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My passion is studying early man, specifically how we became who we are. Is our violence an aberration or part and parcel of survival? No other mammal kills their own, but maybe–as the alpha on the planet–our greatest threat to our survival is our own species, so we’re forced to destroy each other. What was lacking in H. Habilis that led to their extinction, to be replaced by the big-brained, scrawny Homo erectus? Habilis was preyed upon by species with bigger claws, sharper teeth and thicker skin. Habilis (and my friend Lyta) scavenged their left-overs, in between hiding from the imposing mammals that dominated the Plio-Pleistocene African savanna. But, eventually hiding wasn’t enough and H. erectus took over (we don’t know if they fought with each other or if habilis left ‘with a whimper’). H. erectus, with his longer lower limbs for running and walking efficiency, his bigger brain especially in the areas for planning and forethought (and speech depending upon whose research you’re reading) was tall, thin, and barrel-chested, hardly daunting in a world of sabertooth cats, mammoth and giant sloths. Yet , it is he who spread from Africa to China, India, the Middle East, Java. It is he–not predator cats or alligators–who developed a highly adaptable culture allowing him to survive a wide range of climates and habitats. That is the first of their firsts. Want more? - first appearance of systematic hunting. - first use of fire (though arguably no control of it) - first indication of extended childhood (thanks to the helplessness of their infants) - first indication of the ability to lead a more complex life (their Acheulian tools were sophisticated, their hunting was planned) - first to wear clothing (how else to survive Georgia and China) - first to create complex tools and weapons Their faces were short but wide and the nose projected forward, hinting at the typical human external nose. They had a pronounced brow ridge. Their cranium was long and low and somewhat flattened at the front and back. The cranial bone was thicker than earlier hominids. Remnants show damage from being hit in the head by something like clubs or heavy rocks. Their arms and legs were also robust, with thicker bones and clear evidence of being heavily muscled. The suspicion is they were a more violent species than habilis. Is that why habilis disappeared? The tougher group survived and bred offspring with their thicker, more protective skulls. You probably remember my friend Lyta is a Homo habilis (see her page). I’ve lived her life through Otto‘s ability to ‘see’ into the past. Where other primates rest when they have enough to eat, she thinks and shares information with her band. Where most mammals sleep when they aren’t hunting, playing or resting, Lyta worked–knapped tools, collected food for a cache, planned. I have come to believe that her survival depended not so much on her physique (which was sorely lacking in that physical time) as what was inside of her: her courage, ability to plan ahead, strength of her convictions, what we call ‘morals’. These are very human traits that can’t be preserved in bones and teeth. I wouldn’t know they existed if not for Otto. I’ve posted an excerpt from that research on Scribd.com (Born in a Treacherous Time). My next project is to determine how man migrated throughout the world. Where did he get the courage? Was he forced out because he couldn’t defend his territory? Or was it wanderlust? Was he a seeker, wanting more for his life? Did he get bored and need to challenge his constantly-growing brain?
Iguodala’s incredible in Bull-dozing effort gives 76ers signature victory PHILADELPHIA — If the folks who like to rank NBA teams like a college basketball poll wanted to see the 76ers raise their strength of schedule, Wednesday night they delivered. The Sixers (16-6) didn’t just beat the team with the best record in the NBA, they beat up the Bulls. And behind a massive effort in the third quarter fueled by an Andre Iguodala performance that should go on his All-Star nomination portfolio, they cruised to a 98-82 win over Chicago (18-6) at a rowdy Wells Fargo Center. Iguodala finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists, but it was the electric plays he made in the third quarter as the Sixers broke the game open by outscoring Chicago 26-11 that stood out. It included an incredible tomahawk slam and a steal followed by a behind-the-back dribble and feed that made the building shake and brought out the emotions as he led the Sixers past his hometown team. “I think he knows that I want him to be in a position to be attacking all the time,” Doug Collins said of Iguodala. “What he gives us is a bigger attack guy who can see over the defense. “When we needed him, he made that huge spurt. Those fast-break dunks are electric plays.” “I’m just trying to play a little more freely,” said Iguodala, who is making a push toward his first All-Star nod that seems more inevitable with each passing game. “I’m trying to get it to rub off on other guys. Sometimes we get too tight with leads and start worrying about things and making mistakes. We have the talent. You have to have fun out there. “It shows people I still got it. I might be getting old and hide them a little bit ... I bring it out once in a while to show I can still do it.” Iguodala also did a number on both Derrick Rose and Kyle Korver, switching between the two on defense and making them work for every look. Rose, the reigning MVP, had 18 points and six assists, but he was a minus-17 and progressively lost influence as the game progressed. The Sixers had five players score in double figures, including rookie Lavoy Allen, who had 15 points and six rebounds and is making it tough for fellow rookie Nik Vucevic to get back on the floor after his knee injury. “Nik is a good player and I haven’t even been able to get him in the last two games,” Collins said. “It’s a lot different (than last season). One of the things we knew we needed to do was improve our front line. We were probably one of the smallest teams in the league last year when we finished games with Thad (Young) and EB (Elton Brand). Now we have two young players we think are going to have great futures here.” Continued... The Sixers solved the late-game issues they had Monday night when they were on the verge of blowing out the Magic, only to see the game get uncomfortably close in the final minutes. Chicago was threatening to get the game within single digits midway through the fourth quarter, but the Sixers stayed aggressive at both ends of the court and never lost grip of their big lead. According to Iguodala, the reason why the Sixers have become so good at correcting flaws from game to game is the frankness with which teammates share their thoughts. “We have guys who aren’t afraid to throw punches at each other,” Iguodala said. “If you get lit up one night, you’ll hear about it. We take pride in shutting down our man or doing it as a team. “I tell the guys all the time I’ll ride and die with them no matter what. When things are bad, I’ll ride with them. And when things are good, I’m happy for them. “The formula is working. We just have to continue believe in each other.” Chicago 21 23 11 27—82 Philadelphia 27 22 26 23—98 Korver 4-8 0-0 9, Boozer 4-11 1-2 9, Noah 0-3 2-2 2, Rose 8-17 1-3 18, Brewer 3-8 0-0 6, Gibson 4-6 1-1 9, Asik 1-2 0-0 2, Butler 1-3 2-4 5, Watson 6-14 4-4 20, Scalabrine 1-1 0-0 2, Lucas 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 32-74 11-16 82. PHILADELPHIA (98) Continued... Iguodala 8-13 1-2 19, Brand 3-9 1-1 7, Battie 1-3 0-0 2, Holiday 8-15 0-0 17, Meeks 1-5 0-0 3, Williams 4-12 6-8 14, Allen 7-10 1-2 15, Turner 1-5 0-0 2, Young 7-12 5-6 19. Totals 40-84 14-19 98. 3-Point Goals_Chicago 7-17 (Watson 4-7, Butler 1-2, Rose 1-2, Korver 1-4, Lucas 0-1, Brewer 0-1), Philadelphia 4-11 (Iguodala 2-3, Holiday 1-1, Meeks 1-3, Williams 0-4). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Chicago 47 (Boozer 9), Philadelphia 49 (Iguodala 9). Assists_Chicago 22 (Rose 6), Philadelphia 26 (Williams 6). Total Fouls_Chicago 15, Philadelphia 14. Technicals_Philadelphia Coach Collins. A_18,325 (20,318). Philadelphia Sports By Bleacher Report Location, ST \| website.com Athletes of the Week National Sports Videos Insight, observations on the first team in professional sports to reach 10,000 losses and the latest Philly team to make the playoffs - the Philadelphia Phillies. Jack McCaffery is the lead sports columnist for the Daily Times and delcotimes.com. He has spent several decades covering everything from the Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and Sixers, to college hoops, to high school sports in Delco. Bob Grotz blogs about the Philadelphia Eagles. Terry Toohey has the colleges covered. Laura Nachman covers everything about televison, from American Idol to sweeps. The SB Nation blog about the Philadelphia Phillies. The SB Nation blog about the Philadelphia Eagles. The SB Nation blog about the Philadelphia Flyers. The SB Nation blog about the 76ers. Top Sports Stories - New Penn State coach O'Brien lauds recruits sticking with Nittany Lions - Temple, Addazio snare 27 new recruits - Iguodala’s incredible in Bull-dozing effort gives 76ers signature victory - Briere, van Riemsdyk making little headway - Ali's legendary trainer Angelo Dundee dies at 90 - Big 5: Temple's Moore, Wyatt too much for Fordham - COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Haverford in record territory behind big effort by Pizzuto
\|Duration : 08 Nights / 09 Days Destinations Covered: Delhi- Jaipur- Agra-Varanasi-Delhi Day 01 - Arrival in New Delhi On arrival at Delhi airport or railway station, our representative will meet you to pick you up and transfer to your hotel. Rest of the day is at your leisure. Stay overnight at the hotel in Delhi. Day 02 - Delhi City Tour This morning after breakfast first you will visit old Delhi. The Raj Ghat, Red fort & Jama Masjid are important places to visit, you may also visit Chandni Chowk, spice market etc. Later on proceed to visit the New Delhi. The Qutub Minar, tallest stone tower in India, imposing India Gate and the Rastrapathi Bhawan, Laxmi Narayan Temple, Lotus Temple and, newly built Akshardham temple are of much significance. By evening return to your hotel for overnight stay. Day 03 - Delhi to Jaipur This morning after breakfast you will drive to the pink city of Jaipur, On arrival check into your hotel and rest of the day is at leisure. Stay overnight at hotel in Jaipur. Day 04 - Jaipur City Tour This morning after breakfast visit the Amber fort, built in 16th century, enjoy an elephant ride at Amber. Drive past the Hawa Mahal-a Palace of winds. In the afternoon you will visit the city palace and museum, walk to adjacent Jantar Mantar an astronomical observatory. Rest of the evening is at leisure. Stay overnight at hotel in Jaipur. Day 05 - Jaipur to Agra This morning after breakfast you will drive to Mughal city Agra and check into your hotel. Enroute you will visit the Fatehpur Sikri, the deserted red sandstone city built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Rest of the day is free at your leisure. Overnight at hotel. Day 06 - Agra-Visit to Tajmahal & Overnight train to Vasranasi This Morning after breakfast visit the Agra fort, built by the great Emperor Akbar, and the famous Taj Mahal-the symbol of love, built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. You may also visit Dayal Bagh. By evening you will be transferred to board the train to Varanasi. Overnight in Train. Day 07 - Varanasi City Tour On arrival at Varanasi, pick up and transfer to Hotel. This afternoon visit the Bharat Mata Temple, Durga temple, Tulsi Manas mandir, Banaras Hindu University which has an art gallery, Kashi Vishwanath Temple etc. Overnight at Hotel. Day 08 - Boat Ride & visit to Sarnath Early morning boat excursion on the holy river Ganges to see the bathing ghats and cremation site. Watching people bathing and worshipping at the ghats is one of the most extraordinary experiences of a visit to India. This afternoon visit Sarnath, the Buddhist city, where Lord Buddha gave his first sermon. Visit the ruins, the stupa, the Buddhist temple and the museum. Return to hotel for overnight stay. Day 09 - Varanasi to Delhi by Flight & Transfer to International Airport Today you will be transferred to Airport to take a flight to Delhi. On arrival at Delhi Airport assistance in transferring to International Airport to board your onward flight.
In support of President Obama, Charlotte to host an impressive line-up of musical acts including Foo Fighters, Mary J. Blige, James Taylor, Marc Anthony and Earth, Wind and Fire CHARLOTTE, Aug. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following last week's announcement of iconic North Carolina artists, today the Democratic National Convention Committee announced the full line-up of performers set to take the stage at Time Warner Cable Arena and Bank of America Stadium next week. "This roster of performances only adds to the excitement building in Charlotte for the historic week ahead of us," said 2012 Democratic National Convention Chair Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "The tens of thousands who will attend Convention events in person, and all those tuning in across the country, should be ready for quite a show." The schedule of performances at the 2012 Democratic National Convention: Thursday, September 6 (Bank of America Stadium) Mary J. Blige Earth, Wind and Fire Inspire the Fire Marc Anthony (national anthem) Wednesday, September 5 (Time Warner Cable Arena) Branford Marsalis (national anthem) Tuesday, September 4 (Time Warner Cable Arena) Amber Riley (national anthem)
Joomla is known for its easy and intuitive management and administration. However, for the installation of the script you need to provide yourself first with a web hosting service optimized to support your (Joomla site. After that, all you need to do is, download the Joomla installation archive from the Internet (http://joomla.org) and unpack it in your Joomla-optimized hosting account. Open your website's URL and the Joomla Installer will begin the installation process asking you to provide some additional information about your database, e-mail and website. After few simple steps your Joomla installation will be complete and you will be redirected to the Joomla administration panel. Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 July 2008 12:56 ) What is Joomla and what is its purpose? Written by Administrator Wednesday, 14 July 2004 11:00 Joomla is one of the most popular and feature-loaded open-source content management systems (CMSs). It allows you to create, within minutes, diversely designed content-rich websites without any programming skills or web design knowledge! Joomla was designed to provide an advanced and secure environment for developing all kinds of web sites. You can easily combine the thousands of modules offered for Joomla and integrate a Blog, Forum, Gallery or Shopping Cart into your website, as well as create a uniquely designed corporate or business portal. With Joomla you can also have an easily utilizable template system with layout, color and other variables for template customization. All our templates are ready-to-use with your Joomla script, and the installation is automatically done by the in-built Joomla Template Installer. In order to add any of our Joomla 1.5.x templates to your website, you need to just follow the few simple steps below: First install a fresh copy of Joomla 1.5.x or update you current Joomla 1.5.x installation to the latest version available (Joomla 1.5.1 or later is recommended) . Then choose a template from our site and download it to your computer. Next, login to your Joomla's Administration panel as admin. Locate the 'Extensions' menu on the top and choose the 'Install/Uninstall' option. In the 'Extension Manager' page, please locate the 'Upload Package File' section and browse to the folder where you have downloaded the template. Then click on the “Upload File < Install” button and wait until Joomla installs your new template. Once the template is successfully installed, please select the 'Template Manager' tab from the 'Extensions' menu. In the 'Template Manager' page, please check the checkbox next to your new template and click on the ‘Default’ button in order to set it as default for your website.
Washington, D.C. – Jon Summers, spokesman for Nevada Senator Harry Reid, released the following statement today: “With today’s GDP numbers showing that our economy is continuing to recover, it’s a shame that Republicans are wasting time with their losing war on health care instead of working with Democrats to create jobs and strengthen the middle class. While Democrats are focused on jobs, Republicans are pushing extreme, ideological plans to fire at least one million workers, explode our deficit by $1 trillion, and end Social Security and Medicare. Republicans should stop playing to their base with political stunts, and start working with Democrats to create jobs, invest in what makes us stronger and cut what doesn’t.” January 27, 2011 Minutes after the Senate passed a modest rules reform package, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday the next items on his chamber’s agenda will be bills targeting job creation. ??Reid told reporters that he would try that evening to get the ball rolling on a Federal Aviation Administration bill or a “small business innovation bill that would also create jobs.” ?? “We still recognize that our number one issue is jobs,” he said. “We cannot have a robust economy, we cannot do anything about balancing the budget, when we have 15 million people out of work.” ?? Senate Republicans have made it clear what they would like their next major bill to be a vote to repeal the health care overhaul law passed last year. Reid has previously stated that it is unlikely a repeal bill will come to the floor, and he said Thursday that if Republicans want to try to force a vote, he will not have any part of it. ?? “I know the procedures of the Senate, and if the Republicans want to do all those things to people and increase the debt over the next 18 years by about $2 trillion, let them do it, but I’m not going to be part of it,” he said.
New OVERDRIVE album “Angelmaker” in 2011 Yes folks the classic Swedish metal band of the 80′s is back with a vengeance! The new OVERDRIVE album is recorded and finished and will be released this month. After 2008’s self explanatory “Let The Metal Do The Talking”, Swedish [melodic Metal exponents] OVERDRIVE deliver the most pulsating album of their career with the pedal to the metal bombast of “Angelmaker”. This new album sees the band pummel the listener with their heaviest release yet. All 12 tracks will make any self-respecting Metal fan throw the “horns” in appreciation. MUSICIANS: Per “PerilOz” Karlsson: Vocals, acoustic guitars Janne Stark: Guitars, bass Kjell Jacobsson: Guitars Kenth Ericsson: Bass Kenta Svensson: Drums 01. Signs All Over 02. In Gut We Trust 04. I Know There’s Something Going On 05. Under The Influence 06. On With The Action 07. See The Light 08. To Grow 09. Mother Earth 10. It’s A Thriller 11. Cold Blood Chaser 12. The Wavebreaker Given their pedigree and reputation it’s no surprise to hear OVERDRIVE enter the third decade of their career hitting new heights with “Angelmaker” —a slice of traditional Metal as good as you will hear in 2011! OFFICIAL WEB LINKS www.overdrive.se This entry was posted on January 12, 2011 by Demolish Magazine Online. It was filed under Demolish Issue #1 and was tagged with acoustic guitars Janne Stark: Guitars, bass Kjell Jacobsson: Guitars Kenth Ericsson: Bass Kenta Svensson: Drums, Demolish A.D., Demolish Fanzine, Demolish Magazine, Demolish Metal Network, entertainment, Heavy Metal, Lion Records, metal 2011, metal albums 2011, metal music, Music, Music News, New OVERDRIVE album "Angelmaker", OVERDRIVE - Angelmaker, Per “PerilOz” Karlsson: Vocals.
As almost everybody would have figured out by now, the preceding posts were part of "My Elves Are Different"'s Blog Like It's the End of the World event, and, of course, entirely fictional. I hadn't really tried my hand at anything fictional, and figured that it'd be an interesting exercise. I wanted to simultaneously keep the broad analytical scope that I try to employ when writing this blog, while applying it to a (relatively) plausible fictional setting. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Most people, of course, acknowledged that they were just playing. I thought I'd do something a little bit more straightforward, so that someone just dropping by might actually wonder whether or not this is serious. Get some of that Orson Welles action going on. Tomorrow, I'll be dropping a quick "this is fictional" note into each entry, just so that individual posts aren't confusing, and I've put the "zombie" label on each of them. I figured if anything prompted me to finally start using post labels, a zombie apocalypse would. Thanks to MEAD for a great event and an interesting challenge.
\|The Colorado Lawyer\| Vol. 42, No. 2 [Page 5] © 2013 The Colorado Lawyer and Colorado Bar Association. All Rights Reserved. All material from The Colorado Lawyer provided via this World Wide Web server is copyrighted by the Colorado Bar Association. Before accessing any specific article, click here for disclaimer information. In and Around the Bar CBA President's Message to Members Work and Life—I Choose Both by Mark A. Fogg It’s Christmas Eve. I need to get this article written so that I make the deadline for the February issue of The Colorado Lawyer. If truth be known, I would rather not work today. The kids are coming over soon and we are all leaving for Mass at the Jesuit Retreat House in Sedalia in a few hours. Why didn’t I write this sooner? There are too many other things going on. My wife is going to be upset with me. But this isn’t really work, is it? Still, I promised myself that I would try to write meaningful articles during my term as CBA President. I made a commitment and I don’t want to let anyone down. Sound familiar? It seems we lawyers are always struggling to find the time to get something done. On top of this, we impose a somewhat artificial work–life balance requirement that we must somehow achieve. The reality is that there is not a clear demarcation between work and life and that we can only develop our individual strategies to be productive—yet sane—lawyers. In this article, I will describe some of the strategies I have used to try to stay sane, as well as strategies that other lawyers told me they use during times of great demands and stress on the job. I spent six years in the Denver District Attorney’s Office, twenty-six years in private practice as a trial lawyer, and a little more than a year now as a general counsel, so I understand how stressful our profession can be. I also want to talk about a pilot program the CBA is developing with the Colorado Lawyer Assistance Program (COLAP), under the leadership of COLAP Executive Director Barbara Ezyk. COLAP is designed to help lawyers develop skill sets to address stressful issues in our lives. It is here to help us—not only with problems such as addiction, stress and anger management, and mental health issues, but also with law office or law practice management matters, financial issues, and problems associated with aging in the profession. The fact is that lawyers have become the professionals with the highest clinical diagnosis of depression. We need to stop being so hard on ourselves. Also, there are skill sets we can learn to balance work and life that can make our personal lives happier and our professional lives more productive. I also should note that The Colorado Lawyer has been publishing a very good series of articles called "A Dialogue Between Generations."1 The series is coordinated by Ron Sandgrund and deals with a host of topics relevant to attorneys. The January article was on the very topic of work–life balance. I encourage you to read this excellent exchange2 and share your comments. Time Spent Flows From My Choices I remind myself often that I can always choose how to spend my time. If I can be honest that something is important for me to accomplish, I try not to feel guilty about doing it, even though it takes me away from important relationships and other activities. We want to get the best results for our clients under the circumstances, we don’t want to let our partners down, and we have income expectations (sometimes not so healthy). A private practice lawyer’s personal purgatory is that, even though he or she is so busy and can’t see straight, there also is an incessant worry about where the next case is coming from. We have to accept many such realities in our practice. We also must acknowledge that it is important for us to excel at everything we do and then try to explain it to our loved ones so they understand. By the same token, when we put in fifteen-hour days for several weeks on end, perhaps we have to acknowledge that we are in fact choosing our practice over our loved ones for that period of time. When and if it no longer is viewed as a choice and becomes our way of life, we lose all sense of perspective. I try not to kid myself that sitting in my office on a Saturday night getting ready for a trial surrounded by pictures of my family substitutes for my spending time with them. It’s All About Relationships There is no one-size-fits-all approach to integrating our important relationships into our professional lifestyle. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a lawyer and assisting clients, but I adore being a father. A good friend of mine, Rich Caschette (now his Honor), recommended early on that I spend at least one full day a week with my kids, which was usually Saturdays. I succeeded in doing this almost every week during their youth. I remember those golden Saturday afternoons when I would quietly tell God that He (She?) could freeze-frame life at that moment because it couldn’t possibly get any better. Early on in my kids’ lives, another lawyer recommended that I take a trip every year with each one of my three children. I started taking the trips when they were 4 years old and continued taking a week-long trip with each of them annually through college. They called them "dad and me" trips. It was one of the best things I ever did, because it was just me and the one child doing whatever we wanted to do together—and it fit my lifestyle, given my passion for traveling. The key was not to give in to the temptation of skipping a trip or rescheduling, which often was very difficult. In so doing, I would have been setting an unfulfilled expectation that I just would feel guilty about. Of course, taking the time for the trips was made easier because I married one of the nicest, most understanding people on the planet. Pat also was instrumental in developing my practice. When I was at the height of doing business development during my first ten years of private practice, she and I would go out with a client almost every Friday night. To this day, clients I met twenty-five years ago like her more than they do me (a fact to which everyone seems to readily agree when I mention it). It was a comfortable thing for us to do together. Again, this approach is not for everybody, but it definitely was something that fit our lifestyle and still allowed us to spend time together. The Art of Delegation Trying to learn how to practice law initially is like trying to catch a runaway freight train. It is equally hard to learn how to effectively delegate. However, those lawyers who don’t develop delegation skill sets are usually among the most miserable in our profession. There are several things I have found to be helpful. For example, whenever I have a large case, a big project, or an important obligation, I make it a point to find a strong, reliable co-chair. By doing so, I can accept the fact that there are times when I just cannot be at a proceeding or finish a project myself. We attorneys have to be willing to let go of some control—if for no other reason than it relieves a lot of stress. We also have to be willing to concede that, even though we think we can do an "A" job at a deposition, for example, that assessment may not be totally accurate when there are time constraints or other pressures. It’s altogether possible that another lawyer with more time can do a superior job. Many associate attorneys would like to be able to connect on at least a semi-regular basis with an experienced attorney to discuss their career options. With this in mind, about once a week, at his or her request, I meet with a young lawyer who wants to discuss career-related matters with an experienced (a.k.a. old) lawyer. From these discussions, I have come to realize that there are striking differences in how partners and shareholders delegate to associates. One of the biggest complaints I hear is that the associates work on only pieces of a case and feel they have no understanding of the case as a whole. Consequently, they do not believe they are developing as lawyers. Sometimes, this can’t be avoided, given the size and breadth of a case; however, improved communication with associates at the firm and increased delegation of work can go a long way toward making them feel part of the team and help to fine-tune their practice skills. With today’s job market, lawyers don’t always have the luxury of choosing—let alone figuring out—a firm’s work culture before taking a job. However, in speaking with young lawyers considering job offers, two of the first three things they tell me about the prospective job are the necessary minimum billable hours and the bonus structure. They usually mention these things before they talk about the type of work they will do or with whom they will work. This often gives me pause and makes me wonder whether we established lawyers are introducing new lawyers to the practice of law in the best way possible. Frankly, I am opposed to minimum billable hours—not because I don’t think lawyers should work hard, but because I believe imposing minimum billable hours makes lawyers mediocre. Instead of focusing on the best result for the client and the hours that flow from that, all too often the focus is on the billable hour as an end in itself. There may be several years that a lawyer works well beyond the minimum because the work itself demands it; there also should be years that are less demanding. It appears that younger generations of attorneys may be resisting these high minimum billable hours. Perhaps we workaholic baby boomers can learn from that. Find Your Zen The importance of exercise in reducing stress can’t be overstated. It’s also important to find those activities that "make time melt away" while keeping your thoughts about cases or legal issues to a minimum. Many lawyers extol the virtues of yoga or meditation. Although I kid a lot about my fly fishing addiction, that "feeling of Zen" is exactly what I gain when I’m out in the water. I can spend three hours trying to catch one rising fish without thinking about anything else. Dealing With Digitalization During my local bar visits, I ask participants what they think professionally and culturally are the biggest impacts on our profession and its core values. Without exception, our digitalized culture is mentioned among the top three things, and almost always in the context of increased stress on lawyers. The one- or two-day turnaround time for getting back to clients is reduced to hours; contact between lawyers is increasingly depersonalized; and everyone is overloaded with information. Some of the strategies lawyers recommend to deal with the stress created by digital immediacy are: Starting with the first meeting with a client, establish boundaries and expectations for how and when you can be contacted and the turnaround time for your response. When receiving a non-emergency e-mail request for something, acknowledge the e-mail and advise the sender of a realistic time frame for completing the request. Develop an increased sensitivity about nonproductive e-mail exchanges, and pick up the phone and call the other lawyer. Always put potentially "unfriendly" e-mails in draft form and reflect on them before sending. When geographically feasible, go out of your way to personally introduce yourself to an attorney you do not know to help facilitate future discussions on a case or project. COLAP Can Be a Lifeline COLAP was established in June 2011 pursuant to the Colorado Supreme Court’s adoption of Rule 254 establishing a confidential assistance program for judges, lawyers, and law students. In addition to the assistance set forth in its Mission Statement,3 COLAP can refer to career or financial advisors and to therapists, and has a number of mentor volunteers to assist on many issues. COLAP also emphasizes education on recognizing the signs and symptoms of a fellow lawyer who is struggling, so as to help with early intervention. The CBA is working hard to get the word out about COLAP. If you or a colleague needs assistance, or if you would like more information about the program, please contact Barbara Ezyk at email@example.com, (303) 986-3345, or (855) 208-1168 (toll free). Visit COLAP online at www.coloradolap.org to find information about COLAP’s one-hour ethics program for all types of groups. A New Pilot Program The CBA and COLAP are partnering on a new pilot program, "Becoming a Sane and Productive Lawyer in 2013—A Monthly Series for Professional Wellness." This program will consist of a series of ninety-minute seminars. The first program that is being evaluated will take place in Denver and will comprise approximately twenty-five participants who will discuss many issues related to sustaining a healthy, successful career. Among the seminar subjects are: Healthy Mind, Healthy Body; Coping With the Digital Fire Hose; Meditation—It’s Not Just for the Yoga-Minded; The Billable-Hour Treadmill; Avoiding the Hidden Traps of a Busy Practice; and Resiliency—Balancing Work and Life. The CBA and COLAP also will evaluate, based on response to the Denver program, whether it should be offered on a statewide basis. Strive for Balance Finding a healthy balance of work and life doesn’t happen overnight. It can mean a lifetime of trial and error, learning from our mistakes, and seeking counsel from people we trust. It’s important to accept that professional decisions made in our day-to-day practice may have an impact on our personal lives—and vice versa. I suggest that the choice is not between work or life, but how we choose to integrate our interests, relationships, and work in our professional life. We can help each other by suggesting strategies and teaching skill sets. We are interested in hearing your strategies for achieving balance in your life. Join the ongoing discussion among lawyers and judges. Send your comments to Ron Sandgrund at firstname.lastname@example.org. 1. "A Dialogue Between Generations" is a seven-part series beginning in November 2012 and continuing monthly through May 2013. It is available online at www.cobar.org/tcl. 2. Sandgrund, "A Dialogue Between Generations—Work–Life Balance," 42 The Colorado Lawyer 65 (Jan. 2013), available at www.cobar.org/tcl/tcl_articles.cfm?articleid=7925. 3. COLAP’s Mission Statement reads as follows: The mission of the Colorado Lawyers Assistance Program is to protect the interests of clients, litigants and the general public by educating the bench, bar and law schools regarding the causes of and remedies for impairments affecting members of the legal profession, and to provide confidential assistance to lawyers, judges and law students who suffer from physical or mental disabilities or other impairments that affect their ability to be productive members of the profession. © 2013 The Colorado Lawyer and Colorado Bar Association. All Rights Reserved. Material from The Colorado Lawyer provided via this World Wide Web server is protected by the copyright laws of the United States and may not be reproduced in any way or medium without permission. This material also is subject to the disclaimers at http://www.cobar.org/tcl/disclaimer.cfm?year=2013.
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Filed under: Obit Don Kirchoffner died on Thursday following a three-year battle with cancer. He was 68. The Barr-Milton Watershed Association has named Philosophy Communication as its agency of record. The nonprofit hired Philosophy to create a campaign that addresses water issues for a clean water awareness and public education outreach project. Recently BMWA received a two-year grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to develop public education messaging about clean water.
information provided by: the DRCOG Area Agency on Aging Legal Shield is a company that offers legal help for people on limited incomes. Legal Shield handles ALL areas of law. They are able to work in all 50 states so multi-jurisdiction issues are welcome also. As part of our program, you get unlimited access to the attorneys on all matters. You get unlimited letters written on your behalf. You get unlimited contracts reviewed (so you never sign anything without YOUR attorney looking at it). You also get a Will, Living Will, and Medical Power of Attorney. Anyone who has legal needs $17/month On a month to month basis Call for our application or fill out online. credit card, debit card, or bank draft Record last updated: Dec 6 2011 2:17PM
Blaga, C.I. and Reichart, G.J. and Vissers, E.W. and Lotter, A.F. and Anselmetti, F.S. and Damsté Sinninghe, J.S. (2011) Seasonal changes in glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether concentrations and fluxes in a perialpine lake: Implications for the use of the TEX86 and BIT proxies. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 75, 6416-6428. ISSN 0016-7037. \|PDF - Published Version \| Restricted to KNAW only Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2011.08.016 To determine where and when glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) membrane lipids in lakes are produced, we collected descending particles in Lake Lucerne (Switzerland) using two sediment traps (at 42 and 72 m water depth) with a monthly resolution from January 2008 to late March 2009. Suspended particulate matter (SPM) was monthly filtered from the water column at three different depths. The potential application of GDGTs in palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstructions was investigated by comparing core lipids and their relative GDGT distribution, with lake water temperatures throughout the year. Fluxes of GDGTs and their concentrations in the water column vary according to a seasonal pattern, showing a similar trend in the SPM and sediment traps. Fluxes and concentrations of isoprenoid GDGTs increase with depth, maximum values being observed in the deeper part of the water column, indicating production of isoprenoid GDGTs by Thaumarchaeota in the deep (similar to 50 m), aphotic zone of Lake Lucerne. The flux-weighted averages of the proxies TEX(86) (0.27) and BIT (0.03) based on the total extracted GDGTs are similar at both trap depths. A sediment core from the same location showed that in the first few centimetres of the core TEX(86) and BIT values of 0.29 and 0.07, respectively, are similar to those recorded for descending particles and SPM, indicating that the sedimentary TEX(86) records the annual mean temperature of deeper waters in Lake Lucerne. TEX(86) values are slightly higher below 20 cm in the core. This offset is interpreted to be caused by the present-day trophic state of the lake, which probably resulted in a deeper niche of the Thaumarchaeota. Branched GDGTs represent only a minor fraction of the total GDGTs in the lake and their origin remains unclear. Our data reveal that GDGTs in lakes have a large potential for palaeoclimatic studies but indicate that knowledge of the system is important for accurate interpretation. \|Institutes:\|\|Nederlands Instituut voor Ecologie (NIOO)\| \|Deposited On:\|\|24 Nov 2011 01:00\| \|Last Modified:\|\|24 Apr 2012 16:40\| Repository Staff Only: item control page
Filters: First Letter Of Title is O [Clear All Filters] Optimization of the In-Silico-Designed Kemp Eliminase KE70 by Computational Design and Directed Evolution. Journal of molecular biology. 407(3), 391-412.(2011). An orientation-dependent hydrogen bonding potential improves prediction of specificity and structure for proteins and protein-protein complexes. Journal of molecular biology. 326(4), 1239-59.(2003).
The dough for these cookies is decidedly decadent, with a triple threat of chocolate using melted bittersweet, cocoa powder and stocky pieces of semisweet. The recipe didn't call for any, but I did add a splash of vanilla to the dough while mixing - it also didn't specify sweet or tart cherries. We went tart since that's what we have - I'd suggest the same if you make them, although I don't think it would be that big of a deal if you went sweet. You should note in the recipe that I don't suggest preheating the oven before you begin the process - once the dough is combined, it will need a good half hour or more rest in the refrigerator to firm up, leaving you plenty of time to warm the oven. There's no point in having it blasting away when it won't be working (especially when its already way over 90 degrees outside!). When you pull the cookies out from the oven, don't try to transfer them off the baking sheet for at least 4 or 5 minutes as they are delicate when they are hot. The directions did state to move them after a minute or two, which I did, only to see the sad cookie fall apart through the cooling rack! After leaving the rest to sit for a good 5 minutes before going near them, they held together as one would expect. Close to brownie-like, these thick cookies are dense, moist and chewy, with chunky pieces of tart cherries and an abundance of those semisweet chocolate drops in each one. The baking time is important since you won't want to over-bake these for the best texture (moist vs dried out) - if you're not comfortable with the "until the edges are firm" is as far as doneness, let me suggest baking a test cookie or two to nail down the time before loading up a full tray. If you touch the edge of the cookie it should be firm, but it shouldn't look like it is darkening more than the rest. The tops will be shiny and look set, but if you were to stick a toothpick in the center, it will look damp and underdone - this is what you want! As noted above, the cookies will finish cooking through the residual heat of the pan before moving them to the wire rack to cool. Black Forest Cookies
A nice side scrolling site with a modular format containing several boxes of content displayed on a dark background. There is a nice fusion here of typography and photography and several small examples of good design that lend to the whole. Join the community as a Design Shack member, and you'll be able to: Copyright © Compact Creative Ltd 2013 Home / Gallery / Articles / About / Membership
Frozen in Time - Terracotta Warrior One of Qin Shi Huangdi's Terracotta Warriors. Thousands of slightly larger than life-size warriors have been unearthed near the tomb of the First Emperor of China. Archeologists are painstakingly piecing these warriors together. The site, near Xian, China, is a fascinating place to visit.
Midwest Family History Expo and truly enjoyed myself. This conference did not disappoint when it came to engaging and educational workshop sessions. I left with a 266 page syllabus, pages and pages of notes and am excited to put what I learned into practice. I liked the conference theme "Where Ol' Dogs Learn New Tricks!" We can all fall into that category no matter where we are in the leaning process. No matter how long we've been researching, you don't know what you don't know. That's the beauty of the Family History Expo, we can learn from the speakers as well as from the other attendees and move our research along while feeding off each others energy and passion for genealogy. The highlight of the expo for me was meeting and learning from Lisa Louise Cooke. I've been a faithful listener of the Genealogy Gems Podcast for several years and was looking forward to soaking up all the gems in person. She did not disappoint. From the Google search strategies, to map searches to creating a family history tour in Google Earth I was hooked. I am looking forward to getting started on recording my own family history tour and sharing it with the non-genealogists in my family. I do need to brush up on some of the techniques she shared with us and I think I have just the reference guide to help me! (it's even signed by the author!)
Father’s Day is fast approaching. But don’t fret; CBS Local did the browsing for you. Find dad-friendly gifts for any budget. The Digital Bookmobile National Tour will showcase the free eBook and audiobook download services from public libraries in the Detroit area on June 15, 16, 18, 19 and 20. A new study finds children are far more open to the emerging concept of e-books than their parents. - The Reunion Project – Friday Fun (5/17) May 17, 2013 - Trey Burke Talks Fab Five, Detroit Pistons With Ryan Wooley May 13, 2013 - Leach’s Lists: Three Keys For The Red Wings To Win Game 7 May 11, 2013 - Cedar Point’s GateKeeper Is A Real Crowd Pleaser May 11, 2013
Posted by Paul Tate on May 6, 2013 MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – May 6, 2013 – The Manufacturing Leadership Council, a global business network for senior industrial executives, today announced the election of Dana S. Deasy, group chief information officer and group vice president, information technology and services at BP, to the Manufacturing Leadership Board of Governors. In a unanimous vote, the Board of Governors, which steers the Manufacturing Leadership Council and its global community of more than 5,300 industry executives, approved Deasy’s nomination earlier this month. With his appointment, the Board of Governor’s ranks expand to 17 members, who hail from organizations such as Ford Motor Company, Lockheed Martin, Dell, Cisco Systems, UCLA, MIT, L’Oreal, the University of Cambridge, and GlaxoSmithKline. “The world around us is moving rapidly in terms of new technology and trends,” said Deasy. “It is critical for executives to work together and create a way forward that embraces the changing world. I believe the Leadership Board is key in enabling this for the manufacturing industry and I am honored to become a member of the Manufacturing Leadership Board.” Posted by Jeff Moad May 17, 2013 Posted by Paul Tate May 15, 2013 Posted by Jeff Moad May 15, 2013 Posted by Paul Tate May 06, 2013 Posted by David Brousell Apr 29, 2013 Posted by Paul Tate on May 10, 2013 Posted by Paul Tate on May 01, 2013 Posted by Jeff Moad on Apr 01, 2013 Posted by Paul Tate on Mar 28, 2013 Posted by Paul Tate on Mar 15, 2013 Posted by ML Admin on Mar 12, 2013
It occurred to me recently that my experience as a Rails developer may be somewhat unique. I often get brought in to help preexisting Ruby/Rails projects evolve and mature in a sustainable way. As a result, the vast majority of Ruby projects I’ve worked on have been well-established by the time I arrived. In fact, offhand I can only think of one commercial greenfield Ruby project I’ve participated in. All the rest have been “legacy” from my perspective, in the sense that there was a sizable codebase in production before I showed up. (I’m not counting personal and internal projects.) I’ve realized that in this my experience may be somewhat unusual among Ruby and Rails developers. With its fast churn and startup-heavy community, a lot of Rubyists are working on projects that they started recently. My work is more in the codebases where the original programmers have moved on. Rails’ dirty secret In the days before I got paid to write Ruby, I worked on some legacy codebases that had histories spanning multiple decades and 100s of KLOCs. That’s a lot of opportunity for bad code to accumulate; and in some cases, the accumulations were impressive. But here’s the dirty little secret of Rails development: the messiest, nastiest big-ball-of-mud code I have seen in my entire career has been in Ruby on Rails projects. I’ve seen Rails projects that accumulated enough technical debt and waste in two years to make 10 year-old C/C++ programs look clean and elegant by comparison. And it wasn’t just one project. I’ve seen it over and over. In a way I think this is a testament to the power of the platform. If you’re getting a 500 error in a Rails app, you can keep adding kludge after kludge and hitting “reload” until it works. No need to ever write a test or refactor. In languages and frameworks with a slower turnaround time, this kind of tweak-it-till-it-works workflow is simply impractical. Ruby on Rails has an impressively low barrier to fiddling. Unfortunately, as a result a lot of projects I come to on have hit what I think of as the productivity crash. At some point the cumulative effect of all those little shortcuts catches up with the development team, and changes that would once have taken a day start taking two weeks as all the dependencies and unintended consequences are sorted out. As a somewhat ranty aside: this is also the point where, often, original members of the team start moving on to bigger and better things. Meanwhile the crew that inherited the codebase is left to field questions from management about why they can’t seem to push out changes nearly as fast as the old team. The new team is confronted with the problem of getting the codebase under better test coverage and a little more modularized before they can ramp velocity back up; thus perpetuating the notion among the business types that testing and refactoring just slows things down. And/or that the original team were some kind of wizards. Okay, rant over. But Rails is different! Rails developers are sometimes accused of being arrogant and judgmental. I’m not sure how true this is; I don’t see it all that much, but maybe I’m too close to the community and/or arrogant and judgemental myself to be a fair observer. What I do see is a kind of “Rails exceptionalism”. Remember back in the first dot-com boom, when some economists were saying that no, this time it was different, the Internet had changed the game this time the markets would just keep going up and up? The phenomenon I see is similar in spirit. it’s a belief, perhaps not fully conscious, that Ruby on Rails development is somehow different, and not subject to the forces affecting other software projects. Here are a few examples, just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about: - “Design Patterns are a Java thing. In Ruby you just write code.” - “The warnings Ruby produces are dumb; just disable them.” - “Sure they aren’t technically Unit Tests, but isolating objects turned out to be kind of hard and besides nobody else is doing it.” - “Monkeypatching is frowned on in other languages, but in Ruby it’s fine. The downsides almost never materialize.” - “Stuff like the Law of Demeter isn’t really as important in Ruby code” - “Dividing methods into private and public is for control freaks, you don’t need it in Ruby” - “That’s only a code smell when it’s in Java code” - “That’s only a problem in large projects” (implying that this project will never become large). I also see a fair amount of project or subsystem-level exceptionalism: “I know they say classes shouldn’t be this big, but for this class it just makes sense for all of that stuff to be in one place”. Welcome to Lilliput The truth is, Ruby on Rails projects are exceptional in a way: they are really small. In James Gray’s terrific keynote at Lone Star Ruby Conf this past week, he mentioned “huge projects” of 40+ KLOC. That gave me a smile, because the first two Rails projects I was ever paid to work on were 50KLOC and 70KLOC, respectively. And while that may seem like a lot of code, that’s small by industry standards. There are a few reasons for this. Ruby is a more expressive language than, say, Java, so to some degree Rails projects will always be smaller than equivalent projects in higher-ceremony languages. It’s also possible that Rails programmers have embraced the wisdom of breaking systems many, small, intercommunicating apps. I’d like to believe this, but experience suggests this strategy has seen only spotty uptake. No, I think the biggest reason for the diminutive nature of Rails apps is also the most obvious: they are all pretty young. It’s a young framework, and there’s a lot of churn in this community. A Rails app that lasts three years is ancient. I think it’s safe to say that this situation won’t last. We’re going to see larger and larger codebases. And here’s a not-very-daring prediction: a lot of projects are going to hit the very same architectural roadblocks that Lisp, Smalltalk, Pascal, C++, and Java projects hit before them. You are not a special snowflake It’s funny reading programming literature from the 80s. Dynamic, object-oriented systems navigating the transition from “small” to “medium-sized”. Sound familiar? Every revolutionary believes his revolution is special, and won’t devolve into the partisan bickering and venal bureaucracy that the last revolution led to. And it’s easy to believe at first. Everyone’s excited and eager to help; the problems are relatively small; and the marketing drones haven’t latched onto the movement yet. The truth is, the problem you are solving probably isn’t as special as you think it is. And those byzantine patterns you thought were a relic of a bygone age were invented by people using languages surprisingly similar to Ruby. Relax. I’m not here to tell you that the last few years were all just a lovely dream, and you’re really still strapped to a chair in the Ministry of UML. Ruby is still a wonderful language, and the terrific thing about it is that it adapts to large-system design patterns remarkably easily, and with very little ceremony. Dependency Injection? It’s a one-liner. Object delegation and composition? Piece of cake. Contrary to misconceptions, Ruby doesn’t obviate solid design patterns and SOLID principles; what it does is make them very easy to express. In fact, the ease of expressing robust architectural styles was what attracted some of us early-adopters to the language in the first place. Just please, do me a favor: before you tell me that Ruby and Rails doesn’t need any of this discipline, have a chat with the guy or gal who is still maintaining the first Rails app you worked on.
