TampaBLAB

Self-Esteem is a highly charged phrase. Even more so when it comes to tween and teen girls. The Dove Self-Esteem Project is working to help raise girls’ self image through advertising, online tools, reports, and workshops with the Girls and Boys Club of America, Girls Inc. and the Girl Scouts of the USA. There are opportunities worldwide also.

My struggle with self-esteem – I grew up being very thin which may seem to be something that girls and women strive for, but I was underweight at a time when being thin wasn’t the rage. Even so, children and adults can be hurtful. I was picked on for the way that I looked. I remember crying and praying that I would be able to gain weight. I struggled with my body image for years. When I finally began to put on weight as an adult (during pregnancy) I thought I looked terrible even though that was what I wanted. This continues today. I don’t see myself as others see me.

I learned not to say out loud what I felt about myself when my older daughter was old enough to understand me because I heard her say that she was “fat”. I realized how much children learn from their mothers. I work hard at boosting my daughter’s self-esteem by educating myself and teaching them about how unique and wonderful they are every day. http://bit.ly/6XnVoW

Dove’s Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem -

• Seven in ten girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members
• 62% of all girls feel insecure or not sure of themselves
• 57% of all girls have a mother who criticizes her own looks
• More than half (57%) of all girls say they don’t always tell their parents certain things about them because they don’t want them to think badly of them
• The top wish among all girls is for their parents to communicate better with them which includes more frequent and more open conversations as well as discussions about what is happening in their own lives

Dove UPC Charity Donation:

Enter a UPC code online from any Dove product to help fund the workshops in the US. Please hurry! This ends December 15.

Workshop Video:

Here’s a look at what goes on at a workshop funded by Dove

Giveaway: Win 2 True You Workbooks, a plush terrycloth spa robe and two Dove products.

The Rules:
1. Contest starts now and ends Dec. 9th at midnight EST.
2. Open to adults 18 and over in the US.
3. Winner will be chosen by Random.org.
4. Winner has 2 days to claim prize.
5. Have fun and tell your friends.

How To Enter:
For One Entry For Each Below: (please leave a separate comment for each entry)

1. Leave a comment about how you deal with a self-esteem issue.
2. Leave a comment about what you do to help your child or a young person with their self-esteem
3. Become a fan of Dove on Facebook.
4. Leave a comment about what online tool you like the best and why.
5. Follow my blog on Facebook. (Please leave your Facebook ID)
6. Become a fan of my blog on Facebook. (Please leave your Facebook ID)
7. Follow me on Twitter. (Please leave your Twitter ID)
8. Tweet this exactly:

Win A Dove Self-Esteem Gift Pack @ConnieFoggles http://bit.ly/6XnVoW PL RT

This post was not compensated.

From Bathing Beauty (1944), a romantic comedy with Esther Williams and Red Skelton.

The noise is made from the rapid release of air that occupies the space where brains should have been. Heh.

We hope that you will join our effort to convince former Vice President Richard Cheney to run for President of the United States in 2012. No other Republican leader has the stature or experience of Dick Cheney. He alone can lead the Republican coalition to victory in 2012!

“Is Cheney’s uptick due to his visibility as one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration? Almost certainly not,” Holland told CNN. “Former President George W. Bush’s favorable rating rose 6 points in that same time period, and Bush has not given a single public speech since he left office,” Holland said.

def-i-cit [def-uh-sit; Brit. also di-fis-it] -noun: The amount by which a sum of money falls short of the required amount, which only matters when a Democrat is elected to office.

fil-i-bus-ter [fil-uh-buhs-ter] -noun: The Republican's health care plan.

Several times last year -- specifically, here, here, here, and here -- I wrote about some of the reasons I am skeptical when it comes to global warming. Since then, three whole seasons have come and gone and deposited us back into that time of year when the earth always cools…and that passage of time has served up even more reasons why we should doubt the prophets of warming.

In the Northeast, Manhattan’s June temperatures averaged 3.7 degrees below normal while Boston’s averaged 4.7 below. That made it Boston’s coolest June in 106 years and second coolest in 137.

