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0.053778 | <urn:uuid:880e3e8b-e018-483c-989f-928b40aa3db7> | en | 0.939766 | Sign up ×
My peach trees have peach leaf curl. (Spring came too fast this year, I wasn't prepared, and I didn't get a chance to spray.)
They're still young/small trees (10' tall), but they've got a bit of fruit on them. Will peach leaf curl affect the fruit? Is there anything I can or should do to protect the fruit?
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Do you think you have the fungal version? – Grady Player Jun 9 '12 at 13:48
Yes, the leaves have red/pink galls, which I think indicates the fungus. – bstpierre Jun 9 '12 at 21:31
I have several peppers in a box indoors. They're growing incredibly and are having small fruits; but they have the leaf curl. Is there a homemade way of treating this, or what spray shall I get? – Neeku Nov 12 '14 at 12:28
1 Answer 1
up vote 3 down vote accepted
The easy answer is yes, (fungal) leaf curl will affect the fruit in the sense that some will drop early and not mature at all and the remainder may be warped or develop tumour-like bulges.[1, 2] On the other hand the fruit might not be affected at all, depending on how many fungal spores manage to get in or near to the flower buds across the tree, or whether they managed to get there at all before the fruit started growing.
There is nothing I'm aware of that you can do to protect this year's crop. Just have to monitor and plan for the autumn and next spring spraying.
1. "Many infected fruits drop early and go unnoticed; those that remain may become crooked at the stem end like a small yellow squash, while others develop reddish to purple, wart-like deformities on the fruit surface." - Kearneysville Tree Fruit Research and Education Center
2. "Fruits may drop early, or turn reddish-purple with warty growths on the outer surface." - Yates (NZ)
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0.062589 | <urn:uuid:fd680c3c-7238-45dd-a9c3-c27943dffca9> | en | 0.987702 | Noisy Texter Shot to Death in Florida Movie Theater
According to Fox 13 in Tampa Bay, a man and his wife were watching a matinee showing of Lone Survivor when they asked the couple in front of them to stop texting. An "altercation" followed, and the man reportedly pulled out a handgun and shot the two people in front him.
"The victim was on his cell phone. He was texting. We believe he was making some kind of noise. This noise led to an altercation between the suspect and the victim," Sheriff Chris Nocco told FOX 13.
"It's absolutely crazy it would rise to this level," Sheriff Nocco said.
UPDATE 5:38 PM: The alleged shooter has been identified as Curtis Reeves, a 71-year-old former Tampa police officer. | http://gawker.com/1500533832/i-dont-know-if-you-are-entitled-to-no-one-texting-yes | dclm-gs1-240330001 | false | false | {
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0.023785 | <urn:uuid:130fe152-0986-46ce-9e4c-3112de9f1a40> | en | 0.959248 | East Coast of Vancouver Island
East Coast of Vancouver Island
Natural Beauty is Worth Preserving
Sunday, 5 July 2015
British Columbia under extreme forest fire hazard
B. McPherson
Sun at 11:30 filtered through smoke and ash
There are those who will say our climate isn’t changing, or if it is, it’s nothing to do with human activity. I’m not a climatologist, but I am an observer. I’ve noticed some things.
On the Vancouver Island we usually have two distinct climatic types. The west coast gets generous(some would say to a fault) rainfall and supports true temperate rainforests. The east coast tends to drier. Down the spine of the island is a ridge of mountains which are usually snow covered until late May.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the mountains got little snow last winter. A ski hill that was used as a practise site during the 2010 Olympics never truly opened due to lack of snow. The lowlands where I live had no snow at all. We had one week of relatively cold weather – we had light frost in the morning.
May was the driest May since records were kept. June was the driest in 50 years. July has started out hot and dry. That alone does not denote climate change. Science looks for patterns and we have a pattern that is a gradual warming and drying.
The forest fire hazard is deemed extreme. Last week, a few kilometres from where I live, a small forest fire broke out. It was human caused albeit an accident. A farmer was working his field when the fire broke out. It was quickly contained and knocked down. There are currently four fires burning on Vancouver Island. A total of eight, all above 10 hectares are currently burning in the Coastal region.
This morning I woke up to a weird yellow light. There was no sun, yet no rain has been predicted. Smoke and ash from a large fire on the BC mainland is drifting west over Vancouver Island. The photo above is of the sun near noon.
No rain is predicted in the weather forecasts.
No water, no life
Thursday, 30 April 2015
Neurotoxin to be sprayed on Washington oyster beds
B. McPherson
Never forget the law of unintended consequences
Washington State has given the oyster harvesting industry the go ahead to spray about 2000 acres of sea bed with imidacloprid to kill burrowing shrimp. Imidacloprid is a neurotoxin that particularly affects invertebrates(animals without backbones).
The state department of ecology has issued permits to spray the mudflats of Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. The stated reason is to reduce the population of burrowing shrimp. They are also known as ghost shrimp. The two areas that are to be sprayed with the pesticide are important oyster producing areas. The annual revenue is over US$60 million per year.
The shrimp are feeders of small particles and given a high enough population can compete with other plankton eaters for resources. Burrowing shrimp dig in the intertidal mud flats almost constantly and kick out sand and other detritus. The sediment can cover the very young oysters(spat), suffocating them.
Imidacloprid is the most widely used pesticide in the world. Bayer Crop Science was the inventor of this neurotoxin, but the patent protection has run out so many other companies are now free to make copies.
The pesticide is not without controversy. It is a systemic poison which means that when it is sprayed on plants, the plants take it up into their cells and become poisonous. Those animals that are without backbones – shrimp, bees – are extremely sensitive to the neurotoxin. However it can damage fish which are slightly affected by it, birds which are vulnerable to it and humans exposed can develop troubling symptoms.
The spraying of mud flats will be a novel use of the pesticide. In the past the pesticide carbaryl was used to control shrimp numbers. It is now banned. The oyster growers have tried to control the shrimp numbers by dynamiting their burrows and in another failed attempt, spread a thin layer of cement on top of their burrows. The idea was to suffocate them but the creatures made new holes before the cement hardened.
Washington State Dept. of Ecology
National Pesticide Information Center(Oregon StateUniversity)
Sunday, 26 April 2015
NOAA reports warmest March on record
B. McPherson
NOAA has reported that March in N. America is the hottest on record. The records for this go back to 1880. They are also reporting that records for Arctic sea ice and global average temperatures have reached record marks as well.
Of course one month in the history of the planet doesn’t make for a crisis. But record keeping can point out some troubling trends. NOAA’s March report does not speculate causes, but reports the measurements. They indicate that changes are happening.
The following information is based on the March report.
· Global land and ocean temperatures – 0.85o C (1.53oF)above 20th century average. The previous record high was 2010.
· Land surface temperatures globally averaged nearly three degrees F. (1.65oC) above 20th century averages.
· Ocean surface temperatures were a little over half a degree Celsius higher.
Warmer temperatures indicate that there is more energy in the weather and water systems. When we get more energy in, we see more energetic, read extreme, weather. Cyclones and hurricanes have more ability to do damage. This past winter, changes in the polar jet stream saw half of N. America buried in record snow falls. The western half had uncharacteristically mild weather. As the Earth adjusts to the warmer temperatures, rainfall patterns may also change.
Climate fluctuations of the Earth are normal and have occurred many times over the past few billion years. The most recent “hothouse climate” was a few million years ago when temperatures were high enough to melt the polar ice-caps and allow lush vegetation to grow. Fossils of giant camels have been found in Canada’s high Arctic. Greenland was very likely green.
Humans may be speeding up the rate of climate change by burning carbon based fuels, also known as fossil fuels. Many of our industries, including the cement industry, release what are known as greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. These gasses act like insulation in our air to keep the sun’s warmth in. While we need the sun’s warmth, many scientists are concerned that the insulating effect of human actions is speeding what would normally be changes over millennia.
Friday, 17 April 2015
Rio rotten fish float in Olympic lagoon
B. McPherson
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil will be hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. They have the honour of being the first South American country to host them. The Games were awarded to Rio amid much hoopla and celebration. It is now likely that some of the Olympic Committee are having second thoughts.
There is no debate about the stunning setting that Rio has with a combination of ocean, lagoons and mountains. Over six million people call it home. And many hold their nose while doing so.
You can imagine the garbage and sewage that six million people produce daily. Now imagine the mess if two thirds of the people have no garbage pickup and two thirds of the sewage is not treated, but is allowed to drain into waterways and canals. It is not just those unfortunate to live in the slums that dump untreated sewage directly into nearby waterways. This weekend past, hundreds of people demonstrated their anger over a modern condominium block contributing to the city’s stench.
Yesterday thousands of fish were found floating on the surface of the lagoon that serves as the backdrop to the Olympic Park. Officially, the cause of the mass die-off is a drop in water temperature.
The canal that residents were protesting drains into the lagoon that surrounds the Olympic Park. Water quality checks already show that antibiotic resistant bacteria thrive in the polluted lagoon. Previously, the venue for rowing and canoeing, Guanabara Bay, made headlines for its filthy condition. A new sport has been added – kiteboarding will also likely be held on the bay which has been described as a latrine.
While some effort has been made to filter out large pieces of garbage like sofas, no effective means have been taken to remove the bacteria laden sewage dumping.
It may be that some Olympic athletes will be taking home more than medals in August of 2016.
Al Jazeera
Rio Olympics 2016 Athletes Set to Dodge Poop and OtherFloaties
Olympics. Org
Business Insider
Sunday, 12 April 2015
Vancouver oil spill shows weak response by feds
B. McPherson
Update: The Canadian Coast Guard is reporting that all the recoverable oil has been removed from the water. What does that really mean? You know that means that besides that oil that is now polluting Vancouver beaches is also in the water. While our Coast Guard personnel do the best job possible in the circumstances, you and I know that taking six hours to contain what is a tiny spill is not good enough. Let's remember that the Feds closed the Vancouver Harbour Coast Guard station and plan to remove even more disaster protection from one of the country's biggest ports.
An oil spill Wednesday in Vancouver, BC, showed the residents how an oil spill would likely play out. The oil was spotted in that part of the harbour known as English Bay and reported by a sailor.
At 5pm the oil slick was reported. Three hours later a crew showed up to try to contain the spill of heavy bunker oil. It took until 2 am Thursday morning for crews to put a containment boom around a freighter believed to be the source of the spill. The oil was believed to be from a refueling incident. City officials were not notified of the spill until another four hours had passed – 6 am on Thursday.
It may be an exaggeration to say that the city people set their hair on fire over this lapse in sensible emergency response, but it is close. They quickly despatched personnel trained in emergency response as well as wildlife experts who could assess the damage.
The toxic oil spill was minor from an industrial point of view, probably caused by careless handling of refuelling lines. Only about 2,800 litres made it into the water. Only about 1,400 were recovered. This event happened in very sheltered waters on a sunny spring day with hours of daylight, calm waters and close-by people.
The weather was fine enough that some people were swimming at the sandy beaches that line English Bay. Other people were jogging, throwing sticks into the water for their dogs and generally enjoying the beautiful scenery that Vancouver is known for. That is until sticky black globules started landing on the sand. There is no death count so far on the number of shore birds and harbour seals that got hit with this poison.
Many people in BC have been speaking up and opposing increased oil tanker ships in the coastal waters. There is a proposal by the American Kinder Morgan to double or triple oil capacity to the harbour. An increase of hundreds of mega-tankers to Vancouver harbour would result if approved.
Also proposed is a scheme by the consortium known as Enbridge to force a heavy oil pipeline to the Central Coast of BC which would attract hundreds more supertankers each year. The coastal area is sparsely populated and has wild weather as the norm. I leave it to you to guess the consequences of one tanker disgorging its cargo into those pristine waters.
Vancouver Sun
Radio station CKNW
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Antarctic summer brings more bad news
B. McPherson
It will take a few hundred years for it all to go, but go it will
Antarctica is entering its winter season, but the summer has seen accelerated melting of the vast ice sheets. In 2014 we found that the Western Ice Sheet was flowing rapidly into the ocean and melting. Research conducted this summer on the eastern part of that continent has found that that side of the continent is also spilling its hoard of ice into the Austral Ocean.
Warmer ocean temperatures have infiltrated under the Western Ice Sheet and accelerated the flow and melt rate. If the whole ice sheet were to melt, it would raise the ocean levels and average of 10 feet(3 metres). This summer scientists found a previously unknown ocean trough that can allow warm, for the Antarctic, water to seep under the Totten Glacier on the east coast. The Totten Glacier acts as a brake or plug to keep the interior ice from flowing to the ocean. Like the ice shelf in the west, the Glacier’s seaward edge is now found to be floating on ocean water. Previously it was assumed that it was grounded on solid land.
“Now we know the ocean is melting ice in an area of the glacier that we thought was totally cut off before,”
Glaciers build up when more precipitation falls and freezes than melts. Over time ice-sheets can reach depths that sequester so much water that it affects ocean levels. When more ice melts than is replaced ocean levels rise.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic Sea Ice has been thinning and melting. Greenland is seeing land that has not been bare of ice since settlement by humans. This is contributing to a creeping rise in sea level. The further one moves towards the poles, the greater the sea level change.
Washington Post
Nature Geoscience
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab
Jackson School of Geoscience
Sunday, 22 March 2015
Horse dung may save your life
B. McPherson
Copper metal kills bacteria. Copper plated push plates on doors cut infections.
Horse poop has long been known as great for gardens, but save your life? Mushroom growers know that horse manure is ideal for producing those delectable morsels. A mushroom of a different kind – the inky cap(Coprinus comatus) has researchers hot on the trail of a new antibiotic.
The promising new compound is copsin, a protein substance that interferes with cell wall formation. Bacteria have cell walls. Scientists are reproducing the substance via genetically modified yeast. It is a long way from growing yeast in small scale batches to industrial production and clinical trials.
Medical researchers have been sounding the alarm about multi-resistant bacterial infections. Gradually, as an antibiotic comes into widespread use, it loses its ability to kill bacteria. When penicillin was first produced it could wipe out nearly any infection, revolutionizing modern medicine.
Other fungal based bacteria killers also came on line to help fight disease. But over time, bacteria have evolved resistance to the compounds.
The situation has not been helped with careless prescribing of antibiotics for people. But 85% of antibiotic use in N. America is used in the agriculture industry. From feeding animals to produce faster weight gain to spraying on fruit crops to keep the spots off, by far the greatest use of antibiotics is in agriculture.
Other names for inky cap: lawyers wig, shaggy mane
Shaggy mane mushrooms are also nematode killers. They are able to kill and digest small round worms. Organisms in the Fungus Kingdom exhibit characteristics like plants at times, and at other times exhibit animal like characteristics.
CBC News
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0.025962 | <urn:uuid:9c60dde8-794d-4f38-a034-4e71b8e4a468> | en | 0.934006 | FAQ - Definitions
What is Research for purposes of compliance with the federal regulations protecting human subjects? The relevant DHHS regulations are 45 §46.102 Definitions. (d) Research means a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. Activities which meet this definition constitute research for purposes of this policy, whether or not they are conducted or supported under a program which is considered research for other purposes. For example, some demonstration and service programs may include research activities.
What is the definition of a Human Subject? (f) Human subject means a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research obtains
(2) Identifiable private information
What is the difference between intervention and interaction?
Intervention includes both physical procedures by which data are gathered and manipulations of the subject or subject's environment that are performed for research purposes.
Interaction includes communication or interpersonal contact between the investigator and subject that are performed for research purposes.
Observation is neither an intervention nor an interaction.
Who is eligible to be a Principal Investigator?
Currently any faculty or staff employee or regular student of GVSU may serve as a Principal Investigator (PI).
1. If the PI is a student, there must be a regular faculty member who serves as research advisor to the project and assumes primary responsibility for compliance with all relevant requirements, polices and procedures. The status of student PIs is currently under administrative review at GVSU.
2. Researchers not otherwise affiliated with GVSU must have a regular GVSU faculty member as co-PI, or be an approved investigator operating under an approved IRB Authorization Agreement.
3. All PIs must have their proposed research protocols approved by their unit's authorizing official (AO) before it will be reviewed by the HRRC. Some units require both the faculty research advisor's approval and the unit head's approval so students should check with their research advisor to be certain of what they need. All approvals are electronic signatures made in the protocol file on IRBNet.
What is the difference between research, therapy, experimentation and innovation?
A physician may, as part of therapy practice of medicine, lawfully prescribe a different dosage for a patient, or otherwise vary the conditions of use from those approved in the package insert, without informing or obtaining the approval of the FDA. (37 Fed. Reg. 16503 (Aug. 15, 1972)). In addition, when a clinician departs in a significant way from standard or accepted practice, the innovation does not, in and of itself, constitute research. The fact that a procedure is "experimental," in the sense of new, untested or different, does not automatically place it in the category of research. (44 Fed. Reg. 23,192, 23,193 (1979)).
The DHHS regulations (45 CFR § 46) apply to research involving human subjects conducted by DHHS or supported in whole or in part by DHHS.
The FDA regulations (21 CFR §50 & § 56) apply to all research involving products regulated by the FDA, including research and marketing permits for drugs, biological products, or medical devices for human use, food and color additives, or electronic products. Federal funds do not need to be involved. When research involving products regulated by the FDA is funded by DHHS, both DHHS and FDA regulations apply. For FDA purposes, off label use does not constitute research unless data collected will be used to support an application to FDA. 21 CFR § § 50 & 56 only applies to research regulated by FDA, which includes clinical investigations that support applications for research or marketing permits for products regulated by the FDA. | http://gvsu.edu/hrrc/faq-definitions-35.htm | dclm-gs1-240410001 | false | false | {
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0.049919 | <urn:uuid:8292675d-3a3a-483b-832f-1999d2ab120a> | en | 0.980988 | Thomas Sowell: Why was that bus Rosa Parks took segregated?
Roundup: Talking About History
The death of Rosa Parks has reminded us of her place in history, as the black woman whose refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, in accordance with the Jim Crow laws of Alabama, became the spark that ignited the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Most people do not know the rest of the story, however. Why was there racially segregated seating on public transportation in the first place?
"Racism" some will say -- and there was certainly plenty of racism in the South, going back for centuries. But racially segregated seating on streetcars and buses in the South did not go back for centuries.
Far from existing from time immemorial, as many have assumed, racially segregated seating in public transportation began in the South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Those who see government as the solution to social problems may be surprised to learn that it was government which created this problem.
It was not necessary for an overwhelming majority of the white voters to demand racial segregation. If some did and the others didn't care, that was sufficient politically, because what blacks wanted did not count politically after they lost the vote.
The incentives of the economic system and the incentives of the political system were not only different, they clashed. Private owners of streetcar, bus, and railroad companies in the South lobbied against the Jim Crow laws while these laws were being written, challenged them in the courts after the laws were passed, and then dragged their feet in enforcing those laws after they were upheld by the courts.
These tactics delayed the enforcement of Jim Crow seating laws for years in some places. Then company employees began to be arrested for not enforcing such laws and at least one president of a streetcar company was threatened with jail if he didn't comply.
None of this resistance was based on a desire for civil rights for blacks. It was based on a fear of losing money if racial segregation caused black customers to use public transportation less often than they would have in the absence of this affront. ...
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More Comments:
John Edward Philips - 11/28/2005
Yes, the private companies were against segregation, but the part Sowell leaves out is the most important part. In order to blunt the rise of populism blacks were disenfranchised. Without blacks voting, the southern states were able to start segregating them and discriminating against them. Blaming everything on evil government against good corporations may satisfy Sowell's predetermined ideology. However, it ignores the facts of the case.
Walter D. Kamphoefner - 11/7/2005
Thank you, Thomas Sowell, for your implicit endorsement of the Voting Rights Act. The real problem was not private vs. public transportation, but the fact that blacks had no voice in the political system.
Chris Osborne - 11/5/2005
What Sowell has stated here does have an element of correctness. Perhaps the best book on the disfranchisement of Black male voters in the South is "The Struggle for Mastery" by Michael Perman--a state-by-state study of the onset of Jim Crow from 1890 to 1908. In fact many transportation companies did object to the imposition of segregation laws, as they were angry about the expenses they would have to incur in posting Jim Crow signs and reconstructing their seating to accommodate these new, repressive laws.
Thomas Reimer - 11/5/2005
Of course, public transportation was not segregated till the late 19th century--there was none. And in the 18th century, can one picture a free black travelling up the hill and down the dale in a stage coach with a dainty white damsel, with the damsel protesting?
The essay is typically Sowell--a collection of assertions without rime or reason. I will admit that I am a tad biased--I am a Democrat. But I enjoy reading intelligent conservative editorials, even thouigh I might not agree with them. But Sowell....not really. | http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/17710 | dclm-gs1-240430001 | false | false | {
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0.099439 | <urn:uuid:bd88e3ca-0143-4ff0-a38e-d377588907f8> | en | 0.973989 | Teenage Lesbian Couple Found in a Texas Park With Gunshot Wounds to the Head
A terrifying attack has shaken Portland, Texas, a quiet community outside of Corpus Christi with a low crime rate. They hadn't had a murder there in two years, but that all changed on Saturday, when two teenage girls were found in a park after having been shot in the head. Mary Christine Chapa, 18, was still alive and… »6/25/12 11:55pm6/25/12 11:55pm | http://jezebel.com/tag/mary-chapa | dclm-gs1-240560001 | false | false | {
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0.019994 | <urn:uuid:052d5d65-a178-4085-a1dc-97ff67820493> | en | 0.981404 | Is now too soon for Porcello?
Is now too soon for Porcello?
DETROIT -- The door separating Tigers top prospect Rick Porcello from the big leagues is pretty much shut. Team president/general manager Dave Dombrowski, however, has left a little daylight open for him this spring.
Porcello's next stage of development is expected to come at Double-A Erie, where one of baseball's best starting pitching prospects would be a potential call away from Detroit. Still, Dombrowski is leaving open the possibility that Porcello, who just turned 20 years old this winter, could get the call now.
In terms of ability, he might already be there.
"A lot of people in our Minor League system that know Porcello feel that if he goes out there and he gets the ball every five days in Spring Training, which he will, that he will end up being one of our five best pitchers and in our rotation come the end of spring," Dombrowski said Thursday night on the TigerTalk radio program on flagship station WXYT-FM 97.1.
"I'm not ready to make that proclamation, but it tells you how highly regarded he is."
He has carried that type of potential since he fell to the Tigers in the first round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. Detroit negotiated with agent Scott Boras to sign Porcello to a Major League contract for four years and $7,285,000.
Since then, the Tigers have taken a deliberate approach with Porcello's gifted right arm, placing him at high Class A Lakeland for the entire season with a 75-pitch count for his starts and an emphasis on curveballs to complement his fastball. Still, at age 19, he led the Florida State League with a 2.66 ERA.
"He not only has good stuff," Dombrowski said, "he's mature beyond his years. He's a very intelligent individual, hard working. He's a guy on the mound at a young age that knows how to think through situations and just does not throw harder, which is something that's very difficult to teach. He's a quality talent, and I'll be interested to see how he progresses this spring myself."
He'll be far from the only one.
Porcello was in camp with the big leaguers last year, mainly because of his Major League contract. At that point, he hadn't yet pitched in a professional game. The biggest gain for him was the chance to watch big league pitchers on an everyday basis, observe their approach and ask questions.
This spring offers him the chance to take what he learned last year and put it up against Major League hitters, albeit in a setting where they're working on certain parts of their game. Whether it offers him a chance to win a job depends on the outlook.
Dombrowski put him in the same category as Ryan Perry, last year's first-round Draft pick who will have a chance to make the bullpen out of Spring Training.
Perry's candidacy was already known, having been referenced earlier this offseason as the Tigers began their search for relievers on the free-agent market. Porcello wasn't in the conversation.
"Time will tell," Dombrowski said Thursday. "We're not afraid to make that jump. I think a lot depends on not only how they pitch, but how other people on our staff throw. It'll be interesting to watch the progress with those two guys."
Dombrowski explained Friday that he wasn't trying to put any level of probability on it.
"I don't know that I can draw any summation," Dombrowski said. "He's out of A-ball. It's not really most likely, but that's why you go to Spring Training and you see what happens. It's not likely. It's not highly unlikely."
The one condition that is put on Porcello is the role. If the rookie makes the team, Dombrowski said, it would be as a starting pitcher. He will not be auditioned as a reliever.
The Tigers' rotation has four of five spots filled, with Zach Miner, Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis in the running for the opening.
Manager Jim Leyland said during the Tigers Caravan last month that he has the go-ahead to take a guy from the Minors if he feels he's ready, but he didn't mention any specific names in that group.
"If we run into another [Justin] Verlander or [Joel] Zumaya," Leyland said last month, "he'll be on the team."
Making that judgment, Leyland cautioned, isn't simply about ability, but also on how they're projected to handle Major League pressure. That was part of what separated Verlander and Zumaya a few years ago from similar situations in the past.
Though Verlander, too, had just one full season in the Minors, he was drafted out of college -- unlike Porcello, who was selected straight out of high school. Zumaya went from high school to pro ball, but he had three full Minor League seasons and part of another before reaching the big leagues.
A better parallel might be Jeremy Bonderman, whom the Tigers put into their rotation in 2003 at age 20. Like Porcello, Bonderman had just one season of Minor League ball, all at the high Class A level.
The difference between the two has more to do with the Tigers than with the players. Bonderman made a Major League rotation on a Detroit team that was in full rebuilding mode, having lost 106 games in 2002 and on its way to 119 losses in 2003. Mike Maroth was the Opening Day starter and Detroit's most experienced starter with about a half season of Major League experience on his resume.
Bonderman finished with 19 losses that season. The Tigers pulled him from the rotation down the stretch to keep him from the infamy of a 20-loss season, something Maroth ended up taking. Bonderman pleaded to stay in the rotation, but it was not a matter for debate.
This year's club obviously has higher expectations, but also higher competition on its staff. Armando Galarraga is the least experienced of the rotation members with 29 Major League starts. Miner has the least experience of the fifth-starter candidates with 30.
Porcello has no Major League starts, but he has talent to get there. And whatever his chances are, he'll have a shot this spring.
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0.031481 | <urn:uuid:611d94c6-07b0-4303-baed-37d7d7ab9fb1> | en | 0.977055 | Saturday, February 09, 2008
Yesterday at the coffee house
Noah's quartet played a really nice Mozart string quartet movement at the coffee house, but I hit the wrong button on the camcorder and only captured a few seconds to the SmartCard. I did manage to correct the mistake in time for "Yesterday", which was a little rough in the middle but finished up nicely. Can you tell that it was the violist's mother who penned this arrangement? This is a melody that was made for the viola, if I do say so.
1 comment:
1. Gorgeous! Ben and I were admiring the use of viola for this song before I saw your comment.
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0.035882 | <urn:uuid:a347b55c-018e-46f2-a8e4-2aea0a54eab8> | en | 0.971184 |
WASHINGTON—Congress passed must-do legislation Thursday to permit the government to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars more to meet its obligations, averting a first-ever government default that had loomed as early as mid-February.
The 64-34 vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate sent the measure to President Barack Obama, who has said he will sign it. The Republican-led House passed the legislation last week.
Without the bill, the Treasury Department says, the government would default on its obligations by as early as mid-February.
"Failure to pass this bill will set off an unpredictable financial panic that would plunge not only the United States, but much of the world, back into recession," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. "Every single American would feel the economic impact."
Those cuts—postponed by the recent "fiscal cliff" deal—are the punishment for the failure of a 2011 deficit supercommittee to reach an agreement. The panel was itself established by the hard-fought 2011 increase in the debt limit.
The Senate vote broke exactly opposite of the House tally last week. Just 12 Republican senators voted for the measure, which swept through the House with widespread GOP support. Only one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, opposed the bill. In the House, most Democrats and top leaders like Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., opposed the legislation.
Democrats went along because the debt increase wasn't contingent on matching cuts to the budget, as long demanded by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Senate Republicans offered several amendments, but all failed on party-line votes. Any amendments to the bill would have required the House to vote again.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., proposed an amendment to ensure that in the case of a cash crunch the government would use available tax revenue to make sure that bondholders, Social Security recipients and the military get paid. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, sought to require that any immediate increase in the debt limit be paired with commensurate cuts to spending, which could be spread out over 10 years.
To sell the measure to House GOP conservatives last week, Boehner attached a "no budget, no pay" provision that would withhold pay for House and Senate members if the chamber in which they serve fails to pass a budget plan. That was a slap at the Democratic-controlled Senate, which hasn't passed a budget blueprint since 2009.
The "no budget, no pay" provision was seen by congressional insiders as a bad idea whose time had arrived. For starters, it made members of the minority party dependent on the ability of the majority party to advance a budget if they all were to be paid. But the announcement of the move was quickly followed by an announcement by Senate Democrats that they would indeed advance a budget for the first time in four years.
Lawmakers have already shifted their focus to the across-the-board cuts, which would pare $85 billion from this year's budget after being delayed from Jan. 1 until March 1 and reduced by $24 billion by the recently enacted tax bill. Defense hawks are particularly upset, saying the Pentagon cuts would devastate military readiness and cause havoc in defense contracting. The cuts, called a "sequester" in Washington-speak, were never intended to take effect but were instead aimed at driving the two sides to a large budget bargain.
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0.091145 | <urn:uuid:b2b1da71-14bb-45bd-a009-81e6c78202b7> | en | 0.910112 | Sign up ×
We are hosting some SP2010 sites and some of our users are a little quick on the trigger and try to click on an order before the page is done loading, inadvertantly approving it by mistake. Repeated attempts to scold them have failed and so I would like to find out if there is an approved or correct way to insitutue something like a full screen pre-loader, something like a blockUI? In ASP.NET for example, you can just hook to the AJAX toolkit, and I'm sure there is something similar in SharePoint, but if there is a cleaner way, I would like to know about it.
ADD: What I would like to do is catch the event. So in ASP.NET you could do something like this:
var pmgr = Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManager.getInstance();
... and than you could catch the event. I'm trying to accomplish the same thing but in SharePoint.
share|improve this question
If I am understanding this correctly, I can build an Event Receiver and override each event so that they perform some JavaScript method Pre-Event and Post-Event. This may solve my problem. – Tomaszewski Sep 7 '11 at 15:07
2 Answers 2
Why not just leave the Approve button "disconnected" by default and then wire it up in $(document).ready()?
share|improve this answer
It's not just the Approve button that i'm worried about. I would want the page blocked every time an AJAX request occurs (for example). – Tomaszewski Sep 2 '11 at 17:23
up vote 1 down vote accepted
Ok, so this is the same as ASP.NET. You can just tap into ScriptResource.axd where PageRequestManager exists.
share|improve this answer
Your Answer
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0.023997 | <urn:uuid:d085a5e1-aa40-4476-84ea-73a88fc78b59> | en | 0.95338 | Michael Gerson
WASHINGTON -- With varied motivations, human beings tend to invoke the name of God in foxholes, in the throes of passion and in budget debates.
During the recent debt-limit showdown, Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., credited "divine inspiration" for his opposition to Speaker John Boehner's initial proposal. Democratic activist Donna Brazile tweeted, "Last time I checked, God is above this partisan stuff. But I believe (as a woman of faith) Jesus would be fair and support shared sacrifice." It was not immediately clear if the Son of God endorses corporate loophole closings or prefers tax-rate increases.
On the testimony of some of his followers, God is both to the right of Boehner and to the left of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (who didn't include revenues in his approach). Both parties read the same Bible and pray to the same God -- but apparently listen to different economists.
This use of religion in politics is a source of cynicism. It should raise alarms when the views of the Almighty conveniently match our most urgent political needs. A faith that conforms exactly to the contours of a political ideology has lost its independence. Churches become clubs of the politically like-minded. Political dialogue suffers, since opponents are viewed as heretics. And when religion becomes too closely identified with a detailed political platform, both are quickly outdated. Despite William Jennings Bryan's best efforts, who now recalls God's view of bimetallism?
Yet religion is not a purely private matter. There is a reason that, two millennia after his execution as a rebel in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire, people still ask, "What would Jesus do?" Despite his indifference to Roman politics, his teachings on compassion and human dignity have had dramatic public consequences. While a Christian position on monetary policy is a stretch, Christian opposition to slavery or segregation is a matter of consistency. Faith does not dictate specific policies, which are properly determined by the prudent assessment of likely outcomes. But religion helps define the priorities of politics, which include solidarity with the disadvantaged.
Michael Gerson
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0.034362 | <urn:uuid:ce7e7990-15ec-4123-b3c5-f9e9138ba8d8> | en | 0.936033 | NASA is again rescheduling the launch of five rockets from Virginia due to bad weather.
The rockets are part of a study of the jet stream.
The launch had been set for Thursday at NASA's space center on Wallops Island but has now been pushed back to early Friday. Bad weather has postponed the launch several times.
The Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment (ATREX) will help scientists understand the jet stream, which is located 60 to 65 miles above Earth's surface.
The rockets will release a chemical tracer to form white clouds that allow scientists and the public to visualize the winds. Residents from South Carolina to southern New Hampshire and Vermont might be able to see the clouds for up to 20 minutes.
NASA's ATREX mission: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/missions/atrex.html | http://townhall.com/news/sci-tech/2012/03/22/nasa_reschedules_va_suborbital_rocket_launches | dclm-gs1-241390001 | false | false | {
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0.022861 | <urn:uuid:2f1b0f5b-5032-4d55-9c89-70b2d0168612> | en | 0.92807 | Dance, my puppets, dance! Let's play Eternal Eyes! [Video! Audience Participation!]
Freezair For A Limited Time
Sex, Drugs, and Grasshopper Pie
In this installment: Mmmm. Pie. Crow also shows us what he's made of (hint: It kicks ass), we demonstrate our lack of medical knowledge when confronted with jaundice, and we make strange demands!
Yes, I put Gypsy's evolution info at the end of this one. Because why the heck not? Also, because it's Ender's week off from work, we'll be able to record mid-week, and we can use this suggestion then!
I guess make it a hound dog... And cue the obvious Elvis joke.
Psyga315 17th Dec 11
I second the vote for Hound Dog.
IndigoBook 19th Dec 11
Heh, jaundiced Tom.
Grasshopper pie? OOH CAN I HAVE SOME? XD (Yes, I thought of the cookies and not the bug, so I had some idea of what it entails.)
And feel free to send cute girls my way, if we're doing that. :P
ARGH VIRAL VOCAL TICS. I used to do that all the time when I was little.
Thirding Hound Dog, because random Elvis references are good for you.
lee4hmz 19th Dec 11
And if you somehow get a Fox Puppet... name him Todd and pair him up with Gypsy.
Psyga315 19th Dec 11 | http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/lb_i.php?lb_id=13199607330B88069400&i_id=13241475350I37485300&p=21 | dclm-gs1-241450001 | false | false | {
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Add new comment
Can I play FarmVille in a Mac?
a good thing.
That's fine, but since 90% of the world is on a PC on the web, their emphasis on fixing this for Mac has been low priority. But now the whining can stop since HTML wont be standard until 2022.
The shop I work for does a lot of custom mapping applications. We use Flash instead of Javascript due to browser inconsistencies with Javascript.
So all this talk of HTML5 replacing Flash has me curious - anyone have any examples of a feature rich online application using HTML5? Even better, does anyone have an example of online maps using HTML5?
i just want to see farmville in html5 :)
This is the 10.1 beta, released in December 09. Why didn't Adobe espouse the Mac improvements then? The new "faster Mac" statement 2 months later reeks of a reaction to iPad release and HTML 5. A bit too late to be anything but desperate hype.
Do not download the beta! It is extremely unstable.
Browsers are starting to implement HTML5 video tag fullscreen already. its in the beta release of a few of them
Awwh, that means us PC users will need to start moaning now! | http://uxmag.com/articles/adobe-promises-faster-mac-flash?rate=ag2hwE3HPqZ0FoxioKrIrmiPRIRFvechXYAYDzCMmR8 | dclm-gs1-241480001 | false | false | {
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0.040945 | <urn:uuid:7b8b2612-8cc5-4d46-ac42-f66c26081586> | en | 0.950177 | Hamilton County Commission
Tana Weingartner / WVXU
Sarah Ramsey
That's a win for zoo as that's what it had requested.
Sarah Ramsey
Sarah Ramsey
Sarah Ramsey
The Cincinnati Zoo's operating levy is up for renewal this fall. It's still uncertain for how much the zoo will ask. One anti-tax group is arguing if the zoo is such a boon to the entire region, then other counties should help pay for it.
Can they do that?
Hamilton County Juvenile Court
Hamilton County Commissioners are instructing County Facilities Director Ralph Linne to review Juvenile Judge Tracie Hunter's courtroom and make upgrade recommendations.
While Cincinnati City Council looks into its emergency communications operations following a recent television news investigation, Hamilton County is offering one possible solution.
Commissioners Wednesday approved a resolution supporting a joint city/county emergency communications center.
Commissioner Greg Hartmann says this is a great opportunity for shared services.
Hamilton County Juvenile Court
Supporters filled Hamilton County Commission chambers Wednesday demanding more respect for Judge Tracie Hunter.
The Juvenile Court judge is locked in bitter battles with fellow Juvenile Court Judge John Williams, the county prosecutor's office and several media outlets.
Supporters like Zakiyyah Allen say Hunter's being jerked around by the county.
"It's a mockery," says Allen. "It's a slap in the face. Why is so much time, money and energy being wasted to prevent her from doing her job verses spending the money to let her do her job?"
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0.037738 | <urn:uuid:c01c5304-b83d-4e4f-98e6-f6f95931bcfc> | en | 0.979484 | No hero's welcome for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl
HAILEY, Idaho - There will be no hero's welcome for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in his hometown, no fanfare of parades, music or picnics in the park.
A planned celebration for the end of June marking his return after five years of Taliban captivity in Afghanistan has been scrapped, largely due to security concerns as his release has touched off a nationwide debate. Was he an American prisoner of war who should be welcomed home after years in the enemy's hands or a deserter who abandoned his unit who should be punished accordingly?
For those who knew Bergdahl and his family in this small central Idaho town surrounded by forests and mountains, the politics of war have no place. They just want Bergdahl back home.
"It's like a modern day lynching. He hasn't even been able to give his side of the story yet. This community will welcome him back no matter what," said Lee Ann Ferris, who lives next door to the Bergdahl family and watched Bowe grow up. "He's a hometown kid and he's already suffered enough."
The town of 8,000 has been swamped with hate mail and angry calls, labeling the 28-year-old Bergdahl un-American and a traitor. Given the prospect of large crowds on both sides of the debate, organizers abruptly canceled their welcome home celebration.
Hailey Chamber of Commerce President Jane Drussel said she and the organization have gotten angry mail and calls from people lambasting the town's plans.
Meanwhile, the Taliban released a 17-minute video of his weekend handover, an exchange for the U.S releasing five Taliban detainees. The footage shows a thin, tense-looking Bergdahl being patted down for explosives by U.S. forces before climbing aboard an American helicopter in the dusty Afghanistan desert.
Bergdahl was captured after walking away from his unit, unarmed, in 2009. He's currently at a military hospital in Germany, where he was reported in stable condition.
His parents have spoken publicly only briefly since his release. Several cars were parked outside their modest home Wednesday behind a closed gate with signs that read, "Guard dog on duty" and "No Trespassing."
A Taliban statement quoted leader Mullah Mohammad Omar as saying the release of the five Taliban was a significant achievement. President Barack Obama has defended the swap, citing a "sacred" obligation to not leave men and women in uniform behind.
Hoping to ease mounting criticism, officials from the State Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies briefed senators behind closed doors Wednesday evening. They showed the lawmakers a 1 1/2-minute video provided by the Taliban that proved Bergdahl was alive and indicated to the administration that his deteriorating health required quick action.
The administration is required to notify Congress 30 days before transferring Guantanamo detainees, but the White House thought waiting was too risky - that too much could go wrong in a month so they went forward with the fast-moving negotiations.
In an interview that aired Thursday on the BBC, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said: "Can you imagine if we would have waited or taken the chance of leaks? Over a 30 day period? ... That would have seriously imperiled us ever getting him out."
Hagel said the Army will review the case, and cautioned against drawing conclusions.
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HomeEntertainment › Zarsha Leo Opens in Harrisburg
Zarsha Leo Opens in Harrisburg
It’s true that there are a fair amount of bars in my locality. I’ve always been a great fan of Ted’s Bar & Grill but I feel that there can never be enough places serving hot fries and tasty wings. That’s why I was thrilled to learn that Evan Burschkopf is now opening a branch of his Zarsha Leo bar-restaurant and it’s just a walk away from my house!
Apart from the fact that this means I don’t have to worry about drinking and driving, it also gives me another venue to frequent. “I am aware that Harrisburg does have similar type bars, but I feel that Zarsha Leo has an atmosphere with a difference. Being a chain gives it that extra edge which is what I’m trying to market to potential new customers,” said Evan Burschkopf.
Comments are closed. | http://www.blogharrisburg.com/2013/02/18/zarsha-leo-opens-in-harrisburg/ | dclm-gs1-241720001 | false | true | {
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0.0897 | <urn:uuid:d306f664-d5b6-48d1-84f5-926ac7499e1a> | en | 0.934542 | Dairy product, milk [Credit: AdstockRF]milkAdstockRFmilk and any of the foods made from milk, including butter, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and condensed and dried milk.
Milk has been used by humans since the beginning of recorded time to provide both fresh and storable nutritious foods. In some countries almost half the milk produced is consumed as fresh pasteurized whole, low-fat, or skim milk. However, most milk is manufactured into more stable dairy products of worldwide commerce, such as butter, cheese, dried milks, ice cream, and condensed milk.
Cow milk (bovine species) is by far the principal type used throughout the world. Other animals utilized for their milk production include buffalo (in India, China, Egypt, and the Philippines), goats (in the Mediterranean countries), reindeer (in northern Europe), and sheep (in southern Europe). This section focuses on the processing of cow milk and milk products unless otherwise noted. In general, the processing technology described for cow milk can be successfully applied to milk obtained from other species.
In the early 1800s the average dairy cow produced less than 1,500 litres of milk annually. With advances in animal nutrition and selective breeding, one cow now produces an average of 6,500 litres of milk a year, with some cows producing up to 10,000 litres. The Holstein-Friesian cow produces the greatest volume, but other breeds such as Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, and Jersey, while producing less milk, are known for supplying milk that contains higher fat, protein, and total solids.
Properties of milk
Nutrient composition
Although milk is a liquid and most often considered a drink, it contains between 12 and 13 percent total solids and perhaps should be regarded as a food. In contrast, many “solid” foods, such as tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce, contain as little as 6 percent solids.
Many factors influence the composition of milk, including breed, genetic constitution of the individual cow, age of the cow, stage of lactation, interval between milkings, and certain disease conditions. Since the last milk drawn at each milking is richest in fat, the completeness of milking also influences a sample. In general, the type of feed only slightly affects the composition of milk, but feed of poor quality or insufficient quantity causes both a low yield and a low percentage of total solids. Current feeding programs utilize computer technology to achieve the greatest efficiency from each animal.
The composition of milk varies among mammals, primarily to meet growth rates of the individual species. The proteins contained within the mother’s milk are the major components contributing to the growth rate of the young animals. Human milk is relatively low in both proteins and minerals compared with that of cows and goats.
Goat milk has about the same nutrient composition as cow milk, but it differs in several characteristics. Goat milk is completely white in colour because all the beta-carotene (ingested from feed) is converted to vitamin A. The fat globules are smaller and therefore remain suspended, so the cream does not rise and mechanical homogenization is unnecessary. Goat milk curd forms into small, light flakes and is more easily digested, much like the curd formed from human milk. It is often prescribed for persons who are allergic to the proteins in cow milk and for some patients afflicted with stomach ulcers.
Sheep milk is rich in nutrients, having 18 percent total solids (5.8 percent protein and 6.5 percent fat). Reindeer milk has the highest level of nutrients, with 36.7 percent total solids (10.3 percent protein and 22 percent fat). These high-fat, high-protein milks are excellent ingredients for cheese and other manufactured dairy products.
The major components of milk are water, fat, protein, carbohydrate (lactose), and minerals (ash). However, there are numerous other highly important micronutrients such as vitamins, essential amino acids, and trace minerals. Indeed, more than 250 chemical compounds have been identified in milk.
Nutrient composition of dairy products (per 100 g)
dairy product energy (kcal) water
protein (g) fat
drate (g)
vitamin A (IU) riboflavin (mg) calcium
fresh milk
whole 61 88 3.29 3.34 4.66 14 126 0.162 119
low-fat* 50 89 3.33 1.92 4.80 8 205 0.165 122
skim* 35 91 3.41 0.18 4.85 2 204 0.140 123
evaporated milk 134 74 6.81 7.56 10.04 29 243 0.316 261
evaporated skim milk* 78 79 7.55 0.20 11.35 4 392 0.309 290
sweetened condensed milk 321 27 7.91 8.70 54.40 34 328 0.416 284
nonfat dry milk* 358 4 35.10 0.72 52.19 18 2,370 1.744 1,231
butter 717 16 0.85 81.11 0.06 219 3,058 0.034 24
ice cream (vanilla) 201 61 3.50 11.00 23.60 44 409 0.240 128
ice milk (vanilla) 139 68 3.80 4.30 22.70 14 165 0.265 139
sherbet (orange) 138 66 1.10 2.00 30.40 5 76 0.068 54
frozen yogurt, nonfat 128 69 3.94 0.18 28.16 2 7 0.265 134
buttermilk 40 90 3.31 0.88 4.79 4 33 0.154 116
sour cream 214 71 3.16 20.96 4.27 44 790 0.149 116
yogurt, plain, low-fat 63 85 5.25 1.55 7.04 6 66 0.214 183
yogurt, fruit, low-fat 102 74 4.37 1.08 19.05 4 46 0.178 152
blue 353 42 21.40 28.74 2.34 75 721 0.382 528
Brie 334 48 20.75 27.68 0.45 100 667 0.520 184
Cheddar 403 37 24.90 33.14 1.28 105 1,059 0.375 721
cottage 103 79 12.49 4.51 2.68 15 163 0.163 60
cream 349 54 7.55 34.87 2.66 110 1,427 0.197 80
mozzarella** 280 49 27.47 17.12 3.14 54 628 0.343 731
Parmesan, grated 456 18 41.56 30.02 3.74 79 701 0.386 1,376
Emmentaler (Swiss) 376 37 28.43 27.54 3.38 92 845 0.365 961
*Fortified with vitamin A.
**Low moisture, part skim.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Composition of Foods, Agriculture Handbook no. 8-1.
The fat in milk is secreted by specialized cells in the mammary glands of mammals. It is released as tiny fat globules or droplets, which are stabilized by a phospholipid and protein coat derived from the plasma membrane of the secreting cell. Milk fat is composed mainly of triglycerides—three fatty acid chains attached to a single molecule of glycerol. It contains 65 percent saturated, 32 percent monounsaturated, and 3 percent polyunsaturated fatty acids. The fat droplets carry most of the cholesterol and vitamin A. Therefore, skim milk, which has more than 99.5 percent of the milk fat removed, is significantly lower in cholesterol than whole milk (2 milligrams per 100 grams of milk, compared with 14 milligrams for whole milk) and must be fortified with vitamin A.
Milk contains a number of different types of proteins, depending on what is required for sustaining the young of the particular species. These proteins increase the nutritional value of milk and other dairy products and provide certain characteristics utilized for many of the processing methods. A major milk protein is casein, which actually exists as a multisubunit protein complex dispersed throughout the fluid phase of milk. Under certain conditions the casein complexes are disrupted, causing curdling of the milk. Curdling results in the separation of milk proteins into two distinct phases, a solid phase (the curds) and a liquid phase (the whey).
Lactose is the principal carbohydrate found in milk. It is a disaccharide composed of one molecule each of the monosaccharides (simple sugars) glucose and galactose. Lactose is an important food source for several types of fermenting bacteria. The bacteria convert the lactose into lactic acid, and this process is the basis for several types of dairy products.
In the diet lactose is broken down into its component glucose and galactose subunits by the enzyme lactase. The glucose and galactose can then be absorbed from the digestive tract for use by the body. Individuals deficient in lactase cannot metabolize lactose, a condition called lactose intolerance. The unmetabolized lactose cannot be absorbed from the digestive tract and therefore builds up, leading to intestinal distress.
Vitamins and minerals
Milk is a good source of many vitamins. However, its vitamin C (ascorbic acid) content is easily destroyed by heating during pasteurization. Vitamin D is formed naturally in milk fat by ultraviolet irradiation but not in sufficient quantities to meet human nutritional needs. Beverage milk is commonly fortified with the fat-soluble vitamins A and D. In the United States the fortification of skim milk and low-fat milk with vitamin A (in water-soluble emulsified preparations) is required by law.
Milk also provides many of the B vitamins. It is an excellent source of riboflavin (B2) and provides lesser amounts of thiamine (B1) and niacin. Other B vitamins found in trace amounts are pantothenic acid, folic acid, biotin, pyridoxine (B6), and vitamin B12.
Milk is also rich in minerals and is an excellent source of calcium and phosphorus. It also contains trace amounts of potassium, chloride, sodium, magnesium, sulfur, copper, iodine, and iron. A lack of adequate iron is said to keep milk from being a complete food.
Physical and biochemical properties
Fresh fluid milk
Quality concerns
Pasteurization is most important in all dairy processing. It is the biological safeguard which ensures that all potential pathogens are destroyed. Extensive studies have determined that heating milk to 63 °C (145 °F) for 30 minutes or 72 °C (161 °F) for 15 seconds kills the most resistant harmful bacteria. In actual practice these temperatures and times are exceeded, thereby not only ensuring safety but also extending shelf life.
food processing: HTST milk pasteurizer [Credit: © Larry Lefever/Grant Heilman Photography, Inc.]food processing: HTST milk pasteurizer© Larry Lefever/Grant Heilman Photography, Inc.Most milk today is pasteurized by the continuous high-temperature short-time (HTST) method (72 °C or 161 °F for 15 seconds or above). The HTST method is conducted in a series of stainless steel plates and tubes, with the hot pasteurized milk on one side of the plate being cooled by the incoming raw milk on the other side. This “regeneration” can be more than 90 percent efficient and greatly reduces the cost of heating and cooling. There are many fail-safe controls on an approved pasteurizer system to ensure that all milk is completely heated for the full time and temperature requirement. If the monitoring instruments detect that something is wrong, an automatic flow diversion valve will prevent the milk from moving on to the next processing stage. Higher temperatures and sometimes longer holding times are required for the pasteurization of milk or cream with a high fat or sugar content.
Pasteurized milk is not sterile and is expected to contain small numbers of harmless bacteria. Therefore, the milk must be immediately cooled to below 4.4 °C (40 °F) and protected from any outside contamination. The shelf life for high-quality pasteurized milk is about 14 days when properly refrigerated.
Extended shelf life can be achieved through ultrapasteurization. In this case, milk is heated to 138 °C (280 °F) for two seconds and aseptically placed in sterile conventional milk containers. Ultrapasteurized milk and cream must be refrigerated and will last at least 45 days. This process does minimal damage to the flavour and extends the shelf life of slow-selling products such as cream, eggnog, and lactose-reduced milks.
Ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) pasteurization is the same heating process as ultrapasteurization (138 °C or 280 °F for two seconds), but the milk then goes into a more substantial container—either a sterile five-layer laminated “box” or a metal can. This milk can be stored without refrigeration and has a shelf life of six months to a year. Products handled in this manner do not taste as fresh, but they are useful as an emergency supply or when refrigeration is not available.
