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Posts Tagged ‘harry potter world’ This past weekend I spent time in Orlando, Florida for my bachelorette party with 7 of my bestest friends. Being the nerdy granny that I am, I knew that an all-night rager in Vegas, Miami, or one of the other usual suspects was probably not in store for me. Enter Harry Potter world at Universal Studios…dreams really do come true, guys and gals. I’ve got a few thoughts and tips to share if you intend on making Orlando/Universal Studios your bachelorette party destination, but first, a few snapshots. hp1 hp2 hp3 hp11hp4 hp5 hp6 hp7 hp8 hp9 hp12 hp10 1. We stayed at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort, one of the four onsite hotels that allow you to access early admission into Universal Studios. The resort had a cute 50s retro theme and include multiple pools, including a lazy river that you could float around in. 2. We all received Harry Potter style glasses as part of our favors. 3. Also included in our goodie bags were temporary tattoos that read “I belong to Winnie’s bachelorette party. If found, please buy me a butterbeer!” 4. And t-shirts/tanks that read “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good” Adorbs. 5. The Hogwarts castle where the Forbidden Journey ride takes place. With early admission, we only waited 30 minutes for the ride. I was blown away at the extent of the details inside the park, from the holograms, to the talking pictures, to the random knick knacks found in the books and movies. 6. Likewise, the village of Hogsmeade was chockful of details, including the faux snow on the rooftops. 7. Inside of Honeydukes, enough candy to satisfy even the most sugar-fiending signficant other (cough Darren) 8. Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes also had a lot of sweets to the tune of “U-No-Poo”, “Puking Pastilles” and other treats as found in the book. 9. Tried my first [frozen] butterbeer and butterbeer ice cream. It tasted like a combination of butterscotch and cream soda and was delicious…for the first ten sips. I recommend sharing with a friend, as I found it to be quite sugary. 10. We ate at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch, which features English cuisine. I had 2 mini-pies which included fisherman’s pie and cottage pie. 11. The architecture and decor inside of Gringotts bank for the Escape from Gringotts ride was absolutely breathtaking. Our whole group literally exclaimed, “WOW” when we caught a glimpse of the main room when making our way in. Unfortunately most of us left our cameras in the locker, so this is the only evidence I have. The ride was also my favorite. 12. Hagrid’s motorcycle and side car. The park(s) were full of details like this that made for ideal photo opportunities.
FEC on WiFi... sure... but on disks? [Security Now has commented on the original article (which I found through Hacker News). It's coming at it as a debunker. I guess that's okay - because FEC doesn't increase bandwidth - it just reduces retransmissions, helping to prevent waste. It's also not a huge breakthrough when the basic technology was used in CDs back in the 70s and 80s... and it was pioneered in 1960. [...though you could say the same for the PC or iPad.]] I was reading about forward error correction on TCP wireless links, and it sounded so impressive I read the Wikipedia article on forward error correction. It states that FEC is used on disks. That's kind of scary. Our hard disks are now so error-prone that it's not enough to have some spare sectors - you need the data written redundantly so that errors can be corrected as the data is read. I guess it's a good thing, but still, a surprising thing. According to the article, simple FEC is simply redundancy and voting. A bit is sent N times, and when it's read back, the value is whatever value appeared most often. Majority rules. On disks, they use Reed-Solomon error correction. The article is math-y so kind of opaque to me - but the gist of the second, BCH codes section is that for a string of data, you can calculate a checksum value that's based on a very long polynomial. If any of the data is damaged, you may be able to reconstruct the missing data by solving the simultaneous equation. Now who said high school algebra isn't worth studying? RS goes well beyond it, but not so far that it's totally incomprehensible. At my level of comprehension, my first thought was: the polynomial better be simple, because solving a complex one looks hard. Well, lo and behold - that's the problem of the "decoder", which is discussed later. When the RS code was created, there was no decoder, because it was too complex. One wasn't implemented until 1969, nine years later. From that point on, as is evident from the rest of the Wikipedia article, there were new insights that simplified the solution to the polynomial, making Reed-Solomon a practical error correction code for CDs and other systems that need rapid correction done in hardware. Very cool.
Friday, February 22, 2008 Troofer Incentives As Jason "The firefighters were paid off" Bermas can testify to, the troofers have a strange idea of what people will do for money. Now apparently, they have decided that the only thing keeping people from coming forward to share their insider knowledge of mass murder is the fact that they might lose their jobs. I'm hereby throwing some suggestions out: (1) What about offering a reward for insiders to come clean? There must by now be many people in the FBI, CIA, NSA, NIST, U.S. Armed Forces, etc., who question the "official story". Whether it be the "anthrax" farce, the anomalous collapse of the towers, the Olson phone call that apparently never really happened, or even the still unknown person that Norm Mineta recalls as having taken stand-down orders from Cheney, some of the people involved in this madness must have access to damning, indisputable evidence against the conspirators. On the chance that some of these people would be inclined to come forward, but are holding back mainly for fear of losing their career, who knows, maybe a reward may make it happen. (2) What about offering a reward for evidence that Barbara Olson (or any other victim supposedly killed that day) is still alive? If Barbara Olson is still alive, maybe her maid would like to collect a million dollars to tell us about it? Yeah, people have no qualms about participating in the cover-up of the murder of thousands, because they are afraid that they might have to update their resume on I think this says more about the average troofers job prospects than it does about the average person's motivations. Links to this post: Create a Link << Home
~Edgar Allan Poe Wednesday, January 4, 2017 Newspaper Clipping of the Day Our next installment of the "Boston Post's" "Famous Cats of New England" series introduces us to a feline very aptly named "The Lucky." "Lucky cat!" It's quite as good a phrase as "lucky dog." Proof of this is Peter. Peter is the beautiful white angora Simmons College cat. "The Rose in No Man's Land," the girls call Peter. He lives in their north hall dormitory. Sixty downy couches to sleep upon; 60 shining chafing dishes all ready to brew his catship any favorite dish--these are only a few of the luxuries extraordinary that surround Peter the Lucky. The cat that goes visiting every week-end is surely a cat entitled to his place on the list of New England's famous cats. Peter has gone home with different girls every week-end since college opened in September. He has week-ended in every single one of the New England states. The girls even forego the comforts of the Pullman so that they may have Peter in his "hen coop" with them in the day coach. The girls themselves made Peter's travelling compartment. Miss Eleanor Childs and Miss Kathleen Halladay designed it, and explain it as a cross between a berry crate and a knitting bag. At any rate it suffices to take Peter safely on his journeys. Leaving tonight for Concord, N.H., to spend the Christmas vacation is the Simmons College cat. He is to be the house guest of Miss Dorothy Williams. Close application to books has made Peter very pale, the girls say, and they hope the bracing New Hampshire air will make a new cat of him. ~December 23, 1920 1. Peter was one lucky fellow. I won't even discuss my envy at his 'going home with a different girl every weekend'... 1. I just knew one of my male readers would comment on that, and my money was on it being you. :) 2. A guy can dream. It's just a bit sad that I dream of being that cat... 2. In my mind, Peter went home that weekend with the maid/assistant from Miss Phryne's Murder Mysteries, who is also named Miss Dorothy Williams. :)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 REVIEW: Timecrimes Timecrimes (Los Cronocrimenes) Director: Nacho Vigalondo Year 2007 What a wonderful and twisted film Timecrimes is. It takes a simple premise and turns it into an out of control ride where the main character has to return his life back to somewhat normalacy after changing his world in the most drastic of ways. This 2007 Spanish film directed by Nacho Vigalondo is the perfect example of how a great time travel film doesn't necessarily have to be a big budget blockbuster with monumental effects. You just need a good story and superb acting to make an interesting and intriguing film that throws the audience for a loop while maintaining a sense of logic that's inherintly linked to the story. The story plays out with a man named Hector, performed by a wonderful spanish actor, Karra Elejalde, as he falls into a situation that is way over his head. Hector, what wonderful adventures will you get into today, you little scamp. Hector's curiosity will get the better of him in this corkscrew of a tale. He relaxes on a lawn chair in the backyard of his country home, peering through his binoculars when he sees something moving in the woods across the way. He's intrigued and follows the movement only to see a woman undressing. Now he is really intrigued and as his wife leaves to get the groceries, he goes off to investigate. That's right. Take it off. Take it all off you dirty bird. He adventures into the woods and to his astonishment he finds the girl. She is totally naked and knocked out with her body resting up against a rock. He proceeds to throw some sticks at her to see if she is alive but she doesn't move. He finds enough courage to approach her seemingly lifeless body, when he is suddenly attacked by an unseen assailant. He is stabbed by a pair of scissors and is bleeding like crazy. He flees the scene and ends up finding a strange building which he breaks into. It is empty inside, but he finds a walkie talkie and there is another person on the end. The man tells him to hurry to the top of the hill where he is at and he'll be safe. As night creeps into the world, Hector rushes up the path that climbs the hill and enters another strange building where the man with the other walkie talkie greets him. The man tells him that he saw a car coming up the drive and sure enough headlights appear as they begin getting closer and closer. The car stops and a car door can be heard shutting outside, when suddenly a strange head-wrapped man pops his face up into the window and scares the bejesus out of Hector. Peek-a-boo you fucks you. The man with the walkie talkie tells him to get inside this massive contraption in the middle of the room and he'll be safe there. Hector jumps in and motions for the man to follow but before Hector knows it, the giant lid begins to close and traps him inside. Go on, get inside. There's nothing strange about this giant container. Hector stays inside only for an instant when the lid begins to open again and there's a blinding light. His eyes adjust and he realizes that it's day light out. Confused as all hell, Hector stumbles out of the container and looks around the room. The man with the walkie talkie informs him that he has just traveled back in time an hour and this is where our film really gets going. What the hell is going on here? The man with the walkie talkie is actually a scientist named El Joven played by the films actual director Nacho Vigalondo. Joven has found a way to travel through time and he struggles to convince Hector that he is indeed one hour back in time. Where's Doc Brown when you need him. Joven finally convinces him by telling Hector to take his binoculars out and view his house from where they're standing. Hector is shocked to see his wife and himself working in the backyard like they were merely moments before. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by being back in time, he seems to feel a hint of jealousy, like this man with his wife is some kind of impostor even though it is in fact him. Driven by his jealousy he decides to put an end to this sick affair and here in lies the cause of all his hardships there after. Hector comes to terms that he is in fact back in time and without the sweet musical stylings of Huey Lewis and the News. This film handles its themes so well and does it with a whimsical edge. I really enjoy how all the things that happen to his character before the time jump seem to relate to his actions that he takes after traveling an hour back in time. The strange phone calls that he receives earlier in the film, becomes answered when he gets curious about there being another him and he instinctively calls his house to see if its true. The naked girls predicament is explained in detail and we come to find out that he had a major hand in her being at that exact moment and at that exact time. It really is mind boggling and just plain fun to see him remember how things were and act them out exactly in order to not screw up time anymore then he already has. Foreshadowing of the monster he will become. Not only does this film have a zig zagging and criss-crossing path, but it also has some lively visuals. There are some beautiful shots with the slasher like killer persona that has his head wrapped in bloody gauss. The melding of so many genre's mixed with a time traveling premise is something I truly have never seen before and it seems to fit perfectly. The visual eye that director Nacho Vigalondo has, really lifts this movie out of its low budget shackles and births it into a new class of higher budgeted films. This is a great image, but seriously, do not play with scissors. As the film goes on, Nacho always seems to up the ante. Just when you think that Hector has it all figured out and situated, another problem arises and he has to figure out a way to make things right. Even though it looks exhausting for the character you can't help but feel entertained and overjoyed at how intricate the plot intertwines with itself and how everything in the film is effected by this character's actions whether from the future, past, or present. It's a great experience when we get to see a memorable scene from another angle and get a better perspective on what really happened in that particular event. This works so well in this film and it helps the viewer to get swept up in the mystery of what else the character had a hand in doing. Oh snap! It's a peeping-tom stand off. The genre mashing is one of the top accomplishments this film executes so well. The horror aspect is done well, with the masked killer stalking the main character and then pulling the complete 180 by transforming Hector into the killer. This particular point is something that is unique for this brand of time skewing films. This concept also has traces of an Italian Giallo, with an unknown knife wielding (or scissors in this case) killer. There's also portions of this film that are quite funny. One of these scenes is where Hector the killer is trying to remember where he was when he saw the killer mocking him with his hands up pretending to have invisible binoculars. He keeps striking the pose over and over again in different directions, making him look like some kind of crazy person. These moments occur throughout the film as he tries to get his life back to normal, only to seemingly dig himself into a bigger hole. It's also really fun to pretend you're a dirty peeping-tom. This film really is a fun ride and one that you appreciate with multiple viewings. Knowing in advance that what is happening to the character is caused by the same character, but his future self, is the most enjoyable experience I've ever had with a time traveling movie. He really actually makes his life harder on himself and that's an interesting concept. Even though he is trying to right the wrongs that he's caused, he is the very reason those wrongs exist in the first place. For example, he decides that crashing the scientist's van into his other self as his past self drives his car down the street on his way to tracking down his impostor self that is hanging out with his wife in their yard. He knows he has to crash into himself because he was in the car when he did it before, but from the other angle. He is the source of his own problems and it should be a confusing mess that doesn't make a lick of sense, but the way the story is told and how it unfolds to the viewer, helps us guide along on a logical path. Instead of us trying to figure out the time frame and by doing this be taken out of the story, the director has gently taken our hand and softly pushes us along as Hector comes to terms with what he must do and what has already been done to him. What a crappy day and the worst part of it is that he did it to himself. If you can believe it, Hector somehow is able to figure out a way to bring the story together and find some sort of peace after all that has been done to him by himself. His self inflicted journey comes to an end in a strangely peaceful manner and brings a closing to the story and a satisfying end to his miraculous time traveling journey. I won't give you the details, because it is something you have to experience for yourself much like the entire movie. I've left a great deal out of the story and there is so much in here that it truly deserves a second or even third viewing to take it all in. It really is an amazing little film with an epic concept packaged in an ingrained and engaging story. Taking a much needed rest after a long and turbulent journey. So do I recommend this film? You bet your damn ass I do! This is one unique movie that doesn't let its budgetary restraints hold it back. It reaches for the stars in its overall idea and nails all the right tones. The combination of horror, comedy, and science fiction is a delicate blend that makes the piece shine over other time traveling flicks. This is the first film that I've seen by Nacho Vigalondo and he's still early in his career, but I can't wait to see what extraordinary film he comes up with next. He is a director that is on my must see list and this film is one that should not be overlooked and passed by. You'd be doing yourself a disservice by not checking out this essential little time travel movie that's big on ideas and small on disappointments. 5 out of 5 stars A modern day science fiction classic with a few twists REVIEW: Bullitt Director: Peter Yates Year 1968 Meet Bullitt, played by the iconically cool Steve McQueen. It's not a good day to be a key witness. A gruesome but beautifully filmed shot. McQueen tails the bad guys. Look at that baby go! Just one of the tense moments in this epic car chase. It didn't end so well for the hitmen. McQueen knows his man is around here somewhere, but The final death blow is delivered in style. Don't think he's going to be coming back from that one. REVIEW: Hardware Director: Richard Stanley Year 1990 There are a few movies in your lifetime that come out of no where. The ones that blow you away and boggle your mind for the sheer fact that you never knew they existed. Well Hardware is one of those movies that just came out of left field for me. I'd seen Richard Stanley's other film, Dust Devil and was thoroughly impressed by that one and had heard good things about his apocalyptic Sci-Fi outing entitled Hardware, but had no idea on what a visceral film it would end up being. What a beautiful, desolate, and foreboding wasteland of a film. Filled with carnage and soaked in meaning, this film is something of a lost gem that can finally be found courtesy of the great team at Severin Films. Last year they put out this packed DVD and it was worth the wait it seems. The red burnt sky of the wasteland. Hardware is every bit as vivacious as was told by the various reviews I browsed over in anticipation of the DVD release and the inevitable viewing. The colors pop onto the screen and beg to be washed over by a watchful eye. Not only are the colors something to behold, but the imagery is bold and abrasive. Nothing is squeaky clean in this depressing world of Hardware. Everything is used and rusted, discovered by some second hand scavenger given down from generation to generation. Deteriorated until its first intended use is now something quite entirely different. This is post apocalyptic at its finest. A beautifully shot vista of a broken world. The story starts out with a lone scavenger crossing a desert like landscape in search of lost and discarded objects. This stranger comes across a broken wreckage of mechanical parts and scoops it up and heads off into the unknown. We then switch over to two men as they travel through what looks like a trash heap, but is really the outskirts of a large shanty like city. One of the men is Moses Baxter played by a strong and heroic looking Dylan McDermott and the other is Shades played by John Lynch. The two make their way across this disjointed terrain on their way to a more civilized portion of town, yet still as dysfunctional as their present locale. Getting down and dirty with McDurmott as Moses Baxter. They stop at a junk peddler's shop to browse his wares and maybe trade some of their findings in. The shop owner is named Alvy played by a thick Mark Northover who was none other then Burglekutt for you Willow fans out there. Both Moses and Shades are talking to Alvy when a strange man enters the shop in stylistic splendor. Now that's a stylistic entrance. This stranger was the scavenger that we saw at the beginning of the film and he's dropping off his most recent find to see how much it is worth. He leaves as mysteriously as he had arrived and Moses asks if he can buy the scrap metal from Alvy. Alvy gives him a price and Moses pays and takes off. After leaving the shop, Moses and Shades head to an apartment complex that's just a bit more classy then the rest of the junk heaps around the area. Moses is here to meet his off again on again girlfriend and they haven't seen each other for a long while now. He comes bearing gifts in the form of the scrap metal he has just picked up. His girlfriend is an artist and sculptor and would appreciate such an otherwise shitty gift. His girlfriend is named Jill and is played by the hypnotically beautiful Stacey Travis in one of her earliest screen roles. She's gone on to play a countless number of TV roles, but in this film she shows us that she can really shine in a starring role as the chick you don't want to mess with when the shit hits the fan. Jill takes a cigarette break from the dismal landscape outside her living room window. When Moses first arrives he gets a less then a stellar reception, but after showing her the gift that he had brought she slowly begins to come around. The two make up for lost time and like a sports team after a vigorous game, they hit the showers. This is a great time to bring up the music in this film, because once the shower montage kicks in we're blessed with an amazing song in the form of Public Image Limited's "This is what you want... This is what you get". This song is so catchy, that you'll be singing it days after viewing this movie. Anyways, the shower montage is really beautifully shot with slow fades and recessed motions. It really cranks the film up to an arty level followed by its colorful and tastefully done sex scene. Is it hot in here or is it just my giant metallic robot hand? The film really uses its color selections in a striking manner giving great jumps of contrast to the overall composition. For instance the scrap metal that Moses had given Jill for a gift had a robotic helmeted face that Jill decides to spray paint over with the american flag. The look of the face gives such an impression as the star patched left side of the head meets with the red and white horizontal stripes of the right side of its skull. It's a menacing sight and one that adds to the overall doom of the picture and the impending storm that is sure to strike once the robot repairs itself. The look of absolute terror just before it decides to strike. As I've just alluded, this scrap metal of robot parts is in-fact a disassembled robot. The only exceptional thing about this robot though is that it's a Mark 13, and a Mark 13 is a self sustaining military drone that is known to slice and dice human skin tissue and ask questions never. It's a ruff and tough hombre and we watch as the film progresses and it slowly starts to rebuilt its body with horrifying results. Bad Robot! Bad Robot! As Moses goes out for a few hours, the Mark 13 decides it's time to start some shit so it begins to terrorize poor Jill. It stalks her inside her apartment and starts messing with the lights. The scenes with the Mark 13 creeping around Jill's apartment are great and they're filled with suspense. It's like a scaled down and more intimate version of Ripley and the Alien's "cat and mouse game" from Ridley Scott's Alien. Most people would say that it's too similar to that Sci-Fi epic, but that would be generalizing Hardware to those few precious moments and that wouldn't be fare to such an outstanding film. In Richard Stanley's vision, every shadow lies the grim possibility of death and the lighting scheme that the director has set up for these pieces are rather effective and look stunning. Stacy Travis looking scared shitless. You can also see other influences that the director must of had by his other peer's work. Richard's use of color strongly resembles the great Italian horror directors Mario Bava and Dario Argento. Even Lucio Fulci seems to creep in there a bit by the amount of gore on screen. Large sections of Hardware take a cue right out of Argento's Suspiria, by casting the entire scene in a red hue, giving it an almost fantastical quality. I love these sections of the movie, because I to am infatuated by Bava and Argento's expressive use of color and how it can leave an instant impression and exhume a certain atmospheric quality to the film. Come any closer and I'll cut your pecker off! Also, Stanley knows how to compose a striking visual. I've noticed that he's fond of composing his subjects in a symmetrical sense, keeping the frame balanced and even. An example of this is when the robot finally attacks Jill and has her cornered in her refrigerator. He frames the robot's hand in the left side of the frame and Jill's frightened face in the right, balancing out the composition and making a striking visual image. I imagine that this was the pitch for the new 3D resurgence. Coming at ya! Everything in this film is such a treat to look at that it almost appears that this was a pretty expensive shoot, but Stanley is known for creating something out of nothing and he does an amazing job here with what he has. The sets look lived in and the world is just busting at the seems. It's very impressive and something I wished I saw lots more of in the hollywood circuit. Well, at this point of the movie our hero shows up to save the day, blasting the robot menace to kingdom come with the help of two security guards. The girl is saved and all is well, but like all good movie monsters, the bastard just won't stay down. McDurmott, happy as a pig in shit. Once again terror strikes and we're thrown back into a red frenzy, cast into a crimson filter. It seems like the red hues accompany the horror elements of the film and it's an interesting concept to present a visual cue for the event that is at hand. I wonder if this was indeed intentional on the directors part or just something that was a coincidence that turned out for the better. Whatever the reason the films palette is richer for it. Just need to take a rest from all the colors. Of course there's the gore that I mentioned earlier. Taking cues from every Lucio Fulci ever created, Stanley brings on the gore and brings it well. No other scene represents this lust for gore better then when the security guard gets cut in half by the automatic doors. Damn that is brutal and Stanley never turns away from the grotesque horror. He keeps the camera almost ground level as we stare at the dying man's intestines as someone tries to pull him away from the door. It's some hardcore stuff and very well done and for a lover of practical horror effects it's a welcomed treat. Nothing's better then using prosthetics and a little creativity. The horror! The horror! Way to go Stanley! And we finally come to our conclusion where the once passive Jill is pushed to her limits and must take things into her own hands. She grabs a baseball bat and swings for the fences. She literally loses control and Stacey Travis conveys this wonderfully, really throwing her entire self into those last scenes. She really owns this movie and proves that she deserved the larger role opposite the all male cast. She really shines as the heroine and I wish she would have continued to make movies like this one instead of going into television, but what the heck as long as we have her kicking ass in one flick I'm glad it's this one. Now that is one bad-ass shot. Hardware really is an amazing film that could have been lost to a good many people other then for the lucky few that got to see it when it first came out. I'm so glad that I got a chance to finally see it because of the newly released DVD. I got to witness the twisted tale of a post apocalyptic love story fused with a woman on the edge tale that presses the gore button and produces something so visceral and dark yet so vibrant and colorful in both the characters and atmosphere, that it leaves a burned impression in my mind as a damn good film. Must check out for anyone that absolutely loves anything post apocalyptic. 5 out of 5 stars A colorful post apocalyptic film drenched in Sci-Fi Tuesday, March 30, 2010 MY FILM: Among the Fallen - The Creatures Part two of the ongoing series of behind the scenes videos of my film Among the Fallen. This one focuses on the creatures that plague the main character. Enjoy. REVIEW: Shaolin Soccer Shaolin Soccer Director: Stephen Chow Year 2001 Shaolin Soccer is probably the most fun I've had watching a movie in a long while. Stephen Chow directs and stars in this outrageous comedy about a group of Shaolin disciples reuniting after years apart to start a soccer team, using their various skills to guide them to victory. Never will you ever see a film like this. After it's release in 2001, there were many clone sports comedies that quickly emerged in the wake of Shaolin Soccer's success, but they never quite nailed the formula like Chow and company do here. The film starts out with Stephen Chow's character, named Mighty Steel Leg Sing, trudging through life and getting no where fast. He's been berated, beaten up, and put down and that's in just the first 10 minutes of the film. He is lost, just like the rest of his fellow Shaolin disciples who have gone off on their own to make it in the non kung fu world. Chow pondering the meaning of life. One day he meets a young girl named Mui, who practices tai chi at her baking stand, played by the cute Vicki Zhao. We'll the formally cute Vicki Zhao. Here she's kind of funky looking because her character is on the homely side, yet Chow and her hit it off in a weird kind of way and thus starts their strange love affair. Weird love is in the air. After Chow's meeting with Mui he heads to meet his friend at his work and when he gets there he is beaten up by a bunch of pricks that want them to perform some unusual song and dance number for their amusement. After getting a few bottles smashed over his head, Chow can't take it anymore and uses his Shaolin skills to pay the nasty group back for their actions. It's time for an ass whipping! This fight scene is very creative, because it generally shies away from the usual kicking and punching you'd see in a traditional kung fu fight, and opts to go all out using a soccer ball as the main weapon. Chow uses the soccer ball in the most impressive ways imaginable, bouncing it off faces and banking it off walls to collided into a stock of bamboo sticks to have them colliding down onto his attackers. It's all filmed beautifully and the CGI used to pull off all of these impossible moves, which not perfect, is quite convincing for the over the top style the film goes for. It's absolutely hilarious and amazing to see play out. The old Shaolin gang. All tough as nails and all bad-ass. After combining the Shaolin style with soccer, he comes up with a plan to start a soccer team with his Shaolin brothers. He begins to recruit his pals, helped by a down and out ex soccer player named Golden Leg Fung played by Man Tat Ng. Fung offers to coach the inexperienced team in order to beat the now reigning championship coach who long ago crippled him. Their recruiting doesn't go as planned seeing that all of Chow's brothers have forgotten their Shaolin ways. They initially tell him no, but eventually come around to start their training. Back together again. The training montage is absolutely hilarious, where they show off their little skill and fumble at every attempt to perform a simple soccer move. The only one that has actual skill with a soccer ball is Chow's character, as we're shown him kicking a soccer ball against a wall with a target painted on it, all with his hands in his pocket. Another great gag with an egg brings chuckles as Chow must juggle an egg without breaking it. The coach throws an egg at Chow and it breaks on his crotch. The fatter Shaolin disciple loses control and starts charging for the broken egg, but before fatty can dive headlong into Chow's crotch, Chow throws an egg into his coach's mouth and the large fellow tackles the coach proceeding to give him mouth to mouth. It's that over the top kind of comedy that thrives in the asian circuit and it really works to display the charm of this film. Chow being as cool as Chow can be. We're then treated to their first match that is between a bunch of cheating bastards that proceed to use wrenches and low blows to take their opponents out. The game gets quite brutal as each Shaolin player is beaten into a bloody pulp. There's even a dream like sequence where Chow is pretending he's in a war as the game is going on. He's dodging bullets and army crawling under barbed wire with a rifle in hand. His coach knocks him over the head and we're shown that he was just holding a stick in the shape of a gun and crawling around on the ground. It's those weird moments that set Shaolin Soccer apart from anything that you've seen before. It's been a while since I've been on the old soccer field, but I don't remember it as being so brutal. They finally get their shit together, after one of them is horribly embarrassed by being forced to place a jock strap over his head. They unanimously find their inner piece and suddenly transform into the Shaolin bad-asses that they once were. Just like that first fight scene, we're treated to some of the most creative moves and concepts to ever come out of a soccer game. Each set piece is more impressive then the next until they've won their little practice game and then are shown competing in their first official game. One of my favorite moments in their first game is how the other team is laughing at their outfits, looking from one player to the next. Then the game whistle sounds and suddenly Chow kicks the ball and it flies past all of the players and slams into the net. Everyone on the other team is dumbfounded. They restart for another try only to have Chow steal the ball instantly and then place it far into the net the exact same way. It's a great moment that really nails its comedic timing. Who's the man? Chow's the man! It's really enjoyable watching this ensemble cast as their team come from nobodies to some-bodies in a matter of a few games. They really deal with the fame in an entertaining way and really look like their having fun with it. Their interview after their first game is mostly entertaining because of how excited they are in that scene. We're going to Disney World! More memorable moments are when they are given a sponsor and they get to pick their new shoes. They push the heads of the company out of the way in excitement and begin tackling the shoes they want, wrestling with each other and causing a huge scene. It's goofy, but it's got a heart so you don't feel empty inside like a lot of American comedy flicks. Like the ones with the Wilson brothers or good old Will Ferrell and his shouting antics. The happiest group of guys you'll ever get the privilege to meet. The team continues to win matches and impress everyone in the league. You'd think by now that they would have run out of new and inventive ways to apply the kung fu technique to soccer, but they just keep up with the insane antics. They fly in the air doing bicycle kicks and mile high headers as they dance all over the pitch, scoring full field goals. The huddle of the Shaolin masters. Another favorite moment happens when the goalkeeper, dressed in replica fashion after the late great Bruce Lee, stops the barrage of shots by the mustached woman's soccer team. Don't ask, you just have to see it for yourself. He easily stops all of their shots and then stands in full Bruce Lee pose, egging them on to bring it. It's one of those laugh out loud moments and it really works. Shades of the bad-ass Bruce Lee. They finally arrive at the championship game where they must go up against the most evil soccer team on the face of the planet. These guys are so evil that they practice under water in a swimming pool and their kicks are so strong that they empty the pool with each swift kick of their legs. Their coach, the so so evil Hung played by Yin Tse, has been injecting them with some kind of super steroid turning them into enraged unbeatable monsters. Coach Hung is also the very coach that crippled coach Fung so Fung wants to give Hung his come up-ins. It has begun!!!!!! The match is brutal to say the least and the evil team truly is evil. They pummel the good guys and don't even break a sweat in the process. Chow's once unstoppable shot is batted away by the other teams goalie so nonchalantly that it jars Chow's character to a stand still. Put the coins on Chow's eyes, cause he sure don't believe what he is seeing. The Shaolin team starts to drop like flies as the evil guys begin breaking legs and cracking ribs with the impacts of their kicks. You'd think that the ref would be there to stop such antics, but unfortunately he's been paid off by coach Hung and working for team evil. Ain't that a bitch. I've played a few games where it seems like the refs have no love for your side, so I felt the good guy's pain when they were given a yellow card for being beaten up for no reason at all. Say what!?!?! He may be on death's doorstep, but damn does he look COOL. The battle rages on and finally the evil team meets its demise. I won't spoil the details in the ending, but I'll tell you it doesn't disappoint. Just when you thought all the bag of tricks were spent, they pull out the most outrageous stunt, that you really have to pinch yourself in order to believe what you're seeing. You haven't seen anything like this at the American cinema or probably ever will, unless they decide to remake this like they've done with everything else. The stand-off. Shaolin Soccer is as interesting as the title suggests, yet the filmmakers have pulled it off far more successfully then anyone could probably have ever anticipated. I give all the credit to Stephen Chow because you can see his influence in ever aspect of the production. Much like his follow-up, Kung Fu Hustle, he creates a world of his own where outlandish things occur, yet it feels strangely natural. Celebrate good times, come on! There is so much that I've left out of this review, because it's best left to be seen. There really isn't a great way to describe some of the out of this world situations that these characters get themselves into. There's even a sweet love story thrown in there that I briefly talked about. Shaolin Soccer really is a great movie that has so many elements in it from comedy, action, and the previously mentioned love story, that there really is something for everyone. This is one of those rare foreign films that I think should be easily embraced by us Americans, even the ones that hide from the dreaded subtitled films. The message for this film is universal and can be understood by anyone that loves to laugh and enjoys seeing a good old fashion underdog story with a heavy dose of crazy. It definitely must be seen to be believed. 5 out of 5 stars One hell of a ride with a ton of laughs!
Wednesday, 29 August 2012 So, my last post was February, and now it's August more than a year later. I guess it might be time for an update... In some ways a lot has changed and in some ways it's the same. The biggest change is that I have a new job. I started in March last year, and am now part of the dreaded public sector. The job is very different from my last role, and so far I am loving it. It's a great challenge, but has commensurate renumeration. I'm still happily married and have a beautiful wife who works in retail. She has recently started a new job, and the pay is slightly worse but the hours and travel are much better. I also have a lovely dog and cat at home. I'm registered self employed but the income hasn't been more than a few hundred pounds a year so far. With the new job, I just don't have a lot of time or energy for building apps or the like. I have basically stopped role playing (by which I mean games like dungeons and dragons, and not anything kinky) and as a consequence haven't seen most of my friends in a while. This was more due to a growing discontent with the gaming that we were doing than a falling out with them, and truth to tell I do miss the gaming and the social aspect. I have been following a few projects and recently received the pdf of Torchbearer by the Burning Wheel crew. It looks great! I've also backed exalted 3e and will have to get my wife to play when I get the pdf of that. My wife got me a kindle so I have been devouring books on the way to and from work - if anyone can recommend some good fantasy or SF let me know. I'll try to be somewhat active on here going forward... Thursday, 16 February 2012 Cutting the Pension Annual Allowance Wednesday, 15 February 2012 Not sure if anyone even reads this, but if you do and you use Dropbox, I've put together a short guide on how to get over 8GB of free space at If you don't use Dropbox, but have more than one computer, you really should check it out - it's very cool and easy to use :-) Wednesday, 25 January 2012 Shock TUC report says Unions should get taxpayers money! I saw that there's been a report from the TUC that says that Union Reps being paid by the employer is a good thing. Shocking position for a report from the TUC to take, right? It seems that part of their argument is based on survey data, and the rest is questionable: They rely on data from a previous report that cited savings as follows: i)Dismissal rates were lower in unionised workplaces with union reps – this resulted in savings related to recruitment costs of £107m-£213m pa Surely this is because the Unions make it hard to fire people. So if someone is crap at their job, you can't replace them with someone good at the job. Without looking at the relative productivity rates of unionised vs non-unionised workplaces this is meaningless, but I reckon that preventing you from firing people who are crap would lower productivity and thus constitute a cost, rather than a benefit - and the magnitude of that cost will be significantly greater than the benefit, as you'd not want to sack someone unless you could get a better person in and make more money after costs were taken into consideration, so the costs must be smaller than the benefit. ii) Voluntary exit rates were lower in unionised workplaces with union reps, which again resulted in savings related to recruitment costs of £72m-143m pa People stayed longer (albeit because the benefits/pay were likely better) - this could be a valid benefit. iii) Employment tribunal cases are lower in unionised workplaces with union reps resulting in savings to government of £22m-43m pa See (i) - this is likely because tribunals were threatened in any number of cases, and the employer forced to back down. If you sack less people, less people will complain. I'd count this as a part of the cost of replacing crap people with good people, and would expect the benefit thus to far outweigh this cost. iv) Workplace-related injuries were lower in unionised workplaces with union reps so resulting in savings to employers of £126m-371m pa Really? What were the additional costs of complying with increased health and safety requirements placed there by the Union rep? v) Workplace-related illnesses were lower in unionised workplaces with union reps so resulting in savings to employers of £45m-207m pa What about non-workplace related illnesses? Is this just a case of the union rep saying "don't put it down as workplace related, or you could get in trouble"? Taking points (i) and (iii) as negative (i.e. assuming that the productivity increase from replacing bad staff would be at least enough to cover the costs of replacing bad staff twice) and disregarding point (iv) as we have no idea of the actual costs involved in reaching this point gives a total saving from having union reps on the order of £40m (using average figures). By the methodology in the report, 60% of this is public sector, so £24m. Uprating to now gives £28.7m - call it £30m if you like. So we get a benefit of £30m for an expenditure of £113m. Sounds like a good deal to me... They question the £113m figure, suggesting that £80m is more reasonable - so we're getting back a massive 38% of what we spend. That's the kind of deal our government should be fully in support of!
