Red Swan Recruitment

Red Swan Wants YOU!

If you haven't heard, Red Swan Entertainment is a fire performance talent management company. Our job is to connect fire performers up with jobs. And not just the same old jobs, but good ones. We started with running the Inferno Stage at Knott's Berry Farm during their Halloween Haunt in 2007. Then, we did special spots for new ABC shows, a piece for the History channel, charity gigs, music videos, another run at Knott's, and more.

Now, just because people signed up doesn't mean they were forced to do gigs. All we do is notify you when work is available. Either we post general jobs to the gig list, or we contact you directly if you meet specific needs. Then, you decide if you want the gig. More business, no stress, What more could you want?

"How about my fire troupe?" Oh, so you're in a troupe, are ya? No problem. If the troupe doesn't mind it's members doing occasional solo gigs, we'll take them all. We don't always get asked for "dark-haired female fire eaters", sometimes they specifically want a troupe, or a mixed group of people. In those cases, being in a troupe can be a benefit.

Okay, yeah, sounds too good to be true? Fine, yes, we take a small cut, but only on the gigs We get you. If you get a gig on your own, you get the whole gig. And, if get a gig you can't handle, you can have us manage it for you, no stress. And you can even take a finder's fee if you like.

If you're on our gig, we ask that you represent. Follow NAFAA regs, pass out Red Swan cards when requested, and be professional. You're welcome to keep a pack of Red Swan cards to pass out when you're not at our gigs; but, no pressure.

So, you see, for just a little bit of your time, you get a lot of benefits, and no stress. We get another performer, another set of skills, another unique person that may be just what someone is looking for.

So why not sign up with Red Swan today?
http://redswanfire.com/performers_sign-up.html
Or feel free to write or call with questions.

I told you so...

For those who didn't believe back then, I can [unfortunately] say: "I told you so".

I was going through all my old blogs, transferring them to blogspot, when I cam across this
http://people.tribe.net/tedward/blog/296c45bd-04cc-441c-929f-242ba86176d3

It seems that more than 2 years ago, I called the current financial crisis. So, for all those unbelievers, I say :P nyah nyah.
...
Of course, I'd rather not have been right on this one, but you take the victories you can.
Here's another prediciton: Assuming he survives to swear in, Obama will the new JFK yet get almost as much accomplished as Clinton. After two terms, Biden will run and win, but his priorities are elsewhere and he won't get much accomplished.

Welcome

It took me a long time to get used to blogging.  I just couldn't imagine the arrogance of it.  What on earth could be so important that you need to inflict it upon the rest of the world.  

Well, I guess I'm more arrogant now.  :)

I started blogging some time back.  I'll see if I can get my Tribe blogs up here.  Based on those, you can expect a complete mixed bag of nuts.  Sometimes theoretical physics, sometimes politics, sometimes toe jam.  But I will say that I don't like pulling my punches, so if you can't take the heat, get out of my kitchen.

Time to testify

Last year, I performed on Halloween with Tangee and completed our little fire sword grudge match. Here ya go...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-hgrf9fHto

Let me tell you, that's an intense minute, and far more strenuous that most people imagine. At the end you see me put my hands on my knees. That's because the chest pains were starting to kick in. A few seconds more of fighting and it felt like I was beginning a full coronary. Since my dad had 7 of them before he noticed it, I can well imagine that this was, indeed, my first heart attack.

After that gig, and after paying off a bunch of bills, I had some money left over. And for many other reasons, I lusted over the iPod Touch. So i put money and desire together with the standard Catholic-guilt conditional: I must use it 3 times a week for exercise. Not having a music player was the final excuse I was clinging to.

Okay, quick tangent. Excedrin came out with a catastrophically unsuccessful commercial. Based on research that showed most people did not fully trust doctors, combined with it's third place ranking in headache elimination, they had their spokesman say " did I listen to 'research'? NO. That's for doctors." Well, it turns our people do respect clinical research. I write this testimonial not because I don't think people believe the research, but because re-inforcing testimonials DO work.

