The international organization known as Rotary promotes travel each year, that all men aged between 26 and 40, male and female, and from all backgrounds know – - because it is a Rotary-funded study, six weeks on board, and everyone can apply, should a part of this important life experience. If you are in that age group – you could enjoy the kind of experience that is described in my notes in this article, too. They want to know more about the program go to the Rotary International Web site andSearch for GSE – Group Study Exchange – and contact your local Rotary Club for more information.

Our adventure continues:

13. April – Wednesday:

Nope, no women in the Rotary Club or English either – and she translated my speech with a cell phone – it's all an experience. After Ms. Tanaka served me a hearty breakfast – they said that was the coffee from Seattle, the cereal from Switzerland, Germany, the marmalade, almonds from California, and the balm from somewhereothers – the avocado was definitely from here – Alan and I went on the road for about 40 minutes to a more rural town called Ukiha, Fukuoka to attend the Rotary Club Ukiha, Fukuoka. I laughed, although I do not understand the language – at a Rotary meeting is like go to church, because the world more than they have the same format.

This club had about 40 members – and like the others, they open the meeting with a song – in Japan, with what we as Glory, Glory Hallelujah, the know consider them tobe religious recognition. Tamaki Oi came with us for the visit – and it was fun to meet them because they will be on the incoming team, if this area her team sends us next year. The ride there and back reminded me of a trip to Gilroy from home in California – two mountain ranges on both sides, one more roll and velvet-like, and the other tougher mountains, with green meadows in between. It is expensive to belong to Rotary in Japan – they tell me that their contributions are $ 250 a month – butthey do not fund-raising projects, they write checks. Alan has asked me to speak about women – imagine my reluctance – and he says that this is a topic of its governor. So – I asked for questions at the end of my speech – and a man asked me if I knew the Soroptomists – in other words could, women, instead of joining the club.

Yahoo …. we become a famous hot springs this evening – I would love all the hot springs can be found on Kyushu, and I understand that there is a lotthem. It helps me recover from jet lag.

As the evening turned – it was wonderful inspiration – if the girls – Teiko Tanaka, her daughter, Ai, and I went out to dinner. We went to a restaurant, the French we had a nice selection and then another. The food here – and the small dishes that you please the eye and the palette with thoughtful details in French cuisine and Japanese. We talked at length about the role of women in Japanese society and the changesthat occur. Women here see the same dilemma, and these are secular women who have a cross cultural perspective. The conversation continues in a long enjoy the hot springs – a charming spot, is in the mountains overlooking the valley. We first wash, as is customary, and then go outside to the shallow basin surrounded by large boulders that the pelvis of forms for its mineral water. It is good to bask in the intimacy. It's 1PM on the time that we fall in bed. The other teamMembers had a good day.

14. April – Thursday:

A really full day is held today – a day of sightseeing. We gather at about 10 in the house Izumi – and the team looks forward to each other after going their separate ways to see yesterday. Let us get to Hiroshi (Mr. Tanaka's) Toyota minibus and off we go. The first stop is at the brewery in Tanoshimaru Sake Wakatakeya. We sit in the Japanese style around a large brown wooden table with a Japanese flower arrangement in the center – a large bowl withCamellia have branches and pink flowers. What do they serve us all delicious, and from some of the production's sake – like the soup from the separation of the rice and made sake and the dessert was a plum, also because of the sake. The sweet little cup filled with clear reasons – and later unfiltered sake – what we all agreed the best, and we all took home bottles for later from the store.

We drove forty-five minutes or so – and were too Akizuki and led theRuins there. Marvelous – it was a perfect picture of the city, and we walked the length of Market Street which was lined with blossoming cherry trees. There were vendors and charming shops all the way along, and the walls and bridges of the old castle. We stayed for a while and took in the peaceful character of the village, walked the long staircase through the old gate has a lot of pictures because it was so beautiful, and had laughed together. The cherry blossomsfloated in the air like it's snowing, and the green hills were alive. We stopped at the ice cream parlor because he thought it was Antonio Tiger Woods – and everybody laughed. We noted that we are the way that feels life is very popular in Japan.

Down the street, we ducked into Takagi Kyusuke Shoten for Kuzu-kiri. If you are wondering what that is – it's a noodle from a root that a strength is made, and immerse them in a molasses kind of soup to eat with chopsticks. Itwas a famous little shop, and we enjoyed tea with Kuzu-kiri – and said as Izumi, this is the real Japan. We are blessed because we have begun to understand that we see things that are possible only because this is the home of our hosts, that if all the good things known – and show us the inner parts of their culture and country . As we drive on the road, turn left Akizuki, we stop at a bridge, a thousand years old and Tumbling take water over the rocks below – withabundant green touch the edges.

Again, a little less than an hour in the car – and we come in Dazaifu, the very famous shrine in Dazaifu Shinto. We learn that not a wonder-Shinto religion but a way to further knowledge for the mind. We are treated to an unusual experience – we are on the side steps on the floor of the shrine, with the decoration in front of us – and Izumi has arranged for a special ceremony for us with the priest. It is a blessing, and as inJapanese, we do not understand what they say – but bless them a few palm trees and invite us to place them on the altar. We stopped at the front of the shrine of the "flying plum tree, see" (because legend has it that she flew there from another island), and a thousand year old tree with a big base. And then went back on a famous bridge to the village.

Well, we would to dinner – I thought that the Japanese do not eat as much until today. We drove for about an hour Ogori- By Ogori Tsuzumi. This was a special occasion, organized by the hosts. It has not been a restaurant, which is advertised – it is the hobby of a man, the president of a well known company for ten years in retirement, and now cooks for special groups. We were greeted warmly – and came into a room in a Japanese style tables. We had to first learn how to make soba noodles add – and with a big bowl of him, we were invited to join the chef to start with the buckwheat flour, on water, shakeCornmeal consistency, knead – and then turning with sticks until very thin, cut with a sharp knife – make the noodles. The boss was very precise about the thickness and get the dough into a square. Harry, Monica, Julia, Antonio and I all take turns in preparing. Harry learned to see the dough to feel if they're all the same thickness.

