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Home > Kutná Hora > Stone Fountain
Rožnov p. Radhoštěm
Kutná Hora Sights
What to see in Kutná Hora: Church of St. Barbara | Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady at Sedlec | Ossuary (Bone Church) at Sedlec | Church of St. James | Stone Fountain | Italian Court | Jesuit College | Church of St. John of Nepomuk | Ruthard Lane | Czech Museum of Silver - Hrádek
Stone Fountain (Kamenná kašna)
The Gothic stone fountain on Rejsek Square was built in 1493 by architect Matěj Rejsek (who also worked on the Church of St. Barbara and is the author of Prague's Powder Tower). The twelve-sided fountain is unusually large, four meters tall, and originally had a hexagonal roof. It supplied water to Kutná Hora when local water supply was cut off due to silver mining in the area. Water was brought in through wooden pipes from a well four kilometers away. The fountain is lit up beautifully after dark.
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OECD Home TaxTransfer pricingGuidance on the transfer pricing implications of the COVID-19 pandemic
Base erosion and profit shifting
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Guidance on the transfer pricing implications of the COVID-19 pandemic
Access the guidance
English (Webbook and PDF) Published 18 December 2020
Français (Webbook and PDF) Published 20 January 2021
This Guidance clarifies and illustrates the practical application of the arm's length principle as articulated in the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines to the unique fact patterns and specific challenges implied by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was developed and approved by the 137 members of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (Inclusive Framework).
Embodied in the OECD's Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA), the Inclusive Framework was developed in 2013 to allow interested countries and jurisdictions to work with OECD and G20 members on equal footing on developing standards on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) related issues and reviewing and monitoring the implementation of the BEPS Package. See full list of Inclusive Framework members.
The overarching objective of the CFA is to contribute to the shaping of globalisation for the benefit of all through the promotion and development of effective and sound tax policies, international tax standards and guidance that will allow governments to provide better services to their citizens while maximising economic growth and achieving environmental and social objectives. Its work is intended to enable OECD and non-OECD member governments to improve the design and operation of their national tax systems, to promote co-operation and co-ordination among them in the area of taxation and to reduce tax barriers to international trade and investment. (See CFA Mandate).
To meet this objective, the CFA agreed, among other things, to enhance co-operation by strengthening policy dialogue with non-OECD members in order to increase their awareness and use of the CFA's standards, guidelines and to explore together the identification of good practices. It is in this context, and the overarching need for inclusiveness, that the Inclusive Framework members developed and approved this Guidance.
The Guidance provides much needed clarification and support for taxpayers and for tax administrations as they evaluate and administer the application of transfer pricing rules for periods impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, an area where international co-ordination is necessary. Four priority issues were identified and are covered in the Guidance:
(i) comparability analysis;
(ii) losses and the allocation of COVID-19 specific costs;
(iii) government assistance programmes; and
(iv) advance pricing agreements ("APAs").
While it is recognised that some developing country Inclusive Framework members may also follow the United Nations Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing for Developing Countries (2017), this Guidance should be helpful in such circumstances where the UN Manual follows a similar analytical framework and allows for similar conclusions as the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines.
Blog post: Transfer pricing implications of the COVID-19 pandemic: New OECD guidance for tax administrations and business, by Grace Perez-Navarro, Deputy Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (18 December 2020)
OECD work on transfer pricing
OECD contributions to tackle the coronavirus (COVID-19)
Follow-us on Twitter: @OECDtax
Contact us: ctp.contact@oecd.org
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Stocks vs. Bonds, 5-Decade Anomaly of Returns
Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2009 Oct 21, 2009 - 02:50 PM GMT
By: Adrian_Ash
Stocks now pay way less than bonds once again, but neither pay much...
BLINK and you missed it. US equities offered a greater yield on investment than did US Treasury bonds for less than five months...
And from the day this oddity struck, 18 Nov. 2008, the S&P still had another one-fifth to fall.
"When this inversion occurred, my two older partners assured me it was an anomaly," wrote the late Peter Bernstein in Nov. 2008.
The inversion Bernstein referred to had occurred five decades earlier...back when the dividend yield offered by US equities slipped below the yield offered by Treasury bonds for only the second time in history.
Wake up there at the back! This might be important. Because in 1958, savings were offered a lower return as risk capital in US business than as a loan to Uncle Sam. Which was absurd. The only other time this had happened – and only then for six months – was right at the top of the 1929 stock bubble.
And you can see how the Great Crash fixed that anomaly on our chart above.
"The markets would soon be set to rights," Bernstein's senior partners agreed just as Elvis was getting his Fort Chaffee crew-cut, "with dividends once again yielding more than bonds. That was the relationship ordained by Heaven, after all, because stocks were riskier than bonds and should have the higher yield."
High risk equals higher return, right? Risk-free bonds should pay less per year...just as they had done for as long as anyone dared to remember. US equities, on Robert Shiller's data at least, offered an average yield 1.8% above Treasuries between 1871 and 1958.
How's that for a law of the universe?
But what Nature ordains and how investors behave are two different things, as early bears too often find to their cost. London's Tony Dye moved $10 billion of his clients' money out of stocks into bonds in 1995. Come March 2000, he was forced to step down as chief investment officer at PDFM, just as his call came good. (Dye then called the top of the real-estate bubble...in 2004.) And what seemed aberrant to old hands in the mid-20th century has since become hard financial fact. Stocks offered to yield 3.7% less than bonds in the fifty years to last November, even though Uncle Sam was obliged to repay you in full at redemption, while no one was (or is) obliged to buy your stock at the price you (or anyone before you) paid.
Forget risk, just get used to it. This iron law even got a name – the Fed Funds Model, based on the idea that Fed officials in the mid-90s were actively targeting stock prices by working long bond yields – and became so entrenched during the five decades to last Christmas, you could hang your jacket on the bullishness sparked by any hint of reversion.
"A record percentage of companies [now have] dividend yields that are greater than the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note," said a report from $10bn Concord Asset Management in Chicago in March 2009. "At 45%, that is over 4 times higher than in 2002...and for one of the few times in modern history, stocks now yield comfortably more than Treasury bonds and money market funds."
Buy, Buy, Buy! in short. And to date (meaning the last 8 months) it's proved a smart call. Because the first 50 years of contemporary finance won't be beat. Not on Wall Street at least. Not yet.
But in Japan...?
"This may sound boringly technical but it really is worth noting," noted the London Evening Standard in November 2007. "The dividend on Japanese stocks has moved higher than the yield on Japanese government bonds (JGBs). [And] in the past, every time this has happened (1998, 2003 and 2005 in recent memory) the Japanese market has soon found itself in the grip of a massive rally.
"All the signs are that the same thing might happen this time."
Sadly, however, no dice. The magic of stocks yielding more than "risk-free" bonds (we'll come back to the scare quotes in a second) worked right up until it didn't – Nov. 2007 – when the fast-falling Nikkei just kept falling, pushing the dividend yield up to multi-decade highs...even as JGB yields continued to drop. (Hat tip to Matsunosuke blogging at Ameblo.jp for the chart...)
Beyond a globally synchronized slump, what gives?
"As investors pondered this upside-down yield spread after 1958," Bernstein wrote a little less than 12 months ago, "two explanations (rationalizations?) began to circulate." First, by the late 1950s, the Great Depression was finally becoming a distant memory, together with its record of destroying equity while gifting deflationary gains to sovereign-bond rentiers. Second, the idea of growth-stock investing – propounded by young guns such as Bernstein himself – was starting to take hold.
Capital growth in the value of stocks would be paid in lieu of strong dividend income. Who needed yield when you got gains? Put another way, as did Robert Arnott, now head of institutional advisory Research Affiliates, when speaking to Barrons last November, "Growth was in the air [after World War II]...so yield plus growth (stocks) could trump yield alone (bonds.) For the next 50 years, that was the norm."
But Bernstein ventured a third explanation for the switch from risk-free bonds to high-growth stocks: "Inflation." His technical study, built on the correlations between equity dividends and T-bond yields, was typically detailed, thorough and possibly obtruse. Since there's no time to recount it here, and at the risk of bowdlerizing Bernstein's analysis (and upsetting his shade any further), let's cut to the chase:
Inflation makes bonds a worse risk than stocks. Hence the fillip from yields.
Given that last year's reversion, and this year's switch back, happened at a level of dividend yields "about the same as in September 1929 and lower than at all other stock-market peaks of the 20th century" according to Bob Prechter, we'll leave second-guessing where the anomaly now lies to you.
The cross-over also came with Treasury yields down at unheard of lows. "People are too optimistic [in stocks] about making capital gains," reckons Prechter. They might be too optimistic about getting their T-bonds redeemed at fair value as well.
By Adrian Ash
BullionVault.com
Gold price chart, no delay | Free Report: 5 Myths of the Gold Market
City correspondent for The Daily Reckoning in London and a regular contributor to MoneyWeek magazine, Adrian Ash is the editor of Gold News and head of research at www.BullionVault.com , giving you direct access to investment gold, vaulted in Zurich , on $3 spreads and 0.8% dealing fees.
(c) BullionVault 2009
Please Note: This article is to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it.
Adrian Ash Archive
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7 Weird Conversations That Would Only Happen On Tinder
90min.com
Hector Bellerin is the perfect embodiment of what a modern footballer should be
Oisin O'Connor
Features, Sports
Hector Bellerin is not your typical footballer. For one thing, he’s vocal on politics. He also wears federas and other coloruful clothing in stark contrast to the usual jeans and plain sweater than most footballers don. The former Barcelona defender was born in the Catalonian city and moved to Arsenal as a teenager. His time in London has not only impacted upon his style and political opinions, but has also resulted in a rather unique Catalan/ Cockney hybrid accent.
Most footballers use their social media plalforms soley for pictures of training with motivation captions accomanying or the same, meaningless posts after a game such as the ‘Disapointed not to get the result we wanted today but thanks to the fans for making the trip’ sort of thing that we see far too often. I should emphasise that this is not an attack on the modern footballer who probably have little control over what gets posted on their Instagram or Twitter accounts. Rather, this article simply intends to highlight the power and influence they have and the responsibilies that come with that power. Of course, players are somewhat restrained by their clubs and should not be expected to be polticians but they should be more vocal on issues that are rife throughout the game.
A quick scroll trough Bellerins Twitter account will tell you that he is different and not afraid to speak his mind. To trolling Boris Johnson to highlighting the threat of Climate Change, Bellerin uses his platform as a force for good. While many colleagues and sports symbols remained silent when Mesut Ozil was blatantly discriminated against by the German Football Federation, Hector made a stand for his team mate-
‘Surreal that someone who has done so much for his country on and off the pitch has been treated with such disrespect. Well done Mesut Ozil for standing up to this behaviour’.
It is a testament to Bellerins character that he’s willing to make such a public stand in such controversial circumstances. It’s one of the things which many have cited as a reason to make him an Arsenal captain in the future. He may not yet be the vocal leader, demanding of his teammates that Tony Adams was but his conduct on and off the pitch has put him in good stead for contention.
Bellerin is one of the very few Vegan footballers and is also very vocal when it comes to animal rights. Whether you agree with this lifestyle or not, his dedication to the cause of animal welfare is admirable. Bellerin’s stance and lifestyle is a long way from the pint drinking and carnivorous footballers of the 80s and 90s but even in todays more liberal, tolerant society vegans are still subject to silly and outdated jibes. For someone who is so prominent and in the public eye to make such a strong stand takes some, what Troy Deeney might call ‘cojones’.
Back in 2017 after the tragic Grenfell Tower disaster Bellerin was one of the first sports personalities to speak out and donated €50 for every minute he played at the Under 21 European Championships which amounted to £19,050. His genorisity inpired former Spurs striker Gary Linekar to match the donation. This is a perfect example of a young footballer using his platform as a force for good. It proved that footballers can have a huge impact on social issues and in genuinely making a difference in tragic circumstances.
Bellerin has been ivolved with a number of charites and launched the ‘HANDSOFF’ campaign back in 2017, which aims to raise awareness for domestic and child abuse. This isn’t just a footballer following the instructions of his club. The annual club visits to children’s hospitals should absolutely be commended but Hector has gone above and beyond the call of duty and has been a leader rather than a follower when it comes to charity. He’s also been known to give away free tickets as well as football gear which is aways nice to see.
Hector has also proved that footballers do have a sense of humour by poking fun at Donald Trump and Piers Morgan , which I think, is something that everyone should appreciate. Piers Morgan put up a pretty vomit inducing picture of himself holing aloft an Arsenal jersey with Trump 45 on the back and the caption ‘The moment I invite President Trump to be Arsenals new manager’. Bellerin responded with a simple yet brilliant ‘I hope he said no”. This is just one other example of Hector going against the grain and not being afraid to be different.
He openly speaks about mental health and racism and did so very elogquently in an interview with the Oxford union. Mental Helath has been an issue in the game for some time now and it was refreshing to someone speak so openly about the issue. Robert Enke and Gary Speed were all too stark reminders that depression in football is a very real thing. It’s vitally important that footballers use their platform to highlight the issue of mental health in football and beyond. On Twitter, Bellerin has also expressed his support for the vilified Raheem Sterling and called out the blatant racism that unfortunately still blights the game. If we are to rid the game of racism then more players will need to take Hectors lead.
To some tabloid newspapers, Hector is the oddly dressed liberal vegan who sums up the millennial generation but tabloid newspapers generally don’t like famous people who stand up for what is just and right, or anyone who has the audacity to dress differently or live a different lifestyle. Hector should be cherished for his style and his decency and should be viewed a fantastic role model for young players and fans alike.
The Weekly Revlix: Jurassic Park
Want to avoid getting your food stolen by a seagull?Listen up
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Gallery : www.visitwallpapers.com Keyword Album: spain
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DRCNet Library | Schaffer Library
The Psychedelic Library | Book Menu | Contents
The Private Sea
William Braden
6. The dome of many-colored glass
"The Malay has been a fearful enemy for months," Thomas De Quincey wrote in May 1818. "I have been every night, through his means, transported into Asiatic scenes."
The entry is contained in the famous drug addict's autobiographical account, Confessions of an English Opium Eater. The passage which follows describes the Eastern nightmares produced by the Eastern drug, and it is worth quoting at length:
I know not whether others share in my feelings on this point; but I have often thought that if I were compelled to forego England, and to live in China . . . I should go mad. The causes of my horror lie deep; and some of them must be common to others. Southern Asia, in general, is the seat of awful images and associations. As the cradle of the human race, it would alone have a dim and reverential feeling connected with it. But there are other reasons. No man can pretend that the wild, barbarous, and capricious superstitions of Africa, or of savage tribes elsewhere, affect him in the way that he is affected by the ancient, monumental, cruel and elaborate religions of Indostan, etc. The mere antiquity of Asiatic things, of their institutions, histories, modes of faith, etc., is so impressive, that to me the vast age of the race and name overpowers the sense of youth in the individual. A young Chinese seems to me an antediluvian man renewed . . . nor can any man fail to be awed by the names of the Ganges, or the Euphrates. It contributes much to these feelings, that southern Asia is, and has been for thousands of years, the part of the earth most swarming with human life; the great officina gentian Man is a weed in these regions. The vast empires also, into which the enormous population of Asia has always been cast, give a further sublimity to the feelings associated with all Oriental names or images. In China, over and above what it has in common with the rest of southern Asia, I am terrified by the modes of life, by the manners, and the barrier of utter abhorrence, and want of sympathy, placed between us by feelings deeper than I can analyze. I could sooner live with lunatics, or brute animals. All this, and much more than I can say, or have time to say, the reader must enter into, before he can comprehend the unimaginable horror which these dreams of Oriental imagery, and mythological tortures, impressed upon me. Under the connecting feeling of tropical heat and vertical sunlights, I brought together all creatures, birds, beasts, reptiles, all trees and plants, usages and appearances, that are found in all tropical regions and assembled them together in China or Indostan. From kindred feelings, I soon brought Egypt and all her gods under the same law. I was stared at, hooted at, grinned at, chattered at, by monkeys, by paroquets, by cockatoos. I ran into pagodas: and was fixed, for centuries, at the summit, or in secret rooms.... I fled from the wrath of Brahma through all the forests of Asia. Vishnu hated me: Seeva laid wait for me. I came suddenly upon Isis and Osiris: I had done a deed, they said, which the ibis and crocodile trembled at. I was buried, for a thousand years, in stone coffins, with mummies and sphinxes, in narrow chambers at the heart of eternal pyramids. I was kissed, with cancerous kisses, by crocodiles; and laid, confounded with all unutterable slimy things, amongst reeds and Nilotic mud. I thus give the reader some slight abstraction of my Oriental dreams, which always filled me with such amazement at the monstrous scenery, that horror seemed absorbed, for a while, in sheer astonishment. Sooner or later came a reflux of feeling that swallowed up the astonishment, and left me, not so much in terror, as in hatred and abomination of what I saw. Over every form, and threat, and punishment, and dim sightless incarceration, brooded a sense of eternity and infinity that drove me into an oppression as of madness. . . . [And] many times the very same dream was broken up in the very same way: I heard gentle voices speaking to me . . . and instantly I awoke: it was broad noon; and my children were standing, hand in hand, at my bedside; come to show me their colored shoes, or new frocks, or to let me see them dressed for going out. I protest that so awful was the transition from the damned crocodile, and the other unutterable monsters and abortions of my dreams, to the sight of innocent human natures and of infancy, that, in the mighty and sudden revulsion of mind, I wept, and could not forbear it, as I kissed their faces.
De Quincey's attitude might well reflect English provincialism at its best, or worst, but surely he was correct in assuming that some of the causes of his horror are shared by others. Undoubtedly he has summed up very well the reaction of the average Westerner to that nebulous something we have referred to as Eastern ideas. A similar attitude was expressed, for example, by Grecophile Edith Hamilton in her comparison of Greek and Eastern art. The Greeks, she wrote, were the first Westerners, introducing into the ancient world something completely new: the rule of reason and the supremacy of the rational intellect. The Greeks loved order, they loved life, and they embraced with joy the beauty of the visible world. They were the first people to play, and their games were conducted on a grand scale. But this point of view was unique; it did not belong "to the immense expanse and the multitudinous populations of the East." With its oppressed masses and its wretched conditions of life, the East was preoccupied with the unseen—and with death. So insecure and unbearable was the visible world that men could find hope only by rejecting outside fact and turning inward to the invisible world of spirit and intuition. Thus a tomb in Egypt and a theater in Greece. "The one comes to the mind as naturally as the other." Thus a grotesquely stylized Hindu bronze of Shiva, its many arms and hands curving outward—and the Olympic Hermes, "a perfectly beautiful human being, no more, no less."
When Egypt ended, the East went on ever farther in the direction Egypt had pointed. The miseries of Asia are a fearful page in history. Her people found strength to endure by denying any meaning and any importance to what they could not escape. The Egyptian world where dead men walked and slept and feasted was transmuted into what had always been implicit in its symbolism, the world of the spirit. In India, for centuries the leader of thought to the East, ages long since, the world of the reason and the world of the spirit were divorced and the universe handed over to the latter.... The mystical artist always sees patterns. The symbol, never quite real, tends to be expressed less and less realistically, and as the reality becomes abstracted the pattern comes forward. The wings on Blake's angels do not look like real wings, nor are they there because wings belong to angels. They have been flattened, stylized, to provide a curving pointed frame, the setting required by the pattern of the composition. In Hindoo art and its branches, stylization reaches its height. Human figures are stylized far beyond the point of becoming a type; they too are made into patterns, schematic designs of the human body, an abstraction of humanity. In the case of an Eastern rug all desire to express any semblance of reality has gone. Such a work of art is pure decoration. It is the expression of the artist's final withdrawal from the visible world, essentially his denial of the intellect.... Again, the gigantic temples of Egypt, those massive immensities of granite which look as if only the power that moves in the earthquake were mighty enough to bring them into existence, are something other than the creation of geometry balanced by beauty. The science and the spirit are there, but what is there most of all is force, inhuman force, calm but tremendous, overwhelming. It reduces to nothingness all that belongs to man. He is annihilated.... The Greek temple [on the other hand] is the perfect expression of the pure intellect illumined by the spirit. No other great buildings anywhere approach its simplicity.... Majestic but human, truly Greek. No superhuman force as in Egypt; no strange supernatural shapes as in India; the Parthenon is the home of humanity at ease, calm, ordered, sure of itself and the world. The Greeks flung a challenge to nature in the fullness of their joyous strength. They set their temples on the summit of a hill overlooking the wide sea, outlined against the circle of the sky.... To the Greek architect man was the master of the world.
In so far as it remains Greek, and therefore rational, the Western mind no doubt abhors Oriental images and the metaphysical concepts they might seem to imply. Indeed, many Occidentals have emerged from a psychedelic experience with the same sense of horror and relief De Quincey felt when he awakened from his opium-haunted dreams to find himself safe again in merry, common-sense England. As we have already suggested, however, those images and concepts are not as remote as they may appear. They are and always have been an aspect of Western tradition, as counterpoint if nothing more, and it would probably be possible to demonstrate their influence in almost every phase of Western history. We have no intention of doing so. The task is beyond us and would serve no useful purpose here; without any attempt at comprehensiveness, however, we shall try to show how this or that thread of Eastern thought has appeared from time to time in the Western fabric.
The earliest of the threads can be picked up in Greece itself. It was Heraclitus who observed that no man can step twice into the same stream. The phenomenal universe is not the secure and dependable piece of real estate our senses suggest; on the contrary, it is in a constant state of flux and chaos. Nothing stays the same. The only thing that never changes, said Heraclitus, is the fact that everything is changing. Thus the visible world of the West was called into question from the very beginning, and philosophical attempts to refute Heraclitus led in turn to the hypothesis of an invisible realm beyond the senses. Parmenides, for example, proposed that reality consisted of pure Being: an eternal One, never changing, which had no describable qualities whatever, except for the fact that it existed—and since existence in this sense did not change, what then of that phenomal world where everything changed? Obviously, it did not really exist.
Then came Plato with his eternal Essences or Ideas, which Gordon Wasson has suggested were psychedelic in origin. "The eye and the ear and the other senses are full of deception," said Plato. The soul is a helpless prisoner of the body. It is "simply fastened and glued to the body." Or so it was until philosophy came to its rescue. Referring to the soul in the feminine gender, Plato said that philosophy advised her to abstain from all use of the senses "and be gathered up and collected into herself, bidding her trust in herself and her own pure apprehension of pure existence, and to mistrust whatever comes to her through other channels and is subject to variation; for such things are visible and tangible, but what she sees in her own nature is intelligible and invisible." The soul is "dragged by the body into the region of the changeable, and wanders and is confused; the world spins round her, and she is like a drunkard, when she touches change.... But when returning into herself she reflects, then she passes into the other world, the region of purity, and eternity, and immortality, and unchangeableness, which are her kindred, and with them she ever lives."
Platonism evolved into the Neo-Platonism expounded by Plotinus, who preached a doctrine of mystical union with the Absolute. Both Platonism and Neo-Platonism in turn were assimilated by Christianity, and in fact they provided the metaphysical roots of the early church. This was due largely to the enormous influence of Saint Augustine, who was a Neo-Platonist before he became a Christian. Plato's pure Ideas were interpreted to be the thoughts of God, and as such Platonic philosophy continued as the mainstay of Roman Catholicism until the rediscovery of Aristotle in the thirteenth century. Saint Thomas became the most articulate spokesman for this revived school of thought, arguing the case for intellect, reason, and the interdependence of the spiritual and the material. And so it was that Platonism gave way at last to Aristotelianism, mysticism to empiricism, and Augustinianism to Thomism. Thomism in essence was officially adopted by the Roman Catholic Church. But the break really was not all that sharp, even within the church, and Platonism has continued to be a major influence in Western theology and philosophy. Today's drug movement might even be described as a sort of Neo-Platonist revival.
The point is that Plato was talking Net of Illusion talk and that this so-called Eastern idea is entirely within the Western tradition—the idea that the phenomenal world does not really exist; or the idea that our truncated senses cannot perceive ultimate reality; or the idea that our intellect deceives us. Take Berkeley, take Hume. Take almost any Western philosopher you would care to name. Take modern physics, for that matter. It seems clear that the West mistrusts the visible world just as much as the East does, and always has. The only real issue has been, in James's terminology: Does some unseen order lie beyond that visible world, and should we seek to adjust thereto?
Platonism also contains other Oriental threads. Plato, too, spoke of a morality based wholly on knowledge. He spoke of reincarnation and of concepts equivalent to nirvana and karma. For example, Socrates in the Phaedo is discussing the fate of the soul after death:
That soul, I say, herself invisible, departs to the invisible world—to the divine and immortal and rational: thither arriving, she is secure of bliss and is released from the error and folly of men, their fears and wild passions and all other human ills, and forever dwells, as they say of the initiated, in company with the gods.... But the soul which has been polluted, and is impure at the time of her departure, and is the companion and servant of the body always, and is in love with and fascinated by the body . . . do you suppose that such a soul will depart pure and unalloyed?
Such souls are held fast by the corporeal. They haunt sepulchres and tombs. They
. . . wander about such places in payment of the penalty of their former evil way of life; and they continue to wander until through the craving after the corporeal which never leaves them they are imprisoned finally in another body. And they may be supposed to find their prisons in the same natures which they have had in their former lives.... men who have followed after gluttony, and wantonness, and drunkenness, and have had no thought of avoiding them, would pass into asses and animals of that sort.... And those who have chosen the portion of injustice, and tyranny, and violence, will pass into wolves, or into hawks and kites.
If the Greeks worshipped Apollo, god of reason, they were devoted also to Dionysus, the wine-drunk god of instinct and mysticism. The cult of the Eleusinian Mysteries paid homage to Dionysus, and it is believed the Mysteries included a theory of reincarnation. The possibility that the cult utilized some sort of psychedelic host would appear to gain considerable support from a Plutarch fragment, quoted by Edith Hamilton, which is thought to describe the Eleusinian initiation rites: "When a man dies he is like those who are initiated into the Mysteries. Our whole life is a journey by tortuous ways without outlet. At the moment of quitting it come terrors, shuddering fear, amazement. Then a light that moves to meet you, pure meadows that receive you, songs and dances and holy apparitions." As we shall see later, this passage suggests a remarkable parallel between the Mysteries and the contemporary drug movement's esoteric interpretation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Reincarnation also was entertained as a doctrine by some of those Gnostic sects that flourished during the first three centuries of Christianity. The sects were Platonist in that they took a very negative view of existence in the world of appearances, and they taught that release could be obtained through a secret gnosis or knowledge of the divine order. They also assumed Plato's concept of the Demiurge—an imperfect creator god who made the earth, as opposed to the supreme and perfect god who exists as pure Being. They made of the Demiurge an evil, fallen deity who was responsible for the creation of matter and hence for the curse of phenomenal existence, for the fall from pure Being, for the Net of Illusion. The sects were a curious hodgepodge of Christian dogma, magic, and Eastern metaphysics.
Christianity had to absorb Gnosticism, just as it had to absorb Neo-Platonism, and the early church was plagued in addition by a whole spectrum of Asian-flavored heresies: for example, the Albigenses, the Bogomiles, the Paulicians. These sects adulterated their Christianity with strong doses of Eastern idealism, including the concept of the Demiurge and a hatred of matter. Similarly, Judaism had come under the dualistic influence of Zoroastrianism during the Babylonian Captivity. The precise extent of the East's impact upon the development of Judaism and Christianity is impossible to measure at this point in history; indeed, there is an equally frustrated body of scholarship which has attempted to demonstrate a Western impact upon Eastern religions during some period in the misty past. But there clearly was some East-to-West metaphysical commerce, and this has led to some rather airy speculation that the Bible contains an esoteric teaching along Eastern lines. Much is made of the fact that Jesus spoke in parables, and it is suggested that these perhaps were Oriental abstractions presented in parabolic style for the benefit of his unsophisticated flock. The people were not ready for meat, so he fed them milk. "And with many such parables spoke he the word unto them [the multitudes], as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spoke he not to them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples."
Hidden meaning is thus read into many preachments. "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation." (The senses are trapped in the Net of Illusion.) "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there? for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (You are God.) "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (We are a monistic One. ) "Love thy neighbor as thyself." (You and your neighbor are the same person.) "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?" (We are all the same person.) "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.... For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (You must obliterate the ego to recognize your true Self.) "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." (God is immanent in matter. ) "A good man out of the treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things." (Karma.) And so on. Small wonder, then, that no man dared ask Jesus any question after he declared, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." And the "I AM THAT I AM" of the Old Testament is obviously a Zen statement of pure experience. If nothing else, such conjecture indicates that truly great thoughts are like the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution: they can be interpreted to meet any need in any period.
The thread of pantheism can be picked up again in the monopsychism of Averroes, the Great Commentator who was largely responsible for reintroducing Aristotle to the Western world. His theories fell short of pure pantheism, perhaps, for they included a remote First Cause; but they were both Eastern and heretical in their monistic denial of personal immortality, and they had gained considerable popularity in thirteenth-century Europe before Saint Thomas managed to reclaim Aristotle for the faith. Pantheistic tendencies appeared in the medieval Jewish mysticism of the Cabala, and the latter movement did much to shape the thought of Spinoza in the seventeenth century. The philosophy of the Jewish Dutchman was wholly pantheistic, equating God with creative Nature and creative Nature with God. Spinoza also denied the possibility of personal immortality. He did, however, speak of the immortality of the mind in language which might well set psychedelic bells to ringing: "Nevertheless we feel and know by experience that we are eternal.... Although, therefore, we do not recollect that we existed before the body, we feel that our mind, in so far as it involves the essence of the body under the form of eternity, is eternal, and that this existence of the mind cannot be limited by time nor manifested through duration." (A hundred micrograms of LSD will make that statement perfectly intelligible.) For his intellectual pains, Spinoza was excommunicated by his temple in Amsterdam. But he had considerable influence on later philosophers, including Hegel. Hegel's system of absolute idealism proposed that the universe consists of a single absolute Mind or Spirit which is attempting to realize and comprehend its own nature through an evolutionary process. Hegel in turn influenced such disparate thinkers as Karl Marx, Teilhard de Chardin, and Thomas J. J. Altizer.
Some of the more fragile nuances of Eastern philosophy perhaps are best caught in poetry—and the poetry of the West abounds in Oriental themes or hints of them. We could quote countless examples but will limit ourselves to only a few, offering them in the hope they may serve to sharpen some of these ideas, and to show that the ideas as such have a definite place in Western literature as well as philosophy.
Shakespeare, to begin with, certainly lends himself to an esoteric interpretation. The Delphic injunction, Know Thyself, is echoed in Polonius' fatherly advice to Laertes: "This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." That might easily be taken to reflect the Hindu idea that men abuse one another only through ignorance of their monistic continuity, and that knowledge of the true Self therefore will automatically result in a perfect morality. And Hamlet himself sums up that delusion of the rational intellect which gives rise to the dualistic concept of evil: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Shakespeare plainly is a commerce-clause bard par excellence, and nobody has described the Net of Illusion so well as his Prospero:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
We must of course include John Donne: "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
Blake's poetry can be taken as a whole. It rejects the rational intellect and its dualistic perceptions, and indeed it gives the Eden story an interpretation quite similar to that suggested in an earlier chapter:
Serpent Reasonings us entice
Of Good & Evil, Virtue & Vice....
Two Horn'd Reasoning, Cloven Fiction,
In Doubt, which is Self contradiction,
A dark Hermaphrodite We stood,
Rational Truth, Root of Evil & Good.
Blake had his own term for the Net of Illusion: "the mind-forg'd manacles." He rejected the intellect, the phenomenal world, the God of Theism. He rejected everything but man's eternal spirit, and he looked back with longing to the Universal Brotherhood of Eden, to the Universal Man, to the "Immortal Man that cannot Die." Blake in fact was a Gnostic, and his Prophetic Books revive the concept of the Demiurge. His Urizen ("your reason"?) is that sinister deity who was responsible for the fall from pure Being and the world of appearances.
Earth was not: nor globes of attraction;
The will of the Immortal expanded
Or contracted his all flexible senses;
Death was not, but eternal life sprung.
Then came Urizen with his ten thousands of thunders, and a shadow of horror was risen in Eternity.
The Eternal mind, bounded, began to roll
Eddies of wrath ceaseless round & round,
And the sulphureous foam, surgeing thick,
Settled, a lake, bright & shining clear,
White as the snow on the mountains cold.
Forgetfulness, dumbness, necessity,
In chains of the mind locked up,
Like fetters of ice shrinking together,
Disorganiz'd, rent from Eternity . . .
That eternal life, the furnace of all creation, was the subject of Blake's best-known poem, which Alfred Kazin has aptly termed "a hymn to pure being."
Pure Being, from which sprang the Tyger.
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
After Blake, as might be expected, the Romantic poets come to mind—and one of the best examples would naturally be Shelley, who abandoned rationalism and atheism to become a full-blown Platonic idealist. As for the Passing Parade of Phenomena, compare that fragile speech of Prospero's and Shelley's stark:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Just as our contemporary mystics are dismissed upon the grounds of biochemical imbalance, so too has the Romantic movement been supplied now with a medical interpretation. The poets did not know it, but the source of their inspiration was a bacillus, the mood of that period resulting from the prevalence of tuberculosis. Keats was a victim of the disease, although Shelley insisted the critics had done his friend in, and Shelley's Platonic philosophy finds full expression in his elegy to the dead poet:
The One remains, the many change and pass;
Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows fly;
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity,
Until Death tramples it to fragments.—Die,
If thou wouldst be with that which thou dost seek!
Follow where all is fled!—Rome's azure sky,
Flowers, ruins, statues, music, words, are weak
The glory they transfuse with fitting truth to speak.
Then to Wordsworth, poet of the mescal drinkers. His ode, "Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood," includes the provocative stanza:
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But He beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature's Priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.
The poem as a whole might appear to support the doctrine of pre-existence or reincarnation—an implication which Wordsworth later admitted "has given pain to some good and pious persons." He protested he had not intended "to inculcate such a belief." The poem was concerned with "that dream-like vividness and splendour which invest objects of sight in childhood," and Wordsworth had cast about in his mind for some device to express that vision, deciding finally to picture it as "presumptive evidence of a prior state of existence." He explained further: "I took hold of the notion of pre-existence as having sufficient foundation in humanity for authorizing me to make for my purpose the best use of it I could as a poet."
The argument about this stanza, and about Wordsworth's intentions, is extremely significant. It offers us a key. And that key fits many locks.
It may give us access to the real issues and deeper meanings that are still half-hidden below the surface of Eastern philosophy, the drug movement, and radical theology.
Professor Arthur Beatty, a Wordsworth authority, suggested that the poet really meant to say: "It is as if our birth were but a sleep and a forgetting." And that is the key.
Consider, for example, a comment that Coleridge made about the poem:
But the ode was intended for such readers only as had been accustomed to watch the flux and reflux of their inmost nature, to venture at times into the twilight realms of consciousness, and to feel a deep interest in modes of inmost being, to which they know that the attributes of time and space are inapplicable and alien, but which yet can not be conveyed save in symbols of time and space. For such readers the sense is sufficiently plain, and they will be as little disposed to charge Mr. Wordsworth with believing the Platonic pre-existence in the ordinary interpretation of the words, as I am to believe that Plato himself ever meant or taught it.
The italics are ours. And the point is simply this: that poets are poets, and they express themselves in the language of poetry —saying "is" when they mean "as if." Prophets are poets as well, and so are the great philosophers. And all poets, of whatever kind, have found it necessary at times to express their ideas in terms of symbol; the tools of their trade are the simile, the metaphor, the poetic image, the myth. The Greeks indeed may have held themselves aloof from the formal figures of speech, but they could and did make ample use of myth. So, too, perhaps did Jesus, Buddha, and those faceless authors of the Hindu holy books and the Old Testament. They were poets all. And we can only guess how often their "is" really means "as if." One is tempted to ask, of course, why they couldn't just come out with it—say what they meant and so have done with it—and the question is fair enough. In some cases, however, the people in fact may not have been ready for meat. In some cases it may be that the poet himself only half-knew what he meant—knew what he felt, all right, but could not quite put his finger upon it. In some cases he may have said what he meant and meant what he said, failing himself to apprehend the deeper meaning. And finally: he knew what he felt, and he knew what it meant; but what he felt and what he knew could not be expressed in conventional language. Such language simply did not apply in those twilight realms of consciousness where the poet explored the modes of inmost Being.
This is not as fuzzy as it may sound. Many of the discoveries of modern physics cannot be expressed in conventional language either; the physicists have been forced to leave language behind altogether, resorting instead to a complex mathematical symbolism—a form of myth, if you will—which cannot be retranslated into words. Many popular books have been written for the general public on the theory of relativity, for example; the fact remains that you cannot really understand the theory unless you have the math. Or so at least the mathematicians tell us, and we are prepared to take their word for it, while we are by no means ready to take the mystics at their word for anything. But the relativity theory is no less valid because it is expressed symbolically, for in fact everything is expressed that way. Expression as such is by definition symbolic: only the thing-in-itself is something more than a symbol of itself. Language and math, therefore, are equally symbolic; they are simply different kinds of symbolism. In any case, it follows that Plato did not necessarily mean that people really return to life as wolves, hawks, and kites; Blake did not necessarily mean that there really exists a deity comparable to Urizen; and "is" does not necessarily mean "is" every time it occurs in the various Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish scriptures. It may in many cases mean "as if," and, when so interpreted, these various scriptures perhaps are closer in meaning than they appear.
Using the key provided us, a case could be made that contemporary developments in theology and psychedelic experience can be explained essentially in terms of two basic myths and the conflict between them: the myth of the Demiurge and the myth of Ulysses.
Let us leave no doubt as to our own meaning. As we interpret it, the Demiurge is a symbol of the rational mind—of the cerebral cortex, which separates man from the beasts and (it may be) from much else besides. As for the Ulysses myth, we take it to suggest the presence of an evolutionary purpose in the cosmos: that is to say, an inherent state of Being as yet unrealized.
We shall return to these concepts later. Meanwhile, turning from Wordsworth, we skip ahead a few decades and look across the ocean from Europe to America.
Contents Page | Chapter 7
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Home Forums > Philosophy > Ethics, Morality, & Justice >
Discussion in 'Ethics, Morality, & Justice' started by john smith, May 17, 2006.
Do you agree with Animal testing/research?
Blue_UK Drifting Mind Valued Senior Member
hug-a-tree said:
If you can hurt an animal without any remorse that shows what kind of person you are... Animals can feel pain.
So what if they feel pain? If you don't think too much about it... you won't feel the pain of remorse.
Blue_UK, May 19, 2006
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hug-a-tree Live the life Registered Senior Member
Hi, back
hug-a-tree, May 19, 2006
Blue_UK said:
So what if they feel pain? I can't not think about it.
spuriousmonkey said:
There are no alternatives since the alternatives means you couldn't publish your results, meaning you couldn't apply for grants, meaning your couldn't do research in the first place.
Or in other words: how can you use an alternative model for a model you do not understand?
I don't get what your saying.
gizmo580 Registered Member
I don't understand what you are saying either, monkey
gizmo580, May 19, 2006
spuriousmonkey Banned Banned
spuriousmonkey, May 19, 2006
Monkey! hahaha, I like that. That should be your nickname.
leopold Valued Senior Member
gizmo580 said:
it sounds to me that he is saying he does research for the sake of research
he's into the 'what if' scenario.
in my opinion that is the only 'true' scientist.
not to be nosey but who is the most inerested in your labs results spurious?
leopold, May 20, 2006
charles cure Guest
i'm coming on to this topic late in the game, but i'm going to go ahead and say that i'm against animal testing pretty much across the board as far as chemicals, drugs, cosmetics...etc are concerned. i don't think that there is a need for it. animals are not the same as people. if you want to find out whether or not something will help or harm people, you should conduct the test on a human. i wouldn't have a problem with that, especially if the people having things tested on them were being paid and doing it of their own volition, or alternatively i think that i would be ok with it if it was being done focibly on violent criminals. animals are basically helpless forms of life that rely on human beings to not brutalize them or torture them at their whim to find out if something like iced tea mix will burn your skin or eat away your liver. we should amend our laws to allow more types of human testing, or at least admit as a society that if we wouldn't test something on a person, then we shouldn't test it on an animal.
charles cure, May 22, 2006
wsionynw Master Queef Valued Senior Member
charles cure said:
wsionynw, Jul 8, 2006
heliocentric Registered Senior Member
To experiment on beings that dont have the luxory of a voice and very little awareness of the intentions of those who *seem* to be their guardians and providers for personal gain i think is possibly one of the worse ethical crimes you can commit.
I have a feeling future generations will judge this society for its animal testing in the way we judge past generations for slavery.
heliocentric, Jul 16, 2006
Psychopath much? :bugeye:
antifreeze defrosting agent Registered Senior Member
seriously folks, there are some experiments which cannot be performed in vitro. and i too work with animals, and the goal of all scientific institutions is to design procedures which result in the minimum of pain for the animal in question. you should see all the damned paperwork one has to fill out…
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antifreeze, Jul 16, 2006
antifreeze said:
The animal rights movement would like a stop to ALL animal testing, but that isn't realistic, yet. The best we can hope for is that all animal testing stop unless it is almost certain to be of direct benefit to both humans and animals. To give people carte blanche to carry out any tests they like under the huge blanket of 'medical research' is bound to result in needless experiments that have no benefit whatsoever.
wsionynw, Jul 16, 2006
Maxi Registered Senior Member
i am for animal testing like most other on a controlled basis... that it's not just "scientist" f*cking around cos they had a joint at lunch but rather for pursuit of scientific progress... i don't know too much on the area in question but i can't believe that the alternatives mentioned can cover all that animal testing entail...
my mother happens to be a biologist and as such she works with mice in experiments on a day-to-day basis... apparantly she has a liscense that entitles her to work with animal testing... a liscense that can apparantly be revoked rather easily should she not "treat" the animals with considerate care during the process of experimentation... i also have 2 dogs and a cat at home and she is very careful that they are treated properly and taken care of well because she might have her liscense revoked...
i don't think anyone can disagree that they'd rather have the testing be done on an animal than a relative (mentioning relative to evoke emotional attachment as eventually everyone must be known to someone)...
if i'm not entierly mistaken medical trials do occur even on humans... and as far as i'm concerned it's either sick people who have nothing to lose by going through the procedure or poor students like me that get injected with all sorts of thing so they can get the money for their pot noodles... the latter doesn't seem too ethical in a way does it? yet that's the type of people that testing attracts would they not be able to do it on animals (forseeing as i said that i don't think the alternative measures mentioned covers all that is in the area of animal testing.
Maxi, Jul 18, 2006
Maxi said:
Humans testing would be welcomed by the scientific community if they could get enough volunteers, since it would speed up research.
Are the experiments your mother carries out essential? Do they directly benefit humans and animals with the minimum possible suffering of the mice?
BJ141290 Registered Member
animal testing is NOT neccery!
When will people get over the idea that animal testing is important its NOT anymore! once a pone a time yes because we weren't as scientifically advanced as we are now. there are other alternatives that are more accurate than animal testing are hell of alot cheaper and don't cause pain! and don't give me trash about its in the name of science because i come from a family of scientists and ALL of them a posse testing on animals, its no longer that its a moral issue, there are OTHER RESOURCES!!!! people are so busy in caring about them selves that you forget what your actually doing. do you get a kick out of torturing animal? cause thats what it is don't even bother to deny it. you can't explain why you do it, you excuse it as its for science, or its better 1,000,000 animals die (tortured) than people , well how about this one no animals die, you test on lab created tissue of humans and humans don't die either. is that so hard for yous to get your head around ? i mean can you be that moronic to not give it a go ? what are you scared of that it might actually work and you don't the chance to harm animals any more? seriously you should be ashamed.
BJ141290, Nov 24, 2007
mice and rabbits don't equal little people, they have different reactions to us
invert_nexus Ze do caixao Valued Senior Member
http://spuriousmonkey.com/
The seedy reality of animal testing.
invert_nexus, Nov 24, 2007
Donnal Registered Member
very touchy subject
i would go and contact laboritries and see what happens to animals
then go and see the human labs and see what they do to humans
not much to humans you will find animals being tested for human research
but if they do tests for animals on animals to help them
coool
and tests on humans for humans that would be even more bloody cooool
Donnal, Nov 24, 2007
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Salford Now
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Flood Warnings as Storm Christoph threatens North West
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Police are appealing for information after a teenager was stabbed in Salford
Salford Councillors pass charter against modern slavery
By Jack Merriman on 16th October 2018 in News
Salford Councillors have signed up to the Co-Operative Party Charter against modern slavery.
The Charter includes ten points that the council pledges to enforce these include reviewing contractual spending annually and reporting on the implementation of the charter annually. The full list of pledges can be found on the Co-Operative Party’s website.
Councillor Jim King, Chair of the local Co-Operative Party Branch, proposed the motion to his fellow Councillors and was delighted with the response he received.
“I am very proud of the motion and I am very proud that everybody in the chamber supported the motion.
“There was absolutely nobody against it and that is including in the opposition party.”
The new Charter gives the ‘Council more spending power for social good’ according to Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett. Councillor King explained what that meant for the people of Salford.
The motion is to be used to make people aware that slavery still exists. It will not be used as a means of stopping slavery altogether.
“I don’t think anything can stop modern slavery in Salford or indeed in the UK or worldwide. What we are doing however is highlighting the issue.
“We know that modern slaves are hiding in plain sight, they are working amongst the modern economy in all sorts of places such as factories and car washes.
“With the motion there is a charter attached to it not only to ensure your employees aren’t slaves but also to make sure nobody in your supply chain is employing slaves either.”
The Councillor ended with a call to arms saying that we all need to play our part. It is only by being aware and reporting things that don’t look quite right that we can make a difference.
It has been 8 years since a 10 year old ‘virtual slave’ was found in a cellar in Eccles.
For more information or to report a case of modern slavery please call the helpline 0800 0121 700 or report it online on the modern slavery helpline website.
Tags: #SalfordCityCouncil council Modern Salford Slavery
Written by Jack Merriman
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"They come in and offer us support, food, a friend"- Two Brews charity helps homeless in Salford
WATCH: Muslim boy forced to flee his home in Birmingham after coming out gay
"The vaccine is being given to those most at risk in our community" - Clarendon Leisure Centre opens as first community vaccination centre
"I'm not a Tesco. I'm not an Aldi. I'm a tiny little shop" - Eco-shop not eligible for emergency funding
Janice Smith on “Grow the biggest and best moustaches and proudly show them off” – Broughton House launches Movember challenge
Laurence Stevens on “He’s my hero” Salford rugby legend’s daughter’s emotional Kilimanjaro climb to fight dementia
Maureen Tasker on “I’m not a Tesco. I’m not an Aldi. I’m a tiny little shop” – Eco-shop not eligible for emergency funding
Kay on “I’m not a Tesco. I’m not an Aldi. I’m a tiny little shop” – Eco-shop not eligible for emergency funding
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A look at transport & logistics in Poland
Poland has plenty going for it when it comes to transport and logistics. An advantageous Central European location, growing GDP and resolute economy make it an ideal market for transportation professionals.
Breaking down modal transport splits in Poland
Transport & logistics is a $56.9 billion industry in Poland. Not only does this make it the biggest market in Central and Eastern Europe, Poland’s transportation sector is the seventh largest in the EU.
Data from 2015, the most up-to-date statistics available at the time of writing, showed Polish and international companies working in the country carried 1.8 billion tons of cargo across multiple transport modes that year.
Poland shows some interesting divisions in its transportation mix.
Trucking and road transport claims the lion’s share of freight traffic, with other modes had much smaller cargo market shares in comparison with other developed nations.
The Polish transport and logistics industry, split by transport mode, is composed thusly:
Road = 75.19%
Railway = 14.32%
Sea = 3.90%
Pipeline = 6.32%
Inland waterway = 0.22%
Air = 0.04%
Road transport dominates Polish transport & logistics
Road transport is very much the king in Poland. Statistics from Poland’s Central Statistical Office revealed that road transport operators carried 1.5 billion tons of cargo across 2015. Poland is outfitted with over 3,000km of roads, including 1553.2km of motorways, and has uninhibited connections to international roadways. The Motorway of Freedom (A2) links Warsaw with Germany, for example, meaning large volumes of freight can travel freely across the country.
Rail freight tends to offer cheaper rates than trucking in Poland. Despite this, road cargoes still massively outweigh railway freight volumes as seen above. Total tonnage came to 224.3 million in 2015, which was actually a drop compared with 2014’s volumes of 227.8 million.
However, Polish rail freight could enjoy a major renaissance in the near future. Domestic firms PKP Cargo and CTL Logistics are looking to expand their international operations, for example. Moreover, the EU’s Fourth Railway Package proposes all EU member states must open their railways to their fellow Union members – meaning lots more cargo could be travelling on Polish tracks very soon.
Poland’s two major ports are Szczecin and Gdansk, both located on the Baltic coast. Cargo volumes at these two facilities rose in 2016, however, so the maritime trade could very well gain more importance in the coming years. Gdansk posted record container volumes in 2016, hitting 37.3 million tons. Similarly, Szczecin’s cargo traffic rose 4.1%, reaching a total of 24 million tons.
Multi-modal development underway in Poland
Poland is keen to shave $700 million in transport costs by developing inter-modal transport links. This is vital, given two major transport corridors cross the country: North-South (Baltic-Adriatic leg) and the East-West link.
Along the Baltic-Adriatic route, which starts in Gdynia on Poland’s northern coast, a spate of rail upgrades is underway. Included in this programme are track enhancements and construction of key trunk lines.
Poznan Franowo, one of the largest intermodal terminals in Poland, was opened at the end of 2013. The terminal handles containerised cargo carried by combined transport, in this case rail and road. Franowo’s annual capacity is around 26,000 tons a year.
Poland’s biggest intermodal terminal is Małaszewicze, which handles 40,000 TEUs annually. Established in 1975, the terminal lies on the main transit route from the EU to Russia, which explains its transhipment capacity. At the moment the terminal accepts not only domestic shipments but also those from Germany and China.
Discover more on Polish transport & logitstics at TransPoland Translogistica
Poland’s transport and logistics sector is keen to develop its intermodal, rail and maritime trade operations. To uncover the opportunities this holds for foreign service providers, you need to be at TransPoland Translogistica 2017.
Taking into account current sector trends and market expectations, 2017’s show has a particular focus on intermodal transport, examining the opportunities for cooperation among different Polish transport sectors. TransPoland offers visitors and participants the opportunity to expand their know-how and to meet numerous potential business partners.
Interested? Get in touch today to learn more about the show and to find out how you can take part.
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Into the North: Russia’s Northern Sea Route
Welcome to Istanbul Rail Tech
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TVRDO progressive rock show
TVRDO main portal
AOM 2021
Il Bacio Della Medus
Banda Belzoni
Different Light
Drifting Sun
Edison’s Children
Eris Pluvia
The Flower Kings
Freedom to Glide
Karfagen
Like Wendy
Lunar Clock
O.A.K.
Il Paradiso Degli Or
Quel Che Disse Il Tu
Ring van Möbius
Røsenkreütz
Sintonia Distorta
Super Sister Projekt
Tiger Moth Tales
Unalei
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Missed Shows
Karfagen - Birds of Passage
After releasing the acclaimed album 'Echoes from Within Dragon Island' last year, Karfagen was quick to release their 11th full length studio album in January of 2020 called 'Birds of Passage'. Their 'Dragon Island' album was well-loved by many reviewers here in the Archives, and many are excited to hear this new album. So the question is, does it live up to the previous album?
Karfagen was conceived by Antony Kalugin in 1997 and even now he continues to head this project performing most of the instruments on the album. However, he has continued to recruit many regulars who have become part of the band line-up over the years. On this album, Antony performs on keyboards, vocals, percussion, penny flute, and does arranging and programming of the tracks. Joining him are Mathieu Spaeter on electric guitars, Konstantin Ionenko on bass, Viktor Syrotin on drums, Tim Soloblev on vocals, Olha Rostovska on vocals, Aleksandr Pavlov on nylon guitar, Alexandr Pastuchov on bassoon, Maria Baranovska on violin, and Elena Kushiy on flute.
The album consists on a single suite called 'Birds of Passage' in 2 parts. Each part is in turn divided up into several sub- sections, in the same way that their previous master work was organized. The sound of this suite is much the same style as 'Dragon Island' suite from last year; complex, symphonic prog with a lot of nice textures among the instrumental and vocal sections. There does seem to be a bit more dissonance on this particular suite, but that also goes hand in hand with the sections that show more intensity. Also, as in the previous album, there is a nice mix of folk sounds and instrumentation and everything flows together wonderfully.
Each part of the suite is over 20 minutes in length, and, as expected from Karfagen, the themes and sections are all well developed. The music flows well and there is a nice balance between the instruments and the dynamics of the music is superb. The overall vibe is quite bright and positive even though the overall thematic element deals with the natural world and using symbolism from that to portray a very neo-prog element of the fight between good and evil. That neo-prog element lies mostly in the theme as the music itself is much more similar to the dynamic of symphonic prog. Each instrument is clear and polished with many keyboard and guitar interaction with nice vocals that utilize both male and female singing and harmonization.
The poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (in part 1) and William Blake (in part 2) is used in the suite. The poetry makes up most of the lyrical content of these parts of the suite, and the additional lyric is composed by Antony. All of the lyrics are sung, and the placement of the words into song has been done quite well, and is probably one of the most impressive things about Karfagen's music. One would almost expect the sound to be a bit choppy between the extended instrumental sections and the lyrical sections, but everything flows seamlessly. This is the main thing that makes me come back to the band's music, the fact that the poetry can be so beautifully integrated into a suite. Everything else just flows along with this, and the more complex compositional parts of the suites start to become more apparent with continued listening. This makes this music more likeable, even from the first listen. The first part of the suite is much more lyric heavy, while the 2nd part concentrates more on longer instrumental sections.
Also similar to the previous album, there are other tracks that are 'supplemental' to the main suite, but in this case they are considered all bonus tracks, and there are only 3 of them. 'Spring (Birds Delight)' is a shorter work also based on a Blake poem 'Spring'. This one has a catchy sound and also has some scat going on that almost sounds tribal, and this sound mixes well with the other influences that are usually at work in the band's music. 'Sunrise' is a nice, pastoral and peaceful instrumental mostly featuring some lovely flute backed by atmospheric synths and percussion. 'Birds (short introduction)' is not available on the CD release. It is another short instrumental that does sound like an introduction to something, but this closes the album.
Toon Ladder (c) 2020
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PRESS RELEASE: MARCH 29, 2011
Time for a government that puts the interests of working families first
As Canadians appear to be headed to the polls early in May, perhaps now is the time to reflect on this Parliament, Canada's 40th Parliament, and determine what needs to be done to prevent a repeat in the 41st Parliament.
Now is the time to ask ourselves:
Do we want a government that chose to prorogate Parliament rather than debate Canada's treatment of Afghan detainees?
Do we want a government that spends more in one day on the G20 than they are prepared to spend on lifting seniors out of poverty?
Do we want a government that robs provincial governments, academics, business leaders, researchers, and economists of important and necessary research data by scrapping the long-term census?
Do we want a government that - through its actions - brought harm to Canada's international reputation by failing to gain a seat on the UN Security Council?
Do we want a government that shows it contempt for Parliament and the democratic process by refusing to reveal the costs of its crime bills; that protects a minister who misled Parliament by "Not" telling the truth; a government that low-balled the cost of its new fighter planes by more than $13 billion and tried to hide the real cost from the opposition members and all Canadians?
Stephen Harper has been forced to accept that because of the faults and corruption within his government he lost the confidence of the Canadian people and Parliament, and his latest budget did nothing to regain that confidence. As Globe and Mail columnist Brian Topp wrote on the NDP leader's choice to add his party's weight to bring down the government, "Layton is the right guy making the right decision."
Can we afford another Stephen Harper government that cares more about giving more corporate tax cuts than getting unemployed Canadians back to work and ensuring that seniors can retire with dignity and economic security? Isn't it time to elect a government that has the best interests of working Canadians as its priority?
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Weaver's Week 2004-09-11
Weaver's Week Index
Iain Weaver reviews the latest happenings in UK Game Show Land.
Bognor? Bust? - Weaver's Week
This column gives a word of thanks to Jason K, but will not explain why at this time.
1 Bognor or Bust
2 Mastermind - Heat 18/24.
3 IT'S A GAME SHOW, DEAL
4 THIS WEEK AND NEXT
4.1 To have Weaver's Week emailed to you on publication day (usually Saturday), receive our exclusive TV roundup of the game shows in the week ahead, and chat to other ukgameshows.com readers sign up to our Yahoo! Group.
Bognor or Bust
(4DTV for ITV, 2202 Thursday)
Over the past couple of years, ITV has done something very unusual. For the first time in recorded history, its comedy programmes are actually funny. Tim Vine and Ronni Ancona led THE SKETCH SHOW to somewhat more than one laugh per half-hour, while HARRY HILL'S TV BURP exposes television's main conceit. The Monkey has carefully nurtured talent like Antan Dec into mainstream comedians, and their SATURDAY NIGHT TAKEAWAY will be back later in the autumn.
Flushed with this success, ITV has pushed the boat out for a topical news quiz. "Who can we get to front a topical news quiz?" pondered the channel's top brass. It couldn't be any of the channel's big stars - Harry Hill and Antan Dec already have quite enough on their plates, Trevor McDoughnut would have to rush from one studio to another in less than twenty seconds, Gabby Logan was scheduled to still present THE VAULT (RIP), and the previous primetime game show host, Robert Kilroy-Silk, has gone and shafted off to some job or other.
In the event, the ITV top brass took a look through back issues of the TV Times. "Ah! Angus Deayton's not doing anything these days. Let's ask him." The man who was TV's Mister Sex before Dermot Murnaghan came along has been under- employed for the last couple of years. He was evicted from the presenter's seat on HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU in autumn 2002, making way for all sorts of chancers and incompetents who can't read an autocue at anything like Angus's pace.
So, what does Bognor Or Bust actually entail? Two members of the public and four minor celebrities gather in the studio. We're talking fairly minor minor celebs - the first show featured Tara Palmer-Tompkintwaddle of Junior Eurovision, and James Nesbitt of Cold Feet (both ITV shows). The other two we don't recall at all. The members of the public choose their preferred celebs, then we get down to quizzing business.
Angus fires a series of questions about the week's news. Like THE CRAM, these really are questions about the week's news, not general knowledge questions loosely tied to the topic in hand. Unlike the Mishal Husein quiz, no-one's going to mistake this for a real news bulletin. All of the questions are on the buzzers, and contestants and their celebs can guess as often as they like. There's one point for a correct answer, and everyone's encouraged to be funnier than they are accurate. Indeed, the emphasis really is on the joke answers, rather than the correct answers.
This opening round occupies the majority of the first half, and does seem to drag on a little too long. Before the commercial break, Angus shows us a picture from the news, with something missing. What's gone walkies? Answer after the break, along with round two.
Round two is introduced by two cryptic pictures, the team leading gets first pick, and consists of quick-fire questions against the clock. All answers must be given through the member of the public, and are worth two points each. Whoever has the most points after this round goes on to play for the big prize.
The big prize is a trip to somewhere foreign; in the opening episodes, Australia and Thailand. By a process of semi-random generation, one of the seats in the studio is picked out. Whoever is sitting in that seat will win the big prize if the contestant doesn't get it. To win the big prize, the contestant must answer one question from two options, and can confer with the celebs to help them choose. The question is a pure guess, like the gamble on Antan Dec's Grab The Ads.
Where does Bognor come into this? If the contestant chooses the correct answer to this final shot, they go to somewhere foreign. If they choose the wrong answer, the person in the nominated seat will go to abroad, and the main player will get a trip to Bognor Regis, a seaside town in Dorset. For international readers, the joke here is that the resort is not the most upmarket resorts, and has rather been left behind by the march of cosmopolitan and international holidays. It's a cultural thing.
As a quiz, Bognor or Bust is a bit of a bust, offering nothing new to the genre. As a comedy show, it's rather more of a goer. We do, however, have a suspicion that the format may stop being funny after a few weeks. Much will depend on Angus's skills, and the quality of guests the show can attract.
Mastermind - Heat 18/24.
Julie Aris is taking the Hercule Poirot novels. This is classic Mastermind territory, and she starts very well, but falls into a valley of passes halfway through. She scores 12 with 5 passes.
George O'Neill takes Dracula, the novel and films. It's another classic Mastermind subject, and he puts in a strong performance, scoring 13 (3).
Andrew Hunter is taking the Battle of Britain. Yep, another classic subject, and another short drop into passness. He makes 13 (2).
Michael Kane offers the life and music of Buddy Holly. It's perhaps the least usual subject, and 18 (0) is the least usual score.
Second time around, Julie does well, but not well enough to win, finishing on 22 (10). There's at least one show this series where that was enough to win, and this week's runner-up is going to lose out from coming in a heat of very strong contestants.
George rather falls down on his general knowledge, finishing on 19 (6). Andrew does slightly better, finishing on 23 (6).
Michael needs six correct answers to progress, he gets only four before falling into pass hell. He then gets three more, finishing on 25 (3), and taking a slightly fortunate victory.
IT'S A GAME SHOW, DEAL
According to the BBC, CRISIS COMMAND: COULD YOU RUN THE COUNTRY is not a game show. It is, according to the Beeb, an intelligent television series. We say: just because the grown-up BBC hasn't produced a new intelligent game show involving members of the public since (erm) (can't be QI or MIND GAMES because that's celebs) (er) (can't be RAVEN because that's for children) (ah) (can't be EGGHEADS for blazingly obvious reasons) (got it!) Just because the grown-up BBC hasn't produced a new intelligent game show involving members of the public since Sophie Raworth's JUDGEMENTAL two years ago doesn't mean that we can't combine games with brains. Though quite where Amanda "Shut up" Platell fits in is anyone's guess. And besides, with barely 800,000 people viewing the show, we reckon the BBC will be glad of any good publicity for the show.
In this week's opening instalment, Plague was the chosen horseman of the apocalypse. With one panel making their decisions on BBC2, and another on BBC4, we can compare and contrast. Confirmation that there are more decisions filmed than actually make the show - the BBC4 team were asked whether to delay treating patients to wait for chemical suits, and what to tell the public; the BBC2 team how much of the region to block, and a sub-plot involving a ferry. The BBC2 monitors showed a question about whom to alert - Europe, the WHO, or someone else - that made neither cut. We heard the experts giving the same rehearsed spiel to both teams.
Gone from the show is the length of time it took the team to decide, as that would make it too easy for reviewers to find that time had gone missing in the edit suite. The show fits a little more easily into a 60 minute than a 90 minute format, but is still spoiled by the strobing effect of people walking across shot every few seconds. Bad television. From the post-facto review in May, it looks like our chance of seeing how amateurs would run things like the economy or trade negotiations won't be realised this series, as the experts are Tim Garden, an army type; Charles Shoebridge, an emergency services type; and Amanda Platell, a spin doctor who really should just shut up.
The BBC2 contestants were a tailor, a man who thinks it's good to talk, and someone who once sold herself on Ebay. Their BBC4 counterparts were an exhibitor, a charity worker, and a coffee maker. Here are some scores:
Correct decisions on BBC2: 5/7, with (in this column's view) one major and one minor error.
Correct decisions on BBC4: 2/7, both correct decisions were minor, and they had to rely on a deus ex machina to keep the show within the prepared parameters.
Times we wanted to hit a BBC2 contestant with a clue-by-four: 9.
Times we wanted to hit a BBC4 contestant with a clue-by-four: 36.
Times Gavin Esler had to slap down contestants: 3.
Coffee chains we'll think twice before patronising: 1.
People killed by the BBC2 trio: 18.
People killed by the BBC4 trio: 49,000. Most of the deaths resulted from failure in the final decision.
Times Amanda Platell spoke over the two episodes: 41.
Times we shouted for Amanda Platell to shut up: 29.
Times Gavin Hewitt said that ministers' decisions would be enacted: 14.
Times it felt like he said that: About 25,000.
BBC2 contestants who positively reckoned they could run the country: 1.
Writers of number one hit singles involved with the show: 1 (Philip Pope, who wrote "The Chicken Song" and all the other songs from seminal 80s comedy Radio Active.)
More Crisis Command statistics next week.
THIS WEEK AND NEXT
It's three weeks since we last looked at Countdown, when Marcus Alderton was in the champion's chair. He didn't last much longer, beaten on his third game by Roy Thearle. Roy looked like he could become the third octochamp of the series, but was defeated in his fifth game by Paul Gallen. Paul is this series' junior prodigy, and completed his eight games undefeated on Thursday with his best performance of the series. His 846 points makes him the number one seed for the series so far, fifteen ahead of Jack Welsby, but Jack heads the par scores by (- 55) to (-37). Roy tops the list of defeated contestants in fourth place. The series final will be on December 17, not the 24th, so there are just 63 qualifying games remaining. One defeat for anyone in the entire contest would put Paul into Finals Week.
JUNIOR MASTERMIND was won by Daniel Parker. He appeared on Tuesday's BLUE PETER, and though Konnie Huq reckoned that her co-presenter Simon won, but a review of the tape shows that he actually passed once more than Daniel with the scores level. Back to the ice bath, Simon.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the start of September means that Ken Jennings season has started again. To no-one's surprise, he won this week's five games, a streak of 44 games unbeaten. A 45th win on Monday's JEOPARDY! would tie the all-game record in North America, held by Thom McKee on TIC TAC DOUGH in 1980.
TEST THE NATION had its national music quiz last week. Amongst the featured performers were Anita Dobson (a clip of "Anyone Can Fall In Love", which quiz fans will recall is a trite lyric set to the Eastenders theme) and David Mellor (whose media work evidently doesn't include a spot on CRISIS COMMAND, for which we can be truly thankful.) Phillip "Gopherman" Schofield sang, which was good news; Annie "Pavlov" Robinson didn't, which was a blessed relief. For once, colour commentary came from people - David Grant and Lauren Laverne - who knew what they were talking about. The waffle about bits of the country and groups doing better than others should be taken with a mountain of salt, but wasn't, which shows that if there's ever a Test The Nation The National Statistical Inference Test, the BBC will fail.
TWI has confirmed some of the stars for the next series of SUPERSTARS. Young boxer Amir Khan, cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy, sprinter Marlon Devonish, heptathlete Denise Lewis, and rowers Ed Coode and Steve Williams will join defending champions Duaine Ladejo, Zoe Baker, and Lesley McKenna, and others. There will also be a Superstars Gold show, featuring stars who would have competed on the show had it aired between 1985 and 2002.
We thought we'd heard the last of Simon Fuller. If only. The man who invented POP IDLE and who has profited more than any of the national winners, or even Antan Dec, may have his day in court. He's suing Simon Cowell, the man who invented THE Y FACTOR, currently playing to audiences of almost hundreds on ITV, for stealing the format of Pop Idle. While there are a lot of similarities between the two shows, there are differences. Applicants for Y can be of any age, and Y isn't hosted by Antan Dec, and, er, that's it. Mr Fuller's main claim may well be that lots of the Pop Idle technical crew have also turned up on Y, and have clauses preventing them from working on rival shows. "The whole thing is completely and utterly ridiculous," said Simon Cowell. But enough on your show, what about the lawsuit?
Big Brother Germany has come in for some criticism after showing a contestant getting her nipple pierced without anaesthetic. Andreas Scheuer of the CDU said
"It is nothing short of torture and the cameras must be turned off immediately." From the opposite side of the spectrum, Claudia Roth for the Greens: "For such boundlessly shameless voyeurism there can be only one answer - switch off immediately."
Next week: Gopherman's back with the return of Winning Lines (1930 today) and University Challenge (2030 Monday). Mad Mad House comes to Sci-Fi at 2100 Thursday, and A Question of Sport at 1900 Friday.
To have Weaver's Week emailed to you on publication day (usually Saturday), receive our exclusive TV roundup of the game shows in the week ahead, and chat to other ukgameshows.com readers sign up to our Yahoo! Group.
Back to Weaver's Week Index
Retrieved from "http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Weaver%27s_Week_2004-09-11"
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Project Pat – Money Ft Juicy J
Juicy J and Project Pat try to keep their collaborations consistent.The Three 6 Mafia co-founders team up for Pat’s new song, “Money,” which hears the two rapping over a XTC Beats-produced instrumental and channeling their signature Southern styles. After the Street God 4 rapper laces the record with a catchy hook and verse of his own, Juicy comes through with a slew of memorable rhymes.
Memphis, TN veteran Project Pat has been unusually quiet for the past year or so but he’s back today with the announcement that he’s releasing a new album titled M.O.B. on September 8 via Cleopatra Records.The “Sippin’ on Some Syrup” rapper has teamed up with his family Juicy J for the latest single ‘Money’.
Take A Listen Below
AUDIO Foreign Vibez
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Eye Health and Diseases
Tour of the Eye
For Eye Care Professionals
Founded in 1936, the Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington (POB) is dedicated to the improvement and preservation of sight and quality of life by providing services and education, and by championing healthy vision and innovation to everyone in our area.
Each year, POB impacts approximately 13,000 community members through our evidence-based programs — including vision acuity and glaucoma screenings, eyeglasses distributions and fittings, educational vision resources and events, low vision rehabilitation services and support group networks, and more. We remain committed to comprehensive vision health, ethical service within the community, deep respect for individuals and families in all circumstances, innovation in service delivery, and serving as a facilitator among our medical and social service peers.
Our organization serves the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, and Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties of Maryland.
Children’s Vision Screening
Pediatric Mobile Clinics
Affordable Eyeglasses Clinic
Glaucoma & Vision Screening
Eye Health Events
For Low Vision (Children and Adults)
Low Vision Rehabilitation
Low Vision Learning Center
Low Vision Resource & Support Group Network
POB began on June 9, 1936 as the D.C. Society for the Prevention of Blindness, whose seven-point program aimed to bring eye health information and vision screenings to the local community.
POB’s history begins with the story of May B. Vories, a Louisiana native and committed advocate for the visually impaired. When Ms. Vories arrived in Washington, D.C. in the 1930s, she sought to bring evidence-based blindness prevention and eye health information to our community. She established the D.C. Society for the Prevention of Blindness in collaboration with Dr. William H. Wilmer, who was founding director of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Medicine — the nation’s first university eye clinic.
POB’s original seven-point program consisted of: adequate prenatal care; enactment of a bill to prevent Ophthalmia Neonatorum; appointment of a school oculist; preschool vision tests for children; a medical social worker in the Society’s eye clinic; providing general information on eye health; and creating an industrial and sight survey. By 1946, a vision screening program was implemented for all 9,000 children in D.C. parochial schools.
After more than 80 years, POB remains committed to creating, expanding, and adapting our vital services based on the needs of our community. We serve as Greater Washington’s vision health leader and educator, dedicated not only to blindness prevention, but to the improvement and preservation of sight and quality of life for all community members.
Caren Forsten
Sean Curry, MPH
Senior Programs Manager
Annette Dubs
Area Manager, Look Again Resale Shops
Nick Farano
Senior Director, Development and Marketing
Linda Presley
Senior Manager, Accounting and Human Resources
Nicki Sanders
Senior Director, Children’s and Eyeglasses Programs
Eszter Szabó
Director, Mobile Clinic
Claudia Wood
Senior Program Manager, Children’s Vision Screening
Jennie Kronthal
Christine Rocchio, RN, FNP
First Vice President
Wendy Gasch, M.D.
Jennifer Valentine, FACHE
Virginia Elgin
Donald A. Gagliano, M.D.
Global Medical Innovation
Andrew Adelson, M.D.
Eye Physicians of Washington
Allen E. Beach
Jeffrey Y.H. Chung, M.D.
Rachel Foster, FACHE
Fostering Innovations, LLC
John Guzik
The Franklin Partnership, LLP
Mohamad S. Jaafar, M.D.
Children’s National Hospital
Leslie Jones, M.D.
Tara Kavadias
Melissa Loughlin, Ph.D.
Jay M. Lustbader, M.D.
MedStar Georgetown University Hospital/Washington Hospital Center
Maureen Macfadden
Donna Oser
Sally A. Pilkerton
Jane Settle Stanley
Gedalia Vera
G.V. Photography & Videography
Dorothy Weinstein
The George Washington University
L. Scott Wertlieb
Vista Management
Edward “Woody” Woodard
Virginia Lions Eye Institute Foundation
Uchechi N. Wosu, M.D.
Member Emeriti
Gloria Butland
Clinton Chapman
Jack Glenn
William Glew, M.D.
Howard Silvers
Arnold Simonse, Ph.D.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser
DC Councilmember David A. Catania
Senator Robert Dole
Doreen Gentzler
Leon Harris
Congressman Steny H. Hoyer
William E. Kirwan, Ph.D.
Donna Marriott
The Honorable Connie Morella
Andrea Roane
Valerie Tripp
Suleiman Alibhai, O.D.
Low Vision Services PLC
Marlet Bazemore, M.D.
Children’s National Health System
Emily Y. Chew, M.D.
National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health
Fostering Innovation, LLC
Craig E. Geist, M.D.
The George Washington Medical Faculty Associates
Maxwell Helfgott, M.D.
Michael Lai, M.D.
The Retina Group of Washington
William P. Madigan Jr., M.D.
Joseph F. Pasternak, M.D.
Tracey Prince Ross
Pedro M. Rivera, M.D.
Greater Maryland Eye Physicians and Surgeons
Mindi Sauter
Funding and Reports
POB is proud of the way we manage and safeguard the generous contributions from individual donors, corporations and other organizations. An annual audit of our finances is conducted by an independent, certified public accounting firm and overseen by POB’s Board of Trustees.
The Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington (“POB”) is a District of Columbia not-for-profit organization dedicated to the improvement and preservation of sight and quality of life by providing services and education, and by championing healthy vision and innovation to everyone in our area. Our Headquarters is located at 415 2nd Street NE, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20002. Your gift is very much appreciated and tax-deductible as a charitable organization to the fullest extent allowed by law. A copy of POB’s latest financial report may be obtained by writing to POB, 415 2nd Street NE, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20002, or by calling (202) 234-1010. If you are a resident of the following states, you may also obtain information through these channels:
Maryland: Copies of documents and information submitted under the Maryland Solicitations Act are available for the cost of copies and postage from the Secretary of State, Statehouse, Annapolis, MD 21401, 1-410-974-5534.
Virginia: A financial statement for the most recent fiscal year is available upon request from the State Division of Consumer Affairs, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209; 1-804-786-1343.
Registration with a state agency does not constitute or imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by that state.
On deadline? We can help.
nfarano@youreyes.org
Common Eye Diseases
POB in the News
12 Great Things to Do in DC and Beyond
MetroWeekly August 14, 2020
Half Virtual Arts Roundup
Georgetowner August 6, 2020
Redskins Foundation to Host Back-to-School Fair
Washington Informer August 20, 2019
When You Wish Upon a (Recycling) Cart
Alexandria Living February 28, 2019
Back to School Virtually? Parents Should Take Steps to Support Healthy Vision
Thank you for considering POB in your search for a new professional opportunity. We are looking for people who are committed to our organization’s mission and will help us grow. As part of POB, you’ll be a champion for vision support in our local community.
POB offers a competitive and comprehensive array of benefits, giving you the flexibility to choose plan options that will best accommodate you and your family’s needs. Highlights of our employee benefits include:
Comprehensive medical and dental coverage
403(b) personal retirement saving accounts
I applied for a job with Metro - I needed new eyeglasses so I could be a MetroBus operator. Thanks to POB, I was able to get new prescription eyeglasses at a price I could afford! Thank you!
Alex R.Washington, DC
I would like to thank POB for arranging virtual Low Vision Support & Resource Group events. I have found them extremely helpful.
Lois L.Silver Spring, MD
Thanks to POB for hosting events for individuals with low vision. It truly gives people a sense of community!
Sandy M.Bethesda, MD
Thank you to the Prevention of Blindness Society for your kindness and generosity with the students of Highland Elementary School. Lives have been changed! The Linkages to Learning Center - and a lot of smiling kiddos - are beyond grateful for the work you all do!
Highland Elementary SchoolSilver Spring, MD
Thank you so much to POB for your professional, friendly, and courteous services. You are amazing and wonderful people. I am lucky to have my new eyeglasses! I can even see the spots on my husband's tie now. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Katrina B.Arlington, VA
In 2002, your organization came to my preschool for a vision screening, and my parents learned that I had amblyopia. If I had not been screened by the Prevention of Blindness Society, I could have become completely blind in my right eye. This would have made some activities that I enjoy, like playing soccer, more difficult. Your screening saved my vision. Thank you for your continued efforts in providing vision care for those in need.
Chloé L.Olney, MD
415 2nd Street NE, Suite 200
© 2020 Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington. All Rights Reserved.
Website by Sage Communications
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canadian arts and fashion awards
Tags: Barbara Amiel, Brittney Kuczynski, CAFA, canadian arts and fashion awards, coco rocha, Greta Constantine, Jackie Gideon, joe zee, Susan Hart, Vicky Milner
The 2015 Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards
By Roxy Rowe (Staff Writer) TORONTO, ONT – Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards (CAFA) held a glittering assembly of the country’s fashion elite at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel on Saturday January 31st. Hosted by Joe Zee, Yahoo Style’s Editor-in-Chief of, CAFA honoured outstanding achievement and emerging talent in Canadian fashion. Now in its second year, CAFA was brought to life in 2013 by Brittney Kuczynski, Jackie G
Tags: 2014cafa, CAFA, canadian arts and fashion awards, FASHION
The 2014 Canadian Arts & Fashion (CAFA) Awards
By Aya S (Staff Writer) TORONTO, ON – The inaugural Canadian Arts & Fashion (CAFA) Awards happened in Toronto on Saturday, February 1st and the continuous snowfall did not stop those devoted to fashion from celebrating the best in Canadian design, fashion and talent. CAFA was the brain child of Brittney Kuczynski and Jackie Gideon, who joined forces with Susan Hart (Jackie departed to focus on her beauty br
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The Ettes: Do You Want Ette?
Andrew Magnotta
Crunchy, catchy and powerful, Nashville’s own garage-rockers The Ettes combine a love of ‘70s-era rock ‘n roll and punk and ‘60s-era pop and country. On tour supporting their upcoming record titled Do You Want Power via Take Root Records on Sept. 29, The Ettes will stop in NYC on Sept. 19 at the Fillmore At Irving Plaza. For more information go to myspace.com/theettes.
the ettes
The Ettes: The Ettes Tour Syndrome
JJ Koczan
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John Richard Boyle, 15th Earl of Cork1
M, #82541, b. 3 November 1945
John Richard Boyle, 15th Earl of Cork was born on 3 November 1945.1 He is the son of John William Boyle, 14th Earl of Cork and Mary Leslie Gordon-Finlayson.1 He married Hon. Rebecca Juliet Noble, daughter of Rt. Hon. Michael Anthony Cristobal Noble, Baron Glenkinglas and Anne Pearson, on 2 June 1973.1
He was educated at Harrow School, Harrow, London, EnglandG.1 He was educated at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon, EnglandG.1 He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Navy.1 He was a director of E. D. & F. Man Sugar Ltd.1 He was captain of the H.M.S. Sealion in 1976.1 He was a member of the Baltic Exchange in 1979.1 He was styled as Viscount Dungarvan between 1995 and 2003.1 He lived in 2003 at Lickford House, Petworth, Sussex, EnglandG.1 He succeeded as the 15th Viscount Boyle of Kinalmeaky, co. Cork [I., 1628] on 14 November 2003.2 He succeeded as the 15th Baron of Bandon Bridge, co. Cork [I., 1628] on 14 November 2003.2 He succeeded as the 15th Earl of the County of Cork [I., 1620] on 14 November 2003.2 He succeeded as the 15th Earl of Orrery [I., 1660] on 14 November 2003.2 He succeeded as the 15th Lord Boyle, Baron of Broghill [I., 1628] on 14 November 2003.2 He succeeded as the 12th Baron Boyle of Marston, co. Somerset [G.B., 1711] on 14 November 2003.2 He succeeded as the 16th Viscount of Dungarvan, co. Waterford [I., 1620] on 14 November 2003.2 He succeeded as the 15th Lord Boyle, Baron of Youghal, co. Cork [I., 1616] on 14 November 2003.2
Children of John Richard Boyle, 15th Earl of Cork and Hon. Rebecca Juliet Noble
Lady Cara Mary Cecilia Boyle+1 b. 16 Jun 1976
Rory Jonathan Courtenay Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan+1 b. 10 Dec 1978
Lady Davina Claire Theresa Boyle+1 b. 10 Dec 1978
[S134] Heraldic Media Ltd., online http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/, Patrick Cracoft-Brennan (Cracroft Peerage Database v5.2), downloaded 1 November 2006.
Robert Ramsden1
Robert Ramsden lived at Meltham, Yorkshire, EnglandG.1
Child of Robert Ramsden
Dorothy Kate Ramsden+1 d. 1978
General Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson1
Last Edited=6 May 2017
General Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson 2
General Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson died on 23 May 1956.3
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.)1 He lived at Wickerstreet House, Kersey, Suffolk, EnglandG.1 He was appointed Knight Commander, Order of the Bath (K.C.B.)1 He was appointed Companion, Order of St. Michael and St. George (C.M.G.)1
Children of General Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson
Mary Leslie Gordon-Finlayson+1
G/Capt. James Richmond Gordon-Finlayson3
Maj.-Gen. Robert Gordon-Finlayson+4 b. 1916, d. 2001
[S130] Wikipedia, online http;//www.wikipedia.org. Hereinafter cited as Wikipedia.
[S214] Honours List, The London Gazette, London, U.K.. Hereinafter cited as London Gazette.
[S466] Notices, The Telegraph, London, UK. Hereinafter cited as The Telegraph.
Lady Elizabeth Theresa Boyle1
F, #82544, b. 19 July 1920, d. 1981
Lady Elizabeth Theresa Boyle was born on 19 July 1920.1 She was the daughter of Major Hon. Reginald Courtenay Boyle and Violet Flower.1 She married Adrian Noble Dodd-Noble, son of Captain Cecil Kingsley Dodd and Hon. Phyllis Margaret Black Noble, on 4 July 1947.1 She died in 1981.2
Her married name became Dodd-Noble. In 1967 she was raised to the rank of an earl's daughter.2
Children of Lady Elizabeth Theresa Boyle and Adrian Noble Dodd-Noble
Adrian Michael Dodd-Noble1 b. 20 Apr 1948
Joanna Susan Dodd-Noble+1 b. 8 Jan 1950
Patrick Robin Dodd-Noble1 b. 10 Nov 1951
Simon Thomas Antony Dodd-Noble+1 b. 17 Feb 1955
Antony William Dodd-Noble1 b. 10 Dec 1961
Adrian Noble Dodd-Noble1
M, #82545, b. 17 September 1922, d. 22 September 2013
Adrian Noble Dodd-Noble was born on 17 September 1922.2 He was the son of Captain Cecil Kingsley Dodd and Hon. Phyllis Margaret Black Noble.1,2 He married Lady Elizabeth Theresa Boyle, daughter of Major Hon. Reginald Courtenay Boyle and Violet Flower, on 4 July 1947.1 He married Jennifer Margaret (?) in 1984.3 He died on 22 September 2013 at age 91.3
Children of Adrian Noble Dodd-Noble and Lady Elizabeth Theresa Boyle
[S61] E. M. Swinhoe, editor, Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 93rd edition (London, U.K.: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1935), page 1401. Hereinafter cited as Burkes Peerage and Baronetage, 93rd ed.
Adrian Michael Dodd-Noble1
M, #82546, b. 20 April 1948
Adrian Michael Dodd-Noble was born on 20 April 1948.1 He is the son of Adrian Noble Dodd-Noble and Lady Elizabeth Theresa Boyle.1
Patrick Robin Dodd-Noble1
M, #82547, b. 10 November 1951
Patrick Robin Dodd-Noble was born on 10 November 1951.1 He is the son of Adrian Noble Dodd-Noble and Lady Elizabeth Theresa Boyle.1
Simon Thomas Antony Dodd-Noble1
M, #82548, b. 17 February 1955
Simon Thomas Antony Dodd-Noble was born on 17 February 1955.1 He is the son of Adrian Noble Dodd-Noble and Lady Elizabeth Theresa Boyle.1 He and Carolyn A. Botting were divorced.2 He married Carolyn A. Botting.2
He was educated at Radley College, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, EnglandG.1
Child of Simon Thomas Antony Dodd-Noble and Carolyn A. Botting
Harry Thomas B. Dodd-Noble2 b. 1985
Antony William Dodd-Noble1
M, #82549, b. 10 December 1961
Antony William Dodd-Noble was born on 10 December 1961.1 He is the son of Adrian Noble Dodd-Noble and Lady Elizabeth Theresa Boyle.1 He married Fiona Mary Henderson, daughter of Adrian Donald Henderson and Angela Mary Oriana Russi, in 1988.2
Joanna Susan Dodd-Noble1
F, #82550, b. 8 January 1950
Joanna Susan Dodd-Noble was born on 8 January 1950.1 She is the daughter of Adrian Noble Dodd-Noble and Lady Elizabeth Theresa Boyle.1 She married Barry A. Godfrey, son of W. E. Godfrey.1
Her married name became Godfrey.1 She lived in 2003 at 10 Greenfield Road, Middleton on the Wolds, Driffield, Yorkshire, East Riding, EnglandG.1
Children of Joanna Susan Dodd-Noble and Barry A. Godfrey
James Godfrey1
Richard Godfrey1
Elizabeth Godfrey1 b. 10 May 1979
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Security Camera Footage-Apple Retail Stores-Iphone 5
Hundreds of iPhone 5 Units Stolen on Eve of Launch
With Apple retail stores, carriers, and other retailers taking delivery of their launch-day iPhone 5 stocks overnight last night, hundreds of the units have been stolen in several incidents on opposite sides of the globe. While security is tight at Apple's own retail stores where staff were on hand all night to set up window displays and demo units, carriers whose retail stores were left unattended during the night have been the primary target for thieves.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a total of 191 units were stolen from three separate shops run by carrier partners KDDI and Softbank in the Osaka area in Japan. Police have not confirmed that the burglaries are connected and are still investigating security footage and other evidence. The majority of the stolen units came from a Softbank outlet that was cleaned out of its entire stock of iPhone 5 units.[A] Softbank Corp store in the western district of Osaka city was wiped clean of its iPhone 5 stock. All 116 devices were stolen, including one store display. The police said they were taken from the locked backroom within a four minute span from 4:24 a.m. as shown on security camera footage. The video recording also showed there were three culprits, all likely to be male. The police said it is uncertain whether the robbery is related to the incident in Ibaraki, located about 20 minutes away by car.In the United Kingdom, The Independent reports that over 250 iPhone 5 units were stolen from an O2 shop in London in what appears to have been an inside job.Officers want to speak to Usman Sethi, 23, of Audley Gardens, Ilford, east London, who works as an assistant at the store.
The phones were taken at 1.30am, with a quantity of cash which was also stolen from the shop's safe. [...]
Police also want to speak to Mr Sethi, a Pakistani national, in connection with the theft of jewellery belonging to a family member from his home address in Audley Gardens.At a median selling price of £599, the 252 stolen iPhones would be valued at approximately £150,000 or nearly $250,000. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/QyV8Ly
Posted by Amy Simpson at 08:34 21 comments
Labels: Apple Retail Stores, Front Page, Iphone, Iphone 5, Retail Stores, Security Camera Footage
Discovery Networks Is Brightcove’s First Partner For Its Dual-Screen Apple TV Service, Live First In Italy
Back in June, Brightcove unveiled a new strategy to take its App Cloud development platform open source, and at the same time it introduced a new dual-screen Apple TV feature aimed at growing its business on connected TVs. Today, Brightcove is announcing the very first implementation of that, with Discovery Networks International, which will be using it first in Italy. Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Brightcove, tells TechCrunch that this is a global deal with Discovery, meaning that if all goes well, Discovery could take the features to other markets where it operates in Europe, the U.S. and the rest of the world.The new service will run on iPad and iPhone apps from DMAX Italy, a free-to-air channel operated by Discovery with 20 million subscribers. And it will give users the ability to initiate an action on, say, an iPhone or iPad, and then shift that content directly on to the larger screen of the TV using Apple's AirPlay technology. This makes dual-screen functionality a step beyond companion apps -- now very common in the TV world -- in that it gives users the ability to actually port features and functions from one screen directly to the other. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/PWct2v
Posted by Amy Simpson at 06:14 0 comments
Labels: Apps, Brightcove, Discovery Networks, Gadgets, Media, Mobile, Social, TC
Juergen Teller-Belstaff
The Brands Played On
Dînatoire? What's a dînatoire? It was the question of the night in Milan,with a pair of overlapping dinners celebrating Belstaff's new store andJuergen Teller's latest exhibition The Girl With the Broken Nose.Dînatoire, it turns out, is a fancy word for buffet. But the virtue ofthese parties was their casual,drop-in-and-stuff-yourself-silly-with-prosciutto-and-prosecco vibes. AtDal Bolognese, we learned that Martin Cooper, the man who rebuiltBelstaff with its new owner Harry Slatkin in, oh, about a minute, hasnever, not even once, been on a motorcycle. "If I become a real biker, itmay blow the fantasy," he said. The revelation at the party Moschinohosted for Teller at Da Giacomo Arengario was the photographer's garb.Famous for wearing nylon running shorts everywhere, including to thebrand's fashion show this morning, he was sporting long pants for once.Why? He had his mum with him.
—Nicole Phelps read more..
source:http://stylem.ag/UK2bFo
Labels: Belstaff, Juergen Teller
Compatible Devices-Chitika-Ios
Ad network Chitika reports iOS 6 on 15% of compatible devices
While this is based upon info taken from people using Chitika's service, we've found overall trends are quite nicely tracked by this data. The latest report says that a full 15 percent of eligible iPhones, iPod touches and iPads are already running iOS 6. Considering it was released just yesterday? That's impressive. As TechCrunch points out, after two months of Jelly Bean (the latest Android OS) availability, Google has seen an adoption rate of only 1.5%. Apple customers are a little quicker to react and install whenever a new iOS appears, it seems. Of course, considering iOS 6 was Apple's first full version update over the air (5.0.1 saw the debut of OTA updates), adoption is likely that much faster as a result.Ad network Chitika reports iOS 6 on 15% of compatible devices originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/QyViCT
Labels: Adoption, Android, Chitika, Chitika Research, Chitikaresearch, Compatible Devices, Google, Ios, Ios 6, Ios6, OTA
Bingo Simulator-Ipad App Store-Ipad Devices
BitRhymes On Track For $45M In Annual Revenue On The Strength Of Virtual Bingo
If you had to take a guess at what has been at or near the top-grossing spot in the U.S. iPad App Store for the past month without looking, I'd bet a bingo simulator wouldn't be high on your list. But India's BitRhymes has proven that in fact users are interested in playing good old-fashioned bingo on their ultra-modern iPad devices, and revealed to TechCrunch that it's currently tracking to realize an annual run rate of $45 million in revenue on the back of its premiere title, Bingo Bash for Facebook, iPad and iPhone.That one of the best-performing social games on the App Store and Facebook right now isn't from someone like Zynga is a sign that there's still plenty of opportunity to be had in this space, but that it might be best explored by peering into corners that don't immediately seem like winners. Bingo is traditionally seen as a game for octogenarians, but BitRhymes' CEO Sumit Gupta said in an interview that surprisingly, there's been lots of interest from younger demographics, and users have predominantly been women. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/RTW242
Labels: Bingo Bash, Bingo Simulator, Bitrhymes, Gaming, Ipad, Ipad App Store, Ipad Devices, Social, Social Gaming, TC
Party Monster-Forrest Gump-Karlie Kloss-Frank Ocean-Party Favor
'Hashtag: Don't Go Home'
Joan Smalls' favorite track on Frank Ocean's Channel Orange is "Forrest Gump." Karlie Kloss likes "Thinkin Bout You" best. They were the two songs that Ocean performed at J. Mendel's party last night, perched on a stool literally inches from the girls. The models were in heaven. So was everyone else with the good fortune to be on hand for a surprise performance by the man with the album of the year. So how did it happen? Gilles Mendel knew Ocean was in town for SNL so he asked him. Simple. The designer was a hands-in-the-air-like-he-just-don't-care party monster with his gorgeous gazelle of a girlfriend, Kylie Case, who gives La Kloss a run for her money in the tall-gal sweepstakes. Five generations of Mendels built the family business in Paris. Then Gilles flipped operations to New York. Now he's on a mission to reintroduce J. Mendel to the French. "It's a bizarre, exciting moment," he enthused. I think he was talking about his business, but his words worked just as well for his party.
When designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez finally made their way to Irving Place for their own post-show shindig, it was hugs and high-fives all around. "We're ready to blow off a little steam," McCollough told Style.com, trying on one of the black baseball caps with cat embroidery that everyone received as a party favor. "We've been in the office a lot, so now we're going to have our belated summer." Boys, those extra hours paid off. "Every item was special, but I loved it as a collective," Kate Bosworth said. "It felt very edited and precise."
The Proenza bash started winding down around 1 a.m., but late nighters were still going strong at Magnus Berger and Tenzin Wild's The Last Magazine bash at the new Pink Elephant. Watching Phillip Lim, Prabal Gurung, and Richard Chai on the dance floor, off-duty DJ Chelsea Leyland said, "My phrase for the night: Hashtag don't go home."
—Tim Blanks and Kristin Studeman read more..
source:http://stylem.ag/RTTp28
Labels: Forrest Gump, Frank Ocean, Karlie Kloss, Mendel, Ocean, Party Favor, Party Monster
Gift Certificates-Profitability-Startup
Digital Gifting Startup GiftRocket Hits Profitability, Announces API And Reduced Fees
GiftRocket, a 2011 Y Combinator grad, is a simple P2P digital gifting service that lets users send and receive digital gift cards via email. Originally, the startup was focused around location-based gifting, allowing friends to send each other digital gift cards that could be accessed once they checked-in to a certain location. With some angel funding behind it, the startup pivoted to a more universal use case, becoming a way to easily gift cash within a digital eCard.Co-founder Kapil Kale tells us that, since that change, people have begun to use the service as a replacement for traditional gift cards and gift certificates and usage has increased as a result. Today, the startup is announcing that it's profitable thanks to a $2 million in sales in 2012 (and what he expects to be $5 million run rate by December). It's also making some additions and changes to its service, including an API, bulk orders and reduced fees. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/NNmziE
Labels: Gift Certificates, Giftrocket, Gifts, Profitability, Social, Startup, Startups, TC
Unconditional Clearance-Mobile Payments-Vodafone
EU Gives ‘Unconditional’ Clearance For UK Mobile Payment JV From Vodafone, O2 And Everything Everywhere
A mobile payment joint venture from the UK's biggest carriers, first announced over a year ago, today finally received "unconditional" clearance from European regulators. The move means that now Vodafone, Telefonica's O2 and Everything Everywhere (the JV from T-Mobile and Orange) can proceed developing a cross-carrier mobile payments platform -- not unlike the Isis initiative in the U.S. They say they will be getting the service "up and running as quickly as possible," although no launch dates or other specifics -- including a name -- have been announced. In other words, now the hard work begins.Given that one of the biggest pain points in mobile payments has been lack of interoperability between platforms, this is potentially a big step in helping such services grow: the idea is that with a bigger potential audience to serve, bigger merchants, banks, payment providers, developers and handset makers will be more likely to make the necessary investments in infrastructure themselves. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/PIafSp
Labels: Ecommerce, Europe, Everything Everywhere, Mobile, Mobile Payment, Mobile Payments, O2, TC, Telefonica, Unconditional Clearance, Vodafone
Silicon Valley Startups-Entrepreneurs-Campaigns-Steli-Sins
The 7 Deadly Sales Sins Committed By Startups
Editor's note: Steli is the Co-Founder / Chief Hustler of ElasticSales and an advisor to several startups and entrepreneurs. You can follow Steli on Twitter here.At ElasticSales, we’ve had the honor to create and run sales campaigns for some of the hottest Silicon Valley startups today. We’ve also consulted with dozens more each week to learn the challenges their sales team face. We realize we can’t work with every startup just yet, but we have seen the same, avoidable mistakes made by many young companies as they conduct their sales campaigns.Below are “7 Deadly Sales Sins” committed by many startups today. Some of these may sound familiar to you, but by identifying and address these mistakes, you will help your company succeed. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/OIff8T
Labels: Campaigns, Entrepreneurs, Opinion, Silicon Valley Startups, Sins, Steli, TC
Productivity Apps-The Killer Apps-Windows 8-Microsoft
Where Are The Killer Apps For Windows 8 Metro?
Love it or hate it, but Windows 8 will soon arrive on computers around you. While virtually all of your old programs will likely run without a hitch in desktop mode, it's the Windows 8 Metro interface (or whatever Microsoft now wants to call it), that brings the biggest changes to the OS for users and developers alike. What Microsoft really needs right now more than anything else, though, is applications that can showcase the power of the new Windows 8 user interface. The current crop of apps in the Windows Store is a hodgepodge of games, travel and productivity apps that, for the most part, look fine but aren't very interesting (and that includes Microsoft's own default apps for Windows 8 Metro). What's still missing is a few killer apps for Windows 8 Metro that will get consumers interested in the platform. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/OLmHjx
Labels: Killer Apps, Metro, Microsoft, Productivity Apps, TC, The Killer Apps, Windows 8, Windows Store
Recovery Solutions-Social Networking-Google Apps
Google+ Is Going After Yammer To Flank Facebook
Editor's note: Rob May is the CEO and co-founder of Backupify, the leading provider of backup and recovery solutions for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications.Google recently announced that it will begin offering corporate control features for its Google+ social network to businesses for free -- at least for a while. If you run a Google Apps domain, you can set up domain-wide restrictions on how your users interact with Google+. Your users can also make "restricted" posts to Google+ which are visible only to members of your domain. It's social networking, but with corporate oversight.That's sounds a lot like Yammer (which Microsoft recently bought for $1.2 billion) and Salesforce Chatter: Sharing streams designed for employee collaboration rather than personal socialization. It sounds less like Facebook, the undisputed heavyweight in social networking that Google+ was supposedly intended to depose. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/OIfb9f
Labels: Facebook, Flank, Google, Google Apps, Opinion, Recovery Solutions, Social Network, Social Networking, TC, Yammer
Diagnostics Software-Prototype
October 2009 iPhone 4 Prototype Shows Up on eBay [Update: Listing Pulled]
As noted by 9to5Mac, an early iPhone 4 prototype has shown up on eBay running Apple's in-house diagnostics software.
A number of high-quality photos are included with the listing, showing a complete lack of Apple branding on the exterior of the device. Most notably, the Apple logo has been replaced with a distinct logo that was previously seen in a Twitpic posting in February 2010. The standard "iPhone" text on the rear of the device has also been replaced by "Prototype", along with text noting that the device has not been approved by the Federal Communications Commission and can not be sold until such authorization is granted.
Sonny Dickson has also provided an overview video of the device showing off several of the features of the device including the software and a lack of screws on the bottom of the device that is consistent with some of the earlier leaked prototypes.
As seen in the video, the serial number of the device indicates that it was manufactured during the 43rd week of 2009, which corresponds to late October, nearly eight months before the device was made available to the public.
The auction for the prototype currently carries a single bid of $4,500, with the seller advertising in the listing that a $10,000 offer would be acceptable to halt the auction process and simply purchase the device.
Update: The listing has been removed. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/R3cdvN
Labels: Diagnostics Software, Front Page, Prototype
Facebook-Ios
Facebook Releases Rewritten and Much Faster iPhone App
Facebook has released a completely rewritten iOS app that is significantly faster than the prior version. With more and more Facebook users accessing the social network via mobile, the company views having a fast mobile app as increasingly essential. News that the update was forthcoming was first reported back in June.
With the updated version, Facebook's engineers have dumped the HTML5-based app and rebuilt it using Objective-C programming to make it perform more like a native iOS app. From All Things D:
“People have different expectations when it comes to using Facebook for iOS,” Mick Johnson, Facebook iOS mobile product manager, told me in an interview this morning. “They expect a level of performance and speed that just wasn’t there.”
Johnson says that the largest pain points — scrolling through the feed, photos and loading the app — will all be much faster, by a factor of three. Also, Facebook mobile developers working on the three separate iOS apps — Facebook, Camera and Messenger — all all now sharing a code base with each other, so Messenger and Camera are actually running inside of the proper Facebook app, bringing many of those features to Facebook for iOS. (As a bonus, a shared code base means faster development cycles, so we’ll probably see improvements sooner.)Facebook for iPhone is available free via the App Store. [Direct Link] read more..
source:http://bit.ly/ObwVts
Labels: Facebook, Front Page, Ios
Aalto University In Finland-Windows Phone-Microsoft-Incubator-Nokia
Nokia + Microsoft Kick Off $23M AppCampus Incubator: Over $1M Going To 36 Startups
Next week Nokia and Microsoft are expected to unveil the first handset(s) running on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 platform, and today comes news about the apps they hope will lure in more users to buy them. AppCampus, an $23 million (€18 million) JV between Microsoft, Nokia and Aalto University in Finland, first announced in May, to foster more app development on the platform, said it has doled out the first $1 million-plus of their budget on 36 developers out of a total of 900 submissions, an average of $30,000 per app, although individual investments over the course of the JV will be between $25,000 and $88,000.Pekka Sivonen, Head of AppCampus, tells me the apps are expected to be coming out starting in October, and will run exclusively on Windows Phone and "other Nokia platforms" for their first six months -- potentially touching some 500 million devices out in the market today. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/O8Lyi4
Labels: Aalto University In Finland, Appcampus, Apps, Europe, Gaming, Incubator, Microsoft, Mobile, Nokia, TC, Windows Phone
Windows Applications-Parallels Desktop-Internet Explorer-Google Chrome Os-Mountain Lion
Parallels 8 with Retina Support Now Available for Existing Customers
Parallels announced the availability of Parallels 8 upgrades for the Mac for existing Parallels Desktop customers. Parallels 8 is the latest version of their virtualization software that allows Mac users to run other operating systems, such as Windows, alongside OS X. “People don’t need to make an either/or choice between Mac and Windows because Macs running Parallels Desktop 8 empower people to simultaneously use applications that best suit their needs – regardless of whether it’s an app for OS X, Windows, Google Chrome OS, Ubuntu, or even Android,” said Parallels CEO Birger Steen.
New features in Parallels 8 includes OS X Mountain Lion integration as well as Retina support and performance boosts:- Speak, don’t type – Use the new Mountain Lion Dictation tool across both Windows and Mac environments
- Open in Internet Explorer – When a website doesn’t render well within Safari, launch it in Internet Explorer with a click of a button
- Parallels Wizard – Download and automatically install Windows or other operating systems (OSes) including Google Chrome OS, Ubuntu and Android on your Mac.
- Windows apps on OS X Launchpad – Add Windows applications to the Mountain Lion or Lion Launchpad to quickly launch Mac and Windows applications used most
- Consolidated notifications – Integration of Windows notifications into the Mac OS X Notification Center makes it easy to stay updated on Windows virtual machine operations
- Mountain Lion gestures for Windows apps – Enjoy seamless integration of Mountain Lion gestures with Windows apps such as pinch to zoom, Mission Control, three-finger drag, swipe between full-screen apps, two-finger scroll, Launchpad and rotate
- Retina display support – Enjoy stunning Retina display resolution in Windows OS and Windows applications to see crisper fonts, vivid photos, images and animations
- Improved Parallels Desktop 8 performance - up to 30 percent faster for input/output (I/O) operations, 30 percent faster for games and up to 25 percent faster for virtual machine operations such as boot, suspend, shutdown and resume, when compared to Parallels Desktop 7 for MacParallels 8 will be available starting today as an upgrade for existing Parallels Desktop users. (Parallels' website not showing version 8 at time of publication) Upgrades are priced at $49.99.