Most modern plants use a separator to control the fat content of various products. A separator is a high-speed centrifuge that acts on the principle that cream or butterfat is lighter than other components in milk. (The specific gravity of skim milk is 1.0358, specific gravity of heavy cream 1.0083.) The heart of the separator is an airtight bowl with funnellike stainless steel disks. The bowl is spun at a high speed (about 6,000 revolutions per minute), producing centrifugal forces of 4,000 to 5,000 times the force of gravity. Centrifugation causes the skim, which is denser than cream, to collect at the outer wall of the bowl. The lighter part (cream) is forced to the centre and piped off for appropriate use.
An additional benefit of the separator is that it also acts as a clarifier. Particles even heavier than the skim, such as sediment, somatic cells, and some bacteria, are thrown to the outside and collected in pockets on the side of the separator. This material, known as “separator sludge,” is discharged periodically and sometimes automatically when buildup is sensed.
Most separators are controlled by computers and can produce milk of almost any fat content. Current standards generally set whole milk at 3.25 percent fat, low-fat at 1 or 2 percent, and skim at less than 0.5 percent. (Most skim milk is actually less than 0.01 percent fat.)
Milk is homogenized to prevent fat globules from floating to the top and forming a cream layer or cream plug. Homogenizers are simply heavy-duty, high-pressure pumps equipped with a special valve at the discharge end. They are designed to break up fat globules from their normal size of up to 18 micrometres to less than 2 micrometres in diameter (a micrometre is one-millionth of a metre). Hot milk (with the fat in liquid state) is pumped through the valve under high pressure, resulting in a uniform and stable distribution of fat throughout the milk.
Two-stage homogenization is sometimes practiced, during which the milk is forced through a second homogenizer valve or a breaker ring. The purpose is to break up fat clusters or clumps and thus produce a more uniform product with a slightly reduced viscosity.
Homogenization is considered successful when there is no visible separation of cream and the fat content in the top 100 millilitres of milk in a one-litre bottle does not differ by more than 10 percent from the bottom portion after standing 48 hours.
In addition to avoiding a cream layer, other benefits of homogenized milk include a whiter appearance, richer flavour, more uniform viscosity, better “whitening” in coffee, and softer curd tension (making the milk more digestible for humans). Homogenization is also essential for providing improved body and texture in ice cream, as well as numerous other products such as half-and-half, cream cheese, and evaporated milk.
Until the mid 1880s milk was dipped from large cans into the consumer’s own containers. The glass milk bottle was invented in 1884 and became the main container of retail distribution until World War II, when wax-coated paper containers were introduced. Plastic-coated paper followed and became the predominate container. Today more than 75 percent of retail sales are in translucent plastic jugs. Glass bottles make up less than 0.5 percent of the business and are used mostly at dairy stores and for home delivery.
Modern packaging machines are self-cleaning and provide an aseptic environment for milk packaging. Their improved design has allowed milk to remain fresh for at least 14 days and has made it possible for use with ultrapasteurizing equipment for extended shelf-life applications.
Specialty milks
Many specialty milks are now available (even in remote areas) as a result of the 45-day refrigerated shelf life of ultrapasteurized milk. One of the most useful products, lactose-reduced milk, is available in both nonfat and low-fat composition as well as in many flavoured versions. The lactose (milk sugar) is reduced by 70 to 100 percent, making it possible for lactose-intolerant individuals to enjoy the benefits of milk in their diets. Lactose reduction is accomplished by subjecting the appropriate milk to the action of the enzyme lactase in a refrigerated tank for approximately 24 hours. The enzyme breaks down the lactose to more readily digestible glucose and galactose. The reaction is halted when the lactose is consumed or when the milk is heat-treated. The resulting beverage is sweeter than regular milk but acceptable for most uses.
Other specialty milks include calcium-fortified, special and seasonal flavours (e.g., eggnog), and high-volume flavoured milk shakes (frequently served in schools).
Condensed and dried milk
Condensed and evaporated milk
Whole, low-fat, and skim milks, as well as whey and other dairy liquids, can be efficiently concentrated by the removal of water, using heat under vacuum. Since reducing atmospheric pressure lowers the temperature at which liquids boil, the water in milk is evaporated without imparting a cooked flavour. Water can also be removed by ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, but this membrane technology is more expensive. Usually about 60 percent of the water is removed, which reduces storage space and shipping costs. Whole milk, when concentrated, usually contains 7.5 percent milk fat and 25.5 percent total milk solids. Skim milk can be condensed to approximately 20 to 40 percent solids, depending on the buyer’s needs.
Condensed milk is often sold in refrigerated tank-truck loads to manufacturers of candy, bakery goods, ice cream, cheese, and other foods. When preserved by heat in individual cans, it is usually called “evaporated milk.” In this process the concentrated milk is homogenized, fortified with vitamin D (A and D in evaporated skim milk), and sealed in a can sized for the consumer. A stabilizer, such as disodium phosphate or carrageenan, is also added to keep the product from separating during processing and storage. The sealed can is then sterilized at 118 °C (244 °F) for 15 minutes, cooled, and labeled. Evaporated milk keeps indefinitely, although staling and browning may occur after a year.
New ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) processing and aseptic filling of foil-lined cardboard or metal cans is also practiced. Although this process is more costly, the scorched flavour is not as pronounced as with conventionally processed evaporated milk.
Sweetened condensed milk is also made by partially removing the water (as in evaporated milk) and adding sugar. The final product contains about 8.5 percent milk fat and at least 28 percent total milk solids. Sugar is added in sufficient amount to prevent bacterial action and subsequent spoilage. Usually, at least 60 percent sugar in the water phase is required to provide sufficient osmotic pressure for prevention of bacterial growth. Because sweetened condensed milk (or skim milk) is preserved by sugar, the milk merely needs to be pasteurized before being placed in a sanitary container (usually a metal can).
Dry milk products
Milk and by-products of milk production are often dried to reduce weight, to aid in shipping, to extend shelf life, and to provide a more useful form as an ingredient for other foods. In addition to skim and whole milk, a variety of useful dairy products are dried, including buttermilk, malted milk, instant breakfast, sweet cream, sour cream, butter powder, ice cream mix, cheese whey, coffee creamer, dehydrated cheese products, lactose, and caseinates. Many drying plants are built in conjunction with a butter-churning plant. These plants utilize the skim milk generated from the separated cream and the buttermilk produced from churning the butter. Most products are dried to less than 4 percent moisture to prevent bacterial growth and spoilage. However, products containing fat lose their freshness rather quickly owing to the oxidation of fatty acids, leading to rancidity.
Two types of dryers are used in the production of dried milk products—drum dryers and spray dryers. Each dryer has certain advantages.
Drum dryers
The simplest and least expensive is the drum, or roller, dryer. It consists of two large steel cylinders that turn toward each other and are heated from the inside by steam. The concentrated product is applied to the hot drum in a thin sheet that dries during less than one revolution and is scraped from the drum by a steel blade. The flakelike powder dissolves poorly in water but is often preferred in certain bakery products. Drum dryers are also used to manufacture animal feed where texture, flavour, and solubility are not a major consideration.
Spray dryers
Spray dryers are more commonly used since they do less heat damage and produce more soluble products. Concentrated liquid dairy product is sprayed in a finely atomized form into a stream of hot air. The air may be heated by steam-heated “radiators” or directly by sulfur-free natural gas. The drying chamber may be rectangular (the size of a living room), conical, or silo-shaped (up to five stories high). The powder passes from the drying chamber through a series of cyclone collectors and is usually placed in plastic-lined, heavy-duty paper bags.
Spray-dried milk is also difficult to reconstitute or mix with water. Therefore, a process called agglomeration was developed to “instantize” the powder, or make it more soluble. This process involves rewetting the fine, spray-dried powder with water to approximately 8 to 15 percent moisture and following up with a second drying cycle. The powder is now granular and dissolves very well in water. Virtually all retail packages of nonfat dry milk powder are instantized in this manner.
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0.028055 | <urn:uuid:74bb53a0-f1d7-4c77-a1d8-add06507c206> | en | 0.984638 | Man can't get arrested by police
ORLAND — Orlando Robinson II couldn't get arrested Saturday, although he tried his best.
The 28-year-old transient walked into the Orland Police Department about 3 p.m. and told officer Sean Johnson he wanted to be arrested because he had nowhere to live.
Robinson said he was on parole from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and was wearing an ankle bracelet.
Johnson told the man he had no wants or warrants and had no reason to hold him.
Robinson began to tamper with the GPS monitoring device on his ankle, which is a violation of parole.
As Johnson was filling out a booking questionnaire he discovered that Robinson was no longer on parole, and removing the bracelet would not be a violation.
The man left the police department disappointed, but armed with information about places where he might get some assistance with basic needs. | http://www.chicoer.com/20111025/man-cant-get-arrested-by-police | dclm-gs1-241870001 | false | false | {
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0.035664 | <urn:uuid:7a224a65-5abe-418e-aafd-ba9783c9d527> | en | 0.962074 | Vancouver philanthropist, veteran dies at 101 years old
Harris Dusenbery, who fought in the mountains of Italy during World War II and still enjoyed strolling through downtown after entering his second century, died…
What is the best answer to the gun violence in our country?
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0.730581 | <urn:uuid:3f40bd51-4602-4b4f-a019-97c16bb8534f> | en | 0.930385 | Difference Between Broiling and Baking
Broiling vs Baking
The temperature of the heat that one uses when using either broiling or baking is the key difference between the two cooking techniques. If you know nothing about broiling and baking, they are both ways of cooking food using an oven. Though, baking is a more popular option of preparing healthy food in an oven, broiling is another cooking method that utilizes dry heat without making use of a liquid medium such as oil that is full of fat. There are many similarities between these two cooking methods, though there are glaring differences that will be highlighted in this article.
What is Baking?
When we look at how heat energy is provided by the oven for baking, we can observe that heat energy is provided to the food item by surrounding it with hot air. You will also see that heat in baking does not char the food, which is why it is a better cooking technique for cakes and breads that just need a little bit of browning. So, if you are baking biscuits or cakes, the idea is to provide dry, intense heat to the dough so that it sets and acquires a structure. When using baking settings of an oven, you are, in a sense, providing a temperature of around 350 degrees Fahrenheit with no or very little air movement inside the oven. This temperature range usually is within the range of 250 degrees Fahrenheit and 450 degrees Fahrenheit as different food items need different amounts of heat.
Difference Between Broiling and Baking
What is Broiling?
When we look at how heat energy is provided by the oven for broiling, we see that infrared radiation is the process that takes place in the case of broiling to cook the food. Those who know about these two heat carrying processes know that infrared radiation has the capacity to char food items in close vicinity. This is very good for meat items. On the other hand, when you need to grill your steak but do not have a grill, you can use your oven on a broil setting that makes use of infrared radiation in such a way that you get a charred steak full of juices and flavors in a short period. The temperature of the oven during broiling is usually about 500 degrees Fahrenheit. The broil setting in your oven turns on the top burners only while the meat resides just below these burners. Thus, it is top down heat that cooks the meat from the top side. Once cooked from top, you need to change the position of the meat to cook it from other sides as well. It takes 2-3 minutes per side to cook this way and hence your steak should be ready within 10 minutes if you are adept at broiling in an oven. If you are using an electric oven, then you must leave the door of the oven ajar while broiling is taking place. However, if you are using a gas oven, leave the door closed.
Broiling vs Baking
What is the difference between Broiling and Baking?
• Heat:
Both baking and broiling provide dry heat to the food being cooked.
• Method of providing heat:
The first and foremost difference in these two cooking methods that rely on dry heat pertains to the way this heat is utilized. In baking, the heat is constant and without any movement of air; broiling provides heat as infrared radiation.
• Ability to char food:
Broiling has the capacity to char food items in close vicinity, which is why it is ideal for steaks, while baking does not char and only brown items, which is why it is ideal for cakes and biscuits.
• The place of providing heat:
Baking provides hot air from all sides while, in broiling, heat comes from the top only.
• Temperature:
Baking temperature is usually within the range of 250 degrees Fahrenheit and 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Broiling temperature is usually in the range of 500 degrees of Fahrenheit.
• Oven door:
When broiling you should leave the oven door open if you are using an electric oven. If you are broiling in a gas oven, then you have to close the door just like you do when you are baking.
• Way of cooking:
Broiling chars the outside of the food. That is why you have to change sides. However, baking cooks food through, not just the outside. That is why baking takes more time than broiling.
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1. Beef steak dinner via Wikicommons (Public Domain)
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0.056104 | <urn:uuid:b7409b51-3634-4043-bfb1-4741a4b89ed5> | en | 0.960461 | Who are the characters in the story "The Cold Equations," and what are their problems?
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"The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin is a futuristic story set in space. The story features only two main characters--Barton the pilot and a young girl named Marilyn who is a stowaway on Barton's EDS (emergency dispatch ship). While the story references Marilyn's brother and parents and a group of humans stranded on a far-away planet, Marilyn and Barton are the only characters actually in the scenes of the story.
Barton is on his way to deliver life-saving medicine to some men, and he has only enough fuel to get to the men's location with a very specific weight on board his ship. Because Marilyn has chosen to stowaway on board the EDS (an action which she knows is prohibited), she places Barton in a very difficult position. He either has to "dump" her into space so that he can make it to the ill men, or he and she will both die in space presumably along with the men waiting for the medicine. Godwin sets up a "lifeboat" situation and causes readers to think about the idea of sacrificing one for the good of the whole. Marilyn, while wanting to live, comes to realize the gravity of the situation she has put herself and Barton in, and eventually goes to her death.
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Incompatible properties
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The Incompatible Properties argument is used to disprove the existence of various supernatural claims. It's particularly effective to illustrate the contradiction in biblical and other scripture.
Here are examples of Incompatible Property arguments (Note that most of these use Judeo-Christian scripture as as examples but similar arguments could be made for many other religions):
Absolute good
If the Judeo-Christian god is "all good" then why would he allow evil in the world? Why would an "all loving" god allow people to suffer? This concept is also known as The Problem of Evil. For a very good elaboration on this topic, I recommend visiting this site: [1]
The common Christian response to this invokes the parable of Free will. The problem with free will is that it introduces yet another incompatible property.
What a joy to find such clear thniikng. Thanks for posting!
If god is all-knowing and all-seeing, then he surely knows what has happened and what will happen, so why would he insist on creating man knowing man will fall from grace? If god is "all good", "omniscient" and "omnipotent" then he knew he would be bringing suffering into the world. Why would an omnipotent/omniscient creator be surprised or disappointed in his creation if he knew what was to happen? Why create incentives or punishment?
Omnipotence / Omniscience paradox
It is not logically possible for god to be both omnipotent and omniscient. If god is omniscient, he would know the future with absolute certainty; but his 'omnipotence' would be rendered powerless if he ever tried to alter the future, due to his 'omniscience'.
Immorality of god
God claims to be the purveyor of absolute moral standards, but his scripture is not indicative of this. Many activities that are considered immoral by our standards, such as genocide, rape, slavery, etc., are promoted in scripture. For many examples of this, I recommend clicking on either "injustice" or "cruelty and violence" on this popular site: [2] or visit this site: [3]
Creation argument
If God is unchangeable, then he cannot go from not creating to creating or vice versa. He must have for the universe to be created. If every creation needs a creator, who created god?
Non-belief argument
God supposedly wants people to believe in him, yet there are people who do not, or people who believe in different gods. It makes no sense that god would allow this to happen if having people believe in him is important.
Confusion argument
If it is that important to believe in god, why are there so many people who have such diverse ideas of god and his nature? Surely if god wanted us to believe, he would have made it more clear. Books like the Bible and the Koran are anything but un-ambiguous.
Consciousness argument
Based on all available knowledge, consciousness requires a physical component (brain, etc.) So if god is conscious, where is his physical component?
Slavery argument
God wants us to worship him. He supposedly deserves this. But humans were created to make their own choices. If god truly deserves to be worshipped by all, then there is no freedom of choice, and in such a case, the significance of our commitment to him is nullified and we are basically slaves.
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0.832857 | <urn:uuid:4128dca8-5dd9-4599-8f89-760f26ed7eac> | en | 0.900252 |
Name some games with metal music tracks.
• Topic Archived
1. Boards
2. Xbox 360
3. Name some games with metal music tracks.
3 years ago#41
its not out yet but Charlie Murder
3 years ago#42
Saints Row 2 & 3 also have metal radio stations, but you still get a rap vibe from the game.
"Please explain to me how a dog can help a blind person see the difference in 720p to 1080p in tv sets under 32"?" - NakedSnake1986
3 years ago#43
Rock band 2 I dont care what your first post said.
Typical example of Anime^
3 years ago#44
Need for Speed Most Wanted (the original one)
"Hey Sockbaby! You wanna food up with us or what?!"
Game o' the Moment: Hannah Montana - The Movie Game
3 years ago#45
Dynasty Warriors
"If we're Evil or Divine , We're the Last in Line" - Ronnie James Dio
3 years ago#46
Obtik posted...
Alan wake lol
Children of the Elder God is 1000 times better than any "popular" music right now.
Fan of: Steelers(6-time Champions), Red Wings(11-time Champions)
3 years ago#47
Rock Band 2 (the metal)
3 years ago#48
super_clout posted...
Rock Band 2 (the metal)
did you read the part where he said that isn't guitar hero or rockband?
On topic TC, I suggest Sneak King or Big Bumpin.
Now don't get me wrong, yeah I think you're alright, but that won't keep me warm in the middle of the night...
3 years ago#49
whoops didn't see that part, I was kinda wondering why didn't anybody post that game...ahh well. Legendary, that game has metal moments.
3 years ago#50
Maybe God made a monkey that doesn't like to think it's a monkey and lies a lot.
1. Boards
2. Xbox 360
3. Name some games with metal music tracks.
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0.107063 | <urn:uuid:c64224c5-c81c-4af2-928e-6705379c1c3c> | en | 0.984406 | dear abby
April 13, 2010
Welcome to the April Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting advice!
Dear Abby,
(lovely reader that's you for today! so, dear you,)
Here's the sitch... since I last shared with you this hilarious video of Jude eating some banana I have given him... no food. I need your motherly guidance and experiences!
I still want to do baby-led weaning, which to me, means skipping the whole pureed foods stage. Check. Got that. And everything I keep reading says, "Delay solids as long as possible! Delay Delay!" and I believe them, and we've held off. The benefits in some of the studies I've read seem quite real, real enough to overcome the societal pressure to cram some nasty sawdust wheat paste into the kid.
But, we're now in month seven (SEVEN!!). The pressure is on. I'm worried if we don't start foods soon he'll end up like a friend of a friend's kid who is 2+ and has developed some crazy aversion to eating solid foods at all and has to have everything pureed for him.
Jude is VERY interested in watching us eat and has thoroughly enjoyed the few pieces of bread we've let him gnaw on, I'm just not sure what the next step is. He'll suck on foods and seems like he's practicing the whole swallowing thing. So that's good, right?
Is it time? I think maybe it's time?
Are we doing this right? Rightish? Is there even a right way to do it?
What have your experiences been with introducing your babies to finger-food type solids?
Anything to expect or avoid?
Can I assume that if he's not choking then everything is peachy keen?
Still Foodless in Ohio
(Feel free to weigh in on any or all of these questions, darlings. Just looking for some general babies vs solid food tips.)
Lauren @ Hobo Mama
I think if you just let him continue to experiment he'll make his own decisions about what to swallow and what to just gum and I think that will both help you avoid the food aversions thing, because he gets to experiment with textures, and sort of take the responsibility off you to decide how much he literally eats in terms of swallowing.
At seven months, he CAN eat if he wants, but it absolutely is still early in terms of NEEDing solids. He could wait till a year old as long as he's breastfed. When people talk about delaying solids (in crunchy circles), they're usually talking till 10 or more months old. But, after six months, I like to let the baby set the readiness. If he likes chewing and experimenting, I don't see any reason not to keep offering him bits and see what happens.
I would just give Mikko pieces off our plates. He liked gumming on pickle spears and steamed broccoli trees and fruit and pieces of bread. But I swear the kid didn't really start swallowing food till close to a year, and even then it was sporadic for another year. But don't worry about it — they'll get there eventually!
Oh, a word on choking. There's literal choking, where food is impeding the airway, and that's bad. Then there's gagging, where the baby coughs or gags out the food, and that's normal. Don't get too concerned over gagging. If his gag reflex is really strong, it just means he'll delay swallowing for longer, and that's OK.
Some other ideas for foods to try are whole-milk yogurt (YoBaby, eg) and mashed cauliflower. They are purees, right, but that's fine, too. They will go EVERYWHERE, but babies get a kick out of that. :)
Lauren @ Hobo Mama
But I forgot to give you the most important tip of starting solids! Have your camera ready.
follow your instinct. My daughter is 8 months old and we just give her big pieces of whatever we are eating to chew on. Apple slices, red peppers, raw potatoes, etc. That way she is exposed to food and wont have some weird aversion to it, but we don't have give her "baby food" every day.
It's also kind of funny because she has no teeth yet and can get chunks off her apple slice and gum them until she can swallow them. I think we are often scared by media/doctors/whoever that if we give them anything they will choke. But they know what do to by instinct and by watching us. Even if she gets a tiny piece of apple in her mouth she still chews (gums) it before swallowing. But do watch him if you give him something solid, i have had to turn her upside once because she couldn't cough up what she was eating.
Dionna @Code Name: Mama
Don't fret!! Kieran was 10 months old before he gummed his first solid. He didn't even swallow it (it was a bell pepper, truly). He didn't really *eat* anything til he was 11 months. Now? You can't keep food out of the kid's mouth at 28 months old (he's still nursing, by the way). Follow his lead! If he's interested in food, let him play with an avocado slice. Let him mush stuff up. If it makes it into his mouth, fun. If not, still fun. He won't be a freak if all he does is nurse for 7 or 8 or 9 (or 10! or more!) months. At least - my kid isn't ;)
Sarah @ OneStarryNight
Tristan who is now 6 1/2mo has been on solids (just at dinner time) for the past two weeks.
Daniel, my oldest son, had ZERO interest in solid food until he was 10-11mo old.
Tristan however has been trying to shove whatever he can get his hands on from our plates since around 5mo.
We do baby led eating (I don't like to use the word weaning here). Generally it can be some mashed potato from dinner or some toast with mashed avocado spread on it, he really loves oven baked sweet potato fries.
Generally most of it ends up AROUND him or ON him rather than in his tummy but that's ok!
Really until the baby is about a year old, solid food isn't so much for nutrition (especially in a breastfed baby) but for fun and experimentation.
Alright, here's my thoughts, do with them what you will:
If he is watching you eat, showing interest....then let him try what you are eating! Just like when you were pregnant and craved things without understanding it, his body is probably signaling him to want more exciting things on his palette. He's obviously healthy, so supplementing with "solids" isn't going to hurt your boy.
Keep it organic, if it helps ease your conscience, but I don't see what the hang up is, and to be honest no one EVER told me to avoid solids (purees). Natural parenting to me would dictate using the Earth's natural offerings. Fresh veggies, fruits, juices from those fruits..etc.
My guy LOST HIS MIND when I gave him sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, and melon. Just let him set the pace, but if he is showing interest, give him a taste, see what he does. Wiz didn't even have teeth until 9 months, but he was eating purees at 4 months. Granted, it was wee bits at a time, but he soon showed me that he way into it.
The best advice I ever got was from my mom, an O.G. hippie, "honey, take that fucking book, walk to the end of the pier, and throw it overboard. DOn't be a dumbass." My mom is so sweet.
Thanks for the wide range of comments here! I've been having the opposite insecurity! My son (who happens to be Jude's cousin and only three days older than Jude) has been eating organic purees for dinner for a few months now. And now I'm worried that he'll wean early...
I'm so glad to know that there are different ways of being a "natural" parent, and that there are women out there who support each other as mothers, no matter what their loving choices may be, instead of the judgement we feel coming at us from all directions.
the grumbles
This comment has been removed by the author.
the grumbles
great advice so far! i love hearing from people the different ages that they've experienced baby-led eating (Sarah, i like that phrasing!) starting and all your experiences.
jude is DEFINITELY interested in what we're eating. last night i shared some black beans with him from my plate and he chowed down a whole handful. and "chewed" them up on his own. it was AWESOME! i think beans are officially a hit.
We started introducing foods a little after 5 months old because she was showing so much interest. We went with pureed, and she loved it. We started with orange/yellow veggies, green veggies, then fruits. By 7 months, we had graduated to small pieces of fruit and mixed veggies, which she still loves. Of course, she was really only tasting stuff. She didn't really start eating for nutrition till she was like a year old or so.
Unfortunately, Ellie, at 3.5 years old, is now a very picky eater. Put a piece of fruit or a veggie in front of her, and she'll eat it. Meat? No thanks. Eggs? Nah. Pasta? Yes. PB? Sometimes. Everyday is a crap shoot. It's frustrating to say the least.
The reason why I'm telling you this is because she tried practically everything as a baby and then became a picky even anyway. She used to eat small pieces of baked or grilled chicken breast, and now she can't even swallow it. The taste repulses her.
The first year is all about practice. Practice, practice, practice. So as long as he's reaching for it and wants to try it, have at it.
A note of caution: I think the only veggie to avoid raw at this age is carrots, although I can't for the life of me remember why. Also, I think you can start the yogurt around 9 months if I remember correctly. I think there's a warning on the label for giving it to a baby younger than that.
*even should be eater. I suck.
I have 5 kids (my youngest is now 5), and they all approached food differently. I had one that didn't put a bite of solids (other than the occasional teddy graham or goldfish) in his mouth until he was 11 months. Just nursed exclusively. He got me away from the whole pressure of baby food, puree, etc. He went straight from nursing to eating table food and he's my best eater now. With the others, I just waited for their cues. If they showed interest, or were clearly hungry, I tried some of whatever we were eating. If not, they just joined us at the table for family social time. That's the key about eating - it's NOT about the food. It's about the social togetherness. Toddlers are also notorious snackers, so it's okay for baby to "eat and run" so to speak. I also found that at the younger ages, they tolerated table food much better on my finger, rather than a spoon. Take a bit off your plate, mash it between your fingers and pop it in and see what happens. If he eats it, give some more. If he spits it out, try again later. And don't let anyone tell you that he "needs" to be eating baby food.
Cave Mother
The WHO stress that for the first year, eating should be fun and milk should provide the lion's share of the baby's diet. Keep it fun and enjoy it. Don't worry about what actually goes down. If your baby rejects something once or twice, keep offering the food on later occasions.
If you find the baby likes apple puree or something, don't stress about that either. It's not going to kill it to have a spoon put in its mouth.
As the other comenters have said, some babies wait until a lot later to start eating. Last year I met a baby who had barely eaten any solids in its 16 months of life. Yes, 16 months. But she was fatter than my little chubster!
It takes some babies longer than others. At seven months, you are still in the early days.
Finally, a good tip I read somewhere was to offer foods that you could squash against the roof of your mouth. That way, you know the baby is capable of eating them if it wants.
Good luck with your weaning adventures!
I agree with Jenn that trying to be a "natural" parent means different things to different people. Just like all of our kids are different. You are getting great advice here to follow Jude's lead and it sounds like you are already doing it. Love that he eats black beans :) I'll have to try that with Max.
He is 8 1/2+ months now and we've been doing some organic purees, some homemade through the food grinder and some experimenting with whole foods for the last few months. He has been intently watching us eat and trying to grab since he was 4 months old. My little guy likes to play with the food and is not a big fan of the chunkier foods in his mouth yet- but he sure liked sucking on a piece of cantaloupe the other day :)
There are so many things for us to worry and beat ourselves up about as mothers. The key is that we are all trying to do our best for our own unique little people. And we don't need to be judgmental about choices other people make and constantly worry about our own choices. You've got good instincts. Keep using em :) And I'll try to follow my own advice, too.
Zoey @ Good Goog
I also lived in fear of my daughter never eating properly when she was that age. Finally at around 9 months she started eating and wasn't really keen one eating until she was 12 months.
Soft foods like banana and avocado are best to start with. Mushy rice and oats are good too although you will hear conflicting advice about introducing grains first, even though the grocery store and nurses will tell you to put them on rice cereal first. But food doesn't need to be pureed completely. Chunks are good for learning how to chew and learning about new textures. Just make sure you keep breastfeeding for the full 12 months. It's surprising how many people I meet who think once you introduce food that babies don't need breast milk or even formula anymore. But they do. Enjoy! And like Lauren said, make sure you have a camera on hand.
Sheryl @ Little Snowflakes
We slowly introduced solids to our son when he was 6 months. Some of his favorites in the beginning were mashed banana and avocado.
I tried to give him foods that were fresh and not processed. When I could give him something fresh, rather than cooked I did. A soft mashed ripe pear or a soft mashed ripe peach were also good options.
We also finely grated things that we couldn't mash - like apples or carrots or beets.
I was a bit paranoid about choking in the beginning, so I did mash or lightly puree most foods from about 6-9 months.
Have you ever seen mesh feeders? They were also helpful in the beginning - I'd put a chunk of whatever fresh fruit we had on hand and let my son chew on it.
Our son is now 2 and loves all food. I don't know if it is just dumb luck or if it has something to do with the way we exposed him to lots of different flavors from fresh food.
Good luck and have fun!! A La Leche League motto that I like is: Food before 1 is just for fun! It means that all of your baby's nutritional needs are met through breastmilk and food is just an added bonus. I took this to heart and we really enjoyed experimenting with food.
Betsy B. Honest
Avocado is the best first-food ever. You can spoon feed without even mushing and it's full of fats and fibre. It even fits in your purse so you can bring with.
Also, I think fish -- salmon, etc. is underated as a first food. Lot's of iron and good fats.
My son is close to 9 months old and still doesn't really care about solids. I let him taste different things but he hasn't really been too interested in any of them. The closest thing to success was when I let him taste avocado and he made a fairly neutral face. It can be difficult when facing pressure to feed solids at 6 months but please rest assured that your baby isn't abnormal (and won't be abnormal) if he's not ready at that age. Just keep offering food from time to time, never force, and eventually your little one will take to solids. After all, most people are eating solids by the time they reach adulthood.
Relax, you're doing fine! Until the age of one my dd hardly ate anything and then she turned into an ogre. Just let him nibble at whatever catches his interest (and is fairly safe). It can be some fish filet, soft fruits, cooked vegetables... Just don't worry and propose foods to him often
My 2nd didn't start solids until she was nine months old.She had a taste of sweet potatoes off my plate. After that we started mashing up our food and giving her a little when she wanted it.
You are doing great! Keep following your child's lead.
I did a modified child-led feeding thing. I offered, if he ate it, great, if not, no biggie, but that included pureed organic foods as well as whole fruits. The thing for us was that I offered all the time all sorts of things. He was munching down on solids regularly by 8 months, but we had a few false starts.
You know what they say about all babies being different. And don't worry too much about the child you've heard of who only eats pureed food as a full blown toddler. It's like the "horror" stories of bed-sharing parents with 7 year olds refusing to sleep in their own beds. It's only a problem if you think it is, not if everyone else thinks so :) Besides, I've never seen an adult refusing to eat regular food before. Y'all will work it out eventually!
Slightly off topic, but do you think you could explain the concept of a carnival to me? I've read about them on NaBloPoMo, but even after visiting the site I still wasn't able to really figure out what they are. Thanks!
I'll share some experiences from my own baby - who is only 6.5 months now but is chowing down on table foods like nobody's business.
Around 4 or 4.5 months he started showing interest in our food, but whatever we gave him he would just taste but not swallow. We bought him some soft baby spoons and at dinnertime I'd dip the spoon in whatever I was eating and give it to him to taste. He also liked drinking water from our cups.
Around 5.5 months he was picking food up from the table, putting it in his mouth, chewing, and swallowing. He could also hold a spoon and nom on the end, which was a good way to feed him soft foods like mashed potatoes.
Two things that we nearly forgot in our quest to "skip the puree stage", as we put it - one, there are still a few choking hazards to avoid, and two, purees are not the enemy!
You don't NEED purees, but think of table foods like mashed potatoes, applesauce, soups, yogurt - all stuff that we adults eat. It's not cheating to give your kid this stuff! Put some on a spoon and let the baby chew or suck on the spoon. My 6.5 month old will hold the spoon, eat the food off it, and let us know when he's ready for more. He's happy to either feed himself like that, or to let us feed him (which is nice if we're in a hurry). And since he's getting plenty of real foods, we think it's fine if he gets an occasional jar of puree from a babysitter or whatever. We also bought a food grinder for when our meals don't have foods he can easily eat. It grinds the food pretty coarsely so he still gets a lot of the texture.
As for choking hazards, my info comes from our pediatrician, who was very supportive about starting with table foods, and my father who deals with (adult) speech and swallowing problems and is always pointing out choking hazards at meals (how fun!)
Our doc's rule of thumb is that the food should easily mash or crumble (like Cave Mother's rule), and pieces shouldn't be much bigger than corn kernels. That leaves things on the list like: rice, beans, crackers, bread, ground or shredded meat...
On the list of things to avoid for at least the first few months: large chunks of meat, big pieces of bread that could wad up into balls in the mouth, "anything shaped like a cork" like whole grapes or hot dog chunks, and hard raw veggies like carrots that he could bite a too-big chunk off of.
We didn't delay or isolate any foods, just threw everything at him at once, which our doc thought was a fine idea but I know opinions vary on that.
In the past few weeks he's eaten: rice, indian food sauces, guacamole, bread, muffins, bananas, yogurt, thick soups like black bean, baby food, applesauce, ice cream, cake, pasta, ground-up fish/chicken, tomato sauce, mashed potatoes ...
I've heard so many different things about introducing solids to babies that's is refreshing to hear such polite genuine conversation on this blog!
My own experience: I wanted to delay solid foods for as long as possible with my daughter. However, her father was very eager to introduce them. So, at 6 1/2 months we gave her sweet potatoes for the first time (he fed her). She hated them. Bananas about a week later were a hit, and since she was a decent sitter by that point I'd sit her up on the floor and give her 1/2 a banana and let her chomp away. It was CRAZY MESSY but I just wasn't interested in mashing everything up for her if she could grab foods and sit up herself. She loved it. I'd give her the pits of mango and let her chomp on those too. But food for her wasn't really nutritional until nearer to a year. It worried my daycare provider some (I had to sign waivers about not "allowing" her to be fed cereals and canned meats) but it worked out fine. We fed her table scraps and the occasional banana when she seemed interested, otherwise I just nursed her like normal.
I think you're doing well! Feed him bits off your table if you're comfortable with it, don't worry about it if you're not yet and he's still getting all he needs from you, and ignore the rest of us if what we say doesn't work for your household. ;-)
Amber, The Unlikely Mama
I actually wish we had waited a bit longer. I'm not sure I could have held out though.
I did make all of Alexa's food in the beginning, but once meats were added I couldn't do it. So I make as much as I can, and add the homemade to the jarred and hope it's a happy medium :-)
Now she's FINALLY able to eat things bigger than a grain of rice, so I can feed her chunks of my own food. I can't wait till she can just eat a damn sandwich :P
I think baby led weaning is a great option if you can hold out!
There's no pressure - really! - you know he really IS going to eat solids :) My youngest didn't eat them til 13 months and I was very antsy, but frankly, I loved loved not having to make and clean up baby food mess. It was awesome!! She did eventually want to eat food - slowly but surely!
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0.079559 | <urn:uuid:0c33a62e-9699-4db3-9cf4-927db959247c> | en | 0.932255 | Characteristics, Uses and Taxation of Investments - Securities Regulation
Regulation - regulation is extensive in the securities industry, both at the federal and state levels.
1. The 1933 Act - applies to the required disclosure for the issuance of new securities. Issuers of non-exempt securities must file a registration statement with the SEC. Anyone purchasing a new, non-exempt issue must receive a prospectus.
1. Exempt securities include US government securities; municipal bonds; commercial paper and banker's acceptances with maturities of less than 270 days; insurance policies and fixed annuities; national and state bank securities; savings and loan securities and charitable, religious, educational and non-profit association issues.
2. Exempt transactions include Regulation A: corporate offerings of less than $5M; Regulation: Private Placements; Rule 147: securities offered and sold exclusively intrastate and Rule 144 (control securities owned by directors, officers or persons owning or controlling 10% or more of an issuer's voting stock/restricted securities: acquired through other than a public offering, e.g. private placement), 144a (the sale of non-registered foreign and domestic securities to qualified institutional buyers e.g. with a minimum of $100M in assets and 145.
2. The 1934 Act - the people act, it regulates the secondary market which comprises outstanding securities, trading and the participants in it. The act created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The act requires registration of all firms and persons trading securities on the exchanges and over the counter, registration of the exchanges and the OTC market, regulation of credit by the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), regulation of trading activities, regulation of insider transactions, proxies and short sales, regulation of client accounts, the customer protection rule, net capital requirements of broker/dealers and issuers' reporting requirements.
3. The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935
4. The Maloney Act of 1938 - amended the 1934 Act to allow the SEC to create self-regulatory organizations (SROs) or designated examining authorities (DEAs) to monitor broker/dealers not affiliated with a stock exchange. It was here that the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) was chartered as the SRO of the OTC market.
5. The Federal Bankruptcy Act of 1938
6. The Trust Indenture Act of 1939 - is applicable to corporate bonds with an issue size of more than $5 million within twelve months and with a maturity exceeding nine months. The purpose of the act is to protect bondholders. The issuer is required to appoint a trustee to ensure that the terms of the trust indenture-the series of promises between the issuer and trustee-are fulfilled for the bondholders' benefit.
7. The Investment Company Act of 1940 - defines and regulates investment companies. Such companies must register with the SEC prior to issuing any shares to the public; set forth clearly their investment objectives in the registration statement and prospectus; have a minimum $100,000 net worth, have at least 100 shareholders, comply with pricing, sale and reporting standards.
8. The Investment Advisors Act of 1940 - regulates investment advisors, defined as anyone who offers investment advice for compensation as part of their business. Broker/dealers fitting the definition must register under the act, investment advisor representatives must register as well and pass the Series 65 (Series 66 if Series 7 licensed) unless a particular advanced certification exempts them from doing so in the state where they register (e.g. Chartered Financial Analysts and Certified Financial Planners may be exempt from the exam requirements, depending on the state in which they practice).
9. The Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 - the goal of this act is to protect investors from broker/dealer insolvency or failure. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation is independent and government sponsored. Membership is compulsory for broker/dealers registered with the SEC who pay an annual assessment that funds a pool to meet potential claims for customers from a failed broker/dealer.
Coverage requirements - customer accounts are covered to a $500,000 maximum, of which the cash coverage may not exceed $100,000. Note that the coverage amounts are per customer, not per account. The order of events in a liquidation is as follows.
1. Securities held in the customer's name are delivered to registered owners.
2. Cash and street name securities are distributed pro rata.
3. SIPC funds are paid out to meet any remaining claims up to the per customer maximum.
4. Customers with claims exceeding the limits become general creditors of the broker/dealer.
10. The Securities Acts Amendments of 1975 - these established the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) which regulates the issuance and trading of all manner of municipal securities.
Sample Questions 1 - 7
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0.098742 | <urn:uuid:98ec5ec7-1b59-4557-945a-0289b0776333> | en | 0.849892 | 1. Using 3/4-in. flat paintbrush, apply three coats of MagiKote to each ball, ensuring that you coat inside the indentations as well. Allow two-three hours dry time between each coat.
2. Sand the entire surface to remove any rough edges.
3. Using 3/4-in. flat paintbrush, paint entire ball Americana White Wash for the baseball and/or soccer ball, and Americana Cadmium Orange for the basketball. Paint a second coat when first has dried.
4. Use a pencil to lightly draw the lines where the baseball stitches will go. Also draw on the soccer ball sections. After the painting step and the paint has dried, excess pencil marks can be easily erased.
5. Use liner paintbrush to paint the lines of the basketball and the soccer ball using Americana Lamp (Ebony) Black. Using the same brush, paint the baseball stitches using Americana Berry Red.
6. Use a flat paintbrush to fill in the black sections of the soccer ball.
7. Erase any excess pencil marks.
8. Use 3/4-in. flat paintbrush to add two coats of Starlight Topcoat.
9. Cut a piece of sturdy string to 12-in. in length. Holding the two open ends together, tie ends in a knots, inserting the head end of a stick pin just before tightening. Insert pointed end of stick pin into the top of the ball. Before pushing the pin all the way in, add a dot of hot glue around the pin, then push the pin all the way in.
NOTE: If you find that using a marker is easier for you than paint and a liner brush, you can substitute using this method.
Sports DIY Ornaments Craft c/o Country Woman’s featured blogger Amanda of Crafts by Amanda.
To read more about Amanda and her blog, check out our blog and craft spotlight. | http://www.lovethecountry.com/project/sports-diy-ornaments/ | dclm-gs1-242790001 | false | false | {
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0.071967 | <urn:uuid:4697e7ba-9d5b-4fd3-a712-b60e8b9ddbef> | en | 0.961792 | Author Archives: Rabbi David Movsas
About Rabbi David Movsas
David Movsas is rabbi of Congregation Shaare Tzedek of West New York, New Jersey.
Beyond The Letter Of The Law
The following article is reprinted with permission from the Orthodox Union.
Va’et’hanan confronts us with an apparent redundancy. Several admonitions throughout the parashah command us to observe the laws taught by Moshe [Moses]. Then, toward the end of the parsha, we are told, "And you shall do that which is right and good in the eyes of God."
What new instructions does this verse add? Surely, doing what is "right and good" is already a part of the numerous injunctions already presented. If one observes all the commandments and prohibitions set forth in the Torah, does he not accomplish what is "right and good in the eyes of God?" What new obligation does this verse apply?
Both Rashi and the Ramban understand this verse to denote a level of behavior that is lifnim mishuras hadin, above the letter of the law. To appreciate the full spirit of the law, one needs to read between the lines of the Torah, and one who does this shows a sincere desire to observe Hashem’s bidding.
The story is told of a poor man who came to the Brisker Rav on Erev Pesach (the day before Passover) with a question. Could he use milk instead of wine for the four Cups instead of wine for the four Cups at the Seder?
The Brisker Rav didn’t reply. Instead he took five rubles from his pocket and gave them to the man. The Rav’s wife wondered why he had given the man so much money. "Wouldn’t one ruble have been enough for wine?" she asked.
"True," the Brisker Rav answered, "but if he was planning on drinking milk throughout the seder, that means he had no money for meat either. I gave him enough for both wine and meat."
The Brisker Rav combined keen perception with adherence to the spirit of the law, for though he could have answered the poor man’s question, he went the extra mile to ensure that the poor man would fulfill the mitzvot (commandments) of Pesach as well as enjoy its festive spirit.
A similar precept is encapsulated in the verse, "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." It is possible, the Ramban comments, for a person to keep the letter of the law while violating its spirit, thus becoming a naval birshut hatorah–a degenerate within the confines of the Torah. The Torah commands us to be holy, to sanctify ourselves even in those circumstances that are permitted according to the strict interpretation of the law.
These two verses complement each other. "You shall be holy" tells us to take a step back in order to uphold the spirit of the law. It tells us that even though a certain act seems permitted, we must nevertheless demonstrate self restraint to prevent the spirit of the law from being violated. In doing so we become holy.
At the same time, "You shall do that which is right and good" tells us to take a step forward in order to promote the spirit of the law. Though we may find ourselves in situations where we feel we can sit back and not get involved, the spirit of the Torah demands that we take initiative and get involved.
The Talmud states that Jerusalem was destroyed because her inhabitants failed to raise their standard of behavior above the letter of the law.
It is therefore fitting that Va’et’hanan is always read on Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort, which follows Tisha B’Av. If we live up to the message of this parsha by doing what is "right and good in the eyes of God," we will be deserving of redemption and merit the rebuilding of the Temple. | http://www.myjewishlearning.com/author/rabbi-david-movsas/ | dclm-gs1-242940001 | false | false | {
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0.121286 | <urn:uuid:1108c075-0423-46cd-a30f-ef75d0365367> | en | 0.993261 | Hey everyone. Sorry for making everyone wait so long. Back here with the 6th episode though am very late this time. College started and barely got time to write but I promise that the next episode, which is the final one will be posted real soon!
Enjoy this episode till then.
Episode 6
Having gone through stressful mental trauma, caused mainly by his own thoughts and mind, Aiden was finally letting go and enjoying himself. A naked Will had him pressed against a wall as they fiercely kissed, while Will ground his crotch against a fully clothed Aiden. The younger boy elicited moans that were greedily captured by his lover's mouth, barely giving him any space to breathe.
There was some confusion in the back of Aiden's mind. Why had Will been acting weirdly and even cold-shouldering him earlier? But he let those thoughts melt away as he lost himself in the passionate lover that was Will; the great solid chiseled body, the perfect musculature, the soft lips and aquiline face; all topped off with a healthy dose of passion.
Aiden was being kissed by Will almost punishingly. He was firmly geld against the wall as Will continued to ravage his mouth, then slipped his hand into the waist band of jeans and began tugging them down, forcing his lover to join his state of nakedness. Aiden was having a hard time breathing and was sucking at the air in Will's mouth to sustain his own respiration. He was hot and heavy and could not sense anything other than the flood of sensations Will was making him experience.
Will suddenly jerked up Aiden's thighs, making them straddle his hips on either side. Still smothering Aiden's lips with his own, he stumbled as he walked for both of them towards the bedroom. Upon reaching there he unceremoniously dumped Aiden on the bed. Aiden writhed about and struggled to get out of his confining clothes moaning 'I want you so bad'.
While smiled evilly and pounced upon Aiden who had barely gotten rid of his underwear till then. His lips were back to being punished by Will's who was greedily biting and forcing his mouth upon them. Aiden was certain that his lips would be all swollen and puffy later, but he did not care about that now. Will and he had had rough sex the first few days after they met, but it had become more of gentle love-making sessions ever since the day he was anxious when Tinka had first cast aspersions on Will. Now seemingly Will was back to wanting it rough and animalistic and Aiden was fine with that. He opened his eyes and noticed Will's hungry ones. Then he noticed something was a little off with Will's eyes. There was a white glint along the cornea which was slowly dissolving as he watched. Was he hallucinating?
As Will pressed himself further into the boy, he suddenly reached below and started guiding his rock hard erection into Aiden. Aiden was shocked. Will was not using a condom and was pressing against his hole aggressively now. Aiden shut his eyes tightly and braced himself for the pain as Will continued to enter him while at the same time ravenously attacked his mouth. They had never had sex without a condom before. Why was Will wanting it now? Maybe he was so high that he had lost control; but should Aiden himself allow it?
Aiden groaned, more with pain than with pleasure, but his groans were lost in Will's mouth. Aiden knew what was happening was not what he would have approved of in his normal state of mind, but then he thought of how Will had been snubbing him recently. If he denied Will right now, the chasm between them might grow further. Aiden had no intention of losing Will. He gasped with pain as Will entered him fully, his pubes coming in contact with Aiden's ass cheeks, Aiden on his back and his legs flung wildly into the air.
Will withdrew all the way outside and slammed back into the boy. Aiden yelped with pain and squirmed as he lightly pressed his knees against Will's chest, signaling him to take it slow. But it seemed Will had other things in mind. Will withdrew once more till the head and foisted his hard member inside Aiden's hole. "Will…" Aiden cried out in the middle of mind-numbing pain; pain that was excruciating. That's when Will picked up pace.
Will wildly pulled in and out and stared to savagely fuck the Alchemist. Fucking him like a sore pig. Pistoning in and out, driving his member till the last millimeter, as Aiden's ass muscles lost all hope and screamed in pain. Will had just begun. The veins on his penis distended obscenely as he continued to brutalize the boy. He had pinned down Aiden's hands on either side of the boy and was ingesting all the boy's screams, capturing them with his own mouth.
Aiden was in hell. His asshole was burning, making him experience pain he had never felt before in his life. The lack of lubrication and Will's pace huge member were too much for him. He was struggling and writhing beneath the demonic form of Will which continued to assault him. His muscles were sore from the fruitless struggle he was using to get Will to stop, his strength insignificant in front of his powerful lover. Will had fingers of both hands tightly interlocked with Aiden as he held his hands against the bed sheet. Aiden was trying to bite onto Will's mouth but it was proving ineffective as Will even continued to batter his mouth. The boy was not even being able to ask for him to stop. Tears left his eyes owing to the unbearable pain
Suddenly Will let go of Aiden's mouth to gasp for breath. Aiden seized the moment as he let out a high pitched scream. "WIIILLLL STOP."
Will stopped moving as Aiden looked up into the eyes of his lover. They were white in color, and he was sure of it this time. They were watering and turning lucid slowly, as if Will wanted to cry. And they were also slowly returning to their intense green shade. Suddenly Will balked as the forces of Subjugation overpowered him once more. He would continue his brutalization of the boy. But Aiden had had enough. He instantly brought both his feet against Will's pectorals and kicked with all his strength.
Will went sailing through the air as he crashed into a wall behind, his head slamming the wall as he plummeted into it. And there he sat still upright, his eyes wide open. They were White in color.
Aiden mustered all his strength as he jumped off the bed. There were tears streaming down his face. Tears of pain. Aiden hated crying.
"What's wrong with you Will?" he bellowed almost pleadingly. Will did not answer. He just continued to stare at the boy in front of him. Aiden's ass was hurting bad. He was pretty sure he was bleeding or something but did not have he courage to reach a hand behind to check. He looked about frantically for his clothes and then quickly slipped on his jeans without his underwear. He was getting out of here as fast as possible; as fast as the current state of his body allowed him.
Aiden wiped the tears on his face with the back of his hand as he quickly collected his stuff and fled from the room.
Will stretched out a hand as if begging him to stop. "Aiden." He called out softly, but the boy was not listening. The door slammed as Aiden bolted from the flat.
Aiden's entire body hurt. His muscles were burning. His butt hurt like a thousand stinging needles. But none of that pain matched the pain in his heart. He hated the fact that tears had recently left his eyes; even though they had been tears of pain. He never cried.
Aiden ran out of Will's building entrance as fast as he could. He had no car this time. He would have to run towards college on foot. What would he do now?
'What was wrong with Will?' he questioned himself again and again. 'What happened to Will suddenly?' 'Why had Will tried to rape him so savagely?' Aiden felt contempt at himself as he thought about how he himself must somehow be at fault for all this.
His whole world had gone drastically awry in the last one day. From rejection to doubts and anxiety, from accusations to long formed friendships at the brink of destruction, from confused friends to misguided lovers, from lovers to savage abusers; what the fuck was happening to his world?
Aiden continued running towards his college as he contemplated what he should do. He wished that the earth would just open up and swallow him up. Maybe he should just jump over the bridge to his death. But isn't suicide for cowards who can't face the tribulations of life. Isn't that throwing away precious life?
A heavy fog was gradually descending as Aiden ran. It being late evening, the surroundings were dark and they were now being heavily shrouded. Aiden's footsteps resounded all along the pavements he ran. The boy was scared. Why had his lover treated him like that? Why had he been so brutal? What kind of beast had gotten into him? Is this how beautiful people toyed around with inferior looking ones? Play around with their feelings and then use them as trash cans? Was this what Will thought of him; treat him like a charity case for some time, coddle him all along and then trample all over him?
Aiden felt sick at himself for all the negative thoughts. There had to be an explanation for all of it. Will was not like this. After all, had he not said that he would always stay by his side? And what was that white glow in his eyes that he had noticed? Also Aiden did not want to admit it to himself at that time, but he was certain that he had seen extreme sorrow and regret on Will's face when he had hastily departed from his apartment.
