-Minute Check up.

Sex is like playing bridge

Does the bridge lead to good sex?

Rediscovering Foreplay

Woody Allen once said that “Sex is like playing bridge. If you don’t have a good partner, you need a good hand.”  So how’s your game? What makes a good partner? It’s you, paying attention to the little things that will put your partner in the mood …click here to learn more

Reviving the Orgasm  (esp. after 40)

Why is 40 a daunting number? When I was younger, all I remember ever hearing about women and the age 40 is, “If you think sex is good now, just wait until you’re 40.”  I shreaked at the thought of  having exciting sex at 40 when I was a teenager, however, now that I’m 40, I feel quite differently. I love sex.  I love it by the humps and the pounds. The only problem is my bridge partner is concerned about ‘the money game’ at this stage in his life and spends most of his nights thinking of ways to get ahead, or sleeping off exhaustion from the earlier work day so much so, that he’d usually be asleep before I could even say the word nookie.

Enticing your playmate

Well, that (whole falling asleep early-thing) wasn’t working, so I threw in another element that’s been known to keep folk awake in bed: like lingerie and naught toys. Of course now he’s not only been wide awake in bed, but showered and sitting up, ready to play. I know what you’re thinking, “what man would dare doze off, knowing there’s a domestic stripper in his bed?”  Well you may be on to something there, but I don’t think it’s his love for  a domestic stripper, lingerie or toys that keep him up as much as him wondering how much fun I’m going to have without him.  Oh yes. Good times are coming regardless.

Use it or lose it

During my research on this topic (late last night), I came up on this information:

The more sex you have, the more you will stimulate
blood flow to your genitals to improve lubrication

and felt like I should get to work quick ‘using it’ because I certainly don’t want to lose it.   Are you ‘using’ yours?

Tighten the Snatch

I don’t know why I used the word snatch with you. I apologize if you’re offended. However, if  you are [offended] – your age is showing.   Snatch is an old 70′s porn term best known as another word for vagina.   Anywho, if you’re going to start indulging in nookie activity more regularly, you certainly want to increase your chances of orgasms and the euphoria that follows – one way to do this is by exercising your kegel muscle. You simply contract the muscle that makes you tinkle and stop. You can sit in 5-10 minute intervals contracting and releasing your kegel muscle, or you can use a kegelmaster.

It [kegelmaster] looks like a pleasure toy but is greatly used for toning kegel muscles and claims to have some very tight results.   A snugger fit has been linked to greater orgasms.  If you’re bridge partner is less than enthused, ‘tighten up your game’ and things are sure to change.

Sex is a vital part of your over health,
don’t cast it off – not even for a spell.

If you dare abandon, you must be foretold,
If you’re not having sex, you’re sure to get old.

Masturbation is a great alternative – as orgasms must be expressed.
If you’re partner isn’t a good bridge player, I believe you can do it best.

Whatever you do – don’t give up on the internal workout.
Orgasms play a big part in what longevity is all about.

Sex is like playing bridge, if you don’t have a good partner, you’ll need a good hand,
I’m Qui
Wishing you the best with your mate or yourself and your mono-playing band.

Boobs and other News

It was this time last year, I was ‘feeling my boobies‘
and found a lump that knocked me on my booty.

I had my first mammogram in 2011 on the 5th of December,
and what happened afterwards – I’ll always remember…

They found calicfications near my left nipple;
Doubt was cast and the fear did ripple.

I got on the horn and called the saints
who categorized this as a death sentence: aint!

The prayers went up and the blessings came down,
just in time to find me (last month) in a surgical gown.

I had two breast biopsies – mortality was on my mind.
I danced a jig and relaxed my wig – when all came back benign.
The lab results said ‘all was fine.’

The first [stereotactic] surgeon at work – cut me short & had no bed side manners at all.
The second [ultra sound guided] surgeon did his best to make me feel at rest and respectfully tall.

He literally took baby steps with me and helped me to understand,
All would be well with the task in his hands.

He was right and today I celebrate life.
With benign lab results – I sleep good at night.

__________________________

But what about my sisters who are still in the trenches
who are fighting the cancer battle in total relentness?

__________________

I’m lifting your situation up in prayer.
Please believe in God. He is still there.

Please don’t give up hope – all will be alright.
Please know there are a mountain of prayer warriors on your side.

