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	<title>Michael A Turpin&#039;s  Blog</title>
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	<description>Lessons Learned - New Canaan News Review Columns</description>
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		<title>Michael A Turpin&#039;s  Blog</title>
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		<title>The Most Wonderful Time of The Year – A Ghost Story</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year-%e2%80%93-a-ghost-story/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year-%e2%80%93-a-ghost-story/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:45:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Holidays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[A Christmas Carol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[charles dickens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[christmas haunting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[christmas past]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[christmas present]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[christmas yet to come]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family humor at christmas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ghosts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nostalgic christmases]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Ghosts visit my home on Christmas Eve]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=299</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Oh yes, this is the house.  We have launched Project Merry Gentlemen in Purgatory this year.  Last year, we haunted public officials under Project Windsock. It did not do much good. This year, we have big business in our crosshairs. We want to make sure you remember the role you are supposed to play in society.  Some of you muckety mucks need to remember there is a God and you are not her!”  “Her?” I asked. “It’s a long story”, the ghost sighed. “It says here you are a managed care executive.  I am not sure what that means but it sounds like an oxymoron.” I started to look defensive and he quickly changed the subject.  “Look I got a lot of other business people to speak with tonight. I am initially visiting the ones that own only one house.  They are easier to locate.” <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=299&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">A xmas carol</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>The Lions, Lambs and Asses of 1914</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/the-lions-lambs-and-asses/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/the-lions-lambs-and-asses/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:45:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holidays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Warfare/Battle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carnage of world war one]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christmas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christmas Eve miracle stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christmas miracle in WW1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[England and WW1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flanders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flanders Field]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flanders fields]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[German]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[In Flanders Field]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John McCrae]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the christmas truce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the somme]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trench warfare horror]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[We Shall Not Sleep]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World War I]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WW1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WWI left a jagged scar on the world and taught us a great lesson one Christmas eve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ypres]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=229</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The truce became symbolic for the common man’s struggle against the insanity and the cruel machinery of war.  It also proved that the only thing stronger than hate and war is love and common humanity.  The world may never again witness a war as senseless, devastatingly efficient in its slaughter or tragic in its far reaching consequences.  As a witness to these memorials, you reflect in the silent alcoves and review the honor role of those who fell in battle.  You can almost see the youthful faces of a young German and Englishman lighting candles and longing for a Christmas at home  - -whether it was cutting a tree in the deep snows of a Bavarian mountain village or crunching across the crisp, heavy frosted pasture of a Gloustershire winter’s morning.  <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=229&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">A cross, left near Ieper in Belgium in 1999, t...</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>The Gods of Frolic</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/the-god-of-frolic/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/the-god-of-frolic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Human Interest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[A family of four boys and a mongrel dog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australian Shepherd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dog stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fathers and their dogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[funny dog stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[growing up with dogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recreation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=127</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The father could not disguise his dislike of Max.  Max did not much care for the father either, and avoided him like a bad neighborhood.  A penchant for marking sofas, Christmas trees and bathroom towels had Max constantly vying for alpha status as head of the household.  The father did not appreciate Max’s zeal for leadership and loathed his relentless regularity, his lack of inspiration and his tendency toward promiscuity.  In dog years, Max was an 18-year-old boy; his behavior made sense to the boys.  Yet the canine was not without guile and premeditation.  In the summer of 1974, alpha dog bested alpha father in an act of pure revenge.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=127&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Australische herder in verschilldende kleurslagen.</media:title>
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		<title>Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/don%e2%80%99t-be-afraid-of-the-dark/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/don%e2%80%99t-be-afraid-of-the-dark/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:14:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ESPN]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fathers and kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mr Mom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New England]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nor'easter stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[october 30 nor'easter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Propane]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=3488</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When the AARP membership letter arrived, I put it in a pile of misdirected mail and prepared to walk it over to my next door neighbor, Charlie. Imagine my elation and surprise when I discovered that it was addressed to me. Apparently, I had joined a new demographic. I had uncerimoniously turned 50 in September and was hoping to sneak [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=3488&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dust Bowl 1936</media:title>
