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I know in the grand scheme of things it is hardly a big issue, but I saw that a few sites were reporting that Dawn Marie had her profile removed from the Alumni section on WWE.com. I definitely enjoyed Dawn's work in both ECW and the WWE, but I wonder if her Wrestler's Rescue venture (from what I've heard about, "charity" seems like it would be the wrong word to use) is behind the removal. Kamala actually got the money, but dr. Death Steve Williams didn't. Its one of those "charities" where she kept a % (if not everything) of collected money for herself to cover her "expenses". Sneaky shit. Kamala actually got the money, but dr. Death Steve Williams didn't. Its one of those "charities" where she kept a % (if not everything) of collected money for herself to cover her "expenses". Sneaky shit.

Search This Blog HIV prevention drugs could halve new cases, aid women HIV prevention drugs could halve new cases, aid women - The ASPIRE trial, being undertaken by the Microbicide Trials Network, is testing the efficacy and safety of delivering a monthly vaginal ring having dapiravine, an ARV, in 2,600 young HIV-negative women from Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe

Shelters Fly White Flags During Hot Weather Six Louisville homeless shelters have relaxed their overnight capacity rules due to the hot and humid weather. When the heat index reaches or tops 95 degrees, the shelters fly white flags to indicate that the homeless can come in for relief from the heat overnight. The flags first went up on Saturday and have remained in place since. Coalition for the Homeless director Natalie Harris says there’s no restriction on how many white flag days there can be in a given year, but there is a limit on reimbursements to shelters. “We basically get $34,000 from the government each year to reimburse the agencies for making those extra spaces available for people, but we get that same amount regardless of how many white flag days and nights there are,” she says. Harris says shelters will accommodate extra visitors, though some may not have enough beds and some people may have to sleep in chairs or on cots.

Follow TMS Plastic in Paradise: The Battle for the Galápagos Islands’ Future 3 Apr 2019 – The Galápagos Islands are one of the most pristine locations on the planet, but plastic pollution arriving by sea is threatening this unique habitat. How the archipelago is hoping to lead the worldwide fight against plastic.

Diseases & Conditions Drugs and Male Fertility Certain drugs (legal and illegal) can have a negative effect on male fertility (a man’s ability to father a child). Listed below are the most common substances that affect male fertility. Men who wish to father a child should talk to their doctor before starting a new medication or having any treatments. Men who are having trouble fathering a child should speak to their doctor about the medications they are taking, and the possible need for semen tests. Some men may have an unexpected side effect from a medication that can harm their fertility. If your doctor thinks that this may be the case, it may be a good idea to stop the medication or try a different one. You should always discuss this decision with the doctor who prescribed the medication. Drugs that may affect male fertility Testosterone: Replacement testosterone (also called supplemental testosterone) has a strong negative effect on sperm production. When testosterone is given to a man, the hormonal signals that tell the testicles to make testosterone and to make sperm are blocked, and the man’s natural testosterone production stops. This causes the level of testosterone in the testicles to drop sharply--too low to support strong sperm production. The most likely outcomes are a very low sperm concentration or a complete absence of sperm from the semen. This effect can be reversed for most men; however, it may take 6 months or more for sperm production to return to normal. In general, men who are trying to cause a pregnancy should not use supplemental testosterone. Anabolic steroids: Anabolic steroids (also called anabolic-androgenic steroids) are drugs that are used to build muscle mass and/or decrease body fat. Testosterone is an anabolic steroid. The use of these drugs is increasing among non-competitive athletes and non-athletes. Unfortunately, fitness and muscle-building dietary supplements from less reputable sources may be tainted with anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids harm male fertility the same way that testosterone does: by interfering with the hormone signals that are needed to produce sperm. Just how much damage is done depends on the drugs(s), dose(s), and how long the man takes them. Most men will recover sperm production 3 to 12 months after they stop taking the drug. Because of the strong negative impact of anabolic steroids on male fertility and the other health concerns related to these substances, men should not use these drugs. Alcohol: Light to moderate alcohol drinking does not appear to affect male fertility. Heavy alcohol drinking, however, may decrease the production of testosterone, increase the rate at which testosterone is cleared from the bloodstream, and increase a man’s estrogen levels. All of this can cause a lower testosterone level, which can harm sperm production. Men who drink four or more alcoholic beverages on a regular basis should consider drinking less. Tobacco: Tobacco use in general, and smoking in particular, is linked to serious health conditions. Babies in households with people who smoke are much more likely to have serious respiratory illness such as severe asthma, pneumonia, and repeated ear infection. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) has also been linked to smokers in the household. And finally, children are more likely to smoke if their parents are smokers. The entire family can benefit when a family member stops smoking. For these reasons, couples who are trying to conceive should stop smoking. Marijuana: THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, decreases sperm production and weakens sexual drive by interfering with the production of testosterone. THC also has a direct harmful effect on the movement of sperm. Marijuana may also be laced with heavy metals (such as lead) to increase its weight or more addictive illicit drugs, such as cocaine. Because of the negative effects of marijuana on male fertility, couples considering pregnancy should stop all marijuana use. Opiates (narcotics): Opiates include both prescription medications (for treating pain and addiction) and illegal street drugs. Long-term use of opiates can disrupt the signals that control testosterone production, which can cause low testosterone and decrease the quantity and quality of the sperm. The extent of the impact depends on the opiates being used, the dose, and how long the man is using the opiates. Men taking opiates to treat addiction should speak with their addiction counselor about the impact of their medications on fertility, as some treatments are less harmful than others. There is no evidence that the short-term use of opiates has a negative effect on male fertility. Therefore, men taking a short course of opiates, for instance to control pain after surgery or a broken bone, should take these medications according to the instructions. Men taking opiates for weeks or months should speak to their doctor about how to cut back on opiate use. The recreational (illegal) use of any opiates is strongly discouraged. 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors (finasteride, dutaseride, and propecia): These medications are used to treat prostate enlargement and hair loss. The impact of these medications is mild and will reverse once the medication is stopped. Men who use these drugs to treat prostate enlargement will have a decrease in the volume of the semen and the total number of sperm in the semen, which may make it harder to create a pregnancy. Most men taking this medication to treat hair loss will not have a serious change in their sperm numbers. However, up to 5% of men taking this medication for either reason will have a major reduction in their sperm numbers. For that reason, we recommend men stop these medications if they are having trouble creating a pregnancy. Alpha blockers (Silodosin, Tamsulosin, Alfuzosin, Hytrin, Cardura): Alpha blockers are used to treat urinary symptoms caused by an enlarged prostate. These medications affect male fertility in different ways, depending on which way each medication works. Silodosin and Tamsulosin can both cause a sharp decrease in the volume of ejaculation or may inhibit ejaculation completely. Men who are taking an alpha blocker or having urinary symptoms should see a urologist to discuss the possible impact of the alpha blockers on fertility, and the treatment options for urinary symptoms. PDE5 inhibitors (Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis): PDE5 inhibitors are used to treat erectile dysfunction. These medications do not appear to have a negative effect on male fertility. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): These medications are commonly prescribed in the United States for the treatment of depression and anxiety. These medications may prevent the proper movement of sperm through the reproductive tract or otherwise harm the sperm. Men who take SSRIs and who are having trouble fathering a child should see a urologist for semen testing, and talk with their mental health provider about other medications. Ketoconazole: This medication is used to treat fungal infections. It is commonly applied to the skin as a cream, ointment, or powder. There is no evidence to suggest that applying ketoconazole to the skin harms male fertility. When it is taken as a pill, ketoconazole hurts testosterone production and decreases sperm production. Other medications: The following medications may cause male fertility problems: spironolactone, cimetidine, nifedipine, sulfasalazine, and colchicine. If you are having trouble creating a pregnancy and are taking these medications, talk to your doctor and see a urologist for semen testing. Can't find the health information you’re looking for? This information is provided by the Cleveland Clinic and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or health care provider. Please consult your health care provider for advice about a specific medical condition. This document was last reviewed on: 5/22/2013…#15229

Ballots to remain uncounted in MI and Stein blocked in Philly. Guest: Election integrity, law expert Paul Lehto says this proves 'only option is to get it right on Election Night'. Also: Trump taps climate denier, fossil-fuel tool for EPA... [UPDATE 9/28/11: I interviewed Argonne National Lab's Roger Johnston on my Pacific Radio show on KPFK today. In the interview, Johnston concedes that it's not only touch-screen systems of the type described below which are vulnerable to this newly developed hack, but that paper-ballot based optical-scan systems can likely be manipulated by the same techniques. My interview with Johnson is now posted here. - BF] As noted by the computer scientists and security experts at Argonne's VAT, largely all that's needed to accomplish this hack is about $26 and an 8th grade science education. "This is a national security issue," VAT team leader Dr. Roger Johnston told me, echoing what I've been reporting other computer scientists and security experts telling me for years. "It should really be handled by the Department of Homeland Security." Johnston should know. While the VAT folks have been dabbling in the security (or lack thereof) of e-voting systems in their spare time of late, most of the work they do is related to issues like nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation. What makes this hack so troubling --- and different from those which have come before it --- is that it doesn't require any actual changes to, or even knowledge of, the voting system software or its memory card programming. It's not a cyberattack. It's a "Man-in-the-middle" attack where a tiny, $10.50 piece of electronics is inserted into the system between the voter and the main circuit board of the voting system allowing for complete control over the touch-screen system and the entire voting process along with it. Add an optional $15 radio frequency remote control device, and votes can be changed, without the knowledge of the voter, from up to half a mile away. Without the remote, the attack can be turned on and off at certain times, or by other triggers. The voter would have no idea that their votes have been changed after they've already approved them as "correct" on the various confirmation screens, and even on the so-called "paper-trail" (on e-voting machines which offer them --- though VAT has learned how to manipulate those as well, see photo at right.) The inserted chip can later be removed after the election without there being any way to ever know that someone had completely manipulated the system. But since election officials rarely --- if ever --- examine the inside of their voting machines, it doesn't much matter, in truth. "The level of sophistication it took to develop the circuit board" used in the attack "was that of basically an 8th grade science shop," says Argonne's John Warner. "Anybody with an electronics workbench could put this together." The team, he says, had no knowledge of the voting machine's computer circuit diagram or owner's manual when they devised the attack. Moreover, VAT team leader Roger Johnston told me they believe they "can do similar things on pretty much every electronic voting machine." Indeed, in 2009, with little fanfare, they were able to carry out a similar manipulation of a Seqouia AVC Advantage e-voting system (as used across most of the state of New Jersey, for example). You can see that video demo here. The team at Argonne has shared their demo video of the new Diebold Accuvote hack exclusively with The BRAD BLOG, as posted below. But please go check out the full details over at Salon (where we've embedded the video as well). The full details are chilling --- particularly as about 20% to 30% of U.S. voters are still set to use Diebold touch-screen systems, and others very similar to it, across the nation in the 2012 election cycle, no matter how many years The BRAD BLOG has been desperately trying to illustrate that these systems are simply antithetical to American democracy. Among the states where voters will use these systems on Election Day in 2012, according to VerifiedVoting.org: Georgia, Maryland, Utah, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Missouri, Texas and many more. At the end of the "New Rules" segment on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher last night, Maher called out Republicans for being "neither fiscally conservative nor strong on defense," adding "they have to tell us what exactly it is they're good at." "How many Muslims does a black guy have to kill in one weekend before crackers climb down off his ass?" Maher asked, before offering a flashing "FACTS" light at the bottom of the screen so Fox "News" viewers would know to keep the sound turned down until it disappeared. He then went on to call out the GOP for, among other things, implementing policies over the past decade that revealed them to be anything but fiscally responsible. "When Bill Clinton left office in 2001," Maher said, "the Congressional Budget Office predicted that by the end of the decade, we would have paid off the deficit and have a 2 trillion dollar surplus. Instead, we have a 10 trillion dollar public debt, and the difference in those two numbers is mostly because the Republicans put tax cuts for the rich, free drugs for the elderly, and two wars on the layaway plan and then bailed on the check." Maher then criticized George W. Bush's failure to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, after his admission that he "didn't spend that much time on Osama, [and] that he was no longer concerned about him, just as he wasn't before 9/11 when he blew off that mysterious, inscrutable memo entitled 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the U.S.'" "Why focus on the terrorists who reduced Wall Street to rubble, when you can help Wall Street reduce the whole country to rubble?" the satirist asked rhetorically. Near the end of his "New Rule," after eviscerating Republicans such as Bush for his "War on Terror" strategy, and Sen. John McCain for being "naive" in his criticism of Obama's promise to focus on bin Laden during the 2008 Presidential election, Maher went on to declare President Obama "one efficient, steely-nerved, multitasking, black ninja gangsta President." WATCH... President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011. Please note: a classified document seen in this photograph has been obscured. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) UPDATE: White House reporter Paul Brandus quotes Obama's chief counterterrorism advisor John Brennan (seen second from top-right) as saying about the moment in the Situation Room: "It was clearly very tense, a lot of people holding their breath." UPDATE 7:34pm PT: More details on what was going on in that room during that picture from CBS News. New York Times, CNN, NBC, Fox "News" are all now reporting that Osama Bin Laden has been killed. CNN reports three sources have confirmed, and that the U.S. has his body and have matched it with DNA evidence. CNN reports: "Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in a mansion outside the Pakistani capital of Islamabad along with other family members, a senior U.S. official tells CNN." The White House has called back the press pool to make the dramatic announcement shortly. Crowds outside the the north lawn of the White House are now gathering and cheering, as we sill await the president's official announcement... 8:37pm PT:... PRESIDENT OBAMA CONFIRMS: BIN LADEN HAS BEEN KILLED. In live televised statement to the nation, the president says Bin Laden was killed today in Abbottabad, Pakistan after actionable intelligence led him to order an attack by the U.S. military. A fire fight ensued, though no U.S. forces were killed. He added that the effort, ten years after the 9/11 attacks, comes as a result of one of his first acts in office two years ago, ordering that the capture or killing of the al-Qaeda leader would be the nation's top priority in the "War on Terror." And last Sunday, the good Mr. Swanson came to Los Angeles for a book event at the home of actress and PDA advisory board chair Mimi Kennedy where I joined him, along with KPFK's Lila Garrett and Truthout's Jason Leopold, on a panel to discuss it. The over-flow event --- impressive for any day in laid back L.A., much less in the middle of record rainfall --- was video-taped and is now posted below in seven parts, if you're interested. (If you're looking for me in the videos below, my opening statement is near the beginning of Part 3, and my closing statement is in Part 7, beginning just before the 4 minute mark. As mentioned in my remarks, please support independent media and, along with it, the truth. You can help do so, among other ways, by buying David's book here.) Enjoy... ...is posted below, commercial-free, in case you missed it the first time around when it ran live, as guest hosted by yours truly. Lots of important stuff discussed, much of which, I predict, will be worth remembering in the days, weeks, months (and possibly even years) ahead as the fallout continues around WikiLeaks (the new new media), and as the outrageously irresponsible governmental/state media assaults against both WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and alleged leaker PFC Bradley Manning continue to disinform the American people. HOUR 2: ...Rowley (and the 17 compatriots in her van heading back to MN with her) continue with us for a few more minutes. Then we take some calls and offer some thoughts on the allegations made against Julian Assange and the deplorably inhumane captivity of Bradley Manning.Download MP3 or listen online below... Dear "Tea Party": Whether you know it or not, your founding father is below. If you are to be what you claim you are (what you've been told to believe you are), then pay attention to what Rep. Ron Paul --- who actually is --- said on the floor of the U.S. House this week. If you really think you are "conservative", isn't it time you started acting like it? Like Paul (The Elder, unlike The Younger) has been doing now for years? Pay attention. This is for you... It's been quiet around here over the last 24 hours or so, largely because I've been absolutely fascinated following what is going on with WikiLeaks across the net, the nation and the world, despite the decidedly much-less-than-one-might-have-otherwise-expected coverage of the continuing fall out from new documents as they are released, the unprecedented cyber/info war for and against them which continues to rage, and the various whistleblowing heroes speaking up in defense of the "revolutionary" media organization. For the record, to date, WikiLeaks has released just 1,295 out of the 251,287 leaked diplomatic cables they purportedly have so far. That's about "0.5% down, 99.5% to go" as they tweeted today. That, despite the inaccuracies you'll continue to hear and read in the media about the organization "causing havoc" and being "anarchists" by "indiscriminately dumping 250,000 classified documents!" It should be noted that almost all of the cable documents released to date have been published first by WikiLeaks' media partners such as the UK's Guardian, Germany's Der Spiegel, Spain's El Pais and the New York Times. Never mind the very serious substance of the cables themselves --- it's not simply "embarrassing gossip" and "nothing new" as many in the media are shamefully downplaying it, perhaps because they didn't report it first! --- there is so much information and opinion flying out here about WikiLeaks and Assange themselves, it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with it all. In general, if you haven't noticed over the years, I only tend post when I feel I have something to contribute to any particular issue. So, of late, I've simply been trying to take much of it in, trying to make sense of it all in this extraordinary moment in history, and tweeting items of note (via @TheBradBlog) as I come across them in the bargain. A few of those things, and a discussion --- at times, a somewhat contentious debate --- I had with someone on Twitter today in regard to WikiLeaks and Assange et al, are below, and I'd very much love to hear your thoughts on all of it. Read on... While we don't have much of an affiliation with WikiLeaks, we fight for the same reasons. We want transparency and we counter censorship. The attempts to silence WikiLeaks are long strides closer to a world where we can not say what we think and are unable to express our opinions and ideas. We can not let this happen. This is why our intention is to find out who is responsible for this failed attempt at censorship. This is why we intend to utilize our resources to raise awareness, attack those against and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy. What appears to be the first real and serious --- at least the first known and serious --- "all-out cyber war", as Secure Computing Magazine is now calling it, seems to be underway. In this case, however, it wasn't the hackers or even a foreign government who appear to have fired the first shots, but the U.S. Government who did so via apparently successful tactics used to intimidate both Amazon and PayPal into cutting off service to WikiLeaks, the international media organization which has leaked thousands of classified U.S. documents, but has been charged with breaking absolutely no U.S. laws. The entire episode reveals a number of very serious concerns, and at least one that may not be quite as obvious... See Greenwald's piece last week at Salon on Sen. Joe Lieberman "emulating Chinese dictators" by what seems to be an abuse of his post as Chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee in helping to intimidate WikiLeaks' Internet server Amazon.com into shutting them down, and some in the MSM's support of the notion that WikiLeaks is the bad actor here, despite having broken no laws and being charged with no crime. This seems to be all out "Information/Cyber War", at the very least, and like nothing we've ever seen in this country. Greenwald has more on all of this today, and it's chilling --- particularly his UPDATE on that link. I'll be interviewing the 1970s legendary "Pentagon Papers" whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg live today during the 3p PT/6p ET hour on KPFK, the Pacific Radio outlet in Los Angeles (90.7FM), San Diego (93.7FM), Santa Barbara (98.7FM) and China Lake (99.5FM). It will also be streamed live via KPFK.org I'll be talking with Ellsberg, "The Most Dangerous Man in America," about WikiLeaks, it's founder Julian Assange (now "The Most Dangerous Man in the World"???), and all things related. Many, if not most, covert operations deserve to be disclosed by a free press. They are often covert not only because they are illegal but because they are wildly ill-conceived and reckless. "Sensitive" and "covert" are often synonyms for "half-assed," "idiotic," and "dangerous to national security," as well as "criminal." Those comments, and ones from JFK in 1961 which I also posted in the same weekend article, in which he calls "the very word 'secrecy'...repugnant in a free and open society", seem to offer a bit of perspective on these recently released documents. I'll ask Ellsberg about those comments, and much more today --- including his support for Assange and his recent assertions, prior to the WikiLeaks release of hundreds of thousands of Iraq War Logs last that month, that he's been waiting for such a release of documents for 40 years. Hope you'll tune in! * * * POST-SHOW UPDATE: The audio from the complete hour today follows. It includes a bit of my own commentary on Ellsberg and the WikiLeak situation in the first half hour --- along with a check-in from Cary Harrison (the show's regular host who I was filling in for today) on World Aids Day. My interview with Ellsberg begins at approximately the :34 mark. I spoke with Ellsberg, a bit, after the show to follow up on a few points, particularly concerning Hillary Clinton, and hope to have an article a bit later on both the on-air interview, as well as some of the points we discussed aftewards. Our friend Harrison had a family emergency, so the folks at KPFK (the Pacifica Radio outlet in Los Angles, San Diego and Santa Barbara) have asked me to fill in for him today and tomorrow from 3p - 4p PT (6p - 7p PT). We'll be discussing, among other things, the WikiLeaks disclosures, and the extraordinary campaign against both the organization itself and its founder Julian Assange. Talk about blaming the messenger. I wrote about it all a bit over the weekend, quoting from both legendary "Pentagon Papers" whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg as well as John F. Kennedy. And by way of heads up, Ellsberg will be joining me to discuss the entire situation on tomorrow's show! KPFK is heard on air at 90.7 FM in L.A., on 98.7 FM in Santa Barbara, on 93.7FM in San Diego and coast-to-coast and around the globe via KPFK.org where there are more live streaming options for ya. The call-in number is: 310-737-TALK. * * * POST-SHOW UPDATE: The audio archive of today's show follows. We discussed the WikiLeaks, the attacks on the organization, JFK's 1961 thoughts on "secrecy", plus election fraud in Alaska, the "Tea Party's" assault on democracy, Obama's horrific negotiating skills and much more. It's a lively commercial-free hour that I hope you enjoy... Some 250,000 classified cables and embassy dispatches from the State Department are being released today via WikiLeaks latest, and reportedly largest, document dump ever. Within the last hour, news reports based on those documents have begun to be published by various world media outlets that are said to have been given advanced access. Many, if not most, covert operations deserve to be disclosed by a free press. They are often covert not only because they are illegal but because they are wildly ill-conceived and reckless. "Sensitive" and "covert" are often synonyms for "half-assed," "idiotic," and "dangerous to national security," as well as "criminal." As well, John F. Kennedy's April 1961 speech on what he described as this nation's abhorrence of secrecy, and the necessity of a free press --- as delivered to the American Newspaper Publishers Association at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York a year or so before his death --- is rather astonishing, and more than a bit ironic, in light of today's leaks and, as directly, the actions of the Executive Branch and its enablers in this country --- in Congress, in the mainstream media and in the public --- over the past dark decade. JFK's remarks include these thoughts among others that must be heard or read... The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. ... And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. ... And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know. ... No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary. Here is a five minute or so excerpt from that speech (the full 19-minute version, and complete text transcript are both posted here)... Please read on for both a transcript of the above video excerpt, and one or two more quick, but noteworthy, thoughts on it thereafter... [Ed Note: I'll be guest hosting the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show several days this week. David Swanson will be one of my guests to discuss his new book. UPDATE: That interview with Swason, a somewhat contentious one at times, is now posted here. - BF] I didn't write this new book, "War Is A Lie" in order to knock George W. Bush's offensive plagiarized package of lies and open criminality off the top of the book charts, but it certainly would have been worth the effort. "War Is A Lie" was to be published on Monday, but on Sunday night word was spreading. At 3 p.m. ET the book ranked #1,845 on Amazon.com while Bush's was #1. By 4 p.m. "War Is A Lie" was #1,088; and at 5:30 p.m. #696; at 7:10 p.m. #460; at 8:10 p.m. #226, and at 9:10 p.m. #130. If people kept buying books all night, and certainly if they did so on Monday, Bush was going to be uncrowned. Check where things stand now. The throne room that Bush made of the oval office may someday be brought back within a representative republic as well. I've blogged about this today over at Tom Dispatch. Or, rather, I've blogged about the prospects for war and peace in the coming year with the newly elected (or not, who knows?) Congress. It's going to be fun watching Republican committee chairs subpoena the president and people who obey him, while President Obama has adopted the Bush-Cheney position that Congress has no power over the rest of the government...

META MULTIBLOC Cantilever mobile racks DWS With META MULTIBLOC mobile racks, the service aisles needed for conventional cantilever racks are freed up for use as storage space. It is also worthwhile acquiring a mobile racking system if you want to reclaim production space in your existing buildings or if you want to bring down energy and operating costs, for example in deep-freeze storage locations where it is important to make optimal use of every cubic-meter of refrigeration air. A mobile racking store can be fully integrated with production processes – as a buffer store between production and shipment, or for storing semi-finished products at the point of assembly. Purchasing a mobile racking system rather than a new building is far more cost effective! Energy and operating costs are reduced. Floor space is regained for production, and aisles/alleys are turned into usable storage space. The aisles can then be opened only when needed, thus ensuring compact storage and optimal use of space. The mobile racking system can be extended or converted at any time. It can be combined with other META systems. An extensive range of accessories is available. META MULTIBLOC is compatible with the widest variety of stacker trucks. Every truck has one or more electric motor drive systems, consisting of a motor, transmission and shaft bearings. Powerful, maintenance-free gear motors ensure smooth start-off and braking and a smooth approach to each rack row, as they act simultaneously on all running wheels on the same longitudinal side at the same time. The rack rows can be moved individually or as a block, at a speed of 4.5 m/min. with reliable and continuous operation. Moving a number of rack rows simultaneously as a block saves time and ensures efficient storage and removal. Each row can be moved individually, which means less loading on the drive units of each row. Large rack units may and do have side wall lengths of over 50 m, rack heights of 11 m, and support bay loads of up to 22.5 t. The electrical system meets standard VDE 0100. Service & Maintenance: META MULTIBLOC® mobile rack systems are compatible with other META racks and can be converted, extended or upgraded at any time – they can grow along with your wishes and requirements, and they are long-lasting. META offers you a maintenance contract with maintenance carried out once per year . With this contract, your system is checked out for functionality and safety by specially trained personnel.

Comic Cavalcade (1942-1954) #1 $0.99 Wonder Woman: The Golden Age Vol. 1 $4.99 $16.99 Comic Cavalcade (1942-1954) #1 Diana and Steve head out by car to the New England coast at General Darnell's request to keep an eye out for spies and saboteurs. The disappearance of a young boy named Tommy then leads Diana to try and locate him, and she discovers a group of fifth columnists who are connected to the Nazis that are to come ashore as invaders.

Inspiratory Phase Definition - What does Inspiratory Phase mean? Inspiratory phase is the term used to describe the period of the breathing cycle in which a person inhales. The period of an inspiratory phase is measured from the point at which inspiration or inhaling begins. The inspiratory phase ends when expiration or exhaling begins. Together, these two phases comprise a respiratory cycle. The timing of a person’s respiratory phases may be used to determine their breathing efficiency and to provide appropriate breathing therapies or treatments. WorkplaceTesting explains Inspiratory Phase Breathing involves two phases: inspiration and expiration. During inspiration, air is brought into the lungs and during expiration, it is pushed out. Inspiration may be automatic or controlled by an assistive breathing device such as a ventilator. Inspiration is initiated by the contraction of the diaphragm and the muscles surrounding the ribs. This active muscle action expands the chest cavity and the capacity of the lungs, creating an area of negative air pressure. Air from the surrounding environment then enters the lungs to achieve equilibrium. When the muscles subsequently relax, the chest cavity tightens, increasing the air pressure within the lungs, and expiration begins.

If you happen to be in Los Angeles anytime between October 6, 2017 and January 25, 2018, please drop by the Central Library to check out an expanded exhibit from our project, "Going Gray in LA: Stories of Aging along Broadway". We're excited to be showing the exhibit in such an iconic Los Angeles location - and it's free and open to all!

Twitter has announced it plans to lay off 9% of its workforce to focus on reducing costs and generate profit in 2017. The social network reported a strong increase in profit, resulting in $616m in revenue, an 8% rise year-on-year, and its earnings per share were ahead of analyst estimates. Furthermore, its monthly active users increased from 313 million to 317 million from the previous quarter. Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO, said in the earnings release: "This morning we announced a restructuring and reduction in force affecting approximately 9% of Twitter's positions globally. The restructuring, which focuses primarily on reorganizing our sales, partnerships and marketing efforts, is intended to create greater efficiency." Given Twitter's headcount of about 3,900, the cuts would affect around 351 people. The job cuts are slightly heavier than expected: 9% instead of a reported 8%. Company Articles "Our strategy is directly driving growth in audience and engagement, with acceleration in year-over-year growth for daily active usage, tweet impressions, and time spent for the second consecutive quarter." He continued: "We see a significant opportunity to increase growth as we continue to improve the core service. We have a clear plan, and we're making the necessary changes to ensure Twitter is positioned for long-term growth. The key drivers of future revenue growth are trending positive, and we remain confident in Twitter's future." The company did not discuss acquisition rumours, despite rumours buyers include Microsoft, Softbank, Google parent Alphabet and Disney.

Academy player Diego Pampin brings back a meritorious silver medal from the U-17 World Cup Celta homegrown youth player Diego Pampín is Under-17 World Cup semifinalist, held in India, with the Spanish under-17 national squad. The Spanish team was defeated in the final by England 5-2 in an intense clash in which the Spanish squad got ahead on the scoreboard 0-2. RC Celta congratulates Pampín and the Spanish team for its meritorious silver medal.

A Familiar Face…To Your Fist? Minding my own business is something I’ve become reasonably adept at as someone who has absolutely zero intimidation factor. I’d even go as far as saying that if push came to shove I’d probably choose the third option: flee. I’m not a pacifist or anything but I’ve never thrown a punch at anyone I didn’t know like a brother. Not so much the mixed-martial-arts sorta guy. My idea of a violent rampage is to eat a blackened tofu wrap with my wife at an all-organic sandwich shop—without utensils—and then hit up an art museum and barely read any of the captions. The brutality is too much to bear for most onlookers. Sometimes we get really savage and do some gardening before seeing a movie. You can only imagine the wake of broken lives we leave behind. A recent Saturday afternoon brought us to Earthly Delights where I snagged a fantastic Falafel and my wife rediscovered the joy of the bean burrito. We must have subconsciously decided to draw attention to ourselves while we ate our lunch on the porch, as halfway through our meal something (or rather, someone) caught my eye across the street at the Cumberland Farms. A lanky man in his late forties began to saunter, nay, stumble across the road toward us with a cigarette in one hand and the middle finger in the other as a car tried to make a left in front of him. “WATCH OUT!” he yelled with a vengeance, as though the driver had just put a bounty on him, “twenty points for the guy in the gray t-shirt standing in the middle of the road who looks like he just climbed out of bed but only because he left his front door open and a squirrel got in!” One might describe him as quietly disheveled, but on more of an internal level, as though he was recovering from a head injury that took place right about when I ordered my lunch. A sort of zombie walk like the scene in “The Money Pit” where Tom Hanks’ character becomes the primary moving part in a Rube-Goldberg device three stories high and walks blindly with paint-covered rags on his head across collapsing scaffolds toward certain doom. I’ve figured out that Bay Road is the scaffold in that analogy, but I have no idea what constituted the paint-covered rags which lead this mean to believe I was a person of interest in the investigation of his own cloudy past. “Awesome,” I thought to myself, “now I get to share my sandwich with this guy…my KNUCKLE sandwich.” In actuality the first thing that crossed my mind was, “Holy shit this guy is definitely walking right toward me.” And he was. Not just in my direction. I was his destination. I wish I could say I started to plan an ’80s movie escape ala Michael J. Fox in Back to The Future. Say…a witty exclamation like, “Hey is that Vanilla Ice?” followed immediately by a milkshake to the eyes, sliding under the table, and a jacket over the head. But no. A little voice in the back of my head said that a Strawberry-Mango smoothie, while having high stain-potential and being quite frosty, would only serve to make the would-be attacker upset. Before these brilliant thoughts coalesced into a strategy of any kind the gentleman was standing six feet from me and started into his opening line, “I don’t mean to be ignorant but…” my mind reeled at the possibilities. Nothing good could follow such an utterance. I was convinced that I was about to be exposed to something not only ignorant, but perhaps mind-blowing. I was right on both counts. “You remind of someone I was in a fight with once,” he said in a surprisingly coherent manner that almost had me convinced it was possible. “Did you win?” my friend chimed in cheerily. “Look at this guy,” he pointed at me and with his whole hand while he trailed off as if he was surprised I didn’t reach across the railing and the landscaping to shake it. “Have you ever been in a UFC fight?” he asked me as he regained his clarity. I was dead in his sights. There was no avoiding the question but I tried silence for a moment anyway. He peered at me through squinted eyes the way someone sizes up a stranger who’s up to no good. “No I’m afraid I’ve never been in a UFC fight.” I said, rather upset at myself that someone could get me to admit that I have no fighting skills just by accusing me of fighting them in the past. I was also upset I had no witty retort. “Are you still into that stuff?” he asked. My brain exploded. What the hell was he talking about? Where do you go from there? A man is having a conversation with you where you are not entirely a participant because in his mind you’re giving answers to his questions that sound an awful lot like the opposite of what you’re actually saying. And the truth of the situation is so far from what this man claims that you’re in shock that you actually have to explain it. What do you say to that? Do you actually break down the evidence? Rationality seems like a blunt weapon in a battle of this nature. “He’s a big teddy bear!” my friend added happily. But this did nothing dissuade the man. He had all the charm of a telephone pole that had just been struck by lightning; a dried bird’s nest on top, a precarious lean, smoke drifting out of several holes in it’s face. “He’s an IT guy!” my wife added to try and shoo him. I tried to stress that idea, perhaps hopelessly, “Yeah I’m into computers!” He stared expectantly as he took a drag, clearly feeling as if giving me a moment to remember would cause it all to come rushing back to me. Like I was repressing the memories of my defeat to avoid embarrassing myself. I don’t remember precisely what the next thing was that came out of this fellow’s mouth was besides smoke, but I do remember the general tone. It was the sound that a person would make if they thought you were going to laugh at them the moment they turned their back on you. A half-grunt half year-right sort of noise. After what felt like ten years of the most awkward staring contest in my entire life, he relented. “All right. Take it easy.” He mumbled as he turned and started down the street towards his next victim. “Yeah have a good one buddy, ” I said pleasantly. As soon as the conversation ended I found myself asking why he couldn’t he have remember me for something positive? I was offended! Until I realized that in this instance I’d certainly rather be remembered as a fighter, and not a lover.