God is still in the miracle making business.
Have you talked to him lately? Give prayer another visit.

Stand strong. Stand firm. Your heart is weiry – I know.
But go on and claim your victory and let your little light show.

God’s got your back -yo! And so do I,
I’m Qui
Pulling with thee, to get reach conclusion: benign.

Be prayerful and watch for God’s protective sign.
TODAY [dear sister] YOU ARE ON MY MIND.

__________________________________________________________________

Unemployment rate drops to 7.8% in September

Read about it here

__________________________________________________________________

5 Strategies for Digital Storytelling

Tips to creating a successful digital communication’s plan

What’s an Abstract-Sequential learner? Click the pic…

To convey a strong message, digitally, brands must take on the role of a storyteller. The narrative has to be robust enough to withstand the shortened attention spans and quick turnaround of information found on the web. Now that nearly half (49.7%) of U.S. mobile subscribers have smartphones, and Google is activating 1.3 million Android devices per day, it is clear we live a hyper-connected lifestyle that requires mastering mobile and digital storytelling.

The ability to speak in sound bites and effectively humanize your message to your following— a tribe of potential employers or customers, and even other brands—in a compelling, clear, concise transmedia format in real-time is expected. Here care 5 areas you should focus on:

• Optimize Your Site’s ‘About Me’ Section
• Write a Worthwhile Twitter Bio
• Maximize YouTube Descriptions
• Upload Relevant Photos Only
• Allow a Story to be Told Via Hashtags
• Get Brands/Influencers Involved by Tagging

…click here to find out how these areas will maximize you online presence and increase your traffic

ROCKING The Pennsylvania VOTE

Just when you thought things were good-to go,
A PA Judge lifts the barge on blocking-the-vote…

In a much-anticipated ruling, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr. ordered that voters without government-issued photo ID should be allowed to cast regular ballots.

“That’s a huge win,” said Witold J. Walczak, an attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, “because last week the judge was suggesting that he was going to have every [voter without ID] vote provisionally.”

At the same time, the judge specifically ruled to allow the state to continue its education and advertising campaign, which currently tells voters that IDs are required.

Walczak said that if the state doesn’t change that message, “we may be back in court.”

“You can’t be telling people you need ID if you’re not actually requiring ID,” he said. “That advertising has to be modified to reflect reality.”

“Confusion is not a good thing on election day,” he said. “Confusion is going to mean some voters stay home. Confusion is going to mean that some poll workers get it wrong.” …click here to continue

______________________________________________________________________________________________

TECHNOLOGY Peruse

iPhones aren’t made by robots – they’re made by human hands. Piece by piece….

Okay – I didn’t blog convey on Monday, because I was duly on a rant.
Breaking up with APPLE? I’m seriously thinking about that.

For what specific reason has this feeling suddenly dawned?
I’m most turned off by the lack of care for the workers at Foxconn.

Now APPLE’s not the only US company that contracts in China.
But when it comes to reaping the most prophet – no other company ranks finer.

APPLE iPhone products are Chinese manufactured from start to complete,
and many of the assemblers barely make enough to live and eat.

APPLE is getting a steal when it comes to paying for labor.
They’re not hiring Americans but love getting money from your table.

You and I are titled: enablers. We’re encouraging them – it’s a fact.
God knows, that APPLE has the dough to help bring our economy back.

So since they have the power – but duly choose not to use it.
When it comes to buying the iPhone 5 — I think I will refuse it.

Sunday morning there was a riot at Foxconn – the employees couldn’t take it no more!
1000′s took to the street (employees & police) – unmanning the assembly floor.

Monday there was still chaos & for a while pics were posted online.
But then the Chinese government found a quick way to erase the proof-of-time.

Though they can’t erase my mind. This issue bothers me so much,
I’m concerned folks choose their iphones over the human life love.

Put the shoe on the other foot and imagine it were you…
I’m Qui
Compassionate about my chinese fam – and what they’re going through.
Ooo!
Be wise when you ‘mobile device’ choose.
To be a part of a trend (in this case), is to lose.

“Intel Inside” ignites mobile branding war

Chipmakers that supply the crucial components inside
smartphones and tablets aim to grab more of the glory

As the mobile computing wars heat up, chipmakers that supply the crucial components inside smartphones and tablets aim to grab more of the glory.

