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The Panasonic KX-TGA641 is an additional handset for KX-TG6400 series. The Panasonic KX-TGA641 features DECT 6.0 technology, which provides the user with outstanding range and clarity.
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I am a mindset and lifestyle coach for High-Achievers and Recovering Perfectionists. I work with professional men and women to redefine success into something they can embrace and enjoy. Success and happiness, like health and wellness, are a lifestyle and need to be maintained, not achieved. I use tools and techniques to build the muscles of the mind to shift into a new, sustainable way of thinking and being. Just as a sports coach does for an athlete, I highlight opportunities for improvement by helping you see what you cannot, provide objective feedback that is neutral and safe, and hold a vision for your success. Together, we can finally build the life you've been waiting to live. | {
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June 1, 2016:New Textbooks from Dr. HeidelbaughJoel J. Heidelbaugh, M.D., professor and family medicine clerkship director, is becoming a sought after editor of textbooks. In 2016, he has edited three outstanding books in men’s health, medical education and gastrointestinal disorders.
May 16, 2016: Award Honors Future ResearchersThe 11th annual William Clippert Gorenflo Research award was presented to Nicolas Johnson, first-year U-M family medicine resident, and Kathryn Brown, a first year U-M medical student, on May 11th.
May 16, 2016:The Future of Family Medicine: Student Scholarships & Awards PresentedThe University of Michigan Department of Family Medicine held its 13th annual Scholarships and Awards Ceremony on May 11th. The scholarships and awards, which totaled more than $80,000, were presented to the recipients by Philip Zazove, M.D., the George A. Dean, M.D. Chair of Family Medicine.
February 26, 2016:Advocating for Family Medicine Physicians, residents and medical students gathered in Lansing to speak with Michigan's senators and representatives on behalf of family physicians and they patients they serve. | {
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1) You can pay for shipping/upgrade through Paypal or transferring money to Mike Jackness's Party Poker account. The upgrade to 500 chips is $40US
2) You can pick what sort of chips you want on the confirmation page for Party Poker. I think the only choices are Suited, Diamond or Dice, unless you were one of the lucky ones that got in early enough for Royal Suited. Then, you need to put that in the comment field that you want a matching set.
1) You can pay for shipping/upgrade through Paypal or transferring money to Mike Jackness's Party Poker account. The upgrade to 500 chips is $40US
2) You can pick what sort of chips you want on the confirmation page for Party Poker. I think the only choices are Suited, Diamond or Dice, unless you were one of the lucky ones that got in early enough for Royal Suited. Then, you need to put that in the comment field that you want a matching set.
obiwong is right on question #2 and half right on question #1...we don't offer upgrades outside the USA due to shipping costs & customs fee difficulties, sorry.
You didnt answer what kind of chips there is. As far I know there is two kind of suited chips.
I would like the royal suited, cant I have them, I completed the raked hands about a month ago just havent payed for the shipping when I thought I could do that when they came.
You didnt answer what kind of chips there is. As far I know there is two kind of suited chips.I would like the royal suited, cant I have them, I completed the raked hands about a month ago just havent payed for the shipping when I thought I could do that when they came.
We offer the Suited Chips, we did offer the Royal Suited a little more then a month ago but no longer have them. If you participated in a promo before where you got royal suited then you can request them so that your chips match otherwise we only offer the suited. Pictures available here
http://www.pokersourceonline.com/promot ... _poker.asp
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35 Years Ago: The Replacements Begin to Find Themselves on 'Hootenanny' The Replacements had begun to turn away from their early punk aesthetic, setting themselves up for stirring new successes. Unfortunately, trouble loomed. Continue reading… Source: HRRL Classic Rock News…
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SHINEDOWN: Making Of 'The Human Radio' Video Behind-the-scenes footage from the making of SHINEDOWN‘s video for the song “The Human Radio” can be seen below. The track is taken from the band’s sixth studio album, “Attention Attention”, which will be… | {
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Unfiltered Audio ups ultimate delay ante with latest Sandman Pro plugin update to die for “I’ve been using Unfiltered Audio’s Sandman Pro a lot during the latest Sherlock season — one of the most unusual-sounding modulation delays I’ve heard. It’s very cleverly programmed to not sound digital, and its flexibility means that I can do quite a lot of sound design with it, as well as using it for standard mod/delay work.”
- David Arnold, composer (Casino Royale, Independence Day, Sherlock), 2017SANTA CRUZ, CA, USA: Plugin Alliance, a new ‘Über-standard’ supporting all major plugin formats and uniting some of the best-known international audio companies under one virtual roof, is proud to announce availability of the latest (v1.1) update of Sandman Pro — Plugin Alliance partner Unfiltered Audio’s undisputed ultimate delay, doubling as a transmogrifying time machine making serious sonic travelling more musically adventurous than ever, thanks to major performance improvements and some serious upgrades to an already killer feature set — as of May 26...Billed by its collective creators as The Delay of Your Dreams, mix engineers, sound designers, and DJs alike were wowed by the slice and dice brilliance of Unfiltered Audio’s original Sandman soon after it was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world as a world-beater. But Sandman is a delay plugin with a severe narcoleptic bent, using its SLEEP mode to freeze its delay buffer to create stunning loops and grains that can be re-pitched, down-sampled, played in reverse, dirtied with noise, and modulated — mutating and transforming sounds beyond all recognition! Really short delay times alternatively allow the shape-shifting Sandman to become a flanger, percussion resonator, stutter generator, or wavetable synthesizer. Sandman also excels at producing traditional echo and stereo ping-pong effects, enabling delay times to range from standard slapback to longer than a coffee break... and all without breaking into a programming sweat! .
Saying that, those mad scientists at Unfiltered Audio are always far from resting on their talented laurels. Buoyed by Sandman’s success, Sandman Pro pushed its little brother’s versatility up several notches. Needless to say, Sandman Pro proactively set a benchmark for developing delay plugins, paving the way for elaborate effects like stereo pitch shifting, reverse echoes, and frozen delays, but peel back a layer and Unfiltered Audio’s mind- bending modulation system is revealed in all its patchable glory, guaranteeing a near-infinite world of aural possibilities to live for.
Furthermore, the latest (v1.1) update of Sandman Pro continues to break new ground, modulation-wise. With the addition of a new mode for seamless integration with ROLI’s revolutionary Lightpad Block 5D Touch control surface, Sandman Pro users can now take advantage of the trailblazing hardware’s uniquely smooth, glowing, pressure-responsive design for an unprecedented level of realtime control over multiple parameters with the greatest of ease. Elsewhere, they can create sequences to modulate parameters or even other LFOs — themselves now resettable via a trigger input — with the new Step Sequencer modulator, making use of an expanded choice of interface scaling options while doing so. Ultimately, Unfiltered Audio’s flagship modulation system now boasts eight freely-assignable and fully-automatable modulators with intuitive drag-and-drop patching to each and every one of Sandman Pro’s creativity-inducing controls. An ability to minimize modulators by clicking on their icons is another addition which will be welcomed, workflow-wise, by seasoned owners already hooked on this truly transmogrifying time machine.
Musically more adventurous then ever, then, Sandman Pro comes complete with seven delay modes — Classic Tape, Modern Instant, Pitch Shifter, Glitch Shifter, Multi-Tap, Reverse, and No Echo — each with dedicated, adjustable controls — that greatly expand its sonic palette while driving maximum delay times to a staggering 16 minutes! Classic Tape mode makes light work of lathering echoes, loops, and grains with virtual tape saturation or wow and flutter, while an artifact-free Multi-Tap mode bestows 16 simultaneous delay lines upon vocals or guitar solos for deep doubling or stadium-sized echo effects. The ultra-smooth Reverse mode can create click-free, haunting echoes like no other, and, unlike using other delays, Modern Instant mode modulates delay time without producing any audible artifacts in terms of pitch — perfect for cleanly transitioning vocal effects from doubling to echo trails at the end of a phrase, for example. Use the dual-mono Pitch Shifter mode to create vocal harmonies, classic shimmer effects, metallic textures, and more; Glitch Shifter for funky pitch shifting; modulate the Sleep button in No Echo mode for crazy-sounding stutter and glitch effects... surely Sandman Pro does everything everyone wants a delay to do and a multitude of things that they never imagined a delay could do!
Damaged, squeaky clean, or anything in between, the range of tones and textures that Sandman Pro can comfortably achieve is almost limitless... let the diffusion network layer reverb with echoes and multi-tap delays when using high feedback levels; offset the left and right delay times with stereo delays and apply cross-channel feedback to create complicated polyrhythmic ping-pong echoes and phase-y-sounding Sleep Buffer loops; transform grains with backward envelopes by reversing the Sleep Buffer, or lock the length of the Sleep Buffer and adjust its Start and End points to change the grain’s pitch.
Put it this way: with delay times ranging from 5ms to a whopping 1,000 seconds (when used in conjunction with Sample Rate reduction); a Sleep Buffer that can be reversed, re-pitched, down-sampled, trashed with noise, modulated and shaped with built-in lowpass and highpass filters; Feedback, X- Feed, and Diffusion parameters to create thick delay tails or even reverbs; an M/S mode outputting mid and side signals on left and right channels, transforming it into a mid-side encoder; an M/S Width control adjusting the wet signal’s stereo field from mono to stereo to super-wide stereo; a Soft Clip function for providing analog-style saturation at its inputs and outputs; and a waveform display for visualising the effect of control tweaks in realtime, Sandman Pro is perfectly positioned to handle any delay duty... or take its users down a rabbit hole of unchartered sonic territories!Truly The Swiss Army Knife of Delays, Unfiltered Audio set a benchmark with its Sandman Pro plugin flagship from the outset — one that has yet to be bettered... until now. Needless to say, the latest Sandman Pro update ups the delay ante again. As David Arnold might well testify: no shit, Sherlock! The latest (v1.1) update of Sandman Pro is available for purchase — as an AAX Native-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-supporting plugin for Mac OS X (10.8 through 10.12), Windows (7 through 10), and Pro Tools 10.3.10 (or higher) — exclusively from Plugin Alliance for $99.00 USD. (Note that owners of Sandman can upgrade to Sandman Pro for $49.00 USD while owners of Unfiltered Audio’s Instant Delay can upgrade for $29.00 USD.) Note that the proprietary Plugin Alliance Installation Manager means users can select, download, and install only the products and formats needed for their system.
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Web hosting is getting more and more expensive all the time, and Reviewer's Revival is NOT funded nor supported by any commercial enterprise or business. A donation of any amount is greatly appreciated. Even $2 or $3 for a coffee - every little bit helps. Thanks very much. | {
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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674518439839247830.post7843861511384459236..comments2019-07-20T00:12:22.054-07:00Comments on Where's That Sound Coming From?: The Beach Boys and Kinks 1967-72: Honest Outsidersbrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674518439839247830.post-9651238201946303472016-10-28T19:07:10.294-07:002016-10-28T19:07:10.294-07:00Oh, haha. Just finished reading the article (backw...Oh, haha. Just finished reading the article (backwards). You already knew that about Jim Morrison. My bad. And yes, The Velvet Underground; was gonna mention them but then I'd probably have to mention Hendrix, Stones, Iggy, Big Star and the whole kit and caboodle. Only one more guy I think deserves a mention, and that's Robyn Hitchcock. In case you don't know he's the only guy since the 60's/early 70's to be that good and, amazingly, he's managed to maintain that quality consistently throughout his long career. Bowie would have given his right nut to make an album like Love From London when he was sixty like Robyn did in 2013.Mr.Sensitivehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674518439839247830.post-47115051679316893682016-10-28T18:45:09.477-07:002016-10-28T18:45:09.477-07:00Best two bands after The Beatles. In fact The Beac...Best two bands after The Beatles. In fact The Beach Boys are the only band who could, perhaps, be said to be their equal in a strictly musical sense, although The Beatles are obviously the ultimate band, when all things are considered. When asked about his favourite groups Jim Morrison named The Beach Boys, The Kinks and Love; quite a threesome, and given that information one can surely extrapolate from it The Beatles, so it goes without saying that Jim must have been into them just as much as everyone else was. Coincidentally, I would place The Doors instead of Love. So it goes 1) Beatles/Beach Boys, 2) Kinks/Doors. They don't make bands like that anymore, but their music is eternal.Mr.Sensitivehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected] | {
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Event Details
Get your tickets now for CRYPTIC
Bobby Motta, the man the New York Times calls “one of the top mentalists on the planet,”. His show Cryptic is just that, it's tricky mind play, manipulating showgoers with deceptively simple psychology.
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SHOW INFORMATION:
EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY TWO SHOWS
8:30PM AND 10:30PM
Tickets are $20 per person. For an additional $10 you can purchase an UNLIMITED* Powerplay Card to be used in Dave & Buster's midway after the show.
All shows are ALL AGES however Dave & Buster's requires everyone under the age of 19 to be accompanied by an adult over the age of 25. Bring your ID.
Food and drinks can be ordered in the showroom at the time the doors open. Seating is general so please come early to have preferred seats. If you have a large group attending please email us to arrange group seating in advance of the show.
*Powerplay cards hold 75 credits to use on games that give tickets to be redeemed for prizes. The card also gives UNLIMITED play on all arcade games that don't give redeemable tickets.
Q&A
Parking?
yes
When do I receive my Powerplay card?
At the box office when checking in on the night of the show.
Can I reserve my seat in advance?
All reserved seating must be arranged by emailing the organizer at least 24 hours before showtime.
What is the refund policy?
(BobbyRefunds cannot be given on the day of the show. If a refund or date transfer is needed please contact the organizer by email to make arrangements. | {
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For
a long time, in the history teaching, we are always used to students with
British mercantilism policy is how to restrict the economic development of
North America 13 states, to the north American colonies into its raw material
origin and dumping goods market, thus aroused the colonists revolt, and
eventually led to the outbreak of the American war of independence, and so on.
However, from the actual effect, the British policy on the North American
colonies was quite loose, and the navigation regulations, as a concrete
manifestation of mercantilism, also protected the development of the colonial
economy in a certain sense. Therefore, we need to make a specific analysis of the
actual effect of British mercantilist policies on the economic development of
North America, instead of a general generalization and a simple negation.
Mercantilism
is published in 1776, Adam Smith's "the wealth of nations" in the
first time and the use of a concept is put forward. As an economic policy
system and theory, it emerged in the 15th century and was gradually abandoned
in the 18th century. The early mercantilist doctrine represented a kind of
"monetarism", which was committed to encouraging the inflow of gold
and silver and strictly controlling the outflow of gold and silver so as to
achieve the goal of accumulating money in the country. Such a "miser"
policy is not really good for business. Spain is a model. Britain and France,
of course, is not a result is the "advanced" mercantilism, in earlier
times, they, like Spain, but then was a "real mercantilism", namely,
the late mercantilism, Thomas mencius is the representative of this thought. In
"Britain's wealth from foreign trade", published in 1664, meng
criticized the early monetarism and advocated active trade policies. Such
mercantilism advocates promoting the development of domestic industry,
improving and expanding domestic and foreign trade, selling more and buying
less, and obtaining gold and silver mainly through trade surplus.
The
mercantilist policy was the basis for the establishment and expansion of the
British empire, and the navigation ordinance was the concrete application and
embodiment of this policy. In 1651, Britain issued the first navigation ACTS,
which stipulated that goods from the colonies to England must be carried by
British ships. The second regulation of navigation, adopted in 1660, although
an adjustment was made to the regulation of 1651, which provided that foreign ships
could carry goods from the producing countries to the British market, still
prohibited foreign ships from carrying goods to and from the British colonies.
The amendment adopted in 1661 further stipulated that certain products of the
colony must be shipped to England, including sugar, tobacco, indigo and cotton;
After 1704, rice, sugar syrup, navigational supplies, beaver pelts and copper
were added to guarantee the home country's absolute control over colonial raw
materials and markets.
The
navigation ACTS of 1663 and 1673 further provided that even goods from English
ships to the colonies were first shipped to England, and then shipped to the
colonies on duty.
In
addition to the navigation act, other British policies also provided for the
production and sale of colonial goods. For example, in order to protect
domestic wool production and add 152 industries, the wool act of 1699
prohibited the sale of wool and woolen products to the British mainland. The
cap making act of 1732 prohibited the sale of hats to the British crown. The
iron act of 1750 prohibited the manufacture of iron in North America, and so
on. Moreover, in addition to the provisions of these decrees, many British
politicians and dignitaries had repeatedly made "high arguments"
against the development of industries in which the colonies competed with their
home countries. As the British Sir Chatham shouted in the early 18th century, "If
America decides to make a riding boot or a nail, I will mobilize all the
strength of Britain against it."
Undoubtedly,
according to these mercantilist policies, the fundamental purpose of the
British colonization of North America was to strengthen the power of the mother
country and increase the wealth of the suzerain country, so that the colony
became the source of raw materials and sales market of the mother country,
rather than for the development of the colony itself. From the point of view of
the British rulers, it was reasonable that the colonies were completely subject
to the needs of their home country. The development of colonial commerce and
trade must be based on the British interests. The official of the British
ministry of commerce made it clear: "in any colony, all beneficial plans
or commercial benefits must be understood to be illegal if they do harm the
interests and inconsistencies of the home country, and their practice is not
guaranteed, as they violate the purpose of establishing the colony... If the colonies
cannot be used in this way, then it is better for the country to have no
colonies.
Although
Britain establish colonies is designed to grow and development of home
countries, made all sorts of restrictions to the development of the colonies,
but an inevitable fact remains that the development of the north American
colonies was very prosperous, formed with the development of resources not only
the characteristics of diversified forms of export-oriented economy, and
entrepreneurship has been formed, manufacturing began to sprout, which laid a
foundation for the vigorous development of the economy in the future. Britain's
mercantilist policies though, in principle is opposed to compete with home
industry colony development, but the European colonial merchants not only
produce the goods to the British colonies, so long as they are not selling any
items listed in the UK, so trade anywhere in the western hemisphere were not in
violation of the navigation ACTS. Mercantilist regulations may inhibit the export
of certain goods, such as grain, and may limit the industrial production of the
colonies, but in general the colonies flourished. Of course, restrictions are a
nuisance, but in most cases they are not followed at all. Adam Smith, as well
as many in the United States of the early studies of scholars agree that:
before the revolution of mercantilism did not cause larger bound to colonial
America's economic development.
First,
Britain's colonial policy towards North America was relatively loose
politically. The North American colonies were originally developed by chartered
companies or private owners, and the British government did not directly
intervene in their overseas colonization except for commercial control.
Therefore, the northern colonies enjoyed considerable freedom in their internal
affairs, especially at the beginning. Historian Charles ? Andrews in comparing
the two countries with a colonial policy after think: the "rarely
interfere in the internal affairs of each colony for population flow, government
aid and maintain things rarely concerned." In addition, the settlers who
migrated to North America did not consider themselves inferior rulers, but
British overseas subjects, who not only transplanted British cultural
traditions, but also used the British legal system to justify their actions.
Secondly,
the navigation regulations had some protective effect on the development of
colonial economy. First, the navigation act provided that only British ships
could develop trade with the colonies, and north American merchants were
granted the same monopoly in the market as British merchants, in effect
securing protection in the international market. "The British navigation
regulations provided a protected international market for the American
colonists, under which each colony was relatively free to develop its own
internal economy," says gundsson, author of a new edition of American
economic history. It was under this powerful umbrella that the colonial
shipping industry grew. Good harbors, plentiful resources, and an open mind and
a sense of adventure inherited from the British, led New England merchants to
quickly become involved in world trade. The merchants of New England were
almost all over the world. They transported the products of North America to Europe,
brought home the European manufactured goods they needed, engaged in the slave
trade in the triangle, and opened up the little triangle trade with the west
Indies. New England traders brought slaves, dried fish, timber, horses, beef,
and grain to the west Indies, where they brought back sugar and the European
sugar syrup that was a vital ingredient in the manufacture of rum, the most
important commodity in the exchange for Indian pelts. The shipping industry was
a very important sector in North America at the time, and it became a major
source of capital accumulation in the United States. It is estimated that by
the 1770s, Philadelphia merchants had amassed a fortune of 500,000 pounds from
shipping alone. There were such wealthy businessmen as cooper of New York and
Hancock of Boston.
Secondly,
some industries suitable for Britain's needs in the colonies were not only not
limited by Britain, but also supported and helped by Britain. In order to
encourage the colonies to produce some of the products needed at home, Britain
subsidized some of the products badly needed in the domestic market, which
objectively benefited the colonies in developing the industries of these
subsidized products. At the end of the colonial period, the 13 colonies
received an average annual subsidy of more than 65,000 pounds from Britain. The
colonial gradually developed an export-oriented and diversified industrial
structure characterized by resource development under the category of British
mercantilism, and the manufacturing industry began to sprout. Of particular
note are the timber, shipbuilding, and iron smelting industries.
North
America was rich in forest resources that were strategically important to
Britain at the time. Before the mid-19th century, the use of wood for shipbuilding
was of strategic importance to a nation's maritime hegemony. But there is a
shortage of good quality shipbuilding, especially mast wood. To ensure its
maritime supremacy, Britain naturally had to pay attention to the strategic
stock of timber used in shipbuilding. In this case, the timber processing trade
in the colonies developed. In 1653, the first ships of mast wood from North
America arrived at the British naval shipyard. Since then, the British navy's
masts have relied almost entirely on North American supplies for more than a
century. In addition, the timber trade between New England and the west Indies
grew. Since the imports and exports of the West Indies were mostly wooden
barrels, the sheeting became a major trade between New England and the west
Indies, which required about a million sheeting and about 36 million cubic feet
of timber a year.
High
quality shipbuilding wood in North America, as well as other readily available
shipbuilding materials in forests such as asphalt and rosin, have prepared the
conditions for the development of the local shipbuilding industry. The
regulations on navigation, which provided that only British and colonial ships
were eligible for trade between Britain and its colonies, promoted the
development of the shipbuilding industry in both their own countries and
colonies. Shipbuilding increased by 150 percent in Massachusetts from 1669 --
1704 to 1769 -- 1771. Between 1763 and 1775, the 13 states of North America
produced an average of 40,000 tons per year, worth 300,000 pounds, of which
about 140,000 pounds were exported each year. By the eve of the American
revolution, about a third of the ships flying the British flag were built in
North America.
Although
opposition to the development of manufacturing in the colonies could be heard
in Britain, "during most of the colonial period, the king of England paid
close attention to the efforts of the colonists in North America to make pig
iron, because the charcoal used for iron smelting in Britain was insufficient and
pig iron became expensive". In the early 1640 s, the little John Winthrop
in Massachusetts Lynn to build the first iron works, produce 8 tons per week.
According to statistics, in 1770, the colony exported 133,079 tons of milling
iron and 1716 tons of iron bars. In 1775, the colonies produced about
one-seventh of the world's pig iron.
Thirdly,
we need to make an objective analysis of the implementation of certain
restrictive regulations of British mercantilism in the north American colonies.
When the provisions of the navigation act were consistent with the interests of
the colonies, the colonists did as they were required. When there was a
conflict, the colonists went their own way. For example, although the
navigation act prohibited north American merchants from shipping certain
products to areas outside the United Kingdom, colonial merchants simply ignored
it and developed a vast smuggling trade. Britain has adopted a policy of
"polite neglect". It was even thought that by the 1850s it would be
difficult to find a merchant in a northern colony who was not involved in
smuggling. It is estimated that a third of Boston's trade, particularly with
the West Indies, was against a law in 1700. Hancock, a leading figure of the
American revolution, was a famous smuggling king who amassed a huge fortune of
more than $400,000 from shipping and smuggling.
To
sum up, despite the restrictive regulations of British mercantilism, the north
American colonies initially formed an export-oriented economic development
model with regional diversity. It not only broke away from the west India and
Latin America in its development path, but also initially formed the economic
differences among different regions. It was only in the mid-18th century, when
new ideas and interest groups pushed the British parliament to change its
policies, to try to limit the import of foreign manufactured goods, to
encourage the export of manufactured goods, and to threaten the colony's
prosperity, that the two sides' ties weakened. Indeed, Britain's attempts to
tighten its grip on the colonies since 1733 have not been purely mercantilist.
From 1600 to 1700, the population of the 13 colonies in North America increased
fivefold to 275,000 and by 2.25 million before independence. A social economy
of prosperity, affluence, openness and diversity has been firmly established
here. Based on 1980 prices, the per-capita income of the colony in 1774 was
$804, and the per-capita ownership of property was 76 pounds, equivalent to
$2,888 at comparable prices in 1973. Therefore, some scholars believe that
"the American revolution is not the result of people's poverty, nor is it
the reflection of poverty, but the typical example of rich thoughts and
changes." Therefore, we need to make an objective and historical analysis
of the actual role of British mercantilist policies in the north American
colonies to avoid generalizations. | {
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Gatineau residents in good spirits as rising flood waters persist
Lise Veillette sits in a boat with some of her belongings as she is pushed by Benoit Gravel (left) and her husband Jean-Pierre Subercaze (right) in the flood zone, Monday, May 8, 2017 in Gatineau, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld.
GATINEAU, Que. — Lise Veillette and her husband Jean-Pierre Subercaze lost one car and a few of their belongings before finally deciding Monday to leave their home near the Gatineau River.
Flood waters on their street were rising relentlessly and the military was stepping up sandbagging operations in the community.
But in typical Canadian fashion, Veillette sounded optimistic as she was brought to shore in an aluminum fishing boat with just a few belongings stuffed into two suitcases, a large grey cooler, a backpack and a couple of black briefcases.
“At least you get to know your neighbours,” she said as she stepped out of the boat at the crest of what is now her submerged road, aided by neighbours and people who spontaneously showed up to help out.
Veillette and Subercaze live in an upper apartment on a street about 100 metres away from the normal shoreline, she said.
Watching water slowly seep into the apartment below hers since the previous Tuesday, Veillette said she was horrified, but decided to stay put, expecting the flood to recede.
But the water kept coming, and coming. And by Monday, after being told by local authorities that the electricity was being shut off, she and Subercaze had had enough.
“No water, and no electricity? No, we can’t do that,” Veillette said.
“So we decided to leave.”
Local residents had set up a makeshift ferry system, using boats and trucks to get supplies to those who chose to stay in their homes, and to help others leave.
Higher up the road, dozens of Canadian Forces personnel aided local residents and volunteers as they continued to fill sandbags at a frantic pace, loading them onto tractors and high-riser trucks for delivery to the desperate homeowners in the flood zone.
As a cold drizzle turned to wet snow, even small children were lending a hand. Using garden utensil shovels, three toddlers painstakingly moved back and forth from a sandpile to a bag held by their mother, Manon.
“They saw everyone here and asked me ‘can I help’,” she said.
The Canadian Red Cross set up a relief fund for flood victims in Quebec, with the provincial government contributing $500,000. About 1,650 soldiers were expected to be battling floodwaters across the region by late Monday, helping crews in some of the communities across the province that are under states of emergency.
Water levels across Quebec were expected to peak by Wednesday.
Terry Pedwell, The Canadian Press
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………
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Neither Montreal’s transit authority nor unions representing bus and subway drivers wanted to comment Thursday on speculation that women wearing the Islamic niqab or burqa will be prevented from using public transportation. | {
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October 30, 2013
Diwali 2013: Stocks to BUY
First of all, we would like to wish you and your family a "Shubh Diwali" and lots of happiness, wealth and good health! Diwali, the festival of lights has a lot of importance in the financial and business community. The stock markets in India have a special trading session on the occasion of Lakshmi Puja which is known as "Muhurat Trading". On this day, investments are made which an investor generally holds for years and for purposes such as education of his children, their marriage and other life goals. We at DalalStreetBulls would also like to thank all our blog readers and visitors who have shown great interest in our blog and thus have helped us generate thousands of visits every month! We will work towards growing the count and come up with some great trades in the coming year too! So this Diwali, which are the stocks which one should be looking on for long term? Here is a list of few stocks which we find really good for long term (5+ years)
1. PNB
CMP: 500
P/E: 3.7
Dividend Yield: 5.4%
2. ANDHRA BANK
CMP: 54
P/E: 2.6
Dividend Yield: 9.29%
All PSU banks are trading at dirt cheap valuations as they are facing issues of NPA's which over a period of time will get right. And when one of the country's most trusted banks are trading at P/E's of 3-4, you must not miss the opportunities before they slip away.
3. BHEL
CMP: 140
P/E: 5.53
Dividend Yield: 3.88%
The capital goods giant has seen the wrath of a badly hurt global economy but as conditions improve, BHEL will be a really great stock to hold.
4. TV18
CMP: 23
Though there are no highlights/attractions in the financials, the media industry is all set for a boom in the coming decade and TV18 could be a good gainer in this period.
In the current scenario, all these stocks are under-performing and the ideas are for 5+ years views. There may be sharp downsides in the short term which can be used for adding on the positions.
5. AMTEK AUTO
CMP: 66
P/E: 3.64
Dividend Yield: 0.75%
A fundamentally strong company which would do well in a booming car market. With a health amount of reserves, the debt of the company doesn't appear to be a worry yet. It does get cyclical and so, we believe that at these valuations, it is a good hold for 5+ years view.
6. YES BANK
CMP: 367
P/E: 9
Dividend Yield: 1.63%
7. TATA STEEL
CMP: 329
P/E: 6.31
Dividend Yield: 2.43%
No other brand in India is as trusted as TATA is! This steel giant has taken a hit no doubt because of the slowdown but this opportunity is not one to miss! Though in the short term, we believe that this stock can be bought near 250-270 levels, it makes a good long term investment.
HAPPY INVESTING!
Disclaimer: The above recommendations are made solely on the basis of the data available on the internet, any investments made on the above recommendation has risks involved. DalalStreetBulls is not responsible for any profits/loss incurred directly or indirectly based on the above recommendations. | {
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best things about buying a walker's tag archives
Most of the beginners or gym newbies are constantly wondering what's the perfect piece of gym equipment that can help them build big muscles in no time and the answer is so simple!!! Anything can be used to get a somewhat bodybuilder body and you can see this from the next funny teleshopping commercial fooor, THE WALKER !
Yes, of course, any household object can be used to grow in strength and obtain muscle mass, you just got to eat and sleep. When you choose the best homemade gym equipment, yo... | {
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Great Big List Of Infographic Ideas
This is an amazing and great big list of infographic ideas with around 25 themes and concepts being discussed here that can help you create infographics! It states some interesting facts about infographics and moves from one idea to another, discussing it in details and with examples for a better understanding of the viewer. You will also learn how infographics can help variety of fields and why they are so popular! | {
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Collective effervescence is an amplified, excited reaction made possible when a group of people experience something emotional together. There are two completely different sides to this phenomenon. This communal effervescence can produce a positive uplifting episode, such as a religious experience that makes participants feel closer to their god or fan excitement at a sporting event. On the other hand, a communal emotion reaction can also cause the morals and inhibitions of the people participating in an event to slip away and align with the group’s morals. An example of this is the property destruction or personal violence observed during riots.
A few key elements must come together for collective effervescence to work. First, the group of people needs to be focused collectively on a single idea or outcome. Second, a motivating force, such as a charismatic speaker, a social injustice, or even a sporting event needs to be the catalyst to bind the participants.
When both of these elements are in place, the people in the group begin to change. A person’s individuality will slip away. Each person’s individual identity will be taken over by the group and a group personality will evolve. Often, as personal identity erodes, emotions heighten and the mind becomes more receptive to accepting the group ideas or the ideas of the speaker.
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The personality of the group is what determines the outcome of the collective effervescence. A group personality might sway a person to change his life for the better by giving up drugs or motivate the person to work toward social change by donating money to a charity or physically working for a charity. A charismatic leader harnessing herd behavior might even motivate people to lose weight and eat healthier.
Religious experiences powered by this collective group dynamic often produce the strongest emotions. A collectively uplifting religious experience may strengthen the participant’s faith, make one feel closer to his god or could even make an agnostic believe in a faith. These life-changing experiences either would not happen to a person alone or would be much harder to cultivate alone. Cults often use the strength of collective effervescence to build the bound among members and even to cultivate new members.
Sporting events are a great example of this communal effervescence. A person sitting home alone is less likely to become emotionally and even physically involved in cheering on his team. Groups of fans gathered either in someone's house, around the television, or a crowd gathered in a stadium, however, will often become emotionally and physically involved in the outcome of one of the teams.
Collective effervescence can also motivate people to do things they would never do or even think of doing as an individual. Riots are a good example of this. Sometimes, people united against a social injustice will amass a group anger that overrides personal morals. Law-abiding citizens may find themselves under the spell of the perceived energy and end up smashing store windows or trying to physically harm the police.
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Buster29Post 1
I attended a counter-rally against the Ku Klux Klan one time and at first we were all trying to figure out how to behave once the Klansmen arrived for their event. Some of us wanted to shout back at the speakers, while others wanted to remain silent and hold signs. Once we were all in a group, however, we just realized that a collective silence would be more effective. We were no longer there as individuals with different ideas. We became a group that wanted to see one thing happen. We watched the Klansmen pack up and leave.
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Despite getting nearly 6 full hours of sleep the night before this flight, it wasn’t near enough the amount that I needed to walk into to the airport with a smile on my face this morning. This journey to Lisbon and back had been a long one so far, and all the jetlag and lack of quality sleep was starting to catch up with me in a big way. I love flying, but nothing would’ve made me happier than sleeping for 15(ish) more hours.
Thankfully I didn’t have to go far to reach the airport this morning, as the Gateway Sheraton is located adjacent to terminal 3 – I needed to go to terminal 1, but it wasn’t a big deal thanks to the very convenient inter-terminal train. I saw a lot of tired-looking faces in that train, confirming that I wasn’t the only one dragging my ass through the airport that morning.
Air Canada Rouge check in counters here at YYZ. I’ve only just arrived and I’m already thinking how dumb it was to split Air Canada Rouge from Air Canada. One airline would make everything so much easier!
Flying to the US from Canada is really convenient in the grand scheme of things. US customs and immigration happens in Canada, so you arrive in the US as if you’re on a domestic flight. I’m a huge fan of getting annoying things over with fast as possible, so clearing US passport control even before walking into the terminal is my kind of thing. The less stuff that I have to do later the better. This is exactly why I am a morning person by the way – normally I hit the ground running as soon as I wake up and tackle as much as I can so that I can enjoy the rest of my day without worry. To be honest though I was having a little bit of hard time hitting the ground running this morning. I could barely even walk.
Inside terminal 1. I think I could have appreciated this a bit more on 6 more hours of sleep…
Many of the gate areas here are equipped with these hybrid seating area / restaurant configurations which are convenient…but slightly annoying in the sense that it eliminates a lot of places to sit around the terminal.
Thinking that a hearty breakfast would do well to help me perk up, I took my place in line at a decent looking café with an extensive menu of craft bagels. It’s pretty hard to screw up a breakfast sandwich in my opinion, but this cafe (who shall remain nameless) did so in spectacular fashion. The bagel itself was cold and stale, the egg and cheese lukewarm, and they smothered it in some kind of “western” sauce which ended up making me gag with each bite as I chewed my way through it. The fact that I paid $13US for it only made it worse.
There it is, folks: I present to you the worst bagel I’ve ever eaten. I’m still gagging thingking about it…
As you can imagine, I wasn’t in a particularly good mood at that point. That disaster of a breakfast combined with the fact that I knew I was facing a five-hour flight in economy class didn’t give me a very good feeling as I was walking down to the gate. At least I had an aisle seat, and I wouldn’t have to pass US passport control again upon arrival in San Diego. That’s something to look forward to, right?
My ride to San Diego!
Flight number 1887 right on time.
My only experience with Air Canada up to this point were two flights back in February 2001. I flew to Toronto and back from San Diego, and all in all they ended up being decently nice flights – though my experience on the ground was less than memorable. But now only Air Canada Rouge flies between these two cities, and I was very much looking forward to getting onboard and seeing what this airline is all about.
For those that don’t know, Air Canada Rouge is a low-cost spin off of Air Canada which serves touristy and vacation-type destinations. I guess San Diego qualifies as “touristy and vacation-type”, but I’ve never really understood the real differences between Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge. They seem to be pretty similar based on the description on their website, and to me the only thing they seem to be doing admirably is diluting their own brand. What’s wrong with having just one airline to do everything?
It’s not very often I get to see this many Air Canada aircraft in one place. One, two, three, four…
I was starting to appreciate this airport a whole lot more once I started waking up. I really like YYZ!
Ok, here we go. The final leg of the journey is ready to board!
Some interesting things to look at while waiting in the jet bridge…
I think the guy in front of me had something to say about how much time this was taking…
Since we don’t seem to be moving, how about a quick pic of our bird?
Thanks for teaching me how to be so patient mom!
Did you know there is a premium cabin on these Rouge A321s? I didn’t know either, but the first four rows of this aircraft were a lot nicer than the one I was heading to way in the back. It’s officially referred to as “Premium Rouge”, btw.
Air Canada Rouge A321 main cabin.
It’s a long walk back to row 40!
There it is. Row 40, seats a, b, and c.
Nice: cool red seatbelts. Not so nice: the lack of decent leg room.
If only my knees could talk. It’s tight back here!
Making things seem even more claustrophobic was the very tall seat backs, which were difficult to look over without sitting bolt-upright.
I had to hold my camera way above my head to get this pic. RIP short people.
Once onboard and in my seat, I honestly couldn’t figure out what makes Air Canada Rouge different from Air Canada. There is indeed a premium cabin on these Rouge planes (called “Premium Rouge”), and the only thing that looked sort of cheap were the seat backs without any video screens. OK, the seat pitch was really tight too, but all in all nothing really screamed “LCC” to me. It really looked like any other mainline flight I’ve been on in the US recently as a matter fact.
Today’s flight was completely full, so there was no chance of me scoring an open window seat for the ride west. The aisle seat was gonna have to do, which was actually quite OK by me since there wouldn’t be any real photography opportunities from the window anyway thanks in large part to the high sun all the way across the country today. Summertime midday sun doesn’t offer much in terms of quality light for good pics unfortunately. My apologies in advance for the lack of views to the outside world from this point forward.
Air Canada Rouge A321 safety card. They really skimped on the illustrations of the people, that’s for sure!
Serious question: do you really think the majority of people will study and understand illustrations on safety cards? That’s a lot of stuff to memorize, and I doubt there would be anyone casually giving this a glance if the plane is on fire and about to explode. It would be every man for himself at that point I’m sure!
Cabin announcements were in French and English, and we were off the gate and on our way right on time despite it feeling like there was a lot of congestion around the airport this morning. I thought for sure we were going to be delayed a little bit, but I checked my watch just after departure and we were exactly right on time.
Kind of wish I had a window seat today. Check out that retro livery on the bird next to us!
Lifting off out of YYZ and feeling great to be headed home. Next stop San Diego!
30 minutes into the flight and I was already having strong flashbacks of my recent Miami to San Diego segment on American Airlines. That flight was nearly the same time of day, I had an aisle seat just like this one, I wasn’t planning on buying any food or drinks, but I had my Podcasts to keep me entertained. Flashback city, man.
I will say that the streaming video content here on Air Canada Rouge is actually pretty good. I was able to connect quickly and easily with my iPad, and a few tests that I did of various movies and TV shows proved that the connection was fast and reliable. I didn’t feel much like watching streaming content though, but it was nice to know that it was there if my Podcasts started to bore me a bit later on in the flight.
Main menu of the Air Canada Rouge streaming entertainment.
Pretty decent selection of TV and movie here – I’m impressed!
Also entertaining was the in-flight menu. Never in my life have I seen a food-for-purchase menu in economy class of this caliber. We’re talking pages and pages of food options, and as far as I could tell (when the flight attendants came down the aisles), every single one of those items were available for purchase today. The only disappointing thing about the in-flight service on today’s flight was that they completely skipped over me for some reason. It’s OK. I get. I’m easy to forget, and besides, I wasn’t all that hungry anyway.
Want to see something interesting? Check this out…
The best menu I’ve ever seen in economy class. Ever! I was half tempted to order one of each just to see if they could pull it off…
Time spent in an aisle seat in the back of a transcon flight isn’t very exciting. Sometimes you have to get up to let the window seat and middle seat passengers out, and other times you have to tuck your elbows in to prevent them from being ripped off by service carts. But if you’re flying Air Canada Rouge like I was today, you also have to squirm in your seat a lot to find a comfortable position which gives your knees a rest from being pressed really hard into the seat in front of you. The struggle is real back here.
Sniping a wing pic while my seatmates are up using the lavatory.
Speaking of the lavatory, this is how Air Canada Rouge rolls.
While I’m up, I might as well get a pic from all the way back. These A321s are long!
A slightly lower perspective. Imagine yourself as a hyperactive 4 year old running up and down the aisle…
Travel isn’t always glamorous folks. This is what 12,000 miles of travel in 4 countries over the course of three days looks like. The look of death right there!
The descent and landing process is equally lackluster from the aisle. There’s nothing to look at except for that big gray seat in front of your face, and you start contemplating stupid things like why they chose that exact shade of gray. Occasionally you can sneak a peek out the windows, but then it gets kind of awkward when you catch the eye of the person sitting in the window seat and you look away quickly for fear of having them think that you were looking at them when you were really not.
Are we there yet?
The landing process is quite boring when in an aisle seat. Nothing to look at but that seat back in front of you.
Thanks for the ride Air Canada Rouge! Perhaps our paths will cross once again someday in the future. Or, perhaps Air Canada will come to their senses and eliminate this secondary brand altogether before I get the chance to try it again…
Back home again in Terminal 2 West. I was pretty much sick and tired of flying by this point. So good to be home!
And this is where my first ever experience on Air Canada Rouge ends. By the end of this flight I still didn’t really understand how this airline differentiates itself from its bigger brother (parent?), as there was really nothing low-cost about this flight other than the fact that the seat pitch was a good inch or two inferior to a mainline aircraft of Delta or American for example. The food-for-purchase and streaming in-flight entertainment is something that is pretty much standard on all mainline carriers these days.
Prices, as far as I can tell, aren’t any cheaper either. I’ve tried pricing out round-trip flights on Rouge from San Diego to Toronto for the past year or so and it was still insanely expensive. So what gives? What is Air Canada’s plan for this niche spinoff? To be honest I really don’t get it, though this was a decently good flight and I would have no hesitation about flying Air Canada Rouge again. I just don’t know why I would choose it over Air Canada if given the choice.
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Thanks for another entertaining review replete with photographic goodness! It’s good to have this afterward to the TAP Air Portugal flight you posted about recently, nicely bringing to a conclusion your recounting of your LIS-YYZ-SAN journey. You couldn’t just get us to Toronto and not finish the story for us! I find your reviews and thoughts interesting, so reading what you post is a pleasure. Notably, I appreciate the nuances of your brand of humor sprinkled liberally throughout.
I don’t particularly get the brand-within-a-brand concept Air Canada has with Rouge. I’m unsure what contractual intricacies they may be navigating with their employee groups, or if Rouge somehow brings value/savings/customers to the company that Air Canada proper does not. It seems to be a mystery if Rouge is successfully adding to Air Canada’s coffers and customer numbers, or if it is cannibalizing the main brand. This sub-brand was initially presented to us as the LCC version of Air Canada on leisure-oriented routes, yet I’d argue SAN is as much a population and business center as it is a tourist draw, not making SAN an obvious choice for Rouge service out of YYZ. Alas, I’m not an accountant privy to Air Canada’s data and I’m sure Air Canada studiously determines which routes get Rouge. I have noticed of late, however, that Rouge is appearing more frequently on routes typically considered more business-oriented, so I’m unsure what’s going on here. I think that Rouge dilutes the Air Canada brand and diminishes it instead of successfully complementing it in terms of branding. Sub-brands can be quite confusing to travelers, and often end up being discarded or reabsorbed into the original brand (MetroJet and US Airways, Delta’s Song and Delta Express, and United’s now-dead Ted). Air France is diluting and obfuscating its brand with Joon and HOP! and who knows what else currently. On a side note, I’m a big fan of that Air Canada Rouge tail livery! The “rouge” lettering that looks done by hand with a giant crayon isn’t so attractive , but that beautiful maple leaf proclaims “We’re Canada!” on the tail.
You mentioned that the wifi was quite good. This is good to know. This is valued by customers, and it’s now an expectation that most have. As cabin crew, complaints about mediocre or poor wifi take up a lot of our time; regrettably, there’s usually nothing we can do about it except hope that the promised technology upgrades are quick to be implemented. Good wifi means peace on board.
I can’t tell if you’re wearing shoes or if you’re in your socks for the lavatory picture. Please tell me you’re wearing shoes in the airplane loo. Ha ha!
I find the photos of the safety information cards you include interesting (how avgeeky is that?!). I like to see if the illustrations are understandable, and I like to see how wording is translated into various languages. You queried how many people study the safety information cards. In my flight attendant experience, I can say that some people can be spotted looking them over on pretty much every flight (these are often the more nervous fliers, and some folks wisely want to inform themselves in the unlikely event the flight is a special kind of bad). Just the other day, I had a very intelligent question from a guest regarding life rafts, their location and deployment, and how this was depicted on the safety information card. Then there’s the occasional passenger who thinks the safety card is the ideal place to stick used chewing gum, so apparently the world isn’t perfect after all.
Thanks again. I appreciate the effort and time you put into your reviews and photographs, and I look forward to more. Happy flighting!
OK, that was probably the best comment I have received on this blog yet. Haha! I really appreciate you taking the time to type all that out, because I know from experience how long it takes to write something of that length. It must’ve taken a while so I really do appreciate it.
I didn’t know that you were a flight attendant! In that case, you probably appreciate my humor a bit more than others do based on your everyday real-world experiences of dealing with the ups and downs of air travel. Lol – I really love flying, but I don’t know if I could do it every day. You must have some real stories to tell!
Anyway, first and foremost, I would like to confirm that yes – I was indeed wearing shoes in the lav for that pic. Haha! I learned that lesson way back in my teenage years, when walking out of the lav wearing just socks and somebody politely informed me that the liquid on the floor wasn’t water. That left an impression on me obviously and I’ve been wearing shoes ever since. Lol!
I’m also glad to see that I’m not the only one who isn’t really sure where Air Canada Rouge fits into the parent brand. As you mentioned, all of the other carrier-within-carrier brands have disappeared over the years, so who knows how long this one will stick around. It’s a good thing I’m not a airline executive, because I really don’t understand this kind of stuff.
Thanks again for the comment and I’m glad to see you enjoying my content. There is lots more to come of course, so I hope you stick around for a while!
I ran across this blog whilst looking for the answer to the question, At what height does this flight travel? The reason for my question is that we were low enough (and the sky was clear often enough) that I enjoyed great views throughout the flight. One can enjoy from the air that spectacular terrain from the Midwest to the region of the Grand Canyon and beyond. The only thing one doesn’t get is a view of the ocean as one arrives, at least not out my righthand (north facing) window seat. Anyway, my point is that, despite the limitations of Rouge comfortwise, this route offers a great view experience, akin to the train ride from London to Edinburgh, or the drive from Calgary to Vancouver. I don’t usually think of air travel in such terms, despite the spectacular vistas one can sometimes enjoy on shorthaul flights, like from Athens to one of the Greek islands, or from Victoria to Vancouver (on a clear day!). I would say this route perhaps offers that opportunity as an experience in and of itself.
Thanks for this thorough and entertaining review. My partner and I are heading to San Diego for business/pleasure in a week and a half and we are flying through Toronto on Rouge so I appreciate your incite. As a Canadian I also share the confusion over the Rouge brand. While I am generally pleased with Air Canada, I usually avoid Rouge when I can. Why pay the same for less legroom and no screen back tv? I must say I am not looking forward to a 5 hour journey in Rouge economy, especially after having already flown 2 hours in the wee hours of the morning to make the connection in Toronto.
Thanks for the review and if you have any recommendations on what to do in San Diego I am all ears!
You’re welcome Dean! I’m glad you found the review helpful – though I hope I didn’t frighten you too much about the torture you have ahead of you. Haha! Seriously though, it’s not a completely terrible experience. Only the leg room was a problem for me, but it’s manageable if you’re able to get up and stretch every now and then. And besides – you’ll have sunny San Diego to look forward to and keep your spirits up!
As far as things to do in San Diego (as a first-timer), I’d recommend a visit to the tip of Point Loma, a ferry ride to Coronado, and of course, plenty of time at the beach! The beaches of Del Mar and La Jolla are my favorite, but for a quieter and more laid back beach experience, I’d head up to Leucadia or Encinitas. The bar at the top of the Grand Hyatt (downtown) is also a neat experience, with panoramic views of SD in every direction. Have a great trip!!
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Credit cards with generous signup bonuses and recurring benefits (in the form of airline points) are one of the ways I am able to travel in business class all the time. Here are two of my current favorites:
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So, Commodore to the #Redwings, coached by Babcock ought to be interesting dynamic.
...
To refresh, Commodore on Babcock trading him in 2003: “Mike Babcock was without a doubt an obstacle in my career.”
