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Thursday, September 26, 2013
In 1997, the Los Angeles office of advertising agency
TBWA\Chiat\Day created Apple Computer’s “Think Different” slogan, and an
accompanying campaign inaugurated with a now historic TV ad. “Here’s to the crazy ones,” Richard Dreyfuss narrated,
in a salute to the geniuses and innovators who have changed the world. The spot won raves from critics, and the 1998
Emmy for Best Commercial.
Now, CBS brings us The
Crazy Ones, a new advertising-set sitcom which cleverly can be viewed as both
an homage to and a lampooning of such self-serious salesmanship. And with its cunning conceit and all-star
cast, the new show is poised to bring the same type of “crazy” energy, and
similar accolades, to the genre of half-hour comedy.
The brainchild of John Montgomery, the Executive Creative
Director of Chicago ad agency Leo Burnett, and nurtured by accomplished
executive producer David E. Kelley, The
Crazy Ones snagged Oscar winner Robin Williams for his long-awaited return
to series television. Williams’ hyperkinetic
character Simon Roberts is “an idea guy who’s been on everything but skates,” says
the 62-year-old comedy icon. “I watched
a documentary about ad guys, and a lot of them live on the edge. Their whole job is to think outside the
envelope, and at the same time get an idea down to the simplest, purest image,
to fight for your consciousness.”
“And,” Williams adds, “they can be kind of crazy.” That’s where Simon’s daughter Sydney, his
partner at their joint small agency, comes in.
After seasons of slaying vampires as Buffy, Sarah Michelle Gellar says
she was happy to become the organized, ambitious and Type-A Sydney, whose task
of wrangling her unfocused father, while finding her own place in the industry
he dominates, may be just as exhausting.
“To me, some of the greatest parts of Buffy were the funny moments,” Gellar explains of stepping into
this lighter role. “And I got to a point
where I thought, ‘I’ve cried a lot. I’m
ready to be funny.’”
Helping to make that happen is Bill D’Elia, himself a
longtime New York ad man turned TV writer, and now one of The Crazy Ones’ executive producers. The inspiration for Montgomery’s pilot
script, he explains, “was this idea to have fun with how we create
advertising. Not to denigrate the
products, but the process, and [as ad execs] ourselves.” With a pitch like that, it’s easy to see
while real-life clients are clamoring to come on board; The Crazy Ones features McDonalds in its pilot, and D’Elia expects
to recruit two or three more real brands, “plus a few fictitious ones thrown
in,” to round out Roberts & Roberts’ roster.
But, the producer insists, The Crazy Ones’ appeal ultimately comes not just from the
craftiness of its concept, but from the chemistry of its cast. From the start, D’Elia says, “Everyone has
felt like they’ve been together for a long time. Robin and Sarah feel like real father and
daughter.” And coworkers played by
Hamish Linklater and James Wolk – fresh off his season on that other crazy/advertising show, Mad Men – have already proven themselves
more than capable of keeping up with Williams, the king of comedic improv.
As Williams agrees, “All these people can go one-on-one, and
riff just as well.” But with The Crazy Ones, he notes, “I am often on
script because the script is so good.”
The actor credits the show’s quality to its writers and advisors, many
of whom are “real ad agency execs, who tell us stories that are just insane.” Of course, Williams and Gellar might be able to
contribute some stories of their own; Williams recently shilled for Snickers,
and Gellar has done over 100 commercials – including, at age 7, a spot for
Duncan Hines cake mix, directed by D’Elia.
It goes to prove, she adds, that it’s just all one, small Crazy world.
In television, Jim co-created an original animated pilot for the Disney Channel, and contributed comic material to four annual Oscar-themed comedy specials airing on Comedy Central, hosted by his husband, Frank DeCaro of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. In 2010, Jim and Frank's comedic music video with Fredrick Ford, "Betty White Lines" went viral, and was featured on The Today Show and CNN's Showbiz Tonight.
Jim has written for entertainment media since his days as the Film Editor for The Daily Pennsylvanian, the college newspaper at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a degree in marketing from the Wharton School of Business. Originally from Wayne, New Jersey, he now lives in Los Angeles with Frank and their mischievous Boston terrier, Gabby. | {
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Marie Michael Library
Title
Watershed development projects in India: an evaluation
Author
Kerr, John; Pangare, Ganesh; Pangare, Vasudha Lokur
Description
This study is based on a survey of 86 villages in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra states. It evaluates the Green Revolution's relative success in raising agricultural productivity, improving natural resource management, and reducing poverty. Participatory projects fared better than "top-down" approaches. All projects faced difficulties in ensuring that people shared the benefits of watershed development. | {
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Businesses need action, not words
Fashionizer’s response to Theresa May’s letter to EU citizens
We’ve all had a few unexpected emails in our in-box, but today’s surprise message for some of Fashionizer’s staff was from PM Theresa May. She’d emailed an open letter to our team’s EU citizens, with the aim of reassuring them of their importance in the Brexit negotiations.
We are not averse to the concept of an open letter – we wrote one ourselves to the Business Secretary Greg Clark – but we had something definite to say about safeguarding SMEs in a post-Brexit UK. That was a year ago, and as a business we feel we are not much further forward than we were just after the vote.
Back in June 2016, our concerns rested on the ease with which we currently trade within the EU, the low costs of importing, exporting, the ability to source fabrics and manufacturers outside the UK and our freedom to choose the best people to join our team. We were also keen to ensure that everyone knew Fashionizer was still ‘open for business’ while the negotiations moved forward, but at the moment it is not quite clear what ‘forward’ means. Here’s why:
We can’t make accurate financial forecasts as we don’t know whether we are going to have to get into the murky world of tariffs in order to trade economically within the EU. There are so many potential outcomes too; attempting to plan on the basis of multiple scenarios would mean the business spending more time on spreadsheets than designing uniforms.
We still don’t know what will happen to our EU nationals. They have made a life here in London, they have invested in Fashionizer and we in them. They have skills we want and which are essential to us. As it stands, they don’t know if they will have to leave or pay to stay, or what their rights will be.
It is this level of uncertainty that is making UK businesses jumpy. We’ve already had to manage the hit on the currency exchange rates – that’s quite a big one for companies that trade internationally. In terms of recruitment, the pool of applicants has shrunk; EU citizens are, understandably reluctant to apply for jobs with no guarantee of what their position will be in 18 months’ time.
So did the PM’s letter do anything to alleviate our EU citizens’ worries? Well, no. Nor did it give Fashionizer any sense of security about what will happen to our staff. It is decisions, not words that will make the difference, and that’s something that those in power need to move to the top of the priority list. | {
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Portugal Conference ahead of the Africa-EU 2014 Summit
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum will be participating in the Portugal civil society conference, which follows up of the Africa Europe Joint Strategy Civil Society Forum Summit in Brussels in November 2013.
The conference comes ahead of the Africa-EU Heads of State Summit on 1-2 April in Belgium, and at a time when there are fears that the relations between Europe and African countries is more and more based on commercial interests than human rights. This debate has never been more vital. See programme here: program_Conference Joint EU-Africa Strategy_Lisbn 12 03 2014 | {
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Udaipur
Venice of the East
Tourism in Udaipur, a picturesque city known for its lake system, thrives due to the area's numerous historic and cultural relics. Ornate temples and palaces, scenic lakeside spots, and fortresses flank the streets of the popular city, the shooting location of various local and Hollywood movies. You won't run out of things to do in Udaipur, a city rich in heritage and teeming with museums and gardens. The mountainous surroundings provide a plethora of sightseeing and hiking opportunities. Check out one of the vibrant festivals and lively bazaars on your Udaipur vacation, get a traditional miniature painting as a souvenir, and don't forget to sample the region's spicy street snacks. Udaipur is in Udaipur District. Make the most of your holiday in Udaipur by finding out about its attractions and choosing what to see using our India visit planner . | {
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Search This Blog
homework
Homework Expectations
Homework
at the kindergarten level is supposed to be short, sweet, and relevant
to what we are learning in class. I will be sending home homework 2-3 times a week. At this level, I will not punish or
scold any student for not doing or not returning their homework.
Rather, to instill good habits in them at a young age, I would like to
reward those students who DO complete their homework. We have a
homework incentive. Each student has a reward chart like this one.
I give the students a sticker for their
chart every time they return their homework in a timely manner. When they complete a colored pencil with stickers, they will get a small prize. As they fill up the rest of the pencils, they will receive a
progressively bigger prize each time. I hope that the extra
practice they are doing will help solidify the concepts that we are
learning together in class and will help them make connections to
everyday life! | {
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You may have been a little shocked to read the above title in reference to the wild-assed, ribald-laced, gonzo front man of the legendary West Coast punk rock band The Supersuckers, but die hard fans of Eddie Spaghetti don’t need to be sold on the idea that when Eddie wants to wipe the smirk off of his face, he can pen (or sing) a pretty heartfelt composition.
Notorious Supersuckers front man Eddie Spaghetti is back with a brand new solo country rock record out 6/18 on Bloodshot Records called The Value of Nothing, and for the first time for one of his loner country projects it includes all original tunes. The West Coast country punk rocker recorded the new album in his adopted hometown of Austin, TX with help from musician/zombie killer Jesse Dayton.
As the name implies, Hillgrass Bluebilly Records defines the nexus of where hillbilly, country, bluegrass, and blues meet. This rich and diverse environment that has been created in the independent/underground music world embodies all roots music as unified expressions of purity and soul, regardless of the origins. Keith Mallette and co-founder Ryan Tackett have created a burgeoning homespun record label that is getting…
Categories
Archives
Blogroll
The Mission
Saving Country Music promotes and disseminates information about REAL country music, the underground country music movement, as well as the underground and DIY movements of roots, rockabilly, bluegrass, blues, and some folk music.
It offers news, opinion, concert and album reviews, artist profiles, music history, and occasional off-color pop country bashing. | {
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Pages
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Secret’s fourth Japanese single marks another new first for the Korean girl group. Twinkle Twinkle will be used as the ending theme for the latest Naruto spin-off animated series (about the adventures of Rock Lee), and it will be the girls’ first anime theme song. The single includes a B-side track. | {
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"There's a revolution taking place in how people are thinking and talking about gender and sexuality, and the revolution is coming from the bottom up. Teenagers are leading the way," says Phil Hammack, a social psychologist who is at the forefront of scholarship about queer youth. (Photo by Melissa De Witte)
Queer youth today are in a paradoxical situation: The average age of coming out has dropped to 14 as teens courageously challenge labels of gender and sexual identity. But these young trailblazers are becoming leaders even as they cope with the significant challenges of adolescence. LGBTQ youth are experiencing high levels of depression and suicidal behavior, and they need resources and support to overcome the strain.
That's the message Psychology Professor Phil Hammack delivered to the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine during a recent Washington, D.C., panel discussion focused on "Adolescents in the 21st Century."
"There's a revolution taking place in how people are thinking and talking about gender and sexuality, and the revolution is coming from the bottom up. Teenagers are leading the way," Hammack said after his June 6 appearance. "They are reaping the benefits of expressing themselves more authentically, but they are feeling the burden of educating adults in their schools, families, and culture."
Today's youth are challenging binary thinking and labeling in ways that are leading to an explosion of freedom in identification, said Hammack, a social psychologist at the forefront of scholarship about queer youth. Hammack was invited to participate on a panel focused on the impact of societal and contextual changes on youth; his remarks reflected his findings from an in-depth study of more than 300 queer youth in five California counties.
"It's not just gay/straight, and it's not just male/female," said Hammack.
"Labels have always been constraining. Binary thinking forced people into boxes. Young people aren't identifying with those categories."
The internet and social media have enabled queer youth to find each other, giving rise to a community that hasn't been available to prior generations, he said.
"Our ideas about sexuality and gender are changing rapidly, and researchers, teachers, parents, clinicians, and policy makers are lagging behind," said Hammack.
And yet, queer youth are reporting a lot of distress as they face society's persistent stigmas, said Hammack.
"This is the paradox of the cultural change we're seeing," he said. "Young people come out at younger ages and are more courageous and creative about their identities. But this is happening during a developmental period—adolescence—that we know is dominated by concerns about peer influence and fitting in. Queer youth continue to experience the stigma of being 'different.' "
LGBTQ youth are twice as likely as straight teens to experience bullying and harassment, and being stigmatized is linked to huge disparities in mental health, said Hammack. Queer youth experience depression at twice the rate of the adolescent population, and lifetime suicidal behavior is nearly eight times more common among queer youth, he said.
But support makes a powerful difference, according to Hammack's research. Supportive families, schools, and communities—including online communities—are associated with better mental health outcomes for queer youth.
"The root cause of suffering is the myth that heterosexuality is the ideal/normal, that cisgender identity is the norm," said Hammack, using the term that refers to people whose sense of gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth.
Hammack identified several "action items" to support the social and psychological needs of LGBTQ youth, including:
A broader societal narrative about sexual and gender identity;
Broadening school curricula to reflect the diversity of sexual and gender diversity;
Financial support for programs and groups that support queer youth, including gay-straight alliances in schools and community-based organizations
Participating on the National Academies' panel felt like a privilege and a responsibility, said Hammack, who spent the 2017-18 year as a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. "This is a highly influential institution in a place that could actually make a difference in terms of policy and funding," he said. "I felt privileged. I wanted to do justice to the work and the youth." | {
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Dodgers Return To World Series…
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 11-1 at Wrigley Field on Thursday night (Oct. 19) to clinch the National League pennant and advance to the franchise’s first World Series since 1988. This called for celebration in L.A. and on Twitter (and beyond for those everywhere bleeding Dodger blue).
Magic Johnson, NBA Hall of Fame legend and co-owner of the Dodgers, was at The Staples Center as the Los Angeles Lakers — Johnson is president of basketball operations — opened their 2017 season while all of this was unfolding. The Staples Center’s official Twitter account shared a video of Johnson explaining the moment.
“It was amazing because the Dodgers had just clinched going to the World Series,” Johnson says in the clip, “and the crowd responded — standing ovation, clapping, screaming. It’s been an amazing evening. I’m so proud of all the Dodger players. Our manager, Dave (Roberts). The ownership group, and most importantly, Dodger fans everywhere.” | {
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The young Thai football team whose terrifying ordeal in a flooded cave captivated the world earlier this year recounted their memories of their rescue Thursday as they visited a spectacular exhibit chronicling the drama. The interactive showcase, in Bangkok’s popular Siam Paragon mall, details the efforts made by a multi-national group of experts to get the 12 boys and their 25-year-old coach out of Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand. Thai authorities banned reporters from speaking to the boys in a bid to help them return to normality after the harrowing experience, with media outlets required to obtain permission from the government before approaching them.
Elon Musk has launched his most extreme attack yet on Vern Unsworth, one of the heroes of the Thai cave rescue. The Tesla boss sent a profanity-laden tirade to a reporter in which he baselessly suggested that Mr Unsworth had a “child bride”. Mr Musk has repeatedly and without any evidence at all claimed that Mr Unsworth is a paedophile and that people around the rescue did not like him.
The British caving expert who coordinated the rescue of 12 Thai children trapped underground has informed Elon Musk he is preparing to sue him, after the Tesla founder labelled him a “paedo” on Twitter. Vernon Unsworth, 63, enraged the billionaire when he rejected his offer of sending a submarine to assist the rescue, pointing out that it was not a workable solution, and deriding it as a "PR stunt". He said Mr Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts." Mr Musk hit back, calling Mr Unsworth a “paedo guy”, in a now-deleted tweet. He then issued an apology, and said he had tweeted “in anger”. Elon Musk, founder of Tesla But on Tuesday he reignited the controversy by mocking Mr Unsworth for not following up on his threat to take legal action. On Wednesday it emerged that Mr Unsworth’s lawyers had in fact sent Mr Musk a letter on August 6, informing him of their intention to sue for the “false and defamatory statements.” “You published through three different tweets to your twenty-two million followers that Mr Unsworth engages in the sexual exploitation of Thai children, and you did so at a time when he was working to save the lives of twelve Thai children,” wrote L. Lin Wood, an Atlanta-based defamation expert, in a letter obtained by BuzzFeed. “You did so without any basis. According to a subsequent Twitter post, you did so out of anger.” A Tesla representative did not respond to The Telegraph’s request for comment. Mr Unsworth told Sky News on Wednesday: “It's all being dealt with, that's all I can say." | {
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I'm trying to port a portlet that uses jQuery to prepopulate some date fields in the edit mode of a portlet. jQuery's document.ready isn't fired once view mode has been seen once as it seems like the mode switch is happening without a full page load, probably using some fancy ajax or whatnot. Is there any way to force mode switches to do full page loads? If not, can I somehow fire a javascript method after the mode change render completes?
No, I still haven't figured out a way to fire a javascript function/callback after the mode change finishes. I am already using the GateIn JS AMD module configuration for my script. The problem seems to be twofold:
If I run something inside a jQuery $(document).ready declaration in my AMD script, it won't fire again after the mode changes since it isn't a full page reload, just an AJAX call that replaces content.
If I try to use one of the approaches you suggested above, I can't tell GateIn that I want to use the inbuilt jQuery version because you can only define a portlet as having a module OR a script, not both, and 1 and only 1 of whichever you choose. The recipe in the documentation for making jQuery globally available requires the use of a script in the portlet declaration in gatein-resources.xml. I need my script to be a module because it has dependencies on other AMD modules. I guess I could add a contentless dummy portlet that exposes jQuery in the window and add that to the page, but that seems like a terrible hack to me.
The only examples I can find for the use of JavascriptManager are inside groovy templates, which I'm not using. They access some magic object _ctx to get the JavascriptManager instance and I don't know what that object is or how to access it from my portlet class. Or do I just construct a new one? Are there secret docs on how to use JavascriptManager somewhere? | {
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You are here:
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
About the Book
In the introduction to his searing portrait of war, Chris Hedges writes, "I have been in ambushes on desolate stretches of Central American roads, shot at in the marshes of southern Iraq, imprisoned in the Sudan, beaten by Saudi military police, deported from Libya and Iran, captured and held for a week by the Iraqi Republican Guard during the Shiite rebellion following the Gulf War, strafed by Russian Mig-21s in Bosnia, fired upon by Serb snipers, and shelled for days in Sarajevo with deafening rounds of heavy artillery that threw out thousands of deadly bits of iron fragments." Hedges has seen war, and its effect upon those who wage it, at close range. And in War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, he brings fifteen years of experience reporting from the front lines to bear on the very nature of war itself, its causes and consequences, and the physical, emotional, and moral devastation it leaves in its wake.
Hedges argues that war is both a deadly addiction—a drug that offers an unmatchable intoxication, the thrill of being released from the moral strictures of everyday life—and a unifying force that provides a sense of meaning, purpose, and self-sacrifice that can wash away life's trivial concerns. But the meaningfulness of combat, Hedges suggests, depends upon the myth of war. In reality, no matter what grand cause it is supposed to support, war is simply the basest form of aggression: "organized murder." Once war begins, the moral universe collapses and every manner of atrocity can be justified in the eyes of those who wage it, because the cause is just, the enemy is inhuman, and only war can restore balance to the world. Hedges reveals the hollowness of such thinking and makes an impassioned plea for humility, love, and compassion as the human race's only hope for survival. Only when a nation can accept its share of blame and see its enemy with compassion rather than hatred can war be averted and true peace prevail.
Combining a great erudition of the literature of war—from Homer to Shakespeare to Viktor Frankl—with an unflinching focus on the particular and terrifying reality of combat, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is a sobering book whose relevance could not be more pointed. | {
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Like Father, Like Son
Any man can be a father. It takes someone truly annoying to be a dad. At least, that’s what I tell the kids. It was a lesson I learned from my own father, and am still learning.
Mine was a happy childhood, spent mostly lazing about, playing games and avoiding anything that resembled hard work, especially at school. And my father was a loving man who, I realised, looked out for me.
When, aged 14, I brought home a school report that so brutally laid bare my shortcomings that it made my mother weep at the kitchen table, my father chose instead to focus on the PE teacher who had written that I was ‘a remarkable catcher of a ball’.
‘Well, it’s not all bad,’ he said, happily.
He was on my side. As he was when I was suspended for punching and breaking the nose of an annoying twot in school a year or so later. Called into school en famille for me to be formally excluded, my father could barely conceal his delight at this development and took the opportunity to celebrate by taking me for a boozy pub lunch on the way home.
For my part, I liked the way he enjoyed music, cried laughing at The Muppet Show, pottered about in the garden and kept the drinks cabinet well-stocked. He was also welcoming and interested in my friends, who were drawn to visit often, possibly by the well-stocked drinks cabinet. But gradually we lost our way with each other: He became more intransigent, everything I liked was ‘rubbish’, he was needlessly cruel to our dog, he was wilfully racist, rotten to my mother and the cause of ugly arguments at the dinner table. (He actually put me off Sunday roasts. I couldn’t bear the tension and preferred to stay in my room. Can you imagine loathing anything so much that you’d give up roast dinners? This was serious.) When he came home less, often staying at his mother’s old house in London during the week, no one was disappointed.
Meanwhile, I went to university and he became convinced I’d been ‘got at’ by lefties. He would moodily rail against equality, tolerance or anything else I espoused, unmindful of his own descent into insular bigotry.
And he drank too much. Gin had become his tipple. At work, at play, all day, every day. At the outset of his working life, when picking up a bottle of Guinness to share with my mother after work each day, he watched the smartly dressed man in front of him in the queue at the off-licence buy a bottle of gin. ‘I promised myself,’ he later told me, ‘that if I worked hard, one day that could be me.’ And now it was, except he was no longer sharing it with my mother. Or anyone.A concerned doctor once asked my father how he felt if he went 24 hours without drinking. ‘No idea,’ he replied, with a shrug.
Looking back I think he was aware he was losing us, his family, that his influence was waning, and perhaps he was trying to shock his way back into being noticed. The drinking was solace, his escape. But the more he drank the more pissed off he got, and the nastier he became, to us and anyone else with the misfortune to be around him.
After university I lived in London and even though my father had by now also set up home there with his ‘lodger’, Mrs Wells, we saw little of each other. At this point he had fallen in line with my early teachers and considered me a wastrel. A lazy-arse. And he was right, I was. After an extended period on the dole in Camberwell I moved abroad to try being idle in another country for a bit. It was while I was away that he became ill. Off the booze due to a violent episode of gastrointestinal bleeding, he suffered a terrifying incidence of the DTs in a taxi from the City to Suffolk (long story) during which he was attacked by giant spiders in polka-dot knickers. His solution to this was to get straight back on the booze in a very meaningful way, at which point his liver decided enough was enough and announced its imminent retirement by turning him bright yellow from top to bottom.
The prognosis wasn’t good. He was diabetic, his liver was cirrhotic and his kidneys were apoplectic. Plus he had a pile of associated cardiovascular diseases, one for every occasion. Worst of all, he reported, his tennis had gone to pot. I made peace with myself that the old bugger was on the way out.
Gone to pot
His employer was good enough – having encouraged him to booze throughout his career (he even had a bar in his office) – to allow him to take early retirement, which he took to with gusto. I call this period The Rapprochement and count myself lucky to have shared it with him.
I have never witnessed an adult transformation like it. On day one of his retirement my father burnt his collars, joined two snooker clubs and took up smoking. He grew his hair, sat in the sun, ate fish and chips on the kerb, played piano, attended jazz gigs and went to the horseracing.
Mesmerised by this new man, I took to staying over at his place once a week. Not just for the largesse, of which there was plenty, but also for the company. We’d watch sport and films together, or play music; no longer was everything rubbish, now everything was a thrill. And he was eager to try new things: ‘Can you get me some of this hash everyone talks about?’
My friends came over, too, and enjoyed his generosity, and maybe more. I came down one morning to find a thank you note on the table, left to my father from two of my female mates who had slept over. It read, to my surprise, ‘Thanks for the fuck and booze!’ It was only later he admitted that he’d amended the word ‘tuck’ on the original missive. ‘It’s all about the legend,’ he’d said.
Having no work obligations myself, I joined him on extended road trips to Scotland and the North, to France or a seaside town near a racecourse. Wherever we went, he met and got chatting to people, this previously troubled character now radiant and easy-going, delighting folk with his stories and wheezy laughter.
On my 30th birthday I received a Happy Easter card from him, on which the word ‘Easter’ had been struck through and replaced with ‘Birthday’, in biro. It was a measure of how far our relationship had turned around that inside he had written ‘To my best mate’. I still have it somewhere.
Not long after this I recall him sidling up to me and saying that it wasn’t too late for me to take up a career in banking. I laughed, partly because obviously he still didn’t quite know me, but mostly because he’d proved to me, conversely (or inversely, or indeed perversely), that it’s never too late to jack in the rat race and rediscover yourself. He’d become what I am now – a happy Deserter.
Thanks for the tuck and booze
He was, despite barbed asides about immigration, a different person: Expansive, kind, curious… Apart from in one regard. The booze.
To call my father’s attempts to stop drinking ‘cursory’ would be to do a disservice to the word. Non-existent would be closer to the truth. Indeed, in order to claim any success in this field my father was obliged to alter the definition of ‘drinking’ itself.
‘I’ve been very good today,’ he once told me, as I emerged from upstairs around lunchtime, ‘I’ve not had a single drink.’
‘Wow’, I said, genuinely impressed, until I happened to open the kitchen bin. ‘If you haven’t had a drink all day,’ I asked, ‘what are all these tins of beer doing in the bin?’
‘Oh, I’ve had beer,’ he replied. He continued to be the only person I have ever known to receive Christmas and birthday cards from an off-licence.
Eventually, inevitably, the drink took its toll and his organs got together to coordinate a general strike. After a lengthy and debilitating stay in Kingston Hospital, he was gravely informed that he had taken his last drink and that Death was waiting for him at reception. That night, he snuck out for a final pint in a Norbiton pub, in his pyjamas. Three days later, he was dead.
I miss him, it would be odd not to, but I’m also aware of how he remains with me, of how his influence, good and bad, has shaped my life. Perhaps part of one’s life journey is observing and processing the behaviour of one’s parents, and working on eradicating their flaws from your own life. As no politician seems to be saying at the moment, those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. | {
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} |
World Of Warcraft Classic Release Window Revealed
For years, there has been uproar within the World Of Warcraft community for a vanilla server for the fans of classic Warcraft and in November of last year we were greeted with the announcement of Warcraft Classic.
Since then details have been scarce but with the festivities of this years Blizzcon we got a major update. Fans can expect to play World Of Warcraft Classic next Summer with demos during Blizzcon available to those who have purchased a virtual ticket. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Welcome to Baltimore, Hon!Celebrating Baltimore, from the charming to the alarming2015-02-21T16:55:02Zhttp://welcometobaltimorehon.com/feed/atomWordPressJill Yeskohttp://murderinthedogpark.comhttp://welcometobaltimorehon.com/?p=53202014-12-09T03:40:47Z2014-12-09T03:40:47ZIn 1978, fueled by a mission to publish sometimes obscure and out-of-print books by and for people of African descent, W. Paul Coates founded Black Classic Press (BCP) from his Baltimore basement. In the 36 years since, BCP has published more than 100 titles, including seminal works such as W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Negro, along with obscure titles such as Historical Sketches of the Ancient Negro, originally published in 1920. BCP has also published original works by best-selling crime fiction writer Walter Mosley, and poet and literary activist E. Ethelbert Miller.
Photo: LinkedIn
Before founding BCP, Coates served as coordinator for the Maryland chapter of the Black Panther Party. He was instrumental in establishing the Black Panther Party Archives at Howard University where he served as an African American studies reference and acquisition librarian at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. BCP lists many Black Panther-related titles (see sidebar). Coates is a frequent guest on C-SPAN and has received numerous honors and awards. I spoke with Coates by phone about the future of BCP in the digital age and his mission to restore “the African American experience.”
How many titles does Black Classic Press publish annually?
There have been years when we published 14 titles, in some years we put out about three. Electronically, we put 10 titles into e-book format in 2014.
Publishers use the number of new books to speak to the economics and viability of the titles. I’m much more interested in the merits of the title. I’ve wanted to publish Garvey & Garveyism for more than 20 years. That was a decades-long desire.
Why Does Black Classic Press Focus on out of print books?
Knowledge and information don’t just begin in this moment. There is a lot of value in what’s gone before us. When you talk about the Black experience in America, so much of it has been devalued. We get to see a complete experience, not just the African American experience, but the American experience. The work I do is restoring the African American experience but more importantly, it is speaking to the American experience. It’s all connected and important.
Given the seismic changes the publishing industry, where will Black Classic Press be in five years?
I don’t know. Black Classic Press is tied to me. It’s so much a part of my vision that it’s very hard for me to project beyond my mortality. There is no one right now that is united in the vision I created Black Classic Press under.
As a former member of the Black Panthers, did you make a specific effort to carry titles by other Black Panthers?
All of the books I publish are committed to telling a story. These books I publish tell a long story. They start by telling about the ancient African past before enslavement, then the story after enslavement. The Panthers are a story about that. They are connected to the Garvey Movement [founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, Marcus Garvey promoted the return of the African diaspora to their ancestral homelands and African unity]. Rather than think of my books as sections, I see them as a mosaic.
Was Black Classic Press the first to publish Walter Mosely?
He reached out to us by giving us a book (The Tempest Tales) to publish. It was actually his first book that had been rejected by numerous publishers. I say it’s his best book, and not just because I published it.
I have seven sons, five biological sons and two from marriage. I wanted one of my children to have an interest in the press. Years ago, I told Ta-Nehisi not to take over the press. He has achieved a much larger platform than Black Classic Press.
Did you offer to publish Ta-Nehisi’s autobiography The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood?
I refused to publish his book. I thought his writing deserved a national platform. He had to fly on his own merit — and he did. Besides, he’s taken large advances for his books!
Books about the Black Panthers from Black Classic Press:
Blood in My Eye by George Jackson
Panther is a Black Cat: An Account of the Early Years of The Black Panther Party – Its Origins, Its Goals, and Its Struggle for Survival by Reginald Major
Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton by Bobby Seale
The Black Panther Party Reconsidered Edited by Charles E. Jones
]]>0Jill Yeskohttp://murderinthedogpark.comhttp://welcometobaltimorehon.com/?p=53102014-11-20T23:48:32Z2014-11-19T03:28:47ZBen Affleck is a lumbering lunkhead of a man — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As the quasi-Neanderthal lead actor in the film adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s bestseller Gone Girl, Affleck is aptly cast as Nick Dunne, the remarkably un-self aware husband of Amy (Rosamund Pike), whose disappearance is the axis on which this David Fincher (The Social Network, Fight Club) directed movie spins.
Amy is the indulged daughter of earnest parents who’ve mined her childhood for the plots of their successful Amazing Amy book series. Whip-smart and beautiful in a Seven Sisters preppie way, Amy is understandably unable to live up to her doppleganger’s achievements (flesh and blood real Amy wastes her talents writing relationship quizzes for lifestyle magazines). Believing she can’t be loved for who she is, Amy retaliates by turning herself into a succubus (well told in backstory) who preys on the men she snares in her tangled web—a spot-on swipe at dating mores where everyone is at the mercy of someone else’s pathologies.
Enter Nick, a freelance writer for men’s magazines (instead of vapid relationship quizzes, he probably writes articles about how to get better pecs in ten). Nick and Amy meet during a hipster party, and before you can say “Arcade Fire,” they’ve hooked up and are soon living in high boho style in a brownstone; so in love with being in love that they actually kiss in a storm of blown sugar. Gag.
The heavy-handed imagery foreshadows that it’s not all unicorns and rainbows in Amy and Nick’s future. Real life intervenes via the 2008 stock market crash that caused freelance writing careers to go the way of the brontosaurus. When Nick’s mother develops cancer, the couple move to Nick’s hometown in nowheresville Missouri where Nick and his fraternal twin sister Margo (well played by Carrier Coon) open a bar called, wait for it…The Bar (are you sure we aren’t still in Brooklyn?). While Nick shleps around in T-shirts and a five o’clock shadow, teaching writing courses at a local college and shtupping a student, Amy stews in their Stepford-like mini-mansion—an incongruous housing choice for ex-writers claiming penury.
And then, on their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy’s gone. Nick comes home after a night at the bar to find broken glass, overturned furniture, and nary a sign of Amy.
We’ve seen this plot device many, many, times before. The twist in this case is Gone Girl’s zeroing in on the Jon Benet Ramsey-like frenzy surrounding Amy’s disappearance. Within 24 hours, Amy’s absence spawns a media circus of epic proportions that includes swarms of selfie takers and women eager to get a piece of Nick. While Nick smiles for the camera, well-meaning townspeople are tying yellow ribbons around trees and literally beating the bushes to find Amy who has suddenly captured the hearts and minds of America.
Like a thought bubble above a cartoon character, slow-witted Nick realizes that Amy has not only staged her own disappearance, but she has hogtied him to the whipping post of public judgement. You’re meant to get angry at Nick for ripping Amy from the bosom on Brooklyn, then cheating on her, and mad at Amy for behaving like a passive aggressive spoiled brat. I guess they don’t have couples counseling in Missouri.
Midway through Gone Girl I realized that I didn’t care if Amy came back or what had happened to her. I was bored, and that troubled me. And that’s a shame, because Flynn’s book cleverly detailed the exquisite mind fuckery between Amy and Nick. By the end of the book the reader can’t help but admire Nick’s anti-spiritual awakening as a master game player in a profoundly dysfunctional relationship that includes domestic violence.
A large part of Gone Girl’s problem is the casting of Pike as Amy. Pike is too mild to play devious Amy. Even when Amy supposedly hits bottom while hiding out in the Ozarks eating junk food and hanging out with trailer park trash (a ridiculous scene that falls flat in both the book and the movie), she looks like she’s on her way to shop at Talbots. Another Amy—Amy Adams—would have narrowed her green eyes, tossed her red hair, and fully embraced the deeply sociopathic nature of Amy’s character.
Although somewhat miscast as Desi, Amy’s long-ago paramour who still has the hots for her, Neil Patrick Harris brings the right amount of creep to his louche playboy. Desi rescues Amy and sets her up in his luxurious lake house like a pampered house cat. Desi’s the opposite of Nick: hyper attentive, flush, and willing to wait on Amy hand and foot. But girls being girls, we only want the boys we can’t have. For Amy, that means a bloody escape from Desi’s gilded grip (I haven’t seen that much blood on silk sheets since the horse head scene in the Godfather) and a return Nick’s not so loving arms. As TV crews film Amy’s miraculous homecoming, once inside their house, Amy and Nick circle each other like two cats ready for the next battle.
On a meta level Gone Girl is about the vicious games lovers play (think Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?), why people stay in relationships even when their expiration date’s long past, and how we delude ourselves about love and honesty. I wish David Fincher had used the same unsparing gaze he applied to his characters in The Social Network. It would have made Gone Girl more of a character study and less of a domestic set piece.
]]>0Michael Oleskerhttp://welcometobaltimorehon.com/?p=52952014-09-26T12:32:14Z2014-09-26T07:29:33ZWhen the old-timers mention the bygone days, the gathering place they invariably talk about is the Horn & Horn, 304 East Baltimore Street, a bustling hangout which stayed open all night long from the dawning of the 20th century until that dreary winter morning in 1977 when the owners abruptly stuck a “Closed” sign in the window and signaled the end of several eras around here.
What kind of place was Horn & Horn?
Well, if it’s 7 o’clock in the morning in the 1950s, you could find three-term Mayor Tommy (The Elder) D’Alesandro huddled over scrambled eggs to talk City Hall election tactics with the northwest Baltimore political boss Jack Pollack.
Irma the Body
If it’s 2 o’clock in the morning in the 1960s, you might find some of the famous ladies from The Block, half a block away, ladies who have climbed back into their clothes and arrived here for their post-strip pancakes and bacon special.
If it’s seven o’clock in the evening in the early 1970s, you might find Bob Embry, the city’s housing commissioner under Mayor William Donald Schaefer, convening for dinner after a Monday city council meeting to toss around some new ideas for the Baltimore City Fair, which is helping to lift the city out of its post-riot doldrums.
It was, in short, a place where the town’s movers and shakers gathered to eat and talk, and see and be seen, and make the Earth move a little.