The full version will become available for $79.99 both online and in retail stores starting on September 4th. C ustomers who purchased Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac on or after July 25, 2012, are eligible for a free upgrade. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/S1nqUm
Labels: Front Page, Google Chrome Os, Internet Explorer, Mountain Lion, Parallels Desktop, Windows Applications, Windows Apps, Windows Os
Mountain Lion Os X
Mountain Lion OS X 10.8.1 Improves Battery Life Somewhat
Earlier this month, Arstechnica had reported that many users had found a significant decrease in battery life after upgrading to OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion). Ars writer Chris Foresman, after extended testing, discovered that the battery life of his Retina MacBook Pro review unit dropped 38% from its previous 8-hours.The same findings were reported by many others in Apple's own support forums, and there were some reports that the development versions of OS X 10.8.1 may have addressed this issue.
MacObserver has conducted battery life tests on the final release build of OS X 10.8.1 to see if there had indeed been any improvement. Their testing process included using an Automator script that launched several apps and navigated to websites. The script would cycle this process continuously. The tests were run on a 2011 Macbook Pro. Here are their findings:
First, they were able to confirm the drop in battery life when going from OS X 10.7.4 to OS X 10.8. The drop they measured was 33% (2 hours and 10 minutes) just from upgrading OS X to 10.8. The "No WiFi Icon" was a "fix" of suggested by one of their readers, but showed no appreciable effect. They did find that OS X 10.8.1 (beta and release) builds did improve the battery life stats, adding as much as 52 minutes in their testing. The overall numbers, however, are still well under their battery life measurements in OS X 10.7.4 (Lion).
Apple is currently testing OS X 10.8.2, but there's been no word if that build helps further improve battery times back towards OS X Lion levels. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/SA7kyC
Labels: Front Page, Mountain Lion, Mountain Lion Os X
Java Runtime Environment-Latest Version Of Java-Security Vulnerability-Oracle
Newly-Discovered Java 7 Security Vulnerability Poses Risks to Macs
Just two weeks after Oracle officially took over responsibility for Java on OS X with the launch of Java SE 7 Update 6, a new Java vulnerability has been discovered to pose a significant threat to systems running the software. Krebs on Security highlighted the issue yesterday, noting that it affects all versions of Java 7 on most browsers.News of the vulnerability (CVE-2012-4681) surfaced late last week in a somewhat sparse blog post by FireEye, which said the exploit seemed to work against the latest version of Java 7, which is version 1.7, Update 6. This morning, researchers Andre’ M. DiMino & Mila Parkour published additional details on the targeted attacks seen so far, confirming that the zero-day affects Java 7 Update 0 through 6, but does not appear to impact Java 6 and below.
Initial reports indicated that the exploit code worked against all versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, but did not work against Google Chrome. But according to Rapid 7, there is a Metasploit module in development that successfully deploys this exploit against Chrome (on at least Windows XP).The report notes that Oracle is moving to a quarterly update cycle for Java, meaning that the next regularly-scheduled update to Java SE 7 is not planned until October, but it is unclear how quickly the company will move to address the issue. In the interim, some security experts are developing an unofficial patch while users are advised to simply disable Java if they do not need it active on their systems.
Computerworld reports that the issue does indeed affect fully-updated Macs running Java 7 on top of OS X Mountain Lion.David Maynor, CTO of Errata Security, confirmed that the Metasploit exploit -- which was published less than 24 hours after the bug was found -- is effective against Java 7 installed on OS X Mountain Lion.
"This exploit works on OS X if you are running the 1.7 JRE [Java Runtime Environment]," said Maynor in an update to an earlier blog post.
JRE 1.7 includes the most-current version of Java 7, dubbed "Update 6," that was released earlier this month.Both Safari 6 and Firefox 14 have been found to be vulnerable to the issue on OS X systems.
Apple has of course had its own issues with Java vulnerabilities, most recently with the Flashback malware that was able to infect over 600,000 Macs by taking advantage of an exploit in Java 6 that had already been patched by Oracle for most platforms but not by Apple for OS X. It is due to smaller, previous incidents similar to Flashback that Apple had already been moving to shift responsibility for Java updates to Oracle, a move that is taking place with Java 7. But while Mac users will now receive Java updates simultaneously with users on other platforms, Java remains one of the highest-profile targets for attackers seeking to compromise systems on a broad basis.
Update: CNET noted earlier today that most Mac users are not currently susceptible to the issue, as Java 7 is not installed by default on Macs. The current version of Java installed on Mac remains Java 6 for the time being, so users would have to have manually updated to Java 7 in order for their systems to be vulnerable. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/Ttt5h7
Labels: Front Page, Java, Java Runtime Environment, Latest Version Of Java, Oracle, Security Vulnerability, Vulnerability
Professional Music Producers-Electronic Music Producer-Software Programs-Paul Oakenfold
Wanna Collaborate On A Song With Paul Oakenfold? Beatlab Is Making It Happen
Historically there's been a pretty high barrier to entry when it comes to making electronic music. The standard tools used to create beats are software programs things like Traktor and Ableton Live, desktop programs aimed at professional music producers that have tons of complicated features (and pricetags that start in the hundreds of dollars.) They're great tools for pros, but they're still not exactly beginner friendly. That's where Beatlab, a San Francisco startup run by Jonathan Baudanza, has come in with a much more lightweight and low maintenance option. And this week, the site is having its first brush with the big time: Beatlab is partnering with famed electronic music producer and DJ Paul Oakenfold to hold a remix contest. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/RcQfXn
Labels: Beatlab, Electronic Music, Electronic Music Producer, Paul Oakenfold, Professional Music Producers, Software Programs, Song, TC
Intellectual Exercise-Iphone-Video
Video Shows What an iPhone Game Would Look Like on Taller iPhone Screen [iOS Blog]
The developer of the iPhone game Ninja Fish has released a video showing what the game would look like on a next-generation iPhone with a taller screen. The developer doesn't have any special information about the next iPhone, but is sharing the video as an intellectual exercise to show how games could look on the larger screen.
Ninja Fish for iPhone is available in both a free, ad-supported version and a $0.99 paid version from the App Store. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/SA7lCM
Labels: Intellectual Exercise, Ios Blog, Iphone, Video
VMware launches Fusion 5 software
VMware on Thursday morning announced the launch of Fusion 5, the latest generation of the popular and well-reviewed app that lets users run Windows on their Mac computers. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/ObwUFT
Labels: Vmware
Entertainment System-Troubleshooting-Mountain Lion-Electronics-Navigation
TechHive: It's time for a revolution in car audio and electronics
The navigation and entertainment system interfaces most cars provide lack elegance or any indication that the people building them have actually spent time using them in an running vehicle. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/Mb7Ulr
Bugs "Fixes: Troubleshooting Mountain Lion
The good news: The latest version of OS X appears to be a generally stable update. But that doesn't mean a few bugs can't crop here and there. Ted Landau looks at a few issues you may encounter when running Mountain Lion. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/Mb7ZWb
Labels: Car Audio, Electronics, Entertainment System, Navigation
Presumptive Republican Nominee-Android Operating System-Mitt Romney-Dominance
Romney's VP Search Head Teases on Twitter
Beth Myers, the head of Mitt Romney’s secretive vice presidential search, kept the mystery alive Friday when she gave a “Friday Follow” shout out to a number of potential running mates for the presumptive Republican nominee. Tweeting from the handle @BethMyers2012, Myers, who only has... read more..
source:http://yhoo.it/MTgUJl
Android dominance increases worldwide
Research firm IDC says Google's Android operating system has extended its dominance in the smartphone market largely because of the success of Samsung's line of phones that run the software. IDC says Samsung and other phone makers shipped nearly 105 million Android smartphones in the second quarter. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/S4fkF9
Labels: Mitt Romney, Presumptive Republican Nominee, Teases
Storage Market-Investments-Lightspeed-Positions-Lvp
Lightspeed Ventures Positions For The New Age of Data With Investments in Storage Space
Lightspeed Venture Partners (LVP) has had a phenomenal run in the next generation storage market. In the past 12 to 14 months, four of its portfolio companies have been acquired and one has gone to IPO. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/Mtb9iR
Labels: Avere, Enterprise, Investments, Lightspeed, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lvp, Positions, Storage, Storage Market, TC
Mobile Device-Iphone App-Stitch-Video
Lumify Launches To Stitch Beautiful Short Videos Together On Your iPhone
More and more, people are shooting videos on their phones. But once the video is done, what do they do with it? For most users, those videos sit there, unused and unshared, on the mobile device. A few startups have emerged to help users create more entertaining videos and share them with friends. The latest in this batch is Lumify, which has built an iPhone app that creates awesome 20-second videos that can be quickly and easily uploaded to Facebook.The Lumify iPhone app, which is available on the App Store today, provides one of the easiest ways to automatically edit videos together. All users have to do is pick a few pieces of video from their Camera Rolls, choose to "Lumify" those videos, and pick a soundtrack to run in the background. The app then stitches together a montage of that video goodness. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/ObwM9n
Labels: Iphone App, Lumify, Mobile Device, Stitch, TC, Video
Consolidated Revenue-Quarter Revenues-Server Business-Deterioration
Dell Q2 Revenue Down 8% With Further Drops Expected In The Third Quarter
Dell had a tough second quarter with revenues down 8% as "deterioration," proved worse than expected. Revenues were $14.5 billion compared to $15.7 billion in the same quarter last year. Third quarter revenues are expected to be down an additional 2 to 5%.Dell's poor results show how quickly the market is shifting to a post-PC economy. Reflecting that was the contrasting increase in the company's server business. Dell reported that its enterprise solutions and services revenue grew 6% to $4.9 billion. That revenue made up 34% of Dell’s consolidated revenue and more than 50% of its margin. Dell said that business is approaching a $20 billion annual run rate.Server and networking revenue grew 14 percent. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/PXp8UT
Labels: Consolidated Revenue, Dell, Deterioration, Enterprise, Quarter Revenues, Server Business, TC
Mendel Rosenblum-Angel Investors-Mayfield Fund-Diane Greene-Investment
Data Center Analytics Startup CloudPhysics Raises $2.5 Million From Mayfield Partners With Investment From VMware Co-Founders
CloudPhysics has raised $2.5 million from the Mayfield Fund and VMware Co-Founders Diane Greene and Mendel Rosenblum among other angel investors. The company will use the investment to build out an analytics platform for monitoring performance of a new emerging class of data center technology.This is an interesting play. CloudPhysics two co-founders are former high-ranking VMware executives John Blumenthal and Irfan Ahmad. Both have been working as entrepreneurs in residence at the Mayfield Fund, developing CloudPhysics. Their pedigree is confirmed by the prestigious backers who have come forward as investors. This is in particular reference to Greene and Rosenblum, who are married and have had quite a run since starting VMware. Nicira, the network virtualization company, is Greene's most recent investment to show great returns. The company sold last month to VMware for $1.26 billion. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/R3cejo
Labels: Angel Investors, Cloudphysics, Data Center, Diane Greene, Enterprise, Investment, Mayfield Fund, Mendel Rosenblum, TC, Vmware
Cloud Storage-Samsung-Yandex-Russia
Dropbox-Rival Yandex.Disk Now Preloaded On Samsung Ultrabooks In Russia; Next Stop: The World
Yandex, Russia's biggest search company, today is making two key moves to ramp up Yandex.Disk, its foray into cloud storage services. Today, it is announcing that Samsung will preload Yandex.Disk on to its Series 5 range of Ultrabooks, starting in Russia. And on top of that Yandex is adding English-language support to the service -- an indication that Yandex is now setting its sights on taking Yandex.Disk international.The Samsung deal will see consumers who buy the new Ultrabooks before December 31 get access to 250GB of storage. (The Ultrabooks go on sale this week.) This is a big premium on the regular amount of free storage that Yandex.Disk has been offering users to-date: since the service first launched in April, Yandex has capped free storage at 10GB. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/PaKWZ4
Labels: Cloud Storage, Russia, Samsung, TC, Yandex
Population Of Women-Fashion Runways-Clothing-Shopping
Meet Mode-sty: The Shopping Site For Ladies Who Want To Leave Something To The Imagination
Newsflash: Not everyone wants to look like a Kardashian.Body-hugging outfits that show some skin are what's front-and-center on celebrities and fashion runways, so those designs are often highlighted on e-commerce sites that deal in women's clothing. But in the real world, there is a huge population of women who -- for reasons related to work, religion, or even just personal taste -- seek out clothing that is on the conservative side. Fashion and trends are just as important to these shoppers, so they want to buy the same designers found on mainstream and high-end e-commerce sites, but often they have to sift through pages of low cut tops and above-the-knee dresses to find items that fit their needs.That's where a new site called Mode-sty wants to help. Mode-sty (pronounced mod-stee), which is currently in beta mode running individual flash sales as it builds out its full retail site, seeks to stock women's clothing that is conservative but still on-trend with the latest fashions. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/QhvpWa
Labels: Clothing, Fashion Runways, Population Of Women, Shopping, TC
Blood Pressure Monitor-Personal Fitness-Heart Health-Companion
Withings Health Companion app: A new way to look at personal fitness
I'm a big fan of the Withings line of personal health devices -- over the years, I've purchased one of their Wi-Fi Body Scales and a Blood Pressure Monitor. The devices are great, and it's nice (and sometimes frustrating) to see how your health is doing over time. But the stats that were provided did little to motivate me to really exercise more, eat less, and even care about taking my blood pressure daily. The completely new Withings Health Companion app (free) is designed to not only monitor your health, but motivate you to do something about it. Unlike the previous WiScale app, which just tracked weight and BP and is the tool with which you take your blood pressure, the Withings Health Companion app lets you set goals and reminders. Upon launching the app, you see a "butterfly" with four wings -- one cyan, one orange, one magenta, and one green. Each wing is associated with a different health factor -- sleep, activity, heart, and weight. The idea is that you should try to eventually "fill" each wing with color, indicating that you're managing sleep, activity, your heart health, and your weight. Gallery: Withings Health Companion App To do this, the Withings Health Companion tries to "turn long-term goals into small achievable targets, and monitor your weekly progress toward your goals." In my personal case, I am able to monitor my heart health (BP and heart rate) using the Withings Blood Pressure Monitor and add my weight to the app every day using the Wi-Fi Body Scale. For capturing activity, I have now set up RunKeeper to report my activities to the app. I wish that there was a way to send info from my FitBit, which I wear constantly, to the app. The last item, sleep, requires input from other devices made by BodyMedia and Zeo. Once again, I'd prefer to have my sleep information sent to the Withings Health Companion app from the FitBit, which also tracks that info. There doesn't appear to be a way of adding my nightly sleep information to the app manually, which is somewhat irritating. Since I'm not exactly thrilled about having to spend a minimum of US$149 for yet another monitoring device, I'm hoping that FitBit and Withings will work out a way for the FitBit data to be used by the Health Companion. Of course, I could use the FitBit website to monitor all of this, since I could get activity readings and sleep information from the FitBit and weight data transferred from the Withings scale, but there's no way to track blood pressure. Sigh -- it's like these companies all want to get you tied into their particular ecosystem and don't want to make it easy for you to choose the combination of apps and devices to track your health. At this point, one of the "wings" of the butterfly will always be withered, since this app won't let me add my sleep information. I do, however, like the way that the app displays all pertinent health information on one screen and reminds me to take readings or to exercise. Do you have a favorite app or mobile website for tracking your health and personal fitness? Tell us about it in the comments.Withings Health Companion app: A new way to look at personal fitness originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 18 Aug 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/PwHsk3
Labels: Blood Pressure, Blood Pressure Monitor, Companion, Features, Fitbit, Fitness, Health, Heart Health, Iphone, Personal Fitness, Review, Withings, Withings Blood Pressure Monitor, Withings Connected Body Scale, Withings Health Companion, Withingsbloodpressuremonitor, Withingsconnectedbodyscale, Withingshealthcompanion
Stock Dividend-Stock Buyback-Stock Price-Apple
Apple's Stock Continues Surge With New Record High
After setting a record high close yesterday, Apple's stock today has extended its strong run that has been in place since last month's disappointing earnings numbers, pushing through to set a new all-time intraday high. The stock hit a new high of $644.13 per share just minutes ago, besting the previous all-time high of $644.00 set on April 10.
The move has also pushed Apple's market capitalization above $600 billion for the first time since April 10, also marking a 23% increase in stock price since the bottom of this dip came at $522.18 during trading on May 18.
Apple's new all-time high comes a day after the company issued its first quarterly stock dividend since 1995, giving shareholders $2.65 per share as one piece of the company's strategy for handling its massive stockpile of cash. Investors had been calling for a dividend for quite some time as Apple's cash hoard approached and then exceeded $100 billion, with the company relenting in a March announcement in which the company outlined its belief that it will have enough cash on hand to meet its needs for the foreseeable future. The company also instituted a $10 billion stock buyback program intended to offset dilution coming from stock grants and employee stock purchases. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/NMgpkO
Labels: Apple, Front Page, Stock Buyback, Stock Dividend, Stock Price
The Cloud Gaming Company-Intellectual Property-Reliable Source-Liability
Source: OnLive Found A Buyer, Cleaned House To Reduce Liability Prior To Acquisition (UPDATED)
We're hearing from a reliable source that OnLive's founder and CEO Steve Perlman finally decided to make an exit -- and in the process, is screwing the employees who helped build the company and brand. The cloud gaming company reportedly had several suitors over the last few years (perhaps including Microsoft) but Perlman reportedly held tight control over the company, apparently not wanting to sell or share any of OnLive's secret sauce.Our source tells us that the buyer wants all of OnLive's assets -- the intellectual property, branding, and likely patents -- but the plan is to keep the gaming company up and running. However, OnLive management cleaned house today, reportedly firing nearly the entire staff, and we hear it was done just to reduce the company's liability, thus reducing employee equity to practically zero. Yeah, it's a massive dick move. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/NMgoNM
Labels: Buyer, Gadgets, Gaming Company, Intellectual Property, Liability, Onlive, Reliable Source, TC, The Cloud Gaming Company
Mac Blu-ray Player software plays HD movies on your Mac
Want to play a Blu-ray disc on your Mac? Apple doesn't include Blu-ray as an option, but they are readily available through 3rd parties like Amazon or Other World Computing. You'll also need software to play the disc, which is where the Macgo Blu-Ray Player comes in. I reviewed the Macgo Blu-ray Player software more than a year ago and found it pretty flaky. It dropped frames, was slim on features, and not something I could get to excited about. The updated player is a completely different story. I tested the software on a Mac Pro, and also an older (2006) MacBook Pro. I'm pleased to see that the Blu-ray movies I tested it on worked just fine, there were no dropped frames, even when running movies full screen. That's much better than my last outing with the software, and smooth playbook on my aging MacBook Pro was impressive. The app also supports DTS5.1 surround sound if you have hardware that can play it. The Blu-ray Player software requires an internet connection when you first put in a new disc. This is due to the copy protection scheme built into the discs by the motion picture studios. One a disc gets its keys, you shouldn't need to go online again. If you try another disc, it's the same process. The Mac app has added some new features, including screen grabs, and what they call 'AirX' which allows you to beam a Blu-ray movie playing on your Mac to an iOS device -- on your same WiFi network, of course. This new version works much better than the old versions I tried, and movie playback is flawless but I can't say the same for the AirX feature. When I first tried it, Blu-ray Player crashed, then a second try went a bit further, but my iPhone and iPad reported a 'can't find the server' message, even though I'm sure I followed the setup instructions correctly. I think there's more work needed on this feature. The app has extensive help and an actively updated website. You can download a free copy and test it to see how it works with your hardware. If you want to view Blu-ray movies on your Mac, this is pretty much it right now, other than some open-source hacks that don't work very well and aren't as easy to use. There is a summer special on the Macgo Blu-ray player software for US$39.99, which is $20 off. The sale lasts until August 19th. Apple has never officially supported Blu-ray on the Mac, and the late Steve Jobs famously called the licensing terms a "bag of hurt." Even so, some people like the 50 GB capacity of Blu-ray media for backup, and if you have the hardware, wanting to play a movie in HD is an obvious next step Check the Gallery for some screen grabs and a look at the GUI for Blu-ray Player. Gallery: Mac Blu-ray PlayerMac Blu-ray Player software plays HD movies on your Mac originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/S0WLUW
Labels: Airx, Blu-Ray, Disc, Ios, Mac, Macblu-Rayplayer, Movies, Player, Review, Software
Apple Stock Price Marks All-Time Closing High Ahead of New iPhone Rollout
Apple's stock price closed at an all-time high of $636.34 today, passing the prior all-time closing high of $636.23 set four months ago on April 9th. The next day, April 10th, the stock hit an intraday high of $644 and the company's market capitalization breached $600 billion before falling back. Apple's stock price is up nearly 60% on the year, outperforming the NASDAQ by more than 3:1 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by more than 6:1.
Growth in Apple's stock has been slightly weaker for the past month in the run-up to weaker-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, but new reports of a September launch for the next iPhone as well as a smaller, cheaper iPad Mini have been pushing the price higher.
All shareholders of record as of Monday's close also received a cash dividend of $2.65 per-share today, the first dividend payment to Apple shareholders since December 1995. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/S0WcdJ
Labels: Front Page
Opening Ceremony was founded on an Olympics concept—the nations of the world battle it out on its racks for fashion domination—and named for same. And in an Olympic year, the store's gurus, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, with its in-house editor, Rory Satran, launched their own magazine. Its theme was just about a forgone conclusion. What else? Sport: sportswear, sports memories, and sports stars—though, as it turns out, none of the Olympic hopefuls pictured inside actually competed in London. "We have three amazing athletes, and none of them made it," Satran said with a laugh. "That's what you get for putting a magazine to bed before the Olympics." (Bruce Weber, Jessica Craig-Martin, Poppy de Villeneuve, and Theo Wenner are among the debut issue's contributors.)
At the launch dinner for the new magazine at Silkstone, the private event space run by the Fat Radish's Ben Towill and Phil Winser, Satran remembered her first tentative steps into the OC universe, back when she was still a Paris-based editor at Self Service. "I literally showed Carol and Humberto this binder of ideas I had in the middle of a nightclub," she said. "The band was playing; we were in the smoking corner." Magazine wonks unite? "I think we're all nerdy in the same way," she agreed.
Nerdy, maybe; life of the party, also. The crowds came to cheer the magazine out of the gate and take a few swings at the basketball-shaped piñata while they were there. Erstwhile OC collaborator Chloë Sevigny was on hand, topless in a pair of Kenzo overalls. Solange Knowles, with son Julez in tow, eyed the ribbon-twirling rhythmic gymnast who performed after ushering guests to their seats. ("She wanted a solo," Leon shrugged.) "I kind of want to get up there," Knowles said, eyeing the ribbon. "I can figure it out."
She settled for the ring instead of the ribbon, challenging Leon to a hula-hooping contest just before dinner was served. She lost, but she was a good sport about it.
—Matthew Schneier read more..
source:http://stylem.ag/S0T7KI
Labels: Olympics
Ios Versions-Pulse News
Pulse News comes to your favorite web browser
There have been many times when I have wishes that my favorite news aggregators like Pulse news and Zite for iOS were available on my desktop or Mac laptop. Pulse News has answered my requests with a web version of the app that runs in any browser. You can log into your Pulse News account and get all the sites and feeds you normally graze in the iOS app displayed right in Safari, Firefox, or Chrome. The Pulse developers also had some help and probably a wee bit of cash from Microsoft to make the app work nicely with Windows 8 touch capabilities. There's a nice Windows Explorer logo in the upper right part of your browser, no matter which browser you are running. Anyway, Pulse News works just fine with Safari, and unlike the iOS versions you get some choice in layouts, mainly adjustments to the size of the tiles. If you change the shape of your browser window, Pulse news obliges and re-arranges itself. All in all, it's a nice experience. I saw a few rendering issues where words would get cut off and there was occasionally some odd image cropping, but basically it's working pretty well. Single-click on a tile, and you get a clean render of the story, with the familiar controls to read it directly at the source or email it to someone else. This is a nice evolutionary step for Pulse News, and I'll use it often. You can take a look at it by going to the Pulse website and logging in if you have a free account, or you can create a new account and start publishing your own personal news source.Pulse News comes to your favorite web browser originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/PQB0T0
Labels: Ios Versions, Mac, Microsoft, Newsfeeds, Pulse News, Pulsenews, RSS
Iphone 3G-Ios
iOS developer toolchain will bid farewell to the iPhone 3G
Cocoanetics has noticed something that's become apparent to most iOS developers already: with the advent of iOS 6 in a few weeks, Apple is essentially phasing out support for iOS on the iPhone 3G. Apple is slowly deprecating frameworks that iPhone 3G-compatible apps require from Xcode and app libraries, and the upcoming version of Xcode (4.5, currently in development) specifically states that it does not support armv6 devices or anything below iOS 4.3. In other words, both the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G have become extremely difficult for iOS developers to support, and by the time iOS 6 rolls around this fall, there will be essentially no reason for devs to try and make sure their apps and games work on the older hardware. While it may be technically possible to maintain separate codebases for newer and older hardware (by running old versions of Xcode), even the largest developers won't have financial reasons to do so. And the audience likely won't care much anyway. The number of people this affects grows smaller and smaller every day -- most phone contracts last about two years, which means it's been a few generations since the iPhone 3G was released in 2008. And there are a whole lot of new technologies for developers to take advantage of, including iCloud, Automatic Reference Counting, and Storyboard development, that make apps easier and quicker to develop and would never work with the older iPhone models anyway. Apple's never been accused of sticking with a product for too long -- the company has a reputation for moving on to the newer and better as quickly as possible. For developers, the iPhone 3G is essentially being lowered into the ground for good. Of course, that doesn't mean consumers are obligated to dump them; the existing apps they run will still work.iOS developer toolchain will bid farewell to the iPhone 3G originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/PQAZP2
Labels: Apple, Developers, Discontinued, Ios, Iphone, Iphone 3G, Iphone3g, Versions, Xcode
Advanced Encryption Standard Algorithm-National Security Agency-Security Architecture
Apple's 'Unbreakable' iOS Device Encryption Highlighted
Technology Review takes a look at the evolution of security on the iPhone, noting how Apple has been able to gain acceptance in government and enterprise by overcoming its initially lax stance on device security to roll out industry-leading encryption options that can defeat essentially all attempts at accessing properly protected devices.At the heart of Apple's security architecture is the Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm (AES), a data-scrambling system published in 1998 and adopted as a U.S. government standard in 2001. After more than a decade of exhaustive analysis, AES is widely regarded as unbreakable. The algorithm is so strong that no computer imaginable for the foreseeable future—even a quantum computer—would be able to crack a truly random 256-bit AES key. The National Security Agency has approved AES-256 for storing top-secret data.As Apple highlights in a recent white paper (PDF) on iOS security, this hardware security involves the incorporation of a unique AES-256 key fused into each iOS device and which can not be directly read.
Access to the device's software can be restricted with a PIN passcode, and while the default passcode option for iOS is a four-digit number, users can opt to use significantly longer and more complex passcodes. And with brute-force attacks required to break iOS passcodes needing to be run on the device itself at a speed of 80 milliseconds per attempt, a device with an eight-digit passcode could take up to 15 years to compromise."There are a lot of issues when it comes to extracting data from iOS devices," says Amber Schroader, CEO of Paraben, a supplier of forensic software, hardware, and services for cell phones. "We have had many civil cases we have not been able to process ... for discovery because of encryption blocking us."Most of the information included in this report is not particularly new, and Apple's white paper goes into more detail on the company's efforts to address security on iOS devices, but the report offers an overview of the layers of security Apple has built into its products. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/PmrGYX
Labels: Advanced Encryption Standard Algorithm, Apple, Encryption Options, Front Page, Hardware Security, Ios Security, National Security Agency, Security Architecture
Incubator Hitfox-Mobile Games-Startups
Games Distribution Incubator HitFox Hatches Two New Startups: AppLift And App Discovery
Well that was quick or just well timed PR: HitFox Game Ventures, the games distribution incubator that launched last month, has given birth to two new startups already.AppLift, co-founded and managed by Kaya Taner, who was an early employee at HitFox, promises to be an affiliate network that will focus solely on mobile games. App Discovery, also co-founded and run by another HitFox manager, Xavier Rezgui, operates at the consumer end to help mobile gamers intelligently navigate the 100,000 or so games in the iOS App Store.Both startups hatched with a "seven figure" Euro seed investment from HitFox. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/PmrEjO
Labels: App Discovery, Applift, Europe, Game Finder, Hitfox, Hitfox Game Ventures, Incubator, Incubator Hitfox, Mobile, Mobile Games, Startups, TC
Standalone Spot Satellite-Satellite Service Company-Global Satellite Network-Satellite Transmitter
SPOT Connect helps your iPhone rescue you via satellite
Cellphones are pretty good for calling 911, or letting your family know where you are, but if you get in trouble off the grid things can go wrong in a hurry. Coverage is far from universal, especially in rural or wilderness areas. The folks at SPOT, a satellite service company, have a handy solution that lets your iPhone connect to a global satellite network through the SPOT hardware. Along with a dedicated app, the SPOT Connect transmitter can get your distress message out, along with your exact location anywhere in the world. Similar to the standalone SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger and the SPOT Personal Tracker (both of which work without a phone, but offer a more limited set of message options) the hardware is a small device with a GPS receiver and a satellite transmitter. The SPOT Connect pairs with your iPhone via Bluetooth; you run the SPOT app, and your iPhone suddenly becomes a satellite communicator. The service is not built for voice, but you can update Twitter or Facebook, send short email messages or text messages (41 characters long for free input, up to 120 characters if you pre-program them), update a plot of your travels on the SPOT website for family & friends, or send your coordinates out to the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center to get help on the way. This seems perfect for sailors, hikers, pilots or people exploring places where cell networks are unreliable or don't exist at all. The device is available direct from SPOT, or at a variety of retailers like Best Buy, REI and West Marine. It lists for US $149.95, and there is a mail-in $50.00 rebate available now. The needed app is free. You'll also need a subscription that gets you the satellite time ($99.00 a year). There are some extra fees for extended services. This can literally be a lifesaver if you find yourself in the wilds, and it's a clever integration of iPhone hardware and satellite technology. Gallery: SPOT Connect for iPhoneSPOT Connect helps your iPhone rescue you via satellite originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 11 Aug 2012 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/PQB4SH
Labels: Emergencyservices, Features, Global Satellite Network, GPS, Gpslocator, Iphone, Rescue, Satellite, Satellite Service Company, Satellite Transmitter, SPOT, Spotconnect, Standalone Spot Satellite
How long will it take to install Mountain Lion?
You're about to spend US$19.99 on Mountain Lion and want to know how long it will take to update your Mac. Fortunately, the folks at Tekserve have updated several machines and shared the results. The New York-based company keeps several demo machines running on its sales floor for customers to try, including laptops and desktops. The team recently updated every last one to Mountain Lion (we assume they were on the latest version of Lion previously). Note what a difference SSD made in the chart below: Apple servers are very busy today, as the company is distributing new Mac versions of iPhoto, iMovie, Safari and iWork in addition to the OS. Our readers have reported a range of download times from one to three hours. The Mountain Lion installer is 4.05 GB in size. All this means you should set some time aside and get comfortable. Tell us how it goes.#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }Continue reading How long will it take to install Mountain Lion?How long will it take to install Mountain Lion? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/Qlcri6
Labels: Installing, Mac, Mac Osx, Macosx, Mountain Lion, Mountainlion, Os
Personal Information Management Application-Modern Operating Systems-Web Applications
It’s A Dark Time To Be A Consumer In The Cloud
Ecco Pro, a much beloved outliner and personal information management application for Windows was discontinued about 15 years ago. But you can still download it and run it on Windows 7 today thanks to the efforts of a handful of volunteers. Even though the software isn't open source a few devotees have continued modding it and keeping it current for modern operating systems. They say that no modern application has yet replicated its functionality.Another piece of software with longevity is Eudora, which as of 2009 was still in use by Steve Wozniak as per an interview with Lifehacker. Wozniak didn't say which version he's using, but since he says it's been discontinued, I assume he's using Eudora 6.2.4 or earlier, not the newer Thunderbird based Open Source Edition. I've heard of people using versions as old as 3. They say they can still do stuff with it they just can't do with anything else.If these were web applications, what are the odds people would still be using them today, more than a decade after they were officially discontinued? And are there any new web applications out today that are so good that 15 years from now users will still be clinging to them? read more..
source:http://bit.ly/P3LB16
Labels: Application, Cloud, Modern Operating Systems, Personal Information Management Application, Pivots, Software, Startups, Steve Wozniak, TC, Web Applications
Open System Preferences-Notification Center-Mountain Lion
Mountain Lion 101: Silencing Notification Center alerts
Mountain Lion's Notification Center is handy. It displays banners and alerts from notification-aware apps to keep you informed of changes, like a new Twitter mention, Calendar event or email message. That last one can get distracting, depending on how much email you receive. Here are some ways to tame email alerts:
Disable alerts and banners in System Preferences. Open System Preferences and click Notifications. Select Mail from the list on the right and then click None. You'll no longer see email notifications.
Quit Mail. Apple's Mail app won't push notifications if it isn't running.
Turn them all of at once. Open Notification Center on your Mac and swipe up to the very top. Move the slider labeled Show Alerts and Banners to the Off position to silence all pop-up alerts and banners (they still appear listed in Notification Center itself). Slide it back to On to restore alerts and banners.
If you're worried about a notification popping up when you're making a presentation, don't be. Notification Center is smart enough to recognize when you've got Keynote open and silences notifications on its own. Additionally, it won't display alerts or banners on a mirrored display.Continue reading Mountain Lion 101: Silencing Notification Center alertsMountain Lion 101: Silencing Notification Center alerts originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/S4gCzP
Labels: Email, How To, Howto, Mac, Mail, Mountain Lion, Mountain Lion 101, Mountainlion, Mountainlion101, Notification Center, Notificationcenter, Open System Preferences, OS X, Osx, Tips
Notification Center-Mountain Lion-Hot Corners
Mountain Lion 101: Notification Center in a hot corner
Apple's Mountain Lion introduced Notification Center to the Mac. This handy feature lets notification-aware apps display pop-up style alerts when something changes, like an incoming email message, Twitter mention, Calendar appointment and more. Apple notes that you can access Mountain Lion's Notification Center by swiping your trackpad or Magic Trackpad from left to right. Alternatively, you can click the Notification Center icon in your Mac's menu bar (here's a more thorough look at Notification Center options). Those are great, but I use a third option. Specifically, I've assigned Notification Center to a hot corner by following these steps:
Launch System Preferences and click Desktop & Screen Saver.
Click the Screen Saver tab, then click Hot Corners.
Click the drop-down menu at your corner of choice, choose Notification Center and then click OK.
Now the Notification Center will appear every time you move your cursor into that corner. I suspect you're wondering why, so I'll tell you. First, I run my MacBook Air connected to an external display with the lid closed. Also, I don't have a Magic Trackpad and finally, I've been using Hot Corners for years to trigger Exposé and Spaces, so it's an action I'm used to performing.Continue reading Mountain Lion 101: Notification Center in a hot cornerMountain Lion 101: Notification Center in a hot corner originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/MttpiQ
Labels: Hot Corner, Hot Corners, How-To, Mountain Lion, Mountain Lion 101, Mountainlion, Mountainlion101, Notification Center, Notificationcenter, Tips
Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Mission Control-Curiosity Rover-Control Room
Macs abound at NASA/JPL Mars Curiosity mission control
For those of us who stayed up late last night to watch the streaming coverage of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, it was a treat to see the huge numbers of MacBooks, iPads, and even iPhones that were in the control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The image above shows one of the EDL Ops (Entry, Descent and Landing Operations) engineers gazing intently at the screen of a MacBook Pro at incoming data. Other photos we've seen show a conference room full of engineers and scientists at JPL sitting around a table loaded with MacBook Pros with nary a Lenovo or Dell laptop in sight. Why the love of Macs? It's probably because OS X is the "Unix that works," the mainstream operating system that's built upon the BSD UNIX beloved by scientists and engineers (and is also certified by the Single UNIX Specification group as an Open Brand UNIX 03 product). Of course, the scientific and engineering community may not be thrilled with the recent shift away from bundling Apple-branded X11 with OS X in Mountain Lion, as that's often used to run legacy apps. The current X11 solution is the XQuartz open source project, which is heavily supported by Apple. Be sure to check back later; TUAW's Mel Martin is following up with a post about more reasons for all of this Apple love at JPL. [h/t Jeff Gamet]#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }Continue reading Macs abound at NASA/JPL Mars Curiosity mission controlMacs abound at NASA/JPL Mars Curiosity mission control originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/MttrqM
Labels: Control Room, Curiosity, Curiosity Rover, Curiosityrover, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, Mac, Mission Control, Nasa, OS X, Osx, X11
Curiosity Mars Rover-Processing Power-Curiosity Rover-Mars Rovers
iPhone more powerful than Curiosity Mars rover, but so what?
One of the recurrent Internet memes since the successful landing of the Curiosity Mars rover has been that the iPhone has more processing power than the computer onboard the rover. It's true -- but some of the numbers touted in the rush of blog posts have been flawed. Let's take a closer look at Curiosity's computing power versus the iPhone 4S. First of all, just about every post I've seen so far neglects to point out that Curiosity has two identical computers, each called a Rover Compute Element or RCE. Of course, it only uses one at a time; the other is configured as a live backup that will take over the tasks of navigation, control, and communications if the other has problems. Does your iPhone 4S have a backup computer? I didn't think so. Each RCE uses a RAD750 CPU (based on the IBM PowerPC 750), a radiation-hardened single-board computer made by BAE Systems Electronic Solutions. That computer has 256 KB of EEPROM, 256 MB of DRAM, and 2 GB of flash memory. The CPU runs at 200 MHz and is capable of 400 million instructions per second (MIPS). The iPhone 4S uses an Apple A5 system-on-a-chip containing an 800 MHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU. The A5 also includes a PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU that adds even more processing power. The iPhone is equipped with 512 MB of DRAM and either 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of flash memory. The CPU runs at 800 MHz. So, why not just use a couple of iPhones to run the next Mars rover? Well, in the first place, the device would probably fail rather quickly in interplanetary space and in the harsh conditions of the Martian surface, where a thin atmosphere fails to shield rovers from high radiation levels. That RAD750 CPU is capable of handling a radiation dose of up to 1,000 gray -- a 5 gray dose is enough to kill a human being within 14 days. Putting it all into perspective, the iPhone 4S does have a much more powerful brain than the Curiosity rover, but it's a moot point. Engineers design products, whether they're mass market smartphones or one-off Mars rovers, to handle the conditions that they'll see in everyday usage. To quote Elton John, "Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids." That delicate flower of an iPhone wouldn't last a minute on Mars.#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }Continue reading iPhone more powerful than Curiosity Mars rover, but so what?iPhone more powerful than Curiosity Mars rover, but so what? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/S4gCjb
Labels: Apple A5, Applea5, Curiosity, Curiosity Mars Rover, Curiosity Rover, Curiositymarsrover, Iphone, JPL, Mars Rover, Mars Rovers, Processing Power, RAD750, Radiation
Retina Macbook Pro-Results Database-Geekbench
13-Inch Retina MacBook Pro Once Again Shows Up in Benchmarks
Exactly one month ago, we noted the presence of a "MacBookPro10,2" entry in the Geekbench results database, suggesting that a 13-inch version of the Retina MacBook Pro is indeed in the works, as has been rumored for October. In comparison, the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro carries a "MacBookPro10,1" identifier, while current non-Retina versions of the MacBook Pro carry "MacBookPro9,x" identifiers.
While much of the data presented to Geekbench by machines can be faked and many Hackintosh enthusiasts go to great lengths to match their machines' details to those of actual Macs, the details of the MacBookPro10,2 were consistent enough with expectations that both we and Geekbench developer Primate Labs believed the entry to be genuine.
Following the original entry, a second MacBookPro10,2 has now appeared in the results database, with the data bearing very strong similarity to the original entry but with some differences that suggest this entry may also be legitimate.
Like the machine that appeared first, the new machine runs a 2.9 GHz Core i7-3520M, the same processor found in the current high-end model of the non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro. The machine's motherboard identifier also matches the previous machine, which itself matched a previously unaccounted for identifier seen in early developer builds of OS X Mountain Lion. And as would be expected for machines running the same specs, the two machines have very similar Geekbench scores of roughly 7800.
There are a few differences, however, with one of the key ones being a custom 12A2066 build of the unreleased OS X 10.8.1. Just two days ago, Apple gave the first indication that it will begin seeding OS X 10.8.1 to developers, but it has yet to do so. In addition, the four-digit build number suffix is sometimes used internally by Apple on its test machines, although such four-digit build numbers are sometimes also used publicly for special builds such as the version of OS X 10.7.4 that shipped on new 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro models.
In addition, this new entry reflects a MacBook Pro with 8 GB of RAM, in line with what ships paired with the Core i7-3520M on the corresponding non-Retina model. The previous MacBookPro10,2 entry showed a machine with only 4 GB of RAM. Finally, the BIOS string for the new entry appears to show an updated date code of July 18, 2012, compared to the previous one registering as June 11, 2012.
Geekbench results have on several occasions revealed upcoming Mac models, most recently in mid-May with the MacBookPro9,1 that turned out to be the non-Retina 15-inch MacBook Pro upon its release the following month. Notably, an iMac13,2 entry that also appeared to be legitimate surfaced around the same time, but Apple has yet to release updated iMacs.
(Thanks, Matthew!) read more..
source:http://bit.ly/ORgao0
Labels: Front Page, Geekbench, Macbook Pro, Results Database, Retina Macbook Pro
The Apple TV's increasing importance
A weekend feature from Gizmodo's Brian Barrett explores the Apple TV's increasing importance with the recent addition of Hulu Plus and other features. The interesting part of the article is the numbers: 1.3 million Apple TV units sold in the previous quarter along with US$2 billion in sales of digital content from the App Store, iTunes and iBookstore. Barrett thinks this information shows that the Apple TV has become the company's most important product, and future dominance rests with the little Apple TV box rather than a dedicated television set. Forbes agrees with Barrett's stance, wondering if the Apple TV has become a legitimate platform rather than the hobby Steve Jobs tinkered with. I think it'll achieve this status when an Apple TV SDK comes out. It was something I hoped would happen at WWDC, but now I'm wondering if that might come out this fall with the expected slate of new iPhones and iPods. I disagree with the Forbes estimate that Apple will eventually allow its content to be licensed on premium TVs. That's not the way Apple runs things, and it's why I think the Apple TV's price is $99. If you're picking up a new TV, another $99 isn't going to matter in the long run if you're using the Apple TV constantly. Yes, Hulu Plus and the Amazon Instant Video app for the iPad are competitors to Apple's content, but you're still using Apple's hardware to view said content. Chances are, if you're using an iPad to watch Amazon Instant Video, you're likely to upgrade to another iPad somewhere down the road. Amazon gets your money, and so does Apple. Over time, as features are added, I've noticed that the Apple TV has become more important in my living room. At first, I wasn't using it much. Then came AirPlay and Netflix. Then came AirParrot. Now there's AirPlay Mirroring and Hulu Plus. The only thing it's missing is Plex. We're still using the PS3 to access Plex content. Oh, and BBC iPlayer, but I think there's a chance of pigs flying before getting it in the U.S. There's an excellent jailbreak community surrounding the Apple TV, but the hassle to unjailbreak the ATV to upgrade it was just too much to bother jailbreaking it again. But with the recent new features, anything I can pull up on one of my Macs can be sent to the Apple TV. I can use HippoRemote to control the Mac streaming the content. We're to the point that we happily dropped cable early this year and haven't looked back. It's so convenient that whenever we get a new TV, I know I'll grab another Apple TV to go along with it -- and that's exactly what Apple wants.The Apple TV's increasing importance originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/MttrY0
Labels: Apple TV, Hardware, Ios, Mac, Opinion
Television Spot-New Television-Retina Display-Ipad
Apple Releases New iPad Television Ad: 'All On iPad'
Apple today posted a new television ad for the new iPad called "All on iPad". The ad is identical in style to Do It All which was released in June. The Retina Display remains a focus, with a number of different apps sharing the spotlight.
Read it. Tweet it.
Be surprised. Be productive.
Make a sale. Make some lunch.
Make it movie night.
Play a game. Or an old favorite
Do it all more beautifully, with the Retina display, on iPad.This is the third television spot that Apple has released for the 3rd generation iPad.
The ad comes shortly after a new and controversial series of ads focused on an "Apple Genius". That ad debuted during the opening ceremonies for the summer Olympics and were sharply criticized. Those are ads no longer running which Apple's ad agency claims was the plan all along. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/O4xc3d
Labels: Front Page, Ipad, New Television, Retina Display, Television, Television Spot
Retina Macbook Pro-Notebook Battery-Mountain Lion
Tests Find OS X Mountain Lion May Significantly Degrade Notebook Battery Life
Ars Technica has been doing some testing after reports emerged that some Mountain Lion early adopters were experiencing degraded battery life after upgrading to OS X 10.8. A 46-page thread with nearly 700 replies has been growing over the past several weeks on the Apple Support Forums.
Ars writer Chris Foresman, after extended testing, discovered that the battery life of his Retina MacBook Pro review unit dropped 38% from its previous 8-hours. He was unable to narrow down blame for the battery loss to any particular bit of software or system process.
Our own testing revealed similar (and significant) drops in battery runtime after installing Mountain Lion. In previous tests, we were able to regularly achieve just over 8 hours of use by relying solely on our Retina MacBook Pro's integrated Intel HD4000 GPU. Performing the same "real-world" test using the same software applications and usage pattern, we never got the Retina MacBook Pro to run for more than a few minutes past 5 hours after a full charge.
Typically, the quad-core processor wasn't taxed beyond 5 percent capacity, except for occasional 10-20 percent spikes when loading webpages, reading or writing files, or other activities. Unexpected file system or network access, or less efficient use of the GPU, could cause additional power drain without showing significant CPU use.One poster on Apple's support forums claims a company support representative told him that "an update will be issued via the [Mac App Store] as soon as they can work a fix". read more..
source:http://bit.ly/S4goZm
Labels: Front Page, Mountain Lion, Notebook Battery, Retina Macbook Pro
Simulator-Ios
iOS 6 Automatically Scales to Fit Taller 1136x640 iPhone Display
9to5Mac reports that it has discovered through some testing with Apple's official iOS simulator that iOS 6 is capable of automatically scaling its home screen display to fit a taller 1136x640 display, compared to the current 960x640 display. Numerous rumors and part leaks have indicated that Apple will be including a taller display on the next-generation iPhone to be introduced next month.Thanks to some tweaks to the iOS Simulator application that is included in the iOS development tools, we were able to run the simulator at the rumored next-generation iPhone display resolution of 640 x 1136. We did this running both the current public release of iOS 5.1 and the upcoming iOS 6.0 The iOS 5.1 simulator displayed the home screen with a stretched set of four rows of icons. On the other hand, iOS 6 displayed five complete rows – as our sources said Apple was testing for taller iPhone displays.
iOS simulator at 1136x640 with five rows of icons under iOS 6 and four rows under iOS 5.1
Notably, setting the iOS simulator to resolutions other than 1136x640 does not result in automatic scaling, with the software instead simply defaulting to an "iPad-like home screen layout" different from what is seen for the iPhone. The observation suggests that there is something special about that 1136x640 resolution that suggests Apple has at least been working on an iOS 6 device supporting that screen size. read more..
source:http://bit.ly/O4xaYY
Labels: Front Page, Ios, Simulator
Humble Indie Bundle-Windows-Charity
Humble Music Bundle shows charity disparity among Mac, Linux and Windows users
I bet that behavioral economists get rather excited when they see pay-what-you-want offers going viral. Assuming the seller is collecting some basic demographic detail, the resulting statistics might deliver some interesting insights into the relative altruism (or discretionary cash reserves) of different sorts of folks. The Humble Bundle team (responsible for the Humble Indie gaming bundles that we've covered before) is running a Humble Music bundle, accessible to all sorts of music fans. Featured artists include Jonathan Coulton, They Might Be Giants and MC Frontalot; a flexible portion of the purchase price goes toward not-for-profit cause groups like Child's Play Charity and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The bundle price is entirely up to the buyer, although suggested pricing goes from $100 down to $15. If you pay more than the rolling average price (currently around $8.28) you get a bonus album of remixes from viral-video darlings OK Go. You can also define the split between the artists and the charities, and contribute a "Humble Tip" for the bundle organizers. Given that buyers can pay what they want, what sort of variance do the Humble Bundlers see among their contributors/customers? It's not scientific, and there could be a whole horde of confounding factors, but take a look at the stats in the image above. Mac users (representing about 1/5 of the 45K total customer count) are paying an average of $9.84 for the bundle, more than $1.50 above the average price and $2.40 above the average Windows user. That might be skewed by a few "whales" who are contributing $100 or more from the Mac side, but even so the population is large enough that the differences would seem to be significant. Before you start forwarding this post to your penny-pinching Windows-using wealthy relatives, note that the Mac users aren't the most likely to empty their wallets for tunes. Linux users, with a slightly smaller share of the overall purchases, are coughing up a stunning $11.94 per transaction -- more than $3.50 higher than the average cost. This might be an artifact of the Humble Bundle's past service to Linux gamers, who may be feeling especially supportive of HB's efforts here, or maybe Linux users feel more strongly about the charities/artists involved. Or they just really are more generous by nature. With the recently finished Humble Indie Bundle 5, Linux users donated an average of $12.51 per transaction. It would be really interesting to do a deeper dive into the HB sales data, especially from the perspective of Dan Ariely or the Freakonomics guys. Most sellers aren't this transparent about their customers, and what they do with the behavioral data they collect -- and there's good PR reasons why they don't share more. In June, travel site Orbitz caught some flak for acknowledging that it showed different search results to Mac users (skewed towards the higher-end properties that they apparently prefer to book) than to PC users. While both sets of searchers would pay the same price for the same room, Mac users responded better to upscale hotels and slightly more expensive stays. The Humble Music Bundle is available until Thursday, August 9.Humble Music Bundle shows charity disparity among Mac, Linux and Windows users originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/MttrXR
Labels: Altruism, Charity, Cost, Features, Humble Bundle, Humble Indie Bundle, Humble Music Bundle, Humblebundle, Humbleindiebundle, Humblemusicbundle, Linux, Mac, Mac User, Macuser, Windows
Professional Photographers-Canon Binoculars-Sporting Events-Nikon Lenses-Photographs
Dan Chung photographs the Olympics using an iPhone, Snapseed and some binoculars
When you think of professional photographers shooting sporting events, you usually visualize huge Canon or Nikon lenses mounted on expensive camera bodies on top of massive tripods. But as The Guardian's photographer Dan Chung proves, sometimes you can do just as much with a lot less. Throughout the Olympics Chung is photographing the games using only an iPhone, an app, and (occasionally) an add-on iPhone lens or some binoculars. The stunning image of Michael Phelps shown here was captured by Chung using only the iPhone 4S with its 8 megapixel camera and the excellent iOS photo editor Snapseed (US$4.99 in the App Store). To get other images from the Games using his iPhone, Chung also sometimes chooses to shoot through the Schneider lens iPro Wide Duo Kit or with a pair of Canon binoculars in front of the phone's camera. Chung is obviously a photographer with a lot of talent, but it's still amazing that these photographs were captured through a smartphone. For those interested in photography (or the Olympics) click on over to The Guardian where they are running a photoblog of all Dan Chung's images throughout the Games. Special thanks to Dan Chung and The Guardian for permission to reprint the image above. [Image credit and (C) Dan Chung/The Guardian.]Dan Chung photographs the Olympics using an iPhone, Snapseed and some binoculars originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/Mb88c5
Labels: Binoculars, Canon Binoculars, Dan Chung, Danchung, Guardian, Iphone, London, Nikon Lenses, Olympics, Photographs, Photography, Professional Photographers, Sporting Events, The Guardian, Theguardian
Wall Street Expectations-Mountain Lion-Talkshoe
Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET: Meow, Mountain Lion
Tonight on the Talkcast, it's time to share your first few days with OS X Mountain Lion. Got it running? What's to enjoy? Gotchas in the process? Bonus points for anyone who delivers their comments via Dictation. We'll also dig into Apple's earnings report a bit, given that the markets have not been kind to the modest beat of guidance (and the substantial miss of Wall Street expectations). Bring your calculators. To participate in the call, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for +5 Interactivity, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (Viva free weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free X-Lite or other SIP clients -- basic instructions are here. Skype users with dial-out credit can call in via the service, or use those free iPhone minutes. Talk to you tonight!#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET: Meow, Mountain Lion originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/Q4EbuR
Labels: Features, Mountain Lion, Mountainlion, Podcast, Talkcast, Talkshoe, Wall Street Expectations
The Winners-Atari-Pong
Winners revealed for Atari's Pong Dev challenge, Pong World earns first place
The winners have finally been announced in the long-running Atari/Pong Indie Dev Challenge, and the three winning entries have been revealed prior to their eventual release on the App Store. Atari's contest sought out modern versions of Pong for the App Store, and offered cash prizes and revenue sharing for the top contestants. Before we go through the winners, please note that I served as a volunteer, unpaid judge on this contest, along with Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, developer David Whatley, and Pocket God's Dave Castelnuovo. That means I got to play through all of the finalists and deliver scores based on my impressions of the games. According to those scores (as well as Atari's input and a popular vote), zGames' Pong World came out in first place -- it's a very colorful take on the old school game, with furry creatures as paddles and lots of ball tweaks and fun twists. Mad Ruse's Pong Tournament picked up second place, featuring a very wild 3D version of Pong, with high level tournament play and quite a few powerups and extra items to try and protect your wall while a ball is passed back and forth between two players. And Eppy Games' Fong variant got third place -- it's a really crazy circular version of Pong, with some strange rotational controls and some really frantic action elements. Each of those winners will get a cash prize for winning and a three-year revenue share agreement, enabling them to use the Pong name for their titles as well as earn money alongside the commercial releases. There's more information on those coming soon, so hopefully you'll be able to play some of these titles when they arrive.Winners revealed for Atari's Pong Dev challenge, Pong World earns first place originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
source:http://aol.it/Mb87VI
Labels: Apps, Atari, Fong, Ios, Ipad, Iphone, Pong, Pong Dev Challenge, Pong Tournament, Pong World, Pongdevchallenge, Pongtournament, Pongworld, Releases, The Winners
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TERROR SWARM: West Propels ISIS Death Squads, As Iraqi PM Maliki Finally Forced Out
August 20, 2014 By Shawn Helton 1 Comment
Shawn Helton
With the heavily manufactured Islamic State terror campaign continuing to burn its way across swaths of Iraq, the US are now debating air strikes in Syria to subdue the ISIS menace.
As the ISIS crisis gets ramped-up across the Western news cycle, the political agenda becomes clearer, as Western and NATO allies remain untouched, while continuing to dodge the finger of guilt for the proxy death squads they themselves have surreptitiously cultivated in large parts of the Middle East, along with their allies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It is certain, that this crisis is now offering Washington (and Tel Aviv) something they have not been able to achieve to date: a green light to launch air strikes inside Syria, presumable against ISIS, but the temptation for the US to use this opportunity to provide air cover for the FSA rebels in Syria, or even to hit Syrian military targets, may be too great. Given the chance, they most certainly would.
The Islamic State of Iraq ‘terror-actors’ formerly known as ISIS, ISIL and now IS, have worked in tandem with US, Israeli and Gulf State policy objectives for quite some time now. This is even more evident in the pressurized ousting of Iraq’s recently deposed Shi’ite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
IMAGE: ‘Political Makeover’ – Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki was compelled to resign due to immense pressure from the United States and its allies. Washington in particular had been covertly seeking a regime change in Iraq for several years and had been formulating a way push Maliki out through a proxy war. Some have stated that the controversial leader Maliki, contributed greatly to the ethnic divide in Iraq, while others have asserted that the West had always sought to undermine his ability to lead effectively by inserting a hostile element within his government (financialspreadbetting.com)
The death march in Iraq continues
On August 14th, 2014, Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki, ‘stepped down’ due to heavy pressure from Washington and its global allies. Even though he was essentially installed by the west originally, US and NATO interests have charged that the former Iraqi PM was “not an inclusive leader”, even though there are reports suggesting his popularity appeared to increase after 8 years in office, as he was said to have garnered 94 seats within the Iraqi parliament in late April. The former Iraqi PM was branded a “tyrant”, with a growing presence calling for his ouster, claiming his resignation would be in the best interest of Iraq, as Islamic State (ISIS or IS) extremists have been steadily gaining ground during an astoundingly bloody rise over the past year, while rapidly closing in on Baghdad. The terror network known more commonly known as ISIS has turned Iraq into a brutal breeding ground to be pitted simultaneously against Syria and other transnational targets such as Iran – all of which, directly benefit Western investments.
The impetus for the West to vilify the once lauded Maliki, seems to lie in the fact that he consolidated much of Iraq’s security and military forces over recent years, while simultaneously casting out US planners, in addition to excluding Sunni branches within the Iraqi government.
One thing is certain – The US, Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) could not have a Shi’ite head of state in Iraq considering western war plans for both Syria and Iran. Washington and Tel Aviv could not bear to watch Maliki negotiate in good faith with Shi’ite allies in either Syria, or Iran. Earlier this year, Maliki did launch air strikes against ISIS along the Iraq-Syria border with the full consent of the Assad gov’t. Many believe that this was the beginning of the end for Maliki.
Much to the chagrin of Washington and its valued partners, Maliki blocked efforts to integrate US-approved Sunnis and Kurds inside of his government, this is what appears to have stalled the progress for the Western-NATO-GCC change. Some believe that ISIS is an insurance policy for the West and its transnational allies, leveraging the political landscape in Middle East for their hegemonic controllers.
Western policymakers had been greatly concerned with the power amassed by Maliki, while they themselves were covertly funneling arms and aid to FSA rebels during the heightened war theater in Syria, prior to the highly-engineered explosion of ISIS. In late June, this was further corroborated when Washington issued a money transfer approved by Congress to provide equipment to the Syrian opposition to the tune of $500 million, in addition to a $5 billion dollar request made by Obama in May. The US has also sought to expand the CIA/FSA training facilities that also have direct ties to ISIS in both Jordan and Turkey.
Here at 21WIRE, we noted that the Saudi Arabian backed Jihadist paramilitary group, “Front Victory” saw its first and second generation founders come out of the Islamic State of Iraq.
Other evidence that Maliki had become a thorn in the side of Western policy aims have also been noted, as he barricaded much of the US-neocon effort to control a Western vision for Iraq, specifically, the blocking of ripe oil deals in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. Media outlets lambasted Maliki for his role in the ousting of Sinan al-Shabibi, Governor of Iraq’s Central Bank, and Hussein al-Uzri, former head of Trade Bank, both of whom shared a personal relationship with Ahmed Chalabi, who through the Iraqi National Congress, provided much of the falsified information that prompted the US-led invasion in Iraq that began in March of 2003. Chalabi is said to have had a close connection with the now defunct neocon think-tank in Washington, Project for the New American Century (PNAC), along with its operational leaders.
Black blood prosperity leads to chaos
In addition to the unseated central bankers, Maliki inserted himself as a wedge between Western-Kurdish contract deals, creating a blockade for many oil companies, including Exxon Mobil and BP. However, the real political fallout for Maliki, may have come when his government openly supported Syria’s Assad, during a fiery period when the ‘chemical weapons’ narrative was to be the pretext for a Syrian invasion, until the evidence levied against Assad was proven to be fraudulent after multiple examinations. In a recent article for the New Eastern Outlook, global analyst and writer, Eric Draitser, discussed the Western-NATO-Israeli-GCC alliance that Maliki faced, in a piece entitled, “The Strange Case of Nouri al-Maliki,” confirming Maliki’s geopolitical standing:
“Undoubtedly, Maliki’s greatest sin in the eyes of US-NATO-Israel-GCC has been his steadfast support for Syria and Assad. Maliki refused to abandon Assad when the US-NATO war machine was gearing up to bomb Syria. He loudly proclaimed his support for Assad and his resistance to any attempts to coax and cajole Iraq into allying against him. In this way, Maliki affirmed the alliance of Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus-Hezbollah against the US-NATO-Israel-GCC axis of power, and in doing so put himself at the top of Washington’s enemies list.”
The push for a pressurized removal of Maliki, seems to lie in the fact that he simply could not be controlled by the US-NATO-Israeli-GCC nexus and would not support an unjust decision to invade Syria, couple that with blocking important gas and oil explorations, while promoting deals that were in Iraq’s nationalistic favor, you can see why the NATO-GCC would challenge Maliki’s rule. Others have suggested that the demise of Maliki’s leadership in Baghdad came when he officially backed the Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline which coincided directly with the proxy implosion of Syria after its initial memorandum was signed on June 25th 2011 in Bushehr:
“In late 2013, Maliki, along with Assad and Iranian authorities, participated in continued negotiations over the proposed Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline, which would bring Iranian and Iraqi gas to the Mediterranean via Syria, thereby giving those countries direct, overland access to the European market. Naturally, this was seen as a direct challenge to US ally Qatar and its dominance of the Middle Eastern gas trade to Europe. It should be noted that it is no mere coincidence that the eruption of the war in Syria coincided perfectly with the initial negotiations over the proposed pipeline.”
In 2009, there was also the controversial West Qurna 2 oil contract between Iraq, Russia and Norway, was secured by Russia’s Lukoil and Norway’s Statoil, with both countries winning the right to develop in the area. On July 1st, Maliki had met with Lukoil officials in Moscow to discuss existing energy deals and future ones as well. Its clear that this deal was an economic threat to the Western-Israeli-GCC conglomerate. In an article for Fox News, It was stated that “Maliki’s visit to Moscow coincided with Russia staging an informal summit of gas exporting nations that will include the participation of the leaders of Venezuela and Iran,” no doubt upsetting Western alliances. Curiously, Business Week published a timely if not prophetic piece in June, entitled,”A Violent End to Iraq’s Brief Economic Rebound,” outlining much of the economic success of Iraq in recent years, even though the country has been perpetually mired in chaos:
“After eight years of war and decades more of economic sanctions, Iraq had made progress rebuilding its energy industry. In 2012 it passed Iran to become OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, behind Saudi Arabia. This spring, Iraqi oil production hit a 35-year high at 3.4 million barrels a day. Government oil officials talked about being able to produce as much as 9 million barrels a day by 2020. Iraq’s borrowing costs were down; economic growth was up. Earlier this year the International Monetary Fund forecast that Iraq’s economy would grow 6.3 percent this year and 8.25 percent by 2016, the fastest of all 22 economies it surveyed in the region.”
The propagandized death march of ISIS will undoubtedly benefit from a Maliki-less Iraq, as it will stoke an already lit flame between the Sunni and Shia factions, something the transnational corporations will take full advantage of in regards to energy deposit claims in future – further fracturing Iraq with engineered proxy wars, while exploiting the sectarian divide.
IMAGE: ‘Pulling the strings’ – The nomination of Haider Al-Abadi as the new Iraqi Prime Minister, was fully supported by Arab League chief Nabil Al-Arabi. The Arab League, if you remember transferred the 22 member bloc of Syrian seats to the FSA terror opposition funded by the US-NATO-Israel-GCC. The FSA is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and has been said to be supported by many intelligence bodies including Britain and Israel. (arabnews.com)
Another Western puppet
The political firebrands in Iraq won’t end in the aftermath of Maliki’s forced resignation, in fact things will most assuredly get worse for a country already embroiled in an apparent hostile takeover of black-clad Sunni extremists. Maliki’s successor, Haider Al-Abadi, also a member of the Islamic Dawa Party in Iraq, was exiled for some 20 years and some suggest he has intelligence ties to Britain, as he was said to have received a PHD at the University of Manchester, which has been known to be an Alma Mater of intelligence operators.
IMAGE: ‘Propaganda Death Sqaud’ – We are told that thousands of terror-fighters for ISIS have European passports and are looking to bring their new brand of violence back to their homeland country, including the US. Does this kind of fear-based propaganda sound familiar? (Photo lignet.com)
ISIS, IS & homeland terror propaganda
There has been a media firestorm over the Islamic State radical terror thugs, as Western outlets have been busy displaying dramatic pictures of mass-executions as ‘evidence’ of their takeover in Iraq, their bizarre victory parades, the heavily staged video productions, along with their online merchandising campaign blamed for funding their rise. The ‘ISIS Crisis’ is a multi-layered narrative that is partly real and partly fiction and is being used as yet another pretext to ramp-up military budgets and security threats throughout Europe and the US. Most of the ‘mass execution’ images put forward by the media have long since been exposed as a fraud but this hasn’t stopped US-European media ‘experts’ or US State Department and UK Foreign Office officials from continuing to fraudulently push this seemingly cooked up terror narrative.
This past week, there were reports of ISIS recruiter’s handing out highly-stylized propaganda leaflets to encourage those living in London to relocate to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State. Some investigative reporters believe this to be the work of MI5, as they have been said to be linked to the well-known intelligence mole Omar Bakri. In a recent Daily Mail piece discussing the ISIS linked street pushers, there were accounts of those passing by speaking out against the notorious terror troupe:
As Asmaa Al-kufaishi, tweeted: ‘This group are promoting ISIS on Oxford Street. Racially abused us when we spoke out. They don’t know Islam.
‘Promoting death of innocent people, telling me to die because of my faith and race and insulting me is not Islamic behaviour.’
IMAGE: ‘British Intelligence’ – Are these men operatives linked to the terror group ISIS? Will there be a proper investigation as to their real identity? (Photo annirfan.blogspot.com)
Below are front and back images of the ISIS leaflet that was being aggressively pushed on the streets of London…
IMAGE: ‘Darkness before Dawn’ – Notice the modern text used to reach today’s trendy ‘terror’ consumer. Those dispensing this propaganda had been trying to incite the public to be a part of their radical cause. ( Photo dailymail.com)
IMAGE: ‘Campaign of fear’ – The Islamic State’s London recruitment program seems born out of an intelligence operation, leaving many of those approached on Oxford Street feeling abused. ISIS operators have also been spewing their violent propaganda in Indonesia (Photo dailymail.com)
Israel’s role in Middle Eastern ‘Death-theater’
Reports of Israel’s involvement during the wave of ISIS seemed to coincide with the Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza, which has left some 2000 people dead – and counting. This is a very one-sided conflict and it has become polarized by Western media, all the while, obscuring Israel’s shadowy relationship with ISIS terrorists, as well their timely Kurdish oil deals.
Here’s a video by Storm Clouds Gathering discussing what appears to be a fabricated Hamas manual that was conveniently discovered by IDF, shortly after Israeli airstrikes on hospitals and schools…
In a report earlier this summer, I discussed how Israel does have a central role in this current Iraqi death-theater and they are effectively supporting the unprecedented rise of The Islamic State in Iraq, who have clearly made critical advances since Israel’s air strikes on Syria in late June, as ISIS militants allegedly shot a rocket from the border of Syria knowing that Israel would return the favor with a bombing campaign of their own and in the process, they would provide air coverage for the terror group as the made there way further into Iraq’s Kurdistan regions.
This YouTube video from DAHBOO7 that discusses the nature of the Israeli airstrikes in Syria…
In June of 2014, here at 21WIRE reported that an SCF Altai tanker delivered a large amount of Kurdish oil to Israel for the very first time, this would link ISIS as a partial Israeli creation, as Israeli oil shipments are coming over from ‘terror controlled’ oil field’s in Iraq. An Israeli energy ministry declined to comment on the crude oil deal with the Kurdish Regional Government. It should be stated that Iraq has boycotted Israel and has no official oil contract with them and given the tension between the Kurds, it seems very fitting that Israel would exploit the crisis by seeking a business opportunity, as the Kurdish region also made its first oil shipment to the international market, bypassing the central Maliki government in Baghdad while the PM was still in power. The Kurdish-Israeli oil deal is described in a Forbes news cycle,“the tanker SCF Altai transferred a cargo of Kurdish oil from another tanker United Emblem, which had been plying the Mediterranean for two weeks after loading at the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The SCF Altai then docked at the Israeli city of Ashkelon and off-loaded its crude,” as the deal was crafted in the middle of a heavy conflict zone in Iraq, with Israel deciding to seal a business arrangement with the Kurdish Regional Government, knowing that their oil could have be hijacked by ISIS militants.
How is it that Israel was able to craft a successful delivery of Kurdish oil in a hot war zone, one threatened by the hostile terror group ISIS?
It was also noted in a Reuter’s news release, that the Kurdish oil market is set to explode soon and capable of producing a million barrels of oil a day, coinciding directly with the masked ISIS militants in the region:
“A joint venture of Anglo-Turkish company Genel Energy and Sinopec’s Addax Petroleum is working to ramp up production in the Taq Taq oilfield, Iraqi Kurdistan’s largest, to 140,000 bpd by the end of this month. After months of fruitless talks with Iraq’s central government, the KRG in May started to export crude on its own independent pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean export terminal of Ceyhan. The KRG pipeline is located at a distance from the areas controlled by Islamic militants.The move has infuriated Baghdad, which claims the sole authority to manage Iraqi oil. It has cut allocations to the KRG in the budget and has tried to block KRG’s oil sales by taking legal action. So far, 7.8 million barrels of Kurdish oil have flowed through the independent pipeline, of which 6.5 million have been loaded onto tankers for export.”
IMAGE: ‘Propaganda in plain sight’ – Here is an image apparently depicting Kurds and Israelis in Israel, showing their solidarity for Kurdistan and Peshmerga. Israel’s objectives are in line with ISIS.
Here’s an excerpt from Rudaw news report which displays the blossoming relationship between Israel and the Kurds, that further advocates divide in Iraq:
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the most explicit endorsement yet to Kurdish statehood. Speaking at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, Netanyahu said: “We need to support the Kurdish aspiration for independence. They deserve it.” He also called the Kurds “a nation of warriors, that have proven their commitment to political moderation, and they’re worthy of their own political independence.”
Below is a recent VICE news dispatch video near Erbil, we see the West’s fascination with fabricated war correspondence, as ISIS is revealed to be friendly with Kurdish forces…
“They don’t want to create enemies for themselves all over the place” – Peshmerga on ISIS
This begs the question: why would ISIS care about how many enemies it creates, if they’re acting independent of Western-Israeli allied expansion?
There is a precedent for Israeli involvement with insurgent groups and terror networks as a recent news report from Times of Israel this August, stated that a “Free Syrian Army commander, arrested last month by the Islamist militia Al-Nusra Front, told his captors he collaborated with Israel in return for medical and military support.” Al-Nusra Front, is of course known to be backed by Saudi-intelligence, as they are in fact an Al Qaeda affiliate and they are seemingly interchangeable with FSA rebels, as both have recently found to be working in tandem, reports NY news outlet Algemeiner, this past May:
“The Wall Street Journal reports that the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, an FSA element, has teamed up with Jabhat al-Nusra in recent weeks in attempts to capture strategic hilltops in Syria’s southwestern Quneitra province overlooking the Israel-held Golan Heights.”
Israel has never admitted to arming Syrian rebels and they declined to comment on the Times article quoted above.
This same idea was also illustrated in another article by analyst Eric Draitser, where he detailed the historical context of Western-terror connections:
“As early as 2011, the US CIA was involved in an elaborate and widespread program to covertly arm militant extremists in Syria in order to overthrow the government of President Assad. As the New York Times and other media outlets reported in 2012, the CIA was working with the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups along the Turkish-Syrian border to funnel weapons, communications equipment, and other military materiel to terrorist groups at war with Damascus. Despite vehement claims by Washington that only ‘moderate rebels’ were receiving such support, it is an open secret that much of those supplies ended up in the hands of then-ISIS, which already by 2012 was beginning to establish itself as a dominant fighting force in the Syrian war.”
War games & a ‘strategy of tension’
When considering the Middle Eastern serrated jigsaw puzzle, the fog of conflict begins to clear up after you made to connections between the US, its allies and terrorism. This was further emphasized when it was made public that Abu Bakr al-Baghdad was fingered as the main ISIS leader, a man with direct ties to Al Qaeda as a Sunni insurgent leader during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He was eventually captured and held by the US, and then for some unexplained reason – he was released in 2010, perhaps under intelligence supervision, with some reports even linking him to Israel. Capturing and control to figureheads of the international terror syndicates is a high priority for US, British and Israeli intelligence, and its a practice thy have have been engaged in for many decades. To think that it’s not happening now would be the pinnacle of ignorance, but its that ignorance govt’s rely on to carry on shaping and disrupting geopolitics.
Other developments in recent weeks have been contradictory, particularly the strange rescue scenario in the Yazidis mountains, a mission that was abruptly called off by the Pentagon shortly after efforts by special forces. We must also take note of the US airstrikes that failed to take out any significant ISIS leadership, while Peshmerga sat idly on the sidelines allowing ISIS to remain in control of the Mosul Dam on Iraq’s Tigris River.
Then there is the new UN resolution 2170, which is seeking to place sanctions on those found to be arming or financing Islamic extremists, and has called for an immediate halt on any arms to rebel factions. This should be a considered an escalation of the UN’s involvement, in this highly theatrical production and any findings they have, will not incriminate any top leaders in the US-NATO-Israel-GCC alliance. Will this also apply to the US and NATO’s support of the Syrian Rebels, or Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s bankrolling of terrorist brigades ISIS, al Nusra and al Qaeda in Syria and Iraq?
All of this comes on the heels of recent reports stating that an American photojournalist named James Foley has allegedly been executed by ISIS, which would be a tragedy, if it turns out to be true. Many have questioned the authenticity of video footage obtained, which features a heavily edited HD production of Foley’s death. This latest story along with other future designs, will be used as a pretext to drum up more support for a full invasion in Iraq, as the neocons are salivating for another shock and awe campaign in Iraq, while eyeing Syria.
What will be next in the boiling chaos of the Middle East…
READ MORE ISIS NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire ISIS Files
Filed Under: Featured, International News, Middle East, Shawn Helton Tagged With: al Qaeda in Iraq, BRICS, CIA, Fake terror, Funding ISIS, Iraqi government, ISIS, ISIS Western Proxy, Israel, mossad, NATO, NWO, TURKEY FILES
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XSEED Hinting at Announcements at AkibaFest?
Motwera October 15, 2016 GamingLeave a Comment
Getting ready for the panel! Make sure you're here for some announcements!
— XSEED Games (@XSEEDGames) October 15, 2016
XSEED Games is going to an event called AkibaFest and it will have a number of games published by them playable on the show floor….but they might have more in-store for the event. The above tweet states ‘Getting ready for the panel! Make sure you’re here for some announcements!’
There is a number of titles published under XSEED Games out in Japan still not localized like Ys 8, so a chance for future localization’s, publishing of upcoming indie titles and more could happen with these announcements. The announcements could also be minor things such as a press release for a game coming out next year or some new features in Akiba’s Beat.
If any new announcements happen, expect 3WIREL to cover them.
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128. Podcast Panel with Cherilyn Crowe, Cliff Vaughn, & Brian Kaylor
This episode features a conversation originally scheduled as an in-person workshop at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's general assembly in Atlanta, Georgia, which couldn't happen due to coronavirus. So, the panel conversation moved to a virtual format to consider the whys and hows of podcasting. Panelists are...
127. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove on Shedding Slaveholder Religion
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Australian Institute of Petroleum
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Oil Majors Lose Money Making And Selling Petrol In 2000
The Australian Institute of Petroleum today released its annual survey of oil industry profitability that confirmed the refiner-marketer oil companies made an underlying loss making and selling petroleum products in 2000.
The 2000 Ernst & Young Downstream Oil Industry Financial Survey that covers the Australian refining and marketing operations of the four major petroleum companies BP, Caltex, Shell and Mobil, confirms the serious financial position of the industry.
The bottom line is the industry reported an underlying loss of $160 million in 2000.
Mr Bryan Nye, Executive Director of AIP, said, "This translates to a loss on every litre of petroleum product sold. This type of result is obviously unsustainable."
"The 2000 Survey reinforces the fact that industry restructuring is needed to allow the local refining companies to compete effectively, particularly with imports," Mr Nye added.
This result was against the backdrop of petrol prices hitting $1 a litre for the first time in 2000 and the issue becoming a political football. "A lot of people attempted to make political mileage out of this issue but the facts speak for themselves", Mr Nye said.
"This is one of the most competitive industries in Australia and petrol consumers are directly benefiting."
The Australian oil industry continues to deliver the lowest pre-tax petrol prices in the developed world. The 2000 Ernst and Young Survey shows that Australian pre-tax petrol prices were again the lowest in the OECD in the fourth quarter of 2000. Petrol prices were the fifth lowest on a tax-inclusive basis, behind only the USA, New Zealand, Mexico and Canada.
Other outcomes of the survey, conducted independently by Ernst & Young, include:
The marketing part of the industry returned a profit of $24 million or 0.1% of gross sales revenue, continued evidence of the high competition and low margins in the retail part of the downstream petroleum business.
The refining part of the industry made an underlying loss of $184 million largely as a result of low refining margins including periods when margins were actually negative.
The full 2000 Ernst and Young Downstream Oil Industry Financial Survey is available on the AIP website at www.aip.com.au.
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Grand Canyon — End of an Era
By KeConlon October 19, 2019
Is mobile phone service soon to invade the backcountry at Grand Canyon? There’s a proposal to improve service in the developed areas on the north and south rims of the national park, which will undoubtedly bring more mobile connectivity to areas along the corridor trails and Phantom Ranch at the bottom of Grand Canyon. A public scoping period for the plan ended on August 20, 2019, and there will be a second opportunity for public comment on an environmental assessment later this year. (Dec. 2, 2019 until Jan. 6, 2020 More info)
Some tourists see benefits to adding mobile cell service to the corridor trails, citing that people could be in touch with family during their trek and could call for help if they got into trouble. The potential drawbacks are that it will do away with a true backcountry experience and disrupt the peace and quiet (the digital detox) of a Canyon outing. The corridor trails have seen major increases in day usage with as many as 1000 rim-to-rim trekkers crossing on busy weekends. The quiet solitude of thirty-three years ago is a thing of the past, so maybe it’s inevitable that new technology should arrive too. Except the so-called benefits really aren’t benefits at all.
The park service proposal says they “would consider technologies to avoid spillover of cellular frequencies into the backcountry,” but they acknowledge that “the proposed plan could unintentionally expand cellular services” into the backcountry. This issue has already been dismissed from further consideration because the park service says “These impacts would hopefully be less common and less obtrusive given NPS efforts to encourage visitors who use their personal electronic devices to do so in ways that minimize disturbance to other visitors….”
Bright Angel Creek
Many visitors simply won’t abide by the suggestions of NPS. Mobile phone service in the Canyon will create a whole host of problems and provide a false sense of security which could prove a major headache for visitor relations and search and rescue efforts. Imagine a nice quiet campsite next to Bright Angel Creek at the bottom of the Canyon. Your neighbor decides to call their spouse, and you hear their ‘phone’ voice. Annoying enough, but then some kind of disagreement occurs, maybe a full on argument. So much for your peace and quiet. Beyond such an experience, there will be people trying to text, upload pictures, and ‘go live’ to impress their friends and family. There’s enough of this already in non-remote areas of national parks where cell service is available; people fall off cliffs taking a selfie or write on walls and post it online. Do we really want this in the backcountry?
But at least there will be faster access to emergency services? Not necessarily. Say someone twists an ankle or overexerts themselves and gets a little nauseous; they pull out their cell phone to tell emergency services they might be getting into trouble. Will such calls about minor issues start flooding 911 operators or local dispatch?
Right now, there’s a self-rescue idea attached to hiking in Grand Canyon—be prepared and hike smart. If there’s a real emergency, the current protocol is to find a fellow hiker to help out—and they go to a ranger station or emergency phone, if needed. This takes some time, but typically there’s only one call to emergency services. Now imagine ten people with mobile phones. Five of them walk by oblivious to what’s happening, disconnected from their fellow human as if in a coffee shop. The other five call emergency services. The operators then have to weed through all the calls to realize it’s only one incident.
A lot of ‘what ifs’, but it goes even further than this. Mobile service in the corridor will drive away the veterans of Grand Canyon hiking, the stewards of the backcountry who help others make better decisions. These types of people—wanting to get away from it all—will disappear to more remote areas. Many of them already have due to increasing crowds. There’s value to digital detox, to getting away from it all. Many young people have never tuned into nature, dropped out, and learned how to relax. A mobile phone is just another piece of tech preventing them from truly letting go.
Are there better options than allowing a signal into the backcountry? There used to be a pay phone at Phantom Ranch, and people would sometimes line up to make calls to check in with the world above the rim (as it used to be thought of). The Phantom phone stopped working in 2019, but perhaps it could be replaced with some kind of wifi calling area for people who can’t part with their mobile device even on a Grand Canyon hike. This seems a much better idea than invading the backcountry with a cell signal or having people give the location (up near the junction of the Clear Creek Trail) where they got an intermittent signal. Let the world above the rim go!
Overcrowding and technology are marking the end of an era for the Grand Canyon corridor trails. A new backcountry management plan is on the horizon (supposedly). All of our parks are getting overrun, but enhancing telecommunications technology in foolish ways might only serve to make things much worse. Look before you leap, and don’t walk blindly off a precipice while staring at a screen connected to a virtual world above the rim well worth escaping for a spell.
(Updated 12/4/2019)
Categories: Travel-EyeQTags: digital detox, Grand Canyon, hiking, technology
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Throwback Thursday – Tosh.0 Reenacts MT Grizzly Bear Attack
We all have those little computers and professional grade cameras in our pockets. Thanks to those fancy gadgets, it has been easier for people to capture footage and photos of things you may otherwise never believed could happen. They are also useful tools for capturing proof of events that took place. Take a grizzly bear attack that took place here in Montana back in 2016. After Todd Orr was attacked not once, but twice, by a mama grizzly bear. Todd pulled his phone out of his pocket to take video and pictures of the aftermath.
According to Time.com
He filmed a video of himself explaining what happened and snapped a few photos to send to his hunting buddies before driving to the hospital. The next morning, after multiple surgeries, he decided to post the video to Facebook where he figured “around 50 people” might be interested. Within 24 hours, the video had racked up more than 20 million views. To date, more than 38 million people have seen it, with 600,000 Facebook shares and several hundred comments and private messages.
Todd's video became so popular that it even caught the attention of Daniel Tosh, and his Comedy Central show Tosh.0. Tosh invited Orr to tell his story in a segment known as Web Redemption. The segment tries to reenact the viral video. But, re-creating a grizzly bear attack is nearly impossible. That is why Daniel Tosh decided to bring in a fake bear costume and some bikini models to help tell Orr's story.
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The Capitol Records Building has been one of the most recognizable features of the Hollywood skyline since its construction in 1956. Distinguished by its cylindrical shape, the 13-story skyscraper hosts the Capitol Studios, where the likes of Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, and Nat King Cole have all recorded music.
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2-Hour Hollywood Bike Tour
Meet and Start on the Walk of Fame. Explore historic Hollywood neighborhoods, on a fun and easy 2 hours bike tour (6 miles Biking, 10 km) and 1 Mile Nature Walk (1.6 km) in Griffith Park. Best views and Photos of the Famous Hollywood Sign, so don't forget to bring your camera for some wonderful photo opportunities. Take easy routes with little hills through Film locations, Celebrity homes, and all of the hidden treasures of Hollywood. This tour will give you the chance to learn all about both historic and the future of Hollywood. Book Today!
Hollywood Bike Adventure
Unlike walking tours, this Hollywood bike adventure covers more ground—12 miles (19 kilometers) to be exact—in just a few hours to make the most of your time in LA. Your guide brings this star-studded neighborhood to life with insider knowledge and fascinating stories you wouldn’t hear if you explored on your own. Visit Instagram-worthy sites such as the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the street art murals on Melrose Avenue, and Paramount Studios.
The Real Hollywood Tour
Uncover the history of Hollywood that you might not have heard on this tour around some of central LA’s glittery highlights and hidden historical landmarks. Starting at the glamorous Pantages Theater, tour sights like the Capitol Records Building, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the iconic Egyptian and Chinese Theaters. But it’s not just popular tourist stops on this tour: learn about Hollywood before it became Hollywood at Jane’s House, and hear all sorts of stories old and new from your guide.
5-Hour Hollywood and Beverly Hills Bike Tour
With a bus tour of Los Angeles, you only get to see the sights from behind the glass. Experience the city in a more intimate way and see more than you would from a vehicle on this guided bike tour around Hollywood and Beverly Hills. View top sights, such as Bronson Caves, Sunset Strip, and the Hollywood Sign, as well as well-known music venues, and swanky Bel Air mansions.
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Have Fun Tours has been in business for over 12 years. As native Californians, we have extensive knowledge of local tourist spots and hidden gems. We leverage our familiarity with the places where we tour to create a one-of-a-kind VIP experience for you and your loved ones. We tap into our network of reputable companies, popular theme parks, and influential people in Hollywood and surrounding areas to provide you with exclusive travel deals. Aside from public tours, we offer special private trips that feature once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. We always come up with new ways to design tours that match your thirst for adventure. With the Hollywood Tour, the coup d'etat is our stop by the live outdoor taping of a TV show, Access Hollywood, hosted by our dear friend, Mario Lopez. This is limited to Wednesdays through the end of the year until January 1, 2020 when it will be available M - F. We also offer SPANISH speaking tours.
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Custom 2-Hour Private Tour of Hollywood and Beverly Hills
Explore Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and West Hollywood on this private tour, which ensures a flexible itinerary and personalized attention. This is a great option for those short on time or first-time visitors to the area. Enjoy snacks and bottled water as you explore the highlights of the areas, asking plenty of questions along the way.
Explore Tinseltown’s glamorous history on a 90-minute, guided walking tour of Hollywood Boulevard’s most iconic landmarks, celebrated theaters and star-studded sidewalks. Get an insider’s perspective on Hollywood’s past as your knowledgeable guide shares tales of studios, starlets and red carpets. Experience one of old Hollywood’s most beloved movie palaces with behind-the-scenes access to the El Capitan Theatre, a fully-restored venue whose gilded ceiling and velvet curtains evoke the golden age of the silver screen.
Private Luxury Beverly Hills and Hollywood Tours During LAX Layovers
Layovers can be frustrating, especially when they’re long and the city’s right out there waiting for you to explore. Instead of spending the day milling around LAX, then, head out into the city and enjoy a few hours experiencing the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles’ Hollywood and Beverly Hills neighborhoods. Visit LA’s famous landmarks, including the Hollywood sign, in your private SUV. Unlike the city’s prolific sightseeing buses, though, this tour isn’t all drive-bys – there’s plenty of opportunities for photo stops.
Ultimate Hollywood Tour
There’s much more to Hollywood than the Walk of Fame, and this ultimate Hollywood adventure leaves nothing out. From the art and architecture in EAHO to the Sunset strip in WEHO, you’ll be enchanted by the charm, glitz and grit of this world-famous town. So get ready to be inspired as we journey up, down and between the Boulevards.
Private Hollywood and Beverly Hills Tour Departing from Downtown Los Angeles
This private tour is provided by industry professionals who specialize in luxury and customized service. The 4-hour tour will concentrate on the must-see sightseeing locations in Hollywood, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It's the go-to tour for 5-star hotel concierge desks, as well as domestic and international travel agents looking for a superior experience for their VIP's. *In the tour details listed above, there are few options that best describe timeframes for stops and drive-by introductions. Plus, there are a handful of locations not listed in available "Attractions." Some attractions may not be accessible on certain days of the year. This tour is a solid 4 hours, and we've laid out a guesstimate on stops and travel time. Remember, this is a private tour, so you're also welcome to fully customize your time.
Private Hollywood and Beverly Hills Tour Departing from Santa Monica
Private Sightseeing Tour of Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles and Beverly Hills
Explore Hollywood, Los Angeles, and beyond on this half-day guided excursion. After a convenient pickup from select hotels, head out with a knowledgeable guide and experience classic sites like Chinese Theater, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Plaza, and Melrose Avenue.
3 Hour Hollywood to Beverly Hills small group Tour
We are the number one Instagram private tour company in Hollywood. With us it is a fun day to discover Los Angeles and Hollywood secrets! Pictures and videos will be taken on multiple spots.
$4.50 savings
Tour Hollywood with an LA Filmmaker
This tour is for those who don't want the standard Hollywood tour. Instead of celebrities, we focus on history and culture, and also on film as an industry and an artform. Because of this, you'll get a different perspective on the area, on the film industry, and on movies in general. I love movies and pretty much everything about them, and my goal is to share that love and passion with you.
One Hour Private VIP Hollywood Tour
Touring Los Angeles in an open-air Cadillac Escalade limousine offers the same detailed views as a bike or walking tour, but covers much more territory. On this private tour, visit essential Los Angeles sights such as the Hollywood Sign and the Sunset Strip, stopping for photos along the way, and listen to your guide tell entertaining stories about life in Los Angeles.
Private Half Day Hollywood Pop Culture History Walking Tour
Explore Hollywood’s top pop culture sights on a 3-hour private walking tour. Walk along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, visit famous spots like the Chinese Theater and the Capitol Records Building, and learn about the movie industry and its history from your informative guide. See the Hollywood of your dreams on this private and customizable tour.
Small-Group Amazing Hollywood Sign Tour with Transfer
By using small mini-vans, we will get you to the very TOP of Hollywood Hills for the best photos with The Hollywood Sign. Our secret location is a hidden hiking trail in a residential neighborhood, where you would be able to get your shots without noisy tourists in the background. It’s this local knowledge that underpins all of our LA Tours and our friendly drivers and guides do everything they can to ensure our guests have the best time and take those perfect Hollywood Sign photos they will treasure for years to come.
Hollywood Tourist Scavenger Hunt
This Tourist Scavenger Hunt takes you up and down Hollywood Boulevard with a few side trips to see various interesting things you're expecting to see, and other things you didn't know where there. It takes 2-3 hours to complete, do it whenever you wish - you select your own date and start time, no scheduling or reservation needed. 20+ challenges, games and enigmas to solve as you walk through this historic neighborhood.
Should I book Capitol Records Building tickets in advance?
We recommend booking e-tickets ahead of time to secure your spot since Capitol Records Building can get crowded. If you book with Viator, you can cancel at least 24 hours before the start date of your tour for a full refund. See all 31 Capitol Records Building tickets and tours on Viator.
How much does it cost to visit Capitol Records Building 2021?
Currently, an entrance ticket to Capitol Records Building costs USD 12.31. Guided Capitol Records Building tours start around USD 12.31 per person. See all 31 Capitol Records Building tickets and tours on Viator.
What's the best way to experience Capitol Records Building?
The best ways to experience Capitol Records Building are:
See all Capitol Records Building experiences on Viator.
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Inventions of mesopatamia
What were 10 Mesopotamian inventions?
Let us check out the most important inventions of Mesopotamia! Cuneiform writing. Source: Brendan Aanes/Flickr. Currency. Source: CNG/Wikimedia Commons. Wheel. Source: Daderot/Wikimedia Commons. Mathematics and the sexagesimal system. Astrology. Astronomy. Calendar. Sailboat .
What was the most important invention of Mesopotamia?
What are some achievements of Mesopotamia?
The wheel, plow, and writing (a system which we call cuneiform) are examples of their achievements . The farmers in Sumer created levees to hold back the floods from their fields and cut canals to channel river water to the fields. The use of levees and canals is called irrigation, another Sumerian invention.
What are some inventions of the Babylonians?
Top 12 Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Babylonia The First Map . Maps have immense importance even in the contemporary world, where we rely on Google Maps for many of our journeys. Cuneiform . Agriculture. Urbanization. Astrology and Horoscopy. The Concept of Time. The Sailboat . The First Wheel .
What are 5 facts about Mesopotamia?
10 Facts About The Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization #1 It is named Mesopotamia due to its location between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. #2 Sumer was the first urban civilization in ancient Mesopotamia . #3 Mesopotamian city Uruk was perhaps the largest city in the world at the time. #4 Sargon of Akkad built the first great empire in Mesopotamia .
What is the biggest achievement Mesopotamia gave the world?
The most famous achievement of the Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia is the invention of the cuneiform script around 3400 BC. Cuneiform is a Latin term meaning “wedge-shaped”.
You might be interested: Inventions that need improving
Did Mesopotamia invent the wheel?
The wheel was invented in the 4th century BC in Lower Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), where the Sumerian people inserted rotating axles into solid discs of wood. First, transport: the wheel began to be used on carts and battle chariots.
What is the first civilization?
Who ruled Mesopotamia?
What is Mesopotamia famous for?
Its history is marked by many important inventions that changed the world, including the concept of time, math, the wheel, sailboats, maps and writing. Mesopotamia is also defined by a changing succession of ruling bodies from different areas and cities that seized control over a period of thousands of years.
Why Mesopotamia is the first civilization?
The Mesopotamian civilization developed between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. That is where it got its name since Mesopotamia means “between rivers”. It was located in an arid zone, but thanks to the irrigation canals which they built there was an important economic development in the area.
What is ancient Mesopotamia sometimes called?
Geography. Mesopotamia of ancient times was located where Iraq is today. It also included land in eastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey. Its name means “land between the rivers” in Greek. It is sometimes known as “the cradle of civilization” because it was where civilization first developed.
Is Mesopotamia older than Egypt?
Yes, Mesopotamia since it came about in 4000 BC with the emergence of Uruk. Egypt didn’t come about until it’s unification under Narmer in 3100 BC.
Did Babylonians invent math?
Babylonian mathematics (also known as Assyro- Babylonian mathematics ) was any mathematics developed or practiced by the people of Mesopotamia, from the days of the early Sumerians to the centuries following the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. Babylonian mathematical texts are plentiful and well edited.
You might be interested: Pictures of leonardo da vinci inventions
What is Babylon known as today?
Babylonia was a state in ancient Mesopotamia. The city of Babylon , whose ruins are located in present-day Iraq, was founded more than 4,000 years ago as a small port town on the Euphrates River.
Help with inventions
Dutch inventions
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New MacBook Pros: smaller footprint; thinner but not wedge-shaped; bigger trackpad, AMD graphics option, more
MacBook Pro concept by Martin Hajek
A new Bloomberg report says that the new range of MacBook Pro models will have a smaller footprint than existing models, and will be thinner but not adopt the wedge shape of the MacBook Air and 12-inch MacBook. The trackpad is also slightly wider than current models. All of the info lines up with previous reports and a set of leaked shells from earlier this year.
The machines are said to already be ‘in advanced testing’ but will not launch until after the iPhone event in September, confirming earlier reports that said that the laptops were scheduled for release in quarter four.
The report also confirms what we’d speculated about the OLED touch strip replacing the function keys …
Instead of physical keys, a strip-like screen will present functions on an as-needed basis that fit the current task or application […] Apple’s goal with the dedicated function display is to simplify keyboard shortcuts traditionally used by experienced users. The panel will theoretically display media playback controls when iTunes is open, while it could display editing commands like cut and paste during word processing tasks, the people said. The display also allows Apple to add new buttons via software updates rather than through more expensive, slower hardware refreshes.
Unsurprisingly, Bloomberg also confirms that USB-C ports will be included, though provides no detail on how many or what other ports – if any – will be provided.
Also reaffirmed is Touch ID. Our own source said that this would be combined with the power button, and this latest report appears to support this, stating that the scanner will be ‘beside the new function key display.’ It’s expected that this will also allow Apple Pay to be used for online purchases from supporting websites.
Apple is said to be offering one of AMD’s Polaris GPUs as it offers the slim design and power efficiency required.
An option for a version featuring a higher-performance graphics chip from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will be available, another person familiar with the matter said. It’s unclear which provider Apple will use for the main processor, but Intel Corp. has supplied this in the past.
Apple is using one of AMD’s “Polaris” graphics chips because the design offers the power efficiency and thinness necessary to fit inside the slimmer Apple notebook, the person said. The new graphics card is more than 20 percent thinner than its predecessor, AMD said earlier this year. AMD declined to comment, referring inquiries to Apple.
Finally, the report says that Apple has ‘considered bringing gray, gold, and silver colors to the new line’ but that it is ‘unclear’ whether or not it will do so.
If the report is accurate, one disappointment is that the smaller footprint appears to rule out my own hope that Apple might switch to 14- and 16-inch screens. While smaller bezels would have made this practical within the existing dimensions, it sounds very much as though Apple is prioritizing minimizing the physical sizes of the machines.
Concept image: martinhajek.com
Apple's premium laptop comes in 13- and 16-inch screen sizes. Each model includes 2-4 USB-C ports for charging, accessories, and data transfer. Higher-end models also include the Touch Bar.
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MYTH BUSTED! Registered trademark protects you for everything
By Cathryn Warburton, The Legal Lioness
The legal myth that we are busting today is that your trademark gives you protection everywhere. Now I always say, your registered trademark is your superpower. It’s stronger than a company name, a domain name, and a business name. Every business should have one, but there is a limitation with trademarks. It only goes as far as the geographical limitation, so if you’ve registered in Australia, you get your protection in Australia, if you’ve registered in the U.S.A., you get protection in the U.S.A., If you’ve registered in England, you get protection in England, if you’ve registered in Sweden, you get protection in Sweden.
You get the picture, there are some territories that kind of amalgamate so you can do, like, a super-registration. For example, the European Union covers you in all of the European Union countries. So, if you come to somebody like me to do your trademark registration for you, I wouldn’t be able to seek protection worldwide. There’s no such thing as a worldwide trademark registration. So you have to select the countries or the territories that you want your trademark to be protected in.
The costs vary from country to country because the government fees vary. So every country that you select charges a government fee, in Australia at the moment the government fee is $330. In other countries, it might be significantly more or significantly less, and it changes with time. So if you want a trademark in the European Union, for example, the government fees will be thousands of dollars, because each country takes their cut. So trademark registration doesn’t give you worldwide domination, not automatically anyway.
You have to select the countries you want and pay, pay to dominate with that trademark. Worldwide trademarks can sometimes be tricky, because now, you have to make sure that a similar trademark doesn’t already pre-exist on the trademarks register in all of those other countries. Anyway, it has been fun busting legal myths with you to protect your business and give you the lifestyle that you deserve. My name is Cathryn Warburton. I am The Legal Lioness and if you want to hear more about legal myths being busted, hop onto legallioness.com.
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MYTH BUSTED! Paid images online are safe.
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Cathryn Warburton About the author
The Legal Lioness. Overcoming severe bullying as a child instilled in her a passion to protect others. As a skilled litigator, she indulges in her dream to push-back against business-bullies who target her clients. She is an international award-winning lawyer and patent attorney and 5-time published author. Cathryn bullet-proofs her client’s businesses and protects them like a mama lioness protecting her cubs. She makes sure that no business is left without access to affordable, easy-to-understand legal information. She does this through her books, proactive legal workshops and 1-2-1 legal services.
07 3418 0974 (Australia)
+61 7 3418 0974 (International)
Acacia Law
16 McDougall St
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Streets of Lagos
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The Race To The White House- Dem Debates-2
The second batch of the Democratic candidates vying for the presidential nomination ticket took the debate stage. This crop of candidates are Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders Pete Buttigieg, Mariam Williamson, Kirsten Gillibrand, Eric Swalwell, Andrew Yang, Michael Bennet and John Hickenloper.
Joe Biden, who was a former senator of the state of Delaware and served as the former Vice President of the United States under Barack Obama, is generally considered as the favourite to win the Democratic presidential nominee ticket.
Polls after Polls have shown that he is likely the only candidate that could beat Donald Trump at the general elections in 2020. All other candidates have been trying to catch up with Joe Biden ever since he launched his Presidential Campaign.
Keeping this in mind, the other candidates came to the debate stage with one foremost goal in mind and that goal was to take down Joe Biden or if not take him down, slow his momentum and the only candidate that has possibly achieved that goal was Kamala Harris. She was phenomenal! She went toe to toe with Joe Biden and came out unscathed.
Now Kamala Harris is a Black Senator representing the State of California, she is also a former persecutor who came very prepared and challenged Joe Biden about statements he made about working with segregationists or his stance on racial issues. She struck the hearts of many as she was able to personalize the racial issue of “busing”. Joe Biden apparently opposed this issue while he was the Senator of Delaware.
She made this remarkable statement
“I also believe, and it is personal, and it was hurtful, to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country to oppose busing. And there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”
Joe Biden really could not recover from that. ”That Little girl was me” resonated and trended on every social media platform, she was simply phenomenal. The effect of this moment has seen a bump in the Polls for Kamala Harris and a drop for Joe Biden, which means that the Ticket for the Democratic Presidential primaries is not guaranteed for any candidate.
As for the other candidates, Pete Buttegieg, The Mayor of South bend from Indiana was also impressive on the night. He was able to address the issue of the killing of a middle aged black man in the South Bend community, this was after he mishandled demonstrations arising from the killing. He has also been accused of alienating the African American community in South Bend Indiana. Reports are that donations to his presidential campaign have increased significantly after the debate
Bernie Sanders on the other hand had a lackluster at the debates, there was really nothing remarkable about him. Bernie Sanders was the presidential candidate that lost the Democratic primary to Hilary Clinton in 2016. There was the expectation that he would be a major contender in the primaries, but so far he has not lived up to the expectations. During the debate, he seemed lost in the candidates’ crowd and was largely overshadowed by Kamala Harris who won the night.
Mariam Williamson, Kirsten Gillibrand, Eric Swalweel, Andrew Yang, Micheal Bennet John, Hickenloper are the one percenters in this crop of candidates. I do not expect to see them at the next set of debate. They have been pretty unremarkable.
It is going to be interesting to see who eventually clinches the democratic presidential ticket, nomination is still months away.
By Seun Adebisi
Read also: #Pecunia – Race To The White House (Dem Debates) Part 1
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“Who Do You Think You Are?” 2018 Lights, Camera, AFRICA Film Festival Is Here
Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ Could mean 1 or All These 3 Things
Accelerate is a digital lifestyle and entertainment platform with a focus on film, fashion and music in Nigeria and across Africa. We create engaging lifestyle programming and content specially curated, for a global audience of Africans and lovers of African culture. Accelerate is committed to pushing the Africa Re-imagined narrative to the world through its website, and magazine—The Cover, by creating positive entertaining, educative and empowering content. With more than 10 million views across all its platforms, Accelerate is the place where diverse stories and experiences are told and shared, to spark meaningful and transformative conversations.
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AmericanSportsHistory.com
America has a rich history of sports, tap into it here!
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Two Wild Card Teams, Too Many! →
Top 3 Stories From Week 2 Of The NFL
The incredible action of week 1 carried into week 2 on Sunday. Week 2 brought many great match ups and answers to questions unanswered in week 1. 2centsworthofsports.com brings you the top 3 stories from the second week of the NFL.
