Welcome to our second podcast, this time featuring a topic that you don’t wanna let the innocents hear.

We’d love to get your comments on this subject so please give us some feedback. Thank you.

About sexual sadism: http://www.forensicpsychiatry.ca/paraphilia/sadism.htm

Blog entry about Jane Toppan: http://gittegorzelak.blogspot.com/2009/05/jane-toppan-female-lust-killer.html

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You’re watching a movie, you’re feeling the urge to pee and the moment you’re in the bathroom is when you hear something exciting happening in the movie. It’s always like that, it somehow never fails.

It’s just the Universe playing a huge, cosmic joke on us.

Introducing RunPee.com. A brilliant website I found today and I just had to register with them right away.

On this site you can look up the movie you’re watching and then get the exact time when it’s appropriate to go and pee. Let’s take Star Trek, just as an example: The engine says the best time to pee is 50 mins in, when captain Pike leaves the bridge and says “Chekov, you have the con”. That’s when you go pee and the estimated pee time is 3 minutes; after those 3 minutes stuff starts happening in the movie again and you wanna be back from peeing.

There aren’t a lot of movies submitted yet, it seems, but when you’re a registered member you can submit movies and give suggestings about good times to pee during the movie.

You can see movies in alphabetical order, sorted by release date or running time. There’s also a category called Classic Movies.

This has the potential of being HUGE. It’s nice to know when to pee.

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Sunday night was the night when Susan Boyle finally stood head to head with her competitors, dance troup Diversity on the popular programme Britain’s Got Talent and although I wasn’t able to see the programme, I did watch a bit online this morning.

She was an immensely grateful loser – if you can call a woman with so many fans a loser – and it has been rumoured that her climb up the fame ladder has been rather tough. She’s been heard shouting at the press and making obscene hand gestures at people because the stress of being in the public eye has taken it’s toll.

It must be horrible to come from an absolutely anonymous life and be shot into fame in a matter of seven weeks. It must be even more horrible to be discussed by thousands of people who comment on one’s looks and musical skills. And everybody has something to say: Shrinks discussed her lifestyle, a lonely woman who lived alone with her cat, haunted every moment by the press who slapped her up on the front news because she was “on the verge of a breakdown”.

And then after the seven weeks kind of abandoned by the very people who had so praised her along the way. Guess there was too much of a fuss surrounding her character. It’s so not worth it, in my opinion, to have your character dragged through the public mud just to end up with na-da. K, it’s not really na-da as Lloyd Webber might be waiting in the wings to sign her up. But still, part of me thinks “poor woman”. She lost to a dance troup that will be soon forgotten. After everything she went through.

Just a you might get too much attention just because you’re good looking, you can also get too much attention because you’re not so good looking. She sings good but honestly, all the fuss is still a mystery to me.

I wish her luck though. And peace most of all.

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I have recently gotten into the whole podcasting scene and it's actually quite exciting and also a little nerve wrecking to suddenly find yourself on the air! I have already discovered that the art of podcasting is not merely switching on your microphone, you actually have to be charming, outgoing and be able to come up with interesting stories or anecdotes if you will.

So I have been searching the web for inspirational websites in case you want to begin your own podcast. I think it's actually a rather good way of drawing in traffic to your blog or website and perhaps even a good way to keep people coming back - if you're good enough, that is!

Okay so the first site I'm going to turn you on to is actually a site called How to podcast and what it does is take you through the steps of creating your podcast. It goes through the four stages of planning, producing, publishing and promoting. Follow the link to check it out, I think it's a pretty good resource to get you started.
http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/00-podcast-tutorial-four-ps.htm

The next page I'm going to talk a bit about is called www.podcasting-tools.com and like the one I just mentioned of course you have your basic tutorial on how to start a podcast but another important thing is that it mentions the kind of software you need to get going . You need obviously some audio recording software and there are plenty of good ones out here . Problem is they are mostly shareware and if you want a really good piece of software , you will have to pay for it , although there are some decent freeware ones out there . But like I said, check out the link I just gave you and you will find all the information there. It will also tell you where there are some good podcast sites where you can just either record directly or upload an audio file to your newly created podcast blog .
http://www.podcasting-tools.com/audio-recording-software.htm

I want to mention a really good freeware program that my brother actually turned me onto yesterday (kudos for that ). It's called Audacity (http://www.podcastcookbook.com/2008/10/04/audacity-tutorial-for-podcasting/) and you can actually use it for working with your podcast all the way from the audio recording to editing and cropping until you have your final product . I was quite new at working with Audacity so I needed a tutorial to show me how to podcast with it and I found a really good one that I hope will be useful for you also .

Another cool thing I picked up from the website I just mentioned is something really necessary for your podcast because it's no fun creating a really cool podcast and then not getting it out there and getting no response from people so what you need is to promote your podcast in podcast directories and there are plenty of them out there but I do recommend that you are a little patient and record quite a lot of podcasts before you submit your podcast . It's actually the same as blog promotion , you want more than one post before you start to promote!

Anyway here is the link you need for checking out some really good podcasting directories : http://www.podcastcookbook.com/2008/05/23/promote-your-podcast-in-podcast-directories/

The final thing I'm just going to take you through is primarily for Blogger/Blogspot users because they can actually use Blogger as a podcast . What you do is obviously create your audio file perhaps using Audacity or another good software and then save your file as an MP3 . Then what you want to do is upload your audio file to your file host and in this case it's not Blogger because they do not host audio files at this point . So pick another good post , the free ones are fine , and then find the URL of your audio file .

Now you sign into your Blogger account, go to your settings and press formatting. What you have to check here is that the Show Links fields button is on Yes. This is very important because it enables you to add files to your blog entry . Okay so now we want to go on and just make a new blog post and right under your blog post title, you will see a box called link and underneath that, it says Add Enclosure Link. This is where you put the URL of your audio file and once you have done that, your file is uploaded to show within your post. So that's a very easy way for a Blogger is to turn their regular blog into a podcast.

I am really new to podcasting but I'm already finding it a lot of fun and I hope that these inspirational websites will help you get going too. One last thing, if you are reading this on my regular blog I would sure appreciate some comments or input! If you are reading this on bloggersbase.com, it would be awesome if you would take the time to rate and comment.

Thank you!

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This is really exciting! We're doing our very first podcast, folks! Kurt who is a pro magician shares a funny story from his magic career. We'd love to get your input and comments if you don't mind? Enjoy!

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• Podcasting feeds for tech enthusiasts (techburgh.com)

Click to play video.

Well this just speaks volumes about A. How bad my cell phone is at recording a video clip and B. How much of a project I consider cooking to be: It needs to be recorded! Geez.

Anyway, it was a leek/ham/onion pie being made tonight and I’m eating it right now. It’s actually quite good.



And the final result, ladies and gentlemen:

Not too shabby.

A little update: It also speaks volumes that Windows Live Writer has chosen to turn my video upside down for some reason?????? Ha ha ha..

It’s been – GOSH – over twenty years since these guys played together but now they’re back!

Cliff Richard and The Shadows dominated the British music scene in the late fifties and the sixties, they even acted in a few movies together. Now they’re coming back together with a Golden anniversary tour for their fans. Unfortunately it will also be the last time they play together.

Here are the tour dates:

Sat 19 Sep - Killarney NEW DATE (on sale Friday 15 May 9am)
Mon 21 Sep - Dublin
Wed 23 Sep - Belfast
Sat 10 Oct - Glasgow
Thurs 15 Oct - Sheffield
Sun 18 Oct - Manchester
Thurs 22 Oct - Wembley
Fri 23 Oct – Wembley

You can book tickets on this number: NATIONAL TICKET HOTLINE on - 08700 11 13 12
For more info, visit Cliff’s website: http://cliffrichard.org.

Europe:

7 November
PARIS, Palais des Congrès
France
6 March
www.gdp.fr/index.php?idDirBill=1369
+ 33 1 4997 5191

8 November
BRUSSELS, Forest National
Belgium
2 March
See these links for French, Flemish & English ticket sales
0900 84 900
+ 32 7025 2020 (from UK)

10,11 November
ROTTERDAM, The Ahoy
Holland
28 February
www.livenation.nl
0900 1010 2020 (Holland only)
(45 ct/min)

13 November
AALBORG, Gigantium
Denmark
2 March
www.billetnet.dk
+45 7015 6565

14 November
MALMÖ, Arena
Sweden
2 March
www.juliusbiljettservice.se
+46 775 700 400

16 November
HELSINKI, Hartwall
Finland
9 March
www.menolippu.fi
www.ticketmaster.fi
0600-414 505 (€1.5/min)
+0600 10800 (€1.83/min)

20 November
STOCKHOLM, Globen,
Sweden
2 March
www.juliusbiljettservice.se
+46 775 700 400

21 November
COPENHAGEN, Forum
Denmark
2 March
www.billetnet.dk
+45 7015 6565

23 November
OSLO, Spektrum
Norway
2 March
www.billetservice.no
+47 8153 3133

25,26 November
ODENSE, Arena Fyn
Denmark
2 March
www.billetnet.dk
+45 7015 6565

28 November
COLOGNE, Lanxess Arena
Germany
2 March

If you think Copenhagen is a village in Russia, think again. It’s the capitol of Denmark, of course, and also it’s gay friendly. Not sure why I wrote that but you know, in case you’re gay and want to meet..other gays ???

Anyway, side-tracked there. If you are wondering what to do this summer and you have some cash you don’t know what to do with, here comes a little Copenhagen guide. Keep in mind, though, that Denmark is a rather expensive country to vacation in :-(

First off you’re gonna need some transportation from the airport and Denmark, of course, is not a third-world country so we do have busses and trains and taxis. 1.7 million people live in Copenhagen and they all manage to get around..so none of your “what kinda country is this, anyway” American BS. Don’t worry about running out of money either because all over the place you will find ATM’s that accept American Express and Visa. Be aware that if you wanna use a credit card in Denmark, you will need picture ID and a pin code.