Then, dinner – a start with half the cast in a bucket to dive with the pan, and highlight the first of many plates – by the soba noodles. ThePlates were very pretty and half cups were bright colors – and we filled each others cups. Meanwhile, we have been sitting on the floor in Japanese style for about four hours today – and our American butts and hips are groaning – and we notice how comfortable sitting our Japanese hosts. We laugh a lot when eating is not surprising because Hiroshi magic tricks that left us all spell. How did he do it? The dollar bills out of his hand hovered a person to another – and the chopstick was moving in theTable and not even touch it – and to look after the operation to Julia's in hand, with fixed concentration, the time is shifted forward by one hour – and bend the spoon, if none of us can touch it.

In this group, we need not reach all the talk to understand because there are only good humor and fellowship. The chef is happy that we are satisfied with his works, and each arc many, many, many times on the way out the door. It was a day in which no tourist would encounter –and it is only through the gift of the network of Rotary – and every one of my team members individually make the comment to me – that we have experienced this incredible day.

This article is a series – so read on – and for many days to follow in our wonderful adventure!

Travel Blog

Hace 17 años debutó Radiohead con su single Creep, una canción emblemática que les abrió las puertas del éxito. Aunque no la tocaron en directo durante un tiempo como reacción al temido encasillamiento, está considerada como una de sus mejores composiciones. Muchos han sido los artistas que la han versioneado. He seleccionado dos de entre todos ellos para que la comparéis con la original. En el siguiente video la podéis disfrutar en un lugar exótico, en el MTV Beach House en 1994.

El neoyorkino Moby es uno de los que se han atrevido con la que es para muchos fans un himno. El bisnieto del escritor Herman Melville, autor de la novela Moby Dick de la que coge su apodo, la ha tocado en varios conciertos. En el video por ejemplo tenéis la brillante interpretación que hizo en el Festival de Glastonbury.

Chrissie Hynde y sus Pretenders la adaptaron en formato acústico para incluirla en su box set Pirate Radio del 2006. La maravillosa voz de la ex de Ray Davis (The Kinks) y de Jim Kerr (Simple Minds),  ofrece otra visión de la canción que la hace especialmente atractiva. No os arrepentiréis de darle al play.

Way to go man.

Read the full article here

This moron was sending/receiving explicit images with young children. What a creep! Seriously… and to do it from school too?? WTF. That’s really gross.

So the Myth Busters are at the White House today. Supposedly twitting their minutiae. Will we find out that Obama is not a Naturalized US Citizen after all? That Obama is also half White and the glass is half full? Will they test the “One Drop Rule”? That Bill Ayers wrote “Dreams of my Father” That Obama is the first Affirmative Action President?

I truly doubt it.

It’s probably a “Fluff Piece” anyway. I liked the show at first, but it’s become too “Campy” and contrived. The guy with the bald head and the mustache gives me the creeps.

They’ll just add to the myth of Syth called Obama.

Hello there, how are you?

Today I was browsing the Internet, acquiring some knowledge if you prefer to call it like that, and I came across a posting that had the right path of creativity, therefore, I decided to re-invent it, edit it, and change it for your delightful entertainment.  Hopefully all of us girls can identify.. By all means, if you want to add another point, be my guest, this list can only keep getting better, that way we will find PRINCE CHARMING…

My Boyfriend Application and Test

First, a little about me. I’m a 26-year-old, very  good looking and intelligent Latina, with a full time Job and  attending University. I’m tired of wasting my time, so I have formulated some mandatory criteria in part A, and part B is based on points.

Part A

1) You must be born male. I’ll need to see a birth certificate proving so.

2) You must own something to wear to a formal reception. And at least a couple formal shoes.
3) You must not own or ever wear Birkenstocks, crocs footwear or wrangler jeans. Or wear your jeans so low, that  I can see the end of your briefs.
4) All your parts need to be in good working order, further testing will need to be conducted of course.
5) I can’t accept a regular drug user. Despite CA culture, I am including weed.
6) You must own at least four collared dress shirts. You need to look presentable standing next to me.
7) Your height must be proportional to your weight using the standard AMA guidelines. (fyi, I do prefer them taller than me, so you have to be at least 6 feet) .
You must have a couple photos which were  taken in the last 2 months.
9) English must be your first language. However you need to have a pretty good understanding of Spanish and Latin culture, or at least a desire to learn.

If you meet all of the requirements above then you may continue, if not, then you are now dismissed but thank you for applying to be my boyfriend.

Now: give yourself two points for each of the following criteria you meet

Part B

1) You have (or are working on) a degree.
2) You own a car and have a valid driver’s license. Suspended for DUIs: minus 10 points.

3) If your car is better and newer than mine add 5 points
4) You’ve never worn Ed Hardy, Affliction or any other Christian Audigier affiliated brand.

5) If 80% of your shoes can be described as sneakers take minus 5 points.
6) You follow at least one professional sport.
7) You have skills in bed. Not because you think you do, because your past experiences have told you.
You are not a born again Christian, Jehovah’s Witness or any other kind of religious fanatic.
9) You have been to at least three countries outside of the US.
10) You don’t need to call a handy man if something breaks around the house.
11) You know how to cook a meal for two. (Eggs, instant noodles, sandwiches, lean cuisine do not count as a meal)

12) You actually do shores around the house, like doing dishes after I cooked, help cleaning the kitchen, bringing flowers, wine etc..
13) You like stepping out of your bubble and trying new things like different cuisine, bungee jumping, salsa dancing.
14) You can make it through a romantic comedy without complaining (don’t worry we don’t have to tell your friends).
15) You have a great sense of humor. Are people laughing with you, or at you?
16) You can plan a good date without any help or advice from me. “I don’t know, what do you want to do” isn’t an answer.
17) You work out and enjoy being physically active. I hit the gym regularly, you should too.
18) You have a job that requires more than a high school diploma.
19) You read books, or at least you read the newspaper, so we can talk about worldwide subjects.  

20) You are an educated individual. You challenge my intellectual abilities.
21) You have a 5 year goal.
22) You aren’t afraid of being yourself, even if you have a dorky, nerdy side. (that’s kinda hot).
23) You’re competitive, and I don’t mean you like to battle it out on Wii with your buddies on the weekends.
24) You know how to dance.

25) You are spontaneous and creative.