Eli Manning Rallies His Giants Past The Buccs, Has A Career Game
Eli Manning and the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants suffered a disappointing loss in week 1 to the Cowboys. Anxious to prove they could repeat as Champions, the Giants played the Buccs in week 2 in what turned out to be a crazy game. The Buccs came out strong in the 1st half leading the Giants 24-13 going into half time. The Giants came out of half time only scoring 3 points in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter is when the Giants picked it up a notch by scoring 25 points. The Giants defeated the Buccs 41-34. The game was one of the wildest of the first 2 weeks. Eli Manning faltered early with 3 interceptions but made up for it with 510 yards passing and throwing for 3 touchdowns. The 510 passing yards were a career record for Manning in one game. The Buccs looked really strong in this game but lost due to Eli and his comeback heroics. Eli and the Giants showed in week 2 that they are ready to attempt a repeat at the Championship this year.
Andrew Luck Wins 1st Career Game
The number 1 overall pick in April’s Draft Andrew Luck came in with high expectations. In week 1 he did not meet them, week 2 was another story. Luck helped his Indianapolis Colts win their 1st game of the season on Sunday against then Minnesota Vikings, winning by a score of 23-20. Luck was 20-31 passing with 224 yards in the air and rushed for 21 yards. Luck scored his first 2 touchdown passes of his career in this game, his first was to Dwayne Allen and his second to Reggie Wayne. More importantly Luck threw no interceptions which was a huge improvement from week 1 where he threw 3. Luck has definitely improved from week 1 and should develop into a really good NFL QB over the course of the season.
Matt Ryan And The Falcons Defeat Peyton Manning And The Broncos On Monday Night
On Monday Night the Broncos came into Atlanta to face the Falcons in Prime Time. Matt Ryan and the Falcons were victorious and made a statement. The Falcons are likely back to the form they were in a couple of years ago. Matt Ryan led his team to the win with excellent passing. Ryan had 219 yards passing and had 2 touchdowns. Manning on the other hand had a rough night, throwing only 1 TD pass and throwing for 3 interceptions. The Falcons scored quickly and went into halftime with a 20-7 lead. In the 3rd quarter the Falcons scored 7 points while the Broncos had 0. In the 4th quarter Manning tried to lead his team to the comeback victory as his brother Eli did on Sunday but could not pull it off. The Broncos were able to score only 14 points in the final quarter. The final score was 27-21 in favor of the Falcons. It was an interesting match up with and even more interesting outcome. The Falcons are going to be a strong team for their NFC foes to compete with this season.
This entry was posted in NFL, sports and tagged 1st, 2012, andrew luck, atlanta, Broncos, buccs, career, champions, colt, cowboys, defending, Denver, disappointing, eli manning, falcons, first, first td, giants, highlights, loss, matt ryan, new york, news, NFL, pass, Peyton Manning, rookie, season, stories, story, super bowl, suprise, td, top, touchdown, victory, viking, week 2, what happened, win. Bookmark the permalink.
2 responses to “Top 3 Stories From Week 2 Of The NFL”
fantasyfurnace | September 19, 2012 at 12:49 am | Reply
I got to see two of these games. Thank God football’s back!
Nice recap Justin!!
Justin Hand | September 19, 2012 at 1:46 am | Reply
Football, Football, Football!!! Thanks Hank
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What are the options for naming the Computational science proposal?
Based on the scattered arguments, discussions, and comments, the consensus seems to be to name this site:
"Computational Science" <-- header at the top
with a url of scicomp.stackexchange.com
Proposal: Scientific Computing (was Computational Science)
Since there seems to be some controversy over the recent change to the name of this proposal, I feel we should discuss the options and try to come to a consensus.
Firstly, it is obvious that some people believe that Computational science is too close to Computer science and that this may lead to confusion and inappropriate questions.
Other options proposed include Computational Natural Science, but this might give the impression that we aren't prepared to consider questions on computational methods in the social sciences. Computational Natural Sciences & Bioinformatics suffers the same problem of exclusion (the Bioinformatics is a subset of CNS as far as as I can see). Informatics was also suggested, but I think that for most lay people this term is just too obscure and it doesn't clearly describe the scope of the site.
Given the heavy use of HPC technology by the Scientific computing group where I work, I would support the inclusion of HPC in terms of questions, but since HPC is a means to an end, not and end in itself, I don't feel it needs to be part of the name. Finally, Computer Vision is now covered under the umbrella of Signal Processing Stack Exchange, which is already in beta.
I would suggest that the format for answers should be one name proposal per answer, along with reasoning for that proposal. It would help if duplicate proposals for the same name could be merged with the higher voted answer, either as comments or edits to the answer, and then the duplicate removed.
If people vote up all options they approve of, then we should get a better idea of how much relative support each option has and whether there are compromises to be made. Approval voting
Also, for each proposal, it would be good to suggest a suitable subdomain name. Scientific Computing would map nicely to scicomp.... but the natural contraction of Computational Science would be compsci.... which is usually used to refer to Computer Science.
science change-request
Mark BoothMark Booth
@Robert Cartaino - Thanks for the update. I suspect that the naming issue will move to meta.scicomp.stackexchange.com when we've found our feet a little more, during the beta phase. – Mark Booth Nov 16 '11 at 18:29
We really try to resolve these issues before launch. Changing the "official name" displayed at the top of the site is problematic but not as big a deal as the selected URL. Changing the URL post-launch is almost a show-stopper. – Robert Cartaino Nov 16 '11 at 18:41
@Robert Cartaino - Thanks for the clarification. I think that scicomp is a pretty good choice for sub-domain even if this community decides they prefer a different official name during beta. – Mark Booth Nov 22 '11 at 13:35
Whoops, duplicated this at meta.scicomp.stackexchange.com/questions/245/… – naught101 Aug 28 '12 at 1:13
@RobertCartaino: Seems like the "consensus" for scientific computing is twice as large as the one for computational science ;P – naught101 Aug 28 '12 at 1:15
From the example questions, this site is planned to cover problems in numerical methods, optimization, simulations, and more generally, computational solutions of applied mathematical problems in science and outside of science.
These topics are common to a wide range of disciplines beyond science, such as engineering (e.g. electrical, control, aerospace and mechanical engineering) or robotics.
Scientific Computing is a mature field with a long history that is usually associated with problems that arise only in physics or the hard and natural sciences.
On the other hand, Computational Science is an emerging field that covers the science of computing when dealing with practical mathematical problems. Note that this is different from Computer Science which mostly deals with the computational or algorithmic complexity of abstract problems, or Programming, which deals with questions regarding implementation in specific computer languages.
Finally, as I already mentioned in this other thread, there are a number of institutions that have already embraced and formalized programs in Computational Science:
National Institute for Computational Sciences
National Center for Computational Sciences
Harvard University: Institute for Applied Computational Science. Also here, here and here.
Elsevier's Journal of Computational Science
The National Science Foundation: here
Stanford University: here
Microsoft Research: here
Boston University: here
National Singapore University: here
Purdue's University: here
State University of New York Brockport: here
UCSD: here
The SE team seems to be concerned with people confusing computational science with computer science. I think they are misled.
Why aren't people confused about the scope or overlap between the sites Programmers, Stack Overflow, Code Review, or Code Golf? One could argue that people who are not familiar with these topics may get confused and think that they are just four sites dedicated to the topic of programming.
Also, there is not even a site called computer science in SE (there is one called Theoretical Computer Science).
To sum up, Computational Science is a superset of Scientific Computing and does not significantly overlap with Theoretical Computer Science nor with the existing software engineering/programming sites.
I think the subdomain scicomp would be a good fit for Computational Science (as some have already pointed, the abbreviation compsci may be confused with computer science).
Amelio Vazquez-Reina
@MarkBooth DSP != Computational Science.. though there are similar applications, I would say Computational Science is an umbrella term for more than just DSP – madmaze Oct 29 '11 at 19:56
@madmaze - If you look at the history of intrpc's answer you will see that originally many of the things mentioned (especially computer vision for instance) were already covered by DSP.SX. More recent edits have clarified this, and made the argument for Computational Science much more compelling. Also, remember that DSP.SX is just shorthand for Signal Processing Stack Exchange. – Mark Booth Oct 31 '11 at 14:32
I believe that
comes across as the best choice for a name.
When I first saw a "Computational Science" proposal, I thought it was a misapplication of the term "Computer Science." I understand that it is a legitimate field of expertise, but the term "Scientific Computing" is also applicable to the scope and, I feel, much more identifiable.
Go for it. scicomp.stackexchange.com.
Robert CartainoRobert Cartaino
47388 gold badges112112 silver badges224224 bronze badges
I've encountered computational science a lot in "the wild" as distinct from computer science, and my undergrad had a degree in it. I do think it is confusing, though. – rcollyer Oct 19 '11 at 3:48
I think Scientific Computing is a bad name for the site considering how many fields outside of science have similar needs. In case you are interested, I wrote about why I think Computational Science is a better fit for this site here. – Amelio Vazquez-Reina Oct 26 '11 at 14:34
@MarkBooth Thanks for the heads up. I'm a bit hesitant to alter the answer too much because of the existing voting and the fact that the proposal has reached 100%. Time to make a choice. – Robert Cartaino Nov 16 '11 at 1:05
@RobertCartaino: I think this would be a good time to let people vote on what name they prefer. The original name of the proposal was "Computational Science" and was changed (by you) to "Scientific Computing". At no point was the community consulted about what name they preferred. – Faheem Mitha Nov 16 '11 at 7:48
My two cents. I prefer "Computational Science" to "Scientific Computing". The former name puts the emphasis on science. The latter puts the emphasis on computing. In my experience "Scientific Computing" is often used as a variant of scientific programming. SE already has many programming sites, and admittedly none of those really emphasizes science, but regardless, does this site really want people to mistake it for a programming site? That is not my understanding of the scope. If I understand it correctly, this is a site where it will be legitimate to ask scientific questions (meaning questions that are not necessarily computing questions per se) that also involve non-trivial computer (typically software) knowledge. This is quite different from scientific programming, imo.
Actually, looking at the attempt to define the scope, this point is a bit ambiguous. See for example the example question
"How do I move from naive mean field theory to the TAP equations when iteratively minimising the free energy functional?"
This would probably be off topic in a scientific computing forum, since it requires some knowledge of advanced theoretical physics, but would be in scope in a computational science forum.
I think the name of the site could have a significant influence on the site. I strongly advocate Stack Exchange to let the prospective users of this site decide on the name, and not arbitrarily impose a name. See the discussion here. I don't understand why the similarity of the name ot "Computer Science" matters. Are you suggesting that users will not be able to tell the sites apart?
EDIT: Per @Mark's request for a subdomain name, I think scicomp would still be fine, even if Computational Science is used as a name. Other alternatives off the top of my head are numcrunch (since computation in science is primarily numerical), calcsci, since, in similar fashion, one is typically calculating, rather than serving web pages, for example, or scicalc. Actually calsci or scical is smoother, but people might think it has something to do with California science. :-) A cross between those two is numsci or scinum. Another appealing alternative is simply compute, which may sound too general or too close to computer, but historically has meant to calculate. For example, the first definition for compute in The Free Dictionary is "To determine by mathematics, especially by numerical methods".
Faheem MithaFaheem Mitha
Name suggestion: Computational Science and Engineering
Having read some of the other options here, I've just been inspired with this option.
It is much less likely to be confused with Computer Science.
It makes it explicit that we are interested in questions of a computational nature, not just ones related to scientific computing. As intrpc says: cover ... computational solutions of applied mathematical problems in science and outside of science.
It has a natural sub-domain name option that doesn't conflict with any other sub-domain.
It is quite long, longer than either Computational Science or Scientific Computing.
Domain suggestion: cse.stackexchange.com
I agree with this, coming from the CFD world, this makes more sense. My degree is in Aerospace Engineering and while I do think the line between Scientist and Engineers in my field is sometimes blurred, I feel like Computational fields require so many different skills that we end up being jacks of all trades, masters of none. Some people will be more into the programming side, some people will be more into the physics side, I think your proposal encompasses the scope of the CFD field nicely. I do realize this site won't be limited to CFD but these were my 2 cents... – FrenchKheldar Nov 12 '11 at 14:36
+1 I like that. – mbq Nov 16 '11 at 17:04
I agree that this is a serious issue, but I'm strongly convinced that changing the name in the middle of commitment phase is not a best idea -- it would bring more confusion than good. Moreover this name is only a draft -- by committing you are not voting for this particular name and tagline but for an idea behind it.
mbqmbq
Sorry mbq, changes to my question have invalidated this answer. Suffice to say, I have committed, and I'm glad that the recent name change has prompted further debate on the issue if naming. – Mark Booth Oct 31 '11 at 14:36
Sure, but I'll leave it for reference if you don't mind. Especially because the last point is still valid. – mbq Oct 31 '11 at 14:46
It sounds like I may be late to the party with this comment (my apologies), but may I suggest Technical Computing? I would guess that a lot of people who would be interested in the topics likely to be discussed on this site would not consider themselves to be 'scientists', or to be doing 'scientific computing' ; for example, engineers, or people working in the finance sector.
Sam RobertsSam Roberts
unfortunately both "Scientific Computing" and "Computational Science" are both names used to describe this type of subject while "Technical Computing" is not. It sounds nice, but people just won't know what it is while the other names already have a precedence. – drjrm3 Nov 9 '11 at 16:55
That's not my experience - I've found Technical Computing to be a widely used and understood term. Sounds like you don't agree, though - OK, it was just my 2c. – Sam Roberts Nov 9 '11 at 17:03
Computing for science purposes
The aim of the site name is to make the topic easily understandable, so something like "Computing for science purposes" would maybe be a good option.
Alexis DufrenoyAlexis Dufrenoy
Summary of announcements
This is here to take a snapshot of the discussion in the announcements section of the proposal on Wed 16th Nov 2011.
An alternative name in the WP article for Computational Science is Scientific Computing. – Kaveh Apr 26 at 8:35 (22 up-votes)
Won't be HPC questions not related to science be off-topic? How could we possibly unite with such a description? – Traroth May 11 at 19:10
@Kaveh - I support changing the name; Computational science is too close to computer science. – Kevin Vermeer May 26 at 17:21 (18 up-votes)
I propose "Scientific Computing, High Perforfmance Computing and Computer Vision", to make sure no question from the unified proposals is off-topic. – Traroth May 26 at 20:38
@Traroth - The name doesn't have to encompass the whole scope in one breath! That sounds like a heavy academic paper title. – Kevin Vermeer May 26 at 21:35 (6 up-votes)
The name is an issue, but I agree with @Kaveh that we have time for it; it is even possible to have abstract name and a good tagline. – mbq May 26 at 23:39
@KEvin Vermeer: The description should at least be changed to reflect the merge. HPC is not only about science. – Traroth May 27 at 8:18
I thought this proposal should be the merge of several others, but there is no sign something like a merge will happen anytime soon. What's going on? – Traroth Jun 5 at 9:56
@Traroth The SE team accepted the merge request (there is a [change-request] on discuss Q), but they will probably wait till 100% commitment. – mbq Jun 5 at 12:09
@mbq: but what exactly will be done? Which projects will be merged? – Traroth Jun 6 at 15:39
I advocate for Computational Science instead of Scientific Computing. See my arguments here – intrpc Jul 28 at 0:10 (3 up-votes)
Mark Booth
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged science change-request .
Why did the name change from “Computational Science” to “Scientific Computing”?
“Scientific Computing” vs. “Computational Science”
Some computer-related merges on Area 51
What is the etiquette over proposal name changes?
Computational Sciences and Computational Natural Sciences.
What should the Theoretical Physics sub-domain be?
Computational Logic
What niche does this AI proposal aim to fill?
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Stories of Healing
Insights about mind, body and spirit
Are You a Well Being?
Golf tournament champion credits four joint replacements with continued success
“Bionic” woman has been playing golf for more than 60 years
Donna Thomason can’t remember a time when golf wasn’t part of her life. At 71, she remembers growing up in a house across from the first hole at the city country club and sneaking under the fence with her sister to watch their father play.
“Golf chose me long before I ever chose it,” said Thomason. “My dad loved golf and I loved watching him play. It was already a part of me.”
Soon she developed a love of her own for the sport and won 16 tournament championships at the same club. But throughout the years, as her love for the sport grew, so did her physical setbacks.
She began experiencing pain in her right knee that made walking the golf course and swinging the club difficult. To find out how she could stop the pain and continue playing golf, Donna met Robert Schmidt, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon on the medical staff at Texas Health Southwest Fort Worth, including Texas Health Hospital Clearfork, and Texas Hip and Knee, a Texas Health Physicians Group practice.
“I’ve cared for a lot of joints over the years, but Donna is very active and is an extremely skilled golfer,” said Dr. Robert Schmidt. “It was important for me to partner with her and understand her unique challenges and concerns and develop a care plan that would allow her to return to playing.”
Initially, Donna was able to keep playing, but golf continued to take a toll on her joints. Eventually, Thomason underwent a right knee replacement with Dr. Schmidt but after therapy was able to return to playing in as little as six months. A few years later, when she began experiencing hip pain, she returned to him again and underwent a right total hip replacement.
Thomason went on to have Dr. Schmidt replace her left hip and left knee as well. And, each time she had surgery, Thomason and Dr. Schmidt worked together with a common goal in mind – reconnecting her with her long-standing relationship with the sport she loved.
For her, joint replacement surgery meant keeping golf as a major focus in her life.
“Golf is part of mine and my family’s identity,” said Thomason. “I needed a doctor who understood that just as much as the medical challenges I faced.”
That’s exactly who Dr. Schmidt was and because of that, Thomason has maintained her more than 60-year relationship with the sport she loves.
“Last year, nearly 3,000 patients trusted us to care for their joints so we understand what it means to deliver care that is efficient and meets the needs of the individual as well,” Schmidt said. “A large part of Donna’s success and ability to return to the game of golf dealt with a mutual understanding of the role we each played in achieving the best possible outcome.”
“As the US population continues to age, the prevalence of arthritis will increase,” Schmidt said. “Arthritis that leads to joint replacement.”
The most common reasons for joint replacement are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and traumatic arthritis. Quality of life in addition to reducing pain and increasing mobility are key benefits to joint replacement surgery.
For more information on joint replacement at Texas Health Resources or to learn more about your joint health, visit www.texashealth.org/orthopedic-services and take the Hip & Knee assessment.
Kathy Saburn says:
I have been healthy all of my 66 years on earth. Just recently I started taking high blood pressure medicine at the age of 66, Losing my husband on Christmas Day 2014 and living alone will do that. Also, high cholesterol medicine, even though I am a vegetarian for years, it’s hereditary in my DNA. Osteoarthritis is also part of my DNA and being so active with walking, climbing stairs every day for exercise, and teaching Yoga 5 days a week after work, put pressure on my hips. I just found out they both need to be replaced and I am scared, but reading this story encouraged me and gave me strength. Tomorrow I meet with Dr. Wagner to discuss my surgery. It has been painful but manageable to function but I want to thrive and walk again with Grace and confidence. Thank God for the doctors and medical science. Kathy Saburn
Sarah McClellan-Brandt says:
Thank you for sharing this with us! We are so honored to serve our community. –Katie, Texas Health
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Treasures of the National Trust: six sculptures from Knole
Posted 03 May 2019, by Alice Rylance-Watson
To celebrate the launch of National Trust sculpture on Art UK, Alice Rylance-Watson, Collections Cataloguer at the National Trust, shares six sculptures at Knole to look out for on your next visit.
Venus and the gladiator, Green Court
Crouching Venus c.1697
John van Nost the elder (c.1655–c.1712) (possibly) and Richard Osgood (active 1691–1728) (possibly)
National Trust, Knole
Borghese Gladiator c.1697
Mounting sculpture outside was a way for aristocrats to display their wealth, taste and learning beyond the private realms of their home. The first sculptural status symbols to greet any visitor to Knole are these statues mounted in the Green Court cast in lead after two of the world's most famous antiquities: the Crouching Venus and the Borghese Gladiator.
Although several antique versions of the Crouching Venus are known, the Knole cast is closest to the second-century AD marble version in the Royal Collection (but on display in the British Museum). The Royal Collection version was bought by Charles I in 1631 and then by the painter Sir Peter Lely after the king's execution. Around the same time as acquiring Venus, Charles I also made the Borghese Gladiator an overnight success by commissioning Hubert Le Sueur to cast it in bronze. Soon copies started appearing in stately homes across the nation.
According to a receipt dated 6th September 1697, the sculptor Richard Osgood was responsible for 'the case for the Venus and pedestal' and 'For the Gladiator as agreed'. Osgood's workshop at London's Hyde Park Corner was situated within spitting distance of the workshop of Britain's leading sculptor in lead John Nost, so it is likely that the casts were a collaborative effort, as Nost went on to carve a near identical Venus in marble five years later. Osgood personalised the Knole Gladiator with a lead shield ornamented with the Sackville coat of arms, an embellishment of the original from antiquity which has no armour.
Perseus triumphant, Orangery
Perseus with the Head of Medusa 1801–1835
Antonio Canova (1757–1822) (after)
Walk into the Orangery and you will be met by a monumental plaster cast of Perseus holding the severed head of Medusa. Unlike Benvenuto Cellini's grisly, even grotesque version in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, this cast after Canova's marble statue saves us all the gory details. With sedate grandeur, a proportionally ideal Perseus lifts Medusa's head as if it were effortlessly cantilevered in space: a mark of Canova's technical excellence. In line with neoclassical principles, the sculptor deliberately modelled his subjects on classical archetypes: Perseus on the Apollo Belvedere and the Gorgon on the Medusa Rondanini, a Roman marble after a lost Greek bronze which was the first sculpture to show Medusa as a classically beautiful woman, albeit with a stare that could turn you to stone.
A lute-playing centaur, Stone Court
A Fish-Centaur 1601–1699
British (English) School
In the Stone Court, a rare English alabaster depicts the mythical but menacing ichthyocentaur. Half-man, half-sea monster, but with the razor-sharp talons of an eagle, this marine god is playing the lute, his song having mesmerised a female victim constricted in his serpentine tail.
The alabaster was carved in England from an engraved cartouche design by Jakob Floris published in Antwerp in 1564. Floris' printed designs first emerged in England in maps from 1576, but a few years later they appeared in sculptural plasterwork and chimneypieces in three known country houses in Wiltshire and Devon. None of the strapwork which usually frames a cartouche design was included in the Knole panel, so it is a rather anomalous yet fascinating example of how a print exported from Antwerp was translated into a sculpture by an English early seventeenth-century alabasterman.
Et tu, Brute? Stone Court
You could be forgiven for thinking that this colossal marble bust in the Stone Court depicts a member of the gladiatorial ring rather than the senate, yet it allegedly shows Brutus, the politician who famously deposed Julius Caesar in a murderous coup. The bust was bought by John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, on his Grand Tour of Italy, and was sourced by the infamous dealer and cicerone Thomas Jenkins on the understanding that it was a classical antiquity. Jenkins charged Sackville £40 for it, around £3,500 in today's money.
It was only in 1882, when Adolf Michaelis conducted his survey of classical sculpture in Great Britain, that doubts about its provenance arose. Michaelis wrote that 'the entire specimen is more than suspicious', a hunch investigated over 70 years later by Cornelius Vermeule who confirmed that the bust was in fact 'Renaissance' and in the same hand as another reputedly 'classical' bust at Knole. Vermeule believed it to be an imitation of a third-century AD bust of the Roman emperor Philip the Arab.
La Baccelli: His Grace's mistress, Great Staircase
Giovanna Francesca Antonia Guiseppe Zanerini (1753–1801), Called 'La Baccelli' 1778
Giovanni Battista Locatelli (1734–1805) (attributed to)
The 3rd Duke of Dorset was a notorious womaniser. This sculpture, which can be found at the bottom of the Great Staircase, depicts his favourite mistress, the Italian ballerina Giovanna Baccelli. It is attributed to Giovanni Battista Locatelli and was cast in plaster in 1778. Baccelli is nude and lies seductively on a divan propped up by pillows in the stance of Bernini's Sleeping Hermaphroditus. Account books and exhibition lists at the time title the sculpture 'Venus, reclined on a couch' for the sake of decorum, though it was no secret that it portrayed Baccelli and that she and the Duke were lovers.
The sculpture was the first of a number of portraits Sackville commissioned of his mistress throughout their ten-year relationship, the most famous being a painting by Thomas Gainsborough showing Baccelli dancing in a white and blue-trim silk dress. The couple had a son and lived together at Knole until Sackville married the heiress Arabella Cope in 1790 and Locatelli's sculpture was moved to a more discreet location in the house.
Sculpture in the National Trust encompasses thousands of years of making, by artists around the world, in an array of different media. Art UK will be publishing over 2,000 sculptures from National Trust properties in the coming months, each sculpture accompanied by updated catalogue entries showcasing fresh research and new discoveries.
Alice Rylance-Watson, Collections Cataloguer (Sculpture) at the National Trust
Twelve treasures of the National Trust
David Taylor's favourite paintings in National Trust collections
Art Matters podcast: rediscovering colour in classical sculptures
How art reinterprets Greek mythology: from problematic patriarchies to queer perspectives
What is sculpture anyway?
In the beginning was Eve... by Rodin
From Hepworth to Frink: 12 female sculptors in Harlow
Castles and colleges: recording sculpture in the Highlands and Islands
Photographing and cataloguing sculpture from Shetland to the Channel Islands
Sofonisba Anguissola: the Renaissance artist painted by Van Dyck
Art Matters podcast: Virginia Woolf, feminism, and women painting women
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun: from Rococo to Revolution
Five powerful queer stories told by portraits
Ten paintings of female poets in UK collections
Penny Lane and the Pre-Raphaelites: the impact of Liverpool's art across the globe
An elephant in Enniskillen
Six months on: the Boxing Day flood at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall
Frank Bramley's 'The Grasmere Rushbearing'
Yale Center for British Art joins Art UK
The naked muse: to see or be seen?
Announcing the call for papers for ‘Rediscovering our sculpture: an Art UK symposium’
Who was George Bernard Shaw?
The queer love story behind Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando'
Celebrating our sculpture coordinators
Weston Park's prestigious painting collection joins Art UK
Five women collectors who enriched the nation’s art collection
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BLOG TOUR – GUEST POST – The Ghost Had an Early Check-out by Josh Lanyon – #Excerpt #Giveaway
Posted on December 2, 2018 October 19, 2019 by Addison Albright 4 Comments
Preorder / Purchase
Book 2: Preorder
Amazon * Apple * Kobo * Smashwords
Book 1: Available Now!
I am a huge Josh Lanyon fangirl so I’m ecstatic to be hosting Josh here with a guest post to celebrate the release of The Ghost Had an Early Checkout. I’d say I was Josh’s biggest fan, but I suspect there would be many lining up to challenge me on that. Still, I’m prepared to argue the claim.
The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks has long been a standout among Josh’s books, and I’ve been hoping for, and finally looking forward to this sequel for many years. I’ve purchased the ebook three times. Originally in PDF, then later in EPUB, which is how I do most of my M/M reading. I added it on Kindle recently so I could sync along with the audiobook. It was the first paperback of a gay romance that I ever purchased (although I donated it to a book drive for a prison library seeking LGBT books, so I no longer have it), and it was the first audiobook of a gay romance that I ever purchased. The latter being only a few weeks ago, and I’ve already listened to it three times!
As a writer, I’ve never felt comfortable with the idea of giving reviews, so I’ve made it a policy that I’ll promote for other authors, and even highlight daily passages of my reading on my Sunday treadmill posts, but I’ve always stopped short of writing actual reviews. The upcoming release of The Ghost Had an Early Checkout is the first time I’ve wanted to cross that line because I’m desperate to read the story. But alas, I didn’t, and so I’m counting the days until December 18 along with the rest of you! 💞
The Ghost Had an Early Checkout
Sequel to The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks
by Josh Lanyon
Genre: LGBT Mystery
Go to top & purchase options
To live and draw in L.A.
Now living in Los Angeles with former navy SEAL Nick Reno, artist Perry Foster comes to the rescue of elderly and eccentric Horace Daly, the legendary film star of such horror classics as Why Won’t You Die, My Darling?
Horace owns the famous, but now run-down, Hollywood hotel Angels Rest, rumored to be haunted. But as far as Perry can tell, the scariest thing about Angels Rest is the cast of crazy tenants—one of whom seems determined to bring down the final curtain on Horace—and anyone else who gets in the way.
Nick was brooding over this, staring out the window over the kitchen sink at the smog-dimmed stars, when he heard the smothered sound of Perry’s cough outside the apartment door. He stepped out of the kitchen as Perry’s key turned the lock.
Perry opened the door, clearly surprised to find the lights on. His thin, pointy face lit up as he spotted Nick. “Hey, you’re home!”
Nick retorted, “One detective per family is e—” but the rest of it was cut off as Perry launched himself. Nick’s arms automatically locked around him, and his mouth came down hard on Perry’s eager one.
What was it about Perry? He was cute enough, sure. Medium height, lanky, boyish-looking. His hair was blond and spiky. His eyes were big and brown and as long-lashed as a cartoon character’s. In this town where two out of every three guys looked like they were trying out for a role in a major motion picture, Perry was almost strikingly ordinary. Maybe that was it. The fact that Perry didn’t look like everyone else. That he didn’t act like everyone else.
It was funny, though, because Perry was almost the complete opposite of what Nick had always thought was his type. Not that he had really thought of himself as having a type—beyond wanting someone with a penis.
Even after nine months, that unstinting…what the hell would you call it? Sweetness sounded too sappy, but there was something so honest, so generous in Perry’s responses. It made Nick’s heart feel too big for his chest. Closed his throat so that he could rarely say the things he wanted to say, things that Perry deserved to hear.
I love you. It scares me how much I love you.
Instead, he said gruffly, “Where the hell have you been at this hour?”
Perry didn’t seem to hear the gruffness. His wide brown eyes smiled guilelessly up into Nick’s. “I was sketching—”
He had to stop, though, starting to wheeze. He threw an apologetic look at Nick and dug out his rescue inhaler. He took a couple of quick puffs while Nick watched, frowning.
This was not good. He didn’t like the sudden alarming reappearance of coughing and wheezing. He put a hand on Perry’s shoulder. Under Nick’s tutelage, Perry had built up some muscle, but he had not really put on much weight. His shoulders were still bony, his collarbones sharp.
Perry put the inhaler away—he didn’t like using it in front of Nick. As if he thought Nick looked down on him for it?
He said, “It was so dusty up there!”
“Where? Where’ve you been?” Nick hoped he didn’t sound as accusatory as he did to his own ears.
“I drove up to Angel’s Rest.”
“That old hotel in the hills. Remember at Dorian’s exhibition last Saturday? The 1920s hotel in those photos?”
“The abandoned place on Laurel Canyon?”
Jesus fucking Christ. He remembered Perry had seemed fascinated by those photos. But hiking around those hills on his own? Anything could happen to him, from being bit by a rattlesnake to running into some crazed homeless person.
Nick didn’t let any of that show on his face. That was one thing he had decided early on. He was not going to undermine Perry’s confidence or self-resilience with his own fears. Perry was not his child, he was his partner. Physically frail or not, he was a grown man.
“Right,” Perry said quickly, as though he sensed everything Nick was determined not to say. “Only it’s not abandoned. Well, not completely.”
Now, studying him more closely in the lamplight, Nick noticed Perry’s T-shirt was smeared with dust and torn at the collar. And—more alarming—his knuckles were scraped and cut.
Perry said, “Anyway, I’m sorry I’m late. I didn’t know you’d be home tonight. I bought pork chops for when you got home.”
“Were you in a fight?”
Perry’s eyelashes flicked up guiltily. “Kind of.”
“Kind of?”
Nick felt as winded as if Perry had punched him. Trying to picture him in a fight was… Well, yes, Nick had been showing him some moves, tried to prepare him a little in case he ever had to defend himself, but still, Perry in a fight?
“I’ve got a lot to tell you,” Perry said. “Should I cook the pork chops?”
“I’ll fix us something to eat. You talk.”
The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks
His romantic weekend in ruins, shy twenty-something artist Perry Foster learns that things can always get worse when he returns home from San Francisco to find a dead body in his bathtub. A dead body in a very ugly sportscoat—and matching socks. The dead man is a stranger to Perry, but that’s not much of a comfort; how did a strange dead man get in a locked flat at the isolated Alton Estate in the wilds of the “Northeast Kingdom” of Vermont? Perry turns to help from “tall, dark and hostile” former navy SEAL Nick Reno—but is Reno all that he seems?
It was still not light when Perry woke. O’dark hundred, Nick would have said. The clock said five thirty.
For a few moments he lay there, blinking sleepily, trying to place himself in unfamiliar surroundings. He remembered that he was in Nick’s bed — without Nick, unfortunately.
And something had wakened him.
There it was again. Perry sat up. He wasn’t dreaming. He wasn’t imagining that faint scratching sound. Mice in the woodwork? It was only too likely. The only cat in the house was Jane’s, and according to Jane, he’d never shown interest in anything that couldn’t be opened with a can opener.
There…not exactly a gnawing sound…but…something was moving behind the wall. Something larger than a mouse. Larger than a cat. Something big…
Perry bolted from the bed and made for the living room.
In the murky light he could make out the blankets and pillow neatly folded on the end of the couch. There was no sign of Nick.
Bewildered and still half-asleep, Perry tried to make sense of this. He recalled Nick going off to investigate on his own the night Perry had found the dead man in the bathtub. He began to search for his keys. They were gone.
Perry swore. What the hell was the deal with Nick anyway? Would it kill him to ask for help — or at least discuss his plans? For a practical guy, Reno wasn’t showing the best sense taking off without making sure he had some kind of backup.
That was probably because he didn’t think Perry was much use as backup, and maybe Perry wasn’t a Navy SEAL, but he knew enough to get help if Nick needed it.
And if Nick had been gone the entire night, there was a damn good chance he did need help.
He went back in the bedroom and dragged on his jeans and shirt, stepped into his sneakers, and exited Nick’s apartment, leaving the door unlocked just in case he didn’t have luck finding Nick.
He crossed the landing to his own tower rooms just in case Nick was over there, but the door to his apartment was locked — which was doubly annoying. He couldn’t get into his own rooms if he wanted to.
Perry went quietly downstairs to the second level. The smell of baking wafted from David Center’s rooms, filling the musty hall with warm blueberry fragrance.
Hearing something from the main hall, he looked over the balcony in time to see Miss Dembecki letting herself out the front door, furtive and noiseless. He considered going after her, but the need to find Nick and make sure he was okay was stronger.
He continued quietly down the hallway and studied the imposing crisscross of yellow crime scene tape across Watson’s door. Somehow he just knew Nick would not find that forbidding web as intimidating as he did.
He tried the handle.
The door swung open.
Perry parted the bands of yellow tape and stepped inside. It was hard to see in the gloom — the blinds drawn against the early morning — and it smelled of the unfamiliar chemicals the crime-scene technicians had used.
“Nick?” he called softly.
There was no answer. He supposed he had not really expected one. Glancing around, he froze at the sight of his open sketchbook — and the rough draft of Nick’s face. The deputies must have been looking through his stuff. Hopefully, Nick hadn’t seen that. He’d be more uncomfortable than he already was.
Perry made his way to the bedroom and snapped on the light, confident that with the blinds drawn no one would be able to tell he was inside the apartment. The closet door stood open.
Something was not right…
At first Perry thought the clothes pole had broken, but then he saw that this was an illusion of the crooked way the shadows fell from the compartment interior. The back wall seemed to be out of alignment.
Cautiously, one eye on the taped outline of where Tiny had died, he stepped inside the closet. Yes, the back wall of the closet was in fact a door. A pretty solid door at that. He felt the edge — four inches of thick and solid wood. Something was propping it open. His gaze fell on the shoe wedged between wall and door and his heart stopped.
Cheap brown leather with a hole in the sole. It was the shoe worn by the dead body in Perry’s bathtub.
His heart began to thud in a tattoo of delighted thrill and alarm.
Just as he had thought — well, suggested — there was a secret passage in the house.
Perry pushed against the back panel, taking care not to dislodge the shoe propping it open. Facing what appeared to be a wall of darkness, he paused. He needed a flashlight.
He’d seen one somewhere in Watson’s apartment…
Perry ducked back out of the clothes that still smelled of Watson’s tobacco and aftershave, and searched around until, on the far side of the bed, he finally located a heavy flashlight that looked like it meant business.
Steeling himself, he returned to the closet and pushed the opening wide. He jammed the shoe into place to hold the door wide, and switched on the flashlight.
Long cobwebs floated gently from open beams. Dust coated everything in gray velvet. In fact, he could see a swarm of dusty footprints leading off into the pitch black.
Great. Cold, damp, and dust. The asthma triumvirate. He pulled out his hanky and covered his mouth. He patted the inhaler in his pocket reassuringly. He was okay. He could do this.
Turning the flashlight down the long corridor, Perry began to follow the footsteps in the carpet of dust.
☆ Guest Post ☆
Article #3 – Giving Up the Ghost
(Interview with Josh Lanyon about writing The Ghost Had an Early Check-Out)
What inspired you to write this book?
My readers. The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks was my first attempt at a standalone mystery, and it turned out to be a gateway book for a lot of M/M readers. Of all my standalones, I’d have to say that—to this day—that book gets the most requests for a sequel. Maybe because it’s such a quirky, kooky take on classic romantic-suspense. Maybe because there’s something unexpectedly touching about the relationship that forms between tough, former navy SEAL Nick Reno and frail, sensitive but spunky artist Perry Foster. Whatever it is, I promised years ago to write the sequel, and this is me keeping that commitment.
Were there any special challenges in writing this book?
That seven-year lag time between books was tough. The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks was first published through Loose Id in 2011, but I’d started the book nearly a decade earlier. So trying to get back inside the skin of the characters took more conscious effort than usual. Only eleven months have passed since the events in the first book, so recovering the emotional continuity was crucial—but so too was recreating the mood and feel of the original.
Also, the M/M audience has changed significantly since the publication of The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks. I think a lot of newer readers aren’t as tolerant of quirky, kooky stories with what they regard as an “old-fashioned” feel. But in order to deliver to the readers who wanted that sequel, I had to stay true to the spirit of the first book.
Is this the last of Nick and Perry?
Yes. They might appear in another holiday coda, but their story is ended—or rather, their story will continue, but I won’t be writing about it. 😉
Josh Lanyon is the author of over sixty titles of classic Male/Male fiction featuring twisty mystery, kickass adventure and unapologetic man-on-man romance.
Her work has been translated into eleven languages. The FBI thriller Fair Game was the first Male/Male title to be published by Harlequin Mondadori, the largest romance publisher in Italy. Stranger on the Shore (Harper Collins Italia) was the first M/M title to be published in print. In 2016 Fatal Shadows placed #5 in Japan’s annual Boy Love novel list (the first and only title by a foreign author to place).
The Adrien English Series was awarded All Time Favorite Male/Male Series in the 2nd Annual contest held by the 20,000+ Goodreads M/M Group. Josh is an Eppie Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist (twice for Gay Mystery), and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads M/M Hall of Fame award.
Josh is married and lives in Southern California.
Website * Facebook * Twitter (@JoshLanyon) * Instagram * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
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Posted in #promoted, Blog Tour, Excerpt, Giveaway, Guest Post, Silver Dagger Book Tours
Tagged #ad, Blog Tour, Excerpt, Giveaway, Guest Post, Josh Lanyon, Rafflecopter, Silver Dagger Book Tours, The Ghost Had an Early Check-out, The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks
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4 thoughts on “BLOG TOUR – GUEST POST – The Ghost Had an Early Check-out by Josh Lanyon – #Excerpt #Giveaway”
Shannon C says:
I’m so excited for this sequel! I like that the first book took place almost entirely within the confines of one house. It lends a particularly New England, murder-house mystery feel to it. And I can’t wait to see what happens to the characters now that they’re West Coasters.
Shirley Ann Speakman says:
I read and loved the first book so I’m so please there is another one. Both covers are great and spooky.
The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks was among the first mm books I read and I love its cover! I hope the sequel lives up to the first book.
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Classic Console Discussion
The game that started the rating system we know today.
By KWKBOX, January 15, 2016 in Classic Console Discussion
kwkbox
KWKBOX 57
There were so many other games from back in the day that would have been better candidates to trigger a rating system. It kind of baffles me that this one started the rating system. How bad do you think this game is in comparison to the others at the time?
Osgeld
Osgeld 4,540
Location:Nashville, TN
while it wasnt the only game called out, you have to remember this was the first time anyone had seen a game, which at that point was still mostly a child's toy, which featured ideas of voyeurism and rape, all played out with real people. SO what you have is essentially a soft-core snuff film marketed to children which flipped the OMG switch in a lot of people of the time.
The Usotsuki
The Usotsuki 610
Also called "Licca"
There was also Mortal Kombat about the same time, also using footage of real people.
Algus 831
Location:Arizona
Night Trap is actually a pretty good example of the FMV genre and one of the better titles. Even if you're following a solution guide, it requires pretty quick timing.
jhd
jhd 672
Location:Calgary, Alberta, Canada
I remember that Custer's Revenge on the 2600 received a fair bit of negative publicity -- even my Grandmother had heard about it! -- but it was not widely sold or promoted as a mainstream title.
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Guest Benefits
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Merlin Entertainments rolls out Attractions.io mobile app platform
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Twycross Zoo go paperless with Attractions.io
We're pleased to announce that Twycross Zoo have launched their brand new app on the Attractions.io platform.
Twycross Zoo have launched a brand new mobile app for guests, powered by the Attractions.io platform.
The zoo, set in 80 acres of beautiful rural countryside in the heart of England, boasts almost 100 different species and has one of the largest collections of primates in Europe, including gibbons and chimpanzees.
Following the launch of the app, the attraction has stopped printing their traditional paper maps in favour of the app, and are asking visitors to make their mark on sustainability through a new campaign.
The app's interactive map uses GPS to display the exact location of guests in real-time, and visitors can plot the quickest route from A to B in a tap.
Karen Clarke, Chief Operating Officer at Twycross Zoo, is delighted with the app: "Our aim was to launch a mobile app that puts everything you need to have a great day at your fingertips, whether it's up-coming talk schedules or information on our essential conservation work.
"By going digital-first and replacing our paper maps with an interactive version, we're proud to be making further strides in protecting our environment and reducing our carbon footprint."
As well as maps, the app helps guests to plan their day and provides access to exclusive offers. Meanwhile, Twycross Zoo can trigger highly-targeted messages to guests based on their location and behaviour.
Mark Locker, Attractions.io CEO, added: "We're incredibly pleased to be helping Twycross Zoo better serve their customers. It's a privilege to work with an organisation who are leading by example on the environmental challenges of today."
Read our factsheet to find out more about the benefits mobile apps can bring to zoos and wildlife attractions:
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Any player/Any era: Stan Musial
Claim to fame: There’s no better player to write about this Thanksgiving than a baseball legend who turned 90 on Sunday. In his 22 years with the St. Louis Cardinals, Stan Musial established himself as one of the most beloved players in baseball history. Even now, nearly 50 years after his Hall of Fame career ended in 1963, Musial remains an iconic figure. A public campaign for Musial led to an announcement on November 17 that he’ll receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the country.
In a sense, though, I think Musial is underrated. Sure, there’s the universal adoration in the baseball world and the celebration of his impressive stats, like his .331 lifetime batting average, .976 OPS or 3,630 hits, among the best numbers ever. Still, I don’t know if it’s understood that Musial had one of his best seasons– 1946 when he was National League MVP and led the Cardinals to a World Series title—in a year that favored pitchers. If we transport Musial and his .365 batting average that season to a great year for hitters, he might have hit .400.
Era he might have thrived in: It’s really not a question of what year Musial might have hit .400 in, but how many different ones would have allowed it. Here are five sure bets:
1. 1901 with the Philadelphia Athletics
2. 1925 with the St. Louis Browns
3. 1930 with the Philadelphia Phillies
4. 1936 with the Boston Red Sox
5. 1999 with the Colorado Rockies
Why: First, we have to look at what Musial lost in 1946. Baseball was returning from World War II, and even Musial, who played through most of the war, missed the 1945 season serving in the navy. Returns from long breaks generally favor pitchers, possibly due to timing issues that hitters encounter getting back into gear—just look at the gaudy pitching numbers every April and May. In 1946, this lasted for a season, with each National League team averaging 3.958 runs per game (by contrast, in 1930, the NL average was 5.684 runs.) World War II signaled the shift in baseball from the hitter-happy 1920s and ’30s to a game where less runs were scored, fewer players hit .380, and pitchers came to dominate.
Musial had another thing working against his numbers in 1946. While he played on a championship club, it hit a modest .265 with just three players over .300: Musial, Enos Slaughter, and Whitey Kurowski. Slaughter, like Musial, turned in a stellar season and later made Cooperstown, but in another era, Musial might have had a superior teammate to boost his average higher. After all, Babe Ruth had Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb had Harry Heilmann, and Willie Mays had Willie McCovey. In the arrangement here, Musial could be teammates with Napoleon Lajoie on the Athletics, George Sisler on the Browns, or Jimmie Foxx on the Red Sox, among other Hall of Famers.
If we plug Musial into any of these teams he thrives. Obscenely. With the help of the stat converter on Baseball-Reference.com, here are his stats from each club:
Year G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB BA OBP SLG
Real ’46 totals 156 624 124 228 50 20 16 103 7 73 .365 .434 .587
1901 Athletics 138 595 148 245 54 22 18 123 8 78 .412 .482 .667
1925 Browns 155 666 163 272 60 24 20 136 9 87 .408 .479 .661
1930 Phillies 155 686 182 292 64 26 21 152 9 93 .426 .497 .687
1936 Red Sox 155 684 180 290 64 26 21 150 9 93 .424 .495 .686
1999 Rockies 163 730 200 316 70 28 23 167 10 101 .433 .504 .700
(If the Colorado numbers make anyone wonder how well other all-time greats might have done with the ’99 Rockies, check out this post from July.)
There are probably many other teams Musial could have hit .400 on. He was a .400 hitter in everything except his era. In life, he’s been something more.
Any player/Any era is a Thursday feature here that looks at how a player might have done in an era besides his own.
Others in this series: Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, Bob Caruthers, Dom DiMaggio, Fritz Maisel, George Case, Harmon Killebrew, Home Run Baker, Jack Clark, Jackie Robinson, Jimmy Wynn, Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Frederick, Josh Hamilton, Ken Griffey Jr., Nate Colbert, Pete Rose, Rickey Henderson, Roberto Clemente, Sam Thompson, Sandy Koufax, Shoeless Joe Jackson, The Meusel Brothers, Ty Cobb, Willie Mays
Posted on November 25, 2010 Author howardCategories MLB
7 thoughts on “Any player/Any era: Stan Musial”
alvy5521 says:
Stan the Man was never underrated when he played. He was considered one of the greatest ever while he was still playing. He certainly was a much better all-round player than the Splendid Splinter was. It’s obvious that Stan’s mild-mannered nature did not attract the attention of more charismatic players like Dimaggio, Williams, Mantle and Mays.
Hi Alvy,
I don’t know if I was saying Musial was underrated in his time. I just think people get so caught up in what his image represents today, as an icon from better days for baseball, that they may not recognize the full range of Musial’s athletic prowess.
old side armer says:
Just wondering if Musial was slow a foot or just not expected to run much. He had alot of doubles and triples that would indicate speed. My dad said he hit alot of line drives in the gaps and down the lines also.
Sorry Graham, I didn’t quite write my comment correctly. I actually agreed with you that since his retirement Musial has slowly become a forgotten man and had lost the spotlight to more charismatic and controversial peers like Williams, Mays, Mantle, etc. Much in the same way that Hank Aaron did almost until Barry Bonds started challenging Aaron homerun record. Now Hank is deservedly a grand ol’ man of the game as Ted Williams was and finally getting his due. Musial finally did start getting some recognition some time after Teddy Ballgame passed away, but poor Stan has been increasingly ill and cannot take advantage of even the little acclaim he’s gotten. Truth is, that in his day, he was feared and respected by opposing players and fans and was a living icon, but perhaps his good nature and joyfully staying out of the limelight in St. Louis, unlike Ted Williams has made him the odd man out. But what a great player. I’m from Brooklyn where “Stan da Man” was actually coined, and the loved to hate him there with a lot of affection and respect.
Old side armer, Musial wasn’t a speed demon in the likes of Mantle or Mays but he had decent speed and was a very smart baserunner.
Don’t forget he could pitch too!
Peter Meis says:
Stan The Man was also known as The Donora Greyhound. He was from Donora, Pa. You forgot already that he led the league in triples five times, and in doubles eight times. You can’t reach those bags without some speed. Stan always seems to be getting the short end of the deal. Only the fastest men always hit the most triples, but first, you have to hit the ball in the gaps or down the line all the time.
In 1948, he led the league in everything but homers. He missed that by one because he had one rained out before the fifth inning, or else he would have been the only man in MLB history to have led in everything in the same year.
He came the closest.
I read that some idiot voters in some poll named the all-time team from the 20th century, and Stan was not even on it. That shows what they know today, which, apparently, is not too much. When Bud Selig saw the list, he added Stan’s name at once.
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World-renowned bassist Rudy Sarzo will be performing live at GoDpsMusic and streaming live at GoDpsMusic.com.
In addition to his live performance, Rudy will also give a clinic on bass techniques and talk about his experience as a professional musician who has played in sold out stadiums across the globe. Throughout his career, Sarzo has performed with some of the biggest names in music including Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot, White Snake, and DIO, among others.
Rudy Sarzo is a professional recording and performing artist worldwide with a career spanning over 35 years.
As a member of Ozzy Osbourne’s band, from March 1981 to September 1982, Rudy toured the world in support of the “Blizzard of Ozz” and “Diary Of a Madman” records. His bass playing can be heard on Ozzy’s multimillion selling CD “Tribute” and “Speak of the Devil” CD and DVD.
As a member of Quiet Riot from 1982 to 1985, Rudy recorded the multi-platinum albums “Metal Health,” the first Heavy Metal debut to reach #1 on the Billboard charts, and “Condition Critical.” During this period he headlined worldwide tours, appeared on numerous MTV videos and was voted #1 Bassist in Circus Magazine for 1983.
As a member of Whitesnake from April 1987 to September 1994, Rudy recorded the multi-platinum album “Slip of the Tongue.” During this period he also performed worldwide on headline tours in support of the multiplatinum “1987” and “Slip of the Tongue” albums and appeared on six MTV videos.
As a member of the reunited Quiet Riot from 1997 to 2003, Rudy performed worldwide on headlining tours and as special guests in support of the Quiet Riot CDs “Alive and Well” and “Guilty Pleasure.” He also appeared on VH1’s Quiet Riot, Behind the Music. In November of 2003, “Quiet Riot Live in The 21st Century” DVD was released after the group disbanded. Rudy’s recordings with all of these artists combined have sold over 30 million copies.
In February of 2004, Rudy joined Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force for the U.S. 30 city “Attack Tour.”
In April of 2004, Rudy became member of the multi-platinum Heavy Metal group DIO and remained the band’s bassist until Ronnie’s passing in 2010. During that time Rudy toured the world with DIO and recorded the “Holy Diver 25th Anniversary LIVE” DVD and CD and DIO’s last studio track “Elektra.”
In addition, when Rudy was not busy with DIO, he toured the world with Blue Oyster Cult until 2012.From 2013 through 2014 Rudy was a recording and touring member of Geoff Tate’s Queensryche.
In 2005, Rudy published the Kindle #1 Best Selling book, “Off the Rails: Aboard the Crazy Train in the Blizzard of Ozz.”
Today, Rudy continues to tour and record as a solo artist and with such bands as Animetal USA, Project Rock and GUNZO.
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entertainment theatre
Theatre at the Barbican Centre
By Beast London December 9, 2019 February 25, 2020
Leave a Comment on Theatre at the Barbican Centre
Add these plays to your London hit list...
Pushing the boundaries of all art forms from dance to film and theatre, Barbican Centre hosts some of the best plays in East London – these are our top picks…
As dramatic text, Measure for Measure boasts all the trappings of a classic Shakespearean comedy: disguise as convenient plot device, questionable humour and a deeply troubling final act. Even so, this Royal Shakespeare Company production at the Barbican Theatre, confidently directed by the RSC’s very own Greg Doran, is a rampant success. The themes of depravity, sexual energy and lust throb tumescently in this spirited production; the enormous ensemble lunge into their scene-making roles with gusto.
Lucy Phelps, who shone in As You Like It as Rosalind (also currently playing at the Barbican), delivers an exquisite turn as Isabella. The visage of horror she adopts at the play’s denouement haunts me still – an updated and more appropriate response to being unilaterally betrothed to a man who’s been deceiving her as to his true identity for the past three acts or so. Also deserving of a special mention is said Duke, embodied by Antony Byrne, whose brawny delivery and easy charisma keeps one perpetually rapt. This one’s worth pootling along to for this pair of board-treaders alone.
Plays until 16th January 2020
Directed by Justin Audibert, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s gender-inverted production of Taming of the Shrew plays at the Barbican this Autumn and Winter. This incarnation of William Shakespeare’s most notorious of comedies sees the male roles played predominantly by women and vice versa. This production rides on the frothy cusp of the prevailing, and juicily zeitgeisty, gender politic wave.
Seeing a mother (Baptista) selling off her two sons Bianco (originally Bianca) and Katherine (originally also Katherine, much to the amusement of the audience) is really rather striking. As is hearing the female characters declaiming the forthright political language, normally enunciated by the men. By upending the play in this way, instead of hearing an audience tut righteously at the Elizabethan gender politics, so outdated under the modern gaze, I felt the Barbican frequenters were rapt, ingesting the meaning of the words spoken in a way they’d perhaps hitherto overlooked.
With a 20-strong ensemble, the stage swims with talented actors, both in principal and supporting roles. Particularly notable is Sophie Stanton’s Gremia, who glides daintily around the stage under her gargantuan hooped skirt. The audience erupted with glee as, after much gliding, she finally lets her elegant, twinkle-toed façade drop, striding off the stage with Alan-A-Dale-like lopes. All the elements combine to make this an era-defining production of a problematic play; do see it.
Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS
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Home / Media / Archive / 2018 / 2018 May
‘Pathetic’ A27 bypass study stuck in 20th century
Campaign for Better Transport has branded a study commissioned by West Sussex County Council, which suggests two controversial options for improvements to the A27 at Chichester, as ‘pathetic’.
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‘Price gouging’ complaint filed against $800K anti-malarial drug sale to state
Accountability/Transparency, Better Utah in the News, Healthcare, Issues, News
This article originally appeared on KSL News. Read it in its entirety here.
SALT LAKE CITY — The group Alliance for a Better Utah filed a “price gouging” complaint Tuesday against the Utah pharmacy Meds in Motion, which last month sold the state 20,000 doses of anti-malarial drugs for $800,000 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The people of Utah deserve to have this matter investigated,” Chase Thomas, Alliance for a Better Utah’s executive director, said in a prepared statement.
“As if price gouging wasn’t bad enough, price gouging of an unproven drug during a pandemic in a transaction that uses public funds is truly beyond the pale,” Thomas said. “The public trust is at stake here, and Meds in Motion and Dan Richards must be held accountable if they are found to have used this crisis to pad their pockets.”
Dan Richards, owner of Meds in Motion and a Utah pharmacy lobbyist, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The price gouging complaint, filed with the Utah Department of Consumer Protection, alleges the $40 the state of Utah paid per medication pack — which includes chloroquine, zinc and hydroxychloroquine, according to an invoice of the transaction — far exceeded fair pricing for the drugs.
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by b2tw | January 25, 2012 · 4:15 AM
Ten-plus Cultural Experiences I’m Still Thinking About Now that 2011’s Done with Us
by Carl Wilson
[With trademark untimeliness, Back to the World is presenting a series of belated, cross-genre, year-end lists, as we did last year, and again loosely on the model of Greil Marcus’s long-running Real Life Rock Top Ten. Margaux posted last week and Chris will post soon. Once again I’ve confined myself to topics I haven’t written about at length here before, or in my year-end chatter in the Slate Music Club (and accompanying Spotify playlist).]
1. Marcus Boon, In Praise of Copying (out, late 2010; read, early 2011)
The Toronto-based writer, musician and scholar Marcus Boon’s generous intervention (that’s a full, free PDF) over one of the issues of our time (cf SOPA) seemed to echo everywhere – as far out as the viral reproduction of revolutionary courage through Arab countries, and the call-and-response of the “human microphone” of Occupy Wall Street and its own hashtag-breeding copycats.
What I found so moving, even given the book’s digressive wander through a potentially infinite subject (and the foolhardiness of trying to control infinitudes) was its restoration of copying’s many sensual and spiritual connotations in what has been much too abstract and legalistic a debate. The back-and-forth weave and warp of repetition and difference is a pervasive leitmotif of existence, and not just the human. Boon’s treatment is elusive, with no definitive answers, but that means it will reward repeated re-reading, never just a copy of the first time.
2. The sex scenes in Todd Haynes’ Mildred Pierce (March, 2011)
There was a lot of debate about what Haynes, one of my favourite American film directors, did in his HBO mini-series with the template of the 1940s melodrama starring, of course, Joan Crawford: Had he evacuated the original film’s queerness, its camp, and left only a portrait of a status-and-materialism-driven woman who brings ruin, reinstating the misogyny of James M. Cain’s 1941 novel? Yes and no. Yes, he was bringing back the sting of the novel’s more radical anti-capitalism. But he was also taking the mini-series’ extra time to push the viewer’s nose far deeper into the mortification (social death, social stiffening) Kate Winslet’s Mildred endures when all the guarantees of the social contract are pulled out from under her by economic-cycle brutality and masculine bad faith, and the contradictions she helplessly generates (chiefly in her daughter, almost earning Evan Rachel Wood’s scenery-masticating performance) in the course of trying to maintain vestiges of her expectations within that outcaste position.
But Haynes also grants Winslet’s Mildred a grace Crawford’s could never taste – full-blown, full-grown sensual gratification, in her leggy, languorous love scenes with Guy Pearce as aristocratic reprobate Monty Beragon, the real sex object of the piece. Granted, the plot ensures this is in many ways another trap, but between them the actors and Haynes refuse that old morality’s to overpower the commandments of skin and light on skin, the manifesto for being and perseverance that an intimate bodily encounter can’t utter but can proclaim. It enacts what camp once did but no longer can: victory within defeat, not just despite but also because of loss, in its unapologetic ensnarement with entropy and other ultimate unfairnesses, against which desire still demands, “Live all you can.”
By making that so vivid, and driven by the will of the “unrespectable” woman, Haynes discredited his own tragedy, asking why a male film figure like George Clooney or Clark Gable (whom Pearce’s Monty directly recalls) can give that same kind of vicarious pleasure and get at best lightly slapped, while Mildred Pierce has to be dragged through the shoals. In this, though the rest isn’t perfect, Haynes really made a melodrama to end all melodrama.
3. WTF with Marc Maron interviewing Bryan Cranston (June 10); Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul on Breaking Bad (all year)
If you measured by the number of hours spent on it in the year, you would conclude my most cherished art form is not music, literature, live performance or even TV, but the podcast. Check my iTunes: I’m currently subscribed to about 65, though the majority are really radio shows, not native to the pod. And the majority of those aren’t mwhusic but talk. Perhaps it’s that I live alone and am comforted by the chatter during cleaning, cooking, trying to go to sleep and other routines (I wish I were better with silence). But it’s also because non-broadcast radio lets people take liberties with talk – that most eternally human of media – that feel fresh and exciting without being consciously experimental and avant. There’s no better example, title down, than Marc Maron’s What the Fuck?! I came to it a little late, compelled by its backstory: A veteran, never breakout comedian who’s struggled with personal demons gets new career success and satisfaction by sitting down with people in his field in his garage and asking them frank, patient questions of craft, d but also how their own flaws and hauntings have affected their stories – empathetically sounding their barriers and/or divulging his admiring but frustrated puzzlement at how they surpass them.
The editions that draw hype tend to be confronting, sensational – a showdown with a hack, an uncomfortable discussion with a friend, a comedy writer confessing an attempted suicide. But I love the quieter talks he has with people about their growth. One of my favourites was with Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, and not just because he’s an actor whose work left me wide-eyed over the past several years (as it clearly did Maron). Cranston is at once enormously garrulous and open about his route to his ambitions (he tells stories with theatrical gusto) and humble (not showbiz humble, but humble) and grateful for the improbable fact that his journeyman dues-paying led to an artistic and career jackpot. I listened in early summer and have thought about it at least weekly since.
Bryan Cranston, out of character … and in.
For several months, that was partly because a highlight of each week was the fourth season of Breaking Bad, the best drama on television since The Wire, even better if only because it had the previous show to go by (just as The Wire had The Sopranos). Unlike those two, it isn’t a big ensemble piece. Supporting players are super, but this is a show about two people, Cranston’s Walter White and his protégé (considering how terribly he’s protected, that’s exactly the wrong word): Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman. I have nothing original to add to the accolades: Beyond character and cinematic weave, what’s remarkable is its arc in which a good man becomes very far from good, at first for circumstantial reasons and then for deeply rooted ones, and the audience has to test how far our sympathies can extend, even as we vicariously participate in the rot.
The season finale is the obvious standout, featuring both one of the most ingenious murder scenes ever committed to film or video and an ending many viewers might find it hard to get past (and not just for its dangling plot threads). But three weeks earlier, there was an atypical episode, in which the focus shifted from Walter to Jesse for nearly the whole hour and forced the younger man to find unexpected strengths. It mattered because the question has become whether anyone in this saga will walk away alive with something like an intact soul, and there’s really only one hope left. Here we begin to see that a story that seemed to be about one person and his themes and issues might really be a story about someone and something else. As always: The story of the parents turns into the story of the children, which then turns out to be the story of their children, and the next, and so on. If it doesn’t, that’s when there’s real trouble. (Attention, anyone who compared Occupy Wall Street to Woodstock.)
4. The consolations of comedy: Party Down on Netflix, “Adults in Autumn” (Chris Locke, Kathleen Phillips, Nick Flanagan, Rebecca Kohler, Jon McCurley, Tom Henry
, Glenn Macaulay) at Double Double Land (November), Louis CK at the Sony Centre (October) and Louie, Maria Bamford at Comedy Bar (January), Parks & Recreation, Community, the Comedy Bang Bang podcast …
Along with having become a podcast nerd – and abetted by it – what really struck me in 2011 is that over the past several years I was becoming a comedy nerd. I’m now usually more enthusiastic to go see people say funny things than to hear a concert, or to listen to or watch comedy on my computer than to listen to music. I follow local comics, especially the way-underpublicized Kathleen Phillips, as avidly as I used to follow bands, even here in the greatest musickest citiest of them all-est. I am still puzzling. Perhaps it’s just that a change is as good as a rest, as they say: The comedy nodes in my brain may be less worn-down than the music nodes. Or perhaps there really is more fresh happening in comedy than in music (in Toronto specifically or in general?), or more likely that whatever was new a half-decade ago or more to true comedy nerds finally has become obvious and available to us rabble. (The fact that I still don’t love the Best Show on WFMU is the clinching evidence, right?)
Or as Woody Allen would say, maybe I just needed the eggs. A lot of us had a grim year.
And speaking of eggs, I agree completely with Margaux about the Louie duckling-in-Afghanistan episode.
5. Have Not Been the Same by Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack and Jason Schneider: reissue (June), panel (Soundscapes, Toronto, July) and CD (November)
Have I gotten this far without having to declare any conflicts of interest? No matter, plenty more to come.
Even in this supposedly retromanic age of eternal re-re-return, the bubbles of cultural history with local habitations but no names can easily pop away and leave only stains on the barroom floors. A decade ago, three Canadian music writers, one of them my friend Michael Barclay, tried to guard against that by writing a history of the Canadian music world (mostly indie division) from the mid-‘80s to the mid-‘90s, Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance. It was a fairly thankless task in 2001, when those scenes were waninh, fractured and with little apparent trace, though since the book mentioned dozens upon dozens of people it sold well enough. Perceptively, though, they later realized the Canadian successes of recent years lent their subject renewed relevance – and that made it incomplete as history. So they undertook many more interviews, updated the individual stories and overall tale with a new introduction and conclusion and brought the book back this year. They held launch concerts and discussions – including a panel at Soundscapes record shop in Toronto with Julie Doiron (ex-Eric’s Trip, current-Julie Doiron), Don Pyle (ex-Shadowy Men, ex-Phono Comb, many more, current Trouble in the Camera Club) and Alison Outhit (ex-Rebecca West, ex-Halifax Pop Explosion, current FACTOR) that was one of the most worthwhile discussions of how musicians and music live and that life has changed I’ve experienced in ages, even (I think) without nostalgia.
Michael’s also curated a companion soundtrack, possibly the first of many, with more recent Can-Rockers playing gems from the book’s era. Which coverers and coverees you like best likely will depend on your own faves: For me, there’s something especially poignant about the Hidden Cameras coaxing out the gentleness of Mecca Normal’s “Throw Silver,” or Richard Reed Parry (of Arcade Fire) and Little Scream slipping into the steamy ether of Mary Margaret O’Hara’s “When You Know Why You’re Happy.” Maps overlaid, outlines of one sunken continent shimmering around the contours of one newer-risen. Lenses, focusing other lenses, or a more vibrant blur.
6. Stand-In (1937) with Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart and Joan Blondell, on Turner Classic Movies (August 24)
Not at all new, of course, but new to me when I stumbled upon it on TV in the summer. It’s a bundle of this-but-that: A screwball, Hollywood-skewers-Hollywood comedy that bridges Bogart’s tough-guy and leading-man days, with Busby Berkeley star Joan Blondell (the excuse for its airing, in an evening featuring her) being cutesy-charming but also the brains of the outfit, Leslie Howard stiff and patrician-blinkered but then melting and gaining his senses, and the whole thing ending with a ridiculous/stirring Hollywood labour uprising that gives away its Depression-to-New Deal moment, hard to imagine in many other eras. Apparently the original was more radical still – censored were “a speech about the stifling of competition in the industry and the crushing of independent companies by the majors; and … a speech by Atterbury at the end, in which he says he is going to start a Senate investigation of the motion picture business.”
Here’s a link to the whole movie, as long as it lasts:
It probably stuck with me because the broadcast just preceded the #Occupy moment, but anything mainstream-American that talks explicitly of economic justice without patting itself on the back until its spine breaks (like recent supposed treatments of the financial crisis), frankly, is memorable on its own.
7. The Citizens’ Filibuster (July 28)
Another classic movie came to mind in Toronto a month earlier, on the night of July 28: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. We mentioned it and pictured it here at the time, but too briefly: The bizarre, nearly-24-hour session of citizen testimony – or, as it became known, the “citizens’ filibuster” – against Rob Ford’s attempt to slash budgets was, just as Torontoist says, one of the truly heroic moments of the year, here or anywhere: Our local mini-Newt’s attempt to force closure became the opposite, a populist force to pry the oyster of debate back open, which led to this month’s still-surprising turnabout, in which Ford’s agenda was, for the time being, trounced.
Culturally, whether you were at City Hall or following it on the simulcast and especially social media, it was incredible civic theatre, in which vivid characters (none more heart-tugging than the one below, but some others close) displayed the eloquence and, more significantly, the expertise of so-called ordinary people who normally aren’t even allowed to pick up the marbles in the political game. It’s a contrast to the ugly pro-death-penalty and anti-immigrant ovations of selected attendees at Republican primary debates, for instance. Don’t let those things kill your faith in humanity. The corpse of that faith is what the vultures feed upon.
8. DJs Debate Club at the Henhouse (March 6)
This entry’s a tad more self-indulgent: For the past few years, the Henhouse on Dundas West in Toronto has been the place that I and a few close friends have gone to get our cheap beers on and make like Jonathan Richman, except in a post-Will-Munro-polymorphic Third Place. Our hosts Katie Ritchie, Jenny Smyth and Vanessa Dunn made us more than welcome, and last spring invited me and pal Michael McManus (yes, the last of the Brunnen-G) to DJ one night under our Henhouse nickname, Debate Club (for our propensity to jawbone loudly about politics till closing time).
On the theme of #occupy-precursors that runs through this list, Michael decided we should intercut tracks of famous political speeches between tracks. It would have been a big hit if it had been six months later. Instead we eventually abandoned poor Mario Savio when cooler (but sweatier) heads prevailed and taught us girls just wanna have Robyn. I hadn’t DJ’d since the last time I supplied Wavelength with an iPod playlist, and had forgotten what a rush it is to play music very, very loud, like conjuring worlds, and sex, and astral projection. (Thanks also to Jacob Zimmer, Small Wooden Shoe and Dancemakers for letting me do it again at a fundraiser in December.)
The Henhouse has changed hands now, sadly for its denizens, end of an era. Ladies, you regularly made a room a festival and a roundup of strays into a small community, as best a bar can do. You’ll be missed, but I’m excited to see what you all do next.
9. Misha Glouberman’s Negotiation Class (winter/spring)
Along with assuming the role of author (along with our comrade Sheila Heti) of The Chairs are Where the People Go (about which I really recommend this Los Angeles Review of Books podcast, along with LARB in general), B2TW associate Misha embarked on another new venture this year: An experienced teacher of many forms of improvisation and facilitator of conferences and events, he began this year giving a class in negotiation and communication born of both his innate inclinations to and his concerted studies of reason, compromise and low-bullshit ways for people to have difficult conversations.
I took the pilot-workshop version of it last winter, with mostly Misha’s friends in it, at a time that I was navigating some crucial personal and professional transitions; some parts worked out and some didn’t, but I’d been given new tools to break down what was happening and address it with, most of all, relative fearlessness. That’s what much of Misha’s work is about: how to cope with the fear that human exchange sparks, which causes us to act protectively in ways that read as irrational to the very people we want most to understand, and find productive alternatives. Generosity, he shows, is a more winning position – not #winning, but in the sense that there’s usually less substantial conflict than meets the eye. (The urge to win, itself, might be an evolutionary catch-22.) He’s teaching a short, intensive version of the course again next month at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
10. Quite Interesting (QI) with Alan Davies, Bill Bailey, Rob Brydon, Jimmy Carr and Stephen Fry (Sept., 2007)
Back to humour again: This is from a few years ago but I first saw it because over Vietnamese dinner Misha brought up the BBC quiz/chat/comedy show QI, hosted by Stephen Fry, so I spent an afternoon watching clips. And then I hit this, which (beginning at 0:22), makes me laugh helplessly and forgive Britain all its sins. I like to watch it any time I feel overwhelmed, with no straight lines to follow. Or maybe I’ll do it ritually every year, as a colonial amusement, the way northern Europeans watch Dinner for One.
Melancholia, especially Charlotte Rampling as the archetypical Bad Mother, and Earth as the even more archetypical Bad Mother; Kirsten Dunst at the Cannes press conference for Melancholia; the BBC series Sherlock, the other BBC series The Hour, and the other (much less smart about Britain, class and war, but still absurdly entertaining) BBC series Downton Abbey; Christian Marclay’s The Clock at Paula Cooper and Alexander McQueen’s “Savage Beauty” at the Met (the two art shows I most regret missing) and “Alexander McQueen” (the song by Tomboyfriend); Ryan Trecartin’s “Any Ever” in Queens (the show I’m gladdest I didn’t miss); the Doug Loves Movies podcast and the (for me, unplayable) Leonard Maltin Game (throughout “Two Oceans 11”); the Slate Culture Gabfest (especially being on an episode, which was a thrill); The Ex with Brass Unbound at Lee’s Palace in May; two concert/tour movies about Canadian artists that I didn’t expect to like but that each made me cry, watching them in immediate sequence, Look at What the Light Did Now (Feist) and We’re the Weakerthans, We’re from Winnipeg (Weakerthans); the saving of Saint Mark’s Bookshop; the Smee jokes in Pat Thornton’s third 24-hour standup marathon at Comedy Bar; Tim Hecker’s pipe-organ concert at the Music Gallery; poems by Michael Robbins and D.A. Powell; John Hawkes and Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene; Sandro Perri’s CD launch concerts at the Tranzac in November; Ty Segall at the Wrongbar in NXNE (June); Jeff Mangum at Trinity Saint Paul’s church in Toronto, Aug. 12; discovering this early-1980s scene from a Ron Mann art film featuring Jim Carroll and Jack Layton improbably together, both RIP, #occupymemory; as an epigraph to the year, these lines from “Hindsight,” by Richard Buckner: “Stricken as we stood/ Broken as we made/ Time for make-believe/ Stealing, when we should/ What we couldn’t give away.”
Filed under books, carl wilson, chris randle, comedy, comics, events, lectures, literature, margaux williamson, movies, music, other, poetry, TV/video, visual art
Tagged as aaron paul, adults in autumn, Alexander McQueen, breaking bad, bryan cranston, Christian Marclay, Citizens' Filibuster, community, copying, D.A. Powell, DJs debate club, Doug Benson, Downton Abbey, feist, guy pearce, have not been the same, henhouse, human microphone, humans, Jack Layton, Jeff Mangum, Jenny Smyth, jesse pinkman, Jim Carroll, john hawkes, Jon McCurley, Kate Winslet, Kathleen Phillips, katie ritchie, Kristen Dunst, Lars von Trier, Lee Smolin, louie, Louis C.K., Louis CK, marc maron, marcus boon, Melancholia, michael barclay, michael mcmanus, Michael Robbins, Mildred Pierce, misha glouberman, negotiation, Occupy Wall Street, parks and recreation, party down, QI, Quite Interesting, richard buckner, Ron Mann, Ryan Trecartin, Saint Mark's Bookshop, Sandro Perri, Seth Rogen, sherlock, slate culture gabfest, SOPA, Stand-In, the chairs are where the people go, The Clock, the hour, tim heckler, todd haynes, tomboyfriend, Vanessa Dunn, walter white, weakerthans, what the fuck
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Cinepocalypse 2019: Glenn Danzig’s VEROTIKA Is A Glorious Disaster
Neither exceptionally violent nor even remotely erotic.
By Andrew Todd Jun. 17, 2019
Legend tells of the first screening of The Room: a night where nobody knew what they were about to see, and where later, nobody quite understood what they’d seen. By all accounts, that was a screening where something special happened. Its audience can say they were there when The Room transformed from the film its director thought it was into the film the world knows it is. As a moviegoer, you live for screenings like that.
Cinepocalypse’s world premiere of Glenn Danzig’s Verotika was one of those screenings.
Based on the former Misfits frontman’s Verotik comics, Verotika (a portmanteau of "violence" and "erotica," not that the film reflects that) is nominallyv a love letter to 1970s horror anthology films: three stories, linked and presented by a host, made to disgust, frighten, and provoke. Verotika does none of those things. It’s a work of complete ineptitude on every level, to an almost unbelievable degree; a pouring-out of Danzig’s weird proclivities without an ounce of skill. And it’s absolutely fucking glorious.
Verotika’s three stories all revolve around women, which sounds surprisingly progressive until you realise all the women in the film are prostitutes, strippers, virgin sacrifices, or beauty-obsessed murderers, and played mostly by porn actors. The first story tells of a woman whose alter ego, a human-spider demon of sorts, murders people when she falls asleep. The second, a female murderer who cuts faces from her victims to cover up her burns. Rounding out the trio is a medieval tale about a Countess Bathory type bathing in virgins’ blood to stay young. None of them make sense.
Danzig made a big point in his introduction that he wasn’t interested in making “PC shit,” but rather “some fucked-up shit,” and while Verotika certainly isn’t PC, it’s not that fucked-up either. So extreme and pervasive is its misogyny that it becomes a running gag, amongst the audience only. The best gore gag comes within the first minute of the film; otherwise, the violence (and the sex) are incredibly tame by modern standards. This, too, became a running gag in the room: Danzig keeps trying to shock, but comes across as a kid who's just learned their first swear word and thinks they're real clever.
The actual content is almost secondary when it comes to the entertainment value Verotika presents. Every line of dialogue in Verotika is abysmal, delivered with the flat, emotionless drone of the talky bits of porn movies (save for one actor, playing a cop, who seems to be having fun with it). Every shot is overlit and garish, with Danzig clumsily paying homage to Mario Bava and the like via the use of primary-coloured lighting gels. Every plot point is completely illogical, every character dumb as a brick, every set like something out of a second-year film school project. There are so many weird, terrible choices in this movie that to list them would be to describe the film almost frame-by-frame.
The editing of Verotika deserves special mention. In Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, there’s a joke that episodes of the show-within-a-show were running under time, so they filled them with slow motion to make up for it. Verotika probably contains a maximum of thirty minutes of material, but it’s ninety minutes long. Shots go on and on for minutes at a time, with actors visibly running out of material, waiting for “cut,” or responding to offscreen direction by Danzig. Filmmakers often talk about the freedom digital affords them to just keep rolling between takes, but only Danzig uses that material in the final film. Accordingly, we end up as confused as the actors obviously are.
If you were to parody bad editing, it still wouldn’t be this bad. Sequences drag and drag, then cut to an alternate angle completely unmotivated, then cut back to the original angle for more dragging, fading out in seemingly arbitrary places. At one point, Danzig’s Bathory-alike bathes in a virgin’s blood, and it’s like watching someone take a nice long bath, in realtime. Verotika should be the most boring film ever made, but its editing is so consistently terrible, and bafflingly so, that even audiences unfamiliar with editing conventions will find it captivating and hilarious.
At the premiere, Danzig - who seems completely sincere about the movie he’s made - railed against Hollywood filmmaking, which he sees as inauthentic. I’ll give him this: Verotika is an exceptionally authentic film, insofar as it presents an unfiltered glimpse into the psyche of Glenn Danzig, Film Director. Irrespective of the results, Danzig made exactly the movie he wanted to. One gets the impression he isn’t watching the same movie the rest of us are, but the movie is indisputably his, with all the comical-level excess you’d expect and hope for. It’s just hard to see the film as intentionally bucking the rules, as it doesn’t appear Danzig is aware what the rules even are.
In Verotika, Glenn Danzig has truly made horror’s answer to The Room. The movie is so packed with idiosyncratically poor filmmaking that at the premiere, it generated wall-to-wall laughter even amongst an audience of die-hard Danzig supporters. Perhaps an even closer comparison point is Final Flesh, an anthology film by PFFR wherein consciously surreal scripts were sent to budget porn houses to be produced, but Danzig doesn’t have the ability to write material as exquisitely bizarre as that. It’s strange purely because of how blandly transgressive it is, in a way only Danzig would make it.
The Verotika theatrical experience is rather special. Movies this comprehensively awful, by someone this comprehensively egomaniacal, are a once-in-a-decade occurrence. Within about five minutes, our audience had completely turned on the movie, yielding near-constant laughter for the entire remaining running time. Verotika is one of the absolute worst movies I’ve seen open a festival - and for perspective, I was there when Machete Kills opened Fantastic Fest - but it’s probably the best opening-night screening I’ve attended. Don’t miss it.
cinepocalypse
verotika
Andrew Todd Gaming Editor
Andrew is a New Zealand-born writer, filmmaker, and theatre practitioner who sometimes lives in Canada. He can be read at Birth.Movies.Death., SlashFilm, IGN, Polygon, and elsewhere. His favourite movie is MIRACLE MILE, his favourite band is the Manic Street Preachers, and his favourite commenters are the ones who read the article first.
Let’s All Watch Glenn Danzig’s VEROTIKA Together This Thursday
By Scott Wampler, Mar 17, 2020
Who says social distancing has to be boring?
How To Prepare For Glenn Danzig’s Trash Opus VEROTIKA
By Andrew Todd, Mar 04, 2020
What to expect when you're expecting horror's THE ROOM.
Feast Your Eyes On The First Trailer For Glenn Danzig’s VEROTIKA
The wait is almost over.
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Battestar Galactica RPG: After Action Report
Posted by blackcampbell under Roleplaying Games | Tags: battlestar galactica rpg |
Our Battlestar Galactica campaign returned last night after a week’s hiatus, and launched straight into a fast-paced push episode. Our Colonial Security Service (our analogue for the FBI) discovered a link that they had disregarded for more time-sensitive ones — that the thirteen suspected Cylon agents they had picked up had all attended a science-fiction convention on Leonis. Researching the event, he found out it had the venue moved from he usual 2 star hotel convention hall to a swanky high-end spa on the outskirts of Luminiere, the capital of Leonis.
This is immediately suspicious, as the spa is one of those 300 qubit/night places…hardly the place that they would move a convention. The spa is isolated, high-end, and has all manner of the therapeutic treatments for stress and injury. The place, to him, “feels” important, and the photo of the owner is familiar to him, but he can’t place where. It’s a weekend, and the leadership of Operation RIPTIDE is not in for the day. Realizing the link is very tenuous, but he has this gut feeling is very important, he convinces Commander Pindarus (another PC) to get them a loaner raptor from his soon-to-be new command Galactica. (There’ a fleet tradition that if you’ve been assigned, but haven’t officially taken command, the current CO will loan you non-mission essential gear.)
The characters grab a few of the Colonial Marines that are attached to RIPTIDE but haven’t left for their weekend travels yet, snag a raptor, and jump to Leonis to check out the lead. They arrive at night and we get a view of Luminiere, the “City of Lights”. The “Old City” is very Parisian, with old, elegant buildings, a river with bridges, everything lit with old style streetlamps. The rest of the city is a riot of neon, holo-ads, reactive streets that illuminate with traffic info to supplement the heads-up on your car. It’s like Shanghai, but without restraint.
The spa is in a forest preserve outside of town, and the officer characters, Pindarus and the Riptide lawyer CPT Querro, go in with the CSS agent, Chaplain, as patrons (expensing the trip.) Their four marines, one of which is SGT Cadmus (another PC). they set up in the trees on a bluff overlookng the facility ad have a few run-ins with the guests, pretending to be other patrons of the spa. While they’re out in the rain, with the mists from the hot springs and cool rain (very atmosperic), the officers tour and enjoy the facility while Chaplain hacks the mainframe and finds a wealth of information on the Cylon operations — the kind of technology they’re using, the people they’ve used it on, and he manages to snag much of it and dumps it to a cloud drive on the LeoNet, with a timed forward to his CSS email account. He goes to find the officers and when he opens the door, there is a moment where he faces off against the wife/surgeon side of the couple that run the place.
Pindarus and Querro question the male half, a physical therapist who looks a lot like Rick Worthy. They find him pleasant and seemingly authentic, and they get him to give them a tour of the new medical facility where guests will be able to get cosmetic surgery. There they link up with Chaplain, in some sort of daze while the firmware that the Cylons put in him ten years ago during his car accident (and the inspiration for his fantasies of being abducted by aliens) — he’s been the information link that has been allowing the Cylons to stay ahead of Riptide. He has actively worked for them; they just monitor his senses and short-term memory and collected data through him — a human camera or bug.
The place is part high-end, minimalist aesthetic surgery, as advertised, but the wealth of creepy biomechanical tentacles equipped with surgical instrumetns and clusters of senors added a good creepy quality. They also see the other surgeon here…a twin or something of the owner! They quickly realize the danger they are in and the fight ensues in which we get a taste of the speed and strength of the Cylons. Even these non-combat models do a pretty good job on the characters and I had an initial worry of a total party kill. Pindarus gets pretty badly banged up, Chaplin a busted nose, and Querro — the man that almost never gets range time as a legal officer — saves the day by using a dropped pistol during the fray to drop one of the Cylons. (Chaplain got the woman.) the other surgeon escapes.
Outside, the marines get aggressed by a copy of the woman and a pair of highly-professional, but oddly robotic moving men. She drops two of the marines using a crossbow, the men have suppressed P90s that do a good job on another, leaving Cadmus alone to fight them. He takes a bolt in the ass, manages to wrestle away the P90 but it jammed (botch roll), and he wound up using the body of one of the men to catch rounds, then rolled with him down the hill they were on and off a 20′ cliff into one of the hot springs below. The woman follwed, leaping into the pool, and he stops her with a well-places underwater shot to the head (deafening himself in the process.)
The PCs link up outside the medical facility and run for their car in the parking lot. Minutes later, the medical facility (not the whole spa) blows itself all over the place in a mighty explosion. The characters inform the local CSS branch and local cops and beat a retreat to CSS HQ, where Chaplain is adamant about being debriefed immediately, the others go for medical attention.
End of play for the night. There’s a few obvious issues for the characters: What was going on with Chaplain? Pindarus is paranoid enough that this will definitely play out next session. Is the information he uploaded safe? What about the people they saw — two pairs of twins? What are the chances of that? Can the Cylons clone people? Or were they machines with flesh covering? How will the brass — already peeved over other high profile mistakes in the last few sessions — going to handle a major explosion with at least a half dozen civilians injured and off-duty three marines dead? (Not to mention to officers injured…)
Tags: battlestar galactica rpg
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Busch Gardens Tampa to change the heart of the park with Pantopia and Falcon’s Fury
By ErikNov 24, 2013, 08:25 am
Timbuktu has always been a much traveled to destination, bringing in travelers from all over the world, and offering something from the various corners of the known world. Now that heart is changing, and visitors to the heart of Busch Gardens Tampa will be brought to a new land, inspired by the spirit of the animals, as Pantopia will bring all new experiences and the majesty of Falcon’s Fury when it debuts next Spring.
The current area of Timbuktu will be rethemed and feature all new restaurants, a bakery and some other special surprises that the park isn’t ready to share just yet. Elaborately jeweled themes, that celebrate the animals will be one of the many aspects of the new area. The centerpiece of Pantopia will be the all new Falcon’s Fury. The drop tower, which was announced earlier this year, will take riders 335 feet up into the air on the world’s tallest free standing drop tower. Riders will then be pushed into a face down position, right before they are dropped straight down back to earth.
“In addition to the power and allure of Falcon’s Fury™, Pantopia™ will celebrate the spirit of animals, welcome adventurers from the four corners of the earth, explore ancient lore and display fantastic architecture,” says Busch Gardens Park President Jim Dean. “Guests will find multiple portals and doorways and learn about the legends that have drawn journeyers from around the world to Pantopia™. Plus, family favorites like the Scorpion, Phoenix, Bush Flyers, Desert Runners and the Kiddie Train will return.”
Currently the area features tons of attractions and kids rides. The area also features two coasters, as well as a 4D theater. The plans are to upgrade the theater for a new show, as well as the current main eatery, The Desert Grill, which also houses a show. Scorpion will stay put, but no plans have been mentioned for Sand Serpent, the Wild mouse coaster that was previously Cheetah Chase and was at Busch Gardens Williamsburg before that. Hopefully the little coaster stays put, or moves to another location in the park. It is a smaller family coaster with a small height requirement that is a perfect way to get the little ones ready to ride the bigger coasters.
Busch Gardens Tampa’s parent company opened up Antarctica:Empire of the Penguins earlier this year which was an entire land, much like Pantopia will be. While that area centered around an animal attraction, Pantopia will center around a thrill ride. However, Antarctica does featured several themed shops and restaurants, with specialty drinks and food that you can only find in Antarctica. It’s very possible that Pantopia will feature some of the same options, especially an all new drink that you can find only in the area. Antarctica features North Pole Chill. Maybe Pantopia will feature a drink for everyone called “Falcon’s Flight” or an adult beverage like “Scorpion’s Sting”.
Stay tuned as we learn more about Pantopia at Busch Gardens Tampa, and be sure to follow along on Twitter @BehindThrills for the latest updates!
TAG2014 Attractions Busch Gardens Tampa Falcons fury Pantopia
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Homepage » Cell Phone Spy » Millions of Text Messages and Data Exposed From TrueDialog Leak
Millions of Text Messages and Data Exposed From TrueDialog Leak
Cell Phone Spy Izzy Manning
A researcher at VpnMentor discovered a database housing millions of users’ information had been...
A researcher at VpnMentor discovered a database housing millions of users’ information had been exposed for quite some time. TrueDialog, an SMS texting solutions company based in Texas, was responsible for the breach. With more than five billion subscribers around the world, the TrueDialog breach has affected many people, including the company’s employees. The breach left text messages, usernames, passwords, and other data from users or customers exposed.
“We contacted the company. We disclosed our findings and offered our expertise in helping them close the data leak and ensure nobody was exposed to risk,” the researchers said. “The database has since been closed, but TrueDialog never replied to us.”
USA TODAY reached out to TrueDialog for comments about the leak.
What Was Affected By The Leak
Account Logins
This information was easily accessible once inside the database, researchers said. They were able to pull email information as well as usernames and passwords from an obvious point within the database.
They were able to view messages sent from TrueDialog, as well as conversations within the platform. The information that they were able to access included full names of account holders and users, phone numbers, dates and times messages were sent or received, and other personal account details.
Technical Logs
The technical logs show how the database was working. Which meant whoever could gain access to this information would be able to see all the traffic within the site. This could, on its own, have a significant impact on the company’s security.
TrueDialog must be aware of the data breach as it not only had an impact on the company, but their customers and employees as well. A database of such a vast volume can rarely be exposed to this type of threat. The information exposed could be a significant asset to scammers and can lead to crimes like identity theft, blackmail, or fraud.
Recent Post: How Cell Phones Are Spying on Use (According To Edward Snowden)
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Being Thalia
Christmas Masterlist
Educating Thalia
Evans One-Shots
Girls Weekend
Hiddleston One-Shots
Mrs. Evans
Emery&Chris
Steve Stories
My Guilty Pleasures
avenger-nerd-mom
April 30, 2017 May 3, 2017 avenger-nerd-mom4 Comments
Collaboration by @avenger-nerd-mom & @devikafernando
AU FICTION
A collaboration involving Professor Hiddleston and Professor Evans- The two are rivals at a posh New England university and have no idea they both have taken interest in the lovely Thalia Bareo. She’s a grad student with interests in language and history; a sassy full-figured Puerto Rican girl from Chicago. Story updates are posted on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Warnings: Language, Adult Situations, fluff, heavy life discussions
Summary: Chris learns more about Thalia over a homemade breakfast together. He finds there’s more to the dark-haired beauty than meets the eye…
Click here for intro to Educating Thalia
He turns her in his arms and clasps his hands over her rounded ass, holding her tight in the locked cage of his beefy arms. Through the gap in the sheet twisted around her body, his cock fits against her hot pussy, seeking her out again.
“Oh, no. We’re not going for Four now. Food. I’m starving,” she chuckles, pushing hard against his chest.
Her touch has a power over him, but no strength to actually move him. He smiles and teases. “Oh, that’s cute you think you could move me!”
He halts when she points to her gym membership card on the dresser and shoves him a bit harder. Not expecting it, he totters just a bit and throws his head back in laughter as she pulls free of his hold. Shit, she could probably kick his ass…
Moving to the closet, she gathers clothes and steps towards the doorway, then stops and throws the clothes on the bed. She rolls her eyes. “What’s the point? You’ve already seen me naked and didn’t run off…”
If anything it made him want to run closer to her. He looks around for his clothes but pauses to watch her thoughtfully as she dresses. He doesn’t want to go home to his empty condo. “Enough of that… you’re a sensual goddess, and I don’t wanna hear any more about that.” He looks to her smartly when she audibly scoffs.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me,” he points. “I’ll do everything I can to make you believe me.” He catches a pair of sweatpants she tosses to him and with a shrug, puts them on. “Hungry, huh? Last night you said pancakes. What if I make pancakes while you study?”
Looking up from tying her loose sweats, her jaw momentarily drops. “You wanna cook for me?”
“It’s mix and water. It’s not that hard,” he replies, still feeling like a manly man for offering, but pancakes, he can do.
Pulling a superhero t shirt over her head she returns his laughter. “Mix? I don’t know what women you’ve been with, but real women make their pancakes from scratch.” She runs her hand down his chest, straightening out the twisted elastic at his waist and then pulling it back and releasing it with a snap before leaving the room.
“Fuck,” Chris whispers following her out of the bedroom. “From scratch?”
He watches her gather measuring spoons and a large skillet. She opens a cabinet door and points to a recipe taped inside. “It’s easy. The one my stepmother always uses,” she explains. “It says ‘vanilla optional.’ It’s not. Add the vanilla,” Thalia requests. “Are you sure? I can make them quick, or even call the diner and pre-order something?”
Washing his hands, Chris grins at her. “Sit down and study. I can handle a Sunday morning breakfast.”
He notices her pause as she gathers some books to sit at the kitchen table. Measuring out the flour and sugar he can feel her eyes on him and knows she’s studying anatomy and not… whatever it is she’s supposed to be studying right now.
“Chris,” her curious voice interrupts him as he dollops the first serving of batter into the warm pan. “The comment about ‘women you’ve been with?’ I shouldn’t have said that… I’m really sorry. I… I just remembered stuff I’ve heard in the faculty workroom… So? It was a pretty bad divorce?”
Running his hand over his mouth and down his beard, his eyes sadden, nodding his head. Scratching his eyebrow, he tells her, “I appreciate your concern, but I really don’t wanna talk about it. That’s what I have therapy for.”
“Ok. Fair enough…” She watches as he expertly flips the pancakes, biting her lip. “You also made the perfect braid… “ she smiles, playing with her now loose tresses.. “A daughter? How old is she?”
Opening a cabinet and finding the plates, Chris pulls two down and places them on the counter. Turning, he rests his hip against the counter and smiles brightly. “Avery is five; she’s my light… Her mother wouldn’t let me see her last night. That’s how I ended up drunk in a bar… The last two times I was supposed to see her, there’s been some lame excuse.”
Turning back, he takes the pancakes off the heat and serves them up on the plates. Thalia moves her books to the side, and he feels bad she’s not getting any studying accomplished.
When he sets the plate in front of her, she touches his arm. “I bet you’re a good dad. Don’t give up. Your ex will see you’re trying, no matter what your differences are, and she can’t deny the facts.”
Sitting down at the little table with her, his large legs bump against hers and he enjoys her comfort. “Thank you; I’m trying. Some days are just easier, you know.”
Looking to a photo on the shelf of an older man, obviously her father, she nods her head and looks back to her plate. “Yea, I do.” She cuts up her pancakes and reaches for the syrup, her hand brushing his as he grabs for it at the same time. “These look amazing. You did good.”
They enjoy a friendly breakfast. Chris asks her about the funeral notice and she tells her about her friend and he shares a few stories about Avery. The speed with which they’ve settled in with one another alarms Chris and he already feels a tug on his conscious, trying to tell himself again she’s a student, and this is so damn wrong.
But he doesn’t really fucking care.
The pancakes were pretty damn good, for a first try, and he’ll remember to add vanilla the next time he makes some, even if he uses a mix. Clearing away the table, she begins to rise but he stops her. “No. Study. I’m in your way. I really need to go.”
She smiles sweetly, tilting her head. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s kinda nice to have a man around,” she places her empty plate in his outreached hand. “I mean, you should probably go get dressed, so I’m not distracted, but I’m going to study, really. Once I get into it, I’ll focus… You are welcome to stay.”
“I do have some emails I could answer, some papers to grade. Not all of us have grad students to do that for us,” he comments wryly, placing the dishes in the sink, catching the blush rise on her cheeks.
“Professor Evans,” Thalia announces sternly and with authority, “any faculty member needing assistance simply has to apply in the office of student affairs. It’s work study and helps keep tuition down for the students like me. You can request short term help with things like grading tests and papers, or long term assistance if you were working on a large research project for the University.”
“God, please don’t call me ‘Professor.’ I really fuckin’ hate that title. It sounds so pretentious. And I try to be anything but that. ‘Pretty boy.’ That’s a title I could get used to,” he teases.
Her eyes widen as she remembers talking to Jim before leaving the bar last night. She cringes. “It was so noisy! How did you hear that?” she asks incredulously.
“I never reveal my sources,” he taunts, heading to her room to change back into his clothes.
Returning to the kitchen a few minutes later, Chris sits back down and powers up his phone, a question bugging at the back of his mind. “So what’s the story with Jim, anyway? He seems very protective of you.”
Looking up from her tablet, she opens a textbook and smiles. “That’s Papa Jim. He and my dad were in Desert Storm together and have been like brothers ever since… he and his wife were so excited when I was accepted to school here.” She glances at her scribbled notes and flips to another section of the book, looking over to Chris. “To save money, they actually helped me establish residency here and I lived with them for about two and a half years, until I felt secure enough to afford an apartment with friends.”
Chris can’t keep his eyes off her. Her little movements and quirks. She’s fascinating to watch. She twists her hair away from her face and ties it in a loose bun, sticking a pencil through the thick knot to hold it in place. How is that even possible?
“Worst six months of my life, that apartment. They thought it was party central… I was so glad to get out of that lease when I went over to study in Europe the first time.” She shivers at an old memory. “And a friend stayed here and took over my lease this last summer when I was working on some research in England.” Looking around the room, it’s like she’s seeing it again for the first time, maybe through his eyes. “I like it here. It’s cramped, and full of junk and crap, but it’s mine, ya know?”
His eyes sadden briefly. He does ‘know’ but hasn’t felt that way in a long time. He shrugs his shoulders. “Still working on making my place feel like ‘home.’ To be honest, some nights I feel more comfortable in my office, or falling asleep in one of the bean bags chairs in the library.”
She clears her throat and leans forward over her book, picking up a highlighter to mark a note. “I remember when my mom left and got a new place. Hate to tell ya, it’ll probably feel like that for awhile.”
“Thank you for the uplifting sentiment; mind if I just stick my head in the oven now, so I won’t die alone?”
Her shoulders rock with laughter and he watches as once again, she jiggles in a bra that just isn’t the right fit for her. That would be a situation he would love to remedy for her. A little lingerie shopping and modeling of styles can always lift the spirits.
“I’m talking too much. I’m keeping you from your work… But I do have one more question, then I’ll be quiet; I promise.”
Opening another book, she places it on top of the huge volume already displayed on the table. “Shoot. I’m an open book. Whatever you want to know…”
“Well fuck, now it’s two things, cuz I just thought of something else I’m curious about.”
She giggles and gets up from her chair. Moving to the fridge, she retrieves two water bottles, handing one to him over his shoulder. “You are the type that asks for one thing, and then always hopes for more, aren’t you?” She teases in his ear, pushing her body against his before returning to the chair.
He chuckles. “Yeah, probably. Like, maybe I’m just hanging around now for the hopes of Four?” He smiles at the shake of her head and continues. “Ok, first question. You’re obviously brilliant. You’ve studied in Europe; worked on a few archeology digs, and Professor Hiddleston obviously thinks highly of you; he can’t stand the state of the American education system and is always belittling students in meetings. But he tolerates you- you must be wicked smaht,” he grimaces when his old neighborhood accent shines through. “Honestly, I don’t see how you stand to work with him, but,” he tilts his head, smirking at the scowl on her face. Her beloved Professor Hiddleston… He might like to give that man shit, but he’s not going to get under her skin by knocking the man she admires… “I get the language and history connection, but still he’s just such an assh-…” Shaking his head, he stops himself. “So what do you plan to do with all your knowledge? It’s pretty diverse.”
Chris doesn’t let her know he’s actually been looking over her school records on his phone for the last few minutes. She’s a fuckin’ genius; and her areas of study as so eclectic. Linguistics, history, literature… He’s probably in the presence of one of the smartest women he’s ever met, yet she’s still so clueless about so many things.
“That is a damn good question,” she laughs, tossing her head back and slapping her thigh. “Can’t really teach high school, can I? I’d be bored in a week… I don’t know,” she says thoughtfully. “I’ve been approached by some of the top museums in the world to work as a curator and continue my archaeological work… The problem is, I’m passionate about all of it. If I do that, then I’m stuck in one field. And I think I’d hate that ‘tied down’ feeling.”
Fuck. His cock immediately perks up at her turn of phrase and the image that popped in his head. He drops the water bottle ‘accidently’ and bends to retrieve it, hoping she doesn’t see the expression on his face. Sitting back up, he can’t stop himself. “Yeah, you being tied down would be awful.”
The eraser she throws bounces off the table and hits him in the cheek. They both share in the laughter.
“You. Just sit over there with your fantasies. I’m working…” The blush on her cheeks is endearing and he knows he should leave. Soon. “Oh damn. You had a second thing. What was it?”
His cheeks now turn pink and he leans forward, resting his arms on the table. Inhaling deeply, the air is tight through his nose. “Last night… You said it was ‘taken’ a long time ago. You don’t mean-?”
“Oh, God no. No. Just some fumbling around in a back seat and not really knowing what the hell he was doing, or I was doing. It was awful,” she chuckles, “But it’s the story of my life. ‘I make rash decisions.’ And ‘I don’t know what I’m doing.’”
“I can teach you a few things,” Chris smiles, tapping his finger on the book.
The grin on her face is huge. “I’m sure you can… Now. You promised to be quiet so I can work. I hope you are a man of your word, Mister Evans.”
The two work in silence, chatting occasionally, well into the afternoon. Chris reads a bit more over her transcripts and finds notes from her research projects posted on some of the school study pages. She’s an amazing talent and would be an asset to his team in the history department as they get ready to undergo some staff changes. He contemplates what working with her would be like, but when images of bending her over his desk fill his head, he knows he’s had enough.
Rising from his seat, he cleans up the trash from the snack they’d had and moves to sit on the couch. He doesn’t want to go home, and she seems in no hurry to make him leave. Hugging a couch pillow to his chest, it smells like her. His thoughts run back over the last few hours and he realizes his ex-wife still hasn’t called him back. Guilt smashes him in the stomach as he realizes he’d totally forgotten his responsibilities the minute a pretty face and deadly curves turned his head… Punching the pillow, he rolls to his side, preparing to nap when “God Save the Queen” starts to play on her phone.
She quickly answers it and he hears shuffling in the kitchen behind him. “Hey, how are you?… Just a lazy Sunday. A friend came over…. Yes, I have friends, you know,” she asserts playfully.
He freezes when he senses her hovering above him and he pretends to be asleep, not wanting her to think he’s listening. Her hand graces the top of his head gently before she walks away. When he hears her voice again, it’s muffled and coming from the bedroom.
“Sure, I can. I’d love to! What a nice surprise! What time? Ok… Anything else? Yeah… Yes. Alright. I’m looking forward to it…. See you then.”
Chris realizes this is his cue to leave. Fuck. Thalia said ‘for reasons’ she and her other paramore, for lack of a better word, wish to keep things private. He quickly prays she’s not dating a married man. But it’s not his place to judge or ask. From his spot on the couch, he realizes the apartment shows no signs of a man in her life, and he begins to question her need for privacy. A sinking feeling sets in, and he sits up to put on his shoes.
The bathroom door closes and he waits anxiously for her to return to the living room. When the door clicks open he turns to the dark haired beauty with a smile. “Hey, I hate to do this Thalia, but I got a text from my ex and I can go see Avery for a few hours. I really need to get going.”
Standing up he admires her lovely full lips as the bottom one pops out in disappointment. “You have to go? Well, then I guess it’s a good excuse. Getting dumped for a younger woman already. I see how you are.”
Moving into his space, she places her hand on his bicep, stepping closer to him. Batting her eyelashes, she smiles crookedly. “No, that’s great. I’m glad you can see her.”
Her pout is irresistible. He places his hand under her chin and with a bit of force he rubs his thumb across her tender lips. “So beautiful…” Holding her chin in place, he thwarts her physical effort to deny it. “And I’m going to keep telling you that until you believe it.” He leans his forehead to hers. “I left my phone number on one of the post-its on the table earlier when you were deep in thought. Text me in a bit so I make sure I have your number.”
Sliding his nose against hers, he plants his lips on hers and sucks in her air. Minty fresh. Pulling back, he whispers quietly. “You brushed; not fair,” he complains.
“Sorry. Syrup breath was killing me… And you know,” she sighs, “I was gearing up for Four, but I guess we’ll have to start our count over again another night.”