Welcome to the new AXL Developer Experience! Our portal has been redesigned with new content, How To’s, FAQs, Video learning, sample code, on-line documentation and more. Our AXL Versioning policy has been updated to provide greater backward compatibility and flexibility between releases. UCM 10.0(1) will not support any AXL 7.x schemas. Please read the new policy. Read the AXL Versioning Policy Update and learn how to Upgrade Your Application to support the 9.1 AXL schema by following these steps: http://developer.cisco.com/web/axl-developer/upgrade-to-a-new-axl-schema Get Ready – You must upgrade your AXL Application as we deprecate the 7.x schemas in Unified CM 10.0(1)! The AXL Interface Team AXL 9.0 supports change notification for users, devices and lines. Read More about how to use AXL Notifications in your application. Full documentation for the notifications feature will be added to the XML Developer guide in a future update. The Unified Communications 9.0 Partner Bundle packages Cisco’s Collaboration application software for our Collaboration partner community to leverage for their internal lab or demonstration systems. The 9.0 version is now available for order. Learn More >> Cisco announces the availability of our 2012 Developer Partner presentations shared at CiscoLive San Diego. Please log into the Cisco Developer Network using your Partner UserID to download this content. Access these presentations here: http://developer.cisco.com/web/cdc/devforumpreso PARTNER LOGIN REQUIRED If you are having trouble accessing the slides and you are a current Technology Partner, please send an email to the CDN Help Desk at email@example.com Erick Burgess, Product Manager Showing 1 - 5 of 22 results.
Some help for a new game developer? Posted 13 February 2013 - 11:25 AM 1) My framerate is quite low on reasonable hardware, what tasks usually cause this? 2) How can I make animations look smooth without an enormous framerate? 3) Diagonal motion looks terrible, how can I improve it? 4) I am not accustom to debugging real-time full-screen applications, break points don't seem to help, what will? 5) Double buffering is really confusing, I have to have multiple set of coordinents for the position of moving objects on each buffer and draw everything twice, is there an easier way to do double buffering? 6) Any tips and tricks that would help me in game development. I will appreciate any help that you can provide me with on any of these questions. Thanks! Posted 13 February 2013 - 12:46 PM Try a different engine, theres a really good 2d engine that goes really quick called torque 2d and it goes with a programming language that edits with torsion, to control behaviours, i learnt it in school. its made by garage games, goto www.garagegames.com that should fix all your problems. 1) something going wrong. 2) you need framerate for animation 4) torque is really really good for debugging 5) torque handles double buffering for you 6) youll have to learn c# to code with torque, but dont worry its pretty similar to basic anyway. Posted 13 February 2013 - 12:59 PM 1. There are numerous reasons this could be happening. i) Are you CPU bound? If your CPU cannot preform logic fast enough, then your frame rates will drop. Solution? Batch polygons for rendering rather that loop through and render each individual polygon. Partition your scene and render only the pieces that are visible. Check for collision only with the pieces that are visible, and in some cases perform on AI on the monsters that are visible (or extend the visible range so AI kicks in before they show up on screen). ii) Are you GPU bound? If your GPU is struggling with fillrate, to many polygons, expensive shader effects? This could all lead to poor frame rate. Solution? Analyse your GPU code and try to optimize it where possible. Minimize your poly count and/or texture resolution (or use texture compression), avoid to many layers (fillrate issue), render front to back with opaque geometry and back to front with translucent objects. Make sure you're using vertex buffer objects for efficient rendering. 2. Use programming for animation whenever possible. Skeletal animations is widely used as is key frame animation. If you are using 2D sprite sheets (atlases), you may need to do some extra work. Some sprites may be able to use a skeletal animation system, but you would have to partition your characters into pieces so that you can apply bones to them. This has limited capability, but can work for some scenarios. 3. Why do they look terrible? 4. IMO, try to get accustomed to real-time debugging. Don't debug in fullscreen either, debug in window. Your next alternative is a good logging system. 5. You don't render twice. The backend will copy your back buffer (where you are rendering graphics) into the front buffer before being displayed. This smooths out the rendering of the front buffer, which otherwise would have rendered even if you were still working on it and would introduce that nasty frame tear/blinking effect. 6. Keep up to date on technology and programming designs and techniques. Find out how other people do things because you might learn something new that will help with your own developments and productivity. Posted 13 February 2013 - 02:05 PM Posted 14 February 2013 - 09:36 PM By the way I looked up the Torque2D engine and I found it was available free on github, however I'm not sure how to build it, there's no instructions included and I can't seem to find any online documentation. Can you have a look into it? 2) I've used programming for 100% of the game so far. I've just started the game so I have a static sprite, I could make an animated on but it would be tricky. 3) I'm not sure, moving in multiple directs looks a bit jumpy with only moving in one is smooth. Perhaps I could try moving the character by less on horizontals? 4) I created a flag in my variables section to make the application windowed. That makes it more like I'm used to. 5) Yes, but I still need to keep track of where I draw my character so I can replace the background on that buffer. What else can I do? 6) I've upgraded through VisualBASIC versions in the past, but I'm hesitant to switch to completely different technologies. 1 user(s) are reading this topic 0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users
Interview with real life developers Posted 09 July 2003 - 08:08 AM You can find them on :: Maybe someone from dev master can get some excerpts up and maybe ask some revelvant questions. EDIT oops maybe a time and date would be good ;> also devmaster not the other Gdev d'oh :P It will take place wednesday 9th (today) 11 am PST, that is 7 pm GMT and 8 pm CET Use mIRC to connect Posted 09 July 2003 - 02:21 PM if i'm not there i'll idle in the channel and safe a log for devmaster Posted 09 July 2003 - 04:58 PM Getting a log would be fantastic. I'll try to be there. Posted 09 July 2003 - 06:37 PM 1 user(s) are reading this topic 0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users
View Full Version : view too close? anyone else feel the view is too close? Hopefully you can zoom farther back than that. Judging from the view in the final bossfight of the gameplay video I think it seems like the view will adapt to what needs to be on screen or something. Or its just zoomed out more there. In any case I think it looks like you'll be able to see quite enough. Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.0 Copyright © 2013 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
I've noticed this happen a few times (the last just just 5 minutes ago). I've cleared out the Zombie garden, waiting for the lively ones to get back up and killed them again. I've finished Pindleskin and his gang, and am rearranging my inventory to pick up his drops. Suddenly, my life drops to about an eigth, then I die with the message "*** was slain by pindleskin". I wasn't poisened, and upon retrieving my corpse it is clear that there was absolutely nothing alive there at all. Anybody else experienced anything similar? I remember reading about a bug before, where the death explosions from fire and cold enchantments would re-trigger every time a dead unique reanimated horde (read: pindle type zombie) tries to get back up.
We have been aware of its programme for many years. We also had the pleasure of them sending us “A message from the heart,” a massive tome on Avatar- as if to say do not mess with us. That was over ten years ago when we had a number of cases in Co. Clare where it was bad news for families and marriages. Very much into selfism without reference to marriage, family or paying off your visa every month! A therapist wrote to us a few weeks ago about Avatar. “Well, I had a friend ask me about ‘Avatar’ courses that he was thinking of doing and I had a search on the internet for them. I assume you know about them, but they seem to be an offshoot of Scientology and there is a woman in Dublin called Jenny Brady….promoting their courses here. She is an ‘Avatar Master’ \|Dublin Ireland 8 Join me at one of the International Avatar Courses in Europe or the USA. Reach me at the number above for information and registration. I also deliver Section I, the Resurfacing workshop, monthly in Ireland and would be delighted to meet you there! \|Dave Bolger\|\|Dublin, Ireland\|\|087 2755959\| He seems to have been in contact with someone from Belfast…I can get the name if you want. This is what I sent to my friend: I did a search for ‘avatar’ on the net and the first thing I noticed was how many sites they have all over the world, there are pages of sites that are all pointing back to them. No independent sites were returned to me for at least 7 pages. This means they are doing a lot of advertising and have a lot of money behind them. Also the avatar course is ‘registered copyright’ which automatically makes me a bit suspicious. I then did a search on Star Edge and the following sites were returned: Also it seems that there is a background of Scientology which is very suspect and dangerous. The fact that everything about the course materials is secret is also suspect. It looks like Harry Palmer has re-dressed the Scientology method and re-marketed it.” This site is by Rick Ross a man dedicated to publishing info on cultist organisations on the net and you can read more here. Here is their site: ”After reading this I would certainly not recommend that you do their courses, the ‘free’ courses are possibly designed to lure you into further courses as in Scientology’s personality test. My advise would be to stay away! Your friend has probably been unduly influenced and is part if a multi level sales scam.”
Before I jump into Treato.com for cymbalta reviews, I have to share this photo with all of you. Latest photo of my two loves. They are growing really fast. Hans is now 5 months old and Cate is now 1 year and 9 months old. It feels like it was just yesterday when I conceived them! I got sentimental sometimes seeing my babies do independent things stuff like going off the bed and reaching their toys with out asking me to do it for them. Awwww… I am so proud of these two. I am happy that they are mine.
To be frank, I'm fair frazzled after days of picking through pages and pages of eye-watering, tax-funded, nuclear-tipped banality that is the modern day public sector 'invitation to tender'. Bank holiday Monday was spent drafting a Business Continuity Management Plan as ordered by Labour's Civil Contingency Act 2004, whilst the past two days have consisted of compiling method statements (as required under EU tendering directives) comprising in the region of 9,000 words of suffocatingly-absurd public sector office-speak. I'm about a quarter of the way through. Local authority staff may well talk of 'positive procurement strategies' and 'service satisfaction milestones' while buying cod and mushy peas from the chippy, but it's a vocabulary which is hard to learn for the rest of us who usually add to the economy rather that drain it. I'm also off to Prague again on Friday for another vital reminder of what lifestyle freedom actually looks like. As such, apart from a much-needed blogroll update (something I hope to get around to tomorrow), and Saturday's link tank which is forming rather quickly this week, there won't be a lot posted here till Monday ... so those of you with a mischievous streak, please play nice in the comments while the place is unattended. No porn (unless it's excellent), Before that, though, I'd just like to point out that Anne Milton is possibly the most deranged person ever to have sailed under the Tory banner. Yep, fresh from hiding cardboard boxes for the good of the nation, she has come up with another corker from the Ministry of Crappy Ideas. Cars could be banned from residential roads to allow children to play out in the street, a heath minister has suggested.Because there's nothing better than encouraging kids to feel safe when running out into a road without looking, now is there? During a debate in Westminster Hall, Mrs Milton said: "On Sundays, they close certain streets so that everybody can play in them. That is an outstanding idea." Previously in the 'what could possibly go wrong' category.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. 1590s, anomy, "disregard of law," from Gk. a-, privative prefix, "without" + nomos "law" (see numismatics). The modern use, with Fr. spelling (from Durkheim's "Suicide," 1897), is first attested in English 1933 and means "absence of accepted social values."
\|reference frame (rěf'ər-əns) Pronunciation Key A basis of a four-dimensional coordinate system in which the first coordinate is understood as a time coordinate, while the other three coordinates represent spatial dimensions. Inertial frames and non-inertial frames are both examples of reference frames. Also called frame of reference. See also General Relativity, space-time, Special Relativity. \|a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.\| \|a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.\|
tumor marker n. A substance, released into the circulation by tumor tissue, whose detection in the serum indicates the presence of a specific type of tumor. \|an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.\| \|a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.\| Dictionary.com presents 366 FAQs, incorporating some of the frequently asked questions from the past with newer queries.
Dictionary and translator for handheld New : sensagent is now available on your handheld A windows (pop-into) of information (full-content of Sensagent) triggered by double-clicking any word on your webpage. Give contextual explanation and translation from your sites ! With a SensagentBox, visitors to your site can access reliable information on over 5 million pages provided by Sensagent.com. Choose the design that fits your site. Improve your site content Add new content to your site from Sensagent by XML. Crawl products or adds Get XML access to reach the best products. Index images and define metadata Get XML access to fix the meaning of your metadata. Please, email us to describe your idea. Lettris is a curious tetris-clone game where all the bricks have the same square shape but different content. Each square carries a letter. To make squares disappear and save space for other squares you have to assemble English words (left, right, up, down) from the falling squares. Boggle gives you 3 minutes to find as many words (3 letters or more) as you can in a grid of 16 letters. You can also try the grid of 16 letters. Letters must be adjacent and longer words score better. See if you can get into the grid Hall of Fame ! Change the target language to find translations. Tips: browse the semantic fields (see From ideas to words) in two languages to learn more. 1.the language of educated people in ancient Rome"Latin is a language as dead as dead can be. It killed the ancient Romans--and now it's killing me" classical Latin (n.) Latin inscription in the Colosseum \|Spoken in\|\|Roman republic, Roman empire\| \|Region\|\|mare nostrum (Mediterranean)\| \|Era\|\|75 BC to the 3rd century AD, when it developed into Late Latin\| \|Writing system\|\|Latin alphabet\| \|Official language in\|\|Roman republic, Roman empire\| \|Regulated by\|\|Schools of grammar and rhetoric\| The range of Latin, 60 AD Classical Latin in simplest terms is the socio-linguistic register of the Latin language regarded by the enfranchised and empowered populations of the late Roman republic and the Roman empire as good Latin. Most writers during this time made use of it. Any unabridged Latin dictionary informs moderns that Marcus Tullius Cicero and his contemporaries of the late republic while using lingua Latina and sermo Latinus to mean the Latin language as opposed to the Greek or other languages, and sermo vulgaris or sermo vulgi to refer to the vernacular of the uneducated masses, regarded the speech they valued most and in which they wrote as Latinitas, "Latinity", with the implication of good. Sometimes it is called sermo familiaris, "speech of the good families", sermo urbanus, "speech of the city" or rarely sermo nobilis, "noble speech", but mainly besides Latinitas it was Latine (adverb), "in good Latin", or Latinius (comparative degree of adjective), "good Latin." Latinitas was spoken as well as written. Moreover, it was the language taught by the schools. Prescriptive rules therefore applied to it, and where a special subject was concerned, such as poetry or rhetoric, additional rules applied as well. Now that the spoken Latinitas has become extinct (in favor of various other registers later in date) the rules of the, for the most part, polished (politus) texts may give the appearance of an artificial language, but Latinitas was a form of sermo, or spoken language and as such retains a spontaneity. No authors are noted for the type of rigidity evidenced by stylized art, except possibly the repetitious abbreviations and stock phrases of inscriptions. Good Latin in philology is "classical" Latin literature. The term refers to the canonicity of works of literature written in Latin in the late Roman republic and the early to middle Roman empire: "that is to say, that of belonging to an exclusive group of authors (or works) that were considered to be emblematic of a certain genre." The term classicus (masculine plural classici) was devised by the Romans themselves to translate Greek ἐγκριθέντες (egkrithentes), "select", referring to authors who wrote in Greek that were considered model. Before then, classis, in addition to being a naval fleet, was a social class in one of the diachronic divisions of Roman society according to property ownership by the Roman constitution. The word is a transliteration of Greek κλῆσις (klēsis) "calling", used to rank army draftees by property from first to fifth class. Classicus is anything primae classis, "first class", such as the authors of the polished works of Latinitas, or sermo urbanus. It had nuances of the certified and the authentic: testis classicus, "reliable witness." It was in this sense that Marcus Cornelius Fronto (an African-Roman lawyer and language teacher) in the 2nd century AD used scriptores classici, "first-class" or "reliable authors" whose works could be relied upon as model of good Latin. This is the first known reference, possibly innovated at this time, to classical applied to authors by virtue of the authentic language of their works. In imitation of the Greek grammarians, the Roman ones, such as Quintilian, drew up lists termed indices or ordines on the model of the Greek lists, termed pinakes, considered classical: the recepti scriptores, "select writers." Aulus Gellius includes many authors, such as Plautus, who are currently considered writers of Old Latin and not strictly in the period of classical Latin. The classical Romans distinguished Old Latin as prisca Latinitas and not sermo vulgaris. Each author (and work) in the Roman lists was considered equivalent to one in the Greek; for example Ennius was the Latin Homer, the Aeneid was a new Iliad, and so on. The lists of classical authors were as far as the Roman grammarians went in developing a philology. The topic remained at that point while interest in the classici scriptores declined in the medieval period as the best Latin yielded to medieval Latin, somewhat less than the best by classical standards. The Renaissance brought a revival of interest in restoring as much of Roman culture as could be restored and with it the return of the concept of classic, "the best." Thomas Sebillet in 1548 (Art Poétique) referred to "les bons et classiques poètes françois", meaning Jean de Meun and Alain Chartier, which was the first modern application of the word. According to Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, the term classical, from classicus, entered modern English in 1599, some 50 years after its re-introduction on the continent. Governor William Bradford in 1648 referred to synods of a separatist church as "classical meetings" in his Dialogue, a report of a meeting between New-England-born "young men" and "ancient men" from Holland and England. In 1715 Laurence Echard's Classical Geographical Dictionary was published. In 1736 Robert Ainsworth's Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Compendarius turned English words and expressions into "proper and classical Latin." In 1768 David Ruhnken (Critical History of the Greek Orators) recast the mold of the view of the classical by applying the word canon to the pinakes of orators, after the Biblical canon or list of authentic books of the Bible. Ruhnken had a kind of secular catechism in mind. In 1870 Wilhelm Sigismund Teuffel in Geschichte der Römischen Literatur (A History of Roman Literature) innovated the definitive philological classification of classical Latin based on the metaphoric uses of the ancient myth of the Ages of Man, a practice then universally current: a Golden Age and a Silver Age of classical Latin were to be presumed. The practice and Teuffel's classification, with modifications, are still in use. His work was translated into English as soon as published in German by Wilhelm Wagner, who corresponded with Teuffel. Wagner published the English translation in 1873. Teuffel divides the chronology of classical Latin authors into several periods according to political events, rather than by style. Regarding the style of the literary Latin of those periods he had but few comments. Teuffel was to go on with other editions of his history, but meanwhile it had come out in English almost as soon as it did in German and found immediate favorable reception. In 1877 Charles Thomas Cruttwell produced the first English work along the same lines. In his Preface he refers to "Teuffel's admirable history, without which many chapters in the present work could not have attained completeness" and also gives credit to Wagner. Cruttwell adopts the same periods with minor differences; however, where Teuffel's work is mainly historical, Cruttwell's work contains detailed analyses of style. Nevertheless like Teuffel he encounters the same problem of trying to summarize the voluminous detail in a way that captures in brief the gist of a few phases of writing styles. Like Teuffel, he has trouble finding a name for the first of the three periods (the current Old Latin phase), calling it mainly "from Livius to Sulla." The language, he says, is "…marked by immaturity of art and language, by a vigorous but ill-disciplined imitation of Greek poetical models, and in prose by a dry sententiousness of style, gradually giving way to a clear and fluent strength…" These abstracts have little meaning to those not well-versed in Latin literature. In fact, Cruttwell admits "The ancients, indeed, saw a difference between Ennius, Pacuvius, and Accius, but it may be questioned whether the advance would be perceptible by us." Some of Cruttwell's ideas have become stock in Latin philology for better or for worse. While praising the application of rules to classical Latin, most intensely in the Golden Age, he says "In gaining accuracy, however, classical Latin suffered a grievous loss. It became cultivated as distinct from a natural language… Spontaneity, therefore, became impossible and soon invention also ceased… In a certain sense, therefore, Latin was studied as a dead language, while it was still a living." These views are certainly debatable; one might ask how the upper classes of late 16th century Britain, who shared the Renaissance zealousness for the classics, managed to speak spontaneous Latin to each other officially and unofficially after being taught classical Latin by tutors hired for the purpose. Latinitas in the Golden Age was in fact sermo familiaris, the spoken Latin of the Roman upper classes, who sent their children to school to learn it. The debate continues. A second problem is the appropriateness of Teuffel's scheme to the concept of classical Latin, which Teuffel does not discuss. Cruttwell addresses the problem, however, altering the concept of the classical. As the best Latin is defined as golden Latin, the second of the three periods, the other two periods considered classical are left hanging. While on the one hand assigning to Old Latin the term pre-classical and by implication the term post-classical (or post-Augustan) to silver Latin Cruttwell realizes that this construct is not according to ancient usage and asserts "…the epithet classical is by many restricted to the authors who wrote in it [golden Latin]. It is best, however, not to narrow unnecessarily the sphere of classicity; to exclude Terence on the one hand or Tacitus and Pliny on the other, would savour of artificial restriction rather than that of a natural classification." (This from a scholar who had just been complaining that golden Latin was not a natural language.) The contradiction remains; Terence is and is not a classical author depending on context. After defining a "First Period" of inscriptional Latin and the literature of the earliest known authors and fragments, to which he assigns no definitive name (he does use the term "Old Roman" at one point), Teuffel presents "the second period", his major, "das goldene Zeitalter der römischen Literatur", the Golden Age of Roman Literature, dated 671 – 767 AUC or 83 BC – 14 AD according to his time reckoning, between the dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and the death of the emperor Augustus. Of it Wagner translating Teuffel writes The golden age of the Roman literature is that period in which the climax was reached in the perfection of form, and in most respects also in the methodical treatment of the subject-matters. It may be subdivided between the generations, in the first of which (the Ciceronian Age) prose culminated, while poetry was principally developed in the Augustan Age. The Ciceronian Age was dated 671–711 AUC (83 BC – 43 BC), ending just after the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar, and the Augustan 711–67 AUC (43 BC – 14 AD), ending with the death of Augustus. The Ciceronian Age is further divided by the consulship of Cicero in 691 AUC or 63 BC into a first and second half. Authors are assigned to these periods by years of principal achievements. The Golden Age had already made an appearance in German philology but in a less systematic way. In Bielfeld's 1770 Elements of universal erudition the author says (in translation): "The Second Age of Latin began about the time of Caesar [his ages are different from Teuffel's], and ended with Tiberius. This is what is called the Augustan Age, which was perhaps of all others the most brilliant, a period at which it should seem as if the greatest men, and the immortal authors, had met together upon the earth, in order to write the Latin language in its utmost purity and perfection." and of Tacitus "…his conceits and sententious style is not that of the golden age…". Teuffel evidently received the ideas of a golden and silver Latin from an existing tradition and embedded them in a new system, transforming them as he thought best. In Cruttwell's introduction, the Golden Age is dated 80 BC – 14 AD ("from Cicero to Ovid"), which is about the same as Teuffel's. Of this "Second Period" Cruttwell says that it "represents the highest excellence in prose and poetry," paraphrasing Teuffel. The Ciceronian Age is now "the Republican Period" and is dated 80–42 BC through the Battle of Philippi. Later in the book Cruttwell omits Teuffel's first half of the Ciceronian and starts the Golden Age at Cicero's consulship of 63 BC, an error perpetuated into Cruttwell's second edition as well. He must mean 80 BC as he includes Varro in Golden Latin. Teuffel's Augustan Age is Cruttwell's Augustan Epoch, 42 BC – 14 AD. The literary histories list all authors canonical to the Ciceronian Age even though their works may be fragmentary or may not have survived at all. With the exception of a few major writers, such as Cicero, Caesar, Lucretius and Catullus, ancient accounts of Republican literature are glowing accounts of jurists and orators who wrote prolifically but who now can't be read because their works have been lost, or analyses of language and style that appear insightful but can't be verified because there are no surviving instances. In that sense the pages of literary history are peopled with shadows: Aquilius Gallus, Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, Lucius Licinius Lucullus and many others who left a reputation but no readable works; they are to be presumed in the Golden Age by their associations. A list of some canonical authors of the period, whose works have survived in whole or in part (typically in part, some only short fragments) is as follows: The Golden Age is divided by the assassination of Julius Caesar. In the wars that followed the Republican generation of literary men was lost, as most of them had taken the losing side; Marcus Tullius Cicero was beheaded in the street as he enquired from his litter what the disturbance was. They were replaced by a new generation that had grown up and been educated under the old and were now to make their mark under the watchful eye of the new emperor. As the demand for great orators was more or less over, the talent shifted emphasis to poetry. Other than the historian Livy, the most remarkable writers of the period were the poets Vergil, Horace, and Ovid. Although Augustus evidenced some toleration to republican sympathizers, he exiled Ovid, and imperial tolerance ended with the continuance of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. Augustan writers include: In his second volume, on the Imperial Period, Teuffel initiated a slight alteration in approach, making it clearer that his terms applied to the Latin and not just to the age, and also changing his dating scheme from years AUC to modern. Although he introduces das silberne Zeitalter der römischen Literatur, "the Silver Age of Roman Literature", 14–117 AD, from the death of Augustus to the death of Trajan, he also mentions regarding a section of a work by Seneca the Elder a wenig Einfluss der silbernen Latinität, a "slight influence of silver Latin." It is clear that he had shifted in thought from golden and silver ages to golden and silver Latin, and not just Latin, but Latinitas, which must at this point be interpreted as classical Latin. He may have been influenced in that regard by one of his sources, E. Opitz, who in 1852 had published a title specimen lexilogiae argenteae latinitatis, mentioning silver Latinity. Although Teuffel's First Period was equivalent to Old Latin and his Second Period was equal to the Golden Age, his Third Period, die römische Kaiserheit, encompasses both the Silver Age and the centuries now termed Late Latin, in which the forms seemed to break loose from their foundation and float freely; that is, literary men appeared uncertain as to what "good Latin" should mean. The last of the Classical Latin is the Silver Latin. The Silver Age is the first of the Imperial Period and is divided into die Zeit der julischen Dynastie, 14–68; die Zeit der flavischen Dynastie, 69–96; and die Zeit des Nerva und Trajan, 96–117. Subsequently Teuffel goes over to a century scheme: 2nd, 3rd, etc., through 6th. His later editions (which came out in the rest of the late 19th century) divide the Imperial Age into parts: the 1st century (Silver Age), the 2nd century: Hadrian and the Antonines and the 3rd through the 6th Centuries. Of the Silver Age proper, pointing out that anything like freedom of speech had vanished with Tiberius, Teuffel says …the continual apprehension in which men lived caused a restless versatility… Simple or natural composition was considered insipid; the aim of language was to be brilliant… Hence it was dressed up with abundant tinsel of epigrams, rhetorical figures and poetical terms… Mannerism supplanted style, and bombastic pathos took the place of quiet power. The content of new literary works was continually proscribed by the emperor (by executing or exiling the author), who also played the role of literary man (typically badly). The talent therefore went into a repertory of new and dazzling mannerisms, which Teuffel calls "utter unreality." Crutwell picks up this theme: The foremost of these [characteristics] is unreality, arising from the extinction of freedom… Hence arose a declamatory tone, which strove by frigid and almost hyterical exaggeration to make up for the healthy stimulus afforded by daily contact with affairs. The vein of artificial rhetoric, antithesis and epigram… owes its origin to this forced contentment with an uncongenial sphere. With the decay of freedom, taste sank… In Crutwell's view (which had not been expressed by Teuffel), Silver Latin was a "rank, weed-grown garden", a "decline." Cruttwell had already decried what he saw as a loss of spontaneity in Golden Latin. That Teuffel should regard the Silver Age as a loss of natural language and therefore of spontaneity, implying that the Golden Age had it, is passed without comment. Instead, Tiberius brought about a "sudden collapse of letters." The idea of a decline had been dominant in English society since Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Once again, Cruttwell evidences some unease with his stock pronouncements: "The Natural History of Pliny shows how much remained to be done in fields of great interest." The idea of Pliny as a model is not consistent with any sort of decline; moreover, Pliny did his best work under emperors at least as tolerant as Augustus had been. To include some of the best writings of the Silver Age, Cruttwell found he had to extend the period through the death of Marcus Aurelius, 180 AD. The philosophic prose of that good emperor was in no way compatible with either Teuffel's view of unnatural language or Cruttwell's depiction of a decline. Having created these constructs, the two philologists found they could not entirely justify them; apparently, in the worst implications of their views, there was no classical Latin by the ancient definition at all and some of the very best writing of any period in world history was a stilted and degenerate unnatural language. Writers of the Silver Age include the following. Of the additional century granted by Cruttwell and others of his point of view to Silver Latin but not by Teuffel the latter says "The second century was a happy period for the Roman State, the happiest indeed during the whole Empire… But in the world of letters the lassitude and enervation, which told of Rome's decline, became unmistakeable… its forte is in imitation." Teuffel, however, excepts the jurists; others find other "exceptions," recasting Teuffels's view. The style of language refers to repeatable features of speech that are somewhat less general than the fundamental characteristics of the language. The latter give it a unity allowing it to be referenced under a single name. Thus Old Latin, Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin, etc., are not considered different languages, but are all referenced under the name of Latin. This is an ancient practice continued by moderns rather than a philological innovation of recent times. That Latin had case endings is a fundamental feature of the language. Whether a given form of speech prefers to use prepositions such as ad, ex, de for "to", "from" and "of" rather than simple case endings is a matter of style. Latin has a large number of styles. Each and every author has a style, which typically allows his prose or poetry to be identified by experienced Latinists. The problem of comparative literature has been to group styles finding similarities by period, in which case one may speak of Old Latin, Silver Latin, Late Latin as styles or a phase of styles. The ancient authors themselves first defined style by recognizing different kinds of sermo, or "speech." In making the value judgement that classical Latin was "first class" and that it was better to write with Latinitas they were themselves selecting the literary and upper-class language of the city as a standard style and all sermo that differed from it was a different style; thus in rhetoric Cicero was able to define sublime, intermediate and low styles (within classical Latin) and St. Augustine to recommend the low style for sermons (from sermo). Style therefore is to be defined by differences in speech from a standard. Teuffel defined that standard as Golden Latin.
Dictionary and translator for handheld New : sensagent is now available on your handheld A windows (pop-into) of information (full-content of Sensagent) triggered by double-clicking any word on your webpage. Give contextual explanation and translation from your sites ! With a SensagentBox, visitors to your site can access reliable information on over 5 million pages provided by Sensagent.com. Choose the design that fits your site. Improve your site content Add new content to your site from Sensagent by XML. Crawl products or adds Get XML access to reach the best products. Index images and define metadata Get XML access to fix the meaning of your metadata. Please, email us to describe your idea. Lettris is a curious tetris-clone game where all the bricks have the same square shape but different content. Each square carries a letter. To make squares disappear and save space for other squares you have to assemble English words (left, right, up, down) from the falling squares. Boggle gives you 3 minutes to find as many words (3 letters or more) as you can in a grid of 16 letters. You can also try the grid of 16 letters. Letters must be adjacent and longer words score better. See if you can get into the grid Hall of Fame ! Change the target language to find translations. Tips: browse the semantic fields (see From ideas to words) in two languages to learn more. \|Type\|\|Proprietary limited joint venture\| \|Founded\|\|22 October 1995\| \|Headquarters\|\|Macquarie Park, New South Wales, Australia\| \|Key people\|\|Richard Freudenstein, CEO Bruce Akhurst, Chairman \|Products\|\|Direct Broadcast Satellite \|Revenue\|\|A$2 billion (2009-10)\| \|Profit\|\|A$206 million (2009-10)\| News Corporation (25%) Consolidated Media Holdings (25%) Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation. Foxtel's shareholders comprise Telstra (50%, through Telstra Media Pty Ltd) and joint venture company Sky Cable Pty Ltd that is owned by News Corporation (25%) and Consolidated Media Holdings (25%). It shares many features with the Sky Digital service in the United Kingdom, including iQ, the electronic program guide, a similar remote control, and Red Button Active. Foxtel grew rapidly in 2007, with most of Foxtel's highest-ever rating events being broadcast that year, including the 2007 AFC Asian Cup quarter-final between Australia and Japan, which drew an average of 419,000 viewers, an Australian pay television record at that time. This ratings record has since been eclipsed, most recently by the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-final between the Wallabies and the All Blacks, which saw an average of 734,000 viewers watch the match on Fox Sports on 16 October 2011. In 1995 a venture between News Corporation (in particular 20th Century Fox Media) and Telstra took place whereby Telstra would transmit a TV signal through its coaxial network and News Corporation would be the basis for offering channel negotiations and connections. Foxtel was formed (Fox - being News Corporation Fox; and Tel - being Telstra). In October 1995, Foxtel commenced a 20 channel service, delivered over the Telstra Hybrid Fibre Coaxial network. In May 1998, Australis Media, the owner of a satellite television service known as Galaxy, was declared insolvent. In June 1998 Foxtel was able to significantly boost its customer base by acquiring Galaxy subscribers from the liquidator of Australis Media and immediately commenced supplying programming to Galaxy's subscribers on an interim basis. In February 1999 Foxtel began offering its own satellite service to new customers. On 11 July 2011, Austar announced that "it had entered into definitive transaction agreements with Liberty Global, Inc. (LGI) and FOXTEL Management Pty Limited (FOXTEL) under which FOXTEL will acquire AUSTAR by a series of transactions including a scheme of arrangement (Scheme)." This takeover involved a minority shareholder approval on 30 March 2012, the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on 10 April 2012, and has had approval from a Second Court Hearing. The Austar shares have been suspended on the ASX as of 16 April 2012, and were delisted from the ASX on 27 April 2012. The takeover was completed on the 24 May 2012. Foxtel transmits its cable service via Telstra hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) cable into the Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth metropolitan areas, along with the Gold Coast. Foxtel also transmits its satellite service into these cities as well as the state of Western Australia and the cities of Newcastle, Geelong, Central Coast, and Canberra. However, satellite service is not supplied to user sites where Telstra HFC cable is available. Foxtel on Mobile launched on Telstra's Next G Network in late 2006 and is now available within Telstra Next G (HSDPA/850 MHz) coverage areas, which covers 99% of the population. Telstra's network and Foxtel were created to combat the threat posed to Telstra's local call business by the combination of Optus Vision (now known as Optus TV) content bundling with Optus' local telephony services; Foxtel was the content arm of Telstra's defence strategy, while Telstra's multimedia broadband network was originally the sole delivery system. In 2002, Foxtel and Optus Television agreed to a content-sharing arrangement. Programming competition between the two companies has now dissipated. Austar, a regional pay television operator, also carries most Foxtel programming. Austar sells satellite-delivered services to regional Australian markets that are not serviced by Foxtel. As of 2011[update], Foxtel is Australia's largest pay television operator, with programming available to over 70% of Australian homes, and delivered to over 1.65 million, either directly or by Foxtel's wholesale customers. In April 2008, Foxtel's penetration into Australian homes passed 30%. This penetration rate is significantly lower compared with market penetration rates in the US (over 85%) and in Western Europe (over 55%). This is due to the fact that Australian pay-TV fees are significantly more expensive and pay-TV began delivering its service much later in Australia than in the US. Foxtel announced its maiden annual profit in 2006, more than 10 years after it commenced services. The installation and maintenance of Foxtel services is Telstra's responsibility. In many markets Telstra has outsourced installation and maintenance to large communications contractors, including ABB Communications and Siemens-Thiess Communications Joint Venture. In 2007, Network Ten formed an agreement with Foxtel to allow them to carry a digital version of Ten's programming. Included in the deal is electronic program guide data, which allows Foxtel iQ users to schedule recordings on Ten. Before the agreement, Ten was carried in an analogue format on cable only. In 2008, Seven Network finally entered an agreement to allow Foxtel to carry its SD signal In 2008 the first Pay TV package comparison site YouCompare.com.au/PayTV was launched to allow Foxtel packages and pricing to be compared to SelecTV, however this service was ceased along with the ceasing of SelecTVs service in late 2010. On 15 November 2009 Foxtel released an additional 25 channels to satellite and cable subscribers, consisting of high definition channels, movie and theme channels, and several new time-shifted channels. As part of the release, Seven began broadcasting to satellite subscribers in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. On 20 May 2010, Foxtel and Microsoft announced a new partnership offering Australians a brand new way of receiving Foxtel – over the internet and direct to television sets through Xbox 360’s online service Xbox LIVE. The service launched November 2010 with 30+ linear TV channels and an additional 12 Video-on-demand channels. It also provided Foxtel's movie service, known as Foxtel onDemand, to non-subscribers for the first time on a pay-per-view basis. Further linear channels were added in April 2011 with the addition of 7 Telstra BigPond channels. In June 2011, Foxtel launched an over-the-top service on Telstra's IPTV set top box called Foxtel on T-Box carrying the same services as the Foxtel on Xbox service. Also as of June 2011, Foxtel's subscribers numbered just over 1.65 million. Although originally launching in 1995 with just a cable service, Foxtel has branched out into many new services since its inception. Foxtel launched its digital service (Foxtel Digital) in March 2004. The service is loosely based on another of News Corporation's subscription providers, BSkyB. Features of the digital service include: Like many other News Corporation-owned digital platforms, Foxtel uses NDS Group encryption system, electronic program guide and digital video recorder services, the OpenTV interactive platform, and primarily runs on Pace Micro Technology set-top boxes. Foxtel's satellite service transmits exclusively from the Optus C1 satellite on a frequency of 12.438 GHz and adjacent frequencies, as well as the Optus D3 satellite (November 2009). The Telstra hybrid fibre-coaxial cable carries Foxtel at frequencies of approximately 560 MHz (downstream) and 2.4 MHz (upstream). As of April 2007, all Foxtel subscribers are using the digital set-up, making Foxtel Digital synonymous with the standard Foxtel service. Foxtel announced their High Definition service originally called Foxtel HD+ on 30 January 2008, and became officially available on 19 May 2008. The service offers fifteen channels in High Definition, Fox Sports 1HD, Fox Sports 2HD, Fox Sports 3HD, ESPN HD, UKTV HD, FOX8 HD, W HD, Movie One HD, STARPICS 1 & 2 HD, showtime premiere HD, showtime action HD, showcase HD Discovery HD and National Geographic Channel HD, as well as Foxtel Box Office HD and a retransmission of the free-to-air networks' high definition channels (ABC News 24, SBS HD, 7mate, GEM and One) to cable customers. On 1 October 2009, Foxtel launched an online download service which allows all cable and satellite customers to access Foxtel content via their computer. The service is free for customers, who can download programs from channels within their subscription package. There is currently one live streaming channel, ESPN3, while the remainder of the service provides episodes of programs from 38 channels. Then CEO Kim Williams highlighted that Foxtel planned to expand its live streaming channel range later in the year to coincide with the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the launch of thirty new channels for Foxtel Digital and HD. This service has been the source of great controversy as there was no support for Linux, Mac or any 64 bit Windows Operating Systems, leaving many users unable to install the client. Foxtel On Demand is a service offered by Foxtel to iQ subscribers that allows people to watch selected shows and movies whenever they want. Foxtel On Demand was launched on 8 February 2007, with a variety of programmes and included the entire second season of Love My Way. The service is available to all Foxtel customers with an iQ set top unit, however the programming able to be played is typically restricted to the channels that the customer is subscribed to. For example, customers not subscribed to the movie channels are not be able to view the stored movies. Launched in late 2006 to coincide with Telstra's NextG 3G Mobile phone network, Mobile Foxtel (previously Foxtel By Mobile) offers 33 standard channels of programming for a small subscription fee, optimised for mobile devices. At present the channels available are: SKY NEWS National, Sky News Business Channel, CNN, FoxSportsNews, FOX8, The Comedy Channel, MTV, E! Entertainment, Fashion TV, Discovery Mobile, Disney Channel, EuroSport, Union Extreme Sports, Cartoon Network, TV1, National Geographic, ABC1, SBS One and Eurosportnews. With the exception of CNN, Fashion TV, Eurosportsnews, Eurosport, FOX News, BBC World News and FoxSportsNews, which are direct simulcasts of the actual channel and Sky News channels which are taken from the Sky News Active service, all channels are pre-produced loops that do not directly correlate to the full scale satellite/cable channel. At present, a limit of 200 minutes per month, with 15 minutes per session, may apply to the service, although this has not been strictly enforced. On 5 December 2009, Foxtel launched a mobile TV guide for the Apple iPhone, dubbed "Foxtel Guide". Features include: remote record for iQ and iQ2, free to air listings, program descriptions and classifications. The application is free to download from the iPhone App Store and is available to non-subscribers. On 25 February 2011, Foxtel released a Google Android application which is available as a free app from Google Play. Features include: remote record, recording to multiple iQs, reminder alerts, favourites and iSuggest. The app works on both Android smartphones and tablets. Foxtel's magazine offers daily listings for channels offered on the Foxtel platform. It is no longer the only medium that subscribers can find information and recommendations on programming for the entire month. Foxtel subscribers can opt-in and subscribe to the Foxtel magazine for a monthly fee. Legacy Foxtel Platinum subscribers who opted in for the magazine prior to the Platinum magazine un-bundling period in mid 2010, currently still continue to get the magazine free of charge. Foxtel's magazine is Australia's most-read paid-for monthly magazine, with a monthly reach of about 700,000. It is published for Foxtel by ACP Magazines, and distributed to Foxtel subscribers (who choose to pay for this service) by the postal service. Foxtel no longer offers the magazine free to new "Platinum" subscribers. The change to this policy was introduced by Foxtel management to reduce physical waste (paper and associated environmental impact) from printing the monthly magazine, and to reduce monthly costs associated with printing and posting overhead for the Foxtel magazine, to all legacy Platinum customers who decided not to opt-in during the opt-in period in early 2010. Viewers have electronic options to view the TV schedule, including the Set Top Box itself, Mobile and iPad Apps, Online, daily newspapers and magazines, and via the Foxtel online portal too. Launched on 10 November 2010. Foxtel on Xbox Live is a streaming video service from Foxtel for the Xbox 360 games console which offers 38 TV channels, on demand movie streaming, and a catch up TV service. It requires both an Xbox Live gold subscription and a Foxtel on Xbox Live subscription. On May 16 2012, Foxtel on Xbox 360 was updated to include voice commands and hand guestures. At the 2011 ASTRA Conference then CEO Kim Williams made some statements around the next generation of iQ set top units - the "iQ3" - saying "whereas today’s STUs are broadcast centric with strong IP functionality, tomorrow’s will be IP-centric with strong broadcast functionality" and indicating that this product would be brought to customers within two years. Foxtel launched Foxtel iQ in late 2005. It is a timeshifting personal digital recorder in which subscribers are able to record programs onto a hard drive inside the set-top unit for later viewing. Foxtel iQ includes a feature called Series Link, which lets the viewer choose to record all future episodes in a given television series (availability is limited to certain programmes). Foxtel iQ also allows viewers to use live rewind and pause features during television programmes. Two new services, On Demand and Remote Record, launched in 2007. Remote Record was launched on 1 January 2007 and allows users to log in to the interactive TV guide on the Foxtel website and then command their iQ at home to record shows, while On Demand was launched on 8 February 2007. This service is based on Sky+, which was launched on News Corporation's UK television platform Sky in 2001. There are currently two models of Foxtel iQ, with identical functionality to the user but different audio-visual output abilities. Both models have two tuners, allowing users to record two programs (or record one and watch one) simultaneously. The system has a 160GB HDD and is based on the Linux OS. Pace plc are the set top box provider for iQ (as seen in the advanced picture settings on the unit), of which they claim that the cable version of iQ is the first DVB-based cable digital video recorder. Foxtel's second generation Foxtel iQ, Foxtel iQHD (then called Foxtel iQ2) launched alongside the Foxtel HD+ service in mid 2008. Equipped with a 320GB HDD, iQHD is capable of recording 30 hours of HD and 90 hours of SD content and offers, double that of the original iQ. The unit also offers HDMI connectivity. The iQHD is equipped with four tuners, allowing users to record two programs at once while watching a third live. The fourth tuner is reserved for on demand content. As of 2011, 75 percent of Foxtel subscribers are using an iQ series unit, 40 percent are using Multi-Room, and 40% are using iQ2 (and therefore, HD). The updated version of the original iQ unit is physically smaller, however allows for better quality recordings and HDMI up-scaling. Within Foxtel and Telstra, these boxes are referred to as iQ 1.5 to differentiate them from the original IQ boxes. There is a variety of Foxtel standard units. These lack the recording features of the iQ models, but can be connected to a VCR or DVR. Foxtel has stated that it will eventually phase out the standard boxes for all new installations, and the additional features of the iQ models can be deactivated if the customer does not wish pay for them, in effect making them operate as a standard model. When Foxtel was launched in 1995, advertising during programs was banned under Australian Government legislation for the first two years. Foxtel have since gradually increased advertising across its platform, although still today legislation prevents Foxtel and other pay TV businesses from earning more than 50% of their revenue from advertising, sometimes viewers are exposed to up to 5min worth of adverts for every 8 minutes of programming. Certain programming on select channels are broadcast commercial-free such as movies on Showtime and selected games on Fox Sports. The Australian anti-siphoning laws also prevent Foxtel and other pay TV suppliers from acquiring exclusive rights to specific sporting events such as cricket, golf, tennis and the football codes. Under the legislation pay TV licencees are prevented from bidding for major sporting events until a right is acquired by the ABC, SBS or a free-to-air commercial network. In 2009 the Minister for Communications announced a review of the legislation. In an Olympics year, the Australian anti-siphoning list runs to over 1300 events and is one of the longest in the world. Foxtel prevents users from using their subscription card in a third-party decoder, and requires all users to watch the service on a supplied set-top box, included with the subscription, however some users have reported being able to watch certain channels on a computer with a DVB-C card and using sasc-ng to decrypt the video content using card readers to read the decoding keys stored on the card used in Foxtel's iQ. On 24 May 2012 Foxtel merged with Austar, resulting in Foxtel gaining Austar's shares in XYZnetworks (which Foxtel closed and created Foxtel Networks), aswell as their shares in Main Event. The channels owned by Foxtel include:
The Netherese Legacy update has two new things for epic level players. First, there’s the High Road of Shadows Quest Pack which has five quests within, and a new Primal Avatar Epic Destiny. While this is all free for VIPs, is this something that a Premium or Free to Play player should invest in? Let’s take a look at the Epic Destiny first. The Primal Avatar was developed with the Druid player in mind, but could be used just as well on a Ranger, because of its increased Two-Weapon Fighting abilities that will hit on your Tempest builds, and Monks as well, as it hits on unarmed fighting. Where it hits for the Druid is in Buffs and extras in animal form. I don’t have any Druids even remotely close to use this, but my Exploiter build Ranger is salivating right now. Why? Well, the Ranger based Epic Destiny is based around a Ranger using Ranged, and unfortunately, unless you’re really good at using a bow this is problematic. Even then, you’re pissing off your other party members who don’t want to chase mobs as you run around the map, so you can take the Two-Weapon Fighting option, which is free to Rangers anyway, and whip out two swords of your choice and go to town. So for my Ranger, the Shiradi Champion was pretty much a let-down, and I’ve been bumming around the Rogue and Barbarian Destinies instead. The Primal Avatar is definitely going to fill that Two-Weapon niche for me. What about the quests, you ask? Well, The High Road of Shadows Quest Pack comes with five quests, all based around a Netherese quest arc where you’re trying to piece together a Nether Scroll before the bad guys do and use it for nefarious purposes. The Harpers are the ones directing you to take action, and it’s with them that all your in-game faction rewards go to. Running through the quests on Epic Hard will not net you enough points for a first tier reward unless you also couple it with an Epic Hard run through Druid’s Deep as well, but even then, you may need to run a few on Epic Elite. Epic Elite for both Druid’s Deep and High Road of Shadows will net you a Lesser Harper Pin, which is supposed to eliminate crowd control effects on you upon use. There’s also an explorer area that works just like the King’s Forest from Menace of the Underdark, only smaller, with fewer messages to find and lots of rares each run. My first run in the wilderness netted me almost 65k in experience for about an hour’s run uncovering the whole map, and I didn’t even find all the messages. The quest chain has four quests you can do in any order that flag you for the fifth, and like the other quests in Eveningstar and The Forgotten Realms area, each chain of quests has an extra set of rewards for completing all the quests in the chain. If you follow the quests in order, Detour is first. A Harper Wizard named Bensen is transporting a piece of the Nether Scroll to a hidden Harper lodge. This is a long escort quest, and you can actually call Bensen on it in the dialogue choices, telling him you hate escort missions, which is hilarious. The good news is Bensen is actually a capable NPC, and as long as he’s not getting beat on, he’ll help out a little bit. He also can’t seem to be killed, as he’ll cower under a protection spell if he gets hit too much. There are spell wards and locked chests. Bring someone for the traps and chests to make things go smoother. After your escort mission, Rest Stop brings you to the decaying remains of a castle on the High Road. Beckside Castle has been used by travelers and adventurers for a long while as a campground and resting place. There’s a piece of the Nether Scroll hidden here, and it’s up to your group to find it before the spies do. After the monotony of the escort quest, this is a fun one to break things up, with a number of optionals, including destroying ancient Netheril Staves that talk to you. Bring a balanced group if you want everything completed in this one. The Rest Stop quest isn’t very restful, so perhaps a Stay At The Inn will help? Oriphaun Huntsilver didn’t want to be caught carrying pieces of the scroll, so he entrusted them to… a bartender? Shows a complete lack of sanity on his part. The Harper’s direct you to The Old Man’s Face Inn, where the bartender has gone missing and it’s up to your group to get to the bottom of things. There’s a few secrets here and you uncover a few things that lead to more fights and more loot. What better way to cap off a terrible night at an abandoned castle and an overtaken inn than to head into the Lost Soul’s Swamp in the Lost in the Swamp quest? This one is less involved in discovering things and more about beating everything down. There are optionals in freeing some trapped spirits, and you’re looking to get another piece of the scroll from a Hermit who hid the piece for Oriphaun. After all that, we finally get to The End of the Road quest. As you suspected, as you’ve been picking up scroll fragments, so have the Netherese agents. You head out to Granwall Keep to try and get the last pieces from the Netherese. There are a few different paths to take in this, with a number of optional kills to make before you make you way into the wooden keep. As you may guess, retrieving the actual scroll isn’t easy, and the last fight there can be a bit tense. Overall, as far as quests go, I really like three out of the five of them, and the other two are, I think, okay. The rewards and experience in the others makes up for the grind fests they represent, and they go much faster with a full balanced group that can take down enemies fast. With the new quests comes new named loot, with an interesting new tier system. The base level of the items is listed as Epic Normal, with some impressive stats for each item. These will drop in the End Rewards list as Epic Normal as well. What you’ll find, though, when running the quests on harder difficulties, is that when they drop in those quests, they’ll have that difficulty and be slightly better than the Epic Normal versions. Epic Elite will obviously be the best version, with Epic Hard close behind. Bigger than that though, the items are bound to the character, but only on equip, so if you pull something you can’t use, chances are you have an alt who can, or you can throw it on the auction house for some big coin. With the pack just out, the Auction House prices for these items are insane. They also put in Orbs as an off-hand items for casters. The Orbs work like shields, in that you can block with them and they’ll give you extra bonuses to saving throws and resistances. Right now there’s only one, but they’re going to add more in as they go in other quest areas. Is this worth your Turbine Points? Well it’s Epic loot you don’t have to grind out commendations or epic shards for, but you can still get commendations from the rares in the explorer area. It’s Epic loot that’s scaled to the difficulty you’re playing at. It’s also five quests I don’t totally despise and would run again in a heartbeat, even if I’m not as fond of two of them. If it follows the pricing I saw of 750 Turbine Points, I’d still say it’s worth it. Yes it costs more than Druid’s Deep for roughly the same quest structure and length, but I think these are better quests and I love the new Epic Loot mechanic they have going on, plus you have an extra explorer area. If I were still a free to play or Premium player I think the cost would be worth it but I can see people wanting to wait for a sale, especially since they can hit up the Auction House or get help from a guildie if there’s an item they really want. Nothing beats the feeling of running this chain and capping out that toon you had on the cusp of hitting level 25 though. It’s the perfect level range to grind for that if you need to.
