"A martini is not a martini without an olive.
That, at least, is the thinking of a true connoisseur.
And to Siouxland residents, many of whom consider themselves connoisseurs of fine food, a city is not a city without an Olive Garden. So as of Monday, Sioux City becomes a real city.
What for years has been a local obsession -- the OG's manicotti formaggio, chicken vino bianco and zuppa toscana driving Siouxlanders to Omaha and Sioux Falls -- has become a reality.
Olive Garden officially opens its newest restaurant at 4 p.m. Monday at 4930 Sergeant Road in Lakeport Commons.
The OG yearning was best expressed by an anxious woman in a big white car who stopped this reporter as he was leaving the new restaurant last week. She rolled down her window and asked if it was open, then looked heartbroken when told that it wasn't, that the parking lot was simply filled with the vehicles of Olive Garden staff members in training. "I've been watching it and marking my calendar until Dec. 11," she said - Cee Bee via Bookmarklet
<rant>The one here ALWAYS has a line. Even Sunday afternoon at 3, people are waiting outside to get in. I don't understand it. IT'S A CHAIN, PEOPLE!!!! </rant> - Helen Is SOOO Not Of Troy via fftogo
I know you're looking forward to this Cee Bee. It's making me reconsider how I whooped and hollered when Whole Foods opened a store in my neck of the woods, as it, too, is a chain. It just...seems...odd...to...me...oh well... - Helen Is SOOO Not Of Troy via fftogo
"The Olive Garden menu is famous for its variety, offering everything from spaghetti and meatballs to fettuccine alfredo" - mike
What is this exotic "spaghetti" that you speak of? - Mark Wilson
You know you live in a dull town when the opening of Olive Garden is the biggest thing to happen in 10 years. High class living at its finest! - BCK
"For those who were too young to remember the Berlin Wall coming down, or were born afterwards, the unique fears of the Cold War era, and the popular culture they steered, may be hard to appreciate.
But for anyone over the age of 25 in the West, they remain a deeply significant part of our psyche." - Patricia Hanrahan via Bookmarklet
Thanks for posting this. I have been a bit obsessed with Cold War stuff lately. - Mark Wilson
Bueller's parents should've given him the car and his sister the computer..we could've avoided this whole mess. - Matt Musgrave
I was on this site a while before I posted... all of those pictures = mesmerizing. Agreed, Lindsay. It's amazing how photographs can conjure so much emotion :) - Mona N.
Lindsay: You don't even know.. I spent a five weeks in rural Philippines. I pumped water from a well and 'showered' from a water bucket... I've seen starvation and poverty. Some of these things we complain about, is seriously nothing lol - Mona N.
Kevin Carter won a Pulitzer for his photo of the child and the vulture. The sad thing is that as good a photographer as Carter was he ended up killing himself. In his suicide note he wrote, "I am depressed ... without phone ... money for rent ... money for child support ... money for debts ... money!!! ... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners...I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky." - Thomas Hawk
Oh, I missed it. Thanks mwm :) Funny how we both posted the same link, but chose completely different pictures.@Thomas: The irony =\ - Mona N.
The Palestinian Father photo has been shown to be fake. - Victor Ryden
@Thomas Some people suffer for most of us. Photographers such as Kevin Carter wouldn't fit the typical 'Hero' template but I wouldn't be who I am if I wasn't gifted perspective by images such as these from people such as Kevin. A more cheerful story from a photographer : Rick Smolan's story of a girl : http://tinyurl.com/669yvd - Kamath
Some of those photos I've seen many times before and they're still very powerful. - Candace Holly
Thanks for your comment on Kevin Carter, Thomas. It puts it all into a perspective. - Roberto Bonini
Agreed. Thomas' insight really made an impact, too :) - Mona N.
in the fist picture what womans do? they shooting to some one? or they only practice? - Mahdi Ebrahimi
Caption for the pic is: Veiled Women Men Shoot
In 1986, Iranian men dressed as women shoot using guns in the outskirts of the capital city Tehran. Nothing much is said about this photograph, but it raised important issues to the steps Iranian fighters would take to mingle in with innocent people. - Lindsey Smith
Hey Steve: I'm sure this is a silly question, but how do I add pictures like you have above when sharing a link? - Jonathan (?)