Tag Archives: existentialism [This piece was first published exclusively to patrons at Final Fantasy VII: Camera and Composition – Part 3. What was originally an excerpt of the piece here has been edited to contain the whole text as of 11th February 2015. If you like what you see and wish to support my writing while gaining access to patron-exclusive articles (one per month) and artwork, zoom on over to Patreon and sign up as a patron.] All throughout the story of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth taunts our hero Cloud over deep-seated uncertainty of his identity. Cloud is a puppet, a military goon, a freelance nobody. He is a lost child, a second-hand personality, a repressed psyche. Although Cloud tries to overcome it, he eventually crumbles under the truth of it all. And then he builds himself back up, by acknowledging these factors of his existence as a part of reality he simply must accept. But Sephiroth is above this. He considers himself a transcendent being, the only one on the planet of true significance, the only one real. Sephiroth’s bliss is his folly. In previous articles on Final Fantasy VII’s composition, we examined how its form is dedicated to the task of communicating its many interlocking themes. We saw how visual symmetry can signify the spiritual harmony of a scene’s key inhabitants, and how the past looms large on our heroes’ trials to come. We noticed the subtle ways Cloud’s identity becomes a subject of doubt and distance for us as players. And we met a great big dragon. Now we’re knee-deep in the Nibelheim Incident. Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa et al are ready to hike up to the Reactor on the nearby mountaintop, where they hope to discover what has been causing a sudden boom in monster attacks. We’ll find out soon how all these threads are drawn together in beautiful compositional affect. Continue reading → [This piece was first published exclusively to patrons at Final Fantasy VII: Camera and Composition – Part 2. What was originally an excerpt of the piece here has been edited to contain the whole text as of 5th January 2015. If you like what you see here and wish to support my writing while gaining access to patron-exclusive articles (one per month) and artwork, zoom on over to Patreon and sign up as a patron.] In Part 1 we went over some of the basic ways Final Fantasy VII uses camerawork and scene composition to thread its themes by relying on almost invisible narrative techniques. We talked about how the ramshackle slums are represented compared to Shinra-designated areas to illustrate a gap between the classes of Midgar’s capitalism. In this, we saw how positive, navigable space differs from one to the other in how they ask the player to relate to these areas in the intersection of mechanics and visual composition. And we touched upon a theory about the use of symmetry as a signifier of existential contentment. We rounded off the piece by suggesting Shinra is commonly represented as existentially harmonious, fitting into its role as an oppressive capitalist organization which currently organizes the whole world according to capitalism and oppressing its people. Its existence suits its essence. Likewise, a clear early location of Aeris’ existential centre is the Sector 5 church, Midgar’s sanctuary for the lifeforce of the planet and the one area that best encapsulates her narrative arc. Now, we could spend a million words viciously dissecting every single camera angle to enjoy their juicy semantic innards, and all without leaving Midgar. But it’s time to move on just a little bit to look at a particularly exquisite narrative sequence that I’m sure is fondly remembered by all fans everywhere: the flashback to Nibelheim. And where better to begin this analysis than… back in Midgar. Okay, we’re actually on the very outskirts of Midgar. Cloud and company have just escaped the clutches of Shinra and rescued Aeris from her gruesome fate as a lab specimen, during which President Shinra met an untimely end at the hands of one ‘Sephiroth’. Along the way we picked up fan-favourite character Red XIII, so that’s good. We’ve ridden our crazy motorcycle and beaten the armoured tank boss, and now stand on the cusp of the great wide world beyond Midgar’s literal walls. I quite enjoy this shot because it deviates slightly from what would become a tradition in Final Fantasy games: the beginning of an adventure into unknown territory. Typically you expect such a shot to occur on the brow of a cliff overlooking a beautiful expansive landscape, giving you a glimpse of the journey to come. But here the party rests with their backs to the city of Midgar and we’re looking towards their faces (well, all except Cloud in this screenshot—he’s player controlled right now). While we can’t see the big open world they’re looking out towards from this angle, we can see them very clearly, which makes it an ideal angle for situating the characters as the focus of the scene and highlighting their past, here represented by an increasingly distant Midgar. Their future is unseen and unknown, whereas the past is accounted for as overcome (or at least escaped) ground. A bit of dramatic irony for returning players, here. So in the fore- to mid-ground we have an abundance of positive space, for perhaps the first time in a non-Shinra-designated area, breaking off in the distance at Midgar’s looming, unassailable form. Even the colour palette suggests the future as brighter than that capitalist fortress. As it happens, we actually do get a shot on the brow of a cliff (well, a highway) overlooking a beautiful expansive landscape just after the boss battle. It’s actually a wonderful environmental shot in spite of a few odd characteristics: it doesn’t really show us what’s beyond Midgar specifically, since the horizon is obscured by the trio of Midgar scenery, far-off hills and an as-yet young sunrise. Instead we get a general idea of what’s next in the journey, which is to say, not-Midgar. And secondly, although this is the bit where Cloud and Aeris state their intentions for the adventure, they come across on-screen as insignificant. To be honest I’ve a more lasting memory of the alternative ‘Leaving Midgar’ shot so maybe it’s a personal whim of mine to find more to recommend it. Anyway, moving on, the player organizes their party and exits through the foreground. If you make a party full of boys, Tifa and Aeris will both comment on your unusual choice before they set off together. Hopefully they’ll find something in common to talk about. The next area is the world map but it’s compositionally dull so let’s go straight to Kalm. Kalm is a nice enough town. It adds a lovely shade of indigo to our encountered palette which is nice on the eyes. The architecture is rather distinctive but since this is a composition analysis I’ll leave it be. It’s somewhat of a well-to-do satellite town of Midgar, having profited off trade from the Mithril Mine further to the south-east as evidenced by through the shops’ inventories and various rare-ish items you can find about the place. And although the people here will never be the sort to join AVALANCHE they’re a hospitable enough bunch. Anyway, this is the first place outside of Midgar we visit but we can see right away that it’s a townspace by the layout and the distancing and angling of the camera on the scene. The player can enjoy some downtime before meeting up with your party on the second floor of the inn to continue the story. Aside from the reception area the inn only has one big room, which can’t be convenient if another party of adventurers were to show up. As luck would have it they never do. There are also only three beds but five party members. The game leaves their sleeping arrangement up to our imaginations. This is the room where Cloud recounts what canonically will come to be known as the Nibelheim Incident, which he has decided is the best way to tell everyone about his relationship with Sephiroth. You’ll notice the room is bisected by an awkward tangle of pipes running along the ceiling. It’s a common feature for indoor areas in Kalm, although this room might be especially bad for how they intrude into the scene. The pipes separate the room into two rough portions: the right side, where everyone has gathered to hear Cloud’s story, and the left side, from where Cloud enters the scene. It’s possible that the pipes are a total accident but this could be an attempt to discretely division Cloud from the rest of the cast, perhaps in apprehension for their present expectations of him. What’s a bit of trauma between friends. I mentioned this in the last post but I’ll repeat it here because it’s a nice bit of choreography: when Cloud begins talking to the group he’s situated centrally on-screen, but as he sets the scene for the flashback he turns around and paces away from the group, stopping here: Now the pipes somewhat obstruct him on-screen, so the distance he has placed between himself and the party is mirrored in our own relationship with him through our diminished visual contact. We have been given reason to suspect Cloud’s mental state at previous occasions where he has spoken confusedly with an unknown other, usually in times when unconscious or asleep, but this nugget of composition goes quite a way to specifically colour Cloud as an unreliable narrator in the tale to follow and foreshadow the twists in his arc much later. The flashback opens in the back of a truck. Cloud, Sephiroth and a couple of Shinra MPs are on a mission to Nibelheim to investigate a series of monster attacks originating from the malfunctioning Mako reactor nearby. When the scene opens Cloud is right up in our face in the foreground, giving a strong impression of his presence in the scene. One of the first things he does, after talking about the weather, is to turn to the guard on the left to inquire into his health. The nuance here is it turns out later that, in the events as they actually unfolded, the motion sick guard is actually Cloud and the person in Cloud’s shoes is actually someone named Zack. For simplicity’s sake I’m going to call the spiky-haired fellow in the screenshots ‘Cloud-as-Zack’ and the Shinra MP ‘Actual Cloud’ when I need to distinguish between the two. From the way this scene is shot and choreographed, Cloud-as-Zach carries himself as a midpoint between Actual Cloud and Sephiroth, Cloud’s mentor-cum-nemesis. We generally learn through this flashback that Sephiroth had a huge impact on Cloud growing up, informing his career direction as well as the way Cloud chooses to model his behaviour, lasting even to the present. The Nibelheim Incident will show an overall trend towards distancing between Cloud and Sephiroth, which we would expect given what is to transpire. It’s telling, however, that in recollecting the events Cloud exaggerates his closeness to the villain. Almost as if the ghost of Sephiroth still has some hold over him, hint hint. Anyway, Cloud says he’s never had motion sickness but eagle-eyed players might notice he gets an upset tummy if you play the Speed Square at the Gold Saucer too many times. At various stages Cloud will also sympathise with Yuffie and give her advice on how to handle her motion sickness. What’s interesting to note is how Cloud has removed his susceptibility to motion sickness from his life by believing wholeheartedly the lies he tells himself about his identity. In essence, this scene—and therefore the entire flashback—commences by centring Cloud-as-Zack as the focus of identity, which is facilitated by immediately acknowledging and passing off the discrepancy of Actual Cloud’s motion sickness on a prominent yet ancillary third party. With the contradiction paved over, Cloud’s mind sails on. Once the introduction and briefing is done, the truck comes to an abrupt stop. The driver spins in his seat to report they’ve rammed into something. People don’t normally spin on the spot or stand on the car seat so there’s an unavoidable bit of slapstick humour when he flicks right around like that. Oh Final Fantasy! Notice the driver’s hesitation in acknowledging his supervisors in the plural. Cloud acts the bigshot veteran when he’s a mercenary in Midgar but this scene reveals how much of a rookie he really was. Now then. We have ‘something strange’ to deal with. IT’S A DRAGON. The camera descends from an aerial viewpoint and twirls behind our two party members to frame them against the huge beast. It’s such a splendid shot because it conveys the severity of the foe you’re about to face while both uniting Sephiroth and Cloud as teammates and dividing them in terms of strength. The right side of the screen is weakness and death; the left side is power and life. The fight lasts less than a minute but it’s packed full with exquisite ludological storytelling so I’ll give a quick summary. It’s all related to composition anyway because I say it is and what I say goes. The dragon attacks Cloud with low-level magic, but it’s so strong anyway it kills him five times over. Sephiroth uses high-level magic to completely revive Cloud. You’ve never even seen the materia he’s mastered. Cloud has the opportunity to attack. He deals a pathetic amount of damage. The dragon attacks again, either burning Cloud to a cinder or warming Sephiroth gently. Sephiroth immediately returns the attack and slays it. I like how Sephiroth goes out of his way to revive Cloud to full health when he really doesn’t need to. It reinforces the idea that, even though Cloud was far outmatched by his mentor, they were still kind of a team and they co-operated within their abilities. It’s also a nice way to humanize Sephiroth a little, since we only have a short space of time when he’s not characterised as the mad monstrous destructive villain. He used to give life. Once the battle ends, we cut to a Kalm-based Cloud reiterating how wonderful Sephiroth-senpai was. We’re going to see a few of these interruptions to remind the player this is Cloud’s telling of events and everything we see might not be everything that happened. Sometimes the interruptions extend inward into the flashback scenes themselves, with the onscreen character of Cloud physically or verbally[1] reacting to something said by Barrett or Tifa in Kalm. We can gather from this that the reality of Cloud’s story is especially fluid. You remember what the inn looks like so we’ll scoot along to Nibelheim. It’s a grand introductory shot for the town. You can see where the dust and mud becomes paving which gives a sense of the borders between Nibelheim and not-Nibelheim. There’s a crappy looking truck over there, a few barrels and that. White picket fences to suggest homeliness despite the grub. Although it’s expected to be a Cloud-designated area, Sephiroth is first on scene. He walks into a central position in the mid-ground and turns to look just off the camera. From here he’s framed between the burgeoning pavement and the town’s entrance posts as if standing on the edge of one’s porch. He asks Cloud what it feels like to come home, with the subtext being Sephiroth has never had anywhere to call home and seeks to understand this seemingly basic facet of humanity. What he doesn’t know is he stands in the doorway of his own hometown. Normally in Final Fantasy VII, a character in dialogue facing towards the camera is staged for dramatic effect, the camera lens representing somewhere inside of themselves to which they speak, similar to a soliloquy in theatre albeit with their musings heard and acknowledged by other characters. So when a character turns to the camera to say something, Something’s Going On. In this case, Sephiroth is speaking to an off-camera Cloud-as-Zack about his past, foreshadowing the villain’s upcoming identity crisis. It serves to deliver important exposition—this much is clear. A funny thing happens next. Sephiroth declares it time to continue and advances into the background, now facing away from the camera. His body language has shifted from open to stand-offish. Cloud and company enter into the space behind Sephiroth. Now each character frames Cloud as if to box him in. When a player goes to speak to each character the sensible thing is to take the nearest route, so the player’s accustomed movement naturally limits Cloud to this human enclosure, our behaviour precluding a lot of the positive space in the foreground’s flanks. Although I doubt it came across strongly in anyone’s actual experience of the scene, looking at it now Cloud’s homecoming has a bit of an initially claustrophobic vibe. Curiously, Cloud-as-Zach doesn’t enter from the right-hand side of the foreground, which is where Sephiroth was directing his enquiries, but from just left of centre. Maybe it means nothing, just a goof. Maybe Sephiroth was addressing the Shinra MP on the right, who might be Actual Cloud. Maybe the conversation never really existed and what we witnessed was a bit of theatrics on Cloud’s part. We never really know how much of Sephiroth as represented here is accurate to his ‘real’ character and how much is Cloud’s embellishment, and the oddity of Cloud speaking from off-camera could signal him speaking in the first-person, from the inn in Kalm. To me, because of how Sephiroth is represented on-screen and how Cloud isn’t, and given how it segues from Cloud’s awe at his mentor, the first half of this scene feels like a conversation between the two characters presently unfolding inside the head of our storyteller. As the plot unfolds we learn there actually is a little bit of Sephiroth lurking in Cloud’s consciousness courtesy of Jenova cells, so this is a possibility. If we adopt this interpretation, that it’s a conversation between Cloud and Sephiroth taking place in our hero’s mind, it shifts the nature of the camera from the second-person of the game as acting narrator to the first-person of Cloud as storyteller. Well, we know the Nibelheim Incident as related here is really just the imaginings of Cloud and that this narrative here told obeys his confused, disjointed recollection, so it’s not a big leap to nudge the camera along this reference. What it means, though, is that as a player we are repeatedly transitioning between first- and second-person perspectives throughout the entire sequence without displacing our sense of identity. Or put another way, the flux of perspective further marries us to Cloud as a character in our identity and worldview. The beauty of all this is, however this exchange actually went down it remains consistent within the perspective of the game on a whole. Cloud is convinced the events as he tells them were the events that occurred. The distinction between what’s ‘real’, what’s only ‘real to Cloud’ and what’s full blown ‘delusion’ is, right now, immaterial to the player. From our perspective of identifying as Cloud, it all happened as Cloud says it happened: we experience these scenes as Cloud believes it to have gone down. We may suspect Cloud to be an unreliable narrator and to be a bit off in the head, and we may cop to Tifa’s repeated, pointed silence as indicating something amiss with Cloud’s story, but still we are bound to the perspective granted us. There is a whole big thing here about identity and perspective that we could go even further into but it’s another day’s work.[2] We’ll shelve the topic for now and continue with Nibelheim. I don’t know if that’s a translation error or if Cloud is supposed to slip into the present tense. It’s not exactly composition though so… Nibelheim is recognizably A Town. It is shot like most other towns we’ve come across; it’s at a jaunty angle and the buildings and positive space are all knees and elbows so it resembles the poorer slums of Midgar rather than the clean horizontal and vertical lines of Shinra. Sephiroth says we may visit our family so let’s do that. Cloud tries to avoid the topic but Barrett and Aeris are having none of it, so we do get a glimpse into his family life. He describes his mother as “a vibrant woman” but notes… Which is an odd way of saying she burned to death in a horrible fire that engulfed everything he had ever loved. As you’ve guessed, Cloud is not very good at dealing with his mother, lovely as she is. The camera here is tonally consistent with that vibe—distant and removed rather than emotionally involved in the landmark homecoming event. Compare that to the first time we enter Aeris’ home and the scene with her mother. The camera is closer and the angle is softer. Here the family are placed centrally in the shot, rather than focusing on the distance between them as in Nibelheim. As it happens, when Cloud stayed the night at Aeris’ house he had a little flashback to Ma Strife clucking over his relationship status. The scene repeats in the Nibelheim Incident sequence but the context is drastically different: whereas before they were private recollections of the comforts of home, now they’re being publicized for a hungry audience while couched within the trauma of the events to follow. So the telling of Cloud’s and his mam’s conversations are here broken into fragments transitioned by a flash of white and the roar of static or wind, upsetting any warmth the event might convey and distorting the memory. A certain amount of that is to disrupt Cloud’s realization of true events—hiding his reveal that he isn’t really in SOLDIER when she comments on his uniform, for example—which is a transition effect repeated elsewhere when irregularities in Cloud’s story risk acknowledgment. Transition effects are good at establishing a story’s demeanour so it’s good to note them once in a while. So Cloud regales us with fragments of his short stay at home, and there’s a nice few touches of horror embedded in the choreography. While Cloud remains stationary in each clip, his mother hovers around him and moves about the house between shots. The effect of her movement is first to deposition her in relation to Cloud with each transition—there is something frightening about opening into a scene and seeing a figure imminently approaching you. As the transitions come quicker and quicker, Cloud’s position in the house remains fixed to one point while his mam’s becomes more erratic and animated, coinciding with her ‘barrage’ of questions into her son’s life.[3] Her constant displacement gives the impression that Cloud is being surrounded and cornered, rising our anxiety so that we share Cloud’s apprehension for the scene. When he breaks it off, it’s a relief. You can also visit Tifa’s house. There are three short things to note here—Tifa’s presence, Tifa’s letters and Tifa’s piano. First is Tifa’s speech bubble, which gates our entry to her house, then her room, then to ‘interact’ with some of her things. Tifa is never visually represented in this room so it’s a good way of denoting the space as fundamentally, privately hers. Cloud and the player must explicitly admit to her to invading her privacy for us to be able to look around the place, forcing us to recognise the interpersonal impact of our wandering curiosity and consider ourself through her eyes for a change. Even the affirmative answer to “Did you read it? My letter?” admits this as a violation. If you’re the sort to respect people’s spaces, you’re likely to lose a bit of yourself in the compulsive quest for secrets. Unfortunately, Cloud kind of laughs at the severity of his transgression by making out she had orthopaedic underwear. Dick move, Cloud. Second is the letter on Tifa’s desk. There’s three letters in Tifa’s room throughout the course of the game—you can pick up the others when the party passes through Nibelheim later on. The first letter you can read now, though, and it’s one of Tifa’s childhood friends describing how he’s adjusting to life in Midgar and murmuring about his feelings for her. The second letter details Shinra’s appropriation of Nibelheim following the Incident with Sephiroth and speaks of how all the ‘townsfolk’ now are actors employed by Shinra as a cover story. I read elsewhere that Nibelheim used to have its own special dialect that was essentially lost due to Shinra’s overtaking of the town. Such is the soul of colonization. Final Fantasy VII doesn’t have an internal database or collectible textlogs to allow us to scry into the world beyond Cloud’s adventure. The closest we come is this second letter which is marked as a normal point of interest without becoming trite and cliché from overuse. Collectible-structured curios carry with them a formalized narrative of indulgence and accumulation so that their value as objects is distributed as value as playthings. Personally I find this often corrupts their worth as vessels for knowledge and meaning[4]; I’d much rather see Tifa’s letters become the model for distributing worldbuilding than what is currently the case in audio- and textlogs. The third letter is from Tifa’s mentor, Zangan, and speaks of how he found and rescued her immediately after the events told in this flashback. To get this letter you need to access Thing Three: the piano. If Cloud plays the piano in Tifa’s room in the flashback, he’ll recite a tune. Later on in the present, the player has to play the tune on Tifa’s piano in order to get Tifa’s best limit break and the last letter. I’m looking at this now and it’s funny that back then we all accepted as normal how contrived this is—“oh yeah just memorize the random-ass tune Cloud plays for no reason so you can recite it ten hours later in order to get an item you would have had no way to anticipate.” Were we really such expert sleuths? Were we super patient? Or did we just natively depend on strategy guides as the done thing? It’s almost endearing how expressly Tifa’s piano is a relic of the past. Anyway, eventually you return to the inn. More foreshadowing from Sephiroth-senpai. The next day the group assembles to head up the mountain towards the reactor. Time to meet your guide: much to Cloud’s surprise, it’s Tifa! However, she plays it cool on being reunited with her childhood friend. Actually she doesn’t even remark on Cloud at all. Strange. They’re ready to embark but a local wants to take a quick picture of the legendary SOLDIER, Sephiroth. That’s every one of them saying “Cheeeeese!” including the soon-to-be murderous villain. Haha, good times. This photo will show up later in the game as proof that Cloud-as-Zach is not actually Cloud, which is a fantastic bit of supra-diagetic textual metaplay. I love it when a media text uses in-text media to reference and fold back the fictional reality. When successful, it can add weight to the world and its sense of contiguity through in-world use of tools and items in appropriate ways to their real-life functions. Even though it’s counter-intuitive that an in-game photograph which reveals the player’s camera to be a sheer and utter lie should further substantiate the gameworld rather than crumble it, here it works, and to wonderful effect. But that’s an area of media studies that’s best left to its own specialized analysis. This might be a good point to take a break and wrap up part 2 of this series. Part 3 will take us up Mount Nibel and into the birthplace of Sephiroth’s villainy, whereupon we’ll discuss the connecting themes of nature and technology, foreshadowing through Norse mythology, and, of course, Sephiroth’s existential folly. Bonus Senpai Picture [1] That being said, the rules that inform us whose speech bubble belongs to whom doesn’t really establish a line to separate Cloud’s Kalm-based speech bubbles from Cloud’s flashback-based speech bubbles. For all we know, every piece of dialogue in the flashback is extra-diagetic to the setting of Nibelheim and is actually Cloud sitting at the inn in Kalm pulling funny voices to impersonate the speaker. A few weeks ago I gave a compositional walkthrough of a single room in Project Zero 2 – the projector room of the Tachibana House – illustrating how the game’s use of camerawork depicted an environment which is subversive of safe spaces.[i] Since Project Zero 2 is a horror title this meant highlighting the strengths of its use of perspective within the context of the game as a whole, which is to say how visualized or represented space translates to perceived dangers and securities. Another game that uses a second-person perspective[ii] to wonderful compositional effect is Final Fantasy VII, with a ‘cinematic’ reputation that’s lasted the nearly twenty years since its release. This longevity is justified—even as children most of us wordlessly understood how its stellar use of cinematography contributed to the experienced narrative. What I’d like to do today is revisit FFVII with this particular mechanism in mind, to glance composition off against storytelling for perhaps previously unnoticed nuances (at least, unnoticed from my own perspective). It’s worth stressing that it is a mechanism: the use of camera to frame and juxtapose characters, actions and scenery relates conscious decisions on behalf of its creators. Simply the very nature of modelling its pre-rendered backgrounds[iii] establishes how fused they are with intention—our visual relationship to the world is so fixed to narrative design that camera and scenery nearly become one thing. Since it’s best not to assume everyone has played the game, a little bit of exposition is warranted. The story of Final Fantasy VII focuses on Cloud, an ex-military mercenary who at the game’s beginning is working for the eco terrorist group AVALANCHE in Midgar city. Nearly the entire world is under the rule of the Shinra Electric Power Company, owing to its monopoly on Mako energy, an oil analogue. The corporation/world-government’s highly industrial and capitalistic structuring has lead to widespread social oppression, together with its mining of Mako, the planet’s lifeblood, informing AVALANCHE’s resistance. Initially Cloud is only in it for the paycheck but before long the fight against Shinra connects back to an old personal adversary and war buddy, Sephiroth, whose own designs for humanity spell catastrophe. Figure 1 So two fairly clear-cut examples of FFVII’s deliberate camerawork occur quite early on. The first is not ten minutes into the game: Cloud and co. are infiltrating the Sector 1 Reactor on a sabotage mission, and after Barrett tells the player-through-Cloud what’s what [fig. 1.1], the resistance group continues toward the reactor while Cloud remains immobile [fig. 1.2]. The camera descends towards him from its isometric position before swooping around his back and tilting upwards, showing us AVALANCHE’s looming destination [fig. 1.4]. Cloud then hurries on to catch up with his crew. This simple camera movement does a couple of things for us quite effectively. The most obvious is that it shows us the reactor we intend to send sky high, the enormity of which conveys magnitude and severity onto AVALANCHE’s terrorist action, while conversely characterising the group as rather minuscule. A second effect is to approximate the player to Cloud’s position in relation to both AVALANCHE and the reactor (and implicitly Shinra): the motion of the camera towards Cloud offers intimacy and insight into his perspective. Bearing in mind this occurs right at the start of the game when we know nothing about anything, this slight connection with our character, however briefly, has a lingering effect on our perspective into the narrative. Continue reading → This piece is community funded. If you like this article, please consider supporting my writing by visiting my Patreon and becoming a patron. There is also an abbreviated video version of this post embedded shortly below (Youtube here) which includes the making of the above header image. In the middle of one of those conversations where we natter about whatever bits of media we arbitrarily liked, my brother contradicted my reading of Portal 2’s protagonist. “Chell is a clone,” he told me, reasoning that otherwise the continuity between the first game’s ending and the second’s beginning makes no sense. I had second-hand knowledge that Chell’s parents were Aperture Science employees who donated her for the cause, and I told him this. “Oh, well.” For the benefit of this story, he stroked his Green Arrow moustache. “That still fits. Maybe she was born in a lab, or maybe you’re a clone of the original daughter.” This was before I came to learn it’s a popular enough theory to have made it onto The Internet. There it gathered so much attention and prominence, in fact, that Portal 2’s writers made a point of denying it outright, and so died the theory of Chell the clone. Or did it. It so happens there are these ghosts who’ve been pissing around my head recently. “What are you even doing?” they ask me. “What makes your perspective so valuable? WoooOOoooOO.” They’re the Ghosts of Game Criticism, granting voice to that little doubt at the back of my mind, “what am I writing for?” Earlier this week, Craig Stern wrote an article that restored this nagging feeling. It was Stern rebutting a fairly common saying in some circles of games criticism, the one along the lines of “there is no wrong way to interpret a game“, before going on to suggest some criteria by which we can judge any given interpretation’s validity. Stern believes that, insofar as interpretations serve as descriptive filters of media texts, they ought to account for all relevant parts of the text and so describe a coherent narrative. Accuracy, truth and validity closely intertwine: an inaccurate reading is invalid by virtue of its misrepresentations or omissions. “An interpretation of a work must arise from study of the work itself, and not merely from personal predilections. […] Games are finite. They have contours: defined aesthetics, narrative, characters, words, boundaries to the play space. Any interpretation which fails to accurately account for these elements of the game will necessarily fail to divine the meaning or meanings that arise from the interaction of those elements.” He doesn’t exactly say interpretations “ought to be” this or that, by which I mean it’s not explicitly a normative creed for the descriptive process, but I think it’s clearly implied as preferable to an alternative where anything can go. It’s a grand piece. Other than the ghosts, I quite like it. But while I’m wholly on board for calling out the “there is no wrong way to interpret a game” mantra as nonsense, there’s a boatload of problems with the solution Stern suggests for establishing which narratives should be deemed credible. Not the least of which is the fact that it hedges impossible demands of us given how virtually no-one is, as it happens, omniscient. On this point, a more discerning mind might come along and press him on exactly what components should be considered sufficiently relevant to credit an interpretation as appropriately whole. Or one could question the barriers imposed on the field of criticism by standards which deny validity to all but the most diversely knowledgeable. For example, must I have played Resident Evil 2 in order for my impression of Resident Evil 6 to carry weight given how mired it is in its own delirious lore? Do I need to polish up on the hermeneutics of zombies in contemporary media to be able to properly contextualize it within the canon of popular culture? And what if, as it turns out, RE6’s narrative is banjaxed all to hell and just doesn’t support a coherent, continuous interpretation unless you start making very generous omissions? And then the overarching question: is Stern making his recommendation into a basis for an explanation of interpretation as a normal element of everyday life? Does his concept of interpretation invalidate itself? These problems are bog standard when it comes to assertions about interpretation, especially on what kind of interpretations are preferable. This kind of creed or methodology needs to be able to hold up when turned on itself in scrutiny, since it’s an interpretation of the concept of interpretation. If the method doesn’t hold water at its core (when talking about the nature of interpretation) it won’t do us much good when talking about the nature or ‘the facts’ of a videogame, whatever that means. To that end, Stern approaches interpretation from the perspective that we experience a game or a text or an object, interpret it, and subsequently relay this interpretation to whoever is around to hear it. The middle step is pivotal—that’s what needs to accurately relate to the game in question if it hopes to be a valid impression or description of the object. This step encompasses the interpretative process proper, sifting an object for meaning and divining a narrative from the remnants. But here’s where I run into difficulty. It’s all well and good if you’re only really concerned with finding out about the object as an objectively existing bundle of ideas and narratives—I think this is the basis on which Stern narrows the claim that interpretations are descriptions to the matter of the object in question—since you can stop here without a bother in your head. Under this structure, what you interpret is an object, so what you describe in relaying your interpretation is, naturally, that object, to a greater or lesser degree depending on your faithfulness to it. However, if the act of communicating is itself considered a process of interpretation, namely the filtering of ideas into language, what you go on to describe is your idea of the object as it exists in your mind and not the object itself. Desiring to break away from this chain and communicate the actual object requires a refiltering of one’s perceptions, and again, and again, until it finally resembles a narrative honed to the source material, stripped of the fluff of your intentionality. But the metric by which you determine that final interpretation to be satisfactory is itself a product of interpretation (of facts, of cultural context, of semiotics, etc), so disassembly requires a sorting through of all these ambient contributing factors in order to ascertain their relevance. Attempting to dissolve away the difference between interpretation and the object itself ultimately leads us to a homunculus regression. Still, a refutation of the idea that all interpretations are valid appeals to me something fiercely, so this is something I’ve needed to reconcile within my own criticism in recent years. I’ve gone to great lengths in the past when writing about intentionality and interactivity to stress the importance of the player to the game as co-author to its narratives. By definition, you are who makes this game narrative—this exact one you are experiencing right in front of you—intelligible. You actualize the process as meaning-making. And the meaning that results, and the narrative that forms, holds incredible value insofar as it is the product of a melding together of your soul and the game as an object. Within this framework, the value here is self-discovery through communication with the object, and then self-affirmation in prizing the narrative as born wonderfully, hopelessly, from a part of you. But a community cannot run on existentialism alone. Tensions mount between finding value in yourself and overcoming yourself for the benefit of those around you—your family, friends, neighbours, complete strangers, all of whom depend on your contribution to the social sphere in a way that is, optimally, not entirely self-involved. If everyone insists to live within their own little solipsistic, self-satisfied bubble, community and empathy become unreachable. As Mattie Brice writes in Death of the Player, our self-involvement proves destructive when practised as ethos: “My journey with this concept started when I played anna anthropy’s Encyclopedia Fuck Me and the Case of the Vanishing Entree. I remember it took me an entire day to play it, mostly because it felt so hostile to me at first. The game was set in its ways, knew what it wanted, and I felt incidental. I could play along, or leave. So I left. Its content disturbed me, to be completely honest. Within the hours that I spent away from it, I reflected on my inability to play, and decided it was a rigidity in myself, feeling a lack of control and agency within someone else’s world. Going back to it, it became clear that the designer was clearly present and wanted me to experience feelings I’m not used to. Eventually, I noticed I was being trained, trained to exist in this play space.” Whereas the ideal existential being is pure carelessness, in your day-to-day life people depend on you for civility and comradeship, as you do on them. In the field of games, this involves offering ground for mutual understanding of videogames and collaborating with other people to explore our experiences together. Everybody has their own idea on how to do this. Everyone has their own preference of methodology on how to think and talk about the medium. This, again, blossoms into conflict, such as the formalists versus zinesters cold war that I think might be getting revised out of history. Or more generally, the old guard versus the fresh young upstarts, with their dangerous ideas and irreverence for the old ways, the greying tomes on how to discuss videogames. These methods are themselves representative of their practitioner’s inner being—their predilections and education, their culture and heritage, their identity and hopes and dreams—which corroborate in the interpretation of media and fly off into the world to butt heads with the being of another person as expressed by a different critical lense. Little battles over methodology can be hurtful and shocking depending on how much of ourselves we put into communicating our perspectives. Through these conflicts each practitioner of a methodology is left to lick their wounds and ponder on what makes their method important—or more appropriately, what makes their perspective, their interpretation, valuable? This has inspired my ghost. Stern takes great care not to comment on the value of interpretations on a whole, other than to recommend pursuing a body of valid (read: accurate) reference work. He does not say whether an invalid interpretation lacks value, for example, other than for seeking a description of the game in question. I might be putting words in his mouth but the implication seems to be that the product of games criticism (or journalism, or just standard discussion) is the establishment of communal, agreeable knowledge on an objective reality (or on objects in that reality). That being said, if you reject the pursuit of a body of valid reference work as a goal, you can sidestep this value paradigm and instead quest for value by re-envisioning truth-statements of validity and the meaning-making that comes from interpretations. The question, so, is where do you seek value in your enjoyment and interpretation of games? Put another way, does it actually matter if Portal 2’s writers deny that Chell is a clone? My moustachioed brother is not put out in the slightest by the official canon so long as his own reading improves on it. For me, as I’m sure it is with many others, the purpose of games criticism is not so directed towards the establishment of reference materials. My work, my criticism, doesn’t trade in information as objectively existing knowledge about objectively existing media texts, since it isn’t fuelled by a desire for increased quantities of communally available data. Now there is criticism existing out there in some form or another that does harbour these interests, and grand for them. In the mainstream, though, it’s largely been turned into a bogeyman for the punchline of surrealist jokes, much to the irritation of, it must be said, a fairly vocal scattering of game enthusiasts. For them, the value of criticism is solely in meticulously describing objects as facts. This is Chris Wagar’s contention with games journalism, using Jonathan Holmes as a catspaw. Wagar attributes Holmes’ disinterest in describing games on a minute mechanical scale to his inability to understand them, also extrapolated into a communal failing. In his own way, Wagar is more interested in the life of the game than the life of the author, so his preferences show up as a somewhat dry systemic analysis of, in this case, competitive fighting games. In contrast, Holmes’ preference for chaos comes across as more laidback and accommodating. The whole exchange led Jed Pressgrove to respond that expertise is not a pre-requisite for criticism. Says Pressgrove to Wagar: “Gamers have very different views about games, so it’s no surprise that game critics are not authorities on everything. In fact, game critics are not authorities on anything — I don’t care how knowledgeable or skilled they are. Critics are only there to be read, considered, and questioned. “So we should not be surprised when reviews and other criticism don’t reflect what we think. We should demand that they challenge the way we think!” In this business of analysing games, there is something of a mystery as to who exactly is an authority on anything. ‘The death of the author’ is thrown around to justify reader-response criticism, as is the maxim Stern objects to, that every interpretation is correct or valid. ‘The death of the player’ shows the fault in willing ourselves into leading shuttered intellectual and emotional lives. The critic can claim expertise on but a sliver of possible critical lenses as interpretation, each valid in their own way just as they are deficient in innumerable more. If by this shortcoming no critic is an authority on anything, not even on their own experiences, reader-response suddenly looks more like a leaky boat. But if we take the text as the final authority on itself, as Stern does, above all its author’s intentions and all its audience’s fancies, we’re left back at our homunculus problem that nobody even knows what the text ‘actually’ is prior to looking for it. The life of a critic is the same tragedy of existentialism: how do you live an existentially fulfilling life at the same time as living conscientiously. We can either point to something or tell you what it is but never both, since in the telling it becomes something different. But what we can do to reconcile these two forces of text and meaning is to produce with our criticism, not data or reference work, but folklore. Communally existing knowledge that is inseparable from consciousness on a social plane, as extelligence, inverse to intelligence, consciousness on an individual plane. Much like geist suggests the mindfulness of ideas, extelligence sees ideas and consciousness embodied in cultural artefacts. Portal 2 is one such artefact. This article is another. Taken as an account or a description, it deals in facts, but taken instead as folklore, it deals in meaning. The value of this comes as I accept the existence of the social world and my place in it, and contribute to it my consciousness as given in the experiences and perspectives representative of a game’s narrative through me. I accept my fallibility and fragility as a condition of this. And in admitting myself as a participant in your world, rather than maintaining we each live in distinct bubbles, I accept responsibility for my message appropriate to my failings in the context of it as a socialized text and me as a socialized person, rather than appropriate to everybody’s individual imaginations. The text gains substance through the contexts by which it exists—historical factors, as well as linguistic, cultural, critical, economic, philosophical, and so on—granting it weight and relevance as a token of values and experiences communal to my peers and neighbours. By this it’s then opened up to be read by people of different backgrounds as a proverb, flexible, but obliging and yielding no more than its own consciousness allows. The power of folklore isn’t in its accuracy as a factual account of social or personal narratives, nor in its offer of expertise on a moral or historic subject matter, nor even in its clarity of communication. As extelligence, interpretations can be as invalid and ludicrous as you wouldn’t believe and still carry such insight as to make them invaluable. As I prepared to sit down and finally write this piece, I did a quick Google search for the key words “Dark Souls” and “nihilism”. I thought I might get one or two hits with the game loosely orbiting the themes of existentialism, since that’s what usually happens when you go looking for specific matches of a game to a theme. But this time was different. The first, I don’t know, ten results wore their investment to the subject matter on their titles: Dark Souls through Sartre and Camus,Kierkegaard and Dark Souls 2,Dark Souls as a nihilistic manifesto. Well. These are writers who clearly take their jobs seriously, who know what they’re talking about. Just that in itself can be quite daunting—you need a certain level of emotional investment to live up to the standards they’re setting for you as a reader. Maybe you don’t need to know any Camus or Kierkegaard before going in, they’ll explain everything as you’ll need it, but you still have to retain everything they’re throwing at you if you want to satisfy your end of the bargain. And it’s heavy stuff, trying to collapse decades-worth of a fellow’s life work down to a few summary paragraphs, trying to make sense of such a big thing as existentialism at the same time as relating as messy a videogame as Dark Souls. But sure, it’s not just Dark Souls—every videogame is messy. They’re enormously complicated machines of narrative and function. That they’re often made by so many people, they’re the product of so many different societal factors that smudge and obfuscate and interrelate and form entirely new spheres of interaction. At one of their basest levels they speak languages we’re still puzzling out ways to decode. In a cultural space where half of us are yet figuring our arse from our elbows, officially speaking, as to what, in actuality, a videogame is. It’s tiring stuff. And true to form, after reading a bunch of these articles, I was wrecked. I felt exhausted even keeping up with the gist of what they were saying. In that, they’re children of the medium, at least. I think there might be a vein in games criticism that values this capacity to affect exhaustion, if only to pay homage to the source. As I typed that out it was a joke, but the longer I stare at it… You’ve already gathered that I overcame my exhaustion and took to writing my piece. I could say that this was all an allegory for themes of existentialism in Dark Souls, insofar as I stumbled face first into paralysis and dread at the sight of my physical, intellectual and spiritual limitations, but eventually climbed these obstacles and exerted this aspect of myself triumphantly. I could say that, and thematically it would be very nice if it was true. If there are any themes of existentialism in the preceding story, it is only through the accident that I am a person who exists. Which might be enough to prove the point, but since we’re getting into the realm of telling a story about my story, let’s not. Continue reading →

Thousands rally against stricter gun control in US AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Thousands of gun advocates gathered peacefully Saturday at state capitals around the U.S. to rally against stricter limits on firearms, with demonstrators carrying rifles and pistols in some places while those elsewhere settled for waving hand-scrawled signs or screaming themselves hoarse. The size of crowds at each location varied — from dozens of people in South Dakota to 2,000 in New York. Large crowds also turned out in Connecticut, Tennessee and Texas. Some demonstrators in Phoenix and Salem, Ore., came with holstered handguns or rifles on their backs. At the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort, attendees gave a special round of applause for ‘‘the ladies that are packin’.’’ Activists promoted the ‘‘Guns Across America’’ rallies primarily through social media. They were being held just after President Barack Obama unveiled a sweeping package of federal gun-control proposals. The crowd swelled to more than 800 amid balmy temperatures on the steps of the pink-hued Capitol in Austin, where speakers took the microphone under a giant Texas flag with ‘‘Independent’’ stamped across it. Homemade placards read ‘‘An Armed Society is a Polite Society,’’ ‘’The Second Amendment Comes from God’’ and ‘‘Hey King O., I’m keeping my guns and my religion.’’ ‘‘The thing that so angers me, and I think so angers you, is that this president is using children as a human shield to advance a very liberal agenda that will do nothing to protect them,’’ said state Rep. Steve Toth, referencing last month’s elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn. Toth, a first-term Republican lawmaker from The Woodlands outside Houston, has introduced legislation banning within Texas any future federal limits on assault weapons or high-capacity magazines, though such a measure would violate the U.S. Constitution. Rallies at statehouses nationwide were organized by Eric Reed, an airline captain from the Houston area who in November started a group called ‘‘More Gun Control (equals) More Crime.’’ Its Facebook page has been ‘‘liked’’ by more than 17,000 people. A man who identified himself only as ‘‘Texas Mob Father’’ carried a camouflaged assault rifle strapped to his back during the Austin rally, but he was believed to be the only one to display a gun. Radio personality Alan LaFrance told the crowd he brought a Glock 19, but he kept it out of sight. At the New York state Capitol in Albany, about 2,000 people turned out for a chilly rally, where they chanted ‘‘We the People,’’ ‘’USA,’’ and ‘‘Freedom.’’ Many carried American flags and ‘‘Don’t Tread On Me’’ banners. The event took place four days after Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the nation’s toughest assault weapon and magazine restrictions. Republican Assemblyman Steven McLaughlin said the new law was ‘‘abuse of power’’ by the governor. Some in the crowd carried ‘‘Impeach Cuomo’’ signs. Protester Robert Candea called the restrictions ‘‘an outrage against humanity.’’ In Connecticut, where task forces created by the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy are considering changes to gun laws, police said about 1,000 people showed up on the Capitol grounds. One demonstrator at the rally in Maine, Joe Getchell of Pittsfield, said every law-abiding citizen has a right to bear arms. Capitol rallies also took place in Michigan, Montana, Wisconsin, Missouri and North Carolina, among other states. Back in Texas, Houston resident Robert Thompson attended the rally with his wife and children, ages 12, 5 and 4. Many in the family wore T-shirts reading: ‘‘The Second Amendment Protects the First.’’ ‘‘What we are facing now is an assault weapons ban, but if they do this, what will do they do next?’’ Thompson asked. William Lawson drove more than four hours from Wichita Falls and held up a sign reading ‘‘Modern Musket’’ over the image of an assault rifle and the words, ‘‘An American Tradition since 1776.’’ ‘‘I’m not some wild-eyed person who wants to fight in the streets,’’ Lawson said. ‘‘This is a country of laws. But I want to protect our Constitution.’’ Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson conceded that the Second Amendment sometimes leads to killings, but he told the crowd that the First Amendment can be just as dangerous. Patterson said news coverage of those responsible for mass shootings can spark copy-cat shootings. ‘‘All of us here, together, are right about our liberty,’’ Patterson said. ‘‘And we will not back down.’’ No REED, we should show our guns because if we don’t show them our guns, REED, then the cops and the politicians won’t understand that WE MEAN BUSINESS!! So don’t play the goodie-goodie, “I don’t want anyone to get arrested” game. Don’t give them an inch! It’s our government that should be arrested as well as any cop who goes along with them and their treasonous agenda. I looked at a bunch of pictures from various rallies at “The Daily Mail” website because it was linked at WRH. I couldn’t help noticing that they looked like A.A.R.P. gatherings. We really have to work on getting the next generation involved in shooting and gun rights, unless the problem is that the kids just don’t go to protest rallies. We might have to petition the government to confiscate all the x-boxes. Just like within our own age group, we have the majority of the youth and they are armed because we have armed them and they are trained because we have trained them and they will fight because we have instilled within them the virtues of freedom and liberty. We have to remember the mainstream propagandists will not give a true account of our numbers because to do so would be to admit defeat. Easy now, I am the old man of my group. In fact I’m older than some of their fathers. That said, my boy’s couldn’t go because they were working. I do see your point, yet I’m not sure where the reality in all this is because our generation was well represented at the rallies, yet I see families and 20 & 30 somethings going to the gun shows and buying.

Now Commenting On: Rockies select RHP Logan Kensing Email Print Press Release | DENVER - The Colorado Rockies announced today that the club has selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Logan Kensing from Triple-A Colorado Springs. To make room on the active roster, the Rockies have optioned right-handed pitcher Chris Volstad to Triple-A Colorado Springs. Kensing (#56) will be available for today's game vs. Philadelphia (2:10 p.m. MDT) at Coors Field. Kensing, 30, began the season at Triple-A Colorado Springs and has made 19 appearances going 0-1 with 7 saves along with a 2.57 ERA (21.0 ip, 6 er), 20 hits, 10 walks and 16 strikeouts. He began the season allowing just one unearned run over his first 11 games and 12.0 innings. Over parts of 7 seasons with Florida (2004-09) and Washington (2009), Kensing has appeared in 134 Major League games, 3 of which were starts, and has gone 8-9 with 2 saves and a 5.81 ERA (161.0 ip, 104 er), 88 walks and 143 strikeouts. Volstad, 26, has made 6 appearances this season in two separate stints with Colorado. In the most recent stint after being recalled on June 12, he pitched in 2 games and allowed 4 runs in 2.0 innings. On the year, he has posted no record with a 10.80 ERA (8.1 ip, 10 er) over 6 games. In 130 career Major League games/123 starts, the former first round pick is 35-51 with a 4.94 ERA (703.2 ip, 386 er), 248 walks and 442 strikeouts over six seasons.

Tag Archives: Matcha The Spring season is the time for recharging, moving forward, and enjoying the warmer days! After a long winter of snow, freezing temperatures, and shorter days, Spring is eagerly welcomed by everyone. The transition from winter to spring can sometimes seem hard so we want to give you that little nudge in the right direction to take advantage of this new season! You have the motivated mindset to get out there so we are just suggesting the extra boost to get your legs moving! We can’t suggest Matcha enough for all its health benefits and versatile uses! This energizing tea is rich in antioxidants called catechins, which are known to fight heart disease and cancer. Green tea also increases endurance and enhances fat-burn before exercise. Whisk or blend this health powerhouse as a hot or iced tea in the morning and you will be ready for anything! Try this great on-the-go breakfast or snack to keep you energized all day! Chai Tea is not only soothing in the Winter but also energizing in the Spring! When you have a busy day ahead, a cup of Pekoe House Chai provides long-lasting energy and focus without the jitters. A spirited organic Assam black tea wrapped in traditional chai spices will awaken the senses and energize body and mind. Tasty, energizing, and healthy; what else could you ask for from a muffin? These Strawberry Oat Matcha Muffins are the perfect mix of Pekoe Sip House Matcha and the sweetness of fresh spring strawberries.These muffins would pair perfectly with our Matcha Latte to get your day started on the right sip! Now time to bake, sip, and enjoy! Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place 8 cupcake liners in 2 tins, coated with non-stick spray. Mix together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix together wet ingredients. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients. Fold in the fresh diced strawberries. Fill each liner just shy of the top. Sprinkle the tops with sanding sugar for a crunchy crust. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 350 degrees F for another 12-15 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean. Transfer muffins to a cooling rack and they are ready to serve! September is National Yoga Month, and for the team at Pekoe Sip House, an ideal time to celebrate the connection between tea and the practice of yoga. Traditionally, tea is served after class to help the mind and body process the yoga practice and prepare for the transition into a busy day. During this time, we mentally and physically move from an individual experience on the mat to the social experience of sharing tea. One of the most popular types of tea for this purpose is called ‘yogi tea.’ Pekoe House Chai is very similar to yogi tea, incorporating traditional Ayurvedic spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and cloves into an Assam black tea base. To serve as yogi tea is served, sweeten this spirited black tea blend with milk and honey. For the uninitiated, a Boba Tea (also known as Bubble Tea or Pearl Milk Tea) is a combination of tea and milk with tapioca pearls. To make the pearls, starch of the tapioca plant is mixed with water and kneaded into a dough. Small pieces are then broken off, rolled into balls, and laid out to dry. Just before serving, the dry tapioca pearls are tossed into a pot of boiling water and become the sweet, chewy bubbles we all enjoy munching on. At Pekoe Sip House, we prepare our boba fresh every morning to be added to your favorite cold drink. SIP TIP: At Pekoe Sip House, you can add boba to your favorite cold drink, whatever that may be. At Pekoe Sip House, we add tapioca pearls to a variety of refreshing iced drinks. A few of our favorites include: Chai Wallah Boba Forbidden Freeze Boba White Strawberry Boba Iced Sunny Green Boba Iced Vanilla Toddy Boba Green Buddha Boba Matcha Doshu Boba FUN FACT: The straws to drink boba tea are bigger than normal iced tea straws so you can slurp up the tapioca pearls! If you haven’t tried boba tea yet, be forewarned: Some say the tapioca pearls are an aquired taste due to their chewy texture. Others say you may get hooked after the first drink, insisting no other iced, blended, whipped or slushed drink will every be the same again. One of the most curious things about a cafe experience is that the two most popular ways to have it are complete opposites. It is either a social outing or a solo indulgence. I know that in the most hectic times of my life I crave a few simple minutes to myself, where I can sit quietly with my matcha latte in a Pekoe Sip House location, and just be. I can read a book, or catch up on emails, or enjoy a few minutes where I don’t have to be responsible for anyone or anything other than myself. I can truly enjoy my time, the precious and exceedingly rare moments I have alone and I emerge regenerated and refreshed. Or, the exact opposite is what I crave. I will still go to Pekoe, but I am meeting a friend I haven’t seen in a long time, and nothing is going to feed my soul more than catching up with a good person I rarely get to see. I’ll drink my matcha latte indulgence, but this time I’m sharing a table, and maybe a snack with a good friend or two and really getting to savor the moment with good company. The sense of camaraderie surely livens my day, and connecting with other people feels really uplifting and energizing. Taking the time to slow down and really connect with other people is increasingly important in an age when we do most things online. Both of these experiences feed us in important and meaningful ways (besides the caffeine buzz) and allow us to reconnect with others and ourselves. Even the simple task of slowing down to enjoy a beverage is calming and invigorating. Around the world coffee shops and teahouses are the preferred locales for taking “your time” for yourself or meeting with friends to catch up and enjoy a few precious free moments amidst the constant busyness of our lives. Go visit your favorite coffee or tea spot today, either alone or invite a friend, you deserve it!

Chelsea Manning Reconciles with Adrian Lamo INTERNET — The world’s second most famous whistleblower, Chelsea Manning, and the hacker snitch who ratted her out, Adrian Lamo, reconciled in a passionate conjugal visit at the disciplinary barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Texas on Tuesday evening. Manning disclosed her work with Wikileaks to Lamo in famous and tragic chat logs which are believed to have led to Manning’s subsequent torture and indefinite detention. Manning wrote, in a letter addressed to the public, “I know Lamo deceived me. I trusted him like a priest at a confessional, but he turned me in. I still love him and forgive him. I get marriage proposals every day, and to be honest I just can’t trust any of my so-called fans. They don’t know me like Adrian — they think I’m some kind of a saint — and they just say whatever they think will make me happy . . . It may be his fault that I got caught when I did, but I was going to get caught sooner or later . . . Adrian doesn’t worship me, and right now that is the most valuable and rare thing in the world. If no one can understand this, I don’t care.”

Jurassic Park Mod For Half-Life 2 Teaser Trailer Released Holy snaps! That's the best way to describe Jurassic Life, the upcoming mod for Half-Life 2 that recreates the Jurassic Park experience in Valve's old but trusty Source Engine. The new teaser trailer – while still an obvious work in progress – is easily one of the most polished looking total conversions I've ever witnessed and it could be one of the breakout hits of 2013. By all accounts once I laid eyes on the footage – had it not been made obvious that it was on the Source Engine – I would have assumed this was the CryEngine 3. Seriously, this game looks really, really, really good. The amount of work and intricate amounts of detail attached to this is so well done. But don't just take my word for it. Check out the new footage courtesy of DSO Gaming. It's obvious where some polishing is needed, but for a group of volunteers to have undertaken this kind of dedicated project, it's just unbelievable to me. This game is absolutely breathtaking and there are a few reasons why: For one, the dinosaur animations look exceptionally good not to have any kind of motion-capture reference work done. They have extremely talented animators onboard and that's one of things that can seriously help or hinder the atmosphere of the game...thankfully it helps the game because the animations look slick. Second, the lighting and feeling of desolation are executed superbly. Those shots of the player character walking down that hallway with just a knife was like...”What if something pops out?! He's just got a knife!”. Not many games can capture that kind of desperation but they nailed it in the treailer. It's such a shame that big budget studios still don't get it, but at least the indie community still know what gamers want to play. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on this project.

We've officially launched membership. You can check out the press release by clicking here. Why join? Simple... You believe in the future of this industry. You believe in the vision of the PBMA to promote, advocate and develop professional bicycle mechanics. You believe in more that just agreeing to change, you agree to being part of the change. The nitty gritty - There are 4 levels for individualsWe have also created customizable options for teams and corporate partners. Watch these posts and your favorite cycling news information avenue for more info over the coming week.

Express Yourself Ask Donna Sturgess how she views the relationship between the package and the brand, and her reply is as articulate as it is engaging. “Packaging has to be an expression of the brand. I think sometimes people get confused that it needs to be loud or attention seeking, but to me that’s temporary,” she says. “The consumer will only glance over and be fooled once. Packaging is all about whether or not you’re expressing what your brand has to sell.” Sturgess has spent much of her career developing that philosophy in a steady rise through the ranks at GlaxoSmithKline. Her broad range of commercial experience includes time spent running GSK’s Oral Care business (where Aquafresh resides as a number three brand to Crest and Colgate) as well as the GI business (a hotly competitive market that includes GSK brand Tums). This path has given her a unique perspective that she brings to her current role as GSK’s vice president of innovation, a title that includes responsibility for strategic planning and advocacy for the consumer experience. “You have to be in touch with your consumers because you’re trying to bring higher definition to your brand. Connectivity with the consumer is where this whole business begins and ends,” she says. “You are either good at understanding your consumer, or you’re too far back to be able to feel the changes in consumer attitudes.” Sturgess shares the story of one project in the Oral Care unit that clearly illustrates the importance of not only listening to consumers, but also observing how they interact with both the product and the package. While small in its change to the physical package—a flat ribbon dispensing nozzle was incorporated into a tube package for denture cream Poligrip—the project proved significant in changing consumers’ in-use experience with the brand. “I think this is a remarkable little invention. Thanks to the square shape of the nozzle, the product is dispensed in a flat ribbon so that when you apply that to a denture, it reduces the ‘ooze’ that people feel when they’re putting adhesive onto their dentures and into their mouth,” Sturgess explains. “A consumer might sit in our offices and say, ‘Well, that’s a nice feature, but it’s not critical.’ But if you watch someone in their home actually try and apply an adhesive to their dentures, you suddenly become quite aware of their limitations and what type of product enhancements you can offer to help them,” she says. And Sturgess’ point about the consumer’s in-home experience cannot be overstated. For packaging to truly succeed, she says, it must do much more than catch the consumer’s eye on a crowded shelf. Exposure in-store is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. “Take into consideration the fact that your consumer has to take this package home and have a positive enough experience with it to repeat. More and more we are trying to create experiences with our brands. Otherwise, everything you’re selling is one at a time, and you’re not going to build a business that way,” she says. Sturgess points to another GSK Oral Care project, the introduction of Aquafresh Extreme Clean, as case in point. When her team initially designed Extreme Clean, it was decided that the sub-brand would stand for “clean.” On shelf, its packaging communicates this proposition. A rigid plastic outer carton allows ambient light to penetrate its translucent material and radiate a blue glow that communicates a crisp, clean feeling. Inside a sleek, metallized tube completes the striking visual effect. But Sturgess points to the “sensory” experience of the package at home—the satisfying click of the cap closing, the feel of the cool, aluminum tube in the consumer’s hand, the way the package looks on a bathroom countertop—as equally critical. So what is GSK’s secret to ensuring that its packaging is solidly integrated into the definition of the brand? It’s simple, really: make sure that packaging has a seat at the table as early as possible, ideally at the ideation stage. “The great paradox here is for people to try and accomplish remarkable innovation in the time-frame they are given. The biggest handicap that we have around packaging is speed to market,” says Sturgess. “At GSK, we work very hard to bring packaging as far forward and keep that as seamless as possible. Time is certainly our biggest challenge, and there-in lies the conundrum in packaging. Invite me early, and you’ll have more options. Invite me late, and I can’t help you.” BP Name: Donna Sturgess Age: 50 Title: Vice President Innovation, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Years in current job:Three Where or when do your best ideas come to you? “Ideas come from letting my subconscious brain loose to connect to opportunities or contemplate problems—connections can come from anywhere!” What do you consider the ultimate branded package? “The ultimate brand package for me is the one that best communicates the idea contained within. There are examples in many categories, but a new product I like is the wine for women Little Black Dress by Brown-Forman (www.lbdwines.com). The package speaks to its target customer, and the language and graphics are insightful and unique to the wine business.” Did you enjoy this article? Click hereto subscribe to BRAND PACKAGING Magazine. Events FDA mandated changes in nutritional labeling will bring about the greatest changes since the label was first mandated. The new guidelines in sizing, layout and content will require a systematic review of the entire package without impacting branding and differentiating graphics...

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Trouble logging in?If you can't remember your password or are having trouble logging in, you will have to reset your password. If you have trouble resetting your password (for example, if you lost access to the original email address), please do not start posting with a new account, as this is against the forum rules. If you create a temporary account, please contact us right away via Forum Support, and send us any information you can about your original account, such as the account name and any email address that may have been associated with it. Spoilers about future events must not be posted in this thread.If you need to reference something that would spoil a future event, reply directly with a private message. Discuss your expectations of the episode if it has not aired yet. Please do not vote in the poll until the episode has been released. Be polite to your fellow forum members. Please try to keep the discussion on topic. Note that because Gundam Unicorn is licensed, the following apply as well: Asking where you can find Gundam Unicorn downloads. Providing links to Gundam Unicorn downloads. Discussing Gundam Unicorn fansub groups (past or present). Asking for help downloading Gundam Unicorn. Asking for playback help for Gundam Unicorn episodes. These rules applies to fansubs (in English or any other language) and raws alike. Spoiler Policy Any spoiler that reveals future events, even under a spoiler tag, will be deleted.Spoiler tags should still be used where appropriate. Adding a Spoiler tag:Just highlight your spoiler and click the button found on the "Quick Reply" and "Reply to Thread" forms. Make sure that you include a title for the spoiler! Please use the Report button if you see any spoilers:Click the button found to the left of the post, just under the poster's avatar. Using the Report button is anonymous and helps the Moderators to locate and deal with problems quickly. Posting prohibited spoilers may result in a ban.Note: Reporting a post does not mean the poster will be banned instantly. The Moderators will use bans if warnings are repeatedly ignored. The Garencies?self-destructs after the Tri-stars find it and Watz/Watts fires some warning shots. Lots of talking this episode, very good dialogs. Nice " Mood " all around the episode, big buildup for the final episode. No big battles minus the first 6 minutes, i'd say the entire episode has less fighting than the Unicorn vs Banshee part of Episode 5. Full Frontal talking, Minerva calling him out on not being Char Aznable. Beautiful scenes with Zimmerman and Marida. Angelo going HEIL FRONTAL. Marida being badass in a broken Kshatriya. Riddhe and Banshee Norn kicking ass for a minute or two at the end of the episode. episode ends with Riddhe finding the Unicorn, shouting " BANAGHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRR and the Unicorn (Full armor) clashing sabers with the Banshee Norn. Que exit-song. The Garencies?self-destructs after the Tri-stars find it and Watz/Watts fires some warning shots. Lots of talking this episode, very good dialogs. Nice " Mood " all around the episode, big buildup for the final episode. No big battles minus the first 6 minutes, i'd say the entire episode has less fighting than the Unicorn vs Banshee part of Episode 5. Full Frontal talking, Minerva calling him out on not being Char Aznable. Beautiful scenes with Zimmerman and Marida. Angelo going HEIL FRONTAL. Marida being badass in a broken Kshatriya. Riddhe and Banshee Norn kicking ass for a minute or two at the end of the episode. episode ends with Riddhe finding the Unicorn, shouting " BANAGHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRR and the Unicorn (Full armor) clashing sabers with the Banshee Norn. Que exit-song. Spoiler for lots of pictures, somewhat spoiler: It's official, Angelo is a cutter. Banshee not amused? Well, sir, your have just advanced my excitement for the episode by a few orders of magnitude I'll get around to watching this in due course, but it looks like we gotta wait a year now to really see how they're going to go about wrapping up the story. So why do people fight, anyway? Perhaps the meaning of existence lies within their will to fight. People feel a sense of accomplishment through battle. And itís also a fact that the ones actually fighting are never perceived as being tainted. Weakest episode so far. Not to mention animation is worse overall, and really lame in some places. Could you be specific? Animation is top notch as usual, the only lame/lazy part was copy/pasting scenes from CCA, really wished they could've redone them. It was certainly lacking in MS fights, but then again this episode serves as the buildup to the final so that's acceptable. Plus, the many dialogues do contribute to the overall story and characters as well. Could you be specific? Animation is top notch as usual, the only lame/lazy part was copy/pasting scenes from CCA, really wished they could've redone them. It was certainly lacking in MS fights, but then again this episode serves as the buildup to the final so that's acceptable. Plus, the many dialogues do contribute to the overall story and characters as well. They could have done some more MS fighting considering how long we have to wait for the final battle..... Good episode overall. Not sure why Mineva tells Full Frontal the location of the box and didn't have a confrontation with Banagher afterwards. He gets pissed that she tells Frontal the location and then all is fine? They could have done some more MS fighting considering how long we have to wait for the final battle..... Good episode overall. Not sure why Mineva tells Full Frontal the location of the box and didn't have a confrontation with Banagher afterwards. He gets pissed that she tells Frontal the location and then all is fine? Marida went and talked to him, did you see the episode dubbed or subbed? While there was not much action, I liked the episode alot, more character development and it gave us a nice breather before the final episode which will likely be full of action Pros: Character development, we really needed more of this Appropriately set up, and forwarded the plot to the final stage Cons: Not much, there is one though.....using CCA scenes.....I know they did it for nostalgia purposes, but imo it backfired against the quality of the episode In short this whole episode was in preparation for Episode 7 8.5-9/10, Excellent episode! Notes: -I love how Takuya's "Magic" is slapping on tons of weapons onto the Unicorn lol, thats like something an Elementary student would do -The Unicorn modes are REALLY growing on me, especially at the end of the episode -Zinnerman: "It doesnt have legs" - FullFrontal: "YOU DONT SAY" Not exactly an action heavy episode but it works amazingly well overall! It's the perfect setup for the big finale!^^ The 'talkies', as I like to call them, are a great means of fleshing out motivations. Those who wished to see more action shouldn't be disappointed: it means that now that we're clear on who wants to do what for their own reasons, the explosions and lasers will be more meaningful come the finale Now, being disappointed about the fact that it's going to be 2014 when we see things close off, on the other hand...