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		<title>The Day Rick Saved the Stars and Stripes</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/the-day-rick-saved-the-stars-and-stripes/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/the-day-rick-saved-the-stars-and-stripes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:29:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[four boys]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My favorites]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nostalgia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chavez Ravine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chicago Cubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dodger memories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dodger stadium stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[father and son stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[patriotism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Monday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Monday and saving the flag]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Monday is a hero]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=3478</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ah, October. Autumn arrives and with it the final leaves of a 4860 game baseball season begin to fall as the competition is reduced to twelve teams across six divisions and two leagues. As a young man, our four-boy family ritual of male bonding included trips to Chavez Ravine, a 350 acre terraced plateau of [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=3478&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Photo by Jim Roark Rick Monday grabbing the Am...</media:title>
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		<title>Pizza Dreams</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/pizza-dreams/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/pizza-dreams/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:49:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alien abductions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[animal spirits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[astral flight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barney Frank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dream interpretation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dreams take ona whole new meaning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freud]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[indigestion causing nightmares]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lord Byron]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mary Shelley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[neurosis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paranormal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[phantasms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pizza dreams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ray Bradbury]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shamans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[When you are neurotic]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=276</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Pizza Dreams ….Mr Fenton Allentuck describes the following precognitive dream, “ I went to sleep at midnight and I saw my grandfather about to be run over by a truck in the middle of the street, where he was waltzing with a clothing dummy&#8230;. I had an uneasy feeling that some men were trying to [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=276&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">Marc Chagall</media:title>
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		<title>The Snobbery of Chronology</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/the-snobbery-of-chronology/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/the-snobbery-of-chronology/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:48:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Europe/UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Perspective]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Religion / Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anglo Saxon England]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CS Lewis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[England]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[english history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English life in the Time of Elthred]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[In the year 1000]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lacey and danziger's The Year 1000]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medieval England]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle Ages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert Lacey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saxons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[source of Christian surnames]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[survival in simpler times]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the dark ages in the UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the first millenium]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the year 1000]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[villages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[were people that much less capable than we are today ?]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=290</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Prior to 1066, Anglo Saxon England was an age of faith and profound uncertainty with universal recognition and acceptance that society could not survive without a profound faith in God.  People were heavily burdened in this agrarian society.  Devils and saints fought for the souls of medieval citizens of the realm.  People took the Devil very seriously and often attributed unexplained phenomena and bad luck to the unholy evils that existed in the twilight shadows and the dark corners of men’s hearts.  Elves, fairies, demons, trolls and goblins inhabited the uncharted lands and the superstitious recesses of people’s minds.  <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=290&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">Replica of the helmet from the Sutton Hoo ship...</media:title>
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		<title>Aristotle and The Teenager</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/aristotle-and-the-teenager/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/aristotle-and-the-teenager/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Aug 2011 02:00:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Teenagers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[300 BC Teen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ancient parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aristotle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[athenian teenagers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Athens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nicomachean Ethics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Philosophy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Plato]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zeus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=50</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ristotle:  (looking insulted) I cannot believe you would say that.  When you wanted to dye your hair green for the festival of Promethia, your mother and I agreed.  You wanted a magpie as a pet and as your muse.  We let you have the bird even though it defecated all over my tunic. 