@Johnathen Share something using the bookmarklet and as you hover over the picture you'll see the border turn blue and you can share the image. You can add up to 3 images per share I believe. - Lindsey Smith
I'm starting to think buying some of these : )) "I'll burn this building" I love Office Space : ) - Selim Yoruk
@Lindsey: Thanks a bunch for your help..you rock! - Jonathan (?)
"Welcome to the world of reverse graffiti, where the artist’s weapons are cleaning materials and where the enemy is the elements: wind, rain, pollution and decay. It’s an art form that removes dust or dirt rather than adding paint. Some find it intriguing, beguiling, beautiful and imaginative, whereas others look upon it in much the same way as traditional graffiti – a complete lack of respect for the law. Reverse graffiti challenges ideals and perceptions while at the same time shapes and changes the environment in which we live, whether people think for the better, or not." - Iain Baker via Bookmarklet
I've always loved this concept. So smart - Lindsey Smith
If the artists get in trouble it's like "What? What are you gonna do, make me tag public restrooms with a paint can for 100 hours of community service? - Josh Haley
"The head of one of Venice's most prestigious museums apologized on Wednesday to a Muslim woman asked to leave the building by a guard because she was wearing a veil over her face." - Jessie Norris via Bookmarklet
@Matt I was actually thinking about something similar to that.. I have a larger avatar set now (I was missing a bunch of people) and there is a lot to fit. - Tim Hoeck
Well you will have to pay me $100 everytime you wear the shirt if you are going to have my image on it. :P - Mathew Ballard
2x, 8y = awesome, and honored. Enjoy the shirt, and let us know if people ask you who everyone on the back is while wearing it, and what your responses are :) - Nathan Chase
"And today, authorities announced a new form of depression caused by not being "friended" by important people on friendfeed. Apparently Dr. Wadda Frack has postulated that as recognition from thought leaders in the social media arena has become a form of social currency, that the "poor" among us are prone to depressive fits of outrage at not being included on the friendfeed t-shirts of the rich and shameless. To quote Dr. Frack, "This is very sad. The poor are always the last to know." ;-) - Bill Sanders
And Dr. Frack also wants to know where to order said FriendFeed Tee. - Bill Sanders
:0 cool, can i send them a higher res av image? - sergio
what a devious way to get more subscribers! hahaha - tagami
That is SO cool. (as I'm sure you already know) - Brandon Titus
So what's the deal, you just going to print on iron-on transfer or what? - Josh Haley
@tagami .. I realized that might happen after the post. FYI: new subscriptions will not be on the tee! I have the ones I am putting on there cached already (the pic above is not everyone) - Tim Hoeck
not to mention, these are the people I am subscribed to, not the ones subscribed to me! :) - Tim Hoeck
Is there a T-shirt service that let's you dynamically "program" t-shirts? I smell a business idea. - Jesse Stay via twhirl
And when I say that I mean a custom t-shirt for each buyer, based on a username on something like FriendFeed - Jesse Stay via twhirl
@Jesse Stay yeah there must be something I mean wheather you have charity or some cause you want to support there seems to be ways to get customized logos on shirts. I've heard of ways to even print a photo onto a shirt. - Colide81
I would so be: The One Who Doesn't Really Create Or Find Content But Just Spends All His Time Trying To Make Funny Or Smart-Ass Comments On Other People's Posts, Geeking Out Over Photohgraphy, Apple, LEGO And Soccer... Smurf - John Worthington
I was a child of the 70's but still loved the Smurfs. I have the Smurfs All Star Show on vinyl and MP3. I guess that outs me as a Nerd Smurf or something - Josh Haley
Gargamel was an Anti-Semitic stereotype. Greedy Zionist Capitalist eh? Eat the damn smurfs! Anyone see the episode where he became a hippie? - block Noah he disagrees
Noah, I'm feeling some smurf-tillity in your posts. Chill the smurf out smurf... it's all smurf! - John Worthington
nice find. I love this kind of stuff. - Nathan Rein
there's a great soviet statue park in Budapest, where they took down all the soviet statues and put them in one large area...like the neon signs in vegas - clarke thomas