26) You are secure about yourself and us. Meaning I’m not looking for a jealous, immature, insecure chauvinistic pig. People are going to check us out. Just enjoy the ride, at the end of the night I’m going home with you.

27) Last but not least, you can acknowledge when you screw up, and say sorry;  flowers and a romantic dinner might help you get some points back.

If you have a score of 40+ then please contact me immediately. If you scored between 20-35 pts, you can contact me, but I don’t have a lot of hope for our future relationship. If you did not score high enough, then please do not contact me, but if at some time in the future you are able to improve yourself and meet the minimum requirements, then you may re-apply.

You MUST respond with your age (this is a creeper free zone, 25-36 year olds only please) and your picture.

I thank you in advance for your application, however, only successful candidates will receive a response.

fyi.. I’m not trying to be rude or insult anyone..

This blog is just for fun, and to make you laugh!

With Love

xoxoxoxo Ment@l Fashion Addict

UPDATE

Rather suddenly and unexpectedly, The Witch Doctor and My Black Cat will have to take our leave from all things Blogosphere for a couple of weeks. Perhaps someone will have discovered The Interesting Intertwinglement by the time we return. We doubt it though.

……………..

The Witch Doctor does not know any of the other medical bloggers personally, indeed she does not even know who they are with the exception of Dr Rita Pal, Dr Bloggs and more recently Julie. However, it is just about possible to deduce one or two things about the ages of most of them and an interesting phenomenon is developing.

Dr Grumble was pointing out yesterday that of those medics who blog regularly there are probably very few young doctors among them. I may be wrong about this, and apologies to the youthful ones if I am, but it seems to me that The Ferret Fancier and The Junior Doctor are the youngest. There is a great new medical blogger who might be younger still.  Rita is probably next in line. I’m not sure about Basics Doc - he might be next. There may be more younger doctors or medical students still blogging regularly and My Black Cat is going to look them out. The remainder seem to be “at their prime” or past it depending on whether it is a good day. The Witch Doctor, of course is of an evanescent  age depending on what particular spell she is under.

The Witch Doctor seemed to misunderstand what Sam was saying over the weekend. She thought Sam was of the opinion that the older bloggers were a load of old medical fogies who lived in the past and were resistant to change. However what I think she was really saying was that we were resistant to any degree of privatisation within the NHS.

I think Sam is really quite fond of us all in spite of our weird ways.

Over the weekend too there was some despair among the bloggers regarding which party to vote for in the next election.

In the past there was probably a general trend for those with a Socialist leaning to vote against privatisation and those with a Tory leaning to vote for it. Not sure what you did if you were a Liberal though. But now the waters have become very muddy and no-one seems to know what each party stands for.

This led The Witch Doctor to contemplate what would be her voting pattern in the next election. She also spent some time considering her views on privatisation.

Now, we witches are not hindered by any present or past allegiance to any political party. We are certainly not and never have been socialists, old labour, new labour, social democrats, communists, tories or liberals. We have absolutely no allegiance to any of the new or extremist parties either. We believe all political ideologies eventually become tainted and we look out for that happening to whoever is in power and do what it takes to vote that party out. We are truly floating voters. It makes us feel important. We love it when they woo us round about election time.

The wooing is good fun but a waste of the politician’s time. The Witch Doctor will wend her way to the polling booth and do whatever it takes to vote against hubris.

She will not take leaders into account at all because she has learned over the past few years that they do not run our country. It is the gurus in the Think Tanks and powerful businessmen that encircle our leaders who do that.

One of the problems is that there is a new political ideology that has been foisted upon us unawares. It is a problem because no-body understands what it is about. Many have never even heard of it. Not knowing it is happening and not knowing what it is really about means we don’t know whether it is good or bad.

It is called The Third Way.

Another name for it is Communitarianism.

Tony Blair’s name was closely linked to The Third Way. So are those who surrounded him and those coming after him.

However, it is likely that all three major political parties are now Communitarian to a greater or lesser extent. This is why the voters are confused.

If you do a Google search for articles published on The Third Way, you will find a little intertwinglement or two. But you have to know what you are looking for.

The Witch Doctor placed a little Third Way intertwinglement experiment in Saturday’s post. It was so deeply hidden, she doesn’t expect anyone to spot it. Especially those who refuse to click.

Communitarianism is the reason why Old Labour who used to be so in favour of nationalisation, is now wooing the private sector. We witches also believe it is the reason behind The Skills Escalator.

All political parties will be hand in glove with the private sector from now on, so you’ll need to get used to it.

It is an important part of Third Way politics.

My Black Cat and I will try to learn all we can about The Third Way before the next general election. We have already learned a little.

And we’ll look for more intertwinglements.

Just in case some of them turn out to be very important.

a red apple ……………………

The Witch Doctor – Link to a random page

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LINK TO UK MISSING KIDS WEBSITE

LINK TO MISSING PERSONS WEBSITE

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© Dlundin | Dreamstime.com

by Pete Talbot

That’s my advice to the fiancee of Jordon Bryant Iddings, the alleged jerk in Thursday night’s downtown rampage.

Actually, it started at Hooters, that classy joint out on Reserve St. Then proceeded downtown to the Bodega and Reds. Iddings’ abhorrent behavior, and that of his five buddies, was blamed on a bachelor party — Iddings being the groom-to-be.

Here’s the Missoulian story. Read the comments, too, they’re as fascinating as the story itself. Apparently, Iddings had a Facebook MySpace page where he professed his love for his fiancee (shortly after, as the police report states, he groped a woman and then punched her in the face). And the wedding is still on, according to the comments. There was also a reference to the fiancee being with child. I sure hope that’s wrong.

Anyway, it looks like the MySpace page has been taken down, perhaps on the advice of Iddings’ attorney. The page is still up — thanks Pogo.

All I can say is: may I recommend a vasectomy, Jordy, to go along with that lobotomy?

And quite right too!

Nurse Anne, in the view of the witching community, is doing an essential service for patients, in bringing to the attention of the world, the way it really is in many wards in the UK during this wonderful age of “Change” and “Modernisation” and “Diversity” and “Talent” and “Leadership” and “Contestability” and “Plurality” and now “Polysystems” with “spokes” and all the other meaningless jargon that was ushered in by Tony Blair and his “Third Way” cronies that surrounded him and followed him and are still following him.