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Pages LCNS Tuesday, September 17, 2013 Young Family Workshop — Gallery Romp: Egypt at the Penn Museum Young Family WorkshopGallery Romp: Egypt September 21st Saturday 10:30 - 11:15 am Young children (ages 3 to 6) and their favorite grownups are invited to explore the Penn Museum's galleries through stories, crafts and play. Kids can journey with Hen, Goose, and Duck on a picnic, and explore a feast for the afterlife on an Egyptian tomb mural nearby. Each workshop is limited to 25 people and advance registration is encouraged. To register, email jreif@upenn.edu.For more information:www.penn.museum

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Hon.CM Devendra Ji Fadanvis inaugurated newly constructed Grambhavan at Kharghar in the august presence of Hon.Min.Minister for Rural Development Pankaja Munde and other dignitories. MLA and Raigad Dist BJP President was present at the time

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At odds with Congress, but both Jagan and Mamata decide to vote for Pranab At odds with Congress, but both Jagan and Mamata decide to vote for Pranab However, the CPI, RSP, TDP and TRS are likely to abstain from voting in the presidential election. advertisement A Srinivasa Rao Hyderabad July 18, 2012 UPDATED: July 19, 2012 08:15 IST Mamata Banerjee (left), Jaganmohan Reddy. After much dilly-dallying, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the major opposition party in Andhra Pradesh, has finally decided to boycott the presidential election scheduled to be held on Thursday. A statement from TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu said the party would abstain from voting in the presidential elections as it had been fighting against anti-people policies of the Congress and the communal BJP. "The decision was taken after a long discussion with the senior leaders and studying all options. Having opposed the policies of Congress, the party cannot afford to support UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee. Similarly, the party felt it was not proper to support P A Sangma, the candidate of the NDA, which is led by a communal party like BJP," the statement said. On the other hand, the YSR Congress party, headed by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is fighting a bitter battle with the ruling Congress in the state, announced its decision to support Mukherjee. The party has 17 MLAs and two MPs. YSR Congress Party MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy announced the party's decision after a meeting chaired by honorary president YS Vijayalakshmi. "We have felt that it is not proper in a democracy to abstain from voting, especially in the case of elections to the highest post in the country. We have taken the decision to support Mukherjee and it is above politics. We hope that Mukherjee would do justice to the post of constitutional head," he said. The YSR Congress party also decided to support the candidature of UPA candidate Hamid Ansari for the Vice-President's post. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which also has 17 MLAs in the assembly and two MPs in the Lok Sabha, has not made an official announcement, but the party has indicated that it might abstain from polling in protest against Mukherjee's opposition to the formation of Telangana. The decision of the TDP, with 86 MLAs and 11 MPs, including five Rajya Sabha members, was believed to be crucial in the event of a keen contest between Mukherjee and Sangma. However, with the Trinamool Congress changing its mind and deciding to vote for the UPA candidate, the TDP decided to abstain from voting to maintain its anti-Congress, anti-BJP stand. Interestingly, TDP leaders sought to link its decision to the Telangana issue. Party MP from Adilabad, Ramesh Rathod, said the party would abstain from voting in the presidential election in protest against the Centre's intransigence in resolving the issue of Telangana. Apparently, this was done to put the TRS into an embarrassing situation and force it to boycott the presidential poll. BJP legislator Y Lakshminarayana alleged that Naidu has indirectly helped Mukherjee by abstaining from voting. "It amounts to voting for Mukherjee. But Naidu is trying to give an impression that he is neutral," he said. At least five TDP MLAs have decided to defy Naidu's decision to abstain from the presidential election. Gudivada MLA Kodali Sri Venkateshwara Rao, alias Nani, who had been suspended from the party recently for meeting Jagan and his mother, is likely to follow the YSR Congress party line. Another MLA from Mantrayalam, Y Balanagi Reddy, who is also sailing with the Jagan camp, is expected to defect as well. Similarly, another TDP MLA from Nuzvid constituency, Chinnam Ramakotaiah, openly announced that he would vote for Mukherjee. Two other TDP legislators from Telangana -- S Venugopala Chary and K Hareeshwar Reddy, who are at odds with the party on the Telangana issue -- declared that they would vote for NDA candidate P A Sangma in the presidential polls. On Tuesday, the Trinamool Congress, which was earlier opposed to the candidature of Mukherjee, had changed its mind and announced it would vote for the UPA candidate with "a heavy heart" due to lack of options.

Children's Day Crafts Childhood is the time of innocence. It is that time of life when you are free from all the big worries of life and when you get the opportunity to let your imagination fly higher and higher. It is the time when you have the time and chance to give free rein to your creativity. With Children's Day coming up again, it's the perfect time for all you little ones to make some wonderful crafts and celebrate the occassion. Given below are some cool tips for you to make some fabulous Children's Day Crafts. If you like the craft ideas, make them this Children's Day and also share them with your friends by clicking here and sending this page to them. Have fun and have a Happy Children's Day with everyone you love! Instructions: 1) Request an adult to help you bend the coat hanger into a diamond shape. Ask him/her to bend the hook part so that it won't poke anyone. 2) Next, wrap the wire with a layer of tissue paper. Tape the ends of the tissue paper to secure it. Cut out of the construction paper a diamond shape that is a little larger than the coat-hanger diamond. Draw the carp with the markers. 3) Then tape the paper to the coat hanger (so that the diamond shaped opening is covered). Ask an adult to help you poke a hole at each corner of the diamond. 4) Cut three strings each of 20-inch length. Tie one string each to the top and side holes of the diamond. Tie one end of the spool of string to the bottom hole. This will be the string that will help you fly the kite. Next, tie the free ends of the top and side strings to the flying string near where it meets the kite. This will help your kite fly. Take your carp out and run! Instructions: 1) Use a cardboard-piece big enough to cover your face or of the person who is going to wear it. 2) Draw an outline of your mask onto the cardboard. Cut out holes in place of the eyes and the nose. You would do well to get an adult to help you in the cutting part. 3) Make two small holes on either side of your mask to attach some string/elastic to it. Attach some elastic to each side of your mask. 4) Colour in your mask using either paint or crayons and coloured pencils. Use glitter, feathers or woolto decorate your mask. You can also glue on some coloured paper if you like. 5) Allow the paint and glue is dry. Your mask will be ready for you to wear. Instructions: 1) Cut out a cardboard piece of dimensions 4cm x 15cm. Decorate it with sequins, marker pens or lace. You may also add any other decorative item you want. 2) Next, cover the decorated cardboard piece with the contact paper. Using the hole punch, make a hole at the top and one in the middle of the bookmark. 3) Tie a piece of yarn through the hole to form a tassel. Your bookmark would be ready for use.

Investigations for the determination of drugs in real samples, while gaining in importance, are limited by time and sample throughput. In response to this, the authors developed an automated solid-... read more Pittcon® is changing rapidly. After decades where separation science including GC/MS and LC/MS dominated the meeting, a report by Dr. Matt Wilkinson in this issue demonstrates that optical ... read more The tenfold increase in speed for the analytics (GC, HPLC, and SFC [supercritical fluid chromatography], all with MS) over the last decade has shifted the choke point in many workflows from analytics ... read more Sitting here watching March Madness reminded me of the new instrumentation presented at Pittcon® in Chicago. Not one, but two, mass spectrometer prod- ucts were awarded a Pittcon Editors’ Award, ... read more Pittcon®, the world’s largest annual conference and exposition for laboratory science, is the premier venue for innovations, and the Pittcon Editors’ Awards are all about rewarding those types of ... read more The use of electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) is becoming more popular among research and development (R&D) organizations. These electronic platforms optimize workflow and expedite data analysis ... read more With the ongoing globalization of the world’s food supply, the presence of potential contaminants in food is an ever-important and increasing global safety concern. Developing accurate and reliable ... read more There have been many developments in mass spectrometry ionization techniques in recent years, enabling the investigation of diverse sample types across the molecular weight range. Some of these ... read more Modern bioanalytical laboratories are tasked with providing high-quality analytical results from complex biological samples in a high-throughput environment. These needs have to be balanced with the ... read more October 1988: I remember it well. My lab overlooked the parking lot at Varian Associates. We were expecting a visit from Bill Wham and Ken Halaby, the founders of American Laboratory magazine. read more Charge transfer chemical ionization (CI) was among the ionization types studied decades ago by researchers investigating fundamental Characteristics of chemical ionization. However, the technique was ... read more When J.J. Thomson, the father of mass spectrometry, published his seminal book, Rays of Positive Electricity, 100 years ago, he could not have imagined the vast array of applications that would be ... read more Biomarkers, or biological markers, have intuitive appeal, since chemists and biochemists are trained to relate activity to molecular structure and metabolism. I attend over 20 scientific meetings per ... read more Capillary chromatography is in the mainstream of the technical evolution of chromatography, driven primarily by improvements in column technology that generally precede the development of the ... read more The buzzwords for Pittcon® 2013 in gas chromatography instrumentation were “smaller,” “portable,” and “helium.” Despite the fact that some of the major vendors did not exhibit, others were on hand ... read more This has been a busy year for mass spectrometry companies and with the Triennial International Conference on Mass Spectrometry occurring last fall. This year at Pittcon®, several new high-end mass ... read more Hydraulic fracturing (energy extraction) was invented by Floyd Farris and Joseph Clark (Stanolind Oil and Gas Corporation) in 1947 for the mining industry, but the modern horizontal fracking ... read more

> Ciaran McCreesh wrote: > > On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:23:31 -0500 > > Dale<rdalek1967@×××××.com> wrote: > > > >>> It's being installed because it's a dependency of something you use. > >>> > >>> Replace Python with any other library and we wouldn't be having this > >>> discussion. > >>> > >> OK. Right now, as you type this, what package depends on python-3 > >> and won't work with python-2? Anything at all? If it is nothing, > >> then why install it? > >> > > And that's where you're making the mistake: you're treating Python as > > being different from every other package. > > > > In every other case, you want things to be using the newest version of a > > slotted package where possible. Why aren't you complaining that you were > > forced to install gcc 4.3 and 4.1 when 3.4 worked just fine? > > > > > Because, when I installed gcc 4.3, I could then unmerge the old gcc. > That's why I didn't complain about that. With python, we still have to > have the current version plus the new version which is not being used at > all. > > Am I not correct in that? If the new python is installed, what exactly > is going to use it? I used the new gcc. It worked fine. I unmerged > the old one with no wasted space and one less package installed. This > doesn't appear to be the case with python-3 tho. It's going to be > installed and just sit there like a rock. Python 3 is used during installation of packages, which support Python 2 and Python 3 and support installation for multiple Python ABIs. You can directly execute scripts with "-3.1" suffix (e.g. "bpython-3.1" or "coverage-3.1") to use Python 3.1 even when Python 2.* is set as main active version of Python. -- Arfrever Frehtes Taifersar Arahesis

About Us It’s actually about you Everything we do begins and ends with you. The ideas we express, the experiences we create, and the stories we tell are rooted in a deep understanding of your organization’s strategy. When you partner with us, we work with you to develop the best ideas for expressing your brand. The results are both purposeful and powerful. We have the expertise to transform any idea into just about anything you can imagine. When you work with us, we welcome you into our design family and build a lasting relationship based on creative collaboration. Our Strengths Marketing Strategy + Research Brand Strategy + Consulting Logo/Brand Design Marketing Materials Copywriting User Experience Design Web Design + Development eCommerce Solutions Packaging Design Print Advertising Web Advertising Signage + Environmental Design Illustration Iconography Photography Art Direction Video Art Direction + Storyboarding Print Production Our Team We’re a band of dreamers, game changers, and future definers. Design and strategy are our instruments for helping people and businesses do great things. For Andrew, the thrill of creativity is often in the challenge. His willingness to take intelligent risks is a carryover from his love of competition, and it’s given him the opportunity to work with several legendary designers. Andrew thrives on the push and pull of spirited collaboration. That’s why his vision for Concept A is a vibrant studio where designers and clients inspire one another, and, together, create great things. For Andrew, the thrill of creativity is often in the challenge. His willingness to take intelligent risks is a carryover from his love of competition, and it’s given him the opportunity to work with several legendary designers. Andrew thrives on the push and pull of spirited collaboration. That’s why his vision for Concept A is a vibrant studio where designers and clients inspire one another, and, together, create great things. Design is in Katrina’s DNA. With a graphic designer mom and print shop owner dad, it’s no surprise Katrina knows a thing or two about the creative process. When she needs inspiration, she looks for it in simple things like taking a walk—because you never know when a good idea will pop into your mind. And with Katrina’s eye for unexpected details, good ideas often become bold, influential designs. Design is in Katrina’s DNA. With a graphic designer mom and print shop owner dad, it’s no surprise Katrina knows a thing or two about the creative process. When she needs inspiration, she looks for it in simple things like taking a walk—because you never know when a good idea will pop into your mind. And with Katrina’s eye for unexpected details, good ideas often become bold, influential designs. From baking gluten-free goodies to whipping up lunchtime concoctions, culinary virtuoso Mandy makes sure the rest of the Concept A team doesn’t starve. She takes similar care with her designs, incorporating elements of craft—hand type and original sketches—wherever possible. Each day she tries to work outside her comfort zone, whether it’s trying a new recipe or attempting a challenging design technique. From baking gluten-free goodies to whipping up lunchtime concoctions, culinary virtuoso Mandy makes sure the rest of the Concept A team doesn’t starve. She takes similar care with her designs, incorporating elements of craft—hand type and original sketches—wherever possible. Each day she tries to work outside her comfort zone, whether it’s trying a new recipe or attempting a challenging design technique. From witty observations in blog posts to heart-felt journal entries, Kim Lisa loves to write. One of the reasons why she’s both an adept wordsmith and a skilled marketing strategist is her ability to listen to and empathize with people. As part of our team, she deftly considers multiple viewpoints and synthesizes them into compelling and actionable strategies that help businesses reach their goals. From witty observations in blog posts to heart-felt journal entries, Kim Lisa loves to write. One of the reasons why she’s both an adept wordsmith and a skilled marketing strategist is her ability to listen to and empathize with people. As part of our team, she deftly considers multiple viewpoints and synthesizes them into compelling and actionable strategies that help businesses reach their goals. It’s not uncommon to find Kat at an estate sale or local thrift store as she searches for vintage treasures to resell on her online Depop shop. That thrill of the hunt and finding that perfect piece of kitsch is not unlike the exhilaration she gets from experimenting with design to craft just the right solution. Kat also fuels her inspiration by engaging with other creatives in the GR fine art scene or just listening to Lennon/McCartney songs with her dog, Yoko by her side. It’s not uncommon to find Kat at an estate sale or local thrift store as she searches for vintage treasures to resell on her online Depop shop. That thrill of the hunt and finding that perfect piece of kitsch is not unlike the exhilaration she gets from experimenting with design to craft just the right solution. Kat also fuels her inspiration by engaging with other creatives in the GR fine art scene or just listening to Lennon/McCartney songs with her dog, Yoko by her side. McKenna is a designer who truly appreciates experiences—whether it’s the adventure of traveling to far-off places, the opportunity to commune with nature at one of our National Parks, or the act of creating something in a hands-on and tactile way. It’s no wonder that she’s so drawn to UI/UX design which is all about making someone’s interactions with a digital brand the best experience it can be. Drawing further inspiration from art, lettering, and typography, McKenna enjoys integrating her study of these forms and composition in unexpected ways within her design work. McKenna is a designer who truly appreciates experiences—whether it’s the adventure of traveling to far-off places, the opportunity to commune with nature at one of our National Parks, or the act of creating something in a hands-on and tactile way. It’s no wonder that she’s so drawn to UI/UX design which is all about making someone’s interactions with a digital brand the best experience it can be. Drawing further inspiration from art, lettering, and typography, McKenna enjoys integrating her study of these forms and composition in unexpected ways within her design work. Working with Concept A means you get to spend your days hanging out with Harley, a Cairn Terrier who loves to snooze in the sunshine, gnaw on her Grumpy Cat, and bound around the office checking out what everyone’s working on. Harley Recruiting Working with Concept A means you get to spend your days hanging out with Harley, a Cairn Terrier who loves to snooze in the sunshine, gnaw on her Grumpy Cat, and bound around the office checking out what everyone’s working on. Our Collaborators We may not always have the answers, but we always know who to ask. We regularly partner with a network of trusted experts—wordsmiths, web masters, and print and paper specialists, to name a few—whose expertise in these fields enhance the quality of our work. Careers If you design with empathy and purpose, let’s talk. We’re always looking for talented individuals who can bring new levels of artistry and intelligence to our team.

Hello everyone. For several years now, I've had a thing for linear-tracking turntables, as exhibited by my Bang & Olufsen Beogram 8000, its little brother the Beogram TX2, and my Technics SL-10, among several others. I like the ingenuity of the mechanisms which allow them to track parallel with the groove, and the various ways which manufacturers found to do so (both mechanical and electrical, both good and not-so-good). Ever since I learned of their existence, I wanted something with a Rabco linear arm. Several years ago, I spotted a Rabco ST-4 sitting in the back of a car at one of the MIT Swapfests; the seller was busy, and I figured there was a reason it was there instead of sitting on his table, so I let it pass. More recently, I spotted a Harman-Kardon ST-7 (using a Rabco arm, as H-K bought the company in the early '70s) at one of the Kutztown radio swapmeets, but it was a bit too expensive for my liking ($250), and by the time I finally built up the courage to buy it, it'd been sold. My wallet thanked the buyer, but my heart still wanted a Rabco. Fast-forward to this past weekend. I managed to get into the MIT Swapfest early, and started looking around the sellers setting up in the parking garage. Near the top of the seller area, I spotted a seller who I recognized from some local audio get-togethers, and who I'd bought stuff from at last month's swapfest. While looking at his wares, including a pair of Pioneer CT-F900s which I eventually bought from him, I spotted a box in the back of his truck labeled "Rabco". Sure enough, it had a ST-4 sitting inside it! I asked him how much he wanted, and he responded with $100. Sold! I find this unit rather fascinating. The tonearm it uses is different from the sort used in other Rabco-based turntables; instead of using a separate motor to advance the arm based on microswitches detecting the arm going out-of-true, the arm on the ST-4 rides along a long metal roller which turns along with the platter. The arm has a small idler wheel at the top which is in contact with the roller, keeping the arm true as it rides the groove. The Rabco arm used in the various linear-tracking turntables made by Harman-Kardon have far more in common with the older Rabco SL-8E tonearm (which cost more than the entire ST-4 turntable by itself!) than the arm used in in the ST-4. Cosmetically, it's seen better days, but is in pretty good shape overall. One side of the funky split dustcover had bent mounting pins, which I've mostly straightened out. I'm guessing the belts could stand to be replaced, particularly the platter drive one, but they seem to be intact for the most part. When I first powered it up, the platter and tonearm roller slowly started turning. When I pressed the CUE button, the metal flap in front of the arm lowered, slowly dropping the arm onto the junk record I'd placed on the platter, and it started to track. There's supposed to be some sort of end-of-record lift, but it doesn't seem to be working correctly at the moment. I'll have to try and figure out if there's some way to adjust it. Anyway, enough of my blathering, here are some pictures of the ST-4: The original box! What's in the box. Note the split dustcover. With the dustcover removed. What's under the pulley cover in the top left corner. The instruction manual shows a shift lever of some sort to move the platter belt between the 33 and 45RPM speeds, but there's no sign of it, nor of where it would've been mounted. The cartridge it came with, a Shure V-15 IV. It happens to be one of my favorite cartridges, which is good because the turntable didn't come with any sort of overhang gauge. Restoring it should be interesting. There seem to be some issues with the power switch, as the platter doesn't get much (if any) of a 'nudge' when the switch is moved, and the last time I tried to turn it off, it initially refused to power off. Hopefully, it's not something major, but I'm not sure. Any ideas?-Adam Yeah, I can definitely see the resemblance, even if the mandrel holds the tonearm instead of a cylinder record. Of course, I'm pretty sure that Edison's patents had expired by them........... Bruce Hagen wrote: I was a Rabco rep during that era. May still have some parts unless they got lost in my last move. Anything you could find would be great. Parts and service info seems to be fairly hard to find for the ST-4 these days; the only documentation I've been able to find have been some brochures and the owners manual, which doesn't say anything about aligning the tonearm lift sensor. Anyway, what were your impressions of the ST-4 when it was new? Do you have any idea why its arm seems to be radically different from any of the other Rabco arms?-Adam Overhang? Well if you can adjust the cart so it is square on, and adjust the overhang so it tracks straight towards the spindle, that should be perfect overhang? That is, if the arm is long enough to position the stylus of the cart so it tracks directly towards the center of the record. IF it does not, say, the arm is shorter or longer so the cart tracks to a point in front or behind the center, then you would have to mount it at an angle to correct it to be square to the record grooves. No helpful information to give ... BUT, looking at those pictures, I am jealous and turning bright green with envy. Yeah, I know the feeling. I've been very lucky when it comes to finding turntables; of course, some might say too lucky, given that I've amassed at least a couple dozen thus far. This Rabco was one of my holy grails; I wouldn't mind finding another linear tracker capable of using a 1/2"-mount cartridge (most of the later ones used plug-in cartridges), or a broadcast-quality turntable like a Technics SP-10, Garrard 301/401 (almost acquired a 301 once, but I didn't feel myself capable of restoring it at the time), or a Thorens TD-124. wazz wrote: Overhang? Well if you can adjust the cart so it is square on, and adjust the overhang so it tracks straight towards the spindle, that should be perfect overhang? That is, if the arm is long enough to position the stylus of the cart so it tracks directly towards the center of the record. IF it does not, say, the arm is shorter or longer so the cart tracks to a point in front or behind the center, then you would have to mount it at an angle to correct it to be square to the record grooves. Yeah, I think I misunderstood the instructions in the owner's manual with regards to setting the overhang. What I thought was a drawing of an overhang gauge was actually an illustration of how to place the tonearm on its roller. To set overhang, you move the tonearm over the spindle (which ends in a point), and adjust the cartridge mounting so that the stylus is centered over the spindle. Gotta love the (apparent) simplicity of the early linear trackers.-Adam Adam, fascinating project... one I'd like to do!Just had a parallel-tracking idea... To drive the arm across the record at the right rate without any side-thrust, pivot the arm on the moving bar, then servo the pivot point motion along the bar so that the angle between bar and arm (optical angle sensor, no friction) remains at 90 degrees. Any small pivot moving error is taken up by the arm swinging just a tiny bit, far less than a standard arm at a fixed pivot point.Did Rabco do this? Likely not (EDIT: yes it did, see below) as the arm seems driven by a roller and lead screw (EDIT: No) off the T/T itself (is it?) Did any other T/T manufacturer use my "angle servo" idea?Cheers,RogerEDIT. It seems they all used a servo, albeit mechanical or micro-switch. But an optical sensor would be better as no friction or backlash. Adam, fascinating project... one I'd like to do!Just had a parallel-tracking idea... To drive the arm across the record at the right rate without any side-thrust, pivot the arm on the moving bar, then servo the pivot point motion along the bar so that the angle between bar and arm (optical angle sensor, no friction) remains at 90 degrees. Any small pivot moving error is taken up by the arm swinging just a tiny bit, far less than a standard arm at a fixed pivot point.Did Rabco do this? Likely not as the arm seems driven by a roller and lead screw off the T/T itself (is it?) Did any other T/T manufacturer use my "angle servo" idea?Cheers,Roger Not quite sure that I quite get what you're going for there, or if any of the linear trackers used something like what you mention. The original Rabco arm (SL-8/E) used a microswitch on either side of the tonearm to detect when the arm goes out-of-true, which then triggers a battery-operated servomotor to move the arm via a chain-drive mechanism. The Rabco arm used on the later Harman Kardon turntables was similar, but simplified to some extent (no more chain drive or battery, for one thing) and rather finicky. The ST-4's arm uses no leadscrew; best I can tell, the roller is just there to keep the arm true, and facilitate its movement as the groove pulls it across the record. Bang & Olufsen's linear arm replaced the microswitches with optical sensors, and used either a precision leadscrew (4000/8000 series) or a cable (Beogram 5005 and onwards) to advance the arm when triggered by the sensors. Probably the coolest was the Pioneer PL-L1000, which used magnetic levitation to 'float' the tonearm as it tracked the groove. Quite fascinating what they came up with in those days, really.-Adam So you're saying that the roller is rotated by the turntable only to make it easier for the stylus to drag the entire tonearm across the record. I can't see how that wouldn't result in intolerable side loading. So you're saying that the roller is rotated by the turntable only to make it easier for the stylus to drag the entire tonearm across the record. I can't see how that wouldn't result in intolerable side loading. -David That's how I understand it. The arm has a small idler wheel in it which rides on top of the big roller. Apparently, the later Harman-Kardon versions employed that as well as some vestige of the servo mechanism from the original Rabco SL-8E arm. Some more info on these arms can be found here: Thanks for posting the links -- they provided the answer. How it works is very clever: the little idler wheel (called a "steering wheel") and the rotating roller together form a mechanical servo. As the arm moves toward the record center it changes the arm angle which changes the angle of the steering wheel relative to the rotating roller. This creates side thrust between the roller and steering wheel which drives the arm along the roller until it is again straight. The stylus does not drive the arm, the roller does. Very simple, should be very reliable, but depends on a very good surface on the steering wheel. Any dents or gouges and it won't track smoothly. I've had my Rabco ST-4 since the early 70's and now have refurbished it for service again. My only problem is replacing the drive belt. My old belt, that still works, is 36.5" but is spliced and 35+ y/o.I purchased a FM 34.0 that was supposed to fit, but TOO tight.I purchased another FRX 35.1 and it too is tight.According to my CAD layout the belt length should be 37.6". Attachment: Rabco ST-4 Drive Belt.JPG [ 28.81 KiB | Viewed 1903 times ] By tight, I mean the motor spindle will not turn the belt. The spindle seems to bind under the tension and will not move. The drive spindle is odd in that it is two piece. The brass piece is presumably attached to the motor shaft and the outer (silver) spindle is free wheeling. See pic.Is this some sort of torque limiting coupling? Can someone check the drive spindle and verify it is two piece?Anyone have a contact for the proper drive belt? The two services I contacted don't seem to have the answer. Getting a new 36.5" belt has been difficult. Is the ST-4 that sensitive to belt tension or is something amiss in my ancient TT? Mine has the pulley seen in that photo (appropriate, since it's one of the ones I took). I have seen a photo of a ST-4 with a different style of pulley (as seen in a small picture here) which has the larger section on the bottom. I'm not sure exactly how similar the pulley is otherwise. Does your ST-4 have the doohickey which is supposed to shift the belt between pulley sections in order to change speeds? As far as the belt goes, I've seen pages which recommend either the FM 34.0 or FBL 35.1; have you tried measuring the belt path length using a piece of string? I've heard that modern belts sold by whoever took over PRBline are stiffer than the ones available back in the day. I've seen a picture of an ST-4 on this blog which appears to use an entirely different style of belt. I don't know off-hand what sort it is (gum rubber?), or where they got it. Perhaps you could try sending the blog owner a message asking about it. Good luck!-Adam I don't have the speed doohickey. Mine is just like yours in the picture. Does the silver spindle stop turning when lightly touched with your finger?I have video but don't know how to attach it. If so, then it s is some sort of torque limiting mechanism which tells me the system is sensitive to belt tension and that an exacting belt dimension is critical. If not, then I have a De-coupled spindle/motor shaft. The string method measures 37 3/4. 3%-5% (recommend stretch) is 36.62 - 35.86 which tells me my 36.5 length should work if I can find one. I probably will need to talk to these guys, http://www.elexatelier.com/. Sure took me long enough but I do find that I have lots of pulleys and a few of the two belts. The units were shipped without the pulley on the motor shaft because UPS was known to throw cartons and when the box stopped the pulley didn't bending the shaft. We stocked the pulleys because the dealers would misplace them and panic when they sold a unit but could not deliver. Funny, but sad.

Guilty Plea Offered In Killing of Sheriff Published: January 18, 2003 SOMERSET, Ky., Jan. 17— A man charged in the political assassination of the Pulaski County sheriff last year at a campaign rally pleaded guilty to murder today in a deal expected to spare his life. The defendant, Danny Shelley, was the triggerman in the killing of Sheriff Sam Catron and agreed to testify against a former candidate for sheriff, Jeff Morris, and a Morris campaign aide, Kenneth White. Mr. Morris, 35, and Mr. White, 55, are charged with complicity to murder a police officer. Each has pleaded not guilty. Investigators say the killing was orchestrated by Mr. Morris and Mr. White because Sheriff Catron was heavily favored for re-election. Sheriff Catron, 48, was seeking a fifth term when he was shot on April 13 minutes after a campaign speech. He was hit in the head by a single bullet fired from a nearby hillside. Mr. Morris was arrested within days of the shooting. In May he lost the Republican primary to a police detective endorsed by Sheriff Catron's widow. Sentencing for Mr. Shelley, 31, was set for March 3. Under the plea agreement, the state agreed to recommend life in prison, without parole for at least 25 years. Trial dates for Mr. Morris and Mr. White have not been set. The killing was the second involving a candidate for sheriff in Kentucky last spring. In Harlan County, a former sheriff who hoped to regain the office, Paul Browning Jr., was found shot in the head last March as the primary season began.

Yesteryear Bapu Bomma Turns Rajini Wife Sun Jun 18 2017 15:53:17 GMT+0530 (IST) If a heroine acts in a Bapu film, her craze increases. Easwari Rao is a Telugu lady but she entered the film industry with Tamil film. She has later acted in a Telugu film 'Jagannatakam'. Five years later she acted in 'Rambantu' and she became busy. Eawari Rao is alwasy selective when signing films.. she has become a sensation now. She is playing Rajini's wife role in Rajinikanth's latest film 'Kaala'. She is saying that 'Playing this role.. and watching me on big screen.. it's my gift to my children. I can't say anything more about this character". Even though she gets many offers she gives importance to several aspects before signing a film. After doing Prakash Raj wife role in 'Bhadra'.. she didn't act in films until 'Legend'. She has acted in 'Andhra Pori'.. 'Brahmotsavam'.. her recent films include 'A Aa' .. 'Nenu Local'.. 'Ism'. Easwari Rao has been appearing in mother roles continuously.. but she got a superb offer from 'Kaala' to be paired opposite to Rajini.

INFORMATION ON CONTENTS: Vertebrates can be divided into three groups according to the mode of operation of their brain: (a) those that operate with natural (innate) drives only (the majority); (b) those with an ability to fix unnatural (acquired) drives (a minority); and (c) the ‘group of one’ that operates almost exclusively with unnatural (acquired) drives (Homo sapiens sapiens). In mammalian brains capable to fix unnatural drives, untrained cortical neurons (Group 1) possess the potentiality to change their functional state in response to practice, training, or experience in three consecutive stages, namely getting involved either (i) in an extinguishable conditioned reflex (ECR) (Group 2); or (ii) in an inextinguishable conditioned reflex (ICR) (Group 3); or (iii) in an acquired drive (Group 4). With the evolution of brains capable to fix unnatural drives, species appeared whose members could manipulate each other's behavior and act in concert. This was the condition sine qua non for the evolution of social living, a form of life that enabled the species to surpass qualitatively the performance of any given individual. It goes without saying that training members in the skills needed to act in concert improved the quality of life. It is hard to overestimate the significance of human’s ability to manipulate the brains of animals with limited ability to fix acquired drives (domestication). Due to the practically unlimited ability to fix acquired drives, humans possess the most manipulable brain among all living creatures on earth. The home/school/society triad manipulates the members of the society from birth until death, and the individuals behave accordingly. The human being, a building block in the creation of human society, the most gigantic man-made product on earth, was born with a brain knowing nothing whatever about the real world, but with limitless ability to invent a non-existing, myths-directed world (and believe in it). Thus, Homo sapiens sapiens, the only surviving human species after the extinction of Homo sapiens fossilis, created necessarily with the chaos function of the human cortex the myths of supernatural forces which brought into being the still existing myths-directed human society. For sake of survival, it was from the very beginning of vital importance to get acquainted with the creative and controlling forces of nature. The limitless power of thinking in orderly rational ways, the infinite capacity of the human brain to explore the natural mechanisms (science), is that physiological reality which determines the conscious fight of the individual to find and fix acquired drives that optimally fit their natural endowments. Homo sapiens sapiens appeared around 150,000 years ago; reached full behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago; and piled up little by little proper knowledge regarding the natural forces. Science and technology developed slowly until the age of enlightenment and achieved thereafter a dramatic speed. A crucially important step forward was the separation of Church, by its nature the main creator and guardian force of the myths-directed era of the human society, and State, interested by its nature in supporting with passing time more and more the rationally directed human activities. The ultimately unavoidable transition of human society from the myths-directed era into the rationally-directed one will finally lead to a reasonably and harmoniously operating global human world. Just comparing in the highest developed countries the quality and duration of life and the characteristics of social life, prior to the age of enlightenment with the conditions today, the trend of development is clear. The aim set by the brilliant pioneers of the age of enlightenment, their prudence recommendation: Sapere aude (Dare to go independent), is as timely as it was then. If masses learn how the brain works, they will resist traditional methods of manipulation. Knowledge arrived already to the level which meets the claim to bring to an end the myths-directed era, the first part of human history. After all, time is ripe to call into existence the rationally directed, global, homogeneous human society. The birth of the European Union illustrates for example an evident step forward in the right direction. However, only a smaller part of the human world-population (now around 7.5 billion) lives in highly developed countries where the overwhelming majority of citizens believe in democracy, freedom of speech, women’s rights, gay rights, etc. Billions still live in countries where the home/school/society triad manipulates members of the society in the same manner as centuries ago. The same basic mechanism manipulates the behavior of the domesticated animals and humans. However, in striking contrast to the human brain with practically unlimited capacity to fix acquired drives, this ability in animals is strictly limited. In our animal model, we manipulated the behavior of our rats to fix in their brain the ‘glass-cylinder-seeking drive’. Finally, the rat behaved as one possessing a fanatical desire to reach the unnatural goal: to find in an unknown environment the glass cylinder with a side opening and open at bottom and top, and jump to the rim of the 30-cm-high glass-cylinder. In the properly manipulated rat the unnatural drive suppressed the life important natural drives. The same fits for human beings. The brain of a suicide killer is furtively manipulated. The properly acquired unnatural drive develops as a result of long-lasting training. The subject always acts under coercion, under severe mental pressure. Nevertheless, it is the nature of acquired drives that if the manipulation was fully successful the individual ultimately behaves as one possessing a fanatical desire to reach the unnatural-drive-motivated goal. Thus, the expert-opinion that the global war on terror is a 7th-century clash involving 21st-century weapons is correct. Nevertheless, since the development of science and technology accelerates continually, no matter how much time is still needed to arrive to the ratio-directed era of human history, to reach sooner or later this final goal of development is a physiological necessity and cannot be stopped. The billions who remained during the myths-directed history of mankind untouched by the wartime killings of their innocent peers and were ready to die in the name of “God”, “fatherland” and so on, illustrates the consequences of the extreme manipulability of human behavior. Even in the dark history of mankind, the Holocaust, the extermination of millions within a few years with unprecedented success, due to a systematically planned and executed evil mass manipulation of tens of millions, was a unique event. This horrifying recent example, as well as the terror war now in progress, testifies to the fact that the potential to misuse the physiological endowments of the human cortex is practically unlimited. Only a global change of education based fully on the exact knowledge of the brain mechanisms that enable the manipulation of individuals can lead, at some point in the future, to the desired rationally directed society. AUTHOR’S STATEMENT: I wrote this popular book to demonstrate that the ability to acquire an irrepressible urge (acquired drive) for a goal not necessary for survival of the individual or species represents the most sophisticated function of the telencephalon. Whenever a drive is acquired, chains of inextinguishable conditioned reflexes are fixed, neurons responsible for emotions are also coupled to the integral whole and thus cognitive/volitional consciousness is necessarily inseparable from an affective state of consciousness. The mechanism that binds emotions, appurtenances to any chain of ICRs is of crucial importance to interpersonal communication. Though the development of an acquired drive always originates in one way or another from an innate drive, which relation later becomes unrecognizable, nothing exists in the brain without a rational origin. I wished to clarify that the appearance of the mammalian brain with the ability to acquire drives ensured the development of social life and ultimately led to the evolution of human society. This most sophisticated form of organized life on earth is still in the trial-and-error phase of its development. It seeks to outgrow the myths-directed era of its history and arrive at its final state, the rationally directed human society. I tried also to explain why without the ability to adapt ourselves to the concrete (science), we would not be able to survive, and without the ability which allows detachment from the concrete and explorations in the infinite (art), life would not be worth living.

Some might find this question ridiculous yet it is a very justified question one may ask. In fact Hip Hop might have never been created without the influence of a certain Jamaican, or at least it might not exist as we now know it. As a Jamaican I was very interested to find out just how much influence my country of birth had on the creation of this genre of music. From my research, this is what I discovered: It is generally accepted that the roots of hip-hop are planted deeply in the fusion of America and Africa. African music was taken to North and South America by West African slaves. There, they developed it into their own musical styles and it gradually became popular over time. Gospel, blues and jazz are all part of this history in the U.S., while reggae, calypso and ska started in the Caribbean. All of these influences were brought together by Clive Campbell (Kool D.J. Herc) who is regarded as the father of hip-hop. He was born in Jamaica in 1955 and later moved to the Bronx in 1967, at the tender age of twelve. With his original style of R & B, soul, funk, and obscure disco, he quickly became the driving force of the hip-hop way of life. Image via genius.com It is widely accepted that Herc was the first DJ to purchase two copies of the same record for just a small break (rhythmic instrumental segment) in the middle. By mixing back and forth between the two copies he was able to double, triple, or indefinitely extend the break. By doing this, he effectively deconstructed and reconstructed so-called ‘found sound’, using the turntable as his musical instrument. That concept in its entirety came from Jamaica. Modern rap music finds its origins deeply embedded in the toasting and dub talk over elements of reggae music. In the early 70’s he attempted to incorporate his Jamaican style of dj which involved reciting improvised rhymes over the dub versions of his reggae records. Unfortunately, reggae wasn’t received positively by the majority of New Yorkers. Kool Herc realized this quickly and modified his style by chanting over the instrumental or percussion sections of the day’s popular songs. Because these breaks were relatively short, he learned to extend them indefinitely by using an audio mixer and two identical records in which he continuously replaced the desired segment. His first professional job as a disc jockey was at the Twilight Zone in 1973. His fame exploded. In addition to his original break beats, he was also known as the man with the loudest system around. Whenever he held a party, it was a phenomenal and very loud event. Other prominent disc jockeys such as Afrika Bambaataa began trying to take Herc’s crown. Below is a quote from Jazzy Jay of the Zulu Nation: “Herc was late setting up and Bam (Afrika Bambaataa) continued to play longer than he should have. Once Herc was set up he got on the microphone and said “Bambaataa, could you please turn your system down?” Bam’s crew was pumped and told Bam not to do it. So Herc said louder, “Yo, Bambaataa, turn your system down-down-down.” Bam’s crew started cursing Herc until Herc put the full weight of his system up and said, “Bambaataa-baataa -baataa, TURN YOUR SYSTEM DOWN!” And you couldn’t even hear Bam’s set at all. The Zulu crew tried to turn up the juice but it was no use. Everybody just looked at them like, “You should’ve listened to Kool Herc.” Herc’s career began to fall in 1977. The emergence of Grandmaster Flash and Bambaataa’s various crews with their polished emcee styles began to overshadow Herc. He was later stabbed three times at one of his own parties and was never the same. He played his last Old School party in 1984. It is sad that a person like this is not a common part of the modern hip hop vernacular. Jamaican born Kool Herc, the father of this new form of music that has now been embraced by the masses all over the globe. Let us ensure that his significant contribution to the musical art form is not forgotten. Source: wikipedia If you like this article please consider joining our Forum HERE to help us grow. Remember to share this article on Facebook and other Social Media Platforms. Subscribe to our mailing list to get new articles sent to you automatically. […] With regards to music, we have produced such an extensive list of prominent and influential names that even attempting to list a small fraction of them would require too many pages. The name “Bob Marley” is sure to be recognized on every facet of the planet. Besides the obvious Reggae music, Jamaicans have played major roles in the creation of other genres of music namely, Hip- Hop and Reggae-ton. […] The Jamaican sound systems and deejays were what made hip-hop possible. Picture a basement party in Brooklyn in the early to mid-70s hosted by some expatriate yardies. The room is packed and sweaty, there’s a DJ with two turntables at the far end busy flipping and occasionally rhythmically scratching vinyl discs, a selector choosing the hardest most danceable dub cuts, and a maniac on the mic going off with some insane scat-singing over the bass-heavy riddim. Now picture an African-American born and raised in NYC who’s been invited and is witnessing all this for the first time. Some gears are… Read more » It’s been a oneness in NY all the while when I was coming up. Garveyites flocked to the city in early century and dispersed in all directions. We’ve been intermarrying and interpartying for a long time. It’s my West Coast friends who have a harder time imagining these origins. Music was an outgrowth of larger things going on in the regional culture. Years ago, I was thrilled to see a documentary on TV showing how hip hop was started by a Jamaican scratching and doing his reggae ‘dub’ on the streets of NY, I believe in the early 70s… It was in B&W.. slightly hazy now. I didn’t see a repeat and have searched and still unable to find it. Found many others but not that particular one. Any help? This is so true i could relate to that because at the age of 8 my father used to promote dance, I came in contact with those beat by a sound name sir cox son dad, who played a lot of King stitch follow by a sound name son junior and king tubby s most of the music was by channel one studio and they were of a rap like nature, just play some of the early music by general echo and muma liza and see the rap style in their music, I could go earlier when i use to… Read more » This is so true i could relate to that because at the age of 8 my father used to promote dance, I came in contact with those beat by a sound name sir cox son dad, who played a lot of King stitch follow by a sound name son junior and king tubby s most of the music was by channel one studio and they were of a rap like nature, just play some of the early music by general echo and muma liza and see the rap style in their music, I could go earlier when i use to… Read more » The Jamaican sound systems and deejays were what made hip-hop possible. Picture a basement party in Brooklyn in the early to mid-70s hosted by some expatriate yardies. The room is packed and sweaty, there’s a DJ with two turntables at the far end busy flipping and occasionally rhythmically scratching vinyl discs, a selector choosing the hardest most danceable dub cuts, and a maniac on the mic going off with some insane patois scat-singing over the bass-heavy riddim. Now picture an African-American born and raised in NYC who’s been invited and is witnessing all this for the first time. Some gears… Read more » Toasting as they use to call it on the microphone start in the 60s bk in jamaica i dancehalls a guy called :king stitch: aslo afta him was delinger and many more toasting icons. If it wasnt for these guys hip hop would exist. And today wat we called dancehall music. So alot oc respect to those who start the thing in america, but jamaica is where it all begons. Blessed im out. Its strange how we can jump to point out how grateful the Jamaican music industry is to the world but never thought how grateful the world is to the Jamaican music industry (if they really have one). Let me point out foremost: Jamaica music industry is rooted in NEW ORLEANS. It owes its existence to ANTOINE “FATS” DOMINO. The mento we recorded between the 1950s and the 1960s was not going anywhere. I urge you to listen to all the songs done from the pre-Ska era onward and you will hear the American flattery as clear as crystal—its influence is… Read more » Years ago, I was thrilled to see a documentary on TV showing how hip hop was started by a Jamaican scratching and doing his reggae ‘dub’ on the streets of NY, I believe in the early 70s… It was in B&W.. slightly hazy now. I didn’t see a repeat and have searched and still unable to find it. Found many others but not that particular one. Any help?

Turkish diplomat shot dead in Iraq A restaurant where Turkish diplomats were killed is seen in Erbil, Iraq July 17, 2019. (Reuters/Azad Lashkari) SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - At least three people including a Turkish diplomat were killed in a shooting on Wednesday in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Erbil, Kurdish security officials and Turkey's foreign ministry said. Unidentified gunmen opened fire at a restaurant where Turkish diplomats were dinning, the two Kurdish security officials said, a relatively rare attack in the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. The Kurdish officials and Iraqi state television said all three killed were Turkish diplomats and that the Turkish deputy consul to Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region was among them. Turkey's foreign ministry said one Turkish consulate employee was killed in the attack. Kurdish security forces sealed off the area and were searching for the attackers, the Kurdish security sources said. One witness said that one attacker entered the restaurant and started shooting before he fled in a car that was waiting for him outside.

