Welcome to my blog. I have recently published 1960s Decade of Dissent: The Way We Were with AuthorHouse. Please see below for a brief description.

This historical novel can be read on three levels: the flawed romance of Ginny and Montana; a profile of misfit, troubled people who drifted to the cause celebre; and a history of the nation’s 1960s decade of dissent. Students at Berkeley led sit-ins and protests, in virtual open rebellion. Ginny even joined the violent Weatherman organization, and fled underground from the FBI.

1960s DECADE OF DISSENT: now 50 years later — here we go again. Déjà vu.

So imagine you’re a millionaire. You’re looking for a high-end supercar, like the Veyron. You find that everything in that class is a bit slow though. So, of course, you commission someone to build something even better.

That’s exactly what’s happened here. Tuning company Underground Racing was commissioned by a customer named Jonah to build a twin-turbo Lamborghini Gallardo. The result? 1500hp at the wheels (Though it does require the use of VP C16 racing fuel). Compare that to the 1287hp the Shelby Supercars Ultimate Aero has at the crank, and you begin to realize just how fast this thing is. You may also bring up the Keating TKR as an argument, which has 1800hp at the crank. Now, there’s no official figure on the brake horsepower for this, but considering the drivetrain loss for AWD cars is about 25%, this should put out around 1875bhp, 75 more than the Keating. Admittedly, this is only an estimate, but there’s 75bhp of leeway before the Keating has the advantage, so I reckon this puts out more power.

The owner, Jonah, managed to clear the quarter mile in this in less than 10 seconds at a speed of over 160mph, and keep in mind that he isn’t a professional racing driver, hasn’t been to the drag strip in over a decade, and this was the first time he drove the car. Give a proper driver some time to practice in it, and I reckon this could clear the quarter mile in less than 9 seconds. Compare that to the Shelby Ultimate Aero Twin Turbo, which did the quarter mile in 9.90 seconds at 144mph with a proper driver in it, and you yet again see the sheer madness of this car.

Besides this insane engine, there have been some other changes. It’s got new wheels and new tires, the rear lights have been tinted, and a spoiler has been added. This may have come with the original car though, as it looks a bit like the Superleggera spoiler, so maybe the base car was a Superleggera. By the looks of the pictures, the car has also been lowered slightly. Details are a bit sparse, so I don’t know whether or not they modified the suspension, though I’d sure hope they did, as 1500whp with suspension intended for about 500bhp is insanity.

The engine is hooked up to a six-speed transmission of some sort. As far I can tell from the video below (Official video released by Underground Racing), the twin-turbo kit is now available for anyone who owns a Gallardo.

Source: WorldCarFans

A veces, cuando decimos cosas metemos la pata… pero a veces resulta tan divertido…

Ronan Keating: When you say nothing at all

We presented another delightful dinner by Adam Policinski on the 6th of November. This last time it was a private dinner for 14 people hosted by a local client and friend.

As many of you know, a wonderful dinner event also happened at the Nancy Shepherd House Inn on Friday, October 30. And because some people called after it had sold out, we’re doing it again on both the 20th & 21st of November! Choose one evening…or reserve a place for both evenings. Several people who have already reserved seats are coming all the way to Winchester, Virginia from out-of-state for overnight accommodations at the inn, just for a “Dinner by Adam”.

Adam Policinski and his partner, Christian Howard, indeed put on a fantastic presentation-grade dinner for 21 people on October 30th and for 14 people on November 6th. Adam is a world class, award-winning culinary artist who will again prepare and serve an amazing gourmet candle-light dinner at the NSH Inn in November. Google Adam’s name!

The cost for this next dinner event will be $65.00 per person (plus tax & gratuity), with four expertly paired complimentary wines included (Some of Adam’s wine choices are rare and valuable bottles from his own personal collection). For a Dinner by Adam, $65.00 is an unbelievable price!

Seating for Adam’s exquisite culinary-art presentation begins at 6:30 P.M. on Friday, November 20, and at 6:00 P.M. on Saturday, November 21. On December 6th, we have fine-tuned our Dinner by Adam and our service so that it is not as long of a show. It is six courses instead of eight this month, but you will not go away hungry!…just a little earlier. However, keep in mind that this kind of presentation dinner takes at least two hours.