Not content to remain in the shadows of hot consumer brands like Apple or Samsung, chipmakers – including Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia – want consumers to get to know the processors that power their mobile devices. They hope to build brand loyalty in the process.

Intel is leading the charge by extending its hugely successful “Intel Inside” marketing campaign beyond personal computers. Launched in 1991, “Intel Inside” stickers turned commodity electronic components into premium products, and eventually became ubiquitous on laptops. …click here to get to the core of the smartphone feud

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Is this APPLE rotten?

Technology Leader isn’t a leader at all…

From afar, the APPLE looked so good to me.
Now I’m wondering if it’s the fruit from the forbidden tree.

I only own one Apple [MacBook Pro], though (including software) it cost me nearly 5g’s,
Now I’m over here wishing my workflow could grow via a [US manufactured] PC.

Those Apple Exec’s are good at being silent. They quietly flushed the China stink.
Shame on them for continuing to hem — as if the consuming public would never think. …click here and tell me if this apple stinks

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Apple, Intel skating to mobile face-off in 2013

With signs that Apple has designed one of the fastest smartphone chips yet, Intel is getting set to rev up its smartphone silicon in 2013.
Performance benchmark site Geekbench is already showing the iPhone 5′s dual-core A6 central processing unit (CPU) with roughly twice the performance of the A5 chips in the iPhone 4S and third-generation iPad. And Geekbench also has the A6 edging out the quad-core chip in Samsung’s Galaxy S III.

And there may be a quad-core Apple A series chip in the works for 2013, according to Linley Gwennap, the principal analyst at The Linley Group.

Ironically, Apple is eclipsing Intel, the world’s largest chip company, in smartphone silicon. So, what can Intel do?

Well, it took a step in the right direction today with the Motorola Razr i, which sports an Intel Z2460 system-on-a-chip (SoC) running at speeds of up to 2GHz, one of the highest gigahertz ratings for a smartphone.

Intel will follow this up with the dual-core Z2580 (the 2460 is single-core) by early next year and, …click here to continue the face-off

NEWS

The Month of L E O

By: Susan Miller

Happy birthday, dear Leo! This is your month, and you should be feeling in fine form. The month starts off with high emotions, all of them happy, for a big tender full moon will fall in your relationship sector on August 1. This full moon is one of the best of the year, for Jupiter, giver of gifts and luck, will send a direct beam to the Sun from your house of hopes and wishes. Finally, it seems like the pieces of your puzzle are falling perfectly into place, and you can look forward to a more joyous future!…click here for more on those BIRTHDAY LEO’s

You are ONLINE – Forget about Privacy

Do you Facebook?

Remember that old MJ jam, “I always feel like somebody’s watching me“? Well, if you’re online, the chances are highly likely that someone is watching you. Even if its just the cookie snatchers.
“Our privacy laws have not kept up as technology has changed the way we hold information.” Most engines record your searches, keeping record on you and your searches for months, or even years. …click here to continue the read

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

She had weed in her backpack

Not just any kind of weed but a very high grade of weed. She called me on the phone frantic saying, “Mommi! Mommi! Someone put weed in my backpack!” I was asleep when I answered the call and hearing my child scream those words on the other end woke me up quicker than a triple expresso shot. I was up, dressed, and wearing Mac Ruby Woo lipstick when I arrived at her school 12 minutes after the call.

10:30 am — I enter the VP’s office just in time to see a SECURITY Representative going through the contents of my childs book bag. …click here to continue

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Everybody Knows The War is Over and the Good Guys Lost

It was during that period when everyone ran around spending money they didn’t have, to buy shit they didn’t need, in order to impress people they didn’t like, that suicide rates went through the roof, proof that money does not equal happiness, perhaps? And it was this period that the health system fell apart, the horror stories emerged like some celebrity from Kim Kardashian’s pussy, all limp, lifeless and covered in spunk and pussy juices, we heard of how patients with cancer were told they were fine and patients with no cancer were told they had six months to live, some were sent for treatment for a disease they didn’t have.