Nurse Anne is having a go at the doctors including The Witch Doctor.

In fact, The Witch Doctor agrees with most of what Nurse Anne says in her post apart from the implication that UK doctors are a cocaine snorting bunch, and The Witch Doctor’s views on apprenticeship. The Witch Doctor has a post on the topic of apprenticeship and the creep that will follow. This post is likely to appear sometime soon during The Witching Hour. The other thing is that, as a doctor, The Witch Doctor does not feel threatened by the “dumbing down” that the Skills Escalator is intended to produce. No. It is as a patient she feels threatened by this, not as a doctor.

So, why exactly do we witches feel that The Witch Doctor thinks Nurse Anne is quite right to do her nut about doctors?

Well, The Witch Doctor frequently does her nut about doctors too, albeit not in the same illustrative language of Nurse Anne.

If you are a hospital consultant, then we witches suggest that at some point over the weekend, you pour yourself a coffee, sit down by the fire and spend an hour or so reading through Nurse Anne’s blog.

MILITANT MEDICAL NURSE

We witches think every single hospital consultant in the land should read it.

We think every single hospital administrator should read it too.

We think every member of The Department of Health should read it.

No. Forget the last sentence. That would be counterproductive.

Consultants should read it because they should be supporting these nurses who are struggling against all odds in certain pockets of the NHS.

Consultants are not supporting them.

Ask yourself whether you have seen any of Nurse Anne’s accounts happening in your ward (if you have a ward that is – your patients are probably scattered all over the place nowadays, but that is a separate issue that you as consultants should have dealt with long ago).

And then ask yourself, does it bother you that patients lie in wet beds, are undernourished and don’t get their medications on time.

Well, Does it?

If it doesn’t worry you, then let me know who you are so that all the witches will avoid you like the plague when they are ill.

If it does worry you, have you asked yourself why it is happening?

Do you know the headcount of nurses in your unit?

Qualified nurses. Health Care Assistants. Cadets.

Have you watched them in a cluster talking about Big Brother instead of attending to patients? (Some do, Nurse Anne, I have watched closely. On the other hand, most don’t.) Most are excellent nurses who are run off their feet trying to nurse to the best of their ability but can’t. They are being asked to do an impossible task much of the time. The Witch Doctor has watched carefully and has done some simple arithmetic.

As a consultant do you trust your Trust Administration in not to squeeze the last ounce of flesh out of the nurses in your ward?

Come Monday morning, here is an exercise that all consultants could do for the benefit of their patients.

Get The Abacus out.

How many patients in your ward need help with toileting?

How long does it take to deal with each patient?

How long do patients in your ward (if your have one) wait for a bed-pan or commode?

How many patients in your ward need help with feeding?

How long does it take to feed a patient?

How long does it take to do the drug round?

How many times is the nurse in your ward interrupted when doing a drug round?

Do multiplication sums.

Lots of them.

Do the figures tie up with staff numbers that are appropriate to the level of expertise of each member of staff?

No?

Then what are you going to do about it?

Let me tell you.

You sit down with the nurse in charge of the ward. Not the one who is straddling the barbed wire fence between government administrator and nurse.

You say to him or her.

These are our patients. We have responsibility for them.

Together we will sort this out.

And do it.

That is what you are being paid a consultant salary to do. To ensure your patients are diagnosed, treated, and if possible cured. If that is not possible then you ensure your patients are cared for, comfortable and safe. You know that.

The medical and nursing professions need to work as one.

Together, both of you – the “hands on” senior medic and “hands on” senior nurse, with the help of The Abacus will carry great clout.

This government wants you divided.

They do not want you to have clout.

If you do not do this as consultants, you are letting nurses and patients down.

And for pities sake, if you are a hands-on consultant, don’t go bleating to your clinical director and medical director that “something will need to be done.” Ignore the hierarchy. As a consultant you can do this. You are an independent practitioner. These people are hindered because they have chosen to straddle the painful barbed wire fence.

See to it yourself.

Do you not know that you, the hands-on consultant, and the hands-on senior nurse, are The Leaders?

If you take on your rightful role together as The Leaders, this will never happen again.

a red apple ……………………

The Witch Doctor – Link to a random page

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LINK TO UK MISSING KIDS WEBSITE

LINK TO MISSING PERSONS WEBSITE

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© Dlundin | Dreamstime.com

Sup

This week I got a scandalous song for yall. It’s “As We Lay” by Kelly Price.

Let this video serve as a lesson to all those who are creeping on their significant others. Homeboy almost dropped dead when he saw those tickets in his birfday card.

Damn Vivica Fox is fine.

-Cleo

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OHHH I just had to add another bout it video from Kelly Price. Ron isley and R. Kelly had the sickest song fight ever.

I’m going to talk about anonymity. Online anonymity and what people act like when anonymous.

Before I go on, if you are new to MLM or just researching any other info. Craigslist forums is NOT the the place to do it. Just “google it”.

I visited a forum recently where I was new. Most of the time, most forums have what you might call a “queen bee” which is typically a female or on occasion you might even get the odd guy trying to be the “boss of the board” so to speak. Typically however, it’s women. Maybe we can examine why later. For now, lets talk about their online behaviors.

Anonymity affords many people an opportunity to “show their true colors” and not face the consequences. Maybe to their family, they’re the nice, self respecting mom of who knows how many kids and wife of who knows who. BUT, online under the guise of either fake names or as it appears to be on Craigslist “Gray Handles”, they can be who they “really are”. Nasty and hostile to those of us who might find success when they do not. I found that who they really are happens to be extremely rude, nasty and unprofessional at best.  Of course not all gray handles are created equal. I have met some who actually had a positive contribution. Consequently, those turned out to be men. Now, keep in mind that I “assume” the ones I talk about were female because the rest of their posting history was in “women’s issues”, “romantic this or that” or whatever. One even mentioned her husband. They seemed to be just simply rude to most everyone, especially new people.