once i was a pioneer in one of Soviets! luckily, didnt stay that way more than a year! Lenin back then was a superstar, an idol, an inspiration for youth! 20 years after, I smile while remembering the feelings i had then! - Hayk Hakobyan
well, like Hayk, I had been living that life, seeing those posters (called mostly "plakat" then and there) -- the left and right were having traces in my memories (and many of them on that page), after all in 1971 I was 3 years old ;) I have mixed memories left after all this, but those are mostly won't be understood... - silpol
Cool! I think I have one of these in my parents' basement somewhere. I was in Russia in 1984, and these posters were really cheap to buy (3-5 kopeks?) - Mitchell Tsai
Tad: Difficult question. Security is worse (single women could walk around at 2 am in 1984). Rich people now. No unemployment before (even if it was boring). Most common question I was asked in 1984 was "What it is like to be unemployed?" I'd say it's better off, but some would disagree. - Mitchell Tsai
I think it is a question for the Russians to answer... and obviously they feel it is better. Their propoganda is awesome though. so are those plastic cars from East Germany that apparently mostly STILL work!!! - block Noah he disagrees
“My son checked the "other" box today at school for race and was told that was unacceptable, he had to choose one. Should we be forced to choose a race when we don't belong to just one?”
If it's unacceptable, why is it even on the form? The fact that it's there and available as an option means it's acceptable... - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
Not according to his teacher, she told him he needed to pick one and that people are grouped according to the race of their mother. I had never heard that one before. - Patricia(Trish not Patty)
I'd take it to the principle and then school board, if I were you. The box is there ergo it's meant to be used. And grouped by their mother? Why are they grouping children by race anyways? - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
Absolutely unacceptable- especially as more and more people belong to more than one. I think that option "other" will disappear soon. Really it would be nice if the whole question was dropped. Why does it matter? - Abby Martin
@Tina That's what I wanted to know. What form was he filling out that asked that question anyway? - Patricia(Trish not Patty)
we're grouping people by race at school? 1) i hope that's not the case and the teacher is just an idiot 2) SERIOUS WTF? - Morgan
This is an interesting issue. We could probably settle a lot of social problems by refusing to identify our racial group when the government asks us. - Chris Baskind
tangent - isn't it weird that we only have Male or Female when we're asked our sex. how does that make hermaphrodites feel? is sex really binary or did we just decide to construct it that way? it's not so neat and clean in nature. what's with our society and neat little check boxes? (i'm being dead serious) - Morgan
What state is that? I think that seriously violates racial protection laws we have in the US. They can group kids based on social economic status (SES) but not by race. - AlexScoble(Robert'sBro)
They would have to re-do the database to support multiple fields, no? That's what the 'other' box is for, which I used to check all the time LOL - Mona N.
it is the stupid 'Affirmative Action' Jesse Jackson DNC 'Left' that wants it. Republicans want it gone. As a partial Sephardic Jew it always confused me. Am I Latino/Hispanic? - block Noah he disagrees
Oh hell no. If that happened to my son, you could bet that I would be at that school talking to his teacher the next day, and it wouldn't be pretty. - Andru Edwards
You should see what the Chinese are getting away with in South Africa with their Affirmative Action against 'WHITES'. - block Noah he disagrees
my kids are biracial and i left it blank even though they said it was mandatory and i can only choose one. what a load. - faboo mama
Trish is in Texas. Mona, I love your solution. ;-) - Chris Baskind
Ya, I don't think "wookie" is a 'proper' field :\ - Mona N.
I often check "other," and then when prompted for more detail, I give "European-American." Usually does the trick... - Mark VandenBerg via twhirl