Aiden slowed down his running gasping for breath. The fog around him was getting thicker and thicker. It was hardly possible to see more than a few feet anymore. Where did such mysterious mist suddenly appear from?
Aiden stopped completely to catch his breath. His body was still sore and his butt was absolutely raging with pain by now. Even the weather seemed to be working against him now. He balked as he heard footsteps coming towards him. Someone was approaching. He strained his eyes in the direction of the footsteps. A tall shape was slowly appearing amidst the thick smoke. Aiden braced himself as he thought about how he would face his rapist lover.
The shape gradually emerged from the mist. It was Scott; Scott White.
Will sobbed uncontrollably as his entire body shook and shuddered. What was happening to him? Why could he not control himself? What had he just done? Why had he hurt his love?
Aiden had begged him to stop and he had ruthlessly continued. The eyes of his lover had cried out in pain and hurt and he himself wanted nothing more than to stop and comfort his lover. But he had not been able to do that. What had his Empress done to him?
The air before the shuddering fallen angel began to warp and deform as slowly a young girl with golden tresses and blue eyes appeared on the material plane. Empress Woe had just appeared before her servant. But she did not have much time. Night would fall soon and she would be forced to return to the Kingdom of Void.
"You, Arangyunus have become pathetic!" The little girl held out her right palm and stretched the fingers apart, hovering above Black's chest. A dark glow emanated from her digits as Black suddenly lurched forward and blood gushed out from his mouth.
"And I am forced to do this to you," the little girl continued as the eyes of her guardian were being forced to turn to a milky white shade.
The Empress had had enough. She had waited too long for the Alchemist to come willingly to her. And now even her own servant was serving her unwillingly. He had even managed to momentarily counter the dominance of the 'Stone of Subjugation', all saturated in those icky feelings of love and compassion he felt for the boy. Feelings that were even overwhelming loyalty to her. She would not tolerate this. She would force Black to place her will at first priority, no matter what the cost.
She withdrew her hand as she finished maximizing the effects of the Stone embedded into Black's heart. Now he would obey her even as his heart bled.
All she had to do now was to make him find the Alchemist and quickly set matters right. Wooing the Alchemist would come to an abrupt halt now. She would resort to coercing the boy to do her will. And if the alchemist went out of control, she would kill him.
Aiden flinched as Scott neared him. He was in an unstable mood. Scott neared him with a look of sorrow, with empathy in his eyes, but Aiden was not sure how Scott would react now; and more importantly, how he should react. Shouldn't he just run away from there? Scott had tried to make a move on him earlier. What would Scott attempt to do now? Rape him?
"Aiden." Scott called out softly as he stepped towards him slowly.
Aiden had a pained expression on his face as he took a small step backwards. His body was burning all over. Should he shut out this friend too? He had been running away too much.
"Aiden please." Scott called out. The mighty angel was having an arduous time with the boy here. And all he wanted right now was to comfort and protect him.
"Please Aiden, I will not do anything that displeases you."
The pupils of Aiden's eyes were shaking unsteadily. Then suddenly he relaxed and let his body loose. Immediately Scott stepped forward and enveloped him in his alms. Aiden made no attempt to shrug him off. He just let himself loose in the warm embrace that was the mighty Keeper of the Light.
White hugged the alchemist protectively in his alms, the embrace firm enough to let the boy know of the security he intended to offer. Fog was thick around the conjoined pair, fog that had been summoned by the white angel himself. He put a hand over Aiden's head who sighed and rested his head upon the sturdy man's shoulder. The mighty angel had wanted to hug the boy since so long. Just hold him tight and kiss him. But he would have to curb all his longings even now.
White sensed the extreme discomfort and restlessness the boy was experiencing, even the physical pain burning through him. Slowly he crept into the boys mind and chanted a lulling spell into it. The boy would relax and fall asleep. White had promised never to enter the boy's mind unless a dire situation required him to do so. Now seemed the time.
Aiden felt his entire body relaxing, the physical pain was magically subsiding. His tense body was slowly falling slack against Scott's solid body. There was thick fog around them and visibility was reduced to zero. But he did not care for now. His eye lids were getting heavy as he felt something warm and fluffy enveloping his entire body, wrapping itself around him. He wondered what it was but his eyes would not open, he was too lost in the soporific effect Scott was having on him. Soporific and calming. He trusted Scott, despite what he had attempted earlier. The last thing Aiden saw in his mind before he slipped into a peaceful slumber was Will's face; happy and smiling; telling him he would always stay by his side.
White had brought out his great wings. The spotless wings were wrapped around the boy, protecting him from the chilled air and from dangers unseen. He gently held the boy as he fell asleep and then easily lifted him into his alms, walking over to a bench on the pavement side and lying down on it along with Aiden on top off him, still cocooned in his pearly wings, wings that resembled soft white petals of roses, warm, safe and peaceful. He stretched out an arm from beneath wings as Aiden squirmed in his sleep.
"Guardian Ability 12; Sheltered Enclave." Spiritual energies dissipated from his hand and formed a spherical cordon around the lying pair. The cordon would prevent people from noticing them there throughout the night. It would also shield them from Empress Woe and Black.
White slipped back his arm around Aiden who smiled in his sleep and held onto him tighter. The great white angel looked down at the peaceful sleeping face of the boy, feeling happy that he could at least momentarily rid the boy of the demons that possessed him a few minutes back. He knew not what lay ahead of them, but he knew on thing, he would give his all to protecting the boy.
The Empress was furious. She had spent a restless eight hours - the night time on the material plane, fruitlessly searching for the alchemist. But the boy had simply vanished. All efforts to try and trace him had been in vain. And now she was back on the material plane; she had gotten there at the first crack of dawn and ordered Black to try and track down the Alchemist as well. Where was the boy? Had Witenhoem gotten him before? The consequences of that would be drastic.
The Empress had split from her guardian to speed up the search. She had been telepathically relaying messages to Black all along but the two of them were having no luck. She beckoned Black to meet up with her soon.
Using spells and tracing techniques were seeming pointless. She and Black would have to physically travel to various places and see if they could pick up any trace of the boy.
Aiden lolled about lazily as something vibrated against his leg. He felt the hard surface on which he lay and wondered where the warm feeling that had enveloped him till a few moments back had vanished. Suddenly he jerked up awake. His phone was buzzing in his cargo pockets, and that had been the juddering feeling against his leg.
He looked about frantically as he dug his hand into his pocket to retrieve the phone. It was early morning. He had been sleeping on a sidewalk bench all night? How did he end up here? He glanced at his phone display. 7:03 AM on a Monday morning; and it was Dominic calling.
"Hello." Aiden whispered into the phone holding in his breath as memories of the previous day crashed through his mind, overwhelming all his senses.
"Aiden, it's me. Where are you?"
"Uh, I'm…" Aiden looked about frantically and caught sight of Scott who was squatting atop a five foot fence with his alms hanging down loose. Scott grinned sheepishly as he realized Aiden had noticed him. Blue eyes and shining golden hair; he was every bit as stunning as Aiden remembered him to be.
"Aiden I am at your dorm room right now, and you're not here. I need to talk to you," Dominic stated impatiently from the other side of the line. "Where are you?"
Aiden was still staring at the picturesque vision of the beautiful man before him. Had this man watched over him all night? That was too weird!
"I'm just, just outside right now," Aiden finally stammered back into the phone. "Why do you need to talk?" he whispered fearing the worst.
"Can you meet me outside Café beans in 20 minutes?"
"Yeah, that'll be…"
"Fine then, see you there."
Aiden heard the phone click as Dominic disconnected the line. What was going on? He looked at his phone display to find three missed calls by Dominic. Was he sleeping that peacefully that he did not wake up earlier? He usually slept like a watchdog; awaking at the slightest sound or movement.
"Scott," Aiden took a deep breath before asking. "Did I spend the entire night here?"
"Yup." Scott replied cheekily as he jumped down form the fence.
"And you were there too?" Aiden asked incredulously.
"Yup; watching over you."
Aiden turned red. He was feeling all warm and tingly inside, but this was way too weird for him. "Err, I'm sorry about last night; was having a really rough time."
"No problem." Scott replied with a sad smile on his face. It was a pleasure to look after you."
Aiden was at a loss of words. A pair off joggers trotted by frowning at a groggy boy who just woke up after a night's sleep on the sidewalk bench. He swung his legs and got off the bench in one swift motion. He had no idea what to say to Scott. But he had to meet Dominic in 20 minutes and he had to take care off his breath and hair before that.
"Ok, I gotta go now." He stated flatly as he collected himself and straightened his clothes.
"Ok," was all Scott stated.
Aiden stole one last glance at the scenic view of the hunk before he walked trotted towards the Café and slowly picked up pace till he attained a good jogging speed. He was meeting Dominic in the next few minutes. And he reckoned that they would probably have the conversation from hell.
Tinka hated 'Site Plan Study' days. But what she hated more were overeager teammates that dragged her onto the Site at 5:30 in the morning on a Monday. She had been awake and moving about for more than 2 hours now, and she was touchy as hell. She yawned without covering her mouth as Chad, one of her team members, and the highest GPA scorer ordered her to take a panoramic picture from the top of the railway bridge.
Tinka cursed under her breath as she climbed up the foot over bridge. There was no refusing Chad. He would make all the four of them slog their butts till the entire project was completed to the last possible detail. Well maybe she would get a good grade this time and some of the hard work would pay off. She lumbered up the steps and walked to the middle of the over bridge. She took out her camera and focused on the scenery before her. Lots of green trees; that meant more coloring work in sheets, some structures; well that would mean lots of milieu consideration too and lots of people wandering about. Why the hell had her team chosen this place to present their project on? 'Oh yeah', Tinka reminded herself, 'Chad had chosen the site.'
Suddenly Tinka noticed someone familiar. She zoomed in with her camera to make sure. Yup; it was him. What the hell was he doing here early Monday morning? And who was that little girl by his side.
The clunk of a metal piece was heard as the expensive camera left Tinka's hands and fell to the floor with a crash. Tinka gasped as restricted memories first unfettered themselves and then ran rampant in her mind. Memories of a dark horrific place. Memories of two terrible forms. Memories of a little girl with flowing yellow hair and crystal blue eyes. Memories of Aiden's lover Will thrashing about on the floor. Memories that had been sealed capsulated, locked away somewhere in her mind which she had just obtained the key for. And the stimulation for the key had been a glimpse of the little girl herself. The little girl that had been sitting on a throne in the dark chamber.
Tinka had just seen Will with that very little girl now. Her head throbbed as forbidden memories unleashed themselves into her mind. It seemed bizarre that she had somehow forgotten all this. Or maybe she had been made to forget them! Things that were so unbelievable that they could not possibly be true. Yet, she was certain that she had seen them.
All her grogginess left her as the desperate girl dived into her bag for her phone and frantically dialed Aiden's number. What would she say to him?
White was following the Alchemist everywhere. Concealing himself and turning invisible he had followed the boy all the way to the coffee café and had even followed him inside the public washroom where the boy had washed his face and rinsed his mouth. Turning invisible caused White himself to lose his vision following the inescapable laws of physics, but he could rely on other senses of his to tell him what was where.
He was still forming an enclave all around the boy, an enclave that prevented other beings from tracing the boy spiritually. But maintaining the enclave for such a long time was costing him much of his energy; he knew that the oncoming battle was unavoidable. The war would begin soon and he had to conserve energy for that.
He waited patiently in the background as Aiden stood waiting outside the coffee café.
Aiden shifted his weight from one foot to the other while waiting. He briefly thought about what had transpired between him and Will the previous night. All the negative vibes, the trauma and the pain. But surprisingly all that physical pain had disappeared; simply vanished. He was sure his butt would be sore as hell for at least a couple of days after yesterday but there seemed to be absolutely no pain whatsoever. Had it not been as violent and intense as he thought it had? Maybe he had been dreaming things.
The drone of a motorbike engine informed him that Dominic had arrived. Aiden stopped breathing for a few seconds as he tried to read Dominic's expression as he got off his bike in the distance. Dominic gave a slight smile to him as he dismounted form the bike and made his way towards a queasy Aiden.
Suddenly Aiden's phone buzzed. He fished it out of his pocket to observe that Tinka was calling. 'A lot of people seem to be awake and about today morning', he thought to himself as he pressed the red button and ended the phone call without answering it. Tinka would have to wait for now.
Dominic walked up to Aiden and stood unsteadily; Aiden himself was feeling highly discomfited and chewing his lower lips; a sign he was extremely nervous. The two glanced at each other in an awkward manner; till finally Dominic broke the silence.
"I had to talk about something, Aiden."
Aiden was trembling all over. Here was the guy he had been in love with for more than two years, and who he was finally being confronted by about his sexuality; not by choice though. Here was the boy who he considered absolutely flawless; his chiseled face and aquiline looks that were obviously no where near Will's or Scott's but whose character he knew form two years of experience was absolutely impeccable; the complete package and Aiden's ultimate idol.
Aiden was sure this ultimate idol was going to think of him as a much lesser person after this conversation. How many 'outings' were these few days going to witness?
"Aiden, I know that you're gay." Dominic let out in one breath as Aiden blanched. "I mean, I'm very sure of it; you are, aren't you?"
Aiden nodded his head slightly in agreement. Guilty as charged; there was no way out of this. He was momentarily distracted as his phone was buzzing in his hand again. It was Tinka. He disconnected the call once more.
"And I'm perfectly fine with that. I mean, you're still YOU right?"
"You are?" Aiden asked in a timid voice.
"I'm what?" Dominic asked confused.
"You're fine with it?" Aiden asked his voice trembling.
"Yeah. Yes, I am perfectly fine with it." Dominic stammered back. Nervousness interlaced with awkwardness was heavy in the air. Aiden felt like he would choke on the uneasy atmosphere alone and die.
"And Scott is your boyfriend?"
"No he's not!" Aiden bellowed his voice going out of control, then he reiterated in a softer voice, "No he's not."
"Err…then" Dominic was thrown off guard.
"Actually I have a boy friend and his name is Will." Aiden replied though he was again not so sure anymore. "Scott's just a friend."
"Ha," Dominic stated softly. "Just a friend huh? Well Scott is always talking about you and always seems to be pre-occupied by you. I thought he was definitely your boyfriend or something."
"I mean he's pretty hot." Dominic stated after taking a deep breath.
Aiden swallowed a lump in his throat. Had Dominic just called another guy hot?
"He's not as hot as my boyfriend Will though." Aiden growled in a low voice.
That broke the uncomfortable awkwardness between the two as both of them suddenly burst out laughing. Aiden was all smiles as it looked like his friend was going to accept him.
"So who's this boyfriend of yours?"
"You won't know him, he's a social worker." Aiden stated triumphantly. "He lives just off the docks."
"So that's where you spend your nights!" Dominic raised his voice as he stated. "You're never available in the evenings and nights! You're sleeping with him everyday?"
Aiden blushed as he nodded and admitted the same to Dominic.
"Damn!" Dominic stated. "And to think I'm still a virgin."
Aiden was shocked. That was a bit too much information from Dominic for the present moment.
"I mean I've hardly kissed a girl before you know."
"Uh huh." Aiden stated as he nodded his head furiously. This conversation was taking an uncomfortable turn once more. He simply did not need to hear of all this from Dominic. Did Dominic want to be kissed? Aiden sure was ready to do the honors though!
"But I guess you don't need to know that." Dominic stated smiling, all his straight white teeth showing.
"Yeah, whatever." Aiden replied smiling. Somehow Dominic stating these facts were a sign from him that he totally accepted Aiden.
"But I need you to know that I am totally cool with it and you can talk to me about it and nothing changes between us," Dominic stated in one long sentence.
"Thanks. That means a lot to me."
"So you coming to class? We have an early lecture at 8 O' clock today."
"Yup, just a sec." Aiden stated as his phone buzzed once more. It was Tinka. Aiden knew she would be mad for him not taking her earlier calls, but this was way too important for interruptions.
"Yeah sorry!" Aiden stated as he picked up the call this time.
"Aiden!" Tinka's voice nearly screamed from the other side. "Why the fuck were you not picking up my calls?"
"Uhh, I was busy with Dominic here, we were…"
"Where the fuck are you right now?" Tinka screamed from the other side.
"Outside Café Beans. Why?"
Tinka calmed down a little before she spoke again. She needed to talk to Aiden but could not mention it was about Will. Aiden would shut down on her if she did that.
"I need to tell you something. Just stay right where you are. I'll be there in 15 minutes!"
"Wait, wait, is it important? Can we talk during lunchtime? I have a lecture at 8."
"Balls to your lecture!" Tinka fumed from the other side. "Stay right where you are, I'll be there in a few."
Aiden was left muttering as Tinka disconnected the call. Dominic looked at him with a questioning look on his face.
"Sorry man." Aiden said to Dominic apologetically. "Can't come with you to class right now. Tinka's on my case right now. Have to stay here to meet her."
"No probs." Dominic sated cheerfully before he hesitated and asked next, "So I guess she isn't your girlfriend or anything? I always thought you two were a couple before."
"Thank heavens we're not a couple. We would NOT comprise a happy family."
Dominic chuckled before he said bye and left Aiden standing; all set for one more conversation. Aiden hoped this conversation would work out to be as pleasant as the previous one. Or would it? He wondered what it was that Tinka needed to so desperately discuss with him.
Frigeria, the raven haired angel from the Kingdom of Light, stood watching patiently as the Alchemist said goodbye to one friend and waited for another. She could see that things were changing in the boy's life, taking all sorts of twists and turns. But the real tribulations were yet to come, and they were approaching fast.
She knew that White was following the boy, keeping a watch on him and was vigilant of enemy influences, constantly on the lookout for them. She knew he had turned invisible and had been following the boy all along. But she also knew that White had not detected her; while constantly being watchful for Empress Woe and Black, White had not sensed her presence, and it was for the better.
The Alchemist needed to know of certain things, things that the mighty white angel was scared of telling him or simply did not know about. It was time for Frigeria herself to intervene.
Aiden once more waited impatiently as minutes ticked by, shifting his weight from one foot to the other yet again, wishing there was a bench nearby or something to sit on. Damn coffee shop was also closed so early in the morning.
He tried to stop thinking of what Tinka needed to talk to him about. He would know in a few minutes anyway. Instead his mind shifted to thoughts about Will. He was tired of trying to think of all possible explanations of last night's encounter with Will. And what was that white turbid color he had seen Will's eyes saturate into? That was eerie and… sad at the same time. 'Maybe I should call Will' Aiden muttered to himself after much rationalization.
Aiden lifted his handset and searched for Will's number. A high pitched voice screeched from behind as he was just about to press the call button.
"Thank God you're here!" It was Tinka.
"Hey Tinks," Aiden smiled at her. "What's going on?" Aiden had not met Tinka since Saturday and was not sure how he should talk to her presently. But she was still his best friend, wasn't she? He desperately wanted to tell her of the meeting with Dominic jst before, but reasoned he would have to wait his turn.
"Ok, Aiden." Tinka stated grasping both of Aiden's elbows and half dragging a protesting Aiden towards the side alley of the coffee shop. "I have something to tell you and it's gonna sound really stupid and unbelievable, but it's the truth."
"Ok," Aiden was trying to remain patient.
"I know I have said this before but Will is not what he says he is and now I am sure of it."
Tinka paused to observe Aiden's expression. She hated going against Will again but she had to do it one more time.
"Will is not a normal human being." Tinka cleared her throat before she continued. "He's some sort of magician or sorcerer or something, and he's after you."
Aiden's eyes opened wide as he waited for Tinka to continue. Surely this was one of her jokes where she would burst out into laughter any moment and state that she'd 'got back at him'.
"Ok, this is gonna be weird but I am gonna tell you what I saw on Saturday when we went to the retirement home."
"Tinks, please stop."
"Aiden, I know you think I'm crazy or something but you have got to listen to me. Please. Just once hear what I saw."
Aiden swallowed as he nodded for Tinka to continue.
"The other day when I came out of the washroom I saw in another room, these slimy eerie squid like monsters and I screamed. Just then Will appeared behind me form nowhere and his hand glowed as he used some sort of weird… 'magic thing' on me. Everything turned black after that."
Aiden was biting his lips once again unable to understand what Tinka was trying to tell him.
"When I came to, I was in a dark eerie place, darkness with a few colorful stones glowing, and I saw Will writhing in pain before me. In the dark chamber was sitting this small blonde girl that stated that I ad seen too much and then she did some psychic shit and my head started hurting."
Aiden opened his mouth to say something but Tinka interrupted him once again.
"And then I just remember being back with you in the recreation room. Somehow I had forgotten all about it till I saw Will and that same little girl today."
"Tinks, you've been dreaming." Aiden stated flatly.
"No, I'm not you bozo! Listen to me, it sounds far-fetched but I'm a hundred percent sure its what I saw. You have to believe me."
"Believe what?" Aiden asked incredulously.
"Believe her." A dulcet voice stated from behind, echoing as the tinkering of wind chimes.
Aiden whirled around to find a stunning dark haired woman slowly advancing towards him. Tinka suddenly saw silver butterflies before her eyes as she lost consciousness and fell to the floor with a thud.
Aiden whirled around once more to find Tinka on the floor and turned back to face this new arrival.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"Believe her; believe that your friend Will is actually the devil himself." The lady stepped forward and Aiden noticed how beautiful the lady looked, her black hair perfectly straight as it cascaded down her shining white dress.
"Hello Aiden, I'm Frigeria."
White had been following Aiden at a distance, and had followed him as Tinka had pulled him into a side-alley. And he had been startled as he saw Tinka fall to the floor suddenly. Soporific spell? Frigeria was here? Suddenly he himself saw the same sleep inducing butterflies and fell to the floor against his strong will. The spiritual enclave he had been maintaining around Aiden collapsed as he did. Aiden was now susceptible to the Empress finding him.
Not far away, the Empress suddenly received a positive signal from Aiden's search link, which disappeared as abruptly as it had appeared. She had traced Aiden and had lost the trace immediately. She telepathically confirmed with Black to learn that he had picked up the flickering trace too. That meant the Alchemist was on the material plane. And she was even sure that he was nowhere near his 'college' area. She had some idea of the area he was in now. She would have to physically find him.
Physically find him and immediately destroy him. The Alchemist falling into the hands of the enemy was too big a risk now.
Aiden once again found himself in a situation where he had absolutely no idea what was going on. This mesmerizing lady did not seem deleterious at all. In fact she had a really soothing aura. Was she going to try anything funny with him?
Aiden immediately remembered Tinka and fell on his knees, shaking Tinka by the shoulders to try and wake her up.
"She will not wake up yet." Frigeria stated as suddenly she swished her hands and their surroundings started to deform and saturate into a light blue color. Aiden stood up abruptly and looked about in a frenzied manner. All around his surroundings were disappearing, being enveloped by an azure color. The morphing of the surroundings reached completion as everything turned a soothing light blue, the ground, the walls, the alley; everything replaced by he same blue shade.
"What the…?" Aiden was still wondering what was happening. Only Frigeria, he and the unconscious form of Tinka remained in this azure universe now.
Frigeria felt White collapse in the vicinity as she send him into a sleepy subliminal state also. It was imperative that he did not interfere now, for she had to make revelations to the boy that the mighty white angel would himself never dare to make. And definitely the ones he simply did not know of. She hoped she had set up her enclave perimeter in time to prevent the Empress from detecting Aiden. Nevertheless the enemy would be approaching soon.
"Who are you?" Aiden spat out at Frigeria.
The female angel paused and calmly stated. "I am Frigeria; chief angel healer of the Kingdom of Light."
"Huh?" Aiden had a stupefied expression on his face. The angel's voice was resounding across the blue milieu, making it seem as if many melodious voices were speaking at once.
"An angel?"
"Yes, maybe this will convince you." And saying that Frigeria unfolded her great white wings, each more than 10 feet in length, which rose above the two forms and stretched up straight. Aiden could not believe what was happening.
"And I need to talk to you."
Aiden flinched at that line. He was probably hearing it for the umpteenth time in the last 2 days; especially today. First it was Dominic, then Tinka and now it seemed some heavenly angel also 'needed to talk to him'. He was dreaming wasn't he?
"So err, where are we?"
"Safe, for now."
"And what do we need to talk about?"
"About Black and White."
Aiden's brow furrowed as he realized this 'angel' wanted to talk to him about Will and Scott. Well since this was a dream and Will and Scott seemed to be the most hot topic of discussion nowadays, he might as well play along. He waited for the dark haired angel to begin.
"Since time immemorial, the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Void have been at war. The Kingdom of Light was ruled by Hazelhoem, whose guardian was Witenhoem and the Kingdom of Void was governed by the seemingly four year old girl; Empress Woe and her Guardian was Arangyunus."
Aiden's brows furrowed further as he took in the big names being thrown at him.
"The Guardian Witenhoem was better known as White, the mighty white angel who was the protector of the Kingdom of Light while the guardian Arangyunus was better known as Black, the dark Seraph who was the protector of the Kingdom of Void. The two were sworn enemies since their time of conception and though counterparts of each other, were arch rivals, forever locked in a power struggle to eliminate the other."
Frigeria paused before continuing, "Then something unexpected happened 800 years ago. Black and White fell in love."
Aiden's eye brows shot up as his ears perked up as well. What was this angel talking about?
Frigeria held out a hand as a silver globe, the size of a football materialized, levitating above her palm. Aiden squinted his eyes and stepped closer as he made out moving shapes in the sphere.
What he saw left him astounded. He saw Will in a tight embrace with Scott; the two were kissing passionately. But Scott looked almost celestial, with a golden sheen about him and what appeared to be white wings extending from his back. Will looked different with a silver glint across his entire body and massive silver grey wings with black streaks across the edges. Were these forms actually Scott and Will? Watching the scene, Aiden felt excited and repulsed at the same time.
He watched wide eyed as the two broke the kiss and Will gently ran the back of his hand across Scott's jaw.
"But outsiders it seemed, had more than just objections to this forbidden affair. It was love that was doomed from the very beginning."
The two figures in the silver globes vanished as an extremely cute girl with chubby cheeks, long curly golden hair and sparkling blue eyes sitting on an oversized throne appeared in it.
"Empress Woe, from whose elements Black was constituted, did more than just stop the affair. She obliterated Black."
"Yes, she completely disintegrated him and wiped out his existence. She was capable of doing that since Black, her guardian was her own essence." The angel's voice still reverberated across but Aiden had gotten used to it by now.
Aiden squirmed as he watched Will recoiling from pain, screaming his guts out as Scott held onto him. Then slowly Will's form burst into flames and exploded, leaving no trace other than soot and dust particles that clung onto Scott giving the beautiful form a funereal appearance. Scott sobbed uncontrollably, and screamed out his lover's name. Aiden was left astounded, was this really Will?
This was too realistic to be a dream.
"White went into a period of severe mourning after that. He mourned for more than a decade, screaming and crying in emotional pain. Even Hazelhoem could do nothing to comfort him."
"A decade?" Aiden asked bewildered as he watched Scott's figure crouched in the corner of a white marbled room, his body shuddering as he wept, his face hidden amidst his knees.
"Yes a decade. We are Perpetuals that live forever. The pain that White felt would not subside and as much as he desired, he could not end his existence. It was a curse that he had to live with, forever."
Aiden watched the crying form as his heart wept out for Scott; the magnificent wings he had seen earlier had decayed into wispy tufts of molting feathers. Visions of Scott with blank expression and those of extreme sadness flashed by in the globe.
"But even Perpetuals sometimes feel they have lived too long. The King of Light, Hazelhoem had aged himself against the Perpetuals intrinsic forces and wished to wipe out his own existence. His powers were waning and he could no longer fight Empress Woe of the Kingdom of Void."
"Hazelhoem wanted nobody other than White to succeed his throne; but he was painfully aware of the state the guardian was in and having waited far too many years for White to get over his emotional scars he could wait no more."
Aiden watched as a wizened yet imposing old man with a long flowing white beard walked towards an emaciated Scott and gently lay a hand upon him.
"Hazelhoem, who could no longer bear to see the broken form of White, then used the remainder of his fading powers and blood sealed White's memories. Encapsulating memories of him ever having fallen in love, of him ever having had a lover who he held dearer than his own existence, within his mind, locked away by the strongest powers of the ruler himself, before he gave up his own existence and safeguarded White from his own memories, leaving him to be the ruler; the Keeper of the Light."
"But then how is Will still alive?"
Frigeria paused to glance at the inquisitive boy, but continued anyway, "White then became the ruler of the Kingdom of Light, and the enemy of Empress Woe who was left without a Guardian herself. The two were enemies that fought many harsh battles as well as many cold wars between themselves. "
"About 5 centuries after this incident Empress Woe started to reconstitute Black. Black with his former memories locked away in the chasms of his inner mind, a black that would serve as her Guardian and nothing else. It took her over 60 years to finish reconstituting him."
Aiden let out a low whistle listening to this being's tale. Could all this possibly be true?
"So where do I fit into all of this?" he asked impatiently.
"Legend has it hat someday the Alchemist would appear on the material plane. This entity would seem human by all other standards and legend says that this Alchemist would put an end to the war between the Kingdoms of Light and Dark. The Alchemist would possess power beyond the Perpetuals"
Aiden waited impatiently for Frigeria to continue though he feared he now knew the answer to his question. It seemed this angel had a knack for going all the way round whenever he asked her a direct question but the truth was that Frigeria herself was short on time and she had to explain everything to the boy as best as she could and as swiftly as she could.
"That Alchemist is you."
The two of them fell silent as Aiden absorbed this piece of news.
"Yes you. Aiden Writer, I bow to thee the Alchemist." Frigeria slowly got down on one knee as she bowed her head down, her wings ruffling as she did so. Aiden at once felt awkward. How the hell was he the Alchemist, and why was this angel bowing before him?
"But I don't have any… err… powers or anything. How can I be the Alchemist?"
"You are the Alchemist that had appeared on the material plane after eons of waiting and you are the one that will put an end to this endless battle."
"But what can I possibly…"
"It is you who will have to awaken." The angel bellowed rising sharply and suddenly, a striking change in behavior from a few seconds ago. Her clarion voice echoed as the many clang of bells everywhere. "It is you who must realize that you are the Alchemist and awaken his powers to end this massive battle."
"Err, Ok." Aiden was flustered by now. "But how?"
"That, my Lord, only you know."
Aiden was displeased at the enigmatic answer. What was he expected to do?
"It is you who must end this battle between the two most ardent lovers that are now enemies, for now they both love only you."
Aiden was taken aback at the last statement.
"And it is time for me to take my leave." Frigeria knew that Black and the Empress were fast approaching. She would have to somehow engage one of them on her own. And these moments would probably be the last few of her perpetual life. The azure surroundings started to dissolve as the ground and the walls of the valleys slowly came back into view. Tinka was also stirring from her slumber.
"Remember Aiden," the raven haired angel stated before she disappeared from view herself, "Be Strong!"
Aiden watched helplessly as the white clothed figure disappeared from the alley. He stooped down to awaken Tinka, shaking her slightly. The girl opened her eyes groggily. "What happened?"
Suddenly Aiden heard the sound of running footsteps. He bend over backwards as he tilted half his body out of the alley to see who it was.
It was Will. Running towards him with an expressionless face.
"Will, it's…" but the rest of the words remained stuck in his throat as out of the blue Will pulled forth two jagged black blades in is hands and with a battle roar leaped up in the air, gaining altitude before he pounced onto the boy. Aiden stood rooted with fear on the spot, unable to move even an inch as Will brought down the double blades at a high velocity. One strike and Aiden would die. It was all over.
'CLANG.' The noise resounded as the dual blades of alacrity clashed with the Helos Sabre and sparks flew in all directions. Aiden stood shivering with fear as three sword trembled mere inches before his face. Scott had protected him.
Aiden looked questioningly towards Will. His face was expressionless; dead blank; but there were tears streaming down his cheeks.
Scott pushed with all his might and swung around his sword as Will jumped backwards and gradually up erect.
"You're not going to leave a single scar on him Black!" Scott growled.
Things were happening too fast for Aiden to work out in his mind.
Empress Woe was heading towards the Alchemist. So Black had found the boy but had been engaged by White? Very well, she would have to make an appearance now and finish off things. She stopped running as she paused running and slowly disappeared from the material plane. She would teleport directly to the location.
A few seconds later she reappeared on the same dimensions she had disappeared form. She looked around confused. She once again concentrated and tried to appear next to the two guardians and the alchemist. She had to finish the boy off.
Once again she was dumbfounded as she teleported back to the exact same spot. And then she understood. It was an illusionary technique, and she was stuck in someone else's world. She knew only one person who possessed illusory techniques as powerful as this one.
"Frigeria," she muttered with anger. Very well, it would take her some amount of time but she would soon get out of this technique and would kill Frigeria as well. Then she would proceed onwards towards the Alchemist.
Aiden was still trembling with fear as the two fighters assumed combat positions, their swords glistening in the morning sun. Suddenly Black straightened himself as a pair of colossal silver grey wings emerged from his back, tearing across the shirt and standing out in all their glory. The 15 foot wings were jagged with black streaks across the edges and appeared to be comprised of dark gossamer silk, yet seemed strong and erect.
White howled as he too let out the massive white wings Witenhoem was known for; the pearly whites that had dazzled thousands. The cloth on his torso tore across leaving shreds as the wings unfurled fully and stood up in a v-formation.
Aiden stared wide-eyed, his mouth open. So these were their true forms?
"What's going on?" Tinka asked getting up unsteadily and then noticing the two angels; a dark Seraph and a Keeper of the Light.
"What the fuck?" was all Tinka elicited before she too assumed the expression Aiden had on his face.
"This ends today Arangyunus." White shrieked and leapt into the air flapping his wings as Black followed suit.
Two friends stood bewildered as the two massive shapes rose into the sky and their swords clashed. Aiden shook his head as he realized what the lady angel had been talking about earlier. So he was the Alchemist?
Aiden abruptly got up and ran towards the fighting figures. Thoughts of Will with tear strained eyes were dominating his mind. If he indeed did want to kill him, why did Will have tears in his eyes? He knew the answer this time; Will was in love with him and somehow was being forced to do things against his will.
Aiden tried to make his way towards the two angels as they clashed in the sky. It was not of much use; they were only going further apart and higher. He watched helplessly as they yelled and swung their swords at each other. How would he get the two to stop?
Aiden looked about as he noticed that 'people' had seen the sights too. And now they stood watching in awe as the spectacle unfolded ahead of them. Aiden did not even want to know what thoughts were going on inside their heads, as he strained his eyes to see the two warriors.
The final battle between Black and White had just begun.
Well I really hope you enjoyed this episode and that it answered all those questions that were being heaped upon me. The next episode is the concluding one, so be on the lookout for that. Also, if you've been liking the story, please take a moment to drop me a line; it really benefits me to hear from my readers.
Anyways, Ciao till the next episode. | http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/black-and-white/black-and-white-6.html | dclm-gs1-242990001 | false | false | {
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0.04753 | <urn:uuid:d8fff654-6b5e-4e03-92f5-f30b1f12e653> | en | 0.960508 | For Nanotech Drug Delivery, Size Doesn't Matter--Shape Does
A team of researchers has found that rod-shaped nanoparticles are much more likely to penetrate cells than those shaped like spheres
Courtesy of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
As nanotechnology to ferry drugs to their destinations is tested in both the laboratory and in clinical trials, scientists have made a surprising discovery about the kinds of nanoparticles that might be most effective for eventually transporting a number of different cancer-fighting therapies throughout the body.
The conventional wisdom is that the smaller, the better. But that may not be true, according to a team of scientists led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (U.N.C.) chemistry professor Joseph DeSimone. DeSimone and his colleagues have shown that the shape of these microscopic drug carriers is much more important than size and can even mean the difference between whether a drug penetrates target cells effectively or ends up as a target itself, only to be destroyed by the immune system.
Although logic would dictate that the smaller the particle, the more likely it is to infiltrate a cellular membrane, the researchers found that rodlike particles are able to get in faster than other shapes because of how the immune system responds to them. "Clearly," DeSimone says, "there's a role here between size and shape that has not been established before."
The research, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS), indicates that rod-shaped particles (150 nanometers in diameter by 450 nanometers long) penetrated human cells about four times faster and traveled farther into the cells than particles with more balanced dimensions (such as 200 nanometers by 200 nanometers). One nanometer equals 40 billionths of an inch.
"If we go back 10 years and ask what is the most important parameter [to developing a therapeutic particle], people would immediately think of the particle's size and then its surface chemistry," says University of California, Santa Barbara, chemical engineering professor Samir Mitragotri, who develops microscopic particles of different shapes and tests their ability to deliver drugs, but was not associated with DeSimone's study. "Now people are realizing that shape can have an impact, too."
One of the hopes is that once nanotechnology is proved safe and effective as a drug delivery system, highly concentrated nanoparticles carrying drugs could be injected directly into the body where they are needed most and use their shape to get to work quickly. Being able to make particles in a variety of shapes out of any organic material could, for example, allow a person suffering from rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn's disease to get their medication in a single injection rather than via a two-hour intravenous infusion of Remicade. "You want to deliver it where you want it, when you want it, without wasting it." DeSimone says.
Nanoparticles shaped a particular way might also keep drugs out of organs they are likely to damage, improving the safety of certain drugs. "We have demonstrated that we have low uptake in the kidneys of animals of our 200-nanometer diameter cylindrical particles that are 200 nanometers in height," DeSimone says, adding that it's not yet clear exactly why shape affects uptake in kidneys. Researchers are hoping that other shapes, such a flexible, wormlike nanoparticle that is 80 nanometers in diameter and 500 nanometers long, will perform even better.
So why do particular shapes work better? For one thing, rod or worm-shaped particles are harder than spherical particles for the body's immune system to reject. "Macrophages, the cells that engulf foreign particles and take them out of circulation, like to eat objects that don't require them to expand a lot," says Mitragotri. "If macrophages come at one of these wormlike particles from the side, they have to expand a lot to engulf them, and they don't like that." It's much less likely that a macrophage would latch onto the pointed end of an elongated particle because the ends are such a small proportion of the particle's total surface area, he adds.
"We believe that wormlike particles will be a challenge for macrophages to engulf and clear,” DeSimone says, “because such filamentous objects are known to be difficult for macrophages to reel in. Particles that are more spherically symmetric can be engulfed in one fell swoop by macrophages, but that is more difficult for such filamentous particles."
The findings of DeSimone and his team are a surprising but welcome development in the use of nanotechnology for drug delivery, says Christian Melander, an assistant professor of organic chemistry at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, who has been studying the use of gold nanoparticles as a means of assisting the delivery of an HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) treatment that is under development as well as to help that drug to latch onto receptors (protein molecules embedded in a cell's membrane) on the outside of T cells to shield them from HIV.
Although Melander and his colleagues at N.C. State and the University of Colorado at Boulder work with an inorganic substance (gold) and cannot alter the shape of the particles they work with, Melander says that DeSimone's work "shows insight into particle delivery that most people wouldn't have predicted. It also shows there's a lot more fundamental research in this area that must be done." Melander's team, which is not involved in any of DeSimone's work, is currently testing their gold nanoparticles' ability to cross through a simulation of the blood–brain barrier that prevents many substances from passing into the brain from the bloodstream.
To help get their technology into drug companies' hands more quickly, DeSimone and his colleagues have built a device that make different-shaped nanoparticles in bulk using molds that pop out these particles like so many ice cubes. The Particle Replication in Nonwetting Templates (PRINT) technology helped earn DeSimone this year's $500,000 Lemelson–M.I.T. Prize in June. "We use lithography to make one wafer that will be the master template (for the nanoparticles)," he says. "From there, we're able to make thousands of linear feet of molds."
DeSimone and his colleagues have been able to make these mini molds since 2005, and published a paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society at the time describing their work. Those molds were only 0.04 inch (one millimeter) square and yielded very few nanoparticles of controlled size and shape. However, "we can now make many square meters of molds in a cost-effective manner that allows us to make hundreds of milligrams of nanoparticles of a variety of shapes and sizes that allow us to probe biological systems," DeSimone says.
The next step is for Liquidia Technologies, the North Carolina–based company DeSimone co-founded in 2004 with a group of U.N.C. researchers, to refine the printing methods and scale up production. Liquidia has built a machine that yields tens of grams of nanoparticles in a single day, and the company hopes to be able to produce multiple kilograms of nanoparticles daily. He is hoping to have U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved equipment in place by the middle of 2009 to produce these nanoparticles and move into clinical trials shortly thereafter. First on DeSimone's list to study are siRNA (short interfering RNA) molecules that may be able to keep cancer cells from producing the proteins that make them dangerous as well as the cancer drugs docetaxel, cisplatin and doxorubicin.
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0.051711 | <urn:uuid:9fbf189a-e200-40d3-8dcc-7c9c46a97804> | en | 0.957029 |
Sun Sentinel
Cosmic waste
Tribune rock critic
Still in the midst of a world tour in support of its 1991 album, "Achtung Baby!," U2 hasn't been idly counting its millions in between concert dates. Instead, the Irish quartet has whipped up yet another studio album, "Zooropa," which Island Records will release Tuesday.
Departing from superstar convention, in which new albums take five years to make and then are released with end-of-the-world fanfare, U2 recorded "Zooropa" in two quick months. Sonically, it's more like a guerrilla strike than a full-blown studio extravaganza, a seat-of-the-pants tour of, to paraphase one of the song titles, dirty days.
Among its surprises:
- A lead vocal by the anti-Bono, Johnny Cash, who brings the album to a close with his stern, unflinching performance of "The Wanderer" (not the old Dion hit, but a new U2 song).
- The disappearance of The Edge's soaring, reverb-laden guitar, which has been the group's signature since "I Will Follow" in 1980.
- The absence of a charging rocker along the lines of "Pride" or "Where the Streets Have No Name."
Technology is abused with even greater impunity than it was on "Achtung Baby!" The music is saturated with backward tape loops, sputtering synthesizers, dirt-encrusted guitars and distorted voices.
U2 also dabbles in faux soul reminiscent of mid-'70s David Bowie, as Euro-disco dance beats and falsetto vocals are garnished with hints of techno and hip-hop.
The album bears the brilliantly disruptive imprint of Brian Eno, who was a peripheral presence on "Achtung Baby!" but returns to a full-fledged producer role here along with The Edge and Flood. It's also the first time The Edge has received a producer credit on a U2 album, ironic in that he has downplayed or distorted his guitar-playing sometimes beyond recognition.
The lack of preciousness about preserving what once was thought of as the group's signature sound is refreshing. In the most convincing manner possible, "Zooropa" has finished the job started by "Achtung Baby!," which upon its release was hailed as a significant upheaval of the U2 aesthetic.
The first single, "Numb" is even more disconcerting than "The Fly," the claustrophobic grunge-gospel number that preceded the release of "Achtung Baby!" It features a rare lead vocal by The Edge, who in a baritone mumble intones, "Don't project/Don't connect/Protect/Don't expect/Suggest." All the while, a kitchen cabinet full of noisemakers-none of them readily identifiable as a guitar, bass or drums-wheezes, plinks and whirs like a Cabaret Voltaire outtake, while a falsetto voice, dubbed "the Fat Lady," cries, "I feel numb."
U2 has a touchy-feely reputation, but humanity has been dumped in a techno dungeon on "Numb." And it serves as a perfect introduction to an album that is as timely as it is disconcerting. As counterculture guru Timothy Leary told his young audience at Lollapalooza '93 two weekends ago, "You're taking control of the new language, and the new language is multimedia."
You'd expect young rockers like Jesus Jones and Stereo MC's to instinctively grasp the concept, but no major group-let alone one on the verge of dinosaur status-understands the implications of the high-tech revolution better than U2. Beginning with the brashly unsanctimonious "Achtung Baby!" and continuing with the high-concept "Zoo TV" tour, the Irish quartet transformed themselves from rock messiahs to digital-age subversives.
It was perhaps an all-too-convenient transformation, given the band's eroding reputation. But U2 has been nothing if not self-aware through the years, and rightly sensed the time was ripe to search rather than retrench.
With "Achtung Baby!" the band stumbled onto something weird, dissonant and disturbing, but it wasn't until the "Zoo TV" tour that its fans, and maybe even the band itself, figured out what it all meant. Besides turning into an awe-inspiring visual feast, "Zoo TV" served as a corrosive and sometimes poignant commentary on the loss of intimacy in a media-glutted age.
"Zooropa" deepens the perspective with a series of characters adrift in uncertainty and loneliness, coping with various stages of degradation, either imposed or self-inflicted: the abused lover in "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)," the voyeur in "Babyface," the fallen evangelist in "The Wanderer."
"And these are the days when our work has come asunder/And these are the days when we look for something other," Bono declares on "Lemon," in lines that could refer the politics of the world as well as the band.
In searching for "something other," insidious beauty is created out of incongruous elements. "Lemon" is an acid-house trance-and-dance number spiked by Bono's gender-bending, French-accented falsetto. "Babyface" alternates an inexorable chorus with what sounds like a children's toy percussion instrument. Guitars and a wordless chorus out of a Sergio Leone spaghetti western ride a thumping techno groove on "The Wanderer."
On the band's current European tour, Bono has taken to wearing devil's horns and white-face makeup in the guise of "MacPhisto." On "Zooropa," there is no cartoon Jack Scratch, only a vague, discomfiting malevolence.
It's embodied by the fallen angel in "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" and the benefactor in "Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car," who "gives you the keys to a flamin' car" and is "with you wherever you are."
It's heard on "Some Days are Better Than Others"-"Some days you use more force than is necessary"-and in the scarifying "Dirty Day": "Wake up/Some things you can't get around/I'm in you/More so when they put me in the ground."
It's the rich man of "The First Time," in a verse that recalls the biblical passage about Christ's temptation in the desert: "He gave me the keys to his kingdom/Gave me a cup of gold/He said, `I have many mansions/And there are many rooms to see.' "
And it struts like Jimmy Swaggart and sings in a voice like God Himself on "The Wanderer," in which Johnny Cash brings a chilling, jut-jawed certainty to Bono's lyric: "I went out there/In search of experience/To taste and to touch/And to feel as much as a man can/Before he repents. . . ."
On "Zooropa," U2 implies that nothing is incorruptible. Not even its once-hallowed sound.
Copyright © 2015, Sun Sentinel | http://www.sun-sentinel.com/chi-u2july93-story.html | dclm-gs1-243420001 | false | false | {
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0.035748 | <urn:uuid:86a80679-f819-4a1d-8323-a4ea6aca1f34> | en | 0.980605 | July 12, 2010
stuff about fashion blogging, again, again
(The first two.)
So I just watched Jefferson Hack's interview with Imran Amed of the Business of Fashion for the thousandth time, because it makes me very happy, and very optimistic about this digital age, which is so big that it's beyond any of us and we have no clue what to do with it, and about fashion in general.
Don't you love this guy? I like how, among many other things, he said magazines are only more important now that there's no need for news and there can be substantial content. For me, there are only a few magazines whose more news-type stuff I read (Interview, T, Vogue US) and the others I really just look at the editorial content.
Aaaaand I smiled at what he said about bloggers. Does this mean I think I deserve to be sitting front row, or at all, at a few shows? Hell no, and it's never because of my blog alone, it's because I'm affiliated with a project or magazine that has me there, but I'm happy to write about what I saw and how I feel about it on the blog as well, and hear what my commenters thought, and maybe this reaches a different demographic of people than a magazine or newspaper, because anything can only reach so many people before there have to be some that can't identify with it. This doesn't mean anyone has to be all print, or all blogs. No one is going to stop reading a magazine they like because they started reading a blog. Blogs are not magazines, they are not alternatives to magazines, and they usually have different goals than magazines, though it doesn't even make sense to generalize it that way because each blog or magazine has a different goal from the next. It just means that you can hear from someone with years in the industry and someone who is more outside of it; you can hear different opinions from people with different backgrounds, and this ultimately makes for a more interesting discussion. I don't think the digital age means that bloggers, not magazines or critics, decide what's cool or what people wear; I think it means that no one really decides that now, because there are so many points of views. I know that I don't try to give any advice about what people should wear, because I just would like everyone to wear what they want. This larger discussion sort of forces people to be more creative and honest, which is a good thing, no? All this Internet-ness makes fashion about a conversation anyone can take part in, which is, in my opinion, more democratic and interesting.
Still, I didn't turn in my vote for the CFDA -- it's a different thing, because my opinion on my blog is less determining of someone else's fate than a CFDA vote. I can post a rap about Rei Kawakubo and write about the magic of Celine for this blog, but I can't hold that kind of responsibility for another person's career. I just want to be a part of the conversation.
Sooo, speaking of industry pioneers doing interviews with the Business of Fashion...
Untitled 1
Very jealous of anyone who lives in London! For those of us who are stuck in our homes, it'll be livestreamed here on Thursday, July 22nd, 7:30 GMT. I can't wait! And now, while on my shopping fast, I am horribly tempted to look at Net a Porter. Ack. | http://www.thestylerookie.com/2010/07/stuff-about-fashion-blogging-again.html | dclm-gs1-243500001 | false | false | {
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0.019271 | <urn:uuid:fb4c4dfc-24da-4e59-9774-809c21e4436d> | en | 0.911212 | Skip to content
Diabetes Health Center
Font Size
Why Does Diabetes Raise Cancer Risk?
More Questions Than Answers From Expert Panel on Diabetes, Cancer Link
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD
June 16, 2010 -- People with diabetes are at increased risk of certain cancers -- but why?
Could it be that some diabetes treatments trigger or promote cancer? Or do the underlying causes of diabetes also underlie cancer?
These are the questions put before an expert panel from the American Diabetes Association and the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Their conclusion: We aren't sure.
Even so, lifestyle changes that prevent or reverse diabetes will certainly cut cancer risk, says panel member Susan M. Gapstur, PhD, ACS vice president of epidemiology.
"The full biologic link between diabetes and cancer has not been completely defined," Gapstur tells WebMD. "But first of all we should prevent diabetes. Then we can prevent some cancers. And for those who do have diabetes, it should be controlled as much as possible through a healthy lifestyle."
Diabetes doubles the risk of liver, pancreas, and endometrial cancer. It increases the risk of colorectal, breast, and bladder cancer by 20% to 50%. But it cuts men's risk of prostate cancer.
People with diabetes tend to have some known risk factors for cancer: older age, obesity, poor diet, and physical inactivity. And problems common in diabetes -- too-high insulin levels, too-high blood sugar levels, and inflammation -- increase cancer risk.
"No matter what science ultimately reveals ... we already know what we need to do to lower risk for both cancer and diabetes," Alice Bender, RD, of the American Institute for Cancer Research, says in a news release. "Eat a healthy, varied, predominantly plant-based diet, be physically active every day, and maintain a healthy body weight."
Do Diabetes Treatments Raise Cancer Risk?
There is evidence, but not definitive proof, that diabetes treatments affect cancer risk.
Metformin, the most commonly used diabetes drug, seems to lower cancer risk. But there's also evidence from some studies -- contradicted by others -- that insulin, particularly long-acting insulin glargine (Lantus), may increase cancer risk.
Moreover, there are at least theoretical concerns that other relatively new diabetes drugs may affect cancer risk. Unfortunately, the panel found too little data to form an opinion on this question.
Because there is no definitive link between diabetes treatment and cancer, the panel strongly advises people with diabetes -- except those at extremely high risk of cancer -- not to make treatment decisions based on fear of cancer.
"Clearly those being treated for diabetes need to be talking with their doctors about the importance of regular cancer screenings as recommended by the American Cancer Society," Gapstur says.
