I will be the first to admit that I don't read books hardly ever. I don't know I'm more of a TV or Video or visual type of guy I guess. But On yahoo (from NPR) I saw this story about this guy who thinks being sad or blue is ok and has a purpose. He does go on to say he doesn't mean very bad depression. It is an interesting Idea. I think his book would make very good reading and the article is below or for those who want to read it in original form

Plus they have some other links I would like to check out also that could be interesting also. I do kinda think that everyone does have a natural mood or way that they see the world and maybe all ways being kinda blue (as long as it isn't so strong that is causes a lot of problems) isn't as bad as everyone thinks it is. After all don't we all hate those people who are all ways super happy and you think the world could end and they would still find a reason to smile.

All Things Considered, February 11, 2008 · Author Eric G. Wilson has come to realize he was born to the blues, and he has made peace with his melancholy state.

But it took some time, as he writes in his new book, a polemic titled Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy.

At the behest of well-meaning friends, I have purchased books on how to be happy. I have tried to turn my chronic scowl into a bright smile. I have attempted to become more active, to get away from my dark house and away from my somber books and participate in the world of meaningful action. ... I have contemplated getting a dog. I have started eating salads. I have tried to discipline myself in nodding knowingly. ... I have undertaken yoga. I have stopped yoga and gone into tai chi. I have thought of going to psychiatrists and getting some drugs. I have quit all of this and then started again and then once more quit. Now I plan to stay quit. The road to hell is paved with happy plans.

Wilson has embraced his inner gloom, and he wishes more people would do the same.

The English professor at Wake Forest University wants to be clear that he is not "romanticizing" clinical depression and that he believes it is a serious condition that should be treated.

But he worries that today's cornucopia of antidepressants - used to treat even what he calls "mild to moderate sadness" - might make "sweet sorrow" a thing of the past.

"And if that happens, I wonder, what will the future hold? Will our culture become less vital? Will it become less creative?" he asks.

Wilson talks to Melissa Block about why the world needs melancholy - how it pushes people to think about their relation to the world in new ways and ultimately to relate to the world in a richer, deeper way.

He also explores the link between sadness, artistic creation and depression - which has led to suicide in many well-known cases: Virginia Woolf, Vincent Van Gogh, Hart Crane and Ernest Hemingway, for instance.

Wilson says perhaps this is "just part of the tragic nature of existence, that sometimes there's a great price to be paid for great works or beauty, for truth."

"We can look at the lives of Dylan Thomas, Virginia Woolf, Hart Crane and others and lament the fact that they suffered so. Yet at the same time, we're buoyed, we're overjoyed by the works they left behind," Wilson says.

The husband and father of a young daughter also acknowledges that melancholy is "difficult terrain to negotiate in domestic situations." He says there are certainly times when his family hoped he would be "happier," and yet they would not want him to pretend to feel something he doesn't.

Wilson says that by taking his melancholy seriously, his family ultimately will get to know him more deeply and develop a more intimate relationship with him.

"To get to know your partner, your spouse, your friend fully, you really have to find a way to embrace the dark as well as the light. Only then can you know that person," he says.
Excerpt: 'Against Happiness'

by Eric G. Wilson





Conclusion

The gene pool - before and beyond time - froths and sloshes. What flops up onto the temporal shores is a matter of chance, a product of the waves' whims. At some point this teeming reservoir of DNA spumes forth a saturnine gene, a double helix destined to produce melancholy dispositions. From this instant onward what we know as human history begins: that striving, seemingly endless, toward an ungraspable perfection, that tragic effort to reach what exceeds the grasp, to fail magnificently. This gene, this melancholy gene, has proved the code for innovation. It has produced over the centuries our resplendent towers, yearning heavenward. It has created our great epics, god-hungry. It has concocted our memorable symphonies, as tumultuously beautiful as the first ocean. Without this sorrowful genome, these sublimities would have remained in the netherworld of nonexistence. Indeed, without this genetic information, sullen and ambitious, what we see as culture in general, that empyreal realm of straining ideas, might have never arisen from the mere quest for survival, from simple killing and eating.