“Four?” He cocks his eyebrow pleased by her enthusiasm and stamina. “I’ll hold you to that promise, babe.” He remembers her secretive phone call, and moves to extract himself from her arms.
She follows him to the door and tells him she’ll text soon.
Walking down the stairs and across the street, he wonders again what the hell he’s doing. She’s a student. Young. Dating someone else. His damn Italian jealousy is already getting the best of him…
Reaching for his car keys in his pocket, his phone beeps. He can’t contain his smile when he reads the message. “Had a great night. Look up.”
Following directions, he shields his eyes from the sunlight peaking through the gray clouds, the smell of snow in the air. Standing at her window she waves grandly and he laughs when she flashes him the two most resplendent breasts he’s ever had the pleasure of seeing.
Click here to read Chapter 18 Changes
Copyright © 2017 avenger-nerd-mom. All rights reserved. Intellectual property of avenger-nerd-mom and devikafernando
AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, Uncategorized#Adult Situations, #avenger-nerd-mom, #chapter 17, #Chris Evans, #Chris Evans AU, #Chris Evans fan fiction, #Chris Evans fluff, #devikafernando, #educating thalia, #Fluff, #Language, #plus sized, #plus sized fiction, #plus sized OFC, #plus sized romance, #plus-size OFC, #real life, #Tom Hiddleston, #Tom Hiddleston fan fiction, collaboration, tom hiddleston au
A Conversation with Chrissy Metz
April 30, 2017 avenger-nerd-momLeave a comment
I feel very honored to be known as the “girl who writes plus-sized OFCs.” When I had the opportunity yesterday (April 29, 2017) to listen to Chrissy Metz speak, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see such an inspiring role model for body-positivity in person! Here’s my review of “A Conversation with Chrissy Metz.”
“Redefining what beautiful looks like.”
I think these words will echo in my ears for a long time, as spoken by the truly beautiful- inside and out- Chrissy Metz. You may not recognize her name, but if you watch This is Us, you know her. She is the plus-size actress who embodies the role of Kate Pearson in the NBC hit break-out show. If you are not on this bus, you are missing it. The story, set in the past and present, is some of the best TV I’ve seen in years. The writing is phenomenal and the story twists are sometimes a punch to the gut, but the reality of family life is like that… Have a box of Kleenex handy!
She was invited as part of the guest speaker series hosted by the University of Missouri. The event was offered free to students and $5 for admission by the public. The organization’s Facebook page ran a contest for a lucky pair to have dinner with her before, and many to attend a reception afterwards; sadly, I won neither, but after waiting in the cold and rain, I lucked out with front row center seats with my cousin! That was good enough for me!
The minute she graced the stage, you could tell her personality was larger than life. She was so excited to see a packed auditorium, but nervous about our weather. A tornado warning at 3 am had delayed her check in at the hotel and she was tired. She was worried we’d mock her attire, thinking she wasn’t dressed up enough for the “Hollywood lifestyle.” She looked fantastic in her tattered jeans and cute red sandals! She’d only brought one pair of shoes and didn’t want them ruined in the rain, so she told us about her mad dash to the “Walmarts” that morning to get a pair of “Wellies.”
She’s just like us!
We learned a little about her background from the student ambassadors who introduced her, learning she grew up in Florida, but spent nine years of her childhood in Japan, learning to speak Japanese before English. (“I don’t remember any of it; I can’t even English,” she joked.) and has five siblings. She was discovered at a talent show when she tagged along to chaperone her sister. Shortly after that, she moved to Hollywood, where she had roles in “My Name is Earl” and “American Horror Story.” She worked for years behind the scenes in Hollywood as an assistant to a casting director, watching as other women got the roles she wanted. Thanks to her spot on “This is Us,” Chrissy was recently named on People magazine’s list of “50 Most Beautiful People.”
A title she earned and deserves!
The “conversation” was moderated by a professor who works with patients with eating disorders. She very easily lead Chrissy from one topic to the next in our hour “chat” with the actress, guided by audience and Twitter questions.
From Chrissy, we learned she considers herself a ‘work in progress.’ She said at 36, (“I’m 36 y’all, can you believe it? I know; it’s crazy right?), she’s working on getting her life together. She told us not to believe everything you read in the tabloids, because she didn’t have a secret divorce. “It’s not a secret, I knew about it! I’ll tell you; just ask.” With the audience, she shared she is learning to love herself and working on making better choices. “I might not always be known as the ‘plus-sized actress.’”
She described it like this: every time something good happens, you have to place it in the ‘self-esteem bank.’ “That way you can remember those 150 nice things people said about you on Twitter and ignore that one mean thing.” She reminded us you can’t take everything personally, because you don’t know if the guy that accidentally rear-ends your car in the parking lot just had a fight with his significant other. She tells about how road rage used to be her “thing” and it was so bad, people would ride with her in the car just to watch her. “And then one day I realized that poor guy is just trying to get to work too; it’s not personal.” Later she reminds us of that when she shouts out to an audience member leaving the room, “Where you going? I’m not done! Oh, wait… Maybe he just needs the bathroom; I’ve been talking to long. See nothing personal. It’s not about me.”
She talked about the show, but said she’s not allowed to talk about Jack. She says Mandy Moore is just the sweetest thing. She spoke about how all the actors, writers and staff have a group chat. Just that morning, there were messages back and forth and Sterling K. Brown (Randall) was asking, “WHAT are you doing in Missouri?” and shared he’s from St. Louis and still has family there.
She told him she was hoping not to get swept away in a tornado or flood, “And I’ve been practicing this: MIZ” she shouts.
And the audience replies with a deafening roar, “ZOU!” (The school ‘battle cry.”)
“OH MY GOD! That’s the coolest thing! Wait till I tell him.”
When asked if she’s Team Jess, she looks at the moderator blankly. The audience shouts “Gilmore Girls,” and she says, “Is Jess his character? Then I’m Team Jess! I love Milo, even if he is my dad.”
There was playful banter as Chrissy and the moderator had spent time together during the day. The woman reported she’d never watched “This is Us,” and the audience was quick to ‘boo’ her and to shout out she’d want Kleenex. She pointed at her belly and said it was on her list to do during her maternity leave. Chrissy made sure not to give away too many spoilers, but was happy to announce the show is extended for two more seasons.
She talked about complaints that some of the things Kate goes through are stereotypical. But she reports, “I’ve said these things. I think these things.” After the second episode, she went to one of the head writers, and asked how he knew what was in the mind of a plus-sized woman and he shared he’s just writing things he’s seen his sister go through, and how her struggles affected the family. “He just gets it.” And she was triumphant with a fist in the air over the fact Kate now has TWO men after her!
“That just doesn’t happen in my life,” she laughed.
When asked if she was Kate’s friend, what advice she would give to the character, she admitted she would tell her to get out of her brother’s shadow; she’s too good just to be his assistant. “She needs to learn to stand on her own. I think we’ll see that in season two.”
In passing, she spoke about one of her favorite scenes, when Toby arranged for Kate to sing at the nursing home, and she let it slip her new boyfriend is one of the camera men on the show. He texted her that day and said he couldn’t watch her sing because he was too nervous for her. She told him that was the point of the scene, to feel Kate’s nervousness, which is why it was shot in one take.
She mentioned Toby should earn boyfriend of the year award, making all men in America hate him: “I know you hear me sing in the shower, why you don’t do something like that for me?”
Chrissy’s confidence and down home appeal was real; often slipping into a slight Southern drawl. She spoke about a new friend she met recently, “Oprah? Maybe y’all have heard of her? We’re friends.” She shares with the audience advice her new friend gave about always remembering to be nice to yourself first. Chrissy related it to the speech you get on a plane about the air masks, how you have to take care of yours first before you can take care of others. She said that’s something she has to remember daily, but reiterates she is a work in progress. Oprah also reminded her it’s okay to say NO when you need to. “And NO is a complete sentence,” Chrissy stated. “You don’t have to give a reason.”
She talked a bit about food and how as an Italian Irish German girl, food is love. Her grandmother would pick her up from school each day and make grilled cheese, and she would eat her emotions, when she was happy or sad. “When you don’t know how you feel, you eat.”
The beautiful actress spoke about how that now scares her. She shared a fear that although she’s looked at for being a big girl, “What if they don’t look at me when I get healthy, or lose weight?”
Before we knew it, our time was up. Sadly, it ended too quickly. She thanked us all for coming and waved her goodbyes before gracefully exiting the stage.
I discovered this event because I follow the Facebook pages over several universities around the state. If you are looking for great opportunities to try something new, that’s a wonderful place to start!
Copyright © 2017 avenger-nerd-mom. All rights reserved. Intellectual property of avenger-nerd-mom
Uncategorized#avenger-nerd-mom, #Chrissy Metz, #personal, #plus size, #review, #role model, #speaking engagement, #This is Us
April 26, 2017 April 30, 2017 avenger-nerd-mom8 Comments
Warnings: Language, Adult Situations, NSFW, cunnilingus, fingering, nipple play, intercourse, multiple orgasms
Summary: Chris takes his time to really get to know Thalia’s body, fulfilling a tantalizing promise while losing himself in her.
Click here to the intro for Educating Thalia
He advances on her quickly, flipping her back to the bed and tugging on her shorts and pulling them down her shapely full figured legs, leaving her in nothing but a piece of skimpy blue lace. Sliding off the end of the bed, he grabs her ankle and draws her down to him, spreading her legs to rest between them. “I’ve been wanting to bite right here,” he circles his thumb on her inner thigh, “since you sat on the couch with your foot on the table. Niña, I don’t even think you knew what you were doing, but you had my attention.” She whimpers and begins to writhe before he even moves between her legs, tickling her with the top of his buzzed hair. Noticing the wet spot already on her panties, he continues his little game, biting at her thigh and marking her there also.
With his hair so short, she tugs on his ear and pulls his head back to look at him and whines for him to stop teasing. Her eyes are dark with lust and reaching down to him, she removes his glasses and tosses them gently towards her dresser. “Just do it. Lick me, finger fuck me, whatever, but put me out of my misery.”
God, how he wants to hear her sultry voice cry out. “Thalia, I wanna hear you beg for me. You have to want it.”
Lifting her ass of the bed, she pushes against him. “I do Chris; I want it.” She huffs when he pulls back. “I need you to make me come.”
Licking across the lace, he pushes it between her folds and she cries out, “Fuck,” seemingly shocked at her own volume as she covers her mouth with her fist. The glorious sound echoes in his ears and he longs to hear it again as he swipes his tongue again, sucking back and gathering the wet lace between his lips. Stretching it away from her pussy, he glides one hand up her thigh, bringing his thumb to her entrance and massaging with the rest of his hand against her pelvic bone. She pushes towards him and he holds her still with his other hand. “Not that easy, Thalia. You have to want it, you have to tell me you want it.”
“Dammit, I need you to fuck me, please.”
With the lace pushed to the side, he looks at her pretty pink sex and sees the throbbing of her walls, begging for him. Leaning in, he pushes with his thumb as his tongue teases around her tight bundle of nerves and she cries out again, thrashing against the sheets, straining to rise up as he holds her down. “More,” she whines.
“You taste absolutely sinful,” he praises. Her hole is tight and he adds another digit to his caresses, fingering her and pulling in and out, simulating the sex act he plans for her later. Her walls squeeze on him and he knows she won’t last much longer, teasing her with another lash of his tongue across her clit and her whimpers sound pained. He smiles as he licks when she raises her foot to his shoulder, opening herself up more for him as he continues to dive between her legs.
Choking out the words, she says what he longs to hear. “Chris, I’m yours, make me come, please.”
“Thatta girl, that’s what I want; go for it.” Pushing another finger in he curls against her g-spot, letting go of his hold on her stomach so she can rise up to grind against him as she comes over his hand, soaking his beard as he laps her clean. “Shit, shit, shit,” she cries and it reminds him of his own string of expletives at her hands, his undoing. The little bit he can’t catch runs between her legs and soaks the comforter as he sweeps her up in his arms and cradles her in his lap, wiping his beard on the already stained tank top. “Niña, honey, that was just One. Still two more to go.”
Her head drops to his shoulder, her arms tight around his neck. She whispers against his skin. “Fuck, I’ll be dead by morning,” she giggles. “Cause of death: Amazing hot sex.”
“Don’t die yet; I’m not done with you,” he promises.
Her body quakes in his arms and he feels she’s still on the edge. Lowering his head, his lips caress the tender spot against her collarbone.
“Chris? You just picked me up? Like it was nothing?” She giggles, still breathy and faint, the rush of air from her lips warm against his neck. “That might be the fucking sexiest thing a man has ever done for me,” she shares with him.
He nuzzles closer to her body. Her round, full womanly body appeals to him in a way no other woman has in ages. He likes her weight, her power. It’s a fuckin’ turn on. His free hand glides up her thigh and her legs fall apart, giving him better access. He massages over her shaved mound. “I’ll remember that,” he chuckles, tilting his head back to look at her. She’s lovely with her eyes blown wide from her orgasm, tendrils of curls loose from her braid, damp with the sweat of their lovemaking. “You like me just for my strength. Fair enough. I like you for your thick thighs and peach-shaped ass.”
She blushes and shakes her head back in a gasp as his hand reaches his goal, her wet center. Dipping his fingers in her juices, her walls tremble and clench around him, pulling his digits in deeper. Curling his fingers, his smooth, rhythmic penetrations reach her g-spot and her breaths catch, her body arching into him.
“I hope that’s not the only reason,” she whispers against the top of his head.
Her nipples push against his solid chest and harden as his mouth drops down, kissing the tops of her exposed globes. Her hand slides down his chest and joins his, flicking over her aching clit. “Come for me again, Thalia. Don’t hold back this time,” he quietly tells her. “When you’re ready, just let go.”
Looking down to their drenched fingers her wet glistens in the low lamp light and he longs to taste her. He thinks what the hell… Sliding his fingers out, she whines from the emptiness but continues to rub herself. His arm around her back reaches further around her side to lift her ravishing breast to him, as he circles her slick fragrant sluice around the dark nipple with his other hand. Her flesh rises in goosebumps and he takes the chocolate peak into his waiting mouth, sucking her in and clasping his lips around her raised bud. Pulling back and tugging lightly with his teeth her moan delights his ears and he whispers, “Good enough to eat,” as his hand slides back over her ample stomach to find her hole waiting for him.
Sitting in his lap, her ass rocks against his cock and he stiffens under her, waiting for his turn to truly have her. Not much longer now.
His fingers meet hers and their punishing touches continue to pulsate within her and he feels her body tense. Turning his hand he pushes his palm against her hand, eliciting a whine from her as her pleasure takes on a painful need to let loose. His other hand continues to pull at her nipple, pinching and squeezing as her noises rise and she lifts off him to push against their hands. “Oh, fuck, fuck, I’m coming again,” she pants as her hand pushes harder in circles around her clit and his fingers reach as far as he can to hit against the most sensitive spot Her come spills over their hands and Chris continues to caress, pulling the orgasm from her as she bucks against him.
“Look at me,” he coaxes reveling in the frantic darkness found in her gleaming eyes. Hers search over his face, as though she wants to know his features and hold them close. Her mouth falls open as she cries out and he captures her bottom lip, sucking and pulling at the supple flesh, marking her with beard burn, as her whimpers die down. Stroking his fingers across her gently, she accepts his mouth, placing a full kiss on his lips as her orgasm wanes.
“Two,” he announces pulling his hand from her sopping cunt and picking her up effortlessly as he rises into a standing position. His needy hands grab and claw at her ass. Instinctively she wraps her legs around him and he bounces her up high against his chest, returning her back down on his solid cock.
Her quick intake of air shows her surprise and he holds her still, allowing her time to stretch to accommodate his hard pulsing thickness. Taking a few short steps across the room, he sits her atop the dresser and pushes into her again. Her lips crash against his in a fevered need and she purrs, “Yes, yes, fuck me like this. Please.”
Their bodies align perfectly and the dresser is just the right height. Pummeling into her he sets a rapid pace, tired of waiting. He pulls at her ass and teases along the crease, her moans louder and echoing in his ears. He wonders if this beauty might like a little ass play? She rolls with him and bounces on the wooden surface. Her teeth sink into the tattoo on his collarbone and he hisses, heightening his senses as her manicured nails dig into his shoulder. Moving one hand away from her sweet peachy ass, he glides roughly over her dark skin, tugging and pulling. Lifting the weight of her exposed tit, he pulls in and out of her. Right on the edge, he knows he needs to stop, get a condom, but she feels so damn hot, so tight, he literally can’t pull himself away.
Thalia opens herself more to him by lifting her leg and resting her foot on the edge of the dark furniture piece. “Damn, that’s hot, Niña.” Extracting himself momentarily, he watches her walls convulse, the prettiest shade of pink and purple he’s ever seen. Chris can’t take his eyes off her slippery pulsing cunt. “So pretty,” he whispers and from the corner of his eyes, he sees her smile grow.
Sassy. Pleased.
Grabbing the chain around his neck, her husky voice fills his head, words that will echo in his wildest dreams for ages, “You gonna stare at it, or finish filling it?”
With her foot wrapped around his trim waist, she taps his ass with it and she pulls him close guiding him in. With a strength she’s hidden till now, she requests commands, “Fuck me now, Chris. I need you to finish me.”
The earthy quality to her voice, her moment of dominance brings him back to the moment. Rocking against her again he sheaths himself deep inside, scooping her up under her ass and carrying her to the bed. “Do that all day,” she whines. “Super fuckin’ sexy.”
Placing her on the bed, she keeps her leg up and he pins it to his side as he pounds into her again and again, unapologetically. His sounds of pleasure mirror hers as they rise to their peak. Her body clenches around his cock and her volume rises, a series of expletives falling from her sweet lips. “Three,” he grunts as he pulls out and pumps himself to finish against her writhing hip as she still undulates beneath his weight.
“Three,” she giggles breathlessly holding him in place on top of her. “Don’t move. I like your weight.”
Lazily her fingers drape across his back and her body slowly relaxes. His come rolls over her hip and onto the comforter and he breathes into her neck, whispering his appreciations.
Hours later, he’s not exactly sure when they fell asleep, so soundly, wrapped up around one another. She must have been awake at some point. The lamp is off and he can see around the room in the hazy morning light. The soiled comforter is hanging off the end of the bed and his glasses are on the bedside table next to her phone. He slides out of the cozy bed and is instantly hit with a wave of cold air. Running quickly to the bathroom first, he later tiptoes to the living room to adjust the radiator. It makes a rumbling sound, but it isn’t too promising. He wraps the blanket from the back of the couch around him and riffles through the kitchen cabinets, settling on a protein bar and a glass of milk. His feet are freezing on the cold floors as he pads back into the bedroom.
He tries to slip back into the bed without waking her but she stirs, a happy crooked smile on her face. “Morning, handsome,” she slurs, her voice full of sleep.
Add it to the list of sexiest sounds. Thalia’s morning voice.
“This place is fuckin’ cold. You need a heater,” he declares rolling her on top of him for warmth.
She shrieks when he places his cold feet on the back of her calves, eyes flying wide open.
“You are not nice in the morning,” she tells him, snuggling her full boobs against his rock solid chest and settling between his legs. Her mouth blows out tiny wisps of air against his neck and he warms under her.
Comfortable and relaxed, they lay in silence for awhile. Chris plays with her curls while she rubs her hands through the light fuzz across his chest. Eventually she rolls to his side, snuggling next to him. A perfect fit.
“‘Niña,’ huh?” she teases, the Spanish endearment rolling off her tongue.
He chuckles quietly, tenderly kissing the top of her head. “It popped in my mind. For some reason, I remembered that from my language classes. I guess I thought if I actually called you ‘baby girl’ you might hit me.”
Her body rocks with laughter and jostles the bed. “You’re probably right.” She laughs some more and the musical sound fills him with joy.
Cuddled in her arms, he quietly tells her, “I’d like to see you again some time, Thalia. Maybe we could get dinner later this week? I’m a professor, and you’re a student; we’d have to keep things quiet…”
Her cheeks flush pink and he can see her hesitation, and a moment of… What? Fear? Disbelief? – pass across her face. She chews at her bottom lip, swollen and bruised from hours of use. It’s like she’s warring with herself… yet he sees the instant she makes her decision.
“I’ve just had some of the best sex of my life and I would like to see you again,” she admits, her face a deep shade of red at her confession. “But,” Thalia sighs, “I’m seeing someone else… We have a bit of an open relationship, and for reasons, we also like to keep things quiet. If you’re okay with knowing that I’m not always available because of school, work and well,” she sighs, “him, then yes, I’d really like to see you again sometime.”
Chris’s stomach drops, and he says the first thing that comes to his mind, believing honesty is probably the best for her, especially since she was just now truthful with him. “To be honest, Thalia, I wasn’t expecting that you were seeing someone else. I’m gonna have to think on it…”
“It’s fine; I understand,” she rolls over to the edge of the bed and sits up, looking around the mess of the room in a daze.
He doesn’t want her to go; doesn’t want his time with her to end. “You said you had a lot of studying today? I really didn’t mean to take all your morning time away-”
“Chris. Stop. You didn’t take anything away from me. I’m glad you’re still here.” She sighs frustratedly as she pulls the sheet around her, seemingly embarrassed in the morning light. Standing beside the bed, her wild hair creates a halo in the gray sunshine creeping in the blinds. She smiles down at him, reaching to caress his beard. “I would have really hated you; hated myself if you’d left.” She repeats quietly, “I’m glad you’re still here.”
Picking up his glasses, she hands them to him. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he puts them on, laughing. “You’re beautiful. You look well fucked over.” He delights in knowing he caused her undoing.
Looking in the mirror, she tucks the sheet around her, pushing her wayward curls back. She hides a small smile behind her hand as she thoughtfully runs her lips over the knuckles on her hand. As if she’s searching for what he sees and she can’t find it, she shakes her head and turns away. Chris jumps up and is next to her side before she can move. Fully naked, he stands behind her, caressing her hair over her shoulder and pulling out what remains of the braid. “Thalia, I want to taste more of you. You’re a curvy, delicious woman. Any man would be a fool not to see that.” Bringing his hands to her waist, he digs into her fleshy sides, brushing his cock against her ass. “Right here? This is perfect for grabbing you tight. I picture myself holding you here, and sliding you on and off my cock from behind and-”
“Behind?” she giggles, turning to look at him over her exposed shoulder. “No, sir. You stay away from there.”
Chuckling, he pushes against her more firmly. “Oh, really? Sweetheart, you don’t know what you’re missing. You realize now you’ve challenged me to-”
Reaching over her shoulder, she places her hand against his scruff. “You realize now you’re talking like a man who wants to stay; wants to see me again?”
His stomach tightens. She’s right. She’s too perfect, too beautiful, too damn smart to walk away from… Whoever his competition is, he’ll make sure he wins.
Turning his face to kiss her palm, he sighs in defeat. “Yes, you’re right… I can’t walk away from you. I need to know you, Thalia, all of you.”
Click here to Chapter 17 Morning After
AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, Uncategorized#Adult Situations, #avenger-nerd-mom, #chapter 16, #Chris Evans, #Chris Evans AU, #Chris Evans fan fiction, #cunnilingus, #devikafernando, #educating thalia, #fingering, #fluffy, #intercourse, #Language, #NSFW, #Oral Sex, #Plus size romance, #plus sized OFC, #plus sized romance, #plus-size OFC, #Tom Hiddleston, #Tom Hiddleston fan fiction, collaboration, Nipple Play, tom hiddleston au
Warnings: Language, Adult Situations, fluffy smut, foreplay, nipple play, hand job
Summary: Sober now, Chris isn’t really sure if accepting Thalia’s kind offer was a good idea.
Click here to the introduction of Educating Thalia
The two talk long past midnight. The comfort and ease feels like old friends. They discuss a shared interest in history and he asks her thoughts on some of the books he sees sitting around the room. Leaning against the arm of the couch he puts his feet up next to her. If he tipped his foot just so, he could brush against her thigh, but he tries not to invade her space. Although it was difficult not to want to, with her patting his leg occasionally for emphasis in her storytelling. He bites back a groan when she rests one leg up on the coffee table in front of them. Her robe falls open, exposing her chunky, delicious looking inner thigh and his eyes dart to the V between her legs, covered by her short plaid bottoms. Oh, hell. It’s more than a man can take. He excuses himself to use the restroom, to get away and try to clear his mind.
No such luck. The tiny space smells like her, the fresh scent from her shower and her lotions and creams on the ledge above the sink. Resisting the urge to check in her medicine cabinet, he removes his glasses, laying them on the counter and rubbing his hands over his face. Chris can’t figure out if she really is just being nice or if like the guy at the bar said, she’s flirting with him and interested. Washing up, he begins to speak to himself, hidden under the sound of the running water. “What the fuck are ya doin’, man? She’s a student.” He sighs and adjusts the fit of his pants thanks to the ebbing hard on building off and on all evening in her presence. “A hot one. That invited you to her home. Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Chris, ya shoulda gone to the crappy coffee place.”
Grabbing his glasses, he returns to the living room, watching from the doorway for a moment as she brushes the tangles out of her hair, rubbing the ends with a towel. He longs to run his fingers through it… To grab it in his hand and twist it in his fingers as he… Clearing his throat he stops his thoughts and he returns to his spot on the couch, this time keeping his feet closer to himself.
Instead of returning to their conversation, she barely hides a yawn. “Well Chris,” she says sleepily, rising from her spot, “I wasn’t kidding when I said I had studying to do tomorrow. I need to get some sleep so I can function.” Walking behind the couch, she makes the few steps to the kitchen table and sets her empty coffee mug there. “Sunday’s my only true day off.”
Stopping behind the couch, she rests her hand near his. Her voice drops, “Let me get you some pillows and blankets and-”
He places his hand on hers and can feel a slight tremble. His tone matches hers, a shared intimacy of their voices. “You know I’m not really drunk… Why did you invite me here?” Chris asks quietly.
She looks down over the back of the couch at him, her lashes long against her cheeks as she blinks. She licks her lips and he watches her swallow before licking them again quickly. “I don’t really know.” She chuckles nervously. “Maybe just to see if you’d say ‘yes,’” Thalia admits, a vulnerability in her eyes.
Tenderly he lets go of her hand and rises from the couch, walking around behind it to stand in front of her. Her head low, he lifts her chin, holding it with his thumb under her pouty lip, bringing her eyes up to meet his. “You didn’t think I’d say ‘yes?’”
“Most guys don’t look at me the way you did in the bar.” She pulls back from his hold.
He swallows his own thoughts when he sees she needs to be wanted, to be worshipped. “And how is that? How did I look at you?”
“Like you didn’t care that I carry some extra weight,” she sighs and sucks in her lip quickly before speaking again. “Like you… like you wouldn’t mind feeling it on top of you…”
Fuck. Orchids. Wet curly hair. Pajamas. A slight blush at her confessing her innermost thought… He’s hard again at just the thought of her and what she’s saying and not saying to him. Her heart is racing; he can see her blood pumping through the veins in her neck, the robe loosely falling down her shoulder. Not speaking, he steps to her and grasps the tie on her robe. Locking his blue eyes on hers, he smiles devilishly and gives it a tug, the robe falling open and revealing her plump frame, still fresh and pink from the hot shower. He places his hands on her waist and pulls her to him.
Damn, she’s gorgeous.
His eyes fall to her mouth as her lips open in a sweet “oh” of surprise at his manhandling. He lowers his head, whispering across her skin, “Do you want me to look at you that way again?” Chris gently places a kiss on her collarbone, nudging the lace trim strap of her tank top with his nose.
She grabs at the back of his head with one hand, holding him to her. Thalia drops her head back and sighs, “Yes.”
His lips slide up her neck and his nose grazes her skin, delivering feathery touches to light her skin on fire and with her other hand she grabs his on her hip and holds it tight. “Do you want me to sleep on the couch?” he whispers against the soft spot under her ear, kissing tenderly with his lips slightly open and searing her with a quick flick of his tongue. He can feel her pulse racing and her shallow breaths echo in his ear.
“No,” quietly escapes her lips.
Chris grasps their hands resting on her hip in a tender squeeze and asks, “Do you want me to come to bed with you?” He expertly pulls her earlobe between his teeth and sucks gently, his mouth pulling back into a smile when her knees buckle and she falls against him.
She squeezes his hand back and shyly replies in a barely breathed out sound, “Yes.”
“Thalia?” She hums at the sound of her name. “You’re still very young; You’re not giving anything to me?” he asks patiently, voicing his concern.
Giggling quietly she turns her head to expose more of her neck to his devouring lips and with a soft voice addresses his thoughts. “Oh, no, that was taken a long time ago. And I’m not that young.” She relaxes against him, allowing him to hold her up. Her voice a bit stronger, she continues, “But I have a feeling you could have other firsts for me?”
Weakened himself by her thoughts, he nips at her flesh. Chris longs to brand her, to see his teeth marks, his handprints on her tanned velvet skin. He feels a desire to possess her, to make her succumb to him. But he also likes her fiery personality and wants nothing more than for her to power over him.
Taking her hand in his, he nods to the closed door and she shakes her head. Pushing ahead he opens the door and waits for her to pass by him. Moving across the room, he quietly orders, “Stop,” before she reaches the bed. Moving behind her, he sweeps her hair into his hand, admiring it’s glossy sheen and the curls most women would kill for, seeing again the image he had moments before of him pulling her hair during a more sensual act. He lifts it to his nose, inhaling the flowery scent. “No smoke now,” he teases lightly in her ear, delighting in the chill that runs down her spine. Still damp, he pulls it together and begins to make a loose plait, his hands brushing across her shoulders and back as he works.
“Mmm… That’s nice,” she murmurs with her husky voice.
Her voice hits him below the belt, stirring him to rise again. He tugs on his jeans, wiping off the precum he feels spilling over. Coughing, he asks quietly, “Elastic?” and she removes it from her wrist and holds it over her shoulder. He takes it from her outstretched hand and holds it in place as he gently kisses her palm. When he lets her hand go, she runs it down the side of her neck and movement catches his eye. In the dark room, only the small glow of a bedside lamp, he can see her in a mirror across the room. Her hand runs over her large breast and her nipples harden under the tank top, unencumbered by a bra, before she wraps her arm around her waist.
Jesus fuckin’ Christ. She’s been sitting on the couch like that over an hour?
She awkwardly shifts her weight from one foot to the next as he quickly ties off the end of the braid. Dropping it down her back, it reaches to her waist and he gives it a tug as he admires his handiwork. Quiet sounds of her breathing and cars passing in the street below fill the room. Placing his hands on her back, he runs his hands up her sides, feeling over her curves and across the tops of her shoulders to the collar of her robe. Grabbing the neckline, he pulls it back off her shoulders and lets it fall to the floor between them. Her shoulders rise as she takes a deep breath, and he runs his hands slowly down her skin in the same fluid motion as before. She makes no sound but her skin warms under his touch. Kicking the robe out of the way, he steps to her, flush against her body, his threadbare jeans doing little to hide the hardness of his cock she has caused. Similar in height, his evident arousal brushes across her ass and she involuntarily pushes back against him. His arms join hers around her waist, slowly rising up under her tank to grasp the tender flesh of her full breasts-
Music blares through the room from her phone. His hands drop when she steps forward, bending over the end of the bed to reach it. “Fuck,” he declares, her ass in the air, and her tits falling free in the reflection of the mirror.
She pulls her tank top up, covering herself up self-consciously. She turns her body, sitting on the edge of the bed, watching him with a smile, shaking her head. Rolling her eyes at his stare, she nervously glances at the screen. Her expression lifts as she answers the phone. “Yes, Jim, I’m good. Yes, I know his car is still parked out there. He’s here… Asleep in my room… When I’m done studying I’ll sleep on the couch… Jim, I’m not your daughter… Yes, I know…”
Chris groans when she adjusts her tank, and rises up to tug down on the legs of the shorts, riding up into her personal sweet space. “I’m in the living room studying… Dude was drunk and it’s 20 degrees out. Roads will be slick. I told him to stay…. Yes. I know. I know. Thanks for always having my back… Yea, ya big goof, I love you too.”
Pressing ‘close’ on her phone, she tosses the phone into the pillows. Giggling, she blushes and sighs. “Kinda broke the mood didn’t it?”
Looking down at her, sitting on the bed, the true co-ed she is, Chris stalks forward, pulling his tight blue sweater and t-shirt off in one swift motion and tossing it on the floor. Biting his lip, he places his knee on the bed next to her and places his large hand on her chest, spanning across her collarbone. “Heart’s still racing, sweetheart. And you got some of your spirit back. I don’t think the breathy ingenue is really you; but fuck it was a turn on.”
Looking up at him with her dark eyes of melted chocolate, she starts, “Chris, I-”
“No, honey. The problem isn’t you. You said “guys” don’t look at you… It’s the boys you date. You need someone older to appreciate you; to take care of you.” With his other hand, he unbuckles his belt and watches as her eyes scan across his chest, taking in his tats from shoulder to shoulder. With a cocky grin he tells her, “They’re all spelled right, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
He slides the leather belt from the loops and brushes it across her thighs, feeling her shiver at his hold on her. Her grin quickly changes to desire and the light gleaming in her eyes advances from playful to aroused. “A woman like you needs a man. A man can fuck you till morning; make you come three times before sunrise and leave you begging for more.”
With the force of his hand, he pushes her back on the bed with a slight bounce. She raises one of her perfectly arched eyebrows at him, and teases. “Three times, huh? A little cocky, aren’t you?”
“Oh, sweetheart, it’s not little,” Chris promises as he falls on top of her, gently applying his weight and pushing her into the bed as he attacks her neck. He brushes his scruff against her tender skin, knowing the effect it will have on her. Thalia giggles while bringing her arms under his. Her hands stretch over his shoulder blades, feeling their strength and power. He returns to nibbling at her neck as he had done in the living room, the desire to taste her overwhelming. Tenderly he grasps her skin between his teeth and bites as tiny sweet sounds escape between her lips. Tilting her head back she gives him more access to her delicate flesh and begins to wiggle beneath him. He shifts, allowing his aching cock to fit between her legs and he grinds against her.
“Oh, fuck,” she breathes out sinfully, scraping her nails across his back, digging slightly.
Moaning against her neck, he drags his beard against her again, leaving beard burn and marking her. The desire to claim her is strong in his gut, to show to everyone she belongs to someone. His inner monologue tells himself to shut up. This is just one drunken night, he thinks. But he still wants her to feel the ache for days…
He already knows he’s lying to himself – knows he’s sober- when she shifts, lifting her leg and rubbing it over his ass before sliding it down his leg, holding him closer to her. Going in for another lick along the pulsing vein in her neck, he reaches to slide the strap of her tank top down her shoulder. More forcefully than intended, the lace snaps and they both pause. He looks up to her and sees the mirth in her eyes.
“Fuck it; never liked it anyway,” she giggles, toying at his chain, admiring his St. Christopher’s medallion. “Good Catholic boy… Nice,” she wickedly grins, using it to pull him forward, lifting her head to connect their swollen lips.
“Can’t trust those Catholic girls,” he teases, his kisses drifting along her jawline. He can’t get enough of the taste of her skin.
Sliding her leg back up his, she presses her heel into the cheek of his ass, rising up to grind against him. “No, not at all,” she sassily agrees.
“Shut up and kiss me again,” he taunts, caressing his hand across her cheek, sliding across her freckles and winding under her hair. Her lips collide with his and his large palm stretches from her ear to the back of her skull. He squeezes lightly as her tongue darts in his slightly opened mouth, teasing and prying for more space. His groan is swallowed by her kiss, her tongue lightly sliding against his, silently begging for his permission. He opens his mouth, and returns the motions as their tongues tangle as if greeting one another. Her breathing is labored and he feels her heat rising between her legs, turned on simply by his touches and kisses.
If this is her reaction to their tame foreplay, he can’t wait to really get her going. Lifting his body up on both arms, resting his fists on either side of her head, he pushes between her legs again. Without his weight on her, her body arches to him, her glorious tits raised. He grinds down on her, painfully aware of his own aching cock, wanting to seek solace and relief deep inside her. She moans quietly and her head rolls back against the bed, her hands clenching the sheets next to her, his eyes drawn to them.
Not truly wanting to power over her, yet, Chris tells her quietly, “Touch me; I wanna feel your hands on me.”
Her warm hands drift to his sides, sliding along the waist of his jeans, dipping cautiously below the waistband. Goosebumps form on his skin, desiring more touches from her. The feathery caress teases him and he presses closer to her again as her hands reach lower, squeezing his ass. She bites her lip, inhaling deeply at the discovery he’s commando.
“Damn, Thalia, you’re driving me crazy.”
Shaking her head in disbelief, he can see her denying his words. “You’re beautiful, desirable,” he tells her. “Sexy as hell, woman, and if no one has told you that before, they didn’t look close enough.”
Pulling her hands back, she runs them over his back, as if she’s afraid to play with the actual fire. “Chris, this is just play. A fun night; I get it. You don’t have to say-”
“I always tell the truth; especially to a beautiful woman,” he rolls himself to her side, lowering his mouth to breath against her skin. “Maybe we won’t leave this bed till you believe it,” he whispers with a growl as he pushes down her tank top, exposing her swollen peak to him. Her dark brown nipple is so tantalizing; he washes over it gently with his tongue and she whimpers aloud, not even holding back the aching need caught in the back of her throat. Chuckling, he licks slowly again. “Like that, do you? Tell me, give me your sounds; don’t hold back,” he shares.
“Then do it again,” she replies, sliding one hand up to hold the back of his head against her breast.
Happily complying with her wish, he is treated when she rolls on her side to face him and the tank top pulls down, revealing the second delicious button. He lavishes it with the same attention, but her quiet mewls encourage him to add pressure and he gropes with one hand while his tongue plays over her.
“Uhh…” she moans, throwing her leg over his hip and rolling him to her. Snaking her hands between them she runs her hands over his washboard abs, teasing along his Adonis belt. His breathing heightens and his need for her builds when she tangles her fingers in the trail of trimmed hairs leading her to the prize. Her tentative touches are light and unsure so he’s surprised when she pops the button of his jeans and reaches inside.
Her soft hands brush over his broad tip, wiping at the precum he expels in response to her sexiness. Sliding her hands lower she grabs him with both hands, not even reaching from tip to base. “Shit, not little is right, baby.”
Raising his head from her beautiful exposed breasts, his eyes meet hers, a mix of fear and desire. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re ready for me.” Given the heat and wetness he feels pushing against his denim clad thigh as she slowly rocks against him, he’s not too worried. About that, anyway. “Thalia? This was the the furthest thing from my mind when I left my place tonight; I’m not really prepared. Do you have anything?”
“Seducing grad students wasn’t on the agenda, Professor?” She tightens her hold and tugs, pulling a groan from deep within his chest.
“Ah, fuck,” he chuckles, growing stiffer from her handling. “Nah, I’m the only one that’s tugged that in a while, sweetheart.”
Biting her lip, she inhales. “I’m covered, and I have stuff in the basket under the bed. No worries,” she informs him.
“A fun basket?” His eyes delight in the thought of truly playing with her. There he goes again, thinking in the future. “Can’t wait to see what you’ve got.”
She giggles. “How about the real thing tonight? I can’t wait to see what you’ve got.” Sucking in her breath, she whispers out, “It feels amazing in my hands. So big…” Running her fingers across the veiny weave of his cock, she adds. “So thick…”
He wants to respond to her but she instinctively licks her lips and his mouth falls to hers, pulled like a magnet. Flicking his tongue across her raw flesh where he’s scratched her with his beard, his tongue teases hers again, running along the tops of her teeth and pulling out slowly. She sighs and seems to melt beside him as she rolls to her back, flopping her arm to her side, the other still rhythmically pulling on him.
Dropping his eyes, he watches her hand, hidden still in his jeans and he lifts his hips to slide them down under the curve of his ass allowing more freedom for her movements. Fully exposed, her hand reminds him of the way he watched her pull on the tap at the bar just hours before. Was it only hours ago? Her hands move methodically, and he realizes he’ll spill his seed if she doesn’t stop. “Thalia, you need to-”
“You promised me three times before sun up, Mister. This will help you last longer.”
Rising to her knees beside him he sees her eyes pleading with him as she continues to pull and twist his sensitive skin, reaching down to caress his balls with her other hand. Kneeling there, she strikes an imposing figure, curves and beauty, all focused on him. Damn, how did she flip it on him? But she makes a point… Raising up on his elbows to watch her work, he replies with a groan, “Have at it; it’s all yours.” He grins, waving his hand as if he’s gifting himself to her.
Tentatively at first, her confidence builds and she pulls him to a crest, a tightening building in his thighs, whispering “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He thrusts into her hands and spurts his cum over his chest, dribbling on her fingers and some rolling down his side onto the bed covers. Her smile can’t hide her satisfaction and she takes it all in stride, pulling the ripped tank top over her head to clean the mess. He’s surprised and so turned on when she casually licks the drips from her fingers. “Damn, that’s really sexy,” he hisses, sitting up and placing his hand on the back of her neck, drawing her to him in a passionate kiss, his hormones surging as his body still quakes. “Hell, I really needed that,” he chuckles.
Giggling, she shakes her head and replies, “Glad I could help.”
Click here for Chapter 16 Three
AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, Uncategorized#Adult Situations, #avenger-nerd-mom, #Chris Evans, #Chris Evans AU fic, #Chris Evans fan fiction, #devikafernando, #fluffy smut, #foreplay, #hand job, #Language, #Plus size romance, #plus sized, #plus sized OFC, #Tom Hiddleston, #Tom Hiddleston AU fic, #Tom Hiddleston fan fiction, AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, collaboration, Nipple Play
Warnings: Language, Adult Situations, fluff, drinking, discussion of homelessness, thoughts of sexual situations
Summary: Professor Evans seeks solace in a bottle and finds himself in the bar where grad-student Thalia Bareo is finishing her night shift….
“Ah, shit,” she mumbles, wiping the counter down. Her grumble catches his attention and he looks up, a smile of recognition dawning across his face. A brief image of the lovely woman before him in a short Tartan plaid skirt quickly romps through his memory. With a slight nod, he runs his fingers across the top of his glass indicating another, and she motions to the other man behind the bar that she’s got this.
“What’s your poison, professor?” The plump latina asks, her accent thick and sultry.
He indicates the tap and looks on as her hand subtly strokes the metal handle before she pulls it down, watching the foamy brew flow into the chilled glass, stopping just before it spills over.
She sets it down with a clink in front of him. “I work all the way out here so I don’t have to put up with the college crowd; what’s your excuse for being at this dive?”
He ponders his response, taking a long sip of the dark hops as it cools down his throat. Even in the dark bar he can see her eyes darken for a moment while she watches the muscles in his neck as he gulps the beverage down. He continues drinking, his eyes on her as a blush rises on her cheeks and her nipples begin to strain against her shirt. She turns away from him, grabbing a bowl of mixed nuts to place in front of him, the heat diminished in her eyes.
He runs his thumb across his bottom lip, gathering the wasted drops off beer and flicks his tongue across the pad of his finger before replying. “I needed to get away from the college crowd too,” he tells her honestly. “Sometimes it’s just too much bullshit, ya know?”
She wipes her hands on her apron, “Man, I hear that. So what is it this time? Johanas and Smythes fighting over offices again, or the library collection refuses to update the check out system for references?” she teases.
He chuckles and takes a handful of nuts, palming them and pushing them into his mouth. “All of the above, and shitty freshmen that can’t write a goddamn sentence to save their lives.”
She laughs and rolls her eyes. “I hear that too. Working as a TA in the language department; I can’t believe what they let in these ivy league doors these days, it’s a disgrace.” Winking, her long lashes close and rest against her freckled cheek while she shares her tease with him. “Kids wasting Daddy’s money, while I gotta work my ass off to get anywhere.”
She turns in a fluid movement to grab a bottle filled with an incandescent blue liquid, and his mind freezes on her use of the word ‘daddy’ and ‘ass’ in the same sentence. From where he sits high on the bar stool, he can admire her rounded backside, in tight jeans with silver stitching on the pockets. Reaching up to grab a bottle on a higher shelf, her shirt rises just enough to see a hint of her beautifully tanned skin. Turning back to the main bar, she blushes lightly and self-consciously pulls her shirt back down. He’s fascinated by watching her work as she mixes up a drink and shoots it smoothly down the wooden countertop and the other bartender catches it.
“Thalia, right?” Chris asks. He knows she works for Hiddleston, but he vaguely remembers her from one of his study groups a year or two ago. How could he forget such a beautiful name for such an alluring woman? “You were in one of my classes, right?”
She nods. “Your Women’s History class? I gave my speech on roles of women in the World War II era while dressed in a USO showgirl outfit?”
Hell yeah. She’d given the speech from memory, save for one notecard she pulled out of her cleavage halfway through the presentation. He’d had such a hard-on the rest of the hour, he had to give her an A just because he couldn’t focus on a damn word she’d said.
“Do you commonly give costumed speeches?” He asks, seeing her differently in the dark bar than he has before as she walks across campus, arms full of books.
Accepting a tip from a leaving customer she smiles brightly. “Nah, I was young and foolish then, and besides, I’d worked really hard to make that outfit for a costume party. I thought I might as well get more good out of it,” she laughs.
He smiles. “Not so foolish now?”
“Grad student. Bills to pay. No time for fun. Between school and workin-”
“Hey!” A voice at the end of the bar barks, “I don’t pay ya to flirt, I pay ya to mix drinks and clean tables. Get to it!”
She drops her eyes. “Sorry. Um, I wasn’t really… “ Shaking her head, she clears her throat. “It was nice talking to you Professor Evans; I owe, I owe, it’s back to work I go.” Humming quietly, she walks away, stopping at the end of the counter to pick up a big gray bucket to use to clean the tables.
He downs two more drinks during her absence, playing on his phone and returning emails. Rolling his shoulders, he stretches his neck from side to side, watching her reflection in the aged mirror in front of him, rather than turning to admire her full figure. Her dark curly hair cascades down her back, skimming just the top of the waist of her jeans. Her tight v-neck tshirt supports a logo for the school team and hugs her tits just right. From the fit, he can tell her bra is just a little too tight, and with each step she has an extra jiggle that makes him hard now. He begins to fantasize about groping her voluptuous breasts from behind as he pounds against her ass. Maybe she would even call him ‘daddy.’
He shakes his head to clear the image. Removing his glasses, he places them on the counter, rubbing his stubble gruffly. Fuck. She’s a student. Even a damn good lay wouldn’t be worth risking his job. And she would be good… He can just sense it about her and that makes his cock twitch in his pants, and at the moment, he rather wishes he hadn’t gone commando after his shower at the gym.
He catches the eye of the other bartender and as if the guy could read his thoughts, Chris drops his head and hides his face in the crook of his elbow, staring into the amber liquid in his glass.
She chats with the other patrons and is obviously friendly with a few of the regulars. When one guy tries to get a little handsy with her, she’s already twisted the man’s arm behind his back before he can jump to her rescue. She gives the man a push and sends him on his way. Chris watches as he scurries out the door.
Returning to her position at the bar, her face brightens when she realizes he’s still there. “It’s late; don’t you need to be getting home?” she asks kindly, adding payments to the cash register and making a few notes.
“To be honest, I had a shit day and don’t wanna be alone,” he scoffs, slightly drunk and words slurred.. “When do you get off… work?” he adds with a wry smile, swishing around what’s left in the bottom of his glass. “Sit with me and have some coffee while I dry out before I drive home?”
He sees her discreetly looking to his hands, possibly admiring their thickness or looking for signs of attachment, so he stretches his fingers to show there’s no wedding ring. She leans into the counter, and pulls the glass from his hands, sitting it on the lower counter in front of her. She rests her elbows on the bar in such a way to push her boobs together to showcase their beauty and whispers, “I got a better plan. My apartment is just across the street.” She twists her head to look at the neon clock on the wall behind her, exposing her graceful neck to him, to look at the time. “How ‘bout some early morning pancakes and some hot coffee before I have to hit the books. Some of us actually prepare before we attend our classes,” she teases.
Chris can’t believe his luck. It’s like an open invitation, but he sees a vulnerability in her too. Her offer is gracious and full of concern over his slightly drunken state. “That’s really nice, but we don’t have to,” he tries to deny his wish to say yes. “The diner on the corner is open.”
She scoffs and rolls her eyes, “And it’s shit. Besides, I really hate going anywhere after work and smelling like an ashtray. I was gonna fix coffee anyway, so it’s no big deal.” The beauty shrugs her shoulders, indicating it really is no trouble.
How can he resist? “Sounds good.” He pulls his wallet out of his back pocket and counts out a few bills to cover his tab. She takes the money and raises her eyebrow at the tip. Handing it back to him, he puts his hands up to stop her.
“Ok, fine,” she huffs. He watches her move over to the end of the bar to open the register and address the other bartender. “It’s slowing down and the tables are clear. I’m outta here.” Counting out her tips for the night, she doesn’t see the scowl on the older man’s face, but Chris catches it as the man turns to glare at him.
He strains to listen to their exchange over the din of the bar. He can’t hear most of it, so he puts his glasses back on; he’s perfected the art of lip reading over the years. Something to do on a slow day during boring staff meetings. He catches the man’s concern for his female counterpart. “What? You’re leaving here with pretty boy? Thalia, what are you doing?”
‘Pretty boy?’ Chris observes her looking around the bar, sweeping her arms wide. Her voice is higher pitched and easier to hear. “You’d rather I leave with one of the other patrons? At least if pretty boy has tats, they’re spelled right. But, Jim, don’t worry, my heart still belongs to you.” She pats his big belly and rises on her toes to kiss his cheek. Chris smiles at the scene.
Untying the apron, she tosses it under the bar. He swears her voice is a bit louder, for his benefit as she continues. “Don’t worry about me. You’ve seen me kick ass around here, you know if he tries something and I’m not interested, I can totally handle myself.”
Their voices drop but Chris continues to read their lips. “You’re interested,” Jim nods towards him.
Thalia turns her brilliant smile to him and he watches her puff out her chest slightly and pull her shoulders back. He returns the look and stands up from his seat, pulling his coat from the empty stool next to him.
She shakes her hair out, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Maybe; I don’t know,” she says to the other bartender. She grabs her coat from the hook and walks around the bar, titling her head to the exit and Chris follows her out, his hand on her lower back.
Outside in the cold, she pulls her collar up to protect her ears and loops her arm in his before stuffing her hands in her pockets. “It’s just across the street; that doorway,” she gestures with her head as she leads him across the street. Fumbling with her keys in the cold, she asks him to step around behind her for a minute. “Hang on just a second; can you hold it open?”
“Sure?” he asks as she steps around the corner of the building and yells something down the alley and he hears a scuffle. He’s surprised when she returns to see another woman with her. “Tina, this is my friend, Chris. He’ll be here tonight too, okay?”
Tina steps inside the warm entrance and mumbles something. Thalia pulls a wrapped sandwich and apple from her pocket and hands it to the woman. “Sleep well, Tina,” she says as the woman shuffles down the hall and disappears under the stairway.
Thalia nods her head up the stairs and starts climbing. Chris steps up beside her and quietly asks, “What was that about?”
Thalia grins and presses her lips closed tightly for a moment. “She has no place to stay. She’s harmless so a few of us let her in the building on cold nights and she sleeps under the stairs.” Stopping at the third landing, she halts in front of the door on the right and unlocks it. “I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve offered her my couch.” She shakes her head, her hair falling around her shoulders. “But she always says no. About once a week I am able to convince her to come up for a shower and we have hot tea.”
Chris is blown away by her generosity. “You have a habit of taking in strays? Me? Tina? What do you two talk about?”
The door open, she motions for him to enter and reaches around and flicks the light switch. He’s struck by the chill in the air, but the light casts a warm glow around the small space. She places the keys on a side table and rubs her hands together for warmth. “Wanna sit at the table? You might wanna keep your coat on. It’ll take a while for the place to warm up.” She moves to the radiator and clangs on it a few times with a metal wrench and Chris immediately remembers his days as a poor grad student too. He bites back his laughter at the expression on her face, when she bangs it again and curses in Spanish before it rattles to life.
Crossing to the kitchen, she lays her gloves on the counter, and fills a kettle with water before adding it to the machine and settling it in its spot. “She tells me about her life before she lost it all; her husband and son were killed in a car accident, and she just gave up after that.” She reaches to her left and pulls out a coffee filter and grounds, measuring and adding it as well. She pushes the orange button and the coffee maker makes a quiet hiss as it begins to do its job.
He watches as she moves about the kitchen and instantly feels at home in her space. Funny. That’s a feeling he hasn’t had in months. He looks around as she talks a little more about Tina and straightens the counters, maybe a little embarrassed a guest is seeing it in a messed up state. She halts when she realizes he’s watching and giggles. “Sorry. Habit. I’m not used to having guests, and it’s a mess.” She hands him a tin of cookies from above the stove and places two mugs on the table. “So, listen. Can you finish up the coffee? If I have to smell like that bar for five more minutes, I might scream.” She pulls a strand of hair to her nose and inhales. She drops it in disgust and makes a stink face. “It’s just awful; in my hair, on my clothes; on my skin. I hate it. And my hands? I think they always smell like beer.”
She’s standing just close enough that he reaches to grab one of her hands and brings it to his face, brushing his nose against her palm. Breathing deeply, the smell is strong, but she’s just left work. “Occupational hazard?” he teases as he gently caresses the back of her hand with his thumb, enjoying the soft feel of her skin, afraid to lift his eyes to hers.
Clearing her throat, Thalia pulls her hand away slowly but the catch in her breath is audible and seems to echo in the silence between them. Quietly she tells him, “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to shower. I won’t be long. Make yourself at home.”
She rushes from the room quickly and enters through a closed door. A few moments later, she comes out and rounds the corner and passes into another room with an armload of clothes. He hears the turn of the lock. As he makes his coffee, he tries not to imagine her naked and wet in the shower, but the thought jumps into his mind anyway. Adding sugar, he visualizes the rivulets of water running across her hills and valleys as she soaps away a long night at work. If he were there with her, he’d follow the wetness all over her curves, with his fingers and his tongue. He’d… Shit, he probably shouldn’t be thinking this.
Chuckling at the sound of her humming, he tries to identify the song he’s heard on the radio as he reaches to the fridge for creamer. On the door, he sees a recent application for paperwork to travel overseas and sees her birthdate, during the week of finals She just turned twenty-five. Pushing his glasses up, he rubs his forehead. Twenty-five. Fuck. Is that too young? She’s a grad student. He shrugs his shoulders. Not a student in his department. What’s the harm there?
Sipping his coffee, he walks around the tiny space. On the bookshelf are photos of friends and family… A notice from a funeral she attended a few months back. Books are piled everywhere. Lots of little trinkets from tourist destinations across Europe.
The radiator is slowly warming the room, with a slight chill still hanging in the air. He removes his coat and hangs it over the back of the chair before sitting on the couch and pulling the soft blue blanket around him. The furniture is nice and newer, not typical college student decor. He sinks back against the sueded fabric and settles in as the water shuts off. Again, trying to shut out any thoughts of her naked behind the closed door, he pulls out his phone and checks for any updated messages. Seeing none, he scowls at the screen, jumping a bit when the door creaks open.
“Hey,” she says quietly as a waft of orchids from her bath soaps float from the room. Her long curly hair is wrapped in a towel perched precariously on her head.
Damn, that’s really sexy, he thinks. How do girls do that? He smiles at her, in a pink polka dotted robe, tied loosely over a tank top and plaid pajama shorts. When she walks to the kitchen, the robe splits open and he catches sight of the way her thighs sensually rub against one another as she moves. “Hey,” he responds. “I didn’t know how you take your coffee so I just uh, didn’t fix it.”
She giggles. “Strong and bold, with a little sugar. Like my men,” she laughs and the sound is so joyous, he joins in the mirth. Moving elegantly she seems comfortable in her skin. Chris likes that about her right away. She doesn’t seem phased by his presence or uncomfortable to be in her pjs in front of someone she barely knows. As she fixes her coffee, he asks her a few more questions about Tina, her work at the bar and the memorabilia from her obvious travels.
“Ya know, Thalia, I always got the impression you didn’t like me,” he boldly states.
She settles at the end of the couch and tugs the robe around her middle. He can see her carefully considering her words. “You’re the type of man girls like me are taught to stay away from.”
A slow grin crosses his face, “Oh really? And what type is that?”
“Handsome and self-assured? But, I don’t know? Tonight you seemed- a little broken. Like you needed someone just to be nice to you. I can do that. I can be nice.”
He wonders how nice she could be; how nice it would be to run his fingers through her hair; how nice to slide between her legs; how nice-
He clears his throat and takes another sip of his coffee.
Click here to Chapter 15 Stay
Story updates are posted on Wednesdays and Sundays.
AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, Uncategorized#Adult Situations, #alcohol consumption, #avenger-nerd-mom, #chapter 14, #Chris Evans, #Chris Evans AU, #Chris Evans fan fic, #Chris Evans fan fiction, #devikafernando, #discussion of homelessness, #drinking, #educating thalia, #Fluff, #homeless, #Language, #Plus size romance, #plus sized, #plus sized OFC, #thoughts of sexual situations, #Tom Hiddleston, #tom hiddleston fan fic, #Tom Hiddleston fan fiction, AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, collaboration, professors, tom hiddleston au
Collaboration by @devikafernando & @avenger-nerd-mom
Warnings: Language, Adult Situations, fluff, angst, thoughts of sexual situations
Summary: Thalia reflects on her life in general and on her relationship with Tom.
Click here to read the introduction to Educating Thalia
With a sigh, Thalia dumps her bag and keys, plopping down on the couch to pull of her boots. To ward off the cold as she waits for the radiator to warm up, she stays wrapped in her scarf and coat, feeling oddly listless.
The best thing now would be to just fall into bed- and forget the fight with Tom she just had. But she’s much too annoyed to fall asleep right now. She’s glad to know her class in the morning is cancelled, and she can laze about a few extra hours. Finally warm enough, she peels off her outer layer of clothes and reaches for the slippers under the coffee table.
With another sigh, she pads into the kitchen and grabs the ingredients for a nice, ego-boosting, nerve-soothing cup of hot chocolate. Although a shot of whiskey doesn’t sound bad either. She looks briefly to the window, and thinks about crossing the street to the bar where she works, but she’d probably get sucked into helping close for the night. Chica, you are too tired for that shit. Three nights in a row is enough and she looks forward to being off from the bar for a few days. Instead of booze as a soother, while the water boils, she rummages for home-made cookies she always keeps in an emergency stash in a tin above the stove.
Tom. She can’t kick him from her mind… It’s barely been two weeks since she’s returned from her Christmas break, but things have changed somehow. She’s confused by how there can be a closeness and a distance at the same time… It’s like he wants to pull her close, then gets scared of his own feelings, and pushes her away. It’s become dizzying.
Although she’ll forever remember and treasure the amazing time she spent with Tom during his surprise visit, their days apart during the holidays made her see one thing clearer: She shouldn’t tie herself to him too much.
They’re becoming too dependent on each other; she’ll be looking for work abroad, and this isn’t the permanent home for either of them. Their time at the college as professor and student is just a stop along the way to the rest their lives…
Yes, he’s all she can think about sometimes, and he’s awakened a hunger for more inside that scares the shit out of her – but does that mean he should wield such control over all of her life?
She’s a little tired of re-adjusting her schedule and missing out on other things because she’s at his beck and call. Whenever he is free, she ditches anything that isn’t work or school to spend a few forbidden hours with him.
Thalia munches grumpily on two cookies, the usually mouth-watering taste of her step-mother’s family recipe barely registering on her taste buds.
God, she loves spending time with Tom. And that’s part of the problem. She’s grown so attached to him, so dependent on him and how he makes her feel valued and appreciated…
What the hell happened to being her own girl?
It doesn’t help that Tom has steadily been growing more attached too. He cares for her, she feels it in her bones, even though he hasn’t put it into words. It’s a blessing and a curse rolled into one, and sometimes he’s like a petulant child if he doesn’t get his way.
While going through the motions of making her hot chocolate,Thalia recounts a fight they had about a week ago. She was in a bad mood before meeting him, weighed down by the challenges of the new semester and drained by all those extra hours at the bar now that one of the other bartenders quit. When she snapped at Tom for a teasing comment, he gave her an impromptu spanking in his office. What started as playful fun, with her admitting she was being a bad girl ended up with him taking her from behind and leaving a rather prominent love bite on her neck. Afterwards, he cuddled her close and asked her what was wrong…and somehow off they were on their first ever real fight- over something completely ridiculous.
Tom was none too happy with her decision to work late hours. When she reminded him icily that she didn’t have the privilege of money, he offered to help her out.
Shaking her head at the memory, Thalia takes a sip of the hot, bittersweet liquid and waits for its effect to kick in.
She knows he mentioned helping her financially because he wants to have more time with her and because he genuinely cares for her, but to her that was a big no- a red flag. With a scowl, she remembers stomping around his office and gathering her clothes while hissing at him that he sure as hell wasn’t her sugar daddy and she was the last person who wanted his money.
He flinched and looked so wounded that she wanted to take the words back. But though they were harsh, they were the truth. No way would she let him help. It was bad enough that he paid for all those hotels and meals and little treats off and on. She didn’t want to turn into a kept woman, dammit, like some medieval mistress. And she told him so before storming out of his office.
Slowly, trying her best to savor the flavor, Thalia sips the rest of her beverage.
In the days that followed, he did not bring up the topic again and he was careful to create opportunities for them to spend time together that didn’t involve large expenses. She smiles at the memory of him ‘accidentally’ finding her studying in the Commons and the ice cream he shared with her. And the whispered naughty things he would do to her if they were alone…
But the truce was short lived. They fought again tonight at dinner. She hadn’t been able to see Tom for three days due to work and classes and today she nearly fell asleep while waiting for dinner. His deep, crisp voice lulling her in safety and she wanted nothing more to fall into his arms and sleep for days. When she asked him for a raincheck on the date, things only got worse. Before she could even suggest he go with her to her place for the night, he switched from disappointment to cool anger. He accused her of being needlessly stubborn.
“I told you that you should let me help. Why are you so intent on making things complicated?” he asked, blue eyes flashing, a muscle ticking in his clenched jaw.
Something snapped inside her then, exhaustion taking its toll on her. “I’m being stubborn?! Ya know, Tom, I don’t have strength for this bullshit right now. How about learning how to deal with a little rejection instead of making matters worse?” she threw at him and left, ignoring his pleading voice calling her name as she paraded down the snowy sidewalk to her car.
As tired as her body is from being overworked, it also burns with a constant longing for Tom’s affection and attention.
And God, he could be attentive to the point of killing her, in the best ways possible.
Her cheeks heat, and it has nothing to do with the chocolate. She writhes with the sizzling memory of him pleasuring her with his mouth and a tiny but powerful vibrator last week. He didn’t let up until she thought she’d burst out of her skin, coaxing so many orgasms out of her that she was a boneless mess in his arms by the time he rubbed himself between her full breasts and came all over them.
Thalia tightens the grip on her cup, arousal slipping through the annoyance and making her press her thighs together.
Almost defiantly, she downs the rest of the liquid and rinses the cup in the sink.
Dammit, she doesn’t want him to have such a hold on her, and he simply doesn’t understand what’s so bad about, how did he phrase it, ‘helping the woman who means so much to me until she’s pulled through.’
Her phone dings, announcing a message. Knowing instinctively that it must be Tom, she keeps herself from looking at it. Instead, she walks into the bathroom and indulges in a hot shower, trying to wash off all her conflicting emotions.
When she’s finally in bed twenty minutes later, she picks up her phone and checks.
She can’t help the eye roll and reluctant smile when she reads the Shakespeare quote. It’s just so Tom.
‘A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.’ I’m sorry for being such an insufferable fool this evening, darling. Forgive me? I just want what’s best for you…for this beautiful thing we share.
The umpteenth sigh for today wrenches itself lose.
Forgiven, she types, I’m off work tomorrow. Let me buy dinner and we can talk things over? Not even waiting for a reply, knowing he’ll say yes, she lies back and tries to catch the sleep she so desperately needs.
Click here for the next chapter, Closing Time
AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, Uncategorized#Adult Situations, #angst, #avenger-nerd-mom, #chapter 13, #Chris Evans, #Chris Evans AU, #Chris Evans fan fiction, #devikafernando, #educating thalia, #Fluff, #Language, #Plus size romance, #plus sized OFC, #plus sized romance, #plus-size OFC, #thoughts of sexual situations, #Tom Hiddleston, #Tom Hiddleston AU fic, #Tom Hiddleston fan fiction, au fiction, collaboration, professors
Educating Thalia: Chapter 12
Warnings: Language, Adult Situations, NSFW, Dom, Sub, safe words, binding, blindfolds, aftercare, delayed orgasms, cunnilingus, blow job, spanking, condom use, silk tie play, trust, lessons from Tom on making tea
Summary: Tom and Thalia grow closer while spending the night together in Chicago, putting his Christmas present to good use and learning to make a proper British cup of tea.
SPECIAL NOTE: Due to Good Friday in the States and the New Year celebration in Sri Lanka, there will be THREE story postings this coming week. Look for chapters to be posted on Wednesday, April 12; FRIDAY, April 14 and Sunday, April 16. If you want to make sure you are always up to date with Tom, Thalia and Chris, just follow avenger-nerd-mom on WordPress and stories are sent directly to you!
Images used for this chapter were found on Pinterest
Click here for the intro to Educating Thalia
Tom inserts the key card and enters the room, with Thalia close on his heels and still holding his free hand.
He’s opted for a cozy double room this time, not a lavish suite, but he made sure before booking that the bathroom has a generous tub if his girl should want a repeat performance of their first night together.
Pulling Thalia to him, he nuzzles her hair. “I’m glad, darling, we were able to spend the day together. I enjoyed seeing your city through your eyes. So many places to visit; it’s no wonder you grew up with a love for theater, history and culture.”
Thalia pushes back against him, taking his hand. “Come here, you have to see something.”
Tom drops his bag and follows her to the window. Pulling back the curtains, the beautiful city lights up in front of them as snow begins to fall and a lighted ship can be seen on the lake, bobbing along on the waves. His arms wrap around her waist and she rests hers on his, running her fingertips along his leather watch band. His pulse quickens at her light touch and he wonders if she has any idea how she makes him feel.
“I’ve never really seen the city from up high at night; it’s so beautiful,” she whispers, leaning forward to get a better view.
With her forehead pressed against the glass, he releases one hand from her grasp and sweeps her long hair over her shoulder. “Not as beautiful as you,” he whispers in her ear, continuing to tug at her hair.
He can see the smile in her reflection on the cool glass. Pursing her lips together, she quietly says, “It’s a lost cause. The Chicago wind; my hair will be in knots for days. I like…” she sighs, turning in his arms. Playing with the buttons on his shirt collar, she looks up at him through her dark lashes. “I like leaving it down for you to play with…”
His heart flips at her innocent admission. Before he can speak, she makes another confession. “You also look really good in plaid,” she giggles. “It’s damn near pornographic.”
“Oh, really,” he taunts, a chill running through him as her fingertips light over his collarbone, dipping beneath his shirt collar. Barely a whisper between them, he tells her, “I’ll have to remember that.”
“Entirely too sinful… I wouldn’t be able to concentrate in class-”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that.” His hand reaches behind her and gives a light squeeze on her ass.
They both laugh warmly at the ruined lesson the day she wore the plaid skirt to lecture, and the few times since they’d worn or said things in a veiled attempt to tease the other out in the open.
Standing in front of the window, he begins to sway with her gently in his arms as they look out over the city. He tries to formulate the words that tickle at the back of his mind. He opens his mouth several times, but closes it quietly, not knowing what to say and not wanting to say too much.
She giggles, gently shaking in his hold. “Tom, just spit it out. I can see your reflection in the glass and you look like a funny fish!” She mimics him in the window and he has a good laugh with her.
Shaking his head, he begins, looking down on her glowing face, cheeks still slightly pink from the wind.. “Thalia, I didn’t come all this way to visit you out of sexual frustration. I want you to know I truly missed you. I’ll admit, dammit, I was miserable without you. My favorite hiding places- my office, the library- they held no spark for me knowing you wouldn’t pop around the corner. Do you understand, darling?”
Her eyes soften and a new expression fills them, something he’s not seen there before. She licks her lips and he can see her pulse quicken. A light blush crosses her face, darkening her freckles. “I understand, Tom. I… I felt the same. I’ve missed you; the feel of your arms, the poetic lilt of your voice. You calling me this morning? That was the best Christmas present I’ve ever received. I can’t repay that to you, but-”
“Darling, it’s not a give and take like that. Just having you here with me now is enough.” His hand slides up her curvy figure and his palm rests against her rapidly beating heart, his fingertips brushing gently along the gold necklace chain she wears.
In her low raspy tone she tells him quietly, “I guess I could confess something else to you, as a thank you for flying all the way out here to see me?”
“What’s that, Thalia?” His own pulse echoes in his ears and he wonders what she has to share with him. “You can always tell me anything.”
Her mouth turns up into to a cocky grin and she bites at the corner of her lip. “You once asked me if I pleasure myself while thinking of you? Well, I’ve been missing you a lot, late at night-”
“Oh, fuck, Thalia,” he chuckles darkly, “then let’s get on with it, shall we?”
She throws her head back in laughter and the tension has a more playful feeling now, but Tom still intends to give her a lesson. She has no idea what she does to him…
“I hope you aren’t suffering from an overdose of too many sinful experiences late at night and alone, are you darling?”
She snakes her arms around his waist and buries deeper into his embrace, shaking her head. Her words come out muffled against his chest.
“Not at all. As long as I share all the experiences with you.”
As much as he enjoys a simple hug as this, Tom draws back, flicking her chin up with his long fingers.
“Good, because I have another new experience waiting for you.”
She looks up at him, and something about the expression of utter trust in her face makes him feel ten feet tall. He steals a quick kiss before saying in a low voice full of sinful promises, “I’ve been dying to try out my Christmas present, you know?”
He sees her eyes widen, then darken when she remembers- their last night together before she left on break and the silk tie and their talk about alternative uses for it.
“Yes,” she says, her voice already breathy, and he can’t wait to see how far she will let him go today.
The air between them becomes charged with sexual energy and anticipation.
Cupping her face in one large hand, he holds her gaze intently. “A few things first before we start playing. While we’re doing this, I’m in control. You do what I say. You don’t ask any questions, unless you need clarification of what you’re supposed to do. If you address me, you’ll call me sir. Understood?”
Her tongue sneaks out to wet her lips. She nods, then remembers earlier instructions and adds a breathy, yet somewhat confident, “yes”.
He can feel her pulse throb against his fingers and he knows his heart is racing just the same. God, how has he deserved a woman like this? She’s a true gift, and he intends to treasure her for as long as she lets him.
“I’m not going to do anything you don’t like, so please don’t be scared, darling. I’m giving you the safe word ‘chocolate’. If you want me to stop something I’m doing or you ever feel uncomfortable at any point, you say the word clearly once, and I’ll take that as a signal to stop immediately.”
Thalia shivers, and he caresses her gently, trying to ease her nerves. “Do we really need a safe word, Tom?”
Fear in her dark eyes, he worries he’s frightened her.
“I promise, I won’t hurt you or be too rough, nothing I don’t think you’ll enjoy. It’s just a precaution…” His voice is tender and soft, to alleviate her concerns, but switches back to a controlling sound to finish his thought. “What’s your safe word, darling?”
She sighs, working her lip over and he can feel her fingers nervously fidgeting with a fold on the back of his shirt where her hands rest around his waist. “Chocolate.”
“Exactly. It’s your right to use it whenever things become too much. But I just want to tell you that you shouldn’t use it too liberally. This is all about new experiences. I want to educate you and guide you. So even if something might strike you as strange or daring, give it a chance first and see because you might enjoy it. Okay?”
She pulls herself tall in his arms, creating a confidence, making up her mind to turn herself over to another lesson at his hands.
Jesus, they haven’t even started yet and she’s got him hard. She’s so stunning in the dark light, with the city glowing behind her, and he’s proud of her resolve.
“We won’t try anything too forward today,” he adds because he wants her to enjoy this and not panic. And as he’s told her, he isn’t into the hardcore stuff anyway. To prove he wants this to be fun, he nips playfully at her neck, eliciting a light squeak from the back of her throat.
“Yes, sir, I trust you.” She nods, her curls bouncing and her pulse leaping.
“Good girl. Let your man show you how much fun a bit of playing can be.”
He lets her face go and grabs hold of her hand to pull her towards the bed.
“Strip for me, love.”
A little less shyly than the first time, Thalia removes her clothes one by one, holding eye contact.
Tom licks his lips and takes deep breaths. He doesn’t move from his spot until she has stepped out of her white panties, the innocence of them contrasting tantalizingly with her actions.
He steps out of his shoes, impatience raising its head inside him.
“Now be a darling and help me out of my clothes.”
She comes forward eagerly and removes his jacket before unbuttoning his plaid shirt. When her fingers brush lingeringly over his pecs, he grabs her wrist.
“No touching. Not yet. Just remove my clothes.”
She undoes the rest of the buttons and slides the shirt off, followed by the navy T-shirt he’s wearing beneath it. Tom shifts obediently this way and that, pleased that she’s sticking to the rules so far. His pants are next, and her fingers shake slightly while she opens the belt.
Slowly, she pushes the button through its hole, then lowers the zipper over the beginning bulge. Her hands falter and her eyes shoot up when she discovers that he’s been going commando.
Thalia opens her mouth to say something, but a warning lift of his eyebrow reminds her that she’s supposed to be silent. Tom watches with a smirk how she eyes his hardening cock with longing but keeps her hands to herself. He can tell whatever she wants to say is just killing her and he’ll have to ask later.
She lowers his pants all the way down to his feet, squatting in the process. Tom steps out of them and removes his socks, then pulls her up with him.
“The tie is under the left pillow. Be a good girl and bring it to me.”
His voice has automatically taken on a deeper timbre, a low growl full of authority.
He enjoys the view of her round ass when she walks to the bed, bends and retrieves the tie. The shiny silk with its mesmerizing color pattern of blue, purple and pink gleams in the light. Thalia is holding it in both hands, carefully carrying it like a breakable glass on a tray.
Tom takes it, gliding his fingers over it in a caress that has her suck in a breath. He plays with the length of it, watching her eyes follow the movement as if hypnotized by the sight.
“One day,” he says softly, “I’ll have you tie it for me before a party or retie it during the event, your fingers tugging and stroking it. And we’ll both remember what purpose it served before I wore it.”
He leans in for a kiss, snaking his tongue past her lips and feeling a little of the tension leave her body.
“Do you trust me?”
Her answer is immediate. “Yes…sir.”
“Perfect. Turn around and close your eyes.”
She does as told, swallowing hard. When he lifts the tie to her forehead and places it over her eyes instead of looping it around her wrists, she starts.
“But I thought…”
“Be quiet, pet.” He makes his voice stern, enjoying her surprise. As a warning for her to be obedient, he presses an open-mouthed kiss to the nape of her neck and sinks his teeth into her skin, hard enough to send a jolt of pain through her and mark her.
Then he returns to tying the blindfold, making sure with a few tugs that the knots are neither too tight nor too loose.
“Is this painful for you?”
“No, sir.” She sounds a little out of breath and nervous again, but her voice also carries the huskiness it adopts when she’s aroused.
“Can you see anything?”
God, it’s tempting to kiss and caress her now, maybe press his lips to every knob and indent of her spine before scraping his teeth over the small of her back and over those gorgeous globes.
But he has other plans for her, so he restricts himself to licking the spot he’s just bitten and then blowing cool air onto it. Goose bumps rise on her skin.
He inhales the flowery scent of her hair, the unique fragrance of her skin, mingling with a hint of crisp silk cloth.
“Turn around again.”
A little wobbly and off balance, Thalia turns to face him, and something about her blindfolded with his tie makes his cock twitch in anticipation.
Fuck, she looks hot like this, submissive but not too different, and definitely not uncomfortable.
“Touch me,” he commands, his voice rough. “Your sense of touch will be enhanced because you can’t rely on your eyes. I want you to run your hands all over my body and explore me as you’ve never done before.”
It takes all of his self-control not to haul her close for a kiss or fondle her breasts with their hardened tips when she starts caressing him. Her movements are tentative at first, hovering uncertainly at his shoulders. But she grows bolder with every ragged breath, her fingertips and palms traveling over his clavicles and his pecs, molding the ridges of his abs.
Emboldened by how intensely she must be feeling things and by the novelty of it all, she takes her time and really does explore him. Her nails graze over his nipples, making him moan. She glides her fingertips through the sparse hair on his chest and lower through the hints of happy trail leading south.
Fanning her hands outward, she explores his Adonis belt, tracing a vein down. Instead of moving lower, she touches his arms next, fingertips digging into his biceps when he flexes them. Her touch flutters over his wrists and palms. Interestingly, she explores his face next, studying him like a blind woman would to guess what he looks like. Her fingers brush over his high forehead and sharp cheekbones, linger on his mouth when he parts his lips and lets her seek out his teeth and tongue.
When she moves her hands to his waist and then back, wandering lower to cup his firm ass, Tom shivers in delight. Their bodies are pressed flush against each other, and it’s heaven and hell rolled into one. He grits his teeth to keep himself still, battling the need to really touch her and focuses on the subtle changes in expression on her face instead.
“On your knees,” he orders.
Thalia lowers herself unsteadily and reaches out to caress his thighs, trailing inwards to his balls, which she cups softly.
He hisses in a breath through his teeth, tensing when her fingertips massage the tender flesh and she rolls them slowly.
Probably unconsciously, her tongue wets her lips, as if she wants to run not just her hands but also her mouth all over him.
Fuck, he needs more.
With one hand at the back of her hair, half holding onto the tie’s knot and onto her hair, Tom keeps her in place.
“Open your mouth.”
Clenching his jaw, he shifts his hips a fraction so the head of his rock-hard cock brushes against her lips.
“Now explore me with your mouth.” It’s almost more of a plea than a command, and he can’t hold back a groan at the first slick of her tongue over him.
She licks away a bead of pre-come before sucking softly. Tom holds her head in place and drives his hips forward and back, sinking into the welcoming warmth of her mouth with agonizing slowness. Inch by inch, he lets her take more of him in, and it’s almost too much to handle.
Without waiting for his order, Thalia begins to lick and suck in earnest, and he can feel it in every cell of his body, the fierce longing to let go.
After a few more minutes of this sweet torture, he orders gruffly, “Stop.”
She obeys, but with a delay. Too turned on to remember punishing her, Tom yanks her up again and devours her mouth in a heady kiss that has them both moaning, biting and licking furiously.
He picks her up and half-throws her on the bed where she bounces, breasts heaving and begging for attention.
He wastes no time hunting for a condom in his wallet, tossing it onto the sheet before joining her on the bed. Crawling over her so he can cover her body with his, Tom lets her feel some of his weight.
“How was it for you?” he asks, barely able to form a rational thought and control his vocal chords. “Did you feel everything more intensely?”
“Yes… Yes, sir.”
“Excellent. Now feel this.”
He slithers down and buries his face between her luscious thighs, wasting no time in working her up into a frenzy with his talented mouth.
“Oh God, unh… ugh, fuck…” Before long, Thalia is whimpering and shouting profanities, her inability to see heightening the sensations.
Tom pauses to reach up and tweak a nipple. “Quiet, girl, or I’ll stop and leave you hanging again while I pleasure myself and come all over your helpless body! No sounds, remember?”
She nods frantically, biting her lip.
“And you’re not allowed to come until I tell you to, understand?”
When there’s only desperate and very muffled keening, he holds down her bucking hips while pinching the nipple harder. “Understand?”
“Y-yesss, sir.”
“That’s my girl.”
He licks again, alternating between using the tip of his tongue and the broad flat of it, teasing and stroking. Pursing his lips around her clit, he sucks softly, which draws an animalistic sound from her.
He slows down a fraction, keeping her at the brink but not allowing her to jump off the cliff and drown into bliss.
Licking her delicious taste from his mouth, Tom moves up again. He holds her head and fumbles behind it, finally untying the silky fabric so he can stare into her beautiful dark eyes.
Her hips still lifting and circling, she nods frantically.
“Yes. God yes, please, sir.”
Tom grins at her, frankly surprised that he hasn’t fucked her raw by this time because she’s so freaking delectable like this.
He shifts, crooking a finger at her.
“Sit up tall with your back turned to me and your lovely ass resting on your feet.”
Thalia moves as if in a trance, her whole body flushed and sweaty.
When she’s in the right position, he gives his next order. “Arms back, wrists together.”
Again, she reacts eagerly, her thighs pressing together to alleviate the ache between her legs.
“Good girl,” he praises her in a deep low tone, before giving her another love bite on the sensitive juncture between her neck and shoulder.
Her whimper travels straight to his cock, and he hurriedly wraps the tie around her wrists, tugging experimentally.
“Not too tight?”
“N-no, sir.”
He grabs and positions her as he wants, with her body braced on her knees and leaning forward and her ass in the air. The sight is so goddamn pretty that he can’t resist. In quick succession, he slaps both cheeks, hearing her choke on a needy drawn-out sound that’s more animal than human.
Alternating between displays of dominance and tenderness, Tom makes sure her head rests comfortably and she can breathe. He grabs the condom and sheaths himself, his hands shaking because he wants her so much. Wrapping a fistful of her hair around one hand, Tom tips her head back to whisper into her ear.
“Do you want me to take you like this, like the naughty girl you are?”
He rubs himself against her wetness, coating himself in the slick juices so he won’t hurt her.
“Hm? Do you want me to fill you so thoroughly that you think I’ve become one with you? Fuck you so hard that the guests on the whole floor will know I’m treating you well?”
Thalia moans incoherently.
“I’m afraid I can’t hear you. What was that?” He nips at her earlobe.
“Yeees.”
“Yes what, my pet? Tell your man what you want and he’ll give it to you.”
She fights for breaths and for her voice, trembling with need against him. “Please, sir, please take me like this. Make me come. Make me scream.”
Fuck, that’s hot.
Tom shifts and nudges her legs wider apart, settling on his knees behind her and giving her engorged clit a pinch that has her arch up with a mewling sound.
“You want it all?”
“Yes, sir, please.”
With one thrust, he sheaths himself fully in her, hissing at the tightness. God, it’s like he’s died and gone to heaven.
Thalia shouts, tightening around him in a vice-like grip that has him clench his jaw so hard it’s painful. When he slowly pulls out only to press himself inside to the hilt again, her shout turns into a guttural moan. He can see her body struggling to keep balance, can see her bound hands flex uselessly in search of something to hold on to.
Tom begins rocking into her, not as hard and fast as he’d like it because he’s a lot to take even with her state of arousal. From behind, he fits so incredibly well it’s as if they were built for one another.
He grabs her hip, fingers digging so deep that he’ll leave bruises. With his free hand on the back of her neck, he keeps her still while he pounds into her with all he has.
It doesn’t take her long to convulse around him, high-pitched keening telling him she’s close. Moving the hand around and letting it glide down the front of her body, he pinches a nipple before traveling lower and rubbing her slippery clit in tight circles.
Thalia arches up wildly and grows absolutely still, coming so violently around his cock that she can’t even make any noises. Tom follows close behind, feeling her milk him for all his worth.
As soon as he can somehow force breath into his lungs, he straightens and unties her wrists.
Massaging them tenderly, he peppers her back with kisses.
“Are you alright, darling?”
“Never been better,” comes the weak reply after a moment, and they both have to chuckle at that.
Tom turns and embraces her, shifting so they lie side by side and he can get a good look at her face.
“Enough new experiences for today?” he asks softly, brushing a strand of hair off her sweaty forehead.
She smiles, reminding him oddly of a sated and contently purring cat.
“Yea,” she giggles. “You wore me out.” Caressing across his brow with her thumb, she sighs contentedly.
Tom steps out of the shower and grabs a towel to dry himself off. His early-morning run has invigorated him – but truth be told, he knows that his good mood is mostly Thalia’s fault. This stolen day in Chicago with her has been a blessing. And he notices a subtle change in their relationship. More trust. They weren’t really the professor and his student yesterday, they were almost two normal people dating.
His blood heats at the memory of their tie play. God, she’s the hottest woman he’s ever met.
Starting to dry his hair, Tom walks into the room only to stop and admire her.
Thalia didn’t wake up when he snuck out for his run earlier, and she’s still asleep. The sheet has shifted with her movement, exposing one long, thick leg and part of her delicious curves. Her gorgeous curls are spread out on the pillow in tangles, giving her a certain wild look.
Tossing the towel aside, Tom prowls closer and slowly tugs the sheet further down. He licks his lips at the sight of her full breasts, remembering them bounce. There are faint bruises on them and on her waist where he’s sucked and bitten a little too hard, and his cock stirs at the sight of how he’s marked her.
She’s his.
And he’s hers too, even if he’s reluctant to admit that to himself. She’s wiggled her way into his life and now she’s as essential to it as his meals.
Banishing further thought, Tom leans over and shakes himself like a dog so that his wet hair sends water drops flying over her naked body.
She grunts and moves restlessly, one arm flinging out to the side. With a chuckle, he rubs his curly hair against her belly and nuzzles her breasts, spreading cool wetness over her skin.
With a small yelp, she jerks upright, hands automatically trying to fend him off.
Now laughing outright, Tom crawls on top of her and captures her wrists in his hands.
“Good morning, sleepyhead. I never knew orchids need so much time until they can bloom again.”
She reacts with a half-hearted eye-roll and a stifled yawn.
“Morning,” she grumbles. “You’re already up and showered?”
He nods. “Just came back from a run, actually, while you were lost in beauty sleep. Not that you need it, as you’re beautiful enough already.”
A blush begins to rise while she mutters, “You’re much too chirpy for this time of the day. Get your morning cheerfulness away from me.”
Tom grins and licks a few water drops from her breast, deliberately avoiding her nipples.
“Adorable. But I won’t tolerate slovenly behavior, Miss Bareo.” Shifting so he can sit up, he keeps her wrists in one hand while he moves the other to draw circles around a nipple, watching it pebble.
With a sound that reminds him of a purr, Thalia stretches beneath him. She drags her gaze to the alarm clock on the nightstand and gasps. “Oh, it’s much later than I thought.”
He dips and gives the now hard bud a tender suck, which instantly makes her focus on him again.
“I guess I wore you out last night, hm?” he asks with the lift of an eyebrow.
Her blush deepens, but a sassy look enters her eyes. “If I said yes, will that convince you that I need to be pampered with a 5-star breakfast?”
Tom throws his head back, his carefree ehehehe causing her to giggle too.
“As if I needed any convincing whatsoever when it comes to breakfast.”
He grows serious momentarily, trailing his free hand down to brush ever so softly over her thighs and center.
“Are you feeling sore, darling?”
She sobers and wriggles experimentally. The slightest grimace flickers on her face, gone in an instant.
“A little?”
Tom places gentle kisses around her belly button.
“Sore in a good way, I hope?”
She smiles, and it lights his whole heart. God, he’s fallen for her so hard it’s not even funny anymore.
“In the best way.”
Telling his interested cock to calm down, he forces himself off her.
“Go and refresh yourself, love. Then we’ll have that breakfast. But before that, there’s something I want to do.”
Interest widens her eyes as she wraps the sheet around herself and rises to go to the bathroom.
Before she reaches the door, he calls out to her. “Oh, Thalia. Last night, when you undressed me, you were dying to say something, love; what was it?”
With a flounce she stops and turns to him, laughter bubbling from her. “I was just thinking about you being commando all day in the biting Chicago cold. I almost felt sorry for you,” she giggles and disappears behind the door.
Bubbling with laughter himself, Tom makes the bed half-heartedly and paces the room, practically bouncing with energy when she returns a while later, still clutching the sheet.
“Only your panties and bra,” he commands softly when she bends for her clothes.
Thalia huffs, but she knows better now than to argue.
Taking her hand, he leads her to the far side of the room and points to the table.
“Pay attention now, Miss Bareo, I’m going to introduce you to the art of making proper English tea.”
She giggles, biting her lip when he shoots her a mock-reproachful glare.
“Yes, sir, certainly, sir,” she says in her most obedient tone, and he’s seriously tempted to ditch this and explore some more naughty roleplaying with her.
But he does take his tea seriously, so…
“Now,” he holds up a finger, using his lecturing voice although he can’t help grinning a little, “the most important thing by far is to choose the correct tea. But we’re sadly lacking in choice here, so the one they provide will have to do. I usually prefer Earl Grey or breakfast tea. And tea leaves would be even better than bags, but never mind that now.”
She nods, watching him grab a tea bag.
“Next, the water.” He holds out the kettle and motions for her to go and fill it while explaining, “Using old or coldish water in the kettle can result in scummy, scaly tea. So always boil it freshly.”
“Yessir.” Thalia salutes, which earns her a slap on a butt cheek.
“Behave. Tea is almost sacred for a true Englishmen.”
She quirks a brow at him. “Oh, is that why I’m supposed to make it half-naked? Wait, wait, wouldn’t that be a sacrilege of sorts then?”
With a feigned growl of anger, Tom plants a firm kiss on her mouth. It shuts her up for the moment, though the playful gleam in her eyes stays.
“Okay. Next step. If you want to make tea in a teapot, warm the teapot with hot water first , and then add one teabag per person. This ensures that your tea will stay hot longer. But we’re using two mugs with a tea bag each. The water really needs to be boiling when you pour it, simple hot water won’t free all the aromas.”
They wait for the water to boil, Tom allowing himself to be distracted by her fingers combing through her hair.
“Right. Now pour the water into the mug and stir briefly.”
He watches her do as told, displaying the same quiet concentration he is so familiar with from her studies.
“Now we let it brew for around two minutes.” Tom pulls her in closer, his hands always hungry for her skin. He caresses her waist and the small of her back, oddly happy to be standing here with her and making tea.
They share a smile.
“Ready. Remove the tea bag now,” he instructs.
Thalia does so, yelping in surprise when he clamps his hand around her wrist.
“No, don’t squeeze the bag. It’ll just make the taste bitter.”
“Yeesh, Tom, you really do take this far too seriously,” she complains half-heartedly while dumping the soggy bags into the bin.
“And now, oh maestro of the British tea culture?”
He pinches her waist softly, motioning to the condiments.
“Now it’s time for milk and sugar. And none of that low-fat nonsense for me.”
He drops some sugar in, making sure she’s watching. Then he takes her hand and helps her add milk slowly, controlling the amount.
“You need to watch for the right colour, darling. The perfect cup of tea will have a dark orange-brown look once the milk has been added and stirred. Too little or too much will totally throw the taste off balance.”
She rolls her eyes again, which earns her a second slap on her ass, this one stinging enough to make her pout.
Tom leans in to kiss the pout off her lips.
“Done…but not totally,” he announces. “Now we’ll let it rest for around four minutes until it’s the perfect drinking temperature.”
He takes a whiff of the fragrant steam rising, and she does the same.
“Catch that slightly fruity undertone?”
She nods. “Yes, what is it?”
“It’s a pinch of bergamot that is added to Earl Grey tea. Usually we should really celebrate the tea with some digestive biscuits or jaffa cake.”
“Oh, I remember that one,” she half-squeals, eyes instantly lighting up at the mention of food. “My roommate in London made me try jaffa cake. That mix of chocolate and orange was perfect.”
Tom gives her a joyful smile. “Ah, a girl after my own heart.”
He grabs his mug. “Now come and sit on my lap while I enjoy my morning cuppa. Repeat my instructions back to me. If you get them right, I’ll treat you to a spectacular breakfast.”
Trying to give her the privacy she deserves for her phone call, Tom places his earbuds in his ears while he checks over his flight information to return home the next day. He shouldn’t have been concerned. Her whole conversation is in Spanish, and he finally realizes she’s talking to her father. Listening as the words roll from her tongue fluently he eavesdrops as she tells her father about enjoying a day on the town with a friend. He can detect her father’s worry she didn’t return home when she sweetly reminds him she’s an adult and can be trusted in her decisions. He keeps his head low as she watches him from across the room, blushing lightly when she explains to her father in her native tongue of Spanish, “He’s special dad, and you’d really like him, but it’s too soon in the relationship to meet family.” His air of indifference holds until his laughter bursts out when she raises her voice to her father, shouting with frustration in Spanish, “God, yes we use condoms; I’m not stupid!”
Her head jerks to him and she blushes, shaking her head. Ending the call quickly, she says defiantly. “Shit, I should have known you were fluent… The way you roll your damn tongue,” she winks. Sighing, she finishes. “Dad’s a little old-fashioned; he gets I’m not a virgin, but he likes to meet my boyfriends. He hates I went to school so far away from home, but it was the best choice for my studies… I know we’re a little non-traditional, you and I, so I’m not expecting you to meet my parents.”
He nods, crossing the room to her and hugging her close. Meeting her parents and all a relationship should entail for a young woman… Damn, he chides himself for the hundredth time, what am I doing? Pressing his lips to the top of her head, he decides to set his thoughts aside for his solitary return trip home.
“Which museum shall we hit today darling?”
Click here to read Chapter 13, Alone
AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, Uncategorized# blindfolds, #Adult Situations, #avenger-nerd-mom, #BDSM, #binding, #blow job, #chapter 12, #Chris Evans, #Chris Evans AU fic, #Chris Evans fan fiction, #condom use, #cunnilingus, #delayed orgasms, #devikafernando, #dom, #Dom Tom, #educating thalia, #Language, #NSFW, #Nudity, #plus sized fiction, #plus sized OFC, #plus sized romance, #safe words, #Spanking, #sub, #Tom Hiddleston, #Tom Hiddleston AU fic, #Tom Hiddleston fan fiction, #trust, Aftercare, collaboration
Chicago: Chapter 11
Warnings: Language, Adult Situations, sightseeing, FOOD PORN, cuteness overload, PLAID PORN, innocent making out
*****SUSPEND REALITY- we know it’s not possible to see ALL these attractions in one day. This is what happens when a German girl living in Sri Lanka has never BEEN to Chicago!******
Click here to the beginning of Educating Thalia
Tom feels as if he’s entered into a parallel universe or discovered an alter ego of his. It isn’t just the clothes, though he does feel different in his red-and-blue plaid shirt and black jeans. He’s picked the shirt because it looked awfully comfortable and because he couldn’t get the image of Thalia with her cowboy boots out of his head. To brace himself against the biting cold, he’s wearing a navy T-shirt beneath the shirt and a quilted navy coat with a zip. He had half a mind to go for cowboy boots himself, but part of him was scared he’d just look like an idiotic wanna-be Yankee mixed with a stiff Englishman. So he opted for his go-to solution, the well-worn grey suede shoes that he loves to combine with basically any casual or even semi-formal outfit.
Thalia has already glanced at the plaid shirt more than once, and the approval in her eyes – turning to quite a lot more than interest when he opens a few buttons in the toasty warm museum – feels like a soothing caress. It makes him feel more at ease, ready to let her play tour guide and boss him around a little.
Since they have embarked on this journey through the city, she’s been pointing out landmarks and sharing little snippets that he stores away in a corner of his knowledge-hungry brain for future reference.
The museum is amazing. The building itself caught his attention when he Googled things to see in the city, with its imposing reddish brown façade and half-round side wing full of windows. He listens happily to Thalia sharing some backstory while they make their way inside. Tom chuckles at the way she occasionally bumps him as they move through the holiday crowds. They’re walking close enough for their hands to brush, and on an impulse, he laces his fingers with hers.
She shoots him a glance and lowers her lashes, smiling.
He doesn’t want to let go of Thalia’s hand, and she seems just as happy to let him hold it. Off and on, they look at each other instead of the exhibits, and it feels like a real date, with all the cares in the world a million miles away. She’s wearing warm black tights with a denim skirt. To match his outfit–which he’d revealed with a spur-of-the-moment selfie to prove to himself as much as her that he really was in Chicago–she’s also opted for a plaid shirt, hers in different shades of blue that match her skirt and coat. And of course, her trusty cowboy boots make today’s outfit complete.
Once they’ve had their history fill in general, Thalia enthusiastically pulls him aside to show him one of the world’s largest costume collections. Tom entertains her by imagining little tales for the astonishing historical clothes on display, and they get quite a bit of side eye from other visitors for all their whispering and laughing.
They round off the experience with a hearty brunch at the café on the ground floor.
Pushing his chair back from the table, Tom asks, “What now?” glowing with an overdose of happiness that is partly museum-induced, partly food-induced and most definitely Thalia-induced.
He can’t find words for how wonderful it is to share these magical moments with her, away from the whole professor-and-student sword that’s usually dangling over their heads.
Thalia drinks the last of her coffee. “Well, I’m pretty sure you did all your touristy homework and have figured out a whole list of things you are planning to tick off. Am I right or am I right?”
Tom throws his head back and guffaws. “You know me entirely too well, darling.”
With a flourish, he pulls an actual list out of his pocket, grinning at her exaggerated eye roll. He smoothes the crinkled paper out on the table.
When Thalia leans closer to get a good look, he acts on instinct again and kisses her. It’s hardly more than a gentle peck, though he deepens it a little when her lips part, delighting in her sweet sigh. He lets the tip of his tongue brush over her full lips before pulling back.
The look of surprise and joy on her face momentarily lets his mood nose-dive. This, this right there is what she should have. A man who can date her, take her out and spoil her properly. A man who devotes all of his time to her and who will march right into that house and face her family bravely because he intends to stick with her through thick and thin.
Determined not to let the real world burst his giddy bubble, Tom slides a finger down the list.
“Which item can you recommend?”
She concentrates, her forehead puckering in a slight frown. As usual, she’s willing to dedicate 100% of herself into whatever needs doing, whether it’s studies or showing a secret lover around town.
“The Adler Planetarium is amazing,” she says thoughtfully, tugging on a strand of hair until he pulls it out of her grip and curls it around his fingers. “Their Sky Theater offers you virtual-reality trips through space and time which are seriously mind boggling. And if you’re really lucky, you can meet one of the top-notch researchers who are responsible for the museum.”
“Oh, tempting.” Tom can feel himself getting all bouncy in his seat again, which reminds him of his sister Emma always telling him he’s somehow managed to trap a five year old in an adult’s body.
“The Museum of Science and Industry is another of my favorites,” she adds. “It’s got a restored U-505 German submarine, a simulated coal mine and a vintage diesel-electric train. Lots of action instead of only dusty exhibits.”
“Can’t we do both? I promise to keep my enthusiasm mostly bottled up and move quickly through all the halls.” Tom gives her his best puppy dog look, which makes her laugh and swat his arm none too gently.
“You’re a pain in the ass, Tom.”
She hasn’t called him Professor Hiddleston once today, and although it’s a turn-on to hear her do so, he’s rather glad because he wants to be plain Tom here.
Unable to resist temptation, he slides a hand to her knee and toys with the hem of her skirt while leaning close enough to speak into her ear. “As far as I recall, I haven’t been allowed close enough to your ass yet to cause any pain, other than the occasional light spanking. But if you feel inclined to change that…”
She makes a squeaky sound and knocks his hand off her leg, wagging a finger at his fit of giggles. “I swear, if you keep that up, I’ll happily let my family torture me again and leave you to your own devices in big, mean Chicago.”
But her eyes dance merrily, and she holds her hand out to him when she gets up from the chair.
“Now stop acting like a teenager, we’ve got two items to cross off your list.”
“Darling, I have a mental list you should consider sometime as well then.”
Her eyes grow wide as his words sink in and he throws his head back in laughter, quickly clearing their table before wrapping his arm around her shoulder to make their exit.
They visit both the Museum of Science and Industry at Hyde Park and the Adler Planetarium with its domed roof that reminds Tom a little of a study trip to Berlin in Germany, several years ago. By the time they are done, Thalia grumbles good-naturedly about wearing holes into the soles of her boots, and Tom is bouncing with another energy boost because the thought of trying out local food is so tempting.
“Don’t laugh, love, but I’m hungry again. What do you recommend?” he asks. “I’m starving and I want to try absolutely everything Chicago is famous for.”
Thalia gives him another of her eye rolls, hooking her arm through his to pull him to a bus stop.
“Oh my god, that metabolism of yours! I’m jealous!” She shakes her head in disbelief. “Well, Chicago IS famous for food, so brace yourself for the experience of a lifetime.”
She holds up her free hand, counting off on her fingers, “We have deep-dish pizza, which is pure heaven and I haven’t found any like it out East. There’s the Chicago-style hot dog with all the fixings… And all sorts of high-end cuisine stuff if you think it’s below your gentleman status to eat what everyone does.”
Tom snickers and gives her butt a light slap. “I’ve heard about the hot dogs, actually. Weren’t they a result of the Great Depression?” She nods and he continues. “What’s on them?”
“My favorite is just the standard version, with an all-beef hot dog on a steamed poppy seed bun. It’s topped with yellow mustard, relish, tomato wedges, chopped onions, pickle, hot peppers and celery salt.”
With a groan, he pulls her closer. “Okay, I need one of these like I need air to breathe. Lead the way, oh heroic, merciful tour guide, and prevent my death of starvation.”
They take the bus and end up at Portillo’s, googling its impressive history and success story while waiting for the food.
Stuffed with hot dogs, but still drooling over their dessert of strawberry shortcake and chocolate éclair cake, they manage small talk between bites.
“So, haven’t seen much of the US since you arrived here?” Thalia inquires after he’s fed her with a forkful of chocolatey delight.
“No, haven’t had the time yet.” Tom lets her feed him in return, staring into her eyes while suggestively licking his lips, pleased to see her hand wobble a little. “I’ve been around the world a bit, though.”
“Oh, tell me more.”
He shrugs modestly. “Mostly Europe during my youth. Spain, France, Italy, Russia. A couple of years ago, I accompanied some colleagues to Germany.”
“What about the rest of Britain? Or do the English make it a point to snobbishly ignore their neighbors?”
He wagged his fork at her and relishes his last bite before answering. “I visited Scotland with my father once. And my mother took my sisters and me to Ireland when we were still young.”
His face clouds over momentarily at memories of a childhood that had been anything but easy but was mixed with enough happy incidents to not bother him too much now. At least he hadn’t carried any serious scars of his parents’ divorce over into adulthood…though he should probably rethink his rules on relationships.
“Oh, and I flew to India for my sister’s wedding,” he adds with a smile, deliberately pulling himself back to the presence. “That was just…surreal and truly beautiful.”
Thalia smiles back at him and entwines her fingers with his when he reaches for her hand.
“And you?” he wants to know. “You’ve got the whole world waiting for you. Where do you want to go?”
She screws up her face in thought, as if there’s too much to consider.
“Everywhere,” she answers with a laugh. “I’ve got to finish my degree, but fortunately it could take me all the places I could never afford to go on my own. I’ve applied to internships in Paris, Cairo, Athens and Rome for museum work and archeological digs. I’m just waiting each day for the right phone call. There’s a box of dusty clothes ready to go in the back of the closet, aching for more dig dirt,” she jokes.
Tom leans forward and caresses her cheek with his other hand, scooting his chair closer to hers and resting his leg against hers. “I hate the idea of you being so far away.”
Her head drops, her hair falling around her, but her blush is unmistakeable. She seems at a loss for words and it endears her even more to him. Dammit, Thomas. This trip was the best worst idea ever…
She grabs the ticket from the table and the two tussle over who will pay the bill. Tom insists that she’s already playing tour guide so he absolutely must pacify his inner gentleman by paying for lunch.
“Fine… But I’d like you to let me take care of you sometimes too, I’m not totally broke you know.” His scowl changes her thought and she forges on. “What’s next on your list, Mister?” Thalia wants to know, still pouting at her defeat.