Or, as Gilbert Sandler described it in his marvelous book, Small Town Baltimore, Horn & Horn’s Restaurant was, “as Times Square was to old Broadway, the street’s soul…the only restaurant where Baltimore’s rich and poor, winners and losers, judges and pimps, merchant princes and numbers writers, fashion executives and exotic dancers, mayors and governors and city hall types alike all sat down next to one another comfortably, sharing time and space and conversation.”
It was also a place to get a pretty decent meal.
Maybe you got the house specialty – the Red Ball special of corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes; your waitress taking orders from half a dozen people without writing down a word but somehow managed to bring everything back exactly as everybody ordered it.
Also certain: the veteran counterman, Kelly Raines, knew your name and knew how you liked your meal prepared.
But nothing lasts forever, and it’s nearly four decades since they closed the place – and replaced it with a Wendy’s carry-out and, after that, another eating place whose name has been lost to memory.
Then, approaching the new century, the city tore down the old Horn & Horn building and several adjoining spots and eventually put up a 375-car parking garage – and a new restaurant.
You go there today and you pick up a tray and serve yourself.
It’s the Big Apple Tree Café, and it still draws courthouse types and cops and others from the east side of the city’s central business and financial district.
The café offers a pay-by-weight hot or cold buffet. There’s seating for a couple hundred people, once you navigate your way inside past the handful of poor souls lying about on Holliday Street, along the restaurant’s east side.
On a recent morning one fellow’s curled in the fetal position, sleeping off a bad night. A few feet from him, a guy in a baseball cap squats with his hand out as a lady in high heels steps around the fellow’s handful of large plastic trash bags filled with his belongings.
A few feet from him, two men huddle with their knapsacks in the morning’s heat beneath a sign reading “Bacon, Egg & Cheese Sandwich: $3.14.”
It feels a little bit like a metaphor for a changing America: the personalization of service replaced by homogenized, mass-production, look-alike food service; and lots of people parking their cars ($18 for the day) and arriving so hungry to get on with their lives that they speed past society’s leftovers and try as best they can not to notice them.
The “O” and the inclining “Baltimore” lettering on the t-shirt are similar to designs on merchandise sold by the Baltimore Orioles. When contacted by WTBH, a representative of the Orioles organization declined to comment on the record.
Attempts to contact Stamps and the principals of Defiant AD have not been successful.
The Sept. 9 publication by the USPTO begins a 30-day period during which any party who may be damaged by registration of the trademark to file either an opposition to registration or request an extension of the deadline to oppose. If no oppositions are filed or are unsuccessful, the trademark owner is sent a certificate of registration.
According to a source familiar with the matter, a party already plans on filing an opposition to the trademark.
In December of 2010, a “hontroversy” erupted when Baltimoreans learned that Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting had registered HON trademarks for a variety of printed products such as bumper stickers and coffee mugs. After a year of protests and boycotts that drove Cafe Hon to the brink of failure, Whiting relinquished claims on the trademarks.
Whiting declined to comment on this story.
“After everything that happened, I can’t imagine anyone willing to jeopardize their business by trademarking that word,” said Charlene Osborne, a former “Baltimore’s Best Hon” winner who works as a professional hon under the name of Blaze Char and published a book, My Year as Baltimore’s Best Hon.
“I suggest whoever these people are make a date with Denise Whiting at Cafe Hon and ask her how that worked out,” said Baltimore author and WTBH contributor Rafael Alvarez. “This news will be widely disseminated, and the controversy will rage anew. It won’t be worth the few dollars they make off the symbol.”
]]>1Guest Contributorhttp://welcometobaltimorehon.comhttp://welcometobaltimorehon.com/?p=52752014-09-19T00:22:44Z2014-09-19T00:22:08ZAfter writing up a post on the history of Baltimore City recently we were inspired to go out and pick up a copy of The Baltimore Rowhouseby Mary Ellen Hayward and Charles Belfoure. We really can’t recommend it highly enough. The authors begin all the way back in the 1700′s when the city consisted mostly of large land grant estates and does a great job of explaining how those estates were eventually subdivided and developed, from the very first wooden shacks to the golden age of builders like Keelty and Gallagher, who built most of the iconic Baltimore rows to modern infill construction and renovation.
The book also did an outstanding job of explaining the different styles of rowhouses found in the city, and illustrating what got built where- and when and why. At times it goes deeper into details on architecture and building technique than most people would ever need to know, but remains an interesting read nonetheless. But what if you want to know the various rowhouse types without spending $27 and reading through 200 pages? Never fear. The Chop is here with an illustrated book report.
This post is meant to show the most common types of rowhouses found in Baltimore, and to match their names to their pictures. We’ll also do a tiny bit of explaining along the way. The Chop is, of course, not an architect or anything, so if we’ve got anything wrong here or if there’s something that should be added we’d encourage those more in the know than we are to send us an email….[continue reading at The Baltimore Chop]
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The Baltimore Chop is just a regular dude. With a blog. A Baltimore native who loves living here; a homeowner, thirty-something single guy, traveler, blue-collared, Progressive, grown-up punk, consumer of culture, an old-fashioned type with modern sensibilities.
]]>0Jill Yeskohttp://murderinthedogpark.comhttp://welcometobaltimorehon.com/?p=52702014-09-09T03:10:35Z2014-09-09T03:10:35ZBrendon Gleeson’s face is a landscape of crags and ridges framed by a mane of wind-whipped hair—a countenance that echoes the wild, Irish coast of County Sligo, the setting for brooding Calvary. Shots of otherworldly Benbulbin, the weird, flat-topped mountain that looms over the small town of Easkey, establishes a mood of eerie omniscience that dogs Calvary to its violent conclusion.
The movie begins with an irresistible premise: during confession, a parishioner tells a Father James (Gleeson) that as a boy, he was repeated molested by a priest. Because of this transgression he will kill Father James in seven days to avenge the “original sin” of the now-deceased molester. It’s a great framing device, one that provides director John Michael McDonagh (The Guard, Ned Kelly) with a clock-is-ticking countdown to resolve this theological whodunnit.
Given its title, it’s no coincidence that Calvary is rife with biblical symbolism. Like a modern-day Job, Father James is harassed and beleaguered by his parishioners who challenge him at every juncture about matters of faith, integrity, and the role of the Catholic church in modern life. Accusations of adultery, usury, perfidy, and all other iterations of mortal and venal sins are volley back and forth. Father James has no compunction about taking swipes at the church. James literally and figuratively takes punches that each parishioner doles out (no pushover, Father James also gets in his licks).
In an exchange with fellow priest Father Leary—a toady functionary wonderfully played as a comic foil by David Wilmot—Father James accuses Leary of lacking integrity and having faith that’s merely skin deep. Without abiding faith, life is insufferable (other than Father James, the only other person depicted with true faith is a French tourist whose husband dies in a car accident). Given that so many in the movie question faith, it’s no surprise that midway through the film Father James church is burned to the ground. Heavy symbolism indeed.
Father James isn’t going down without a fight; he’s no willing, sacrificial lamb. Father James knows the identity of his assassin, and rather than fleeing, he lives out his remaining days with increasing intensity as he uneasily confronts his own demons while reconciling his strained relationship with his adult daughter Fiona (the luminous Kelly Reilly), who dresses him down for abandoning her for the priesthood. Indeed, Fiona becomes a confessor to her father, whose only other friend and confidant is his dog Bruno.
As Sunday approaches, Father James reconciles his affairs. At the beach, about to meet his killer, Father James counsels Michael Fitzgerald (Dylan Moran), a morally bankrupt millionaire who stands in for Ireland’s failed
“Celtic Tiger” property bubble that ruined the country’s economy. Looking his killer in the eye, Father James faces down death not with a long-winded speech, but with a mixture of defiance, fear, and faith. In the end, it doesn’t so much matter who killed Father James as it is what people do or don’t do in the name of God.
]]>1Bruce Goldfarbhttp://welcometobaltimorehon.com/?p=52402014-09-04T22:33:15Z2014-09-04T22:30:33ZIn November of 1939, notorious mobster Al Capone was released from federal custody after serving almost eight years in Alcatraz for tax evasion. Capone traveled to Baltimore for treatment of paresis — a psychotic dementia caused by widespread brain damage in tertiary syphilis — at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Wary of Capone’s reputation, Hopkins refused to admit him. As a compromise, Capone was treated at Union Memorial Hospital, where many Hopkins doctors had admitting privileges.
At Union Memorial, Capone was allowed to take over the whole fifth floor. Obsessed that foes would try to poison him, Capone brought a food taster during his five-week hospital stay. His entourage also included bodyguards, his barber, a masseur and various family members. After his release from Union Memorial, Capone spent several months recuperating at the Mt. Washington home of a Maryland State Police sergeant, returning to his Florida villa on March 20, 1940.
Bowl by Nick Aloisio. Photo: Union Memorial Hospital
To show his appreciation for the hospitality and care provided by Union Memorial, Capone he gave the hospital two weeping cherry trees. One of the trees was removed the early 1950s for the construction of a new wing. In February of 2010, the remaining tree split in half after a heavy snowfall. From the felled branch, Virginia artist Nick Aloisio crafted several bowls, trinket boxes, wine stoppers, pens and other items that were sold on eBay in 2012 as a fundraiser for the hospital. All of the younger weeping cherry trees on the Union Memorial campus are descendants cultivated by an arborist from Capone’s original tree.
]]>1Caryn Coylehttp://welcometobaltimorehon.com/?p=52272014-09-04T22:26:01Z2014-09-03T16:44:19ZStan Lee, the black cat, lies almost invisible on a chair of the same color. Behind him is a wall of biographies. Next to a twin black chair, cady-corner from him, is a basket of Nancy Drew mysteries.
“There are approximately one thousand books for sale – or barter – at the Parkville Bookworm,” said owner Melissa Eisenmeier. On the corner of Audrey Avenue and East Joppa Road, the bookstore offers about sixty percent fiction and forty percent non-fiction.
Melissa Eisenmeier, owner of Parkville Bookworm, with three of her favorites.
No book is more than ten dollars and many paperbacks sell for less than a dollar. In eleven hundred square feet of retail space, the Parkville Bookworm sells all kinds of fiction, from historical to mysteries to science fiction. Art books, cook-books, histories, books on humor and locally produced jewelry are also offered for sale along with regional artwork.
In what was a grocery store, the Parkville Bookworm opened six months ago. According to Eisenmeier, the bookstore is located in an area of Baltimore where 20,000 readers reside. Parkville is also her hometown. A graduate of Parkville High School, she attended the Community College of Baltimore County, intending to become a paramedic.
“I changed my mind,” Eisenmeirer explained. “I’ve always loved books, I like people and I wanted to own my own business. So I opened a bookstore.”
Holding up three of her favorite authors, Michael Koryta, whose So Cold the River was priced at $.94, Tanya Huff’s The Wild Ways ($2.83) and Erica Spindler’s Cause for Alarm ($2.83), Eisenmeier also offers a wide variety of others. Paul Bowles The Sheltering Sky, was on the same shelf with Melissa Banks’ The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing. Gail Godwin, Nora Ephron, A. Scott Berg shared wall space, though in different sections, with the Hardy Boys, Madeline, and the American Girl series for children.
The Parkville Bookworm averages a couple of hundred book sales a month. And it allows readers to bring in books for store credit. Eisenmeirer will look through the old books; a dollar will be offered for a substantial biography. “A little bit less for a paperback,” she added.
Parkville Bookworm staff cat Stan Lee
Stan Lee, the “staff cat,” whom she got from Charm City Animal Rescue, was a foster cat at first. Eisenmeier wasn’t certain she would keep him. She’d been advised that visitors to the bookstore might increase when word spread that a cat was there. Some may come just to pat or befriend him and wind up browsing the bookshelves.
Business is picking up and Stan Lee is staying, mainly in the black chair that matches his coat.
Located at 2300 East Joppa Road, The Parkville Bookworm is open Tuesday through Saturday 10–8; Sundays noon-6. Closed Mondays. Learn more from the store’s website.
Photos: Caryn Coyle
]]>1Bruce Goldfarbhttp://welcometobaltimorehon.com/?p=51732014-04-14T11:52:41Z2014-04-14T11:48:58ZI recently fell for a piece of Buzzfeed clickbait — 13 Of The Most Baltimore Things That Ever Happened — which turned out to be a disappointingly lame listicle. There wasn’t even a half-hearted attempt to deliver on the promise of the headline. It’s just a random series of vaguely Baltimore-related images slapped together, a provocative headline aimed at getting suckers like me to click the link.
Oh come on. Baltimore has a rich history and culture. It shouldn’t be difficult to follow through on the premise and make an actual list of events that illustrate the city’s character. In short order I came up with my own list. In no particular order, they are:
1. This flag:
Image: National Museum of American History via Flickr under Creative Commons license.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but in 1814 Baltimore saved America’s ass. That August, the British trashed the District of Columbia — looting and burning the Capitol, White House, Treasury and War Department, and sending President Madison scurrying away to safety. After their envisioned destruction of the industrial and shipping port of Baltimore, the Brits intended to sweep through to Philadelphia, at the time the country’s financial capital. But it was not to be. British and American troops skirmished all over East Baltimore, most notably at North Point. Then ships bombarded Fort McHenry for 25 hours, a relentless barrage of shells fired in a futile attempt to overtake the city’s inner harbor. A lawyer wrote a poem about Mary Pickersgill’s humongous 40-foot hand-sewn flag, which was set to an English drinking song and made our national anthem. You’re welcome.
2. This lesson:
Countless discoveries and innovations have been developed at Baltimore’s medical institutions. One incident that shows the spirit of Baltimore happened on November 21, 1807. In that year, physician John Beale Davidge constructed an anatomical theater behind his home at the corner of Liberty and Saratoga and along with colleagues began offering a course of instruction to medical students, featuring the study of anatomy using human cadavers. Locals did not like this. On the night of Nov. 21, a violent mob broke into the anatomical theater and seized the cadaver — “the waterlogged body of a criminal who had drowned himself,” by one account — and dragged it through the streets. Because that’s dignified and respectful. For good measure, the mob thoroughly demolished the building and its contents. State lawmakers quickly chartered the College of Medicine of Maryland and earmarked money for a new mob-resistant building. It was the first medical school in America to require the study of human anatomy. With cadavers.
3. This machine:
Of all the innovations to emerge from Baltimore — gas lighting, railroading, the telegraph, and the hand-held electric drill to name a few — none had so profound and far-reaching impact as the linotype. Invented by German immigrant watchmaker Ottmar Mergenthaler, the linotype was the pinnacle of Victorian-era engineering — thousands of clattering parts that cast a line of type from molten lead. The machine was a revolutionary improvement over hand-set type. The linotype allowed affordable, mass-produced publications: magazines, newspapers, books. Costs dropped, and literacy went up. The machine ushered in an era of mass communication. The fact that you’re able to read this at all is thanks to Mergenthaler’s invention.
4. This street:
Every year, the residents on this block of Hampden’s 34th Street crank up their utility bills and tolerate the street clogged with traffic and crowds of gawkers in front of their homes. It’s a block-long multi-home over-the-top holiday light extravaganza. Nobody makes a penny from it. They do it because it makes people happy.
5. This band:
After the execrable weasel Robert Irsay snuck the Baltimore Colts out of town under the cover of darkness in 1984, the Baltimore Colts Marching Band continued to perform at parades and special events for years because why the hell not. In 1998, the band officially became the Baltimore Marching Ravens.
6. This writer:
Image: William S. Niederkorn, New York Public Library.
Buzzfeed almost got something right by listing the Poe Toaster, but the Toaster is only window dressing for the main act — Edgar Allan Poe. Of all the literary figures who called Baltimore home — including H.L. Mencken, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dashiell Hammett, Walter Lord, Russell Baker, Emily Post, Upton Sinclair, Ogden Nash and Leon Uris among many others — Poe’s legacy is most enduring. Poe lived here, wrote here, and died here under mysterious circumstances. Sure, the Poe Toaster was a nice mystery, but it probably wasn’t even perpetrated by a Baltimorean. Poe is one of our own, and he continues to fascinate people today.
7. These fake cops:
Images: NBC
Baltimore has been depicted on the large and small screen by John Waters, Barry Levinson, and David Simon — all storytellers who draw upon real people and events. The line between fiction and reality was obliterated on October 7, 1996, when a shoplifting suspect fleeing a North Avenue pharmacy turned a corner and stumbled onto a location where a scene for Homicide: Life on the Streets was being recorded. Seeing Richard Belzer and Clark Johnson — who portrayed detectives John Munch and Meldrick Lewis respectively — with guns drawn over an actor playing a murder suspect spread-eagled on the street, the thief promptly surrendered. The incident was worked into a 5th-season episode of H:LOTS, in which a suspect is chased onto a movie set and surrenders to actors playing cops. Levinson, who was executive producer of the show, does a cameo as himself as the movie director. It’s a Inception-esque example of art imitating life imitating art imitating life.
8. This hon:
Hon Man in action, 1993
Beginning in the early 1990s, a person known as Hon Man — and others following his initiative — risked serious injury and criminal penalties to deface a sign on Baltimore-Washington Parkway with a familiar term of endearment. Isn’t that nice?
9. This protest:
Photo: Bill Hughes
All was fine and well until December of 2010, when Baltimoreans learned that one person — Denise Whiting of Café Hon — had trademarked the word “HON.” Locals did not like this. An ensuing hontroversy erupted with protests, vandalism, online flame wars, and a boycott that nearly forced Café Hon out of business. Reportedly, nothing like this has ever happened before. There’s never been a wide-spread public outcry and revolt over a trademark. Fortunately, Gordon Ramsay made it right in an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. The trademarks are gone, and all is well again.
10. This swim:
Image: Baltimore Sun
Irascible and colorful, there was no doubt that William Donald Schaefer deeply loved his hometown. During four terms as mayor, Schaefer rebuilt Baltimore — with homesteading, Harborplace, a convention center, the National Aquarium and numerous other projects and developments. He gave Baltimoreans a reason to visit the Inner Harbor area and turned it into a tourist attraction. He changed how people felt about Baltimore. The “Do It NOW” mayor made good copy, prone to outbursts about potholes and projects lagging behind schedule. On July 15, 1981, Schaefer settled a wager that the aquarium would be finished on time by taking a dunk in the seal pool, letting people know that the city was a fun and lively place.
Have I missed anything? What would you add to the list?
]]>9Caryn Coylehttp://welcometobaltimorehon.com/?p=51482014-02-04T01:34:37Z2014-02-04T01:23:05ZA. Aubrey Bodine’s daughter, Jennifer, has published another showcase for her father’s photography: Bodine’s Industry The Dignity of Work. “I selected pictures of work and industries that no longer exist,” Jennifer Bodine explained. Indeed, the artistic black and white photographs illustrate an era that has vanished.
Bodine “was not a consistent recorder of what he photographed,” according to his daughter. Instead, his images are rich, thoughtful compositions. In “Lacrosse Sticks,” taken in 1951, the old fashioned wooden sticks — used by players more than sixty years ago — serve as a backdrop for the wood carver at the center of the photograph.
“Tomatoland,” shot in 1935, has a quality of nostalgia. Wearing a straw hat, a worker sets the scene in the foreground, holding up wooden baskets for the tomatoes. The photograph is enhanced by the caps and clothing of the workers and the rural landscape in the background.
Oysters and Skipjacks
A Baltimore Sunday Sun feature photographer from 1927 to 1970, A. Aubrey Bodine was world-renowned. Jennifer Bodine explained that Bodine’s Industry “contains his award winning pictures, currently popular pictures, historically interesting pictures, and ones that were never seen again after they were printed in the Sun story.”
“Baltimore Harbor Night,” which won numerous awards, was taken in 1949 and shown in almost one hundred exhibitions throughout the United States and around the world. Its shimmering reflection of the harbor’s lights, point of view from beneath the ropes on a dock and large ship in the center of the photograph are breathtaking. Bodine said, “I have proven conclusively that a newspaper photographer can make…this one time pugilistic, slam-bang profession into a dignified and honorable art.”
Lacrosse Sticks
After four years at the Sun, running ad copy and taking the photos no one else wanted to take, Bodine was promoted to be the newspaper’s commercial art department photographer at eighteen years of age. At twenty-one, he was named the Sunday Sun‘s features photographer. His daughter explained that “Bodine was an artist with a regular paycheck … blessed with a lifetime of editors who nurtured his creativity.”
His 1955 photo, “Oysters and Skipjacks” depicts his genius. The photograph frames the oysters under the ship’s sail, covering its deck at water level where two skipjacks sail in the background. Bodine explained that he would “approach an image and think about what would be a trite and usual approach to shooting it. Then consider how to render it in a different manner.”
Bodine’s Industry, published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. of Atglen, Pennsylvania, has 173 digitally restored black and white photographs. Signed copies are available at A. Aubrey Bodine’s website. The book vividly showcases Jennifer Bodine’s assessment of her father’s “knowledge and sense of light and he controlled it to communicate beauty and mood.” | {
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Adopt A Terrorist !
A female Canadian libertarian wrote a lot of letters to the
government, complaining about the treatment of captive insurgents
(terrorists) being held in Afghanistan National Correctional System
facilities.
Thank you for your recent letter expressing your profound concern of
treatment of the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists captured by Canadian
Forces - who were subsequently transferred to the Afghanistan
Government and are currently being held by Afghan officials in
Afghanistan National Correctional System facilities.
You will be pleased to learn, thanks to the concerns of citizens like
yourself; we are creating a new Department here at the Department of
National Defence, to be called 'Liberals Accept Responsibility for
Killers' program, or L.A.R.K. For short.
In accordance with the guidelines of this new program, we have decided
to divert one terrorist and place him in your personal care.
Your personal detainee has been selected and is scheduled for
transportation under heavily armed guard to your residence in Toronto
next Monday.
Ali Mohammed Ahmed bin Mahmud (you can just call him Ahmed) is to be
cared for pursuant to the standards you personally demanded in your
letter of complaint.
It will likely be necessary for you to hire some assistant caretakers.
We will conduct weekly inspections to ensure that your standards of
care for Ahmed are commensurate with those you so strongly recommend
in your letter.
Although Ahmed is a sociopath and extremely violent, we hope that your
sensitivity to what you described as his "attitudinal problem " will
help him overcome these character flaws.
Perhaps you are correct in describing these problems as mere cultural
differences.
We understand that you plan to offer counselling, home schooling and a
daily copy of The Toronto Star.
Your adopted terrorist is extremely proficient in hand-to-hand combat
and can extinguish human life with such simple items as a pencil or
nail clippers.
We advise that you do not ask him to demonstrate these skills at your
next yoga group.
He is also expert at making a wide variety of explosive devices from
common household products, so you may wish to keep those items locked
up, unless (in your opinion) this might offend him.
Ahmed will not wish to interact with you or your daughters (except
sexually) since he views females as a subhuman form of property.
This is a particularly sensitive subject for him and he has been known
to show violent tendencies around women who fail to comply with the
new dress code that he will recommend as more appropriate attire.
I'm sure you will come to enjoy the anonymity offered by the burka
over time. Just remember that it is all part of 'respecting his
culture and religious beliefs' as described in your letter.
Thanks again for your concern. We truly appreciate it when folks like
you keep us informed of the proper way to do our job and care for our
fellow man.
Who cares it needs to be done. After the first three or four I think it will come to an end. Bloody but effective. When a liberal starts their crap knock them on their ass when they finally fight back they will be a republican.
When I moved to the south I just didn't bring my things . By the grace of GOD he brought my soul!!"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
-- Thomas JeffersonPT 1911,pt 24/7 45 C DS, M-85
I want one! I want one! I want Abdul Khalil bin Snorin el Shitheel Snoop Hussein bin Mohammed. We'll just call hom Moe for short. Teach him how to be a Range Gopher. Hey, Moe, go change out the target for the love of Allah.
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
My old sig lines were trivial, this one is true.
I MISS RONALD REAGAN!
God, Guts, and Guns made this country the great place it is today.
No matter what some people say.
And it seems all 3 of these things are what the libtards want to get rid of.
But not if I got anything to do with it!
Haha, bet if a libtard had actually received that letter from a real official, they would have soiled themselves, Then ran (poo loaded) all the way to the nearest airport and left the country..(Ok maybe that result is stretching reality a bit, but we can only hope thats what would happen..)
Who cares it needs to be done. After the first three or four I think it will come to an end. Bloody but effective. When a liberal starts their crap knock them on their ass when they finally fight back they will be a republican. | {
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IEBC Chairperson Ahmed Issack Hassan (second left) with board members of Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) from left: Julius Mawathe (Vice Chairperson), Prof. Julia Ojiambo, Carey Onyango and Taabu Daniels at the IEBC offices on 15th July 2015.The CMD team briefed the IEBC Chairperson on their plan to establish a leadership and governance institute in kenya | {
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How to set up a home bar
Home bars can range from a specially designed space with a mini sink, built-in cabinets, an ice machine and refrigerated wine cellar to a cupboard cabinet for the booze, a drawer for the tools and mixers and garnishes in the family refrigerator. There is an endless array of tools, gadgets, glassware, mixers, bitters, alcohol and garnishes, but setting up a bar can be simple. Start with the basics and add other tools and ingredients as you need them for particular events.
Here's what you need to start:
Alcohol
Bar spoon
Bottle opener
Cocktail shaker
Corkscrew
Glasses
Ice bag
Ice bucket and tongs
Ice cube trays
Jigger or small measuring cup
Knife
Mixers
Muddler
Shaker
Strainer
Alcohol
When kept in a cool place where it isn't exposed to direct sunlight, liquor will stay fresh for a long time, but the lower the level in the bottle, the more quickly it should be consumed to avoid air leaching out flavors. A few bottles of liquor and a few mixers will give you a wide range of drink possibilities.
Short glasses (six to eight) — a 6- to 8-oz. heavy-bottom glass allows muddling but also can be used for wine.
Tall glasses (six to eight) — 10- to 12-ounce tall glasses can be used for drinks with carbonation or a lot of juice in them.
Stemmed glasses (six to eight) — a rounded 5- to 6-ounce Champagne coupe or a martini glass can be used for mixed drinks, frozen drinks and cold drinks served without ice.
(for a full-service bar)
Champagne flute (six to eight, if you drink a lot of Champagne) — the tall narrow shape encourages the formation and ascent of bubbles.
White wine glasses (eight to 12) — a good all-purpose wine glass has a tulip-shaped bowl and a stem and is commonly considered a glass for white wine.
Red wine glasses (eight to 12) — these stemmed glasses have extra room in the bowl for aroma and vapors to collect.
Stemless wine glasses — can be used for white or red wine, but because they have no stem, holding the glass in your hand can warm up the contents. The smaller stemless glasses with an inward taper are best for dessert and fortified wines.
Beer glasses (six to eight) — with as many shapes of glasses as there are types of beer, it's best to start with a basic glass that widens at the top. If you and your friends are beer aficionados, you can expand the collection depending on the brew you are serving. | {
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Choose Other Models to Add
only thing i dont like is that is automatic, and if your a chick and care about cup holders, they get in the way, but for me they are fine. the turbo is sick, and for a 4 cylinder it is fast and quick, and gets good gas milage for the long hall if you don't drive it the way I do.
2004 Audi A4 1.8TUsed Cars
in
Houston, TX 77022
Avg. Dealer Rating: (1 review)
"Will say whatever you want to hear to get you to come in. When you arrive vehicle will not be ready and nothing near as described. Very disorganized and unprofessional." | {
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I just produced my first RAID bdus, theyre in woodland. im going to play with the design a little bit, if anyone is interested in how to build them, theyre VERY simple by design, and add a whole lot of functionality to an older style uniform! (plus its tacti-cool)
It was my understanding that the USMC Pattern MARPAT uniforms already have shoulder pockets? None the less its a farely simple thing to construct!
You remove the bottom pockets of the BDU, Mind you do it carefully otherwise youll ruin the uniform.
After that its just a matter of placing them on the shoulder in a position that is comfortable to you.
You can use fabric glue or sew it, both seem to hold well.
The hook and loop fasteners can be purchased at LOWES the ones i used are "Velcro" brand 4x2 strips. which line up perfectly with the pockets. as far as i am aware its only available in black, but if you searched in a craft store you may have better results. Again, fabric glue or sewing to the pocket.
The big hint to building these is taking your time. If you rush, you're going to get a half assed unprofessional very "Homemade" look to them, and you wouldn't want that, would you?
Now if you could remove the chest pouches and slant them on the shoulders for easier access, reposition the the bottoms to the back put a smaller pocket inside the left back pocket for a ciggerette pack. Reinforce the right back pocket at the bottom with a extra cloth and add another button to secure whats inside. a Retracable lighter leash in right sleeve for concealment. A radio pouch on the inside right chest with small hole for wire. a hydration pouch in the back, oh and a hood hidden in the collar, attach pistol belt loops bout waist height ... i'll come up with more
I shall call it Recon Battle Uniform (RBU) the fact that everything is moved to the back for more comfort when prone, most equipment can be put on your person without the need for vests or rigs concealed lighting tool for smoke and or survival, hood for extra camo or just to keep your head dry
Last edited by Fear 46 on Wed Jul 07, 2010 10:00 pm; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : came up with more kewl ideas) | {
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Features
Works in conjunction with all major upgrades and all aftermarket intakes
100 % maintenance free product
Lifetime durability 10-year labor warranty
No fuel trim remapping required.
Easy worry-free installation
Easy-to-follow instructions
Workmanship
Chromium plated stainless spiral
No mechanical element
Working Theory
More and regulated air means more usable engine performance and speeding up throughout the entire RPM range. The Twist-Air concept was developed to improve low-range and mid-range horses, low-end torque and economy. This air volume increase and vortex-like air action results turbulent air and more aggressive combustion in the chambers accordingly. The Twist-Air Nissan Wagon cold intake spiral provides your vehicle with more performance level while it reduces air restriction. The special spiral shaped geometry optimizes and speeds up the airflow. This in return gives you tremendous combustion efficiency by creating more air charge for more pony. The Nissan Wagon Twist-air Intake Spiral kit comes with everything required for installation on your vehicle. This intake add-on will not affect engine reliability or durability.
Twist-Air Cold Air Intake Spiral has dyno-proven results for producing more performance capability for your Nissan Wagon. A product that does what it was claimed to do.
Vehicle Specific Performance Intake Spiral will fit the selected vehicle as long as the diameter specific spiral measures are indicated in the dropdown list.
The unique Twist-Air Nissan Wagon Cold Intake Spiral causes a spinning action of the incoming air-charge as it passes through the intake tract. This extremely beneficial air-charge carries all the way into the combustion chamber, producing a super-atomized mix, which results incredible gains in low range power, mid-range power and overall fuel efficacy. This is the key factor to the performance potential success behind each Magnum Twist-Air intake system. Can't find one applicable to yours? Don’t know how to measure the diameter of your intake? Don't hesitate to contact us.
Will this Cold Intake Spiral fulfill claims on your Nissan Wagon?
Definitely. As a reliable manufacturer we warrant that this intake add-on works and performs on your Nissan Wagon exactly as described. This is not a turbo or supercharger, but with no hesitation, the Magnum Twist-Air supercharges the engine, allowing the combustion within the cylinders to proceed at an optimum level oxygen rich status; besides this it also transforms the aspirated air turbulence into a vast vortex assigned with an ideally straight motion vector.
Claims stated in this description are warranted by Magnum Tuning.
Magnum Tuning has applied the latest dyno-proven techniques and innovative designs since 1994 to improve intake systems' efficiency. The greater the efficiency level, the more output is gained! The Twist-Air intake add-ons are specifically designed to take full advantage of today's automotive technology.
Packing List
1 x Twist-Air Intake Spiral
3 x Stainless steel screws
3 x Stainless steel self-locking nut
1 x Detailed instructions
Twist-Air performance intake installs within the air intake. Precision spiral shaped geometry optimizes and accelerates airflow throughout the intake system. When it comes to engine airflow, there is more factors steal engine power: low air volume and elevated air temperature. Factory air intake systems provide lower than desired air volume resulting medium level in performance. With our spiral installed those concerns are left behind. Twist-air will accelerate the air flow therefore engine will be fed by cooler, faster air mass, without undesired irregular swirling. The regulated vortex with spiral shape warrants perfect combustion, notable boost in power, 100 % fuel efficiency. Twist-Air performance intake's structure was engineered as a resonant system. When you are trying to stretch and release the spiral gently with finger power, you will find it starts to vibrate. Oscillation evokes beneficial resonance if we match corresponding frequencies. Resonance is described as the tendency of a system to oscillate with greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others. Frequencies at which the response amplitude is maximum, are defined as system frequencies. At these frequencies, even small periodic driving forces can produce large amplitude oscillations hence vibrational energy stored by the system. Resonance occurs when a system is able to store and easily transfer energy between two or more different storage modes. Resonant systems can be used to generate vibrations of a specific frequency. This is what stands behind twist air concept. Resonating object's specific resonance frequency depends on numerous factors. Pertaining to this complex 3D structure, the Twist-air was developed for more than 40,000 applications with the following technical parameters in mind.
thickness
raw material's coefficient of elasticity
outstretched length of spiral
spiral overall height
position of deflectors on spiral's edge
exterior diameter
If you lengthen the spiral by stretching it out, you can see that the most effective RPM range will increase, and vice versa when you compress the spiral, range will drop. The vehicle specific spiral's length is preset to the factory engine, and it is made to fit to the factory intake system. If you still decide to diverge from stock length, it's highly recommended that you take note of the original length prior to making any adjustments.
delivered noticeable power boost
I purchased this add-on to an FX30d. It went on easy, works well and delivered noticeable power boost at take off , it improved my fuel economy just wish I could a little more intake rumble out of it. It gave some intake noise but not to offensive as opposed to my desire. Other than that I would definitely recommend this product to everyone.
better throttle response
Ordered my twist-air on Monday, received it in Thursday. Installed this on my FT in no time. Instantly noticed a better throttle response and better sound. After four consecutive gassing up a way worth the money. I love it and i recomend it
works as it was suppose t
heard a subtle intake note change but despite i was reluctant to enter this intake thingy it really works as it was suppose to, the only negative is, 1st spiral i was shipped didnt fit at all, company was more than willing to guide me through the return process and issue was rectified soon, recommend
changes were notable instantly
needed to upgrade the restricted factory intake it couldn’t handle the air flow that my modded S80 calls for at high rpms the engine did not aspirate sufficient volume of air and cause flat spots around 5000 RPM. I had to modify the props to get it to work right but it wasn’t so laborious. Now looks great, goes hand in hand with my (removed) cold intake and changes were notable instantly. I will recommend this product. Exceptional technical support is a pro for returnning to magnum as a perspective buyer
car avereges much better
my major concern wasnt the performance increase but i wanted to fix my fuel economy issue has arised ever since i installed my (remove) catback on my LS2. i've tested the fuel consumption in about 10 consecutive tanks and i concluded, the car avereges much better and of course i saw more useable power when pushing the pedal, i am very delighted with both the air flow accelerator ring and the overall service i was dedicated with, thanks a lot magnum
truck responds quicker when flooring
Ordered this add-on for my 2006 Sienna with the 3.3, Went on easy in no more than an 30 minutes. I feel like the truck responds quicker when flooring it. I have a KN cold intake and with this air thingy you definitely hear it when accelerating.
Magnum Jet-Air E-magnetic car, truck cold intake management systems are designed to dramatically reduce intake restriction allowing more air flow to your engine and to create a perfect spiral vortex. More and regulated air means more usable power and acceleration throughout the engine's RPM range. Jet-Air concept was developed to improve low-range and mid-range power, torque and fuel efficiency. The installation of a Jet-Air can add up to 30 ft lbs of torque and up to 20 HP. In addition, it improves fuel economy and nets gains of up to 4 miles per gallon.
Still not sure whether you need a forced cold air intake at all? It all depends upon your needs. In any case, your stock Car Truck SUV is capable of more than what it gives you right now: a Car Truck SUV can perform better regarding mid range power, a forced cold air intake can notably improve mid range power. We've searched high and low for the highest quality upgrades in our product line, that's why at magnumtuning.com, you'll find the whole variety of advanced forced cold air intakes. We've gathered every major type of forced cold air intakes here for you. And if you're overwhelmed with choices, you can rely on the opinion of other customers. Go through our forced cold air intake reviews with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars to find a product that is right for you.
