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Is It Still The Same When I'm Not There?

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An office romance explores the differences between men's and women's notions of sexuality.

If Carhartt Made Wedding Dresses…

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"La Paloma de Alba" This lovely two-piece bib overall mermaid gown has delicate, feminine details throughout. From the hand-beaded, antique-finish nickel hardware brooch detail on the sweetheart bodice, to the cascading rose at the hip, it is a gorgeous dress for the modern bride. Field-Tested, multiple tool and utility pockets. Faux-braided ribbon closure at back; breakaway honeymoon closure on side. Made of 11.75-ounce, 100% denim cotton, with triple-stitched main seams, satin-polyester facings and taffeta trim material. Also available in Nomex®™. Shown in Sandstone. Available in Moss, Dark Green and Enhanced Black.

Suck it Up, Cupcake

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Geoff Roes in the final 100 yards of his record-setting 15hr 07min Western States 100 win. Finish line at Western States 100, Auburn, CA. June 26 2010. Today I'm going to slit the throat of some sacred cows. First out of the box was this on-line hilarity: "When your runs aren't fun anymore", which cited the following: running not fun tired legs discomfort Oh my. If I'd quit when "running wasn't fun" I'd never get past the 50-yard line. On a downhill course. Meet our constant companion, homeostasis . Briefly, it means "The ability or tendency of an organism or cell to maintain internal equilibrium by adjusting its physiological processes." In plain language: never moving off your comfort zone. Common example: people hovering in a Costco parking lot trying to get the spot closest to the door. It usually involves a lot of ass-time. You're going to have to step out in order to move up. This past weekend I was on a run 20% l...

Smøüldering Midget X: Rise Of The Spin Cycle

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A real runner, not me, a long time ago. Smøüldering Midget X commenced under a brightening gray-light with a breathtaking roster of talent. The event sponsors were pleased at the massive turnout which would maximize viral marketing efforts for D&L Holistic Industries' " Trail Porn Light ", Offshore Vacuum Party Gmbh, Hannah Montana Man-Bras, and "Sturdy, the Feral Mule" Outdoor Leadership, LLC. In the end, this event would yield a surprising new development to the traditional " Thing 1/Thing 2 Kontest fur World Domination®™ ". Since Ian Torrence was a no-show, I moved up a full 3 places. Full deets below the jump. THE PERSONALITIES MISS MIWOK In a category all her own, she'd expressed pre-event speculation that as a rapidly-aging, over-the-hill mother of a young daughter, would be slow, etc. In a rare lucid moment, I didn't bet her on the outcome, and so did not forfeit the pink-slip to my car, house, speedboat and ATV. She also ...

Springtime for Dipshits!

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Apple refutes persistent claims that the new iPhones only work for hot vegan betties who hold them level like bonsai trays and coo into them while driving Mini-Coopers. 3 hours ago ======================== Mel Gibson holds solitary prayer vigil as Polanski's lawyers lose 11th-hour Swiss asylum bid for Lindsay Lohan. 16 hours ago ======================== Lindsay Lohan goes to jail! Officials scramble on capping and top-kill strategies. Meanwhile, Larry King, Droning Predator, dreams of taking to the skies again. Yesterday at 6:39am ======================== I offer my considerable expertise as a Certified Entropy Coach to help you miss your true potential, so you may squander your worth, and enter the next bardo completely at a loss. Pre-paid plans only, operators standing by. July 17 at 1:08pm ======================== Anthem-Blue Cross reportedly studying current North Korean medical practices to enhance profit delivery. July 16 at ...

The Change Of Shapes To Come

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Nostalgia Ain't What It Used To Be Getting back in shape hurts. I was haunted by what I knew what I used to do. I'm not trying to recover my youth—I needed to recover a new definition of fitness, and decided that I had to start pushing it again. I lucked out. There's a gym in the office park I work in. I can ride my bike 10-1/2miles from home, into a shower. What a luxury! Looking around the gym, I noticed weight machines, and the hook: a free physical assessment. The verdict confirmed the anecdotal: I'd put on 20lbs over my prime fighting weight, my arms were Gumbyesque, torso and core strength was kinda sad, and my Hannah Montana man-bra was getting snug. What to do now, middle-aged man-child? I had the nice fitness pro cook up a program to build strength and fitness. She did, and two days later, I was shown the exercises. Soon my arms burned, my torso screamed, and I was pushing out sweat beads the size of buckshot. I hurt. A Further Definition of a Boombastic Lifest...