...
More Commodore on Babcock: “I wanted to prove him wrong, I’m not going to lie ... I thought he put his best foot forward to bury me.”
The Wings have signed former Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Mike Commodore to a one-year deal with $1 million. The deal adds depth to the Wings’ blueline.
The big question is his relationship with coach Mike Babcock.
“Mike Babcock was without a doubt an obstacle in my career,” Commodore told The Columbus Dispatch back in January of 2009.
Babcock dealt Commodore from Anaheim to Calgary in 2003.
“I wanted to prove him wrong, I’m not going to lie,” Commodore continued. “I used him as big-time motivation. I thought he put his best foot forward to bury me.”
“The only thing I ever questioned about Mike was his conditioning,” Babcock told the paper. “In my mind, Mike always has been a quality guy. When he came up, I didn’t think he was in condition. That’s it.”
The Red Wings have beefed up their blueline by signing veteran Mike Commodore to a one-year deal worth $1 million.
A few seasons ago, Commodore took some verbal shots at Wings coach Mike Babcock over how Babcock treated Commodore when both were with Anaheim.
In January of ’09, Commodore told the Columbus Dispatch, “Mike Babcock was without a doubt an obstacle in my career,” and then adding that he was motivated to become a better player because of Babcock’s role in trading Commodore from the Ducks to the Flames in ’03. ““I wanted to prove him wrong, I’m not going to lie. I used him as big-time motivation. I thought he put his best foot forward to bury me.”
Commodore, 31, is 6-foot-4, 233 pounds. He’s a defensive defenseman who could be a nice fit next to Niklas Kronwall.
This signing increases the Wings’ defense to Commodore, Nicklas Lidstrom, Kronwall, Brad Stuart, Jonathan Ericsson and Jakub Kindl. Brendan Smith, the 2007 first-round draft pick, will also be given a chance to make the ’11-12 team.
Update #4: Here’s the Wings’ press release;
RED WINGS AND DEFENSEMAN MIKE COMMODORE AGREE TO TERMS ON A ONE-YEAR DEAL
...Veteran Blue-liner Captured Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006…
Detroit, MI… Detroit Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland announced today that the club has signed defenseman Mike Commodore to a one-year contract. In accordance with team policy, additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Commodore, 31, was originally a second-round pick (#42 overall) of the New Jersey Devils in the 1999 National Hockey League Entry Draft. He spent the past three seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets, splitting time in 2010-11 between Columbus (20 games) and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Falcons (11 games). The Fort Saskatchewan, AB, native has played in 454 career games for the Devils, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes and Blue Jackets during his 10-year NHL career. Commodore’s career totals include 23 goals, 81 assists, 104 points and 645 penalty minutes. The 6-4, 225-lb. defenseman has also appeared in 53 career postseason games. He went to his first Stanley Cup Final as a member of the Calgary Flames in 2004. The Flames lost in seven games to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Commodore would return to the Final again in 2006 and helped the Carolina Hurricanes capture hockey’s ultimate prize with a seven-game series win over the Edmonton Oilers.
Update #5: Here’s what Commodore had to say to DetroitRedWings.com’s Bill Roose about signing with Detroit:
“I’m in the process of going from Kelowna to San Diego where I go every summer to train for awhile,” Commodore said, “and I wasn’t expecting anything. Not a phone call. Not a nothing. I had a lunch set-up with a friend of mine and the phone rang, and it was my agent, who said, ‘Detroit’s called.’ I almost crashed my truck.”
...
“I’ve had a tough couple of years,” said Commodore, who split last season between Columbus and its AHL affiliate. “I had a great year two years ago, my first year in Columbus. My next year was injury-filled with bad groins and I played like 60 games and only five when I was healthy. Then last year and that whole debacle there. … It just didn’t work out.”
He apparently got the itch to possibly play for Detroit while playing alongside Ken Holland in a charity golf tournament last summer…
“I was fortunate enough to have golfed in Ken’s golf tournament last year and that was my first experience with him,” said Commodore, of Holland. “I had a great time. Obviously, the hockey side speaks for itself; I don’t need to pump his tires. He’s made some great decisions and has had wonderful success. But as a person, he was fantastic and I enjoyed being around him for those couple of days. From that experience, I knew that I would love to play for him some day.”
And Commodore hopes to fit in as both a right-handed shooter…
“I think that was kind of a need,” Commodore said. “There was a shortage this summer of right-handed defensemen that were available. So that worked out for me; thank God I’m right-handed.”
And as a physical force…
At 6-foot-5 and more than 230-pounds, Commodore gives the Wings four defensemen that are 6-2 or taller. He has been a top shut-down defenseman in the past, who can still log a lot of minutes both at even-strength and on the penalty-kill. He’s a solid defender and a steady presence at clearing the puck out of his own zone. And all Commodore is looking for is a fresh start to jump-start his career.
“I’m at a point in my career where I’d like to play and be an affective player for a few more years if I can,” he said. “I need to start this year and this will be a good opportunity to get back on track.”
And the whole playing with Nick Lidstrom possibility doesn’t hurt, either:
“To be honest, there were a lot of things that made this decision very easy,” Commodore said. “But playing with (Lidstrom) certainly crossed my mind. If I’m fortunate enough to skate a couple of shifts with him then that would be spectacular. After all, he’s one of the best – if not the best – defenseman who has ever played the game. All of those guys on that team have been very successful. I’m just looking to fit in and do what I can.”
General manager Ken Holland reached out to Commodore’s agent a few hours after the market opened at noon today, and got a deal done within minutes.
The terms of the Commodore deal carry little risk for the Wings, who in turn get a 6-foot-4, 233-pound defensive defenseman to shore up the third pairing.
Commodore, 31, has a history with Wings coach Mike Babcock that dates back to when Babcock coached Anaheim’s AHL affiliate and had Commodore as a player.
Babcock spurred Commodore being traded to the Calgary Flames. Back in ’09, Commodore publicly accused Babcock of having being an obstacle in Commodore’s career. The memory of those remarks prompted Commodore to call Babcock this afternoon.
“I talked to him today for a few minutes,” Commodore said. “In all honesty, that was the only thing that - I don’t want to say it was an issue, but it was concern. I was assured by Mike that it wasn’t a big deal. For me, it’s water under the bridge. I just wanted to make sure I’d get a fair shot, and that was assured. I’m looking forward to playing for him. I want to be a good soldier. I’m really excited about this opportunity, and want to make the best of it.”
Mike Commodore was on a plane to southern California Friday, ready to begin off-season training, and didn’t expect to be signed by any NHL team. Commodore was hoping to be picked up by a team in August. Then the Red Wings called, and 15 minutes later, Commodore was a Wing.
“It came together pretty quick,” said Commodore, 31, a defenseman, who signed a 1-year contract worth $1 million. “I didn’t expect to be signed by the Red Wings today. But I’m definitely excited to be part of this organization. I have a lot of respect for (general manager) Ken Holland, and the coaching staff, and the players they have here. I’m ecstatic.”
Commodore is definitely familiar with coach Mike Babcock. The two were together in Anaheim when Commodore was a minor leaguer trying to earn a spot with the Ducks. He never did, and when Commodore was with Columbus two seasons ago, he verbally ripped Babcock in an article.
“That happened 8 or 9 years ago (the time in Anaheim) and that’s water under the bridge,” Commodore said. “We’ve both won Stanley Cups since then (Commodore in 2006 with Carolina) and moved on from that.”
Commodore said he’s already spoken with Babcock regarding the article and wishes he would have handled the situation differently. Commodore became available after recently being bought out of the final two seasons of a 5-year contract worth over $18 million with the Blue Jackets.
“The opportunity wasn’t there,” said Commodore, who never seemed to win the confidence of Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel. “It was time to move on.”
“Jonathan Ericsson has made significant strides with us over the last three years,’’ general manager Ken Holland said. “We believe in his abilities, we like the physical dimension that he brings to our team and we look for his continued progression as a player over the next few seasons as he enters into the prime of his career.’‘
Eaves is coming off a season in which he had 13 goals and seven assists in 63 games for the Red Wings.
“All three guys are 27 years of age,’’ Holland said of the three returning players. “All three of them, I think, their best years are ahead of them.’‘
Commodore, who signed a one-year deal, joins his sixth NHL team. He played 20 games for Columbus last season. He asked for a trade and was waived, but at the time, his contract made it hard for other teams to pick him up.
“We think he’s going to give us some presence on the back end,’’ Holland said. “(Coach) Mike Babcock is excited to have him. He’s a pro. He’s been around the game.’‘
Via RedWingsFeed on Twitter, here’s MLive’s Ansar Khan on Commodore, who was told that he had 15 minutes to decide whether he would become a Red Wing:
“My heart rate went from resting to 180,’’ Commodore, 31, said. “It was like, ‘Wow! I wasn’t prepared for that. I sat in my truck, put it in park and thought about it for two minutes. It’s a no-brainer. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to play for this organization. If someone would have told me last year you’d be playing for the Detroit Red Wings I would have laughed at them.’‘
...
“I have something to prove,’’ Commodore said. “It’s been a tough couple of years in Columbus. I’m looking forward to proving myself.’‘
Again, about the Babcock comment…
“It was something I thought about a little bit (before deciding),’’ Commodore said. “That happened a long time ago. It’s water under the bridge. I’d like another opportunity to play for (Babcock). He was a first-year coach in the NHL, I was trying to break into the league. We’ve both come a long ways.’‘
As it turns out, Babcock likes the concept of Commodore playing as the team’s #6 defenseman:
“We had him earmarked for two weeks,’’ Babcock said. “We like his size and he’s physical. He’s a perfect fit for our team. He’ll support his teammates, he’ll work hard on people. If he’s paired with (young) Jakub Kindl, he’ll help him.’‘
Commodore, who played regularly on Carolina’s Stanley-Cup winning team in 2006 and the Flames team that lost to Tampa Bay in the 2004 Cup finals, said he’s excited to play for a talented puck-possession team.
“I’m not a rushing defenseman but can hold my own moving the puck. I look forward to getting the puck to (the forwards), kill penalties, block shots,’’ Commodore said. “That’s one thing Ken and Babs said the Wings needed—someone to be hard to play against.’‘
And here’s what Ken Holland expects of him:
“He’s helped Carolina and Calgary in playoff runs,’’ Holland said. “He’ll work the front of the net to move people out. He’s a good guy on the third pair, got a presence to him. If we put him in the right situation, he’ll play good hockey for us.’‘
Posted by
monkey
from Praha, Česká republika on 07/01/11 at 04:10 PM ET
Babcock will bury the hatchet, in the back of Commodore’s head!!
Every game we can say “what are you waiting for? That thing isn’t going to suck itself.”
Posted by
RWBill
from swimming in the ocean with narwhals. on 07/01/11 at 04:11 PM ET
This signing is genius. It gives us the obligatory ginger that Miller’s signing destroyed when pushing Draper out the door, and with any luck, his facial hair will somehow offset the loss of Paul MacLean’s ‘stache. Genius.
Surely that should’ve been a 2 way? I guess 1 mill is about right, he can’t fight for shit, but he’s not afraid to drop the gloves. It’s not what I expected I must say, but I can’t say i’ve got too many problems with it. Let’s face it we’re going for one big trade, Ian White or Kaberle I would say.
Unless that is, Richards bucks the trend of this year and goes for “classy, talented cup probable team” over “*#$%@& shit tons of money. Then again, that makes him one fifth of Wizniewski’s worth, so that must be truly awful.
Posted by
Jimmy
on 07/01/11 at 04:13 PM ET
i mean, whatever. He’s probably better than Salei at the same cost. I guess there’s some sort of value there. And it’s one season. But man do I hate that guy.
About The Malik Report
The Malik Report is a destination for all things Red Wings-related. I offer biased, perhaps unprofessional-at-times and verbose coverage of my favorite team, their prospects and developmental affiliates. I've joined the Kukla's Korner family with five years of blogging under my belt, and I hope you'll find almost everything you need to follow your Red Wings at a place where all opinions are created equal and we're all friends, talking about hockey and the team we love to follow. | {
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ParthiviParvani (hindi name - full moon)ParveenParveneh (persian name - butterfly)Pascale (french name - passover/easter)Pascha (slavic name - born on easter)Pasha (greek name - born on easter)Pat (greek name - of noble descent)Patia (greek name - intellectually superior)Patience (english name - from the virtue)PatricaPatrice (latin name - of noble descent)Patricia (latin name - of noble descent)PatritsiyaPatsy (latin name)PattiPattiePatty (latin name)Paula (latin name - small)PauleenPaulenePaulettaPaulette (french name - small)Paulina (latin name)Pauline (french name)Pavan (hindi name - breeze)PavlaPavlinaPax (greek name - peace)Paxton (latin name - town of peace)Payton (english name - village of the warrior)Paz (spanish name - peace or gold)PaziaPeacePearl (latin name - gem of the sea)PearlePearlie (latin name - jewel)PearlinePearly (greek name - jewel)Pebbles (american name - small rocks)Peg (greek name - a pearl)Pegeen (celtic name)PeggiePeggotyPeggy (celtic name)Peigi (celtic name - pearl)PelageyaPelagia (greek name - sea)Pelham (english name - town of fur skin)Pembroke (english name - broken hill) | {
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When reports of an ambush upon a diplomatic party led by his son reach the barbarian king, news of his son's death cuts Conan deeper than any blade. Conan's melancholy threatens to tear his kingdom apart at a time when his mighty hand is needed most. Collects King Conan #16-#20. | {
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Wednesday, February 27, 2008
For those of you who think the issue of illegal aliens crossing the border to have their child born an American citizen, check this link to the Dick Powell Theater 1962 movie called “The Price of Tomatoes”.
The only people who think this is a new issue are the politicians, because as Upton Sinclair said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
Saturday, February 23, 2008
According to the Princeton Review a SAT score of the mid to high 500 seems to be the lower range most colleges expect. While the article takes pains to point out that the scores listed in the chart are not “cut off” scores, students with those scores are most likely to be considered.
All tests tend to have three major groupings, a small group with high scores, a large group clumped around the mean, and a group below average.
If the reports are true and education is the key to jobs and financial success in the future, what happens to the large number of people who score below the “minimums” for college admission?
Americans came to expect that most of us could find jobs that paid well enough for us to own our homes, have cars, TVs,and the rest of the possessions of modern life. Many jobs at the low end to the middle of the pay scale are disappearing as manufacturing and the associated support functions move to lower cost locations outside the US. Where do those displaced workers, and the new workers at the same level, find new jobs at similar pay rates?
This matters to you as a business because those are your customers. No job and they don’t buy and it doesn’t matter how inexpensive your product is.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
CNN Money has an article which quotes Barack Obama on small business: “I will provide self-employed small business owners a $500 tax credit to offset their self-employed tax”.
Now how nuts is that, keep a tax but give a rebate! Just eliminate or reduce the tax so you don’t pay the $500 in the first place. Of course the answer is that he really doesn’t want to end the income stream, just make you feel good today. Tomorrow, when he doesn’t need your vote the tax is back.
We think the politicians are nuts because they think we don’t understand and will buy that line of nonsense.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
This article about the government’s wire taping and the telephone company’s and internet provider’s liability for assisting the government.
I don’t have much problem with the government looking at my phone calls or even listing to determine that I’m not doing anything illegal. I do have a problem with them using the information gained that is embarrassing while not illegal. I also have a problem with some government employees having access and the potential for misuse.
We all saw one of then President Clinton’s staffers request confidential files about some Senators and Congressmen from the FBI. It got public and the information was not released, but how much can we trust a process with no check and balances?
What kind of use might former President Richard Nixon or his staff made of this kind of power? What is the potential for misuse by future Presidents or their staff?
Friday, February 8, 2008
I always envied my grandfather for the changes he saw in his lifetime. From the first flight of the Wright brothers to Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.
This presidential election is just as great a leap. From segregation in the 1950 to a serious African American candidate. From the glass ceiling that limited how far in life a woman would be allowed to climb to a serious female candidate for president.
For all those pockets of racism and sexism that still exist, we as a nation are now prepared to judge our presidential candidates “by the content of their character”.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Bill Watkins of Seagate (the hard drive people) said in a article “I think we're going to talk ourselves into a recession (rather) than there's an actual one there. But you talk with IBM or other people in the Valley and they're not seeing world recession.”
What we’ve always know - people get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go to work. They still use all the same things they always did. A recession is all in the mind if people still need all the same stuff they always did.
The only people who should hurt by a recession are the people who are directly loosing money in the stock drop. Everybody else is still producing and consuming. The people hurt indirectly get caught up because the producers panic and stop making the things people still want, so they lay off and now their customers don’t have paychecks to buy with.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
I just read an article at CNN Money.com about the problems of the long term unemployed. This is not new, for those of us who’s jobs disappeared the job market has been bad for years.
It’s the newspapers that are just now recognizing what the politicians started years ago with their policies. The lost jobs are not being replaced with enough jobs at the same pay grade. It’s called the law of unintended consequences. Laws were enacted to make it cost effective to ship jobs out of the country, now pretend to be surprised that there aren’t enough jobs!
I mean pretend because all of us (workers) have seen the truth for years. | {
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100,000+ Purchased…Why Don’t I See Porta-Bote All Over The Place?
Simple…. They’re INVISIBLE! When Porta-Bote is mounted atop a car, it looks just like a surfboard. When on top of an RV (Caravan) you can’t see it at all! When Porta-Bote is out on the water, it looks just like a “non-folding” boat. The only time you can be sure you’re looking at an honest to goodness Porta-Bote is during the short time it takes to open or close one. Once you own one and know “what it’s all about”, it’s easy to identify Porta-Bote. All of a sudden, you notice them “all over the place”. | {
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Give a Bear a Book!
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The Great Reading Divide – 4 Scary Stats to Know
We’re all aware of the large gap between rich and poor in the US and beyond. Sadly, the statistics show this gap has only gotten wider over the last several decades. Which made us wonder (as most things do): what does this mean for literacy?
Consider these troubling stats:
61% of low-income families have no (that’s zero!) age-appropriate books in their homes.
There is just 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children in low-income neighborhoods.
Only 36% of young children in low-income families are read to on a daily basis.
The average child growing up in a low-income family has been exposed to 25 hours of one-on-one reading at home, compared to 1,000–1,700 hours for middle income families.
And with 45 percent of children in the United States living in low-income households, these are some pretty grim findings. It’s because of statistics like these that we at Book Bears made the decision before launching our business that we wanted to give back in some way. So for every new subscriber to our service, we’re donating one picture book to benefit children in need. It’s a small thing, but as believers in the transformative power of reading we know that even one book can make an impact if it reaches the right child.
We are humbled by the work that some important charities are doing to help close the reading gap. First Book is one great example. They have distributed more than 135 million free and low-cost books through schools to thousands of children. Reach Out and Read distributes 6.5 million books per year through pediatric care facilities. Check out this article in Huffpost Parents, which rounds up 10 great organizations. Consider a donation to help fund this great work. | {
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Man charged with shooting with intent to kill; victim was his father
An Edmond man reportedly told law enforcement that if he wanted to shoot his dad he would not have missed. Now the man says he should not be charged with shooting with intent to kill.
The Logan County Sheriff’s Office was sent to 351 W. Charter Oak Road in the morning hours of Feb. 11. about an incident.
In a written statement to a deputy, a man says he went to wake his son to see if he wanted to go to the airport with him. He says his son, Larry Guthrie Jr., told him no and asked where his cat was. At the same time, the dad said Guthrie Jr. reached for a pistol and pointed it at him.
The dad says as he was leaving the bedroom, Guthrie Jr. fired a shot at him, but was not hit.
According to court papers, Guthrie Jr. told investigators he was asleep when his dad came in and asked if he wanted to go to the airport. After saying no, Guthrie Jr. says his dad continued to try and get him up by kicking the bed.
This is when Guthrie Jr. says he pulled a Sig Saur 9mm pistol from under his pillow in an attempt to get his dad to leave him alone. Guthrie Jr. told the investigator that is when he had an accidental discharge from the gun.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Guthrie Jr. said if he wanted to shoot his dad, he would not have missed due to his military training and proficiency with firearms.
Turns out the pistol was reported stolen out of Oklahoma City.
Guthrie Jr., 55, was charged with shooting intent to kill, possession of a firearm after a felony conviction and concealing stolen property.
He reportedly told investigators they may have felonious pointing a firearm and felonious discharge (charges), but not shooting with intent to kill.
Guthrie Jr. was given a $100,000 bond and a court date of Feb. 23 at 9 a.m. | {
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Xbox 1.5 rumoured in Japan
Recently Sony announced the upcoming PS2 upgrade named PSX. Now it is rumoured that the challenger Microsoft Xbox is getting a facelift too.
No technical details of the "Xbox 1.5" is available, but according to the source it would be significantly smaller than the initial version. Indeed the first generation Xbox is quite big, and definitely not very good looking or stylish. As game consoles are turning into media centers and used in peoples’ living rooms, the design issues are more and more important.
Personally I think there is no doubt that the 1.5 will also have technical improvements, since Microsoft can’t afford to lag behind Sony in it’s struggle to grab a significant market share in the gaming industry.
It's been like that since I bought it. Opened up and cleaned it up about a week ago, but it did no good. The fan has to move alot of air to keep the GPU and CPU even moderately cool. Small fan -> high rpm -> noise.
Oh well, thought it might be a good suggestion. Just went to mine turned it on, turned off the speakers, and loaded a DVD and after an hour of play the fan is still inaudible. I am familiar with fan noise since my PC has a CPU fan, a Power source fan, and two case fans. Now that's fan noise.
"Please Read!!! Post your questions only in This Thread or they will go unanswered: | {
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National Geographic Society joins Starving Time water study
Don't drink the waterThe water from wells under Jamestown Fort often smells nasty, as Doug Rowland '12 (left) finds out in sampling sessions with William & Mary geologists Greg Hancock (center) and Jim Kaste. A study of the aquifer has led to a collaboration with university historians and funding support from the National Geographic Foundation.
Photo by Stephen Salpukas
The National Geographic Society has become involved in an
investigation of possible contaminants in the water that the original Jamestown
colonists drank in the early 17th century.
A collaboration of geologists and historians at William
& Mary are investigating the role that the water might have played during
the Starving Time. For the past couple of years, a team of William & Mary
geologists led by Jim Kaste and Greg Hancock has been sampling water from the
same wells inside the Jamestown fort used by the colonists. They’ve found that
the shallow aquifer of Jamestown Island has water that was barely drinkable at
the best of times and at the worst of times, perhaps even toxic.
The investigation is covering the first 20 years following
the 1607 founding of the Jamestown colony, which includes the dark period of
1609-1610 in which the colony almost died out—literally.
The Starving Time began with the breakdown of relations among
Powhatan Indians and the colonists following John Smith’s return to England.
The geologists hypothesize that their drinking water supply, which included water
from the river and from wells in Jamestown Fort, was mainly responsible for the
ill health that characterized the Starving Time. William & Mary historians Jim Whittenburg and Julie
Richter are probing Colonial-era death records to test the hypothesis.
A grant from National Geographic is supporting the collaboration’s
work on the historical mystery, which was named one of the ten top historical
stories of 2011 by History.com. Key to the water-toxicity hypothesis is the
seasonality of the deaths of Jamestown colonists.
“There’s evidence that things were worse in Jamestown than
they were in other settlements nearby. There was something about Jamestown that
caused very high death rates,” Kaste said. The William & Mary group believe
that “something” was something seasonally toxic about the water.
Kaste explained that the aquifer under the Jamestown fort is
vulnerable to infiltration from two sources of pollutants, the James River and
Jamestown Island’s own Pitch and Tar Swamp. Readings from a National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration buoy off Jamestown Island show that the James
River varies widely in salinity, depending on tide, rainfall and other factors.
“The water fluctuates from very fresh to quite salty,” Kaste
said. The salinity ranges from .5 parts per thousand to nearly 12 parts per
thousand. The James doesn’t get as salty as the open ocean, with salinity at
about 35 parts per thousand, but at times the river water gets too salty to
drink.
The geologists
have determined that the James River at Jamestown is at its saltiest in summer,
when salinity climbs to a level of about a third of sea water.
“If you were out on a raft and had to drink that water, you
wouldn’t last too long,” Kaste said.
As the water in river gets saltier, so does water in the
aquifer. The sandy geology of Jamestown Island means that infiltration of salt
from the James into the aquifer happens quickly: Hancock said that the wells
registered the temporary saline influx generated by the storm surge of
Hurricane Sandy.
Whittenburg notes that the Starving Time records from the
Jamestown colony show a spike in deaths that looks like it corresponds to the
seasonal spike in water salinity.
Whittenburg and Richter are poring over records of
Virginia’s Colonial era, up to around 1630. They want to see if the summer
death spike is unique to Jamestown. It’s a challenging bit of research, even
for veteran scholars associated with the NIAHD—the National Institute of
American History and Democracy, a partnership between William & Mary and
Colonial Williamsburg.
“We’ve discovered that the least likely thing to be recorded
about the deaths of these people is the month in which they died,” Whittenburg
said. Most of the records he’s examined list the deceased according to a “dead
by” date, a common practice to accommodate legal requirements.
He said as the historians go forward in their
record search, they’ll try to extrapolate from the “dead by” dates. Richter is
attempting to add context to the death records by combing texts relating to
early Jamestown for any first-hand observations of death, disease and the water
supply. | {
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I seem to remember the moral dilemma question about what to charge the man who only steals food for his children. All this woman did was lie about her drug history, which renders her morally equivalent to most politicians.
2. This is kind of true if you mean that anybody who writes for television or movies dares to believe something outside the realm of acceptable opinion on Fox News. Apparently, regardless of what any of us think is right or wrong, we should only write and produce art that conforms to one overriding goal: not offending people who capitalize on being offended.
Climate change is only controversial within the balloon of Fox and the right in America. Making a movie that touches upon our fears of the future is hardly controversial itself. Fear is one of the best topics for a film, even if it’s a fear that apes will rule the world while battling psychic mutants.
3. Can we just accept that politicians who have to run from the press should be chased faster? Mitt, you’re not going to be able to tap into the rightwing distrust of all non-rightwing media when you take on the rightwing media. Going apeshit on journalists trying to get close to Romney only exonerates the media for its supposed sins.
4. The Newt Comedy Tour primer. But what interested me was item #13, which shows Newt Gingrich repeatedly supporting the individual mandate as a conservative alternative to horrible things like Medicare for all. Every day it becomes clear that Republicans really have few core principles that they won’t betray the second Obama supports them. Obama started with compromises, Republicans started with, “Go back to Kenya with your anti-colonialist atheist Muslim communistic destruction of all that makes America dear, Barry Soetero!” The mandate always was a non-issue, the issue is hating Barack Obama, and Newt’s candidacy is rising because Republicans believe him when he vocalizes that hatred.
If Republicans want to run Newt, I say good for everybody. Because you couldn’t ask for a better representative for who the Republican Party really is and has been since Newt became Speaker in 1994. Strip away the folksy dunces like Dubya and you get the prep school dullards like Newt who turn their rejection into political resentment. They’re generally unlikable, and confuse arrogance for confidence. And they’re easy to deflate in online debate;) Newt’s biggest weakness on the way to the nomination is the fact that he’s also said enough to make any Republican hate him. But who could be the anti-Newt? Are they finally looking at Huntsman?
5. The more Republicans blather about Reagan (and unflattering themselves by comparison), they make us look back to the actual record of Reagan’s presidency, and it wasn’t good. Reagan’s single greatest accomplishment, it seems, was to make Republicans feel good about themselves. His attempts to play chess in the carnage of South America are so applauded that no manner of law-breaking displeased the forever loyal GOP base. The clear evidence that Reagan was increasingly a minor player in his own administration gave Republicans the model of the spokesman president who winks at America while the realpolitikers operate underground. This culminated in the disastrous two terms of George W. Bush. Reagan’s belief system broke in September 2008, and we’re just seeing the scattered pieces on television.
I’m a very rich person. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I’ve started or helped get off the ground dozens of companies in industries including manufacturing, retail, medical services, the Internet and software. I founded the Internet media company aQuantive Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft Corp. in 2007 for $6.4 billion. I was also the first non-family investor in Amazon.com Inc.
Even so, I’ve never been a “job creator.” I can start a business based on a great idea, and initially hire dozens or hundreds of people. But if no one can afford to buy what I have to sell, my business will soon fail and all those jobs will evaporate.
That’s why I can say with confidence that rich people don’t create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is the feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion a virtuous cycle that allows companies to survive and thrive and business owners to hire. An ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than I ever have been or ever will be.
This has become forgotten in the American collective, overwhelmed by Republicans chirping, “Job creators!” incessantly. Supply-side economics ends with low demand. People earning checks and spending their money on life’s basics with a few luxuries is the lifeblood of an economy. Giving money to billionaires competing for some damn list in a magazine for highest-stacked pile of cash isn’t quite as productive.
-hw
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2 Responses to “An expulsion of tabs, gas.”
To be a Republican & Christian, one must deny global warming, make the rich richer, the poor, poorer, the adulterers (Cain, Gingrich) the most respected. If we continue to get this stupid and regress, The Planet of the Apes will be more than a Hollywood movie. | {
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Should We Start Profiling White Men?
CNN's Don Lemon discusses the possibility of profiling white men in an attempt to prevent gun violence and decrease the amount of mass shootings. Lemon argues that white males between the ages of 18 and 25 were behind nearly all recent mass killings.
LOL. But blacks (14% of the population) are responsible for 75% of all gun murders, gun crimes, and murder in general. SO......if we simply made gun possession by blacks illegal we could reduce murder by 75%.
LOL. But blacks (14% of the population) are responsible for 75% of all gun murders, gun crimes, and murder in general. SO......if we simply made gun possession by blacks illegal we could reduce murder by 75%.
LOL. But blacks (14% of the population) are responsible for 75% of all gun murders, gun crimes, and murder in general. SO......if we simply made gun possession by blacks illegal we could reduce murder by 75%.
LOL. But blacks (14% of the population) are responsible for 75% of all gun murders, gun crimes, and murder in general. SO......if we simply made gun possession by blacks illegal we could reduce murder by 75%.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 29856998
Btw, I have no problem believing this but can you give me a good reference link?
LOL. But blacks (14% of the population) are responsible for 75% of all gun murders, gun crimes, and murder in general. SO......if we simply made gun possession by blacks illegal we could reduce murder by 75%.
CNN's Don Lemon discusses the possibility of profiling white men in an attempt to prevent gun violence and decrease the amount of mass shootings. Lemon argues that white males between the ages of 18 and 25 were behind nearly all recent mass killings.
LOL. But blacks (14% of the population) are responsible for 75% of all gun murders, gun crimes, and murder in general. SO......if we simply made gun possession by blacks illegal we could reduce murder by 75%.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 29856998
True dat!
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 30367008
By CNN's Don Lemon logic, all blackmen need to be locked away until they are 79 years old
What color are the catholic priests that molest little boys? Serial killers? The starters of wars?
Yep, white folks.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1404545
This is blatantly false.
Why don't you do some freaking research before spouting off such nonsense. Blacks are certainly not immune from perpetrating any of these acts. All you have to do is search for the information and it'll be there right under your nose.
The pawns are in place, the stage is set. The question is, are you ready?
Righteous anger and Zeal does not equate to hate,pride or arrogance and are fully justified.
Soon, all the slaves will be released, for the Jubilee approaches.
Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands. Isaiah 42:12
And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. Genesis 35:11 America(Maneesah), Britain(Ephraim) and the Prophesied Common-Wealth(Company of nations) | {
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Facebook Marketing
Facebook is the giant of social media. It has more than 1 billion active users every day with around 20 minutes spent on the site during each visit. In the United States alone, one in every five page views is on Facebook.
This gives your business the opportunity to reach a very diverse audience with a single post and create ads that will forward traffic directly to your webpage. Facebook offers a place to share cover photos, detailed information about your business, personal stories and testimonials that can boost your brand’s profile, business information including address and phone number. The social media platform also actively encourages starting a dialog with your customer base, which helps build customer loyalty.
All of this is why Facebook has astonishing marketing potential that you can use to promote your business. Now only that, but a well-developed and thought out Facebook page which develops a strong following, will help grow your company’s organic ranking on Google.
Social and Brand Signals
Google uses several factors when determining the organic ranking for your website. Several of them are directly connected with the traffic on your Facebook page including likes and shares.
Shares of your Facebook posts can have a strong influence on your organic ranking when search engines interpret those social signals as a positive engagement with your target audience. In addition, the more your post is shared, the more likely it is that people will click through to your website to find out more about your products.
Likes on your posts are another factor considered by Google, although to a lesser degree. However, who likes your pages or shares your posts can play a role in how much it will affect your organic ranking. For example, shares and likes from other popular Facebook pages can help to boost your ranking.
Google also looks for brand signals when calculating organic rankings. This means it takes into consideration the pages that are trending as a result of likes on their Facebook page.
Engage Your Customer
Facebook can also help improve your organic ranking indirectly, as it is an ideal platform to build brand loyalty and reputation. This will create more engagement from your visitors and increase the number of shares both within Facebook itself, and on other blogs and pages.
Facebook gives you the perfect opportunity to use interesting and informational posts with call to action buttons to get established as an authority on a particular subject matter. These posts may then be referred to in other articles and blog posts, sending more visitors to your site and boosting your back-link score. This kind of sharing is one of the most important factors in increasing your Google ranking.
But often business owners find they are in the business of running their business and may not have time to create and post engaging content. That's where our expert team of social media marketers can help build your social media optimization and create campaigns that improve your engagement with your target audience, improve social interaction and increase ROI.
At Infront Webworks, we have the knowledge and experience to make sure that your business makes the most of social media marketing. Contact us today and will we work with you on a strategy for your Facebook page that will bring in more traffic and potential customers. This will boost your Google ranking, expand your social media presence and soon translate into an increase to your bottom line.
"SEO" is hands down one of the most competitive keywords to get search placement on and likely most visitors to this page originated from one of our many number 1 ranked SEO related keywords. Do you want to work with the company on page 2? | {
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I have been using the database plugin for IDEA to work on PostgreSQL and SQL Server databases. Overall I like it, but would love to see a stand alone database tool like 0xDBE. One thing I would like to see in 0XDBE is that it will work with a live database schema as well as SQL scripts added to a project. I often use the file name search and search within a file to find where my tables are used and where my procedures are being called from. I would also like to do this same search via the GUI against the live schema. I want to choose when to search the file system vs the live schema. | {
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POCKETBOOK: Week ending Jan. 26, 2018
Personal income up and so is spending
Funny thing about our money habits—the more we get the more we tend to spend. When it comes to income, in December personal income rose 0.4 percent and in all of 2017 rose 3.1%, according to the Department of Commerce.
It’s hard to deny that there’s a bit of a rush in having more money thanks to an increase in salary, take-home pay or an unexpected bonus check. For many, the answer to “What to do with the extra moola?” takes less than a nano-second to decide: Spend it.
Spending, lest you forget, is one of the big slight-of-hand strategies that may come with double-edged feelings: A gain on the one hand when received and the feeling of loss on the other after spent/redistributed.
But feelings are one thing and data another. In December, for instance, the savings rate hit a 12- year low and dropped to 2.4 percent—the lowest since September 2005.
What’s troubling about that low savings part is this: Are folks hitting their savings accounts because of holiday spending and believing that the New Year would be hugely financially rewarding and as such they will be able to replenish their savings accounts? Or, are they tapping their accounts because their paychecks still aren’t enough to cover life/monthly expenses?
I’m inclined to go with the second and root for a national minimum wage for everyone to $25 bucks an hour. That’s doable, you know, and oh what a difference that would make to our lives and for the economy.
Market Quick Glance
New “up a lot” highs were recorded for all the indices followed here last week: Three on Friday and one, the Russell 2000, at the close of business on Wednesday, January 24.
Overhead: Two women were having lunch at a trendy restaurant and talking stocks when one asked the other how much higher she thought the stock market would go expecting a definite answer.
Her friend answered, “I don’t know but it’s gotta fall some time.”
“Well I know that,” the woman snipped back disappointed by her friend’s answer.
To which the friend replied: “That’s all there is to know.”
Smart friend.
Below are the weekly and 1-year index performance results for four major indices— including the dates each reached new highs—according to CNBC.com based on prices at the close of business on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018.
–DJIA +7.28% YTD up a lot from last week’s 5.47%
1 yr Rtn +32.42% up from last week’s 32.12%
Another new high for the DJIA was reached on January 26, 2018 of 26,616.71. The previous high reached January 18, 2018 was 26,153.42.
-S&P 500 +7.45% YTD up a lot from last week’s 5.11%
1 yr Rtn +25.09% up from last week’s 24.15%
A new high for the S&P 500 Index was reached on January 26, 2018 of 2,872.87. The previous high was reached on January 19, 2018 of 2810.33.
-NASDAQ +8.73 YTD up a lot from last week’s 6.27%
1yr Rtn +32.72% up a pinch from last week’s 32.42%
Nasdaq hit another new all-time high of 7,505.77 on January 26, 2018. The previous high was reached on January 19, 2018 of 7,336.38.
-Russell 2000 4.72%YTD up from last week’s 4.05%
1yr Rtn +16.90% down a pinch from last week’s +16.97%
The Russell 2000 reached a new all-time high on January 24, of 1,615.52. The previous high was reached on January 16, 2018 of 1,604.02.
-Mutual funds
Higher returns, again.
On Thursday, January 24, 2018, the year-to-date average cumulative total reinvested returns for equity funds that fall under the broad U.S. Diversified Equity Funds heading was 5.32 %, according to Lipper. That’s up a heap from the 3.87% return posted one week earlier.
The three fund types that enjoyed the greatest year-to-date increase in 2018 under the U.S. Diversified Equity Funds broad heading were the same three from the previous week. Here’s a look at the changes in each:
-Equity Leverage Funds, +12.08% —last week +8.37 %.
-Large-Cap Growth Funds, +8.00%—last week +6.06%
-Multi-Cap Growth Funds, +7.47%—last week +5.59%
Visit www.allaboutfunds.com for more information about how various equity and fixed-income funds have rewarded investors over the short-and long-term, based upon Lipper data. Short-term meaning weekly and monthly performance returns; longer-term includes quarterly, year-to-date, 1-yr, 2-yr, 3-yr and 5-yr returns.
Consider a stop-loss
There’s a number of questions investors need to ask themselves before buying any stock. Some include: Why have I decided to purchase this company’s stock, at what price, what kind of return do I expect, how long do I plan on holding the stock, and at what price will I sell it?
Knowing the answers to each is all great and logical but logic isn’t necessarlity at home on Wall Street.
Given that fact, when it comes to the ups and downs of investing in stocks, one way to protect yourself when the market turns south is to use a stop-loss.
From investopedia.com:”A stop–loss order is an order placed with a broker to sell a security when it reaches a certain price. Stop loss orders are designed to limit an investor’s loss on a position in a security.”
The market is not going to go up forever. At some point in time a correction is going to come along and if you don’t want to stomach seeing your stocks plunge say 15, 20, 25% or more, consider utilizing a stop-loss strategy. It may be the smartest investment move you make.
Like always, there is a down side as no one ever knows how low a stock price can go, when the fall will happen or how long it will take for that stock price to recover. | {
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30frames
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Let’s talk about references in music videos. Yes, again. But I don’t wanna delve into who copied whom or how the new Gaga clip is either aping a variety pack of science fiction films or maybe just the opening credits of Tom Cruise’s Legend. Anyone who actually makes music videos getting worked up about this stuff is either lying to themselves that they haven’t ever included reference images and ideas in a treatment or they’ve never really made a music video.
I am interested in WHY this conversation about references and who is ‘stealing’ ideas seems to be coming up more and more in 2011 than it has in the past. It does seem to get mentioned a lot these days, or am I tripping off my Tigerblood again? Discuss.
Anyway, the recent examples of Rihanna, Kanye and Gaga are what prompted this noodling. Maybe the internet makes video directors - who have always borrowed from others - more open to criticism. The rise of commenting on the 'Net is certainly a small part of this. No one was whinging that Fincher had copied from Fritz Lang back when Express Yourself came out – mostly because there was no place to do said whinging.
A bigger factor in my mind is that record labels are now asking for videos that look like specific references. It seems clear to me that IDJ wanted a LaChapelle day-glo bondage kind of concept for the Rihanna track. Why wouldn’t they? The song practically begs for it with a peppy beat and the tile being ‘S&M.’ Joseph Kahn’s Tweetage about how the label on some un-named job was asking for exact photo reference ‘guidelines’ further convinces me that the powers that be on that Rihanna job are at least as responsible (if not more) as the director for the law-suit threatened state they are in.
Most music video briefs to directors, however, do not come with a pre-made visual direction from the label. What the labels usually want is for the director is to create a concept and provide a sheaf of visual references – photos, Youtube clips, whatever – that will show them what the finished clip will look like. In order to win many jobs, the prospective video director in 2011 has to pull dozens of images that illustrate everything from the locations, the wardrobe, the lighting, the hotness of the hoochies, and so on.
Even with all that, I have still had conversations where the label is looking at a reference picture in a treatment and they’re confused that there is a blonde model in an image when the artist for the job in question is a brunette. “Yeah, well that picture, as you can see with the words across the bottom, is a lighting reference, the video we’re gonna make will have your artist in there, not a blonde Czech model.” I usually have to bite my tongue to not add – "and you’ll be able to hear the song and the image will move" and other snarky, ‘won’t get hired’ kind of things. I usually don’t say that stuff out loud. Usually.
In this bidding environment it is dead obvious to every director that while a reference picture is good, ten reference pictures are better. And a commercial/video clip with the soundtrack replaced by the song they’re writing on is even betterer. Even more than when labels were spending $600k on a video – they now want to see exactly what the finished clip will look like before they sign off. Not on every job but on many - the more a director can say ‘the video will look like THIS’ the more likely it is he will actually have a video to direct.They don't just wants hints or elements, they'd rather see the whole thing before they buy.
My guess is that music video budgets are ever tighter so the risk is higher for the label and they want to ‘know’ what they’re getting before they write a contract. Hollywood does this with many films being ‘inspired’ by other movies, video games, theme park rides and the art-work on breakfast cereal boxes. Somehow, having pages of reference images pulled from magazines and gathered off Flickr makes this whole MV game seem less risky. However, a completely fresh idea that no one has truly ever thought of before is unlikely to have any cool, high-quality images depicting it. Even in Italian Vogue.
This batch of ‘that video director stole from XYZ’ conversations is happening not because the director is lazy, it’s because they won’t win the job without it. | {
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Forrige
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$3.59
Dark Matter
Action, Casual, Indie - Udgivet: 27. feb 2015
Embark on 30 various intergalactic missions in Campaign mode or opt to survive an endless attack in Challenge mode. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
I have got to say that onec you have one you will become hooked, the secret to surface lure fishing is to cast out the lure and let all the rings from the splash settle before you retreive the lure, then make it a stop and start retreive and once you feel the weight of the fish and only when you feel the weight of the fish should you strike.Pike are really crap at hitting lures on the surface so dont worry if you dont get a hook up from a take, they probably missed the lure altogether I find the best times for surface fishing is after the sun goes down on a sunny day or first thing in the morning as the some comes up | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
The data distribution programs were written by Bill Wyatt and are
well documented. You can find that documentation at <a>tag.
The following notes provide explanation and examples of typical usage.
1. GATHER
The purpose of gather is to collect into a database the set of
data you wish to distribute. Although the gather program is
primarily used to assemble reduced data from a given run, it is
flexible and can also be used for two dimensional data as well as
data from different instruments. Another use, not covered here,
is to cull raw data that cannot be reduced in the standard pipeline.
An example of the most typical gather command, used after an
observing run is:
gather -o gather.db 2001.0324-2001.0411
where o is the output database and a range of directories is given.
In this example, taken from FAST data, the directories are the local
nights of observation and are on the archive disk.
To collect two dimensional data, use the command:
gather -o output.db -X TF.fits 2001.0324-2001.0411
In this example, TF.fits is the suffix of partially processed
FAST files and 2001.0324-2001.0411 are the sub-directories in the
reduction directory.
2. GREPORT
This produces a summary report of the files in gather. When
gather is run, this information is given on the monitor but to
put it into a file run greport:
greport -i gather.db -o date.report
Here i is obviously input and o, output.
3. DISTRIBUTE
Distribute takes the output of gather and puts it on the distribution
disk in specific program directories.
To run distribute for reduced data after the end of a run, type:
distribute -i gather.db -1
To distribute partially processed two dimensional data the command
is:
distribute -i gather.db -2
There are a number of options in distribute: distribute can be run
on only one program, or just calibrations. See Bill Wyatt's documentation
to review the full implementation of distribute.
4. INFORM
This command sends a notice to each of the PIs who own data in the
current distribution set. The notice contains a list of the PI's
data with instructions on how to retrieve it. The permissions are
such on the distribute disk that PIs cannot look at the directories;
they can only copy their data from the inform list. Like distribute,
inform can, if required, send a notice to only one PI.
The typical command for fully reduced, one-dimensional data is:
inform -1 2001.0324-2001.0411
For two-dimensional data it is:
inform -2 2001.0324-2001.0411
5. SUMMARY
To summarize, after reduction of a given run the one-dimensional
distribution commands would look like: | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
You may proceed to the site by clicking here, however some pages might not
work correctly.
LATEST VIDEOS
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Apple Talks Cash, Share Price, at Investor Meeting
Written by: Chris Ciaccia02/27/13 - 2:39 PM EST
Tickers in this article:
AAPL BBRY GOOG HPQ
NEW YORK ( TheStreet) --
Apple (AAPL) held its annual shareholder meeting earlier today, and touched on a variety of hot topics including the company's share price decline and its cash hoard.
CEO Tim Cook, who received a 99.1% approval rating from shareholders, said he and the board are not happy with Apple's share price compared to a few months ago, but reiterated that the iPhone maker is focused on the long term. Apple's share price has tumbled from a high of $705 in September to around $440, a fall of nearly 30%.
He continued to suggest that the lawsuit by Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn is a "silly sideshow", but did note that Apple's actively thinking about returning cash to shareholders. Apple's $137 billion cash hoard has attracted a lot of attention and Cook said Apple is in "very, very active" discussions on what to do with it.
While he didn't touch on any new products (as is the norm), Cook did say that Apple has products coming this year, and hinted that the tech giant may be looking at new categories. Recent rumors have suggested that Apple may announce a smart watch or a television set.
The Apple chief did mention the success of the iPhone and the iPad. Cook said that over 50% of iPad purchasers in countries like China and Brazil were first-time Apple buyers, and he was confident that the "halo-effect" surrounding the iPad would make them repeat Apple customers.
As part of this halo effect, Cook noted that Apple continues to see exceptional growth in China, where Apple generated $24 billion of revenue last year. "This is larger than any technology company in the United States that we're aware of," Cook was quoted as saying by CNBC. He also mentioned that Apple grew $48 billion more than its competitors combined, including Google (GOOG) , Microsoft (MSFT) , Dell (DELL) , HP (HPQ) , BlackBerry (BBRY) and Nokia (NOK) .
There's been a lot of attention paid to Apple's market share in both tablets and phones, and Cook addressed this topic during the meeting. He noted that Google's Android is on a lot of phones, but said that Apple has the lead in tablets, and is very aware of the competition. The CEO added that Apple could "press a button or two" to flood the market with devices, but said that this wouldn't be good for the company. He defined success as not making the most, but rather making the best.
Cook said that Apple's new campus, which is slated to be ready by 2016, will be one enormous building, at 2.8 million square feet. He said he hopes to break ground on the construction later this year.
He did touch on Apple's supply chain, particularly with regard to working conditions. Cook noted that Apple was focused on this area before it became a massive news story, adding that when the company found something wrong, it would report it. He mentioned that over 200,000 people are taking advantage of the college courses Apple has posted, and said that Apple has trained over 1 million workers on rights. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
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Is Sunflower Seed Butter Deserving of All the Hype?
So it’s a surprise that people are swapping the P for an S, making for a SB&J sandwich. We agree, it doesn’t have the same ring to it, but the health benefits of sunflower seed butter might be enough to warrant a spot beside the dynamic peanut butter and jelly duo.
According to Dr. Josh Axe, best-selling author of Eat Dirt, and co-founder of Ancient Nutrition, sunflower seed butter is protein rich, loaded with vitamin E and magnesium, and full of healthy fats.
One serving of organic sunflower seed butter has three grams of protein, keeping you full longer.
“Peanut butter has long been the reigning champion of portable, high-protein pre- and post-gym snacks. But sunflower seed butter can give it a run for its money,” says Dr. Axe. “That’s because each serving of sunflower seed butter has about three grams of protein, a great size for a snack, particularly when paired with carbs.”
The vitamin E content in the butter can help balance cholesterol levels, increase immunity, and even reduce the effects of aging. The magnesium is essential in keeping energy levels high, preventing muscles spasms, fighting constipation, and even helping with a good night’s sleep.
