substitute

(former head of the Humane Society, Michael Fox, once said in a conversation with Caroline:) We humans have far more in common socially with wolves than we do with apes, and that wolves don’t determine leadership based on dominance, but on charisma. And in wolf culture, charisma is measured by who initiates play best. Not just play, initiates “let’s go hunting,” etc. as well, but “play” is at the top of the list. And we can tell the wolf leader within ten days of birth, because it’s the pup with the lowest resting heart-beat. The calmest and the most imaginatively dynamic (what late ally Kurt Vonnegut would have called “the wampeter,”) – now, that’s a leadership criterion for which I could root. Especially if we syncretize it with goose leadership: the lead goose always rotates. The charismatic wise wolf part of ourselves passes the baton to teammates, as we all circulate between back-stage and on-stage.

http://www.coyotenetworknews.com/

It's... full of dumb...

Diedrich Coffee gives up fight
Local chain sells 47 retail outlets to Starbucks for $13.5 million to focus on wholesale bean business.


The Orange County Register

Irvine-based Diedrich Coffee, conceding defeat in the coffee shop duel with Starbucks, agreed to sell the 47 stores it owns to its Seattle rival for $13.5 million.

The local company will remain in business as a roaster and wholesaler of coffee beans. The sale includes all company-owned Diedrich and Coffee People locations. Franchise stores aren't included in the sale.

All "non-management employees in good standing" will be offered positions with Starbucks, and managers will be provided the opportunity to interview for positions, the company said.

Here's the company's statement:

( blabla )

http://www.cuddleparty.com/about/faq.cfm#erections

The whole FAQ is great.

Cuddle Lifeguard On Duty? What's that?

Cuddle Lifeguards are a select group of amazing individuals who are specially trained and certified in how to facilitate Cuddle Parties. They are responsible for ensuring the integrity of the room, meaning that no sex happens, that everyone feels safe, and that the sexual energy, when it shows up, is dispersed safely. They, along with the Cuddle Caddy, facilitate the Welcome Circle and make sure everyone gets taken care of.

SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF THIS EVELYN WAUGH NOVEL

Getting popped for DUI is bad. It's unpleasant and irresponsible to drive drunk. But if you pay the penalty and deal with your shit and don't do it again, that's good.

Being racially abusive is really bad too, drunk or not. But there are some people who say and do things drunk they don't believe sober. And when they apologize (and stop getting drunk), it's only fair to take them at their word.

But if someone is taken in for DUI, and in the process blasts out a tirade of anti-Semitic slurs and threats at the officers, and that someone is a prominent filmmaker whose father is a Holocaust-denying anti-Semite, and that person has not repudiated his father's views, and that person is a member and supporter of his father's crazy church, and that person has made a passion play film of just the kind used to launch pogroms and massacres, it's time for more than just a public apology.

Hey Mel? It's time for a complete turnaround. Stop drinking, stop being racist, repudiate your bigoted family and friends, and spend a decade or so making amends. Or just toss the citizenship and leave, because you're not wanted.

There's an interesting dialogue going on in my LJ post about the locally notorious woman-falls-out-of-limo-and-dies story from last year. Someone's claiming to be the boyfriend, and another claiming to be the sister, and there's smack talk.

I have no idea if the guy is who he says he is, but he sure has an asshole's email address!

Seattle residents: Please blow up KING-TV and everyone quoted in this article. Thanks. Courtesy do_not_lick:

The secret online code that keeps parents in the dark

10:50 PM PDT on Wednesday, May 10, 2006

LORI MATSUKAWA / KING 5 News

Sixteen-year-old Niles Jeran uses “leet speak,” an online lingo system that’s popular with kids. His friends use it too.

"I can see why parents would be worried just because it could, it can lead to danger," he said.

“LOL” for “laughing out loud” and “TTYL” for “talk to ya later” sound innocent enough, but if you look behind some other acronyms, there could be something sinister.

"I can see why parents would be worried just because it could, it can lead to danger," said Jeran.