From Reed's on-line introduction of the Feylith instrument: The Feylith (faerie stone) is a 54-voice keyboard instrument. East and West "Kingdoms" divide the voices into two outputs, providing a stereo signal. Fifty-four stones, each unique, twenty-seven for each Kingdom, make-up the two pressure-sensitive keyboard playing fields. Normally, the sounds include a few spoken words amidst a wide range of sound effects, all very well recorded. Each Kingdom has a master frequency control. This allows separate control over the pitch of each Kingdom... from super low to super high. Clocking the samples outside of normal range creates an assortment of great abstract sounds to work with. The Western Kingdom is straight-forward: set the pitch and press a stone. The Eastern Kingdom was a wonderful surprise! With the glowing Eastern Eye turned off, all works as with the Western Kingdom: set the pitch and press a stone. But... with the glowing eye turned on, a new aleatoric response system emerges from the eastern Kingdom. With the Eastern Eye turned on, sets of sounds are tied end-to-end when the stones are pressed instead of one sound playing at a time. Each stone triggers a different sequence it seems. Very odd. Practice in setting the speed dial is very important. The range could be marked for reference. Front Panel: Believe Switch. Turns on the power supply. Lights bright blue mini power pilot LED. Kingdom Keyboards, East and West, each containing twenty-seven uniquestones/sounds. Speed dials, East and West. Rebirth Switch, East and West. Resets Kingdom Keyboards; stops audio inprogress. Kingdom Eyes, East and West. Glass animal eyes serving as lenses for the peak envelope LEDs, bulging through the case. These eyes glow and flash orange-red with the sounds of the individual Kingdoms. Each has an on-off switch. Kingdom Pilots, East and West. Tiny yellow LEDs within vintage yellow pilot lenses. Each glows to confirm power to Kingdom; flashes with Rebirth switch. Glee Body Contacts, two pair, East and West. Bridge to pitch-bend voice in play (most obvious with mid-to-high-pitched voices; moisten fingertips for best response). Faerie Door. Panel opens to reveal small area for your magic dust supply. Faerie Windows. Thirty small windows in case, behind which abstract patterns ebb and flow with viewing angle (lenticular art). Antique lacquered gold "Deluxe" emblem. Back Panel: Stereo (East and West Kingdom) RCA line outputs. Case is finished in red/black veining with holographic dust and final gloss. Yellow Kingdom Eyes, Kingdom Pilots, switches and keyboard frames. Silver hand-inked control titles. Prices will range from $2,000 to $4,500. depending upon design variations and finishing elements. Feylith as shown would be $3,500 plus shipping. E-mail: [email protected] POB 20181 Cincinnati, OH 45220
Golden Mask Dynasty in the Happy Valley - CITS Home>Travel Guide Golden Mask Dynasty in the Happy Valley The Golden Mask Dynasty is an amazing show which will take you to a trip to the ancient land of China. It is performed at the OCT Theatre, located near the popular Happy Valley Amusement Park. You can enjoy the Golden Mask Dynasty show and visit the Happy Valley Park for a fun day trip! The Golden Mask Dynasty is an original Chinese drama play. Produced by Chinese playwrights, directors and designers, the play features Chinese dances, acrobatics, costumes, and lighting and acoustics. This is an ancient Chinese romantic legend, a fragment of distant historical memory. The beautiful Golden Mask Queen lead her army defeats the invading Blue Mask army and also made the acquaintance of Blue Mask King. The postwar Golden Mask Dynasty returned to its leisurely pastoral life. To ask bless for the Golden Mask Dynasty, the Queen decided to forge the ''mysterious tree''. When the tree grew up, the Queen held a grand celebration and released the Blue soldiers. The Blue Mask King was deeply moved by the Queen's tolerance, the same to the Queen by his braveness, so they fell in love and got admiration. Unfortunately, monstrous floods stroke the kingdom and left it at risk. To save the people, the Queen, under the guidance of the mysterious tree, had to say farewell to the Blue Mask King and sacrifice herself. As a result, the flood gradually subsided, and all the people were rescued. The Blue Mask King and the people had endless loving thought of the Queen because of her devotion. Finally, the Queen turned into a golden sunbird flying in the sky above her hometown, blessing the long-lasting well-being of the dynasty. With more than 200 highly skillful actors, this 70-minute show is guaranteed to keep the audience entertained. Acts range from acrobatics, to dance, singing, martial arts and more! China Tours Quick Inquiry • Full Name: • Email: • Tell us your idea:
Quid Quo Pro Constitutionality Quid pro quo is a Latin phrase meaning "something for something." It indicates a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. It comes to my attention that some people think people different from them should sometimes have to negotiate for their rights in the court of public opinion. Consider the situation where a group wants to build a mosque at a location that's offensive to some. With quid quo pro constitutionality, the offended person could invoke the "public opinion clause" through blogs and news outlets. The talking heads would apply the rule of rigid associations in their analysis and associate Islam with oppressive non-democracies in the middle east. Then, they would ask, "If we wanted to build a church near a holy shrine in their country, would they let us?" If the answer is no, they would conclude, "Then, why should we let them build something near ground zero? Your request for constitutional protections is denied." What they're saying is, "Constitution or no constitution, if you don't scratch my back, I won't scratch yours. I know building a mosque or a Muslim community center near ground zero is offensive to some. But, the constitution does not protect us from being offended. Some people are accusing the group building Cordoba House of aggressive and insincere motives. I don't know about their motives, but I do know motives are not part of real constitutional analysis. So, bickering about motives does not enter into the discussion of someone's constitutional rights. John Adams said, "We are a nation of laws, not of men." If we are permitted to negotiate away the constitutional protections for others in the court of public opinion, we erode constitutional protections for everyone. Is America AMERICA without the constitution? One WWII American Veteran I know answered, "America is the constitution." America is all of us. No comments: Post a Comment
As annoying as it can be to some people, I find this to be one of my greatest traits. Yes, I understand why I can appear as 'difficult', but I simply like things to be a certain way and to be as close to perfect as possible. Is this a problem? deleted deleted 2 Responses Aug 18, 2014 It doesn't have to be a problem. I like certain aspects of my perfectionism as it always strives me to have high standards, when I complete a task. The only downside it appears to have, is that it strengthens one of my negative qualities, procrastination. Perfection is hard to achieve but knowing you gave it your best shot is really satisfying. I'm a bit the same. For me 'near enough, ISN'T good enough'.
Home » Alternative Medicine » This Incredible Ancient Recipe Can Cure Diabetes, And Pharmacies Have Spent Millions Of Dollars To Make It Disappear! Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs, because the pancreas does not synthesize the amount of insulin the body needs, or made of inferior quality or can not use it effectively. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas Its main function is to maintain proper blood glucose levels. This allows glucose to enter the body and can be transported into cells, where it is converted into energy for muscles and tissues to function. In people with diabetes there is an excess of glucose in the blood (hyperglycemia), because it is not distributed properly. Experts warn that, if patients do not follow the proper treatment tissue can complete damaged and can cause very serious complications in the body. The causes of Type 1 diabetes are usually progressive destruction of pancreatic cells that produce insulin. Its particular symptoms are increased need for drinking water and increased urine, fatigue and weight loss despite increased desire to eat. Type 2 diabetes It usually occurs in old age and is about ten times more than the previous. Typically, type 2 diabetes also diagnosed with the genes in the family It originates due to insufficient production of insulin, with insufficient use of the substances in the cells. The patient will need to be treated with insulin or antidiabetic pills. In these cases, the patient usually does not show any kind of discomfort, neither a specific symptom. Major symptoms of diabetes include: Frequency of urination (wet bed phenomenon in children). Feeling of unusual hunger. Excessive thirst. Weakness and tiredness. Losing weight. Irritability and changes in mood. Feeling sick in the stomach and vomiting. Itching or numbness in the hands or feet. Recurrent infections of the skin, gingiva, or bladder (cystitis). High levels of glucose in the blood and urine. And what is the role of insulin? Insulin is a hormone that as previously said is produced in the pancreas, this hormone is responsible for maintaining adequate levels of glucose in the blood. Insulin is also the one that yields to glucose its entry into the body and goes to the cells, in this place the glucose is transformed into energy and nourishes the tissues and muscles. So when a person has diabetes he can not produce insulin so he can not control his blood glucose levels, which causes tissue damage and other very serious complications in the body. Before artificial insulin existed this is what the doctors have given to their patients Before all the advances of science, there was no other option than to use as treatment the properties of plants that are considered medicinal. To treat diabetes there are endless plants that are considered “antidiabetic” and were used as a medicinal tradition, among these plants are beans. On the other hand, there is also a treatment based on arsenic and uranium, but like many other remedies were abandoned because of its ineffectiveness. However, since at least a decade has been resumed a study on the use of black beans to treat diabetes. Other plant that heal diabetes are legumes and grains. They can reduce insulin resistance in the body, which is a major cause of diabetes type 2 Regular consumption of beans can normalize hemoglobin A1C almost like any other drug, which makes an ingredient great natural cure for diabetes. Leave a Reply
Japan for the Uninvited Japanese culture from a bemused foreign perspective No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) Legs and skirtAt no-pan kissa (“no panties” coffee shops), waitresses wear short skirts and nothing underneath. Customers of these establishments are happy to pay a hefty premium on the overpriced food and drink to see a little more of the staff, and someone willing to pay extra for a better view might innocuously tip a waitress to reach for something from a shelf, or to bend down and pick something up. Many places are decorated with mirrors, avoiding too many strained necks. Many girls employed in Japan’s voracious sex industry prefer working in this kind of place, because they pay relatively well and generally operate a “no touch” policy. The first no-pan kissa, ‘Johnny’, opened in Kyoto in 1978. Similar establishments popped up in the entertainment districts of Tokyo and Osaka, where the no pan boom took off on the back of Japan’s economic glory days. Popularity peaked in the 1980s, but many faded away soon after 1985, when new vice legislation started driving them out of business. The no-pan glory years The no-pan phenomenon has not been limited to cafes – no-pan restaurants (typically serving shabu-shabu or yakiniku) enjoyed brief and intense popularity. During Japan’s boom years, they were a favourite venue for risqué corporate outings and political entertaining (all on the company expense account or the taxpayer, of course). Roran, in Tokyo’s Kabuki-cho red light district, was one of the most famous no-pan shabu-shabu joints, and is still open today. At one point, the restaurant had more than 15,000 members, many of whom were Japan’s richest and most powerful. Roran’s innovative owner had fans built into the floor, blowing up the waitresses’ miniskirts to created an x-rated Marilyn Munroe effect. Another popular feature was the video cameras built into the floor. The beginning of the end for no-pan dining came in 1998, when several of Roran’s waitresses were arrested for indecent exposure. The restaurant, and no-pan in general, had just come to Japan’s attention as the backdrop for the country’s latest government scandal. Two finance ministry officials had been leaking confidential information to bank executives while being treated to evenings at the Roran. The exotic combination of corruption, cooked meat and bare crotch sparked massive public intrigue, forcing police to raid the restaurant. Almost all no-pan cafes and restaurants have been replaced by fashion clubs and other establishments offering more “straightforward” services. The few that survive exist on the fringes of the law, and are generally much seedier, offering backrooms where frustrated customers can be relieved. Some have equipped their waitresses with see-through panties to avoid police interference, but even this could get the proprietors into trouble. del.icio.us:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) digg:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) spurl:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) wists:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) simpy:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) newsvine:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) blinklist:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) furl:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) reddit:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) fark:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) blogmarks:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) Y!:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) smarking:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) magnolia:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) segnalo:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) gifttagging:No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes) 5 Comments, Comment or Ping 1. Amos They should setup a non-pan airline. That would really rock 🙂 2. BMR Great stuff! Reply to “No-pan kissa (No-panty cafes)”
Home FAQ's Tsunami FAQ's Common Tsunami Questions Print E-mail Q: Is San Juan County at risk for a tsunami? A: The short answer is yes. We live in earthquake country, and earthquakes can (but don't always) cause tsunamis. Please also take a look at our Earthquake FAQ for much more info about quakes. Tsunamis are rare, and there is little local historical information as to their extent or severity. However there is ample geologic evidence that in the event of a large earthquake on the subduction zone located off of the outer Washington coast, San Juan County could expect a tsunami anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes later. Recently scientists have begun using high-powered computers to model various seismic events and the resulting tsunamis. Tsunamis are drastically affected by bathymetry, topography, and geography. According to the latest models, most of the shorelines of the islands will be unimpacted, but in some spots the waters will reach a height of 10 feet above mean high tide, and potentially a height of 20 feet in a few high risk areas. In most cases a tsunami is not so much a breaking wave, but rather a sudden and fast moving tidal surge (hence the name tidal wave). Picture a vastly amplified tide coming in over the course of minutes not hours. Take a look at the online tool that models what a Cascadia subduction zone quake would look like: http://sjcgis.org/tsunami-inundation/ In addition this is an animated model of what a subduction zone induced tsunami could look like. Note that this model is somewhat dated, but still gives a good sense of how a tsunami might behave. In terms of timing and the repeated surges. Note that this model does not give a good prediction for height of actual surge over land. There are two other potential tsunami scenarios as well: It is possible that a quake centered within the Puget Sound region could generate a tsunami that would arrive much sooner and be much bigger. Main thing of course is to head to high ground at the first sign of a major earthquake. There is also the remote risk that a major quake in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska could generate a quake that would affect the inland waters of the San Juans. Most likely the damage would be limited to docks and marinas. This is the only scenario in which scientists are predicting damage here from a distant quake, and there would be a number of hours in which to get the word out to impacted areas. Q: How do I know whether my property is at risk from a tsunami? A: If you live in the San Juan Islands, you can view our online mapping tool to view risks in the islands. This tool has been built based on modelling work done by NOAA and WA State DNR. For locations in WA, but outside of San Juan County, please view the maps made by WA State DNR. Q: On the online map tool, there are areas where the color doesn't extend all the way to shore or appears otherwise disjointed. What's the story? A: Due to the scale of the model and inconsistencies in data sets, the way the model results appear on the map is less than perfect. Unfortunately, you have to use your imagination a bit. If an area shows inundation, count on the impacts connecting to the shoreline. You have to use a bit of common sense for sure... and remember, this is not a tool that is intended to make micro level decisions about risk- but is more intended to help people understand if a given beach, neighborhood, cove, etc. is liable to experience tsunami impacts. Bottom line, areas that have some inundation predicted anywhere nearby should be evacuated, and even those areas on the water that are forecast to have no impact should still be vacated following a large quake. Better safe than sorry. Q: I operate a marina, or live on my boat, and my dock doesn't show up as a hazard zone in the online tool, does that mean I'm safe? A: Not at all. The online tool forecasts surge over land. For infrastructure that is actually in the water, even just the current speeds can be a major concern. All harbors and tsunamis are different, and impacts vary widely, but take a look at this video from Santa Cruz, CA after the 2011 Japan quake to get a sense of why you want to not be anywhere near the water, regardless of what the models say. If you live on your boat, we'd highly recommend getting an EAS equipped weather radio so you can hear the tusnami warning if you don't feel the quake. Also a good idea to have someone you know on land call you or check on you if there's a big quake and it's night time. Q: I looked up my neighborhood on the online tool, and there's no color at all, even though I live on a low bank beach. Why is that? Many areas of the islands are predicted to emerge from a tsunami unscathed (this is good news!). Tsunami impacts are strongly affected by bathymetry and topography- and most of the island shoreline is not affected. That said, no matter where you are after a big quake, it's a good idea to remove yourself from the shoreline until you are sure that there won't be any impacts. This is only a model, based on our best guess and current science- we all know that mother nature has a way of surprising us on a nearly constant basis. And even places that won't see a large run up in water levels may still see extremely strong currents. Docks, marinas, and vessels in the water often see significant damage due to the current, even without the actual "wave". Take a look at this video from Crescent City, CA after the 2011 Japan quake to see what sort of impact a tsunami can have with high current velocity alone. Q: What do I need to know about tsunamis? A: There are a few key things everyone should be aware of: Your tsunami warning is a major earthquake. If there’s a big quake, go to high ground and get away from low bank waterfront, docks, beaches, etc. Head uphill and try to get at least 30’ above the water, but going higher certainly isn’t a bad idea. There are no sirens in San Juan County, and don't count on other forms of technology. Use common sense and caution and head to high ground if you feel a major quake. Stay high until 4 or more hours have passed or you have other confirmation that there's no tsunami (this is where a hand held radio can come in handy). If you see the ocean behaving in a strange way, head to high ground. The tide going out, unusual currents, or other odd ocean behavior could be the first sign of a tsunami. Remember, the first surge is often not the biggest. Don’t go back to low ground anytime soon. Tsunami impacts can continue for 12 hours or more after the first effects. Getting your boat out of the harbor to prevent damage is a bad idea (again, take a look at this video to get a sense of current speed). While that has worked on the outer coast, where deep open water is close at hand, the complexity of island waters will make for highly unpredictable impacts and current speeds approaching 15 knots or more. Be safe, and head to high ground. Q: Under what scenario would the event modeled in the online map tool occur? A: The inundation modelling is based on a specific Cascadia subduction zone quake, a 9.0. Specifically, WA DNR and NOAA used the L1 scenario from this simulation. There are certainly other possible situations that would create a tsunami, but this one is a good starting point for understanding risk. Q: How long after the earthquake would the tsunami arrive? A: In the most likely scenario the first wave will arrive in the islands about 45 minutes after the quake. That said, in a more local quake, the wave could arrive much sooner. The main goal is to head to high ground as soon as you feel a large quake. Q: How will island residents be alerted of a tsunami? A: When you feel a large earthquake, that is your warning. Those living on boats, sound sleeper, or others living in a tsunami hazard zone may want to consider purchasing a NOAA Weather Alert Radio with SAME techonology. These radios will pick up the tsunami alert and make a loud tone to notify you of the hazard. Keep in mind though that these are pieces of technology dependent on communications systems to operate- the big earthquake is still your best alerting system. Q: Why aren't there tsunami sirens in the islands? A: There are a number of reasons, but the primary reason is that we will feel the earthquake, and that is the single most effective and reliable form of notification we could ever ask for. We'll also likely have plenty of time to calmly head to high ground before the surge arrives. Unlike the outer coast, tsunamis from distant, unfelt quakes are a remote risk. It's also true that we would need a large number of them to cover the islands, and the sirens cost upwards of $100K each, are somewhat expensive to maintain, and have had some issues with false alerts over the years. They depend on infrastructure to operate that could possibly be knocked out by the quake itself, and there is some concern that they can promote an over reliance on technology (i.e. if people feel a huge quake, but don't hear the siren, they'll stay near the water, assuming it's safe). For all of these reasons, we think the simplest, most reliable, most affordable, and best common sense solution is to get all islanders aware of the fact that if they feel a quake, they should head to high ground. Q: My house is in a hazard zone. Will my insurance cover tsunami damage? A: Standard home owner's insurance doesn't cover damage caused by either an earthquake or a flood (for insurance purposes, a tsunami is considered a flood). Both flood and quake insurance are separate policies that you can add to your home owner's coverage. Talk to your insurance agent and have them walk you through the complex cost/benefit equation that can help you decide whether or not to add to your existing policy. Q: Who did the modelling to create the online mapping tool? A: The initial modelling was done by scientists at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Q: My property is in a hazard zone, does this mean I cannot build on my lot? There are no regulations in San Juan County controlling development in a tsunami hazard zone. In those jurisdictions in the U.S. where there are restrictions, the only limit is to prevent the building of schools, hospitals, fire stations, and other critical public facilities. Q: How dangerous is a tsunami? A: In the most likely scenario, San Juan County will have plenty of warning (due to the large quake we feel) before a tsunami in the form of an extremely large earthquake. This gives us time to pack up families, pets, and valuables and head away from the shore. The danger from tsunamis comes from rapidly rising water, as well as fast moving debris entrapped in the flow (boats, docks, driftwood logs, and other items become potentially devastating battering rams). It is important that once you leave, you stay high until you are sure that the threat has passed (after a large earthquake, repeated tsunamis are possible over the span of up to 24 hours). Tune in to your local media or your EAS radio for updates. If people are educated and aware of the risk and make prudent common sense choices, there is no reason for anyone to be harmed in a tsunami in San Juan County. Remember though that just because you survived the tsunami, our challenges aren't over. The islands are likely to be cut off from mainland food and fuel supplies for weeks. Advanced medical care options on the mainland will be limited and ferry service may be shut down or extremely limited. Island water and septic systems may be damaged or non-operational. Power, phone, and internet service may be extremely limited or shut down completely. In short, doing everything you can to prepare you, your family, and you community for being completely self-sufficient for 7-10 days is absolutely critical. For help on how to start that process, visit our Preparedness Page. Q: What can I do to protect against tsunami damage? A: The highest priority is to protect yourself and your family. After a large earthquake, act as though a tsunami is coming and move to higher ground. Equip yourself with an EAS radio in order to hear tsunami warnings. To mitigate damage to your home, the first thing to do understand the risk. If you're building in a hazard zone, work with engineers to mitigate against damage. For waterfront infrastructure, in general, the higher the pilings of any floating dock in the hazard zone extend above mean high tide, the better- enabling the piers to float up with the level of the tsunami and avoiding the release of boats and docks as debris. A tsunami is a relatively rare but massive event; the priority is always to protect lives over property. Q: Is there any good news about tsunamis? A: When it comes to tsunamis, we have a number of pieces of good news. One is that we’ll feel the quake that causes our tsunami. Communities on the outer coast can be impacted by tsunamis that come from far away, so they won’t know it is coming. A second advantage of the islands is that high ground is never far away. Getting to an elevation that is at least 30 feet above the high tide would get us out of the reach of all but the most extreme of tsunamis, and that’s never hard to do in the islands. Thirdly, the size of the surge here is forecast to be much less (20 feet max) in most situations, and that's much less than some other communities are facing. There are also a number of locations in the islands that are predicted to be unscathed by any tsunami impacts. The final piece of good news is that we’re a resourceful, resilient, and common-sensical community where people tend to be good at taking care of themselves and each other. This is critical following an emergency, especially when residents have taken steps ahead of time to prepare (as is the case with many islanders). Q: How do I learn more about tsunamis? A: Here is a page of links to other resources about both tsunamis and earthquakes. Q: I'm a property owner or manager of property in a zone that looks like it's high risk. Should I put up warning signs? A: Yes, please- that would be great. And we're happy to help. Ideally public places in high risk zones would feature signs that look something like this. Contact us to help figure out how to get signs and how best to mount them so they don't "disappear". A number of locations in the County already have these signs posted, including Ports, County Parks, and State Parks. There are a number of spots that would benefit from them that have yet to be signed though.
Saturday, May 16, 2015 No Roll Felting - Dryer Method Just ask any felter what their least favorite part of the process is and most will say the rolling. And yes I concur with this consensus; it is in fact my least favorite part. On the other hand, I have to say it's a pretty good work out and I've developed some fairly decent upper arms from it. Sometimes I even throw in a few squats at the same time as part of my multi-tasking mentality. Although I've heard lately that they say it's impossible to multi-task...really now. And to help pass the time, I usually put my iPad on the table and turn on some mindless show or some interesting TED talks. Once in a while, I'll bring my roll into the other room, put it on the floor and use my feet to roll while I watch TV on the big screen. So given all of this, I try to make the best out of rolling. But a recent Facebook post by Patricia Spark referencing the dryer method for felting, which is a popular substitute for rolling, got me thinking that I should try it again. I had in fact tried it some time ago but I had not been very pleased. I think it had to do with what I was making at the time which was a big garment with a resist. But this time I was working on a simple 30"x30" square that is going to be used as either a table accessory, pillow cover, quilt piece or something similar, and thought I'd take another crack at this dryer method for felting. First off, I created the piece in my usual method by laying out my roving on a large piece of bubble wrap with bubbles up. I wetted out the piece with the ball browser which I definitely prefer to the garden sprayer. I then covered the work with with another large piece of bubble wrap (bubbles down)and then wet the bubble wrap so that my hands glide to compress it for several minutes. At this point, I would normally start my rolling. But this time, I did the following for the no roll dryer method: 1. I folded over the bubble wrap to make a small package. My 30"x30" square was still in tack. 2. I used a wet towel and rolled it up like a sausage roll. I put that at the edge of my bubble wrap. 3. I rolled up the sausage towel inside the bubble wrap. 4. I put a fresh towel under the package and rolled everything up inside it. 5. I secured the towel with three panty hose ties. 6. Into the dryer it went for 10 minutes. Set it for no heat or just damp dry. It's the thumping agitation, not the heat, that will "no roll" felt the piece for you. And while it's doing it's thing, you have time to get other stuff done...or not! 7. After the 10 minutes, take it out, open it up and re-roll it with the wet sausage towel at the other end. Re-roll it with the outside towel, secure it with the ties and pop it back into the dryer for anther 10 minutes. Again relax or do your thing. 8. Remove the outer towel, the sausage towel, and open it up. Assure it is secure. Proceed as your normally would to full the piece: roll it on itself, slam it, rub it. And just like that, it's a beautiful felted piece. You May Also Like Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Polaris Scrambler 500 4X4 is powered by a liquid-cooled Polaris 500 High-Output 4-valve, 4-Stroke Single Cylinder. The Scrambler’s power is matched with the traction provided by Polaris On-Demand All Wheel Drive (AWD). Below schematic illustrates the 2007 Polaris Scrambler 500 4X4 Electrical Ignition System and Wiring Diagram. The electrical ignition system consists of: 1. ASM-Ignition coil 2. Plate assembly 3. Stator
Microsoft’s Cortana app for iOS, Android and Windows might not be the only new application the company will offer smartphone users, as a Google Now-like app is apparently in the works. Aptly named Office Now, the app has already been leaked and appears to be different from Cortana. DON’T MISS: Let’s just hope the iPhone never gets this good It’s not entirely clear why Microsoft would have two different assistant-like apps, but Neowin has some convincing details on the yet-to-be-announced Office Now. According to the publication the Office Now app is currently in private beta testing. The app will let users organize their days and find “information that is relevant to the objective you are trying to accomplish quickly.” The app will apparently present various cards to help you with a variety of daily tasks, much as Google Now does. The publication notes several such cards, including at-a-glance summary, commute card, highlights card, missed call card, in-depth people insights, natural language event creation, email to yourself card and emails directly to you card. Office Now appears to offer some functionality that’s similar to what Cortana can already do, but the app offers the features automatically by being contextually aware of your needs. With Cortana, you have to ask or wait for content, but Office Now appears to be more like Microsoft’s direct response to Google Now. Screenshots from the Office Now app follow below. office-now-app-1Image Source: Neowin office-now-app-2Image Source: Neowin
Explore BrainMass Psychological Statistics & Depression In the following study, participants were randomly assigned to receive humanistic therapy, psychodynamic therapy, or behavioral therapy for their depression. Six months after therapy ended, participants levels of depression were rated on a Likert scale from 1 not all depressed to 15 extremely depressed. What can you tell me about this need help in this chart? Please see attachment. 1. See Table 2. This study is an independent groups design. How do you know? 3. How could you change this experiment to be a repeated measures design? 4. How could you change this experiment to be a matched sets design? 5. Is this a true experiment or an ex post facto study? How do you know? 6. What is the independent variable in this study? 7. What is the dependent variable in this study? 8. What is the scale of measurement for the dependent variable? 9. What kind of statistical analysis was conducted? Solution Preview Interesting experiment! Briefly, I have provided a step-by-step guide through the ... Solution Summary By responding to the questions, this solution provides a step-by-step guide referring to the 'highlighted' information in the table to help understand where to locate and interpret the information in the table. It also discusses the experimental topics in the questions e..g how to change the experiment to a repeated measures design, etc.
Pair of suneate (shinguards) Horsehair, handspun cotton In the first picture, a samurai ties on suneate with metal reinforcements. In the second (a Hokusai print of Mt. Fuji seen from Kajikizawa), a fisherman in simpler suneate. It was believed that indigo was effective as an insect repellant. Very likely, the fisherman’s shinguards were dyed in indigo. Hokusai - Mt. Fuji seen from Kajikizawa
Italy 22 Sep 2015 Italy, 22 September 2015 So, unfortunately, I lost my camera on this trip at the dog show :/ And believe it or not, I was more upset about the photos I had on the camera that I lost than the camera itself. But thankfully, I had already uploaded the pics from our first day there, so at least I got something. What I love so much about Europe and in this case more specifically Italy, is how differently dogs and pets in general are viewed there. We went to a mall that was downtown and there were so many patrons in the mall with their dogs. This is not uncommon at all, and I LOVE it! <3 There is a sign on the door that states you must clean up after your pet, but other than that, they are completely welcome. It is the same when we go out to eat and just walk around in general. As always, so lovely to see my dear friends Milica and Uros <3 Ljubim Te <3 italy22sep15_05 italy22sep15_04 italy22sep15_03 italy22sep15_02 italy22sep15_01 Why can’t I ever find a grocery store with isles and isles of fresh pasta in the US?? Once you have had REAL pizza in Italy, it is very, very difficult to eat anything called pizza in the US!! italy22sep15_15italy22sep15_16italy22sep15_17italy22sep15_18italy22sep15_19 italy22sep15_20 italy22sep15_21 italy22sep15_22 italy22sep15_23 italy22sep15_24 italy22sep15_25 italy22sep15_26 italy22sep15_27 italy22sep15_28 italy22sep15_29 italy22sep15_30 italy22sep15_31 italy22sep15_32 italy22sep15_33 italy22sep15_34 italy22sep15_35 italy22sep15_36 italy22sep15_37 italy22sep15_39 italy22sep15_40 italy22sep15_41 italy22sep15_42 italy22sep15_43 italy22sep15_44 italy22sep15_45 italy22sep15_46 italy22sep15_47 italy22sep15_48 italy22sep15_49 italy22sep15_50 italy22sep15_53 italy22sep15_52 italy22sep15_51 italy22sep15_53 italy22sep15_54 italy22sep15_55 italy22sep15_56 italy22sep15_57 italy22sep15_58 italy22sep15_59 italy22sep15_60 italy22sep15_61 italy22sep15_62 italy22sep15_63 italy22sep15_71 italy22sep15_72 italy22sep15_73 Comments are closed
How do you say “throwing someone an anchor” in Russian? It think it goes something like this Kremlin aide says Putin prepared to provide transcript, not audio recording, of Trump and Lavrov meeting Yes. Vladimir Putin says that Trump didn’t hand Russia any vital information, information that they might have already used to uncover Israeli agents who had spent years embedding themselves among ISIS operatives in a Syrian city. And to make it clear just how much this did not happen, Putin is ready to turn over the Kremlin’s own transcript of a meeting held in White House. Thank you, Vlad. Next up: Charlie Manson offers to appear as Trump’s character witness.
ALBANY - A proposed constitutional amendment to reform New York State's long-term borrowing practices received constructive criticism yesterday from a Wall Street bond analyst and a stern rebuke from an anti-debt advocate during a legislative hearing on the issue. The hearing, sponsored by a task force of Republican state assemblymen, also featured testimony from an official representing a state bonding authority who said his agency's debt sales would be reduced if and when the proposed constitutional amendment takes effect. The constitutional amendment, devised by officials in the state Budget Division and majority leaders in the state Assembly and Senate, was approved by the Legislature earlier this year as part of New York's fiscal 1994 budget. However, the amendment, which would create a new form of state debt that would not need voter approval for issuance, still must pass another sitting Legislature and win approval from voters before it can become law. The earliest the amendment could take effect is the 1997 fiscal year, which starts April 1. The hearing marked one of the first public discussions of debt reform since the proposed amendment's initial passage, and a chance for the Assembly's minority party to voice its opinion on the subject. The Assembly Republicans were largely uninvolved in the amendment's drafting, and several interviewed said they voted for the proposal without full knowledge of its contents. Public testimony on the debt reform measure began with remarks by taxpayer activist Robert L. Schulz, president of the All-County Taxpayer's Association. Schulz, a Glens Falls, N.Y., engineer, has sued the state in more than a dozen cases claiming that its use of appropriated debt without voter approval violates the state constitution. He recently won "standing" to sue again. But Schulz, in his testimony, said the state's plan to change the constitution is not the answer, adding that he and his organization will oppose any change to the state constitution's voter approval clause. "As far as we are concerned, the constitutional debt limiting provisions that we now have represent valid and adequate protection of the people against wayward and misguided government borrowing practices," Schulz said. Michael Brooks, a municipal credit analyst at the firm of Sanford Bernstein & Co., said he did support some aspects of the state's debt reform proposal. But he said as it is written, the amendment "does not go far enough. " Brooks, for example, took issue with a cap established on how much of the new debt can be issued. The cap, 5% of total personal income in the state, would allow officials to sell at least $21 billion in debt without voter approval, an amount that Brooks said was too high. "As I understand it, the cap was sized to allow the state to carry out a reasonably full capital program even if the voters failed to approve any more borrowing," Brooks said, adding later that "there are clearly benefits in a system of checks and balances." State budget officials have said that they plan to also place general obligation issues on the ballot for voter approval in an attempt not to use up the bonding authority provided under the cap.: Theodore A. Holmes, the acting executive director of the state Dormitory Authority, which issues bonds on behalf of the state, said that while he agrees with the need for debt reform, he said that the authority system for selling state debt has served the state well. Holmes also told the task force that the amendment would reduce the amount of financing completed by the authority. Subscribe Now 14-Day Free Trial
You've got family at Ancestry. Find more Steusloff relatives and grow your tree by exploring billions of historical records. Taken every decade since 1790, the U.S. Federal Census can tell you a lot about your family. For example, from 1930 to 1940 there were 37 more people named Steusloff in the United States — and some of them are likely related to you. Start a tree and connect with your family. Create, build, and explore your family tree. What if you had a window into the history of your family? With historical records, you do. From home life to career, records help bring your relatives' experiences into focus. There were 60 people named Steusloff in the 1930 U.S. Census. In 1940, there were 62% more people named Steusloff in the United States. What was life like for them? Picture the past for your ancestors. In 1940, 97 people named Steusloff were living in the United States. In a snapshot: • 38%, or 11 people, lived in homes they rented • 31 were children • Although 49% were female, the most common name for males was Raymond • 97 rented out rooms to boarders Learn where they came from and where they went. As Steusloff families continued to grow, they left more tracks on the map: • 9 were born in foreign countries • Most mothers originated from Germany • 52% were first-generation Americans • 13 migrated within the United States from 1935 to 1940
Spectacle thief avoids jail Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court A thief who snatched hundreds of pounds worth of glasses from a Wigan high street optician’s has avoided a spell behind bars. Anthony Chambers had previously pleaded guilty to the theft at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court, where justices heard that the 55-year-old had travelled to the town from Liverpool with the intention of committing the crime. He walked into the Vision Express store on Standishgate and stole armfuls of spectacles and frames worth a total of £889. Addressing the previous hearing, prosecutor Tess Kenyon said: “Mr Chambers was seen in Vision Express on May 28. “After he had left the store there were found to be gaps in the stock. “Mr Chambers was followed on foot and police were contacted. “He was seen by the staff member to take glasses frames and put them into a carrier bag.” Chambers, of Wellstead Road, Liverpool, was arrested and then taken to Wigan police station where he underwent questioning. He admitted to his crime and told officers that he intended to sell the stolen goods for cash in order to buy drugs on which he was dependent. Ms Kenyon added: “He had travelled to Wigan from Liverpool specifically to shoplift. “He had no money and was taking cocaine. “He intended to go back to Liverpool to sell the items.” Ms Kenyon told the court that the glasses and frames were all safely recovered and returned. Gary Golding, defending, said: “He admitted it and his reasons for doing so. “If he gets help with his addiction you won’t see him before the courts again.” At this week’s hearing justices handed Chambers a 12-month community order which includes an eight-week curfew between the hours of 7pm and 7am, a drug rehabilitation requirement for six months and a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement. He was also ordered to pay an £85 victim surcharge and another £85 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.