Nissan Wagon
Wagon Twist-Air Performance Intake Spiral is a great way to upgrade your Nissan and will go a long way toward making you happy. As a reputable manufacturer for 21 years, Magnum tuning has warranted for the claims. Full Technical Support provided to your Automotive Vehicle Cold Intake. Get rush to enjoy promo sale's benefits and buy your Wagon Twist-Air Performance Intake Spiral cheaper today. All of our Nissan parts are top notch upgrades, but Wagon Twist-Air Performance Intake Spiral makes an exceptional difference when it comes to the engine horsepower and throttle response. If you installed this Forced Intake properly on your Automotive Vehicle you will get unsurpassed results also on low end torque. Magnum Tuning warrants for the claims! As soon as Wagon Cold Intake is fitted on the Intake tract of your Automotive Vehicle, your ride will instantly produce more engine horsepower because Twist-Air Performance Intake Spiral overrides the air flow. This is behind the working theory of the invaluable Nissan Wagon Forced Intake. Antonio wrote us the following feedback, Great product and wicked fast shipping!! Definitely a professional company!!! Exactly the Cold Intake i expected, great and smooth transaction, AAA!!!!! I fitted on my Nissan with 100 percent results. Magnum Mates, Thanks for everything, the part, the support, the suggestions! | {
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Princess Bow Iron Changing Table
Delicate pink bows add a special touch to this iron bow changing unit. For more than 40 years Corsican Furniture has manufactured iron furniture and accessories with a commitment to quality and attention to detail. Our skilled craftsmen uphold a tradition of hand-crafted beauty, personal care and attention to detail. A changing pad is included and can be enhanced with our optional pad cover. All Corsican products meet the safety standards and can be used for many years to come. | {
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In 1710, Joseph Addison wrote that “There are no books which I more delight in than in Travels.” He was not alone in his preference, as during the eighteenth century, travel literature proliferated and was second only to the novel…
We’re having a party! Of sorts – an afternoon tutorial on how to extract texts from HTML (web) documents. We’ll be using a single case study, provided by Stephen Wittek, but the principles will be transferable to any HTML-based texts…
The first in our 2013-2014 Work in Progress series will feature Stefan Sinclair and the new development in his Voyant Tools suite, Voyant Notebooks. Voyant Notebooks is a new digital scholarship platform that’s intended to support user-friendly web-based authoring of… | {
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Thursday, September 15, 2016
GUATEMALA CRACKS DOWN ON LEV TAHOR
Authorities in Guatemala raided the compound of a haredi Orthodox sect living there, separating children from their parents, after allegations of physical and mental abuse surfaced.
Israel’s Justice Ministry said Sept. 13 that the Central American country had obeyed its request to crack down on the Lev Tahor group, according to Orthodox news website Kikar Hashabbat.
The Guatemalan government suspected the sect of performing child marriages and abusing members, including children.
The Justice Ministry said it was in touch with Guatemalan authorities to ensure the safety of Israeli citizens, including minors, who are members of the group, according to Kikar Hashabbat. The report did not specify how many people are currently members of the group or in what city the compound in question was located.
One of the reports I saw about this case says that Guatemala wisely raised its age threshold for marriage from 14 to 18, making it easier to charge the sect members with child abuse and forced marriage.
However, there is a sad bit of related news in all this:
In June, a court in Guatemala indicted the ex-mayor of a small town for “participating in the expulsion of a religious community,” after some 230 members of Lev Tahor were forced out of the village in 2014. The expulsion followed religious disputes with its Mayan residents, who are Roman Catholic.
The mayor of San Juan La Laguna, Antonio Adolfo Perez y Perez, was charged with abuse of authority and discrimination and sentenced to house arrest, the local newspaper Prensa Libre reported. He had lost his political immunity on Jan. 14 after he was not re-elected.
Excuse me? What did the guy do wrong? The cult was abusing their welcome and insulting everyone's intellect, and they accuse him of acting illegally? The cult was asking to be thrown out for their contempt, and their behavior was disgusting. It's time to shut down Helbrans's repulsive charade once and for all, and the former town mayor should be acquitted of the charges against him.
I'm certainly glad for now that the authorities have acted properly and ensured the cult would be detained. Those facing charges for abuse and kidnapping in Canada should be extradited back there, and also back to Israel, where I'm sure there's charges being filed against them too. | {
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Zentropy by Frankie Cosmos review
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Greta Kline, the daughter of actor and actress Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates, is a 20 year old from New york City who began her songwriting and singing career in 2009 under the stage name ‘Frankie Cosmos.’Before releasing her first studio album “Zentropy” in 2014, she spent the previous six years creating a whopping 49 home-recorded albums in her room in college on Bandcamp, a music sharing Website. She was then noticed by K Records, where she recorded Zentropy with the help of a full band.
Zentropy Track by Track Review:
School- This song’s simple chord progression and memorable lyrics about the troubles of school and stress is easily relatable to any young adult. The song is short and sweet, but builds to include more instrument as the song continues.
Fireman- This folky song about Frankie’s dad is the shortest song on the album, ending at one minute. The harmonies in this number never cease, and the quiet, barely noticeable notes in the background make the song sound more complicated than it actually is. While the song is quite moody, it ends with a single note, which gives the song a more playful feel.
Birthday Song- One of the more pessimistic songs on the album, Frankie talks about her struggles with getting older, as well as mentioning her dog for the first time. drum beats make sure the song doesn’t sound too sad, although her self deprecating lyrics give off a negative feel, which sharply contrasts with the fun triangle dings and frequent tempo changes.
Owen- This song about her brother is mysterious, but loud and happy at the same time. The crunchy guitar tones and loud drumming contrast with the soft and sweet two-part harmonies and send a shiver down the listener’s spine and gives them goosebumps. This one is a personal favorite.
Buses Splash With Rain- Unlike the other songs in the album, this track uses a recurring chorus for the first time. Rain bounces and includes a repeated riff that makes any listener want to dance. Although the song is mostly positive, the tone and key give off a sad vibe, along with subtle lyrics that criticize her own personality. Like always, Frankie makes sure that although her lyrics are sad, the music itself is uplifting.
Leonie- This song sounds more folky, with simple chord progression and rhythms make the song easy to remember. The harmonies are constant and beautiful. It’s easy to say that vocals are the focus of this song. The soft guitar and drums build up throughout the song, and by the end, the song is loud and happy, putting images of the bay and hanging out with friends into the listener’s head. A resolving chord of the two singers ends the song on a delightful two-part harmony.
I Do Too- For the first time on the album, Frankie used vocal effects to alter the sound of her voice, and includes harmonies that aren’t necessarily pleasing to the ear, but make the song sound experimental andis song is playful and fun to listen to.
Dancing in the Public Eye- This is easily one of the most happy and inspiring songs on the album. Frankie expresses her carelessness by talking about dancing in front of people and not caring what people think of her. Unlike her other songs in the album, she expresses her feelings in a positive way, using call and response lyrics and a driving beat.
My I Love You- This song is completely dedicated to her beloved pet dog named Joe Joe. The song is sad but sounds sweet, and her grief is shown through soft cello harmonies and talking about how hard it is to get through the day without someone you once loved.
Sad 2- Once again, Frankie is singing about how much she misses her dog, along with feeling lonely and filling the emptiness in her heart by going on dates. The song is simple, with no harmonies, but has hints of xylophone and synthesizer. Despite her sadness, the song is soft and offers a unique sound
Overall, Cosmos is soft and playful, and her short songs are growing more and more popular among teens and young adults. “Zentropy” tells about emotions without being depressing and maintains the theme of pure and simple harmonies and straightforward lyrics to charm any listener. “Personally, Owen and School are my favorites, but the rest of the album gives off a really chill vibe. I’m glad that Frankie Cosmos is getting the attention she deserves,” Michaela Jackson (said. The rest of Cosmos’ music can be found at www.ingridsuperstar.bandcamp.com. This charming indie pop artist will be releasing a new EP on November 13 of this year. | {
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Mandela wins Nobel Peace Prize
Mandela wins Nobel Peace Prize
Walter Dhladhla, Getty Images
Colleagues of African National Congress President Nelson Mandela, right, congratulate him at his Johannesburg office for winning the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with South African President F.W. De Klerk.
Colleagues of African National Congress President Nelson Mandela, right, congratulate him at his Johannesburg office for winning the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with South African President F.W. De Klerk. (Walter Dhladhla, Getty Images)
Colleagues of African National Congress President Nelson Mandela, right, congratulate him at his Johannesburg office for winning the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with South African President F.W. De Klerk. | {
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A Nunavut institution changes hands: ACL buys Arctic Ventures
After 27 years, Kenn Harper sells venerable Iqaluit retail store
JIM BELL
An Iqaluit institution since 1968, when it was launched by Bryan Pearson, Arctic Ventures has served nearly three generations of Iqaluit and Nunavut residents. Kenn Harper, who bought the business in 1985, expanded the store into a local retail powerhouse that now rivals the Northmart store. (FILE PHOTO)
“We’ve built up, with my very capable staff, a very successful business here. But I’m 67 years old and it’s time to consider my options and the many other things I want to do in my life as well…,” Harper said Sept. 4.
Harper, who divides his time between Iqaluit and Ottawa, said he plans to maintain his primary residence in Iqaluit.
The historian, linguist and former teacher said he hopes to spend more time doing writing and research work and will stay on as a trustee and board member for Northern Properties REIT.
“Everything changes. Nothing stays static and I suppose the person facing the biggest change is me. But I don’t anticipate being bored. I anticipate being busy but in a different way than in the past,” Harper said.
Andy Morrison, the CEO of ACL, flew to Iqaluit Sept. 4 to complete the deal, which has been under negotiation for many months.
Soon after signing off on the purchase, Morrison said the deal is good not only for Arctic Ventures customers in Iqaluit but also for the entire ACL retail system, which extends across 31 communities in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
“The increased volume that Arctic Ventures will bring to the co-op system’s purchasing power will be beneficial not only to Iqaluit, where customers can take advantage of the buying power that exists right across the Arctic, but Arctic Ventures will add to that existing buying power,” Morrison said.
Harper said he used the Brookfield management firm of Toronto to broker the deal after putting the business up for sale this past January. Brookfield entertained offers from five potential buyers before narrowing the list down to ACL.
Neither ACL nor Harper disclosed the purchase price. The deal includes the Arctic Home Furnishings store and the concession at the Iqaluit airport.
All current employees of Arctic Ventures will be offered jobs with ACL after Nov. 1 and at least some will be eligible for job opportunities elsewhere in the co-op system, Morrison said.
“Our intent is to hire all the existing employees of Arctic Ventures,” he said.
And in the short-term, Iqaluit customers won’t see many changes — although ACL will review the store’s operations from time to time to ensure the store is meeting the needs of customers.
A long-term goal, however, is to eventually turn the store into a grassroots, community-based member-owned operation, like nearly all the other stores run by ACL’s member co-ops.
“We would love to work with a group, a grassroots group, in Iqaluit, to develop a locally owned and controlled co-operative. Our objective for Arctic Ventures would be to have it community-owned and controlled. Having said that, co-operatives grow from the ground up. There has to be an interest within the community,” Morrison said.
Harper bought the business June 20, 1985 from Bryan Pearson, who opened the store in 1968.
He and general manager John Bens, who for the previous five years had managed a retail store for Harper in Arctic Bay, expanded Arctic Ventures in two stages: a big new section at the back, a second floor and then a new front section.
At the time, they bet on the likelihood of Iqaluit becoming capital of a new eastern Arctic territory called Nunavut.
“We thought Iqaluit was the logical place to be the capital, and that was correct. But even if that turned out not to be correct, we thought that Iqaluit, with the critical mass that was here already, was a growth story and this was a good place to be in business,” Harper said.
And grow it did.
Now, Arctic Ventures offers a big selection of groceries, including fresh produce and other perishables, hardware, dry goods and housewares, a book store, a gift shop, and well-stocked newsstands.
There’s also a thriving Source franchise full of consumer electronics, a video rental store, Arctic Home Furnishings and a small concession at the airport.
“The town grew and we grew,” Harper said.
A big key to that success? Good staff.
“We’ve got some great, long-serving staff here. You can’t build a successful business without good staff and I’ve been very fortunate in being able to surround myself with good, hardworking, dedicated people,” Harper said. | {
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Line Of Duty's Martin Compston to swap sides and play a Scottish serial killer for ITV
Martin Compston, best known for playing anti-corruption officer DS Steve Arnott in the BBC's smash-hit drama Line Of Duty, will be swapping sides to play a serial killer for ITV.
The Scottish actor and former professional footballer is taking on the role of Peter Manuel for a three-part mini-series from World Productions, the company behind Line Of Duty.
American-born Scottish serial killer Manuel was a petty thief by the age of 10.
Martin Compston in Line Of Duty (Steffan Hill/BBC/World Productions)
Six years later he committed a number of sexual attacks that resulted in a nine-year prison sentence. Manuel was later convicted of murdering seven people across Scotland between 1956 and his arrest in January 1958.
Nicknamed "the Beast of Birkenshaw" by the Scottish media, he was hanged at Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison in 1958.
Following a hugely successful third series, Martin will revive his portrayal of Steve Arnott for BBC One when Line Of Duty returns for its fourth series. His role as the evil Manuel is bound to surprise some Line Of Duty fans.
Douglas Henshall (Alastair Grant/AP)
Fellow Scot Douglas Henshall, who became a household name for his role as DI Jimmy Perez in BBC One's Shetland, will play the police officer who is tasked with catching the killer.
Line Of Duty director John Strickland will direct the forthcoming mini-series, according to the Daily Mail. | {
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U.S. opioid crisis could spread to Europe, experts say
LISBON (Reuters) – Europe should heed the threat from opioids responsible for America’s deadliest drug epidemic in decades as both regions have seen rises in prescription rates of such medicines, which can be a gateway to dangerous derivatives, experts said.
FILE PHOTO: A used needle sits on the ground in a park in Lawrence, Massachusetts, U.S., May 30, 2017, where individuals were arrested earlier in the day during raids to break up heroin and fentanyl drug rings in the region, according to law enforcement officials. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The U.S. epidemic has led to far more overdose deaths and already lasted much longer than previous drug crises, like crack cocaine in the 1980s, and health experts fear it will spread to Europe.
U.S. President Donald Trump was to declare the crisis a public health emergency on Thursday, senior administration officials said.
Cathy Stannard, a consultant in pain medicine, told the Lisbon Addictions 2017 conference that the “undoubted public health disaster of misuse of prescription opioids” in the U.S. had led to scrutiny of the risks that patients become addicted, or subsequently turn to heroin.
“We (in Europe) are mindful of all the facets of the U.S. conversation, but where we start on this is a very similar increase in prescription rates of opioid medicines.”
Christopher Jones, who works at the U.S. Department of Health researching the opioid addiction, said prescription opioids were driving the increase in U.S. deaths for many years.
“But we’ve seen stabilization in that since around 2011. Where we now see real change is in synthetic opioids,” he said.
Drug rings, especially from China, are producing more potent, dangerous variants of such opioids to hook new users.
Between 2000 and 2015, deaths in the U.S. from synthetic opioids like fentanyl, a painkiller which is up to 100 times more powerful than morphine, rose 1,125 percent. In the same period deaths from all opioids rose 294 percent.
Overall drug overdose deaths in the U.S. reached about 64,000 last year, up from 52,000 in 2015, Jones said. More than half were related to opioids.
Europe’s overdose deaths rose for the third consecutive year in 2015 to 8,441 and 81 percent of them were related to opioids, which include heroin.
Europe’s Lisbon-based drugs monitoring agency (EMCDDA), which organized the conference, agreed there was a growing threat from synthetic opioids.
“We have seen in the last 18 months the rapid emergence of new highly potent synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl derivatives,” said EMCDDA scientific director Paul Griffiths. “Their potency means they pose a significant risk to those that consume them or are accidentally exposed to them.”
Jones said there was a similar trend in the U.S., where new variations of fentanyl coming from China were cropping up. “There is a lack of awareness of the drugs people are using, meaning they can’t protect themselves.”
Reporting By Axel Bugge, editing by Andrei Khalip and John Stonestreet | {
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Each year, as part of our overall effort creating the TechRepublic Geek Gift Guide, we ask our resident researcher Liz Lightfoot to conduct a formal, scientific survey regarding the gift-giving intent of our community and members. The results of the survey are always enlightening and often surprising, but the 2009 results offer up some unexpected revelations.
The wish list mirrors what many of the givers said they were most likely to buy this year, which should mean lots of happy people all around this year. The wish list does include the notebook/netbook category - you can never go wrong with another computing device I guess.
Question 3: Where do you usually shop for your geek gifts?
These results surprised me slightly - considering only the top seven retailer choices in the survey, Amazon is the clear winner. Despite efforts by bricks and mortar retailers like Best Buy and Walmart, geeks prefer to do their buying online with eBay and Newegg making the top seven choices. (For a complete list of retailers and how they ranked overall, see the last image.)
Question 4: How much do you plan on spending this holiday season?
The majority of respondents are planning to spend between $250 and $1000 this year for holiday gifts. In 2008, survey respondents said they were going to spend slightly more with the majority skewed toward the $500 to $1000 range.
Supplemental data
I thought these graphs might be of interest.
About Mark Kaelin
Mark W. Kaelin has been writing and editing stories about the IT industry, gadgets, finance, accounting, and tech-life for more than 25 years. Most recently, he has been a regular contributor to BreakingModern.com, aNewDomain.net, and TechRepublic.
Full Bio
Mark W. Kaelin has been writing and editing stories about the IT industry, gadgets, finance, accounting, and tech-life for more than 25 years. Most recently, he has been a regular contributor to BreakingModern.com, aNewDomain.net, and TechRepublic. | {
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Controversy Over Wild Horse Roundup in Nevada
It's one of the iconic images of the West -- wild horses running free on the range. But over the past week, the U.S. government has been holding one of its largest roundups ever because of mustang overcrowding.
The horses live on federal land about a hundred miles north of Reno. The area is roughly three times the six of New York City. But federal officials say overpopulation of horses has led to an imbalance of nature, including not enough land for grazing cattle.
“The fact is right now we have three to five times the population of wild horses that the range can sustain,” Bob Abbey, director of the federal Bureau of Land Management, told The New York Times.
So the plan is to remove about 2,500 horses, and relocate them to the Midwest. When the roundup is over, there will be only 600-800 horses left.
The roundup is one of the most contentious issues in the West, where growth, water rights, farming, recreation and preservation are often at odds. Suzanne Roy, a spokeswoman for In Defense of Animals, said the horses should be allowed to stay put.
“Wild horses have tightly knit bands,” Roy said. “This shatters the social structure; foals are separated from their mothers; the horses are put in a very unnatural situation. The whole thing is just a major trauma and terror for these really beautiful horses that have lived peacefully on these lands for hundreds of years.”
But the government claims the roundup, which it refers to as a "gather," would ultimately save the lives of the horses.
Unlike other animals, wild horses cannot legally be hunted or slaughtered, and they have no natural predator. When the area gets overpopulated, food becomes scarce and the horses suffer, said Abbey.
“If it were up to them (animal activists), we would be allowing wild horses to starve to death, which is no way to honor an American icon,” he said.
Most of the older animals are moved to pastures that provide lots of room and abundant food. The younger horses are put up for adoption, though the government has struggled to find qualified people who want to adopt, particularly in the recession.
About 70,000 wild horses and burros live on government land in 13 states. | {
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Details
Mizuno Wave Enigma
WHAT'S NEW? A new model that goes in at the top of the Mizuno cushioned range.
WE SAY A new shoe should fulfil two criteria: perform well and bring impressive new technology to the table. This does the former only. Fans of the Mizuno Wave plate and slim fit will love this straight-away - it provides firm cushioning, a wraparound sensation on the foot and good breathability. However, the new 'Smoothride' technology (self-explanatory)failed to do its job with the majority of testers grumbling about a lack of responsiveness. Suitable for mid-distance runs for heavier narrow-footed runners.
Runner's World is a publication of Hearst Magazines UK which is the trading name of The National Magazine Company Ltd, 72 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 9EP. Registered in England 112955. All rights reserved. Runner's World, Part of the Hearst UK wellbeing network | {
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We had our first snowfall for the year. It began around 12:30 pm on Saturday and continued lightly throughout the night. The accumulation wasn’t significant – only about 5-6 inches but everything is covered in white and glistening. It’s so beautiful!
I drove home yesterday after my grandsons’ concert and it was just beginning to get a little slick. I love the snow as long as I don’t have to drive in it!
When I woke up this morning I snapped a few photos from my windows before it began to melt off the trees.
Here are a few new photos of my decorations. I have two new additions to my carols’ collections – Mr. & Mrs. Santa. They were early Christmas presents from my husband. I was thrilled to add them! God bless him! He is so thoughtful!
Here is my Christmas cactus that is flowering in preparation for Christmas!
I feel the excitement in the air when I see my grandchildren especially the youngest ones – four and eight years old! They truly believe in Santa, The Elf on the Shelf, and everything that goes with this magical season. To be a child again is to experience great joy in every day without any care or worries. Sigh!
Thank you for stopping by and God bless everyone! May you have a wonderful Christmas or whatever holiday you will be celebrating.
Time is flying by. There is still some time left to order Jemsbooks from me autographed if you live within the USA. It has been taking about a week to mail things out. Contact me at jjspina(at)myfairpoint(dot)net and put in Subject Line – BOOK PURCHASE. I will get back to you with a PayPal invoice. Price of children’s and middle-grade books are $12.00 each and $15.00 each for 18+ books. Approximate price of shipping within the USA is $3.00-$4.00 which also depends upon how many books you buy.
Anyone who purchases books will receive a two-sided bookmark below for each book purchased. All Jemsbooks book covers are on these bookmarks.
REMEMBER: READING GIVES YOU WINGS TO FLY! SOAR INTO 2018 WITH JEMSBOOKS.COM – BOOKS FOR ALL AGES! GIVE THE GIFT OF A BOOK! READING IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH!
HAPPY READING!
Blessings & Hugs!
Janice
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About jjspina
Janice is an award-winning author with eleven children's books for PS-Gr 4, seven middle-grade/preteen/young adult books, written under Janice Spina, and three novels, and a short story collection written under J.E. Spina. She is also a writer of poetry, blogger, avid reader, reviewer and a copy editor. Janice has always loved writing and started very young writing poetry, then stories.
Her children's book, Lamby the Lonely Lamby, won a Silver Medal in the Mom's Choice Awards. Book 1, Davey & Derek Junior Detectives, The Case of the Missing Cell Phone, won the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award and Honorable Mention from Readers' Favorite Book Awards. Book 2, Davey & Derek Junior Detectives Series, The Case of the Mysterious Black Cat, won the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award and so did Book 3, The Case of the Magical Ivory Elephant, Davey & Derek Junior Detectives Series. Jerry the Crabby Crayfish, Broose the Moose on the loose, Colby the Courageous Cat, Book 5, Davey & Derek Junior Detectives, The Case of the Sad Mischievous Ghost, and Jeffrey the Jittery Giraffe, all won Pinnacle Book Achievement Awards. Book 5 of Davey & Derek also won a Silver Medal from Authorsdb Cover Contest. Hunting Mariah was a Finalist in Authorsdb First Lines Contest.
All Janice's books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, B&N and other online book sites.
One of her sports' poems was published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune in October of 2008. She is currently working on Book 3 of Abby & Holly series for girls, a fairy tale and Book 6 of Davey & Derek Junior Detectives Series. A YA fantasy series will be coming in 2019 along with more children's books.
Her hobbies are crocheting, walking to keep fit, hula hooping, going to the movies with her husband, and spending time with her five grandchildren.
Janice loves to hear from readers and appreciates reviews. Sign up on her blog https://jemsbooks.wordpress.com for a copy of her newsletters under Contact Me. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband who is her illustrator and cover creator.
15 Responses to First Snowfall – Feels like Christmas!
Lovely photos. We had our first snow this weekend but not as much as you. It’s been freezing hard since then. I like your Christmas Cactus. Mine had one bloom a couple of weeks ago. I think it has decided it’s reall an Easter Cactus!
We had barely a dusting here, Janice, but we drove back from Charlottesville yesterday (my husband had back surgery there) and the trip was magical. Everything was coated and the sky was clearing in time for some wonderful light and colors with the snow. I see you collect carolers, too. I get a new one every year. Lovely pictures!
How is your husband doing? I pray that he is is okay. 🤗 ❤️ Thanks for stopping by.
I received a request from you on FB messenger. Did you contact me? I think it is a scam. Someone may have used your name to email me.
I am so envious of your snow. Our snowfall here fell short of the forecasted amount. We only got about a half inch. I just want one (okay, more than one) honest to goodness real snow.
Your decorations are lovely! Love and hugs. ❤🎄🎅❤
I love snow! We got some this weekend too. Actually, it’s snowing now. We got a light dusting on Saturday, which didn’t really come to much – probably too much salt water on everything from recent storms coming in off the sea. But today it’s snowing for real. There’s nearly an inch of it by now, and it’s still coming down. That’s hardly anything compared to your five or six inches, but snow isn’t as common here, especially not as close to the coast as I live. This is our Westie pup, Lilie’s first time seeing snow. She wasn’t interested with the tiny bit we got on Saturday, but is more interested now we’ve got more, and has even snacked on part of a snowball. Haha!
Janice, beautiful pictures of the winter wonderland…it is magical and the UK is experiencing heavy snowfall with roads treacherous and schools closed. Yet a wonderful sight! Wow! Your cactus is stunning, full of flowers and on time! What a great idea and I meant to say thank you for those as well as the book which arrived today…I’ve sent you an email. Wishing you a very Happy Christmas. Xx
Beautiful post Janice. It seems many are getting bombarded with snow this past week or so. We got our first wallop today! I bet you wish you were back in Aruba? LOL. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas my friend. 🙂 ❤ | {
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The university reserves the right to reject any data request that is not in compliance
with KSU and/or USG standards of privacy. Please note that this does not refer to Open Records requests,
which must be submitted according to Open Records guidelines with the Office of Legal
Affairs. | {
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} |
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Monday, June 24, 2013
The Memetic Changeover: When and Why?
This is going to be quick, I hope, and dirty, I’m sure. What I’m up to is taking the first crude steps toward an argument about why putting memes in the head makes culture unintelligible.
Dawkins’ central insight, and the only reason to think about memes at all, is that, properly understood, properly cultural evolution is a regime where the beneficiary of successful cultural change (see my post, Roles in Cultural Interaction) is some kind of cultural entity rather than the organism that exhibits, uses, creates, that cultural entity. Call this the memetic regime. In gene-culture coevolution, by contrast, it is the organism that benefits from successful cultural change.
That is, in the regime of gene-culture coevolution, cultural inheritance is simply mode of behavioral inheritance that is different from, and more rapid, than ‘ordinary’ gene-mediated behavioral inheritance. All of animal culture is inherited in this regime. And this regime remains active in human life as well, though it is swamped by the memetic regime.
The question I’m asking is when, and why, in human prehistory did the memetic regime emerge? Stone tools emerge in the archeological record roughly 2.5 million years ago. Finely crafted hand axes–if that, indeed, is what they are–show up 1.5 million years ago. The shapes of these hand axes are conserved over 100s of thousands of years. They don’t change.
On the one hand, these artifacts indicate a level of craftsmanship beyond that we see in any animal. But they don’t show evidence of rapid and directed change. Do they exist fully within the regime of gene-cultural co-evolution? The question is not, of course, simply about the tools and axes themselves, but about the entire way of life in which they are embedded.
I don’t, of course, know the answer to that question. But if they are pre-memetic, then when did the memetic regime emerge, and why?
One obvious inflection point would be the emergence of language as we know it, which seems to have happened between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago. If that’s when the change happened, why? What is it about language that facilitated that change?
I note, as many others have, that language codes, like the so-called genetic code, are based on a fixed and relatively small inventory of sounds (phonemes), with the number varying from one language to another (from 10 or so to 100 or more). These elements are themselves meaningless, but they are combined into units that do have meaning (morphemes). Because these elemental units are digital in character rather than analog, they and their combinations are readily and accurately distinguished from one another. This allows for a great variety of readily distinguishable units.
That’s one thing to consider.
But we must also consider the fact the relationship between a meaningful unit and that meaning is an arbitrary one. It is established by convention. But this also means that word meanings must be negotiated in interaction. There is no way any Special Language-Giving Being can step outside of language to establish word meanings and then to teach those meanings to those ordinary individuals who remain stuck in language.
And THAT, I suspect, is what necessitates the emergence of the memetic regime. Meanings are negotiated. And those meanings may change over time, over years and decades. The memetic regime (somehow) allows individual to communicate with one another while meanings change.
* * * * *
THAT, of course, is far from an argument. At this point it is simply assertion.
I note, however, that learning language poses challenges that are different from learning how to craft a stone tool. There’s nothing hidden about the tool or the procedures you need to craft it. The tool itself is fully visible, and is visible its beginning in a crude black through its transition to a finished tool. And the procedures for crafting the tool are visible as well. The teacher cannot, of course, give the apprentice the feel of working with the material. The apprentice has to learn that for himself, and that learning is often difficult.
But language, language is quite different. The meanings of words are not visible at all. They reside only in the speaker’s head. To be sure, some words have physical referents, but establishing such reference is not straightforward. And there are many words, important words, without obvious physical referents, e.g. faith, hope, and charity. How are the meanings of such words established and taught?
* * * * *
The problem with giving memetic status to word meanings (and to ‘ideas’ in general), as Dennett does and as many others do, is that it renders the emergence of language unintelligible. It requires that word meanings be given transcendentally (though sky-hooks, to use one of Dennett’s favorite metaphors).
No, the memetic elements of culture can exist only in the public realm where they are visible to all.
* * * * *
For a discussion of the problem of word meaning, see Cultural Evolution 8: Language Games 1, Speech. In particular, see the section, Language Games & Game Theory, where I discuss the ideas of William Croft, Explaining Language Change: An Evolutionary Approach, Longman (2000).
3 comments:
Bill, do you think that talking about culture in terms of "memetics" buys us anything beyond Kenneth Pike's old "etic/emic" distiniction? Pike, I think, tended to emphasize "meaningful within a cultural system" rather than "replication"...but is the difference anything more than a slight shift in emphasis?
But I think you have to be very careful about how you generalize that distinction beyond its roots in the phonetics/phonemics distinction. I know Pike wrote three rather thick volumes on his tagmemics notion, but I've never had the patience to go through it.
What I think that memetics gets us is the evolutionary dynamics. But to really get that you need to be very careful, much more careful than anyone's been. I think that what I'm calling the memetic changeover is a matter of those dynamics, and getting a handle on it will require mathematical and modeling skills that I don't have. | {
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‘‘If the guest brings something that’s entirely inappropriate for the dinner do you open it? I say no!’’
Here’s a way to stop the fights if you are a wine snob and have the evening’s booze planned to the last sip: ask your guests to bring chocolates or flowers. Then get on to safer topics like politics and religion. | {
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Once it was infamous for its graffiti, but the Cowcaddens underpass has been transformed with a series of screen prints by artist, Ruth Barker.
The Cowcaddens pedestrian underpass, recognised as a key link point between Glasgow City Centre and the Canal, is now home to a new artwork that aims to raise awareness of the ongoing regeneration of the canal.
Called “The shores of the familiar”, Ruth Barker’s artwork has radically altered the Cowcaddens underpass, making it a much more effective and attractive route
between the canal and the city. more | {
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No. I don't want anyone putting graffiti on my graffiti art. Nothing very complicated here that you can't duplicate very quickly. Besides, the Autodesk's 123D Design free software has some bugs that create problems modifying existing drawings, so it's best to start with basic shapes when learning to use the program.
The biggest problem is with printing. The hobby/open source 3D printers require calibration and settings that most operators don't fully understand.
Sorry, no white, Once I use up the dark blue PLA, I will get white next time. You are not the first to request it.The dark blue was a mistake as I was trying to order glow-in-the-dark blue.I will be sending you grey and you'll get an email as soon as it goes out.
jclemens wrote:Sorry, no white, Once I use up the dark blue PLA, I will get white next time. You are not the first to request it.The dark blue was a mistake as I was trying to order glow-in-the-dark blue.I will be sending you grey and you'll get an email as soon as it goes out. | {
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After an initial report that AMD Radeon series graphics cards, especially the RX Vega series, are offering great performance in Forza Motorsport 7 game, AMD has now officially started to brag about it, saying that it offers 4K 60FPS gameplay on RX 580 graphics card.
Despite earlier worrisome rumors that some partners might not be working on custom Radeon RX Vega graphics cards, it appears that most, if not all partners will be launching their custom RX Vega versions in late October/early November.
AMD has enabled RX Vega multi-GPU Crossfire with its latest new Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.9.2 drivers and it also supports mixed Crossfire, with RX Vega 64 and RX Vega 56, but it only works in a couple of games.
AMD has released its newest Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.8.2 which brings day one support for Destiny 2 Open Beta as well as performance improvements for F1 2017 and Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, | {
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The collapse in world oil prices, a concern for Formula One
The Nurburgring had a deal to alternate the hosting of the the German GP with Hockenheim each year, but was unable to host this year’s event due to financial issues. The 2016 race will be held at Hockenheim, but the chances of it returning to the Nurburgring in 2017 are look increasingly slim.
To mitigate the astronomic costs of hosting a Formula One event, the two circuits in Germany devised the alternation agreement despite both the Nurburgring and Hockenheim having access regional state funding. Even so, neither have been paying anything like ‘rack rate’ Bernie Ecclestone demands as a hosting fee.
The Nurbrugring has been losing money for years, by the tens of millions, and was put up for sale in 2014. The sale offer for the historic motor racing venue included, hotels, a theme park, the modern racing circuit and the infamous 12.93 mile long Nordschliefe, nick named the green death. It was finally sold to investors known as Capricorn and Getspeed in a deal worth 77 million euros.
Capricorn’s share in the deal was two thirds, however they ran into financial difficulty towards the end of 2014 and were unable to complete their payments on the acquisition. Up stepped Russian billionaire Viktor Kharitonin, he bought out Capricorn and now has a controlling stake in the famous German motor racing venue.
A certain Bernard Charles Ecclestone was also a bidder during the original sale process, but was outbid by Capricorn and Getspeed. He later reflected, “It’s a pity, because when the Nurburgring was for sale, I agreed to buy it. They came back to me and told me that they had a better offer, maybe one or two million higher than my offer. I said: ‘I made only one offer. If somebody wants to pay more, sell it to him.’ They’ve sold it to a person and this person resold it”.
The Ecclestone offer in all likelihood included a favourable deal for the venue to host an annual Formula One weekend, though at the time Ecclestone’s stock in Germany was not exactly at an all-time high. “The stupidity was that because of two million they’ve lost somebody who had guaranteed that there would have been races for 100 years,” Ecclestone told Motorsport Magazin. “They ran away for a few dollars more. And what did they achieve? It’s disappointing and annoying for me. That’s why we’ve lost the Nurburgring.”
When asked if Formula One would return to the Nurburgring, Ecclestone was catagoric: “I don’t believe that it will happen,” adding, “We can say for sure, that there will be no race.”
Nurburgring hosted a round for the NEC in 2015, which was a huge success in terms of fans attending and profit on the bottom line, it may well be for this circuit, Formula One has just had its day.
The Formula One ringmaster now reveals the fate of Germany’s other F1 event is in doubt. Hockenheim has a contract to host Formula One in 2016 and in 2018, but beyond then Ecclestone sees their future to be bleak. “We really have an extremely favourable agreement with Hockenheim,” he said, “which will not exist in the future. They will have to accept what other European countries pay.”
Hockenheim last hosted the German GP in 2014, though the attendance numbers were meagre with just 50,000 in attendance on race day. Tickets for the 2016 German GP went on sale and the organisers are attempting to entice the fans back – with discounted tickets prices. However, should this tactic fail, then when the current deal with Ecclestone expires, Formula One will be no more in Germany.
The current list of true European races for 2016 is as follows
Spain
Monaco
Austria
United Kingdom
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Belgium
Were Germany to leave the calendar for good, this would leave just 7 European races in a year where there are around 20 F1 events worldwide. However, the inclusion of Baku as the ‘European GP’, gives Ecclestone a buffer to ensure he is not in breach of the bi-lateral agreements with the FIA and the teams which states a minimum number of races must take place in Europe.