Now I wonder, how would they behave online if we actually knew who they really were? Had their names and phone numbers? My guess is they would behave much differently. After all, they wouldn’t call somebody at the grocery store who didn’t behave the way they thought they should, face to face, an idiot would they? Of course not. Keep in mind there are many reasons to be anonymous online however, much of the time, it’s simply because they’re to chicken shit to state their mind in their own identity. Me, I am okay with stating my opinion and speaking my mind. I don’t need to rely on the veil of anonymity. Those who post trashy things and insult people who are simply seeking help, doing research and asking questions, while they themselves hide under the guise of anonymity or some fake name have ZERO credibility and more often than not, lack any kind of control in their own lives.

Let me tell you this, if I give you a bitch out, it will come from me, me directly in my own name and not while I’m hiding behind a wall so you can’t see me. If I give you praise, it will come from me, me directly and not while hiding behind a wall so you can’t see me. If you linked here from Craigslist, you know who the “Gray Handle Brigade” is and know this, they really are powerless people in their own lives and if they truly believed sincerely and openly what they say they wouldn’t need to hide their identity. To the Gray Handle Brigade, F-You! Stop being so insulting, degrading and demeaning to new people who just want to know things, expand their breadth of knowledge and have questions to ask. You clearly are NOT the queen bee in your own life or you would not need to be that way online and hide while you’re at it. Get off your fat asses and be real with us if you want even an ounce of credibility because when you hide behind the walls of anonymity, insulting others and being demeaning to them it tells me you are afraid to speak your mind in your own identity and are a very weak person in real life. Sorry about you and your weakness. To me and those of us like me who do NOT feel the need to hide, good for us! We actually are strong enough to speak our minds and share our thoughts in our own identity because we don’t have to worry about who we are. We aren’t nasty, rude people like those who insult while hiding behind the wall. Like those who throw stones while outside of our view, in fear. You’re a chicken.

The Witch Doctor has just tried to post a comment on one of the BMJ blogs. However she was asked for a user name and password.

We witches treat User Names and Passwords with disdain and so I have posted my comment to Iain below.

Now, The Witch Doctor appreciates this is a weird comment, so you will have to put it into context by reading the original post.

DOES MEDICINE – AND MEDICAL ETHICS –HAVE A PRO-LIFE BIAS?

“Dear Iain,

I suspect the comments in your blog over the past few weeks are providing you with interesting teaching material for the future.

For the first 15 years of The Witch Doctor’s life she asked “why?” many, many times. Following this was a ten year period of very deep thinking. After that first quarter century she made a decision to stop thinking deeply, because she recognised this could turn the brain into mince and furthermore it was counterproductive to the “projects” of her life and the lives of others. Instead she set about getting on with the mundane matters of life, like surviving, living, working, grabbing the occasional pleasure, and has done so ever since.

She regards this as a very clever philosophy indeed.

However, you have raised the question that as doctors, perhaps we should consider ourselves to be “underwriters of projects.” Are you suggesting, therefore, that part of our training should be to define the projects of life? To classify them? Having defined and classified them, do we then set about identifying and classifying our patients’ projects?

How do you propose we do that?

Even if we could define and classify an individual patient’s projects, do we then judge them?

How do we do that and is it wise?

If we judge them, to what end?

Mince…….

WD

Those readers of this blog may recollect that The Witch Doctor in the past had one of her comments dismissed as not suitable on a BMA blog.

The whole of the witching community were hopping mad!

P.S.

I notice, My Black Cat, that Dr No managed to post a comment. I wonder if he was required to submit a user name and password.

I doubt it.

Is the BMA just discriminating against witches?

a red apple ……………………

The Witch Doctor – Link to a random page

_________________________________________________

LINK TO UK MISSING KIDS WEBSITE

LINK TO MISSING PERSONS WEBSITE

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© Dlundin | Dreamstime.com

New Choze for all y’all. This time he brings Creep, Saint, and MatTheEngineer along for the ride. Be on the lookout for two new Choze mixtapes coming soon. Choze x Voice The Bigger Picture and Choze x JustNice Respect Earned. But, for now, get this track after the jump.

- Megatron

DOWNLOAD: Choze x Creep x Saint (Of Tru Quality) x MatTheEngineer – Live Your Life

Mustaches can do a number of different things depending on the person rocking the stache. A mustache can say one thing for one man, and something totally different for another. Lets go check out some noteworthy staches and do little analyzation of their meaning and background. Maybe we come up with some names for these works of facial hair. Mustaches are beloved optional facial features that everyone can enjoy– from rockstars to a child molestors– mustaches really are universal.

The Meathead: “Yeah, I play fookin football and I would have goatee but it feels uncomfortable wit my chinstrap on but really, it was getting me caught with the wife. I’d go home and say that I didn’t have a drink but the drunken slobber on my chin always seemed to reek of Glenfiddich. With mustaches, I don’t have that problem, Glenfiddy doesn’t dribble up ya know. I didn’t know if you knews that or not, but it don’t.”

The Struggler: “I just don’t fucking understand it. I did THREE regional productions of Sherlock Holmes on Ice back in Minneapolis but I just can’t seem to find work in New York. I hate this city. I think I’m going to pet my cat and write some suicide notes.”

The Whatstache?: The whatstache is for the natural stache sporter. It basically insinuates that you are so manly that you don’t even notice the mustache, hence, the whatstache?

The Creeper: “I did not grab her boobs. I grazed them. It was an accident and a complete coincidence that I was in the women’s bathroom. The story about me peeking over the changing room wall at JC Penney is a complete lie too. There are plenty of other 15 year old perve-stached kids in this town with braces.”

The Local: “I’ve been in Little 5 Points since I was sixteen. I bought my first case of PBR at 5 Points Package. All these yuppies keep moving into my part of town and spending all their money, and supporting our local economy, and it’s fucking bullshit man, I’ve been here for years!”

So here are your run of the mill, high powered camera lenses creeper shots of Ashley Tinsdale in her bikini at a resort in a place that still has sun. Nothing new right? WRONG! Look the above photo and the three that follows. Ashley Tinsdale is creeping on other people with her binoculars. Now is she doing this just to look for photographers that are creeping on her? Probably. But what if there were no photographers? What if no one every caught Ashley Tinsdale creeping? What if she was looking at you through her high power binoculars and you never knew. Well now we do know that Ashley Tinsdale is a creeper, so if you are ever in the same resort as her make sure you close your drapes or curtains so she can’t see you.