In the Southwest, it was the first time in 96 years that Phoenix went 15 straight days in June without reaching 100 degrees. And L.A.’s temperatures that month averaged 5 degrees below normal while Yucca Valley’s averaged 8½ below.

In Yonkers, NY, it snowed in the second week of July.

For the U.S. as a whole, this October was the third coldest since they began keeping records.

North of our border, the November snowfall record for Whistler, B.C. had already been broken a week before Thanksgiving, with more than 14 feet accumulated.

And south of the Equator, New Zealand and Australia both experienced prolonged record cold during their autumn and winter.

But the most jaw-dropping reason for doubt comes from recently discovered emails between scientists who are considered to be among the world’s top authorities on global warming. In those emails, which were uncovered by hackers, the scientists communicate about concealing evidence that contradicts global warming. They discuss the need to “hide the decline” in temperatures that their data reveals.

And they discuss ways to avoid complying with requests for their data that might be made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, or under similar foreign laws. They even toy with the idea of contending that their work is not subject to such laws because it relates to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change; in other words, the scientists have considered making an official claim that no nation’s laws apply to their work because it serves an international rather than national purpose.

Phil Jones, head of the Climactic Research Unit (CRU) at England’s University of East Anglia, wrote to an American colleague: “If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I’ll delete the file rather than send to anyone.” In another email, he wrote to three American colleagues: “I’m getting hassled by a couple of people to release the CRU station temperature data. Don’t any of you three tell anybody that the UK has a Freedom of Information Act!” One of those colleagues (Michael Mann of Penn State) sent an email to the CRU’s Tim Osborn stating that he was sending results which should not be shared with others because they supported global warming’s skeptics.

With the global warming summit right around the corner, you might think that all of this would cause the world’s leaders to move slowly before they propose that sweeping changes be made to address a “problem” that is not even known to exist. But you would be wrong. By and large, world leaders (including our own) have barely acknowledged either the contradictory data or the email scandal, other than to downplay them with arrogant indifference.

With all the indications of cover-up and fraud and of manipulation and hiding of evidence, you also might think that the MSM would cover this story if for no other reason than its sensational allure. But you would be wrong again. They have barely mentioned it, because doing so would work against their political goals.

What we have here is a threefer: a scientific scandal, political scandal, and journalistic scandal all rolled into one.

Update, 12/3/09: I published this post three days ago. As of yesterday, which was 12 days after the the email story first broke, it still had not been mentioned a single time on any of the broadcast news programs of ABC, NBC, or CBS (according to the Business & Media Institute). That is a big deal because more people get their news from those programs than from the cable ones.

More photos » by Dave Martin - AP

The Buccaneer defense chases down Tony Gonzalez, who was a key player in the eventual game winning drive in the 20-17 Falcon victory on Sunday.

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It’s Monday night. What could turn out to be the game of the season is about to be played. Everyone’s talking about Tiger Woods and Charlie Weis. Dinner is starting to rest in my stomach, but my head is anything but settled.

I question the fake punt, but reason that it was not a bad call, just poorly executed. I replay cornerback Derrick Roberson holding the receiver away from the play late in the fourth quarter, and I realize he was on the practice squad three weeks ago. I think of Connor Barth being money from 50-plus, then I realize there wasn’t a large enough sample to truly determine that.

So, I conclude, it all boils down to one tired cliche: Good teams win those kind of games, and bad teams don’t. And the Falcons, with no Michael Turner, no Matt Ryan and two starting offensive lineman on the shelf, found a way to win.

And it’s because of Sunday afternoons like those and Monday states of mind like this that I feel I am a part of a select few who have found a way to cope with the season that all Bucs fans find themselves seemingly trapped in.

Little victories.

To be a Bucs fan in 2009, you have to take what you can get. Head coach Raheem Morris said it best earlier this year when he said there are no moral victories. However, the cornerstone of optimism is found not in the win-loss column, but in the little victories found peppered throughout an otherwise losing effort.