Omani Mountain Barbecue

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Abdullah is opening the charcoal bag, while Mr Trail Safety watches, photo by Richard Gassan. “I forgot the cooking pot” We silently considered our situation. Camped out overlooking the epic Jebel Shams Gorge in the Omani Hajar al Ghalb, we were up a very long dirt road from the last village. We pondered the options. Pasta was out, now we were looking at a rapidly fermenting bread, dates, some hard cheese, and maybe some other goodies. The loaf was sliced, I had some of the hard cheese, while Richard smeared honey on his slice. We’d make it. The wind was cool and steady, and deathly cold by Omani standards. Looking around, there was a family camped several hundred yard away, a merry fire blazing in the draw. Behind us was a dome tent, and a RAV-4. We began to hear male voices joking in Arabic. We both began to wonder if they were going to spend the night drinking and breaking shit, but it was too early to tell. “May I ask you men a favor?” We looked up to see one of our Omani neighbors...

Boy Scouts Retroactively Issue New Merit Badge

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Get a grip, and give yourself a hand! August 18, 2009 The Boy Scouts Of America National Council voted this week to retroactively issue 50,000,000 Onanism Merit Badges to all surviving Boy Scouts who had been members from 1910 through 2008. The vote passed 69-12, as the council members squinted through thick glasses and raised hirsute hands. Reaction at the announcement was swift. Social conservatives were enraged, with Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity decrying the move as "weakening the moral fabric", and "a stain on the nation's honor". Ann Coulter flippantly suggested that the Boy Scouts were "Taliban Butt-boys", while Sarah Palin suggested that the Boy Scouts had "given in to terrorists". Lou Dobbs intoned that his sources definitively pinpointed the origins to southern Mexico, in any era. Rush Limbaugh was conspicuously silent, having never been in the Boy Scouts. Liberals took a different tack, suggesting in large part ...

Team Land-O-Lard Sponsored Runner!

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I am now a sponsored runner for Team Land-O-Lard . I'll be making mall appearances here in Southern California, ready to ignore your questions and giving enigmatic training suggestions. Have your credit cards at the ready, or at least your PINs. Mahalo for being you, have a nice day!

Trail Porn: The Secret Of My Success

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Trail Porn®™ Can Label. Courtesy of D&L Industries 1995 People have asked me "how did you train back in the day, and keep your strength up?" The secret ingredient: Trail Porn . And now, for the first time, the ingredients are visible for all. Load Up Like A Peasant, Light Up Like A King™ TrailPorn®™ has been America's Number One Favorite free-range pre-race loading and unloading dietary supplement for as long as we've been making it. Now the same great taste and chewy mouth-feel is here in the new, modern TrailPorn Lite®™ . This nutritionious, savory, and versatile product is a virtual-reality accompaniment to every part of your culinary experience, from pickled cabbage to vanilla ice cream. Look for the single-serving tetra-packs! Preparation: Serve either hot or cold, as a first course or canape supplement or appetizer. Stove top, micro-wave or tail-pipe friendly.Some settling may occur as this product was packed at full-volume while you wait. Hey now! Ingredie...

Rings Of Fire: Post WS100 Training Questions

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This post deals with training issues, gear issues, and comes from a guy who doesn't run that much anymore. So, now's a really good time to delete, because I'm going to ask some pointed questions about a lot of things. There has been a lot of soul-searching and what-ifs, along with 'whistling past the graveyard' post-Western States 100 on the business of near-fatalities caused by dehydration, and spectacular blister pyrotechnics. I did WS in 93, and spent a good 90min plus at Michigan Bluff. On the way up, I had a pounding in my kidneys, my ears were ringing, my quads had locked up, and people were passing me as fast as they could, completely ignoring my doubled-over ass. I was dehydrating, in deep shit. I got past it, but it added a good 3hrs to my race... AND IT DIDN'T HAVE TO HAPPEN. Why? Because that day I rolled out with a rehydration scenario I hadn't trained with. I didn't know it cold. OVERTURE I remember a Facebook post made, or at least answere...

AC100 Training Stories, Pt I

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Jim O'Brien setting the course record in 1989. This iconic photo was taken by Stan Wagon, then editor of UltraRunning Magazine. We once asked Jim O'Brien if he'd ever bonked on an Angeles Crest training run. He said "on every section". GEAR FETISHES The current gear-item to have right now is a bladder-pack. Originally designed by and for guys-n-gals who were running long distances in very hot places like Arizona, Utah and so on, where there was no water for big miles. Look at what Jim is carrying. Nothing except for 2 small bottles. Doesn't that tell you something? He's a racer, not a freight-hauler. [Just a thought for all the racers out there humping along in their multi-pounded vests with the petri-dish bladders...] Training is one thing. Race day is another. People get used to carrying all that stuff. I remember Jimmy saying on each stage "carry only what you need". I know that on my first AC, my fannypack was 20lb of junk—and I wasn't c...

