Significa 3-25-13

2012 Robalini Gladiators

Sadly, the 2012 Robalini Gladiators did not repeat as the Cantina Football League champions.  (The league has as its headquarters the Paradise Cantina of Las Vegas, across the street from The Hard Rock Hotel.)  The team's number one draft pick, Tony Romo, just didn't work out, and he was traded with Frank Gore in a shrewd upgrade to RGIII, but the damage was done.  All told, the team went 7-6 in the regular season but lost in the first round of the playoffs, finishing fifth in the 12-team league.  Better luck next year...

QB: Robert Griffin III, Washington Redskins
WR: Donnie Avery, Indianapolis Colts
WR: Davone Bess, Miami Dolphins
WR: Anquan Boldin, Baltimore Ravens
WR: Wes Welker, New England Patriots
RB: Reggie Bush, Miami Dolphins
RB: Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks
TE: Tony Gonzalez, Atlanta Falcons
K: Greg Zuerlein, St. Louis Rams
DEF: Arizona Cardinals

QB: Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
QB: Alex Smith, San Francisco 49ers
WR: Jacoby Jones, Baltimore Ravens
WR: Randy Moss, San Francisco 49ers
RB: Frank Gore, San Francisco 49ers
RB: Alex Green, Green Bay Packers
RB: Mark Ingram, New Orleans Saints
RB: Pierre Thomas, New Orleans Saints
TE: Owen Daniels, Houston Texans
K: Rob Bironas, Tennessee Titans
K: Shayne Graham, Houston Texans
K: Shaun Suisham, Pittsburgh Steelers
DEF: Miami Dolphins
DEF: Pittsburgh Steelers

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Toy of the Month: Predator Drone Model

Maisto Fresh Metal Tailwinds 1:97 Scale Die Cast United States Military Aircraft
US Air Force Medium Altitude, Long Endurance, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) RQ-1 Predator with Display Stand
Dimension: 6" x 3-1/2" x 1"
Amazon URL:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004JFMOGK/thekonformist

Some reviews:

“This toy will give your son hours of fun and perhaps even inspire him to grow up and work in Washington so he too can play first-person-shooter games with real people! ”
James Layne

“Children will have endless fun pretending to kill innocent civilians and usurp rights to privacy. ”
Sammy Davis

"This is the best toy ever. Finally, I can pretend that I'm a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize! It's like I'm sitting right there in the White House with my very own kill list!"
Toni Bones

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Disinformation Rebrands Into TDC Entertainment
Chris Tribbey
28 Jan, 2013
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/studios/disinformation-rebrands-tdc-entertainment-29477

Independent distributor The Disinformation Company is rebranding into TDC Entertainment, with industry veteran Dan Gurlitz serving as president, reporting to CEO Gary Baddeley.

“As depicted in the Disinformation film 2012: Science or Superstition, the end of the Mayan calendar wasn’t really about the end of the world — it was about a new beginning,” Baddeley said. “2013 is our new beginning and Dan has already begun working with me to transform our business with not one but three label imprints to accommodate a wider variety of filmed entertainment.”

The three labels under TDC Entertainment include the company’s signature Disinformation brand, the health and environmental wellness True Mind brand and the company’s newest label, Shelter Island.

The True Mind brand has Shaman, Healer Sage slated for a March 12 release; Shelter Island has the documentary Into the Cold slated for an April 9 release; and Disinformation has We Are Egypt: The Story Behind the Revolution ready for release April 9.

“The TDC release schedule is so diverse and exciting, that the waters ahead promise wonderful sailing,” Gurlitz said. “I could not be more eager to rev the engines on a ship that has such a long and illustrious history.”

TDC Entertainment is based in New York City.

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"Of course gays are less stressed -- they don't have to deal with women!"
Stephen Colbert

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Microsoft Risks Strain to PC Partnerships With Dell Investment
Dina Bass
Jan 22, 2013
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-23/microsoft-risks-strain-to-pc-partnerships-with-dell-investment.html

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), after straining ties with computer makers by releasing its own tablet computer last year, risks further fissures with partners by planning to make a strategic investment in Dell Inc.