The consensus panel's report appears in the July/August issue of the ACS journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
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food fitness planner | http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20100616/why-does-diabetes-increase-cancer-risk | dclm-gs1-243700001 | false | false | {
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0.019902 | <urn:uuid:2ae26408-ef9b-4d19-8714-0182b0ffbf85> | en | 0.853526 | Elevated Reverse Lunge
September 13, 2010
This is the ultimate butt multitasker, providing an active hip-flexor stretch along with a calorie-blasting lunge/step-up combo. Whew!
Do It: Stand on a six-inch step or box, hands on your hips. Squeeze your right glute, step back with your right leg, and lower until your left knee is bent at least 90 degrees. Pause, then push through the left leg to return to start. That's one rep. Alternate sides until you've done all the reps for each leg. | http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/elevated-reverse-lunge-0?workout=21609 | dclm-gs1-243720001 | false | false | {
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0.033122 | <urn:uuid:194b8bb7-368c-4541-af9a-3a659449838b> | en | 0.766078 | From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Stolzite, Broken Hill, Australia (size: 3.6 x 3.0 x 2.6 cm)
Category Tungstate minerals
(repeating unit)
Strunz classification 07.GA.05
Crystal symmetry Tetragonal 4/m - dipyramidal
Unit cell a = 5.461 Å, c = 12.049 Å; Z = 4
Color Reddish brown, brown, yellowish gray, smoky gray, straw-yellow, lemon-yellow; may be green, orange, red
Crystal habit Crystals dipyramidal to tabular
Crystal system Tetragonal
Cleavage Imperfect on {001}, indistinct on {011}
Fracture Conchoidal to uneven
Tenacity Brittle
Mohs scale hardness 2.5 - 3
Luster Resinous, subadamantine
Streak White
Diaphaneity Translucent to transparent
Specific gravity 8.34
Optical properties Uniaxial (-)
Refractive index nω = 2.270 nε = 2.180 - 2.190
Birefringence δ = 0.090
References [1][2][3]
Lead tungstate crystals have the optical transparency of glass combined with much higher density (8.28 g/cm3 vs ~2.2 g/cm3 for fused silica). They are used as scintillators in particle physics because of the their short radiation length (0.89 cm), low Molière radius (2.2 cm), quick scintillation response, and radiation hardness.[4] Lead tungstate crystals are used in the Compact Muon Solenoid's electromagnetic calorimeter.[4]
It was first described in 1820 by August Breithaupt, who called it Scheelbleispath and then by François Sulpice Beudant in 1832, who called it scheelitine. In 1845, Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger coined the name stolzite for an occurrence in Krusne Hory (Erzgebirge), Czech Republic, naming it after Joseph Alexi Stolz of Teplice in Bohemia.[2][3] It occurs in oxidized hydrothermal tungsten-lead ore deposits typically in association with raspite, cerussite, anglesite, pyromorphite and mimetite.[1]
See also[edit]
1. ^ a b Handbook of Mineralogy
2. ^ a b c
3. ^ a b Wevmineral data
4. ^ a b The CMS Collaboration (2006). "Chapter 1. Introduction". CMS Physics : Technical Design Report Volume 1: Detector Performance and Software. CERN. p. 14. ISBN 9789290832683. CMS has chosen lead tungstate scintillating crystals for its ECAL. These crystals have short radiation (X0 = 0.89 cm) and Moliere (2.2 cm) lengths, are fast (80% of the light is emitted within 25 ns) and radiation hard (up to 10 Mrad).
Mellor, J. W. "A Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry," Vol.11, Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1931, p. 792.
Stolzite crystal from the Darwin District, Inyo County, California (size: 2.0 x 1.7 x 1.6 cm) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolzite | dclm-gs1-243930001 | false | false | {
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0.023276 | <urn:uuid:885d6641-9c03-4fb1-b536-a7d2bc6eb938> | en | 0.91828 | From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Surgical procedure)
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the medical specialty. For other uses, see Surgery (disambiguation).
Surgery (from the Greek: χειρουργική cheirourgikē (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via Latin: chirurgiae, meaning "hand work") is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance or to repair unwanted ruptured areas (for example, a perforated ear drum).
An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical procedure, operation, or simply surgery. In this context, the verb operate means to perform surgery. The adjective surgical means pertaining to surgery; e.g. surgical instruments or surgical nurse. The patient or subject on which the surgery is performed can be a person or an animal. A surgeon is a person who practices surgery and a surgeon's assistant is a person who practices surgical assistance. A surgical team is made up of surgeon, surgeon's assistant, anesthesia provider, circulating nurse and surgical technologist. Surgery usually spans minutes to hours, but it is typically not an ongoing or periodic type of treatment. The term surgery can also refer to the place where surgery is performed, or simply the office of a physician, dentist, or veterinarian.
Surgery is a technology consisting of a physical intervention on tissues, and muscle.
As a general rule, a procedure is considered surgical when it involves cutting of a patient's tissues or closure of a previously sustained wound. Other procedures that do not necessarily fall under this rubric, such as angioplasty or endoscopy, may be considered surgery if they involve "common" surgical procedure or settings, such as use of a sterile environment, anesthesia, antiseptic conditions, typical surgical instruments, and suturing or stapling. All forms of surgery are considered invasive procedures; so-called "noninvasive surgery" usually refers to an excision that does not penetrate the structure being excised (e.g. laser ablation of the cornea) or to a radiosurgical procedure (e.g. irradiation of a tumor).
Types of surgery[edit]
• Based on timing: Elective surgery is done to correct a non-life-threatening condition, and is carried out at the patient's request, subject to the surgeon's and the surgical facility's availability. Emergency surgery is surgery which must be done promptly to save life, limb, or functional capacity. A semi-elective surgery is one that must be done to avoid permanent disability or death, but can be postponed for a short time.
• Based on purpose: Exploratory surgery is performed to aid or confirm a diagnosis. Therapeutic surgery treats a previously diagnosed condition. Cosmetic surgery is done to improve the appearance of an otherwise normal structure.
• By type of procedure: Amputation involves cutting off a body part, usually a limb or digit; castration is also an example. Resection is the removal of all or part of an internal organ or part of the body. Replantation involves reattaching a severed body part. Reconstructive surgery involves reconstruction of an injured, mutilated, or deformed part of the body. Excision is the cutting out or removal of an organ, tissue, or other body part from the patient. Transplant surgery is the replacement of an organ or body part by insertion of another from different human (or animal) into the patient. Removing an organ or body part from a live human or animal for use in transplant is also a type of surgery.
• By body part: When surgery is performed on one organ system or structure, it may be classed by the organ, organ system or tissue involved. Examples include cardiac surgery (performed on the heart), gastrointestinal surgery (performed within the digestive tract and its accessory organs), and orthopedic surgery (performed on bones and/or muscles).
• By degree of invasiveness of surgical procedures: Minimally-invasive surgery involves smaller outer incision(s) to insert miniaturized instruments within a body cavity or structure, as in laparoscopic surgery or angioplasty. By contrast, an open surgical procedure such as a laparotomy requires a large incision to access the area of interest.
• By equipment used: Laser surgery involves use of a laser for cutting tissue instead of a scalpel or similar surgical instruments. Microsurgery involves the use of an operating microscope for the surgeon to see small structures. Robotic surgery makes use of a surgical robot, such as the Da Vinci or the Zeus surgical systems, to control the instrumentation under the direction of the surgeon.
• Excision surgery names often start with a name for the organ to be excised (cut out) and end in -ectomy.
• Procedures involving cutting into an organ or tissue end in -otomy. A surgical procedure cutting through the abdominal wall to gain access to the abdominal cavity is a laparotomy.
• Minimally invasive procedures involving small incisions through which an endoscope is inserted end in -oscopy. For example, such surgery in the abdominal cavity is called laparoscopy.
• Procedures for formation of a permanent or semi-permanent opening called a stoma in the body end in -ostomy.
• Reconstruction, plastic or cosmetic surgery of a body part starts with a name for the body part to be reconstructed and ends in -oplasty. Rhino is used as a prefix for "nose", therefore a rhinoplasty is reconstructive or cosmetic surgery for the nose.
• Repair of damaged or congenital abnormal structure ends in -rraphy. Herniorraphy is the reparation of a hernia, while perineorraphy is the reparation of perineum.
• Reoperation (return to the operating room) refers to a return to the operating theater after an initial surgery is performed to re-address an aspect of patient care best treated surgically. Reasons for reoperation include persistent bleeding after surgery, development of or persistence of infection or, more insidiously, retained foreign objects.
Description of surgical procedure[edit]
At a hospital, modern surgery is often done in an operating theater using surgical instruments, an operating table for the patient, and other equipment. Among United States hospitalizations for nonmaternal and nonneonatal conditions in 2012, more than one-fourth of stays and half of hospital costs involved stays that included operating room (OR) procedures.[1] The environment and procedures used in surgery are governed by the principles of aseptic technique: the strict separation of "sterile" (free of microorganisms) things from "unsterile" or "contaminated" things. All surgical instruments must be sterilized, and an instrument must be replaced or re-sterilized if it becomes contaminated (i.e. handled in an unsterile manner, or allowed to touch an unsterile surface). Operating room staff must wear sterile attire (scrubs, a scrub cap, a sterile surgical gown, sterile latex or non-latex polymer gloves and a surgical mask), and they must scrub hands and arms with an approved disinfectant agent before each procedure. There is moderate-quality evidence that usage of two layers of gloves compared to single gloving during surgery reduces perforations and blood stains on the skin, indicating a decrease in percutaneous exposure incidents.[2]
Patient Safety[edit]
The Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality suggests that patients should ask your doctor questions.
Preoperative care[edit]
Main article: Preoperative care
Prior to surgery, the patient is given a medical examination, receives certain pre-operative tests, and their physical status is rated according to the ASA physical status classification system. If these results are satisfactory, the patient signs a consent form and is given a surgical clearance. If the procedure is expected to result in significant blood loss, an autologous blood donation may be made some weeks prior to surgery. If the surgery involves the digestive system, the patient may be instructed to perform a bowel prep by drinking a solution of polyethylene glycol the night before the procedure. Patients are also instructed to abstain from food or drink (an NPO order after midnight on the night before the procedure), to minimize the effect of stomach contents on pre-operative medications and reduce the risk of aspiration if the patient vomits during or after the procedure.
Some medical systems have a practice of routinely performing chest x-rays before surgery. The premise behind this practice is that the physician might discover some unknown medical condition which would complicate the surgery, and that upon discovering this with the chest x-ray, the physician would adapt the surgery practice accordingly.[3] In fact, medical specialty professional organizations recommend against routine pre-operative chest x-rays for patients who have an unremarkable medical history and presented with a physical exam which did not indicate a chest x-ray.[3] Routine x-ray examination is more likely to result in problems like misdiagnosis, overtreatment, or other negative outcomes than it is to result in a benefit to the patient.[3] Likewise, other tests including complete blood count, prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, basic metabolic panel, and urinalysis should not be done unless the results of these tests can help evaluate surgical risk.[4]
Staging for surgery[edit]
In the pre-operative holding area, the patient changes out of his or her street clothes and is asked to confirm the details of his or her surgery. A set of vital signs are recorded, a peripheral IV line is placed, and pre-operative medications (antibiotics, sedatives, etc.) are given. When the patient enters the operating room, the skin surface to be operated on, called the operating field, is cleaned and prepared by applying an antiseptic such as chlorhexidine gluconate or povidone-iodine to reduce the possibility of infection. If hair is present at the surgical site, it is clipped off prior to prep application. The patient is assisted by an anesthesiologist or resident to make a specific surgical position, then sterile drapes are used to cover all of the patient's body except for the head[citation needed] and the surgical site or at least a wide area surrounding the operating field; the drapes are clipped to a pair of poles near the head of the bed to form an "ether screen", which separates the anesthetist/anesthesiologist's working area (unsterile) from the surgical site (sterile).
Anesthesia is administered to prevent pain from incision, tissue manipulation and suturing. Based on the procedure, anesthesia may be provided locally or as general anesthesia. Spinal anesthesia may be used when the surgical site is too large or deep for a local block, but general anesthesia may not be desirable. With local and spinal anesthesia, the surgical site is anesthetized, but the patient can remain conscious or minimally sedated. In contrast, general anesthesia renders the patient unconscious and paralyzed during surgery. The patient is intubated and is placed on a mechanical ventilator, and anesthesia is produced by a combination of injected and inhaled agents. Choice of surgical method and anaesthetic technique aims to reduce risk of complications, shorten time needed for recovery and minimise the surgical stress response.
An incision is made to access the surgical site. Blood vessels may be clamped or cauterized to prevent bleeding, and retractors may be used to expose the site or keep the incision open. The approach to the surgical site may involve several layers of incision and dissection, as in abdominal surgery, where the incision must traverse skin, subcutaneous tissue, three layers of muscle and then peritoneum. In certain cases, bone may be cut to further access the interior of the body; for example, cutting the skull for brain surgery or cutting the sternum for thoracic (chest) surgery to open up the rib cage. Whilst in surgery health and safety is used to prevent infection or further spreading of the disease. The surgeon will remove hair from the face and eyes, using a head hat. Hands, wrists and forearms are washed thoroughly to prevent germs getting into the operated body, then gloves are placed onto the hands. A PVC apron will be worn at all times, to stop any contamination. A yellow substance – typically an antiseptic iodine solution – is lighly coated onto the located area of the patient's body that will be performed on, this stops germs and disease infecting areas of the body, whilst the patient is being cut into.
Work to correct the problem in body then proceeds. This work may involve:
• excision – cutting out an organ, tumor,[5] or other tissue.
• resection – partial removal of an organ or other bodily structure.
• reconnection of organs, tissues, etc., particularly if severed. Resection of organs such as intestines involves reconnection. Internal suturing or stapling may be used. Surgical connection between blood vessels or other tubular or hollow structures such as loops of intestine is called anastomosis.
• Reduction – the movement or realignment of a body part to its normal position. e.g. Reduction of a broken nose involves the physical manipulation of the bone and/or cartilage from their displaced state back to their original position to restore normal airflow and aesthetics.
• ligation – tying off blood vessels, ducts, or "tubes".
• grafts – may be severed pieces of tissue cut from the same (or different) body or flaps of tissue still partly connected to the body but resewn for rearranging or restructuring of the area of the body in question. Although grafting is often used in cosmetic surgery, it is also used in other surgery. Grafts may be taken from one area of the patient's body and inserted to another area of the body. An example is bypass surgery, where clogged blood vessels are bypassed with a graft from another part of the body. Alternatively, grafts may be from other persons, cadavers, or animals.
• insertion of prosthetic parts when needed. Pins or screws to set and hold bones may be used. Sections of bone may be replaced with prosthetic rods or other parts. Sometime a plate is inserted to replace a damaged area of skull. Artificial hip replacement has become more common. Heart pacemakers or valves may be inserted. Many other types of prostheses are used.
• creation of a stoma, a permanent or semi-permanent opening in the body
• in transplant surgery, the donor organ (taken out of the donor's body) is inserted into the recipient's body and reconnected to the recipient in all necessary ways (blood vessels, ducts, etc.).
• arthrodesis – surgical connection of adjacent bones so the bones can grow together into one. Spinal fusion is an example of adjacent vertebrae connected allowing them to grow together into one piece.
• modifying the digestive tract in bariatric surgery for weight loss.
• repair of a fistula, hernia, or prolapse
• other procedures, including:
• clearing clogged ducts, blood or other vessels
• removal of calculi (stones)
• draining of accumulated fluids
• debridement- removal of dead, damaged, or diseased tissue
Blood or blood expanders may be administered to compensate for blood lost during surgery. Once the procedure is complete, sutures or staples are used to close the incision. Once the incision is closed, the anesthetic agents are stopped and/or reversed, and the patient is taken off ventilation and extubated (if general anesthesia was administered).[6]
Post-operative care[edit]
After completion of surgery, the patient is transferred to the post anesthesia care unit and closely monitored. When the patient is judged to have recovered from the anesthesia, he/she is either transferred to a surgical ward elsewhere in the hospital or discharged home. During the post-operative period, the patient's general function is assessed, the outcome of the procedure is assessed, and the surgical site is checked for signs of infection. There are several risk factors associated with postoperative complications, such as immune deficienty and obesity. Obesity has long been considered a risk factor for adverse post-surgical outcomes. It has been linked to many disorders such as obesity hypoventilation syndrome, atelectasis and pulmonary embolism, adverse cardiovascular effects, and wound healing complications.[7] If removable skin closures are used, they are removed after 7 to 10 days post-operatively, or after healing of the incision is well under way.
It is not uncommon for surgical drains (see Drain (surgery)) to be required to remove blood or fluid from the surgical wound during recovery. Mostly these drains stay in until the volume tapers off, then they are removed. These drains can become clogged, leading to retained blood complications or abscess.
Postoperative therapy may include adjuvant treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or administration of medication such as anti-rejection medication for transplants. Other follow-up studies or rehabilitation may be prescribed during and after the recovery period.
The use of topical antibiotics on surgical wounds does not reduce infection rates in comparison with non-antibiotic ointment or no ointment at all.[8] Antibiotic ointments will irritate the skin, slow healing, and greatly increase risk of developing contact dermatitis and antibiotic resistance.[8] Because of this, they should only be used when a person shows signs of infection and not as a preventative.[8]
Through a retrospective analysis of national administrative data, the association between mortality and day of elective surgical procedure suggests a higher risk in procedures carried out later in the working week and on weekends. The odds of death were 44% and 82% higher respectively when comparing procedures on a Friday to a weekend procedure. This “weekday effect” has been postulated to be from several factors including poorer availability of services on a weekend, and also, decrease number and level of experience over a weekend.[9]
Of the 38.6 million hospital stays that occurred in U.S. hospitals in 2011, 29% included at least one operating room procedure. These stays accounted for 48% of the total $387 billion in hospital costs.[10]
In total, there were over 15 million operating room procedures performed in U.S. hospitals in 2011. The overall number of procedures remained stable from 2001-2011.[11]
A study of data from 2003-2011 showed that U.S. hospital costs were highest for the surgical service line; the surgical service line costs were $17,600 in 2003 and projected to be $22,500 in 2013.[12] For hospital stays in 2012 in the United States, private insurance had the highest percentage of surgical expenditure.[13] Mean hospital costs in the United States in 2012 were highest for surgical stays.[13]
In special populations[edit]
Elderly people[edit]
Older adults have widely varying physical health. Frail elderly people are at significant risk of post-surgical complications and the need for extended care. Assessment of older patients before elective surgeries can accurately predict the patients' recovery trajectories.[14] One frailty scale uses five items: unintentional weight loss, muscle weakness, exhaustion, low physical activity, and slowed walking speed. A healthy person scores 0; a very frail person scores 5. Compared to non-frail elderly people, people with intermediate frailty scores (2 or 3) are twice as likely to have post-surgical complications, spend 50% more time in the hospital, and are three times as likely to be discharged to a skilled nursing facility instead of to their own homes.[14] Frail elderly patients (score of 4 or 5) have even worse outcomes, with the risk of being discharged to a nursing home rising to twenty times the rate for non-frail elderly people.
Other populations[edit]
Surgery on children requires considerations which are not common in adult surgery. Children and adolescents are still developing physically and mentally making it difficult for them to make informed decisions and give consent for surgical treatments. Bariatric surgery in youth is among the controversial topics related to surgery in children.
Persons with health conditions
A person with a debilitating medical condition may have special needs during a surgery which a typical patient would not.
Vulnerable populations
Doctors perform surgery with the consent of the patient. Some patients are able to give better informed consent than others. Populations such as incarcerated persons, the mentally incompetent, persons subject to coercion, and other people who are not able to make decisions with the same authority as a typical patient have special needs when making decisions about their personal healthcare, including surgery.
In Low and Middle Income Countries[edit]
In 2014 the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery was launched to examine the case for surgery as an integral component of global health care and to provide recommendations regarding the delivery of surgical and anesthesia services in low and middle income countries.[15] The primary conclusions of the study were as follows:
• Five billion people worldwide lack access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care. Areas in which especially large proportions of the population lack access include Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Central Asia, and to a lesser extent, Russia and China. Of the estimated 312.9 million surgical procedures undertaken worldwide in 2012, only 6.3% were done in countries comprising the poorest 37.3% of the world's population.
• An additional 143 million surgeries are needed each year to prevent unnecessary death and disability.
• 33 million people face catastrophic payments for surgical and anesthesia care each year.
• Investment in surgical and anesthesia services is cost-effective, saves lives, and promotes economic growth
• Surgery is an indispensable part of health care.
Plates vi & vii of the Edwin Smith Papyrus, an Egyptian surgical treatise
Sushruta, the author of Sushruta Samhita, one of the oldest texts on surgery
Ancient Egypt[edit]
Surgical treatments date back to the prehistoric era. The oldest for which there is evidence is trepanation,[16] in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the skull, thus exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intra cranial pressure and other diseases. Prehistoric surgical techniques are seen in Ancient Egypt, where a mandible dated to approximately 2650 BCE shows two perforations just below the root of the first molar, indicating the draining of an abscessed tooth. Surgical texts from ancient Egypt date back about 3500 years ago. Surgical operations were performed by priests, specialized in medical treatments similar to today.[17] and the use of sutures to close wounds.[18] Infections were treated with honey.[19]
India and China[edit]
Remains from the early Harappan periods of the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300 BCE) show evidence of teeth having been drilled dating back 9,000 years.[20] Susruta[21] was an ancient Indian surgeon commonly credited as the author of the treatise Sushruta Samhita. He is dubbed as the "founding father of surgery" and his period is usually placed between the period of 1200 BC - 600 BC.[22] One of the earliest known mention of the name is from the Bower Manuscript where Sushruta is listed as one of the ten sages residing in the Himalayas.[23][23] Texts also suggest that he learned surgery at Kasi from Lord Dhanvantari, the god of medicine in Hindu mythology.[24] It is one of the oldest known surgical texts and it describes in detail the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of numerous ailments, as well as procedures on performing various forms of cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery and rhinoplasty.[25]
Instruments resembling surgical tools have also been found in the archaeological sites of Bronze Age China dating from the Shang Dynasty, along with seeds likely used for herbalism.[26]
Hippocrates stated in the oath (c. 400 BC) that general physicians must never practice surgery and that surgical procedures are to be conducted by specialists
Ancient Greece[edit]
In ancient Greece, temples dedicated to the healer-god Asclepius, known as Asclepieia (Greek: Ασκληπιεία, sing. Asclepieion Ασκληπιείον), functioned as centers of medical advice, prognosis, and healing.[27] In the Asclepieion of Epidaurus, some of the surgical cures listed, such as the opening of an abdominal abscess or the removal of traumatic foreign material, are realistic enough to have taken place.[6] The Greek Galen was one of the greatest surgeons of the ancient world and performed many audacious operations—including brain and eye surgery—that were not tried again for almost two millennia.
12th century medieval eye surgery in Italy
In the Middle East, surgery was developed to a high degree in the Islamic world. Abulcasis (Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi), an Andalusian-Arab physician and scientist who practised in the Zahra suburb of Córdoba, wrote medical texts that influenced European surgical procedures.[28]
Early Modern Europe[edit]
In Europe, the demand grew for surgeons to formally study for many years before practicing; universities such as Montpellier, Padua and Bologna were particularly renowned. In the 15th century, Rogerius Salernitanus composed his Chirurgia, laying the foundation for modern Western surgical manuals. Barber-surgeons generally had a bad reputation that was not to improve until the development of academic surgery as a specialty of medicine, rather than an accessory field.[29] Basic surgical principles for asepsis etc., are known as Halsteads principles.
Ambroise Paré (ca. 1510–1590), father of modern military surgery.
There were some important advances to the art of surgery during this period. The professor of anatomy at the University of Padua, Andreas Vesalius, was a pivotal figure in the Renaissance transition from classical medicine and anatomy based on the works of Galen, to an empirical approach of 'hands-on' dissection. In his anatomic treatis, De humani corporis fabrica, he exposed the many anatomical errors in Galen and advocated that all surgeons should train by engaging in practical dissections themselves.
The second figure of importance in this era was Ambroise Paré (sometimes spelled "Ambrose"[30]), a French army surgeon from the 1530s until his death in 1590. The practice for cauterizing gunshot wounds on the battlefield had been to use boiling oil; an extremely dangerous and painful procedure. Paré began to employ a less irritating emollient, made of egg yolk, rose oil and turpentine. He also described more efficient techniques for the effective ligation of the blood vessels during an amputation.
Modern surgery[edit]
Hieronymus Fabricius, Operationes chirurgicae, 1685
John Syng Dorsey wrote the first American textbook on surgery
The discipline of surgery was put on a sound, scientific footing during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe. An important figure in this regard was the English surgical scientist, John Hunter, generally regarded as the father of modern scientific surgery.[31] He brought an empirical and experimental approach to the science and was renowned around Europe for the quality of his research and his written works. Hunter reconstructed surgical knowledge from scratch; refusing to rely on the testimonies of others he conducted his own surgical experiments to determine the truth of the matter. To aid comparative analysis, he built up a collection of over 13,000 specimens of separate organ systems, from the simplest plants and animals to humans.
He greatly advanced knowledge of venereal disease and introduced many new techniques of surgery, including new methods for repairing damage to the Achilles tendon and a more effective method for applying ligature of the arteries in case of an aneurysm.[32] He was also one of the first to understand the importance of pathology, the danger of the spread of infection and how the problem of inflammation of the wound, bone lesions and even tuberculosis often undid any benefit that was gained from the intervention. He consequently adopted the position that all surgical procedures should be used only as a last resort.[33]
Other important 18th and early 19th century surgeons included Percival Pott (1713 -1788) who described tuberculosis on the spine and first demonstrated that a cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen - (he noticed a connection between chimney sweep's exposure to soot and their high incidence of scrotal cancer). Astley Paston Cooper (1768-1841) first performed a successful ligation of the abdominal aorta, and James Syme (1799-1870) pioneered the Symes Amputation for the ankle joint and successfully carried out the first hip disarticulation.
An operation in 1753, painted by Gaspare Traversi.
Modern pain control through anesthesia was discovered in the mid-19th century. Before the advent of anesthesia, surgery was a traumatically painful procedure and surgeons were encouraged to be as swift as possible to minimize patient suffering. This also meant that operations were largely restricted to amputations and external growth removals. Beginning in the 1840s, surgery began to change dramatically in character with the discovery of effective and practical anaesthetic chemicals such as ether, first used by the American surgeon Crawford Long, and chloroform, discovered by James Young Simpson and later pioneered by John Snow, physician to Queen Victoria.[34] In addition to relieving patient suffering, anaesthesia allowed more intricate operations in the internal regions of the human body. In addition, the discovery of muscle relaxants such as curare allowed for safer applications.
Infection and antisepsis[edit]
Unfortunately, the introduction of anesthetics encouraged more surgery, which inadvertently caused more dangerous patient post-operative infections. The concept of infection was unknown until relatively modern times. The first progress in combating infection was made in 1847 by the Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis who noticed that medical students fresh from the dissecting room were causing excess maternal death compared to midwives. Semmelweis, despite ridicule and opposition, introduced compulsory handwashing for everyone entering the maternal wards and was rewarded with a plunge in maternal and fetal deaths, however the Royal Society dismissed his advice.
Until the pioneering work of British surgeon Joseph Lister in the 1860s, most medical men believed that chemical damage from exposures to bad air (see "miasma") was responsible for infections in wounds, and facilities for washing hands or a patient's wounds were not available.[35] Lister became aware of the work of French chemist Louis Pasteur, who showed that rotting and fermentation could occur under anaerobic conditions if micro-organisms were present. Pasteur suggested three methods to eliminate the micro-organisms responsible for gangrene: filtration, exposure to heat, or exposure to chemical solutions. Lister confirmed Pasteur's conclusions with his own experiments and decided to use his findings to develop antiseptic techniques for wounds. As the first two methods suggested by Pasteur were inappropriate for the treatment of human tissue, Lister experimented with the third, spraying carbolic acid on his instruments. He found that this remarkably reduced the incidence of gangrene and he published his results in The Lancet. [36] Later, on 9 August 1867, he read a paper before the British Medical Association in Dublin, on the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, which was reprinted in The British Medical Journal.[37][38][39] His work was groundbreaking and laid the foundations for a rapid advance in infection control that saw modern antiseptic operating theatres widely used within 50 years.
Lister continued to develop improved methods of antisepsis and asepsis when he realised that infection could be better avoided by preventing bacteria from getting into wounds in the first place. This led to the rise of sterile surgery. Lister introduced the Steam Steriliser to sterilize equipment, instituted rigorous hand washing and later implemented the wearing of rubber gloves. These three crucial advances – the adoption of a scientific methodology toward surgical operations, the use of anaesthetic and the introduction of sterilised equipment – laid the groundwork for the modern invasive surgical techniques of today.
The use of X-rays as an important medical diagnostic tool began with their discovery in 1895 by German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen. He noticed that these rays could penetrate the skin, allowing the skeletal structure to be captured on a specially treated photographic plate.
Surgical specialties[edit]
National Societies[edit]
See also[edit]
Notes and references[edit]
2. ^ Mischke, Christina; Verbeek, Jos H; Saarto, Annika; Lavoie, Marie-Claude; Pahwa, Manisha; Ijaz, Sharea; Verbeek, Jos H (2014). "Gloves, extra gloves or special types of gloves for preventing percutaneous exposure injuries in healthcare personnel". doi:10.1002/14651858.CD009573.pub2.
3. ^ a b c American College of Radiology. "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question". Choosing Wisely: an initiative of the ABIM Foundation (American College of Radiology). Retrieved August 17, 2012 , citing
4. ^ American Society for Clinical Pathology, "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question", Choosing Wisely: an initiative of the ABIM Foundation (American Society for Clinical Pathology), retrieved August 1, 2013 , which cites
6. ^ a b Askitopoulou, H., Konsolaki, E., Ramoutsaki, I., Anastassaki, E. Surgical cures by sleep induction as the Asclepieion of Epidaurus. The history of anesthesia: proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium, by José Carlos Diz, Avelino Franco, Douglas R. Bacon, J. Rupreht, Julián Alvarez. Elsevier Science B.V., International Congress Series 1242(2002), p.11-17. [1]
7. ^ Doyle, S. L., Lysaght, J. and Reynolds, J. V. (2010), Obesity and post-operative complications in patients undergoing non-bariatric surgery. Obesity Reviews, 11: 875–886.
8. ^ a b c American Academy of Dermatology (February 2013), "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question", Choosing Wisely: an initiative of the ABIM Foundation (American Academy of Dermatology), retrieved 5 December 2013 , which cites
• Sheth, V. M.; Weitzul, S. (2008). "Postoperative topical antimicrobial use". Dermatitis : contact, atopic, occupational, drug 19 (4): 181–189. PMID 18674453.
9. ^ Aylin P, Alexandrescu R, Jen MH, Mayer EK, Bottle A (2013). "Day of week of procedure and 30 day mortality for elective surgery: retrospective analysis of hospital episode statistics". BMJ 346: f2424. doi:10.1136/bmj.f2424. PMC 3665889. PMID 23716356.
12. ^ Weiss AJ, Barrett ML, Steiner CA (July 2014). "Trends and Projections in Inpatient Hospital Costs and Utilization, 2003-2013". HCUP Statistical Brief #175. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
13. ^ a b Moore B, Levit K and Elixhauser A (October 2014). "Costs for Hospital Stays in the United States, 2012". HCUP Statistical Brief #181. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
14. ^ a b Makary MA, Segev DL, Pronovost PJ, et al. (June 2010). "Frailty as a predictor of surgical in older patients". J. Am. Coll. Surg. 210 (6): 901–8. doi:10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2010.01.028. PMID 20510798. Lay summary (28 December 2010).
15. ^ Meara JG, Leather AJ, Hagander L, Alkire BC, Alonso N, Ameh EA, Bickler SW, Conteh L, Dare AJ, Davies J, Mérisier ED, El-Halabi S, Farmer PE, Gawande A, Gillies R, Greenberg SL, Grimes CE, Gruen RL, Ismail EA, Kamara TB, Lavy C, Lundeg G, Mkandawire NC, Raykar NP, Riesel JN, Rodas E, Rose J, Roy N, Shrime MG, Sullivan R, Verguet S, Watters D, Weiser TG, Wilson IH, Yamey G, Yip W (2015). "Global Surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development". Lancet. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60160-X. PMID 25924834.
16. ^ Capasso, Luigi (2002). Principi di storia della patologia umana: corso di storia della medicina per gli studenti della Facoltà di medicina e chirurgia e della Facoltà di scienze infermieristiche (in Italian). Rome: SEU. ISBN 88-87753-65-2. OCLC 50485765.
17. ^ Shiffman, Melvin. Cosmetic Surgery: Art and Techniques. Springer. p. 20. ISBN 978-3-642-21837-8.
18. ^ R. Sullivan "The Identity and Work of the Ancient Egyptian Surgeon". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 89, no 8 (1996): 469.
19. ^ James P. Allen, "The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt". (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005), 72.
20. ^ "Stone age man used dentist drill". BBC News. 6 April 2006. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
21. ^ Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit Dictionary (1899)
23. ^ a b Kutumbian, pages XXXII-XXXIII
24. ^ Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit Dictionary, s.v. "suśruta"
25. ^ History of plastic surgery in India. Rana RE, Arora BS, - J Postgrad Med
26. ^ Hong, Francis (2004). "History of Medicine in China" (PDF). McGill Journal of Medicine 8 (1): 7984.
27. ^ Risse, G.B. Mending bodies, saving souls: a history of hospitals. Oxford University Press, 1990. p. 56 [2]
28. ^ biography from accessed 16 April 2007.
29. ^ Sven Med Tidskr. (2007). "From barber to surgeon- the process of professionalization". Svensk medicinhistorisk tidskrift 11 (1): 69–87. PMID 18548946.
30. ^ Levine JM (March 1992). "Historical notes on pressure ulcers: the cure of Ambrose Paré". Decubitus 5 (2): 23–4, 26. PMID 1558689.
31. ^ Moore, Wendy (2005). The Knife Man: The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery. Crown Publishing Group. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
32. ^ "John Hunter: "the father of scientific surgery": Resources from the collection of the P.I. Nixon Library". Retrieved 2012-12-17.
33. ^ "John Hunter: ‘Founder of Scientific Surgery’". Retrieved 2012-12-17.
34. ^ Gordon, H. Laing (November 2002). Sir James Young Simpson and Chloroform (1811–1870). The Minerva Group, Inc. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4102-0291-8. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
35. ^ Robinson, Victor. The Story Of Medicine. Kessinger Publishing. p. 420.
36. ^ The Lancet, "On a new method of treating compound fracture, abscess, etc.: with observation on the conditions of suppuration".
5 articles running from:
Volume 89, Issue 2272, 16 March 1867, Pages 326-329 (Originally published as Volume 1, Issue 2272)
Volume 90, Issue 2291, 27 July 1867, Pages 95-96 Originally published as Volume 2, Issue 2291
37. ^ Lister J (21 September 1867). "On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery". The British Medical Journal 2 (351): 245–260. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.351.246. PMC 2310614. PMID 20744875. . Reprinted in Lister, BJ (2010). "The classic: On the antiseptic principle in the practice of surgery. 1867". Clinical orthopaedics and related research 468 (8): 2012–6. doi:10.1007/s11999-010-1320-x. PMC 2895849. PMID 20361283.
38. ^ Lister, Joseph. "Modern History Sourcebook: Joseph Lister (1827-1912): Antiseptic Principle Of The Practice Of Surgery, 1867". Fordham University. Retrieved 2 September 2011. Modernized version of text
39. ^ Lister, Joseph. "On the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery by Baron Joseph Lister". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2 September 2011. E-text, audio at Project Gutenberg.
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0.059581 | <urn:uuid:282402f4-aa96-4b44-a4bc-860ac5f4ed89> | en | 0.942344 | Twins (1988 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see Twins (disambiguation).
Twins Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ivan Reitman
Produced by Ivan Reitman
Written by William Davies
William Osborne
Timothy Harris
Herschel Weingrod
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
Danny DeVito
Kelly Preston
Chloe Webb
Bonnie Bartlett
Music by Georges Delerue
Randy Edelman
Cinematography Andrzej Bartkowiak
Edited by Donn Cambern
Sheldon Kahn
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
• December 9, 1988 (1988-12-09)
Running time
105 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $18 million[1]
Box office $216,614,388
Twins is a 1988 comedy film, produced and directed by Ivan Reitman about unlikely twins (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito) who were separated at birth. The core of the film is the relationship between DeVito's streetwise character and Schwarzenegger's intellectual persona. The film's characters are based on Stacey Cosby and Zara Hughes. The original music score was composed by Georges Delerue and Randy Edelman (Edelman would score three more films for the director, whereas this was Delerue's only work for him). It grossed $11 million on its opening weekend, and went on to gross $216 million worldwide. Schwarzenegger and DeVito rather than taking their usual salary for the film, both agreed with the studio to take 20% of the film's box office, which resulted in them receiving the biggest paychecks of their movie careers.[2]
Julius Benedict (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Vincent Benedict (Danny DeVito) are fraternal twins, the results of a secret experiment carried out at a genetics laboratory to produce the perfect child. To the surprise of the scientists, the embryo split and twins were born. The mother, Mary Ann Benedict, was told that Julius died at birth, and not told about Vincent at all. Julius was informed that his mother died in childbirth. Vincent believed his mother abandoned him. Each twin is unaware of the other's existence.
Vincent was placed in an orphanage run by nuns in Los Angeles while Julius was taken to a South Pacific island and raised by Professor Werner (Tony Jay). On Julius' 35th birthday, Werner tells him that he has a twin brother.[3] Julius leaves the island to find him. In Los Angeles, with no one but himself to rely on, Vincent escaped from the orphanage.
Julius discovers Vincent lives in L.A., and travels throughout the city. Though intelligent, he is extremely naïve about the real world his more streetwise brother inhabits; at one point he inadvertently foils an attempt by two thieves to mug him. He finds Vincent in jail. Vincent is scornful when Julius tells him they are twins, but lets Julius bail him out and then drives off. Julius tracks Vincent to his workplace, where he is being beaten by one of the Klane brothers for the unpaid debt. Julius overpowers Morris and earns Vincent's respect and trust. He meets Vincent's on-again-off-again girlfriend, Linda Mason (Chloe Webb). Knowing little about women, Julius is oblivious to the flirtatious advances of her blond sister Marnie (Kelly Preston), who dislikes Vincent, but eventually falls in love with her. Vincent shows Julius a document he stole from the orphanage which proves their mother is still alive but, believing she abandoned him, he has no interest in finding her.
Vincent steals a Cadillac to sell to his chop-shop contact, and discovers a secret prototype fuel injector in the trunk, which was to be delivered to an industrialist in Houston for $5 million. He decides to deliver it himself and collect the money. Webster (Marshall Bell), the original delivery man, begins ruthlessly searching for the person who stole the prototype. At Julius' insistence, the two couples go on a cross-country journey to track Traven down. They eventually find him in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and he tells them that their mother is living in an art colony near Santa Fe. The Klane brothers find them again, with the intent of killing Vincent, but Julius and Vincent fight them off for the last time. At the art colony, a woman informs them that Mary Ann is dead and they leave. In reality, she is their mother but disbelieved their story. Meanwhile, Webster is also getting closer to finding Vincent.
While Julius accepts their mother's death, Vincent becomes bitter and storms off, leaving Julius and the girls stranded in New Mexico, to deliver the engine to the industrialist, Beetroot McKinley. Linda tells Julius about the engine and Julius once again sets off to find his brother. Vincent delivers the stolen property to Beetroot, but Beetroot and his assistant are shot and killed by Webster, who then turns his attention to Vincent just as Julius arrives. A cat-and-mouse chase ensues and Julius intercepts Webster as Vincent flees, but Vincent, feeling his brother's presence, reluctantly goes back and gives up the money to Webster. Webster prepares to kill them both anyway since they've seen his face, but Julius then tells him about the "third rule". When Webster questions them on this, Vincent notices a large chain dangling above where Webster is standing. Vincent quickly drops a nearby lever and the chain lands on Webster, knocking him to the floor and burying him alive beneath a large mound of chains. Julius and Vincent make their peace, and Vincent reluctantly agrees to return the money and the stolen engine to the authorities, but he secretly skims off one million. Meanwhile, the twins' publicity reaches the art colony, and their mother realizes that the two "comedians" who visited her were her long-lost sons after all.
Julius and Vincent marry the Masons, and use the $50,000 reward money to start up a legitimate consulting business, using Julius' knowledge and Vincent's questionable business savvy.
Twins received mostly mixed and negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 34% based on reviews from 29 critics.[4] However, Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "engaging entertainment with some big laughs and a sort of warm goofiness."[4]
In 1994 Reitman directed Junior, again starring DeVito and Schwarzenegger. Although not a sequel, it shared a similar theme, this time an experiment about male pregnancy.
In March 2012, Universal announced the development of a sequel titled Triplets. Schwarzenegger and DeVito will return, with Eddie Murphy as their long-lost brother. Ivan Reitman will co-produce.[5] [6]
During a June 2013 interview, Schwarzenegger said that a sequel, calling it Twins 2, was still in the works; however, it would likely not be out until after Terminator Genisys, which was released on July 1, 2015.[7]
In a June 24, 2015 interview on The Howard Stern show, Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed that a sequel to Twins is in the works with Danny DeVito returning as Schwarzenegger's twin brother and Eddie Murphy joining the cast as the long-lost third brother. Speculation suggests that the title of the sequel could be Triplets.[8]
See also[edit]
1. ^ "Schwarzenegger Interview – Interview/Podcast". Retrieved 2014-03-31.
3. ^ "Twins Script - Dialogue Transcript". Retrieved 2013-05-20.
4. ^ a b "Twins". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2013-05-20.
5. ^ Kit, Borys (March 29, 2012). "'Twins' Sequel 'Triplets' in the Works for Arnold, DeVito...and Eddie Murphy (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
6. ^ "RedCarpetNewsTV:Arnold Schwarzenegger Confirms Terminator 5, Conan and Twins Sequels". Retrieved 2013-01-22.
7. ^ Barton, Steve (June 13, 2013). "Arnold Schwarzenegger Confirms Terminator Role; Talks King Conan and Twins 2 – No Really, Twins 2". Dread Central. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
8. ^ Watkins, Gwynne (June 24, 2015). "Arnold Schwarzenegger Talks 'Twins' Sequel, Almost Turning Down 'The Terminator'". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
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• OK, so I got my Aneros. I'm going to use this thread to record my experiences, impressions and anything I learn :).
First impressions, before first use: this thing is BIG, much bigger than I thought it'd be. The Aneros is made of white, rigid, some kind of hard material. Doesnt smell and seems very rigid. The handle does bend a bit when pressed but I don't want to use any force.
OK, I'm gonna put it in now, more later.
• OK so a few hours passed. The first post -- this one -- describes what happened after I inserted the Aneros as soon as I received it.
First, I was at work when I got my Aneros, so I said what the heck, lets try it. It's fun and kinda low risk to use a hidden sextoy in this way, so I decided why not.
I went to the bathroom, lubed it up with some hand lotion, and stuck it in (after doing a BM of course). It went in no problem, even though it seemed so big -- that really surprised me. So next, I walked back to the office -- slowly, cause the Aneros was doing all kinds of interesting stuff in there -- and on the way just kinda listened to my body. It felt very strange, something foreign in there and there was a real need to take a BM even though I just had done that. The Aneros head was doing some really nice massaging from side to side as I walked, which felt good. Pretty soon I decided I didn't want to stop at my office so I walked some more, outta the building and around the office park. I wear baggy pants so I was pretty sure nothing strange was visible from behind. Listening some more, I found that the abuttment exerts some really nice pressure on a very sensitive point between my balls and my anus. Pretty soon I also noticed a leak of some sticky liquid from my VERY limp dick -- a contradiction in my mind, since I always have lots of pre-cum when aroused but none when not.
After a while, walking around started feeling very intense down there, some kind of pressure, not unpleasurable but very insistent, and a need to vacate. So I stopped for a while next to a nice tree and just stood there, and the feeling receded slowly. Tried to sit down -- ouch! That abuttment really hurts when you sit on it :( So that was out. OK, walk back to the office and to the restroom. Took it out, washed, and put it away. That was around 4pm.
Some impressions: I did notice some pleasure from the rubbing of the Aneros head inside my behind, whatever it was rubbing gave off some sparks of pleasure, but nothing intense. Also, no burning or itching or anything like that, just a very intense full feeling, as I said not unpleasant but in my mind associated with doing a BM. No contractions or muscle spasms.
That's it for experiment #1.
• I apologize for the length of this post, I just wanted to put in as much detail as possible to help others and to give more experienced people lots of details to comment on. Since I forgot to mention this before, I am a 50 year old hetero male, and I have some experience with anal play, mostly with vibrators (hers, a bent G-spot stimulator that does nothing for me). So inserting things there was not an obstacle for me.
OK, next experiment #2. I'd call this a partial success, no super O, and strangely no sexual arousal (for example, no erection), but very very pleasurable in a totally new way. I'm saying no super O based on the description of having a building and *release* -- I had the buildup but no release, so I'm not calling it a super O.
After getting clean for bed last night I lubed the Aneros properly with Equate (Walgreen's house brand personal lubricant, very viscous and slippery stuff). Also lubed up the behind with a finger and some more Equate, and inserted the Aneros. It went right in, no discomfort, and kind of settled itself into place (like a plane approaching a passenger gate almost :).
I laid on my back with my upper body raised on some pillows and relaxed for a couple minutes without paying attention to the Aneros. After a couple minutes I noticed some twitching of the Aneros in my behind, and some involuntary contractions. The shaft moved back and forth inside my anal cavity with very nice feelings being generated. So I decided to do the low level contractions recommended for bringing on the involuntaries.
Holding the low level contraction for a short while caused some very strong and insistent involuntary spasms, with the Aneros moving back and forth, and the abuttment tab pressing into my perinium. I noticed that I could keep the contractions going by relaxing my muscles as much as I could, and adding small pushy contractions when the involuntary ones were subsiding. The most pleasurable involuntary contractions felt like the Aneros was moving in and out, and this made the Aneros feel huge. I tried concentrating on causing these kind of in-n-out contractions, which requires conscious effort to relax the muscles down there. Every so often I lost the involuntary contractions because the pleasure would build to such a degree that I was completely clenched up, stiff like a board. Eventually I was unable to restart the involuntary contractions and it seemed like I was done.
During all of this my penis remained completely flaccid, and it was leaking sticky pre-cum very copiously. The pleasure I felt came together with an intense feeling of needing to do a BM and pee (I was empty, had taken care of business beforehand). That feeling was extremely distracting, but I was able to focus on the pleasure feelings and keep the contractions going for 20-30 minutes -- I looked at the clock when I started and when the contractions finally subsided.
Then I turned to lay on my left side, with my knees slightly bent, my sleeping position -- I intended to take a short nap before taking the Aneros out and turning in for the night. BANG, the involuntary contractions started right away, and in 2-3 minutes they became really intense, with a very warm sensation building, and it felt like something huge was about to happen. But every time I got close to that huge feeling I'd tense up completely and cause the contractions to stop. They'd start right up again as soon as I relaxed, without any participation from me.
Some other things I noticed: During the build up the contractions initially came in waves of one per second or so, then when they got really intense they were much faster, like strumming almost, maybe 3-4 contractions per second. And although as I said I was not sexually aroused (at least not in a sense I am familiar with, i.e. no erection for example, and almost no feeling in my penis) my heart was racing and I was breathing very hard. I noticed that I was naturally vibrating my diaphragm the recommeded way, it just happened because I was nearly sobbing from the intensity. I felt like I was rocking back and forth on the Aneros, and probably was moving my hips a bit to help with the rocking motion. I stayed in this rocking, breathing hard, heart racing, intense state for maybe 3-5 minutes, then had to stop because I became scared, it was so intense. I had some difficulty stopping the involuntary contractions, actually, and finally managed by laying on my back again and raising my knees to my chest, that stopped the contractions.
So almost 24 hours passed since that experience, and as I'm sitting here I still get buzzes and contractions. My PC muscle feels sore but no permanent damage. A gentle self examination reveals no damage, no blood, and no hemorroids. On the other hand, I do feel like this experience upset my bowels and thats the source of the continuing, not unpleasant, buzzes and contractions.
I'm going to give it a rest for tonight (if I succeed in staying away from this devilish toy :). More tomorrow night, if I feel rested enough. This time I didn't use an porn, next time I intend to use some porn beforehand or to get going early in the session. Also I didn't do proper preparation, no towels and stuff. I'll definitely fix that for next session, so I can proceed without worrying about any messes.
Comments most welcome!
• Posts: 0
FleshJoe??? hummm...... Are you the FleshJoe that I sometimes see on MH?
• Are you the same Fleshjoe from the Fleshlight forum?
• If MH == Men's Health, then yes. And yes, I'm the same as the guy from the FleshLight forum. | https://www.aneros.com/forum/index.php?p=discussion/7154/new-user | dclm-gs1-244080001 | false | false | {
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0.01866 | <urn:uuid:e9ea7578-5b82-45f8-95bc-e8cc7ed684b7> | en | 0.990743 | The Unexpected
A Story by Pip
Rating: The story has now become PG-13.
Season: S.9, starting as an episode tag to TPTB.
Spoilers: TPTB, The Ties that Bind, Origin, Avalons p.1 & 2, and possibly Prometheus Unbound
Summary: Dr. Carolyn Lam actually get to really talk with our favorite archaeologist, and finds something unexpected.
A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed. I'm glad that people were actually intrigued by this idea. Sorry it took me so long to get the second chapter up, but, with working on my other fic Family, and other things, like getting ready to move, its been difficult. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take so long to be finished.
Ch.2:Sparks and a Realization
Carolyn strolled down the halls of the SGC, pretty much ignoring everybody that she passed. She wasn't here to try and make friends. She was here to do her job, and right now that job was to check up on a patient. Vala.
She hadn't seen the woman in the past couple of hours, and then, Carolyn noted, she hadn't been quite herself. Very withdrawn and quiet. Ofcourse, the doctor knew it was because of the mission to P8X-412. Vala had shown true compassion for those people, despite originally going there only for her treasure. When they had returned to earth worn out and defeated, the vixen, normally cheery and annoying, had taken it hardest.
Carolyn had done everything she could think of to get the woman to talk, but all attempts fell short. Vala had just closed up. So, not knowing where else to turn, Carolyn went to the only person she'd seen have any sort of 'closeness' with the thief. Daniel Jackson.
Ofcourse, she hadn't seen him in a few hours either, after he went off to check on Vala. Both were do for an exam, a precautionary measure Lam was taking to make sure the linking effects of the bracelets was indeed wearing off.
Turning the corner to the hallway where both patience were currently residing, Carolyn decided to check on Vala first. Hopefully Daniel had been able to at least get the woman to eat, and maybe get some rest.
As Carolyn went to knock lightly on the door to Vala's quarters, the knob began to turn from the inside. Focusing on the fast turning handle, the doctor jumped back when the door quickly, yet quietly swung open, revealing not Vala, but-
"Carolyn?" Daniel Jackson, voice quiet, was just as surprised at her presence as she was of his.
"Uh, Daniel.."Carolyn made it a point not to be surprised by anyone, but having been working here for the past couple of weeks, that point was starting to become less apparent, especially concerning the man before her. "What are you doing..." she indicated to the room from which he was slowly exiting.
"You asked me to talk with Vala, remember?" Daniel said, closing the door just as quietly as he had opened it. He gave her a curious look, tilting his head a fraction.
"Well yes, ofcourse. But, i assumed by now that you would be done." Carolyn's surprise quickly faded into light confusion, which made Daniel smile slightly.