My own fresh-roasted and fresh-ground coffee will be served after dinner.

The entire first floor of the inn, and the ale room (http://www.taterhilltavern.com) will be set up for this amazing dining experience. We can now seat 16 people very comfortably in the ale room!

Again, there will be live entertainment. Those who were at the inn for our last two dinners were fortunate to hear the fabulous Stormie Keating on violin, strolling from room to room with her guitar player (yours truly, David McLaughlin). Stormie has agreed to perform again for our two dinners coming up.

And as always, come early for wine, beer, water, and socializing before dinner.

If you are interested in seating for the 20th or 21st, please let me know ASAP by email or phone.

Credit cards accepted after the meal, of course.

Attire…as you like. I’ll be wearing a suit…only because I love being in one.

Of course my wife, Gay, will be helping, too.

And if you know of anyone else who would enjoy this kind of event, please spread the word. Reservations are NOT by invitation only.

We never know exactly what the menu will be because Adam decides what to create based on what he finds fresh the week of the event, but here is his menu from Friday, October 30:

Sweet pea and Truffle Custard with Carrot Foam

Country Bacon and Butternut Squash Soup with Maple Crema and Toasted
Pepitas

Potato Chip Pasta with French Onion Cream sauce, Manchego cheese, and Chive

Shrimp “Brick” with braised Cippolini Onion, nitrogen Avocado, toasted
Coconut, Pea Vine, Curried Parsnip puree

Apple cured Pork Loin, Sour Apple Potato hash, Gremolata, Nutmeg Foam, Beef
Neck Jus

Goat Cheese Mousse, Beet gelee, ground Coco Tuile, Radish green

Chocolate Mousse, Bacon and Egg ice cream, Popcorn shoots, effervescent
sugar cone

Baileys Panna Cotta, dehydrated Italian Meringue, Lemon confit, Espresso
beans, Cotton candy

And here is his menu from November 6th:

Country Bacon and Butternut Squash Soup with Maple Crema and Toasted
Pepitas

Beet and Bleu Cheese Cavatelli, Mint, Sunflower Shoots

Salmon Confit, Cauliflower Custard, Enoki Mushrooms, Pistachio, Chorizo
Sauce

Sous Vide Chicken, Potato Puree, Confit Onion, Brussels sprout, Morel Sauce

Brie, Carrot and Pickled Ginger Puree, Apricot, Lemon Confit, Popcorn, Pea
Vine, Agave Nectar

Doughnut, Apple Cider, Ginger Snap, Compressed Apple, Cotton Candy

Are you getting hungry?

Note: Article recreated after losing the original for an unknown reason.

British man-in-a-shed company Keating has got some serious ambitions: setting the record for the fastest production car in the world. They plan to do this using their TKR.

It’s quite an amazing machine actually. It has a 7.0L engine developing an insane 1800hp. That’s about 800 more than the Bugatti Veyron, and about 600 more than the current record holder, the Shelby Supercars Ultimate Aero Twin Turbo. You’ve probably never heard of it though. Even if you have, you’ve probably never seen one in the flesh, as only 4 have been sold. 1 is in the UK, 1 is in the US, and two are in Australia.

Now, it’s already achieved what it needs to. In test runs, it hit 260.1mph, 3 more than the SSC Ultimate Aero and 7 more than the Bugatti Veyron. The problem is, that’s 3 more than the official record of the Ultimate Aero. The Ultimate Aero gets updated every year, and the latest model has a claimed top speed of 287mph, so while they can make the official record, so long as 260.1mph can be repeated again in the presence of officials, there will be people out there whining that it hasn’t beat 287mph. So to really prove itself, it needs to beat that. Keating realizes that, and has set themselves the goal of a whopping 300mph. I wish them good luck, and boy, would I love to have a ride in one of these myself. 1800hp at your disposal is my idea of heaven (Though it could also end in you actually going to heaven). Just one thing though, that rear end:

Zonda rip-off?

Source: WorldCarFans and an Autoblog article which, by coincidence, seems to have disappeared as well (Or maybe I just can’t find it)

I’ve discovered another problem with the blog today, which is that one of our articles has disappeared. It was about the Keating TKR. To try and make sure this never happens again, I will run backups more often, and one will be ran in a few minutes. Be advised that the site may shut down while the backup is conducted. Before it is done, I will recreate an article about the car, as it is quite an amazing car and deserves to have an article.