Dell is close to clinching a leveraged buyout by Silver Lake Management LLC, and Microsoft is discussing providing part of the funding, people with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Microsoft may contribute about $2 billion for the deal, which could be announced this week, one person said.

An investment would shore up a partner and help Microsoft gain influence in business computing as it loses ground with consumers gravitating toward competing tablets and smartphones. PC makers also may fret that the arrangement will give Dell an advantage, such as through an early look at new software, deeper insight into strategy or preference in product marketing and promotion. Microsoft became a competitor to hardware manufacturers with the release of the Surface tablet last year.

“If you’re a vendor that wasn’t happy with Surface, the idea of Microsoft owning part of Dell is not going to cheer you up,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at market-research firm Gartner Inc. “But if you’re Microsoft and you feel you need to do more devices, and that hardware and software need to be more integrated, the ability to have major influence on a big PC vendor opens some interesting opportunities.”

Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, and David Frink, a spokesman for Round Rock, Texas- based Dell, declined to comment.

Surface Surprise

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, tested ties to the PC industry last year when it unexpectedly announced plans to start selling the Surface. The tablet has gotten off to a disappointing start, and it’s not yet clear how formidable a competitor Microsoft will be. Brent Thill, an analyst at UBS AG, halved his estimate for Surface sales, to 1 million units in the fiscal second quarter, which ended in December, citing “gloomy sentiment” after the holiday shopping season.

Still, it makes sense for cash-rich Microsoft to prop up a seller of PCs and tablets that feature its software. Both companies are struggling to mount a credible response to Apple Inc. and Google Inc. in the market for mobile computers.

Microsoft had $66.6 billion in cash and short-term investments at the end of September.

Dell, the third-largest PC maker, is just one of a handful of vendors selling a tablet with Windows RT, a version of Microsoft’s Windows for chips based on ARM Holdings Plc (ARM) technology. Dell will also begin shipping a separate tablet using the flagship operating system, Windows 8, this month.

‘World of Hurt’

Computer makers and Microsoft are facing a prolonged slump as PC shipments are forecast to drop for the second year in a row in 2013. They fell 4 percent in 2012 and will slide another 1.5 percent this year, according to estimates by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Tablet sales rose 72 percent last year and will surge 54 percent this year, JPMorgan forecast.

“The entire PC ecosystem is in a world of hurt right now, and it’s uncertain whether the PC market returns to a growth market,” said Israel Hernandez, a San Francisco-based managing director at MKM Partners LLC who has a neutral rating on Microsoft. “They both have a vested interest in making sure the PC market can once again survive.”

By becoming a private company, Dell could shift focus to its services business and away from PCs, said Wes Miller, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Washington-based research firm. Microsoft may have decided it needs the investment to keep Dell firmly in the PC market, he said.

Google-Motorola

The strategy nevertheless may not sit well with other partners, particularly Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), the top PC maker, he said.

Michael Thacker, a spokesman for Palo Alto, California- based Hewlett-Packard, declined to comment, as did Jeff Shafer, a spokesman for Lenovo Group Ltd., the No. 2 PC maker.

Microsoft’s possible Dell investment draws parallels with Google’s acquisition last year of handset maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. The deal was met with speculation that Google, backer of the Android operating system, would somehow favor hardware made by Motorola -- becoming a competitor to other Android users, Miller said.

“People said a lot of anticipatorily bad things when Google acquired Motorola, and none of the bad things people predicted have come to pass,” he said.

Microsoft went down a similar path in 2011, when it announced a strategic agreement with handset manufacturer and Windows Phone licensee Nokia Oyj. Still, Microsoft maintains a close relationship with other Windows Phone sellers, including HTC Corp.

Facebook, Barnes & Noble

Microsoft would add to a lengthening list of large strategic investments in technology companies. The software maker has a stake in Facebook Inc. and invested $300 million in a Barnes & Noble Inc. subsidiary to focus on e-readers. It also invested $5 billion in 1999 into what was then AT&T Corp.