The Buccaneers out-gained the Falcons by 21 yards in the game on 19 fewer plays. The defense recorded six sacks against a team that had allowed just 14 all year. Antonio Bryant reminded us why we kept him around after last season with 91 receiving yards on just three catches, one of them a 42-yard touchdown. Morris found a way to put the best players on the defense in positions to make plays, occasionally sending Ronde Barber on the corner blitz and bringing pressure from the outside to collapse the pocket.

“(The defense) played hard,” Morris said after the game. “They played hard and they continued. It was a hard fought game as a team. We blocked the punt on special teams. On offense, we moved the ball fairly well. In the second half, we didn’t play as well as the first, but we played well as a team today. I am just proud of the guys in that locker room.”

Sure, there were times when some questionable decisions were made. The fake punt, the long field goal, the late timeouts. Hindsight being 20/20, it’s easy to be critical. However, if the fake punt worked, the Bucs likely win. If Barth splits the uprights, the outcome may have been different.

“You can’t second guess yourself,” Morris said. “This is a grown man’s sport. When you start second guessing yourself, then you become soft.”

It was a great 58.5 minutes of football from the Bucs in Atlanta on Sunday.

The best thing to do after a game like this is look at this football team like a girlfriend you’ve already decided to break-up with, but you’re waiting for the right time. We've all been there. You can’t do it right before Christmas, that’s not cool. Her birthday is right after that, and you’ve already made plans. So, for now, you’ve got to hang in there. Come February, the offseason will be in full swing and you can have your pick from the free agent pool.

When it's all over, the 2009 Bucs will be long gone. Maybe you'll wash your hands of them altogether because the memories are too painful. Perhaps you'll stumble upon an old picture of them one day and remember the good times. At 1-10, it's pretty easy to jump ship.

Just don’t come crawling back when the Bucs show up as a completely different girl in 2010.

	Versus
Record: 14-8-5		Record: 10-6-8

Full game coverage  on SB Nation

Lee Roy Selmon and Michael "Hands of Stone" Clayton.

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Hello Bucs fans. Due to an overwhelming outpouring of email (at last count I had received one) I am going to move up the Caption Contest this week since we didn't do one over the holiday weekend. Congratulations are in order for Buc Wild, who won last week's contest with his witty caption about the treadmarks on Chris Hovan's face. Thank you to Niko for providing the picture for this week's contest.

As always, let's keep it clean gentlemen (and ladies? Do we have any female readers?). If you have a question about whether or not a caption is acceptable please email either myself (lcaz319@yahoo.com) or Niko. The Buc 'Em user that wins the contest will receive any Bucs' game of his/her choice on DVD.

Also: Just wanted to suggest that we make more of an attempt to "Rec" the comments we find funny. The more friendly and forthcoming we are with the Recs the more we can assure that only the funniest captions make it to the second round for voting. Thanks for reading and good luck!

Many individuals and families would experience changes in premiums that differed from the changes in average premiums in their insurance market.2 As explained below, some provisions of the legislation would tend to decrease or increase the premiums paid by all insurance enrollees, while other provisions would tend to increase the premiums paid by healthier enrollees relative to those paid by less healthy enrollees or would tend to increase the premiums paid by younger enrollees relative to those paid by older enrollees. As a result, some individuals and families within each market would see changes in premiums that would be larger or smaller than, or be in the opposite direction of, the estimated average changes.

Effects on Premiums for Employment-Based Plans Would be Much Smaller The legislation would impose the same minimum actuarial value for new policies in the small group market as in the nongroup market. That requirement would have a much smaller effect on premiums in the small group market, however, because the great majority of policies sold in that market under current law have an actuarial value of more than 60 percent. Essentially all large group plans have an actuarial value above 60 percent, so the effect on premiums in that market would be negligible. In sum, the greater actuarial value and broader scope of benefits in the legislation would increase the average premium per person in the small group market by about zero to 3 percent (with other factors held constant). Those requirements would have no significant effect on premiums in the large group market.