A little about our money: Danish currency is called Danish Kroner (DKK). One krone is divided into 100 øre, yes we are weird. Coins are passed around ridiculously fast in the following denominations:

50 øre (copper)
1 krone, 2 kroner, 5 kroner (silver and with a hole in the centre)
10 and 20 kroner (brass)

Bank notes: DKK 50, DKK 100, DKK 200, DKK 500 and DKK 1,000

So now we’ve got the money and the bus/taxi/train squared away, right? And remember most Danes speak English so you have no excuse for not asking directions.

Stores opening hours will vary but mostly they’re open between 10 AM to 6 PM, Sundays most likely closed and Saturdays open until 4 PM. Large supermarkets will be open all weekend – yes we are that “with it”.

Now you obviously want a place to stay and you will have several choices:

FIrst off you have your most fancy hotels with prices up to a staggering .. no I won’t write the price. You just won’t come, then. But you have any form of accomodation such as fancy hotels, holiday apartments and private accomodation, too. For all of them it’s a good idea to book ahead.

And what to see in Copenhagen? The Little Mermaid is a must and so is Amalienborg, where the Queen resides.
Then there’s the National Gallery with art from the 15th century onwards. The Tivoli Gardens, our world famous fairytale amusement park..and of course the Rundetaarn, or the round tower, which is the oldest functioning observatory in Europe. Sounds kinda dull I know but the view from the tower is amazing! Naturally there’s our brand new opera house, too. If you’re into that sorta stuff.

If you’re more of a sporty type, we also have golf courses, marinas, jogging tours, boat hire and angling.
Lord knows why you’d wanna do that during a holiday but you know, just in case.

I could keep writing about the wonders of Copenhagen but I think you should visit this site for more:
http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/tourist

Here you will find all the information you will need.

By the way, we currently have a gang war going on in Nørrebro, Copenhagen – between Hells Angels and a small group of immigrants – so if you go near that place, duck..or wear a bullet proof vest.

That’s all, enjoy your holiday in wonderful Copenhagen!

I stumbled upon this great article about good Twitter tools:

Twitter Tools: The Definitive List of the Best Twitter Tools Ever
by: Ezequiel Camussion

A few months ago, people were starting to talk about Twitter. Now, Twitter is no secret; it’s THE marketing tool everyone is talking about. If you are not using Twitter to promote your business, you are out of your mind.
If there’s something that gets me more excited than Twitter is the ability to increase Twitter’s potential by using tools. But let me give you a word of caution: once you try these Twitter tools, there’s no way back. You’ll become a Twitter genius and get more exposure for your business than you’ve ever thought possible. If you are OK with that, read on.
TweeFind
This tool allows you to search Twitter users and sorts the results by user rank. This is a great way to find tweets about a specific topic.
Twi.bz
As you probably know, tweets can be as long as 140 characters. This URL-shortening service is perfect to keep the URLs short and have more space to write your tweets.
Twellow
They call themselves “The Twitter Yellow Pages”. Pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it?
Friend or Follow
This is a great tool to find out who you are following that is not following you back and who is following you that you are not following.
TwitterCounter
This tool allows you to see in a graphic how your Twitter followers increase or decrease over time. TweetStats is another cool tool that performs the same task.
Twitter for WordPress
Twitter for WordPress displays yours latest tweets in your WordPress blog.
Twitter Widget for WordPress
This widget is placed in the sidebar of your WordPress blog and shows your latest Twitter updates.
TwitBin
TwitBin is a Firefox extension that allows you to keep up with all of your Twitter conversations right from your browser sidebar.
Just Tweet It
Another amazing Twitter directory. Find other Twitter users and list yourself so others can find you.
TwitterMail
This service allows you to tweet by email. Really cool.
TweetBeep
This one sends you regular emails with the latest updates of the people you are following on Twitter.
Who Should I Follow?
Very interesting tool that suggests Twitter users for you to follow, based on the profiles that you are currently following.
Twitter Search Feature
It used to be called Summize but now Twitter bought it. As its name reveals it, Twitter Search Feature allows you to search through the last tweets to find users that are posting a given keyword. TwitterMent is another great Twitter search engine.
Ping.fm
Although not a specific Twitter tool, Ping.fm is one of the coolest applications out there. It allows you to update your status in more than 40 social networking sites at once. You have to check this one out.
Qwitter
Qwitter is a tool that sends you an email when people stop following you. But what makes this tool amazing is the fact that they also tell you what of your tweets made them stop following you.
TweetLater
If you are like me, you want to keep your followers updated but you’d rather tweet several messages at once and choose when they should be posted. This is exactly what this tool is for.
If you enjoyed this article, visit my blog at http://www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com/blog for more great tips on entrepreneurship and online marketing.
Join Our Entrepreneurs Group on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52648031032
---
Zeke Camusio
The Outsourcing Company – Professional Web Design
Blog: http://www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com/blog
http://www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com
info@TheOutsourcingCompany.com
(1)877-581-3921 (Available 24/7)

About The Author

We are one of the fastest-growing creative web design agencies in America. If you are looking for a professional website that gives your business a strong online presence and helps you get more customers, we can help you.
At The Outsourcing Company we understand that your website has to look amazing, but it also has to help your business grow.
This is why we strongly believe that we are the web design partner that you are looking for.
Professional designers. All our designers are some of the most skilled professional graphic artists in America. But one picture is worth 1,000 words, so please visit our portfolio at http://www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com/portfolio.html to see samples of our work.
Marketing experts. All the projects we take are supervised by marketing specialists. They make sure that your website is user-friendly, easy to navigate, and fast. We don't know of any other web design agency that offers this service at no extra cost.
Experienced project leaders. You want a professional website done and delivered on time. Your team leader takes care of everything and gives you the peace of mind you need so you can spend your time running your business, not worrying about your website.
Reputation. 84% of our new clients come from current clients' recommendations. We are proud of that fact. We must be doing things right. We will be happy to provide you with as many references as you want.
We always meet deadlines. If you ever got a website developed before you know how hard it is to find an agency that delivers their work on time. We do. Every time.
At The Outsourcing Company we are business people. We know how other business people think and what they want. We know that you need a reliable partner, a company that can always meet your deadlines and deliver world-class quality in record time.
We work harder than anybody else to exceed all your expectations. Try us. You will be glad you did.

Visit the author's web site at:
http://www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com

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She came, she shopped, she left. Seems I finally got a small grip on shopping for groceries and actually coming home with stuff I know how to put together. I can now have actual meals! I have a very hard time structuring things inside my little confused head – mainly due to the fact that I have lost literally billions of brain cells after a severe depression – and if I am put in a stressful situation, such as putting together a meal plan, shopping for it and then putting things back together as actual meals, I will blow a fuse inside my brain and black out. And then I don’t eat. I then get by on light Coke and sweets and trust me, it’s not a good thing.

So today I found this Danish site online where I can just pick the recipes I want and then it will generate my meal plan for a week and even make my shopping list for all the ingredients. It’s worth gold for someone like me.

But still there are things that are left entirely up to me. I have to follow my man Kurt’s advice that I have to switch meals every other day so I don’t eat the same for 4 days. I also gotta cook the meals myself which is a challenge I am going to face head-on..I kinda have to.

I now have food and drink for the next 3 days at least. It’s a pretty cool feeling.

And you thought this was a happy ending huh? It’s not. Cos the hugest obsticle is yet to come: Sticking to my meals, eating six times a day! YIKES! Remembering breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks.. It’s all very overwhelming since I don’t even get regular feelings of craving for food, that’s how screwed up my internals are. So I have to remind myself to eat.

And for heaven’s sake, how do I quit this sugar?? Oooh I know. Regular meals, good blood sugar levels. Hmm..

I am running out of excuses at a frightening speed.

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Ok have patience guys, I am brand new at this and I am still contemplating whether I wore the right shirt..

 

Video blogging seems fun. Whether I will be any good at it remains to be seen!

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Just a pic I absolutely love ! For those of you who don't know, this is a pic of Kurt Moore Larson, the guy who is my co-author on this here blog and also the dude who won over my heart many years ago and has been a must-have-in-my-life since then.

I'd say we spend about 5 hours a day talking - and may I send a big huge thank you to Yahoo Messenger for making it possible to speak via voice for absolutely free across the world - and we've actually gone from talking for perhaps 7-8 hours a day (I know, that like..a lot!) to 5 because honestly, even though we can talk and do stuff at the same time around the house, you still sometimes need to get out. You know, for air and light and stuff. So we're down to 5 hours a day which is our good morning talk and our middle of the day talk and our very necessary goodnight talk. I don't really feel right if we haven't said goodnight.

Of course there are things that bug us about each other like there is with every couple. Just the other day we had a talk about my bedtime..which I find rather silly in the first place since I am 35 (???). I suppose it's one of the fall pits of being in a May-December relationship: Ya gotta be really careful to not go parent on someone and you gotta be careful to not turn daughter instead of partner. Anyway, his opinion is that I sit up way too late and he's right of course. I do. When I state my endless list of reasons for staying up, he is always kind and says "Yeah I know, I have known you for years, you know" and in my mind I go "Then why are ya friggin' commenting on my bedtime still??"...ha ha.. oh the joys of being two. But we absolutely love each other and there's just no way I can picture myself Kurt-less.

I remember only vaguely when Kurt wasn't in my life and at this point he's like .. how can I put it..he's my rock, the one I turn to for virtually anything and low and behold, he's always there.

And why am I spending this time making a blog post about him? Because I once did an interview with him about the witches of Salem and I am thinking about interviewing him again..Watch this space.

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Somebody.. please tell me how this happened again! I mean, come on. Since my whole exercise scheme fell to pieces, I have been getting into this horrible routine where I sit up until 2 AM and then sleep until brunch – not that I ever have brunch but it’s a cool word.

So after a lot of nagging from my man Kurt and several hours of self-examination (the non-physical kind) and shouts of “You’re not my real dad, Kurt!!!” I came to the conclusion that he’s probably right: It’s better to go to sleep at a decent hour and wake up refreshed. I hate when he’s right.