This time it’s called the Arash AF-10.

The specs sound alright to me. The body and chassis are made of carbon fibre. It’s got the 7L V8 engine out of the Corvette Z06, putting out 550hp and 630Nm of torque. That engine is hooked up to a proper 6-speed manual transmission. It’s also got an active-valve exhaust system, to make it roar when you want it and keep it quiet when you need it.

This car will be followed by an AF-10S, which will be supercharged and intercooled to bump the power output up to 800hp and 750Nm of torque. They are also promising a 1000hp version, and if Keating’s TKR is anything to go by, that’s definitely a possibility (Which makes me wonder, where the hell did our Keating TKR article go?).

If that sounds like too much for you, or if the 320,000 pound (About $535,000) price tag is too big, then they’re also planning a little brother called the AF-8. No details have been released about that though, but if anything appears, I’ll be sure it gets posted here.

Only thing that bothers me about this car is the way it looks. If you ask me, it’s hideous.

Source: Eurocarblog

Katherine Keating recently experienced some rough treatment at the hands of a photographer while attending an A-List function. Tracy Spicer writes eloquently that by attending such a function as a guest, there is a transaction involved. Ms Keating complained about the incident. It has been suggested that extenuating circumstances may have caused her to forget the implied transaction between A-Listers and publicists.

Maybe she was annoyed by the media attention to her Amy Winehouse get-up. Perhaps she was channelling Amy Winehouse a bit too much. It really doesn’t matter. Had she complained to the media directly, as Katherine Keating, rather than running to her father to fix things, this all would have been a paragraph in the social columns.

Instead a former prime minister, infamous for his belittling, gutter-mouthed, parliamentary privilege protected insults, has called for the privacy laws to be changed. Thirteen years after voters told him to take his bat and go home, he continues to berate those he views as opponents.

In SMH articles he is happy to attack all and sundry, employing near libelous comments filled with vitriol and gutter-sniping, yet now is unable to accept that the worm may have turned. His own daughter is on the receiving end, and ex-PM Keating is demanding a rewrite of the law.

Of course he is.

What father wouldn’t?

Well, perhaps some well-known fathers may suggest that trading on the family name while making a fool of yourself is doing both a disservice to the family and to yourself. Other lesser known fathers may simply say, ‘wake up to yourself.’

Either way, Katherine was courting disaster by behaving badly in a public arena to which she had been invited. While this is about celebrities and their right to privacy, it’s also about acceptable behaviour by a young woman who happens to be the daughter of an ex prime minister. She was invited as the daughter of an ex PM. On that night she was beholden to two transactions. As an A-lister, there was the expected acquiescence to photos. More importantly, as the daughter of an ex prime minister there was the expected behaviour befitting someone who is dining out on the family name.

On both counts she failed.

Peace Arch News – Ready to rock for Halloween homecoming.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/peacearchnews/entertainment/65614962.html

Even though he was born in Victoria, singer-songwriter Ryan Keating grew up in White Rock and South Surrey.

He graduated from Semiahmoo Secondary in 1996 and some of his fondest teen memories are of “sneaking out and hanging out by the railroad tracks, or watching the Pacific Ocean roll in between White Rock and Crescent Beach.”

And for those who remember a pizza restaurant on Marine Drive called Papa John’s, he said, “that was me flipping the pizzas.”

Little wonder, then, that he has enjoyed his 2008 appearance at White Rock’s Spirit of the Sea festival with his band, Ryan Keating and the Sons of Kain – or that their upcoming Halloween Dance Party/costume extravaganza Oct. 29 at the Ocean Beach Hotel feels like “a homecoming.”

It’s also no surprise that performing is in his blood – his mom is well-known local actress Sheila Keating, who has appeared in many White Rock Players Club productions.

But Keating said it took a long time – including four years at UBC and several sales jobs and other business ventures – to realize the obvious.

“Music is my number one passion,” he acknowledged.

“And it has been for at least the last five years.”