"Vala can be a little..." he looked up, trying to think of the right word.
"Stubborn?" Carolyn suggested.
"Yes, exactly." his smile grew a bit.
"Well, I got that, but..." the doctor ducked her head slightly at Daniel's amused look. Thinking quickly, she changed the subject...some. "How is she?"
"Oh..." the archaeologist looked back at the door, as if he could see the woman inside. "She's sleeping, finally. And, i got her to eat something." he turned to look at Carolyn again.
"Really?" the doctor tried to hide her amazement at the announcement, but her voice betrayed her. "That wonderful. Well, if she's resting, i guess her check up from me is unnecessary, at least for now." she looked down at the files in her hand, not knowing where to go from there.
Daniel watched her for a second, amused. Sam had told him about this Dr. Lam. Said she had known the woman for years, and informed him that not much of anything got past her skin. It was a wonder that she seemed to be losing her well kept 'tightness' you could say, just from talking to him. Gently pushing past her, he started across the hall to his room. "I'm gonna make some coffee.." he turned to look at her. "Care to join me?"
Carolyn looked up, slightly amazed. When he'd walked past her, she figured that was it, no more conversation. But, now, he was inviting her into his quarters for coffee? This man really was a wonder, and he was making her feel ways she hadn't felt since she was twelve. "Coffee?"
"Yeah." he smiled at her, as she walked up along side him. "Its the best this base has to offer. Premium blend from a nice little shop not far from my house." Reaching the doorway to his quarters, Daniel swiped his card, and opened the door. Carolyn cautiously stepped in, still unsure of what to make of her current situation.
"You have premium blend?" her mind finally registered on what he had said. Looking around the room, her gaze fell to where Daniel had stopped, in front of a very nice coffee machine. "You have a coffee maker in your quarters?"
Daniel chuckled at her words. "The blend is actually a gift. More of a must-have now, for when Sam, or Jack stop by for a chat." he looked over at her. "Please, sit. Make yourself at much as possible anyway." he motioned with his hand for her to sit in his makeshift living room, a coffee table and two plush arm chairs. "Oh, and could you close the door. Don't want anyone just walking in."
"Oh, um, sure." Carolyn was still a wee bit baffled by everything that was happening. Nobody had been this kind to her since she was younger. Most people took offense to her, since she was normally so closed-off. But, with every minute with this man, she was feeling more and more...unbalanced. Like he was providing something she didn't realize was missing from her life.
Something she had been trying to avoid since she was in grade school. Those who tried to offer it, she shut down, but Daniel was pushing past all her defenses like a breeze through the trees. He was giving the one thing Carolyn sought most, but hated to have. Comfort, Compassion,...maybe even something more. Something she couldn't quite wrap her thoughts around yet.
Taking a seat down in one of the chairs, she absently placed the files she'd been holding on the table, and watched as Daniel busied himself with fixing their drinks.
"So, you know Sam..." he jumped into the topic out of nowhere, walking up to her chair, and handing her a mug. Carolyn inhaled the rich aroma, and couldn't help the blissful sigh that escaped.
"Yeah, Sam and I have known each other since we we're little." she took a slow sip of the steaming liquid. "Our fathers..."she took another long sip.
Daniel laughed a little. "A fellow coffee whore I see." he imitated her, taking a long drink from his own mug. She raised an eyebrow at his remark. "Oh, its what Jack like to call me sometimes. He's the one who gave me the coffee."
"Nice gift." Carolyn exclaimed. In her mind, she was more confused then ever. How was he doing this to her? She was beginning to feel like a teenager opening up to her high school crush.
"Yes, that's why I only share it with good people." he smiled as Carolyn blushed. "More than good people." her cheek's color deepened.
"Thank You." she said when her voice returned.
The two had talked for hours, both becoming more open with each other with every passing moment. Daniel returned to their little sitting area, handing Carolyn another cup of coffee.
"Thanks." she accepted the mug gratefully, her deep brown eyes shining brightly, a genuine smile on her face. Daniel blinked at how overwhelmingly beautiful she looked, now that she seemed more comfortable. Not that she wasn't a sight before, but, now, she just radiated beauty, snuggled into the chair, much to big for her slender body, knees pulled up against her chest. She'd opted to remove her lab coat not long into their conversation, and without it, she appeared less Dr. Lam, and more Carolyn. Daniel hadn't realized he'd been staring. "What?" she asked, slightly concerned.
"Oh...umm.." now it was his turn to be caught off guard. He didn't know if he should tell her his actual thoughts, or if he should lie. Could he trust this woman he'd only known a short period of time with his true feelings. The last thing he needed was to have his heart torn in pieces again.
"Daniel?" Carolyn asked softly. "What is it?"
The genuine concern in her voice, mixed with something he couldn't quite figure what it was, caused Daniel to decide on the truth. "I was just, uh..." he cleared his throat nervously. "I'm your" he looked at her as she blushed again.
Ducking her head, Carolyn gave him a small smile in return. "Wow, Daniel. I don't know what to say...I" Slowly, he knelt down from where he'd been standing in front of her. Lost in his crystal blue eyes, Carolyn allowed his lips to touch hers passionately, numbed for a second as his tongue slowly part her lips, and brush against her own. Then, a fire she hadn't known she had within her exploded, and she returned the kiss with equal passion.
Within a matter of seconds, the lip lock ended, and Daniel pulled away from her, dumbfounded. Falling back on his ass, he looked at her amazed. "Whoa."
Her face mirrored his amazement. She looked at him, almost star struck. "Daniel that was...". Suddenly there was a knock at the door, causing both of them to jump up, surprised. Quickly, the door opened, and the base commander, General Hank Landry walked into the room.
"Carolyn, I've been looking everywhere for you." he looked at the two people before him, both with a look in their eyes that he recognized, tinged with a slight look of guilt. "What's going on here?" he asked curiously
"Me and Daniel we're just talking, and having coffee." Carolyn answered, looking at the handsome man beside her. He nodded his confirmation.
"Yes sir. Getting to know each other better." the two shared a look, that didn't go unnoticed by the older general.
"I'm sure." he smiled slightly. He could see the passion in their eyes for each other. The kind that gets stumbled upon unintentionally, the never expected feeling that surges through you upon realizing it. As a father he should be concerned for his daughter, knowing what she could be getting into with this man before her, the resident trouble-magnet of the SGC. And, as a General, he should be angered by the fact that two of his most elite workers were having feelings for one another. But, he felt neither. All he knew was that he could see it between them before they even realized it. Looking at his daughter, he remember his reason for looking for her. "Carolyn, your needed in the infirmary. Sg-3 came back a little tore up..."
"Okay, General." the doctor was back where the dumbstruck teenager had been. Turning, she grabbed her coat of the chair. "
"No hurry, Doctor." Hank smiled some more. "I'll just give you a moment to finish up with Doctor Jackson." he turned, and headed back out the door.
"Carolyn..." Daniel looked at the woman before him.
"Daniel, i've got to go..." she said firmly, but totally out of character from how she normally acted, Carolyn slid up to the handsome man, and kissed his cheek, whispering. "I'm not to fond of that beard, by the way." he glanced at her sideways, and a smile crept over his face. Slowly, she walked away, the fire of passion burning deep within her. With one last glance at those blue eyes, the doctor exited his quarters.
Daniel looked on, still somewhat shocked at how events had turned out. The door clicked as she left him alone, her presence still lingering upon him. With that click came a realization that smacked him like a ton of bricks. Stumbling back slightly, as if physically hit, he blinked, absently rubbing his stubble cover chin. "I'm in love." he stuttered, finally coming to the conclusion that everyone else had already realized. Laughing a bit, he said it again louder and more stern. "I'm in Love."
Walking over to his bed, he sat down, and picked up the phone, and started dialing a number, still absently rubbing at his face. The other end picked up.
"Hello." he replied. "I'd like to have a razor sent to my quarters ASAP..."
A/N: Okay, honestly, do you think i maybe had thngs move a little to fast? I'm not sure...I'm all for the out of nowhere kiss(we all know it happens often enough to danny-boy!), and, ofcourse, i'm a hopeless romantic, but, was it too much? Please review and let me know! | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2590865/2/The-Unexpected | dclm-gs1-244130001 | false | false | {
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0.207415 | <urn:uuid:6d76f75e-10a7-46d7-b8d4-fe16c282e113> | en | 0.951862 | Egypt's ruling military council has vowed to hand over power to an elected president by the end of June, in the wake of a presidential run-off election on Sunday. But many people have doubts over whether such a transition will actually take place, Wilson Center-USIP Distinguished Scholar Robin Wright told the BBC's Jane O'Brien.
She added that Egypt could risk an "unraveling of the revolution", amid declining voter turnout over the course of the elections and deepening political polarization. | https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/egypt-risks-unraveling-the-revolution | dclm-gs1-244180001 | false | false | {
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0.345469 | <urn:uuid:4b28f7de-eaf3-45be-9385-61c139dbb74b> | en | 0.973208 | Tuesday, June 7, 2011
When taxis are too cheap
As I wrote last month, taxi service has "an availability problem in Manhattan at peak periods. During rush hour in the rain you can stand for a long time, and fights over taxis are not uncommon." Whenever you have a set price for something regardless of supply and demand, you're going to get gluts and shortages, and there are shortages at peak times in Manhattan.
It's not always your typical rush hour. Back in the 90s, the Tuesday Night Skate would often ride up Sixth Avenue around 10-11PM, and when we got to the Rockefeller Center area there were always people standing with their hands raised. At first I thought they were giving us high fives, but they ignored me when I got closer. Eventually I realized that they were hailing cabs. There were quite a few of them, and I think they had just gotten out of Broadway theaters or Radio City Music Hall. You see the same scene on Bleecker Street, or anywhere there's evening entertainment.
Some people have opted out of the system entirely. At the Trump luxury condos on Riverside Boulevard, the city is considering setting aside curb space for the black cars that the residents have hired because taxis won't cruise that part of town.
These shortages are bad for the city. As anyone who's ever waited for a cab knows, they're a special kind of pain in the ass because you have to be constantly alert. If you go into the newsstand to get some Altoids, a cab could go right by and you wouldn't see it. If you get too wrapped up in that tweet you're sending, that jerk in the suit could grab your taxi. Meanwhile, you and that jerk in the suit, and everyone else with their hands in the air on Columbus Avenue, are standing around waiting when you could be doing something productive with your time, or at least something fun or relaxing.
The low prices are bad for cab drivers. If the fares could rise to meet demand, the drivers could potentially make enough during rush hours to pay their rent for the day. Then they could go take a nap or work on their novels instead of cruising the island like madmen. That would work for a while, at least until the medallion owners figure out what's up and jack up their rent.
Of course, the combination of low set fares and artificially scarce supply is particularly moronic.
The ideal would be a dynamic pricing system. I've mentioned "the thumb" before - the device that Douglas Adams invented for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that allows a user to flag down a passing spaceship. In the comments, Nathan H. linked to a review of Uber, which is essentially a new car service "base" that works via text message or iPhone or Android app.
Uber's price system is also fixed, a bit higher than the yellow cabs, but their Twitter feed is full of apologies for shortages. That may be good marketing strategy during the product launch, but people will abandon the system if it's not reliable over the long run.
With a Thumb system like this, you could vary the price depending on the number of hails from a particular area at a given time. It could be a $7 drop charge at 3PM on a Tuesday, a $2 drop charge at 10AM on a Saturday, and a $20 drop charge at 11PM on a Friday. You could probably even build price discrimination into it, offering loyalty fares and allowing customers to set price ceilings. You could even allow competitive bidding, so that you could outbid that jerk in the suit.
Even without this kind of dynamic pricing, though, you could still vary prices by time of day. The original Bloomberg congestion pricing plan included a $1 congestion surcharge for taxis between 6AM and 6PM. The Carl Kruger plan that was eventually adopted kept the taxi surcharge (reduced to 50 cents), but imposed it 24/7.
For the sake of cab drivers and customers, the city should adopt a pricing plan with at least three tiers, with the top tier high enough to discourage waiting and the low tier low enough to make it worthwhile to cruise the "inner boroughs" at some times of day. And of course they should remove limits on the overall supply of yellow cabs.
1 comment:
nathan_h said...
Last week I happened to meet someone who works for another taxi startup, Taxi Magic http://taximagic.com/ . He said that while Uber puts you in contact with the drivers, they work through dispatchers and they've been able to expand to many more cities. But they can't yet offer their service here in New York. I imagine that has a lot to do with our wonderful Vested Interests. | http://capntransit.blogspot.com/2011/06/when-taxis-are-too-cheap.html?showComment=1307452878437 | dclm-gs1-244210001 | false | false | {
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0.163845 | <urn:uuid:c75d813b-3910-46a7-829b-6e0ab0ea6b90> | en | 0.974209 | Saturday, July 25, 2009
While the AG and the PC morons in Congress are pushing 'hate crime' legislation, (updated)
I wonder if they'll bother to be troubled by stuff like this:
...When it emerged that the four female Quebecers were, in fact, Muslim, the tearful parents offered up a strange tale of an impromptu midnight driving lesson gone tragically wrong (Driving Lesson May Have Led To Drowning).
La Presse is now reporting that the girls' father, mother, and brother have been arrested en route to Montreal Airport, and that the deceased "aunt" or (alternatively) "cousin" was, in fact, the girls' father's first wife. The words "crime d'honneur" are beginning to creep into newspaper accounts
But wait! There's MORE!!
Police say 14-year-old Kinza Kaianad died Monday evening at Kingston General Hospital as a result of injuries she sustained Saturday in a hotel pool in Gananoque, roughly 30 kilometres east of Kingston.
Her mother, 43-year-old Naila Yasmin, died in hospital on Sunday.
Yasmin, Kaianad and another daughter, age 11, were found unconscious in the indoor hotel pool just before 9 a.m. Saturday
Seems to me that you'd have to hate someone a fair amount to do something like this to them, but since muslims are a protected species according to Holder, they can't possibly be guilty of a hate crime. As Steyn says,
In other circumstances, they'd be planning the movie with Ashley Judd or some such as the crusading feminist Assistant DA. But as the M-word's involved I expect poor Zainab Shafi and the rest will be quickly forgotten.
Yeah, it's not like some evil white guy, probably Christian or Jewish, committed multiple murders in the name of 'honor'.
You know, there's a real disconnect between cultures about that word: take some dirt-poor hillbilly, someone rapes his daughter he'll give the sheriff a chance to do something about it, and if he doesn't, out comes the scattergun or rifle to deal with the rapist; the idea of killing his own daughter because she had brought shame on the family, generally wouldn't occur.
Update: take a look at this.
It seems that the Commie Who Would Be Stalin is a chicken,
and our SecState and President seem to have gotten the idea that Honduras is in the right, and isn't going to roll over for The One.
Surrounded by a throng of supporters and media, Zelaya, wearing a leather waistcoat and his trademark cowboy hat, stepped into Honduras briefly before returning to Nicaragua.
Before the Honduran authorities could throw his sorry ass in jail.
He retreated further from the border area later in the day and was expected to spend the night in the Nicaraguan town of Ocotal.
"...further from the border..." because he's afraid the Hondurans are tired of this crap and just might grab him. Or shoot him, which would be simpler, and maybe preferable(yeah, I know, but it's an idea).
It makes you wonder how President B. Hussein Cartman Obama will decide when
we've actually 'won'. If he hasn't decided by then that 'winning' is a bad word, too.
Friday, July 24, 2009
I have had my fun for the day.
Yesterday evening went out to the bike to go somewhere and, as I rolled forward, noted a shimmy in the back end(no, not mine; shut up, Og). Rear tire very low, so pulled out the compressor and aired it up. Got there and back, no problem.
Early this afternoon thought I'd check the tire, just to be sure, and found "The pressure, it's not there." As in wouldn't move the gauge. Bleep. Checked the whole tire, no sign of nails, screws, etc., so aired it up again and, hmmm, that his isn't from the slightly leaky chuck, where...
Tire valve. Body leaking right where it goes into the wheel, leaking badly now. So I got to take the back wheel off(not difficult, but a pain in the ass), take it to a shop and get a new valve installed. And no, this is not one of those things I'll try myself if I can avoid it. I've changed tires on my old bike, which had smaller tires and steel wheels; I'm not even gonna think about messing with a tubeless tire on a aluminum wheel without the right tools. Then home and reinstall the wheel, just as much fun as taking it off. At least I now know my rear brake shoes have about 1/3 to 1/2 their life left; be a while before have to change them.
I finally got Security Staff to ride in the front with me instead of in the bed, so she rode along. She sits up watching all, but when I get out to do something and she has to stay in, she gets excited: "Where you going? Why can't I come?!? Come back!" Especially when it's a stop at a place she doesn't remember. At least she doesn't bark, just looks very concerned until I get back.
Either the brass at Los Angeles PD know nothing about firearms,
Further example of why some legislators and some cops
should be tarred and feathered. And a few of them hung.
Consider small-time inventor and entrepreneur Krister Evertson, who will testify at today's hearing. Krister never had so much as a traffic ticket before he was run off the road near his mother's home in Wasilla, Alaska, by SWAT-armored federal agents in large black SUVs training automatic weapons on him.
Evertson, who had been working on clean-energy fuel cells since he was in high school, had no idea what he'd done wrong. It turned out that when he legally sold some sodium (part of his fuel-cell materials) to raise cash, he forgot to put a federally mandated safety sticker on the UPS package he sent to the lawful purchaser.
Krister's lack of a criminal record did nothing to prevent federal agents from ransacking his mother's home in their search for evidence on this oh-so-dangerous criminal
At least it was over, right?
The good news is that a federal jury in Alaska acquitted Krister of all charges. The jurors saw through the charges and realized that Krister had done nothing wrong.
The bad news, however, is that the feds apparently had it in for Krister. Federal criminal law is so broad that it gave prosecutors a convenient vehicle to use to get their man.
Two years after arresting him, the feds brought an entirely new criminal prosecution against Krister on entirely new grounds. They used the fact that before Krister moved back to Wasilla to care for his 80-year-old mother, he had safely and securely stored all of his fuel-cell materials in Salmon, Idaho.
In this case, first you have a bunch of idiots in DC who seem to think if they're not making something illegal or taxable or both, they're not doing anything. Second, you have law enforcement officials who are statist morons. There was no damned reason for, if you had to arrest Krister at all, using an effing SWAT team. And apparently we're supposed to believe that actual crime is so far under control that this moron prosecutor had the time and money to waste filing the second charge on him.
The other hardened criminal whose story members of Congress will hear today is retiree George Norris. A longtime resident of Spring, Texas, Norris made the mistake of not knowing and keeping track of all of the details of federal and international law on endangered species -- mostly paperwork requirements -- before he decided to turn his orchid hobby into a small business. What was Norris's goal? To earn a little investment income while his wife neared retirement.
The Lacey Act is an example of the dangerous overbreadth of federal criminal law. Incredibly, Congress has made it a federal crime to violate any fish or wildlife law or regulation of any nation on earth.
Facing 10 years in federal prison, Norris pled guilty and served almost two. His wife, Kathy, describes the pain of losing their life savings to pay for attorneys and trying to explain to grandchildren why for so long Poppa George couldn't see them
Again, some morons in DC thought this crap was a good idea, and some prosecutor apparently had so little actual crime to deal with that he thought spending money and time to screw a family over, was a good idea.
Few years back I read about a problem in New York Effing City for people who use guns in self-defense: if you had a legal gun and killed an attacker in actual self-defense, the prosecutors liked to charge you with involuntary manslaughter. It was an easy charge to make, fairly easy to get a conviction on(you either agreed to that or got charged with something else, OR went broke trying to defend yourself against it), and when you ran for office later it gave you another 'conviction of a dangerous criminal' to point to on your record. A prosecutor who actually gave a rats ass about truth and justice wouldn't do such; just like one who gave a crap about those things wouldn't have been involved in the crap above. Unfortunately, there's a lot of them who don't.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Two aspects of The One's work to SAVE US!
Thanks to Theo for both
When someone asks you a question, and the first thing you say is
'I don't know the facts of the case', then if you've got a brain you shut the hell up; you do NOT accuse the cop and the department of being racists and stupid. As Bill Cosby points out.
More information on the incident here, including links to the report that the Boston Globe for some reason scrubbed from their site.
I will point out that from the information available, this professor managed to talk himself into being arrested due to arrogance and general stupidity. You know, I'm quite willing to call 'bullcrap' on a cop when I think he does wrong; I'm also willing to say "You know, professor, if you're so damn smart why didn't you just shut up?"
A response from Government Motors in the comments
so apparently they're actually paying attention to this kind of mess. The other day I posted on how a writer was screwed around when he was trying to test-drive a Camaro because he really wanted to buy one. Response in the comments is listed as from Adam Denison from GM:
Our response, I thought, was pretty proactive. This is a case of supply and demand because of how much in demand the Camaro is right now. Granted, it could've been handled better (hindsight is always 20/20, right?), but we're trying to correct the situation. Vijay and I have been in touch and we'll follow up with him when he gets back from vacation.
Mr. Denison, 'could've been handled better' is an understatement. Supply and demand problems mean telling the guy "Sir, we are flat sold out of them right now, we can notify you as soon as we have one you can drive" instead of either ignoring him, saying "We don't got one" and dropping him, or trying to push him to buy sight unseen. Or setting him up for a test drive and then him finding out A: it isn't the kind he wanted to drive and B: "Oh, you're not allowed to actually test drive it!" THAT was flat idiotic, and crap like that is why so many people hate looking at cars at all; and right now you can't afford to treat customers that way.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A roundup of some crap out there
The Senate made our enemies happy and our allies sad. And I have to say I'm disgusted that Sen. Coburn voted to drop F22 funding. And if you had any doubts remaining about President B. Hussein Cartman Obama, saw over at Ace that he'd promised to veto the bill if the F22 funding for more wasn't cancelled. Ace has the comment "surrender isn't an accident, it's a plan." And it seems to be the plan of the Second Carter AdministrationObama Administration.
Obama and the Democrats paid off the AMA to support his socialized medicine plan:
Michelle Malkin
tried to get some answers ref the new Science King(ranks right below Emperor Obama) about his views, gets lecture and runaround:
Last week, I called the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to press Science Czar John Holdren on his views; his purported disavowal of Ecoscience, the book he co-authored with Paul and Anne Ehrlich; and his continued embrace of forced-abortion advocate and eugenics guru Harrison Brown, whom he credits with inspiring him to become a scientist.
I got an earful from OSTP flack Rick Weiss, who lectured me about journalism. He let me know that he was a reporter for 15 years (at the Washington Post) and put me on notice against writing a “smear job.” He had snippy words for blogs covering the Holdren story and warned against making unfair associations between what Holdren believes and what other population control promoters believe.
But when I pressed him specifically about Holdren’s relationship with Harrison Brown, he:
1) said he didn’t know who he was;
2) balked at drawing any conclusions about Holdren’s views based on his homages to Brown (even though Brown is a lifelong intellectual mentor, colleague, and continued inspiration for Holdren);
3) and told me not to expect any response from Holdren’s office on my specific question about whether Hodren disavows his relationship with a eugenics enthusiast who referred to the world population as a “pulsating mass of maggots.”
I didn’t have any luck. Maybe you will.
Naw, it's not about Obama, it's about medicine! And HopeyChangey!!! Except when it's about Obama.
And last, the Honduran government told the Venezuelan government
The Foreign Ministry has requested the honorable embassy of Venezuela the withdrawal of its administrative, technical and diplomatic staff in a term of 72 hours due to the threats of using force, the interference in internal issues as well as the lack of respect to the territorial integrity," Deputy Foreign Minister Martha Lorena Alvarado said.
The Venezuelans, being standard-issue commie flying monkeys for Chavez,
The request, however, was turned down by Vezezuelan diplomats who said they would not leave Honduras and would not obey the order of any coup government not recognized by Venezuela.
"We do not recognize the government led by Roberto Micheletti. It is a coup government, supported by bayonets," Uriel Vargas, the first secretary from the Venezuelan embassy in Honduras, told local radio station HRN
I thought when a host government told you to get the hell out, you got. Unless you were actually trying to cause trouble, which these clowns are. Shouldn't that be cause for action like, oh, an infantry company exercise? Of course, since they'd be chasing a bunch of commie troublemakers out the UN and OAS and Obama would all crap bricks and make threats; if we were really lucky some of them would be so 'troubled' by Honduras defending their country there'd be some heart attacks or strokes. Or piles, at least.
Just like Jimmy Carter, "No Dictatorship We Can't Get Along With."
Thousands of Buddhist monks marched in the Hledan area of Rangoon back in September 2007. The monks led massive democracy protests against the violent junta. Unfortunately, the military regime cracked down on the activists killing and imprisoning several thousand men and women for demanding freedom. (BBC)
The regime slaughtered the democracy protesters. They gunned them down in the streets.
This is raw footage of the execution of Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai by the Burmese junta on September 27, 2007.
Today, Obama Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared "The US is back" in Asia as she signed a non-aggression treaty with the killer Myanmar junta.
You know, the Carter Dictator Suckup wasn't fun the first time around; the Obama Suckup is going to be worse, I fear.
Well, he'll have to do SOMETHING
with those old folks who 'maybe should just take a pill'.
"How dare you sell things that offer an opinion?
At least one we don't agree with?"
'Neutral enough'. Really? I wonder how many pro-Obama type shirts and stickers and such are sold at other stores? Especially since
The owner of the mall group, Mel Simon, has been a generous contributor to Democratic causes and politicians, including Barack Obama. Spivack thinks the decision about his lease is political.
You think maybe?
Pointed to by Insty.
Government Motors screws up, tries to catch horse after
barn door falls off; anybody surprised?
I never heard back.
I was shocked. Here I was, ready to buy, while GM was in financial straits. I thought they'd be all over me. Turns out it's not so easy to obtain a piece of the American dream.
The next week, I decided to widen my search. I e-mailed four Chevy dealers in the area. Two never wrote back. One replied that they had no Camaros, and ended the correspondence right there. The fourth said they'd have one soon -- just stay tuned.
Dealer 4 began to check in periodically -- pitching Camaros that I could buy sight unseen. I reminded him of my request for a test drive. Then I reiterated my request for a test drive. Then I absolutely insisted on a test drive. And, eventually, I ended up with an appointment. But after driving 45 minutes to the dealer, I found that the one Camaro they'd gotten in was an automatic (I'd asked for a manual transmission) and that I wouldn't be allowed to drive it, just sit in it on the lot. The sales person tried to get me in a Corvette and to convince me that transmission is the same (it's not). I left the dealership, dejected, but not yet ready to give up
Yeah, putting politicians and unions in charge of (used to be)General Motors works out real well. Customer wants car, "Screw you, look at something else."
Oh, the ending:
UPDATE: Just in, via Twitter from GM's Adam Denison, one of the PR personnel for Camaro:
"FYI, we offered that WaPo blogger a ride with Ed Peper at a local dealership tomorrow. Haven't heard from him yet."
Based on Vijay Ravindran's Twitter feed, tomorrow may not work out, but it's interesting to see that GM PR is all over this
Well, gee, they just found out multiple dealers crapped on a potential customer; they'd BETTER be 'all over this'. Although, were I Ravindran, my response would probably be "Too late, jackass."
Quote of the day
in response to
"I don't think that the police should carry guns. Mainly because there is not enough respect for the police in this country. The best alternative is to issue all police officers with Taser guns.
"These are being deployed on a daily basis and hardly ever discharged. The mere threat of being tasered is often enough to stop people in their tracks. Forget the guns and bring on the Tasers. And respect the police."
Keith, in comments, says
Taser = Cattle Prod
Citizens = cattle
Does seem to sum it up, doesn't it?
How's that "Strict control of firearms" in Britain working out?
Not real well.
A 13-year-old schoolgirl has been arrested by armed police - after they discovered a sub-machine gun in her wardrobe.
The teenager was taken into custody yesterday afternoon after the M16-style rifle - capable of firing up to 900 rounds-per-minute - was seized at a flat in Croydon, South London
Please, that's just not possible! Why, such guns are BANNED in Britain!
After they secured the flat, Sergeant Darin Birmingham and his team searched the rooms, uncovering the weapon wrapped in clothes under a wardrobe.
Sgt Birmingham said: 'We received information that the young man living here, who is a known gang member, had access to firearms.
'We pieced together the information we had and decided to act immediately in case the firearm was used
(if it hadn't already...)
A M16 isn't a sub-gun; and we don't know if this was an M16 or an AR; you still have the fact that in 'strictly-controlled' Britain a gang-banger apparently had little trouble getting it. Seems like the "We should have laws like Britain!" idea just isn't working out real well.
Speaking of Britain,
The number of knife deaths in areas targeted by an anti-knife crime scheme has risen, the Home Office has said.
The government's Tackling Knives Action Programme started last July in 10 police areas in England and Wales.
In its first nine months, 126 people died after being attacked with a knife or other sharp object - seven more than in the same period the previous year.
Overall knife-related violence fell by 10%, but the number of deaths among teenagers remains unchanged
There's a lot of "But things are getting better!" sunniness, but at the end you have someone pointing to a bit of reality:
Professor Marian Fitzgerald, a criminologist at Kent University, said the government was putting too much emphasis on knife carrying instead of knife crime.
She said: "They have thrown a lot at very visible police enforcement, lots of stop and search, most of which yields nothing.
"Meanwhile that hardcore who are determined to perpetrate violence whatever is done are not being dealt with."
Exactly. Someone with a pocketknife for general use isn't a threat; someone committing a crime is. Deal with the criminal, dammit, and stop blaming the object. And stop making criminals of people with no evil intent.
Remember the 'FBI agent accused of dealing guns to Mexico'
story? And the possible "Wait a minute..."? There's more:
From a source helping defend Shipley:
The AUSA leaked the sealed (by the AUSA) Search Warrant to the local press the day before John was arraigned, and never notified the Defense Attorney.
Well isn't that interesting--and something else to look into. Also:
Below I have cut from the regulation the definition for a fire arms dealer. You can see that a collector of firearms or a hobbyist is not required to obtain a license or maintain records of sales. So why is John Shipley being accused of being a dealer if he sold 50 weapons in three years and bought 53 weapons. Can a collector improve his collection? Can a collector buy a gun, shoot it and find out that it is not what he thought it was, sell it and buy something else? If you read the regulation there is no finite number that says if you sell ten guns you have to be a Federal Firearms Licensee. So if the regulation is vague, then do we allow the government to pick and choose who they want to prosecute? Does the word Selective Prosecution mean anything to you?
Why yes, it does. It's possible this agent is actually dirty; it's also possible he's a guy who bought and sold stuff for his personal collection, one of which he sold MAY have wound up in Mexico(according to the story, NOT from his hands), and the feds are playing games and wanting to hang him for publicity and example. And, unfortunately, we have reason to think the latter is quite possible; they've done crap like that before.
As Codrea says, more to learn about this.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
what's in it!"
I just don't know what to make of this one
The question is 'Should UK cops carry guns?', and one of the responses is
As a serving police officer, spats13 shares his frank opinion: "I don't think that the police should carry guns. Mainly because there is not enough respect for the police in this country. The best alternative is to issue all police officers with Taser guns.
Uh huh. Ok. Have at it, folks.
Every time Schumer supports 'state's rights', it's because
it will screw with individual rights in a way he approves:
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has pledged to filibuster the amendment, called it a breach of states' rights. "Each state has carefully crafted its concealed-carry laws in the way that makes the most sense to protect its citizens," he said. "Clearly, large, urban areas merit a different standard than rural areas," he said. "To gut the ability of local police and sheriffs to determine who should be able to carry a concealed weapon makes no sense. It could reverse the dramatic success we've had in reducing crime in most all parts of America."
Not a surprise, but Schumer has the same problem Giuliani had: apparently your rights- at least some of them- should depend on the size of the place you live. And he thinks 'may issue', where the sheriff or police chief can screw your carry license application around for months, or just deny it because he wants to, is a wonderful thing. Which, to a statist clown like Schumer, it is.
And note that 'reducing crime in most all parts of America' line: he ignores that the places with the most restrictions on firearms ownership, especially concealed carry, are generally the ones with the worst crime problems, "Let's just gloss over that because it undermines my bigotry."
Monday, July 20, 2009
Oh, jeez, so arguably the worst President we've ever had
won't condemn palestinian terrorists and muslim woman-abusers, but he's leaving the Baptist church because it 'subjugates' women...
Saw a new blurb on this earlier, the 'click to find out why he's leaving' type and didn't click on it because I KNEW it would piss me off and there were breakables in reach.
Former President Jimmy Carter, the moron idiot clownfool that keeps on giving.
Do cop shows make you laugh? Do military shows make you
scream? Does the sound of people racking their arms just before hitting a door*, or AFTER they yell 'Halt!' cause you despair?
Go here for relief.
Thanks to James for the link
*Making enough noise for an infantry squad WITH a couple of M249's thrown in, which makes sneaking up on the bad guys kind of difficult...
Here's something I haven't seen before
Happened to look out back at the birdfeeder and saw white. So snuck out with the camera and got these:
Couldn't take a rest, so not the sharpest. Sparrow or finch, almost all white; that's a new one on me.
Just to add to the fun,
if Obama were found to be ineligible, how about this:
What happens to the people who knew, and still let him run?
Would that come under the heading of conspiracy, or something else? And what would be suitable punishment, besides being marked as vile lawbreakers of the worst kind?(which wouldn't exactly bother them, some would probably consider it a mark of distinction: "I tried to save us by helping The One, no matter the cost!", etc.)
A couple of years ago I posted a range report on a flintlock pistol
of Highland pattern. Just had a question from a gentleman,
I have one but the lock states Main Scott and Deeks. Grnk Greenock? 1777
I have shot it a great many times and it is the 4th of July in your hands.
Anyone know about the info on the Lock?
The name Greenock sounds familiar, and it's a town in Britain but other than that I don't know, and can't find, anything.
Anybody have any information/ideas?
On my question the other day ref the birth certificate question,
I maybe should have phrased it differently:
He's out of office, immediately.
Every appointee to any position is out.
If we don't do the above?
As RNS points out, you'd have heard about this ALL WEEKEND
IN CAPS if it'd been a Republican anything:
That's the sex; what about the weapons?
But, I have to say, it's quite possible.
And down in Honduras,
the legal government has basically said "You're not going to shove this Chavez puppet back into our President's chair":
Her comment in Honduras’ capital, Tegucigalpa, was the clearest indication that the talks had deadlocked.
“The reinstatement of Zelaya, as we have maintained and now repeat, is not negotiable … there is no possibility of him returning to Honduras as president,” Alvarado said
And, later,
Honduras' interim leader, Roberto Micheletti, flatly rejected Arias' proposal that Zelaya be reinstated, the major stumbling block in the mediation.
"I'm very sorry, but the proposals that you have presented are unacceptable to the constitutional government of Honduras ... in particular your proposal number one," said Carlos Lopez, head of the negotiating team for Micheletti
Hell yeah! The Honduran government followed the law and threw Zelaya out, and they're not letting HopeyChangeypants push them into lettting this clown turn their country into another Venezuela. Despite Obama being seen as so friendly to tyrants that Chavez called Washington for help shoving the dictator wannabe back into power.
So part of bankrupting the country does involve spending lots of money
on illegal aliens for their health care. Wonderful.
And the Obama administration doesn't want to release data until AFTER they get 'health care reform' shoved down our throats, if they can. Keep yelling at the congresscritters, folks, it's the only thing that may stop this atrocity.
Three men and a woman with guns walk and have lunch
Nothing happens. Except for the shooty goodness later.
Pointed to by Insty.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
I have a question for the five of you who read this,
which will probably get me labeled 'conspiracy loon' by some. Question is,
Let's say someone puts information before a judge who then says "I order President Obama to produce his actual birth certificate." Screaming, threats, etc. ensue, but in the end you have a legal order from a judge saying "Produce it or people are going to jail." And the certificate is dragged out and examined, and lo! Barack Hussein Obama is not a natural-born American citizen.
What should happen then?
Yes, I know, I've read all the crap from both sides. I wouldn't worry about it except for one thing: instead of producing the damn thing and ending the question, Obama and the Democrats(or should I just say 'his flying monkeys'?) have spent a hell of a lot of money and lawyer time trying to make sure no such order happens. Which makes me think there's something rotten in the Democrat PartyDenmark of this matter. Thus, the question.
Today I have for you evidence of standard commie-type nation-stealing,
and leftist insanity.
Commie-type bullcrap
He's got the article in Spanish, and a translation. Part of which:
Aside from what seems to be the 'required by journalists' reference to it being a 'coup', it seems hard evidence of prepared vote fraud in an election that was illegal to begin with. Wonderful, isn't it?
Now, to leftist idiocy, I point to Janeane Garofalo:
The, mostly the media in the States is much more to the right. I mean there is almost no liberal outlet for news commentary or editorializing. And also, they have an unfortunate need to make it combative where they have people that wind up devolving into a shouting match of sorts.
It seems that I'll have to refer to her as either deluded, off her meds or insane. Or, simply, a bald-faced liar. Because if she actually believes this crap, then she's out of her damn mind.
Among the reasons it's referred to as the People's Republic of Massachusetts,
"Armed with the knowledge that more than 250,000 tickets for civil motor vehicle infractions were challenged in the state last fiscal year, legislators have voted to charge drivers $25 for such hearings."
Take a day of from work to fight a $100 speeding ticket, and if the court finds you were wrongly cited and clears you of any wrongdoing, the State will now be charging you $25 for the "privilege" of being found innocent.
TWENTY (at least!!!) prior convictions for violent crime, and a woman was raped and stabbed to death, because there was no one in this guy's long relationship with the criminal justice (for lack of a better word) system to say "Gee, maybe this asshole should be in prison."
Massachusetts lawmakers will pass a law making it illegal for a non-criminal Massachusetts resident to purchase a 12-round magazine for a pistol (10 rounds are OK, less violence-inducing, apparently) and justify it with "IF IT SAVES JUST ONE LIFE!".
But that same group of lawmakers has sat on their collective ass for decades, doing nothing to keep repeat violent offenders in prison, and letting scumbags like this walk the streets, free to rape and murder with impunity.
Obligatory Closing Line: Thank God Ms. Gosule wasn't carrying a firearm that night. Someone could have got hurt.
Among the reasons it's referred to as the People's Republic of Massachissetts,
Among the other reasons the current Iranian government should fall
and some members of it burn in hell,
Why the regret, if the marriages were "legal?"
This is not the only case of this conduct coming to light, only the most recent.
And our President Obama and that bitch Clinton just can't wait to have 'talks' with these bastards...
Well, it seems Amazon didn't delete
just the book from Kindle:
Add that to this:
And yet they did it anyway. And so far their main comment hasn't been "We shouldn't have done that", it's "We shouldn't have done it the way we did." Which isn't exactly comforting.
"Truer words have never been babbled."
Yeah, that sums up Veep Biden, all right. For example,
Iran. Earlier this month George Stephanopoulos asked Biden if the US would stand in the way of Israel decided it was time to take out Iran's nuke program. Said the Veep: "We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do ... if they make a determination that they're existentially threatened and their survival is threatened by another country."
True. But wrong! The sensible thing is to say: "We are seriously concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions, and strongly support serious efforts to be concerned, in coordination with allies whose serious efforts are concerned with -- hey, is that a mushroom cloud on CNN? Turn the sound up." Everyone knows Iran will give up the bomb, but in their own way: by putting it on a rocket and waving safe journey, Allah-speed. As the saying goes: If you love something, set it free. If the US isn't going to stop them, shouldn't Israel have the right to?
But that's not the official line, so YANK went the collar. Administration officials explained that the Vice President was using secret reverse-talking, and the allies remain committed to a sustained effort to frown and grip the podium while hoping there's no follow-up questions
As for the 'truer words',
So do not criticize him; applaud his palaver, and hope for more. Biden's "gaffes" are anything but -- they're simply what the administration is really thinking.
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Dawn Landes - Young Folks (bluegrass style)
Sunday morning. What sweetness is this -
adriandragon said...
I was just reading some older posts, and noticed the lovely piece about head cheese.
It made me remember my ex-father-in-law telling about his German-American upbringing on an Ohio farm. When they slaughtered the hog, they would dress it outdoors, and make a party of it.
They removed the larger cuts of meat, and set them aside for various uses. They put a huge cast iron cauldron over a fire, filled it partway with water, and then, as they butchered the hog, any extra scraps of meat or fat from any part of the animal went into that pot.
Later, they added cornmeal, and boiled the whole thing until thickened. They poured it out into deep pans, let it cool.
The next day, they would slice it and fry it, and serve it with maple syrup. They called it pon haus. we know it better as scrapple.
Thanks for all your lovely recipes and stories. Happy Thanksgiving.
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0.083002 | <urn:uuid:34942abc-4e98-47b7-9fd4-2fa888923a4c> | en | 0.965742 | Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Guaranteed by the FDIC!
The point of my post yesterday about the FDIC was not to point out that the FDIC is broke - everyone knew that. The FDIC's release yesterday gave us some serious insight into just how bad the financial situation is: the FDIC's estimates for losses continue to grow, and their time frame for replenishing the DIF (Deposit Insurance Fund) continues to be pushed out. In addition, the assets held by the FDIC are deteriorating in quality. The scariest thing to me is that the FDIC continues to try to disguise the health of the banks by using accounting tricks - like allowing them to spread out the prepayment of FDIC fees over three years when recognizing the costs, and failing to charge the banks a special assessment to replenish the DIF.
Then, after I wrote the post, I came across this gem via Calculated Risk:
"Citigroup Inc. (C) priced a $5 billion government-backed bond Tuesday, its second benchmark-sized bond offering this month under the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program, according to a person familiar with the situation."
Wow. Wow. Can I say WOW again? If the FDIC is broke, which they are, then why is the TLGP program still going?!! Ken Lay would be proud - Citibank issues debt guaranteed by the (broke) FDIC. Then, Citi prepays a few years worth of fees to the FDIC, so that they'll have money to, amongst other things, be able to make good on the debt they just guaranteed for Citigroup! If you plugged this into Excel, you'd get a "#N/A" circular reference error.
Perhaps it went down something like this:
the players:
Vikram Pandit: Citi CEO
Sheila Bair: FDIC chair
Pandit: "Hey Sheba - what's shakin'? Look - We need to issue some debt under the TLGP - no problem right?"
Bair: "Hi Vik - ummm - actually, I don't know if you got the memo - we're broke."
Pandit: "That's ok Sheba - you won't actually have to pay out on the debt - it's guaranteed."
Bair: silence... "Sorry Vik - I don't follow."
Pandit: "It's guaranteed - RISKLESS! The full faith and credit of the FDIC stands behind it."
Bair: annoyed... "But Vik, I don't have any money to guarantee it."
Pandit: "You old fuddy duddy - don't worry about that - we'll use the proceeds of the debt sale to prepay our FDIC fees for the next three years - then you'll be able to cover us - simple math!"
Bair: hesitant... "ummm. Ok Vik - what happens when you need to payback the debt?"
Pandit: "Where have you been Sheba? We'll just issue new debt! Voila!"
Bair: "Genius, Vik. Do it up! GUARANTEED!"
Ponzi lives. Smoke and mirrors.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The Truth - Courtesy of the FDIC
Take, for example, this gem:
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Good Times Never Seemed So Good
"Where it began, I can't begin to know when
But then I know it's growing strong
Oh, wasn't the spring, whooo
And spring became the summer
Who'd believe you'd come along
Oh, sweet Caroline
I've been inclined to believe it never would"
Sunday, September 20, 2009
You Really Shouldn't Care So Much About Flash Trading
disclaimer: do not waste your time getting sidetracked into OTHER aspects of high frequency trading - this post is about one thing: FLASH TRADING. do not leave me comments about how much you hate high frequency trading - focus on the simple facts of flash trading, and I will be happy to engage in a dialogue with you.
First, let's step back and remind ourselves what flash trading is: when you enter an order on certain exchanges, you have the option to elect to have that order "flashed" to members of that market center to give them the opportunity to match prices that may be available on other exchanges. You, as the order executor, elect to have your order flashed because if the order is executed internally, you don't have to pay an additional charge to route your order out to another exchange. It's that simple. Let's make it a little more concrete: GE is trading $16.50 - $16.51, but you execute your orders on DirectEdge, and the best offer is currently on ISLD. When you enter a flash order in DirectEdge to buy 100 GE @ 16.51, all it does is give potential sellers in DirectEdge the opportunity to sell it to you at $16.51 before DirectEdge routes your order out to the other exchange. There is no theft, there is no front running, there is nothing to rant and rave about.
Now, I have all the respect in the world for Barry Ritholtz. I think he's a tremendous blogger who gets to the truth behind the data, and behind many biased mainstream media reports. Generally, he knows what he's talking about. So it was with dismay that I returned from a weekend out of town, sat down to catch up on some of his recent posts, and found this diatribe against flash trading. Ritholtz's piece arose because the SEC has proposed a ban on flash trading. Next they'll debate it, discuss it, hear comments on it, and vote on it.
A few months ago I wrote my most-read post ever, titled "We Fear What We Don't Understand." Let's revisit the flash trading component of that piece:
"Now, the intent of flash orders is to allow participants in a given market center the opportunity to improve the current bid or offer so that an order doesn't need to be routed away to another market center.
An example: let's say GE is trading $11.45-$11.50 at DirectEdge, but that there is an $11.46 bid on ISLD (an ECN). If you submit an order to sell stock at $11.46 on DirectEdge, they flash this order to select market participants to offer them the opportunity to fill your order - otherwise the order gets routed out to ISLD and you (the seller) have to pay an extra fraction of a penny for the routing. As I tried to explain on some other posts regarding flash trading, this is basically a hyper-speed modernized version of how the NYSE specialists used to verbally quote orders to offer people in the crowd the opportunity for price improvement: "if GE was 11.25-11.27 50k up, and you walked in to sell 50,000 shares, the specialist would say out loud “25c bid 50,000, 50,000 at 26c, SOLD.” Anyone could say "TAKE or BUY'EM" before the specialist said "SOLD" which would result in the seller getting price improvement to $11.26 and if no one interrupted him, the trade was done at $11.25. Markets have NEVER been setup such that every participant has the same opportunity to trade on every quote."
There was also an op-ed in the WSJ a few weeks ago defending and explaining flash trading. The op-ed is accurate, well written, and clear, yet Ritholtz still managed to take offense to it:
"The WSJ had an Op-Ed last month, In Defense of ‘Flash’ Trading, that suggested that “Flash trading is like offering to sell your house to your neighbor before you officially put it into the real estate listings.”
That description is, of course, utterly false. We have alternative exchanges where you can offer stocks privately to other willing buyers (i.e., Instinet). Flash trading is more like having access to private info from the sellers, knowing what they will accept, stepping in front of legitimate buyers, and then flipping the house to those buyers while capturing 0.001% of the transaction. No benefit to the seller, to the neighborhood or to anyone else — all at a small cost to the buyer."
I can't fathom how someone as intelligent as Ritholtz could screw this concept up: when you "step in front of legitimate buyers" it means you are paying more than anyone else. Thus, it's not possible to pay the highest price and then flip it back to the buyers who are willing to pay LESS and make a profit. If you buy stock against a flash order, and offer it out again, you're taking risk - you're not stealing fractions of a penny from anyone or arbitraging anything - what you ARE doing is helping the person who flashed the order in the first place by offering them price improvement and eliminating routing costs.
Now, there is certainly the POSSIBILITY that instead of John Q FlashMan seeing the flash order - let's say it's an order to buy GE - and instead of offering to sell stock to the flash order, he decides to act illicitly and buy stock in GE as fast as he can, before the original GE order gets completed. This is called front running - it's blatantly illegal, and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would argue that it's defensible. However, if the traders entering flash orders constantly find themselves being frontrun, well, guess what - they'll stop entering flash orders. They are not idiots. Guys using flash orders are highly cost sensitive, (that's the very reason they use flash orders in the first place!) and notice when their execution costs (both explicit: commission/fees, and implicit: impact costs, or negative costs associated from other trading ahead of their orders) increase - if flash orders are hurting them, they won't flash them.
Flash trading is a non-issue that people like Chuck Schumer and Ted Kaufman have jumped on in an effort to make it look like they are fighting for the little guy's rights on Wall Street. The reality is that a ban on flash trading will have little to no effect on any sort of market dynamic, and will not help the little guy at all, but will increase trading costs for some traders.
-Kid Dynamite
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Marty Up! Ponzi Lives
Marty Up! Long Live Ponzi!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Your Tax Dollars At Work
Please note - this piece is entirely non-partisan. I'm not condoning or criminalizing Joe Wilson's actions in yelling "You lie!" at President Obama during his big speech before the Joint Session of Congress last week - but I am certainly saying that Congress's actions today are a disgraceful waste of time, money, and thought.
In case you missed it, the House voted to officially "rebuke," Representative Wilson, which means, well, jack shit. Here is the wording from the actual resolution:
Raising a question of the privileges of the House.
Now, in case you don't understand what that means, the elected officials of our country spent time today debating and then voting to decide that it "disapproves" of the behavior of Mr. Wilson. Seriously.
They didn't spend time talking about how to recoup the hundreds of billions of dollars they've sunk into AIG, FNM, FRE, C and BAC.
They didn't discuss exactly what might be the best way to dispose of the Citigroup stake that Treasury has expressed interest in selling, and they didn't discuss the possibility of removing the guarantees that the government has given Citi on $300Billion in crappy assets.
They didn't spend time talking about how to move forward with the monumental health care bill, or if maybe it might be time to think about alternatives to continuing to extend unemployment benefits while desperately hoping the economy improves.
They didn't debate a second stimulus plan, or even consider that since the mainstream party line is that the recession is over and that things are getting better, maybe we don't need the stimulus after all.
They didn't talk about the risks to our plan to continue to roll over an ever increasing mass of national debt on the gullible Chinese.
They didn't discuss a potential backup plan in case the "delay and pray" strategy for economic improvement fails.
Instead, they spent their time debating and then voting to make sure that everyone knows they disapprove of Representative Wilson's actions... And??? Are they going to kick him out of the House? Are they going to fine him? Are they going to put him on trial for treason? Are they going to send him to Gitmo? If not, WHY THE FUCK DID THEY NEED TO WASTE TIME ON THIS?!?!!?
Again, without passing any judgment at all on Wilson's actions, I can agree 100% with his quote today:
The American people saw Obama's speech, and Wilson's interruption. It was said that in the 24 hours after the event, Wilson's campaign donations ramped up, but that his opponent's donations increased twice as much. The people are capable of evaluating the action on their own - we do NOT need our elected officials spending their time on utter crap like this, unless they are doing it to enforce actual consequences as a result.
In related news, this Dilbert cartoon sounds like a better use of time and money than what Congress is currently doing:
edit: the entire roll call for the resolution is here. Shame on Barney Frank for taking the time to show up and vote "present" but not being able to make a decision on something as monumentally inconsequential as "disapproving" or Wilson's actions. Kudos to Maxine Waters (that is the first, and possibly the last time you will hear me commend Waters) for not bothering to vote at all.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The NY Times ran an article this weekend about protesters rallying against big government, with this picture:
I saw the picture of Pelosi with the link between "Nazis" and "Astroturf" and I was immediately impressed by the wit of the protester, who was clearly referencing the classic Seinfeld episode where George and Jerry steal a limo by posing as "O'Brien" and "Murphy," not knowing that O'Brien is the head of the Aryan Union. When they figure out the situation, George calls 911 from the back of the limo, and is pleading his case to the operator, when the host returns to the limo. George quickly shifts gears, and utters the classic line:
"Astroturf? You know who's responsible for that, don't you?! The Jews! Ah, the Jews hate grass. They always have, they always will."