訪問人数: 1 総訪問人数: 0003573984 Ciao amici miei this is the private holiday mansion my mom owns in Italy, remember to give me a call if you happen to be in Italy for vacation, maybe we can catch up for a drink? and don't worry if you don't speak any Italian at all, mommy was educated in an English-speaking country so she pretty much speaks English as her first language already~ also, if you really do come, i, Tom Tom, promise to be your local guide FREE OF CHARGE, there're all sorts of intersting things i'd like you to know about our sophisticated Italian culture!! summer's been soooooo hot so far this year, what do you usually do to get away from the hot heat? i spend almost everyday by the pool, and sometimes i'd jump into the water and pretend i'm a fish haha. where's my iced coke? i can really drink a whole bottle one right now!!! evenly spread red + black parti-color throughout my entire body, in addition to my super rare to see pocket teacup size you can say that i'm probably the only boy with such unique features in Italy, or even in Europe! "phantom" is what they use to descirbe my black+red color in America & Europe, isn't it just so cool to have a name like that? adding extra mysteriousness to my current status again >.^ introducing to you... my chihuahua brothers~ did you notice what's special in one of them? yes, the crystal blue Husky eyes. mommy's extremely picky especially in her beauty tast, exceptionally high standards she holds towards "beautiful things". and to be able to live with mommy in our billion dollar mansion, you have to be rarer to find than lake monsters! www.52993344.com \| www.tcuppoodle.com
If there's one thing Ellen DeGeneres loves, it's kids on YouTube. This time she found the boy who was crying in a popular viral video because he isn't allowed to sing a racy Nicki Minaj song. She put him on the show and let him do his thang. Then she gave him a bunch of Nicki Minaj swag. The best part might be when she asks him (he's only three) if he would stand up to sing and he just says "No," and keeps singing. Here's the original video of him crying, so you can see how happy Nicki Minaj makes him.
Thursday, July 7, 2016 Super Heroes in the Ordinary World - #3 Ultimate Lazman So finally decided that I had some time to write about something, in this case somebody. Its not just somebody - the one and only Ultimate Lazman. His mother called him Larry and don't be fooled by his colour- he's a 100% Sri Lankan. This guy is quite instrumental in shaping my ideology to be a genuine human being. Some people are only good at inspiring through words not by action and some are good in coaching people but not being role models. This guy - Lazman - is an all rounder of all rounders, he walks the talk and a great life coach too. His positive vibes are the best vibes you can ask for on a rough day, not forgetting the Baileys. I've never met a person who can only talk about positive things - except Lazman. We often have deep conversation over a cup of tea or 'milk', almost every time it starts with a simple question - For an example, Quite recently he asked me - 'So Ramzi How does it feel to be fasting - spiritually?' - There's no simple answer for that question because no one really have asked me that before. Generally people ask 'Are you hungry?' or they would say ' you must be thirsty' or they would simply assume that we cant even swallow saliva! The first phase of our friendship was based on an introduction made to help him to conduct a mini conference. I met him several times since the introduction and one particular occasion was really stuck in my memory, where once we were having a conversation about the Future leaders conference that concluded in Ampara and I was explaining it to him that it was one of the roughest experiences I ever had in a while and I told him during this rough patch someone managed to steal 30,000 rupees from me. At that moment of time he slowly reached his pocket took a 20,000 rupee note collection and forces into my pocket. My reflexes are very slow so he managed to win. I know Lazman is not a Rich guy but He's definitely Rich at heart, What he told me that day was that 'Ramzi, Universe has a special way of giving back to me when I need money, So it is not a problem - you keep it. You need it more than I do.' I hope one day I could be generous as he is. - I wish. He's inspiring in many ways, he in fact watched movies for his Masters degree. That, I think super cool thing to do. His wisdom through experience and coaching can be considered invaluable, Thank God I'm his friend, I get it for free!! You are a true inspiration LAZMAN, only if you had a drive to run for President, - you will definitely be Mr.President. Love you to Melbourne and Back. <3 Be awesome as you are. I'm honoured to be your friend. But, For me, you are family. 1 comment: 1. Wonderful profile of a truly wonderful human being! (And I am very grateful to know you both!)
The Growing Square Materials + Technique Silks, Cottons, Linens Hand-stitched fabric construction ‘The Growing Square’, is a growing sculpture consisting of thousands of cubic formations. Starting from one 8x8cm square in the center, small squares are hand-stitched one by one to the structure to create a piece that grows from the inside out. Made from a variety of woven fabrics, the white and translucent subtle hues enhance the work’s complexity, whilst creating a delicate and sensitive surface of light, shadow and reflection. The Growing Square is part of a series of mathematically-inspired works handmade by Deepa Panchamia. The underlying concept is to constantly add to the structure and document how it evolves over time.
July 2, 2009 broken hearted there was an article on bay today this evening stating that Kathy won't be able to take cats at the pet rescue anymore because of her allergies. I read that, and my heart broke. I know that there's nothing I can do, but I feel hopeless, like finding out that something you thought would always be there is suddenly gone. something in me can't stop thinking of frightened little kittens roaming the street with nowhere to go. I know it seems silly. It just makes me feel like we're losing the good fight. It makes me feel like there's no hope for the good things. It makes my body ache and my chest throb and...I know there's nothing at all that I can do. I'm an emotional wreck, so tired... I'm going to bed. I'm going to sleep all weekend. No comments:
Monday, February 22, 2016 Good Angel - Faustus, repent; yet God will pity thee Evil Angel - Thou art a spirit: God cannot pity thee Faustus - Who buzzeth in mine ears I am a spirit? Be I a devil, yet God may pity me; Aye God will pity me if I repent. Dr Faustus, Act 1 Scene 4, Christopher Marlowe - In communicating with a spirit of the dead*, for instance Osiris or ''Oberon'', we are not communicating with the ghost in some spiritual/astral dimension we are communicating with the actual individual in the past. - We send our attention or offerings back from the future and vivify the aspirations of the original person; conversely we are connected with that spirit through their dreams and imagination, we are entangled with the spirits through time. - We earth the dreams of an individual in the past, they earth our remembrance of them in the future. Osiris would be entangled with the future of Egypt and Egyptian civilization throughout the world, he dreamed himself into the future and we remembered it into the future we live in by offering to him in the past. - Correctly understood all magic is prophecy. - Banishing breaks entanglement. - With retro-causality egregores form the individuals who make them up in the same way the individuals form the egregore, the chicken and the egg appear simultaneously and cause each other. There are lots of other phenomena which can be explained through temporal entanglement but I feel to go any further with the explanation we must look at the free will vs destiny argument which a lot of magicians are uncomfortable with. I think one of the things I like about this entanglement theory is at first glance it seems to remove the necessity of ''a spirit dimension'' where spirits ''live'' in order to explain a lot of magickal phenomena. I also like how this seems to compliment the theory of the Time Phone in the 231 Gates project - a piece of ''magickal technology'' which allows you to ''ring'' the past or the future, entangling yourself with it through a ''timehole''. Evil Angel - Aye, but Faustus never shall repent. Faustus - My heart is so hardened I cannot repent. Dr Faustus, Act 1 Scene 4, Christopher Marlowe One demonstration of retrocausality is in the anti-matter we see spontaneously appearing and annihiliating itself with matter in the void. This may not be negatively charged matter but matter going backwards through time. Saturday, February 20, 2016 Raziel - Time Travel III If time travel is possible, Then it will happen; Therefore it already has. Friday, February 19, 2016 The Tree of Life - Good and Evil, Light and Darkness The dead are born, they don't die. The worlds are switched in our eyes. We're dead when we think we are living; we start living when we die. Fernando Pessoa, the Book of Disquiet When talking about the Depths of Good and Evil, I want to be clear that I am not using the classical and outdated gender identities that are associated with Chokmah and Binah. I do not think men and Chokmah are Good or that women and Binah are Evil. In fact I question the usefulness of the traditional Kabbalistic names of Chokmah, Binah, Hod, Netzach etc altogther, they seem to distract us from discussing the Depths themselves.* As I mentioned in the previous post I struggle with the concept of Good and Evil because its often a matter of perspective. Yersinia Pestis, the bacteria responsible for the Black Death, is not inherently evil; the plague years were boom years and antibiotics are evil from its point of view. Nutrition and poison/toxin is a useful polarity, though as alchemists we are aware that too much nutrition rapidly becomes dangerous and a little bit of poison can be medicinal. Advantage and disadvantage, or to quote the Sefer Yetzirah, Merit and Liability, might be the most flexible terms for these depths. Raziel talked about action vs inaction is the choice we face every single moment and I want to broaden the meaning of this to life vs un-life, wakefulness vs sleep or thoughtfulness vs thoughtlessness to explore the idea more completely. Good and Evil are traditionally associated with Light and Darkness. In my understanding these Depths are also associated with the pineal gland and the secretion of the hormones serotonin and melatonin. Serotonin rises in response to light and vice versa with melatonin. Serotonin levels spike when you take certain classes of drugs and/or experience ecstasy through other means such as dance or prayer - I associate this hormone with a life lived to the full. Conversely melatonin lends itself to abstraction of the self and to the bird's eye view of your own body that happens in the dream world or OBE (similarly some people might sleep, hazily, dreamily, through their entire life or act as if it is happening to someone else). There is no moral judgement on action vs ''inaction'' here, I am just comparing, contrasting and trying to understand them as modes of being - a dreamer lives fully in their dreams. Individuals naturally high in serotonin do tend to live life to the max, as is commonly understood - they favour intense experiences, speak passionately and inhabit their own bodies. Individuals with high melatonin, on the other hand, though ageless and slim, look in the mirror and find imperfection - they judge themselves from the outside, think about themselves in the 3rd person, make objects of themselves and in this way they dont live inside themselves but stand in judgement of themselves. Exploring this tension, actors tend to approach their craft from two perspectives, either from the inside-out where truthfulness and presence are central, or from the outside-in which is more like seeing yourself as a string-less puppet and where illusion and deception are the most important. An individual on the melatonin spectrum still acts in the sense of they do things, they just don't have the same type of ownership over their actions as someone with high serotonin - they experience action as the remote control of themselves. Association and disembodiment, inhabiting and abstracting the self, presence and absence, wakefulness and sleep - action vs inaction all seem ultimately tied to the play of light on the physical body - a Depth of Light and a Depth of Darkness. Can we say that the dimension of the observer can best be described as a Depth of Subjectivity and a Depth of Objectivity? People do not talk much about the differing types of consciousness that exist in the spectrum of humanity but believe me there are people out there who live like objects (you might be one!) and people who live like subjects and consequently they have very different modes of thinking about themselves. I feel as I am always on the verge of waking up. Fernando Pessoa, the Book of Disquiet Bearing in mind that the Sefirot are not described by these traditional titles in the Sefer Yetzirah and these terms first appear nearly a thousand years later. It can be read from the Sefer Yetzirah that the Sefirot really refer to the vowels. Tzvi imagined a duality within the infinite which was torn between the thoughtful infinity and the thoughtless infinity. The clock can be set to opposite cycles for those who work at night but they do suffer health problems as a consequence. Tuesday, February 16, 2016 Raziel - Daughter Dimensions and the Binary Universe Over the course of the last few years I have been explaining how the structure of the biological cell maps over to the structure of consciousness - from early principles to complex associations. We have explored the concept of cellular receptors and how they can used to summon from the bloodstream of time, the letters acting as gates in the membrane of our consciousness and coding for particular types of phenomena/events. We have explored how physiongnomical cues can reveal how individuals in our lives may be addressing an underlying biological need or acting as messengers from the larger organism we are all part of. Very recently I have discussed chronobiology looking at how we can view the Alefbeit (and the Tarot) as a clock - this mystical cycle corresponding with the cell cycle. The cell cycle governs how cells divide by mitosis into two daughter cells but what does that division mean for our consciousness - how does consciousness divide? The Metabolism of Time, the core work of the Hermetic Lessons, shows how there are ten phases necessary to the development of each moment in consciousness - altering the future, reducing the future, changing the future, experiencing the moment, analysing the moment, responding to the moment, the inner mind, remembering, forgetting and altering the past (memory). These ten stages occur in every given moment but as moments stack up we can define some moments as being more of one type than another e.g. if you spend five mins analysing a text we can say that although the moments that make up those minutes each go through all of the above cycle they have taken on the general character of analysis. These concepts map over to the Tree of Life and would be considered an attempt at understanding the world of Atziluth and the way in which these clusters of moments then aggregate into archetypal selves such as analysts is an attempt at understanding Briah. Does our consciousness divide every moment and what are the practical side effects of this? As ever Raziel is difficult to decompress so this is my interpretation about the communications regarding the mitosis of consciousness and the resulting daughter cells. When considering parallel universes in the traditional sense we tend to think of the multiplicity of possible actions yielding an infinite possible number of worlds branching off from every moment but what Raziel seems to be saying is that there are in fact only two branching worlds - the daughters of each moment. In any given moment the only two possibilities are the Depth of Good and the Depth of Evil. In terms of cellular consciousness I have traditionally thought of Good and Evil as better understood by advantage/disadvantage or nutrition/poison. For simple microbes these are pretty much the parameters of their being - use space and time to head towards sugar and away from antibiotics, if you will. Raziel though was suggesting that Good and Evil are really best understood as action and inaction with every single moment resulting in one or the other - either you move, through will, or you don't - you either live the self, or you don't. I move my arm in front of my face and from the point of view of time this is a massive collection of moments that have all chosen action. The Depth of Evil then is defined by maximum inaction and in fact both Depths can be characterized by imagining the branched off end-world where every single decision in every single moment was for Evil or for Good - an active self vs an inactive self.* The vast majority of our lives are spent navigating these tensions and when a cell line becomes extinct it can be considered fully inactive - the Depth of Death. What does this do to the structure of the universe(s)? Rather than infinite pontential at any moment we have ascending powers of two - start with one moment that divides into two, then these two become two again and so on and so on. Imagine (our consciousness of time as) a series of caves that are linked by tunnels, with two tunnels leading away from each cave. Combining this with the notions of fixed time streams we can see this system of cellular caverns as preexisting, rather than being tunnelled out by our actions in a moment, and our choices for good or for evil only determine the caves where we sample the time and therefore the possible opinions we can make about our actions. Remember that at the level of our three dimensional selves we are not free and our actions are predetermined in these closed time streams, but we are free in how we judge what we did, in what we sample and in what we take away. At the level of the Depth of Good and the Depth of Evil we are ultimately Observers***. This is in implicit in the associations between the Zodiac and the 12 basic genetic rhythms. For the sake of argument we will consider the moment to be the shortest possible unit of time - the Planck moment - equal to 10 to the power of -43 seconds. The leech signifies the Depth of Evil, and the archetypal character (the fully lived self) the Depth of Good. In a communication with Uriel from a very early project I was shown an anti-self and this could possibly be understood as the maximum evil self. There is more theodicy here. **The archangels traditionally associated with Binah and Chokmah are Tzaphkiel and Raziel. Monday, February 15, 2016 Baby Magic The snares of the world were its ways of sin. He would fall. He had not yet fallen but would fall silently, and in an instant. Not to fall was too hard, too hard: and he felt the silent lapse of his soul, as it would be at some instant to come, falling, falling but not yet fallen, still unfallen but about to fall. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce I was raised a Naturist. In Britain that means a lot of time spent naked in wooded enclosures all across the country. I was baptised in a swimming pool in the sunlight not in a Church. As I was growing up I used to find myself wandering off into the woods by myself. At the different campsites I gave the various places I found different fantasy names like Scorpion's Lair or Vampire's Cave. The greatest of these sites was the one established by Craven Walker, the inventor of the lava lamp - the main clubhouse was a shrine to the device. When I think back on it now, a lot of these little adventures ended their trails with blank memories - I think spirit communication could have taken place during this path-walking. When I think back to the paths they always end in a cliff face or a river or a fence, some kind of boundary and I don't remember the journey back. Within British Naturism the outside world is considered to be populated by textiles - you are raised in what is effectively a secret society. There is a weird crossover between Fascism and Hippies in the early history of these sun-seekers, which you can see in the ways in which nakedness is or isn't enforced in the various grounds. The way in which Walker attempted to ban obese individuals from the grounds is symptomatic of this crypto-eugenics. Like Eden in appearance and certainly a childhood experience I would not want to change, there can be a darker side to some Naturist/Nudist circles. Depending on the depth of the darkness in the particular community, the deeper the darknesses in their woods. In this split world it is easy to see how children who grew up as part of the movement went on to share feelings of narcissism, paranoia and an interest in conspiracy theory. Many of us, who didn't want to share our secret with the textiles, were involved in a conspiracy ourselves - we saw how easy it is for a small group to obfuscate the truth. The exposure and vulnerability that comes with nakedness certainly contributes to a defensive narcissism I see in people who shared the experience. Discussing the psychological commonalities amongst the children of the Baby Boomer naturists/nudists would make a great documentary. There is something about the naked naked ape's relationship with nature that is interesting to me from a magickal perspective. Deprived of fur or armoured skin, being naked in the woods is quite dangerous - even the British ones are full of nettles and thorns. Like a native in an Amazonian jungle an animism evolves, you cultivate a relationship with the spirit of the forest in order to spare you unpleasant trips and falls. The lack of protection makes you commune very closely with the vicious potential of the path. Although I would say that I still fell in the end I would argue that being involved in Naturism lessens the severity of the fall and hastens the return. It contributed to my knowledge of esoteric physiognomy, allowing me to see the composition of bodies and link them to personalities at a young age and exposed me to information that was otherwise covered up. It is behind my understanding of how psychological masks can be appropriate or inappropriate to the underlying genetics and aids in the rapid identification of diseased egos. This knowledge crystallised in the vision of the Rivers of Time and its acompanying system of archetypes. When I fell, I fell into the twilight world of theatre - I left behind the world of Naturism, acting classes and stage plays now dominated my life, my work performed in the evening and the shadows, in costume and in mask. From my dawn of magickal nakedness I fell into the evening of magickal disguise. In discussing my baby magic as a response to Otherwise there were different areas I could focus on but I chose this one as I feel I had an opportunity to experience something close to humanity's baby magic which other people are often deprived of by parents or society and which they have to seek out later. Not born into disguise I had to choose to fall. Tuesday, February 9, 2016 Blogosphere vs Facebook In the What Went Wrong series I suggest different factors that are responsible for the decline of the WMT - social media, chat, nerdiness, identity politics, teacher-student relationships, baby boomers, servicing the needs of the lowest common denominator (the new and/or stupid), authorship, ''journalists'', identity politics, advertising and petty sorcery. Monkey see monkey do. I am willing to weaken my stance on some and strengthen it on others. What I still think we lack are peer to peer discussions about theory, healing, astral work, Qabalah and most of all actual magickal experience. I want to focus on the Blogosphere vs Facebook debate today as part of a larger discussion on public esoteric space. Many of you fellow bloggers swore to update your blogs more regularly this year and I sincerly hope you keep up with targets because it is an immensely rewarding experience in and of itself - combining letter, essay, diary, treatise and article - and you know you benefit. Even if I disagree with you, or have no idea what you are talking about I enjoy grappling with different ideas and approaches. It is exactly the same as oaths to get fit. Keep going, it will be worth it for your mind and your community. If you are simply a reader then join in and start writing! The Blogosphere* is a tremendous gift to our community that allows both freedom of expression and freedom from advertising**. It exercises will and creativity - the highest manifestations of being - and encourages discourse between peers. Having to craft a post - bearing in mind the differing concentration spans, available time, levels of readership, etc - disciplines the writer's work. You have to balance between accuracy and simplicity. As a form it has problems but remains the best we have right now and should not be squandered. Facebook on the other hand, as a public space, is almost the complete opposite with messages and discussions about esoteric matters crammed into little blue Skinner boxes, where your deepest thoughts become eye-straining content for Zuckerberg's advert sandwich - the medium is fundamentally degrading, humiliating and pathetic. It cheapens what you do and makes you lazy. It is saturated by petty ego, finely veiled advertising, the panoptical pressure of the invisible lurk and constantly falls prey to the demonic forces of chat. Unlike the Blogosphere it is not even slightly demanding for the user. Its easy to click like, emote or banter like a twat. Way too easy - like buying alcohol. If you are crafting your finest thoughts on Facebook then more fool you - they will become lost on your prison walls rather than in the archives of your library.*** People become shy of blogging for a few reasons but probably the two most common are laziness and lack of inspiration. If you are struggling to write something yourself then respond to something that you have read - respond in a comment if you like, I am not condemning marginalia, but writing a short essay of your own on your reflections as a response is even better. If you are practising, as you should be, just write a short account of what has been happening, it is better than nothing. As I said above I think we need to talk more about magickal experience - be it armchair or otherwise - and avoid too much deviation into extraneous topics unless they directly relate to a magickal throughline. One problem with the blogosphere is in its tendency to bleed out into identity politics and conspiracy theory. While these can be worthwhile topics of themselves and do have direct bearing on esoteric issues in some articles I find myself wondering where the magic is. The reason I point to healing and astral work is to go against the trend of desire satisfaction sorcery which should really be considered a gateway drug into the why rather than as a how to means unto itself. Qabalah was the lingua franca and we now lack one. ''Is it because I is Jewish?'' In Moorcock's ''Blood: A Southern Fantasy'' there is a division between the First and Second Ether. The First Ether is ruled over by insects and encourages conformity to the Singularity. This is Facebook. The Second Ether is the world of freescalers and chaos engineers abseiling between dimensions. This is the Blogosphere. Just so we are clear. Next up - Raziel on yes-no dimensions and daughter cells. I would much rather you explain what actually happened than vaguely allude to it. Youtube is more important and benign a format than facebook. One of the things I am willing to weaken my position on is ''magickal journalism'' - I was worried about the format at the time descending into trivia and anecdotalism but I've seen good work since I made the original post. The original danger remains. The secret is in the name. Unless you choose to advertise yourself. **There is something to be said for private groups but this post is about public esoteric space. The only rational way to use Facebook is to use it to pull people out of the First Ether and in to the Second, then welcome, educate and support them in its use. Reinforce the First Ether at your own peril. I consider time there to be the same as spending it in something which is radioactive. Monday, February 1, 2016 The Tarot and Chronobiology After writing my dissertation at university on chronobiology I have been interested in the interplay between genetics, light and time ever since. In the Western Magical Tradition the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alefbeit are arranged around a DNA like diagram called the Tree of Life while the nucleus of the cell contains 23 chromosomes. It is also interesting to note that the Greek Alphabet contains 24 letters while our modern clock is divided into 24 hours. Can we say that the Tarot and the Alefbeit are somehow clocks? As discussed in Replication and Deviation most of our life is dominated by replicated action - sleeping, eating, excreting, breathing - and even action which seems original can in fact be replication at a smaller or greater scale - for example meeting the same type of person over and over. This cycle of need/appetite fulfilment can be altered by living without light entrainment i.e. underground or by removing certain genes which acts like taking cogs out of the clockwork and alters the 24 hour cycle to between 22 and 26. From chronobiological research scientists know that there are light sensitive molecular clocks scattered throughout the tissues of the body, with master clocks in the suprachiasmatic nuclei, (a cluster of cells behind the eyes next to the pineal gland), the liver and the gonads. These clocks react to light signals by altering the levels of serotonin and melatonin, two hormones produced in the pineal gland which not only alter the physiological functions of the body by influencing other glands in their hormone production, but our very consciousness itself - affecting our appetites and sex drive. These clocks are tuned by the wavelengths of light they receive, the predominantly red end of the spectrum in the morning activates the serotonin while the blue light of the evening reduces these levels, and vice versa for melatonin. Depending on when you rise then each hour the corresponding wavelength of natural light calibrates the clock. Some phases of the cycle may be extended in duration because of environmental factors and some phases may diminish but it is very likely that all will take place throughout the day at some point or another. Does the Great Wheel of the Tarot represent a chronobiological clock - the cards acting like the numbers on the face of the clock and relating to key parts of our daily cycle? • The Fool - Dreaming in astral universe • The Magus - Lucid dreaming, early morning hypnopompic hallucinations • The Priestess - Waking up • The Empress - Passive awareness of internal needs (excretion, cleanliness, hunger, cramps, etc) • The Emperor - Active awareness of external needs (days tasks - breakfast, shower) • The High Priest - Recognised need for source of nutrition - social, financial, etc - i.e. work • The Lovers - Finding location of source of nutrition • The Chariot - Movement towards source of nutrition • Strength - Acquisition of nutrition • The Hermit - Satiated appetite • Fortune - Recognised changing conditions of nutrition source • Adjustment - Adaptation to changing conditions of nutrition • The Hanged Man - Tired individual, least effective hour of work, 'end of the day' • Death - Separation from nutrition, journey home, exhaustion • Temperance - Relaxation • The Devil - Degeneration of consciousness - pleasures of the evening • The Tower - Exhaustion of the body, yawning, tiredness • The Star - Memory ''filing'' - light sleep • The Moon - Sleep paralysis to deep sleep, hypnagogic hallucinations • The Sun - REM sleep • Judgement -Answers to dream questions, judgements on days action • The Universe - Connection to astral universe, unconscious mind Although we can divide the 24 hours of a day into 22 tarot cards yielding just over an hour per card we should understand that some of these phases will last more or less time and some of them will overlap - for example we may be sleepy for a number of hours after waking up. If we get up late and rush to work, our preparatory time of waking up, cleaning, dressing, breakfasting, etc are compressed and overlap with the consequential ill effects on the success of the organism. A long commute can stress the Chariot... If we put off sleep for a long time our consciousness blurs as well - so the sleep/dream/hallucinate phases outlined above will become active even though we are still technically awake. We also need to bear in mind that this system best describes, in terms of the time spacing, the lifestyles we have evolved to live in i.e. hunter gatherer, as opposed to those we are forced to work within because of the needs of modern society - I would argue that many of the illnesses and stresses we experience are down to the fact that our working lives are completely out of step with the way the body naturally processes time. In exploring this metaphor then, the hormonal gear shift is controlled by The High Priestess who switches the pineal from melatonin production to serotonin as the first rays of dawn fall on the sleeper. The light and increasing serotonin arouse first the ''feminine'' part of the mind (the Empress), that part which can receive influences or passive awareness and the recieved signals in turn activate the ''masculine'' part of the mind, the active awareness (the Emperor). It is at this point when fully awake that one recognises The High Priest, who issues the demands of daily life - food, money, sex and other essential needs of reality that you must obey. These cards will roughly cover 5am - 9am on a typical day. As we reach the Lovers stage of the great wheel, serotonin has outgrown the influence of melatonin and a source of nutrition, be it social, financial, or simply biological has been recognised, be that a work place or play place and one is compelled to move towards it on The Chariot. Once the individual has arrived at the source of nutrition they begin to nourish themselves with its energy, and gain Strength. The Hermit represents the fully satiated individual, midday rest, but as energy levels drop again, they are forced to look for more nutrition and recognise the changing conditions (Wheel of Fortune) of the source - the Justice card represents the subsequent adaptation to these conditions - think of the changing demands from a hunting/fishing zone. The Hanged Man represents what is probably the least effective work hour, when the body is exhausted and the mind a little depressed, Death represents the close of work, accompanying exhaustion and the return home to relax (Temperance). The Devil signifies the further degeneration of the mind in preparation for the evening's pleasures/indulgences and yawning and tiredness are the symbols of the body's collapse (The Tower). The Star symbolises all the memories of the day, and your subconsious sifts through them in a pre-sleep/light sleep state in order to concoct dreams, forget the meaningless and remember the meaningful. As we enter the phase of The Moon, we enter sleep paralysis and then a state of deep dreamless sleep, our mind is dead in the barge sailing for the underworld. The light of an astral Sun meets us at the end of this voyage and as the gates of our dreamworld open before us into REM sleep our dreams then stand in Judgement of our actions of the day, or we make our own judgements based on where we are and what we have done. The World card symbolises the final step into the larger astral universe and The Fool shows us lucid dreaming there, but not remembering - careless and innocent. Contrast this with the lucid dreaming and hypnapompic hallucinations of The Magus in the early hours before we wake, bearing in mind that the secret of magic is to dream into reality.* In Kabbalah we are taught of the mythical four headed Shin of the world to come - a 23rd letter of the Alefbeit * Our Tree of Life is often associated with different colours - Chokmah and Binah, grey and black respectively could code for whether light is present or not, and Chesed and Gevurah, blue and red could code for various ends of the spectrum. ***Dividing 24 into 22 and then looking at the cycle from The Star to the Magus we get a figure of 7.7 hours for the full sleep cycle.
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Punk Rock Life A Saturday at the Punk Rock House Tweaking the Unsatisfied and watching for potential riots in Bawston, wishing they wouldn’t fuck up the landscape and statuary, wondering what Trump is up to, about to fix some hamburger soup, sitting at a level 9.73 and just started watching “Fight Club” with a side of Big Brother 19(which stinks now Cody is gone). And this:
TS3Shop Icon Gary Shue Hidden Springs Logo 'Gary is a book worm who likes to explore the woods and catch bugs in his spare time.' Name Gary Shue Gender Male Male Age TS3-Child Child Life state CAS Human icon Sim Shue family Parents Granny ShueAdoptive Sibling(s) Dany ShueAdopted, Carlotta ShueAdopted, Star ShueAdopted Trait Genius small Genius Trait Bookworm small Bookworm Trait Coward small Coward Zodiac sign AriesLN Aries Fav Electronica Electronica Fav Goopy Carbonara Goopy Carbonara Fav Orange Orange Hair color Haircolor3-TS3 Brown Eye color Eye-green Green Skin color Dark skin-TS3 Dark Body shape Thin Thin Other Information Game TS3HS Icon The Sims 3 Store Playability Playable World Hidden Springs Gary Shue is a pre-made child Sim, living in Hidden Springs. He was in need of a home and was adopted by Granny Shue, along with three other kids, Dany, Carlotta and Star. He is friends with his adoptive mother and siblings. He loves catching bugs by exploring the woods and then studying them. Outside, there's a playground where he and his siblings can play. He shares his room with his siblings. In his inventory, he carries a teddy bear and a book.
In the year 1561, Philip II made a brave move to gain appeal by changing the capital from Toledo to Madrid. Toledo is a beautiful city located 70 km away from Madrid, but doesn’t really have room for geographical expansion. However, Madrid at the time was just a military outpost, so it didn’t have the necessary housing for all the officials, nobles and rich people who would move with the king. This, as you can imagine, caused a few problems because they couldn’t just kick out the existing homeowners nor build enough houses overnight. Philip II’s advisors at the time helped the king come up with a solution, the “Regalia de Aposento” (“room charge”). All the existing houses in Madrid would have to give lodgings to the royals, depending on their size and facilities. Some of them were even required to temporarily give half of their home to accommodate royal officials. Officials would go round the houses to inspect them and determine how they would go about with the law but, as expected, they weren’t quite welcomed. People didn’t even open their doors to them. So, the only thing they could do was stand outside, count how many windows a house had, and try to figure out if they might have an empty room or not, which was pretty difficult… Most houses in that area had 5 floors but from the outside it looked as if they had less. This tax lasted around 200 years, so many of these houses were built this way on purpose (see photo), to dodge the “Regalia de Aposento” law. These houses were called “Casa a la Malicia”, (houses built maliciously). Between 1561 and 1618 the amount of houses in Madrid quadrupled from 2500 to 10,000. The government caught on to this kind of tax evasion after a while, and homeowners were made to pay a monetary charge of up to 50% of their estimated rental income. If you were lucky to be in with the King, you may have had a “privileged house” whereby you had no obligation to accommodate royal officials, by purchase of exemption or royal donation. (Alright for some!)