We can picture this in the primitive world. While the healthy bodies of the tribe were out mindlessly hacking beasts or other humans, the melancholy soul remained behind brooding in a cave or under a tree. There he imagined new structures, oval and amber, or fresh verbal rhythms, sacred summonings, or songs superior to even those of the birds. Envisioning these things, and more, this melancholy malingerer became just as useful for his culture as did the hunters and the gatherers for theirs. He pushed his world ahead. He moved it forward. He dwelled always in the insecure realm of the avant-garde.

This primitive visionary was the first of many such avant-garde melancholics. Of course not all innovators are melancholy, and not all melancholy souls are innovative. However, the scientifically proved relationship between genius and depression, between gloom and greatness suggests that the majority of our cultural innovators, ranging from the ancient dreamer in the bush to the more recent Dadaist in the city, have grounded their originality in the melancholy mood. We can of course by now understand why.

Melancholia pushes against the easy "either/or" of the status quo. It thrives in unexplored middle ground between oppositions, in the "both/and." It fosters fresh insights into relationships between oppositions, especially that great polarity life and death. It encourages new ways of conceiving and naming the mysterious connections between antinomies. It returns us to innocence, to irony, that ability, temporary, to play in potential without being constrained to the actual. Such respites from causality refresh our relationship to the world, grant us beautiful vistas, energize our hearts and our minds.

Indeed, the world is much of the time boring, controlled as it is by staid habits. It seems overly familiar, tired, repetitious. Then along comes what Keats calls the melancholy fit, and suddenly the planet again turns interesting. The veil of familiarity falls away. There before us flare bracing possibilities. We are called to forge untested links to our environments. We are summoned to be creative.

Given these virtues of melancholia, why are thousands of psychiatrists and psychologists attempting to "cure" depression as if it were a terrible disease? Obviously, those suffering severe depression, suicidal and bordering on psychosis, require serious medications. But what of those millions of people who possess mild to moderate depression? Should these potential visionaries also be asked to eradicate their melancholia with the help of a pill? Should these possible innovators relinquish what might well be their greatest muse, their demons giving birth to angels?

Right now, if the statistics are correct, about 15 percent of Americans are not happy. Soon, perhaps, with the help of psychopharmaceuticals, we shall have no more unhappy people in our country. Melancholics will become unknown.

This would be an unparalleled tragedy, equivalent in scope to the annihilation of the sperm whale or the golden eagle. With no more melancholics, we would live in a world in which everyone simply accepted the status quo, in which everyone would simply be content with the given. This would constitute a dystopia of ubiquitous placid grins, a nightmare worthy of Philip K. Dick, a police state of Pollyannas, a flatland that offers nothing new under the sun. Why are we pushing toward such a hellish condition?

The answer is simple: fear. Most hide behind the smile because they are afraid of facing the world's complexity, its vagueness, its terrible beauties. If they stay safely ensconced behind their painted grins, then they won't have to encounter the insecurities attendant upon dwelling in possibility, those anxious moments when one doesn't know this from that, when one could suddenly become almost anything at all. Even though this anxiety, usually over death, is in the end exhilarating, a call to be creative, it is in the beginning rather horrifying, a feeling of hovering in an unpredictable abyss. Most immediately flee from this situation. They try to lose themselves in the laughing masses, hoping the anxiety will never again visit them. They don inauthenticity as a mask, a disguise protecting them from the abyss.

To foster a society of total happiness is to concoct a culture of fear. Do we really want to give away our courage for mere mirth? Are we ready to relinquish our most essential hearts for a good night's sleep, a season of contentment? We must ignore the seductions of our blissed-out culture and somehow hold to our sadness. We must find a way, difficult though it is, to be who we are, sullenness and all.

Suffering the gloom, inevitable as breath, we must further accept this fact that the world hates: we are forever incomplete, but fragments of some ungraspable whole. Our unfinished natures - we are never pure actualities but always vague potentials - make life a constant struggle, a bout with the persistent unknown. But this extension into the abyss is also our salvation. To be but a fragment is always to strive for something beyond oneself, something transcendent - an unexplored possibility, an unmapped avenue. This striving is always an act of freedom, of choosing one road instead of another. Though this labor is arduous - it requires constant attention to our mysterious and shifting interiors - it is also ecstatic, an almost infinite sounding of the exquisite riddles of Being.