This wasn’t just a shortage of beds, waiting lists as long as tomorrow, this was human stupidity, but  no one gets punished, not in Ireland, where every day during the Celtic Tiger, during the Boom, just before the bang, was like a really good night out, you know the kind …click here to continue

________________________________________________________________________________________________

FIGHT THE POWER

Politics – Film – Television – Music – Books – Art – Technology

The Advocate

I subscribe to EBONY Magazine because… well… I’m EBONY and the information in their publications are highly relatable. While reading the HOLLYWOOD ISSUE I came up on page 29 and an awesome column that I thought I’d share wit you. It’s called Occupy the Hood. it started online and has already spread from New York City across the country. It now has some 15,000 followers on Twitter and chapters in cities including Detroit, Pittsburgh, Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, New Orleans, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Cleveland, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.

The Occupy the Hood motto: “We are the most affected of the 99 percent.” It’s a spin-off of Occupy Wall Street’s “99 percent” mantra against America’s increasing wealth gap, where Occupiers state that one percent of the population has the majority of the nation’s wealth. Occupy the Hood protesters believe Blacks should be even angrier than Whites in the 99 percent because people of color, particularly in low income areas, have been disproportionately affected by high unemployment, incarceration and fallout from the housing bust.

The facts support their claims: …click here to continue

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Finan¢ial Parenting

It’s one of life’s little mysteries: how two kids raised by the same parents could develop distinct ideas about saving and spending. But new research, the Arizona Pathways to Life Success for University Students (APLUS) study, is shedding light on the phenomenon. In fact, Soyeon Shim, Ph.D., developed APLUS while raising her teens, one cautious and one risk taking, after noticing the lack of qualitative information on young people’s money habits.

It turns out kids develop one of three distinct money identities: pathfinder, drifter, or follower. Each behavior has its own pattern of strengths and weaknesses affecting what kids know and how they use it. Overcoming the weaknesses ensures that kids get their wallets under control and don’t… click here to learn more

PERUSE on FOOD

HAPPY SUNDAE

Sweets for the Sweets and Sunday is a great day to partake. And I don’t mean in the ice cream sundae you see in the pic, though the recipe for it is at the bottom of the feed. Happy Sunday!

Today I’d like to focus in on the foundation of you
and encourage you to meditate on a daily to get through,
and encourage you to eat well – less carbs and less fat,
and encourage you to self preserve. Yes – we all need that.

Today I’m taking it easy. I am happy indeed.
Today my mission is to help someone and sew a good seed.
Send me a shout out – if you are in need.
Today it’s about humanity & philanthropy.

I’m a cheerful giver and a happy vibe spreader daily.
Some people receive me and some people think I’m crazy.
…click here to get the recipe

Presidential COOKIE Bake-Off

Michelle Obama says:
“Every evening Barack, the girls and I sit down for a family dinner with good conversation and healthy food. If we want to splurge, the white and dark chocolate chip cookies created by the girls’ godmother, is the perfect special treat.” …click here to get the recipes and VOTE

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Benefits of LUNCH

Today I decided to cook lunch, rather than do take out. Besides I’m on a tight budget and all that I had in the freezer was ground beef, turkey burger patties, frozen fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, mangos, pineapple, peaches) and chicken. I went with the chicken, thawed out a few strawberries, pulled fresh spinach from the fridge that I bought last night and mixed up a balsamic vinegarett and tah-dahhh! Lunch is served and the fam is looking at me like I’m a winner. …click here to continue

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

What’s in the Kitchen

You can say a lot of things about the FDA institution,
but you don’t have to eat fast food when there are better food solutions.

Lean burgers that won’t dry out
In an effort to cook healthier, I’ve been making burgers with lean beef — but they just aren’t as juicy and succulent as my usual recipe. So I was happy to learn this trick: Mix 1 cup of plain yogurt and 3/4 cup of bread crumbs into each pound of meat. The yogurt’s lactic acid will tenderize the beef while the bread will retain moisture. …click here for more food 411

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Metabolic Miser

Your metabolism is your bodys motor. It’s beautiful. However the TUNE-UPS and products you use are what keeps it running like new, ..ie, ‘My God you haven’t gained a pound since high school. It must be your diet.’

Diet isn’t a bad word unless your eating habits are. Which also translate to, ‘Your car isn’t a crappy car, it’s the way that you’re caring for it (or lack of)’.

“As we age, we develop a gunk build-up in the hoses and valves, that need flushing every now and then to perform at our most optimum levels.”