You know, I use to think that the photographers that took pictures of these girls from miles away were the creepy ones, but I had it backwards…maybe the celebrities are the creeps.

Makes you think doesn’t it.

The fact that all nurses will now require to have degrees, indicates that the major restructuring of staff planned within the NHS for some years now, is imminent.

Almost simultaneously it has been leaked that the Department of Health have proposed to cut central funding to hospitals to cover the salaries of junior doctors. Coincidence? Not on your life! They say it is to free up funding for nurse training. These proposals would have been made in the full knowledge of the likely outcome – that Trusts will cut the number of medical training posts.

The Witch Doctor’s interpretation of what is happening just now is very simple. Nurses NEED to have degrees so that The Skills Escalator becomes what it was always intended to be – a brutal cut in the numbers of expensive professionals (e.g. fully trained doctors and nurses), perched side by side, on the narrow upper echelons of The Skills Escalator, and a broad, broad base for a large workforce each of whom has clocked up a few simple competencies.

Those who have grabbed a fistful of “skills” will earn a place on the first few rungs of The Skills Escalator and most will go no further. This means, though, that the workforce will be “skilled.” It stands to reason. Hopefully patients will not know the difference between a professional worker and a skilled one. They certainly won’t know who is standing on each rung of The Skills Escalator. Eventually the skilled workers will regard themselves as “professionals” and The Skills Escalator will have done its job as one of societies‘ Great Levelers. Dumbing down will then be complete.

The Witch Doctor was made aware a couple of years back of a course being planned where a dietitian was to train staff in certain aspects of patient nutrition. Fair enough. Rightly, there was concern that patients were not eating their meals. The course was not really about nutrition at all. It was absurd. In one of the “modules” a banana featured. The skill required was to consider whether a patient was, or was not, able to peel a banana for herself. If the conclusion was that the patient was confused, had arthritis or couldn’t see etc, then that banana had to be peeled by the skilled worker and placed in an appropriate place that the patient could reach.

Who knows, maybe there was a “banana box” to be ticked on a clipboard. However, it was The Witch Doctor’s view that if members of staff did not have the powers of observation or wit to work this out, then they were a liability and should not be allowed near patients at all.

Not everyone will agree with The Witch Doctor, but she is of the view that “dumbing down” does not save money. Indeed, from what she has seen it can be a pretty expensive exercise. For example, a trained nurse while peeling a patient’s banana will ask, “why am I having to peel this banana today for this patient when I didn’t need to yesterday?” Nurses will want to know why there has been a deterioration. They will ask about pain and discomfort. They will look for vital signs. They will check the drug cardex. In fact, they are multitasking while they peel the banana. A professional, multi-tasking while doing mundane jobs, saves money, time and lives. Similarly, as a junior, The Witch Doctor used to pick up many important problems about patients and dealt with them, while she multi-tasked during her “blood round” early every morning. Incidentally, this also taught her how to get blood out of a stone and put up difficult drips at amazing speed! It also primed her for the following year when she had to tackle tiny scalp veins on dehydrated babies as a matter of urgency. Nowadays, she would not acquire these “skills” so easily. Phlebotomists were a great blessing in many ways, but they were also one of the earliest symptoms of “dumbing down.”

The Witch Doctor could go on, and on, about her views on The Skills Escalator and how “dumbing down” is the expensive alternative. But won’t. Instead, the question she is asking herself is this:

How can dumbing down save money? Lots and lots of money…….

She thinks she knows the answer to this.

She might be wrong, of course.

But the signs are all there that she is correct.

a red apple ……………………

The Witch Doctor – Link to a random page

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LINK TO UK MISSING KIDS WEBSITE

LINK TO MISSING PERSONS WEBSITE

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© Dlundin | Dreamstime.com

Be sure to read my latest entry in my Creepshow Watch Blog. This new story is actually the reason why I created the blog to begin with.

I talk about the bigger creeper I’ve ever met, and it all took place over a year ago. Thankfully, I’ve had more than twelve months to absorb the incident, and I’d like to think I’m more mature now than I was back then, so I can analyze the situation with a clean slate, tabula rasa mindset. I know that I made a mistake, all thanks to my “small town naïveté” and admitted stupidity at times.

As I’ve said countless times in my Creepshow Blog, I’ve been hassled and criticized for being “too mean” and “harsh” on these “misunderstood” guys. All right, well, let’s look at what these guys did to me and my friends:

*When I repeatedly told a classmate that no, I was no interested in dating him, he made an extremely inappropriate, uncalled for reference to my genitalia. Yeah, that’s not creepy at all! I bet he was just misunderstood. Or he was just a sexist sociopath.

*There was also the sports coach who said he would only talk to my friend’s classroom of students under the condition that she repay him in sexual favors. Was he also misunderstood?

*What about the 29-year-old married-with-children guy who got really angry after he unsuccessfully tried forcing Patron on me for more than five minutes, especially after I’d spent the last half hour saying I had the swine flu and was too sick to even be at the party we were at? Was he also misunderstood?

*What about the man in Paris who spanked my friend as he biked past her, humiliating her in front of all the surrounding Parisians?

*What about the other man in Paris who squeezed another friend’s behind when she was walking on the street, and she was too afraid to strike him because he was muscular and burly? Is he misunderstood or just taking advantage?!

*What about the man on the Paris Metro who told me that he wanted to sit on my lap, and when I finally moved away from him, he pulled me back down in my chair and grabbed my shoulder, all the while dozens of other grown men watched in apathy? Was my harasser, along with his cowardice fellow Parisians, misunderstood? No, not one bit.

The point, ladies and gentlemen, is that it’s unacceptable for men to approach women in such a foul manner without suffering the consequences. Call me judgmental all you want, and it’s only the men out there who have expressed any negativity towards me with regards to this blog. If you think I’m mean, you try being sexually harassed, and then tell me how you like it.

The Department of Health announced last week that from 2013 all nurses in England would be educated to degree level.