My Favorite Gun-Show Things

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    Beef jerky and do-rags, and dorks all in camo, Reloads, factory and off-caliber ammo, AKs and Mausers all tied up with strings, These are a few of my favorite gun things! Marpat and feldgrau and ebay’d Nazi doodles, T-shirts shriek slogans from famed right-wing poodles, Conspiracy theories that fly on brown wings, These are a few of my favorite gun things! Hot babes in heels are not often seen here, Mainly paunchy white guys who are mostly has-beens peer, Musing sour reflections on a trigger spring, These are a few of my favorite gun things! When the dog bites When the bee stings When I'm feeling sad I simply remember my favorite gun things And then I don't feel so bad

Grab A Cadaver: 2009 Update

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Parts Is Parts! S elling body parts is an evergreen scandal. There's always a need, and supplies are limited. More or less. We here at Hellmouth Amalgamated PolySci always believe that recycling is good for everybody. So if you missed this original commentary from March 2004, you're in for a treat. Its still fresh and tasty. Human behaviour has a long shelf-life. Dig in! I am and remain, yr Humboldt Obliviant Idiom Savant Erasmus Binkster Rfp, SoQ, AMf Chancellor Emeritii Hellmouth Amalgamated PolySci Hellmouth CA Update: May 15 '09! Businessman found guilty in UCLA's willed body-parts program scandal Body broker Ernest V. Nelson, top, with defense attorney Sean McDonald, listens as he is convicted of selling cadaver parts for $1.5 million to private medical research companies. The body broker collected $1.5 million by selling cadaver parts to private medical research companies. A juror also faults the university for 'allowing something like this.' Read more on ...

Kent State / Jackson State

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Ohio National Guard in Athens Photograph.This photograph of Ohio National Guardsmen marching in Athens, Ohio was taken in May 1970. Ohio University closed on May 15, 1970. Anti-Vietnam War protests increased in Ohio after President Richard Nixon announced that United States troops had entered Cambodia on April 30, 1970. Riots erupted at many college campuses, including Kent State University, where four students were killed on May 4, 1970. By the end of May, all of Ohio's public universities except Bowling Green State University were closed. Photo by Carl Fleischauer. The photograph measures 4" x 6" (10.16 x 15.24 cm).  May 4, 1970 I was fourteen, living in Athens Ohio, home of Ohio University; when we got news of the shootings at Kent State. The Kent State shootings convulsed the campus, leading to riots, the closing of the University, and then a 14-day occupation by the Ohio National Guard. The iconic Carl Fleischhauer photo shows a Guardsman standing guard o...

"Don't You Want Me, Baby?" Revisited

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a duet, as reinterpreted by a drunken, jobless fund manager … You were working as a stripper in a Christian Bar That much is true I picked you out, I pumped you up, and turned you out Spun you into someone new Now five years later on you've got your bitchaz on your tweet Success has been so easy for you But don't forget its me who put you where you are now And I can outsource you back down too Don't, don't you want me? You know I cant believe it when I hear that you wont see me Don't, don't you want me? You know I don't believe you when you say that I'm drunk and needy Its much too late to find You think you've changed your mind You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry Can't I beat you baby? don't you want me — oh Don't you want my teabag baby? don't you want me —oh and his soon-to-be ex-trophy wife … I was working as a stripper in a Christian Bar But so were you But even then I'd be sitting on a better face Eith...

VeloMania: I Build A Front Bike Rack

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I wanted a front rack on my urban MTB, but did not have a lot of money to spend on either a really good or really bad rack. This is how I built it. There are several DIY sites out there on how to build a bike rack. Materials used: [3] 36 x 1 x 1/8" aluminum bar stock 1 length of bar stock will be the horizontal box, overlapped and pop-riveted together. 1 length of bar stock will be both down-struts. 1 length of bar stock will be the deck w/ backstop. [2] 1" hose clamps [2] 3" double-stick foam tape, for each fork Pop rivets or stove bolts, as necessary for assembly I used a pop-rivet gun to secure the struts to the rack, and the deck to the assembled rack. You could easily use stove-bolts, I just had the pop-rivet gun handy. GENERAL ASSEMBLY This is all DIY improvised, based on available materials, and trying to get as much out it as possible. Your measurements will vary. BOLT ASSEMBLY ON FORKS Here is Mr Hose-Clamp/Strut Support. Take care when drilling the hole for...