To be against happiness, to avert contentment, is to be close to joy, to embrace ecstasy. Incompleteness is the call to life. Fragmentation is freedom. The exhilaration of never knowing anything fully is that you can perpetually imagine sublimities beyond reason. On the margins of the known is the agile edge of existence. This is the elation of circumference. This is the rapture, burning slow, of finishing a book that can never be completed, a flawed and conflicted text, vexed as twilight.

Excerpted from Against Happiness by Eric G. Wilson. Copyright © 2008 by Eric G. Wilson. Published in January 2008 by Sarah Crichton Books, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. All rights reserved.

This weekend I bought "Across the universe" I'm almost done watching the second disc. It is an odd movie to say the least. But it does get better once you listen to the commentary. With out giving anything away there is a really weird but interesting Eddie Lizard (I know that isn't right but you fans of his know who i mean) scene. All in all I like the movie. The thing to remember is that is a musical so that tells all most all of the story. The other thing is that if you see the previews for it and like the guy who sings voice then you will like the movie but if his voice you don't like then there is no sense in seeing it cause he isn't the only character but he kinda leads it. I found that all the actors can both act and sing pretty good so it is very enjoyable. That being said if you are "beatles purest" you might not like it since they kinda tinker with the songs. Some of the visual aspects are really good. I admit I thought Bono's part was going to suck hard and not in the good way but his part I really liked and thought he did a good job.

So today on the way out to target to get a gift for the sis's birthday we went out Best to Walden. Is it just me or are there lots of boarded up houses that are in need of a good fire? Of course that isn't really a solution since often there is a lived in house next to them. I wonder if someone was to buy one of those and assuming it hasn't all ready been done take out all the wood and pipes and stuff like that if you could turn a profit doing that. The odd part was when we passed a field and I remembered that someone I used to know (ok still know them but it seems like forever since I've seen them) lived in a house where that field is now. I'll admit that I don't have a good idea to how to fix the empty boarded up house problem. But I do know that there should be some way to help make the nieghboorhood better then just letting them sit there with smashed windows.

Now to contrast that we wound up going to a 2nd target. Yes 3 targets in two days, yes. Bye the way I love all there ads. Like the ones that everything is in red or all those new converse great converse ads where at the end the quickly mention to buy them at target, great smart ads. They have those ones where everything is red or blue or green. One of them even uses a cover of a Beatles song I think. The one we got the gift at was on transit wow it is big there is tons of frozen food and they have breed and all kinds of stuff. But what I found interesting is that they had a Starbucks inside. Granted I'm not a Coffee person my self. But what makes it more interesting is that they also sell starbucks coffee inside and that they also sell the little bottles in 4 packs. Where things get kinda ironic is that they also have a little pizza hut place next to the starbucks and get this in the cooler they sell those little cold starbucks drinks.

I hope everyone had a good weekend, and that the work week isn't to bad. I think I will go to a concert for Valentines day. Hope everyones else does something nice even if it just buying a giant box of candy turning on cable going to adult on demand and getting a nice porno movie as you drink a bottle of wine or maybe Jack Daniels and sing Janis Joplin songs or even better yet watch "V for Vendatta" "300" and "Valentines Day" or some other violent movie.

First of all I decided or maybe I'm just to lazy to put them up not to put up pictures from the Canisius weekend. Second I changed my user picture for two reasons. One is as much as I like the one with Timika and Carey. I thought this was a good one for valentines day. I will get to my Valentines day question in the next paragraph. For those that don't know this picture is from a 30 seconds to mars poster. Yeah this is kinda a smoshed version of it but that is ok. By the way they have a new Video and New website attached to it I myself really like the video and I think they are really trying to make things better and not just using there fame to make it look like they are trying to do the right thing. As I have said in the past I'm not really a fan of Valentines day but I'm trying to not hate it so much and maybe will have a good time on it this year. This assumes I don't lame out, that is all ways a good chance of that with it being so late into the work week.