“Thankfully, snacking on sunflower seed butter provides about 15 percent of what your body needs a day—not bad for just one tablespoon!” says Dr. Axe.
Having said that, there’s a catch (there’s always a catch): some pre-made variants have more than what you bargained for – namely, hydrogenated oils and a lot of sugar.
“With peanut allergies highly on the rise many people have switched to sunflower butter,” says Dr. Elizabeth Trattner, Doctor of Chinese and Integrative Medicine. “It is worth making the switch because peanuts are loaded with mold, chemicals and they are also legumes and people with digestive disorders cannot tolerate.” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
PROMISES MADE
This is a time of immense change in the world where we must bear witness to a place worth celebrating. The Village of Macedon is one of those places, and yet the free-standing area is about to be dissolved. Although we know of many who have chosen to do this, there are still some who have doubted the validity of all that is now being presented to us.
At this time in space, we must continue to consider the possibilities of keeping our Village as a self-controlled entity. In one way or another we must measure the worth of not only all that has gone before us, but also the value of all that is currently being promised which may never occur. The blessings of a united group of volunteers, both paid and unpaid have developed a powerful group called Macedon Village Pride. Although we have mastered the need to "cry over spilt milk" some of us are still determined to in some way continue to make a difference.
In all reality there are those who continue to bully their way through to manifest their chosen way, and yet there are some who have enlisted the help of angels unaware to make a difference here. Many of these "volunteers" continue to come forth - adding idea after idea towards the potential of this enriched area of Macedon proper. Some have given of their personal lives to continue this promise - some have stood quietly in the background, holding others to the command of something worth saving.
As we come into this new way to view the old, it is our intent to be a part of all that has gone before us. Although not actual members of the Village proper, we are a part of its genuine welfare and do care deeply that many of those promises made will be diligently kept. It is the historical aspect which now comes into view, and the heritage of those who have continued to live in harmony with their neighbors. It is this harmonic convergence which has brought peace to this little place on the map - this little Village, where peace can continue to triumph. Gathering as peoples of hope, we can manage to master our need to self-divide, and courageously start to define a place where businesses shall be attracted, and the formation of a place of blessed peace where the ultimate goal will be to encourage the community it already is.
We have been blessed by so many things in this little place of continued wealth. We have watched the people come and go as they discern the welfare of their own chosen ways, and we have determined to express openly the power of a united source where many will come to celebrate the value of all that has gone before us. As a Village of Hope, we now define potential. As a community of considerable wealth we are blessed beyond measure when it comes to a place where freedom remains as our chosen word.
We are guaranteed nothing. We are determined to examine these principles that now come before us, and measure by measure we shall demonstrate our ability to make a difference here .Unfortunately all of the changes must be measured by the monies involved. Fortunately,there are some of the volunteers whose "ideas" may go far beyond these principles as they begin to understand what truly is at stake here.
"Consider the lilies of the field - they toil not, neither do they spin and yet Solomon in all his glory was not as blessed as one of these." We have an essence of partnership which currently envelopes this Village of Hope. We have many who will determine its future. May God bless this newly uniting purpose as it "bends the rules of Light" just enough to treasure what we already have, but also the principles involved where MANY will stand up to challenge the impropriety of all that has happened, and many shall come forth with their personal votes to truly define the reality of their common needs. Personally we have treasured the fact that - although not living in this place, we have made considerable friends here, and the value is beyond compare.
Merry Christmas to all who shall benefit from whatever choices are made. As we walk down the road of 2016, may we continue to bear full diligence in everything we say and do here - and may the choices being made continue to reflect the voices of those who will bear the burden of the final outcome. There is still time to evaluate this potential. Currently we are promised "pie in the sky" - - It makes one wonder, doesn't it?
Carol Elaine Deys
PARA-DEYS ACRES | {
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} |
Essays
"I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders." ~ Hebrew Proverb
I have never liked driving. I didn't get my full licence until I was in my early twenties. This is because every time I got on the road I was absolutely terrified. I was terrified mostly of operating something so much larger than than I was, of not being able to anticipate the actions of others, and of going anywhere too fast.
When I got my licence, I thought, okay that's over with, and now I never have drive again. This seems now like the exactly the opposite direction that my thoughts should have been going. My mother advised me (much to my annoyance) that the only way I was going to get over my fear of being on the road is if I got on the road. I'd have to go on the freeway for small stretches at least and I'd have to practice until my reflexes and my understanding of the road got better. I hated every moment of it, but in the end, it did get better. If for nothing else, than for necessity.
I still have days when, if I have to go to a new place, and I'm alone, and it's dark and raining, or I have to find street parking (which is an absolute battle in a city like mine), I'll be nervous. Sometimes that nervousness is debilitating and makes me feel nauseated. Most times, there is no way around it.
Therapists have long encouraged a particular type of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy known as Exposure Therapy. In exposure therapy a patient is exposed to their stressor without the context of danger in order to overcome their anxiety. It is used quite a lot in specific phobias and even in post traumatic stress disorder. The thinking is that once the threat of the stressor is removed, the patient is able to exert some control over their anxiety and through a series of increasing steps, eventually the fear will dissipate. It has had some very cool applications as well.
I have been thinking a lot about this idea of the constant exposure to stimuli that we would rather avoid in real life. Social media and how close the world is now, has made it increasingly difficult to get away. It's a rather romantic notion to be able to start anew somewhere away from all the things that bother us. That's not possible, nor is it, in some respects, wise.
I like to think that being exposed to the things and people we'd rather not deal with is a way of building up emotional immunity. It helps us home in our coping mechanisms so that over time, feeling disembodied, out of control and anxious starts to fade. We start to be able to handle it a little bit better. Running away is often easy and safe. Being present and staying with that discomfort is often difficult and undesirable.
In his book "Antifragile", Nassim Nicolas Taleb coins this concept of anti-fragility. Things that are fragile, often break when exposed to stressors. Things that are resilient often stay the same. Things that are anti-fragile gain from chaos - they get better. While not all things can be classified as chaotic, they certain can feel like it when your internal sense of control is shaken. Exposure then, tests the emotional boundaries that we have and can help us modulate our reactions, helping us to "get better" over time. It appears to be a way of building up your body's immune response on a psychological level.
Last week was a rather difficult week at work. My mother called in me while I was in the midst of a nervous breakdown (not really, but tears weren't far) to ask my how my day was going. I told her that it had been difficult and that I was doing things that were actually legitimately beyond my capability. Being ever the teacher of tough lessons, she said to me, "You know life is difficult. So just deal with it and get it done."
Often, the best ways to face our greatest anxieties (or the small, continuous anxieties that plague our daily lives) is to indeed just deal with them. Head on. In her small, and often tough love way, my mother has taught me this. This lesson has been critical for me to learn to handle my own anxiety around certain things and certain people. Over time, it simply becomes easier to go from "not this again" to "fine. it's happening and I'll deal with it because I know how." Truly, it's just a little better to give yourself some credit in that way. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Splash Text. Not visiable, loads to quick, what's i nit? Here you can see!!
HI guys, in TC3 the new splash screen is quite dark, and I couldn't really make up what's written, here is the following what's in it (some of the strings are NOT edited cuz they are invsible)
Starting App init
Registering resources
Setting up controls
Initializing graphics
Extruding Terrain Web
Calculating Domestic Coefficients
EA-Land Under Construction
Play EA-Land for Free!
Want to know more about EA-Land go to: http://ea-land.ea.com/
Visit our blog at: http://www.ea-land.ea.com/blog
Please sumbit your shots to www.gameblueprints.com
Upload your own custom content!
Setting up personfinder
Finished app init
Join in on the fun
Loading Characters
Setting up objects.
I know this might seem pointless, but here you have the full list of loading up text (when the game is loading)
Stratics is the oldest continually running MMORPG Fansite on the Internet. Founded in 1997 Stratics has served the Ultima Online Community for 18 years. We strive to provide the most complete social experience for Ultima Online players. | {
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} |
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"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Is Your Senior Loved One Hoarding? Understanding Diogenes Syndrome
Diogenes Syndrome Symptoms, Treatment and Causes
If you’ve visited your senior loved one recently, and noticed an overabundance of items around the house, it may be wise not to avoid the subject, or to pretend like everything is A-OK. Excessive stockpiling of seemingly trivial items, often including things as varied as trash or live animals, can be the sign of something in need of attention.
Is your senior loved one hoarding? Do they seem to be collecting an inordinate amount of what most people would consider trash? If so, then they may be suffering from an extremely serious disorder in seniors known as Diogenes Syndrome.
Read on to learn how to recognize Diogenes Syndrome, or hoarding, in your elderly loved one and what to do about it.
What Is Diogenes Syndrome?
Diogenes Syndrome is a disorder characterized by serious self-neglect and hoarding behavior. It is named for the Greek Philosopher Diogenes and is often commonly referred to as senile squalor syndrome. The syndrome is a reaction to stress, and may also be a result of damage to the pre-frontal cortex of the brain.
People with Diogenes Syndrome tend to experience social alienation along with domestic squalor. They may also develop a skin condition due to lack of proper hygiene. Since they tend to avoid others and not seek help, the condition can often go undiagnosed until the poor conditions the individual keeps him or herself in lead to a serious health problem.
How Do I Know If My Loved One Has Diogenes Syndrome?
Hoarding is a definite sign of Diogenes Syndrome, but it is important to distinguish between a senior who has a sentimental attachment to collectibles and is disorganized or messy, and one who is suffering from a serious psychiatric disorder.
The conditions that you will find a senior with Diogenes Syndrome living in are unlivable. They may be living more like a homeless person than the relative you normally recognize. In addition, the sufferer is unlikely to ask for help.
In fact, they are more likely to try to get rid of you than to reach out for assistance, and the more you try to help them, the more agitated they are likely to get.
How Can You Treat Someone With Diogenes Syndrome?
There is no specific surefire treatment for Diogenes Syndrome. However, if you know someone who has it, you should get them into an adult care facility as soon as possible. This is almost always the best thing for someone suffering from senile squalor syndrome.
No matter how much they protest, it is a very bad idea to leave someone suffering with this disorder to their own devices. If you do, the unsanitary conditions they are living in will persist and will likely have a very negative effect on their health.
They may not seek treatment and could become gravely ill or even die. The right adult care facility can make sure that they start to live (and then continue to live) in sanitary conditions, and that their needs are taken care of.
It’s important that the facility that cares for your loved one with this disorder understands this condition and how to care for people who have it. These individuals should be given some measure of isolation and have only one caregiver whom they trust working with them.
They should also be allowed to keep desired possessions within reason, and to make sure that no one but the individual touches those possessions. With the right approach and care, seniors with this malady can live relatively satisfying lives.
Finding a Home for Your Senior Loved One With Diogenes Syndrome
If you’re concerned about how to find a home for a loved one with Diogenes Syndrome, Golden Placements can help. Golden Placements specializes in matching up seniors with the best possible assisted living, adult care or retirement facility – one that will give them the maximum level of autonomy and stimulation while still making sure they get the level of care they need.
If you’re ready to start the search for the ideal senior community for your elderly loved one in the Portland Metro or Northern California area, please contact Golden Placements today and we’ll go right to work to give you and your loved one the peace of mind that you need. | {
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} |
$455,000
Ask about12230 South Eagle Hawk Trail, Parker, CO 80134
Property Description12230 South Eagle Hawk Trail, Parker, CO 80134
Wonderful home in the Prestigious Horse Creek Community. Beautiful Richmond home with lots of charm and room! Enjoy meeting your neighbors from your covered front porch. Open vaulted family room filling the your home with light! Large kitchen for gatherings and easy access to your very large flat yard! First floor study adorned with chalk boards to keep the artists inspired! Gracious master suite with 5 piece master bathroom and ample size walk-in closet. 3 additional spacious bedrooms as well as the upstairs laundry! 2 Furnaces & 2 A/C units for efficient heating and cooling. Pool Community with huge athletic field and volleyball! Whole house carbon water filter! 9/1/16 - Buyer - walked because they could not sell their house.
The content relating to real estate for sale in this Web site comes in part from the Internet Data eXchange (IDX) program of METROLIST, INC., DBA RECOLORADO®. Real estate listings held by brokers other than RE/MAX Alliance are marked with the IDX Logo. This information is being provided for the consumers’ personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any other purpose. All information subject to change and should be independently verified. [more]
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Nobody in the world sells more homes than RE/MAX. Nobody in Colorado's Front Range sells more homes than RE/MAX Alliance. Thanks for reading the bottom of the page! Don't forget, if you ever need to talk to us, we're a phone call, email, tweet, instant message, or smoke signal away. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
podify.hpp
00001 /*00002 This file is part of GraphLab.00003 00004 GraphLab is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify00005 it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as 00006 published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of 00007 the License, or (at your option) any later version.00008 00009 GraphLab is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,00010 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of00011 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the00012 GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.00013 00014 You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public 00015 License along with GraphLab. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.00016 */00017
00018 #ifndef PODIFY_HPP00019 #define PODIFY_HPP00020 #include <graphlab/serialization/iarchive.hpp>00021 #include <graphlab/serialization/oarchive.hpp>00022 namespace graphlab {
00023 00024 /**00025 This is a macro which allows you to temporarily define00026 an object as a POD. 00027 for instance if you have a struct that has no save/load00028 function defined, but you want to treat it as a POD.00029 Now you can write:00030 00031 SOmePODStruct s;00032 oarc << PODIFY(s);00033 and00034 iarc >> PODIFY(s);00035 */00036
00037 #define PODIFY(X) (__podify__<typeof(X)>(X))00038 00039 /**00040 This wraps and adds temporary support for serialization00041 of a POD object00042 */00043 template <typename T>
00044class __podify__{
00045 public:
00046
00047 T alt;
00048 const T* ref;
00049 // if created without constructor, assign 00050 // the pointer to the built-in version00051 __podify__():ref(&alt) { }
00052
00053 __podify__(const T &a):ref(&a) { }
00054
00055 operator const T&() const{
00056 return *ref;
00057 }
00058
00059 operator T&() {
00060 return *(const_cast<T*>(ref));
00061 }
00062
00063 void save(oarchive &a) const{
00064 serialize(a, ref, sizeof(T));
00065 }
00066 // unfortunately load will not work 00067 // because we this class is only created as a temporary00068 // we are unable to get a reference to it00069 // so we make the pass by value version below00070 };
00071
00072
00073 template <typename T>
00074 iarchive& operator>>(iarchive& a, __podify__<T> i) {
00075 T* refptr = (const_cast<T*>(i.ref));
00076 deserialize(a, refptr, sizeof(T));
00077 return a;
00078 }
00079
00080 }
00081 #endif00082
Generated on Tue May 17 2011 15:43:54 for GraphLab: A framework for Parallel Machine Learning by
1.7.1 | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
GlassWire 1.2.121 Crack
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"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Alan Garner – Boneland
50 years is a long time to wait for a book. In September 1956, Alan Garner started writing his debut novel, a children’s book set among the landscape and folklore he’d known all his life – Alderley Edge in Cheshire, 12 miles south of Manchester. First published in 1960, The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen followed the adventures of 12 year-old twins, Colin and Susan, on the Edge – “a long-backed hill… high and sombre and black.”
50 years is a long time to wait for a book. In September 1956, Alan Garner started writing his debut novel, a children’s book set among the landscape and folklore he’d known all his life – Alderley Edge in Cheshire, 12 miles south of Manchester. First published in 1960, The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen followed the adventures of 12 year-old twins, Colin and Susan, on the Edge – “a long-backed hill… high and sombre and black.”
The Edge is a potent backdrop for Garner’s stories, littered with burial mounds, abandoned mines, Bronze Age standing stones, wells, caves and hollows. “Colin and Susan roamed up and down the wooded hillside and along the valleys of the Edge, sometimes going where only the tall beech stood, and in such places all was still,” wrote Garner in Brisingamen. “On the ground lay dead leaves, nothing more: no grass or bracken grew; winter seemed to linger there among the grey, green beaches. When the children came out of such a wood it was like coming into a garden from a musty cellar.”
Plucky 1950s kids in peril, Colin and Susan met a wizard, sleeping knights, shape-changing witches and a number of evil creatures dredged up from primal nightmares. It was vivid stuff, its power enhanced by Garner’s very specific depiction of Alderley Edge’s haunting topography. Garner halted Colin and Susan’s story in 1963, with Susan galloping off into the stars with the Wild Hunt at the conclusion to Brisingamen’s sequel, The Moon Of Gomrath. Garner since claimed he was so bored with Colin and Susan that he abandoned the idea of writing a third book, depriving his readers of a natural resolution to the story.
So, here’s Boneland, half a century years on. Those expecting that natural resolution may be confounded that Garner hasn’t followed the easy path back to Alderley Edge. If its two predecessors were children’s books, Boneland is very much written for adults. Colin is now a brilliant astrophysicist, working at Jodrell Bank (the dish of the Lovell Telescope sits close to Garner’s back garden). A psychiatric report tells us that Colin is “an immature uncooperative hysterical depressive Asperger’s, with an IQ off the clock.” The intrepid teenager has become an emotionally crippled, hypersensitive obsessive who can’t remember anything before he was 13 and who spends his days using the Jodrell Bank telescopes to search the Pleiades for his missing sister. At night, he dresses in robes and walks the woods of Alderley Edge, perhaps in imitation of Cadellin, the wizard from Garner’s previous novels. He hears voices, which may belong to his missing sister, talking to him from the stars. He receives counselling from a therapist, Meg, who may be an aspect of the Morrigan, the witch Colin and Susan faced as children.
Boneland is less of a conventional sequel and more a deepening of the story, recasting the narrative in poetic, mythic terms. Alongside Colin in the present day runs a parallel narrative, where an Ice Age shaman uses rituals to keep the stars in the sky and ensure the sun rises every morning. Garner suggests Colin is the latest in a long line of shaman – who include Cadellin – to live here. “Someone has to look after the Edge,” Colin explains. “There always is someone; always has been.” To Garner, Alderley Edge is a place of High Magic, perhaps a boundary between worlds, where preserving rituals must be re-enacted down the centuries. The Arthurian idea of the Sleeping Hero prevails. A network of radio telescopes is ascribed the acronym MERLIN. An epigraph for Boneland quotes from Gawain And The Green Knight: “overgrow with grass in clumps everywhere, And all was hollow within, nothing but an old cave”. This is the entrance to the Green Chapel, wjocj might be Ludchurch cave in Alderley Edge. Garner’s Ice Age shaman lives in a cave, Ludcruck. Time is not necessary linear here.
Garner’s present-day prose is sparse, almost like a film script, the dialogue often oblique, closer to the style of his experimental novels like Red Shift. The Ice Age strand, meanwhile, is symbolic, incantatory: “The Grey Wolf struck the damp earth and ran, higher than the trees, lower than the clouds, and each leap measures a mile; from his feet flint flew, spring spouted, lake surged and mixed with gravel dirt, and birch bent to the ground. Hare crouched, boar bristled, crow called, owl woke, and stag began to bell.”
Although Garner has clearly abandoned the elves and wizards of the previous two books, these are nevertheless strange themes and ideas for an adult’s book. He doesn’t make it easy, either. Ironically, perhaps, Boneland is far closer to Garner’s post-Gomrath books, Strandloper, Thursbitch, Red Shift and The Stone Book Quartet, that explore a connection between man and environment, quantum patterns as they unspool through centuries, and the evocative power of places. A tremendous book, in other words. | {
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Modern Monetary Theory
As Greece staggers under the weight of a depression exceeding that of the 1930s in the US, it appears difficult to see a way forward from what is becoming increasingly a Ponzi financed, extend and pretend, “bailout” scheme. In fact, there…
Newman: "in my own book the explanation starts the cycle with government spending, thus adding to the money supply, and then issuing treasuries for roughly equivalent amount. The bond vigilantes really have it backwards.
Finally, a prominent “mainstreamer” Keynesian gets MMT. Over the past couple of years, Paul Krugman has got close, but he keeps claiming that MMT believes “deficits don’t matter”. He refuses to cite any MMTer who has ever said such a silly…
Here's a very good video on MMT with Stephanie Kelton, the chair of the Economics department at the University of Missouri at Kansas City talking to Lauren Lyster of RT's Capital Account. As you know, despite my Austrian bias and my…
We have reached end-of-paradigm – the final failure of microeconomics masquerading as macro. The solution, the new macro paradigm, requires monetary literacy and numeracy. And this can only be achieved by removing the conceptual blinders by…
Many orthodox economists ironically adopt something close to a “loan pusher” argument: the excess global saving pushed interest rates down, leading to excessive borrowing by debtor nations that consumed beyond their means. Although the…
The problem cannot simply be a problem of current account imbalances—we’ve got them all across the US states. And the US, itself, runs a chronic current account deficit. But the US federal government is sovereign, it issues its own…
My friend Steve Keen recently presented a “primer” on Hyman Minsky. In his piece, Steve criticized the methodology used by Paul Krugman and argued that Krugman could learn a lot from Minsky. In particular Krugman’s equilibrium approach and…
Germany and Papademos have ended Greece’s political sovereignty, but Greece gave up its economic sovereignty long ago when it adopted the euro. Two aspects of national economic sovereignty were inherently lost with nations that gave up…
We (also) do not want black helicopters flying around dropping bags of cash; and we (also) oppose government “pump-priming” demand stimulus—the libertarians and Austrians and even Milton Friedman are correct in their argument that this… | {
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One Man's Experiment in Four Hour Action
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Monthly Archives: December 2013
I crossed a milestone last night though. 80/20 Drummer went live, and woke up to discover $40 and change in my account, mostly from buyers who redeemed pre-order codes. I’m fighting anxiety that no more sales will come, that these were a fluke, etc. I’m tweaking pages like crazy for conversion. Hey – this blog is supposed to let you guys into my world. I’m the guinea pig.
In early November I decided metrics for the site were good enough to justify launch. I had a great deal of fun shooting and editing the first two chapters, and am lucky I gave myself an early deadline, because Final Cut Pro crashed my computer repeatedly, and I had to learn on-the-fly how to free up space on my ancient Mac.
Yes, next year I’ll get a new computer. But part of the fun of this blog is trying to create duplicatable success. And it’s not much fun if I’m like, “yea so you can get a video up on the web for minimal investment. Just $3000 for a new Power Mac and Final Cut.” Nope, so I did it bootstrap.
Got a timely leg-up from a hero, Noah Kagan, who turned me onto gumroad.com for file hosting just when I needed it. Anyway, delays aside, the videos are up now.
And I can finally invite Breaking Ferriss readers to my landing page – http:// … wait – I better give myself some anchor text, for my first link. Learn Drums Online. There. I’ll ask just one thing – please don’t click any of the “buy” buttons. I’m still watching analytics on the Gum Road side to see the disparity between the numbers of people who click “buy” and those that actually do.
So I have two chapters up, and I’m experimenting with pricing for conversion. I’m thinking eventually I may give Chapter One away for free, or sell it very cheaply, to build some rapport and trust with viewers, and to entice them to purchase further chapters.
Wait – you need context.
80/20 Drummer is my first “muse”, a passive income business market-tested for as little money as possible before investing (in my case mostly time) in product development. It’s – well I guess you’ll see what it is when if you check out the site, but suffice-it-to-say I researched the competition very carefully and tried to position it in a space nobody else was really covering. Noah Kagan (of Appsumo, a startup ninja), Dan Maxwell (another “entrepreneur whsiperer”), and of course the titular Mr. Ferriss, all preach the gospel of bootstrapping, and when it comes to product development that means releasing the bare minimum to start earning, as quickly as possible.
IN my case that meant chapters 1 & 2 of an eventual five – offering them both as individual downloads or, for a savings, as a package.
Quickly, here’s what I’ve done so far to help conversion – “conversion” just means the rate of visitors to your site who actually buy.
Redid the design of the page to draw the eye to key components, including using buttons instead of simple links. (Kind of alchemical – we’ll see how well it works.)
Introduced a tiered pricing system, whereby the first chapter is cheaper than following chapters, for good reason. Chapter one is mostly expository, and I want to lower the barrier to entry.
Offered a 3 month money-back guarantee, linking to a description whose analytics I can check to see how important it is to potential buyers.
So What’s Next
Now that the product is launched, I’ll check sales every day for the first week-or-so to see if any additional tweaks in pricing or webpage design (for instance moving the price page to the “third layer” page) will affect conversion.
I’m leaving for Asia next week to realize another lifestyle dream – seeing Hong Kong and revisiting Taiwan. (And in the process doing a scouting/buying trip for Shoe Gogo, Chih-Yu’s fledgling shoe importation vehicle.) Before I take two weeks off playing the drums, I want to at least shoot all the footage I’ll need for Chapter Three. If I weren’t leaving, I would spend the next month flooding Youtube with free drum videos redirecting to my site, since I believe that’s the best single source of traffic. (Music colleagues who asked me for advice on SEO, that’s a big piece of my advice…)
I will do that when I get back. But it’s good that I’m going. It’s pretty optimal the way this fall worked out. My life is starting to resemble a college student’s again. Start a product development experiment at the beginning of the semester, big push before launch, then (hopefully) well-deserved couple of weeks off. Foreign travel is great, too, because there’s nothing quite as immersive. No email on the phone. No daily routine. Little English. Can’t wait.
Anyway, the hour grows late. Would I recommend anyone follow in my footsteps at this point? Not yet. But I feel good with where I am at the close of the year. Much healthier relationship with my day job. Much healthier relationship with music. Much healthier relationship with my family and friends. And having crossed my first product-development finish-line. IN the end, I know 80/20 Drummer won’t make me rich. But the money in my account underscores that entrepreneurship is real – that it’s possible, even for an average joe like me.
Anyway, look forward to writing in the new year. I’ll post a link to my Asia articles when they’re up. | {
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It arrived without warning — a pressure, a dense shadow seeping into my head and my chest. Inspiration, thick and relentless. I tugged at the thread glimmering in the darkness, unraveled the spool. Words came, strand by strand. I could think of nothing else, only the prose-poem woven in the darkness. I repeated the words… | {
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The Greatest Men's World Cup Records Of All Time
The greatest tournament in the greatest sport generates the greatest records. The FIFA World Cup, which dates back to 1930, has no shortage of incredible records. With the 2018 tournament around the corner, we’ve compiled the greatest World Cup records of all time.
Want to know who has scored the most goals in the World Cup, overall, in a single match or a single tournament? Read on.
Want to know who has the most clean sheets or longest scoreless streak in a World Cup? Read on.
Want to know who got the fastest red card or the guy who actually got three yellow cards? Read on.
Greatest World Cup Records
Most Goals By An Individual In Single World Cup
Fontaine, who was born in Marrakech, scored 30 goals in 21 appearances for Les Bleus.
Will Just Fontaine’s World Cup record ever be broken? Photo: @fifaworldcup_es | Twitter
Most Goals By A Team In Single World Cup
27 — Hungary (1954)
The Mighty Magyars lost 3-2 to West Germany in the final after beating the same team 8-3 in the group stage. They also won 9-0 over South Korea, which set a record for most goals conceded (16) in a single tournament. Hungary also set the mark for highest goal difference (+17).
Most Clean Sheets By Goalkeeper
Barthez won a World Cup while Shilton allowed the Hand of God goal to Diego Maradona.
Most Goals Scored In Single Match
5 — Oleg Salenko, Russia (1994)
The Russians won 6-1 over Cameroon in a meaningless group-stage match in California.
Most Goals Conceded In Single Match
10 — Luis Guevara Mora, El Salvador (1982)
Hungary opened its World Cup with a 10-1 win over an El Salvador team that qualified over the U.S. That year, El Salvador took 20 players to the tournament, two fewer than allowed as a cost-cutting measure.
Most Total Goals In Single Match
12 — Austria 7-5 Switzerland (1954)
Austria trailed 3-0 before coming back to win. The 1954 tournament still holds the record for most goals per match (5.38).
Fastest Hat Trick
8 minutes — László Kiss, Hungary (1982)
Kiss scored in the 69th, 72nd and 76th minutes against El Salvador.
Most Penalties Missed
2 — Asamoah Gyan, Ghana
Gyan missed one against the Czech Republic in 2006 and another in the quarterfinals against Uruguay in 2010.
Fastest Goal From Kickoff
10.8 seconds — Hakan Şükür, Turkey (2002)
The goal came against South Korea in the third-place match despite South Korea kicking off.
Fastest Red Card
56 seconds — José Batista, Uruguay (1986)
Batista made a rash challenge on Scotland’s Gordon Strachan but La Celeste held on for a 0-0 draw to reach the knockout rounds.
Fastest Yellow Card
13 seconds — Jesús Gallardo, Mexico (2018)
Gallardo jumped into a Swedish player almost immediately to be booked.
Most Cards
7 — Javier Mascherano, Argentina (2006-2018)
After Mascherano's mark with seven yellows, France's Zinedine Zidane, Brazil's Cafu and Mexico's Rafael Márquez are tied with six. Zidane and Cafu faced off in the 1998 final and the 2006 quarterfinals, Zidane winning both times.
Most Common Matchup
Most Common Final
Including the 2014 final won by Die Mannschaft, the Argentines and West Germans split the 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals.
Most Nations Coached
5 — Bora Milutinović and Carlos Alberto Parreira
Milutinović coached Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, the U.S. in 1994, Nigeria in 1998 and China in 2002. Parreira coached Kuwait in 1982, UAE in 1990, Brazil in 1994 and 2006, Saudi Arabia in 1998 and South Africa in 2010.
Highest Attendance
199,854 — Brazil vs. Uruguay (1950)
The deciding match of the 1950 World Cup broke the hearts of tens of thousands of Brazilians as Uruguay won 2-1 at the Maracanã.
Lowest Attendance
300 — Romania vs. Peru (1930)
The official attendance was 2,459 but it was far lower than that for the opening match of Group 3.
Individual World Cup Records
Longest Scoreless Streak By Goalkeeper
517 minutes — Walter Zenga, Italy (1990)
Zenga recorded five straight clean sheets in this span.
Most Goals Conceded By Goalkeeper
25 — Antonio Carbajal, Mexico; Mohamed Al-Deayaa, Saudi Arabia
To be fair to Carbajal, he appeared in a record five tournaments.
Most Penalties Saved
2 — Jan Tomaszewski, Poland; Brad Friedel, U.S., Iker Casillas, Spain
Tomaszewski (1974) and Friedel (2002) accomplished the feat in a single tournament. | {
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Alcatraz Watch: Episodes 8 & 9 - The Ames Bros. And Sonny Burnett
“Spirituality is for those seeking understanding. Religion is for those seeking reward.” And Alcatraz is for those seeking masochism through fiction. After last week’s pre-emptive NASCAR race, proving FOX is soft on intelligent Monday night programming, the mystery/exercise in futility is back for a two-hour block of schlock. Okay, okay! This is fairly forced badmouthing, as this two-episode combo was probably the best since the first night’s airing. No regrets on the shit talk though. This is “Grade B-“ television through and through.
In order to barely save on wordspace, I’ll briefly cannibalize a recap of the episodes before breaking things down by overall plot arcs and mysteries. It appears Alcatraz will offer absolutely no answers to anything until the finale, or whenever the show officially ceases to exist. This is risky behavior, as the extended built-up anticipation, assuming it still exists, will have nowhere to go but down. In the hole.
”The Ames Brothers” and “Sonny Burnett”
On a dark and stormy night, federal bank robbers Herman (Travis Aaron Wade) and Pinky Ames (Graham Sheilds) conspire with Guard Donovan (Frank Whaley) to duplicate the Warden’s keys and in order to steal the Civil War gold from a room in the prison tunnels. Ray Archer sort of figures things out and the brothers are caught. In the present, the Ames’ and Donovan are back with the same intentions and similar failure, only this time Soto is a hostage and Rebecca ends up killing both brothers. Hauser is also shot. Donovan finds the gold room is empty and is taken away. Good episode with minimal “This is bullshit” moments.
Kidnapper/non-murderer Sonny Burnett (Theo Rossi) takes revenge on Ellen, a former lover/reluctant partner who stole $100,000 in ransom earnings after Burnett was arrested in 1960, ensuring a prison yard stabbing from Boyd Hicks, his hired protection. Prodded by Tiller to become a predator instead of prey, he gains strength and confidence, gouging out his attackers eyes. In the present he kidnaps and murders the woman’s husband and temporarily buries her daughter alive before the police eventually find her and capture Burnett. Another good episode with non-minimal bullshit moments. Theo Rossi is one of my favorite bit players on TV.
What up with you and those keys, Warden?
The Ames brothers copy those Big Keys we’ve seen all season, but they’ve got the wrong door, which was obvious, as the door placement was different from the Big Key Room in an earlier episode. James states the brothers were trying to escape, provoking disbelief from Archer, who assumes they only intended on getting what was inside. The episode ends with James inside the room, uncovering a shitload of gold bars and hammily saying, “Hello ladies.” So what is so special about this room? How would it have led to an escape? Does the time travel happen in there? There were other war items, such as a cannon, whose origin is established, so I don’t think they’re trying to tell us these items jumped forward in time. Were we just supposed to be astonished that the gold of legend was real? I hate when a potentially impactful ending happens and I feel no impact.
As bullheaded as James is, it seems like Tiller would be on his side, but there’s major tension and opposing motivations there. We don’t necessarily need to take James’ threats too seriously, as we know Tiller lived until all this shit started when Jack Sylvane murdered his aged ass. There was that one passing remark about James already having died, but tonight, Hauser asks the shackled Guard Donovan if James is still alive. (He asks him lots of questions that should have been prefaced by, “The audience and I want to know…”) I’m not sure if it’s established that anyone is absolutely certain who else came back, though someone would have to know.
I really don’t think anything on this show is absolutely certain, as the prisoners have come back with and without murderous plans, and both in civilian clothes and prison uniforms, such as tonight’s Burnett, whose I.D. number conveniently leads the Three Bullshiteers to his identity. So is James behind everything? I’m still mostly convinced Dr. Lucy is a major player, with all her dream theories and repressed memories and connection with Hauser. But I’m not sure of anyone’s intentions. If I am sure of anything, it’s that while James is smiling on the outside, he isn’t smiling on the inside.
Tommy Madsen’s Blood and Ray Archer’s… Whatever Ray Archer Has
We finally have some breakthrough, albeit alternative medicine garbage, for the obsession with Madsen’s blood. Dr. Beauregard discovered some ‘63ers have colloidal silver in their blood streams, ridding them of past ailments while helping healing processes in the present, such as all the gunshots wounds Hauser distributes. Hauser hopes the blood will reverse Lucy’s coma, but no one with her blood type has yet been found to contain the silver. It’s worth noting here that the healing aspects of colloidal silver are mythical, though silver itself is a known bacteria killer. Despite this, Alcatraz is trying to tell us something here, and that’s more than we’ve gotten thusfar. Now that Archer is on James’ good side, invited to dinner and all that, Archer may be able to shed his own light on what’s happening. James has a great line reading, commending Archer for his actions, “unless he has any more questions.” The implications were thicker than James’ forehead skin.
Presently, Hauser has Archer under surveillance, correctly assuming he and Madsen have been in touch. Perhaps he should be keeping an eye on the window outside Rebecca’s room, where Madsen creepily watches her sleep. Archer wants Hauser to cease Rebecca’s involvement, but considering she’s related to the one guy not stupid enough to get caught by this ragtag squad, Archer is naïve in thinking her separation is possible. (Seriously, how is Madsen not getting into as much trouble as everyone else?) Did he intentionally get Rebecca’s partner killed, or was that all coincidence? What is so special about Madsen in present time that Hauser avoids researching any other prisoner that may or may not come back? Obviously, his agenda is more personal than for the common good. If he’s willing to blatantly infringe upon Archer’s privacy, that agenda better be important.
It would be a key moment in 2012 Television for Sam Neill and Robert Forster to get into a Dynasty-like argument-turned-cat fight. I’ve got all my fingers crossed for this one. I hope their next meeting is near a pool or park fountain.
The Importance of the ‘63ers and Soto
That’s an awkwardly worded sub-title for these awkwardly presented plot points. The fact that the prisoners are coming back is definitely something Hauser would want to investigate, though again, his motives seem to be on a smaller scale. Considering he works outside usual government boundaries, I’d assume the network that gave us rule-breakers like Dr. House and jack Bauer would give us an Emerson Hauser that would torture and truth serum the shit out of these guys. Instead, he keeps them all locked up in Neo-Alcatraz.
Since Hauser is dead set on keeping the prisoners alive (pun intended), particularly tonight after Burnett’s violent power saw beheading of Ellen’s husband caused others to wish for his immediate demise, I thought they were all kept alive and together in order to somehow reverse whatever brought them there in the first place. (Though Burnett’s survival may have had more to do with Hauser’s hope for his blood curing Lucy.) But Rebecca kills both Ames brothers, one by bullet to the neck and one by a falling metal bedframe, and absolutely nothing was said about it. So they don’t need to be alive. Then why not save some taxpayer money and kill all the shitheads?
Soto gets his ass kicked all over the first episode. He’s hit, held in a cell, hit again when he frees himself, beaten up more, held hostage, and then beaten up one last time. Mostly, it’s because he knows things about the prison that the Ames brothers don’t, so they aren’t intent on killing him initially, though Pinky wants to cut him up with a bolt cutter after Herman dies.
All of that would force anyone as smart as the supposed genius Soto to get the fuck up out of the unpaid bounty hunter lifestyle. I mean, if he shoots someone and kills them, who has to deal with that? Is he just a private citizen? Would Rebecca and Hauser turn up their tails and skulk away? There’s no reason for Soto to ever leave the computer lab anyway. So long as Rebecca has the IPad of Prisoner Files and they can talk by cell phone, his job should be centrally located. What kind of cell reception does “under Alcatraz” get, anyway? I thought Soto’s childhood kidnapping experience would come back to play a role somewhere, but it hasn’t so far. The “he wrote books about Alcatraz” card has been played. I need deeper ties.
So What’s Now?
I think the large number of missing prisoners and guards is still too ambitious. At this rate, even if they figure out the mystery, unless they can actually reverse it, there will still be people popping up all the time. And it’s getting to be like a fight in an action movie when only one bad guy at a time attacks the good guy. How are there not multiple crimes happening all over? Especially when it’s been established that some of them have been back for weeks. Though the episode titles are still given as single people, I would love to see some kind of ensemble gang plot happen. Also, was anyone else confused by the promo for “Clarence Montgomery” repeated from a couple of weeks ago? Alcatraz is trying to keep the black man down.
Highlights and Lowlifes
Soto’s not very clever nicknames for Hauser’s room of nerds: Dandruff Guy (who is now dead), Glasses, The Whistler, and my favorite, Two Shirts.
Soto was able to check on Dandruff Guy’s activities because Hauser wasn’t there. Then Hauser shows up not too long after Rebecca investigates things. How in God’s name did he get there in the middle of a gigantic storm? Points for Rebecca’s phone message to Soto, in which she admits to having nothing else to do with her time. The writers are telling us what we already knew.
“Doc? What am I whispering for? DOC!?!”
It occurred to me that one of the brothers, or Donovan, might have had intentions beyond the gold. But there were several mentions of greed and money and riches, so I don’t think so anymore.
Though we didn’t see much beyond blood splatter from Pinky making that guy saw his pinky off, it was pretty excellent to get a peek at the gory head in a saddlebag. And Burnett gouging Hicks’ eyes, particularly the blood-red chasms it created, was just the right amount of shocking violence that this show does so well.
Herman’s joke during the Warden’s homily was amusing. If Paul was in Alcatraz, there would be no letters to the Galatians, unless they were family. Nyuk nyuk.
Of course Chet can find out how to open an Alcatraz cell from the inside. And I’m pretty sure Chet is getting laid. Why are we so focused on Soto again?
“The brothers are more slippery than two snakes in a butter churn.” My notes say slipperier. Is this what he actually said? Why didn’t anyone refer to the fact that Donovan has super strength, seeing as how a dynamite explosion that propelled him off his feet down the hall had no immediate aftermath? Perhaps we can attribute it to the silver we found out about in the next episode.
“You got confirmation Hauser is human? I’ve known a lot of humans and I gotta say, I don’t see it.”
The whole Burnett/Ellen relationship was plagued with problems, both story-based and morally. She says he kidnapped her after “Does the word ransom mean anything to you?” escaped Rebecca’s mouth. But in fact, she, as a 14-year-old, just helped him out for a few months as he got more kidnappy. They fell in love, but she still reported him to the cops. One might assume that this was because she was a 14-year-old who understood that older guys shouldn’t fall in love with and put all their trust into 14-year-olds. But it was probably just the kidnapping thing. Ellen would be 67 years old with a daughter in her twenties, and there is no fucking way that actress even attempted to appear that old. This is happening pretty often on this show. Why don’t they hire older people?
Beyond all that, the super-duper biggest problem here is when Burnett himself shows up to vaguely threaten Ellen at her home, as the cops are finding her husband’s head. At first, her reaction is disbelieving and believable. But the episode continues without her having a nervous breakdown, or calling outside authorities, or even tabloids, about the fact that a man she knew fifty years previous is almost exactly the same age he was before she was told that he was dead. I have to assume she’s a religious woman for blindly accepting something so impossible. Even a shitty scene where she calls what she thinks is someone in the government, but it’s just Soto disguising his voice, would have made me feel better about Ellen’s place on this Earth.
Of course muscle car tire treads were what led the gang to Burnett’s hideout in the first place, but I actually found it clever when they found Burnett and the daughter using Sat Nav on the limo he was using. This, in turn, made me think Burnett was a moron for using a commercial limo in the first place.
“A chicken can do as many pushups as he wants. The fox is still going to eat it.” Tiller’s best line yet.
Burnett’s declaration, “You’ll never find her,” in reference to the girl he’d just buried alive, was immediately followed by the cops finding her. Something about this was unnecessary. He should have buried her elsewhere and driven to a different location, which is what I thought was going to happen, until he said, “You’ll never find her.” And then I knew. Then I knew.
My apologies for anything I missed or overstated. We can groupthink the next one. | {
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An ideal place to raise a growing family
Beechpark, Leixlip, Co Kildare
Beechpark, a development in the north-east Kildare town of Leixlip, was designed with expanding families in mind: each has an attic that can be transformed into an extra bedroom or den at a later stage; Leixlip GAA is close by; and there is a crèche and Montessori on site.
Beechpark, a development in the north-east Kildare town of Leixlip, was designed with expanding families in mind: each has an attic that can be transformed into an extra bedroom or den at a later stage; Leixlip GAA is close by; and there is a crèche and Montessori on site.
Four homes are still on the market from the final tranche, released in May. Most of the homes in the 15-unit release overlook a large green space to the front and all have south or west-facing gardens to the rear.
Buyers who want the option of extending into the attic to gain extra living space can do so without any major costly structural alterations because the builders have added attic trusses and engineered the roof structure to create soft spots for Velux roof lights and a staircase.
Three of the four houses remaining at Beechpark are four-bed semi-detached properties with 1,426 sq ft of accommodation and starting pricetags of between €395,000 and €400,000.
There is also one five-bed version; it has 1,649 sq ft of space and costs from €435,000.
The development is a few minutes' drive from the M4 motorway at exit six, though commuters who buy at Beechpark can also use the train station at Louisa Bridge to reach Maynooth or Dublin city centre. | {
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Kotoba Academy
Im bad at summaries but I'll try:
Decades from now, another world is brewing, full of monsters and humans. The tell includes the demon boy by the name of Jintan Yadomi. He isn't just any demon... He's a prince. Prince of what? Read and find out.
NOTE: This story probably won't be continued. It may or it might.
View table of contents...
Chapters:
Decades from now, apart from Milky Way, the main galaxy for
earth, among the other galaxies, the world that nobody ever knew,
Aegis had appeared after a decade. Then a few centuries from that
time, cities were formed, even people, actual people, and were
living in that peaceful looking planet. Aegis is the type of
planet, which had been formed by itself in the universe,
sometimes it's peaceful, and sometimes it goes into chaos. In
Aegis, there was a nation called Aeolis Republica. It was a very
huge nation created by Signo, the spirit who had created Aegis,
but it had been split into two boundaries. The boundary on the
right is the humans' territories and the one of the left, is the
monster's territories. Yes, monsters and humans lived together in
one world. Aegis had 60% of the humans and 40% there were the
monsters. Though it wasn't much of a big deal to the humans to
see that there were monsters, it still bothered them and strayed
away from the species. Nevertheless, most humans (and some kids)
liked them because they were fun, and few humans hated them
because there were gruesome and cruel. Even though the humans
found them no harm, it was said by the government that the
monsters must be extremely careful and to take caution when
making contact with the humans, for most of the humans are
willing to kill and vanquish them from the world.
The capital of Aeolis Republica is Leila. It was a large, modern
metropolis where its scenery always looked so beautiful despite
its hard times with the chaos and the disastrous events. Leila is
like 50% America & 50% South Korea (and a hint of Japan) with
all the markets and the routes and the majestic-looking
buildings. There's more to the part. Among the mountains that
were always filled with grass that seems to grow greener every
time you stare at it, up on the centre of the cliff, was a
humongous cherry blossom tree that stood strong and firm despite
being there for almost 300 years. Most people of Aegis called it
the World Tree, while others just called it Ukiyo, which means
"Life". If you looked more closely, you can see that it had the
magic barrier around it, to keep the cherry blossom petals fresh
no matter the weather, and to keep peace and give life.
But, of course, that's not just it.
Kotoba Academy, one of the three main schools, which those also
had been created by Signo, while the rest were created by the
monsters and/or humans, was an academy for the monsters.
Vampires, faeries, trolls, demons, angels, werewolves, and even
mythical beings, attended at that school. But even if it's an
academy for monsters, few humans attended there as well. It's an
academy for magic/combat training for monsters, but besides that,
it had classes, like normal high school classes, the classes
which humans attend. So, It depends how they will manage in
school and out of school. It would either turn into a world of
peace, or turn into a world of chaos. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
[letter from Johnson to Lord Chesterfield]
Reading experience
[letter from Johnson to Lord Chesterfield]
Reading experience
Identifer:
ukred-20803
Evidence
"[Robert Dodsley] then told Dr Adams, that Lord Chesterfield had shewn him the letter [in which Johnson refused his patronage]. ""I should have imagined (replied Dr Adams) that Lord Chesterfield would have concealed it"". ""Poh! (said Dodsley) do you think a letter from Johnson could hurt Lord Chesterfield? Not at all, Sir. It lay upon his table where any body might see it. He read it to me; said, "this man has great powers", pointed out the severest passages, and observed how well they were expressed""."
[letter from Johnson to Lord Chesterfield]
Reading experience
Identifer:
ukred-20803
Evidence
"[Robert Dodsley] then told Dr Adams, that Lord Chesterfield had shewn him the letter [in which Johnson refused his patronage]. ""I should have imagined (replied Dr Adams) that Lord Chesterfield would have concealed it"". ""Poh! (said Dodsley) do you think a letter from Johnson could hurt Lord Chesterfield? Not at all, Sir. It lay upon his table where any body might see it. He read it to me; said, "this man has great powers", pointed out the severest passages, and observed how well they were expressed""." | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
I play video games and review them.
Archive for the tag “steam”
Hala’s wreaking havoc all across the galaxy and only the Guardians can stop her. There’s only one issue, the Guardians broke up. Can Starlord get the gang back together and stop Hala?
Any true Guardians fan knows that the answer to the last question is yes. I’m sure you also remember the death that broke the Guardians up in the last episode. Turns out that the writers didn’t go through with it, but I think that we can all figure that out. I’m not going to give much away but I will tell you that two of the Guardians are miserable. After all they’ve been through; I can’t really blame them. This time, they’re actually upset about events in their life that matter. The final Guardian, Groot, gets his time to shine in a flashback about how the Guardians met.
It’s similar to the movie with a few humorous moments that makes it the Guardians of the Galaxy. That’s what I love about this franchise; the writers know how to blend the perfect amount of darkness and light that makes Guardians of the Galaxy shine. It’s something Batman Forever failed at miserably. You also get a scene where you can listen to Starlord’s awesome music.
The game play is typical of any Telltales game, with you picking dialogue choices for Starlord and, at one point, Groot. During action scenes, you have to press the right key at the right time. Let me tell you, those scenes really sneak up on you.
At one point, you get to assign a task to each Guardian during the final mission to take out Hala.
Rocket came up with the plan, so you can bet that one of these tasks is useless but still funny. There’s another scene where Mantis takes you inside Peter’s head and you can determine Peter’s thoughts and relationships with the other guardians. It’s fun and heartwarming at the same time. When you’re finished, you can compare your choices to those other players made and get a sneak preview of what’s to come in season 2.
This game is addictive and amusing. I give it 8 out of 10, a brilliant finale for Guardians of the Galaxy Season 1.
After making your choice about the Eternity Forge, Hala buries you underground. Meanwhile, the Guardians find themselves at odds about your decision. Can you stop Hala while repairing the damaged relationships among the Guardians of the Galaxy?