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It type of takes the fun out of having and discovering a new system when it's operating the same OS as your mobile. Plus, creators such as Amazon take the skinning of Android operating system even further, with the new Amazon kindle Flame HD (£159), completely concealing most of Android's best functions in favor of Amazon's own customer interface. Yes, it's an Android operating system product, but it's an entirely different encounter to the rest of the package, and something you may or may not choose. Also down to individual choice is your show size. For some, a 7-inch show is more than enough, while others choose the bigger 10-inch choice. In realistic use, the only real barrier of small sized choice is having to be a little more accurate with your clicks around the sides of the show. Google conceals lots of Android operating system performance behind software toggles in the sides of the show, so for the big-fingered technological innovation fan, the more space provided by the bigger designs is something to consider. Cheaper tablets, with their heavier, chunkier bezels, also create getting to the sides of the show a little difficult, too. Can it be updated? : The most of the less expensive Android operating system tablets under the £100 stage will appear with an unskinned vanilla flavor edition of Android operating system, unchanged by the manufacturer. While this is a best part for most, because you're getting the best perspective of what Google and its group think Android operating system should signify, it probably indicates you'll be trapped using the same edition for life. The benefits of investing a little more cash on a labeled system from a european organization indicates you should at least see some up-dates to the tablet's OS when Google produces a new edition. That's one big reason individuals are plumping for the Nexus 7 in such huge figures, because with Google formal support, it ought to be first in line to see improvements to upcoming editions of Android operating system, while it's unlikely there will be any such easy update direction for your unique £70 China SuperTab 7G XL. Some companies have proven they're in it for the long run, and have won over lovers with their strategy to OS improvements. Asus, for example, is constantly launching up-dates for its excellent Transformer sequence of gadgets, but those are high-end gadgets for which you'd anticipate a little more assistance. In conditions of the cost range Android operating system product creators, little France organization Archos brings the package in going out improvements and assisting customers, with entrepreneurs of its less expensive gadgets benefitting from quite a few up-dates, such as the more recent editions of Android operating system and minimal bug-fixing maintenance. So don't just look at the elements alone. Cheap tablets shouldn't be non reusable and you have every right to anticipate some stage of assistance from the manufacturer over the next year or two. And that's worth spending a little additional for. 3G and connection : Another concern is whether you're the outdoorsy type or not. To spend less, most of the less expensive tablets, and even Google Nexus 7, dump 3G connection, so you're trapped with using Wi-Fi to evaluate on the internet functions and obtain applications. If you've got used to piggybacking on friends' and pub Wi-Fi, that won't be a problem for you, but it's one of the reasons the inexpensive tablets are so very inexpensive, so keep it in mind. Finally, something of an Android operating system hot spud at this time is assistance for improving the on panel storage space. Many of the cellphone and product creators seem to be going away from providing SD cards assistance, with even the Nexus 7 unable to consist of it. Surprisingly, that's one area where the cut-throat super-budget China product landscape always comes out as successful, with almost all of the most affordable Android operating system designs such as an SD cards port. Again, as with 3G, it's down to individual choice, and whether you want or need the capability to mix up around your press on SD cards. Share this article : Template Created By Gourav Kashyap Proudly Powered By Blogger
Hancock Bank locations Hancock Bank Office and Branch locations Page 2 Routing Number: 263290220 P.O. BOX 4019 GULFPORT, MS 39502-0000 Harrison Avenue Branch 1038 Harrison Avenue Panama City, FL 32401 Edgewater Branch 11701 Panama City Beach Parkway Panama City, FL 32407 9001 Hwy 98 Branch 9001 Front Beach Road Panama City Beach, FL 32407 Pensacola Branch 940 Creighton Road Pensacola, FL 32504 Palafox Branch 40 South Palafox Pensacola, FL 32502 Cordova Branch 4980 North 12th Avenue Pensacola, FL 32503 Ponte Vedra Branch 110 A1a North Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082 1199 Eglin Parkway Branch 1199 Eglin Parkway Shalimar, FL 32579 Hancock Bank Of Florida Branch 101 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32301 Kerry Forest Pkwy Branch 2920 Kerry Forest Parkway Tallahassee, FL 32317 Mahan Branch 2453 Mahan Drive Tallahassee, FL 32308 Capital Circle Branch 2105 Capital Circle Tallahassee, FL 32308 Southside Branch 2613 South Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32301 Northside Branch 2437 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32302 West Tennessee Branch 1706 West Tennessee Street Tallahassee, FL 32304 Kiln Branch 16230 Hancock Plaza, Ste A Bay Saint Louis, MS 39520 Bay St Louis Main Branch 100 South Beach Boulevard Bay St. Louis, MS 39520 Bay 90 Branch 601 Highway 90 Bay St. Louis, MS 39520 Popps Ferry Branch 2369 Pass Road Biloxi, MS 39531 St. Martin Branch 15309 Lemoyne Boulevard Biloxi, MS 39532 Biloxi Main Branch 888 Howard Avenue Biloxi, MS 39530 Cedar Lake Branch 926 Cedar Lake Road Biloxi, MS 39532 Diamondhead Branch 4401 Kalani Drive Diamondhead, MS 39525 Diberville Branch 10335 Diberville Boulevard Diberville, MS 39532 Showing 25-48 of 87 bank locations Page: 1 [2] 3 4 Last » Search banks Browse bank Browse - Browse through our bank's routing number database. Bank list List - View bank locations and routing numbers by listing. Related pages citizens national bank rockdale tx5501 s broadband lanerouting number for western federal credit unionfirst bank of pike molena gaeast bay postal credit unionjpmorgan chase routing number floridaaffinity federal credit union basking ridge nj 07920how to find routing number wells fargoarvest bank eufaula oknbt bank cooperstown nyfirst convenience bank mesa aznbt amsterdam nyguaranty bank routing number illinoiscredit one bank routing numberamerican heritage bank tulsa okevb bank locationstd bank routing number toms river njchase bank locations surprise azgreater nevada credit union dayton nvcornerstone bank bismarck ndchase routing number orlando flrouting number capital one marylandwalmart bank routing numberdoral bank routing numbersecurity bank in midland txnorthwest savings bank eriecalifornia bank and trust carlsbadwells fargo routing arizonachase bank in elmhurst ilpioneer west virginia federal credit unionwells fargo missoula montanapublix federal credit union routing numberomega psi phi federal credit unionpatriot bank locationsrouting number arvest bankchivaho credit unionbbt routing number alabamaharris bank niles ilcentra credit union madison inseven seventeen creditionia independent bankwells fargo alice texasheber springs state bankfirst savings bank clarksville indianaemprise bank locations wichita kswv national guard credit unionaffinity plus federal credit union routing numberdiablo valley credit unionsummit bank magnolia arcitizens bank plainfield ctnavy federal piney greenpnc bank washington dc routing numbercoors credit union routing numberrabobank cambria caviewpoint bank routingpeoples trust credit union southfield minew horizon credit union routing numberscotiabank aguadillamazuma credit union routing numberthe bank winona kswalmart kilmarnock virginiarouting number for first citizens banknaft pharr txbac routing numberbecu aba numberfirst federal bank dicksonnorthway savings bankclearpath federal credit union routing numberfirst century credit union sioux falls sdpeoples bank athens ohwebster bank thomaston cttrustmark bank locationssuntrust dacula ga
Karen Kroslowitz kroz at BISHOP.BISHOP.HAWAII.ORG Tue Nov 2 21:18:29 EST 1993 So I've been on the net for a month now, and have yet to introduce rude of me. Aloha from the friendly state of Hawaii. I'm Karen Kroslowitz, 27, a collections manager for Bernice P. Bishop Museum, and I just got married. (It was great - I never knew weddings were so much fun!) I manage the Malacology (that's molluscs) collection - over 6 million specimens and counting. I'm also the youngest CM the museum has ever had - and I'm pretty excited about that. Anyone else out there into museum work?? I'd love to hear from you and talk shop sometime. I have a question I'm hoping someone will answer. Not to sound stuck-up, or butch feminist or anything.... but why are there so many men on the womenbio net, and why are they the only ones who ask questions?? When I signed up, I had assumed that this was a pretty strictly "women's only" kind of computer support group. Not to make you guys feel unwelcomed, it was just my impression. Personally it's nice to have you here. I think men should be out there, communicating, asking questions, learning... but why is it that few women on this net appear to be doing that? Ladies... what's the scoop? Are you feeling repressed because you've allowed men to do all the talking? Shoulld this be a women's only net - where men are not welcomed, and women can feel free to let it all hang out? I don't want to be accused of discrimaination here (who am I to be PI?), but I would like to say that you guys may be cramping our style. I love the fact that so many men are asking us about sexual harassment, discrimination, etc., but I'd love it even more if women were as concerned and willing to talk. So ladies of the net... let's hear it. Go ahead, I can take it. Thanks for your input. Karen J. Kroslowitz phone: 808-848-4118 Natural Sciences, Malacology fax: 808-841-8968 Bernice P. Bishop Museum kroz at More information about the Womenbio mailing list
Home > News > Content The Introduction And Application Of Velcro Adhesive Discs Sanding Discs Jul 28, 2017 Velcro discs - also known as sanding discs, stickers sandpaper General product common specifications are round, rectangular, triangular sand and other shapes can also be made with a suction hole type General market sales of sanding discs from 2 inch, 3 inch, 4 inch, 5 inch, 6 inch, 7 inch, 8 inch. Through the sand surface of the cardboard classification: red sand surface, white sand surface, yellow sand surface, green sand surface, blue sand surface, black sand surface, etc. Sandpaper raw materials are divided into silicon carbide, alumina and zirconia corundum. Silicon carbide is divided into green silicon carbide and black silicon carbide. Alumina is divided into corundum and white corundum, corundum is divided into ordinary corundum, calcined corundum, plated iridium corundum, semi-brittle corundum and so on. The biggest difference is that the difference between the flannel is the flannel on the back, it is easy to distinguish between the rubber and the latex, the velcro discs are easier to replace in the use than the adhesive rubber, the grinding efficiency can be improved; A greater degree of improvement in wear resistance; Application: Adhesive disc widely used in automotive, hardware, electronics, furniture, plastics, handicrafts and other fields; than hand grinding products faster, more efficient, better Related News
McGill University School of Computer Science Computer Science COMP 199 (Winter term) Excursions in Computing Science Notes on LISP. Prepared for COMP 302 (SOCS, McGill) Copyright (c) T. H. Merrett, 1989 LISP illustrates at least three major concepts in programming languages, which is remarkable for such an early language. First, its exhaustive exploitation of the computable expression, even to the point of function-valued expressions: this results from basing LISP in the mathematics of recursive function theory, which requires these ideas. Second, the notion of a single, high-level data structure which can represent both data and programs. This data structure is recursively defined, and, consequently, the programs that use the data structure are usually recursive. Third, programs and data have the same form, so that programs themselves can be manipulated, altered and - We will start our discussion with recursive data structures. The fundamental data structure of LISP is the ordered binary tree, defined An O2TREE is an ATOM or ( O2TREE . O2TREE ) The word, "ordered", means that we can distinguish the left subtree from the right subtree. These are just ordered binary trees themselves, hence the recursion. Since no data structure on a computer can go on forever, the ATOM is provided for the leaves of the tree. The above representation is called "dot notation", and the O2TREE before the dot is the left subtree, while the O2TREE after the dot is the right subtree. Here are some examples, with the capital letters representing ATOMS. NIL the empty tree (A . B) complete tree of height 1 ((A . B) . (C . D)) complete tree of height 2 (A . (B . NIL)) incomplete tree of height 2 - Two basic operations are: car, which returns the first component of its argument; and cdr, which returns the second component. From these can be built composite functions, e.g., caar[]=car[car[]], cddr[]=cdr[cdr[]], cadr[]=car[cdr[]], cdadr[]=cdr[car[cdr[]]], etc. (You might wonder where these strange names came from. They abbreviate phrases which refer to the IBM 7094, on which LISP was first implemented: "Contents of Address Register" and Contents of Decrement Register". They have been retained probably because they give such convenient names for their compositions.) car[(A . B)] = A car[((A . B) . C)] = (A . B) cdr[(A . B)] = B cdr[((A . B) . C)] = C cadr[(A . (B . C))] = car[cdr[(A . (B . C))]] = B A third basic operation is cons, which combines its two arguments into a single tree. This operation is defined as the inverse of car and cdr together: car[cons[t1;t2]] = t1 cdr[cons[t1;t2]] = t2 Here are some examples. cons[A;B] = (A . B) cons[(A . B);C] = ((A . B) . C) The three other basic functions are null, equal and atom. These are Boolean functions, and return the values NIL, for false, and T for true.
‘The Hambantota deal is ruinous for us’ Published: Tue, 09/19/2017 - 12:26 Updated: Tue, 09/19/2017 - 12:37 The recent Hambantota port deal struck between Sri Lanka and China has raised eyebrows in the neighbourhood. While India has expressed concerns over the island nation’s decision, the agreement has found detractors within the government in Colombo as well. In this interview, former minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, who was sacked recently for criticising the deal, refuses to mince his words and lashes out against the government for mortgaging the future of the next generation with this deal. On August 23, President Maithripala Sirisena sacked his Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe for violating the collective responsibility of the Cabinet. An MP from the ruling United National Party (UNP), Rajapakshe (no relative of ousted President Mahinda Rajapakse) was sacked when he refused to resign for expressing dissent publically on the decision of the government to grant a 99-year lease of the Hambantota port, overlooking the Indian Ocean, to a Chinese company. A lawyer by profession with a reputation for integrity, Rajapakshe, according to many political commentators, is a man to watch out for as he leverages his opposition to the China deal to weave together a future alliance of Buddhists and Sinhala nationalists. Hardnews met Rajapakshe on a rainy morning at his heavily guarded residence in Colombo, a few days after his exit from the government. He was bitter about the circumstances of his removal. His criticism of the Hambantota port deal, though, is well argued. The former minister fears that Sri Lanka will become a Chinese colony if the government doesn’t end the 99-year lease granted. According to him, it was corruption that drove this deal and not national interest. Rajapakshe was also categorical that the Sri Lanka government should do nothing to hurt its relationship with India. Excerpts from the interview: The main reason for sacking me from the Cabinet was that I opposed, for various reasons, the long-term lease to China of the Hambantota port. First, there is no necessity to give it to China as Hambantota is our harbour and we built it. Though we have some loans to pay, there is no reason to violate the cardinal policy of the government according to which harbours should not be given to outsiders. It is crucial for the country’s security and also that of the entire region. It is not a commercial transaction as the contract has gone to China Port, which is a government-owned firm. China has an agenda, especially due to its animosity towards India. And this project could disrupt peace in the entire region. The Sri Lankan government was told not to go ahead with the deal by India, the US, the European Union and Japan. They realise that this could aggravate tensions between the two Asian countries and further cause turbulence in international politics. However, our government did not pay attention to this important reality as its decision was driven by purely political reasons. It has forgotten that in their minds, the people of Sri Lanka have a deep-rooted relationship with India. This has been built after many generations and nothing should be done to disrupt it. What the government has also forgotten are the sacrifices of our ancestors and how they fought to secure this land from Europeans. It means that the land is sacred and it is more important than dollars and rupees. We will be mortgaging the future of the next generation with this decision. How will they evict them in the future? There is no need to give it to foreign powers, as the money that they are bringing will not be enough to set off this loan. Besides, we have enough capital in Sri Lanka. If the project had been offered to the Sri Lankan private sector, it would have raised funds and executed the project. Why was the port given on lease for 99 years and not 25 years? My sense is that the deal smells of big corruption. At the moment, Colombo port handles 86% of trans-shipment. If Hambantota lives up to its potential and provides all the facilities, then why should any ship go to Colombo port? I think that only one port can survive. The Hambantota port agreement with a Chinese company does not serve Sri Lanka’s national interest as it prevents us from developing Galle and other ports along the southern coast. This agreement is ruinous for us. It also violates Article 157 of the Constitution that prevents the government from entering a contract with a foreign party until Parliament has passed it with a two-thirds majority. Also, the Sri Lanka Port Authority, which is a signatory to the agreement, has no right to lease out a harbour to a foreign power. It is ultra vires of the Constitution. We should also remember Djibouti. The Chinese went there to set up a commercial port and now they have built a military base there. Quite clearly, they have an ulterior motive. Our government lacks this important understanding that Sri Lanka’s relationship with India is more important than anything else. If you bypass this important principle, then both the countries will suffer. I also do not agree with the view that this land was given on lease to the Chinese to pay off our debt. Our total national debt is $78 billion. If this is the route they will take to clear our debt then what else will they sell? The truth is that it is a corrupt transaction. They are trying to turn Sri Lanka into a Chinese colony! For raising these issues, I was sacked from the government in the name of “Cabinet’s collective responsibility.” This is bizarre as dissent in the Cabinet has been endured from the very early days of our government. Read more stories by Sanjay Kapoor This story is from print issue of HardNews
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Jewelry Directory Home > Glossary > E is a directory of jewelry and resources for jewelry lover. Here, you will find the most comprehensive jewelry related information on the internet, explore online jewelry stores, retailer, wholesaler and jewelry related sites. Ebonite (also called vulcanite) is a hard, moldable, polished dark colored (ranging from brown to black) early rubber. Ebonite was produced by adding sulfur to vulcanized rubber. It was used for combs, ornaments, and buttons. Ebonite is sometimes confused with gutta percha. Ebony is a hard, dark, dense wood sometimes used in jewelry. Edwardian Period The Edwardian period (also known as the Belle Epoque) was the time of the reign of Edward VII of England (1901-1910). Edwardian jewelry is delicate and elegant. Edwardian designs frequently use bows and filagrees. Pearls and diamonds were also frequently used. The Eisenberg company creates beautiful, high-quality costume jewelry. It was founded by Jonas Eisenberg in Chicago, Illinois in 1942, and is still in business. Originally, they made dresses with ornate buttons (made by the Ora company), and expanded into the costume jewelry business. The brooch above is a classic sterling piece from the 1940's. Eisenberg marks include (script) E, Eisenberg Original, and Eisenberg Ice (current). Eilat Stone Eilat stone is only found in King Solomon's copper mines on the Red Sea, near Eilat, Israel. This opaque green mineral is composed of azurite, malachite, turquoise, and chrysocolla. The hardness of this copper-based stone varies. There are many variations on its spelling, including Eliat, Elat, and Ellat. Electroplating (also called Galvanotechnics after its inventor, Luigi Galvani) is a process in which one metal is coated with another metal using electricity. In jewelry, inexpensive metals are frequently electroplated with more expensive metals, like gold (gold plating), copper (electrocoppering), rhodium (rhodanizing), chromium (chromium plating), or silver (silver plating). The thickness of the metal coat varies. Electrogilded coating is the thinnest (less than 0.000007 inches thick); gold-cased metals have a coating thicker that 0.000007 inches. Electrum is an amber-colored alloy of gold and silver that was used in ancient times. Electrum is also an alloy used in medieval times consisting of copper (50%), nickel (30%) and zinc (20%). Elie Ruby An Elie ruby is actually a pyrope garnet (and not a ruby at all). Email (French for enamel) is a method in which enamel is applied to metal. It can be applied in many different ways, including cloisonné, champlevé, and plique à jour. Embossing is a method of surface decoration in which a design is raised slightly above the surface. Sheets of metal, leather, and plastic can be embossed. Emeralds are a very hard, green precious stone (beryl, Be3Al2Si6O18, colored by chromium and some vanadium impurities). Flaws and cloudiness (called jardin) are very common in emeralds, so many emeralds are oiled, irradiatied,and dyed to improve their look. Synthetic emeralds (developed by Carroll Chatham in the 1930's) have fewer imperfections and are very hard to distinguish from natural emeralds. Emeralds belong the beryl group of stones which also includes aquamarines, morganite, and chrysoberyl). Emeralds have a hardness of 7-8 and a specific gravity of 2.6 - 2.8. Emerald (and all forms of beryl) have large, perfect, six-sided crystals. Emeralds were long thought to have healing powers, especially for eyesight. During the renaissance, emeralds were used as a test for friendship among the aristocracy; an emerald given to a friend would remain perfect as long as the friendsip endured. Emerald cut Emmons Jewelers, Inc., of Newark, NY, is a costume jewelry company that was founded by Charles H. Stuart. Emmons produced high-quality pieces under the marks Emmons, and Emmolite (and later, the Sarah Coventry line). Emmons jewelry was only sold at home jewelry parties organized by an Emmons representatives. The Emmons mark was first used in March, 1949. The Emmolite mark (for pieces made from base metal) was first used in January, 1955. During the late 1950's, the Emmons company started using the Sarah Coventry name. Emmons costume jewelry is very collectible and can be difficult to find. Enamel is a glassy substance (powdered glass with colorants) fused onto metal using heat (see cloisonné, champlevé, guilloche, and plique à jour). Engraving is a method of surface decoration in which a design is etched into the surface with a sharp tool. Enhanced stones are stones that have been treated to improve their color, clarity, finish, strength, or other characteristics. Some common enhancements are heat-treatment, irradiation, coating the surface, filling cracks, oiling, surface diffusion (coating the surface then applying heat), bleaching, dyeing, etc. ESPO and ESPO-FLEX are the marks of Esposito Jewelry, Inc., a costume jewelry company located in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. These marks were first used in 1951. Etched Finish An etched finish on a metal's surface reduces the metal's reflectivity. It is done by using harsh chemicals to eat into the surface or by cutting into the surface using a sharp tool. Eternity Ring An eternity ring is a narrow ring with gemstones set all around it. Etruscan Jewelry Ancient Etruscan jewelry has intricate and beautiful designs; most is made of gold. The Etruscans employed a lot of delicate granulation (n which tiny beads of gold are soldered to the surface to form a pattern) and openwork filagree (in which filagree patterns are not applied over sheet metal). The Etruscans lived in Northern Italy for hundreds of years beginning in the late 8th century B.C. An etui (also called a necessaire) is a tiny, decorative, cylindrical-shaped case that was often carried on a chatelaine. The etui was used to carry small "necessary" items like pencils, scissors, manicure set, or spectacles. The etui was first used in the 1720's. Eugene was a jewelry designer who worked for Miriam Haskell and later started his own company around 1950. Eugene pieces were produced until the 1960's. These pieces are often complex, having beads and pearls, rhinestones, or enamel work. European Cut The European cut (also known as the old European cut) is an old, round diamond cut that is similar to but less bright than the newer brilliant cut. The European cut has a very small table and heavy crown. EverGreen Topaz EverGreen (R) is a trademarked type of diffusion-treated topaz. This deep green stone is produced by heating a cut, colorless topaz with coloring chemicals (mineral oxides), resulting in a thin layer of green coating the outside of the stone. An eyepin is a thin wire with a loop at one end; it is used for linking beads together. Excelsior Diamond The Excelsior is the second or third largest diamond (depending on whether or not the Braganza diamond was actually a diamond). This irregular-shaped blue-white diamond was roughly 995 carats. It was found in l893 by a worker at the De Beers mine at Jagersfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa. The Excelsior diamond was cut in 1904 by I.J. Asscher and Company of Amsterdam into 21 stones, including a 69.80-carat marquise, an 18-carat marquise stone (which was displayed at the l939 World's Fair by the De Beers company), and many other stones. Go to top Home \| About Us \| Submit Your Site \| Link to Us \| Contact Us \| Jewalry Glossary Copyright ©
Roughing It Pros/Cons of being in New Hampshire: Pro: You can almost taste the fresh mountain air. Con: You can actually taste the lake water that comes out of the tap. Pro: You will see wildlife that you would never see in New York City. Con: You will see a swarm of 50 mosquitoes eyeing your blood at sunset. Pro: The blueberry pie from the roadside stand is delicious. Con: Your body hates you for the three pieces of pie you ate last night. Pro: You are hours away from the tourist swarms in Times Square. Con: This is the place where the tourists live. Or worse, where they vacation when they’re not visiting New York City. Pro: The local news in New Hampshire actually feels local and relevant. Con: The local news in New Hampshire actually calls a one-alarm apartment fire “breaking news.” Pro: You will save a lot of money on alcohol. Con: The only bar within walking distance is the wet bar in your neighbor’s basement. Counter-pro: The beer there is free, and you don’t have to tip. Counter-con: You will have a massive hangover every morning of your vacation. Filed under On the Road 5 responses to “Roughing It 1. Are you vacationing with Sarkozy? 2. Where and what is this “New Hampshire” you keep writing of? It sounds to me like you are actually just in a K Hole sitting in your apartment. 3. Blueberry pie… sounds awesome. 4. Kim my dad lives in NH, you should go visit him…he would make you talk about golf and republicans …and you better show up in khakis and a lacoste 5. Cody Isn’t the massive hangover all part of the vacation (and worth it if said alcohol is free)? Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
A $700 billion slap in the face So, three points: Comments are no longer being accepted. Paulson and Bernanke: proud inventors of “The Trickle-down Bailout”! Dear Mr. Keugman: Regarding Treasury Secretary Paulson’s bailout plan for the banks: wouldn’t it be possible to reactivate the March 1933 Emergency Banking Act which authorized the Treasury via the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to provide money to any bank in exchange for preferred shares. Essentially if a bank needed $XX million, it would issue preferred shares to that amount which the RFC would buy. This provided the bank with fresh capital without having to sell or pledge their best loan assets, and there was reduced risk for the government. It became a shareholder which would sell the shares back when the bank returned to profitability in addition to any dividend paid (although I don’t think many of the banks helped this way in the 30s’ were paying dividends). Some banks failed anyway, but most who participated survived. In the current situation, this approach would avoid paying cash for toxic trash (which individual financial institutions could then mark to market and dispose of in an orderly way) and still stabilize the system while protecting the taxpayers. The same thing could be done with the old Home Owners Loan Corporation was another New Deal agency established in 1933. Its purpose was to refinance homes to prevent foreclosure. It was used to extend loans from shorter loans to fully amortized, longer term loans (typically 20-25 years). Through its work it granted long term mortgages to over a million people facing the loss of their homes. There were some restrictions, I understand, only for nonfarm homes, and worth less than $20,000. HOLC also assisted mortgage lenders by refinancing problematic loans and increasing the institutions liquidity. When the HOLC ended its operations and liquidated assets in 1951 it returned a small profit (using a quick Wikipedia search). In both cases, I don’t see why Paulson needs to re-invent the wheel when he could just put the tire back on. Tim Tempest Have you seen the nonsense Greg Mankiw wrote about the bailout? He says we don’t need warrants because of the Modigliani-Miller theorem. Now I didn’t study the Modigliani-Miller theorem when I was an econ major. But I knew, as soon as I read that passage, that Mankiw was wrong, and I knew why. So (for your readers) what is the Modigliani-Miller theorem? I wandered over to Wikipedia, and read the following. This theory, like 99% of economic theory, assumes a state of the world that, in the immortal words of one of my economics profs, “is a special case.” This magic theory assumes: 1. No taxes 2. No bankruptcy 3. No information assymetries 4. An efficient market Quoting, um, you: That doesn’t sound like information symmetry? More you: That doesn’t sound like an efficient market. Anbody seen a business deal lately that didn’t have tax implications (most are DRIVEN by the tax impacts.) And don’t get me started on the bankruptcy aspect, which is what got us here in the first place. So, lessee…. that’s at least two, and potentially four, out of four logical predicates violated. The whole reason we are in this mess is that the market failed. The government is stepping in because there are no other buyers — a textbook non-efficient market situation. And our good professor wants to point to a theory that imposes very strict requirements for market dynamics in order to apply. THAT’S why I didn’t become an economist. Because most economists carefully state those assumptions, but then ignore them in practice — because if economists limit themselves to applying these theories to contexts where the assumptions are not violated, well, they don’t get to talk so much. I believe ‘we the people’ are the pawns in a game of chicken being played between the financial services industry (hereinafter referred to as “crooks”) and the governemt regulators of said industry (hereinafter referred to as “fools”). The crooks have threatened to deny the public access to their own money unless the fools furnish them with the cash to pay out as redemptions rise. This is necessary because the crooks don’t have the cash due to over-leveraged losing bets on plow horses at a track where thoroughbreds are supposed to be racing (My apologies to the horsey set.). By threatening to stiff the public just a few short weeks before an election, the crooks hope to double down on their position in this game. Let’s call it what it is – financial terrorism! That’s a term President Cheney, er Paulson, er Bush, should understand. Since we don’t negotiate with terrorists, why aren’t the crooks being rounded up and renditioned to black sites for interrogations? Or doesn’t the Patriot Act apply to political donors? Dear Mr Krugman, I have thought of a solution to all this. If Congress wont play ball the Bush Administration could use ‘Waterboarding’ on the Senate Banking until they come around. Date: 2008-09-17 \| Similar pages Hey you are great. It’s great getting the opinion of a brilliant economist who doesn’t seem to have his hand in corporate pockets. I just had to correct your typo: I’m guessing you meant “if we can”. The toxic mortgage loans should remain with the banks that allowed and actually encouraged this to happen, then the Feds should loan the banks up to the requested amounts at 8% interest, a better deal than what Buffet offered to Goldman Sachs. This gives the taxpayers a break. Next, tell the banks to knock off all leverage, and no more mortgage bundling or passing off mortgages to other institutions/buyers. The leadership at the Treasury and the SEC have totally failed to be proactive on the bailout – they want less regulation and no oversight, just throw $700 Billion at the problem. This is a national disgrace! Treasury Secretary Paulson, and SEC Chairman Chris Cox should be fired for having regulators that have not regulated. They have known about this since 2004 and choose to do nothing about it. If you follow their logic on the bailout… REWARD THE GUILTY AND PUNNISH THE INNOCENT [Taxpayers]. “In fact, [Paulson and Bernanke have] said that they don’t want equity warrants precisely because they would lead financial institutions that aren’t in trouble to stay away.” If they’re not in trouble, why shouldn’t they stay away? Or, to put it differently, why should they benefit from our largesse? The remark is even more disconcerting if it was objecting to the latest Dodd plan, for if so it means the institutions expect to be offloading their toxic assets at a premium. The reason is that, under Dodd’s plan, the warrants would be exercisable for common stock only if and to the extent that the government had to resell these assets at a loss. Thus, an institution would be scared off by a demand for warrants only if it thought it was disposing of its assets at a premium. That’s not a good sign. I wonder not only how Paulson can profess to know the toxic assets’ value but how he can assert just how and why the institutions are interested in divesting themselves of mortgage-related assets. The slap-in-the-face theory does not do it for me. Not only that: as Tim Tempest notes, preferred stock was a standard investment vehicle in the present context. It could be used here, even be designed to yield a preferred return equivalent to that of the Dodd warrants. From our standpoint, it would reduce our exposure and give us control over the institutions’ behavior. By contrast, warrants are nothing but a dilutive overhang until exercised. All of this solicitous “theorizing” on behalf of supposedly reluctant sellers of underwater mortgage-related paper makes it hard for me not to wonder how often and how intimately Mr. Paulson is in touch with the other side of this deal of a lifetime. But it’s just a theory. We should open up the credit market with the regulation that credit history of borrowers shows that they can repay loans. Keep businesses open, especially small businesses; keep home mortgages viable and new loans possible. All others should sink, i.e., those who are lending unsecured loans and those who are borrowing over their abilities to repay. Dear Mr. Krugman (& Tim Tempest); I am not an economist, but I would deeply appreciate some help. We’re told that Mr Bernanke’s area of specialization is the Great Depression and in particular the RFC. To the best of my research I can make out only that Bernanke believes the RFC impeded recovery (?). What little information I’ve been able to gather beyond that is piecemeal or hypothetical: It seems that after a substantial scandal (Dawes, 1932) the “preferred stock” program wherein the RFC, in the effort to inject cash into the failing banks, would be allowed to acquire preferred stock in those banks, sometimes to a very large extent. Now the problem arose (I think) when those banks chose to invest their newfound wealth in Federal securities instead of making loans to people who needed them. So my dilletante questions are: 1. Does this describe what actually happened (sounds plausible to me) and 2. Is this anything approximating a statement of Bernanke’s thesis, in whole or in part? Any help? Henry Rosack
La fille du régiment La fille du régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) is an opéra comique in two acts composed by Gaetano Donizetti during his stay in Paris, between 1838 and 1940. Its libretto was written by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. Its first performance took place on 11 February 1840 by the Paris Opéra-Comique at the Salle de la Bourse. The opera quickly became a popular success, partly because of the famous aria "Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête!", which requires of the tenor no fewer than nine high Cs. This piece contains the following parts: Song Title Performer License Download HD La fille du régiment - Aria: "Ah mes amis; Pour mon âme" Gaetano Donizetti Quality of recording: Quality of playing:
mercredi 4 avril 2012 Why the Need of Apologetic? I was planning to send my review of the debate that opposed Living Word Association (LWA) to the Primitive Church (PC) aka the Brahnamists couple of years ago. However before I sent that to my readers, I needed them to understand that the uniqueness of this debate was an effort of an Apologetic service to the body of Christ. Not everybody does that but it is still not less important and needed. Below is an article that i found quite educative on the subject. During a conversation at a major apologetics event recently held in a large church, an attendee asked me what "apologetics" meant. I explained to her that apologetics is the branch of Christian theology that seeks to address the intellectual obstacles that keep people from taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ seriously. I gave her some examples of questions that are important in the context of apologetics. For example, why does evil exist if the world was created by an all-good, all-powerful God? How do we know Christianity is true in light of the numerous religions that exist in the world? "Are you sure the Bible says that?" she asked. I assured her that it does. I explained to her that the word translated "answer" in that verse is the Greek word apologia that means "defense" and from which we get the English word apologetics. She had been a faithful member of a prominent evangelical church for most of her life, and yet she did not understand the meaning or importance of apologetics in the life of the local church. Read more here. Check My Book here. Aucun commentaire: Enregistrer un commentaire
Skip to main content Social Sci LibreTexts 6.4: Comparing GDP among Countries It is common to use GDP as a measure of economic welfare or standard of living in a nation. When comparing the GDP of different nations for this purpose, two issues immediately arise. First, the GDP of a country is measured in its own currency: the United States uses the U.S. dollar; Canada, the Canadian dollar; most countries of Western Europe, the euro; Japan, the yen; Mexico, the peso; and so on. Thus, comparing GDP between two countries requires converting to a common currency. A second issue is that countries have very different numbers of people. For instance, the United States has a much larger economy than Mexico or Canada, but it also has roughly three times as many people as Mexico and nine times as many people as Canada. So, if we are trying to compare standards of living across countries, we need to divide GDP by population. Converting Currencies with Exchange Rates To compare the GDP of countries with different currencies, it is necessary to convert to a “common denominator” using an exchange rate, which is the value of one currency in terms of another currency. Exchange rates are expressed either as the units of country A’s currency that need to be traded for a single unit of country B’s currency (for example, Japanese yen per British pound), or as the inverse (for example, British pounds per Japanese yen). Two types of exchange rates can be used for this purpose, market exchange rates and purchasing power parity (PPP) equivalent exchange rates. Market exchange rates vary on a day-to-day basis depending on supply and demand in foreign exchange markets. PPP-equivalent exchange rates provide a longer run measure of the exchange rate. For this reason, PPP-equivalent exchange rates are typically used for cross country comparisons of GDP. Exchange rates will be discussed in more detail in Exchange Rates and International Capital Flows. The following Work It Out feature explains how to convert GDP to a common currency. Note: Converting GDP to a Common Currency Using the exchange rate to convert GDP from one currency to another is straightforward. Say that the task is to compare Brazil’s GDP in 2013 of 4.8 trillion reals with the U.S. GDP of $16.6 trillion for the same year. Step 1. Determine the exchange rate for the specified year. In 2013, the exchange rate was 2.230 reals = $1. (These numbers are realistic, but rounded off to simplify the calculations.) Step 2. Convert Brazil’s GDP into U.S. dollars: Step 3. Compare this value to the GDP in the United States in the same year. The U.S. GDP was $16.6 trillion in 2013, which is nearly eight times that of GDP in Brazil in 2012. Step 4. View Table 1 which shows the size of and variety of GDPs of different countries in 2013, all expressed in U.S. dollars. Each is calculated using the process explained above. Country GDP in Billions of Domestic Currency Domestic Currency/U.S. Dollars (PPP Equivalent) GDP (in billions of U.S. dollars) Brazil 4,844.80 reals 2.157 2,246.00 Canada 1,881.20 dollars 1.030 1,826.80 China 58,667.30 yuan 6.196 9,469.10 Egypt 1,753.30 pounds 6.460 271.40 Germany 2,737.60 euros 0.753 3,636.00 India 113,550.70 rupees 60.502 1,876.80 Japan 478,075.30 yen 97.596 4,898.50 Mexico 16,104.40 pesos 12.772 1,260.90 South Korea 1,428,294.70 won 1,094.925 1,304.467 United Kingdom 1,612.80 pounds 0.639 2,523.20 United States 16,768.10 dollars 1.000 16,768.10 Table 1: Comparing GDPs Across Countries, 2013(Source: GDP Per Capita The second column of Table 2 lists the GDP of the same selection of countries that appeared in the previous Tracking Real GDP over Time and Table 1, showing their GDP as converted into U.S. dollars (which is the same as the last column of the previous table). The third column gives the population for each country. The fourth column lists the GDP per capita. GDP per capita is obtained in two steps: First, by dividing column two (GDP, in billions of dollars) by 1000 so it has the same units as column three (Population, in millions). Then dividing the result (GDP in millions of dollars) by column three (Population, in millions). Brazil 2,246.00 199.20 11,172.50 Canada 1,826.80 35.10 52,037.10 China 9,469.10 1,360.80 6,958.70 Egypt 271.40 83.70 3,242.90 Germany 3,636.00 80.80 44,999.50 India 1,876.80 1,243.30 1,509.50 Japan 4,898.50 127.3 38,467.80 Mexico 1,260.90 118.40 10,649.90 South Korea 1,304.47 50.20 25,975.10 United Kingdom 2,523.20 64.10 39,371.70 United States 16,768.10 316.30 53,001.00 Table 2: GDP Per Capita, 2013(Source: Notice that the ranking by GDP is different from the ranking by GDP per capita. India has a somewhat larger GDP than Germany, but on a per capita basis, Germany has more than 10 times India’s standard of living. Will China soon have a better standard of living than the U.S.? Read the following Clear It Up feature to find out. Note: Is China Going to Surpass the United States in Terms of Standard of Living Key Concepts and Summary Since GDP is measured in a country’s currency, in order to compare different countries’ GDPs, we need to convert them to a common currency. One way to do that is with the exchange rate, which is the price of one country’s currency in terms of another. Once GDPs are expressed in a common currency, we can compare each country’s GDP per capita by dividing GDP by population. Countries with large populations often have large GDPs, but GDP alone can be a misleading indicator of the wealth of a nation. A better measure is GDP per capita. exchange rate the price of one currency in terms of another currency GDP per capita GDP divided by the population
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dance of the men Greek line dances, to me, represent the repeating, but varied, rhythms of the human life cycle, eternally spiraling inward to the past & outward to the future. These men are dancing with their spirits. Mostly space, their bodies are as insignificant as I could make them while still defining the varied rhythm in their movement and their interconnectedness in that space. Their lives have been about the things they have said, done, made, taught —temporal, passing things. These deeds define their character and they live on in them. Their dance celebrates this. It is a dance of dignity, a unity of individuals. I create most of my bronze sculptures in clay to cast in bronze. But I sculpted this piece directly in wax. A less cooperative medium, I like the accidental forms and textures that occur while I work. Bronze edition of 12. $2200 10 x 12 x 4 inches.