Sometimes there are things that I think about and go "I wonder". It isn't that I'm looking for deep meaning it is that they just come to me. I thought that most Escorts are paid for my married men or guys/gals in relationships(I assume this is the case with call girls, hookers, or even street walkers). Yes single men also use that. But I assume that for single men the bar is an easier way. I also assume this cause lets say I liked being raped that is something I can't tell the women she might leave me, or say to never mention it again. But now say there is this thing that really gets me off but the women won't do it so I have to find someone to pay to do it. I know that some hotels have these romance packages for couples. I think that is a nice idea and they even have specials. But what I'm wondering is that since business is brisk on Valentines day do Hookers or anyone is the sex trade run Valentines day specials as a way to draw more people in and make up for all there lost business? Or is it just the other way that they figure that single guys won't want to be alone so they can charge them more? Hey if anyone knows I would love to know the answer to this. I'm not saying I'm going to go get one, I just think it is kinda interesting. I will admit it does sound kinda fun, except for the STD Dangers and the fact that if you do an artvoice ad what if she shows up and you aren't into her. I also wonder what would happen if you offered the person a box of chocolate? Or maybe even came up with some interesting thing to do with them?
Like I said I don't try to think of stuff like this it just kinda comes to me out of nowhere.

So last night I went with my sis to the Canisius Basketball game. It was a fun time Canisius Beat Fairfield by a lot, they really did. The one thing that I found kinda interesting or different is that they had a Dance Team and Cheerleaders. I don't know if it is common or not but I figured that it wouldn't be common and seems kinda odd, but hey more sexy ladies to look at.

Then it was off to Nietzche's for a Hip Hop show. Yes I the "God of Metal" used to listen to Hip Hop A lot. I'm not a metal god really I just like Guitar and some angry music. Some CDs or tapes I have from the past Run DMC, DR Dre, NWA/metallica (one on each side of the tape), Raven Simone (yes the girl from the Cosby show who is now a Disney star had a kids rap ablum), Snoop, Eniem, Too Short, ICP, Beastie Boys, Salt N' Pepa, MC Lyte, and Luke are some that come to mind. My cousin is in a band called Constant Climax (what a great name) but they where performing with another band called Dali's Ghost (not hip hop from the little bit I've seen not sure how to classify them maybe ska since they have horns). When they perform like that they are Known as dali's climax. I thought they where very good and there where a few other bands that I liked as well but to be honest not sure of there names. I had a good time.

In terms of pictures I may post some once they are downloaded. I'm holding off cause I might go see Jackdaw tonight. Or I might stay in and not battle the ice and the getting cold and the going home late at night, but if I do go maybe I'll post pictures of a weekend recap or something. For anyone reading this I guess I should also mention the Queen City Roller Girls have a bout tonight. Hope the rest of everyones weekend is great.

First of all I don't have any for your pain condition sorry. The article below is about a new way to buy weed, of course the medical kind. In LA you can get it from a vending machine. I think it is a great idea and it sounds really secure so that is cool. I still find it odd that a state like CA can say it is legal for medical Marijuna but that the Feds say it is illegal so that is kinda a legal mess it seems like to me. I don't know if the states who made it legal should be right or if the feds should have the power to overturn them. I know there is that balance of powers thing I have to admit I'm kinda pulling for the states myself.

Vending machines dispense pot in LA

By DAISY NGUYEN, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 30, 8:47 AM ET

LOS ANGELES - The city that popularized the fast food drive-thru has a new innovation: 24-hour medical marijuana vending machines.


Patients suffering from chronic pain, loss of appetite and other ailments that marijuana is said to alleviate can get their pot with a dose of convenience at the Herbal Nutrition Center, where a large machine will dole out the drug around the clock.

"Convenient access, lower prices, safety, anonymity," inventor and owner Vincent Mehdizadeh said, extolling the benefits of the machine.

But federal drug agents say the invention may need unplugging.

"Somebody owns (it), it's on a property and somebody fills it," said DEA Special Agent Jose Martinez. "Once we find out where it's at, we'll look into it and see if they're violating laws."