Meanwhile in Azerbaijan, the government may be considering tearing up the streets paved with gold and cladding them in a more modest fashion. Yesterday, the manat collapsed, losing 32% of its value against the US dollar. This followed the central bank’s decision to stop protecting supporting the currency claiming that this course of action had wiped out more than half its foreign reserves.
“Azerbaijan has moved to a floating exchange rate but someone forgot to teach it how to swim,” quipped opposition member and economist, Natiq Cafarli.
This is the second time this year the manat has suffered drastically due to government policy. In February, the currency devalued a third against the dollar and now there is concern there will be a banking collapse in the country.
Azerbaijan is heavily dependent on the export of oil and gas and last week the price of oil collapsed to an 8 year low. Russia is struggling too, with 40% of its GPA in recent years being energy export related.
Goldman Sachs recently suggested that the oil price has a lot further to fall yet – and that it could be as low as $20 a barrel by January 2016. Interestingly, as part of the next trillion dollar budget spending agreement, the USA announced it will be lifting a forty year ban on oil exports, which has been in place since the Arab oil embargo in 1973. This will add to the excess capacity in world markets still further and then of course Iran is set to compound the problem as international embargo’s on Teran oil exports are now being lifted.
“Formula 1 will never collapse, even if we had lost Red Bull and Lotus,” asserted Ecclestone recently. Yet the commercial rights holders may be wondering if the right business strategy for the sport is being pursued, as the latest annual figures demonstrate less than $300 million will be available to them as profit.
It will be interesting to see the reception Formula One receives from the people of Azerbaijan, who yesterday scrambled to convert their manats into foreign currency or durable goods. Will they be impressed by the opulence and glamour of the circus, or be still angry at their government’s policy which has led to the price of goods rocketing and their wages and pensions devalued by almost 60%?
Bernie Ecclestone should re-think his plans for Formula One; chasing the oil dollar to sustain the racing calendar, may soon no longer be an option. And it could just be that record lows in the price of the ‘black gold’ will be the saviour of the European races, which cannot compete with the fees paid by those made rich by oil.
The problem is the teams get a % of profit!! So lower income for CVC means less money for teams! Some teams already struggling and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Bernie is going to have his hands full keeping enough teams in F1 to satisfy his contracts with the venues. While not being bled dry (if he ever could be) by some of the small teams asking for hand outs. His only hope is to come up with either an alternative Cheap PU or get a cap and mandatory supply put on PU manufacturers.
He and CVC have missed selling F1 at it’s peak. I think they now have a fight on their hands to stop F1 going under!
Like all problems in F1, this one’s pretty easy to solve if you’re prepared to see through all the BS.
Simple fact of the matter is, the big teams are spending way too much money, and FOM have to pay 65% of any money they make anywhere to the teams.
Get the bigger teams budget down, everything else follows suit and falls into place.
WHAT IF: Bernie dies. Bernie’s like the plate-spinners–put a plate on a pole and spin it, do it with plate #2, #3, and so on, going around to each one to keep them spinning until you reach your limit for keeping all spinning. Who will do that with F1 if Bernie dies? Who CAN do it? | {
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> Anyone know the name of a freeware program that cleans up all aspects of your computer from temp files to favourites. It makes a toilet flushing sound when cleaning if that helps. Thanks rodders <
I believe you are referring to the freeware utility which was/is developed by Steven Gould and is called CleanUp! which Runs on Windows 95 through Windows XP, and is available for download here at Major Geeks (at the link above).
Note:
I believe that the last 'stable' (non-beta) version was released in late March of 2006 was CleanUp! v4.5.1 - Click HERE for the details regarding the latest enhancements, new features and bug fixes.
I tend to agree with BCGray regarding the enhanced viability of CCleaner vs. Cleanup! While Cleanup! is usable; the CCleaner program covers more ground, cleans far more efficiently and is updated far more frequently (and also does not require a system 'restart' in order to complete the cleaning process).
Each find stuff that the other 3 miss. Open up your mind and try them.
MRU_Blaster cleans the Most Recently used lists.
I agree CCleaner does more things than Cleanup!.I agree that Cleanup! needs to be rebooted to finish its tasks, but that is mainly to get rid of user.dat files. I never reboot when it suggests that you do. It will clean the last stragglers on next bootup anyhow.I am not sure but I think CCleaner cannot reduce the size of user.dat until the next bootup anyhow, but doesn't emphasise the fact like Cleanup! does.I like Cleanup! because it shows how many files and the amount of space freed.CCleaner usually only show the amount of space freed.As for the Toilet noise, either put up with it (I always get a laugh from others when I install it), get rid of it as COMPUABLE has a link, or turn down the volume. You make your choice. Me, I just have the volume down, no biggy.
I have run Cleanup! on machines that have never had any housekeeping. One has 60,505 files, another the other day had over 10,000. It is a great way to show owners of the need for PC housekeeping routines.
Nice post Bazza, as my bosses say in work if you can argue your case then who can disagree and I agree with your 4 pronged attack as generally a single cleanup will not get everything so sometimes 2 or more are needed.
CCleaner is pretty good though you have to admit?
I actually use another direction of attack in East-Tech Eraser but that is not a free app but a great cleaner.
Thanks, Halo. Sometimes I feel frustrated that only CCleaner is recommended.
I love CCleaner and use it every day, but it is not the be-all and end-all.
It took me ages to find out that you can uninstall programs using CCleaner-->Tools.
I now use that in preference to the M$ Add/Remove.
The 4 that I listed will do me, I think. Bazza
===
Quote:
Originally Posted by Halo
Nice post Bazza, as my bosses say in work if you can argue your case then who can disagree and I agree with your 4 pronged attack as generally a single cleanup all will get everything so sometimes 2 or more are needed.
CCleaner is pretty good though you have to admit?
I actually use another direction of attack in East-Tech Eraser but that is not a free app but a great cleaner.
>> Everyone is fixated on CCleaner. I use it daily but also use Cleanup!, EmpTemp and MRU_Blaster as well. Bazza <<
I agree as well; with your assessment here Bazza ...
While I believe CCleaner is a useful tool - it is most certainly not the 'end-all-be-all' which many to people on the web seem to claim or think it is. And like many cleaning tools; if the "Issues" options - CCleaner's built-in Registry Cleaner/Fixer - are incorrectly configured it can actually muck things up quite a bit. Using any registry cleaner (including CCleaner) without knowing what might happen if you simply check every option and/or click everything and then click ‘Fix Selected Issues’ can actually be very hazardous to any system.
I mostly use CCleaner because it works for my needs and the support is exceptional. There are many talented folks; who attend the onsite-forum, which is well-managed and moderated and I've also noticed that if the forum members cannot fix your problem w/CCleaner (or anything else for that matter) problems, the developer of the program will try to help you out with any questions, etc.
MRU_Blaster is a great little tool and also has many other options that few people know about or use in the "Settings" area including plugins for "Cookie Blaster v1.01" as well as "IE Temporary File Cleaner 1.1."
I liked actually really liked using Empty Temp Folders (EmpTemp as bazza posted) when I was running both Win 98/2000 because it was one of the few ‘cleaning’ applications which users were able to install without coping anything at all to the Windows system folders. And the last version 2.8.3 included a very detailed but easy-to-read through help file; something no other freeware utility provided at that time, as far as I know. And it can find broken shortcuts (.lnk files) on your hard disk, so you can delete or even fix them; another thing most other freeware cleaners could not do at that time.
It was also one of the first temp cleaner utilities which featured a variety of choices of predefined folders as well as the ability to actually add your own folders and offered quick access to Recycle Bin, etc. Additionally, the Empty Temp Folders v2.8.3 included the ‘EmpRunner’ which at that time; was a very innovative companion program that sits in your tray bar (optional) and can be used to run ETF at certain intervals.
However I don't really use Empty Temp Folders anymore because the program's author Finn Ekberg Christiansen hasn't updated the current version since Aug 2001 and according to many of the sites that still list this utility claim was specifically designed for Win 98/NT/ME/2000 and not XP; although I've heard in many forums that it works just fine using the Windows XP operating system.
When switched to Win XP I actually emailed the author (twice) from the email link at the Empty Temp Folders website to ask if it was OK to use version 2.8.3 on Windows XP but never received any response. Additionally, the author's website lists Shell Extension City and Download.com as praising this product; however the links provided by the author go nowhere and neither of these sites lists Empty Temp Folders anymore, the last time I checked.
In addition to CCleaner, I use EasyCleaner, just don't use its "Duplicates" scan, very risky. For hunting deeply buried junk I use HDCleaner. It's much more manual, however, you have to figure out what's safe to delete. Seems to find stuff nothing else does, but you might not know what to do with a lot of it.
>> For hunting deeply buried junk I use HDCleaner. It's much more manual, however, you have to figure out what's safe to delete. Seems to find stuff nothing else does, but you might not know what to do with a lot of it. greenknight32 <<
Another reliable and perhaps ‘lesser known’ cleaner; but most definitely a perennial and "faithful" favorite of mine! I originally started using HDCleaner as a hard drive cleaner primarily because it was also one of the first cleaners available as freeware; which offered to securely "Wipe Free Space" by deleting with DOD 5220.22-M Standard (3 passes) as well as the ability to generate html or text index of current directory using the available DIRTOHTML option.
Lacking the somewhat confusing 'bells-and-whistles' of currently available upstart cleaners; HDCleaner could also more easily be configured to an individual users needs and be utilized to very quickly remove space wasting files from your fattened PC. The program also supports swift cleaning of the IE cookie, cache and browser history cleaning and MRU entries (recent docs, search lists etc) as well as 'System Files Backup and Restore' options which allows the user to back up files and easily restore them in case of a major system failure; a feature sorely lacking in CCleaner and even many similar costly shareware cleaning products.
When I was still using Win/98/2000; I often put off defragging because the older installed Windows defrag utilities were always too slow and frustrating to use regularly. With little or no trouble this HDCleaner utility managed to remove invalid or unused information from my machine and compressed them down enough so that I could easily defragment my drives devoid of causing any problems during or after the cleaning/compression process - and most importantly - do so without harming my Win/98/2000 operating system.
Be sure to check out the grand 5 Stars review (a rare accolade for freeware listed on this site) of HDCleaner written by Major Geeks own Tim Tibbetts Click HERE.
Very Important Note: If you've never tried HDCleaner before I'd strongly advise you that you use one of the available program options with great caution - As the developer of this HDCleaner utility Kurt Zimmermann succinctly states on his main website: "HDCleaner also identifies garbage files on the HDD of the network computers. Careful with that option, folks"
FYI, I use Empty TEMP Folders v2.8.3 on XP Pro with SP2 every day.
Have done so on this laptop for over 2 months.
Works for me. : Still finds stuff that CCleaner and Cleanup! miss. Bazza
===
Quote:
Originally Posted by COMPUABLE
>> Everyone is fixated on CCleaner. I use it daily but also use Cleanup!, EmpTemp and MRU_Blaster as well. Bazza <<
I agree as well; with your assessment here Bazza ...
I liked actually really liked using Empty Temp Folders (EmpTemp as bazza posted) when I was running both Win 98/2000 because it was one of the few ‘cleaning’ applications which users were able to install without coping anything at all to the Windows system folders. And the last version 2.8.3 included a very detailed but easy-to-read through help file; something no other freeware utility provided at that time, as far as I know. And it can find broken shortcuts (.lnk files) on your hard disk, so you can delete or even fix them; another thing most other freeware cleaners could not do at that time.
...
However I don't really use Empty Temp Folders anymore because the program's author Finn Ekberg Christiansen hasn't updated the current version since Aug 2001 and according to many of the sites that still list this utility claim was specifically designed for Win 98/NT/ME/2000 and not XP; although I've heard in many forums that it works just fine using the Windows XP operating system.
>> Thanks COMPUABLE. FYI, I use Empty TEMP Folders v2.8.3 on XP Pro with SP2 every day. Have done so on this laptop for over 2 months. Works for me. Still finds stuff that CCleaner and Cleanup! miss. Bazza <<
Oh thank you as well, Bazza;
I actually haven’t used Empty TEMP Folders in such a long time I've even almost forgotten want the interface looks like (lol); I might even try e-mailing the developer again to see if it will be updated soon! I know on the website the author states: "I've now got WinXP (thanks to a friendly donation) and version 2.9 will be ready (I hope) before summer!" But the site has posted that quote for quite a long time now; I'm pretty sure I saw the same quote about a year or so ago...
Also the developer does not sponsor any on-site forum or list currently "Known Bugs" (the only ones listed are the ones from AFTER the last update) - which I generally do not trust in something as important and even potentially damaging as 'cleaner' utilities; however based on your keen recommendations here in the forum, I think I'll definitely download it tonight and give it a re-test drive when I shut the computer down for the evening...
Thanks again Bazza - You most definitely bring out the adventurer in me! <>
You're welcome. We'll have to stop meeting like this. :D
Yep, I'm still trying to get people to move outside of their comfort box, and open their minds. Bazza
===
Quote:
Originally Posted by COMPUABLE
>> Thanks COMPUABLE. FYI, I use Empty TEMP Folders v2.8.3 on XP Pro with SP2 every day. Have done so on this laptop for over 2 months. Works for me. Still finds stuff that CCleaner and Cleanup! miss. Bazza <<
Thanks again Bazza - You most definitely bring out the adventurer in me! <>
>> You're welcome. We'll have to stop meeting like this. :D Yep, I'm still trying to get people to move outside of their comfort box, and open their minds. Bazza <<
Oh, I'm not worried about my mind - that irreparably crashed years ago - it’s actually my data I like to keep in the “XP Compliance Comfort Zone!”
I’m kidding really; I actually have a ‘testing’ computer that has no valuable data (Just an XP operating system and a few other test software utilities/programs on it) which I use for testing or retesting “Gilligan’s Island Apps” that come from developers who have no onsite forum, offer little or no support, answer their e-mail every time a comet passes within near earth orbit and/or rarely update their primary sites. | {
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The LSI® Escort Extreme Magnum is a lightweight, semi-automatic Shotgun suited for upland game or shooting trap. Its 28" barrel is equipped with a ventilated top rib for improved sight acquisition, while the SMART Valve System helps reduce recoil for fast follow-up shots. To complete the firearm is a durable synthetic stock finished in Realtree MAX-4® camo for topnotch concealment and a lightweight aluminum receiver. | {
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Attend a lively musical performance, go dancing at one of the many street festivals planned throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains, explore regional gem mines, sample your way across a food and wine festival, or explore a new art exhibit. There’s no shortage of cool things to do here in Western North Carolina. Here’s a list of some of the best events taking place this month. | {
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Last Tuesday was our 2nd Annual Costumes For Kids giveaway. It was such a huge success with a lot of happy kiddos. Well, we want to make sure that all the kids have a costume to wear this Halloween so we are giving you one more chance to get a free costume. | {
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Read DC Super Hero Girls: Spaced Out Comic Online
It’s Super Hero High and the Green Lantern Corps vs. the Kryptonians! As the battle commences, Krypto must use his super sense of smell to track down the imprisoned Supergirl. Together, they’re the only ones that can stop Zod and his plans to turn Oa into a new Krypton! | {
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When I arrived at Saint Mary’s, I found what I had always wanted: an environment where I could dedicate all of my energy to what I had loved my whole life—poetry. The M.F.A. program at Saint Mary’s is in many ways where I grew up, learned to speak up, and had the time and support to hone my craft and to study its practitioners. I talk about Saint Mary’s like many people talk about college—as a place and a community in which I spent some of the most fulfilling years of my life thus far. --Lily Brown, MFA Poetry 2007 | {
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Professional and Friendly Proofreading Service
The middle years - Charlie Hankers
Posted on 29th June 2016
What are you doing now?
I've been a full-time copywriter at PushON, a Manchester-based digital marketing agency, since late 2013. The company had been a freelance client of mine and when they said they were looking for a writer, I leapt at the chance.
Do you think the industry has changed in the last few years and if so, how?
I can't really say as I've extricated myself from full-time freelancing and all it entails. I do know that around the time of my transition, it was proving to be quite a tricky time economically for several of my clients. I would often be waiting months for payments of, say, £50 – you start to wonder whether it's worth your while chasing it. Some clients went under. By 2013 I was mainly writing rather than editing, and there was a certain amount of pressure from cheap labour pumping out low quality content to fill websites. I think that phase has receded thanks to both search engines and businesses waking up to the fact that it's largely worthless.
Has your approach to your work changed?
I honestly didn't know how I'd cope with the 9–5 lifestyle after 15 years' freelancing. In the event it was smooth; there's some comfort in the clock, and knowing when to start and (more importantly) when to stop. The biggest change is that I don't have to spend time chasing after work or payments – the company has people to do that.
What CPD have you done, if any, to stay up to date?
A big part of digital marketing is analytics, which can be used to both discover successful types of content to influence new content but also to identify gaps that definitely need filling. Being immersed in this technical environment has been edifying.
What do you think has been important in helping you maintain/build your business?
I do actually still have relationships with some of my old clients, and I still do work for them from time to time. In that respect, it's all about keeping them happy, which will never change.
Do you have any advice for people who have been in the industry a while who might be feeling flat/stagnating?
Don't be afraid to make a bold leap into the unknown. I'm sure most freelancers have held down jobs before, so we're not talking Captain Kirk here, but there's something to be said for getting out of the comfort zone a few times in your career. Even if that means remaining a freelancer but targeting different industries, it's all accretive over the long term, building up your ability and value.
Do you have any specific plans for where you see yourself/your business going in future?
I aim to die at PushON. Literally.
Do you have any regrets about how the last X years of your business have gone? And/or What have you learned from your business experience so far that you wish you'd known when starting out?
I don't think I have any regrets about giving up freelancing. I was probably due a change anyway, and everything seemed to come together at the right time. Being part of a team and playing your part rather than doing everything from sales to accounts is quite liberating and it encourages you to stretch your talents further rather than playing it safe. That said, should I ever need to pick up the freelancing (or self-employment) baton again, I should hopefully have retained the skills to do it.
I wish I had bought the domains copywriter.com, proofreader.com and so on. Their supposed relevance made them ace Google rankings for years for the basic terms while the rest of us had to actually produce content and build up reputations. I hope the copywriter guy made hay, because it has all but disappeared now... as for proofreader, Louise has earned a fantastic rank and the domain is nowhere. It's probably not all that relevant to get such domains nowadays, so it's not a regret that I can do anything about any more. It will just fester for a thousand eternities.
Kate's views on the past three years in the proofreading/copy-editing industry.
Louise's views on the past three years in the proofreading/copy-editing industry.
Richard's views on the past three years in the proofreading/copy-editing industry.
Nick's views on the past three years in the proofreading/copy-editing industry.
Charlie's views on the past three years in the proofreading/copy-editing industry. | {
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Historic child abuse files missing
More than 100 official files relating to historic allegations of organised child abuse have gone missing, the Home Office has disclosed.
Mark Sedwill, the permanent secretary at the Home Office, said the documents - which related to a 20-year period between 1979 and 1999 - were "presumed destroyed, missing or not found".
The disclosure came as Mr Sedwill said that he was appointing a senior legal figure to carry out a fresh review of how the Home Office dealt with a dossier alleging paedophile activity at Westminster in the 1980s.
He was responding to a call from David Cameron who urged him to "do everything he can" to establish what happened to the file which was handed to the then Home Secretary Leon (now Lord) Brittan by Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983.
Only last year, a review - carried out for the Home Office by a HM Customs and Revenue investigator - concluded the relevant information in the file had been passed to the police and the rest of the material destroyed in line with departmental policy at the time.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Sedwill wrote: "To provide the additional reassurance you are seeking, particularly in view of information now in the public domain since the investigation's conclusion last year, I will engage a senior independent legal figure to assess whether the review's conclusions remain sound. I aim to make the appointment within the next week."
In a separate letter to the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Keith Vaz, Mr Sedwill disclosed that while the original review had identified 527 potentially relevant files which had been retained, there were a further 114 files which could not be located.
He said that the investigation had not found a single dossier from Mr Dickens, but several sets of correspondence over a number of years to a number of home secretaries containing allegations of sexual offences.
However he said that the review had found no record of specific allegations by Mr Dickens of child sex abuse by prominent public figures.
"Like any other citizen, I am horrified by what we have learnt in the past couple of years about the systematic abuse of children and vulnerable adults by prominent public figures, and the state's failure to protect them," he wrote.
"Some have been brought to justice and I hope that the police investigations now under way across the country are equally successful. The Home Office has and will co-operate fully with any police inquiry."
The disclosures have intensified calls from MPs for Mr Cameron to hold an over-arching inquiry into all the allegations of historic child sex abuse from that period.
The pressure has been growing since Labour MP Simon Danczuck - who has carried out his own investigation into child abuse by the former Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith - raised the issue of the Dickens dossier at a Home Affairs Committee hearing.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed the latest review but said that it still did not go far enough.
"The Home Secretary doesn't seem to have grasped the gravity of this and so officials and Downing Street have not yet taken the action we need," she said.
"Given the many different inquiries, Theresa May must establish an overarching review led by child protection experts. This would draw together the results from all the different cases, investigations and institutional inquiries to allow us to learn from the failure of previous decades and keep children safe in the future."
Comments
This really does look like the old school tie brigade at work.surely mr brittan can recall the names that were in the folder or can he not remember something that would surely have caused eyebrows to be raised if the people named were known to him.
This really does look like the old school tie brigade at work.surely mr brittan can recall the names that were in the folder or can he not remember something that would surely have caused eyebrows to be raised if the people named were known to him.nigel d
This really does look like the old school tie brigade at work.surely mr brittan can recall the names that were in the folder or can he not remember something that would surely have caused eyebrows to be raised if the people named were known to him.
Score: 1
RM
1:17am Sun 6 Jul 14
They're all protecting each other aren't they? The scum need to be identified & sorted out once & for all. Otherwise, with certain names being bandied about on the internet but no action being taken there's a strong possibility of vigilante action which could lead to innocent people being targeted.
They're all protecting each other aren't they? The scum need to be identified & sorted out once & for all. Otherwise, with certain names being bandied about on the internet but no action being taken there's a strong possibility of vigilante action which could lead to innocent people being targeted.RM
They're all protecting each other aren't they? The scum need to be identified & sorted out once & for all. Otherwise, with certain names being bandied about on the internet but no action being taken there's a strong possibility of vigilante action which could lead to innocent people being targeted.
Score: 0
RM
1:17am Sun 6 Jul 14
They're all protecting each other aren't they? The scum need to be identified & sorted out once & for all. Otherwise, with certain names being bandied about on the internet but no action being taken there's a strong possibility of vigilante action which could lead to innocent people being targeted.
They're all protecting each other aren't they? The scum need to be identified & sorted out once & for all. Otherwise, with certain names being bandied about on the internet but no action being taken there's a strong possibility of vigilante action which could lead to innocent people being targeted.RM
They're all protecting each other aren't they? The scum need to be identified & sorted out once & for all. Otherwise, with certain names being bandied about on the internet but no action being taken there's a strong possibility of vigilante action which could lead to innocent people being targeted.
Score: 0
RM
1:17am Sun 6 Jul 14
They're all protecting each other aren't they? The scum need to be identified & sorted out once & for all. Otherwise, with certain names being bandied about on the internet but no action being taken there's a strong possibility of vigilante action which could lead to innocent people being targeted.
They're all protecting each other aren't they? The scum need to be identified & sorted out once & for all. Otherwise, with certain names being bandied about on the internet but no action being taken there's a strong possibility of vigilante action which could lead to innocent people being targeted.RM
They're all protecting each other aren't they? The scum need to be identified & sorted out once & for all. Otherwise, with certain names being bandied about on the internet but no action being taken there's a strong possibility of vigilante action which could lead to innocent people being targeted.
Score: 0
Katie Re-Registered
10:38am Sun 6 Jul 14
"I do think it is very significant that not only did the men now being 'named and shamed' pass the law making homosexual acts legal but that the age has been lowered from 21 to 16."
Technically, that could actually amount to a libellous statement as none of "the men now being named and shamed" passed the law to legalise homosexuality. The MP who was responsible in 1967 for (imho) the very progressive and positive change to British law has now passed away, was a decent and well respected bloke - and was not a paedophile. *Editor, please exercise caution here.
"I do think it is very significant that not only did the men now being 'named and shamed' pass the law making homosexual acts legal but that the age has been lowered from 21 to 16."
Technically, that could actually amount to a libellous statement as none of "the men now being named and shamed" passed the law to legalise homosexuality. The MP who was responsible in 1967 for (imho) the very progressive and positive change to British law has now passed away, was a decent and well respected bloke - and was not a paedophile. *Editor, please exercise caution here.Katie Re-Registered
"I do think it is very significant that not only did the men now being 'named and shamed' pass the law making homosexual acts legal but that the age has been lowered from 21 to 16."
Technically, that could actually amount to a libellous statement as none of "the men now being named and shamed" passed the law to legalise homosexuality. The MP who was responsible in 1967 for (imho) the very progressive and positive change to British law has now passed away, was a decent and well respected bloke - and was not a paedophile. *Editor, please exercise caution here.
Score: 0
OldBiddyFrom Barney
10:47am Sun 6 Jul 14
Katie Re-Registered wrote…
Sorry, but that last comment was just blatant homophobia.
Fact: most of the celebrities we've seen convicted for paedophilia so far are actually heterosexual and gender normative: Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter, Stuart Hall, Max Clifford, for example. Bearing that in mind, why doesn't anyone make a similar suggestion to ban heterosexuality, or at least put the age of heterosexual consent up to 21?
Kate I can see where your coming from, its not about people having sex with people they want to have sex with. In Barney there have always been openly homosexual people even before it was legal I have no problem WHATSOEVER with people doing what they want with their own bodies .
It is a myth that the police arrested people for being gay the law 'allowing 'homosexuality' was largely passed to protect wealthy ***** who abused young lads from being blackmailed by their victims.
'Rent boys' in their teens don't have a choice if they did would it really be fat old men?
You can't shut down the debate about abuse by telling people they are anti homosexuals when abuse it isn't just about sex it's about power and control avaliability of victims and opportunity.
[quote][p][bold]Katie Re-Registered[/bold] wrote:
Sorry, but that last comment was just blatant homophobia.
Fact: most of the celebrities we've seen convicted for paedophilia so far are actually heterosexual and gender normative: Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter, Stuart Hall, Max Clifford, for example. Bearing that in mind, why doesn't anyone make a similar suggestion to ban heterosexuality, or at least put the age of heterosexual consent up to 21?[/p][/quote]Kate I can see where your coming from, its not about people having sex with people they want to have sex with. In Barney there have always been openly homosexual people even before it was legal I have no problem WHATSOEVER with people doing what they want with their own bodies .
It is a myth that the police arrested people for being gay the law 'allowing 'homosexuality' was largely passed to protect wealthy ***** who abused young lads from being blackmailed by their victims.
'Rent boys' in their teens don't have a choice if they did would it really be fat old men?
You can't shut down the debate about abuse by telling people they are anti homosexuals when abuse it isn't just about sex it's about power and control avaliability of victims and opportunity.OldBiddyFrom Barney
Katie Re-Registered wrote…
Sorry, but that last comment was just blatant homophobia.
Fact: most of the celebrities we've seen convicted for paedophilia so far are actually heterosexual and gender normative: Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter, Stuart Hall, Max Clifford, for example. Bearing that in mind, why doesn't anyone make a similar suggestion to ban heterosexuality, or at least put the age of heterosexual consent up to 21?
Kate I can see where your coming from, its not about people having sex with people they want to have sex with. In Barney there have always been openly homosexual people even before it was legal I have no problem WHATSOEVER with people doing what they want with their own bodies .
It is a myth that the police arrested people for being gay the law 'allowing 'homosexuality' was largely passed to protect wealthy ***** who abused young lads from being blackmailed by their victims.
'Rent boys' in their teens don't have a choice if they did would it really be fat old men?
You can't shut down the debate about abuse by telling people they are anti homosexuals when abuse it isn't just about sex it's about power and control avaliability of victims and opportunity.
Score: 2
OldBiddyFrom Barney
10:13am Sun 6 Jul 14
I am sure that there was a least as much sexual and physical abuse in the most expensive boarding schools as in the toughest childrens homes and borstals. The little boys that entered those vile places learned very quickly to keep their heads down and say nothing. The seven year old 'victims' very often became the 15 year old 'criminals' So by the time they leave the system what can they say 'you did this to me but then again I did this to them' We are governed by people who have been groomed and abused as children that is the problem
It becomes in all their interests to keep quiet institutional abuse doesn't run in a straight line it goes round and round. I do think it is very significant that not only did the men now being 'named and shamed' pass the law making homosexual acts legal but that the age has been lowered from 21 to 16.
Not because I want to stop gay people being gay but because it took away the protection from vunerable youngest leaving care.
I am sure that there was a least as much sexual and physical abuse in the most expensive boarding schools as in the toughest childrens homes and borstals. The little boys that entered those vile places learned very quickly to keep their heads down and say nothing. The seven year old 'victims' very often became the 15 year old 'criminals' So by the time they leave the system what can they say 'you did this to me but then again I did this to them' We are governed by people who have been groomed and abused as children that is the problem
It becomes in all their interests to keep quiet institutional abuse doesn't run in a straight line it goes round and round. I do think it is very significant that not only did the men now being 'named and shamed' pass the law making homosexual acts legal but that the age has been lowered from 21 to 16.
Not because I want to stop gay people being gay but because it took away the protection from vunerable youngest leaving care.OldBiddyFrom Barney
I am sure that there was a least as much sexual and physical abuse in the most expensive boarding schools as in the toughest childrens homes and borstals. The little boys that entered those vile places learned very quickly to keep their heads down and say nothing. The seven year old 'victims' very often became the 15 year old 'criminals' So by the time they leave the system what can they say 'you did this to me but then again I did this to them' We are governed by people who have been groomed and abused as children that is the problem
It becomes in all their interests to keep quiet institutional abuse doesn't run in a straight line it goes round and round. I do think it is very significant that not only did the men now being 'named and shamed' pass the law making homosexual acts legal but that the age has been lowered from 21 to 16.
Not because I want to stop gay people being gay but because it took away the protection from vunerable youngest leaving care.
Score: 1
Katie Re-Registered
10:30am Sun 6 Jul 14
Sorry, but that last comment was just blatant homophobia.
Fact: most of the celebrities we've seen convicted for paedophilia so far are actually heterosexual and gender normative: Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter, Stuart Hall, Max Clifford, for example. Bearing that in mind, why doesn't anyone make a similar suggestion to ban heterosexuality, or at least put the age of heterosexual consent up to 21?
Sorry, but that last comment was just blatant homophobia.
Fact: most of the celebrities we've seen convicted for paedophilia so far are actually heterosexual and gender normative: Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter, Stuart Hall, Max Clifford, for example. Bearing that in mind, why doesn't anyone make a similar suggestion to ban heterosexuality, or at least put the age of heterosexual consent up to 21?Katie Re-Registered
Sorry, but that last comment was just blatant homophobia.
Fact: most of the celebrities we've seen convicted for paedophilia so far are actually heterosexual and gender normative: Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter, Stuart Hall, Max Clifford, for example. Bearing that in mind, why doesn't anyone make a similar suggestion to ban heterosexuality, or at least put the age of heterosexual consent up to 21?
Score: -1
OldBiddyFrom Barney
11:04am Sun 6 Jul 14
Katie Re-Registered wrote…
"I do think it is very significant that not only did the men now being 'named and shamed' pass the law making homosexual acts legal but that the age has been lowered from 21 to 16."
Technically, that could actually amount to a libellous statement as none of "the men now being named and shamed" passed the law to legalise homosexuality. The MP who was responsible in 1967 for (imho) the very progressive and positive change to British law has now passed away, was a decent and well respected bloke - and was not a paedophile. *Editor, please exercise caution here.
OK Kate here we go lets cover it all up again lets put a silver lid on the cesspool,you can start making 'threats' to people you disagree with and shut the discussion down
You can pick holes in what I say well done I was not referring to the person who YOU are referring to nor did I accuse him of anything I was referring to the Parliment who passed the law!
[quote][p][bold]Katie Re-Registered[/bold] wrote:
"I do think it is very significant that not only did the men now being 'named and shamed' pass the law making homosexual acts legal but that the age has been lowered from 21 to 16."
Technically, that could actually amount to a libellous statement as none of "the men now being named and shamed" passed the law to legalise homosexuality. The MP who was responsible in 1967 for (imho) the very progressive and positive change to British law has now passed away, was a decent and well respected bloke - and was not a paedophile. *Editor, please exercise caution here.[/p][/quote]OK Kate here we go lets cover it all up again lets put a silver lid on the cesspool,you can start making 'threats' to people you disagree with and shut the discussion down
You can pick holes in what I say well done I was not referring to the person who YOU are referring to nor did I accuse him of anything I was referring to the Parliment who passed the law!OldBiddyFrom Barney
Katie Re-Registered wrote…
"I do think it is very significant that not only did the men now being 'named and shamed' pass the law making homosexual acts legal but that the age has been lowered from 21 to 16."
Technically, that could actually amount to a libellous statement as none of "the men now being named and shamed" passed the law to legalise homosexuality. The MP who was responsible in 1967 for (imho) the very progressive and positive change to British law has now passed away, was a decent and well respected bloke - and was not a paedophile. *Editor, please exercise caution here.
OK Kate here we go lets cover it all up again lets put a silver lid on the cesspool,you can start making 'threats' to people you disagree with and shut the discussion down
You can pick holes in what I say well done I was not referring to the person who YOU are referring to nor did I accuse him of anything I was referring to the Parliment who passed the law!
Ipsoregulated
This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then please contact the editor here. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can contact IPSO here | {
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funny
We love Big Bang Theory! From the time our son was diagnosed we have always had friends & older family members who had a hard time understanding what was going on with him. ‘He’s just an odd kid’ or ‘He’ll… | {
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} |
You’ll cause quite a stir when you don this cream-and-black striped dress of soft jersey! Whether you’re out on the town or teaching your weekly crafting class, this A-line dress will have all who see you commenting on the uniquely asymmetrical handkerchief hem and eye-catching seam detailing. Featuring a black shoulder yoke and half-sleeves, as well as a sash-tied waist, this breezy dress pairs perfectly with brightly-hued wedges, a beaded statement necklace, and a structured tote in which to stash your sewing supplies for a look you’ll have to ‘seam’ to believe! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Multi-ethnic Mosul is gone, a symbol of failed U.S. policy
“If the Americans leave immediately, then someone might remember them as liberators. If, however, they continue the occupation, then everyone will remember them only as occupiers. This situation of war, the attack on our country, can trigger grievous results.”
Those were the prophetic words of Father Jawadat al Kaza answering our questions in the Latin basilica of Notre Dame of Mosul back in 2003. Saddam Hussein had been forced to flee a few days prior to that. But in Mosul we had already seen the first signs of the disaster triggered by the invasion and the Anglo-American occupation of of Iraq.
The historic mosque of Jonah (Yunis) located on the al-Tawbah (Repentance) Hill and those of Wadi al-Akhdar and Najib Jader were destroyed by ISIS. The expulsion of Christians, Yezidis, Kurds and other minorities are just some of the consequences of American policies that have destroyed Iraq.
Washington first gave the country to the Shi’ite majority, then gave freedom to the Gulf allies to assist and finance the revolt of the Sunni minority. Their funds have contributed to the emergence of armed jihadist groups that have marked 13 years of bloody history in Iraq, including Tawhid wal Jihad, which later became the Islamic State in Iraq, an ally of al Qaeda, and, finally ISIS, the ruler of northern Iraq and Syria for over two years.
All of this could already be felt in Mosul after the fall of Saddam Hussein. A tense calm dominated the center of the city, which has grown enormously in recent decades, so much so that in 2003 it was already the third largest Iraqi city with 1.2 million inhabitants. In the popular market on the west bank of the Tigris River, with its fragrant spices and oriental aromas, the presence of Westerners was not welcome. Everyone identified as allies of the Americans and responsible for the enormous suffering endured by the people during 12 years of international embargo against Iraq. A few days before our arrival, some residents had been killed by Marines during a protest against the U.S. and Washington’s decision to replace the “cream” of the U.S. armed forces with ordinary soldiers did not help to change the climate.