I’m sure you remember that decision you had to make in the last episode that I talked about being the strong point of the story. Now be prepared to find out that whatever decision you made doesn’t matter in the slightest. If you destroy the Eternity Forge, Hala sucks up all of its energy and uses it to bring her race back. So all that time you spent mulling over what to do with the Eternity Forge is useless. Even Rocket takes the time to point that out to you, in case you didn’t come to that conclusion yourself. This is what we in the story business like to call lazy writing. To top it all off, everyone’s so busy fighting each other the Guardians forget that the issue is that Hala is out there committing mass murder. Unfortunately, you don’t get a dialogue choice to remind them of this either. Say what you want about the Final Frontier, which is a guilty pleasure for me, but the characters had enough sense to realize that they need to focus on the major problem. Let me explain that, in the movie, Sybok takes over the Enterprise and uses it to cross a deadly barrier to find God, or Sha Ka Ree. Spock talks about how Sha Ka Ree is not real and Kirk tells him that the present issue is a mad man took over his ship and could possibly destroy it in some mad quest. When Final Frontier beats you in a story aspect, you really need to re-think your writing.
The story does have its strong points, such as Drax’s flashback. I have to admit, I’m not really a big fan of Drax. However, his flashback is one of the most well done I’ve seen and it doesn’t take away from the story. It’s a short and yet memorable scene where Drax talks to his daughter before she has to go away for training.
Your choices determine how Drax’s daughter thinks of him. It also leads to scene where Drax makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the Guardians in a scene that’s almost a tearjerker. I have to admit, it took me by surprise. While the scene is sad, the episode is not without its funny moments. Some of the humor can get juvenile and, at one point, the game makes an unnecessary fart joke. However, when a giant worm eats you in a plot point similar to Star Wars, you have to make the decision about whether you want the creature to vomit you out or poop you out. I went with the former and, in this case, I’m glad the writers realized how silly this sounded. One of the aspects of Guardians of the Galaxy is that the writers know when to take the plot seriously and when to embrace the silly. The CW show, Supernatural, also uses this writing technique.
However, this doesn’t mean that you can ignore the story’s weaknesses. In the second paragraph, I talked about how everyone forgets about the threat Hala imposes on the universe. This doesn’t change by the end where, depending on how you handle Drax, people are mad at you. It gets so bad that people leave the group, starting with Mantis who can’t take having to deal with everyone’s extreme emotions. Never mind that the Eternity Forge is her responsibility and still causing havoc around the galaxy because of Hala. Then, depending on whether you let Drax sacrifice himself or not, different people get mad at you and leave the group. They just momentarily forget that Hala is committing mass murder across the galaxy because of what they did. No, it’s all about them; how they can’t cope with all of the drama in their lives. I understand that your main characters need to have flaws and that no one can agree with each other all the time. However, the moment when your heroic group breaks up is not supposed to be when the world or, in this case galaxy, is in serious danger. These characters act like spoiled children who throw a tantrum the minute things don’t go their way.
The game play is typical Telltale with you making dialogue choices for whatever character you currently play. However, your choices make no difference except to determine who stays with you when the Guardians break up. There is one impact in the game about whether you get to have a sandworm companion but that’s about it.
The game comes with its own quick time events that are addictive as always without sneaking up on you. You also get to explore the inside of the giant worm in order to collect engines to fix your ship and talk to the Guardians while you do so.
The game is disappointing yet fun. I give it 6 out of 10; not the best story but still a nice little diversion.
After deleting Sam’s phone, you find another one that belongs to a girl named Laura. Can you discover who is she and help her?
While the premise is the same as the last game, the plot couldn’t be more different. I should tell you that I’m about to give major spoilers to the plot, so proceed with caution. Unlike Sam, Laura is an adult and doesn’t struggle with who she is. However, Laura is not without problems and hers involve her boyfriend, Ben. I’m just going to tell you that Laura’s in an abusive relationship. Ben has her send her GPS coordinates to him regularly. He goes through her phone on a daily basis. He even deleted her birth control reminders off her phone so she’s forget to take her pill. This is just the tip of the iceberg. His worst offense is sending a sexy video Laura made for her ex-boyfriend to her co-workers and putting the blame on her ex-boyfriend. This also leaves Laura open to sexual harassment from her co-workers, none of them believing that she didn’t send this video. Unfortunately, there’s truth in fiction with this situation. During the High School Musical craze, the lead actress, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, faced slut shaming due to someone posting naked pictures of her on the internet. No one considered that she might have taken the photos for her boyfriend and someone posted them without permission, making her the violated party. As in the case of many people in abusive relationships, Laura’s too blinded by love to see what’s going on. Then finds herself craving the moments when Ben’s nice to her, insisting that he can change. However, the game does have unfortunate implications. This time, I’m not just talking about the game play. When Laura attends a seminar for people in abusive relationships, she mentions that everyone at the meeting is a woman. Even now, people fail to see that men can also be the victim in an abusive relationship.
As I said earlier, the game play comes with unfortunate implications. Let me put it this way, it’s another story about respecting someone’s rights as a human being, while violating their rights as a human being. You can see the contradiction. Only, this time, you don’t send messages or post pictures pretending to be Laura. I’ll admit that the game play is intriguing with you having to search through her phone and use deductive reasoning to figure out her passwords. However, you can easily change the plot of how you got the phone to make it less invasive. You could have the story be about Laura reporting Ben to the police for domestic abuse and handing her phone over to a cop to present as evidence. It would erase the issue of violating someone’s privacy and it’s believable.
This game is fun but uncomfortable. I give it 7 out of 10; a great game but needs to be better thought out.
Bigby’s finally solved the murder of Faith and Lilly. Now he only has to bring the Crooked Man to justice.
The last episode ended on a cliffhanger with Bigby meeting the Crooked Man. T
hose of you still interested in finding Faith and Lilly’s killer might be disappointed in the resolution. Thankfully, the game is more about the huge conspiracy in Fabletown than it is about that. Which, if you ask me, is a little more interesting. As for who the killer is, it’s the one the fans most suspect.
Be warned, I have a few more spoilers to discuss. One is about the social commentary on prostitutes at the end. For starters, I should tell you that the one who killed those girls and the one who put their heads on Bigby’s porch are not the same person. The latter is Nerissa, The Little Mermaid, and this is where the social commentary enters. She talks about how the world considers prostitutes like her to be disposable. If one of them dies, people won’t bat an eye. It’s something Nerissa refuses to let happen to her friends, so she stuck their heads in front of Sheriff Bigby’s office to get his attention. This is something that separates Wolf Among Us from other video games. Don’t get me wrong, prostitutes are quite common in adult video games but this is the first time I’ve seen a prostitute treated as a person and not window dressing. Let me explain that, more often than not, prostitutes are what the main character pays for on the side being little more than sexual fantasies. In this game, the prostitutes may be victims but one manages to take an active role. In the second episode, it’s Nerissa who leads Bigby to Crane by insisting he pretends to be a regular customer. In this episode, if you bring the Crooked Man to trial, Nerissa will speak against him by pretending to be a witness.
Truth be told, she wasn’t actually there but she didn’t expect the Crooked Man to remember her and she was right. I’ll admit, Nerissa does dress a bit revealing when on the job and it is partly fanservice. However, remember her profession. When she’s finally free, Nerissa dresses casually.
Personally, I don’t think putting a woman character in revealing attire is sexist. It can be, if done poorly but, if you analyze each of your characters and you feel at least one of them would dress like that, you can pull it off.
The game play is typical of TellTale games. You pick Bigby’s dialogue options, you have to make important choices and you have to press the right button for Quicktime events. In this game, you get to fight Bloody Mary and it is awesome!
Yes, the original Bloody Mary from the urban legend. She can walk through mirrors, make copies of herself and is a real match for Bigby, in his original wolf form. That’s right, Bigby completely wolfed out! You even get to see Bloody Mary in her original unglamoured form and it is terrifying! This is a woman who kills the children playing Bloody Mary in front of a bathroom mirror for kicks. Even the Magic Mirror is afraid of her, I am serious.
As for the Crooked Man, you can either bring him to face judgment or kill him.
Either way, it’s rather anti-climatic. For instance, everyone at the Crooked Man’s trial is against him. Tim claims that people in Fabletown rely on him, yet we see no evidence of that. Speaking of Tim, he is also absent from the Crooked Man’s trial which feels like a major cop out.
As the Crooked Man’s biggest supporter, he could have spoke on his behalf giving Bigby a true challenge rather than only convincing the people who hate him. Speaking of copping out, I discussed Snow’s reasoning to have Toad and Colin sent to the Farm, which I did not approve of. It doesn’t matter if you stick up for Colin or give Toad money, Snow still sends them there. Then again, Toad could have been lying about Snow claiming the money didn’t matter. This is a guy who complains about the cost of glamour and has a sports car parked in front of his home. He probably screwed over himself and TJ, the one I really feel sorry for, and blew the money on expensive watches.
This game is intriguing and a little disappointing. I give it 7 out of 10; good ending yet a few wasted opportunities.
After discovering Crane’s sick pastime, Bigby continues the hunt for Faith’s killer. What he didn’t know is that he’s uncovering a plot that not only involves Faith, but all of Fabletown.
That’s right, there’s a huge conspiracy in Fabletown and it involves the Crooked Man, the same one from the nursery rhyme.
You don’t see him to the end, so I’ll discuss the Crooked Man more in my next review. However, I do want to take a moment to applaud Bill Willingham for his creativity. For those of you who haven’t picked up any Fables comic books, it has a similar premise as Once Upon A Time. Many people call the latter a rip-off of the former, but Bill Willingham himself said that’s not the case. I will admit that I feel Once Upon A Time has the easier job with adding new characters. That show is on ABC, which Disney owns, and believe me when I tell you that Once Upon A Time takes advantage of this. Bill Willingham does not have the Disney Company to fall back on, so he must improvise with characters from poems and nursery rhymes. Which is why Georgie Porgie is a pimp, Bloody Mary is a gleeful murderer for hire and the Butcher runs a shop near the Baker and the Candlestick Maker.
I am not kidding about that last one. You have to admit, for a man who doesn’t have Disney to fall back on; Bill Willingham is very creative with what he does have. I do remember King Louie in the comics, who many people know originates from the Jungle Book Disney movie and had no role in the original book. I actually took the time to research that, and I could find no record of Bill Willingham facing copyright trials for it. However, I did come across a statement from the author saying that you need to do proper research before you publish.
I should tell you that Bill Willingham is conservative and, while I don’t agree with his views, I do enjoy his writing. He himself admits that he never intended for Fables to be a mouthpiece for his political agenda. All he wanted was to tell a story about fairy tale characters living in the modern day. His views accidentally popped in as he wrote, which is something that happens to me as well. This story is no exception and, I should warn you, I will give away spoilers as I write. So skip the next paragraphs if you haven’t played the game and wish to go in fresh.
One of the Crooked Man’s operations is at the Butcher Shop Bigby visits and he’s been enslaving Fables to make cheap glamour. For those of you who don’t know, glamour is a magical substance used on animal fables to make them appear human. It’s rather expensive due to being difficult to mass-produce and the animals that can’t afford it must live at the farm. Bigby makes a statement about how people are so desperate get stuff cheap, they’ll do anything without realizing the cost of it, which I rather agree with. However, I do not agree with how Fabletown treats their animal citizens. I understand that the citizens must lay low, but that doesn’t make it right. The first act Snow White enforces when she takes Crane’s place is that all Fable animals must go to the farm. Something both Colin and Toad take issue with because the city is their home.
Even in the comics, the animals call it a prison sentence because the government won’t let them leave. In fact, the Fables go as far as to appoint a human to control the farm. Is it any surprise to see many people choose not to send Colin and Toad to the Farm? However, that doesn’t do them any good. Another thing I will talk about in my next review.
As for what the Crooked Man has on the Fables, I never discussed Faith’s situation in previous reviews. She is the princess from Donkeyskin married to Lawrence in the original Kingdom. When the Adversary took over, Faith and Lawrence were a couple of the lucky, or unlucky, people able to escape. In the fairy tale world, Lawrence is Faith’s Prince Charming, able to rescue her from her father and give her a comfortable life. In our world, he can barely hold down a job forcing Faith to prostitute herself so she can support them both. Nerissa, the original Little Mermaid, is in a similar boat, as she must prostitute herself to survive.
Then there are Fables such as Beauty and Beast who live comfortably by our standards yet have expensive tastes.
This leads them both to be indebted to the Crooked Man similar to how Corrine found herself indebted in Flowers in the Attic and resorted to cruel measures to keep the life that she’s accustomed to having. While Beauty and Beast haven’t done anything that drastic, they both have expensive taste and they’ve paid for it. Playing as Bigby, you are free to call them out on this, which I’m sure many people will. I don’t know about you but, after seeing how Fables such as Faith and Nerissa live, it’s rather hard for me to sympathize with Beauty and Beast.
Speaking of Fables who have it worse, Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol is in this game. He’s all grown up and still handicapped as the mundies remember him. Let me explain that, in the world of Fables, the character’s strength is dependent on the memories of the mundies. This makes some Fables invulnerable and others as weak as any normal human, called mundies in this franchise. In the case of Tiny Tim, while the mundies remember him, they see him as the handicapped child in A Christmas Carol partly responsible for Scrooge’s redemption. It’s speculated that this is why Tim will always be handicap and there’s no cure for his condition. Either that, or there is a cure and he can’t afford it. Since the Crooked Man gave Tim a job, he speaks in favor of him. However, he’s not against the Fabletown government. When talking to Bigby, he claims that Fabletown needs both the Crooked Man and the government to survive but a war is the last thing the town needs. While Tim does not agree with everything his boss does, he points out that Bigby doesn’t agree with everything Crane does either. I loved this interaction because it talks about the shades of grey underlining what seems black and white.
The game has other character interactions that make it worth playing, and even show former enemies becoming friends. Colin, for instance, is one of the original three little pigs and he sleeps in Bigby’s apartment. If you haven’t figured it out, Bigby is the Big Bad Wolf who tried to eat them. Yet Colin regularly visits Bigby with no fear and even sticks up for him.
Another interesting case is The Woodsman from Red Riding Hood, the first suspect in the murder of Faith. At first, the roles changed to Bigby being the one enforcing the law and The Woodsman being the suspected perpetrator. In the first episode, The Woodsman reveals that he originally intended to rob the old woman Bigby ate, but ended up saving them instead. It’s not until you go to the pawnshop and see the Woodsman trying to get his ax back from the Jersey Devil that you team up with him and he encourages you to bring Faith and Lilly’s killer to justice.
The game play is typical of Telltale with you picking various dialogue options for Bigby. Sometimes, you have to make choices that supposedly influence the story, but I haven’t seen any evidence of that yet. You also have to participate in QuickTime events that don’t sneak up on you as badly as they did in Game of Thrones or Guardians of the Galaxy.
This game has an extra feature where you can collect a profile on a Fabletown citizen as you play. Let me warn you that does mean you’ll have to replay a bit of the game if you want to collect them all.
This game is addictive and intriguing. I give it 8 out of 10, an adult take on classic fairy tale characters.
This is the final chapter for the Forrester family. One of the older brothers died in a campaign to free Ironrath from the Whitehill Occupation; forcing the living brother to pick up the pieces. Gared’s found the North Grove, but he’ll have to work extra hard to gain the trust of the inhabitants. Meanwhile, Mira’s scheduled for execution in King’s Landing unless she marries an evil man.
The Ironrath plot goes one of two ways depending on which brother you killed in the last episode. As Rodrick, your goal is to negotiate with the Whitehills to prevent war and save your brother, Ryon. If Asher survives, he must take Rodrick’s place as Lord of Ironrath and convince the Whitehills that the war is not over. Since Asher survived in my play through, I’ll be reviewing that one.
First, I should tell you the terms of Ramsay Snow’s deal. In the last episode, Ramsay told you that the Boltons would stay out of the Whitehill and Forrester conflict. They will resolve this through war and the last house standing wins. Personally, I feel that Roose Bolton would side with the Forresters. No, I don’t mean that he would do so out of the goodness of his heart. Remember, the game points out that the Forresters are the better artisans and take care to chop down the trees they need. The Whitehills, on the other hand, are not only shoddy artisans, but reckless in their endeavors to harvest Ironwood. Roose Bolton may be evil, but he is also practical.
If Asher survives, Ludd Whitehill feels that his house is victorious. However, Asher refuses to bow down to the Whitehills. In this plot, you see a new side of responsibility in Asher as he tries to hold the reins after Rodrick’s death, refusing to let him die in vain. You also see a hint of a romance between Asher and Gwyn, the reason for his exile to Meereen.
Yet, despite his exile, Asher still loves his family as they do in return. Talia is someone you do not want to get on the bad side of. She may be as refined as Sansa, but she shows a spirit similar to Arya. Let me give you a little spoiler, if you choose to poison Ludd Whitehill at dinner, Talia volunteers to pour the wine. Elissa isn’t shy herself because she’ll offer to drink from the glass first to save Asher when Ludd insists Asher take the first drink. However, Gwyn’s character is still lacking in my mind. I get that she needs to side with her family but if the Forresters submitted to the Whitehills, that would just make things worse. Therefore, Asher has to fight with everything he has.
Another spoiler alert, Gared is the only character who will survive no matter what you do. This is ironic, because he’s not a true Forrester. He himself must gain the trust of the inhabitants of the North Grove. As for who they are, let’s just say that Lord Forrester had a few lapses in honor.
However, Gared does face one important decision. In the previous episodes, Cotter’s wounds are fatal. It doesn’t matter if you tended to the wound, he will still die. As Gared, you have to decide how you will end his suffering.
Mira’s plot in King’s Landing is rather strange because, to me, she always felt the least like a Forrester. I get that Mira’s in King’s Landing because Elissa signed her up to be Margeary’s handmaiden. She wanted her eldest daughter to learn to behave like a southern woman. However, she’s never truly interacted with The Forrester family. Yes, I get that would be a little difficult since she’s in a different location. Asher also had the same issue but we get to see him interact with his family and show affection for them. In the case of Mira, all we hear about how much she loves her family is through letters she gets and that her actions at King’s Landing do contribute to Ironrath in small ways. I realize that the Forresters are supposed to be like the Starks, separated through tragedy but still trying to pick up the remains. In the show, we see the Starks interact with each other before tragedy falls, giving us a sense of family and sorrow as they’re torn apart. Since the situation in the game is different, it would’ve been nice to provide some flashbacks to show happy family times, making Mira a true Forrester in my eyes. However, considering what happens to her, I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.
As I said in the first paragraph, Mira has to choose between death and an abusive marriage. Remember that Lord who helps you out in King’s Landing, Morgryn? Well, spoiler alert, he’s evil and wants control of Ironrath through Mira. Let me admit, I accidentally read a spoiler about Mira’s fate in the Game of Thrones Wiki and I knew she would live or die depending on my choice. I’ve grown rather attached to Mira so, at first, I was going to choose marriage.
Then I decided to have her die rather than marry Morgryn and have Tom, the coal boy who helped her, die in her place.
For those of you who don’t know, Telltale’s working on a second season and, considering this outcome, I don’t think we’ll be playing in King’s Landing anymore. This means that the plot will have many unanswered questions, such as why Tom wanted to help Mira in the first place. It’s what TV Tropes would call shoot the shaggy dog. Then again, considering how things usually turn out in Game of Thrones, maybe it’s not that much of a shock.
The game play is typical of TellTale with you picking various dialogue options for the characters you play.
Some choices will have a huge impact on the story and, this time, I actually mean it. During fighting scenes, you have to press the right key at the right time in order to live. At the end of the game, you can compare your choices with that of other players.
Since this is the true final episode, you can watch an epilogue of the Game of Thrones characters talking about each of the Forresters and their thoughts on them. Ramsay talks about Ethan and Rodrik, Margeary talks about Mira, Jon talks about Gared, Daenarys talks about Asher and Cersei gives her opinion of the Forresters as a whole. Let me tell you, it’s beyond awesome.
This game is depressing and yet addictive. I give it 7 out of 10, had me a bit shaken up but I didn’t like the King’s Landing story.
Things are finally ending for the Forrester family as Asher returns to Ironrath with an army. Meanwhile, Mira found the Whitehill’s contact in King’s Landing and Gared gets closer and closer to finding the North Grove. Can Rodrick still manage Ironrath with all this craziness and a traitor?
I’m going to give a slight spoiler for those of you who haven’t played the game. There is a traitor among the Forresters and it all depends on who you picked to be your Sentinel in the first episode. That’s right; the guy who doesn’t get the job throws a tantrum and collaborates with the Whitehills. This just makes me believe that neither one of them can be trusted if they turn on you the minute they don’t get their way. I will give some credit to the writer’s for Talia’s character, since she shows some real moxie in this episode. She tells you about the traitor and recommends killing him. However, if you choose to have Rodrick comfort Eleana in this episode, Talia walks in on the two of you having sex. I have to say, Talia took it pretty well for a highborn girl from a medieval setting. However, she’s not quite as adept with handling Ramsay, not that I blame her. That’s right, Ramsay Snow makes his final appearance in the game and it’s definitely a memorable one. He makes his first appearance at the end of Episode 4 and stays for the beginning of Episode 5 to tell you the good news. You read that right; the terror of the north with no regard for life whatsoever is the one delivering good news. Ramsay is still as terrifying as ever to deal with, but I’m still happy to see him due to having mixed feelings about his character. I am both afraid of and attracted to Ramsay Snow.
Don’t judge me.
Asher’s plot is my favorite, partly due to Daenarys and partly because you get to fight in the pits.
Spoiler alert, Daenarys will not give you any of her Second Sons, but she will give you gold so you can hire your own sellswords. She also offers to have Malcolm work for her, claiming that an alliance with House Targaryen will be beneficial to both families. I said in an earlier review that Asher reminds me of Han Solo and it still shows. Some of the speech options show his own sense of humor and I do like Asher’s dialogue with Beshka. You can also win over the slaves in the fighting pits by either sticking to their rules or showing them a new way.
Since not much happens in Gared’s or Mira’s plots, I’ll have to combine their stories into one paragraph. Gared is still trying to find the North Grove, but he’s come across a slight detour with Cotter and his sister. I’ll admit, I did enjoy hearing Cotter’s back-story and learning that the Free Folk can be every bit as prejudice as the rest of the Game of Thrones world. As for Mira’s story, she’s lost every contact in King’s Landing and things don’t look well for her. This poor girl can’t catch a break. However, I did like her conversation with Tyrion at the end.
The game play is typical of Telltales, with you picking various dialogue options.
You also get to participate in QuickTime events, my favorite being the fighting pits, as I said earlier. As Gared, you also have the opportunity to hunt rabbits. Some choices you make have a huge influence on the story because this is the first episode where you get to decide who lives and who dies. At the end of the episode, you can compare your choices with other players.
This game is addictive and intriguing. I give it 7 out of 10, some of the storylines felt a bit weak.
It’s a time of darkness for the House of Forrester. House Stark has fallen and Ramsay Snow, the illegitimate son of Roose Bolton, sided with the rival house of Whitehill. Can the House of Forrester survive Ramsay Snow and restore themselves to former glory?
This is HBO’s second attempt to enter the gaming world, the first one being The Sopranos video game, which was a failure. Now Telltale attempts to bring Game of Thrones into the gaming world, HBO’s new cash cow. The game starts out at the Red Wedding, which is where, as many Game of Thrones fans know, Rob Stark dies. Since the lord of the Forresters and the main heir perish as well, a child inherits the responsibilities.
Sadly, that’s usually how things went down during the time period the game models itself after. Apparently, boys who haven’t gone through puberty made better rulers than fully-grown women. Though I do like how the game shows that things are changing and how hard it is for Ethan, the new lord, to follow in his father’s footsteps at such a young age when all he wants to do is keep playing with his siblings. Even if his fate is unavoidable which, I admit, almost made me cry. As for what that is, keep in mind that you’re dealing with Ramsay Snow.
For those of you unfamiliar with Game of Thrones, Ramsay Snow is someone who skins people alive in his spare time.
Definitely not someone you want to get on the bad side of.
As I mentioned, Ramsay Snow makes a few appearances throughout the game. Let me tell you, he’s not the only Game of Thrones character who does so. One of the Forresters works as Lady Margaery’s handmaiden, so you can bet that you’ll be seeing much of the Lannisters.
I’ll admit, I knew that characters from Game of Thrones make an appearance but I thought that it would be as cameos. I had no idea that they would be a huge part of the storyline. However, I will say one thing. As scary as Cersei and Ramsay are on the show, having to deal with these people makes them far more intimidating.
The game play is standard Telltale Games. You make choices for each character you play with some of them supposedly having a huge impact on the game.
I’m not sure how big yet, since I’ve only played the first chapter. I’ve already told you that one of the characters has an unavoidable fate, no matter what you do. At some points, you can explore certain places and read the codex for background information. Unlike other Telltales games where you only take control of one character, this one let’s you control different members of the House of Forrester at different times. So far, their situation and personalities seems very similar to the Starks but I’m hoping the game will expand on the Forresters so that they’re more than just Stark copycats. You can even compare your choices with those of the other players though, let me tell you, I’ve found myself restarting the game many times over fear that I’ve made the wrong choices.
This game is intriguing but emotionally overwhelming. I give it 7 out of 10, a promising start for Telltale’s Game of Thrones adaption.
After Mairu finally starts her comedy club, a teen idol visits in order to join. Unfortunately, Chitose doesn’t want that to happen and will stop at nothing to destroy Mairu’s club once and for all. To make a bad situation worse, the president of the Classical Comedy Club has it in for Mairu, and wants to bring her club down.
That’s right; Cherry Tree High Comedy Club got a sequel. This game is unusual in one aspect. You know how, in some reviews, I skip the paragraph that explains the plot of the video game because there’s no plot to be found? This game has no game play to be found. It’s purely visual novel without even letting you choose where to take the story. Contrary to what the summary would have you believe, the main conflict isn’t about Mairu. It’s actually between Ai (the pop star) and Hoemi (Mairu’s best friend). Ai wants to be a comedian and replaces Hoemi as Mairu’s partner in a comedic duo due to having better chemistry with her. Hoemi has no desire to be a comedian but is afraid that Ai will replace Hoemi as Mairu’s best friend. Eventually, it leads to an argument between Hoemi and Ai with neither side being right and neither side being wrong. The game also has side episodes that explore the relationships between the other characters, such as Mai and Ravian trying to find a tutor for school subjects they are both hopeless at. That’s actually much better than it sounds. In other words, this is not a video game. It’s a slice of life anime in visual novel form.
This game is entertaining and amusing. I give it 9 out of 10; definitely worth looking at.
After escaping Carver’s imprisonment, Clementine and the rest of the runaways try to find each other. Can everyone reunite and find another safe haven?
That’s right, episode four of The Walking Dead and boy is it intense. I can’t spoil the game but you have people dying left and right. One of the characters will die no matter what you do. Not to mention that Clementine, the girl who acted as Lee’s morality pet, can commit acts of cruelty in the name of survival. At first, I thought this episode was brilliant until a conversation with lukebbtt led me to discover that most of the characters are only there for Clementine’s growth. There are characters that exist outside of her, such as Kenny who’s completely broken with Rebecca’s baby being his only reason for living. After everything Kenny’s been through, he is not right in the head and it shows by how he’s trying to recreate his family instead of accepting their deaths.
The game play is the same as every other episode. You pick dialogue choices for Clementine. Sometimes, you have to explore the scene and inspect objects to move the plot forward. Other times, you’ll have to make crucial decisions at key moments. One decision was so hard for me that I had to pause the game to think about it. Keep your guard up when the walkers attack, because you’ll have to press the right keys to get out of there alive.
This game is intense and additive. I give it 9 out of 10; I was upset for hours after playing this. | {
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In accordance with Oklahoma State Statutes 36 § 307, this report summarizes the financial disclosure and listing of companies operating in Oklahoma and the activities of the Oklahoma Insurance Department through the period ending Dec. 31, 2011.; In...
The Management of the Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System (known collectively as TRS or the System) presents the Comprehensive Annnal Financial Report for the Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma, a component unit of the State of Oklahoma, for...
18 manufacturing company locations announced growth in Oklahoma for the Quarter, totaling over $650 million in new investment. 6 of these companies were new to Oklahoma. 2,343 total jobs are expected to be created by all of these manufacturers.; 20...
Reinstatement to the practice of law: not as simple as you may think! by Gina Hendryx; But the secretary did it by Melissa DeLacerda; What should I do with the transcript money? by Jimmy Oliver; Suicide is not painless by Anonymous; What happens...
The Roofing Contractor Registration Act (“RCRA”) creates a procedure whereby resident and nonresident roofing contractors are required to obtain a valid registration from the CIB in order to engage in or offer to engage in roofing-related services...
The Management of the Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System (known collectively as TRS or the System) presents the Comprehensive Annnal Financial Report for the Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma, a component unit of the state of Oklahoma, for...
The use of pesticides in Oklahoma is governed by the Pesticide Applicators Law, covering not only agricultural applications such as crop spraying and fumigating of grain bins, but also regulating the pest control industry, including the control of...
The Management of the Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System (known collectively as TRS or the System) presents the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma, a component unit of the State of Oklahoma, for...
We are pleased to present the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma for the year ended June 30, 2003. The Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma (the System or TRS) is a component unit of the state...
In accordance with Oklahoma Statutes Title 36 Section 307 this report summarizes the financial disclosure and listing of operating companies in Oklahoma and the activities of the Oklahoma Insurance Department through the period
126 company locations announced growth in Oklahoma in 2012 totaling over $3.5 Billion in new investment. 21 of these companies were new to Oklahoma and 67 were manufacturing announcements. Over 13,000 total jobs are expected to be created over the...
The Management of the Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System (known collectively as TRS or the System) presents the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the Teachers' Retirement System of Oklahoma, a component unit of the state of Oklahoma, for...
In accordance with Oklahoma State Statute 36 § 307, it is my pleasure to present to you the Oklahoma Insurance Department’s 2013 Annual
Report. This report reflects the activities of the department and summarizes the financial disclosure and...
The Real Estate Appraiser Board began issuing Certificates of Registration for qualifying AMCs on March 1, 2011, per the Act and its associated rules that went into effective January 1, 2011; AMC Name; Reg No; Address; City; St; Zip; Expiration Date | {
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Home & Garden Animals
Numbers are just numbers. They are adumbrative of absolute things but backpack no absolute acceptation after association. Two apples. Three children. Ten dollars. If I don’t put at atomic one chat at the end of those numbers, they wouldn’t beggarly abundant to you. You can’t just airing up to somebody on the street, blab out, “Fifteen,” and apprehend them to accept what you’re aggravating to get across. The words which beleaguer the amount accord it power. The adverse aswell holds true.
If I say to you, “4 million,” that apparently doesn’t beggarly anything. If I say to you, “dogs put to death,” that apparently carries some affecting strength. But if I amalgamate numbers and words and acquaint you that a bourgeois 4 actor dogs are put to afterlife every year in the US alone, that ability accord you pause. It absolutely aloft my eyebrows, decidedly because it’s an authentic figure.
With so some dogs needlessly adver... Read Moreby user
We activate this commodity with the basal facts about the breed, then chase up with an all-embracing attending at their personality.
Group: Sporting
Weight: Male: 30-40, Female: 25-35 lbs
Height: Male: 15.5-18, Female: 14-16.5 inches
Overview
The Boykin Adulator is a adequately new brand that is rated actual awful for its hunting capabilities, abnormally of the baptize fowl. This brand is abnormally accepted amidst bird hunters in the southern allotment of the Affiliated States, and they aswell accept their agent in South Carolina in the Affiliated States. The Boykin Adulator is the adopted adumbrative dog of South Carolina.
Temperament
Although the Boykin Adulator is a actual acquiescent dog, they are aswell actual agreeable and obedient. These dogs are able and adherent companions. Their chicken eyes are their trademark, and they are accepted to beam with apprehension into your eyes. Boykin Spaniels are astonishing swimmers, and they adulation to be in the water. Anniversary Boykin A... Read Moreby user
There are two accepted causes why a dog is advancing appear associates of his own animal family. He is aggravating to avert something he thinks of as his from a perceived blackmail (you).
This is accepted as ability guarding, and admitting it may complete innocuous, there’s infact a lot added traveling on actuality than your dog artlessly aggravating to accumulate his abrade to himself. He is not adequate with the treatment/handling he is accepting from you or additional associates of the family.
What is ability guarding? Ability attention is appealing accepted apartof dogs. The appellation refers to overly-possessive behavior on account of your dog: for instance, abrupt at you if you access him if he’s eating, or giving you “the eye” (a flinty-eyed, absolute stare) if you ability your duke out to yield a toy abroad from him.
All dogs can be careful from time to time as it is in their natures. Sometimes they are careful over things with no believable value, ined... Read Moreby user
So let’s allocution about the acutely dying brand of snake charmers. Absolutely area did they appear from? How did they become charmers of snakes and how do they do what they do?
It is said that the Authority of Snake Charmers accomplished humans to admire Reptiles rather than be abashed of them and that the art of absorbing snakes emerged from those who were in the business of alleviative humans for snake bites. Those who approved to chase in the Guru’s footsteps were accomplished as to how to appropriately handle a snake and what to administrate for Snake bites. These healers as they were called, aswell removed snakes from people’s homes and became accepted for their healing abilities and the affluence with which they handled snakes.
It is this affluence these healers had with snakes that ushered in the era of Snake Charmers. The accepted acceptance is that the art of snake absorbing originated in Egypt and this is accustomed creditability from the annual of a showd... Read Moreby user
But, they are rarely activity aggressive and should not avert you from adequate a affable day at the bank or at sea.
It is acute to anon administrate first aid affliction in the accident of the afraid sting, unless the victim adventures an allergic acknowledgment to the afraid venom. Affection of an allergic acknowledgment are astringent pain, respiratory problems, swelling, and shock. If the victim exhibits any of these symptoms, alarm 911 and arch to the abutting Emergency Room.
In alotof cases, victims of afraid stings will acquaintance accessory affliction and affliction area the barb create acquaintance with the skin. The afflicted breadth should be rinsed with alkali water, if available. Beginning baptize can actuate aching toxins in the afraid acidity and should be abhorred unless the anguish is attenuated with dirt, sand, seaweed, etc. Those administering first aid should use attention if authoritative absolute skin-to-skin acquaintance with the victim. Careful accouterment and... Read Moreby user
We activate this commodity with the basal facts about the breed, then chase up with an all-embracing attending at their personality.
Group: Sporting
Weight: 30-40 lbs
Height: 17.5-20.5 inches
Overview
It is believed that the Brittany is a aftereffect of a bridge amid the Orange and White Setter and an alien French dog. The Brittany is an active dog that has its agent in Brittany, a arena in France. Brittanys are actual adjustable hunting dogs, and one of the alotof admired pointing breeds acclimated for bird hunting. In a amount of countries humans accredit to this brand as the Brittany Spaniel, but in the Affiliated States they are referred to as just the Brittany.
Temperament
The Brittany is a actual dependable, dedicated, agreeable and acute dog. This brand is actual addicted of playing, and they adulation to exercise as they accept affluence of energy. Brittanys are acutely able and acquiescent dogs that are actual simple to train. This brand is acceptable for new dog owners as abl... Read Moreby user Tags: important, breed, owner, breeds
We activate this commodity with the basal facts about the breed, then chase up with an all-embracing attending at their personality.
Group: Herding
Weight: 69-90 lbs
Height: male: 24-28, female: 24-27 inches
Overview
Not anybody agrees on the agent of this Franco-Belgian breed. This brand may accept been created by bridge the Griffon and the Beauceron. At first the Bouvier des Flandres dog was a beasts herding dog, and they were aswell abundantly acclimated as a accomplishment dog and message-carrier during the First Apple War. As a aftereffect of their accomplishment during the war and the about absolute abolition of Flandres; the brand was about absolutely dead off. In 1923, afterwards the war, the Bouvier was reconstructed by a baby amount of individuals and a brand affiliation for these dogs were aswell accustomed in Belgium. Currently the Bouvier des Flandres serves as a watchdog, protector, ancestors acquaintance and as a tracking dog. This dog has aswell been acclimated auspicio... Read Moreby user
We activate this commodity with the basal facts about the breed, then chase up with an all-embracing attending at their personality.
Breed group: Hounds
Weight: male: 75-105, female: 60-85 lbs
Height: male: 28, female: 26 inches
Overview
It is believed that the first Borzoi was brought to Russia from Arabia in the 1600s. The Borzoi is a beautiful afterimage basset that was adopted by the aristocracy, and then beyond with best haired sheepdogs. They were then acclimated as barbaric and adventuresome wolf hunters, and this led to them earning the name of Russian Wolfhounds. The Russian high chic bred these dogs and aswell bolter with them for hundreds of years. Ultimately the Borzoi’s acceptability advance throughout Europe, and Queen Victoria and some of the British elite anon endemic a Borzoi. These dogs became abundant ability apartof royalty, and the Borzoi became added acquiescent as his use as a accompaniment dog became more.
Temperament
Borzois are candied and able dogs that... Read Moreby user Tags: training, animals, breed, facts, learn, seeing, owning, breeds
We activate this commodity with the basal facts about the breed, then chase up with an all-embracing attending at their personality.
Breed group: Herding
Weight: 30-45 lbs
Height: male: 20-23, female: 18-21 inches
Overview
The Bound Collie is originally from Northumberland area they accept first been bred during the 19th century. Bound Collies are aberrant herders and this boxy and active sheepdog is able of arrive any affectionate of herd. Some accept that the Bound Collie has an eye that can mesmerize cattle. They bend down and anesthetize the animals with their acute gaze. Getting one of the alotof trainable breeds, the Bound Collie aswell does actual able-bodied as a narcotics and bomb apprehension dog. They aswell accomplish able-bodied in obedience, Frisbee trials, badge work, seek and accomplishment and fly ball.
Temperament
Border Collies are acutely able and acknowledging dogs. They accomplish actual able-bodied in obedience, activity and Frisbee trails. They curl on admiratio... Read Moreby user
But, they are rarely activity aggressive and should not avert you from adequate a affable day at the bank or at sea.
It is acute to anon administrate first aid affliction in the accident of the afraid sting, unless the victim adventures an allergic acknowledgment to the afraid venom. Affection of an allergic acknowledgment are astringent pain, respiratory problems, swelling, and shock. If the victim exhibits any of these symptoms, alarm 911 and arch to the abutting Emergency Room.
In alotof cases, victims of afraid stings will acquaintance accessory affliction and affliction area the barb create acquaintance with the skin. The afflicted breadth should be rinsed with alkali water, if available. Beginning baptize can actuate aching toxins in the afraid acidity and should be abhorred unless the anguish is attenuated with dirt, sand, seaweed, etc. Those administering first aid should use attention if authoritative absolute skin-to-skin acquaintance with the victim. Careful accouterment and... Read Moreby user Tags: water, affected, summer, victim, symptoms, available
We activate this commodity with the basal facts about the breed, then chase up with an all-embracing attending at their personality.
Breed group: Herding
Weight: Male: 70-84, Female: 57-71 lbs
Height: Male: 23.5, Female: 22 inches
Overview
The Bergamasco is originally from Persia, and it is believed that this age-old shepherding brand is at atomic 2000 years old. These dogs were bred to be absolute and clever. Afterwards the Additional Apple War these dogs were about extinct, but were adored by the efforts of Dr. Maria Andreoli - an Italian agriculturalist and scientist. Even today, the Bergamasco is still a actual attenuate breed.
Temperament
The Bergamasco is not ideal for anyone with no antecedent dog buying experience. This brand is dependable, calm and acutely careful of their families and homes. They will be tolerable of additional dogs if they do not see them as threats. The Bergamasco will aswell get forth accomplished with children. These dogs are actual alert and apprehensive... Read Moreby user
We activate this commodity with the basal facts about the breed, then chase up with an all-embracing attending at their personality.
Breed group: Hound
Weight: 55-75 lbs
Height: male: 25-27, female: 23-25 inches
Overview
The Atramentous and Tan Coonhound was bred if the Bloodhound and the Foxhound was beyond with anniversary additional in the Affiliated States. This brand is actual able-bodied accepted for its raccoon hunting abilities. These dogs are aswell actual acknowledged at hunting types of bold such as stag, bear, abundance bobcat and deer. They can acclimate to actual algid and balmy acclimate conditions. If a Atramentous and Tan Coonhound is shy or anxious, they may be banned from exhibitions. These dogs are accomplished in hunting, tracking and agility.
Temperament
This brand is actual clever, adherent and abject - they aswell do actual able-bodied at analytic problems. The Atramentous and Tan Coonhound is awfully vigilant, agog and committed if it comes to work. They accept... Read Moreby user
We activate this commodity with the basal facts about the breed, then chase up with an all-embracing attending at their personality.
Breed group: Non-sporting
Weight: 7-12 lbs
Height: 9.5-11.5 inches
Overview
The Bichon Frise is a cantankerous amid the Poodle and the Barbet Baptize Spaniel, and create its first actualization during the 14th century. The Bichon was traded by Spanish sailors traded the Bichon, and during the 16th aeon they became a close favourite of the French aristocratic courts. These dogs were bazaar performers and actual accepted agency grinder’s dogs. Today they are primarily appearance and accompaniment dogs.
Temperament
The Bichon Frise has a actual sweet, lively, animated and alive temperament. They are actual addicted of playing, and will accept aberrant bursts of activity that will advance them into some alien adventures. This is usually alfresco of the yard, or if they are off the leash. This brand is actual antic and affable against strangers - they as... Read Moreby user
For hundreds of years, mice accept raided kitchens and pantries. They are such cute, baby creatures that nursery rhymes and children’s books accept been accounting about them. Unfortunately, mice are not acceptable additions in alotof domiciliary kitchens and pantries.
In 1895, John Mast invented the first bounce loaded snap-trap in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Mr. Mast’s snap-trap wasn’t the first accessory created to annihilate mice. Others had created agnate contraptions, but Mr. Mast’s allurement did not bolt the continued brim hems ladies wore in the backward 1800s.
Mr. Mast’s allurement was a almost simple design. It absorbed the abrasion with a baby bulk of aliment on a pedal. The pedal was set with a baby spring-loaded striker that would breeze aural three milliseconds if the abrasion took the bait. The affliction problem with these accessories was the auctioning of the rodent’s physique afterward. A agnate allure was advised by British artist Ja... Read Moreby user Tags: mouse, small, catch, device
Many pet owners tend to avoid the accent of pitbull nutrition. This should not be case back diet is not something that should be taken for granted, even if it is for your pets. Anyone who owns a pitbull or for that amount any pet should bethink that diet is a science and it makes faculty not to await on authentic instinct. In actuality able diet can advice you save on the vet’s bills in the continued run.
Pitbull diet is an important aspect, back their diet too can be as circuitous as that of animal beings. As an buyer it is accordingly actually capital that you yield affliction of all their capital diet needs. The diet for a pitbull should abide of all the capital nutrients, minerals and vitamins. Absence of assertive nutrients can advance to assorted altitude such as breakable cartilage or accepted fatigue. A counterbalanced diet, abounding of capital nutrients accordingly should be your aim if it comes to agriculture your pitbull. Remember, the appropriate diet is your pitbull... Read Moreby user
To activate this commodity we will attending at some of the key stats on this breed, then move assimilate the added austere aspects.
Breed group: Herding
Weight: 60-65 lbs
Height: male: 24-26 inches, changeable 22-24 inches
Overview
The Belgian Malinois dog has its agent in Belgium area it was bred during the 1900s. These dogs dog were bred to be able and adherent dogs, abnormally in the city-limits of Malines as they were favourites there and in Belgium.
Temperament
The Belgian Malinois is one of the four altered Belgian Sheepdogs. This brand is awfully acute and obedient. They accept a austere demeanour with actual able careful and arresting instincts. However, some of these dogs can be actual afraid and sensitive. This is a dog that should be socialised from an aboriginal age onwards. The Belgian Malinois makes an accomplished pet that is loyal and thrives on companionship. This is a dog that will get forth able-bodied with accouchement if socialised able-bodied with them. The Belgi... Read Moreby user Tags: training, breed, facts, owner, breeds, belgian
To activate this commodity we will attending at some of the key stats on this breed, then move assimilate the added austere aspects.
Breed group: Herding
Weight: Male: 65-75, Female: 60-70 lbs
Height: Male: 24-26, Female: 22-24 inches
Overview
This brand is originally from Belgium, and was bred to be attention and herding dogs. Belgian Tervurens are one of four Belgian Attend dogs, but they are advised to be the added alluring looking. These dogs were acclimated as messengers, abstract dogs and convoying dogs during the first and additional Apple Wars. Today they are still acclimated as acreage dogs, badge dogs and adviser dogs.
Temperament
This dog is not ideal for the amateur dog owner. The Belgian Attend Tervuren is a actual adherent dog that thrives on the aggregation of humans. These dogs are actual caring, and they tend to band carefully with one affiliate of the family. They are aswell alert and alert of strangers. This is a dog that will get forth able-bodied with accouchement ... Read Moreby user
To activate this commodity we will attending at some of the key stats on this breed, then move assimilate the added austere aspects.
Breed group: Terrier
Weight: 17-23 lbs
Height: macho 16.5 inches, female: 15.5 inches
Overview
This brand has its agent in England area they accept been developed during the 18th century. Bedlington Terriers was originally accepted as Rothbury Terriers and they were called afterwards the Rothbury commune on the English border. These dogs were awful admired as hunters of a array of bold including foxes, hares and badgers. A Rothbury dog was akin with a Bedlington allegation in about 1825, which resulted in the Bedlington terrier. Bedlington terriers were acclimated as vermin hunters by miners of Bedlington. They aswell acclimated these dogs as angry dogs in the pits.
Temperament
The Bedlington terrier of today is a added affectionate and affable dog, and this is due to added accurate breeding. Bedlington terriers are actual airy and antic dogs, and they as... Read Moreby user Tags: training, problems, disease, breed, facts, owner, breeds
So you’ve got a adulation of the outdoors, you’ve taken some benumbed acquaint and now you wish to buy a horse. Just like any additional beastly you’re bringing into your life, this is a austere undertaking. However, because horses are not a domiciliary pet, there are different considerations if affairs one.
Here are some tips to advice you acquisition a horse that is appropriate for you.
Education
Educate yourself on all things accompanying to horses. Apprehend as abundant as you can but aswell be about them as abundant as possible. Advance at a abiding and see what demography affliction of a horse is absolutely like. Yield all-encompassing benumbed lessons. Apprentice how to admit a horse’s disposition and temperament. Also, allocution to humans in the horse association by traveling to horse shows. Allocution to trainers and vets to absolutely accept the consequence of what you are about to undertake. Can you allow to create the time and money charge of gettin... Read Moreby user
It has continued been accepted that some crossbreeds assume to do bigger than their parents of either breed. It’s a catechism of award which breeds cantankerous best with additional breeds. Some of these crossbreeds even go on to become accustomed breeds in their own right. One of the brume acknowledged crossbreeds in dogs is apparent in the Labrador/Golden Retriever puppy, aswell accepted as Aureate Labrador Retrievers. Even at an aboriginal age, they readily appearance the best of both the Labrador Retriever and the Aureate Retriever.
The Absolute Personality?
Both Labrador and Aureate Retrievers are dogs that adulation humans and are acquisitive to please. Accumulate in apperception that not every one is alike, and bad training will consistently create a bad, aflutter dog (no amount what breed), but on the whole, a Labrador/Golden Retriever puppy is a built-in humans watcher. They are absorbed by humans and assume to analyze with them. They aswell accept a lot of backbone and ... Read Moreby user | {
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‘People underestimate just how good Lescott is’
Manchester City defender Micah Richards has hailed his team-mate Joleon Lescott as one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League.
Richards partnered the England international in the centre of defence against Sunderland as Roberto Mancini`s team cruised to a 3-0 victory.
The 24-year-old feels that Lescott has been underrated previously but may now be getting the recognition he deserves given his regular involvement with the national team.
"He is a quality defender," Richards told City`s official website.
"A lot of people don`t understand how good he is - well, people do because he is playing for England - but he really is a top-class centre-back, one of the best in the league.
"I think last season and at the start of this season he has shown that."
Richards was a surprise selection on Saturday having missed the entirety of the 2012-13 campaign so far with an ankle injury.
The academy graduate was pleased to help secure City`s first clean sheet of the season but highlighted midfielder James Milner as the team`s stand-out player in the victory.
"Obviously it is nice to get back after so long but it is nice to get a clean sheet," he added. "We had not kept a clean sheet this season so to come in and step into the back four - I thought the back four was outstanding.
"But I thought James Milner was my man of the match. I thought he was outstanding, he was everywhere.