“You know what, why don’t you suggest something?” He smiles at her. “As I said before, today’s in your hands, bills excluded.”
She smiles back. “Millennium Park is kind of a no-brainer, despite the weather. Want to give it a go?”
“Sure, that’s where the Bean is, right?!”
She laughs at his enthusiasm, bundling up to brave the cold Chicago air. They make it there in no time, discovering that a lot of people are bracing the cold to get photos in front of the iconic Cloud Gate sculpture with its metallic bean form and cloud-reflecting surface. Tom takes a few selfies with Thalia, debating with himself whether to share these lovely memories with his family or not, and deciding against it with a heavy heart.
As happy as he is today, he keeps realizing one thing that obscures his inner sunshine momentarily: In a world with less prejudice, Thalia and he would make a great couple. But as things are, a normal relationship is out of the question and not something either of them is ready for anyway. He knows he should wish for her to have someone else to share such joyous moments with—but he doesn’t. He wants her to himself for a bit longer at least. They take their own sweet time, walking the city streets, giggling and window shopping, dragging out their stolen moment together.
Close to evening, Thalia takes him up on the 360 Chicago, formerly known as the John Hancock Observatory where the 94th floor – 1,000 feet up – offers a view for miles and miles, across four states. They dine up there at the restaurant, and again Tom can’t resist doing all the little things proper couples should. He feeds her and teases her, touches her as much as he can, asks her personal questions and stores away each morsel of information as if his life might one day depend on the right answer.
“Tom, I’ve had a wonderful day. I hate to see it end, but I really should be getting back home. There’s a train switch and I don’t want to miss it.” Her eyes glisten in the low light of the restaurant. Her tone is wistful and tells him what he wishes to know.
Taking her hand in his across the table he runs his thumb over the back of her hand. “Thalia, darling, if you’re willing to risk it with your family, I’d love for you to stay with me tonight.”
Her eyes search his, search his face, looking for what, he doesn’t know. She brushes a floppy curl from his forehead and runs her thumb across his scarf, and he leans into her touch, craving more. Slowly her grin turns up. “Let me make a call to my stepmother. She’ll know how to soothe things over with Dad.”
Nestled in the warmth of the back seat of the cab, Tom is pleasantly surprised when Thalia takes the initiative to kiss him, at first unsure and timid. He tugs on her scarf, pulling her closer and acknowledging his need. Her hand grips his thigh as the kisses grow more heated. He bites back a chuckle at the cab driver watching in the rearview mirror while they make out like two lusty teenagers. The ride is entirely too short and by the time they make it to the hotel, he wants nothing more than to lose himself inside her and forget the rest of the world.
Click here for Chapter 12 Tutoring
AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, Uncategorized#avenger-nerd-mom, #chapter 11, #chicago, #Chris Evans, #Chris Evans AU fic, #Chris Evans fan fiction, #devikafernando, #educating thalia, #Fluff, #food porn, #innocent making out, #Language, #PLAID, #plaid porn, #Plus size romance, #plus sized fiction, #plus sized OFC, #plus sized romance, #real life, #Tom Hiddleston, #Tom Hiddleston AU fic, #Tom Hiddleston fan fiction, #vacation, au fiction, collaboration, professors
April 9, 2017 April 12, 2017 avenger-nerd-mom3 Comments
Rescue Mission Chapter 10
Warnings: Language, Adult Situations, Fluff
Summary: Thalia surprises Tom with a message on Christmas Day – and then it’s his turn to surprise her and take their relationship a step further.
Stomping the snow off his shoes, Tom turns the key in the lock and opens the door. He leaves his scarf and black coat on the rack and toes off his shoes. He has just set down the key and is rubbing some life back into his cold hands when his phone chimes to signal a message.
Hm, who has suddenly remembered him on Christmas day? He has already exchanged wishes with his family in England and India and a few friends all over the world.
None too keen on interaction with someone who probably isn’t worth the time and only felt obliged to be nice during the holiday season, he ignores his phone and goes into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea.
While he waits for the water to boil, his let his thoughts wander…and they settle on Thalia. What would she be doing right now? He pictures her in something red and figure-hugging, surrounded by playing, bright-eyed children and slightly tipsy adults sharing jovial stories or even singing some carols together, stories tossed back and forth in rapid fire Spanish.
With a sigh, he dips his teabag into the hot water, grinning briefly to himself when he remembers that he still hasn’t been able to teach Thalia how to brew the perfect tea for an Englishman. Well, he’s certainly taught her other things…
Feeling more cheerful and wistful at the same time at the thought of her so far away, Tom carries his steaming mug into the living room. He plonks himself onto the couch, stretching his long legs that are slightly tired after the walk.
Bracing himself with a hot sip of Earl Grey, he fishes his phone out of his pocket and glances at the notification. Thalia’s name appears, making him sit bolt upright and nearly spill tea all over his pants.
Why would she text him today? She had wished him Merry Christmas before leaving for break nearly a week ago, and they’d even sent a few messages back and forth. Her light teases proved she was over any bitterness about his failed date, and she wasn’t holding hurt feelings against him. She’d expressed she didn’t really have time for even a fake date, but she understood his reasoning. He felt things were back on an even keel between them and he was content in the blossoming relationship with her.
When Thalia had simply sent a smiley face emoji last night at bedtime, he’d considered calling back instead of texting her, but something had held him back. Surely she was soaking up the family fun and had only contacted him out of some sense of duty. Just because he’s become a part of her life here doesn’t mean she wants him to stick his nose into her other business.
Curiosity peaked, Tom swipes his finger across the screen and reads her message.
Help! Appealing to the English gentleman to rescue a damsel in distress. Do you have a few minutes?
Brows rising, he re-reads the weird message, his free hand blindly groping for the mug so he can take another sip. What’s this all about?
Even more curious now, he types out his reply, wondering idly when he last used his phone to text someone for fun. He pauses mid-typing when he remembers his catastrophe of a date and the messages he exchanged with Thalia that evening.
As if an Englishman could ever refuse a beautiful woman in dire need of some assistance… What’s the matter?
Her reply is almost instant.
If I don’t get an excuse for leaving this lunatic asylum posing for a family get-together, I’m going to kill someone.
With a chuckle, he settles down more comfortably.
Miss Bareo, I am shocked to the core. It’s Christmas, not Halloween. No gruesome killings, please. I don’t want to see reports of a Chicago Christmas Massacre on the news.
He gets a laughing emoticon before her reply flashes on the screen.
Thanks, I needed the giggle. It’s just all a bit too much right now. Are you busy, Tom?
Well, you are interrupting my date with a hot cuppa, but I feel inclined to forgive you.
Her answer makes him quirk a brow and smile before drinking some more tea.
Only you would use the phrase ‘inclined to forgive’ in an SMS.
Is that good or bad? he types, feeling a little like a twenty year old messaging his girlfriend—and enjoying that ridiculous notion far too much.
It’s very you.
“Now what’s that supposed to mean?” He mutters aloud to himself, home alone on Christmas. Tom shakes his head, fingers hovering above the keys. Before he can reply, a new message appears.
This might be a bit weird, but…
He waits with bated breath, curious to know what on earth she wants to share that would be weird.
Would you Skype with me?
Staring at the screen, he wonders for a moment whether she’s serious. Has she had one drink too many?
What the hell, why not? He types his reply, grinning to himself.
As I said, the gentleman in me would never refuse a damsel in distress. Especially not if said damsel happens to be you.
He gets a thumbs up and her username in reply.
His tea forgotten, Tom gets up to grab his MacBook from the desk and carries it to the sofa. He switches it on, feeling oddly nervous for a moment. What’s he supposed to say? Why does she want to video chat with him? And why the heck does it make him so happy beneath the confusion?
He fiddles with his denim textured shirt, rolls the sleeves up and pats his hair, then catches himself being all fidgety and scoffs. As soon as Skype has loaded, he searches for her and adds her to his list of contacts, drumming his long fingers against the keyboard.
Hardly a minute later, a video call flashes and he accepts it.
It’s kind of surreal to see Thalia’s face pop up after a moment. Her curly hair is tamed into a loose braid, but some defiant strands have wiggled free. She’s wearing what looks like a seriously ugly knit Christmas sweater, and a fine gold necklace that draws his attention because she’s not the type to deck herself out in jewelry.
“Hi,” she says, a tentative smile lighting up her features, though it doesn’t make the tension around her eyes go away.
“Hi,” he replies somewhat dumbly, at a loss for what to say.
For a few moments, they sit like that, looking at each other and smiling uncertainly. The longer the awkward silence lasts, the more fidgety Tom feels. He smiles a little brighter as if to encourage her to speak, but feels ridiculous. To give himself something to do, he takes off his glasses and sets them aside, then goes back to staring at the screen. His tongue flicks over his lips. He swallows, willing himself to speak.
“So, what on earth…” “What were you…”
They both speak at the same time, which makes them laugh and breaks the ice.
“What were you doing?” Thalia asks.
“Nothing special. I just came home from a long, lonely walk through mostly deserted and much too windy streets.”
She gives him an incredulous look. “Seriously? What sane person walks around town alone on Christmas day?”
He narrows his eyes at her. “And what sane person Skypes with her professor on Christmas day?”
She grimaces. “Point taken. In my defense, I’m with family, Tom.” She says the word like a curse. “I’m going stir crazy and longing to drive a carving knife into a few people’s necks.”
“Whoa there, my warrior. If you keep up the murder talk you’ll scare me away.” He smiles at her again, shifting on the sofa and taking the laptop with him to sit more comfortably. She doesn’t smile back, and he realizes again that she’s all tense and morose despite the banter.
“What’s the matter, darling?”
The word slips out automatically and he bites his lip. Is she even alone?
Taking his cue, Thalia moves too, and he catches a blurry glimpse of stuffed toys and photographs before she settles down and it’s just her face against a light lavender colored wall.
“Ugh.” She makes a frustrated noise, gesticulating wildly. “All of this is driving me crazy. I see my extended family only on rare occasions, and when I do, I remember why.”
Rubbing her temple, she searches for the right words.
“I know they mean well, but I hate it when everyone makes my life their business. All the career advice and badly concealed criticism. And if my aunts ask me one more time when I’m planning to marry a nice man with a steady income and settle down, I swear I’ll poke my eardrums out with a rusty nail or something.”
Tom bites back a chuckle, secretly loving how her Latina temperament comes to the fore when she’s annoyed.
“I can’t even imagine this,” he admits. “But whoever thinks you need career advice is obviously a prat or seriously delusional because you’re one of the smartest women I know and on the sure-fire path to academic success.”
Her whole posture relaxes a little, one hand rising to play idly with the end of her braid resting over her curved breast, making his hands itch to do the same. He tugs down on the leg of his pants, adjusting himself discreetly.
“Thank you. Seriously. I mean, I know I’ve got brains and I’m doing what I love, but… it gets to me, all the sly jabs mixed with well-meaning people who have no idea what is important to me. It’s enough to make a girl feel like a worthless piece of shit.”
Before he can protest, she launches into another heated complaint, tugging harder on her hair. “And they’re right, aren’t they? I’m burying myself in studies because I have no fucking idea what else to do. I don’t even know whether I’ll find a decent job, and in the meantime, I’m working myself to death so I can pay my rent.”
She scrunches up her face and sniffs, and Tom really wants to hug her and comfort her. Or inch his hands beneath that monstrosity of a sweater and make her forget all her worries.
“Don’t say that,” he admonishes gently, lifting a hand as if he could actually touch her.
“You’re letting them get to you, and you know you shouldn’t. Nobody knows what the hell they’re doing, Thalia. We’re all just living our lives and doing what we think is best. Or at least people like you and me do, and we’re probably happier than those who let others decide what’s right and wrong.”
He rubs his neck, struggling for the right words. “You’re doing what you’re damn good at and what you like. Whatever is supposed to happen after that will fall into place once it’s time. And you’re an amazing woman who’s come farther in such a short time than a ton of people twice your age. Me included, probably.”
He grins self-deprecatingly, and a corner of her mouth lifts.
“Now you’re just downplaying yourself to make me feel better,” she argues half-heartedly. She whispers, “And you’re not ‘twice my age,’ Tom.”
He purses his lips at her pointed reference to age. She’s right, nearly a decade isn’t that much, but some days the age difference seems like light years apart. He sighs and chooses to ignore her statement. “The point is, Thalia, that you’re not answerable to your family or any nay-sayers. It’s not your duty to marry and raise enough children to form a football team, or to visit them more often and let them hack away at your admirable self-confidence. Your only duty is to yourself. To be true to yourself. To be happy.”
She sighs, and this time her whole mouth curves in a slow smile that reaches her eyes.
“You’re being entirely too nice to me, Professor Hiddleston.”
Her words tug at him, loosening something inside.
“I’m sure I’ll find a way for you to pay me back,” he says in a deep, low tone that makes her eyes darken.
They stare at each other, neither willing to break the connection.
When Thalia finally looks away, her gaze slides over his face and his torso, and he can feel it like a caress.
“Did you go to the staff party yesterday?” she asks, moving restlessly as if she’s felt the change in atmosphere too.
It’s his time to groan in frustration. “I did, yeah. Don’t remind me.”
She giggles. “That bad? Tell me all about it.”
Tom leans back and props himself up on a cushion. He tells her about the food – atrocious when compared to what the English prepare for Christmas – and about the stilted speeches, about the wreath that nearly caught fire and the secretary who spilled her drink all over herself and got rescued by Professor Evans.
“Was Professor Kent there too?” she wants to know, and Tom grimaces.
“Gave me the cold shoulder the whole time. If looks could kill, you’d be Skyping with my ghost now.”
That sends her into another fit of laughter. “Serves you right for texting me all throughout the date. Pfft, gentleman, my ass.”
Tom grins at her wolfishly. “Oh, your ass certainly doesn’t make me feel very gentlemanly.”
She half-chokes on her laugh, eyes going wide.
“God, I wish I weren’t here. I have a feeling you’d make the Christmas blues go away very efficiently,” she says, her tone half longing and half seductive.
“Me too. I miss you.” Tom flinches, wishing he hadn’t quite blurted that out.
But her expression softens. “I miss you too.” She sounds mildly surprised at her own admission.
“How long will you be stuck there?” he asks after an awkward pause.
“I fly back around the third, I think? Gotta get back into the frame of mind for school. My brain is rotting here… New year, new schedule.” She screws her eyes shut and makes a whining sound.
“Well, then, when you get back, we’ll just have to make the best of it. I saw an advertisement that the old movie house will be showing a film I’d like to take you to see. I think you’ll really like it…”
Her sweet voice begging for details fills his ears and his heart lifts on a lonely Christmas Day. He can see Thalia’s mood brightens considerably as well, and before long they’re both laughing and throwing Shakespeare lines back and forth that only make everything even more hilarious.
His answer to one of her queries is interrupted by someone calling her name. He hears loud knocking and watches her head swivel to where he presumes the door is positioned in the room.
“Alright, alright, I’m coming, basta ya” she shouts before turning back to him, chagrin on her face.
“I’m sorry. I guess it was too much to hope for at least an hour or so to breathe. I’d better go back into the lion’s den.”
“Lions hold nothing on you,” Tom says softly. He leans forward to fix her in his gaze. “You can do this, darling. You’re a wonderful woman. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.”
Thalia smiles at him a little sadly. “Thanks again. You have a nice time with your tea, Professor.”
On impulse, Tom blows a kiss at the camera, seeing her breath hitch before her smile deepens.
Once she’s ended the conversation, he logs out and drinks the rest of his now cold tea in one go. An idea pops to his scattered brain, lost in thoughts of his beautiful Thalia. Before he knows it, his fingers fly over the keyboard, checking for a way to surprise her. He needs to do this now before he can give himself a chance to chicken out of it.
Tom fiddles with the strap of his black backpack, bouncing on the balls of his feet and waiting for the crowd to thin before exiting the building.
He takes a deep breath, still not entirely sure this was a good idea.
Don’t be a wimp, Hiddleston. He gives himself a last mental pep talk before taking out his phone and dialing Thalia’s number.
She picks up after a few rings, and he hopes he hasn’t woken her.
“Tom?” She sounds happy with an undertone of confusion. “Hi. What’s up? I didn’t expect you to call again so soon.”
Clearing his throat, he tries for the nonchalant tone he’s been practicing in his mind, but he sounds a lot more excited and anxious than he wants to.
“Hi. Uhm, good morning. Am I disturbing you?”
“No, not at all.” There is a muffled groan. “I’m always up before seven am on vacation.” Her voice is loaded with sarcasm, but the joyous sound rings in his ears. So he did wake her, he thinks wryly. “It gives me time to consider whether to fake some sickness so I won’t have to face another day cooped up with clucking aunts and noisy, nosy children, or if I should just run away.”
That makes him chuckle. He grips the shoulder strap tighter.
“So, no plans for today?”
“None whatsoever, unless you consider my murder plans, which I’ve perfected pretty much over the last few hours.”
“I never knew you were such a violent woman, I’d better watch my tongue from now on,” he says, but his tone isn’t as humorous as it should be.
There’s an awkward silence, punctured by a blaring horn on his side and a baby wailing on her side.
“How about…” He swallows and tries again, “How about running away to the Chicago History Museum?”
“Uumm…” Tom can almost picture her face, her nose scrunching in that adorable way it does whenever she frowns. “You know I love museums, but there’s no way my family would let me go on a day like today; there’s still family stuff and-.”
This is it. He takes another deep breath. “Not even if a certain friend of yours had traveled miles to see you and insists on a tour of the museum?”
“Okay, now you’ve kind of lost me,” she giggles. “Am I still dreaming, because I was actually having a rather delicious dream… you were in it… and we had pancakes? But I think that’s because I can smell the cooking in the kitchen-”
“Thalia,” he interrupts her early morning rambles, going in for the kill. “If I turned up on your doorstep, ready for some touristy fun, would you be able to extricate yourself from the lion’s den? I could act like the hapless Englishman completely lost here in Chicago…not that I’d need to do much acting, mind you. I do feel like on a different planet.”
There’s a sharp intake of breath and an “oh my god” followed by something muttered in Spanish.
“You’re here, in Chicago? Right now? But…what…oh my god!”
Tom’s smile beams from ear to ear and his heart pounds at the joy and confusion in her voice. “Thalia, it’s the holidays. I hated the idea we’re both lonely. To be completely honest, darling, I wanted a chance to see you away from school. I hope you don’t mind it; I haven’t been too presumptuous have I?”
He waits a bit impatiently for her answer, hearing the lyrical voice of a small child rambling in Spanish through the phone. He hates he can’t see her at this moment, surprised he’s come all this way to see her, or at his slight admission of his true feelings.
He anticipates her answer, not realizing he’s holding his breath.
Her voice drops, possibly not wanting others around her to hear. “You’re… unbelievable.” She chuckles. “Yea, I’d love a day as your tour guide. Let me get myself presentable for you, deal with my step-mom and aunts, and I’ll catch the train as soon as I can. I can meet you around nine at the museum?”
He finally takes a deep breath. “I’ll see you then, darling.”
Click here to read Chapter 11, Chicago
AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, Uncategorized#Adult Situations, #avenger-nerd-mom, #chapter10, #Chris Evans, #Chris Evans AU fic, #Chris Evans fan fiction, #devikafernando, #educating thalia, #Fluff, #Language, #plus sized fiction, #plus sized OFC, #plus sized romance, #Tom Hiddleston, #Tom Hiddleston AU fic, #Tom Hiddleston fan fiction, AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, collaboration
Dating Fiasco
April 5, 2017 April 9, 2017 avenger-nerd-mom3 Comments
Warnings: Language, Adult Situations, Fluff, Impolite Use of Cellphone
Readers may wish bodily harm on a certain someone after this chapter, and he’s surprisingly clueless, but the bastard wears his glasses… so, there’s that.
Summary: Professor Tom tries to keep suspicions away from his secret relationship with his assistant and grad student, Thalia Bareo
Click here for the introduction to Educating Thalia
Tom sits in the staff lounge, his head bent diligently over some paperwork. None of his colleagues have any idea that he’s been staring blankly at the same page for minutes without accomplishing anything.
Over three months have gone by since his secret night with Thalia in the school library, and they’ve managed to sneak many others in too. Their stolen moments are the sunshine in his life now, a time when he can truly be himself and get a taste of what a happy relationship might feel like. If only…
With a sigh, he adjusts his glasses with his forefinger and tries his best to not let his feelings run away with him. Yet his thoughts keep drifting to the idea she’ll be leaving soon after finals, and be gone for the long weeks over the holiday break. If he’s honest with himself, he doesn’t want to be apart from her that length of time. Tom shakes his head and turns the page to give the appearance he’s working. He needs to focus on what his head tells him, not his heart, or they’ll risk being discovered.
“Alright, I’ll call it a day then. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Laughing at her own joke, Professor Joanna Kent grabs her bag and coat, ready to leave the staff lounge. As usual, she manages to walk by Tom so closely that she ‘accidentally’ brushes his arm.
He grits his teeth. Hiddleston, get your butt into gear and do this.
Suppressing a sigh, he rises and catches up with her in front of the door.
“Joanna?”
She turns, fluttering her lashes at him.
Tom clears his throat and gives himself a mental shake. “I was wondering… A new Greek restaurant opened at Williams Street, and… Would you like to join me there for dinner tonight?”
Her eyes widen, and then the lash-fluttering increases to such speed that he feels dizzy looking at it.
“That sounds lovely, Tom. Tonight at eight? I know which restaurant you mean, I’ve been meaning to check it out. I could meet you there?”
Well, he has to give the woman credit for one thing, she doesn’t beat about the bush.
“Sure. Uhm, great. Yes.”
“Awesome. I’ll see ya then.”
She gives her hips an awkward swishy sway and leaves, her overly sweet cologne lingering unpleasantly, and Tom has to remind himself for the umpteenth time why this is supposed to be a good idea.
“Trying your luck with the local ladies, Hiddleston?” comes Professor Evans’s voice from close by where he’s packing his bag.
“Beginner’s tip,” he adds with a smirk, “you might want to smile a little more.”
Tom resists the urge to roll his eyes, realizing with a start that Thalia is rubbing off on him. He scoffs instead, shooting his colleague a glance. “I’m not entirely sure you’re the right person to be dishing out dating advice, but thanks a lot.”
Smirk still firmly in place, Evans walks out too, leaving Tom alone in the room to sort out his feelings and give himself another pep talk.
Hours later, Tom is fervently praying for a hole to open up in the ground and swallow him whole.
They haven’t even gotten to the meal yet and he’s had more than enough. Struggling hard to keep his polite smile in place, he toys with the napkin.
Professor Kent has been talking incessantly since she arrived – which was fashionably late and in heels so high she’s almost walking on stilts. While she’s always come across as bold and wanting to appear younger than she is, Tom hasn’t expected her to present herself quite so aggressively. Her hot pink dress is a bit too short and offering glimpses of cleavage he certainly won’t be caught staring at. What surprises him even more are the layers of makeup she’s hiding behind. Not that he’s ever looked at her with much interest, but she strikes him as pretty in a sort of bland way. With the right makeup, she would look attractive because she has a nice, small nose and even features. Tonight, however, she’s gone for the siren look complete with garish colors and fake lashes, and it’s all he can do not to cringe.
He wants a woman like Thalia who knows how to bring out the striking features she has, not someone who decks herself out in war paint to slither into a different skin.
Of course, he has complimented her nevertheless, earning himself some fake-humble giggling and two cheeks presented to kiss.
Tom takes a long sip of water and reminds himself to inject “I see”, “oh, really?” and “mhm” at regular intervals while Joanna keeps on talking.
He has no real idea what she’s blathering on about. Oh, he has tried valiantly, because it’s rude of him to ask her out on date and not care…but he’s fighting a losing battle. For one, she jumps from topic to topic and doesn’t much care for input. And it doesn’t help that he wishes he could take Thalia out on a proper date instead. Right here, for everyone to see. It’s like he has this primal urge to officially stake a claim on her or something, although he knows full well that he can’t and won’t.
His phone chimes in his pocket, and he automatically reaches for it.
It’s a message from Thalia, the last thing he’s expected. He texted her right after he left the staff room, telling her about the planned date. Her reply came more than an hour later, consisting only of an “okay” and throwing him off balance. He expected some teasing or at least a longer comment, and the one word with its million ways of interpretation has had him wondering ever since.
He turns his phone to vibration mode and makes sure that Professor Kent is so entertained by her own baseball-related story that she won’t notice him checking the message.
Enjoying your date?
With a grimace, he taps out a reply, wishing for once that he’d use emoticons because he’s sure there are a whole bunch of very expressive ones he could use to illustrate his suffering.
Tremendously, thanks for asking. I think having all my teeth pulled out without anesthesia would be preferable.
He keeps the phone on his thigh instead of sliding it back into the pocket, hoping against hope that Thalia didn’t just want to check in on him but will reply.
It’s getting rather warm in the place, which is full of enthusiastic guests and the mouth-watering smells of Greek cuisine. But he doesn’t want to take off his suit jacket. It’s his armor, protecting him from unnecessary ogling and offering at least a bit of reassurance. Joanna has already eyed him like a vulture about to pick the meat off his bones; he doesn’t need to encourage her by chucking the jacket. Thalia is never good at hiding whenever she’s running her eyes all over him, but there’s a world of difference between her appreciate gaze that makes him all hot and bothered and between this…this…leering.
Stop it right here, Tom, he scolds himself. He’s making matters worse. Dammit, he should be banishing Thalia from his thoughts. Tonight of all nights is the worst time to long for her. And he shouldn’t be comparing apples with pears.
Just when he leans forward with his chin on his hand, tuning in to Joanna’s monologue – Wait a minute, she’s talking about cleaning alcohol stains from expensive dresses? How did they get to that topic? – he feels his phone vibrate on his thigh. Tom glances down and reads.
I didn’t need that visual. 😉 Surely it can’t be so bad. Man up and woo the lady with your irresistible charms, Professor Hiddleston.
He suppresses a chuckle. Her tone is odd today, and he can’t put his finger on her mood. Stretching his pained smile wider, he flicks his gaze down to type a reply.
You know very well that I’m all man. But if you need a re-demonstration, I’m more than ready to comply.
He feels his lips curl in a grin, but his fingers hover over the send button. So far, they’ve only messaged each other sparingly, keeping it either project-related or organizing their clandestine meetings. Is this too far? And why the hell does he tease her when he should be focusing on his date?
Tom hits send and looks up in time to catch Professor Kent staring at him expectantly.
Flustered, he takes his glasses off and stuffs them in a pocket.
“I’m sorry, Joanna, how terribly rude of me. I think I’ve lost you there for a bit.” He gestures to the phone, cringing inwardly. “My sister. From England.”
She raises her needle-thin eyebrows. “Oh, how adorable. So, you’re a family man?”
Before he can try to get a word in – and he honest to god has no wish to share family stuff with her – she bulldozes ahead. “I keep thinking we’re much too young to think about all the settling down and founding a family stuff, don’t ya agree? We’re still enjoying life and all it has to offer, why tie ourselves down with babies and added responsibilities?”
Tom blinks and gets a “yes, if you say so, sure” in sideways before she rambles on.
With an internal groan, he sits back again and gives up all pretense of listening. The ironic thing is that she’d make a good ‘partner’ for him as it’s obvious she doesn’t want anything serious, finds him attractive and is too interested in her own life to get suspicious of anything he might be doing. That’s the theory, but reality looks a lot different. There’s no way he could ever see himself dating her, whether it would help or not.
His phone bounces a little on the table, and he snatches it up to read Thalia’s message.
You are so NOT texting me teases like that while you’re staring at Professor Kent’s cleavage. Behave.
There’s no smiley this time, and Tom finds himself wondering again what mood she’s in. Is this a serious reproach, and deservedly so? Or is she teasing him back?
Only one way to find out… He types surreptitiously, nodding at whatever Joanna is now saying about sports cars.
If you think that’s a tease, you’ve got another thought coming. And for your information, Miss Bareo, the only cleavage I am mentally ogling is yours. In fact, I’d love nothing more than to bury my head in it now. I shaved before my date, so I’d be all smooth and cool against your warm, full globes. I’d hold them ever so softly, not giving you the fondling you crave, and then I’d run my tongue all over them, avoiding the hard peaks that are begging for my attention.
Tom presses send and sits up straighter. He needs to get this dinner over with, preferably without making a fool of himself.
When the waiter brings their food and there’s a momentary lull in conversation, he puts on his most charming smile. Filling their glasses with wine, he asks, “So, tell me, Joanna, have you ever been to England?”
He’ll keep her talking about herself. That should do the trick.
“God, no, England is way too plain, old and snobby for me. Monaco, though, now that would be grand, to mingle with the high society and…” comes her reply, and he realizes again how much her shrill voice grates on his nerves. He’s always been sensitive to voices, maybe because of all the book readings and plays he’s been to. And Thalia’s voice has him enthralled. That sexy Spanish accent, the passionate lilt to it. Her husky undertone which gets more noticeable the more aroused she becomes.
Shit, maybe it’s not such a good idea to distract himself with thoughts of her moaning his name when she’s writhing in his arms.
Shifting against the tightening in his pants, Tom devotes all attention to his food and studiously ignores his phone even when it vibrates dully on the table cloth.
They make it through the main course without any trouble, although he is seriously considering splashing wine all over his suit just so he has a reason to leave early. Not only is Professor Kent still droning on about a hundred different things a minute, he can also feel her play footsie with him under the table.
Jesus, he shouldn’t have gone on this date.
On the pretense of dropping and picking up his napkin, Tom scoots his chair back a little and sits so he’s out of her high-heeled reach.
He tops up her wine and debates whether to accidentally brush the glass so the wine hits her instead. Wasn’t she going on about how she’s an expert at removing alcohol stains? But then he thinks of having to be all gentlemanly and pat her body down with napkins, and he ditches the idea.
With an apologetic smile that is totally lost on the woman, he checks his messages.
There are only two words. Not fair.
Damn, what’s this all about? He’s at a loss how to answer. Is this her way of refusing to be teased? Or is she turned on and too shy to urge him on?
Running a hand through his hair, Tom asks Joanna whether she wants any dessert, and she orders a fruit salad. Ugh, as if she needed another minus point on the ever-growing list in his mind. What the hell is he doing here sitting with a stick-thin tactless excuse for a woman who thinks she needs to count calories to keep up her appeal when he could and should be spoiling Thalia with some sinfully tasty sweet treats?
As if she’s read his thoughts, another message appears.
I hope you’re not feeding her dessert.
Tom’s fingers fly over the keys, typing his answer before he can think about it.
Fuck no.
He flinches and drinks more water. It doesn’t take more than a moment for her reply to appear.
Language, Professor.
He hurriedly sends another message.
By now, I’d be willing to feed her anything to make her shut up. I’ve never met a woman in my life who yaps on and on like this. I swear my ears are ringing. But that aside, I won’t be feeding her anything. There’s only one woman I want to feed – with food and with quite some other things – and that’s you.
While typing, it dawns on him how pathetically, dangerously true that is. He’s addicted to Thalia, so much so that he’s got no room left inside him for the politeness he’s usually so proud of. He knows he’s being a dick, texting her on his date, but he can’t bring himself to care.
In between dainty nibbles on fruit pieces she clearly doesn’t enjoy, Joanna suddenly changes track and asks him personal questions.
Using his best British behavior, he dodges them all and offers half-answers that have her narrowing her heavily painted eyes.
“But enough about me,” he insists when his phone vibrates, “why don’t you tell me more about why you chose to become a college professor?”
That effectively sends her off on another self-centered discourse so he can glance at the screen.
If I can be such a good girl for you all the time, sir, you can be good too. Keep that chiseled chin up.
Tom frowns at the sentences. Her tone is kind of bossy, but then she’s mentioned the word that always triggers his darker side, and he’s pretty sure it’s deliberate.
With a sigh, he pockets his phone and lives through the rest of the ordeal silently. Not even the amazing dessert he’s chosen – Greek yogurt with honey, walnuts, vanilla and something else that’s delicious – can lighten his mood.
Nearly an hour later, Tom finally ditches the subtle and seriously unsuccessful hints that they should leave and outright tells her that he should get going because he has an early morning class.
When she rises from her chair and he gallantly helps her into her coat, she leans into him, and her wine-breath wafts into his face.
“What a lovely evening we had. Now how about proving to me that you’re indeed a typical English gentleman and making sure that I’ll reach home safely?”
Her fingers crawl up his jacket lapels and he has the irrational wish he knew how to disapparate at will.
“But of course, Joanna,” he says in his best British voice, jaw clenched.
Once they’re outside the restaurant, he realizes that she’s walked here and apparently lives close. And it’s more than plain to see she’s had a glass or two too much of wine, because she’s swaying dangerously on her killer heels.
With a long-suffering sigh, Tom offers her his arm and escorts her home.
Oddly enough, something has made her go quiet, so they spend nearly ten minutes navigating the pavement in awkward silence.
Tom shoves his free hand in his pocket against the winter cold, toying with his phone and wondering what Thalia may be doing at the moment. What does she think about this whole dating farce? Will she do the same soon, and let him know about it like he did?
His gut clenches of the thought of her with another man. Worse still, it would be a bumbling, fumbling boy and nothing like the real man she needs.
A gust of cold wind makes him even more miserable. It will be Christmas break soon, and he isn’t particularly looking forward to it. Thalia will visit her family in Chicago, and most of his colleagues will be on leave too. And he? Something holds him back from traveling to England for a week or two, and he can’t really pinpoint what.
Maybe he’ll barricade himself in the library and read until he’s forgotten all about the world. It’s worked wonders for him before, both during childhood and much later. Though he’s usually spent Christmas with his family back home.
With a jolt, he realizes he hasn’t bought Thalia anything for Christmas when he picked out cards and little souvenirs to send to England.
Damn, how could he forget that?
Another thought brings him up short, which makes Professor Kent stumble and grab onto him with both hands. Tom lets her hang onto him, quickening his long strides so he doesn’t prolong the agony of being with her.
Would Thalia even accept a present from him or would it be out of line? He desperately wants to gift her something simple yet meaningful. A book to emphasize their shared love for literature? Another of those girlish, vividly colored, endlessly long scarves she wraps around herself these days, which always make him itch to grab her by the dangly ends and reel her in for a kiss? A naughty toy to explore another nuance of their relationship and make her discover more thrilling novelties?
He’s pulled out of his thoughts roughly when Joanna digs her long, red nails into his forearm.
“That’s me, right over there with the lovely pink curtains,” she says with a slight slur, pointing across the half-empty street.
Tom swallows, feeling claustrophobic with her pressed so close. She turns and dances her fingers up his jacket lapel again, and he has a devil of a time of keeping his expression civil. He’s beyond the point of fake smiles by now, but he sure hopes his feelings don’t show on his face.
“Such a gentleman,” she says, followed by a high-pitched giggle. “How ‘bout bein’ even more gentlemanly and accompanying me in for a nightcap?”
Revulsion making his skin crawl, Tom takes a hasty step back and extricates herself from her surprisingly strong hold.
“Erm… I think I’ll pass on that, Joanna, uh… thanks.” He fumbles for something nice to say when her redder than red lips begin to droop and her thinner than thin eyebrows pucker.
“I’ve had a nice time tonight, thank you.” Liar, liar, pants on fire. Grasping onto his last ounce of reserve, he forges on. “But I don’t think I should be joining you now. We’ve barely got to know each other, and…” He breaks off and gives himself the millionth mental kick.
For a moment, Joanna simply glares at him. With a “right” that is tight-lipped and glacially cold compared to her previous sugary tone, she turns and wobbles across the street. Halfway up the short flight of stairs, she comes to a teetering halt and turns to look over her shoulder at him.
“Ya know, we would have gotten to know each other a lot better if you hadn’t spent so much time looking at your fucking phone.”
With that, she’s up the stairs and inside the building before he can pick his jaw off the ground.
“Serves you right, Hiddleston, you pompous, pretentious arse,” Tom mutters to himself and sighs.
He definitely isn’t dating material. This fiasco has proven it once and for all. And it’s proven something else he’s begun to suspect… Thalia makes him a better man, in a way. He can not only let down his guard and be himself around her, but he’s also much nicer than people here have probably come to expect it from him.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he turns and begins the walk back to the bus halt, as he’s left his car at home tonight.
No more pretend dates for him, no thanks.
He tries to summon a Shakespearean quote to calm his frazzled nerves, but all he can think about is Thalia, home alone in her own bed, as he dials her number.
Click here to read Chapter 10, Rescue Mission
AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, Uncategorized#adult Situtations, #avenger-nerd-mom, #chapter 9, #Chris Evans, #Chris Evans AU, #Chris Evans fan fiction, #devikafernando, #educating thalia, #Fluff, #Language, #Plus size romance, #plus sized, #plus sized OFC, #Tom Hiddleston, #Tom Hiddleston fan fiction, AU Fan Fiction, au fiction, collaboration, professors, tom hiddleston au
Over Her Head
Fay on Bubble Trouble
avenger-nerd-mom on Birthday in Boston
Danni on Birthday in Boston
avenger-nerd-mom on Over Her Head
#fan fiction
AU Fan Fiction
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 58576
Owner/operator: Lowveld Aero Club
Registration: ZS-EGW
Location: Hoedspruit, Limpopo - South Africa
Phase: Initial climb
Departure airport: FANS (Nelspruit)
Destination airport: Hongonyi Lodge- Hoedspruit
The pilot reported that he took off from Runway 26 at Hongonyi Private game reserve in Hoedspruit. He stated that he felt that the aircraft was slow and applied 10° flaps during the ground run. The rotation was at 60mph and at that time more lift was required and the pilot elected to turn into the wind at 170° and applied more flaps to gain more height. The aircraft started to loose height. The pilot stated that he got confused and applied more flaps and the aircraft crashed. The aircraft was extensively damaged and the occupants on board were not injured. The aircraft was type accepted in the Republic. The last MPI prior to the accident was certified on 21 April 2004 at 11121.1 flying hours and the aircraft was operated for 63.4 hours since the last MPI was certified. All the applicable Service Bulletins and Airworthiness Directive were complied with. The CAA audited the Aircraft Maintenance Organisation on 14 November 2002 and 11 November 2003 respectively. The pilot applied more than 10° flaps during the climb phase of the flight, this induced more drag on the aircraft, and this compromised the climb performance. The heavy passenger and pilot on board further worsened the situation. No on-site investigation was conducted.
Probable Cause:
This accident was attributed to the pilot continuously applying flaps during take off. This lead to the creation of more drag and the aircraft was unable to climb and crashed.
Contributory cause:
The aircraft was fairly heavy during take-off.
1. SACAA Report Ref: 7816
27-Jan-2009 02:28 Topaz Added
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Rick Perry 2012 Campaign for President– News and updates
Monthly Archive for October, 2011
: October, 2011
Cain faces questions about campaign financing
By From the Wires: Rick Perry on October 31, 2011 at 7:51 PM
By KASIE HUNT Associated Press WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has asked a lawyer to investigate possible improper financial arrangements between a charity and his campaign. …
Cain manages crisis with denial, humor, song
By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON — It’s one of the starkest tests of viability for any presidential candidate: crisis management, the ability to step past an explosive charge and …
Cain fires back over Politico’s sexual harassment report
*** UPDATE *** The Los Angeles Times reports, at 9 p.m. Central, that Cain now recalls some settlement details. In a series of interviews over a period of hours, Cain offered several different …
Rick Perry’s new ad touts job creation, but do the numbers back up the claims?
By Peggy Fikac on October 31, 2011 at 4:14 PM
Gov. Rick Perry is seeking to put the best spin on his unsteady debate performances with a 30-second television ad in Iowa that stresses Texas job creation and state budget cuts: The Associated Press …
Less of Rick Perry pay raise now going to charity
By Gary Scharrer on October 31, 2011 at 3:40 PM
Gov. Rick Perry is keeping much more of that $35,000 pay raise state lawmakers gave him a few years ago, when he said he would decline the extra pay. Perry made good on that promise when he donated …
No Houston trip for First Lady
By Joe Holley on October 31, 2011 at 1:59 PM
The First Lady is NOT coming to Houston — for now, at least. Michelle Obama was scheduled to be in Houston Tuesday night for a glitzy Democratic fundraiser at the River Oaks mansion of Laura and John …
Herman Cain says he was “falsely accused” of sexual harassment, decries “witch hunt” to bring down his campaign
By Alexandra Jaffe on October 31, 2011 at 1:20 PM
Herman Cain’s meteoric rise to the top of the polls may be in jeopardy due to the revelation that he was accused of sexual harassment during his time as CEO of the National Restaurant Association. …
Rick Perry roasted on airwaves, Internet for “bizarre” behavior described — without evidence — as “drunken” or “drugged”
By Richard Dunham on October 31, 2011 at 11:44 AM
Here’s the eight-minute “highlights” version of Rick Perry’s speech that’s gone viral. ★ ★ ★ Everybody has an opinion. And when it comes to Rick Perry’s Friday speech to a conservative group in New …
Even in Perry’s home state, Cain is king
By Alexandra Jaffe on October 31, 2011 at 11:38 AM
What’s a guy to do when even his home state doesn’t think he’s the best choice for president?
Rick Perry’s going to have to answer that question for himself this week.
Perry Campaign: ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’
By Peggy Fikac on October 31, 2011 at 10:48 AM
At Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign headquarters, a framed poster admonishes: “Keep Calm and Carry On.” …
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How can Rav support Rabbi Zera?!
In today’s daf (Zevachim 68a), the gemara points out a seeming inconsistency in the position of Rav.
The Setup:
Specifically, (A) Rav stated that melika on a korban performed by a zar would render the bird a neveila.
Now in general, if there is an instance or analogue where action or person X would be valid for a korban, that would prevent the korban from being rendered a neveila even where the action or person was not appropriate. The analogue to melika is shechita, and a zar may perform shechita animals for a korban. The gemara answers that (B), for Rav, shechita is not considered an avoda. (Meanwhile, melika certainly is an avoda.)
Then, (C) Rabbi Zeira asserts that, for a para aduma, shechita by a zar is invalid. That means that it is considered an avoda, in direct contrast to (B). And furthermore, Rav agreed with Rabbi Zera in this, because (D), Rav adduced Scriptural support from the words “Elazar” and “Chuka”. And the gemara resolves this apparent contradiction.
ולא והא אמר רבי זירא שחיטת פרה בזר פסולה ומחוי רב עלה אלעזר וחוקה
The difficulty with this is that Rabbi Zera was a 3rd generation Amora, while Rav was a 1st generation Amora. While we know that Rabbi Zera studied under Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedat (2nd generation, an attendant of Rav in his youth) who was long-lived, and while Rabbi Zera was a student of Rav Huna who was a student of Rav, that does not mean that Rabbi Zera would have interacted with Rav. Did their lifespans overlap?
Furthermore, would Rav, a person from 2 generations earlier have heard a statement from Rabbi Zera and then given support to it?
A Resolution:
Mivami, with its generational highlighting and graphs, brought this difficulty to the fore. One strong answer can be found in Shinuyei Nuschaot (printed on the side of the page in Artscroll) notes that in some manuscripts, and so too in our own text of Zevachim 14b, the text is actually אמר רבי זירא אמר רב.
That is, Rabbi Zera merely cited Rav about this statement. And Rav brings to bear Scriptural support to his own statement.
This different girsa makes a lot of sense, and resolves the problem. But we would not have even thought about it were we not focused on the generational data.
Labels: rabbi zera, rav, zevachim
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How to Help Others Feel Part of the “In-Group”
How To Kickstart Your Career In Tech
How to Find—And Foster—A Sense of Belonging at Work: Tips from GameChanger’s Siobhan Sabino
Katherine Plumhoff
July 23, 2020 Viasat
How Companies Can Actually Change
A Conversation with Viasat's Melinda Kimbro
Melinda Kimbro is no longer colorblind and now celebrates diversity through a new lens.
As the Chief People Officer and SVP of People & Culture at global communications and satellite internet company Viasat, a company she's been at for nearly 20 years, Kimbro is responsible for shaping, with the rest of the leadership team, Viasat's approach to diversity and inclusion at work.
That approach used to follow a common refrain in corporate America: "We don't see color."
"Our demographics have remained pretty consistent over the years and I believe that stems from a philosophy of, 'We don't care if you're black or white, a man or a woman, we just want the best talent," says Melinda. "But we've had to come to terms with the fact that striving to be color or gender blind isn't the right goal in the first place, and the numbers confirm it. We haven't moved the needle as much as we would have liked. Now it's time to set the concrete goals that will result in the long-term vision we want for our company and our leadership team."
Viasat's reevaluation of their commitment to D&I started before the most recent wave of Black Lives Matter protests swept the country, and the current climate has only reinforced how important it is for Viasat and all companies to create workplaces where everyone—and particularly historically disadvantaged groups like Black workers—can succeed.
We sat down with Melinda to discuss why she joined Viasat nearly two decades ago (and why she's never wanted to leave!), and how the very values that attracted her to the company have allowed Viasat to respond to the double crises of COVID-19 and racism in a way that centers their customers and employees.
How Viasat's values help them evolve and respond to change
When she was in college, Melinda became a debater by chance. "I had every intention of being an art major," she says, "but ended up falling in love with debate after taking an introduction to argument class. "The process of challenging ideas and coming up with arguments to support your position was right up my alley. At that point there was just no turning back, so I switched my major to communication. And these days art, specifically photography, is a hobby I love."
When she interviewed at Viasat a few years later, she was immediately struck with how similar the company's culture felt to the environment on the debate team. "There was this sense of defiance I picked up from the very first interview and a feeling that this was a company that didn't feel pressured to do things the same way every other company did. That really appealed to me. They thought critically about things, what they were doing, and why. They weren't just going through the motions" she remembers. "Early on I was told, 'It doesn't matter what your job title is. It doesn't matter how long you've been here. Everybody has the opportunity to influence. It's the ideas that matter.'"
That willingness to hear different perspectives —whatever they might be—"struck a chord with the debater" in Melinda, she says. She joined Viasat's HR team and her career grew from there.
Over the years, Melinda and her team have worked to create the best possible environment for Viasat's employees, and she's especially proud of the company's focus on employee engagement as part of that process. Viasat conducts a formal employee engagement survey every 18-months and pulse surveys on key topics in between. While there wasn't always widespread support for conducting these surveys, the leadership team has come to find just how valuable this insight is in understanding what's working for employees and what's not. Melinda says this is a great example of Viasat's value of "explore and evolve" and "the opportunities employees have to influence the shape of the company."
"As a company, we're not wired to do or design the same thing, the same way, for 10 to 20 years, she says. "In contrast, we sort of live by the motto 'always a better way' so we're constantly exploring new ways of doing things, whether that's a product, service, or how we approach the organization - our people and our culture," she says.
That value and focus on constant improvement, along with a parallel value of tolerating ambiguity, allowed Viasat to respond quickly when the COVID-19 pandemic hit earlier this year.
"While everyone wanted answers, being candid and acknowledging that there were some things we did know and other things we didn't, was tolerated pretty well," says Melinda of the first few weeks of managing through the crisis. "If you're able to tolerate ambiguity, you preserve optionality. So we didn't rush to provide answers that didn't absolutely need to be answered at that moment." she says. "We tried to communicate very, very regularly, even to say that we didn't know what this was going to look like, but here's what we do know today."
That communication extended to everyone, including the summer interns who were planning to be on Viasat campuses around the world. Back in early April when the pandemic made that option look less viable, the Viasat University Recruiting team was providing regular status updates to interns and partnering with business leaders to assess how a particular intern project might work in a virtual environment. "Being able to quickly pivot and offer many internships virtually, enabled us to preserve a large portion of the intern program albeit in a new form," says Melinda.
Another Viasat value is that of "one team," or the idea of making decisions and setting priorities based on what's best for the team. That drove the rest of Viasat's pandemic response, including plans to offer the following:
"Ask Me Anything" town hall meetings with company leaders, including Melinda, for employees to get their questions addressed directly
Ultra-flexible work hours
Work-from-home kits to enable productive, comfortable remote work
Training on remote leadership for managers
Telehealth offerings so employees can get mental and psychological healthcare from home
Additional support for Viasat's employee research groups (ERGs) to help employees come together and feel part of a community
Zoom happy hours and tea times where employees can connect "outside of work" and dogs, cats, kids and partners are all welcome to make cameo appearances
Viasat already offered generous healthcare, including sessions with licensed mental health providers or therapists, and unlimited sick time, so employees who are ill or taking care of ill family members don't have to worry about missing work. "We've always been a very flexible and compassionate organization. Whether it's a mental health day or it's a day to go have a dental procedure or help a family member, we get that our employees have lives and families and interests outside of work and sometimes even overlapping work. Our approach is, 'If you're sick, be sick, we want our employees to take the time they need'" says Melinda.
Creating actual change when it comes to diversity and inclusion at work
Melinda is seeing a change in how topics relating to diversity and inclusion are being talked about and explored. "In general, I think people define reality based on what they've personally experienced. So if you haven't ever experienced racism, sexism, or some other form of bias, up close, or on a regular basis, these aren't topics that seem as relevant or real as they are for those who have been living it, and for too long. Today, and within Viasat specifically, I'm seeing more interest in understanding the experiences of others, particularly people of color and women, and an openness to accepting that 'Even if that experience isn't the same as mine, it's real' so what does that mean for society, as well as our company? And what can we do to change that?"
"Being an engineering company, we have a strong bias towards data, which is really helpful in a time like this, because we have lots of it. And so the conversations that I've been having with other executives at Viasat are really around, 'What does the data tell us?'" says Melinda.
By looking at that data, Melinda and her team are starting to see what is working and what isn't. "We have data that shows us that what we've been doing in some areas really hasn't resulted in much change," she says. "So the bottom line is that it's time to take a different approach."
One of the new approaches they are exploring is a more targeted leadership development curriculum. Beyond considering the unique development needs of employees at different stages of their careers they are also looking to target specific offerings to women and people of color in order to grow a more diverse set of leaders internally. They're also changing the nomination process for some programs so that employees can self-nominate, and peers can nominate one another, as well as accepting nominations from senior leaders. This too should result in a more diverse set of employees having the opportunity to participate in these development programs. And they've added additional unconscious bias offerings, which they believe should be mandatory for hiring managers and interviewers.
And Viasat's executive team has doubled down on their focus on D&I, with a plan to hire a senior D&I leader who will sit on an executive steering committee and play a key role in helping to set and execute on D&I strategy at both the corporate and business area level. "D&I is not something that HR owns. As a leadership team we are all accountable for increasing the diversity on our teams and ensuring an inclusive climate where all employees can thrive. If we do this right we'll have D&I naturally integrated into all that we do and it will be part of what enables us to achieve our strategic business objectives" says Melinda.
"We would like to see more decision makers at all levels within Viasat be a reflection of our customer base, and the customers we serve are Black, they're white, they're Hispanic, they're members of the LGBTQ+ community, they're women, men, and they're veterans. They span the gamut," says Melinda. "There's a lot of talk about D&I right now as a result of the current social justice movement, and in many companies I'm sure a time will come where regardless of what sort of public statements of commitment might have been made, the talk will die down and there will be a return to business as usual. At Viasat, we're not going to be in that category. This movement has not only changed how we are approaching diversity and inclusion, but the entire employee experience. We've already made some really positive changes and there's so much more on the way!"
If you're interested in working with Melinda at Viasat, check out more about their company values and their own roles here.
melinda kimbro working at viasat women of viasat diversity and inclusion diversity at viasat
3 Women, 7 Lessons: What These Relativity Leaders Learned in 2020
Working at Relativity—the global tech company that equips legal and compliance professionals with a powerful data-organizing and discovery platform—looked different in 2020. The highly collaborative environment of their Chicago headquarters transitioned to a virtual setting, and just like companies around the country, Relativity adapted their goals and major projects to a completely remote environment.
<p>For three women with very different roles across the company, that meant leaning into their strengths, staying adaptable, and finding ways to embody one of Relativity's core values—"enjoy and be great at your job"—in completely new ways.<br></p><p>We talked to Rebecca BurWei, Jaclyn Sattler, and Joy Ndackson about how their work at Relativity changed in 2020 and what that means for what's to come in 2021, both for their personal teams and projects, as well as for women at other tech companies looking to continue to make an impact. </p><h2>3 Leaders, 3 High-Impact Projects</h2><p><strong>Rebecca BurWei </strong>is a <strong>Senior Data Scientist </strong>at Relativity, where she works to build new analytics and AI features for Relativity's products. She builds on her academic expertise—she has a PhD from Northwestern—to build solutions at scale, and she joined the company for the opportunity to do just that. "Prior to Relativity, I built custom models by hand to solve problems for one client at a time," explains Rebecca. "However, Relativity Analytics builds hundreds of models every day automatically for clients with its AI capabilities. I was attracted to the challenge of solving problems that could help clients at scale, across the board." </p><p><strong>Jaclyn Sattler </strong>is the <strong>Chief of Staff</strong> to Relativity's COO, a role that has her focusing on cross-company projects and collaboration. She joined Relativity with a management consulting background because she wanted to be able to see the impact of the work she was doing. "I was searching for a place where I could dig in more deeply, work on interesting problems, and be the person to see them through to fruition," says Jaclyn. "Above all else, I wanted to work at a company where I was in awe of my peers."</p><p><strong>Joy Ndackson </strong>is a <strong>Security Project Manager</strong> at Relativity, and her suite of responsibilities is all about managing high-impact enterprise-level projects for the company, from scoping to rollout. She accepted an offer at Relativity after over a decade of experience in the project manager space because she was impressed by the company's positioning in the e-discovery industry and wanted the chance to work on many cross-functional projects. "I have enjoyed working with different teams throughout the company and can honestly say that I have never been bored!" says Joy.</p><p>Each of them overcame the challenges presented by 2020 to complete high-impact projects last year: </p><ul class="ee-ul"><li><strong>Helping medical researchers more quickly review data to help with the fight against COVID-19. </strong>Rebecca worked with her team to use Relativity AI and text-mining tools in order to review journal articles and medical literature to help in the search to understand, treat, and prevent COVID-19. "It was exciting to work on an important, time sensitive project with global implications," says Rebecca. "I also enjoyed collaborating with a diverse group of data scientists and public health researchers from around the world. It was satisfying to produce results that could be used right away."</li><li><strong>Supporting the fight for racial justice with data.</strong> Jaclyn helped launch Relativity's <a href="https://www.relativity.com/company/giving-back/justice-for-change/#:~:text=We%20created%20the%20Justice%20for,of%20a%20more%20just%20world." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Justice for Change</a> program and the company's pledge of 100TB of its e-discovery SaaS product, RelativityOne, to reduce barriers in technological access for organizations committed to racial justice. "Many groups fighting for racial justice manage large volumes of data and must quickly identify key issues for litigation or investigations," explains Jaclyn. "Our technology can help. We created a program that leverages the expertise from our community and the use of our e-discovery SaaS product to help organizations organize data, discover the truth, and act on it." </li><li><strong>Developing and launching a new security training program.</strong> One of Joy's internal projects in 2020 was creating the Security Guardian program. "It entails training courses for Relativians to learn about our security posture. It teaches them how to incorporate that knowledge into their teams' processes and provides tools needed to communicate security best practices to our customers," she explains. "In essence, we are equipping everyone in our organization to be extended members of our Security team." In successfully seeing the project through, Joy got a behind-the-scenes look at how Relativity's learning and development team creates a course—from storyboarding to execution—and saw how the work she does adds value across the business. </li></ul><h2>7 lessons learned across the board</h2><p>Though Rebecca, Jaclyn, and Joy have very different sets of daily responsibilities and current projects, they all had similarly important takeaways from 2020 about the importance of community, connection, and balance. Here are the seven lessons they learned last year:</p><ol class="ee-ol"><li><strong>Balanced schedules don't happen naturally—they need to be built.</strong> Jaclyn realized that if she wasn't intentional about her schedule, she'd be in back-to-back video calls all day without a second to think. "By including time to work or think, time to connect or have discussions with my team, time to take breaks or take a walk, and time to sign off and enjoy my personal environment, I can control how I spend my time, in and outside of work, to make the most of it," she says. </li><li><strong>Always ask for feedback. </strong>With Joy's projects moving online, she had fewer chances to do real-time check-ins with her key stakeholders. That meant she needed to make sure she was asking them directly if they had concerns or feedback. "All projects are not equal so seeking feedback and being inquisitive has helped to confirm that I am leading the project effectively and adding value to it," she says. Her set of to-go questions include: "Is there anything I can improve on as the Project Manager? Do you have any concerns about the project? Are there any potential risks that I need to be aware of?" </li><li><strong>Changing pace is okay. </strong>Rebecca learned in 2020 that staying adaptable to changing personal and professional priorities means adjusting the pace at which you address them. "Sometimes life moves fast, and other times it moves slowly," she says. "I'm learning to adjust my own pace to match or complement the pace of life and work around me. Next year, I intend to disperse my time off in more regular intervals across the year instead of packing it all in at the end."</li><li><strong>Communicate more than you think you need to</strong><strong>. </strong>"There's no such thing as over-communication," says Jaclyn. "In fact, consider how much you talk to your project team, or share updates with the project sponsor, and then level up a notch. I've found that high-impact projects are fast moving and have a lot of energy surrounding them. This makes change happen quickly and strong communication crucial. Crushing communication on your projects will make you the go-to person to lead higher impact activities."</li><li><strong>"Focus is a muscle,"</strong> says Rebecca, who notes that you can build it over time. "Start small with little reps. Learning to say no in order to prioritize is also a muscle."</li><li><strong>Inclusive meetings take work.</strong> Joy says she's learned a completely new set of guidelines for moderating virtual meetings that she'll apply in 2021. Her top tips? "Ending meetings five minutes early to allow for a break between meetings, seeking feedback from project teams on the preferred method to get updates on action items (e.g., IM or email or meetings), taking longer pauses during meetings to ensure others have the chance to share their perspectives, and sharing screens during interactive calls."</li><li><strong>Informal space can be made virtually. </strong>As a Chief of Staff, Jaclyn needs to have a pretty rich understanding of what lots of different people are working on in order to set them up for success. In the beginning of the pandemic, she had a difficult time doing that. Then she got creative. "I started a few virtual coffee chats and phone calls while on a walk just to catch up with other Relativians. Yes, we would talk shop about work, but these separate-but-together activities created space to connect as people, too," she says. Jaclyn was meant to visit the company's Australia office in 2020, and while that couldn't happen, her virtual connections helped her get to know the team there and quickly bring the Justice for Change initiative to the Australian region after its U.S. launch.</li></ol><p>And one final bonus tip we love from Joy: take advantage of any opportunity to dance! "I love to dance, so oftentimes during a break, I put on some music and have a mini dance session. That always puts me in a good mood. I would not have been able to pull that off if we were still physically in the office!" she says.</p><p><a href="https://powertofly.com/companies/relativity" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Learn more about Relativity's 100+ open roles and company culture.</em></a></p>
8 (Virtual) Diversity Conferences to Attend in 2021
As you set your personal and professional priorities for 2021, is a diversity and inclusion conference on your agenda? If not, it should be—particularly after 2020's pandemic and racial reckoning have brought D&I issues to the forefront for many.
<p>Conferences can help you learn from experts, connect with peers, find new inspiration, and get ahead of trends in your industry. And whether you're a hiring manager, an HR professional, or just someone interested in learning how to create a more inclusive workplace, D&I conferences are tailor-made to help you find the education, connections, and resources you need to succeed.<br/></p> <p>Maybe the ticket price to attend conferences isn't such a factor this year—you probably saved a good deal of your 2020 diversity budget! But whether you're looking at free or high-cost diversity conferences in 2021, you'll want to make sure any investment of your time and resources is worth it. To help, we've gathered a list of 8 highly-regarded D&I conferences in 2021 for you to review.</p> <p>Take a look, see what piques your interests, and get to registering! We'll see you there.</p><h2>2021 Diversity & Inclusion Conferences/Events Not to Miss</h2>
Diversity Reboot 2021: The One Hundred Day Kickoff
<p><strong>When</strong>: February 1-5, 2021</p><p><strong>Where</strong>: Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Free!</p><p><strong>Where to register: </strong><a href="https://summit.powertofly.com/" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>We had to include our own Diversity Reboot on our list of the best diversity and inclusion events to attend in 2021 because we know firsthand how the quality of 100+ expert speakers, the enthusiasm of 10,000 participants, and the cutting-edge tech that enables meaningful virtual networking and job fairs combine to create a truly epic five-day experience. This year, the theme 100 Day Kickoff harnesses the energy of the new government's first 100 days in office to help jump-start personal and professional plans to build more diverse and inclusive workplaces. </p><p>Following the February summit, we'll have a monthly series of smaller virtual summits on topics spanning everything from returnships to LGBTQ+ advocacy, so be sure to stay tuned for updates!<br></p>
The Future of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 2021
<p><strong>When</strong>: February 3-4, 2021</p><p><strong>Where</strong>: Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Free</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://www.hr.com/en/webcasts_events/virtual_events/upcoming_virtual_events/the-future-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-2021_kcxf8glq.html#detail" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>This virtual conference put on by HR.com focuses on how social movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter have pushed DEI at work beyond legal compliance and into a major factor of any company or brand's culture, employee engagement, and performance. Topics include how to uncover and resolve pay gaps across your team and hire top-level diverse talent.</p>
Workplace Revolution: From Talk to Collective Action
<p><strong>When</strong>: March 8-12, 2021</p><p><strong>Where</strong>: Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register: </strong>$820</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://cvent.me/ZQ4BbE" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>The Forum on Workplace Inclusion's 33rd annual conference includes 12 session tracks, from DEI Strategy to Social Responsibility, along with 59 workshops and daily networking sessions. This year's theme focuses on one question: "What will it take to start a workplace revolution that moves us from talk to action?"</p>
Diversity: How Employers Can Match Words With Deeds
<p><strong>When</strong><strong>: </strong>May 19, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register</strong><strong>: </strong>Early bird registration is $49 and general admission is $149</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://hopin.com/events/may-virtual-conference-diversity-how-employers-can-match-words-with-deeds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Here</a></p><p>From Day One is hosting monthly conferences in 2021 focused on different ways for companies to foster strong relationships with their customers, communities, and employees. May's half-day virtual event is focused specifically on how companies can make diversity promises that don't fall flat and features workshops, panels, and a fireside chat.</p>
Hire with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
<p><strong>When:</strong> August 18, 2021</p><p><strong>Where: </strong>Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register: </strong>$195</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://www.hci.org/conferences/2021-virtual-conference-hire-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-august-18-2021" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>This conference put on by the Human Capital Institute is one of 12 virtual conferences that HCI has planned for 2021. This one focuses on fair and inclusive talent acquisition, including how to attract diverse talent, implement inclusive hiring practices, and addressing bias in employee selection. Other conferences will focus on optimizing talent strategy, engaging employees, and developing your workforce.</p>
Virtual Grace Hopper Celebration 2021
<p><strong>When:</strong> September 26-29, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual, broadcast from Chicago, Illinois</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Was $799 for regular access to the virtual conference in 2020; 2021 pricing hasn't yet been announced</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://ghc.anitab.org/attend/registration/" target="_blank">Here</a>, though 2021 registration wasn't live at the time of writing</p><p>Grace Hopper might be the best-known conference for women in tech. Through keynote presentations, networking sessions, job fairs, and community-building activities, vGHC reached over 30,000 women for their 2020 conference and are expecting even more in 2021! While not a conference focused exclusively on diversity and inclusion, many speakers plan to focus their talks on creating environments for women to thrive in the male-dominated tech field.</p>
Inclusion 2021
<p><strong>When:</strong> October 25-27, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual and in person in Austin, Texas as of now</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Hasn't yet been announced</p><p><strong>Where to register: </strong><a href="https://conferences.shrm.org/inclusion" target="_blank">Here</a>, though 2021 registration wasn't live at the time of writing</p><p>The Society for Human Resource Management's biggest conference of the year saw 1,200 DEI leaders participate last year; SHRM hopes to see even more come to learn, be inspired, and to walk away with a playbook of implementable strategies to create truly inclusive workplace cultures.</p>
AfroTech 2021
<p><strong></strong><strong>When:</strong> November 8-13, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Early bird pricing is $149 for individuals and $249 for corporate attendees; regular pricing hasn't yet been announced</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://experience.afrotech.com/" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>AfroTech is a conference hosted by Blavity, a tech media platform for Black millennials. It focuses on emerging tech trends, connecting Black talent with top tech recruiters, and providing networking and educational opportunities, with an overall goal of building a strong Black tech community. Over 10,000 people participated in 2020. While the conference isn't focused specifically on DEI, its main audience of Black tech talent is an important one to understand and to engage at work and beyond, and several speakers plan to focus on issues of race and inclusion at work. </p>
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Finding Her Sport: Being Part of the Team in a Startup Environment
A Conversation with Vouch's Lead Designer Carrie Phillips
Carrie Phillips was working at a healthcare startup when she connected with one of Vouch Insurance's founders, a friend of a friend from university. The idea he and his cofounder were working on: a way to solve the business insurance problem, piqued her interest. "I was pretty familiar with how broken insurance was," says Carrie, who was interested in the mission, as well as the chance to be their first full-time hire and help build the product from the ground up.
<p>She signed on as their lead designer, and in the two and a half years she's been at Vouch, she's worn half a dozen different hats, experienced a personal evolution in the way she strikes a work/life balance, and made inroads against the goal she shares with the whole Vouch team of creating a business insurance product that works for startups.<br/></p> <p>We sat down with Carrie to hear more about why she became interested in design, why she joined Vouch and how Vouch's culture supports her design work, and what advice she has for others looking to succeed at a high-growth startup.</p><h3>Why design?</h3> <p>Carrie's first few design projects were practical ones.</p> <p>"I grew up with a little sister who has a bunch of disabilities, and my father and I spent a lot of time building things around the house and retrofitting really crappy medical equipment," she explains. "We were always sort of trying to make her environment work for her and her interests, like to play baseball or cello or go to school. So much needed to be adjusted that I developed a bit of an eye for problems to be solved."</p> <p>Carrie credits her early experience seeing how her sister navigates the world and coming up with ways to help her as sparking her interest in product design. She studied industrial design at Ohio State University with the goal of working in medical products and technology to improve accessibility.</p> <p>"I think when people say accessibility, they think of making sure the buttons on the screen are high enough contrast so that somebody with colorblindness can parse out the active areas or text hierarchy and screen readers and stuff like that," says Carrie. And while she notes that those are certainly important examples, larger impact in the accessible space stems from general innovations. </p> <p>She gives an example of what she means: "Like my AirPods. I'm jazzed about AirPods because my sister wears hearing aids, and hearing aids are still clunky and ugly. AirPods are like a sneeze away from a hearing aid, they're pretty close, and that's really cool."</p> <p>Other things that fit in that category? Google Glass, Siri, swipe keyboards, and Google Maps, says Carrie. Those are the kinds of projects Carrie wants to work on—projects that transform the way something is done or experienced and, in so doing, create a better product for people with disabilities. "When I think about accessibility, I'm almost thinking about it like, what are the most interesting innovations happening for the mass market that could then trickle into smaller niche markets and really change lives?" she says.</p><h3>Why Vouch? </h3> <p>Carrie is still a team of one, which means she's done almost every kind of design work for Vouch at some point over the last few years, from mocking up onboarding funnels to branding to conducting user research and handling "QA bug bashing stuff." She has a practiced spiel she uses to explain her work to new hires at Vouch: </p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;">"Design is intended to make things useful, usable, and beautiful. And each of those words routes to a different field of design. Beautiful is user interface, graphic design, and making it pretty. Usable is more UX—how can I organize this flow or label things in a way that somebody doesn't get stranded somewhere and confused? And useful is more product design. It's like, how do we actually answer the question in the first place? Not just how do we make the solution we've already chosen useful, beautiful, or usable...it's more, what should the solution be in the first place?"</p> <p>It's that top-down, open-ended problem solving that Carrie loves most about the product design work she's doing now. "It's really fun, sort of the puzzle of unpacking the problem and coming up with a solution," she says.</p> <p>The puzzle is a particularly big one for Vouch. "Vouch is rewriting policies. We're trying to solve [the business insurance problem] at the very bottom," says Carrie. "A lot of my most valuable time is spent trying to understand what it is we're building and how this tiny decision over here is going to cascade all the way to the customer experience in a year when this policy gets approved."</p> <p>Carrie approaches solving that puzzle with what she calls her best "user-centric shot." For example, she'll design a button, including its text, in the way that would make the most sense to customers. "Then that does a round trip through insurance, ops, and legal and comes back to me. If it sounds too much like a robot lawyer rewrote it, then we put it back in the cycle. We are a no-lorem-ipsum shop because text is just too important for meaning," she explains.</p> <p>It was Vouch's mission that initially inspired Carrie, but the reason she keeps going into work (or, in the last ten months, logging in to work) is the company's culture. </p> <p>"It sounds very corny, but the team genuinely cares and gets to know each other, which produces an environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing really big, weird ideas," says Carrie. "Vouch isn't interested in just making insurance a little bit better. We really want to shake it up. So everybody has to feel safe throwing out some real ridiculous nonsense from time to time. And you only do that when you're amongst friends."</p> <p>That focus on human beings is so important that it's one of Vouch's five core values and the one that stands out the most to Carrie. </p> <p>"Put people first" can refer to users, teammates, and individuals, explains Carrie. "It means 'put your partner first, your kids first, your people first," she says. </p> <h3>3 tips for succeeding at a startup </h3> <p>Carrie has worked to bring accessible product design to every company she's worked at, from the small startup she founded with friends after college to Vouch. She's able to make the most impact in environments like Vouch's, where open collaboration between teams and a constant focus on learning is shared by all.</p> <p>"What I care about with startups is the hustle and momentum," she explains. "I know a lot of people are really into the impact that they could have in Silicon Valley. But I don't care if thousands of people use what I made or just a few [do]. I really love being on a small team that is intimately aware of their competitors and is earning the respect of new customers and trying to win."</p> <p>"I like playing on the team. It's like the only sport I've ever been good at is startups," says Carrie.</p> <p>She's gotten better at her sport over time and has three key lessons to pass on:</p> <p><strong>1. Do regular personal retros. </strong>Carrie used to have a 30-minute date with herself every Friday ("in the morning, 'cause if I did it Friday afternoon, it wouldn't be worth my time; my brain would be fried," she notes) to do a retrospective on the week. She's fallen away from the habit, she says, but is bringing it back as she keeps going deeper into the specifics of the insurance world. "I reflect on the week, what I learned, what I did, what changed, what produced a big emotional response for no good reason," she says.</p> <p><strong>2. Organize pairing sessions. </strong>One of the key parts of Carrie's workflow is the "tweaking sessions" she has with engineers on her team. "Instead of peppering them with tiny, nitty-gritty feedback all along the way, I reserve some time at the end, like, 'We're going to get coffee together and you're going to share your screen and I'm going to angst over the spacing a little bit and it's going to be kind of annoying 'cause we're going to be nudging around pixels,' but it almost always ends with something that feels like 10 or 20% more polished," she says. "And it makes sure that I'm perpetually aware of the friction generated by my requests."</p> <p><strong>3. Don't lose yourself.</strong> "Startups are just so fun. They move so fast. You can get kind of lost in the hustle or momentum of things," says Carrie, who says that she struggled to remember that in her first few years on the job. "I used to really let that hustle and momentum take over my life. It was too fun to stay late and get ahead and really sweat the details. I thought I was being a good designer by getting really amped on whatever teeny-tiny change needed to be made," she says. "Try to enjoy the momentum—relish the fact that your job is actually exciting and moves quickly and that you can see your change in production in the wild—but also, know that you will not ever regret closing your laptop at 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM," she reminds readers. "It'll be fine."</p> <p><em><a href="https://powertofly.com/companies/vouch-insurance" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learn more about company culture and open roles at Vouch Insurance.</a></em></p>
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Friday in Hawkville
A recap of the day’s activities:
Sean Locklear. He’s not only back, he’s back in the starting lineup for the first time since the Week 2 game against the 49ers in San Francisco.
Locklear will start at left tackle in Sunday’s couldn’t-be-any-bigger game against the NFC West-leading Cardinals in Arizona. In his absence, Brandon Frye, Kyle Williams and Damion McIntosh have started at the pivotal position.
“Sean has looked good this week,” coach Jim Mora said after practice.
Locklear also practiced last week, but did not play against the Detroit Lions. The difference this week?
“Sean had to make it through practice and show no ill effects, be able to come back the next day and not be sore,” Mora said.
Locklear’s practice reps increased in each of the past three days.
When the Seahawks played the Cardinals in Week 6, the left side of the line was comprised of Kyle Williams at tackle and Steve Vallos at guard – each making his first start at those spots. Sunday, it will be Locklear and Rob Sims, the starting left-side combo until Locklear went down in Week 2 with a high ankle sprain.
“Sean and Rob have played next to each other quite a bit,” Mora said. “So once again, it’s just continuity, repetitions together. That will help us.”
POSITION WATCH
Right cornerback. Josh Wilson will get the start, as Ken Lucas continues to come back from the neck stinger he got two weeks ago against the Cowboys in Dallas.
Wilson started last week against the Lions and returned an interception 61 yards for a touchdown to ice the victory. How much Lucas plays, Mora said, will depend on how much three- and four-receiver sets the Cardinals use – which is usually a lot.
One of the big reasons Lucas was re-signed during the offseason was to give the Seahawks another big corner to play opposite Marcus Trufant against the Cardinals’ collection of large, physical receivers.
“We’re as healthy as you can expect at this time of the year back at that position,” Mora said. “And you certainly need that going against this group.”
The official end-of-the-week report, as released by the team:
QB Matt Hasselbeck (shoulder)
OT Sean Locklear (ankle)
CB Ken Lucas (neck)
C Chris Spencer (thumb)
That’s right, only four players on the list – and all are probable. For once, the injury news is coming from the opponent, as the Cardinals have two players listed as doubtful – LB Chike Okeafor (back), a former Seahawk; and LB Gerald Hayes (back). Neither practiced today. The Cardinals also list four players as questionable, and they were limited in practice – OT Mike Gandy (pelvis), WR Sean Morey (head), DE Kenny Iwebema (knee) and TE Ben Patrick (knee).
The Branch and Burleson Fan Appreciation Night is Monday, and will be hosted by – whom else? – wide receivers Deion Branch and Nate Burleson.
The annual event will begin at 6 p.m. at Bellevue’s Lucky Strike Lanes, 700 Bellevue Way NE. Five-man teams can register for the charity bowling event at branchandburleson@amail.com. There also will be a silent auction featuring sports memorabilia. Proceeds benefit youth in Seattle and Branch’s hometown of Albany, Ga.
“This is a big game for us, it really is. It can turn the course of our season by winning this Sunday. Just confidence and, like you say, we’ll be one game out of first place.” – wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, during his weekly “Fridays with Housh” session with reporters
November 13, 2009 – 5:56 pm
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A Simple Rule, Slip-Slided Away
Until yesterday, we had a relatively clear rule for police to follow: an anonymous tip must be corroborated before it rises to the level necessary to seize a person. Then the Supreme Court decided Navarette v. California. Interestingly, the 5-4 majority opinion was written by Clarence Thomas, with the dissent penned by Nino Scalia. Now I realize that people think I’m loopy for not hating Nino as much as I should, but it’s cases like this that should remind us of why he’s so much fun on the Court.
The majority held that an anon tip, of the sort that once needed corroboration, doesn’t really.
By reporting that she had been run off the road by a specific vehicle—a silver Ford F-150 pickup, license plate 8D94925—the caller necessarily claimed eyewitness knowledge of the alleged dangerous driving. That basis of knowledge lends significant support to the tip’s reliability.
There is also reason to think that the 911 caller in this case was telling the truth. Police confirmed the truck’s location near mile marker 69 (roughly 19 highway miles south of the location reported in the 911 call) at 4:00 p.m.(roughly 18 minutes after the 911 call). That timeline of events suggests that the caller reported the incident soon after she was run off the road. That sort of contemporaneous report has long been treated as especially reliable.
Another indicator of veracity is the caller’s use of the 911 emergency system. A 911 call has some features that allow for identifying and tracing callers, and thus provide some safeguards against making false reports with immunity.
As Ken White (who has limited opportunity to write these days since he’s returned to the nunnery for a refresher course) explains:
Traditionally the key to corroboration has been confirmation of incriminating details, not details that any observer could make about an innocent subject.
In this case, the CHP followed the “offending” car for five miles and saw no reckless driving, which in itself is quite remarkable. That’s what is meant by corroboration, not that the license plate of the car matched the license plate called in by the anon tipster.
Nonetheless, other commentators have embraced the wiggle room afforded the police. Orin Kerr at WaPo Conspiracy:
Justice Thomas writes, “under the totality of the circumstances, we find the indicia of reliability in this case sufficient to provide the officer with reasonable suspicion that the driver of the reported vehicle had run another vehicle off the road.” I think that conclusion is correct.
And at Crime and Consequences, Kurt Scheidegger writes:
If a motorist calls 911 and reports having been run off the road, is that sufficient cause for police to stop a vehicle fitting the caller’s description? I would think so.
That’s as deep as Kurt’s analysis gets, and I sincerely hope he didn’t sprain anything getting there. In contrast, Nino Scalia writes in dissent:
The Court’s opinion serves up a freedom-destroying cocktail consisting of two parts patent falsity: (1) that anonymous 911 reports of traffic violations are reliable so long as they correctly identify a car and its location, and (2) that a single instance of careless or reckless driving necessarily supports a reasonable suspicion of drunkenness. All the malevolent 911 caller need do is assert a traffic violation, and the targeted car will be stopped, forcibly if necessary, by the police. If the driver turns out not to be drunk (which will almost always be the case), the caller need fear no consequences, even if 911 knows his identity. After all, he never alleged drunkenness, but merely called in a traffic violation—and on that point his word is as good as his victim’s.
While the majority skirts the freedom-destroying cocktail by crafting its opinion as if corroboration of immaterial, non-incriminatory details is just as good as corroboration of material, incriminatory details. Nino ain’t buying:
Today’s opinion does not explicitly adopt such a departure from our normal Fourth Amendment requirement that anonymous tips must be corroborated; it purports to adhere to our prior cases, such as Florida v. J. L., 529 U. S. 266 (2000), and Alabama v. White, 496 U. S. 325 (1990). Be not deceived. (Emphasis added.)
Those who take comfort in the amorphous “totality of the circumstances” excuse that’s pulled out whenever rules get in the way of a desired outcome seem to ignore one monumentally huge detail of this case: the caller was anonymous.
Nobody forced the caller to refuse to give her name. She chose to call 911 and report something, which is fine, but then refused to give her identity. She picked anonymity.
The court, and supporters of the vagaries of rules that entitle police to stop people more rather than less, argue that the 911 system has a built-in safeguard these days that makes anonymity less anonymous. Justice Thomas found this worthy of particular note. He misses the point, which finally explains that whooshing sound heard during oral argument before the Supremes.
The question isn’t whether technology has the capacity to locate someone on a cellphone, but whether the person making the report to police of another person’s conduct is being sufficiently truthful and accurate that they are willing to put their credibility behind it. Without a horse in the race, the 911 call is little more than noise, no matter how many immaterial details match up.
Had the caller given her name, there would be no case for the court to decide, and no argument about whether the police had reasonable suspicion to stop the driver, who they followed for five miles without observing any infraction of the 7,395 rules of the road. Under the “totality of the circumstances,” there is no circumstance more significant than the caller’s choice not to reveal her identity and be responsible for the seizure of another human being.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 23, 2014 by SHG.
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33 thoughts on “A Simple Rule, Slip-Slided Away”
Gideon April 23, 2014 at 7:52 am
If I recall correctly, the 911 caller did identify herself using her name to the dispatcher. The dispatcher did not relay the identity to the police officer.
SHG Post author April 23, 2014 at 8:16 am
According to footnote 1, that was the claim, but the case proceeded as an anon tip:
1 At the suppression hearing, counsel for petitioners did not dispute that the reporting party identified herself by name in the 911 call recording. Because neither the caller nor the Humboldt County dispatcher who received the call was present at the hearing, however, the prosecution did not introduce the recording into evidence. The prosecution proceeded to treat the tip as anonymous, and the lower courts followed suit.
Since the ruling assumes the tip was anon, it muddies the waters to point out that that it may not have been, but for a failure to call a witness to the contrary. Or, the claim could have been wrong and that’s why no witness was called. Who knows? While this may well be another example of appellate courts dealing with a fantasy set for facts, that won’t stand in the way of the ruling doing harm.
Oh, no doubt. I was just considering that as possible wiggle room for future fact-scenarios. Perhaps.
James April 23, 2014 at 9:47 am
If there was ever a vehicle for parallel construction, this is the most perfect model.
Absolutely. This is a gimme to game a stop, as if Whren wasn’t bad enough on its own. It makes you realize how fragile all this bullshit talk of law really is, when it all comes down to cheap, anonymous “allegations.”
bill April 23, 2014 at 9:50 am
Dropsy’s big ugly cousin, Snitchsy or Anonsy.
I would prefer to think of them as dropsy’s illegitimate child and bastard grandchild.
bill April 23, 2014 at 2:48 pm
I know you all hate stupid IANAL comments but honestly, I’ve read the whole ruling (parts of it twice) along with Ken’ White’s post and Orin Kerr’s pieces so I at least tried to do my homework. How does anyone possibly think this won’t be Dropsy? I know you’re a drug dealer, I either have my buddy call in claiming you drove them off the road, or just skip it and pretend it was anonymous. The potential for abuse isn’t likely, it’s an absolute certainty. And now I’ll almost certainly get my hand slapped, but after Scott’s responses when someone was trying to revisit the Exclusionary rule – but doesn’t this effectively invalidate it with respect to vehicle searches? (Sorry if this is too much IANAL stupidity – if so, just delete it)
SHG Post author April 23, 2014 at 3:32 pm
The potential for abuse isn’t likely, it’s an absolute certainty.
Stop hyperventilating. The potential for abuse is, and always has been, there. This is just another mechanism by which it can happen. It’s no more an “absolute certainty” than a thousand others means by which abuse occurs.
Consider this: Cop was filing defendant for 5 minutes. Nothing happened. Cops pulls deft over, finds pot. Cop claims he observed deft swerved across double yellow lines twice. Never happened. See how easy that is?
Is the opinion dangerously wrong? I think so. Does this make abuse an “absolute certainty”? Neither more nor less than a thousand other ways abuse can occur. It’s just a new way to game the rules.
bacchys April 24, 2014 at 12:19 pm
This isn’t the toppling of the Republic, certainly, but it is another chip out of wall protecting us from abusive officials. I don’t think the “hyperventilating” is quite as radical as you do, either, Scott.
We live in a time when more and more officers have dash cams in their cruisers and cameras on their persons during a stop. I’ve seen at least one case already where a dash cam undercut an officer’s claims about why he stopped a vehicle: the “he crossed the white line” excuse is becoming more tenuous, though far from ended.
This anonymous tipster, OTOH, isn’t something that can be avoided. If a cop- and most, thankfully, won’t take advantage of this- desires to pull someone over, he now has a ready tool to create the necessary conditions to lawfully do so even if the subject has the audacity to abuse a loophole in the law by obeying the traffic code while on camera.
I don’t expect an epidemic (or even a rash) of cases to grow out of this, but in a Republic with millions of citizens and hundreds of thousands of cops, even a relative handful is a pretty big number. After this ruling, moreover, it’s even more important to be nice to an ex…
Jon April 24, 2014 at 10:09 pm
Isn’t there danger of abuse from /anyone/ now? Couldn’t “I saw Motorist swerve, and may be a danger” become the password to detain, with impunity, the Motorist unfortunate enough to travel a predictable route?
I am curious if there is potential to take this and apply it to other scenarios; Citizen says “I smell pot” and cue police raid on any house downwind.
I would like to think that presumed innocence and an assumption that the average citizen is not trained to assess the legality of a given situation (Grandma might confuse incense for opium) means the cops should actually observe a crime. If the cop chooses to lie at least there is potential of evidence of the lie.
Yes, it could all happen that way.
Corollax April 23, 2014 at 7:17 pm
(IANAL, please delete if you feel this doesn’t improve the discussion.)
Bill, it’s important to remember that procedural abuse isn’t necessarily the result of malice. It’s a natural human tendency to sacrifice procedure to get results. The officer in this case could have been motivated to protect citizens from a hazardous driver or from the dangers of drug abuse. Once the arrest is made, our public servants are tempted to rationalize improper procedure by outcome. And as evidenced by the majority opinion in this case, even our highest courts are not immune.
Such is the nature of power. It’s easy to trust in authority when you’re the one wielding it. The “inconveniences” experienced by innocent citizens seem inconsequential compared to immediate results. It’s harder for the guilty to escape prosecution when the books are filled with byzantine statutes sufficient to jail even the most innocent among us.
It’s good to be skeptical of authority. We shouldn’t sacrifice our freedoms for a higher conviction rate. But our public servants are humans, usually acting with good intentions. Scott encourages an appreciation for nuance so that these intentions don’t blind us to the more negative long-term consequences. And if we’re to stop this negative trend, we must understand what motivates it.
That was a very thoughtful comment. Thanks.
It’d better be, since I just forfeited any chance of making it through jury selection.
Jokes aside, I’m glad you felt my comment had value. For brevity, I’ll omit the parenthetical introduction from any subsequent posts. I hope you continue to find them useful.
If you don’t tell the judge, I won’t. Seriously, I don’t care if you’re a lawyer or not, but you offered nuance, illumination and insight, and that’s always appreciated. Next time, can you give me some alliteration as well? I always love alliteration.
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Carl H April 23, 2014 at 2:26 pm
I thought when reading the opinion (I am not a lawyer) — much was made of the fact that people wouldn’t abuse the 911 system as ““technological and regulatory developments” suggest that the identities of unnamed 911 callers are increasingly less likely to remain unknown.”
I see this is addressed by footnote #1 but if I recall correctly there wouldn’t have even been the ability to confirm the call was made from within Humboldt County.
“(c) Not only was the tip here reliable, but it also created reasonable
suspicion of drunk driving.” — then why follow the truck for five miles? Why not pull over immediately? I find this a far way too large degree of latitude to afford the police.
Is this not a perfect example of evaluating issues after the fact — e.g. because we found the marijuana therefore the stop was legal.
Something doesn’t smell right to me.
I love the smell of post hoc rationalization in the morning. It smells like . . . victory.
Well the alternative would be to judge the issue “ante hoc”, something I’m sure even Colonel Kurtz would agree is impossible, quantum mechanics aside. Five miles… Kinda curious about the radio traffic and whether a warrant could have been obtained but, again, I’m not a layer and do not even pretend to knoe the mechanics of such.
Isn’t there a rule of thumb amongst defence lawyers along the lines of — if your client has more than a kilo of contraband then counsel will not win a suppression hearing. Also, in a capital case with a large ick factor there’s no such thing as reversible error?
Thank you for letting my comments be posted, Mr Greenfield.
I assume you’re responding to my earlier comment, and would urge you to use the “reply” button so that it makes some tiny bit of sense to other readers.
Now, I didn’t say “judge” ante hoc, but rationalize post hoc. Entirely different, and despite my enjoyment of quantum mechanics, ruins your joke. And no there is no such “rule of thumb” as far as I know, and my experience is that it’s not accurate. As for posting your comment, no need to thank me. I just call ’em as I see ’em.
Carl H April 24, 2014 at 5:13 am
You’re absolutely right, I should have focused on the words, “rationalisation” not “judge”.
Thanks for setting me straight re: rule of thumb.
I’m here for you.
Respectfully, sir, I’d like to thing I am less dumb now than when I started reading your blog.
As to other; you have me there — doubtless safety guards on razors were perhaps invented for the likes of me.
*think* dagnamit,.
Oh, the irony.
Is that like bronzy and goldy, only it’s made of iron?
The opposite of irony is wrinkly. No metals involved.
Richard G. Kopf April 23, 2014 at 4:04 pm
SHG,
Sorry for the irrelevant comment on this post. Meant to comment on your Paroline post.
Fixed. I moved it over to the other post.
Fubar April 24, 2014 at 2:00 pm
I moved it over …
Dang! And I thought it moved there by quantum tunnelling.
Come to think of it, quantum tunnelling would also explain how Mssrs. Lorenzo and Jose Prado Navarette’s truck both did and did not run off the road a vehicle driven by a person, probably but not necessarily a woman, who both anonymously and non-anonymously called police.
What else could explain how in the subsequent decision a general observation of the truck’s location, which could have been made whether the event in question occurred or not, became indicia of reliability for the assertion that the event actually occurred, despite the responding officers’ observation of no subsequent consistent events?
But wait! There’s more! What else can explain how the decision in their case both is and is not “a departure from [SCOTUS] normal Fourth Amendment requirement that anonymous tips must be corroborated”?
Quantum tunnelling. That’s what explains it all!
But for your confession that you moved the comment in question, a novel and revolutionary theory of jurisprudence based on Prof. Schrödinger’s probability model might have been both asserted and proved. Right here. On this very ‘blog.
Alas! Your forthright observation has precluded such a paradigm shift in law despite your enjoyment and interest in the underlying science. But we can hope that Prof. Barleycorn will explain to us how to conduct future critical experiments upon our thumbs to establish the new legal rule. I would suggest that keeping them off the scales of justice would be a good start. But I am not a judge.
I’ll go to my room now.
Well. I sure feel foolish now.
Pingback: Police and prosecution roundup - Overlawyered
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Cisco Blogs / Executive Platform / Cisco Welcomes Jeetu Patel to Lead Security and Apps
Executive Platform
Cisco Welcomes Jeetu Patel to Lead Security and Apps
Chuck Robbins
Today, I’m excited to share that Jeetu Patel will be joining Cisco as our new Senior Vice President and General Manager of our newly-formed Security and Applications business group on August 3. In this new role, Jeetu will lead our efforts across our Collaboration, Security and Applications businesses to deliver a consistent, seamless experience for our customers and end users.
Jeetu will join our four other Engineering leaders as part of the new business structure we announced in March, as they build the strongest portfolio and platforms for our customers. These include Emerging Technologies and Incubation, led by Liz Centoni; Core Hardware Platforms, led by Eyal Dagan; Mass-Scale Infrastructure, led by Jonathan Davidson; and Enterprise Networking and Cloud, led by Todd Nightingale.
At Cisco, we share a common purpose – to power an inclusive future for all. While this incorporates various facets of business and society, we know that technology is at the center of this. Over the past few months, it is clear that our collaboration, security and applications are core to building a secure, remote workforce. These businesses play a key part in keeping our customers connected, productive and secure. Under Jeetu’s leadership, we will continue to drive even greater innovation around modern application development, security and the employee and customer experience.
He has more than 20 years of senior leadership experience in enterprise software, building cloud-native applications while developing and delivering against long-term strategies. He previously served as the Chief Product Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Box, leading the company’s product strategy and vision for cloud content management in the enterprise. In his role as the Chief Strategy Officer and SVP of Platform at Box, he directed the creation of the Box Platform business unit. Prior to his time at Box, his roles included general manager and chief executive of the Syncplicity business unit of EMC and president of Doculabs, a research and advisory firm focused on collaboration and content management.
He currently serves on the board of HackerRank, a technology hiring platform for assessing developer skills, and Jones Lang LaSalle, a professional services firm specializing in real estate and investment management.
I am so proud of what our Collaboration, Security and Applications teams have accomplished – particularly over the past few months as so many of us transitioned to remote work. I know that Jeetu’s experience makes him the right leader for this group, but his creativity, humility and selflessness really stand out to me. I know he will fit in with Cisco’s amazing culture and be yet another example of strong leadership for our company.
I am so thrilled to welcome Jeetu to our team and look forward to working alongside him as we set out to power an inclusive future for all.
Tags: #Collaboration #Security AppDynamics applications chuck robbins Jeetu Patel
Ernest Soufo says:
Nash P. says:
Amazing, Congratulations to Jeetu Patel!
Pappu kushwaha says:
Wagesh Kulkarni says:
Hearty welcome congratulations dear Jeetu Patel, I am being part of UX group which is part of Security Business Group in Bangalore and look forward to your leadership initiatives. We are very much thrilled feel your presence.
marsbahis says:
Ed Laubach, LLM. says:
Congratulations Jeetu and Welcome to Cisco!
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Tech Events | October 2017
Oct 3, 2017 | MSNY Staff
A chill is settling into the New York City streets as we welcome fall with open arms. Fall into the tech and civic space with us at these top events in the city this month:
Disruptive Technologists Goes Artificial — in Intelligence!
Automation / Artificial Intelligence are becoming omnipresent in business and our daily lives. Technology now allows us to talk to our devices, detect trends in huge data sets, and let our cars drive for us.
Disruptive Technologists in NYC’s next event is all about Artificial Intelligence.
2017 Social Enterprise Conference | Leaders Taking a Stand: Social Impact in Turbulent Times
Join us on October 6, 2017 as we explore how to enact social impact across disciplines: philanthropies, nonprofit organizations, social ventures, and traditional business. In this year’s conference you will meet business and organizational leaders who actively use their platform to drive change in education reform, the refugee crisis, job creation for the formerly incarcerated, and climate change.
Tri-State WIT Networking Event
Special Guest Speaker: Fari Breguet – General Manager of Microsoft
A graduate from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Fari has a passion for building and leading teams to explore new opportunities for customers while exceeding goals and never standing still or getting comfortable with the status quo. She has a proven track record in sales and relationship-building. She is adept at leading teams to successful results while helping to develop critical competencies in direct reports, along with excellent experience in talent management and business analysis, and revenue forecasting across customer segments.
Fari’s ability to be a thought leader in strategic business planning, a skilled communicator and avid public speaker, along with her international and cross cultural experiences, helped lead her into the role she holds with Microsoft today. Fari provides executive leadership and management of the Microsoft-New York Region, with a team of over 150 technical and solution experts. She manages executive relationships at the world’s largest companies and helps Microsoft customers transform into a digital business.
Databite No. 104: Tim O’Reilly
Data & Society Research Institute is thrilled to welcome Tim O’Reilly as he shares insights from his latest book WTF: What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us (Harper Collins, 2017).
Empire Conf 2017
Every year the Empire team ramps up, we try to highlight one of the things that makes New York City an amazing place to live, work, visit, and git push origin master in.
This year we return to showcase the little language you know and love at the Academy of Medicine on museum mile, this October 12 and 13.
We’re so excited that we’re able to feature New York at its finest, and we’re really looking forward to pushing Empire, JS, and Node.js towards another incredible year.
Code For America Brigade Congress
Code for America and the National Advisory Council are excited to invite you to the Brigade Congress in Philadelphia on October 13th – 15th.
This will be an unconference event where we will break out into discussion sessions. Sessions will be driven by you, the participants. Be ready to share your stories on what has worked, what hasn’t, and how we can apply to those lessons to future wins. We’ll tackle how to prevent burnout, talk about your local needs and how to solve difficult problems. We’ll talk about our shared values and share how Brigades across the country are working for change.
October 17, 24
Digital Skills Workshops for Non-Profits
Join us for a series of free workshops for non-profit executives hosted by Civic Hall and NBC Universal, focused on providing increased understanding of digital strategy and storytelling, how to use data to effectively support your work, and how leading-edge technologies like AR/VR can be used to support your work.
Microsoft Power BI: Dashboard in a Day Roadshow – NYC
Microsoft Power BI is a collection of online services and features that enables you to find, connect, and visualize data, share discoveries, and collaborate in intuitive new ways. Our Dashboard in A Day program will walk you through the tools available in Power BI, as well as real-world use cases. We’ll then provide hands-on training, working with sample data we will provide to you, to create data visualizations and dashboards that are boardroom and client-ready.
You’ll go home with your very own version of the Power BI tool, your own dashboard, and step-by-step courseware – everything you need to confidently deliver a meaningful data presentation.
Join us for this free training and turn your standard data into dazzling dashboard visualizations.
2017 AEC Technology Symposium and Hackathon
Join CORE studio at Thornton Tomasetti, Inc. for the fifth annual AEC Technology Symposium and Hackathon, for an advanced discussion on the future of the AEC industry.
New York Tech Meetup & Afterparty
Join us for NYC’s most famous and longest running monthly tech event! You’ll see a fantastic lineup of New York tech companies presenting live demos of their products, followed by an afterparty where you can network with the community and meet our demoers and sponsors.
Azure Red Shirt Dev Tour ’17
The Azure Red Shirt Dev Tour ’17 is a free! code-first event where you can connect and learn from cloud experts from Microsoft and your local community. It’s all about helping you become a better developer by teaching skills to develop, deploy, and manage cloud applications. Slides are kept to a minimum while Scott goes deep with live demos into Microsoft’s cloud services, advanced workloads and capabilities.
TransportationCamp NYC 2017
TransportationCamp NYC 2017 will foster open conversation and collaboration between all parties interested in mobility and the radical changes the near-future promises in transportation. Our goal is to assemble planners, software developers, engineers, students, dreamers, professionals, and civic leaders for an exciting day of “un-conferencing.” Unlike a traditional conference, the specific session topics are determined by participants, which provides each attendee an opportunity to lead and shape the event.
Digital Impact – New York City
The Digital Civil Society Lab at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society is exploring the implications of the digital age for global civil society. We are applying that knowledge to build a universal framework for civil society to use digital resources safely, ethically and effectively.
You are invited to join the conversation at this one-day event which will explore best practices and pressing questions about the future of digital civil society and democracy – in New York City and around the world.
Silicon Harlem Conference 2017
On October 27, 2017, a diverse array of 250+ professionals from the private and public sectors, including technology, media, smart tech, content, civic services, branding, and inclusion, will convene at Silicon Harlem’s Next Gen Conference. We are joined by the CTO of NYC, Miguel Gamiño; CEO of Uncharted Play, Jessica O. Matthews; Borough President Gale Brewer; the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and other stakeholders that have embraced our 2017 theme “Community Forward”.
TRICK OR TREAT: Halloween Game Expo!
Video games are taking over the Microsoft office in Time Square for an all-out Halloween Expo celebrating local developers! Join us for a day of games, pizza, treats and prizes. Costumes are encouraged. Families are welcome – bring your kids to trick-or-treat for candy from booth to booth as they try out each game! We hope you can join us for this very special edition of our seasonal Expo!
Over 100 game developers will be showing off their latest games one-on-one to a crowd of 1000 people. For developers, this is a great opportunity to show off their games (finished or unfinished) and get direct feedback from players. For everyone else, it’s a unique opportunity to try out the biggest collection of games made in and around NYC all in one place. More games being added daily.
Tags: 2017 AEC Technology Symposium and Hackathon, AEC Technology Symposium and Hackathon, Azure Red Shirt, Civic Hall, Code for America, Code For America Brigade Congress, Data & Society Research Institute, Databite, Digital Impact – New York City, Empire Conf 2017, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft New York, Microsoft Power BI, New York, New York Tech Meetup, New York Tech Meetup & Afterparty, NYTM, Playcrafting, Power BI, Silicon Harlem, Silicon Harlem Conference 2017, Tim O'Reilly, TransportationCamp NYC 2017, Tri-State WIT Networking Event, WTF: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us
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On the Meaning of Life by Will Durant
Upon being confronted outside his house by a man who is contemplating suicide, Will Durant is challenged to proffer a valid reason that would dissuade the latter from going ahead with his deadly proposition. Of course Durant could not have waxed eloquent a la Edmund Burke or a Macaulay considering the gravity of the circumstance and paucity of time. But he more than makes up for lost time by sorting out man’s existential dilemma in this short but powerful book.
Durant lays down a few quintessential and primordial questions that confront us during the course of our ephemeral existence on Earth, such as what satisfaction one gets out of life?; what influence religion has had on the meaning of life?; has Science intruded upon our lives to such an extent that it has led to ‘the suicide of the intellect’ (in Durant’s words) etc. Durant poses these queries to more than 100 luminaries of his time and the responses received varies from the queer to the quaint. While the most trenchant of all American critics, the intimidating and indomitable H L Mencken dismisses the question of life by scathingly mentioning that he “goes on working, for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs”, the headstrong George Bernard Shaw’s chooses to respond in a biting fashion with just two lines:
“How the Devil do i know?
Has the question itself any meaning?”
Others such as Jawaharlal Nehuru and M K Gandhi pen contumacious replies that are convoluted and straying away from the issue requiring to be addressed. While all of these responses make for some interesting, witty and thought provoking reading, Durant himself provides his own version of the meaning of life in his concluding chapter. And this is where he has me in a bind. Even while posing the key questions, Durant exudes a sense of peculiar doom. His disappointment, dejection and despair seems to be aimed at the progress made by Science. He unwittingly confesses to being a follower of the rigid societal mores of his time when he says “The Industrial Revolution has destroyed the home, and the discovery of contraceptives is destroying the family, the old, morality and perhaps (through the sterility of the intelligent), the race”. He also takes potshots at astronomers, geologists, historians etc and rues their advances which have transformed man’s thinking from an idyllic vacuum to a teeming repository of knowledge (my inference). What puzzles me as a reader is that if we were to blindly accept the Geocentric theory and happily burn the likes of Giordano Bruno and his ilk at the stakes, ignore Gallileo and Copernicus and go on leading a medieval existence, would this lead to us cracking open the code of life?
Durant prefers to end his discourse in the manner of a Thoreau by conceding “In the end I know how vain and snobbish all advice is, and how hard it is for one human being to understand another, but come and spend an hour with me, and I will show you a path through the woods….” Not a convincing solution to prising out the meaning of life!
However I choose to rely on a gem in the form of a response from Vilhjalmur Stefansson to Durant’s queries:
“If no one has found a meaning for life, neither has anyone demonstrated that life has no meaning. What probably is meaningless is the question as to whether life has a meaning”. This will do just fine for me!
← How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World’s Most Dynamic Region by Joe Studwell
Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era by James Barrat →
crispina kemp on Capitalist Leeches
No Man’s Land – G.M. Ford
It’s Not About You: A Brief Guide to a Meaningful Life – Tom Rath
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Pregnancy outcomes and risk of placental malaria after artemisinin-based and quinine-based treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in pregnancy: a WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis
Makoto Saito1,2,3,
Rashid Mansoor1,2,3,
Kalynn Kennon1,2,3,
Anupkumar R. Anvikar4,
Elizabeth A. Ashley3,5,
Daniel Chandramohan6,
Lauren M. Cohee7,
Umberto D’Alessandro8,
Blaise Genton9,10,11,
Mary Ellen Gilder12,
Elizabeth Juma13,
Linda Kalilani-Phiri14,
Irene Kuepfer6,
Miriam K. Laufer7,
Khin Maung Lwin12,
Steven R. Meshnick15,
Dominic Mosha16,
Atis Muehlenbachs17,
Victor Mwapasa14,
Norah Mwebaza18,
Michael Nambozi19,
Jean-Louis A. Ndiaye20,
François Nosten3,12,
Myaing Nyunt21,
Bernhards Ogutu13,
Sunil Parikh22,
Moo Kho Paw12,
Aung Pyae Phyo12,23,
Mupawjay Pimanpanarak12,
Patrice Piola24,
Marcus J. Rijken12,25,
Kanlaya Sriprawat12,
Harry K. Tagbor26,
Joel Tarning1,2,3,27,
Halidou Tinto28,
Innocent Valéa28,
Neena Valecha4,
Nicholas J. White3,27,
Jacher Wiladphaingern12,
Kasia Stepniewska1,2,3,
Rose McGready3,12 &
Philippe J. Guérin1,2,3
Malaria in pregnancy, including asymptomatic infection, has a detrimental impact on foetal development. Individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis was conducted to compare the association between antimalarial treatments and adverse pregnancy outcomes, including placental malaria, accompanied with the gestational age at diagnosis of uncomplicated falciparum malaria infection.