Anyway, I did the responsible thing. Went to bed at an okay hour and set my alarm clock to ring-dinge-ling at 6 friggin’ 30 AM. And when did I wake up? 9.30 AM. Still sleepy after a good 10 hours of non-disturbed sleep.

This is when I began a thorough examination of my cell phone. I was 100% certain it hadn’t rung. I shall do an online test now..Let’s set my alarm to ring in 2 minutes. If it rings, I am the dumb one. If it doesn’t, I am right and have a good excuse to put on the table when Kurt wakes up and goes “She didn’t hear the alarm” inside his head.

Here we go, counting down..You may get your coffee or something while we wait..
Damn, it’s ringing..aha mystery is solved! I changed my alarm tone last week and this one seems so tiny and way too silent to hear. Just a few little bitty beeps. There we go, I gotta change the tone, that’s all. Phew.

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It’s called emotional infidelity no matter how miserable you are with your partner. If you seek emotional comfort and intimacy outside your relationship, you’re cheating. Certain Bible folks will show you plenty of passages that states how wrong and sinful you are. But what if your marriage was over before it began, what if you and your partner were never meant to be together and you both realise it without saying so in words? What if you have no one to confide in and you know that all is lost?

Honestly I don’t think there are gradients of infidelity. You’re either faithful or not. I don’t care if you’re talking to someone online (other than your partner) or meeting up for coffee and that talk you’ve been craving to have all week long; you’re going outside your relationship in search for something you’re not getting. Is that ever okay?

One of the things you understand as you get older is that life is not black and white. I’ve actually known a few adults who thought that it was black and white but that’s another story and those people are usually very unflexible and show very little understanding when it comes to the short-comings of others. When you’re a kid, your friend is either with you or “unfaithful” in his/her choice of several other friends. When you’re a kid, your parents are perfect and if their marriage fails, it has to be somebody’s fault..because things don’t just fall apart for no reason. Only when you grow up will you realise that people belong to themselves, they make their own choices for various personal reasons and your parents might both be good people who just made the wrong choice in partner but they both love you as parents.

Life is made out of colors. It has nuances, twists, cracks, bumps. Everybody tries their best, that’s one thing I know for sure. I know of plenty of marriages that have fallen apart but I know of nobody who has taken the marriage – or the ending of the marriage – lightly. We all start out wanting the best for ourselves and our partner but sometimes life handles us things and circumstances we can’t control.

If a marriage is over emotionally, if you have tried councelling and every single avenue you can to make things work and you still know for sure that it’s not gonna work, I don’t think seeking comfort and emotional intimacy outside the marriage is wrong. Just remember, you owe to your partner and your marriage to fight like hell for what you dreamed about in the first place and when it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. Learn from the experience and try your very best to keep a good relationship with your ex; remember: How your new partner speaks about his ex is the way he will one day speak about you. If he has respect for the past women in his life, he will also respect you.

I am not promoting infidelity here, merely stating that when every avenue has been tried and failed and you know it’s a lost cause, it’s okay to be comforted and assured that you’re a good person. We all need someone. By the way, the term “Once a cheater, always a cheater” is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. So far.

Little update..it's errr...9:51 PM here and my man Kurt just added "Besides, how Groucho is that???"...ha ha.."Remember we're fighting for this woman's honor which is more than she ever did"!

I really wanna take more pictures! I absolutely love having a camera in my hand and every day I tell myself, get more batteries, get more batteries. I always run out and lately I have been having this dream of getting a new, deliciously black digital camera. I have a few ideas but of course it's gotta be something within my price range (sucks).

Any advice on what's a decent, handy, somewhat average priced digital cam?
Girl wants to snap some pics ASAP!

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It’s turning into a bit of an obsession for me. Cleaning. Not something fun like bike riding or mountain climbing – which would be kinda hard in Denmark, anyway – but cleaning of all things! I suppose it’s because I just feel more at ease when my surroundings are clean and in order. Come to think of it, I would be a pretty bad mountain climber. Screaming my little helpless lungs off.

So anyway, cleaning. Let’s start with the most annoying thing to clean:

The fridge. First you gotta take out all your food, check the dates (don’t wanna put old stuff back, of course) and then take out all the removable parts. You’re gonna have to clean those too – by the way, if you’re like me and need constant entertainment, plug the laptop in the kitchen and throw on a dvd or even chat via voice with a friend while you’re cleaning. Just a little hint there for the geeks.

So, we’ve got everything out of the fridge and now we need to get scrubbing. You need warm, soapy water and a sponge but for the love of God, do not use any harsh cleaning liquid or anything that scratches the surface. Get into the corners and give all the bottles and jars a good wipe before you put them back. Cleaning the fridge usually takes me about ½ hour. 20 minutes on a good, lazy day.

Then we’ve got the oven :-( It absolutely sucks and I gotta admit, I don’t do it as often as I should. I am aware there are people out there who own self-cleaning ovens and all I can say is:

SO this tip is for the few regular non-self-cleaning oven owners out there:

Take out the oven racks, remember to wear gloves by the way and don’t apply pressure to the oven door.. OK, put the racks in the sink and scrub them down with warm, soapy water. Then rinse. Ok so now the inside of the oven: First use very hot water and a sponge to remove all the already loose pieces of CRAP you have left there cos you took too long to clean it in the first place (mommie tone, yeppers).

And if you’re anything like me and have stains on the oven door and so on, use soap water – but remember to always rinse thoroughly whatever type of soap you use. You don’t want a lot of toxic stuff going into your bread or dinner.. :-)

So that was the fridge and the oven. Lots of other stuff to clean..so why am I sitting here???

Btw, I wonder if anyone can tell me how to get dried up hair dye off a white wall?

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Copenhagen, Image via Wikipedia

If I could time travel, I'd go back to 1885 and discover the places that haven't yet become tourist attractions. I've always wanted to try on one of those huge dresses the ladies wore back then! I could wear black boots and knit my own scarfs.

I'd go to Paris, New York, Copenhagen - but I might stay clear of London's Whitechapel cos in 1885 there's a pretty angry person walking around there, ready to erupt in a frenzy. I don't like frenzies.

Where would you go if you could time travel?

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She didn't want to go into the house. She wasn't sure if the creature would still be there but she wasn't prepared to take the chance.

The grass was still wet with the morning dew and her toes were black from running through all that dirt. She stood there, naked and quivering behind the tree trying to catch a glimpse of the window. Was anybody moving inside the house?

The creature had materialized from droplets falling down from the ceiling in the bathroom while she showered. With a body so pale it was almost invisible and the face of someone she knew or at least thought she knew. She had stepped out of the shower into a big pool of water on the floor and it had turned into slippery hands grabbing hold of her legs, working up over her body and then squeezing her throat so hard she thought she was going to suffocate.

That's when she had screamed as loudly as she could to make sure she was still alive. She had to hear her own voice. The creature had plashed down onto the floor and she had run out the door and through the wooded area surrounding her house. Throughout the night she had hid in the same place she'd hide as a child, always listening to footsteps or suspicious sounds. She had learned to stay quiet as a mouse when she was a little girl. She didn't want him to hear her.  
 
But there had been nothing. Only darkness and silence the whole night. So when dawn broke, she got on her feet and walked slowly back to her house, scaring herself by listening to her own frightened breath. In. Out. In. Out. She felt so cold. Her knees were bloody because she'd been so afraid, she'd had to crawl some of the way. To grab hold of something - even small rocks.

With a shivering hand she grabbed a thin branch and pulled it aside so she could see her house more clearly. Nothing. Maybe there had been nothing at all. Had her mind been playing games with her again? She'd always felt a little crazy and no one had objected to that belief. Maybe it was safe to go back inside.

She sighed and took one step when she felt a hand grab her ancle.

It pulled her down into the ground. Into blackness.

And then there was nothing. Only silence and little droplets of water on the forest ground.

(G. Gorzelak)

 

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knew,thought,water,floor,could,hear,little,silence,back,grab,hand,ground

What do I know about cooking? Not much, I can tell you that. The internet has once more saved my sorry butt, though.

I want to advertise a little today for a cool website called Supercook.

We’ve all tried it but I have a feeling it happens to me more than regular people: I open my fridge, I identify three or four different ingrediants and I have absolutely no idea how to turn them into a meal. So I usually sit at my dinner table with a fried piece of meat + various boiled or steamed vegetables, cursing my own inadequacy in the kitchen and writing down “Learn to cook, learn to cook” in my notebook.

But now I can throw out the notebook. The website Supercook allows you to add the ingredients you have in your kitchen and then it will automatically generate recipes with those ingredients.

If you add chicken breast, you get a result of more than 200 chicken breast recipes. Let’s say I also have leeks and cream. Still I get more than 200 results, now all with heavy cream, chicken breast and leeks. How amazing is that??? You can then add the recipe of your choice to your online cook book and create a menu and a shopping list. Oh, did I mention that the recipes include both starters, entrées and desserts?

I will use this engine a lot since I have no idea about cooking..I mean, I can at least use it until I learn to cook, right?

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Healthy,Enjoy,Beats,Veggies,Feel,Ears,Menu,Plan,Catch,about,website,
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065/365: Show us your smile!
Having no sense of humor should be a crime punishable by law and hereby I don't mean we should all share the same sense of humor and laugh at exactly the same thing but let's at least laugh at something. Anything.

I have met people who seem to have something stuck up their behind that makes them unable to laugh at themselves. We're counting out people who are going through hardships in life and therefore currently don't feel like laughing. They're excused, of course. But those people out there who have no reason to not embrace joy and laughter and still don't do it, I wish you could be locked up in a room full of laughter and not be let out until you've learned.

Laughter is life and love. I wish everybody could experience the loss of control that laughter really is - smiles bring us closer to other people.