The musician will be joined by the newly-expanded band, featuring his long-time writing partner, guitarist Kory Burk, sizzling lead guitarist Sam Sunderland (another White Rock talent), solid bassist Ian Beatty and drummer Graham Ellsworth.

“We call him Dr. Fill,” said Keating, “ because he throws in all these drum fills and keeps us all in great time.”

Latest addition is Keating’s cousin, Bryn Stevenson.

“He’s a renowned keyboardist from Victoria and he really adds to the group, makes it sound full – he can really lift a chorus and make it stand out.”

The idiom is definitely rock ‘n’ roll, Keating said.

“I love classic rock, from Elvis, Buddy Holly and Johny Cash to the Stones, the Doors and Neil Young; Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty and U2.

“I like a lot of new rock n’ roll, but my biggest influence is early classic rock from the late ’60s and early ’70s, and Kory is even crazier about it than I am.”

He described the overall Sons of Kain sound as “Jim Morrison or Johnny Cash backed up by Springsteen’s E Street Band, or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.”

Keating plays guitar on a few songs, but is primarily vocalist with the group, as well as author of most of the lyrics.

“I’ve written quite a bit of poetry, essays and short stories,” he said.

“At UBC I studied history, philosophy and English. I only started writing songs about five years ago but it feels like a wonderful, natural way for me to express myself.”

Some of the songs off the band’s first CD, Pleasure To Be, could be classified as mini-stories and that’s a kind of writing Keating likes to do, employing a natural flair for the dramatic.

“A lot of them are about the interior landscape of a person; emotions, broken hearts, the end of love or the passage of time,” he said.

“I’ve written lots of love songs, but I like to write about messed-up love relationships.

“Love songs are great if they can be approached in a new way, a way that’s interesting. I don’t want to be bored by trite, bubblegum, formula stuff. You’ve got to express it in a different way.”

Happy Stephen poses for photo's but privately he struggled with depression

This is a sad blog. One of my absolute teenage heart-thobs, Stephen Gately has died while on holiday aged just 33 years old. What happened? Stephen was enjoying a holiday in Majorca and after a night on the town went home to sleep it off but failed to wake up. Does this sound familiar? When Heath Ledger ‘failed to wake up’ people were quick to jump on the drug addict label but we subsequently found out that Heath was on a lot of prescription medication.

I know that Stephen had struggled with depression and he was involved in a lot of work recently with the Boyzone come-back and his own stage theatre career. If he was indeed taking a high dose of anti-depressants, maybe a few uppers to help his energy levels then a night on the lash with a lot of alcohol would have been a serious risk to his health. If he indeed die because of a tragic mixture of his antidepressants then I think this highlights the danger of these drugs. There are many forums and campaign groups from families who have been devestated in a similar manner because there is not enough information about these medications.

There are no confirmed reasons as to why this young man has lost his life at such a vibrant and fun time but my theory would be

a) prescription drug leading to heart failure

b) plain and simple cardiac arrest

c) choking on his own vomit

What are you theories? How could this have happened to someone? I really liked Stephen Gately. I had all his posters up all over my room when I was 12/13! I thought he was very talented.

Your thoughts?

Political party preselection would not normally remain on KC political correspondent’s radar, but the rush for ex Liberal leader Brendan Nelson’s vacating seat of Bradfield on Sydney’s north shore entertains momentarily.

Safest Liberal Party seat in NSW, with a margin of 13.5%, its a prize for any politically conservative wannabes. Ex Howard chief of staff, Nelson acolytes, sundry lobbyists & lawyers make an unsurprising list of carpetbaggers, but there is a stand-out candidate with real intellectual clout.

Ex tennis champ & commentator John Alexander recently joined the party, attended his first branch meeting and is enthusiastic about standing. A strong advocate for preventive health, he believes the decline of public tennis courts is contributing to childhood obesity & health problems (SMH Aug 28). With that range & depth of policy ideas, he’s a shoo-in.

The Labor Party is so impressed that it may not be running a candidate at all. The Greens will go hard though and keep the bastards honest.

The seat is named after John Bradfield, celebrated engineer of the Harbour Bridge. In later life he advocated damming Queensland coastal rivers to divert water to inland Australia by tunnels under the Great Dividing Range. Construction of public tennis courts is a mere bagatelle.