This also isn’t the first time Microsoft has considered bolstering a potential Silver Lake deal. In 2011, the software maker offered to help fund an offer by Silver Lake and other firms to acquire a minority stake in Yahoo! Inc., people familiar with the matter said at the time. The deal never materialized.

Microsoft invested $150 million in then-foundering Apple in 1997. The investment contributed to the very survival of Apple and helped put the company on the long path toward becoming the world’s most valuable company.

An investment in Dell (DELL) would be distinct in many ways, Miller said.

‘Pity Infusion’

Apple was “a pity infusion in a near-bankrupt company,” he said.

Microsoft doesn’t own part of Nokia, and Google’s Android is free. That means Google owes less consideration to partners that use the software, whereas PC makers pay Microsoft to use Windows, Gartenberg said.

While PC makers might have a reason to feel aggrieved if Microsoft winds up owning part of Dell, they don’t have very many means of redress, he said. Apple doesn’t license its software to outside vendors. Google also competes with partners and its software isn’t popular on desktop computers.

Microsoft meanwhile needs to focus most on how to restore growth to its Windows business, which has fallen short of analysts’ estimates in six of the last eight quarters.

“Ultimately Microsoft is responsible to its shareholders, not for how well its partners do,” Gartenberg said. “Partners need an operating system, and the operating system of choice on personal computers is Windows. They may have to live with it.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

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Conspiratees
http://conspiratees.net/

Welcome to Conspiratees! I started this brand, honestly, because I couldn’t find any shirts I really wanted to wear. I found a few people with little cafe press sites selling “Stop the NWO!” iron on graphics on plain white shirts, but I want quality shirts that speak for my personal philosophy.

So my goals here are simple: High quality shirts/prints, appealing/fashionable artwork, bold/thought-provoking messages, and fair prices.  Boom. Pretty simple. I hope you look around and come to the conclusion that I’ve met a few of those goals.
It’s been a learning process, both in clothing production, and website design. Neither of which was I familiar with 6 months ago. It took a lot more work/consideration than I expected.

I also run a website/podcast called The Higherside Chats with similar conspiracy themes. My hope is also that, listeners will appreciate the free content, and buy a like-minded product in place of a donation or subscription, like so many other podcasts ask  for.  Either way, I have a whole new wardrobe, and hopefully soon, you will too.

Thanks for checking it out, please E-mail me if you have any questions/concerns/problems with the website. All orders are processed within 2 days, with the fairest possible $3.95 flat rate shipping, regardless how many you buy, so make it count people!  If you’re not happy with something in the process, or my products, I’ll fix it.

Promise.

-Greg Carlwood
TheHighersideChats@gmail.com

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Marie Osmond Performs The Dadaist Poem ‘Karawane’
JacobSloan
January 17, 2013
http://www.disinfo.com/2013/01/marie-osmond-performs-the-dadaist-poem-karawane

If only today’s country singers or daytime talk show hosts would do riveting renditions of 100-year-old Dadaist sound poems on occasion. In a lost moment of television greatness, Marie Osmond takes on Hugo Ball:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=USTQgu229Wc

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The Source Family, documentary about 1970s Los Angeles freak cult/commune
David Pescovitz
Tue, Feb 5 2013
http://boingboing.net/2013/02/05/the-source-family-documentary.html

The Source Family, a magnificent documentary by my friend Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulos, will see nationwide distribution this spring, starting with a May 1 premier at the IFC Center in New York City. The film tells the story of Father Yod and his Source Family, a radical, utopian social experiment that emerged from the Los Angeles freak scene in the 1970s. Boing Boing is delighted to premier the trailer. Far fucking out.

http://vimeo.com/58953915

The Source Family’s outlandish lifestyle, popular celebrity hangout restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip; but their outsider ideals, controversial spiritual leader Father Yod, along with his 13 wives, instigated local authorities. They fled to Hawaii, leading to their dramatic demise. Years later, family members surface and the rock band reforms, revealing how their time with Father Yod shaped their lives in the most unexpected ways. These personal accounts, along with interviews with outsiders, make up the interviews in the film. However, the story is largely cinematic, expressed through the use of the group’s extensive film and audio archive maintained by Isis Aquarian, one of Father's wives, Family documentarian, and a central character in the documentary (as well as being associate producer). The film’s soundtrack is composed entirely of original Source Family music produced from 1971-1975.