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Quite frankly it's gotta be the best serial killer movie ever made. It depicts the search for missing teenager Robert Piest who disappeared from outside the Nisson's pharmacy in Des Plaines, Illinois in the late seventies. After a very intense investigation police would find a total of 28 bodies in local business man John Wayne Gacy's crawlspace and he claimed to have disposed of others in the nearby Des Plaines river, including the body of Robert Piest.

This movie is a must for true crime fans but also for regular film watchers. It's exciting, thrilling, frightening and the actors (especially Brian Dennehy as John Wayne Gacy) do a fantastic job.



Thumbs up!

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Looks like a good friend! Image via Wikipedia

What do you look for in a friend? Here is my list:

Compassion
Compassion is a very important trait in a friend. A good friend to me is someone who can show and feel empathy, listen and try to understand where I am coming from. It doesn't mean always agree with me, just accept me as I am. That's essential.

Honesty

I honestly wouldn't want a friend who answered "Yes" if I ask "Do I look fat in this outfit?". I wouldn't like such a friend. So with honesty I am talking about pointing out to me if I am heading towards something bad, taking the wrong road in my life. I would like to be reminded of that, even though I might not listen. That would be my fault, not my friend's.

Humor

I find it hard to believe that people without humor can be great friends. I have a very sarcastic, dry sense of humor and if someone is unable to understand that it comes from a loving place, I can seem quite bitchy, thus no friendship. I need a friend who can share a laugh.

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As it goes, female serial killers are rare compared to male serial killers but a female killer who murders her victims because it thrills her sexually is even more rare. It was no less the case in the story of Jane Toppan.

She was born in 1857 as Honora Kelley, the daughter of an alcoholic father and a mother who died when Jane was a little girl. It was a rough childhood lived in poverty and after her mother’s death Jane and her sister was turned over to the Boston Female Asylum. After a couple of years, Jane was taken in by Mrs. Ann Toppan of Massachusetts and became Jane Toppan.

Jane had a good imagination. So good in fact that she lied quite a lot and if she got into trouble, she would blame someone else. This is something you see in a lot of kids, of course, but still  - a pattern emerged. She wasn’t as happy as she was portraying, experiencing intense jealousy of her foster sister who was pretty and the heir to the house and Jane – gaining weight all the time – was not popular with the opposite sex. There was no marriage prospects so in 1885, Jane moved out and trained to be a nurse.

The system that Jane Toppan entered into was frighteningly lacking in security, primitive and unsupervised, and it made the perfect playground for a person like Jane, who soon started experimenting with drugs on patients she didn’t like. Morphine and atropine was generally used but nobody suspected anything, Jane Toppan was actually known as Jolly Jane, a gregarious and friendly nurse. Yet she’d spend a lot of time alone with patients, making up fake charts and medicating them to drift in and out of consciousness and even get into bed with them. It is not known whether any sexual activity went on when her victims were in this stage but when Jane Toppan was asked after her arrest, she answered the she derived a sexual thrill from patients being near death, coming back to life and then dying again. This is quite rare for female serial killers who usually murder for financial gain and not sexual thrills.

Jane Toppan got employment at Massachusetts General Hospital where rumours soon arose that Toppan had stolen items from patients and also falsified charts and in 1891 at age 34, she became a private nurse in Cambridge. Her services as a nurse was actually in demand and she had many patients, lots of whom died. Then came a victim a little closer to home. Jane Toppan’s foster sister who she has always resented came to visit and one night slipped into a deep coma and as Jane held her, she passed away.

Toppan rented a cabin from a family named Davis. They had two daughters; Minnie and Genevieve. She owned the Davis family a lot of rent and when one daughter came to collect, she got violently ill and after one week of nurse Toppan’s care, she died. The grieving David family then asked Toppan to move in with them, inviting death itself into their midst.

Soon the other daughter in the Davis family died while Jane Toppan sat next to the bed, holding her victim’s 10 year old son. The victim’s father-in-law became suspicious of assumingly healthy people suddenly dying and he contacted Doctor Edward S. Wood, an expert toxicologist and professor at Harvard Medical School. In the meantime, Jane Toppan had
moved in with her deceased foster sister’s late husband ! The man’s sister had recently passed away, being nursed by Toppan and the man would probably have died also, if he hadn’t thrown Toppan out of the house just in time.

Jane Toppan had two more months of freedom until she found herself under arrest for the murder of Minnie Gibbs, one of the Davis daughters. When the investigation got under way, it was discovered that Toppan had murdered at least 30 people and probably more than a hundred.

A female lust killer is rare even by today’s standards but back in the 1900’s, Jane Toppan was somewhat of a mystery. She showed no remorse and displayed little emotion. She claimed to get sexual gratification by holding dying people close to her body but because she was a woman, she was found to be insane and not able to tell right from wrong.
Jane Toppan was found not guilty by reason of insanity and held for the remainder of her life in a psychiatric hospital.

It was to be a long life and Toppan in the beginning of her stay at the psychiatric ward had to be force-fed. She thought someone was trying to poison her.

Jane Toppan died at age 81 in 1938.
 
If you’re interested in this case, I recommend Harold Schecter’s book “Fatal: The Poisonous Life of a Female Serial Killer”.

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Doing a little advertising today for the Firefox add-on SimilarWeb. It's a great tool that will show in your sidebar and gives you access to websites similar to the one you're viewing.

It's an add-on I really wouldn't like doing without, so much easier than having to search for yourself and possibly not finding what you need.

You simply download and install and then as you're surfing, thumbnails from similar websites will appear in your sidebar. You can also choose to only see text and no thumbnails.

For those of you who don't like stuff appearing on the sidebar, you can minimize it, too and use the auto-hide feature.

I honestly can't live without it!

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I can’t remember who first introduced me to Lisa Ekdahl’s music but I do remember that once it happened, I was sold. She has such a pure, beautiful voice and her Swedish lyrics are extraordinary.

     

I was taken aback by her amazing talent as she wrote her own music and lyrics.

For those of you who haven’t heard of her, she was born in Sweden in 1971 and has so far made 10 albums. She was only 23 when she stormed into the hit lists with her first album – I think that’s why I was so in awe: 23 and so incredibly talented.

Her voice sounds like the voice of a child. Pure and innocent and sweet

Her latest album is “Give me that slow knowing smile”  and I have great expectations, although I do prefer her Swedish songs. You can visit Lisa’ s  website here.


My man Kurt’s Slow Knowing Smile

Blogger Labels: Lisa,Ekdahl,Swedish,talent,haven,Sweden,lists,Pure,Give,Kurt,Smile,remember,music,voice,lyrics,album

The kitchen is filling up with the smell of delicious homemade vanilla cookies! I found a really simple recipe online :

2½ sticks of butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 c. sugar

5 c. flour

½ c. milk

A touch of salt


I am baking them without salt but added a touch of vanilla and they smell so yummy!

Mmmmmmmmm , gonna have them with cold milk later :-)

Today is Ascension Thursday (when Jesus’ body ascended to Heaven). A good day to think about where my life is going, what I want out of it and why I was put here in the first place.

Here’s Amy Grant’s "Please don’t make me beg”:

 

When I handed you my heart I thought, put that need to bed
Oh please don't make me beg, please don't make me beg
For your time and your attention and the thoughts inside your head
Oh please don't make me beg, please don't make me beg

The meeting of our minds, the touching of our skin
We both have different ways, to let each other in

We want the same things, to be loved
We need the same things, to have enough
We want the same things, someone to trust
We need the same things, please don't make me beg

There's a man down on the corner, guitar case at his feet
Oh please don't make me beg, please don't make me beg
And he's singing out with gladness, and he's doing it for for free
Oh please don't make me beg, please don't make me beg

Such a simple choice, to share the things we have
He's got an angel voice, it's money that he lacks

We want the same things, someone to love
We need the same things, to have enough
We want the same things, someone to trust
We need the same things, please don't make me beg

Said the son to the father, must I drink from this cup
Please don't make me beg, please don't make me beg
And let my death be the redemption, for every single one
Oh please don't make me beg, please don't make me beg

That man changed everything when he was lifted up
Can't you hear him say:  just don't run from love

We want the same things, to be loved
We need the same things, to have enough
We want the same things, someone to trust
We need the same things

We want the same things, to be loved
We need the same things, just to have enough
We want the same things
We need the same things, please don't make me beg
Don't make me beg

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There's nothing like kicking back in the sun and reading about serial killers and stalkers. Well, for people like me, anyway. Former FBI profiler John Douglas is of course an expert in this field and he has written several excellent books. I can't remember how many times I've read "Anatomy of Motive" but it's more times than I can count on one hand. Douglas describes different kinds of dangerous offenders, analyzes their motives and tracks the escalation of the psychopathic behavior in the cases described.

If you've got a few hours to spare, check out this captivating book.

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“Primum non nocere” is Latin and means “First, do no harm” and it comes from the Hippocratic Corpus. It’s one of the principles that med students are taught in school, reminding them that they must always first consider whatever harm any medication can do. Now follows the story of a very dangerous man who went to medical school, became a doctor and went on to cause tremendous harm on purpose.

Michael Swango was born in Tacoma, Washington and raised in Illinois where he went on to graduate from Quincy Notre Dame High School in 1972. He served in the Marine Corps and then went on to attend SIU (Southern Illinois University medical school where his odd behavior was quickly noticed. He was known as a quite lazy student who was pre-occupied with the dead. He did, however, manage to graduate and he got a surgical internship at Ohio State University in 1983. During Swango’s internship, patients started dying at an alarmingly high level and some nurses noticed him injecting patients with an unknown drug. But their concerns went unhead and he was cleared in whatever investigation was done. He was not asked back, though.

He went on to Quincy, Illinois, and began working as an emergency medical technician, where his servings of coffee and dougnuts to his colleagues soon started a new investigation, since they all became so violently ill. Police found arsenic in his possession and he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. In 1989 he found another job as a laboratory technician but in this job, colleagues also began getting ill, complaining of stomach pains. When he resigned this job, he went on to seek employment as a doctor, forging his medical papers and sporting the new name Daniel M. Kirk. He was accepted at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota – and then he grew cocky. He attempted to join the AMA (American Medical Association) and they investigated a lot further than Swango had expected. They discovered his earlier conviction of arsenic poisoning and so he lost his job at the medical center.