I will only point out two caveats: - We cannot assume that click speakers of the African Southwest are necessarily indigenous to that region, and - It is possible that, the greater phonemic diversity is due to ancient admixture between quite divergent peoples who possessed two different types of phonemic inventories, while most Africans inherited only the phonemic inventory of one of these peoples, which then decayed as per the author's theory away from Africa. Science 15 April 2011: Vol. 332 no. 6027 pp. 346-349 Phonemic Diversity Supports a Serial Founder Effect Model of Language Expansion from Africa Quentin D. Atkinson Human genetic and phenotypic diversity declines with distance from Africa, as predicted by a serial founder effect in which successive population bottlenecks during range expansion progressively reduce diversity, underpinning support for an African origin of modern humans. Recent work suggests that a similar founder effect may operate on human culture and language. Here I show that the number of phonemes used in a global sample of 504 languages is also clinal and fits a serial founder–effect model of expansion from an inferred origin in Africa. This result, which is not explained by more recent demographic history, local language diversity, or statistical non-independence within language families, points to parallel mechanisms shaping genetic and linguistic diversity and supports an African origin of modern human languages.
Xantusiidae is a clade of viviparous (live bearing) lizards that ranges from southwestern North America and Baja California (Xantusia) into Central America (Lepidophyma) and Cuba (Cricosaura). Xantusia magdalena occurs in Baja California. Xantusiidae is a relatively small clade, with 3 genera and approximately 30 living species. Lepidophyma is the most speciose (~17 species), whereas Cricosaura is monotypic. Xantusiids have a reasonably good fossil record extending from the mid-Paleocene onward in western North America. Xantusiids are fascinating lizards for several reasons. First, although they are almost uniformly diminuitive (Xantusia magdalena measures less than 4 cm snout-vent length, and the largest xantusiid species measure about 10 cm snout-vent length), xantusiids generally take several years to reach sexual maturity, and several species give birth to just 1 or 2 offspring. It is a more usual reproductive strategy for small lizards to mature quickly and produce large numbers of offspring, to increase their chances of survival. Despite this low reproductive potential, xantusiid neonates actually have a high life expectancy; this can be attributed at least in part to their secretive lifestyle, which leads to the second reason why xantusiids are particularly interesting -- microhabitat specialization. Microhabitat specialization is an ecological hallmark of Xantusiidae. Many populations are narrowly restricted to specific niches -- crevices (e.g., Xantusia henshawi in exfoliating granitic cap rocks), interstices in agaves and yuccas in dry climates (e.g., X. magdalena), decaying logs in wet climates (e.g., Lepidophyma flavimaculatum) -- and individuals may be found under the same patch of cover throughout their lives! These microhabitat restrictions result in extremely disjunct geographical distributions, and also may be responsible for some morphological convergence within the group (e.g., flattened skulls for crevice dwelling). Xantusiidae also includes two insular endemics: the Cuban Cricosaura typica is the only xantusiid found in the West Indies and is interpreted as one of the Caribbean's few ancient endemic vertebrate lineages; and Xantusia riversiana (formerly Klauberina riversiana) is limited to three of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. The phylogenetic relationships of Xantusiidae are problematic. Morphology and molecules produce different topologies within the clade: morphology recovers a Cricosaura + Lepidophyma clade, while mitochondrial genes recover a Lepidophyma + Xantusia clade. Lack of resolution of relationships within Xantusiidae has hindered the placement of this clade within the squamate tree. Xantusiidae is a "tree-changing" taxon: it causes homoplasy wherever it is placed, and its placement can tip the balance between the two primary competing hypotheses of scleroglossan relationships. Xantusiidae is traditionally placed within Scincomorpha, but some analyses have placed it near Gekkota. Thus, Xantusiidae is either a highly derived, or extremely basal, scleroglossan clade. Previous analyses of squamate phylogeny have almost certainly suffered in relying on species of the readily available -- but relatively derived -- genus Xantusia as exemplars for Xantusiidae. Cricosaura or a species of Lepidophyma would be more appropriate, but both are exceedingly rare in collections; indeed, some species of Lepidophyma are known from only 1 or 2 specimens. Whatever the placement of Xantusiidae within squamates, there is no doubt that xantusiids are monophyletic. The following are some of the hypothesized synapomorphies of the lineage (from Estes et al., 1988), most of which can be seen in the skull reconstructions above: supratemporal fenestra closed primarily by postorbital; parietals paired well into postembryonic ontogeny; parietal table extensive posteriorly, largely obscuring braincase in dorsal view, supratemporal process short; vomers fused; ectopterygoid contacts palatine anterolaterally, excluding maxilla from suborbital fenestra; ectopterygoid enlarged medially, restricting suborbital fenestra. About the Species This specimen was collected in Baja California Sur, Mexico. It was made available to the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility for scanning by Dr. Jessie Maisano of The University of Texas and Dr. Jacques Gauthier of Yale University. Funding for scanning was provided by an NSF grant (DEB-0132227) to Dr. Jack Sites of Brigham Young University. Funding for image processing was provided by a National Science Foundation Digital Libraries Initiative grant to Dr. Timothy Rowe of The University of Texas at Austin. About this Specimen The specimen was scanned by Matthew Colbert on 18 May 2005 along the coronal axis for a total of 615 1024x1024 pixel slices. Each slice is 0.0152 mm thick, with an interslice spacing of 0.0152 mm and a field of reconstruction of 7 mm. Bezy, R. L. 1982. Xantusia vigilis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 302.1-302.4. Bezy, R. L. 1988. The natural history of the night lizards, family Xantusiidae, p. 1-12. In H. F. DeLisle et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Conference on California Herpetology. Southwest Herpetological Society Special Publication 4. Bezy, R. L. 1989. Night lizards: the evolution of habitat specialists. Terra 28:29-34. Bezy, R. L., and J. L. Camarillo. 2002. Systematics of xantusiid lizards of the genus Lepidophyma. Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science 493:1-41. Crother, B. I., M. M. Miyamoto, and W. F. Presch. 1986. Phylogeny and biogeography of the lizard family Xantusiidae. Systematic Zoology 35:37-45. Estes, R. 1983. Sauria Terrestria, Amphisbaenia. Handbuch der Palaoherpetologie, Part 10A. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart. Estes, R., K. de Queiroz, and J. Gauthier. 1988. Phylogenetic relationships within Squamata, p. 119-281. In R. G. Estes and G. K. Pregill (eds.), Phylogenetic Relationships of the Lizard Families: Essays Commemorating Charles L. Camp. Stanford University Press, Stanford. Fellers, G. M., and C. A. Drost. 1991. Ecology of the island night lizard, Xantusia riversiana, on Santa Barbara Island, California. Herpetological Monographs 5:28-78. Hedges, S. B., R. L. Bezy, and L. B. Maxson. 1991. Phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of xantusiid lizards, inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Biology and Evolution 8:767-780. Lee, M. S. Y. 1998. Convergent evolution and character correlation in burrowing reptiles: towards a resolution of squamte relationships. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 63:369-453. Macey, J. R., A. Larson, N. B. Ananjeva, and T. J. Papenfuss. 1997. Evolutionary shifts in three major structural features of the mitochondrial genome among iguanian lizards. Journal of Molecular Evolution 44:660-674. Savage, J. M. 1955. The lizard family Xantusiidae: an evolutionary study. Ph.D. Dissertation, Stanford University. Savage, J. M. 1963. Studies on the lizard family Xantusiidae. IV. The genera. Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science 71:3-38. Sinclair, E. A., Bezy, R. L., Bolles, K., Camarillo R., J. L., Crandall, K. A. and J. W. Sites Jr. 2004. Testing species boundaries in an ancient species complex with deep phylogeographic history: Genus Xantusia (Squamata: Xantusiidae). The American Naturalist 164:396-414. Van Denburgh, J. 1895. The species of the genus Xantusia . Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences (Series 2) 5:523-534. Zweifel, R. G., and C. H. Lowe. 1966. The ecology of a population of Xantusia vigilis , the desert night lizard. American Museum Novitates 2247:1-57. Xantusiidae page on the EMBL Reptile Database Three-dimensional volumetric renderings of the skull with the scleral ossicles, hyoid and jaw removed, and of the isolated left mandible. All are 2mb or less.
Artists. Megargee, Lon (Alonzo) 1883-1960 Block prints. Arizona Highways F 1945 p.4t) Biography of western artist. Frontier Times v.42 #5 Ag-8 1968 p.3$-39* ?o Biog data and examples of work. Bimson, The West and Walter Bimson P.111 Biog data and examples of works. Ed Ainsworth, The Cowboy in Art p.121 0 Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.
This database of images for the study and teaching of art, design, and visual culture at Illinois State University, is produced as a collaboration between the School of Art and Milner Library. The images come from many sources, including publications, original photography, and the Visual Resources Collection of the School of Art. The slides of Sverre "Bex" Braathen combine a "Passion for Circus" with the skills and artistry of photography at its finest. Images were captured in the saturated colors of Kodachrome slides and date from the early 1940s to the late 1950s as well as black and white film in the 1930s. Set within the context of the entire Braathen … Illinois State University History is a growing collection that currently includes campus history books, proceedings of the first university governing board, and nearly 400 photographs. Support for this collection is provided by the Friends of Milner Library and the Illinois State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of … Welcome to Milner Library's International Collection of Child Art digital image collection! This resource holds images of art created by children and adolescents representing more than fifty countries and cultures from Argentina to New Zealand. The artworks are two dimensional and use varied media. The work in this collection … Voices of Extremism: Conflicting Ideologies in United States Politics in the Decades Following WWII is a unique audio documentation of the individuals and movements that characterized the Extremist politics in the United States in the decades following the Second World War from 1946 to 1980. The collection also includes a documentary on … Cultivated in the spirit of teaching, learning and research, Milner Library's digital collections provide a variety of resources. They reflect the rich cultural heritage at Illinois State University, and include audio recordings, historic documents, photos, and images of art and visual culture. Discover all collections Art & Culture Circus & Allied Arts Illinois State University History International Collection of Child Art Voices of Extremism Native American Collection Normal Editions Workshop (N.E.W.) Towanda Area History World War I Women
\|Author:\|\|Washington County (Pa.), Treasurer.\| \|Title:\|\|State of the accounts of the taxes of Washington County\| State of the accounts of the taxes of Washington County Washington County (Pa.), Treasurer. Philadelphia: Printed by Francis Bailey, 1790 \|Publication Info:\|\|Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, Digital Research Library This work is believed to be in the public domain with no known restrictions on access and use.
Creator: Gust, Iris Description: The brochure promotes urban transportation policy to increase the use of renewable energy to 100%. Seen globally, transport is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet fossil fuels are becoming scarce, will become increasingly expensive and will eventually stop being viable as transport fuels. Before this happens, climate change will have begun to have a serious impact on human lives. The authors believe that it is crucial to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy as soon as possible, especially in the transport sector. Making urban transport independent of fossil fuel is a great challenge, but the authors cite growing evidence that it can be achieved. Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Date: August 2010 Creator: Allen, Evette L. Description: Family communication has the potential to affect a variety of youth behavioral outcomes including adolescent sexual risk behavior. Within chapter 1, I present past literature on adolescent sexual risk behaviors, family communication patterns, and the gaps associated with those areas. In chapter 2, I review previous literature on adolescent sexual risk behavior, parent-child communication and family communication patterns. In chapter 3, I present the method which includes a description of the participants, procedures, measures, and data analysis used. In Chapter 4, I present the results of the study. According to the results of the study, father-child communication is not a better predictor of adolescent sexual risk behavior. A higher quantity of parent-child communication does not lead to less adolescent sexual risk behavior. Participants with a pluralistic family type do significantly differ from laissez-faire and protective family types in regards to levels of parent-child communication. Participants with a consensual family type do have significantly higher levels of parent-child communication in comparison to laissez-faire family types, but not protective family types. Finally, in chapter 5, I present the discussion with a review of previous research (consistent or inconsistent with the current findings), limitations and conclusions for the current study. Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries
Date: June 29, 1962 Creator: Yakowitz, Harvey, 1939- Description: Report presenting a bibliography of about 550 references of the soft X-ray literature since 1950 and through 1960. The emphasis is on the application of soft X-ray spectroscopy to the study of valence band electronic states in metals and alloys. Therefore, the spectral region of 25 to 800 angstroms involving ruled glass grating spectrometers is of principal interest. In addition to soft X-ray data, references on all pertinent aspects of the apparatus and experimental problems are included. Also listed separately are references of value in corroborating soft X-ray data with other results. Subject, author, X-ray band, material, and other indices are included. Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
County Of St. LouisSt Louis, ss. The State Of MissouriMissouri, To Aug. Dufresne You are hereby Commanded, that, setting aside all manner of excuse and delay, you appear before our Circuit CourtCircuit Court for the County aforesaid, on the forthwith at the City of St. LouisCity of St Louis, then and there to testify, and the truth to say in a certain matter of controversy now pending in our said Court, wherein Mary CharlotteMary Charlotte is plaintiff and G. S. ChouteauS Chouteau is defendant on the part of plaintiff and herein you are in no wise to fail. with the seal thereof hereto affixed, at office, in the City of St. LouisCity of St Louis, this 12day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty - three M S CerrÃ©Clerk C.C.
On back: "Century City. Looking south down the Avenue of the Stars, Century City's main thoroughfare. Covering 180 acres of land, this gigantic 'city within a city' includes 4-million square feet of office space, 5,000 apartment units, a 15-acre regional shopping center and an 800-room luxury hotel. Century City, an ALCOA development, is located immediately west of Beverly Hills, California." Publisher's serial number: 4DK-1278; L.177 Date from publisher's serial number; Curteichcolor 3-D Natural Color Reproduction.
2007 LIST OF GEORGIA 'S LEGAL ELITE Ninety Georgia Law alumni were listed in Georgia Trend's 2007 roster of the state's "Legal Elite," which are attorneys selected by their peers as the most effective in 10 different practice areas. The article appeared in the December 2007 issue. "2007 LIST OF GEORGIA 'S LEGAL ELITE" (2007). In The News. Paper 569. This document is currently not available here.
Date of Award Master of Applied Science (MASc) Computing and Software The 2-D INADEQUATE experiment is a useful experiment for determining carbon structures of organic molecules known for having low signal-to-noise ratios. A non-linear optimization method for solving low-signal spectra resulting from this experiment is introduced to compensate. The method relies on the peak locations defined by the INADEQUATE experiment to create boxes around these areas and measure the signal in each. By measuring pairs of these boxes and applying penalty functions that represent a priori information, we are able to quickly and reliably solve spectra with an acquisition time under a quarter of that required by traditional methods. Examples are shown using the spectrum of sucrose. The concept of a non-uniform Fourier transform and its potential advantages are introduced. The possible application of this type of transform to the INADEQUATE experiment and the previously explained optimization program is detailed. Watson, Sean C., "Locating Carbon Bonds from INADEQUATE Spectra using Continuous Optimization Methods and Non-Uniform K-Space Sampling" (2011). Open Access Dissertations and Theses. Paper 5157. McMaster University Library
Children of substance abusers: Observations and their mothers' reports of childrearing practices The widespread use of drugs includes women who are mothers and of childbearing age. A review of the literature shows that women who are substance abusers suffer from depression, low self-esteem, have poor health and nutrition, and histories of family violence and abuse.^ During pregnancy, addictive women often lack prenatal care. In utero exposure to drugs is associated with multiple postnatal outcomes which include prematurity, low birth weight, neonatal abstinence syndrome, and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Intelligence testing found that the children scored within the normal range but significantly lower than the children of drug-free controls.^ Conflicting views on the parenting of mothers who are substance abusers exist. Deprived and poorly nurtured in childhood themselves, they feel inadequate as parents. However, they love their children, are capable of learning developmental issues of childhood, and can respond with sensitivity to their needs.^ The purpose of this study was to examine the child-rearing attitudes and parental style of addicted mothers and the impact of their drug use, parental attitudes, and demographic variables on their interactions with their children. Forty-four mothers, forty-one drug users and three non-drug users, and nineteen infants participated in the study. Participants attended the Infant and Toddler Schools of the Center for Comprehensive Health Practice, Inc. Subjects completed the demographic sheet and the modified Child-Rearing Practices Report (CRPR). The child data was obtained from the agency and included the scores of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, the Checklist for Caregiver-Infant Observation, and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Short Form (Home-SF). Generally, greater parental control and less expression of affection were adhered to as values by the participants of the study. Correlations as a function of drug usage and demographic variables suggested that the participants held both sound and inappropriate child-rearing attitudes. Length of treatment and the age of the youngest child emerged as the demographic variables most related to the parental attitude variables. The children scored within the average range of intelligence, however, the range of variation was highly significant. ^ Health Sciences, Mental Health\|Women's Studies\|Psychology, Developmental Sarai Ramona Padilla-Rafalsky, "Children of substance abusers: Observations and their mothers' reports of childrearing practices" (January 1, 1993). ETD Collection for Pace University.
This study presents the results from a survey issued to speech-language pathologists in the state of Kentucky regarding their perspectives on referral and assessment of bilingual speakers whose primary language is not English. The study was conducted to determine methods for decreasing the over-identification of bilingual students served for speech and language disorders. Literature review indicates an over-identification of non-English speakers in special education and related services programs nationwide. There are many possible reasons for this over-identification some of which include: lack of English instruction prior to testing in English, Speech-Language Pathologists’ preparation level, and shortage of appropriately normed assessment tools. This study specifically addresses Kentucky Speech-Language Pathologists’ preparation and comfort level with referral and assessment of non-English speaking students. Advisor(s) or Committee Chair Professor Leisa Hutchison Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education \| Speech and Rhetorical Studies Schulte, Kathleen M., "A Speech-Language Pathologiest Perspective on the Referral and Assessment of Bilingual Children whose Primary Language is not English" (2010). Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 253.
→ November 2006 Contents → Column The Inside Story and Classic Photos of UPI Newspictures The new book Picture This!: The Inside Story and Classic Photos of UPI Newspictures (Bulfinch Press, 2006), was organized and written by Gary Haynes, a former UPI photographer. It's good to finally have a volume on the photographs and photographers of United Press International. Earlier books have been about the news writers and failing business side of the company. Walter Cronkite wrote the foreword. Like some other books of assembled images it is a smorgasbord of work. The concept can be fun and engaging. The reader goes from humor to tragedy within pages. The book is definitely not a downer. There is a short history of UPI Newspictures. It began as United Press Associations, a creation of E.W. Scripps, in 1907. The much older Associated Press (1848) had refused to sell its news stories to several of his papers. Scripps believed that news should be available to anyone, including his competitors. Gary Haynes writes that United Press became the only privately-owned major news service in the world at a time the world news scene was dominated by The AP in the U.S.A. and by news agencies abroad directly or indirectly controlled by their respective governments: Reuters in Britain, Havas in France and Wolff in Germany. Around the 1920s papers were increasing interested in publishing pictures to expand their audiences and, thus, their advertising dollars. The Associated Press began mailing photos to its member papers in 1927. UP had no photo service until 1952, when it absorbed Scripps' Acme Newsphotos. All this was long after Europeans had experimented and perfected the wireless transmission of photographs. (In 1907, German Prof. Alfred Korn's "Photographic Fac-Simile Telegraph" picture of the German Crown Prince appeared on the cover of Scientific American.) Haynes includes a description of the inauguration of the AP's Wirephoto system on Jan. 1, 1935. The Scripps and Hearst organizations, along with Wide World, owned by The New York Times, were each working on their own version of a "Wirephoto" machine. By 1936, Acme Newsphotos (owned by Scripps) had developed its own machines. They were more sophisticated and reliable than AP's, and capable of better quality, Haynes writes. In 1958, UP and Hearst's International New Service came together and UPI was born. The UPI operation faded and the picture operation was stripped of its best assets by a desperate administration that looked for cash through the sale of the overseas arm and, most astonishingly, the picture library. As one of the owners said tellingly, "Who cares about a damn picture library?" The book does, however, have some drawbacks. I found that I wanted to know so much more about the photo operation and about the goals of the organization. The text seemed to dwell too much on the competition with the AP—there is even a chapter titled, "UPI versus AP." Certainly they were rivals for the same market and the UPI/AP race had to be explained because, among other things, each drove the other to push harder, get there first and make better photographs. Beyond that though, the text seems to have a negative tone: "AP was one thing but we were not." What was UPI's relationship with the history it passed through and what in retrospect is that relationship now? UPI also had many great journalists; the book might have been stronger had a writer handled the text and Mr. Haynes the images, as journalist Peter Arnett has done for the AP. The all-black-and-white offering creates a cohesive look to the book but slights those whose color work was outstanding even in the early days of its use. And, perhaps I lost my sense of humor somewhere during the Vietnam War, but the captions often begin with corny phrases: "Hula Hoop Hubbub," "Man, oh, Mannequin" (undressed female mannequins getting "the once-over" by a boy mannequin), "Weather or the Dress?" (a photograph of a serious Queen Elizabeth in a frilly dress and a laughing President Reagan—she was commenting on California's bad weather), and one that creates a grimace for both photo and caption, "Uh—guys!" (a female nudist standing within the ranks of the male press photographers aims her Instamatic as the men do their Nikons during the Miss Nude America pageant). To be sure there are great photographs from WWII, Vietnam and Kennedy's funeral with perfectly fine captions. One point I am trying to make is that the choices made sometimes undermine UPI's fine work. The staff at UPI overcame the odds and their photographs show the high regard in which they held photojournalism. Their legacy of news images is one that young photojournalists should endeavor to know and emulate. © Marianne Fulton Back to November 2006 Contents
It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan of the NBA, NCAA or high school – great basketball is great basketball. And yesterday has to go down as one of the greatest days in hoops history. Ever. Take for example the first four games of the day: you had a one point game, a buzzer beater for an upset, an overtime scare and a double overtime thriller. Only if Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery called all four games, could you have asked for anything better … If you were on the site at all yesterday, then you know the Dime crew was on top of everything. So we’ll try and bring some new thoughts and observations to Smack … Let’s start with BYU’s Jimmer Fredette. First of all, we knew about this kid all season – especially after he dropped 49 at Arizona back in December. But apparently some people still hadn’t received the scouting report. E-mail from one of our boys after the game: “I googled that dude who went bonkers against Florida to see what else he’s done. I had no idea that this guy even existed. Have you seen this clip?!” For a guy who’s favorite actor is Denzel Washington, he certainly went Man on Fire on the Gators … In the next group of games, for a team that was supposed to be a sleeper, UTEP simply fell asleep after going into halftime with 33-27 lead over Butler. After the break, the Bulldogs went on a 22-4 run led by Shelvin Mack, who hit five 3-pointers in the first 11 minutes, finishing with a career high-tying 25 points. Alright, so after winning 21 games in a row, perhaps it’s time to stop sleeping on Butler … In the third set of games, it was all about Georgetown. Giving up the most points they’ve ever given up in 70 NCAA tournament games, the Hoyas simply got smacked. And as you can imagine, the Twitterverse went wild. From Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn (@J_Flynn) to Georgetown’s Jeff Green (@jeff_green22): “MESSAGE: hey jeff this is jonny. I was wondering if you cud give me an update on the Gtown game. I been kind of busy. Lata.” In response, this is all he had to say: “sorry jeff green is not on twitter at the moment can you leave a message after the beep…..BBEEEEEPPPPPP!!!..don’t mention my hoyas plz lol.” Classic … While Georgetown’s Greg Monroe said after the game that he will return to school next year, don’t put much weight behind that statement. Posting 19 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks in the loss, it’s more likely that the next time we’ll see Monroe is shaking David Stern‘s hand this June … The other good game in that time slot – besides UNLV/Northern Iowa which ended like THIS – was the Marquette/Washington game. One of the last teams in the tournament, the Huskies were no lock to pull the upset. Even President Obama didn’t think so. After taking it to the rack and hitting a double-clutch banker to win the game, Quincy Pondexter told CBS’ Bob Wenzel afterwards, “Sorry, President Obama, for ruining your bracket.” Somehow we doubt Q is getting an invite to summer runs at the White House … For the last set, NBA scouts must have been glued to their televisions: Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu, Texas’ Damion James and Avery Bradley, New Mexico’s Darrington Hobson and Kansas’ Xavier Henry, Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich are all NBA prospects and all were in action. The most exciting finish of the bunch was surely Texas/Wake Forest who went in the last 70 seconds, saw C.J. Harris blocked on the break by Bradley, only to have Gary Johnson‘s dunk attempt blocked at the rim by L.D. Williams. Missed free throws in both regulation and overtime lost the game for Texas … In case you were wondering, Aldrich is the son of Eric Montross, the brother of Joel Przybilla and the cousin of Raef LaFrentz. Oh yeah, and Greg Ostertag is his great uncle … Although we were utterly consumed with March Madness, there was also a doubleheader in the NBA. Perhaps it was the highlights of him back in college, but Vince Carter (27 pts, 6 asts) played some inspired basketball last night. After blowing a 12-point lead over the last five minutes of regulation, the Magic escaped to OT after Dwyane Wade’s three-point attempt at the buzzer was just a tad better than UNLV’s – and they couldn’t even get off an attempt before the buzzer. Wade (36 pts, 10 rebs, 7 asts) did everything he could, but Rashard Lewis continued his solid play of late with 24 points and 11 rebounds, including the clinching three-pointer with 28.4 seconds left … E-mail from Dime’s Austin Burton during the game: “I think I just saw Timbaland sitting courtside at the Heat/Magic game. But if that was him, he looks like he ate Magoo” … As for the Nuggets and Hornets, this game was over before it began. Even with Kenyon Martin out, the Nuggets led 62-37 at halftime, as J.R. Smith had 17 points off the bench in 13 minutes. But in the second half it was all ‘Melo, as he finished with 26 points and a career-high 18 rebounds. The Nuggets are now 30-5 at home, tied with the Lakers for second-best in the NBA to Cleveland’s 30-4 mark, making them a very dangerous team come playoff time … Make sure you come back later today for all our coverage of the second day of the NCAA Tournament, as well as the announcement of the winning new nickname for Gilbert Arenas … We’re out like Georgetown in the next round … Smack / Mar 19, 2010 / 3:33 am Breaking News & Rumors Like A Boss: Phil Jackson Shows Off All 13 Of His NBA Title Rings How big of a boss is Phil Jackson? A fan asked him to showcase all 13 of... Kobe Bryant Shares A Gruesome Photo Of His Surgery For some reason, Kobe Bryant wants to let us in on every little aspect o... The Grizzlies Are Starting To Look Like The 2004 Champion Pistons Zach Randolph, Dime #19 Defense wins championships. Over the years, ... We Are Looking For Interns It's that time of year again: Dime Magazine and our family sites (Di... LeBron James' 11 Worst NBA Flops When Nazr Mohammed lost his mind on Friday night and put LeBron Jame... The Exact Moment The Derrick Rose Situation Went Wrong Everyone has an opinion on this Derrick Rose situation (here's mine)... - 2011 Free Agency - 2012 Free Agency - 2013 Free Agency - Baller's Blueprint - Dime 1-on-1 NBA Tournament - Dime Training - Fantasy Doctor - Featured Gallery - Free Agency - High School - Hit List - Latest News - Mock Draft - NBA Draft - Pat's Sixers Blog - Playoff Blogger Faceoff - Style – Kicks and Gear - The Champs Sports Game Plan - The Court Grip Difference Maker of the Week - The NBA's 30 Best Go-To Players - Video Games - We Reminisce - Where Are They Now?
Both DineSite and CuisineNet are brands of DineCore, Inc. Ideal advertisers in our restaurant guides have products that relate to consumer leisure, travel, life-styles, entertainment, eating and drinking. Such advertisers can be well integrated with our restaurant guides to receive excellent visibility with logical and natural placements that result in a very high return for the dollar. In its nearly six years on-line (since 1995), DineSite went from a consulting demo, to one of the most popular, and truly comprehensive restaurant guides on the Internet today. DineSite covers over 12,000 U.S. cities and includes nearly 110,000 table-service restaurants. International restaurant guides are in development. CuisineNet represents our premium restaurant guide content. On-line since 1996, the site rapidly became one of the Internet's top restaurant guides due to its in-depth editorial style. CuisineNet covers top metropolitan areas in the U.S. and includes nearly 10,000 restaurants. Largest Dining Community in the World Each day people share their dining experiences with the DineSite/CuisineNet on-line community by swapping stories, posting reviews and rating restaurants. Today, our restaurant guides boast over 95,000 visitor-contributed ratings and reviews -- the largest dining community in the world! Syndicated Across the Web Our restaurant guides are syndicated by the web's top brands -- via these brands, our reach approaches 70% of all Internet users in a given month. In addition, DineSite and CuisineNet serve customized, "powered-by" restaurant guides for more than 100 popular web sites. We are authorized to offer advertising for both DineSite and CuisineNet as well as most restaurant guides "powered-by" these technologies. Over 200,000 people each month use these restaurant guides -- dishing out nearly 3 million banner impressions per month. We attract a coveted audience demographic: most visitors are over 30 years old; 20% earn over $60K per year; and, nearly 50% Advertising Options & Specifications - Banner Ads: Standard 468x60 banner space atop content pages - Margin Ads: Ad space in the right margin of most content pages. These ads can be a maximum 90x90 in size. - Content Positions: Compelling links within specific content (eg. the "How to Cook Italian" link for Amazon.com that comes up in all Italian restaurant pages). Our restaurant guides offer targeted advertising at the following rates based on ad impressions (page views) subject to availability. Additional incentives may be available for long-running campaigns. - Advertising Rate Card We will provide access to this rate information once we receive contact information for both you and the company you represent. Contact Us for an Advertising Position For more information and access to rates, please with your marketing needs and goals or call at 847-517-1195.
DescriptionThe Baltic narrow set of 5 drawers in coffee would be perfect for a smaller bedroom where space is at a premium, or ideal to fit in a narrow gap between other furniture. Measures H94 x W43 x D40cm. The Baltic black range is a modern fresh furniture range with a great selection of practical and good looking storage pieces for your bedroom. \|Assembly Information\|\|Flat Packed for easy assembly\| \|Dimensions\|\|H106 x W53 x D41cm\| \|Number of Drawers\|\|5\|
Showing 1 - 16 of 16 products Home Fitness Equipment at ASDA Direct Find yoga mats, exercise wheels and toning equipment at low prices. We want to help you get in shape and feel great with our range of home fitness accessories. However you like to exercise, we have something that will help you reach your training goals. Exercising at home is an ideal way to get fit in those spare moments in a busy lifestyle. Shop and save with Asda Direct! Sponsored Links (What's this?) Asda Direct's Sponsored Links are provided by the Google AdWords™ program. Companies pay for these links to have their products and services appear with specific search terms. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by Google. Clicking on sponsored links will take you away from Asda Direct. The website you link to is not endorsed by Asda.