The Times had their views:

DOCTORS AND NURSES

“The demand that all nurses have degrees will not increase the status of the profession very much. But it will worsen the shortage of nurses”

“There could scarcely be a worse moment to make becoming a nurse more difficult. Over the next ten years 180,000 nurses are set to retire. There are 100,000 nurses aged 50 and over and another 80,000 aged 55 and over. It is proving difficult enough to retain the current workforce. A third of nurses told the Royal College of Nursing in 2007 that they were thinking of quitting because of poor pay. The Department of Health has predicted a shortfall of 14,000 nurses by 2010. The increased cost is also likely to exacerbate the shortage.”

Melanie Philips in The Spectator had much to say about it too:

NIGHTINGALE MUST BE TURNING IN HER GRAVE

“The news reported in the Times today that nursing in Britain is to become a degree-only qualification should strike a deep chill into every heart. Ostensibly to ‘improve patient care’ it will achieve precisely the opposite. That is because the real aim of such a move is to improve not patient care but the professional status of the nurse. The effect on patient care overall will be disastrous.”

Melanie Philips also quotes from an old article in the Telegraph by Harriet Sergeant.

THE TRUTH ABOUT NHS HOSPITALS: NURSES

“The catering staff slam the food down. No one bothers. Spooning food into a patient is just too demeaning for professional nurses, it seems. I always thought nurses were meant to care for patients. I might be wrong. I may have missed the plot somewhere.”

Another described the difficulty of trying to find a particular patient on a ward. Every patient is supposed to have his name above the bed. But, in some hospitals, they refuse to display the name “in case it infringes your autonomy”. So the consultant found himself wandering around, trying to find his patient. “There never seems to be anyone in charge who knows anything,” he said.

He would try to find the patient’s nurse. Then the patient’s notes. “I don’t often strike lucky with all three.” Finally, he had to translate the nurses’ diagnoses.

“They refuse to use hierarchical, male-dominated medical terms, so they will not say the patient is unconscious. No, the patient has to have ‘an altered state of awareness’.”

From the medical blogosphere The Ferret Fancier had something to say about it too.

WHO WILL DO THE NURSING?

“This loss of the apprenticeship and the reduction of basic standards is a direct result of one thing, money, the government does not want broadly trained competent workers who have learnt the ropes adequately, they want to isolate individual competencies and shift work down to people who have had way less training than in years gone by. To see this in action all one has to do is see who does most of the basic nursing on wards, it is done by ‘health care assistants’ who have had very minimal levels of training, they are the modern day nurses.”

The Witch Doctor did not bat an eyelid when she heard the news that all nurses will require to have degrees.

For some time now, she has been waiting for this announcement.

This is just one part of The NHS Plan

The Skills Escalator will soon be in full force because some of the medical profession are actively complicit and others are letting it happen.

CAREER FRAMEWORK FOR THE NHS

“MORE SENIOR STAFF -LEVEL 9
More senior staff with the ultimate responsibility for clinical caseload decision-making and full on-call accountability

CONSULTANT PRACTITIONERS-LEVEL 8
‘Consultant Practitioners’ are staff working at a very high level of clinical expertise and/or have responsibility for planning of services 8

ADVANCED PRACTITIONERS-LEVEL 7
‘Advanced Practitioners’ are experienced clinical professionals who have developed their skills and theoretical knowledge to a very high standard. They are empowered to make high-level clinical decisions and will often have their own caseload. Non-clinical staff at Level 7 will typically be managing a number of service areas

SENIOR PRACTITIONERS/SPECIALIST PRACTITIONERS-LEVEL 6
‘Senior Practitioners/Specialist Practitioners’ who would have a higher degree of autonomy and responsibility than ‘Practitioners’ in the clinical environment, or who would be managing one or more service areas in the non-clinical environment.

PRACTITIONERS-LEVEL 5
‘Practitioners’ –most frequently registered practitioners in their first and second post-registration/professional qualification job

ASSISTANT PRACTITIONERS/ASSOCIATE PRACTITIONERS-LEVEL 4
‘Assistant Practitioner/Associate Practitioners’ –probably studying for Foundation degree, BTEC higher or HND. Someof their remit will involve them in delivering protocol-based clinical care that had previously been in the remit of registered professionals, under the direction and supervision of a state registered practitioner.

SENIOR HEALTHCARE ASSISTANTS/TECHNICIANS -LEVEL 3
‘Senior Healthcare Assistants/Technicians’ –this is a higher level of responsibility than support worker, probablystudying for or have attained NVQ level 3, or Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL).

SUPPORT WORKERS -LEVEL 2
Support Workers –frequently with the job title of ‘Healthcare Assistant’ or ‘Healthcare Technician’ –probably studyingfor or has attained NVQ Level 2.

INITIAL ENTRY LEVEL JOBS -LEVEL 1
Initial entry level jobs such as ‘Domestics’ or ‘Cadets’ requiring very little formal education or previous knowledge,skills or experience in delivering, or supporting the delivery of healthcare.”

THE SKILLS ESCALATOR NOW – WATCH HOW IT WILL CHANGE

The diagram below comes from a document:

“Who are the doctors of tomorrow and what will they do?”

This was presented at the 9th International Medical Workforce conference in Melbourne, in November 2005.

The paper was written by: Rob Webster, Debbie Mellor & Becca Spavin,
Department of Health, England.

The paper had the following disclaimer:

This is a discussion paper only. It is not a statement on Department of Health policy.

Nevertheless, the document gives clear insight into the thought processes behind MMC.

It is the first documentation The Witch Doctor has found that suggests the medical profession will be fully integrated at various levels into the “Practitioner” career framework for the NHS that underpins the structures and principles in “Agenda for Change”

Here is where the Doctors in the Grades they held in 2004 were placed.

LEVEL 9
Doctors: Consultants (27914), Directors of Public Health (228), Associate Specialists(2029).

LEVEL 8
Doctors: Registrar Group (8056)
Allied Health Professionals: Consultant Therapists (126)
Health Care Scientists: Consultant Clinical Scientist – Grade C (433)

LEVEL 7
Doctors: Registrar Group (8056), Staff Grade (4943)
Nurses: 5% of All Qualified Nursing, Midwifery and Health visitor Staff (20125)
Allied Health Professionals: Managers (265)

LEVEL 6
Doctors: Senior House Officer (20283), Hospital Practitioner/Clinical assistant (1164), Other CHS Staff (442), Other CDS Staff (1083).
Nurses: 30% of All Qualified Nursing, Midwifery and Health visitor Staff (120751)
Allied Health Professionals: Manager (2312), Manager (265), Instructor/teacher (4118), Tutor (89), Qualified Ambulance Staff (16587), Assisstant Practitioner (557)
Health Care Scientist Clinical Scientist – Grade A and B (2776), Advanced Practitioner Biomedical Scientist (342)
Admin Senior Manager (11365)

LEVEL 5
Doctors: House Officer/Dental House Officer (4259).
No Doctor appears below Level 5.
Nurses: 40% of all qualified Nursing, Midwifery and Health visitor staff….
etc etc…………..