Unfortunately the AMA lost track of Swango and he went on to work as a psychiatry resident at the Northport Veterans Administration Medical center. Patients once more started dying at alarming rates. The dean in Sioux Falls tracked Swango down and informed his current place of employment who fired him and the director sent a warning about Michael Swango to over 125 medical schools and more than 1000 teaching hospitals across the country.

This forced Swango out of the country and he left for Zimbabwe where he found employment at Mnene Hospital.
He once again began murdering patients but it would be over a year until authorities tracked him down and he was arrested. He managed to escape before the trial and hid out in Africa and places in Europe until he decided to apply for a job in Dhahrain. On his lay-over flight he had to stop at O’Hare Airport in Chicago where the authorities waited to arrest him.

Swango stood trial three years later on charges of murder and fraud. He was convicted of 3 murders but suspected of up to 60 murders and sentenced to life without parole.

His methods were rather consistent. With patients he would overdose them with the drug they were prescribed and with non-patients (colleagues) he would slip arsenic or another poison into their food or drink. He reminds me of another evil doctor: British Harold Shipman who was suspected of having drugged and murdered more than 200 of his patients.

If you’re interested in reading/studying about people in the medical profession who do harm, I recommend Crime Library’s chapter on this very subject.

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Today has been very much a day of cutting and pasting. In more ways than one I might add. The day began quite peacefully with me still in PJ’s at 9.30 AM, lying in bed and checking my Facebook. I always do that first thing in the morning. It’s just the only right way to start my day.

So I finally get done and crawl out of bed at around 10 AM and I go shower. In all my clumsyness I let a blade slide across one finger, cutting through the nail, and the other finger is also maimed as I slit off some skin and bled all over the place.
On top of it, I had no band aid, of course and I stood there with shampoo in my eyes and felt like a fool. Every day I’ve been telling myself, you need to get band aid, you need to get band aid and then this crap happens. It’s so typical. Another thing I am not quite up-to-bite on is anti-mosquito-rub-on-cream or whatever you call it. They gather together, having Googled my name first and all come to bite my body to pieces. I already got 3 bites and it’s not even June. It’ll be one hell of a summer if I don’t get the cream..instantly.

The other kind of cut and paste happened here on the blog and I know, all the readers are sick and tired of the layout being changed so often and the comment system as well. But now we’re back to good old JS-Kit and the CommentLuv plug-in that we missed so much. Boy, did we miss it.

We hope you like the new look.

 

If Martha Stewart came over to your house for dinner, what would you serve?

McChicken
First of all I don't understand why she is coming over for dinner at my place. I don't really like her! Anyway, don't let it be said I am not a gracious hostess. I have gone out there on my bicycle and gotten McDonald's best McChicken menu, burger and Coke and the whole shabang.

Chocolate milkshake

I just had one yesterday and it was so awesome that it beat even a glass of chilled Coke. That's a big deal for me. Chocolate milkshakes rule.

My mom's homebaked bread

This will knock the socks off Martha Stewart any day of the week. My mom is a fabulous cook .. better than any posh TV chef, for sure.

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I’ve recently written a blog entry about Belle Gunness who has become somewhat of a mystery in the history of crime but there was a lady whose crimes predated those of Belle by 30 years.

Her name was Mary Ann Cotton.  She was a psychopath who used other people as pawns to achieve whatever she wanted, including husbands, friends and even her own children.

Mary Ann Cotton,
She's dead and she's rotten
She lies in her bed,
With her eyes wide open
Sing, sing, oh, what can I sing,
Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string
Where, where? Up in the air
Sellin' black puddens a penny a pair.

Mary Ann married at age 20 and had 5 children with her first husband. 4 of those children died from something determined as gastric fever, a diagnosis often used in cases where no other cause of death was found. The remaining members of the family moved to the Northeast where the bad luck apparently followed them: They had another three children and they all died, as well. In 1865 Mary Ann’s husband passed away from an “intestal disorder” and she received 35 pounds, equivalent of half a year’s wages at the time.

I could go into great detail now and write about all the marriages in her life but it’s easier to say that a pattern emerged: Mary Ann Cotton would get married, have children, then lose all of her family members and move on to a new lover, starting over and creating a new family.

She was indeed a very unlucky lady.

Of course the local press in time caught on to the tragedy that seemed to follow this lady and when they dug deeper into her past, they discovered she had lost a total of 3 husbands, 1 lover, her own mother and a dozen children!
The rumours kept spreading and soon there was an inquiry. The body of Mary Ann’s latest husband was found to contain large amounts of arsenic and she was charged with murder.

The judge commented on her “cold, reserved demeanour” and sentenced her to death. She was hanged on 24 March, 1873.

How could a woman get away with murdering so many people? I think the time period plays a huge factor here. LIke I wrote earlier, the term gastric fever was used quite often and infant deaths were quite normal at the time. Arsenic was also quite easy to get at, often being used to kill bed bugs. It sounds unbelievable but during the 1870’s, 75% of people could pass away before age 40. So low was the life expentancy.

The case of Mary Ann Cotton reminds me of another more recent female psychopath: Audrey Marie Hilley who would also poison her husbands with arsenic and even attempt to end her own daughter’s life. Hilley died in 1987 and her story is very much like a movie script, cos it has so many twists and turns. I will post her story on another day (it’ll take quite an effort on my part of walk ya through that story at this time of the night..past midnight here in Denmark right now).

Here’s a little teaser to get you started, though:

Enjoy!

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Yes peeps, I am testing Windows Live Writer. Ya  know, just to see if it’s any better than Blogger’s own system. What’s with me anyway? Why can’t I ever settle for one system and stick with it, be it blogging or commenting? I am turning into a real blog whore. Yep, I said it. Thank God that in all other areas of my life, I live like a nun. Otherwise I’d be totally cheap.

But just because I am testing another blog system doesn’t mean I shouldn’t write something useful here. I mean, “She’s writing on Live Writer, so what”, right?

Let’s see.

I stumbled over this cool little Twitter tool today called Tweetake. It’s a plugin that makes it possible for you to download your Tweets, followers, favorites – or everything at once!

You simply type in your Twitter username and password and then press what you wanna save, such as followers or direct messages or other choices. Then you press “Get ‘em” and you will get a file containing all your Twitter stuff to save on your computer. How cool is that?

Me like!

Know of any more cool Twitter tools?

Am watching the new Jason movie once more, just to test if it's gotten any better since the first time I saw it and was shocked, indeed..but only at how bad it was.

Alas. No better this time. What does a girl have to do to watch a decent horror movie these days?

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Is it better to have loved and lost or never to have loved at all?

Well, out of two evils I guess I'd go with it's better to have loved and lost. If you've never experienced love in your life, what has your life really been worth?

To me the whole purpose of life is sharing and receiving love so we can grow as individuals, get to know ourselves better. But if you have never been loved by anyone and been special in that person's eyes.. if you've never had your heart broken, then how well do you really know yourself?

It would be hard to relate to anybody if you've never loved at all.

Much much better to suffer heartbreaks than stay away from love, in my opinion.

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Online Strategy Game

For relaxation I play really simple games online. For example Tower Bloxx, Uno or MindJolt Games. It's something you don't really need to use a lot of brain power for and it still keeps my mind off less pleasant thoughts..

What do you do when you need to relax?

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Some songs you just gotta hear at full volume:

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I thought I’d make an appearance… get it… MAGIC… APPEARANCE… POOF!

That was my bad… terrible… not even funny.

Anyway I have been promising Gitte to get off my lazy butt and try to conjure up something to fill some space and get to know you all once again.

While I don’t really share Gitte’s fascination with blogging as much as she seems to. I really did like to write a lot in the good old days.. long before computers. I’d always be at my typewriter (I told you it was long before computers)… perhaps you may have even seen a typewriter if you’re as old as I am. It wasn’t long after Gutenberg discovered movable type for that (older than I am) ancient tool for those who write poetry and other tomes… I believe it was called “The Letterpress”.

I’ll try to catch up on the many things I have been up to since we last met here on the blog.

The magic convention at Blackpool is now history, but from what I’ve heard it was outstanding. Michael Ammar, Eugene Burger, Rudy Coby, Jeff Mcbride, Joshua Jay, Danny Garcia, Mark Oberon and Daryl were among those that presented super lectures. I am proud to call them my friends. I think Gitte and I will be attending next year… at least that is my plan for now.

The number of registrants for FISM World Congress of Magic 2009 has already surpassed 1200! That’s gonna be a biggie folks. The convention fee for six unforgettable magic days is only 388 EURO! Convention time: 26th till and including the 31st of July 2009. First come, first served! Early registration guarantees a good seat!

I think Gitte already mentioned FISM but I wanted to mention something about accommodations. As some of you might already know FISM will be held in Beijing, China, as were the Olympics. The same five star hotels will be available…

Asian Games Village Hotel
Huiyuan Service Apartment
CNCC GRAND HOTEL
North Star Huiyuan Prime Hotel
Grand Skylight Catic Hotel Beijing
Beichen Intercontinental Hotel
Crowne Plaza Park View Wuzhou Beijing
Celebrity International Grand Hotel

There are hoards of celebrities planned to be attending – both magical and non-magical. I would assume, as always, a “Who’s Who” of magic and Hollywood will be there. I really wish Gitte and I could be there.

I recently did blurb on the magician Lennert Greene and posted a somewhat long video of his. I you missed it you can go to it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_oa8m5Oq00

He is a most amazing card magician.

Here are a few listings of some of my Facebook and Club Magician’s friends.