Premier Jack Lang reckoned Bradfield wanted to be the Napoleon III of Sydney, with grandiose plans. Did France’s last monarch & first President also inspire our politicians? Maybe not Nelson, possibly Sartor, probably Keating….but I digress.

This is a great interview of Father Thomas. Ken Wilber asks him about his prayer life, why he started on the contemplative life, and the importance of Centering Prayer.

This is something to relax and enjoy!

To download the file you have to go to IntegralLife.com and create an account. The audio is free to download for members.

Os paso un texto que tenía perdido por una carpeta de mis tiempos de universitario (hará una década), justo cuando empezaba a cuestionarme el estado de las cosas llamado Ejpaña y esa versión nacional del terruño. Leído queda como bruto y simple, pero esas ideas están ahí y prefiero colgarlas para el libre acceso de todo el mundo, a que duerman el eterno sueño de los olvidados.

———————-

Keating propone dos tipos de nacionalismo: el étnico y el cívico. Viendo las características de cada uno de estos, elucubro que el Reino d’Aragón (como ente histórico) fue el primer “nacionalismo” cívico de la historia. Me pueden acusar de planteamiento anacrónico pero la realidad es innegable: en plena Edad Media se crea una sociedad multidiversa y polifuncional, en la que se logra imponer el “Bien Común” para el progreso político. Esta esencia cívica sobrevive a lo largo de los siglos, multitud de manifestaciones lo demuestran (el Justicia, la confederación, fuerte espíritu honrado).

Something kind of strange for me just happened a couple of minutes ago and it’s worth writing about. My friend Taylor was baptized as a youngin’ of 2 months old or so. He has brought up the idea of just getting baptized in the moment but I’ve always told him to get it done soon at church.

Well, we ended up doing it differently instead. A lot of churches now a days seem to wait to baptize people until they can get a handful of people to do it all at once. And then a lot of times it isn’t a spontaneous invitation, it’s just those people.

Well, Taylor and I were in the hot tub tonight and he wanted me to baptize him, one believer to another. By far the most awkward baptism ever. I didn’t see it coming for one, and awkwardly enough, I also happened to be missing out on a bathing suit. And on top of that, it was weird to think of myself on the other side of a baptism, but we decided to awkwardly do it, under the circumstance that he still get one at a church, as I felt he should do. Partially as more of a public profession and partially because I was afraid I would do it wrong.

And so I nervously reached over to the top of his head and sadly turned it into a bit of a joke to help my awkwardness.

“Do you believe in Jesus” I said in a strange voice which I now regret having used. He answered yes and so in the name of Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit I pushed him under water.

We are now just chilling and he said he feels strangely more relaxed than usual, and I’m glad my eyes have been opened in a way I wasn’t expecting tonight.

If you’re looking to get baptized, go ask your church to do it immediately. No need to wait until they throw their once a year baptism party. Ask them to do it at the next service. And invite others who want to do the same to do so!

Taylor and I took a 30 mile bikeride from Chelsea to Spring Arbor today. Probably the worst idea and most intense day of physical labor in my life. It took us 5 long, intense hours due to our out of shapeness. But it was still a good time. Here’s a couple things God showed me:

-God is so beautiful that even the weeds He made are beautiful. There were so many blue and white flowered weeds lining the road and they were suprisingly good looking.

-And I also realized how well off we are because nothing was better after that ride than air conditioning, food, and a hot tub. I need to become more aware of those who need our help and watch out for my materialism.

And on another note, I saw a sandhill crane and a haunted railroad that randomly turns on with no train. Weird.

Last year I found on iTunes a small podcast called “The Healing of the Human Condition”. It consisted of a 4 part series of sermons given by Father Thomas during Lent. (The date of the sermons themselves is unknown to me).

I cannot find the podcast anymore, so here I am sharing the beauty of it.

To download the file right click and save this file.

Hopefully not copyrights are being broken.

After hours of dreaming, writing, recording, drawing, and editing, Jammin with Jamin is happy to bring you “Behind Closed Doors: Issue #1 & 2.” Starring the voice acting of Taylor Keating and myself, Behind Closed Doors is a story of wonder, questions, and excitement. It is also a story based off of a dream of mine that I believe God inspired and then helped me fix up the missing pieces. You can also note that the whole series is 2 issues long, so you don’t have to be impatient waiting for the ending

Hope you enjoy it!