Another factor that increased tension was also the unwelcome presence of Kurdish fighters in different areas of the city, much less appreciated than another valiant Kurdish fighter, Saladin, who is honored in Mosul with a statue that shows the way of revenge: the liberation of Jerusalem from the Crusaders. On the wave of the American advance, the peshmerga had gone to Mosul taking control of the entire area up to university, along a bank of the Tigris River. The Arab population would only shake their heads and point the finger at the United States.
“There are many Kurds in our city, we can live together, but here we are in Mosul, in Iraq, not in Kurdistan,” Alaa, a taxi driver, said to us. The flags of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, waving on top of some public buildings, were confronted by many opposing Iraq drivers who put the Iraqi flag on their cars. Not long after, these flags would become black and many former Iraqi army soldiers and militants of the Baath Party would wave them, the party dissolved irresponsibly by former U.S. governor of Iraq Paul Bremer.
It is difficult to write of Mosul today without being there. For sure it’s very different than in 2003, without the many components that were part of its population for centuries. Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, Yazidis and many Catholic Christians, Protestants, Chaldeans, Armenians, Greek Orthodox, Nestorian. Certainly Father Jawadat has escaped, like all Christians. And imagining a return to the Mosul before 2003 is almost impossible.
However, it is only right to try to remedy, at least in part, the devastating mistakes made in Iraq during 25 years of war and the insane policy of the United States, the West and the petromonarchies. The recapture of Mosul, if it ever happens, will not lead to any concrete results unless the military offensive is presented as a project of Iraq for all Iraqis, not the plan of the victor in charge. | {
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Static Member Classes
In this post I will tell you everything about Static Member Classes from inside out. You must have been frustrated by remembering about the rules governing Inner Classes. In this post I will tell you how Inner Classes actually work. This will help you get a deep knowledge of Inner Classes which will help you a lot. This code will tell how the compiler changes the Inner Classes. But remember, that is a some difference in the code given here and what is generated by the compiler. This article uses a simplified approach by removing and modifying some of the code generated by the compiler.
Static Member Classes can also be called as Static Inner Classes. To begin with let me tell you in brief about Static Member Classes.
They can be declared inside top-level classes or other Static Member Classes
These are declared within other classes with the static modifier.
They can declare static and non-static members.
All accessibility modifiers can be used with these classes.
To create an object of Static Member Class, you don’t need an instance of its enclosing class.
An instance of enclosing class is not stored in an instance of a Static Member Class.
They can access static members of the enclosing class including private static members.
They can access non-static members of the enclosing class(including private non-static members) on an object of the enclosing class.
The reverse is also correct i.e. members of the enclosing class can access static members of the Member Class directly and non-static members of the Member Class on an Object of the Member Class.
If you are astonished by the above list of information, don’t worry. In the course of this tutorial, you will come across all these facts.
Now let’s begin one by one how the compiler changes different types of codes in an inner class. By the end you will know completely how all the code in an inner class is transformed to make the inner class a normal top level class.
First lets see how an inner class accesses static members of the enclosing class by their names.
Now when you compile the program the compiler converts the class Inner to a normal top level class. But now the question arises that what will happen to Statement # 8. Well the answer is simple, the compiler adds the name of the enclosing class i.e. Outer before the name of the variable a. So after compilation, the program given above will look like this-
Note the name of the member(inner) class after compilation. The compiler adds the name of the enclosing class before the name of the member class seperated by a $. The static keyword is also gone as top-level classes cannot be static. To access the member class from any code outside the enclosing class, you have to use the syntax <enclosingClassName>.<memberClassName>. So to access the class Inner from outside the class Outer you will have to use the name of the class as Outer.Inner.
Now you know that members of a class can access private members of the class. So a member class can also access the private members of the enclosing class. But how can the member class access private members of the enclosing class after compilation. Since after compilation the member class is converted into a normal top-level class, so it has no direct access to the private members of the enclosing class. But the compiler creates some package visible methods to make this possible.
Now after compilation the class Inner will become a top-level class. At Statement # 8 the compiler adds a method call since this statement tries to access a private member of the enclosing class. Lets see how this happens-
Look how cleverly the compiler generates a method at Statement # 4 which has access to private members of the class. This method returns the value of the static field a. Notice the ugly name of the compiler generated method. You cannot explicitly call this method in your code because the compiler will flag it as an error. If a local declaration or a field in the inner class or its super class hides the field of the enclosing class, you can access the field by placing the name of the enclosing class before the field name. It goes like this-
Now that you know everything about how a Static Member Class can access all the static members of the enclosing class, lets see how the static member class accesses the non-static members of the enclosing class on an object of the enclosing class.
There is no problem in the Statement # 10 as it accesses a non-private member of the enclosing class. There is nothing wrong with it. But Statement # 11 tries to access a private member of the enclosing class. This is how it is made possible after compilation-
In this case the compiler generates a static package visible method at Statement # 5 which takes an object of the enclosing class as parameter. Statement # 16 accesses the private non-static member of the enclosing class by calling this method and sending the instance of the enclosing class as argument. The method returns the value of the field on the object passed to it.
Till now you have only seen how to access the value of fields from an Inner Class. But you can also mutate i.e. set the value of fields and make method calls. The example below shows you how this happens for non-private members-
The compiler adds the name of the class Outer before the field and method names at Statements # 18, 19 and 20. This is the only change made by the compiler (apart from making the class Inner a top level class). Its easy enough! But if what we are trying to access is private member of the enclosing class, then the code becomes a bit complicated. Lets see how you can mutate the values of private fields of the enclosing class-
For Statement # 9 the compiler will generate a static package visible method that takes the value that you set with the assignment. For Statement # 11 the compiler generates another static package visible method that takes the object of the class Outer and the value that you assign to the field. These methods are shown at Statements # 5 and 9 in the code below-
For both these methods, the compiler generates static package visible methods which inturn calls these methods which are unavailable to the inner class after compilation. The methods generated by the compiler for the mehods and their call are shown in the code below-
The methods at Statements # 11 and 15 call the methods getCube() and getProduct() respectively. The methods calls at Statements # 24 and 27 are generated by the compiler. The original calls are shown in comments. Lets see the opposite of this i.e. accessing the private members of the inner class from the members of the enclosing class.
Note that I have used the name Outer.Inner to represent the inner class in the enclosing class at Statements # 6, 8 and 10. This is just to avoid any confusion as the name Outer.Inner must be used to represent the inner class from any code outside the enclosing class. There is one last thing that you must note before we move to Non Static Member Classes. If you don’t access some members of the enclosing class from the inner class then the compiler doesn’t generates methods for them. For Example-
The code above will not be altered much by the compiler. Since the field a is not accessed in the inner class so no method will be generated for that. So the code after compilation will look like this- | {
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2. Contact Info
3. Dealer Selection
After the Golf won our coveted 2015 Car of the Year trophy, we were presented with a tough, albeit enviable, decision: Pick a long-termer, any variant configured with as many options as our hearts desired. As much as we loved the 170-hp TSI and the 45-mpg-highway TDI (glad we didn’t go that route), and as eager as we were to wait for a 292-hp R, we had to go with the most desirable choice at the time. Which left the GTI. I know, woe is us.
Opting for the slightly more powerful Performance package (plus 10 hp, limited-slip diff, and Golf R brakes) would’ve meant months of delay, so we went with a standard 210-hp GTI in Autobahn spec, the top-level trim that adds a 12-way power driver seat, 6.5-inch touchscreen navigation, and dual-zone automatic climate control. We also checked boxes for the $1,100 six-speed, dual-clutch automatic, the $995 Lighting package (bi-xenon headlamps with adaptive front-lighting system), and the $695 Driver Assistance package (front and rear parking sensors, forward collision warning). All said, our four-door Tornado Red GTI came in at $33,205.
The cabin gets even better for 2016 thanks to standard Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and a USB input. The last is especially useful; we had to adopt a plug-in adapter with a USB slot.
The break-in period for the GTI’s EA888 2.0-liter turbo is 1,000 miles. So at around 1,001 miles we took the GTI to the test track. There, on a warm, sunny Fontana day, the GTI put down impressive numbers: 0 to 60 mph in 6.1 seconds, quarter mile in 14.7 seconds at 96.9 mph, 60 to 0 braking in 105 feet, figure eight in 25.7 seconds, and average lateral acceleration of 0.93 g. Our long-term 2012 BMW 328i, with a 240-horsepower 2.0-liter turbo, was quicker to 60 (5.5 seconds) and the quarter (14.1 seconds at 98.2 mph) but couldn’t match the GTI in braking (113 feet), figure eight (26.3 seconds), or average lateral accel (0.89 g). And back in ’12, that Bimmer listed for $50,845. Easy to see why the GTI-led Golf lineup won our 2015 COTY.
During its 27,115-mile stay with us, the GTI required just two maintenance visits (the third would’ve come at around 30,000). Both included an oil change, inspection, and tire rotation, the first one covered under VW‘s one-year 10,000-mile maintenance plan. The second stop, which also incorporated a cabin air filter, set us back $184.87. Our long-term 2014 Mazda3 S GT hatchback racked up a bill of $162.55 (two oil changes, tire rotations, and inspections) over 21,726 miles, and our long-term 2015 WRX STI cost us $0 (four oil changes and inspections, two tire rotations) through 26,359 miles thanks to Subaru‘s complimentary maintenance for the life of the basic warranty.
The GTI garnered praise from our staffers from the get-go. Its original chaperone, Rory Jurnecka, who’s now at our sister pub Automobile, gushed over the GTI’s utility, which he noted was able to accommodate his family of five during Thanksgiving, not to mention a 6-foot vintage sign from an old Fiat dealer showroom.
The $995 Lighting package adds an adaptive system that swivels the bi-xenon headlights.
Visual assets manager Brian Vance took over the GTI and spent the next several months behind the wheel. It didn’t take long for him to applaud the GTI’s subtle attributes. “The rear hatch will open and unlock with the keyless fob, and assuming you don’t access any other door, the car gives a reassuring horn beep when you close the rear hatch to let you know that it’s still armed with the factory alarm,” he wrote. “The GTI’s multifunction sport steering wheel features one of my favorite items in the car. On the left spoke, a plus/minus toggle allows for 5-mph incremental bumps in cruise control speed, and a separate up/down toggle allows for more traditional 1-mph bumps.”
“Our GTI didn’t have the Performance package, but for $1,495, it’s a deal worth taking (less for the power, more for the brakes).”
Me? I appreciated the GTI’s turbo punch, especially when entering the highway or exiting a tight turn on a mountain road. I also enjoyed its 26.6-mpg observed fuel economy; that my kids (and their booster seats and toys) fit comfortably in the back seat; the utility of having a cargo-friendly hatchback, certainly one with fold-down rear seats; the large front-door pockets with integrated cupholders that can fit a 1-liter bottle; the easy-to-use infotainment/nav system, whose real-time traffic updates and auto rerouting never steered me wrong; and the sublime feel of the helm in Normal mode, which makes a case for losing the numb Sport-mode steering.
The list of nitpicks is a small one. Jurnecka experienced a loose door hinge bolt that prompted an annoying creak. A wrench and one minute of tightening fixed the problem. Our long-term Mazda3 experienced one issue, as well—outage of the infotainment system—which the dealer remedied via a software update. Meanwhile, the STI suffered from two gremlins—a faulty fuel regulator and rear differential gasket—during its tenure. Vance felt the side mirrors were too small, creating unwelcome blind spots. For 2016, the Driver Assistance package (now up to $1,495) includes a blind-spot monitor with rear traffic alert and lane-departure warning.
My only grumbles had to do with features and aesthetics. Although I liked the leather seats, every time I got in, I yearned for the plaid cloth buckets from the base S. But they can’t be had on the Autobahn, the only trim with car-based navigation, or even the mid-level SE. Further, both the SE and Autobahn come standard with a panoramic sunroof. I’ve never found use in a sunroof, and I certainly don’t want one adding weight to the roof of my performance car. I’d suggest a new trim that ditches the sunroof but includes navigation and plaid seats. Build that, VW, and I’d fork out my own money for a personal long-termer.
Fair Market Price
0-60 MPH
EPA MPG
Horsepower
Fair Market Price
Fair Market Price is the price a consumer can reasonably expect to
pay for a new vehicle at a dealership at the end of negotiations, and
includes destination charges, taxes and fees. The actual transaction
price will be dependent on innumerable variables, from the
dealer’s inventory to the buyer’s bargaining skills, so
this figure is an approximation.
2015 Volkswagen GTI News and Reviews
After the Golf won our coveted 2015 Car of the Year trophy, we were presented with a tough, albeit enviable, decision: Pick a long-termer, any variant configured with as many options as our hearts desired. As much as we loved the 170-hp TSI and the 45-mpg-highway TDI (glad we didn't go that route), and as eager as we were to…
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Fair Market Price
0-60 MPH
EPA MPG
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Fair Market Price
Fair Market Price is the price a consumer can reasonably expect to
pay for a new vehicle at a dealership at the end of negotiations, and
includes destination charges, taxes and fees. The actual transaction
price will be dependent on innumerable variables, from the
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this figure is an approximation. | {
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Abstract
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a device having a stimulation sequence generator device, at least one implantable electrode for insertion in a brain of a human being, where the at least one implantable electrode is coupled to the stimulation sequence generator, a sensor for placement on a body part of the human being, and a controller coupled to the stimulation sequence generator device and the sensor. The controller can be operable to receive a signal from the sensor, extract from the signal characteristics corresponding to desirable movements of the body part of the human being to generate output data, detect a condition from the output data for predicting an upcoming tremor, and cause the stimulation sequence generator device to apply a stimulation to the at least one implantable electrode for a first period responsive to the detected condition to prevent the upcoming tremor.
Description
PRIOR APPLICATION
The present application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/195,527 filed on Oct. 9, 2008.
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
The present disclosure relates generally to neurological disorders, and more specifically to a method and an apparatus for managing a neurological disorder by deep brain stimulation in closed loop continuously responsive to measurements from the patient in real time.
BACKGROUND
Neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease can be a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder whose primary symptoms include tremors, rigidity, slow movement, poor balance and difficulty walking and in speech. When a person has Parkinson's disease, his/her dopamine-producing cells in the brain begin to die. Dopamine is responsible for sending information to the parts of the brain that control movement and coordination. Hence, as the amount of dopamine produced decreases, messages from the brain directing the body how and when to move are delivered in a slower fashion, leaving a person incapable of initiating and controlling movements in a normal way.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a surgical therapy for movement disorders that represents an advancement in the treatment of Parkinson over the last 50 years. DBS uses a surgically implanted, battery-operated thin neuron-stimulator to reverse in large part the abnormal function of the brain tissue in the region of the stimulating electrode.
Commercially available DBS systems typically include a neuron-stimulator, an extension, and a lead. The neuron-stimulator is placed under skin operating as a battery powered electrical impulse generator implanted in the abdomen. The extension is a wire also placed under the skin (from the head, down the neck, to the abdomen) to bring the signals generated by neuron-stimulator to the lead. The lead is an insulated coiled wire with four electrodes implanted deeply in the brain to release the electrical impulse. Presently DBS devices operate only in open loop, namely, they are not continuously responsive to patient's status at a given instance of time but are fixed once the DBS electrodes are surgically implanted.
Innovative Aspects of the Present Invention
Achieving closed-loop control of DBS where control is continuously responsive to measurements at any given time, using noninvasive surface EMG sensors which sense integrated motor-neuron activity in the vicinity of the electrode through the skin (say, at muscles and limbs including facial muscles, fingers, and vocal cord) and/or implanted sensors.
In preferred realizations of this invention, processing of the data obtained from said sensors and the resulting control decision and control command signals are also performed in a noninvasive manner, these control commands being transmitted by wireless to the implanted device.
In some realization of this invention, measurements of patient's status are solely obtained from sensors that are noninvasive.
In preferred realizations of the present invention, signal processing involves prediction of time of next tremor and detecting and subsequent filtering out of desirable movements.
In realizations as in, sensing and control are then applicable to most existing DBS systems and do not require redesign of presently implanted DBS systems except for installing a miniature wireless receiver.
In some realizations, the stimulating electrode serves also as a sensing electrode, as is accomplished via electronic switching of connection and of impedance, to eliminate need for a separately implanted sensing electrode in the stimulated site of the patient's brain.
FIG. 4 is a schematic of the Closed-Loop Stimulator using only EMGE sensors
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
An embodiment of the present disclosure entails:
A stimulation signal sequence generating system and device (SSG) 101 which generates an train of impulses (TI) 102 that are applied to implanted deep-brain stimulation electrodes (IDSTE) 103 for the purpose of DBS. See FIG. 1.
Clinical testing of Parkinson Disease (PD) patients has shown that after a period T of several seconds, over which stimulation is applied and where tremors and other PD symptoms are suppressed, when stimulation is stopped, there is an interval V over which abnormal symptoms return, where V is also of the order of a few seconds, often approaching T above. Reaching that point can be detected by either sensory electrodes (ISE) implanted in the vicinity of where stimulation is being applied (in the CNS), or by minute changes in parameters derived from surface EMG signals sensed by surface (non-invasive) EMG (electro-myographic) skin-electrodes (EMGE) 104 on certain muscles, say, on the patient's wrist. The start-times and end-times of intervals T and V can be detected via the processing of data from surface-EMG sensors and/or implanted deep brain sensors (IDSE) 105 as discussed below. See FIG. 1.
The invention incorporates a DBS system with a feedback controller device (FCD) 106 to detect the reaching of the critical levels for starting and stopping of stimulation as above, which consists of an implanted deep brain sensory electrode (IDSE) 105 implanted in the vicinity of where DBS is being applied and/or noninvasive surface EMG skin electrodes (EMGE) 104 attached to certain of the patient's muscles (at certain limbs, or other muscles). See FIG. 1.
The above IDSE 105 and EMGE 104 electrodes send their sensory signals to a signal processing device (SP) 107, where the signal parameters are extracted (say as in Ch 5 of: D. Graupe, Time Series Analysis, Identification and Adaptive Filtering, 2nd edition, Krieger Publ. Co., 1989, or by using wavelet transforms as in RM Rao and AS Bopardikar, Wavelet Transforms, Addison Wesley, 1998) which allow prediction of eventual return of symptoms such as tremors before they actually occur and the detection and filtering of normal and desirable movements of the patient to discriminate signal parameters due to these from undesirable symptoms such as tremors, say incorporating artificial neural network algorithms as in D. Graupe, Principles of Artificial Neural Networks, 2nd Edition, World Scientific, 2007, and where a threshold-decision and prediction algorithm determines that another train of stimulation signals is to be applied. See FIG. 1.
The SP device 107 is part of the controller device (FCD) 106 where, on the basis of the prediction and movement discrimination performed in the SP 107, an on-off control command (CC) 108 is sent from the control-and-decision device CDD 110 of the FCD 106 to a DBS sequence generator (SSG) 101, to start and stop DBS stimulation. See FIG. 1.
The SSG 101 generates a DBS stimulation sequence and sends it to the implanted DBS stimulation electrodes (IDSTE) 103 in accordance with the CC 108 above. See FIG. 1.
The IDSE 105 and the IDSTE 103 are physically the same electrode, while performing two functions, namely, sensing (IDSE) 105 and stimulation (IDSTE) 103, as determined by an electronic switch (ESW) 109 which may be an optical switch, noting that stimulation pulses (the pulse-width) last only approximately 50 to 100 microseconds while the interval between these pulses is of the order of 5 to 7 milliseconds, namely 5000 to 7000 microseconds (i.e., stimulation pulse rate is approximately 150 to 200 pulses per second). Hence, the “idle time” between two successive stimuli last approximately 99% of the inter-pulse interval and is available for sensing. The ESW 109 may be housed in the SSG 101. See FIG. 1.
The ESW 109 switches the implanted stimulation electrode (IDTSE) 103 between sending a stimulation pulse from the SSG 101, namely serving as IDSTE 103 and serving as sensor of the voltage at the vicinity of where stimulation is being applied, namely, serving as IDSE 105, thus sending its information to the SP 107 that is located in the FCD 106. See FIG. 1. It does so at usually predetermined fixed intervals, based on the actual pulse width and pulse rate of any given DBS system.
ESW 109 also serves to switch impedances between the one needed for stimulation 201and the impedance needed for sensing 202. See FIG. 2.
The EMGE electrodes 104 may incorporate a wireless transmitter microchip (WTM) 301 to transmit the sensed information to a signal processing and control subsystem that is incorporated in the FCD 106. See FIG. 3.
The above would result in facilitating the application of DBS only when needed, rather then applying DBS continuously (until the physician stops it in a clinical session), as is the present practice. This will avoid overstimulation and protecting the patient from possible side effects due to unnecessarily prolonged stimulation in terms of applying a dose of electrical charge to the stimulated site that is higher than needed.
By our invention, effective stimulation time may be reduced (by our simulation results) by a factor of 2 or better. Furthermore, battery drainage will be reduced by the same factor. We comment that T and modulation levels are determined to maximize the mean ratio of V/T, noting that T and V change as determined by the controller.
By our invention, when no implanted sensors are employed, namely, when sensing is only via EMG electrodes, then closed-loop DBS requires only noninvasive sensing (See FIG. 4). It can then operate with conventional open-loop DBS system, to which only noninvasive sensing electrodes are added as is a noninvasive addition of an SP 107 device or algorithm to an existing on-off controller that is usually noninvasive too. If however, invasive (implanted) sensors (IDSE) 105 are incorporated, still, no additional sensing electrode need to be implanted, since switching and impedance matching allow using the stimulation electrode 103 to also serve as sensor.
Claims (18)
1. A device, comprising:
a stimulation sequence generator device;
at least one implantable electrode for insertion in a brain of a human being, wherein the at least one implantable electrode is coupled to the stimulation sequence generator;
a surface-electromyographic (EMG) sensor for placement on a body part of the human being; and
a controller coupled to the stimulation sequence generator device and the sensor, wherein the controller is operable to:
receive a signal from the surface-EMG sensor;
extract from the signal characteristics corresponding to desirable movements of the body part of the human being to generate output data;
detect a condition from the output data for predicting an upcoming tremor; and
cause the stimulation sequence generator device to apply a stimulation to the at least one implantable electrode for a first period responsive to the detected condition to prevent the upcoming tremor.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller is operable to calculate surface-EMG parameters from the signal.
3. The device of claim 2, wherein the surface-EMG parameters are dynamic time series parameters of a stochastic surface-EMG.
4. The device of claim 3, wherein the stochastic surface-EMG comprises one of autoregressive model parameters, autoregressive and moving average parameters, wavelet model parameters, or equivalents or derivatives thereof, and wherein the controller is operable to predict the condition of the upcoming tremor from the surface-EMG parameters.
5. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller is operable to detect the condition by compensating for a time difference between a neural firing and a tremor detected from signals supplied by the surface-EMG sensor.
6. The device of claim 3, wherein a compensation performed by the controller is predictive such that the controller is operable to cause the stimulation sequence generator device to restart the stimulation before tremors have been predicted to occur.
7. The device of claim 1, wherein the surface-EMG sensor comprises at least one implantable sensing electrode, and wherein the controller is operable to detect the condition from a predetermined threshold level in parameters extracted from the signal, which indicate abnormal effects of a neurological disorder which would re-appear unless stimulation is restarted, and wherein the pre-determined threshold level is adjustable.
8. The device of claim 1, wherein the surface-EMG sensor is a surface raw-EMG electrode, wherein the controller is operable to detect the condition from a pre-determined threshold-level in parameters extracted from the signal, which indicate abnormal effects of a neurological disorder which would re-appear unless stimulation is restarted, and wherein the predetermine threshold level is adjustable.
9. The device of claim 1, wherein no implanted sensors are employed by the device.
10. The device of claim 1, wherein the surface-EMG sensor includes an acceleration sensor.
11. The device of claim 1, wherein the surface-EMG sensor is a noninvasive sensor, and wherein the noninvasive sensor wirelessly transmits signals to the controller.
12. The device of claim 1, comprising an electronic switching device coupled to the stimulation sequence generator device in order that the at least one implantable electrode can be switched from operating as at least one sensor electrode to at least one stimulation electrode, wherein the controller is operable to:
cause the electronic switching device to enter a first state for applying the stimulation to the at least one implantable electrode; and
cause the electronic switching device to enter a second state to allow the at least one implantable electrode to serve as another sensor in addition to the surface-EMG sensor.
13. The device of claim 12, wherein the electronic switching device serves to cause a first impedance change of the at least one implantable electrode when the at least one implantable electrode serves as the at least one stimulation electrode, and wherein the electronic switching device serves to cause a second impedance change of the at least one implantable electrode when serving as the at least one sensor electrode.
14. The device of claim 12, where the controller is operable to integrate information from at least one of the surface-EMG sensor or the at least one implantable electrode when operating as the at least one sensor electrode utilizing a neural network.
15. The device of claim 1, where the controller is operable to discriminate between a desired motor function and a tremor or other abnormal motor function from the signal supplied by the surface-EMG sensor.
16. The device of claim 15, wherein the controller is operable to use a neural network to perform the discrimination.
17. The device of claim 12, wherein the electronic switching device is an optical switch.
18. The device of claim 12, wherein the controller is operable to:
cause the at least implantable electrode to serve as the at least one stimulation electrode for the first period; and
cause the at least implantable electrode to serve as the at least one sensing electrode after the first period for a subsequent period. | {
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& Communion Jewelry Gifts
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Description
Simple and teeny tiny, this classic cross is easily worn without the worry of extra weight. Two-sided and finely crafted in solid 14K white gold.*Includes 15" solid 14K White Gold Chain or choose a longer length for a small upgrade..
You Should Know...
As with all luxury brands, there are many imitations made to look like the Tiny Blessings brand. Our profound commitment to high quality is unparalleled, using only the finest and purest gems, gold and silver, all while upholding vigorous safety standards. Our passion and vision for meaningful, heart-felt keepsake gifts for your little ones has allowed Tiny Blessings to become the most trusted designer of children's jewelry for nearly two decades.
Details
Description
Simple and teeny tiny, this classic cross is easily worn without the worry of extra weight. Two-sided and finely crafted in solid 14K white gold.*Includes 15" solid 14K White Gold Chain or choose a longer length for a small upgrade..
You Should Know...
As with all luxury brands, there are many imitations made to look like the Tiny Blessings brand. Our profound commitment to high quality is unparalleled, using only the finest and purest gems, gold and silver, all while upholding vigorous safety standards. Our passion and vision for meaningful, heart-felt keepsake gifts for your little ones has allowed Tiny Blessings to become the most trusted designer of children's jewelry for nearly two decades. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine if patients treated with extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) are at a greater risk of developing diabetes mellitus (DM) than those treated with ureteroscopy (URS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective population-based cohort study was performed of all ESWL and URS stone treatments done in Ontario between January 1994 and March 2014, utilising linked encoded healthcare databases. The primary outcome was the development of DM >90 days after treatment. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for unadjusted survival analysis and multivariable analysis with Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the risk of DM between the ESWL and URS groups whilst controlling for age, gender, region of residence, income quintile, year of treatment, and comorbidity index. A sensitivity analysis with a subset of ESWL patients treated for left renal or proximal ureteric stones was completed. RESULTS: We identified 106 963 patients who underwent ESWL or URS over the study period with a median follow-up of 6.6 years (ESWL 8.5 years, URS 5.6 years). Unadjusted survival analysis showed an increased risk of developing DM in the ESWL group compared to the URS group (P < 0.001); however, multivariable analysis showed no increased risk of DM in the ESWL cohort (hazard ratio [HR] 0.97, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.91-1.02; P = 0.25). Similarly, sensitivity analysis showed no increased risk of DM in the left renal/proximal ureteric stone ESWL cohort compared to the URS cohort (HR 1.04, 95% CI 0.96-1.13; P = 0.35). CONCLUSIONS: Our population-based cohort study demonstrated no increased risk of DM in patients undergoing ESWL compared to URS.
Comments
1
The possibility that SWL might cause development of DM has remained an important concern over time and different results have been reported in the literature.
In the present large population-based comparison of patients treated with either SWL or URS, the conclusion was that there was no increased risk of DM following SWL.
The advantages of this report is the large number of patients; 48 351 in the SWL-group and 58 612 in the URS-group. Stratification of the location to which shock waves were directed was a further advantage. Moreover, and slightly surprising, was the fact that most patients (57%) had been treated with SWL twice and as many as 38% with more than three sessions! Despite this no increased risk of DM was demonstrated.
Given the large populations and long term follow-up not only of SWL-treated patients, but also of the large and well controlled group of URS-treated patients for comparison, the findings are of great clinical importance.
It is of note, however, that during a follow-up of ~18 years only approximately 38% of the stone patients remained free from DM and after 5 years about 5%. These observations show the close association between stone disease and DM, something that always should be kept in mind when studies on the possible development of DM are carried out.
The possibility that SWL might cause development of DM has remained an important concern over time and different results have been reported in the literature.
In the present large population-based comparison of patients treated with either SWL or URS, the conclusion was that there was no increased risk of DM following SWL.
The advantages of this report is the large number of patients; 48 351 in the SWL-group and 58 612 in the URS-group. Stratification of the location to which shock waves were directed was a further advantage. Moreover, and slightly surprising, was the fact that most patients (57%) had been treated with SWL twice and as many as 38% with more than three sessions! Despite this no increased risk of DM was demonstrated.
Given the large populations and long term follow-up not only of SWL-treated patients, but also of the large and well controlled group of URS-treated patients for comparison, the findings are of great clinical importance.
It is of note, however, that during a follow-up of ~18 years only approximately 38% of the stone patients remained free from DM and after 5 years about 5%. These observations show the close association between stone disease and DM, something that always should be kept in mind when studies on the possible development of DM are carried out. | {
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Description of CVI Expertise
CVI Research Description:The Kahn Lab investigates signaling pathways in platelets that mediate thrombosis and signaling pathways in vascular endothelial cells of the blood and lymphatic system utilized during cardiovascular development. | {
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Top Three Transitional Moments: Women’s Soccer
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Four years ago, USC Upstate began a journey to join the NCAA Division I ranks and pending approval by the NCAA Board of Governors, Upstate will become an active member of D-I on Sept. 1, 2011. With the transitional phase nearly complete, the media relations office takes a look back at some of the top moments of the transitional phase, today's spotlight, women's soccer.
On July 1, the top 10 moments of the transition were compiled into an online web poll and thanks to the votes of Spartan fans, the final tally is in. Without any further ado, here are the top three moments of the transitional phase for Upstate women's soccer.
After allowing a total of eight goals at Jacksonville (Oct. 1) and North Florida (Oct. 3), Rachel Collins (Raleigh, N.C.) looked to redeem herself when Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast made trips to County University Soccer Stadium.
Stetson arrived in Spartanburg sitting in fourth place in the A-Sun at 6-7 overall and 3-2 in league play. Collins was strong between the pipes for Upstate as she tallied five saves and got help from the Spartan back line to thwart two other Hatter shots.
Stetson had a pair of scoring chances in the final two minutes but were unable to put the ball past Collins. Alyssa Welch's shot in the 109th-minute was saved by the rookie goalie, while Tessa Gavilsky's shot with 16 seconds remaining sailed wide resulting in a scoreless draw between the two teams.
Collins kept her shutout streak alive just two days later as she helped Upstate earned a scoreless draw against eventual A-Sun Champion, Florida Gulf Coast. The Spartans fell to the Eagles by a score of 10-0 in 2009, but the 2010 squad was not intimidated.
Collins had her hands full all afternoon due to a strong offensive Eagle attack, but time after time, FGCU came up empty. The Eagles took a total of 25 shots, 13 on-goal with 11 corner kicks. Collins totaled 12 saves in the match and earned her second consecutive shutout.
Her running total of 220 minutes of scoreless soccer earned Collins A-Sun Defensive Player of the Week honors (Oct. 11, 2010). Her weekly award was the first for the women's soccer program since the move to D-I at the beginning of the 2007-08 academic year.
Moment No. 2
Nolff scores twice to lead Upstate to its first ever D-I win
Sept. 1, 2007
In the first Division I game for the Spartans, it was a rookie that came up big for the women's soccer team as Catherine Nolff tallied two goals in Upstate's 5-1 win over South Carolina State at County University Soccer Stadium.
Nolff scored her first collegiate goal and the first of the D-I era for the Spartans in the 43rd-minute to put the Spartans in front, 1-0. Nolff's header off of Carmen Osorio's corner kick found its way into the right side of the goal. Upstate carried a 2-1 lead into the locker room at halftime with the two teams combining for three goals in the final 2:30 of the first half.
Nolff tacked on another goal in the 76th-minute to push the Spartan lead to three goals at 4-1. The Spartans added its final goal of the match in the 82nd-minute to set the final tally at 5-1.
The Irmo, S.C., native was efficient in her debut as she totaled three shots (all on-goal) and finished with two goals. Nolff finished her four-year career ranked second in school-history in matches played (74) and matches started (73). She also finished tied for first (D-I era) in goals (5) and tied for second (D-I era) in points (13).
Moment No. 1
Collins earns All-Freshman honors after a stellar season between the pipes
Oct. 28, 2010
Rachel Collins wrapped up a strong rookie campaign as she became just the second Spartan to earn All-A-Sun Honors (Ashlee Barrow, All-Freshman team, 2009).
In just one season, Collins finds her name etched in the career record books in several different categories. In 2010, Collins helped the Spartans earn a pair of draws against the A-Sun Regular Season Champion, Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson. Collins, who recorded a total of three shutouts, ranks third in school-history in both ties (2) and shutouts. Meanwhile, her 115 saves this season places her fifth in school-history.
In the single-season record books, Collins is tied for first with most ties and is all alone in first-place in the D-I era as the only Spartan to record a tie. She ranks third in school-history in saves, fourth in save percentage (.804) and fifth in both shutouts and saves per match (6.38).
Collins posted a scoreless streak of 295:44 during a four-match stretch from Oct. 3 to Oct. 15. Her shutout streak is the longest for an Upstate keeper since moving to D-I and is the longest since the 2004 campaign, when Diana Wabnitz posted a shutout streak of 407:23 from Sept. 9, 2004 to Oct. 6, 2004.
Collins first collegiate victory came on the road at Alabama State (Sept. 19), she received help from her offense as both Jessica Jackyra (Cary, N.C.) and Danielle White (Calhoun, Ga.) notched a goal in the 2-0 win over the Hornets. Collins made two saves in the match as she played the first half with fellow freshman Sarah Plantz (Cartersville, Ga.) playing the second half.
The media relations office will continue to release the top three moments from each sport leading up to the first athletic competition of the 2011-12 academic year, a women's soccer exhibition match against Spartanburg Methodist College on Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. | {
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Obviously this did nothing to stop the economic rot, and Egypt soon found itself so in hock to British and French banks, that the whole country was essentially put into their receivership in October of 1876. Of course the locals weren't very happy with this, so the inevitable revolt against the foreign creditors occurred in 1881. This threatened both the British banker's investments, and the now-vital canal link to India. So the British Imperial impulse immediately kicked into gear, resulting in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, the seizure of both the canal and the country by British troops, and finally the country's absorption into the British Empire.
In 1882, Ahmed Urabi, an Egyptian general, led a rebellion against the Egyptian Khedive, a viceroy to the Ottoman Empire, as at the time Egypt was an Ottoman vassal. The British had strong interests in Egypt, due to among many other things, the Suez Canal, and so, supported the Khedive. At about this time, the Khedive asked the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for help, but received none. Then on June 11th, 1882, riots began, in which 50 European business men, and 250 Egyptians were killed. Though the actual cause of the riots were unknown, the British, blamed it on Ahmed Urabi, bombarded Alexandria, and landed a force in the Canal Zone, a area including the Suez Canal, and proceeded to wipe out Ahmed Urabi's army. On September 13, 1882 the British under Garnet Wolseley, fought and won the Battle of Tel el-Kebir. Ending Urabi rebellion, and restoring the Khedive to the throne. Though it was at first was meant to be a short term occupation, but was dragged out for many reasons, until, Egypt found it's self a protectorate, and later, a Dominion.