Michael Ammar http://www.ammarfacts.com/

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78A97mY0pes

Eric DeCamps http://www.ericdecamps.com/

Kipp Sherry http://www.kippsherrymagic.info/

Video http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=51970555

Reed McClintock http://www.theillustratedmagician.com/index.html

Video

Reed McClintock: The Illustrated Magician from Sean Strauss on Vimeo.

Paul Romhany http://www.paulromhany.com/

Video

Angela Funovits http://www.angelafunovits.com/home.html

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vFDZp4Z2Hs

Anthony Reed http://www.anthonyreed.com/

Video

Bill Abbott http://www.billabbott.ca/

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQXRKCZyyuo

Now a bit of comedy…..

Chris Titus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4S2Gqd82Q8

Rowan Atkinson http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x29f7s_rowan-atkinson-stand-up-comedy-no-o_fun

Steven Wright http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIHZDo9NBMk

Robin Williams

Road trip, 1909, Image via Wikipedia

Deodorant
It's just a must. I mean, without deodorant you won't make any new friends and your old ones won't talk to you (if you brought them along).

Tissues

Always bring tissues. You might wanna blow your nose, wipe your eyes or use chloroform on a hapless victim..sorry, that was a tip for the serial killers..

Laptop

I've gotta stay connected to check my email, Facebook and blog. I just might die if I am offline. I haven't tested this theory but I am quite sure. I've heard stories.

Three pairs of panties

No explanation needed..

Cellphone

Gotta bring my cell cos I get at least one phone call per month. God I am such a lonely soul in this big huge world..why go on a friggin' trip anyway..

Digital camera

Uh yeah, I might find the perfect spot to take a pic. And it's very important to snap all the "Gitte standing by tree", "Gitte standing left of tree", "Gitte standing right of tree", "Gitte modelling by the seaside", "Gitte eating icecream" moments on my vacation..to show my family and friends when I come back. It'll be the worst four hours of their lives.

Common sense

Remember to bring common sense. If you're on a dark road and some mid-twenties white guy says he has car trouble, keep walking..or preferably running.

What would you bring on a trip?

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Okay peeps, let's talk about how you can spice up your blog! Sometimes you (or your readers) just get tired of the long blog entry with no pics and yet 12,000 words. It's time to make your blog stand out a little.

First of all, you can add cute smileys. Go to FreeEmo4U where you will find hundreds of different smileys. When you've found one you like, you simply click on it and copy/paste the html into your blog. That's it! It couldn't be easier.

Next thing is to bring a bit of life into your blog and here's where I recommend Apture which is a tool that lets you embed all kinds of media into your posts. You go to their page, sign up and add a html code to your blog. Then you're ready to go. You can now embed video, pics or articles to your blog entries - even after you have posted your entry! It's so cool. Here is an example. I have opened Apture and searched for the term "blog design":


And the result (or one of them) is an article about great blog designs. Isn't that awesome?? Apture is a free tool which makes it even more neat.

Now for something totally amazing: Free blog backgrounds. Don't you ever get tired of the same old white or black background? I found this cool site called The Cutest Blog on the Block and this is someone who offers free backgrounds for blog (just keep the URL on it) - the background on my blog is from that site. They have some beautiful patterns and they're easy to install, just a simple piece of code and your blog can really stand out from the crowd.

And then the fonts. I have seen some pretty amazing blog entry fonts around the web but I haven't been able to make them work myself as I am not that good at html coding. But if you're a somewhat skilled blogger, you might be able to do it - check out this article: How to use a cute font for your Blogger post titles.

I guess that's it for now on this subject of spicing up your blog. I will be back with more when I find some cool stuff around the web..Oh one last thing, why not add a nice signature under each post? Go to My Live Signature, press the wizard and follow the easy instructions.

Enjoy!

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Cleveland's West Side was terrorized between 1983 to 1988 by a particularly cruel serial rapist who attacked women at night, creeping through an open window and masked in a stocking or scarf.

He'd order the woman to keep quiet, look away and hold a knife to her throat. As a final humiliation, he'd ejaculate either on the victims' stomach or make her swallow.

Detective Bob Matuszny made it his personal goal to bring this brutal rapist to trial and he turned to the FBI for help.
They drew up a profile of a likely suspect: He picked victims who were easy to control (with children in a nearby room) or women he would be alone with. As the rapes occurred in the morning, it was thought that the rapist had no day job and if he had a job at all, it would be a menial job where he would have little contact with other people. He'd enjoy the fear he was instilling in people, having been named "The Westside Rapist" in the press, so he'd probably be collecting newspaper clippings about the case.

There'd be a woman in his life causing him stress but he'd be unable to stand up to her, taking his rage out on strangers instead. He'd most likely have a record of related crimes such as voyerism and he could be collecting pornography.

Over the next year Detective Mutaszny kept working at it and the rapist kept raping but in the end Mutaszny had to pack it in and he applied for a transfer which was approved.

The rapist on the other hand grew ever more cocky and he finally made the kind of mistake police had been waiting for.

After a rape he stole a victim's credit card and demanded the password. He was then photographed by a surveillance camera using the card. Unfortunately only his lower face was showing but now the police had something to work with.
The press released the photo and security was upped.

After another rape, he once again used a stolen credit card and this time police got a shot of his vehicle, a dark Chevrolet Monte Carlo. After cruising around looking for the car for a long time, Detective Vic Kovacic got lucky: He spotted the car and wrote down the plate number.

The car was owned by a Ronnie Shelton, 27 and matching the description of the rapist. He had a record for voyerism and when police checked his fingerprints from a previous crime, it was a clean match.

At Shelton's trial John Douglas, former FBI profiler, testified and after 4 days of jury deliberations, Shelton was found guilty of 49 rapes and 200 criminal counts in total.

He got 3,198 years in prison, maximum sentence for each offense.

Have you ever heard someone say "Why would he need to rape someone, he is so handsome he could get anyone he wants"? That's because some people are under the misconception that rape is about sex. Rape is about control. A guy like Ronnie Shelton, for example, was in a steady relationship with his girlfriend at the same time that he raped so many women. You've got your Ted Bundy who could have had sex with many willing women, probably, but he still had to dominate the unwilling in the cruelest way possible.

So there was no lack of sex in Ronnie Shelton's life. He was, however, highly insecure and angry, feeling like a nobody and wanting to feel powerful and in control . That's what rape is all about: Domination and control of a helpless victim.

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Faced with the problem of having to clean the bathroom and sitting here working on my blog..

Why can't I just have somebody do that stuff for me?? Oh yeah, cos I live alone in a tiny apartment and I need to get off my *** ass sometimes.

Life is hard.

Have you ever really dreaded something that turned out to be good or at least not as bad as you'd expected?

I'm gonna tell you about a personal experience that really made me physically sick. It's actually a long story but I am gonna make it really short.

For years I'd been suffering from severe panic attacks and depression and I'd tried out different medications plus several treatments such as art therapy, couple's therapy, group therapy, hospitalization and individual talks with a psychiatrist plus my own doctor. Each meeting was horrific, the pain was excruciating and I always came out feeling a burden had lifted - but also quite confused from all the thoughts in my head. Anyway, those aren't the things that weren't as bad as they seemed - because they were!

In the end it was decided I should apply for early retirement and I had to meet up with my psychiatrist and a council worker who needed to talk with me to assess whether or not I was ready for retirement, had tried out every avenue that could take me towards being ready for a job and so on.

Suffering from severe anxiety, I absolutely dreaded that meeting because I felt my life was literally out of my own hands. So for the next two months I lived in terror, had sleepless nights and didn't eat much of anything. Then I showed up at the hospital for the scheduled meeting and the social worker didn't show! She'd forgotten!

So it was yet another 2 week wait for me and my anxiety didn't lessen one bit.

The meeting itself is in a blur. I was crying through the whole thing and unable to utter a word because my throat tightened. The lady was nice and my psychiatrist was on the phone with someone else for most of the meeting. Now that I look back, it was pretty much a done deal before the meeting; maybe that's why he took it so casually.

I got my pension and it's the best thing that ever happened to me.

I've only gone and done it..

I was so sick and tired of our old layout that I decided to throw myself into a few hours of hardcore HTML and CSS work and change it.

Unfortunately we have lost the JS-kit comment system as the converted layout wouldn't upload. This meant I had to dump both JS-Kit and CommentLuv and instead I've installed Intense Debate.

I have made sure that we are still part of the do-follow movement. I have gotten rid of the Odiogo podcast feature because I sensed nobody really used it, anyway.

Hopefully now our blog loads faster! I hope you like this new theme.

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How do you cope with stress?

Let me tell you something really personal - some people love when bloggers get down to the nitty-gritty stuff, I know;

When I was a little girl, I was a highly anxious and emotional individual. I was also a real loner because of my intense shyness and when I felt bad, I used to cope by closing my door, covering my head with a pillow and just letting the tears run freely. I have never outgrown the anxiety and the tendency towards melancholy.

I also still cope in the same way. I have formed a kind of relationship with my anxiety where we have no space for other people. It's an old friend, part enemy, that I can't get rid of and what we have between us cannot be shared. I find myself defending the anxiety, shaking my fists at well-meaning people who only wanna help because they care.

I know nothing worse than when I feel anxious and someone wants to hug or comfort or say "It will be better in the morning". I have no desire to be comforted because I know my anxiety well and we have a deal: If I keep quiet, if I keep the anxiety company for a bit, it will subside when it has had enough of my company.



But when an intruder tries to break this relationship and get in the middle, I become aggressive and defensive.

It's a little hard for me to put myself in that person's place. My anxiety attacks are strangely enough not as scary as they used to be although my body trembles and my throat feels tight. I know my anxiety. But the outsider doesn't.

The attacks don't last long if I am allowed to cope in my usual way. I occupy myself, I let my anxiety run wild until it gets tired and that's usually the way it subsides the quickest. It is always hard to watch loved ones be in pain and not be able to do anything but it is also hard to be anxious and have comfort forced upon oneself. It's not a personal thing: I would gladly knock out anyone who dare hug me during an anxiety attack when my stress level is high. I know, I know, anger management bla bla bla..But the respectful thing to do is to allow anyone to cope the way they see fit.