Patients that are indicated for colonoscopy or who are suspected or known to suffer from colonic diseases. Device: PillCam™ (Capsule Endoscopy) Medical Device Detailed Description: The evaluation of subjects with suspected colonic disease includes endoscopic imaging by colonoscopy and radiologic imaging such as air-contrast barium enema, or CT colonography. The Given® Diagnostic System offers an alternative approach for endoscopic visualization of the colon using capsule endoscopy, an ingestible device which contains imagers, light sources, a power source and a RF transmitter. Advantages of the Given® Diagnostic System include the elimination of the need for sedation, the minimally invasive, painless nature of the exam, and the ability to pursue normal daily activities immediately following the procedure . Furthermore, compared to standard colonoscopy, the Given® Diagnostic System may be more readily accepted by the subjects, thereby improving subjects' willingness to undergo a diagnostic evaluation of the colon and comply with colorectal cancer screening recommendations. The PillCam™ SB capsule (formerly M2A® Capsule) that was FDA-approved in August 2001 for small bowel evaluation has been ingested to date by more than 500,000 people worldwide and is well accepted by patients and physicians as well as the processional societies. However, adequate visualization of the colon cannot be achieved with the standard PillCam™ SB capsule because of the anatomical and physiological properties of the colon which are significantly different than the small bowel. Moreover, other issues that limit the evaluation of the colonic mucosa by the standard PillCam™ SB procedure include an unsatisfactory level of colon cleanliness and slow progression of the PillCam™ SB capsule through the colon during the desired examination time. Therefore, the development and introduction of a specially designed, customized colon capsule combined with a dedicated capsule colonoscopy procedure protocol will allow for more efficient evaluation of the colonic mucosa. This is expected to improve the capability of the Given® Diagnostic System to detect colonic pathologies and to serve as a diagnostic and screening tool for colonic disease. Further details of the PillCam™ Colon Capsule Endoscope (PCCE) can be found in the device description section. This is a pilot study that is designed to evaluate the level of cleanliness and visualization of colon achieved by colon capsule endoscopy when using Night procedure regimens for preparation of the colon. Eligibility Ages Eligible for Study: 18 Years to 50 Years (Adult) Genders Eligible for Study: Both Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No Criteria Inclusion criteria: Subject is between the ages of 50-75 years and has an indication to undergo colonoscopy: At least 75% of total cases OR Subject is 18-50 suspected/known to suffer from large bowel disease and was clinically referred for colonoscopy (e.g. rectal bleeding, melena, positive FOBT, recent change of bowel habits, CRC screening, UC, positive findings on a GI radiographic study - no more than 25% of total cases Exclusion criteria Subject has dysphagia or any swallowing disorder Subject has severe Congestive heart failure (NYHA II or IV) Subject has renal insufficiency Subject has had prior abdominal surgery of the gastrointestinal tract other than uncomplicated procedures that would be unlikely to lead to bowel obstruction based on the clinical judgement of the investigator Subject has a cardiac pacemaker or other implanted electromedical device. Subject has any allergy or other known contraindication to the medications used in the study Subject is expected to undergo MRI examination within 7 days after ingestion of the capsule. Subject with any condition believed to have an increased risk for capsule retention such as Crohn's disease, intestinal tumors, radiation enteritis, or NSAID enteropathy, Subject has any condition, which precludes compliance with study and/or device instructions. Women who are either pregnant or nursing at the time of screening, who intend to be during the study period, or are of child-bearing potential and do not practice medically acceptable methods of contraception. Subject suffers from life threatening conditions Subject currently participating in another clinical study Contacts and Locations Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies. Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00951587

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2.Michigan pretty much invented the modern weekend. The two-day weekend has its origins in the Michigan labor movement and Henry Ford, who "gave his workers two days off back in the early 1900s, even though the federal government didn't mandate the forty-hour work-week until 1938." 3.We brew beers like nobody's business. Flickr: Tom Feary / Creative Commons / Via Tom Feary Michigan is one of the top 5 states in the country for number of breweries. 4.Michiganders have a portable, always-available map that they have attached to their arms.

Sleeping: She wakes up 1 time during the night for a full 250ml bottle and a diaper change, then will go right back to sleep. She gets up every morning at 5am, like clockwork. Eating: She will have about 2 bottles during the day, 1 at night. Z will eat just about anything, that we put in front of her. Which makes me very happy, because growing up I was a very picky eater. Milestones: She has 4 teeth, with 3 more coming in now. Before they were coming in one at a time, now they are coming in, in multiples. Poor little girl. She's drooling so much due to her teething, so I always have something cold for her to chew on and some baby Advil/Tylenol handy. - She walks, but when she chooses. If she knows you're watching her, she will sit down. - She crawls super fast -Stands on her own -Dances to music -Claps and waves to people -Her new thing is to give us hugs and kisses, which is positively awesome. She still amazes us every single day, and is such a fast learner. I've been trying to find mommy/daddy and toddler groups, so she can start interacting with kids her own age.... so far I haven't had any luck. Thursday, January 9, 2014 First of all, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone. We have been so busy that I haven't had time to post in a while. Our little girl is ONE YEAR old! I can't believe it. Her birthday weekend, was awesome, but also exhausting..... who knew that birthday parties could be so tiring? Our daughter received so many presents on Christmas, that we didn't want to overwhelm her on her birthday... we may have gone a tad over board for Christmas presents. Also since her birthday is a week after Christmas, we had to make sure we had everything for her birthday as well. Let's just say that I learned something..... her second Christmas we will be buying items throughout the year and not all at once. That way it won't break the bank and we aren't rushing. Oh the things you learn as a first time parent. For her birthday my husbands brother and best friend came down for the weekend. The day of her birthday ( The third of January ) we ended up taking her out to lunch at Denny's. She had her own mini pizza and mashed potatoes, and I ordered stuff off the Hobbit themed menu. The Hobbit Hole Breakfast. After the breakfast/lunch, we went and did our running around. Got things for her actual birthday party, which was on Saturday. We ended up buying some Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for her to try with just immediate family once we got home. She face planted the cupcakes.... no hands required lol. On Saturday, we got everything ready for her birthday. It was a cute Owl themed. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted.... but I'm working on my photography skills lol. Her cake was an owl made out of cupcakes, it turned out really well. My dad made it for her, he's awesome at baking and cooking things like that. We had a spread of appetizers, veggie and meat and cheese trays. Family and close friends showed up. She ended up getting a turtle walker, $10 (which is going into her savings account ), some adorable outfits, a Sully Monsters Inc plush talking toy, a Glow Worm ( which sings at night ), a book about lions, which reminded me we have to get her The Lion King on dvd soon. She'll love the songs in it. She also got some ABC blocks, a Blue hippo with balls that it bounces, a picnic set that talks and sings. I haven't even listed her Christmas gifts. She had a cupcake off her cake... didn't really smash it, she was too busy feeding my aunt and uncles dog and wandering around visiting everyone. She was so tuckered out that she slept for a solid 7 hours after her party. The wings were made with chocolate coins, it was so good. If she continues loving Toy Story as much as she does, I have a feeling her second birthday will be Toy Story themed. That's all I have for now. Next post will be a 1 year update ( milestones, foods, etc ) It still blows me away that our daughter is officially a toddler. Analytics Social Icons About Me I'm 26 and I am a first time mom and wife. Married to the love of my life, and learning daily how to be the best parent possible. My blog is meant to follow every day life, milestones, achievements and everything in between. Some reviews, and the random World of Warcraft talk.

Actions Iberia Medical Center 150 screened for COVID-19 On Wednesday, 150 people took advantage of the drive-through public coronavirus screening offered by Iberia Medical Center. The screening was held in the parking lot of North Lewis Elementary, with vehicles in line at 8 am for the 9am event. Attendees were routed from the Andre street entrance into to parking lot to the first screening station where participants had their temperature taken and were asked a series of questions. If they were experiencing symptoms, participants were sent to the second station for additional evaluation by an onsite physician and flu testing. Of the 150 people who attended, 57 were sent on to the second screening station where they were further evaluated by a physician and/or swabbed for flu. If negative for flu, swabs were sent for covid-19 testing, according to Lisa K. Landry, Director of Marketing for Iberia Medical Center. Iberia Medical Center will be announcing a second screening event next week. The date and times will be posted on the hospital's Facebook page. For a full list of screening and testing sites, along with information for each, click here. Copyright 2020 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The film office wouldn’t confirm or deny that the project was a “Breaking Bad” film. But a source close to the project confirmed the production. According to the logline, “Greenbrier” tracks the escape of a kidnapped man and his quest for freedom. “We are happy to welcome ‘Greenbrier’ and Sony Studios to New Mexico,” said New Mexico State Film Office Director Nick Maniatis. “For years, we’ve built up the film industry in New Mexico and strengthened our film incentives; now, we’re seeing success after success for the film industry in our state.” According to the N.M. Film Office, the production will employ approximately 300 N.M. crew members, 16 N.M. actors and approximately 450 N.M. background talent. This is the first project for Vince Gilligan – who created “Breaking Bad” and co-created the spinoff, “Better Call Saul” – after signing a three-year deal with Sony Pictures Television in July. The move to stay with Sony comes at a time when A-list showrunners are being courted by Netflix and other streaming services for production pacts. Details on which characters will be returning from the TV series to the film have not been released.

Menu Tag Archives: chicken One of the most popular Thai dishes which is really easy and quick to make. Spicy, healthy and light, it’s very rare that a dish fits in well in all these three categories which is what makes it so popular. So here you go:- Serves – 4 Ingredients: Oil – 1 tbsp Red Curry Paste – 2-3 tbsp (you can follow this recipe to make it at home) Coconut Milk – 1 can (14oz/400ml each) Thai Chilies – 2 finely chopped Brown Sugar – 2 tbsp Soy Sauce or Fish Sauce – 1 tbsp Baby corn-1/2 cup Red Bell Pepper – 1/4, sliced Green Bell Pepper – 1/2, sliced Mushrooms – 1/4 cup Broccoli – 1/2 cup Tofu or Chicken Breasts- 1/2 cup lemon grass -1 stalk finely chopped Green Onions – 5 stalks finely chopped Garlic Cloves – 3-4 minced Basil Leaves – 1 bunch and some extra for garnishing Method: In a pan, heat the oil. Once hot, add garlic and chilies and sauté for a few seconds. Add in the red curry paste and mix well. Add the coconut milk and mix again. Then add in the sugar, soy sauce or fish sauce. If you are making a non-vegetarian dish, then add the chicken now, cover and allow chicken to cook partially. If you are making it a vegetarian dish, skip steps 3 and add the vegetables to the gravy. Add baby corn, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, lemon grass and mushrooms. (Leave broccoli at this stage.) Let it cook for a minutes and then add tofu. Add the basil leaves and cook for another 3-5 minutes. And then add broccoli. Cook till chicken / tofu is cooked. Garnish with a few more Thai Basil Leaves and serve hot with some steamed rice. Another one of my absolute favorites-Spicy Masala Chicken curry or Dhabe wala Chicken(as I prefer to call it). This amazing Indian Curry dish is spicy, full of flavor, has rich thick gravy and is mouthwateringly aromatic. Even though I’m always in favor of healthier and seemingly less fatty alternatives but there are certain dishes where I just don’t compromise on flavor and stick to its true original recipe and this dish is definitely one of those. So here is the recipe – Add broth or water and cream to pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and add the chicken. Simmer, partially covered, skimming occasionally, until chicken is almost done and liquid is slightly thickened, approximately 1hr. Add potatoes to the pan and cook, partially covered, until potatoes are fork-tender, chicken is fully cooked, and liquid is thick enough to coat a spoon. Top with yogurt and mint, and serve with naan, flatbread, or rice. (For best result, if you are using leg pieces you should saute the chicken for 7-8 mins in a separate pan before adding to the broth.) I’ve always wondered what exactly is French cuisine and what differentiates it from Italian cuisine as wine and cheese form a major part of both styles and both have a very rich and subtle pallet. After a little research, it turns out that during medieval times French cuisine was highly influenced by Italian cuisine and as centuries went by, it slowly got rid of its italian influence and developed its own unique style. I wanted to try one of the classic french dishes called Poulet a L’estragon which is Chicken with Tarragon and White Wine sauce. Heat the garlic oil in a frying pan or Dutch oven that has a lid and in which the chicken breasts will fit pretty snugly. Add the scallions, stir, then sprinkle in the freeze-dried tarragon, stir again and cook them in the garlic oil for a minute, stirring some more as they cook. Put the chicken fillets into the pan, curved side down, and cook for 5 minutes, watching the scallions don’t burn. If they look like they’re beginning to, scrape them from the pan and let them sit on the chicken pieces. Turn over the breasts, and add the white wine (or vermouth). Let the wine bubble up, then add the salt. Put the lid on, turn the heat down low and leave it to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Check the chicken is cooked through by making a small cut into the thickest part and ensuring the juices run clear – if not, simmer for a few minutes longer and check again. Remove the chicken breasts to warmed plates. Bring the remaining liquid to a boil, add the cream and stir well, then sprinkle in the fresh tarragon, stir again and give a good grind of white pepper. Pour the sauce over the chicken breasts, and give a final scattering of tarragon to serve. Needless to say, the recipe turned out to be pretty awesome, my husband couldn’t believe I made this at home.;) The beauty of this recipe is that it has the perfect balance of flavors with such minimal ingredients and each playing a subtle role in bringing out its richness. And as Nigella suggests, relish the remaining gravy by scooping out every last bit of it with some nice fresh French Loaf, I loved it. This is definitely one of those dishes which makes me feel that I can never have enough of it. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did..:) So this was our second valentine since we got married and I had planned a surprise meal for my husband. But as usual nothing went as planned. Just a day before valentine, there was a snowstorm here in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, so we couldn’t leave the house. I wanted some alone time so that I could prepare everything, but to make things more difficult, my husband was asked to work from home that day. Yes, I was excited to have him all to myself but I wanted my plan to somehow work too. I desperately wanted him out of the house for atleast an hour, but such a lazy bum he is, he refused to budge even after all my excuses. Luckily we ran out of milk and that is an emergency situation in our house as both of us are big Coffee freaks, so finally he had to step out. I had some chicken breasts in the freezer so this was the quickest recipe that I could prepare in that time frame and with the things that were available in the house. Here it goes-

The Greyhounds (10-3, 6-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference) scored the game's first six goals, but the Statesmen (6-7, 2-4) answered with five. A 7-0 Loyola run that spanned both halves helped put the game out of reach. Andrew Scalley (Archbishop Spalding) had two goals and four assists for the Mount, and goalkeeper Adam Borgogelli finished with 11 saves, including one with 2:30 left that helped the team preserve a two-goal lead. Goucher 7, Scranton 6, OT: Sam Morgan scored his second goal of the game with 1:37 left in overtime to push the Gophers (7-7, 5-0 Landmark Conference) past the host Royals (8-6, 4-1). Goucher trailed 6-4 in the fourth quarter before Morgan scored with 10:18 remaining in regulation, and Steve Patterson tied the game in the final minute.

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GREAT NEWS! Out of more than 500 applicants and 10 finalists, INMED Partnerships for Children was selected as one of 5 for the Saving Lives at Birth Grand Challenge, which funds innovative approaches to reducing maternal/neonatal mortality rates. Roughly 2.7 million babies die annually—most from preventable causes? Neonatal jaundice can be one of those causes. If left untreated, it can lead to irreparable damage and even death. INMED is partnering with Little Sparrows Technologies to implement the Bilikit(TM), a combination of simple and portable innovations to screen for, diagnose and treat neonatal jaundice in developing regions. This approach is critical in Peru, where more than 90% of health facilities lack the equipment and training to adequately diagnose and treat neonatal jaundice, contributing to a rate of jaundice-linked brain damage (kernicterus) 10 to 20 times higher than in high-income countries. We use cookies to improve your experience on our websites. By continuing you are giving consent to cookies being used. For more information on cookies and how to manage them, see our cookie policy at the link below. Allow CookiesPrivacy Policy

Category: DIY Hello again everyone! I apologize for the lack of updates. School, as it often does, got in the way once again and I haven’t made real progress on any of my own projects in just under a month now. Luckily that all changed recently. With nothing better to do on a Saturday night, I set forth a goal of completing the new revision of the redesigned G4HUP panadapter (what I’m now calling the W3AXL Panatap) and getting it installed in my FT-450D. This proved to be both easier and more difficult than I thought. Details inside! I recently acquired a shiny new Yaesu FT-450D. I knew almost immediately that I wanted to use one of my many RTL-SDR dongles to set up a pandapter. As luck would have it, all the hard work was done for me by Dave Powis, G4HUP. He had designed a compact, high-impedance IF tap for direct connection to any SDR. Unfortunately, with the passing of Dave came the end to all shipments of the PAT board, leaving me high and dry in the search for a cheap way to add a panadapter. There comes a time in some hams’ lives when they’re faced with a dilemma. They can’t drill their car, the mag mounts are getting old very fast, and trunk lip mounts just won’t cut it. The misguided of the lot go towards glass-mount or fender-mount antennas, and settle for poor performance and high losses. The more adventurous, well, we get creative. So if you’re like me and you want to mount a whole bunch of antennas to your car but don’t want to drill the roof, this is the story you want to read.

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Serving with LCMC Serving with LCMC It is the responsibility of the pastors to seek opportunities to serve in ministry. The Ministry Board recognizes the authority and responsibility of congregations of LCMC to call their pastors. A call from a congregation may be either a Certified or a Contract call. Definitions of "Certified" and "Contract" Pastors can be found in the Call Packet. Resources for Clergy Those interested in pastoral certification with LCMC should read and familiarize themselves with the documents listed below. To view open ministry positions posted by LCMC congregations, please visit our Open Positions page, located under "Church Life" in the main menu of our website. If your congregation is a member of LCMC and would like to submit a listing to appear on our Open Positions page, information and resources are available here. Chaplains Seminarians interested in going directly into a chaplaincy ministry could be called and deployed as a chaplain by an LCMC congregation. LCMC as an association of congregations does not ordain. Congregations do. Therefore the way LCMC handles specialized ministry by a newly graduated seminary student is that that student would be called and ordained in a congregation and then deployed by that congregation to the chaplaincy role. This "deployed" relationship need have no financial or other obligation by the congregation except that the congregation consider the person to be doing ministry in partnership with them, and that the chaplain report to the congregation about the ministry in an agreed upon manner. Those pastors who already have been ordained and served in ministry can use this "called and deployed" arrangement if they are hired for a chaplaincy position. Those seeking endorsement for military chaplaincy should check the "Contact" link and "Boards and Staff" directory page on the LCMC website for the LCMC Military Endorser and contact that individual. Get in Touch Newsletter Stay on top of announcements and upcoming events by subscribing to our e-newsletter.

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Site Mobile Navigation A Midseason Classic: Irabu Wins His Debut Hundreds of camera flash bulbs lighted up Yankee Stadium when Hideki Irabu uncorked his first pitch last night. Curious fans were treating this game in July like October, and the newest Yankee like an immediate celebrity. And the fans who did not bring cameras were eager for pretty pictures from the Japanese pitcher. They wanted full-color action shots. Irabu could not have provided much snazzier pictures if he had posed. He used a powerful fastball, a nasty split-finger fastball and a sneaky curveball to register strikeouts. Irabu kept numerous fans busy dutifully cataloguing each of his nine strikeouts along the facing of the Stadium. Several of the placards used the Japanese word for strikeout, providing a touch of Tokyo in the South Bronx. These new versions of the K-corner were only one of the unusual twists on an evening when Irabu made Yankee history as the team's first Japanese pitcher. He made it even more memorable by guiding the Yankees to a 10-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Irabu showed considerable poise, showed why the movement on his pitches can make him overwhelming and also showed that he can sputter slightly if his control vanishes. Still, on a night when 51,901 pairs of eyes were watching George Steinbrenner's pet pitcher -- the man he has obsessed over since February -- Irabu made a valiant debut by pitching strongly into the seventh inning. It was appreciated. When Manager Joe Torre summoned Jeff Nelson to replace him, Irabu received a standing ovation that did not end until the pitcher was shoved out of the dugout and waved his cap. In the boisterous dugout, Irabu smiled. Even though the Yankees ripped Detroit for the eighth straight time, with Tino Martinez smacking a three-run homer off Omar Olivares, Derek Jeter rapping four hits and the Tigers giving up three bases-loaded walks in an ugly fifth inning, this night belonged to the chunky right-hander who longed to play for the Yankees. Irabu allowed two runs, five hits and a surprising four walks in six and two-thirds innings and threw 61 strikes among 98 pitches. ''I think the guys rallied around him before the game,'' catcher Joe Girardi said. ''You get caught up in the crowd like the crowd does when there's 51,000 screaming fans here. He brought a lot of life here. I'm glad he does that. That was a blast.'' An impressed Torre said: ''It was remarkable what he did with all the hoopla that was going on. We knew it was going to take on a carnival-like atmosphere. No one was disappointed.'' Steinbrenner added, alluding to the efforts it took to pry Irabu from Japanese baseball: ''He literally took on a nation to come here. He said, 'I want New York.' '' Now Irabu has New York and New York has him, and the first day of the new marriage was a success. There was a circus-like atmosphere as 300 reporters, including 100 from Japan, covered an event that was expected to be seen by 35 million people on Japanese television. But Irabu did not wilt, even though his fastball was 5 miles an hour slower than the 99-m.p.h. cannon he typically throws. Steinbrenner added to the hysteria before the game by initially limiting access to the clubhouse, and then closing it to the news media altogether, in violation of major league rules. The Yankees brought some players to an interview room before the game, a switch sanctioned by baseball. An error has occurred. Please try again later. You are already subscribed to this email. Nothing seemed to bother Irabu. He barely flinched when four reporters innocently stood beside his locker and a team official shouted, ''Get them away from him,'' even though none of them spoke Japanese and none tried to interview him. Irabu impressed Torre during a pre-game meeting when they reviewed signals for pickoffs and pitchouts and he responded to each query in English. ''He didn't have problems,'' said Kota Ishijima, Irabu's interpreter, who consulted with the pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre between every inning as he waited in the runway next to the dugout. ''I was in awe.'' Irabu received the loudest ovation of any Yankee before trotting on the field with his teammates for the national anthem. A hulking figure at 6 feet 2 inches and 230 pounds, he quickly looked comfortable in a Yankee uniform by striking out four of the first six Tigers and tossing 18 strikes in his first 22 pitches. ''When I got out on the mound, all the things that I went through in the last six months came to me in a flashback,'' Irabu said. ''I really had that on my mind. I had to change the channel. I knew I was part of this team now, and I had to do what I could to contribute.'' But the nifty control that Irabu had displayed while giving up only one walk in 31 minor league innings disintegrated when he walked Curtis Pride to start the third. After a single by Raul Casanova, Deivi Cruz's hit-and-run single on a 3-2 pitch scored Pride to give the Tigers the lead, 1-0. Irabu stranded two runners by firing three strikes past Travis Fryman. Once the Yankees exploited Casanova's throwing error for four runs in the third inning, Irabu really relaxed. He whiffed three of four Tigers in an 18-pitch fourth. Eight of his first 12 outs were strikeouts. As dominant as Irabu was in the fourth, he sputtered in the fifth, when the Tigers used two hits and two walks to chisel the deficit to 4-2. After Irabu tossed eight straight balls with two outs to load the bases, Stottlemyre asked Ishijima the Japanese phrase for ''stay back'' and made his debut as a bilingual speaker in a comical session on the mound. The advice seemed to work: Bob Hamelin cued the next pitch, a tricky sinker, to third base to end the threat. ''The most impressive thing about him was that knack,'' an admiring David Cone said. ''He has that intangible you can't quantify. When to take a little off the fastball, when to put a little on. He had presence. He had know how. He knows how to pitch.'' INSIDE PITCH HIDEKI IRABU's first outing compared well with HIDEO NOMO's major league debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 2, 1995. Nomo lasted five innings, in which the right-hander gave up one hit and no runs to the San Francisco Giants while striking out seven and walking four. . . . Yankee radio and television announcers changed how they pronounced Irabu's last name last night, after asking his interpreter, KOTA ISHIJIMA, how the name would be pronounced in Japan. But Ishijima said after the game that the pronunciation that has been in use -- ear-RAH-boo -- is correct in the United States. . . . WADE BOGGS wants to be traded, and his agent is trying to help orchestrate a deal, but the disgruntled third baseman said he would not be a nuisance while he waits. ''Like JOHNNIE COCHRAN said, 'If you don't fit, you got to get rid,' '' said Boggs, whose rhyming was off a little. . . . Even though CECIL FIELDER teased Irabu about getting to games earlier because he is a rookie, he will not remember the debut fondly as he struck out four times in four at-bats and was incessantly booed.

Take a look at a selection of our adorable free Easter printables, perfect for card making and papercraft projects. From gorgeous Easter Bunny bunting to cheery chicks and Easter egg baskets, we’ve got everything you need to make some lovely cards for friends and family. With plenty of pretty patterns and floral designs, you can… Continue reading → Get crafting with our handy free printable templates from Papercraft Inspirations issue 150. Grow your own beautiful paper daffodils using the templates – they’re a perfect way to brighten up a room all year round! To download the templates, please click on the image you like to enlarge it then right-click and select ‘print’ to… Continue reading → Vicky Bailey has cooked up some fabulous cards using Naomi Hocking’s pretty free Easter egg printables from Papercraft Inspirations 150. Spring has truly sprung and Vicky’s found some brilliant seasonal inspiration for her sweet Easter makes. With her clever card ideas, you’re bound to want to make eggcellent Easter cards by the dozen! One of… Continue reading → We’ve got a gorgeous freebie for you in our April issue – Naomi Skinner’s free craft papers and toppers filled with the most adorable Easter motifs and springtime animal friends! If you’re on our blog homepage, click the main headline above to see how to get your freebies… Here are all the free templates you’ll need for the projects in issue 137 of Papercraft Inspirations, including these gorgeous decorative Easter eggs by Zoe Patching! You can hang them up, pile them in a decorative bowl to create a centrepiece for your Easter table, or hide them around the house and get family and… Continue reading → Here are all the free templates you’ll need for the projects in our March issue, including this amazing box card by Jenny Hodges! If you’re on our blog homepage, click the main headline above to see how to download your templates. Your April issue includes these wonderful patterned papers and toppers designed by Jenny Ellory – but if you don’t want to cut into your magazine, you can download them right here! Choose from pretty floral backgrounds and borders, plus bright Easter eggs, frames and bird motifs for your cards. Everything you need to make gorgeous… Continue reading → To kick off the third and final day of our blog party, we’ve teamed up with Sizzix to bring you this gorgeous bonus project, and a fab giveaway including a Big Shot starter kit (including a Big Shot machine!) and one of the dies you need to make this gorgeous Easter gift bag! To get… Continue reading → Welcome back to day 2 of the Papercraft inspirations Easter blog party! We hope you enjoyed the giveaways, offers and guest posts yesterday. If you missed out, then you can keep track of all the Easter blog party posts here. The first giveaway of the day is Stampin’ Up!‘s super-cute ‘A Little Bit of Spring’… Continue reading → It’s coming to the end of day one of our big Papercraft inspirations Easter blog party, but don’t fear! There are still two more days to go, and we’ve got a gorgeous bonus project to end day one with a bang! Janiel Corley from the fabulous Little Darlings Rubber Stamps design team has created a… Continue reading → During our Christmas blog party, the super-talented Paige Evans from American Crafts made us three gorgeous cards, and she’s back for Easter with this fabulous bonus card for you to make! She’s even put together a supplies list and step-by-step instructions to help you to make it! You will need: – White card – Assorted… Continue reading → There’s still lots of time to catch the March issue of Papercraft inspirations, bursting with makes for Mother’s Day, Easter treats, birthday cards and lots more. Be sure to check out the fab tips from our panel of Papercraft Testers, who test our projects for you! As an extra treat, the Testers have got some… Continue reading → Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited (company number 05715415) is registered in England and Wales. The registered office of Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited is at Vineyard House, 44 Brook Green, London W6 7BT.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013 365 Comics...36: Prophet #21 (2011) There was an obvious reason why I didn't read Prophet back in the mid-to-late-1990's, but I'll spell it out for you: Rob Liefeld. You may have your own opinions of the guy, and hey, for a 2-year span from 1990-1992 I was pretty dazzled by him myself, but let's face it, he's got his thing and that thing ain't so good. I've been meaning to, at the very least, check out the stuff he had Alan Moore do for him on Supreme, but I still have this block with him and the derivative characters that he created. It's the same reason why I didn't give his recently rebirthed books at Image a second look. Yet, with Prophet making many top ten lists for 2012 (and in many cases topping those lists) I have no choice but to reexamine. I hate to miss out on good genre stuff. The Comixology app made it pretty easy to get a taste, with the "first" issue (#21) available for free. Though the series numbering continues, it's evident this is a hard reboot, stripping away the overmuscled physique, the warrior's grimace, the obscene shoulder pads and prevalent pouches, and diverting far, far away from the modern-day setting. Instead writer Brandon Graham has been given carte blanche to do with the character as he pleases, awakening John Prophet from a deep subterranean slumber in the very distant future where alien life are keep the devolved human progeny as cattle for milking and meat. Prophet, no longer buff and be-spandexed, instead looks famished, gaunt, and his orange jumpsuit seems less than snug. But his appearance betrays his formidable abilities as a fighter, and his acquisition of numerous gadgets and supplies give him a Bond-by-way-of-John Carter feel. I wasn't fond of Graham's narrative choice at first, but I settled into it and eventually understood the necessity of it. There's an abundance of ideas in place here, much of it hearkening back to Edgar Rice Burroughs in its execution of alien life and civilization, and a human thrust among it. It's enough to be dazzled by that the actual plot kind of escaped me after an initial reading. I definitely liked it though (artist Simon Roy, a stylistic hybrid of Frank Quitely and John Romita Jr., is astounding at making the alien environments a believable space) and will certainly be trade waiting/hunting for more.

Review Review Summary: With the band's third release, Ne Obliviscaris find themselves at the top of the food chain. I think it's safe to assume that Australia's Ne Obliviscaris are now deeply entrenched in the elite-ridden world of extreme progressive metal. They've come a long way since debut effort Portal of I, an album which already heralded a shocking amount of hype even before its release thanks to many across social media deciding to crown the band "the new Opeth". Let's be honest though, Ne Obliviscaris were always worlds apart from their peers. That neoclassical edge coupled with an almost consistent balance between blastbeats and harmonic, acoustic sections of music has practically been the band's modus operandi from the get-go. With the band's third release, Urn, Ne Obliviscaris may just find themselves at the top of the food chain. As with their last two full lengths, Urn begins with a gentle, acoustic intro which swiftly leads into some of the most creative and harmonic musicianship the band have been known to come up with. There's no wasting time as within seconds all rhythm section instruments begin to collaborate, and opener "Saturnine Spheres" gives you the impression that, once again, Ne Obliviscaris have got it just right. The guitar work is pristine, the vocal range between both Tim Charles and Xenoyr is perfectly balanced, and the intricate violin melodies never overstay their welcome. Both vocalists have clearly focussed their efforts on every song here. Xenoyr's guttural roars still arrive at the right time as the blastbeat-ridden moments of "And Within the Void We are Breathless" ensue, yet his voice doesn't ever seem to overstay its welcome, allowing Charles' almost operatic cleans room to breathe and settle. In all honesty, Xenoyr's range hasn't really developed since the Ne Obliviscaris formed, and those preferring more of a versatile offering from the man will be disappointed. The same can be said for Tim Charles who, depending on what your liking is for clean vocals in this style of metal, may present a slight disadvantage in the album's otherwise consistent performance. That said, the vocal work is certainly not an intrusive aspect, and those who dislike the vocal delivery of Ne Obliviscaris can easily concentrate and what's happening instrumentally. It's practically the best opener Ne Obliviscaris could have come up with, but unlike other albums of its kind, Urn doesn't drop consistency levels until the album has ended. "Intra Venus" and "Eyrie" could be two of the best examples for this point. The former brings a much more doom-laden sound and for that reason is darker-tinged during the song's first half, allowing for the last few minutes to indulge in a semi-acoustic, semi-classical outro. The latter is, unsurprisingly, the album's centrepiece. "Eyrie" is arguably the one song where the band have allowed their more progressive tendencies to be fully stretched and explored, but not to a point where you get a strong whiff of self-indulgence. Instead, the 12-minute behemoth utilizes everything that worked well in previous songs and builds on it, providing more of a build-up until the violin explodes with an uncontrollable, almost screeching rage yet one that still somehow sounds gentle in its delivery. This is one of the few songs where the band also begin to feature more technical proficiency than usual, proving that their rhythm section doesn't develop a one-trick pony. Whether or not you like your extreme progressive metal to be more aggressive and menacing will determine if Urn suits your palette. The same can be said for the balance between harsh and clean vocals, but one thing that needs to be addressed is that, for the third time in a row, Ne Obliviscaris have developed an album which is proficient in its delivery and confident in its performance. The few aspects addressed beforehand will unfortunately prove divisive among those who have yet to listen to this band for the first time, but for those who have heard and loved Portal of I and Citadel, Ne Obliviscaris' third full length will be brilliant.

Connect with us: Ring of Fire: New Polls Reveal Most Americans Now Support LGBT Rights Though religious groups continue to attack LGBT rights from all angles, a new survey shows that theirs is a losing battle. A Gallup poll which has been asking Americans about gay marriage and relations since the 1970s noted that approval for both have reached a new high. On a basic level, more than 7 in 10 Americans now believe that same-sex relations should be legal. That number has risen 4 percent since gay marriage was made constitutional. Of course, this number also reflects a dark fact as well: that nearly one in three feel homosexuality should be made illegal. Fortunately, this number is far, far, smaller than what it once was – and it continues to shrink each year. As for gay marriage, an issue that continues to be divisive, three percent more surveyed reported supporting it in 2017 than in 2016 – 64 percent to 61 percent.

Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1924 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more Download & Play Questions Newspaper Page Text -'." V, & lor u h" & r I-.. V IF tf K kjry-v ? I-.-. hr list 4 , 1ST n , o II I DAKOTA CITY HERALD JOHN H. REAM, Publisher. DAKOTA CITY, NEORA8KA MORE AND BETTER FARMERS. The way to cheapen food in point ed out by .the head of the bureau of oils In tho department of Agriculture, but It la not a road by which we shall fcrriTe at our dcBtinntion next year or tha year after, and ten years hence there will be more of ub, the demand tor food will bo greator, and oven with Increased supplies thcro may be no, real decrcaso In prices, says the Philadelphia Record. The crops of tho present year have had some llttlo ef fect upon prices. The abundant sup plies of corn, oats and hay should re dace prices of all sortB of meats until mother harvest season, but theso mit igations of prices are temporary. Tho persisting fact is that the increase in tho number of farmors, tho increase in the area of tilled land and tho In crease in production are not keeping pace with tho growth of the popula tion. With all tho Infinite varloty of farm Implements and tho hundreds of agricultural colleges and experiment stations, tho quality of agrlculturo Is not Improving at anything approach ing the pace of mechanical Improve ments. Tho country needs more farm ers, and It needs moro scientific meth ods of cultivation Farming Is Im proving, but practical agrlculturo falls vary far short of possible agriculture. We need not expect to boo tho the oretically possible ever attendod over a wldo area, but tho prosperity of farming for tho last 15 years ought to keep In the country tho young men who nro rtlll crowding Into cit ies looking for wages of two dollars a day, and with all tho scientific agri cultural knowledge that wo possess the yield per acre ought to bo much greater than It is. lincolns ww FEEED THE ShkVf "Why," nska tho clever painter of outdoor life, Adam Albright, denounc ing the billboards of Chicago, "why does tho law permit a man to rent the landscape?" That Is a now turn to the old thought, says tho Boston Post. Tho owner of a field bellevcB that ho has a perfect right to authorize an ad vertising company to dlsflguro its beauty with a hideous row of bill hoards, and bo he has. legally. Yet he is maintaining n nuisance as truly as ilia itihti why permit tm evil smell or foul wator on his premises. Some day God's out-of-doors will bo freed from tho curse of these nuisances to the eye. Wo have begun to freo our parks already. Tho world is com ing to regard the value of beauty hb next to that of virtue and orderliness.. f r v f? v a. , v' "x x S vW V .?&. X. X HI x 4 ,y ii v, 5 WP , S' sl x XBBB y()....nj iiihmmmihimi.- iiiiiiiiiMiPaPWsiiiii.Ml' nW MfflWMw Wfffi?' ?r5r5''f' V?,,vw"f -VTAi r A ..rpw,xf-'-f 1 r . 1 .11 MAMi iA C -pj-DRAHAM LINCOLN called his VW cabinet together on Boptembor JT H -- 18G2- to read to them his firnt KB proclamation of emancipation. In jCM the dlarlos of two of tho mom- vivid running accounts of that meotlng, tolling of Lincoln's sol emn vow and Its consummation. This is tho story of that day as told by Salmon P. Chase, secre tary of tho treasury: To department about nine. State department messenger came with notice to heads of departments to meet at twelve. Re ceived sundry callors. Wont to the Whlto Houso. All the members of tho cablnotworo In attend ance. Thcro was somo general talk, and tho president mentioned that Artemus Ward had sent him his hook. Proposed to rend a chapter which ho thought very funny Head it, and Boomed to enjoy It very much; tho heads also (excopt Stanton), of course, Tho chapter, was "High handed Outrage at Ullca." Tho president then took a grnvcr tone, and said: "Gentlemen: I have, ns you are aware, thought a great deal about tho relation of this war to I slavery; and you all remember that, soveral weeks ago, I read to you nn order that I propared on this subject, which, on account of objections made by soma of you, was not Issued. Ever Snlf UlrP paBBBlr Ul J Wmin urn v'i xn pH&ii ERICAN HOME -A.RADFORD EDITOR Tho crop reporting board of tho bu reau of statistics of tho United States departmept of agrculture estimates, from tho reports pf tbo correspond ents and agents of tho bureau, that the total production of cotton In tho -United States for tho season 1012-13 will amount to 6.612,835,000 pounds (not Including llnters), equivalent to 13,820.000 bales of COO pounds, gross weight Last year's crop, according to the census bureau report, was 15, 692,701 bales. The average annual cjrop for tho flvo yoars 100C-10 was 11,874.270 bales. Chicago waiters havo a clubhouse in which there la a library of 2,000 vol umes of the best authors, all bought with champagne corks, which tho members pick up and sell for 3,60 a hounand Ae tho club Is nlno years old, it Is possible to figure out, In a way, the extent of Chicago's indul gence in champagne. Since tho Instructive exhibit on tuberculosis which drew largo crowds, eager to obtain Information nboit tho white plague, this modo of impressing lessons on prcvontion of dlsoaso has become popular, Not only dooc it en list the Interest of Inquiring mlndB, but a more fundamentally Important result is that tho graphic domonstra tiqn by diagrams, figures and epigram matlc statements of facta arouses in the average visitor a doBlrt to learn and to participate in the movement, ayn the New York Sun. Tho pr.oplo who have thronged Iho halls of tho City college which has been generous ly offered by Dr. Flnloy to tho national committee for mental hygiene, attest to the deep interest in the exhibit of this committee. The H-lnch cannon which bursts at tbe test scorns a concrete example of the old couplet: "If so soon I am done jfor. I wonder what I wns begun for." But it la more Judicious for it to burst on the testing ground than In action If it waB ever to get into action. Wealthy and fashionable women in Boston havo formed un association to dlscourago cruelty to animals In the caise of fashion. They have renounc ed meat as a diet, and given up tho wearing of furs and feathers, which are procured at tho cost of suffering to the fur-bearing animals and to birds. They may not establish a large following, but that they are in earnest is proved by the Bucrlflces ' xaade, which are particularly bard for well-dressed women to initiate. jtzzzwv ' 7&oczAJvazra?r y && Gmzmrr' elnco then my mind has been much occupied with this subject, and I havo thought, all along, that tho time for acting ou It might probably come I think the time Iiub como now. I wish It was a better tlmo. I wish that wo wore In a better con dition. Tho action of tho nrmy against tho rob els has not been quite what I ohould havo best liked. "When the rolul army was at Frederick, 1 de termined, as noon ns It should be driven out of Maryland, to issue n proclamation of emancipa tion, such as I thought most llkoly to bo useful. I said nothing to any ono, but I mnda the prom iso to mysolf and (hesitating n llttlo) to my Mak er. Tho robol nrmy Ib now drlvon out, and I am going to fulfil that promise. "1 have got you together to hear what I havo written down. I do not wish your advice about tho main matter, for that 1 havo determined for mysolf. This 1 say without Intending anything but respect for any ono of you Hut I already know tho vlows of each on this question. They have been horotoforo expressed, nnd I havo con sidered them as thoroughly and carefully ns I can. What I have written is thnt which my re flections hnyo determined mo to say. If thero Is anything In tho expressions I ubo, or In any minor matter, which any ono of you thinks had bent bo changed, I shall be glad to receive tho cuggcstlons "Ono other observation 1 will make. I know very well that ninny othora might, In this mntter as In others, do better than I can; and If I was satisfied that tho public confidence was more fully possosBod byany ono or them than by mo. and know of any constitutional way In which he could bo put In my place, ho Hhould have It. I would glndly yield It to him. Hut, though I be lieve thnt I havo not bo much tho confidence of the peoplo as I had some tlmo Blnco, 1 do not know that, all things considered, any other per son has more; and, however this may be. there is no way in which I can havo any other man put whero I mil I am bete; I muet do the best 1 enn, nnd bear tho responsibility of taking tho course which 1 fool I ought to take." The president then proceeded to rend bin Kmanclpatlon Proclamation, making? romnrks on tho sovoral partB as ho went on, and showing that ho had fully consldorod the whole Huhject. in all tho lights under which It had been present ed to him Aflor he had closed. Governor Sew aid Hftld. "Tho general question having been decided, nothing can bo said farthor about that Would it not, however, mako tho proclamation more clonr nnd decided to leave out nil roferonco to tlto act bolnfr sustained during tho incumbonoy of the present prcsldont, nnd not inorely say that the government 'rocogn!;oR' bqt that it will main tain, tho freedom It proclaims''" I followed, saying: "What you havo said, Mr. President, fully satisfies mo that you have given to every proposi tion which hns been made a kind and candid con sideration. And you hnvo now expressed tho con clusion to which you have arrived clearly and distinctly. This it was your right, and, under your oath of ofllco, your duty to do. Tho procla matlon docs not, indeed, murk out exactly tho course 1 would myself prefer. But I am ready to tnko It Just as It is written, and to stand by it with all my heart. I think, however, the sugges tions of Governor Seward vory Judicious, and shall bo glad to havo them adopted." Tho prcsldont then nBkod us sovorally our opinions as to tho modification proposed, saying that ho did not, care much about tho phrases he had UBed. Every ono favored tho modification, nnd it was adopted. Governor Seward then pro posed that, In the passage relating to coloniza tion, some language should be introduced to show that the colonization proposed was to be only with the consent of tho colonists and the consent of tho states In which colonies might be attempted. This, too, was agreed to, and no other modification was proposed. Gideon Welles, secretary of the navy, also re corded In his diary the events of that day. He, too, alluded to tho solomn covenant Lincoln had made, to frco tho elavca In tho ovent of a victory. Tho victory had como, and Lincoln had made up IiIb mind This Is Welles' narrative, written un dor dnto of SoptemDer 22: A Bpoclnl cnblnet meeting. Tho subject was tho proclamation for emancipating the slavos after a certain dato, In states that shall then be In rebellion For soveral weokB the subject has been suspended, but the president sayB never lost Hlght of. When It was submitted, and now, in taking up the proclamation, tho president stated thnt tho question wns tlnnlly derided the net and tho consequences woro his", but that ho felt It duo to ub to mako us acquainted with tho fact nnd to Invito criticism on tho paper which he had prepared. There were, he hnd found, not unexpectedly, some differences In the cabinet, but ho hnd, after ascertaining In his own way tho vlewfa of ench and all, Individually nnd collec tively, formed his own conclusions nnd mnd" hs own deciblniiR In the course of tho dlBcusslon on this paper, which was long, earnest, and, on tho general prlnclplo Involved, harmonious, he remarked that he hnd made a vow, a covenant, that If God gave he. tho victory in the upproaching battle, he would consider It an Indication of Dlvlno Will, and that it wns his duty to movo forward in tho cnuso of emancipation. It might be thought strange, ho Bald, that he had In this way Biibmlt tod tho disposal of matters when llm way wan not clear to his mind what he should do. God hnd decided this quoatton In favor of tllu slaves. Ho was satisfied It was right, was confirmed and strongthohnod In IiIb action by tho vow nnd the results His mind was fixed, his decision made, but he wished his paper announcing his course as correct In terms as It could be made without any chango in the determination. He read the document. One or two unimportant amendments suggested by Seward were approved. It was then handed to the secretary of state to publish tomorrow. After this, Blair remarked that he considered it proper to say ho -did not concur In the ex pediency of tho measure at this tlmo, though ho approved of tho principle, and should, theijefore, wish to fllo his objections. Ho stated at some length his views, which were substantially that he ought not to put In greater Jeopardy tho pa triotic element In the border stntes, that the re sults of this proclamation would bo to carry over those states en mnnBe to tho Secessionists as soon as It was read, and that there was also a class of partlsanR In the free stntes endeavoring to revive old parties, who would havo a club put Into their hands, of which they would avail them selves to beat the administration. Tho president said he had considered the dan ger to bo apprehended from the first objection, which was undoubtedly Berlous, but the objection wns certainly as great not to act; ns regarded tho last, It had not much weight with him The question of power, authority. In the gov ernment to set free the slaves was not much dis cussed at this meeting, but had been canvassed by the president In private conversation with the members Individually. Some thought legislation advisable before tho step was taken, but con gress was clothed with no authority on this sub ject, nor Is tho executive, except under the war power military necessity, martial law, when there can bo no legislation. This was tho view which I took when tho presldont first presented tho subject to Seward and myself last summer, as we were returning from the funeral of Stan ton's child a ride of two or three miles from beyond Georgetown. Seward was at that tlmo not at all communicative, and, I think, not will ing to advlso, though he did not dissent from the movement. It 1b momentou8,-hoth In its immediate and re mote results, nnd nn exercise of extraordinary power, which cannot be Justified on mere hu manitarian principles, and would never have been attempted but to preserve the national existence. Tho slaves must bo with us or agalnBt us In the war. Let us have them. Theso were my convic tions, nnd this the drift of the discussion. Tho effect which tho proclamation will havo on tho public mind 1b a matter of somo uncer tainty. In some respects It would, I think, have been better to havo Issued It when formerly first considered. Thoro Is an Impression that Seward has op posed, nnd Is opposed to, the measure. I havo not been without thnt Impression myself, chiefly from his hesitation to commit himself, and per haps because action wats suspended on his sug gestion. But In tho final discussion ho has as cordially supported tho measuro as ChnBo, For myself the subjpet has, from Its magnitude and Its consequences, oppressed mo, nsldo from the ethical features of the question. It Is a step In tho progress of this wnr which will extend Into the distant future. A favorablo termination of this terrible conflict seems moro remote with every movement, and unloas tho rebels hasten to avail themselves of the nlternatlve presented, of which I pee little probability, the war can scarcely bo other than one of emancipation to tho slave, or subjugation, or submission to their rebel owners. Thcro Is In tho freo states a very general Im pression that this measuro will Insure a speedy peace. I cannot say that I so view It. No ono In those stntes dare advocate peace as a means of prolonging olnvery, oven If It is his honest opin ion, and tho pecuniary, Industrial, nnd social Huuililee impending will intensify tho struggle before us. While, however, theso dark clouds are abovo and around us. I cannot see how tho subject can bo avoided. Porhapa It la not do slrable It should bo. It Is, however, an arbitrary and despotic measuro In the cause of freedom. Mr, William A. Hadford will answer questions and give advlcs FHEB OF COST on all subjects pertaining to the subject of building-, for the readers of this paper. On account of his wide experience fts Editor, Author and Manufacturer, ho Is, without doubt, the highest authority on all these subjects. Address all Inquiries to William A TlaAtnvA JJn 1T1I TV i jBCKSOn botllAVnrrf nMntrn Til anil ntilw nclose two-cent stamp for reply. Some of tho boBt houses In the lake ShOrO SUbUrbB nnrth nf Phlnntrn urn built after this plan. Sometimes tho targe bedroom upstairs is divided to make two rooms and oeenalnnallv othor minor changes are made, but this arrangement of rooms usually Is rather closely adhored to in houses of this stylo and slzo. Thero is a hall in tho center wide anough for a handsome open stair, but, in thlB particular house you go upstairs backwardB, that is, you go to the rear ond of the hall and Btart up towards tho front inBtead of going up from front to rear, as in tho ordinary house. This brings the turn and the landing in tho front end of tho upper hall whero a certain floor space may bo utilized to advantage that is usual ly a puzzlo to an architect You all know of houses whore the headroom over tho front stair is completely wasted, sometimes worso than wast ed because It is impossible to dress it up to look right. For that reason this backward front stair Is an im provement. There alBo Is an advantage in plac ing the big chimney at the rear of the hall. When the dava nrn rnWl nnd dreary you get a Uice bright cheerful glow from the grate flro emanating from what would otherwise bo the darkest corner In the houso, and this nrrangement leaves tho largo living room freo for tho most artistic dis play of furniture. Such a fire place corner may be mado Into a very artis tic lounging place and It offers a splendid wall space for a rather large set of book cases. Another advantage In putting tin chimney well back la that you get the kitchen flue Just where you want It, and tho ono chim ney is sufficient for the heating plant, for the grate and for cooking pur poses. In selecting a wldo house plan of this kind jou must have a lot with at least fifty feet frontage. I havo lately seen several mistakes whoro such houses havo been built on narrower lots. Tho owners havo not only spoil ed their own property but havo in- perlntend the outside boarding and the fitting of the building paper over tho corners and around the jointo at the edges of tho window frames; and you must call to see the mason when he gets ready to do the plaBtorlng. It is not a choap house to build be cause, although it looks plain it will take considerable material and It r Second Floor Plan. quires everything of tho best. A house of this size and shape built by un skilled hands Is likely to look llko a barn when finished. On the other hand When built bv nnnrn nnlmm. pcred by inadequate appropriations It will be an ornament to tho street and a credit to its owner. IS'THE AGE OF "SOCIETIES" For Every Purpose Under Heaven People Have Banded Themselves Together. Who can deny that this 1b pre-eminently tho ngo of combinations and "societies?" There is a society, with a capital S, for every purpose under tho heaven. Yes, verily, a society to kill and a society to heal, a society to mourn and a society to dance, a so ciety for war and a society for peace, a society for noise and a society for the suppression of noise, a society for giving and, at last, a society for the preventing of giving. Is it not almost time to pause in our mad career of organization and to ask ourselves: What next? Whither and wherefore? Forsooth, can we not suppress superfluous noises without making so much nolso about it7 And is it absolutely necessary to pay use less dues in order to prevent useless giving? Fellow-sufferers, let us be up and do ing! There is but one way out of this ? K..V wx ' : V" I Jured their neighbors. I would em phatically say If you haven't fifty feet of ground select a narrower houso and get tho necessary room by ex tending it further back. Whoro con ditions are right, however, for a house ofjhis kind It Is almost certain to ' prove satisfactory I It is a good-sized house, being- 35 feet wide by 27 fet deep, and by this arrangement you get the floor Bpaco divided up Inlo large rooms instead of having Btnaller rooms nnd more of them. In addition to tho other ad vantages you get a very cozy dining room, pantry and kitchen connected as MUST BE KEPT FROM HEAT An athletic young woman in Wash ington who blackonea a policeman's eyea waa fined 960 for each eye In Mourning. But she probably thought the fame of such an exploit cheap at "ibe price. Kvery once in a while somebody dls overs that the bobble skirt la 6,000 years old. Let u remind the solen- Mats aad historian that Marco Polo alaeovered the bustle among Aalatlo la the thirteenth century. BomethlnQ to De Remembered by .the Woman Fond of the Perfume of the Violet. Apropos of -vlolot perfume It may bo well to whisper In tho oar pf evory woman tho secret which evory per fumer so well knows, a vory simple I little secret, but very Important toi tho preservation of perfume. It lc j thnt no bottlo of vlolot should at any time be put near tho heat, nor In the I Homely Baby's Prospects. Let no parent despair of a plain child. Benuty, so far from being "skin doop," largely depends upon the pro portion between the different parts of tho faco, and this dopendo upon their rato of growth. Beforo a boy's voice breaks ho may have a very defective chin, n Borloua blemish for our Idoal of manly beauty. But that chin may bo destined to grow Just when the boy's benrd begins to grow, and may tranHform him I saw tho other day uu old schoolfellow whom I could Htrone llcht. either nrtlflelnl nr nnt. ural, for n decided chemical chango takes place not only In tho color of tho perfume, but In tho odor Tho wtBtnrla bloasomB havo sur rendered their color and Btrango sweetness to tho skill of tho Orlontnl, nnd may be had In sachet. There are also tho bars of sandalwood which niny bo laid nmong one's frocks hut , many, comparatively speaking, do noi cure for Uh pungent quality com pared to tho bloBsomy outdoor fra-' granco of tbo real flower scents, i scarcely recognize, bo vastly lmnroved was he since bis young boyhood by the acquisition of that chin which anatomists toll us is a peculiarity (and therefore a beauty 1) of our spocles. Robort Southey was described by hla nurse as a "great ugly boy" when he was born, but ho grew to bo so hand Bomo that Byron said he would bo al most contont to fathpr Southoy'a poetry If he might have Its author's head and shoulders, I ennnot say what percentage of ugly children turn out handsomo later in life, but certainly Ground sandalwood nnd nrrln mnv nlso bo had for about ono dollar for n quarter of a pound to mako Into In dividual sachets, but no sachot la lasting, and too much should not bo oxpected or It In tho way of durability. Perfume burners have found tholr way Into vogue The correct way to uso theso artlstlo combinations of sun metal and brass, which look so llko a tiny nnd much benutlful alcohol lamp, Ib to mix tho perfumo with wa tor and lot it boll. Ab it does so the froshnoss of tho blossoms floats oft many do, partly because In earlier llfo tho varlouB parts of tho faco havo de veloped at Bomowhat unoqual rates, and partly becauBo of tho Influence of another factor of boauty In which Southey wns rich. Its old-fashioned but familiar namo Is tho bouI. Dr. Saleeby in tho Strand. News to the Professor. Two students went out and had a good tlmo or what they thought was a good tlmo Saturday ovonl. u. And thoy ambled homoward at about tho with tho vapor and the room Is lightly filled with fragrance All perfumes which are Imported have rUon In value. It Is tho higher duty which Iibb brought this, not any scarcity of flowers, as tho many manufacturers would have us belleva. j A B'rlde's Way. Mrs. Exe Ib Mrs. Youngbride a good housekeeper? Mrs. Wyo Well, when I dropped In , on her she waB trying to mako bread ; In a chafing dish. midnight hour; nnd It occurred to one of them to ring the bell of tho resi dence of a certain professor. No sooner thought than accomplished. Tho professor stuck his head out of tho upper window. "Whnt Is It?" ho asked. "Ono of your windows is open, pro fessor." "Thank you, gontlemen. Which window?" "Tho one you'vo got your head out of!" Then they ran. Oh, cpllego days I It riNiNnRM.;! E J FbKCM It m m & First Floor Plan. the'y should be by way of the pantry, fitted with ono swinging door and one solid door thnt will shut tight when occasion requires it. The cellar stair goes down from the kitchen and la en tirely separate and shut away from the main hall, a feature that a good many peoplo particularly like. Tho wldo. extension windows built out from tho living room and dining room aro new architectural features that havo taken well with tho public generally. Thero are different styles that vary somewhat In the size and shape of the sash, lights of glass and tho height and width of tho recess, but they gonerally conform to this design rather closely. Sometimes tho sash are fittod solid in the frames so they cannot be opened. That is when a window seat Is fitted undor the win dow and tho object 1c to prevent draft. And, by ttvn way, if you want real comfort whilo reclining on the Kat in this living room, In full view of the open fire., you must pay atten tion to tho building of tho box that terms the extension. You must u- Intolerable situation. Perhaps you havo guessed it already. Lot us or ganize one moro society. This Is to bo the greatest, most far-reaching, and final achievement of this age of mar velous achievements. Let ub form a society for tho prevention and sup pression of useless bocleties. Henceforth let Spasus bo the great battle cry of humanity! Then shall wo live happily forovcr after. Selah! Knew Where to Go. The schoolmaster wanted to know whether the boyR had an understand ing of the functions of a Biltlsh consu late. "Supposing," ho began, framing his question on tho likeliest way to arouso tho Interest of his hearers, "supposing some ono took you up in an aeroplane, and t fter a long, excit ing flight dropped you down thous ands of miles from home In a coun try quite foreign, what place would you seek out first of all?" An eager hand was Instantly up lifted. "Well, Willie, what do you say?" "Please, sir, the hospital." Weekly Telograph, Mercenary Husband. A society affair was to be given in which private theatricals were the most Interesting feature. Mrs Van Clews, a stage-struck young society woman, was to appear and was, In consequence, very en thusiastic over the affair, "Do you know, Wilfred," sho said to her husband. "I scarcely know what to do. Tho part I am to take calls for me to appear in tights, and I don't llko the idea of doing it. What do you suppose people will say?" Wilfred gazed at his wife's figure In stlonce for a moment, and then said: "They will all say that I married you for your money." Exchange. Sea Paradox. There Is one qurer thing about a VosboI." "What's that?" "When she's tied up she can't maka kiioU." His Business. "K Is n wonder that photographers t7vr succeed In business." "Why 1p It a wondor?" "Becaue they take overybody who joomes along at his faoe value." -. I