While my youth is about me, I’m trying to get an understanding.
When it’s comes to looking good – Priority is demanding.
…click here to continue

METABOLIC Miser

A miser is a person that hoards. Is that you? Are you hoarding your metabolic rate instead of contributing to it? So your car has a great engine, but you don’t appreciate it like you should. You don’t change your oil? You don’t run it properly? Are you giving it the good petro or the cheap stuff?

Your metabolism is your bodys motor. It’s beautiful. However the TUNE-UPS and products you use are what keeps it running like new, ..ie, ‘My God you haven’t gained a pound since high school. It’s must be your diet.’

Diet isn’t a bad word unless your eating habits are. Which also translate to, ‘Your car isn’t a crappy car, it’s the way that you’re caring for it (or lack of)’.

“As we age, we develop a gunk build-up in the hoses and valves, that need flushing every now and then to perform at our most optimum levels.”

I grew up on home cook meals daily and then on Friday nights my mom would order up pizza or take us to Micky D’s or something. Saturday was left over night and every Sunday was a feast fit for royalty. As I got older my Mom started letting us have more of “say so” in our diet. It was great then, though now I question our adolescent wisdom and my contribution to my own health declination. We started a pop culture in the kitchen that included home cooked meals at leas 4 times a week and fast food on the other 3. We continued to chop away at the good and necessary foods until it was a nightly thing for us to do drive thru at a variety of fast food joints (that now rule the better part of most major roads in every major city). End result, less healthy and prone to holding fat.

I graduated at 120 bounds and 5’2 tall. I wasn’t model perfect. I was pencil like and lacked curves. Curves [and some] is what I sport today. Yeah. I did it. And while my motor is a high revving one with energy to boot – it’s not what it used to be. Going to bed by 10pm is something I do religiously. A few years back, that was not a norm. I was a late owl (sometimes as late 2am or so), who was never late to my 7am class the next morning. Now I turn in at 10pm and while I’m up bright eye’d and bushy tailed by 5:30am, I am usually in need of a nap by noon. It’s about that time that I start to run of gas. I didn’t want to admit it before, but I’m going to do it here today – I think it’s my diet.

In the interest of dropping the sluggish feeling I’ve opted to pay attention to my motor. My metabolism isn’t what it used to be. I’ve been making a myriad of bad food choices that have contributed to the gunk build up that suppresses my metabolic rate. So how do I get the fire blazing agin?

I won’t bore you talking about my morning smoothie of protein, wheat germ, flaxseeds, rasberries, blueberries, pineapple, fresh spinach leaves, vanilla yogurt and soy milk, but such a small change in my diet quickly resulted in lighter moods and clearer thoughts. So clear that I have noticed an increase in concentration to project completions. On the flip side I’ve also noticed that right before bed, I still crave chips. I gave in to the urge last week, after not eating any chips for about 3 weeks. The sodium content was inhumane, (I’m sure). I noticed the bloat. My guy didn’t. But I did. I could feel it too.

Let’s not go there again. So now I’m tasked with following my good diet throughout the day and straight to bed time. It may seem elementary for you, but for me this is task, if I want to jump start my metabolism.

Click here:
Kick Start that Metabolism

While my youth is about me, I’m trying to get an understanding.
When it’s comes to looking good – Priority is demanding.

I’m a lady of leisure (for sure) who enjoys eating out like everyone else,
but I’ve got to do something different – if I want to continue to look my best.

My breakfast is on point and my bedtime snack needs to go.
I’m Qui
I’ve been harboring my motor – but I’m not ‘gone do it no ‘mo.

Here’s a list of foods that help start the metabolism too:
15 FOODS
Enjoy!

NEWS

He’s a BAD MOTHER…

LaTanya calls him Sam.

Samuel L. Jackson is a bad mother — and he will never shut his mouth. The multibillion dollar man takes aim at President Obama and Hollywood, and dares you to say something. Kevin Powell reports:

Samuel L. Jackson barks at me, sternly, his almond-colored deep set eyes weighted with history, mythology and Black folktales, scanning me quickly, methodically, as I respond, feebly, “Uh, my friend, the visual artist Radcliffe Bailey said to call…”

“Say, man, my wife said you called her. What’s up with that?”

Before I could finish, Jackson strips the tension with a devilish smile, shakes my hand and returns to posing for the photo shoot.