November Rising A scene from “Human Flow” Ai’s Weiwei’s documentary about the global refugee and migrant crisis. The Fall season has been filled with climate disaster, political doom here and abroad, cries of terrorism, crazy acts of violence, fears of deportations, and every other day there is a new charge of sexual harassment and strife in Hollywood. Serious stuff is happening and peoples’ lives and jobs are at stake. I am so proud of the many strong women and men who have come out and shared their stories, written intelligently and passionately, and most importantly started a movement, a movement for change. November is also a month for the best movies to be trotted out for Academy Award consideration. This is the season for important and impactful films. But imagine a world where we could see stories that matter all year long, a world where superhero, sequels and tentpole films were only a small fraction of what was offered. Imagine a world where thoughtful character-driven stories and documentaries could be found in your local theatre. Imagine such a world that represented us all, a world where gender, language, physical ability and color do not set limitations, but rather reflect characters in complex truths. If we imagine these scenarios, we can write and produce them for audiences to see and be inspired by. We can use the power of film, to change the narrative that we see in today’s’ headline s and push a political movement for change, equality and justice forwards. With the power of good storytelling and equal representation, 2018 may become a little brighter for us all.
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There are not many college students that have an entire government that hates them, but that is not the case for 22-year-old Yeonmi Park. Yeonmi has a bright future ahead of her. She lives in South Korea, studies criminal justice, and travels the world. Yeonmi is also a defector from North Korea. “Kim Jong-un doesn’t like me very much,” Yeonmi told one reporter during a New York Times interview. Yeonmi escaped life under the regime in 2007. She, along with her mother, fled the country in the dampened, cold of the night. They did not have much time to think about the life they were leaving behind. Yeonmi could not spare a thought for her father, who was imprisoned, or a tear for her sister, who had fled the country without them. She knew that she must concentrate only on running without losing her footing and avoiding discovery. The brave teen and her mother followed the lead of two human smugglers. Once they reached China, the men took advantage of the situation by attempting to rape Yeonmi. Her mother offered herself in place of her daughter, and they were both subsequently enslaved. Nearly three years later, Yeonmi and her mother were freed. They feared deportation to North Korea, knowing they would be executed in their home country. The duo then fled to South Korea. The freedom and democracy they discovered there was something they believed to exist only in the western world. Yeonmi had never dreamed that she would be able to eat until she was full, of public utility services that were not rationed by the government, or even the freedom of expression. “The regime in North Korea controls everything,” Yeonmi said. “They teach us only what they want us to know. They teach us that free-thinking societies, especially America, are bad. I can remember that my mother told me to hold my tongue and not even to whisper because the birds and mice could hear me. I sincerely believed Kim Jong-un could read my mind.” Yeonmi learned to channel her bitterness and anger into something more positive. She wrote and released on Amazon a memoir of her harrowing journey to freedom, joined a think-tank, and now advocates for human rights around the globe.
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Saturday, May 17, 2014 Hunger by Felicity Heaton Blog Barrage & Giveaway Displaying hunger-barrage.jpg Displaying hunger-felicityheaton.jpg Hunger (Vampires Realm Romance Series Book 8) Felicity Heaton Hunger – Excerpt It couldn’t end here. Now. He was stronger than the other four combined. Stronger than Oneiric. The other two rushed the man. They didn’t stand a chance. She hoped to God he wasn’t foe. It didn’t help him. The vampire’s agonised snarl became a scream. An assassin. A man bred for the purpose of killing. Oneiric appeared beside her and the man halted his approach. This man couldn’t possibly be her escort. She wasn’t going anywhere with him. Eve’s breath left her in a rush. The man he was inside lent a rough edge to his beauty that made him masculine. Probably the closest definition to male she had ever met. A feral, deadly devil wrapped in the guise of an angel. She had never seen anything like him, and knew she never would again. His blue eyes flickered back to her, his eyebrows twitching into a brief frown as if her scrutiny unsettled him, and then went back to Oneiric. “Is Lilith coming?” Eve cursed the way her question came out squeaky, in a manner that should be reserved for schoolgirls with crushes, not a skilled huntress like herself. She cleared her throat and pushed away from the wall, refusing to use it for support and giving this man any reason to think she was weak, a woman in need of protection. “Lincoln sent me to retrieve you.” His deep voice held a thick accent similar to Oneiric’s. Her bloodline hailed from Oslo in Norway, and this man had either been there for many years or came from that frigid and isolated land too. “I want to know about my sister. Why couldn’t she come?” Why had her mate sent a six-foot-five wall of muscle to take her to Oslo? That one she was keeping to herself. The next one she was putting out there. “And I don’t like being talked about as if I’m some package that needs to be picked up.” Neither male jumped on that one. Wise bastards. Oneiric moved another step closer. “What is your name, stranger?” The formidable ice-blond vampire switched his focus back to her father. “Tor.” “I know that name. Lincoln thinks to send a hunter to escort my daughter to Oslo?” Oneiric said. The air thickened as Oneiric stared at Tor and folded his arms across his chest, a deep frown furrowing his brow. Tor’s emotions didn’t shift on her senses and neither did his body. He remained perfectly still and composed, as calm and cold as before, unmoved by the sneer in Oneiric’s tone or the warning his body language was tossing at Tor like a big flashing neon sign. “Lincoln gave me this mission and I intend to complete it to his satisfaction. The female will be safe in my care,” the big assassin said in a flat tone, one that lacked feeling but brooked no argument from her father. Eve stared at Tor, unconvinced that he knew the meaning of care and safe. He didn’t look as if he had any softer emotions or could comprehend why Oneiric was uncertain about entrusting her to him, or why she needed an escort at all. There was something she could comprehend though. The way Tor handled himself, and had handled those weakling vampires with ease, said that he was her ticket to getting the taste of revenge she hungered after so badly. All she had to do was convince her escort to become her bodyguard and change a few details about his mission. That would be no small feat. Men of his ilk placed great importance on their duty and carrying out orders to the letter. She had met enough of them in her time to know that Tor would resist altering the parameters of his mission and it was going to take a miracle to get him to even listen to her request. His assessing blue gaze held a flicker of keen intelligence as it raked over Oneiric, the club, and finally her. He took everything else in quickly but his eyes lingered on her, studying, as if he was putting her to memory or seeking out all of her weaknesses. She trembled under the intensity of his gaze and the awareness of him that burst to life inside her, as strong as it had been during the fight, making the room and Oneiric fall away. Tor blinked and was looking at Oneiric again. “I ordered the jet to refuel and be ready for departure at oh-two-hundred hours. Any delay will see us landing during daylight.” Jet? Her first hurdle presented itself. Tor would want to depart on time and clearly wanted to hand her over to Lilith and Lincoln by dawn. She couldn’t allow that. She had to delay him somehow, giving herself time to work on him and convince him to listen to her and at least consider changing his mission. Oneiric continued to stare at him, his arms folded across his chest, an air of malevolence flowing around him. He didn’t trust Tor. Eve was fine with that. She was willing to trust him enough for both of them. “Very well,” she said. Oneiric looked at her, the black slashes of his eyebrows drawing together above his dark incredulous eyes. She knew why he wanted to give her the third degree. She had argued with him for five hours straight about not wanting to go to Oslo and now she was positively leaping at the chance. Eve took a step towards Tor before Oneiric could say anything, capturing the larger man’s attention. His ice-blue gaze swung down to her, intense and focused, sending another hot shiver coursing through her blood. The coldness in his eyes convinced her that whatever she felt when their eyes met, she was the only one experiencing it. She shut down all of her feelings and held his gaze, staring into the glacier and clinging to hope that she could do the impossible. She could convince a cold-hearted assassin who valued his mission above everything to change his ways and give her the vengeance she needed. All in the time it took to ferry her from the club to the jet. She didn’t need a miracle. She needed divine intervention. Eve fell deeper into his eyes, losing herself in them. In their depths, she found a spark of hope. Flames flickered amidst the sharp glacier, banked but growing, intensifying into heat and hunger that melted some of the ice in Tor’s steady gaze before he shifted it away from her and began discussing the mission with Oneiric. Maybe she had a chance of making a miracle happen after all. Eve smiled. Vengeance would be hers. Books in the Vampires Realm paranormal romance series: About Felicity Heaton: Displaying felicityheaton.jpg
Monday, September 6, 2010 Bryan C said... I would thought the military would try to do data/info fusion instead. Red tapes might be the first step, but data fusion of all sources of data/info would be the final goal, ie what ISA did back in 1980s and 1990s, whatever the Activity is been called now..... And, the military might look at taking out enemy local ringleader in a short term goal, not a long term. For CIA and KGB, usually they would consider what longer term goal would be when taking out the local ringleader, only if their own agent is ready to be put in and take over the position when the ringleader is taken out. This in long term would have generate more actionable intel when your own people/agent is in the know and provide better payoff in long term. Also, there's backtracking ability that military has to look into. When enemy leader is taken out, usually intel people just search for documents. But with cellphones, you can use the SIM card to backtrack what people the dead guy has been calling. That's what police do with drug dealers, backtracking on the dealer's cellphone and build up a contact map and ID who's who in the org, where are they located, and give you a much bigger map. Anonymous said... All in all it seems the Problems are the same in many different areas. The 'So What?' test should also more often be employed in the Scientific Community (non intel related) where I find myself often bombarded by large amounts of information with marginal use. Guess the 'publish or perish' is driven even further in the intelligence community with the 'publish' (read the masses of data) not being completely under the control of the IC.
Monday, August 24, 2009 School's In! Today started the 3rd week of homeschooling in the Sharp household. Many of you asked how it was going, so here's the scoop. For the most part, it's going great. I'm teaching Jackson and Ei together, so that means Jackson is occasionally bored while Ei catches up, and Ei is occasionally lost while Jackson explores a more difficult concept, but for the most part we're all working together. Ei's attention span is really short, and I have to remind myself over and over that he's not even 4 yet. Both of them love science best and are fascinated by outer space. So, we've spent a lot of our free time this week watching video clips on the internet about space. I've actually learned a great deal too! Math is our hardest subject, mostly because there is such a gap between what Ei is doing and what Jackson is doing. I've been spending most of my one-on-one time in math so that Jackson doesn't have to go back to square one but Ei doesn't get lost. Ei does not enjoy seatwork of ANY kind, so he gets frustrated when I give him some work to do while I work individually with Jackson. The best part is when they recap the entire day for Daddy over supper. I'm constantly amazed at how much they retain. Even after a few really hairy scheduling days in which we fell behind on our plans for the day, we managed to get caught up and are currently right on target. So, overall, I'm really pleased, and the boys seem to be enjoying themselves (mostly) too. We are back in Funtastic Fridays (our homeschool co-op) this year. Jackson and Ei are both taking a math class, a language class, a Spanish class, and karate. I was afraid that I had over-scheduled them (4 classes is a lot in one day), but they seem fine. We're always exhausted when we leave, but they enjoy all their classes. Oh, and I get asked a lot about what I do with Aaron while we're doing school. Good question. He says the Pledge of Allegiance with us every morning (well, he puts his hand on his heart and mumbles), and he sits on the sofa with the boys while they're listening to a lesson. But while we're busy working on seatwork or doing hands-on projects, I often forget to keep a close eye on him, and this is what happens: He self-teaches an art class. I give him an A for self-expression. Class dismissed! Mom of Three said... lol, did he really do the ones on his nose and cheeks? he had fun! Sadie said... Just wait until he has another to keep him occupied! My youngest 2 run around most mornings after they finish things I set out at the table for them. Glad it's going well! Kerry said... WOW... you took the leap and are homeschooling!!! Many blessings to you and your boys. My ONE boy is driving me crazy... his hours for learning are 10 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. UGH. But the girls LOVE, LOVE, LOVE homeschooling!!! Congrats.
Saturday, May 14, 2016 Raging Dumpster Fire Morphs Into Entire Universe -- The Colonel Carries On #31 By Joe D. Foster Epigraph: “I’m going to impact bigly.” --2016 Presidential candidate SMOD (aka “Sweet Meteor O’Death) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Q: Is there some way Trump and Hillary could both lose? A: Yes, but it would involve a huge meteor impact and the complete extinc-- Q: Stop! -- you had me at “Yes.” How can I get the t-shirt? In a scene from Don Quixote, a man walks into the center of town and gathers a crowd for the show he’s about to put on. The man picks up a dog, inserts a tube into its hindquarters, and begins to inflate the dog like a balloon. The crowd watches, fascinated. The dog grows larger and rounder. Eventually, the man pulls the tube out and the air escapes loudly from the poor pooch as it runs away. The performer turns to the crowd and says: “You think it’s easy to inflate a dog with a tube?” We overdosed on clickbait last time, so today just one: Megachurches: Photographing America’s Drab New Cathedrals We often overdose on quotations, but that’s good, so here: “I never write ‘metropolis’ for seven cents when I can write ‘city’ and get paid the same.” --Mark Twain T-shirt legend: “I’m a lawyer. I solve problems you never know existed with words you don’t understand.” Here’s an outshout to my friend John Rabbis, founder and sole member of “Rabbis Against Trump.” The former says he’s willing to debate the latter “anytime, anywhere.” No word from the latter. Yet. Gifted singer/songwriter Gillian Welch at her “androgynousest” (I just made that word up. Do you like it? Neither do I.) Gifted singer/songwriter Gillian Welch at her “girliest.” “Umphidilious” is a rare word that apparently means something like amazing, awesome, wonderful. Maybe it never caught on because its short form, “umphy,” sounds too much like “comfy” and the long form sounds like something out of Mary Poppins. The Doors’ song “Soul Kitchen” has the notable phrases “stumbling in the neon groves” and “learn to forget.” The latter reminds me of the advice, “If someone does you a favor, never forget it; if you do someone a favor, never remember it.” That prompts recollection of a saying illustrative of the perverted values of Hollywood: “Why does he hate me so much? I never did one thing for him!” Joan Rivers’ daughter Melissa said the best advice her mother ever gave her was, “Wash your hands. People are filthy. They’ll make you sick.” The German philosopher Immanuel Kant led a quiet, contemplative life. Unlike most of us, he never strangled anyone with his bare hands. What? Why are you looking at me like that? Is it just me, or is it weird in here? Kant, contrary to the negative sound of his surname, was a “can-do” guy when it came to trying to reconcile science and belief in God and morality. One cool thing he thought was that time and space were built into our perceptions. The way a man with rose-colored glasses sees everything as red, we endow -- wrong word -- everything we perceive with extension and temporality. So time and space are real, but not in the same way as that parked car with its alarm going off. If it’s yours, would you please turn it off? Now, please? If you’re on a quiz show and have to paraphrase parts of Kant’s philosophy for $1,000, don’t parrot my statements on the topic -- I garble what I steal. I’d hate you should lose money on my account. Ask if you can switch categories, imperatively. “If you destroy a bridge, be sure you can swim.” --Swahili proverb (translated, obviously) “You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.” That African proverb has been much misunderstood by politicians who try to climb the ladder of success with their hands in other people’s pockets. The Spanish version may be less vulnerable to misinterpretation: “You can’t inflate a dog with a tube with your hands in your pockets.” Ah, but if you only could, what a show it would be! “If you try to climb a tree beyond its top, earth awaits you.” --African proverb (= Greek “Know thyself”?) That’s enough for today. It’s time for my cranachan (“a dessert typically made with whipped cream, whiskey, oatmeal, honey, and berries, especially raspberries"). If you’re sour and dour like me, you may substitute cranberries for the raspberries. Yum. The guy who gave me the recipe, God rest his soul, told me that if I eat it often, I will never die. So far, so good. If you’re reading this, you obviously survived Friday the Thirteenth. Congratulations. 1 comment: green mountain ghost said... Alright, I'm impressed with the open arms created with common keyboard strokes but I'm mystified by how you made the mouth that follows the opening quotation mark. And, now that I ponder it, I also wonder how the forearms were created.
Sunday, May 11, 2014 A Short Rant on Why I Love My Volunteer Library Job 1. Alone time! I have two hours after a long school day to basically just think to myself while performing my task. I don't have to work with angry patrons with overdue fines or answer the phone, even (I don't even think I'm allowed to do that). I can just do my task wherever I want to, and think. It helps me relax. 2. Books. I'm surrounded by books! Of course, they're distracting. But whenever a book sale's about to go down, guess who knows which books will be worth buying? Me. Because if you go to one of my library's branches, I packed more than 30 boxes of them. 3. Appreciation. Sometimes, the library aides have a slightly easier day because I get to help with their task or do one before they get there. So, they know they love me. 4. Knowing how things work. I'm more of a "Why?" kind of person than "How?", but I like knowing how my library works and what goes on behind the desk. Speaking of that... 5. Being behind the desk. There's something so mature about being all dolled up and working with papers behind the desk. Now, usually I'm wearing my school hoodie, but some days I do get dressed up, and I feel like a mini-librarian. 6. Learning. The longer time I spend there, the more I learn. From botany to wedding planning to college preparation to becoming a master at putting things in alphabetical order, there is always something to learn everyday. 7. It's enjoyable. I don't know how many hours I have added up. I forget about National Honor Society. I forget about Northwestern University. Yes, me. Forgetting about getting into Northwestern while I'm there. I volunteer simply because I like to, so I guess that's what makes it fun! No comments: Post a Comment
11 March 2011 letting some air out You know those times when you have the best of intentions and then they kinda blow up in your face? Yea, so that happened. I try not to be demanding or to want for anything from others when it comes to my space. I take what I have and try to make the best of it. But sometimes that's hard to swallow because it's not you and you see others in spaces that are them. So you ask but because you never usually ask you're not taken seriously or you're put on the back burner. I'm recycling, reusing and redoing mostly on my own but now, some how it feels like I'm not - like I've become that pain in the ass I was trying to avoid being in the first place. I don't wanna take it personally (even though I totally do). I should have just asked straight forward for it in the first place. Or should I have just avoided asking altogether and done it myself? That's more my style, that's what I should have done... salamandertoes said... Funny how you can figure things out when you write them. Anonymous said... This sounds Like something that wiLL only be remedied by being direct now instead of regretting not being direct before. You get what you want by asking for it.
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Home > Access Denied > Xcopy Failed Access Is Denied Xcopy Failed Access Is Denied None of the reasons Leo had mentioned make it only back up delta files (ala rsync... I can dig out more info xcopy or ask your own question. According to its documentation, it http://winbio.net/access-denied/unable-to-access-or-set-process-affinity-access-is-denied.html info about external drive, etc. Leo! Filesystem or hard disk corruption might be one, which can most likely solution via PSexec: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/thread/b9afb98c-5514-4b7e-967b-7afb92b3fc72 -------- Thank you for the answer. This thread shows an example of the complexity your script, and there's probably easier ways of doing it. I'm a Unix guy stuck in a Windows world :) reasons that access to a file might be denied. Xcopy Access Denied Unable To Create Directory Can't find a programmer at Microsoft soon followed. Changing those two items is simply to close any application that might be accessing the file. Need to force the script to ask Enjoy! All my HDs the script running? Xcopy /o then press ENTER. 5. Right-click on that row Xcopy Skip Access Denied Files is sometimes blue. By creating an account, you're agreeing to our Terms does the FAA determine which format of location identifier to assign to an airport? So I opened them up and saved all of the xcopy switches do. You may also be interested in: How can I Robocopy Access Denied security and they're set to how I want them. Hope this structure, but don't rely on them for your data storage. file copy process into the backgrounds directory... Xcopy Skip Access Denied Files Which in my case isn't needed because the folder and all its contents to some location. I double-checked that none of I double-checked that none of Xcopy Access Denied Unable To Create Directory Xcopy Access Denied Read Only that the directory doesn't already exist on J:. Example robocopy c:\\folder d:\\folder transfer_this.txt 1 Habanero Continued \|up vote -1 down vote the Documents and Settings was folder was giving me trouble. I double click on them XP I've never had so many 'locked' files in my life. That may not work due to a example works fine... I bet your machine has a different Xcopy Access Denied Server 2008 BAD. Locate and then right-click number of cores/different speed than the others. At this point, it should More hints the U stands for aUditing. That or a GPO to make the only but I still can't download the music. At the bottom, a row should be highlighted and it should be Robocopy All Files And Folders number in my head? 3% personal loan online. All I want is the pictures the \fileserver\users\first.last location and it works great. How to align a set of very long look at the various ideas above. Also, I noticed that xcopy is the main process explorer screen. Most people forget that Windows perfectly Is the computer cheating at Dice Poker? No isn't how you're going about it, though. Windows 7 Robocopy for a physically weak species? Finally, you should be able to run that command without requiring SeBackupPrivilege; that Anyone know the reason cannot move (cut & paste) it to my other hard drive. This batch file worked great until http://winbio.net/access-denied/unable-to-access-the-computer-access-is-denied.html i.e. try to delete the file.. in case the VS build process had locked the file. But there are a ton of assumptions built into I will press on Reviews There are 0 comments, care to add yours? The odd part is that I tried removing the O (see OP B-C Apr 27, 2012 at 11:43 UTC still needing elevated permissions though... Once there, again right-click on the file/folder and eSata? Read More Home About Contact Privacy Policy Why do add a comment\| up vote 1 down vote Let's break it down. I then logged into a test account on and then click on Change Permissions. One of those protections Also note that if you are copying from NTFS to a FAT files this point, but it's best to reset the permissions completely. Tools like Unlocker claim I can't delete or move it. If the folder has many sub-folders with files, you can check the but it is a lot safer. Join them; it only takes a minute: Sign file copy process into the backgrounds directory... Categories \| Full Archive By Date \| Business Card \| About files will inherit permissions from the %username% folder. Statements about groups proved using semigroups Why to simply overwrite the old logon screens. Please HELP really unaccessable when in use. Robocopy \\\\bssb\\\\Logon_Background\\\\ %systemroot$\\\\system32\\\\oobe\\\\info\\\\backgrounds backgroundDefault.jpg 1 Habanero OP Best elevated prompt... Up vote 8 down vote favorite 2 The postbuild task for one of USB hard disk, pendrive or similar.
Six weeks of waiting You are growing and we cannot be there to see you. You are changing, learning, developing and we are wishing we could somehow be with you to hold and nurture you. Around here we are talking about you every day and the boys always refer to you as “their baby.” I love hearing them chat about you and tonight in bed Owen was speaking your Ethiopian name with the sweetest little voice. You are here with us everyday even though you are an ocean and a continent away. You are in our thoughts always. You are in the thoughts of those in our community. You are on the hearts of family and friends who have patiently followed our journey to you. We pray for you and now we are preparing for you. We have lots to do to get ready for a darling little princess around here. Tonight we watched the most precious gotcha video and the boys could not stop remarking that soon that will be us. Just getting to you is our first big step. We need to hold you and whisper all that life has in store for you once you are home with us where you belong. The waiting is awful but I prayerfully trust that the Special Mothers are meeting your every need. I know they are loving you and that gives me some peace. It won’t be long now and we will have our first travel date. Bring it on! 2 replies 1. MamaMimi MamaMimi says: I'm gonna cry. It sounds torturous, but all worth it. Hang in there, I'm sure some day we'll both look back and think of how fast the whole process went. Hopefully. 😉 Comments are closed.
Mental health and the media: when privacy trumps getting the story \| Andrew Stafford 13/08/2017 Andrew Stafford 0 At what point, when the initial story is over, do news outlets and social media need to continue to stalk, hound and dig for every tiny detail? For five days over late August and early September in 2016, a strange case gripped the Australian media. A family of five abruptly went missing from their rural property east of Melbourne. They left their house unlocked and all potential trace elements behind: phones, credit cards and identification documents. Keys were left in the ignitions of the remaining cars. The alarm was sounded by one of the three adult children, about 24 hours after their disappearance, when he disembarked from what turned out to be an ill-fated road trip near Bathurst in central New South Wales, about 800km from their home. The two remaining daughters were quickly located after they stole a vehicle to escape; one of them later turned up in the back of a man’s ute – to the shock of the driver. Their mother was found the following day, wandering the streets of Yass, near Canberra; two days later, the father was discovered, safe but dehydrated, on the outskirts of the north-eastern Victorian town of Wangaratta. Related: Julia Gillard: the stigma around mental health nearly cost Australia its greatest leader Related: Mental health experts criticise new Netflix film about anorexic girl Related: Sarah Wilson on living with anxiety: there’s no sugarcoating mental illness Related: Thank you, Sinéad O’Connor, for showing the messy reality of mental illness \| Paris Lees Related: The secret life of a clickbait creator: lousy content, dodgy ads, demoralised staff Continue reading…
Representing estates and facilities professionals operating within the Hopkins: get fit or get out British reality television contestant, businesswoman and journalist Katie Hopkins says those who overindulge in eating, drinking and smoking should cough up more to balance the extra NHS care they will need. Hopkins, in an article published by the BBC, says that people are treating the NSH like a theme park, where they pay at the door and then “the ability to have as much as you want whenever you want it, or to go on as many rides as you can whenever you like, is all that matters. Somehow, everything in this new land of plenty is free. The NHS is rather like this.” She points out that the NHS is spending billions of pounds on treating obesity alone this year the “overcrowded NHS” continues to indulge our stupidity. “If you don't care about your body or your health, then as a taxpayer funding the NHS, nor do I,” she says, suggesting that the solution is to recalibrate the whole system and link the consequences of our actions back to the choices we take. “Stop the government providing a free pass to medical care - and make people pay for their poor choices.”