"Obviously [Aleksandar] Kolarov had a good game as well, so it was an all-round good team performance and I am just happy to be back." | {
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Contact us
We are always glad to address any questions that you might come up with. Please be sure to get in touch with us should you want to inquire us about anything! Our managers review and accept patient's requests on a 24/7 basis. | {
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City of Gig Harbor awarded grants, future toll relief and will see Hwy 16 traffic study
Gig Harbor, Wash. July 10th, 2015 – The City of Gig Harbor will see park and highway activity as part of the recently passed 2015-17 Washington State Capital Budget in Olympia.
Ancich Waterfront Park Grants Included in the budget are two grants directing funding to Ancich Waterfront Park which is currently awaiting development. A capital budget grant in the amount of $662k has been received for Ancich Netshed restoration work. In addition, a $500k grant from the Recreation and Conservation Office’s Aquatic Lands Enhancement Grant has been received for upland work at the property, located at 3658 Harborview Drive.
The City of Gig Harbor would like to thank Senator Jan Angel and State Representatives Michelle Caldier and Jesse Young for their support. On March 21st, Mayor Jill Guernsey toured the Ancich Park with the State Representatives to illustrate the imminent need for improvements to the Ancich Netshed and adjoining pier. This funding will provide the immediate attention needed for repairs to the endangered condition of the netshed and pier. The Ancich Netshed is one of the few remaining original netsheds in the harbor and the preservation is necessary to enhance Gig Harbor’s downtown waterfront for residents and visitors.
Corridor Congestion Study
The Transportation Revenue Package adopted by the House and Senate included a high priority project with future impact for the City of Gig Harbor and area residents. A Corridor Congestion Relief Study for State Route 16 between the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and State Route 302 has been granted in the amount of $3 M. The study is aimed at developing a vision for SR16 to handle additional capacity in order to improve the corridor to handle increasing traffic. The package also included deferring sales taxed owed on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in an effort to keep toll rates lower in future years. The City of Gig Harbor would like to thank Senator Jan Angel for spearheading these projects.
For several months, the City has been actively working with a group of community leaders as part of the West Sound Alliance, a partnership among 19 jurisdictions and economic development organizations in Mason, Pierce and Kitsap counties that supports transportation improvements in the west sound region.
To learn about these grants and other future developments, please contact City Administrator Ron Williams at (253) 851-6127. | {
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Letter: Congress should censure the president
The wait is over. This is the moment that clearly ends any possibility that President Donald Trump will become more “presidential.” His response to the radical white supremacist rally in Charlottesville demonstrates his utter disregard for basic democratic principles, indeed, for common decency.
He asks us to believe that some “very fine people” would mingle with these hate-mongering, torch-wielding, slur-chanting demonstrators. Unless he fears losing the votes of these repugnant haters, the president should be leading the nation in condemning rather than legitimizing them.
Abundant bipartisan, national and international criticism ranges from mild to scathing. The only wholly positive reaction to the president’s assigning blame for violence to “both sides” comes from “Unite the Right,” white nationalist, anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi groups. These anti-American hate groups have just been given more political power than they ever thought possible.
This is not just another daily distraction that will be forgotten after the next outlandish Twitter storm. We can no longer hope that this president will change. Instead, it is time for all Americans to pivot away from this unfit president.
Whether by elected officials or by citizens, silence implies approval. If you have been silent, this is the time to speak up and hold your president accountable.
Call your representatives, express your disapproval and ask them to censure the president. | {
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Cities Nearby
Tennessee
Philadelphia, TN Contractors
Philadelphia TN Ductless Air Conditioning
Philadelphia, Tennessee, is located next to the Sweetwater Creek in Loudon County, which is adjacent to the western edge of Knoxville. As an alternative to high taxes and big city congestion, Philadelphia offers excellent schools, a relaxed lifestyle and a low rate of crime.
History
Philadelphia has the distinction of being one of the oldest towns in Tennessee. It is commonly accepted by local historians that the city was founded by Jacob Pearson and William Knox, who originally established its boundaries about six miles south of Blair’s Ferry.
When track was laid between the ferry and the Tennessee-Georgia border, speculators envisioned Philadelphia eventually becoming an important commercial and industrial center. The railroad served as a vital link between Loudon Country and several key metropolitan areas, and substantial quantities of livestock and grain were transported on a daily basis. However, when the bridge at Loudon was built, the activity at the depot continued to decline until it was closed in 1952.
Today, Philadelphia is a close knit rural community with a stable economic base that includes manufacturing, and an array of technical services.
Attractions
In addition to clean air and open spaces, Philadelphia offers residents and visitors a variety of entertainment options including museums, attractions and recreational activities.
Philadelphia Park: The park is a centerpiece of the community and has facilities for baseball, tennis and basketball. Other areas are designated for picnics, a children’s playground, and community gatherings.
Sweetwater Valley Farms: Located between the towns of Loudon and Philadelphia, Sweetwater Valley Farms provides tours that explore every aspect of the cheese making process from milking the cows to the finished product. There is even a store where delicious fresh cheese can be purchased daily.
Lenoir City Museum and Cotton Mill Site: The museum displays historical artifacts from Lenoir City and Loudon County. This includes relics from the Civil War, WWI and WWII.
Sports and Recreation: Loudon County offers a variety of year-round recreational and sports activities such as golf, boating, horseback riding, hunting, fishing and hiking.
Demographics
Philadelphia’s demographics are representative of the majority of communities in Loudon County. The city supports a clean, safe and relaxed environment suitable for active families, retirees and professionals.
Crime: The Total Crime Index for Philadelphia is 16.22. Since the national average is 100, the city is considered to be extremely safe when compared to other areas of the nation.
Philadelphia TN Ductless Air Conditioning
The weather in Philadelphia, TN, is hot and humid in the summer and chilly in the winter. Mitsubishi ductless heat pumps and air conditioners provide superior comfort, quiet operation and excellent efficiency. Exclusive inverter technology gives ductless mini splits the highest SEER ratings among all conditioning products.
To learn more about the many advantages of a ductless split system, we encourage you to visit the mitsubishicomfortdealers.com website. Factory authorized Mitsubishi ductless heat pump Philadelphia TN dealers will help explain how ductless equipment can be an attractive alternative to inefficient central HVAC systems, noisy window units and unreliable PTACs. | {
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Nike Flyknit Roshe Run
After announcing the launch of the Flyknit Roshe Run iD, Nike is set to unveil a range of new colorways for the running shoe this coming Thursday. Aside from the color updates the latest men’s version will feature a new NM Roshe sole, while the women’s will include the original Roshe sole unit. Check out the new iterations of the Nike Flyknit Roshe Run above and look for them to drop at the Nike webstore and Nike Sportswear retailers on February 7. | {
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Sul Mono Font Family
Sul Mono is a geometrically constructed monospaced family of five fonts. It is the fixed width version of Sul Sans, a typeface with features observed in capital letters on signs and buildings in Portugal. Sul Mono’s glyphs width is the standard, so it takes the exact same horizontal space as popular monospace fonts, like Courier or Andale Mono. The name Sul (South), hints to a southern european flavour on a typically northern style of typeface. | {
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L.A. mom, 4-year-old son identified in fatal Sacramento freeway crash
A 40-year-old Los Angeles mother and her 4-year-old son were identified Friday as the victims killed in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 80 in Sacramento.
Carrie Tricia Sears was driving a 2005 Nissan Pathfinder west on the freeway with her son, Skylar Eubanks, in a child restraint seat in the back Thursday afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol. Sears' 9-year-old daughter also was in the backseat next to Skylar, officials said.
CHP Officer Lizz Dutton said the family was heading back home to West Hills in the San Fernando Valley after visiting family in the Rocklin-Auburn area.
Multiple witnesses, including an off-duty officer, alerted the CHP around 2 p.m. that the Pathfinder was speeding and weaving in and out of the three westbound lanes. Finally, the Pathfinder veered right across all lanes and tumbled down an embankment, slamming into several trees.
It was traveling from 80 mph to 100 mph, Dutton said.
"The impact was mainly on the left side of the vehicle," Dutton said.
Sears died at the scene and Skylar died later. The daughter, whose name was not released, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was recovering at UC Davis Medical Center, according to a CHP news release.
No other vehicles were involved in the crash. The CHP was trying to determine if alcohol or drugs were involved. | {
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This communication is strictly intended for individuals residing in the state(s) of AL, CA, CO and OR. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside the specific states referenced.
Check the background of this financial professional on FINRA's BrokerCheck. | {
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Apple gains China traction, but is it enough?
In a fairly muted earnings release, by its own standards, California-based Apple delivered a mixed set of results on Tuesday that underlined a shift in fortunes for the technology giant. In years gone by, the group had been plagued by concerns that it might fail to find any success in emerging markets.
But Apple delivered a chest-beating rise in year-on-year sales of 28 percent in Greater China on Tuesday. Meanwhile, it saw flat sales growth in its home markets which were still seeing double digit expansion at the start of the decade. In addition, tablet sales look to be losing their shine with iPad revenue falling 23 percent from the previous quarter.
Antoine Chemali, the CIO at Digital World Capital called the results "a little mixed", while John Buckingham, the CIO at Al Frank Asset Management said the quarter was a little "ho-hum" for Apple.
What's clear is that a deal back in January to sell iPhones on China Mobile's vast network is proving fruitful. CEO Tim Cook called it a "watershed" moment at the time, and with the Chinese company currently deploying the advanced 4G mobile telecommunications technology, analysts believe there could be more upside down the line. Gene Munster from Piper Jaffray told CNBC Tuesday that Apple would have some "easy room to grow" and it was still just "scratching the surface" in this sizeable and important market.
China now generates 61 percent of the absolute increase in year-on-year revenues for Apple, analysts at Nomura noted in new research after the earnings release. The investment bank raised its target price on Apple to $95 from $88.71 with the stock closing at $94.72 on Tuesday. RBC also raised its target price on Wednesday morning, to $110 from $100, with similar moves coming from analysts at Macquarie and Cowen and Company.
But while the bulls took delight in the foothold it has created for itself in China, not to mention the impending release of its iPhone 6, there were still bears foreseeing stagnation and more contraction in its gross margins.
Tablet sales were particularly disappointing for many analysts. Ian Dogan, a research director & co-founder at Insider Monkey, believes Apple's products and typical markets are maturing, adding that the drop in iPad sales is not something investors should ignore.
"We don't think the margins are sustainable, eventually those margins are going to go down and that's when we're going to see Apple go to $50 or $40," he told CNBC Wednesday.
There's also the potential for competition from Chinese firm Xiaomi, whose own CEO Lei Jun claims his company's new Android-based offering is "really better than the iPhone." Xiaomi is often referred to as China's answer to Apple but the firm still considers itself to be a startup with a lifespan that only reaches back four years.
Hugo Barra, the vice president for global operations at Xiaomi, told CNBC Wednesday that the smartphone maker is firmly focused on key emerging markets. After finding success in its home market it has launched in India, with Latin America and Indonesia currently near-term goals.
Barra said that these are very large markets that have huge demand with many people experiencing smartphones for the first time. Xiaomi became a top three smartphone vendor in China for the first time this year, according to research firm Canalys, and is now sixth in terms of global market share.
Xiaomi isn't scared of Apple's home markets either it seems, despite the softness seen in Tuesday's figures. Barra told CNBC that Xiaomi wasn't ruling out a move into the U.S. market in the longer term.
"Someday, we don't know when, we're going to work to that day...there's a lot of work to happen before we are ready for a market as large and as competitive as the United States," he said. | {
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List of Programmes
Care for People Project - The Aixing Rehabilitation Centre
Insider Tips
The newly renovated
Shangri-La Hotel, Wuhan is just 10 minutes from Gude Temple. Gude
Temple was built in 1877 and is the
only Buddhist temple in China
that combines Burmese, Indian and Western architectural styles. There are only two Buddhist buildings using
this style in existence in the world. | {
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Anabol liquids: the injectables
Steroids, often the simple experience of word causes individuals to break out into a cold sweating and think about words such as “roid rage”, conjuring up pictures of once fearful and young children starting to be hulking great scammers defeating their close relatives and ruining furniture and property for the benefit of it.
One of the reasons why given have such a damaging judgment connected to them is the fact that generally, most member of the public don’t understand them and in all honesty don’t have a hint what they’re referring to in regards to steroids. Not only that, they also see one-sided documentaries or experiences in the paper about how wicked steroids are and they buy into it without doing any analysis in the smallest.
Types of Fluid Steroids
Steroids are used generally due to its known benefits and benefits within your whole body. This is the primary reason why bodybuilders and other type of actions that uses actual strong points use such as medication. There are different kinds of steroids that you can actually use. All you have to do is to get the one that will work for you. There are steroids in product type, liquid, transdermal, spot, fumigations, as well as hypodermic injection type. All you have to do is to get the path that matches for you. Among the kinds of steroids, the one that is mostly recommended is the liquid way of anabolic steroid.
Steroid Shots Information
When everyone is considering doing their first pattern, appropriate anabolic steroid hypodermic injection method usually the last thing they consider. Usually, a lot of individuals have a objective, and then analysis various medication and periods which they think will help them accomplish that objective. Usually it´s not until someone has a lot of vials near them, and a bag of small needles and small needles, that they start thinking about how they’re actually going to get the oil out of the container and into their body! For a lot of individuals, this is where the idea of anabolic steroid injections becomes petrifying.
Injectable Steroids
Injections of liquid Anabol steroids are those that you use subcutaneously or intramuscularly. For the most part, they require less regular dosing than their dental alternatives do, though this relies upon totally on the steroid’s half-life. Some popular samples of injectable steroids include Trenbolone, Deca Durabolin, and Winstrol store (Winstrol is available in both forms), to name a few. Although injectable steroids are not as hepatotoxic as dental steroids are, they can still present some threats. Adverse reactions differ based on the actual substance.
The most generally used among the three kinds of steroids is the anabolic steroid. This is used by men to improve their muscle tissue, thus, improving their overall look. There are adverse opinions associated with the use of anabolic steroid. However, if the appropriate dosing and path are followed, absolutely it will do common good within your whole body. It is the misuse of the one taking the medication which is accountable in creating the ill effect of the medication. | {
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Keep spotlight on news
after Sudan referendum
To the Editor:
News media, especially The Post-Standard, must continue covering the situation in Darfur and all of Sudan after the referendum.
The ongoing events surrounding separation and the relationship between north and south are of great importance, especially to the many Sudanese refugees who now make their home among us Central New Yorkers. In December, over 32,000 Darfuri civilians were forced to flee from their homes of aerial attacks by the government of Sudan and clashes between the government and rebel groups. In 2010, an estimated 300,000 civilians were displaced in Darfur and over one-third of the population live in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.
Ted and Marie Webb
Fayetteville
Decision to deny claims
lacked sufficient reason \
To the Editor:
Court of Claims Judge Diane Fitzpatrick ruled against the claims of the Gardner family and the Rhoades family based on this “reason”: “the state had no resources or manpower to correct the problem” on the Route 81 overpass that cost two people their lives. Are you serious?
Gloria Majka
Syracuse
No going back once
chemicals poison water
To the Editor:
Where are you, Erin Brockovich, when we need you? Hydrofracking will cause toxic streams, dying livestock, illnesses and kitchen sinks that burst into flame!
Once the water and earth are poisoned, there is no going back. We haven’t developed the technology to treat and filter the frack fluid waste. We will be slowly killing ourselves with cancerous-causing water for cheaper gas.
Is it worth the price? No!
Sonia Buck
Fayetteville
Some questions about
Liverpool’s principals
To the Editor:
I have a question regarding the story about the principals at Liverpool High School. How does it take seven principals to run a school of less than 2,000 students? My high school had one for 1,600 students.
Also, what does a person do as a principal to earn $400 a day?
Mary Ann Tomas
Liverpool
Groundhog’s Day is
just around the corner
To the Editor:
I heard the new Congress has decided to introduce a new bill to revise a February tradition. If the groundhog sees his shadow, 10 more years of war in the Middle East.
Part two of the bill: Instead of Punxsutawney, Pa., the Groundhog Day celebration will take place in Miami, Fla.
John Kerwin
East Syracuse
One person’s pet peeve
about incorrect grammar
To the Editor:
I’ve finally had it with the improper usage of the word “myself.” For years it’s been bugging me. I wasn’t an English major, but I do have pet peeves when it comes to the English language. Someone needs to teach our athletes (the worst offenders) that the word “me” should be used whenever they say “myself.” “This is a great opportunity for myself” is wrong! “This is a great opportunity for me” is right!
“This was a great game for myself” is wrong!
Well, you get the idea.
I don’t really expect to see major changes, but if I can fix even one mistake, I myself will be happy. (That, by the way, is correct!!)
Bradley Ozinsky
Liverpool
/br/105>Grieving death includes
rediscovery of hope
To the Editor:
Although most of the country was moved by the ceremony held for the victims of the Tucson tragedy, some criticized the crowd reaction and the president’s “failure” to calm it. Some suggested that the cheers heard in the Arizona assembly were more fitting of a pep rally than a memorial service.
I disagree. It is a myth that funeral services should be exclusively solemn. Indeed, after five days of horror and tears, Arizonans needed a reason to cheer, and the president provided it.
Consider the Roman Catholic Mass for the dead. It’s not called the Mass of Sorrow, it’s called the Mass of the Resurrection.
Further, as a therapist, I know that to dwell exclusively on pain and sorrow can actually deepen the depression of one’s mood. Grieving that leads to healing includes not only experiencing pain but also a sense of joy that comes from the rediscovery of hope and the awareness that there is more to life than loss. To regain a sense of a positive future, one must also regain a larger vision than one’s own personal pain. The president helped us to recapture that larger perspective. The enthusiastic response of the crowd was simply evidence that his words were spot on.
Far from inappropriate, the assembly’s (and our nation’s) reaction to the president demonstrated the impact great leadership can have on a grieving people. Wednesday’s assembly in Arizona was exactly what the mourners and our nation needed and our cheering response, far from inappropriate, demonstrated the resiliency of our spirit.
Rev. Michael Heath
Fayetteville
For Matthews, it’s do
as I say, not as I do
To the Editor:
On his MSNBC show, “Hardball,” Chris Matthews applauded President Obama’s speech at the Tucson memorial service for encouraging Americans to be more civil in their political discourse. He concurred with Obama that partisans on both sides need to stop attacking each other and come together as a nation.
Then Matthews spent the rest of the show attacking Sarah Palin. He called her a “peace hater” for publishing a map of the United States bearing targets on certain congressional districts. At no time did he inform his viewers that an identical map, complete with targets, was published by the Democratic Leadership Council for exactly the same purpose.
Matthews attacked Palin and other Republicans for their offensive and divisive speech, but at no time referenced President Obama’s own directive at a 2010 campaign rally to Latino Americans to “punish their enemies.”
Nor did he mention Obama’s quoting of “the Untouchables,” when he told fellow Democrats that “if the other side brings a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” Whatever guidelines we set for our political speech, they must apply to all of us, not just those in political agreement with MSNBC.
As a free society, we must sacrifice the power to silence that speech we may find offensive, if we wish to preserve our more crucial right to speak whatever we wish in response.
Sam Colabufo
Syracuse
Key is to crack down
on illegal firearms sales
To the Editor:
To all of those readers who feel there needs to be more gun control in the wake of the Arizona shootings:
Guns don’t wake up in the middle of the night and decide to kill people. I know that this is hard to believe, but a September 2010 study by the NRA and U.S. Department of Justice found that gun ownership is at an all-time high, and that violent crimes have fallen to an all-time low.
It amazes me how ignorant people can be. I own many firearms, and I have had training in how to fire each weapon. We need to crack down on illegal firearm sales, not limit sales to legal gun buyers.
I will be moving to Arizona at the end of this year and cannot wait to carry my Public Defender. For all of you who don’t believe in gun ownership and want assault rifles banned, I ask of you one question: When your family or loved ones are in danger’s way, how will you protect and save them? With nice friendly conversation? No. They will become victims, something that I will never be, because I will be able to protect myself and my family. We can talk afterward.
Jessica Patnode
Central Square
Accept guilt for rhetoric
that affects community
To the Editor:
Reading Bob Gardino’s Jan. 12 letter reminded me of a lot of what I miss in America these days! He comments that the “liberal media” were first to jump on “Republican rhetoric.” Really? The conservative media were first to jump on the sheriff in Arizona for “politicizing” his comments in the wake of the tragedy. It really doesn’t matter who said what first. What really matters is that it was said at all. And we all say it!
Our political system has denigrated into a playground argument. We no longer speak of voting a bill down, we “kill” it. We don’t tell people to stand their ground, we say, “don’t retreat, reload!” We tell people to “exercise their Second Amendment rights” if they don’t get their way. We no longer have political or personal disagreements: The person or group who disagrees with us is evil, or Marxist or socialist or a terrorist.
We don’t stop to think what our words may mean to someone who is unable to see the implied meaning behind them and takes them at face value. So while everyone, on both sides, scrambles to place or divert blame, we have to realize we are all guilty! The fact that we say the words at all is proof enough.
We all had a hand in putting that finger to the trigger and we all must face, hard as it is, that we all verbally walked that person to the scene of the tragedy. Maybe it’s time we stop!
Robert Steingraber
Syracuse
All Saints Elementary
good choice for family
To the Editor:
The closing of another Catholic school is disheartening. It’s a sign of the times, the poor economy and the fact that as a nation, our morals and values have changed significantly.
My oldest son attended St. John the Baptist when it was forced to close. It was upsetting to him and all of us alike. I feel your pain. My youngest son is now attending All Saints Elementary on Tipperary Hill in Syracuse. This is his fourth year and we couldn’t be happier. Although not affiliated with the Catholic diocese, the school does teach Catholicism and it welcomes students of all religions.
It is significantly cheaper than a diocese-affiliated or private school. The student-teacher ratio is phenomenal. The parents are involved and contribute in many ways because they view the school as a part of their family. I couldn’t ask for more comfort and stability in a school. The biggest comfort is knowing that we can’t be shut down by outside forces.
Mary E. Wilmot
Syracuse
City’s M. Lemp Park not
planned for permanence
To The Editor:
In response to Dick Case’s Jan. 13 column, “Under the snow, Syracuse’s downtown shows some signs of life”:
While the idea of using a park as a place to honor volunteers is a good one, the southeast corner of Warren and Fayette streets is the wrong location to do so.
The original design concept for M. Lemp Park was that it serve as a temporary park and lead to construction of a new building in its place, thereby restoring continuity of the streetscape, solidifying the corner and making Warren Street look like it no longer has a blatant missing tooth. Naming a park and building a memorial garden is a great idea, but to do it for an area that only functions for workers during lunch breaks is extremely shortsighted and only assures that the park is going to be around longer than it should be.
The idea of bringing more greenery downtown is good,
but it should not be done at the expense of sacrificing character or restricting any potential for real development. As one of our most unique streets, Warren Street’s charm is that it’s laid out to feel condensed, narrow and enclosed (similar to New York City’s Prince Street). These aspects are dissolved when you hastily construct a large, flat green lot and plop it on the corner of a very dense urban street.
If M. Lemp Park really is a park, it looks very much out of place, is too large to be reserved for something that acts more like an open-air cafeteria, and doesn’t offer anything of real value to downtown residents.
If the city wants to add a true downtown park, it should figure out locations that function correctly, can be used by all demographics and construct them with proper design aspects. Until then, it should not be figuring out how to add remembrances of volunteers, but focusing on constructing a new building in its place, thereby giving Warren Street back its real potential. | {
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Pirates abduct ship's crew off Nigerian coast
Six Russians and an Estonian kidnapped by pirates who boarded their vessel in the latest attack in the Gulf of Guinea.
Pirates have boarded a ship off the coast of Nigeria and kidnapped six Russians and an Estonian, in the latest such incident in the region, the French company Bourbon has said.
"Bourbon confirms that seven crew members ... were kidnapped during the boarding of the Bourbon Liberty 249, which occurred on October 15, 2012 in Nigeria," a statement from the oil industry servicing firm said.
"The other nine crew members are still on-board the vessel which is heading for the Port of Onne. They are safe and sound, and in good health."
The statement did not give the location of the abduction, but Onne is located in the Niger Delta, the country's oil-producing region.
Pirate attacks are on the rise in the Gulf of Guinea, which is second only to the waters around Somalia in terms of piracy.
Usually boats are attacked in order to steal their cargo, after which the crew is normally freed, although kidnapping is also a major criminal enterprise in the waters around the delta - the heart of Africa's biggest energy industry.
Pirates freed a Greek-operated gasoline tanker earlier this month that they had hijacked in the Gulf of Guinea near the Ivory Coast. Fuel ships are a favourite target.
Many of the criminal gangs in pirate networks are offshoots from armed groups that used to operate in the delta before they agreed to an amnesty deal in 2009 - which greatly reduced unrest there.
In August, pirates attacked a Greek-operated oil tanker with a crew of about 20 off the coast of Togo.
They released the ship a few days later after stealing 3,000 tonnes of fuel. | {
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March Showers Bring April Flowers…?
I always thought it was April showers…but anyway, it does look like we return to a wetter than normal pattern next week with a couple of upper level disturbances developing off the Baja California coast and tracking east into northern Mexico and the desert southwest and across Texas during the week. The counterclockwise motion of these lows will tap into a good bit of pacific moisture and draw it up into the southern portion of the state beginning next Tuesday. The rain chances look to begin by next Tuesday and expand north and eastward Wednesday with the first upper level disturbance. We’ll probably have a small break from rain on Thursday, then rain returns again Friday into Saturday as the second upper level disturbance passes overhead. We might even see the return of thunderstorms across southwest and west central Texas. None of this is etched in stone yet with some disagreement in rainfall amounts and timing showing up in the current long-range models, but both are consistent with bringing much healthier rain chances…and yes, more gloomy weather…back into our state next week. And after looking at the latest drought monitor which came out today, there are still many areas of the state in at least some amount of drought and they need this rain. I’m also hopeful this will help out the bluebonnet crops in April! As always, we’ll continue to monitor the latest data and keep you informed as the forecast refines.
About The Author
Jenny joined Texas Storm Chasers in 2011, originally to help out with social media updates, but she has since then become a chaser, blogger and all-around valuable member of the team. It was through chasing that Jenny also discovered her passion for photography. She has four children and is happily married. | {
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How it should be.
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M & T 08/01/2018
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"I will definitely recommend you to anyone who looks for any place in the area. You are a truly competent and kind agent that is rare to find."
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"I just wanted to drop a line to say well done on Flat 3. Your perseverance and determination with both a difficult buyer and myself (also difficult!) won through in the end. Well done and thank you."
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"Amazing! Not sure how you manage it. You seem to be able to recruit brilliant and lovely people and then also manage to hang on to them… once again I am so appreciative of the service I receive from your team at GH Highgate office. They are so professional and patient and cannot do enough to advise, support and generally ensure that the whole project of transitioning between tenants is professionally managed and as stress-free as it possibly can be." | {
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New Jersey will lose a congressional seat
This is a great Christmas Present for all New Jerseyans. There are multiple horrible members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation and any one of them being sent into early retirement is welcome news. | {
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Alaska highway officials say they've never seen an avalanche this large touch a road
The Richardson Highway near Mile 16 is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
The Richardson Highway near Mile 16 is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
The Richardson Highway near Mile 16 is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
The Richardson Highway near Mile 16 is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
The Richardson Highway near Mile 16 is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
The Richardson Highway, near Mile 16, is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch, right, near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
Photo by Jason Sakalaskas / ADOT&PF
Robert Dunning, Valdez District Superintendent of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities inspects avalanche debris in Keystone Canyon Tuesday, January 28, 2014.
Jason Sakalaskas / ADOT&PF
Robert Dunning, Valdez District Superintendent of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities inspects the Lowe River bridge in Keystone Canyon Tuesday, January 28, 2014.
A helicopter surveys the lake that has submerged the Richardson Highway Monday, Jan. 27, 2014 outside Valdez. Snow slides covering the highway have also damned the Lowe River, complicating efforts to clear the road.
A helicopter surveys the scene where a natural avalanche and another avalanche triggered by blasting have covered the Richardson Highway and damned the Lowe River to create a lake on Monday morning, Jan. 27, 2014, in Keystone Canyon outside Valdez. Some water is escaping through a railroad tunnel.
Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
A helicopter surveys the scene where an avalanche has damned the Lowe River and submerged the Richardson Highway in snow and water Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, in Keystone Canyon outside Valdez. Some water is escaping through a railroad tunnel.
An aerial survey shows how avalanches have damned the Lowe River and submerged the Richardson Highway in snow and water Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, in Keystone Canyon outside Valdez. Some water is escaping through a railroad tunnel.
A helicopter surveys the scene where a natural avalanche and another avalanche triggered by blasting have covered the Richardson Highway and damned the Lowe River to create a lake on Monday morning, Jan. 27, 2014, in Keystone Canyon outside Valdez. Some water is escaping through a railroad tunnel.
Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
This photo provided by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities shows multiple avalanches that crossed the Richardson Highway in the Thompson Pass region of Valdez, Alaska, causing flooding. Alaska highway officials say the only highway into the city of 4,100 people will be closed until further notice, for at least a week, if not much longer.
A helicopter surveys the scene where an avalanche has damned the Lowe River and submerged the Richardson Highway in snow and water Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, in Keystone Canyon outside Valdez. Some water is escaping through a railroad tunnel.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
Slides spill off the mountain sides near the Richardson Highway at MP 42. DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
Slides spill off the mountain sides near the Richardson Highway at MP 42. DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
These slides covered the road and dammed the Lowe River in Keystone Canyon at MP 15.5. DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
Slides cover a length of the Richardson Highway at MP 45 just south of Stuart Creek. DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
The Richardson Highway near Mile 16 is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
The Richardson Highway near Mile 16 is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
The Richardson Highway near Mile 16 is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
The Richardson Highway near Mile 16 is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
The Richardson Highway near Mile 16 is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
The Richardson Highway, near Mile 16, is still buried under debris from a massive avalanche in Snowslide Gulch, right, near Keystone Canyon and the Lowe River as road crews wait for the flooding to recede on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
Photo by Jason Sakalaskas / ADOT&PF
Robert Dunning, Valdez District Superintendent of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities inspects avalanche debris in Keystone Canyon Tuesday, January 28, 2014.
Jason Sakalaskas / ADOT&PF
Robert Dunning, Valdez District Superintendent of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities inspects the Lowe River bridge in Keystone Canyon Tuesday, January 28, 2014.
A helicopter surveys the lake that has submerged the Richardson Highway Monday, Jan. 27, 2014 outside Valdez. Snow slides covering the highway have also damned the Lowe River, complicating efforts to clear the road.
A helicopter surveys the scene where a natural avalanche and another avalanche triggered by blasting have covered the Richardson Highway and damned the Lowe River to create a lake on Monday morning, Jan. 27, 2014, in Keystone Canyon outside Valdez. Some water is escaping through a railroad tunnel.
Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
A helicopter surveys the scene where an avalanche has damned the Lowe River and submerged the Richardson Highway in snow and water Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, in Keystone Canyon outside Valdez. Some water is escaping through a railroad tunnel.
An aerial survey shows how avalanches have damned the Lowe River and submerged the Richardson Highway in snow and water Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, in Keystone Canyon outside Valdez. Some water is escaping through a railroad tunnel.
A helicopter surveys the scene where a natural avalanche and another avalanche triggered by blasting have covered the Richardson Highway and damned the Lowe River to create a lake on Monday morning, Jan. 27, 2014, in Keystone Canyon outside Valdez. Some water is escaping through a railroad tunnel.
Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
This photo provided by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities shows multiple avalanches that crossed the Richardson Highway in the Thompson Pass region of Valdez, Alaska, causing flooding. Alaska highway officials say the only highway into the city of 4,100 people will be closed until further notice, for at least a week, if not much longer.
A helicopter surveys the scene where an avalanche has damned the Lowe River and submerged the Richardson Highway in snow and water Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, in Keystone Canyon outside Valdez. Some water is escaping through a railroad tunnel.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
Slides spill off the mountain sides near the Richardson Highway at MP 42. DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
Slides spill off the mountain sides near the Richardson Highway at MP 42. DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
These slides covered the road and dammed the Lowe River in Keystone Canyon at MP 15.5. DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
Slides cover a length of the Richardson Highway at MP 45 just south of Stuart Creek. DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company photo
DOT has closed the road from Mile 12 (about 12 miles north of Valdez) to Mile 64. Avalanches in Keystone Canyon near Valdez have buried parts of the Richardson Highway several hundred feet long and between 30 and 40 feet deep.
Alyeska Pipeline Company
A massive pile of avalanche debris kept the Richardson Highway closed on Monday, and officials were reluctant to offer any forecast on when the only road into Valdez would reopen.
The threat posed by a half-mile-long lake pooled behind a snow dam in Keystone Canyon and continuing avalanche danger from the slopes above make it too dangerous for crews to move in and begin cleaning up, officials said.
"There are just too many unknowns at this point," statewide maintenance engineer Mike Coffey said.
Valdez city officials have consistently said they expect the highway to be closed "for at least one week, but very possibly longer," according to city spokeswoman Sheri Pierce. The Alaska Department of Transportation had been more optimistic, saying on Sunday it could be re-opened as early as Tuesday. But a flyover Monday showed the scale of the dammed water, Coffey said, and the state said simply the road was closed "until further notice."
Valdez is prepared to ride out being cut off. Groceries have been replenished at the town supermarket. Extra flights to and from Anchorage were added. The Alaska Marine Highway System will make additional runs to Valdez, ferrying passengers to the road system via Whittier.
The situation on the Richardson Highway, involving multiple avalanches on both sides of Thompson Pass, is "extraordinary," Coffey said.
"We haven't had to deal with anything quite like this before."
BIG SLIDES
At least two giant avalanches -- one natural and one triggered by blasting -- and a half-dozen smaller ones covered parts of the Richardson Highway on Monday, according to DOT officials.
The largest slide is also the closest to Valdez, at Mile 16 of the highway in Keystone Canyon.
The avalanche debris field in the canyon is estimated to be 100 feet tall and between 1,000 feet and 1,500 feet long.
Highway officials say they've never seen an avalanche this large touch a roadway.
The other major slide is at Mile 39, toward the north end of the closure. It is estimated to be between 30-40 feet deep.
Between a half-dozen and a dozen smaller, isolated slides dot the highway closure area, between Mile 12 and Mile 64.
Most only cover a single lane of the roadway, Coffey said.
SNOW DAM
The real problem is the snow dam created by the enormous Keystone Canyon slide, and the water it is holding.
That avalanche choked off the Lowe River, which normally snakes through the narrow canyon alongside the highway.
The river is typically frozen at this time of year, officials said.
But with heavy rains and unseasonably warm weather for January, it has been moving at about a third of its normal summer flow -- when it becomes a destination for white water rafters, said Valdez DOT superintendent Robert Dunning.
Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, the snow dam flooded the valley upstream, pooling a half-mile-long lake dotted with ice and snow clumps. At its peak, that lake was rising by an inch or more an hour, Coffey said.
The backed-up water would pose a grave risk to workers downstream if there were to be a catastrophic break of the snow dam, he said.
That's unlikely, but it poses enough of a threat that workers can't be allowed in until the water drains, said Jeremy Woodrow, a state Department of Transportation spokesman.
So far, there are encouraging signs: The water appears to be receding and flowing through an old railroad tunnel and the snow pack.
A voluntary evacuation advisory for the Nordic and Alpine Wood subdivisions, about two miles from the Keystone Canyon, is still in effect Monday, said Holly Wolgamott, deputy city clerk in Valdez.
Wolgamott said she's heard that some residents have left their homes in the subdivisions to stay with friends and family or at a hotel, but no one has stayed at the shelter.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood advisory until noon Tuesday for the area along the Richardson Highway from Keystone Canyon to Mile 5.
If sirens sound in the area under voluntary evacuation, all residents must immediately evacuate, said the Valdez statement.
When there's no risk from a surge of water, crews can get into the area to begin carting away snow, ice, and rock brought down by the avalanche, Coffey said. That work should take "days, not weeks," he said.
PIPELINE OK
The avalanches and dammed water don't appear to pose a risk to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, according to Michelle Egan, a spokeswoman for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.
The 800-mile pipeline, which starts at Prudhoe Bay and ends at the tanker terminal in Valdez, goes underground at Mile 63 of the Richardson Highway -- more than 20 miles from the closest avalanche, Egan said.
During construction in the 1970s, engineers decided to bury the pipeline to safeguard it from the risk of avalanche or rockslide in the rugged, steep terrain, she said.
The pipeline crosses the Lowe River just under a mile and more than 30 feet higher in elevation from the lake formed by a slide that dammed the river.
Alyeska officials are keeping an eye on that section and a check valve -- used to prevent the reverse flow of oil - encased in pipe about nine feet down. Egan said even if water reached the area of the valve, it wouldn't be expected to cause any hazards.
Alyeska is conducting daily helicopter surveillance flights to monitor the area, she said. "There's a significant weather event in that area so we're watching it really closely ...it's changing conditions all the time. We're glad to see the water level going down."
LOTS OF SNOW, LOTS OF RAIN
The conditions that led up to the flurry of avalanches can be summed up easily, said Valdez Avalanche Center forecaster Pete Carter: lots of snow followed by lots of rain -- nearly a foot in the hours before the road-blocking slides began on Friday.
With temperatures rising, the warming snowpack became "a quivering bowl of jelly," Carter wrote in an email Monday.
Thompson Pass has been in a state of heightened avalanche activity since Jan. 14, Carter said.
"This was a long-foreseeable event," Carter said.
On Friday, Valdez residents woke up to huge slabs of snow missing from the mountains that jut up behind town.
"Everybody woke up Friday morning and the mountains had fallen down around town," Carter said. "There was nobody who didn't realize something was going on."
The first big slides in Thompson Pass were natural, officials said.
But on Saturday DOT workers using explosives triggered a massive slide bigger than the natural one.
Triggered slides are a way of releasing snow in a controlled way, Woodrow said.
Unstable snowpack is still clinging to mountainsides in Keystone Canyon, Carter said.
KNOWN FOR SNOW
Meanwhile, the airport and port at Valdez remain open and DOT is working to reroute two additional ferries to Valdez this week to and from Whittier while the road is closed, Woodrow said.
Valdez is known for snow. Thompson Pass gets an average of 600 inches per year. During the winter of 1952, 974.1 inches of snow fell in Thompson Pass, the most ever recorded in the U.S., according to the city.
That snow can halt a major artery in the state's highway system is not hard to believe if you've ever seen an avalanche, Carter said.
From a helicopter, a huge snow slide starts with a fissure in the mountainside and transforms into something that Carter describes as looking like a "dragon" of snow: "They have those great snaking tails and are just always moving and pushing and building." | {
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A man made famous by his hip-hop career will fight a man made famous for killing a 17-year-old in Florida, TMZ reports. It hasn’t been officially announced, but rapper Earl Simmons, a.k.a DMX, will fight George Zimmerman on March 1 in a three-round “Celebrity Boxing” match. Earlier this year, Zimmerman told Radar Online he had […]
[Read More]
Former Philadelphia 76ers point guard Allen Iverson – he of ”we’re talking about practice” fame, one of the best ball handlers and biggest ball hogs of his time – was known for his crossovers. He even crossed up “His Airness” Michael Jordan. But when the retired baller tried to pull a custody crossover on his ex-wife Tawanna
[Read More]
TMZ is known for its quick reporting on celebrity deaths and posted yesterday about the loss of one of their own, the site’s founder Jim Paratore. Paratore, who also created TMZ’s TV show and talk shows “Ellen” and “Rosie,” died at age 58 of a heart attack, the site said. He was on a bike […]
[Read More]
The rock band Rush, unhappy that their song, “The Spirit of Radio” was playing on Rush Limbaugh’s show, have sent a cease-and-desist order to Limbaugh, demanding he stop using their music on his radio program, TMZ.com is reporting.
[Read More] | {
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RV & Solar Fast Facts
The RV industry continues to grow as more people take advantage of the many benefits an RV can bring. Del City looked into how solar power can help the RV industry thrive. Download the infographic for RV & Solar Fast Facts below. For a more comprehensive look at solar power, check out our free ebook. | {
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The Best Types of iPhone 7 Plus Cases
There is no doubt that Apple has been bringing forward some impressive smartphones and electronics. These cell phones are important assets for users since they can access just about anything from them. They also serve in storing important files including photos, videos, notes, or reminders.
Taking good care of your cellular device requires investing in certain accessories, the most important one being a case. As such, we want to focus this article on the best cases for the iPhone 7 Plus. This will ensure that you invest wisely and purchase a phone cover that will do its job, which is to protect, while also giving you the added bonus of functionality and style.
Apple
You can’t go wrong with a case that was manufactured by Apple. A popular selection among customers are their leather cases. They have been making these for some years now and they’ve been a huge hit!
One disadvantage of this selection is that Apple products tend to be more expensive than those found on Amazon or other stores. While their cases may cost more money, keep in mind that they offer extreme protection and last a very long time, making them worth it in the long run.
2. Wallet Cases
It’s no surprise that wallet cases continue to be used by consumers. These multi-purpose accessories can be found in a wide range of colors, styles, prices, and materials. They will not offer the same amount of protection as an Apple selection. However, they make it simple to transport your phone, credit cards, and cash.
Additionally, not only are wallet cases stylish, but they also offer security and convenience. These accessories can easily be attached to your belt strap or hip, so you can have your important possessions directly on your person. This not only decreases the chances of theft, but these types of cases are also a great way to stay organized and have everything you need in one spot!
If you decide to go with this option, be sure to invest in a wallet case made from quality material such as leather. This will ensure your phone fits snugly and is well protected. It will also last you a longer time than investing in a cheaper model. Remember, sometimes it’s best to spend a little bit more money when it comes to taking care of your phone.
3. Casely Cases
Casely is a popular brand that sells a wide variety of phone covers for the 7 Plus at cost-effective prices. Their marble cases for instance, fit snugly on the iPhone 7 Plus while providing amazing protection. Not only are their cases durable and affordable, but they are available in different colors, styles, and designs. They also sell other important accessories that you should consider investing in like screen protectors and chargers.
4. Otterbox Defender Series
Several people swear that this type of case is the best out there for any type of iPhone. The Defender Series is the toughest case offered by Otterbox, and it does the trick. This case is made from sturdy silicone and already includes a built-in screen protector, which means you don’t have to purchase one.
Surrounded by a polycarbonate shell, you can have peace of mind that nothing will touch your iPhone 7 plus. Otterbox puts their cases through rigorous testing to ensure they offer superior protection. They have been a popular selection among iPhone users, and we don’t see that changing anytime soon.
However, if you’re an iPhone user, you already know that this brand is not the cheapest out there. The iPhone 7 Plus is expensive even though there are later models currently being sold such as the iPhone 8 or X. Nevertheless, you want to protect your phone immediately after you buy it by investing in a quality case.
The Takeaway
We hope this guide has helped you narrow down your search for an iPhone 7 Plus case. There are several options available on the market, however, these are just the top four types of phone covers that have shown remarkable protection for iPhones.
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About Content Partner
This article is a paid or sponsored content. MobilityArena has vetted the links at the time of publication; however, the articles should not be considered a blanket endorsement for the products or services highlighted herein. Money generated here is used to help pay for the running of the site. | {
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GrandVideo Privacy Promise
Here at GrandVideo, our goal is to give you and your family a timeless video keepsake. In doing so, we also want to make sure that we deal with your intimate family media responsibly and securely.
Upon ordering a GrandVideo, you will receive a private Dropbox link to which you may upload your media files. This link is not shared to or viewable by anyone but GrandVideo and you, and we keep it that way.
After the editing process is finished and we've made your video just right, we delete all source files originally provided to us so that they only belong to you again. We do not retain any rights to your source files, and we will not use them in any way unless we explicitly reach out to you and ask for permission.
We do, however, keep the finished copy of your video with us on our private, secure Dropbox account, not visible to anyone but GrandVideo. We only retain this copy so that, in the event that you misplace your delivered file, we can redeliver it do you and it's not gone forever!
We will not publicly share any portion of your finished video in any way without your explicit consent, which we will occasionally ask directly through email.
Lastly, we are a small shop here at GrandVideo, and mostly all videos are edited by me, Chris. Any additional editing help will be performed by a single editor that is thoroughly vetted and legally obligated to uphold the GrandVideo privacy promise written above. Their biographies, work experience, and profile will be publicly available online should you have any concern with who sees your family media.
Should you have any concerns with the above, email [email protected]. | {
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Trump Says He Doesn't Think Winfrey Will Run
The emotional and barnstorming speech set off fevered speculation online that this could be construed as her first campaign speech.
Presidential daughter and White House senior advisor Ivanka Trump took to Twitter on Monday to join the chorus of praise for Oprah as she exhorted both women and men to unite and say "times up", referring to a Hollywood-led movement against harassment. I'm assuming she'd run as a Democrat, since that's where her worldview and sensibilities best fit.
A majority of voters, 52%,-said they viewed her favorably, including a whopping 72% favorable vs. 7% unfavorable rating among Democratic voters, an optimistic sign for a potential Democratic primary.
"It's up to the people...she would absolutely do it", Graham told the Los Angeles Times.
However, this was not enough to dampen the excitement of the people.
Last fall Winfrey dismissed the notion of running for president. Her longtime partner suggested that she could be persuaded.
Trump said at the time: "If she'd do it, she'd be fantastic. If she runs, she will destroy anyone in front of her".
"I don't think she had any intention of declaring", she added. But now she doesn't have a choice, ' Streep said.
If the speculation is wishful thinking, Winfrey's fame and wealth, extraordinary personal story overcoming poverty, child sexual abuse and pregnancy to build a $2.8 billion fortune and Oscar-nominated acting career, the scales would definitely tilt in her favour. "She is probably the mostbeloved carbon-based life-form on this Earth". On the one hand, Trump's abysmal performance in office proves, as if it needed proving, that experience is a good thing for a president to have.
The 64-year-old media mogul has become a cultural phenomenon.
Winfrey, 63, received a lifetime achievement award at NBC's Golden Globes ceremony, becoming the first black woman to receive that award.
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But now that North Korea has developed the weapons and the missiles to carry them, it's not likely to give it up, experts say. In that conversation, the two leaders promised to intensify policy coordination on the North Korean nuclear issue.
Cohen said in a statement to The Journal that Trump "once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Trumpism, understood correctly, at its core, could always be summed up as Donald Trump first.
Helfrich will not be calling plays initially, but he will inherit a second-year quarterback in Mitchell Trubisky. In Helfrich, Nagy has hired an offensive coordinator whose best work comes with a system different from his own.
There is no update regarding punishment for the Call of Duty player that apparently provided Finch's address as his own. Glendale police believe he was involved in at least two dozen other swatting and hoax calls around Southern California.
A foreign submarine was also detected in the same area on Wednesday as well as on Thursday, according to Japan's Defense Ministry. Relations between Japan and China deteriorated in 2012 when Tokyo "nationalised" some of the islets.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITY WARNING: " Delta Air Lines ( DAL ) Updates Q1 Earnings Guidance " was published by BBNS and is owned by of BBNS. WARNING: This story was originally posted by The Lincolnian Online and is the property of of The Lincolnian Online.
In construction sector, the Government clarified that real-estate broking service eligible for 100% FDI under automatic route. Earlier also 100 per cent FDI was allowed in the segment, but it required government approval.
Crimson Days ( Destiny's Valentine's Day event) will be on this year (after having skipped last year ), starting February 13. When multi-emote launches, you will be able to choose which emote you have equipped to each of your four emote slots.
Riven by partisan conflict, the committee appears to be on track to produce two reports - one from each party. The most aggressive of the three committees so far, with a reasonable appearance of bipartisanship.
However, the Los Angeles Times caught up with Wiseau after the ceremony, at which point praised Franco as an actor and director. Franco shut that down pretty quick, but it was probably the only way that moment could have gone.
Detective Pikachu Coming to 3DS March 2018
For those who haven't been keeping up, Detective Pikachu is a mystery adventure game, somewhat similar to the Ace Attorney titles. While Ryan Reynolds has the role of Detective Pikachu in the upcoming feature film, he's not the voice you hear in the trailer.
British PM resumes reshuffle after chaotic start
James Brokenshire said he was quitting because he is about to have surgery for a lesion on his lung and will need time to recover. Theresa May, centre, with the new Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis , left, and his deputy James Cleverly right.
NBC To Stream Olympics Video In Virtual Reality
And when they land on the top of the podium, they'll be wearing intensely warm gear that was unveiled Tuesday by Nike and the U.S. Overall, Emrick has worked five Olympic Games for NBC, two for CBS and one for TNT, including sports other than hockey.
China warns of United States protectionism after Huawei setback
The letter also cited apprehension regarding a pending deal between Huawei and an unnamed American telecommunications company. Samsung had previously filed a countersuit, also in China, accusing Huawei of infringing 4G-related patents, WIPR reported .