At least three dispensaries in the city, including two belonging to Mehdizadeh, have installed vending machines to distribute the drug to people who carry cards authorizing marijuana use.

Mehdizadeh said he spent seven months to develop and patent the black, armored box, which he calls the "PVM," or prescription vending machine.

A sliding fence protects the tinted windows of his dispensary, barely distinguishing it from a busy thoroughfare of strip malls, automobile dealers and furniture shops. A box resembling a large refrigerator stands inside the nearly empty shop, near a few shelves stocked with vitamins and herbs.

A guard in a black T-shirt emblazoned with the word "Security" on the front stands at the door. A poster of Bob Marley decorates a back room.

The computerized machine requires fingerprint identification and a prepaid card with a magnetic stripe. Once the card and fingerprint are verified, a bright green envelope with the pot drops down a slot.

Mehdizadeh says any user approved for medical marijuana and registered in a computer database at his dispensaries can pre-purchase the drug and then use the machine to pick up.

The process provides convenience and privacy for users who may otherwise feel uncomfortable about buying marijuana, Mehdizadeh said.

At the Timothy Leary Medical Dispensary in the San Fernando Valley, the vending machine is accessible only during business hours. An employee there said the machine was introduced about five months ago, and provides speedy service.

"It helps a lot of patients who are in a lot of pain and don't want to wait around to get help," Robert Schwartz said. "It's been working out great."

Mehdizadeh said he sought the advice of doctors, and decided to limit the amount of marijuana per user to an ounce per week. Each purchase from the machine yields 1/8th or 2/8th of an ounce. By eliminating a vendor behind the counter, he said, the machine offers users lower drug prices. The 1/8th ounce packet would cost about $40 - $20 lower than the average price at other dispensaries.

A spokesman for a marijuana advocacy group said the machine also benefits dispensary owners.

"It limits the number of workers in the store in the event of a raid, and it'll make it harder for theft," said Nathan Sands, of The Compassionate Coalition.

Marijuana use is illegal under federal law, which does not recognize the medical marijuana laws in California and 11 other states.

The Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal agencies have been actively shutting down major medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state over the last two years and charging their operators with felony distribution charges.

Mehdizadeh said the Herbal Nutrition Center was the target of a federal raid in December. He said no arrests were made and no charges have been filed against him.

Kris Hermes, a spokesman for advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, said the machine might benefit those who already know how much and what strain of marijuana they're looking for. But he said others will want to see and smell the drug before they buy it.

A man who said he has been authorized to use medical marijuana as part of his anger management therapy said the vending machine's security measures would at least protect against illicit use of the drug.

"You have kids that want to get high and that's not what marijuana is for," Robert Miko said. "It's to medicate."

So Feb. 1st is coming very fast. On Friday I'm going to my 1st Canisius Basketball game in a long, long, time (thanks (e:ladycroft) by the way). I have seen them play at either the Aud or HSBC arena I don't remember when though, I think it was the aud it had to be now that I think about it. I wanted to go to games when I was in School there but it was so tough. If I lived on campus I would have had more time but with traveling (not far but still) to school every day and going home everyday that is added time and then I would only stay at school so late. Oh yeah then there was homework and trying to get a computer to type stuff up. Oh yeah then swim practice and meets and stuff so I never managed to get to a game. The odd thing I knew a couple people on the basketball team and saw one of them play in a basketball game but it wasn't a Canisius game. It was some event like the world university games or something like that.

On Friday Night after the game I want to go to Nietcehes (I won't even try to spell it right I'll never come close) for a hip hop night. Pete listens to Hip Hop, not really. I used to a lot, my cousin is in one of the Bands They will be backed up by another band so that should be interesting, assuming I don't lame out. If you want to listen to there music or get more info the band is called Constant Climax and I have them listed on my myspace top friends.