Friday, May 28, 2004 UPDATE: There was so much possible commentary on the sheer hypocrisy of this article that I thought it was just best to supply the link and let others figure it out for themselves. But there's one point that might not be that obvious. From the article: "The pardons released today are those that were issued by the governor but did not go through the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Janklow sealed the most pardons - 91 - in 2002 during his last term as governor, records show. Sixty-one of those pardons came in his last four months as governor. 450 pardons were filed with the Secretary of State during this time period. 232 of these pardons will remain sealed as allowed by law and ordered by the governor who issued the pardon. Those are pardons that followed the proper channels of public notification when they were signed." Pardons that "did not go through the Boards of Pardons and Paroles"? Under the circumstances, then, doesn't that make them technically worthless? The consequences for the allegedly pardoned could be devastating. Of course, all of this could have been avoided had Janklow not been such an ignorant incompetent: "I've been a lawyer since 1966, and I had never, ever looked at the (pardon) statutes," [Janklow] said. What a complete dipshit. I wonder if those folks have the grounds for a class-action lawsuit. Tuesday, May 25, 2004 In the true Republican spirit of blaming someone else -- anyone else -- for the ongoing chaos and carnage in Iraq, we have conservative blogger and consummate whacked-out dingbat Andrew Sullivan who writes of Bush's recent speech here: "... The critical point that the swift victory over Saddam paradoxically made the occupation more difficult - because Saddam's minions were able to escape, melt into the population and fight another day - was made early on. Bush could have made more of it ..." So there you have it. It's all that scoundrel Saddam's fault. Why, the absolute cunning of the man to allow himself to be soundly and thoroughly defeated, and in such short order! Does his deviousness know no bounds? Truly, a mad genius. Monday, May 24, 2004 Ahmed Chalabi -- a true Republican From this online CNN article, "Chalabi blames Tenet for feud with U.S.": "Ahmed Chalabi, the former Iraqi exile who worked closely with the White House before the Iraq war, blamed CIA Director George Tenet Sunday for recent allegations that have apparently caused his standing with the Bush administration to plummet." Shifting the blame and passing the buck. Well, you can't say he didn't learn from the best. Sunday, May 23, 2004 When hard-nosed political investigation crosses over into stalking A number of other blogs have covered one of the more amusing and recent tasteless Republican political escapades: the virtual stalking of Illinois U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Barack Obama by a videophotographer working for his Republican opponent, Jack Ryan. According to that initial article, "For the past 10 days, U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama hasn't been able to go to the bathroom or talk to his wife on his cell phone without having a camera-toting political gofer from his Republican rival filming a few feet away ... Justin Warfel, armed with a handheld Panasonic digital camcorder, follows Obama to the bathroom door and waits outside. It means Warfel follows Obama as he moves from meeting to meeting in the Capitol. And it means Warfel tails Obama when he drives to his campaign office." Eventually, Ryan's campaign got enough heat for this that they finally apologized and pulled Warfel back a bit. But it still makes one wonder -- what would have been the proper response by Obama's campaign? Even though what Warfel was doing was probably technically legal, there comes a point where you really have crossed the line into bad taste. And then what? Well, it seems that there three possible responses from Obama's perspective. First, he could have arranged for the same treatment for Ryan -- what I call the "tit for tat" treatment, very predictable, very generic and very boring. And it would have given Ryan the ammo to poke fun at Obama: "Whoa, dude, what a clever comeback. Did you think of that all by yourself? Man, talk about a bottomless pit of originality." In short, a pretty feeble comeback and almost certainly not worth the trouble. The second option would have been the "sort of tit for tat" response, with humor thrown in. Obama could have arranged for close-quarters surveillance of photographer Warfel. Now wouldn't that have been amusing? Warfel stalking Obama, and someone stalking Warfel. It's not clear it would have solved anything, but it would definitely have made the news and made Obama's point in a way that would have everyone chuckling and realizing what sort of dork Ryan was to start this in the first place. But there's a third response, and it's one not to be considered lightly. Obama could have, as they say, "gone nuclear". Ryan wants to play with video surveillance? Fine, responds Obama, and sets observers to follow Ryan's family members -- his wife and kids. Photographers stake out positions outside the childrens' school and outside the wife's place of work. They film video, they take pictures, they follow slowly along in cars as the kids walk down the sidewalk, and so on. All perfectly legal, and all totally unnerving. Tasteless? You bet. Frightening? Almost certainly. Effective? Without question. While this is obviously an extreme reaction, its advantage is that there is no rebuttal in terms of a similar but slightly-stronger reply. It's not like a slowly escalating arms race, in which each side ups the ante just a bit each time. Doing it that way just drags things out as one side after the other ratchets the response up a single notch at a time. Going nuclear, on the other hand, ends it. Immediately. It's an absolutely blunt and unambiguous way of saying, "You want to screw around like this? Let me show you just where this is going to lead. Now, do you still want to play this game?" It's a drastic approach and, as I said, not one to be considered lightly. But given the Republicans' generally sleazy approach to, well, pretty much everything, sometimes it's the only language they understand. Saturday, May 22, 2004 So the hot news over at CNN is that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi publicly called George W. McFlightSuit "incompetent". Well, no, actually, not quite. In the Democratic spirit of dodging, weaving and tap dancing, you can see what really happened in this excerpt from the article: "The situation in Iraq and the reckless economic policies in the United States speak to one issue for me, and that is the competence of our leader," Pelosi said. "These policies are not working. But speaking specifically to Iraq, we have a situation where -- without adequate evidence -- we put our young people in harm's way." Asked specifically if she was calling Bush incompetent, Pelosi replied: "I believe that the president's leadership in the actions taken in Iraq demonstrate an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience in making the decisions that would have been necessary to truly accomplish the mission without the deaths to our troops and the cost to our taxpayers." Apparently, in the Democratic universe, this rates as a real up-front, in-your-face, kick-butt smackdown. Of course, a real smackdown would have been Pelosi coming back with, "Of course he's incompetent! How much more evidence do you need?!?! Failed economy. Failed war. Yeesh. The guy's a moron. Even his own advisers admit they have to summarize anything over two pages long to him." But we all know that's not going to happen. Even as the Republicans have honed their nasty attack strategies over the years, the Dems are still mind-numbingly incompetent at this game. It's just purely depressing to watch. Monday, May 17, 2004 "Hypocrisy" doesn't begin to describe this ... For some eye-rolling, knee-slapping humor, you have just got to read this online CNN article, in which Secretary of State (and, sad to say, house niggah) Colin Powell gets his panties in a bunch about how the Arab world should be showing far more outrage over the videotaped beheading of American Nick Berg. According to Powell, "I would like to have seen a much higher level of outrage throughout the world, but especially in the Arab world, to this murder", and "What we saw with this horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible murder should be deplored throughout the Arab world." Uh ... yeah, right, Colin -- this from an emissary of a country that, let's see here, invaded Iraq on totally trumped-up pretenses, killed over 10,000 civilians already and, most recently, has been caught imposing a clearly official policy of abuse, humiliation and torture against Iraqi prisoners, the majority of which even the U.S. military admits were arrested by mistake. And let's not even get into what the "Arab world" (a deliciously racist and condescending description) thinks of the whole-hearted U.S. support for Israel, as that country systematically wipes out the Palestinians, little by little. One would think that even Powell, the gutless weasel that he is, might have twigged to the fact that he doesn't really have the moral high ground here. And, in the wake of the seemingly endless evidence of torture of prisoners both in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and Cuba's Guantanamo Bay, try, just try to believe that Powell could say, "Arab leaders need to look at what's happening in their own societies," he added. "They need to reform their own societies. Torture is torture is torture. It is unacceptable. It is not the way you treat human beings." Thursday, May 13, 2004 Republicans developing a conscience. Aren't they just adorable? From this CNN piece, we have Republicans opposed to the release of any more images of abuse and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners: WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Top GOP leaders said Wednesday they oppose the release of hundreds of fresh images showing the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, saying they could compromise the prosecution of those soldiers implicated in the acts and further inflame tensions in Iraq. Ah, yes. We wouldn't want any more of these pictures to get out. That might make the Iraqis, like, really mad at the U.S. And we wouldn't want that, would we? Oh, and let's not forget that these current voices of restraint are pretty much the same ones who, during the Clinton impeachment debates, couldn't leak private details about Clinton's dalliances fast enough. Seems there was no end to the salacious details of what Clinton to whom, where, when and with what, prosecutorial integrity be damned. And now, all of a sudden, they find that box of morals and good taste that's been packed away in the attic all these years? Talk about timing. Perhaps the funniest part of the article; Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky: "Take our word for it. They're disgusting." Apparently, Mitch has forgotten that trusting him and his political band of right-wing thugs is what got the United States embroiled in an unwinnable war in Iraq, with 700-plus Americans dead already. One might think that the concept of trust is not something folks like McConnell should be suggesting lightly. Wednesday, May 12, 2004 More than we really needed to know In dissecting the right wing's excuses for the torture and atrocities at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Michelangelo Signorile writes: ... That got Limbaugh thinking and making some lurid confessions: "If you look at these pictures, you cannot deny that there are elements of homoeroticism …I've seen things like this on American websites. You can find these if you have the passwords to these various porn sites, you can see things like this." Friday, May 07, 2004 At the incomparable Bob Somerby's Daily Howler site, there's an amusing example of exactly what kind of utter media whore Tim Russert can be, and why that's suddenly relevant all over again. As you can read here, back in 2003, Russert was interviewing then presidential candidate Howard Dean. At one point, Russert sprung a trivia "gotcha" question on Dean, asking him how many troops were actively on duty in the U.S. military. Never mind that Dean was a Democrat, and the administration at the time was Republican. Never mind that Dean wasn't involved in military planning. In Russert's mind, it was somehow unconscionable that Dean didn't have this tidbit of information right then and right there: DEAN: For me to have to know right now, participating in the Democratic Party, how many troops are actively on duty in the United States military when that is actually a number that's composed both of people on duty today and people who are National Guard people who are on duty today, it's silly. That's like asking me who the ambassador to Rwanda is. RUSSERT: Oh, no, no, no. Not at all. Not if you want to be commander in chief. Russert continued his helpful instruction: RUSSERT: If somebody wants to be president of the United States, have a sense of the military- DEAN: I do have a sense of the military. RUSSERT: -of how many people roughly- DEAN: I know there are roughly between a million and two million people active duty. I know that we don't have enough people in Iraq. At the time, there were in fact 1.4 million active members, so one can certainly accept that Dean was accurate, even if he wasn't painstakingly precise. And what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Check out this recent CNN online article describing how Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz (yes, the Deputy Defense Secretary, and someone who should know) wasn't even remotely close to stating how many U.S. servicepeople had died in Iraq thus far: WASHINGTON (AP) -- Asked how many American troops have died in Iraq, the Defense Department's No. 2 civilian estimated Thursday the total was about 500 -- more than 200 soldiers short. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was asked about the toll at a hearing of a House Appropriations subcommittee. "It's approximately 500, of which -- I can get the exact numbers _ approximately 350 are combat deaths," he responded... American deaths Thursday were at 722 -- 521 of them from combat _ since the start of military operations in Iraq last year, according to the Department of Defense. Apparently, trivialities like dead American soldiers are just not a big issue with the Department of Defense, who clearly can't be bothered to even count them. And Wolfowitz's subsequent defense of this? "He misspoke," spokesman Charley Cooper said later. "That's all." Uh, yeah, I'll say. And we can expect Russert to go ballistic on Wolfowitz ... when exactly? Would anyone expect Faux News' resident blowhard Bill O'Reilly to do anything but try to spin the current stories of torture of Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison? (Rhetorical question, don't answer that.) To see just how desperately O'Reilly is looking for that pony in the pile of manure, you have to read this partial transcript of O'Reilly's interview with New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh. To give you a taste of just how much of a suck-up apologist O'Reilly is for the Bush administration and the military, I've cherry-picked some of the funnier nuggets from the interview, but you should read the whole thing anyway. O'REILLY: All right. But there's a difference between being a poor administrator, as this -- your -- and knowing about torture and looking the other way... O'REILLY: All right. Well, the damage to the country obviously is just immeasurable. But reading your article in "The New Yorker." I just get the feeling that the Army, when they heard about it, started action almost immediately. It wasn't a cover-up situation. Or did I read your article wrong?... O'REILLY: OK, but Sanchez the commander put him in charge fairly quickly. They mobilized fairly quickly... O'REILLY: No, there's no question about it. And there's no question. There's no justification for it. But how do you wind up in a prison if you're just innocent and didn't do anything? See, our commanders and our embedded reporters tell me that they're way too busy to be rounding up guys in the marketplace and throwing them into prison. So I'm going to dispute your contention that we had a lot of people in there with just no rap sheets at all, who were just picked up for no reason at all. The people who were in the prison were suspected of being either Al Qaeda or terrorists who were killing Americans and knew something about it... And on, and on, and tediously on. Is there a more pathetic excuse for a journalist than Bill O'Reilly? (Again, rhetorical question.) Tuesday, May 04, 2004 After hearing that the atrocities committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison were just the result of a few bad apples, no big deal, just some isolated incidents, well, the truth will out, as they say. From this AFP story, The US military knew troops had abused Iraqi prisoners for months before graphic, humiliating photographs surfaced last week, a journalist who read a US army report says. (emphasis added) Just in case there's any ambiguity: "Specifically, Taguba found that between October and December of 2003 there were numerous instances of 'sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses' at Abu Ghraib," a US-run prison in Baghdad. Hersh said the abuses went far beyond those portrayed in the widely broadcast photographs of sexual abuse, nudity and humiliation that have angered the Arab world. They were first shown on CBS television's "60 Minutes II." One is reminded of the comical police chief from the film Casablanca: "Shocked, shocked I am that torture and mistreatment has been happening here. Ah, my cattle prod, thank you." Monday, May 03, 2004 "[Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] said the military's theaterwide investigation has suggested the abuse apparently depicted in the photographs was isolated. "There is no -- no -- evidence of systematic abuse in this system at all. We've paid a lot of attention, of course, in Guantanamo, as well," Myers said, referring to the U.S. detention facility in Cuba for suspects captured in connection with the war on terror. "We review all the interrogation methods. "Torture is not one of the methods that we're allowed to use and that we use. I mean, it's just not permitted by international law, and we don't use it." In other news, Myers went on to claim that poverty does not exist and that homeless people are lucky since they don't have to pay property tax. Saturday, May 01, 2004 Seymour Hersh on the Iraqi torture atrocities Star investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has weighed in on the recent Iraqi torture reports and, as with the online photos, you might want to steel yourself before reading it. Consider the following excerpt from a 53-page report written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba, and obtained by Hersh's The New Yorker; Taguba's report was not meant for public consumption and, given some of its contents, you can understand why as Taguba documents some of the abuse inflicted on Iraqi detainees: Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee. As I mentioned earlier, it's almost impossible to know what to say about the recent revelations of torture of Iraqi prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. In order for anything written about this to make any sense, you absolutely need to see the pictures, as disturbing as they are. You can find them here -- take your time, really burn them into your memory -- the humiliation, the obvious sexual assaults, the glee on the faces of the American personnel as they inflict this abuse, the laughter and thumbs up gestures. So, where to begin? First, appreciate that the Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib were not necessarily captured on the field of battle. There's nothing to suggest that they were combatants; in many cases, they were simply part of a massive round-up of civilians by the U.S. military when the Americans decided it was time to kick some butt and show some strength. In short, many of these prisoners were guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That should be enough to give you serious pause. But it gets worse. While these pictures have provoked worldwide outrage and disgust, the reaction in the United States is much more subdued. In some cases, it's almost defensive. In this online article, we have two family members of some of the servicepeople identified in those pictures, and their absolutely jaw-dropping justifications: The Baltimore Sun's Friday editions identified two other soldiers facing court-martial. The newspaper cited unidentified Army officials in naming Sgt. Javal S. Davis, 26. His wife, who also spoke to the newspaper, defended her husband. "We really don't know how those prisoners are behaving," said Zeenithia Davis, who is in the Navy in Mississippi. "There's a line between heinous war crimes and maintaining discipline." A Sun reporter on Thursday showed a photo of one of the nude prisoner scenes to Terrie England, who recognized her daughter, reservist Lynndie R. England, 21, standing in the foreground with her boyfriend. The alleged abuses of prisoners were "stupid, kid things pranks," Terrie England said. "And what the (Iraqis) do to our men and women are just? The rules of the Geneva Convention, does that apply to everybody or just us?" Let's compare and contrast, shall we, with a story we're thoroughly familiar with -- that of Pfc. Jessica Lynch. Lynch, an actual soldier was injured in Iraq when her vehicle overturned in an accident. She was taken, by Iraqis, to an Iraqi hospital, and cared for by Iraqi medical personnel, who risked their lives to return her to her unit. In short, she was treated, by Iraqis, with the utmost respect, even though she was an official military combatant. In exchange, American military personnel are now humiliating, sexually assaulting and torturing, in many cases, innocent Iraqi civilians. And yet, given the staggering difference in the above accounts, try to believe that anyone can know this and still say something as unspeakably stupid as, "And what the (Iraqis) do to our men and women are just? The rules of the Geneva Convention, does that apply to everybody or just us?" There's so much to write about the recently-revealed torture of Iraqi prisoners by the U.S. military and civilian "contractors," it's impossible to know where to start (but we'll be doing some of that in the near future anyway). However, a frightening beginning might be to take a quick look at some of the reactions of Americans back home, excerpts from this Boston Globe article. The article, entitled "Town turns against conduct of the war," contains such delectable excerpts as: 'In the Corner Lunch, John Fox, who joined the Air Force back in 1958, looked at three fellow retirees and said, "They're doing today what they should have done two weeks ago -- take out that whole town, that whole 'Fallu' over there.' and ' ... across the room, Sheril Brambach responded fiercely: "You ask me, we should blow that whole side of the map off.' Lovely -- the kinds of attitudes guaranteed to win hearts and minds. And recent surveys worldwide show respect for the United States and Americans in general to be at pretty much an all-time low. Gee, isn't that a puzzler? Go figure.

World War One Walks plans Commemorative ‘big push’ The Blue Badge Tourist Guides’ World War One Walks committee is organising more than a dozen events around the middle of November, which will recall the 1914-18 Home Front in London, Windsor, Manchester and Birmingham. “We are mainly offering walking tours, but there’s also a ‘Battle Bus’ taking to the streets of Birmingham”, says Committee Chair Simon Rodway. “The Great War is still very much with us. It shaped the world we now live in.” Marketing Manager Mark King: “The initiative is drawing in Institute-qualified guides from all over the country, researching and retelling local stories. Our website has been designed by Sergei Senin to let guides upload their own events and manage bookings, as well as contribute to the blog.” He also points out that the initiative is entirely for the benefit of guides with no commission involved. “We have marketing materials such as business cards and flyers, and we want guides to sign up for training so we can offer these events on a regular basis.” London walks include ‘Deeds Not Words’ developed and led by Felicity Whittle and Janet Smith, telling the story of remarkable women who took the Suffragette effort forward into war work: ‘A shell made by a wife can save her husband’s life.’ There is also ‘The Last Journey of the Unknown Warrior’ starting at Westminster Abbey, and ending with the annual service at Platform 8 in Victoria Station organised by The Western Front Association. Walk leader Stan Medland plans to lay a wreath on behalf of Blue Badge Tourist Guides. In Whitehall, ‘The Great War Walk’ tells the core political story of Britain’s war effort, with a walk scheduled for Tuesday the 11th. Steve Szymanski leading the walk says, “This promises to capture much of the spirit of the day as we’ll be moving around the marching veterans.” Other walks include the bombing route of the Zeppelin raid of 8th September 1915, an excursion along the Embankment on the U-Boat war, and suburban themes such as ‘Finchley Goes To War’, and Ireland’s Great War experience with a Michael Collins walk in Hammersmith. You may also like Elite soldiers from 5 infantry and 2 cavalry regiments have been guarding the Monarch since 1660. These 7 regiments are called the Household Division. The Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace and St James Palace is a time honoured symbol of the British monarchy and a great example of British pomp and ceremony. The Cabinet War Rooms are the actual wartime headquarters of Winston Churchill, combined with a large museum devoted to his life. Housed in the basement of the magnificent Treasury building, the War Rooms are the actual conference and communication rooms used by Churchill and his Chiefs of Staff during World War II. In 2005, an extensive museum was added documenting the long and eventful life of Sir Winston Churchill.