The film was inspired by The Source: The Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13 and the Source Family, a fantastic 2007 book written by family members Isis Aquarian and Electricity Aquarian, edited by Jodi Wille, and published by our pals Process Media.

The Source Family: A Documentary

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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The Rock, Zanzibar
http://www.therockrestaurantzanzibar.com

It takes just one look understand that no pencil nor brush could draw such beauty – only Mother Nature could have reach such heights. We simply added the love for cooking, courtesy, our professional skills and the joy to share all of this splendour with you.Rock Restaurant rises on a rock not distant from the shore of the beautiful Michanwi Pingwe beach. Eating at Rock Restaurant is an experience you can’t miss: colours, relish and sensations blend together in unique magic.
For information and reservations please call:

+255 (0) 777 835515, Michamvi Pingue – info@therockrestaurantzanzibar.com

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Konformist Book Club

Raising Unicorns
Your Step-by-Step Guide to Starting and Running a Successful - and Magical! - Unicorn Farm
Jessica S. Marquis
Amazon URL:
http://www.amazon.com/Raising-Unicorns-Step-Step-Successful/dp/1440525900/thekonformist

List Price: $13.95
Price: $11.16 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.79 (20%)

Welcome to the whimsical and very lucrative world of unicorn farming! This is an industry like no other with potential limited only by your imagination. As a future unicorn farmer, you will experience the wide and unique array of opportunities, challenges, and joys of caring for these majestic creatures.

In this book, author Jessica S. Marquis provides everything you need to know to make a good living as a unicorn farmer. From choosing the right breed (Purebred; Twinkletoe; Karmic; Gigglerump; Horse with Horn) to picking the unicorn farm dream team (an alchemist; stable hands; groomers; The On-Call Virgin (OCV); lawyers), you are guaranteed to have a magical journey. The only reference of its kind, this book proves you can live in fantasyland—and still make money.

Jessica S. Marquis is a self-proclaimed Unicornomicist and a freelance writer who produces offbeat, satirical humor. Her work has appeared in Geek Monthly, Redbook, Flash, and Going Bonkers? She lives, writes, creates films, and raises unicorns in Phoenix, AZ with her husband and their colleague Farmer McGlitter. Visit her website at Unicornomics.com.

Product Details
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Adams Media (August 18, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1440525900
ISBN-13: 978-1440525902

TRUE GIANTS: Is Gigantopithecus Still Alive?
Mark A. Hall, Loren Coleman

Price: $15.95 & eligible for FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
Usually ships within 1 to 3 weeks.
Kindle Edition $9.99

Amazon URL
Paperback:
http://www.amazon.com/TRUE-GIANTS-Gigantopithecus-Still-Alive/dp/1933665491/thekonformist

Kindle Edition:
http://www.amazon.com/TRUE-GIANTS-Gigantopithecus-Still-ebook/dp/B005PZN21O/thekonformist

Publication Date: November 29, 2010

Do giant primates larger than gorillas, taller than Sasquatch and Yetis, still exist in the remotest corners of the globe? Famed cryptozoologists Mark A. Hall and Loren Coleman join forces to share their knowledge of this unexplored and neglected topic in cryptozoology. Bigfoot researchers have long been mystified, even embarrassed, by reports of giant hairy apes larger than Bigfoot, and as a result eyewitness reports of what Hall and Coleman call True Giants have never been fully considered in the broader zoological context. Reviewing the evidence found in traditions and footprints, folklore and sightings, the authors of this groundbreaking volume present for the first time in one place the wide-ranging argument for the possible survival of a giant species of primate that we know lived on Earth for millions of years. TRUE GIANTS breaks a cryptozoological taboo.

Paperback: 188 pages
Publisher: Anomalist Books (November 29, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1933665491
ISBN-13: 978-1933665498