By the end of the 18th century, the Ottomans, focused on fighting the Russians had focused their resources on protecting their European territories and were only weakly holding on to Egpyt.
Napoleon realized that even though the Suez Canal had not been built, the British were still able to land resources from India in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, haul them across the Levant, and sail them to Europe on the Mediterranean. Napoleon directed the French army to invade Egypt and Palestine to deprive England of this ability.
After Napoleon was defeated, the Ottomans were not able to properly reassert themselves over Egpyt. Muhammed Ali, a Mamluk, established the Khedivate of Egypt which was an independent state in all but name. The British supported Muhammed Ali to prevent the Ottomans from ever reconquering Egypt. Muhammed Ali's British backed dynasty ruled Egypt until the overthrow of king Farouk in 1952. | {
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Ararat Anomaly
Porcher Taylor, III
January 9, 1996
THE ORIGIN OF AND PLANNED SEARCH
FOR THE MOUNT ARARAT "ANOMALY" IN TURKEY
The Pentagon's 1949 Aerial Mission Over Mt. AraratOn a sunny summer day on June 17, 1949, a Headquarters U.S. Air Force Europe plane was
flying a classified photographic mission photos de-classified in 1982 by law and released
to me under the Freedom of Information Act in 1995) that included Mt. Ararat in Turkey,
just eighteen miles south of the former Soviet Union's border, and twelve miles west of
the Iranian border· The mountain is over 300 square miles in area and in a remote corner
of northeast Turkey. As the plane leveled from the south about a mile away at 14,000 feet
parallel to the 17,000 foot mountain, its cameras inadvertently recorded in two photo
frames a huge (possibly 450-600 ft. long) dense, linear shaped and distinct
"Anomaly" (a structural abnormality that is not common to a mountain) protruding
out from the "permanent glacial ice cap" at 15,500 feet at the very southwest
edge of the nearly mile long western plateau. The "Anomaly" was 1.3 miles
horizontal distance west of the summit at 39" 42' 1 0" North 44" 16'
30" East. Significantly, an "avalanche in progress just to the east of the
anomaly" apparently exposed it to view.
The U.S. Air Force plane then flew around to the north side of the mountain and
recorded in three sequential photo frames
from different angles from distances of about two miles to a half-mile another large
"structure" (possibly 600-800 ft. long) on the western plateau, apparently in
close proximity to the first "Anomaly." This "Adjacent Anomaly" was
also fully visible and exposed all the way across the plateau as seen from the north side
of the mountain in the first and third photo frames. In the middle flame, dense clouds had
covered the area of the "Adjacent Anomaly" and only a vague outline of it was
visible. The last flame, however, vividly and clearly recorded this "Adjacent
Anomaly" from about a half-mile away as the cloud cover completely dissipated. Three
apparently huge, thick, symmetrical protrusions merged together and appeared to be jutting
straight up into the air out of a large wing like portion of the "Adjacent
Anomaly." Parts of the protrusions also seemed to be severely damaged. As to the
identity of these two apparently co-located anomalies (collectively referred to
hereinafter as the "Anomaly"), a crashed airplane was not out of the question,
even though the Turkish government had no record of any airplane ever crashing into Mt.
Ararat and no plane had ever been built of that size. In October 1995, Tom Dougherty, a
senior public liaison official in the CIA, publicly confirmed that "the Mt. Ararat
anomaly photo stories have been floating around the CIA ever since the 1949 photos were
taken."
The 1973 "CIA Boat Report"
Twenty-four years later a CIA reconnaissance satellite took photographs of a purportedly
"boat like object" on Mt. Ararat on the September 1973 eve of the Yom Kippur War
between Israel, Syria and Egypt. As a junior cadet at the time, I was among those cadets
and professors at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. who considered this
unconfirmed "boat report" then verbally circulating at the Academy and
Page 2
around the country, to be plausible. According to this report, the CIA satellite was
flying a routine mission about 200 miles up and beating down on the mountainous
Soviet-Turkish border when someone accidentally turned on the space-based cameras too
early and picked up Mt. Ararat instead. The persistent rumor went on to say that a few
days later CIA photo interpreters in Washington were startled when they discovered in the
high resolution photos what appeared to be the "heavily damaged bow of some kind of
huge ship protruding out of the glacier during a major glacial meltdown." A debate
among photo interpreters immediately erupted in the CIA as to the identity of this
structure. Since the only written record of a ship landing on Mt. Ararat is in the fourth
verse of the eighth chapter of the Bible's Book of Genesis, several cadets and even
professors at West Point speculated, either in jest or in earnest, that this anomalous
"object" might be Noah's Ark.
Historical References
Here it is necessary to document briefly a few of the ancient and modern secular
references to "something" being on Mt. Ararat, Berossus, a Babylonian historian,
wrote in 275 B.C. of a "ship" being on the mountain.1
Writing in the first century A.D., the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus stated that part
of a "vessel" stood on the mountain.2 Nicolaus of
Damascus, another secular historian of the first century, reported that "timbers from
a ship rested near the summit.3 And event he famous
explorer Marco Polo in the late 15th century on his way to China made mention in his
Travels of Marco Polo that Noah's Ark was still visible on the "top" of Ararat.4
In 1829 Dr. Frederich Parrot, a German professor of natural philosophy from Estonia,
visited St. Jacob's monastery at the 7,000 foot level on the northwest side of the
mountain at the village of Ahora, prior to his historic climb to the summit. The monastery
had stood for 800 years. There he wrote in his subsequent book that the monks showed him
wood, manuscripts and artifacts from Noah's Ark. Eleven years later in 1840 the monastery
and all of the people in the nearby village of Ahora were obliterated in the cataclysm
caused by Mt. Ararat's "last volcanic eruption," which left a deeply scarred
gorge on the north side of the mountain nearly a mile deep - the Ahora Gorge.5
In the summer of 1883 a severe earthquake shook the mountain and destroyed a number of
villages. Turkish officials, along with a British attache' went to evaluate the
1 The Lost Ship Of Noah - In Search Of the Ark At Ararat, by Charles
Berlitz, G.P. Putnam s Sons (1987), page 16
Page 3
damage and purportedly "came upon a huge wooden boat like structure" jutting
out from "an overhanging glacier." The team entered the structure but terminated
any further investigation for fear that the glacier might fall on them.6
* In 1887 Prince John Joseph of Nouri is to alleged to have found Noah's Ark on Mt.
Ararat. In 1893, stating his intention to organize an expedition to dissemble the Ark and
reassemble it for exhibition at the Chicago World's Fair, he applied for a Turkish permit
for such an endeavor. The government rejected his request.7
* In 1916 several Turkish soldiers reportedly stumbled upon a large damaged wooden ship,
coincidentally in the general vicinity of the "Anomaly" photographed by the
Pentagon in its 1949 aerial mission.8
* In the summer of 1916 a large Russian military expedition supposedly examined the Ark
after one of their pilots claimed to have discovered it accidentally while testing a new
high altitude engine.9
* On July 5, 1955, Fernand Navarra, a noted French industrialist and explorer, made
history when he became the first person in modern times to find a five-foot piece of
ancient, hand-crafted wood on Mt. Ararat some forty feet under the Parrott Glacier on the
northwest slope.10
Much of the world press reported the discovery. Coincidentally, the site of Navarra' s
discovery was just a few hundred meters from the location of the "Anomaly"
filmed by the Pentagon in 1949. As that 1949 film was not de-classified by the U. S. Air
Force until 1982 Navarra had no access to it or knowledge of its existence.
The "sub-fossil wood" was severely deteriorated and Navarra submitted it to
scientific testing at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France(determined
it to be oak), the Forestry Institute of Research and Experiments of the Ministry of
Agriculture in Madrid, Spain (determined the age "varies around five thousand
years"), and the Department of Anthropology and Prehistoric Studies at the University
of Bordeaux in France ("the wood was subject to conditions very favorable to
fossilization, during a period dating to a remote antiquity"), among others.11
The heroic and tireless efforts of the late Apollo astronaut, Colonel James Irvin, in
his 1980's expeditions to find the remains of Noah"s Ark on Mt. Ararat are well
established in documentaries, books, and the press. Mary Irwin, his widow, has provided me
with invaluable information and photos in the last few months.
Dr. Ahmet Ali Arslan, a Turkish educator and considered the dean of all climbers of Mt.
Ararat with over 50 climbs, is convinced that the Ark is hidden away somewhere on the
mountain. Later, I will discuss his meeting me last year.
John McIntosh, an educator and veritable clearing house on information about Mt.
Ararat, heard of my efforts and contacted me last year and has provided me in the last few
months with important information and photos from his aerial and ground expeditions in the
1980's.
A dramatic development that might shed light on the Noah story was reported by the New
York Times on the front page of its "Science Times" section on November 23,
1993. Dr. Gregory Beannan, a physicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, used
de-classified cold war space-imaging infrared technology to reveal "previously
invisible writing on a tiny fragment" of the Genesis Apocryphon, a Dead Sea Scroll
that retells, among other things, the Flood story. The Hebrew letters spelled out the
sentence, "He wrote the words of Noah." This may constitute some evidence,
independent of the Biblical claim, that Noah actually existed.
11 Ibid, pages 123-133
Page 5
The remainder of this document relates how my successful efforts in getting the
Intelligence Community for apparently the first time in history, to release officially its
1949 "Ararat Anomaly" photos might pave the way for a conclusive expedition to
Mt. Ararat. No expedition has ever succeeded in authoritatively showing the world that a
large man-made structure is on Mt. Ararat.
To avoid confusion, it is important to note that at this point that the Anomaly and
Adjacent Anomaly depicted in the Pentagon's 1949 photos are not the "Phantom
Arks" that have received a great deal of TV coverage in the last few years. These
anomalies are David Fasold's fully exposed rock formation some seventeen miles south of
Mt. Ararat at 6,300 feet, which he suggests is Noah's Ark in the current one hour show on
The Learning Channel. Likewise, these anomalies are not the "Eye of the Bird" -
the rock formation at the 14,500 foot level well below the 15,500 foot southwestern
plateau location of the 1949 "Anomaly" - which an American helicopter expedition
team prematurely told CNN News in September 1989 was Noah's Ark. In 1995, I confirmed this
with the helicopter pilot.
Dr. Carver's Public Confirmation of the I973 "CIA Boat Report"
Over the course of the next two decades, the 1973 "CIA boat report" faded into
the deep recesses of my mind until February 1993 when a prime-time special about Noah's
Ark aired on television. What caught my attention in that show was a claim that the CIA
had classified satellite photos of some "object" on Mt. Ararat that might
possibly be the remains of Noah's Ark - a claim that tallied perfectly with the report
that had ricocheted around West Point's halls 20 Years earlier. That very night, I
resolved to try to clear the air, definitely, with respect to that 1973 "boat
report."
My opportunity came only three weeks later - through my involvement as a patron member
of the Palm Beach Round Table in Palm Beach, Florida, one of the nation's most prestigious
public speaking forums. Dr. George A. Carver, Jr. - one of the most decorated officials in
CIA history and the former Deputy for National Intelligence in the CIA during the 1970's,
to three Directors of the CIA, including George Bush - was coming to Palm Beach to speak
before the Round Table on national security issues in the 1990's. Although it was a long
shot, I thought that Dr. Carver might be able to identify the basis, if any, of the 1973
"boat report." Hence, during the question and answer session of his address,
which was taped by the Round Table, I asked him about this. Along with many of the 400
members of his audience, I was delighted when Dr. Carver replied to my query by saying the
following:
Page 6
"Well, I don't recall the CIA working on Noah's Ark, but I do remember that at the
time there were some pictures taken, and there were clear indications that there was
something up on Mt. Ararat, which was rather strange. There were various archaeological
expeditions that were mounted. The Turkish government was not too thrilled about
supporting them, because it was getting into an area that was politically dicey from the
Turk's point of view. But that is but one of the indications, you know, I haven't been up
there, I don't think anyone has, but it certainly was eyebrow lifting and it was certainly
another indication that despite its splendor as a work of poetry, the Pentateuch, the
first five books of the Bible, might not be all that bad as history also."
I had a chance to talk with Dr. Carver during a reception for him after his speech and
during our conversation he elaborated his response by explaining that during a Director of
Central Intelligence morning staff meeting around 1973, which he attended, the then Deputy
Director for Science & Technology, Carl Ducken, had mentioned some recent photos of
the "Ararat Anomaly" and there had indeed been a good deal of banter around the
morning meeting table about "how the Book of Genesis might be literally a work of
history."
I told Dr. Carver that I was personally committed to persuading the intelligence
Community to release the 1973 photos into the public domain, along with the coordinates of
the "Anomaly" in question, so a properly qualified scientific and archaeological
expedition to Mt. Ararat could be launched in order to determine, definitely, what this
"Anomaly" actually was. Dr. Carver shared my view that since the Cold War was
now behind us, there was no reason not to declassify photos or other data that no longer
had military significance; and he kindly agreed to assist me in my efforts to get these
photos released so I could have authorized access to them.
The Genesis of Project "Ararat Anomaly"Thus, March 1993 began my wonderful friendship and professional alliance with Dr.
Carver and what I consider to be my spare time public service project as a trial lawyer.
For the remaining 15 months of his life, Dr. Carver dedicated himself to
"lobbying" the Intelligence Community to release all of its pre-1976 photos of
the "Anomaly." Due to his high esteem within the Intelligence Community, he was
able to talk directly to numerous current and retired senior CIA officials, many of them
his long-time personal friends, about the 1973 incident and other photos of the
"Anomaly. Many of them (including photo interpretation officials) not only recalled
the 1973 incident but also confirmed that U-2 reconnaissance plane photos had been taken
of the "Anomaly" around 1959 - 1960 and more satellite photos had been taken in
the 1970's
Page 7
of the apparently man-made structure. These officials were comforted to know hat Dr.
Carver and I were seeking photos of
the "Ararat Anomaly" and not Noah's Ark. Our coining of this phrase, familiar to
the Intelligence Community, pleased them and was instrumental in the release described
herein and all future releases under my pending Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
requests.
Since Dr. Carver emphasized to his colleagues that our purpose in having these photos
de-classified was to launch an expedition and that their release might enhance the image
of the CIA, the Intelligence Community became amenable to the release. On December 14,
1993, Dr. Carver discussed our "Ararat Anomaly" Project at CIA head-quarters in
Langley Virginia, with a senior CIA official and good friend during a break in a briefing
on an unrelated matter. The official was aware of the photos and became interested in our
project and "saw no reason why photos of the Anomaly could not be eventually released
in some form" especially since the CIA was then considering the possible
de-classification and release of over 800,000 satellite photos of the world taken by
Corona, its first satellite, during part of the Cold War from 1960 - 1972. Hence, the
official made a telephone call on behalf of Dr. Carver regarding this and talked to him
twice in March 1994, which paved the way for the 1949 photos being released a year later.
I met this CIA official a year later right before he made a major address in Washington,
D.C. and we discussed off-the-record the "Anomaly" photos and the passing of our
mutual good friend, Dr. Carver.
The Presidential Executive Order de-classifying Corona"s 400 miles of satellite
photos was originally scheduled to be signed in May 1994. Up until then, Dr. Carver and I
had anticipated that Corona's photos of Mt. Ararat and the 1973 photos taken by another
space-based platform would be de-classified and released. However, legal and national
security concerns held up President Clinton's signing the Order until February 1995.
Unfortunately, Dr. Carver passed away in late June 1994. I lost a great friend and mentor.
James R. Schlesinger, former Director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense, poignantly
eulogized Dr. Carver at the funeral. He said that George Carver was a "patriot"
and a man of "Integrity, Industry, Intellect, Institutions." I have since
dedicated this "Ararat Anomaly" Project to the memory of Dr. Carver for his
truly stellar contributions to it as a co-founder. I regret that he will not be here to
see the culmination of the Project on Mt. Ararat; but I have kept his widow, Ruth Carver,
current on developments.
In July 1994, after numerous encouraging phone discussions with several of Dr. Carver's
former CIA colleagues, including a senior attorney in the General Counsel's Office and
Bill Lackman, the head of the Central Imagery Office, I formally petitioned the CIA under
FOIA for the release of the coordinates and all satellite imagery of the "Ararat
Anomaly" taken between 1973 - 1974. This led to my excellent rapport with the CIA
case officer assigned to my FOIA request. We talked several times on the phone
Page 8
between August and December 1994. It is very rare for a CIA case officer to talk to a
FOIA requester. He told me off-the-record that the CIA had received dozens of FOIA
requests over the years for satellite photos of Noah's Ark but had never received a
request for photos of the "Ararat Anomaly." Moreover, no one had ever requested
the coordinates, which were technically not classified. Hence, my FOIA request was unique
and just might sail through, he said.
In September 1994 I contacted the White House General Counsel's Office for assistance
in getting any photos released. The office of Marvin Krislov, Assistant Counsel to
President Clinton, called me back and asked me to telefax my Project file to him, which I
did. During this same period I contacted Vice President Gore's National Security Advisor's
office through a friend. That office graciously passed on my file to the most senior
intelligence official on the National Security Council (NSC) staff at the White House.
Also, I contacted the office of the President's Chief of Staff and they also asked me to
telefax them my file. I continue to maintain a favorable telephonic and telefax dialogue
with the White House on my Project. Also during this period, I developed a good telephonic
rapport with Tom Dougherty, a senior CIA public liaison official, which I still maintain.
On November 7, 1994 Mr. Krislov sent me a letter from the White House as
follows:
Thank you for your letter of November 1, 1994, concerning what you referred to as the
"Ararat Anomaly." As you are no doubt aware, releasing intelligence information
involves considerable study on the part of relevant agencies. To this end, I am forwarding
your thoughts to the appropriate agencies for any action and handling. Thank you for your
interest.
This favorable letter proved crucial in the March 1995 photo release described herein.
In December 1994 the CIA case officer told me that the CIA could not release any
satellite photos until President Clinton signed the Executive Order which was expected on
February 22, 1995. In the meantime he kindly recommended that I submit a FOIA request to
the Defense Intelligence Agency DIA) at the Pentagon, because it might have photos of Mt.
Ararat which had not been taken by classified space-based platforms. That same month I
re-submitted my FOIA request to the CIA for all U-2 and satellite photos taken between
1960 - 1976 of the "Anomaly" which is still pending; and expanded this to
include SR-71 supersonic plane imagery. [However, James Cumber, who is familiar with the SR-71 program,
says that the first official flight of the SR-71 by Lockheed Martin test pilot Lou Schalk was not until April 26, 1962.]
That same month I also made my FOIA request to DIA
for the coordinates and any and all photos taken of the "Ararat Anomaly" since
World War II by any aircraft. I developed an excellent rapport with Robert Richardson.
Chief of DIA's FOIA Staff who had been in that office for the past 10 years. He likewise
confirmed that DIA had gotten numerous requests for photos of Noah's Ark but never of the
"Ararat Anomaly."
Page 9
From January 23-25, 1995 I attended the annual American-Turkish Council's conference in
Washington, D.C. as a guest of Ur Akinci, Washington correspondent for the Turkish Daily
News. The day of the conference a front page article in that paper about my Project and
the pending executive order appeared. This was the first article to appear on my Project.
This gave me the opportunity to meet and speak briefly with Ambassador of Turkey Nuzhet
Kandemir, Several Turkish generals and admirals, cultural affairs officials, U.S. Embassy
and State Department officials and a university archaeologist. Also at the conference, Dr.
Ahmet Ali Arslan introduced himself to me.
DIA's Release of Photos From the 1949 Mission
With unprecedented speed under FOIA (requests can sometimes take years to process) DIA on
March 14, 1995 released to me a 16" x 9" black and white Photo Frame 2 from the
June 17, 1949 mission showing a panoramic view of Mt. Ararat as seen from the south as the
U.S. Air Force plane leveled at 14 000 feet from only about a mile away. The upper left
corner of the photo contained the flight data and coordinates. Mr. Richardson told me that
this was the first time that he was aware that the intelligence Community had ever
officially released into the public domain any photos of Mt. Ararat.
While several books and documentaries in the last twenty years had claimed that the
Intelligence Community had aerial and satellite photos of Noah's Ark, the Community had
never officially released into the public domain any photos at all of Mt. Ararat. Full
credit for the release of this potentially historic photo should be given to Dr. Carver
for his Herculean work behind the scenes, "numerous unnamed CIA officials, Robert
Richardson and Marvin Krislov, Assistant Counsel to President Clinton. Four days later on
March 18, 1995 the ABC TV news affiliate in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, recorded for
historical purposes my opening of the DIA photo in front of about 15 people and ran two
subsequent segments on developments in the Project.
Immediately, the hawk-eye of my good friend Charles Comstock, an aerospace engineer and
30 year expert in optical technology, noted in the photo a large "anomaly,"
visible to the naked eye, resting on the southwest summit plateau of the mountain. His
observation was recorded by the ABC camera team. In the weeks before the DIA photo
release, feature articles on my FOIA efforts to obtain "Anomaly" photos had
appeared in The Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, Palm Beach Post (my former hometown
newspaper), Petersburg, Virginia's Progress-Index, my parents' hometown newspaper, among
others.
On February 24, 1995 Vice President Gore presided over the historic unveiling of the
first set of de-classified Corona satellite photos at CIA headquarters. A photograph of
him holding Corona film and his statement that the photos were a "gold mine" for
environmental scientists was carried by most major media. The next day the Miami Herald's
wire services carried this photo and story of the Vice President and also stated:
Page 10
"And the photos could be of value in other ways, including helping a Palm Beach
attorney in his quest to determine whether the remains of Noah's Ark might be found on a
remote part of Mt. Ararat in Turkey."
Analysis Of Photo Frame 2 Of the "Anomaly"
On March 19, 1995 the Palm Beach Post was kind enough to have their photo lab analyze
Frame 2 at 1200 dots per inch (dpi) on their computerized photo scanner. David Barak, a
photo-journalist with some military photo interpretation experience, discovered the
"Anomaly" that night while scanning the photo under digital enlargement. His
immediate comment was that it "looked like a large submarine shaped like
structure" jutting out of the ice cap. As he made this discovery independent of
Charles Comstock's observation, both Mr. Barak and Mr. Comstock should be credited with
this discovery, as well as Roman Gomez as discussed later. Then shortly thereafter a
digitized enlargement of the "Anomaly" appeared in the Palm Beach Post with a
short article.
I next met with the dean of the college of engineering at a research university in
Florida. This college had a NASA sponsored imaging systems laboratory, and he was kind
enough to let his imaging engineers spend about 15 hours scanning the "Anomaly"
at 2,000 dpi. They concluded that the plane was too far away to determine if the
"Anomaly" was a man-made or natural structure. Better technology or a more
definitive photo was necessary.
Needing the finest film recorder that can create the sharpest digital originals in the
photo electronic industry, I retained DNA Electronic Imaging Specialists in Hollywood,
Florida. They have an LVT Saturn Film Recorder, one of the few in the country with this
computer system that can scan and produce film at 4,064 dpi. DNA set their technical
skills to work. DNA assisted me in obtaining a photo transparency of Frame 2 from DIA,
which DIA promptly produced.
Imaging specialist Roman Gomez, who helped the military make sharper original photos
during the Persian Gulf War, scrutinized the photo and transparency at his workstation.
DNA concluded, in writing that the "anomaly quite possibly could be man-made in
origin, or formed by other geological formations that are created by natural events."
Mr. Gomez should be given credit with Messrs. Comstock and Barak for locating and
isolating the "Anomaly." DNA produced a 40" x 50" digital enlargement
of the "Anomaly" area. Fox TV in Miami filmed DNA lab's evaluation of the
"Anomaly." At my request, DNA submitted their report to Marvin Krislov at the
White House.
On April 7, 1995 I opened up the annual Oceancrest Condominium Library Speakers Program
in Jupiter, Florida with a presentation on my Project to about 100 people. The
presentation included DNA Photo Lab's digital enlargements of the
Page 11
Anomaly and the Palm Beach Round Table tape of the relevant portion of Dr. Carver's
1993 speech. In April I also had constructive, unofficial telephone talks with an official
from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A & M University in Texas, which
launches annual expeditions to Turkey to search for ships sunk in Turkish waters.
In early April while in Washington, D.C. i gave short, informal presentations on the
1949 photos to a senior staff archaeologist at the National Geographic, William Garzke, a
senior naval architect with Gibbs & Cox, who co-authored and chaired last year's final
forensic analysis of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic based upon evaluation of photos from
the wreck site, and I briefed a senior official at the American-Turkish Council. Mr.
Garzke, also Chairman of the international Society of Naval Architects and Marine
Engineers, said that he could not tell if the Anomaly in Frame 2 was a man-made structure,
quite possibly the remains of a boat, or shadow or rock.
Hence, he kindly passed my file onto his colleague Peter Hsu, a principal naval
engineer for Techmatics, Inc. in Arlington, Virginia and maritime artist, who co-authored
the Titanic analysis with Mr. Garzke. Mr. Hsu has diligently spent many hours examining
all of the Pentagon photos discussed in this document. He recently issued a one page
evaluation of Frames 2 and 23 (discussed later) stating that the "dense linear shaped
object" might be "man-made." In addition, he has drawn in color, based upon
the Pentagon's anaglyphic enlargements, a 16" x 10" composite sketch of Frames 2
and 23. Mr. Hsu's evaluation and color sketch will appear in the February 1996 issue of a
major photographic trade journal.
On May 23, 1995 Roman Gomez of DNA Photo Lab gave a presentation on the technical
aspects of analysis of Photo Frame 2 to the Jupiter Chapter of the international Explorers
Club. An article appeared in the Palm Beach Post about this on May 26, 1995.
On May 23-24, 1995, as a guest of the CIA, I attended the CIA's historic symposium on
Corona, the CIA's first recon satellite. At the symposium in Washington, I talked to
several current and retired CIA officials about my Project. I shared Frame 2 from the 1949
Pentagon mission with a senior retired CIA photo interpreter - a former colleague of Dr.
Carver's who had briefed President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. This
official had seen and evaluated for the CIA photos of an "anomaly" taken by a
U-2 recon plane circa 1959 - 1960. He said the "Anomaly" in Frame 2 was
"too linear to be natural and that most of the structure appeared to be under
ice." Furthermore, he said that it could be the same anomaly "that he [the CIA]
had evaluated in 1959 - 1960 for a Congressman, but "that ship-like anomaly was too
big to be Noah's Ark."
Page 12
Directly after the symposium I had an unofficial meeting with two senior intelligence
officials at the Pentagon to discuss the Frame 2 of the 1949 mission. One official
suggested that the "Anomaly" might be a crashed airplane, which is certainly
plausible, although the Turkish government had no record of any such crash, and no
airplane in history was ever built over 400 feet long. This off-the-record meeting was
very helpful to the Project because it led to the Pentagon's July 24, 1995 release to me
under FOIA of Photo Frame 23 from the 1949 mission and a formal composite evaluation by a
DIA photo interpreter of Frames 2 and 23, including the release of a DIA monoscopic
enlargement of the "Anomaly" and three anaglyphic stereo enlargements. Frame 23
shows the "Anomaly" from a slightly different angle than Frame 2. Most of the
quotes on the first page of this document regarding the 1949 mission, are directly from
that July 24, 1995 DIA evaluation.
Significantly, the Pentagon report states that the "anomaly" depicted in
Frames 2 and 23 is "located along an unstable precipice near the edge of the
permanent glacial ice cap" and "an avalanche in progress just to the east of the
anomaly" apparently exposed it to view. The Pentagon report went on to say that the
..."anomaly appears to be one of the long linear facades in the glacial ice
underlying more recently accumulated ice and snow...."
Adjacent Anomaly - Remains 0f the Keel Of a Ship?
This DIA report led to the October 10, 1995 Pentagon release to me under FOIA of Photo
Frames 4, 5 and 6 from the 1949 mission. The plane flew around to the north side of the
mountain and took these photos of the large "Adjacent Anomaly" possibly 600 -
800 feet long) also on the western plateau and apparently in close proximity to the first
"Anomaly." Frame 6 vividly and clearly recorded this "Adjacent
Anomaly" from about a half mile away. Three very large, thick symmetrical protrusions
merge together and appear to be jutting out into the air from a wing like structure of the
"Adjacent Anomaly. A crashed airplane is not out of the question. However, a naval
architect who reviewed this Frame tells me, off-the-record, that the "structure"
reminds him "of the skeletal remains of the keel [bottom spine] of a ship." What
struck him was that the design appeared to be "relatively modern." If proven to
be ultimately true, this would shatter the prevailing Biblical archaeological view that
Noah's Ark was an unsophisticated, rectangular barge. A retired senior CIA satellite
imagery official, who was at the center of the "Anomaly" incident at the CIA in
1973, tells me that the "protrusions" seen jutting out of the "Adjacent
Anomaly" in the 1949 photo appear to be somewhat similar to the "decayed
beam-like structures" in the overhead 1973 satellite photo that two of his
interpreters had shown him at that time. The interpreters were split as to whether the
structure was man-made, quite possibly the remains of a ship, or merely a strange rock
formation. DNA Photo Lab produced an impressive digital enlargement of the "Adjacent
Anomaly" in Frame 6 and it appeared in the October 2, 1995 Miami Herald article
entitled
Page 13
"Clueless No More: 21st Century Science is cracking old Enigmas, New Criminal
Cases." DNA's enlargement will also appear in the February 1996 issue of a major
photographic trade journal.
Until the 1949 Pentagon photos were released to me last year, no one really suspected
that a man-made structure might exist at that exact location of the "Anomaly"
and "Adjacent Anomaly." Even the Turkish Air Force apparently overlooked it in
an overhead aerial photo taken by them in September 1987 of the same area. Last year
Ararat researcher John McIntosh provided me with a color copy enlargement of that 1987
photo, and until I provided him last summer with an enlarged copy of Frame 2 from the
Pentagon's 1949 mission, he had always thought that the "Anomaly" area showed
nothing of interest. Numerous Ararat researchers from around the world have contacted me
and requested copies of "Anomaly" photos. In addition to providing copies to
several of them, I have put them in direct contact with the Pentagon for original copies.
Indeed, no scientific expedition has ever found or excavated the "Anomaly" or
"Adjacent Anomaly." Mt. Ararat has never been kind to expeditions. Dense cloud
cover normally covers Mt. Ararat - see the stunning cloud canopy over the mountain on page
17 of the National Geographic special May 1994 report on Turkey - and 200 to 300 feet
thick ice forms the western plateau. However, the mountain was kind to the U.S. Air Force
on June 17, 1949 when an "avalanche in progress" and sunny, clear skies
prevailed and exposed these anomalies to photographic view. Again in 1973 the mountain was
kind to a CIA satellite, when there was a major glacial meltdown of the
"Anomaly" area. Perhaps such favorable weather conditions will guide a future
scientific expedition to this
August 1996 Expedition Plans
Anomaly Research Coalition (A.R.C.) plans to stimulate such an expedition and is forming
such a coalition for this purpose. The A.R.C. mission statement is on the cover page of
this document. I applaud the Pentagon for its diligence and outstanding cooperation in
releasing the 1949 aerial photos. Until the CIA's now de-classified 800,000 Corona
satellite photos are catalogued and indexed by the National Archives for release to the
public, which is expected to occur in August 1996, the 1949 Pentagon photos should serve
to benefit any expedition. According to a NASA source, Corona took 30 photos of Mt. Ararat
between 1960 - 1972. I have a pending FOIA request to the CIA for the early release of
these photos. It is yet to be seen if these photos will assist an expedition. Certainly
the 1973 CIA satellite photos will help and I have had a long standing FOIA request to the
CIA for the de-classification of all satellite photos taken between 1960 - 1976. I have
shared all of my Project file and photos with senior Turkish government and U.S. State
Department officials and continue to maintain a favorable dialogue with them. My friend
Laurance Rassin, a film producer, has already obtained
Page 14
a letter of commitment from a prominent Turkish documentary film company to film the
expedition.
We (A.R.C.) are pleased to report that a well-informed Turkish source has conveyed to
us that one American and three European expedition teams have sought Turkish permission to
climb Ararat this summer to search for the Anomaly in the exact location determined from
the 1949 Pentagon aerial mission, based upon photos and information obtained from my
"Ararat Anomaly" Project. We hope they will be successful.
What do the 1949 Pentagon photos actually depict? Are they photos of nothing but an
unusual rock formation resting in the ice cap on Mt. Ararat's southwest plateau at 15,500
feet, or are they photos of the remains of what might indeed once have been a large wooden
ship? As indicated in this document, we have called upon numerous engineering and
photographic experts to evaluate the 1949 Pentagon photos and render their professional
opinions as to the size, composition and probable nature of the "Ararat Anomaly"
but even the most skilled photo interpreters, of course, cannot substitute for the
on-the-ground observation of trained scientific eyes. An expedition is in order.
A.R.C. plans to launch a major international, scientific expedition in August 1996 or
1997, when the ice cap girdling the mountain's summit undergoes its seasonal recession,
and ascertain, scientifically and definitely, what is or may be the Ararat Anomaly and
Adjacent Anomaly. Archaeologists, geologists, and nautical engineers would be part of this
coalition. We plan to ask Boston University's Center For Remote Sensing, which a few years
ago discovered a 4,600 year old boat under the sand near the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt
using ground penetrating radar, for assistance in employing that and infrared radar on Mt.
Ararat. We also plan to invite scientists from the London Maritime Museum and Smithsonian
Institution and National Geographic Society. In addition, A.R.C. intends to ask the remote
sensing experts at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to conduct an evaluation of Photo
Frame 6 of the "Adjacent Anomaly" from the 1949 mission.
A.R.C.'s planned expedition cannot succeed without the complete sanction, cooperation
and total and active support of the Turkish government, including security. To this end,
we will seek the good will of the Turkish government and continue to maintain our
unofficial, favorable dialogue with them. Indeed, A.R.C. will be inviting several
prominent Turkish archaeologists and scholars to join in and lead this expedition. Turkey
should of course lead this expedition and play the key role in it.
Finally, A.R.C. would like to note that the story of the Flood, Noah, and the Ark is
embraced and shared as history by the Judaic, Christian and Moslem religious traditions,
and many other cultures and religions. Hence, any quest for evidence that this story may
indeed be grounded in historical fact should not be undertaken in any spirit of
Page 15
parochialism or narrow nationalism. Instead, any such endeavor should be universal in
temper - since it is a quest for something that binds humans of many religious persuasions
together, simply as humans.
Acknowledgments
The author of this document wishes to express his deep gratitude for his father's
invaluable support and guidance in this Project. The author also wishes to personally
thank the scores of people who provided advice, information, analyses and expedition
photos which assisted him in preparing this document. He apologizes if he inadvertently
did not mention them. As there have been throughout history and currently are numerous
Ararat researchers, the "Ararat Anomaly" Project is merely another step toward
determining what is, if anything, on Mt. Ararat.
Copying of this document is authorized and encouraged. Updates on the progress of
A.R.C. will continue.
END OF ARTICLE
Recent Updates!
I spoke with Porcher on November 24th, 1997 about the Ararat Anomaly, and he provided
me with several updates:
The February 1996 edition of Photo Lab Management show cased several of the photos
mentioned in the above Porcher Taylor article. I plan to obtain a back copy and hopefully
get permission to re-publish on my web site. If you would like to order your own copy,
write to or call:
Porcher also mentioned that he went to the National Archives to view the de-classified
Corona satellite photos of the Anomaly. Five photos of the Anomaly were taken between 1960
- 1972 by the Corona. The resolution was at six feet, and combined with significant cloud
and snow cover, there was not much to look at according to Porcher.
Regarding the upcoming de-classified photos promised by the CIA, they are to include at
least one photo of the anomaly around 1959 or 1960 by either a U2 spy plane. What
Porcher and others are really hoping for is to look at one of the 1973 KH9 or 1976 KH11
photos of the Anomaly, but that will not come any time soon unless the President
intervenes. The government cannot and should not reveal it's intelligence capabilities to
our potential enemies. It is my understanding that we still use some of the Key Hole (KH)
series satellites today. | {
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Ra's al Ghul has escaped death once again and has made another successful attempt to enter the land of the living. However Ra's is now looking for a new body as his current one is decaying.