The Witch Doctor has three questions:

1. Where do the doctors really sit on the Skills Escalator?

2. Who exactly will be doing what used to be called basic nursing care?

3. Is this, or is it not, a stupid government?

She thinks she knows the answer to all three questions.

Do You?

a red apple ……………………

The Witch Doctor – Link to a random page

_________________________________________________

LINK TO UK MISSING KIDS WEBSITE

LINK TO MISSING PERSONS WEBSITE

_________________________________________________

© Dlundin | Dreamstime.com

One weekend, I went to a mixer at one of the best frats at my school. They had a huge party coming up and the only way to avoid waiting on long lines is knowing a brother very well, if you know what I mean.

Four (…or five or six) drinks later, I found myself chatting with a slightly creepy and indisputably not-cute guy who claimed to be roommates with one of the coolest, hottest members his pledge class. I figured he was my “in,” my protection from shivering in a line for two hours while my buzz drifted slowly away. So I turned on the charm, laughed at his jokes, touched his arm.

Yet even in my state of inebriation, my creep-dar started bleeping. Something was off about this kid and I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.  I decided to ask him some questions to verify his so-called brotherhood.  Our conversation:

Me: So, you pledged here two years ago?
PB (Pseudo Brother): Oh yeah, you have no idea. Worst year of my life.
Me: What chapter are you guys?
PB: Oh, we’re the Alpha chapter. Totally.
Me: Really? The Alpha chapter? Wow, that’s impressive. What year were you founded?
PB: 1889, baby! Brothers for life!
Me: What college are you in here?
PB: Oh, you know, the one that starts with a C.
Me: The College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences…
PB: Yeah, yeah, the last one.
Me: What’s your major?
PB: Business.

And it continued from there.  A number of red flags popped up, including the fact that pledging takes place over only one semester at my school, not a year; all the colleges start with a C, and there is no business major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; along with other glaring inconsistencies. However, based on his impressive chapter stats I decided to spend the night with him anyway, images of VIP entry to the upcoming party swimming in my head the entire time.

Early the next morning, I ran to the bathroom and looked him up on Facebook via my Blackberry. To my surprise, he wasn’t mutual friends with any of my friends in his frat. Upon closer inspection, I realized he didn’t have ANY friends at my school, and he wasn’t registered under its network—or any college network! Incredibly skeeved out, I snuck downstairs without waking him up and called a cab.

I sat on a bench (surrounded by empty Natty Light cans) in the fraternity house foyer and waited for my chariot. Looking around I realized I was sitting in the same spot he was sitting in during our conversation the night before, and right in my line of vision was placed a giant plaque that read “Alpha Chapter, Founded 1889.”

So much for impressive chapter stats!

The real kicker? He still texted me about ten times that day, seemingly oblivious that I figured out how creepy he was and ditched him. After I finally answered with a very terse, “Look, I know you don’t go here and I don’t want to see you,” he had the nerve to get mad at ME for “only hooking up with him because I thought he was in a good frat.”

And then he called me a Slore.

I guess I gotta give him some props for pulling that insult out in a serious conversation. Yeah, he’s still the creepiest guy I’ve ever…known, but at least he made me laugh.

[You got a a good "Morning After" story to share? Send it to over and we'll post it (anonymously, of course)! Do it! It can't be worse than crossing borders for booty....]

Today’s gorgeous SG is…. Rigel.

And some good ol’ tunes to get you in the mood…

So, My Black Cat, you’re at it again trying to scare the wits out of every one with your conspiracy theories.

You are getting very excited because it is reaching mainstream newspapers!

What is?

Democracy is being put through a mangle.

It is being flattened into something beyond all recognition.

What have you found now?

A columnist in The Telegraph.

I thought it was a blogger.

That was yesterday.

Is this somebody different?

THE END OF THE GREAT DECEPTION

“So the trap has snapped shut. It was somehow apt that the politician who finally let the EU get the constitution it has craved so long should have been President Vaclav Klaus, the veteran anti-Communist who predicted, just before the Czech Republic joined the EU in 2004, that it would mean the end of his country as “an independent sovereign state”. And what a delightful irony that Pravda, of all newspapers, greeted the news last week with the headline: “Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the EU is now a reincarnation of the Soviet Union”.

A blogger. A columnist. Different people. Same newspaper.

The columnist article has 201 comments?

You want me to read all the comments too?

OK, I might read it all.

When I get round to it…….

But we witches don’t really understand all this stuff about the European Union, My Black Cat.

And for that matter, you understand it even less!

In fact, probably nobody understands it.

And that is bad.

Very bad.

a red apple ……………………

The Witch Doctor – Link to a random page

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LINK TO UK MISSING KIDS WEBSITE

LINK TO MISSING PERSONS WEBSITE

_________________________________________________

© Dlundin | Dreamstime.com

YouTube. The best way ever to look in vain for video content that used to be there but has since been rendered “unavailable” for one reason or another. Looking down my “Favorites” this morning I was suddenly struck by the sheer number of them marked as “video unavailable.” Well ain’t that just a barrel o’ fun?

Luckily, though, timeless classics like Robot Pac-Man and How to Eat a Chicken Wing somehow dodged the bullet and still remain.

Here’s a favorite of mine that is still online and just happens to be the best karaoke song of all-time. Plug of a few slugs of hard liquor in me and I’ll get jiggy with this song ever freakin’ time.

Radiohead – Creep

Of course, “embedding disabled by request” for this video. Isn’t sharing content fun?

Credit shouts: Tshirt image generated using the Custom TShirt Generator.

Pizza. Stephanie. Films. Screening. Elwood. Creep. Tired. Can’t sleep.