I don't think anxious people are easy to live with. I am not alone in my strange habits and ways to cope; I am sure thousands can tell a similar story. So how can we unite the caring person who wants to help with the anxious person who wants to be left alone during the attacks?

It's a tough one. There's nothing wrong with either one: It's perfectly natural to want to care for someone and it's also natural to stick with the coping mechanisms that work.

How can we live together and not lose part of ourselves in that situation? I am asking in general. The care-giver must not care and the anxious is not allowed to withdraw. I'd be interested to hear your opinion on this.

Criminology is the part of social science that deals with the study of crime both in society and in the individual.

It's a big hobby of mine and I know that the readers who frequence this blog a lot might think I am just a normal (or abnormal) serial killer freak who likes the gory stuff and the pics and the VW Bug replicas you can collect online. That's not the case though.

I am really interested in what makes a criminal. Environment, genetics ? Or an evil beyond our control? It's fascinating to study about sadism, murder, people who do indespicable things.

Much much more on criminology later..

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It's been a while since we posted anything about magic. That's mainly because Kurt is the expert in this particular field and I know practically nothing about it - and Kurt has been blogging about other subjects recently.

I have a bunch of magicians befriending me on Facebook and they all expect me to be super duper at magic. Then when they discover I know nothing, they move on to greener pastures.

I was on to something at one point but I was talked out of it. I had a death row concept all ready: "So you killed a no-good street walking whore? That doesn't mean life can't be magical!" - a sort of traveling magic show for death row inmates. But Kurt said it was a bad idea. I wanted to combine our interests in crime and magic but somehow the idea of entertaining a bunch of creeps on death row might not suit all people.

I understand that. It makes me sick, too. It was just a spur of the moment thing, anyway..

Anyway, maybe we should have another magic post, Kurt?

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Keyboard From Stone Age

I gave up on writing by hand when I was 17. I've never really liked my handwriting although some people have said it's nice but I guess that's me - highly critical of myself :-) I even type out my grocery list, I bet I am the only person with a printed shopping list at the store! I'm pretty fast too.

I could never go back to handwriting; I'd feel totally handicapped.

How about you? What's your preferred writing medium?

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Yes peeps, it's time to show off some of my wonderfully creative and somewhat disturbing knitting projects! I know, the excitement is overwhelming

I knit every night. I've found it to be quite good for me as it brings peace inside my head but the bad thing is, since I am such a beginner knitter and at the same time a deeply perverse person, I knit bad things. It comes from deep within my poor, neglected female wants and needs..thus I have knitted stuff that resemble certain male body parts. Not on purpose though..it's my mind's way of telling me something. I just know it.

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Ladies and gentlemen, it's Seriously Silly Saturday ! On the pic above you see me as a nun. That's a good example of something rather silly (although my life does actually resemble that of a nun but that's another story).

We'd like to encourage you to act silly today, post silly comments here, post silly videos or photos here, just act completely crazy. The most silly person might be rewarded (notice I said "might be").

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Just informing our readers that I have just created a new group on Facebook for non-custodial parents. If you would like to join, just follow this link. I think it's important to raise awareness about noncustodial parents and their stories because of the social stigma they/we live under. Quite often people frown upon a person who has lost custody although the truth is it can be due to reasons beyond their own control and they are excellent parents within their own right and ability. I hope the community grows quickly and will provide a nice forum for us all.

This blog post is part of Zemanta's "Blogging For a Cause" campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

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Ever imagine yourself in a movie? I think I'd get along pretty well with Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox (Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks) in the movie "You've got mail". First of all, they have a pretty cool communication going on online and secondly, they seem like really cool, friendly people.



So yeah. We could have a good thing going. Which movie would you fit in?

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Image via Wikipedia

What's the point of being in a relationship? Part of me still has the little girl's definition which would be: The point is to find the perfect man and be happy for the rest of my life. After all, isn't that what Disney is feeding every little girl in the world? "Happily ever after".

I know, you're thinking "Come on, adult people don't expect to live in a fairytale". But I think you'd be surprised just how many people expect to find the perfect partner and live in happiness.

As you grow up and try different relationships, you soon discover it's a load of nonsense because he doesn't listen, he doesn't agree with you, he doesn't live up to your expectations of being with someone.

And one night when he's slammed the door and gone out with his buddies or she has grabbed her stuff and moved home to mom, you're gonna be sitting there with a cup of hot chocolate, a handkerchief and a lot of unfulfilled dreams, asking yourself: What's the point of being in this relationship?

Just as porn movies don't show actual real life realistic sex, Disney movies don't show real life realistic relationships. There is no such thing as perfect. There is no such thing as happy ever after. I've never meant anyone who is constantly happy in their relationship. Never.

So what is the point? If we throw away all the romantic stuff, then the meaning of a relationship is actually to provide yourself with a platform on which you can learn about yourself, not the other person. Whatever action your spouse takes will make you act accordingly and thus you will learn what you can and cannot accept. In a relationship, you either learn communication or the relationship ends. There is a right way to fight and a wrong way. If you're out to be the winner of a fight, then you must turn your spouse into the loser and that's not a good idea for a lot of reasons.

The adult thing is to consider that in a relationship between two adults, there will be disagreements and fights and it's important to hear both sides, not be passive-aggressive, not throw around filthy words that degrade each other. Don't ever fall into the trap of putting each other down; a healthy relationship cannot grow that way.

This is another thing you can use the platform for: In a relationship there is not one ego but two, so it's natural to expect that flexibility is key, don't expect that because your feelings are hurt, the other party doesn't need comfort and understanding as well. Two personalities, two ways of seeing things.

The only reason we really need other people in our lives is so that we as an individual can grow and learn, not because we can make each other happy ever after. When we're in relationships, we can groom ourselves, cut away the edges, define who we are and who we wanna be.

If we have this in mind from the beginning: That we're together to learn and grow, well that's a great way to start a relationship because you are already prepared for the conflicts that life brings, to go through it together, imperfect and willing to learn. Not "Perfect and happy ever after".

I was gonna take a nap last night and then slept for six hours, woke up for a few minutes and then slept again..woke up at 11:30 PM! Wow..I must have needed it.

Anyway, have been a tad depressed for a few days. Okay, that's a lie, I have been feeling pretty bad and then today I fell over this online:

Certainly something for me to think about..

Image via Wikipedia

If I had a super group, these would be the band members:

Cliff Richard
I am not having a super group without Cliff as the lead singer. I have loved his music since I was 14 and he is simply the world's best male vocalist.

Amy Grant

I've been a fan of Amy for years because of her beautiful voice and the lyrics that I can always relate to. Amy has a song for every emotion and I love that about her.

Eric Clapton

We gotta have Eric Clapton on his mean guitar.

Reba McEntire

The queen of country herself..naturally.

Vince Gill

Is pretty good at the whole Bluegrass thing and since I really love that, he's a must in our band.

Tanita Tikaram

Okay she might feel a bit odd in this crowd but her music is amazing and so she's gotta be there. I wonder how she'd sing "Amazing Grace"?

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Maybe I am mistaking but I seem to remember a time when there was not only beautiful women on television but also natural women.. and every single advertisement was not about sex.

I know, I sound totally old and outdated but there is just something really wrong (in my head, anyway) with the fact that thongs are being sold to 10 year old girls, Bratz dolls are dressed in fishnet stockings , young girls are having their breasts made bigger and young pop singers who have a huge responsibility to their fans demonstrate that if you're not having sex at 12, you're just not cool.

I realize that children are also sexual beings but things sure have changed since I was a little girl. I'm not the kind of person who celebrates any kind of progress, especially not within this area because the fact is that young girls and young women are being bombarded with the image of the perfect woman and nobody can of course live up to that. If you're being told by society that only the beautiful, skinny people are okay and you believe it, then you're heading for trouble. Girls and young women starve themselves, they cut themselves, they suffer just to achieve something illusive: The perfect woman. They don't consider the airbrushing, the makeup, the way the super stars look at home when they too are just regular people. Of course they don't.

Sexualisation is a big problem for our society, I think, pushing girls (and sometimes boys) to inspect their own bodies with a very critical eye, thus helping develop a poor body image. All this fascination and attention paid to the body might then in return cause her/him to forget about growing in other areas, such as socially and growing self esteem that is so necessary for getting by in the world.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a prude and I don't have a problem with people having sex but I do have concerns about sexualisation which is something else - all of our surroundings being sexualized and girls/women starting to believe that they must be sexy, pretty, slim and look a particular way to be okay as a woman.

Beauty is many things. It is most definately only skin deep but unfortunately our society worships skin and skin alone. It is getting harder to raise daughters with confidence and pride in themselves as beings instead of pride in their looks.

It's a shame.

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Nike, shoes I will probably never afford, Image via Wikipedia

My shoes say that I am retired and have very little cash in my life. I got these shoes a couple of years ago after looking around for cheap shoes for what seemed like ages and I have used them for exercising and also as a "regular shoe". In my life there is no such thing as a fancy shoe because first of all, I never attend any functions where it's not okay to wear tennis shoes and two, fancy shoes are usually three times as expensive as what I can afford.

So here I am with my old comfy shoes and yet thinking..perhaps it's time to go way out and buy a new pair. But I will pay 20 dollars tops.

I am not Trump.

What do your shoes say about you?

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Drugs. A feeling of not belonging, not having a future like his friends. A girlfriend who was angry because of the interest that Jennifer Levin paid him that night. The knowledge that he would probably amount to nothing. Those were the feelings and thoughts inside Robert Chambers' mind on that night when he walked with Jennifer Levin into Central Park and strangled her.

They had originally gone to the park to have a sexual encounter. Chambers' girlfriend had actually broken up with him on the same night because Levin kept pursuing him (maybe for other reasons also) and Robert Chambers was angry, probably on drugs and content to have sex with someone rather than just go home. So they went together into the park and something happened there.