With an issue this large and complex, we need full transparency at every stage in the legislative process. President Obama was elected, in part, on his promise to bring greater transparency to the workings of the federal government. The American people and every member of Congress should be allowed to read the bill that was sent to CBO. The bill should be made available for taxpayers to read and learn how the federal government is spending their money. We are writing to request that you immediately make all materials sent to CBO publicly available on the internet.

This is why Stuck in the ’80s doesn’t do video podcasts.

I liked the Halloween version with the Ghostbusters theme better anyway.

On Saturday I went to the movies and saw “The Road.” Now I’d really like to read the book and Cormac McCarthy’s other books.

When I came home from the theater, I went to the Internet Movie Database to read what others thought about “The Road.” (I love to read movie reviews and see if I agree or disagree. How about you?) 

To find out more about the book and Cormac McCarthy, I’m turning to the Literature Resource Center database. Using it, I can find biographical information about authors and all sorts of critiques of their work. Since I’m a person who tends to like order—remember, I am a librarian—I try to read an authors’ books in the sequence they were written. Lucky me: within the biographies in Literature Resource Center is often a chronological list of the author’s work.

WHERE: St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida
WHEN: 7:30 PM EST
MEDIA: Sun Sports (Cable), 620 WDAE (Radio)

It's been just about a year since the Lightning and Avalanche last faced off at Times Palace, and for those who can't recall what happened -- a rather great game was ruined by referee's travesty:

In a year's time, I'm still pissed off over this incident...  But my anger is not directed at the Colorado Avalanche in any way, shape or form (nor has it ever)...  No, it's directed at the refs on ice and Stephen Walkom's asinine remark heralding the judgments on ice as the right call.

But enough of that.  It's over and done with, it happened.  It shouldn't play into anything that happens tonight in Tampa as the Avs and Lightning face off for the first of two meetings this season.  The Bolts are coming off their sloppy overtime loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday night and the Avs are reeling, going 2-5-3 in their past 10 games after a hot-hot start to surprise just about everyone in the NHL.  The Avalanche are starting a 5 game road trip (perfect time for a vacation to sunny Florida!) and have lost wing David Jones to a torn ACL.

If Mike Smith starts in net, it will only confirm Cassie McClellan's suspicions that Tocchet has a preference for Mike over Antero Niittymaki.  Smith has played a more-down-than-up season so far in net.  Flashes of brilliance have been less consistent than an over-aggressive, bone-headed play or two.  I've remarked during game threads that Smith reminds me, at times, of former Lightning goaltender John Grahame.  Of course, Smith has yet to make a mistake comparable to this:

from October 21st, 2005 vs. the Ottawa Senators

...But his play has not earned him the right to play three games in a row.

It looks like Mattias Ohlund is going to be back int eh lineup tonight for the Lightning, Mike Lundin's been sent down....  again.   Lundin, -2 in four games with the Bolts this season, has had a steady amount of ice time in his four starts, with over 20 minutes in Friday's win against the Rangers and over 17 the loss to Dallas.  He was +1 in those two games.  Matt Smaby will be returning to Tampa, though, and hopefully will be seeing his first playing time of the season this week.

The Avalanche have 33 points this season, which is just less than half of what they had all of last season.  They currently have the league's 20th ranked power play unity (19.4%) and 16th ranked penalty kill (79.6%).  Much like the Bolts, the Avs have been depending on their netminder to put them over the top...  and with the team allowing over 32 shots a game, strong goaltending becomes a necessity. 

Rookie Matt Duchene, the 1st rounder who was selected just after Victor Hedman in this year's draft, has 12 points in 27 games and is a -10 for the Avalanche...  Paul Stastny is the team's points leader with 25 (6 goals, 19 assists).  Milan Hejduk leads the team in goal-scoring this seasonw ith 11.

Other Previews:

Tampa Bay Lightning official team preview

TSN.ca

Mile High Hockey

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Bucs lose handful of players for rest of year