As Pandora spits a soul medley of James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, The Isley Brothers and Sly and the Family Stone, there is Sam, forever in his beloved Armani, firing up smoke, flames dancing from the cigar and the match thisclose to burning his finger. There is Sam tossing hats at the photographer’s lens, his bald head bobbing and weaving with each flick. …click here to continue reading about SAM

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WHAT’S HAPPENING with DEE

Hey-Hey-Hey! Remember the old WHAT’S HAPPENING series from the late seventies? If you’ve never known it, get familiar: via AMAZON. Remember Rogers little sister Dee? I do. There was one line in particular that I remember [that still cracks me up to this day], it was in an episode where the high school teen Roger was tasked with baby sitting his little sister Dee, (Mom – played by MABLE KING worked the night shift), but Roger wanted to go to a party with Rerun and Dwayne, so he called Millie (the aging babysitter) over to watch Dee instead. Once Dee found out Roger was going out anyway, she threatened to run away, by saying to Roger,
…click here to read more

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Yes – I used to do PUFF ‘N STUFF

Were you into it to? You can tell me. I won’t tell anyone. …click here to rehash it all

Introducing The ALCHEMIST

I first learned of the book, “THE ALCHEMIST” by Paulo Coelho a few years back when Will Smith raved about its simplicity on The Tavis Smiley [Talk] Show.

Had you ever heard of the book and/or its author? Well let me tell you a little bit about the author, and then I’ll share the books introduction pages with you to light the fire under your go-getter-bottom, so that you continue to WIN today. No limitations. Now about the author:

I encourage you to get the book and be The ALCHEMIST in your life – if you’re not already doing so. I wouldn’t live life any other way. Having said as much, please enjoy the following INTRODUCTION from the book “The Alchemist”::

remember receiving a letter from the American Publisher Harper Collins that said that: “reading The Alchemist was like getting up at dawn and seeing the sun rise while the rest of the world slept,” I went outside, looked up at the sky, and thought to myself: “So, the book is going to be published in English!” At the time, I was struggling to establish myself as a writer and to follow my path despite all the voices telling me it was impossible.

And little by little, my dream was becoming reality. Ten, a hundred, a thousand, a million copies sold in America. One day, a Brazilian journalist phoned to say that President Clinton had been photographed reading the book. Some time later, when I was in Turkey, I opened the magazine Vanity Fair magazine and there was Julia Roberts declaring that she adored the book. Walking alone down a street in Miami, I heard a girl telling her mother: “You must read The Alchemist!”

The book has been translated into fifty-six languages, has sold more than twenty million copies, and people are beginning to ask: What’s the secret behind such a huge success?

The only honest response is: I don’t know. All I know is that, like Santiago the shepherd boy, we all need to aware of our personal calling. What is a personal calling? It is Gods blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don’t all have the courage to confront our own dream.

Why?

There are four obstacles. First: we are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea and as the years accumulate, so do the layers of prejudice, ear, and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it’s still there.

If we have to courage to disinter dream, we are then faced by the second obstacle: love. We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that love is just a further impetus, not something that will prevent us going forward. We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy and are repaired to accompany us on that journey.

Once we have accepted that love is a stimulus, we come up against the third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path. We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn’t work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: “Oh, well, I didn’t really want it anyway.” We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and that the path of the personal calling is no easier than any other path, except that our whole heart is in this journey. Then, we warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universes conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how.

I ask myself: are defeats necessary?

Well, necessary or not, they happen. When we first begin fighting for our dream, we have no experience and begin make many mistakes. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.

So, why is it so important to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people?

Because, once we have overcome the defeats— and we always do— we are filled by a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. Each day, each hour, is part of the good fight. We start to live with enthusiasm and pleasure. Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our soul, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.

Have disinterred our dream, having used the power of love to nurture it and spent many years living with the scars, we suddenly notice that what we always wanted is there, waiting for us, perhaps the very next day. Then comes the fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives.

Oscar Wilde said: “Each man kills the thing he loves.” And it’s true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get that they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. WE forgot about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far. I have known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reached their goal– when it was only a step away.

This is the most dangerous of the obstacles because it has a kind of saintly aura about it: renouncing joy and conquest. But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here.

Paulo Coelho
Rio de Janeiro
November 2002
Translated by Margaret Jull Costa

__________________________________________________________________

It’s pretty good stuff and a pretty quick read,
I’m Qui
Sharing my book with the hopes to sow a good seed.
Ooo wee.