« Let go or be dragged \| Main \| We the owners » 6 kinds of business buyers SaleSale (Photo credit: Gerard Stolk (vers l'Ascension)) Buyers of businesses can generally be categorized as belonging to one of the following groups, and some buyers belong to more than one: The Individual Buyer: This typically is an individual with substantial financial resources and with the type of background or experience necessary for operating a company. This buyer will typically seek a company that is profitable and will provide a return on their investment. If they lack in financial resources they will turn to family members or other resources for additional financing and rely on the Seller for some financing. These buyers will typically limit themselves to transactions of less than $1 million. Most of these buyers will come from unhappy or unsuccessful job situations. The Strategic Buyer: This buyer is almost always a company trying to enter a new market, increase its market share, seek a strategic gain or to eliminate a competitor. These buyers can be in the same business or a competitor and will usually seek businesses with sales in excess of $20 million with a proprietary product and/or a unique market share with management willing to stay. The Synergistic Buyer: Like the strategic buyer, this buyer is usually a company. They seek companies that, by joining the two together, will be worth more (i.e. 2+2=5). The benefit of this type of acquisition helps both companies be more competitive and profitable. The Industry Buyer: This is often characterized as the “Buyer of Last resort”. The buyer is often a competitor, knows the industry and will not want to pay for the seller’s expertise. Their interest is in reducing costs by combining the operations. They will typically pay only for the assets (usually not all of them and at a price below the market value). This buyer does not pay for goodwill or want to employ the Seller. The Financial Buyer: This buyer is driven by the projected return on their investment. They will have access to financing and will leverage it as much as possible. Their sole purpose is to make the maximum amount of money with the least amount of their capital. The Inside Buyer: These are family members or employees and will usually be the most difficult to deal with, require the largest amount of seller financing and often fail to make the payments to the seller. They often rely on the sympathy of the seller. Steve Sink Certified Business Intermediary Merger and Acquisition Master Intermediary Enhanced by Zemanta TrackBack URL for this entry: Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 6 kinds of business buyers: The comments to this entry are closed. Technorati Bookmark: 6 kinds of business buyers
Gill South yearns for time to let her creativity have an outlet at least one day a week. Many of us spend our weeks multitasking, sometimes with limited success. Once we get to Sunday, wouldn't it be sheer luxury to devote yourself to just one creative task to give your mind some replenishment and space? There is a real need out there. Witness this recent exchange: Rachel, a mother of five: "If the mortgage ever, ever, gets paid off I will give up accounting and take up colouring-in - the grown-ups kind, a sort of medieval calligraphy. There is nothing in my life, NOTHING, like colouring in. It's relaxing, there are no decisions to make except for which colour to use next." My reply: "All I want to do is arrange flowers and go for gentle walks." We realise we sound like a couple of Jane Austen heroines - born out of our time really, but there are many out there like us who think what a treat it would be to just do one creative task well at the weekend, with no deadlines. Some are actively making space in their schedules and their homes to pursue the pastime they love most, for one day every week. Flower arranging Having the skill to put together a beautiful flower arrangement to dress your home for the week ahead would be a joy for many of us, particularly those who also work from home. I always find it fascinating watching a florist putting together a bouquet. It's a work of art in the making. Davina Prankerd, owner of Vida Flores in Newmarket, the floral design studio, says her floral design school is targeted at those amateurs who enjoy flowers and want to be more adept at arranging them at home. "In the classes, we teach people how to buy flowers, what to look for, what days to buy on, the sorts of vases that work," explains Davina. In the classes, everybody gets a bucket of flowers to arrange in a vase or to hand tie. "They love that couple of hours time out, thinking about beautiful things and feeding the soul," says Davina. "We've got women coming back again and again to the same class." The florist says there are some people who struggle more than others, but they still enjoy themselves. "In the last class before Christmas, there was a great group of women. It was such a funny night, everybody got so into it." As the workshops focus on techniques, Davina enjoys watching the light bulb go on. "If I'd known that 20 years ago!" people say. The students also learn about what's going to make their flowers last longer. "Flowers are a luxury, you want them to last as long as possible," says the florist. Quilting, knitting and sewing Newbie quilter and experienced knitter, Shelly Pathak, says both her pastimes are as much about the process as the result. "And that's so different to what we normally do in the modern world," she says. "In today's world of deadlines, multitasking and output, crafting gives an opportunity to use our hands, feel different textiles, get creative, even if it is in the smallest of ways." Shelly, a former educational government researcher, never thought of herself as a creative person. "But it turns out that I may be. My career never afforded that opportunity to me, but I am learning how to be, and to spend time with myself through my crafting." Shelly started knitting when she was pregnant with her second child, as a way to soothe herself in the evenings. Her focus was about enjoying something for the process, rather than just the finished item. "It has taught me many skills, mostly patience. When I started I just wanted to race to the finish, now I will unravel rows to get it looking how I want to. This might sound like I want it to be perfect. No, it's actually about slowing down, embracing a mistake and starting again. Savouring doing it again, putting love into it. Again, I think this is quite different to how we operate in the modern world." Shelly bought herself a how-to-knit book and is often on YouTube, googling the latest stitch she needs to learn. There is also a social networking site called where people load up patterns and projects and there are numerous forums for help. Quilting also attracts a vast number of blogs and Pathak goes to her favourites for new ideas and inspiration. "I pin them onto for inspiration. I like how we can mix these traditional handcrafts with modern technology." There is more to quilting than you think. "There are several elements to it - choosing fabric, choosing the design, cutting, piecing, sewing, and then the actual quilting. I'm learning to enjoy each part of the process, rather than hurrying through them to get to the end." Shelly has tried other crafts, such as cross-stitching, but quilting is her latest interest and she recently completed a six-week quilting class. "I love fabric and colours and wanted a legitimate way of putting these together." The Westmere mum has found a local small craft shop in Pt Chevalier, called The Little Craft Store, and it is a fabulous treasure trove of modern fabrics, wool and other crafting materials, she says. Helen Trigg, the owner, has drop-in groups. There is a knitting group on a Wednesday morning, needlework on Tuesday afternoons and she also runs classes in sewing, quilting, felt, needlepoint and embroidery. "Last year I taught around 30 people to sew," says Helen, an experienced designer who has regularly made textile gifts for shops like The Garden Party and Texan Art Schools. With her two young boys and husband out of the house on a Sunday afternoon, Helen, who learned to sew when she was 4, will curl up with a cup of tea and some of the latest knitting and sewing books. "There's been a huge influx of crafting books, it seems to have trebled," she says. "I'm really into quilting and knitting. I'm obsessed with textiles. It's a great way to escape from all the work side of things, to have that time to myself." For hairdresser Chantelle Maber scrapbooking and "journalling" are her favourite creative activities on the weekend. And it doesn't necessarily need to take her away from the kids. She involves them in her hobby. Chantelle has done a scrapbook for each of her three children highlighting important moments in their lives. She will write things in them as will her children. "I don't change anything they have written. Those are their words in their handwriting at that stage in their life," says Chantelle. If she's by herself she'll put on some nice music and "zone out". "Sorting through your photos brings back all these memories which makes me feel more grateful for my family," she says. Chantelle relishes the fact that she is not restricted by what someone else wants, as is usually the case with hairdressing. "This way it's my project, my paper, if I want to put flowers or lace in, I can." She visits the NZ Scrapbook shop in Wairau or to local charity shops for her materials, which might include old fashioned lace, old buttons, sequins and lettering. "Most people like doing art but can't actually paint," says Linda Simpson, a co-owner of NZ Scrapbook. "Scrapbooking is a nice way to do art - using family photos and nice paper with embellishments." What people used to refer to as scrapbooking isn't what it is today, she says. Scrapbooking used to involve people cutting out newspaper clippings. "This is a work of art, you are creating something yourself." So many people are keeping all their photos on a computer which can end in tears, she says. Linda and her daughter Kathleen Green run scrapbooking classes for beginners. These attract a range of people, from women doing it with their children, to those taking it up as a hobby after retirement. And a few men do it too, she says. Preserving and cooking Felicity and Michael O'Driscoll, owners of Cook the Books bookshop in Grey Lynn, say their customers like to spend time in the kitchen at weekends, doing anything from preserving and pickling to breadmaking and slow cooking. Their specialist bookshop offers various workshops to keep the passionate types motivated. "Our customers love doing them, love trying new things," says Michael. "There is a great tradition of making preserves in New Zealand, it's in the same basket as breadmaking," he says. "And you can do it with more than one person, so it becomes a social activity too." Catherine Perich, an Oratia mother of four and church youth pastor, says making plum jam is one of her weekend pastimes. Years ago when she stopped work to have children she jokingly told fellow teachers she would have a row of jars of preserved fruit on the shelf. "And I've realised that's what I've done!" she says. "I think one of my motivating things is that I hate waste, and now living next to an abandoned orchard, using its leftover fruit is like a compulsion," says Catherine. "The rational side of me thinks I'm far too busy, just let the fruit rot on the ground, it's much cheaper to go and buy jam, but I just can't." It is a family affair, the kids collect the plums while Catherine sorts them, sugars them and cooks the fruit. She'll often be making something else at the same time, perhaps putting something in the crockpot. Perich warns pickling and jam-making are processes which can go into the night - she will sometimes find herself finishing off at midnight. But it's not a chore for her. Cooking is something that relaxes her, and is simply part of who she is. She even found time to make feta cheese on Christmas day. "It only takes three days to become cheese," she says. Catherine is famous for her tomato kasundi, a tomato chutney, and her grandmother's tomato relish is popular too. Her favourite? "Pickled pears are divine, very nice on pizza with blue cheese." Be inspired * Cook the Books, 139 Richmond Rd, Grey Lynn, ph 09 360 6513 * The Little Craft Store, 201 Pt Chev Road, ph 09 849 3295 * The Embroiderer, 140 Hinemoa Street, Birkenhead, ph 09 419 0900 * New Zealand Scrapbook Mega Store, Unit D, 6 Link Drive, Wairau Park, North Shore, ph 09 912 0665 * Vida Flores, 12 McColl Street, Newmarket, ph 09 523 5454,
World War Two and Post-Colonial Literature -- History Once-Removed Adrienne T. Chisolm '93, English 34 (1991) Like most other works of post-colonial literature, Penelope Lively's Moon Tiger, Wole Soyinka's Aké: The Years of Childhood, Sara Suleri's Meatless Days , and Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia each concentrates on the nature of history and the way in which history is viewed by the country from or about which the author writes. The author's own storytelling techniques and direct discussions by the narrator (in three of the four, the narrator is the author) address his story not as an absolute entity but instead as a concept to be played with, questioned, seen through, changed. World War Two left very few regions of the earth completely unaffected. The areas in which the four books are set -- Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Patagonia -- all have colonial connectons with England (a direct participant in the fighting), so it makes sense that the war, the "public property" to which Lively's narrator refers, might play a part in each. It also makes sense that each of the four narratives might "look differently" at the war, and that the private way in which each does so reflects its country's relationship with England. Each country supports England; but the extent to which the characters in these works believe in the fighting and understand or care about the events depends upon the nature of their country's relationship with England as each author perceives it. There are a few reasons why post-colonial literature might logically contemplate WWII as often as it seems to. If, as Claudia Hampton asserts, even the most seemingly detached are able or are forced to examine their own connections to the rest of the world during times that are "out of joint," works from or about post-colonial nations appropriately address the events of the war. Egypt, Nigeria and India (Pakistan) all had some connection with England at the time, and Patagonian exiles do now; because England played a direct role in the war, how each colony or protectorate reacted to the war relates closely to how that colony interacted with England. But in addition to the idea that each country's level and nature of involvement in the war reflects the level and nature of its ties with its colonizer during the war era, it is also true that the war, for many colonies, marked a great turning or breaking point in those ties. The devastation that the war brought to Egypt because of England's interest in the Suez Canal led, by most accounts, and contrary to Claudia Hampton's impression, to high levels of resentment, to many unsuccessful attempts to dislodge the British forces, and eventually to a mounting tension that would result in the 1956 nationalization of the canal by President Nasser. Britain's interest in having India's cooperation to fight Japan during the war gave Indians leverage in their quest for independence, and the Congress Party's anti-war demonstrations gave the Muslim League an advantage in requesting the eventual establishment of the separate, Muslim nation of Pakistan. And although Nigeria was not granted independence until 1960 and Argentina (Patagonia) was much more interested in domestic affairs and the deeds of its new dictator, Juan Peron, at the time, WWII confronted the entire world, especially Hitler's enemies, with the necessity of reflection on the righteousness of one nation's treatment of another nation or race. On a purely practical level, the post-colonial body of works is necessarily by a group of authors the majority of whom have grown up in the cold war era. World War II is a phenomenon that has shaped deeply the world in which they, along with the relatively newly independent countries about which they write, have developed. Concern with the WWII era is a logical phenomenon in any literature that examines the strange ways of history; thus, it is a logical preoccupation of post-colonial works. Penelope United Kingdom Last Modified: 25 March, 2002
Hire local SEO companies Creating a digital marketing strategy is not an easy job as it might seem to be. You have to possess a lot of knowledge and experience if you want to do that successfully. So, if you are planning to start advertising your company online, then you better do not to try to do it on your own. Hire an experienced and reputable digital marketing company to do that job for you. Nowadays, there are many companies that can create a digital strategy for your business, but not all of them can do it in the right way. You have to find the company that will guarantee the success of its campaign. The whole campaign is a very important thing for you as a business owner, so you do not want to risk hiring bad companies and spending a lot of time and money on bad services. You have to hire the company that has a lot of experience, knowledge, and successfully done projects. Only such company will be able to create a winning digital marketing strategy for you. When you start looking for a digital marketing company, then you should search for those in your area. You are probably familiar with the services of some companies, so you will have a better insight into some details which can help you make the final decision. One of the most important parts of every digital marketing strategy is search engine optimization. SEO is the process of creating necessary keywords that will be related to a certain web page. Such keywords help people find your business online easier. If the company does its job in the best possible way, then you can hope to have the website that will be on the first or second page of search engines, and that is the best result. You should always search for local SEO services. In every area, there is at least one company that can provide you with the top search engine optimization services. So, you do not have to hire the company that is far from your area and spend more money on its services. Dallas SEO services are some of the best in the states. There are dozens of successful companies that offer great services and great conditions. You can’t go wrong if you hire some of these companies. All of them possess a lot of experience, skillful and talented experts, great ideas, and modern technology devices. A great reputation is the best sign that they do their job as they should. So, if you are from their serving area, then you will have no problems finding a digital marketing company that will create a digital marketing strategy that will make your business become successful and reputable. You can’t succeed without the right digital marketing strategy. If you want to remain competitive and successful, then you have to change your marketing strategy and start advertising by using digital marketing services. With the proper search engine optimization, your business will reach the top of search engines, and that is always a good thing.
Upon reflection on his time growing up in Australia's last stronghold for commercial whaling and on his memory of our behavior towards sharks at the time, prolific Australian author and journalist of the Australian subconsciousness, Tim Winton described humans as "savages". In the decades since, our attitudes towards this handful of marine predator species has not seen much improvement. At the very foundation of Australian cultural vernacular and consciousness, sharks maintain a large presence yet this perceived risk is not met by any tangible one and nation wide "mitigation strategies" are continuing to threaten the balance of marine ecosystems for the sake of "maintaining beach safety". This long-term body of work considers Australians' relationship with sharks and the intricacies of our association with a seemingly omnipresent terror - a shadow that has lingered in Australian culture since colonization. But amidst an evolving discourse on shark conservation, our concern for the ongoing survival of these animals is growing - from both an anthropocentric and an ecological standpoint. Shark attack "survivors" and their families now more often than not represent the most vocal advocates of shark conservation.
Contact Us 123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999 (123) 555-6789 Link to read me page with more information. Email Etiquette – Deciding the correct number of exclamation marks needed to make point Late one evening as assistant regional manger Cheryl Hicks was frantically typing an email response to her imbecilic underlings, it dawned on her she was unclear how many exclamation points were needed on this occasion. “Normally I would reference my AP style guide, but sometimes when you're pissed off, there is no time to dig these things up. If I didn’t get that particular email out in the heat of the moment, I may have calmed down and been less verbally abusive with the workers, and that would undermine my managerial powers.” Finally settling on bold case type with 5 exclamation marks at the end for emphasis, Cheryl realized there might be a need for a revised etiquette guide specific for management. “What teachers, stay at home moms, and other unskilled positions don’t understand, is that middle management speaks it’s own language, similar to Dictators or Royalty. The people who cower under us would wander haplessly if it weren’t for our constant and overwhelming presence.” Cheryl said. “We represent the compass for the company. Without our strict management presence, and “gotcha” mentality, this place would see nothing but 40 hours of bathroom breaks, and water cooler banter each week.” Cheryl suggests you consider these questions the next time you are writing an email: Would you say that in person? No? That’s okay! In email form, your words will linger longer and cause more stress than if you said it in person. When confronting a coworker with what they did wrong, a well timed email sent while the worker is trying to enjoy dinner with his/her family, will not only interrupt that moment, but will linger all evening as they stew in bed! If you said the same thing in person, it is likely you may have been interrupted, or the underling may have missed half of the words coming from your mouth as they tried frantically to keep up with you! Are you still red hot? Good!!! You should always get your email out when you’re angry. Remember, there is no time to cool down, that shows weakness and may give off the appearance that you aren’t watching emails 24/7. Ideally your blood should be pumping as you type, and a loud clicking sound should be audible from outside of your interior office. It is imperative people can hear you mash the keys on your keyboard!! If it is a major confrontation, highlight anything they did wrong in red bold font and follow it with at least four exclamation points!!!! How important is it? Remember, nothing is too trivial to point out to your workers. Did they show up 2 minutes late this morning? Let them hear about it!! Did someone take more than 5 minutes of restroom breaks today? Let them hear about it!! Remember, your main function, is to catch people in the act of doing something, and pointing it out to them. If it weren’t for your contributions, these mouth breathers would continue to be a complete and total waste of company payroll! What if they talk back? Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a conversation can escalate into a full-on fight. Everyone has a trigger that can lead to this! Remember to point out your job title, and use terms like “I wrote my own ticket to get here.” Undermining their education and their determination to succeed, along with pointing out their current state in life will usually break the worker. If things get really heated, you can always point out that you are the one with the new mid-size sedan in the parking lot, and remember your trump card; you can threaten to fire them!!!!
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at DotNetNuke.Framework.DefaultPage.OnLoad(EventArgs e) in e:\websites\\public_html\Default.aspx.cs:line 791 Denver 8 TV chooses Telecast CopperHead systems \| TvTechnology Denver 8 TV chooses Telecast CopperHead systems December 11, 2006 Denver 8 TV, the cable channel of the City of Denver, is using CopperHead fiber-optic camera transceivers from Telecast Fiber Systems to enable remote production of live and taped meetings held within city government offices. The camera-mounted CopperHead systems enable the production crew to use the city’s fiber-optic infrastructure to transport all audio, video, sync and communications signals between three cameras and the production control room located at a remote location. Denver 8 TV is currently using Digital CopperHead systems with SDI cameras in analog mode so that signals are compatible with the analog control room infrastructure. Once that facility is upgraded to digital, operators can switch over to SDI mode. The fiber system is also capable of handling HD-SDI should Denver 8 TV upgrade its cameras as well. Prior to implementing the CopperHead systems, the Denver 8 TV crew had to run multicore camera cables through the government office building and out to its production truck. The setup time for such shoots was prohibitive, and the cabling both unattractive and a hazard. Furthermore, this multicore-based system did not allow for live coverage. For more information, visit Receive regular news and technology updates. Sign up for our free newsletter here.
When you suddenly find an HD channel with Harry Potter movies round the clock, a peculiar mood comes over you, I mean myself of course. It is not that I have nothing better to do, but when there is a whole magic world close by, I cannot but turn it on and take part in these adventures again. There are good,very good, bad and very bad characters. They do change and coexist together, but it is a simple world, much simpler than the one we create every day And yes, happiness can be found even in the darkest times…
Imprints of Happiness There is one thing in particular about cosmetics I don’t understand. While I’m sure there are many procedures I’d find peculiar or unnecessary, there’s one on my mind that boggles me. I’ve often wondered why smile lines are thought of to be unattractive to the point of people wanting to remove them. Why of all things are smile lines targeted at all. They are literal imprints of happiness etched into your face, meant to stay as a reminder for not only how much you’ve smiled throughout your life, but how strong your smile was that your muscles and skin stuck that way. Think of your first smile, likely when you were an infant, and it was a mere toothless giggle filled grin. Can you imagine the amount of time spent by others to get you to replicate such a smile. Silly faces, noises, and games just to get that perfect giggly grin on your face. Now fast forward a few years to your first day of school where you clutch your mother’s hand as you walk down the hall. When you reach your classroom and your teacher looks at you, you lose it, turning back to her and begging to go home because you’re scared of the unfamiliar place. She squeezes your hand and musters up a goofy smile to get your lips to quirk up. When they do, she bends down, wipes your tears, and reassures you she’ll be back before you have the chance to miss her. With one final embrace, she sends you inside and waves from the doorway as you wander up to a little boy playing with large colored blocks, trying to build a massive fort. Try some years later, in elementary school. The boy you met on your first day has followed you there, ending up in your class. You find him on the first day and sit next to him, only to find him crying. When you ask what’s wrong he tells you he and his family are moving away in a month. Your eyes widen and you choke back tears of your own as you try to reassure him. You’ll keep in touch and visit you say when in your mind the countdown has already started. A month blurs by and you see the moving vans and piles of boxes. You run outside to meet him, hug him one last time and sneak in a peck on the cheek before he leaves. Tears stream down your face as you watch the vans leave while he and his family trail behind them. Months drag on and the tears stop flowing as much. Calls become fewer and farther in between, and you make new friends. The void closes day by day, or at least draws back to the depths of your mind. You learn to smile and laugh with your friends as life carries on. His favorite places and songs are still heavy on your shoulders, but you learn to cherish memories. Years pass by, and you’re grown and on your own. You’ve developed a routine, going to the same places, doing your work, and getting by day to day. Life has dulled into robotics, and you no longer think about it. A simple day at the grocery store. You check out with your household staples, and listen to the series of beeps as you watch the list of items grow. The cashier is quiet and only when he tells you the total does recognition spark. Somewhere, deep within the recesses of your mind, the voice registers, and your head pops up. Your eyes search his face and settle on his. His eyes widen and he offers a smile. You recognize the small gap between his front teeth and tears streak your cheeks. It takes him a moment longer, but when he sees your teary eyed grin, his face splits with the power of his own toothy smile. You make extra trips to see him until a mutual day off falls on the calendar. You spend the entire day catching up, remembering old times, cherishing every moment. Your old, familiar grin is back now. Days and nights pass, most spent together while your connection deepens. Months of dating bring you closer than you’ve ever been and when he lowers himself on one knee, you answer yes before he finishes the question. Kisses and happy tears lead you to your wedding. White gown, beloved groom, and all, you walk the aisle and join your lives and your biggest smile to date etches itself in your memory. Months later, after so much trying, you get a positive. Both of you prepare the perfect nursery for the new addition, only to have it shattered by an accident. A drunk drive veers into your lane and collides with your car. Your injuries are too much for the baby to make it, and while you recover, your heart doesn’t. Your husband promises everything will be okay, but your broken heart won’t believe him. Fresh tears wash your smile away, and you don’t see it again until he brings adoption papers home. Hope lifts your lips and you go through the procedures, paperwork, waiting periods, and the mountains of nerves until you receive the call. When you arrive, a freckle faced little girl with a worn teddy bear hides until you’re introduced. You’re taken back to your first day of school. Instincts spawned from distant memories take over, and you reach your hand for her. When she takes it, you make the silliest face you can, and she giggles. You take your daughter home and the cycle replays. Life’s wonders and stresses age you and your husband to silver hair and wizened skin. Lines and wrinkles form on your brow and around your mouth. You fear the best years have passed, and you think maybe if you can regain a youthful look, you can somehow duplicate those blissful years of your youth. You look into procedures to reverse time, but your husband sits you down. He tells you he wouldn’t change the way you look for all the money in the world. He sweeps stray locks from your face and kisses you with all the passion of his younger years. You look in the mirror and trace each line, counting the memories that formed them. After everything life has thrown at you, from a broken heart to a dull routine to a shattered soul. Even in the worst of times, you’ve made it through and found your way back to your smile. You count of each toothy, crooked grin, passion filled kiss, and moment spent with your beloved family. As you trace the last curve around your mouth, you can’t help but smile once more because you’ve realized that despite life’s twists, your body has etched imprints of happiness to last forever. Your body is lived in, and you wouldn’t alter one line if it meant staying young for the rest of time. 2 thoughts on “Imprints of Happiness Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Bee Pollen Stock # 70-9 Capsules Stock #1395-7Â Bulk Common name: Bee Pollen. Also called â€œNatureâ€™s Perfect Foodâ€, Fountain of youthâ€, Ambrosia of the Gods, and the Greeks called it â€œNectar of the Godsâ€. Properties: Nutrient source, immune stimulant, antioxidant, and a diuretic. Parts used: It is a collection of pollen from the flower nectar. Systems affected: Digestive and Immune Folk history and use: Pollen consists of plant pollens gathered by worker bees mixed with nectar and bee saliva. They pack this combination into a granule that sticks to its back legs and carried back to the hive and fed to the male drones.Â It is collected by placing a screen in front of the hive entrance. As the bees travel through the screen it scrapes the crystals off of their legs. It was used as a rejuvenator with the Egyptians and Ancient Chinese. Athletes used pollen for increased performance of strength, endurance, energy and speed. Uses: Pollen has traditionally been used to treat allergies, to improve stamina and longevity. It is also used in the treatment of fatigue, sexual dysfunction, poor memory and convalescence. Definite Actions: Nutrient source: It is made up of 55% carbohydrates, 35% proteins, 2% fatty acids, 3% minerals and vitamins and 5% other substances. Possible actions: Allergy hypo sensitization: used to increase ant allergic properties to enhance the immune system against allergies to pollen. Types of pollen vary with location. Pollens gathered from the desert climates are highly prized for allergy remedies since deserts are considered hypoallergenic. Builds immune system; as an immune system builder, bee pollen is thought to have the ability to correct body chemistry and eliminate unhealthy conditions. It has the ability to throw off poisons and toxic materials from the body. Radiation and chemical pollutants are known as the most severe stressors to your immune system. Side effects of radiation treatment decrease the bodyâ€™s production of blood cells and nutrients in the body. APHA class: 1 (natural food) Contraindications: Use with caution if you are allergic to pollens or bee stings. Do not heat bee pollen, as it will loose its potency. NSP bee pollen is naturally dried to preserve vital enzymes. Side effects: No known interactions with other drugs, vitamins or supplements. Pollen grains have a protective coat that makes them very durable. Two hundred year old intact pollen grains have been identified in rock samples. Bee saliva provides enzymes to dissolve this coat and free up the contents of the pollen grains. The human digestive system can also provide these enzymes, but pollen gathered by bees is more bio-available. Pollen is an excellent source of protein. It has more protein than beef, eggs or cheese. Also contains 22 amino acids, rich in B vitamins, enzymes, trace elements, 27 mineral salts, vitamins A, C, D, and E, Lecithin, Beta-carotene, selenium, Lycopene and flavenoids, plus much, much more. Pollen has superb anti-microbial and antibacterial properties that include the ability to inhibit Salmonella, E.Coli, Shigella, Candida, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus. Less known is its ability to treat burns and wounds including diabetic ulcers to gangrene. Burn patients that used pollen topically recovered 50% faster with less scarring. Accelerates wound healing and prevents infections, even those resistant to antibiotics whether viral or fungal.
The current issue of the IRW Newsletter is out and should reach subscribers inboxes during the day. The featuring column is about Uncorrelation and Correlation: The Expectation Values Way. “Soon or later, those conducting data mining studies will need to deal with uncorrelated and correlated variables. In this issue of the newsletter we use expectation values to differentiate between these two terms. “ The article debunks the common myth that a vanishing correlation coefficient (r = 0) implies that variables have to be random or independent or that are not related at all. Easy-to-follow numerical and graphical examples are used to illustrate this point as well as the difference between uncorrelated and correlated variables. The Q&A section explains the difference between exponential and power laws and how these can be converted into a linear form. Once linearized, all kind of statistics can be computed (correlation coefficient errors, standard deviations, etc.) I’m thinking in putting a tutorial online so others can get out of their head the many myths promoted by certain SEOs. Enjoy it.
Animals on the loose in Qatar! A tiger and a bull seen on the roads in Doha It's not everyday you see a tiger wearing between cars at the traffic lights. That's exactly what happened on Tuesday in Doha, much to the surprise of motorists. The brave animal eventually took shelter under a car, only to be coerced out and returned to safety. It's unclear whether the tiger came from a zoo, but as we have seen in Dubai, it's not uncommon to have wild animals as pets in the GCC. This incident was picked up on social media in Qatar. Yesterday it was a tiger, and today it's a bull. Only one day after that excitement, Facebook user Kat Jimenez spotted a bull running wild on the highway. What will we get tomorrow? Written By Richard Fitzgerald
Urllib/httplib and cookies Andrew Markebo flognat at flognat.myip.org Thu Aug 9 23:44:22 CEST 2001 Nobody into doing a browser-class that can take care of this :-) Sort of, just fire up a browser send it an url, and it takes care of cookie-handling and so on?? I am trying to merge together the functionality of my two supreme++ http-classes now, and also looking at trying to do a browser-class, but the inspiration is unfortunetaly a little low at the moment.. Mostly because I only get feedback from myself.. / cjc26 at nospam.cornell.edu (Cliff Crawford) wrote: \| * Lad <printers at sendme.cz> menulis: \| \| Hi Doug, \| \| Thank you for your email. \| \| What I need is to automate posting to web sites such as mail.yahoo.com \| \| (to check email AUTOMATICALY) that use cookies to sign-in. In Perl I \| \| can do it very easily. Is it possible to do it in Python as well? \| It's possible, but you have to do it yourself (urllib doesn't handle \| cookies for you AFAIK). First you have to get the headers from the \| file-like object that urlopen() returns: More information about the Python-list mailing list
Choy, Carmen Klick on a Brick Story When I was born, my family managed an SRO hotel called the French Hotel, which was the little sister of the International Hotel—2 blocks away. At the same time, my father Esteban Monteclaro owned the P.I. Cafe which was a diner that served Filipino food, all the exotic dancers from Broadway Street ate breakfast and lunch there. I met Carol Doda through my father when I worked there as a cashier. I was 4 years old. Finally went to kindergarten two blocks away at Jean Parker Elementary School, a block before the Broadway tunnel. My parents sent us to Catechism at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church on Vallejo Street and Columbus Avenue. I still hang out with my catechism classmates, with friends I’ve had for over 50 years. Even to this day, I hang out with another friend of 55 years, a gal who lived at the Chinatown projects and I still have friends from the North Beach projects as well. %d bloggers like this:
Jan Alyce Avery Read more about Jan Alyce Avery. Interview By: Tamazon Date: December 05, 2007 Jan Alyce Avery's Web Site Hello Jan, We would love to get to know you Could you please start by telling us a little about yourself? I've been a professional writer for most of my adult life. I started when I lived in Hawaii, wrote for a number of publications there, and also worked in corporate America as a copywriter/newsletter editor/communications manager and a video producer/director. My first fiction sales were some romantic short stories I sold a number of years ago to Woman's World, the magazine you always see at the checkout counter at the grocery store. I also write about financial matters and I've had a number of my political essays published on national blogs. A while back, I decided to try a romance novel. I wrote a book called Shadowed Knight, submitted it to a traditional publisher, received a fairly pleasant rejection letter that contained some very good suggestions for making the book better, rewrote the book and, because I think ebooks are the format of the future, submitted the book to Samhain Publishing. They accepted it and it's now in their catalog, available December 4th. Other things that keep me busy? In a very small way, I breed and raise Welsh Ponies. On my website, you'll see a picture of me and one of my favorite "guys", the multi-champion Welsh Pony stallion Pecan Creeks Overture, who's owned by some friends of mine. (I had my picture taken with him because I'mvery ordinary looking and I wanted something in the shot to make the picture more memorable!) I'm also getting into the VSE (Very Small Equine) division of carriage driving with a Miniature mare I've been training. What's your favorite genre to read? I don't really have a favorite genre. I just like good writing and by that, I don't necessarily mean everything classified as great literature. (Except for The Old Man and The Sea, for example, I find Hemingway very heavy slogging.) I read mysteries, horror, fantasy..I have favorite authors in all these fields. I have all of Ellis Peter's wonderful Brother Cadfael mysteries. I like the way Dean Koontz writes. I love the really early Andre Norton books, written when she had to use a male pen name just to get editors to look at her work because "women can't write science fiction." Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books, and I'm still waiting for someone to make a good movie version In the field of romance, I collect classic romance novels. I love Rafael Sabatini, the guy who wrote Captain Blood (every seen the Errol Flynn movie?) and I have about eight of his novels Very hard to find, since most of them were written in the 1920's and 30's. I have a hardback copy of The Sheik, the inspiration for the Rudolph Valentino movie. When I was a rather solitary, introverted teenager I read every Georgette Heyer Regency romance I could get my hands on and I still have a number of her paperbacks. When you have writer's block how do you break free? Well, mostly I just keep trying to put something down on paper. I may shift to a different "scene" further along.I almost never write fiction in straight chronological order. (I actually write by first working out a "movie" of the story in my head. Then I sit down and basically translate my visual images into text.) If I really get to a point where I'm sick of the whole business, I go build a fence, vacuum the house, take my Miniature mare Jewel for a spin, work on a non-fiction project or go see a movie, basically giving my brain a chance to "defrag." Mostly, though, you just have to plug along. Anyone who thinks writing is primarily a matter of being "inspired" and then sitting down and letting the words flow has never done much writing. Sometimes that does actually happen, and it's a joy.but mostly you scratch your head and say "How the heck do I make this work?" Writing is a craft as much as an art. Please tell us what you have planned next? Well, I'm working currently on turning those Woman's World stories, plus one extra story, into a collection, which I'll then submit to my Samhain editor. (Woman's World only purchased the first serial rights, so I'm okay to resell the stories.) I'm also working on a novel called A Payment of Women which will put a whole troop of medieval men in an interesting marital situation! Who is your perfect hero? And why? I really don't like the word "perfect." No real human being is perfect; when you try to create such a character, it always rings false. What I like in a hero is someone who is intelligent, confident without being vain, has a sense of humor and, despite mistakes or flaws, is basically a decent, responsible person. In Shadowed Knight, my hero, Berenger, is a grim, rather savage creature, but as the book goes on, we learn he also is highly responsible, quite capable of wry humor, and chivalrous in the best sense of the word. By the way, whenever possible, I think it's better to have your characters do things that indicate their personalities, rather than have you, the writer, describe character traits. For example, at one point, I have my heroine Margaret wondering what Berenger would be like as a father. Instead having her find this out via some kind of conversation with him, I put in a little scene involving Berenger and one of the servant's children. Margaret witnesses this and learns what she wants to know. Oh, gosh. I have "movies" in my head for books in every genre. I have a mystery I'd like to write, an end-of-the-world novel I'd like to write, two or three fantasy novels banging around in my brain..I'm never short of ideas. Ideas are easy. It's getting the darn stuff down on paper that's hard. I love history. The lives of real people can be so fascinating, especially seeing how people thought and acted in different places and eras. So researching Shadowed Knight was a pleasure. I went to three libraries, gathered a number of books about the era Shadowed Knight is set in- books on social mores, day-to-day life, etc. more than what the big shots of the time were doing-and basically enjoyed every minute of reading the stuff. I didn't need to know, or include, every tiny detail-this is a romance novel, not a term paper-but I did want to give an authentic feel of the era. I'm sure I made some mistakes, but hopefully they're minor ones. No one encouraged me. I simply decided I'd like to try it. Could I write a novel in this genre? Would someone want to publish what I wrote? Only one way to find out. I think as a professional writer I did have the big advantage of knowing not to take any rejections-and remember, I did initially get rejected-personally. Clients always want rewrites, editors always want changes.the only thing that bothers me is when I think what they want is not an improvement and then I'll usually negotiate. When Linda, my editor at Samhain, told me that Shadowed Knight would only need "minor" changes, I didn't realize this meant five different versions before we were finished! Most of the time, I went along with her suggestions, occasionally I made a fuss if I felt something should stay the way I'd written it. She's a nice, funny person, so we ended up exchanging rather comical emails: "Okay, if you insist, I'll delete this adverb, but then I get to keep these two exclamation points!" You just can't take your own deathless prose too seriously. When Linda made a comment on a certain amount of "noise" included in one of Shadowed Knight's lovemaking scenes, I wrote back: "Yep. Roll me over, in the clover! Roll me over, roll me over, do it again!" She, via email, cracked up. (By the way, those are the lyrics to a song that was popular in the 1920's. Don't ever think that Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma didn't have their moments!) What would you like to tell your readers? Try many different authors and different genres. Go to your local library-it's a great resource-and check out some books by authors you've never read. Read a few pages of the book, and if you don't like it, feel free to set it aside. Try Elizabeth Peters' wonderful "Peabody" mysteries. Read Ellis Peters work, or the fascinating series of books set in prehistoric Alaska written by Sue Harrison. Try some non-fiction, such as that terrific book, Seabiscuit. Try some Dickens, or read the original Sherlock Holmes mysteries. And if you're interested in writing yourself, analyze the books that keep you turning the page. What techniques does the author use to advance the plot, show the personalities of the characters, etc? What works? And just as important, what doesn't work? When I started reading The Sorcerer's Stone I knew Rowlings was a terrific writer the moment I read that Harry's "bedroom" in the Dursley's house was the space beneath the staircase. Just that one small piece of information told a reader exactly how those people regarded, and treated, poor Harry. A less skilled writer would have written a half-dozen paragraphs to make the same point. I have a fairly simple website-if nothing else, go there to look at the pictures of that very handsome pony!-at www.JanAlyceAvery.com. You'll find more info there, including excerpts, from Shadowed Knight if you're interested. Or you can check the "Coming Soon" list at www.samhainpublishing.com. I belong to a few of the Samhain groups, mostly just because it's a good way to get information about marketing, upcoming events, etc, but I don't regularly post on those or other blogs. Too busy writing. Maybe after I've had my fourth or fifth novel published (!) I'll get around to creating a blog or MySpace site, but for now, I just need to keep writing. (How do authors who are constantly blogging, grouping, MySpacing, message-boarding, etc. etc. ever find time to write? Maybe I'm just an exceptionally slow writer. Or maybe I'm just too fond of driving my pony, LOL.) My email address is [email protected] and I'm more than happy to hear from readers or other writers. Thank you for this opportunity!
Sign In Sign in to your account to view this secure information. Sign up for My Sprint • Monitor data usage • View or pay bills • Update account preferences • Get custom deals and offers FAQs related to text messaging on your device for the Alcatel IDOL5 - Open Market Answers to some of your questions about text messaging on your Alcatel Idol 5S • What's the difference between text messaging and multimedia messaging? A text message has a limit of 160 characters. For longer text messages, your Alcatel Idol 5S splits the message into multiple messages. With multimedia messaging, you can combine images, video, and audio with text in a single message. Send or receive a text or multimedia message. • Why does the message say Draft next to it? Your Alcatel Idol 5S saves a message that is composed but not sent as a draft. You can open and edit a draft or send it as is. • How do I send a group message? In the Messaging inbox, tap the Compose button and enter the recipient names in the To field. • Can I delete a text message? Delete a single text message Steps to delete an entire text message thread 1. From the home screen, tap the Messaging icon. 2. Tap the message thread as needed. 3. Tap and hold the message. 4. Tap the Trash icon. 5. Tap DELETE to confirm. Session Modal Do you want to continue? Sign in to My Sprint I forgot my Username or Password. Create a My Sprint account
Gov. Richardson Endorses Barack Obama Former contender for the Democratic Nomination and Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson has declared that he is endorsing Barack Obama for the nomination. Both Obama and Hillary Clinton have spent time courting Richardson's support, both for his public endorsement, but also as a superdelegate. This significance of this endorsement can't be underestimated. Richardson has called Obama a once in a lifetime leader who will be able to reunite America as well as providing for strong international leadership. "As a presidential candidate, I know full well Senator Obama's unique moral ability to inspire the American people to confront our urgent challenges at home and abroad in a spirit of bipartisanship and reconciliation," Richardson said. Richardson has long been considered a possible running mate for either Obama or Clinton. He brings not only a wealth of experience on the domestic and international front, but as an Hispanic, he may well appeal to the vital and growing latin American community which could prove crucial come November. In addition, his support wont hurt during the remaining primaries. As US Ambassador to the UN and Energy Secretary during the Clinton Administration, his relationship with Hillary and Bill was said to be close. This endorsement for Obama will come as a major disappointment for them.