I just read that there is a Sat. Queen City Roller girls bout. That would be really fun to go to. I know just like all the other ones I won't go. Not because I wouldn't like it but that "tonawanda area" is kinda like the old west to me. I have no idea how to get there and once I did I wouldn't know what Tonawanda I was in or how to get any where. But I encourage the other people to go. Also Saturday night there are two shows I would like to go see. Of course this Assumes I don't lame out. I really want to see Jackdaw it seems like a long time since I've seen them, they are playing at Club Diablo, only been there once and never seen a show there. Hopefully I go and take some (I'm sure they will turn out dark anyways) pictures. But the same night there is a band at Mohawk place that I Haven't seen In a long time called the Rabies. I was going to get to see them about 6 days ago but Rob Zombie canceled his concert, not sure why exactly.

Of course Sunday Is the "The big Game" Of course we all know it isn't really called that. But if you advertise stuff you have to pay allot of money to call it by its real name. That brings up an interesting point. I was at Burger king today and they have NFL on some of there stuff and talk about the playoffs but nothing about the superbowl. I find that odd, you would think that if they were willing to pay for NFL they would shell out the extra cash for Superbowl. But maybe they understand no one is really going to buy Burger King for the Super Bowl. I'm the kind of person who looks at it as an event and not just a game. But that is because I have seen an ad that aired before the game that was pretty cleaver and I never saw it again. I have also seen some pretty cool musical performances before the game also. I have seen some pregame stuff that wound up being better then the game. I have seen some pretty cool profiles and stories before hand also. That being said I so understand why lots of people just tune in to watch the game. No parties for me that I know of. I really should think about what I want to eat during the game. I hope that everyone who bet on "The Pats" lose there money. I'm not saying I want the G-men to win. I want them to lose really but by less then 12 so we have a great game. The last time the two teams played it was really a great game. How can you not like "The Pats" really. I also hope that they have lots of funny ads and maybe even some rude ones. Like maybe some guy chugs down a drink quick and a buddy goes "Dude Stop", "what", "You didn't notice Jerry didn't get up from his seat all day" Jerry goes "Yeah I didn't want to miss any of the great ads, that was extreme" as the guy gets it and washes his mouth out a tag line would come in "extreme taste, but not that Extreme" or you know something like that. I want complaints like the one with the farting horse. You would be surprised at what offends people when they are watching with there kids, as opposed to with kids watching the same thing in a different room, you'd be amazed.

I know there are some people here who may not like when people repost entire news stories and they have some valid points. I admit I had nothing to do with this story and am just reposting it. The reason for this is that it is a detective story. But more then that it is also is something that I wished happened to me and it would have made some else pictures I know still be around (I think his camera was stolen like mine and not lost but don't let the truth get in the way of a good story now). The other reason is that I have heard that there is so much negative energy in NYC (hope I understood them correctly). That I would post this story of someone who was honest and did a good thing.

Photo clues lead to camera's owner

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer Fri Jan 25, 5:46 PM ET

At dusk on New Year's Eve, Erika Gunderson got into a taxi in New York City and entered a digital-age mystery.


Sitting on the back seat was a nice Canon digital camera. Gunderson asked the driver which previous passenger might have left it, but the cabbie didn't seem to care. So Gunderson brought it home and showed it to her fiance, Brian Ascher. They decided that the only right thing to do was to find the owner.

But how? The only clues were the pictures on the camera: typical tourist snapshots, complete with a visit to the Statue of Liberty. How could they find a stranger among the huddled masses?

Gunderson is busy in finance for Bear Stearns Cos., so the detective quest fell to Ascher, a 26-year-old law student at New York University. He was on winter break and eager to put off writing a paper about climate change treaties.

He checked whether anyone had reported a matching missing camera to the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission. No dice. He placed ads in lost-and-found sections of Craigslist but got just one response - from a couple in Brazil who had lost a camera in a cab on Oct. 12, not Dec. 31.

"I guess they thought their camera had been riding around in a taxi for two months," Ascher recalls now, chuckling at the notion that such a thing would be possible in New York.

The 350 pictures and two videos on the camera showed several adults, an older woman and three children. Half put them at New York sites like the Empire State Building. The other half had the group enjoying warm weather and frolicking at kid-friendly theme parks.

Ascher easily pinpointed Florida. The group had stood in front of a sign indicating Clearwater, Fla., and posed at Bob Heilman's Beachcomber Restaurant there.