Sadly, I later realized that the sign was not paying homage to this legendary Seinfeld moment, but was a reference to Pelosi's soundbite downplaying a prior protest as not grassroots, but "astroturf." I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm not up on Pelosi's soundbites.
Friday, September 11, 2009
September 11th, 2009
I wrote this piece on September 11th 2006,
and this one shortly after September 11th, 2001
"Well starry eyed and laughin' I recall when we were caught
Trapped by an old track of vows for the hands suspended
Spellbound and swallowed "Has the tollin' ended?""
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
From Wikipedia: The definition of a Ponzi Scheme:
From Harrah's press release today: (emphasis mine)
"Harrah’s Entertainment, the beleaguered casino operator, says it will offer $720 million in new secured notes to give it more time to repay lenders, The Associated Press reported. The Las Vegas-based company, which was acquired in a leveraged buyout, said Tuesday that it would use the proceeds from selling the new notes, which will be due 2017, to repay debt that is due much sooner."
I'm just sayin'.... I guess if your profits from lowering payouts on the blackjack tables to 6:5 don't cut it, you just sell new debt to pay down the old debt, then sit back and wait for time to heal all wounds. I'm sure that once CityCenter and Fountainebleau open, flooding Vegas with more supply it can't handle, then everything will magically become super again.
Satire Everywhere - Even Where Unintended
The first article I opened this morning was a Bloomberg piece titled "Stocks Cheapest Since '89 Show Why Analysts Say Economists Wrong on Growth." I scratched my head and plowed through the article, which spends a lot of time actually detailing some risks that the market faces going forward. Then I found the part where they explain the headline - the cheapness of stocks (emphasis mine):
"The gains spurred the steepest rise in the S&P 500’s price- earnings ratio since at least the 1950s, pushing the index to 19 times operating earnings from the past 12 months, the most expensive level since 2004, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Based on analysts’ forecasts for 2010, the S&P 500 trades for 13.5 times income, the lowest since 1989 when compared with the trailing P/E ratio before Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s collapse a year ago."
Then I read this piece on ZeroHedge, which highlights JPMorgan's upgrade of General Electric today. Remarkably, the report is titled after Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. We're truly in a remarkable spot in the markets when the justification for upgrading behemoth GE is that investors seem numb to the downside! I guess that means there is no downside - if we ignore it, it can't happen!
A colleague sent me this comment this morning from an analyst whom I will keep anonymous, but suffice it to say that this analyst is not a moron, and was actually mostly bearish throughout 2006 and 2007 before everything fell apart:
"All in all, we expect the coming weeks to put an end to the debate on recession vs. recovery and to bring about a major lift in investor sentiment. In essence, we expect our bullish thesis to become consensus within months if not weeks."
I replied, "WHY? Because all those people who are unemployed and having trouble with their mortgage resets will suddenly be exposed to mind erasing gas like in the second to last Batman movie?" I'd love to hear the logic for everyone suddenly waking up to the reality of the new bull market - as I'm expecting quite the opposite. I'm expecting the bulls to realize that rampant unemployment, understated job losses, stagnant wages, continuing job losses, weak hiring outlook, lack of home equity, and an eventual inevitable end to government subsidies will require us to finally address the problems in the economy. But maybe the plot of Batman Begins will turn into reality, and the government will unleash its happy gas to control the populace.
Iowahawk has written a phenomenal satirical piece which puts a mainstream media spin on the current trends in joblessness. Some snippets:
"Brian Smalley was laid off by in late April. He didn't panic. He didn't rush off to a therapist. Instead, the 33-year-old Santa Monica resident discovered that being jobless "kind of settled nicely, once you get used to the heating grate..."
What most people would call unemployment, Smalley embraced as "funemployment." What other people would dismiss as starvation, he whimsically terms a "starve-cation..."
"Horton, who was recently laid off from her job as a ElectoChill D.J. at a boutique hotel aromatherapy spa, says lack of a daily job obligation has been "a godsend..."
"I get to sleep in late at the shelter, and I finally have time to catch up on Tweeting," she says. As she recently mused on Twitter, from an Austin public library: "Recession? More like relax-cession!...""
Never heard of funemployment? Here's Urban Dictionary's definition: "The condition of a person who takes advantage of being out of a job to have the time of their life. I found a burrito with only one bite in it; funemployment rocks!..."
"Melissa Browning, 34, is another funemployed L.A. single who has found new meaning in prostitution. After losing her job as a program coordinator for a non-profit Feng Shui education group in late March, Browning decided to go on a three-week interstate highway trek through the truckstops of central Arkansas with two friends, earning up to $30 per night while sleeping in tent-like yurts.
"I used to be so absorbed in the details of work, but prostitution has allowed me to come out of my shell," Browning said. "Now it's just so much easier for me approach new people, in idling semis, at 2 am. It's just gives you such a positive pro-active outlook. I guess that's why it's called pro-stitution." "
It's sad when the Iowahawk piece is the most sensible story I've read today...
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Life Insurance Settlements
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0.029427 | <urn:uuid:847a3162-5ab4-4b9e-87eb-f9017a97c361> | en | 0.922592 | Skeptic Griggsy:
Please subscribe to The BitterSweet End!
Originally posted on The BitterSweet End:
Well before we tackle this question, let’s define the topic as according to some traditional apologetics. “The infinite nature of God simply means that God exists outside of and is not limited by time or space. Infinite simply means ‘without limits.’ When we refer to God as infinite, we generally refer to Him with terms like omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence.” As stated by the Christian apologetic website Got Basically meaning God can do anything and everything, and nothing is impossible for God because he is infinite in nature.
To some this might seem like a nit-picky post, but I’m just pointing out the obvious. That if we say God is infinite & without limits. And then in the next sentence and same breath we say God can’t…(Fill in Blank Attribute.
View original 477 more words
Skeptic Griggsy:
That’s why He ranks with married bachelors as nonsense! And believers make the argument from ignorance in deducing God from the lack of evidence.
Originally posted on This is What I Would Do:
The belief that god is omnipotent (all powerful); omniscient (all knowing) and Omnibenevolent (all good) is held by many religions. It is however, possible to note some contradictions with this belief.
The first one goes like this:
1. God is omnipotent
2. God is Omnibenevolent
3. God is omniscienent
4. God will prevent all evils he can (from 2)
5. God knows of all evils (from 3)
6. God can prevent all evils (from 1)
7. God will prevent all evils (from 4+5+6)
8. The world will contain no evil (from 7)
9. But, the world contains evil.
The argument here is that god cannot be all three, good, powerful, knowing because they are mutually exclusive. Theists will argue that god allows some evil to prevent a greater evil. Well if he is all powerful can’t he do both?
If god is all powerful can he make a room that he cannot get out of? This is…
View original 235 more words
Originally posted on Leucippus Updated:
How can a person have a relationship with that superfluity, that superstition and that pseudo-explanation? What kind of religious experience could that be?
Theists, I query, how does He act in the Cosmos when He has no intent? Ah, with John Hick you’d find something like his epistemic distance argument that as He does not want to overwhelm our free wills with evidence, He comes forth ambiguously? No, no divine intent, means He cannot even hide! John L. Schellenberg’s hiddenness problem finds that He so hides Himself ,people can wonder what would be that difference betwixt His hiddenness and His non-existence?
How can people have a relationship with an ambiguity?
Now, Hick, no rationalist He, contradicts His Scriptures that when Yahweh performs grave punishments, His actions don’t overwhelm His sheep! They still “sin!’
We naturalists prefer evidence for claims and find that necessity rules, not animism!
View original 177 more words
Lamberth versus Steele
According to David Lewis Steele, the verification principle is doomed, because it finds God meaningless, even though He is, and had scientists use in principle for discoveries, why, there could be none.
I maintain otherwise: [1] we ignostics find Him semantically meaningful but factually meaningless and
[2] no, in principle, those discovereries were possible, whereas with Him, none can find Him, as lacking referents and having incoherent and contradictory attributes. To be in principle discoverable, evidence must arise, and thus, after millennia of failing to provide evidence but instead misrepresentations of evidence, here as astrophysicist – atheologian Victor Stenger, observes, where mountains of evidence should appear and none does, then evidence of absence is indeed absence of evidence and thus, no argument from ignorance.
What do you maintain? This merits more discussion and another essay.
Coyne right on!
The previous author uses sleight of Hand in his rebuttal to Coyne. Yes, from the side of religion, from believers, no incompatibility exist, because they see Nature teleologically in the end, as believers, but mechanistically as scientists and lay people in science itself. But from the side of science, gnu atheism, no, because that conflation of teleology with mechanism contradicts science! Yes, we can tell the creationists that why, methodological naturalism does not rest on ontological naturalism, so one can be a theistic evolutionist, but science itself is ” mechanistic!’ Thus, to add teleology after all is again to contradict science, and thus theistc evolution is incoherent!
That Mendel was a geneticist was just a historical event, not a causal one. Thus, no evidence for compatibility!
Coyne is again right to observe that individual scientists and others can have cognitive dissidence that they can holt the incompatibility of teleology and mechanism- causalism- teleonomy. The point about populations and individuals is an ignoratio elenchi- a red herring, not relevant even though true. Indeed, it itself shows the incompatibility of science and religion!
The author is making again a red herring with his definition of faith. Most people would say have faith even if you cannot find evidence for God, and some say no evidence but faith instantiates Him. That is blind faith. Now as trust, yes, he seems right but that isn’t how Coyne uses the term. Then again, to trust Him, one would have to have evidence for Him. And thus, blind faith again arises!
Thus, the author has an incoherent notion of faith that cannot gainsay Coyne!
Haughty John Haught maintains that faith envelopes ones entire being, and Alister Earl McGrath maintains that first believers find the evidence and then use faith to make it a certitude. But the author and both of them would have people not transcend their beliefs with new ones should the occasion arise!
Thus, however defined, faith is no way to instantiate Him!
Incoherency,faith, postulation and definition cannot instantiate Him!
We ignostics/ igtheists find incoherency throughout theism.
As naturalists, we eviscerate one by one arguments for Him, finding no referents for Him as Creator and so forth, and thus He’d be incoherent, lacking referents, He could not cohere with knowledge.
Per one argument alone, He lacks all referents- Lamberth’s the telenomic [mechanistic-causal] argument: Science finds no divine intent-teleology- at work in the Cosmos, and thus , He cannot be Himself, again, as the Creator and so forth.
Originally posted on Shadow To Light:
According to the New Atheists, science and religion are supposed to be incompatilble. Nonsense. To appreciate the nonsensical essence of this belief, let’s have a look at Jerry Coyne’s USA Today article entitled, “Science and religion aren’t friends.” It is worth looking at this article as it represents the Gnu Atheists best shot at convincing the general public religion and science are incompatible.
We’ll start with the way Coyne sets up his case:
There is no need for all the extra fluff about being friends with a mutually improving dialog. Note simply that Coyne does not bother to define what he means by “compatible.” So he must…
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This is the third and, unfortunately, final book in the Steve Wilkinson Dreamer series. Steve has just returned to Quarin after killing Belevairn on Earth. Sadly, he was not in time to stop a tank and several trucks of ammunition from being transported to Quarin. He knows that Earth's techologically advanced weapons will decimate the medieval land. He isn't sure what he can do to help, but he knows that he has to try. Steve fulfills part of the prophecy ...
A Matter of Honor
A Two-Edged Sword
Steve Wilkinson volunteers to participate in a sleep experiment at his college, but something goes terribly wrong. As his spirit is wandering in the land of dreams, he is called through to another world/dimension by a wizard. In this world, there are the traditional fantasy races: Olvir/elves, Umbrian/humans, etc. The enemy is the Morvir, a country where male children are taken from their homes at age 5 and trained for war. Only the best become officers ... | http://allreaders.com/books/thomas-k-martin-9034 | dclm-gs1-244780001 | false | false | {
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. >> richard ruth was interviewed about his book "in buddha's company" at the u.s. naval academy. this is part of book tv's college series and it's a little under 15 minutes. >> host: book tvs on location at the u.s. naval academy in a aanapolis. professor ruth, what do you teach? >> guest: i teach southeast asian history. i concentrate on tie lan and vietnam. >> host: why is it important for students to know southeast asian history. >> guest: united states is still very much engaged in that corner of the worldment we have many alis and partners we're working with, and many students, midshipman, are going to be officers who are going to go to southeast asia and represent our interests there. so i think it's important for them to know southeast asian history to be comfortable with the culture and have some knowledge of their history. >> host: well, professor ruth. one of our long-time allies is thigh taken, and you have written a book called "in buddha's company: thai sole soldiers in the vietnam war." what role did they play? >> guest: thailand was a close ally of the united states during the
. permanent military professor at the u.s. naval academy. what does that title mean. >> guest: well, we represent the permanent military professors, a hybrid, a joining of the professor officer corps and professor and the professional educators here at the naval academy. i spent the first half of a naval career flying aircraft for the u.s. navy, and about ten years ago made the transition to academia, where the navy provided an outstanding opportunity to go back to graduate school and get a specialty in a geographic part of the world where i specialize in middle eastern history. >> host: and now an author. "the politics and security of the gulf" is the numb of your book. that's kind of a big topic. >> guest: it is. it's part of the world where the united states has been involved in three hot wars in the past generation, the iran-iraq war, desert shield, desert storm, and operation iraqi freedom. it's a big topic, and it needs to be discussed, and investigated, which is part of the reason why we took on this topic. >> host: in your book, where do you begin talking about u.s. involvement
antiseminism and -- the gnat disifm which implicated grerm any and many other nations. europe and the u.s. until very recently liked to think that the dark times were in the past. and that religious violence was somewhere else. in society's more allegedly primitive, less characterized by heritage of christian values. today we have many reasons to doubt that come complacent self-assessment. it calls for critical self-examination as we try to uncover the roots of ugly fears and suspicious that currently disfigure all western democrats. in april 2011, a law took affect in france according to which it is illegal to cover the face in any public space from parks to marketplaces to shops. although the law does not mention the words women, muslim, boar can, or even israelied, it was introduced by president as a ban on muslim vailing which according to him imprisons women and threatens french values of dignity and equality. the new law rear renders. have adopted some type of restriction. on april 28, 2011, the belgium voted far similar ban although the law is expected to be challenged before the c
on your immigration status and length of time in the u.s., you may be eligible for federal benefit programs and it goes through a long lit any and it is long and a lot of money. >> it is unfortunate. immigrants are treasures the arrival of each one makes us more american because it signifies. >> if they are here to work. >> absolutely. it is it the last thing you want to do is offer them hand out to come here. that insures that you get a lower quality person coming here. we want to attract those who want to come here and achieve. >> steve, that is it the problem. i would say the overwhelming number of immigrantsome here to work there are some that is drawn like in europe. offering the benefits. and they ca just for the befits. >> yeah, unfortunately john is right. most immigrants want to get ahead as lincoln put it and improve your on lot in life. this is about the citizenry and occupiants of the country, they want to subvert us and make us independent and that means votes for the center. we see what is happening in europe with they do that. >> rick, we have a list of all of those
mentioned the port of oaklandnd six percent of all u.s. goods. that is the union's point to cause disruption and hurt the economy. and i tell you, they have every right to strike but the employers have the rht to kick the ass to the curve. a job is a mutually agreeable trade. employers offering a job and if they don't like hit the brickings. >> do you think it is bador the economy over all. we are in a fiscal cliff and rough waters here and now this to deal with? >> i think it could be bad for the econy. they have the merchandise and this is not going to affect thanksgiving shopping season and christmas most likely. but look at history. 1948 we had five million workers on strike and it crippled the economy. the taft hartley act brought back the boom. that is it breaking of the unions and created the boom that eisenhower had. if these union heads go forward. this could hurt the economy. >> tracey, you made the point about the retailers, it could hurt the consumer spending as well the economy needs that right now. and economist looking to the holiday shopping season to get big numbers out. >>
difficult to deal with? why is the u.s. a decade into the war unable to go on patrol with afghans? >> one of the reasons is geographical. if you look at this relief map here, the border between afgh afghanistan and pakistan is very artificial. i've crossed the border many times. every time illegally. and the mountains that descend from the high table land of central asia to the steamy in this river valley, it's a very gradual descent. it's the same indough-islamic civilization on both sides of the border. so the sides that the u.s. military and diplomatic core is going to make two separate well functioning states out of it is somewhat adverse to geology. >> what's really going on, we tlinch are good guys and bad guys but there are guys the pakistans supports, the guys that india has sup pored, the russia has intended -- >> india is a big player here, fareed. because if you look through indian history from the guptas to the mull rans, the moguls, the dynasty, others, what you see is for many periods of indian history or sub continent history, the same empire that controlled the northern th
turnaround year for the u.s. the start of a recovery that feels real. most of it will have very little to do with washington policy, though your state and federal government will have to step in to make it happen. let me explain. first, there is an energy boom under way in the united states right now. fueled by the joint forces of hydraulic fracturing or fracking of natural gas out of shale and buy mo by more drilling for oil. natural gas is increasingly cheap and abundant and not only used for gas in homes and businesses but for the manufacturing generation. it's not just about cars and homes, more domestically pro du duced energy will provide fuel in manufacturing goods. combine them with rising costs in china and other countries and already high shipping costs, and you make made in america products more attractive to people abroad, and that's good. home sales rising for the first time in years. construction is start to go pick up. and historically low interest rates now averaging below 30% for a 30-year fixed mortgage will only fuel a rebound next year. and remember, a house will still be
was penny less after coming to the u.s. for a better life after escaping germany and now wants to give back. >> the man's story of survival and legacy he wants to leave behind. >> please join me in welcoming roth lewis. >> he's giving dominican university its largest gift in history. >> i was looking for a place to put the money i gathered over the years. >>reporter: he's donating $8.5 million to transform it into a state of the art health science complex for nursing and occupational therapy, a gift from a grateful heart. >> i'm returning to america what america's given to me. >>reporter: a native of germany was 50 when he says they threw his father into a concentration camp for opposing hitler. months later a commander let the whole family escape. >> we were very depressed and sad that the germany which we loved was turning against us. >>reporter: the family fled to camps and scraped by after japan invaded china. >> we did whatever we could do to make a living. >>reporter: after nearly a decade he boarded a ship to the u.s. with a heart of hope. >> here was america. i knew home and the fut
. >>> in his four-day visit to southeast asia, president obama became the first u.s. president to visit myanmar, or burma. the president urged the new civilian government to continue its steps toward democracy. he also specifically called for more religious freedom. on a stop in thailand, the president visited bangkok's famous temple of the reclining buddha. he told monks there he needed prayers for help in his dealings with congress back home. >>> and heret home, those lawmake are negotiating with the administration over how to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" looming at the end of the year. this week, a group of christian leaders urged congress and the president not to cut anti-poverty programs as they struggle to reach a deal. in an open letter, the leaders said "we pray during this season, in which we give thanks and offer gifts, that you will advance policies that protect the poor, not ones that make them poorer." >>> meanwhile, a prominent christian advocacy group said while some progress has been made in fighting hunger and poverty worldwide, much more needs to be done. in its annual r
-authored. other topics on which is written include national defense, history and historiography in the u.s. economy. a television series based on the united states is currently in development as well. we're pleased to welcome to hear about his newest book, a pitcher's history of the modern world, which in this case is going to be from 1898, two just after the second world war. please join me in welcoming larry schweikart. [applause] >> well, thanks so much to heritage foundation for inviting me here. it's really an honor and one that i wish my father was alive to see. heritage is one of those great bastian said liberty in a swelling sea of collect this and. you probably didn't know that you are getting somebody here who was the previous rock drummer. this later became significant learning -- as a learning experience when i began working on this film. but all along, my experience and about and were pretty informative. sma students i know about communism because i was in a rock band. we shared everything, had nothing to start. when mike allen and i would've "a patriot's history of the modern
. tonight. >> booktv sat down with wayne hsieh. it's just under 20 minutes. >> u.s. naval academy, west pointers and the civil war, is your book. what do you mean by the old army? >> guest: the old army is a term commonly used by historians. actually it's a time from the time period referring to the regular army. there's a joke that the old army is the army before every war. so there's a bunch of old army. so my book actually starts with the professionalization of the army and it's about how that process occurs and plays out in the civil war. >> host: give us a snapshot of what the old army, prior the war of 1812, was like. >> guest: before the war of 1812, and this is drawing on really historical literature by historians -- the army before the war of 1812 is a nonprofessional. it over corps obtained their positions through political influence, and as a consequence they're not -- because they're not professionals who went through a body of education and were promoted by some system of merit, they don't perform very well during the war of 1812 so washington, dc burned. the early attempts
at the headquarters for u.s. diplomacy, we'll let you know and also a plane with more than 70 passengers on board makes an emergency landing. what else is in the sky that caused tense moments? and for some americans there is no doubt, the deadly attack on fort hood in texas, three years ago, was an act of terror. but the government still calls it a workplace shooting. now, one lawmaker says that that label is political correctness run amock. is that sffair? we report, you decide. with verizon. hurry in this saturday and sunday for great deals. likehe lucid by lg, free. or the galaxy nexus by samsung, free. this weekend, get the best deals on the best devices on the best network. exclusively at verizon. throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50+. i heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. that's right. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ mal
at the u.s. state department today, fire trucks raced to the department headquarters in washington shortly before noon. a flash fire in the duct work of the building forced everyone to evacuate and sent three people to the hospital, one in serious condition. construction workers were among the few people in that building because it is a holiday weekend. >>> investigators are still trying to figure out the source of a gas explosion that damaged more than 40 buildings in springfield, massachusetts, last night. a wwlp camera captured the moment of the blast. 18 people were injured, mostly emergency workers. they had been called to the scene because of reports of a gas smell. they had evacuated some of the area about an hour before that explosion. >>> superstorm sandy has now cost new jersey -- the tab is at $29 billion and the number is expected to rise. governor chris christie's office says the final total will only be known after taking into account things like next summer's tourist season. new york governor andrew cuomo says he will ask the federal government for $30 billion to help with h
with tear gas, we will have more on this story at the bottom of the hour. and an emergency at the u.s. state department today, fire trucks raced to the department headquarters before noon, a flash fire in the duct work of the building forced everyone to evacuate and sent three people in the hospital, construction workers were among the few in the building because it's a holiday weekend. a gas explosion that damaged more than 40 buildings. a camera captured the moment of the blast. mostly emergency workers were injured. they were called to the scene because of reports of the gas smell. they evacuated most of the area an hour before the explosion. superstorm sandy is at $29 billion at cost. governor chris christie said that the final total will only be known after taking into account next summer's tourist season. it was said this that they would ask the federal government for $30 billion for the state's recovery. here is what else we are working on. it's the search for a missing millionaire and one of the most bizarre stories i have ever covered in quite a long time. i don't know mcavenffey, h
it sol venzke for more and more years. >> let me ask you about the fallout on the u.s. consulate and u.s. ambassador susan rice. you've been critical of her and for the first time she respon d ed. take a look. >> when discussing our facilities in benghazi shgs i relied solely and squarely on the information provided to me by the intelligence community. i made clear that the information was preliminary and that our investigations would give us the definitive answer. >> and senator graham, we learned this week from the director of central intelligence agency, that references of al qaeda were taken out for security reasons not for political reasons. do you accept the explanation by ambassador rice? >> i don't believe that the best intelligence assessment on 16, september was that there was a spontaneous event in benghazi based on a video that led to a mob that became a riot. the cia station chief on the day of the attack reported in realtime we're under attack by al qaeda affiliates. the president in libya said on the day of atack -- excuse me on 16, september, al qaeda was involved. we've
at university of maryland, director of economics at the u.s. international trade during the clinton administration. good to see you this holiday weekend. >> nice to be with you. >> so, what is the real world deadline for this fiscal cliff? what are the real consequences of not getting a deal done? >> well, there are a couple of deadlines. the deadline for the expiration of the bush i've era tax cuts, the obama tax cuts that help the economy, and the deficit. raising the ceiling on the debt. my feeing is they probably can go past january 1 but not far past it. and still not fall off the cliff. around january 15th. >> so now if there are to be some real groundwork laid by congress as they return after the holiday weekend, what really needs to get done, if we look at over the next six weeks, even though you say we've got past january 1, what should they try to accomplish this week? >> well, i think they need to start to spell out spending cuts. i mean, the president has made clear what he wanted in the way of additional revenue and there are a couple of different ways of getting there.
" and paul krugman, author wrote train to talk about problems facing the u.s. economy for about an hour 45 next on booktv. [applause] >> well, thank thank you very m. thanks to the passionate attitude and technology in shakespeare books for hosting the event this evening. i also am very excited. i think we are all very excited to see probably two people who i would say are unquestionably the most cited economists in the world today. [applause] in addition to being most cited, and as you all know, those are noble laureates, i would have to say from the vantage point of the institute of economic thinking that if i were to nominate two people as being the most courageous economists in the world and the most impactful, the subpoena to find a list. so we're very excited to be part of this conversation. [applause] as you know, each of them has written a book that pertains to our current challenges and circumstance. joe stiglitz spoke, "the price of inequality" and paul krugman's book, "end this depression now!" are part of your goodie bag tonight. therefore on behalf of them i will thank you for
fiscal cliff. u.s. congress and the white house have just 37 days left to reach a budget deal and stop more than $500 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax hikes from taking effect. a potentially big sticking point in those talks, that no new tax pledge of that more than 250 republican lawmakers have signed. athena jones us from the white house. two more republicans who signed the pledge said they would be open to tax hikes if they get other concessions. >> reporter: that's right, fredricka, and this is a bit interesting to see. they're talking about this pledge from the grover norquist group. he's the anti-tax crusader. his group has gotten the majority of republicans in congress to sign this pledge to oppose any effort to raise taxes in any way. so first we heard from a senator out of georgia, a republican, who said for his country he would break this pledge because if you stick to that pledge you won't be able to reach an agreement to bring down the debt. today we heard from south carolina republican senator lindsey graham and also from new york congressman peter king respondin
whether to use it in the u.s. we decided it was important to do everywhere so we also launched the u.s. a year ago. >> on the subject of big money zynga which you are a big investor in is giving a secondary offering. this is your opportunity to sell zynga. >> i'm on the board. so my ability to comment is limited. >> i understand. this may be a recurring theme. we respect and understand when you are not permitted to say things due to federal law. >> but we still want to know. >> the public record i'm selling a little bit of the secondary. i can confirm that. >> you sold facebook early as well. >> yes. mostly financial diversification. the vast majority of my economic positions are in a limited number of companies. you get a little bit of diversification. >> does it matter anymore? if you invested in papal and linkedin and facebook and zynga, at what point -- does it not become fun anymore? the entrepreneur side is fun. do you care what you bought and sold? >> well, yes. partly because, for example, i have sold very little linkedin because i work there a lot. i'm trying to create somethi
. >> up next a tragic fire in bangladesh kills more than 100 peel. we will also tell you when the u.s. supreme court might rule on same-sex marriage. and nhl players still locked out but it's not keeping fans away from the ice. the san francisco minor league team that's turning the lockout >> new this morning at least people are dead after a fear raced through a factory in bangladesh last night. 112 so far at least 100 bodies have been retrieved from the factory. another twelve people died trying to jump from upper floors. the death toll could rise as recovery efforts continue. bangladesh has about 4,000 garment factories, many operating without proper safety measures. the $20 billion in annual clothing exports mostly gets shipped to the u.s. and europe. >>> in the middle east a fragile cease-fire is taking place between israel and hamas but will it last? that is the question coming up on abc's "this week." senator dick durban and lindsey graham will be on "this week" with george stephanopoulos coming up at 8:00 here on abc7. >>> new this morning the u.s. supreme court justices will g
. >>> this week justices at the u.s. supreme court will meet to decide whether to hear case on same-sex marriage. they need to decide whether to marry an appeal from defenders of proposition 8, the controversial california initiative banning gay marriage in the state, truck down by lower courts. the justices will sift through several other cases from other state to decide whether legally married gay couples in those states have the right to equal benefits. >> that will be an interesting session. >> it is. >>> meanwhile, the holiday rush for shopping focused on mom and pop stores this weekend. >> yes. for those that that didn't like the drama of the big box store, shoppers opened their wallets again for small business saturday. this retailer holiday was created by american express in 2010. the day focus on getting exposure for local businesses that can't compete with large retailer, but there are a lot of reasons to buy local. independent . >> i went to sun valley mall. it was really crazy, super long lines. merchandise all other. it is much nicer and more relaxed today. >> this weekend presi
. >> up next a fire in bangladesh kills more than 100 peel. we will also tell you when the u.s. supreme court might rule on same-sex marriage. and nhl players still locked out but it's not keeping fans away from the ice. the san francisco minor league team that's turning the lockout into a success. what are you doing there? i making crescent bacon cheddar pinwheels. wow, i'm impressed! [ ding ] dad, the cable's out! you got that right? [ kiss ] thank you ♪ [ male announcer ] pillsbury crescents. let the making begin. here's a better idea. pillsbury grands! flaky layers biscuits in just 15 minutes the light delicate layers add a layer of warmth to your next dinner. pillsbury grands biscuits let the making begin. >> this is abc7 news. >> new this morning at least 112 people are dead after a fire raced through agamete factory in bangladesh last night. so far firefighters have recovered 100 bodies from the multi-story factory outside the country's capital. 12 people died jumping from the upper floors. and the death toll could rise as the investigation continues. bangladesh has about 4,00
. and as someone says, you can't jump out of the basement. that's as low as it is. and if people stop trusting u.s. treasuries, the $16 trillion of debt we have out there, interest rates are going to skyrocket, interest payments will go up annually potentially by hundreds of billions of dollars, then we would have more deficit, there would be less trust. and so you haven't -- you've wrecked the government's role in the economy. those are my secret notes, i'm going to ping -- pick them up. [laughter] so you have to stabilize that. and you have to figure out a way to get the economy to grow. and that's a long-term proposition which will lead to more jobs. but you're right, there's some contradictions in all of this. but in trying to create more jobs, you can't mess up with the overall problem of the trustworthiness and creditworthiness. you're shaking your head. we'll talk afterwards. next. >> hi. over the course of your career, you've had the most incredible access to all these, um, great politicians in history and even today, and i was just wondering out of everyone you've met, who surprised you t
at one of amazon's largest hubs in the u.s. >> reporter: from the moment you check out at the process begins. your item is picked, sorted, packed and shipped. this is what the holidays look like here at amazon. to give you some perspective this is one of 40 across the country packed with thousands of items in time for the holiday rush. they're going to need them. last cyber monday they sold more than 200 items per second. one glance at the shelves and it seems workers can shop where ever they can find space. >> they don't have to worry about where they are putting thi things. >> where will there's space there's product? >> it is. it doesn't matter what is next to next. >> reporter: workers will physically pick up every item per order and those items could be anywhere. >> is this your exercise for the day. >> you get your cardio and toning the up your legs going up and down the stairs. >> reporter: veteran picker jaime may cover several miles a day, picking product, scanning them and sending them off to be shipped. she says it's starting to feel a lot like christmas. >>
the u.s. right now. and it has been building for decades. it is not something new. it's not a recession. it is is sapping the ability of the american economy to grow and it is topping -- zapping the ability of the average american to rise. until we look at the major core issues that are making the u.s. more attractive to business, we will go back to the fiscal cliff discussion over and over again. unless we can get our economy really moving and growing in the long run, these will just occur over and over again. we identified eight areas, as you mentioned, where we find there is broad consensus where we believe these things would really move the needle in a reasonable time frame, two, three, four years. there is some real bipartisan support. the first is the need of a sustainable budget compromise. that is widely accepted by all. two, easing on highly skilled immigration now. yes, when a broader immigration reform, but this is one of the abilities to really move rapidly to inject skills and to the economy and fill jobs badly need to be filled to sustain our growth. it is not a long-term
americans, asian americans, latinos, native americans make up one-third of the u.s. work force today, a figure that a it means investing in the future of our children. african-american and latino kids and the work force in the future. the best we make now will pay off dividends when we need them as the baby boomers start to retire. the key is better education given communities of color represent nearly half of today's students in k-12. we need to increase funding for education, especially preschool education, which is the single most effective way to ensure a child's academic success in school. we need some support local organizations on the ground serving these communities and making the most difference in our communities. organizations such as the local and regional urban league. the bank for the buck we get from investing in these groups is enormous. they have business models to allow them to succeed. finally, there has been a great deal of talk since the election on whether there is new life on the immigration issue. i believe there is. we are working hard to capitalize on the mo
. the former chief economist for the u.s. labor department joins me, great to see you as always. you remain an interesting point, the people who would benefit from a unionized walmart are the unions themselves. how so? >> the union losses because the pension funds are dramatically underfund. with 33,000 workers that is funded at 55%. it means they only have 55% of the assets they need for current and future retirees. look at the northern california joint pension, 20,000 workers funded at 65%. they only have 60% of what they need. to fix this pension problem, new workers. they're trying to organize wal-mart. they want these wal-mart workers to pay contributions to the pension fund and they won't be getting it out for many years that which point -- gerri: this points out what a prize walmart is. 1.3 million workers, and it would be, a bailout for the unions. they are not concerned about wal-mart workers here. it is about their own obligations. >> you don't think they're telling these wal-mart workers if they join the union if walmart becomes unionize these workers would buy into these pension
will experience the largest tax increase in u.s. history. amid so much economic suffering, raising taxes would have a devastating impact on our economy. we cannot let this happen. republicans believe this is an opportunity to finally solve problems thatwill washington has ignored. whether it is the tax code or entitlement programs that are on a path to bankruptcy, no more short-term mandates or excuses. we can do this right. we can pass on our children and economy of growth and opportunity and government that empowers all businesses and stays out of their way. a country in which everyone has a shot at the american dream. republicans are ready and eager to get to work. we hope president obama is as well. america is a country whose people can do anything and whose leaders can envision a limitless future. today, as you join friends and family, be sure to celebrate as abraham lincoln did, with a hopeful heart. america still has so many gracious guesifts for which to e thankful. >> joined us tonight with a look at the evolution of facebook. he is an engineer who advises mark zuckerberg in talks abo
's for toys sold in the united states, so regardless of where the manufacturer is, if they're sold in the u.s., they have to comply with those standards, other countries could well have different laws on their shelves and my guess would be vary from laws that would be more health protective to less fighters to join us. >> i have two questions, i'll keep them brief. we can't control where our fire houses are and our fire house is a block off the freeway, we do replace our h fact filters every five mother and is they're jet black when we replace them every three months, it is a big concern, how do we reduce our exposure when we're a block right off the freeway, we're bumper to bump traffic, and there are some fire houses that are literally underneath the freeway so how do we reduce that exposure, air filters, if so, what kind of air filters? >> you're getting beyond our technical knowledge of our filtration, but you know, it might be somebody to consult with somebody with expertise in air filtration for indoor air of course, maybe replacing those filters more often, you know, some very basic t
was centered about 7 miles north wees of the pinnacles. >>> three people were burned today in a fire at the u.s. state department. the fire broke out in some dump work during reteen maintenance. two were seriously hurt, but the victims will be okay. >> hector "macho" camacho hector "macho" camacho died after he was taken off life support. he won titles in the 19140s. he fought sugar ray leonard in the 80s. he was 50 years ago. >>> larry hagman fans paid respects today. he was most known for playing,r on dallas. he died of complications of cancer at the age of 81 surrounded by friends and families. >>> a car goes up in flames t clues that have police thinking this could be an arsonnest. >>> heavy rain headed to the bay forecast. >>> a pilot was killed. >>> also filling the boot, the efforts to help burn victims. >>> flames engulfed a it to camry parked on an oakland street last night. this happened around 11:00 last night. the owner believes someone threw someone inside the car to start the fire. >>> we learn a pilot killed in a plane car -- he went down about a mile south of the
please u.s.a. plast she is the social director at the arab culture and community center and she helps hundreds of families in trans by providing social work service and is i know how important that work is and how difficult that work is and i can't thank you enough to ensure that all of our communities are cared for and ensure that all of our competency ask ins san francisco serve the arab and arab community know what to do when people walk through their doors so thank you so much vera. (applause). . >> thank you so much for your support san francisco we really appreciated it the arab community really appreciates it and tomorrow is a huge day for the community it's the beginning of the big holiday, so happy new year, (arab) thank you. you. >>> thank you vera. >> (applause). vera i do say with ask you to stay with us up here for a moment. hard work is never done alone and the best work is done in collaboration among very very strong key members in any organization. and so it's with great pride we are able to recognize someone who has been serving the community for song here in san
, a tragic fire in bangladesh kills more than 100 people. also, we will tell you when the u.s. supreme court might rule on same-sex marriage. and natural players still -- nhl players locked out but that's not keeping fans away from the ice. ice. minor league team you know how much grandma wanted to be here for your fist christmas? you see grandma lives waaaay down here, and you live way up here. brian, your cousin, he's a little bit older than you, he lives here, in chicago. and your aunt lisa lives here, in baltimore. uncle earnie? waaay out in hawaii. but don't you worry, we will always be together for christmas. [ male announcer ] being together is the best part of the holidays and cheerios is happy to be part of the family. you just ate dallas! >> new this morning at 112 people are dead after a fear raced through a factory in bangladesh last night. it was outside the country's capitol. another twelve people died trying to jump from upper floors. the death toll could rise as recovery efforts continue. bangladesh has about 4,000 gameet factories, many operating without proper safety measur
assets in the u.s.? has the castro regime tried to assassinate a u.s. president. >> i continue think that -- don't think that castro had a ai directns demand the assassinatin de plotri against the american t president. mo but i do describe in the book -- some of the most startling information i aimierd one of them particular a detector whofe was the highest level most knowledgeable cuban intelligence officer to defect to the united states. he and told me that he was conve that castro knew and cuban intelligence knew in advance that lee harvey os ward was going to b shoot at jack kennedy that morning in dallas. >> bryan will latell. here is the book castro secret." the cia and cuba's intelligence it unfortunately we ran out ofs time. you have to pick it up and read it for it's unfortunate. it's a good story. bryan, thank you for joins us on booktv here in miami. >> thank you so much. >>> is there a non-fiction author or book you would like to see featured on booktv? send us an e-mail at or tweet >>> novellest james patte | http://archive.org/details/tv?q=u.s.&fq=lang:%22eng%22&time=20121125 | dclm-gs1-244800001 | false | true | {
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Joan Rivers in critical condition after she stopped breathing during surgery
Two police officials say Joan Rivers has been rushed in cardiac arrest from a doctor's office to a New York City hospital.
The comedian's condition wasn't immediately known.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly name the person transported to Mount Sinai Hospital just after 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
A hospital spokesman declined to comment.
Rivers' representatives didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. | http://cnycentral.com/news/local/joan-rivers-in-critical-condition-after-she-stopped-breathing-during-surgery?id=1089534 | dclm-gs1-244940001 | false | false | {
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0.026188 | <urn:uuid:57ec936b-8b6e-4999-b8b4-b460614d7a6d> | en | 0.975894 | Draft grades from NFL Draft Rage
Discussion in 'Draft Zone' started by Wood, May 2, 2013.
1. Wood
Wood Well-Known Member
5,437 Messages
1,088 Likes Received
2. tantrix1969
tantrix1969 Well-Known Member
962 Messages
448 Likes Received
never understand all the hate for the Cowboys, Giants and Bears reached just as far on their 1st round picks and noone says a word about it...
3. Vintage
Vintage The Cult of Jib
13,420 Messages
1,164 Likes Received
Meh. Who really cares what some fifth rate website grades us?
Draft grades are useless following a draft. No one knows what is going to happen to these group of players. What matters is three years down the road.
Personally, I graded the Cowboys as a rhombus. The Vikings, I graded out as purple. As for the Bears, they graded somewhere between fresh cut grass and a squirrel.
4. tantrix1969
tantrix1969 Well-Known Member
962 Messages
448 Likes Received
:laugh2: :bow:
5. RastaRocket
RastaRocket Sanka, Ya Dead Mon? Ya Mon.
6,242 Messages
600 Likes Received
Rams had the best draft IMO.
Our draft has received too much hate, oh well.
6. DBOY3141
DBOY3141 Well-Known Member
4,433 Messages
1,168 Likes Received
So SF gets a high grade, figured that. Let's take a look.
1st round - gave up a 3rd round pick to move up to take a safety that most had rated as a 2nd rounder.
2nd round - drafted a TE at 55 after already having Vernon Davis on the roster. We get slack for drafting one at 47 because we have Witten.
Used a pick on an injured RB with Frank Gore, Kendall Hunter and LaMicheal James on the roster.
If San Fran had not made the Super Bowl last year and had this same draft, folks would be dogging it.
Past draft history should not factor into anyone's ratings, but it does. They should grade them based on where they thought the player would go and how they fit into the current team.
7. DFWJC
DFWJC Well-Known Member Zone Supporter
27,495 Messages
4,856 Likes Received
Not only did they both reach, but they didn't get an extra third rounder out of the deal either.
8. Illini88228
Illini88228 Well-Known Member
1,227 Messages
167 Likes Received
9. pw52
pw52 Member
37 Messages
4 Likes Received
They lost their #2 TE to the Titans and most mock drafts i saw had Reid going to the Bengals at #21 so they reached on a 1st rounder not like us that reached on a 3rd-4th rounder in the 1st. :banghead:
10. JPM
JPM Well-Known Member
5,655 Messages
149 Likes Received
We didn't reach for a 3rd-4th rounder, anyone who says Frederick was a 3rd or 4th round pick is wrong.
11. Idgit
Idgit Ice up, son. Ice up! Staff Member
35,905 Messages
12,731 Likes Received
12. DBOY3141
DBOY3141 Well-Known Member
4,433 Messages
1,168 Likes Received
We lost our #2 TE to San Diego.
No way Fred goes in the 3rd or 4th. Middle second at the most, as some reports have said Detroit was going to take him in the 2nd. Just like Miami was going to take Escobar in the 2nd.
Last I saw Kiper and Mayock has Reid as the 3rd best safety. Reid was reach, he was not the 18th best player in the draft and that's what we are getting dinged for with Fred, folks saying he wasn't the 31st best player.
Can't have it both ways. Lots of teams reached, at least we got a 3rd round pick for it.
13. Fredd
Fredd Well-Known Member
4,557 Messages
1,881 Likes Received
this site is a joke...this was supposed to be a draft ranking/grading and they take into consideration that the team is already strong, so "B"...or that the redskins traded their picks away to get RG3,..."B"....um, no, at face value, many of the teams mentioned did not draft well
....this site will go on my "joker" list for the future....
14. TheCount
TheCount Pixel Pusher
21,680 Messages
1,626 Likes Received
Meg, D is pretty low but they are right that we drafted a lot of guys that won't contribute much this year. Just like the year before, and that led to another 8-8.
15. Questfor6
Questfor6 Well-Known Member
1,467 Messages
397 Likes Received
What a garbage write up D-, come on now we had 5 guys in most everyone's big boards so how is that a D-. I'll bet all of the picks will contribute this season too.
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0.038414 | <urn:uuid:d24a22bc-53ab-4dc2-a9c1-33a7d51d0403> | en | 0.974254 | Rockies nix plan to shift CarGo to center
Gold Glove winner to stay in left field; Stubbs to lead platoon in center
Rockies nix plan to shift CarGo to center
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Rockies have scrapped a plan to move three-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner Carlos Gonzalez to center field and will keep him in left, manager Walt Weiss said Saturday.
The Rockies told Gonzalez he'd move to center after they traded their former center fielder, Dexter Fowler, to the Astros in November. The thought was the Rockies would have an easier time filling left field.
But the Rockies traded with the Indians for Drew Stubbs in December. Stubbs is considered a strong defensive center fielder, but he was not as effective last year when the Indians moved him to right field. Stubbs, who avoided arbitration by signing for one year at $4.1 million, has never played left field.
Additionally, the Rockies are expected to go with a platoon in center, since Stubbs hits left-handed pitching (.274 average, .349 on-base percentage, .448 slugging percentage) better than right (.226/.296/.358).
Left-handed hitting Charlie Blackmon is a center fielder by trade, and lefty Corey Dickerson played passably in center in the past and made progress over the winter. Also, right-handed hitting Brandon Barnes, who arrived in the Fowler trade, played center for most of last season for the Astros and is a candidate.
"We are feeling comfortable with the alternatives, watching these guys run around," Weiss said. "The big thing is we want to keep [Gonzalez] on the field. Risk and reward has kind of swung the other way. We are in a different place than we were in the fall. That's what it comes down to."
The Rockies' first full-squad workout is Sunday at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Weiss said he spoke to Gonzalez on Friday and again Saturday.
The center field mix also affects the Rockies' batting order, which has a hole in Fowler's old leadoff spot.
Stubbs has displayed top-end speed (127 steals in 156 attempts) -- enough that the Reds tried to make him a leadoff man during his time there (2009-12). However, Stubbs also hits with occasional power but also with a high strikeout rate (729 in 2,221 at-bats). Weiss has already said Stubbs will hit behind the middle of the order when he plays, which means second basemen DJ LeMahieu and Josh Rutledge would lead off when Stubbs plays. The rest of the competitors will likely be trying to prove themselves as leadoff hitters.
At any rate, the Rockies were looking to keep Gonzalez in one position. He played all three outfield spots with aplomb early in his Rockies career, but he has dealt with nagging injuries. Also, in 2011, his versatility likely cost him a Gold Glove. It was the first year the awards were position-specific, instead of going to three outfielders.
However, the decision eliminates what could have been a dramatic race between Gonzalez, who won last year's National League Gold Glove Award for left field, and the Pirates' Andrew McCutchen, who won it in center.
Gonzalez is coming off a sprained ligament on his right middle finger, which curtailed his power in the second half of the season. Any decision that trims Gonzalez's injury risk, Weiss figures, is a good one.
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0.027107 | <urn:uuid:9d7db418-4001-4688-812c-62e10564dd38> | en | 0.967741 | Social Media
UnFaced Founder Banned from Facebook
UnFaced, a service that tracks visitors to your Facebook page, has received a cease and desist letter from Facebook - the founder's account has also been suspended. The action followed a profile of the service in school newspaper The Daily Texan last Monday, which seems to have brought it to the attention of Facebook staff.
Although it's hard to see why users would want yet more tracking in light on the Facebook news feed debacle, Unfaced offered an interesting service that I planned to review. You put a link on your profile which other Unfaced users can click - when they do, Unfaced delivers a compatibility score. It's broadly similar to the MySpace tracker trend, but less beneficial since Facebook doesn't allow the insertion of code. Founder John Arrow claims the site has a few thousand members, with 3400 added in the past week.
Facebook, however, weren't so keen on the idea. In a cease and desist letter, they explained "I'm sure you meant the site in good fun, but it (is) a serious violation of several clauses of our terms of service, including automating against the site and storing site data locally". Facebook felt that Unfaced was violating user's privacy by screenscraping the data and storing it elsewhere - they also pointed out that the use of "face" in the title may be a violation of the Facebook trademark (seems like a stretch - do they have a claim to the word "face"?). The other points, however, seem fair - they're reminiscent of the cease and desist letters sent to the MySpace dating sites.
Although bloggers tend to hate legal threats, Facebook is probably in the right here - they offer a Facebook API for outside development that makes it easy to build add-on services (although this didn't exist when UnFaced launched in the spring). Sites like Tixology have built useful services on the Facebook Developers platform, and had the sense to remove "Face" from the name to avoid confusion. MySpace, eBay, Google and other brands have to go after sites which contain their brand names - the case for defending "Face" isn't so strong, but it's still wise to avoid problems. It's also worth noting that screenscraping isn't the same as legitimately plugging in to the service - MySpace had a good case against scrapers like DatingAnyone, but the tendency to disable legitimate MySpace codes and widgets isn't acceptable.
Arrow would be wise to drop the project and move on - either that, or change the name and figure out a way to build a similar service using the Facebook API. Facebook offered to reinstate his account if he closed UnFaced, which sounds like a reasonable agreement. However, Arrow says that it's "unfortunate that Facebook views UnFaced as a threat" and plans to continue with the service. He's still accepting signups as of today, and wants to seek a "mutually beneficial relationship" with Facebook. Without radically changing the service, that ain't gonna happen.
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0.309251 | <urn:uuid:8bbb6151-34b1-4a9b-9349-df63694cc2a2> | en | 0.950018 | The VICE Channels
Watching Humans on Black Friday Is Better Than Most Nature Shows: Why We Get Bloodlust-Crazy Over Holiday Sales
Written by
Derek Mead
Black Friday (or is it Thursday?) is finally here after weeks up build-up. Apologies for putting a damper on the excitement, but it’s pretty depressing to know that people rushed through Thanksgiving dinner last night just to get out and fight over deals on cut-rate TVs and cheap point-and-shoots. For quality gear, the deals aren’t even necessarily that great.
Yet people still get whipped into a frenzy over the promise of incredible prices. Black Friday chaos has killed people. Last year, some people were pepper sprayed while others sprayed bullets. How is that even possible? Which weird, rage-inducing evolutionary strings does the Black Friday phenomenon pluck?
Suicidal lunatic? Well, no. Just not particularly smart. Via.
The most overused animal comparison for large groups mindlessly chasing each other to their own peril is the lemming. Lemmings, as we’ve all heard one time or another, are so easily whipped into a frenzy during their migrations that they’ll even run after each other as they jump off cliffs to their death. This reeks of Black Friday behavior: people mindlessly migrating to the land of plenty, killing themselves and others along the way.
But the actual myth of lemmings revolves around them purposely killing themselves, potentially to save more food for others. That sounds like decidedly not Black Friday behavior. It’s also still nothing but a myth. Instead of periodic group suicides, the extreme volatility of lemming populations is explained by the perils of their migrations. When one local population gets large, the group takes off for a new location in one big rush, which can include the aforementioned jumping off cliffs and swimming across large bodies of water.
These daunting migrations can decimate lemming populations, but once the few lemmings that survive set up camp in a new location, they take advantage of their prodigious reproductive capabilities and send the population skyrocketing again. It’s a never-ending cycle driven and regulated by the need for resources. There is one element there that does ring true when compared to Black Friday: lemmings (and numerous other animals) undertake an extremely perilous migration in search of resources.
At its root, that’s what Black Friday is really about. Like birds flying south for the winter, it’s an annual migration—in this case, to malls rather than Mexico—to take advantage of a perceived glut of resources, triggered in this case by massive advertising campaigns rather than shifting weather. But ‘perceived’ is the key word there. Birds brave a long, difficult journey to find a winter home full of food, warmth and easy living. While that’s what a lot of people do for Thanksgiving, that’s far from the case of Black Friday, where the trip is a climate-controlled cruise and the end destination is a consumerist war zone. If birds are moving to the land of plenty and easy living, why do Black Friday shoppers purposely head out to fight over a few potential deals?
Birds risk death by migrating because staying home means even more likely death. Does that sound at all like Black Friday?
It comes down to the perceived value of those items on sale. We talked about perceived value last week when talking about luxury, but suffice to say that in situations where something thinks a thing is worth a lot more than it is, they’re bound to do some crazy things.
Black Friday is traditionally the day that all major retailers held sales to jump-start the holiday shopping season, which a large bulk of their income comes from—hence “Black” Friday: it starts the part of the year where retailers claw their balance sheets back into the black. But, with booming online sales keeping people out of stores, retailers have taken advantage of modern cross-platform advertising to blow Black Friday up into an end-all price apocalypse. The ideal shopper is the parent who wants to knock out of all their holiday shopping in one deal-addled death run, and ads specifically targeting that demographic have convinced others that it’s possible.