Description+ is the hugely anticipated debut album by Ed Sheeran set for release on September 12 via Asylum Records. The album features the Top 3 hit ‘The A Team’ which has already sold over 380,000 copies - making it the highest charting and biggest selling UK debut all year. ‘The A Team’ still resides firmly in the UK Top 5 some eight weeks post release. + also features the oncoming smash ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’ (out on August 28). Ed Sheeran’s + is timeless song-writing informed as much by Jay-Z and Eminem as by Bob Dylan and Damien Rice. The flame-haired 20-year-old’s lyrics talk about the city he loves and the people in it, the people made by it, and those damaged by it. They also talk of love and of loss. ‘Song writing phenomenon’ (Q Magazine) - Ed’s talent is evidenced on songs like ‘Small Bump’ – a true story with a heart-wrenching twist about a friend and her baby, whereas ‘Drunk’ “I wanna be drunk when I wake up, on the right side of the wrong bed” tackles an altogether different subject. ‘Wake Me Up’ is tender “then you’d lie with me, til I fall asleep and flutter eyelash on my cheek, between the sheets” and was written when heavily intoxicated. The autographical, show stopper ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’ includes ‘I’ve done around about a thousand shows, but I haven’t got a house plus I live on a couch, so you believe the lyrics when I’m singing them out’. Aged 16, Ed arrived in London from Suffolk with one thing on his mind: playing gigs, as many as he could and as often as he could. Selling CD’s out of his rucksack he supported himself and gathered fans one at a time. Over 5 self-made, and self-released EPs Ed demonstrated his talent and breadth. Written and recorded between shows over several years, largely in a home-studio just outside London with collaborator Jake Gosling + is the next exciting stage in Ed’s do-it-yourself career. \|Disc 1\|\|1. The A Team\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|2. Drunk\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|3. U.N.I.\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|4. Grade 8\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|5. Wake Me Up\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|6. Small Bump\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|7. This\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|8. The City\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|9. Lego House\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|10. You Need Me, I Don't Need You\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|11. Kiss Me\|\|Ed Sheeran\| \|12. Give Me Love\|\|Ed Sheeran\|
The school semester is coming to a close in the coming weeks :D I thought I'd use this chance to post a few thumbnails of some environments I'd been working on for Directions of Destiny. Some of these locations you might recognize from the comic, others have yet to be mentioned at all. But it's been very fun working on these concepts, and I'll be sure to put up the full finished paintings when I'm done!! As you may have noticed, I've managed to put up a new layout for this site like I said I would in the last entry! I hope that it makes it much easier to get around and more visually appealing for you. :D Also like I said, with this big ol' blog space on the front page, I plan to update more often throughout this year with various sketches and art and stuff related to the comic as I flesh out the script for the rest of the story. Please check back every now and then if you're interested! As a bonus, here's the line-art for the two header character art I've done so far. Instead of using a pen to ink the line-art, I drew the sketch in blue pencil and "inked" it with pencil, and so I like the nice softer effect it leaves? I plan to add header art for the rest of the characcters too in my spare time. A lot of things were going a little haywire in the background over the last few days as I was putting this up, but I think most things should be working properly now? If you find anything that doesn't work, please comment in this entry to let me know about it, or if you have any suggestions you should leave a note as well :>
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The premiere of “The Olmsted Legacy,” a new one-hour documentary on Frederick Law Olmsted was recently held in Prospect Park, a Brooklyn park considered one of the famed landscape architect’s masterpieces. More than a year in the making, the documentary features a set of well-known narrators (Kevin Kline and Kerry Washington) and a first-rate, Emmy-winning production and direction team. The film’s score was created by Joel Goodman, who has written music for a number of Oscar-winning films. The filmmakers write: “The Olmsted Legacy examines the formation of America’s first great city parks in the late 19th century through the enigmatic eyes of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 – 1903), visionary urban planner and landscape architect. With incredible foresight that spanned centuries, Olmsted brought nourishing green spaces to New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Louisville, and dozens of other U.S. cities. Throughout his working life, Olmsted and his firm carried out over 500 commissions, nearly 100 of which were public parks. The parks, he held, were to be vital democratic spaces in cities, where citizens from all walks of life could intermingle and be refreshed.” The documentary includes on-camera interviews with: - Charles Beveridge – Author, “Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape;” series editor, “The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted,” Department of History, American University, Washington D.C. - Witold Rybczynski – Professor of urbanism, University of Pennsylvania; author, “A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century.” - Arleyn Levee – Former chairperson, National Association of Olmsted Parks; board member, Emerald Necklace Conservancy; Olmsted historian. - Betsy Shure Gross – Co-founder, National Association of Olmsted Parks; former vice president, Emerald Necklace Conservancy; board member, City Parks Alliance. - Adrian Benepe – Commissioner, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. - Doug Blonsky – President, Central Park Conservancy; administrator and landscape architect, Central Park. - Sara Cedar Miller – Official historian and board member, Central Park Conservancy; author and photographer, “Central Park, An American Masterpiece and Seeing Central Park: The Official Guide to the World’s Greatest Urban Park.” - Tupper Thomas – President, Prospect Park Alliance; administrator, Prospect Park. - Michael Dukakis – Former governor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Democratic nominee for U.S. President in 1980; professor of political science, Northeastern University. - Morrison Heckscher – Lawrence A. Fleishman Chairman of the American Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art; author, “Creating Central Park.” - Margaret Dyson – Director of historic parks, Boston City Parks and Recreation. Image credits: (1) Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, New York City, 1880 (2) Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, New York City, 2009 / The Olmsted Legacy News blog
Hey all...I'm a 16 year old Eagle Scout Candidate and for my Eagle Project I plan on putting in a Disc Golf Course near my hometown. Right now I'm beginning the process of raising the funds to purchase all of the needed equipment. Something I could REALLY use right now is video so that I can put together a DVD to show to some local businesses and service clubs so that they can get a better idea of what this sport is all about. Any suggestions? Also might be interested in other fundraising ideas if any of you have them. Thanks!
The Community of Disc Golfers and About All Things Disc Golf My only complaint is that it takes up too much space it feels, and the free floating chat box doesn't always work. I am sure that ning is working on that. Terry, you maintain a wonderful site ! I honestly can't even see or find the chat now. I see nothing at the bottom of the page as described. Can I not use Firefox???? Thanks! I wanted it to be funny...You have a FUN site!Funny! :) Disc-O Golf said:
The Community of Disc Golfers and About All Things Disc Golf My wife is Japanese, and I am thinking of having my inlaws order one and ship it here. Yes! Hope the wife agrees. I would Love to have a picture of the Flippy girls. There was a small disc (mini) by hero that was advertised with a group of women called the Flippy Girls. I have not seen or heard of them for several years. Because it is double naming with INNOVA, it is likely not to see in the United States though HeroDisc makes the bag besides Hero Disc Bag TYPE XT. Please inquire of HeroDisc about details. The president of Mr.Shinbo and HeroDisc is director of JapanOpen. Because John Ahart has worked for HeroDisc, it is likely to be likely to know. Anybody want an extremely rare Hero Disc hat? This hat was purchased in Japan and is probably the only one like it in North America. New, never worn, adjustable, 3500 yen price tag still attached! Made out of a special water proof fabric known as spLIc. See attached pic. she said no:( John Sturtevant said:My wife is Japanese, and I am thinking of having my inlaws order one and ship it here. Yes! Hope the wife agrees.
Continuing his special series of “Diamond Picks”, Disco Matt now looks towards a spectacular Sunday of events, starting with the brilliant Beyond & its “Britannia” bash, a super sized & stellar showing that boasts a star studded D.J. line up including Steve Pitron, Paul Heron, The Sharp Boys, Alan K, Hifi Sean, & many more, all the detail a banner selection away opposite or an image click below, while DM delivers his own diamond delectation beneath. Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves, Britain’s never, never, never shall be slaves, so goes this right royal rendition that was lifted from the James Thompson patriotic poem many moons ago to become an alternative to the national anthem of Britain, but which has stronger associations with The Royal Navy, although come Sunday morning, it will surely be Beyond-ers that will never, never, never be slaves as they succumb to the super sized & stellar spectacle that will be Beyond “Britannia”. Mind you, if the Grace Jones tracks has anything to do with it, the masses that will hit the myriad of roads that always inevitably lead to the doors of Area in Vauxhall, these Beyond-ers will certainly be slaves, although slaves to the rhythm of a star studded resident D.J. line-up, the billing including Steve Pitron, The Sharp Boys Paul Heron, D’Johnny, HiFi Sean, Paul Christian, The Oli & current promoter Jonny M, among a host of others across three rooms of fun that will be packed & pumping from 3 am. start to midday finish. Indeed it is to Jonny that we look to in giving us a flavour of what to expect from this “Britannia” bash, he having told us to “…expect trademark production, cutting edge laser shows, stunning go-go boys and the most pumping music & atmosphere you will find anywhere in London…”, Jonny going on to remark of Beyond’s status as London’s number one afterhours party, “…it’s a unique combination, some aspects of which are difficult to quantify. There’s an energy, an atmosphere & a feeling which is completely unrivalled. There’s something about the afterhours times, where everyone is really letting go & embracing the party as well as the music, the lights & the incredible venue that is Area…” he rounding off his take on Beyond by saying, “…it has to be experienced to be believed…”. And even for full on fans like us who tread the Beyond boards virtually every week, we can only concur with Mr Marsh in all respects, this brilliant brand somehow managing to entice & enchant exceptionally with every event, Sunday sure to deliver a decisive delectation that will floor the competition & thrill its followers. So what of the detail & of the music?, Well to the detail first and having settled into its new timing slot, Beyond now starts at 3 a.m. each Sunday morning, so while billed as a Saturday event in the popular press, it is firmly in the Sunday bracket in our books, this “Britannia” event part of a prolific “Diamond Ticket” package that, for just £30, will have already gained you access to WE’s “Fast Food” event & will ensure you lap up as much milk as you can handle at Matinee’s “La Leche” party on Sunday evening, tickets available online by going to http://orangenation.clubtickets.com/gb/2012-06/02/the-diamond-ticket-jubilee-bank-holiday-weekend-2012, while if beyond is your only Diamond Jubilee destination of the three, then advance tickets are priced at £12 & are available online as well as at the usual Soho outlets of Prowler, Clone Zone & 50, plus over the bar at Compton’s too, while you can pay on the door, although expect to fork out more. And talking of doors, dare we once again remind you that they open at 3 a.m., although we suspect the main procession of party heads will gather from 6 a.m. onwards, this “Britannia” bash running through to a planned midday finish, the door ably managed by the terrific team of Tom Fuller & JJ Clark, while the clubs promoter Jonny Marsh will be on hand inside, no doubt armed with his anti tweeting broom in a vain attempt to stop us nibble size tweeting from our spot, our live transmissions form Beyond already having reached iconic status, so well worth watching at http://twitter.com/discomatt. As for the music, well in truth you need to experience it live, although there can be no better way to warm up that checking out the following podcasts, each of the three giving you a thrilling flavour of what to expect from the residents stars that will be performing on Sunday, so http://stevepitronsessions.podomatic.com/entry/2012-01-18T00_07_36-08_00, http://theoli.podomatic.com/entry/2012-05-19T11_12_41-07_00, & http://djohnny.podomatic.com/entry/2012-02-14T05_46_41-08_00, enough said, well apart from ensuring that come Sunday morning you “Go There! Be There!” (DISCO MATT)
Born in 1940, Wangari Maathai is a Kenyan ecologist and environmental activist who founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, causing the media to depict her as a latter-day Johnny Appleseed who has planted millions of trees in Africa. (The Green Belt Movement has been responsible for the planting of more than 10 million trees to prevent soil erosion and provide a source of firewood.) As a member of the Green Belt Movement, Maathai has led sub-Saharan African women in provoking sometimes-violent clashes with police. Though casting herself as a hero of the downtrodden, she has demonstrated against peasants’ economic interests. When Kenyan autocratic leader Daniel arap Moi wanted to revive the nation’s dead economy by building the world’s largest skyscraper in the capital, her riotous actions dried up investment. Later, she led a protest to prevent “small-scale farming” on African forestland and called farmers “invaders” who were guilty of “rape.” In 1992, she and the women in her Green Belt Movement foreshadowed contemporary Western antiwar demonstrators by staging a public strip-in. In 2004 she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in “human rights” and “reversing deforestation across Africa.” When Maathai was awarded her Nobel Prize, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan paid her a glowing tribute: Maathai is also an anti-white, anti-Western crusader for international socialism. She charges that “some sadistic [white] scientists” created the AIDS virus “to punish blacks” and, ultimately, “to wipe out the black race.” Maathai continues: “Renowned and admired throughout her native Kenya and across Africa for her pioneering struggle against deforestation and for women’s rights and democracy, Ms. Maathai has also played an important role at UN conferences such as the Earth Summit, making an imprint on the global quest for sustainable development.... Selfless and steadfast, Ms. Maathai has been a champion of the environment, of women, of Africa, and of anyone concerned about our future security.” “Some say that AIDS came from the monkeys, and I doubt that, because we have been living with monkeys [since] time immemorial; others say it was a curse from God, but I say it cannot be that.... Us black people are dying more than any other people in this planet. It’s true that there are some people who create agents to wipe out other people.” “Why is the rest of the world just watching,” Maathai asks, “doing nothing while Africans are being wiped out? The rest of the world has abandoned us.” There is, of course, a very real genocide throughout sub-Saharan Africa, as Muslim Arabs murder indigenous black Christians and animists, 100,000 in Darfur alone. The repeated rape of young black boys by Arabs is now commonplace. These scenes first played out during the genocide in Rwanda, which began early in the Clinton administration, and have been seen all over the sub-continent for a decade. Maathai addressed this brutality at the World Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995, where she blamed it on Western capitalists. She claims that Western governments laid the groundwork for present slaughter during the Cold War. “The carnage goes on in Somalia, Rwanda, Liberia and in the streets of many cities,” she says. “People of Africa continue to be sacrificed so that some factories may stay open, earn capital and save jobs.” Thus in Maathai’s view, Arab genocide is the fault of wealthy whites. Maathai has courted global socialism through her long association with the United Nations’ environmentalist agenda. She was a member of the Commission on Global Governance (CGG), founded in 1992 at the suggestion of former West German Chancellor and socialist Willy Brandt. Maathai worked on the CGG alongside Maurice Strong, Jimmy Carter, and Robert McNamara. The group’s manifesto, “Our Global Neighborhood,” calls for a dramatic reordering of the world’s political power – and redistribution of the world’s wealth. Most importantly, the CGG’s proposals would phase out America’s veto in the Security Council. At the same time, the CGG would increase UN authority over member nations, declaring, “All member-states of the UN that have not already done so should accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the World Court.” It asks the UN to prevail upon member governments to enact proposals made by wide NGOs – such as the Green Belt Movement. “Our Global Neighborhood” also suggested creating a 10,000-man “UN Volunteer Force” to be deployed at the UN’s approval on infinite peacekeeping missions everywhere (except Iraq). Maathai currently acts as a commissioner for the Earth Charter, along with the aforementioned Maurice Strong, Mikhail Gorbachev and Steven Rockefeller. She is also on the Earth Charter’s Steering Committee. In addition to calling for sharing the “benefits of development . . . equitably,” the Earth Charter calls on international bodies to “Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.” Another Charter provision would disarm the entire world and use the money previously allocated for national defense to restore the environment. Additionally, the Earth Charter worries about the “unprecedented rise in human population,” and demands “universal access to health care.” Maathai earned her biology degree from Mount St. Scholastica College in Kansas and a Master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh. She later returned to Kenya and worked in veterinary medical research at the University of Nairobi, eventually earning a Ph.D. there and becoming head of the veterinary medicine faculty.
Miller, D (1994) Modernity, an ethnographic approach. Berg Publishers Full text not available from this repository. From cultural studies, sociology, media studies, gender studies and elsewhere there have been a spate of books recently which have attempted to characterize ... \|Title:\|\|Modernity, an ethnographic approach\| \|UCL classification:\|\|UCL > School of Arts and Social Sciences > Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences > Anthropology\| Archive Staff Only: edit this record
2012-04-23 17:41 - last edited on 2012-04-23 19:28 by John_Tesla i had bought nokia c6-00 on september 15 2011 and after two weaks or so i started getting problems such a s memory full,H.S hangs,apllication not getting open.Since i had to answer my exams then i couldnt submit my cell that time only. So i gavemy cell to the nokia care in january.They flashed my cell thrice before sending it to the head office i.e i had the same problem even after flashing the cell. So even after giving it to the head office i was getting the same problems.They did a replacement of my cell 4 times till then and still i had the same problem. I asked them to give me another model or just give me my money back i.e the amount of Rs 12,000/- . But they said they dont have any such policies. So for me the final option is to do a consumer complaint since am just fed up with your pathetic service. Nokia being such a big multinational company cant even serve their customers well.So either youll take action soon or ill just hav to do a complaint which will be bad for your markets. imei's of my cells please give me a refund if you can since for 3 months my cell is with you all and you wont even extend it you'll will just say "WE DONT HAVE ANY SUCH POLICY". MODERATORS NOTE: IMEI numbers have been removed. Sharing of personal information is not allowed on public forums. Please do not share sensitive or personal information as it could threaten your personal security. 2012-04-24 14:53 - edited 2012-04-24 14:55 Welcome to the Nokia Forums. When you are receiving your new handsets are you restoring all your old media files and documents onto your new device from an old backup? It sounds as if you have some kind of bug or virus that you must have received at some point before you created a back up, causing your phone to hang,. I suggest installing a security application on your phone to see if it can find any malicious files. If this is not the case and you have not been restoring from a back up, I suggest performing a hard reset on your device using the code #7370# security code by default would be 12345 if prompted, only restore your contact information and essential applications and see if the phone continues to mal function. I will send you a PM regarding further actions you can take if you should wish to make a complaint about the service. I hope this has helped! Have you tried reinstalling the phone software in Nokia Suite rather than performing a hard reset? You may need to reinstall the operating system. the nokia care have flashed the mobile so many times. Still i have the same problem. i have tried everything from my side. i hav browsed the net for all types of suggestion and tried all suggestions. Sorry to hear your device is not working as you'd like/it should. I would suggest you contact your local Nokia Care, explain to them the situation and ask for Nokia Care management to pick up this case. They should be able to assist you further. Let us know how you get on ! Press the 'Accept As Solution' icon if I have solved your problem, click on the Star Icon below if my advice has helped you! One thing I can for sure is that Mr. adnan_phoenix's case is NOT an isolated one. I too have faced several problems with this model viz. hanging, automatic restart, touch/call key malfunctioning, etc. I had even hard resetted my phone and I must admit that it did solve the problem of hanging to some extent but at the expense of the speaker volume i.e. the sound volume of the speaker has decreased considerably after the reset which is quite strange! With the amount of money Nokia has charged for this phone, I think Nokia SHOULD provide means to get the RAM (128MB) of this phone replaced with a larger one to do away with most of the problems. Even cheap phones of other brands support multi apps and that too good ones but sorry to say C6 sucks on this count. Leave alone the OS, even the calling button & menu button stop functioning at times! 2012-05-02 10:32 - edited 2012-05-02 10:36 Same goes here. Right now what I have for Nokia is utter frustration. I bought my C6-00 in October, 2010. From the day 1, it is a bleep* with its buggy firmware which hanged a lot. I gave this phone to nokia customer care for 3 times. After 6 months of waiting, I got a stable firmware which was at least not hanging, though it was always slow like hell. A few days ago (3 or 4), suddenly the touch screen stopped functioning. Better to say, it hanged so badly that touch screen barely works, in fact keypad also doesn't work 80% of the time. No way to resume except taking the battery out (or pressing the OFF button, if keypad works!). I have tried everything- 1) Soft Reset 2) Hard Reset 3) Both of the time without Memory card 4) Without backing up anything (even not backing up contact list). 5) Though major portion of the phone memory was free, still I installed maximum apps that reside within phone memory. 6) Cleared cache and temp through Y-browser and my phone memory is almost 220 MB free One more thing I like to add- Software Version: v 42.0.004 Custom Version: 42.0.004.C01.01 I have made a complain to Nokia help over twitter. As per their initial response latest software version is 40.0.021, logically which sounds a newer one than mine. I have tried to update the version but it says no update is available. I am quite frustrated, just like many other people here, I was a die hard nokia fan. But with great sorrow I am observing that nokia is being kicked out from smart phone arena. A buggy phone like C6-00 is not even worthy of it's 1/4th price. Seriously, I am feeling like kind of cheated with this phone.period. I tried everything. There is no progress. My warranty is finished, but honestly I don't EXPECT a expensive set like C6-00 to expire so soon. From all the complains in this forum, it's clearly a firmware+memory issue. I would really appreciate and be thankful if you can help me to get out of this bleep.
Daniel Terdiman ranks the poll-collecting mathletes: Silver wasn't the only one to do exceptionally well in the prediction department. In fact, each of the five aggregators that CNET surveyed yesterday — FiveThirtyEight, TPM PollTracker, HuffPost Pollster, the RealClearPolitics Average, and the Princeton Election Consortium — successfully called the election for Obama, and save for TPM PollTracker and RealClearPolitics handing Florida to Romney, the aggregators were spot on across the board when it came to picking swing state victors. But, overall, Silver still reigns supreme: In addition to picking the winner in all 50 states — besting his 49 out of 50 slate in 2008 — Silver was also the closest among the aggregators to picking the two candidates' popular vote percentages. All told, he missed Obama's total of 50.8 percent by just four-tenths of a percentage point (50.4) and Romney's 48 percent by just three-tenths of a point (48.3) for an average miss of just 0.35 percentage points. HuffPo Pollster and RealClearPolitics tied for second with an average miss of 0.85 points.
Is it a hoax, or the holy spirit operating though the internets? Recently the Lord has begun entering the fingers of believers, causing them to “type in tongues”. Via the Christian Post: Televangelist and self-professed prophetess Juanita Bynum has sparked curiosity among internet users and the Christian community for several comments on the minister’s Facebook page where she appears to type “in tongues.” Bynum’s prayer posts soon caught the attention of the media, with one reporter at a spirituality website speculating that the minister was communicating “in tongues.” On one prayer post, visitor Cindy McCraw commented, expressing her agreement. “I believe it’s tongues (holy spirit). It’s called praying in the Spirit,” McCraw wrote.
Read our apology letter to Jezebel here. I posted about “Pooh Sized” Disney World guests the other day, and I did it very cautiously. I didn’t want to offend heavy people, and I still don’t. But now that I think about it, my distaste for the word “pooh sized” and my shock over the immense number of obese people in Disney World is a fact that I shouldn’t be ashamed in admitting. Listen, I love it when people celebrate their bodies and all that. But there is nothing cute about being morbidly obese. I am so glad that Disney accommodates people who are overweight (some parks don’t.) I want everyone to be able to ride Space Mountain and The Haunted Mansion. But let’s call it what it is. If you’re 5’5″ and weigh 200 pounds, you are obese. You might have high blood pressure or cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, respiratory problems, gout, reproductive complications, bladder control issues, or psychological disorders or other serious conditions. That’s not cute, it’s scary. This isn’t new news, but it is crazy news. From calorielab.com: In the original Anaheim Disneyland it may be a Small World after all, but that world’s inhabitants are getting bigger and heavier almost by the day, so much so that some of the rides may have to be re-engineered. The problem, quite simply, is that the flume that the boats ride in, and the boats themselves, were designed and built in 1963 on the assumption that the male adult riders would average 175 pounds and the women about 135, which they pretty much did at the time. The ride now must accommodate adults who frequently weigh north of 200 pounds, which it often cannot do. Increasingly, overweighted boats get to certain points in the ride and bottom out, becoming stuck in the flume. In a corner of Tomorrowland that you’d miss if you weren’t looking for it there’s an old classic called “Carousel of Progress”. If you love Disney this is not news to you, but when was the last time you saw the show? It was personally created by Walt Disney for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair and the rotating theater tells the story of the evolution of technology in the 20th century. It’s lame and bordering on “so bad it’s good”, but I love it. The dad is a goofball that talks in clichés about his family and the last scene – the “modern scene” needs a serious update. It’s obvious that they are losing interest in it because the seats in the theater are falling apart and the carpet is worn. Compared to the newer attractions it might seem silly but you can’t really compare it to the newer attractions. It’s Disney history – think of it as a museum. It’s a glimpse of old timey Disney, of Walt himself. Don’t let it die! Go on your next visit so that they don’t do anything crazy, like retire it. The entire attraction has been upgraded, even the queue, and it’s 3D courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic. It sounds great, but I’ll bet it still makes me feel like puking. He looks friendly enough, but don't cross him. Here’s something the guide books don’t warn you about – monorail drivers don’t put up with any shenanigans. Once when I was returning by myself from the Magic Kingdom to the Polynesian Resort I was alone in a car with a dad and his 8 or 9-year-old daughter. We were just about to pull into the transportation and ticket center and we stopped – just short of the platform. For a couple of minutes nothing happened and then the loudspeaker came on. A scratchy, undecipherable voice was telling us something that sounded like, “Can I have your attention please, the monorail crackle, crackle, crackle so please don’t crackle crackle crackle and don’t crackle crackle crackle thank you.” The dad and I looked at each other; “What did he just say?” Was it maintenance? A break down? A terrorist attack? Continue reading It’s the little things that make Disney World so great, wouldn’t you agree? I love Disney rides and the food and fireworks, but what I really love is watching creepy dads watch the belly dancer in EPCOT’s Morocco. I’m home, and laughing to myself a little when I’m explaining to people that we didn’t go into the Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom even once the whole time we were at Walt Disney World. We watched the fireworks over the castle from the California Grill on the roof of the Contemporary Resort, but that was it. What did we do? For one thing, we went to “The American Idol Experience” at Disney Hollywood Studios three times – well, I did. Lauren went twice. I’m a little obsessed with it now, and I’m kind of dying to see if any of the winners we saw will ever make it to the real show. Continue reading I was just telling Lauren how gross it was when women like me didn’t act their ages, and then Davy Jones made me eat my word. Last night at EPCOT’s America’s Garden Theater I was dancing, blowing kisses to him and singing like a drunken sailor to “Daydream Believer” and “I’m a Believer” along with a crowd of others like me reliving their long ago youth. Davy was there as part of the Flower and Garden Festival’s Flower Power Concert Series and he reminded us that his TV show “The Monkees” was on 45 years ago! I was in grade school, just so you know, and Davy was my first crush. On the show he was the one that all the girls fell in love with (Mike was the smart one, Mickey the silly one, Peter the dumb one and Davy the cute one). I’ve read that only Mike actually knew how to play a musical instrument when the show started, and the others were just faking it but it was wildly popular. He’ll be back tonight and tomorrow night ladies, so come out to EPCOT and “do the monkey” – the dance, not the Monkee. In 1996 I was in sixth grade and new to the Walt Disney World scene, and my mom sent for the free promotional video before one of our trips. It quickly became the most watched thing in our video casette library. I begged to watch it over and over, every day. I didn’t know what promotion meant, I just thought this was an awesome video that was getting me even more exciting about going to Disney World. I was a marketer’s dream. How exciting that I can watch this video once more, as a full blown adult. It’s split into three parts, below. Make sure to catch the ridiculously 80′s moment at 1:53 and the ridiculously adorable moment at 2:05 in the first video: Word on the street is, with the Magic Kingdom renovation comes another set of flying Dumbos. And this is a genius idea. The Dumbo Ride is iconic for many reasons–it’s been around since 1971, it takes you soaring over theMagicKingdom, and since there are no height requirements, it’s good for everyone. If you wanted a photo opp, this might be the ride you’d want to be seen on.
\|Tom often arranges for pals to suck on the public teat\| Endgame Begins for Public Administrator John Williams (Voice of OC) “Voice of OC first reported the private negotiations in early February after a private attorney hired to review Williams' operations concluded he was incompetent and exposing the county to liability, according to those who have been briefed on the report, which was never put in writing….” —I wanna hear from John's mentor and handler, Tom Fuentes. Where are you Tom? Got anything at all to say? Please tell us why you do the things you do. Tell us about your network of creeps, past and present. Why, Tom? Why? At long last: What's it all about?
Friday, May 7th, 2010 It has been said that Shakespeare drew his inspiration for many plays from classic Greek dramas. If he were alive today, I don’t think there would be any shortage of inspiration for new projects! Of course, the situation in Greece has been front page news this week and it has created some choppy waters for investors (it was another volatile day on the markets yesterday – but that was apparently caused by a trading error). Amid the headlines, and the increased market volatility, we thought it might be helpful to take a look at how the sovereign debt situation has evolved and why it is causing so much noise (and by extension, investor anxiety). Each day, there seems to be a new take on the story and many of the headlines have been conflicting. For example, consider the following: - Two EU Ministers: No Bailout for Greece – Wall Street Journal (Jan 18) - Merkel Says Greece Doesn’t Need Financial Support – Dow Jones (Mar 22) - Fears rise that Greece is days from defaulting – Associated Press (Apr 12) - Greece begins talks on details of IMF aid deal – Reuters (Apr 22) - EU: Greece loan package coming soon but worries persist – Globe (Apr 30) - Greece swallows tough medicine in bailout – Globe (May 3) - Analysts like Greek bank despite nation’s woes – Bloomberg (May 4) However, as is often the case when it comes to complex issues, there’s usually more to the story than meets the eye. The situation in Europe is complicated and very volatile and many investment management teams are monitoring new developments closely. Also, amid the noise, it should be noted that there have been other developments that, while not front page news, are noteworthy nonetheless from an investment standpoint. For example, the U.S. dollar has strengthened which has benefited U.S. dollar denominated investments, and global bond spreads have widened, creating potential investment opportunities. Another important note is that many of our favorite dividend growth stocks have returned to profitability. Regardless of the happenings in the world economy, when our dividend growth stocks are making money, we will be rewarded accordingly… But, it will take faith in our philosophy and time for the markets to catch up to us . Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 The importance of global diversification is often discussed as important as an investor in today’s global economy, and with the MSCI World Index and EAFE (Europe, Australasia and Far East) Index both up about 27% in U.S. dollar terms in 2009, that message remains important. However, over the past few years, we’ve been reminded of the great investment opportunities in Canada. More Than Just Resources Canada has not gone unnoticed by investors abroad. A report last week indicated that Canada has benefited from record net inflows of foreign investment in Canadian securities. By extension, demand for the loonie has also increased, and this is one of the reasons why the Canadian dollar currently sits near parity with its U.S. counterpart. Foreign investors purchased $109 billion worth of Canadian securities in 2009, and another $11.8 billion in the first month of 2010. They were particularly keen on Canadian corporate bonds in 2009, purchasing nearly 80% of net new corporate issues. Meanwhile, Canadian investors were noticeably more conservative – nearly all bonds issued or backed by the Government of Canada stayed in Canada. There are good reasons for this renewed interest in Canadian investments. Canada has a highly educated workforce, a rock-solid financial system, and one of the strongest economies in the developed world. What’s more, the Canadian stock market has delivered some of the best returns in the world over the past 10 years. (Could this be a warning sign though?) All of these points underscore the importance of having Canadian exposure as a core holding in a well diversified portfolio. Friday, December 19th, 2008 We’ve recently come to recognize the herd mentality that’s been corralling the minds of retail investors and how this has led to a ‘bubble’ in U.S. Treasuries. This phenomenon reflects the extreme risk aversion that’s moving the markets these days and how people are more focused on return of investment than return on investment. Even though the yield on Treasuries is at historically low levels, investors are willing to sacrifice the returns they need for the sense of security they want. Unfortunately, this fixation with ‘safe’ assets doesn’t make much sense within the context of long-term goals. Let us now look at the other side of the Treasuries phenomenon. In their quest for certainty, many investors may be unwittingly ignoring dividend yields on stocks, which have become more compelling as a result of the downturn in global markets. The Dividend Yield As dividend investors, we have recently noticed that the dividend yield on the S&P 500 Index is greater than the yield on U.S. Treasury bonds for the first time in 50 years! Case in point, the dividend yield on the S&P 500 as of the end of November was about 3% versus the yield on the 10-year Treasury which today, is about 2% (the 2-year Treasury is yielding about 0.70%). What’s more, this isn’t just a U.S. phenomenon. In Europe, the yield on stocks also currently exceeds the yield on government bonds. Of course, dividends are a key part of total returns (price appreciation plus investment income, including dividends). The fact that dividend yields are high relative to Treasury yields right now makes the case for dividend-paying companies that much more compelling. If we look back to the period between 1974 and 1982, the performance of the S&P 500 was sluggish on a price return basis. But if you look at what happened as markets began to recover, including dividends in the returns that investors earned as they emerged from a period of economic uncertainty and capital market weakness (i.e. looking at total return) made a significant difference. Herding To Safety Today, the desire for safety runs the risk of driving ‘the herd’ off the edge of the proverbial cliff as people abandon their long-term goals in favor of short-term stability. But despite what the headlines might suggest, the world isn’t two- dimensional. That is to say it’s not just risky assets or safe assets. To see the total picture, including why dividends need to be a key consideration in the investment process, is a starting point to having better, more robust conversations in today’s uncertain environment.
Our weather has finally turned cool. Forty four degrees this morning and I love it. We experienced fairly high winds yesterday with the result of lost power - at least where I live. So, I cooked dinner by lamp light. It pays to limit your dependence upon electrical power. Business is good which limits my time on-line. Hopefully I'll find a few moments later this afternoon to write and post, but please understand when one is self-employed and the opportunity presents itself one must stuff as many dollars in the mattress as possible...after all, I've democritters to support. Until then, please, take care out there.
Based on your description, I "see" the ceiling cut out, a resin disc screwed to the joist. The disc has two or more empty holes that correspond to the device mounting holes in a standard octagonal junction box. Then there's a length of romex cable just hanging loose to which you're supposed to connect the fan. If your fan's installation instructions indicate some part of the fan can be used to make connections, such as the ceiling canopy, you may be in luck. Make the connections there. More than likely, they'll assume you are providing a junction box in the ceiling. First ensure the fan's mounting kit is compatible with your resin plate. You'll need to get the wires from the down pipe, through the plate and into a nearby junction box you will install. The fan wires need to be long enough that there's at least 6 extra inches after running into the box. They must not bind against anything. You'll need an old work box, a blank cover plate, some wire nuts (may be part of the fan kit), a short length of 1/2" flex conduit, a flex to box connector, and a plastic conduit bushing to protect the wire insulation where it goes into the conduit above the fan. You'll also need a romex to box connector if the box does not have them built in. Any wire running in a concealed structural space needs to be in conduit or non-metallic cable (romex), or a few other less common options. You install an old work box by cutting the proper sized and shaped hole in the ceiling in a place where the box will not hit anything above the ceiling but is close to the resin plate on which the fan will be mounted. Do not install the box at this time, I'm explaining what will happen, but there's other things to do first. You would place the box in the hole, the box's flange keeps it from being pushed through. A couple retaining tabs are turned with a screwdriver so that the box will no longer be able to be pulled out. If the romex cable is not attached nearby to a joist, you'll need to do so through the box hole. Locate the hole so it's close enough to do this, but not so close the wire is kinked or crimped after the box is installed. Remove an appropriate knock out in the box to connect the conduit. You can cut or drill a hole if need be. After securing the romex, feed it into the box. Feed the attached conduit through the hole and back out through the resin plate. It can be routed next to the plate as long as the fan ceiling canopy fitting will cover it. Or cut a hole in the plate if need be. Install the box and cut the conduit to length at the resin plate. Install the protective bushing. Install the fan on the resin plate. Push the fan wires through the conduit at the resin plate and into the box and make the connections. Install the fan ceiling canopy and box cover plate.
After a 3-1 week including a series win against Arkansas, Ole Miss has climbed four spots to No. 18 in this week's release of the Baseball America Top 25. Arkansas, which was No. 17 last week, dropped four spots to No. 21. All of Ole Miss' week was against the SEC. The Rebels defeated Mississippi State 6-3 in the Governor's Cup last Tuesday. Ole Miss plays at Memphis tomorrow at AutoZone Park and travels to face MSU in the SEC series this weekend.
Sheriff Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan says Wayne Thurman Harris of Slate Springs and Chris McGonagill of Calhoun City got into an argument at a Jan. 10 cookout and both of them fired guns. Both were wounded, McGonagill fatally. Pollan tells The Clarion-Ledger that he will talk with Harris when the man is released from a Tupelo hospital — either Tuesday or Wednesday. No charges have been filed. Harris received a full and unconditional pardon from Gov. Haley Barbour on Jan. 10, 2012, after serving a sentence for selling marijuana.
About a year ago I bought a book called Critical Choices that Change Lives: How Heroes Turn Tragedy into Triumph. The author, Daniel R. Castro, is a motivational speaker, and a very good one. He’s got dozens—maybe even hundreds—of stories about people who did amazing things. The front cover of Critical Choices has 30 or 40 names of people whose stories made it into the book: Lance Armstrong, Beethoven, Einstein, Edison, Walt Disney, Jerry Seinfeld, and the list goes on. It’s got an amazing tale of a woman in San Antonio who, desperate for money, offered to take her neighbor’s trash to the dump; and when that neighbor told his friends, within a few months she had to buy a truck to start hauling all the trash; and then a few years after that, her bid won the city’s new waste management contract. The stories are incredibly inspirational. And they’re organized around principles for success: ”It’s How You See, not What You See” and “Heroes Do More than Just Face their Fears.” These principles are very perceptive, and the anecdotes that illustrate them are marvelous. Why, then, is my bookmark still stuck, a year after I bought the book, on page 61 (of 205)? Because for all the things the book has going for it, what it doesn’t have is any practical value whatsoever. The critical flaw of Critical Choices that Change Lives is the fact that it doesn’t tell you how to do anything. Okay, great, heroes can see the right path. So what? How do I see the right path? How do I face my fears? What are some things I can actually do to impact my life for the better. The great nonfiction classics, for the most part, are chock full of doings. Swim with the Sharks Without Getting Eaten Alive by Harvey Mackay is a great example. One of the best books ever written on business growth and success, every single one of the hundred or so chapters describes a specific action the reader can take in order to improve their sales or management skills. You could spend years implementing everything he discusses in that book, and then your entire lifetime mastering it. In Kick-Starting Your Nonfiction Book, we call this “How to Do Something.” And in business books, it’s generally pretty well understood that this is an important component. The thing is, this is also one of the best things a memoir author can do for his book: create a way for readers to learn from the author’s mistakes. After all, a good story is just a good story, but if you learn something for yourself, it becomes that much more valuable. How to Build a How-To - Know What You Want People to Get from Reading Your Book, and then Ask Yourself if the Reader Is Getting it. If you don’t know what you want people to come away with, you’ve shot yourself in the foot before you’ve even come out of the gate. If you do know, ask yourself constantly if you’re producing that result. If you’re not producing that result, why not? What’s missing, that if there, would make a differencee? - Check for Ws, Hs, and the Being/Doing/Having. Most memoir writers want their life experiences to inform other people. They want people to know how to get through this circumstance that they, themselves, had to deal with. Sometimes, just knowing there’s someone else out there who’s been through the same thing is enough, but as the author you can always do more to help them along. The trick here is to include every piece of the puzzle – the who, what, when, where, why, and how, making sure you also include how you were being (before, during and after), what you did, and the result it produced. Then people can follow your lead and reasonably expect similar results. - Look at as Many Examples As Possible. Good to Great by Jim Collins is successful because of the level of research Collins and his fellow researchers did. They picked the people they would interview, and they asked the same questions of all of them. If you look at 10 people who, for example, had an idea hit them seemingly out of nowhere, ask them what they were doing right before the idea hit them. Ask them what they did immediately after. Do ideas often hit them? What do they usually do? If you ask these same questions of enough people, sooner or later you’ll start to see the same things showing up, and “implementation techniques” will start coming to you. - Keep Asking “How Did/Do You Do This?” What Dan Castro might have done is include fewer stories and instead just look deeper into each one. The person who looked out her window and saw the person’s trash—how do we turn that into a “doing” that can help other people? Maybe you should get in the practice of asking yourself 5 times a day what opportunities you see in front of you; maybe when you notice you just had an idea, write it down. But for each example of success, look deeper into the source of that person’s success and ask “How” that person got there, and it’ll jog ideas. - Start A List. When I started this list, I had one item to put on it. But the act of creating the list gave me more ideas for things to put on it. These are just a few ideas to get you going. What’s important is that you include some kind of action for people to take to produce the result you’re looking for. This and other strategies for nonfiction book writing success in Kick-Starting Your Nonfiction Book on Tuesday, October 26th from 1:00-5:00 PM. Register today for $20 off (use coupon code “special” at checkout).
My Life Is Now Complete If there was ever an image I'd get tattooed to the inside of my eye lids, this would be it. It's the forever glamorous Detective La Toya Jackson and the forever gorgeous La Duquesa de Alba sharing the same frame at the International Horse Fair in Sevilla, Spain yesterday!!! This is like watching a unicorn catch a falling star in its mouth. Now the words "beauty" and "magic" know where to go when they need a shot of inspiration. You might already be on your knees worshiping this picture while listening to this post via Microsoft Sam. If that's the case, keep bowing! While you do that, I'm going to call my optometrist to ask if he can stain glass this piece of photographic art to my contact lenses.