Here's why they're worried:

- “KPC“ means “keeping parents clueless.”

- “POS” means “parent over the shoulder.”

- “GYPO” means “get your pants off.”

- "TDTM" means “talk dirty to me.”

"If you see that on your child's screen they're talking to somebody they shouldn't be," said Al Kush of Seattle-based WiredSafety.org, an Internet safety Web site for parents and teens.
Resources

Wiredsafety.org

Teenangels.org

NetLingo Internet dictionary

NoSlang.com

Parentsedge.com

He says some leet speak is harmless, but some like TDTM is a red flag.

"That could be the first step towards blackmailing to get a kid to perform sex acts,” he said.

"NIFOC is one of the terms they will sometimes use and it means ‘naked in front of computer,’" said Kush.

And leet speak gets even sneakier. Some words replace letters with numbers and symbols.

"There are too many predators out there that could endanger their kids' lives or could sexualize them too early by sending unwanted messages and pictures and things like that and Leet speak is just a gateway to all of that,” said family therapist Barbara Melton.

Some counselors even specialize in internet issues like this.

Susan Shankle counseled one family whose young daughter started a steamy online affair right in front of them.

"While the mom was cooking dinner and the dad was watching television, the daughter, who was 11 at the time, was carrying on this conversation with this older man," she said.

And her parents constantly checked the messages, too.

There is a way to learn the lingo, and that’s by going online yourself. There are Web sites with online dictionaries and translators to help, like Teenangels.org or Netlingo.com.

Wiredsafety.org operates the Teenangels.org site. There, they offer a chat translator to help parents learn the lingo.

Wiredsafety says some parental control software may also help.

Sometimes the kids and their subcultures should be ignored. I mean, you know, your kid is gonna be a goth or something, it happens, they're all angsty, and then they get their AA and learn drywall or something and just start drinking like you.

Or then there's the other times, when the neo-nazi gaybashing satanic evil clown rap/metal stupidocrat ultraviolence culture they're immersed in turns out to be for real.

Find the person who's got the idea for the next generation technology that will make tattoo removal quicker, cheaper, and less painful.

Invest in this person's business or patent as much as possible.

Wait ten years.

Retire and slurp umbrella drinks on the beach in Tahiti.

If I find the right technology there is no possible way this strategy can fail.

Edit: feisty_robot points out that this was originally a satire piece, and that the editors of the Toronto Fashion Monitor had been taken in. I guess they're no longer the continent's paper of record for me!

Every time he opens his mouth, he brings me joy, and I can forget the world's cares for a few more moments. I had no idea that Brooke Shields had a multicentury career of evil behind her! I thought it was restricted to Blue Lagoon.

Scientologist Tom Cruise revealed that he is much older than the forty three years he has spent in his present body.

Tom Cruise noted that he is "old beyond reckoning." What's more, his current life is "probably one of the least satisfying" he has led.

"I was much happier in previous existences when I wrote plays, composed music, conquered nations, discovered continents, and developed cures for diseases," said Tom Cruise.

Cruise said he became aware that he "had been here before," when he read the complete works of Shakespeare in a month, despite being dyslexic, not long after dropping out of high school.

"Shakespeare was deja vu for me," said Tom Cruise. "It was so cool. I felt as if I had seen his words already, knew them all by heart. Then, after I began studying scientology, I realized the words had come from my heart in a previous life. That's why I say that as glorious and enviable as my present life is, making "War of the Worlds" and all those other great movies can't compare to writing "Romeo and Juliet" or the sonnets.

In addition to recognizing his days of future passed in the works of Shakespeare and Bach—and in the achievements of Columbus and Napoleon—Cruise recognizes the continuing reappearance of "Anti-Thetanic forces," such as Matt Lauer and Brooke Shields, with whom he has clashed in former lives.

http://toronto.fashion-monitor.com/news.php/Celebrity_Style/2005082202tom_cruise (via blogging.la)