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Monday, November 23, 2009 Join greatest Anti-Hunting forum - 93,000+ comments! On September 14, 2007, Wisconsin activst Amy Burns sent out a circular urging her readers to go to the Baltimore Sun to join in what is destined to be one of its hottest forums ever, a war of minds over the "sport" of hunting, with emphasis on bow-hunting. While her readers began pondering, comments from the pro-hunting side came in hard and fast. "America's most-hated Anti" Anthony Marr jumped in head first, and so did leading anti-huntresses Tierra and Mamasita. Amazingly, the battle is still raging as we speak, more than two years later in November 23, 2009! The total number of comments so far has exceeded 93,000, and growing. This is a phenomenon, and destined to be a classic, not to be missed if you care about animals at all. I am posting (below) an alert I received from Anthony Marr of H.O.P.E. He's a wonderful anti-hunting activist with whom I've had the pleasure of working. Please follow the link and make our side of the issue heard! Fellow activists: I seldom use the word "IMPORTANT!" , but this one is. Yesterday, the Baltimore Sun published an article by E. Joseph Lamp, a commissioner of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Advisory Commission - the lone commissioner on our side. Following is a hunters' attack-fest against Lamp in the subsequent forum. So far it has fielded about 400 very heated entries, of which over 90% are from hunters. The hunters' comments have come from all over the country, not just Maryland. Obviously, they consider it a matter of paramount importance and have monilized their national big guns, AND SO MUST WE!!! Please copy the following link (both lines together), paste it into your address bar, click Go, read the hunters' comments, and respond, then pass it on. The public, the media, the politicians and the bowhunters themselves are watching this one. Up to this point, we look less than a couch potato. Unless we step up to the plate, the hunters will win and the animals will lose. Anticipating autumn's bounty of cooler weather, glorious sunshine and majestic foliage also brings sadness to my heart, knowing the suffering about to be inflicted by Maryland's bow hunters on our deer starting Friday and continuing through January. In the 2006-2007 season, bow hunters reported killing 21,991 deer in Maryland. But how many deer got away wounded, left to run around in the woods with arrows sticking in them, or to die a slow and agonizing death days or weeks later? Well-documented studies testify that wounding and suffering happen time and again when the bow is the weapon of choice. Even former Sun outdoor sports columnist Bill Burton has stated that bow hunting does not support clean kills. He wrote in his Maryland Deer Hunting Guide, "By necessity, most bowmen have become adept at tracking cripples - they have no choice. Seldom do their deer drop in their tracks." The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department recommends waiting at least an hour after a deer is shot with an arrow and runs off. If the deer was hit outside the heart or lungs, the hunter should wait four to six hours before attempting to track it. All the while, the animal suffers. Many are never found. As veterinarian Steve Nusbaum has written: "The presence of the same neurochemicals in deer as in humans similarly demands that they feel pain as we do." Imagine the pain of walking around in the woods for weeks on end with an arrow sticking out of your side or your head. Nevertheless, Maryland's hunters - a mere 3 percent to 4 percent of the state's population - hold the purse strings, the votes and the political clout inside the Department of Natural Resources and the state legislature when it comes to killing our deer, including hunting on Sundays. Hunting license fees - not your tax dollars - provide most funding for the DNR's Wildlife and Heritage Division, the agency overseeing hunting and deer management in Maryland. The bow hunters' voices are heard through lobby-type groups such as the Maryland Sportsmen's Association, which calls itself the "sportsmen's voice in Annapolis," and the Maryland Bowhunters Society. These groups can wield their collective political clout in our legislature through the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen's Caucus. Dying and wounded deer, on the other hand, have no money or votes to offer, and thus no political clout to wield. All they get is suffering cloaked as sport and recreation for hunters. As a nonhunter, I am the lone voice opposing bow hunting on DNR's nine-member Wildlife Advisory Commission. The eight other hunters and farmers serving on the commission always outvote me when I stand up for the deer. Yet few people on the animals' side know the Wildlife Advisory Commission exists. Let's put this tragic little secret of autumn behind us forever by ending bow hunting in Maryland. E. Joseph Lamp, a commissioner of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Advisory Commission, is a professor at Anne Arundel Community College. His e-mail is j19lamp@comcast. net. 60 comments: Excellent article. I believe that if more people tried bow hunting, they would be surprised how much fun this can be. I invite you and your readers to visit my new site, Silent Draw Outdoors. This is a new breed of hunting and outdoor adventure. Watch bow archery hunting videos of big game in North America. I understand the concern for the suffering deer but, and correct me if im wrong, isnt there a huge population problem with maryland's deer? And, wouldnt death by a pack of coyotes who tear randomly at a deer's flesh and most times begin eating the deer even b4 its dead be worse than death by an arrow? How about the cold? starvation? are you going to ban those things too?I support ethical hunting and emphasize the importance of hunter competency. Firstly, I hunt. For food. Because my family is NOT wealthy enough to buy all-organic meat from the store. Secondly, even "organic" meat or vegetables, and I've no desire to eat GMO crap just to be a "vegan", especially when humans were designed to eat a certain quantity of meat. That doesn't mean I don't eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, I do, but I cannot -afford- to have my entire diet be store bought. It is not an option. Nor can I grow my own because I do not own my own land. When done correctly and with responsibility, hunting is much LESS painful to an animal than a lifetime in a feed lot eating GMO corn. I use -one- shot, and I never shoot unless I know I can hit and kill the animal cleanly. This provides my family with food. More than that, because humans have killed off most natural predators in many regions, without hunters, animals would become overpopulated, sick, diseased and starve in the cold seasons. We were irresponsible and took the natural predator out of the equation and now we must make up that balance. Hunting is part of my heritage. I do not think people would call the Native Americans "evil" or equate them to rapists and murderers (I have seen these comments on other sites) because they hunted animals to survive. I do not agree with trophy hunting strictly for the sake of trophy hunting; if you shoot something or fish it out of the water, you should eat it, period. Thirdly, more animals are killed, injured or orphaned by automobiles each year than hunters could ever do. Yet we don't demand people all stop driving their cars, do we? And that meat isn't even used most of the time, unless the person IS a hunter and understands the importance of eating what you kill. My mom hit a deer once when I was a child and we took the meat home and ate it rather than left it there as roadkill like most people would do. Most hunters have a -deep- respect and understanding of the natural balance and are active in saving animal populations and environments for future generations to enjoy. Hunting to me is more than something I do just for fun. It's a way of life that helps provide my family with meat. Organizations such as PETA should look into better detail before they start bashing hunters. Granted when they see these Trophy Hunts or Canned Hunts as they like to call them, I can see why they may be angered, because the animals are pretty much pets, and I myself find the method rather distasteful. But the people who actually partake in such hunts make up a very small percentage of the hunting community, and to label all hunters as such is not a fair statement. I wish that PETA would start putting their efforts towards a better and more important cause, and change their name to PETH (People for the Ethical Treatment of Humans) because anyone knows that human mistreatment around the world is everywhere, and in the end which is really more important; a baby human, or a baby deer? I've been hunting since I was a kid. When my son was old enough to go to hunting classes and get his NYS Dec qualifying credentials. I took him hunting with me. He loved it. Actually he's a very devoted hunter. There is no one that is going to stop us and my friends from hunting. Ever. To the liberals that want to change society for their selfish ideas to suit themselves? Wake up. There is an extremely large population that is independent and live in the real world. Support gun ownership and hunting. It's our basic right. I've been married for 19 years and have been living with HIV for the past seven. Before being diagnosed I was the typical housewife who takes care of her husband and children. I'm now also a vendor. I sell candy on the street. And I also give talks to fellow HIV-positive people. HIV has taught me that life goes on and there's always a tomorrow. But I am here now to give thanks to Dr Busy,for the good life he has placed in me,for him to cure my illness i can't called him God rather he is a Godsent he is really gifted to help people with their various sickness you can as well contact him with this e-mail busyspellhome@gmail.com or +2347061824880 You can also contact him for any kind of illness like.. Thanks to dr LUKA who help me cure my DISEASE and he is capable of curing any kind of disease he is a powerful doctor .If you have a problem and you are looking for a real and genuine spell caster to solve that problem for you. Try Dr LUKA today, he might be the answer to your problems. 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I keep on managing the drugs iusually purchase from the health careagency to keep me healthy and strength full, itried all my best to make this disease leave mealone, but unfortunately, it keep on eating meup , this is what i caused myself, forallowing my fiance making sex tome insecurely without protection, although inever knew she is HIV positive. Let me use this opportunity to tell the world please always protect yourself when making sex.So last few four days i came in contact with alively article on the internet on how thisPowerful Herb Healer get her well andhealed. So as a patient i knew this will tookmy life one day, and i need to live with otherfriends and relatives too. 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I really loved him, but his mother was against us and he had no good paying job. So when i met this spell caster, i told him what happened and explained the situation of things to him. At first i was undecided,skeptical and doubtful, but i just gave it a try. And in 7 days when i returned to USA, my boyfriend (now husband) called me by himself and came to me apologizing that everything had been settled with his mom and family and he got a new job interview so we should get married. I didn't believe it cos the spell caster only asked for my name and my boyfriends name and all i wanted him to do. Well we are happily married now and we are expecting our little kid, and my husband also got the new job and our lives became much better.How you can also contact him .Email: ( atilahealinghome@yahoo.com) its a pleasure for me to write this testimony about this wonderful thing that happened to me last month on how i got cured from Herpes i have been reading so-many post of some people who were cured of Herpes, but i never believed them, I was hurt and depressed so I was too curious and wanted to try Dr.Ehi then i contacted him on his email when i contact him, i never thought possible that De Ehi can Really cure herpes i never really believed in Herbal medication but I played along with a little hope and faith and after everything but Dr Ehi changed my life and made me a true believer and today i am living haply with my wife and kid you can contact him to get your herpes medication and live healthy again on Ehiherbalmedication@gmail.com or call Him +2349027248007 so he can help you out  Hi everyone, there is good news, a perfect and great one. 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But like most of the over 38-40 million positive Men/Women worldwide, the challenge for every positive person is to take back control of their lives, in “Living positively” with the virus. I’d always believed that good health was never maintained only by taking medications. More than ever, HIV reinforced for me that health is not just physical health, but also mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. An important part of the healing process for me is to be active in HIV/AIDS education, support and advocacy. I volunteer in a number of HIV/AIDS organizations, and in particular Positive Men/Women, because the impact of HIV /AIDS on women is very different than men and if left untreated, though, HIV can lead to serious illness and death.. As once an HIV positive person, I will forever be grateful to God Almighty and to you Doctor osun who reach me when I thought it is all over. Today am happy with my family living free after the medical doctor have confirmed my HIV status Negative, I have never in my life believed that HIV could be cured by any herbal medicine, This is real. I want to make sure that HIV never happens to anyone else. We can’t prevent HIV by punishment, by stigmatization and discrimination. It’s only through building a safe, supportive and caring environment, that positive people still have hope and equal chance of getting cured just like me. All positive people should contact Dr osun with this email: drosunlovespelltemple@gmail.com , He has the cure to HIV and any-other Viral disease like; HEPATITIS B, CANCER, ALS, HSV 1-2, DIABETES, LYMPH NODES, Stroke and lots more. Contact him on call +2348132537313 whatsup:+2348132537313. Please once you are cured share it with family and friends, together we fight to stay healthy. Hello everyone. I was heartbroken because quickly ejaculation each time I'm having sex with my partner. 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I have been married for 7 months, i was 5 months pregnant, i love my husband so much, but he treated me so badly we fought because i have found numerous other emails, and texts on his phone from other women, i became so tired of of his womanizing behavior, worrying all the time, and i was always scared when i am not with him . one night he came back drunk, he also came with the another lady, when i i tried to confront him, he immediately started hitting me and he pushed me out the house and ask me to leave, i was lost and confused, i was stranded that i have to find a help from anywhere then i came across a spell caster Dr. Todd who had saved many marriage so as i emailed Dr. Todd and he told me what is needed and after 3 days, he restored my marriages, i and my husband came back together as a married couple again, i am so so so so happy, my marriage was saved by manifestspellcast@gmail.com HELLO, My name is Garrick I’ve been struggling with Herpes since forever and I’ve tried so many things and wasted so much money trying to get rid of it. However, nothing seems to work for very long. It seems as though my skin only temporarily accepts the remedy, then harshly rejects it a few days later. Sometimes it gets so bad that my skin dries out or becomes too oily, which I then go onto another new and different solution. I’ve talked to a doctor, but they weren’t much help either. So one day i was searching for a possible cure on the internet and i saw a testimony by a lady and how she was cured by a doctor with herbal medication. So i also contacted him and thank God today am cured by Dr Erazua herbal medicine. You can contact him and he will guide and protect you on how to use the medicine Contact him via dr.erazuagreattemple@gmail.com or reach him on or whatsapp him +2349060424123.... his website http://drerazuagreattempl.wixsite.com/dr-erazua Am really happy that i and my sister are cured of (HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS) with the herbal medicine of priest moses, I AM FROM UK, i have been suffering from this disease for the past 2 years without solution until i came across his email of this doctor who have cure so many people with his herbal medicine, i also choose to give him a chance to help me and my sister, he told me what to do and i kindly did it, and he gave us his herbal medicine and direct me on how to use it, i also follows his instruction for use and he ask us to go for a check up after 2 weeks and which i did, to my greatest surprise our result came out as negative, we are really happy that there is someone like this priest moses is ready to help anytime any day. to all the readers and viewers that is doubting this testimony stop doubting it and contact this Dr and see if he will not actually help you. contact him now if you are also in need of help via email priestmosessolutinocenter@gmail.com may god bless you sir for all your good works. or Whatsapp him on this +2348151084488. He can also cure many disease like HIV,, DIABETIES,,CANCER,,DIARIA,, IF YOU NEED A BABY IN YOUR FAMILY AND IF YOU NEED YOUR EX LOVER LIKE YOUR EX WIFE,,GIRL FRIEND,,EX HUSBAND,,EX BOY FRIEND DOCTOR ALAHO YOU ARE GOD SENT TO HELP PEOPLE LIFE, I PRAY YOU WILL NOT DIE BEFORE YOUR TIME.This is real take it serious, who will believe that a herb can cure genital herpes, i never believe that this will work, i have spend a lot getting drugs from the hospital to keep me healthy, it got to a time that i was waiting for is death to come because i was broke, one day i hard about this great man called DR. ALAHO who is well know for Herpes, HIV, and Cancer cure, i decided to email him I didn't believe him that much, I just wanted to give him a try, he replied my mail and Needed some Information about me, then I sent them to him, he prepared a herbal medicine (CURE) and sent it through Online Courier Service for delivery, he gave my details to the Courier Office. they told me that 3-5 days I will receive the package and after receiving it, i took the medicine as prescribed by him at the end of the one week, he told me to go to the hospital for a check up, and i went, surprisingly after the test the doctor confirm me HSV simplex virus negative, i thought it was a joke, i went to other hospital and was also negative, thank you for saving my life, I promise I will always testify of your good works. if you are herpes simplex virus patient, OR you are be helping by someone before i will like to advice you to give this man a try and see what will happen to your life don't worry about the money you have be use contact him and I am sure you will get cured, contact him via: Email: (alahoremedyhome@gmail.com) cell or whatsapp phone number via+2347064370626THESE ARE THE THINGS DR.ALAHOHIV,HEPATITIS B\CALSCANCER,ASTHMA,IMPOTENCE,LOW SPERM COUNT,BARENESS/INFERTILITY,I can’t stop talking about this man called DR.ALAHO . cause he is a God sent to cure humans from different DISEASES with herbal medications,he cured me of Genital herpes,he will also help you. Contact him today and you will have a testimony…Good luck! DOCTOR ALAHO YOU ARE GOD SENT TO HELP PEOPLE LIFE, I PRAY YOU WILL NOT DIE BEFORE YOUR TIME.This is real take it serious, who will believe that a herb can cure genital herpes, i never believe that this will work, i have spend a lot getting drugs from the hospital to keep me healthy, it got to a time that i was waiting for is death to come because i was broke, one day i hard about this great man called DR. ALAHO who is well know for Herpes, HIV, and Cancer cure, i decided to email him I didn't believe him that much, I just wanted to give him a try, he replied my mail and Needed some Information about me, then I sent them to him, he prepared a herbal medicine (CURE) and sent it through Online Courier Service for delivery, he gave my details to the Courier Office. they told me that 3-5 days I will receive the package and after receiving it, i took the medicine as prescribed by him at the end of the one week, he told me to go to the hospital for a check up, and i went, surprisingly after the test the doctor confirm me HSV simplex virus negative, i thought it was a joke, i went to other hospital and was also negative, thank you for saving my life, I promise I will always testify of your good works. if you are herpes simplex virus patient, OR you are be helping by someone before i will like to advice you to give this man a try and see what will happen to your life don't worry about the money you have be use contact him and I am sure you will get cured, contact him via: Email: (alahoremedyhome@gmail.com) cell or whatsapp phone number via+2347064370626THESE ARE THE THINGS DR.ALAHOHIV,HEPATITIS B\CALSCANCER,ASTHMA,IMPOTENCE,LOW SPERM COUNT,BARENESS/INFERTILITY,I can’t stop talking about this man called DR.ALAHO . cause he is a God sent to cure humans from different DISEASES with herbal medications,he cured me of Genital herpes,he will also help you. Contact him today and you will have a testimony…Good luck! am so glad to share my testimony how DR OSUN help me conceive after several years of marriage i found it difficult to conceive and i thought is was over i will never conceive again after 6years of marriage my husband plane for divorce but with the glory of God i found a man who is bless my God with root and herbs who help me get pregnant i want to say a big thanks to him and to the world for the great help he rendered to me for making me a complete woman today now i am 5months pregnant hoping to have My own baby soon. Glory be to God.email DR OSUN and he will help you conceive via:drosunlovespelltemple@gmail.com you can call him +2348132537313 I awant to inform the public how i was cured from (HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS) by DROSEIBOH, i visited different hospital but they gave me list of drugs likeFamiliar, Zovirax, and Valtrex which is very expensive to treat thesymptoms and never cured me. I was browsing through the Internet searchingfor remedy on HERPES and i saw comment of people talking about how DROSEIBOH cured them. when i contacted him he gave me hope and send a Herbalmedicine to me that i took and it seriously worked for me, am a free personnow without problem, my HERPES result came out negative. I pray for you DROSEIBOH am cured you can also get your self cured my friends if you reallyneed this doctor help, you can reach him now email: droseiboh33@outlook.comor whatsapp him +2348132015009 I was diagnosed with HSV-2 five years ago. I had hardly any symptoms until now. I was not in a sexual relationship but this week I had sex after my menstrual cycle. I had my first outbreak, it was horrible. I felt so depressed. I had all kinds of blisters in private places. Very very painful, it was hard to walk, sit sleep, go to the bathroom. I searched the web for treatment. I saw a post of Dr. Oyekpen a herbal doctor that's helping people get cured from HIV, HEPATITIS B, CANCER including herpes, so i decided to contact the same herbalist man because i was having no hope of been cure from this deadly disease. after all the procedures he sent a herbal liquid to me and a medicinal soap via UPS delivery and it got to me within 3 days! and i used the med as he instructed me (MORNING and EVENING) and it was a successful! I have never in my life believed that Herpes could be cure by any herbal liquid!thats the reason i decided to also add more comment of him so that more can be saved just like me! Contact this great herbal doctor if you are passing through this deadly disease on his email: droyekpenherbalhome@gmail.com or call or whats-app +2348115695867. You can also message him on facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Dr.Oyekpen/, I AM HERE TO TESTIFY ON HOW Dr ZULU(GREAT SPELL CASTER) HELPED ME TO WIN A LOTTERY (Zuluspelltemple@yahoo.com WhatsApp +2347067468416. I am Liubov Nikonets. I won EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle prize of 1,000,000 on Dec 2016, I took an advice from some person who talked about this great spell caster, the person placed a testimony on a blog saying how this priest helped him win the lottery by sending him the winning numbers , I was curious and I thought it was all joke not until I contacted this spell caster to know for myself how this workS because I had spent alots buying tickets and I never won. I contacted him and he told me the necessary things needed to be done and I did just as he said and he told me to wait for just 3 days, on the 3rd day he gave me the winning numbers to play the lottery which i did, Can you believe my name was the first among winners. He told me my son all i need you to do for me is make sure that you share this testimony to others in need of help so that they can also win the lottery. I am sharing this testimony with everyone who needs help to win lottery. Contact this great priest through his email address Zuluspelltemple@yahoo.com or call and WhatsApp him on +2347067468416 and your financial problem will be solved forever just as mine was solved. Greetings to the general public, i want to tell about how i was cured of Hepatitis B disease by a Doctor called Dr Alli. I was browsing through the Internet searching for remedy on Hepatitis B and i saw comment of people talking about how Doctor Alli cured them. I Was scared because i never believed in the Internet but i was convince to give him a try because i having no hope of been cured of Hepatitis B so i decided to contact him with his email that was listed on the comment (allispellhelp1@gmail.com) when i contacted him he gave me hope and send a Herbal medicine to me that i took and it seriously worked for me, am a free person now without problem, my Hepatitis B result came out negative. I pray for you Dr Alli God will give you everlasting life, you shall not die before your time for being a sincere and grate men. Am so happy, you can also contact him if you have any problem Email: allispellhelp1@gmail.com or Add him up on What-sap +2348100772528 I am standard raggnal from united state of america andi want quickly recommend dr ONUWA for a Job welldone by curing me from the diseases that i have begiving sleepness night. I was once diagonised withHerpes and hiv Virus due to unprotected sex. I wasashamed to tell anyone, So i silently go in searchon how to get cured and i met this man dr ONUWAand now i am completely cured. My mind is now atrest and i so much appreciate dr ONUWA for Hisgoodworkif you want to contact him, Simply do that via Hisemail id dr.onuwahome@gmail.com or WHATSAPP him on+2349056464736 or and get all your problem solved.1)Sickness of any kind2)Help to CURE Hepatitis B, HIV/AIDs CANCER andBIPOLAR3)Divorce, Breakup problem and To Re-unit4)Pregnancy problem5)Financial problem and Job promotion6)To get a good and rich life partner7)To Lose your wath8)to enlargement of pennis good day lady's and gentlemen i wish to thank this great herbal DR.OBA please listening to my story, herpes has been ongoing in my family for long..I lost both parents to herpes and it is so much pain has not been able to get over. As we all know medically, there is no solution or cure for herpes and the cost for Medication is very expensive. Someone introduced me to a man (Native Medical Practitioner) . I showed the man all my Tests and Results and I told him have already diagnosed with herpes and have spent thousands of dollars on medication. I said I will like to try him cause someone introduced me to him. He asked me sorts of questions and I answered him correctly. To cut the story short, He gave me some medicinal soaps and some herbs(have forgot the name he called them) and he thought me how am going to use them all. At first I was skeptical but I just gave it a try. I was on his Medication for 2 weeks and I used all the soaps and herbs according to his prescription. That he will finish the rest himself. And I called him 3 days after, I arrived and I told him what is the next thing he said, he has been expecting my call. He told me to visit my doctor for another test. Honestly speaking, i never believe all he was saying until after the test when my doctor mention the statement that am, herpes negative and the doctor started asking me how do I do it....Am telling this story in case anyone may need this man’s help. He is the Great Dr OBA here is via email address( drobaspellhome902@gmail.com or call +2348154692747.Thanks Regard I can’t believe how Dr.Zuku cure my HPV VIRUS, since three year ago i was effected with HPV VIRUS, and i have taking all manner of drugs prescribed to me from several doctors,but all my effort was wasted,i cried all day thinking on how i can be cured of this illness, i lost hope while i was looking for solution for my health,but one faithful day, i was searching the internet i came across several testimonies about Dr.Zuku and how he has cure so many effected individual ,so i try and contact his email: drzukuspelltemple@gmail.com i can't express how happy i am now after so many years. If you have this ailment or whatsoever you might be suffering from contact: drzukuspelltemple@gmail.com his Mobile number +16177296273 Am here to testify of a great spell caster called Dr. Biya. This man is truly a great spell caster indeed. I contacted this great man for a help and just within two days my problem was completely solved. My ex Husband came back to me just within 3 days begging me to accept him back for 3 months leaving me for another woman. Now we are fully back again as one family, all thanks to Dr Biya and his great temple for restoring peace to my life. He's a great spell caster he can help you solve your love problem and bring back your ex-back to you... His contact email address is, drbiyaspelltemple19213@gmail.com and his contact Number +2348026382556 Thank you Dr Biya God bless Dr.Ekpiku for his marvelous work in my life, my name is Joyce Benson from USA, I was diagnosed of HERPES since 2013 and I was taking my medications, I wasn't satisfied i needed to get the HERPES out of my system, I searched about some possible cure for HERPES i saw a comment about Dr Ekpiku how he cured HERPES with his herbal medicine, I contacted him and he guided me. I asked for solutions, he started the remedy for my health, he sent me the medicine through UPS delivery company. I took the medicine as prescribed by him and 11 days later i tested negative for HERPES, Dr.Ekpiku truly you are great, do you need his help also? Why don't you contact him through email (ekpikuspellhomeofgrace@gmail.com) or call him on +2348073673757 and you can also contact me to know more about him on my email Joycebenson731@gmail.com or text me +16506538578. DOCTOR Ekpiku CAN AS WELL CURE THE FOLLOWING DISEASE:- 1. HIV/AIDS 2. HERPES 3. CANCER 4. ALS 5. Hepatitis B 6. Diabetes 7. Athrux, 8. hydrophobia 9.hpv 10 pregnancy spell and bring back your ex back 11 scabies 12. STD. Hello everyone! Still don’t know the right words to express my Gratitude to the Great Dr.Ozolua After been diagnosed of HERPES 2 VIRUSin July, i was given so many health prescription and advice with no improvement, I totally lost hope, until i found many testimonies of GreatDr. Ozolua in an online research on google, Like anybody would be, I was very skeptical about contacting him, but i later did and he opened up to me and told me what was involved and he started the remedies for my health, i gave him a try and Thank God, i was cured from herpes permanently by the herbal medication I received from him true DHL delivery. I never thought that herpes can be cured, from the bottom of my heart I’m truly grateful,i still do not know how it was cure it highly unbelievable it just just too real to be real i pray you have long life so you can help many more people on earth with your herbal medical support. i advice any one that is living with herpes virus should Contact the Great Dr Ozolua today, because it has the cure to any problem Email him on dr.ozolua@yahoo.com or his whatsapp on +2348075045348 I want to give a testimony on how I got cured from Hepatitis b Virus. Few monthsback I was having some symptoms . I went to see a doctor and many bloodtests was done on me, later on I was told I had Hepatitis b. My doctor told methat there's no cure for Hepatitis I felt bad, I went online searching for apossible cure for Hepatitis b Virus, I saw a post of Dr. Ajayi a herbal doctorthat's helping people get cured from HPV, HIV, HEPATITIS B, CANCER e.t.c.i contacted him and told him how I'm feeling he said his herbal medicine cancure me. He sent me the medicine via Dhl delivery service and I receivedthe medicine some days after he sent it, i took the medicine as prescribedby him. Before the completion of the medication the symptoms stopped. Iwent to the doctor and carried out another blood test, surprisingly I wasNegative. I haven't had any symptoms anymore. Dr. Ajayi is great and you cancontact him via (drajayiherbalhome@gmail.com) whatsapp him via +2349054914348; It's unbelievable how fortunate I feel after finding your website. For the past 6 months, I have been so depressed after losing my husband to another woman. My money situation worsened so much that I thought I'd have to file for bankruptcy. I had a huge amount of debt and I didn't know what to do. Out of complete and total desperation, I contacted many of those so-called individuals who promised powerful magic, witchcraft or black magic. None of them worked and none were as wonderful, affectionate and warm as Dr Marvel has been. He is definitely different from the others and I felt immediate hope and strength from hearing about the promises he had to offer. He carries an air of purity and divine strength that is as pure as fresh snow on the ground. I requested Dr Marvel's most powerful spells and I was relieved right away that I had someone to solve my problems for me. His spells worked wonders and I am now back with my husband and my money troubles resolved itself after winning the lottery. Dr Marvel, I have no idea what I would have done without you being there to help me out. you can contact him via email extremespellhome@hotmail.com or veiw through his facebook page https://web.facebook.com/Extremespellhome/ or call him on his Mobile +1 669 221 3962 . With best regards, Erin It’s obvious some patient with HIV/CANCER, HSV, Diabetes, are been enslavedto the antiviral and other supplementary I have be suffer from (HERPES)disease for the last 3 years without hope for cure and I was miserableuntil early this year I was checking on new developments and cure then Ifound out how great Dr Uduehi has healed his patients using natural herbalremedy. I Contact him through his email (Doctoruduehi140@gmail.com), and heprepare the herbal remedy and sent it to me after taking the herbal remedyas he instructed I went back to the hospital few weeks later and the testresults show I'm negative and now I'm completely free of genital herpesthanks to great Dr Uduehi for his urgent response call or whatsapp him hispersonal phone number +2349039533501 Hello all viewer online HIV has cure but doctor said HIV/Aids has no cure until i met Dr Benson who help me in my life. I was infected with HIV/AIDS in 2006, i went to many hospitals for cure but there was no solution, so I was thinking how can I get a solution, so that my body can be okay. until this faithful day as i was browsing the net I saw a testimony on how Dr.Benson helped people in curing HIV Disease, quickly I copied his Email which is drbensonsolutioncure52@gmail.com.... so i contacted him for solution for my HIV, so Dr.Benson told me that his going to prepare herbal medicine for my health, then he prepared the medicine and luckily after two week my herpes was be cured. Dr Benson is well recognize as one of the best herbalist doctor in Africa, you don't have to be sad anymore or share your tears anymore on this disease when the cure have already be found by Dr, Benson herbal medicine, he also cure HERPES,CANCER, ALS,HEPATITIS B, DIABETIC , Add him on whats-apps +2348141972381 Thanks. DOCTOR JOHN. YOU ARE GOD SENT TO HELP PEOPLE LIFE, I PRAY YOU WILL NOT DIE BEFORE YOUR TIMEThis is real take it serious, who will believe that a herb can cure herpes, i never believe that this will work, i have spend a lot getting drugs from the hospital to keep me healthy, it got to a time that i was waiting for is death to come because i was broke, one day i hard about this great man called Dr JOHN who is well know for Herpes, HIV, and Cancer cure, i decided to email him I didn't believe him that much, I just wanted to give him a try, he replied my mail and Needed some Information about me, then I sent them to him, he prepared a herbal medicine (CURE) and sent it through Online Courier Service for delivery, he gave my details to the Courier Office. they told me that 3-5 days I will receive the package and after receiving it, i took the medicine as prescribed by him at the end of the one week, he told me to go to the hospital for a check up, and i went, surprisingly after the test the doctor confirm me Herpes simplex virus negative, i thought it was a joke, i went to other hospital and was also negative, thank you for saving my life, I promise I will always testify of your good works. if you are herpes simplex virus patient, OR you are be helping by someone before i will like to advice you to give this man a try and see what will happen to your life don't worry about the money you have be use contact him and I am sure you will get cured, contact him via: Email: lupuscure2016@gmail.com 0R Call his number on +2347064365391 THESE ARE THE THINGS DR JOHN DOES.HIV,CANCER,ASTHMA,IMPOTENCE,LOW SPERM COUNT,BARENESS/INFERTILITY,I can’t stop talking about this man called Dr JOHN cause he is a God sent to cure humans from different DISEASES with herbal medications, he cured me of GENITAL HERPES, he will also help you. Contact him today and you will have a testimony…Good luck! Hello all viewer online HIV has cure but doctor said Hiv/Aids has no cure until i met Dr Benson who help me in my life. I was infected with HIV/AIDS in 2006, i went to many hospitals for cure but there was no solution, so I was thinking how can I get a solution, so that my body can be okay. until this faithful day as i was browsing the net I saw a testimony on how Dr.Benson helped people in curing HIV Disease, quickly I copied his Email which is drbensonsolutioncure52@gmail.com so i contacted him for solution for my HIV, so Dr.Benson told me that his going to prepare herbal medicine for my health, then he prepared the medicine and luckily after three week my herpes was be cured. Dr Benson is well recognize as one of the best herbalist doctor in West Africa, you don't have to be sad anymore or share your tears anymore on this disease when the cure have already be found by Dr.Benson herbal medicine, he so cure HERPES,CANCER, ALS,HEPATITIS B, DIABETIC ,or his whats-app number: +2348141972381 My name is Peter James From USA, Dr tebe is the only Dr who could ever get my HIV-AIDS cured with his healing spell, i have tried almost everything but i couldn't find any solution on my disease, despite all these happening to me, i always spend a lot to buy HIV drugs from hospital and taking some several medications but no relieve, until one day i was just browsing on the internet when i come across a great post of !Nicole! who truly said that she was been diagnose with HIV and was healed that very week through the help of these great powerful healing spell doctor, sometime i really wonder why people called him Dr tebe, i never knew it was all because of the great and perfect work that he has been doing that is causing all this. so i quickly contacted him, and he ask me some few questions and he said a thing i will never forget that any one who contacted him is always getting his or her healing in just 6 hours after doing all he ask you,so i was amazed all the time i heard that from him, so i did all things only to see that at the very day which he said i will be healed, all the strength that has left me before rush back and i becomes very strong and healthy, this disease almost kills my life all because of me, so i will to hospital to give the final test to the disease and the doctor said i am HIV negative,i am very amazed and happy about the healing DrTebe gave to me from the help of his ancient herbs But if you feel like contacting Dr tebe at once you can email him now for your own healing too at:(drtebe2@gmail.com). or email him on his other email for fast help (dr_tebe2@yahoo.com) add him on whatsapp +2348140544262 Thanks Hello everyone I'm Maria James I Was Diagnosed With Hepatitis b 12 Year Ago I lived In Pain, With The Knowledge That I Wasn't Going To Ever Be Well Again I Contacted So Many Herbal Doctors And Also Visited Hospitals All In Vain My Condition Never Got Better I Was Determined To Get Cured, So One Day As I Was Browsing True The Internet I Saw A Post About This Particular Woman (Monica Wofle) Posted On How Dr Iyoha Saved Her From The Virus With Herbal Medicine I Decided To Contact Dr Iyoha Via Email: (driyohasolutiontemple@yahoo.com) We Spoke On The Issue I Told Him All That I Went Through And How I Have Try Other Medication And Been To Many Places And Doctors He Told Me Not To Worry That God HAve Lead Me To A Solution Ground And Everything Will Be Fine Again So He Prepared The Medicine And Sent It To Me And Told Me On How To Use It I Did According And Follow His Instructions,After 2 Weeks Of Usage I Went To See Doctor For Test ,Then The Result Was Negative,Am The Happiest Person On Earth Today..I Testify To The Power Of The Herbal Medicine Of Dr Iyoha ,Thanks To Dr Iyoha God Bless You And Your Family Sir...You Can Also Reach Him With This Details I'm Wilson Joe i am from Texas,USA.It's been a while since I've written to thank you for my life Doctor JOHN who helped me in my life. I was infected with HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS in early 2017, i went to many hospitals for cure but there was no solution, so I was thinking how can I get a solution out so that my body can be okay. One day my Aunt Bella introduce me to Doctor JOHN having seen so many testimony online about his herbal medication to cure HERPES and gave me his email: (drjohnhivcurehome@gmail.com) , so i mail him. He told me all the things I need to do and also give me instructions to follow, which I followed properly. Before I knew what is happening after one weeks the HERPES that was in my body got vanished. so if you are you are having herpes or any kind of disease listed below*DIABETES*CANCER*STROKE*INFERTILITY*HEART DISEASEand you also want cure, you can also email him at:drjohnhivcurehome@gmail.com OR whats-app +2347064365391 HIV is a serious and recurring disease which can't be cured through drugs or injections by the American doctors but the best way to deal with HIV is by taking natural herbs medicine for it and is only few American doctors that know about this herbal medicine from Doctor Benson. I have read about Dr Benson the great herbal doctor from African who can cure HIV with his powerful herbal medicine. for the people suffering from the following diseases HIV, Herpes, Cancer, ALS, Hepatitis, Diabetes, HPV, Infections ETC should contact him for his herbal medicine because i am a living testimony and i was cured of HIV. Although, i sent him what he requested and he sent me his medicine which i took for three weeks and today when i went for test i was tested HIV negative. you can reach him through his email on(drbensonsolutioncure52@gmail.com)And you can also whats-app/call him through his number(+2348141972381) HELLO everyone! Still don’t know the right words to express my Gratitude to the Great Dr.Care, After been diagnosed with the HEPATITIS B VIRUS for the passed 5yesrs, i was given so many health prescription and advice with no improvement, I totally lost hope, until i found many testimonies of Great Dr. Care, from Europe in an online research on google, Like anybody would be, i advice any one that is living with hepatitis B virus should Contact the one and only Great Dr.Care today,from Europe because it has the cure to any virus problem contact him by Email: at [ drcarevoodoospell@gmail.com ] call or whatsApp him on +393510620692 Thanks to { dr.obho } he is a great spell caster who brought my ex husband back I want to tell everyone about my meeting with ( dr.obhogreatspell@gmail.com) who bring back my ex lover within the period of 2days... At these moment i don't have anything to say than to appreciate the good works of dr.obho, who you can simply reach through this email address: ( dr.obhogreatspell@gmail.com ) Once again contact this email .......... dr.obhogreatspell@gmail.com You can also reach me through this number for confirmation +19136084584 I never thought i would be HIV negative again after been diagnosed in 2015, i have tried everything possible in life from one doctor to another, one hospital to another, series of tests, different kinds of medication, i had already lost hope until i meet Great Dr. OSAGIE online testimonies, a specialist in herbal medication from Africa, i contacted him (drosagiesolutiontemple@gmail.com ORDROSAGIESOULTIONTEMPLE@YAHOO.COM) and he prepared HIV herbal medication for me which i took for 7days and now i am completely cured. i want to use this medium to express my gratitude to him for saving my life and curing me from HIV, for taking away all my pains and sorrows, I''m indeed grateful and i am so happy I''m now HIV negative. i will continue to tell the good news of your great works to everyone, if you have HIV or other disease contact him, Email: his email: (drosagiesolutiontemple@gmail.com ORDROSAGIESOULTIONTEMPLE@YAHOO.COM ) or His Whatsapp number: +2347030465649...thank you He also have a herbal cure for Following DISEASES,this is 100% Real -COLD SORE -ALS -LOWER RESPIRATORY INFECTION -LOW SPERM COUNT -STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS -STROKE -CANCER -BARENESS/INFERTILITY I was told i had Genital Herpes six months ago. of course it was the worst experience ever and i thought my life was over. So i went online to find things i can do from prevent getting outbreaks and maybe even cure this. I found someones story and how it possibly cured him. ive only had once outbreak which was the first one and i havent had another in six months. This is what i did! Vitamin D one tablet 3x a day, Vitamin C one tablet 3x a day, L-Lysine one tablet 3x a day.You can also take tea tree one tablet 3x a day, everynight after a shower i clean my lower back and make sure its nice & clean i add DSMO cream Mix with 8 drops of oregano and put it on your lower back. The DSMO cream is the one ive heard that can possibly cure it so that is the most important, im soon going to get tested again and im praying to God it comes out negative. I am very happy, that is why i am here to testify on how Dr PETER helped me and how he has help people that i have directed to him, i am not shy to broadcast about how i suffered of HERPES disease because i am free now, i was positive for 3 years but now i am HERPES Negative now with the help of Dr PETER Herbal Medicine. My dear friends, i am glad to say Dr PETER cured me and made my family happy again. he can cure any disease or sickness so i advice you to contact him if you have any problem you can contact him today via Email: (ayokospellcaster@gmail.com or ayokospellcaster@gmail.com) or call +2348132537313 whatsapp or call i am Rose from UNITED STATES i was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS for over 12 years which made loose my job and my relationship with my fiance after he discovered that i was having HIV, he departed from me i tried all my best to make him stays with me, but neglected me until a friend of mine on Facebook from Singapore told me Great healer, who will restore my life back with his powerful healing spell, he sent me the email address to contact and i quickly contacted him, and he said my condition can solved, that he will treat the disease immediately only if i can accept trust him and accept his terms and condition, i Agreed because i was so much in need of help by all means, so i did all he want from me and surprisingly on Sunday last week He sent me a text, that i should hurry up to the hospital for a checkup, which i truly did, i confirm from my doctor that i am now ( HIV NEGATIVE) my eyes filled with tears and joy, crying heavily because truly the disease deprived me of many things from my life, This is a Miracle, Please do not en-devour to email drtebe2@gmail.com or whatsapp Dr Tebe on +2348140544262 for healings Thanks I was told i had Genital Herpes six months ago. of course it was the worst experience ever and i thought my life was over. So i went online to find things i can do from prevent getting outbreaks and maybe even cure this. I found someones story and how it possibly cured him. ive only had once outbreak which was the first one and i havent had another in six months. This is what i did! Vitamin D one tablet 3x a day, Vitamin C one tablet 3x a day, L-Lysine one tablet 3x a day.You can also take tea tree one tablet 3x a day, everynight after a shower i clean my lower back and make sure its nice & clean i add DSMO cream Mix with 8 drops of oregano and put it on your lower back. The DSMO cream is the one ive heard that can possibly cure it so that is the most important, im soon going to get tested again and im praying to God it comes out negative. I am very happy, that is why i am here to testify on how Dr PETER helped me and how he has help people that i have directed to him, i am not shy to broadcast about how i suffered of HERPES disease because i am free now, i was positive for 3 years but now i am HERPES Negative now with the help of Dr PETER Herbal Medicine. My dear friends, i am glad to say Dr PETER cured me and made my family happy again. he can cure any disease or sickness so i advice you to contact him if you have any problem you can contact him today via Email: (ayokospellcaster@gmail.com or ayokospellcaster@gmail.com) or call +2348132537313 whatsapp or call About Anthony Marr Anthony Marr * has a degree in physics * is the author of "OMNI-SCIENCE and the Human Destiny" (2003) and "Homo Sapiens SAVE YOUR EARTH" (2008) * 1995, he cleaned up N. American Chinatowns of endangered species medicines * 1996, he led "the highest-profile anti-trophy-hunting campaign in Canada" (Globe and Mail). * 1997-1999, he worked in 3 tiger reserves in India. * 1999, he founded Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE). * 2004/2005, he conducted operations in Japan against whaling and dolphin slaughter. * 2003-2011, completed 7 Compassion for Animals Road Expeditions (CARE tours, each covering 30-45 states over 4-7 months), and spoke at the National AR Conference every year * 2009, he founded the Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC) * 2010, he won the Henry Spira Grassroots Activist Award. www.HOPE-CARE.org www.facebook.com/AnthonyMarr001 www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com www.AnthonyMarr13.wordpress.com www.Dying-for Salvation.blogspot.com

A new version of Rattle (2.1.123), a Gnome-base GUI for data mining, written copmletely in R, and available on GNU/Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, and MS/Windows, has been released to CRAN. There has been quite a lot of activity since the last update, including: Transform: Now include basic imputation of missing values. More to follow. Models: Move to using ada for boosting. Better missing value handling for random forest Use arules package for market basket analysis Add more model visualisations Export: RPart PMML export completed. PMML export has been separated out to its own package (pmml) Complete change log available at http://rattle.togaware.com/changes.html Rattle mailing list at http://groups.google.com/group/rattle-users Regards, Graham

Sheffield Council ‘one of best for business’ Sheffield was named this week as one of the best councils to do business with. It was one of ten authorities highlighted by the Government for their “innovative” dealings that help small businesses. Lord Young, the Prime Minister’s Enterprise Adviser, said: “Taking the red tape away from the public sector procurement process will give an enormous boost to entrepreneurs and a big reduction in costs to Government. “This competition is providing a vital service in shining a light on the very best councils, and I welcome the steps that they have taken to open up their own procurement, helping to get local small businesses growing and fit for the global race.”

Revealed: Olly Murs' secret girlfriend of more than a year It’s a sad day for womankind! It’s been revealed that everyone’s favourite Essex boy Olly Murs has a girlfriend - and this isn’t a new romance. Olly and Francesca Thomas’ relationship was outed when fans snapped them on holiday together - and it seems things are pretty serious. Olly Murs has a secret girlfriend he met backstage at V Festival. The cheeky Essex boy, who's famed for being unlucky in love, has been dating commercial property manager and aspiring model Francesca Thomas for more than a year.

It seems pretty simple. There are a bunch of grey lines atop a white background with a dozen black dots on different intersection. The rub? You can't see all the dots at once, even though they really are all there. Why can't we spot all 12 dots at the same time? According to Time, "This occurs because the eye’s stimulated light receptors can sometimes influence the ones next to them, creating illusions." You'll either got mad or get a wicked headache looking at this grid too long. It joins a long list of mind-benders that have taken the good people of the interwebs for a mental ride. Remember this cylinder illusion? Or the brick wall one? What about this one about a red circle? And, then, of course, there was that whole matter of what color #thedress is.

Photos: Openly gay athletes Updated 11:15 AM ET, Mon July 14, 2014 Photos: Openly gay athletes25 photos Openly gay athletes – Swimmer Ian Thorpe, seen here in 2004 with one of his five Olympic gold medals, told an Australian news outlet that he is gay in an interview that aired on Sunday, July 13. Click through to see other openly gay athletes. Hide Caption 1 of 25 Photos: Openly gay athletes25 photos Openly gay athletes – Former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam told ESPN and The New York Times that he is gay on February 9. Sam later became the first openly gay player to be drafted by a NFL team when he was taken by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round. Hide Caption 2 of 25 Photos: Openly gay athletes25 photos Openly gay athletes – Robbie Rogers became the first openly gay male athlete to play in a professional American sporting match when he took the field for Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy during a match against the Seattle Sounders on May 26.

Top 194 Reviews and Complaints about Harbor Freight Tools Northern Tool + Equipment - Hardware Stores - Yelp 2 reviews of Northern Tool + Equipment "I love this place! It's like an upscale Harbor Freight Tools with a wider selection of odd-sized tools. If you can't find a tool at Home Depot, Lowe's, or any of the many auto parts stores, you might just… Central Purchasing of China Inc, Shanghai Rep Office Central Purchasing certainly could lay claim to the expression "the right tool for the job. " The company, better recognized by its trade name Harbor Freight Tools, is a leading discounter of tool and work equipment. Northern Tool + Equipment - Hardware Stores - Yelp 2 reviews of Northern Tool + Equipment "I love this place! It's like an upscale Harbor Freight Tools with a wider selection of odd-sized tools. If you can't find a tool at Home Depot, Lowe's, or any of the many auto parts stores, you might just…

“We believe that any attack against Syria will definitely result in chaos in the entire region, if not beyond,” he said. He also said the regime was seeking dialogue and reconciliation with the U.S., while calling called on the Congress, which is currently considering a military strike, to “exercise wisdom,” warning that any attack against Syria would have grave consequences in the entire region. The deputy foreign minister confirmed that the regime had been supplied up to now with Russian arms. “We have been supplied until this minute with Russian arms to defend ourselves,” al-Mekdad said. In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated Sept. 4 that Turkey would take part in any international coalition against Syria, but stopped short of saying whether that would include military action. “We have said that we are ready to take part in any kind of coalition and we perceive this as a coalition of volunteers,” Erdoğan said without elaborating, shortly before leaving for the G-20 meeting in St. Petersburg.

Empty Tomb Tee $ 38.00 $ 30.00 ***Since all items are hand-printed to order, I am currently operating at about a 1 week turnaround time. Please allow that amount of lead time before your order ships. When it does, you will receive a shipping notification to the email you provided! Thank you!