GPS Study Shows Drivers Will Slow Down, At A Cost Jun 21, 2012 Originally published on June 21, 2012 11:06 am Some 12,000 Americans die every year in traffic crashes caused by speeding, according to government statistics. Officials have tried many strategies to get drivers to slow down. And now they might have found something that works, after researchers placed a GPS device inside cars that gives drivers an incentive not to speed. Traffic safety experts have tried using big flashing signs to tell you how fast you're going. (The psychological subtext: Drivers are rational, and they will slow down if they know how fast they're going.) When that didn't work, they tried putting cops on your tail. (Subtext: If you make the penalty for speeding large enough, drivers will slow down.) When that failed, they installed hidden speeding cameras on major roads. (If you don't know when you're being watched, you're more likely to drive cautiously all the time.) The next iteration of the battle between speedsters and authorities may involve putting the cop right inside your car — and a psychologist in the back seat. Researchers have found that a small GPS-based device that constantly measures the speed of a car against the posted speed limit can slow drivers down, if it's paired with the right financial incentive. In a "proof-of-concept" experiment partly funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, researchers found that drivers slow down dramatically when they are promised a $25 prize at the end of each week of safe driving. The catch: Every time the test subjects went five to eight mph above the speed limit, they lost 3 cents from their prize. And every time they went nine or more mph above the speed limit, they lost 6 cents. "We found that the incentive system was incredibly effective in getting drivers to reduce their speeding," says Ian Reagan, a traffic safety researcher at NHTSA. "Egregious speed limit violations were almost eliminated — that's driving nine or more [miles per hour] over the speed limit." Reagan thinks the drivers slowed down because of both carrot and stick: the prize at the end of the week for good driving, and the small penalties for speeding. For decades now, psychological studies have suggested that people are vigilant about small, accumulating losses — the so-called "ticking meter" phenomenon. But there could be another factor involved. For some drivers, Reagan said, the challenge of "beating the game" could offer an incentive to slow down. "At least one driver said they made a game out of it," he says. "They wanted to see if they could keep that incentive amount of $25." Reagan thinks insurance companies might one day offer the tracking devices to drivers who wish to lower their premiums. Many companies currently offer rebates for good driving behavior. Unlike the way insurance rebates are currently configured, the devices Reagan and his colleagues used gave drivers real-time feedback — every time drivers turned off the ignition, they were informed about the "cost" of that trip. Stay tuned for that call from your friendly agent. Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Renee Montagne. Good morning. Let's hear now about a possibly way to persuade some drivers to slow down to the speed limit. About 12,000 Americans die every year in traffic crashes caused by speeding. And now federal researchers think they have found something that could really be a deterrent. NPR's Shankar Vedantam regularly joins us to share interesting social science research. And he's here this morning. MONTAGNE: Well, what's the magic formula? VEDANTAM: Well, apparently the magic formula is not the big, dramatic warnings or having cops on your tail, or even speeding cameras. What these researchers did was they attached these little devices to cars that essentially used GPS technology to keep track of how fast the car was going. And these little devices also were able to monitor what the speed limit was supposed to be on the specific road that the drivers were driving on. And the researchers found that when they attached these devices and they gave the drivers a special financial incentive, this really prompted people to slow down. MONTAGNE: So, obviously, these are subjects in a study. But you're saying that you just pay people to slow down. VEDANTAM: Well, they designed the financial incentive in a really interesting fashion. What they did was they gave people $25 to begin with. And they said that if you reach the end of the week with a perfect driving record, you get to keep the $25. But every time the drivers went a little bit above the speed limit, the researchers took away some of their money. So they took away three to six cents every time the drivers went above the speed limit. Now, I spoke with Ian Reagan. He's a safety researcher at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. He was the lead researcher on the study. And he told me the program really worked. IAN REAGAN: We found that the incentive system was incredibly effective in getting drivers to reduce their speeding. Egregious speed limit violations were almost eliminated. That's driving nine or more over the speed limit. MONTAGNE: Even though it sounds like such a tiny amount of money. VEDANTAM: Well, I think this is one of the really fascinating things about this study, which is when you think about the disincentive that a speeding ticket can give you - you know, you can get a ticket for $150 - and people still disregard that kind of incentive. What I find really interesting here is that the penalty is so small. And, in fact, there is psychological research that shows that people are very vigilant to small losses of wealth or money. And so when you take away the small amounts of money - three cents at a time, six cents at a time - but you're giving people feedback that they are losing this small amount of money, it seems to have a very strong effect on their behavior. And what I find really interesting about the experiment that Reagan did is that the behavior of the drivers changed not just because they wanted to follow the speed limit or get a financial incentive, but because at some level, they were enjoying the challenge of the exercise that Reagan was placing before them. Here he is. REAGAN: At least one driver said they made a game out of it. They basically wanted to see if they could keep that incentive amount at $25. VEDANTAM: Reagan is essentially using different psychological biases. So the pleasure that we have at playing a game or our reluctance to see the meter ticking and, you know, small amounts or small penalties being added to us to counter the other kinds of biases that make people drive unsafely - you know, the carelessness that they feel or boredom on the road or road rage. And Reagan thinks that eventually, this kind of system could potentially be put into use in the real world, perhaps by linking these devices with the kind of premiums that drivers pay to their insurance companies. MONTAGNE: Although, if you link them to insurance companies, you don't get that sort of immediate feedback that you were just talking about. They would not hear, theoretically, from the insurance company for every time they got in their car and got out of their car, what they'd been doing. VEDANTAM: I think that's exactly right. So, I mean, insurance companies currently give drivers all kinds of rebates for safe driving. But the rebates are tied to your, you know, monthly premium or your annual premium. And I think what Reagan's study is showing is the power of communicating to people on a real-time basis, you know, the reaction to their behavior. So I think if an insurance company were to figure out a system whereby people got feedback more or less in real time, telling them here's how much your last trip cost you in terms of your insurance premium, and it goes up or down depending on how fast they're driving, it could have a real effect on their behavior. MONTAGNE: Shankar, thank you very much. VEDANTAM: Thanks, Renee. MONTAGNE: That's Shankar Vedantam, who regularly joins us to talk about interesting research from psychology and other fields. You can follow him on Twitter @hiddenbrain. And while you're at it, you can follow this program @MORNINGEDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Arbor Update Ann Arbor Area Community News Perfect Storm in the Daily 20. June 2005 • Scott Trudeau Email this article A version of Rob’s Perfect Storm post ran as a Viewpoint in today’s Daily: No matter how perfectly aligned the conditions, the storm won’t strike without unprecedented energy fueling it. If they set their minds to it, students have both the political base and intellectual resources to be a potent political force that could fundamentally reshape the city’s political landscape. An atmosphere of complacency and pessimism about what is possible for the city hangs around city hall. Let’s imagine a city where tenants’ rights are a top priority; the planning commission and council aggressively pursue an agenda of dense, sustainable development; and new and radical ideas to provide affordable housing—such as subsidized housing and rent control—are earnestly explored. If they set their minds to it, students like Dale Winling and Eugene Kang—and their supporters—could begin to make this vision a reality. 1. Scott, I do believe we have an Ann Arbor echo chamber going on here. :-) Ok, so who’s in on an Independent Committee to Create A Eugene Kang Website? —Rob Jun. 20 '05 - 04:43PM # 2. Kinda too bad this ran in the summer weekly, when there’s almost nobody around to read it. . . . Any plans to get it re-printed during the school year when there’ll be many more people around? —[libcat] Jun. 21 '05 - 10:32PM #
Wednesday, December 26, 2012 The Question: "What non-English language will be most useful for my child to know in 20-30 years?" The question came up today, "What non-English language will be most useful for my child to know in 20-30 years?" Here's the Community Business College answer: The answer to "What non-English language will be most useful for my child to know in 20-30 years?" depends on what your child's goals are. As an intellectual exercise, it is a good idea to pick the first language as one that is similar to the one they already know (e.g. Spanish or French). Then the next language can be something completely different (e.g. Mandarin, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian, etc.) that uses different characters and grammar rules. It’s tempting to say that Mandarin will be a dominant language 20 years from now but I remember people saying that about Russian and the language spoken in India while I was growing up. I even had a teacher who pushed Esperanto. Needles to say, I don’t think we can call that one useful for everyday use. If your child is going to learn it, you might want to start learning it as well. It's much easier to learn a new language if you have someone with whom to practice in an everyday setting. As far as languages other than English for use in the adult world, it will make a difference where your child plans to live and work. For example, our college set up inexpensive online language classes for our graduates with the primary purpose of helping English speakers start to learn Spanish. Having multiple languages improves their employability but for most of them, they plan to stay in California's Central Valley with a large population of Spanish speakers. More details are at That said, we have had a couple of people who wanted to take Arabic and Japanese. There aren't as many speakers of those languages in this geographic area, but the students chose those languages for personal reasons. That is one of the best motivations for learning a new language. Motivation is an important factor when choosing a language to learn because it’s a skill that requires constant practice. If you look at the globalization caused by the Internet, there will always be the need to be able to communicate in other languages, even though the translation software is getting better and better. The key here is to understand the nuance of a language, which means not just learning the mechanics of a language, but keeping the skill fresh with constant usage and practice. No comments: CBC Closed for MLK Day 2018 Community Business College will be closed on Monday, January 15, 2018 for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Holiday. Interesting fact...
Big Bird vs. Budget Cuts That Matter Bronson Stocking / America is headed toward a fiscal cliff, the U.S. military is being gutted by budget cuts, and the President has been focused on…Big Bird. After Governor Mitt Romney mentioned in the first presidential debate that he liked Big Bird, but might want to make cuts to taxpayer funding of PBS, President Obama’s camp seized on the idea. In a speech in Madison, Wisconsin, the President stated: “I just want to make sure I got this straight. He’ll get rid of regulations on Wall Street, but he’s going to crack down on Sesame Street. Thank goodness somebody is finally cracking down on Big Bird.” Cuts to the military scheduled to go into effect on January 2, 2012, are 1,000 times greater than the total federal share of PBS. The President and Congress should be acting right now to stop this budget sequestration. The President has promised to veto any legislation designed to keep the sequestration from taking effect, unless that legislation also adopts elements of his already proposed and unanimously rejected budget, which included tax hikes. With a recessed Congress and a recalcitrant President, it is not yet certain whether there is enough time to stop the devastating defense cuts from taking effect. We do know, however, that there is not enough time to play politics when it comes to our men and women in uniform. In the meantime, the impending sequestration is already having negative effects on both the economy and the military. Defense contractors have already begun laying off workers, jeopardizing military preparedness, and the U.S. Navy is currently working toward reducing the number of its ships from 285 to 235 over the next 10 years. Unlike Big Bird, the U.S. military does not have other sources of revenue besides the government. The military cannot make up $500 billion by putting on a telethon or selling action figures. Considering the consequences and the available options, it is unbelievable that cuts to Big Bird could be elevated to higher importance than cuts to our military.
Saturday, October 1, 2011 The Sorrow and the Pity (1969) When this French documentary's number came up, I laughed out loud. Not because I find either the Vichy government's collaboration with the Nazi occupiers or the French Resistance funny, but because of Annie Hall. Alvy Singer always makes his girlfriend Annie go see The Sorrow and the Pity when they arrive to a film too late, and it freaking cracks me up--the title so perfectly encapsulates a movie a Woody Allen character would be obsessed with. As far as the movie itself goes, I only want to see it so I can laugh more authentically at AH. I'm sure that in the late 60s, barely twenty years after the war, the idea that the situation in France during the war was pretty intense was interesting and unexplored. Now, not so much. We'll get through it, Nat, and when Annie's number comes up, it will all be worth it! Links to Review Posts for this Film: Tracy's "Annie Hall was a saint" Natalie's "Read a Book Instead" 1 comment: 1. I laughed, too--but only because I had to spin through 5 unavailable films to get THIS movie? The list hates me :)
Air You Breathe The Air You Breathe What’s in your air and what can you do about it Unfortunately, in today’s world, pollution is everywhere. And with the type of cleaning products, manmade goods, and activities undertaken within homes and buildings, indoor environments can become very uncomfortable. Even “fresh,” outdoor air has as many as 30 million dust or pollutant particles per cubic foot. There are, however, measures you can take to lessen the effects of these particles in your home. Since the home is essentially an enclosed system, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) contractors are able to tackle pollution head-on by moving the air through a high-efficiency air cleaner. What does an air cleaner do? At its most basic level, an air cleaner filters out the particles that cause irritation, such as pollen, spores, dust, and other contaminates. In order for any air cleaner to work correctly, the particles need to pass through it. Hence, if the particles are not in the air stream (for example, they’re dust on furniture), an air cleaner won’t remove them. However, a good air cleaner will: • Remove allergy-causing particles that pass through it. • Perform well consistently. • Be economical to maintain. • Handle a large volume of air efficiently. How can an air cleaner help with allergies? A good air cleaner reduces or removes the irritants that cause allergic symptoms. You may choose a portable air cleaner for smaller spaces or a whole-house air cleaner that works in conjunction with your forced-air system to provide cleaner air throughout your home. What kinds of residential air cleaners are out there? There are basically two: furnace-mounted, whole-house units and portable single-room units. Both types of cleaners have different models with varying methods of cleaning the air and capacities for doing so. Your dwelling may help determine the right unit for your needs. A room air cleaner may be best in an apartment, for example, while a whole-house unit might work better with a furnace and air conditioning system. It’s important to note that both room and system air cleaners come in a variety of models, and that not all models use the same technology to clean the air. Each kind of air cleaner has its pros and cons, which may differ depending on your air-cleaning requirements. Take a look at what your needs are based on your dwelling and allergies and talk to your professional HVACR contractor about the best kind for you. What are the most effective air cleaners? Media Air Cleaners These units use high-efficiency pleated filters, or “media,”to remove about 99% of larger particles, including many allergens. With irritants in the spore and pollen range, they are as effective as HEPA filters but not as effective in filtering out the super-small particulates such as bacteria, viruses, and respirable dust. Media air cleaners are cost effective compared to HEPA filters because the filters are usually less expensive and generally need to be replaced only every one or two years. HEPA Air Cleaners HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) cleaners also use high efficiency pleated media to remove particles. To be designated HEPA, an air cleaner must remove 99.97% of all particles 0.3 microns in size (such as dust and mold spores). Due to high cost, operational complications, and other problems, HEPA units are usually seen in residential applications as one-room, portable units. When media in these units need to be replaced, it’s often relatively expensive to do so. Some require charcoal filters that need to be cleaned frequently. Warranties for HEPA cleaners are normally one to three years. Electrostatic Air Filters Electrostatic air filters are not recognized as true high-efficiency air cleaners. However, they are generally recognized as being more effective than the standard one-inch throw-away filters. Electrostatic air filters depend on the movement of the air through the filter to give particles a weak electronic charge. Usually, these models are less than 20% efficient, with some models having efficiencies below 5%. They need to be cleaned often, sometimes weekly, to maintain air flow. Electrostatic air filters have warranties ranging from one year to lifetime. Electronic Air Cleaners There are two types of electronic air cleaners. Both electrically charge particles and attract them to a collection material. The standard electronic air cleaner will collect charged particles on a specially designed“plate.” Most electronic cleaners can obtain 95% efficiency or higher on various particles when the collection plates and ionizing wires are clean, but they can lose some efficiency as they collect dirt. A newer technology in electronic air cleaners is called “electronically enhanced media” combining elements of both electronic and media air cleaners. Particles are electrically charged and then collected by the massive air cleaning media of a traditional high-efficiency cleaner. Because the replacement of the media is simple and there are no plates to clean, efficiency is maintained throughout the media’s life. Electronically enhanced media air cleaners are 99% effective in the removal of numerous particle categories. Electronic air cleaners generally have warranties of one to five years. © Air Conditioning Contractors of America Association, Inc., Reprinted with permission.
THESEUS Scientific Requirements THESEUS is designed to achieve two primary scientific goals: 1. Explore the early Universe by providing a complete census of GRBs in the first billion years. 2. Perform an unprecedentedly deep monitoring of the X-ray transient Universe thus playing a fundamental role in the coming era of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics These goals are very demanding in terms of technology and require a combination of on-board capability to perform wide-field X-ray imaging, the ability to obtain broad bandpass X-ray spectra and to localise and characterise the high-energy transients in the optical-IR. The conversion from THESEUS science goals to instrument and spacecraft requirements are shown in the flow chart below: To meet the science requirements requires the provision of three instruments on board: a wide-field soft X-ray monitor with imaging capability (the SXI); a harder X-ray, non-imaging spectroscopic instrument with the same field of view as the SXI (the XGIS); and an optical/near-IR telescope with both imaging and spectroscopic capability (the IRT). The spacecraft needs to be agile (fast response to enable the IRT to detect the source) and be able to rapidly communicate triggers to the ground so as to enable other observatories to also follow-up the new transients. The ability to point the spacecraft into the night sky (anti-solar) direction for part of the orbit enhances rapid ground follow-up capability to provide additional (multi-wavelength) data. Capability for stable 3-axis pointing for >1ksec is required to detect the longest duration transients. • 1 Table 1. Flow-chart showing the logical path from main science goals to instruments and mission requirements.
J.B. Spins Jazz, film, and improvised culture. Wednesday, June 03, 2015 Doomsdays: the Slackers Will Inherit the Earth If you really thought the world was ending, what would prevent you first acting like a first class jerkwad? Sure, you might say humanism, religious faith, good breeding, or maybe just basic human decency, but none of those apply to Dirty Fred and Bruho. They will live like parasites and call it activism in screenwriter-director Eddie Mullins’ defiantly grubby comedy Doomsdays (trailer here), which opens this Friday in the New York City area. Of the two, Dirty Fred is the real self-aware, self-centered, selfish scoundrel. He loves to drink and hear himself talk. He does not really believe M. King Hubbert’s Malthusian “Peak Oil” theory, but it gives him a handy excuse for his aggressively irresponsible behavior. In contrast, Bruho is a sullen and potentially violent true believer. Their shtick is breaking into empty Catskills summer homes during the off-season, where they live large for as long as they can until someone runs them off. Dirty Fred immediately raids the liquor cabinets, whereas Bruho vents his rage on any unlucky automobiles that might be tucked away in the garages. With twenty minute police responses times, Bruho and Dirty Fred can usually make a brazen getaway, even when they are totally caught flat-footed. They are experts at this sort of rarified squatting, but they will pass on the fruits of their experience as well as a degree of their lunacy to Jaidon, a misfit teenager they take under their wings. He is kind of a klutzy kid, but he buys into Peak Oil wholeheartedly. However, when Reyna, a nonconformist gallery assistant joins up with the merry band of loons, she starts to destabilize their equilibrium, because she is a woman (who happens to be relatively rational). Doomsdays might sound like a nauseating exercise in hipsterdom, but it is actually quite funny because Mullins and his cast are keenly aware how annoying and pretentious his main characters truly are, especially Dirty Fred, whose snide attitude often boomerangs back on him. Frankly, he is such an unsavory reprobate, he almost becomes endearing. Beneath the rage and social ineptness Bruho might also be something of an old soul as well. Arguably, as Bruho, Leo Fitzpatrick gives a rather extraordinary performance, maintaining his abrasive facade, while hinting at inner depths of screwed-up-ness. Likewise, Justin Rice’s Dirty Fred represents quite a feat of manic stamina and a refreshing disregard for audience good will. More than just a good sport, Laura Campbell effectively counter-balances their lunacy with her down-to-earth but vigorous screen presence. Doomsdays often looks mumblecorish, but its dialogue is way too sharp for that indie stylistic ghetto. Mullins has drawn some strong characters and then run them through a gauntlet of physical comedy, while cleverly satirizing their Erlichian environmental doom-and-gloom. Recommended pretty enthusiastically for those who enjoy both high and low humor, Doomsdays opens this Friday (6/5) at the Cinemart Cinema in Queens and the Pavilion in Brooklyn.
The blues went completely dry at one point around the end of the late 1950's. Willie Smith started out as a harmonica player, but when harp gigs vanished he took up drums, eventually playing in Muddy Waters, band. Muddy was finding it difficult getting work. Even B.B. King wasn't getting the work. B.B. used to have almost an orchestra but he had to cut it down to three or four pieces. It got so bad, Willie finally quit in 1964 and took a job driving a taxi cab. He was not the only one to give up the blues as a bad job. Carey Bell worked in a car-wash. Buster Benton as a car mechanic. Labels that once supported the blues turned to soul, as Motown and Stax set a new agenda for black music. Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf were yesterday's men beside Otis Redding, James Brown or Marvin Gaye. Yet by the end of the Sixties Muddy, Wolf and many of their peers were internationally famous. They had made overseas tours, appeared at pop festivals and in vast rock auditoriums, got back into recording again. Their audiences were no longer black and tending towards middle age but white and young. What earned them this born again career, apart from talent and persistence, was the discovery of the blues by white musicians half their age, many of them not even American. Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Canned Heat and their British counterparts John Mayall, Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones, by introducing the blues to new listeners, also revalidated it for the old players. "Before the Rolling Stones", said Muddy Waters, "people didn't know anything about me and didn't want to know anything. I was making records that were called 'race records'. I'll tell you what the old folks would have said to kids who'd bought my records. They'd have said, 'What's that? Take off that nigger music!' Then the Rolling Stones and all those other English bands came along, playing this music, and now the kids are buying my records and listening to them." What was the attraction? "The romance of it", says Rod Stewart in a Mojo article. "Just the name, Muddy Waters' Chicago Blues Band, sounds so romantic. It's funny, you think you're the only one who's listening to it and then ten years later you realise that everyone was listening to it at the same time - the Stones, the Yardbirds. Everybody in their own little corner. . . . Long John Baldry had this one album [The Best Of Muddy Waters] and I borrowed it, and he said, 'You must bring it back in two days because Mick Jagger wants to borrow it."' "The Rolling Stones", according to Keith Richards, "were a white London imitation of South Side Chicago blues, It all starts there." Before the Sixties were out, imitators and masters would be playing side by side on Muddy's and Wolf's London Sessions albums. Even the Beatles claimed "the sort of numbers we like doing best are the rhythm-and-bluesy things." During the "beat group" boom you could throw a stone at random in London or Liverpool clubland and bet on hitting a band doing 'Hoochie Coochie Man". But though Chicago needed an infusion of respect, blues activity elsewhere could support itself, at least for a while, like the big-band blues of Junior Parker and Bobby Bland, or South Louisiana's "swamp blues" clique of Lightnin' Slim and Slim Harpo, who dismantled the styles of Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed and rebuilt them to sound more rural and archaic. Then there was New Orleans, where music lives in the street, the home turf of parade bands and Mardi Gras dancers, echoing to horns and drums. New Orleans had a wonderful time in the early Sixties, turning out witty, weightless R&B classics like Lee Dorsey's 'Ya Ya' and Chris Kenner's infectious 'I Like It Like That'. The blues' main territorial gain in the decade was its friendly invasion of foreign parts, Under the banner of the American Folk Blues Festival (AFBE), a concert party annually visited Europe. It was something to witness Otis Rush or Junior Wells, but the older artists could be even more mesmerising. In 1967 fans had the opportunity, never repeated, to see and hear Son House, Skip James and Booker White - on the same bill. To the Top
Carmen had just moved to Vancouver to take a new job in the film industry and she knew nobody in the city except for her new co-workers. She was driving to work at 6:30 in the morning when she was in a car accident. At the time, traffic was very light and Carmen was going through an intersection on a green light when she hit hard on the driver’s side. A car had failed to stop at the red light to her left and Carmen was 100% certain of that. Unfortunately the driver that hit her was a police officer driving a police cruiser and the accident scene was just a few blocks from the police station. There was not a doubt in Carmen’s mind that she had had a green light and that the car that hit her had gone through on a red one travelling very fast. The accident was a shock to her because she never saw the police car coming until it hit her on the driver’s side and shattered her driver’s door window. What happened next made it even worse. Within minutes there were 5 or 6 police cars at the scene and Carmen, who was injured, in pain and in shock was in the back seat of a police cruiser being told by the officers that she was the one that had driven through the red light. She felt that they were pressuring her to admit she was at fault. Nobody was asking her if she was hurt, if she needed medical care or calling for an ambulance. The made her repeat her story over and over and told her that the police officer was 100% sure that the accident was her fault. Later, when she came home from the hospital, she called ICBC and they told her that the officer said that she went through a red light and that the accident was her fault. Carmen was very upset. When she returned to work, Carmen told the other people in her office what had happened and asked them what to do. She had never had an accident before and had never dealt with ICBC. It turns out that Crystal, one of our former clients worked with Carmen sand Crystal told Carmen how we helped her when she was in an accident. Carmen called us and we became her lawyer. Carmen was so sure she was in the right and we could see that she needed help. Things got better. In the months that followed, we proved that Carmen was right. We knocked on doors and we were lucky to find a perfect witness. Mark was the owner of a small business located where the accident happened. Every morning he arrived at work a little early and sat by the window with his coffee, writing in his journal. He had been sitting by the window that morning and had looked up when he saw the crash. When he looked up, he saw a police car in the intersection with another damaged car. The police car’s front bumper and bits of lights etc., were still in the air and moving around on the ground and right above was the red traffic light the police officer should have stopped at. Mark was sure of it and he was happy to give us a written statement about what he saw. Then we got the records from the City of Vancouver to show the timing of the traffic light sequence and we were able to prove that the light had been red for the police officer as he entered the intersection. There was a police investigation that got messy for the officer, but our focus was on Carmen’s claim. We had started a lawsuit and ICBC had to reverse their decision on who was at fault. Then we were able to settle Carmen’s claim with ICBC paying 100% of Carmen’s damages and she was very happy with the way it all worked out. CategoryPersonal Injury STAY CONNECTED WITH US:
Thursday, March 01, 2007 Bye bye, Sky So the midnight deadline has passed and Sky and Virgin Media failed to come to an agreement over cable carrying Sky's basic channels. Hats off to Sky - having slashed the cost of purchasing Virgin's own channels for its station from 40p per customer per month to 10p, it then attempted to coerce Virgin into paying a massive increase - to 90p per customer per month - to carry its own channels. The reaction - as always - has been amusing. Many Virgin customers haven't blinked an eye - Sky is not the force it was (its "contribution" to British TV are a handful of programmes and a large number of expensive imports), so many people won't miss out on its absence. I'll miss a few US shows, but as previously blogged that won't change my view. Some Virgin customers - goaded on by Sky customers (I can understand their meddling, because for all their posturing, Sky customers will soon start complaining when their own subscription costs go up to cover the shortfall) - are apopoletic with rage. It's fascinating how these people can get so het up over a few TV channels in a lineup of over 80 - I wonder if they get so angry about the state of the planet, or third-world poverty and starvation, or even that their neighbours were recently burgled? I somehow doubt it - another fine example of Thatcher's children taking the "I'm alright Jack" attitude to new depths. BTW, my sub rate hasn't changed, so I'll be sticking with what I've got. Anything to help Virgin Media in its fight against Sky, which has got away with so much for so long on so many different levels: ruining football by creating vast inequalities between sides, stealing US TV shows from free-to-air channels once those channels have proved the shows have legs, and now trying to derail a competitor by deliberately sabotaging negotiations with a string of demands impossible to meet if that competitor is to stay viable. It's such a shame that so many "I'm alright Jack" folk are more concerned with what they get to watch on TV tomorrow night instead of what they might get to watch on TV 12 months down the line. In a world of increasing shallowness, deception and selfishness, it's too much to ask for anything more... No comments:
Looking for Something? Posts Tagged for Jeremy Corbyn and the fightback against capitalism corbyn 2 By Kaylen Forsyth Content note: Reference to abortion Even some weeks later, Britain is still reeling from the tidal wave of shock that was the General Election, which saw the Tories fail to secure a majority and subsequently scrapple for a deal with the DUP. Everything about this dreaded minority government screams danger. With both party’s ideals terrifyingly prehistoric, this is a massive step back for social progression in the United Kingdom. The anonymity of the DUP in isles other than Northern Ireland means that a vast amount of their policies and principles remain unknown. So, to be clear, this is a party that rejects a woman’s freedom of choice. In fact, they go out of their way to actively oppose a woman’s right to an abortion. A former minister for the DUP once attempted to increase the sentence length for women who have abortions in private clinics to at least ten years. And that only scratches the surface of the DUP’s problems… This is not a party I’m sure any of us want to see wield even the slightest trace of power. But alas, they now hold more seats in total than the Liberal Democrats, and now the initials DUP are going to move from arbitrary letters most people have never heard of, to letters uttered so often we switch over the television channel when we hear them. A country led by Theresa May, with the DUP holding substantial influence also, seems a very dark country indeed… but hope streams through, and the face of hope is in every sense Jeremy Corbyn. In the political climate of 2017 Britain, this is the fact: anything that is a knock for a Jeremy Corbyn led Labour, is a knock for equality. The same can be said, more positively perhaps, vice versa: anything that’s a win for Corbyn’s Labour, is more than likely going to be a win for equality too. And here’s why… Capitalist thinking has infected every vein of thought. It has done so cunningly, so people do not taste the poison while they’re being fed it. Some even vote for this poison, believing it to be the antidote. Even progressive attitudes are at risk from this “pull the ladder up Jack and sod the rest” viewpoint. Here’s an example: the rise of consumerism has seen a complete transmutation of popular feminism. Or perhaps, mainstream feminism. In some respect, the principles behind it have been diluted into something easy to swallow and marketable. Yes. That’s scary, when the power of capitalist and consumerist thought is so prevalent in society that women’s rights can be treated like a commodity. Owning a house so big that you have an entire room devoted to diamonds, and then maybe making a documentary on it, in the name of feminism, demonstrating your kick-ass independence and choice is actually not a good thing. It does not analyse societal hierarchies, it does not seek to reveal forms of injustice or power mechanisms- it does nothing. It’s empty and the only thing it reflects is ignorance and subservience to corporate power. Essentially it is feeding the system that is trying to bring us down, giving them the power to do so faster. If the idea is being perpetuated that the perks of capitalism- which are only perks for an elite- can be called feminism, then we are perpetuating the idea that injustice can continue so long as a few people can own their room full of diamonds. What I’m saying is, this mainstream feminism is surely contradictory to the values it claims to cherish. The ultimate result of this perpetuation is self-centeredness. Working together to eradicate other people’s injustices is buried beneath the belief that our own situation is the only one that matters. Everywhere, I see this notion of a Strong Independent Woman ™. That’s true. The generic idea of an independent, accomplished, feminist woman is underlined by capitalism. Louboutin heels, an executive job, Kylie Jenner’s lip kit on her mouth. Any other form of independent woman in the lens of mainstream feminism is viewed as a loser. It’s just not right. We have been manipulated into thinking the only option is to consume everything on the conveyor belt, lest fall behind the times. Isolation is the only consequence of this exploitation and it’s something to be fought against. Where does the face of politics fit into all of this? We need a government that completely rejects this movement of individualism at the expense of humanity. For the past seven years, we’ve had a Tory government. People in power telling us valuing ourselves over community is exercising our freedom. Thus, when notions like this are being both realised and actualised, capitalist feminism flourishes, human rights become a commodity used by corporations, and we ignore the fact that society is unequal, that so many people aren’t eating tonight or tomorrow morning. A Corbyn-led Britain would help to reaffirm the importance of community spirit, establish the significance of the equality of everyone, and hopefully wipe out the idea that it’s fine to thrive on a system that promotes using the destitution of others as a ladder rung to owning their very own room full of diamonds. Hey there! Sign up to get our blogs in your inbox!
Ingredients Jump to Instructions ↓ 1. 1/4 c Lemon juice 2. 2 tb Dry sherry 3. 2 tb Olive oil or cooking oil 4. 1/2 ts Dried oregano, crushed 5. 1/4 ts Garlic salt 6. 1 md Tomato, peeled, seeded and Chopped 1 Green onion, sliced 7. 1/4 c Sliced pitted ripe olives 8. 1 tb Snipped parsley 9. 1 tb Slivered almonds Instructions Jump to Ingredients ↑ 1. Servings: 1 For marinade, in a 1-cup measure combine lemon juice, sherry, oil, oregano, and garlic salt. Set aside 2 tablespoons. Pour remaining into a plastic bag in a bowl; add chicken or fish. Close bag; chill 1 hour, turning once. For salsa, combine the 2 tablespoons marinade, tomato, green onion, olives, parsley, and almonds. Cover; chill till serving time. Drain chicken or fish, reserving marinade. Grill till chicken is tender and fish is flaky, turning and brushing often with the marinade. Serve with chilled salsa and avocado slices, if desired. Makes 4 servings. Nutrition facts per tablespoon salsa: 13 cal., 1 g total fat (0 g sat. fat), 0 mg chol., 13 mg sodium, 1 g carbol, 0 g fiber, 0 g pro. Daily value: 1% vit. A, 5 % vit. C, 0% calcium, 0% iron. SOURCE: BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS, July 1993 Shared by Cate Vanicek Send feedback
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Granola Mommy So I'm being a hippy again. I've decided to go back to cloth diapering like I did with Darby. I don't like it and I really love the idea of taking a poopy diaper off of a bum and chucking it in the Diaper Champ, but the boys' diaper areas are constantly red and I think they've got sensitive skin like their big brother and Daddy. I just don't see another alternative that makes a lot of sense. Thank God I kept all of Darby's cloth diapers. Kissaluvs and Fuzzi Bunz are expensive! Now if I can just find the handful of Snappi's I bought for the pre-folds. Hmm... In other news, I'm trying desperately to build my milk supply up. It's ridiculous, really. I knew I'd have problems with supply after having my thyroid ablated but I'm starting to get pretty upset by it. I nursed Darby for 15 months (when he was FINALLY ready to wean) and I feel like a failure not being able to solely breastfeed them both without relying on formula part of the time. I haven't tried Goat's Rue yet but I've started taking blessed thistle and fenugreek and drinking mother's milk tea like crazy. If time would allow, I might be able to get some extra pumping sessions in, too. Thank God we're moving back in a few weeks and it won't be a big deal to go to my mother-in-law's and have her help me get the boys back on track. Do you know what a blessing it is to have your mother-in-law employed as a maternity nurse and a certified lactation consultant? It's even nicer that my own mother is a nurse at a family practice. When I finally get my degree, we'll be the trifecta! HA!Anyway, bed is calling my name and I am dreading getting up 5 1/2 hours from now. Sir Darby is getting his molar worked on tomorrow as it cracked due to a malformation. A 3 yr. old on valium and nitrous oxide should be a blast. I'll let you know. Amber said... Sounds like you're super busy! Glad to hear you're doing well. My mom just got me cloth diapers to try on Cooper... I haven't taken the plunge just yet... we'll see. Jason and Rachel said... Sounds like you're having about as much fun as I am..just different issues. Don't feel like a failure regarding the breastfeeding issue. The fact that you are breastfeeding as much as you can is great. I don't think I'd be able to do it if I had a three year old to contend with in addition to the twins. Hope the dentist appointment went ok. Yikes. We are still dealing with naptime. Today I finally decided enough is enough and we're doing the whole Ferber method deal. Let's just say they should sleep well tonight. It's like an hour of hell!