 

Teen:  (rolling her eyes) Whatever…

 

Aristotle:  I told you not to use that word anymore unless you are contrasting between logical points and are uncertain of the value difference between the two.  I find the term dismissive and disrespectful.

 <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=50&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">Ancient Love</media:title>
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		<title>The Great Air Conditioning Wars</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/the-great-air-conditioning-wars/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/the-great-air-conditioning-wars/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:19:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[family humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AC wars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[air conditioning wars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AirConditioning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[battles over air conditioning with kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Garrison Keillor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=3093</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“It was luxuries like air conditioning that brought down the Roman Empire. With air conditioning their windows were shut, they couldn&#8217;t hear the barbarians coming.” Garrison Keillor We recently received a letter from CL &#38; P that provided normative data from our immediate neighborhood on our electrical consumption.  If the letter was to be believed, [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=3093&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">A typical home air conditioning unit.</media:title>
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		<title>Drawing Quarters in The Republic of Richard Stans</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/drawing-quarters-in-the-republic-of-richard-stans/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/drawing-quarters-in-the-republic-of-richard-stans/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Human Interest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Battle Hymn of the Republic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kids and misquotes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[malaprops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Malaprops and nieces]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[misquoted songs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yogi Berra]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=170</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Richard Stans was the country adjacent to but unseen by the USA, sort of like Canada.  Each day in class, we would stand and pledge allegiance to the American flag and to the Republic of Richard Stans – one nation, invisible, with liberty and justice for all.  At Christmas time we sang Silent Night about the portly celibate “Round John Virgin – mother and child.”  Perhaps John was so corpulent he symbolically represented mankind – men, women and children - or maybe he just ate the mother and child.  <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=170&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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		<media:content url="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Sparky_Anderson_George_W._Bush_Yogi_Berra.jpg/300px-Sparky_Anderson_George_W._Bush_Yogi_Berra.jpg" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">George W. Bush chats with Sparky Anderson, lef...</media:title>
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		<title>Family Paleontology 101: The Decline of The T-Rex Parent</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/family-paleontology-101-the-decline-of-the-t-rex-parent/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/family-paleontology-101-the-decline-of-the-t-rex-parent/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:32:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[family humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fathers and sons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[humor and history of parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jurrasic parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Old Testament]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parenting in the 60s and 70s]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[she-rex parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[T-Rex Parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the decline of the conservative family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Triassic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tyrannosaurus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=3070</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Mesozoic era was an epoch of magnificent and marvelous social and industrial evolution.  It could be divided in to three principal periods: Triassic, Jurassic and the Cretaceous period. The 1950’s and early 1960’s were the zenith of our modern society’s Jurassic age.  T-Rex fathers roamed the landscape bringing order, power tools and Old Testament [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=3070&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/family-paleontology-101-the-decline-of-the-t-rex-parent/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Tyrannosaurus rex, Palais de la Découverte, Paris</media:title>
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		<title>The Stages of Death and Dying, Employers and Health Reform</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/the-stages-of-death-and-dying-employers-and-health-reform/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/the-stages-of-death-and-dying-employers-and-health-reform/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:58:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health Care Opinion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congressional Budget Office]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Employer reactions to PPACA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Employment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health care reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[impacts of PPACA on employers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jack Welch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[McKinsey & Company]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PPACA choices for employers in 2014]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Private sector]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United States]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United States Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wall Street]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=2982</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“Change, before you have to…” Jack Welch We live in a society that loathes uncertainty – particularly the unintended consequences that sometimes result from a catastrophic event or in the case of PPACA, landmark legislation. Wall Street and the private sector crave predictability and find it difficult in uncertain times to coax capital off the [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=2982&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<media:content url="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Percentage_of_income_allotted_to_pay_for_health_insurance_vs._federal_poverty_level_for_house_and_senate.jpg/300px-Percentage_of_income_allotted_to_pay_for_health_insurance_vs._federal_poverty_level_for_house_and_senate.jpg" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">House Bill and Senate Bill subsidies for healt...</media:title>
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		<title>A Touch of Grey</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/a-touch-of-grey/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/a-touch-of-grey/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Maturation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Perspective]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[acceptance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adulthood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beauty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Big Lebowski]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grateful Dead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grey hair]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human hair color]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[humility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hunter S Thompson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jerry Garcia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lessons learned]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life lessons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life view]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lifestyle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[simplicity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[understanding]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=282</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Grey is a state of mind.  Youthful Satchel Paige, the oldest major leaguer of his day debuted for the Cleveland Indians at age 42 after years as a star in the Negro Leagues.  He was the first African American player in the American League.  Ever the ingenue, Paige was constantly asked about his age.  He would rhetorically ask, ”if you did not know how old you are, how old would you be?”<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=282&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Grey Wolf</media:title>
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		<title>Birth Daze</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/birth-daze/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/birth-daze/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maturation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nostalgia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adolescence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Birthday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Birthday cake]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Birthdays and how they change as you age]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[birthdays suck]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[getting older]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holidays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leave me alone for my birthday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maxwell House]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[middle aged birthdays]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=53</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In your thirties and forties, you celebrate your birth anniversary with the parents of your children’s friends who have become your friends.  You realize your social circle is now completely composed of those who live in your dimension.  Their unwavering companionship is your gift.  They offer you understanding and never question why your foxhole smells the way it does.  Their foxhole is in the same shape.  You dream of the perfect adult birthday present: zero accountability for 24 hours — everyone just leaves you alone.  All you want is to sleep in, work out, play a little golf, maybe get a massage or haircut.  You want to eat something unhealthy, watch your favorites on TV and not be told to turn the channel, clean a dish, pick up a kid or move a trash can. <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=53&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<media:content url="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Birthday_candles.jpg/300px-Birthday_candles.jpg" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Candles spell out the traditional English birt...</media:title>
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		<title>Francophile</title>
		<link>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/francophile/</link>
		<comments>http://usturpin.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/francophile/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 26 Jun 2011 20:05:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Turpin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Europe/UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Catherine Denueve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[francophiles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love/hate anglo/french relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The French and US love/hate affair]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[us ex-pats in france]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[us/french relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yves Montand]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usturpin.wordpress.com/?p=62</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I love France and the French.  No, really. I trust their sartorial intuition and am intoxicated by their fields of lavender and sunflowers, their ancient hill towns, alpine mountains, rugged coast and wind swept countryside.  The French people, particularly Parisians, are like an aging actress – seductive, entitled, proud, elegant, stubborn, self absorbed, mercurial and somewhat unpredictable.  I have come to accept their political contrarianism as a sort of symbiotic fact of life.  I also love to lampoon the French at every possible turn.  The French insist on positioning themselves as a rational and more egalitarian alternative to American hegemony and its “McDonaldization de le Monde”.  Every protagonist needs an arch enemy. Sherlock Holmes had Dr. Moriarty.  Superman had Lex Luther and Republicans have Hillary Clinton.  The French need America.  <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=usturpin.wordpress.com&amp;blog=7496311&amp;post=62&amp;subd=usturpin&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">The Motto of the French Republic Liberty, Equa...</media:title>
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