Damian Wayne who had dissapered since the events in Batman and son has been taken to the Australian Outback where he learns about his grandfather Ra's al Ghul. Secretly a loyal servant of Ras ah Ghul who is believed to be dead since events in Batman:Death of the Maidens secretly plans to use Damian's body as a host to place Ra's soul inside and bring him back to the land of the living. Unfortunately,Talia who realizes that the process would result in the death of Damian quickly rescues him. However Ra's is still able to return without the Damian's body but in the form of a mummified corpse. Damian who is in need rushed back to the Batcave to seek out Batman's help.As he arrives he meets Robin instead who says he expected him sooner. Robin who doesn't believe Damian's story engages in battle with him. As the fight goes on Damian is able to escape and in the hall bumps in to a surprised Alfred who believes his story about Ra's al Ghul resurrection. Robin catches up with Damian and two battle once again while outside Wayne Manor,ninjas of the League of Assassins surround the place. Meanwhile in Asia, Batman saves Talia from being held captive by League ninja for her letting Damian escape and set off after Ra's Al Ghul.Batman then contacts Nightwing and tell him to arrive at Wayne Manor to help Damian and Robin. Nightwing arrives and fights several villains hired by Talia to retrieve Damian including the Silken Spider, Dragon Fly caption
and Tiger Moth. After saving Alfred from being hurt by a league ninja,he asks Alfred to get the jet ready to leave for Asia. Unfortunately the villains hired by Talia are hit by a poison darts that slowly kill them. Without a choice,Nightwing goes to save them and leaves Robin and Damian unguarded. He manages to save them but the poison affects their brains, never to be fully functional again. Robin and Damian are captured and brought back to Tibet to meet Ras al Ghul. Upon being brought to Ra's the two get up and fight the ninjas as they were only pretending to be unconscious. Damian abandons Robin alone with Ra's Al Ghul. Ra's attempts to manipulate Robin by tempting him with the chance to bring his parents back to life,Robin pretend to be interested and Ra's sensing this knocks him out.Outside the base Batman and Talia are getting closer to Ra's only to run into more of his henchmen, defeating them with help from I-Ching. Batman, Talia, and I-Ching continue to a Lhasian mountain where they find a secret entrance to Ra's's headquarters. On meeting, Ra's and Batman engage in battle, but Ra's body is immune to pain due to it being a corpse. Ra's then brings out Robin and Damian,and offers Batman the choice of which body Ra's should choose. Batman offers his own body, but Ra's refuses,wanting a younger one.
Batman then offers to take Ra's to Nanda Parbat wherein lies the Fountain of Essence, a Lazarus Pit but without the dangerous after-effects.As they travel there,they discover the temple is under attack by the Sensei(another leader of the League of Assassins). Batman and Ra's also discover that the Sensei is Ra's father. After fighting off his men,Batman and Ra's fight the Sensei who takes down Ra's quickly. The sensei then attacks Batman breaking Batman's arm, blind him, and impale his chest with his cane saying that although Batman has had years to train,the Sensei has had century's.In a final move Batman knocks Sensei into the Fountain of Life and as both which kills him for not being a pure soul. Ra's meanwhile escapes by possessing a monk of Nanda Parbat and leaves. Batman emerges out of the fountain slightly younger then before and screams out for Ra's. Meanwhile,Robin confronts the White Ghost wanting to restore his parents back to life.The White Ghost but only if Tim swears his undying loyalty to Ra's Al Ghul in which Robin agrees. As he ascend to the chamber Robin is met by I-ching who does not stop him and Nightwing who does plan to stand in Robins way.
caption
Robin engages in battle with Nightwing while arguing about the justification of bringing his parents back.Nightwing leaves Robin hoping trusting him to make the right choice, which Robin does and brakes down and is comforted by Nightwing.Back at Nanda Parbat,Ra's attempts once again to claim Damian's body but Batman arrives just in time. As the battle starts back up arrives. Talia attempts to retrieve Damian but he chooses to assist Batman instead,she then knocks him out and escapes.Ra's life is finally preserved by The White Ghost, who is his disowned son Dusan, who offers his "imperfect" body to gain his father's respect. Dusan dies due to the process and Ra's with his new body engages once again against Batman. Ra's is defeated and banised by the monks of Nanda Parbat to leave,the temple begins to collapses forcing everybody to leave.Aboard the jet with Dick, Tim and Alfred, Bruce discusses the importance and value of family and makes a toast.Alfred then reminds him that it is Christmas.
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Allan Brown wins Sir Edmond & Sound Cocktail Competition, Netherlands
First cocktail & sound pairing competition ever
Allan Brown is the winner of Sir Edmond & Sound, the world’s first cocktail & sound pairing competition. In the Tunes Bar of the Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam, the bartender of the Breakaway Café in Rotterdam stunned both guests and jury with a cocktail that stimulated all senses.
Twenty bartenders compiled a soundtrack in three parts for the making, the serving and the consuming of their cocktail creation. Competing for 1000 euros of prize money, they had to convince the jury (Timo Janse, Sander Lucardie and Sandro Ivanić) with a perfect combination of music and mixology.
Ode to Frank Sinatra
At the end of a titillating afternoon, Allan Brown was named ‘grand winner’ of the first ever Sir Edmond & Sound Cocktail Competition. His sour style cocktail called My Wayturned out to be a tasty ode to Frank Sinatra. The second place went to Wouter Bosch of Rosalia’s Menagerie, who’s The Maverick Fizz was an homage to the Pornstar Martini. Milos Stanisic of Bar C came in third with his cocktail Kintsugi, inspired by Japanese pottery art.
“I didn’t think I’d stand a chance”
Winner Allan Brown can still hardly wrap his head around what happened. “It was truly amazing. I was the first to present and had to wait a long time for the jury verdict. A lot of people were positive about my performance, but the more bartenders I saw, the better the presentations got. I didn’t think I’d stand a chance. When Sandro mentioned my name, I couldn’t believe it at first. Right after I felt pure joy.”
With his cocktail and accompanying soundtrack – Fly Me to the Moon, Angel Eyes and New York, New York – Brown wanted to evoke and elegant experience: you’re suited up sitting in a luxurious hotel bar, somewhere in Las Vegas, while Frank Sinatra performs live on stage. “He was a legendary entertainer and one of the first rock stars. Everyone looked at him, everyone wanted to be him. At the competition, everything fell into place: the story, the music, even the location – the Tunes Bar seems to be made for my cocktail.
My Way: the winning recipe
50 ml Sir Edmond Gin
2,5 ml Averna
25 ml Walnut & fig syrup
20 ml Fresh lemon juice
2 dash Angostura bitters
Egg white
Garnish: Caramelized golden fig & a spray of Sir Edmond Gin
My Way will be added to my serves, and an interview and photo shoot with the :winner of the Sir Edmond & Sound Cocktail Competition will be up on the Flamingo Journal soon. Stay tuned! | {
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The poem, a dialogue of Jacques from Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It”, is a philosophical reflection on life and our role in it. It breaks down the complexities of human life into seven exceedingly simple stages and makes a sweeping and humorous generalization as to the manner in which an individual progresses in life. The entirety of Human life and the poet’s view on it is covered in the dialogue of Jacques in merely seven sentences. The dialogue also stands as a strong case for the poet’s argument of the futility of life. | {
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Place ingredients in a bowl. Using hand mixer, mix on high speed for 3 minutes. Transfer to serving bowl. Let sit in fridge for 30 minutes and then serve with crackers, warm baguette, fresh veggies. Delicious!
Rachel Says:
I love roasted veggies! Simply chop, pour some olive oil, grind pepper and sprinkle salt. My favorites are sweet potatoes, carrots, asparagus (drizzle with some basalmic vinegar after cooking), and broccoli. Cook the first two with onion as well, yum! Oh, also winter squash–cut in half, drizzle with oil, add some s&p.
You can also sautée zucchini, squash, and onions, then toss in whatever spices and cheese sound good to you. Put in an oven-safe dish, sprinkle something crunchy on top, and bake.
Brussels sprouts sautéed in broth with craisins or raisins and minced garlic. My MIL makes this, and it is delicious!!
Sheri Bheri Says:
Greek Pasta – put your water on to boil, by the time your pasta is ready, your meal is ready.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan, add 2 (+/-) minced cloves of garlic. Heat for a minute or so to toast the garlic. Add a can of diced tomatoes. Now, go and crumble up some feta cheese, chop some basil & parsley (I like a LOT, like handfuls, your mileage may vary, it’s VERY green this way), and slice some black olives.
When your pasta is ready, drain it and put it back in a big bowl/pot, add the feta, olives, basil and parsley, pour the tomato sauce over all of it. Mix. The basil and parsley wilt a bit and the cheese melts a bit. It’s DELICIOUS warm or cold in your lunch the next day.
I just read all 5 of your bathtub stories and I love them. I want to have more baths. Can you please—pretty pretty please with a cherry on top!—write a post on how to have a good bath? It seems silly, but I only take baths once in a while, and every time, I think “Ahh, this is nice, I should do this more often.” But then I never do. I forget how wonderful they are. I think I’m doing it wrong. | {
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You think the U.S. economy is in trouble, right? Well, think again. Businesses are investing about $1 trillion a year more than the official numbers show. Savings rate is actually positive. The deficit with the rest of the world is much smaller than advertised, and GDP is probably growing faster than what they are telling you. | {
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I am so excited to have been selected to be the first YALSA Board Fellow! Here is the ALA press release. My position starts in June, and runs through July, 2013. This feels like it will be especially interesting since the position is new. I look forward to everything I will learn and experience in the coming year and a half. | {
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Wednesday, April 23, 2014
FYI: 9th Cir Vacates Class Cert Ruling in Multi-Jurisdictional Action
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that a lower court abused its discretion in certifying a class that included consumers from 44 different jurisdictions, reasoning that the laws of those jurisdictions materially differed as to the issue at hand, and therefore that common issues of law did not predominate among the class.
A car manufacturer ("Manufacturer") advertised and sold cars equipped with a Collision Mitigation Braking System ("CMBS") which was designed to prevent or mitigate automobile accidents. Several plaintiffs filed a class action complaint against Manufacturer, alleging violations of various California statutes based on the claim thatManufacturersupposedly misrepresented and concealed material information in its marketing of the CMBS.
The lower court granted the plaintiffs' motion for class certification, as to a nationwide class of consumers who purchased or leased vehicles equipped with the CMBS. Manufacturer appealed.
As you may recall, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) provides that a putative class-action plaintiff must show that "the questions of law or fact common to class members predominate over any questions affecting only individual members."
On appeal, Manufacturer argued that common issues of law did not predominate, because the California statutes relied upon by the plaintiffs should not be applied to a class consisting of members of 44 jurisdictions. It further argued that common issues of fact did not predominate, because the lower court improperly assumed that all putative class members viewed Manufacturer's allegedly misleading marketing campaigns.
The Ninth Circuit held that the lower court "abused its discretion in certifying a class under California law that contained class members who purchased or leased their car in different jurisdictions with materially different consumer protection laws."
The Ninth Circuit based its holding on the fact that California law materially differed from the laws of the other jurisdictions where putative class members reside. Specifically, the California laws at issue here lacked scienter requirements, whereas many other jurisdictions do require scienter. Further, the Court noted that foreign states have a "strong interest in the application of their laws to transactions between their citizens and corporations doing business within their state," whereas California's interest in applying its law to residents of foreign states was "attenuated."
Therefore, the Ninth Circuit held that "each class member's consumer protection claim should be governed by the consumer protection laws of the jurisdiction in which the transaction took place," and therefore vacated the lower court's class certification order.
The Court also examined whether common issues of fact predominated over questions affecting only individual members. Here, the Court again agreed with Manufacturer's contention that they did not.
The Court relied on the fact that the complained-of advertising campaigns took place only on a "small scale," which did not support a presumption that the entire putative class had relied on those campaigns. Therefore, the Ninth Circuit stated that "the relevant class must be defined in such a way as to include only members who were exposed to advertising that is alleged to be materially misleading."
Accordingly, itheld that the lower court's class certification was overbroad, and vacated the same on the grounds that common questions of fact do not predominate.
PLEASE NOTE:
The editors and sponsoring law firm of this blog represent and serve banks, lenders, loan buyers, loan servicers, debt collectors, and other financial services companies. We do not represent consumers.
Please note that any communications or information obtained may be provided to our clients, including for the purpose of debt collection.
The information in this blog and related updates is general in nature, and should not be considered legal advice.
Legal advice requires a full and complete understanding of a particular situation. Your situation may involve material facts that prevent the direct application of the information in this blog and related updates.
You will not become a client of the editors or sponsoring law firm simply by reading this blog. In order to become a client of the editor or sponsoring law firm, the editor or sponsoring law firm must agree to represent you in writing. Until we agree to represent you in writing, we are not prevented from representing any other party.
Until you are a client of the editor or sponsoring law firm, any communications with us will not be confidential. | {
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Illinois Democrat to Attend SOTU with Illegal Immigrant
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) will be attending Tuesday’s State of the Union address with Gabino Sanchez, an illegal immigrant who has received, according to Gutierrez’s office, “multiple misdemeanor charges for driving without a license by local police over the past ten years.”
Sanchez resides in South Carolina and entered the country illegally when he was 15-years old. He is a husband and father of two children who were born in the United States.
In May 2012, “Sanchez was granted a 12 month continuance in his case as he pursued relief from deportation”; he has been granted an additional month to apply for Obama’s Deferred Action program, which gives a temporary work permit to those who came to the country illegally as children and meet certain requirements. | {
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Early life
Education
Career
In 1964 he served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg. Following his clerkship, Breyer held several government posts, including Special Assistant to the Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Antitrust, Assistant Special Prosecutor for the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, and Special Counsel and Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Breyer is credited with playing a key role in obtaining deregulation of the airline industry in the late 1970s. Breyer was a member of the faculty of Harvard Law School from 1967 to 1994 and the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government from 1977 to 1980.
Justice Breyer served as Judge on the First Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals from 1980 to 1990, and as Chief Judge of the First Circuit, 1990-1994.
Justice Breyer also served on the United States Sentencing Commission between 1985 and 1989, where he helped develop the federal Sentencing Guidelines to impose uniformity on sentencing in all federal criminal cases.
But on the issue of stare decisis, Justice Breyer is leading the defense against liberal precedents vulnerable to being overturned by the Roberts Court. The most prominent target among the precedents is Roe v. Wade, but many other lesser-known precedents were quickly overturned in the 2006-2007 sitting of the Roberts Court. This led Justice Breyer to declare on the last day of the term, perhaps in exasperation, "What has happened to stare decisis?"[2] Justice Breyer dissented, on the grounds of stare decisis, from 2007 decisions in:
According to Senator Arlen Specter, he had a chance encounter with Justice Breyer at a summer meeting after the end of the 2006-2007 term, and Specter publicly stated that Justice Breyer told him there were "eight" decisions in which the Roberts Court had overruled precedent.[3] Specter then publicly said he was going to review the testimony provided by nominees Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sam Alito to the Senate Judiciary Committee to see if they were abiding by it.
On the issue of continued advisory use of the controversial Sentencing Guidelines, Justice Breyer voted for preserving rather than invalidating them.
Second Amendment
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has alleged that the Founding Fathers never intended for guns to go unregulated. Breyer believes that the Second Amendment allows for restrictions on the individual, including an all-out ban on handguns in the nation's capital.[4] | {
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She did as she said. And yet, mention of the trademark appears in literature for this year's Honfest, which is coming up in June.
Here is the passage, verbatim, included on Honfest 2012 material that was distributed to potential festival vendors:
NOTE: All items sold at HONfest 2012 must be legal and within the family-oriented nature of the event. Prohibited items include counterfeit designer clothing or handbags, tee-shirts, cat eyed sunglasses, weapons of any kind, including knives; or other items which infringe on a registered trademark. This includes the HONfest, Cafe HON, HONtown and HON trademark; you may not sell products bearing the festival's name or logo without prior written permission -- this includes previous years tee-shirts. Should you be caught with counterfeit items, the police will confiscate your inventory and eject you from the festival and you will be barred from attending future festivals.
There's no question that Whiting no longer has control of the word "Hon." And just to be sure, Sun reporter Steve Kilar, who wrote about her ending the mark earlier this year, checked today and it's indeed goner than gone.
Whiting was out of town on Friday. However Lisa Davis, director of Honfest, said it was a mistake that the festival paperwork included that paragraph. Whiting, she said, was extremely clear that no mention of the trademark appear in the material. Davis said she accidentally included it on some of the online material.
"It happened because I'm a technotard," Davis said, sounding very upset. "Denise did not in any way want people to think she hadn't relinquished the trademark."
Those who spent the better part of last year protesting Whiting because of the trademark -- saying she was trying to own a part of Baltimore's culture -- immediately pounced on the discrepancy after someone, perhaps a vendor, pointed it out to them this morning. After not making a peep against Whiting since Ramsay left in February, the No One Owns Hon, Hon Facebook page posted. One person quickly scoffed, "did anyone really think that she would change?"
Whiting insisted -- tearfully -- to Chef Ramsay that she indeed had changed. In fact, Insider just reported yesterday that "Kitchen Nightmares" is likely coming back to Baltimore to check on how Cafe Hon has fared since the show's makeover last fall. The episode about Cafe Hon aired in February.
It's worth noting that exactly a year ago, before Honfest 2011, Hampden merchants were seething over similar rules from Whiting, prohibiting what they could sell during the festival. No cat-eye glasses seemed particularly galling -- an item also verboten this year according to the glitchy literature. | {
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My Latest From Twitter
Friday, February 27, 2009
My daughter is currently in French Immersion and my son is scheduled to start in September, so I thought I'd share some of what I've learned.
1) There are many benefits to French Immersion: children learn a second language; they develop a great ability to learn other languages as well; they have better career options for their futures; research has show they develop better problem solving skills and creativity; they become more flexible thinkers with superior listening skills, to name a few.
2) It is designed for kids who don't speak French at home, although frankly, knowing a bit of French does help. Even if you don't know any, if you are willing to learn the language along with your child, it'll make things much easier.
3) When the children first start Kindergarten, the French is introduced gradually. By the time they are in Grade 1, no English is spoken in the classroom (unless there is a comprehension issue - then English will be used briefly to clarify).
4) No English reading or grammar is taught until Grade 3, so it is recommended that your child be read to in English at home. When English is introduced, there is a "catch up" period, but by the time elementary school is finished, FE kids have the same, if not better, English skills as the English kids.
5) It's not for every child. It is the school's objective to provide your child with an education, so if he/she is not happy in French, you may be advised to switch back to English. This is in no way a negative reflection on the intelligence of any child - some kids just have other talents. Take a friend of mine, for example - her daughter is a gifted athlete, competing provincially at the age of six. She struggled in French Kindergarten, but once she switched to English for grade 1, she flourished academically.
6) Many kids will excel at both languages simultaneously. My 6 year old daughter, for example, is comfortable in the phonetics of both languages. She can tell you the pronunciation of individual letters and letter combinations for French and English. She can also look at the spelling of a word and tell you how it would sound in English as well as how it would sound in French.
7) It's FUN, and a self esteem boost. My daughter is constantly singing songs in French that she's learned in school, as well as voluntarily choosing the French versions of websites or DVDs. She also likes to correct my pronunciation (hers is already better - I have some core French learned back in high school, but because she's learning French with younger ears, her phonics are better than mine).
8) When determining if a child is a good candidate for French Immersion, two factors are considered. Are they comfortable with English (i.e. "how the first language goes, so goes the second"), and are they socially confident (if they can't understand something that is said, are they secure enough to try and figure it out and communicate somehow?).
9) While late immersion (near the end of the primary years) will still give kids an excellent grasp of the language, the earlier they start (i.e. Kindergarten), the better their fluency and pronunciation will be.
10) French Immersion follows the same curriculum as the English program. The same subject matter is taught, but in French as opposed to English.
2) Chocolate - contains Theobromine, which can cause, among other things, diarrhea. I have personal experience with this one: ten liquid pools of the stuff on our carpet after our dog got into some Christmas fudge my mom sent one year.
3) Grapes and raisins - there's an unknown compound in the "fleshy" part of the grape, which can damage your dog's kidneys.
4) Macadamia nuts - Lethargy, vomiting. I also read that Walnuts can contain fungus that are bad for dogs - after reading that, I'm not so sure I want to eat them either.
5) Mushroom - the toxin varies with mushroom species, and can result in everything from hallucinations to death. (This is where a funnier blogger would insert a mushroom = hallucinations wisecrack).
6) Onion & garlic - fresh and dried. Cats appear to be more sensitive than dogs, and garlic appears to be less toxic. Supposedly they can cause hemolytic anemia. We're also advised to avoid baby food, which sometimes contains onion powder.
8) Green sprouts on raw potatoes can be toxic. This is true for humans as well, so unless your dog will be grazing on the potato greens in your garden, there's little chance of exposure here. Supposedly cooked white potatoes are fine for dogs. Good thing, 'cause ours gets a fair amount of this leftover.
9) Xylitol (artificial sweetener) - can cause a liver reaction that can lead to liver failure in a few days. This supposedly is really dangerous. (Another good reason to eat the sweets yourself instead of sharing, if you ask me ;)
10) Milk & other dairy - adult dogs are lactose intolerant, and can get diarrhea. (I guess the French Toast batter was a really bad idea! Now I know for next time). | {
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If you’re a dog lover like me, I’m sure you go through similar thought processes – wouldn’t it be nice to win the lottery, buy some land and build awesome homes for dogs that are having to live in animal shelters? I often have these thoughts, and I just want to scoop up as many […]
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How the director of Jake Gyllenhaal's new movie went from 'Pineapple Express' to tackling the Boston Marathon bombing
(L-R) Jake Gyllenhaal and David Gordon Green on the set of "Stronger." Roadside Attractions There aren't many directors in Hollywood with a filmography like David Gordon Green.
In a business where if you're lucky enough to find a niche you milk it for all its worth, Green jumped from being one of the top rising directors in the independent film world in the 1990s, to now making a diverse array of mainstream movies, from "Pineapple Express" to his latest, "Stronger" (opening in theaters on Friday).
"I always need to change it up," Green told Business Insider while attending this year's Toronto International Film Festival. "It's really satisfying to be able to switch gears."
Green certainly switches things up with "Stronger," a look at the life of Boston Marathon bomber survivor Jeff Bauman. Played by Jake Gyllenhaal, we follow Bauman as his life completely changes after he loses both his legs in the bombing, and becomes an unlikely hero in the aftermath.
Did you know David Gordon Green directed "Pineapple Express"?Columbia PicturesGreen had never made a biopic before, but diving into a new genre has never stopped him. He had never directed a comedy before the Seth Rogen/James Franco stoner comedy "Pineapple Express," or done TV before directing episodes of HBO's cult hit "Eastbound & Down." So when he was approached to come on and help develop screenwriter John Pollono's adaptation of Bauman's book, he jumped at the chance.
"I've always been curious about what happens when people are involved in a headline news event, what their lives are like afterwards; after the headlines fade," Green said.
In "Stronger," he shows the good, bad, and ugly of Bauman's life after becoming the face of "Boston Strong," the motto that became prevalent across the nation after the bombing. Now the movie, which currently has a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score, is gaining Oscar buzz.
That's not to say Green hasn't struck out while attempting things that people might think are out of his lane. The Jonah Hill comedy " The Sitter" (2011) and dramedy based on the popular 2005 documentary " Our Brand Is Crisis" (2015), were both critical and financial flops, but the truth is you probably didn't know he was the director on those movies.
And that's what allows Green to continue being diverse in his choices. While the auteur label is loosely thrown around these days for any director who shows a bit of flair, the disadvantage of that is suddenly your work is raised to a level where you have to deliver a specific style to appease the audience, as well as the studio that you're working for. In the case of those directors, if you don't deliver at the box office, your days of making your kind of movies are done.
Green has evolved by doing things the complete opposite way.
Though he certainly has skill, he isn't a show-off with it. Instead, most of the work he does is centered on the storytelling. And telling good stories will always get you work. In the case of "Stronger," Green leaves the talents of Gyllenhaal and costar Tatiana Maslany, who plays his girlfriend in the movie, Erin, to carry the movie.
That's also the case with the work he's done on television. HBO comedies "Eastbound & Down" and "Vice Principals" (currently airing its second, and final, season) highlight the genius comedy of Danny McBride, but it's often Green who is directing the episode and giving it the structure needed to tell the stories (as zany as they are).
David Gordon Green is currently in production on a reboot of "Halloween." Compass International Pictures And Green isn't done changing things up. Through his production company Rough House Pictures, which Green started with McBride and "Eastbound & Down" co-creator Jody Hill, he's about to start filming his first horror movie.
Since wrapping on "Stronger," Green and McBride have been writing a script for the reboot of "Halloween." Executive produced by the franchise creator John Carpenter, and produced by Blumhouse Productions ("Get Out," "Split"), Green will also direct the movie, which is slated for release in October 2018, and will include franchise star Jamie Lee Curtis in the cast.
"It's amazing," Green said of working on the project. "Sitting down with John Carpenter a couple of weeks ago at his house and getting script notes, it's crazy. And I think he's going to do the music for it."
Carpenter created the score for the original movie, which has since become one of the most iconic pieces of music ever put on screen.
"Once 'Pineapple Express' happened and was successful I was able to confidently say, 'I'd like to do a lot of different things, please,'" Green said. "Big ideas, little ideas, I like it. It's just messy and it's fun. I'm just trying to challenge myself." | {
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So what do you want me to say? Let’s take Smith’s most important point:
“If clients don’t trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn’t matter how smart you are.”
Bingo. That’s true. I think that Smith’s preceding sentence; “It astounds me how little senior management gets a basic truth:” is false. I am confident that Goldman’s senior management knows this damn well, but they also know something else: clients are in this business for the same reason Goldman Sachs is: money.
That’s right – clients are in business to make money, Goldman is in the business to make money, and the entire business is one big cyclical balance of greed, service, profit, apology, give, take, rinse & repeat.
I have never worked at Goldman Sachs, but I have been a client of Goldman Sachs. Personally, my group stopped participating in secondary offerings that $GS underwrote because we always got adversely selected: we weren’t a top tier client of Goldman’s, so we got crappy allocations on the good deals, and got plenty of stock on the bad deals (which, in hindsight, we didn’t really want.) Guess what – that’s how the free market works: we recognized this fact, and stopped participating. Now, if Goldman wants me back as a client, they have to scratch my back a little bit – I’m no longer going to backstop their shitty deals with my demand. But there’s nothing wrong with that! It’s called “business.” We’re all free thinking sentient beings who know how it works. If you don’t like it, you go somewhere else – which brings up the next point: so much of Wall Street business has become or is becoming commoditized. This is actual a strike against Smith’s argument: either you provide a reasonable price for the client, or someone else will. In the last 15 years it’s become increasingly hard to rip clients’ eyes out, so to speak, precisely as a result of competition and commoditization of businesses. But it’s not totally commoditized: as I mentioned above, Goldman’s clients do business with Goldman for a key reason: because the clients also like to make money, and Goldman is good at what they do. That’s a fact we can’t lose sight of: GS is the business of profit, not charity – and Goldman’s clients are in the business of profit too – their desire to make money leads them into the Lion’s Den.
Anyway – I’m going to let you in on a little Wall Street secret: the goal is to maximize the inner yin-yang harmony of 1) money made from your client and 2) client satisfaction. This isn’t really a panacea – it’s how ALL business works. If you rip your client’s eyeballs out and rob them blind, you end up with no clients, and you make no more money: BAD. If you do everything for free and your clients are the happiest puppies on the planet, you still make no money: BAD. You have to find the balance – the happy state of homeostasis (confidential to Rick Santorum: don’t worry: homeostasis doesn’t mean “gay”) where you make money and your clients make money. Then, maybe you try to push it a little bit so that you make more money and your clients are still happy. If, eventually, you piss your client off, you have to make amends, or suffer the consequences of losing business. This is how markets work, and I don’t think it’s unique to Wall Street.
Guess what else – this doesn’t just apply to the relationship between the firm and its clients, it also applies to the relationship between the firm and its employees! Their goal is to pay you a bonus that’s just big enough to get you to not quit. If you threaten to quit, maybe they take you in the backroom and try to make you an offer you can’t refuse – or maybe they tell you to go screw: it all depends on how much they want to keep you, and how much they believe that you’ll really walk.
It seems in Greg Smith’s case, Goldman fell a little short on that “amount needed to make you stay” number, and Smith went out with a bang, publicly.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that it’s always about making money. Everyone should understand that going in. Everyone should know that there is no noble charitable goal on Wall Street (nor in car sales, food & beverage business, real estate, etc). In my experience, parties on both sides of the trade are very well aware of this fact.
ps: I want to address another point quickly here: Greg Smith’s letter makes it sound like he was a higher-up at GS. In reality, he was a vice president – one of many. I mention this not to attempt to “smear” Mr. Smith, but merely to point out that there is definitely a huge difference between a senior guy who walks away, and a junior guy who walks away. We can speculate about motivation, but that would be, well, speculation. Let’s just say that if Smith was still a VP after being a 12 year Goldman lifer, he wasn’t exactly on track to be a future leader of the firm.
Kid Dynamite is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. If you click on my Amazon.com links and buy anything, even something other than the product advertised, I earn a small commission, yet you don't pay any extra. Thank you for your support.
The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.
This material is provided for informational purposes only, as of the date hereof, and is subject to change without notice.This material may not be suitable for all investors and is not intended to be an offer, or the solicitation of any offer, to buy or sell any securities. | {
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2011 VW Touareg To Debut at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show
Far from being a simple update of the first-generation model, the new VW Touareg has been thoroughly re-engineered. Among the more significant changes is a decision to dump the Touareg’s complex dual-range transfer case as standard equipment (instead it will be optional), a move that reduces the weight of this sport-utility by about 400 pounds.
Much like other recently introduced Volkswagen models, the Touareg’s steel body adopts an edgier look with tauter surfacing, more defined feature lines and squared-off wheel arches. The front is characterized by VW’s latest corporate grille, while the rear updates the look of the old model with a large single-piece tailgate carrying distinctive LED-enhanced taillights.
At 189.0 inches long, 76.0 inches wide and 67.3 inches high, the Touareg has grown in length by 1.7 inches while retaining the same width and height. It rides on a 114.2-inch wheelbase (1.7 inches longer) and sits 0.7 inch lower.
The increased exterior dimensions have improved the first-generation’s Touareg’s poor interior packaging and limited versatility. While seating remains restricted to five, Volkswagen says accommodation has been improved both up front and at the rear.
Four engine choices are available, though not all of them will make it to the U.S. The direct-injection 3.0-liter V6 makes 280 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque, while the 3.0-liter turbodiesel makes 240 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque. A new 4.2-liter V8 turbodiesel replaces the former 5.0-liter V10 turbodiesel and makes 340 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, but unfortunately it’s not coming to America. In its place, Volkswagen is expected to offer U.S. buyers a revised version of the direct-injection 4.2-liter V8 with 366 hp and 328 lb-ft of torque.
The big news, however, centers on a new gasoline-electric drivetrain that Volkswagen has developed in cooperation with Porsche. The German carmaker’s first ever production hybrid uses an Audi-built supercharged 3.0-liter V6 supplemented by a battery-powered electric motor mounted within the transmission to provide a combined 380 hp and 428 lb-ft of torque. (It uses a nickel-metal hydride battery.) VW claims the 2011 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid will accelerate to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 149 mph.
An eight-speed automatic transmission is standard equipment in place of the former six-speed, and it sends power to all four wheels via a Torsen-type drive system similar to that featured by the Audi Q7. As part of Volkswagen’s efforts to reduce the weight of its new SUV, the more complex Haldex-built center differential with its fast-acting multiplate clutch, dual-range transfer case and electronic locking differentials now will only be offered as part of an optional 4XMotion off-road package on selected models.
Inside Line says: Volkswagen finally realizes that Americans don’t need to drive across the red rocks of Moab, Utah, on the way to the grocery store. — Andreas Stahl, Correspondent | {
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Are experience-led teams the future of your organization?
Mark Wilson is a passionate UX/UI designer and TTT’s favourite British lad. His sense of humour and relaxed energy makes him a joy to work with and be around. Read about his love for adventure and journey to Vancouver in issue #18 of Meet our Totems!
Vancouver Startup Week begins this Friday with a Hackathon taking place at Telus Garden. They expect there will be 200 participants hacking away for prizes and glory. Speaking of prizes…. we are a gold sponsor of the event having offered a top prize of $10,000.00 in kind development services. In other words if your team
Recently, Two Tall Totems met several deadlines on various big projects, all within days of each other. A project isn’t considered successful unless it’s on-time, and on-budget. But how do you go about making sure both criteria are met? | {
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Bishop Ramsey School, Ruislip, Middlesex
Bishop Ramsey School in Ruislip, Middlesex, a mixed 11-to-18 Church of England comprehensive school, has completed major rebuilding work in order to bring all its activities onto one site and provide state-of-the-art facilities for its 1,250 students and 150 staff.
Labelled their Big Build by the school, the project comprised a new wedge-shaped building including assembly hall, cafeteria, library, sixth form common room and chapel, and a new drama barn, including drama and dance studios, together with refurbishment of existing classrooms and science laboratories.
With a desire to create an inspirational learning space and fresh thinking the build offered an opportunity to revitalise and drive the school forward. The school and architect sought to specify visually distinctive doorsets with specific performance requirements and ensure the product had an extensive lifespan and as such Leaderflush Shapland supplied a total of 212 doorsets from its Designer range, which features a wide range of veneers, laminates, PVC, paint and metal finishes. Door facings selected were American Black walnut veneer, incorporating Hygienilac antimicrobial protection.
The doors featured fire resistance properties of 30 and 60 minutes, with acoustic protection of up to 38 RwdB, and also incorporated the EnduraCor core construction. EnduraCor is a highly cost-effective engineered performance core that is both versatile and stable, with severe duty mechanical strength meeting the requirements set out by DD171. It provides the ideal solution for the education environment, where the need for durable and robust doorset solutions is at a premium, ensuring a longer lifespan of the product which was key to the specification on this project
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} |
On knowing
When we moved here to the desert almost nine years ago, we were admittedly underwhelmed. After having driven through Phoenix from California we had lofty expectations. Phoenix, with its impressive shopping centers and upscale restaurants, left us hoping for more of the same down the dusty road in Tucson but those expectations went mostly unfulfilled. While we truly love our home, the setting leaves a bit to be desired. At least for us. So when Jeff’s employer announced that his position was being relocated to Alabama, we allowed ourselves to what if. We dreamed up scenarios and looked at houses and plotted an escape–or an exit, at least–from this dusty desert town.
Those what ifs came tumbling down last week, when at long last we were given some details about the move. It’s not for us. We’re staying put.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to some feelings of disappointment. Disappointment over adventures lost and opportunities that won’t come to pass. But lying all the same if I didn’t admit to feelings of relief. Relief in at least knowing. Relief in the comfort of a place we’ve come to know as home.
This much I know to be true: God has a plan for us. In His providence, He places us in the very cities where He intends for us to be. It’s true!
“From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” –Acts 12:26-27 NET
Yes, we wanted to move away from the tarantulas and the snakes and the dust of this desert city. But moreover, we want to obey. Clearly there is a reason why we’re still here. And though I don’t know the reason, I’m inclined to make the best of it. To find the silver lining.
It snowed over the weekend. We woke up Saturday morning to a yard thick with snow. It accumulated on the cacti. How’s that for irony? It wasn’t forecasted, but then again, miracles never are. | {
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Artemis – Andy Weir
Artemis ebook epub/pdf/prc/mobi/azw3 download free
Artemis – The best-selling author of The Martian returns with an irresistible new near-future thriller – a heist story set on the moon.
Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.
Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself – and that now her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.
Bringing to life Weir’s brash, whip-smart protagonist is actress Rosario Dawson (Marvel’s The Defenders, Sin City, Death Proof). With the breathless immediacy of one realizing they’re one cracked helmet visor away from oblivion, Dawson deftly captures Jazz’s first-person perspective – all while delivering sarcastic Weir-ian one-liners and cracking wise in the face of death. And with a cast of diverse characters from all walks of life calling Artemis home, Dawson tonally somersaults to voice Kenyan prime ministers, Ukrainian scientists, and Saudi welders. It’s a performance that transports listeners right alongside Jazz, matching her step for step on every lunar inch of her pulse-pounding journey.