That means Black Friday is now an official event, with people seriously preparing for it. The driving force behind it is the promise of cheap goods, and it’s now simply expected that chaos and all-night lines are just part of the process. It’s because shoppers are going out looking to buy everything in sight that the chaos brews. A cheap digital camera is still a cheap digital camera, even if it’s $50 off, but when demand is artificially high like in a hyped Black Friday scenario, people’s natural instinct to provide for their kids—Mama Bear syndrome, if you like—means getting hold of that crap becomes a life or death situation, whether or not that’s actually the case. In that environment, the perceived value of whatever junk retailers put out for sale shoots through the roof, which helps explain why someone would be willing to sit outside all night and lose all sense of decorum just to save five percent over the sales that typically happen later in the season.
To the people waiting outside in the freezing cold for hours, a half-off Etch-a-Sketch is more valuable than a brick of gold, and they’ll fight for it. Look at the intensity in their eyes. This is the most fascinating nature show of all.
Of course, getting sweet deals feels great. I actually just bought some shirts while I was writing this, and I saved a bundle of cash. But sales happen year round, especially in the online retail world, and no one has frenzies for that. But Black Friday is something different altogether, and it’s all based on our perceptions. First, advertising and blowout door sales (of which any one store may only carry a few items to mitigate losses) get us convinced that there indeed are price Valhallas out there for one day a year. And once you get to the store, the simple presence of hundreds of like-minded individuals pushes our competitive drive into high gear, especially for those concerned with shopping for their children.
Black Friday is what it is because people choose to buy into the hype. That’s fine because it’s their own choice to do so. But it’s interesting to note that the frenzy itself is influenced by a whole host of our own internal triggers that push us to gather what we perceive to be the most valuable resources. That desire for resource acquisition gets even more bloodthirsty when its our kids involved, whether or not the darn kid actually wants the last Dora the Explorer video game on the shelf.
Follow Derek Mead on Twitter.
Read more Evolution Explains: Why We Want To Be Like That Famous Guy. | http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/watching-humans-on-black-friday-is-better-than-most-nature-shows-why-we-get-bloodlust-crazy-over-holiday-sales | dclm-gs1-245440001 | false | false | {
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0.019788 | <urn:uuid:13be997f-0fa1-4570-a040-b80a2c875280> | en | 0.900501 |
Surf City
0 Shouts - 327,216 Scrobbles
Surf City first came in to existence when bored friends Davin Stoddard and Josh Kennedy met at a party in Mt Roskill, Auckland, New Zealand in 2004. Tired of the heavy avant-garde music that was prolific at the time Stoddard and Kennedy teamed up with Josh’s brother Jamie and Logan Collins to form the band. Originally called The Fibs and then Kill Surf City their fascination with fast guitar pop and the early '80s sound of Dunedin soon saw them develop their own unique and catchy sound.
Top Songs
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2. Headin' Inside - 33,742 plays
3. See How The Sun - 19,624 plays
4. Dickshakers Union - 23,337 plays
5. Crazy Rulers Of The World - 18,004 plays
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0.036253 | <urn:uuid:396a5d8e-0a4f-41de-bb5c-b1a55a61a263> | en | 0.946623 | Did Ancient Earth-Chilling Meteor Crash Near Canada?
Scientists have traced the geochemical signature of the BB-sized spherules that rained down back to their source, the 1.5-billion-year-old Quebecia terrane in northeastern Canada near the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. At the time of the impact, the region was covered by a continental ice sheet, like Antarctica and Greenland are today.
Top 10 Ways to Stop an Asteroid
Asteroids reach Earth's atmosphere every day -- but only the biggest make it to the ground.
Younger Dryas?
The new research shakes up a controversial theory about a big climate shift called the Younger Dryas, when Earth abruptly swung into a glacial period 12,900 years ago. The cooling has been attributed to a sudden shutdown in Northern Atlantic Ocean currents, caused by a big glacial lake flood out the St. Lawrence or Mackenzie Rivers. But in 2007, scientists suggested that comet or meteor impacts or atmospheric fireballs triggered the Younger Dryas, though no crater of the right age has ever been found.
The tiny particles from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, analyzed by Sharma and his colleagues, have never been accurately dated, Sharma admits. They could be several thousands years older than the widespread glacial event. "We are assuming they are Younger Dryas, but is one of the things that should be done better," Sharma told LiveScience.
And geochemical tracers in the molten rock show it can't be traced back to a recently discovered impact crater near Quebec called Corossal crater, thought to be Younger Dryas-age. (When Space Attacks: The 6 Craziest Meteor Impacts)
"Clearly these things were produced in an impact fireball, but we didn't find any evidence of meteorites," Sharma told LiveScience.
PHOTOS: Russian Meteor Strike Aftermath
Yet Sharma remains convinced that the spherules from the Northeast Atlantic sites link up to the Younger Dryas cooling. "We have for the first time narrowed down the region where a Younger Dryas impact did take place, even though we have not yet found its crater," he said.
'Fringe science'
Scientists on the other side of the impact theory debate are not so sure.
"At this point, the pro-impact literature is fringe science being promoted by a single journal," said Nicholas Pinter, a geologist at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, who was not involved in the PNAS research.
Sharma's osmium isotope analysis of Younger Dryas sediments supports studies that show high concentrations of iridium (a meteorite impact marker) in Younger Dryas layers are erroneous, said Gregory Ravizza, a geologist at the University of Hawaii, also not involved in the research. Osmium and iridium concentrations tend to track each other — both will be high at the same spot, Ravizza said, casting doubt on Sharma's conclusions.
This article originally appeared on LiveScience.com. More from LiveScience.com:
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0.032317 | <urn:uuid:40897d95-5840-47d0-8744-5880988739ef> | en | 0.969035 | Readers Write
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No-Kill Shelters in Portugal
Letter to the Editor
There are actually quite a few no-kill shelters in Portugal, most of them recent. In the following site which is a sort of petfinder where information on many different animals from organizations across the country is compiled, you can see the logos of the shelters—some aren’t shelters but the actual municipal pounds whose volunteers try to foster out as many animals as possible. There are still a few other organizations that are not present on this site.
The shelter where Clarinete lives is the oldest in Portugal. União Zoófila was founded in 1951. This means it was founded during the Fascist Dictatorship (which came to an end with the revolution in 1974) and in many ways it shows its age and outdated concepts of what a shelter should be. União Zoófila is a very closed off institution. It is also huge. At any given point it houses more than 500 dogs and almost 200 cats. Unlike most modern shelters which are run strictly by volunteers and rely solely on donations, UZ has a system where people can become ‘members’ paying a monthly fee which serves as a donation and helps pay the salaries of six full-time workers who are responsible for the daily feeding and cleaning of the animals. Frankly, most of them look old enough to be retired. There is also an administrative board.
I started visiting União Zoófila every Sunday, last year, when I became Clarinete’s “godmother.” This is a program where you make a monthly donation of 13 EUR (18$) and become a given dog’s “godmother” or “godfather.” This is what I meant by sponsored. Many shelters have this kind of program in place. It doesn’t really obligate you to do anything else, but what is desirable is that you will take your chosen dog (preferably a dog who is less likely to be adopted) for walks whenever possible, and some even take their dogs for a weekend at home, for a day at the beach, etc.
UZ has a growing group of devoted volunteers who are there mostly during the weekend, when they pick up the slack, by cleaning, walking and generally taking care of the animals. They organize group walks to a nearby forest park, among themselves and also put together larger walks for godmothers and godfathers.
What I can say is that the infrastructure is very poor. Most animals are housed in rows of “boxes.” These are like small rooms with an interior part (where there will be a bed) and an exterior one fronted by grate. The worst is the floor—while some areas already have non-adherent easy to clean heavy, duty plastic flooring, most of the kennel is still on cement. This is hard on the dog’s paws of course, and helps to bring out the general grimness of the place. There are no green spaces or trees within the shelter, although just out front there is a vacant piece of land with some trees, where dogs usually are walked.
What I’ve observed is that dogs that were previously on the streets usually fare better. Dogs that are surrendered by their owners seem to me to suffer the most—but then this is probably self-evident. Painfully shy dogs (such as Clarinete) also have a rough time at the shelter. There is hardly enough time to give these dogs the kind of socialization they need.
As far as adoption goes, babies generally fly out the door. I’ve personally seen several instances where puppies are relinquished to the shelter and adopted the same day (whether this is a responsible policy is another matter). Any small dog (especially dog resembling Poodles, Chihuahuas, Papillons and the like) will get adopted pretty fast, even if they are seniors. Two senior Golden Retrievers that came in were also adopted fast as are dogs resembling Labradors (although there are starting to be so many of these, I think the situation will reverse).
More From The Bark
More in Readers Write:
From Birdbrained to Brilliant
A New Niche
Island of Misfit Toys
Old Dog Time
First Dog: Tika
A tribute to Ike on Your 7th Birthday!
Increasing Our Compassion Footprint
Show & Tell: Gavin
If Just One Day We Could Be a No Kill Nation
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0.999996 | <urn:uuid:5434606f-e40e-4b01-9097-c0fa0b37a4af> | en | 0.903088 | Review: ‘Leif Garrett’
U tunes web music
Universal Music's online record label Jimmy and Doug's Farm Club launched Tuesday as Seagram CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. talked of a potential spinoff of the company's Internet music business.
Review: ‘Eurythmics’
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NES #10: Castlequest
Poor, misunderstood Castlequest...
Sep 23, 2009 10:22AM PST
Well, I finally finished Destiny of an Emperor on Friday afternoon; with the help of a dozen power pills and sheer luck, I finally killed Sima Yi and restored the Han Dynasty. Oh, how I love rewriting history... for those who don't know the original history of the Three Kingdoms era in China, Shu, the kingdom under Liu Bei, was actually the first of the three kingdoms to fall, yet in this game they are the final victors. And yet Capcom claims this is the "true story" of 2nd/3rd century China. This is somewhat like making a game about the U.S. Civil War and having the Confederates win (which can actually happen in the NES game North and South, but at least the programmers point out that you've rewritten history if you play as the South and beat the game).
(And in the time it took me to actually post this, I also beat Dr. Chaos... you'll notice a fun little contradiction in the text down below as a result. It's not too hard (played it on and off during a 24-hour period and got through the whole thing), but frustrating at times and plagued by permanent slowdown. That's FCI for you. Same people behind Hydlide and Phantom Fighter, which are also on this list... but in the words of Richard Nixon, "more on that later.")
Also, I finally tested all six new games, and sixteen off-brand Q-tips later (and a little bit of 70% rubbing alcohol... hasn't hurt any of my games so far), they're all working just fine. I played each one for a few minutes; Yoshi's Cookie is a little more ghetto-tastic than I remember (it reeks of "this is a so-so NES version of an SNES game," much like "Mario is Missing" does), Gradius is going to kick my butt, Silent Service is about as counter-intuitive as the flight sim portion of Infiltrator (don't throw away that instruction manual, people), and Dungeon Magic will probably require graph paper to survive. None of these fall into the "absolutely awful" category... yet. We'll see what happens when we get to them.
As for Top Gun and its sequel... well, they aren't quite as bad as I thought they would be. I sat down long enough to play the first mission of Top Gun, and after getting missile'd a couple of times (once from a guy on my six), I got to the plane landing sequence...
...and landed safely on the first try.
I'm not sure what happened. Maybe it was luck; maybe I'm just awesome; maybe everyone else is a wimp. I'd rather go with the first option, as it's the least egocentric one, and it leaves me with a little intrigue for when I get to those games again... which will be awhile, since they're #79 and #80 respectively at the moment...
But anyway. You came here to find out about Castlequest, right? Right? The famed NES game that has terrible music, lots of spikes, and will probably force you to throw in the towel after you realize you wasted a few keys? Yes, that's the one. My purpose here today is to give you the *true* story of Castlequest, but that's debatable, since my opinions are still opinions despite being based on a full playthrough of the game. All in all, I would rate it a pinch higher than most people would since I actually stuck around to beat it, but... well, I'm probably getting ahead of myself.
So what is Castlequest, you say? It's another one of those "save-the-princess" side-scrolling games, and part of a brief series that started on the MSX computer over in Japan. Margarita has been captured by the Mad Miser and is wasting away (searching for her lost shaker of salt?) in a cell in his castle. You, as Prince Raphael, must rescue her; rather than going after the Miser himself, though, you weave around through dozens of rooms in a gigantic labyrinth, solving puzzles, killing enemies, and collecting keys. Lots and lots of keys. Collecting keys is one of the main things you'll remember after playing this; if you don't believe me, check out the status bar in the screenshot below:
Starting screen
As you can also see, there are various other goodies to collect, and a few types of enemies to block your way. Not all are pictured here, but there are knights, which walk back and forth and occasionally fire an arrow at you; giant cats, walk around, jumping when you do; bishops, which cannot be killed with your sword; fire spirits, which float up and down when you jump (and are also immune to your sword; wizards, which summon enemies; killer plants, which pop out of the ground every once in a while to take a bite out of you. I think that's it, but it's been a few months since the full run... anyway, some of these can be killed with your sword (more like a dagger if you ask me), while others must be crushed by slow-moving elevators, crates, jars, or other things that just happen to be lying around.
Like I said, though, the primary point of this game is to collect lots of keys and make your way through several dozen rooms without wasting too many of them; if you find yourself short a key or two towards the end, you're basically screwed, and you'll have to start the whole thing over from scratch. This alone is enough to turn most people away very quickly; although the game is extremely generous with lives (you start out with 50 in the NES version, but only 4 in the Famicom version, which is still enough to get an experienced player through), you will, as GameFAQs reviewer ASchultz puts it, "probably throw in the towel before you get to 30." If the game were a little less open-ended, this might be less of a problem, but you have to be very careful about how you spend your keys, and the best way to keep track of the 100 rooms in the castle is to map them out on paper. Since most gamers these days don't have the patience for that (except the ones who play games like Etrian Odyssey, where the "graph paper" is built into the game as a feature), many have dismissed this title as "Castlecrap" and moved on with their lives.
I, however, beg to differ. Sort of.
If you map things out, the game is a lot more reasonable, and it is in fact possible to beat without following a guide from beginning to end. After making some decent headway I skimmed ASchultz's map of the game to get a general idea of where the princess was, and after a particularly frustrating hour-plus-long run in which I was two pink keys short of winning (and I knew of at least one spot where I had wasted one of those), I went into his indepth guide and back to the map to figure out which side of her room I needed to enter in order to waste the fewest keys.
There are a few "keys" (aside from the colored ones you collect) to beating this game with minimal frustration and assistance, and they are as follows:
1. Get used to the slightly awkward yet very predictable jumping physics.
In Raphael's world, gravity does not cause objects to accelerate or decelerate as they rise or fall; rather, when he jumps, he goes up at a consistent rate, hovers in the air for a bit, and then falls at the same rate he rose. That "hovering" period is critical for jumping over certain enemies (particularly bishops, which don't go down with a stab of your sword) and getting over spike pits. It feels weird at first, but since jumping is a fairly slow process, it's quite predictable after you've played for awhile, so even the tricky jumps aren't terribly hard; you just have to "calculate" to see if they're possible, and then time them accordingly.
2. Know the finer points of block-pushing puzzles.
Most objects in the game behave in a somewhat predictable fashion, but the pulleys are a bit confusing at first, and most screens involving them are pretty daunting at first glance:
Block puzzle before
However, using them is a much simpler matter than you might think. In order to use a pulley, that grey block with arrows *must* be under the horizontal portion of the pulley. Pushing to the left moves the lift up; pushing to the right moves the lift down. If the lift cannot move further, you can still push the block, but the lift will stay put. With that in mind, block-pushing puzzles can be solved with a little bit of patience.
Block puzzle - after
Note that the blocks now stack up to the door; one funny (or perhaps annoying to some) thing about this game is that you must be standing next to a door to open it. You cannot merely jump into a door and unlock it, or else this entire puzzle would have been pointless.
Also note the block in the lower left corner. It is possible for a block to rest on the edge of a platform like that, with half of it dangling off the edge. This is *extremely* important for some puzzles later; you can actually stack a bunch of blocks in this manner and defy the laws of physics in some interesting ways.
3. Draw a crude map of every room you can.
This may seem tedious, but it's going to be difficult to remember every single room and what keys it holds. Some rooms are a waste of time and keys to even enter, but it's good to map those as well on your early runs. That's why it's important to...
4. Know how to "restart" rooms.
This can be the difference between life and death in Castlequest. If you are in fact stuck, there is a way to undo your previous moves. In fact, for those who save their manuals (or download a manual scan online), there's this little tidbit that will save your butt on several occassions:
Sub-Command Mode
them wherever you can.
Granted, it would be nice if you could press select while paused to do this (select while unpaused brings up the map if you have it), but if nothing else, you can unplug your sole controller, plug it into slot two, press A or B, plug it back in slot one, and continue onward. This is one of the more nagging flaws of this game that I have trouble excusing, but it didn't affect me too much at least, since I have two working controllers. Anyway, this brings up a menu that lets you revert a room to its condition upon you last entering it, or go back to the previous room and revert *both* rooms to their condition upon you last entering them. Like I said, this will save your butt big time when you're dealing with rooms you haven't visited before, or when you squander a key to go into a room that's a complete waste of your time.
5. Learn the tricks to saving keys.
There are several ways to do this, but I will mention only a few. First of all, take a look at this room:
Note the yellow door in the middle. Is there any reason to enter it? Of course not; you can just use the safes to jump to the platform above and go around it. Several doors can be avoided in this manner, although figuring out which ones this applies to is not always that simple.
Also, keep in mind that if you go in a room, get a couple of keys, and die, you'll appear at the start of the room, but you'll have the keys you got. Below is my favorite example of this.
Saving keys 1
Saving keys 2
Grab the keys, then kill yourself...
Saving keys 3
And presto! You appear at the start of the room, one life less, but with keys in hand. We can avoid using the green door that way, since we will otherwise be short on green keys later on.
Lastly, not all keys are created equal. The yellow ones are super-common, but the dark red are pretty rare. Keep this in mind, as there will be times where you can "trade" a more common key for a rarer key by going in a certain door. However, I have been in situations where I had enough of the rarer keys but was missing something more common, like a light blue, since the doors for rare keys seem to be a little more common as well.
It is actually possible to bypass over half the rooms in the game and still beat it; I read somewhere that there was a speedrun someone had done that only took a little more than 20 minutes, and I think my final solution was somewhat similar to this one (although I can tell you it took me a lot more than 20 minutes, not counting all the retries and trial-and-error beforehand). I haven't seen the speedrun myself, though, so I'm not sure.
The game is more likely to get you stuck than kill you off, but enough patience and enough affinity for puzzle-solving will get you successfully to the end. Also, the beginning is not as much of a crapshoot as the first few minutes of Dr. Chaos are (which I am about to start playing in a bit, with the hope that I can find the first warp zone without wondering around aimlessly for an hour), although the rest of the game is not so nice. Castlequest is very nice to you at first, but after that, it can be a pain to navigate.
This was my experience, though: after mapping out the early rooms, I found a room with a bunch of doors requiring rare keys, and this made me suspicious. In time I figured out where these keys were and figured out how to best ration out my common ones, and I made it to the lower-right corner of the map with quite a few keys in my arsenal. I wrote down my key totals at that point as a reference, knowing I was probably about 1/3rd of the way through. After that point, it's difficult to get stuck until the very very end, where the game suddenly throws a bunch of doors at you just to hack you off (seventy-something rooms of exploration, culminating in failure), but with further mapping, a bit of assistance, and some further deductions as far as key efficiency, I had a solution. Unfortunately, I had to play through the game several times to get it just right, but it is, in fact, possible. A stronger person than I could have done it with no assistance, perhaps... maybe.
It also doesn't help that oxygen tanks, once collected, do not reappear, so if you get across a body of water, you may not be able to cross it again. Invincibility rays, however, you can go back for, and they actually protect you from water; this is important, as some of the faster solutions to the game involve backtracking through water after touching an invincibility ray.
The other thing I forgot to mention, though, is the music. Most of the tunes are in the same key, and they are rather short. The main one you'll be hearing is roughly 20 seconds long, and, although it's kind of catchy, it repeats over and over. And over and over and over. And over and over and over and over and over and over and... well, you get the idea. There are a few other tunes, though, for the title screen, invincibility (yes, there is an invincibility power-up in this game, but you'll probably give up before you find it), grabbing an oxygen tank, finding a fairy, and rescuing the princess. The scary thing is, I've heard worse NES music in two places: from certain NES hacks or pirate carts, and at least one game further down the list... but I won't spoil the surprise.
All in all, it's not a bad game; it's just so unforgiving that most people will give up on it. Your typical neo-retro indie sidescrollers that you see people churning out in Game Maker and the like are more likely to embrace the kick-your-butt difficulty that Battletoads displays; obscure, difficult solutions to complex puzzles, however, are not really in style anymore. Oh well. I still place the game at a 5 or so, since it takes more than that for a game to truly be bottom-of-the-barrel...
On a lighter note, Clash at Demonhead is next; this is one of those gems that everyone should give a shot, even though certain aspects of it feel a little dated. Somewhere in midst of the Dragon Warrior trilogy my blogs should be caught up...
Where/when purchased: Game Force... I think.
Cost: $5.
Date Started: 7-16-2009, 3:24 AM
Date Finished: 7-19-2009, 3:26 PM
Space in the NES notebook: Over two pages for a really crude map of most of the castle, and several more lines for footnotes on particular rooms. And even then I still got some help.
FAQs/assistance used: After figuring out about 1/3rd of the game, I referenced a map a couple of times to see where my final destination was, and towards the end I used that map (along with another guide) to unravel the puzzle of the last room. Figuring out which keys to save where, however, was mostly a journey of my own... a long, tedious journey.
Favorite part?: Probably solving some of the trickier block-pushing puzzles, or finding another spot where I could save a key. That and realizing
Hard mode?: No.
Play again?: Not planning on it; once is enough.
• E-mail it
• 4
Comments (3)
• *Remembers the music in his head*
Posted: Sep 24, 2009 12:00AM PST by DTJAAAAM
I generally don't side with the majority, but I'd have to agree when they say that this game is crap. Once again, you're a braver soul than I for tolerating the game long enough to finish it.
• sluddgetrough
• map?
Posted: Mar 10, 2010 12:00AM PST by sluddgetrough
I have been google searching my butt off for a map of this game, but can't find one. I know the game bundles with a map, I remember it from when I was little. It even had little arrows on it suggesting different ways to go (though they never helped me get anywhere near the middle of the castle) I find it hard to believe that no one on earth has scanned and posted that map online. Even a homemade map would do, I just need some help. Any ideas, guys?
• Darkmetaly
• I like it
Posted: Feb 06, 2013 12:00AM PST by Darkmetaly
I played this game alot when i was a kid me and my dad spent hours in it. Its a good game its just very hard. I didnt give up on it esaly but dam this game is brutal. I played again not so long ago but it still kicked my ass congratulations on beating this game Elkovsky thats quite an accomplishment. this is propoply the hardest game i ever played.
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IGN Entertainment Games | http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9004952 | dclm-gs1-245820001 | false | false | {
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0.029154 | <urn:uuid:28e0053a-cabd-4cbe-9038-00916a072cfd> | en | 0.954403 | Cutting government in a time of “natural” disasters
Krugman has some words for it (Sandy vs. Katrina):
Given this experience, you might have expected George W. Bush to preserve Mr. Clinton’s gains. But no: he appointed his campaign manager, Joe Allbaugh, to head the agency, and Mr. Allbaugh immediately signaled his intention both to devolve disaster relief to the state and local level and to downgrade the whole effort, declaring, “Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level.” After Mr. Allbaugh left for the private sector, he was replaced with Michael “heckuva job” Brown, and the rest is history.
Like Mr. Clinton, President Obama restored FEMA’s professionalism, effectiveness, and reputation. But would Mitt Romney destroy the agency again? Yes, he would. As everyone now knows — despite the Romney campaign’s efforts to Etch A Sketch the issue away — during the primary Mr. Romney used language almost identical to Mr. Allbaugh’s, declaring that disaster relief should be turned back to the states and to the private sector.
The best line on this, I have to admit, comes from Stephen Colbert: “Who better to respond to what’s going on inside its own borders than the state whose infrastructure has just been swept out to sea?”
Ted Rall has a drawing
Rall's viewpoint arguably is less political and richer in environmental detail, but also more difficult to contextualize and/or verify.
Add yours ↓
Comments are closed. | http://www.achangeinthewind.com/2012/11/cutting-government-in-a-time-of-natural-disasters.html | dclm-gs1-245860001 | false | false | {
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0.077849 | <urn:uuid:4cce5761-d682-43b4-884c-00407713e17e> | en | 0.910661 | El Nino vs. Snowfall-Updated
The Climate Prediction Center (www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov) recently came out with an update on the recent El Nino that is occurring in the Pacific and the resulting impacts that it will have across the lower 48. The forecast for the strength of the El Nino in the eastern Pacific if pretty much in line with the previous forecasts with having it reach “moderate” strength with Sea Surface Temperature anomalies of around 1.5 degrees and lasting through the winter and into the middle of spring. This generally means that our temperatures over the winter season will have the best chance of being at or above normal. In terms of precipitation, it tends to lead to drier conditions for portions of the Midwest. The main question that everyone asks is, “Well, does that mean that we’re not going to have a snowy winter?” Recent trends during El Nino years say that we won’t have a snowy winter. Here are some stats at the two climate sites in northern Illinois at Chicago and Rockford and how much snow they’ve received in past El Nino winters...
29.8 (-6.8)
36.5 (+4.2)
20.0 (-16.6)
19.3 (-13.4)
35.2 (-1.4)
39.8 (+7.1)
24.9 (-11.7)
18.9 (-13.8)
32.9 (-3.7)
26.6 (-6.1)
26.6 (-10.0)
28.0 (-4.7)
42.6 (+6.0)
45.0 (+12.3)
28.4 (-8.2)
30.6 (-2.1)
24.1 (-12.5)
32.4 (-0.3)
29.6 (-7.0)
No Data
28.6 (-8.0)
18.3 (-14.3)
(Note: Since dealing with a larger dataset than the last 30 years, adjusted numbers to reflect the data from the entire dataset, which means data going back to 1884 for Chicago and back to 1906 for Rockford. The latest 30 year normal may be skewed a bit by the large snowfall seasons of the late 1970s. The overall averages were 1.4" lower for Chicago and 6.0" lower for Rockford when compared to the current 30 year normals provided by NCDC.)
So, it is pretty evident that in this 60+ year sample that an El Nino year tends to translate to below normal amounts of snowfall during the winter. There are a few exceptions, so it isn’t entirely impossible to have an above normal season, but it does look rare. So far for the snow season, Chicago has received 6.5” of snow, which is 2.0” above the normal value of 4.5” for up to this point in the season. At Rockford, 10.9” of snow has fallen so far this season, which is 5.7” above the normal value of 5.2”. Although we are above normal for this point in the season, the effects from El Nino aren’t typically felt until later in the winter season, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens!
Tim Halbach
Climate Focal Point
Updated 12/13/06
Return to News Archive
| http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=lot&storyid=13813&source=2 | dclm-gs1-246210001 | false | false | {
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0.022908 | <urn:uuid:d4945635-76b2-4940-b265-8222581d974a> | en | 0.936438 | Public Release: Stem cell breakthrough: Bone marrow cells are the answer
New research in the FASEB Journal shows that bone marrow cells fuse to different types of cells, including embryonic stem cells, creating new hybrids that may evade immune rejection
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
"Our study shows that transplanted bone marrow cells fuse not only with bone marrow cells of the recipient, but with non-hematopoietic cells, suggesting that if we can understand the process of cell fusion better, we may be able to target certain organ injuries with the patient's own bone marrow cells and repair the tissues," said Nicholas Zavazava, M.D., Ph.D., a University of Iowa researcher involved in the work.
Although the study holds great promise for future embryonic stem cell therapies, the results may be even more far reaching. Zavazava and colleagues used two different mouse strains, one as the donor and the other as the recipient. When bone marrow cells were engrafted into the recipient, they tested for the presence of both donor and recipient cells and found three different types of cells: donor cells, recipient cells, and fused cells that had DNA from the donor and recipient. They then discovered that these cells could fuse with many different types of cells in addition to embryonic stem cells, including those from the liver, kidney, heart, and gut. Although more work is necessary to determine the exact clinical outcomes, the discovery raises the possibility that bone marrow cells could be fused to transplant organs to reduce the likelihood of rejection. They could also be fused to failing organs to support regeneration.
"Unlike machines where the same part can be used for several different makes and models, each of us is custom built, and our immune system does the quality control," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "As a result, human replacement parts, or organs, need to closely match the tissue of the recipient. This research uses bone marrow cells to fuse with a patient tissues so that nothing transplanted is rejected by our immune systems, and brings universal graft survival closer to reality."
Receive monthly highlights from The FASEB Journal by e-mail. Sign up at The FASEB Journal ( is published by the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). The journal has been recognized by the Special Libraries Association as one of the top 100 most influential biomedical journals of the past century and is the most cited biology journal worldwide according to the Institute for Scientific Information. FASEB is composed of 23 societies with more than 90,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States. FASEB enhances the ability of biomedical and life scientists to improve-through their research-the health, well-being and productivity of all people. Its mission is to advance health and welfare by promoting progress and education in biological and biomedical sciences through service to our member societies and collaborative advocacy.
Details: Sabrina Bonde, Mehrdad Pedram, Ryan Stultz, and Nicholas Zavazava. Cell fusion of bone marrow cells and somatic cell reprogramming by embryonic stem cells. FASEB J. 2010 24: 364-373.
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0.119525 | <urn:uuid:6d2f639c-9439-4fd5-8061-ca3f1dc6c880> | en | 0.918337 | Describing the state of the science of applied behavior analysis (ABA), this comprehensive handbook provides detailed information about theory, research, and intervention. The contributors are leading ABA authorities who present best practices in behavioral assessment and demonstrate evidence-based strategies for supporting positive behaviors and reducing problem behaviors. Conceptual, empirical, and procedural building blocks of ABA are reviewed and specific applications described in education, autism treatment, safety skills for children, and other areas. The volume also addresses crucial professional and ethical issues, making it a complete reference and training tool for ABA practitioners and students. | http://www.exclus1ves.co.za/books/Handbook-of-Applied-Behavior-Analysis-Edited-byWayne-W-Fisher~Edited-byCathleen-C-Piazza~Edited-byHenry-S-Roane/000000000100000000001000000000000000000000000009781609184681/ | dclm-gs1-246400001 | false | false | {
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0.750531 | <urn:uuid:804debb4-443c-40a9-8253-32d7af261f65> | en | 0.965207 | I couldnt find my GC so i went on youtube
• Topic Archived
1. Boards
2. Resident Evil 6
3. I couldnt find my GC so i went on youtube
4 years ago#11
Revelations was good apart from the ai partner following you 95% of the game.
4 years ago#12
Please tell me you're joking.
You'd think they would have solved this garbage after the RE5 travesty.
4 years ago#13
l-town4l posted...
When was Leon ever in REmake...
Please re-read the comment.
4 years ago#14
He's somewhat joking. In Revelations there are AI partners... BUT the thing is they're often away from you doing other stuff,and with that they never run out of ammo or lose health and you don't really have to take care of them. This reminds me of the first boss in Revelations when the chainsaw maniac was running after me and I ran upstairs to get ammo, and Parker was just standing there shooting enemies and getting grabbed and pushing them off and he just didn't give a ****, but it was alright since I didn't have to deal with him.
There are about two moments in the game I can recall where you have to help your partners.
One section in the stage with Quint and Flinton or whatever where one of them gets shot down and you have to defend him from oncoming enemies, and another where Jill has to help Parker limp through the ship, which makes you move at a sluggish rate as you try to get to safety.
Only if you pay me.
1. Boards
2. Resident Evil 6
3. I couldnt find my GC so i went on youtube
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0.950171 | <urn:uuid:5e7652f6-6392-4ce8-9ab9-c7167e928641> | en | 0.836358 |
1. Boards
2. Pokemon X
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My 2nd k70Eskii310/4 11:39AM
Can you name this Amnesia mod?git2thechoppa310/4 11:32AM
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Holy Crap. A Windows trouble shooting Wizard just fixed something for me.NeilJWD210/4 10:50AM
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mobile broadband - how many gig 20 hours of gaming per week take up for quota?ThePHiLsTeR310/4 10:11AM
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Better cube case than corsair 540 air?
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Dynasty Warriors Empires, Samurai Warriors 4-2 or One Pirate Warriors 3unlosing_ranger610/4 7:22AM
Battletech returns on kickstarter from same devs that did Shadowrun ReturnsDrLight66510/4 7:19AM
I could really go for another WWII shooter
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sound format'hrz'form cd-dvdimprezas410/4 6:59AM
Trying to figure out an old game!LeTHaL_PiRaTe210/4 6:27AM
Micro HDMI cable with connector that can take a beating?kingoffps110/4 6:00AM | http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/916373-pc/65837065?page=8 | dclm-gs1-246480001 | false | false | {
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0.018276 | <urn:uuid:990ac304-af56-4fef-8dae-7b7c0e05d7e0> | en | 0.946303 | dpf clean
Discussion in 'GM Diesel & DuraMax' started by drwdominance, Nov 14, 2010.
1. drwdominance
drwdominance Rockstar
I have an 07 diesel and today the dic gave me a message to clean the dpf. Can I do this myself or should GM do it? If I can do it myself what exactly am I looking for?
2. Joeairforce
Joeairforce Epic Member 5+ Years 100 Posts
I think that just means you need to drive it around at hwy speeds for a little while and let it regen..... Have you tried looking it up in your manual though?
3. ntbush83
ntbush83 Rockstar 4 Years ROTM Winner 1000 Posts
I'd get an exhaust and tuner and chop that bad boy out :)
4. drwdominance
drwdominance Rockstar
well now the engine light is on and the dic says reduced engine power. i can barely make it up a hill.
any suggestions?
5. ntbush83
ntbush83 Rockstar 4 Years ROTM Winner 1000 Posts
That seems a little more serious now. Sounds like time for the stealership to step in. Is the truck under warranty?
6. drwdominance
drwdominance Rockstar
negative. i'll take it in and keep you posted.
7. silveradotrailblazer
silveradotrailblazer Epic Member 5+ Years ROTM Winner 5000 Posts
I'm with Joeairforce, I thought the dpf was self cleaning. Also I've been told that you can't cut the dpf out, truck won't run after a few miles without it (reduced power). But I can't say for sure. Check the owners manual about servicing the dpf.
8. Roadmechanic9
Roadmechanic9 New Member
The system will regen on its own unless you stop the system from performing its clean up process by stopping the engine during a regen or the differential pressure sensor on the exhaust that measures exhaust back pressure fails
9. drwdominance
drwdominance Rockstar
well i took it in and the mechanic checked the 2 codes it had and only recommended changing the air filter. he reset the computer and figured i'd be good to go and have had no problems since.
10. ntbush83
ntbush83 Rockstar 4 Years ROTM Winner 1000 Posts
Well I'm glad to hear that! Strange solution but as long as it works thats good!
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0.018896 | <urn:uuid:90e9330e-e96b-40b4-952a-107d688005e5> | en | 0.933745 | This is a wooden puzzle. The two parts lock together and you give it to a friend, asking him to unlock and separate the two parts. A friend in Germany made this one. When he handed it to me to solve, I could not until he showed me the secret. This Instructable will not only show how the puzzle is solved, but will also show how you can make these to give as gifts, especially at Christmas.
I have learned through a link by Make! Magazine that this is called a Duallock Cross Puzzle and it was invented by Nobuyuki Yoshigahara.
Step 1: How the parts appear separated
Here you see the two halves of the puzzle separated. Each half has a center notch and a hole below it. Internally, there are two holes in each with a piece of dowel pin that can move freely in each hole. The dowel pins are each a bit longer than the center notch. The center notch is the width of the wood's thickness on the parts. I will use some 3/4 inch clear pine.
About This Instructable
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0.964309 | <urn:uuid:b66ae057-f19c-4dec-9b40-e104b529caac> | en | 0.918475 | Mega Deal
DEFINITION of 'Mega Deal'
From the Greek megas, meaning great, this expression refers to a business deal that entails a great deal of money. Mergers and acquisitions that involve substantial amounts of money are examples of mega deals that occur with frequency in the business world. Although much merger activity happens on an ongoing basis, mega deals involve well known, established companies.
Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems in a deal valued at more that $7 billion is an example of a mega deal. Such deals usually create a dominant player in the industry, or are intended to create a well-situated conglomerate.
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0.024694 | <urn:uuid:31d92048-2294-40ba-a1da-f4c7ed79522c> | en | 0.947544 |
Day And Time:
Number of Reviews on MG: 1520
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
2004 - PG-13 - 86 Mins.
Director: Guy Ferland
Producer: Sarah Green, Lawrence Bender, Herbert Ross
Written By: Boaz Yakin, Victoria Arch, Christina Wayne, Ronald Bass, Pamela Gray
Starring: Romola Garai, Diego Luna, January Jones, Mya, Jonathan Jackson
Review by: Joe Rickey
Red hot!
Guy Ferland’s (The Showtime Original Movie ‘Bang Bang, You’re Dead’) ‘Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights’ is a film most would rightly have low expectations for. After all, it is basically a remake of the original ‘Dirty Dancing’ with a change of scenery to Cuba during the time of Castro’s revolution. Once again, it tells the tale of a naïve American girl (Romola Garai, ‘I Capture the Castle’) meeting a more seasoned boy (Diego Luna, ‘Y Tu Mama Tambien’) who teaches her the art of salsa dancing and, more importantly, of the nuances of life while falling in love. The film certainly could have been dreadful and much-maligned, but while it is not terrific, nor is it terrible. Instead, it is just sort of innocuous and altogether average in most everyway possible.
‘Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights’ is a film of two qualities. First off, the film tries to insert the viewer into the time period and location of Cuba during the time of the political revolution. The film further attempts to develop drama over the unrest by having various characters bring up the topic every so often. This technique never really works to full effect because it makes what could be potentially invigorating and thought-provoking moments instead come across as tedious and juvenile in the way much of it is handled. If one were to guess, there was little interest on the part of the filmmakers on this part of the story so they decided to gloss over it in the rush to get to the dance floor and the sexy salsa dancing that the original film was known for. A cast of supporting actors who stand around also hurts the film; seeming to not have a clue what they are supposed to be doing. They deliver their lines with a mechanical stiffness not unlike C-3PO from ‘Star Wars.’
The film, however, does excel when it comes to the multiple dancing sequences and competitions. They are well filmed from countless different camera angles; the cinematography sharp at all times. Patrick Swayze himself even manages to show up as a dance instructor for Garai’s character. He looks as young and fleet on foot as ever before. By including so many dance sequences, the film smartly plays up its single strongest asset.
The lead performances from Garai and Luna are a mixed bag. At times, Garai is elegant and altogether fine but at other times she comes across as mechanical as the supporting performances. Her on-screen partner Luna shares a similar fate as he too is inconsistent in his performance. It is perhaps fitting then that their chemistry manages to work because their scenes together seem to gel more often than not.
‘Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights’ by all accounts should have been a pathetically terrible film for multiple reasons, foremost is the fact that it, in the end, is a story that didn’t need to be told or a sequel that needed to be made for any other reason to take advantage of the public’s nostalgia for the original film. Instead, it is a rather bland and forgettable film that only really works when the characters aren’t talking and are instead on the dance floor doing their thing.
Movie Guru Rating
2.5 out of 5 stars
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Rediff News All News » Sports » Talasha Prabhu denies Richa sprint gold
Talasha Prabhu denies Richa sprint gold
February 15, 2011 20:42 IST
Richa Mishra was again the day's star performer as five records were shattered in the pool in the 34th National Games in Ranchi on Tuesday.
The Delhi girl picked two gold medals with record timings to make it six in sum by the end of day three. However, she had to settle for second place, behind Goa's Talasha Prabhu, in the sprint event, at the Veer Budhu Bhagat Aquatic Stadium.
Indian swimming sensation Virdhawal Khade rewrote his earlier record in the heats and went on to improve upon it in the final to emerge the fastest swimmer of the meet.
Promising Karnataka youngster Gagan A P and compatriot Rohit Havaldar smashed the other two records to fall on Tuesday.
It was again a memorable day for Maharashtra and Karnataka who clinched two gold medals each.
Battling a stomach upset, 27-year-old Delhi girl Richa clocked 05.09:47s to better a nine-year-old record of 05.09:91s in the 400m individual medley, while Karnataka bagged silver and bronze through Pooja Alva (05.25:03) and Sushaka Pratap (05.30:21) respectively.
Richa smashed her four-year-old record (02.29:34s) in the 200m backstroke when she clocked 02.26:82s.
Richa trailed Ananya Panigrahi of Maharashtra over the first 50 metres, but the ace swimmer slowly went ahead and stretched the lead before eclipsing her previous best.
Ananya had to be content with silver with a timing of 02.29:22s, while her statemate Aarti Ghorpade took the bronze, clocking 02.32:04s.
But Richa's hopes of completing a hat-trick on the day were dashed in the 50m freestyle, as Talasha lived up to her reputation in the sprint to claim the gold, clocking 27:95s.
Richa clocked 28:22s for the silver, while A V Jayaveena of Tamil Nadu clinched the bronze in 28:66s.
Asian Games bronze medalist Khade had no problem winning the 50m freestyle. The Kolhapur boy clocked 23:08s en route to his third gold.
In the morning session's heats, the 19-year-old had bettered his four-year-old record (23:92s) with a timing of 23:81s.
Arjun J P of Karnataka bagged the silver, stopping the clock at 24:65s, while Anshul Kothari (24:96s) took home the bronze.
Showing a lot of promise, 19-year-old Karnataka youngster Gagan smashed Rehan Poncha's four-year-old record (04.44:32s) with a superb timing of 04.40:08s in the 400m individual medley to start the proceedings in swimming.
Delhi bagged the silver through Merwyn Chen who clocked 04.46:56, while national record holder Sandeep Sejwal, representing Madhya Pradesh, won the bronze with a timing of 04.51:89s.
In diving, Maharashtra clinched the gold through Hrutika Shriram, who logged 200.95 points in the high board en route to the gold, while her statemate Jagruti Satarakar logged 159.50.
Bengal's Tanuka Dhara bagged the bronze with 153.45.
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0.067402 | <urn:uuid:11c5fa78-0a68-4798-9110-27d93c49bdd6> | en | 0.917061 | Seaweed & Sassafras
Nourished By Nature
Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Swirl Rolls
cinnamon roll, dinner, homechef, homemade, pesto, savory, sun dried tomato, thanksgivingAbby Himes10 Comments
How do you eat swirl rolls? I peel mine back layer by layer savoring each bite. My guy just dives right in with a big bite. I wonder what that means about us?
Let's not go there...
I have wanted to make these rolls forever! So I was pumped when I saw Julie @ Willow Bird Baking was starting her kitchen challenges and the first challenge was Cinnamon Rolls. (Interested in joining the challenges? Go visit for more info!) An epic procrastinator, I didn't get them cooked in time for the "deadline" where she does a post sharing everyone's creations, but it was the perfect motivation for me to get these made. I'm ready for the next challenge!
Definitely a big check off my cooking bucket-list and they were just as good as I hoped.
Soft, yeasty, dough with salty, garlicky, awesomeness swirled inside.
I'm going out on a big limb here...but I think these make the cut...and will be on our Thanksgiving table this year. I know I'd be excited to see a plate of these rolls waiting next to the mashed potatoes and bowl of olives. But you don't have to save them for a special occasion either. I have to warn you they won't last long, I think my guy ate 3 the first day, I had 2. Yea..that reminds me I need to go to yoga tomorrow morning.
I have a secret...I divided the dough in half and made some savory and some sweet, so keep your eye out for the next post.
What's on your cooking bucket list? Tell me in the comments.
Sun dried tomato pesto swirl rolls
(Adapted from Willow Bird Baking as part of her Challenge Series)
*The dough rises overnight*
1 8 oz jar of Sun Dried Tomato Pesto (I used Classico)
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 generous shake crushed red pepper flake (optional)
1 dash of black pepper
1 dash of garlic powder
Dough Ingredients:
1 package yeast
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups milk minus 2 tablespoons
2/3 cup cold shortening (I only had butter on hand)
1 tablespoons sugar* (adapted for savory rolls)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
5 cups flour
1. In a small bowl mix together the warm water and yeast, let sit for about 10 minutes until foamy.
2. Measure out two tablespoons of vinegar into a liquid measuring cup and then fill the cup to the two cup line with milk. Set aside.
3. In a mixer set with a dough hook or large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar. Cut in the shortening or butter using a fork or pastry blender until the butter pieces are the size of a large pea.
4. Now add the yeast mixture and milk mixture to the flour and mix well.
5. Spray a large bowl with non stick spray and transfer the dough into it. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in the fridge over night.
6. The next morning it will have grown! High five for making it to this point. I held my breath as I opened the door. okay... now flour your work surface generously. Remove the dough from the bowl and begin to roll it out into a large rectangle. At this point you can cut it in half if you'd like (I would say YES, because I used 1/2 for sweet rolls, and 1/2 for savory, which was AWESOME.) But if you'd like 24 pesto rolls go for it.
7. Roll the dough out flat into a rectangle and brush with butter. Sprinkle the garlic powder over the butter...oh heaven. Now spread out the pesto, I only used about 1/2 the jar, but use as much as you like. Then sprinkle with black pepper and crushed red pepper flake for a little heat.
8. Starting with the edge on the left start to roll the dough up like a yoga mat :) until it's one long tube. Using a sharp knife measure out 12 pieces, making little indentations so you can cut it later. Cut into 12 pieces.
9. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with nonstick spray (I used bakers joy) and place the 12 pieces in it evenly. It will seem like there's a lot of room but trust me. Then cover with a towel and let rise a second time for 1.5-2 hours and doubled in size.
10. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. When it's all ready, bake for 15-20 minutes until browned on top. Enjoy! | http://www.seaweedandsassafras.com/2012/10/sun-dried-tomato-pesto-swirl-rolls.html?showComment=1349826951338 | dclm-gs1-247180001 | false | false | {
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0.062334 | <urn:uuid:5c1d0620-ca8f-4c0b-a04b-404548b54b55> | en | 0.982645 | Lavinia Fisher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Lavinia Fisher
Born 1793
Charleston, South Carolina[citation needed]
Died February 18, 1820(1820-02-18)
Old City Jail, Charleston, South Carolina
Cause of death Execution
Criminal penalty Death by hanging
Victims Dave Ross (escaped), John Peeples (escaped), unidentified other murder victims
Country United States
Lavinia Fisher (1793 – February 18, 1820) is reported by some legends to have been the first female serial killer in the United States of America.[1] Her origins are unknown[citation needed]; however, Fisher resided in the United States for much of her life. She was married to John Fisher, and both were convicted of highway robbery—a capital offense at the time—not murder. Historians have begun to question the veracity of the traditional legend and some assert that Lavinia Fisher never killed anyone. Some, however, believe she would kill her victims by crushing their heads between her legs.[citation needed] She was however an active member of a large gang of highwaymen who operated out of two houses in the backcountry near Charleston, the Five Mile House and the Six Mile House. It is not clear whether the Six Mile House was a hotel,[citation needed] but it did serve as a hideout for a number of outlaws.
It is often claimed[citation needed] that Mary Surratt was the first woman to be hanged in the United States, but Lavinia was hanged 40 years earlier.
Fisher and her husband resided in Charleston, South Carolina for most of their lives. Together, they owned an inn, the Six Mile Wayfarer House,[2] which they managed in the early 19th century. The hotel was located six miles north of Charleston, South Carolina, hence the name. During their time there, reports were made to the local sheriff about guests disappearing. Due to lack of evidence, and the popularity of the couple with many locals, these complaints came to nothing.
Alleged crimes[edit]
Lavinia Fisher would invite lone travelers into the Six Mile Wayfarer House to dinner and ask them questions about their occupations, trying to determine if they had money. She would send them up to their rooms with a cup of poisoned tea. Once the men drank their tea and went to bed, her husband would go to the room to make sure they were dead by stabbing them.
Another version of the legend was that the tea would only put the men to sleep for a few hours. Then, when they were almost asleep, Lavinia would pull a lever and the bed would collapse and drop the victim into a pit.[2] Some believed that there were spikes waiting at the bottom of the pit.
Much of what actually occurred in the alleged murders at the hands of John and Lavinia Fisher has become wildly exaggerated through time, so factual details are hard to find. However, contemporary news accounts in the Charleston Post and Courier, claimed that a vigilante gang went to the Fishers' neighborhood in February 1819 to stop the purported 'gang activities' that were occurring there. Satisfied that they had accomplished their task, the group returned to Charleston, but left a young man by the name of David Ross to stand watch in the area.
Early the next day, Ross was attacked by two men and dragged before the gang that had terrorized the region. Among them was Lavinia Fisher, to whom he looked for help. However, rather than help him, she choked him and then smashed his head through a window. Ross managed to escape and immediately alerted authorities.[3]
Immediately following this incident, another traveler named John Peeples asked if there were any vacancies; Lavinia replied that there was unfortunately no room, but he was welcome to come inside and rest and have some tea. John happened to hate tea, and not wanting to seem rude, he dumped it when she wasn't looking. She interrogated him for hours and eventually said she discovered that in fact, they did have a room. He then went to bed. He had felt suspicious about the interrogation and was worried about being robbed, so he decided to sleep in the wooden chair by the door. In the middle of the night, he awoke to the loud sound of the bed collapsing and discovered the Fishers' plan. He jumped out the window and rode to Charleston to alert the authorities .
Based on these two accounts, the assailants were finally identified by name, something that law enforcement had previously lacked. Police were immediately dispatched to the location and during the ensuing investigation Lavinia and John were located, along with two other gang members. John Fisher surrendered the group in an effort to protect his wife and shield her from possible gunfire. Later, during interrogation, he again attempted to protect Lavinia by giving the identities of all involved in the gang.
Trial and execution[edit]
Nearly a full year elapsed between the time of their arrest and their execution. At their arraignment the Fishers pleaded not guilty but were ordered to be held in jail until their trial, which would take place in May, while their co-conspirators were released on bail. At their trial the jury rejected their pleas of innocence and found them guilty of highway robbery, a capital offense. However, the judge allowed an appeal and they were given a reprieve until the January session of the court.
During this time the Fishers occupied themselves with plans to escape, as they were housed together at the Charleston, South Carolina jail (the "Old City Jail")[4] in a 6x8 cell and not heavily guarded. On September 13 they put their plans into action and began their escape. Things did not go as planned as the rope they had made from prison linens broke, leaving Lavinia trapped in the cell and John set free. He was unwilling to continue the escape plan and was recaptured. The two were then kept under much tighter security.
The Constitutional court rejected their appeals and on February 4, 1820 both were sentenced to be hanged.[5] Awaiting execution, John accepted the counsel of the Reverend Richard Furman, a local minister, but Lavinia became even more vitriolic. She also argued to the judge that they could not hang a married woman, so they hanged John the day before her execution.
On the gallows in front of the Old City Jail before John Fisher's execution, Rev. Furman read aloud a letter John had composed, which stated that since he had become a Christian he could not be executed with a lie held to his account. Therefore he insisted on his innocence and asked mercy on those who had done him wrong in the judicial process. After the minister read the letter, Fisher then began to plead his case before the gathered crowd of some 2,000. He then seemingly contradicted himself by asking for their forgiveness.