Marriott, Delta in hot water with China
Taiwan and the mainland split in 1949 after a civil war but the Communist Beijing government claims the island as its territory. Marriott apologized profusely, saying it respects and supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China. | {
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Category Archives: directions
The camping spot is an excellent spot to park your RV for the night. Located along Hwy 375, this location provides an excellent place to view the skies above Area 51–as it is slightly higher in elevation than the Black Mailbox.
While this area provides no amenities, it is located less than 20 miles from the gas station in Ash Springs, and less than 25 miles from the Little A’Le’Inn in Rachel.
Directions: Take Hwy 375 (the Extraterrestrial Highway) to half way between Lincoln County mile markers 32 and 33. Traveling northwest, you should see a small gravel parking area to the left of the road.
GPS Location: 37° 25.931′ N, 115° 26.689′ W
Accessibility: Any vehicle suited to Highway travel should be able to reach this spot.
Amenities: None–it is just a small parking area on the side of the road. | {
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Menu
Stars
They lie on their backs, shoulder to shoulder,
staring up at the stars. Wondering, is she the one?
Is he? But the most important thing is this moment;
the cool of the grass, the warmth of each other.
The universe hears their question. Attention and
patience will bring the reply. Until then,
with hopeful smiles on their faces,
they wish on each falling star.
Standing now, hand in hand. The Milky Way
stretching across the sky, looks brighter
than ever. Are we really made of stars?
These two people feel that to be true.
The night sky fills them with reverence,
wonderment, and love. They turn toward
each other. And the stars in each other’s
eyes give them the answer they seek. | {
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Comcast Cable is one of the premier cable companies in the country. Their Xfinity digital cable services already service millions of customers around the country. If you have another cable company you have been unhappy with due to poor service or lack thereof, it may be time to consider other options. Comcast offers quality cable service that unlike other providers rarely goes out. With Comcast Cable you’ll receive the best cable service possible and quality customer service with fast response times to any problems and inquires, should you have any. With that said, you may have heard some misconceptions about Comcast that you should be aware of. Discover why this summer is the time to switch to Comcast Cable. Here are the top 8 myths about Comcast Cable debunked.
MYTH: It's too difficult to figure out what channels I'm getting when I choose a package.
While it might seem a little frustrating figuring out what exactly you are getting for your money, there are ways to figure it out which is relatively simple. For one, you can call and inquire which channels are tied to certain packages, but you may forget just what channels you are looking for. The best way to figure out what channels you'll get is to go online and search through tv plans. The website lists all channels and tells you what channels are available and which are not.
4
MYTH: Comcast doesn't offer many channels.
Comcast actually offers many channels for your money. The Digital Starter is less that $50 and provides you with 140 channels.Their most expensive deal offers over 260 channels. No matter what interests you, Comcast can provide just the channels you are looking for. Even with their lower priced packages you can get premium channels such as HBO.
3
MYTH: Comcast appointment windows are too long.
Often cable companies will give you an appointment window, for installation or repair, that lasts several hours. You may wait for them all day just for them to show up after the appointment, but this is not the case with Comcast. With Comcast, you'll only have 2 hour appointment windows, which means little waiting and fast response times from a company that values your time and will pay you in the event of a late arrival.
0
MYTH: Comcast doesn't offer enough packages.
Comcast actually offers a number of great packages featuring a wide variety of channels. If there are only certain channels you are looking for, but you don't want to have to pay for hundreds of other ones that you don't need, there's likely a package out there to meet your particular needs. To give you a little perspective, Comcast offers over 10 different packages.
-1
MYTH: Comcast has poor customer service.
This one is definitely a myth. In fact, Comcast prides itself in having the best customer service possible. By giving Comcast a call, shooting an email or even initiating a chat, a customer service representative will address any questions or concerns you have in a timely manner. Their response time is only match by their eagerness to help you with any problem you may have. Although most cable companies prove the contrary, Comcast aims for the opposite using well-trained customer service representatives that are great with people.
-2
MYTH: Comcast doesn't offer foreign language channels.
This is especially false. Comcast offers over 60 Spanish channels including Galavision. With packages like the X1 Double Play, you'll get all the Spanish speaking channels that Comcast has to offer. Comcast prides itself in offering culturally diverse channels for Spanish speaking customers and their families. Additionally, they offer international channels from countries like Germany, Brazil and South Asia.
-3
MYTH: Comcast is too expensive.
In comparison to most cable companies, Comcast is actually one of the more affordable cable companies out there. With the variety of packages available, you can find a cable package that fits your budget. Most of the packages can be purchased for less than $100. Meanwhile, if you are on a strict budget, an Economy package can be purchased for less than $40.
-6
MYTH: Prices will be the same no matter where you live.
Unfortunately this is not true, whch may be good or bad depending on where you live. Prices will vary depending on your location. You may be paying more or you may be paying less for the same package as another. Additionally, certain packages may not be available in your area. | {
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“According to the 1/24/13 Park Station Newsletter, in that week they recovered 11 shopping carts, describing it as misappropriation of property. An example entry from the report:‘Officer Diskin recovered a misappropriated shopping cart and admonished the culprit who had misappropriated it.'”
This is what it looks like.
Stage left – officer Diskin nabs yet another shopping cart in the Western Addition / Upper Haight areas, his fourth shopping cart collar of the morning of January 29th:
“According to the 1/24/13 Park Station Newsletter in that week they recovered 11 shopping carts, describing it as misappropriation of property. An example entry from the report:‘Officer Diskin recovered a misappropriated shopping cart and admonished the culprit who had misappropriated it.'”
Things, allegedly, were working out so well before, back when naive Ron Conway was spending money to elect and unelect Christina Olague AT THE SAME TIME. You’re not that politically astute, are you, Ron Conway?
And if you, the high-level worker at Equality, labored there during that controversial period, would you put it on your Linked In? I wouldn’t relish doing that neither.
Anyway, have at it:
“Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
Senior Executive Education2009 – 2009
Activities and Societies: David Bohnett Fellow
Education Senior Executive Education at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
Atlas Leadership Strategies is a political coaching and consulting firm specializing in client specific advanced political leadership skill development by providing discreet, highly confidential one-to-one support to:Chief Executive Political Coach and Consultant
Atlas Leadership Strategies January 2011 – Present (2 years)
– persons considering running for office – for the first time or following a defeat
– newly elected and appointed officials to help set their agenda for the first few months in office
– experienced elected and appointed officials considering running for another office or transitioning out of public office (retiring)
Chief Executive Political Coach and Consultant Andrea Shorter, brings 25 years as an accomplished public official, cutting edge public policy leader, political strategist, and civil and human rights advocate. She has developed a results oriented one-on-one political leadership coaching style sought by state and local government officials. She continues to provide public policy, messaging strategies, and crisis management consultation to candidates, non-profit and political organization leaders, and key elected officials including Mayors, District Attorneys, State Legislators, County Supervisors, School Board Commissioners, Trustees, and the California Attorney General.
In 2009, Andrea was awarded the prestigious David Bohnett Fellowship at the Harvard-Kennedy School’s Executive Education Program in State and Local Government”
And it has some enlightening tidbits that should be of interest to everybody in The Richmond and beyond. Like this You May Already Have Won scam:
“On 02/18/09 at 11:45am, officers working responded to a call from a financial advisor at a financial institution on Market St. regarding an elderly client who was possibly the victim of a fraud or scam.The officers learned that the victim, an 83 year old a Richmond District resident, had been withdrawing large amounts of money from their account since 02/10/09.On 02/12/09 the victim withdrew a $40,000.00 ostensibly to buy a house and thus needed to close their account.When questioned further by the advisor, the victim said she had won the lottery and needed to pay taxes before receiving her winnings.The officers went to the victim’s home and learned that she had received several phone calls from a male who claimed that the victim had won $2.5 million dollars in the lottery and needed to wire funds to a particular account in Jamaica to pay the taxes before collecting the winnings.The officers explained to the victim that they suspected fraud and instructed the victim not to send any money.The woman was hesitant as she truly believed that she had won the lottery, but agreed not to send any additional money.Several other agencies were contacted by the officers to assist the victim.On 02/19/09 officers went to the victims’ home again to check in with her and learned that after the officers left the previous day she had received another phone call from the suspect who convinced her that she had in fact won the lottery and that the money had to be sent.The victim had just returned from sending a cashiers check via an overnight express.Officers took the victim back to the express office and were able to retrieve the check.” | {
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New Android Mobile Puzzle Game Fluzzles Released
Fluzzles is a mobile puzzle game I developed for Android using Unity and C# and published on Google Play.
The name is derived from joining the words “flowers” with “puzzles” and the game follows the same logic. Fluzzles combines the beauty of flowers with the challenge of a sliding puzzle game to produce hours of fun. There are twelve levels of game play, three levels of difficulty (easy, medium, and hard), and three grid system modes (3*3,4*4, and 5*5). The play settings button you find available on the welcome screen takes you to the Grid System screen where you can choose the level of difficulty that is right for you.
Once you begin to play Fluzzles, one of the first things you’ll notice is the beautiful music you hear that accompanies your game play matched with the rhythm of your game pace because it’s in sync with the running timer and move counts. This effect is designed to create a peaceful yet fun ambiance that is just as energetic as it is relaxing for the user.
The object of the game is to arrange each image-sliced puzzle piece of a level’s flower so that the completed Fluzzle matches the picture of the flower (shown to the right of the grid) using as few moves and as little time as possible.
After you complete a Fluzzle (level), your game screen automatically transforms into the completed level screen where you see your current score for moves, your current score for time, and the best record score for moves and the best record score for time used to complete the level. The first increment was released this morning and new increments based on initial feedback will be forthcoming.
Here is a direct link to the Fluzzles free puzzle game listing in Google Play: | {
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Official Trials Evolution Trailers!
Here's a listing of all of our Official Trials Evolution Trailers in reverse-chronological order! Enjoy!
Trials Evolution Launch Trailer
Time to take Trials HD to the next level. Meet Trials Evolution! The new Xbox LIVE hit is now available! Get ready for the blast of the year!
Trials Evolution Editor Trailer
The World of Trials Evolution is what you make of it! Create anything, share it with your friends or online with everyone!
Trials Evolution Gameplay Trailer #2
It's survival of the fastest...so get ready to get thrilled! Here is a jaw-dropping, bone-busting full gameplay trailer for the upcoming XBLA hit, Trials Evolution!
April 18th can't get here soon enough for Trials fans, but believe it or not, there are still people out there who haven't heard the news about Trials Evolution? Shame on them -- but here's a new gameplay trailer that might just wake them out of their shooter-induced stupor, just in time for you to kick their asses all over the Leader Boards!
Trials Evolution Gameplay Trailer #1
It's survival of the fastest in Spring 2012...so get ready to get thrilled! Here is a jaw-dropping, bone-busting full gameplay trailer for the upcoming XBLA hit, Trials Evolution!
Trials Evolution World Debut Teaser
Take a look at this teaser trailer of the next Xbox LIVE Arcade game from RedLynx. Trials Evolution is on every front, the next dimension of the smash-hit, award-winning Trials HD. Bust out of the warehouse into an outdoor world of night and day, curved driving lines, and spectacular scenery. Multiplayer comes alive, in your living room or on Xbox LIVE. Build your own tracks with the included editor or download those of any other player from the new Track Central. Trials Evolution is survival of the fastest. | {
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} |
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Drastic changes needed to curb N2O, most potent greenhouse gas: study
April 12, 2012
Meat consumption in the developed world needs to be cut by 50 per cent per person by 2050 if we are to meet the most aggressive strategy, set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to reduce one of the most important greenhouse gases, nitrous oxide (N2O).
This is the finding from a new study, published today, 13 April, in IOP Publishing's Environmental Research Letters, which also claims that N2O emissions from the industrial and agricultural sectors will also need to be cut by 50 per cent if targets are to be met.
The findings have been made by Dr Eric A Davidson of The Woods Hole Research Center, Massachusetts, and demonstrate the magnitude of changes needed to stabilise atmospheric N2O concentrations as well as improve the diets of the growing human population.
N2O is the third highest contributor to climate change behind carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4); however, it poses a greater challenge to mitigate as nitrogen is an essential element for food production.
It is also the most potent of these three greenhouse gases as it is a much better absorber of infrared radiation; however, the total anthropogenic emissions are about 6 million metric tons of nitrogen as N2O compared to 10 billion metric tons of carbon as CO2.
The main sources of N2O are from the spreading of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers onto agricultural soils and storage and use of livestock manure. The nitrogen contained in fertilizers and manure is broken down by microbes that live in the soil and released into the atmosphere as N2O.
Dr Davidson believes that N2O emissions can be reduced through better management of fertilizer and manure sources, as well as reducing the developed world's per capita meat consumption to relieve pressure on fertilizer demand and reduce growth in the amount of manure being produced.
In a draft of the IPCC's fifth assessment report, four scenarios have been adopted, known as representative concentration pathways (RCPs), which represent possible pathways of reductions for a number of greenhouse gases. Dr Davidson evaluated the scale of changes needed to meet the predicted N2O pathways.
Three of the IPCC's less aggressive scenarios could be met by reducing meat consumption, improving agricultural practices or reducing emissions from industry. The most aggressive scenario, where N2O concentrations stabilise by 2050, can only be met if a 50 per cent reduction, or improvement, for each of the above is achieved.
To make these calculations, Dr Davidson relied on data provided by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, which assumes that the global population will increase to 8.9 billion by 2050 and the daily calorific intake per capita will increase to 3130 kcal.
They also assume that the average meat consumption of each person in the developed world will rise from 78 kg per year in 2002 to 89 kg per year in 2030 and from 28 kg per year in 2002 to 37 kg per year for each person in the developing world.
Assessing the likelihood of reducing meat consumption in the developed world by 50 per cent, Dr Davidson said: "If you had asked me 30 years ago if smoking would be banned in bars I would have laughed and said that would be impossible in my lifetime, and yet it has come true.
"Are similar changes possible for diet? That will depend not only on education about diet, but also upon prices of meat. Some agricultural economists think that the price of meat is going to go way up, so that per capita consumption will go down, but those are highly uncertain projections."
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Just stop eating meat and this does a lot of positive things on the environment and food industry.Not just reducing N2O, methane and CO2 but also less stress on fresh water supply.And not to forget the tons healthier diet.
Yes, and when the developed world reduces it's consumption of meat by 50% the much larger "less developed" world will likely INCREASE it's meat consumption by a much larger percentage. To stop that we need a "1984" type one world gov't. HMMMM.... GMAFB!
So the more vegetarians there are, the more meat becomes available for others, even if conservation efforts take place. Stop disparaging the vegans and vegetarians, and encourage others to do it more, people! It will mean more meat for the rest of us! | {
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When it comes to life-changing products, there’s a very fine line between “weird” and “genius.” After all, if an item was typical, you’d probably own it already. These odd but brilliant Amazon products are selling out for a reason. They boost your efficiency, brighten your day, and improve your home in ways that you might not expect — and if you’re hesitant to click the “add to cart” button, most of them are backed up by hundreds (if not thousands) of rave reviews.
Whitening your teeth by spreading black powder all over them might seem a little counter-intuitive, but the 15,000-plus reviews on this Active Wow Charcoal Powder don’t lie. Rather than utilizing harsh chemicals that cause sensitivities, this stuff is packed with activated charcoal and bentonite clay, which use their extremely absorbent qualities to gently soak up odors and stains. It works on general yellowing as well as discoloration from coffee, smoking, tea, and wine, and it even has orange seed oil for gum health. The before and after pictures are astonishing. $20 — Shop Now
Up until now, you had two options when you had to use the bathroom at 2 AM: turn on the overhead light and disturb your partner, or risk stubbing your toe on furniture in the dark. Now there’s the Vansky Motion-Activated Bed Light, which automatically creates a soft glow when your feet touch the floor. It’s made with a powerful infrared-sensing detector, has multiple auto-off timers for you to choose from, and comes in a flexible LED light strip that’s easy to install anywhere, including under counters or along hallways. $22 — Shop Now
How often do you reach for your reading glasses only to realize you left them at home? ThinOptics are brilliant, foldable reading glasses with a flexible nose bridge that allows you to store them in a tiny key-chain. That way, wherever you go, they go, too. They use optical-grade polycarbonate lenses, so they’re extremely light yet shatterproof, and they’re available in six frame colors and four different strengths. $20 — Shop Now
If you’re perpetually frustrated by either the length of your phone charger or how inaccessible your outlets are, try this: the Lamp Champ USB Adapter. This brilliant gadget screws into any existing lamp to both power the bulb and create a brand new USB port on your night stand. It installs in seconds, works to charge everything from phones to E-books, and has a handy switch that controls the light. $17 — Shop Now
This unique closet accessory looks more like a piece of modern art than an organizer, but people are raving about the DecoBros Supreme Hanger. It uses 23 carefully-designed loops to hold your scarves, belts, leggings, stockings, ties, or even small towels. Its sleek chrome finish matches any decor, and it’s made with a durable metal construction that can hold a surprising amount of weight. Basically, it’s a great way to display all those items that would otherwise end up on your closet floor. $11 — Shop Now
It looks like any other bath mat, so your guests will never know the difference — but you will, especially on cleaning day. The Bazal Mat is actually made from Diatomaceous Earth, which is a totally natural sedimentary rock that soaks up water and odors. In fact, it’s antibacterial to prevent the growth of germs and mildew. It also creates a safe, non-slip texture that cushions your feet when you get out of the shower. (It’s also wonderful as a welcome mat for your front door!) $30 — Shop Now
Whether you’re a college student, chronic to-do list writer, or a business owner with a visual brain, the Nicpro Dry Erase Sticker turns any surface into an impromptu white board. It’s backed with a premium adhesive that’s easy to apply and easy to remove, and it comes with three water-based pens so you can start doodling ASAP. Oh, and the back has a convenient grid, so if you want to cut it up into smaller squares, you can. $13 — Shop Now
Ever heard of sleeping with onions in your socks to draw out toxins while you sleep? According to reviewers, these Premium Detox Foot Pads are a much more convenient (and less smelly) way to do just that. They’re infused with bamboo vinegar, tourmaline, and negative ion powder to apparently detox your body, helping to improve sleep quality, promote relaxation, and even boost immunity. Buyers say they adhere well overnight, actually help them to feel better, and are totally black with toxins by morning. $22 (Pack of 60) — Shop Now
A number-one best seller from the popular show Shark Tank, the Drop Stop blocks that annoying yet slim crevice between your driver’s seat and center console. As a result, you no longer have to worry about dropping change, fries, wrappers, or (the worst) your phone. Each package comes with two for either side and has a special ergonomic design that accommodates the seatbelt as well as all different kinds of vehicles. $20 — Shop Now
Especially if you have kids, dogs, or guests, you know that your area rugs never stay put for long. X-Protector Grippers work to secure any type or shape of rug to the floor, whether it’s wood, tile, or laminate. They utilize a special renewable adhesive that won’t cause damage to anything, and they even prevent the ends from curling up. Use them inside or outside to ensure that your rugs won’t budge an inch. “These things are seriously a dream,” says one reviewer with “big dogs that like to tear around.” $28 (Pack of 16) — Shop Now
Refresh your old gym shoes or deodorize your feet in seconds with this Gold Mountain Beauty Spray. Instead of harmful ingredients, it uses only the best essential oils to tackle bacteria and fungus right away, all without irritation. It has hundreds of rave reviews, and one buyer even calls it “the absolute best thing that could happen to your stinky feet.” $13 — Shop Now
The SnapPower Guidelight installs in seconds just like your average switch plate, but it provides an eye-friendly LED night light without taking up any plugs. It’s energy-efficient and costs less than 10 cents a year to power, and it’s available in four colors. You can even buy a pack of four if you want to add some classy illumination to your countertop outlets, or light up your whole hallway. $15 — Shop Now
Since it’s made from stainless steel, Ueasy Magic Soap isn’t actually soap at all. That being said, it’s a favorite of chefs and smokers everywhere because it binds to the sulfur molecules on your skin to totally remove any unwanted scents. Simply rub it between your hands under the faucet to get rid of odors from onions, garlic, fish, or even cigarette smoke. It’s also available in an oval-shape, which comes with a convenient storage base. $7 — Shop Now
Increase circulation, brighten eyes, and reduce puffiness and wrinkles with the SUNMAY Massager. It uses heat, sonic vibrations, and negative ions to rejuvenate the skin around your eyes for toned skin and a glowing complexion. The best news? Reviewers say it’s “so soothing and relaxing,” and they’re “already seeing a smooth look around [their] eyes.” $19 — Shop Now
Yes, they’re great for keeping your computer wires organized, tangle-free, and ready to use, but ProCIV clips also work well for cable boxes or bedside phone chargers. Instead of damaging your furniture with adhesives, they use a special high-tension S-shape design that clips onto tables and desks regardless of thickness. Then they hold up to three wires at once in their easy-removal grooves. That way, the end of the cord is always where you need it, and it never again slips behind the desk. $7 (Set of 2) — Shop Now
With a name like “Supoon,” you’ve probably already guessed that this isn’t a particularly normal kitchen utensil. In fact, it’s so much more. This brilliantly-designed tool has a flat squeegee tip to scrape your pan or bowl, a deep-scooping head to transfer food, and built-in measurement lines so you instantly know how much is a teaspoon or a tablespoon. It also has a curved handle that doubles as a stand, so the spoonhead stays off the counter to keep it clean. $12 — Shop Now
For those who are looking for a deodorant option that’s totally natural, safe for sensitive skin, and actually works, look no further. Crystal Mineral Roll-On is made with pure mineral salts that create a protective (yet gentle) layer over the skin. This invisible and non-sticky barrier traps odor-causing bacteria, so you stay “fresh and clean-smelling all day,” according to one of 600 reviewers. Since this one comes in an easy-to-roll-on liquid, it’s also really convenient to apply. $11 (Set of 3) — Shop Now
Instead of fill-in-the-blank exercises and weekly to-do lists, the Panda Planner Pro utilizes a scientifically-proven approach to productivity and happiness. It does indeed have monthly, weekly, and daily sections to organize your dates, but it also helps you set goals, record habits, plan your time, give gratitude, and reflect on your successes. Reviewers call it a “great planner for non-planner types,” as well as the “best planner [they’ve] found” for “becoming a more well rounded and happy person.” $38 — Shop Now
If you love sushi, you know that it can get expensive to order in a restaurant. The POAO Sushi Bazooka is currently only $7, and despite the mildly strange name, reviewers say it makes the whole DIY-sushi process “super quick and easy.” It’s a simple mold and press that effortlessly wraps your fresh fish in a layer of rice and seaweed, so you can just slice your sushi log and get to eating. $7 — Shop Now
They’re colorful, compact, and super cute, but these Homy Feel Air Purifiers are so much more than that. They’re packed with real activated bamboo charcoal, which absorbs moisture, odors, and allergens in your home to leave the air extra fresh. Since they come in small, hangable canvas bags, they’re great for your closet, bathroom, car, kitchen, or even inside your shoes. $16 (Set of 5) — Shop Now
Whether you’re crafting, knitting, reading, or fixing your car, the Beam n Read is a life-saver and an eye-saver. It hangs around your neck for hands-free illumination via six wide-spreading LEDS. The battery life lasts for up to 100 hours, and it even comes with two filters to block energizing blue light or help maintain better vision in the dark. It’s also great to have for black outs and emergencies! $30 — Shop Now
This adorable little Erupting Volcano disinfects and cleans crud away from your microwave without any scrubbing. Just fill it with vinegar and water, put it in the microwave, and set the timer for five minutes. The steam softens splatters and stains, so you can just wipe them up with a rag and move onto your next job. $10 — Shop Now
Stop putting your bag on dirty bar floors or trying to balance the strap around your chair. The Clipa2 Bag Hanger is the strong, sleek gadget everyone needs. When not in use, it hangs around your strap in an unobtrusive ring. When you need to hang your bag somewhere, it opens up to clip onto tables, bars, stalls, or anything else. It’s available in several metallic colors, and it’s strong enough to hold up to 33 pounds, so it’s also great for diaper bags, laptop cases, or photography equipment. $16 — Shop Now
Perfect for restless sleepers, extra furry pets, or people with hot flashes, the Kingstar Cooling Pillow Gel Mat balances your body temperature anywhere. It’s filled with safe, leak-proof gel that stays soft and flexible even when frozen, and its portable shape fits well on your pillow, under your feet, or alongside a seat cushion. Reviewers also say it’s “great for migraine sufferers” and those who get “hot and sweaty” in the middle of the night. $22 — Shop Now
Prevent spills and keep open wine fresh with this cute Fred & Friends Kitty Wine Stop. It’s made from easy-to-clean silicone, fits most standard bottles, and “always makes [reviewers] laugh when [they] use it.” It’s also an awesome gift for the cat-and-wine lover in your life, since those two things often seem to go hand in hand. $15 — Shop Now
Find any lost item in seconds with the Tile Mate Anything Finder. The GPS-tracking tile can be looped onto your keys, stuck onto the remote, or slipped in your wallet — whichever you lose most often. Then, the next time you misplace it, you can access the easy-to-use app from your smart phone to track it and make it beep. If you lose your phone, the system works backwards, too. Just press the tile to make your phone ring, even on silent. $16 — Shop Now
Since the blades are made from actual ceramic, these Slice Safety Scissors cut through virtually anything without cutting you. Their BPA-free, suitable for either lefties or righties, and they never rust or dull. Most importantly, they effortlessly slice through paper, cardboard, fabric, kevlar, vinyl, fishing wire, and even food. $26 — Shop Now
Cleanse, exfoliate, and moisturize in one easy step with Spongelle — the body-wash-infused sponge that lasts for many washes. It’s infused with hydrating olive oil, lemon grass, bergamot, and detoxing sea kelp, and it has an invigorating citrus musk scent that reviews say “smells so amazing.” Since it’s a three-in-one product that’s extremely portable, it’s great for travel, camping, festivals, and people who hate a cluttered shower. $15 — Shop Now
Comfortably watch movies in bed, work on the couch, or answer emails on the train. This laptop stand is super lightweight and portable thanks to its aluminum construction, and it has six adjustable locking joints for so many heights and positions. The build-in fans are powered via USB ports to keep your laptop cool, and it can be used as a dinner tray, writing desk, or book holder. $39 — Shop Now
“It really does help with my back pain,” one reviewer raves, while another writes, “I can actually sleep through the night.” This strange but effective tool is called the ProSource Acupressure Set, and it utilizes thousands of tiny spikes that stimulate pressure points in the neck and back, not unlike real acupuncture. It then boosts circulation, prompts endorphin release, and speeds up muscle recovery, so people report states of relaxation, stress-relief, and lessened pain. $20 — Shop Now
It might be compact and adorable, but don’t let that fool you. This Toothbrush Sanitizer is built with powerful technology for deep ultraviolet disinfection. It takes only three minutes to zap away up to 99 percent of germs and bacteria from the head of your toothbrush, and it’s USB-recharging so you can use it over and over again. It’s available in three different colors, and comes with two changeable liners. $35 — Shop Now
Instead of hearing an irritating beep first thing in the morning, you can start your day the peaceful way with this Sunrise Wake Up Light. Thirty minutes before your wake-up time, it starts to gradually brighten, filling the room with light and hacking your circadian rhythm by mimicking the sun. It also has six built-in nature sounds, seven different light options, and an FM radio setting. $30 — Shop Now
It’s time to shave your favorite sweater, yoga pants, and winter coat. You read that correctly. The Conair Fabric Defuzzer is like a rechargeable razor for your clothes. It uses a damage-free blade to remove lint, fuzz, and pilling and then catches it in its detachable container. It works on all types of fabrics, and thousands of people say it leaves their old clothes looking “like new again.” $18 — Shop Now
If you wear glasses every day, you’ve likely experienced them slipping down your nose while working out, bending down, or simply sweating. Nerdwax is a hypoallergenic balm that creates friction between your skin and your specs so they stay put. It comes in a lipstick-shaped tube that’s easy to travel with, it won’t clog pores, and a little goes a very long way. $11 — Shop Now
It’s often a hassle to clean sharp knife blades or in between fork tongs. No longer. This cutlery cleaner uses dense bristles in a unique, wrap-around design that protects your hands while cleaning both sides at once. Its exterior is textured for a comfortable grip, and it’s available in both gray or lime green. $11 — Shop Now
Thanks to its strong but flexible gooseneck arm, the Geekx Cell Phone Holder can wrap securely around your steering wheel, your computer screen, your neck, or anything else. It also comes with a detachable clamp, rotates 360 degrees, and fits nearly any smart phone, making it one of the most versatile mounts available right now. $18 — Shop Now
Real snail mucus is a pretty surprising skin care ingredient, but according to reviewers, it makes all the difference: “After one use, I woke the next morning with a glow. My skin was moisturized and plump… There was no weird smell and the gel consistency felt great.” These Snail Jelly Masks come pre-cut with holes for your eyes, mouth, and nose, and they’re also infused with natural plant extracts to firm skin, tone pores, and deeply hydrate your face. $18 (Pack of 10) —Shop Now | {
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Cosmetic Tattooing
Our Services
Cosmetic Tattooing
Hester has been busy on her holidays in South Africa; Hester has brought home a new technique to add to her 10 years of cosmetic tattooing experience.
Who wouldn’t love to save time every day? Just one of the many reasons women opt for permanent make up swapping eye liner application for an extra 10 minutes of sleep in the morning is a win-win. The benefits of permanent cosmetics is to help women have beautiful eye liner and eye brows daily. Using permanent cosmetics will enhance the natural features of the face whether you are after a more solid powdered brow, natural hairline stroke like brow, traditional or winged eyeliner.
This pigmentation implantation or tattooing can take one and a half to 2 hours to perform. Local anaesthetic is applied in the area to be worked, though the client may experience a bit of redness or swelling there is no down time.
Although permanent make up is essentially a tattoo a touch up may be required.
OUR GUARANTEE: If you are like 99.9% of our customers you will be really happy with our professional products and treatments. However, in the unlikely event you are not, contact us directly within 30 days and we will courteously give you double your money back, no hassles. | {
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Why Malaysia won't go bankrupt
The Government is not in dire financial straits right now. By all measures its finances are good, but as in any situation involving finances, this is not to say it cannot be better.
I am frequently asked why I said Malaysia could go bankrupt by 2019. I have had many queries asking for clarification and this has become one of my transformation blues.
In charting out our transformation journey in 2009, one of the first things the Prime Minister and the cabinet did was to list our current status, say where we want to be and set up a programme for transformation to get us there.
Amongst the many things on the list was a need to rationalise subsidy and so we ran a lab to do this.
During our open day, we engaged the public on the lab recommendation on the subsidy rationalisation. I wanted to be as frank as possible and to make it clear what the consequences of inaction would be.
Perhaps I was too frank but what I said has been misrepresented on a number of occasions, and I have since been saddled and hobbled with an unnecessary problem.
Habitual critics latched on to a small part of one of my first presentations where I said we have to change our spending patterns for sustained fiscal health.
Against a backdrop of several caveats and conditions, I said that we would be bankrupt by 2019 IF we continued to increase our subsidies and borrowings the same way we did before and IF our economy grows at less than 3% annually.
I've worked in Shell for more than 20 years, a company that is famous for its scenario planning techniques.
In layman terms, scenario planning means describing a future that could either be "good, bad or ugly" and doing our best to achieve the "good scenario" and avoid the "bad and ugly".
My statement was heavily qualified but little or no mention was made of the clear caveats that I had put forward.
I still stand by what I said and it is important that my statement is taken together with the conditions.
This statement has been taken out of context so many times that it really gave me the blues – I have been talking till I turned blue in my face explaining what I meant!
Let me say in the clearest terms that my intention then was to illustrate the consequences of inaction when faced with tough decisions. We cannot continue to subsidise the way we have.
Let me also state that the Government is not in dire financial straits right now. By all measures its finances are good, but as in any situation involving finances, this is not to say it cannot be better. Here's why.
Our debt as at end 2011 is 53.8% of gross domestic product (GDP – the sum of goods and services produced in the country) and the budget deficit is better than the 5.4% target of GDP.
Compare this with Greece's debt which stands at 110% of GDP and a budget deficit of 13% and it is obvious that we are not anywhere close to a crisis.
Subsidy rationalisation
Globally, many economists are cautioning the Governments against rising national debts. In 2009 – the year for which the figures I used when I talked about subsidy rationalisation – we had to increase government spending via our "economic stimulus package" in the face of the world financial crisis caused by the sub-prime mortgage problem in the United States.
This had spill-over effects into 2010 as well. But the debt as a percentage of GDP has begun to level off while the budget deficit, again as a percentage of GDP, has begun to significantly decline and as our economy continues to grow. We are reversing the situation.
In a simplified system to assess whether countries are in a sovereign debt crisis, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) uses a graphical representation to identify countries with a potential problem.
Public debt as a percentage of GDP is plotted on the vertical axis while surplus or deficit in the national budget as a % of GDP is plotted on the horizontal axis.
BCG identifies a potential problem looming if public debt is 100% or over of GDP while simultaneously the budget deficit is 10% or more of GDP (see chart).
The more a country is to the left of the chart and the higher on the vertical axis, the greater the risk of a potential debt crisis but note that a country has to be simultaneously in problem in both areas to be regarded as a big risk.
If you look at Singapore, public debt as a percentage of GDP is 100% – in the problem area but only for one of the two criteria – but there is hardly any budget deficit to speak of in the republic.
Nobody considers Singapore a financially troubled country.
For Malaysia, it is important to notice that it has moved to the right in 2011 compared with its position in 2009 and 2010 while there is hardly any upward movement. That indicates a move in the right direction.
Based on this analysis, we are better than the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Japan, to name a few. We will get into the safe zone soon enough.
The problem I highlighted using 2009 figures, making the caveat that IF debt continued to increase at previous levels we can have a serious problem in 2019 and IF we grow less than 3% annually, does not exist anymore.
Making improvements
Why? Because we are making improvements on both counts.
Firstly, as a responsible Government, in 2010, we began the process of gradually reducing subsidies for fuel, sugar, electricity and so on, knowing fully well that this was unpopular.
Secondly, our GDP grew by 7.2% in 2010 and 5.1% in 2011 and that's an average of 6.2%; we are meeting our Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) target. Of course, we can and should do much more.
As I have pointed out in previous presentations very little of our subsidies amounting to billions of ringgit every year go to the poor, the rich get most of it. We must rationalise the subsidy system – not do away with it – and cut other extraneous expenditures.
However, we continue to help the poor via our GTP initiatives e.g. Azam programmes and BR1M for the low income households and rural infrastructure programmes.
On the other side of the equation, we must increase government revenue sources by introducing such measures as a goods and services tax (GST) and get more economic activity going. We can exclude necessities from the tax.
We are already succeeding. We have the ETP and we are growing our revenue – we had additional tax revenue of RM26bil in 2011. This has allowed us to finance rakyat-centric programmes such as BR1M.
Why, if we continue to make progress by these measures, we may even be able to balance the budget come 2020 even though that will welcomingly surpass our own target.
I know there will be critics who will say that I have changed my mind on the bankruptcy issue. I haven't changed my position vis-a-vis scenario planning.
I always believe in describing the "good, the bad and ugly" scenarios (that hasn't changed) i.e. the "good" scenario is if we successfully implement our ETP, we will achieve high income status by 2020.
The "bad or ugly" scenario is if we don't do anything to avoid it, then we can go bankrupt.
The fact is we are doing a lot of things to transform our country. So, we will not go bankrupt.
With the implementation of the ETP, we must acknowledge that Malaysia is on the right track in transforming its economy. The average annual GDP growth in two years (2010 and 2011) is more than 6%. In 2011, we met our GNI and investment targets, trade reached a record high of RM1.27 trillion in 2011.
We cut our deficit in 2011. In April, our PM will be releasing our ETP and GTP annual reports which provide all the details of our country's achievement.
Let me conclude by quoting Dale Carnegie: "It is tragic when we put off living. We dream of a magical rose garden over the horizon and miss the roses blooming outside our windows". | {
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...You may have written user stories and work flows... But you know who didn’t read your user stories? That’s right: your users. The result? Somewhere out there, a whole lot of your users are doing something totally unexpected with your product.... Your customers want to do something with your product so badly that they’re going out of their way to come up with clever ways to do it on their own.
There are three excellent reasons for you to know what your customers are actually doing with your product:
So you know if you are missing an opportunity to pivot your product or marketing
So you know if you are missing an important feature
So you don’t accidentally destroy a commonly used workaround or "unplanned feature"
Truer words were rarely blogged. In fact just in the last few weeks I have had several "users" (some customers, and some internal to Oracle, in fact) turn up having built unexpected but powerful things around OWB, because it has such extensibility mechanisms built into it: OMB*Plus, the old Java APIs back before 10.2, and now the code template/knowledge module framework OWB shares with ODI. Some of our external users show astounding knowledge of how to make OWB really sing. (We hope to feature case studies from several of them over the course of the year on the OWB blog.)
My question to all of you: can you identify things you have done or are doing with OWB or that you depend on in it that you think would come as a surprise to us? This could be either some development so advanced as to leave us all gob-smacked, or just some common (to you) thing that you use it for that you find enormously valuable but that you think is a bit off the theoretical "main line" use case of loading data warehouses.
I invite the readers of this blog to come visit the OWB and ODI LinkedIn group and share their unusual applications of OWB or the very ordinary-looking features that you don’t want us to forget or would like us to extend. Your anecdotes will impress the crowd and will also help shape future data integration products from Oracle... Come on, surprise us. :) | {
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ECOURSE
"Today's Matriarchies From the Newest View"
Jodi asked: "I've been looking for facts or perhaps a historical view on matriarchal societies before Christ. Truth is, I read the Da Vinci Code and thought I'd do a little research myself. How many societies existed before Christ were matriarchal? I already know the natives of America had some tribes that were. Does this extend beyond this present day country?" | {
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Andrzej Kaleta
Artist, painter, designer, visionary.
He graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Warsaw, the Faculty of Conservation of Paintings and Polychromed Sculpture. For a few years he worked at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, at a paintings conservation atelier. Currently he pursues his own activity related to interior design and decoration.
Website: www.ekaleta.com
Facebook fan page: 6AN Andrzej Kaleta | {
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This volume is part of a set intended to document the data collection of the 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). Volume 1 provides the essential background information for the survey, and Volume 4 is the restricted use codebook for the SASS Bureau of Indian Affairs data. Volume 2 is the restricted-use codebook for the survey, and this volume contains the public-use codebook. It contains the variable names and position numbers for all survey and sampling variables. All data variables have been imputed to compensate for item nonresponse. Imputation flags are given at the end of each SASS component's codebook. In the public-use codebook, individually identifying data have been recorded or altered to prevent identification. The volume discusses created variables and contains user notes for the files. Three appendixes contain the Teacher Demand and Shortage Public and Private School Codebook. the Public and Private School Administrator Codebook, and the Public and Private School Teacher Codebook. (SLD) | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
It’s Time: Break Up Big Tech
Which Silicon Valley Tech Titans Will Topple? (w/ Scott Galloway)
Measuring Market Concentration
Market Concentration: Greg Werden on the difficulties in measuring concentration
In this video, Greg Werden, Senior Economic Counsel in the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice explains the difficulties in using US census bureau data to measure market concentration and what he thinks about the existing evidence on market power in the US. More materials on this discussion available at http://oe.cd/2gw
Regulations may not hurt big tech companies
Antitrust & Big Tech
Adam Ruins Everything – How the Government Created Tech Monopolies | truTV
States Targeting Big Tech Companies
Feds investigating major tech companies for antitrust violations
Watch out, Google, the U.S. government has an ‘ironclad’ antitrust case
How to Combat Big Tech Censorship | Louder with Crowder
Steven Crowder Exposes Vox’s Dirty Tactics
Dave Rubin Responds to VoxAdpocalypse I Louder with Crowder
In an unprecedented move, Youtube demonetized Steven Crowder after Vox Journalist Carlos “Gaywonk” Maza complained on Twitter about a few of Crowder’s jokes. Bowing to twitter mobs, Youtube demonetized Steven Crowder’s whole channel along with hundreds of other small creators on Youtube. Jon Miller breaks down the latest tech censorship drama in today’s episode of White House Brief.
The Struggles That Almost Ruined Mark Zuckerberg’s Marriage | ⭐OSSA
Zuckerberg meets Trump, senators; nixes breaking up Facebook
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg held private meetings with US lawmakers in Washington to discuss technology regulations and social media issues, including concerns about the social network’s operations
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg met Thursday with US President Donald Trump and members of Congress on a political reconnaissance mission to Washington, where he rejected calls to break up the world’s biggest social network.
Zuckerberg’s visit comes as Facebook faces a myriad of regulatory and legal questions surrounding issues like competition, digital privacy, censorship and transparency in political advertising.
A Facebook spokesman said discussions were focusing in part on future internet regulation.
Senate Democrat Mark Warner, one of the lawmakers who has taken the lead in Washington on digital security, signalled they gave Zuckerberg an earful.
The visit, including a Wednesday night private dinner with Warner and other lawmakers, comes after his stormy appearance last year before Congress, where he was grilled on Facebook’s data protection and privacy missteps.
Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican freshman and one of the more outspoken critics of Facebook, said he had a “frank conversation” with Zuckerberg but remains concerned.
“Challenged him to do two things to show FB is serious about bias, privacy & competition. 1) Sell WhatsApp & Instagram 2) Submit to independent, third-party audit on censorship,” Hawley tweeted.
“He said no to both.”
Trump late Thursday posted a picture on Facebook and Twitter showing him shaking hands with Zuckerberg, but didn’t share details of their conversation.
“Nice meeting with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook in the Oval Office today,” the president wrote.
Federal and state anti-trust enforcers are looking into potential anti-competitive actions by Facebook, and members of Congress are debating national privacy legislation.
The messaging product WhatsApp and picture-sharing giant Instagram are part of Facebook’s broad family of services that has made it a global online behemoth, but have also exposed the company to concerns about competition, data harvesting and sprawling digital control.
Warner said he was not prepared to call for Facebook’s dismantlement.
“I’m not yet with some of my friends who want to go straight to break up,” he told Fox Business Network.
“I am concerned. These are global companies, and I don’t want to transfer the leadership to Chinese companies,” he added.
“But I do think we need a lot more transparency. We need to have privacy rights protected. We need to increase competition with things like data portability and interoperability.”
Two months ago, the US Federal Trade Commission hit Facebook with a record $5 billion fine for data protection violations in a wide-ranging settlement that calls for revamping privacy controls and oversight at the social network.
Earlier Wednesday, executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter appeared before a Senate panel to answer questions on “digital responsibility” in the face of online violence and extremism.
Hawley Introduces Bill to Make Big Tech Embrace Free Speech
Republicans in the Senate plan on striking a blow for online free speech — by eradicating censorship of conservatives online.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a new bill June 19, meant to tackle the problem of tech monopolies and their consistent censorship of conservatives and conservative ideology. The bill, called the Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act, looks to remove the immunity enjoyed by Big Tech companies from Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The bill would target companies with more than 30 million monthly users, such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and YouTube.
Hawley wrote that the companies could earn their immunity back through a series of third-party external audits that provided “convincing evidence that their algorithms and content-removal practices are politically neutral.”
The legislation would exclude smaller companies. Hawley’s bill is more interested in going after the “tech monopolies” that present a greater threat through censorship. He stated in his press release:
“There’s a growing list of evidence that shows big tech companies making editorial decisions to censor viewpoints they disagree with. Even worse, the entire process is shrouded in secrecy because these companies refuse to make their protocols public. This legislation simply states that if the tech giants want to keep their government-granted immunity, they must bring transparency and accountability to their editorial processes and prove that they don’t discriminate.”
In the bill itself, all acts of business were permitted except for those that favored or were biased against a specific ideology, political candidates, or political opinions.
The Free Speech Alliance, a coalition of more than 50 conservative organizations led by theMedia Research Center, urged that tech companies “mirror the First Amendment.” This bill, if passed, would require Big Tech to do just that.
So far, major critics have gone after Hawley on Twitter. Americans for Prosperity called the bill “misguided legislation.” The group argued that the bill will prevent innovative startups from succeeding, even though it is clearly aimed at companies larger than 30 million monthly users.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Call to Regulate Facebook, Explained
Here’s why the Facebook chief executive invited Congress to regulate his company in a post on Saturday.
Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, at Senate hearings last year. With the expectation that personal data handling and content restrictions are coming, Facebook tries in an op-ed piece to set the playing field.CreditCreditTom Brenner/The New York Times
What Would Regulating Facebook Look Like?
In an interview with WIRED, Mark Zuckerberg seemed to accept the idea of some US regulation. Other countries could provide the blueprint.
In an interview with WIRED, Mark Zuckberg seemed to accept the idea of some US regulation. Other countries could provide the blueprint .PHUC PHAM The drumbeat to regulate Big Tech began pounding long before the Cambridge Analytica scandal rocked Facebook—six long years ago, the Obama administration pushed a “Privacy Bill of Rights” that, like most other legislative attempts to safeguard your data online, went nowhere. But this time, as they say, feels different. Thanks to repeated lapses from not just Facebook but all corners of Silicon Valley, some sort of regulation seems not only plausible but imminent.
US politicians have called for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear in person before Congress. Some tech-focused legislation is currently wending its way through the Capitol’s corridors. And regulators in other countries have already clamped down on tech.
‘I think what tends to work well is transparency, which I think is an area where we need to do a lot better and are working on.’
FACEBOOK CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG
In an interview with WIRED editor-in-chief Nicholas Thompson Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckberg seemed if not outright welcoming toward regulation, at least accepting of it. “There are some really nuanced questions though about how to regulate, which I think are extremely interesting intellectually,” says Zuckerberg, who points to the bipartisan Honest Ads Act, cosponsored by senators Mark Warner, Amy Klobuchar, and John McCain, as an example of the sort of bill his company can get behind.
The Honest Ads Act, legislation that calls for increased transparency behind who pays for political ads online, makes for a convenient example, though, in part because Facebook has already implemented many of its provisions. The bill, introduced last October, also appears to have languished, making it a non-substantive threat. Meanwhile, critics say it wouldn’t have stopped Russian propagandists from flooding Facebook in the first place.
Besides, even the Honest Ads Act’s sponsors have noted that it addresses a very small piece of a very large problem. And it does nothing to address the data privacy concerns that rightly create so much angst among anyone with any sort of presence online. Which is to say, everyone. For that, the US would need something much bigger.
“We do not have an omnibus privacy legislation at the federal level,” says David Vladeck, former director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We don’t have a statute that recognizes generally that privacy is a right that’s secured by federal law. And that puts us at the opposite end of the spectrum from some of the other major economies in the world.”
It’s not that living in the US puts you totally in the privacy hinterlands. The FTC has a modicum of authority, and has used it when companies grossly overreach—as it did against Facebook in 2011, when the company failed to keep its promises regarding how it treated their data. Facebook had made user information public, even if they’d previously had more restrictive privacy settings, and allowed third-party developers to mine the data not just of the Facebook users who downloaded their apps, but of all of those peoples’ friends. (If that sounds familiar, well, it’s precisely what allowed the Cambridge Analytica fiasco.)
Even then, though, Facebook got off with a scolding. It had to sign a consent decree, essentially a promise that it wouldn’t stray again. That’s gone unchecked until this week, when the FTC reportedly opened an investigation into the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and could fine Facebook up to $40,000 per violation—with 50 million people impacted, the potential fine hypothetically stretches into the trillions.
But the threat of retroactive fines clearly hasn’t done the trick. The FTC, meanwhile, can only work with the legislative tools it’s given. So what would it look like if Congress gave it better tools? Other countries might offer something like an outline, if not an outright blueprint.
In Finland, officials feel that their strong public education system and a coordinated government response have been enough to stave off Russia’s propaganda; Sri Lanka banned Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram entirely. Which is to say, it’s a wide gamut.
On the data privacy front, the most recent high-profile model comes from the European Union, where General Data Protection Regulation becomes the law of the land on May 25. GDPR focuses on ensuring that people who use online services know not only exactly what data those companies will take, but how they put it to use.
Zuckerberg, at least, seems supportive of those levels of transparency—although they’re also, since GDPR’s passage, an inevitability. “I think what tends to work well is transparency, which I think is an area where we need to do a lot better and are working on,” Zuckerberg tells WIRED. “I think guidelines are much better than dictating specific processes.”
‘We do not have an omnibus privacy legislation at the federal level.’
DAVID VLADECK FORMER BUREAU OF CONSUMER PROTECTION DIRECTOR
Rough guidelines also seem like a more plausible approach in the US due to both precedent and practicality. The EU approach to privacy law has long been highly detailed and prescriptive, says Vladeck, which sounds good in theory but can create issues in practice. “The implementation of it, in my view, is going to be ineffective, because it places an enormous regulatory burden on some parties, and worse, it places an enormous regulatory burden on the data protection authorities that need to enforce it,” says Vladeck. “I don’t think we could simply take the European regulation and simply adopt it in the United States. But I think there are a lot of elements in it that could provide guidance.”