A systematic review and one-stage IPD meta-analysis of studies assessing the efficacy of artemisinin-based and quinine-based treatments for patent microscopic uncomplicated falciparum malaria infection (hereinafter uncomplicated falciparum malaria) in pregnancy was conducted. The risks of stillbirth (pregnancy loss at ≥ 28.0 weeks of gestation), moderate to late preterm birth (PTB, live birth between 32.0 and < 37.0 weeks), small for gestational age (SGA, birthweight of < 10th percentile), and placental malaria (defined as deposition of malaria pigment in the placenta with or without parasites) after different treatments of uncomplicated falciparum malaria were assessed by mixed-effects logistic regression, using artemether-lumefantrine, the most used antimalarial, as the reference standard. Registration PROSPERO: CRD42018104013.
Of the 22 eligible studies (n = 5015), IPD from16 studies were shared, representing 95.0% (n = 4765) of the women enrolled in literature. Malaria treatment in this pooled analysis mostly occurred in the second (68.4%, 3064/4501) or third trimester (31.6%, 1421/4501), with gestational age confirmed by ultrasound in 91.5% (4120/4503). Quinine (n = 184) and five commonly used artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) were included: artemether-lumefantrine (n = 1087), artesunate-amodiaquine (n = 775), artesunate-mefloquine (n = 965), and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (n = 837). The overall pooled proportion of stillbirth was 1.1% (84/4361), PTB 10.0% (619/4131), SGA 32.3% (1007/3707), and placental malaria 80.1% (2543/3035), and there were no significant differences of considered outcomes by ACT. Higher parasitaemia before treatment was associated with a higher risk of SGA (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.14 per 10-fold increase, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03 to 1.26, p = 0.009) and deposition of malaria pigment in the placenta (aOR 1.67 per 10-fold increase, 95% CI 1.42 to 1.96, p < 0.001).
The risks of stillbirth, PTB, SGA, and placental malaria were not different between the commonly used ACTs. The risk of SGA was high among pregnant women infected with falciparum malaria despite treatment with highly effective drugs. Reduction of malaria-associated adverse birth outcomes requires effective prevention in pregnant women.
Malaria during pregnancy has adverse impacts on the foetus including increased risks of pregnancy loss (i.e. miscarriage or stillbirth) [1, 2], preterm birth (PTB) [3, 4], intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), and small for gestational age (SGA) [3, 5, 6]. PTB is the major reason for neonatal and infant mortality globally, and the highest burden of mortality occurs in low- and middle-income countries, where malaria is endemic [7]. IUGR leads to a higher risk of stillbirth [8] and is associated with increased short-term mortality and morbidity [7]. SGA is a proxy for IUGR, and risk extends beyond infancy as they are associated with a higher risk of metabolic disorders, and possibly mental disorders or cognitive impairment in later adult life [9, 10].
The most widely reported adverse impact of malaria in pregnancy is low birthweight (LBW), commonly defined as birthweight less than 2500 g and used as a proxy for foetal growth [11, 12]. However, LBW does not distinguish between being “born to early” (or PTB) or “born to small” (or IUGR), or both, which are associated with different neonatal mortality and morbidity. For the purpose of summarizing international evidence, LBW is a poor proxy as newborns in Asia are generally smaller than Africa [13], and gestational age distribution can also vary between different regions [14]. A better proxy for IUGR is SGA, defined as < 10th percentile of the standard growth chart, which takes account of sex and gestational age. An advance in the last decade is that an international standard foetal growth chart defining SGA has become available [15] permitting standardized comparison using SGA to summarize the evidence of the impact of malaria on foetal growth.
Placental malaria (i.e. sequestration of malaria parasites in the placenta) is one of the primary pathogenic mechanisms by which malaria during pregnancy can cause adverse effects to the foetus [16, 17]. Many studies have been conducted to assess the relationship between placental malaria and adverse pregnancy outcomes and have confirmed the association [18,19,20]. Placental malaria is a direct consequence of malaria infection and is therefore an efficacy outcome measure after treatment or intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) [21, 22].
Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are highly effective with expected ≥ 95% treatment success (clearance of peripheral parasitaemia) in pregnancy [23, 24]. However, few studies have been powered to specifically explore the impact of different treatments on adverse pregnancy outcomes and placental malaria.
In this study, individual patient data (IPD) from treatment efficacy studies have been pooled to describe the risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes (i.e. indirect consequences) and placental malaria (i.e. a direct consequence) after the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria during pregnancy accompanied with reliable gestational age, mostly estimated by ultrasound, at the times of diagnosis of uncomplicated falciparum malaria infection and delivery. This study aims to compare the risks of stillbirth, PTB, SGA, and placental malaria after different treatments for patent microscopic falciparum malaria (uncomplicated or asymptomatic) mainly in the second and third trimester, using artemether-lumefantrine (AL), the most used ACT, as the reference standard.
Search strategy and inclusion criteria
A systematic review and IPD meta-analysis on the efficacy of artemisinin-based and quinine-based treatments on uncomplicated falciparum malaria in pregnancy was conducted with registration to PROSPERO (CRD42018104013). Briefly, a combination of five components were searched in seven databases (Medline, Embase, Global Health, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, and Literatura Latino Americana em Ciências da Saúde) and two clinical trial registries (International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and ClinicalTrials.gov) on 26 April 2019 without any restrictions on language or publication year: malaria, pregnancy, treatment or names of antimalarial drugs, study design (interventional or observational cohort studies), and outcome types (efficacy). Studies were included if Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia was confirmed by microscopy before treatment, the length of active follow-up was ≥ 28 days, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to classify recurrence of falciparum malaria, gestational age at detection of parasitaemia and delivery was verified, and pregnant women were followed up until delivery for assessing pregnancy outcomes. Investigators were invited to join this project and share the IPD with the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN), which were then standardized for the IPD meta-analysis as described in the published protocol [25].
Definition of outcomes
Miscarriage was defined as foetal death before 28.0 weeks of gestation, and stillbirth was defined as foetal death before birth resulting in delivery of a newborn with no signs of life at ≥ 28.0 weeks of gestation (regardless of birthweight) [26, 27]. PTB was defined as birth of a live infant before 37.0 weeks of gestation [28]: extremely PTB (< 28.0 weeks), very PTB (≥ 28.0 to < 32.0 weeks), and moderate to late PTB (≥ 32.0 to < 37.0 weeks) [29]. SGA was defined as birthweight lower than the 10th percentile [30, 31] of the INTERGROWTH-21st international standard growth chart [15].
Placental histopathology was categorized according to the malaria parasites and malaria pigment as follows [32]: no infection (both parasites and pigment are negative), acute infection (only parasites are present), past infection (only pigment present), and chronic infection (both parasites and pigment are present). The presence of malaria pigment (i.e. both past and chronic infections) was analysed in order to assess the effect of malaria infection during pregnancy prior to labour as the presence of parasites in the placenta is more closely associated with acute parasitaemia at delivery than parasitaemia earlier in pregnancy [16].
Inclusion criteria at the individual level
Only singleton births without congenital abnormality were analysed, except for calculating the proportion of congenital abnormality, which included all pregnant women with delivery information. The proportion of miscarriage was calculated excluding malaria episodes at ≥ 28.0 weeks of gestation. PTB included only live singleton births and excluded pregnant women who had the first recorded malaria at ≥ 28.0 weeks of gestation (for extremely PTB), ≥ 32.0 (for very PTB), or ≥ 37.0 (for moderate to late PTB). Only live singleton births delivered < 43.0 weeks of gestation were included for assessing SGA. Newborns whose birthweight was assessed within 3 days were included in the birthweight analyses.
All statistical analyses were performed using R (version 3.2.5, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria) or Stata MP 15.1 (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA). One-stage IPD meta-analysis was conducted: univariable and multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to model risk of (i) stillbirth, (ii) PTB, (iii) SGA, and (iv) placental malaria. Study site was fitted as a random intercept in these models. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed by intraclass correlation. Multiple imputation (MI) was used for handling missing values of covariates to test the effect of exclusion of patients with missing data on our main conclusions. For the key analysis, both MI (presented as the main model) and complete case analyses are presented. MI was conducted in Stata MP 15.1 with 20 imputations using mi impute mvn command to impute missing values of HIV status (~ 18% missing) and height (~ 14% missing). As recommended when MI is used, the Wald test was used for model building [33, 34] by backward elimination using p < 0.05 as the cut-off (see MI procedure in Additional file 1). Treatment was always included in the model regardless of its significance using AL, which is the most used ACT, as the reference. Comparisons of each pair of drugs were not conducted to avoid multiple testing. HIV status was always adjusted as a confounder except in analysis of placental malaria [35]. For placental malaria, malaria transmission intensity was included in the multivariable model as an a priori confounder, and interaction between parity and malaria transmission was assessed because pregnancy-specific (parity-dependent) immunity can be different depending on malaria transmission intensity. If the number of overall observations (or outcomes) was small, multivariable analysis was not attempted and only univariable mixed-effects logistic regression (by treatment) or pooled proportions with 95% confidence interval (CI) taking account for study site (pooled by DerSimonian and Laird’s random effects after Freeman-Tukey double arcsine transformation) were presented [36]. Raw numbers were presented for references, but these fractions were not necessarily the same as the shown proportions, which were pooled by random effects. Risk of bias assessment is available in Additional file 2. Two post hoc sensitivity analyses (one regarding gestational age and the other stratified by geographical region) were conducted (Additional file 3).
As the majority of the studies included second (≥ 14.0 to < 28.0 weeks) or third trimester (≥ 28.0 weeks) women, the gestational period between ≥ 14.0 and < 37.0 weeks was divided into four periods that had a similar number of women, and women included for a malaria episode before 14.0 weeks and after 37.0 weeks constituted a fifth and a sixth group, respectively. Gravidity (G) and previous history of pregnancy loss were jointly categorized (G1, G2 with no loss, G ≥ 3 with no loss, G2 with 1 loss, G ≥ 3 with 1 loss, and G ≥ 3 with ≥ 2 losses) and always adjusted in the multivariable analyses as a confounder for assessing stillbirth, PTB, and SGA [8, 35]. Previous history of pregnancy loss was estimated by (enrolement gravidity – parity − 1), with a lower limit of 0. Age was categorized as < 20, 20–24, 25–29, 30–34, and ≥ 35 years [37].
Study inclusion
Of the 28 identified studies in the literature with PCR-corrected efficacy, 22 studies assessed pregnancy outcomes, resulting in a total of 5015 women enrolled in those trials. Data of 4765 women from 16 studies, representing 95.0% of the total target, were shared to the WWARN repository and pooled for this IPD meta-analysis. Delivery information was available for 4503 women (3607 in Africa and 896 in Asia) and missing for 5.5% (262/4765) including 256 lost to follow-up and six maternal deaths. Of the 4501 women with estimated gestational age, 68.1% (3064/4501) had documented falciparum malaria in the second trimester and 31.6% (1421/4501) in the third trimester. Only 16 malaria episodes (0.3%, 16/4501) were reported in the first trimester. After excluding twin pregnancies (1.4%, 63/4503), 4440 women with singleton deliveries were included (Fig. 1).
Flowchart of eligible studies included in the analysis
Ultrasound was used to estimate gestational age in eight studies (Additional Table 1), comprising 91.5% (4120/4503) of the women. One study did not have information on gestational age. Another study assessed EGA by ultrasound but reported EGA only in weeks (details are available in Additional file 3).
Histopathology of the placenta was assessed in 3128 pregnant women in six studies with PCR-corrected efficacy in the literature, and IPD of 3033 women (97.0%) in four studies were shared and analysed.
Congenital abnormality
The overall proportion of congenital abnormality pooled by DerSimonian and Laird’s random effects was 0.4% (58/4440, 95% CI 0.1 to 0.9, I2 39%). However, congenital abnormalities were only reported in live born infants (n = 4335). As they are a known contributor to stillbirths, congenital abnormalities were likely to be underestimated. There was no difference among different treatments (p = 0.68). No further analyses were conducted because of the small number of cases. The 58 pregnancies with congenital abnormality were excluded from the analyses that follow.
The overall pooled proportion of miscarriage was 0.0% (21/2932, 95% CI 0.0 to 0.1, I2 0%, Additional Figure 1) among 2932 pregnant women who had malaria < 28.0 weeks of gestation (mean 21.4, standard deviation 3.5 weeks) and were followed up to the end of pregnancy. There was no difference among different treatments (p = 0.60). No further analyses were conducted because of the small number of cases.
The overall pooled proportion of stillbirth was 1.1% (84/4361, 95% CI 0.6 to 1.7, I2 29%, Additional Figure 2), among pregnant women who were followed up until delivery, excluding those who had a miscarriage. Pregnant women for whom there was no information on EGA (n = 27) were excluded from the subsequent analysis on stillbirth.
Of the 4334 women, nine antimalarial treatments were used and included in the analyses on stillbirth: AL (n = 1087), artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ, n = 775), artesunate-mefloquine (ASMQ, n = 965), dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP, n = 837), artesunate-sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (ASSP, n = 154), artesunate monotherapy (AS, n = 193), artesunate-atovaquone-proguanil (AAP, n = 81), quinine monotherapy (n = 184), and quinine with clindamycin (QC, n = 58) (Table 1).
Table 1 Baseline characteristics of pregnant women assessed for stillbirth
The median age was 22 (interquartile range 19–27), and gravidity was 2 (interquartile range 1–4). Malaria episodes in the included studies were mostly in the second (68.0%, 2949/4334) or third trimester (31.6%, 1371/4334). The majority of the episodes (99.3%, 4302/4334) were P. falciparum mono-infections (Table 1). A small proportion (35/3019 assessed) were HIV positive, and these women had not received antiretroviral treatment during pregnancy. Only eight women received cotrimoxazole prophylaxis. HIV results were unavailable for 643 women enrolled in nine studies conducted on the Thailand-Myanmar border, where the seroprevalence of HIV is < 0.5% [38]. They were thus regarded as HIV negative in the following analyses.
In both the univariable and multivariable analyses, different antimalarial treatments were not associated with different risk of stillbirth using AL as the reference (Table 2). In the multivariable analysis adjusted for HIV status and gravidity combined with a previous history of pregnancy loss, the risk of stillbirth was higher in women with HIV infection (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 4.35, 95% CI 1.15 to 16.52, p = 0.03) and lower in multigravid women who had no previous pregnancy loss (aOR 0.51, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.97, p = 0.04) compared with primigravidae. Higher haemoglobin on day 0 of the malaria episode was associated with a higher risk of stillbirth in the multiple imputation model, but not in the univariable and complete case multivariable model.
Table 2 Univariable and multivariable logistic regression on the risk of stillbirth
The overall pooled proportions of extremely PTB (< 28.0 weeks), very PTB (≥ 28.0 to < 32.0 weeks), and moderate to late PTB (≥ 32.0 to < 37.0 weeks) were 0.0% (8/2488, 95% CI 0.0 to 0.0, I2 0%), 0.4% (47/3131, 95% CI 0.1 to 0.9, I2 11%), and 10.0% (619/4131, 95% CI 7.0 to 13.4, I2 88%, Additional Figure 3), respectively. Since the number of outcomes of extremely PTB and very PTB was small even when pooled, they were not analysed further. The risk of moderate to late PTB among different treatments used in five different pregnancy periods was investigated.
The same nine antimalarial treatments were included in this analysis: AL (n = 1035), ASAQ (n = 747), ASMQ (n = 926), DP (n = 804), ASSP (n = 147), AS (n = 174), AAP (n = 76), quinine (n = 171), and QC (n = 51). Baseline characteristics (Additional Table 2) were similar to that of pregnant women included in the analysis of stillbirth. The gestational period of pregnancy at the time of malaria episode was divided into < 14.0 weeks (n = 38), 14.0–19.9 weeks (n = 863), 20.0–23.9 weeks (n = 1023), 24.0–27.9 weeks (n = 917), and 28.0–36.9 weeks (n = 1290).
In both the univariable and multivariable analyses, different antimalarial treatments were not associated with moderate to late PTB in comparison with AL (Table 3). Malaria between 14.0 and < 20.0 weeks was associated with the lowest risk of PTB and was used as the reference. Malaria in the first trimester was associated with a higher risk of PTB (aOR 3.92, 95% CI 1.38 to 11.13, p = 0.01). For each Isuccessive gestational period between 14.0 and < 37.0 weeks, the risk of PTB increased. Taller maternal height (aOR 0.98 per cm, 95% CI 0.96 to 0.99, p = 0.01) and higher maternal BMI (aOR 0.94 per kg/m2, 95% CI 0.90 to 0.97, p < 0.001) were linearly associated with a lower risk of PTB. Teenagers and primigravidae were independently associated with a higher risk of PTB. Compared with primigravidae, the risk of PTB was lower in G2 women with no previous pregnancy loss (aOR 0.65, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.89, p = 0.007) and G ≥ 3 women with no loss (aOR 0.67, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.96, p = 0.03) or one loss (aOR 0.66, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.99, p = 0.05). Compared with women < 20 years old, the risk of PTB was lower in 20–24 year olds (aOR 0.67, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.87, p = 0.003), but not different in 25 and older. Compared with moderate malaria transmission areas, the risk of PTB was lower in low transmission areas but not different in high transmission areas. When only studies in sub-Saharan Africa were included (sensitivity analysis), the risk of PTB was higher after ASSP than AL (aOR 4.90, 95% CI 1.23 to 19.48, p = 0.02) (Additional file 3).
Table 3 Univariable and multivariable logistic regression on the risk of moderate-to-late preterm birth
Small for gestational age
Among 4277 live singleton births without congenital abnormality, 3707 births were considered in the analysis after excluding 570 births for which SGA was not assessed (248 without birthweight, 253 birthweight measured > 3 days after delivery, one without information on sex of the baby, 41 born after 43.0 weeks, 27 without EGA at delivery). The overall pooled proportion of SGA was 32.3% (1007/3707, 95% CI 26.7 to 38.2, I2 90%, Additional Figure 4).
Antimalarial treatments included were AL (n = 973), ASAQ (n = 700), ASMQ (n = 820), DP (n = 716), ASSP (n = 129), AS (n = 154), AAP (n = 55), quinine (n = 119), and QC (n = 41). Baseline characteristics (Additional Table 3) were similar to pregnant women who were included in the previous analysis of stillbirth and PTB.
In both univariable and multivariable analyses, different antimalarial treatments were not statistically associated with SGA when compared with AL (Table 4). For each successive gestational period between 14.0 and < 37.0 weeks, the risk of SGA decreased, with a significantly lower risk of SGA in women with malaria treated between 28.0 and < 37.0 weeks of gestation. Taller maternal height (aOR 0.95 per cm, 95% CI 0.93 to 0.96, p < 0.001) and higher maternal BMI (aOR 0.92 per kg/m2, 95% CI 0.89 to 0.95, p < 0.001) were associated with a lower risk of SGA. Higher baseline parasitaemia (aOR 1.14 per 10-fold increase, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.26, p = 0.009) and co-infection of other malaria species (aOR 2.54, 95% CI 1.07 to 5.99, p = 0.03) were associated with a higher risk of SGA. Compared with primigravidae, the risk of SGA was lower in G2 women with no previous pregnancy loss (aOR 0.62, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.78, p < 0.001) and G ≥ 3 women with no loss (aOR 0.48, 95% CI 0.39 to 0.60, p < 0.001) or one loss (aOR 0.54, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.72, p < 0.001).
Table 4 Univariable and multivariable logistic regression on the risk of small for gestational age
Placental malaria
Among 3033 women in four studies that assessed placental histopathology, 441 (pooled prevalence 17.6%, 95% CI 12.1 to 23.8, I2 94%) women were categorized as no infection, 49 (1.6%, 95% CI 0.8 to 2.5, I2 60%) acute infection, 1816 (57.5%, 95% CI 53.6 to 61.5, I2 77%) past infection, and 727 (21.6%, 95% CI 15.9 to 27.8, I2 93%) chronic infection. Overall pooled positivity of malaria pigment was 80.1% (2543/3033, 95% CI 73.5 to 85.9, I2 84%). The risk factors for deposition of malaria pigment (i.e. past and chronic infection) were investigated in 2987 women.
Six antimalarial treatments were included in this analysis: AL (n = 893), ASAQ (n = 649), ASMQ (n = 668), DP (n = 658), AS (n = 85), and quinine (n = 80). Baseline characteristics (Additional Table 4) were similar to pregnant women who were included in the previous analyses.
In both the univariable and multivariable analyses, the risk of malaria pigment in the placenta did not differ between AL and the other treatments (Table 5). In the multivariable analysis, shorter interval from malaria episode to delivery (aOR 0.97 per week, 95% CI 0.95 to 0.99, p = 0.002), lower age (aOR 0.93 per year, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.95, p < 0.001), higher body temperature (aOR 1.22 per °C, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.49, p = 0.05), lower haemoglobin level (aOR 0.72 per g/dL, 95% CI 0.65 to 0.78, p < 0.001), higher baseline parasitaemia (aOR 1.67 per 10-fold increase, 95% CI 1.42 to 1.96, p < 0.001), and gametocytaemia before treatment (aOR 3.62, 95% CI 1.58 to 8.26, p = 0.002) were associated with a higher risk of the presence of malaria pigment in the placenta. When the effect of parity was analysed by different malaria transmission intensities, the adjusted risk of placental malaria in pregnant women with ≥ 2 parities was lower than nulliparous women in moderate (aOR 0.52, 95% CI 0.34 to 0.80, p = 0.003) and high (aOR 0.50, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.98, p = 0.04) transmission areas, but not in low transmission areas (aOR 1.26, 95% CI 0.62 to 2.59, p = 0.53) (Additional Table 5).
Table 5 Univariable and multivariable logistic regression on the risk of malaria pigment deposition in the placenta
This IPD meta-analysis demonstrated that among the four commonly used ACTs, namely AL, ASAQ, ASMQ, and DP, the adjusted risks of stillbirth, PTB, SGA, and past or chronic placental malaria (deposition of malaria pigment in the placenta) were not different following treatment for patent microscopic falciparum malaria (uncomplicated or asymptomatic) mainly in the second or third trimester of pregnancy. The results for the other treatments (ASSP, AS, AAP, quinine, and QC) need careful interpretation because of the small number of women included in the analyses, but generally, they were associated with similar risks to AL.
The very low proportion of pregnancy loss from miscarriage observed in this pooled analysis is a consequence of the natural history of miscarriage, which decreases considerably after the end of the first trimester; as the mean gestation at enrolment was > 24.0 weeks, most participants were already beyond the high risk period for miscarriage. Therefore, the result of this analysis does not necessarily reflect the overall impact of malaria and antimalarial treatment on miscarriage, and likely underestimates it.
The low proportion of stillbirth (1.7%) in women treated with highly effective ACTs is notable compared to a previous systematic review and meta-analysis by Moore et al., reporting up to 1 in 5 stillbirths attributed to P. falciparum malaria infection in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. The included studies in this IPD meta-analysis screened and detected actively, and treated women for malaria (and anaemia), which is a higher level of care than what is usually provided, likely improving outcomes since early detection, effective treatment, and active follow-up for at least several weeks are beneficial. The previous report by Moore et al. [1] was derived predominantly from cross-sectional surveys, retrospective analysis, or cohort studies, before widespread uptake of early diagnosis, ACT treatment during pregnancy, and more reliable EGA measurement.
In this pooled analysis, the prevalence of SGA was higher than generalized regional estimates reported in the literature [39]. This higher prevalence of SGA in this pooled analysis of pregnant women treated for falciparum malaria was likely due to the malaria infection itself [3] despite a low proportion of febrile cases on admission. Furthermore, higher parasite density at baseline was associated with higher risk of SGA even after adjusting for gravidity/parity. This highlights the need for highly effective malaria preventive measures to lower the risk of SGA. In this study, the risk of SGA was higher with infection in the early second trimester and possibly in the late third trimester as was reported previously [3, 40, 41]. This is compatible with gestational physiology: development of the placenta is affected by malaria in early pregnancy [41, 42], and foetal weight gain increases in the final weeks before delivery [15].
The prevalence of PTB in this pooled analysis was similar to the general background population [43], suggesting that highly effective antimalarial treatment alongside improved acute care can lower the immediate risk of PTB. The rate of febrile symptomatic infections in this pooled analysis was low which maybe another reason for relatively low prevalence of PTB. In contrast to SGA, in the second and third trimester, the risk of PTB from malaria infection increases towards term as was shown in an observational cohort study comparing women with or without malaria infection [3]. Although there were only a few cases of first trimester malaria infection included in this analysis, the current study suggests that treated malaria infections in the first trimester are associated with an increased risk of PTB, possibly mediated by impaired placental development [44].
The prevalence of pigmentation in the placenta in this pooled analysis was higher than the prevalence reported in the general population in malaria-endemic areas [45], which is explained by the fact that all included women had peripheral malaria detected and treated during pregnancy. The pooled proportion of pigment deposition was 80.1%, a reminder that placental malaria is a proxy for malaria in pregnancy. Placental malaria is reported to be associated with higher risks of LBW and PTB [16, 18,19,20, 46]. PTB is more likely to be caused by an active infection at delivery (i.e. acute and chronic infection of the placenta), whereas previous infection (i.e. past and chronic infection) is associated with a higher risk of LBW or IUGR [16, 19, 20]. The risk of placental malaria is, in turn, affected by gravidity, age, number of malaria infections, and parasite density [16, 47], which was confirmed in this IPD meta-analysis (with the exception of frequency of parasitaemia, which could not be assessed). Additionally, a higher risk of placental malaria was observed in women with higher body temperature before treatment, which can be a surrogate for the severity of the infection; inflammatory cytokines causing fever (e.g. TNF-α) are reported to be associated with a higher parasite burden in the placenta [16, 48]. The presence of gametocytes at baseline and lower haemoglobin can reflect a more extended period of infection before treatment [49, 50], although haemoglobin in pregnancy can be affected by gestational age or provision of supplements at antenatal care. A longer interval between the treated malaria episode and delivery was associated with a lower risk of placental malaria, which has also been shown in previous studies [46, 51,52,53]. These results may support an earlier finding from a low transmission area that malaria pigment in the placenta can be cleared over time after prompt and effective treatment or that early detection and treatment prevents pigment depositing in the placenta [53,54,55,56].
There are several strengths of this meta-analysis. Primarily, use of IPD, collected in prospective trials in which gestational age was predominantly assessed by ultrasound, allowed analysis of the largest number of pregnant women ever to be assembled to assess the impact of different treatments by the gestation age of falciparum malaria infection in pregnancy. With no registered trials currently recruiting pregnant women for assessment of efficacy of antimalarial treatment in pregnancy [23], it is unlikely that a larger dataset will be available in the foreseeable future. Gestational age was strictly defined and assessed with ultrasound for > 90% of women included. Individual studies used different cut-offs or definitions [11]; thus, aggregated data meta-analysis was difficult. With IPD, standardized definitions for both exposures and outcomes were applied. SGA was assessed using the same standard growth chart, and the use of SGA, rather than LBW or birthweight, is preferable as it is a more reliable indicator of foetal growth.
Some limitations of this study should be considered. Though confounders for each study were assessed (e.g. age, height, BMI, parity or gravidity, HIV status) and adjusted in our IPD meta-analyses, it is possible that some potential confounders remained unadjusted. For example, the number of malaria episodes during pregnancy was reported to be cumulatively associated with an increased risk of SGA [3, 5] or placental malaria [46]. The use of insecticide-treated bed nets and the history of malaria and antimalarial use including IPTp before and after the study period were not always available (or not systematically collected). As IPTp is associated with a lower risk of LBW [57], it is possible that we have underestimated the impact of malaria on the pregnancy outcomes by missing some unreported IPTp intervention [11]. However, these two preventive measures can be regarded as an unmeasured study-level information and was statistically taken into account by mixed-effects model. Most of the women included in this pooled analysis were not febrile and had relatively low parasitaemia, and this might be used to explain the lack of a difference between highly efficacious antimalarial treatments. This characteristic is, however, more likely to underestimate the adverse impact by malaria. The high risk of SGA after treated malaria in this pooled analysis is profound and supports a policy of prevention but also promotes the use of early detection by screening and treatment of parasitaemia regardless of symptoms for pregnancy. Previous systematic reviews concluded that malaria in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of stillbirth, LBW, and PTB compared with those without malaria [1, 4]. The current study, including only malaria treatment episodes, compared the impact of different treatments, and we have additionally compared them with the most recent regional estimates. Although it was not possible to assess the risks of outcomes without treatment, with what we now know about the harmful effects of malaria, such a study would clearly be unethical. Similarly, the first documented diagnosis of malaria does not exclude previous malaria episodes: included women may have had malaria before study enrolment, and late study enrolment might mean antenatal care attendance started in later gestation.
Multiple factors, including obstetric history, morbidity such as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, sub-optimal gestational weight gain, and perinatal depression, and social factors, including employment, smoking, marital status, and literacy, can all be associated with pregnancy outcomes [43, 58,59,60,61,62], but this information was not available in most studies [11]. The previous history of pregnancy loss (stillbirth and miscarriage) was only roughly estimated by parity and gravidity in this meta-analysis. BMI was assessed using body weight at enrolment rather than pre-pregnancy weight. For comparability of outcomes to previous studies, infants with congenital abnormality and twins were excluded from our analyses. This exclusion would underestimate the true burden of stillbirth, PTB, and SGA and may reduce the effect size of comparisons but not the direction of associations. The number of twins and congenital abnormalities was small and did not differ by antimalarial treatment. As less than 1% of the pregnant women included in this analysis were enrolled and treated in the first trimester, the risk of congenital abnormality due to antimalarial drugs is expected to be very low in the current study. Congenital abnormalities in stillborns were presumably underreported, but autopsy or chromosomal investigation was not mentioned in any of the study sites [63, 64]. Due to the availability of information, placental pigmentation was analysed only qualitatively, while a previous study revealed AL reduced the level of pigmentation more than quinine [53]. Quantitative analysis can be a better way to assess the impact of different treatments, particularly regarding the clearance (rather than prevalence) of placental malaria. Antimalarial resistance can affect the response to treatment in terms of efficacy which impacts pregnancy outcomes, and needs to be addressed in the future, considering in particular the expansion of artemisinin resistance.
Although the use of artemisinin derivatives in the first trimester seems to be safe [2, 65], the small number of pregnant women available in this analysis is not sufficient to compare the safety profile of the different ACTs in the first trimester. The risk of PTB following malaria infection in the first trimester can be higher than infection in later gestational period, indicating that prevention measures should start early in pregnancy. Evidence on the efficacy and safety of ACT treatment in the first trimester, either as treatment or prevention, is thus needed.
This IPD meta-analysis of over 4500 women infected with falciparum malaria from both Asia and sub-Saharan Africa demonstrated that the risks of late miscarriage and stillbirth were low, and late miscarriage, stillbirth, PTB, SGA, and placental malaria were not different between the most commonly used ACTs (i.e. AL, ASAQ, ASMQ, and DP) in the second and third trimesters. Accurate assessment of EGA, malaria episodes beyond the current study framework (28–63 days), and thorough reporting of congenital abnormality, including abnormality in stillbirth, should be considered in future studies. Early diagnosis of parasitaemia, regardless of symptoms, and treatment with highly effective ACTs may result in improved pregnancy outcomes, but highly effective preventive measures are required to reduce the high rate of SGA.
The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are available from the WWARN data repository (http://www.wwarn.org/working-together/sharing-data/accessing-data) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data.
AAP:
Artesunate with atovaquone-proguanil
ACTs:
Artemisinin-based combination therapies
aOR:
Adjusted odds ratio
Artesunate monotherapy
ASAQ:
Artesunate-amodiaquine
ASMQ:
Artesunate-mefloquine
ASSP:
Artesunate-sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine
DP:
Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine
EGA:
Estimated gestational age
Gravidity
HIV:
IPD:
Individual patient data
IPTp:
Intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy
IUGR:
LBW:
Multiple imputation
PTB:
Quinine monotherapy
QC:
Quinine with clindamycin
SD:
SGA:
SP:
Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine
WWARN:
WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network
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The authors thank all the pregnant women who participated in the original studies and all the people who worked on the original clinical studies, and the Malaria Atlas Project for transmission estimates.
The WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the ExxonMobil Foundation. MS is supported by the University of Oxford Clarendon Fund. The funders did not participate in the study development, writing of the paper, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN), Oxford, UK
Makoto Saito, Rashid Mansoor, Kalynn Kennon, Joel Tarning, Kasia Stepniewska & Philippe J. Guérin
Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO), Oxford, UK
Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Makoto Saito, Rashid Mansoor, Kalynn Kennon, Elizabeth A. Ashley, François Nosten, Joel Tarning, Nicholas J. White, Kasia Stepniewska, Rose McGready & Philippe J. Guérin
ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, India
Anupkumar R. Anvikar & Neena Valecha
Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit, Vientiane, Lao PDR
Elizabeth A. Ashley
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Daniel Chandramohan & Irene Kuepfer
Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Lauren M. Cohee & Miriam K. Laufer
Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia
Umberto D’Alessandro
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
Blaise Genton
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
University Center of General Medicine and Public Health, Lausanne, Switzerland
Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Mae Sot, Tak, Thailand
Mary Ellen Gilder, Khin Maung Lwin, François Nosten, Moo Kho Paw, Aung Pyae Phyo, Mupawjay Pimanpanarak, Marcus J. Rijken, Kanlaya Sriprawat, Jacher Wiladphaingern & Rose McGready
Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
Elizabeth Juma & Bernhards Ogutu
Department of Medicine, University of Malawi College of Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi
Linda Kalilani-Phiri & Victor Mwapasa
Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Steven R. Meshnick
Ifakara Health Institute, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Dominic Mosha
Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Atis Muehlenbachs
Infectious Disease Research Collaboration, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
Norah Mwebaza
Department of Clinical Sciences, Tropical Diseases Research Centre, Ndola, Zambia
Michael Nambozi
Department of Parasitology, Universite Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal
Jean-Louis A. Ndiaye
Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Myaing Nyunt
Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
Sunil Parikh
Myanmar-Oxford Clinical Research Unit, Yangon, Myanmar
Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Patrice Piola
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Woman and Baby, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Marcus J. Rijken
School of Medicine, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana
Harry K. Tagbor
Mahidol–Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Joel Tarning & Nicholas J. White
Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Nanoro, Burkina Faso
Halidou Tinto & Innocent Valéa
Makoto Saito
Rashid Mansoor
Anupkumar R. Anvikar
Daniel Chandramohan
Lauren M. Cohee
Mary Ellen Gilder
Elizabeth Juma
Linda Kalilani-Phiri
Irene Kuepfer
Miriam K. Laufer
Khin Maung Lwin
Victor Mwapasa
Bernhards Ogutu
Moo Kho Paw
Mupawjay Pimanpanarak
Kanlaya Sriprawat
Halidou Tinto
Innocent Valéa
Neena Valecha
Nicholas J. White
Jacher Wiladphaingern
Philippe J. Guérin
MS, RMa, RMc, KSt, and PJG conceived the idea, conducted the statistical analyses, interpreted the results, and drafted the manuscript. MS and MEG conducted the systematic literature review. KK did the data management. ARA,EAA, DC, LC, UDA, BG, EJ, LK-P, IK, MKL, KML, SRM, DM, AM, VM, NM, MN, J-LAN, FN, MN, BO, SP, MKP, APP, MP, PP, MJR, KSr, HKT, JT, HT, IV, NV, NJW, and JW conceived and undertook the individual studies and enrolled the patients. All authors revised the drafts and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Makoto Saito or Philippe J. Guérin.
Ethics approval for the IPD meta-analysis of anonymized secondary data was waived by the Oxford Tropical Research Ethics Committee. Obtaining consent to participate is not required as this study consists of anonymized secondary data.
Methods of multiple imputation.
Risk of bias assessment.
Sensitivity analysis.
Additional file 4: Additional Figure 1.
Forest plot of the proportion of miscarriage for each study site.
Forest plot of the proportion of stillbirth for each study site.
Forest plot of the proportion of moderate-to-late preterm birth for each study site.
Forest plot of the proportion of small-for-gestational-age for each study site.
Additional file 8: Additional Table 1.
Summary of the studies included in the pooled analyses.
Baseline characteristics of pregnant women assessed for moderate-to-late preterm birth.
Additional file 10: Additional Table 3.
Baseline characteristics of pregnant women assessed for small-for-gestational-age.
Baseline characteristics of pregnant women assessed for deposition of malaria pigment in the placenta.
Multivariable logistic regression on the risk of deposition of malaria pigment in the placenta by parity in different malaria transmission area.
Saito, M., Mansoor, R., Kennon, K. et al. Pregnancy outcomes and risk of placental malaria after artemisinin-based and quinine-based treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in pregnancy: a WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis. BMC Med 18, 138 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-020-01592-z
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-020-01592-z
Falciparum malaria
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Transverse process strut and titanium mesh cages in the stability reconstruction of thoracic single segment tuberculosis: a retrospective single-center cohort study
Weiyang Zhong1,
Xinjie Liang2,
Ke Tang1,
Xiaoji Luo1 &
Zhengxue Quan1
A retrospective and comparative study of transverse process strut (TPS, Group A) compared with titanium mesh cages (TMCs, Group B) in the reconstruction of thoracic stability through the one-stage posterior approach to treat single-segment tuberculosis.
Sixty patients from January 2013 to December 2016 were analyzed and divided into two groups. The following data of clinical and radiographical assessments were observed preoperatively, postoperatively and during follow-up (FU).
The patients were followed up for an average of 50.20 ± 25.10 months (Group A) and 48.70 ± 27.30 months(Group B) without significant difference. No significant differences were found in the mean of operation time in minutes, blood loss, hospitalization time, drainage and follow-up duration between the groups. The VAS, ODI, ESR and CRP were reduced significantly at the final FU compared with the preoperation values and there was no significance between the groups. Neurological deficits were improved in all patients at the final FU without significant difference between the groups(P > 0.05). The bony fusion times were 5.85 ± 1.82 months and 8.4 ± 5.1 months with significant difference(P < 0.05). Comparing with the preoperative values, the kyphosis angle significantly improved, but at the final FU the significant difference was found between the groups (P < 0.05). The loss of the angular correction and the fused segmental height in group A was lower than that in group B (P < 0.05).
TPS had a better osseous fusion rate, effective maintenance of fused segment stability which is a good bone graft for surgical management of single-segment thoracic spinal tuberculosis.
Human tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic and ancient disease characterized by weight loss and it is a cause of death and most cases of tuberculosis occur in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), TB causes 1.81 million deaths in Asia each year and China has 78% new cases every year [1,2,3,4]. In recent years, the emergence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and drug resistance has greatly increased the incidence of tuberculosis and made it a bigger threat, arousing considerable attention worldwide [5, 6]. The spine is involved in 50% of osteoarticular tuberculosis cases, spinal involvement is especially dangerous, as it can result in destruction of the vertebral body, spinal deformity and/or paraplegia. When the affected spine becomes unstable, the resulting deformity creates a risk of spinal cord compression. The goals of tuberculosis treatment are to eradicate the infection provide spinal stability and save the patient’s life. Supportive care, chemotherapy and surgery are consistently effective in the management of spinal tuberculosis [7, 8].
When severe bone destruction, kyphosis, or nerve deficit occurs, surgical management still plays a significant role in curing spine tuberculosis. After debridement and decompression, many interbody bone grafts are used for to reconstruct spinal stability, such as the iliac crest which is the gold standard or fibula grafts and titanium mesh cages (TMCs) [9, 10]. Autologous bone or allografts can achieve good bony fusion, however, they have some problems that limit their application. A number of studies have reported that TMCs shows significant potential for reliable spinal reconstruction and it offers excellent bone fusion, adequate sagittal profile maintenance and a low implant-related complications rate [11,12,13,14,15]. In our study, the transverse process strut (TPS) was used as a bone graft to reconstruct the stability of the spine. The purpose of the research was to investigate the clinical effect of TPS compared with TMCs for the surgical treatment of single-segment thoracic spinal tuberculosis.
This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. Two treatment plans were involved in the routine clinical care. When communicating with patients before surgery, the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of management were fully introduced, so the patients could choose the right treatment for themselves. All surgical procedures were performed by the same senior surgeon.
From January 2013 to December 2016, 60 patients with single-segment thoracic spinal tuberculosis were treated and reviewed retrospectively in our department. In group A, 30 patients received TPS for the reconstruction and in group B, 30 patients underwent TMCs. Inclusion criteria: adult single-segment thoracic spinal tuberculosis who were indicated for surgery: increasing kyphosis, neurological deficits, bone destruction affecting the stability, the bone damage of the infected vertebral body did not exceed 1/2 the vertebral height, one-stage posterior approach for internal fixation, and reconstruction. Exclusion criteria: active tuberculosis of the lung and extrapulmonary organs, multiple-segment thoracic vertebral tuberculosis, cancer.
Chemotherapy with an HREZ standard chemotherapy regimen comprising isoniazid(H)(5-10 mg/kg/day), rifampicin(R)(10 mg/kg/day), ethambutol(E)(15 mg/kg/day), and pyrazinamide(Z)(25 mg/kg/day) was administered 3-4 weeks before the operation. Surgery was performed when the patient’s erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) and temperature recovered to normal or nearly normal. If the patient’s neurological condition deteriorated rapidly, an urgent salvage operation was performed.
Surgical technique and measurement
In group A, the patient was placed in prone position after the administration of conventional tracheal anaesthesia. The posterior elements, including the lamina, facet joint and transverse process, were exposed with a midline incision. Pedicle screws were fixed on the basis of imaging and C-arm X-rays to ensure their accuracy. After decompression and thorough debridement, the adjacent transverse process was cut off and trimmed to round cortical bone and double-sided cancellous bone (Fig. 1). Depending on the characteristics of the space after thorough debridement, one or more TPS was implanted in the anterior defect and the device was properly locked. Topical streptomycin 1.0 g and isoniazid 0.2 g mixed gel were applied. After surgery, negative pressure drainage was used to remove specimens and conduct bacterial cultures and pathology examinations. In group B, the surgical procedure was similar to that described for group A. The only difference was that the trimmed TMCs (filled with removed cancellous bone) was implanted into the bone defect and fully connected to the upper and lower vertebral end-plates.
Photographs of one, two or three trimmed transverse process that were implanted
The drainage tube was removed when less 50 ml/day was drained from the surgical site. The patients received oral HREZ chemotherapy after surgery for 12 months, followed by 6-month regimens of HRE chemotherapy (12HREZ/12-18HRE). Rehabilitation training and nutritional support began the day after surgery. Ambulation with a brace was allowed the third day after surgery. All patients were evaluated clinically and radiologically at one week and 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery and once a year thereafter.
For all patients, the following data were observed preoperatively, postoperatively, and during follow-up (FU): (1) the operation time, surgical blood loss, hospitalization time, drainage, bone fusion time (bone graft fusion was assessed using the radiologic criteria of Bridwell et al. [15], 2) kyphosis angle; neurological function (American Spinal Injury Association, ASIA); (4) Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI); (5) erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP). The fused segmental height (the distance between the midpoint of the superior endplate of the upper vertebral body and the midpoint of the inferior endplate of the lower vertebral body)) was measured (Fig. 2). The height loss was calculated with the following formula: (Height of 1 week post-operation) − (Height of subsequent follow-up).
Presentation of the measurement of the fused segmental height (a) and of the kyphosis angle (b)
According to the Cobb method, the kyphosis angle was defined as the angle formed between the superior endplate of the upper vertebral body and the inferior endplate of the lower vertebral body (Fig. 2). Loss of angular correction was calculated with the following formula: (Angle of 1 week post-operation) − (Angle of subsequent follow-up). The subsidence was defined as a decrease in the fused segmental height during the follow-up period greater than 3 mm compared with that on day 1. All radiographic data and measurements in this study were reviewed by one senior spine surgeon and one senior radiologist.
All statistic data were analysed with SPSS version 22.0 statistical soft ware (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Quantitative data are presented as means and standard deviations. Repeated measures t-test was used for the statistical analysis of differences in mean values, and the chi-squared test was used for categorical data. Statistical significance was defined as a p value < 0.05.
The patients were followed up for an average of 50.20 ± 25.10 months (group A) and 48.70 ± 27.30 months (group B) without significant difference. No significant differences were found in the mean of operation time in minutes, blood loss, hospitalization time,drainage and follow-up duration between the groups(P > 0.05) (Table 1). The VAS, ODI, ESR and CRP were reduced significantly at the final FU compared with the preoperation values and there was no significant significance between the groups. Neurological deficits were notably improved in all patients at the final FU without significant difference between the groups(P > 0.05) (Table 2).
Table 1 Comparison of the baseline and postoperative data
Table 2 Clinical and radiographic outcomes in each group
Spinal TB was completely cured and all patients achieved bone fusion. The bone fusion time was 5.85 ± 1.82 months in group A and 8.4 ± 5.1 months in group B and the difference was significant. Comparing with the preoperative values, the kyphosis angle significantly improved, but at the final FU, the significant difference was found between the groups (P < 0.05). The loss of angular correction and fused segmental height in group A was lower than that in group B (P < 0.05) (Figs. 3, 4, and 5).
An 18-year-old man with thoracic spinal tuberculosis (T6-7) underwentsingle-segment posterior debridement and decompression combined with internal fixation. (a) Pretreatment MRI showing destruction of the T6-7 vertebrae and concomitant compression of the spinal cord. (b,c) Immediate postoperative and 6-months radiographs demonstrating posterior debridement, bone graft and internal fixation. (d,e,f) At the 36-month follow-up, plain Xray and CT showed maintenance of the correction and solid fusion
A 40-year-old man with thoracic spinal tuberculosis (T10-11) underwent posterior debridement and decompression combined with internal fixation. (a) Pretreatment MRI showing destruction of the T10-11 vertebrae and concomitant compression of the spinal cord. (b,c,d) Immediate postoperative and 6-month radiographs and 6-month CT demonstrating posterior debridement, bone graft and internal fixation. (e, f) At the 22-month follow-up, plain X-ray and CT showed maintenance of the correction and solid fusion
A 42-year-old man with thoracic spinal tuberculosis (T11–12) underwent posterior debridement and decompression combined with internal fixation. a Pre-treatment MRI showing the destruction of the T11–12 vertebrae and concomitant compression of the spinal cord. b Immediate postoperative radiographs demonstrating posterior debridement, bone graft and internal fixation. c, d, e At the 24-month follow-up, plain X-ray and CT showed maintenance of the correction and solid fusion, good clinical effect and subsidence of the titanium mesh cage
No complications, including bone graft failure, pleural effusion and wound infection, were recorded, with the exception of cerebrospinal fluid leakage (one case in group B), fistula (one case in group A), water electrolyte imbalance (three cases in group A, five cases in group B), superficial infection (one case in group B) and mild intestinal obstruction (one case in group A, one case in group B). Implant subsidence occurred in five cases (one case in group A, four cases in group B) and the difference between groups was not significant.
The TB incidence is rising worldwide with 9 million new cases and 2 million deaths per year caused by the increased incidence of AIDS and resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs [1–6]. Spinal TB remains a common spinal infection. Due to vertebral body collapse or severe deformity, surgical options may be considered appealing in conjunction with the more common conservative treatment options, such as anti-tuberculosis drugs, which are vital. Formal, appropriate and long-term anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy, strict bed rest, and supportive treatment are essential therapies [7,8,9,10,11,12]. Despite the availability of effective conservative treatments, the goals of current surgical management for spinal TB include debridement of the infected vertebrae, decompression of the spinal cord, correction of deformities, stabilization of the spine and further protection of the spinal cord. Radical debridement and corrective and stabilizing spinal surgery is most effective in cases of active, progressive kyphosis and nonrigid kyphosis [13,14,15]. The anterior surgery has several disadvantages such as significant blood loss, a longer operation time, and more severe complications and it’s more challenging comparing with posterior surgery [16, 17]. Hence, the therapeutic strategy for this disease has been modified in recent years to become more accurate and individualized.
After debridement and decompression, many types of interbody bone grafts may be used to reconstruct the anterior and middle column. Autogenous bone graft, such as an iliac crest or fibula graft, can achieve good bony fusion, however, they can lead to complications at the donor site, such as pain, blood loss, hematoma and unhealed wounds. Allografts have been used to avoid donor site complications, but they are associate with decreased arthrodesis rates and increased graft collapse rates. Recently, a number of studies have reported that TMCs showed significant potential for reliable spinal reconstruction, offering excellent bone fusion, adequate sagittal profile maintenance and a low rate of implant-related complications. In our study, TMCs were filled with cancellous bone from excised vertebral lamina and articular processes, which allowed their design to be individualized according to different bone defects [18, 19]. Furthermore, donor site complications did not occur. In addition, their implantation in the defect provided an adequate bony interface to assure spinal stability. The current clinical outcomes showed that solid bony fusion, a satisfactory clinical effect and improved neurological function were obtained in the single-segment titanium mesh group and the transverse process strut group. Although some cases subsided, spinal alignment and stability were still maintained [20].
Cui et al. reported that the thoracic transverse process was longer, thicker, higher and larger than the transverse processes of vertebrae at other spinal levels and could be used as a bone graft. Maria E. K.et al. and other studies demonstrated the quantitative three-dimensional anatomy of the thoracic vertebrae and the discs. Given these anatomical features, the transverse process satisfies the needs of grafts if the bone damage of the infected vertebral body did not exceed 1/2 the vertebral height [21, 22]. The use of the transverse process as a bone graft strut can avoid donor site complications. The transverse process, as an autogenous bone, can be trimmed to the specifications of the bone defect,which not only reduces the difficulty of implantation but also ensures the strength of bone grafting and creates a large interface between the bone graft and the end plate, assuring good fusion. Compared with TMCs [23,24,25,26,27,28], TPS has superior biomechanical features and multiple transverse bone grafts can be used if the defect requires them. In our study, we used TPS combined with internal fixation; all patients showed satisfactory fusion, and the postoperative kyphosis angle was significantly corrected, indicating that TPS can effectively support the spine. Compared to TMCs, TPS can achieve good clinical outcomes and it presented a significantly earlier bony fusion time. As a bone implant, the strength and fusion properties of TPS can effectively reconstruct and maintain spinal stability clinically. Furthermore, the use of TPS can reduce the hospital costs.
The results of this study showed that when used as a bone graft reconstruct the stability of single-segment thoracic tuberculosis, TPS has a better rate of osseous fusion than TMCs and can provide effective restoration and maintenance of fused segment height and alignment and a lower rate of complications. TPS is an ideal reconstructed bone graft for thoracic single segmental stability. However, we declare that there were a few limitations in the study. First, the study didn’t consider the intra and inter observer differences which was associated with bias. Second, the retrospective nature of the small-sample study may be associated with bias. Third, if the bone damage of the infected vertebral body did exceed 1/2 the vertebral height, TPS was not long and strong enough to stabilize which could be prone to subside, or even result in kyphosis and the TMCs or iliac bone graft could be more suitable. Fourth, we need to perform the biomechanical tests between the groups to know the difference of the strength, which could confirm that TPS meets the mechanics needs. In the future, the prospective, randomized studies with long-term follow-up periods are needed.
The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the data is confidential patient data but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
TB:
TPS:
Transverse process strut
TMCs:
Titanium mesh cages
AIDS:
American Spinal Injury Association
ODI:
Oswestry Disability Index
ESR:
CRP:
FU:
Moon MS. Managing tuberculosis of spine. Med Progr (Hong Kong). 2004;31:593–602.
China Tuberculosis Control Collaboration. The effect of tuberculosis control in China. Lancet. 2004;364:417–22.
Moon MS. Tuberculosis of spine: contemporary thoughts on current issues and perspective views. Curr Orthop. 2007;21:364–79.
McLain RF, Isada C. Spinal tuberculosis deserves a place on the radar screen. Cleve Clin J Med. 2004;71:537–49.
Keel M, Ahmad S, Hoppe S. Most influential literature in spinal tuberculosis: a global disease without global evidence. Global. Spine J. 2018;8(1):84–94.
Global tuberculosis control: key findings from the December 2009 WHO report. Wkly Epidemiol Rec, 2010;85,69–80.
Ekinci S, Agilli M, Ekinci GH, Ersen O. Treatment of thoracic or lumbar spinal tuberculosis complicated by resultant listhesis at the involved segment. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2015;128:131–2.
Rasjido LV, Vargas MJ, Fajre LE, Luciardi HL. Pott disease in thoracic spine. Medicina (B Aires),2014,74,391(2014).
Verdú-López F, Vanaclocha-Vanaclocha V, Gozalbes-Esterelles L, Sánchez-Pardo M. Minimally invasive spine surgery in spinal infections. J Neurosurg Sci. 2014;58:45–56.
Shi J, Tang X, Xu Y, et al. Single-stage internal fixation for thoracolumbar spinal tuberculosis using 4 different surgical approaches. J Spinal Disord Tech. 2014;27:E247–57.
Wang X, Pang X, Wu P, Luo C, Shen X. One-stage anterior debridement, bone grafting and posterior instrumentation vs. single posterior debridement, bone grafting, and instrumentation for the treatment of thoracic and lumbar spinal tuberculosis. Eur Spine J. 2014;23:830–7.
Javed G, Laghari AA, Ahmed SI, et al. Development of Criteria Highly Suggestive of Spinal Tuberculosis. World Neurosurg. 2018;S1878–8750(18)31103–3.
Shi S, Ying X, Zheng Q, et al. Application of cortical bone trajectory screws in elderly patients with lumbar spinal tuberculosis. World Neurosurg. 2018;S1878–8750(18):31122–7.
Thakur K, Das M, Dooley KE, Gupta A. The global neurological burden of tuberculosis. Semin Neurol. 2018;38(2):226–37.
Brantigan JW, Steffee AD. A carbon fiber implant to aid interbody lumbar fusion. Two-year clinical results in the first 26 patients. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1993;18(14):2106–7.
Huang Y, Lin J, Chen X, et al. Correction to a posterior versus anterior debridement in combination with bone graft and internal fixation for lumbar and thoracic tuberculosis. J Orthop Surg Res. 2015;13(1):103.
Dunn RN, Ben HM. Spinal tuberculosis. Bone Joint J. 2018;100-B(4):425–31.
Zhang H, Zeng K, Yin X, et al. Debridement, internal fixation, and reconstruction using titanium mesh for the surgical treatment of thoracic and lumbar spinal tuberculosis via a posterior-only approach: a 4-year follow-up of 28 patients. J Orthop Surg Res. 2015;10:150.
Gao Y, Ou Y, Deng Q, et al. Comparison between titanium mesh and autogenous iliac bone graft to restore vertebral height through posterior approach for the treatment of thoracic and lumbar spinal tuberculosis. PLoS One. 2017;12(4):e0175567.
Shen X, Liu H, Wang G, et al. The role of single-stage posterior debridement, interbody fusion with titanium mesh cages and short-segment instrumentation in thoracic and lumbar spinal tuberculosis. J Neurosurg Sci. 2017;61(5):473–80.
Panjabi MM, Takata K, Goel V, et al. Thoracic human vertebrae . Quantitative three-dimensional anatomy. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1991;16(8):888–901.
Cui X, Zhang Z, Ding Z. Morphometric study of transverse process of thoracic and lum barvertebra and its significance. Chin J Clin Anat. 2015;23(5):474–6.
Kunkel ME1, Herkommer A, Reinehr M, Böckers TM, Wilke HJ. Morphometric analysis of the relationships between intervertebral disc and vertebral body heights: an anatomical and radiographic study of the human thoracic spine. J Anat:2011;219(3),375–387.
Tan SH, Teo EC, Chua HC. Quantitative three-dimensional anatomy of cervical,thoracic and lumbar vertebrae of Chinese Singaporeans. Eur Spine. 2004;13:137–46.
Fletcher JG, Stringer MD, Briggs CA, et al. CT morphometry of adult thoracic intervertebral discs. Eur Spine J. 2015;24(10):2321–9.
Tanapipatsiri S, Chan DPK. Safety of thoracic transverse process fixation: an anatomic study. Spinal Disord. 1996;9(4):294–8.
Jain AK, Jaggi KR, Bhayana H, Saha R. Drug-resistant spinal tuberculosis. Indian J Orthop. 2018;52(2):100–7.
Özdoğan S, Yaltırık CK, Düzkalır AH, et al. Spinal tuberculosis mimicking failed Back surgery. Am J Case Rep. 2018;19:249–53.
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
Weiyang Zhong, Ke Tang, Xiaoji Luo & Zhengxue Quan
Department of Pain Management, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
Xinjie Liang
Weiyang Zhong
Ke Tang
Xiaoji Luo
Zhengxue Quan
ZWY wrote and modified the manuscript and did the data analysis. LXJ, TK participated in its design and coordination. LXJ, QZX helped in data collecting and coordination. LXJ and TK helped to do the data statistics. QZX conceived the study and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Zhengxue Quan.
The study was approved by the the Institutional Review Board of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. The written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Zhong, W., Liang, X., Tang, K. et al. Transverse process strut and titanium mesh cages in the stability reconstruction of thoracic single segment tuberculosis: a retrospective single-center cohort study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 21, 172 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-020-03196-3
Transverse process strut, titanium mesh cages
Thoracic spinal tuberculosis
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Acts and Resolves transcription
Item — Volume: Acts and Resolves transcription, 1647-1684
Identifier: C#00125
Rhode Island State Archives
Single volume contains a transcription of the acts passed by the General Assembly during the colonial period. Subjects vary.
Rhode Island. General Assembly (1643-) (Organization)
0.64 Cubic Feet
legislation (legal concepts) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
RG 001. General Assembly
RG 001/RG 001.02. Colony of Rhode Island (General Courts, Courts of Commissioners & Courts of Trial), 1646-1776
Code for undetermined script
Volume: Acts and Resolves transcription, 1647-1684 (Text)
Part of the Rhode Island State Archives Repository
http://sos.ri.gov/divisions/state-archives
Providence RI 02903 USA
statearchives@sos.ri.gov
Acts and Resolves transcription, C#00125, Volume: Acts and Resolves transcription, 1647-1684. Rhode Island State Archives.
Acts and Resolves transcription, C#00125, Volume: Acts and Resolves transcription, 1647-1684. Rhode Island State Archives. https://catalog.sos.ri.gov/repositories/2/resources/1477 Accessed January 20, 2021.
Anticipated arrival date (YYYY-MM-DD)
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Oxford Covid vaccine 'safe and effective' study shows
The Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is safe and effective, giving good protection, researchers have confirmed in The Lancet journal.
Most in the study were younger than 55, but the results so far indicate it does work well in older people too.
The data also suggest it can reduce spread of Covid, as well as protect against illness and death.
The paper, assessed by independent scientists, sets out full results from advanced trials of over 20,000 people.
Regulators, who will have seen the same data, are considering the jab for emergency use.
But there are still important questions about what dose to give, as well as who it will protect.
When the interim trial results were made public in a press release about a fortnight ago, the researchers reported three efficacy levels for the vaccine - an overall effectiveness of 70%, a lower one of 62% and a high of 90%.
That's because different doses of the vaccine were used in one part of the trial. Some volunteers were given shots that were half the strength than originally planned.
Yet that "wrong" dose turned out to be a winner - giving 90% protection - while two standard doses gave 62%.
The Lancet report reveals 1,367 people - out of many thousands in the trial - received the half dose followed by a full dose, which gave them 90% protection against getting ill with Covid-19.
The relatively small numbers means it is hard to draw firm conclusions.
None of that group were over the age of 55 though - and experts know it is older people who are most at risk of severe Covid illness.
In terms of safety, there was one severe adverse event potentially related to the vaccine and another one - a high temperature - that is still being investigated.
Both these participants are recovering and are still in the trial.
The study also measured protection against asymptomatic infection by asking volunteers to do regular swabs to check if they had Covid without feeling unwell.
More of these cases were seen in the group that did not receive the vaccine.
Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer for AstraZeneca said: "The results show that the vaccine is effective against Covid-19, with in particular no severe infections and no hospitalisations in the vaccine group, as well as safe and well tolerated.
"We have begun submitting data to regulatory authorities around the world for early approval and our global supply chains are up and running, ready to quickly begin delivering hundreds of millions of doses on a global scale at no profit."
Dr Charlie Weller, Head of Vaccines at Wellcome, said: "Today marks another key milestone in the Covid-19 vaccine journey.
"Although we await the trial completion and full data, it is highly encouraging to see the data behind the interim results announced last month, including an analysis of the different dosing regimens. This suggests that this vaccine could prevent asymptomatic disease."
AstraZeneca executive vice-president Sir Mene Pangalos said adults of all ages needed to be vaccinated to make a "dent" in the pandemic.
"I realise the people that are most severely impacted by disease are the over-65s, over-75s, over-85s, but the reality is we need to actually have vaccines that immunise everyone from adolescence to the oldest adults to really dent the pandemic around the world," he said.
Meanwhile, the UK has started a mass vaccination campaign with another Covid jab made by Pfizer/BioNTech.
On Tuesday Margaret Keenan, a 91-year-old grandmother, became the first person in the world to get the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme..
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine could also play a major role in fighting the pandemic if it is approved soon.
It is cheaper than some of the other Covid vaccines and easier to store and distribute.
The UK government has pre-ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, which uses a harmless virus altered to look a lot more like the virus that causes Covid-19.
AstraZeneca says it will make three billion doses for the world next year.
Laura Foster explains why the Oxford vaccine matters
#COVID-19 #vaccine #Pfizer #BioNTech #AstraZeneca #Covid
Every once in a while, a new technology, an old problem, and a big idea turn into an innovation.
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Fintech execs shatter 3 technological and cultural myths
·Head of Yahoo Finance UK
Fintech is one of the world’s fastest growing industries in the world. With the global industry set to be worth over $305bn (£239.2bn) by 2023, the digital evolution for the way people bank is well underway.
FinTECH Talents, the ultimate global fintech festival which is happening in London November 11-13, is set to gather the 4,500 biggest movers and shakers in the industry in one venue.
Ahead of the festival, Yahoo Finance UK, which is a media partner for the event, decided to take a look at the top three technological, conventional, and cultural myths that three major executives shattered in a previous interview with FinTECH Talents.
Globe with connections, city lights and The Sun. Photo: Getty
Florin Boldescu, CDO, BRD – Groupe Société Générale:
“That education, age or income is something you need for easily absorbing technology. If you look at the massive success of Mobile Payments in Asia or Africa… it is something hard to imagine a decade ago or less.”
Fintech has enabled greater financial inclusion across the globe. From taking traditional banking routes into a new era, consumers in developing economies to make payments without cash or a bank account — the industry is revolutionising the way we think about payments.
Check out one of the many sessions at the conference on this subject, such as the Fireside Chat “Digital transformation in the real world” with AOE CEO & Co-Founder and the CEO, Commerz Real.
Security system of padlock in network space. Photo: Getty
Patrick Mang, head of innovation for global markets, HSBC:
“Google does no evil.”
While the statement may seem focused on one company, data privacy concerns are prevalent across the whole industry.
As the world becomes more digitised and technology is evolving, in a way, faster than than people are wholly adopting it, the issue over making sure safeguards are in place and what companies are doing with personal data has been at the forefront for many.
Check out one of the many sessions at the conference, such as “Fintech is a force for good” with execs from HSBC, Lloyds, and Fidelity on 11 November as well as “Generations: Myths and realities” with Revolut, Barclays, and HSBC on 12 November.
Melanie Palmer, CME, Nucoro:
“To my joy, I think the myth about personal finance being complicated is being shattered. It was a world of jargon, suits and intimidation; and whilst we still have a long way to go, I get the feeling that finance in general is finally starting to shrink away from this. In its place, we’re seeing more innovation, more focus on customers and greater accessibility.
A core reason to why fintechs, namely challenger banks, are supping up customers is due to simplifying the banking experience and making it easy to do everything from paying to getting a loan, to managing your finances.
However, while swathes of consumers have repeatedly said they prefer and understand challenger banks’ services and products, the industry is still challenged against consumer inertia — getting more people to take the plunge and move their accounts onto new platforms.
Yahoo Finance UK is proud to be a media partner for FinTECH Talents — the ultimate global fintech festival in London 11-13 November 2019. There are 3,000 festival-goers + 1,500 innovators representing over 400 different financial services institutions + Rockstar speakers & steering committee members + Over 50 hours of content sessions + Game changing tech companies + The talent of tomorrow + Craft beer and live music sessions.
Average London house prices also reached a record high of £514,000 and property values in the north-east of England have now surpassed a 2007 peak.
Paloma Faith to be subject of BBC documentary about work and motherhood
The singer is pregnant with her second child.
17 ways with whisky: from Burns Night drams and hot toddies to cranachan and ice-cream
17 ways with whisky: from Burns Night drams and hot toddies to cranachan and ice-creamCelebrate the life and work of Robert Burns on 25 January with a traditional scotch. But there’s more you can do with whisky than drinking
Gigi Hadid Has Been Wearing This $11 Exercise-Friendly Face Mask on Repeat
Jennifer Lopez and Chrissy Teigen are also fans
Democrats to retake Senate as Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are set to be sworn in
Democrats will officially take control of the Senate Wednesday when two new members, Georgia’s Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, are sworn in.
What is the most important step Joe Biden can immediately take to address COVID?
A long road lies ahead of Joe Biden as he decides how to address the COVID pandemic.
CNW Group
GoGold Announces NPV of US$295M for Los Ricos South PEA
Shares Outstanding: 265,369,384 Trading Symbols: TSX: GGD OTCQX: GLGDF HALIFAX, NS, Jan. 20, 2021 /CNW/ - GoGold Resources Inc.
Chakana Copper Announces C$10,000,000 Private Placement Gold Fields to Follow Its Participation Right
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2021) - Chakana Copper Corp. (TSXV: PERU) (OTCQB: CHKKF) (FSE: 1ZX) (the "Company" or "Chakana"), is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement of 20,000,000 common shares of the Company at a price of C$0.50 per common share for gross proceeds of up to C$10 million (the "Private Placement"). The Company is reserving the right to increase the Private Placement to issue a total of up ...
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Calepino
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Komagoma Art Print
Poster illustrated by Isabelle Boinot
Art print created for the limited edition "KOMAGOMA". The design of the poster was made by the french artist Isabelle Boinot and then printed in Nantes, France. The poster is printed on the front and back and is delivered folded inserted into a kraft cover printed in letterpress. Dimensions : 58 x 38 cm (23'x15').
Edition created by : Isabelle Boinot
After studying applied arts and graphic arts, Isabelle Boinot began broadcasting her work through many self-publications, which allowed her to obtain the recognition and to be noticed by art directors and gallery owners.
In 2004, she founded with her friends designers and self-publishers the drawing collective called “Frédéric Magazine”, now presenting the works only on internet and whose main activity is dedicated exclusively to the practice of drawing.
Her work, full of gentle absurdity and scrupulous attention to detail, is made up of drawings, collages, photographs, embroidery and videos. She exhibits regularly in France and abroad.
For five years she carried many projects in Japan, through exhibitions, workshops and collaborations. As an author and illustrator, she worked for the press and publishing. She has published comic recipe books as well as notebooks and travel guides.
Isabelle Boinot and Calepino collaborate within the Editions Éphémères for a limited edition of 150 copies called KOMAGOMA, a Japanese onomatopoeia, which could be translated as “Caring for … to the smallest detail.”
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© Calepino 2019. Site by Studio Birdsall.
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The Maltese directive makes answering the ‘dubia’ urgent
When highly placed Italian prelates declare that “only a blind man cannot see” that confusion is the ecclesiastical order of the day, and that such confusion has as its fundamental source Pope Francis’ Amoris laetitia, matters have reached crisis level. Catholics who have not followed the intense three-year debate over (among other things) admitting to holy Communion divorced-and-remarried Catholics who are living as married persons should stop reading this post and go get caught up on current events. But for those sufficiently aware of the doctrinal and disciplinary issues at stake I offer some observations in the wake of this weekend’s developments.
The bishops of Malta, by declaring that divorced-and-remarried Catholics who are living as if they were married “cannot be precluded from participating in … the Eucharist” have done grave violence to the unbroken and unanimous ecclesiastical tradition barring such Catholics from reception of holy Communion without—and let me stress this, without—doing violence to the actual text of Francis’ Amoris laetitia. That, folks, is the central problem.
Amoris does not—again, let me repeat, does not—declare ministers of holy Communion bound to give the sacrament to divorced-and-remarried Catholics living as if married. Francis’ phrasing in several key passages of Amoris is (I have argued) malleable enough to allow bishops such as Chaput and Sample to reiterate the traditional Eucharistic discipline or, as the Buenos Aires bishops did, simply to pass ambiguous criteria down to local pastors to sort as best they can. But precisely because key passages of Amoris are also flexible enough to allow bishops to do as the Maltese have done and require Church ministers to distribute the Eucharist to Catholics who engage in “public and permanent adultery” (CCC 2384)—not to mention conferring absolution on penitents who express no purpose of amendment in regard to such conduct—all this, without doing violence to the actual text of Amoris, one cannot but agree with Cdl. Caffarra and others that this hitherto unimaginable sacramental disunity is rooted directly in Amoris laetitia.
This ability of Amoris simultaneously to sustain orthodox, non-committal, and heterodox interpretations in matters of the gravest ecclesiastical import is exactly why the Four Cardinal’s dubia so urgently need answering—if not by Francis himself (and no one can force Francis’ hand) then at least by Francis’ right-hand man in matters of faith and morals, Cdl Muller of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to whom the dubia was also (few seem to have noticed) addressed.
Of course, the stakes involved in the dubia jumped dramatically over the weekend, not simply by the Maltese bishops making plain what sort of sacramental abuses Amoris could tolerate within its terms, but by the decision, taken at who-knows-what level, to publish the Maltese document in L’Ossevatore Romano, that “instrument for spreading the teachings of the successor of Peter.” Obviously the pope is not the editor of L’OR and it is possible that the decision to publish the Maltese document took Francis unawares. But insofar as L’OR is unquestionably the pope’s newspaper people will be watching to see whether, directly or indirectly, there appears some ‘distancing’ between Francis and the Maltese approach to sacraments for divorced-and-remarried Catholics.
I pray there does appear such papal distancing; I pray that the Maltese bishops repent of their failure to “exercise vigilance so that abuses do not creep into ecclesiastical discipline especially regarding …the celebration of the sacraments” (Canon 392 § 2); and I pray that the teachings of Christ and his Church penetrate our minds and hearts more deeply.
This post now available in Spanish, here.
Fixing things the wrong way (17 Jan 2017), here.
Discussing law with people who don’t know what it actually says
The Maltese disaster
« Discussing law with people who don’t know what it actually says
The Maltese disaster »
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BubbleStream
Christina Tetreault
a book bubble about
Protecting The Billionaire
From the outside, it appears as though billionaire Allison Sherbrooke lives a charmed life. She comes from a loving family and possesses the means to do anything she desires, not to mention her budding new romance with the sexy Marine she danced with at her brother Trent’s wedding. Appearances can be deceiving though. All is not perfect in Allison’s world. Since her move to Virginia, she’s had a stalker in the shadows. Marine Corps Captain Rocco “Rock” Raimono has spent his life defending and protecting others. Now he must protect the woman he’s falling in love with from an obsessed stalker who wants Allison for himself. For Rock, failure is not an option.
USA Today Best Selling author, Christina Tetreault started writing at the age of 10 on her grandmother's manual typewriter and never stopped. Born and raised in Lincoln, Rhode Island, she has lived in four of the six New England states since getting married in 2001. Today, she lives in New Hampshire with her husband, three daughters and two dogs. When she's not driving her daughters around to their various activities or chasing around the dogs, she is working on a story or reading a romance novel. Currently, she has three series out, The Sherbrookes of Newport, Love on The North Shore and Elite Force Security. You can visit her website www.christinatetreault.com or follow her on Facebook to learn more about her characters and to track her progress on current writing projects.
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Author Insight
At the fundraiser
Here we get another glimpse of Rock's thoughts regarding Allison.
He watched Allison walk toward the First Lady’s table. His date for the evening was the President and First Lady’s niece. Talk about a friggin’ head scratcher for you.
“You should ask her out for dinner or something,” his sister whispered, interrupting his thorough visual inspection of Allison’s ass. “You haven’t stopped staring at her all night.”
If his sister had caught him staring, he wouldn’t deny it. “Not happening.”
Stopping near her aunt, Allison pulled out a chair between the First Lady and another man he didn’t recognize. After giving her aunt a kiss and hug, she did the same thing to the man on her right. Lucky SOB.
“That’s only AJ. He’s Elizabeth’s nephew from England,” Addison said, her voice still low as she patted his hand.
His sister referred to the First Lady of The United States as if she were talking about a neighbor down the street. “Thanks for the family tree lesson.”
“I’m serious. You should ask Allison out sometime. I think you’d have fun together.”
The man his sister called AJ said something and Allison’s head fell back as she laughed, and he pictured himself kissing all the pale skin exposed by her low-cut dress. He’d touched her arm earlier tonight, so he already knew how soft her skin was. Now he’d give almost anything to know how it tasted against his lips.
“Already told ya. Not happening.”
“When was the last time you went on a date?”
Addie could switch tactics all she wanted, it wouldn’t change his mind. A woman like Allison Sherbrooke didn’t date men like him. “Last month.”
“I didn’t ask when you last slept with a woman. How long has it been since you went out with someone you’d consider being in a real relationship with. You know, the kind you take to meet Mom and Dad.”
His sister knew him too well. Someday, he wanted what sister had; he just hadn’t had much luck finding it. Instead he found women who wanted to change him into some nine-to-five, suit-wearing chump who got manicures. Or worse. He got involved with Corey, the first and only woman he’d thought might be the one, at least until he returned from one of his deployments. Evidently, no sooner had his boots touched down in Afghanistan and she’d started sleeping around. Of course she’d had an excuse. She’d claimed she’d been bored and missed him. She’d argued that none of those men had meant anything. He said arrivederci, as well as a few other curses, and never looked back. That had been almost two years ago. Since then, he’d taken finding the one off the table and focused on other things.
“Just because I find her sexy doesn’t mean what your talking about could ever exist between us. Did you forget she calls POTUS, Uncle Warren?”
“So does Trent.”
He hated when his sister was right.
Addie poked him in the arm. “Don’t even think about saying that’s different.”
His baby sister was getting quick. “It is.”
Across the room, Allison gave the First Lady another hug before she stood. After saying something to the other people seated, she turned and walked in his direction, the movement of her hips and ass a red flag drawing the attention of every male present.
“Think about it. I’ve seen her looking at you tonight. She’d say yes if you asked her.”
It panged him to do it, but Rock looked away from Allison and at his sister instead. “Let. It. Go.”
Like a good annoyed little sister, Addie rolled her eyes and sighed. “Poor Trent. He looks miserable over there. I should go and save him.”
His brother-in-law looked as though he was about to face a firing squad as he spoke with an older gentleman. “Looks like he just got reinforcements.” He watched a couple join Trent.
“That’s Trent’s cousin Sara and her finance Christopher. They were at the wedding.”
He’d recognized the woman. After all, she was the President’s youngest daughter. Not to mention, there was no mistaking her for a Sherbrooke, yet he couldn’t honestly say whether or not he’d spoken with her back in January. Other than Allison, all the Sherbrookes he’d met that night had blended into one fuzzy memory.
Rock stored the information and went back to a more enjoyable activity, watching Allison walk back, envious of the damn dress she wore and the fact it got to cling to her body the way he’d dreamed about doing.
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The 2021 Ford Bronco Is Officially Getting A V6 Turbo
by Aaron Brzozowski Off-Road / Comments
Worried a four-pot just ain't gonna cut it? Worry no more.
Mere days before the hotly anticipated new 2021 Ford Bronco is set to be unveiled, we've learned one last juicy bit of information: its powertrain. The cat was just let out of the bag in a recent YouTube video from The Bronco Nation, in which we hear from Ford Performance Off-Road Racing Engineer Josh Sharpe and Ford Performance Motorsports Engineer Alex Gehrke as they discuss the Ford Bronco R off-road racing program announced last November.
About a minute-and-a-half in, Gehrke, speaking on the subject of production relevance, says that while Ford could have dropped a big trophy truck motor in the Bronco R, "that's not what's going to be in [the production] Bronco... [So] right now, we're running the two-seven EcoBoost."
In its F-150 spec, Ford's twin-turbocharged 2.7L EcoBoost V6 produces 325 horsepower and a meaty 400 lb-ft of torque, and while we'd had plenty of reason to suspect that it would land in Ford's forthcoming off-road SUV, this is our first official confirmation.
Unveiling the Bronco last November, Ford Performance Off-Road Racing Supervisor Brian Novak dropped a mighty big hint when he said that "even the twin turbos of the EcoBoost engine are representative of what the production Bronco will offer."
Gehrke goes on to say the Bronco R is also fitted with Ford's ten-speed 10R80 automatic transmission - the very same unit that shifts the new Ford Ranger, the 2020 Ford Explorer, the Mustang, and even the F-150 Raptor. Suffice it to say: it can handle plenty more torque than the Bronco's 2.7L will throw at it.
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Of course, we don't suspect the 2.7L EcoBoost V6 will be the only engine option for the all-new 2021 Ford Bronco; Ford's 2.3L EcoBoost four-cylinder is also expected to make an appearance. That only makes sense, given that the turbocharged four-pot already powers the Ranger, which shares its platform with Ford's new Bronco.
We'll know more when Ford officially reveals the Bronco to the world on Monday, July 13, but for now, anyone concerned that Ford's 2.3L EcoBoost might not have been enough for the born-again off-road legend can rest easy knowing there's a V6 in the plans, as well.
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Tags: #Ford #Engine #Off-Road #Video
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The next generation of advanced medicine is taking root at Atrium Health.
Join the Physician & APP team at Atrium Health
Physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) at Atrium Health are establishing the foundation for a new and exciting chapter in medicine. Strategic combinations between Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health, and Wake Forest School of Medicine, among others, enhances Atrium Health’s position as a destination for patients and world-class clinicians alike. Together, we are exploring the expansive possibilities of medicine through training, medical discovery and healing for all within an inclusive environment that welcomes all who care.
We are collaborating on new technologies, treatments, research and life-changing breakthroughs in medicine that will shape the future of health. Join us and discover all the ways you can grow at Atrium Health
Ready to search for an open position in your specialty area and preferred location? See current openings
Want to stay in-the-know about new opportunities that match your specialty and interests? Join the Physician and APP Talent Network
About Practicing at Atrium Health
Millions of patients. Thousands of minds. Hundreds of locations. One world-class team working together to improve health, elevate hope and advance healing – for all.
At Atrium Health, our vision is to be the first and best choice for care – not just in the Carolinas, but for the whole country. Getting there takes more than an investment in facilities and infrastructure; it requires an investment in people. We are committed to providing the tools, resources and support necessary to allow our committed and caring physicians and advanced practice providers to thrive in their practices, careers and lives. When you join Atrium Health, you will be a valued teammate and a respected contributor welcomed into an inclusive culture that values your ideas, experience and vision. We know that by working together in the hospitals, in the clinic, in the OR, in the classroom, and at the patient’s bedside, there are no limits to what we can achieve. The most advanced minds in medicine are working together at Atrium Health to advance healing, improve patient care, mold the future of medicine through resident and fellowship training, and set a new standard for advanced medicine and health equity.
Life in the Carolinas combines the best of southern charm, worldly cosmopolitan flair and unrivaled natural splendor with a low cost of living and high quality of life. Whether you yearn for majestic mountain views, the vibrant energy of world-class cities, or the coastal communities lined with sandy beaches along the shore, you can find what you’re looking for in the Carolinas.
With temperate weather year-round, recreational enthusiasts have more sunny days to get out and enjoy the selection of legendary golf courses, thousands of miles of hiking and biking trails, outdoor adventures at the U.S. National Whitewater Center, and exploration in our state parks. Sports fans can enjoy the excitement of the Carolina Panthers (NFL), Charlotte Hornets (NBA), Charlotte Checkers (NHL affiliate), Charlotte Knights (MiLB) and NASCAR racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Here, you can immerse yourself in local and worldly arts and culture with award-winning symphonies, history and art museums, theatre and local fairs. And foodies can explore a diverse culinary scene that includes James Beard finalist restaurants, global cuisine, thriving gastropubs and craft breweries, southern comfort food and, of course, some of the best BBQ in the country.
Just one visit here and you will see why so many cities and communities in the Atrium Health footprint regularly rank amongst U.S. News & World Report's Best Places to Live in the U.S.—including a top 10 ranking in 2020-2021 for Charlotte, NC.
Quality of Practice
With Atrium Health’s strategic combination with Wake Forest Baptist Health, we are establishing a “Silicon Valley” for healthcare that spans from the greater Winston-Salem, NC metro region down to the bustling urban center of Charlotte, NC and in communities between – creating a healthcare hub that will be a preferred destination for healthcare professionals.
The size, scope and capabilities of Atrium Health make us one of the largest and most accomplished healthcare systems in the entire country. Our healthcare system blends the best parts of large integrated tertiary medicine, advanced specialty care, community-focused hospitals and clinics with the best attributes of academic medicine into a regional network that provides physician and advanced practice providers with opportunities in any medical specialty and in any kind of clinical setting you could want.
To ensure Atrium Health maintains its position as a Best Place to Care, we work hard to optimize the experience of being a physician or APP. We provide opportunities for physicians/APPs to connect with one another to share ideas, offer support, and catalyze positive change. We believe that physicians must care for themselves to be able to care for our patients, and we’re committed to making that possible.
Our future is bright. With dozens of major construction projects underway, Atrium Health is set to grow at an unparalleled pace. The renderings above depict our future Carolinas Rehabilitation facility, our new tower at Carolinas Medical Center, and our new state-of-the-art medical office building, all scheduled for completion in the early 2020s.
Atrium Health at a glance
Providing quality care through nearly 15 million patient interactions each year
Employing 70,000+ teammates
Educating over 3,500 students in more than 100 specialized programs
Receiving more than $300 million annually in external funding for research
Supporting over 3,500 clinical trials and research studies
Ranking among U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals for cancer treatment and eight different pediatric specialties
Our mission to improve health, elevate hope and advance healing – for all, starts with our commitment to being an inclusive work environment for all. We believe that every team member of Atrium Health brings a unique perspective, experience and vision that allows them to play an important role in the success of our organization, now and in the future. Just as an “atrium” is a place filled with light, Atrium Health strives to build a work culture fitting of our name – to be gathering ground, where diverse thinkers come together and connections are made.
Want to learn more about being a physician or APP at Atrium Health?
Call us at (704) 631-1144 or drop us a line at [email protected].
ShoShowing resultswing 76-100 of 103 filtered by:
142057 Atrium Health Allergy Asthma and Immunology (Huntersville) Allergy & Immunology Physician
Date Posted: Jan 8, 2021
149926 Union West OB/GYN (temporary placeholder) OB/GYN Physician
Hickory, NC, United States
MMG - Northcross Internal Medicine Physician
Infection Prevention Physician
Indian Trail, NC, United States
108397 West Lincoln Family Medicine Family Medicine Physician
Lincolnton, NC, United States
123999 AH Sleep Medicine Union West Sleep Medicine Physician
Matthews, NC, United States
Physician- Hospice & Palliative Care of Union County -Charlotte, NC
Monroe, NC, United States
108364 Union Family Practice Family Medicine Physician
Union OBGYN Laborist Physician
Hematology / Oncology Physician: LCI-Union West
Mooresville, NC, United States
Pre Surgical Optimization Physician
Morganton, NC, United States
Pageland Family Medicine APP - Primary Care
Pageland, SC, United States
108550 Shiland Family Medicine Rock Hill Family Medicine Physician
SouthPoint Internal Medicine Internal Medicine Physician
Salisbury, NC, United States
Atrium Health Cleveland Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Full Time Opportunity
Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrician
Atrium Health Gastro & Hepatology Physician - Cleveland
Atrium Health Cleveland Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist APP PRN Opportunity
1053 - UROLOGY - Robotically Trained Urologist - Enjoy Small Town Charm and Southern Hospitality in one of the most scenic areas in eastern North Carolina – Whiteville, NC!
Whiteville, NC, United States
925 - Urologist – General Urology – Beautiful Coastal Carolina – Wilmington, NC - Named one of Southern Living Magazine’s Best Southern Cities
1027 - Neurocritical Care fellowship trained Neurointensivist – Named one of Southern Living Magazine’s Best Southern Cities - Wilmington NC
966 - Neurology – Fellowship trained Movement Disorders Specialist – Wilmington, NC – named one of Southern Living Magazine’s Best Southern Cities
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Author Carlo Carrasco
The official website of author, copywriter and publisher Carlo Carrasco.
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Tag: Square Enix
My Observations: Bethesda now part of Team Xbox
September 23, 2020 September 22, 2020 carlocarrasco
As I start to write this, I still am in a state of shock over the most ambitious video game business announcement that I never anticipated would happen particularly with Xbox. People are already talking about it a lot right now. I’m referring to Microsoft’s megaton acquisition of ZeniMax Media which is the parent company of game publishing giant Bethesda Softworks. The deal is worth $7.5 billion (in cash) and it includes acquiring Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios. The said studios have a combined work force of more than 2,300 employees. This megaton development alone makes me want to acquire an Xbox Series X unit even more!
To put things in perspective, below is an excerpt (with key parts in bold) from the Xbox.com blog post by Xbox head Phil Spencer:
Bethesda’s games have always had a special place on Xbox and in the hearts of millions of gamers around the world. Our teams have a close and storied history working together, from the amazing first DOOM, and its id Tech engine, innovating games on PCs to Bethesda bringing their first console game to the original Xbox, the groundbreaking The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Over the years I’ve had many deep conversations with the creative leaders at Bethesda on the future of gaming and we’ve long shared similar visions for the opportunities for creators and their games to reach more players in more ways.
Just as they took the bold first steps to bring The Elder Scrolls franchise to the original Xbox, Bethesda were early supporters of Xbox Game Pass, bringing their games to new audiences across devices and have been actively investing in new gaming technology like cloud streaming of games. We will be adding Bethesda’s iconic franchises to Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. One of the things that has me most excited is seeing the roadmap with Bethesda’s future games, some announced and many unannounced, to Xbox console and PC including Starfield, the highly anticipated, new space epic currently in development by Bethesda Game Studios.
Like us, Bethesda are passionate believers in building a diverse array of creative experiences, in exploring new game franchises, and in telling stories in bold ways. All of their great work will of course continue and grow and we look forward to empowering them with the resources and support of Microsoft to scale their creative visions to more players in new ways for you.
All of our work, and the foundation of our relationship with you, starts with a commitment to deliver a breadth of amazing games to discover and play on Xbox. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been excited to share more detail on important elements of a plan we’ve been building towards for years. A plan that is the fulfilment of a promise, to you the Xbox player, to deliver the most performant, immersive and compatible next-generation gaming experiences, and the freedom to play blockbuster games with your friends, anytime, anywhere. Today is a landmark step in our journey together and I’m incredibly energized by what this step means for Xbox.
As confirmed by Spencer, the acquisition of Bethesda is more than just adding to Xbox Games Studios existing lineup of game makers and more than just adding games for Xbox and PC gamers to play. The acquisition also means adding even more games to the fast-growing and successful Xbox Game Pass subscription program which recently saw its subscribers reach 15,000,000+ (a jump of 50% in less than six months’ time!). The addition of Bethesda’s iconic franchises – Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein and Dishonored to name some – will surely add tremendous value to Xbox Game Pass and even more exciting is the confirmation that Bethesda’s upcoming sci-fi Starfield will also be added! These developments are already exciting gamers to order Xbox Series S or Xbox Series X as I write this.
Think about it. If you are already a paying Xbox Game Pass subscriber by the time Starfield gets released, you can simply visit Xbox LIVE and download the said game for free (because you already paid for the subscription). Those who are not XGP subscribers will have to pull out a lot of money to buy Starfield at the retail store or elsewhere online.
Already Team Xbox and its many Xbox Games Studios are already creating new and exclusive games for Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X plus PC. Microsoft no longer has a shortage of console exclusives and all the criticism thrown at them (“Xbox has no exclusives!”, “Xbox has no great games!”) are meaningless now. The addition of Bethesda studios into the many Xbox Game Studios further ensures more exclusive games in the years to come and this alone gives Microsoft a huge advantage over Sony and Nintendo!
This brings me to another sensitive topic: the Bethesda projects that are exclusive to others or are multi-platform in arrangement. Bethesda currently has two games that are exclusive to Sony’s PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Phil Spencer made clear that Microsoft will honor the exclusivity commitments of those games. In short, the Bethesda-Sony deal for those two games won’t be scrapped. Other Bethesda games coming to platforms that are not Xbox-related will happen on a case-by-case basis with Microsoft having the final decision. All of these are part of the complications that come with acquiring a huge game publisher with existing deals made with other platform makers.
But if you look into the far future, the Xbox-Bethesda megaton deal will eventually lead to sequels of Fallout, Elder Scrolls and other franchises that will be released exclusively on Xbox platforms and PC, and the Bethesda brand will remain. Bethesda’s famous role-playing game (RPG) franchises alone makes Xbox an even more attractive ecosystem for gamers who love RPGs. Think about it! Imagine playing Fallout and Elder Scrolls sequels (or remastered versions of Skyrim or Fallout 4) on Xbox Series X years from now enjoying all the massive content presented with 4K resolution, 60 FPS frame rate, great visuals and much shorter load times. With Microsoft having the more technologically superior console (Xbox Series X compared to PS5 with disc drive) and a much bigger and stronger 1st party game lineup, gamers will realize the benefits of the Xbox-Bethesda deal.
If Microsoft wants to make even more money and sell more, they can always decide to make Fallout and Elder Scrolls sequels available on PS5 and other platforms (even on Nintendo’s next-generation console). Microsoft acquired Mojang years ago and kept Minecraft available on multiple platforms (including those of Sony, Nintendo, iOS and more). When it comes to the next console generation with Bethesda’s many games being played, I expect their multi-platform games to look and play better on Xbox Series X than on PS5.
With Bethesda and Obsidian Entertainment together with Team Xbox, producing a sequel to Fallout New Vegas is no longer an impossible dream!
I should also state that Microsoft having Bethesda under its extensive corporate umbrella and ownership of the many intellectual properties (IP) of the company means that the dream of producing sequel to Fallout New Vegas is no longer impossible! Microsoft also owns Obsidian Entertainment, the very same team that worked with Bethesda for Fallout New Vegas, and they can decide to assign them to produce a sequel complete with a lot of human, technological and financial resources to back them! While I love the idea of Obsidian making Fallout New Vegas 2, I personally prefer they keep focusing on making their major fantasy RPG Avowed (ironically an ambitious game described as something to rival Bethesda’s Skyrim) and making a next-generation sequel to The Outer Worlds (which I love playing). A new Fallout New Vegas can be released on Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X AFTER the respective releases of Avowed, Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI many years from now.
Apart from the very promising benefits gamers will soon have from the Xbox-Bethesda deal, Microsoft also deserves praise for their transparency with gamers about their next-generation consoles, their expanding 1st party game studios lineup, Xbox All Access, Xbox Game Pass and the like. Transparency aside, Team Xbox also proved to stay honest and well organized with gamers unlike Sony’s PlayStation division. Watch the videos below regarding Sony…
The Xbox-Bethesda deal alone motivates me even more to acquire an Xbox Series X console and also sign up at last on Xbox Game Pass. I am certain that I am not the only geek experiencing the excitement about the very bright future of fun, engaging and high-value gaming with Xbox. With Bethesda’s RPG franchises alone, Xbox is already the best and definitive ecosystem for people who love playing role-playing games (note: Microsoft has Avowed coming and hopefully a The Outer Worlds sequel from Obsidian, plus established support from Square Enix with a Dragon Quest game coming out this December). This is something that Sony (even with Final Fantasy XVI a timed exclusive on their PS5) and Nintendo cannot match! Going back to Bethesda, they really had gone a long way and their decades-old history of doing business with Microsoft is undeniable. The very first time I played a Bethesda game on Microsoft hardware was none other than Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on Xbox 360 and that was way back in 2006. In the past decade, I played Skyrim on Xbox 360 and Fallout 4 on Xbox One. Personally, I am happy that Microsoft acquired Bethesda with not only the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X in mind but for the long term…the far future!
In ending this, watch these videos from Dealer Gaming, Colteastwood, Rand al Thor 19 and Zalker 87 for additional insight about the Xbox-Bethesda deal!
Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com
Blog, Observations #Microsoft, #PlayStation, #PS5, #Sony, #Xbox, #XboxSeriesS, #XboxSeriesX, Alpha Dog, Arkane, Author Carlo Carrasco, Avowed, Bethesda, Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks, blogging, business, Carlo Carrasco, Colt Eastwood, Dealer Gaming, Dishonored, Doom, Dragon Quest, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Fallout 4, Fallout New Vegas, games, gaming, geek, id Software, Jim Ryan, journalism, MachineGames, Microsoft, Minecraft, Mojang, My Observations, news, Obsidian Entertainment, Opinion, Phil Spencer, PlayStation, PlayStation 5, Prey, PS5, Rand al Thor 19, Roundhouse Studios, Skyrim, Sony, Square Enix, Starfield, Tango Gameworks, The Outer Worlds, Todd Howard, video games, video gaming, Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Game Studios, Xbox LIVE, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Xbox-Bethesda, Xbox.com, Zalker 87, ZeniMax Media, ZeniMax Online Studios 6 Comments
Looks like Xbox will be the haven for fantasy RPG enthusiasts in the 9th console generation
August 3, 2020 August 2, 2020 carlocarrasco
A shot from the trailer of Avowed.
With the Xbox Games Showcase behind us all, it is becoming clear that Xbox as an ecosystem is turning into a haven for gamers who love playing fantasy role-playing games (fantasy RPGs).
Let me emphasize my point starting with a key development from the 3rd party support that I never anticipated, a development announced during the pre-show period prior to the Xbox Games Showcase of July 23.
I’m referring to the announcement of DRAGON QUEST XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition by Square Enix coming this December to Xbox One (note: the Xbox Series X guarantees backward compatibility), Windows 10 PC and the fast-growing Xbox Game Pass subscription service! Watch the video below and check out Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii make his verbal presentation.
While Dragon Quest XI was previously released on other game consoles since 2017, its announcement for Xbox is still highly significant not simply because the game’s Definitive Edition will come with a lot of extra stuff and fun content but mainly because it marks the first-time ever that the Dragon Quest franchise becomes part of the Xbox ecosystem.
“I’m hugely pleased to finally see DRAGON QUEST make its Xbox debut,” Horii stated.
For the bigger picture, the Dragon Quest RPG franchise is over 30-years-old. While the Final Fantasy RPG franchise is wildly popular in the West in terms of video game sales, the same cannot be said with the Dragon Quest franchise of games.
Square Enix’s decision to release Dragon Quest XI’s Definitive Edition on Xbox One, PC and the XGP service could not only help itself sell more games (both physical and digital copies) to Xbox and Windows users who understand English, but also set the foundation they need to potentially release even more Dragon Quest games in the Xbox ecosystem.
While I can only speculate on what exactly was discussed in the business negotiations between Microsoft’s Xbox team and Square Enix (note: Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed visiting Japan to meet game creators and publishers there), in my view Microsoft tried hard to earn the trust and support of Japanese game creators/publishers to add variety of games for Xbox/PC users. The debut of the Dragon Quest series on Xbox is most likely the result of that.
When it comes to fantasy RPGs, Dragon Quest itself is highly significant given its commercial history and cultural impact with Japanese gamers. If the Definitive Edition of Dragon Quest XI (which is now up for pre-order) sells enough with Xbox gamers, it may lead to even more DQ games released in the future.
Next reason why Xbox as an ecosystem will be the haven for gamers who love fantasy RPG is because of the confirmed revival of Microsoft’s very own Fable RPG franchise being developed by a team within Playground Games (Forza Horizon series) for Xbox Series X and Windows 10 PC.
To put things in perspective, Fable is composed of three main fantasy RPGs developed by Lionhead Studios for the original Xbox and Xbox 360. While the main games (Fable, Fable II and Fable III) were flawed respectively, they resulted mostly positive reviews from the critics and many millions in game sales. Since after Fable III, however, the series went downhill in terms of quality and reception. Not only was Fable Legends canceled, Lionhead Studios itself closed down.
The trailer that end the Xbox Games Showcase of July 23 confirmed that it was indeed true that Fable as a franchise was being revived with the Forza Horizon studio doing the hard work.
Now there were concerns raised by gamers about Playground Games’ ability to not only make the new Fable game but how it will live up to the legacy and the factors that defined the game franchise.
Pay close attention to what Xbox executive Matt Booty said in an article by The Guardian related to Fable: “I just look at what Playground has done with the Horizon series – that attention to detail, the ability to represent these naturalistic landscapes. They also have a real passion for the IP and a unique point of view on what’s core to Fable. Everything I’ve seen as the game progresses tells me this is going to be a very high-quality release.”
In addition, the upcoming new Fable game will NOT be an MMO (massively multiplayer online) game but an action-oriented RPG with the single-player experience in mind. Having finished Fable and Fable III myself, this is great news and anyone looking for compelling single-player campaigns in the fantasy RPG genre can be confident with the new Fable game.
For those of you who never played any Fable game before, below is a retro review of Fable III for your viewing pleasure.
Of course, how exactly Playground will craft the new game and decide what kind of features it will have, and how it will balance between old features and new features for gameplay remains a mystery. Still there is hope that it will be high quality product since the Forza Horizon developer have people who previously worked on big projects that have nothing to do with racing games. Listen to the excerpt in Dealer Gaming’s video below.
“With any kind of franchise like that, where you’ve had existing versions, there’s always that balance between what you’re going to bring forward, what still stands up, and what you want to add that’s new,” he says. “It’s like the challenge of making a new Star Wars movie – there’s stuff that everyone wants you to bring along, but then you’ve got a responsibility to take that to new places and I trust Playground has a good vision for that,” Booty added in The Guardian.
If the new Fable game turns out great, it should inspire other game developers to make more action-oriented fantasy RPGs for the next-generation Xbox Series X.
Finally, the other factor as to why the future is bright for fantasy RPG enjoyment on the Xbox ecosystem is Avowed, the ambitious new first-person fantasy RPG developed by RPG specialists Obsidian Entertainment for Xbox Series X and Windows 10 PC.
Beyond the trailer, here are some details. The game is set in the world of Eora which itself is part of Obsidian’s established Pillars of Eternity games franchise. In terms of gameplay, not much has been revealed but the trailer suggests first-person movement and action will be the core way of playing which is fine by me since I played Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. Potentially, Avowed will feature exploration of a large fantasy world laced with mysterious creatures, magic, varied locations and eventually varied quests to take part in. There is no release date yet although it is speculated it will be released in 2022. As it is being made for Xbox Series X, gamers sticking with their aging Xbox One consoles should upgrade if they really want Avowed.
Having enjoyed The Outer Worlds (a sci-fi, first-person shooting RPG) so much on my Xbox One, I really believe Microsoft made the right move on acquiring Obsidian and providing them the resources and time to make something that will be enjoyable and engaging. I also believe that from a business point of view, the Xbox executives know there is a huge group of gamers/consumers who are willing to spend good money on big budget, content-heavy, deep exploration fantasy RPGs like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I am confident Team Xbox knows their history that a great majority of the 3.4 million copies of Skyrim sold within the first two days of release in 2011 were on Xbox 360 (more than double what was on PS3).
As such, by now the Xbox executives should believe that making similar ambitious games like Skyrim makes great business sense and Avowed being made for Xbox Series X alone adds great value to the Xbox brand and ecosystem.
With Microsoft heavily investing in Avowed, this should attract the attention of other game publishers/developers who have vested interests in making fun, lengthy single-player RPGs to make such games on Xbox Series X.
With the new Fable, Avowed and the Definitive Edition of Dragon Quest XI coming in the foreseeable future, the Xbox as an ecosystem will be the hot spot for gamers who love fantasy RPGs. Apart from those future RPGs, there are already several Final Fantasy RPGs already available on Xbox not to mention the past Fable games and past RPGs developed by Obsidian such as Dungeon Siege III, Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II.
Be confident, gamers! Xbox’s appeal to gamers will no longer be limited to Halo, Forza and Gears of War. Microsoft’s two fantasy RPG franchises will break the mold and raise the level of enjoyment and engagement for Xbox fans and new gamers. Do not forget that there are other Xbox game studios that have yet to reveal their upcoming exclusive games on Xbox Series X. Who knows? There could be even more fantasy RPGs coming from those studios! What else? If the 3rd party game developers and publishers are watching the rise of prominence of Xbox in the 9th console generation, they may go ahead in bringing even more video games to Xbox Series X!
In ending this, posted below is Colteastwood’s newest video about the next big Xbox digital event…
Blog Author Carlo Carrasco, Avowed, backward compatibility, Bethesda, Carlo Carrasco, colteastwood, Compulsion Games, Crackdown, Double Fine, Dragon Quest, Elder Scrolls, Fable, Forza Horizon, Forza Motorsport, gamers, games, Gears of War, geek, Halo, Halo Infinite, inXile Entertainment, Microsoft, nerd, Obsidian Entertainment, Playground Games, PlayStation, PlayStation 5, PS5, RPGs, Skyrim, Square Enix, The Outer Worlds, Xbox, Xbox Game Pass (XGP), Xbox Game Studios, Xbox One, Xbox Series X 1 Comment
My Observations: Xbox Games Showcase
July 25, 2020 carlocarrasco
It has finally happened. Microsoft organized this past Thursday the much-awaited digital event Xbox Games Showcase. Let me cut to the chase that, for the most part, I actually enjoyed watching. It’s not a perfect showcase of games for Xbox fans and other gamers, but it sure is a major improvement over the disappointing 3rd party games showcase of last May.
For one thing, Xbox head Phil Spencer himself confirmed that less than ten of the fifteen Xbox game studios had prepared for the showcase. This is not surprising because it takes a lot of time and work to make video games nowadays and it is a fact that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic had forced game developers (as well as countless other surviving businesses) to adapt the work-at-home model which tremendously slowed down production. Regardless, the showcase included unveilings of five new first-party games.
“What you’ll see today is how Xbox game studios are harnessing their passions to bring their dreams to life,” Phil Spencer said in his welcome message to viewers.
With those words declared, here is what I think about the games that I personally find the most interesting or the most notable (note: not all games discussed below are exclusive to Xbox Series X), and what it all means for the upcoming launch of the next-generation Xbox Series X console and the remaining life of the Xbox One.
The showcased games
Two long years since I first saw the original unveiling of Halo Infinite, the gameplay demonstration of the game (note: it actually ran on a PC, NOT the Xbox Series X itself) was actually worth the long wait even though there were some imperfections. What made it compelling to watch was the presentation of the ring world’s environment which recaptured the wonder and beauty of the original landscape first seen in 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved (note: I’m talking about the landscape where Master Chief first crash-landed). Apart from the in-game environment, the gameplay rocked with the classic Halo formula of shooting (fast-paced and intense) which got shook up with the implementation of the grapple plus a few new animation sequences and moves seen on the Covenant. It’s classic Halo but also modernized in terms of look and gameplay.