They also took a pirate-themed boat ride where the kids got mustaches painted on their faces. Ascher zoomed in on the group to see name tags on their shirts. He spotted an Alan, an Eileen, a male Noel and a female Noelle, plus a Ciarnan. Under their names was written "IRE."

When Ascher checked the videos, he saw nothing telling, just the children dancing and swimming. But in the background, he heard Irish accents.

OK, Ascher figured, the camera's owner is from Ireland.

Ascher called Canon's Ireland division to see if anyone had registered the $500 camera's serial number. No such luck. He posted ads on Irish Web sites. Nothing.

He checked the date stamp on the photos from Bob Heilman's and called to inquire whether anyone remembered serving a big Irish group that day. Without the diners' last names, there was no way to check. It's a nice thing you're trying, the manager told Ascher, but you probably just found yourself a new camera.

Enter some fresh eyes. Ascher's mother, Nancy, and sister, Emily Rann, scoured the pictures for clues he might have missed. Nancy was particularly confident, having reunited people with their lost belongings before. She once found a California woman's wallet in a cab in Florence, Italy, and spent all day on her trail before making a handover at an American Express office.

"I thought, with all this data in the camera, there's no way we're not going to get it back to them," Nancy Ascher says now. "I was hoping it wasn't going to take a trip to Ireland, flashing their pictures everywhere."

Ascher's mother and his sister noticed that one of the pictures showed a doorman helping someone into a New York taxi. Zooming tight on the doorman's uniform, they made out the logo of the Radisson Hotel.

After several phone calls and a visit to the hotel to show the pictures around, Nancy Ascher persuaded an employee to search the Radisson's guest records by first name and country of residence. Indeed, a Noel from Ireland had stayed there on the date stamped on the photo. Nancy Ascher charmed the hotel employee into sharing the guest's e-mail address.

Wonderful.

Except that when Noel responded to Brian Ascher, he said he hadn't lost a camera.

By now, school was resuming, and Ascher was prepared to give the camera to his mom so she could take over. She had figured out the name of the Florida pirate-boat cruise and was trying to reach its operator.

But first Ascher took a final look at the photographs.

He pored over some from Dec. 30 that didn't include the children. The photos showed signs for bars in Manhattan's East Village: The Thirsty Scholar, Telephone Bar, Burp Castle. There also were multiple interior shots of a tavern, but they didn't seem to fit with what Ascher knew of those other three bars.

Then he stopped on another picture, showing two people outside an apartment building. Seemingly accidentally included in the picture was something Ascher had missed the first time: an awning in the background that read "Standings." Aha! Standings is a bar next to Burp Castle. Ascher checked its Web site, and the interior matched the pictures on the camera.

Ascher found Standings' owner, who reached the bartender who had worked Dec. 30. Yes, he recalled an Irish group. Especially because one of the women was a big tipper and said she worked at another New York City bar, Playwrights. The Standings bartender called Playwrights to ask which employees had been in his bar.

Ascher soon got an e-mail from a woman named Sarah Casey, whose sister Jeanette works at Playwrights. Suddenly everything Ascher had seen on the camera came to life.

The Caseys recently had hosted relatives and friends from Ireland. The group included their friend Alan Murphy, who had journeyed to Florida with family before heading to New York, where the clan stayed at the Radisson. (Their Noel was not the Noel whom Ascher e-mailed.) Murphy ended the trip kicking himself for leaving his camera in a cab in the twilight on New Year's Eve.

Sarah Casey agreed to send it to him. It didn't go to Ireland but to Sydney, Australia, where Murphy lives now.

Murphy, an insurance underwriter, had been devastated to lose the pictures from a trip he had planned for years. It was Jan. 10 - his 34th birthday - when he heard he would be getting the photos back. "I was over the moon," he says now. "Best present ever."

"I owe you one," he wrote to Ascher. "It's good to know there are some honest people left in the world."