One danger of an overly prescribed law is that technological solutions can outpace those mandates. Zuckerberg points to Germany, where hate speech laws require Facebook and other companies to remove offending posts within 24 hours. “The German model—you have to handle hate speech in this way—in some ways that’s actually backfired,” Zuckerberg says. “Because now we are handling hate speech in Germany in a specific way, for Germany, and our processes for the rest of the world have far surpassed our ability to handle that. But we’re still doing it in Germany the way that it’s mandated that we do it there. So I think guidelines are probably going to be a lot better.”
Zuckerberg also raises the question of the use of artificial intelligence in weeding out unwelcome uploads. “Now that companies increasingly over the next five to 10 years as AI tools get better and better will be able to proactively determine what might be offensive content or violate some rules, what therefore is the responsibility and legal responsibility of companies to do that,” Zuckerberg says.
Here, too, Facebook’s getting out ahead of any potential legal requirements; it already scans for nudity and terrorist content, and remains hard at work at AI that can spot what Zuckerberg calls “really nuanced hate speech and bullying.”
Eventually, though, Silicon Valley may run out of ways to appease regulators. By now there have been too many data breaches, too much negligence, whether by Facebook, Equifax, or the government itself. “I do think increasingly that there’s a sense that we need it,” says Vladeck.
At the very least, when regulation does come, Facebook has an open invite to help inform what happens, albeit in gruff terms. “Mr. Zuckerberg needs to testify before the Senate and answer some tough questions about Russian activity on the platform, and the way his company protects—or doesn’t—its users’ data,” said Senator Mark Warner in a email to WIRED Wednesday.
And if it doesn’t pitch in, Congress has a model for privacy protection waiting for it, at least philosophically, just an ocean away.
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.
Section 230 was developed in response to a pair of lawsuits against Internet service providers in the early 1990s that had different interpretations of whether the services providers should be treated as publishers or distributors of content created by its users. It was also pushed by the tech industry and other experts that language in the proposed CDA making providers responsible for indecent content posted by users that could extend to other types of questionable free speech. After passage of the Telecommunications Act, the CDA was challenged in courts and ruled by the Supreme Court in Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union (1997) to be partially unconstitutional, leaving the Section 230 provisions in place. Since then, several legal challenges have validated the constitutionality of Section 230. Section 230 protects are not limitless, requiring providers to remove criminal material such as copyright infringement; more recently, Section 230 was amended by the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act in 2018 to require the removal of material violating federal and state sex trafficking laws.
Passed at a time where Internet use was just starting to take off, Section 230 has frequently been referred as a key law that has allowed the Internet to flourish, often referred to as “The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet”.
Contents
History
Prior to the Internet, case law was clear that a liability line was drawn between publishers of content and distributors of content; publishers would be expected to have awareness of material it was publishing and thus should be held liable for any illegal content it published, while distributors would likely not be aware and thus would be immune. This was established in Smith v. California (1959), where the Supreme Court ruled that putting liability on the provider (a book store in this case) would have “a collateral effect of inhibiting the freedom of expression, by making the individual the more reluctant to exercise it.”[1]
In the early 1990s, the Internet became more widely adopted and created means for users to engage in forums and other user-generated content. While this helped to expand the use of the Internet, it also resulted in a number of legal cases putting service providers at fault for the content generated by its users. This concern was raised by legal challenges against CompuServe and Prodigy, early service providers at this time.[2] CompuServe stated they would not attempt to regulate what users posted on their services, while Prodigy had employed a team of moderators to validate content. Both faced legal challenges related to content posted by their users. In Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe Inc., CompuServe was found not be at fault as, by its stance as allowing all content to go unmoderated, it was a distributor and thus not liable for libelous content posted by users. However, Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co. found that as Prodigy had taken an editorial role with regard to customer content, it was a publisher and legally responsible for libel committed by customers.[3][a]
Chris Cox (left) and Ron Wyden, the framers of Section 230
Service providers made their Congresspersons aware of these cases, believing that if upheld across the nation, it would stifle the growth of the Internet. United States RepresentativeChristopher Cox (R-CA) had read an article about the two cases and felt the decisions were backwards. “It struck me that if that rule was going to take hold then the internet would become the Wild West and nobody would have any incentive to keep the internet civil”, Cox stated.[4]
At the time, Congress was preparing the Communications Decency Act (CDA), part of the omnibus Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was designed to make knowingly sending indecent or obscene material to minors a criminal offense. A version of the CDA had passed through the Senate pushed by Senator J. James Exon.[5] A grassroots effort in the tech industry reacted to try to convince the House of Representatives to challenge Exon’s bill. Based on the Stratton Oakmont decision, Congress recognized that by requiring service providers to block indecent content would make them be treated as publishers in context of the First Amendment and thus become liable for other illegal content such as libel, not set out in the existing CDA.[2] Cox and fellow Representative Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote the House bill’s section 509, titled the Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act, designed to override the decision from Stratton Oakmont, so that services providers could moderate content as necessary and did not have to act as a wholly neutral conduit. The new Act was added the section while the CDA was in conference within the House.
The overall Telecommunications Act, with both Exon’s CDA and Cox/Wyden’s provision, passed both Houses by near-unanimous votes and signed into law by President Bill Clinton by February 1996.[6] Cox/Wyden’s section was codified as Section 230 in Title 47 of the US Code. The anti-indecency portion of the CDA was immediately challenged on passage, resulting in the Supreme Court 1997 case, Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, that ruled all of the anti-indecency sections of the CDA were unconstitutional, but left Section 230.[7]
One of the first legal challenges to Section 230 was the 1997 case Zeran v. America Online, Inc., in which a Federal court affirmed that the purpose of Section 230 as passed by Congress was “to remove the disincentives to self-regulation created by the Stratton Oakmont decision”.[8] Under that court’s holding, computer service providers who regulated the dissemination of offensive material on their services risked subjecting themselves to liability, because such regulation cast the service provider in the role of a publisher. Fearing that the specter of liability would therefore deter service providers from blocking and screening offensive material, Congress enacted § 230’s broad immunity “to remove disincentives for the development and utilization of blocking and filtering technologies that empower parents to restrict their children’s access to objectionable or inappropriate online material.”[8] In addition, Zeran notes “the amount of information communicated via interactive computer services is . . . staggering. The specter of tort liability in an area of such prolific speech would have an obviously chilling effect. It would be impossible for service providers to screen each of their millions of postings for possible problems. Faced with potential liability for each message republished by their services, interactive computer service providers might choose to severely restrict the number and type of messages posted. Congress considered the weight of the speech interests implicated and chose to immunize service providers to avoid any such restrictive effect.”[8]
Application and limits
In analyzing the availability of the immunity offered by Section 230, courts generally apply a three-prong test. A defendant must satisfy each of the three prongs to gain the benefit of the immunity:[9]
The defendant must be a “provider or user” of an “interactive computer service.”
The cause of action asserted by the plaintiff must treat the defendant as the “publisher or speaker” of the harmful information at issue.
The information must be “provided by another information content provider,” i.e., the defendant must not be the “information content provider” of the harmful information at issue.
Section 230 immunity is not unlimited. The statute specifically excepts federal criminal liability and intellectual property claims.[10] However, state criminal laws have been held preempted in cases such as Backpage.com, LLC v. McKenna[11] and Voicenet Commc’ns, Inc. v. Corbett[12] (agreeing “[T]he plain language of the CDA provides … immunity from inconsistent state criminal laws.”).
As of mid-2016, courts have issued conflicting decisions regarding the scope of the intellectual property exclusion set forth in 47 U.S.C. § 230(e)(2). For example, in Perfect 10, Inc. v. CCBill, LLC,[13] the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the exception for intellectual property law applies only to federal intellectual property claims such as copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and patents, reversing a district court ruling that the exception applies to state-law right of publicity claims.[14] The 9th Circuit’s decision in Perfect 10 conflicts with conclusions from other courts including Doe v. Friendfinder. The Friendfinder court specifically discussed and rejected the lower court’s reading of “intellectual property law” in CCBill and held that the immunity does not reach state right of publicity claims.[15]
Controversies
The first major challenge to Section 230 was in Zeran v. AOL, a 1997 case decided at the Fourth Circuit. The case involved a person that sued America Online (AOL) for failing to remove, in a timely manner, libelous ads posted by AOL users that inappropriately connected his home phone number to the Oklahoma City bombing. The court found for AOL and upheld the constitutionality of Section 230, stating that Section 230 “creates a federal immunity to any cause of action that would make service providers liable for information originating with a third-party user of the service.”[17] This rule, cementing Section 230’s liability protections, has been considered one of the most important case laws affecting the growth of the Internet, allowing websites to be able to incorporate user-generated content without fear of prosecution.[18] However, at the same time, this has led to Section 230 being used as a shield for some website owners as courts have ruled Section 230 provides complete immunity for ISPs with regard to the torts committed by their users over their systems.[19]
Sex trafficking
Around 2001, a University of Pennsylvania paper warned that “online sexual victimization of American children appears to have reached epidemic proportions” due to the allowances granted by Section 230.[20] Over the next decade, advocates against such exploitation such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children pressured major websites to block or remove content related to sex trafficking, leading to sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Craigslist to pull such content. Because mainstream sites were blocking this content, those that engaged or profited from trafficking started to use more obscure sites, leading to the creation of sites like Backpage. In addition to removing these from the public eye, these new sites worked to obscure what trafficking was going on and who was behind it, limiting ability for law enforcement to take action.[20] Backpage and similar sites quickly came under numerous lawsuits from victims of the sex traffickers and exploiters for enabling this crime, but the court continually found in favor of Backpage due to Section 230,[21] and the Supreme Court let stand a Circuit Court decision in favor of Backpage due to Section 230 in January 2017.[22]
Due to numerous complaints from constituents, Congress began an investigation into Backpage and similar sites in January 2017, finding Backpage complicit in aiding and profiting from illegal sex trafficking.[23] Subsequently, Congress introduced the FOSTA-SESTA bills: the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) in the House of Representatives by Ann Wagner in April 2017, and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) U.S. Senate bill introduced by Rob Portman in August 2017. Combined, the FOSTA-SESTA bills modified Section 230 to exempt services providers from Section 230 immunity when dealing with civil or criminal crimes related to sex trafficking,[24] which removes section 230 safe harbors for services that knowingly facilitate or support sex trafficking.[25] The bill passed both Houses and was signed into law by President Donald Trump on April 11, 2018.[26][27]
The bills were criticized by pro-free speech and pro-Internet groups as a “disguised internet censorship bill” that weakens the section 230 safe harbors, places unnecessary burdens on Internet companies and intermediaries that handle user-generated content or communications with service providers required to proactively take action against sex trafficking activities, and requires a “team of lawyers” to evaluate all possible scenarios under state and federal law (which may be financially unfeasible for smaller companies).[28][29][30][31][32] Critics also argued that FOSTA-SESTA did not distinguish between consensual, legal sex offerings from non-consensual ones, and argued it would cause websites otherwise engaged in legal offerings of sex work would be threatened with liability charges.[23] Online sex workers argued that the bill would harm their safety, as the platforms they utilize for offering and discussing sexual services in a legal manner (as an alternative to street prostitution) had begun to reduce their services or shut down entirely due to the threat of liability under the bill.[33][34]
Social media
Many social media sites, notably Facebook and Twitter, came under scrutiny as a result of the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, where it was alleged that Russian agents used the sites to spread propaganda and fake news to swing the election in favor of Donald Trump. These platforms also were criticized for not taking action against users that used the social media outlets for harassment and hate speech against others. Shortly after the passage of FOSTA-SESTA acts, some in Congress recognized that additional changes could be made to Section 230 to require service providers to deal with these bad actors, beyond what Section 230 already provided to them.[35] During 2019, there have been renewed calls for changes in Section 230 to address what are seen as growing problems across social media and the protections given to tech companies.
Platform neutrality
Some politicians, including Republican senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, have accused major social networks of displaying a bias against conservative perspectives when moderating content (such as Twitter suspensions).[36][36][37][38] In a Fox Newsop-ed, Cruz argued that section 230 should only apply to providers that are politically “neutral”, suggesting that a provider “should be considered to be a [liable] ‘publisher or speaker’ of user content if they pick and choose what gets published or spoke.”[39] Section 230 does not contain any requirements that moderation decisions be neutral.[39] Hawley alleged that section 230 safe harbors were a “sweetheart deal between big tech and big government”.[40][41]
In December 2018, Republican house representativeLouie Gohmert introduced the Biased Algorithm Deterrence Act (H.R.492), which would remove all section 230 protections for any provider that used filters or any other type of algorithms to display user content when otherwise not directed by a user.[42][43]
In June 2019, Hawley introduced the Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act (S. 1914), that would remove section 230 protections from companies whose services have more than 30 million active monthly users in the U.S. and more than 300 million worldwide, or have over $500 million in annual global revenue, unless they receive a certification from the majority of the Federal Trade Commission that they do not moderate against any political viewpoint, and have not done so in the past 2 years.[44][45]
There has been criticism—and support—of the proposed bill from various points on the political spectrum. A poll of more than 1,000 voters gave Senator Hawley’s bill a net favorability rating of 29 points among Republicans (53% favor, 24% oppose) and 26 points among Democrats (46% favor, 20% oppose).[46] Some Republicans feared that by adding FTC oversight, the bill would continue to fuel fears of a big government with excessive oversight powers.[47] Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated support for the same approach Hawley has taken.[48] The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Graham, has also indicated support for the same approach Hawley has taken, saying “he is considering legislation that would require companies to uphold ‘best business practices’ to maintain their liability shield, subject to periodic review by federal regulators.” [49]
Legal experts have criticized the Republicans’ push to make Section 230 encompass platform neutrality. Wyden stated in response to potential law changes that “Section 230 is not about neutrality. Period. Full stop. 230 is all about letting private companies make their own decisions to leave up some content and take other content down.”[50] Law professor Jeff Kosseff, who has written extensively on Section 230, has stated that the Republican intentions are based on a “fundamental misunderstanding” of Section 230’s purpose, as platform neutrality was not one of the considerations made at the time of passage.[51] Kosseff stated that political neutrality was not the intent of Section 230 according to the framers, but rather making sure providers had the ability to make content-removal judgement without fear of liability.[2] There have been concerns that any attempt to weaken Section 230 could actually cause an increase in censorship when services lose their liability.[41][52]
Hate speech
In the wake of the 2019 shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, the impact on Section 230 and liability towards online hate speech has been raised. In both the Christchurch and El Paso shootings, the perpetrator posted hate speech manifestos to 8chan, a moderated imageboard known to be favorable for the posting of extreme views. Concerned politicians and citizens raised calls at large tech companies for the need for hate speech to be removed from the Internet; however, hate speech is generally protected speech under the First Amendment, and Section 230 removes the liability for these tech companies to moderate such content as long as it is not illegal. This has given the appearance that tech companies do not need to be proactive against hateful content, thus allowing the hate content to fester online and lead to such incidents.[53][5]
Members of Congress have indicated they may pass a law that changes how Section 230 would apply to hate speed as to make tech companies liable for this. Wyden, now a Senator, stated that he intended for Section 230 to be both “a sword and a shield” for Internet companies, the “sword” allowing them to remove content they deem inappropriate for their service, and the shield to help keep offensive content their from sites without liability. However, Wyden argued that become tech companies have not been willing to use the sword to remove content, it is necessary to take away that shield.[53][5] Some have compared Section 230 to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a law that grants gun manufacturers immunity from certain types of lawsuits when their weapons are used in criminal acts. According to law professor Mary Anne Franks, “They have not only let a lot of bad stuff happen on their platforms, but they’ve actually decided to profit off of people’s bad behavior.”[5] Representative Beto O’Rourke has stated his intent for his 2020 presidential campaign to introduce sweeping changes to Section 230 to make Internet companies liable for not being proactive in taking down hate speech.[58]
Terrorism-related content
In the aftermath of the Backpage trial and subsequent passage of FOSTA-SESTA, others have found that Section 230 appears to protect tech companies from content that is otherwise illegal under United States law. Professor Danielle Citron and journalist Benjamin Wittes found that as late as 2018, several groups deemed as terrorist organizations by the United States had been able to maintain social media accounts on services run by American companies, despite federal laws that make providing material support to terrorist groups subject to civil and criminal charges.[59] However, case law from the Second Circuit has ruled that under Section 230, technology companies are not liable for civil claims based on terrorism-related content.[60]
The court upheld AOL’s immunity from liability for defamation. AOL’s agreement with the contractor allowing AOL to modify or remove such content did not make AOL the “information content provider” because the content was created by an independent contractor. The Court noted that Congress made a policy choice by “providing immunity even where the interactive service provider has an active, even aggressive role in making available content prepared by others.”
The court upheld immunity for an Internet dating service provider from liability stemming from third party’s submission of a false profile. The plaintiff, Carafano, claimed the false profile defamed her, but because the content was created by a third party, the website was immune, even though it had provided multiple choice selections to aid profile creation.
Immunity was upheld for a website operator for distributing an email to a listserv where the plaintiff claimed the email was defamatory. Though there was a question as to whether the information provider intended to send the email to the listserv, the Court decided that for determining the liability of the service provider, “the focus should be not on the information provider’s intentions or knowledge when transmitting content but, instead, on the service provider’s or user’s reasonable perception of those intentions or knowledge.” The Court found immunity proper “under circumstances in which a reasonable person in the position of the service provider or user would conclude that the information was provided for publication on the Internet or other ‘interactive computer service’.”
The court upheld immunity for AOL against allegations of negligence. Green claimed AOL failed to adequately police its services and allowed third parties to defame him and inflict intentional emotional distress. The court rejected these arguments because holding AOL negligent in promulgating harmful content would be equivalent to holding AOL “liable for decisions relating to the monitoring, screening, and deletion of content from its network — actions quintessentially related to a publisher’s role.”
Immunity was upheld for an individual internet user from liability for republication of defamatory statements on a listserv. The court found the defendant to be a “user of interactive computer services” and thus immune from liability for posting information passed to her by the author.
The court rejected the defendant’s motion to dismiss on the grounds of Section 230 immunity, ruling that the plaintiff’s allegations that the defendants wrote disparaging report titles and headings, and themselves wrote disparaging editorial messages about the plaintiff, rendered them information content providers. The Web site, http://www.badbusinessbureau.com, allows users to upload “reports” containing complaints about businesses they have dealt with.
Immunity was upheld against claims of fraud and money laundering. Google was not responsible for misleading advertising created by third parties who bought space on Google’s pages. The court found the creative pleading of money laundering did not cause the case to fall into the crime exception to Section 230 immunity.
Immunity for Orbitz and CheapTickets was upheld for claims based on fraudulent ticket listings entered by third parties on ticket resale marketplaces.
Herrick v. Grindr, 18-396
The Second Circuitupheld immunity for the Grindr dating app for LGBT persons under Section 230 in regards to the misuse of false profiles created in the names of a real person. The plaintiff had broken up with a boyfriend, who later went onto Grindr to create multiple false profiles that presented the real-life identity and address of the plaintiff and as being available for sexual encounters, as well as having illegal drugs for sale. The plaintiff reported that over a thousand men had come to his house for sex and drugs, based on the communications with the fake profile, and he began to fear for his safety. He sued Grindr for not taking actions to block the false profiles after multiple requests. Grindr asserted Section 230 did not make them liable for the actions of the ex-boyfriend. This was agreed by the district court and the Second Circuit.[73][74]
The California Court of Appeal upheld the immunity of a city from claims of waste of public funds, nuisance, premises liability, and denial of substantive due process. The plaintiff’s child downloaded pornography from a public library’s computers, which did not restrict access to minors. The court found the library was not responsible for the content of the internet and explicitly found that section 230(c)(1) immunity covers governmental entities and taxpayer causes of action.
The court upheld immunity for a social networking site from negligence and gross negligence liability for failing to institute safety measures to protect minors and failure to institute policies relating to age verification. The Does’ daughter had lied about her age and communicated over MySpace with a man who later sexually assaulted her. In the court’s view, the Does’ allegations were “merely another way of claiming that MySpace was liable for publishing the communications.”
The court upheld immunity for Backpage in contesting a Washington state law (SB6251)[82] that would have made providers of third-party content online liable for any crimes related to a minor in Washington state.[83] The states of Tennessee and New Jersey later passed similar legislation. Backpage argued that the laws violated Section 230, the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, and the First and Fifth Amendments.[82] In all three cases the courts granted Backpage permanent injunctive relief and awarded them attorney’s fees.[80][84][85][86][87]
The court ruledin favor of Backpage after Sheriff Tom Dart of Cook County IL, a frequent critic of Backpage and its adult postings section, sent a letter on his official stationary to Visa and MasterCard demanding that these firms “immediately cease and desist” allowing the use of their credit cards to purchase ads on Backpage. Within two days both companies withdrew their services from Backpage.[89] Backpage filed a lawsuit asking for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Dart granting Backpage relief and return to the status quo prior to Dart sending the letter. Backpage alleged that Dart’s actions were unconstitutional, violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution as well as Section 230 of the CDA. Backpage asked for Dart to retract his “cease and desist” letters.[90] After initially being denied the injunctive relief by a lower court,[91][92] the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed that decision and directed that a permanent injunction be issued enjoining Dart and his office from taking any actions “to coerce or threaten credit card companies…with sanctions intended to ban credit card or other financial services from being provided to Backpage.com.”[93] The court cited section 230 as part of its decision.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appealsrejected immunity for the Roommates.com roommate matching service for claims brought under the federal Fair Housing Act[96] and California housing discrimination laws.[97] The court concluded that the manner in which the service elicited information from users concerning their roommate preferences (by having dropdowns specifying gender, presence of children, and sexual orientation), and the manner in which it utilized that information in generating roommate matches (by eliminating profiles that did not match user specifications), the matching service created or developed the information claimed to violate the FHA, and thus was responsible for it as an “information content provider.” The court upheld immunity for the descriptions posted by users in the “Additional Comments” section because these were entirely created by users.
Threats
A California Appellate Court unanimously upheld immunity from state tort claims arising from an employee’s use of the employer’s e-mail system to send threatening messages. The court concluded that an employer that provides Internet access to its employees qualifies as a “provider . . . of an interactive service.”
Failure to warn
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appealsrejected immunity for claims of negligence under California law. Doe filed a complaint against Internet Brands which alleged a “failure to warn” her of a known rape scheme, despite her relationship to them as a ModelMayhem.com member. They also had requisite knowledge to avoid future victimization of ModelMayhem.com users by warning users of online sexual predators. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the Communications Decency Act did not bar the claim and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings.
In February 2015, the Ninth Circuit panel set aside its 2014 opinion and set the case for reargument. In May 2016, the panel again held that Doe’s case could proceed.[98][99]
Terrorism
Force v. Facebook, Inc., No. 18-397 (2d Cir. July 31, 2019)
The Second Circuit upheld immunity in civil claims for service providers for hosting terrorism-related content created by users. Families, friends, and associates of several killed in Hamas-attacks filed suit against Facebook under the United State’s Anti-Terrorism Act, asserting that since Hamas members used Facebook to coordinate activities, Facebook was liable for its content. While previous rules at federal District and Circuit level have generally ruled against such cases, this decision in the Second Circuit was first to assert that Section 230’s safe harbor provisions do apply even to acts related to terrorism that may be posted by users of service providers, thus dismissing the suit against Facebook. The Second Circuit ruled that the various algorithms Facebook uses to recommend content remains as part of the role of the distributor of the content and not the publisher, since these automated tools were essentially neutral.[60]
Similar legislation in other countries]
European Union
Article 14 establishes that hosting providers are not responsible for the content they host as long as (1) the acts in question are neutral intermediary acts of a mere technical, automatic and passive capacity; (2) they are not informed of its illegal character, and (3) they act promptly to remove or disable access to the material when informed of it.
Article 15 precludes member states from imposing general obligations to monitor hosted content for potential illegal activities.
The updated Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (Directive 2019/790) Article 17 makes providers liable if they fail to take “effective and proportionate measures” to prevent users from uploading certain copyright violations and do not response immediately to takedown requests.[101]
Australia
In Dow Jones & Company Inc v Gutnick,[102] the High Court of Australia treated defamatory material on a server outside Australia as having been published in Australia when it is downloaded or read by someone in Australia.
Gorton v Australian Broadcasting Commission & Anor (1973) 1 ACTR 6
Under the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW),[103] s 32, a defence to defamation is that the defendant neither knew, nor ought reasonably to have known of the defamation, and the lack of knowledge was not due to the defendant’s negligence.
New Zealandcause of the material CompuServe’s network was carrying into Germany. He was convicted and sentenced to two years probation on May 28, 1998.[104][105] He was cleared on appeal on November 17, 1999.[106][107]
The Oberlandesgericht (OLG) Cologne, an appellate court, found that an online auctioneer does not have an active duty to check for counterfeit goods (Az 6 U 12/01).[108]
In one example, the first-instance district court of Hamburg issued a temporary restraining order requiring message board operator Universal Boards to review all comments before they can be posted to prevent the publication of messages inciting others to download harmful files. The court reasoned that “the publishing house must be held liable for spreading such material in the forum, regardless of whether it was aware of the content.”[109]
United Kingdom
The laws of libel and defamation will treat a disseminator of information as having “published” material posted by a user, and the onus will then be on a defendant to prove that it did not know the publication was defamatory and was not negligent in failing to know: Goldsmith v Sperrings Ltd (1977) 2 All ER 566; Vizetelly v Mudie’s Select Library Ltd (1900) 2 QB 170; Emmens v Pottle & Ors (1885) 16 QBD 354.
In an action against a website operator, on a statement posted on the website, it is a defence to show that it was not the operator who posted the statement on the website. The defence is defeated if it was not possible for the claimant to identify the person who posted the statement, or the claimant gave the operator a notice of complaint and the operator failed to respond in accordance with regulations.
Notes
^The details of the Stratton Oakmont case would later serve as the basis for the book and its film The Wolf of Wall Street
United States antitrust law
“The Bosses of the Senate”, a cartoon by Joseph Keppler depicting corporate interests—from steel, copper, oil, iron, sugar, tin, and coal to paper bags, envelopes, and salt—as giant money bags looming over the tiny senators at their desks in the Chamber of the United States Senate.[1]
In the United States, antitrust law is a collection of federal and state government laws that regulates the conduct and organization of business corporations, generally to promote competition for the benefit of consumers. (The concept is called competition law in other English-speaking countries.) The main statutes are the Sherman Act of 1890, the Clayton Act of 1914 and the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. These Acts serve three major functions. First, Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits price-fixing and the operation of cartels, and prohibits other collusive practices that unreasonably restrain trade. Second, Section 7 of the Clayton Act restricts the mergers and acquisitions of organizations that would likely substantially lessen competition. Third, Section 2 of the Sherman Act prohibits the abuse of monopoly power.[2]
The Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, state governments and private parties who are sufficiently affected may all bring actions in the courts to enforce the antitrust laws. The scope of antitrust laws, and the degree to which they should interfere in an enterprise’s freedom to conduct business, or to protect smaller businesses, communities and consumers, are strongly debated. One view, mostly closely associated with the “Chicago School of economics” suggests that antitrust laws should focus solely on the benefits to consumers and overall efficiency, while a broad range of legal and economic theory sees the role of antitrust laws as also controlling economic power in the public interest.[3]
Although “trust” has a specific legal meaning (where one person holds property for the benefit of another), in the late 19th century the word was commonly used to denote big business, because that legal instrument was frequently used to effect a combination of companies.[4] Large manufacturing conglomerates emerged in great numbers in the 1880s and 1890s, and were perceived to have excessive economic power.[5] The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 began a shift towards federal rather than state regulation of big business.[6] It was followed by the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 and the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, the Robinson–Patman Act of 1936, and the Celler–Kefauver Act of 1950.
In the 1880s, hundreds of small short-line railroads were being bought up and consolidated into giant systems. (Separate laws and policies emerged regarding railroads and financial concerns such as banks and insurance companies.) People for strong antitrust laws argued that, in order for the American economy to be successful, it would require free competition and the opportunity for individual Americans to build their own businesses. As Senator John Sherman put it, “If we will not endure a king as a political power we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life.” Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act almost unanimously in 1890, and it remains the core of antitrust policy. The Act prohibits agreements in restraint of trade and abuse of monopoly power. It gives the Justice Department the mandate to go to federal court for orders to stop illegal behavior or to impose remedies.[7][original research?]
One of the better-known trusts was the Standard Oil Company; John D. Rockefeller in the 1870s and 1880s had used economic threats against competitors and secret rebate deals with railroads to build what was called a monopoly in the oil business, though some minor competitors remained in business. In 1911 the Supreme Court agreed that in recent years (1900–1904) Standard had violated the Sherman Act (see Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States). It broke the monopoly into three dozen separate companies that competed with one another, including Standard Oil of New Jersey (later known as Exxon and now ExxonMobil), Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco), Standard Oil Company of New York (Mobil, again, later merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil), of California (Chevron), and so on. In approving the breakup the Supreme Court added the “rule of reason”: not all big companies, and not all monopolies, are evil; and the courts (not the executive branch) are to make that decision. To be harmful, a trust had to somehow damage the economic environment of its competitors.[citation needed]
United States Steel Corporation, which was much larger than Standard Oil, won its antitrust suit in 1920 despite never having delivered the benefits to consumers that Standard Oil did.[citation needed] In fact, it lobbied for tariff protection that reduced competition, and so contending that it was one of the “good trusts” that benefited the economy is somewhat doubtful.[citation needed] Likewise International Harvester survived its court test, while other monopolies were broken up in tobacco, meatpacking, and bathtub fixtures. Over the years hundreds of executives of competing companies who met together illegally to fix prices went to federal prison.[citation needed]
American hostility to big business began to decrease after the Progressive Era.[citation needed] For example, Ford Motor Company dominated auto manufacturing, built millions of cheap cars that put America on wheels, and at the same time lowered prices, raised wages, and promoted manufacturing efficiency. Welfare capitalism made large companies an attractive place to work; new career paths opened up in middle management; local suppliers discovered that big corporations were big purchasers.[citation needed] Talk of trust busting faded away. Under the leadership of Herbert Hoover, the government in the 1920s promoted business cooperation, fostered the creation of self-policing trade associations, and made the FTC an ally of “respectable business”.[citation needed]
The printing equipment company ATF explicitly states in its 1923 manual that its goal is to ‘discourage unhealthy competition’ in the printing industry.
During the New Deal, attempts were made to stop cutthroat competition. The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was a short-lived program in 1933–35 designed to strengthen trade associations, and raise prices, profits and wages at the same time. The Robinson-Patman Act of 1936 sought to protect local retailers against the onslaught of the more efficient chain stores, by making it illegal to discount prices. To control big business, the New Deal policymakers preferred federal and state regulation —controlling the rates and telephone services provided by AT&T, for example— and by building up countervailing power in the form of labor unions.[citation needed]
The antitrust environment of the 70’s was dominated by the case United States v. IBM, which was filed by the U.S. Justice Department in 1969. IBM at the time dominated the computer market through alleged bundling of software and hardware as well as sabotage at the sales level and false product announcements. It was one of the largest and certainly the lengthiest antitrust case the DoJ brought against a company. In 1982, the Reagan administration dismissed the case, and the costs and wasted resources were heavily criticized. However, contemporary economists argue that the legal pressure on IBM during that period allowed for the development of an independent software and personal computer industry with major importance for the national economy.[8]
In 1982 the Reagan administration used the Sherman Act to break up AT&T into one long-distance company and seven regional “Baby Bells“, arguing that competition should replace monopoly for the benefit of consumers and the economy as a whole. The pace of business takeovers quickened in the 1990s, but whenever one large corporation sought to acquire another, it first had to obtain the approval of either the FTC or the Justice Department. Often the government demanded that certain subsidiaries be sold so that the new company would not monopolize a particular geographical market.[citation needed]
In 1999 a coalition of 19 states and the federal Justice Department sued Microsoft.[9] A highly publicized trial found that Microsoft had strong-armed many companies in an attempt to prevent competition from the Netscape browser.[10] In 2000, the trial court ordered Microsoft to split in two, preventing it from future misbehavior.[11][9] The Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part. In addition, it removed the judge from the case for discussing the case with the media while it was still pending.[12] With the case in front of a new judge, Microsoft and the government settled, with the government dropping the case in return for Microsoft agreeing to cease many of the practices the government challenged.[13] In his defense, CEO Bill Gates argued that Microsoft always worked on behalf of the consumer and that splitting the company would diminish efficiency and slow the pace of software development.[citation needed]
Cartels and collusion
Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any contract or engage in any combination or conspiracy hereby declared to be illegal shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding $100,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $1,000,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
Preventing collusion and cartels that act in restraint of trade is an essential task of antitrust law. It reflects the view that each business has a duty to act independently on the market, and so earn its profits solely by providing better priced and quality products than its competitors. The Sherman Act §1 prohibits “[e]very contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce.”[14] This targets two or more distinct enterprises acting together in a way that harms third parties. It does not capture the decisions of a single enterprise, or a single economic entity, even though the form of an entity may be two or more separate legal persons or companies. In Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp.[15] it was held an agreement between a parent company and a wholly owned subsidiary could not be subject to antitrust law, because the decision took place within a single economic entity.[16] This reflects the view that if the enterprise (as an economic entity) has not acquired a monopoly position, or has significant market power, then no harm is done. The same rationale has been extended to joint ventures, where corporate shareholders make a decision through a new company they form. In Texaco Inc. v. Dagher[17] the Supreme Court held unanimously that a price set by a joint venture between Texaco and Shell Oil did not count as making an unlawful agreement. Thus the law draws a “basic distinction between concerted and independent action”.[18] Multi-firm conduct tends to be seen as more likely than single-firm conduct to have an unambiguously negative effect and “is judged more sternly”.[19] Generally the law identifies four main categories of agreement. First, some agreements such as price fixing or sharing markets are automatically unlawful, or illegal per se. Second, because the law does not seek to prohibit every kind of agreement that hinders freedom of contract, it developed a “rule of reason” where a practice might restrict trade in a way that is seen as positive or beneficial for consumers or society. Third, significant problems of proof and identification of wrongdoing arise where businesses make no overt contact, or simply share information, but appear to act in concert. Tacit collusion, particularly in concentrated markets with a small number of competitors or oligopolists, have led to significant controversy over whether or not antitrust authorities should intervene. Fourth, vertical agreements between a business and a supplier or purchaser “up” or “downstream” raise concerns about the exercise of market power, however they are generally subject to a more relaxed standard under the “rule of reason”.
Restrictive practices
Some practices are deemed by the courts to be so obviously detrimental that they are categorized as being automatically unlawful, or illegal per se. The simplest and central case of this is price fixing. This involves an agreement by businesses to set the price or consideration of a good or service which they buy or sell from others at a specific level. If the agreement is durable, the general term for these businesses is a cartel. It is irrelevant whether or not the businesses succeed in increasing their profits, or whether together they reach the level of having market power as might a monopoly. Such collusion is illegal per se.
Bid rigging is a form of price fixing and market allocation that involves an agreement in which one party of a group of bidders will be designated to win the bid. Geographic market allocation is an agreement between competitors not to compete within each other’s geographic territories.
Addyston Pipe and Steel Co. v. United States[20] pipe manufacturers had agreed among themselves to designate one lowest bidder for government contracts. This was held to be an unlawful restraint of trade contrary to the Sherman Act. However, following the reasoning of Justice Taft in the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court held that implicit in the Sherman Act §1 there was a rule of reason, so that not every agreement which restrained the freedom of contract of the parties would count as an anti-competitive violation.
Hartford Fire Insurance Co. v. California, 113 S.Ct. 2891 (1993) 5 to 4, a group of reinsurance companies acting in London were successfully sued by California for conspiring to make U.S. insurance companies abandon policies beneficial to consumers, but costly to reinsure. The Sherman Act was held to have extraterritorial application, to agreements outside U.S. territory.
Group boycotts of competitors, customers or distributors
Fashion Originators’ Guild of America v. FTC, 312 U.S. 457 (1941) the FOGA, a combination of clothes designers, agreed not to sell their clothes to shops which stocked replicas of their designs, and employed their own inspectors. Held to violate the Sherman Act §1
Associated Press v. United States, 326 U.S. 1 (1945) 6 to 3, a prohibition on members selling “spontaneous news” violated the Sherman Act, as well as making membership difficult, and freedom of speech among newspapers was no defense, nor was the absence of a total monopoly
Northwest Wholesale Stationers v. Pacific Stationery, 472 U.S. 284 (1985) it was not per se unlawful for the Northwest Wholesale Stationers, a purchasing co-operative where Pacific Stationery had been a member, to expel Pacific Stationery without any procedure or hearing or reason. Whether there were competitive effects would have to be adjudged under the rule of reason.
NYNEX Corp. v. Discon, Inc., 525 U.S. 128 (1998) the per se group boycott prohibition does not apply to a buyer’s decision to purchase goods from one seller or another
Rule of reason
If an antitrust claim does not fall within a per se illegal category, the plaintiff must show the conduct causes harm in “restraint of trade” under the Sherman Act §1 according to “the facts peculiar to the business to which the restraint is applied”.[21] This essentially means that unless a plaintiff can point to a clear precedent, to which the situation is analogous, proof of an anti-competitive effect is more difficult. The reason for this is that the courts have endeavoured to draw a line between practices that restrain trade in a “good” compared to a “bad” way. In the first case, United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Association,[22] the Supreme Court found that railroad companies had acted unlawfully by setting up an organisation to fix transport prices. The railroads had protested that their intention was to keep prices low, not high. The court found that this was not true, but stated that not every “restraint of trade” in a literal sense could be unlawful. Just as under the common law, the restraint of trade had to be “unreasonable”. In Chicago Board of Trade v. United States the Supreme Court found a “good” restraint of trade.[23] The Chicago Board of Trade had a rule that commodities traders were not allowed to privately agree to sell or buy after the market’s closing time (and then finalise the deals when it opened the next day). The reason for the Board of Trade having this rule was to ensure that all traders had an equal chance to trade at a transparent market price. It plainly restricted trading, but the Chicago Board of Trade argued this was beneficial. Brandeis J., giving judgment for a unanimous Supreme Court, held the rule to be pro-competitive, and comply with the rule of reason. It did not violate the Sherman Act §1. As he put it,
Every agreement concerning trade, every regulation of trade, restrains. To bind, to restrain, is of their very essence. The true test of legality is whether the restraint imposed is such as merely regulates and perhaps thereby promotes competition or whether it is such as may suppress or even destroy competition. To determine that question, the court must ordinarily consider the facts peculiar to the business to which the restraint is applied, its condition before and after the restraint was imposed, the nature of the restraint, and its effect, actual or probable.[24]
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) 5 to 2, while Bell Atlantic and other major telephone companies were alleged to have acted in concert to share markets, and not compete in each other’s territory to the detriment of small businesses, it was held that in absence of evidence of an agreement, parallel conduct is not enough to ground a case under the Sherman Act §1
Theatre Enterprises v. Paramount Distributing, 346 U.S. 537 (1954), no evidence of illegal agreement, however film distributors gave first film releases to downtown Baltimore theatres, and suburban theatres were forced to wait longer. Held, there needed to be evidence of conspiracy to injure
American Tobacco Co. v. United States, 328 U.S. 781 (1946) after American Tobacco Co was broken up, the four entities were found to have achieved a collectively dominant position, which still amounted to monopolization of the market contrary to the Sherman Act §2
Kiefer-Stewart Co. v. Seagram & Sons, Inc., 340 U.S. 211 (1951) it was unlawful for private liquor dealers to require that their products only be resold up to a maximum price. It unduly restrained the freedom of businesses and was per se illegal.
State Oil Co. v. Khan, 522 U.S. 3 (1997) vertical maximum price fixing had to be adjudged according to a rule of reason
Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. 551 U.S. 877 (2007) 5 to 4 decision that vertical price restraints were not per se illegal. A leather manufacturer therefore did not violate the Sherman Act by stopping delivery of goods to a retailer after the retailer refused to raise its prices to the leather manufacturer’s standards.
Continental Television v. GTE Sylvania, 433 U.S. 36 (1977) 6 to 2, held that it was not an antitrust violation, and it fell within the rule of reason, for a seller to limit the number of franchises and require the franchisees only sell goods within its area
United States v. Colgate & Co., 250U.S.300 (1919) there is no unlawful action by a manufacturer or seller, who publicly announces a price policy, and then refuses to deal with businesses who do not subsequently comply with the policy. This is in contrast to agreements to maintain a certain price.
Monsanto Co. v. Spray-Rite Service Corp., 465U.S.752 (1984), stating that, “under Colgate, the manufacturer can announce its re-sale prices in advance and refuse to deal with those who fail to comply, and a distributor is free to acquiesce to the manufacturer’s demand in order to avoid termination”. Monsanto, an agricultural chemical, terminated its distributorship agreement with Spray-Rite on the ground that it failed to hire trained salesmen and promote sales to dealers adequately. Held, not per se illegal, because the restriction related to non-price matters, and so was to be judged under the rule of reason.
Business Electronics Corp. v. Sharp Electronics Corp., 485U.S.717 (1988) electronic calculators; “a vertical restraint is not illegal per se unless it includes some agreement on price or price levels. … [T]here is a presumption in favor of a rule-of-reason standard; [and] departure from that standard must be justified by demonstrable economic effect, such as the facilitation of cartelizing … “
Mergers
No person engaged in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce shall acquire, directly or indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock or other share capital and no person subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission shall acquire the whole or any part of the assets of another person engaged also in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce, where in any line of commerce or in any activity affecting commerce in any section of the country, the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly.
Although the Sherman Act 1890 initially dealt, in general, with cartels (where businesses combined their activities to the detriment of others) and monopolies (where one business was so large it could use its power to the detriment of others alone) it was recognized that this left a gap. Instead of forming a cartel, businesses could simply merge into one entity. The period between 1895 and 1904 saw a “great merger movement” as business competitors combined into ever more giant corporations.[25] However upon a literal reading of Sherman Act, no remedy could be granted until a monopoly had already formed. The Clayton Act 1914 attempted to fill this gap by giving jurisdiction to prevent mergers in the first place if they would “substantially lessen competition”.
Dual antitrust enforcement by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission has long elicited concerns about disparate treatment of mergers. In response, in September 2014, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules Act (“SMARTER Act”).[26]
FTC v. Dean Foods Co, 384 U.S. 597 (1966) 5 to 4, the FTC was entitled to get an injunction to prevent the completion of a merger, between milk selling competitors in the Chicago area, before its competitive effects are determined by a court
Vertical mergers
Brown Shoe Co., Inc. v. United States, 370U.S.294 (1962) there is not one single test for whether a merger substantially lessens competition, but a variety of economic and other factors may be considered. Two shoe retailers and manufacturers merging was held to substantially lessen competition, given the market in towns over 10,000 people for men’s, women’s and children’s shoes.
Monopoly and power
Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding $100,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $1,000,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
The law’s treatment of monopolies is potentially the strongest in the field of antitrust law. Judicial remedies can force large organizations to be broken up, be run subject to positive obligations, massive penalties may be imposed, and/or the people involved can be sentenced to jail. Under §2 of the Sherman Act 1890 every “person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize … any part of the trade or commerce among the several States” commits an offence.[27] The courts have interpreted this to mean that monopoly is not unlawful per se, but only if acquired through prohibited conduct.[28] Historically, where the ability of judicial remedies to combat market power have ended, the legislature of states or the Federal government have still intervened by taking public ownership of an enterprise, or subjecting the industry to sector specific regulation (frequently done, for example, in the cases water, education, energy or health care). The law on public services and administration goes significantly beyond the realm of antitrust law’s treatment of monopolies. When enterprises are not under public ownership, and where regulation does not foreclose the application of antitrust law, two requirements must be shown for the offense of monopolization. First, the alleged monopolist must possess sufficient power in an accurately defined market for its products or services. Second, the monopolist must have used its power in a prohibited way. The categories of prohibited conduct are not closed, and are contested in theory. Historically they have been held to include exclusive dealing, price discrimination, refusing to supply an essential facility, product tying and predatory pricing.
United States v. Alcoa, 148 F.2d 416 (2d Cir. 1945) a monopoly can be deemed to exist depending on the size of the market. It was generally irrelevant how the monopoly was achieved since the fact of being dominant on the market was negative for competition. (Criticised by Alan Greenspan.)
United States v. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 351 U.S. 377 (1956), illustrates the cellophane paradox of defining the relevant market. If a monopolist has set a price very high, there may now be many substitutable goods at similar prices, which could lead to a conclusion that the market share is small, and there is no monopoly. However, if a competitive price were charged, there would be a lower price, and so very few substitutes, whereupon the market share would be very high, and a monopoly established.
Spectrum Sports, Inc. v. McQuillan, 506 U.S. 447 (1993) in order for monopolies to be found to have acted unlawfully, action must have actually been taken. The threat of abusive behavior is insufficient.
Fraser v. Major League Soccer, 284 F.3d 47 (1st Cir. 2002) there could be no unlawful monopolization of the soccer market by MLS where no market previously existed
United States v. Griffith 334 U.S. 100 (1948) four cinema corporations secured exclusive rights from distributors, foreclosing competitors. Specific intent to monopolize is not required, violating the Sherman Act §§1 and 2.
United States v. Grinnell Corp., 384 U.S. 563 (1966) Grinnell made plumbing supplies and fire sprinklers, and with affiliates had 87% of the central station protective service market. From this predominant share there was no doubt of monopoly power.
Exclusive dealing
Standard Oil Co. v. United States (Standard Stations), 337 U.S. 293 (1949): oil supply contracts affected a gross business of $58 million, comprising 6.7% of the total in a seven-state area, in the context of many similar arrangements, held to be contrary to Clayton Act §3.
Tampa Electric Co. v. Nashville Coal Co., 365 U.S. 320 (1961): Tampa Electric Co contracted to buy coal for 20 years to provide power in Florida, and Nashville Coal Co later attempted to end the contract on the basis that it was an exclusive supply agreement contrary to the Clayton Act § 3 or the Sherman Act §§ 1 or 2. Held, no violation because foreclosed share of market was insignificant this did not affect competition sufficiently.
Essential facilities
Eastman Kodak Company v. Image Technical Services, Inc., 504 U.S. 451 (1992) Kodak has refused to supply replacement parts to small businesses servicing Kodak equipment, which was alleged to violate the Sherman Act §§1 and 2. The Supreme Court held 6 to 3 that the small businesses were entitled to bring the case, and Kodak was not entitled to summary judgment.
Tying products
It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, to lease or make a sale or contract for sale of goods, wares, merchandise, machinery, supplies, or other commodities, whether patented or unpatented, for use, consumption, or resale within the United States or any Territory thereof or the District of Columbia or any insular possession or other place under the jurisdiction of the United States, or fix a price charged therefor, or discount from, or rebate upon, such price, on the condition, agreement, or understanding that the lessee or purchaser thereof shall not use or deal in the goods, wares, merchandise, machinery, supplies, or other commodities of a competitor or competitors of the lessor or seller, where the effect of such lease, sale, or contract for sale or such condition, agreement, or understanding may be to substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce.
International Salt Co. v. United States, 332U.S.392 (1947) it would be a per se infringement of the Sherman Act §2 for a seller, who has a legal monopoly through a patent, to tie buyers to purchase products over which the seller does not have a patent
Predatory pricing
In theory, which is hotly contested, predatory pricing happens when large companies with huge cash reserves and large lines of credit stifle competition by selling their products and services at a loss for a time, to force their smaller competitors out of business. With no competition, they are then free to consolidate control of the industry and charge whatever prices they wish. At this point, there is also little motivation for investing in further technological research, since there are no competitors left to gain an advantage over. High barriers to entry such as large upfront investment, notably named sunk costs, requirements in infrastructure and exclusive agreements with distributors, customers, and wholesalers ensure that it will be difficult for any new competitors to enter the market, and that if any do, the trust will have ample advance warning and time in which to either buy the competitor out, or engage in its own research and return to predatory pricing long enough to force the competitor out of business. Critics argue that the empirical evidence shows that “predatory pricing” does not work in practice and is better defeated by a truly free market than by antitrust laws (see Criticism of the theory of predatory pricing).
Brooke Group Ltd. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 509 U.S. 209 (1993) to prove predatory pricing the plaintiff must show that changes in market conditions are adverse to its interests, and that (1) prices are below an appropriate measure of its rival’s costs, and (2) the competitor had a reasonable prospect or a “dangerous probability” of recouping its investment in the alleged scheme.
Intellectual property
Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co., 210 U.S. 405 (1908) 8 to 1, concerning a self opening paper bag, it was not an unlawful use of a monopoly position to refuse to license a patent’s use to others, since the essence of a patent was the freedom not to do so.