So, if you look back at my blogs you will see some of the progress I made over the last year. My resting heart rate went from 100+ down below 90. My heart rate recovery time after exercise dropped from 45 minutes to about 10 minutes. And my blood pressure dropped from "hypertension" level to "normal" levels pretty quickly. In short, I was back to being "healthy like ox" by the beginning of the summer. I would have liked to see some changes in my physique, but I did, at least, maintain the measurements I had dropped to during the first Knotts gig.

So, when this year came around, I was still a little shy about performing regularly. Partially the physique, partially because I didn't want to suffer those chest pains again. So, I avoided getting scheduled more than one day in a row. But I allowed Michelle to put me on more than once a week. I ended up performing the same number of days, but worked almost twice as many all told. Plus, that last week, I was onstage quite a bit.

But, instead of falling apart like last year, I felt pretty good. I managed 14 performances in a week with some almost as intense as the combat. But instead of chest pains, I muddled through. And instead of three days of pain and sickness at the end of the run, I actually had a little energy afterwards. In short, I feel pretty good.

For this, I salute my iPod. Of course, I've picked up the 2nd Generation Touch, so now I have access to Nike+, a whole system for walking and running management. Plus, I have twice as much room on this thing, so lots of choices in music. But, really, it comes down to getting off my ass and taking a little stroll. Then a couple more. Then a slightly longer stroll when the view got boring. Then a little hike. Until, eventually, I would walk all day.

I may still look like a bear, but, 'I strong like ox' and a lot healthier too. So, based on this, I encourage you to find a way to get yourself moving. An ipod shuffle is super cheap, and can hold about 8 hours of music. You don't need a gym membership to walk around the block. And the more you do, the safer your neighborhood becomes (criminals don't like people watching them). And, hey, you might get a bit healthier too.

BOOYAH!

President Elect Barack Obama.

Sounds so sweet.

Now, we just got to keep him alive until January... :oP

No on prop 8

Sorry for all the non-California residents reading this, but we have a hot-topic issue coming up on Nov 4th.

A little while back, we had a court case go through that allowed gay marriages to happen here. The gist of the ruling is that although our legal concept of marriage comes from the religious base, it has been tied up with legal ramifications (visiting rights, health insurance coverage, next-of-kin, etc) and many people do not get religious marriages anymore, but rather seek legal entities (judges) to perform the ceremonies. So, with this as a given, the constitution has no ruling in it about who may become married, and thus, the state should not discriminate based on the races or sexes of the humans involved.

So, this year, a group called "protect marriage" is pushing prop 8 through which repeals this decision and attempts to amend the state constitution to forever prohibit gay marriage. Their primary method so far has been to quote incidents from Massachusetts where a book "King & King" was read to second graders. They sued to get the book banned, but the judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying "Diversity is a hallmark of our nation"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_and_King

So, after that scare tactic failing to work, they've picked up a new campaign, one without commercials. They're actually threatening to build a list of all companies who donate to 'no on 8' without an equal or greater sum going to 'protect marriage'. That list will be publicly posted as "marriage haters." My favorite computer company has responded:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/24/182745/66/429/641316

Just a little back story on marriage.
When we wandered the lands as nomadic peoples. Everyone's survival tasks were pretty clear. Women gathered local plants, found water, and protected the children. Elders formed long range scouts and often filled in the time gaps where others hated to be awake. Men, all of them of hunting age, would leave together and return together for hunting. There were no real assets to pass down other than genial leadership. And since any pair bonding that happened was pretty much public knowledge, the males could easily track their progeny. Women, of course, have been able to assuredly track their progeny up until only a couple of decades ago (in-vitro fertilization).