This is not right. A big pile of fish sticks and the biggest one of them all is nowhere to be seen? If you're going to get a bitch to promote fish sticks, there's only ho you should ask. Those shady fish sticks lying on that plate are two-faced bitches. How dare they betray their queen. I feel bad for her. Anyfishy, David Beckham was at Wembley Stadium in London today to promote a new line of healthier frozen shit called GO3. The shit is supposed to be good for you because it's made with omega-3 fish oil. The line will carry fried fish dicks, pasta and other crap. I'm no health freak, nor do I pretend to be, but fish sticks aren't the healthiest thing around. Right? If they are, then I should eat more of those things, because they taste delicious. Shut the hell up! They do! Put a couple of fish sticks in a corn tortilla, nuke that shit, squeeze some mayo on it and you have yourself a delicious ghetto fish taco. Here's more of Becks, his busted teeth and a bunch of kids at Wembley today. I also threw in some pictures of Fishsticks Paltrow looking weepy on the streets of London yesterday. She must know about the betrayal. Fishsticks Paltrow is so full of shit, I mean, tartar sauce. Fishy claims she just can't diet! She tells Oprah, in an episode airing today, that she would rather work her bony ass out than keep track of what goes down her fish hole. She said: "I just cannot diet. "I think maybe it's the idea that you can't have something ... I just can't do it. It's worth it to me to do that extra exercise so I can eat what I want and not think about it." Fishy also said that she had trouble losing "the extra 20 pounds she gained" after giving birth to Moses. 20 pounds?! This bitch has made an art form out of annoying the fuck out of me. I was under the impression that she only ate organic bird seed and grass reeds. It's nice to know that when she wants a second helping of sun-dried artichoke leaves and butternut squash diarrhea, she just goes for it. Good for you, Fishy. Live it up! Fishy is on Oprah today to promote her cooking show with Mario Batali. The two traveled through Spain eating shit. Well, he ate a bunch of stuff and she probably just nibbled on her flaxseed cracker. Oh look. It's pictures of Fishsticks Paltrow without any paint on her face. Not bad, not bad. Actually, this is exactly how I prefer my Fishsticks. Greasy, organic and smug. If only I had a small bowl of tartar sauce. I could also spend my entire afternoon playing "connect the pores" on her face. Endless hours of entertainment. Fishy showed up to some boring shit at the Hamptons over the weekend. She didn't wear make-up just so she could hear everyone tell her, "OMG Fishy! You look so gorge without make-up." Blah. Blah. Wait! Is that a glass of wine she's holding? Is that part of her daily diet of grass, wood chips and cloud water? She's in so much trouble if that isn't blueberry dirt juice. Excerpts from Christopher Ciccone's tell-all on his sister Madonna are slowly being leaked. The book is supposed to be filled with "explosive" shit from Vadge's life, but so far it sounds about as explosive as a boiled carrot. So far, the only interesting story is about Vadge and Fishsticks Paltrow tongue fucking at a party. According to Christopher, Vadge was dancing on top of a table at Donatella Versace's New Year's Eve party when she dragged Fishy up to join her. Suddenly, Vadge grabbed Fishy and kissed her on the mouth. Puke city! I'm sorry, but I do not like dried-up raisins with my fishsticks. It's surprising that Fishsticks didn't end up in the emergency room. Vadge's buff ass tongue probably knocked half of Fishy's teefs out of her mouth. Seriously, Vadge's tongue could beat Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in a boxing match. Chris Martin obviously drank too much douche water before an interview with BBC's Radio 4. Chris refuses to discuss his personal life including Fishsticks and his kids, but it sounds like he doesn't like talking about anything! The show's host asked Chris a simple question about the new album, "Did you start with the song Viva La Vida and the idea within that song of the disposed dictator looking back at his life?" Chris immediately bitched, "I'm not really enjoying this. Can I have two minutes? 'I just don't like talking about things." That's what a fucking interview is?! Did he think it was going to be a circle jerk at Disneyland?! Chris then got out of his chair and walked out leaving the interview. He probably went to call Fishsticks and cry about how he's "misunderstood." Chris finally returned to the interview, but didn't fully answer any questions. When the host asked another question about his music, Chris replied, "Um... yes... yes, yes ... exactly." In Chris' defense, you'd probably act this grouchy if you had to look at Fishy's face every single morning! Those two delusional twats love themselves way too much. This bitch needs to pull the Van de Kamp butt plug out of his ass, smile like a pretty girl and answer every question without being an ass about it. Source: OK! Magazine Fishsticks Paltrow has been everywhere promoting that "Iron Man" movie, so it was just a matter of time before someone asked her about her ex, Brad Pitt. OK! Magazine popped the question to Fishy at her movie's Hollywood premiere last night. They asked her if she had any well wishes for Brad, Angelina and their unborn chosen ones. Fishy answered, "No!" Throw that Fishy back in the water. What a grouch. Fishy is just playing it safe. She knows that if says anything slightly negative, her life would be in danger. The Brangaloonies would swoop in and skin Fishy alive. Here's Fishy wearing my mom's jumpsuit from the 70s last night. That jumpsuit is making it look like her crotch is in her stomach. Fishsticks Paltrow told Vogue Magazine (via Us) that after she suffered from post-partum depression after giving birth to Moses. She was probably feeling guilty for naming the poor kid, Moses. Rightly so. Fishy said, “I didn’t know I had it until after it was over. I just didn’t know what was wrong with me. I felt really out of my body. I felt really disconnected. I felt really down ... I felt pessimistic.” That's the way I feel every fucking day, Fishy! It's called not being rich and famous. Most of the "regular people" of the world feel that way. That's why we booze, watch reality TV and have sex with strangers. Fishy thinks the depression came, because she had to scale back on pre-baby shit like acupuncture. This bitch is into acupuncture? She needs to come visit me. I'll gladly stick needles in her ass. It will help us both out. Here's some pictures of Fishy hanging her head in shame while going to the gym with Madonna. Just two British ladies on their way to afternoon tea. Cheerio! Madonna recently said that her hubby, Guy Ritchie, went on the cookie diet which made him not want to do sexy times with her. COOKIE DIET?! It's not as good as it sounds. I mean, I'm already on the fucking cookie diet and I haven't lost any weight. My cookie diet involves eating as many boxes as you can in one day. The real cookie diet sucks. You eat one meal per day and that's dinner. You eat up to six cookies per day when you're feeling hungry. Six cookies plus one meal of chicken or fish equals 800 calories. If you can only eat 6 cookies in one day, you have major issues. Madonna said, "My husband went on that cookie diet and it was such a turn-off because he didn't want to have sex. He's not on it anymore, thank god! He did lose weight but he didn't really need to lose that much weight. I think he did it because all his friends were doing it and he wanted to see if he could do it." Something tells me Guy only went on the cookie diet to avoid having to eat Madge's cookie. Here's some pics of Vadge with the other fake Brit, Fishsticks, going to the gym together. Fishsticks Paltrow was at a Breast Cancer Research event last night in NYC when she was asked about attending BeyBey's wedding to Jay-Z. The lying fishy answered, "What wedding? I was watching a movie on Friday night." I can tell when Fishy lies. Her face scrunches up like a frigid, constipated trout. Oh, that's her regular face. Here's more pics of Fishy looking like her mother's older sister last night with Liz Hurley. I also threw in a nearly perfect Padma Lakshmi. Ashton Kutcher's 30th Birthday party at Socialista in NYC might have become a party for Hep instead! The New York City Health Department announced that a bartender at the joint tested positive for Hepatitis A. The bartender only worked three nights and one of those nights was February 7th, Ashton's Birthday party. The bartender also worked on the 8th and 11th. The Health Dept. has asked that everyone who attended the party get vaccinated right away. Guests at Ashton's party included, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Madonna, Lucy Liu, Gwyneth Paltrow, Liv Tyler, Eric Dane, Rebecca Gayheart, Salma Hayek and Roberto Cavalli. Hep A is less serious form of Hep and will usually keep you in bed for a couple of weeks, but you won't die. The bartender reportedly caught it on a recent trip to Honduras. A celebrity Hep scare and Paris Hilton isn't to blame?! She must be kind of bummed. This is why it's so hard to eat delicious snacks at a bar. I'm so afraid of catching Hep A, but I can't help it. The snacks are so tasty even if they have a coating of Hep! That's probably what keeps them crunchy. Source - Image: INFDaily.com
Bulletin ID: No. 11 - 30-Business-Day Authorization Request Rule I. Policy Decision: Temporary Suspension of the 30-Business-Day Authorization Request Rule After careful deliberation the Department of Mental Health has determined that it will temporarily suspend the 30-Business-Day Authorization Request Rule. This rule requires a provider to submit an authorization request in the eCURA system 30 business days after the first contact with a consumer or; in the case of ongoing services, the authorization request must be submitted within 30 days of the expired authorization. The temporary suspension of the 30-Business-Day Authorization Request Rule will start immediately and end on December 31, 2006 and covers all FY2006 authorization requests. Please note that this temporary suspension of the 30-Business-Day Authorization Request Rule does not change the providers’ requirement to complete the IRP / IPC and ISSP (the treatment plan) within 30 days as outlined in the Mental Health Rehabilitation Standards, Section 3408: IRP / IPC Development and Implementation, paragraph 3408.2 and DMH Provider Manual, Section 9.0 Service Authorization, Paragraph 9.3 IRP / IPC Development. In addition, this temporary suspension of the 30-Business-Day Authorization Request does not alleviate providers’ responsibility to obtain prior authorizations for ACT, CBI, IDT, and Rehabilitation Day services and reauthorization for counseling services beyond 160 units. As part of its utilization review function, the Department of Mental Health plans to contract with an external utilization review firm and will ask said firm to among other things audit providers’ compliance with aforementioned standard to assure compliance, especially during this relaxation period.
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index] Re: Walking dromaeosaurs > > Not to mention Dutch "Kwikstaart" (Position-differing (for lack of a > > translation of this old-fashioned word) tail) > Ok, that word looks like the english "quick start", Or like German Sterz, an old word used by hunters for the tails of some animals. (German z is pronounced ts, and usually derived from t.) > It came up with "mercury tail". Isn't mercury sometimes called quicksilver, because it's silver in "color" Mmm... dinosaurs, dinosaurs... when I'll come home from my grandparents in 2 weeks, I will (or so I hope!) translate my "paper" on the results of my cladistic analysis of Mesozoic birds (the trees of which are already in the
County Conservation Area, which includes Gladstone Lake, offers a variety of recreational facilities. The 27-acre lake has a shoreline of 1.5 miles and a maximum depth of 25 feet. The area, about 20 miles southwest of Monmouth and five miles east of the Mississippi River, has a total of County Conservation Area was purchased by the state in 1961 from the C. B. & Q. Railroad. The railroad used the area to dredge sand and gravel for use in its railroad maintenance. The lake water was used for filling the trains steam engine. is one area on a hill with tables and toilets. and trailer sites are available. All campers must obtain a camping permit from the park personnel. Group camping is permitted; all groups of more than 25 persons need advance permission to enter the area. lake contains bluegill, sunfish, crappie, channel catfish, bullhead, carp and sauger. A boat launch is on the east side of the lake. Motors are not allowed; electric trolling only. skating and ice fishing are permitted on the lake when the ice is thick state sites are within easy access of every part of the state. Lodges, cabins and dining rooms are important features of Illinois Beach, Starved Rock, Pere Marquette, White Pines Forest, Giant City and Cave-In-Rock. Reservations for lodging should be made with lodge managers. - While groups of 25 or more are welcome and encouraged to use the park's facilities, they are required to register in advance with the site office to avoid crowding or scheduling - At least one responsible adult must accompany each group of 15 minors. - Pets must be kept on leashes at all times. - Actions by nature can result in closed roads and other facilities. Please call ahead to the park office before you make your trip. - We hope you enjoy your stay. Remember, take only memories, leave only footprints. - For more information on tourism in Illinois, call the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs' Bureau of Tourism at 1-800-2Connect. - Telecommunication Device for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Natural Resources Information (217) 782-9175 for TDD only Relay Number 800-526-0844.
[dnssec-deployment] AP: "Use of Rogue DNS servers on rise" Ed.Lewis at neustar.biz Mon Feb 18 02:52:03 EST 2008 At 18:31 +1100 2/18/08, Mark Andrews wrote: > DNSSEC is designed to protect to the application. Whether > it is used that way remains to be seen. No, no, it isn't. If that were true, we would have never designed message integrity mechanisms. We would have never defined the AD and When DNSSEC was designed and redesigned, it was supposed to mimic the actions of the unprotected DNS. I.e., the use of caches. Just as caches are a way to limit the times a "site" goes to a authoritative server and limits the times when nodes of the site have to go beyond the cache, DNSSEC validation was thought to be located at the caches. Just like any application can do DNS iteration, an application can do DNSSEC. But because we defined DNSSEC to be like DNS, we also then added the "last hop" mechanisms. TSIG and SIG(0) only say that the message between the stub (client) and the first responder (cache) transferred untouched. CD means "don't do DNSSEC for me" which was needed because we assumed otherwise the first responder would only return what it thought was good. (Think "clock skew" for one.) And AD means the first responder checked and according to it's policy, the data entered the If we thought that DNSSEC was protecting out to the application, we would not have put validation in the caches. We would not assume that caches were going to check. We would have dropped cache's doing validation because for a while running NTP on a DNS server was a Anytime we've tried to mission creep the intention of DNSSEC we got slapped back. (Remember SIKED BOF? See what happened when signing the root meant more than just getting the data transfers to be secure?) DNSSEC (RFC 4033-4035) is only server to server. We spent a long time dealing with the sematics of DNSSEC in user interfaces like HTML renderers. It was apparent that DNS'ers are not the best group to say what's right for applications. It would be a design mistake to have proposed an extension to DNS that would provide security to applications. The best we can do is to offer to the applications data that got to the fringes of the DNS "safely." Edward Lewis +1-571-434-5468 Mail archives, backups. Sometimes I think the true beneficiaries of standards work are the suppliers of disk drives. More information about the Dnssec-deployment
Michael Williams disputes an atheist who suggests that Christianity morality has "evolved": What you see as the evolution of morality among Christians is actually a different phenomenon. Most of Christian history was dominated and warped by the Catholic Church, which propounded purposefully incorrect teachings about God's revelation to man (the Bible) to sustain its political power. With the Reformation, Christians as a whole reclaimed the gift God gave them and resumed interpreting the Bible in the correct manner rather than as a tool for social control. I don't agree. I think one can say that Christianity evolved, but not by Darwinian or any other sort of blind evolution, rather it has evolved towards an ideal, much as each healthy Christian life is constantly evolving towards an ideal. This is teleological, not natural evolution. It is growth, a striving towards a goal, that goal being, of course perfect harmony with God. When people look at the cruelty and barbarity of the early Christians, they often forget that these Christians lived in a cruel and barbaric world. Take the Inquisition, a common example of Christian cruelty: Christians didn't invent religious persecution, they grew up in it. From the first Christians persecuted by the Jews, to later Christians persecuted by the Romans, to even later Christians persecuted by Muslims, religious persecution was just they way things were. Christians did not first invent a new form of evil and then "grow out of it", rather, Christians came into a world in which that evil already existed and they had to grow out of it. Yes, they were wrong to do the evil even if it was common in their day, but they were imperfect human beings and could not become perfect immediately. The same can be said for other things that Christians are chastised for , things such as witch-burning, religious wars, conquest, slavery, and forced conversion: in the days when Christians did such things, they were just doing what was typical in the day. When Christians stopped doing such things, only then was there anything remarkable about their behavior. This incidentally, is why the humanist idea that mankind makes moral progress is so ridiculous. The idea of moral progress comes from a brief segment of human history --the West from about 300AD to about 1900AD. Nowhere else is this sort of progress seen except for short periods in isolated areas. And in fact it doesn't even hold in regards to the West, as Communism and Fascism were clearly backward steps in "moral evolution", backward steps that we have yet to recover. Even more ridiculously, most people who believe in moral evolution despise the primary factor that led to this moral progress: Christianity. But all know that the world is badly broken and all feel the need for faith in some sort of redemption. If it isn't God's Blood Sacrifice, then it is moral evolution or science or Marxist theory or solipsism or space aliens that will come and save us from ourselves. Each person knows that he needs to be saved. Everyone has faith in something. Ink Magic 12 Ink Magic (part 12) "You have a lot to say for a dead person." "The demons have magic, Steven. When they found out that I had invented a way to spy on the Dark World, they captured me and brought me here. They killed my body to prevent any chance of escape, but they had a use for my knowledge, so they kept my soul imprisoned to serve them. That's why I can be dead and still be here to tell you my story." "Who did this?" "The demons who serve Baal. That is the name of the Dark Power that holds dominion over this area." "What are you doing for them?" "Mostly, I work on setting up and maintaining a high-tech infrastructure: communications, computing, surveillance." "Why are you helping them, Dad? Can they hurt you even though you are dead?" "Well, I was serving them because they held you and your mother hostage. They offered me a pact, that as long as I served them and as long as you were no danger to them, the two of you would be left alone to live your lives. By entering my old lab, you gained a way to spy on them and you became a danger to them just as I had been." "Then why are you still helping them?" "They don't know that I know that the pact is broken so I was buying time for you to get away. As soon as they find out that I know, they will put all of their resources into capturing you, and you will not stand a chance. That's why I'm pleading with you, Steven: get out. Go back to the bright world and get away from the West Coast. The Dark Powers are territorial so Baal won't be able to get to you once you are out of its principality." I checked the battery on my cell phone and then sat down to think about that for a moment. If my father had sacrificed so much to get me out, maybe I should go. But … I raised the phone back to my ear, "What will happen to you once mom and I are safe?" "Don't worry about it, Steven. I've made plans for this." "What are your plans?" "I can't tell you, you might be captured and they would find out." That could only mean one thing, "You have some sort of sabotage in mind." "I guess it's pretty obvious, isn't it?" There was a pause, "OK, Steven, I didn't want to tell you this until you were out of the picture, but there is something very big going on. Baal is planning to cross over." "That sounds like a bad thing." "It's a very bad thing, Steven. Baal is a vile, hideous creature that takes pleasure in the suffering and death of others." "What happens when it crosses over?" "Well, we can only go by history, but there have been many periods in the past when the Dark Powers had major influence on Earth --think genocide and human sacrifice. The orbits and rotations of the Dark Earth and the Bright Earth make communication across the Gulf between the two worlds more difficult or less difficult over time. When masses are similar in both worlds, the Dark Powers and other demons can see into the Bright Earth and can cast mental influences over humans and other animals. The demons have often influenced history with these powers, usually for the worse. "When the masses correspond even more closely and over a very large area, the most powerful demons can create Passages that allow physical movement across the Gulf. These times have typically been times of great horror for the Bright World. But until now, only lesser demons have dared to cross over and risk being cut off from their territory. The Powers never had enough to gain that they would take the risk … until now. "But now, there is a whole host of new technologies for mapping the terrain and the geology with great accuracy and there are computers to do modeling. The servants of Baal can predict with great accuracy when and where it will be possible to open gates and how long they will stay open, and California is set to be very close in mass to the Dark World for the few next dozen years. Baal is planning to take advantage of this long period of stable Passages to establish a principality in the Bright World. In fact, Baal intends to conquer all of the West Coast over the next few years." I sat stunned for a moment after my father finished speaking. He hadn't said what Baal might do, but it wasn't hard to come up with times of human history that were candidates for this close interaction between the Worlds. Genocide and human sacrifice. "Can it be stopped?" I asked. "No," he said, "But it can be resisted. I will ensure that the communications doesn't work as well as Baal expects it to. And Baal is relying on ignorance; people will not understand what his happening and so will be less able to resist. That's why I've arranged for you and thousands of other people to receive an email detailing everything I know about the Dark World. But no one will believe until it is too late. There is no stopping this. For you there is only escape." My shoulders slumped. A man has to know his limitations, and my limitations were well south of taking on an army. Besides, I had the information that I had come for and I had no idea how to rescue someone who was already dead. "OK, dad, I'll get out of here. Any message for mom?" "No, I don't want her to worry. Leave me dead and gone." "Have a good life someplace far from here, Steven. Good bye." There was a click and my phone was dead. I turned back toward the Passage walking quickly until near the end, but slowing to a crawl as I approached place where I had left the troll corpse. My eyes and ears strained for any sign that there were other trolls about because something was wrong. It eluded me but something just didn't smell right. I eased up to a scrub pine from which I could view the head of the stairs and as I carefully pushed the brush aside, it suddenly hit me what was wrong: something really did smell wrong, and my tattoo buddy was trying to make me aware of it. The faint animal smell had been bothering me for a short time, the smell of the troll I had killed. But why should I pay attention to that smell when I knew the creature was nearby? My tattoo had been trying to tell me that the wind wasn't blowing from the dead troll to me, it was blowing from behind me. The hairs on my neck stood on end. I put my hands into the pockets of my trench coat and casually turned around. There, about twenty feet away, the air shimmered like a heat wave in in the form of three humanoid figures, a man-sized one flanked on both sides by larger shades. With a concentrated stare, I was able to pare away the distortion. A moment later I could see the three clearly: two trolls and tall, thin man with sharp features. When he saw my eyes focus on his the man smiled widely, "Well, Steven, you are full of surprises, aren't you? It is very rare for a human to be able to pierce an Encloudment." "I'm a prodigy." I answered shortly. "So it seems," the man laughed. "And shortly to be a dead prodigy." Republican privacy and Democrat privacy and others have pointed out, it is a bit rich for these leftists to be screaming and moaning and beating their breasts over privacy violations by the federal government when they are the ones who constantly want to give the government more power to invade our privacy. It is because of the left that the government knows where you work, where you invest, where you bank, how much you make, what your mortgage payment is, what political organizations you support, what church you attend (assuming you donate), and when and where you are traveling if you go by plane. If the leftists had their way, the government would also have all your private medical records and know all the guns that you own. Similarly, there are many other privacy-invading programs and proposals that if not quite leftists, are only opposed by those on the right: national ID cards, requirements for cell phone and cars to broadcast their location, red-light cameras, invasive airport security, security cameras everywhere. So how about a little thought experiment? Suppose it were revealed that during the Clinton administration, these exact same kinds of records were being collected in order to track down violent abortion protestors. How many of these outraged leftists would be outraged about it then? How about: almost none.
2011 - 2012 LEGISLATURE ASSEMBLY AMENDMENT 4, TO 2011 SENATE BILL 466 March 15, 2012 - Offered by Representative Hebl. At the locations indicated, amend the bill , as shown by senate substitute 2 amendment 1, as follows: 74. Page 5, line 8 : delete "After that time," and substitute "If the personal 8 property that the tenant leaves behind is furniture, the landlord shall hold the 9 property for 2 days from the date on which the landlord discovers the property.
Welcome to WebLogic Commerce Server Components! Commerce Server components are software building blocks for eBusiness. These customizable Enterprise JavaBeans 1.1 are plug-and-play components that you can use as an out-of-the-box solution with the Personalization Server, or customize and extend for highly specific e-business scenarios and integration with legacy applications. Get started now using WLCS components to create your eCommerce Web presence! Overview of WebLogic Commerce Server Components What are Commerce Server components? A Quick Look at a Few Key Components Customer and Session ShoppingAdvisor and Items Features at a Glance eCommerce brings tremendous opportunity and new challenges. Build versus Buy: WLCS components offer the best of both solutions. How do WLCS components work? Applications built with WLCS components leverage a scaleable, high-performance Architecture. Components are easy to use and customize. Base your eCommerce applications on our smart models and generated EJBs. Components use industry-standard Design and Analysis Patterns. Components are neatly organized in Component Packages. What is the overall development process? Before You Begin: Copy the Model Step 1: Export the WLCS model in Rational Rose Step 2: Run the WLCS Smart Generator Define a New Project Configure the Project Generate the Java Sources Step 3: Add Your Business Logic: Edit the Java files and Compile Them Step 4: Run the EJB Compiler Step 5: Deploy your application, and start the server Before You Start the WebLogic Application Server Starting the Server Step 6: If desired, change the model, and iterate Do I have to be a Rational Rose or UML Expert? Understanding the Foundation Package and Stereotypes Understanding the Basic UML Modeling Notations Classes and Stereotypes Aggregation and Multiplicity WLCS Smart Generator Rules: Factors that Influence the Generated Java Files Primary Key and Value Interfaces, Homes, and Implementations Attributes and Accessor Methods Rules for Aggregation Notations in the UML Diagram Use of Entities versus Sessions Implementing Business Logic in an Entity Modeling from a Message Specification Changing Method Signatures Deploying Your Application Defining the Persistence Type for your Deployment Using Bean-Managed Persistence The Oracle Reference Implementations Deployment Sets Overview Deploying on Windows NT Deploying on Solaris Considerations in Bean-Managed Persistence Container-Managed Persistence Versus Bean-Managed Persistence Considerations when Persisting an EJB Complexity of the Mapping Implementation Dissecting and Persisting an Enterprise Java Bean How to Build and Run the Examples Foundation and Axiom Package examples.axiom Description Belongings and EJBs The Abstract Factory Pattern Package examples.workflow Description Package examples.businesspolicy Description ItemPriceCalculationPolicy and BusinessPolicy Package examples.passbyvalue Description Getting and Setting Attributes Using pass-by-value Pass By Value Example Copyright © 2000 BEA Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
\|Oracle® Fusion Middleware Idoc Script Reference Guide 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) Part Number E10726-01 Checks if the current user has access to the requested content item based on the standard security model. The active data is checked to determine if the standard (or default) security model allows the user to have access to the content item. This enables a custom implementation of security to still execute the standard security model as a baseline. Type and Usage Returns TRUE if the current user has access to the content item. Returns FALSE if the current user does not have access to the content item. Compares the permission level of the user to the requested content item:
\|Oracle® Communications Services Gatekeeper Patch Release Notes Part Number E24004-03 This chapter describes how to use Oracle Communications Services Gatekeeper as a Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) Operator Endpoint server in the Payment API flow. Services providers can expose Diameter-based network charging capability using Service Gatekeeper's OneAPI V2.1 Payment Server functionality. Policy configuration allows the enforcement of request rate and quotas assuring that charging systems are protected from denial of service (DoS) attacks. The WAC is an industry alliance of communications service providers, device manufacturers and software vendors formed to standardize the development and distribution of mobile applications. For information about WAC, see: Oracle is a member of the WAC. Services Gatekeeper supports the following functions used in the WAC baseline architecture for the Payment API Flow: For information about the WAC Payment API Flow, see: Services Gatekeeper supports the OneAPI RESTful Payment API V2.1 allowing service providers to accept WAC payment requests as part of the Payment API Flow. Services Gatekeeper handles WAC OneAPI payment transactions by forwarding requests to a Diameter plug-in for processing in the network tier. The WAC Payment API flow currently supports the following transactions: Charge a user for a one-time payment Check status of previous transaction Display a list of all transactions made with an application The Services Gatekeeper implementation is based on the specifications provided by the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). For information on using the OneAPI V2.1 Payment interface with Services Gatekeeper, see OneAPI Application Developer's Guide.
The image shows the HL7 Document Version Parameters screen. The first area of the screen shows the following fields: Version Name and Description. The first area also shows the Reset Parameter button. The second area of the screen shows the following tabs: Message Header, Batch Header, File Header, Delimiters, and Miscellaneous. The Message Header tab is selected and displays several fields described in Table 8-11. At the top right of the screen is the Save button.
Surgery Lite: Understanding Endoscopic Surgery When is minimally invasive surgery better than traditional surgery? What are the risks? It's not often that a surgical technique becomes a national craze. But endoscopic or minimally invasive surgery has, albeit a minor one. It's in the newspaper. It's on the lips of your uncle, who can't resist showing off his tiny scars at every family function. Even on your commute to work, billboards trumpet the minimally invasive surgery centers at competing local "For patients, 'minimally invasive' are the hot buzzwords," says Michael Argenziano, MD, director of minimally invasive cardiac surgery and arrhythmia surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital. "And surgeons are responding to their patients' demand. I don't think that there's a single surgical field that hasn't tried some sort of minimally invasive While the term is pretty vague, "minimally invasive" - or endoscopic or "keyhole" surgery - generally means operations that are less traumatic than traditional surgery. By using special instruments, the approach can allow for smaller incisions, quicker recovery, and fewer side effects. Since it was first used in the late 1980s, minimally invasive surgery has changed the standards for how many operations are done. It makes intuitive sense to patients. Why get cut open if you can avoid But minimally invasive surgery isn't right for everyone. Despite what you hear, "minimally invasive" doesn't always mean "better." "People have this idea that minimally invasive surgery is not painful or that it's not really surgery," says Marshall Z. Schwartz, MD, professor of surgery in pediatrics at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. "Neither is true. It's not Star Trek technology, where we wave a wand over someone and they're healed." Getting the Facts on Minimally Invasive Surgery When it comes to deciding whether to get minimally invasive surgery, the key is to make an informed decision.
It's not surprising to imagine that this entire incident was caught on tape. But, this article does confirm that there was video footage of the attack. This footage will now be examined by the coroner. Irwin's friend, director, and producer, John Stainton, who was on Irwin's boat Croc One when the attack happened, says it is too early to release the footage of his friend's fatal encounter to the public.What? Does anyone actually want to see this footage? I know that I don't. But, you know what will happen. The tape will be leaked out in some way and eventually end up on the internet and probably YouTube.Com as well. His family, friends, and fans are suffering enough. I hope this video is never released. Update: Health Psych made this comment, "And the Steve Irwin backlash kicks off..." This article from the Guardian clearly exhibits this. As a Melbourne boy, Irwin should have had a healthy respect for stingrays, which are actually commoner, and bigger, in southern waters than they are near Port Douglas, where he was killed. The film-makers maintain that the ray that took Irwin out was a "bull ray", or Dasyatis brevicaudata, but this is not usually found as far north as Port Douglas. Marine biologist Dr Meredith Peach has been quoted as saying, "It's really quite unusual for divers to be stung unless they are grappling with the animal and, knowing Steve Irwin, perhaps that may have been the case." Not much sympathy there then.Blaming the guy who got killed? What the hell is that about? It's worse than kicking a guy when he's down. It's kicking a guy when he's dead. This really gets me upset. Of course, the next paragraph of the article mentions the controversial episode where he had his one month old son in one hand when visiting a crocodile in an Australian Zoo. The press just get me fired up sometimes. Here's what I predict is going to happen. Politicians both in Austraila and in the US will use the hype generated by the press to pass laws preventing less direct contact between animals and people. The politicans will get a hold of the videotape from the Irwin episode and will broadcast it to make their point. The consequence of this will be significantly less wildlife/nature shows for television. And, television networks like Animal Planet will eventually become extinct. To be honest, I don't even watch nature shows. Am I overreacting to all of this?
In some people, macular degeneration advances so slowly that it has little effect on their vision. But in others, the disease progresses faster and may lead to vision loss. Sometimes only one eye is affected, while the other eye remains free of problems for many years. People with dry macular degeneration in one eye often do not notice any changes in their vision. With one eye seeing clearly, they can still drive, read, and see fine details. Some people may notice changes in their vision only if macular degeneration affects both of their eyes. Both dry and wet macular degeneration cause no pain. Symptoms of macular degeneration include: Blurred vision —This is an early sign. An example of early findings is that you may need more light for reading and other tasks. Difficulty seeing details in front of you —You may have a difficult time seeing words in a book or faces. Blind spot —A small, growing blind spot will appear in the middle of your field of vision. This spot occurs because a group of cells in the macula have stopped working properly. Over time, the blurred spot may get bigger and darker, taking more of your central vision. Crooked lines —An early symptom of wet macular degeneration is straight lines that will appear crooked or wavy. This happens because the newly formed blood vessels leak fluid under the macula. The fluid raises the macula from its normal place at the back of the eye and distorts your vision. Lighting —Images appear more gray in color and colors are not as bright Contact your ophthalmologist immediately for an eye exam if you notice: - Visual distortions - Sudden decrease in central vision - A central blind spot - Any other visual problems - Reviewer: Christopher Cheyer, MD - Update Date: 09/01/2011 -
What Should Be Our Response? What is the state of the Church today (at least here in the west) that we have this, allow this, or put up with this from our pulpits or in our sanctuaries? Are we - should we? - be saddened by this, ashamed of this, or sickened by it? And if so, what should be done about it? What would the Puritans of old have said to this? How about John Owen? John Edwards? John Newton? Or more recent - A.W. Tozer, J. Gresham Machen, or Martyn Lloyd Jones? First. A move of the Spirit, or the flesh? (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40 - For God is not a God of confusion but of peace . . . But all things should be done decently and in order.) Or how about Mr. John "Oing, Oing, Okey Dokey Lord" Crowder? The first 1:50 minutes is all you need endure in order to get a taste of this "minister" of the gospel. A sickening display by Mr. Crowder may also be seen here. (Matthew 12:31-32, Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.) And then there's this feigned (and he should be ashamed!) attempt/ploy of appearing to move the people into a time of worship when all he wants is for them to get their shoes and sock off so they can spin them around in the air. Unbelievable! For those of you around in the `80's, you may recognize that song from the group Dead or Alive, You Spin Me Round (Like a Record). And all this "worship" leader did was replace the word "baby" with "Jesus," saying, "you spin me right round Jesus, right round like a record, Jesus." What in the world does that mean? How does this song bring us any closer to an understanding of the Gospel?, of Christ and Him crucified?, of who Christ is and how He should be worshiped and adored? Simple answer - IT DOESN'T! UGH!, I could go on, but I'd rather hear from you.
Agent Greeting Fails to Play - EnterpriseAgent PIM Error ID: 41 Agent Greeting fails to Play Agent Greeting Fails to Play. UCCE Peripheral Gateway indicates "Failed to play Agent Greeting ...due to routing delay." (EnterpriseAgent PIM Error ID: 41) There is a delay in router or PG or in between those two components. When the routing delay exceeds five seconds, no Agent Greeting will be played. 1. Check if there is any failover between routers or PG. 2. Check network configuration. \|Associated CDETS #\|\|
Choose crates for dogs with function and style. Dog crates come in all shapes, sizes & colors. Dog crates for small dogs and large dogs.Then there are the much need puppy training crates. We have puppy crates that grow with your dog, see the Expandable Pet Crate. There's a mobile crate for puppies that can be moved from room to room, the Rolling Dog Crate. Or choose decorative furniture dog crates for home in wood and wicker styles. We also have soft dog crates for easy use or travel. These portable dog crates can be used with a car seat belt, placed on the seat such as the Pet Tube Car Kennel .