Actually, I don’t sleep, since I am a blogger and, as you all must realize by now, a sparkly vampire, too. Thus, like the undead, we’ll be reanimated in another form and with a new name right quick. And, not to worry, the archives of what we have written since mid-2007 will also forever remain as definitive proof that we existed, thanks to the hard workers at the NSA in its ongoing quest to suck every digital scrap it can find! But before The Wall Street Journal redirects this site’s URL to its own tech coverage, here are some stories by John Paczkowski, the very first editorial hire Walt Mossberg and I made here, as well as some choice bits by me over the years (Yahoo, Yahoo and, well, mebbe some Yahoo, too!). Key lines: “With handheld sales that fell by more than half year-over-year in its first quarter, HP is surely looking for a way to revive them and capture a larger portion of the important mobile market. Acquiring Palm could be a good way to do it.” Key lines: “Google had finally acknowledged that its search results were no longer solely and automatically determined by the company’s vaunted algorithms. Now they simply “relied heavily” on them. Why the sudden change?” Key lines: “Despite a slew of evidence to the contrary — plunging market share, rapidly deteriorating fundamentals, mass layoffs and a stock that’s falling like a knife, Research In Motion’s got a bright future ahead of it. This according to CEO Thorsten Heins, who says RIM is headed for a rebound, not certain doom. In fact, he crowed in an op-ed piece in the Globe and Mail, ‘We expect to empower people as never before.'” Key lines: “Here’s a potentially noteworthy development in the patent litigation-riddled mobile device market. Last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a very broad patent on motion-based smartphone control, one that could have significant implications for the industry.” “One could say hindsight is 20-20, of course, but what made me sad about the sale — and I was very sad when I heard of it — was that these laudable and smart people could not seem to figure it out, and had to turn to a magical Internet wizard to do so. In the coverage, that sentiment was echoed again and again — that you would somehow conjure up a series of fantastic new news products that would capture the imagination of all and return the paper to its former glory.” Key lines: “[CEO Carol] Bartz then asked the question: ‘What have we done to re-engineer Yahoo?’ She reeled off a list she has repeated many times before, the point of which was to let us all know she has been mighty busy cleaning up the big mess she had to deal with on arrival. So lay off, all you naysayers! It’s kind of like what President Barack Obama is saying these days, as he looks forward to huge political losses in the upcoming election. It’s apparently a disciplined approach. “First you walk, then you run.’ Then, she added, you FLY! Don’t look down, Carol!” Key lines: “‘Your bachelor’s degree is in accounting and computer science. Now, from both of those, I mean that’s, that’s pretty obvious that’s PayPal,’ said [Moira] Gunn. ‘What are the most important things you learned?’ ‘Yeah,’ begins [Yahoo CEO Scott] Thompson, failing to correct her at all on the fact that he does not actually have a computer science degree — only one in accounting.” Key lines: “First, my initial reaction when I first heard about the deal: Ugh. Sigh. Hopelessly corrupt. Now 100 percent more icky! A giant, greedy, Silicon Valley pig pile. I was upset. By early evening, after my kids told me to chillax, my dark mood had changed to accept that the transaction — however profoundly distasteful to me — was part and parcel of the insidious log-rolling, back-scratching ecosystem that has happened in every other center of power in the universe since the beginning of time. And so it goes in Silicon Valley.” ]]>http://allthingsd.com/20131230/how-can-you-miss-us-if-we-wont-go-away-paczkowski-and-swisher-highlights-from-allthingsd/feed/0Five Tips for Getting Started With Windows 8.1http://allthingsd.com/20131114/five-tips-for-getting-started-with-windows-8-1/ http://allthingsd.com/20131114/five-tips-for-getting-started-with-windows-8-1/#commentsThu, 14 Nov 2013 14:00:03 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=372686Change is always hard. We get accustomed to doing things one way, and when something comes along to mess that up, our natural reaction is to revolt. It’s no surprise, then, that Microsoft didn’t get the warmest reception when it released Windows 8 last year. Designed to be an all-in-one operating system for both PCs and tablets, Windows 8 was a stark departure from previous versions of the OS, and required a steep learning curve that involved juggling between two interfaces and giving up some familiar favorites like the Start button, among other things. To address some of those issues, last month Microsoft released Windows 8.1. The update brings a series of tweaks and new features that generally make the OS better — though, if you found Windows 8 confusing, you still will in this new version. But, since this is the future of Windows-based machines, it might be time to learn some of the ins and outs of the OS. To help you out, I’ve outlined some tips for using Windows 8.1. One note before getting started: Windows 8.1 is available as a free download to Windows 8 users. Those with older versions of Windows will have to pay $120 to upgrade, and their machines have to meet the minimum system requirements. If you fall into the latter group, it might be better to hold off until you need to upgrade your hardware. Make It Personal When you first boot up Windows 8.1, you won’t notice a huge difference between the latest update and Windows 8. You still get the tile-based Start screen, but it’s a lot more customizable than the previous version. For example, you can now change the background image by accessing the Charms menu (to do so, swipe in from the right side of the screen, or point to the lower- or upper-right corner if you’re using a mouse), selecting Settings, and then Personalize. Meanwhile, right-clicking or doing a long-press on a tile brings up options to resize it (large, wide, medium or small), remove it from the Start screen, and more. A quick swipe up from the bottom of the screen (or clicking on the down arrow in the bottom-left if you’re using a mouse) also brings up a view of all your Apps. You can make this your default Start screen by swiping in from the right side of the screen, selecting Search, and then typing “Taskbar.” From there, select the Navigation tab, and then check the box that says, “Show the Apps view automatically when I go to Start.” For those who aren’t ready let go of the past just yet, Windows 8.1 now gives you an option to boot directly to traditional desktop mode. The setting is hard to find, though, so be sure to check out my colleague Walt Mossberg’s explainer on how to enable that feature. A New Start (Sort Of) One of the more welcome features is the return of the Start button. When you switch to desktop mode, you’ll find it in the bottom-left-hand corner, but it doesn’t function in exactly the same way as before. Tapping or clicking will simply return you to the modern tile-based Start screen, rather than launching the traditional Start menu. If you right-click on it or do a long press, however, you’ll get a pop-up window that provides access to tools like the control panel, task manager and shutdown/restart. There are also other utilities, including Programs and Features, where you can uninstall or change desktop apps and Power Options for customizing your battery settings. Multitasking Using Snap View Windows 8 already offered a function called Snap View that allowed you to view two apps at once, but the screen was split so that one app took up a majority of the room, while the other only took up about a third of screen space. This made it difficult to see or interact with anything in the smaller window. But with Windows 8.1, you can now split the screen to your liking. To begin, start by opening an app from the Start screen or the Apps-view screen. Next, slide your finger from the top of the screen down to about the middle of the display, or until the app window shrinks. Then move the app to either the left or right side of the screen. Afterward, you can return to the Start or Apps screen to open your second app, and it will automatically appear next to the first app. By default, Snap View splits the screen in half, but you can change that by dragging the black bar that separates the two apps to the right or the left. Depending on your screen’s resolution, you can have up to four apps open at once. Changing Default Apps Naturally, Microsoft would love for you to use its native apps (Internet Explorer, Xbox Music, and so forth) for all your tasks, but if you have a preference for a certain Web browser, email client or mapping app, Windows 8.1 will allow you to set them as your default. To do so, open the Charms menu, select Settings, and then Change PC Settings. Next, click on Search and Apps, and choose Defaults at the bottom of the list. Here you can select which apps you would like to use for Web browsing, email, music, video, photos, calendar and maps. Turn a Website Into an Xbox Music Playlist I thought I’d end with a fun one. Windows 8.1 offers a pretty nifty feature that allows you to create a playlist in Microsoft’s music app, Xbox Music, based on a website. Yes, you read right — a website. Just visit any page that talks about music or musicians (for example, I went to hip-hop site Okayplayer.com), open the Charms menu, select Share, and then Music. After a couple of minutes, you’ll see a playlist created based on artists or songs mentioned on the website. Give the playlist a name and tap Create Playlist, and the next time you open Xbox Music, you’ll find it saved under the playlist section. Windows 8.1 might still have some fundamental problems — it’s still very much geared for touch devices, and the number of Windows 8 apps needs to grow — but the update brings some nice improvements. And if you plan on continuing to live in a Windows world, you will need to learn the new OS at some point, so you might as well start now. Thanks for explaining how to use the new-style Intel Inside sticker to find a laptop with the latest Intel chip. But what if I’m shopping online, where they usually don’t show the sticker? A: Besides the sticker, there are two ways to tell if the PC or Mac you are considering has the latest Intel Core processor, which boosts battery life. One is to look for the words “Fourth Generation” or “4th gen” or even “Haswell” (the chip’s code name) in the description of the processor. The other is to check what Intel calls the processor number, which follows the chip’s name, to make sure it starts with the number 4. One example might be Intel Core i5 — 4300M. Q: Apple’s iTunes Genius feature is getting on my nerves, because, when I sync my device, it takes up time syncing “Genius data.” What does Genius do and how can I turn it off? A: Genius is a free, optional feature that can create mixes or playlists based on songs in your music library. The data that is synced is used to update the playlist-creation algorithms about changes to your library. If you don’t use Genius or like it, you can turn it off by going to iTunes on your computer, selecting the Store menu, and clicking on “Turn Off Genius.” Note: These menu items won’t be available if you use iTunes Match, a separate, paid service that stores your music in the cloud. Q: I need a new laptop and I want Windows, but I don’t want to get one with Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. Is it still possible to buy a laptop with Windows 7? A: Yes. They are getting scarcer, but you can find them at both stores and online. I saw a few in a Micro Center chain store about 10 days ago. Checking on the chain’s website, I see more, from $350 to over $1,000. But many listings indicate a limited number remain in stock. I’m referring, of course, to Mavericks OS X, the new operating system for Mac computers. It’s Apple’s 10th OS X operating system and it’s the first one in many years without a large-feline moniker, named instead after famously formidable surfing waves off the coast of California. More notably, Mavericks — or OS X 10.9 — is free for Mac users to download. In fact, there’s a lot of free software being thrown out there by Apple. (The hardware will still cost you plenty.) Since the OS is a free upgrade, this column is not about whether the upgrade is “worth it.” Instead, I’ve focused on a handful of key features that consumers can expect with Mavericks. Some of them are useful. Others feel obvious, because, in some cases, Apple is playing catch-up. To start, Apple said that Mavericks will only run on machines from 2009 and later, though it might work on some computers from as far back as 2007. You’ll also need at least two gigabytes of RAM, and two hours of your time to complete the Mavericks install process. In my experience, the installation on my 2012, 13-inch MacBook Pro took closer to two and a half hours. Battery Optimization Okay, you’ve installed Mavericks. Now what? Well, Apple claims you can expect better battery life while Web browsing or watching an iTunes movie. At a launch event last week, the company used words like “timer coalescing” and “compressed memory,” which is enough to make any non-techie’s head hurt. Basically, this means that the new software groups tasks together so the processor can remain in an idle, low-power state more often. I ran three battery tests using AllThingsD’s usual method, which includes setting the display to 100 percent brightness, playing iTunes music on a loop, leaving Wi-Fi on, running a Mail client, and never allowing the computer to sleep. My 2012 MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion lasted five hours and 13 minutes. Then I installed Mavericks, and started again. This time it lasted five hours and 20 minutes – not much of a difference, but then again, I wasn’t really taxing the computer. A brand-new MacBook Pro with Intel’s Haswell chip and the Mavericks OS, however, lasted for seven hours and 13 minutes. So it was the combination of new hardware and new software that gave the more impressive results. Finder Tabs and Tags This is one of those features that seems small and obvious, and yet the organizational freak in me is still happy that Apple has added it. You can now create tabs within the Finder window, and share files by dragging them to the desired Finder tab, instead of cluttering your desktop with multiple juxtaposed Finder windows. You can also assign colors and tags, or keywords, to folders and files to make them inherently more searchable. Shared Links in Safari Improvements to the Safari browser are also small but welcome. There is now a sidebar on the left-hand side of the browser that displays three tabs: Bookmarks (not new), Reading List (also not new, but improved), and Shared Links. A sidebar on the left-hand side of the Safari browser now shows links from the people you follow on Twitter and LinkedIn. If you link your Twitter account through System Preferences, tweets with links will appear under the Shared Links tab in Safari. It can also show links from the people you follow on LinkedIn. If you click on those links, the relevant tweet or story will immediately appear in the Safari browser. Scrolling down will show you the previously shared story in your Shared Links list, and the one before that, and so on. And you can retweet from Shared Links. I’d like this feature more if it were a real-time Twitter feed; as it is now, the Shared Links feed in Safari is designed to be refreshed manually, not automatically, so you have to hit Command+R to see new links. I do like the more noticeable Reading List, though, which works online or offline, and can be accessed from mobile, as well. iCloud KeyChain ICloud Keychain is basically a password manager that also saves your credit card information. So, it suggested multi-character passwords to me as I was creating accounts on websites like Pottery Barn and ModCloth, and asked if I wanted to save those passwords within Safari. (On Sephora.com, however, I was told that passwords wouldn’t be saved because of a request by Sephora.) The credit card info you normally type in can be saved in Safari, as well, and accessed on your iOS 7 iPad or iPhone. It’s the first time Apple is storing your credit card info at this level of the online buying process, and they say that it’s secure and can’t be viewed by Apple. Mavericks now lets you fully expand apps on a secondary screen, while still running Finder, a browser or other apps on the main screen. Gilt is one of Apple’s early partners with this, so I logged in to Gilt, opted into notifications through Mavericks, and shopped. With my first purchase, I still had to fill out my personal billing and shipping information on the Web. But then I was asked through a drop-down in Safari if I wanted Safari to save my credit card information for use with other websites. With my next purchase, I shopped from my desktop, then later on picked up my iPhone, opened the Gilt app, and through a one-step checkout, completed the purchase on that device. Multiple Displays Before, you could easily hook up and “mirror” a Mac computer to an external display. But everything on the device of origin — the dock, apps and open windows — would just appear on another screen. Now, Mavericks offers multiple viewing options from the same machine. I was able to create extra desktop real estate — and not just mirror my computer desktop screen — on my TV, using Apple TV. On my laptop, I still had my dock, my email and a finder window. Then, on the TV, I was running PowerPoint or Final Cut Pro, and could view that application in full screen. This will also work on a standard secondary computer monitor. Apple Maps on a Mavericks desktop lets you send directions directly from the desktop to an iPhone, provided it’s running iOS 7. There are some other new items to consider with Mavericks. Apple is now offering new versions of its iWork and iLife apps for free, provided that you’ve purchased a brand-new device as of Sept. 1, or you were an existing owner of the apps. Apple is touting features like cloud collaboration through Pages in iWork, but this is pretty belated, since Microsoft and Google already offer cloud collaboration through their apps. Pages, Keynote and Numbers are also more intuitive and consumer-friendly, but some power users are complaining that legacy features are missing. Mavericks also includes a desktop Maps app, which Apple has never done before. This allows you to search for directions on the desktop and, with the click of a share button, send them immediately to your iPhone (which has to be running iOS 7). This isn’t a new idea, however: Google has offered consumers the ability to send directions from its Chrome browser to Android phones for a while now. The OS isn’t without its early glitches. Some Mavericks users have said they’re experiencing problems with the desktop Mail client, and that their Gmail isn’t loading through the app. Others are encountering problems with “smart” mailboxes — like one that collects all unread messages across multiple accounts. Apple plans to issue a software update for this, the company said. Mavericks isn’t as monumental an upgrade as its name might suggest, but overall it brings some welcome additions. Assuming that Apple fixes the Mail problems, I see no reason not to ride the wave. ]]>http://allthingsd.com/20131028/five-key-features-of-mavericks-apples-new-operating-system-for-macs/feed/0Microsoft Q1 Unveiled Today, but Don't Expect an October Surprise for New CEO (See You in December)http://allthingsd.com/20131024/microsoft-q1-unveiled-today-but-dont-expect-an-october-surprise-for-new-ceo-see-you-in-december/ http://allthingsd.com/20131024/microsoft-q1-unveiled-today-but-dont-expect-an-october-surprise-for-new-ceo-see-you-in-december/#commentsThu, 24 Oct 2013 17:30:14 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=368007 As AllThingsD and others have previously reported, the selection of a new leader to replace outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer is likely to take at least until the end of the year. While that could change, of course, a number of candidates — from an outsider like Ford CEO Alan Mulally to an insider such as Tony Bates — are still being considered and vetted. And that’s why it’s going to be hard to know exactly what direction the company will actually take in the coming year, beyond Ballmer’s refocusing its strategy around “One Microsoft” and the devices-and-services meme. But that doesn’t mean there will not be a lot to talk about, including upcoming releases such as a new Surface tablet, changes to its Windows operating system and the launch of the Xbox One. The upcoming products follow a time of massive change at Microsoft, including the Ballmer reorg and departure news, and also the $7 billion acquisition of Nokia’s phone-and-devices business to bolster Windows Phone’s fight to survive in a mobile world dominated by Apple and Google. Also important to watch in Microsoft’s report will be any news of how it is doing with its enterprise efforts, including the move of its products and services to the cloud. That, too, will be an issue for the new CEO, as well as the fate of its search advertising partnership with Yahoo, how to stop losing money in its online services division, and what its future holds as PC use continues its decline in the home and workplace. Come to think of it: Who’s crazy enough to take the top job? Until we know more, here’s what Wall Street analysts expect in Q1 from the Redmond, Wash., company: Earnings of 54 cents per share on revenue of $17.8 billion, which compares to 53 cents on revenue of $16 billion in the same period a year ago. One good piece of news: Microsoft’s stock is up about 30 percent so far this year. Apple at its fall event today focused primarily on new operating-system features geared toward the power user, like extended battery life, compressed memory and integrated graphics. But it the new OS, called Mavericks, is also free. It’s available in a single-step update, even for Macs from 2007. It launches today. Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, walked through some of the new features of the operating system, which is the 10th in Apple’s OS X history, and the first of the lot that doesn’t have a “big cat” name. Mavericks OS X 10.9 has, among other features: Finder tabs, allowing users to draw all finder windows together in tabs or drag content across tabs. The finder window can go full-screen now, too. Tagging, so you can add tag words like “important” or “work” or “personal,” when you save documents and other files in Mac. This is supposed to make search better, too. Multiple displays. You can get at your menus across multiple displays, and when you take a window full-screen on one display, it doesn’t “mess with your other displays.” Really, we saw most of these already at Apple’s developer conference this past June. But Federighi went a little more in-depth this time, showing the improved display and categorization of Finder windows, tagged documents, and features like shared links and reader view in Safari, meant to improve the news-reading experience. Did I mention that it’s free? This is all part of Apple’s master plan of using software and apps to, well, sell more hardware. “Apple has gone all in on the ‘integrated hardware/software’ product strategy,” says Carl Howe, consumer research analyst at Yankee Group. “The company always has, but now the business model is fully committed.” Apple’s previous operating system, Mountain Lion OS X, was the best-selling Mac OS release of all time, according to Apple, with 28 million copies shipped. As of June, 35 percent of Mac users were using the latest version of the OS, Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the time. (You crazy early adopters, you.) ]]>http://allthingsd.com/20131022/apples-new-mavericks-os-x-free-thats-right-free/feed/0Valve Unveils Its SteamOS "Cooperating System"http://allthingsd.com/20130923/valve-unveils-its-steamos-cooperating-system/ http://allthingsd.com/20130923/valve-unveils-its-steamos-cooperating-system/#commentsMon, 23 Sep 2013 17:41:23 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=360269Valve is expected to make a trio of big announcements about its PC gaming platform Steam this week, and Monday brought the first. Moments ago, the company uncrated SteamOS, a gaming operating system and a bold play for the living room. Built on Linux, SteamOS extends Steam’s game-distribution platform to the TV, with a feature set intended to support that — in-home streaming and some not-yet-announced media service partnerships that will add video and music streaming to the OS, as well. Valve is touting it as an open, collaborative OS, a “cooperating system.” “Steam is not a one-way content broadcast channel, it’s a collaborative many-to-many entertainment platform, in which each participant is a multiplier of the experience for everyone else,” the company explained. “With SteamOS, ‘openness’ means that the hardware industry can iterate in the living room at a much faster pace than they’ve been able to. Content creators can connect directly to their customers. Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want. Gamers are empowered to join in the creation of the games they love. SteamOS will continue to evolve, but will remain an environment designed to foster these kinds of innovation.” An interesting approach to living-room gaming, certainly very different from the ones taken by proprietary console platforms like Xbox and PlayStation. Valve plans to make SteamOS available as a free download for users and as a freely licensable OS for manufacturers interested in developing living-room gaming machines around it, though it hasn’t yet announced a hard date for that. According to sources close to the situation, Flipboard has raised $50 million in new funding, in a round led by Rizvi Traverse Management and Goldman Sachs. The new funding puts the valuation of the Silicon Valley startup that makes the popular social reading service at $800 million, said sources. Flipboard declined to comment on any recent fundraising, which I have been tracking for some time, after I heard that big private equity firms were sniffing around the deal. Rizvi, a multibillion-dollar investment fund which is run by under-the-radar Suhail Rizvi, has investments in Twitter, Facebook and, most recently, Square. In addition, sources said, current investors, including venture firms Kleiner Perkins and Index Ventures, are also participating, while Insight Venture Partners is taking an even larger stake in Flipboard. Co-founded by longtime entrepreneur Mike McCue and former Apple iPhone engineer Evan Doll in 2010, Flipboard has been attempting to make online content consumption more accessible and, perhaps most importantly, visually arresting, via its rich app. It pulls information from media feeds and social sites, such as Twitter and Facebook data streams, and then reassembles it in an easy-to-navigate, personalized format in a mobile — and now a desktop — touchscreen environment. Over the last several years, Flipboard has evolved quickly to add more features, such as a recent one that allows users and publishers to create their own online “magazines” of favorite content. McCue recently said that three million such magazines have been created. For example, Random House said last week that it will be making two such custom digital magazines for fans of the writers George R.R. Martin and Margaret Atwood, his on his popular “Song of Ice and Fire” books, and hers on her new novel, “MaddAdam.” After starting on the Apple iOS platform, Flipboard has also created apps for more devices, and also for the Google Android mobile operating system. It is likely to also develop an app for Microsoft’s Windows Phone. Flipboard has a myriad of competitors, including Google’s Currents, as well as smaller mostly media-focused reading apps like Zite, Circa and others. But Flipboard is the most high-profile and popular, with McCue saying recently that it has 85 million users. Its revenue is derived from advertising splits with publishers for ads it places on Flipboard pages, although it is not clear how lucrative that business is as yet. Apple brings out a new top-of-the-line iPhone model every year, but a redesign only every other year. In the intervening cycles, the company tends to keep the phone’s exterior the same, but changes the innards and the software. This is one of those in-between years, but the new iPhone 5s has a potentially game-changing hardware feature and a radically new operating system. The iPhone 5s’s reliable, easy Touch ID. The iPhone 5s is the first digital device I’ve seen with a simple, reliable fingerprint reader — one you can confidently use, without a thought, to unlock the device instead of typing in a passcode. You can even use this fingerprint reader, called Touch ID, to authorize purchases from Apple’s App, iTunes and e-book stores. It sounds like a gimmick, but it’s a real advance, the biggest step ever in biometric authentication for everyday devices. After using Touch ID, I found it annoying to go back to typing in passcodes on my older iPhone. The new iPhone 5s, which starts at $199 with a two-year contract and goes on sale for all major carriers on Friday, has a beefier processor that Apple says can double its performance. And it has a better camera. Then there’s the new operating system on this phone, called iOS 7. Its new look, new user interface and new functions represent the biggest overhaul to the iPhone’s core software since the original model launched in 2007. Nearly everything has been improved, including multi-tasking, notifications, access to common controls, email, Web browsing and Siri. Like any big change, it’s a shock at first, but I have come to like it and consider it a step forward, despite a few issues. The new iOS 7 won’t just be limited to the 5s, or Apple’s other new iPhone, the $99 iPhone 5c. It’ll be a free, optional download starting on Wednesday for many older model iPhones and iPads. After a week of testing the iPhone 5s, I like it and can recommend it for anyone looking for a premium, advanced smartphone. If you are an iPhone fan with any model older than the iPhone 5, the new 5s will be a big step up. If you own an iPhone 5, there’s less of a case for upgrading, unless you want the fingerprint reader and improved camera. You can get the new OS free of charge. iOS 7 has simpler-looking icons. Hardware The Touch ID fingerprint sensor is built into the iPhone’s familiar, round Home button. To use it, you must first set up a passcode as a backup and then go through a brief training session for each finger you want to use. There have been laptops and at least one other phone with fingerprint sensors, but they have generally been unreliable and people tended to stop using them. Apple is using a different technology that turns the Home button (which still performs its usual functions) into a rapid, accurate finger scanner. A steel ring around the button detects your finger and then a sensor scans it. This sensor can identify your finger even if it’s off-center or when the phone is in any position. It looks beneath the outer layer of skin, a capability Apple says means it won’t work with dead tissue, such as a severed finger or a plastic fingerprint imprint — favorite security workarounds seen in the movies. The detection process only takes a second or two. In my scores of tests, with three fingers, the reader never failed me and none of the 20 or so people I asked to test it was able to unlock the phone. If a finger match fails three times, the phone offers you a chance to type in your passcode instead. After five failures, it requires the passcode. Apple says the odds another person’s finger would work are 1 in 50,000, versus 1 in 10,000 for breaking a four-digit passcode. There is one bug in the system: Sometimes, while trying to use a finger to authenticate an online purchase, the phone asks for a password. Apple says it expects to fix this bug very quickly. The iPhone 5s boasts something called a 64-bit processor, which means the system can process data in bigger chunks, and thus much faster. But I didn’t notice any dramatic speed improvement, partly because few apps have yet to be rewritten to take advantage of it. The new camera is still 8 megapixels, but has a bigger sensor that allows for larger pixels that can capture more light and color information. It has a lens that lets in more light and a flash that allows for warmer tones in low light. All my pictures were slightly sharper than on the iPhone 5 and low-light pictures were much less washed out by the flash. The camera app has been improved, with a new burst mode that takes many shots quickly and then picks the best ones, and a slow-motion video feature that lets you choose parts of an action sequence to slow down. It worked seamlessly. Voice calls were excellent, even over Bluetooth in a car. I didn’t do a formal battery test, but the iPhone 5s lasted a full workday, including one day where it still had 15 percent of battery left after 14 hours. iOS 7 gives an overview of your day, such as weather and schedule. Operating System There are too many new features in iOS 7 to list here, but it’s a big improvement. The icons have been redesigned to be flatter and simpler, but they appear to float over your wallpaper, giving the effect of depth. Many elements are translucent, subtly changing shades to match the wallpaper color. The fonts are sharper, finer and more delicate. Buttons and controls are thinner and lighter and, in the browser, they disappear or shrink to make a little more room for content. Overall, the effect is to make the 4-inch screen seem larger. Any app now can be set to update in the background, though the system learns the ones you use most often and updates them intelligently to save battery. The phone now shows you thumbnails of every running app and you can quit any of them by just flicking upward, as in Palm’s now-dead WebOS operating system. The browser shows a stack of open tabs. The notification panel, which pulls down from the top, now gives you an overview of your day, including weather and schedule. And, taking a page from Android, the iPhone now has a quick-settings Control Center that pulls up from the bottom to control Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, music, brightness and other features. It even can turn on a flashlight function. The browser gives you a handsome graphical view of open tabs and the email program now downloads thousands of messages at once, letting you mark them all as read with a few clicks. I found Siri to be more accurate and useful. It now has an almost human voice and can glean answers from Bing, Twitter and Wikipedia. The photos app now automatically groups your camera roll by time and place. You can send photos with one tap to other iOS users nearby. In iTunes, there’s now a Pandora-like radio feature. My biggest disappointment is that there have been only minor improvements to the keyboard. Unlike in Android, Apple still bars you from substituting third-party keyboards with better auto-correction. The company says this is due to security worries. Overall, however, the new iPhone 5s is a delight. Its hardware and software make it the best smartphone on the market. “First, let’s begin with the name,” said Hugo Barra to me, in his first extended interview since he was named new head of global for Xiaomi a little over two weeks ago. “Think of ‘show me,’ and then pronounce the first word as if it was ‘shower.'” Barra’s last day at Google as head of product management at its key Android mobile unit was in September, but he’s already enthusiastically trying to get the rest of the world to know a lot more about the upstart phone maker that has been called the “Apple of China,” but that has hopes to be more compared to Google or Amazon in the future. It is now Barra’s job to help make that happen, armed with a pile of Xiaomi phones he whips out to demo at a moment’s notice. His departure was a big moment for both the tech giant and Barra, who has been there since 2008, as well as for Xiaomi. Barra is its first major non-Chinese hire, as it seeks to expand beyond its root in a bid to become a globally recognized player. Hiring Barra — who had become one of the more public faces of Android — was its most high-profile step so far. He was the exec that Google chose to show off the recent Nexus 7, and has been a key lieutenant to both former Android chief Andy Rubin and the recently named head, Sundar Pichai. Now he is poised to take over all of global expansion for Xiaomi, which currently only builds Android phones for the Chinese market, using an innovative strategy of making high-spec smartphones at low-spec smartphone prices. Unfortunately for Barra, the news came out at the same time a personal controversy at Google became public. A Googler he had recently ended a relationship with is now seeing the company’s co-founder, Sergey Brin, who has split with his wife. While Barra declined to talk about that thorny situation and its unfortunate timing, he did give more details on his Google exit, which he underscored had been long planned, with talks with Xiaomi that were ongoing for more than a year. In fact, the seeds of it began much further back, almost from when Barra came to Google after spending more than four years at voice leader Nuance. When he was hired to work on Google’s mobile effort, then run by Vic Gundotra, Barra worked in its Europe office, part of a worldwide effort. “We had teams all over, but every quarter we had this thing called the mobile leadership summit, where we did project reviews and strategy sessions,” recalled Barra. “Coincidentally, on my second day at Google, I was on a plane flying to Beijing, where we were having that particular quarter’s meeting.” It was there that he met Xiaomi president Bin Lin, who then ran engineering for Google’s mobile unit in China. It was the start of a working relationship that then was developed over years. Then Googlers — Bin Lin, Vic Gundotra and Barra in China several years ago. At the end of 2010, Barra moved to the Android team at Google’s Mountain View, Calif., HQ, working for Rubin. And by then Lin had left Google and started Xiaomi with some key Google engineers and product managers. “Because I was a member of the Android team, I had a keen interest in what they were doing,” said Barra. “And what they were doing was pretty phenomenal.” What the upstart was focused on was creating another new flavor of Android, as many others had. But, said Barra, “even though it was a fork, it was a fully compatible fork.” Intrigued by the level of quality and innovation, Barra said, “I always visited them in Beijing. And then they started making phones and I started bringing back phones with me to show them off at Google.” He was even more interested when Android design head Matias Duarte told him he thought Xiaomi had done one of the best jobs of anyone extending the Android platform. “It was a distinctively important moment for me,” Barra remembered. “Matias’s opinion really mattered a lot, and it was a big signal they were doing something right, and a pretty significant vote of confidence.” Also key was a close friend and well-known investor in China, Robin Chan. He was an early Xiaomi investor, too, and ended up being the person who helped start the conversation between the company and Barra to consider going there. Talks started in the summer of 2012, just as Xiaomi was getting traction with a major release of its second phone, the Mi2s. “At first, their questions were, ‘How do you think we should go about expanding internationally?’ And that evolved into, ‘Maybe you should come help us,'” recalled Barra. What was most compelling to Barra was that Lin wanted a product person to lead Xiaomi’s global expansion. “I am not the business guy, but he wanted someone with deep user insight to lead that effort,” said Barra. Xiaomi Mi2s smartphones The informal talks went on for about six months, and heated up early this year. While Barra claims he was happy at Google, the opportunity in China seemed more ripe with possibility. “To me, right away, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, truly a dream job, this idea of building a global company which could be as significant as Google, from the ground up,” said Barra. “It was just something that I will never come across, with a team whom I know, with a company that has DNA similar to my own and, on top of that, to live in Asia for at least some period of time.” Barra decided it was time to tell Google, which had just replaced Rubin with Pichai. “I really wanted it to be an open and transparent discussion in the interests of all parties involved,” said Barra. “And, for Xiaomi, Google is the most important partner it has.” Perhaps even more important for Google, though, was to make sure that there were strong Android players in the Chinese market, especially after setbacks at HTC and a more Wild West situation for the mobile operating system there. Having an insider like Barra at the up-and-coming Xiaomi, in fact, might not be such a bad thing. “It was an interesting three-way conversation,” he said. “But, I think it came down to, if you’re going to lose someone from the team, you might as well lose them to a friend.” In any case, by then Barra was nearly out the door, waiting until Nexus 7 had landed and Android’s latest version, Kit Kat, was out the door, too. “This was another level for me, so I did not really have to think about it a lot,” he said. “Now I have to learn how to run a real business, operationally standing it up on its legs.” That business is a hard-charging and highly competitive one, born from a group of eight founders, all of whom are still in key positions at the company. That includes Lin and, of course, its high-profile CEO and star Chinese entrepreneur Lei Jun. Barra said that Jun’s focus on three parts of the mobile ecosystem — hardware, software and services, which he has dubbed a “triathlon” — at the same time has been a key part of Xiaomi’s success. “They are a company building hardware like it was software,” said Barra. “It’s about small teams, really scrappy, that iterate, iterate, iterate.” Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Barra and Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun onstage in Beijing at launch of Mi3 and Xiaomi TV last week. Jun told Barra to think about it like kung fu. “In kung fu, Lei Jun told me that speed defines everything,” he said. “So the team focuses on building the highest performance, but as quickly as possible.” So far, that has worked very well, with Xiaomi selling seven million devices last year; it is expected to sell 20 million this year, and is profitable on about $4 billion in projected 2013 revenue. It is now valued at $10 billion. That kind of increase, of course, means there’s a need to develop strong relationships with suppliers to get parts, while also offering consumers a differential. That’s done at Xiaomi in a number of ways, said Barra, from offering users a way to design their phones anyway they like via themes, to sending designers and engineers around the country to watch how the phones are used by customers, to listening more carefully to their feedback. “The defining characteristic of Xiaomi is that in its DNA is a focus on users,” he said. “Every question, every piece of feedback, gets a response, and a significant number of new features were suggested by customers.” The goal, said Barra, is to wow them with a quality product at low prices, and then get them to use Xiaomi as an even more robust operating system for their digital life. “There is no question the phone business is very low margin today, but they want to get to a place where they can sell the device at cost and then sell high-margin services to make that phone experience even better,” said Barra. That’s easier said than done, especially as Xiaomi moves into more markets. While he would not get into specifics about what products he hopes to first move abroad, that’s why Barra said he would be focused on more rapidly developing ones first. “I think that’s the sweet spot for Xiaomi — places like India, Russia, Indonesia, Latin America, Thailand,” he said. “It’s where the equation of quality and affordability works, because it’s in those markets you can replicate what the company has done in China.” Still, Barra knows that Xiaomi has to also rate in the “trend-setting countries,” like the U.S. and Europe. In other words, it is a big world out there to conquer, one Barra is keen to take on. “The aspiration for the founders is that Xiaomi will become a global company that happens to be in China,” he said. “If I do my job right, in a few years, the world will be talking about Xiaomi in the same way that they talk about Google and Apple today.” But, first things first. Barra starts in October, though he appeared onstage with Jun at the launch of its Mi3 and Xiaomi TV last week in Beijing. He’ll be moving full-time to the Chinese capital soon. To prepare, Barra is just starting to learn Chinese, a task he already finds daunting. “The four tones are hard to learn,” he said. “It’s going to be a challenge.” ]]>http://allthingsd.com/20130912/exclusive-hugo-barra-talks-about-his-future-at-xiaomi-and-why-he-left-google/feed/0Let’s Call the Samsung Galaxy Mega “Phablet” What It Should Be: A Tablethttp://allthingsd.com/20130909/lets-call-the-samsung-galaxy-mega-phablet-what-it-should-be-a-tablet/ http://allthingsd.com/20130909/lets-call-the-samsung-galaxy-mega-phablet-what-it-should-be-a-tablet/#commentsMon, 09 Sep 2013 13:00:17 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=356577The new Samsung Galaxy Mega smartphone isn’t just a phone. It also doubles as a Frisbee, a George Foreman grill, a car battery and a flying saucer. I kid, I kid. But really: The Mega is big. It measures 6.6 inches by 3.5 inches by 0.3 inch, weighs just over seven ounces, and has a 6.3-inch display. For comparison’s sake, the iPhone 5 is 4.87 inches by 2.31 inches by .30-inch, and weighs just under four ounces. The Mega is currently available in the U.S. for $150 with a two-year contract through AT&T. While Sprint and U.S. Cellular are confirmed carrier partners, they’re not offering the phone just yet. The Mega is also being rolled out in other countries, including Europe and Russia. I’ve been using the Android-based, LTE-compatible Galaxy Mega for the past week, carrying the mostly plastic phone with me everywhere. I will be somewhat relieved when the flatbed truck arrives next week to pick it up and transport it back to Samsung. In all seriousness, it’s just too large for a phone. It is nearly the size of my face. It felt awkward in the hand. I couldn’t carry it with me while walking, jogging, or bike riding, without bringing a purse or backpack. People I interacted with in passing — a woman at a coffee shop, a man at a mattress store — couldn’t help but comment on how big it is. (It can also be used as a mattress pad.) A few colleagues joked that anyone holding it immediately appears as though they’ve lost weight. It could be said large phones are coming into vogue. They are sleeker and better overall than they were in the days of the Dell Streak, which AllThingsD’s Walt Mossberg likened to holding a piece of toast up to the face. Ever since Samsung effectively launched the “phablet” category — a style of phone so large it’s like a small tablet — with the release of its first, 5.8-inch Galaxy Note smartphone in 2011, others have hopped on board. There are the LG G2, the Huawei Ascend Mate and the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, to name a few other giants. Apple has been reported to be working on a larger iPhone. Samsung has even introduced phablets of varying sizes: The good-looking Note II measures a solid six inches by three inches, and the just-announced Note III will have an even larger display. So, why the 6.6-inch Mega? Samsung says it is meant to be an “ideal hybrid handset for those who want to experience smartphone portability with the immersive experience of a tablet.” I liked the Mega when I was using as just that: A tablet. In those instances, it didn’t seem so cumbersome. I read books and watched videos on it before bed, while getting a haircut and while sitting at a cafe. I checked email on it, and browsed through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds. Basically, I liked it when I used it as I would my iPad mini or Kindle Fire tablet, which measure 7.9 inches and 7.0 inches, respectively. Let’s say the Mega hybrid does appeal to you as a smartphone. It’s still pretty midrange, lacking some of the key features of its Note sibling. I’ll focus on its good features first. To start, at $150 with a two-year plan, it is half the price of the Note II through the same carrier. The LG G2 is $200 down with a two-year contract. So the Mega could be considered a bargain phablet. Its battery life is good. It got me through nearly two full days of use, with the phone’s power saver turned off and the display set to about 75 percent of full brightness. It offers some of the same software features as its Samsung sibs, such as S Voice voice commands, S Translator and Air View, which lets you hover your finger over emails to read the text without actually opening it. It also has a TV-controlling app called WatchOn that utilizes the phone’s built-in infrared blaster (the Samsung Galaxy S4 has this, too). I was able to change the channels on the TV in my hotel room using the Mega. Also, the Mega gives great sound, which was especially useful when I was using it as a portable navigation device in the car. And call quality was good. At least people on the other end of the call can’t see how ridiculous you look with the phone against your face. The large screen, for me, meant fewer fat-finger incidents when I was writing emails and sending text messages. Now for the parts that make this a midrange phone: Its 1280 by 720p HD LCD display isn’t quite as brilliant as other premium smartphones out there. For many people this won’t be noticeable, but when you hold it up next to a really nice display you can see the difference. It has a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, and the phone feels sluggish at times. It’s running on Google Android 4.2.2, which is fine, but it’s not the newest version of the operating system. While it has some interesting software, it doesn’t have all of Samsung’s bewildering array of add-on apps, and it doesn’t work with a stylus the way the Note smartphones do. Its camera specs are essentially the same as in earlier Samsung models — an eight-megapixel rear camera and a 1.9-MP front camera — though it does have a variety of shooting modes, geo-tagging and face-tag options in photos, as well as “album view” in the phone’s photo gallery. Lastly, and most importantly, there’s just the feel of it. It’s difficult to operate with just one hand. It certainly didn’t fit in my pockets, and when I asked two men with regular-fitting jeans to try it out, it stuck out the top of their pockets, too. It’s hard not to feel, as you’re holding it up to your ear, like you’ve somehow been transported back to the early days of cellular phones, when the phones dwarfed people’s faces. Samsung is throwing a variety of shapes and sizes out there right now to attempt to satisfy every consumer. The Mega feels like an experiment. As a smartphone, it’s hard to see where it fits — literally and otherwise. Well, it only cost $7.17 billion, but Microsoft now has a pretty obvious candidate to lead the company as soon as CEO Steve Ballmer vacates the seat he said he would leave within the year: Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. But it seems clear that the acquisition puts the former president of Microsoft’s business division in the front of the line to take over the software giant, ahead of several internal candidates and a whole lot of external ones. In fact, Elop is both external and internal. While Elop has critics who say he did not fix Nokia or much of anything else in his long career in tech, others are likely to point to a pedigree that would also make him the favorite here (and at British bookmaker Ladbrokes already). This will doubtlessly be much-debated over the next weeks and months, as the CEO process moves to its conclusion. But, unless co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates decides to bust a move — and he will not — it looks like this race is Elop’s to lose at this moment. That could certainly change, as we learn more about Elop’s qualifications. I met Elop almost five years ago and was struck by the fact that he was the only exec at the company at the time who would publicly talk about how the software giant had gotten the “open” religion and was becoming “the most interoperable company in the world.” At the time, I wrote: “I am still not sure about Microsoft, but one thing’s for sure: Elop has turned out to be one of the most interoperable of tech execs.” Along with his stint running that powerful franchise at Microsoft, he had been COO of Juniper Networks and CEO of Macromedia, which was acquired under his tenure by Adobe. His jump to the Finland telecom giant was a big one, given how far Nokia’s star had fallen in the mobile market, with the fast growth of the Apple iPhone and the Google Android mobile operating system. He’s had a roller-coaster ride since then, of course, including knitting himself to Microsoft in a major partnership, and trying to turn Nokia’s fortunes around. It has been rocky, to say the least, as he has yet to bring the company back to any kind of healthy health. While he did not start the fire, of course, selling to Microsoft is perhaps the move of someone who knew that it was an unwinnable battle without bigger hoses of money, talent and more. Did I mention that Elop also has five kids — including triplets? But why don’t you listen to him instead? Here’s a video interview I did with him in 2009, when he was at Microsoft: And here is a cool video Elop ordered up — although it was dreamed up by others — while at Microsoft, as part of an “Envisioning” series, which sketched out a world of smartphones, touchscreens everywhere, and a whole lot of innovative interacting: ]]>http://allthingsd.com/20130902/stephen-elop-is-now-microsoft-ceo-candidate-to-beat/feed/0Why HTC is Making a Mobile Operating Systemhttp://allthingsd.com/20130828/why-htc-is-making-a-mobile-operating-system/ http://allthingsd.com/20130828/why-htc-is-making-a-mobile-operating-system/#commentsWed, 28 Aug 2013 14:05:36 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=354238Making a smartphone operating system is a lot of fuss. There’s a lot of work involved, and for anyone who’s not Apple Inc., there’s no guarantee that it will actually convince anyone to buy your phone over a standard Android one. HTC was the No. 1 brand of smartphone in the U.S. in 2010; now it’s not even in the top three. So why is Taiwan’s HTC Corp.making an in-house operating system specifically for Chinese consumers? There’s a lot of reasons, but few have much to do strictly with supply and demand. Yahoo is just starting the analyst call of its Q2 earnings, which were pretty lackluster. But CEO Marissa Mayer, who is awfully good at this kind of thing, has ginned up the excitement nonetheless, deciding to now broadcast the event live over the Internet via video, rather than over a more typical audio link. 2:01 pm: Woah! Although I have been watching television since Richard Nixon was president, this video earnings call idea is pretty cool. Why has it not been done before? (It will be done again next week, as Netflix CEO Reed Hasting grabs his 15 minutes.) Thus, as soon as the legal disclaimer was over, it was Mayer and CFO Ken Goldman sitting at a news desk, in a sort of “Good Afternoon, Yahoo!” situation. Because it is not exactly pertinent to comment on how anyone looks, I decided to not do so — except to say that Goldman was sporting a very nice oxford shirt. Mayer’s first words were delivered a bit stiffly, but she was doing okay pretty quickly on reading the prepared script and trying to make it seem fresh. In Silicon Valley, she is a well-known over-preparer and, clearly, she has done that here. She showed off some slides about how the company is growing its page views, pointing to mobile growth as the key driver. That is in contrast to recent stats from comScore, which does not reflect the claimed mobile growth, but does tell a story of declining Web usage at some key Yahoo properties over the last year. Mayer then began to reel off the various accomplishments she has notched since she got to the troubled Internet giant last July. From lots of acquisitions (mobile team up by a factor of six, she said) to better employee morale to attracting more entrepreneurial talent, Mayer called it a “super-charged Yahoo.” Sounds like the company on muscle enhancers, which was her point, I think. “As I hit my first-year anniversary, it is clear we are into our second sprint,” said Mayer, mixing the metaphors. 2:14 pm: Now it was over to Goldman, who apparently did not like to look at the red light on the camera, even if his life depended on it. He reeled off a lot of numbers, noting that the balance sheet at Yahoo is strong, with $4.8 billion in cash and securities. A lot of what Goldman was going over had already been in the press release, but it was nice to see him actually read it off. That is, until he got to the revenue slide for the company. It was not impressive in any way, showing a decided lack of growth all over the place. Goldman said that Yahoo was trying to make a “meaningful” attempt to fix that. “We have a lot of confidence in our business, but that has yet to translate into revenue growth,” he also added, pointing out the very obvious. He still looked a little pained, but seemed to rally with the search slide, even as he was trying to figure out a way to not insult the company’s partnership with Microsoft in the area. Number of paid clicks was up nicely, 21 percent, although price per click was down eight percent. Still, it was a whole lot better than display. “Our display business was challenged,” said Goldman, with another obviously obvious observation. 2:23 pm: For example: Price per ad was down, number of ads sold was down (“just two percent,” said Goldman, as if this could possibly be a good thing). It looks like international revenue is part of the problem, down across the world. The Americas market was up. Goldman continued on without any affect whatsoever, except for his pronounced New England accent, which is kind of what I want in a CFO. I will be honest: Goldman’s number-rattling soon started to wear on me, so I briefly considered switching over to watch “House of Cards” on Netflix. Kevin Spacey could make “non-GAAP operating income” seem exciting — of this, I am sure. 2:29 pm: It was soon back to Mayer, who was now going for a more serious tone and look. She showed off her “chain reaction of growth” slide again that is apparently a virtuous circle of fantastic (if it works, that is). Then, she moved into the specifics. She said she wanted Yahoo search to be better, but graded her mobile progress to be an “A.” Can you grade yourself? Yes, you can, if you are CEO with an exclusive earnings show on Yahoo Finance. “Yahoo’s future is mobile,” she then said. Then, quick as a wink, it was onto display, which has become the ugly ducking at Yahoo, downgraded from its former status as a swan. “We have to do a much better job here,” said Mayer. Again: Obvi! Onto video — Mayer really had a knack of keeping things moving — which she said was also important. Blogging site Tumblr was also a highlight, she said, but was unspecific, except to throw in trendy phrases like “native ads.” 2:34 pm: Finally, it was onto Q&A. Suddenly, we have lost video! I am bereft as this is the heh-heh part of the show, where Wall Street analysts show just how tethered they are to the company execs’ good will and not investors’ best interests. Wait, it’s back. Phew! Mayer suddenly became much more interactive and comfortable onscreen, answering the first question about video looking a lot like a professional pundit. (I was just noticing the giant Yahoo mug next to her, which riveted me for no good reason, except for its freakishly enormous size.) The next question was on the guidance, which Yahoo had lowered earlier. The questioner wanted to know more, as well as how the company was going to monetize the next pile of money coming soon from Yahoo’s Alibaba Group asset with minimal tax impact. Mayer noted that Tumblr, whose non-revenue will be non-included in the next quarter, will not matter to growth as yet. Non-revenue-producing companies bought for $1 billion usually do not. Goldman then noted that he has the best tax minds looking into how to get that mountain of money from China to Yahoo without Uncle Sam getting too much of a taste. The next questioner wanted some explanation about the depressing display fall off. Mayer said she was working on it. She clearly knew she cannot change the results and did not try to, although shaking her head in understanding did make it feel better. At this point, I decide that this video thing was genius, although I suspect there are very few CEOs who will be able to pull this off. It’s kind of like “Network,” but for geeks. 2:43 pm: Onto a question about Microsoft, as well as if there have been any benefits from Yahoo’s sales reorg under Henrique De Castro, who has got to be feeling the pressure due to the display disaster. Goldman did not bite on Microsoft, which other Yahoos have done in the past. Mayer said the vertical set-up for advertising sales was better and “typical across industries.” The next question was about M&A and its revenue potential. As most know, Yahoo has been on a tear in that department, buying 16 companies over the last year. Mayer called them mostly “tuck-in acquisitions,” done for hiring talent more than anything else. Tumblr is, she noted, strategic, which is different. She promised more of the small purchases, which means it was time to cue the cheering on Sand Hill Road among the VC set, who can now continue to bail out of some of their kookier investments. Another question on new ad formats, which evoked not much of an answer by Mayer. But Goldman was now starting to feel good on video and noted that “we, as a team, are very, very focused on our original expectations for this year.” 2:51 pm: The questions continued and I suddenly wished that we could see video of the Wall Street analysts, too. It be like a reality show — “Real Stockpickers of Wall Street.” This reverie prevented me from paying mind to a question about some technical ad issue. Finally, a good question came about breaking down the stats Mayer briefly showed off on page views. Let’s be clear, Mayer has been deft since she got to Yahoo about presenting the data that she wants rather than what others want and also what might be helpful to grokking what is happening inside Yahoo. Thus, no deets for anyone, except to say it’s all going up! Then another decent query about whether Yahoo should be more deeply embedded with mobile leaders. Unlike Google and Apple, Yahoo does not have a smartphone platform or operating system, but Mayer said she had no partnerships to announce today. Next, a content question about what maximizes the value of Yahoo. Mayer noted she was on the side of content partnerships, rather than Yahoo making its own original programming, a debate that has gone on at the company since the dawn of time. A video sales question. I was flagging here. Where is Kevin Spacey when you need him!?! Also, that Yahoo mug seems to have grown larger as the earnings cavalcade of details has continued. Could it have hurt to have a giant purple Yahoo exclamation point dance across the stage at this point? Next, a question about Tumblr and the immersive search experience. Mayer, who is a search expert from her time as an exec at Google, went all wonk here, reeling off numbers. But changes to improve Yahoo’s declining business here is not baked yet, she concluded. Mayer, who never lacks for aggressively cute gimmicks, finally closed by doing the Summly version of the Q2 report, as she had in a previous quarter. But, if truth be told, her hour-long show was much more entertaining. “We hope you have enjoyed our video presentation,” said Mayer, delivering the line like a pro. Unfortunately, Goldman was not paying attention to the last cue, but quickly piped up, after a sharp sideways glance from his boss, like a digital update of Ed McMahon. Hiyo, if you will, for the Internet age. ]]>http://allthingsd.com/20130716/liveblogging-yahoo-q2-earnings-now-in-living-color/feed/0With Windows 8.1, Microsoft Makes Some Asked-For Fixeshttp://allthingsd.com/20130626/with-windows-8-1-microsoft-makes-some-fixes/ http://allthingsd.com/20130626/with-windows-8-1-microsoft-makes-some-fixes/#commentsWed, 26 Jun 2013 16:00:19 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=336809Microsoft’s Build developer conference officially kicks off today in San Francisco, with CEO Steve Ballmer delivering the keynote address. Much of the three-day event will focus on courting developers and explaining how they fit into a new world that has seen Microsoft go from a software company to a software and hardware company. But another big part of Build will be the release of a preview version of Windows 8.1. Launched eight months ago, support for Windows 8, both on the consumer and the developer side, hasn’t exactly been strong. But Microsoft is looking to address some of the early criticisms of its overhauled operating system with Windows 8.1. I got a chance to see what’s in the works at a media event yesterday. Below, you’ll find five of the major features that are coming to Windows 8.1, which will be released later this year. You can also check out the gallery of Windows 8.1 screenshots at the end of this post to see what else is new. If you like what you see or can’t wait till then, you can download Windows 8.1 Preview now from the Windows Store. Start Screen With Windows 8.1, Microsoft is giving users a lot more say in how they customize their Start and Lock screens. For one, you can now decide which apps you want pinned to the Start screen. With Windows 8, whenever you downloaded a new app, it was automatically pinned to your Start screen, which isn’t ideal since some apps are less important than others. Now, Windows 8.1 installs them directly to the Apps page, where you can pick which ones to pin to the Start screen. You can select multiple apps at once, and choose if you want them displayed as a small or big tile. Windows 8.1 also offers support for animated background images. This reminded me of the live wallpapers on Android smartphones, and is more of a vanity feature than anything. Perhaps more useful is the fact that the Lock screen can now display images from your own photo library. One other thing about the Lock screen: You can now activate the camera and accept incoming Skype video calls directly from Lock screen without having to unlock it first and launch the appropriate app. Finally — and this should bring a smile to all those who miss the old Windows — Microsoft has added the Start button back to desktop screen. It doesn’t offer exactly the same functionality of the Start button you might be used to, but it does give you access to features like search, control panel, task manager and the ability to shut down or restart your computer. You can also boot directly to desktop view, the Start screen, Apps screen or a specific app. Smart Search According to Microsoft, more than 20 billion searches are conducted on PCs in the U.S. every month. This includes Web searches, file searches and people searching within apps, so in redesigning the search function, the company wanted to create something that could do it all. Now when you look up something using the Smart Search function, it brings up what Microsoft calls a search hero. This page brings together Web results from Bing, information about the entity, deep links within apps on the PC, related searches, results within the Windows Store and more all in one place. Jensen Harris, Microsoft’s director of program management for the Windows user experience, demoed the function by looking up the term “San Francisco,” and Smart Search returned with a myriad of resources, including websites (along with previews of the page), maps and weather information. Tapping on the weather automatically launched the weather app, which showed an animated view of the current conditions and upcoming forecast. A single swipe to the left returns you to the search result page. In another example, a search for Beyonce brought up a link to her bio (via Wikipedia), news articles and a list of her top songs, with the ability to stream tracks from Xbox Music with a single tap. Xbox Music Speaking of Xbox Music, it is now organized around your music collection in Windows 8.1. Before, it was organized around helping you discover new music. “While that’s important, we thought it would probably be better if you could just play your music in two clicks instead of six clicks,” said Harris. “So, it’s been vastly redesigned to make it easy to play the music you care about.” The app also includes a new Radio feature where you can create a new artist station and listen to their music, with no need for a subscription or Xbox Music pass. Multitasking and Windowing One of the problems with Windows 8 is that the apps weren’t optimized for all screen sizes, something Harris readily admitted. “It is true that Windows 8 modern apps were not a good match for large screens,” he said. “We designed Windows 8 and modern apps for 10-, 11-, 12-inch screens, but a 27-inch screen is just only being able to see one thing at a time, which is not the most productive way of doing things.” With Windows 8.1, Microsoft has made improvements for better multitasking and more robust windowing. You can now open up to four apps on the screen at once (previously, you could have two windows side by side). The number will depend on the resolution of your screen, but at least now you have the ability to resize each window any way you want. You can also have one app automatically open another app side by side. So, for example, if you are reading an email with photo attachments, you can click on the file to open the image viewer in the right pane while still being able to see the message on the left. New Windows Store Last but not least, the Windows Store gets a major redesign. With Windows 8, much of the information about the apps sat behind tabs, so Microsoft has flattened the layout: Now you can see all the details up front. It also allows for better app discovery with new apps located front and center, and recommended apps based on what you’ve downloaded and searched for. ]]>http://allthingsd.com/20130626/with-windows-8-1-microsoft-makes-some-fixes/feed/0Thomas Penfield Jackson, Judge in Microsoft Antitrust Case, Dead at 76http://allthingsd.com/20130616/thomas-penfield-jackson-judge-in-microsoft-antitrust-case-dead-at-76/ http://allthingsd.com/20130616/thomas-penfield-jackson-judge-in-microsoft-antitrust-case-dead-at-76/#commentsSun, 16 Jun 2013 20:42:57 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=332858Thomas Penfield Jackson, the federal judge who in 2000 branded software giant Microsoft a predatory monopolist that should be split in two, only to see his ruling reversed on appeal, has died of cancer complications at the age of 76, according to an obituary in the New York Times. An appeals court set aside his ruling in part because of interviews he gave to journalists in which he explained his views. Microsoft later settled the case and the government decided not to seek the company’s breakup. ]]>http://allthingsd.com/20130616/thomas-penfield-jackson-judge-in-microsoft-antitrust-case-dead-at-76/feed/0Will Waze Be Facebook's Next Instagram?http://allthingsd.com/20130509/is-facebook-attempting-another-instragram-in-its-acquisition-effort-of-traffic-app-waze/ http://allthingsd.com/20130509/is-facebook-attempting-another-instragram-in-its-acquisition-effort-of-traffic-app-waze/#commentsThu, 09 May 2013 18:48:57 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=319991 As has been widely reported and according to sources we have confirmed it with, Facebook is indeed in serious talks to buy Waze for $1 billion, the social traffic application that helps drivers navigate the road with crowdsourced traffic information. While no deal has been struck as yet, these sources said, the discussions are advanced and closely resemble the social networking giant’s lightning-fast purchase of Instagram a year ago. The similarities do not stop there. The price is the same and is a mix of cash and stock, said sources. In addition, as Facebook has done with Instagram, Waze will be allowed to operate relatively independently within the company if the deal is struck. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently praised the purchase of Instagram, which has grown to more than 100 million active users in a short time span. More importantly, it has been a critical perceptual part of Facebook’s effort to distinguish itself in the mobile space and has added a highly engaged audience to its audience. The news of the Waze acquisition interest by Facebook was first reported by Israel’s Calcalist. The Israeli-based company has been the subject of numerous rumors of acquisition, including by Apple and Google, neither of which seems to have panned out. Not so here and the main question now: Why would Facebook buy a mapping company? It’s not that much of a surprise, actually. The digital industry has moved its focus to mobile over the past few years, as users are increasingly accessing sites through their smartphones instead of desktop sites. As of Facebook’s last earnings, more than 750 million people visit Facebook via mobile device on a monthly basis. After intense investor worry over its lack of mobile strategy caused a huge drop in its stock, Facebook quickly shifted to the idea that it needed to own the mobile experience. First, as has been reported by AllThingsD.com previously, that was going to be a proper phone. Then, abandoning that effort, the company mulled creating its own operating system. Finally, it settled on Home, essentially a Facebook-ified version of the Google Android mobile operating system that can be downloaded to run on many Android-enabled phones. Clearly, Facebook has wanted to own the mobile experience without doing the intense work and uphill fighting of creating its own hardware or building an operating system from the ground up, both of which would struggle for marketshare, just like RIM’s BlackBerry or Microsoft’s Windows Phone. But as we’ve seen with Google and, most recently, with Apple’s iPhone, if you want to truly own a mobile operating system, you’ve got to own the maps. Why? Well, it’s an endless treasure trove of continuously updated data directly from your users, including their locations, their habits, their preferred businesses and their travel destinations. It’s why Apple snipped off Google Maps and switched its users over to its own mapping product, despite some problems with its software. And it’s why Google spent the past decade building up its maps to lead the industry. To avoid getting left out, Waze, in particular, makes a certain amount of sense for a Facebook buy. For years, Facebook has yammered on and on about “social from the ground up” — you can’t just build apps and services and then slap a social layer on top and then just call them social. The network, Facebook argues, doesn’t work like that. Waze is a perfect example of social from the ground up. From the beginning, the app has relied on not only the passive input of traffic and location data from its users, but the active contribution of data like accidents, police traps and more. In other words, Waze is based on social contributions for the greater good of others using the app. Talk about something Facebook would be into, even at the high cost of one billion dollars. But that’s something the company is used to pulling the trigger on. It outbid Twitter for Instagram almost one year ago, in a deal that was closed over the course of a weekend. While Zuckerberg had spent a lot of time creating a relationship with its co-founder Kevin Systrom, in that instance he showed the inclination and the power to grab for what he wants and very quickly. Facebook declined to comment, with a spokesperson saying: “We don’t comment on rumors and speculation.” According to sources close to the situation, well-known tech exec Jon Rubinstein will be joining the board of Qualcomm, the San Diego-based chipmaker that has gotten a big boost of late for its role in the explosion of mobile devices. Rubinstein is an interesting and logical choice for Qualcomm, having been a high-profile player for a long time in the mobile space, beginning with his work on the iPod while at Apple. After he left his last job at Hewlett-Packard last year, though, he has been very low-key. (Update: Qualcomm confirmed the appointment in a press release.) For Qualcomm, the selection of Rubinstein to join the board is something to watch, as he is the second exec from Silicon Valley to be tapped by the company recently. In March, Qualcomm hired tech investor Laurie Yoler as SVP of business development, making her “responsible for augmenting existing business relationships in Silicon Valley, as well as developing new strategic business opportunities for Qualcomm in the region.” Rubinstein has even more experience here and is also familiar with a range of mobile efforts over the years, some of which were successful and others not so much, from his work at Apple, Palm and then HP. He is also a board member of Amazon. Aside from CEO and Chairman Paul Jacobs, Rubinstein — who has degrees in electrical engineering and computer science — will be the most technically experienced director on the 11-person board. Qualcomm declined to comment. Here’s a nice primer on Rubinstein by Arik Hesseldahl, in a report on his leaving HP early last year: Best known for his work on Apple’s iconic iPod music player, Rubinstein left Apple in 2006 and joined Roger McNamee as a partner in the private equity firm Elevation Partners, following its 2007 investments in Palm. In 2009 he replaced longtime Palm executive Ed Colligan as its CEO, and oversaw a dramatic restructuring of the company’s products, including a significant rebuild of its smartphone operating system. Gone was the legacy PalmOS that had been used in so many popular devices like the Treo that for a time competed seriously against Research In Motion’s BlackBerry. PalmOS was replaced by WebOS, which first appeared on the Pre smartphone, then later on the Pixi and Veer devices. After HP acquired Palm, WebOS was also used on the abandoned TouchPad tablet, and is now an open-source operating system overseen by HP. Rubinstein’s departure is no big surprise. Sources said he hadn’t been seen at HP’s offices following the decision by former CEO Léo Apotheker to get out of the business of making WebOS-based hardware. His future plans have been the subject of speculation for some time. After HP decided to exit the WebOS hardware business, Rubinstein was assigned to a vaguely described “product innovation role” within HP’s Personal Systems Group during a management shakeup last July. It was an unusual move and one made with little explanation at the time. But sources say it was a preface to Rubinstein’s departure, one intended to lessen its PR impact when he finally left. “That ‘innovation’ gig he was given in July was his first step toward the exit,” said one source, a former Palm exec with close ties to Rubinstein. There’s no picture of the moment when everything changed for Kevin Systrom. But if there were, it would look something like this: A lanky, very tall, dark-haired man in his late 20s sits on a bench at the Caltrain commuter station in Palo Alto, Calif. A sepia tone and weathered patina might underscore the mood of weighty contemplation. It was early April of last year, and Systrom was waiting for his business partner, Mike Krieger, to arrive from San Francisco. Systrom had just left Mark Zuckerberg’s nearby house and was still digesting the offer that the Facebook founder and CEO had made him: To buy Instagram, the photo-sharing app that Systrom and Krieger had launched just 18 months before. The price Zuckerberg offered was $1 billion — $300 million in cash and the rest in Facebook stock, an especially generous-seeming deal on the eve of his company’s much-anticipated initial public offering. The offer was even more impressive given Instagram’s size and age. At the time, it had just 13 employees, operating out of a cramped space in the South Park section of San Francisco. Still, the small crew had managed to attract 30 million Apple iPhone users in just a year and a half by offering a service that allowed a person to quickly upload, prettify through the use of filters and publish images to the Web for friends to see. A version for Google’s Android mobile operating system had launched the week before, attracting another million users in a single day. What’s more, although the app generated no revenue, it had attracted so much attention from venture capitalists that the startup had nearly closed an impressive new round of funding at a wildly high valuation of $500 million. Zuckerberg had just doubled that, leaving Systrom with a lot to think about on that train-station bench. Click. If there ever was a money shot to take for Instagram and Systrom, that was it. (Photo by Jonas Fredwall Karlsson, used with permission by Vanity Fair) Last week, I motored on down to Evernote’s spanking (and quite delightful) new offices in Redwood City, Calif., to talk to Phil Libin, its CEO and co-founder, about what has been happening of late at the popular note-taking software startup. Things have recently been made more interesting with the entry of search giant Google into the sector, with a renewed competing mobile app effort called Keep (which is really a version of its older Notebook offering) for the Android mobile operating system. Libin seemed sanguine about the move, noting that Evernote’s Android app has a much better user base than Keep. Instead, he said that the company — which has attracted about $250 million in total funding that has valued it at close to $2 billion — is more focused on bringing out new versions of Evernote, which allow a user to save text, Web links, photos and more, as well as on continuing to widen its productivity-app portfolio. Also a priority is a recently launched premium, business-oriented version of Evernote, as well as even more international expansion, which makes up an increasingly large part of its user base of 45 million (a small number of whom currently pay to upgrade). Libin talked about all this and more, including continuing to tout his “100-year” strategy for the company (it’s good to plan ahead!) in this video interview: ]]>http://allthingsd.com/20130410/evernotes-phil-libin-talks-about-global-expansion-google-incursion-and-more-video/feed/0Viking's Vision for a Cellphone-Free Futurehttp://allthingsd.com/20130226/vikings-vision-for-a-cellphone-free-future/ http://allthingsd.com/20130226/vikings-vision-for-a-cellphone-free-future/#commentsTue, 26 Feb 2013 16:05:47 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=298405A lot of people have their eyes on Google Glass. But Google isn’t the only company working on augmented-reality wearable glasses. An Osaka, Japan-based company called Brilliant Service has developed a new operating system dubbed Viking, designed for use in glasses. The company’s goal is to completely replace the cellphone. Built using Objective-C programming language, the OS offers only basic functions right now (phone, navigation), but will include most of the features found on smartphones today, and then some. The company also plans to open up Viking to developers, so they can write apps for the OS. Brilliant Service showed off a prototype of Viking at Mobile World Congress, and I gave it a try to see what the future might look like. To be clear, the company is only providing the software, not the hardware. It’s currently looking for OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partners to make the actual glasses. As such, the device I tried on was basically a mini computer soldered onto glasses. It was extremely heavy and kept slipping off my face, not to mention nearly burning my forehead. Brilliant Service director Erika Kang assured me that the final product will be a much more elegant device. So, back to the demo. After donning the glasses and being instructed to look down at the floor, a map appeared right at my feet, along with a compass to show which direction I was walking in. Looking up at the ceiling brought up a navigation menu, where I could then reach out in front of the glasses with my hand to select an app. Viking creates a crude outline of your hand and fingers, so you can track your movements and see where you’re tapping. I selected a drawing app from the menu, and I moved my hand around to paint a picture. To exit the app, I swiped my hand down. I also tried the phone app. When there was an incoming call, a telephone icon appeared, and by making the telephone sign (or shaka sign), it transferred the call to a Bluetooth headset. To hang up, I used the same gesture. King said these gestures is what makes Viking different from Google Glass. But while they worked just fine, I can’t imagine waving my hands in front of me like a crazy person just to use my phone. The company plans to add voice recognition in the future, so you can simply dictate commands. It also envisions features like a virtual keyboard where you can look down at a desk and start typing. Also on the radar is a translation function where you can look at a person speaking a foreign language and see translated text right above their head. Viking has only been in development for about a month. There’s no specific time frame of when (or if) we might see Viking-powered glasses on the streets, or how much they’ll cost. But King said the goal is to offer them at a consumer-friendly price. There is a new smartphone coming to market, running on a new operating system. It’s an all-touch device — with no physical navigation controls and no physical keyboard — and serves as a platform for third-party apps. It’s meant to compete in a world defined by Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android phones. It’s a BlackBerry, reinvented from the ground up. This model, called the Z10, and its operating system, called BB10, are bet-the-company moves by BlackBerry maker Research In Motion. RIM has seen its once-dominant position in the market shrivel away, especially in the U.S., since the iPhone appeared in 2007. It has tried a couple of times to drop its famous physical keyboards for touchscreens, but those projects failed, partly because the old BlackBerry operating system was primarily designed to handle corporate email and was a poor platform for app developers. The BlackBerry Z10 comes in black and white and looks very different from past BlackBerrys. Now, RIM is hoping that BB10 can change all that, so much so it’s changing its name to BlackBerry. The new OS, which is the most important part of the product, isn’t an evolution of the old BlackBerry platform. It is a clean break. Its user interface is so different that it will seem foreign to longtime BlackBerry users. And the first phone to use it, the Z10, looks much more like its rivals than like traditional BlackBerrys. I’ve been testing the Z10 for about a week and decided to approach it as a new entry from a new company, because it is so different from past BlackBerrys. Overall, it worked fine in my tests, but I found it a work in progress. I liked some things a lot, including the way BlackBerry has designed its new virtual keyboard and camera, and the way it gathers all your messages into a single Hub. But it will launch with just a fraction of the apps available from its competitors, and is missing some very popular titles. It also lacks its own cloud-based ecosystem for storing and sharing files, like Apple’s iCloud or Google Drive. And there are other missing or lagging features. Fervent BlackBerry fans might shun the Z10 for its lack of a physical keyboard, while fervent iPhone and Android fans might shun it for its small selection of apps and lack of native cloud services. BlackBerry is formally announcing the Z10 and BB10 this week and it will go on sale in some countries almost immediately. In the U.S., all four major carriers are expected to sell the phone, for $199, according to BlackBerry, but the company estimates it won’t be available until March. A second BB10 phone, the Q10, due in April, may be an easier transition for BlackBerry addicts, since it will have a physical keyboard. But BlackBerry sees typing on glass as its future and will be emphasizing the touch model. Hardware The Z10 is basically a chunky plastic slab, midway in size and weight between the tall, slim iPhone 5 and the bigger, wider crop of new Android models. I found it felt good in the hand. Its high-resolution 4.2-inch screen is a bit bigger than the iPhone’s 4-inch display, though much smaller than many newer Android screens, which are creeping toward 5 inches. The rear camera is the same eight megapixels as on the iPhone and Android models like Google’s flagship Nexus 4. It comes in black and white, and has only one memory configuration — 16 gigabytes (the base on the iPhone) — but the memory can be expanded by up to 32 more gigabytes using a removable card. Unlike many phones today, it has a removable battery. User Interface The Z10’s virtual keyboard is fast and easy to use, partly because of its predictive typing. You unlock the phone by swiping up from the bottom border. The phone displays the last screen you were on. A similar swipe from any screen will take you to the home position, which displays minimized versions of up to eight apps currently running, with each displayed as a large rectangle showing some information from the app, such as weather or appointments. These are called Active Frames. From there, swiping to the left takes you through screens of app icons, similar to those on Apple and Android phones. Swiping from the bottom minimizes any open app into an Active Frame. I found these gestures easy to use and remember. BlackBerry Hub Although it isn’t technically the home screen, BlackBerry expects most users to spend most of their time in the device’s unified inbox, called BlackBerry Hub. To reach the Hub, you swipe right from the display of running apps, or, if you’re on any other screen, you swipe up and to the right in a curved gesture from the bottom border — that one takes a little practice. The Hub contains emails from all the accounts you’ve set up on the phone, as well as text messages, messages from the company’s BlackBerry Messenger service, and even updates from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Unlike on older BlackBerrys, there aren’t separate icons for various email accounts; they are visible only via the Hub. But you can swipe right from the Hub to see each account and view only its contents. If you swipe down while in the Hub, you see upcoming calendar events. Keyboard The Z10 keyboard is the best and fastest out-of-the-box virtual keyboard I’ve used. Master BlackBerry thumb typists might not find it as fast as the traditional physical keyboard, but, for a one-finger typist like me, it was faster and more accurate than either the native keyboards on the iPhone or Android. This is partly because it features predictive typing. It displays words that are likely to come next right above the rows of letters, and lets you flick these words upward into the text you’re composing. It learns what mistakes you typically make in hitting letters, and adjusts. And it learns words and abbreviations you frequently use, even proper names. Apps BlackBerry claims it will have 70,000 apps at launch. Others are promised shortly afterward. That sounds like a lot, but Apple is approaching 800,000 and Android has over 700,000. BlackBerry’s app store, called BlackBerry World, includes—or will soon include — some common and standard apps, such as Facebook, Twitter, Angry Birds, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Major League Baseball. But at launch, it will be missing Instagram, Pandora, Spotify, NPR, Google Maps and Netflix, among many others. Work and Personal If you use a corporate network controlled by an IT department, and want to keep your work and personal apps separate, BB10 has a simple way to do it. You just swipe down and press a button called “Personal” or “Work” and the apps, and even the background, change. However, email and calendar entries are still intermingled. Camera, Voice and Battery Life The camera has a cool feature called TimeShift that allows you to adjust individual faces in a group shot to get different views of them — say, smiling instead of frowning — by capturing additional images just before or after the snapshot. Voice calls were excellent. I didn’t do a formal battery test, but in my moderate to heavy use of the phone, I found it didn’t last as long on a charge as the iPhone 5, and began to get pretty low by late afternoon. It would last some people an entire day, but not everyone. Browser I found the browser adequate, but noticeably slower than the standard Apple and Android browser, even on a fast Wi-Fi network. However, unlike on many phones today, the browser supports Adobe Flash on some pages, if you manually enable it. Data Speeds The Z10 is capable of using LTE networks, the most consistently speedy available. But on my test unit, which was running on AT&T, I could never achieve download speeds of more than a paltry two megabits per second, even though the phone said it was on LTE, which typically sports download speeds of 15, 20 or even more Mbps. BlackBerry had no explanation for this anomaly. Video Chats In BB10, BlackBerry has added a video-chat feature similar to Apple’s FaceTime. In my tests, this worked well. Cloud Unlike Android or Apple devices, BB10 has no built-in cloud system for syncing or storing photos or other data. BlackBerry says that the third-party cloud app Box, which is mainly used by corporate customers, can do some automatic syncing, but it says it plans to work on its own system over time. Other Downsides There is no native ability to print from the Z10. And in some cases, I found that common controls required too many steps. For instance, to quickly get to the top or bottom of a long list of messages in the Hub — something the old BlackBerry did with ease — you have to go to the menu. BlackBerry says it is working on making that quicker. Bottom Line The Z10 and BB10 represent a radical reinvention of the BlackBerry. The hardware is decent and the user interface is logical and generally easy to use. I believe it has a chance of getting BlackBerry back into the game, if the company can attract a lot more apps. A comparison table of the BlackBerry Z10 with its competition in the smartphone marketplace. ]]>http://allthingsd.com/20130130/blackberry-reinvents-itself-to-compete-with-all-touch-smartphones/feed/0iPhone Users Rack Up the Highest Carrier Billshttp://allthingsd.com/20130130/wireless_bills_by_os_android_ios/ http://allthingsd.com/20130130/wireless_bills_by_os_android_ios/#commentsWed, 30 Jan 2013 12:01:35 +0000http://allthingsd.com/?p=289942The iPhone may command a higher carrier subsidy than its typical Android rival. It may eat into operators’ profit margins when sales volumes spike after the debut of a new model. But it also generates more in carrier fees than any other smartphone. According to new data shared with AllThingsD by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), the average monthly carrier bill of the typical iPhone user is the highest in the smartphone market. IPhone owners spend more on wireless fees than owners of any other handset, be they Android, BlackBerry or Windows Phone. Almost 60 percent of the iPhone users CIRP polled during October-December 2012 spent more than $100 per month on their wireless plan, with 10 percent spending $200 or more. Just 6 percent spent $50 or less; for Android users in that category, the percentage was double. And only 53 percent of Android users fell into the “over $100 per month” category, with 7 percent landing in the “over $200 per month” category. Not vast differences, but significant — particularly when carriers like AT&T and Verizon are activating millions of smartphones per quarter. Why do iPhone customers spend more? “We think it has to do with their data plans and carriers, rather than their usage habits,” CIRP co-founder Michael Levin explained. “They are all on expensive data plans, unlike Android users, some of which are on prepaid or unsubsidized plans with regional carriers.” That said, just because iPhone users on average spend more on their wireless plans doesn’t necessarily mean that the carriers are making more money. “Given the subsidies on iPhones, the carriers are working hard to make their money back during the course of the contract,” said CIRP’s Josh Levitz. “With the exception of perhaps the hottest Android phones, we think the subsidies on Android phones are lower, so the carriers make more money even with slightly lower per-subscriber revenue.” Incidentally, as part of this survey, CIRP also took a look at consumer retention by operating system and found that, in terms of smartphone stickiness, iOS and Android are the stickiest by far. For the survey period, the research house noted that 88 percent of the iPhone activations it charted were from prior iPhone users, while 64 percent of Android device activations were from prior Android owners. Just 7 percent of Blackberry users and 9 percent of Windows Phone users reported sticking with those operating systems. The former Microsoft exec turned gaming entrepreneur didn’t rent out a hotel ballroom or hire Big Bird or Maroon 5 to get the attention of the press. In fact, as far as we know, Valve’s only presence at the show was a small private booth for meetings, and an interview with The Verge. But since many covet Newell and his quirky company, when he speaks, everyone listens as if it were videogame gospel. Valve is popular for producing mega hits like Half-Life and the Portal game series. It also gets huge props for Steam, its consumer-focused PC games-distribution platform (referred to by the rest of us as an app store). This preamble is to help you better understand why it was a big deal when Newell said yesterday that Valve is building its own hardware that will essentially be a gaming and media hub for your whole house. This isn’t some half-baked Kickstarter idea. With an estimated valuation of $3 billion, and more than 50 million users (in comparison, Xbox Live has 40 million), Valve has the money, the distribution system and the clout to try something outrageous. And what Newell described to The Verge yesterday is a little out there. He confirmed that the company is building a “Steam Box,” which will be a game and entertainment server for the home that can be used by eight TVs and eight controllers at one time. For the average consumer who likes to stream Netflix to their TV, this will come off as pretty abstract stuff, especially when you hear more details. First, it’s going to be built on the Linux OS, which is not exactly mainstream. Second, if not done absolutely correctly, hooking it up to multiple TVs sounds like a networking nightmare. Third, Valve says it will be inventing new types of controllers “that use a lot of biometric data.” In July, Newell was interviewed onstage in Seattle, where he elaborated on this topic. He said touchscreens are “short-term,” and that your tongue is one of the best mechanical systems to your brain. “I don’t think tongue input will happen, but I do think we will have bands on our wrists, and you’ll be doing something with your hands, which are really expensive.” In other words, we’re talking really sci-fi stuff here. Generally, what’s interesting about Newell’s desire to build something on Linux is that he believes it is a hedge against Windows 8. Increasingly, operating systems have become locked down, where the OS maker, like Apple, owns the software distribution on the device, like the iPhone and the App Store. That’s happening on laptops and computers, as well, which is a threat to Steam. On multiple occasions, the former Microsoft executive has disclosed his disdain for the software giant’s new operating system. In the interview with The Verge, Newell put it bluntly: “Windows 8 was like this giant sadness. It just hurts everybody in the PC business … When I started using it I was like ‘oh my god …’ I find [Windows 8] unusable.” Newell can say pretty much whatever he wants. Valve is a privately held company with few or no investors, so there’s no pressure for a public offering or a sale. Clearly, if he wants to preannounce something, he will. In addition to laying out some of the Steam Box’s specs and confirming its existence, he also discussed pricing. The boxes, which will be built by partners in some cases, will have three tiers, he said. The low-end device will start at $99. A midrange device could cost around $300, and the high-end device could be even pricier. But when a Steam Box will be released remains a mystery. Presumably, to be competitive with the next generation of consoles from Microsoft and Sony, it would be expected around the end of this year. To get some feedback on what Valve’s plans mean, I asked Pete Hawley, co-founder and chief product officer of Red Robot Labs, what he thinks. Although he’s creating a location-based games platform today, he previously worked at PlayStation, and just a month ago told me during a conversation that he thinks Valve will win the next console war. “I think this news is huge,” he said. “Gabe and Valve are building something amazing here.” Hawley also said that while the experience Newell describes today sounds futuristic, he could easily imagine the box appealing to a wide audience, ranging from everyday users who want to stream movies through a browser to the most hardcore gamers. “The openness and ‘hackability’ is there for those core users that are more heavily engaged — the creators. I think you’ll see some users that absorb content, plugged into the TV like a traditional console,” Hawley said. “Others will run servers, create content, have their own store, push to multiple screens, etc., etc. I think its flexibility in that sense is really interesting.” One daunting challenge, which Newell acknowledged in the interview, was getting Steam’s current content to work on Linux. This summer, Newell mentioned wanting to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux. Valve will also have to work on a way to get the content to work with a game controller. Since most of the titles today run on PCs, they use a mouse and a keyboard. As Newell told The Verge, “the problem to solve is how to interact with a Web browser, how to get all the games to support controllers, and how to make it all seamless.” In the meantime, Valve has developed a feature called Big Picture, which allows you to connect Steam to your TV. Big Picture is designed to be used with a traditional game controller, but also supports a keyboard and mouse. Here’s Valve’s video explaining Big Picture, which may also provide a sense of how Steam Box will eventually work:

Transcript of "C:\fakepath\dilemma 7" 1. Dilemma 7<br />Terea McCarthy<br /> 2. Lorraine has discovered that Glenn has been shorting prescriptions. <br />Lorraine and Glenn are both registered pharmacists.<br />Glenn is Lorraine’s employer.<br />Lorraine confronts Glenn with the shortages and he admits he has been doing it for an extended time.<br />The Dilemma<br /> 3. Glenn attempts to justify his actions by explaining how it helps his pharmacy stay in business, decreases operating expenses and really does not hurt the patients.<br />Glenn only shorts the pill counts on maintenance type medications. Since most people miss a pill every now and then and get refills before they run out it really is not a big deal, and no one is really hurt.<br /> 4. Glenn has violated veracity and fidelity. He has been intentionally dishonest in his actions. Fidelity is defined as the quality of being faithful or loyal.<br />en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fidelity<br />The Pharmacists Code of Ethics is based on moral obligations and virtues, established to guide pharmacists in relationships with patients, health professionals and society. It was adopted in October 1994 by the American Pharmacists Association. <br /> Section I : “consider the pharmacist-patient relationship as a covenant, means that a pharmacist has obligations in response to the gift of trust received from society.” <br />Ethical Violations<br /> 5. Section IV: “A pharmacist acts with honesty and integrity in professional relationships. A pharmacist has a duty to tell the truth and to act with conviction of conscience.”<br />www.uspharmd.com/pharmacist/Pharmacist_Oath_and_Code_of_Ethics.html<br />Oath of a Pharmacist, paragraph 4, “I will maintain the highest principles of moral, ethical and legal conduct.” This is a sworn oath.<br />www.uspharmd.com/pharmacist/Pharmacist_Oath_and_Code_of_Ethics.html<br /> 6. Glenn has also committed fraud.<br />Fraud is defined in the broadest sense, as an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fraud<br />He admitted that he shorted the pills to help his private business, the pharmacy. This classifies as an intentional deception.<br /> 7. Pharmacy fraud has been discovered in many forms. Recycling and reusing pills that were returned from nursing homes and charging the whole price for a prescription that was only partially filled are two examples. Pharmacy fraud is extremely costly to individuals and the government.<br />Interestingly much of pharmacy fraud is reported by whistle blowers within the profession.<br />http://www.Pharmacyfraudwhisltleblowers.com<br /> 8. Lorraine can choose to remain silent about Glenn’s actions. She can recheck all the medications he fills and assure the patient receives the correct number of pills. She can probably do this for some time before Glenn realizes what is happening and confronts her about it and maybe even fires her. She would have done what she thought was best for the patients. She would have been attempting to protect Glenn as a pharmacist too.<br />Lorraine’s Actions<br /> 9. Lorraine can choose to terminate her employment with Glenn and remain silent. This would cause potential harm to the patient’s Glenn serves.<br />Lorraine can be confident and report Glenn to the Pharmacy Board. In reporting Glenn, Lorraine is acting in an ethical, moral manner. She is upholding the Pharmacist Code of Ethics and the Oath. She is also exhibiting veracity and beneficence towards her profession and her patients.<br />She may still lose her job, but not her license.<br />

Sim Bajwa is a sales assistant/admin assistant/writer living in Edinburgh. She graduated from Edinburgh Napier with an MA in Creative Writing in 2016. Her work has previously been featured in Fictionvale Magazine and Helios Quarterly, and will be part of 404 Ink’s upcoming Nasty Women collection. She is currently working on her first fantasy novel and learning to crochet. From afar, she shimmers. Her sari is pillar-box red, her bangles clink together every time she pushes hair over her shoulder or takes a sip of white wine. From where I’m sitting, her make up is flawless. Smoky eyes and a slick red pout. She laughs at something my cousin says, and it’s more of a cackle. My mother doesn’t know her, but still shoots her a disapproving scowl. “Shameless,” she mutters to my aunt. “Look at her. Drinking with the men.” My aunt shakes her head, taking another bite of her ras malai. “It’s God’s grace that father isn’t here to see this.” I tap my mother’s arm. She gives me a brief, questioning look, her attention on an aunty on the other side of the table. “I’m going to the loo,” I mutter. “Go on, then.” She turns back to the table. “Nanda said she lives alone. London. Moved out when she was a teenager.” Another aunty joins in. “It’s dangerous to let a girl have that much independence. They don’t like it when you say so, but…” I leave the chorus of tutting behind me, and manoeuvre past groups of people laughing, drinking, eating, chatting. The hallway and bar outside the reception room is busy, but not as loud. My ears buzz with the sudden absence of pounding, relentless bhangra. I avoid happy, drunken shouts of “hey!” and “Jas, over here, girl!” and push my way into the restroom. I don’t need to pee. I just need a few minutes alone, away from the noise and the heat of the party. Two girls stand in front of the mirror, fixing their hair. They ignore me as I escape into a stall. I lower the lid and sit, letting out a silent sigh as I tug off my painful heels. The girls whisper loud enough for me to hear. “So they’re waiting outside?” “They will be. Jake says they’re ten minutes away.” “What about your parents?” “I told them I was going home with you.” “Alright. Okay. As long as my dad doesn’t find out.” “Can you pass my phone?” A pause and then, “Your dad won’t know. It’s fine.” “Okay. But – ” Her friend laughed. “It’s going to be fine!” I hear the door open. The girls fall silent. A few seconds later, they leave. Their voices fade as they move away. When the stall next to mine locks shut, I get up, determined to leave before having to make awkward small talk. I wash my hands, letting cold water run over them until my skin is numb, putting off entering the hall again. The thought is exhausting. People will start dancing soon after they’ve eaten. I’ve been to enough weddings to know that if I don’t join in, I’ll be dragged from my seat and made to bob awkwardly on the dancefloor. But I’ll draw more attention sitting alone watching, than in the middle of the revelry. I still as the stall door opens and the woman comes out. The vivid, loud one. I meet her eyes in the mirror. “Is it okay from the back?” she asks me. She turns away, and looks at me from over her shoulder. “Uh…what?” “My sari.” She gives me a warm smile. “It’s not messed up at the back, is it?” The red silk falls perfectly over her curves. The sleeveless blouse is short and tight with metallic gold stitching, the hem barely an inch below her breasts. I shake my head, and immediately feel shy, knitting my fingers. “I like your suit,” she says, as she focuses the mirror. “Oh.” I touch the sequins sewn into the embroidery on the side of my blue kurta. It’s not as heavy as the suit my mother wanted me to wear, but it’s still pretty. “Thank you. I like your lipstick.” She beams at me and reaches into her beaded clutch. She pulls out a tube of red lipstick. “You can use it if you like.” She leaves it on the counter and peers at her reflection. She stretches her mouth wide, and with a long, green nail, traces her lip line, scratching away where her lipstick has bled. Then she turns her face to the side, then the other side, her gaze assessing. Her nose ring and bindi glint in the unforgiving white lights. She raises an eyebrow. “No to the lipstick?” I startle, embarrassed to be caught staring. “I…um, I don’t think so.” She shrugs. “Okay, then.” She drops it in her purse and then bends at the waist, letting the ends of her long hair hang inches from the floor. She pushes her fingers into the mass and fluffs it. When she straightens, her hair is in voluminous waves, sexily rumpled. She nods at her reflection. I’m fascinated. I’ve never done that. She shoots me a grin, sharp and brilliant. “Well, I’ll see you out there, yeah?” I nod and give her a small smile. There’s a strange, wondering feeling in my chest as she leaves. Shameless, my mother had said. Real, I think. Real and herself. I follow her out of the restroom and watch her make her way down the hallway. Her hips move with more grace than mine, and she doesn’t squeeze by groups of people like I do, making herself as small as she can. She takes up space. She just touches their elbows and smiles, and they move. She moves them out of the way. “Slag.” The ugly word comes from a boy leaning on the wall by my side. He smirks at his friend. “Fucking slag, innit.” I glance back where the woman disappeared. I think about her easy, generous warmth. I step to the side, and dig my sharp heel into his foot, letting all my weight fall on it. I widen my eyes at him in mock surprise as he gasps in pain, his hands fluttering close to my hips but not touching. He knows he can’t touch me here, not in front of everyone. “Sorry,” I offer flatly, as I step away. I hold myself straighter as I walk through the crowd. The instinct to hunch is still there, but I don’t let myself.

Rovers, Luc Chef Thierry Rautureau Returns for Chance to Be Top Chef Master Nope, you're not having déjà vu: Thierry Rautureau was indeed on Season 2 of Bravo's Top Chef Masters. And now comes a promo proving The Chef in the Hat is returning to compete on Season 4, which premieres July 25th. Rautureau, the chef/owner of Rover's and Luc, is the only cheftestant from the Northwest, and Chris Cosentino of San Francisco's Incanto is the only other West Coaster in the group. In other Top Chef news, rumors have been swirling for months about whether Season 10 of Top Chef will land in Seattle or Portland (it seems that the two cities are yet again in competition). I'll let you know when I hear anything more substantial, but do let us know in the comments if you've seen suspicious film crews around town.

Anoxeria nervosa essays Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by a fear of being fat, a distorted body image, radically reduced consumption of food, and emaciation. Read this psychology essay and over 88,000 other research documents anorexia nervosa anorexia nervosa is an illness that can control the mind anorexia nervosa is. Anorexia vs bulimia course descriptions faculty and staff model essays anorexia nervosa can stem from the inability to form attachments to others. We will write a custom essay sample on anorexia nervosa: research paper or any similar topic specifically for you hire writer. 1 the case study christine is a sixteen year old girl who has severely restricted her dietary intake she is currently forty nine kilograms and height 163cm her. Anorexia nervosa anorexia is an eating disorder that usually strikes women between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five an estimated one thousand females will die. Place an order for a custom essay, research paper on this or related subject there are many afflictions, which affect millions of individuals throughout the. Anorexia nervosa is a non-infectious disease anorexia nervosa or usually called anorexia is an eating disorder or loss of desire for food (appetite. Anorexia nervosa this research paper anorexia nervosa and other 63,000+ term papers, college essay examples and free essays are available now on reviewessayscom. Writing an essay on anorexia nervosa locate sources to use in your essay and our free citation generator to cite them in apa, mla, or chicago (latest versions. Anorexia nervosa essay examples 657 words | 3 pages anorexia nervosa is a disorder of self-starvation that has both physical and psychological consequences. Free essay: their case study provides a brief background of eating disorders and details regarding its prevalence followed by a case of a 28-year-old woman. Read this psychology essay and over 88,000 other research documents anorexia anorexia nervosa have you ever felt fat or self-conscious about the way you looked. Free anorexia nervosa papers, essays, and research papers. More medicine, anorexia essay topics anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric disorder characterized by an aversion to food and a resulting extreme loss of. Free essay: in addition to this, the dsm-iv text revised, states that in general, the average age of onset for anorexia nervosa in females occurs in mid to. Anorexia nervosa is a severe eating disorder that mainly affects teenage girls, however, it can affect men and women of all ages there are many factors th. Eating disorders term papers (paper 6756) on anorexia nervosa : anorexia nervosa anorexia nervosa is a mental illness in which a person has an intense fear of.

This common weed reverses your risk of heart disease – and it could be growing in your lawn It started its cultivation in India and Persia and spread to the rest of the world. Some cultures pluck it out and throw it away with leaf clippings and other weeds, while others cultivate it specifically to eat as food. Purslane is an aesthetically attractive weed with fleshy leaves and often yellow flowers, but its health benefits are even more desirable. Power-Packed Purslane Common in our yards but little known in the North American kitchen, purslane is both delicious and exceptionally nutritious. Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) — also known as duckweed, fatweed, pursley, pussley, verdolagas and wild portulaca — is the most frequently reported “weed” species in the world. It can grow anywhere that has at least a two-month growing season. Until recently, most research on purslane has focused on its eradication. A frequently overlooked approach to controlling this weed is to eat it! Purslane is so surprisingly tasty, North Carolina market gardener Patryk Battle says, “I have rarely had anybody not buy purslane after they’ve tried it.” Purslane is somewhat crunchy and has a slight lemony taste. Some people liken it to watercress or spinach, and it can substitute for spinach in many recipes. Young, raw leaves and stems are tender and are good in salads and sandwiches. They can also be lightly steamed or stir-fried. Purslane’s high level of pectin (known to lower cholesterol) thickens soups and stews. Battle also uses purslane in pesto. He throws basil and purslane (upper stems and all) into a blender or food processor, adds a small amount of olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and enough hot water to get a good consistency. Because it’s so juicy, purslane helps create a low-fat pesto without too much oil. Powerful Seeds Grow in Many Climates The seeds of purslane are so powerful they can stay viable inland for up to 40 years – and this is a natural crop – no GMO! It grows in a well-tended garden and in arid climates, often equally as well. This resilient plant poses similar benefits for our immune systems and overall health. Often called pigweed (and it certainly would be better for your pigs than some of the GMO grain many farmers have been using to feed their livestock), Purslane has more beneficial Omega 3 fatty acids than many fish oils! The weed also has one of the highest levels of vitamin A among all leafy green vegetables (1320 IU/100 g, provides 44% of RDA). High Vitamin A foods can help protect us from many types of cancers and helps to boost eye health. Strong Anti-Oxidant Furthermore, purslane is full of two different types of betalain alkaloid pigments – a reddish beta-cyanis and a yellow betaxanthins, which are equally potent antioxidants and antimutagens. Also in purslane are vitamins C, and B-complex including riboflavin, pyridoxine, and niacin, as well as carotenoids, and trace minerals like iron, magnesium, and calcium. With all these nutritional benefits and the large amounts of money, we spend on supplements to better our health, it seems purslane should be elevated from weed status to health-boosting, everyday food. Purslane packs a powerful nutritional punch, for certain. More Health Benefits of Purslane This wonderful green leafy vegetable is very low in calories (just 16 kcal/100g) and fats; nonetheless, it is rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Fresh leaves contain surprisingly more omega-3 fatty acids (a-linolenic acid) than any other leafy vegetable plant. 100 grams of fresh purslane leaves provide about 350 mg of alpha-linolenic acid. Research studies show that consumption of foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and help prevent the development of ADHD, autism, and other developmental differences in children. It is an excellent source of Vitamin A, (1320 IU/100 g, provides 44% of RDA) one of the highest among green leafy vegetables. Vitamin A is a known powerful natural antioxidant and an essential vitamin for vision. it is also required to maintain healthy mucusa and skin. Consumption of natural vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin A is known to help to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers. Purslane is also a rich source of vitamin C, and some B-complex vitamins like riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine and carotenoids, as well as dietary minerals, such as iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and manganese. Furthermore, present in purslane are two types of betalain alkaloid pigments, the reddish betacyanins and the yellow betaxanthins. Both pigment types are potent antioxidants and have been found to have antimutagenic properties in laboratory studies. [Proc. West. Pharmacol. Soc. 45: 101-103 (2002)]. That’s right — as a special launch promotion, we’re offering our brand new Paleo fat loss cookbook to you for free (Chef Pete lost 60 lbs using these recipes!) — All you have to do is just cover a small shipping cost (international shipping is a bit more). Get your FREE copy of Paleo Eats Here. (Grab this today, because we only ordered a small batch of these cookbooks for this freebie promotion, and they will sell out FAST!) 1 Comment WHEN I AM YOUNG, I PICK UP THIS KIND OF GRASS IN THE FARM AND MY MOTHER COOK IT TO FEED OUR PIGS, BUT SINCE I WORK IN ADRAOD LIKE SAUDI ARABIA THEY CONSIDER AS ONE OF VEGETABLES THEY COOK AND MIX WITH LAMB ITS VERY DELICIUSE, AND HERE IN FRANCE THEY MAKE AS SALADE, MAYBE WE CAN TRY

NOW PLAYING Syria to challenge US-Iraq accusation Syria is to ask Baghdad to provide evidence behind repeated US accusations Damascus is letting Arab fighters cross into Iraq to fuel violence there and vowed to prove it false. 23 Jun 2005 19:02 GMT Farouq al-Shara said Syria would reopen its embassy in Baghdad "We will be contacting officials in Baghdad very soon to know the source and truth of these allegations against Syria and to get the Iraqi side to supply us with the documents and evidence for us to examine," Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said in Damascus on Thursday. "We will counter any accusation by evidence and facts and take this to the highest level," said al-Shara, speaking a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made the accusation against Syria at a global meeting to rally support for Iraq in Brussels. Al-Shara also rejected US accusations that Syrian intelligence agents remain in Lebanon. In a joint press conference he has held with his Chinese counterpart, al-Shara said the Syrian embassy in Baghdad would be reopened. "Syria has decided to send a delegation to Iraq in order to review two issues. The first one is opening a Syrian embassy in Baghdad. The second is making contacts with Iraqi officials in Baghdad, whether through the Foreign Ministry or diplomatic channels, in order to disclose the source and reality of accusations made against Syria," al-Shara said. The Syrian embassy has been closed since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the US-led invasion in 2003. Several embassies now represent Syria's consular and political interests in Iraq. Mutual recriminations Syria hoped improved diplomatic and security ties with the US-backed Iraqi government would end the recriminations. Rice made the accusation againstSyria on Wednesday in Brussels "We are ready for cooperation and opening a new chapter with Iraq but we are not ready to hear every now and then accusations that may not have a basis of truth," he said "We want to confirm by words and deeds how accurate these accusations are and what solutions could be found." Syria again said obliquely the US was denying Damascus sophisticated monitoring to help it guard the desert border that straddles around 600 km. "The party that prevents Syria from securing the special equipment to tighten its control of the border is the same party that levels charges against us," al-Shara said. Impossible The Syrian foreign minister said it was impossible to completely seal any border against infiltrators, citing Washington's failure to end large-scale smuggling of drugs into its own territory. "Any borders in the world are vulnerable to infiltration, including that of the United States" Farouq al-Shara,Syrian F oreign Minister "Any borders in the world are vulnerable to infiltration, including that of the United States. Whose responsibility is the failure to prevent such quantities of drugs entering the US or is it the responsibility of other states?" al-Shara said. Syria said this week that it had reinforced the vast desert border with more than 7000 troops who are manning 560 positions. Damascus says the fortifications show how determined it is to secure the frontier from infiltrators it says are mostly ordinary smugglers, not diehard fighters. The US State Department last month described Syrian cooperation as "minimal and sporadic".

Lemon Chicken Citrus Bowls Prep Time 15 Mins Total Time 1 Hour Yield Serves 1 (serving size: 1 bowl) January 2018 Bowl meals build texture and flavor with layers of nutritious ingredients. Since there’s no center stage in a bowl, a small portion of meat travels far, putting more emphasis on the vegetables and whole grains. The avocado sauce pulls it all together with irresistible creaminess. This nutrient-packed bowl covers 100% your daily goal for immune-boosting vitamin C, and over one-quarter of your daily potassium needs.

Acner.org: Acne treatment How to Fight Body Acne How to Fight Body Acne Overview Your body is covered with thousands of hair follicles that contain sebaceous glands that produce oil that can clog the pores if too much is produced--which results in acne blemishes. While many associate acne with a condition that occurs on the face, it is possible to experience acne anywhere on the body. Most often, this occurs on the chest and back. Because this condition can affect your self-esteem, it is important to treat it. Step 1 Cleanse the body each day with a gentle cleanser. Purchase a cleanser that is advertised as gentle--other cleansers can contain harsh irritants or chemicals that can irritate the skin, according to DocShop.com. Step 2 Regularly exfoliate the areas where you experience body acne using a loofah or other natural scrub while in the shower when the skin is softened. The exfoliation helps to remove dead skin cells and oils that can clog the pores and cause your body to break out. Exfoliate the area by massaging it in a circular motion. While you should not exfoliate the face more than once per week, the skin of the body is less delicate, meaning it can be exfoliated more frequently. Step 3 Dry the skin thoroughly and apply an acne treatment cream, such as one that contains 10 percent benzoyl peroxide or 10 percent alpha hydroxy acid, according to Acne.org. These medications dry up excess oil in the pores and reduce the number of dead skin cells in the pores. Step 4 Dress in loose, breathable clothing composed of a natural fiber, such as cotton or wool, according to the International Dermal Institute. This helps to keep you cool if you are sweating as well as wick sweat away from the body, preventing the sweat from clogging the pores. Avoid wearing clothing that is too tight, which can cause friction and can worsen acne symptoms, according to DocShop.com. Step 5 Shower after every workout. Sweat during a workout can increase your chances of developing body acne because it clogs pores. The same goes for if you become sweaty during the regular course of the day. Changing clothes as soon as possible can help. Step 6 Consult your physician if your body acne does not improve with over-the-counter treatments. He may be able to prescribe a stronger medication that can improve the appearance of body acne. Related Articles Solution for Body Acne Overview An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from breakouts. The National Institutes of Health ...

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25383069.post8564444954749556316..comments2016-03-11T10:48:45.501-07:00Comments on Themeworks : Jon Conkey : # 322 California Fixer-UpperJon Conkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358191122319134959noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25383069.post-60247860129378375302008-12-25T23:58:00.000-07:002008-12-25T23:58:00.000-07:00Hi, Your work is very attractive. I like the choic...Hi, Your work is very attractive. I like the choice of colors. You have added life into it.Plastic Cardshttp://www.alltimeprint.com/noreply@blogger.com

Lightening The Load In VA State legislature considers bills that will reduce gun regulations. Cam Edwards speaks with Virginia Delegate Scott Lingamfelter about recent moves in the state toward lifting some of the anti-gun laws now that NRA A-rated Governor Bob McDonnell is in office. Del. Ligamfelter has proposed a bill that would abolish Virginia's One Gun A Month law that limits gun buyers to one firearm purchase in a given 30-day period. A bill has also been proposed to allow licensed permit holders to carry concealed handguns on college campuses.

Palette Knife – Minimalist Landscape Workshop May 8, 2017 @ 10:00 am - 4:00 pm With so much information in the landscape, let’s make it simple. Create a minimalist landscape with just a few strokes of color with artist Alisa Koch. You will learn how to see and understand the landscape in terms of shape and color, mix oil colors from a limited palette and achieve an immense variety of language from the basic colors, as well as apply and manipulate paint with a palette knife to blend and shape the landscape form. Supplies Included Bring a lunch $100 SAC’s non-members $90 SAC’s members ARTIST BIO Alisa Koch’s work has been best described as moody and evocative landscapes in oil with the use of a palette knife. She is an Alabama native, where her love of nature was fostered in her youth. Growing up the in rural south, she was fascinated with the effects of weather and loved catching short glimpses of changes in the landscape over the course of several days. Still wanting to capture the essence of moments like these is what brings her to the canvas. She takes photos of the Montgomery skyline under many different conditions: in rainy weather, on sunny mornings, or on chilly afternoons. After visualizing various mixtures of oil paint that would best interpret her selected landscape, Alisa makes several sketches. From her drawings, she begins a series of paintings that may be similar in line, but never identical in color and emotion. Alisa strives to harness nature’s “movement” in her work. Each brush stroke pushes and pulls the color right to the edge of losing the color it needs to be. She focuses on the shapes and patterns of nature and the effect they have on the senses. She finds delight in the struggle and reconciliation between her mind’s ability to understand what is tugging at her soul and her artistic ability to communicate even the most minor revelations to others through her work. Her work has been juried into several local art exhibitions such as the Annual Montgomery Art Guild Regions Bank Exhibition, City Hall Gallery, and the Biennial Montgomery Art Guild Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Exhibition. Some of her miniature treasures can be found at B Barganier Interiors and larger current works are always on display at Stonehenge Gallery on East Fairview Avenue. A $25.00 deposit, or full payment if you prefer, will be required to hold your place. We hope you will join us, it is going to be fun!

Celebrities Who Own $23,000 Eminem Air Jordan 4s Eminem has once again hooked up with Nike and Jordan Brand to drop an exclusive Air Jordan 4 as a tribute to the 15th Anniversary of The Marshall Mathers LP and 1 year anniversary of Shady XV. Only 10 pairs were produced and were sold out instantly on eBay. Each pairs are worth of $23,000. The income went to the charity. Below is the list of celebrities who own one of the Eminem Air Jordan 4s:

Variational Graphics Extended (VGX) Definition - What does Variational Graphics Extended (VGX) mean? Variational Graphics Extended (VGX) is a software developed for use in 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) solid modeling. This innovation, made by a company named SDRC, is a type of variational CAD technology that helps to build multidimensional modeling. Techopedia explains Variational Graphics Extended (VGX) As it emerged in the 1990s, VGX was met with a great deal of fanfare. In many ways, technologies like VGX paved the way for today’s three-dimensional printing and other prototyping tools for three-dimensional objects. VGX's strengths include bi-directional constraints, which help to make physical design more versatile, as well as various variational tools and a user interface that supports easy design changes with features like drag-and-drop capability. Experts have also called the VGX dynamic navigator user interface less cluttered and easier to use than some other designs. Over time, VGX has been used in various ways by many different companies in different industries, including several car companies such as Ford and Honda, appliance maker Lexmark, and the German engineering firm Siemens. This kind of advancement in CAD technology has led to much easier manufacturing of many different kinds of products.

About the Book How do issues of form and content shape the documentary film? What role does visual evidence play in relation to a documentary’s arguments about the world we live in? In what ways do documentaries abide by or subvert ethical expectations? Are mockumentaries a form of subversion? Can the documentary be an aesthetic experience and at the same time have political or social impact? And how can such impacts be empirically measured? Pioneering film scholar Bill Nichols investigates the ways documentaries strive for accuracy and truthfulness and simultaneously fabricate a form that shapes reality. Such films may rely on reenactment to re-create the past, storytelling to provide satisfying narratives, and rhetorical figures such as metaphor or devices such as irony to make a point. Documentaries are truly a fiction unlike any other. With clarity and passion, Nichols offers incisive commentaries on the basic questions of documentary’s distinct relationship to the reality it represents, as well as close readings of provocative documentaries from this form's earliest days to its most recent incarnations. These essays offer a definitive account of what makes documentary film such a vital part of our cultural landscape. From Our Blog As part of our “Tools of the Trade” blog series, we’re showcasing resources and reference materials for educators and scholars to help you in your research, writing, and prep work this summer. Here are … About the Author Bill Nichols is a leading authority on documentary film and the author or editor of a dozen books. His Introduction to Documentary is the standard text in this area. He lectures widely and consults often with documentary filmmakers on their projects. Reviews “There is a fluidity in Nichols’ writing that gently forces us to see the “blurred boundaries”…between all forms of visual expression. In reading these essays, one is often struck by how much is illuminated, not only within the boundaries of documentary film but into the historical, political, social and cultural world that provides the fertile ground where ideas take root.”—Documentary “Bill Nichols, our leading authority on documentary film, says he is ‘taking liberties’ in this rich collection of eighteen essays from over four decades of viewing and thinking about nonfiction films. He speaks truer than he lets on, for this book is also about liberty—freedom for artists, thinkers, and audiences to engage with the world, with the political utopias that neither Nichols nor the films he writes about will let us lose sight of.” —Thomas Waugh, Concordia University, author of The Conscience of Cinema: The Films of Joris Ivens, 1926–1989 “The range of content and theoretical ideas in Speaking Truths with Film is simply outstanding, shaking us to consider documentary—both its practices and its epistemologies—anew. What impresses the reader is the astounding depth and staggering breadth of films, ideas, and debates probed in these compelling, beautifully rendered essays that simultaneously unsettle and clarify.”—Patricia R. Zimmermann, coauthor of Thinking through Digital Media: Transnational Environments and Locative Places "Bill Nichols is uniquely equipped to trace the genealogy of documentary studies—after all, he pioneered the field. Speaking Truths With Film is proof that he has yet to quit; filled as it is with his half-century chronicle of developments in both filmmaking and scholarship, it demands to not only be read, but also put to use."—B. Ruby Rich, Editor of Film Quarterly Table of Contents PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION PART I. DOCUMENTARY MEETS THE NEIGHBORS: THE AVANT-GARDE AND FICTION FILM PART II. THE AUDIO IN AUDIOVISUAL PART III. BEYOND “JUST THE FACTS”: EVIDENCE, INTERPRETATION, AND SOCIAL CONTEXT PART IV. ETHICS AND IRONY IN DOCUMENTARY PART V. POLITICS AND THE DOCUMENTARY FILM

Legal Question: Can I Sue A TV Network For Broadcasting My Image Without My Consent? I attended an event at a nightclub. And today 7 months later I am watching tv & I come across the screen. I was unaware that they were filming for a tv show. I did not give them permission nor did I sign a release form to be featured on that show. Can I sue this tv network for featuring me on the show with out my consent? Entertainment Attorney Gordon P. Firemark | Answer Probably not. Although the best practice is to always obtain a signed release from anyone who is recognizably depicted in your film or TV Program, it may not be strictly required. Especially if your appearance is only incidental, such as dancing in the background, or what-have-you. You don’t describe the type of program in question, but here in the U.S., we have to balance personal privacy interests against the First Amendment principles of free press and speech. So, if the program in question was covering a subject that is at all newsworthy, or merely of general public interest, it’s unlikely you could prevail in a claim against the producers or network. It’s also quite possible that there WAS signage posted near the venue entrances indicating that by entering, you were granting consent to be filmed and portrayed. But even so, when you visit a venue, such as a nightclub, that is open to the public, you do not have a “reasonable expectation of privacy”. So, just like if you were filmed on a public street, in a park, or similar, the act of truthfully reporting that you were in the club does not give right to any kind of claim. On the other hand, if the footage featuring you is used in a commercial context (i.e., to propose a transaction, sale of product, etc.) then you might be entitled to compensation, if your state has an applicable “Right of Publicity” law. This feature is not intended as legal advice, and you should only rely on advice given by an attorney you’ve hired to provide it after fully investigating the facts and analyzing the applicable law in your jurisdiction. Bottom line: If you believe you’ve been wrongfully depicted in a film or TV program, you should consult a lawyer. About Gordon P. Firemark Mr. Firemark is an entertainment attorney based in California and also teaches Entertainment Law in Columbia College Hollywood's film program. He's the producer and host of Entertainment Law Update, a podcast for artists and professionals in the entertainment industries and the author of The Podcast, Blog and New Media Producer’s Legal Survival Guide. This content is not intended to be used as a substitute for specific legal advice. No recipient of this content should act or refrain from acting on the basis of content without seeking appropriate legal advice or other professional counseling.

Hi There, My name is Nathan. I come from London, England. My friend and I are going to start up new English school in NW London.(Not Central). This is an affluent area and many students from Europe come in summer to study English. We would like to ask you guys for ideas and advice. We have the prem...