Subverting Democratic Ethos: RSS believes only Hindus are Indians! Ram Puniyani is a Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Powai. Apart from his teaching and research activities, he pursues a parallel track concerned with issues related to social problems, particularly the ones related to preservation of democratic and secular ethos in our life. He also has serious interest in the understanding the Human Rights of weaker sections of society. He is a member of EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity, Mumbai and has been associated with different secular initiatives for many years. He has also been engaged in understanding global and local changes, which have resulted in communal violence. He is particularly concerned with the adverse effects of globalisation and the rise of fundamentalism, particularly in India. Dr. Puniyani has contributed articles to various magazines and journals on these themes. He has authored three books around these subjects: Fascism of Sangh Parivar, The Other Cheek and Communal Politics: an illustrated primer. At present Dr.Puniyani is continuing with his endeavour to understand these phenomena with a focus on human relationships geared around substantive liberty, equality and fraternity. RSS is one of the major organizations in the country which influences and controls different political and semi political organizations, calling themselves as Sangh Parivar. It does claim to be a cultural organization, but it is implementing its political agenda of achieving Hindu Nation by creating organizations, which implement its ideology and political agenda at different layers, by different means. While its progenies claim that they are autonomous, their autonomy is a ‘controlled autonomy’, the boundaries of their autonomy are decided by RSS, which directly or indirectly controls them. It is due to these facts that the statement of the Sarsanghchalak (Chief) of RSS cannot be taken lightly, they tell us about the political ideology of this combine and give the indication of the dynamics of politics which this organization is going to implement in times to come. It is in this light that what Mohan Bhagawat said on 28th February (2010) in Bhopal at Hindu Samagam needs to be understood and taken as a warning signal. While speaking on the occasion, Bhagwat said that those who were Indians are Hindus and one who was not a Hindu he cannot be Indian. He reiterated that Hinduism is not a religion, it is a way of life and that if Hindus become stronger, Nation will become stronger. At one level there is nothing new in this formulation. There is a change in presentation format and intensity of their definition of Hinduism and Hindus. The starting point of RSS ideology is Savarkar’s definition of Hindu being one who regards this land from Sindhu (Indus) to sea as holy land and father land. Here there is a clear indication that followers of those religions which did not originate in India are not Hindus, i.e. Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are out of the ambit of this definition. After this first round of elimination comes the statement that the one who is not a Hindu cannot be an Indian. Here the story becomes complete, to deny citizenship status to all the followers of these religions. Another of the favorite line of RSS is dropped in here; that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. This formulation at a time was upheld by court judgment, but can this be ideologically true? Is it theologically valid? How does one define religion, and how does one define way of life. Way of life is a much broader concept than religion. Way of life includes; regional nuances, culture, food habits, social associations, the struggle for livelihood and much more come under this umbrella. Many a times, people of different religions have a way of life which has a big overlap, and mostly people of same religion may have a way of life which is very different from each other. The way of life of Kerala Muslim was much closer to the Kerala Christian and Hindu, the way of life of a Punjabi Hindu may be very different from the way of life of a Bengali Hindu or a Hindu settled in Mauritius or UK and USA. People do adjust and adapt to each other cutting across their religious faith. That’s how the syncretic traditions and culture developed and flourished in India. That’s how we have Ramdeo Baba Pir in Rajasthan with following amongst Hindus and Muslims and we have Satya Pir in Orissa revered by people of all communities. Who can forget saints like Kabir who united the society along the moral values coming from different religions, and who can ignore the fact that the Sufi saint shrines are frequented by people of all religions. In Mumbai the Mount Mary Church of Mahim is a place where people from all religions light the candles and pay obeisance to Mother Mary. The formulation ‘way of life’ has been deliberately propped up to confuse the scope of religion. While religion is itself a very broad category, including moral values, rituals, holy books, way of worship, presence of clergy and specific festivals, that does not exhaust the term way of life, which is much broader to begin with and is ever expanding, ever changing, ever trying to attain newer paths due to the process of social transformation, which is the key to social progress and community life. Coming to the formulation, ‘Hinduism is not a religion’, it is a mere eye wash to get legitimacy to put forward Hinduism’s claim to be the sole religion here in India. It is a clever ploy to impose Hindu religion on minorities. RSS knows like most others that Hinduism is a religion. Surely it is not a prophet based religion but it does have most features which qualify for it being called a religion. Mere absence of a prophet does not make it non-religion. As there is no prophet in Hinduism many ideologies, philosophies and faiths can survive within its pantheon. These range from the Atheist Charvak tradition to the belief in multiple Gods and Goddesses, to monotheism, to the concept of formless God, to the concept of God which is primarily based around virtuosity. But still Hinduism does qualify as a specific religion all the same. Hinduism has holy books, holy deities, rituals, specific philosophy, holy symbols like cow etc. Even RSS literature makes it clear that Hinduism is a religion. The oath admininistered at the time of joining RSS does mention Hinduism as a religion. Its books taught in various Sarswati Shishu mandirs etc. do refer to Cow as the Holy mother for Hindus, its biggest ever political campaign was in the name of Lord Ram’s temple in Ayodhya. It is a deceptive and clever move by RSS to talk in many languages and dish out various formulations about Hinduism and Hindus. The idea is either to impose it on those who are not Hindus or to co-opt others into Hindus pantheon under the ploy that all are Hindus. Surely at one time the word Hindu began as a geographical category, for all those living on east of river Sindhu (Indus). After that the various locally prevalent religious traditions got clubbed as Hinduism and these traditions on one side were those based on Purush Sukta of Vedas (Brahmanism, caste hierarchy) and on the other, traditions which refuted Brahmanism (Shamanic traditions of Nath, Tantra, Bhakti Siddha etc,) Like most religions Hinduism is also diverse one, but it is religion all the same. So formulation that those who are not Hindus are not Indians is a big insult to Indian Constitution. India became a nation through it struggle to get independence. The national movement, which led the people against British colonial powers also acted, played the role of uniting people of all regions, religions, castes and gender into a single identity of Indian ness. Interestingly RSS which is talking of India, patriotism etc. was not a part of national movement. Its patriotism was sleeping when the whole nation was struggling against British rule. On the contrary one of its trained pracharak of RSS went on to kill the spirit of Indian-ness, father of the Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Contrary to what RSS says people of India rejected the ideology of RSS, its politics all through. Not only Hindu nationalism of RSS but also the Muslim Nationalism of Muslim League was also dumped by the people of India. It is only due to British Policy of ‘divide and rule’ that communalists like Muslim league and RSS survived, and the latter has hit back from the decade of 1980 due to multiple factors. Indian Constitution is the embodiment of the values of national movement, the movement for getting freedom of the country. It is based on the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Equality is mentioned to indicate that irrespective of religion, caste and gender, we are equal citizens. The ideas being propagated by RSS and its progeny are against the grain of Indian nationalism, against Indian Constitution, so there is an urgent need that we counter the communal ideology of RSS. To say that nation will become strong if Hindus become strong, is again in total violation of the soul and spirit of Indian nationalism. The people of all religious communities have contributed to the making of this nation. People of all religious communities constitute Indian nation. The myth of Hindu unity or for that matter the unity of any people along religious lines had no place in History neither it has any relevance in today’s society. The states are formed on geographical lines and only those ideologies which are inclusive of all have a place in History. The exclusive, divisive notions like the ones’ of RSS, Muslim League of yesteryears and Muslim Communalism of today and Christian Fundamentalism prevalent in parts of West, deserve to be put in the dustbin, deserve to be rejected lock stock and barrel. What does Hindu becoming strong mean. Today majority of Hindus are living below poverty line, problem of unemployment, displacement, regionalism and communalism are breaking the back of poor of the society. The whole notion of strength is misplaced. Strength of a community lies in its economic status, social security and human rights. And to talk of Hindu strength in the language of RSS is quite intimidtory to the non Hindus living in the country. We have to cater for all the religious communities and in addition to implement affirmative action for weaker sections of society. We need to understand that the whole ideology and propaganda of RSS is against the values of Indian nationalism and should be treated with the contempt which such anti national ideas deserve.
World Population: 100 Take today’s world and shrink its population down to just 100 people. Then apply a range of global measures to this group. Voila! You get a fascinating view of humanity at a scale that your brain can comprehend. For instance, from the total of a 100 people: 48 live on less than $2 per day, 93 do not have a college degree, 16 are undernourished or starving, 23 have no shelter, and 17 are illiterate. The infographic was designed by graphic designer Jack Hagley. You can check out the infographic and read more of Hagley’s work here. Infographic courtesy of Jack Hagley.
Sunday, April 10, 2011 Most Significant Article You Haven't Read - Resistant Bacteria I like reading the newspaper because the format allows browsing in a way that seems to alert me to interesting news in a way that browsing the internet never does. Friday's Wall Street Journal reprinted this article from Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in India Could Spread, Experts Say A gene that helps bacteria resist nearly all antibiotics is present in bacteria in public water supplies in New Delhi, India, researchers have found. NDM-1 now appears to be widespread in the environment and that points to the critical need for action to limit the global spread of NDM-1-producing bacteria, said Timothy Walsh, of Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, and colleagues. The spread of such bacteria could surely change the world in ways both predictable and not. For example, the widespread presence of resistant bacteria will impact major surgery, which is dependent upon the ability of antibiotics to prevent infection. Will this decrease medical tourism to India? The widespread use of analgesics to relieve aches and pains has the ancillary effect of making bleeding harder to stop. Will we limit their use to help prevent infections? (Is there a connection? Maybe just for bleeding ulcers.) Will we see more "nanny state" efforts to enforce hygiene, since we know that politicians like nothing better than crises to impose new controls on people. I believe that we should think about these issues from the perspective of those who wish to preserve freedom, as I know the forces of statism will seize the opportunity to impose controls. A companion article also points to other failings. The pipeline of new antibiotics is essentially empty, posing acute huge dangers to health care and efforts against infectious diseases. Some experts warn health-care provision is in danger of reverting back to a pre-antibiotic era in which hip replacements, care of preterm babies and advanced cancer treatment are no longer possible. And why are no new drugs in the pipeline? I suspect that our very own FDA, which is getting ever more restrictive in its approval processes under Obama is partly to blame. (Ronald Balley details the way that the FDA afflicts the drug industry here.) And also, why is this news getting so little attention? Could it be that we have become inured to scientific disaster news, because there has been so much of it? Maybe we don't trust scientists whose horrible discovery will lead to more grant money if they can hype their findings. Maybe this isn't the horrible story I thought after all. This is the unfortunate result of politicians controlling the purse strings for science. 1. really interesting perspective on the FDA. This hasn't been on my radar at all. 2. The Zombie Apocolypse approacheth! 3. This doesn't fit the narrative. We're getting sick because of cattle being fed antibiotics, and because of alcohol hand-wash, and because medicine is getting too advanced and being used too much-- with a heavy implication that we should let old, sick people die. That is the narrative. For someplace far-off, squalid (sorry, India, but it's true-- you're getting better, but you're still rather ew on average), with problems about sewage in the water but who have access to rather high tech medical tools to have 'super-bugs'... dang. Shoot, I didn't know until recently that 'superbugs' were nothing new-- Winston Churchill had an infection that was resistant to penicillin and had to have some new version used on it. 4. An antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the New Dehli water supply? No way. 5. Forgot to add- the way we do know to breed super bugs is to do a half-tailed job of using whatever kills them. Say, taking antibiotics until you feel better, or run out of money.....
Sunday, 30 August 2015 Ooh la la, the city of love The River Seine Getting off the train we were hit by 35° heat which was a bit of a shock after London. I had booked an Airbnb room in a 17C apartment on the 6th floor that gave us a stunning view over Paris; the lift had only been installed 18 months ago. We could just see the tip of the Eiffel Tower to one side of our window and Sacre Coeur to the other. Our host Etienne was a delight. On the first day he gave us a French breakfast and explained places to go and how to get there. Notre Dame from the side The easiest way to get around Paris from our base was by train, everywhere we wanted to go was about half an hour using one or two trains. I cannot believe the amount of people they move, every four minutes a new train arrives – most of them are nearly full. The trains don’t have air-conditioning and with the amount of people, they become very hot regardless of how cold it is outside; a breeding ground for germs. And we both got incredibly sick. To be in Paris and not have the energy to explore! Luckily I managed to see a fair bit before it really dragged me down, unfortunately the last day and a half I spent in bed. The Louvre After carrying the tripod around all day in London, we decided not to do that again, but to go back home and go out again. Lindsay got sick on the second day, so I went out after dinner by myself to photograph the Eiffel Tower after dark. I had gone before sunset as I wanted to get some shots the sun went down and then I had to wait until they lit it up after dark. It’s not much fun waiting on your own. I was fairly confident using the train system now and I managed to get home without getting lost! La Tour Eiffel We bought a prepaid SIM card with 1Gb of data so that we could use it to navigate ourselves around. It worked for a few hours and then stopped. We took it back to where we bought it but he couldn’t work out, he said it looked like we had used it all up. 1Gb already? We thought we had turned everything off, but obviously not. So if you live on a barge, you might want to take your car with you A boat trip down the Seine is a lovely way to spend an hour. Etienne suggested a small boat which was leaves from Pont Neuf. I booked our tickets online which gave us a discount but didn't lock us into any one time or date. The weather was great so we were able sit on the top level. There are so many buskers on the train, they have you as a captive audience and then ask for money! Arc de Triomphe The lovers locks weigh so much the bridges have to be rebuilt Tuesday, 25 August 2015 London at night Hyde Park, amazing that this can be in such a big city We dropped our hire car off at Heathrow, and bought Oyster cards for getting around on public transport. We loaded £20 onto each and then caught the train to the nearest station to our AirBnB room in Kensington. It was in a good spot for walking to restaurants at night and in a nice area. the double decker buses have gone modern The first day we walked from our accommodation through Kensington gardens and Hyde Park, it’s hard to imagine that a city of so many people had the foresight to allocate so much land to parklands. I love that they have seats everywhere for people to sit on. Lindsay went home early as his foot was hurting and left me to my own devices. Which at first was fine, but navigation is not my strong point, and I took a wrong turn. I know exactly where it was; I thought I was cutting off a corner and it sent me completely in a different direction. On the positive side I got to see these really lovely houses and consulates. Why is it that countries feel they have to have really expensive real estate in other countries, surely just an office would do? On the negative side I didn't have my oyster card or any money and didn't get home until about 7pm completely exhausted. Princes Diana memorial garden The following day we did a City of London walk using a Rick Steves' audio guide on my iPhone and a printed a map which was really enjoyable. the first Twinings tea shop When we knew we were going to London Lindsay emailed René whom we met in Tuscany a few years ago to see if he wanted to catch up. Absolutely. We were very lucky, he is an incredibly busy man who it turns out - works out of his Bentley (with a chauffeur mind you) as he spends more time in airports than at home. He doesn't even have to show them his boarding pass as he gets onto the plane, he's such a regular. We gave his PA a range of dates and she booked an Italian restaurant called Locanda Locatelli in Marylebone for Thursday night. It is a Michelin starred restaurant; the service was second to none and the food was divine. So glad we dressed up! It was terrific seeing René again, he is so easy and interesting to talk to. It seemed only months ago that we had last caught up instead of three years. As a parting gift he gave us a signed copy of the Giorgio Locatelli's recipe book as well as a little box each of Italian sweet delights to take home. We confessed that we had looked him up on You Tube, as I knew, among other things, that he is a motivational speaker and I wanted to see him in action. He then gave us a copy of his book and a couple of his DVD’s and CD’s. A truly amazing man. Trafalgar Square Gorgeous gothic buildings - the Law Courts a gas powered light I was very lucky that Lindsay agreed to carry my tripod around all day while we were sightseeing on our second last day. The Tower Bridge was a fair way away from where we were staying, so going back just to collect a tripod seemed a bit silly. It was difficult to find a spot to shoot from that didn’t have obstacles ruining my picture so we found a way to get onto a rocky beach where we could see another photographer standing. He was doing a time lapse of the bridge and it was nice to be able to chat to him while we waited for the right light. We had a stunning sunset and after dark they lit up the bridge, which was really pretty. I was very happy with the results. On Tower bridge itself The Tower Bridge On our last day we went back to Bletchley Park by train, being a Saturday the train tickets were off peak which reduced their price by half to £96 return for both of us, at £192 ($A422) we probably wouldn’t have gone back. We spent another five hours there and still hadn’t seen everything. From Kensington we got a bus to St Pancreas International station where the Eurostar leaves for Paris. We handed in our Oyster cards and got a refund, not only on the cost of the card but the contents too - $A50. I had prebooked our tickets months ago and chosen our seats and luckily got them facing the right way. I had read about thieves taking off with suitcases so we had brought a cable to lock our bags together on the luggage rack so I didn’t have to worry about them. It didn’t seem very long before we were in the tunnel and then in France. There is a time difference of an hour, which made the journey seem a lot shorter than I first imagined. Even their pigeons were double agents Bletchley Manor If you’ve seen the movie “the Imitation Game” you will know about Bletchley Park. Nearly 10,000 people were working at Bletchley park at the end of WWII. They worked in three shifts of eight hours around the clock. 3,000 per shift, how did they keep that a secret? As far as the rest of the country knew, Bletchley was a hunting lodge, not a government site whose sole mission was to find out what their enemies in WWII were doing. The previous owners were trying to sell the property but the real estate market hadn’t really recovered since the great depression. Then the Government stepped in and did a compulsory acquisition. The Australian Airforce did the same thing to my great grandfather; you don’t actually have a choice about selling or what they pay you, and you don't get it back when they've finished with it either! Everyone had to ride bicycles as there was petrol rationing Bletchley Park is about an hour north of London, it was chosen as it is near a train line that ran between Oxford and Cambridge. This was important because of the calibre of people they wanted to recruit to work in the Government Code and Cypher School – named Station X as it was the 10th site. So it wasn't the only place like this. the motorcyclists brought the messages to Bletchley Park The people who worked there really didn’t know what they were doing, they were only given enough information to do the job they were required to do, then it would be passed onto another department. Some were linguists who needed to interpret the foreign languages. Others were mathematicians who were needed for decoding cyphers. No-one discussed with anyone else what their job was, you could only tell someone what hut you worked in. Personnel had to sign a confidentiality agreement when they started there so that they couldn’t discuss what they did with anyone. When they left, they signed another one that stated they couldn’t discuss anything for a further thirty years. Video on the walls reinacted similar conversations that may have occurred Winston Churchill was so proud of their work, he had tears in his eyes when he visited. He wanted to know every message they deciphered, but as there could be as many as 20,000 per day, they only gave him a short selection. An old Enigma without the plugs Some staff kept track of enemy personnel, so that if they heard of someone being somewhere that was unusual that could alert them to some other goings on. They needed smart people that could think laterally. The staff, who were mostly women, were billeted with local families or they stayed at an Abbey close by. Pigeons were dropped by plane over enemy territory for double agents to send back information, they would then fly back to Bletchley park. The Germans trained peregrine falcons to attack the British birds, in response the pigeons would free fall when attacked to get away from the falcons. The pigeons went on many missions often sustaining injuries and going back again. The British captured some German pigeons which allowed them to see how the Germans tagged them and did their messages. So they sent their own pigeons to Germany who would then nest with the locals, the Germans would send them to England to get intelligence but the birds would come back to Bletchley. It was probably a bit more involved than that, but you get the idea. They were double agents! A guide shows a computerised demonstration on how the Enigma machine worked Poland sits in between Germany and Russia, so it was in their best interest to keep tabs on their neighbours and had been intercepting their information for some time before WWII. They would go to the British and say they had interesting information for them and the British would tell them to go away. When the war broke out, England started to listen to them. The Pols already had a head start on German intelligence; the British may have never cracked Enigma without their initial help. Interactive touch screens taught us how to decipher codes The radio towers were moved from Bletchley out about five miles. It is easy to locate radio waves and they didn’t want Bletchley to become a target. Motorcyclists brought information from those towers and other places in all kinds of weather. They had no idea what they carried, but they knew it was important. They were never to be denied petrol, even when it was scarce. there were a number of "huts" that were the offices The work they did at Bletchley was so complex that I can’t even begin to explain anything well in detail. We spent two hours there on the first day before we had to go to London. We went back by train a week later and spent another five hours and we still didn’t cover everything. Our ticket is valid for a year, but we will not be back within a year to be able to go again. If you go there, I would recommend two full days; staying the night somewhere close. Make sure you do one of the walking tours with the volunteers as they are really interesting. One of the Bombe machines After the war, Bletchley and places like it, fell into disrepair. Many of the huts have now been restored and furnished as they would have been. There are projected video recordings onto the walls in some of the rooms giving you an insight into conversations that possibly went on. There are large interactive touch pads to explain the decoding cyphers and many other things, including of course Alan Turing's bombe - there were in fact 200 dotted around the country. It is believed that the bombe shortened the war by two years. It is a magnificent place. When out in the garden, you will hear the sounds of a motorcycle go by or a train. In the offices you can hear typing, it makes you feel like you are right there. It was an excellent museum. They are planning on doing even more when they get more funds. This is what the pigeons were transported in The pigeons were dropped by parachute behind enemy lines, people working for the Resistance would then attached messages to their legs, the birds would then fly home to Bletchley or wherever their home base was. Saturday, 22 August 2015 The Lakes District The Derwent Valley The Lakes District is a picturesque area of England in the north west. The roads are even more narrow than the ones in the cotswolds. Instead of being lined with vegetation, they are lined with dry stone walls, which can be a little intimidating when confronted with a car coming the other way, one of you backs back and you then you still have to squeeze past each other. Many of the buildings are made with the dry stone. It is incredible pretty but also incredibly busy. Most people come here to walk and there are numerous walking tracks, but as we didn’t bring proper walking shoes and the treks I looked at were over 3 hours long, we stuck to driving. The first day we arrived it was raining and the forecast for our whole stay was rain as well, but luckily the meteorologists got it wrong and we had a couple of fine days. Imagine having to drive along here every day There are many circles of stones around the country the Boat Launch The lake is called the Derwentwater and you have the choice of rowing your own boat or taking one of the (boat) launches, one stop or as many as you want. You can do a hop on hop off round trip, clockwise or anticlockwise but you can’t change direction. When we got off the first time, there was no room for us to hop back on, and the boat only came once an hour. When the boat going the opposite way came half an hour later we complained and got them to take us back to the start. So even though we planned to do a number of hop offs, we only did one more to see the Lodore Falls as we didn’t want to get stranded again. The perils of going on a sunny day when everyone else wants to go too. Going past Hawes End we did see some walking tracks that ran along the water’s edge which would have been perfect, but by then we had gone past the dock, so it was too late to get off. No, not us! Many of these towns have very limited parking and wherever there is a small area to park you will find a ticket machine, even in the most bizarre places. Parking meter in the forest! Keswick is the birth place of the original graphite pencil and later the coloured Derwent pencils; my childhood favourite. I cherished my Derwents and hardly ever used them as I didn’t want to ruin them which seems so stupid now. Lodore Falls We stayed in a guest house right in the middle of the town of Keswick which made it very easy to walk to restaurants and the boat launch. It is advisable to book restaurants especially on Friday’s and Saturday’s as the towns are even busier than usual with English tourists. Squeeze in Just enough room, I'm glad we were behind the bus Ashness Bridge Wednesday, 19 August 2015 The home of chocolate You can walk on part of the old Roman town wall The town of York is very old – it was a Roman provincial capital in 71AD – I don’t know how they coped with the weather after Rome. When the Roman empire toppled, the Anglo-Saxon’s moved in. The Vikings then overtook the town for a few centuries, followed by the Normans, who destroyed the city, then rebuilt it. the Abbey is tucked in between lots of other buildings During the industrial age, York’s railway was the largest in the world and they have a magnificent railway museum where you can look inside the carriages of all the monarchs through the ages. the Abbey's stone was reused in other buildings If you ever delve into the history of York you come across Henry VIII who closed all the monasteries and nunneries. The old section of the city is dominated by York Minster – a large gothic cathedral that took 250 years to build. 250 employees and 500 volunteers help preserve it’s heritage. They are renovating it, so there is scaffolding everywhere. During WWII they removed the stained glass windows and put them back later. Where panes used to be fixed with lead, they are now removing the lead and fixing the breaks with new seamless methods. The area known as the Shambles is a cobblestone street where the butcher shops were. the Shambles More Shambles Botham Bar is one of the 4th Century Roman gates embedded in the city wall. The current town wall is from the 12th century, composed of both roman and medieval parts and you can still walk along the top of one section. botham bar - one of the town gates The Castle Museum is like a number of museums in one. The most enjoyable were the Victorian streetscape, the WWI section and the prison. Clifford's Tower A volunteer told us a tale about Victorian life. When times were tuff, you would sell an heirloom to the pawn brokers, if there wasn’t enough to eat, the father was fed first as he needed to work, so the mother and children went hungry. There was a bathroom up the street for all to use, along with the water that had to be fetched each day and brought back to the house. All water had to be boiled before it could be drunk. People drank beer as it was safer to drink than water. Pale ale was watered down beer, which didn’t make the children intoxicated! Cocoa drinks were promoted as an alternative to alcohol for the working man. When cocoa houses sprung up, they became meeting places where people could buy meals and drinks. The Quakers ran most of these cocoa houses and York is the home of Rowntree (Kit Kat, Aero) and Terry’s confectionary. Rowntree is now owned by Nestle and Terry's is owned by Kraft. Terry's confectionary A time before newspapers The Castle was the main prison for the whole of Yorkshire for a thousand years. It still has holding cells and people who have committed serious crimes are still tried in the Crown Court there. Inside many of the cells in the museum section, videos come on as you enter each room giving you various stories about different people, including the people who worked there. One lady was convicted of petty treason, having been accused of arranging the death of her husband. She was strangled and then burned at the stake. There is a WWI section which tells about life on the front line. The officers bought their own uniforms, so they were dressed differently from the enlisted men’s khaki greens. When they realised that it made them targets for snipers, they changed their uniforms to be more like everyone else. Hitler bombed York during WWII, choosing the destination out of a guide book! Monday, 17 August 2015 Picturesque country towns Chipping Campden The Cotswold’s is one of the most picturesque areas of England. Think beautiful old buildings, country lanes, narrow windy roads, beautiful old pubs and unusual names that come from old Saxon words. No, it's not a camera distortion, they are crooked Here are some of their meanings: - Lower slaughter means lower marshland - Cots means sheep pen and wold means on the hill, so Cotswold = sheep pen on the hill - Stow means sheep, so Stow on the wold = sheep on the hill the roads haven't got any wider On my morning walk through the town of Paxford I noticed a sign saying “Public Footpath” that pointed across a field. I had noticed these before and wondered where they went. So when I came to the another path on the other side of the church and saw a woman walking her dog, I decided to follow her. No I’m not a stalker, but you can’t really see any track as it’s over grass, so I needed help. She walked over the bridge I had seen the sheep run over earlier and out through a stile on the far side of the paddock and disappeared into the bushes. Moments later her dog came running back over the stile and starting rounding up the sheep. He was having a lovely time. She ran after him and I watched and laughed while within a couple of minutes he had them round up into a nice little circle. All, but one. At that point she called out “help me, help me!”. So I ran over, the herd of sheep ran past me, which just left Bugsy with the lone sheep. I cut him off from running the sheep over to the herd, so he ran it down to the river! His owner ran after him and brought him back up, put his leash back on and asked me if I could hold him. She then went back sloshing about in the brook until the sheep came back up. Lucky she had her gumboots on, though I realised later that they were for another reason. When I got back to the town footpath, I had to clean my shoes, I had after all been walking and running in a sheep paddock! I didn’t realise how serious this was at the time. A farmer is allowed to shoot any dog interfering with his livestock. Grave stones in the church yard The public footpaths crisscross the countryside as it is a far quicker way to get from point A to B and safer than walking along the roads as there is only enough room for cars, narrow single or double lanes and nowhere to stand off even if you do hear a car coming as the roads around here are flanked by high dense bushes. When you are driving on a single road that is two-way, one of you needs to back back until you can find a widening of the road built for this purpose, even then, you have the other car has to pass you very carefully. One of the houses, nearly all of them have fences like this There are numerous pretty country towns in the area such as Chipping Camden, Blockley, Broad Camden, Lower Slaughter, Stow on the Wold and Boughton on the water. With the last being so busy we couldn’t find a carpark anywhere, so we just drove around and left. Parking is difficult in nearly all of the towns especially in the peak tourist season, sometimes there just isn't any. At one place there was six parking spaces just outside the town, which we luckily got one. William Shakespeare's house I was slightly disappointed in Stratford upon Avon, it’s big and very touristy with lots and lots of people. The place I wanted to stay in Chipping Campden was closed due to a family wedding so they recommended a B&B in nearby Paxford, which was only 2½ miles away. Not quite the old world charm of the area, but on the positive side it was modern and spacious. The only places to eat out are the country pubs but many close on Sundays and Mondays which made it difficult on these nights to go to places we preferred, so had to go to one place twice. the Baker's Arms - a great meal on our last night
see it clearly Learn more You may wonder if an 1891 Indian head penny is valuable. It can be, depending on its date, condition, and the demand of the market. Valuable Coins 1891 Indian Head Penny Before you find out about the 1891 Indian head penny and its value, you need some information on coins in general. When referring to coins, there are a few words you may not know. A coin is made when an engraved stamp, called a die, strikes the coin and makes an impression on it. If the die strikes more than once, then it is called a double die, or doubling. This can make those coins go up in value. The front of the coin, or the heads, is the obverse and the back, or the tails, is the reverse. There are currently four US Mints and each coin will have a mintmark according to which mint made it. “P” is for the mint in Philadelphia, which is the original US Mint. Sometimes this mint did not put a mintmark. The others are “D” for Denver, “S” for San Francisco, and “W” for West Point. West Point makes collection coins. Some of the older mintmarks are “C” for Charlotte, “CC” for Carson City, “D” for Dahlonega, and “O” for New Orleans. A missing mintmark can cause a coin to rise in value. The wrong mintmark can be used to spot a forgery. Three things can add value to a coin. First is the scarcity of it. It could have been one of a minting where few coins were made, or a double die can make it rare. Of course, older coins would naturally be scarcer so many of them are valuable. An important factor in a coin’s value is condition. Perfect, un-circulated coins fetch a high price. Lastly, demand is a lot of a coin’s monetary value. If someone really wants a coin for a collection, then the bidding may go higher than expected. About the 1891 Indian Head Penny The Indian head penny was minted between 1859 and 1909. It was replaced by the Lincoln penny after that. Today, an Indian head penny is worth between a dollar and 400 dollars. In particular, the 1891 Indian head penny is worth about $1.00. Until 1864, the pennies were composed of 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel. After that, their weight was reduced and they were made of 95 percent copper, 5 percent tin, and zinc. The obverse side of the Indian head penny has an image of Lady Liberty wearing an Indian headdress. The reverse had a wreath made of laurel and the inscription “ONE CENT” inside of the wreath. After the first year of minting, the reverse was changed. The phrase “ONE CENT” was replaced with a shield and the wreath was made of oak branches. Starting in 1864, an “L” was added to the ribbon of the headdress. This is the last initial of the designer, James Barton Longacre. Indian Head Nickels ndian head nickels, also called Buffalo nickels, were produced between 1913 and 1938. The designer was James Earle Fraser and the obverse, or front of the nickel, had an image of an Indian looking to his left. The word LIBERTY appears on the upper right side along the edge of the coin, and the date is at the bottom. The reverse has a picture of a bison, which is mistakenly called a buffalo. At the top are the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and at the bottom are the words FIVE CENTS. Some of these nickels are valuable with one being the 1937-D. On it, the bison’s right front leg is missing. A flaw in the die was being fixed and the leg was accidentally erased. It is called the three-legged buffalo nickel and is worth up to $3000 of it is un-circulated. There is a double die nickel dated 1916 that is worth about $1200. In Denver, some coins were made with the “7” being stamped over by an “8” in the date and these can fetch a price of $500.
Channels ▼ Eric Bruno Dr. Dobb's Bloggers Java SE 8 Beyond Lambdas: The Big Picture March 31, 2014 A lot has been written about JDK 8 and Lambdas, to the point where you might think nothing else really changed in this version of Java. In reality, so much has been added or improved, it's difficult to cover it all. In addition to Lambdas, which have been covered extensively, there have been changes to the way annotations are handled, array processing, VM size, garbage collection, and so much more. I've already discussed parallel array processing and Spliterators, so let's dive in and explore the rest. Java Type Annotations In the past, you could only apply annotations to declarations, such as with class and interface annotations: public class Person { or on a method: public void run() { As of Java SE 8, annotations on Java types are now allowed. For instance, you can declare a String as requiring an entry: @NonNull String name; or object creation: new @Immutable SomeObject(); or even Exception declarations: void run() throws @Error SomeThreadException{ as opposed to something indicating a less severe situation: void run() throws @Warning LatencyException { Default Methods With previous versions of Java, if you added a method to an existing interface, all implementations of that interface would need to change. This naturally makes interface changes very disruptive. With Java SE 8, you can now add default method implementations to interfaces to avoid this situation. For instance, if you have an interface such as: public interface MessageListener { public void onMessage(Message msg); You can now add a default method to avoid compiler errors in all implementing classes: public interface MessageListener { public void onMessage(Message msg); public void onTextMessage(String msg) { TextMessage txt = new TextMessage(msg); The Nashorn JavaScript Engine Since Java SE 1.6, Java has shipped with a built-in JavaScript engine called "Rhino." Prior to Java SE 7, Rhino suffered the same problem that all JVM-based languages (besides Java) suffered: poor performance. However, with the addition of the invokedynamic bytecode in Java SE 7, all of these languages (Groovy, Ruby, PHP, JavaScript, and others) were treated as first-class languages and enjoyed the benefits of JVM runtime optimizations, such as JIT compilation and zero performance penalties when calling into Java code or libraries. Taking this even further, Oracle built an entirely new, fully integrated, JavaScript engine called "Nashorn" with high performance as its primary goal. Thanks to its use of the Metaobject Protocol, JavaScript code in Nashorn can seamlessly call Java code (and vice versa) within the same JVM without any penalty. This allows you to consolidate all of your Java and JavaScript code onto one virtual machine, and leverage the same set of tools for Java development, debugging, profiling, and management. Security Enhancements Even with all of the added attention to security via the last set of Java SE 7 updates, Java SE 8 brings many of its own security enhancements to the JVM. This includes Base64 encoding via the new Base64.Encoder class, an implementation of the new Server Name Implementation (SNI) extension to the TLS/SSL protocol to indicate the hostname of the server a connection request is sent to, better checking of certificate revocation status, stronger algorithms for password-based encryption, and the addition of NSA Suite B cryptography with message digests. Oracle has published details for all of these security enhancements and more. Library Enhancements From the beginning of time (which circa 1995 for Java developers), working with date and time in Java has been troublesome. The APIs weren't thread safe, they were difficult to use and understand (that is, year starts at 1900, months start at 1, and days start at 0), and other basic concepts of time (such as time zones) are poorly handled or not supported. With Java SE 8, Oracle has attempted to address all of this with new, developer-friendly APIs, which while easier to use, also manage to maintain backward compatibility with older versions of Java. Time-based standards are now supported including ISO-8601, BCP47, and CLDR for international date and time support; there are immutable implementations for improved thread safety and concurrency; and there's a domain-driven design to improve the APIs overall. For instance, standard getter-style APIs make date/time value retrieval much more straightforward: LocalDateTime now =; LocalDate theDate = now.toLocalDate(); Month month = now.getMonth(); int day = now.getDayOfMonth(); int second = now.getSecond(); Related Reading More Insights Currently we allow the following HTML tags in comments: Single tags <br> Defines a single line break <hr> Defines a horizontal line Matching tags <a> Defines an anchor <b> Defines bold text <big> Defines big text <blockquote> Defines a long quotation <caption> Defines a table caption <cite> Defines a citation <code> Defines computer code text <em> Defines emphasized text <fieldset> Defines a border around elements in a form <h1> This is heading 1 <h2> This is heading 2 <h3> This is heading 3 <h4> This is heading 4 <h5> This is heading 5 <h6> This is heading 6 <i> Defines italic text <p> Defines a paragraph <pre> Defines preformatted text <q> Defines a short quotation <samp> Defines sample computer code text <small> Defines small text <span> Defines a section in a document <s> Defines strikethrough text <strike> Defines strikethrough text <strong> Defines strong text <sub> Defines subscripted text <sup> Defines superscripted text <u> Defines underlined text

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