A little while back my band was fortunate enough to be given a chance to get an interview in the Jackson Citizen Patriot. Now there’s always been debate in many bands about how open to be about their faith in how they present themselves and I know that there were many times where we had played around with the different ideas. Obviously, we’re a band of Christians who write Christian music which should be quite evident in our lyrics, but many bands have a hard time trying to figure out how much to say outside of the lyrics.

I must sadly admit that I was afraid for awhile that people would not care for our music if they knew it was Christian. It wasn’t that I was hiding the fact that we were, it’s just that I didn’t always come right out and say it. However, it has occurred to me throughout time that I no longer care what people think about our music. We are both a band of Christians and a Christian band. Sure, some people may no longer care to listen anymore, but what’s the point behind our band and the talents God has given us if we’re not willing to be straight up about it?

It becomes even more evident to me when I know that two internationally famous bands in particular are both bands of Christians and yet there’s not always a huge vibe coming off of them to get anyone’s attention in that way. It seems that when they sing about faith, their lyrics tend to be very metaphorical. I have also struggled with this and have plenty of metaphorical songs. And I’m not saying metaphorical songs are bad, they’re also very artsy and can help a person look at a subject in a different light. But sometimes it seems like more an effort to cover the real truth than to be artsy. It’s not that they bands and their lyrics need to pound people over the head about their faith, but it seems like it needs to be said or more widely portrayed.

I think back to the olden days of POD. Man, talk about being straight up about something. They did not sugarcoat anything and as awkward as it might have been for them at times, they made a difference for the Kingdom. Their music found its depth in their faith, in their lives, and in their actions. Or you can look at the currently popular band Underoath. Most people would not expect this heavy screamo band to get on a stage—especially in front of half the audience’s they play for—and say something about Jesus. They obviously care:

Now in reference to my first sentence, I finally decided to forget about sugarcoating the truth when we did an interview with an awesome reporter named Bill Chapin of the Jackson Citizen Patriot. We were honest about the truth in the article. It was a chance to say, “Yeah, we’re Christians, our faith means a lot to us, and our band would lost and pointless without it.” Below is the article if you’d care to read. Also, if you click on the picture below, it will take you to the webpage where the article is if that is easier for your to read. You can also stream or download the podcast interview with us.

I’ve read all of the commentary from Fairfax and News Ltd.  In many ways the sentiment seemed to mirror my expectations.  Fairfax applauded his performance, but pointed out his failings.  News Ltd seemed to use the occasion to celebrate his career and lay the boot into the current Government.

Stutchbury was measured in his approach.  He wrote that Costello will be remembered as a great reformist treasurer.  He is in the pantheon with Keating.  I would argue that he continued the good work of Keating and was fortunate enough to operate in a greater economic climate.

Colebatch was reasonably harsh in his column.  He spoke of Costello the bully.  He recalled Costello’s tactic of leaning on finance and economic commentators.  This seemed to a bit of a cheap shot on a day that should have been reserved for praise.  Criticism should come if it is merited, but perhaps it would have been better form to leave this day alone.

My personal opinion of the man is mixed.  I think he was a phenomenal administrator and great orator.  He had talent in spades, but it seems he lacked ambition and drive to seize power.  He shared a lot of traits with Keating.  They were both strong parliamentary performers.  They also shared a strong commitment to liberalisation of trade and labour markets.
I’ve been reading Don Watson’s biography of Keating, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart.  The aspect I have found most interesting is the notion that Keating thought the good work had already been done when he took power from Hawke.  He believed all he had to do was oversee his reforms as PM.  They claim he had lost a lot of drive once he had the position.  As if the battle had cooked him.  I wonder if the same would have happened to Costello had challenged Howard.

We will never know, because unlike Keating, Costello never had the courage to take on Howard.  Some claim he was putting party interests ahead of his own, but I reject this.  Had Costello led the Coalition to the last election, having challenged in 2006, I think they would have won the election.  I think his legacy is one that will be mixed with contradicitions.  If we preserve today’s coverage as a time capsule, we might find that he will be regarded with tempered praise.