Jennifer Levin's body was found behind the Museum of Metropolitan Art in the early morning of August 26 1986, half naked and strangulated. Her underwear was found 50 yards away, making the police believe that a sexual encounter has been started on the spot where the underwear was found, then Jennifer had tried to run away from Chambers and he had caught up with her.

The press called it "The Preppie Murder". Actually Robert Chambers was far from the upper class, well educated handsome young man the press made him out to be. He was raised by his mother who had emigrated from Ireland to New York and he attended the preppie schools on scholarship because his mother could not afford to pay for it. His friends were in fact much better off economically than him and he soon took to stealing and doing drugs.

On that fatal night, Robert was with his friends at the bar Dorrian's Red Hand and they were all excited about their futures and the prospects that lay ahead. Jennifer Levin was attracted to Robert but he paid her little interest. He picked Jennifer to go to Central Park with because he thought it would be an easy way to get sex and she probably was excited to go with him, thinking she finally stood a chance with him.

Jennifer Levin was a beautiful young girl, full of life and living with her dad and his new wife. Her home life was, however, not idyllic. She often fought with her father, not getting along with her step mom she would phone friends and ask to spend the night.

Plenty of witnesses had seen Robert and Jennifer leave together that night so he became the main suspect very quickly. When the police came knocking on his door, he appeared with a scratched face and his explanation was that his cat had scratched him.

At the police station, he kept altering his story, first claiming that Jennifer had gone into a store to buy cigarettes and they had parted shortly after but one of the officers had discovered that Jennifer didn't smoke so they knew Chambers was lying.

He then claimed they had parted on another street. They had maybe walked a little further, maybe they had actually gone into the park together..and then came the story that he stuck to throughout the trial: Jennifer had wanted to engage in wild sex in Central Park and she had tied him with her panties. When he tried to get her off him, he accidentally knocked her over and she died.

An attorney said something to the effect of "You're the first man ever to have been raped in Central Park". When Chambers was asked to lift his shirt, the police saw that his torso was also full of scratches.

The press ran with the story that Chambers had been an altar boy, had attended the finest schools in the country and it was hard to believe that such a promising young man could be such a monster. The story sounded a lot similar to that of Ted Bundy who went to law school, was involved in politics and murdered over 30 young women across The United States.

But Robert Chambers was not what the press made him out to be. Unambitious, going nowhere, addicted to drugs, a liar and a thief - that was the picture of the real Chambers.

When the case got to trial, the jury deadlocked for nine days and then returned a verdict of manslaughter in the first degree. Chambers was sentenced to 5-15 years for the murder of Jennifer Levin.

In jail Robert Chambers didn't fair too well. He kept getting into trouble and was cited for weapon and drugs infractions. He wasn't released until 2003, having served all of his sentence. His freedom didn't last long, though. In 2004 he was stopped in his car with a suspended license and in possession of heroin and cocaine. He pleaded guilty and got 10 days.

Then once more, a short bout of freedom ensued. In 2007 Chambers was once more arrested, this time for selling drugs and resisting arrest when he struggled with an officer and broke the man's thumb.

In August 2008 Robert Chambers was sentenced to 19 years.

All true crime stories make an impact on me but this one in particular because there is such a big lesson to be learned here. We must be extremely careful of who we put our trust in. Young beautiful Jennifer Levin put her trust in Robert Chambers on that night, maybe knowing he was drugged but thinking that if he only loved her, she could help him. His troubles ran so much deeper than she knew. Another case comes to mind: That of Alex Kelly who offered to drive a young girl home from a party and then savagely raped her in the back of his car and ran from justice for years until police caught up with him in Sweden.
The girl probably thought "He's a friend of my friend so he must be okay".

The victim is never to blame and that's not what I am trying to do here. I am merely saying, don't let the death of Jennifer Levin be in vain. Let us listen to the lesson and let us remember to be careful with our trust.

More about this case can be found following these links:

Wikipedia
East Side Story
Crime Library

Here is part 1 of the 48 Hour Mystery documentary "The Preppy Killer".

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It's been too long since we've had some genuine entertainment on this blog:

I am moving up in the world and I am so proud

I am a writer on Bloggersbase, the community where bloggers from around the world can write articles and vote for each other . It's a fun place to hang out and I highly recommend it.

Anyway, today I received the Bloggersbase newsletter and to my surprise, I was mentioned! First in the Upcoming blogs section where it says I am one of the prominent bloggers and have received some of the highest scores. They congratulate me on doing a fantastic job!! WOW

And they have an interview with Myqute who is one of my favorite bloggers on Bloggersbase and she is kind enough to mention me as well:

I am so honored and so proud to be mentioned.

Thank you so much, Myqute and Bloggersbase!!

Belle Gunness with her children, Image via Wikipedia

As a true crime geek I have heard the name Belle Gunness many times but I have never really dug deeper into her story. Perhaps because I like stories where the bad guy or the bad woman gets caught in the end and nobody really knows what happened to Belle.

She was born in Norway in 1859 and was the youngest of eight children who lived with their parents on a small farm close to Trondheim.

She grew up in great poverty and worked on a big, wealthy farm to gain money to pay for a trip across the Atlantic . She moved to the USA in 1881.

Belle Gunness got married in Chicago in 1884 and opened a confectionary story together with her husband . The business mysteriously burned down as did the couples house in Austin and on both occasions the insurance was paid out.

Belle's husband died in 1900 and he was seen by two different doctors, the family doctor claiming that the man had died from heart failure and another doctor saying there there was signs of strychnine poisoning. The day after her husband's funeral, Belle cashed the insurance money and an inquest was ordered but to this day it is unknown whether an investigation took place. It is known that Belle cashed $8500 and moved with her daughters.

It is not really clear just how many children Belle had. Some records say four, some say two. It is certain however that at least two children died in infancy due to acute colitis, the symptoms very similar to poisoning. The insurance company paid out.

The house that was bought by Belle Gunness had been a rural whore house and shortly after she moved in, both the boat and the carriage houses burned to the ground.

In 1902 Belle Gunness met a Norwegian man whom she married and shortly after the ceremony the man's infant daughter died, soon to be followed by the husband himself who - according to Belle - was working in a shed when a sausage grinding machine fell and split his skull open. A child was overheard saying that Belle had hit the man with the meat cleaver and this child was brought before the coroner's jury but Belle managed to convince them of her innocence.

She was also expecting another child and was released.

Over the years several different suitors visited Belle, some of whom disappeared mysteriously. In January 1908 a man named Helgelein arrived at Belle's farm, carrying with him a check for $2900 which was all of his savings that he had drawn from his local bank. He was intent on being Belle's husband and staying forever. A few days after the couple had deposited the check for cashing at the bank, Helgelein vanished but Belle Gunness appeared in the bank on several occasions to make withdrawals.

This was when she started having trouble with a hired hand named Ray Lamphere who was deeply in love with her and became very jealous of all the men arriving at the farm. He started making uncomfortable scenes and she therefore fired him in 1908.

Afterwords she went to the local courthouse and declared that Mr. Lamphere was out of his mind and posed a threat to her family.

In the meantime Lamphere spread rumors around town, such as statements like "Helgelein won't bother me no more. We fixed him for keeps".

Around this time Helgelein's relatives started to worry about him and when they did not believe Belle Gunness' story, Mr. Helgelein's brother threatened to go to Laporte and face her to get to the truth.

Belle Gunness went to see a lawyer in Laporte, claiming that she feared for her life and that of her children and that Ray Lamphere had threatened to burn down her house. The lawyer drew out a will for her.

She was setting the stage for an arson.

On April 28, 1908 a man named Joe Maxon smelled smoke in his room which was on the second floor of the Gunness house. He was a hired help having replaced Lamphere.

He raced downtown to get help but it was too late.

The bodies of Belle's children were found in the debris and so was the headless torso of a female. A couple of farmers and an old friend of Gunness all stated that the dead body was not Belle Gunness.

However, on May 19 a piece of bridgework was found consisting of two teeth and Belle's dentist identified them as work done for her.

A coroner's inquest found that the adult female body was that of Belle Gunness.

The hired hand Joe Maxon and another man both testified that they’d seen someone take the bridgework out of a pocket and plant it just before it was ‘discovered’.

Ray Lamphere was found guilty of arson, but cleared of murder.

On November 26, 1908, he was sentenced to 20 years in the State Prison.

Lamphere's story was that Belle had lured a woman to the farm at the pretense of needing a housekeeper, then bashed in her head and decapitated the body. She had then weighted down the head in a nearby swamp and chloroformed her children, strangled them and dragged their bodies along with the headless corpse to the basement.

Then she had dressed the corpse in her old clothing and removed her own false teeth and placed them beside the headless corpse so that it would be sure to be identified as herself.

He claimed that she had murdered a total of 42 men and taken different amounts of money from them, thus accumulating more than $250,000.

For the next several decades Belle Gunness was sighted around the country by acquaintances and amateur detectives alike.

The identity of the headless woman at Belle Gunness farm was never discovered.

In 1931, a woman known as "Esther Carlson" was arrested in LA for poisoning a man for money. Two people who had known Gunness said they recognized her from photographs, but the identification was not proved.

Belle Gunness became part of American criminal folklore.

A thriller is right now being made about the story. It is simply called Belle Gunness.

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I wrote this for my son:

Sun comes up too early
every single day

I feel that all too familiar
sting deep within my heart

and I look out the window
and wonder what you're doing now

You are that lifetime of heartbreak I would never be without

Coffee, getting cold in my cup
cos my thoughts wander to you

making me remember myself as a little girl
and yet making the pain so real
there's never a sun without clouds

You are that lifetime of heartbreak I would never be without

And as I go through the day
talking to people
following my heart
you shine through clearer each day

Never dreamt I would be a mother this way

I always thought I would go shopping
with three kids running crazy at the store

now I stand here, a mother, with tears in my eyes
longing and hurting and yet feeling so proud

Because
You are that lifetime of heartbreak I would never be without.



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