Now available in Hemp, our NEW Hemp Eco Drop™ dog bed is a double-stuffed dream for pets that love to surround themselves with comfort. A thick cushion of 100% recycled IntelliLoft® fill is enveloped by super soft and snuggly hemp. Perched high off the ground, this cloud of a dog bed is a soft sanctuary for dogs that can nest in folds of soft, breathable fabric. The Hemp Eco Drop has a floor-friendly zipper and a removable cover for easy cleaning. Five-thread surged seams for durability. Hand-sewn and made in the USA. - Hemp Eco Drop™ dog bed combines dreamy durability with double-stuffed style. - Naturally odor resistant and antimicrobial dog bed. - Machine washable and dryer safe dog bed. The more you wash it, the softer it gets. \|# Bottles Diverted
Dog Brothers Public Forum Return To Homepage May 18, 2013, 12:49:06 AM Login with username, password and session length Welcome to the Dog Brothers Public Forum. Dog Brothers Public Forum Politics, Religion, Science, Culture and Humanities Politics & Religion Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Topic: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces (Read 216647 times) Re: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Reply #1150 on: January 07, 2013, 08:29:05 PM » "The leading power of the age is in relative decline, beset by political crisis at home and by steadily eroding economic prowess. Rising powers are jostling for position in the four corners of the world, some seeking a new place for themselves within the current global order, others questioning its very legitimacy. Democracy and despotism are locked in uneasy competition. A world economy is interconnected as never before by flows of money, trade, and people, and by the unprecedented spread of new, distance-destroying technologies. A global society, perhaps even a global moral consciousness, is emerging as a result. Small-town America rails at the excessive power of Wall Street. Asia is rising once again. And, yes, there's trouble in the Middle East. In many ways, the world of 1913, the last year before the Great War, seems not so much the world of 100 years ago as the world of today, curiously refracted through time. Prager: Richard Cohen explains conservatives Reply #1151 on: January 08, 2013, 03:32:58 PM » Nassim Taleb (Black Swan guy) Reply #1152 on: January 22, 2013, 10:34:38 AM » Prager: Fiscal conservatism needs social conservatism Reply #1153 on: January 22, 2013, 11:28:38 AM » second post of the morning: 'Fiscal' Conservatism Needs 'Social' Conservatism Tuesday, January 22, 2013 For some years now, we have been told about a major division within American conservatism: fiscal conservatives vs. social conservatives. This division is hurting conservatism and hurting America -- because the survival of American values depends on both fiscal and social conservatism. Furthermore, the division is logically and morally untenable. A conservative conserves all American values, not just economic ones. By "social conservatism," I am referring to the second and third components of what I call the American Trinity -- liberty, "In God We Trust" and "E Pluribus Unum." It is worth noting that a similar bifurcation does not exist on the left. One never hears the term "fiscal liberals." Why not? Because those who consider themselves liberals are liberal across the board -- fiscally and socially. The left understands that values are a package. Apparently, many conservatives -- libertarians, for example -- do not. They think that we can sustain liberty while ignoring God and religion and ignoring American nationalism and exceptionalism. It is true that small government and liberty are at the heart of the American experiment. But they are dependent on two other values: a God-based religious vigor in the society and the melting pot ideal. Or, to put it another way, small government and fiscal conservatism will not survive the victory of social leftism. The Founding Fathers made clear that liberty is dependent upon not only small government but also society's affirming God-based values. Not having imbibed the Enlightenment foolishness that people are basically good, the founders understood that in order for a society to prosper without big government, its citizens have to hold themselves accountable to something other than -- higher than -- the brute force of the state. That something is God and the Judeo-Christian religions that are its vehicle. Those who believe in a small state -- fiscal conservatives -- need to know that a small state is dependent on a big God and, therefore, on a God-centered population. Look at Europe for confirmation. As secularism expands, so does the state. And that is what is happening in America. Fiscal conservatives, such as libertarians, don't make this connection. They view small government as an achievable end in and of itself, divorced from the social/religious values the American people hold. Western and Chinese apologists for the Communist Chinese regime argue the same thing -- that economic freedom is divisible from other values. I am in no way morally equating American libertarians and other fiscal conservatives to Chinese Communists. Libertarians hate communism. I am only pointing out that they agree on the separation of economic and social values, on the dispensability of God and religion, on the idea that America should not interfere in other nations -- no matter how great the evil -- and more. Fiscal conservatives who consider themselves conservative need to imagine what type of America they will bequeath to future generations if the only conservative value that survives is fiscal conservatism. Do you really want to live in an America that is godless, where liberty derives from the state and where moral values derive from each individual's heart? In an America that ignores genocides abroad? In an America that so radically redefines marriage -- the union of anyone who loves anyone -- that it no longer has a moral justification to prohibit polygamy or incest? In an America that has no moral opinion on abortion, even if performed solely, let us say, for reasons of the fetus's gender? In an America that embraces multiculturalism rather than the melting pot ideal? My goal here is not to expel from the conservative movement those who are conservative only with regard to fiscal matters. May God bless them (even those who do not believe in him), and may they long vote Republican. My goal is to bring them to social conservatism. Because a conservative conserves. And not just money. VDH: Europe's wishes came true Reply #1154 on: January 24, 2013, 07:03:27 AM » Europe's Wishes Came True Victor Davis Hanson Jan 24, 2013 Almost a decade ago, Europeans and many progressive Americans were lamenting how the United States was going to miss out on the 21st-century paradigm symbolized by the robust European Union. Neanderthal Americans were importing ever more oil while waging a costly "war on terror" and fighting two conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our budget deficit in 2003 hit $374 billion. The EU avoided foreign conflicts and embraced soft power. Its declining military budgets and centralized transnational government ensured that it could address global warming and fund ever-expanding entitlements. Even the poorer Mediterranean nations reached new heights of prosperity. The Greek economy soared. Spain's real estate market was to become the hottest in the world. Italy seemed to resemble Germany more than Portugal. President George W. Bush was not just hated in Europe, but caricatured as the symbol of backward free-market capitalism, rank American consumerism and U.S. imperialism abroad. Only with the election of the progressive Barack Obama would Europe finally find a like-minded, sophisticated American president. Yet European Union prosperity has now proved a phantom -- one conjured up by accounting gimmickry, borrowed German money and corrupt EU apparatchiks. Neither the EU at large nor most individual European nations can sustain their present rate of redistributionist entitlements. To end cash transfers across borders spells the breakup of the union. To embrace austerity at home ensures near anarchy in the streets of individual nations. The worry is not that Greece will implode, but whether France can remain financially solvent. More realistic countries such as Germany, Latvia and Sweden are quietly drifting away from the socialist model, preferring balanced budgets, lower taxes and fewer regulations. The EU may be worried that Obama's United States is becoming more like the EU at the very time many in Europe are starting to take a second, kinder look at the old free-market model of the United States. An America of low taxes, low unemployment and robust growth once meant a huge market for European goods, as the United States drove a prosperous world economy and had enough cash to protect the Western world. All that has changed after four years of unprecedented $1 trillion-plus U.S. budget deficits. National debt has hit a historic $16 trillion, with no reversal in sight. Unemployment has been at 7.8 percent or above for 48 consecutive months. GDP growth is calcified at an anemic 2 percent. Record numbers of Americans draw on unemployment, disability and food stamps. There is even greater irony in foreign policy. Europe blasted Bush for his cooked-up war on radical Islam and his needless interventions abroad. But with the ascendency of Barack Obama, Europe finally got a mirror image of itself. Both Iraq and Afghanistan will have ended according to strict timetables of withdrawal, not with any lasting security on the ground. France and Great Britain went into Libya, while America "led from behind." Muammar Gadhafi's dictatorship was replaced with chaos that has birthed a terrorist haven that threatens to become the new Afghanistan. The odious anti-Semite and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi now runs a near-bankrupt Egypt that looks a lot like Haiti. After the messes in Libya and Egypt, the West watched impotently as Syria became something like Mogadishu. France is forced to unilaterally intervene in its old colony, Mali, to stop an Islamist takeover of the entire country. America watches from the sidelines, as undermanned French forces are offered meager logistical support from EU allies. In Algeria, radical Islamists brazenly executed dozens of Western hostages. Yet Obama has found widespread public support for his new isolationism. ((VDH needs to recognize the role of Bush's poor leadership in both Afpakia and Iraq. It is not illogical for we the people to doubt our government's ability to accomplish what it sets out to do. This is a subject I've been meaning to address for some time.)) Apparently, liberals prefer to borrow money at home for more entitlements rather than spend money on interventions abroad. Many conservatives enjoy the schadenfreude of watching as Europe plays (poorly) the old thankless unilateral role of the United States. Obama has loudly promised a pivot in the U.S. security profile toward the Pacific region. That change represents the unspoken reality that socialist redistribution has reduced Europe to near-irrelevancy. Supposedly, free-market Asian economies are the new nexus of wealth and power. Oil and gas finds in America are providing unexpected energy independence from the Persian Gulf. Or perhaps the new strategic emphasis reflects the demographic realities of the Obama coalition of various minority groups -- and fewer European-American voters. The Hawaiian-born and Indonesia-raised president certainly seems more interested in Asia than he does in the old colonial Mediterranean world of aging and shrinking European nations, Arab quagmires, oil intrigue, Islamic terrorists and the Israeli-Palestinian open sore. In short, Europe got the European Union of its hopes and a changed America of its fantasies -- but both are rapidly becoming its worst nightmares. Last Edit: January 24, 2013, 07:06:19 AM by Crafty_Dog Re: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Reply #1155 on: January 24, 2013, 09:18:10 AM » Nice VDH piece, "That change represents the unspoken reality that socialist redistribution has reduced Europe to near-irrelevancy. Supposedly, free-market Asian economies are the new nexus of wealth and power. Oil and gas finds in America are providing unexpected energy independence from the Persian Gulf. Or perhaps the new strategic emphasis reflects the demographic realities of the Obama coalition of various minority groups -- and fewer European-American voters. With regard to the first sentence I agree the US is going the same way. With regards to the third sentence could be a boom if Obama would get out of the way - he won't. He will allow it to proceed but lonely under extraordinary more than necessary regulation so HE and his kingdom is in control of it all - not the private sector. And at the same time he will tax the sector so high it's growth will still be muffled and we will still have to pay up for our energy. AS for the last statement certainly the strategy is to find and maintain a coalition of groups over 51 % to ram through and subjugate those who "cling on to their guns and religion". VDH, who I agree with Doug is one of our best thinkers and writers. Has anyone seen if he has written any pieces on strategy. On how to turn the ship around before it sinks? Personally I am convinced it is too late. I have lost all faith in Republican leaders. They botched the Hillary interview. It was embarrassing to watch her go on offense against them and they respond not with outrage, indignation, making it damn clear that she should be responsible and guilty for the deaths they let her turn it around and make them look like fools. As noted by one cable talk hawlk , she came prepared. She had her team of lawyers prepare her for all questions, all comers, prepare even a crying charade (why is ok for supposedly tough women in important positions to cry - if it was a man he would be ridiculed) and our guys were all fragmented, unable to stay focused, directed, like a good tough prosecutor who is PREPARED. Woo is us. EVen this simple task with which they had months - they can't even get this right. This convinces me more than ever the Republicans will not be able to rise to the occasion. And Karl Rove is back in the thick of the strategizing. Steyn: What difference, at this point, does it make? Reply #1156 on: January 26, 2013, 10:36:28 AM » If I'm following this correctly, according to one spokesperson for the Marine Corps Band, at Monday's Inauguration Beyoncé lip-synced to the national anthem but the band accompanied her live. However, according to a second spokesperson, it was the band who were pretending to play to a tape while Beyoncé sang along live. So one or the other of them was faking it. Or maybe both were. Or neither. I'd ask Chuck Schumer, the master of ceremonies, who was standing right behind her, but he spent the entire performance staring at her butt. If it was her butt, that is. It might just have been the bulge of the Radio Shack cassette player she was miming to. In an America with an ever more tenuous grip on reality, there's so little to be sure of. Whether Beyoncé was lip-syncing to the band or the band were lip-syncing to Beyoncé is like one of those red pill / blue pill choices from "The Matrix." Was President Obama lip-syncing to the Founders, rooting his inaugural address in the earliest expressions of American identity? ("The patriots of 1776 ... gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.") Or maybe the Founders were lip-syncing to him as he appropriated the vision of the first generation of Americans and yoked it ("preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action") to a statist pitch they would have found utterly repugnant. The whole event had the air of a simulacrum: It looked like a presidential inauguration, but the sound was tinny and not quite in sync. Obama mouthed along to a canned vocal track: "We reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future." That's great! It's always reassuring to know the head of state is going to take issue will all those people wedded to the "belief" that America needs either to shove every granny off the cliff or stake its newborns out on the tundra for the wolves to finish off. When it comes to facing the music, Obama is peerless at making a song and dance about tunes nobody's whistling without ever once warbling the real big numbers (16 trillion). But, like Beyoncé, he's totally cool and has a cute butt. A couple of days later, it fell to the 45th president-in-waiting to encapsulate the ethos of the age in one deft sound bite: What difference does it make? Hillary Clinton's instantly famous riposte at the Benghazi hearings is such a perfect distillation that it surely deserves to be the national motto of the United States. They should put it on Paul Krugman's trillion-dollar coin, and in the presidential oath: "Do you solemnly swear to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?" "Sure. What difference, at this point, does it make?" Well, it's the difference between cool and reality – and, as Hillary's confident reply appeared to suggest, and the delirious media reception of it confirmed, reality comes a poor second in the Obama era. The presumption of conservatives has always been that, one day, cold, dull reality would pierce the klieg-light sheen of Obama's glamour. Indeed, that was the premise of Mitt Romney's reductive presidential campaign. But, just as Beyoncé will always be way cooler than some no-name operatic soprano or a male voice choir, so Obama will always be cooler than a bunch of squaresville yawneroos boring on about jobs and debt and entitlement reform. Hillary's cocksure sneer to Sen. Johnson of Wisconsin made it explicit. At a basic level, the "difference" is the difference between truth and falsity, but the subtext took it a stage further: no matter what actually happened that night in Benghazi, you poor sad loser Republicans will never succeed in imposing that reality and its consequences on this administration. And so a congressional hearing – one of the famous "checks and balances" of the American system – is reduced to just another piece of Beltway theater. "The form was still the same, but the animating health and vigor were fled," as Gibbon wrote in "The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire." But he's totally uncool, too. So Hillary lip-synced far more than Beyoncé, and was adored for it. "As I have said many times, I take responsibility," she said. In Washington, the bold declarative oft-stated acceptance of responsibility is the classic substitute for responsibility: rhetorically "taking responsibility," preferably "many times," absolves one from the need to take actual responsibility even once. In the very same self-serving testimony, the Secretary of State denied that she'd ever seen the late Ambassador Stevens' cables about the deteriorating security situation in Libya on the grounds that "1.43 million cables come to my office" – and she can't be expected to see all of them, or any. She is as out of it as President Jefferson, who complained to his Secretary of State James Madison, "We have not heard from our ambassador in Spain for two years. If we have not heard from him this year, let us write him a letter." Today, things are even worse. Hillary has apparently not heard from any of our 1.43 million ambassadors for four years. When a foreign head of state receives the credentials of the senior emissary of the United States, he might carelessly assume that the chap surely has a line of communication back to the government he represents. For six centuries or so, this has been the minimal requirement for functioning interstate relations. But Secretary Clinton has just testified that, in the government of the most powerful nation on Earth, there is no reliable means by which a serving ambassador can report to the Cabinet minister responsible for foreign policy. And nobody cares: What difference does it make? Nor was the late Christopher Stevens any old ambassador but, rather, Secretary Clinton's close personal friend "Chris." It was all "Chris" this, "Chris" that, when Secretary Clinton and President Obama delivered their maudlin eulogies over the flag-draped coffin of their "friend." Gosh, you'd think if they were on such intimate terms, "Chris" might have had Hillary's email address, but apparently not. He was just one of 1.43 million close personal friends cabling the State Department every hour of the day. Four Americans are dead, but not a single person involved in the attack and the murders has been held to account. Hey, what difference does it make? Lip-syncing the national anthem beats singing it. Peddling a fictitious narrative over the coffin of your "friend" is more real than being an incompetent boss to your most vulnerable employees. And mouthing warmed-over clichés about vowing to "bring to justice" those responsible is way easier than actually bringing anyone to justice. And so it goes: Another six trillion in debt? What difference does it make? An economic stimulus bill that stimulates nothing remotely connected with the economy? What difference does it make? The Arab Spring? Aw, whose heart isn't stirred by those exhilarating scenes of joyful students celebrating in Tahrir Square? And who cares, after the cameras depart, that Egypt's in the hands of a Jew-hating 9/11 truther whose goons burn churches and sexually assault uncovered women? Obama is the ultimate reality show, and real reality can't compete. Stalin famously scoffed, "How many divisions has the Pope?" Secretary Clinton was more audacious: How many divisions has reality? Not enough. Re: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Reply #1157 on: January 26, 2013, 12:07:10 PM » Mark Steyn nails it in so many ways. What difference does it make?] "At a basic level, the "difference" is the difference between truth and falsity" Clinton is saying: we went with falsity, we won and you can't do anything about it. The exact quote I think was: "With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans, Was it because of a protest or is it because of guys out for a walk one night and they decide they go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?" With continuing disregard for the truth, neither of those scenarios is what happened either. Wasn't it a planned terror attack or do we still not know. Guys out for a walk?? One night?? It was the anniversary of 9/11!!! Does she still not get it?? 'What difference does it make' is not an answer to a congressional inquiry. My first reading of this was that her reaction was scripted and rehearsed, answer a question with a question etc. More accurate and very funny is CCP's reaction, good thing she didn't have a lamp within reach. She was pissed. You have to know your Clinton history to get that one. David Mamet and the Fools of Chelm Reply #1158 on: January 27, 2013, 07:03:52 PM » Gun Laws and the Fools of Chelm† Jan 29, 2013 12:00 AM EST By David Mamet The individual is not only best qualified to provide his own personal defense, he is the only one qualified to do so. . Karl Marx summed up Communism as “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” This is a good, pithy saying, which, in practice, has succeeded in bringing, upon those under its sway, misery, poverty, rape, torture, slavery, and death. For the saying implies but does not name the effective agency of its supposed utopia. The agency is called “The State,” and the motto, fleshed out, for the benefit of the easily confused must read “The State will take from each according to his ability: the State will give to each according to his needs.” “Needs and abilities” are, of course, subjective. So the operative statement may be reduced to “the State shall take, the State shall give.” All of us have had dealings with the State, and have found, to our chagrin, or, indeed, terror, that we were not dealing with well-meaning public servants or even with ideologues but with overworked, harried bureaucrats. These, as all bureaucrats, obtain and hold their jobs by complying with directions and suppressing the desire to employ initiative, compassion, or indeed, common sense. They are paid to follow orders. Rule by bureaucrats and functionaries is an example of the first part of the Marxist equation: that the Government shall determine the individual’s abilities. As rules by the Government are one-size-fits-all, any governmental determination of an individual’s abilities must be based on a bureaucratic assessment of the lowest possible denominator. The government, for example, has determined that black people (somehow) have fewer abilities than white people, and, so, must be given certain preferences. Anyone acquainted with both black and white people knows this assessment is not only absurd but monstrous. And yet it is the law. President Obama, in his reelection campaign, referred frequently to the “needs” of himself and his opponent, alleging that each has more money than he “needs.” But where in the Constitution is it written that the Government is in charge of determining “needs”? And note that the president did not say “I have more money than I need,” but “You and I have more than we need.” Who elected him to speak for another citizen? It is not the constitutional prerogative of the Government to determine needs. One person may need (or want) more leisure, another more work; one more adventure, another more security, and so on. It is this diversity that makes a country, indeed a state, a city, a church, or a family, healthy. “One-size-fits-all,” and that size determined by the State has a name, and that name is “slavery.” The Founding Fathers, far from being ideologues, were not even politicians. They were an assortment of businessmen, writers, teachers, planters; men, in short, who knew something of the world, which is to say, of Human Nature. Their struggle to draft a set of rules acceptable to each other was based on the assumption that we human beings, in the mass, are no damned good—that we are biddable, easily confused, and that we may easily be motivated by a Politician, which is to say, a huckster, mounting a soapbox and inflaming our passions. The Constitution’s drafters did not require a wag to teach them that power corrupts: they had experienced it in the person of King George. The American secession was announced by reference to his abuses of power: “He has obstructed the administration of Justice … he has made Judges dependant on his will alone … He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws … He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass out people and to eat out their substance … imposed taxes upon us without our consent… [He has] fundamentally altered the forms of our government.” Who threatens American society most: law-abiding citizens or criminals? (Matt Rourke/AP) This is a chillingly familiar set of grievances; and its recrudescence was foreseen by the Founders. They realized that King George was not an individual case, but the inevitable outcome of unfettered power; that any person or group with the power to tax, to form laws, and to enforce them by arms will default to dictatorship, absent the constant unflagging scrutiny of the governed, and their severe untempered insistence upon compliance with law. The Founders recognized that Government is quite literally a necessary evil, that there must be opposition, between its various branches, and between political parties, for these are the only ways to temper the individual’s greed for power and the electorates’ desires for peace by submission to coercion or blandishment. Healthy government, as that based upon our Constitution, is strife. It awakens anxiety, passion, fervor, and, indeed, hatred and chicanery, both in pursuit of private gain and of public good. Those who promise to relieve us of the burden through their personal or ideological excellence, those who claim to hold the Magic Beans, are simply confidence men. Their emergence is inevitable, and our individual opposition to and rejection of them, as they emerge, must be blunt and sure; if they are arrogant, willful, duplicitous, or simply wrong, they must be replaced, else they will consolidate power, and use the treasury to buy votes, and deprive us of our liberties. It was to guard us against this inevitable decay of government that the Constitution was written. Its purpose was and is not to enthrone a Government superior to an imperfect and confused electorate, but to protect us from such a government. Many are opposed to private ownership of firearms, and their opposition comes under several heads. Their specific objections are answerable retail, but a wholesale response is that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. On a lower level of abstraction, there are more than 2 million instances a year of the armed citizen deterring or stopping armed criminals; a number four times that of all crimes involving firearms. The Left loves a phantom statistic that a firearm in the hands of a citizen is X times more likely to cause accidental damage than to be used in the prevention of crime, but what is there about criminals that ensures that their gun use is accident-free? If, indeed, a firearm were more dangerous to its possessors than to potential aggressors, would it not make sense for the government to arm all criminals, and let them accidentally shoot themselves? Is this absurd? Yes, and yet the government, of course, is arming criminals. Violence by firearms is most prevalent in big cities with the strictest gun laws. In Chicago and Washington, D.C., for example, it is only the criminals who have guns, the law-abiding populace having been disarmed, and so crime runs riot. Cities of similar size in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and elsewhere, which leave the citizen the right to keep and bear arms, guaranteed in the Constitution, typically are much safer. More legal guns equal less crime. What criminal would be foolish enough to rob a gun store? But the government alleges that the citizen does not need this or that gun, number of guns, or amount of ammunition.But President Obama, it seems, does. He has just passed a bill that extends to him and his family protection, around the clock and for life, by the Secret Service. He, evidently, feels that he is best qualified to determine his needs, and, of course, he is. As I am best qualified to determine mine. For it is, again, only the Marxists who assert that the government, which is to say the busy, corrupted, and hypocritical fools most elected officials are (have you ever had lunch with one?) should regulate gun ownership based on its assessment of needs. Q. Who “needs” an assault rifle? A. No one outside the military and the police. I concur. An assault weapon is that which used to be called a “submachine gun.” That is, a handheld long gun that will fire continuously as long as the trigger is held down. These have been illegal in private hands (barring those collectors who have passed the stringent scrutiny of the Federal Government) since 1934. Outside these few legal possessors, there are none in private hands. They may be found in the hands of criminals. But criminals, let us reflect, by definition, are those who will not abide by the laws. What purpose will passing more laws serve? My grandmother came from Russian Poland, near the Polish city of Chelm. Chelm was celebrated, by the Ashkenazi Jews, as the place where the fools dwelt. And my grandmother loved to tell the traditional stories of Chelm. Its residents, for example, once decided that there was no point in having the sun shine during the day, when it was light out—it would be better should it shine at night, when it was dark. Similarly, we modern Solons delight in passing gun laws that, in their entirety, amount to “making crime illegal.” What possible purpose in declaring schools “gun-free zones”? Who bringing a gun, with evil intent, into a school would be deterred by the sign? Ah, but perhaps one, legally carrying a gun, might bring it into the school. If President Obama determines a need to defend his family, why can’t we defend our own? (Jonathan Ernst, Reuters/Landov) We need more armed citizens in the schools. Walk down Madison Avenue in New York. Many posh stores have, on view, or behind a two-way mirror, an armed guard. Walk into most any pawnshop, jewelry story, currency exchange, gold store in the country, and there will be an armed guard nearby. Why? As currency, jewelry, gold are precious. Who complains about the presence of these armed guards? And is this wealth more precious than our children? Apparently it is: for the Left adduces arguments against armed presence in the school but not in the wristwatch stores. Q. How many accidental shootings occurred last year in jewelry stores, or on any premises with armed security guards? Why not then, for the love of God, have an armed presence in the schools? It could be done at the cost of a pistol (several hundred dollars), and a few hours of training (that’s all the security guards get). Why not offer teachers, administrators, custodians, a small extra stipend for completing a firearms-safety course and carrying a concealed weapon to school? The arguments to the contrary escape me. Why do I specify concealed carry? As if the weapons are concealed, any potential malefactor must assume that anyone on the premises he means to disrupt may be armed—a deterrent of even attempted violence. Yes, but we should check all applicants for firearms for a criminal record? Anyone applying to purchase a handgun has, since 1968, filled out a form certifying he is not a fugitive from justice, a convicted criminal, or mentally deficient. These forms, tens and tens of millions of them, rest, conceivably, somewhere in the vast repository. How are they checked? Are they checked? By what agency, with what monies? The country is broke. Do we actually want another agency staffed by bureaucrats for whom there is no funding? The police do not exist to protect the individual. They exist to cordon off the crime scene and attempt to apprehend the criminal. We individuals are guaranteed by the Constitution the right to self-defense. This right is not the Government’s to “award” us. They have never been granted it. The so-called assault weapons ban is a hoax. It is a political appeal to the ignorant. The guns it supposedly banned have been illegal (as above) for 78 years. Did the ban make them “more” illegal? The ban addresses only the appearance of weapons, not their operation. Will increased cosmetic measures make anyone safer? They, like all efforts at disarmament, will put the citizenry more at risk. Disarmament rests on the assumption that all people are good, and, basically, want the same things. But if all people were basically good, why would we, increasingly, pass more and more elaborate laws? The individual is not only best qualified to provide his own personal defense, he is the only one qualified to do so: and his right to do so is guaranteed by the Constitution. President Obama seems to understand the Constitution as a “set of suggestions.” I cannot endorse his performance in office, but he wins my respect for taking those steps he deems necessary to ensure the safety of his family. Why would he want to prohibit me from doing the same? Re: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Reply #1159 on: January 27, 2013, 09:43:24 PM » "This is a chillingly familiar set of grievances; and its recrudescence was foreseen by the Founders. They realized that King George was not an individual case, but the inevitable outcome of unfettered power; that any person or group with the power to tax, to form laws, and to enforce them by arms will default to dictatorship, absent the constant unflagging scrutiny of the governed, and their severe untempered insistence upon compliance with law." Yes. I think the Republicans, or at least the Conservative ones are evolving their message that I hope will resonate with more people than those of us already in the choir. (I am a convert! While the left tries to point to the private sector rich and powerful (unless one is a liberal Democrat - they get a "pass"; like Hollywood; like Buffett) we can point to Washington DC. Rush pointed this out the other day as I posted. Hannity who I admittedly shied away from for being too "unobjective" if you will, did a great show this weekend on Fox. The richest county in the US is DC. Seven of the top richest counties in the entire country are surrounding DC. Multiple members of the Houses have family members getting rich as lobbyists. IF anyone has driven around DC knows there are a lot of slums. So the fact that it is still the richest county in the US says a lot. (Actually is DC really a county?) Maybe the Repubs can have some success at turning the !% argument against the left with the corruption of the ruling government elite Reply #1160 on: January 30, 2013, 10:44:26 AM » "[W]e spend so much time on these individual issues like guns and health care, but what we need to take on as a country is the topic of freedom overall. What are rights? What is the purpose of the government? All our arguments are because we disagree on those questions, but that's not usually where the discussion is. If we want to change things, we need people thinking on these fundamental questions." --columnist Frank J. Fleming The Crisis of American Conservatism Reply #1161 on: February 09, 2013, 09:11:09 AM » Interesting thought pieces: The man who shot bin Laden Reply #1162 on: February 12, 2013, 01:25:41 PM » Long piece on Esquire, March 2013. Because of secrecy and security, this guy comes back and starts over keeping his claim to fame hushed. February 11, 2013, 6:00 AM The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden... Is Screwed By Phil Bronstein, former editor of the San Francisco Chronicle For the first time, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden tells his story — speaking not just about the raid and the three shots that changed history, but abou3t the personal aftermath for himself and his family. And the startling failure of the United States government to help its most experienced an skilled warriors carry on with their lives. Dan Bongino: It's about people control. Reply #1163 on: February 13, 2013, 11:14:48 PM » VDH: Why do propserous societies give up? Reply #1164 on: February 14, 2013, 10:24:59 AM » Why do once-successful societies ossify and decline? Hundreds of reasons have been adduced for the fall of Rome and the end of the Old Regime in 18th-century France. Reasons run from inflation and excessive spending to resource depletion and enemy invasion, as historians attempt to understand the sudden collapse of the Mycenaeans, the Aztecs and, apparently, the modern Greeks. In literature from Catullus to Edward Gibbon, wealth and leisure -- and who gets the most of both -- more often than poverty and exhaustion implode civilization. One recurring theme seems consistent in Athenian literature on the eve of the city's takeover by Macedon: social squabbling over slicing up a shrinking pie. Athenian speeches from that era make frequent reference to lawsuits over property and inheritance, evading taxes, and fudging eligibility for the dole. After the end of the Roman Republic, reactionary Latin literature -- from the likes of Juvenal, Petronius, Suetonius, Tacitus -- pointed to "bread and circuses," as well as excessive wealth, corruption and top-heavy government. For Gibbon and later French scholars, "Byzantine" became a pejorative description of a top-heavy Greek bureaucracy that could not tax enough vanishing producers to sustain a growing number of bureaucrats. In antiquity, inflating the currency by turning out cheap bronze coins was often the favored way to pay off public debts, while the law became fluid to address popular demands rather than to protect time-honored justice. After the end of World War II, most of today's powerhouses were either in ruins or still preindustrial -- China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Russia and Taiwan. Only the United States and Great Britain had sophisticated economies that survived the destruction of the war. Both were poised to resupply a devastated world with new ships, cars, machinery and communications. In comparison to Frankfurt, the factories of 1945 Liverpool had survived mostly intact. Yet Britain missed out on the postwar German economic miracles, in part because after the deprivations of the war, the war-weary British turned to class warfare and nationalized their main industries, which soon became uncompetitive. The gradual decline of a society is often a self-induced process of trying to meet ever-expanding appetites, rather than a physical inability to produce past levels of food and fuel, or to maintain adequate defense. Americans have never had safer workplaces or more sophisticated medical care -- and never have so many been on disability. King Xerxes' huge Persian force of 250,000 sailors and soldiers could not defeat a rather poor Greece in 480-479 B.C. Yet a century and a half later, a much smaller invading force from the north under Philip II of Macedon overwhelmed the far more prosperous Greek descendants of the victors of Salamis. For hundreds of years, the outmanned legions of the tiny and poor Roman Republic survived foreign invasions. Yet centuries later, tribal Goths, Visigoths, Vandals and Huns overran the huge Mediterranean-wide Roman Empire. Given our unsustainable national debt -- nearly $17 trillion and climbing -- America is said to be in decline, although we face no devastating plague, nuclear holocaust, or shortage of oil or food. Americans have never led such affluent material lives -- at least as measured by access to cell phones, big-screen TVs, cheap jet travel and fast food. Obesity rather than malnutrition is the greater threat to national health. Flash mobs go after electronics stores, not food markets. Americans spend more money on Botox, face lifts and tummy tucks than on the age-old scourges of polio, small pox and malaria. If Martians looked at the small box houses, one-car families and primitive consumer goods of the 1950s, they would have thought the postwar United States, despite a balanced budget in 1956, was impoverished. In comparison, an indebted contemporary America would seem to aliens flush with cash, as consumers jostle for each new update to their iPhones. By any historical marker, the future of Americans has never been brighter. The United States has it all: undreamed new finds of natural gas and oil, the world's pre-eminent food production, continual technological wizardly, strong demographic growth, a superb military and constitutional stability. Yet we don't talk confidently about capitalizing and expanding on our natural and inherited wealth. Instead, Americans bicker over entitlement spoils as the nation continues to pile up trillion-dollar-plus deficits. Enforced equality rather than liberty is the new national creed. The medicine of cutting back on government goodies seems far worse than the disease of borrowing trillions from the unborn to pay for them. In August 1945, Hiroshima was in shambles, while Detroit was among the most innovative and wealthiest cities in the world. Contemporary Hiroshima now resembles a prosperous Detroit of 1945; parts of Detroit look like they were bombed decades ago. History has shown that a government's redistribution of shrinking wealth, in preference to a private sector's creation of new sources of it, can prove more destructive than even the most deadly enemy. VDH: DB forum is wrong Reply #1165 on: February 19, 2013, 04:13:03 PM » America's Bright Future by Victor Davis Hanson (Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow) In three key sectors of the economy, the country is experiencing a rejuvenating renaissance. Talk of American decline is in the air. And why not when the aggregate U.S. debt nears $17 trillion? Unemployment has not dipped below 7.8 percent in 48 months. GDP growth over the last four years has averaged an anemic 2 percent. The economy contracted in the last quarter of 2012. Record numbers of Americans are on food stamps, unemployment, and disability insurance. “Lead from behind” has become a catchphrase for a new American retrenchment abroad. Exhausted from a decade of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with huge defense cuts on the horizon, the United States has ceded leadership in the out-of-vogue “war on terror” to France to stave off an Islamist takeover of Mali. The Arab world certainly seems more unstable than ever. A Muslim Brotherhood government presides over an unstable Egypt. The death toll in Syria now exceeds 60,000. Islamist terrorists slaughtered Westerner hostages in Algeria, months after the murder of an American ambassador and three others in Benghazi. Mediterranean Libya is starting to resemble Somalia. Illustration by Barbara Kelley There are reasons for pessimism about the world in general and America in particular, which is more divided politically than at any period since the turbulent 1960s—torn apart by fresh arguments over the Second Amendment, the debt, the federalization of health care, and proposed amnesty for illegal aliens. Still, the general despair does not mean that there are not reasons for optimism, especially when we compare our lot with that of other countries. The United States still enjoys the most robust demography of the major Western industrial nations. Its Constitution ensures a political stability not found elsewhere. There is no danger of political dissolution of the sort that the European Union faces. We have been spared the riots and turbulence of Greece. An American Farming Renaissance More importantly, recent revolutionary trends in the United States have either gone unnoticed or been taken largely for granted. Yet these underappreciated developments offer hope for an American renaissance unlike any in our recent memory—mostly despite, rather than because of, the federal government that currently borrows nearly $.40 for each dollar it spends. Take agriculture. Just a decade ago, there was talk of the United States becoming a net food importer. Commodity prices were largely flat. Farming seemed to be losing its competitive edge plagued as it was by high-energy costs, flat food demand, and prognostications of crippling droughts brought on by man-made climate change. But a perfect storm of events has suddenly redefined the American farm in a way analogous to the mechanized revolution of the 1920s. China and India have reached a proverbial tipping-point, where millions of newly upscale consumers have broadened their tastes for everything from almonds and raisins to processed foods that require substantial bulk purchases of grains, rice, meats, and corn syrup. If only 20 percent of the Indian and Chinese population have the capital to afford new choices in imported food, such percentages still represent about 400 million new Westernized consumers, a class larger than most other nations. An unnecessary biofuels program has diverted valuable acreage to ethanol production, creating commodity shortages while boosting prices and adding to the new sense of demand for American produce. Meanwhile, new fertilizers and chemicals, genetic engineering, and computerized mechanization have done the nearly impossible—they have transformed an efficient agriculture of the late twentieth century into an even more productive new enterprise. In 2011, the United States set a new record of over $140 billion in export agricultural earnings, after ensuring 315 million Americans the most diverse, safest, and cheapest food in the world. In my own environs of Central California, the sudden changes are mind-boggling. California exported a record $21 billion worth of produce from some 400 crops last year. Almond acreage has soared to 760,000 acres, while prices remain higher in real dollars than when the industry was at just a quarter of its present plantings—a situation quite unlike the past cycles of overplanting and crashing prices. New rootstocks, improved cultivars, second-generation drip irrigation technologies, and computerized fertilization regimens have made once sandy and marginal soils as productive for fruits and nuts as deep loams. Along with increased efficiency and vast new markets, America’s farm competitors are also facing new challenges. The huge European Union subsidy program is proving unsustainable, especially its once vast cash transfers to Mediterranean farmers. Energy and labor prices are far higher in Europe and regulations more Byzantine. Elsewhere, most of the world’s agriculture does not operate according to free-market principles and remains hampered by state interference. The Future of Fuel Along with food, fuel is another one of modern life’s essential resources—and in that domain, too, America could soon be preeminent. The traditional notion of “peak oil” and the once gloomy prognostications of a future of ever increasing bills for imported natural gas have almost instantly disappeared. Thanks to the new technologies of fracking and horizontal drilling, America not only has the largest combined gas, oil, and coal resources in the world, but may also become the largest producer of all three by 2020. Four years ago, vast new finds of gas in the Midwest and East, along with extensive discoveries in California and Alaska, suggested that we might in the distant future need only to rely on North American produced oil and gas. Today, the once widely mocked Nixon-era slogan of self-sufficiency in oil and gas could become a reality. If the current development of oil and gas on private lands were expanded by new federal leases on public lands, self-sufficiency could come even more rapidly—especially if trucks and heavy equipment change over to natural gas fuels. California alone may have 35 billion barrels of oil reserves in its newly appreciated Monterey Shale formation, a natural treasure that could dwarf the riches of Napa Valley wine industry or Hollywood. The gradual displacement of coal by natural gas for electrical production will not only help clean the American atmosphere in a way federally-subsidized wind and solar power have not, but also create an industry of coal exportation to energy hungry, resource poor China and India. As a result of plentiful supplies of domestic natural gas, American consumers will save over $100 billion in reduced household bills over the next decade. With the new production, even at falling prices, gas and oil revenues provided a half-trillion dollar boost to the economy in 2011 alone. Given the new competitive pricing of domestic American fuels, long departed energy-dependent industries in petrochemicals, fertilizers, and steel and aluminum production may once again return to American shores. The 1970s nightmare of oil embargoes, the 1990s scenario of fighting in the Middle East to help keep open the sea-lanes to the Persian Gulf, and the astronomical oil and gas importation costs of the 2000s may all be ended by thousands of new American gas and oil wells, requiring millions of new American workers. Silicon Valley Rejuvenated During much of the 1980s, there was wide scale apprehension that the new computer age belonged to Asia. Apple’s miracle was nearly defunct. Steve Jobs remained exiled from the company for a decade, as he struggled with a number of start-up companies. Experimental high definition television was forecast soon to become a veritable Japanese monopoly. Sony bought Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach was sold to Japanese investors—all supposed proof of a superior Asian economic model of government and private industry partnership. The dot-com crash at the end of the 1990s was a reminder that the best days of Silicon Valley had come and gone. Yet just two decades later, the genius of Silicon Valley and its second-generation affiliates across the country, from Washington to Texas, have redefined modern living in a truly global sense. Each morning, billions worldwide wake up to multitask on their iPhones, check in with their Facebook accounts, run Google searches on their laptops and iPads, tap into Microsoft word programs, and buy things on Amazon. While much of the labor to produce these items is outsourced abroad, and while cheaper knock-off models and versions have captured a large share of the commodity purchases, so far, the United States continues to produce the majority of first-generation ideas and innovations that fuel the information and communication revolutions. A once nearly insolvent Apple of the 1980s is currently the world’s second largest publicly traded company, with a market capitalization value of some $626 billion. Despite high labor costs, overregulation, and increasing taxation, American tech companies profit from an informal and meritocratic culture that rewards talent more than it relies on hierarchies of birth, class, and tribe so common abroad. While American public school education is in crisis, and although the humanities have been politicized on our college campuses, American math, science, engineering, and professional schools in business and medicine still remain preeminent. That explains why in a recent Times Higher Education ranking of world universities, eight of the top ten institutions were American. California alone had more universities—Berkeley, Cal Tech, Stanford, and UCLA—among the top fifteen ranked campuses than any single nation except the United States as a whole. Bouts of collective pessimism are common in America, and the current episode of collective depression is understandable given our mounting debt and unsustainable entitlements. But we should remember one thing. In the past, when we feared seemingly great rising powers—from the dynamic Germany of the 1930s, to the Soviet juggernaut of the 1950s that put a man into space, to the supposedly unstoppable Japan, Inc. paradigm of the 1980s, to the much admired post-national European Union collective of the 1990s— all such rivals eventually imploded or sputtered. America, meanwhile, recouped and regained its preeminence in peace and war. Why such resilience? Largely because of our far greater reliance on free markets, transparent meritocracy, rewards for individual initiative and success, comparatively smaller government, and constitutionally-protected liberties. Despite the present despondency—over two-thirds of Americans in most polls believe their country is on the wrong track—these uniquely American attributes are propelling revolutions in fuels, agriculture, and informational sciences in a manner unlike anywhere abroad. That American breakthroughs in fracking, horizontal drilling, improved agricultural protocols and technologies, mobile communications, social networking, and online commerce have developed without fanfare and largely without government aid should remind us that the sources of our continual renaissance lie more outside than inside Washington. Re: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Reply #1166 on: February 19, 2013, 04:35:44 PM » I hope he is correct. My use of the noun Politburo Reply #1167 on: February 20, 2013, 11:23:06 PM » for big government that is controlled by party members in the dem party, and our liberal universities and have unilaterally decided religion, guns, soda, endless taxation, bigger government oversight and intrusion into our lives is a good thing all the while progressing towards the end goal of total single government domination of all of humanity has been hijacked by Bob Woodward and misapplied to Karl Rove group. The only think keeping the liberal politburo in power is the continuously refined calculations on how to bribe just enough coalitions of voters to stay in power. Reply #1168 on: February 23, 2013, 05:34:56 PM » Haven't had a chance to read this yet but it comes recommended: Re: Orphan Voters Reply #1169 on: February 23, 2013, 05:37:29 PM » Quote from: Crafty_Dog on February 23, 2013, 05:34:56 PM Haven't had a chance to read this yet but it comes recommended: Making the republican party even more "democrat-lite"-ish isn't the path to victory, or good for our already diminished future. What if One Day We Get a Bad President? Reply #1170 on: February 23, 2013, 05:42:54 PM » What if One Day We Get a Bad President? The consequences of being saddled with a non-progressive, dumb chief executive are too horrible to imagine. Frank J. Fleming February 20, 2013 - 12:12 am I believe I have noticed a problem with President Obama’s declaring that he can blow up Americans with drone strikes without due process. Stick with me here; this is a bit of an esoteric argument. Now, like most people, I celebrate every time Obama obtains more power. Now he can do whatever he feels needs to be done for the country and not be burdened with getting the approval of his lessers first. So the more powerful the presidency, the better for us all. But I had a terrible thought: What if one day we get a bad president? For instance, take this power to kill Americans with drones. No one worries that Obama will abuse such a power — I mean, we’re talking about a man who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just for existing. It’s not like he’s ever going to use that power to blow us up (though, according to his lawyers, he legally could… and if he did, we’d just have to assume he had really, really good reasons). But just imagine if that power wound up in the hands of a president like George W. Bush. He’d probably blow up people with the drone all day, thinking he was playing a video game (“I’m gettin’ me a high score!”). Or worse yet, think of handing Dick Cheney that power. He’d most likely declare a unilateral war on kittens and puppies, blowing them up from the sky and then collecting the tears of children for some evil Halliburton project. And the power to incinerate people isn’t the only power I fear could fall into the wrong hands. Like, what about the new authority the government has under President Obama to force people to buy things? That’s great for Obama to have, because he can force people to buy things they really do need to buy, like health care (and maybe in the future other things we all should really have, like hybrids or his memoirs). But think of what could happen if a president not as enlightened as Obama wielded such a power, backed by a Congress full of Republican troglodytes? They could make us all buy AR-15s or Big Gulps or Bibles or other dangerous, awful things. Furthermore, there is Obama’s position on compromise. Now, we all agree that it’s absolutely ridiculous that Obama has to yield at all to those mindless Republican thugs who somehow hold a majority in Congress. Obama is a brilliant man, so why should he compromise to the ideals of those so far beneath him? That’s why he doesn’t ever yield and agree to spending cuts and just asks for more taxes on the rich. And if somehow taxing the rich more and more doesn’t make the math add up, then we’ll ignore the stupid math. I mean, that’s why we haven’t had a federal budget for years: Why in the world should what Obama can do be limited by some arbitrary squiggles called “numbers”? So Obama will absolutely not compromise with crazed right-wingers or math. But think of what would happen if a bad president took such an attitude? He’d spend all his time making speeches, listing out promises that would never be fulfilled, while Congress would be locked in constant gridlock. What a pointless, worthless presidency that would be. Also, the latitude we give Obama might become a problem if bad presidents come to expect it. Normally, if the unemployment rate hovered around 8% for a president’s entire term (and was only that low because millions of people had given up even looking for work) while at the same time we were burdened with high gas prices and economic growth ground to a halt, we would say that president was a complete and utter failure. Basically the worst president imaginable. We’d not only want that worthless wretch kicked out of office before he could do any more damage to our economy, we’d want him forced to wander the streets while citizens pelted him with rotten fruit and shouted obscenities at him. With Obama, though, we’re very understanding of what’s happened to the economy because of