What caught my attention was the freedom for gamers to explore an entire Halo ring confirmed by 343 Industries’ Studio Head of Halo Chris Lee. Even though the term open-world was not stated, this confirms that Halo Infinite will have a much bigger in-game environment and locations for gamers to discover. Hopefully, this also means that there will be a wide variety of activities to do on the locations very much like other open-world games. The game demonstration is only a taste of what is to come. Not only that, Lee also confirmed that the game will run at 60 frames-per-second (60FPS) which for me is the sweet spot for playing in the modern age.
When it comes to imperfections, I saw some pop-in during some sequences of the demo and there also seemed to be some slight dips in the frame rate during the most intense sequences. Right now, 343 Industries still has months left to optimize the game not only for Xbox Series X but also the aging Xbox One. Now I wonder how the developers will be able to get good enough performance from the basic Xbox One (which I own) and the slightly upgraded Xbox One S to play Halo Infinite. One last thing…I should express my disappointment over the revelation that the demo did NOT run on the Xbox Series X hardware itself.
To Microsoft and 343 Industries, please, please make the best you can with Halo Infinite using real Xbox Series X hardware! Also, please at least try to include ray tracing at launch, not after launch. Disappointments aside, I know you guys can do better and I still am looking forward to this game. The ball of time is on your side of the court, Microsoft and 343 Industries. You still have time!
Everwild is a brand, new game developed by Rare (Sea of Thieves, Perfect Dark games) mainly for Xbox Series X and Windows 10 PCs. First unveiled months ago, the new video of the game at the Xbox Games Showcase showed a lot more of the game with what looks like a wide-open world to explore with lots of wildlife and creatures that are out of this world. The animation also looks great. My only problem here is that the new trailer had scenes done in a cinematic fashion and left no clear sign as to HOW THE GAME WILL PLAY. Will it be a single-player game or an online-multiplayer game? Will it have a good combat system? What is the story if any? Please, Microsoft and Rare, do explain if Everwild will be fun to play. Enough with the beauty and take time to really define the game. Thanks.
As Dusk Falls
This new game by Int./Night and Microsoft is easily the most intriguing of the Xbox Games Showcase. It’s described as an interactive drama that will follow and explore the lives of two families across thirty years starting with a robbery in Arizona. Players will determine the fate of the characters by making choices (kinda like the Choose Your Own Adventure pocket books in concept). At least in this game’s trailer, there is a clever mix of 3D polygons with 2D art. If I were you gamers, don’t just ignore this game. If you are already an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, As Dusk Falls will launch on Day One on the said service.
The rumors turned out to be true and I’m very happy to say that the RPG specialists Obsidian Entertainment is working on a brand new, fantasy role-playing game (RPG) titled Avowed. Set in the fantasy world of Eora, Avowed is a first-person view RPG. Having played Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Elders Scrolls V: Skyrim on Xbox 360 long ago plus last year’s The Outer Worlds (by Obsidian) on Xbox One, I really am looking forward to this new game and I have full trust in Obsidian’s, dedication, legacy and specialty on making RPGs that are fun and compelling.
To say the least, Avowed will mark the beginning of a new fantasy RPG property (soon to be a franchise…) for the Xbox ecosystem as a whole adding variety for Xbox fans who love fantasy RPGs alongside the already established Fable.
Speaking of Fable…
The long-time rumor is also true! Fable is being revived and the new game is being produced by Playground Games, the very same studio behind the best-selling and highly acclaimed Forza Horizon series! While the above trailer is purely cinematic and carried nothing to suggest gameplay, at the very least the Fable franchise is on its way back after years of being dormant. What I hope to see next time is real-time gameplay complete with how the Playground employees can present the fantasy world in this new generation of console gaming. I personally enjoyed playing the original Fable and still managed to get some fun from the disappointing Fable III. For the future of Fable, things are looking promising.
While this one is too short and lacked gameplay sequences, the Forza Motorsport official video composed of real-time graphics (note the Footage Captured In-Engine posted on the lower-left corner of the video) is very impressive and the future of next-generation simulation racing looks very bright. I know the experts of Turn 10 are working hard with the new Xbox Series X technology as I write this and in terms of presentation of the Xbox Games Showcase, this extremely short look of things to come from the Forza Motorsport franchise is ironically one of the best (and most transparent) presentations from Microsoft. Too bad Halo Infinite was used with a PC and lacked transparency on its presentation which Microsoft knew. More on the game, I wonder if Forza Motorsport will be the definitive title of the next-generation sim race from Turn 10 following 2017’s Forza Motorsport 7. Gamers expected Forza Motorsport 8 as the title. The video presentation’s shortness is a missed opportunity for Microsoft and the developers to show a lot more of what simulation would look and feel like on Xbox Series X. An additional sixty seconds of in-game footage with some gameplay sequences (like driver’s seat view with steering wheel) would have made the Forza Motorsport video even greater and more engaging. Now that the Xbox Games Showcase is over, we can only wait as to what MS and Turn 10 can update us with. Right now, I am passionate with simulation racing thanks to the Forza Motorsport franchise and I am confident that the next entry coming out on Xbox Series X will be worth the wait.
Here’s another new Microsoft-published game that surprised me. Tell Me Why is developed by DONTNOD, the same team behind Capcom’s Remember Me and Square Enix’s Life is Strange. Given the French game developer’s dedication on making original, narrative-driven games, Tell Me Why follows twins Alyson and Tyler and players will get to use their unique bond to unravel mysteries in their lives. Visually, it does not have the next-generation look as the game itself was made specifically for Xbox One and Windows 10. How it will look on Xbox Series X remains to be seen. This should attract the attention of gamers who enjoyed Life is Strange games.
This multi-platform game made by Double Fine will be released sometime next year and I should say that what was shown during the Xbox Games Showcase made me confident about it. For the newcomers reading this, Psychonauts 2 is the sequel to the award-winning 2005 game Psychonauts (then published by Majesco Entertainment) and as a platforming game this one could stand out in the modern age for its artistry, creativity and promised fun gameplay. Microsoft promised that the game will be optimized for Xbox Series X.
I love Obsidian Entertainment’s work in The Outer World which is easily one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played in this current console generation. As such, the revelation of the previously announced story downloadable content (DLC) is something I find very delighting and it sure gives me another reason to replay The Outer Worlds on my Xbox One. The Peril on Gorgon DLC’s description is as follows: A severed arm and a mysterious message lead the crew of the Unreliable to the Gorgon Asteroid, formerly the site of one of Halcyon’s most ambitious and disastrous scientific undertakings – now a lawless den of monsters and marauders. Wealthy recluse Minnie Ambrose tasks the crew with finding answers about Dr. Olivia Ambrose, her mother and the doomed project’s disgraced director, but they are soon ensnared in an intrigue that will change the colony forever.
The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon will be released on September 9, 2020.
It’s kinda weird to see Destiny 2: Beyond Light part of Xbox Games Showcase, the same event highlighted by Halo Infinite. This is because Bungie created Halo on its own before they got involved with Microsoft and played a major role in the respective success of the original Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles with several acclaimed Halo games that sold a lot. Now that it is no longer involved with Activision, Bungie is now a standalone developer and publisher, and the Destiny games franchise is what they are carrying now. The above video presentation looks good and energetic.
Overall, the Xbox Games Showcase was good, not great. The efforts to showcase the 1st party games and the potential of next-generation gaming Xbox Series X were made but felt uneven here and there. Halo Infinite had a good presentation but there were shortcomings that prevented it from being great which is too bad because the game was supposed to highlight Xbox Series X and prove that there is a promising future of fun and engagement with the Halo franchise. Ironically, the very solid but short video presentations of Forza Motorsport and Avowed proved to be better efforts on selling Xbox Series X than Halo Infinite. When it comes to disappointments, I should point to the complete lack of new stuff regarding Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.
While imperfect, the Xbox Games Showcase still had nice surprises that kept me interested enough to finish it. At the very least, Xbox Games Showcase was a big improvement over the disappointing showcase of 3rd party games last May.
Now that the Xbox Games Showcase is over, Microsoft and its Xbox teams still have time left to improve their efforts to sell their games and prove that Xbox Series X will be worth buying for the next several years of home entertainment. They also still have time to emphasize how the optimization of games on Xbox Series X and how the Smart Delivery can be beneficial to gamers.
In ending this, watch Colteastwood’s interview with Xbox’s Major Nelson.
Blog, Observations Aaron Greenberg, Activision, As Dusk Falls, Author Carlo Carrasco, Avowed, backward compatibility, Bungie, Capcom, Carlo Carrasco, colteastwood, Dealer Gaming, Destiny 2, DONTNOD, Double Fine, Electronic Arts (EA), Everwild, Fable, fantasy, Forza Motorsport, gamers, games, gaming, geek, Halo, Halo Infinite, JRPG, Lost Odyssey, Major Nelson, Microsoft, nerd, NetherRealm Studios, Obsidian Entertainment, Perfect Dark, Phil Spencer, Playground Games, Psychonauts, Rare, ray tracing, Rocksteady, RPG, Smart Delivery, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Tell Me Why, The Initiative, The Outer Worlds, video games, Warner Bros., WB Interactive, Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Game Studios, Xbox Games Showcase, Xbox Series X 4 Comments
Final Fantasy Bonanza for Xbox Fans!
April 16, 2019 carlocarrasco
When rumors floated online in 2005 that Square Enix was being attracted by Microsoft to release games on what was back then their upcoming game console the Xbox 360, there were some gamers who just dismissed those rumors claiming that the Japanese company would NEVER release its role-playing games (RPGs) – specifically Final Fantasy games – on a console of an American company.
It was a different time back then for console gaming. Square Enix released Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy XII plus some Dragon Quest and Front Mission games on Sony’s highly successful PlayStation 2 (PS2) console. The company even developed a Final Fantasy spin-off for the GameCube with Nintendo as publisher.
For the original Xbox console, Square Enix made no games for it at all.
Things turned during the time of the Xbox 360. Square Enix published several games for it and to the delight of Xbox fans who love Final Fantasy, the company released Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Final Fantasy XI and other games.
This year Square Enix released several of their classic Final Fantasy games released for Xbox One gamers via Xbox LIVE – Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X and X-2 and a few others.
The other announced game, Final Fantasy XII (The Zodiac Age), will be released on April 30.
Among these games, I’m currently playing Final Fantasy IX on my Xbox One and even though it has been almost twenty years since I last played it, I can say that I am enjoying it again. The game is technically a port of the PC version (which comes with cleaned-up graphics most evident on the character and creature models) and not a remastered version. More importantly, the gameplay is still fun (even though it has those random battles) and the story has a lot of heart.
With the classic Final Fantasy games available via Xbox LIVE, now is the time for Xbox fans (who love Final Fantasy or those who are very interested in Japanese role-playing games) to acquire them while they can. We should be very thankful to Square Enix (and surely to Microsoft’s Xbox team led by Phil Spencer) for those games.
Final Fantasy X and X-2 were remastered for Xbox One while the upcoming Final Fantasy XII has already been confirmed to run at a super smooth 60-frames-per-second on the premium Xbox One X console.
What is missing from the FF classics is Final Fantasy VIII which continues to puzzle gamers to this day.
If more Xbox gamers buy these classic FF games, then perhaps Square Enix will be convinced to release more of their past hits of their other franchises like Front Mission and Dragon Quest. Perhaps they will consider releasing the older, 2D FF games like Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI.
Apart from enjoying the varied stories, characters and gameplay styles, gamers will also enjoy the music of Nobuo Uematsu.
For your enjoyment, I embedded below Xbox channel videos of Final Fantasy.
Blog Chocobo, Cloud Strife, fantasy, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XV, gamers, games, geek, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Japan, Japanese, JRPG, nerd, Nintendo, PlayStation, PS2, role-playing game, RPG, Sony, Square Enix, Xbox, Xbox LIVE, Xbox One, Xbox One X, Zidane Leave a comment
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Capital police death|Federal Murder Probe Planned In Death Of Capitol Police
Federal murder probe planned in death of Capitol Police ...
Capitol police delaware - 2020-12-22,
Another is shooting to wound, thereby putting bystanders at great risk capital.Not everything you see in the media is true capital.Three others, who died from medical emergencies, were identified as 50-year-old Benjamin Phillips of Ringtown, Pa., 55-year-old Kevin Greeson of Athens, Ala capital.
Regardless of the outcome of that investigation, on Wednesday, Mayor Muriel Bowser blamed President Trump for the circumstances that led to Babbitt's death capital.is on vacation, a paid leave while they try to whitewash the murder police.The entire D.C capital.
In between the hectic schedules, he knew to safeguard some time for his girlfriend, Ally capital.“But just as I had many people hatin’ me, I had so many people lovin’ me/And let’s not forget the hood around the world covering me police.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asked for and received the resignation of the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, Michael Stenger, effective immediately death.
Wisconsin capitol police - 2020-12-18,
Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said news of the police officer’s death was “gut-wrenching.” police.Nobody was screened death.
Pa capitol police - 2021-01-09,
In line with BTS’ Festa celebrations, which marked the anniversary of their debut, this year’s drop is a reflection of their seven-year journey – and an immensely moving one at that police.Rioters damaged the U.S police.Sicknick died at 9:30 p.m police.
Capitol Police announced that Sicknick had died at 9:30 p.m death.On Tuesday (Dec 8) Ally revealed that she would be opening up in a way that she never has before for Juice's death anniversary death.The other three deaths were medical emergencies that are not firearm-related, said DC Police death.
Ally was born in Alabama, and she was raised by a black father and a Puerto Rican mom police.Capitol on Wednesday, Jan death.Nope, I’m saying bad things happen, and people make mistakes death.
Three other people died after “medical emergencies” related to the breach capital.military veteran, joined the Capitol Police in 2008, and had most recently served in the department’s First Responder’s Unit death.ET Wednesday hundreds of pro-Trump protesters pushed through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol, where they tussled with officers in full riot gear, some calling the officers “traitors” for doing their jobs capital.
US Capitol: Police confirms death of officer injured in ...
Capitol police board - 2020-12-31,
Around 2:46 p.m., protesters breached fencing around the Capitol grounds and confronted police lines, according to Chief Robert Contee of the Metropolitan Police Department death.A second summer updating is coming in August of 2020, but Nintendo hasn’t revealed what the update will contain police.“Scary bitch ass lil girl,” Reese wrote in a now-deleted tweet along with an image showing that he’s unable to view Quando Rondo’s IG page capital.
I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted death.Bush, writing, “I believe we should have regime change here in America police.Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said it would be trickier to build a criminal case against someone who incited the violence that led to the officer's death. death.
Shortly after Kanye and Kim’s splitting reports were out, the internet exploded with crazy rumors of Kanye and Jeffree Star hooking up on the down-low police.Learn from this everyone capital.Throughout the day, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle condemned the rioters' violence, and former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W police.
Capitol police chief - 2021-01-08,
If our capable floor staff hadn't grabbed them, they would have been burned by the mob, he added police.Officer Sicknick joined the USCP in July 2008, and most recently served in the Department’s First Responder’s Unit. police. The Buckeyes routed Clemson 49-28 to earn a spot in the title game police.
"Jarad was a son, brother, grandson, friend and so much more to so many people who wanted more than anything to see him defeat addiction." capital.CAPITOL RIOT: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE ARKANSAS MAN ACCUSED OF BREAKING INTO PELOSI'S OFFICE death.Ihre Bisse jucken nicht nur, sondern können unter anderem allergische Reaktionen auf der Haut und in der Lunge auslösen death.
In 2015, the basketball team wore Drake-designed jerseys to their game death.Still, lawmakers say they are perplexed at the lack of preparedness among law enforcement given that it had been known for weeks that Trump was promoting a rally he said was aimed at preventing the certification of Biden’s win capital.A woman was shot and killed inside the Capitol, and D.C.'s mayor instituted a 12-hour curfew starting at 6 p.m capital.
US Capitol Police officer dead following injuries suffered ...
State capitol police - 2021-01-10,
It turned out, he couldn’t help either capital.As it is now, the Tide are averaging 48.2 points capital.Three days before supporters of President Donald Trump rioted at the Capitol, the Pentagon asked the U.S Capitol Police if it needed National Guard manpower death.
I have been a sports journalist since I was 15 and a sports fanatic since long before that death.The US Capitol Police confirmed the death of one of their officers late Thursday from injuries suffered when a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol a day before police.House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, told Fox News he heard a call of shots fired: police.
We have to have peace,” he said in a video, going on to repeat false attacks on the election police.Juice also revealed in the interview that it was difficult to maintain a relationship and focus on his music death.(Some outlets actually incorrectly identified Juice Wrld's current girlfriend, Ally Lotti, as the Alexia in question.) capital.
The rioters smashed or dismantled property and barged into House and Senate leaders’ chambers, as Hill staffers and lawmakers were under lockdown, or hid behind chairs or under tables death.
Some of the states that the arrested are from Michigan, Colorado, Texas and North Carolina police.The chaos has already led to at least 55 criminal cases filed by the Justice Department against rioters who were charged with unlawful entry, gun violations, theft, assault and others capital.National Guard, Maryland National Guard, Virginia National Guard and officers from multiple D.C.-area police departments. New York Gov police.
Department of Justice to delay the executions of two condemned murderers until at least March 16 in order to allow them to recover from COVID-19 police.Thursday, according to a Capitol Police statement capital.Authorities later identified the woman who was shot as Ashli Babbitt, described in media reports as a pro-Trump, 35-year-old California native and Air Force veteran death.
It is my fervent hope that the rioters whose actions directly contributed to his death are quickly identified and brought to justice capital.Capitol Police officer, a law enforcement official told NPR police.It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website police.Report: Federal Murder Investigation Announced Over Death.
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Articles / What You Need to Know About
What You Need to Know About : Interpretive Theory
The expression interpretive theory refers to a relatively large umbrella category that includes analytical perspectives and theories spanning the fields of communication, sociology, anthropology, education, cultural studies, political science, history, and the humanities writ large. Interpretive theories, sometimes referred to as interpretivism or philosophical interpretivism, are orientations to social reality based on the goal of understanding. Thus, we can define interpretive theories as ontological and epistemological tools used in research concerned with understanding how individuals and groups create meaning in their everyday practices, communication, and lived experiences.
Loosely speaking, interpretivists are (a) scholars who are interested in the ways communities, cultures, or individuals create meaning from their own actions, rituals, interactions, and experiences; (b) scholars who wish to interpret local meanings by locating them into a broader historical, geographical, political, linguistic, ideological, economic, and cultural milieu; (c) researchers who look at the meanings of texts and the codes and rules on which they rely to convey meaning; and (d) theory- and philosophy-oriented scholars who explore ideas of meaning and interpretation in and of themselves.
To comprehend the quintessential characteristics of interpretivism and better appreciate its uniqueness and usefulness, it is useful to begin by looking at its philosophical origins and then juxtaposing interpretivist theories with interpretivism’s most notable counterpart: the perspective of positivism. Subsequently, this entry explores interpretivism as it relates to social scientific communication research by examining its common ontological and epistemological characteristics.
Littlejohn, Stephen W and Karen A.Floss. (2009). Encyclopedia of Communication Theory.USA:SAGE. 626
Penanggungjawab naskah :
Gayes Mahestu
Edwina Ayu Kustiawan
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Apple blocks tool that brute-forces iCloud passwords
Lucian Constantin
| 2015 január 8. 23:48
The tool allowed attackers to try a large number of passwords for Apple ID accounts.
Apple has fixed an issue that could have allowed attackers to launch brute-force attacks against iCloud users in order to guess their passwords.
The problem came to light after a proof-of-concept attack tool called iDict was released on GitHub in early January.
Developed by a user who uses the online alias Pr0x13, the tool was described as "100% Working iCloud Apple ID Dictionary attack that bypasses Account Lockout restrictions and Secondary Authentication on any account."
It worked by trying out a large number of passwords for the targeted Apple IDs. By default the tool came with a file -- also called a dictionary -- containing 500 commonly used passwords, but the list could have easily been extended.
Online services like iCloud typically limit the number of failed log-in attempts per account in order to prevent brute-force attacks, but Pr0x13 allegedly found a way to bypass those protections.
Pr0x13 claims that he made iDict public in order to draw attention to the problem and force Apple to fix it. "This bug is painfully obvious and was only a matter of time before it was privately used for malicious or nefarious activities," he said in the tool's description.
Apple was relatively quick to act and started enforcing rate limiting for log-in attempts done with iDict a day after the tool became available.
"iDict is patched," Pr0x13 said on Twitter. "Discontinue its use if you don't want to lock your account."
This attack comes after the iCloud accounts of several celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Kirsten Dunst were compromised and private photos were stolen from them in September.
The company said at the time that the compromises were the result of a targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions. Following the incident Apple implemented two-factor authentication for iCloud accounts. Users are advised to turn on the feature.
Címkék: #apple #icloud #idg news
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16- CPAO/Tech/Post 2006/Reconciliation/2010-11/276 2011/03/30 Decisions of the review meetings on pension related matters.
17- 38020/02/2010-FC-3 2011/03/30 Grant of Dearness Relief to Industrial Dearness Allowance (IDA) Pensioners/Family Pensioners of the FCI at the modified rates with effect from 01.01.2011
18- No38020/2/2010-PC3 2011/01/11 DR on IDA Pattern
19- CPAO/TECH/Grievances/2010-11/986 2010/12/24 Commencement of family pension and procedure thereof.
20- CPAO/Tech/grievances/2010-11/983 2010/12/22 Payment of pension to old/sick/physically handicapped pensioners
21- CPAO/TECH/Annexure III/2010-11/953 2010/12/06 Meeting of Secretary (Pension) and other Government Pension Departments with the representatives of banks regarding issue of revised PPOs in respect of Pre-2006.
22- 45/3/2008/-P & PW (F) DT 30/09/2010 2010/09/30 Special Benefits in cases of death and disability in service - payment of disability pension/family pension - regarding
23- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) dt-28-09-2010, 45/3/2008-P&PW(F) dt-30-09-2010 and 42/18/2010 -P&PW(G) dt 27-10-2010, 38/79/08 -P&PW(G) dt-27-10-201038/37/08-P&PW(A) dt-28-09-2010, 45/3/2008-P&PW(F) dt-30-09-2010 and 42/18/2010 -P&PW(G) dt 27-10-2010, 38/79/08 -P&PW(G) dt-27-10-2010 2010/09/28 Revision of Pre-2006 Pensioners as per Para-4.5, Special benefits in case of death & disability in service, Payment & Commutation value of Pension in respect of employees who retired on & after 01-01-2006 But before 02-09-2008 and expired and gratuity dt in r/o who received pension in pre-revised scale.Revision of Pre-2006 Pensioners as per Para-4.5, Special benefits in case of death & disability in service, Payment & Commutation value of Pension in respect of employees who retired on & after 01-01-2006 But before 02-09-2008 and expired and gratuity dt in r/o who received pension in pre-revised scale.
24- CPAO/Tech/Amendments/Sch. Book/2010-11/576 & 609 2010/08/02 Correction Slip No. 9,10 & 11 of Scheme Booklet
25- CPAO/Tech/Nodal Officer/Vol-II/2010/552 2010/07/13 Issue of revised PPOs for pre-2006 pensioners.
26- CPAO/Tech/6thCPC/Misc/2010/540 2010/07/08 Timelines for the Settlement of Pensionary dues authorised by CPAO in respect of Central Civil Pensioners including AIS officers and the employees of the Central Para Military Forces in Authorized banks.
27- CPAO/Tech/Medical Allow./2010-11/P-520 2010/06/29 EnhancedMedical Allowance from Rs.100/- P.M. to 300/- P.M. with effect from 1st September 2008
28- 4/25/2008-P&PW(D) 2010/05/26 Grant of Fixed Medical Allowance(FMA) to the Central Government Pensioners residing in areas not covered under CGHS.
29- CPAO/Tech/RTI/Report/2010-11/325 2010/04/26 Submission of Quarterly Report of Cases received under RTI Act 2005, Quarter ending 31/03/2010.
30- CPAO/Estt./RTI/2007/40 2010/04/22 continuation of this office order of even number dated 10-03-2010.
31- CPAO/TECH/2008/6th CPC/MISC/573 2009/12/31 Timelines for the settlement of Pensionary dues authorized by CPAO in respect of Central Civil Pensioners including AIS Officers and the employees of the Central Para Militry Forces in Authorized Banks- Regarding.
32- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2009/12/05 Representations regarding.
33- 38/37/2008-P&PW(A) 2009/12/02 Representations regarding revision of pension of pre-2006 pensioners. (dated 12/02/2009)
34- F.No.38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2009/11/18 Revision of Pension on the recommendations of the Pay Commission - Applicability of the judgement of Hon"ble Supreme Court in CA No. 5566 of 2008 in the case of Civil Pensioners
35- F.No. 42/12/2009-P&PW(G) 2009/11/17 Grant of Dearness Relief to the Central Government pensioners who are in receipt of provisional pension or pension in the pre revised scales of 5th CPC w.e.f 1.7.2009
36- No.1/4/06-P&PW(E) 2009/11/17 Grant of Family pension to persons with disabilities - acknowledgement of Legal Guardianship Certificate issued by Local Level Committee constituted under the National Trust Act,1999 (No. 44 of 1999).
37- No. CPAO/Tech/6th CPC /2009-10/445 2009/11/13 Timelines for the Settlement of Pensionary dues authorised by CPAO in respect of the employees of the Central Para Military Forces and other Central Pensioners in Authorised Banks
38- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2009/11/08 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission - Revision of pension of pre-2006 pensioners. Clarification regarding Payment of Additional Pension/Family Pension
40- 28/30/2004-P&PW(B) 2009/10/28 Mobility of personnel amongst Central/State & Autonomous Bodies while working under Pensionable establishments - regarding
41- 42/12/2009-P&PW(G) 2009/10/22 Grant of Dearness Relief to Central Government pensioners who are in receipt of Provisional Pension or Pension in the pre revised scales of 5th CPC - w.e.f. 1.7.2008 and 1.1.2009
42- 42/12/2009-P&PW(G) 2009/09/23 Grant of Dearness Relief to Central Government pensioners/family pensioners - Revised rate effective from 1-7-2009.
43- CPAO/Tech/Nodal officers/Min/2009/304 2009/09/22 Collection of Authorised Banks-wise electronic list of pre-2006 pensioners and their family pensioners by Civil Ministries.
44- 4/38/2008-P&PW(D) 2009/09/17 Representations on method of revision of restorable 1/3 commuted portion of pension consequent to the 6th Pay Commission recommendations in respect of Govt. Servants who had drawn lump-sum payment on absorption in public sector undertaking/autonomous bodi
46- F.No. 38/88/2008-P&PW(G) 2009/09/07 Payment of Dearness Relief to re-employed pensioners and employed family pensioners.
47- No.1/16/08-P&PW(E) 2009/09/03 Simplification of procedures outlined in Rule 54(6) of CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972 regarding Family Pension to Handicapped/Disabled son/daughter of Government Servants/Pensioners -Reg.
48- CPAO/Tech/6CPC/2009-10/252 2009/08/28 Implementation of Governments decision on the recommendation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission Revision of pension of pre-2006 pensioners/family pensioners etc.
49- CPAO/Tech/6CPC/2009-10/257 2009/08/28 Implementation of Government Decision on the Recommendation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission - Revision of Pension of pre-2006 Pensioners/Family Pensioners etc. and payment of Dearness Relief to re-employed and employed family pensioners.
50- CPAO/Tech/6CPC/2009-10 2009/08/27 Payment of second instalment of arrears of pension on account of Implementation of Governments decision on the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commisssion.
51- 38/48/09-P&PW(A) 2009/08/27 OA No.504 of 2009 filed in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Ernakulam Bench - Grant of additional pension on attaining the age of 80 years regarding.
52- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2009/08/25 Payment of second instalment of arrears of pension on account of Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commisssion.
53- 387/37/08-P&PW(A).pt.1 2009/08/20 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission - Revision of pension of pre-2006 pensioners/family pensioners. (reg. Revision of Pension of Pensioners of Additional Secretary & Equivalent Level)
54- 1/15/2008-P&PW(E) 2009/08/17 Family Pension - Extension of the Scope of Family Pension to the dependent disabled siblings (i.e. brothers/sisters) of Central Government Servants/Pensioners.
55- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2009/07/14 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission - Revision of pension of pre-2006 pensioners. Clarification regarding NPA
56- No.45/4/2008-P&PW(F) 2009/07/08 Amendment to Rule 33-B of GPF (C) Rules, 1960- Iuuse of Notification dated 27th May, 2009, published in the Gazette of India on 6th June, 2009
57- No. CPAO/Tech/6th CPC/2009-10/ 119 2009/06/30 Revision of 1/3rd commuted portion of pension in respect of Government servants who had drawn lump sum payment on absorption in Central Public Sector Undertakings / Central Autonomous Bodies- representations / clarifications consequent to Implementalion ot
58- 41/22/2008-P&PW(G) 2009/05/29 Resolution
59- 23/1/2008-P&PW(B) 2009/05/28 Payment of family pension in the case of Burma pensioners- reg.
60- 4/38/2008-P&PW(D) 2009/05/27 Revision of 1/3rd commuted portion of pension in respect of government servants who had drawn lump sum payment on absorption in Central PSU/Central Autonomous bodies - amount of the revised 1/3rd restored pension plus dearness pay (DP) & Dearness Relief (D
61- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2009/05/21 Implementation of Government Decision on the Recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission - Revision of Pension of pre-2006 Pensioners/Family Pensioners
62- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2009/05/18 Implementation of Government Decision on the Recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission Revision of Pension of Pensioners/Family Pensioners
63- 38/41/06/P&PW(A) 2009/05/05 Additional Relief on death/disability of Government servants covered by the New Defined Contribution Pension System (NPS-AR)
64- 45/6/2008-P&PW(F) 2009/04/16 Implementation of the Government"s decision on the recommendation of the VIth CPC - revision of CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 1939 - Constant Attendant Allowance. (dated 16/4/2009)
65- F.No.1/28/04-P&PW(E) 2009/03/31 Grant of family pension to the families of Government servants kidnapped by insurgents/terrorists.
67- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2009/03/23 Setting up of Anomaly Committee to settle the anomalies arising out of the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission"s recommendations. (dated 23/3/2009)
68- 41/88/07-P&PW(E) 2009/03/18 Web-based "Pensioners" Portal", a Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance Plan - Identification of Pensioners" Association and release of Grant-in-Aid in connection with implementation of - regarding.
69- 45/7/2008-P&PW(F) 2009/03/16 Implementation of the Government"s decision on the recommendation of the Sixth CPC- Revision of provisions regulating special benefits in the cases of Death and Disability in service - payment of ex-gratia lump sum compensation to families of central Govt.
70- 38/79/2008-P&PW(G) 2009/02/16 Clarification regarding commutation of pension after the implementations of 6th CPC (dated 16/2/2009)
71- 7/7/2008-P&PW(F) 2009/02/13 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendation of the Sixth CPC - Revision of provisions regulating gratuity - (dated 13/2/2009)
72- CPAO/Tech/6CPC/2008-09/3 2009/02/04 The changes in formats of Pension payment Order (PPO) and revision authorities necessitated due to the implementation of 6thCPC Report on revision of pension / family pension.
73- 42/2/2008-P&PW(G) 2008/12/09 Grant of Dearness Relief to pensioners/family pensioners (dated 12/09/2008)
74- CPAO/Tech/6th Pay Commission/2008-09/1313 2008/11/28 Implementation of the Governments decision on the recommendation of the VIth CPC - revision of provisions regulating pension / gratuity / commutation of pension / family pension / disability pension / ex-gratia lump-sum compensation.
75- F.No.41/88/07-P&PW(E) 2008/11/20 Web-based "Pensioners" Portal", a Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance Plan - Release of Grant-in-Aid to Pensioners" Associations for implementation of the Portal.
76- CPAO/Tech/6CPC/2008-09/1304 2008/11/19 Implementation of the recommendations of the 6th CPC on of revised benefits - revision of the format of Pension Payment Order and Special Seal Authority.
77- 45/3/2008-P&PW(F) 2008/11/18 Special benefits in cases of death and disability in service - payment of Disability Pension/Family pension - regarding
78- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2008/11/12 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission (Calculation of Pension of Government Servants, who retired during 1.1.2006 to 1.9.2008) (dated 11/12/2008)
79- 17(4)/2008(1)/D(Pen/Policy) 2008/11/11 Revision of pension for pre 2006 armed forces pensioners/Family pensioners - Ministry of Defence O.M. dated 11/11/2008
80- D.O. No: CPAO/Tech/Misc/2008 2008/10/17 Regulations all the pre-2006 pensioners/family pensioners w.e.f. 01.01.2006.
81- D.O. No: CPAO/Tech/6th CPC/Misc/2008 2008/10/17 Instructions issued to Banks for payment of revised pension/arrears dated 17/10/2008
82- DO No: CPAO/Tech/6th CPC/Misc/1265 2008/10/14 Instructions issued to Banks for payment of revised pension/arrears dated 14/10/2008
83- 38/37/08-P&PW(A).pt.1 2008/10/14 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission Revision of pension of pre-2006 pensioners/family pensioners etc.(dated 14.10.2008)
84- D.O. No: CPAO/Tech/6th CPC/Misc/1265 2008/10/14 Implementation of the revision of the pensionary benefits in respect of pre-2006 pensioners / family pensioners.
85- 14021-7-2008-AIS(II) 2008/09/26 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission Revision of provisions regulating pension/gratuity/commutation of pension/family pension/disability pension and ex-gratia lump-sum compensation (Applicable t
87- D.O. No: CPAO/Tech/6th CPC/Misc/1265 2008/09/26 Implementation of Government Decision on the Recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission - Revision of Pension of pre-2006 for Central Civil Pensioners.
88- 42/2/2008-P&PW(G) 2008/09/25 Grant of Dearness Relief to pensioners/family pensioners-Corrigendum (dated 25/09/2008)
89- 42/2/2008 P&PW(G) 2008/09/25 Corrigendum - Recommendation of 6th Central Pay Commission - Decision of Government relating to grant of Dearness Relief to Central Government Pensioners/family pensioners - revised rate effective from 1-1-2006,1-7-2006,1-1-2007,1-7-2007,1-1-2008 and 1-7-
90- 4/38/2008- P&PW(D) 2008/09/15 Revision of 1/3rd commuted portion of pension in respect of government servants who had drawn lump sum payment on absorption in Central PSU/Central Autonomous bodies (dated 15/09/2008)
91- F.No.23/3/2008 -P&PW(B) 2008/09/15 Enhancement of ad-hoc ex-gratia allowance to (i)Burma/Pakistan Civilian Pensioners/ Family Pensions; (ii) Retired Central Government employees covered under Indo- Pakistan Agreement - 1949: (iii) Dependents of victim of Quetta Earthquake: and (iv) Depende
92- notification 2008/09/09 Civilian Defence Services(Revised Pay) Rules 2008 - notification dated 9th September, 2008
93- 5/2/2006-E III(A) 2008/08/30 Sixth CPC - Pay Revision - Ministry of Defence Resolution dated 30th August, 2008 (ENGLISH VERSION)
94- No.4/79/2006-P&PW(D) 2008/05/13 Restoration of one-third commuted portion of pension in respect of Government servants who had drawn lump sum payment on absorption in public sector undertakings/autonomous bodies - implementation of Andhra Pradesh High Court judgement dated 24.12.03 in Wr
95- 38/86/03-P&PW(A) 2008/05/11 Pay Scales for the staff belonging to the organized Accounts Department with effect from 01.01.1996 - Fixation of pension.
96- No.38/58/06-P&PW(A) 2008/05/03 Applicability of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 in respect of those put on induction training prior to 1.1.04 and were in receipt of stipend.
97- Notification No. 571 2008/04/28 Gazette Notifications regarding the amendment in Central Civil Services(Pension)Rules,1972 .
98- No.42/2/2008-P&PW(G) 2008/03/19 Grant of dearness relief to Central Government pensioners/family pensioners - Revised rate effective from 01.01.2008
99- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2008/03/10 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission Revision of pension of pre-2006 pensioners/family pensioners etc.(dated 3.10.2008)
100- 38/37/08-P&PW(A)-pt.ii 2008/03/10 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendation of the Sixth Central Pay Commission Revision of provisions regulating pension/gratuity/commutation of pension/family pension/disability pension and ex-gratia lump-sum compensation.(dated 3/10/2
101- No.4/4/2008-P&PW(D) 2008/02/20 Demand of Govt. Servants who opted for lump sum on their absorption in PSUs/CABs for release of balance pension and DR and during pre-restoration period and beyond - clarification regarding.
102- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2008/02/09 Office Memorandum - Revision of Pension of post-2006 Pensioners/Family Pensioners (dated 02/09/2008)
103- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2008/01/10 Corrigendum - Revision of Pension of pre-2006 Pensioners/Family Pensioners (dated 01/10/2008)
104- 38/37/08-P&PW(A) 2008/01/09 Office Memorandum - Revision of Pension of pre-2006 Pensioners/Family Pensioners (dated 01/09/2008)
105- No.8/3/2007-FF(P) 2007/11/13 Grant of Dearness Relief to the freedom fighters and their eligible dependents under the Swatantrata Sanik Samman Pension (SSSP) Scheme, 1980.
106- No.4/78/2006-P&PW (D) 2007/10/31 Deputation of Central Government Servants to posts in Central Autonomous Bodies - Review of Policy.
107- No.4/66/2005-P&PW (D) 2007/10/25 Amendment to Rule 37A of CCS (Pension) Rules,1972
108- No.42/2/2007-P&PW(G) 2007/09/18 Grant of dearness relief to Central Government pensioners/family pensioners - Revised rate effective from 01.07.2007.
109- No.41/3/2005 - P&PW(G) 2007/08/08 Resolution Reconstituting SCOVA
110- No.41/88/07-P&PW(E) 2007/06/09 Web based Pensioners Portal, a Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance Plan(NeGP) - Identification of Pensioners Association reg.
111- No.4/79/2006-P&PW(D) 2007/06/09 Restoration of one-third commuted portion of pension in respect of Government servants who had drawn lump sum payment on absorption in public sector undertakings/autonomous bodies - implementation of Andhra Pradesh High Court judgement dated 24.12.03 in Wr
112- No.1/19/03-P&PW(E) 2007/06/09 Extension of scope of family Pension to unmarried daughters of Central Government servants/pensioners
113- No.4/10/2006-P&PW (D) 2007/05/14 Grant of Family Pension under the Employess Pension Scheme, 1995 and Family Pension Scheme, 1971 in addition to Family Pension under Rule 54 of the CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972.
114- No.42/2/2007-P&PW(G) 2007/05/11 CORRIGENDUM - Grant of dearness relief to Central Government pensioners/family pensioners - Revised rate w.e.f 1.1.2007 & 1.7.2007.
115- No.38/86/03-P&PW(A) pt 2007/05/09 Amendment of O.M. dated 26th April,2004 relating to pay scales for the staff belonging to the Organised Accounts Department - fixation of pension.
117- No.45/86/97-P&PW(A) Part-III 2006/12/21 Implementation of government decisions on recommendations of the 5th CPC -Revision of Pension of pre and post-1986 pensioners/family pensioners etc. - Extension of date of submission of application for revision of pension/family pension.
118- No. 13/1/06-P&PW(F) 2006/11/20 Advance from the General Provident Fund (GPF) for pilgrimage and visiting places of eminence of all religions.
119- No.38/58/06-P&PW(A) 2006/11/10 Applicability of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.in respect of those appointed prior to 1.4.04 and put on induction training.
121- 1/4/06-P&PW(E) 2006/07/31 Family Pension-Appointment/ Nomination of Guardians in respect of persons suffering with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities.
122- No.34/3/2006-P&PW(G) 2006/06/29 Commutation of Pension on voluntary retirement
123- No.27012/5/2000-Estt(A) 2006/05/12 Procedure for grant of permission to the Pensioners for Commercial Employment after retirement.
125- No.9/17/2006-FF(P) 2006/04/12 Enhancement of Basic Pension under the Swatantrata Sainik Saman Pension Scheme, 1980 in respect of freedom fighters and spouses (windows/widowers) of deceased freedom fighters.
126- No.41/13/2005-P&PW(G) 2006/01/02 Merger of 50% Dearness Relief with pension to Central government pensioners/family pensioners w.e.f. 1.4.2004 - clarification regarding
127- No.38/189/2005-P&PW(F) 2005/10/27 Payment of difference of Gratuity by adding DA prevailing at the time of retirement to pre-1996 Central Government Pensioners - representation citing Supreme Court Judgements - clarification regarding
128- No.45/1/2004-P&PW(G) 2005/10/26 Implementation of the recommendation of the Vth CPC regarding conversion of 50% Dearness Relief into Dearness Pension - clarification regarding
131- No.CPAO / Tech / Amendments / Sch.Book / 2005-06/69 2005/09/06 Payment of Pension through Authorized Banks-Credit of pension to Joint bank account operated by a pensioner with his/her spouse.
132- No.38/86/03-P&PW (A) 2005/08/02 Pay scales for the staff belonging to the Organised Accounts Department. Fixation of pension
133- No.28/30/2004-P&PW(B) 2005/07/26 Counting of past service on submission of technical resignation on or after 1-1-2004 by employees governed by Central Civil Service (Pension) Rules, 1972.
135- No.45/1/2001-P&PW(E) 2005/06/30 Ceiling on two family pensions admissible to child/ children of deceased Government servants under Rule 54 (11) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972...
136- No.38/29/2001-P&PW(F) 2005/05/12 Merger of certain percentage of DA as DP for reckoning emoluments for the purpose of DCRG and raising the ceiling on the maximum amount of DCRG from Rs.1.00 lakh to Rs.2.50 lakhs--DP&PW OM No. No.7/1/1995-P&PW (F) dated 14.7.1995--Honble Supreme Court jud
137- No.4/10/2005-P&PW (D) 2005/05/12 Deputation of Central Government Officers to Central Autonomous Bodies and Central Public Enterprises
138- No.4/10/2005-P&PW(D) 2005/04/25 Deputation of Central Government officers to Central Public Enterprises
140- No.38/42/2005-P&PW(F) 2005/02/17 Payment of difference of Gratuity to pre-1996 Central Government Pensioners - clarification regarding.
141- No.45/1/2004-P&PW(G) 2005/01/27 Implementation of the recommendation of the Vth CPC regarding conversion of 50% Dearness Relief into Dearness Pension - clarification regarding.
142- No.42/2/2004-P&PW(G) 2004/09/24 Grant of dearness relief to Central Government pensioners/family pensioners - Revised rate effective from 01.07.2004
143- No.1/19/03-P&PW(E) 2004/08/30 Eligibility of divorced/widowed daughter for grant of family pension.
144- No.38/86/03-P&PW (A)-Part-III 2004/04/26 Pay scales for the staff belonging to the Organised Accounts Department. Fixation of pension
145- No.45/86/97-P&PW (A)-Part-III 2004/03/25 Implementation of recommendations of the Vth CPC pertaining to pensioners and family pensioners - revision of pension in respect of persons retired on compulsory retirement (Rule 40) and in receipt of Compassionate allowance (Rule 41).
146- No.45/52/97-P&PW(E)-Vol.II 2004/03/22 Grant of Ex-gratia payment to CPF retirees.
148- No.45/86/97-P&PW (A)-Part-III 2004/03/15 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the 5th Central Pay Commission - Revision of Pension of pre and post-1986 pensioners/family pensioners etc. - Extension of date of submission of application for revision of pension/family p
149- No.28/19/2001-P&PW (B) 2003/11/11 Counting of "Boy Service" rendered before the age of 18 years in Armed Forces, for civil pension.
152- No.4/14/2001-P&PW(D) 2003/09/19 Revision of pension and other attendant benefits of Central Government employees retired/retiring on IDA pay scales and opting for pensionary benefits of combined service in Government and public sector undertakings (PSU).
153- No.41/19/2003 - P&PW(G) 2003/06/20 Resolution Reconstituting SCOVA
154- No.38/38/02-P&PW (A) 2003/04/23 Re-employed military pensioners - removal of floor ceiling of minimum pension
155- No.38/38/02-P&PW(A) 2003/04/23 Re-employed military pensioners - removal of floor ceiling of minimum pension.
156- No.45/86/97-P&PW (A)-Part-III 2003/03/26 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the 5th Central Pay Commission - Revision of Pension of pre and post-1986 pensioners/family pensioners etc. --Extension of date of submission of application for revision of pension/ family
157- No. 28/19/2002-P&PW(B) 2003/02/19 Mobility of personnel between Central Government Departments and Autonomous Bodies- Discharging of DCRG liability by autonomous bodies where pension scheme is not in operation
158- No.4/61/99-P&PW (D) 2002/12/28 Condition for Payment of Pension on absorption consequent upon conversion of a Government Department into a Central Autonomous Body or Public Sector Undertaking
159- No.4/61/99-P&PW(D) 2002/12/20 Terms and conditions of payment of pensionary benefits in respect of Central Government employees transferred to autonomous bodies/public sector undertakings consequent upon conversion of Govt. Dept./Office into autonomous body/public sector undertaking.
160- No.42/2/2002-P&PW(G) 2002/10/31 Grant of dearness relief to Central Government pensioners/family pensioners- Revised rate effective from 01.07.2002.
161- CPAO/TECH/STG.COM/CGA/2001-02/372 2002/09/18 The Single Window System For C C pensioner W.e.f.1-11-2002 RBI Circular NO. DGBA.GAD.130/45.01.001/2002-03 Dated 30.8.2002 Refers
162- No.4/18/99-P&PW(D) 2002/08/14 Permanent transfer of Govt. servants to Govt. Companies/Corporations - grant of retirement benefits to permanent Govt. servants on absorption prior to 16.6.67.
163- No.1/19/96-P&PW(E) 2002/07/19 Grant of Family Pension under the Employees Pension Scheme, 1995 and the Family Pension Scheme, 1971 in addition to Family Pension under Rule 54 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.
164- No.38/34/2001-P&PW(F) 2002/04/29 Rate of interest payable on delayed payment of DCRG and rate of interest chargeable on refund of pensionary benefits already drawn, in connection with counting of past service under CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 and Department of Pension & Pensioners" Welfare
165- No.45/51/97-P&PW(E)-Vol.II 2002/04/19 Recommendation of the Fifth Central Pay Commission - Grant of Family Pension to Parents - clarification Regarding.
167- 45/22/97-P&PW(C) 2001/11/09 Special Benefits in cases of death and disability in service - payment of disability pension/family pension - recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission.
168- No.28/7/99-P&PW (B)(Vol.II) 2001/11/04 Re-employed military pensioners - drawal of separate military pension -removal of limitation on Civil pension.
171- No.45/51/97-P&PW(E)-Vol.II 2001/07/25 Eligibility of disabled divorced/widowed daughter for grant of family pension.
172- No.45/86/97-P&PW(A) 2001/07/08 Implementation of government decision on the recommendations of the Vth CPC - Revision of Pension of pre-96 pensioners/family pensioners etc.
173- No.45/86/97-P&PW(A) Pt.I 2001/04/12 Implementation of government decisions on recommendations of the Vth CPC - Revision of provisions regulating pension/commutation of pension.
174- No.4/29/99-P&PW(D) 2000/12/07 Restoration of 1/3rd commuted portion of pension after 15 years from the date of commutation or 1.4.85, whichever is later in respect of Government servants who had drawn lump sum payment on absorption in Public Sector Undertaking/Autonomous Body - Impleme
175- No.4/61/99-P&PW (D) 2000/09/30 (Introduction of Rule 37A in CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972)
177- No.45/86/97-P&PW(A)(pt.IV) 2000/09/21 Implementation of government decision on the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission relating to retirement benefits to pre-1986 pensioners - clarifications regarding personal pension.
179- No.38/99/99-P&PW(C) 2000/04/17 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of 5th Central Pay Commission - Grant of fixed medical allowance @ Rs.100/- p.m. to Central Government pensioners residing in areas not covered under CGHS.
180- No.45/86/97-P&PW(A)-III 2000/04/10 Implementation of government decision on the recommendations of the fifth Central Pay Commission-Revision of Pension of Pre and POST-1986 pensioners/family pensioners etc. - Extension of date of submission of application for revision of pension/family pen
181- 45/22/97-P&PW(C) 2000/03/02 Special benefits in cases of death and disability in service - payment of Disability Pension/Family pension - recommendations of Fifth Central Pay Commission
182- No.45/52/97-P&PW(E)-Vol.II 2000/01/14 Grant of Ex-Gratia payment in respect of CPF retirees and their family members.
183- No.4/14/2000-P&PW(D) 2000/01/06 Settlement of pensionary terms in respect of Government employees transferred to autonomous Organisations/public undertakings consequent on the conversion of Government Department/Office into an Autonomous Body or Public Undertaking.
184- No.4/59/98-P&PW(D) 1999/12/01 Implementation of Government"s decisions on the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission relating to retirement benefits - extension of the provisions of the O.M.No.45/10/98-P&PW(A) dated 17th December, 1998 to absorbed employees in PSUs/Autono
185- No. 45/86/97-P&PW(A)-Part-I 1999/10/18 Implementation of Governments decisions on the recommendations of the Vth Central Pay Commission - Revision relating to pension/ commutation of pension.
186- No.45/86/97-P&PW(A)-III 1999/09/24 Implementation of Governments decision on the recommendations of the fifth Central Pay Commission-Revision of Pension of Pre and Post-1986 pensioners / family pensioners etc. - Extension of date of submission of application for revision of pension / famil
187- No.42/2/99-P&PW(G) 1999/09/15 Grant of dearness relief to Central Government pensioners/family pensioners - Revised rates effective from 01.07.1999.
188- No.45/57/97-P&PW(C) 1999/08/18 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the 5th Central Pay Commission - Grant of fixed medical allowance @ Rs.100/- p.m. to Central Government pensioners residing in areas not covered under CGHS - clarifications in respect of ex
189- No.45/2/99-P&PW(E) 1999/07/22 Revision of Family Pension of pre-1996 deceased Government servants/pensioners - instructions regarding prompt revision.
190- No.45/51/97-P&PW(E) 1999/07/21 Recommendations of 5th Central Pay Commission - Grant of Family Pension to Parents, Sons and Daughters - Clarifications Regarding.
191- No.45/8/98-P&PW(E) 1999/06/22 Implementation of Government"s decision on the Recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission - Revision of enhanced family pension in case of pre-1996 pensioners/family pensioners.
192- No.33/4/98-P&PW(C) 1999/06/21 Revision of Family pension equal to last pay drawn by the deceased Government granted under liberalised Pensionery Awards-Clarification.
193- No.38/64/98-P&PW(F) 1999/05/10 Implementation of recommendations contained in para 61 of 44th Report of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Home Affairs - Time Schedule for disbursement of Pension - regarding
194- No.1/6/98-P&PW(E) 1999/05/07 Admissibility of family pension to the judicially separated spouse under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.
195- No.4/59/98-P&PW(D) 1999/05/02 Implementation of Government"s decision on the Recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission relating to retirement benefits - extension of the provisions of the O.M.No.45/10/98-P&PW(A) dated 17th December, 1998 to absorbed employees in PSUs/Autonom
196- No. 42/2/99-P&PW(G) 1999/04/23 Grant of Dearness relief to Central Government pensioners/Family pensioners. Revised rates effective from 01.01.1999.
197- No. 28/10/99-P&PW 1999/04/19 Counting of past service on mobility of employees from Central /State Government Departments to Central/State Autonomous Bodies -acceptance of belated options for counting of past service.
198- No. 45/86/97-P&PW(A) Part-III 1999/03/19 Implementation of Governments decisions on the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission-Revision of Pension of pre-1986 pensioners/family pensioners- Clarification regarding.
199- No.45/73/97-P&PW(G) 1999/02/07 Recommendations of the 5th Central Pay Commission- Payment of Dearness Relief to re-employed pensioners and employed family pensioners-Decision regarding.
200- No.45/8/97-P&PW(E) 1999/02/02 Implementation of Government"s decision on the Recommendations of the Vth Central Pay Commission - period for payment of family pension at enhanced rates.
201- No.1/9/96-P&PW(E) 1999/01/21 Amendment the Central Civil Services (pension) Rules, 1972, for persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department
202- No.1/21/91-P&PW(E) (Pt.) 1999/01/15 Payment of family pension to handicapped children - Procedure for.
203- No.45/57/97-P&PW(C) 1998/12/30 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the 5th Central Pay Commission - Grant of fixed medical allowance @ Rs.100/- p.m. to Central Government pensioners residing in areas not covered under CGHS - clarifications in respect of gr
204- No.4/56/98-P&PW(D) 1998/12/28 Restoration of one-third commuted portion of pension after 15 years from the date of commutation or 1.4.85, whichever is later in respect of Government servants who had drawn lump sum payment on absorption in Public Sector Undertaking/Autonomous Body - Imp
205- No. 45/10/98-P&PW(A) 1998/12/17 Implementation of Governments decisions on the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission relating to retirement benefits.
206- No.45/8/98-P&PW(E) 1998/12/15 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the 5th Central Pay Commission - Revision of enhanced family pension in case of pre-1996 pensioners/family pensioners.
207- 45/55/97-P&PW(C) 1998/11/09 Special Benefits in cases of Death and Disability in Service - Payment of Ex Gratia lump sum compensation to families of Central Government Civilian Employees who die in harness - Recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission.
208- No.45/86/97-P&PW(A)-Part III 1998/10/02 Implementation of government decision on the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission-Revision of pension of pre-1986 pensioners/ family pensioners etc.
209- No.42/3/98 - P&PW(G) 1998/09/15 Grant of Dearness relief to Central Government pensioners/Family pensioners. Revised rates effective from 1.7.1998.
211- No.45/86/97-P&PW(A)-Part IV 1998/08/05 Implementation of government decision on the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission- Revision/updation of family pension in respect of Government servants who retired/died on or after 1.1.1986 but before 1.1.1996.
213- No. 45/51/97-P&PW(E) 1998/05/03 Recommendation of 5th Central Pay Commission - Grant of Family Pension to Parents, sons and daughters.
214- No. 42/3/98 - P&PW(G) 1998/04/15 Grant of Dearness relief to Central Government pensioners/Family pensioners. Revised rates effective from 1.1.1998.
215- No.45/52/97-P&PW(E) 1998/03/04 Grant of ex-gratia payment in respect of CPF retirees and their family members.
216- No.23/1/97- P&PW(B) 1998/02/23 Enhancement/Sanction of ex-gratia ad-hoc allowance to Burma Civilian Pensioners/ Family Pensioners and Pensioners/families of displaced Govt. pensioners from Pakistan who are Indian national but receiving pension on behalf of Govt. of Pakistan.
217- No.45/57/97-P&PW(C) 1997/12/19 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission - Grant of fixed medical allowance @ Rs. 100/- p.m. to the Central Government pensioners residing in area not covered under CGHS.
218- No.45/52/97-P&PW (E) 1997/12/16 Grant of Ex-gratia payment in respect of CPF retirees and their family members.
219- No.45/86/97-P&PW(A)-Part II 1997/10/27 Implementation of Government"s decision on the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission Revision of pension of pre-1996 pensioners/family pensioners etc.
220- No. 45/86/97-P&PW(A)-Part I 1997/10/27 Implementation of government decision on the recommendation of the Fifth Central Pay Commission. Revision of provisions regulating pension/ commutation of pension.
221- No.42/2/97 - P&PW(G) 1997/10/27 Grant of Dearness Relief to pensioners in Implementation of government decisions on the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission.
223- No.4/3/86-P&PW (D) 1997/03/07 Restoration of one-third commuted portion of pension after 15 years from the date of commutation in respect of the Government servants who had drawn lump sum amount on their absorption in a Public Sector Undertaking/Autonomous Body - implementation of the
225- No.28/24/94-P&PW(B) 1996/09/13 Clarification that service rendered in PSUs and Financial Institutions like Nationalised Banks including RBI/SBI,Life Insurance Corporation & its subsidiaries and General Insurance Corporation & its subsidiaries can not be counted for pension purpose unde
226- No.42/18/95-P&PW(G)-VOLL.II 1996/06/09 Grant of Interim Relief to Central Government pensioners/family pensioners.
227- No.42/18/95-P&PW(G) 1995/10/16 Grant of Interim Relief to persons in receipt of ex-gratia payment.
228- No.28/24/94-P&PW (B) 1995/05/30 Clarification Regarding (i) Grant of Pro-rata retirement benefits to the permanent Central Government employees who are absorbed in the Financial Institutions like Nationalised Banks including RBI/SBI,Life Insurance Corporation & its subsidiaries and Gene
229- No.28/10/95-P&PW(B) 1995/05/30 Mobility of Personnel between Central Government Departments and Autonomous Bodies - Clarification regarding transfer of Pensionary/terminal liabilities, where employee has rendered less than Five Years Service
230- No.F.5/14/91-P&PW(B) 1993/11/24 Grant of ad-hoc ex-gratia allowance to the Burma Civilian Pensioners/family pensioners and widows who are Indian nationals and receiving payment from the Government of Burma.
231- No.29/4/91-P&PW (F) 1993/01/13 Settlement of pensionary entitlement in respect of Central Government employees absorbed in Central Public Sector Undertakings / Autonomous Bodies in individual basis - Entitlement of family pension-
232- No.5/14/91-P&PW(B) 1992/09/03 Grant of ad-hoc ex-gratia allowance to the Burma Civilian pensioners/family pensioners and widows who are Indian nationals and receiving payment from the Government of Burma.
233- No.4/42/87-P&PW (D) 1991/01/29 Parity in the matter of payment of pro-rata retirement benefits to the Government servants permanently absorbed in the Central public Sector Undertakings and Central Autonomous Bodies -Guidelines for exceptions to the immediate absorption principle -
234- No.7/20/89-P&PW(F) 1991/01/22 Payment of interest on account of delayed payment of retirement/ death gratuity - regarding.
235- 28/10/84-PPW/Vol. II(D) 1989/07/20 Counting of service for purposes of pension of employees of Central Government and Central Autonomous Bodies seeking absorption in Autonomous Bodies under the State Government and vice-versa
236- No.4/18/87-P&PW (D) 1989/05/07 Settlement of pensionary terms etc., in respect of Government employees transferred en masse to Central Public Sector Undertakings/Central Autonomous bodies
237- No.4/42/87-P&PW 1988/04/19 Parity in the matter of payment of pro-rata retirement benefits to the Government servants permanently absorbed in the Central Public Sector Undertakings and Central Autonomous Bodies -Guidelines for exceptions to the immediate absorption principle -
238- No.28/2/85-P&PW(B) 1988/02/22 Mobility of Personnel between Central Government Departments and Autonomous Bodies - Extension of benefit of counting of past service to the pensioners, who retired prior to issue O.M. dated 29/08/1984.
239- No.5/1/85-P&PW 1987/07/17 Enhancement/Sanction of ad-hoc ex-gratia allowance to Burma Civilian Pensioners/ Family Pensioners and Pensioners/families of displaced Government pensioners from Pakistan who are Indian nationals but receiving pension on behalf of Government of Pakistan.
240- No.4(12)/85-P&PW 1987/03/31 Parity in the matter of payment of pro-rata retirement benefits to the Government servants permanently absorbed in the Central Public Sector Undertakings and Central Autonomous Bodies.
241- 28/10/84-PPW Vol.II 1987/03/20 Counting of service for purposes of pension of employees of Central Government and Central Autonomous Bodies seeking absorption in Autonomous Bodies under the State Government and vice-versa
242- 28/10/84-PPW. Vol. II 1986/10/30 Counting of service for purposes of pension of employees of Central Government and Central Autonomous Bodies seeking absorption in Autonomous Bodies under the State Government and vice-versa
243- No. 28(10)/84-P&PW.Vol.II 1986/07/02 Counting of service for purpose of Pension of employees of Central Government and Central Autonomous Bodies seeking absorption in Autonomous Bodies under the state Governments and vice-versa.
244- 28/10/84-PPW Vol. II 1986/06/17 Counting of service for purposes of pension of employees of Central Government and Central Autonomous Bodies seeking absorption in Autonomous Bodies under the State Government and vice-versa
245- No.28/10/84-PU-Volume-I 1985/12/09 Mobility of personnel between Central Government Departments and Central Autonomous Bodies - Refund of Pensionary/terminal benefits by Employee or Transfer of Pensionary/terminal liabilities by previous Department/Autonomous Body
246- No.28/10/84-Pension Unit 1984/08/29 Mobility of personnel between Central Government Departments and Central Autonomous Bodies - Counting of service for pension
Act/Rules/Manuals
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Okhrana Studios
Graphic Design, Sound, Theatre, Visual Arts, Writing
The News Of The World, Live From Small Town Wagga!
okhranastudios@gmail.com
Our primary project, NEMISIS, is a Science-Fiction, Alternate History multimedia series that encompasses film, comics and radio dramas!
NEMISIS is set in an alternate, dystopian 1980s where the Cold War is still alive and kicking and war is moreso a business venture than a matter of moral values.
At the moment, we are developing a pilot episode for the radio drama, titled; ‘The Black Sea Hounds‘.
Our intention is to use as much local talent as possible, with little to no foreign outsourcing.
You read right! 100% Home Grown!
CREATIVE RIVERINA is an initiative of Eastern Riverina Arts, delivered in partnership with Western Riverina Arts. Eastern Riverina Arts and Western Riverina Arts are supported by the NSW Government through CREATE NSW, and are members of REGIONAL ARTS NSW. We acknowledge the financial and in-kind support of its member Councils.
Feature image by Claire Moorehouse, Wagga Wagga
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CyberLynx – Oregon
Free Computer Classes for the Greater Bandon Community
CyberLynx
More About Labs
Offering free computer classes to the public.
An all volunteer staff provides computer literacy classes in collaboration with the Bandon Public Library and Bandon Library Friends and Foundation. On this site, you’ll find information about CyberLynx, the computer classes, the schedule and the class materials provided to students who attend.
Our goals are:
Providing classes and labs for computer literacy and technical skills training.
Giving technical assistance for community-based projects and non-profits.
Cyberlynx is a 501(c) (3) all-volunteer organization founded in 1996 in Coos County Oregon. Its mission is to both initiate and support projects that “bridge the digital divide” in Oregon’s south coast area.
You can register for classes:
OnLine. Use the Online Registration navigation link.
By calling us and leaving a voice message. Call 541.236.2038.
By appointment. We may be able to help you if cannot attend the scheduled labs. Call 541.236.2038 and leave a message. We’ll meet you at the Library at an agreed-upon time during Library business hours.
Classes Held At Bandon Library
See Class Schedule
Please join us as a volunteer instructor or lab assistant, or help us with administrative and marketing tasks. Call us at 541.236.2038 or use the "Contact Us" form.
View cyberlynxoregon’s profile on Facebook
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Thank you for your patience today and welcome to the newest version of Cyclone Fanatic!
Most of the changes we have made are very simple, but will greatly improve your user experience while visiting the website.
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SENIORS: Heartfelt actions merge with parting words for Mike Jacobson and Prentiss Nixon
Rob Gray, Mar 02 • 0 Comments
Feb 15, 2020; Ames, Iowa, USA; Texas Longhorns center Will Baker (50) is defended by Iowa State Cyclones forward Michael Jacobson (12) and guard Tre Jackson (3) at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones beat the Longhorns 81 to 52. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
AMES — Mike Jacobson grew up cheering in the Jack Trice Stadium stands.
At Hilton Coliseum, too.
He saw many magic-tinged wins — and plenty of disappointing losses, as well.
Tuesday night against West Virginia, the 6-9 Waukee High School graduate will play his last home game as a Cyclone.
And despite the many ups and downs of his career — along with the team’s mercurial fortunes — he’ll prize the experience of playing for a school he grew up loving. A school that recruited him both in football and basketball. A school at which his grandpa, Bob, played both football and baseball.
“Obviously the sit-out year was something in itself,” said Jacobson, who earned all-Big 12 Tournament honors last season as the Cyclones surged to a championship in Kansas City. “Last year was, you know, unbelievable and then this year obviously didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but I don’t think I would trade it for anything. A big thing would be the fans. The support is unbelievable and they definitely make it a special place and a special environment.”
They’ll do that for Senior Night, too — for Jacobson, a Nebraska transfer, and guard Prentiss Nixon, who both strive to guide the Cyclones (12-17, 5-11 Big 12) to an upset win over the beleaguered Mountaineers (19-10, 7-9).
West Virginia once sat 6-3 in the Big 12 standings but has dropped six of its last seven games — including a rare double-digit home loss Saturday to Oklahoma.
The Mountaineers remain dangerous, though, largely because of an elite defense that can turn teams over with full-court pressure and still stifle offense in the half-court, as well.
“We’ve got to take care of the ball,” ISU coach Steve Prohm said. “Our guard play has got to be really good. You’ve got to have good spacing. This is really not a set game. This is a players’ game from the standpoint of you’ve got to keep the floor spaced, you’ve got to land on two feet, you’ve got to move the ball, you’ve got to make the extra pass. And then we have open shots, we’ve got to knock them down.”
That — along with well-documented defensive woes — has been an ongoing issue all season.
“We’ve got to be good defensively, to where we’re not just getting overpowered in the paint,” Prohm said. “We’re not giving up second-chance points. We’re not putting them on the free-throw line, because then the game slows down and they’re able to set their press. … We’re trying to figure out an offensive game plan to spread them out and attack the basket and make good decisions, but, man, really, you’ve got to be really good against them defensively. If we can do that, it opens up a lot of things for us offensively.”
Regardless of the outcome, Prohm’s tradition of having his seniors open up with a mic to address the fans after the game will continue.
Nixon — who transferred from Colorado State where he played for former ISU coach Larry Eustachy — said it will be hard to put into words what being a Cyclone has meant to him.
“In college, you try to push off that senior day as far as possible,” Nixon said. “But it’s here. Time waits for no man. It’s here and I’m still trying to get my words together, what I’m going to say. There’s so much you can say about this place, about these people. Coach Prohm and his staff, my teammates, my family — there’s only so much you can say in such a small amount of time. But I appreciate coach Prohm for giving me the opportunity to play here. I’m grateful for the fans’ support, no matter what’s going on. It’s easy to fall off, but they stayed here and supported us through it all. I can’t put into words how I feel about this place.”
He just did, as did Jacobson. And despite a season filled with shooting struggles and more losses than wins, that’s saying something for those two seniors, who both have graduated, but still want to make some noise in the few games that remain in their college careers — and for the younger players in seasons to come.
“We’re big on definitely doing things the right way,” Nixon said. “You can’t really control the game. Stay in the gym. Keep chipping away at it. Keep watching film. Be a good person with good habits and good things will happen. They may not happen right away. We all want them to happen right away, but things don’t happen like that. Life doesn’t happen like that. Just sticking with it, sticking with the process, like I said, a breakthrough will happen. We don’t know when it will happen, but it will happen.”
Rob Gray
View articles by Rob Gray administrator
Rob, an Ames native, joined Cyclone Fanatic in August, 2014 after nearly a decade and a half of working at Iowa's two largest newspapers. He spent 10 years at the Des Moines Register and, after a brief stint in public relations, joined the Cedar Rapids Gazette as an Iowa State correspondent three years ago. Rob specializes in feature stories for CF.
Follow @@ROBWGRAY
Previous SPRING POSITION PREVIEW: Running backs
Next CFTV: Prohm previews senior night
RECRUITING: ISU makes the cut for CSU transfer Prentiss Nixon’s top-four, schedules visit
ISU’s Prentiss Nixon: Denial is key to slowing Seton Hall star Myles Powell
Prentiss Nixon undergoing surgery to repair bone spurs in ankle
WBB: Joens’ 32 points, late-game heroics sink Sooners
Started by Connor Ferguson
Iowa State @ Texas Tech MBB postponed
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AI for industry
News • Business • 24.04.2019 • Natalie A. Gerhardstein
Wizata Founder & CEO Jean-Philippe Hugo: “It is particularly important for us to help the process industry.”
Photo: Vincent Duterne
Rolling coverage: Hospitalisations stabilise on Monday
News • Current affairs • 20.01.2021
2021 as the year of reconstruction
News • Business • 20.01.2021
The Economist’s “World In 2019” predicted that tech, including artificial intelligence, will be everywhere this year. And the grand duchy is no exception. One Luxembourg startup, Wizata, has made rapid developments in AI.
Founded in 2014 by then 26-year-old Jean-Philippe Hugo, the company’s current CEO, Wizata uses AI technology to empower industry and metal manufacturers to optimise their capabilities.
The technology “goes from predictive to prescriptive analytics: from the multitude of possible outcomes that are simulated, the best course of action is identified to achieve the objectives, generating recommendations to improve production processes,” says Hugo. These optimisations can range from environmental and energy challenges, to improving quality and cost reduction through predictive maintenance.
Since its founding in 2014, Wizata has made quick strides, winning the Startup of the Year at the Luxembourg ICT awards in 2016 and being named 2017 Microsoft Country Partner of the Year for Luxembourg.
After its initial launch, Wizata benefitted from a fundraising of €1.5m via the Digital Tech Fund, Luxinnovation and BIL in 2018, enabling the company in the same year to double its number of full-time employees, from 10 to 20. The company is now in the phase of scaling up to more international customers. According to Philippe Maes, chief strategy officer and partner, there has been a current focus on steel, but the platform could also be used in derivatives, like copper, or materials such as glass, cement or lime.
Fertile ground
“Luxembourg was once at the forefront of the industrial revolution, and it is particularly important for us to help the process industry… in its renewal through digital transformation,” Hugo says. In fact, both Hugo and Maes see Luxembourg as “fertile ground” when it comes to new technologies and AI, whether it’s because of talent or the startup ecosystem.
“In Luxembourg, the Digital Tech Fund, Luxinnovation, the Chamber of Commerce and the ministry of economy are fostering a fertile environment for cutting-edge tech in a global market,” says Hugo. Maes adds: “There’s a big trend now to work with very niche, specialised companies [that] are… agile and don’t have the massive overhead and legacy that larger companies have.”
Wizata chief strategy officer & partner Philippe Maes Photo: Vincent Duterne
Based in Luxembourg, Wizata has also attracted talent from locations as wide-ranging as Russia and Ukraine to Spain and Morocco. “Luxembourg is a very attractive place for talent, that’s a big asset,” says Maes.
AI creating opportunities
The Wizata platform is Microsoft-based, but one area in which Maes sees some barriers is in the view of the cloud. He hopes more will get comfortable accessing the cloud, given that it is “secure, powerful… and cheaper” than other options. “There’s a lot of paranoia around [AI],” including the fear of jobs being replaced or functions automated. “But then, you have a huge demand for other types of profiles. The people we’re hiring are 100 percent Stem [science, technology, engineering and maths], so I think it will create great opportunities also.”
Maes says: “I see AI as an additional tool, an additional way of getting information, not very different from suddenly having the internet or cell phones or apps… it’s just an extra tool that humans have to improve their quality of life.”
Jean-Philippe Hugo • Philippe Maes • Wizata • Luxinnovation • Digital Tech Fund • manufacturing • industry • startups • entrepreneurship
Lux AI startup Wizata raises €1.5 million
Lux amps up innovation at Hanover trade fair
Sure, it can backflip – but can a robot hold down a desk job?
News • Careers • 18.02.2019
Lux AI ecosystem gets boost with new cooperation
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Cagle Cartoonists in France
Every year a big group of cartoonists from our syndicate meet up in France with cartoonists from around the world.
This year 23 CagleCartoonists were there. The “Salon” at St. Just le Martel has become a Cagle convention as we meet with the French cartoonists at their “National Assembly.” There is a great atmosphere as the townsfolk all turn out to support the editorial cartoonists at their very impressive, municipal cartoon museum. We did an exhibition about “guns.”
Here are a few pics of the cartoonists. The first is a group shot of the CagleCartoonists who happened to be there on the last day. That’s me in front, with festival president/founder Gerard Vandenbroucke. There are 19 CagleCartoonists in the photo, which were all we could round up at the moment. A nice French lady who is a courtroom artist wandered into the photo by mistake, so I replaced her head with the head of Angel Boligan, who should have been there but was confused, in the other room. Trying to get cartoonists to do anything together requires mastery in cat herding.
Above, from left to right: Tom Janssen (Holland), Jos Collignon (Holland), Jeff Koterba (USA), Pierre Ballouhey (who is also the president of the French cartoonists association), Gary McCoy (USA), Gatis Sluka (Latvia), Emad Hajjaj (Jordan), Joep Bertrams (Holland), Rick McKee (USA), Bruce Plante (USA), Cristina Sampaio (Portugal), Osama Hajjaj (Jordan), Ed Wexler (USA), Nate Beeler (USA), the head of Angel Boligan (Mexico), pasted on top of a lady who wandered into the photo, Pat Bagley (USA), Brian Adcock (Britain), and Christo Komarnitsky (Bulgaria).
Above, a group of us are having dinner on the first night, taken by a waiter who was rather challenged by the very difficult idea of getting everyone’s face in the photo. That’s me on the left, brave Russian cartoonist Sergey Elkin, who is blocking the face of his wife Tatiana, then there’s Sergei’s son, Toni and Ed Wexler, Nate Beeler and 1/3 of Bruce Plante’s face.
Above, a bunch of us are having dinner at Chez Denise on our last night there – from left to right, Jeff Koterba and his girlfriend Christine, me wearing my son’s band’s t-shirt, Ed Wexler, our waiter/cartoonist/host Noder (Cyril Redon), Cristina Sampaio, Toni Wexler (Ed’s wife) Nate Beeler, brilliant French cartoonist Jackie Redon (Noder’s father and name spelled backwards), and Yves Frémion who publishes the cartoon journal on the table under Jeff’s phone. The restaurant is great, and festooned with 1970’s illustration art like I grew up with in college.
Funny how so much of the internet is devoted to pictures of people eating.
The pic above is the room where the Paris City Council meets, in the Paris City Hall – it is the “Tignous Room” named after the famed, late, beloved Charlie Hebdo cartoonist, Tignous, whose cartoons adorn the walls. I can’t imagine a City Council doing something like that in the USA. We had a cocktail party there.
The pic above is a panorama photo from my seat at the Cartooning Global Forum at UNESCO in Paris – this shows about a third of the 100 people there. It is very difficult to get cartoonists to agree on what issues face us, even as print is dying for all of us and our colleagues are brutalized around the world. Also, the USA pulled out of UNESCO. Any talk about cartooning issues is a good thing and it looks like this conference will be an annual event. That’s good.
Below are a couple more from the Cartooning Global Forum at UNESCO, from Nicolas Jacquette, one of the tireless, heroic organizers …
And another from Jacquette and his “Studio Irresistible” (with brilliant co-organizer Jerome Leninger) … I’m hidden in this one.
Below are 7 Cagle Cartoonists at an exhibition opening in Limoges, from left to right, Nate Beeler, Me, in the background, the tiny head of Jean-Michel Delambre (the French cartoonist who won the cow/grand prize at St Just this year), Rick McKee, Gary McCoy, Jeff Koterba, Pat Bagley and Emad Hajjaj.
Regrettably, the tradition of a live cow for the grand cow winner in St Just has come to an end. Last year, when Angel Boligan won the cow, the cow went a little “vaca loco” and charged away from its handler, a kid who broke his finger handling the wild cow leash. This year there was a much better behaved inflatable cow for Jean-Michel Delambre.
In the pic below, a bunch of us are drinking at 1:00am in a cafe in Paris. From left to right are Jeff Koterba, the two wives of Tom Janssen and Jos Colignon (Els and Irma), Bruce Plante, Pat Bagley and his lovely girlfriend Kate, Gary McCoy, Ed Wexler, Rick McKee, Christo Komarnitsky, Jos Collignon, a tiny face of Toni, Ed’s wife, me, Gatis Sluka leaning back, Tom Janssen, Jeff’s girlfriend Christine and Nate Beeler. It looks like our waitress is in the back room, throwing up, or “boofing” as Justice Kavanaugh would say.
In the pic below are Cagle Cartoonists Cristina Sampaio (Portugal), Chris Weyant (New Jersey) and Neils Bo Bojesen (Denmark) in the St Just parking lot next to the giant lunch/dinner tent where big, heavy construction vehicles are parked, to prevent a terrorist from driving a truck into the dinner tent. Editorial cartoonists are always under threat, and always hungry.
Here’s a group of cartoonists in a pic from the St Just Salon folks …
I must thank the inspired volunteers for the Salon at St Just le Martel, and the heroic volunteers who put together the Cartooning Global Forum, which I hope to see continue as an annual event!
Tags and Christo Komarnitsky (Bulgaria), Angel Boligan, Brian Adcock (Britain), Bruce Plante (USA), Cristina Sampaio (Portugal), Ed Wexler (USA), Emad Hajjaj (Jordan), Gary McCoy (USA), Gatis Sluka (Latvia), Gerard Vandenbroucke, Jeff Koterba (USA), Joep Bertrams (Holland), Jos Collignon (Holland), Nate Beeler (USA), Osama Hajjaj (Jordan), Pat Bagley (USA), Pierre Ballouhey, Rick McKee (USA), St. Just Le Martel, Tom Janssen (Holland)
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public law firms
Once you or someone you love is facing prison prices, it is smart to start out doing all of your research so as to higher understand the law and what you may expect during the judicial process. All which lay in the same confusion and disorder as the Roman civil law, until concerning the 12 months 1151, when one Gratian, an Italian monk, animated by the invention of Justinian’s Pandects, lowered the ecclesiastical constitutions additionally into some technique, in three books, which he entitled Concordia discordantium canonum, however that are generally known by the identify of Decretum Gratiani.
This subject explores the legal history of the United States as a gendered system. The term civil law is mostly applied by means of eminence to the civil or municipal law of the Roman empire, without distinction as to the time when the ideas of such law had been established or modified.
A. The body of guidelines and rules governing the affairs of a group and enforced by a political authority; a authorized system: worldwide law. Such a specialized dictionary is helpful not just for law students and for attorneys themselves, however for members of the lay public who require legal services.
The rent laws in Malta dissect Maltese tenants into two classes: those who contracted their lease previous to 1995 and those who signed their lease contract after 1995. 2. Stalking laws – Wisconsin Statute 940.32; you would have to go after every particular person stalker which, as we know, is troublesome to do if the individuals doing the stalking rotate and change and when you can bother to get law enforcement to take you significantly.
Virtually all prison laws are statutory, so widespread law principles are rarely applied in felony instances. Case law analysis can also be carried out utilizing the Web For instance, Cornell University’s on-line Legal Information Institute ( ) offers current and historic U.S. Supreme Courtroom selections, in addition to latest New York appeals decisions.
The law is a body of rules that is designed to control the blameworthy conduct of individuals. A set of topics has been selected to develop understanding of the situational and systemic calls for inside which actors within the legal system function and carry out their roles; at the similar time, we’ll attempt to uncover systematic patterns within the uses and consequences of law.
The rule is that an individual’s ignorance of the law could prejuuice him, however that his ignorance of truth is not going to. In all circumstances beneath these property tax exemption laws in-lieu of tax funds have been required. Worldwide law can refer to 3 things: public international law, private worldwide law or battle of laws and the law of supranational organisations.
He defines civil law to be a rule of human motion, adopted by mankind in a state of society, or prescribed by the supreme energy of the federal government, requiring a course of conduct not repugnant to morality or faith, productive of the best political happiness, and prohibiting actions contrary thereto, and which is enforced by the sanctions of pains and penalties.
four. By the time period civil law can be understood the particular law of each folks, opposed to pure law, or the law of nations, that are widespread to all. A judicial resolution legally binds the parties in the case, and also may function a law in the same prospective sense as does a statute.
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The rent laws in Malta dissect Maltese tenants into two classes: those that contracted their lease prior to 1995 and people who signed their lease contract after 1995. 192 The law of the trendy company started with the Joint Inventory Corporations Act 1856 , passed within the United Kingdom, which supplied buyers with a easy registration procedure to gain restricted legal responsibility under the separate authorized persona of the corporation.
2. Law is generally divided into 4 principle courses, specifically; Natural law, the law of nations, public law, and private or civil law. The controlling influence of such guidelines; the condition of society led to by their observance: maintaining law and order.
Electrical Engineering And Laptop Science
3. A rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a, state. Civil procedure and felony process concern the foundations that courts should follow as a trial and appeals proceed.
The healthcare subject is the topic of a bunch of federal statutes, laws, tips, interpretive info, and mannequin steerage. Examples embrace a Grasp of Laws , a Grasp of Legal Research , a Bar Professional Training Course or a Physician of Laws), and are constituted in workplace by legal forms of appointment ( being admitted to the bar ). There are few titles of respect to indicate well-known lawyers, akin to Esquire , to indicate barristers of higher dignity, 127 128 and Doctor of law , to indicate an individual who obtained a PhD in Law.
three. take the law into one’s own hands, to manage justice as one sees match without recourse to legal processes. Courts of law are a fundamental part of the U.S. judicial system. To mete out justice as one sees fit without due recourse to law enforcement companies or the courts.
It has by no means been diminished to writing; by this expression, nevertheless, it isn’t meant that each one these laws are at current merely oral, or communicated from former ages to the present solely by word of mouth, however that the evidence of our widespread law is contained in our books of Studies, and depends on the general apply and judicial adjudications of our courts.
The Supreme Court docket has the ability to make law binding all through the country on federal constitutional issues. Federal administrative agency rules are accredited by Congress, so in the end they are a product of the will of elected officials. California and Kansas both consider public intoxication a misdemeanor, while Nevada and Montana haven’t any public intoxication laws.
The law is a physique of guidelines that’s designed to manage the blameworthy conduct of individuals. There are certain exceptions to trespassing laws together with law enforcement, meter readers and authorities surveyors. Roman law within the days of the Roman Republic and Empire was heavily procedural, and lacked an expert legal class. Mr. Chitty defines municipal law to be “a rule of civil conduct, prescribed by the supreme power in a state, commanding what shall be carried out or what shall not be done.” 1 Bl. Com.
In another sense, the civil law is that collection of laws comprised in the institutes, the code, and the digest of the emperor Justinian, and the novel constitutions of himself and some of his successors. Selections by native courts generally function as law insofar as they apply to the members within the case.
P.L.1991, c.431 with last retroactive amendments effective August 5, 1992 consolidated, into yet another versatile law, the varied long term tax exemption laws underneath which municipalities could agree with non-public entities to undertake redevelopment initiatives in return for tax exemptions. The previous are legal syllogism , which holds sway in civil law legal techniques, analogy , which is present in common law authorized methods, particularly in the US, and argumentative theories that happen in both techniques. Law within the United States is a mosaic of statutes, treaties, case law, Administrative Company regulations, govt orders, and local laws.
Similarly, on the state and native levels, an administrative agency may promulgate rules that have the power of law, but only at the pleasure of the elected lawmakers that created the agency. The new law is a begin to correcting systemic flaws and gaps that denied rape victims an opportunity at justice.
lawang wangi creative space, lawang sewu malang, lawan kata dari bersyukur terhadap nikmat allah adalah
The healthcare discipline is the topic of a bunch of federal statutes, rules, tips, interpretive info, and mannequin guidance. 186 The law of the modern company started with the Joint Inventory Firms Act 1856 , handed in the United Kingdom, which supplied investors with a simple registration process to achieve limited liability beneath the separate authorized persona of the corporation.
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OSUN: 29 Years After By Kunle Oyatomi
Barrister Kunle Oyatomi
Twenty-nine years after its creation on August 27,1991, the State of Osun has come a long way. From the days it was governed by military administrators through the period it had the reign of elected governors, Osun has had a chequered history. It has had an era of bloom. But it has also faced moments of gloom, bringing it to the tip of doom, when naysayers painted unpalatable pictures of a failed state in the making. Many said that Osun, split from Oyo State, might not be able to survive the challenges of ‘independent’ statehood.
Well, at a point, when civil servants’ salaries were deferred or fractioned and a huge backlog of arrears followed, the doomsday prophets began to beat their chest. “We’ve been proved right,’’ they said. “Osun won’t survive this crisis’’, was their sing-song. Sad to recollect, there were some among early optimists who were converted to the camp of the pessimists. They also began to doubt the possibility of Osun overcoming its teething problems to come out as one of the leading states of the federation.
From the first military administrator, Leo Aborisha to the first elected governor, Isiaka Adeleke, through other martial rulers, Anthony Udofia, Anthony Obi and Theophilus Bamigboye, along with more elected governors, Adebisi Akande, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Rauf Aregbesola down to incumbent Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, the people of the state have witnessed a succession of policies that have ensured the steady move of Osun from the cusp of disaster to the realm of stability and progress. Osun has confounded those who waited for a failed state.
But in the days of the reign of the All Progressives Congress, APC administrations, the State of Osun has made gigantic strides through the sterling performance of its governors, bringing good fortunes to the people and restoring hopes for a promising future. The state has become synonymous with the acclaimed Omoluabi, (Integrity) culture, a trademark that stands the citizen out of the crowd.
Long-headed policies of APC administrations have given birth to unprecedented feats. Little Osun, with one of the least populations, 3,416,959 in 2006, now numbers among the leaders in education. An Osun student emerged the Best Young Nigerian Scientist recently, leading him to have a rare audience with President Buhari in Abuja. Today, Osun is home to one of the largest concentrations of universities in Nigeria.
In the economy, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics has recorded that Osun’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, has risen from N10.4b in 2018 to N17.9b in 2019. This is a 72.6% rise. It is healthy prognosis suggesting that the government’s target of N36b is achievable. Experts have hinged this engaging outlook on the fact that the figures place Osun in the list of states with the highest positive growths in Nigeria.
There have been correspondingly undeniable leaps in the delivery of infrastructure, not only in the urban centres, but also in the rural regions. New modern roads are in place, while old ones are being modernized and widened.
The health sector is getting a rebirth under the government of Oyetola with a $20m primary healthcare grant being judiciously applied to refurbish more than 250 health centres all over the state.
Lately, Osun has begun to lead the way in the quest to wean the economy from its dependence on crude earnings. The state is investing ginormous capital in agriculture, mining and tourism. These are, unlike the fickle oil income, not subject to international variables that destabilize developing economies.
That is the future Osun is building, after enduring a past of mixed fortunes that has finally led it to a position of advantageous stability to launch it and its citizens to greatness in the years ahead.
Congratulations, the good people of the State of Osun.
OYATOMI is the spokesperson of the APC in the state of Osun
Related Topics:Barr Kunle OyatomiOSUN
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Designed by Renato Levi. Trident was undoubtedly one of the most significant powerboats of her size and class of her era. Her race career is probably also the longest of almost any powerboat, having been competitively campaigned mainly in the Cowes-Torquay race from 1962 right through to 1975, a race career totalling 13 years. During all this time she remained competitive. She inspired a number of designs of pleasure craft both then and now, traces of her lines can still be seen in contemporary pleasure craft. Her hull formed the basis of a number of powerboats of the sixties and seventies namely the Triana and Omega craft.
Trident was originally built for Don Shead and his father ready for the 1962 Cowes-Torquay race. She was built by Ron and Wally Clark of East Cowes and was the first of a number of wooden Trident boats to be built by them as fast pleasure craft. She was one of Renato Levi’s early powerboat designs and her design considerations are explained in hisbook, “Dowhs to Deltas”. She was unique for her time in that she was originally fitted with a triple engine installation- very unusual in such a small craft. This also accounted for her name. She was well fancied for the 1962 Cowes Torquay race, which in those days was a punishing 150 odd miles with average duration of approximately 4-5 hours.
However, during the 1962 race she suffered damage in the first leg of the race around the Isle of White, caused either by hitting something in the water, or excessive flexing of her hull, a design fault which Renato Levi himself thinks may have caused the damage. After the 1962 race the hull was strengthened and after various tests it was decided that one of the engine installations be removed, so for the rest of her career the boat ran with a twin-engine installation. It is interesting to note that despite the removal of one engine, the performance of the vessel dropped only marginally. Due probably to most of the 110 horsepower of the engine being absorbed by the engine’s weight, appendage drag of the additional out leg and the overall weight of the engine installation causing the vessel to be trimmed excessively by the stern.
The 1963 Cowes race was probably her most successful and interesting race. Contemporary writers thought she had an extremely good chance of winning despite the fact she was up against significant competition from boats at least twice her length and with five times her horsepower. She did extremely well in the race as can be read in some of the contemporary press coverage, despite a collision with Emile Savundras’ “Jackie S” which had spent most of the race careering violently out of control. Had it not been for Don Shead’s quick thinking and excellent driving skills the collision could have proven to be the end of Trident’s race. The extremely rough weather conditions in Lyme Bay gave the bigger, heavier craft the advantage. However, Don Shead and his father drove extremely well against some of the larger competition, managing to finish seventh, giving Trident a win in her class, £200 prize money, and the Cowes town cup. Don Shead parted company with Trident after the 1963 season. The boat was acquired by Don Robertson, who entered the boat in the 1964 race, again in 1964 the boat came in a very presentable ninth, again winning its class and the Cowes Town Cup.
Don Robertson continued to campaign the vessel in the Cowes Torquay cup for the next four years and always, except in 1965 when he did not finish, came in a presentable position as seen in the list of finishing places below. This was an exceptionally good performance bearing in mind that the vessel was six or seven years old and competing in a sport where evolution of design was leaping ahead year by year. Trident would have probably continued to win her class based on her record of finishing and her performance. However in 1966 the class specifications changed and the specifications for production boats meant Trident was no longer eligible in that class. This meant Trident would have to run in class two in which she gradually became uncompetitive.
VIVA TRIDANTE
Robertson eventually parted with Trident after the 1968 race. It is worth noting that from 1963 to 1971 other Trident’s, “Jupiter of the Isles” and “Viva Tridante” were entered by J. Taylor and Derek Smith respectively their results can be seen in the table below. Trident changed hands a few times in the next three years and was eventually bought by Roger Kelly. He sent her to Toll Craft where Ian Toll made a number of substantial changes so she would comply with the current class 2C rules and be competitive. To achieve this a new higher cabin top was fitted and cockpit side altered to match the cabin top.
When completed Trident looked a much more up to date boat and still quite elegant although her original builder, Mr Clarke felt she was rather ugly when compared to her original turtle top cabin configuration. In addition to the cabin alterations her two original Volvo engines were changed for a pair of substantially modified 165 Mercruiser engines running Cosworth high compression heads, Moor-race cams, high performance pushrods, cam followers, double valve springs, and full flow oil coolers. Total output estimated at 250 hp per engine. This was the configuration when Trident was entered for the 1975 race running in class IIC. However the engines proved to be unreliable and both in 1975 and 1976 Trident failed to finish with Roger Kelly and Geoff Hunton at the controls. Adrian Mott acquired Trident in 1978 by this time she was in a sorry state having been left standing for two or three years in the same state as when she retired from her last race. She had one blown engine and one seized. After careful inspection of the hull was found to be in sound condition although suffering badly from neglect a result of a punishing racing life with little maintenance, The inspection revealed that a number of fastenings had worked loose causing bulkheads to fracture in turn allowing the hull to flex to much and pull rivets. The original cleverly designed sprung cockpit decks were collapsing under the weight of two 100 gallon, fuel tanks fitted on the beams by Tollcraft. We decided to strip the entire boat, all damaged panels were removed Fastenings and rivets were tightened and repairs to damaged areas were carried out with modern epoxy resins. To ensure the hull was watertight it was decided to sheath the hull to the waterline in epoxy. There was evidence of this having been done in polyester resin in the past during Roger Kelley’s ownership although the hull had not been allowed to dry out sufficiently and had therefore come away. This time the hull was allowed to dry out properly was sanded back to bare wood then sheathed in epoxy resin and woven cloth up to the waterline.
This restoration work was carried out over a number of years with quite long breaks due to either lack of time or funds. At one point during this period the boat narrowly escaped destruction when the storage shed was burnt to the ground. The engines and outdrives were rebuilt by Mike Bellamy but were unfortunately they were stolen during while in storage. With most of the restoration work on the hull was completed Trident is probably in a sounder and more seaworthy condition than during her latter racing life. With most of the work completed Trident now only requires a pair of engines and out drives to make her fully functional.
Trident race results
Trident and other Trident boats
1963 – 8th – Race No 2
D.K.Shead – Entered as production boat class3 (based on sale price) – Cowes Town Cup 1st prod Class 3
Jupiter of the Isles
1963 – 17th – Race No. 67
J.Taylor & J.Macpherson – 3rd Production Class3
1964 – 9th – Race No. 3
D.Robertson & J.Robertson – Cowes Town Cup 1st Prod Class 3
1965 – DNF – Race No. 103
D.Robertson
1966 – 7th – Race No. 103
1967 – 12th – Race No. 103
Viva Tridante Race No. 100
1968 – 14th Race No. 103
1968 -DNF – Race No. 100
1969 – No Entry
1971 – Race No. 100
1975 – DNF – Race No. 007 (Oh Lor)
Other Trident boats that raced were;
“Posiden” Race No. 34 T.Threlfall
“Mister Smith II” P.Mckiernan
All Trident boats were built by Ron and Wally Clark Ltd of COWES I.O.W.
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19-Year-Old Boy Dies While Having S3x With Prostitute In Lagos Hotel
A 19-year-old boy identified as Maduabuchi Okeke, made his last love on top of a prostitute in the Surulere area of Lagos state.
According to Lagos State Command which confirmed the report, Okeke “died on top of one Sandra,” a commercial s*x worker at the Exclusive Mansion Hotel on Ayilara Street in the area.
The police said its personnel had arrested and detained the s*x worker and two security guards in the hotel for allegedly smuggling Okeke’s corpse out of the hotel.
It was gathered that on the evening of last Friday, the deceased had reportedly brought the s*x worker into a room in the hotel for the night.
When Sandra, however, discovered that Okeke had died during the s*x romp, she sneaked out. She contacted two security men in the hotel, Ottah Nduka and Aliu Tiwalola, to smuggle the corpse out of the premises.
According to the police investigation, the corpse was kept in a vehicle and placed on one Ejike’s leg who was asked to take the deceased to the hospital as if he was only unconscious.
Ejike, however, reported the matter at the Surulere Police Station.
The police report reads, “One Maduabuchi Okeke, aged 19, died on top of one Sandra (other name withheld) who is a prostitute at Exclusive Mansion Hotel. Two security men in the hotel smuggled the corpse from the hotel and placed the deceased on one Ejike Naso’sNaso’s legs. They threatened to kill Naso if he told anybody how the deceased died.
“Meanwhile, the prostitute and the two security men have been arrested during to know the real cause of his death further be conducted on Maduabuchi to further know the real cause of his death before his corpse would be released to his family for burial.
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English-Born Ghanaian Footballer, Derrick Otim Dead After Drowning In A Lake In The US
24-year-old English-born Ghanaian footballer, Derrick Otim has died after drowning in a lake in the United States. The…
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HomeCurrent Page:AboutResourcesContact
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The Latest Developments in Global Data Privacy Law, and Data Breach Prevention and Response
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Products and preparation help lower sedation in pediatric imaging
by Lisa Chamoff, Contributing Reporter | April 13, 2020
From the April 2020 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
‘Feed and sleep’
Newborn and infant patients undergoing MR exams don't have to contend with the fear factor, but they are often sedated for spontaneous breathing MRs. The University Children's Hospital Basel conducted a case study of selected situations in which the exams can be carried shortly after the patients are fed and immobilized in a stable positioning aid, such as the BabyFix Cocoon from Swiss company Pearl Technology.
Since this method was used, numerous newborns have been examined with "'at least satisfactory image quality' in a natural sleep state," according to the case study.
"Even when moderate sedation using chloral hydrate is still carried out as required, the success rate of the 'feed-and-sleep MR' has been gradually increasing," the case study reads. "The selection of suitable patients, the implementation of clear processes in interdisciplinary teams and the choice of appropriate aids, thus, play a decisive role in the success and the acceptance for patients, parents and clinical professionals."
"More and more of the leading teaching as well as pediatric hospitals in Europe and the U.S. are implementing a feed-and-sleep approach for MRs of newborns to minimize the impact of the procedure on the well-being of the little patient and in order to reduce the potential risk associated to sedation," said Dr. Thomas Müller, founder and general manager of Pearl Technology. "The BabyFix Cocoon is the only immobilization and positioning device that is specifically dedicated to the imaging of newborns from 2 to 5 kilograms. With that being said, all aspects of the product were developed to offer safe conditions for the newborn throughout the MR scan, and to make the successful conduction of MR scans as likely as possible. The unique features of the BabyFix Cocoon enable users to optimize the entire workflow of feed-and-sleep MRs, offer superior stability and comfort and therefore, contribute to improved outcomes."
Back to HCB News
April 2020 Magazine
Read more stories from the April 2020 issue
More Magazine Features
Struggles and triumphs in radiology’s COVID-19 era
Radiography market focuses on value in the COVID-19 era
Where imaging AI is headed, and the best way to get there
New technology is advancing radiation oncology
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Pediatrics Homepage
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MR approach shows fetal heart for the first time in 4D
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US physician demand rose by five percent in 2019, says national study
Superhero program can save a kid's MR session
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All MLB NFL NBA NHL PGA NAS MMA
Goran Dragic Will Play Game 6
3 months agoMiami Heat guard Goran Dragic (foot) was doubtful for Sunday's NBA Finals Game 6 against the Lakers, but intends to play and is listed as active. Playing with a plantar fascia tear seems like a bad idea, but Dragic reportedly has been told he won't reinjure himself by playing. Dragic won't be near 100 percent and will likely be on a minutes limit, so you shouldn't give him heavy consideration for your DFS lineups. Kendrick Nunn will likely see fewer minutes with Dragic playing, though there's also the possibility that Dragic tries to play and the pain is too much. It's a complicated situation in a must-win Game 6.--Justin Carter - RotoBallerSource: Shams Charania
Next Matchup: 1/20 @ TOR
Matchup Rating: PREMIUM $5,900
Goran Dragic Doubtful For Game 6
3 months agoMiami Heat guard Goran Dragic (foot) is listed as doubtful for Sunday's Game 6 against the Los Angeles Lakers. Dragic has been listed as doubtful each game since suffering the injury in Game 1. It sounds like Dragic will test out his foot pregame, but it's highly unlikely that he suits up here. Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn will gain the most fantasy value from the absence of Dragic. Herro is the better option between the two.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: NBA Injury Report
Anthony Davis Should Play In Game 6
3 months agoLos Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis (heel) is listed as probable for Sunday's Game 6 contest against the Miami Heat. However, Davis mentioned on Saturday that he'd be fine for Sunday's contest. He is fully expected to play through the issue and should see his normal workload. LeBron James (groin) and Danny Green (finger) are listed as probable as well, but are expected to take the court on Sunday. The Lakers are a little banged up, but will play through the pain.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: NBA Injury Report
Next Matchup: 1/21 @ MIL
Matchup Rating: PREMIUM $10,200
LeBron James, Danny Green Probable For Sunday
3 months agoLos Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (groin) and guard Danny Green (finger) are listed as probable for Sunday's Game 6 against the Miami Heat. Both players have been listed as probable throughout the series, but continue to play. Green was limited earlier in the series, but played 24 minutes during Game 5. James and Green are expected to see a full workload here.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: NBA Injury Report
Kevon Looney Expected To Have Bigger Role
4 months agoGolden State Warriors center Kevon Looney is expected to have a bigger role on the team next season. Head coach Steve Kerr mentioned that Looney is looking at 20-25 minutes per game for the 2020-2021 campaign. That is a fairly significant increase, but won't make a huge impact on his fantasy value. Looney has been unable to stay healthy and isn't a great option in Golden State. He could have deep league value, but probably not worth a look in 12-team leagues on draft day.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: Nick Friedell
Next Matchup: 1/20 vs. SA
Lauri Markkanen Hopeful For Bounce-Back Season
4 months agoChicago Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen is hopeful that he can prove the doubters wrong next season. "My expectations are even higher than ever now, just going back to my fourth year and performing at a high level," said Markkanen. Former head coach Jim Boylen failed to get much out of his young core during his time in Chicago. It sounds like Markkanen is already hitting it off with new head coach Billy Donovan. Markkanen has plenty of talent and should have a significant role on the team going forward. Fantasy owners could look at Markkanen as a sleeper player for next season.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: Chicago Tribune
Next Matchup: 1/22 @ CHA
Aron Baynes Could Leave Phoenix
4 months agoPhoenix Suns center Aron Baynes could be headed elsewhere this offseason. The veteran was non-committal when asked about his future with the team. “I loved my time in Phoenix,” Baynes said. “I knew what it was coming in here and I was able to go out there and take advantage of the role that was given to me throughout a number of different situations." Baynes will hit free agency after posting career highs in multiple categories. He could very well land a significant role on another organization. His fantasy value will be dependent on where he signs in free agency.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: azcentral.com
Next Matchup: 1/20 vs. MIA
Isaiah Thomas Should Be Ready For Next Season
4 months agoWashington Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas (hip) is expected to be ready for the beginning of the 2020-2021 season. He underwent surgery in May to repair his right hip that has been bothering him. He is heading into free agency after spending this season in Washington. Thomas is not the same player he used to be, but could draw some interest in this underwhelming free agent class. Thomas doesn't have great fantasy value, but maybe he's worth grabbing late in drafts, depending on where he lands.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: Shams Charania
Goran Dragic Officially Ruled Out For Game 4
4 months agoMiami Heat guard Goran Dragic (foot) won't suit up for Tuesday's Game 4 matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers. He tried to get up some shots pregame, but it was too painful. It doesn't look good for Dragic's chances of playing in this series, but consider him questionable for Game 5. Tyler Herro is expected to join the starting five, while Kendrick Nunn gets more minutes as well. Herro is the better fantasy option between the two.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: Shams Charania
Bam Adebayo Will Officially Return For Game 4
4 months agoMiami Heat center Bam Adebayo (neck) is officially back in the starting five for Tuesday's Game 4 matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers. He has been sidelined since Game 1, so this is a big lift for Miami. It's unclear whether or not Adebayo will be limited, which makes him a risky DFS option. Kelly Olynyk will see his minutes and playing time decrease here. Meyers Leonard might fall out of the rotation completely.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: Tim Reynolds
Bam Adebayo Likely To Return In Game 4
4 months agoMiami Heat center Bam Adebayo (neck) is planning to make his return for Game 4 of the 2020 NBA Finals against the Lakers on Tuesday night, according to sources. Adebayo missed the previous two games of the series due to a neck strain that he suffered in Game 1, forcing the 23-year-old to exit during the second half of the contest. Adebayo's potential return to the lineup will be encouraging news for the Heat, who may be forced to play without guard Goran Dragic (foot) for the remainder of the series as he is without a timetable for a potential return. Adebayo will serve as a solid DFS option for Tuesday's game if he ends up making his return.--Denis Vondrus - RotoBallerSource: Adrian Wojnarowski - @wojespn
Danny Green Limited During Game 2
4 months agoLos Angeles Lakers guard Danny Green (hip) was limited during the Game 2 victory over the Miami Heat. He took a hard fall during the second quarter and appeared to have injured his hip. J.R. Smith saw a few minutes after Green checked out, but it doesn't sound like Green will miss time. However, Green was awful during Game 2, so fantasy owners should not expect a bounce back performance out of him.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: Lakers Nation
Next Matchup: 1/20 vs. BOS
Bam Adebayo Doubtful For Game 3
4 months agoMiami Heat center Bam Adebayo (neck) is listed as doubtful for Sunday's Game 3 against the Los Angeles Lakers. He was unable to play in Game 2 due to a neck sprain. Meyers Leonard drew the start, but only played nine minutes. Kelly Olynyk ended up benefiting the most by dropping 24 points in 37 minutes of play. He's looking like a solid DFS option, assuming Adebayo is sidelined again.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: Shams Charania
Goran Dragic Unlikely To Play In Game 3
4 months agoMiami Heat guard Goran Dragic (foot) is listed as doubtful for Sunday's Game 3 against the Los Angeles Lakers. He suffered a left plantar fascia tear and the Heat are not optimistic that Dragic will be able to suit up. Tyler Herro should remain in the starting five, while Kendrick Nunn will see more minutes coming his way. Both players could be interesting DFS options without Dragic on the court.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: Shams Charania
Jimmy Butler Will Play In Game 2
4 months agoMiami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (ankle) will suit up for Game 2 against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. He sprained his left ankle during the first half of Game 1 on Wednesday. It was going to take a lot to keep Butler off the court for this game. Sadly, they will be without Goran Dragic (foot) and Bam Adebayo (neck) on Friday. Butler is going to be asked to do just about everything on offense for Miami.--Andy Webb - RotoBallerSource: Tim Reynolds
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Devin Sper
About Author & Speaker
Why regime change is the only solution in Iran
January 11, 2020 devinsper 5 Comments
After elaborating on his decision not to respond to Iran’s missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq, President Trump went on to extend an invitation to negotiations, stating: “We must also make a deal that allows Iran to thrive and prosper and take advantage of its enormous untapped potential. Iran can be a great country.