International Salt Co. v. United States, 332 U.S. 392 (1947) it would be a per se infringement of the Sherman Act §2 for a seller, who has a legal monopoly through a patent, to tie buyers to purchase products over which the seller does not have a patent
Collective actions
First, since the Clayton Act 1914 §6, there is no application of antitrust laws to agreements between employees to form or act in labor unions. This was seen as the “Bill of Rights” for labor, as the Act laid down that the “labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce”. The purpose was to ensure that employees with unequal bargaining power were not prevented from combining in the same way that their employers could combine in corporations,[30] subject to the restrictions on mergers that the Clayton Act set out. However, sufficiently autonomous workers, such as professional sports players have been held to fall within antitrust provisions.[31]
Pro sports exemptions and the NFL cartel
Second, professional sports leagues enjoy a number of exemptions. Mergers and joint agreements of professional football, hockey, baseball, and basketball leagues are exempt.[32]Major League Baseball was held to be broadly exempt from antitrust law in Federal Baseball Club v. National League.[33] Holmes J held that the baseball league’s organization meant that there was no commerce between the states taking place, even though teams traveled across state lines to put on the games. That travel was merely incidental to a business which took place in each state. It was subsequently held in 1952 in Toolson v. New York Yankees,[34] and then again in 1972 Flood v. Kuhn,[35] that the baseball league’s exemption was an “aberration”. However Congress had accepted it, and favored it, so retroactively overruling the exemption was no longer a matter for the courts, but the legislature. In United States v. International Boxing Club of New York,[36] it was held that, unlike baseball, boxing was not exempt, and in Radovich v. National Football League (NFL),[37] professional football is generally subject to antitrust laws. As a result of the AFL-NFL merger, the National Football League was also given exemptions in exchange for certain conditions, such as not directly competing with college or high school football.[38] However, the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in American Needle Inc. v. NFL characterised the NFL as a “cartel” of 32 independent businesses subject to antitrust law, not a single entity.
Parker v. Brown, 317 U.S. 341 (1943) actions by state governments were held to be exempt from antitrust law, given that there was no original legislative intent to cover anything other than business combinations.
Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar, 421 U.S. 773 (1975) the Virginia State Bar, which was delegated power to set price schedules for lawyers fees, was an unlawful price fixing. It was no longer exempt from the Sherman Act, and constituted a per se infringement.
United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Association, 166 U.S. 290 (1897) the antitrust laws applied to the railroad industry, even though there was a comprehensive scheme of legislation applying to the railroads already. No specific exemption had been given.
Remedies and enforcement
The several district courts of the United States are invested with jurisdiction to prevent and restrain violations of sections 1 to 7 of this title; and it shall be the duty of the several United States attorneys, in their respective districts, under the direction of the Attorney General, to institute proceedings in equity to prevent and restrain such violations. Such proceedings may be by way of petition setting forth the case and praying that such violation shall be enjoined or otherwise prohibited. When the parties complained of shall have been duly notified of such petition the court shall proceed, as soon as may be, to the hearing and determination of the case; and pending such petition and before final decree, the court may at any time make such temporary restraining order or prohibition as shall be deemed just in the premises.
The remedies for violations of U.S. antitrust laws are as broad as any equitable remedy that a court has the power to make, as well as being able to impose penalties. When private parties have suffered an actionable loss, they may claim compensation. Under the Sherman Act 1890 §7, these may be trebled, a measure to encourage private litigation to enforce the laws and act as a deterrent. The courts may award penalties under §§1 and 2, which are measured according to the size of the company or the business. In their inherent jurisdiction to prevent violations in future, the courts have additionally exercised the power to break up businesses into competing parts under different owners, although this remedy has rarely been exercised (examples include Standard Oil, Northern Securities Company, American Tobacco Company, AT&T Corporation and, although reversed on appeal, Microsoft). Three levels of enforcement come from the Federal government, primarily through the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, the governments of states, and private parties. Public enforcement of antitrust laws is seen as important, given the cost, complexity and daunting task for private parties to bring litigation, particularly against large corporations.
FTC v. Sperry & Hutchinson Trading Stamp Co., 405 U.S. 233 (1972). Case held that the FTC is entitled to bring enforcement action against businesses that act unfairly, as where supermarket trading stamps company injured consumers by prohibiting them from exchanging trading stamps. The FTC could prevent the restrictive practice as unfair, even though there was no specific antitrust violation.
International cooperation
Despite considerable effort by the Clinton administration, the Federal government attempted to extend antitrust cooperation with other countries for mutual detection, prosecution and enforcement. A bill was unanimously passed by the US Congress;[48] however by 2000 only one treaty has been signed[49] with Australia.[50] On 3 July 2017 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced it was seeking explanations from a US company, Apple Inc. In relation to potentially anticompetitive behaviour against an Australian bank in possible relation to Apple Pay.[51] It is not known whether the treaty could influence the enquiry or outcome.
In many cases large US companies tend to deal with overseas antitrust within the overseas jurisdiction, autonomous of US laws, such as in Microsoft Corp v Commission and more recently, Google v European Union where the companies were heavily fined.[52] Questions have been raised with regards to the consistency of antitrust between jurisdictions where the same antitrust corporate behaviour, and similar antitrust legal environment, is prosecuted in one jurisdiction but not another.[53]
State governments
Hawaii v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal., 405 U.S. 251 (1972) state governments do not have a cause of action to sue for consequential loss for damage to their general economies after an antitrust violation is found.
Private suits]
Private civil suits may be brought, in both state and federal court, against violators of state and federal antitrust law. Federal antitrust laws, as well as most state laws, provide for triple damages against antitrust violators in order to encourage private lawsuit enforcement of antitrust law. Thus, if a company is sued for monopolizing a market and the jury concludes the conduct resulted in consumers’ being overcharged $200,000, that amount will automatically be tripled, so the injured consumers will receive $600,000. The United States Supreme Court summarized why Congress authorized private antitrust lawsuits in the case Hawaii v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal., 405 U.S. 251, 262 (1972):
Every violation of the antitrust laws is a blow to the free-enterprise system envisaged by Congress. This system depends on strong competition for its health and vigor, and strong competition depends, in turn, on compliance with antitrust legislation. In enacting these laws, Congress had many means at its disposal to penalize violators. It could have, for example, required violators to compensate federal, state, and local governments for the estimated damage to their respective economies caused by the violations. But, this remedy was not selected. Instead, Congress chose to permit all persons to sue to recover three times their actual damages every time they were injured in their business or property by an antitrust violation. By offering potential litigants the prospect of a recovery in three times the amount of their damages, Congress encouraged these persons to serve as “private attorneys general”.
Bigelow v. RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 327 U.S. 251 (1946) treble damages awarded under the Clayton Act §4 needed not to be mathematically precise, but based on a reasonable estimate of loss, and not speculative. This meant a jury could set a higher estimate of how much movie theaters lost, when the film distributors conspired with other theaters to let them show films first.
Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois, 431 U.S. 720 (1977) indirect purchasers of goods where prices have been raised have no standing to sue. Only the direct contractors of cartel members may, to avoid double or multiple recovery.
Theory
The Supreme Court calls the Sherman Antitrust Act a “charter of freedom”, designed to protect free enterprise in America.[54] One view of the statutory purpose, urged for example by Justice Douglas, was that the goal was not only to protect consumers, but at least as importantly to prohibit the use of power to control the marketplace.[55]
We have here the problem of bigness. Its lesson should by now have been burned into our memory by Brandeis. The Curse of Bigness shows how size can become a menace–both industrial and social. It can be an industrial menace because it creates gross inequalities against existing or putative competitors. It can be a social menace … In final analysis, size in steel is the measure of the power of a handful of men over our economy … The philosophy of the Sherman Act is that it should not exist … Industrial power should be decentralized. It should be scattered into many hands so that the fortunes of the people will not be dependent on the whim or caprice, the political prejudices, the emotional stability of a few self-appointed men … That is the philosophy and the command of the Sherman Act. It is founded on a theory of hostility to the concentration in private hands of power so great that only a government of the people should have it.
— Dissenting opinion of Justice Douglas in United States v. Columbia Steel Co.[55]
By contrast, efficiency argue that antitrust legislation should be changed to primarily benefit consumers, and have no other purpose. Free market economist Milton Friedman states that he initially agreed with the underlying principles of antitrust laws (breaking up monopolies and oligopolies and promoting more competition), but that he came to the conclusion that they do more harm than good.[56]Thomas Sowell argues that, even if a superior business drives out a competitor, it does not follow that competition has ended:
In short, the financial demise of a competitor is not the same as getting rid of competition. The courts have long paid lip service to the distinction that economists make between competition—a set of economic conditions—and existing competitors, though it is hard to see how much difference that has made in judicial decisions. Too often, it seems, if you have hurt competitors, then you have hurt competition, as far as the judges are concerned.[57]
Alan Greenspan argues that the very existence of antitrust laws discourages businessmen from some activities that might be socially useful out of fear that their business actions will be determined illegal and dismantled by government. In his essay entitled Antitrust, he says: “No one will ever know what new products, processes, machines, and cost-saving mergers failed to come into existence, killed by the Sherman Act before they were born. No one can ever compute the price that all of us have paid for that Act which, by inducing less effective use of capital, has kept our standard of living lower than would otherwise have been possible.” Those, like Greenspan, who oppose antitrust tend not to support competition as an end in itself but for its results—low prices. As long as a monopoly is not a coercive monopoly where a firm is securely insulated from potential competition, it is argued that the firm must keep prices low in order to discourage competition from arising. Hence, legal action is uncalled for and wrongly harms the firm and consumers.[58]
Thomas DiLorenzo, an adherent of the Austrian School of economics, found that the “trusts” of the late 19th century were dropping their prices faster than the rest of the economy, and he holds that they were not monopolists at all.[59]Ayn Rand, the American writer, provides a moral argument against antitrust laws. She holds that these laws in principle criminalize any person engaged in making a business successful, and, thus, are gross violations of their individual expectations.[60] Such laissez faire advocates suggest that only a coercive monopoly should be broken up, that is the persistent, exclusive control of a vitally needed resource, good, or service such that the community is at the mercy of the controller, and where there are no suppliers of the same or substitute goods to which the consumer can turn. In such a monopoly, the monopolist is able to make pricing and production decisions without an eye on competitive market forces and is able to curtail production to price-gouge consumers. Laissez-faire advocates argue that such a monopoly can only come about through the use of physical coercion or fraudulent means by the corporation or by government intervention and that there is no case of a coercive monopoly ever existing that was not the result of government policies.
Judge Robert Bork‘s writings on antitrust law (particularly The Antitrust Paradox), along with those of Richard Posner and other law and economics thinkers, were heavily influential in causing a shift in the U.S. Supreme Court’s approach to antitrust laws since the 1970s, to be focused solely on what is best for the consumer rather than the company’s practices.[45]
Industrial Concentration
By William F. Shughart II
“Industrial concentration” refers to a structural characteristic of the business sector. It is the degree to which production in an industry—or in the economy as a whole—is dominated by a few large firms. Once assumed to be a symptom of “market failure,” concentration is, for the most part, seen nowadays as an indicator of superior economic performance. In the early 1970s, Yale Brozen, a key contributor to the new thinking, called the profession’s about-face on this issue “a revolution in economics.” Industrial concentration remains a matter of public policy concern even so.
The Measurement of Industrial Concentration
Industrial concentration was traditionally summarized by the concentration ratio, which simply adds the market shares of an industry’s four, eight, twenty, or fifty largest companies. In 1982, when new federal merger guidelines were issued, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) became the standard measure of industrial concentration. Suppose that an industry contains ten firms that individually account for 25, 15, 12, 10, 10, 8, 7, 5, 5, and 3 percent of total sales. The four-firm concentration ratio for this industry—the most widely used number—is 25 + 15 + 12 + 10 = 62, meaning that the top four firms account for 62 percent of the industry’s sales. The HHI, by contrast, is calculated by summing the squared market shares of all of the firms in the industry: 252 + 152 + 122 + 102 + 102 + 82 + 72 + 52 + 52 + 32 = 1,366. The HHI has two distinct advantages over the concentration ratio. It uses information about the relative sizes of all of an industry’s members, not just some arbitrary subset of the leading companies, and it weights the market shares of the largest enterprises more heavily.
In general, the fewer the firms and the more unequal the distribution of market shares among them, the larger the HHI. Two four-firm industries, one containing equalsized firms each accounting for 25 percent of total sales, the other with market shares of 97, 1, 1, and 1, have the same four-firm concentration ratio (100) but very different HHIs (2,500 versus 9,412). An industry controlled by a single firm has an HHI of 1002 = 10,000, while the HHI for an industry populated by a very large number of very small firms would approach the index’s theoretical minimum value of zero.
Concentration in the U.S. Economy
According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s merger guidelines, an industry is considered “concentrated” if the HHI exceeds 1,800; it is “unconcentrated” if the HHI is below 1,000. Since 1982, HHIs based on the value of shipments of the fifty largest companies have been calculated and reported in the manufacturing series of the Economic Census.1 Concentration levels exceeding 1,800 are rare. The exceptions include glass containers (HHI = 2,959.9 in 1997), motor vehicles (2,505.8), and breakfast cereals (2,445.9). Cigarette manufacturing also is highly concentrated, but its HHI is not reported owing to the small number of firms in that industry, the largest four of which accounted for 89 percent of shipments in 1997. At the other extreme, the HHI for machine shops was 1.9 the same year.
Whether an industry is concentrated hinges on how narrowly or broadly it is defined, both in terms of the product it produces and the extent of the geographic area it serves. The U.S. footwear manufacturing industry as a whole is very unconcentrated (HHI = 317 in 1997); the level of concentration among house slipper manufacturers is considerably higher, though (HHI = 2,053.4). Similarly, although the national ready-mix concrete industry is unconcentrated (HHI = 29.4), concentration in that industry undoubtedly is much higher in specific cities and towns that typically are served by only a handful of such firms.
These examples suggest that concentration varies substantially across U.S. industries. Trends in concentration vary from industry to industry, but most changes in concentration proceed at a glacial pace. So, too, does aggregate concentration: the fifty largest U.S. companies accounted for 24 percent of manufacturing value added (revenue minus the costs of fuel, power, and raw materials) in 1997, the same percentage as in 1992 (and as in 1954, for that matter). On some measures—the percentages of total employment and total assets controlled by the nation’s 50, 100, or 200 largest firms—industrial concentration in the United States actually has declined since World War II.
Concentration indexes calculated for a particular year conceal the identities of the industry’s members. In reality, turnover among the nation’s leading firms is fairly regular over long time horizons, averaging between 2 and 5 percent annually. Success at one point in time does not guarantee survival: only three of the ten largest U.S. companies in 1909 made the top one hundred list in 1987. Available concentration indexes, which are based solely on domestic manufacturing data, also ignore the global dimensions of industrial production.
The Causes and Consequences of Industrial Concentration
Some industries are more concentrated than others because of technical properties of their production technologies or unique characteristics of the markets they serve. Economies of scale, which allow firms to reduce their average costs as they increase their rates of output, favor large-scale production over small-scale production. Thus, industries for which scale economies are important (e.g., auto manufacturing and petroleum refining) are expected to be more concentrated than others in which costs do not fall as rapidly as output expands (e.g., cut-and-sew apparel manufacturing). Similarly, concentration tends to be higher in industries, such as aircraft and semiconductor manufacturing, where learning curves generate substantial production-cost savings as additional units of the original model or design are made.
Owing to so-called network effects, some goods increase in value as more people use them. Computer operating systems, word-processing software, and video recorder-players are examples of such goods, as are literal networks such as railroads, commercial air transportation, and wire line telephony. Because standard technologies and protocols that provide compatible interconnections are critical to the realization of network effects— allowing faxes to be sent and received or computer users easily to exchange files—consumers rationally favor large networks over small ones. The necessity of building networks that accommodate critical masses of users means that only a few providers will achieve dominant positions, and therefore the industry will tend to be highly concentrated. Such domination is likely to be temporary, however, since consumers will switch networks when benefits outweigh costs, as illustrated by the replacement of Betaformatted video tapes by VHS formatted ones, which in turn are being replaced by DVDs.
Industrial concentration also is promoted by barriers to entry, which make it difficult for new firms to displace established firms. Barriers to entry are erected by government-conferred privileges such as patents, copyrights and trademarks, exclusive franchises, and licensing requirements. Existing firms may possess other advantages over newcomers, including lower costs and brand loyalty, which make entry more difficult.
The fundamental public policy question posed by industrial concentration is this: Are concentrated industries somehow less competitive than unconcentrated ones? Concentration would have adverse effects if it bred market power—the ability to charge prices in excess of costs—thereby increasing industry profits at consumers’ expense. In theory, industrial concentration can facilitate the exercise of market power if the members of the industry agree to cooperate rather than compete, or if the industry’s dominant firm takes the lead in setting prices that rivals follow. And, indeed, the evidence generated by hundreds of econometric studies suggests that concentrated industries are more profitable than unconcentrated ones. But that evidence begs the question. It does not tell us whether profits are higher in concentrated industries because of market power effects or because the firms in those industries use resources more efficiently (i.e., have lower costs).
Some economists have found that concentration leads to higher prices, but the link observed typically is both small (prices elevated by 1–5 percent) and statistically weak. A detailed econometric study by Sam Peltzman (1977) reaches the opposite conclusion. He reports that profits are higher in concentrated industries not because prices are higher, but because they do not decline as much as costs do as efficient firms expand their scales of operation. Analyses by Yale Brozen (1982), Harold Demsetz (1974), and others have found that the positive relation between industrial concentration and profits disappears altogether when firm size is taken into account. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that some industries are more concentrated than others because large firms have significant cost advantages over small firms. There is, in short, little unequivocal evidence that industrial concentration per se is worrisome. Just the reverse seems to be true.
Public Policies Toward Industrial Concentration
Consolidating production in the hands of fewer firms through mergers and acquisitions obviously is the most direct route to industrial concentration. Preventing transactions that, by eliminating one or more competitors, would lead to undue increases in concentration and the possible exercise of market power by the remaining firms is the mandate of the two federal antitrust agencies—the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission—under section 7 of the Clayton Act (1914). That mandate was strengthened considerably by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (1978), which requires firms to notify the antitrust authorities of their intention to merge and then to hold the transaction in abeyance until it has been reviewed. Most transactions with summed firm values of fifteen million dollars or more had to file premerger notifications initially; in February 2001 that threshold was raised to fifty million dollars and indexed for inflation.
Two important factors that antitrust authorities consider in deciding whether to allow a proposed merger to proceed are the level of market concentration if the merger is consummated and the change in market concentration from its premerger level. (Note that the “market” considered relevant for merger analysis hardly ever corresponds to the “industry” defined by the Economic Census; antitrust markets may be defined more broadly or more narrowly; in practice, the definition of the relevant market usually is the key to whether a merger is lawful or not.) Concentration thresholds are laid out in the Justice Department’s merger guidelines, first promulgated in 1968, revised substantially in 1982, and amended several times since.
The guidelines state that proposed mergers are unlikely to be challenged if the postmerger market is unconcentrated (HHI remains below 1,000). However, mergers generally will not be approved if, following consummation, market concentration falls within the 1,000–1,800 range, and the HHI increases by more than 100 points or, if the postmerger HHI is 1,800 or more, concentration increases by more than 50 points.2 Exceptions are provided when the merging firms can demonstrate significant cost savings, when barriers to entry are low, or when one of the merger’s partners would fail otherwise. (In the European Union, by contrast, competition policy, including merger law enforcement, is shaped principally by fears of possible “abuses of dominant market positions” by large firms.)
Studies examining the enforcement of section 7 under the merger guidelines have found that they are not always followed closely. Mergers are, indeed, more likely to be challenged the greater the level of market concentration and the higher the barriers to entry are thought to be. But law enforcement also is found to be influenced significantly by political pressures on the antitrust authorities from groups that stand to lose if a merger is approved, including rivals worried that the transaction will create a more effective competitor. In fact, studies of stock-market reactions to news that a merger is likely to be challenged typically find competitors to be the main beneficiaries of such decisions.
About the Author
William F. Shughart II is F. A. P. Barnard Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Mississippi. He was special assistant to the director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics during the Reagan administration and currently is editor in chief of Public Choice and associate editor of the Southern Economic Journal.
Footnotes
The Economic Census has been conducted every five years since 1967, and before that for 1954, 1958, and 1963. Prior to 1997, it was known as the Census of Manufactures. That same year, industries began being categorized according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which replaced the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes used until 1992. Industrial concentration also is reported by the Economic Census on the basis of value added. Industry concentration ratios and HHIs for the 1992 and 1997 economic censuses can be accessed online at: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/concentration.html. Information on industrial concentration is not readily available for sectors of the economy other than manufacturing.
When firms with market shares of s1 and s2 merge, the HHI increases by (s1 + s2)2 − s12 − s22 = 2s1s2. So, for example, if a merger is proposed between the two largest firms in the hypothetical ten-firm industry described earlier, the HHI would increase by 2 × 25 × 15 = 750 points (from 1,366 to 2,116). According to the guidelines, that merger would in all likelihood be challenged.
The decentralized control of each cryptocurrency works through distributed ledger technology, typically a blockchain, that serves as a public financial transaction database.[5]
Bitcoin, first released as open-source software in 2009, is generally considered the first decentralized cryptocurrency.[6] Since the release of bitcoin, over 4,000 altcoins (alternative variants of bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies) have been created.
Contents
History
In 1983, the American cryptographer David Chaum conceived an anonymous cryptographic electronic money called ecash.[7][8] Later, in 1995, he implemented it through Digicash,[9] an early form of cryptographic electronic payments which required user software in order to withdraw notes from a bank and designate specific encrypted keys before it can be sent to a recipient. This allowed the digital currency to be untraceable by the issuing bank, the government, or any third party.
In 1996, the NSA published a paper entitled How to Make a Mint: the Cryptography of Anonymous Electronic Cash, describing a Cryptocurrency system first publishing it in a MIT mailing list[10] and later in 1997, in The American Law Review (Vol. 46, Issue 4).[11]
In 1998, Wei Dai published a description of “b-money”, characterized as an anonymous, distributed electronic cash system.[12] Shortly thereafter, Nick Szabo described bit gold.[13] Like bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that would follow it, bit gold (not to be confused with the later gold-based exchange, BitGold) was described as an electronic currency system which required users to complete a proof of work function with solutions being cryptographically put together and published. A currency system based on a reusable proof of work was later created by Hal Finney who followed the work of Dai and Szabo.[citation needed]
On 6 August 2014, the UK announced its Treasury had been commissioned to do a study of cryptocurrencies, and what role, if any, they can play in the UK economy. The study was also to report on whether regulation should be considered.[17]
Formal definition
According to Jan Lansky, a cryptocurrency is a system that meets six conditions:[18]
The system does not require a central authority, its state is maintained through distributed consensus.
The system keeps an overview of cryptocurrency units and their ownership.
The system defines whether new cryptocurrency units can be created. If new cryptocurrency units can be created, the system defines the circumstances of their origin and how to determine the ownership of these new units.
The system allows transactions to be performed in which ownership of the cryptographic units is changed. A transaction statement can only be issued by an entity proving the current ownership of these units.
If two different instructions for changing the ownership of the same cryptographic units are simultaneously entered, the system performs at most one of them.
Altcoin
The term altcoin has various similar definitions. Stephanie Yang of The Wall Street Journal defined altcoins as “alternative digital currencies,”[20] while Paul Vigna, also of The Wall Street Journal, described altcoins as alternative versions of bitcoin.[21] Aaron Hankins of the MarketWatch refers to any cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin as altcoins.[22]
Architecture
Decentralized cryptocurrency is produced by the entire cryptocurrency system collectively, at a rate which is defined when the system is created and which is publicly known. In centralized banking and economic systems such as the Federal Reserve System, corporate boards or governments control the supply of currency by printing units of fiat money or demanding additions to digital banking ledgers. In case of decentralized cryptocurrency, companies or governments cannot produce new units, and have not so far provided backing for other firms, banks or corporate entities which hold asset value measured in it. The underlying technical system upon which decentralized cryptocurrencies are based was created by the group or individual known as Satoshi Nakamoto.[23]
As of May 2018, over 1,800 cryptocurrency specifications existed.[24] Within a cryptocurrency system, the safety, integrity and balance of ledgers is maintained by a community of mutually distrustful parties referred to as miners: who use their computers to help validate and timestamp transactions, adding them to the ledger in accordance with a particular timestamping scheme.[14]
Most cryptocurrencies are designed to gradually decrease production of that currency, placing a cap on the total amount of that currency that will ever be in circulation.[25] Compared with ordinary currencies held by financial institutions or kept as cash on hand, cryptocurrencies can be more difficult for seizure by law enforcement.[1] This difficulty is derived from leveraging cryptographic technologies.
Blockchain
The validity of each cryptocurrency’s coins is provided by a blockchain. A blockchain is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography.[23][26] Each block typically contains a hash pointer as a link to a previous block,[26] a timestamp and transaction data.[27] By design, blockchains are inherently resistant to modification of the data. It is “an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way”.[28] For use as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for validating new blocks. Once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks, which requires collusion of the network majority.
The proof-of-stake is a method of securing a cryptocurrency network and achieving distributed consensus through requesting users to show ownership of a certain amount of currency. It is different from proof-of-work systems that run difficult hashing algorithms to validate electronic transactions. The scheme is largely dependent on the coin, and there’s currently no standard form of it. Some cryptocurrencies use a combined proof-of-work/proof-of-stake scheme.[16]
Mining
In cryptocurrency networks, mining is a validation of transactions. For this effort, successful miners obtain new cryptocurrency as a reward. The reward decreases transaction fees by creating a complementary incentive to contribute to the processing power of the network. The rate of generating hashes, which validate any transaction, has been increased by the use of specialized machines such as FPGAs and ASICs running complex hashing algorithms like SHA-256 and Scrypt.[30] This arms race for cheaper-yet-efficient machines has been on since the day the first cryptocurrency, bitcoin, was introduced in 2009.[30] With more people venturing into the world of virtual currency, generating hashes for this validation has become far more complex over the years, with miners having to invest large sums of money on employing multiple high performance ASICs. Thus the value of the currency obtained for finding a hash often does not justify the amount of money spent on setting up the machines, the cooling facilities to overcome the enormous amount of heat they produce, and the electricity required to run them.[30][31]
Some miners pool resources, sharing their processing power over a network to split the reward equally, according to the amount of work they contributed to the probability of finding a block. A “share” is awarded to members of the mining pool who present a valid partial proof-of-work.
As of February 2018, the Chinese Government halted trading of virtual currency, banned initial coin offerings and shut down mining. Some Chinese miners have since relocated to Canada.[32] One company is operating data centers for mining operations at Canadian oil and gas field sites, due to low gas prices.[33] In June 2018, Hydro Quebec proposed to the provincial government to allocate 500 MW to crypto companies for mining.[34] According to a February 2018 report from Fortune,[35] Iceland has become a haven for cryptocurrency miners in part because of its cheap electricity. Prices are contained because nearly all of the country’s energy comes from renewable sources, prompting more mining companies to consider opening operations in Iceland.[citation needed]
In March 2018, a town in Upstate New York put an 18-month moratorium on all cryptocurrency mining in an effort to preserve natural resources and the “character and direction” of the city.[36]
GPU price rise
An increase in cryptocurrency mining increased the demand of graphics cards (GPU) in 2017.[37] Popular favorites of cryptocurrency miners such as Nvidia’s GTX 1060 and GTX 1070 graphics cards, as well as AMD’s RX 570 and RX 580 GPUs, doubled or tripled in price – or were out of stock.[38] A GTX 1070 Ti which was released at a price of $450 sold for as much as $1100. Another popular card GTX 1060’s 6 GB model was released at an MSRP of $250, sold for almost $500. RX 570 and RX 580 cards from AMD were out of stock for almost a year. Miners regularly buy up the entire stock of new GPU’s as soon as they are available.[39]
Nvidia has asked retailers to do what they can when it comes to selling GPUs to gamers instead of miners. “Gamers come first for Nvidia,” said Boris Böhles, PR manager for Nvidia in the German region.[40]
Wallets
An example paper printable bitcoin wallet consisting of one bitcoin address for receiving and the corresponding private key for spending
A cryptocurrency wallet stores the public and private “keys” or “addresses” which can be used to receive or spend the cryptocurrency. With the private key, it is possible to write in the public ledger, effectively spending the associated cryptocurrency. With the public key, it is possible for others to send currency to the wallet.
Anonymity
Bitcoin is pseudonymous rather than anonymous in that the cryptocurrency within a wallet is not tied to people, but rather to one or more specific keys (or “addresses”).[41] Thereby, bitcoin owners are not identifiable, but all transactions are publicly available in the blockchain. Still, cryptocurrency exchanges are often required by law to collect the personal information of their users.[citation needed]
Fungibility
Most cryptocurrency tokens are fungible and interchangeable. However, unique non-fungible tokens also exist. Such tokens can serve as assets in games like CryptoKitties.
Economics
Cryptocurrencies are used primarily outside existing banking and governmental institutions and are exchanged over the Internet.
Transaction fees
Transaction fees for cryptocurrency depend mainly on the supply of network capacity at the time, versus the demand from the currency holder for a faster transaction. The currency holder can choose a specific transaction fee, while network entities process transactions in order of highest offered fee to lowest. Cryptocurrency exchanges can simplify the process for currency holders by offering priority alternatives and thereby determine which fee will likely cause the transaction to be processed in the requested time.
For ether, transaction fees differ by computational complexity, bandwidth use, and storage needs, while bitcoin transaction fees differ by transaction size and whether the transaction uses SegWit. In September 2018, the median transaction fee for ether corresponded to $0.017,[44] while for bitcoin it corresponded to $0.55.[45]
Atomic swaps
ATMs
Jordan Kelley, founder of Robocoin, launched the first bitcoin ATM in the United States on 20 February 2014. The kiosk installed in Austin, Texas is similar to bank ATMs but has scanners to read government-issued identification such as a driver’s license or a passport to confirm users’ identities.[46]
Initial coin offerings
An initial coin offering (ICO) is a controversial means of raising funds for a new cryptocurrency venture. An ICO may be used by startups with the intention of avoiding regulation. However, securities regulators in many jurisdictions, including in the U.S., and Canada have indicated that if a coin or token is an “investment contract” (e.g., under the Howey test, i.e., an investment of money with a reasonable expectation of profit based significantly on the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others), it is a security and is subject to securities regulation. In an ICO campaign, a percentage of the cryptocurrency (usually in the form of “tokens”) is sold to early backers of the project in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies, often bitcoin or ether.[47][48][49]
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, four of the 10 biggest proposed initial coin offerings have used Switzerland as a base, where they are frequently registered as non-profit foundations. The Swiss regulatory agency FINMA stated that it would take a “balanced approach” to ICO projects and would allow “legitimate innovators to navigate the regulatory landscape and so launch their projects in a way consistent with national laws protecting investors and the integrity of the financial system.” In response to numerous requests by industry representatives, a legislative ICO working group began to issue legal guidelines in 2018, which are intended to remove uncertainty from cryptocurrency offerings and to establish sustainable business practices.[50]
Legality
The legal status of cryptocurrencies varies substantially from country to country and is still undefined or changing in many of them. While some countries have explicitly allowed their use and trade,[51] others have banned or restricted it. According to the Library of Congress, an “absolute ban” on trading or using cryptocurrencies applies in eight countries: Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. An “implicit ban” applies in another 15 countries, which include Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Lesotho, Lithuania, Macau, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan.[52] In the United States and Canada, state and provincial securities regulators, coordinated through the North American Securities Administrators Association, are investigating “bitcoin scams” and ICOs in 40 jurisdictions.[53]
Various government agencies, departments, and courts have classified bitcoin differently. China Central Bank banned the handling of bitcoins by financial institutions in China in early 2014.
In Russia, though cryptocurrencies are legal, it is illegal to actually purchase goods with any currency other than the Russian ruble.[54] Regulations and bans that apply to bitcoin probably extend to similar cryptocurrency systems.[55]
Cryptocurrencies are a potential tool to evade economic sanctions for example against Russia, Iran, or Venezuela. Russia also secretly supported Venezuela with the creation of the petro (El Petro), a national cryptocurrency initiated by the Maduro government to obtain valuable oil revenues by circumventing US sanctions.[citation needed]
In August 2018, the Bank of Thailand announced its plans to create its own cryptocurrency, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).[56]
U.S. tax status
On 25 March 2014, the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruled that bitcoin will be treated as property for tax purposes. This means bitcoin will be subject to capital gains tax.[62] In a paper published by researchers from Oxford and Warwick, it was shown that bitcoin has some characteristics more like the precious metals market than traditional currencies, hence in agreement with the IRS decision even if based on different reasons.[63]
In July 2019, the IRS started sending letters to cryptocurrency owners warning them to amend their returns and pay taxes.[64]
The legal concern of an unregulated global economy
As the popularity of and demand for online currencies has increased since the inception of bitcoin in 2009,[65] so have concerns that such an unregulated person to person global economy that cryptocurrencies offer may become a threat to society. Concerns abound that altcoins may become tools for anonymous web criminals.[66]
Cryptocurrency networks display a lack of regulation that has been criticized as enabling criminals who seek to evade taxes and launder money.
Transactions that occur through the use and exchange of these altcoins are independent from formal banking systems, and therefore can make tax evasion simpler for individuals. Since charting taxable income is based upon what a recipient reports to the revenue service, it becomes extremely difficult to account for transactions made using existing cryptocurrencies, a mode of exchange that is complex and difficult to track.[66]
Systems of anonymity that most cryptocurrencies offer can also serve as a simpler means to launder money. Rather than laundering money through an intricate net of financial actors and offshore bank accounts, laundering money through altcoins can be achieved through anonymous transactions.[66]
Loss, theft, and fraud
In February 2014 the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, declared bankruptcy. The company stated that it had lost nearly $473 million of their customers’ bitcoins likely due to theft. This was equivalent to approximately 750,000 bitcoins, or about 7% of all the bitcoins in existence. The price of a bitcoin fell from a high of about $1,160 in December to under $400 in February.[67]
Two members of the Silk Road Task Force—a multi-agency federal task force that carried out the U.S. investigation of Silk Road—seized bitcoins for their own use in the course of the investigation.[68]DEA agent Carl Mark Force IV, who attempted to extort Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht (“Dread Pirate Roberts”), pleaded guilty to money laundering, obstruction of justice, and extortion under color of official right, and was sentenced to 6.5 years in federal prison.[68]U.S. Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges pleaded guilty to crimes relating to his diversion of $800,000 worth of bitcoins to his personal account during the investigation, and also separately pleaded guilty to money laundering in connection with another cryptocurrency theft; he was sentenced to nearly eight years in federal prison.[69]
Homero Josh Garza, who founded the cryptocurrency startups GAW Miners and ZenMiner in 2014, acknowledged in a plea agreement that the companies were part of a pyramid scheme, and pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2015. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission separately brought a civil enforcement action against Garza, who was eventually ordered to pay a judgment of $9.1 million plus $700,000 in interest. The SEC’s complaint stated that Garza, through his companies, had fraudulently sold “investment contracts representing shares in the profits they claimed would be generated” from mining.[70]
On 21 November 2017, the Tether cryptocurrency announced they were hacked, losing $31 million in USDT from their primary wallet.[71] The company has ‘tagged’ the stolen currency, hoping to ‘lock’ them in the hacker’s wallet (making them unspendable). Tether indicates that it is building a new core for its primary wallet in response to the attack in order to prevent the stolen coins from being used.
In May 2018, Bitcoin Gold (and two other cryptocurrencies) were hit by a successful 51% hashing attack by an unknown actor, in which exchanges lost estimated $18m.[citation needed] In June 2018, Korean exchange Coinrail was hacked, losing US$37 million worth of altcoin. Fear surrounding the hack was blamed for a $42 billion cryptocurrency market selloff.[72] On 9 July 2018 the exchange Bancor had $23.5 million in cryptocurrency stolen.[73]
The French regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) lists 15 websites of companies that solicit investment in cryptocurrency without being authorised to do so in France.[74]
Darknet markets
Properties of cryptocurrencies gave them popularity in applications such as a safe haven in banking crises and means of payment, which also led to the cryptocurrency use in controversial settings in the form of online black markets, such as Silk Road.[66] The original Silk Road was shut down in October 2013 and there have been two more versions in use since then. In the year following the initial shutdown of Silk Road, the number of prominent dark markets increased from four to twelve, while the amount of drug listings increased from 18,000 to 32,000.[66]
Darknet markets present challenges in regard to legality. Bitcoins and other forms of cryptocurrency used in dark markets are not clearly or legally classified in almost all parts of the world. In the U.S., bitcoins are labelled as “virtual assets”. This type of ambiguous classification puts pressure on law enforcement agencies around the world to adapt to the shifting drug trade of dark markets.[75]
While cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that are managed through advanced encryption techniques, many governments have taken a cautious approach toward them, fearing their lack of central control and the effects they could have on financial security.[81] Regulators in several countries have warned against cryptocurrency and some have taken concrete regulatory measures to dissuade users.[82] Additionally, many banks do not offer services for cryptocurrencies and can refuse to offer services to virtual-currency companies.[83] Gareth Murphy, a senior central banking officer has stated “widespread use [of cryptocurrency] would also make it more difficult for statistical agencies to gather data on economic activity, which are used by governments to steer the economy”. He cautioned that virtual currencies pose a new challenge to central banks’ control over the important functions of monetary and exchange rate policy.[84] While traditional financial products have strong consumer protections in place, there is no intermediary with the power to limit consumer losses if bitcoins are lost or stolen.[85] One of the features cryptocurrency lacks in comparison to credit cards, for example, is consumer protection against fraud, such as chargebacks.
An enormous amount of energy goes into proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining, although cryptocurrency proponents claim it is important to compare it to the consumption of the traditional financial system.[86]
There are also purely technical elements to consider. For example, technological advancement in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin result in high up-front costs to miners in the form of specialized hardware and software.[87] Cryptocurrency transactions are normally irreversible after a number of blocks confirm the transaction. Additionally, cryptocurrency private keys can be permanently lost from local storage due to malware, data loss or the destruction of the physical media. This prevents the cryptocurrency from being spent, resulting in its effective removal from the markets.[88]
The cryptocurrency community refers to pre-mining, hidden launches, ICO or extreme rewards for the altcoin founders as a deceptive practice.[89] It can also be used as an inherent part of a cryptocurrency’s design.[90] Pre-mining means currency is generated by the currency’s founders prior to being released to the public.[91]
Investigators warn of Medicaid fraud and home care abuse
Health Care Fraud Enforcement – The Final Frontier
HOUSTON – The Justice Department has announced a coordinated health care fraud enforcement operation across the state of Texas involving charges against a total of 58 individuals, several of which are charged in Houston. They were allegedly involved in Medicare fraud schemes and networks of “pill mill” clinics resulting in $66 million in loss and 6.2 million pills. Of those charged, 16 were doctors or medical professionals, while 20 were charged for their role in diverting opioids.
The Health Care Fraud Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section in conjunction with its Medicare Fraud Strike Force (MFSF) partners led the enforcement actions. The MFSF is a partnership among the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, FBI, Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and Drug Enforcement Administration. In addition, the operation includes the participation of the Veterans Affairs – OIG and the Department of Labor (DOL), various other federal law enforcement agencies and Texas State Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
The charges announced today aggressively target schemes billing Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE (a health insurance program for members and veterans of the armed forces and their families), DOL – Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs and private insurance companies for medically unnecessary prescription drugs and compounded medications that often were never even purchased and/or distributed to beneficiaries. The charges also involve individuals contributing to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on medical professionals allegedly involved in the unlawful distribution of opioids and other prescription narcotics, a particular focus for the Department.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 115 Americans die every day of an opioid-related overdose.
Today’s arrests come three weeks after the Department announced that the Health Care Fraud Unit’s Houston Strike Force coordinated the filing of charges against dozens in a trafficking network responsible for diverting over 23 million oxycodone, hydrocodone and carisoprodol pills.
“Sadly, opioid proliferation is nothing new to Americans,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick of the Southern District of Texas. “What is new, is the reinforced fight being taken to dirty doctors and shady pharmacists. Texas may have four U.S. Attorneys, but we are focused on one health care mission: shutting down pills mills and rooting out corruption in health care. From Lufkin to Laredo and Dallas to Del Rio, one of us will shut these operations down.”
“Today’s charges highlight the amazing work being done by the Department’s Medicare Fraud Strike Force and our partners in Texas,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As we continue to dedicate resources to battle healthcare and opioid fraud schemes in Texas and elsewhere, we are shining an inescapable light on dirty doctors, clinic owners, pharmacists and others who may have long believed they could perpetrate their frauds behind closed doors.”
“These arrests across multiple investigations and jurisdictions is further proof that successful teamwork exemplifies Texas law enforcement,” said DEA Houston Special Agent in Charge Will R. Glaspy. “Today’s operation affirms both our commitment to targeting those individuals who illegally divert opioids in our communities, and our collective will to bring those individuals to justice.”
“Health care fraud undermines our country by driving up medical costs, wasting taxpayer dollars, and often harming patients,” said Special Agent in Charge C.J. Porter of HHS-OIG. “Today’s takedown shows that we are fighting hard to protect Medicare and Medicaid and the patients served by those programs. Working closely with our law enforcement partners, our agents are determined to ensure fraudsters pay for their crimes.”
“Today’s announcement demonstrates the close collaboration between the FBI and its law enforcement partners in North Texas,” said Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno of the FBI’s Dallas Field Office. “The enormous economic damage caused by those who defraud crucial public health programs, as well as the ever-increasing loss of life caused by illicit and illegitimate pill schemes cannot be overstated. The public can rest assured the FBI will continue to make these investigations a top priority moving forward.”
Franklin Nwabugwu R.P.H. was charged for their alleged participation in a scheme to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose through Golden Pharmacy of Houston.
Steven Inbody M.D. and Hoai-Huong Truong were charged for their alleged participation in a scheme to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose.
Ashley McCain, John Sims, Gregory Comer, Kesia Banks and Jacqueline Hill were charged for their alleged participation in a scheme to unlawfully distribute and dispense a controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose through Continuous Medical Care and Rehabilitation.
Trial Attorneys Devon Helfmeyer and Catherine Wagner and Assistant Deputy Chief Aleza Remi, all of the Fraud Section, are prosecuting the respective cases.
Several others were also charged in the Northern District of Texas (NDTX), Eastern District of Texas (EDTX) and Eastern District of Texas (EDTX).
“Healthcare should revolve around patients’ well-being – not providers’ personal interests,” said NDTX U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox. “When medical professionals line their own pockets by submitting false insurance claims or prescribing unnecessary medications, equipment or treatments, it not only drains taxpayer coffers – but it makes healthcare more expensive for everyone else. We cannot allow the healthcare industry to become bloated by fraud.”
“Every dollar stolen from Medicare through fraud comes out of the pocket of taxpayers,” said EDTXU.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown of the “These are real costs that help drive up the cost of medical services for everyone. It is important that there be real consequences for those who cheat the system.”
The Fraud Section leads the MFSF, which is part of a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. MFSF maintains 15 strike forces operating in 24 districts. Since its inception in March 2007, MFSF has charged nearly 4,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $14 billion. In addition, HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.
Medicaid Fraud and Abuse
Overview
Fraud, abuse and waste in Medicaid cost states billions of dollars every year, diverting funds that could otherwise be used for legitimate health care services. Not only do fraudulent and abusive practices increase the cost of Medicaid without adding value – they increase risk and potential harm to patients who are exposed to unnecessary procedures. In 2015, improper payments alone—which include things like payment for non-covered services or for services that were billed but not provided—totaled more than $29 billion according to the Government Accountability Office.
While Medicaid fraud involves knowingly misrepresenting the truth to obtain unauthorized benefit, abuse includes any practice that is inconsistent with acceptable fiscal, business or medical practices that unnecessarily increase costs. Waste encompasses overutilization of resources and inaccurate payments for services, such as unintentional duplicate payments. As states look for innovative ways to contain burgeoning Medicaid costs and promote the program’s integrity, fighting fraud and abuse offers one approach that everyone can support.
Program Integrity Initiatives. The federal government and states have adopted a variety of steps to combat Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse and to ensure that public funds are used to promote Medicaid enrollees’ health. According to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment Access Commission (MACPAC), these include data mining, audits, investigations, enforcement actions, technical assistance to help state agencies detect fraud and abuse, and provider and enrollee outreach and education. Well-designed program integrity initiatives ensure that:
Eligibility decisions are made correctly;
Prospective and enrolled providers meet federal and state participation requirements;
Delivered services are medically necessary and appropriate; and
Provider payments are made in the right amount and for appropriate services.
A 2013 Pew Charitable Trusts’ report found that states utilized three types of Medicaid fraud prevention strategies, including: provider screening; prior authorization and pre-payment reviews; and post-payment review and recovery. While states have traditionally relied upon the latter, “pay and chase” model in which they pay Medicaid claims and then try to recover improper payments, they are increasingly focusing on preventing and detecting fraudulent activities early on. New York, for example has integrated targeted data mining and risk analysis into its fraud-fighting tool box. In Texas, a few simple process changes and new pattern analysis and recognition efforts moved the state closer to ‘real–time analysis’ and significantly increased the amount of fraud identified. For more on what these states have done to fight Medicaid fraud and abuse, check out this Webinar archive.
Federal Medicaid Integrity Provisions. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) introduced various requirements aimed at improving Medicaid program integrity. For example, the law created a web-based portal, enabling states to compare information on providers that have been terminated (and whose billing privileges have been revoked). An overview of the law’s provisions related to improving Medicaid program integrity is available here.
Common Examples of Medicaid Fraud
Provider Fraud
Patient Fraud
Insurer Fraud
Billing for services not performed
Billing duplicate times for one service
Falsifying a diagnosis
Billing for a more costly service than performed
Accepting kickbacks for patient referrals
Billing for a covered service when a noncovered service was provided
Ordering excessive or inappropriate tests
Prescribing medicines that are not medically necessary or for use by people other than the patient
Filing a claim for services or products not received
Forging or altering receipts
Obtaining medications or products that are not needed and selling them on the black market
Providing false information to apply for services
Doctor shopping to get multiple prescriptions
Using someone else’s insurance coverage for services
Overstating the insurer’s cost in paying claims
Misleading enrollees about health plan benefits
Undervaluing the amount owed by the insurer to a health care provider under the terms of its contract | {
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The content of this blog is intended for informational purposes only. It is not intended to solicit business or to provide legal advice. Laws differ by jurisdiction, and the information on this blog may not apply to every reader. You should not take, or refrain from taking, any legal action based upon the information contained on this blog without first seeking professional counsel. Your use of the blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Arnold & Porter LLP. Click here to view additional disclaimer language.
September 20, 2011
Made in USA: President Obama and the FTC Chairman Need to Have a Beer Summit
With all of the economic turmoil, there’s been a lot of talk lately about creating more American jobs. Ford has attracted a lot of buzz with an ad featuring an impromptu “press conference” where a real Ford Truck owner was asked whether buying American was important to him which he turns into a statement that he purchased a Ford because they didn’t accept bailout funds.
Last Friday, President Obama signed the America Invents Act which reforms and speeds up the patent process. During the President’s signing speech, he also pushed his jobs creation proposals, which he said would help guarantee that there were American jobs to build newly patented products. Specifically, the President said:
We need to continue to provide incentives and support to make sure the next generation of manufacturing takes root not in China or in Europe, but right here in the United States -- because it’s not enough to invent things here; our workers should also be building the products that are stamped with three proud words: Made in America.
It seems the President needs to invite his FTC Chairman over to the White House for a beer summit. Although, in our experience, the President is not alone in making this mistake (the Ford commercial above may have made it as well), “Made in America” (or “Made in USA”) does not mean, as the President suggests, that a product was manufactured in the United States, but rather that “all or virtually all” of the product is made in the United States. “All or virtually all” is in turn defined as "all significant parts and processing that go into the product must be of US origin. That is, the product should contain no — or negligible — foreign content.” So it’s not enough that the product simply be manufactured in the United States, all or most of its parts and processing must have been made in the United States (and California has its own standard that is arguably even stricter). This is not always an easy standard to meet in today’s global economy, particularly given the fact that foreign parts are sometimes cheaper (or the only source available). We’ve always wondered whether the FTC’s definition reflects more policy than consumer interpretation. We’re not economists, but one has to wonder whether such a strict standard does more harm than good in terms of US jobs, especially when companies can’t apply the same exemption for natural resources not available domestically to parts that are no longer available from US suppliers. And, from a consumer interpretation standpoint, if the POTUS doesn’t understand what the term should mean, it’s no wonder domestic manufacturers get confused as well.
Of course, the FTC’s Made in USA guides allow companies to make qualified claims. Let’s try that out in the President’s speech: "[B]ecause it’s not enough to invent things here; our workers should also be building the products that are stamped with eight proud words: Made in USA of US and imported parts." | {
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Subsets and Splits