Oh yeah since I'm here On line I decided to not go to the movies and try to watch Winter X games all day and in between them as much of that skill contests and Young hockey stars game or what ever it is called on Versus. I don't remember all the sports that will be on today but maybe I can spend some time cleaning my place up a little bit as I watch. I all mean to do that and never do for some reason. Oh yeah I'm lazy. That being said (this assumes a few things that to me are barriers where not any more magicly) as fun as those sports are to watch it sure would be fun to go Skiing, snowboarding or maybe even snowmobiling (racing no tricks for me) every weekend. I think that it would also be a great way to go visit new places. To fly out to some ski town or maybe even fly near it rent a car or truck see the city for a day then drive to that ski town for a few days then drive back and fly home. For those of you that have the chance to do that I say go for it. It really makes you happy about the winter instead of drudging through it.

So last night on the winter X games they had this cool new event with snowmobiles where they had a speed course and then a style course. They do 3 tricks off a ramp and then they get a score and then they get a speed score based on how fast they do it. Both scores get added and who ever has the most points advances. That was so fun to watch. Then they also had the finals of the men skiing the superpipe that was really fun to watch also, some amazing action. It will be on all weekend. Now for you hockey fans I'm sure you all know that Saturday and Sunday is All Star Weekend. Some of those skills contests are kinda cool, but often I mis them. I'm not sure if I will be able to watch all of this or if there will be conflict. I all ready Have a little bit of a conflict with the Royal Rumble and the X games maybe I'll get the Rumble and tape the sports, I can't remember what I did last year. There are also two movies I would like to see but we shall see I can all ways wait till next week for "Rambo" (not sure if it is a remake or story continues I'm guessing remake) and "Meet the Spartans" (looks funny). The bandits play in Philly on Saturday night, not that I would travel there but it could be fun. I just wanted to ad that there are ways to also watch all allot of those sports online and in some cases it is extra tuna for those really into there sports.

I first heard about this on The Edge and they had different reports from different places like Wikipedia and TMZ and now the below report is from yahoo's page. I'm sure this may change and more info will come to light. I have seen him in a couple movies I forget what it was called but he was in that movie with Julia Stiles and I think he sings to her on the bleachers that was pretty good. Then of course they make a mockery of that is "not another teen movie". In any event it is very young to die. To bad the people taking care of him didn't pay more attention to him and watch out for him more.

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan apartment, and police said drugs may have been a factor. The Australian-born actor was 28. Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the residence in the tony SoHo neighborhood, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

A large crowd of paparazzi and gawkers began gathering Tuesday evening outside the building on an upscale block, where several police officers guarded the door.

Ledger was nominated for an Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain," where he met Michelle Williams in 2005. The two lived together in Brooklyn and had a daughter, Matilda, until they split up last year.

Ledger most recently appeared in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan ƒƒ‚‚ as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

Ledger was to appear as the Joker this year in "The Dark Night," a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins." He's had starring roles in "A Knight's Tale" and "The Patriot," and played the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in "Monster's Ball."

Ledger grew up in Perth, and began doing amateur theater at age 10. At 16, he moved to Sydney to pursue an acting career, quickly landing TV movie roles and guest spots on Australian television.

After several independent films and a starring role in the short-lived Fox TV series "Roar," Ledger moved to Los Angeles and costarred in "10 Things I Hate About You," a teen comedy reworking of "The Taming of the Shrew."

Offers for other teen flicks came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, 'You're crazy,' my parents were like, 'Come on, you have to eat.'"

___

Associated Press Sara Kugler contributed to this report.

I can't believe I forgot to post about this yesterday. On Saturday I went to the Bandits game Vs. New York Titans . I had a good time and thought it was a great game and in the end the Bandits won an exciting game. John Tavares (not sure if that is correct) tied and then broke the all time goal record and has 597 goals. I put up some random pictures at random. If you want to see all the them they should be on my webshots page by some time on Tuesday and hopefully tonight. Afterwards I did go to the Boom Bash at the tralf and had a great time that was fun to. In terms of those of you sports fans who say what is there to watch this weekend, there are allways sports on and starting Thursday the winter X games start or at least on TV sometimes at expn.com you can watch stuff on line.











































Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I have to admit I like the Titan's jerseys with the out line of NYC and then they still have the titan mask on them, I think Last years was just the mask and I liked them last years also. Indoor lacrosse is so fun to watch it really is. Plus you have the Bandettes and the fun intro at the beginning of the game.