When we settled into farm life, two big things happened. First, assets, particularly land ownership, stated gathering fast. Second, occupational specialty made a rise. You see, when all the males of breeding age hunt together, there's no one left behind (other than elders) to muddy up the family lines. But when you have farmers, blacksmiths, milkmen, shop keeps, etc, the opportunity for discrete infidelity arises. For the women, this means they get the best genetic mixes, so it's advantageous to them. For the adulterous men, they have an opportunity to pass progeny without giving up assets to attract a mate or tend to her or their offspring. Only the faithful male loses out on the deal; his property passes to someone else's child and he puts in all the work of support with no genetic benefit.

These faithful, but cuckold, men often became disgruntled and problematic for the community. So, they turned to the highest order of power they could: the priests and the leaders. Slowly, but almost universally, the promise of fidelity got woven into the fabrics of major religions, and into the laws of the land. Frequently the punishments were very harsh ('stoning' in the times of the bible), and carried the additional incentive of being a "sin".

Nowadays, anyone with tickets to Jerry Springer can get a paternity test done and proof-positive identify a child's genealogical decent. The specific need for "sin" and "promises" to track progeny and inheritance lines is OVER. Frankly, if we don't need gay marriage, I say we don't need any marriage. Certainly not from a legal stand point. Married couples get so many legal benefits from our government that other pair bonded couples, and singles, do not get. So I say let's give to Caesar what is Caesar's and God to God, If you want to have marriage between a man and a woman only, fine, but you lose all government supported benefits: tax breaks, health care coverage, next of kin rights, Special 5th amendment powers (cannot be forced to testify against spouse), etc.

Or you could give a few "perverts" a break and let them help reduce the divorce rate. :)
No on 8. Separation of church and state.

Columbus Daze

Okay, so, Columbus Day is coming up a week from Monday. And since I always forget to do this on time, I'm doing it early. (kinda like those stores that are schlepping out the Xmas stuff already).

Back in 5th grade, we got fed the propaganda about this most beloved of early US figures: the man who "discovered" America...

Yeah, right. If that were true, there wouldn't be North American Natives with Viking Blood in them. Also, the Inca wouldn't have had anything made of jade. You see, Jade is found only one place in the world: China. And let's not forget the "Indians" he found... somebody had to cross the land bridge...

**AARRGH**

Okay, so, for the record, here we go.
1) People -knew- the world was round long before Columbus. In fact, the size of the earth was known in ancient Greece, accurate to within a couple hundred miles. Columbus wasn't out to "prove" the world was round, and even if he was, he did not succeed, Magellan did.
2) He wasn't looking for a new land. Ancient Ottoman maps, that he may have seen, depict South America and a snow-free Antarctica. Plus viking lore of new lands were well known at that time.
3) He WAS looking for a shorter ocean route to Asia. Going around African and India to get to China was a real drag. And despite the ancient greek figures showing a direct sea route from england to China being four times as long, with no place to land, he thought he'd try anyway.
4) He WAS looking for drugs. The primary import from China, even more valuable than silk, was opium.
5) The THOUGHT he'd landed at India. That's why they call the natives here, "Indians". Dots, not feathers. Columbus didn't know the difference.
6) This meant that he actually sailed on an expedition to a land he knew almost nothing about. If he actually had someone who knew anything about India on board, he would not have made the mistake. But since no one on board spoke either the language of the natives, nor the primary languages of the orient, he could not distinguish the two. And if he actually wanted to reach China, why didn't he sail north from the Caribbean's?
7) Nevertheless, he pressed the new "friends" into slavery. Okay, so, he thought he had sailed 'round the other way to Asia, landed in India, and since he couldn't speak the language, he brought a whip.
8) The rest of his "friends" died of polio and other diseases. Not really his fault, but one of those diseases was syphilis. Some folks got no respect.
9) Since he couldn't secure opium, he brought back what drugs they had: tobacco.

So, celebrate "columbus day" the way it should be done:
Get lost, looking for drugs
Make new friends wherever you end up
Kill and enslave them.
Steal their stuff (don't forget the medicine cabinet)
Claim their land as your own
Kill anyone who disagrees.


... it's the American Way.