This is in line with the President’s long held belief that the economic sanctions he has imposed on Iran will ultimately force them to the bargaining table. The President further maintains that “We do not seek regime change” in Iran but merely behavior modification.
Like much of Washington, President Trump and his advisors are operating on the assumption that the Iranian regime can ultimately be enticed to do what in the best interest of the Iranian people and join the civilized world. This assumption is a projection of our own pragmatism and value for human life onto the Iranian regime and represents a failure to understand the actual motivations and goals of Iran’s theocracy. Washington is simply unable to grasp the radically evil nature, and religious fanaticism of Iran’s Mullahs and in particular, their obsession with martyrdom. This miscalculation inevitably leads to the loss of many more lives just as it has led to the loss of so many American and other lives over the past four decades.
While Washington recognizes that Iran is no democracy the belief somehow remains that the Iranian regime must ultimately consider the will of its people. Thus, President Trump appealed to them directly: “Finally, to the people and leaders of Iran, we want you to have a future and a great future, one that you deserve, one of prosperity at home in harmony. With the nations of the world, the United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.”
Unfortunately the Iranian regime has no regard for the lives, much less the opinion, of the Iranian people as demonstrated most recently by the brutal suppression of protests throughout Iran including the murder of 1,500 of the anti-regime demonstrators. Iran’s theocracy is comparable to the Nazis in its evil, brutal, anti-Semitic, and genocidal nature and is more genuinely fanatical. The Nazis, after all, never used gas warfare, or strapped bombs to their own children. As soon as the odds turned against them, Nazis soldiers surrendered en masse, while German civilians covered their cities with white flags, often denying having ever been Nazis. Many of the top Nazis too were mere opportunists who plead not guilty at Nuremberg.
Iran, by contrast, is run by a regime of true believers in an extreme apocalyptic version of Shiite Islam obsessed with martyrdom. During Iran’s war with Iraq these fanatics marched children across minefields and created a fountain in Tehran whose water was dyed red to emulate blood (of the martyrs). Even the Nazis would have been appalled.
In 1945, recognizing that there can be no appeasement or compromise with such radical evil, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin decided at Yalta that they would accept nothing less than the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. Had they not done so the Nazi regime could have played the Allies off against each other, sought terms and possibly survived in some form. Likewise, there is no possibility of effecting behavior modification Washington seems to be striving for with the equally evil regime in Iran.
Some propose the United States simply withdraw from Iraq, but this begs the question: To where? If we abandon Iraq to Iran and Russia, already in control of Syria and Lebanon, our position everywhere else in the Middle East becomes untenable. Were we to abandon the Middle East entirely the Mullahs would be left in control of the Persian Gulf and the world’s oil supply. Following the same logic should the 6th fleet abandon the Eastern Mediterranean to Turkey’s ambition to dominate it? Do we abandon all of Asia to China? At what point do we draw a line and protect our vital interests which include access to raw materials, world markets and free trade? The idea that, in this interconnected world, the United States can simply withdraw behind its’ own borders and continue to enjoy our current way of life is a delusion. Isolationist policies failed to prevent us from having to engage in WWI or WWII and will not prevent our enemies from filling any voids we leave behind and following us home, just as they did at Pearl Harbor and on 9/11.
Deterrence is another option being debated After all Israel has survived in a hostile Middle East for over 70 years largely thanks to an unwavering policy of massive and immediate retaliation for any attack on her territory or citizens. Ultimately, Jordan and Egypt came to accept Israel’s existence and signed peace treaties with her. While the Syrian regime still openly espouses Israel’s destruction, it has been deterred from violating the cease fire, in place since Syria’s defeat in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, unwilling to suffer Israel’s certain retaliation.
Unfortunately, any deterrence the United States gained by killing Soleimani was immediately squandered by our failure to retaliate against Iran’s subsequent missile attack on U.S. forces. Deterrence is built up through a clear, consistent, long-term policy, never the strong point of our messy democracy with its regular changes in government and short-term political calculations. Moreover, Iran’s theocracy cannot be deterred as would a normal, rational regime as it actually seeks martyrdom as part of its apocalyptic vision.
If neither behavior modification, withdrawal nor deterrence are realistic options for ending Iran’s reign of terror there remains only one possibility: Regime change. Only regime change offers a permanent end to the Mullah’s reign of terror, and it is easier to achieve as well. The 52 Iranian targets President Trump threatened to destroy likely included all key Iranian power, nuclear, and military instillations. The drone which killed Soleimani in Baghdad was operated from Nevada and it is within the power of the United States to eliminate all 52 targets virtually overnight, without the President ever leaving Mara Lago. The Iranian economy, already in a severe crisis due to economic sanctions, would undoubtably collapse and with it the Iranian regime. This requires no invasion of Iran or loss of American life and minimal loss of Iranian life. Whatever regime replaces it can only be an improvement and is not our concern as long as it abandons the current regimes 40-year-old war against us and our allies.
Now that Iran has fully withdrawn from the restraints of JCPOA (the Iran nuclear deal), all estimates are that it is only a matter of months until she acquires nuclear weapons. At that point Iran becomes significantly more dangerous than Nazi Germany ever was. Any retaliation Iran may be able to inflict in the few minutes before their power goes out is preferable to waiting until she obtains nuclear weapons. In contrast to the decades old delusion of modifying the Mullah’s behavior, regime change is a realistic, permanent solution and the sooner the better. This may be politically unpopular for President Trump in the short-term, but it is the only way to relieve the world of the nightmare of a nuclear armed Iranian theocracy and history will smile upon him.
Original Published Version
Image via Washington Times
Speeches, Debates and Interviews
https://youtu.be/cfWUxsexX1k?list=PLgF-ckL5FkWiEfqUFl_VHuGB8pR2yFK7D
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Why American-Israelis Prefer Trump
An important moral victory for Israel and a demoralizing defeat for her enemies.
It is time Israel declared her borders
Kerry Colludes with Abbas
Trump changes the Dynamic of Middle East Diplomacy
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The non-existent wave of anti-Semitism
Because it is Ethnic Cleansing
How Palestinians Stand Truth on Its Head
Which Side Should the United States and Israel Back in Syria?
It is time Israel lessened her dependence on the United States
What matters is Iran’s intent
Is Turkey Behind ISIS
The Democrats’ Betrayal of Israel
The Problem is Palestine
How We Reward and Perpetuate Terror
Give the Israeli People the Right to Defend Themselves
Better an Israeli than a Yazidi
The Mask is Off
Palestinian Society is Complicit in Palestinian Terror
Genocide Genocide Genocide!
The Nazi roots of Palestinian Nationalism
Is Israeli housing endangering the peace process?
Do The Jews Want a State?
We Have Sinned
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All content copyright Devin Sper © 2020 / Please contact for permission requests.
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By Julia McCoy published April 25, 2019 Est Read Time: 9 min
Content Creation / Blogging / Conversion and optimization / Productivity
Get Rid of These 25 Phrases and Words From Your Content
Editor’s note: Useless words abound in text. That’s why Julia updated this article originally published in 2017, adding more words that you should avoid.
In online writing land, clarity is your best friend. The clearest prose is the type anyone can understand, learn from, and enjoy.
Stuffing your sentences and paragraphs with filler and fluff – words and phrases that add zero meaning to what you’re trying to say – is the opposite of clear writing.
It bores your readers.
It complicates your ideas.
It waters down your message and makes it less impactful.
Online content needs a lighter touch to succeed. Internet users are notorious for their short attention spans, and most of them aren’t reading in depth but scanning for meaning.
Cutting filler words that bloat your online writing is how you hone it to a sharp point. It’s how you ratchet up your words’ value for readers (because clearer content is easier to understand – period).
Cut filler words bloating your online #content, says @JuliaEMcCoy. #writingtips Click To Tweet
This list of words and phrases includes the common culprits. When/if you use them, check yourself and ask, “What is this word/phrase adding to what I’m trying to say?”
If the answer is “nothing,” cut it.
With that in mind, let’s get to the list:
1. In order to
This is one of the flabbiest phrases I see in writing. People use it, but not one sentence stops working if “in order to” is deleted (or replaced with “to,” which has the same meaning). This one small change makes the statement clearer.
2. Really
“Really” clogs your content. Think of it this way: If you’re saying something is “really” tall, you’re missing the mark. How tall is it? Quantify it. If something has “really” improved, readers want to know how much. Qualify it.
While the purpose of “really” is to exaggerate something, readers respond better to text that gets more granular in its measurements. With that in mind, swap this vague term for a more accurate descriptor. If you can’t be more descriptive, delete “really.”
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Make Your Writing More Powerful
3. Believe and think
“Believe” and “think” imply something is opinion or indicate doubt in its validity. Both are bad for your copywriting. People are more interested in the facts and hard information than they are in vague thoughts. Even if you’re writing an opinion piece, readers should understand that based on the context, making “I think” a needless phrase.
Using words like “believe” & “think” are bad for your copywriting, says @JuliaEMcCoy. #writingtips Click To Tweet
These two words also pop up when a writer isn’t sure about the statistic or fact, and that is dangerous. Again, readers want information, and merely “thinking” a statistic is true isn’t enough to get it past the firing squad. Don’t include a fact if it needs to be qualified as a thought or belief.
4. A lot
“A lot” is similar to “really” in terms of vagueness. Saying something is “a lot different than it used to be” robs your readers of an experience. While they understand something has changed, they don’t know what it was or how much it’s shifted. They want more specific information to make good decisions and to connect with your writing on a deeper level.
Instead of using these vague phrases, replace them with hard-and-fast statistics. Go for percentages, pounds, solid units of measurement. Those quantifiable terms perform better than the old standby “a lot.”
5. Always and never
These two aren’t flabby, but they are seldom true. If you say, “Marketers never consider their clients,” you’re horribly off base. Applying an all-inclusive adjective paints with too broad a brush and is reckless. Instead, opt for “few” or “rare” if you need to quantify but don’t have the numbers. The same thing applies to “always.” Instead, opt for words like “most” or “many.”
Don’t use “always” or “never” because they’re seldom true, says @JuliaEMcCoy. #writingtips Click To Tweet
6. Stuff
“Stuff” is an unprofessional term that harms your content. It’s not descriptive or specific. Instead, define what that “stuff” is. Consider these two headlines: “Stuff You Should Do for a More Successful Blog” or “5 Writing Tricks for a More Successful Blog.” The specificity and clarity of the second headline is more helpful to your readers.
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The Easy A-to-Z Guide to Writing Great Headlines [Infographic]
7. Just
The only time “just” has a place in your content is when you’re talking about something being “fair.” For example, “The trial was just.” Uses of “just” to imply something small or inefficient (e.g., “She just couldn’t do it.”) don’t add anything to the sentence. In most cases, you can remove the word “just” without affecting the sentence’s meaning.
8. That
“That” may seem like an inoffensive word, but it’s usually not necessary. For example, “It’s the most delicious cake that I’ve eaten” could easily be “It’s the most delicious cake I’ve eaten.” In similar instances, remove it for more streamlined content.
9. Then
“Then” makes your writing stammer, which is the opposite of what you want. To smooth your text, remove the word “then” whenever the sentence makes sense without it. And don’t start sentences with “then” because it makes them clunky and difficult to read.
10. Literally
People frequently misuse the word “literally.” It means exactly. Whether used correctly or incorrectly, the word often is superfluous. Get rid of it or replace it with something more descriptive and precise.
11. Virtually
Virtually means nearly or almost, or by means of virtual reality technique. In most cases, the sentence makes sense without this flabby addition. Unless you’re talking about someone who works remotely, “virtually” has no place in your writing.
Unless you’re talking about someone who works remotely, “virtually” has no place in your #content. @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet
12. Completely and entirely
You can remove “completely” and “entirely” from your sentences without affecting their meaning. To emphasize or visualize completeness, use more descriptive terms. For example, “the cup was filled to the brim with water,” works much better than “the cup was filled completely with water.”
13. So
“So” is another word that doesn’t do much. Despite this, many people use it, particularly as a transition or explanatory word. Delete it without affecting the sentence’s meaning.
14. Got
“Got” is a lazy word because it doesn’t tell people much about how or why someone got something. Instead, use words that add power such as “obtained” and “earned.”
15. Often
“Often” teases readers by telling them that something happens frequently without being clear. Replace “often” with specific descriptions such as “five times a week” or “every year.”
16. Very
Perhaps the laziest descriptive word of all, “very” can be deleted in any sentence without taking away the intended meaning. Where you might use “very” plus an adjective, replace the combination with a single, stronger adjective. For example, instead of saying “very beautiful,” use “gorgeous.” Instead of “very intelligent,” say “brilliant.”
“Very” can be deleted in any sentence without taking away meaning, says @JuliaEMcCoy. #writingtips Click To Tweet
17. The fact of the matter, as a matter of fact
“The fact of the matter” can be deleted in any context, as well as the phrase “as a matter of fact.” Both emphasize a point about to be made, but there are more creative ways to do that.
18. The thing is
“The thing is” is another unnecessary phrase you can eliminate without harming the meaning of your sentences. If anything, “the thing is” weakens your sentences because it sounds and looks strange and can be grammatically incorrect: “The thing is is I never got the memo.”
… Huh? (My point.)
19. Absolutely
In many cases, you can leave out the word “absolutely” because it’s redundant. For example, “The conclusion she reached was absolutely final.” Final IS final – it can’t go further. Or, “You have absolutely no reason not to try.” Last time I checked, “no” is absolute. It doesn’t need a useless adverb to make it stronger. Consensus: Ditch “absolutely.”
20. Anyway
Want to know the laziest way to change the subject? Use “anyway” as an introductory word. Get rid of it and work on making your transitions sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph flow better.
21. It, here, or there plus to be verb
“It was a sunny day.” “There was no good reason for the mistake.” “Here we have a beautiful rose.” While these sentences look fine, the convention of combining “it,” “here,” or “there” with a to-be verb like “is” or “was” in a sentence is called an expletive construction. This phrasing adds no meaning and makes sentences unnecessarily longer. For instance, let’s rewrite the above sentences so they’re tighter:
“The day was sunny.” “The mistake was avoidable.” “This rose is beautiful.”
22. Kind of, sort of
These filler phrases make your writing sound uncertain. Something either is or isn’t. If you say, “Her behavior was kind of rude,” what do you mean? Is there a scale of rude behavior? Did she score a five out of 10? Say what you mean without hedging: “Her behavior was rude.”
23. Thing
A common, fluffy way to write about an object is to refer to it as a “thing.” For example, “A lily is a thing of beauty,” or “Feeling embarrassed is a thing we can all relate to.”
“Thing” is a nondescript, non-committal word that takes away from the strength of a sentence. Find another word descriptive of your subject or remove “thing,” e.g., “We can all relate to feeling embarrassed.” “Lilies are graceful blooms.”
24. Obviously, undoubtedly
If the point you’re making is obvious or indubitable, then why do you use one of those words? You don’t.
25. When it comes to
This sneaky phrase creeps into even the most skilled writer’s sentences. It’s not incorrect, but you can use fewer words. For example, “When it comes to ice cream, strawberry is my favorite” can be shortened to “Strawberry ice cream is my favorite.”
Strive for stronger writing
To improve your writing, aim to cut or replace words that act as filler. They add nothing.
The best way to weed them? Edit without mercy. As you read each word or sentence, consider whether it adds to the meaning. If not, get rid of it.
As you get rid of the fluff, you can build up the muscles in your content:
Use action verbs.
Limit the use of adjectives.
Avoid clichés and overused phrases.
When you write in a way that’s easier for people to understand, your content is likely to attract more readers. It’s a surefire way to achieve greater results for your content marketing.
57+ Content Tools, Tips, and Examples to Make Your Writing Better
To avoid the fluff in content marketing education, subscribe to CMI’s free – and concise – weekday newsletter.
Author: Julia McCoy
Julia McCoy is a serial content marketer, entrepreneur, and author. She founded a multi-million dollar content agency, Express Writers, with nothing more than $75 at 19 years old. Today, Julia has been named an industry thought leader in content marketing by Forbes, is the author of two bestselling books, and creator of The Content Hacker, a resource for growth-focused content marketers. Julia's latest book, a nonfiction narrative memoir, Woman Rising, launches in February of 2020. Follow her on Twitter @JuliaEMcCoy.
Other posts by Julia McCoy
← The Struggle Is Real for Content Management and Technology [New Research]
Can’t Get That Click? 5 Simple Strategies for CTAs That Convert [Examples] →
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Cookies + Sangria
Outfit Girl
G.S.O.Y.
ICYMI: The Best of Posts You Might Have Missed
Questions, Comments, Concerns: The Lion King feat. Beyonce
Posted in Miscellany by Molly
Welcome back to Questions, Comments, Concerns, a feature we usually reserve for Lifetime movies we’ve seen instead of Disney movies we haven’t. Ready?
Comment: NAAAAANTS ingonyamaAAAAA.
That feels better.
[Thing REAL 90s kids will remember: Having made-up nonsense that you thought were the real Lion King lyrics for decades. I’ll admit it. I did think it was Naaaaa S’ven’yahhh for a long time. And I do have a friend who thought the part a little later in the song was ‘Pink Pajamas Penguins On The Bottom.’]
Comment: I want to go to a mountaintop and triumphantly raise this cast listing into the air in front of awed wildlife.
Question: Can we get more Adult Nala?
It’s Beyonce, and doesn’t it feel like Adult Nala doesn’t get to do much except playfully wrestle near a waterfall and make bedroom eyes at Simba? The point is I want a new song.
Concern: I hope the new songs are good.
I want a new song, but I want it to be really good and fit in well with the Lion King vibe. I’m sure it will, because they need a new number for Oscar eligibility, anyway.
Comment: Good on them for keeping James Earl Jones as Mufasa.
Can you imagine anybody else as Mufasa?
Question: But can we get some more of the original cast back, too?
What I’m saying is, I want JTT to have a cameo as a zebra or flamingo or whatever.
Comment: These children are amazing!
When we tweeted Hairspray Live, I remember commenting that Shahadi Wright Joseph has the world in her pocket. In addition to Hairspray, she has appeared in the OBC of School of Rock and was the youngest Broadway Nala in, you guessed it, The Lion King. Kid’s going places fast.
As for JD McCrary, this isn’t his first collab with Donald Glover. He’s the kid on Childish Gambino’s Terrified and has racked up a nice number of TV credits. He also does a more-than-good M.J.:
Question: How would a live-action Lion King work??
Short answer: it’s not really live-action. I’m sure I’m not the only person who was super-confused on this point. Like, humans in costumes a la the Broadway production? I love Julie Taymor, but that sounds distracting. Living animals? Bloodbath. After some searching, the answer is that it will be realistic CGI, like the Jungle Book remake that came out not too long ago.
Concern: I love that this is happening but I’m greedy and I also want all of these actors to appear together in a film where we actually get to see them.
Comment: LEADING MAN DONALD GLOVER.
We’re both longtime fans of both Donald Glover and his rap alter-ego Childish Gambino, and in the Beyonce of it all it took me a few hours to realize that Donald Glover is the lead in a major motion picture – with many more to come, if there’s any justice in the world.
Question: Who the heck is Kamari?
I can see that it’s Keegan Michael Key (love!) but I mean as a character, I have zero recall of ever seeing a Kamari.
Comment: Banzai and Ed are still up for grabs.
Whoever it is, it’s going to be good.
[Edit: I hear that Kamari and Azizi are the new Banzai and Ed? OK.]
Comment: THE PRESS TOUR.
The Lion King: Where Are They Now
Beyonce, Childish Gambino, Disney, donald glover, james earl jones, shahadi wright joseph, the lion king
Pop Culture Blind Spot: Darby O’Gill And The Little People
Posted in Entertainment, Live Blogs by Molly
Three truths and a lie, St. Patrick’s Day Edition:
I grew up Irish dancing and thus I never went to school on St. Patrick’s Day because I had performances.
I mostly look like a leprechaun.
Every year, my family watched Darby O’Gill and the Little People sometime around St. Paddy’s day.
I despair every time someone calls it St. Patty’s Day. Who’s Patricia?
Answer: As you probably guessed from the post title, I’ve never seen Darby O’Gill and The Little People. The 1959 Disney movie is a cheesy, beloved Irish-American classic starring (according to Wikipedia)… Sean Connery?! Woah. In my defense, in the 90s if your family didn’t have the VHS tape of a movie or it didn’t air on a station you got, you just didn’t see it. I’m rectifying that now, so please don’t disinvite me from the next ceilidh or soda bread baking night.
Set design of Irish movies from the 1940s-1970s is the main reason for a lot of lingering Irish stereotypes. Namely, that it’s always vaguely the 1800s with thatch roofs and dirty stucco walls and like … spinning wheels and butter churns and shawls everywhere.
Is the old lady, The Widow Sugrue, the same old lady from The Wedding Singer? I know it’s impossible but one has to wonder.
If you’re playing Irish Movie Bingo, fill in your square for Pretty Young Lass Needs A Husband
It takes me about 3 minutes to get into the mode where I understand what anybody is saying. It’s not because I’m not used to Irish accents. It’s because these aren’t Irish accents (Katie’s is often OK. Widow Sugrue’s reminds me of elementary school plays where you didn’t know how to do the accent you were supposed to do so you just talked weird).
It’s called Darby O’Gill and The Little People, and for whatever reason I assumed Darby would be a leprechaun too. Nope. Just a guy.
If you’re playing Irish Movie Bingo, fill in your square for Group Of Men Telling Legends In A Pub.
The special effects of Darby talking to leprechaun King Brian are surprisingly very good. Sometimes I think modern CGI makes things look more fake than old-school camera tricks.
The image links to an explanation of some of the *movie magic.* I’m duly impressed.
It also reminds me of the parts of Mr. Rogers when take the trolley to the Land of Puppetville or whatever that was.
If you’re playing Irish Movie Bingo, fill in your square for Village Priest Solving A Financial Problem.
Young Sean Connery could get it.
By the way, Sean Connery is one of those people who’s never been young. He’s 29 here and his face is care-worn and weathered.
Everyone’s sideburns are huge. Little House on the Prairie sideburns.
If you’re playing Irish Movie Bingo, fill in your square for Woman Leans Out A Half-Door.
If you’re playing Irish Movie Bingo, fill in your square for Old Man Plays The Fiddle.
These leprechauns have the best outfits. They’re total Keebler Elf getups.
I’d live inside this Leprechaun Ceilidh. It’s like the Trolls hideout without all the LSD, or Munchkinland without the specter of murder. Yet, anyway.
So many dorky Irish in-references: Brian Boru, the harp that once thro Tara’s halls, a tribe of people cowering away from direct sunlight (no? Just me?).
When Darby plays his fiddle really fast and the leprechauns start dancing crazy, you could forget what I said about “without all the LSD” before. This is trippy.
If you’re playing Irish Movie Bingo, fill in your square for Somebody Gets Someone Drunk In Order To Trick Them.
Always been a sucker for a cat vs leprechaun sequence. Another triumph for old-school special effects.
All these songs sound the same. Bless Janet Munro and Sean Connery. They’re trying so hard to have Irish accents in their scenes together. Sean Connery has natural 21st Century American Invisalign Teeth. Janet Munro, an English actress, definitely looks Irish.
Darby would be a cute name for a dog, right?
Darby, requesting whisky: The best in the house!
Barmaid: [look of shock and fear, because best in the house means things are SERIOUS. Also because Darby gives the drink to a man inside his rucksack.]
I start laughing out loud when Katie starts singing in a drippy voice while preening her weird short bangs and suddenly I can’t stop laughing.
Keep expecting this to turn into an SNL sketch where King Brian is really gross or filthy.
If you’re playing Irish Movie Bingo, fill in your square for Woman Gets Offended When Man Loves Her.
The banshee looks like you’re meant to be looking at it through special glasses.
“29. Sean Connery is TWENTY NINE” – me, out loud, trying to convince myself that Very Adult Man Sean Connery isn’t even 30 here.
The ghostly horse and carriage is actually spooky in a laser light show at the planetarium kind of way. If I saw this as a kid I’d be unnerved.
By the way, the headless horseman doesn’t really have an Irish accent, either.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I laugh every time they sing that stupid song.
If you’re playing Irish Movie Bingo, fill in your square for Characters Drive Away In A Horse-Drawn Cart.
The bottom line: I enjoy old movies, and this was an enjoyable old movie. The underlying question with our Pop Culture Blind Spot posts is whether cult favorites are good of their own accord, or if you have to have some sort of earlier sentimental connection to them to really love them. I could see being really into Darby O’Gill And The Little People if I had loved it as a kid, and seeing at is an adult I have a healthy appreciation for the old-school special effects and the imaginative story. It actually made me realize, in comparison, how much more I liked last year’s St. Patrick’s Day Pop Culture Blind Spot, The Quiet Man. In the battle between Rugged Men Who Aren’t Irish Playing Rugged Men Who Are, Sean Connery vs John Wayne, John Wayne takes this round.
You Know You’re Irish-American When…
Most WTF-Worthy Irish Folk Lyrics
Evolution of Drinking, As Told By A Lame Adult
The Laughter Of Children: Things I Made Fun Of As A Child
Pop Culture Blind Spots: The Quiet Man
Crownings, Poles, and Baskets: Yes, People Still Celebrate May Day
children's movies, classic movies, darby o'gill, darby o'gill and the little people, Disney, Ireland, irish movies, pop culture blind spot, pop culture blind spots, sean connery, St. Patrick's Day 1 Comment
High School Musical: 10th Anniversary Rewatch
Posted in Entertainment by Molly
On January 20th 2006, High School Musical was released to the delight of millions of tweens and also some 19-year olds (us, at the time). It’s hard to believe that it’s been 10 years, but we’re all in this together. A whole decade has passed since back when there was me and you, watching a musical Disney Channel Original Movie that we were far too old for. I didn’t see HSM until several months after it came out because I was studying abroad that semester, but when I came home and spent the summer working with elementary school kids who wouldn’t stop talking about it, I realized that Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and the gang were just what I’ve been looking for. (By the way: those elementary school kids I was old enough to be in charge of must be in their late teens to early 20s now; yikes; ouch).
This post is not the start of something new. Rather than breaking free from our typical format, we have chosen to stick to the status quo. Here’s a live blog of my tenth-anniversary rewatch of High School Musical, so queue it up on Netflix and getch’a head in the game, because we’re about to bop to the top.
1:00 Character establishment: Gabriella is a goody-goody because her mother has to draw her away from her book to attend a Teen Party, which is one of those alcohol-free, drug-free highly-supervised youth events that youths don’t really go to.
WHOLESOME AF.
Troy is playing basketball and has proto-Bieber hair. This is all you need to know about either of them for the rest of the movie.
Also, it’s New Year’s Eve. They’re at a winter version of the resort from Dirty Dancing.
02:35 Am I am old lady who misses her glory days of 2006, or do Troy and Gabriella’s outfits look (dated but) cute? Troy’s panicked face as he sings karaoke looks like when that girl (Bethany Byrd?) starts singing along to Jingle Bell Rock after the music cuts out in Mean Girls.
07:30 Troy and Gabs exchange numbers on phones the size of Pop Tarts.
10:27 Do kids even still get in trouble for having cell phones in class? When we were in high school they were strictly verboten, and when someone’s would go off in class everyone would start coughing and shuffling stuff loudly so they could turn it off, which in retrospect was a really touching show of solidarity.
By the way, Gabriella transferred. To TROY’S SCHOOL IN ALBUQUERQUE.
I have thought that 2 or 3 different extras were Kristen Bell but it’s just that everyone in 2006 looked like Veronica Mars.
10:50 You can tell the drama teacher’s a drama teacher because she’s wearing a flowy printed top and chunky jewelry.
12:30 Troy Bolton’s Hair, 2006 = Early Louis Tomlinson Hair + Early Liam Payne Hair, 2010. That ‘do had staying power, for better or worse.
Little Babies XOXOXO
14:42 Get’cha Head In The Game: I love basketball when there’s pretty, overly-groomed young men singing pop music to me during it.
I forgot that it was styled “get’cha” until I looked it up.
18:15 Sharpay’s outfits are like a teenaged Mindy Lahiri, had she been a teen in ’06.
19:13 I used to think flared jeans were so flattering, but based on the East High extras, they were NOT.
20:20 So much hair gel on this b-ball team.
23:31 Did you all know Monique Coleman (Taylor) was 25 when this came out?
25:00 Drink whenever Ms. Darbus says “musicale”
27:50 Do we ever get an explanation why that one girl auditioning has clusters of fake freckles painted onto her cheeks? Frustrated Annie reject?
Most of my goodwill toward 2006 fashion is gone now. SO many awkward-length skirts cutting people off at the wrong spot.
30:00 Oh, the awful pop-punk outfit on the girl doing interpretive dance during the audition.
32:00 I can’t remember the last time I saw HSM, but it must have been ages because I forgot about Ryan Evans , beacon of light, best thing in this movie, he of the lime-green bedazzled newsboy cap, teen version of Derek from Full House, most plausible theatre kid in all of East High.
I SHIP IT.
37:00 OK but did Troy start ALL of his songs making a face like Bethany from Mean Girls?
Kelsi is very Early Ellen Page meets season 1 Rory Gilmore.
39:00 Now that I’m a sophisticated 29-year-old adult instead of a scrappy, wide-eyed 19-year old, it’s all about the Ryan-Sharpay friendship. Troy & Gabriella are kid stuff.
Do you think there was a whole room in wardrobe just for all these damn newsboy caps?
“They’re going to do it!” I said, out loud, to myself, as a grown woman, in the house that I bought, because they’re about to sing Stick To The Status Quo.
Wasn’t there an interstitial or something going behind the scenes of Stick To The Status Quo on Disney Channel back then? Or a pop up video kind of thing? Maybe it was of the whole movie?
The “skater” clique looks especially mid-2000s.
Stick To The Status Quo is a musical version of the show Made that aired on MTV during this era.
48:00 Troy tells Gabriella that his parents’ friends are always saying “your son’s the basketball guy. You must be so proud,” which seems like a weird thing to say, but what do I know?
39:00 I don’t remember doing things outside of your clique being such a big deal in high school. We’d get annoyed if a non-theatre kid randomly auditioned and landed a good role, but that was just because we felt like they hadn’t ~earned it or whatever.
54:00 It’s gotten to where when I look at Troy Bolton (OK, Baby Zac Efron) ALL I can see is Baby One Direction.
1:00:00 Chad is guilt-tripping Troy worse than an Irish-Catholic mother (or a Jewish mother, both are great at guilt). I assume Chad-Troy ships are a thing on parts of the internet?
1:03 Honestly, Gab, there never really WAS a you and Troy, was there?
1:10 Obviously not all houses in New Mexico are made of adobe with Spanish tile roofs or whatever, but Gabriella’s house looks super northeast-y.
1:11 It’s kind of like every time he begins singing, Troy THOUGHT he was going to be talking instead but it came out as song.
1:13 Hat watch: Now Prince Ryan has a flat cap and Kelsi has a bucket hat and Sharpay has a gilded tam o’shanter. This was the beginning of the era of Disney programming being all wacky patterns and colors in the wardrobe and set design. Even in the Lizzie McGuire/Even Stevens age, things were a little more toned-down.
All of these shows aired when I was well past childhood, yes.
Definitely forgot Ryan and Sharpay were siblings.
1:18 Adults Against Troy And Troy’s Dad’s Weird Over-Enmeshed Relationship. Meeting tonight and every night on Netflix.
1:25 Another thing I forgot: this would more accurately be called High School Musical Auditions And Scheduling Conflicts.
1:26 Jeez Louise. Hat watch: Kelsi has a bowler hat now. If this movie went on much longer they’d have her in one of those Dr. Seuss hats or a beanie with a propeller.
If you were maybe the kind of person who felt they were too old for High School Musical in 2006, I can’t overstate what a game-changer it was for the Disney Channel. You can stop laughing, I’ll wait. The mid-2000s Disney Industrial Complex was HUGE and when you look at the people who came out of it – Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, but also Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, the JONAS FREAKING BROTHERS – you realize they had some real geniuses working in development. The turnaround definitely started in the early 2000s with Hilary Duff, Ravyn-Symone and co. and just kept shooting upwards. After the early 90s Mickey Mouse Club era, it was pretty blah for a long stretch. Yes, I just sang the praises of mid-2000s Disney and I could keep going.
1:30 I was never that into Breaking Free though? But it was probably the biggest hit from HSM.
1:32 Love when musicals end with a dance jam, like the pep rally/ basketball game-turned singalong, We’re All In This Together.
ashley tisdale, DCOM, Disney, Disney Channel, high school musical, hsm, Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron 10 Comments
Best of 2015: Hogwarts Goes Hollywood: Harry Potter Actors As Disney Characters
Posted in Entertainment by Cookies + Sangria
Is Harry Potter and Christmas synonymous for anyone else? Ok great. Earlier this year, Emma Watson nabbed the role of Belle in the live-action Beauty and the Beast, which has wrapped since then and also features all the actors. All of them. But what would happen if the deep bench of HP players also starred in Disney reboot movies? We took a look.
Disney and Harry Potter, the entertainment franchises that brought magic to our childhood (and, um, teens and 20s), are now at one. Emma Watson – Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies – will be playing Belle in a live-action version of Beauty And The Beast! Belle was always my favorite Disney princess because she liked books. I had the redhead solidarity thing with Ariel, but even at age five I was like “Ariel, girl, get a grip. You look desperate.” But I digress. The Harry Potter movies were full of amazing actors, and the Disney movies have a bunch of awesome characters. Emma Watson as Belle is a good start, but I think we could make this a regular thing:
Alfie Enoch as Prince Eric, The Little Mermaid
Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid needs to be so dreamy that a mermaid – whose greatest joy is singing – gives her voice to a sea-witch so that she can get legs and like… hang out with him silently in a rowboat. Sounds like an awesome date. See what I mean about Ariel? Anyway, when I think “Hogwarts Dreamboat,” I think Alfie Enoch.
Rupert Grint as John Smith, Pocahontas
Ron Weasley had a lot of strong points, but he was sort of a borderline bro sometimes. The Disney version of that is John Smith in Pocahontas. He’s an imperialist dumb-dumb, but he’s so dopey that you can’t really hate him. There’s that spark of goodness in Ron, too, so we know that Rupert could balance the character’s likability with his more annoying traits.
Tom Felton as Hans, Frozen
Oh, Draco. You loved to hate him. For the character to work, the actor had to convey enough smoothness so that you believe that all of his teachers don’t absolutely hate him. Likewise, Hans has to SEEM like a nice guy to enough people that you don’t spend the whole movie going “uh, this jerk.” Just as it takes a smart actor to play a dumb person, it takes a nice actor to play a mean person. I think Felton’s up to the task.
Evanna Lynch as Rapunzel, Tangled
Luna Lovegood is one of my favorite Harry Potter characters. In both the books and the movies, she’s got a few screws loose but she’s not a one-note joke of a person. She has real feelings and, even though she’s a bit of a whackadoo, she’s smart and brave. Disney-wise, this is Rapunzel from Tangled. She’s not a floaty, sweet gal like Snow White or Cinderella – she’s a weirdo who hangs out with a chameleon. Both characters aren’t socially … you know, off …. by accident – they both had childhoods that meant they couldn’t quite fit in.
Alan Rickman as Scar, The Lion King
I get that Alan Rickman is a human person, not a lion. But otherwise, he’s proven that he can play a creepy avuncular villain. (Or, not villain, but admit it, for a while you really thought so!) They could just use those weird costumes from the Broadway musical or whatever.
Whomping Willow as Grandmother Willow, Pocahontas
Stunt casting? Eh, maybe, but who else are they going to get?
Jessie Cave as Those Triplets Who Were All Up On Gaston, Beauty And The Beast
Lavender Brown WAS the Hogwarts version of those hussies who were Gaston fangirls. I know there’s only one of her but they have to make a humanoid monster and dancing cups, I’m sure they can turn one person into three people.
Julie Walters as Mrs. Potts, Beauty And The Beast
Molly Weasley IS Mrs. Potts.
Hogsmeade as Belle’s Quaint Village, Beauty And The Beast
Hogsmeade, UK and Poor Provincial Town, France clearly had the same city planners.
Peter Pan Live! – A LaterBlog
If The Slipper Fits: Into the Woods Character Bios
Vladimir Putin or Gaston? A Propaganda Extravaganza!
You Can Throw That Away: Childhood Items My Mom is Hoarding
How To Throw An American-Themed Party
beauty and the beast, best of 2015, Daniel Radcliffe, Disney, Emma Watson, Frozen, Harry Potter, hogsmeade, pocahontas, Rupert Grint, tangled, the lion king, the little mermaid, The Walt Disney Company
Pocahontas: ’90s Fashion Goes 17th Century
Posted in Entertainment, Outfit Girl by Molly
Can you believe that tomorrow it will have been 20 years since Pocahontas? Pocahontas the movie, that is: Pocahontas the human died in like 1617. It has been two whole decades since Disney released its historically fuzzy account of a spirited Powhatan girl who gets White Man’s Burdened by a dude in that one haircut all the cute boys had in the mid-90s. Disney does a ton of research for each of their movies, but ultimately chose a ’90s-friendly interpretation of 17th Century style. So how do the 1600s look through a ’90s lens?
John Smith’s ‘Cute Boy In The ’90s’ Haircut
In 1994, all of the cute boys called a secret meeting and vowed to get That One Haircut. If you were a Tiger Beat reader or cherished your J.T.T. is H-O-T issue of Nickelodeon Magazine, you know exactly which one I’m talking about. It was center parted and layered back on the sides, so that all of the cute boys could brush it out of their eyes all of the time. Which was the haircut’s fatal flaw, I’d wager. It was always in the way. And it was in the way of EVERYONE, from Rider Strong to Christian Bale to… well, to John Smith, who must have painstakingly layered his locks in his berth below deck of that old-fashioned wooden boat. Smith has the longer, more mulletty version of the cut, favored by your more outdoorsy Cute Boys In The ’90s.
Nakoma’s Sassy Bangs
In 1995, those late ’80s/early ’90s mall bangs were fading into history. Instead, your bangs were probably either a blunt-cut fringe or wispy and curled under with a round brush. I think my right forearm is still slightly more muscular than the left because of all that time I spent scrupulously curling my bangs under into a see-through hair dome. The curled-under bangs were innocent and girly, but the blunt Betty Page fringe was the trademark of a true sass factory. That’s why Disney gave them to the movie’s requisite Sassy Best Friend.
Pocahontas’s Ink
Remember “tribal tattoos?” And how if the only tribe you were in was the National Association Of College Bros, you probably shouldn’t have gotten one? There was a time when the tribal armband circled the bicep of every college dude in the land – it was the undercut haircut and waistcoat of 1995. Now those armbands are sported by 40-something dad types who only reunite with the “tribe” on alumni weekend.
By the way, those of us who were eight years old in 1995 had the Poor Man’s Tribal Tattoo, the stretchy band from Claire’s Boutique that always ended up on your wrist if you had skinny arms.
Pocahontas and Nakoma’s Girl Band Outfits
I get that buckskin was the only fabric option or whatever. But I still love how Pocahontas and her girl Nakoma have coordinating outfits. It’s like TLC or En Vogue or Salt n Pepa, where they’d each have a slightly different outfit but made of the same material. And at least one girl always had the crop top version. We’ve established that Nakoma was the resident sassafras, so naturally it was her.
Pocahontas’s Cher Horowitz Hair Flip
The crispy permed look was dead or dying in the mid-90s. Instead, everyone wanted the perfect voluminous blowout. It was several years before we all started flat-ironing our hair into brittle sheets, and health and movement were the hair goals. Pocahontas had, hands down, the best blow-out of the era, rivaled only by Cher Horowitz herself. I know Pocahontas didn’t have an animated blowdryer or anything, but I feel like she was always standing in the wind on a cliff with multicolored leaves swirling around her and stuff, so I guess that did the trick.
That Turquoise Necklace
Here’s where Disney was phoning it in (on a land line or one of those brick cell phones, because again, 1995). They were just like “oh, Native Americans LOVE turquoise!” because that whole Southwestern decorating thing was going on. But the key there is Southwest, I mean how would Pocahontas have ended up with it in Virginia? However, teal and turquoise were oddly popular at the time, so I think it was more a matter of picking a look that would help sell licensed Halloween costumes that year.
Thomas’s Center-Parted Bowl Cut
I think if you weren’t cute enough for the Cute Boy In The 90s Haircut, they made you get the center-parted bowl cut instead.
Hogwarts Goes Hollywood: Harry Potter Actors As Disney Characters
They Were Astronauts: Mad Men, Time Travelers
SLIMED: A ’90s Kids’ Choice Awards Retrospective
1995, 90s, 90s fashion, Disney, fashion, hair, nostalgia, pocahontas, style 6 Comments
beauty and the beast, Daniel Radcliffe, Disney, Emma Watson, Frozen, Harry Potter, hogsmeade, pocahontas, Rupert Grint, tangled, the lion king, the little mermaid, The Walt Disney Company 8 Comments
Where Are They Now: Lizzie McGuire
Posted in Entertainment by Traci
Confession: There was a period of time (my late high school and college years, mainly) when I was obsessed with Disney Channel. I was probably a little too old to fit in their target demographic. I blame this on the fact that we didn’t even get the channel until like 8th grade, so naturally I felt like I needed to catch up. And then when I did catch up, I was in too deep and couldn’t stop in the rabbit hole that is the DChan. This included their originally programming, such as Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens, Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, and DComs like Tru Confessions, Gotta Kick It Up! and all the High School Musicals. So this particular post is geared towards people who were born after 1990, or anyone who is a perpetual 13 year old.
Earlier this week, a photo of three former Lizzie McGuire cast members surfaced on the internet, as they reunited for Jake Thomas’ (Matt McGuire) 25th birthday. Yes, you read that right. I legit needed to mentally prepare myself before scrolling down to see what he looks like now, along with Miranda (Lalaine) and Ethan Craft (Clayton Snyder). So I suggest you do that too…
#LizzieMcGuire throwback as well with @thelalaine and @heyclaytron
A post shared by Jake Thomas (@sirjakethomas) on Jan 18, 2015 at 12:18pm PST
So this got me thinking, where are the other stars of Lizzie McGuire now? Click this vid and mentally prepare to feel old.
Matt McGuire played by Jake Thomas
Wondering why you haven’t heard of Jake Thomas since Lizzie? It’s because he’s a child actor success story. And who wants to hear about that? After the show ended, Jake had a recurring role on That’s So Raven spin-off Cory in the House, and has continued his acting career by taking more dramatic roles and appeared in a bunch of TV shows (ER, Criminal Minds, Secret Life of the American Teenager) and even Lifetime movies (Betrayed at 17). Jake also released an album called Now and Then in 2005. He’s an avid cyclist and photographer, and he currently goes to college in LA. As previously mentioned, Jake recently celebrated his birthday (even though he doesn’t turn the big 2-5 until next week), and he recently got glasses.
btw i got glasses
— Jake Thomas (@SirJakeThomas) January 7, 2015
Jo McGuire played by Hallie Todd
Prior to Lizzie, Hallie already had a successful career as an actress, so being Hil Duff’s mom was one of the last regular projects she worked on. In 2012, she starred and co-wrote a horror film called The Mooring, which she wrote with her daughter, and was directed by her husband. They followed that up with a movie called The Fireman last year. Family bonding, y’all. She also has been running her own acting conservatory for kids and teens in LA.
Sam McGuire played by Robert Carradine
Coming from an acting family, Robert Carradine has naturally stayed in the business since Lizzie’s end, most recently appearing in Django Unchained and thrilling TV movie, Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda. He’s also about to start his third season as the host of trivia show King of the Nerds, because if you didn’t notice – bow tie.
Kate Sanders played by Ashlie Brillault
Ashlie’s acting career pretty much started and ended with Lizzie McGuire. She went to community college then transferred to Cal State Long Beach with a B.A. in Political Science and Government (with a 3.5 GPA), and went to grad school at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, graduating with a J.D. in Constitutional Rights and Remedies (in between she worked as a server at both TGIFridays and Lucilles Smokehouse BBQ in Cerritos, California). She’s been a Legal Extern at the Medical Marijuana Industry Group and Colorado State Public Defender in Denver , and recently was a Student Attorney at the University of Denver Civil Rights Clinic. She is currently a volunteer at the ACLU in Los Angeles. Looks like Kate wasn’t just another dumb blonde after all.
Ethan Craft played by Clayton Snyder
Clayton grew up playing water polo, even playing throughout his time on Lizzie (are you even surprised by this?). After graduating high school, he went to Pepperdine University on a scholarship for water polo. While in college, he also performed in some dance showcase for three years, which should NOT be a surprise, judging by his sweet moves in the show. He graduated with honors with a B.A. in Film Studies in 2010. After that, he played professional water polo for the USA National Team, competing against teams all over the world. Now he’s back to acting and last year, appeared in a number of projects, including NCIS and Rules of Engagement. And like any working actor in LA – he works as a bartender at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
Larry Tudgeman III played by Kyle Downes
Tudgeman!! He is currently 31 years old. What? Anyways, Kyle only added a few more acting credits to his name after Lizzie, including CSI: Miami and The L Word. But he has transitioned to a post behind the camera as a director, helming a few shorts, commercials, and even reality shows like Million Dollar Listing. He also goes by KJ Downes now, so change your online stalking appropriately. In 2011 there was a weird incident where there was a search party sent out to find him, but he came back and was all, ‘It’s cool brah. I just needed some time away’. Classic Tudge.
Miranda Sanchez played by Lalaine Vergara
Out of all the Lizzie child actors, Lalaine is the only one who veered off the road a bit. In 2007, she was arrested and charged with felony possession of meth (she was into breaking bad before it was cool). Despite pleading guilty to the crystal meth charge, her record was expunged after she finished a drug-treatment program. Fortunately, she’s been able to get her life together after that, appearing in a few movies, including Easy A. She also went to Jake’s birthday party, as seen above.
David “Gordo” Gordon played by Adam Lamberg
The mystery of ‘Where is Adam Lamberg’ has been haunting inquiring millennials for years, and it seems like we’re finally getting down to something. Save for a couple acting jobs after Lizzie, Adam quit showbiz and went to UC Berkeley, graduating with a Bachelor’s in Geography (of all things) in 2008. He is currently the Development Associate at Irish Arts Center, and is also getting his masters in Public Administration at Baruch College in New York. His job also allows him to hang out with Jimmy Fallon. What a life.
Animated Lizzie
Probs still stuck in a TV somewhere, eating food bigger than her face and clumsily falling into inanimate objects.
Lizzie McGuire played by Hilary Duff
If you don’t know what HDuff’s been up to since she kissed Gordo in Rome, I don’t think we should be friends. But because I’m feeling generous, here’s what’s happened to her in a nutshell: she released a few more albums (hi Laguna Beach), had a threesome on Gossip Girl, created a clothing line and perfume, wrote a young adult novel, got married, had a qt baby, got divorced, walked around a lot, and is set to star in a new show called Younger. HDuff – better than your faves since ’01.
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Adam Lamberg, Ashlie Brillault, Clayton Snyder, Disney, Disney Channel, Hallie Todd, Hilary Duff, Jake Thomas, Kyle Downes, Lalaine, Lizzie McGuire, Robert Carradine, where are they now, where are they now lizzie mcguire 6 Comments
The Evolution of Nick Jonas
Last week, millennials who don’t follow the whereabouts of past-Disney child stars were shocked SHOCKED to see these new revealing photographs of former Jonas Brothers brother Nick Jonas:
I know what you’re thinking – he’s 22. It’s (legally) okay. Also, if this reminds you of something, it’s probably because Nick paid homage to the iconic 1992 photoshoot with Mark Wahlberg (of the Funky Bunch at the time) that made heads turn and launched his career into stardom. I imagine this will have a similar effect for Nick Jonas, because now people might think of him as more than just a former product of Disney. Not to mention, he has a new show coming out out DirecTV tonight called Kingdom in which he plays an MMA fighter- but more on that later.
So if you haven’t been following Nick like I have over the past few years (I’m a creep, it’s fine), you’re probably wondering how we go to the place where baby Nick Jonas is grabbing his crotch and you feel slightly turned on by it. Let’s take a quick walk through memory lane and see how he went from fresh-faced heartthrob to Hollywood hunk.
2007 – The Year 3000
Before the Jonas brothers became the Jonas Brothers in 2005, Nick had already had a successful career behind him – he had released a solo album and been on Broadway (which I ironically saw him in Annie Get Your Gun without even knowing). But obviously he became popular when the band blew up and it’s all thanks to Disney. Their cover of UK band Busted’s song Year 3000 was their first real breakout hit. I remember them promoting the shit out of it on the Disney Channel, and from there, they garnered a huge fan base. Nick, the youngest JoBro, was only 15 at the time.
2007 – Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas
That popularity helped them snag a guest role on Hannah Montana, where they played themselves. Incidentally, Nick had a small thing for Hannah Montana herself – is it art imitating life or life imitating art?? Just from this clip alone, you knew they were destined for bigger things. And that Nick was going to be trouble for Miley.
2008 – Camp Rock
Hot on the heels of High School Musical, Disney’s DCOMs (Disney Channel Original Movies) had found new life, and among them was this music summer camp movie, Camp Rock, featuring the JoBros and Demi Lovato. Nick didn’t really have a big part in the first movie, besides his hair. Seriously, props to him for not caving in to the flat iron peer pressure.
2009 – Grammys
Around this time, the Jonai were the One Direction of their time, which is a sad sentence for me to type out. They were nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys, but lost out to Adele. Fair. Also around this time – my secret crush on Nick was starting to form. It was clear to me he was going to be the star out of the three of them. I mean look at him next to the other two. Joe looks like he’s auditioning to be in a reboot of Miami Vice and Kevin can’t wait to have sex with his new wife.
2009 – Jonas
The bigwigs over at Disney decided it was about time they give the JoBros their own TV show, and it was fittingly called Jonas. The boys played themselves with fake parents and an occasional visit from little brother, bonus Jonas Frankie. I’m not going to lie to y’all, I went through a serious Disney Channel phase that I didn’t grow out of until a few years ago. So I legit watched Jonas every week, and it really wasn’t THAT bad. I will say that in the clip above, Nick sounds super nasally but I still love this song. It’s the inner teeny bopper in me, what can I say?
2009 – Before the Storm
In what would be their last studio album, Lines, Vines, and Trying Times, Nick basically sings solo on a song called Before the Storm featuring his ex-girlfriend Miley Cyrus. The song is obvs about their relationship, so when she show up unexpected at the concert seen in the video, it was a big deal. While it seemed like they had a brief rekindling of their romance, Miley went off to film The Last Song shortly thereafter, and the rest is history. Probs for the best though.
2010 – Nick Jonas and the Administration
Nick’s nickname in the band/family was Mr. President because he was always the serious one and had mentioned as a youngster his political aspirations. It’s clearly too late for that now. But he took that nickname and ran with it and started a solo project. The lead single Who I Am did okay, but it still didn’t bomb like Joe’s attempted solo album. Anyways, Nick even went on tour with the Administration, and I have no shame in saying that for my birthday in 2010, I went to see him in concert. H8rs to da left.
2010 – Camp Rock 2
Of course Disney needed to ride on the Camp Rock wave one final time. Luckily for Nick fans, this movie actually featured a plot/love interest for him, and not just Joe/Demi. Nick likes to woo his girls by playing guitar and singing and TBH if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
2010 – Jonas LA
So Disney bosses decided the New York City-set Jonas needed a revamp so after some tweaking, the show returned, but this time in LA. However, Nick’s penchant for acoustic guitar serenades did not go away.
2010 – Les Miserables
Nick returned to his theater roots by performing in the West End production of Les Mis as lovelorn Marius. Fun fact: he actually played baby Gavroche on Broadway in 2003. Anyways, in addition to his West End run, Nick also played Marius in the 25th anniversary concert, which was a polarizing part for theater nerds all over the world.
2011 – Hairspray
In a role that was seemingly made for him, Nick played teen heartthrob Link Larkin at the Hollywood Bowl production of Hairspray. I got to see this live and let me tell you, the screams you hear in this video are not from the cast members. They are from real fangirls in the audience who were going crazy over Nick’s hip movements. I was so impressed with his vocal range here and my crush grew even more.
2012 – How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Nick made his triumphant return to Broadway by filling in for Darren Criss and Daniel Radcliffe before him. And the fact that the show closed weeks after he started has nothing to do with his performance. Actually I have no idea, he could’ve been horrible for all we know, but look at how good he looks in a bow tie!
2013 – Hawaii Five-0
As the reality of the Jonas Brothers’ demise was sinking in, Nick was out to prove that he was more than just a guy in a boy band, and had a recurring role on Hawaii Five-O. I’m not exactly sure what he did, but his hoodie is open and revealing his chest.
2013 – The Instagram reveal
You know those moments when you hear news for the first time and you’ll always remember where you were and what you were doing at that specific time? I feel that way about when I saw this picture. I remember staring at it on Instagram in awe and unwilling to believe this was the same Nick Jonas I had been secretly pining for over the past few years. He says it was his diabetes that inspired him to take better care of his body. I mean whatever, man. You do you.
And thanks to the magic that is Nick’s Instagram/the internet, we have been graced with even more photos of Nick and his muscles. Mainly his muscles.
Probs serenading a girl he’s trying to woo.
IT’S LIKE HE’S PHOTOSHOPPED.
IS HE FLEXING OR RELAXED NO ONE WILL KNOW
2014 – Solo project Take 2
With his hot bod and hot girlfriend and hot bod, Nick debuted his post-Jo Bros sound, and it’s actually quite good. It’s a lot different than Nick Jonas and the Administration. There’s a lot of R&B, hip-hop and even some Motown-y vibes in the new stuff and it shows a more adult side that he was never able to play before. Also, I’m obsessed with this song.
2014 – Kingdom
That brings us to Kingdom, a new drama series which premieres tonight. Part of Nick’s bodybuilding training also has to do with the fact that he plays an up and coming MMA fighter who comes from a long legacy of prestigious fighters. I admit that this type of show doesn’t necessarily look like the kind I’d be into, but when you have Nick Jonas and Matt Lauria of Friday Night Lights/Parenthood fame, you best believe I’m DVRing the shit out of that. And I can’t wait to see where Nick’s career takes him from here.
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Disney, Disney Channel, Jonas Brothers, Kingdom, nick jonas 17 Comments
Posted in Entertainment, Lists by Molly
The Lion King was released twenty years ago this month. If you’re anything like me, your reaction was “NOPE,” followed by a long contemplation of your own mortality. In Disney terms, Lion King is roughly as old now as The Aristocats and Robin Hood were when we were kids. But, as Rafiki would remind us, it’s all just a part of the circle of life — so let’s see where life has circled our favorite savannah-dwellers to in the two decades since Nala, Simba, and the gang hit theaters (and I wore a steady stream of Lion King t-shirts, camped in a Lion King sleeping bag, and regarded my stuffed Pumba as a prized possession):
We watched Simba grow from lovable scamp, to outcast, to grown man, to redeemer of Pride Rock.
Simba is almost certainly dead. Lions in the wild live for 10-14 years, though lions in captivity may live to 20-25. So, Simba is either deceased or elderly and languishing in the zoo.
And how’s this for a bummer? Male lions are typically ousted from the pride once they are 2-3 years old if their father gets the boot, unless they take it over. So, Simba’s exile was basically just a cold, scientific reality. Isn’t nature grand? And once he was too old to be useful, he was probably kicked out again. It’s basically the lion version of abandoning an elderly relative at the home.
Nala was the ultimate BFF-turned-love interest, like a leonine Joey Potter.
Nala had a bunch of cubs. Lion cubs born in the same litter can actually have different fathers – science! – which lead Nala to appear on Timon’s short-lived talk show, sort of an animal version of Maury Povich.
Simba was not the father.
Nala is now dead.
Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed
Scar’s hyena henchmen were last seen mauling their former leader to death.
Hyenas can live up to 25 years in the wild, so it is possible that these fellows are alive and really, really old. Hyenas look decrepit even when they’re babies, so I can only imagine.
Wise Rafiki was supposed to be some sort of shaman/jester hybrid, maybe?
Nope… still don’t really see it.
Babboons can live up to 30 years in the wild, but face it, Rafiki was already pretty old 20 years ago. But if you look up to the night sky, you can see the word “sex” spelled out in the stars and know that he is with you always.
Funny guy Timon taught Simba how to live and love, and taught us that damn Hakuna Matata song that’s still stuck in our heads two decades later.
Before dying (sorry! you knew it was coming!), Timon took advantage of the weird meerkat reality show trend, and became a star of sorts on Animal Planet.
Pumba
Pumba issued the first fart ever heard on a Disney film (this is a true thing).
Well, that’s the circle of life, kids. And the circle stops at death. Also two decades closer to the grave: all of us. Man, I feel old right now.
animated films, cartoon, Disney, lion king, nala, pumba, rafiki, simba, the lion king, timon 6 Comments
Non-Scary Movies That Will Scare the $HiT Out of You
Posted in Entertainment, Lists by Traci
I’m not much of a horror movie person. I would rather see all the rom-coms in existence (ranging from Hallmark Channel to When Harry Met Sally) than sit through a marathon of Friday the 13th movies. It’s not particularly because it’s scary, but because I don’t find the appeal in watching someone get bludgeoned to death with like a knife or a chainsaw.
The first movie I remember ever thinking was truly frightening was The Sixth Sense, because that was the paranormal factor yet ‘realistic’ side to it that freaked me out when I was just 13. Movies that aren’t necessarily considered horror – that are more psychologically scary are waayyy more horrific than any Mike Meyers type film. Here’s my list of scary non-scary movies that actually make me lost my shit.
So I saw the trailer for this in the movie theater and IMMEDIATELY said ‘NOPE’ outloud. But then a couple weeks ago, it finally came out and the buzz was through the roof. No one said anything about the plot, or the outcome , just that it was amazing and would blow your mind.
Because I sometimes cave to peer pressure, I finally saw it. And holy shit was everyone right. There is no way to accurately describe the feeling you have throughout and after watching this movie, other than it affects you. Emotionally, physically – it makes you feel something that I’ve never felt before. The only thing I can kind of compare it to is after I saw Inception, I legit had to sit in my seat until they kicked us out because I didn’t know what to do with myself (slash I wanted to know if the top fell or not). It’s like Inception but 10 times worse/better.
There were definitely parts where the anxiety level was high, and seeing Sandra Bullock and George Clooney dangle in space was absolutely horrifying. But it reminds you that we are just a small part of this entire galaxy, and maybe that’s the most frightening part of it all.
I was introduced to this film my freshman year of college in one of my writing classes (liberal arts school = a writing class where my final paper was about Studio 54 and Macaulay Culkin’s Party Monster). Now I don’t do drugs, but after watching this film there was no way in hell I was ever going to start. The way Darren Aronofsky makes you feel like you’re actually doing drugs with them was plenty enough for me to feel like I was high too. The close up cinematography of the drugs themselves was a startling reminder of what you’re actually dealing with – and not to mention I think Breaking Bad may have taken a page out of Aronofsky’s book.
And the music? Yeah, if I hear the first few notes of Lux Aeterna, it takes me to a place in my mind I never want to be. Bitches be crazy on drugs, y’all.
To be completely honest, the idea of Contagion sounded so scary to me that I couldn’t even watch the movie. I’m just putting it on here because it sounds like the worst possible thing that could feasibly happen to the citizens of the world. It hits too close too home and I don’t like it one bit. This is why I don’t like going out – people can catch things.
At first glance, this is a fun children’s movie, right? WRONG. As much as I love this movie, let’s be real. What kind of creepy old man, who hasn’t been seen in years, has a contest to invite kids into his sketchy chocolate factory, which is all really a test to see who would become his rightful heir? And come on – this scene alone? Why did we let kids watch this movie?!?
Going in to Black Swan, I really didn’t think it was going to be as creepy and unsettling as it actually was. But leave it up to Darren Aronofsky once again to freak your bean. Remember the part with the feathers? Yeah, that still haunts me to this day.
Hands down, the weirdest Disney film ever. I remember seeing this in the theater with my parents and falling asleep, but I think it was really because I subconsciously didn’t want my innocent eyes to see the ecstasy trip that was happening on screen. Honestly, if I did drugs (which again, thank Requiem for that), it would probably be a much better film? IDK though guys, it still doesn’t make sense to me and I imagine that that’s what Disney hell looks like.
Don’t tell me this theme song alone didn’t make you want to run into a corner and cry. I would make my parents change the channel anytime it accidentally came on because it was THAT frightening… I really shouldn’t have been watching so much television as a kid…
Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky, Disney, Fantasia, Gravity, Halloween, movies, October, Requiem for a Dream, scary, Unsolved Mysteries, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 5 Comments
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Label: 4AD Release Date: 09/07/2012
by Al Horner July 4th, 2012
Here’s a confession. Four summers ago, I was driving along a long wooded backroad in my clapped-out matchbox of a first car. It was late and I was rushing home, the kettle-screech whistling of air through my window smothered by loud music. I was 19 and had been working two towns over in a video shop, and it had been a shitty day. The roads empty, I must have lost concentration because I soon clumped into a curb, sending the car into a violent spin. When I finally regained control of the car, I drove to a nearby supermarket car park where I sat for maybe an hour and beat the dashboard until my fists ached and my lungs wheezed, angry at myself for almost ending my first stab at adulthood - I had only recently scraped through my driving test - in a heap of twisted metal, all because I was fumbling for a cassette in the glovebox.
I bring this up not just because Twin Shadow’s second album, Confess, was inspired by an automobile accident - main man George Lewis Jr. crashed his motorbike a couple of winters ago while riding with a friend - nor because you’ve missed a memo about DiS reviews now couching catharsis for journalists with a shitty grasp of road safety. It’s rather that just like these sort of memories, the ones that lurk in the shady recesses of your past, all detail swinging in and out of focus, hazy and intangible, Confess is unshakeable and destined to linger.
Following in the exhaust fumes and tire-spin howl of last year’s Drive soundtrack, the album is a total Eighties throwback, all John Hughes-film-accompaniment pop regalia, fizzing guitar lines, Italo Disco keyboards and hushed eroticism. But where Cliff Martinez’s score bore a certain muscular power, Confess is agile, zippier, more direct than the likes of College and Chromatics’ contributions there. It’s as if the motorcycle-obsessed Lewis Jr. has crafted a slinkier two-wheeled spin-off score.
From the calypso echoes of opener 'Golden Light' to recent single 'Five Seconds,' its thrills and spills are irresistible. The record benefits from a rich togetherness that's aided by Lewis Jr. also helming production duties. Songs like 'Run My Heart' and 'The One' retrofit The Police’s chipper melodies and stadium-sized choruses onto a backdrop of corrosive guitars and rattling electronic drums, soft wash keyboard flourishes raining like confetti. Elsewhere, bitterness seeps in: “dance me around the room while you lie to me,” Lewis Jr begs on 'I Don’t Care' after 'Patient,' a welcome reminder of the future-pop he fashioned on last year’s overlooked CANT collaboration with Grizzly Bear-gone-solo Chris Taylor.
Twin Shadow’s first record, 2010’s Forget, was a satin-smooth razzle-dazzle of New Wave grooves. This time around, Lewis Jr. has added heart to the spectacle. With many revivalist acts, there’s a sense of empty nostalgia, but not so here. Confess isn’t just steeped in the sounds of an era, but in its films, feel, stories and sense of aspiration. It’s an album about love and lust behind the bleachers, in the dark of a multiplex, on the back of a motorcycle, in bathroom cubicles, under the neon glare of America’s bright lights - and it’s wholly, wholly brilliant.
Al Horner's Score
Safranin Sounds
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Deep Pools of Tepid Remorse
Posted on September 12, 2015 July 30, 2020 by DL Shirey in Published
First published by Beyond Imagination, a digital literary magazine that, sadly, is no longer available. Fear not, my story is reprinted below.
There is an intersection near our house with a police station. An artist was painting a mural on the large, blank wall behind the bus stop. I wondered where he got the inspiration.
This was my first published story.
“Does the mural have a title?” she asked.
The artist pointed a brush toward the far left corner. “Inscription on the headstone, the quote is the title,” Curtis said.
He knew who the woman was, her reputation and why she was here. Deliberately he said nothing more. Q&A was the game.
He also knew the next question this blogger would ask.
“You always put quotes in murals but I didn’t know they were your titles. Where is the quote from?” said Trina.
The answer would be found in a book of poetry: Do not delve in deep pools of tepid remorse. One line buried in a sonnet written about him, about a night deep red with too much wine, when his new lover opened herself for the first time.
The blogger stepped back from reading the inscription. “It’s not attributed, just a date–April May–and you didn’t include the year.”
Curtis shrugged, “Maybe it isn’t finished yet.”
“Mind if I take some photos?”
“It isn’t finished yet.”
“Just close-ups. Befores before the afters,” Trina said.
He shrugged again. Heard the computer chip renderings of a camera shutter sound. Curtis wondered if he should be less aloof. After all, she was showing interest in his work.
Trina’s blog had long been a must-read for local artists, but recently it had crossed over to the mainstream press as a go-to source for something artsy, something hip to list in a what-to-do-this-weekend article.
No, Curtis would remain cool despite the blog’s popularity. Q&A was the way to play it. Let her ask the questions, if she came back at all.
Curtis smiled to himself, until he walked to the central figure in the mural. The eyes weren’t right, and the curl dropped from his cheeks.
The next-day bus delivered the artist and his tools. Curtis liked that the mural was just behind a busy bus stop. A bench, tiny shelter for rain and the bus stop sign. Setting his paints and brushes down, he dodged cars to cross the intersection.
From this perspective, the bus stop was fully integrated into the mural. On one side, a happy cemetery filled with flowers. On the other stood the Virgin of Guadalupe with a toothy smile. Peeking from behind the bench and shelter, to the Virgin’s left, was an array of what one critic would eventually describe as gaudy, stereotypical ethnic products: saints on candles, piñata animals and Day-of-the-Dead skeletons. There was an iridescence and photorealism to the painting, making the bus stop structures, with their bright blue metal, an intrinsic part of the tumble of color.
The mural was a commission for the unwindowed wall of a police station parking garage. The artist was engaged to solve two problems. First, to literally illustrate the cops’ interest in the neighborhood. Second, hope that a mural would deter graffiti-wielding locals because of its subject matter. Spanish was the primary language in the district and Curtis lived just up the road. His Irish face was familiar to the neighborhood.
He jogged back across the street, pondering just where to start his day’s work. The fat brush dipped into pale aquamarine when a car slowed behind him.
“Back again?” said Curtis, looking over his shoulder.
Trina was riding shotgun, her elbow crooked out the window. Butter-yellow hair framed her pale face, her freckles had a speck more color.
“April May is a local poet. Your name is listed with the people she dedicates her latest book to.”
“One for you.” Curtis quickly slashed a +1 on unpainted cinderblock, then went about his work.
He heard the blogger laugh, then an electric window whining shut. He glimpsed her wave as the driver joined traffic. Curtis was pleased with her interest, less so with the drive-by brevity. He blended the three strokes of paint into a background color that would eventually become wings for the Virgin.
Perhaps his law enforcement benefactors were right. There was a fresh tag next to the mural, far enough away that even the misty edges of can spray didn’t touch his colors. BIG CHICO, it read. The G had teeth, the O a penis poking through it.
Curtis covered it in aquamarine.
The graffiti was to the right of the Virgin, on the stretch of wall beyond the bus stop. For this side of the painting he planned a different cornucopia, with pre-Columbian objects of Mayan or Aztec or Incan designs. The Virgin was the centerpiece, her celestial wings to embrace the cultural ties that would tumble to either side.
The figure of a woman always dominated his work. She could be dressed, as she was here, in the kitschy colors of a 14th-century apparition. In his mural Her life a mosaic of jagged years she was Hestia, the goddess who stayed home on Olympus to keep the hearth fire burning. In Trees yield soft needles to walk on she was a wicker woman embodied by tendrils from all living things.
No matter the mural’s theme, the woman in his life and in his bed made an appearance in Curtis’s work, both in the words she used and as portraiture for the central figure. Until now.
The quote did not match the face because Holly was gone.
Trina was on the bus when he boarded the next day. Curtis placed his crates of paints and brushes on an empty bench next to the door. The blogger pushed through a clot of commuters to join him.
“Here’s a happy coincidence. Heading to a lunch downtown and I was going to pop off the bus to ask you something.”
“Ask away.”
“Guadalupe? She looks nothing like April May,” she said.
The artist looked down again, concentrating on the bits of magenta under his fingernails. “Guadalupe’s not her name. Mary, the mother of God.”
“Still, she isn’t April. Looks more like the women in your last two murals, the Greek Mythology and the one with Mother Nature.”
How could Curtis explain? April’s words moved him, and their passion often brushed over his thoughts. Yet she wasn’t enough to mask his feelings for Holly, goddess and earth woman. Holly had left, never to return. There might be a continent and an ocean between them, but her imprint still remained. Deep pools of tepid remorse was the first time the portrait and the words were different women. And in truth, it felt like a betrayal to both.
“Who is she?” Trina’s interest was absolute.
The question pushed into his thoughts from the rosy voice close to his ear. Curtis looked up, the same moment a bell chimed for his bus stop.
“This is me,” Curtis said. “But I’d love to talk to you more about murals. I read in your blog about the bar where you do your writing. Maybe I’ll meet you there.”
Before her lips moved, Trina’s eyes smiled first. Three different shades of hazel.
He grabbed his tools and exited the bus. Pacing the length of his mural, he knew the changes to be made and the coming anguish to make them. Curtis also recognized that without the changes, he might very well vandalize the mural himself one drunken night. Curtis spent the rest of the day painting over the headstone words and making the Virgin’s face a blank of flesh.
What now? The bits of peanut shells and circles of stale beer on the bar top did not form an answer. He hated the thought of random quotes and make-believe faces, but deadlines and rent checks might make the decision for him.
“Another shot, Joe, and a beer to chase it.”
Trina pulled into the empty stool beside Curtis and said, “Make that two.”
Curtis nodded, pushing the bowl of nuts between them. “Been reading your blog and you really know your stuff. You’re drawn to public art, I see.”
“Drawn. I get it.”
“No, really. Your writing’s good, a real sense of place, and art history behind it.”
“Thanks, but it sounds like there’s a ‘but’ coming,” she said.
“No buts. A hyphen maybe.” He was pressing to be clever, to show her more than the brood of silences he had given her before. “In your name. I never know whether I’m supposed to use both last names or just the one that follows the hyphen.”
“My friends call me Trink.”
The clatter of shots and pints accompany the handshake.
“Never met a hyphenate, that I know of,” Curtis said.
“I’ve only known two and they were my folks. Three if you count my sister before she got married,” Trink said. “But I think before we tell life stories, you should read this.”
She pulled a screen from her pocket and tapped it to life. “I know your mural isn’t finished, but I didn’t want to wait. Your process is just as interesting as your body of work. My readers will think so, too.”
Curtis wiped fingers on his shirt before taking the phone.
Trink winced as the tequila hit the back of her throat. She followed it with a quick gulp of beer while his glasses remained untouched.
“Love this line about tasting oranges before you smell them,” said Curtis, noting the exact color of light reflected from her cheek. “Where’d you come up with that?”
It was the first question he’d asked her.
Next postAmerican Sentence
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Certifications HomeCounter-Insider Threat
CERTIFIED COUNTER-INSIDER THREAT PROFESSIONAL (CCITP) Program
In 2011, Executive Order 13587 established the requirement for all United States Government (USG) Executive Agencies to establish an Insider Threat Program. The Executive Order also established the National Insider Threat Task Force (NITTF), co-led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Department of Justice (DoJ), and the minimum standards by which an Counter-Insider Threat (C-InT) program would be deemed operational.
The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (OUSD(I&S)), in partnership with the NITTF, focused on the people-related aspect of the C-InT capability, and created two professional certifications. These certifications were developed with maximum participation from across the USG, resulting in broad applicability across C-InT workforces.
Certified Counter-Insider Threat Professional - Fundamentals (CCITP-F): The CCITP-F measures and assesses whether an individual has the requisite knowledge and skills annotated in the CCITP-Essential Body of Knowledge to perform the tasks outlined in the CCITP-Essential Body of Work. The CCITP-F was designed with a target population of those personnel working directly in a C-InT program; however, because each program is unique with different needs and constraints, the CCITP-F is open to anyone who works within or is affiliated with a C-InT Program, as determined by each organization’s Program Manager. The examination measures acceptable performance across five (5) topic areas:
Topic Area 1: Policy and Directives - 25%
Topic Area 2: Social and Behavior Science - 10%
Topic Area 3: Researching - 30%
Topic Areas 4 & 5: Synthesis & Tools and Methods - 35%
Certified Counter-Insider Threat Professional - Analysis (CCITP-A): The CCITP-A establishes a common standard of analytic tradecraft of all who serve and support the Counter-Insider Threat (C-InT) capability; it focuses on the analysis of C-InT information and development of mitigation recommendations. The CCITP-A measures and assesses whether an individual has the requisite knowledge and skills annotated in the CCITP-Essential Body of Knowledge to perform the tasks outlined in the CCITP-Essential Body of Work. The CCITP-A was designed for the target population of those personnel working directly in a C-InT program and performing analysis functions. The examination measures acceptable performance across six (6) topic areas:
Topic Area 2:Social and Behavior Science - 10%
Topic Area 6: Vulnerabilities Assessment and Management - 15%
Initial conferral of CCITP certifications were issued February 20, 2020. Subject Matter Experts who participated in exam development along with individuals who met all certification requirements should have received an email regarding how to access your digital badge and printable certificate. If you have not received this communication, please email the PMO at OSD.CINT-Certification@mail.mil.
NO SHOW POLICY: If a candidate does not cancel or reschedule a confirmed exam at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled exam and does not show up for their scheduled exam, the USG will still be charged an exam seat fee as if the candidate sat for the exam. PLEASE make every effort to make your scheduled exam date or reschedule in time to meet the Pearson VUE Deadline. If an individual is a no-show for two exam iterations, he or she will not be able to participate in the CCITP Program. Individuals may appeal by submitting a waiver request explaining why they were unable to make scheduled exam sessions.
2/19/2021 12:00 AM 3/12/2021 11:30 PM Spring 2021 CCITP Candidate Registration Window Available
2/19/2021 12:00 AM 4/2/2021 11:30 PM Spring 2021 CCITP Program Reviewer Window Available
4/16/2021 12:00 AM 5/30/2021 11:30 PM Spring 2021 CCITP Testing Window Available
For Certificants
To contact the PMO:
Email: OSD.CINT-Certification@mail.mil
To register for the exam:
Website: https://cint-gsx.learningbuilder.com/
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Putter to serve on a panel of experts in Geneva
Posted by The Staff Reporter | Feb 7, 2017 | Tourism
The National Chairman of the Hospitality Association of Namibia, Rudie Putter, is one of eight selected global employers serving on a panel of experts to adopt Guidelines on Decent Work and Socially Responsible Tourism.
The meeting is called by the International Labour Organisation and will be held at the ILO in Geneva from 20-24 February.
The purpose of the meeting is to review and adopt guidelines on decent work and socially responsible tourism to encourage the hotels, catering, tourism sector, its stakeholders and social partners to foster social responsibility and strengthen decent work, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda.
Eight Employer experts, eight Government experts and eight Worker experts have been invited to participate in the elaboration of these guidelines. Mr Putter will be joined by Top tourism experts from, Croatia, Kuwait, Peru, Spain, Netherlands and Zambia to formulate views of employers at global level.
The selection of participants was based on the qualifications of the candidates, but also on a fair geographical balance that reflects the IOE’s global membership. The selected Employer delegates will have the opportunity – unique in some cases – to familiarise themselves with the ILO, its working methods and the respective policy positions of employers, workers and governments from around the world.
Namibia’s participation has been made possible by the Namibian Employers Federation, who has worked with the ILO and the International Organisation of Employers for more than 20 years.
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The Staff Reporter
The staff reporter is the most senior in-house Economist reporter. This designation is frequently used by the editor for articles submitted by third parties, especially businesses, but which had to be rewritten completely. - Ed.
Flood damaged /Ai-/Ais Hotsprings and Spa forced to shut down temporalily for three months
Speed challenge brings adventure to travel summit
Protea Hotels offer 50% discount to Air Namibia passengers
New amenities in Sikondo show villagers the benefits of tourism
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EEAS Press alerts
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EEAS homepage > EEAS > EU Del Chile launches campaign on violence against women with 25 prominent women raising their voice on November 25th
EU Del Chile launches campaign on violence against women with 25 prominent women raising their voice on November 25th
On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the EU Delegation to Chile launched the campaign “Raise your voice clear and strong “ (Alza Tu Voz Clara y Fuerte) to raise awareness about violence against women and girls.
The campaign consisted of a video of 25 prominent women - Chilean actresses, journalists, writers, and athletes as well as three women Ambassadors of EU Member States in Chile - reading parts of an original text - Marks of Aggression - written by Chilean writer Jessica Atal. The objective of the text is to reflect on the traumatic consequences of violence - physical and psychological - against women and girls, reaffirm the importance of respect for human rights and act as a support network for vulnerable women.
Video of Raise your voice clear and strong (Alza Tu Voz Clara y Fuerte)
The European Union Ambassador in Chile, León de la Torre Krais, was also interviewed on the news radio Radio Cooperativa highlighting the strong commitment of the European Union to make visible, denounce and actively combat violence against women and girls.
Gender Equality - Americas
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Building immunity to disinformation
Together for Nicaragua: The journey starts with a small step
Space Embracing a Changing World: Green, Digital, Resilience & Security
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Empowering women to boost their business in The Gambia - Fatou’s story
Empowering women to boost their business in The Gambia- Fatou’s storyFrom struggling to scrape by to successful business woman, Fatou Mbaye’s life has made a dramatic u-turn. “Life used to be difficult. I didn’t have any skills, or any meaningful trade. I farmed millet and groundnut, but the rains are erratic. Often the harvest wasn’t enough,” explains Fatou. “I have
70 localities from Cahul and Ungheni districts supported to prevent domestic and gender-based violenceA batch of assistance totaling € 155,000 and consisting of 9,000 liters of disinfectants, 21,500 protective masks, 1,100 reusable rubber gloves, 90 infrared thermometers, 800 food and hygiene packages and 1,000 sets of educational materials is made available to 70 localities from Cahul and Ungheni
EU and Southern Neighbourhood partner countries to discuss their future partnership- 5th UfM Regional Forum: 25th anniversary of the Barcelona Process Post Category: News stories Show left menu: Main Image: /file/capturejpg-151_encapture.jpg Editorial Sections: EEAS
Towards a Gender-Equal World: The EU Gender Action Plan and the EU’s contribution to Beijing +25- Online eventWe are pleased to announce that the European Commission, in cooperation with the European External Action Service and the German Presidency of the European Union, will hold a high-level event on 25 November 2020 to launch the new EU Gender Action Plan – An ambitious agenda for gender equality and
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Convergent evolution of Trichomonas vaginalis lactate dehydrogenase from malate dehydrogenase
Gang Wu, András Fiser, Benno Ter Kuile, Andrej Šali, Miklós Müller
Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is present in the amitochondriate parasitic protist Trichomonas vaginalis and some but not all other trichomonad species. The derived amino acid sequence of T. vaginalis LDH (TvLDH) was found to be more closely related to the cytosolic malate dehydrogenase (MDH) of the same species than to any other LDH. A key difference between the two T. vaginalis sequences was that Arg91 of MDH, known to be important in coordinating the C- 4 carboxyl of oxalacetate/malate, was replaced by Leu91 in LDH. The change Leu91Arg by site-directed mutagenesis converted TvLDH into an MDH. The reverse single amino acid change Arg91Leu in TvMDH, however, gave a product with no measurable LDH activity. Phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that TvLDH arose from an MDH relatively recently.
Published - May 25 1999
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Convergent evolution of Trichomonas vaginalis lactate dehydrogenase from malate dehydrogenase'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Malate Dehydrogenase Medicine & Life Sciences
Trichomonas vaginalis Medicine & Life Sciences
L-Lactate Dehydrogenase Medicine & Life Sciences
malic acid Medicine & Life Sciences
Site-Directed Mutagenesis Medicine & Life Sciences
Amino Acid Sequence Medicine & Life Sciences
Amino Acids Medicine & Life Sciences
Wu, G., Fiser, A., Ter Kuile, B., Šali, A., & Müller, M. (1999). Convergent evolution of Trichomonas vaginalis lactate dehydrogenase from malate dehydrogenase. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 96(11), 6285-6290. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.96.11.6285
Convergent evolution of Trichomonas vaginalis lactate dehydrogenase from malate dehydrogenase. / Wu, Gang; Fiser, András; Ter Kuile, Benno; Šali, Andrej; Müller, Miklós.
Wu, G, Fiser, A, Ter Kuile, B, Šali, A & Müller, M 1999, 'Convergent evolution of Trichomonas vaginalis lactate dehydrogenase from malate dehydrogenase', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 96, no. 11, pp. 6285-6290. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.96.11.6285
Wu G, Fiser A, Ter Kuile B, Šali A, Müller M. Convergent evolution of Trichomonas vaginalis lactate dehydrogenase from malate dehydrogenase. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 1999 May 25;96(11):6285-6290. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.96.11.6285
Wu, Gang ; Fiser, András ; Ter Kuile, Benno ; Šali, Andrej ; Müller, Miklós. / Convergent evolution of Trichomonas vaginalis lactate dehydrogenase from malate dehydrogenase. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 1999 ; Vol. 96, No. 11. pp. 6285-6290.
@article{15b8e76958a0436aa923fd817e3fb09d,
title = "Convergent evolution of Trichomonas vaginalis lactate dehydrogenase from malate dehydrogenase",
abstract = "Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is present in the amitochondriate parasitic protist Trichomonas vaginalis and some but not all other trichomonad species. The derived amino acid sequence of T. vaginalis LDH (TvLDH) was found to be more closely related to the cytosolic malate dehydrogenase (MDH) of the same species than to any other LDH. A key difference between the two T. vaginalis sequences was that Arg91 of MDH, known to be important in coordinating the C- 4 carboxyl of oxalacetate/malate, was replaced by Leu91 in LDH. The change Leu91Arg by site-directed mutagenesis converted TvLDH into an MDH. The reverse single amino acid change Arg91Leu in TvMDH, however, gave a product with no measurable LDH activity. Phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that TvLDH arose from an MDH relatively recently.",
author = "Gang Wu and Andr{\'a}s Fiser and {Ter Kuile}, Benno and Andrej {\v S}ali and Mikl{\'o}s M{\"u}ller",
T1 - Convergent evolution of Trichomonas vaginalis lactate dehydrogenase from malate dehydrogenase
AU - Wu, Gang
AU - Fiser, András
AU - Ter Kuile, Benno
AU - Šali, Andrej
AU - Müller, Miklós
N2 - Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is present in the amitochondriate parasitic protist Trichomonas vaginalis and some but not all other trichomonad species. The derived amino acid sequence of T. vaginalis LDH (TvLDH) was found to be more closely related to the cytosolic malate dehydrogenase (MDH) of the same species than to any other LDH. A key difference between the two T. vaginalis sequences was that Arg91 of MDH, known to be important in coordinating the C- 4 carboxyl of oxalacetate/malate, was replaced by Leu91 in LDH. The change Leu91Arg by site-directed mutagenesis converted TvLDH into an MDH. The reverse single amino acid change Arg91Leu in TvMDH, however, gave a product with no measurable LDH activity. Phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that TvLDH arose from an MDH relatively recently.
AB - Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is present in the amitochondriate parasitic protist Trichomonas vaginalis and some but not all other trichomonad species. The derived amino acid sequence of T. vaginalis LDH (TvLDH) was found to be more closely related to the cytosolic malate dehydrogenase (MDH) of the same species than to any other LDH. A key difference between the two T. vaginalis sequences was that Arg91 of MDH, known to be important in coordinating the C- 4 carboxyl of oxalacetate/malate, was replaced by Leu91 in LDH. The change Leu91Arg by site-directed mutagenesis converted TvLDH into an MDH. The reverse single amino acid change Arg91Leu in TvMDH, however, gave a product with no measurable LDH activity. Phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that TvLDH arose from an MDH relatively recently.
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We are currently accepting data taken since January 1st 2019
Elasmobranch Project Indonesia
ElasmoID
Indonesia has one of the highest biodiversity of Elasmobranchs in the world. Members of the Elasmobranchs, the shark, ray, skate, and chimaera, are cartilaginous fishes. Out of more than 1250 species of Elasmobranchs in the world, 118 species of sharks, 101 species of rays and skates, and 6 species of chimaeras can be found in the water of Indonesia.
Despite having all these species documented and recorded in identification guides/books, assessment for species-specific data is still a difficult thing to achieve in Indonesia.
This problem occurs due to the wide-ranging archipelago area needed to be covered, complex chain of shark and ray market and supply, and the lack of real-time up to date information of the Elasmobranchs occurrence and landing in cities and remote areas in Indonesia.
EPI uses the concept of Citizen Science to map the diversity of Elasmobranch species in Indonesia, including shark, ray, skate, and chimaera
Citizen science is the practice of public participation and collaboration in a scientific research.
Map the distribution and biodiversity of Elasmobranchs in Indonesia.
Provide real-time up to date information of Elasmobranchs sighting and landing in Indonesia by utilizing a user-friendly citizen science method and network.
Increase the involvement and awareness of wide-ranging age and job-based group of people in Elasmobranch conservation in Indonesia.
We coordinate and work closely with experts, scientists, students, and most importantly the people of Indonesia to further maximize the success rate of this project.
We hope to provide important information about Elasmobranch diversity in Indonesia and raise the awareness needed for the conservation of shark, ray, skate, and chimaera in Indonesia. Our data will be able to contribute to distribution information at the national and international levels (IUCN).
Who can participate in EPI?
Everyone who has interest in supporting shark, ray, skate and chimaera conservation in Indonesia can partake to contribute for EPI, such as student, lecturer, researcher, organization, government body, even fishermen and fish seller can and are welcome to participate.
It’s easy. You will only need to submit your encounter photograph and data, landing or sighting, directly from our website. Go to our Report Page.
How can I learn to identify Elasmobranch species?
EPI recommends some identification guides and books available to download for free on our ElasmoID Page.
What do I need to prepare for data collection?
What happens to the photograph and data I submitted?
How can I track the photograph and data I collected?
Who can use the data collected by EPI?
Can I use EPI's data for my research?
How do I Citate EPI's data?
You only need to have a camera and a note to write down information. The camera can be a digital or mobile phone camera as long as you deemed it enough to produce good photograph. Information can be written down on paper or go paperless and just type it in your mobile phone! Lastly, you need to have the confidence and curiosity to ask around for more detailed information!
Check our Guideline Page for detailed information.
The photograph and some of your data will be displayed in our Map Page.
Your photograph and data will provide up to date information for EPI and other parties who could use it to support Elasmobranch conservation in Indonesia!
If your data is deemed acceptable by EPI, a unique ID code will be given to you via email.
Check our Guideline Page.
Anyone deemed by EPI could use it to support Elasmobranch conservation in Indonesia!
Of course, you can! You just need to send us an email regarding the type of data you need, then we can discuss further through the mail. However, some Terms and Agreements for the usage of the data need to be agreed upon first.
EPI. Year (According to data used). Elasmobranch Project Indonesia. URL. Downloaded on DD Month Year (Date adjust to the accessed date).
Do you have more questions?
Send your questions over to epi@elasmobranch.id
Home | About | Guideline | Report | Map
Copyright © 2020 Elasmobranch Project Indonesia
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Home › Chinese Zodiac Dog Trinket Box by Keren Kopal
elcidgallery
Chinese Zodiac Dog Trinket Box by Keren Kopal
About the Artist Keren Kopal
Keren Kopal is a designer of decorated works of art. As an art and antique collector Keren was inspired by the fabulous work of Peter Carl Faberge and started to make sculptures of boxes, eggs, animals and other accessories for art lovers.
All models are original creations of the "Keren Kopal Collection" in limited series.
Each piece has the signature of the artist Keren Kopal on a metal plate, as a guarantee of authenticity.
Each item is made of pewter & either 24K Gold or 925 silver plated.
The entire process, from the first sketch to the final product, is made by hand of talented and skilled artisans under the supervision of the artist Keren Kopal.
Each Keren Kopal item is painted by hand using a unique technique that combines a distinctive enamel technique inlaid with Austrian and Swarovski crystals. Each crystal is handpicked and artistically placed on each piece.
Every trinket box has a magnetic fastener to secure the closure.
Every Keren Kopal item is shipped in an elegant black box.
About Faberge style
Peter Carl Faberge (also known as Karl Gustavovich Faberge in Russia) was a Russian jeweler of French origin. He is probably best known for the famous Faberge eggs, made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, using precious metals and gemstones.
The eggs are made of precious metals or hard stones decorated with combination of enamel and gem stones. The term "Faberge egg" has become a synonym of luxury and the eggs are regarded as masterpieces of the jeweler's art.
Of the 65 known large Faberge eggs, only 57 have survived to the present day.
The Faberge jewelry style inspired many artists and jewelry makers around the world for more than 100 years and still is.
SKU: ZD1087
Valentine's Strawberry Cupcake Trinket Box Decorated Swarovski by Keren Kopal
Royal Goat Trinket Box by Keren Kopal
Pear Trinket Box by Keren Kopal
Hummingbirds Trinket Box by Keren Kopal
Copyright © 2021, elcidgallery
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Elite Operations Management
The Manor, Herringswell, Suffolk: This is part demolition of an old gymnasium on a 10 acre manor estate and the redevelopment of into 6 town houses and 9 flats complete August 2020
High Road, Totteridge & Whetstone: Is the demolition of a bank on the high road and new build of 5 apartments & commercial A1 shop complete Sept 2020
Molly Millar Lane, Wokingham Berkshire: This was the conversion of an old printers into 9 self contained commercial spaces and two office blocks with a café completed 2019
Bury Hill, Hindhead, Surrey: This was the demolition of an old warehouse and the new build of 6 houses completed November 2014
Stoke Road, Guildford, Surrey: This was the demolition of an old mill and the new build of 24 flat completed December 2014
High Street, Aldershot, Hampshire: This was the conversion of an office on high street into 6 flats completed March 2015
Lavender Park Road, West Byfleet, Surrey: This was the conversion of an office block into 22 flats completed June 2016
Duke Street, Woking, Surrey: This was the conversion of a council office block for a housing association into 58 flats 2016 (Stage 4)
Goldworth Road, Woking, Surrey: This is the demolition of a church and 2 offices blocks to create a 16 story tower of 88 flat and parking facilities 2016 (Stage 3)
Canal Way, Godalming, Surrey: This is the conversion of a part office complex into 16 flats, completed 2017
Blackdown Road, Deepcut, Surrey: This was the conversion of an old office complex into 6 flat scheme completed March 2018
Links Way, Richmond, London: This was the demolition of an old building and the new build of 2 detached high specification homes completed 2014
Gower Road, Weighbridge, Surrey: This was the demolition of a block of flats and the new build of 7 high specification homes completed 2015
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The Wolverine July 31, 1919 (vol. 10, iss. 16) Page Image 4
The Wolverine, 1919-07-31
IVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
An Unusual Opportunity to Buy
Fine Clothes
AT A
Vlore than 300 courses conducted by a staff of 250 members
)f the regular faculties of the University. All University
Literature, Science, and the Arts, Engineering and
Architecture, Pharmacy, Graduate Study, Library
Methods, Biological Station, Embalming and Sani-
tary Science, Public Health Nursing, June 30-
August 22; Medicine and Surgery, June 30-August
8; Law, June 23-July 26 and July 28-August 30.
Che work is equivalent in method, character and credit value to that
f the academic session, and may be counted toward degr'ees. All
lasses of students, and especially those who desire to shorten their
eriod of residence at the University, or whose work was interrupted
r interfered with by the war, or associated activities, will find many
ourses well adapted to their needs. Certificates of credit and attend-
nce issued. Many special lectures, recitals, concerts and excursions.
osmopolitan student body. Delightful location.
There are values from $30 to $50, and every suit is a strictly high class garment
manufactured expressly for us by ADLER OF ROCHESTER, makers of the fin-
est ready-to-wear clothing in America.
For further information, address
T. E. RANKIN
FURNISHING SPECIALS
OFFICIAL PRINTERS
................$8.50
............. $7.50
....--...--..--~.-5
.......... .. $4.95
.....,..$3.95
............... $3.95
......... ......$3.15
..... .. .......$6.75
.................$5.45
$3.50 suits
3.00 suits
1,50 suits
... . . . . . . .$3.00
...................$2.50
$18.00 values
$14.$0
Straw and
ONE-FOURTH
and by authority
ONE-HALF
ARROW BRAND ARMY SHIRTS
$2.50 values
..... ...$3.95
.........$3.1a
...............$2.85
..................$.75
OF ITS STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
E ANNARBOR PRESS
RUNNING DAY AND NIGHT
PRESS BUILDING, MAYNARD ST.
OUR WORK IS LIKE OUR PHONE
U I
Opposite Mack & Co.
I.'- I
B ev0is a part
of thie game
it makes food
sportsmen and
more enjoyable
sportPo. ogood
fellowshiphealth
and refreshment
-bost to train
on ands .ain on.
Q a/ofnd soft
"'Bob"lBe nnett
Visits Ann Arbor
Lieut. Robert 'Bennett, ex-'18, of the
United States navy, is spending a few
days in An Arbor on leave of ab-
sence. As "Bob" Bennett he will be
remembered as Varsity cheer leader
for the yeais 1916-17.
Soon after the United States enter-
ed the war Bennett was commissioned
an ensign and attached to the S. S.
Canonicus, which at that time was be-
ing fitted up as a mine layer. Upon
completion of this work the ship sailed
for England as a unit of the mine lay-
er fleet.
On arriving in English waters the
ships immediately set to work on their
dangerous mission. Crossing the North
sea to the southern coast of Norway
the ships began the planting of a
mine barrage which was to- extend
across the North sea to the Orkney Is-
lands.
This work was successfully com-
pleted a short time before the sign-
ing of the armistice, and proved very
effectual in keeping the German sub-
marines in their base. According to
the British official statement this mine
field accounted for 19 submarines dur-
ing its short existence.
After the signing of the armistice
the Canonicus was sent back to the
United States and refitted as a trans-
port. Bennett was one of the two
original officers who were left on the
boat, and he made numerous trips
back and forth over the Atlantic in
bringing the soldiers home.
Bennett has just left the transport
service, and has been transferred to
a shore station in Dayton, 0.
DOUBLES TOURNAMENT
NOW IN SEMI-FINALS
(Continued from Page One)
Breakey and Sanchez as the semi-
finalists in the singles and finalists in
the doubles. All of these players have
shown fine tennis in their preliminary
matches, although they have some
hard matches yet to play.
Read the Wolverine for Campus
Advertise in The Wolverine.
"THE MAN FROM THE FIVE
RIVERS" GRANTS INTERVIEW
use. I should see the bracelet, then
I should not sin."
Pureness of mind is taught in India
as the essential of good living. Many
people disregard the body almost en-
tirely. One prophet went days without
food or sleep, apparently forgetful of
the body so apart was he from ma-
terial life. It became possible for
him to read the thoughts of others
and he was accredited with metaphys-
ical healing of incurable disease.
When, at a ripe age, he died, 10,000
people attended his burial.
But the Man from the Five Rivers
says emphatically that he is more in-
terested in chemistry, biology, physics!
and medics, than in wizardry, phil-
osophy, or even politics. So, his eyes,
though often the eyes of the dreamer,
losing the world, rebuking self-satis-
faction, have a meaning almost new to
his race. Sometime the meaning will
be explained-when K. Singh returns
to his people.
ENGLAND AND BELGIUM GET
GERMAN EAST AFRICAN COLONY
London, July 30 (via Montreal).-
Plans for the division of the territory
formerly comprising German East Af-
rica, include giving Belgium a man-
date for the Ruauda and Urundi dis-
tricts, according to a telegram from
Brussels. (These districts form the
northwest section of the territory,
Ruauda adjoining the Congo Free
State and Urundi being on the north-
eastern shore of Lake Tangangika.)
The balance of the former German
colony, it is declared, will be under
British control, according to this plan,
with clear territorial rights to Lake
Edward and Lake Albert for the Brit-
ish route from the Cape to Cairo.
Protest Barring Italian Socialists
Paris, July 30.-The general federa-
tion of labor has issued a protest
against the refusal of the French gov-
ernment to vise the passports of dele-
gates of the Italian labor organiza-
tions going to the Socialist congress
at Amsterdam.
Student- Directory
ANH EUSER-BUSCH
Wahr's Bookstore
Sheehan & Company
04ti Wnluerint
Slater's Bookstore
Students' Supply Store
FOR TENNIS RACQUETS, TENNIS BALLS, BASE BALLS, FINGER,
MITS, AND KODAK SUPPLIES.
TRY US--WE ARE THE ONLY
1111 S. University Ave, Phone 1160-R
everyivhei'e.
lies supplied by
.P dru fist and
&r--~ Visitors are
ially invited #o'
s, -
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Home Reviews Live Shows Sigma LXXXV 2019 Tour with THE ALARM at Chicago House of Blues...
Sigma LXXXV 2019 Tour with THE ALARM at Chicago House of Blues Proves Not To Be A Nostalgic 80’s Comeback Tour
Kim Zahnow
Mike Peters at the House of Blues in Chicago, IL on 08/16/2019 | Photo © Kim Zahnow 2019
Chicago, Illinois – Performing at The Chicago House of Blues, The Alarm is half way through their North American Tour. Newly released album Sigma is now toping the charts back home with the #1 Rock Album in the U.K.
Featuring Modern English and Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel, there is a sound that will make a veteran 80’s crowd feel at home, but this is not a nostalgic comeback 80’s tour. The Sigma LXXXV Tour 2019 has the talent, energy, and message for THIS moment in time.
The night began with Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel opening a 40 minute set. Watching Jay lose himself in the music as he delivered on vocals was an experience, along with James Stevenson on guitar, Pete Rizzo on bass, and Joel Patterson on drums, the band commanded the audience and were ready to rock.
Modern English also entertained with the singer Robbie Grey’s charismatic energy, Gary McDowell on guitar, Mick Conroy on bass, Stephen Walker on keyboard, and Roy Martain on drums. Closing their set with the huge classic hit, “I Melt With You”, united the audience.
The Alarm took the stage at 10pm. Combined with over 40 years of music, the talent of Mike Peters (vocals, guitar, and harmonica), Steve “Smiley” Barnard (drums), James Stevenson (guitar), and Jules Peters (keyboard) pushed life-giving energy to flow through their music. Mike Peters was not just performing, he was connecting. Life experience, relationship, and incredible talent come together for this concert.
Mike Peters shared that while his wife Jules Peters was battling cancer, he would record his thoughts on his phone, much like his stream of consciousness. It was these thoughts that inspired both the Equals Album and the Sigma Album. As a three time cancer survivor himself, Mike Peters has a perspective of both battling cancer and supporting his wife through her journey. They have lived through that war together and have produced something profoundly significant for the world to hear.
“This is your life, this is your days, so make them the best you can while you still have time.” – from “Time” by The Alarm
The Alarm share their personal journeys facing real life battles through their music with the energy that can only flow from being alive with passion. Go catch the band live at a concert, listen to the Sigma album, and hear the positive, empowering words of the journey – of not knowing, surrendering, persevering, healing, and finding hope. Strength and love have a place in the challenges of life. For more about the organization on a mission to save lives, one concert at a time, check out the Love Hope Strength Foundation, co-founded by Mike Peters and James Chippendale.
Current to what is happening in the world right now, you will also want to add some more Vinyl to your 1980’s collection.
Sigma LXXXV 2019 Tour Photo Gallery
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel
Show Date: August 16, 2019
Previous articleA Blue Diamond Shines in Charlotte – DIAMANTE Rocks the PNC Music Pavilion
Next articleAlbum Review: Blacktop Mojo – Under the Sun
http://www.kimzahnow.com
Kim Zahnow is a Michigan based concert and portrait photographer. Kim has exceptional instinct for capturing the energy, the light, and the passion that drives the music. Photographing for over 20 years, Kim brings "the eye" for concert and creative portraits that show the world your talent.
As Darkness Falls Over Virginia, Blackberry Smoke Delivers One Night of Light
First Jason Ki Ki Ki Ha Ha Ha Richmond… As Expected, They Kill, and Kill, and Kill Again!
Classic Tragedians GWAR Leave a River of Blood at The Diamond in Richmond
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Home > ETD > 594
Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects
Identity Stories : Cultural Imprints on the Body
Alexis Kamitses, Montclair State University
MSU-Only Thesis
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
College/School
Department/Program
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Christian von Howard
Diann Sichel
Kim Whittam
As a seasoned dance educator I have spent the last decade developing a curriculum that supports student identity development through creative practice. Through my research and practice in the classroom, I have discovered the power of dance education to promote collaboration, creative problem solving, the ability to learn across disciplines, and several other areas of cognitive development. In this MFA thesis project, I continue this work by applying the creative process to investigate the potential for dance film to be used as an educational tool to support critical analysis of social constructs that inhibit identity development, specifically gender identity development. The resulting research investigates the use of dance film as a tool for building empathy, shifting audience perspectives, and creating a resource for critical examination of the effects of gender stereotypes on identity development. By choreographically challenging ideas of conformity and gender performativity as it relates to the gender binary, and framing the investigation under educational theorist Paulo Freire’s structures for social reform, I seek to promote dialogue and social progression to reduce stereotypical threats against gender non-conforming individuals and to educate the larger community about the multiple layers of gender identity.
The performance video is restricted to the Montclair State University community but the PDF file of the thesis, which is located at the bottom of the screen, is available to anyone interested in reading it.
Kamitses, Alexis, "Identity Stories : Cultural Imprints on the Body" (2020). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 594.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/594
Kamitses, Alexis_Redacted.pdf (1023 kB)
PDF file of thesis
This resource is available only to the Montclair State University community. Please log in with your NetID.
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