the mess he inherited from Bush. Obviously, someone as smart as him, with all his economic experience from community organizing and voting in legislatures, is doing the absolute best anyone could expect, and four years later he’s almost got unemployment going in the right direction. But what if a Republican becomes president and has a similar record and expects the same leeway? He could be a total disaster on the economy — America could have results almost as bad as during the last four years — and then finish his first term and expect a pat on the head and a cookie like we gave Obama. So we are setting a lot of precedents during Obama’s presidency that will give us something to fear if we elect a bad president someday. Still, I know what many of you are thinking: “We’ll just never elect a bad president again.” It does seem like we’ve fixed the system so we won’t ever elect a bad president, as Mitt Romney, who despises 47% of Americans, lost quite handily to Obama (who despises a much smaller percentage of Americans — only rich people and business owners). Romney wanted to outlaw vaginas and tie poor people to the top of his car, and there was something about binders that was very bad though hard to coherently explain why, and the people rejected him. But it wasn’t that long ago that George W. Bush was elected and reelected. And what if in 2016 people aren’t enamored with Hillary Clinton’s charm or wowed by literally one of the sharpest intellects we’ve ever seen, Joe Biden? What if instead they fall for that psychopath Marco Rubio, despite his affinity for drinking water? The obvious solution is to have Obama be president forever, but that’s not practical. Eventually Obama will get bored and want to be president of a country he likes better than this one. Another idea would be to pass a law that if the president is an enlightened progressive, he shall have dictator-like powers and not have anything he does questioned by Congress or the Supreme Court, but if he’s a right-winger, he’ll need a supermajority in Congress to do anything. The only problem is that the Republicans in Congress love to block all commonsense legislation like that. So the only option left is to consider curtailing a bit of the power we’re allowing Obama, because someday we might have a president who is completely detached from average Americans, doesn’t care about our problems, and ruins everything he touches — someone completely unlike Obama. I mean, just imagine all that power Obama has in the hands of someone who completely sucks at being president. The economy would be ruined, we’d have disastrous situations abroad, and our liberties would be threatened. It would be a lot like now, but instead of it being Bush’s fault, it would be the fault of the current president. So to keep that from happening, we’ll have to do the hard thing and put more limitations on Obama’s power. I’m sure he’ll understand and not drone-strike us. Re: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Reply #1171 on: February 24, 2013, 07:47:26 PM » Geraghty on Gaffes Reply #1172 on: February 26, 2013, 10:34:00 AM » Morning Jolt – February 26, 2013 By Jim Geraghty John Kerry Was For 'Kyrzakhstan' Before He Was Against It This is kind of an easy lay-up for mockery . . . John Kerry has suffered his first gaffe as the new US secretary of state, inventing the nation of 'Kyrzakhstan' In an embarrassing slip of the tongue, Mr Kerry last week praised US diplomats working to secure "democratic institutions" in the Central Asian country, which does not exist. The newly minted diplomat was referring to Kyrgyzstan, a poor, landlocked nation of 5.5 million, which he appeared to confuse with its resource-rich neighbour to the north, Kazakhstan. The State Department kindly omitted the error in the official transcript of Wednesday's speech, which Mr Kerry delivered on the eve of his first foreign trip as secretary of state. (All of that wacky capitalization reflects that we're reading the Telegraph of London.) A little while back, I pointed out that we need a better, more specific term for the statements our current political journalism calls "gaffes" because the media was applying the term to all kinds of statements: Verbal misstatements and grammatical errors: "57 states," Joe Biden calling his running mate "Barack America," etc. Brain freezes: Rick Perry in the debate. Of course this looks bad during a moment in the spotlight, but anyone who has never had this happen to them, raise your hand. Uh-huh. Didn't think so. Honest statements that are admissions against self-interest: President Obama declaring during a meeting of his Jobs Council, "Shovel-ready was not as . . . uh . . . shovel-ready as we expected." Unusual ideas: Newt Gingrich's pay-kids-to-be-janitors idea. Genuinely harmful erroneous statements: Joe Biden saying, "I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," in an appearance designed to reassure the public about swine flu, or Michele Bachmann repeating a mother's claim that Gardasil causes retardation. Controversial or unpopular points: See Romney's Olympics and Palestinian statements above. So John Kerry said 'Kyrzakhstan' when he meant 'Kyrgyzstan,' a small but strategically important Central Asian nation that has suffered from a vowel drought for many decades. Big deal? Small deal? I'd argue that our assessment of Kerry's intelligence or verbal acuity ought to be based on factors bigger than this. So why are some gaffes turned into big deals and others not? Narrative, right? If you're Sarah Palin, Dan Quayle, Mitt Romney, or certain other Republican figures, you've been accused of being a bumbling imbecile, and thus every time you slip up words in a public appearance it's further evidence of your imbecility. But when Barack Obama mentions "57 states," it's just a reflection that he's tired. By the way, a few Democrats do get the "dumb guy" treatment. Here's Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, speaking on the floor of the House, July 2010: "Today, we have two Vietnams, side by side, North and South, exchanging and working. We may not agree with all that North Vietnam is doing, but they are living in peace. I would look for a better human rights record for North Vietnam, but they are living side by side." Yes, this is the same woman who in 1997 asked a NASA scientist if the Mars Pathfinder had photographed the flag that Neil Armstrong had planted . . . You know, the one on the moon. There are genuinely stupid people in our political world, people who are probably too stupid to stay in the offices they hold. But it's not their misstatements that worry me; it's their silly or stupid ideas. I think the "reset button with Russia" represented ludicrously wishful thinking, pretending that tensions between the U.S. and Moscow had to do with some sort of "cowboy attitude" from President Bush instead of the two nations having fundamentally different and conflicting interests and goals in the world, coupled with the unnervingly intense paranoia and ruthlessness of Vladimir Putin. Someday Russia may have a leader who's a nicer guy than Putin, but the Russian government's worldview is probably still going to see the world as a zero-sum game, where if we're winning, they're losing. Toss in the widespread, bipartisan support for negotiating with the Taliban. Obviously, David Petraeus and John McCain aren't stupid. But they, along with most of our foreign-policy thinkers, believed that at some point, the Taliban would wear down and be ready for good faith negotiations, where we would be able to trust them to live up to their side of the argument. Surprise! Turns out the efforts at talks went nowhere, and the Taliban made unrealistic demands for prisoner swaps. You have a better chance of hashing out the paperwork with a rabid dog. Over at the American Thinker, Shoshana Bryen looks at the non-gaffe parts of the speech that ought to concern us: Secretary Kerry equated foreign aid with promoting moderation. "The investments that we make support our efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism wherever it flourishes. And we will continue to help countries provide their own security, use diplomacy where possible, and support those allies who take the fight to terrorists." Consider Pakistan. Between 2001 and 2012, the United States spent almost $18 billion in Pakistan. From 2009-2011, under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill, the U.S. provided $2.8 billion in civilian aid, including $1 billion in emergency humanitarian aid. About $855 million of that was in the FY2011. And yet, our bilateral relationship is defined mainly by arguments over drone strikes and collateral damage. Regarding Pakistani willingness to "take the fight to the terrorists," Pakistan-based Taliban groups remain committed to attacks on targets in both Pakistan and Afghanistan and more than 300 civilians, mainly Shiites in a predominantly Sunni country, were killed in sectarian assaults in 2012. More than 80 people were killed last week when a bomb went off in a largely Shiite marketplace. Is more American money going to change and moderate Pakistan? Or those who support the United States in opposition to a nuclear Iran? See, this is stupidity (or perhaps better described as bad judgment) with policy consequences. Okay, one easy lay-up, from Jim Treacher: "You probably haven't heard of Kyrzakhstan, but it's one of the most dangerous places on Earth. It's so perilous that you can't find it on any map. It's just that scary. . . . I notice Kerry didn't mention Libya in his list of dangerous places. Apparently, everything's been going just fine there. But then . . . what difference does it make? By the way, is the Marco Rubio water-drink thing over? Anybody else still think that the water drink was a potential career-ender, as the CNN chyron suggested? Walter Russell Mead: The World and its Leaders Reply #1173 on: March 04, 2013, 10:51:00 AM » Walter Russell Mead writing on Friday, March 1, online for the American Interest: Financial markets around the world reeled when the Italians rejected the European status quo and their own political establishment in the last election. This should not have come as such a surprise; few political establishments anywhere in the democratic world are as spectacularly rotten as Italy's, and the European status quo is the biggest man-made policy disaster since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Italian voters don't have a lot of use for their leaders, and it's hard to say they are wrong. The left wants to preserve the unsustainable, the right doesn't have what it takes, and the center is dominated by short term, self centered careerists whizzing through the well oiled revolving doors that connect business with government. But how different are politics elsewhere? Voters ultimately weary of repeat policy failure by the well connected and well educated, and whether you look at Europe, the United States or Japan, the failures of national leadership keep piling up. Americans often like to believe that our problems are as exceptional as our strengths, but our stale and ineffective political establishment looks a lot like its peers around the world. The American elite is not alone in its inconsequential futility and its lack of strategic vision; world leaders everywhere are falling down on the job. The assumption that the people guiding the destinies of the world's major powers know what they are doing is a comforting one, but there's not a lot of evidence to support it. The "pass it to find out what's in it" health care 'reform' in the United States, the vast stinking policy corpse that is European monetary union, the failure of establishments everywhere to figure out the simple arithmetical problems that our welfare states are encountering because of the demographic transition, the metastasizing tumor of corruption also known as the Chinese Communist Party: none of these suggest that the world is being governed with unusual wisdom. VDH: Medieval CA Reply #1174 on: March 07, 2013, 04:33:20 PM » Gates Close at Dusk At about dusk, I close two large metal gates to my driveways. The security lights come on, and I enjoy intramural life. I am not protecting my dogs from coyotes, although there are many in the vineyard, but rather the farmhouse from the odd array of visitors, the lost, and criminals that can make up the now normal nighttime world of central California. If you doubt me, just peruse the Fresno Bee for the sort of things that occur nightly. From the past year I offer the following catalogue of those who have visited the farm from dusk to dawn outside the walls: A half-dozen noble caballeros riding down the road on magnificent steeds, outfitted in satin and silver with majestic sombreros, who unfortunately timed their ride a bit late and found themselves in the dark, and in need of stables (my lawn had to do). Some female text-messagers sitting in the car presumably giving directions to thieves — perhaps those who on three occasions last year stole copper wire from pumps. A decent enough soul, presumably from Mexico, broke and out of gas, who spoke neither English nor Spanish; a would-be “scavenger” who had all sorts of stolen items in his new truck, seeking cash customers for his wares; and dozens more. A sort of California Canterbury Tales of nocturnal pilgrims, interesting in retrospect, a bit scarifying at 11 p.m. honking or yelling at the closed gate. Sorry, folks, the compound gates close at 9 p.m. The surrounding landscape was once a checkerboard of small 60-200 acre family farms. The house I live in never had a lock for its seven outside doors. Weeknights were spent in local get-togethers — the Walnut Improvement Club, Eastern Star, the Odd Fellows, the Masons, the Grange, Farm Bureau — exotic names long gone with the breezes. In most cases, the children of the neighboring dead yeomen have long left, and the parcels conglomerated by larger corporations or purchased by absentee owners, or leased. The old farmhouses are mostly rented out to immigrants. Agriculture is booming; but farming is long dead. The land grows food as never before, but no longer families. The Feudal Pyramid A medieval society can be defined in a variety of ways. In terms of class, there is more a pyramidal culture. A vast peasantry sits below an elite of clergy and lords above — but with little or no independent middle class in-between. I think California is getting there quickly — with the U.S. soon to follow. For our version of the clergy, think public employees, whose salary and benefits are anywhere from 30-40% higher than their counterparts in the private sector. In California, the security guard in the symphony parking lot makes minimum wage and has no pension, even as he faces as much danger as his counterpart in the state police. And like medieval churchmen, our public-employee clergy positions are often nepotic. Families focus on getting the next generation a coveted spot at the DMV, the county assessor’s office, or the local high school. Like the vast tax-free estate of the clergy that both nearly broke feudalism and yet was beyond reproach, so too California’s half-trillion-dollar unfunded pensions and bond liabilities are considered sacrosanct. To question the pay or the performance of a California teacher or prison guard is to win the same scorn that was once earned from ridiculing the local friar. If suggesting that the man of god who was too rotund as a result of living freely on his tax-exempt church land was worthy of stoning, then so too suggesting that our teachers or highway-patrol officers are paid incommensurately with the quality of students in our schools or the safety on our roads is likewise politically incorrect right-wing heresy. The aristocracy is, of course, our coastal elite, the five or six million high earners who live near the Pacific Ocean from the Bay Area to San Diego. They are more likely to administer both our inherited and natural wealth, symbolized by everything from top universities, Hollywood, and state government to Silicon Valley, Napa Valley, and California finance and natural resources. Their children, if industrious and motivated, are prepped at Stanford and Berkeley, interned at proper law firms and government bureaus, and usually inherit enough of their patrimony and early enough to afford the $1,000 per square foot price that a Newport or Atherton keep costs — along with its flocks of attendant nannies, gardeners, neighborhood security guards, and maintenance people. The middle is still shrinking. They are mostly the over three million who have left California for no-tax Nevada or Texas, or crime-free Idaho, or sane Wyoming and Utah. High-paying jobs in manufacturing, construction, and energy are disappearing. The aristocracy, whose religion is the green government, believes that to extend the conditions of its own privilege to millions of less well-educated and less correct-thinking others (e.g., build new affordable condos alongside interstate 280, open up the Malibu hills to low-income development, start drilling for oil and gas in the Monterey Shale formation, build some more dams to ensure irrigation water, widen the 99 and 101 to three lanes from northern to southern California) is to destroy the hallowed lord-serf system altogether. The aristocracy sails in the summer, not powerboats. In winter, it tends to ski, not use snowmobiles. Its SUVs are Volvo and Mercedes, not second-hand Tahoes and Yukons. Ideally, its kids go to UC, Stanford, or USC, not to CSU campuses in Turlock, Fresno, or Bakersfield. The aristocracy believes in noblesse oblige, but it is a funny sort of one: shutting down a quarter-million acres of farmland is good for all of us, especially for a three-inch bait fish, and even for the farmworkers and managers who must lose their jobs for a just cause. Keeping derricks out of the coastal panorama is wonderful for rich and poor — and really, who would want a smelly job anyway out on a nauseous oil platform? To paraphrase Steven Chu, European-priced gas is the goal: $10 a gallon would thin out the traffic, keep the right people on the roads, clean up the air, and make high-speed rail economical. The disappearing middle-class worker in California, who is not connected to the aristocracy or part of the clergy, gets up to work in places like insolvent Stockton, Modesto, or San Bernardino. He drives on substandard roads to a job that does not quite pay for his once overpriced but now underwater house, or the most expensive and highly taxed gas in the nation. Yet he shrugs that he cannot so easily leave a state, with a house without equity, and yet cannot quite stay either — when the nation’s highest sales and income taxes lead to the nation’s nearly worst schools and infrastructure. If he whines, he is told that he is lucky to live in California with its climate, weather, and culture — and so must pay a premium in taxes, regulations, and high costs, despite receiving very little in return in the form of state services. So without a vibrant middle class, the medieval world thrives. In medieval California, the elderly and retired sometimes head to the foothills, a poorer man’s coast, where there is less crime and less worry over what California has become. I never quite fathomed fully why a classical Greece of city-states on the plains became an Ottoman Greece of villages perched on mountain slopes. I knew, of course, in the abstract that Greeks fled Turks to escape the taxman, conversion to Islam, and the Janissaries, but I can now appreciate that maybe such a sense of impending dread is real in interior California, as valley towns become darker at night from lights that no longer work, and streets that are no longer safe and assumptions that are no longer familiar. Even the most liberal retired professor seems to head for the hills once his thirty years at CSU are up. The peasantry — one third of the nation’s welfare recipients, in a state in which almost a quarter of the population is officially “poor” — lives mostly in the central interior, or in the vast Los Angeles basin, or in small-service enclaves along the coasts — a Redwood City or Seaside, where they tend to the aristocracy’s daily needs. The aristocracy makes enough not to mind high taxes, and takes care of the tax-freed peasantry by offering the nation’s highest public benefits, including generous EBD and WIC cards, Section 8 housing, daycare help, education supplements, legal assistance, and cash grants. Those in Old Pasadena, Pacific Palisades, Montecito, Pacific Grove, Menlo Park, Hillsborough, Piedmont, and Pacific Heights mostly avoid the peasantry in Merced and Tulare. That many of their tax dollars end up there and that billions of their state’s earnings go out of state as remittances to Latin America mean little. There is so much good weather, high life, and money in coastal California that the expense to keep the peasantry content is simply a small cost of being an aristocrat in paradise. Indeed they romanticize the peasantry in a way that they most surely do not the embattled middle class. The Medieval Mind But feudal California is more than a sense of bifurcated classes and locations. It adopts a closed medieval state of mind too. The Renaissance marked a lessening of the intolerance and censorship of the medieval clergy. Art, literature, science, and philosophy were freed from shibboleths of Aristotle, Church doctrine, and formalistic conventions. But California has of yet had no such renaissance. In our closed, anti-scientific, and deductive way of thinking, Solyndra was a success. Drilling for cheap natural gas in the Monterey Shale formation would be seen as failure. When our governor told Rick Perry that Californians did not need to cool off in 110 degree heat through “fossil fuel”-fed air conditioning, he did not mean that solar panels were energizing green air conditioners in Barstow, but rather that our elites on the coast have natural air conditioning; it’s called the Pacific Ocean. And although wind and solar provide miniscule amounts of California energy, it matters little, given that coastal elites enjoy 70 degree weather year-round and keep their power bills low. PG&E’s and Southern California Edison’s astronomical energy costs are for “little people,” the middle classes in the hot and cold interior and mountains. The aristocracy sets the regulations that make power soar, and the interior pays far more of the costs. In medieval California, certain thinking is off-limits, just as during the tenth century in France or in the eighth century in Constantinople. I once wrote, on these pages, that one could not any more determine exactly the racial and ethnic heritage of millions of intermarried and integrated Californians, much less could universities easily determine why particular California ancestries qualified for affirmative action and others did not (e.g., was it due to ongoing racism, skin color, historical claims against the majority culture, purposes of “diversity”? etc.). The next thing I knew the Stanford Daily was calling for me to be disciplined by the Hoover Institution. Indeed, these monthly reflections on California earn on occasion an angry op-ed in a California paper, dozens of hate emails — and even now and then a phone call from an irate state official. You see, in medieval California the orthodoxy of the clergy and aristocracy must remain unquestioned. Wind and solar are superior energy sources to natural gas or other fossil fuels. The blue-state model of high taxes and big government has been redeemed by the public-approved tax hikes of 2012. Acres of huge windmills or vast solar-panel farms do not cause as many environmental or aesthetic problems as does a confined natural gas-fed power plant. The degree to which we are not entirely green is due not to science, but to the greed of private enterprise. The problem with illegal immigration is not that it is illegal, much less that the state is overwhelmed in its idealistic mission to provide near instant parity to millions who arrived without legality, capital, education, or English from the abject poverty of central Mexico, but that a largely white, aging, and disappearing nativist class is obstructing multicultural solutions. Our public employees are the most successful and competent in the nation and that is why they make more than others elsewhere, but still not enough to provide a lifestyle commensurate with their talents and industry. The present baby-boom generation and its offspring are brilliant and are Renaissance figures; they gave us, after all, everything from Facebook to Apple and Google. They are superior moral beings too, and so do not outsource, avoid taxes, bundle campaign donations, seek insider subsidized federal loans, or in general say un-nice things. In contrast, our ancestors were pedestrian and reactionary. After all, they did silly, almost inexplicable things like build Hetch Hetchy, the Big Creek hydroelectric project, the L.A. freeway system, and the California Water Project. We will use these quirky inheritances a bit longer, but would never replicate them. California’s public education curriculum is medieval. There are certain religious tenets that are sacrosanct and indoctrinate the young. A grasping white male Christian culture gave us a burdensome legacy of racism, sexism, homophobia, and nativism. Courageous Latino, black, gay, and female heroes fought on the barricades to ensure us the present utopia. We name new schools after 19th Century Mexican bandits who were hung for murder, not any longer after Father Serra or Luther Burbank. To the degree there is a Stanford University, or Southern California Edison, or a California oil or farming industry, it was due not to those who designed or invented such institutions, but to the unsung heroes who did the actual manual labor of laying cement and hammering nails. Fossil fuels and nuclear power are largely a curse; wind, solar, and biofuel are our future. Only heretics and reactionary witches doubt the sanctity of gay marriage, or pine for anti-abortion legislation and capital punishment — leftover prejudices from our pre-green government past. When we say “celebrate diversity” at our universities, we do not mean celebrate all sorts of thinking, from radical left to reactionary right, from the atheist mind to the Church of Christ zealot, from the capitalist to the socialist, but rather we define diversity as superficial appearance, and the degree to which different races and genders march in lockstep to a uniform ideological drummer. In medieval California there is no empiricism: the public schools are successful, the CSU system is reaching new academic heights, and high-speed rail is shortly to replace our crowded freeways. Finally, the medieval world was less secure than that of the Renaissance and Enlightenment that followed. It was feudal in the sense of walled cities and castles, and a lack of easy, safe, and cheap transportation that had once been assured in Roman times. When I drive down to Malibu or over to Palo Alto, it can be a feudal experience, even though contemporary cars are safer and more dependable. But the problem is not the machine, but the increasingly medieval mind that pilots it. Huge trucks stay in the middle lane of the rare three-lane freeway, and often hog the fast lane when there are only two. I count dozens of Highway Patrol officers lasering cars. They seem less interested in the flatbed trucks that have no tarps over their green cuttings, lumber, mattresses, and scrap iron. Every tenth car is weaving, due not to drink but texting. Some stretches — the 99 south of Visalia, the 101 south of Gilroy, the 152 a mile after Casa de Fruta, the convergence of the 405 and 101 — are truly scary driving experiences. At night on the way home I make it a point not to get gas on the west side of the 99 as it bisects Fresno. I don’t stop in an Inglewood or even Delano at dark. Driving Manning Avenue or Nees Avenue out to I-5 is a sort of Russian Roulette: at which intersection will the cross-traffic driver run the stop sign? I avoid 4-6 p.m., when too many have too many alcoholic beverages on their way home. In feudal California we may liken a drive to Napa or Newport to a sort of medieval pilgrimage to the Middle East, a trip sometimes fraught with danger, in need of careful planning and enormous patience. Some days 180 miles is less than three hours and we are in Renaissance times; at others it is six hours and we are back to the byways of medieval Italy. Of course, there is an excitement in the medieval World: the clash of a postmodern Palo Alto with premodern Parlier three hours away, or consider the notion of the Stanford legacy student on the I-5 passing the van of the meth lab operator. I never know quite what I’ll see when I go into Selma, only that it will be unexpected, sometimes bizarre, and require all my sensatory talents to make sense of or avoid it. My grandparents talked of their grandparents coming out west to California in the 1870s. I may one day tell my grandkids that I made it to Los Angeles safely and back! Political Rants & interesting thought pieces: Jack Kemp - The Wagon Reply #1175 on: March 08, 2013, 12:28:03 PM » Jack Kemp in 1979: "You need both groups, both parties. The Democrats are the party of redistribution. The Republicans must be the part of growth." In 1979, all of Washington was run by Democrats. Correcting and sourcing a great analogy that I botched in recent posts. "Think about a wagon. It is a simple but forceful way of visualizing an important aspect of government. The wagon is loaded here. It's unloaded over there. The folks who are loading it are Republicans. The folks who are unloading it are Democrats. You need both groups, both parties. The Democrats are the party of redistribution. The Republicans must be the part of growth. It is useless to argue, as some libertarians do, that we do not need redistribution at all. The people, as a people, rightly insist that the whole look after the weakest of its members." Jack Kemp's 1979 book, “An American Renaissance.” I told this story at a gathering in a friend's living room after listening to a young woman, daughter of Kieth Ellison's predecessor and a Lt. Governor candidate in her own right, tell us that the difference between the parties was that Democrats care about others while Republicans care only about themselves. She heard that we need both parties and gasped, "I've never heard that before!" Tyranny of the ZIP Code Reply #1176 on: March 10, 2013, 10:47:08 AM » WaTimes/Doran: America's New Religion Reply #1177 on: March 13, 2013, 10:35:32 AM » DORAN: America’s new ‘religion’ The culture is ugly and coarse but it’s all relative There are many explanations for President Obama’s popularity: his personal charisma, demographics, Republican bungling and dependency on government. Yet rarely is culture invoked as the reason why so many Americans have embraced his agenda. To many, talk about culture evokes classical art and music, and often prompts blank stares, but if we define culture as the predominant beliefs and behavior of a society, what can be said about 21st century American culture? Few believe that culture really matters in a society where millions of voices are competing for attention and notoriety, but America has embraced a predominant culture: relativism, the belief that I decide what is right or wrong, true or false, that there is nothing that is objectively right or wrong, true or false. Relativism has become America’s national “religion.” In recent decades, Americans have adopted this attitude because it allows them to indulge their passions and ambitions guilt-free, or because they have been brainwashed into believing that adopting this attitude is a mark of sophistication. While many Democrats have embraced the ideal of a welfare state, many libertarian Republicans have embraced the competing ideal of the autonomous man. Neither acknowledges an authority higher than the state or the individual in matters of right and wrong, truth and falsehood. It is unlikely that many Americans would consciously choose a culture of coarseness, so why is American culture — TV, radio, films, books and advertising — so immersed in violence, indiscriminate sex, superficiality, pornography and ugliness? There is much talk about our freedom to choose, but we rarely hear that we can’t choose the consequences of our choices. When relativism is adopted by a society, it does not produce beauty, but coarseness, if not as the desired outcome, then as an unintended consequence. One can see this occurring in America, in a descent to the lowest common denominator when it comes to art, music, literature, public discourse and entertainment. When no one can judge with anything like authority, then the ugliest TV show is on par with a program that depicts heroic virtue. There is nothing “bad” about someone who makes exploitative films, nor is there anything “good” about someone who strives to produce something beautiful. Relativism fosters self-indulgence over self-governance, hedonism over self-giving. Examine cultures that have embraced relativism, and you find moribund societies with few children, “green religions” that value the planet over human life, the glorification of physical stimulation and “self-fulfillment,” and nihilism that proceeds from life having nothing to offer apart from what can be extracted from it in a few short years. Without reliably honorable norms of human behavior, constant stimulation often becomes the paradigm for happiness, frequently resulting in enslavement to drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, violence or the passive malaise of video games and the Internet. Relativism diminishes our intellectual capacity. How many today are capable of constructing a rigorously logical argument to support their position? When there is no right or wrong, when nothing is true or false, then the need for rigorous reasoning and meticulous research diminishes. Debating positions becomes a matter of appealing to an audience’s passions, of attacking the person making the opposing argument or of demonstrating how the consequences of a particular position will either favor or harm the audience. This zeitgeist has been ably captured by Mr. Obama and his allies, with references to “fairness,” “tolerance” and “cultural sensitivity” replacing “anachronistic” concepts like right and wrong, truth and falsehood. Despite what is peddled in our universities, by Hollywood and on Madison Avenue, we are not equipped to decide what is right and wrong solely by ourselves. Attempting to do so makes us less human, not more human. Relativism produces self-absorbed men and women who can’t think, but who believe themselves to be knowledgeable, sophisticated and liberated. It is a dead-end existence masquerading as freedom. Thomas M. Doran, a writer and educator, is the author most recently of “Terrapin” (Ignatius Press, 2012). Reply #1178 on: March 19, 2013, 12:54:26 PM » From the article: In the category of “pop-culture-not-talked-about-by-normal-Ducks,” People magazine’s cover story last week was on ABC’s The Bachelor, Sean Lowe, and his pledge to remain a virgin re-virgin until his wedding night. As someone who graduated high school in town of less than 1500 in Kansas, I think this type of pledge is pretty typical: many teens and young adults make a pledge, usually in front of an audience, to avoid sexual conduct until marriage. And, not surprisingly, most teens do not keep their pledge. In fact, there are some studies that indicate that these virginity pledges are associated with riskier sexual behavior. Last Edit: March 19, 2013, 06:09:09 PM by Crafty_Dog Steyn: Geopolitical ADHD Reply #1179 on: March 26, 2013, 10:25:04 AM » Ten years ago, along with three-quarters of the American people, including the men just appointed as President Obama’s secretaries of state and defense, I supported the invasion of Iraq. A decade on, unlike most of the American people, including John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, I’ll stand by that original judgment. None of us can say what would have happened had Saddam Hussein remained in power. He might now be engaged in a nuclear-arms race with Iran. One or other of his even more psychotic sons, the late Uday or Qusay, could be in power. The Arab Spring might have come to Iraq, and surely even more bloodily than in Syria. But these are speculations best left to the authors of “alternative histories.” In the real world, how did things turn out? Three weeks after Operation Shock and Awe began, the early-bird naysayers were already warning of massive humanitarian devastation and civil war. Neither happened. Overcompensating somewhat for all the doom-mongering, I wrote in Britain’s Daily Telegraph that “a year from now Basra will have a lower crime rate than most London boroughs.” Close enough. Major General Andy Salmon, the British commander in southern Iraq, eventually declared of Basra that “on a per capita basis, if you look at the violence statistics, it is less dangerous than Manchester.” Ten years ago, expert opinion was that Iraq was a phony-baloney entity imposed on the map by distant colonial powers. Joe Biden, you’ll recall, advocated dividing the country into three separate states, which for the Democrats held out the enticing prospect of having three separate quagmires to blame on Bush, but for the Iraqis had little appeal. “As long as you respect its inherently confederal nature,” I argued, “it’ll work fine.” As for the supposedly secessionist Kurds, “they’ll settle for being Scotland or Quebec.” And so it turned out. The Times of London, last week: “Ten Years after Saddam, Iraqi Kurds Have Never Had It So Good.” In Kurdistan as in Quebec, there is a pervasive unsavory tribal cronyism, but on the other hand, unlike Quebec City, Erbil is booming. What of the rest of the country? Iraq, I suggested, would wind up “at a bare minimum, the least badly governed state in the Arab world, and, at best, pleasant, civilized and thriving.” I’ll stand by my worst-case scenario there. Unlike the emerging “reforms” in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Syria, politics in Iraq has remained flawed but, by the standards of the grimly Islamist Arab Spring, broadly secular. So I like the way a lot of the trees fell. But I missed the forest. On the previous Western liberation of Mesopotamia, when General Maude took Baghdad from the Turks in 1917, British troops found a very different city from the Saddamite squat of 2003: In a lively, jostling, cosmopolitan metropolis, 40 percent of the population was Jewish. I wasn’t so deluded as to think the Jews would be back, but I hoped something of Baghdad’s lost vigor might return. Granted that most of the Arab world, from Tangiers to Alexandria, is considerably less “multicultural” than it was in mid century, the remorseless extinction of Iraq’s Christian community this last decade is appalling — and, given that it happened on America’s watch, utterly shameful. Like the bland acknowledgement deep in a State Department “International Religious Freedom Report” that the last church in Afghanistan was burned to the ground in 2010, it testifies to the superpower’s impotence, not “internationally” but in client states entirely bankrolled by us. Foreigners see this more clearly than Americans. As Goh Chok Tong, the prime minister of Singapore, said on a visit to Washington in 2004, “The key issue is no longer WMD or even the role of the U.N. The central issue is America’s credibility and will to prevail.” Just so. If you live in Tikrit or Fallujah, the Iraq War was about Iraq. If you live anywhere else on the planet, the Iraq War was about America, and the unceasing drumbeat of “quagmire” and “exit strategy” communicated to the world an emptiness at the heart of American power — like the toppled statue of Saddam that proved to be hollow. On the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, mobs trashed U.S. embassies across the region with impunity. A rather more motivated crowd showed up in Benghazi, killed four Americans, including the ambassador, and correctly calculated they would face no retribution. Like the Taliban in Afghanistan, these guys have reached their own judgment about American “credibility” and “will” — as have more potent forces yet biding their time, from Moscow to Beijing. A few weeks after the fall of Saddam, on little more than a whim, I rented a beat-up Nissan at Amman Airport and, without telling the car-hire bloke, drove east across the Iraqi border and into the Sunni Triangle. I could not easily make the same journey today: Western journalists now require the permission of the central government to enter Anbar Province. But for a brief period in the spring of 2003 we were the “strong horse” and even a dainty little media gelding such as myself was accorded a measure of respect by the natives. At a rest area on the highway between Rutba and Ramadi, I fell into conversation with one of the locals. Having had to veer onto the median every few miles to dodge bomb craters, I asked him whether he bore any resentments toward his liberators. “Americans only in the sky,” he told me, grinning a big toothless grin as, bang on cue, a U.S. chopper rumbled up from over the horizon and passed high above our heads. “No problem.” “Americans only in the sky” is an even better slogan in the Obama era of drone-alone warfare. In Iraq, there were a lot of boots on the ground, but when it came to non-military leverage (cultural, economic) Americans were content to remain “only in the sky.” And down on the ground other players filled the vacuum, some reasonably benign (the Chinese in the oil fields), others less so (the Iranians in everything else). And so a genuinely reformed Middle East remains, like the speculative scenarios outlined at the top, in the realm of “alternative history.” Nevertheless, in the grim two-thirds-of-a-century roll call of America’s un-won wars, Iraq today is less un-won than Korea, Vietnam, or Afghanistan, and that is not nothing. The war dead of America and its few real allies died in an honorable cause. But armies don’t wage wars, nations do. And, back on the home front, a vast percentage of fair-weather hawks who decided that it was all too complicated, or a bit of a downer, or Bush lied, or where’s the remote, revealed America as profoundly unserious. A senator who votes for war and then decides he’d rather it had never started is also engaging in “alternative history” — albeit of the kind in which Pam Ewing steps into the shower at Southfork and writes off the previous season of Dallas as a bad dream. In non-alternative history, in the only reality there is, once you’ve started a war, you have two choices: to win it or to lose it. Withdrawing one’s “support” for a war you’re already in advertises nothing more than a kind of geopolitical ADHD. Shortly after Gulf War One, when the world’s superpower assembled a mighty coalition to fight half-a-war to an inconclusive halt at the gates of Baghdad, Washington declined to get mixed up in the disintegrating Balkans. Colin Powell offered the following rationale: “We do deserts. We don’t do mountains.” Across a decade in Iraq, America told the world we don’t really do deserts, either. — Mark Steyn, a National Review columnist, is the author of After America: Get Ready for Armageddon. © 2013 Mark Steyn Prager: The Bible vs. The Heart Reply #1180 on: April 04, 2013, 05:02:42 PM » The Bible vs. Heart Tuesday, April 02, 2013 I offer the single most politically incorrect statement a modern American -- indeed a modern Westerner, period -- can make: I first look to the Bible for moral guidance and for wisdom. I say this even though I am not a Christian (I am a Jew, and a non-Orthodox one at that). And I say this even though I attended an Ivy League graduate school (Columbia), where I learned nothing about the Bible there except that it was irrelevant, outdated and frequently immoral. I say this because there is nothing -- not any religious or secular body of work -- that comes close to the Bible in forming the moral bases of Western civilization and therefore of nearly all moral progress in the world. It was this book that guided every one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, including those described as "deists." It is the book that formed the foundational values of every major American university. It is the book from which every morally great American from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to the Rev. (yes, "the Reverend," almost always omitted today in favor of his secular credential, "Dr.") Martin Luther King, Jr., got his values. It is this book that gave humanity the Ten Commandments, the greatest moral code ever devised. It not only codified the essential moral rules for society, it announced that the Creator of the universe stands behind them, demands them and judges humans' compliance with them. It gave humanity the great moral rule, "Love your neighbor as yourself." It taught humanity the unprecedented and unparalleled concept that all human beings are created equal because all human beings -- of every race, ethnicity, nationality and both male and female -- are created in God's image. It taught people not to trust the human heart, but to be guided by moral law even when the heart pulled in a different direction. This is the book that taught humanity that human sacrifice is an abomination. This is the book that de-sexualized God -- a first in human history. This is the book that alone launched humanity on the long road to abolishing slavery. It was not only Bible-believers (what we would today call "religious fundamentalists") who led the only crusade in the world against slavery, it was the Bible itself, thousands of years before, that taught that God abhors slavery. it legislated that one cannot return a slave to his owner and banned kidnapping for slaves in the Ten Commandments. Stealing people, kidnapping, was the most widespread source of slavery, and "Thou shall not steal" was first a ban on stealing humans and then on stealing property. It was this book that taught people the wisdom of Job and of Ecclesiastes, unparalleled masterpieces of world wisdom literature. Without this book, there would not have been Western civilization, or Western science, or Western human rights, or the abolitionist movement, or the United States of America, the freest, most prosperous, most opportunity-giving society ever formed. For well over a generation, we have been living on "cut-flower ethics." We have removed ethics from the Bible-based soil that gave them life and think they can survive removed from that soil. Fools and those possessing an arrogance bordering on self-deification think we will long survive as a decent society without teaching the Bible and without consulting it for moral guidance and wisdom. If not from the Bible, from where should people get their values and morals? The university? The New York Times editorial page? They have been wrong on virtually every great issue of good and evil in our generation. They mocked Ronald Reagan for calling the Soviet Union an "evil empire." More than any other group in the world, Western intellectuals supported Stalin, Mao and other Communist monsters. They are utterly morally confused concerning one of the most morally clear conflicts of our time -- the Israeli-Palestinian/Arab conflict. The universities and their media supporters have taught a generation of Americans the idiocy that men and women are basically the same. And they are the institutions that teach that America's founders were essentially moral reprobates -- sexist and racist rich white men. When the current executive editor of the New York Times, Jill Abramson, was appointed to that position she announced that "In my house growing up, The Times substituted for religion." The quote spoke volumes about the substitution of elite media for religion and the Bible in shaping contemporary America. The other modern substitute for the Bible is the heart. We live in the Age of Feelings, and an entire generation of Americans has been raised to consult their heart to determine right and wrong. If you trust the human heart, you should be delighted with this development. But those of us raised with biblical wisdom do not trust the heart. So when we are told by almost every university, by almost every news source, by almost every entertainment medium that the heart demands what is probably the most radical social transformation since Western civilization began -- redefining marriage, society's most basic institution, in terms of gender -- it may be wiser to trust the biblical understanding of marriage rather than the heart's. My heart, too, supports same-sex marriage. But relying on the heart alone is a terribly flawed guide to social policy. And it is the Bible that has produced all of the world's most compassionate societies. This, then, is the great modern battle: the Bible and the heart vs. the heart alone. Noonan: A statesman's friendly advice Reply #1181 on: April 05, 2013, 10:37:26 AM » Noonan: A Statesman's Friendly Advice Singapore's Lee Kwan Yew on what makes America great—and what threatens its greatness. By PEGGY NOONAN I found myself engrossed this week by the calm, incisive wisdom of one of the few living statesmen in the world who can actually be called visionary. The wisdom is in a book, "Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States and the World," a gathering of Mr. Lee's interviews, speeches and writings. Mr. Lee, of course, is the founder and inventor of modern Singapore. He made it a dynamo. He pushed it beyond its ethnic divisions and placed a bet that, though it is the smallest nation in southeast Asia has few natural resources, its people, if organized and unleashed within a system of economic incentive, would come to constitute the only resource that mattered. He was right. When he took office as prime minister, in 1959, per capita income was about $400 a year. Last year it was more than $50,000. He is now 89, a great friend of America, and his comments on the U.S. are pertinent to many of the debates in which we're enmeshed. He is bullish about our immediate prospects but concerned about our longterm trajectory. He believes what made us great is the ancestral nature of our people—creative, inventive, original, inclusive. Former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew His advice on immigration: keep it up but keep your culture. What threatens America? A political culture stuck in the shallows, and a mass-entertainment edifice that is destabilizing, destructive and injurious to the national character. Is the United States in systemic decline? "Absolutely not." It is the most militarily powerful and economically dynamic nation in the world. America faces debt, deficit and "tremendously difficult economic times" but "for the next two to three decades" it "will remain the sole superpower." America has shown over its history "a great capacity for renewal and revival." It doesn't get stuck in "grooved thinking" but is able to think pragmatically and imaginatively. Its language "is the equivalent of an open system that is clearly the lingua franca" of all the economic and political leaders and strivers in the world. In the coming decades "it is the U.S. that will be pre-eminent in setting the rules of the game. No major issue of world peace and stability can be resolved without U.S. leadership." A major factor in America's rise and economic dominance: All the brightest people in the world know "Americans will let you work for them in America and in their multinational corporations abroad." But America will lose its technological edge unless it is able to continue attracting talent. The American advantage in coming economic and technological contests? A "can-do" approach to life. Americans always believe a problem can be solved. An "entrepreneurial culture" that sees both risk and failure "as natural and necessary for success." The U.S. is still "a frontier society." "The American culture . . . is that we start from scratch and beat you." They would settle an empty area, call it a town, and say, "You be the sheriff, I am the judge, you are the policeman, and you are the banker, let us start." Not long ago the U.S. was losing to Japan and Germany in manufacturing. "But [Americans] came up with the Internet, Microsoft MSFT -0.87%and Bill Gates, and Dell. . . . What kind of mindset do you need for that? It is part of their history." America is great not only because of its power and wealth. After World War II its "magnanimity and generosity" helped it "rebuild a more prosperous world." "Only the elevating power of her idealism" can explain this. "The United States is the most benign of all the great powers." What worries him about America? Our elections have become "a never-ending process of auctions" in which politicians outbid each other with promises. America's leaders seem captive to popular sentiment. They must break out of this and do what is necessary for America, "even if they lose their re-election." Our consumer society and mass communications "have made for a different kind of person getting elected as leader." Politicians hesitate to speak needed truths: "A certain coyness or diffidence seems to have descended on American politicians." Mr. Lee is "amazed" that "media professionals can give a candidate a new image and transform him . . . into a different personality. . . . A spin doctor is a high-income professional, one in great demand. From such a process, I doubt if a Churchill, a Roosevelt, or a de Gaulle can emerge!" What worries him about the prevailing U.S. culture? a lot: "guns, drugs, violent crime, vagrancy, unbecoming behavior in public—in sum, the breakdown of civil society." "The ideas of individual supremacy . . . when carried to excess, have not worked," and the world has taken note: "Those who want a wholesome society where young girls and old ladies can walk in the streets at night, where the young are not preyed upon by drug peddlers, will not follow the American model. . . The top 3 to 5% of a society can handle this free-for-all, this clash [but] if you do this with the whole mass, you will have a mess. . . . To have, day to day, images of violence and raw sex on the picture tube, the whole society exposed to it, it will ruin a whole community." Asians visiting the U.S. are often "puzzled and disturbed by conditions there." including "poverty in the midst of great wealth." Peggy Noonan's Blog Daily declarations from the Wall Street Journal columnist. In spite of this, America often now exhibits to the world a sense of its own "cultural supremacy." When the American media praise a country such as the Philippines for becoming democratic, "it is praise with condescension, compliments from a superior culture patting an inferior one on the head." America criticizes Singapore as too authoritarian. "Why? Because we have not complied with their ideas of how we should govern ourselves. But we can ill afford to let others experiment with our lives. Their ideas are theories, theories not proven." What can destroy America is "multiculturalism," which he speaks of as not an appreciation of all cultures but a gradual surrendering of the essential culture that has sustained America since its beginning. That culture—its creativity and hardiness, its political and economic traditions—is great, and it would be "sad for America to be changed even partially." Will waves of immigrants from the south assimilate, or will America become "more Latin American?" America must continue to invite in all the most gifted and hard-working people in the world, but it must not lose its culture, which is the secret of its success. And America goes the way of modern Europe at its peril: "If you follow the ideological direction of Europe, you are done for." There are always people who require help, but "addressing their needs must be done in a way that does not kill incentive." "Americans and European governments believed that they could always afford to support the poor and the needy: widows, orphans, the old and homeless, disadvantaged minorities, unwed mothers. Their sociologists expounded the theory that hardship and failure were due . . . to flaws in the economic system. So charity became 'entitlement,' and the stigma of living on charity disappeared." Welfare costs grew faster than the government's willingness to raise taxes. They "took the easy way out by borrowing to give higher benefits to the current generation of voters." The result: deficits and dangerously high public debt. Prager: Lessons for Holocaust Day Reply #1182 on: April 09, 2013, 10:18:50 AM » Lessons for Holocaust Day Tuesday, April 09, 2013 Yesterday, Jews around the world observed Holocaust Day. This day ought to be universally observed because the lessons of the Holocaust are universal. Here are some of them: 1. People are not basically good At any time in history, the belief that people are basically good was irrational and naive. To believe it after the Holocaust -- and after the Communist genocides in China, Korea, Cambodia, and the Soviet Union, the Turkish slaughter of the Armenians, and the mass murders in Rwanda, the Congo, Tibet and elsewhere -- is beyond irrational and naive. It is stupid and dangerous, and therefore inexcusable. 2. The Jews are the world's canary in the mine When Jews are murdered, it is a warning to decent non-Jews that they are next. Because Western nations dismissed Nazi anti-Semitism as the Jews' problem, 50 million non-Jews ended up dying. If the world dismisses Ahmadinejad's Iran as primarily the Jewish state's problem, non-Jews will suffer again. Jew-haters (or, if you will, Jewish state-haters) begin with Jews but never end with them. 3. Great good is no more common than great evil That is why the most important task for any society is to devise ways to make people good. By "good," I do not mean people who do not murder or steal. People who don't murder or steal aren't good people; they are simply not criminals. It is therefore worth pondering: With the collapse of America's Judeo-Christian moral foundations, how exactly will American society make good individuals? Those who equate goodness with support for a welfare state do not ask this question. But the rest of us are very worried. 4. Lies and victimhood make evil possible Most evil is not committed by sadists. Most evil is committed by people who hold evil ideologies. And in modern times those ideologies have emanated from two primary sources: lies and victimhood. Lies about Jews built Auschwitz (just as, for example, lies about blacks enabled the transatlantic slave trade). And along with lies about Jews, it was Germans' sense of victimhood that built Auschwitz. Perceiving oneself or one's group as a victim allows many people to rationalize doing evil. 5. Nazism, not Christianity, built Auschwitz The symbol of Nazism was the swastika, not the cross. Had Nazism been a Christian movement, its symbol would have been, or at least included, the Christian cross. The claim that the Holocaust was a product of Christianity is a charge perpetuated by people and ideologies bitter over the nearly 2,000 years of Christian anti-Semitism in Europe. That bitterness is warranted. Blame for the Holocaust is not. Too many Christians supported the Nazis, but Nazism was anti-Christian. The complex truth is this: a) Nearly 2,000 years of European Christian anti-Semitism -- including Martin Luther -- rendered the Jew an outcast and thereby laid much of the groundwork for the acceptance of Nazi demonization of the Jews. b) But no Christian institution or theology ever called for the extermination of the Jews. It took the secular shattering of the Christian conscience to accomplish that. This was prophesied 100 years before Hitler's rise, in 1834, by the great German poet, Heinrich Heine, a secular Jew: "Christianity -- and that is its greatest merit -- has somewhat mitigated that brutal German love of war, but it could not destroy it. Should that subduing talisman, the cross, be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors, that insane Berserk rage of which Nordic bards have spoken and sung so often, will once more burst into flame. This talisman [the cross] is fragile, and the day will come when it will collapse miserably. Then ... a play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll." European Christianity has much to atone for (and it has). But the collapse of Christianity should frighten every decent person. In Europe, it was first succeeded by fascism, communism and Nazism, and then by a soulless and morally confused secularism. What will succeed it in America? 