Editorial Reviews
Ok – let me start right here. This is no “The Martian: The Sequel”. It is a completely different story done very differently. I’m guessing there will be A LOT of people who think that’s what they’re getting and get very disappointed when they get this instead. Which is sad, because this really is a very good book.
Jazz lives on the moon, in a city called Artemis. Named after the moon, of course. Travel between the moon and earth is consistent, and the moon has become a vacation hot spot for people of all types, though the only ones that afford to live there year-round (other than those who work there) are filthy rich. She is a smuggler, and works offloading cargo ships as well. When one of her smuggling regulars asks her for a shady job, her first inclination is to say no. Then he names his price, and she runs with it – she has a specific goal she’s saving for, and this will clear it and then some. But that’s when things get crazy, and the book takes off like a rocket (put totally intended).
This book does have a few puzzle pieces missing. There are some choices that Jazz makes that will obviously be very bad ones. There are a few things that will happen that readers will see coming. Having said that – the book is a fun ride from beginning to end, even *with* those puzzle pieces missing. Jazz as a character was interesting, particularly as it would be difficult to create a character more opposite from the one in Weir’s first book. The science sprinkled throughout was a little harder for me to understand than in the first book, but for those who appreciated it then – you will appreciate it here as well.
Overall, if readers go into this book just looking for a good read, then this might fit the bill. Again – it’s not The Martian, but it has strengths and weaknesses all its own.
About the Author
ANDY WEIR was first hired as a programmer for a national laboratory at age fifteen and has been working as a software engineer ever since. He is also a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects like relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. The Martian is his first novel. | {
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About the Rottweiler Breed
If you're looking for a large breed dog with a protective demeanor, the Rottweiler may be the breed for you. Learn all about the Rottweiler here - it may be the dog you are looking for.
The Rottweiler is a large, heavily muscled dog with a reputation as a guard dog. Prospective owners should understand the breed and their needs before getting one, as it takes a substantial commitment of time and effort to raise a rottweiler puppy to be a safe, sound companion as an adult. With proper training and socialization, the "rottie" is an excellent family pet who will be devoted to the entire family.
History
Rottweilers are directly descended from dogs that pulled carts and drove cattle into Europe as the Romans invaded new lands. Valued for strength and intelligence, the Rottweiler’s ancestors helped protect the herds, and were valued for their strength and intelligence. Germans later recognized the many strengths of these dogs, and selectively bred them for their guarding and herding abilities. At one point, Rottweilers almost disappeared, because they were no longer needed for such work. Since the breed was revitalized in the early 1900s, the Rottweiler has become a beloved family companion and protector.
Temperament
The Rottweiler has a calm nature, and is inclined to take a wait-and-see attitude when confronted with new situations. This breed can also be very pushy and stubborn. If the Rottweiler's owner does not take a leadership role, the dog will do so at about 18 months old, and this trait often causes owners to fear their Rottweilers. Young Rottweilers are very active and need plenty of exercise. They eventually settle down as they mature, at about 3 years of age. This breed must be kept safely behind a secure fence, as the Rottweiler's prey drive will cause them to chase joggers, bikers, and even cars if they are allowed to get to them.
Socialization
Rottweilers are highly intelligent dogs who are devoted to their families, but very reserved with strangers. They are naturally protective, but it is essential that they be well socialized so they can learn to distinguish real threats from what is simply unfamiliar. It is important to socialize Rottweilers as early as possible, since dogs who are not well-socialized may wind up being fearful of strangers, which can cause aggression and bullying. Rotties do best when they are enrolled as early as possible in puppy-training classes, which gives them regular opportunities to become used to other people, places, and pets.
Training
It is not enough to do a little bit of training with Rottweilers and then stick them in the backyard and leave them there. This breed thrives on work and responsibility. Their stamina and intelligence make them ideal candidates for all kinds of active dog sports. Training also reinforces your role as leader, and that is essential with a breed as intelligent and powerful as this one. Rottweilers enjoy advanced obedience training, agility, herding and carting. When properly socialized and trained, these dogs make excellent therapy dogs and service dogs,, proving Rottweilers are at their best when they have a job to do. They often find their way into police work, where they make loyal partners for their human companions.
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You are here
MIT License
The DPLA is launching an open-source tool for fast, large-scale data harvests from OAI repositories. The tool uses a Spark distributed processing engine to speed up and scale up the harvesting operation, and to perform complex analysis of the harvested data. It is helping us improve our internal workflows and provide better service to our hubs.
The suite of programs retrieves bibliographic data and Open Library pages for a set of identified books, organizes these for selection based on quality, and makes appropriate changes to the MARC records based on the library's requirements. In addition, statistics about book downloads are obtained via simple integration with the bit.ly URL shortening service.
Scholarly researchers today are increasingly required to engage in a range of data management activities to comply with institutional policies, or as a precondition for publication or grant funding. Data management plans are now a standard part of grant proposals for most funding agencies.
Shelflife is a community-based wayfinding tool for navigating the vast resources of the combined Harvard Library System. It enables researchers, teachers, scholars, and students to find what they need and help others learn from them and their paths. | {
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Monday, July 25, 2011
The final match in the Freedom Cup will pit Zenit against CSKA but neither club can claim the Freedom Cup. That is thanks to the three braces netted by Alamo City this weekend. Kei Kamara, Eric Hassli, and Theirry Henry ensured that this season would garner some hardware for the Battle.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
The Alamo City Battle have come into the first match of their 4th of July double header on their worst run of form in team history. For the first time ever, the club has failed to score in two consecutive matches. After putting up 10pts (5 of which counted on the score sheet) the Battle haven't come close to finding the back of the net since. That has cost the Battle dearly as they dropped the second leg of the BSL Classic and have once again seen the trophy go to the Gunners. Following that disappointment, the Battle failed to capitalize on a prime chance to garner 3pts in the standings against Hillcrest United. Now Alamo City finds itself on the outside looking in on both the Playoff and Major's Cup races.
The 4th of July weekend will give Alamo City the perfect shot at reclaiming their form and their place in the table. First they'll have to take care of Alliance FC and then the Pennsylvania Stoners.
The Lineup for the FIRST match (6/29 - 7/3) is as follows:
PlataHassliHenrySapongKamaraAlhassanLenhartJackson
Kennedy
BrettschneiderNazaritPaladini
RimandoFeilhaber
The lineup for the SECOND match (7/4 - 7/10) is as follows:
Henry
Hassli
Lenhart
Sapong
Kamara
Jackson
Feilhaber
Brettschneider
Rimando
Nazarit
Paladini
Plata
Kennedy
Alhassan
*Bidding war for Danny Koevermans ends after 2nd match starts, therefore any player released for Koevermans will still count on roster for this match | {
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In the 1990s, Big Mountain had two self-imposed challenges. Philosophically, they wanted to spread their positivemessages of One World/One People" peace and harmony throughout the world. Musically, they sought a balancebetween commercial success and their reggae roots. Their 1994 hit "Baby, I Love Your Way" garnered internationalsuccess, but also resulted in some criticism among reggae fans and critics. After the wave of popularity began to recede,Big Mountain focused on more of a balance in their career. "The bottom line is we all see a real serious voice in the waypeople deal with each other socially," singer Quino told Lee O'Neill in Reggae Report. AReggae people are consciouspeople. I see reggae as being a rallying cry for this new time."
Growning up in San Diego, California, Quino was exposed to the various Latin American musical styles. At theage of 13, he saw reggae legend Bob Marley on the television news program 60 Minutes, and his love for reggae wasborn. In 1986, Quino joined a reggae band called Shiloh, who would release their debut album three years later. By1992, the members had changed their name to Big Mountain, which was inspired by a mountain peak on a Navajoreservation in Arizona.
During that same year, they released their first album Wake Up on Quality Records. Their single, "Touch My Light,"reached 46 on Billboard's pop charts, an unusual accomplishment for an unknown reggae band. From the beginning,Big Mountain was plagued by several line-up changes. At one point the group went through four guitarists in one monthbefore settling on Jamaican guitarist Tony Chin. Chin's reggae roots were unquestioned, as he was a founding memberof one of reggae's most sought after backing bands, Soul Syndicate. He also had stints with the Peter Tosh band, as well.
With the new line-up in place, Big Mountain performed on the 1993 Reggae Sunsplash USA tour. Quino toldReggae Report that the tour was like "jumping off a cliff and hoping to fly." Big Mountain jumped right back in thestudio the following year, but encountered some difficulties. Having ran out of money before the record was complete,their crew decided to pack up and go home. Their savior came in the form of Ron Fair, executive producer for the movieReality Bites. Fair asked the band if they would be interested in recording a reggae version of Peter Frampton's hit"Baby I Love Your Way" for the film. Sensing that the knock on the door was indeed opportunity, the band recruitedsaxophonist Warren Hill to contribute, and launched an international number one hit. The success of "Baby I Love YourWay" allowed them to finish their next album, Unity, and release it on Warner Bros. Records before the end of the year.With new found notoriety, Big Mountain was able to tour the world in support of the album with stints in Europe,Japan, South America, and Jamaica, where they played the original incarnation of the Reggae Sunsplash.
By 1995, Big Mountain had reached a crossroads in their career. "There wasn't enough straight-ahead roots (onUnity), and it's important to let people know we're a reggae band," Quino told Reggae Report. They decided to let goof the demands of success and popularity and stick with their deep reggae influences and the core reggae audience."We're still balancing how much we're willing to sacrifice to gain exposure," Quino told Peter Cronin in Billboard, "buteveryone involved has been respectful of the fact that we are a reggae band."
Later that year, veteran drummer Santa Davis joined the band. Davis grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, where hedeveloped his talent in a youth Drum Corp. He began performing as a professional drummer in the mid-1960s, and wenton to play with such reggae legends such as Wailing Souls, Soul Syndicate, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Andrew Tosh,and Peter Tosh. Davis confessed to O'Neill in Reggae Report how joining Big Mountain infused his playing with freshinspiration. "This is the best thing that's happened to me in a while," said Davis. "They're young and open to new ideas it's like working on a whole new level."
Davis was the perfect catalyst for the band's redefined focus on their next release, Resistance. The album openswith the track "Hooligans," a song about the violence among inner city youth. Big Mountain's 1996 world tour includedstops in Brazil, where reggae was gaining popularity. "We went to Brazil three times in 1996," Quino said in the band'srecord company bio. "It's like a gold rush, sooner or later every reggae band finds out about it. Not every nation is onthe same cycle with reggae. Sometimes it's big in one place and not in another, but it's always burning hot somewhere."Big Mountain recruited two new members in 1997, keyboardist Michael Hyde and bass player William Shively. Asthe band returned to the studio, they sought to continue the momentum they started on Resistance. "We wanted to puttogether a record that would establish us as a driving force behind reggae music in America," Quino said in the band'sbio. They achieved their goal of balance with their next release Free Up. They continued their revolutionary philosophy,but also added a love song and two cover tunes to the mix-Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" and Gary Wright's"Dream Weaver.'
With Big Mountain standing firmly on the reggae high road, Quino told O'Neill in Reggae Report that the bandnever regretted the path they had chosen. "Looking back, when you have a worldwide hit, people think, This is easy,"said Quino. "You're riding high and feeling [good]. Then, you release three singles that basically flop. It's a trip the wayyou learn your business. Things had to happen the way they did."
by Sonya Shelton
Big Mountain's Career
Band formed as Shiloh, 1986; changed their name to Big Mountain and released their debut Wake Up onQuality Records, 1992; released hit single "Baby I Love Your Way" on the Reality Bites soundtrack, 1994; signed toWarner Bros. Records, 1994; released Resistance, 1996; released Free Up on Giant Records, 1997.
Feel free to share Big Mountain lyrics. Just click on "Add a comment…" below and paste the song name and the lyrics. However, please do not postBig Mountain lyricsunless you have received permission from the copyright owner. Make sure to include the name of the Big Mountain album along with the lyrics.
Baby I Love your way is one of my favourites. I come from the Seychelles (small island in the indian ocean). Big Up to u guys, loving the attitude and style. Peace and love!!!
about 11 years ago
I love this group so much. My three all time favorite songs are; A PLACE IN THE SUN ; BABY I LOVE YOUR WAY and I WOULD FIND A WAY. Check them out, I'm sure you'll fall in love with these guys. Their ideos are great also.
about 11 years ago
Hey guys,Im a Radio announcer here in Papua New Guinea..We play your music on our station and our audience loves it..we wanna bring you guys over to PNG sometime.Our stations birthday is in November if your intrested in a gig..You've got our address now,we'd love to hear from you...Lecter.
over 11 years ago
Hey, that's the way to go!
I love the music, love the voice and hope you tour us in the Pacific Islands some time.
I wish to see ya "Quino" You're my fav singer.
Joyl (Solomon Islands)
over 11 years ago
yeah, that is that spirit we need for all people !! but u cant make everyone feel like that in a simple way..i understood it through my way.. now, i cling to their songs because i feel that life is exactly like in their songs, its so simple, true and beautiful. the only thing that makes it difficult - mind games and everything..
over 11 years ago
hi guys... i know this band for a while now and i really like their songs about how life goes on...the band is simple but so nice....
about 12 years ago
Gentle breeze, a little bit of warm and sunshine - it is always to be found in all Big Mountain's songs. All we need in our climate in the Central Europe, especially when it is raining dogs and cats.... And this special attitude towards the life - take it easy, enjoy yourself whenever you are, whatever you do - thanks such songs like 'Wave of Love' even our grey, spooky days of autumn seem to be brighter and more optimistic.
I am just listening to one of them - 'Island of Love'. I'd like to thank the singers for a little bit sunshine you have just brought into my room :)
Margaret | {
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While South Korea is a vital part of the growing economic boom in Asia, the country of nearly 50 million people is exporting more than just consumer electronics and cars these days. Its native popular music, universally known as K-pop, is also finding a growing international audience in places such as the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. And in other Asian markets, including Japan, it's already big business.
In major U.S. cities such as Chicago, Atlanta and Houston, K-pop concerts have sold out venues seating 1,700 to 2,500 music fans. In 2011 the nine-member dance-pop group Girls' Generation performed to a sold-out audience, along with other K-pop acts, at New York's hallowed Madison Square Garden. And in Los Angeles, the Korean Music Festival has been a part of the concert season at the 17,000-plus capacity Hollywood Bowl for the past 10 years. Held this year on April 28, the festival featured performances from Korean artists such as Brown Eyed Girls, Im Tae Kyung, Kim Kyung-Ho, and Lena Park, among others.
Christine Ha, a reporter for Los Angeles' The Korea Times, presenters of the annual Korean Music Festival, says the festival now attracts approximately 30 percent non-Koreans.
"We noticed [the growth in audience diversity at the Hollywood Bowl shows] about two or three years ago," says Ha. "It includes the Hispanic community, the Chinese community [and] other Americans … We always sell out."
The sizable Korean-American population in cities such as Los Angeles is certainly helping to fuel the popularity of K-pop in the United States, but the stateside K-pop audience stretches beyond Asian-American demographics.
"When we performed in Los Angeles, New York and Paris, we were shocked and surprised to see that the majority of our fans were non-Asian," says Sunny of Girls' Generation. "That is when we realized how big and influential K-pop was [becoming] around the world."
Joon Ahn, executive vice president for the music business division at Korea's CJ Entertainment & Media, says K-pop first emerged in the '90s with ballad crooners such as Kim Gun Mo and Shin Seung Hun. The first decade of the new millennium has seen the emergence of new stars such as Girls' Generation, Big Bang, Super Junior, and Wonder Girls, with the latter opening for the Jonas Brothers in 2009.
As the international audience for K-pop has broadened, so has its stylistic boundaries, says Ahn. Hip-hop, rock and techno are now freely embraced by some artists in the movement. Snoop Dogg performed on the title track of Girls' Generation's 2011 album, The Boys; Kanye West appeared on JYJ's "Ayyy Girl" in 2010; and the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am will reportedly produce the U.S. debut album by K-pop group 2NE1, an all-female hip-hop group.
Today, many K-pop artists are setting their sights on the international market right away. And while the preparation that some go through is reminiscent of the rigorous artist development practices employed by Barry Gordy's Motown Records in the '60s, Ahn believes this attention to detail has contributed to the success of many of these groups.
"In recent years, Korean artists have planned their overseas activities as soon as they make their local debut," says Ahn. "Therefore, vocal training, dance rehearsals and physical workouts are only the beginning. Lessons in foreign languages and etiquette are given as well."
Some K-pop performers are recruited from other countries such as Thailand, China, Japan, and the United States. Tiffany of Girls' Generation was born Stephanie Hwang in San Francisco. NichKhun of K-pop boy band 2PM, who was born and partly educated in Southern California and is of Thai-Chinese descent, feels it's a benefit to have members in a group that can fluently speak and sing in other languages, particularly English.
"It is a big advantage having two English speakers in our group," notes NichKhun.
"It's Taecyeon and me. To be able to communicate with the fans is very important. So if 2PM ever makes a debut in English-speaking countries, we can connect with the fans better."
Ahn believes the growth in digital media is a major reason why K-pop has become a global entity. The video for the Girls' Generation 2009 single "Gee" has been viewed more than 73 million times on YouTube. The song became the longest-running No. 1 song on the Korean Broadcasting System's chart, and their self-titled album, released in Japan in June 2011, went double platinum, a first for a Korean girl group.
"The channel for movement of music is now very simple with digital," Ahn observes. "Even the file size is convenient for it. Compared to movies, musical theater, or TV series that have a bigger language barrier, music's appeal is communicated through rhythm and visual impact. YouTube and other social networks have contributed the most to spreading music of all kinds and allowing them to be heard [by] a greater audience."
With commercial success comes increased competition. It's been said that even a few months out of the spotlight can spell trouble for a successful K-pop group because there are many artists clamoring for attention.
"The K-pop scene is very competitive because there are so many people who are talented and younger who also want to be a part of the scene," says NichKhun. "Recently, we have been away working on our album in Japan and we're already starting to see so many new young groups. So we have to make sure to maintain our popularity in Korea while expanding to other markets, which doubles or triples the work. It is not easy."
Adds Tiffany, "Now with most groups trying to expand and break through into other markets and territories, the competition is that much stronger. So we are so thankful to our fans for supporting us."
Questions remain regarding K-pop's potential for growth and influence. Will the scene be able to generate artists for the ages similar to the Beatles and Michael Jackson, who both moved from being teen idols to timeless international artists? While that remains to be seen, K-pop artists are certainly reaping the benefits of the genre's current success.
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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of The Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for The Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by The Recording Academy. | {
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Moving to higher levels of being, living & operating…
On The Path of The Invincible™
“The time has come when we can and must drop the human addiction to pain and struggle. We are moving into an era when we can truly flourish, when we can consciously create what our hearts and souls desire, discover our invincibility and be our Greatest Self…Now, life can be easy, effortless, joyous and abundant!” – Helen Lee
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Dropping Addiction to Pain & Struggle
Helen Lee, our Founder & Principal Coach says: “Yes, indeed, the time has come for us to stop playing victim and move into mastery, to adopt the mission in life, as Maya Angelou puts it, of not merely surviving but thriving and to do so with some passion, compassion, humor and style.
But we do have to embrace the truth that we can now all be our expanded, invincible selves and lead the greatest lives, no holds barred. We do need to drop the outmoded belief system and programming we’ve been carrying that stops us from being everything we can be and having everything we want.
We can help everyone do this quickly and efficiently. We know exactly how to put you immediately in touch with your own inner power and wisdom. With your Greatest Self: the most lovingly powerful, clear and vibrant you who is true to yourself, courageous and strong, authentic and invincible, happy and giving.
Provided that you don’t put up too much resistance to the process. The greater the collaboration, the greater and quicker the positive results you will enjoy.
Applies to Everyone
This applies to everyone, whether you are an individual, an adult or a child, a couple or a family, a group or community. In the end, what makes our work powerful is that we work with each person’s Inner Being (the ‘being’ part of the human being) as well as his/her ‘humanness’, helping the individual move into wholeness while simultaneously considering the couple, family or group’s desired goals, where applicable.
Today, life can be easy, effortless, joyous and abundant! If you feel a resistance to this idea, if you are compromising yourself in any way, if you feel stuck or experience heaviness within and around you, we can help you work through it all and create the results you want. With YOU in charge of the depth and breadth of the journey of transformation i.e. how far we go.
Truly Meant to Thrive
We truly are meant to thrive, to engage ourselves and engage life fully and meaningfully, to enjoy and celebrate, to be our Greatest Self, to love and laugh, to spread our joy and our grace… To let the joy and the grace arise from within us in the first place!!!
If you don’t know how to get past age-old habits, find someone who can help you, NOT someone or people who will dictate to you how it should be and impose on you what works for them or others, or who might make you feel small in any way.
Go to those who have the talent, experience and great love to help you HUGELY shift in a way that respects and honors you, people who will uplift and support you to be the Best You Can Be, to be Who You Really Are, even if they apply tough love at times to stretch you beyond your current paradigm/s.
We certainly know exactly how to support you to be all that and have the Best Life, whatever best means to YOU.
It’s time to have fun, to BE YOU to the FULL! Time to love YOU and all that’s around you, and that could mean the whole world!!” | {
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Friday, March 03, 2006
Secret Little Pleasures
We've all had them. Who hasn't snickered a little when seeing somebody slip on the ice? Or spill a drink on themselves? Or other such things? Or you get the chance to stick it to someone--not in a mean way, or in a large consequential way. Just something that puts a little smile on your face (even though it might be mean, childish or unnecessary).
I had such a moment this morning. As I pulled up to a stop sign (4-lane street), a kid pulls up next to me. I swear he was two blocks behind me as I approached the cross-street. We pull out together, but it's obvious that he's in a hurry. The Game is on! I speed up just a little--just enough that he can't zip in front of me to pass the cars in front of him. We hit a stoplight, but he's stuck a car behind. The light turns green, and I go as fast (slow) as the car next to me. He pulls in behind me, but realizes he's not going to be able to pass, so he goes back. He tries a couple more times. By this time, I've pulled up next to a semi. This is where the fun really begins. I get in front of the semi just far enough to be past it, but not far enough for the kid to sneak through. Add in the series of stoplights, other drivers, and his impatience--and my entire day is being made! My final act was to slow down enough (with him behind me) to let the semi pass me on the right, get into the right lane, and turn off into the parking lot at work. Sure enough, he burned rubber as soon as I had turned into the lot.
As I said, it's the simple things that make me smile. And I had a HUGE smile as I walked into work. I realize that if you live somewhere amongst the crazy people (California comes to mind), you'll get shot doing something like that, but there must be other things! So I put the question to you--
What secret little pleasures do you have that put a smile on your face? | {
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Is your home in need of an exterior house washing? If so, this home improvement project is best left up to the professionals at Parker’s Pressure Washing in Winston-Salem, North Carolina! Power washing your deck, the siding of your house (including brick, stone, cedar, vinyl, and painted siding), and cleaning your roof and gutters are critical to keeping your home looking and operating at its best. The exterior of your home is exposed to extensive outdoor elements and weather conditions, causing more wear and tear. Regularly maintaining the exterior of your home eliminates mold, algae, insects and their nests, unwanted weeds, and more. If left alone, the more likely these problems will build up over time and cause damage to your home.
Benefits of Residential Pressure Washing Services:
Saves time, money, energy
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Don’t DIY, Hire Parker’s Pressure Washing
In a society that is full of home DIY projects, we’re often tempted to look at a service like exterior power washing and think to ourselves, “I can do that!” Sure, you probably can do that. But the truth is, pressure washing your house on your own can be time consuming, frustrating, and lead to spending more money than you intended—especially if you have never used a pressure washer on your own. Whether you have your own pressure washer, or you need to rent one from a hardware store, you will not get the professional results you are hoping for. You could wind up spending more time getting set up and becoming familiar with the pressure cleaner itself than it takes to actually pressure wash your house. Not to mention, the detergents, cleaners, and degreasers won’t be the same as what the experts use.
Winston-Salem’s Pressure Washing Services
Parker’s Pressure Washing is fast, reliable, and efficient. We use the best equipment and the best power washing cleaners that will get the job done. We are fully licensed and insured so you can count on us to do a professional clean in a safe manner in order to protect your property while effectively blasting away the dirt and grime built up on the exterior of your house.
Our residential pressure washing equipment is state-of-the-art and uses a gentle, warm spray that deep cleans and protects your home’s surface. Rest assured that the solutions we use are safe for your family, pets, plants, and your yard. Our staff is committed to quality and we aim to restore your home’s exterior to look as beautiful as you imagined.
Our pressure washing services include:
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If you’re looking for a safe, reliable home pressure washing company in Salem that you can depend on, then look no further than Parker’s Pressure Washing! Contact us today to get a free quote! | {
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Get the impeccable service you desire- tailored to your needs & budget! We make it easy- our experienced catering team will take care of all your culinary needs. Consider us your last minute Catering Experts. You call & we deliver on-time or earlier, it's that easy. Pick-up, drop off or full-service, Twisted Rooster Catering is your Catering Expert. | {
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Monthly Archives: August 2015
Take one: People at Nammos Restaurant are patiently waiting with great excitement for the real star to appear, while sipping their -500€ minimun consumption- drinks. At about 02:30 am Antonis Remos, a greek celeb pop star, makes his entrance on stage and the sky of Mykonos is lightened by hundreds of fireworks. About 30 minutes… | {
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Oh So Heavenly Unboxing
Oh So Heavenly has always been a brand I support. Their products are super affordable and probably one of my favourite South African brands. I am so happy to bring you an Oh So Heavenly Unboxing Video!
I ‘ve been wanting to do some more Youtube video’s for a really long time. Don’t think people, except for bloggers really understand and get that so much work goes into writing posts. Don’t get me started on videos too. Oh So Heavenly just released their facial range, so keep reading to find out more.
First of all, you have to actually make time to sit down and do a video. It takes you at least 30 minutes or more to take a few minute videos that you guys get to watch. Don’t get me started on the editing, cropping out the shit you don’t want people to see can take forever.
This UNBOXING video simply shows the new facial range I received from Oh So Heavenly. They were kind enough to send these products to me. I just wanted to share them with you guys. Oh So Heavenly has always been the go-to brand for buying gifts. They are so cheap that honestly, I wish they were available in other parts of the world! I was sent the range of Anti- Ageing and dry skin because I have such dry skin it’s not even funny.
Their products are available at only Clicks stores nationwide. I would highly recommend you visit your nearest store, they have so many products you will simply fall in love with.
Side Note: Please let me know if you guys enjoy watching videos, it’s definitely something you will be seeing more of. We all know the blogging industry is changing! I am simply changing and adapting to it. | {
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The defendants in 233 adversary proceedings had sought to have complaints filed by the trustee, Irving H. Picard, dismissed.
NEW YORK (The Deal) -- A New York judge has ruled the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities can recover false profits from the brokerage's former customers.
Judge Stuart Bernstein of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New Yorkin Manhattan ruled Tuesday that Securities Investor Protection Act trustee Irving H. Picard could claw back money from certain former customers. These "net winners" withdrew more than they deposited into Madoff's securities company (BLMIS), and Picard wants to recover these "fictitious profits" in the Ponzi scheme.
These are limited to intentional fraudulent transfers made in the two years before the securities company went into receivership on Dec. 15, 2008. Proceedings in the case take place in bankruptcy court. The defendants in 233 adversary proceedings had sought to have complaints filed by Picard dismissed.
Bernstein, however, ruled, "Fictitious profits are not profits at all but distributions of other people's money based on an arbitrary allocation of fraudulent bookkeeping entries." He later added, "Once it is determined that a Ponzi scheme exists, all transfers made in furtherance of that Ponzi scheme are presumed to have been made with fraudulent intent."
Picard had filed a motion Friday seeking permission to enter into a deal with two Madoff feeder funds.
Under the terms of the settlement, Ariel Fund would hand over $17.9 million to the BLMIS customer fund, while Gabriel Capital would put $17 million into the fund. That money represents 100% of the amount transferred from BLMIS to the funds. Ariel Fund would receive an allowed claim of about $189.4 million, while Gabriel Capital would receive a $178.4 million claim. A hearing on the matter is set for June 24. | {
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We report on magnetic fluctuations studied by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy in the layered organic crystal ?-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Cl. A line broadening above the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature, TN?=?23?K is attributed to two-dimensional magnetic fluctuations of a staggered magnetization induced by the interplay of the magnetic field and the DzyaloshinskiiMoriya (DM) interaction. | {
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“Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.” – Doug Stowe
In my newsletter I spoke about Labor Day’s beginning as a way to celebrate, honor and give a voice to the working class. I shared my thoughts about the working class being the producers and providers of services. The working class are those whose work demands full engagement of their physical bodies, and a deep immersion into the concrete world around them.
They are the embodied foundation of society.
In the west historically there has been a dissonance between book learning and practical experience. Somehow they’ve been pitted against each other and at times separating society primarily by race and economic status. Some folks scoffed at well learned educated folks, while others looked down on those that worked with their hands. Other times it was the exact opposite, those that chose to go into higher education were not particularly valued in communities with larger population of blue collar workers.
I know what you’re thinking…
How does this apply to yoga?
The applied yogi needs to be BOTH, absolutely visceral and engaged in all things earthy, grounding and primitive, while at the same time having a nimble creative, intelligent and discerning mind.
Come practice and embody these powerful qualities by focusing on your foundation (your worker physical body) and letting that help you serve optimally (your expressive intelligence).
Let yourself re-align and refresh yourself as we began the journey into Fall!
When was the last time that you thought of your work as sacred and meaningful?
How do you view work?
For a long time I thought that work was my job. I fell into the very well known habit of griping and complaining about my job pretty often. I began to dread waking up in the morning, knowing that I HAD to go to my job. While I was in my job I longed to be anywhere else but there…
I’m sure you’ve had this feeling at least once.
It wasn’t until I shifted my perspective from job to work that I began to honor what I did every day, all day long, not *just* at my job. I recognized that when I worked, when I engaged fully in my life, with a great sense of connection to not just with myself but to something much greater, an abundant sense of ease ensued.
Work as Service
The strong connection was highlighted when I truly understood Work as Service.
Labor Day was established to honor just that- service.
It began as a way to celebrate, honor and give a voice to the working class. The working class are producers and providers of services. The working class are those that engage in work that demands full engagement of their physical bodies, and a deep immersion into the concrete world around them. They are the embodied foundation of society.
When I view my work as carefully and consciously laying the foundation of my family’s and my life, its accomplishment becomes a sacred endeavor.
Come join me as we celebrate you, the worker, through a fun, inspiring and rejuvenative yoga practice on Labor Day.
Let’s get ready to welcome September and happily begin to transition into Fall 🙂
Hello everybody and welcome to EYK episode #6!
Just in case you are a new listener, the Elsie’s Yoga Kula Episodes are all about community. There are times when I want share with you guys more than the few minute intro that my Yoga Class Episodes allow me 😉 This is where I share some of the feedback that I’ve gotten from you guys, plus answer some questions I get, or anything else that I desire to put out
Today’s episode has some inspiring feedback from you guys, PLUS and interview with my twitter buddy Scott from Boston who shares all about his experience going to yoga for the first time ever! Some pretty cool insights from his perspective.
Featured Posts
Have you ever had someone ask for help and they just won’t listen? This is what this week’s yoga class is all about. I have a friend that I love dearly. This friend (let’s call him Pete) is kind hearted, he is giving, he is committed, he is loyal, and he has so much to […]
Hello lovely folks I was soooo looking forward to serving you Episode 84 this weekend, but alas, the computer dieties decided to put a halt on that. My MacBook’s backlight is no longer shining. The computer works, but I can’t see anything! If it was only about posting a blog…well, I could have swung that […]
“Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.” – Doug Stowe In my newsletter I spoke about Labor Day’s beginning as a way to celebrate, honor and give a voice to the working class. I shared my thoughts about the working […]
These past few months I nearly got overwhelmed by anxiety. This hasn’t happened to me in a LONG time. I lost control of my rational thought process and simply dove into a feeling that was suffocating and terrifying. I can’t say that I was in any way comfortable. The only thing that pulled me out […]
When was the last time that you thought of your work as sacred and meaningful? How do you view work? For a long time I thought that work was my job. I fell into the very well known habit of griping and complaining about my job pretty often. I began to dread waking up in […] | {
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Obama to Announce 34,000 Troops Coming Home From Afghanistan
Tuesday
Feb 12, 2013 at 10:29 AM
WASHINGTON | President Barack Obama will announce in his State of the Union address that 34,000 U.S. troops will be home from Afghanistan within a year, two people familiar with his remarks said Tuesday.
By JULIE PACEAP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON | President Barack Obama will announce in his State of the Union address that 34,000 U.S. troops will be home from Afghanistan within a year, two people familiar with his remarks said Tuesday. That’s about half the U.S. forces currently serving there, and marks the next phase in the administration’s plans to formally finish the war by the end of 2014. The U.S. now has 66,000 troops in Afghanistan, down from a peak of about 100,000 as recently as 2010. The U.S. is still finalizing plans for the size and scope of its military presence after the war ends. The White House has said it would be open to leaving no troops in Afghanistan, though it’s likely that a small presence will remain, in keeping with the Pentagon’s preferences. The people familiar with Obama’s remarks requested anonymity in order to discuss the troop drawdown ahead of the president. Obama discussed the next phases of the drawdown with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a day-long meeting in Washington last month, the first meeting between the two leaders since Obama’s re-election. The two leaders agreed to accelerate their timetable for putting Afghan forces in the lead combat role nationwide, moving that transition up from the summer to the spring. Obama will announce the troop drawdown and the future of the U.S. role in Afghanistan during a joint session of Congress that is otherwise expected to be dominated by the economy and other domestic issues. Foreign policy has intruded in recent days, however, and the White House quickly condemned North Korea early Tuesday for its nuclear launch hours before Obama’s address. The president is expected to make further remarks on this in his primetime speech. Some private security analysts, as well as some Pentagon officials, worry that pulling out of Afghanistan too quickly will leave the battle-scarred country vulnerable to collapse. In a worst-case scenario, that could allow the Taliban to regain power and revert to the role they played in the years before 9/11 as protectors of al-Qaida terrorists bent on striking the U.S. Many Americans, however, are weary of the war, according to public opinion polls, and are skeptical of any claim that Afghanistan is worth more U.S. blood. The Obama administration gave the first clear signal in early January that it might leave no troops in the country after December 2014. Administration officials have said they are considering a range of options for a residual U.S. troop presence of as few as 3,000 and as many as 15,000, with the number linked to a specific set of military-related missions like hunting down terrorists. | {
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4/13/2015
Huawei P8 and P8 Lite cases show us more physical details
This week is Huawei’s big launch week with the Huawei P8 scheduled to launch in London alongside a budget friendly P8 Lite. We turn to Chinese case manufactures to uncover a few more details.
Huawei don’t have the same sort of pull as Samsung and Apple, even in China, so when we search for cases on supplier websites only a few show up, but they have enough details on them to appear to be genuine.
First up is the black Silicon case which appears to have been designed for the top of the range Huawei P8. The case features a cut out in the rear for a fingerprint scanner below a cut out for the rear camera on the top left rear of the phone.
The base has 3 holes, 2 for the dual speakers and the center for micro USB, or perhaps even USB C connector.
In the top there is a small hole next to a larger one. One is obviously for a 3.5mm headphone jack while the other is likely for a built-in IR sensor for controlling home appliances. The silicon case even shows a cardboard mock-up of the P8 sat inside with large chin rear, on-screen controls and narrow bezels.
In addition to the P8, it also looks like we have uncovered images of the Huawei P8 Lite from another accessory maker.
This time we get to see the front and rear of the phone, with the front having a Huawei logo but overall the same design as the flagship phone, while the rear lacks a fingerprint scanner,
The base of the P8 Lite case also has the same three cut outs so expect a dual speaker set up on the budget phone also, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack and IR sensor at the very top of the phone.
Both versions of the Huawei P8 are believed to be running Hisilicon Kirin processors, up to 3GB RAM and dual SIM support. More details coming this week along with the official launch announcement. | {
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