6. Secular education has proved morally worthless Professor Peter Merkl of the University of California at Santa Barbara studied 581 Nazis and found that Germans with a high school education "or even university study" were more likely to be antisemitic than those with less education ("Political Violence under the Swastika," Princeton University Press). A study of the makeup of 24 leaders of Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units that killed nearly two million Jews prior to the use of gas chambers, showed that the great majority were highly educated: "One of the most striking things about the Einsatzgruppen leadership makeup is the prevalence of educated people, professionals, especially lawyers, Ph.D.'s. ..." (Irving Greenberg, in "Auschwitz: Beginning of a New Era?" Ktav Press). 6. Pacifists in moral societies are morally worthless No Nazi death camp was liberated by pacifists or peace activists. Every camp was liberated by a soldier who either killed or helped others kill. 7. Had there been an Israel in the 1930s and '40s, six million Jews would not have been murdered There would have been one place on earth that would have taken in Jews prior to the Holocaust, when Hitler was willing to let many leave. And during the Holocaust, one country would have fought for them -- by bombing Auschwitz, for example. 8. The Chinese need their Holocaust Day When the Chinese have their own Holocaust Day -- a day that commemorates Mao's and the Communist Party's killing of 60 million Chinese between 1958 and 1961 -- China will be a much more decent place. Until then, it is run by people who venerate a monster. 9. God is indispensable -- but not a celestial butler If we deny God, we will produce a morally lost society. But if we rely only on God -- and do not fight -- evil will win. Give monogamy a chance Reply #1183 on: April 09, 2013, 11:14:33 PM » Though I find the piece's analysis incomplete in that it does not recognize the fundamental tension comes from the extended interregnum between puberty and breeding, it does make some points that need making. Give Monogamy a Chance Students, who in class recognize the ethical imperative not to use other people as means to an end, do so every night in their dorms.. By EMILY ESFAHANI SMITH The hit HBO series "Girls," which is wildly popular with 20-something audiences, is also notorious for its frank portrayals of the dark side of the casual-sex culture reigning among America's young adults. In the first season of the show, the main character, Hannah (played by Lena Dunham), finds herself in a dysfunctional relationship with an actor, Adam, whom she regularly sleeps with but isn't dating in the traditional sense. She really likes him, though, so she asks him one day, during intercourse, "You want me to call you?" His response is to push her head down into a pillow. For decades now, young women have been taught by popular culture that casual sex is supposed to be liberating. Shows like "Sex and the City" sent the message that promiscuity was at worst no big deal and at best empowering. But stories like those on "Girls," and those in Donna Freitas's illuminating new book, "The End of Sex," suggest that for many young women it proves instead to be dehumanizing. Using extensive survey research and dozens of interviews with young men and women on college campuses across the country, Ms. Freitas explodes the myth of the "harmless hookup." The hookup, as Ms. Freitas defines it, is meant to be "an efficient form of sexual interaction." To qualify, a sexual encounter must be brief—lasting "as short as a few minutes to as long as several hours over a single night"—and it must be "purely physical in nature." One freshman at a Catholic college sums it up this way for the author: "There are no strings. You just do it, you're done, and you can forget about it." Among its practitioners, first base is tonsil-hockey and home plate is learning each other's names, as Tom Wolfe put it over a decade ago. The point is simply to have sex (often very bad sex) with no emotional bond formed with one's partner. The basic human desire to love and be loved is a sign of weakness here, and traditional courtship—exchanging high-fives over a game of beer-pong doesn't count—has no role. A professor of religious studies at Boston University, Ms. Freitas draws a portrait of life on campus in which sex is almost completely decoupled from eroticism. One college woman describes juggling three men at once; a male student admits that a hookup is just a "trial run" for a date; a third student explains that oral sex is "almost expected" in a hookup: "People have these urges and they are trying to satisfy them." Sex on campus, writes the author, has been reduced to a solitary and selfish act—basically, onanism "with another person present." The End of Sex By Donna Freitas (Basic, 221 pages, $25.99) In other words, many college students, who in philosophy class would surely recognize the ethical imperative not to use other people as means to an end, do so every night in their dorms. This selfishness is why, as Ms. Freitas argues, the hookup culture is intimately related to sexual assault. In both, one person uses another to satisfy a sexual or social desire without any regard for what that other person wants, needs or feels. Once alcohol is added to the mix, and there is plenty of it in the hookup culture, consent becomes a murky issue. According to various academic studies, 65% to 75% of undergraduates report having participated in the hookup culture. But many are troubled by it. In a survey that Ms. Freitas gave to 1,010 students from Catholic and secular institutions, around 50% had reservations about whether casual sex is acceptable. Three quarters of the respondents objected to the notion, central to the hookup culture, that "sex is primarily the taking of pleasure from another person." And contrary to depictions in popular culture, men are just as troubled by casual sex as women are. So why do they do it? Social pressure plays a large role. But there is something else. College students may not be lusting after sex so much as they are chasing after relationships. In our wider culture, where more and more interactions are occurring via text messages, Facebook, FB -0.96%Twitter and email rather than face-to-face or at the very least on the phone, students are yearning for meaningful connections. Hooking up offers an immediate substitute for the relationships and romance that young people admit they want, but without the constraints and sacrifices that authentic relationships require. Ms. Freitas's book is a timely and alarming wake-up call to students, college administrators and parents, and she presents a compelling argument against the hookup culture. Less convincing are her ideas for fixing it. The author, whose own thinking is firmly rooted in the feminist left, thinks administrators on campus could do more, for instance, to educate students about healthy sexuality—even though, given the politically correct bureaucrats that administer most campuses, there are already plenty of consciousness-raising events pushing messages that overlap with and complement hookup norms, such as replacing Valentine's Day with "Vagina Week." In the book's conclusion, Ms. Freitas says that she wants young adults to have "good sex," a category that can include, she suggests, hooking up—as long as students recognize that casual sex is "just one option among many." Yet this jars with the nearly 200 preceding pages on the corrosive effects of casual sex. She also wants students to "feel empowered" by their sexual decisions and to recognize that "it is their right to define what they want out of sex"—even though feminists who champion the hookup culture rely on the same rhetoric. Their ideas about liberation and empowerment, like the hookup culture itself, treat human sexuality as a social and political battlefield. In the end, though, sex isn't a political act, nor is it about empowerment. It is one part of a complete relationship between two people. Meaningful sex is grounded in love and commitment, not power—an insight students seem to intuitively grasp, even if they don't act on it. Ms. Esfahani Smith is an associate editor of the New Criterion and editor of the pop-culture blog Acculturated. Reply #1184 on: April 10, 2013, 05:36:00 PM » second post of the day: “Counter-revolutionary” is an apt term for these days: President Obama has promised to make a fundamental transformation, a veritable revolution in American society and culture. Those who oppose such an ongoing agenda are suspected of all sorts of racism, nativism, misogyny, homophobia, and general counter-revolutionary activity. So — here are some thoughtcrimes: The latest news on “climate change” was not good for global-warming, cap-and-trade zealots. The planet did not heat up in the last decade and a half, despite substantial increases in carbon emissions. The much ballyhooed “Marcott paper” (supposedly millennia of conclusive climate data!) has been largely discredited, and shares the company of the East Anglia email trove (e.g., “The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t. … Our observing system is inadequate”). Why the counter-revolutionary suspicion of global warming? I know that the forces of market capitalism are potent, but they certainly lack the powers of the sun and solar system to alter the earth. I have also spent too much time in academia and met too many professors not to know that politicization has infected campus teaching and research — especially the doctrine that the noble ends always justify the occasionally suspect means. Global warming is a cult belief of the elite: the latter conveniently opposed fracking and horizontal drilling, while subsidizing costly wind and solar that hurt the poor (the lines of cars of poor Latinos at the rural filling station near my house — which offers gas at 10 cents a gallon cheaper than in town — forms about 6:00 a.m.). Such facts — like the cost of air conditioning in Fresno on an August 105 Fahrenheit afternoon — are of no interest to the Palo Alto or Berkeley utopian. It is the penance that instead counts — an Al Gore lecturing upscale students on polar bear populations so he can use his carbon-offsetted private jet to save them. There is the matter of “cool” too: Worrying about global warming is like drinking Starbucks as you enter Whole Foods; in contrast, worrying about cheap natural gas to help the poor have warm homes is like drinking a McDonald’s latte as you are greeted at the door of Walmart. Cool — for upscale, would-be revolutionaries – is everything. I have met very few academics, politicians, or journalists who knew much about guns. Few of them hunt. Most do not live in bad neighborhoods or drive long distances, sometimes through or into rough areas. I suspect few work alone at night. Few are plagued by woodpeckers destroying an eve on the barn, varmints digging under the shed pavement, or a rabid coyote too close to the doghouse. So when I hear a liberal expert propose yet another round of Second Amendment infringement, I expect confusion about magazines, clips, calibers, rifles, shotguns, pistols, “automatic” and “semi-automatic,” and “assault weapons.” (Four hours, black spray paint, a sheet of aluminum, cardboard, tin snips, solder, and super glue, and you perhaps could make my ancient semi-automatic .22 resemble a scary “assault rifle.”) So far I have heard of no proposed legislation that would have stopped Sandy Hook or Columbine, tragically so. To have prevented another unhinged loser from shooting children and teens would have required a police state to have confiscated millions of previously sold legal weapons and ammunition, or to have had armed guards in the schools. There is no legal support for the former or political support for the latter. The Sandy Hook shooter’s sick fascination with violent video games and his aberrant psychological state (or was it an autistic-like impairment?) were the stronger catalysts of his mayhem. Yet I know that the Obama administration has no desire to go after Hollywood moguls regarding gratuitous gun violence on the big screen, much less take on the ACLU and the psychiatry industry about either psychotropic drugs or the ability of the clearly unhinged to avoid incarceration. There is a predictability in the liberal mindset: it prefers the iconic to the substantial in matters of controversy. Address the misdemeanor, ignore the felony. To stop most gun-related deaths in general in the U.S., we would have to focus on inner-city youths (cf. both the success and controversy of stop-and-frisk in New York). We would have to target young minority males in advertising to make the illicit use of the gun comparable to the social unattractiveness of … well, smoking. I cannot see any of that happening. So we go after the demonic gun that causes less than 1% of annual gun-related deaths, feel good about doing something “for the children,” and derive an added psychic uplift that such a superfluous something also enrages the lower-middle class — especially the slightly rural, mostly white male Sarah Palin constituent. The First Amendment is sacrosanct and must be expanded; the Second is suspect and must be deflated. Sometime about a year ago, the long-held position of Barack Obama and the Clintons on gay marriage — No! — became, in Emmanuel Goldstein fashion, abhorrent. Indeed, they’ve become harsh critics of those who still believe as they recently did. Most Americans are fine with civil unions and, in live-and-let-live fashion, don’t worry all that much about gay marriage. Nonetheless, why the sudden dramatic change, if not for brilliant messaging and well-funded liberal gay donors whose pledges were made contingent on fluidity on the issue? Key to the transformation in popular culture was the radical change in the perception of male homosexuality. In the 1980s and 1990s — read the work of the late gay investigative journalist Randy Shilts, or the old videos of San Francisco parades or arguments over bath houses — there was the general impression that male homosexuality was both more promiscuous than either heterosexual or lesbian practice, and that passive sexual intercourse was a catalyst for the spread of the AIDS virus and hepatitis (suddenly a venereal disease in a way it had not been in the past) in a manner that “normative” heterosexual intercourse was not. Mention of male homosexuality in the news was usually linked with sexual practice, and the result was not favorable to the majority of the public. The age-old word “sodomy” was not then the taboo term that it is now. That perception — reality, whatever one calls it — has now vanished. “Gay” is a non-sexual sobriquet that involves vaguely defined expressions of affection. To suggest that anal intercourse is statistically more likely to be unhygienic or, if practiced with frequency, to run the risk of either hepatitis or AIDS is now proof of homophobia. Indeed, so is the use of “homosexual” for “gay.” Most of us do not think too much about it, other than to ensure that we treat people — in my case whether in evaluating students, grant applicants, or scholars — equally, with no interest at all in their sexual lives. That said, the transformation in gay-advocacy strategy has been nothing short of remarkable, its signature achievement being that there is absolutely nothing much different between gay male and straight male sexual congress — and that those who believe there is are themselves bigots. If so, we should soon expect the liberal popular culture — from the movies of Quentin Tarantino to the recent Spartacus series — to stop presenting anal penetration as an especially unwelcome sort of act, or a particular nasty sort of sexual coercion. In the logic of gay marriage, liberal culture — art, cinema, movies, journalism, politics — will soon represent gay male sexual practice as an act as natural as any other, without value judgments of any sort attached to it. Also, I would expect in the years ahead that the law, as it does now, will not add enhanced charges like “anal penetration” or “sodomy” to sexual criminal complaints. I am confused in this progressive era why I still read that a particular sex offender suspect is to be considered especially odious, by adding details to his charges like “sodomy” or “anal penetration.” Why qualify, much less legally enhance, the particular details of rape? Incidentally, in matters of sexual consistency, there should be no longer suspicions of adult males being Brownie or Girl Scout Masters, given that the gay rights movement has made the Boy Scouts themselves suspect for unfairly discouraging gay Scout Masters. Is a forty-year old heterosexual male any more likely to look upon young girls in untoward fashion than a forty-year old gay male would young boys? Gay marriage is not the end of a long struggle, but the very beginning of a brave new world whose contours we can only imagine. In good 1984-style, the Associated Press just outlawed “illegal immigrant.” Apparently “illegal alien” was so odious that its banishment was automatic and not worthy of citation. Yet what does “undocumented” mean, given one usually never applied for documents to be un-anything? As Orwell saw, imprecision, or rather deliberate distortion, in language is always the first characteristic of the totalitarian. Here are the public’s problems with illegal immigration, from 1-5: 1. The law: Once one group feels that it is exempt from federal law, others might as well, too. If I choose to break a federal statute of my own choosing with impunity, why would I fear doing the same with others? Who needs to file a 1040 or worry about car registration, a building permit, a fishing license, or rabies pet vaccination? We forget that the illegal immigrant serially violates the law in obtaining all sorts of fraudulent documents (how can one with a false Social Security number be “undocumented”?), any one violation of which would harm the job or education prospects of a U.S. citizen. 2. The tribe: Illegal immigration, largely from Latin America, is too often implicitly predicated on ethnic chauvinism. Were it a matter of Southeast Asians or Poles coming illegally and en masse, La Raza activism would be nonexistent — or championing law enforcement. The Democratic Party in general supports massive influxes, followed by periodic amnesties, followed by expanded entitlements, followed by political loyalty for 3-4 generations. La Raza activists see numbers as key to incomplete assimilation that in turn leads to salad-bowl like political constituencies. Without massive immigration, the Democratic Party’s base — greens, gays, single women, metrosexual young yuppie couples, African-Americans, third-generation Asians and Latinos — does not guarantee the much-promised new demography. As a rough observation, red-state, church-going nuclear families seem to be having more kids than blue-state sorts. Once the impoverished Oaxacan immigrant crosses the border, he becomes statistical proof that Latinos have not achieved parity with the majority culture, due to all sorts of –isms and –ologies that can only be addressed by more government programs staffed by activists. The fact of why and how he was impoverished and whom was to blame before he crossed the border is too illiberal to be addressed. The most frightening statistic I know in regards to illegal immigration is the disappointing performance of second-generation California Latinos in standardized tests and graduating from high school. Compare this quote from an April 2012 Wall Street Journal article written by George P. Shultz and Eric A. Hanushek: But the averages mask the truly sad story in the Latino population, soon to become California’s dominant demographic group. Hispanics attending school in California perform no better than the average student in Mexico, a level comparable to the typical student in Kazakhstan. An alarming 43% of Hispanic students in California did not complete high school between 2005 and 2009, and only 10% attained a college degree. Where did all that massive money spent in remedial help and education go, if Mexico does as good a job as the U.S? A word like raza really does mean race, as in the superior race. Because it compounds the assumptions of an exceptional language and ethnic heritage and racial identity, it is pernicious in the way unquestioned use of volk in 19th-century Germany logically grew into something quite scary 100 years later. 3. Helot labor is helot labor: Something is quite sick when a country of chronic 7.6% unemployment (in fact, much higher when we count those who gave up looking for work) wants to import a million menial laborers. Either entitlements are too generous, or no longer tied to work participation, or we have lost the respect for a shared experience of entry-level physical drudgery, the traditional perquisite to character. I grew up with the bracero program, and remember the old Harvest of Shame-like documentaries, the Woody Guthrie “Deportee” activist songs, and the seasonal liberal op-eds deploring the exploitation. The premise that America can institutionalize the idea that you are good enough to work for us but not good enough to be one of us just won’t work. Mark my words: the guest-worker program is an invitation to exploitation, endless social activism, serial amnesties, and more ethnic tensions. 4. Numbers impair assimilation: Bring in 100,000 immigrants and we are a melting pot of assimilation as Latinos follow the paradigm of the Italians; but bring in nearly 1,000,000 a year, and illegally so, and we are a salad-bowl, Balkanized society of competing factions. Legality, English, and a diploma guarantee successful assimilation, which used to be desirable; the antithesis to all that ensures difficult assimilation, which to too many elites is now more desirable. How did assimilation, integration, and intermarriage become counter-revolutionary? 5. Legal immigration is mostly ignored, other than in platitudes about meritocratic criteria (e.g., education, skill sets, capital, etc.). Democrats sing of legal immigration as if they were the party working to get the brilliant Nigerian electrical engineer his green card at Google. Maybe, maybe not. But does Joe Biden or Chuck Schumer ever say the following? We need to predicate immigration on legality and on precisely those skills needed by American society — and therefore we must close the borders to those who would come illegally, without a high-school diploma, and knowledge of English, given they are far more likely to draw on rather than contribute to the finances of the U.S. The classically liberal position on immigration (e.g., treat everyone on a racially blind and ethnically blind basis; ensure that those who took the trouble to follow the law are privileged over those who did not and cut in line; apply meritocratic criteria not subject to racial or ethnic bias; and for applicants of roughly similar qualifications, ensure a rough “diversity” that results in Asians, Latin Americans, Africans, and Europeans entering in about equal numbers) is now counter-revolutionary. Here is what you do if you are a revolutionary who wishes to transform the American economy: a) Have the government absorb health care, one-sixth of the economy. b) Ensure that a correct Federal Reserve establishes near-zero interest rates. c) Vastly expand the numbers on food stamps, unemployment, and disability insurance. d) Raise taxes on the upper incomes, so that in many states the suspect pay 55% of their incomes in federal income, payroll, Medicare, Obamacare, and state income taxes. e) Exempt half the U.S. households from federal income tax, so that for many April 15 is a day of credit reimbursement. f) In matters of bankruptcy, seek to elevate pension holders over creditors and contractors. g) Promote programs that seek to offer redress payouts to supposedly discriminated constituents and seek to excuse mortgage and credit card debt. h) Vastly grow the number of federal employees. i) Run chronic budget deficits to ensure redistributive growth. j) Plan to double the national debt in eight years. l) Cut the defense budget. m) Keep entitlement payouts sacrosanct. n) Conduct psychological warfare against the job-hiring classes (pay your fair share, you didn’t build that, no time to profit, fat cat, etc.). o) Establish crony capitalism so that particular capitalists (e.g., Solyndra, GE, Chrysler, etc.) understand that anti-capitalist mandates do not apply to politically correct policies. p) Discourage new gas and oil production that might undercut green energy and prevent gas from going “to European levels” or electricity to “skyrocket.” Here is what you might do should you wish a natural recovery, decentralization, and more people working: a) Simply do the opposite from all of the above. How do you know if you are a counter-revolutionary? You sense that you – not just your opposition to “fundamental transformation” — must be destroyed. It’s that simple. Prescience in 1975 Reply #1185 on: April 16, 2013, 07:17:37 AM » David Fromkin writing in Foreign Affairs, July 1975: The grim events at the Athens airport on August 5, 1973, were in a sense symbolic. . . . When the hand grenades were hurled into the departure lounge and the machine gunners simultaneously mowed down the passengers waiting to embark for New York City, it seemed incomprehensible that so harmless a group should be attacked. The merest glance at their hand-luggage, filled with snorkels and cameras, would have shown that they had spent their time in such peaceful pursuits as swimming, sunbathing, and snapping photos of the Parthenon. The raid had been undertaken on behalf of an Arab Palestine. Yet the airport passengers had done the Arabs no harm. . . . True, other ages have suffered from crime and outrage, but what we are experiencing today goes beyond such things. Too small to impose their will by military force, terrorist bands nonetheless are capable nowadays of causing enough damage to intimidate and blackmail the governments of the world. Only modern technology makes this possible—the bazooka, the plastic bomb, the submachine gun, and perhaps, over the horizon, the nuclear mini-bomb. The transformation has enabled terrorism to enter the political arena on a new scale, and to express ideological goals of an organized sort rather than mere crime, madness, or emotional derangement as in the past. Prager: Lessons from Boston and Chechnya Reply #1186 on: April 23, 2013, 10:36:01 AM » Lessons from Boston and Chechnya Tuesday, April 23, 2013 We cannot bring back the stolen lives. We cannot bring back the lost limbs or the lost hearing. And we cannot mitigate the infinite grief of the victims' loved ones. But there is something we can and must do: We must learn all the lessons we can. Here are some: 1. The gulf between the decent and the indecent Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older brother, once told an interviewer before a Golden Gloves boxing competition: "I don't have a single American friend. I don't understand them." The reason Tsarnaev didn't understand Americans was not primarily cultural. Tsarnaev came to America when he was 14 or 15, an age when the vast majority of immigrants to America have assimilated quite successfully Rather, the reason was that the indecent don't understand the decent, just as the decent don't understand the indecent. One of the greatest insights I learned as a young man came from reading Viktor Frankl's seminal work, "Man's Search for Meaning." Frankl was a Jewish psychoanalyst who survived Auschwitz, where nearly every member of his family, including his wife, was murdered. His conclusion: "There are two races of men in this world but only these two. The race of the decent man and the race of the indecent man." Those "races" do not understand one another. But more important than understanding the indecent is overpowering and, when necessary, destroying the indecent. 2. Any religion or ideology that is above good and evil produces enormous evil. For tens of millions of Muslims today, Islam is beyond good and evil: The infidel may be decent, but that is of no importance to the radical Islamist. For example, to become a "more religious" Muslim, Tamerlan Tsarnaev gave up boxing, marijuana, tobacco and even not wearing a shirt in the presence of females. Tsarnaev believed Islam forbade those things -- none of which is an evil. But when it came to the greatest evil -- murder (of non-Muslims) -- his religion was not only silent, it was enthusiastically supportive. Likewise, communists in the Soviet Union, China and elsewhere -- and their many supporters in the West -- raised the creation of egalitarian society and industrialization above good and evil. And Nazism elevated race above good and evil. The environmentalists who oppose vitamin A-injected rice in the Third World place their agenda above good and evil. Unfortunately, most religious and secular ideologues find preoccupation with human decency boring. The greatest moral idea in history, ethical monotheism, doesn't excite most people. 3. A victimhood identity produces cruelty. The Tsarnaev brothers' primary self-perception was that of being Chechen victims, and that plus their religious convictions allowed them to blow up men, women and children with a perfectly clear conscience. Even when victimhood status is objectively true -- which it was not for these brothers, who were among the spectacularly fortunate few to be able to live in freedom and with unlimited opportunities -- nothing provides people with as good a reason to commit atrocities as does a victim mentality. 4. Happiness is a moral issue. Happiness is not an emotional state so much as it is a moral imperative. In general, those who act happy make the world better and those who act unhappy make it worse. This is equally true in the micro and macro realms. It is not surprising, therefore, that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was described by a cousin, Zaur Tsarnaev, in this way: "He was never happy, never cheering, never smiling." 5. Boys will be bad men if they had no good men. It is apparent that the younger brother Dzhokhar was deeply influenced by his brother, Tamerlan, who was seven years older. All of us who have an older brother, especially with a large age gap, know that he has a god-like status in the eyes of a young boy. If good men do not inspire boys, bad men will. Without good older men in boys' lives, those boys are likely to grow up and do bad things. See our inner cities for further confirmation. 6. Universities and the left generally continue to deny any link between Muslim terrorists and their Muslim beliefs. Just as in previous acts of Islamist terror, the left in general, and university professors in particular, continue to argue that it is wrong -- actually bigoted -- to associate these terrorists' religious beliefs with their terrorism. Michael Eric Dyson, Georgetown professor of sociology: "So you take one part of the element, that he's Muslim. But he also might have listened to classical music. He might have had some Lil Wayne." MSNBC host Melissa Harris- Perry: "I keep wondering is it possible that there would ever be a discussion like, 'This is because of Ben Affleck and the connection between Boston and movies about violence?' And of course, the answer is no. ... Our very sense of connection to them is this framed-up notion of, like, Islam making them something that is non-normal." Zaheer Ali -- Harvard graduate, recipient of Columbia University's Merit Scholars Graduate Fellowship, recipient of the Social Science Research Council's Mellon Mays Pre-Doctoral Research Grant -- on MSNBC: "It isn't Muslim that is a common thing here, it's people who are alienated." Professor Brian Levin -- director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino (formerly associate director of the Southern Poverty Law Center) -- to Bill Maher: "Look, it's not like people who are Muslim who do wacky things have a monopoly on it. We have hypocrites across faiths, Jewish, Christian who say they're out for God and end up doing not so nice things." Bill Maher's response: "That's liberal bullshit." And that's what our children are routinely taught. Your second amendment cop buddy will take your guns Reply #1187 on: April 23, 2013, 06:37:13 PM » I will note that in my opinion Lew Rockwell more than one has crossed the line into racism and anti-semitism. Nonetheless this piece posted on his site packs a punch on the subject of gun confiscation. Re: Your second amendment cop buddy will take your guns Reply #1188 on: April 24, 2013, 12:35:57 AM » Quote from: Crafty_Dog on April 23, 2013, 06:37:13 PM I will note that in my opinion Lew Rockwell more than one has crossed the line into racism and anti-semitism. Nonetheless this piece posted on his site packs a punch on the subject of gun confiscation. Ayn Rand: Money Reply #1189 on: April 28, 2013, 06:09:13 PM » “So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil? “When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears not all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor–your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money, Is this what you consider evil? “Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions–and you’ll learn that man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth. “But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made–before it can be looted or mooched–made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.’ “To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss–the recognition that they are not beasts of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery–that you must offer them values, not wounds–that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best that your money can find. And when men live by trade–with reason, not force, as their final arbiter–it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best judgment and highest ability–and the degree of a man’s productiveness is the degree of his reward. This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is this what you consider evil? “But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality–the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind. “Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he’s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he’s evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money. Is this the reason why you call it evil? “Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth–the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason why you call it evil? “Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil. Evil, because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money? “Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred of money? “Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money–and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it. “Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. “Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another–their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun. “But money demands of you the highest virtues, if you wish to make it or to keep it. Men who have no courage, pride or self-esteem, men who have no moral sense of their right to their money and are not willing to defend it as they defend their life, men who apologize for being rich–will not remain rich for long. They are the natural bait for the swarms of looters that stay under rocks for centuries, but come crawling out at the first smell of a man who begs to be forgiven for the guilt of owning wealth. They will hasten to relieve him of the guilt–and of his life, as he deserves. “Then you will see the rise of the men of the double standard–the men who live by force, yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money–the men who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the statutes are written to protect you against them. But when a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law–men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims–then money becomes its creators’ avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them. But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter. “Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot. “Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’ “When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘Who is destroying the world? You are. “You stand in the midst of the greatest achievements of the greatest productive civilization and you wonder why it’s crumbling around you, while you’re damning its life-blood–money. You look upon money as the savages did before you, and you wonder why the jungle is creeping back to the edge of your cities. Throughout men’s history, money was always seized by looters of one brand or another, whose names changed, but whose method remained the same: to seize wealth by force and to keep the producers bound, demeaned, defamed, deprived of honor. That phrase about the evil of money, which you mouth with such righteous recklessness, comes from a time when wealth was produced by the labor of slaves–slaves who repeated the motions once discovered by somebody’s mind and left unimproved for centuries. So long as production was ruled by force, and wealth was obtained by conquest, there was little to conquer, Yet through all the centuries of stagnation and starvation, men exalted the looters, as aristocrats of the sword, as aristocrats of birth, as aristocrats of the bureau, and despised the producers, as slaves, as traders, as shopkeepers–as industrialists. “To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of money–and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, man’s mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being–the self-made man–the American industrialist. “If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose–because it contains all the others–the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity–to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality. “Yet these were the words for which Americans were denounced by the rotted cultures of the looters’ continents. Now the looters’ credo has brought you to regard your proudest achievements as a hallmark of shame, your prosperity as guilt, your greatest men, the industrialists, as blackguards, and your magnificent factories as the product and property of muscular labor, the labor of whip-driven slaves, like the pyramids of Egypt. The rotter who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of the dollar and the power of the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide– as, I think, he will. “Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns–or dollars. Take your choice–there is no other–and your time is running out.” The Angel Clark Show A Spanish Leftist Speaks Out Reply #1190 on: May 06, 2013, 10:35:04 AM » An interesting rant by a Leftist Spanish journalist, refusing to toe the party's line. First published about 3 years ago. A Leftist Speaks Out by Pilar Rahola As a non-Jew I have the historical responsibility to fight against hatred of Jews. Why don't we see demonstrations against Islamic dictatorships in London, Paris, Barcelona? Or demonstrations against the Burmese dictatorship? Why aren't there demonstrations against the enslavement of millions of women who live without any legal protection? Why aren't there demonstrations against the use of children as human bombs where there is conflict with Islam? Why has there been no leadership in support of the victims of Islamic dictatorship in Sudan? Why is there never any outrage against the acts of terrorism committed against Israel? Why is there no outcry by the European left against Islamic fanaticism? Why don't they defend Israel's right to exist? Why confuse support of the Palestinian cause with the defense of Palestinian terrorism? An finally, the million dollar question: Why is the left in Europe and around the world obsessed with the two most solid democracies, the United States and Israel, and not with the worst dictatorships on the planet? The two most solid democracies, who have suffered the bloodiest attacks of terrorism, and the left doesn't care. And then, to the concept of freedom. In every pro Palestinian European forum I hear the left yelling with fervor: "We want freedom for the people!" Not true. They are never concerned with freedom for the people of Syria or Yemen or Iran or Sudan, or other such nations. And they are never preoccupied when Hamas destroys freedom for the Palestinians. They are only concerned with using the concept of Palestinian freedom as a weapon against Israeli freedom. The resulting consequence of these ideological pathologies is the manipulation of the press. The international press does major damage when reporting on the question of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. On this topic they don't inform, they propagandize. When reporting about Israel the majority of journalists forget the reporter code of ethics. And so any Israeli act of self-defense becomes a massacre, and any confrontation, genocide. So many stupid things have been written about Israel that there aren't any accusations left to level against her. At the same time, this press never discusses Syrian and Iranian interference in propagating violence against Israel; the indoctrination of children and the corruption of the Palestinians. And when reporting about victims, every Palestinian casualty is reported as tragedy and every Israeli victim is camouflaged, hidden or reported about with disdain. And let me add on the topic of the Spanish left. Many are the examples that illustrate the anti-Americanism and anti-Israeli sentiments that define the Spanish left. For example, one of the leftist parties in Spain has just expelled one of its members for creating a pro-Israel website. I quote from the expulsion document: "Our friends are the people of Iran, Libya and Venezuela, oppressed by imperialism, and not a Nazi state like Israel." In another example, the socialist mayor of Campozuelos changed Shoah Day, commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, with Palestinian Nakba Day, which mourns the establishment of the State of Israel, thus showing contempt for the six million European Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Or in my native city of Barcelona, the city council decided to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel, by having a week of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Thus, they invited Leila Khaled, a noted terrorist from the 70's and current leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organization so described by the European Union, which promotes the use of bombs against Israel. This politically correct way of thinking has even polluted the speeches of President Zapatero. His foreign policy falls within the extreme left, and on issues of the Middle East he is unequivocally pro Arab. I can assure you that in private, Zapatero places on Israel the blame for the conflict in the Middle East, and the policies of foreign minister Moratinos reflect this. The fact that Zapatero chose to wear a kafiah in the midst of the Lebanon conflict is no coincidence; it's a symbol. Spain has suffered the worst terrorist attack in Europe and it is in the crosshairs of every Islamic terrorist organization. As I wrote before, they kill us with cell phone hooked to satellites connected to the Middle Ages. And yet the Spanish left is the most anti Israel in the world. And then it says it is anti Israeli because of solidarity. This is the madness I want to denounce in this conference. In conclusion, I am not Jewish. Ideologically I am left and by profession a journalist. Why am I not against Israel like my colleagues? Because as a non-Jew I have the historical responsibility to fight against Jewish hatred and currently against the hatred for their historic homeland, Israel. To fight against anti-Semitism is not the duty of the Jews; it is the duty of the non-Jews. As a journalist it is my duty to search for the truth beyond prejudice, lies and manipulations. The truth about Israel is not told. As a person from the left who loves progress, I am obligated t defend liberty, culture, civic education for children, coexistence and the laws that the Tablets of the Covenant made into universal principles. Principles that Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys. That is to say that as a non-Jew, journalist and leftist I have a triple moral duty with Israel, because if Israel is destroyed, liberty, modernity and culture will be destroyed too. The struggle of Israel, even if the world doesn't want to accept it, is the struggle of the world. Re: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Reply #1191 on: May 14, 2013, 08:12:25 PM » I wonder if any of these scandals will be proven to be connected to Obama. Surely he knew about a lot of this. Surely he gave the "nod". That doesn't mean there is anything in writing or any email evidence to speak to this likely truth. So we would have to hope someone will turn on him. Perhaps we will need special prosecutor(s) to force the truth out of those who will surely be thrown under the bus with the proverbial buck stuffed in their pockets. We will now have to suffer through the inevitable democratic counter attack being formulated as we speak. I wonder if any of the journolisters are on the AP list. Lets see if they are STILL more infatuated with their beloved party or with themselves and their fellow media types. Will there come a point where they will en masse throw the ONE under the bus? Paving the way for Clinton? Or Cuomo? Will Boomer Bloomberg jump into the ring? Newt: The Four Scandals Reply #1192 on: May 15, 2013, 02:25:48 PM » When I started writing this it was called "three scandals". There was the Benghazi Scandal, the IRS Scandal, and the little covered but equally alarming Secretary Sebelius scandal. Then as I was writing we learned that the Justice Department had secretly obtained two months worth of phone call records for more than 100 Associated Press reporters. This is the largest violation of the First Amendment in modern times and so we now have four scandals in the Obama Administration. The White House wants Americans to believe the four scandals are all, in one way or another, the rogue acts of insignificant subordinates. They want us to believe that a few misguided but well-meaning IRS agents in regional offices took the initiative to persecute and harass conservatives in an election year. They want us to believe that repeated requests for more security at the Benghazi compound were ignored by fourth-tier bureaucrats at the State Department, never making it to the Department’s leadership. That the talking points were altered by unknown analysts at the CIA, rather than senior administration officials as evidence suggests. That the explosive allegations of a senior diplomat are really just the ramblings of a disgruntled employee. They want us to believe that the White House was completely unaware that the Department of Justice secretly grabbed two months of phone records from Associated Press reporters who cover the administration, in an effort to identify their sources. And no doubt we will soon discover that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s shakedown of insurance companies for money which Congress refused to appropriate was really the initiative of some unfortunate functionary deep in the bowels of the Department. But in truth, these scandals are not the random acts of a few bureaucrats who got out of hand. These scandals are in fact the natural manifestations of Obamaism. Unaccountable power, untethered from law or the Constitution, and employed for political gain is standard operating procedure in an administration which seeks to make government bigger and bigger. It is the Chicago machine transplanted to the federal government. And they continue without shame, lying about what they’ve done, then lying about lying, and finally lying about the people who are telling the truth until everyone forgets what they lied about in the first place. When the President blamed the terrorist attacks in Benghazi on a protest that never happened, anyone who dared challenge the official story was smeared as a crazy extremist or a bitter partisan. When the Secretary of State vowed to prosecute the creator of an obscure anti-Islam Internet video, those who doubted the explanation were intolerant. When the U.N. ambassador said on five Sunday talk shows that the violence arose from a spontaneous demonstration against the video, people who questioned the claim were politicizing a tragedy. It is now obvious to everyone that the Obama Administration was deliberately dishonest. And so the White House tells Americans to forget about it, “Benghazi happened a long time ago.” The subordinates have been punished. The whistleblowers have been demoted. Move along, nothing to see here. The administration took the same approach to the IRS scandal. Apparently beginning in 2010, the IRS singled out groups with “tea party” or “patriot" in their name (presumably assuming that groups on the Left don’t describe themselves as “patriotic”), as well as organizations “involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform movement ,” or making statements which “criticize how the country is being run.” The IRS asked many of these groups to provide lists of their donors, the amount of each donation, and lots of details about the organizations’ activities. Here is an example of one appalling letter from the IRS to a Tea Party group which was targeted. When the IRS confessed to some of this on Friday in advance of an investigation made public yesterday, it tried to blame low level IRS employees in a Cincinnati office. But it is already being widely reported that senior IRS officials in Washington knew for almost two years that the agency was targeting conservative organizations, even though they testified before Congress more than a year ago and claimed the IRS was doing no such thing. So they lied to Congress, then lied to the press when caught, and now once again they’re lying about lying. This is the agency which is integral to implementing Obamacare. How would you like the IRS bureaucrats deciding your health treatments? Chilling isn't it? Meanwhile, the White House maintains it had no idea the IRS was abusing power to target the administration’s political enemies, although the Presidential spokesman, Jay Carney, has admitted some people in the White House knew something at a recent press briefing. Carney's comment begins to move toward Senator Howard Baker's famous Watergate question, "What did you know and when did you know it?" Speaking of abuses of power, the White House also says it was unaware the Department of Justice secretly obtained two months worth of phone records for more than 100 Associated Press reporters, many of whom cover the Obama administration. The DOJ is trying to discover the source of unauthorized and damaging national security leaks which informed an AP story on al Qaeda last year. That is in contrast with the damaging national security leaks which supported the President’s reelection last year: they have not shown much interest in discovering who told the New York Times about President Obama’s “kill list” or his administration’s work on the Stuxnet virus that set back Iran’s nuclear program, or who granted Hollywood filmmakers unprecedented access to officials who divulged details of the bin Laden raid. Of course, two months worth of phone records are likely to reveal communications with AP sources on hundreds of other stories about the administration in that period of time. But the White House says it is not involved. Finally, we learned this week that Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has been shaking down the health care companies for donations to fund implementation of Obamacare. When Congress refused to appropriate more money to set up the health insurance exchanges, Secretary Sebelius began asking these companies to contribute to Enroll America, a nonprofit organization created to promote Obamacare. It is headed by a former White House official. As Senator Lamar Alexander said, “Such private fundraising circumvents the constitutional requirement that only Congress may appropriate funds. If the secretary or others in her department are closely coordinating the activities of Enroll America...then those actions may be in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act.” Senator Alexander points out the Secretary’s activities are functionally no different from those which led to the Iran-Contra scandal, in which the executive branch attempted to continue supporting a program Congress had not authorized using private donations. Fourteen officials were indicted in Iran-Contra. Among all these lies and abuses of power from senior administration officials, how can the White House credibly continue to blame low level subordinates? And if he’s not responsible for the State Department, the Department of Justice, the IRS, or the Department of Health and Human Services (all of which were carrying on activities transparently to his political advantage) is President Obama responsible for anything at all in the executive branch? Re: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Reply #1193 on: May 15, 2013, 04:45:45 PM » I tried to look up who oversees the Office of Inspector General and it seems according to Wikipedia there are MANY offices of the "Inspector General". If I read right the particular OIG who comes out with the above mentioned report more or less exonerating Lerner at the IRS is the one under HHS - that is overseen by, you got it Sec. Sebelius. All of a sudden a report is released sounding as though it is non partisan and objective, coming from a department run by one Brockster appointee that "exonerates" the IRS which is controlled by a another Brockster appointee. It is all legal mumbo jumbo that has ZERO credibility. Actually can anyone EVER remember one Fed agency uncovering illegal activity of another Federal agency? Yet MSLSD will be advising us tonight that the career civil servants who never have a political axe to grind at an OIG investigated and found no wrong doing and that is the end of the story. It was those jerks the Clintons who dumbed us all down with this kind of crap. Re: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Reply #1194 on: May 15, 2013, 04:52:38 PM » Are your political opinions ObamaCare compliant? Learn more at IRS.gov Re: Political Rants & interesting thought pieces Reply #1195 on: May 15, 2013, 06:53:53 PM » OK lets put to rest the concept that "career" civil servants are nonpartisan. That is like saying school teachers are all nonpartisan. Or all doctors are nonpartisan. "it is all about patient care". Although how many doctors are Dems and how many are, like me, Republican I am really not sure. Congressman leaves IRS commish walking bow-legged. Reply #1196 on: May 17, 2013, 04:04:01 PM » Please select a destination: DBMA Martial Arts Forum => Martial Arts Topics Politics, Religion, Science, Culture and Humanities => Politics & Religion => Science, Culture, & Humanities => Espanol Discussion Dog Brothers Information => Instructor Lists => Biographies & Instructor Details Powered by SMF 1.1.17 SMF © 2011, Simple Machines
Tutorial: Christmas Card Banner Wall Art When it comes to temporary decor (like Christmas decorations, for instance), I like projects that are quick and easy. The way I see it, I am simply too busy a person to put too much time and effort into something that I am just going to tear down and pack away in a few weeks. That's why most of my holiday projects tend to be like these Christmas card banners: made using recycled materials paired with cheap supplies, done in a half hour or less. So gather up those leftover Christmas cards and whip up some festive wall art! - Frame mats (2 sizes), $2 - Paint, on hand or $1 and up - Christmas cards, on hand or $3 and up - Tape, on hand - Ribbon, on hand or $1 - Hot glue, on hand Total: $2 and up I snagged a whole stack of these frame mats a while back at Dollar Tree. They are for matting photos in frames and come in several standard sizes. The number of mats per package varies based on size. For my project I used four smaller frames and two larger frames, so two packages (one of each size) was enough. If you want to use a different layout with more or less photos, purchase the mats accordingly. Paint the frames. I used a silver metallic paint from Martha Stewart's craft paint line because I had it on hand already; if I'd gone out to buy paint for this project, I probably would have picked up some metallic spray paint because it's so quick and easy to dress things up with it. You will also need one card for each frame. You can use all different cards or use pairs like I did. This is a great use for old Christmas cards that you have saved from previous years, or cards left over from sending them this year! Trim the cards to fit in the frames and use a couple of pieces of tape on the back side to hold them in place. Cut two pieces of ribbon the same length and trim the ends to make them look pretty. I taped my ribbon down to my work surface to hold the pieces parallel while I glued on the cards, making it easier to keep the spacing on both banners even. Working on card at a time, run a bead of hot glue down the center of the back of each card from top to bottom, then carefully place each card onto the ribbon. Once all of the cards are glued into place, you banners are ready to hang!Full disclosure policy.
the social network for fashion doll lovers wrote angles Thanks much for your interest in TONNER... thats kind of you to think so, yes, others have mentioned this property too, not sure we would or will, of course we don't have license either, but , you never know forward to team ▶ Reply to This ▶ Reply to Discussion New here? Join for FREE!or Sign In Or sign in with: Find Dolls at Ashton-Drake Galleries Barbies From Argos © 2013 Created by Simon Farnworth. Report an Issue \| Terms of Service Please check your browser settings or contact your system administrator.
For Halloween 2012 the Superdoll Collectables Boys have really spoiled us in the form of a gorgeous Sybarite named Macrame. Spoting the rarely seen, but popular, Voltaire sculpt and in suitably spooktastic garb, including killer boots, she is already bringing Superdoll fans out in a cold sweat of anticipation prior to her release on Halloween tomorrow. She will come in a limited release of 100 so be sure to hurry to avoid disappointment!…Read More “An ancient mansion sits beneath ink black skies. Midnight winds whisper through deserted rooms. Softly, the sound of clanging chains and supernatural murmurs rises and grows. From the darkness, an apparition…Read More Added by Simon Farnworth on October 14, 2012 at 23:00 — No Comments
It seems that Cam's assessment that training camp opens at noon on Friday bought Jr just enough time to not be considered a holdout by the team. But, in our estimation, he his a holdout, and can not play this year. So, how about that? $13 million in guaranteed money for a kick returner? Un-freakin-believable.
So, the Vikings trade for Moss about a month ago, and give up a draft pick for him. Then, the coach decides to release him because he's underperforming, and the owner is mad because he wanted Moss on the team...fantastic. I've heard several local reporters suggest that maybe he could come to Miami. To that I say...please no. We don't need that guy here. What role would he play? The threat that Marshall isn't? A repalcement for Bess? No thanks. Besides his attitude probably isn't the right fit. And that means the Dolphins probably want him! Ha ha! I just hope he ends up on a team like the Bills, so he can be the first player to ever face a team (the Jets) 3 times in a season while playing for different teams.

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