The next day, Lavinia Fisher was hanged. According to locals, moments before her execution she addressed the crowd, saying, "If any of you have a message for the devil, tell me now—for I will be seeing him soon," or "If any of you have a message for the devil, say it now for I shall see him in a moment," and then she jumped off the stage and hanged herself.[2]
Lavinia was buried in a Potter's Field near the Old City Jail. Claims of her burial at 150 Meeting Street (The Circular Congregational Church) or at 4 Archdale Street (The Unitarian Church) appear to have been fictions promoted by tour guides.
1. ^ Petro, Pamela (2002). Sitting Up With the Dead: A Storied Journey Through the American South. New York, New York: Arcade Books. p. 205. ISBN 1-55970-612-0.
2. ^ a b c Mendoza, Patrick (1999). Extraordinary people in extraordinary times: heroes, sheroes, and villains. Libraries Unlimited. pp. 93–96. ISBN 1-56308-611-5.
3. ^ Hendrix, Pat (2006). Murder and Mayhem in the Holy City. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. p. 29. ISBN 1-59629-162-1.
4. ^ Hendrix, Pat; Hendrix, Toni; Spires, Heather; Corbett, Judy (2006). Murder and Mayhem in the Holy City. The History Press. p. 27. ISBN 1-59629-162-1.
5. ^ Phillips, G. (January 17, 2002). "Charlestons Past". The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC). p. 2ZB. Retrieved 2011-03-06. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavinia_Fisher | dclm-gs1-247490001 | false | false | {
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0.030992 | <urn:uuid:2fb7d2dc-416a-4c19-8d4b-9e17beff0af6> | en | 0.970358 | Petition Closed
The constitution spells out our right to bear arms. School shootings are tragic, but they would happen with or without additional gun control. If someone is set on committing murder do you really think that they won't steal a gun or get it from a black market? Additional gun control will make it harder for people to obtain guns to protect themselves or their families.
The Whitehouse is attacking the NRA for suggesting that schools could benefit from armed guards and bringing the fact that the presidents daughters have armed guards. Apparantly its attacking the Presidents daughters to bring up that while the President demands armed guards watch over them he is denying our children the security of armed guards in school!
Sign to protect our 2nd amendment and let Obama know that you will not stand for this hypocrisy!
Letter to
Uphold the 2nd Amendment | https://www.change.org/p/legislation-uphold-the-2nd-amendment | dclm-gs1-247590001 | false | false | {
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0.221278 | <urn:uuid:ea53f189-34f3-48dc-a777-2b56d2497bdf> | en | 0.986748 | Chapter 20
Thanks to all my faithful readers.
I don't own ice age! (c) 2oth century fox
Buck. Sid. The words echoed through Matthias' mind. The realization dawned on him that Buck might never receive the antidote, nor Sid. The thought struck him hard, a blow to the gut, as he followed the screams and rustles in the bushes to find his niece and the twins. If he couldn't save Buck, then he would save Tabitha. He caught sight of the trio he was after: muddy, sick, slowing down.
"Eddie!" he called, reaching out and grabbing the marsupial's paw. All three came to an abrupt halt.
Panting as she lay on the ground, thankful to catch her breath, Tabitha looked up into Matthias' eyes. Matthias tried to smile, but it felt like a grimace. As hard as he tried to prevent Tabitha from figuring out his feelings, his secrets, the words that he could never admit to Tabitha, she found them hidden behind the blue walls of his eyes.
"We will," she insisted, "We will find the antidote before it's too late."
"Where there's a will, there's a way," Matthias said solemnly. "But right now, let's...Let's get ya back to camp."
"But-but, what about Diego?" sputtered Eddie.
"Fighting that monster all by himself!" continued Crash, gasping theatrically.
"And why is he fighting that monster?" asked Matthias, his voice hard.
"To save you. 'Twould be a shame to waste all his effort, no?"
"Manny can help him," Matthias said gently. "We'll get through this, all of us. You'll see."
Behind the fur, beneath the skin, Matthias was still trying to convince himself of that.
As all this was happening, Buck was in a different situation.
There was no sound, no sight, no emotion. There was only pain, the fiery pain that coursed through his body, piercing him with a thousand arrows; dully washing against him like an ocean of misery. In this place, nothing mattered anymore. There was no Tabitha, no Sid, no Peaches, no Melody, and no Rudy. Names were meaningless, merely sounds that he could no longer hear.
There was only agony.
There is a point at which one stops fighting, gives up the will to live. This is the breaking point, the point that even the most courageous and daring and strong reach. And Buck was there. To him, death would be a sweet bliss. But he could not know this, because there were no thoughts, no sounds, no incentives.
Only the present. Only the fight for self preservation.
Sid had been in this place for longer, but the pain was a notch lower due to Old Maggie's years of experience in the medical field. A nice dose of aspen bark had done the trick. (It contains a sort of aspirin, by-the-by)
Sid, at least, could think a little. The occasional name would float by, he would keep fighting, keep trying even if only for a little longer. For them.
At least when Sid died, it wouldn't be so painful, thought Maggie.
The vein pulsing screaming came after everyone had left in search of Peaches. Muffled by blankets, the herd members did not hear, for they were too far. And so when Dorothy stumbled into the room, she was greeted by silence.
Overwhelming silence, a deafening silence. A strangled sob tried to escape from her mouth, and slid toward her brother to check for breathing. A long breath escaped her mouth. He was breathing, if only a little.
Melody stared down at him, trying to be the stronger sister, the older sister she had always had to be.
"He'll be okay," she whispered hoarsely, a lie that convinced neither her or Dorothy. Their brother was dying, and they knew it. Melody knew it in her gut, that heart wrenching feeling that made her want to break down and cry again as she had so many, many times before. Buck was sleeping, but he didn't look peaceful.
He already bore the look of the dead. | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7387113/20/And-the-Tears-Streamed-Down-Her-Face | dclm-gs1-247620001 | false | false | {
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0.038758 | <urn:uuid:8770dab6-d1ad-440a-aa9d-1e49a65c0b12> | en | 0.945271 | Home > Uncategorized > Funds Transfer Pricing: How to Measure Branch Profitability
Funds Transfer Pricing: How to Measure Branch Profitability
Journal of Performance Management2006 by Kocakülâh, Mehmet C, Egler, Michael
One of the biggest measures of a bank’s profitability is its net interest income. Net interest income is by far the largest driver of product profitability, typically accounting for up to 80 percent of a bank’s revenue (Coffey, 2001).
Fund Transfer Pricing:
Next, each loan or deposit that the bank has is assigned a rate based upon this adjusted funding curve. The rate that is assigned to these customer relationships will vary based upon the characteristics of the relationship. One characteristic that will cause a rate to change is time to maturity. For instance, a 5 year fixed rate note will be assigned a different rate than a 5year variable rate note. Also, for loans, the longer the term is to maturity, the higher the rate to fund that loan. For example, as shown by the yield curve in Exhibit 1, a fixed rate loan with a 5-year maturity would have a funding rate charge of 3.87 percent, whereas, a fixed rate loan with a 10-year maturity would be somewhat higher under a normal funding curve. By the same principle, a deposit that has a longer maturity would be assigned a higher funding rate credit because the bank is guaranteed the use of these funds for a longer period of time.
Looking at the 5-year fixed rate loan in Exhibit 1, it has a coupon rate of 6.00 percent and, based on the adjusted Libor/Swap curve, it would be assigned an FTP rate that is 4.22; therefore, the FTP spread is 1.78. Or in other words, the rate the loan is bringing in to the bank is 1.78 percent higher than the funding rate would cost the bank.
Other unique characteristics of a loan will cause the rate assigned to it to vary. One such characteristic is a prepayment option on a loan. As shown in Exhibit 2, a prepayment option will change the average expected life of the loan. This is an assumption that is based on looking at historical trends in the bank. In this example, the average life of a 5-year fixed rate, prepayable loan with a coupon rate of 5.50 percent is determined to be 3.2 years. The Libor/Swap curve rate to fund this loan is 3.49 percent. The liquidity premium is .25 percent and an option premium of .55 percent is added for the prepayment option to come up with an FTP rate of 4.29. This would give an FTP spread of 1.21 percent.
Once all the data is input into the FTP system, management will have to decide how often the rates will be assigned. This may be done monthly, weekly or sooner depending on the capabilities of the system and the needs of management for decision making. Large amounts of data must be stored and many calculations must be made for an FTP system to provide useful information for management. In the past, the technological hardware and software used within banks were not of sufficient power or flexibility to handle the data volumes involved or provided the analytical capabilities demanded. Today, however, such technology is available, enabling the appropriate levels of contract-level detail handling and providing the ability to analyze data across any number of dimensions in ad hoc fashion (Convery,2003).
Using FTP to measure Branch Profitability:
Financial Institution’s income statement is designed to calculate net-interest income for the entire organization. It is not designed to calculate the net-interest income of one product (Coffey2001). This is also true of calculating the net interest income of branches for comparative purposes. Branches within a bank are almost never the same in terms of loans and deposits. Some branches are heavy on the loan side, while others are heavy on the deposit side and still others are fairly evenly balanced. Determining the profitability of individual branches in a traditional accounting sense is extremely difficult. Looking at an income statement for a branch using a typical accounting analysis, interest collected from loan payments are shown as interest income and interest paid out on deposits are shown as interest expense. But this does not take into account that deposits have a positive value to the bank by providing cheap funding for its loan purposes. Conversely, it also does not take into account that a loan has an underlying funding cost associated with the process of making the loan. Therefore, using a typical income statement format, a branch that is heavy on the deposit side will look like it is losing money, while a branch that is heavy on the loan side will look like it is highly profitable. This can be shown in Exhibit 3, which looks at net interest income for two branches
As shown in Exhibit 3, from this example, the branch that is providing a lot of low cost funding for the rest of the bank’s funding needs shows a loss on net interest income. At the same time, the branch that has a lot of loans but not as many deposits, and therefore, has to borrow excess deposits from other areas of the bank to fund these loans shows a high net interest income. What does this information show to management?
Would management think that Branch A is not profitable? Probably not, a bank’s management knows that just because a branch has more interest expense because of a large volume of deposits, doesn’t mean that it is unprofitable. These deposits are necessary for the funding needs of other areas of the bank. However, determining the true profitability of either bank is extremely difficult, and being able to compare either branch is next to impossible. This is where FTP becomes extremely useful. Using the FTP system will charge a cost of funds to all the loans that each branch has and will give a funding credit to all deposits that each branch has. This will help to determine the true profitability of each branch and will allow for comparisons between different branches. see exhibit 4 and 5.
Applying FTP rates to these two branches significantly changes the profitability picture of each compared to the traditional income statement approach. Branch A, which originally showed a net interest income loss of (25,589), now shows a profit of 20,829. This gives management an accurate picture of the actual value that Branch A, adds to the company. The low cost funds provided to the bank by Branch A is valuable to the bank by decreasing the wholesale funding that would be necessary otherwise. In comparison, Branch B, which originally showed a net interest income of 1,150,002, now shows a net interest income of 50,310. This is a substantial decrease in its net interest income. The branch now has to pay for the funds that it is using to make its loans.
Another way for management to look at the profitability of its branches is to look at the spread between the coupon rate and the FTP rate for each branch. This shows how well a branch is pricing its products. When looking at the spread between the coupon rate of an account and the FTP rate assigned to that account, the greater the spread, the more income per dollar, the account is providing to the bank. By frequently updating the assignment of FTP rates, management has a valuable tool to make pricing decisions for all its products.
Management can also use the spread as a comparison between branches. For instance, looking at Branches A and B in Exhibit 4 and 5, one can see how this can level the playing field between branches of different sizes. If one look at the dollar amounts for loans, for these branches, one would see that the interest income for loans for Branch A is $5,755 and the interest income for loans for Branch B is $33,870. There is a large difference between the two branches. However, this picture is somewhat distorted because Branch B is much larger that Branch A. A better way to compare the performance of the two branches would be to look at the spread on loans for each branch. Looking at the spread will factor out the loan volume and give a clearer picture of dollar for dollar how the two branches compare. Looking at the information in this manner, one can see that Branch A, actually brings in more income for each dollar of loans generated than Branch B, does. The loan spread for Branch A is 2.67 percent, while the loan spread for Branch B is somewhat lower at 1.84 percent. This means that for each loan dollar, Branch A generates 0.83 percent more income than Branch B.
One thing that management must be wary of when looking at the spread is economic factors in different areas that are beyond the control of the branch manager. For instance, Branch B may be in a location that has a number of competitive banks in its immediate region. To stay competitive and survive in this type of condition, the branch may be forced to earn a lower spread on its loans to bring in new business. So, although FTP allows for easier comparisons between different branches, as with all management tools, there are other factors that must be considered. Being able to factor out dollar volume and level the playing field between branches of difference sizes, FTP gives management a powerful tool for setting performance goals. By looking at the spread, management can make the volume portion a separate piece of compensation. In some compensation packages, the amount of additional compensation is only tied to the amount of loan volume produced for a given period. By using FTP spread as a part of the performance qualifications, upper management can help ensure that loans are being under priced to reach performance goals.
Funds transfer pricing is a powerful accounting tool available to management for profitability analysis. It allows management to make informed decisions on product pricing. It allows for profitability comparison and analysis among branches of various sizes. It also helps to level the playing field when looking at branches that have very different loan and deposit mixes. It helps branch managers make sound lending decisions by showing the cost of funds associated with making loans, and it shows the value that low cost deposits add to the company. Like any management tool, it should not be utilized to the exclusion of all other tools and methods of analysis and decision making. However, used in conjunction with other information, funds transfer pricing offers management a vast array of useful information in its decision-making and analysis process of their financial institutions.
1. Net interest income is defined as the difference between its interest income (generated from earning assets) and its interest expense (paid on deposits and other borrowings).
2.Wholesale borrowings normally consist of Federal Home Loan Bank advances, federal funds, brokered CD’s, repossession agreements and borrowings from other financial institutions.
3. For comparative purposes, non-interest income and non-interest expense was left off the income statement
Convery, Shawn, "Keeping banks competitive: a foundation for robust performance management’, Balance Sheet, 2003, Volume 11, Issue 3.
Coffey, John J., "What is fund transfer pricing", ABA Bank Marketing, November 2001, Volume 33, Issue 9.
Rice, Jennifer D., and Mehmet C. Kocakulah, "Funds Transfer Pricing A Management Accounting Approach within the Banking Industry", Journal of Performance Management, 2004, Volume 17, Issue 2.
Payant, Randall W., "To FTP Or Not To FTP – That is The Question", Journal of Performance Management, 2004, Volume 17, Issue 2.
ShLh, Andre, David Crandon, and Steven Wofford, "Transfer Pricing: Pitfalls of Using Multiple Benchmark Yield Curves", Journal of Performance Management, 2004, Volume 17, Issue 2.
Anthony, Robert N., David F. Hawkins and Kenneth A. Merchant. Accounting Text & cases. New York: McGraw Hill, 2004.
Interview, DelosSantos, Allan, Treasurer-Integra Bank Corporation, March 18, 2005.
Mehmet C. Kocakülâh
* University of Southern Indiana
College of Business
University of Southern Indiana
8600 University Blvd.
Evansville, IN
Fax: 812.465.1044
email: mkocakul@usi.edu
Michael Egler
Senior Financial Analyst
Integra Bank Corporation
Evansville, IN 47711
email: megler@integrabank.com
* Correspondent author
Kocakülâh, Mehmet C "Funds Transfer Pricing: How to Measure Branch Profitability". Journal of Performance Management. FindArticles.com. 12 Mar, 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4148/is_200601/ai_n16431094
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0.17701 | <urn:uuid:00ccb1c6-964e-467c-b874-03b3b95f2320> | en | 0.961217 | What is the American Dream? - American Catholic Blog | American Catholic Blog
What is the American Dream?
What is the American Dream?
Hot debate is everywhere these days on the topic of America. What does it mean to be an American? Who is an American? What does this country stand for? How do we define life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
The answer is found in gangsta-rapper-turned-media-icon Snoop Dogg.
No, seriously
It sounds crazy at first, but it hit me about two weeks ago when I read that Snoop’s son Cordell Broadus had been offered a scholarship to play football for UCLA. Put another way, a man with a high school diploma and a drug conviction turned himself into a music and fashion mogul and now has the chance to see his son use his own talent to achieve a college degree.
It doesn’t get more “American Dream” than that, does it?
Snoop surely is not a hero we should idolize, but he absolutely embodies what much of our culture says is “making it in America.” To wit:
• Snoop, né Calvin Broadus, is a former gang member who’s now a multimillionaire by way of the (perfectly legal) music and clothing industries.
• His father, a Vietnam veteran, was largely absent from Snoop’s life. Yet Snoop has been married to his high school sweetheart, Shante, since 1997 and has helped coached his two sons’ youth football teams.
• His endorsement deals range from adidas to Chrysler to Pepsi. Snoop has had his own reality-TV show and appeared on countless other programs, including “The Price Is Right,” on which he won $72,000 for his charity, the Snoop Youth Football League.
What is America?
On Wednesday, we celebrated America. We blew things up despite a Midwestern drought and wall-to-wall news coverage of raging wildfires in Colorado. We watched — on national television — as people stuffed themselves with hot dogs in a display of gluttony being elevated to art.
We hosted parades that featured floats railing against our sitting president and offered a 2-mph platform for every local yokel who wants a piece of the political pie, right on down to the county clerk.
As children scrambled around the convertibles and pickup tricks to gather candy and bubble gum off the pavement, we still had no answers for healthcare, immigration, poverty, religious liberty or even civil discourse.
Amidst all that noise, both from fireworks literal and figurative, it’s hard to recall what makes America “America.”
If you’re looking for signs that there still exists an “American Dream” to be believed in and fought for, then I say Snoop Dogg is a pretty good place to start.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
About the Author
Jennifer Scroggins works in Marketing in Cincinnati, Ohio. | http://blog.americancatholic.org/2012/07/what-is-the-american-dream/ | dclm-gs1-247780001 | false | false | {
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0.453232 | <urn:uuid:8356b034-37ba-4877-a7a8-00daf403cca1> | en | 0.97976 | Friday, June 17, 2011
Tipping at Buffets
brian said...
Totally agree that a tip is a must if the service is decent. We've seen quite a few people leave without giving a tip. The waiters / waitresses work hard too and if they do, then they deserve a tip.
We've seen a large table at a buffet once make a mess. There were at least 10 people and when they left, they left without leaving a tip. Understandably the waitress was upset. The words I would use to describe those people wouldn't be able to be published here.
If service is decent and it's an under $20pp type buffet then we usually leave $3-4.
Meadowjack said...
I really can't stand it when they automatically add the tip. It removes the incentive for the server. I'd rather they raise the price and leave the tip to the patron. When the tip is paid in advance, the customer has no clout. Just my opinion.
Writer said...
Some buffets feel that they need to include the tip in the price because just too many people do not leave a tip - even when the service is exceptionally good. This also occurs more in buffets that have you pay when you enter rather than have you pay after the meal.
Yes, it can take away the incentive for the server to do a good job - but if you get poor service let the manager know before you leave.
Jessamime said...
It works the other way, also. When the restaurant "pre-bills" the tip, it probably dissuades diners from tipping more for really good service. We have had cases in which we would have tipped 15%-20% for great service, however, the bill was already paid with a 12% tip. We hesitated to leave more because we weren't sure if the server would really get it, or would have to share it, or what. Charging the tip in advance is a bad idea for all concerned and goes against the idea of a tip, which stands for "To INSURE proper service."
dave1973 said...
I don't like the pre-tip thing that some restaurants (buffets or menu restaurants) put in place. If you have to pay before you eat, & the tip is automatically added, it's not a guarantee that you're gonna have good service. I hate it even more when I want to use my Visa debit card, that I'm asked if I want to have the tip placed on my card. I always say no, I never pre-tip. The one time I did do that, the tip was immediately handed to the server. From that point on, I keep enough cash with me to tip. If it's a buffet that I pay after I eat, then I'll tip with my card if I don't have cash on hand (only if service is good). If I refuse to pay the tip that's included on the receipt, then I hope that restaurant doesn't make the mistake that a restaurant in Philadelphia did (was a bar style restaurant & not a buffet). That restaurant had a couple arrested because they refused to pay the tip included on the receipt. That restaurant lost lots of business when the couple went to the media about that. People felt that if a restaurant can have people arrested for refusing to pay the tip for bad service, then they don't want to patronize that establishment.
I usually find that people with the most money are least likely to tip well, or not tip at all. I tip generously if service is good. If not as good, then less. If it's bad enough, then no tip at all.
Anonymous said...
I'd like to preface this with...This is coming from someone who is not, nor have been in the food industry.
I hate how people don't leave a tip for servers at buffets. I always hear "They're just doing their job" "I make my own food" etc. Servers in these restaurants work very hard. Do you not realize that they're removing your dishes that you constantly pile up with food? Instead of bringing you your plate of food and removing that one plate of food, they're easily doing that 4x per person. Not to mention, people at buffets tend to be messy and careless with their food because its all-you-can eat. And don't forget that server is also your 'bus boy'.
Servers in buffets are expected to get tips. They earn minimum wage with the typical 4 hour shifts. People need to stop trying to justify why not to tip when they're busting their butts more than they would a typical restaurant.
Anonymous said...
I think this whole system in America is stupid. As long as we continue to tip and expect to be tipped, service workers are not going to be paid fairly. Why are we letting the employers get away with the bare minimal compensation? I'm not rich and it really isn't my responsibility to supplement other people's wages when I already pay for my stuff. It should be the responsibilty of the boss (who make a profit off me) to ensure they're paid adequately.
Writer said...
Whether the system is good or bad, by not tipping at a buffet the only one you are hurting is the server - not the boss or the system as a whole. These people are trying to earn a living and part of that depends on tips. If you choose not to tip, that is up to you - but by not tipping you are not making any "statement" about how you don't like the tipping system that is common in this country - in other countries they just add the tip on top of your bill automatically- good service or poor, and at the percentage they decide. Here at least you determine how much.
Big Guy said...
The minimum wage for waiters in 23 states is just the federal minimum wage for service workers which hasn't been raised in over 30 years. $2.13 an hour is not very much.
Writer said...
Per the US Dept. of Labor (2012) - the combined minimum wage which includes tips and what the employer must contribute to meet this minimum is $7.25 per hour.
Anonymous said...
I always tip. My mom was a waitress for many years, they work for their tips their hourly pay is a joke! There are exceptions if the service sucks then of course take that into consideration. I tend to tip 15% at a buffet 15-%20 at a restaurant. I don't think tip should be added or mandatory if the service stinks why tip but I do think their hourly pay should be min wage not 2 something an hr
Anonymous said...
How many tables/customers can a single server handle at a buffet and how many at at "sit-down" restaurant? That difference should factor into the tip rate. | http://buffets.blogspot.com/2011/06/tipping-at-buffets.html | dclm-gs1-247850001 | false | false | {
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0.101518 | <urn:uuid:f0034474-aafb-4d44-b97b-1a2c8f1905a3> | en | 0.971557 | Friday, May 28, 2010
PUMA anniversary coming up? Anybody know when PUMA ground zero actually was?
I'm curious as to when ground zero was for PUMA's? Was it around May 30th of 2008, or did it happen prior to that date? I did some google research but was not able to find anything definitive.
If anybody wants to give their opinion please do so in the comments section. There are about three or four versions of PUMA ground zero out there. When contributing an answer, please consider the possibility that there may be other versions out there as well that could be just as valid.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
How will Arizona know where to deport people?
I'm not really for or against the Arizona immigration bill. I am most definitely offended by California and Los Angeles politicians getting involved in an arizona boycott when California failed to balance their own budget. California has not even come close to balancing their own budget and California politicians should clean up their own act before judging others.
I have also not read the Arizona immigration bill yet so i don't have an opinion for that reason. How will Arizona or the United States know where to send anybody who is either not properly identified, or just refuses to divulge where they are "from"?
I suppose if any american refuses to identify themselves when a police officer asks for Identification we might find ourselves in jail, so I guess the same thing would apply in Arizona. It seems to me that one way to defuse the law is for tens of thousands of "illegal" immigrants to turn themselves in, but not divulge what country they are from.
Possibly one stumbling block to this idea is that Arizona sheriff that keeps suspected illegal immigrants in those tents in 115 degree temperatures and perhaps even higher. Probably a violation of international prison guidelines.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Crucial Help for Homeowners Could Never See the Light of Day
Article by Richard Zombeck.
Posted using ShareThis
Friday, May 14, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Canceling Agendas make me wonder about the pro-lifers versus the anti-war crowd.
It seems to me that as a general rule, the pro-life crowd tends to be pro-war, and the pro-choice crowd seems to be anti-war. Besides the obvious irony of pro-lifers being pro war, and pro-abortion/choice being against war, don't these two issues war and abortion, cancel each other out from a taxpayer point of view?
Do large enough voting blocks of people truly believe that their tax dollars should not go abortions, but should go to war? Do large enough voting blocks of people truly believe that their tax dollars should go to pro-choice, but not to war?
Isn't it pretty obvious that these two sides viewpoints cancel each other out and that even if we followed their wishes and only applied their taxes to what they wanted, the net result would somewhat similar?
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Illegal Immigration idea???
To earn citizenship, all entering immigrants would work for two years on BOTH U.S borders as border patrol guards. This would allow the U.S. border patrol to drop back and flank them. If the U.S. Border Patrol finds people crossing the border and getting past the first line of defense, the ones trying to earn their citizenship, then those on the border would be relieved of duty and sent back to their country.
If those on the border do their job, then in two years time they become U.S. citizens AND, they actually have a wad of money (their earnings would be put into a bank account) waiting for them when they finish, minus the necessary deductions.
Before the argument is used that we are all immigrants, lets not, because that belittles the efforts made of the tens of millions of immigrants who went through the front door when they came to this country and subjected themselves to public scrutiny BEFORE ENTERING THE COUNTRY.
The U.S. has become notorious for making its own "legal" citizens WAIT, AND WAIT, AND WAIT when trying to accomplish even the most menial of tasks or requirements. Part of being a U.S. citizen is to wait.
So, if people trying to enter the country had to wait, it would SLOW DOWN the amount of people entering the country while also giving those SERIOUS about being a U.S. citizen a legitimate way to get in. Plus, anyone who spent two years on the border would have earned the respect of any other U.S. citizen, especially the other 300 million who never did patrol the border.
I also envision huge colleges placed on the border. Those who work the border by day can also take courses on a variety of subjects in the late afternoon. I would love the classes to be free even for those coming from Mexico who just want an education.
This could be in incredible public works program that benefits everybody involved. Then all the liberals in our country could put up or shut up and actually volunteer to teach classes for a semester.
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I was applying Polyurethane to a wood bookshelf that I made yesterday evening. Unfortunately I ran out before I was finished. There is a small area that has not been covered at all and I need to apply a second coat to the entire bookshelf.
Normally I would just go to the store that I bought it and buy a second can of what I was already using. Unfortunately, the store that I bought the first can at is far away. I was thinking that I would just nip over to my small local hardware store and pick up a can of whatever they have. Do I need to make sure that I get the same brand/type that I have already used?
Currently I am using: Minwax - Fast Drying Polyurethane - Clear Satin with long lasting protection. Does the next bottle I buy also need to be Minwax? Can I use another brand on top of existing layer?
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2 Answers 2
up vote 5 down vote accepted
I would keep them the same if it's not too inconvenient.
Different manufacturers (and even different batches from the same manufacturer) may have different drying properties (the Satin may come out differently). They may also have trouble adhering to one another which would lead to cracking between layers and may also yellow differently, producing a blotchy effect later on especially in areas that didn't cover well.
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In addition to the points that Karl mentioned, different chemical properties can result in the wood darkening at different rates, resulting in lighter and darker areas. I would under no circumstances mix different brands.
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Not even on different coats? Ie: Coat 1: Brand A, Coat 2: Brand B – sixtyfootersdude Feb 16 '12 at 21:05
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0.06755 | <urn:uuid:96631aef-90a3-4cee-94ce-1941e4db65c9> | en | 0.982531 | Thursday, March 01, 2012
We're number one!
West Virginia is number 1!
The number one state for obesity, and the number one state for high blood pressure and other health problems, according to the Gallup people.
And I don't doubt this, because every day when I'm out and about, all I'm seeing is fat people. For a state with so much scenic outdoor public space to enjoy, it's ridiculous to see so many people working so hard to keep from getting any exercise.
And all you need to do to see this proven is go to Harpers Ferry or the local Appalachian Trail parking areas and look at the cars; it's mostly people from other states who are there to hike around and get fit while enjoying nature. These West Virginians around me seem to prefer just sitting in their houses watching TV and raising up litters of fat kids who can be seen standing at the school bus stops every day as their parents drop them off or pick them up--in cars, lest the little darlings have to walk half a mile or so to and from that bus. And today's fat kids are tomorrow's fat adults and chronic health problems, many of whom you and I and other taxpayers will get to support through Obamacare unless we can elect someone with the stones to repeal it.
Even right where I live, I never see kids playing out in the woods or on the street. There is one exception, and that is a family down the street that has five kids. Those kids always play outside and ride bikes up and down the street. And surprisingly, those kids are all normal-sized. The rest of the neighborhood kids can often be seen riding around (illegally) on ATVs on the street, and they're little porkers who scream obscenities at the adults who try to tell them to keep their ATVs off the street. Care to lay odds as to which ones are going to be successful in life later and which ones are going to star in future episodes of "Creatures of WalMart" or "Cops"?
When I was a kid, we were forced to play outside and in fact were rarely let in until supper was ready, at which point our mother would step out onto the porch and yell our names out as loudly as she could, at which point, we had to answer and run home from where ever in the neighborhood we were. This was how all of the families summoned their kids home for dinner or at dusk, and you could practically set your watch by the punctuality of certain mothers calling certain kids at the same times every night. But you don't hear such things these days, because most kids around here are already in the house, watching TV or playing video games, and even those who are outside can just be called on phones that little kids really don't even need but all seem to have. In my day, if I wanted to talk to my friends after school, I had to go to their houses and knock on their doors. And I had to walk or ride my bike. Kids today though...many of them just sit around getting fat, and the ones that don't are going to be stuck paying for many of the ones that do courtesy of Obamacare and the ever-expanding welfare system.
I weep for my country.
And in that vein, I often note the lack of today's youth at the shooting ranges. If we don't get today's kids active in the shooting sports to replace the old-timers who currently make up a large percentage of the hunters and shooters that I encounter at the ranges, what's going to become of our Second Amendment rights and traditions down the road?
1. Think it is the parents. My kids want to play outside, run around, get dirty, etc. It is the parents who encourage them to be blobs. Easier to keep track of them that way. Why? Fear, apathy, laziness? Take your pick. Beats good parenting.
2. I see an awful lot of young folks at the ranges here. I believe that speaks well for Alaska's future.
3. I wish I could show you the picture my daughters gave me for Christmas - it would give you some hope! It was one of those where they took several pictures and put them in the matting. One was of my oldest shooting her AR offhand, the other was my youngest with her 10/22 shooting prone, and then one each of them proudly displaying their rifles for the camera.
Made me proud!
4. I've always been amazed that so few people walk in our community - beats paying for a gym any day.
5. Yep, it's endemic and of those who go in the military 61% in boot camp are either over weight, get stress fractures in simple exercise, or fail for lack of 'ability' to cope...
6. Exactly! We live in neighborhood where our kids are often the only ones outside....ever.
My oldest son is kind of a big boy, but ironically he didn't gain wait until he joined the fire department as a volunteer. They do not do much here in VA except eat.
7. Lived that "run with your friends till you drop" life in the '50s. Parents act like big buddies instead of examples of grownups. Media blows up the 0.007% that children will be kidnapped by a stranger. Government will feed, clothe, house and give you money for "recreation". What sort of parent can be effective with the nanny state as pervasive as it is becoming?
Simply, a lazy one. An Obama voter or yuppie.
No backbone, no pride. No pride, no earned self-esteem. No earned self-esteem, no enjoyment of life. No enjoyment of life - then why should anyone else enjoy THEIR life? If their life is hard, the government should fix it, at no cost to them.
Glad I'm old....
8. Should have said my grand kids. My kids were always playing outside. There were limits. Check in times during the day. Home When the street lights came on. Area restrictions, etc.
9. There seems to be a higher number of young people shooting from their cars on city streets....does that count?
10. To West Virginia from Louisiana: Thanks for knocking us off as Number 1!!
It is a sad thing to contemplate. | http://lagniappeslair.blogspot.com/2012/03/were-number-one.html | dclm-gs1-248100001 | false | false | {
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0.027188 | <urn:uuid:d3bfa252-cea6-4cf6-be5e-27644fd29a52> | en | 0.978466 | Tiger's Ex Elin Nordegren Demolishes $12 Million Mansion
Tiger Woods’ ex-wife Elin Nordegren is moving on with her life, and that apparently involves tearing down her old mansion (which she purchased in 2010) and building a new one.
The Before/After photos below show what the grounds looked like prior to January 5, when the $12 million existing mansion was apparently torn down to make room for a new one. Sources say Elin Nordegren has plans to build her “own dream home,” that most likely will have nothing to do with Tiger Woods, the ex that famously cheated on her with an array of women.
Elin Nordegren, who has custody of the couple’s two children, Sam Alexis Woods, 5, and Charlie Axel Woods, 3, received $100 million from her 2010 divorce settlement with Tiger Woods.
The original house, which is located in the exclusive Seminole Landing development near North Palm Beach and built in 1932, had 17,000-square-feet, two stories, eight bathrooms, an in-ground pool and an elevator. A listing for a house on the same street as Nordegren has an asking price of $18.9 million.
Sources say Elin Nordegren had initially intended to renovate, but once the plans were started decided to tear it down instead.
Tiger Woods lives in the couple’s former home in Orlando, while his luxury home in on Jupiter Island is being completed. | http://newparent.com/mom/tigers-ex-elin-nordegren-demolishes-12-million-mansion | dclm-gs1-248200001 | false | false | {
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0.020362 | <urn:uuid:0230f72c-c9aa-4e78-9c3a-4c16fa04a54a> | en | 0.885674 | "Cannot find KDC" error joining Windows 2000 domain
When I try to join a Windows 2000 domain, I get the following error:
utils/net_ads.c:ads_startup(186) ads_connect: Cannot find KDC for requested realm.
1. The first thing to do is to make sure your DNS is working fine on your LAN. It probably is, but the right answer is often the simplest. Assuming that you can ping the server and that DNS is set up correctly throughout your network, then move on to the other suggestions below.
2. Look at the /etc/krb5.conf and make sure that where it says "example.com/EXAMPLE.COM" that your Domain/Realm settings match up.
3. Make sure that you are using the latest version of Samba, 3.0.13, and that you have gone through the Official How-to.
This was first published in April 2005
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Comment Re:12 year old product compares to iPad, and couri (Score 1) 293
How is 1024x768 resolution a "game changer"? It's horribly low resolution. Tablets with better have been out for years. You can't even watch 720p video native on that res (despite one of the iPad's top selling points being watching "high def video" which is impossible with it's decidedly low def screen res).
Comment Re:Comparison (Score 2, Insightful) 509
Comment Re:Good (Score 2, Insightful) 509
Comment Re:Sorry, No. (Score 1) 799
You're right, in a way. It's really giving far too much credit to religion, to even compare it with science at all, when one is a method for understanding nature, where the other is a method to gain social/political/financial power over others. It's quite demeaning to science to even suggest it's on such a scummy level.
Comment Re:"Cheap"??? (Score 1) 77
Comment Re:You're Missing the Point (Score 1) 874
Sure, that's all fine and well. A carbon tax market isn't the answer. The only thing that will come of the cap and trade laws is massive profits for those that have set themselves up as speculators for the carbon tax market. In turn, we're all going to have to buy goods that are based on speculation (ala gas prices) rather than supply and demand. I hope you like paying $10+ for a gallon of milk, because that's what this is going to do, all so that fucking scumbags can make obscene profits, until it all goes bust, then they'll turn around and ask for a bailout, and you'll probably be the first in line clamoring to give it to them. You'd think after they've pulled this scam, what, like, 3 times in the past couple of years, people would start to get wise to it.
Comment Re:This will shift the use of coal downward for su (Score 1) 874
Too bad we don't live in an ideal fantasy world, where the supposed goal of such legislation is in fact what will happen, and instead live in the real world, where it NEVER works out as planned. Most likely the end result of this will be a carbon tax market clusterfuck that the assholes who came up with it in the first place will use as an excuse for more bailouts, this time of the carbon tax market. The fact that so few people are able to identify this obviously transparent ploy is fucking SAD.
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0.308142 | <urn:uuid:08b6848d-93a4-4c60-a749-e1f0d145fd6e> | en | 0.969269 |
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Comment Re: Paved with good intentions... (Score 1) 245
Your fantasy would still not be appropriate even if it was true. If you need the kid to talk the last thing you should do is torture him. Torture will not make him talk, it will make him lie and it will affirm his bad views so certainly that he will grow up to be a suicide bomber or worse.
Comment Re: Sanders (Score 1) 488
I know that "socialized systems" is a meaningless term and has nothing to do with socialism either.
Check a dictionary. Socialism is defined as a system of economics where the workers own the means of production.
That's the ENTIRE definition, within Marxist philosophy it gets a rider attached - which basically comes down to "not good enough".
But that, broad, definition is all of it.
Please note that NOWHERE in the definition of socialism does the word "state" or "government" occur, it has nothing to do with them. And thus you get, for example, anarchist forms of socialism which has no government - yet make perfect logical sense (and, unlike libertarianism, an anarcho-socialist industrialized society HAS in fact existed, Andalusia in the early 20th century was exactly that).
So the following things which are commonly called "Socialist" in the USA are clearly NOT in fact socialist: public libraries, welfare states and entitlements, government services, the civil service and beaurocracies, taxation, universal healthcare -even Canadian style, big government or authoritarianism.
None of those things bear any resemblance to the definition of socialism -and neither does any significant European country today.
Now here are some things which *are* in fact socialist - and which no American would ever call that: cab drivers who own their cabs, that worker-owned, democratically managed robotics factory in Texas (coincidentally - the largest robotics factory in the USA). Co-ops, Mutual Funds, Fair Deal coffee suppliers, lawyers and doctors with their own practice, most plumbers, most electricians - in fact absolutely every one-man-business, and every partnership too (at least, until they hire staff - but if they make the staff partners then they are back to being socialist).
It rather affects your perspective on things, when you use words to mean what they ACTUALLY mean don't you ?
This is also why I say that, as much as I respect Sanders he is decidedly NOT a socialist, his policies are not in any way intended to make more businesses be owned by workers and no other policies except ONLY such policies can fairly be called "socialist" policies. And I know the man is smart enough to know that, so I presume that in calling himself a socialist he is, in fact, actively trolling the American people and their inability to open dictionaries and swallow propaganda even when that propaganda completely redefines words.
To quote Sir Terry Pratchett: If you want to find snakes, look for them behind the words that have changed their meanings.
Allowing politicians to define your terms for you is basically ASKING to get deceived.
Comment Re:Click-bait title, Kudos to HP & Carly (Score 1) 488
>I think that it was just a business decision that anyone in the same position would have made.
That was my assessment as well - right up until the moment she bragged about it, and bragged about what it was used for.
I'm not so concerned with what she did, I am very justifiably concerned with how she feels about it now.
Comment Re:Misleading Summary (Score 1) 488
> Think of it as truth serum that never fails.
Actually... it's more like guaranteed-lie serum.
Many people will tell you that torture does not yield good intel - that people will say ANYTHING if they think it will make you stop, but studies have actually found more than that - the one thing it absolutely guarantees they will NOT tell you is the truth.
When being tortured for information - that information becomes their single most valuable thing, they will cling to it for dear life and never, ever reveal it - because they always fear that tomorrow may be worse, and tomorrow they may need it more. It is saved for a rainy day, and the harder it rains - the more they save it out of fear that tomorrow it will rain even worse.
Comment Re: Like any other customer? (Score 1) 488
How about because she bought compaq despite every industry expert telling her that is was an insane move ? How about because she figured the best way to up the stock price was to fire all the great (but expensive) engineers, which, to be fair, did make the next quarterly earnings report look fantastic because she was selling all those awesome things they designed and not having to pay them - but then discovered (to her apparent shock) that you can't keep selling the same things for every and without good engineers it's really hard to design a good next generation of products and it's ESPECIALLY hard to maintain profitability when you have only shitty products to sell.
The fundamental flaw Fiorina made at HP is one many a CEO has made at many an American company - she confused the wage bill with an expense, instead of realizing it's her single most important profit-generating asset. Lay-offs can only ever cost you more than it saves.
Comment Re: Sanders (Score 1) 488
If you think the socialism Bernie Sanders supports was not EXACTLY what your Founding Fathers ACTUALLY had in mind, you don't know jack shit about your founding fathers.
Practically every policy proposal Bernie Sanders has on anything economics related can be found in Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - who basically wrote the textbook for the founding father's economic ideas.
It's only in America that his ideas would be deemed "socialist" anyway, every else on earth it would be center-left welfare state capitalism.
Comment Re:Rand ALREADY gave them LOTS of pushback. (Score 1) 488
What did you expect from him ? He's following in Daddy's footsteps with the greatest political scam ever invented: getting elected to serve on a government where literally the only thing you EVER do is give long speeches about how the government shouldn't be allowed to do anything. Think about that... you' get employed by the people, then spend all your time convincing the people that they should never ever allow you t do your job.
It's brilliant... and sad.
Comment Re: Big Surprise (Score 1) 488
And in the latest polls Sanders is only 9 points behind her (though, in fairness, he drops lower if you ask people what they would do if Biden ran).
It's early days yet, but do not count him out of the nomination. If he gets it though, he could even win - that would boost the republican chances though because he dares use the term "socialist" (why does the media always leave out the word that goes before that which is "democratic" or the fact that his actual policies really are not socialist, they do however meet that weird definition of "socialist" which American use and which literally doesn't have a single thing in common with socialism whatsoever), if the reps don't choose their candidate perfectly though - it's in the bag. Sanders would trounce either Trump or Fiorina, and probably any religious-right candidate with ease. Rubio would be a stretch, Rand Paul would be a very close-run thing.
Comment Re:Big Surprise (Score 1) 488
>the democrats suck like the republicans. they simply suck slightly less
I would put it a little harsher... the democrats a horrible center-right corrupt politicians, nobody should vote for them under any delusions that they even remotely resemble a good party. You should vote for them because the alternative is fucking batshit insane !
| http://slashdot.org/~silentcoder | dclm-gs1-248400001 | false | false | {
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0.031458 | <urn:uuid:ce0aa4ff-68d1-416c-b3b0-fa02485aadc5> | en | 0.810596 | Biden: Get a Shotgun, AR-15s Are Harder to Use
Katie Pavlich
2/19/2013 4:22:00 PM - Katie Pavlich
Vice President Joe Biden is at it again. Three weeks ago he told a Google+ hangout group to get a shotgun in case of a natural disaster and today, he told an online Facebook town hall hosted by Parents Magazine the same thing.
"If you want to protect yourself get a double barrel shotgun, you don't need an AR-15," Biden said, referring to a type of semi-assault weapon. "You don't need an AR-15, it's harder to aim, it's harder to a shotgun. Buy a shotgun!"
As a reminder, Sen. Dianne Feinstein's gun control legislation bans a whole slew of shotguns.
Shotguns: Franchi LAW-12 and SPAS 12; All IZHMASH Saiga 12 types, including the
Streetsweeper; Striker 12. | http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/02/19/biden-get-a-shotgun-ar15s-are-harder-to-use-n1515789/print | dclm-gs1-248510001 | false | false | {
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0.041356 | <urn:uuid:f11be0ef-32f1-4700-8ad2-bd3b5dbdc0aa> | en | 0.852579 | Personality tests -» Am I a prep?
Site 1 - 10 of 12 matches sorted by rating or sort by date
Are you a PREP?
Are You A Preppy Girl?
How preppy are you?
Are you a prep?
How Preppy Are You? (girls only)
Are you really a preppy snob? Or just another geeky wannabe?
Are you a class prep?
YoU A PrEp?
What kind of prep are you?
Are you preppy?
previous • 1 • 2next | http://www.allthetests.com/personality-tests-character-quizzes-prep.php?offset=0&sortby=bewertung&katb=04BH | dclm-gs1-248600001 | false | false | {
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0.042151 | <urn:uuid:34462995-a8c2-4d48-a549-f0927e471667> | en | 0.973227 | Aspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005. Founded as a mining camp in the Colorado Silver Boom and named because of the abundance of aspen trees in the area, the city is now a ski resort and a upscale tourist center. In the late 20th century, the city developed as an off-beat haven for misfits, attracting such celebrities as John Denver (who wrote several folk songs about the town, including "Aspenglow", and "Starwood in Aspen") and Hunter S. Thompson. The city was the site of the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Aspen has been declared "The Most Expensive Town in America."
This historic character of the city has been challenged in recent decades by skyrocketing property values and the proliferation of second homes, increasingly shutting low- and middle-income workers out of the city. At the same time, in stark contrast to its historic character, the city has emerged into international fame as a glitzy playground of the wealthy and famous. The downtown has been largely transformed into an upscale shopping district that includes high-end restaurants, salons, and boutiques. The booming real estate market has forced the city to struggle between permitting growth and restricting it. The city today remains a mix of high-end luxury homes and condos intermixed with legacy residences and mobile home parks populated by an old guard of Aspen residents struggling to maintain the unique character of the city. Aspen has become a second and third home to many international jet setters.
The city sits along the southeast (upper) end of the Roaring Fork Valley, along the Roaring Fork River, a tributary of the Colorado River. It is surrounded by mountain and wilderness areas on three sides: Red Mountain to the north, Smuggler Mountain to the east, and Aspen Mountain to the south.
The city has its roots in the winter of 1879, when a group of miners ignored pleas by Frederick Pitkin, governor of Colorado, to return across the Continental Divide due to an uprising of the Ute Indians. Originally named Ute City, the small community was renamed Aspen in 1880, and, in its peak production years of 1891 and 1892, surpassed Leadville, Colorado as the nation's most productive silver-mining district. Despite the price of silver steadily declined during the silver boom in Colorado and the frequent Indian attacks, production expanded due to the passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which doubled the government's purchase of silver. By 1893, Aspen had banks, a hospital, two theaters, an opera house and electric lights. Economic collapse came with the Panic of 1893, when President Cleveland called a special session of Congress and repealed the act. Within weeks, many of the Aspen mines were closed and thousands of miners were put out of work. It was proposed that silver be recognized as legal tender and the United States Populist Party that as one of its main issues; Davis H. Waite, an Aspen newspaperman and agitator was elected governor of Colorado on the Democratic Ticket; but in time the movement failed.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.5 square miles, all of it land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,914 people, 2,903 households, and 1,082 families residing in the city. There were 4,354 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 94.94% White, 0.44% Black or African American, 0.24% Native American, 1.45% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 1.64% fromother races, and 1.20% from two or more races. 6.14% of the population were Hispanics or Latino. The average household size was 1.94 and the average family size was 2.67. In the city the population was spread out with 13.1% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 42.1% from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 7.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 115.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 117.5 males.
Roaring Fork Transportation Authority or RFTA, provides bus service in Aspen, and pay service to the surrounding communities of Snowmass Village, Basalt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and Rifle. Local RFTA bus service within Aspen and to the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport is free.
Aspen's only airport is Aspen-Pitkin County Airport also known as Sardy Field. The airport is an FAA Class 1 airport, and has one asphalt runway, 100 ft wide and 7,006 ft long. Its hours of operation with FAA air traffic control is 7am to 10pm MST/MDT. Sardy Field is Colorado's third busiest airport. The airport has a large General Aviation section which can accommodate the many corporate airplanes and private jets which can crowd the airport during the busy holiday seasons. The F.B.O., which operates the General Aviation section, is Atlantic Aviation. The airport also has 4 regular commercial air carriers: United Airlines and Delta Airlines (operated by SkyWest Airlines),US Airways (operated by AmericaWest Airlines), and Frontier Airlines.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Aspen, Colorado". Privacy | http://www.aspen.org/ | dclm-gs1-248620001 | false | false | {
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0.449691 | <urn:uuid:f3ce6410-6b43-41b5-b3f9-78ae269a5600> | en | 0.996414 | Two men found dead in car
May 3, 2013
The bodies of two men who had been shot to death were found Thursday evening inside a car in a strip-mall parking lot in Lawrence. Police did not identify the victims, but said they were in their 20s and had been shot multiple times. They were found near 42nd Street and Franklin Road. One victim was in the front seat and the other was in the back. Investigators are reviewing surveillance tapes from nearby businesses. | http://www.ibj.com/articles/41184-two-men-found-dead-in-car | dclm-gs1-249080001 | false | false | {
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0.089937 | <urn:uuid:ae1cc853-871f-40f1-8211-e42b42c439a3> | en | 0.964631 | Almost all celebrities have something to peddle. Developing (or at least putting their name on) products can provide a lucrative secondary profit stream. Launching a successful project, however, takes more than just a famous name to get it off the ground and to get fans to open their wallets. Celebrities have their fair share of product flops, too. Here are five of the largest ones.
Kanye West
Hip hop singer Kanye West launched a women's clothing line called Dw in 2011. The line debuted during Paris Fashion Week in October and was roundly panned by critics. The collection barely got out of the gate before stumbling. There are lots of reasons for West's failure, and not all of them have to do with the clothes. He is still snubbed in many circles for jumping on stage and grabbing the microphone from a startled Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Kanye's subsequent rant about how Beyonce should have won didn't endear him to anyone in the audience. On top of that, West priced his clothing line higher than any other celebrity line, keeping it out of the range of most fans' pocketbooks. Even though the line flopped, Kanye vows to take another run at it this fall with a new line.
Jennifer Lopez
JLo is one of the most successful business owners among the celebrity set. Lopez has also had her share of business failures. Two of her clothing lines have ceased production. The first, called JLo by Jennifer Lopez, was launched in 2001 as a junior miss collection of casual wear. It sold well around the world until 2007, when it was abruptly shut down and replaced by a new juniors' line called JustSweet, which closed down in 2009, along with her Sweetface line, a higher-end collection for women. Although public announcements of the "hiatus" simply stated that Lopez would redesign and rethink her designs in the future, it was widely known at the time that PETA was frequently shadowing her to protest her use of fur, both personally and in her Sweetface line. Although JLo still sells outside the U.S., Lopez has not released another major fashion collection since. In 2002, Lopez also opened a Latin cuisine restaurant in Pasadena, Calif. called Madres. In 2008, shortly after the birth of her twins, the restaurant abruptly closed without any official announcement. It is believed that the restaurant had been losing money for some time.
Hulk Hogan
In the late '80s and early '90s, Hulk Hogan had his face plastered on everything from lunchboxes to action figures to toothbrushes. In 1995, Hogan opened an Italian restaurant in the Mall of America to capitalize on his celebrity fame. He poured in his own capital and the eatery was heavily advertised through the World Wrestling Federation. Despite the hype, the restaurant was dead in less than a year, having suffered fatal cash flow burns.
The Kardashian Gang
In 2010, the fun-loving and hard-partying Kardashians decided to jump into the financial products market by introducing their own prepaid debit card. The target market for the card was their fans. The card had to be purchased for around $100 and had a monthly fee as well as additional fees every time the card was loaded, bills were paid or the customer spoke to a company representative. The card didn't sell well and soon the Connecticut Attorney General began to investigate the high fees. The card was quickly shut down and the Kardashians pretended it never happened.
Britney Spears
Restaurants can come and go quickly, but the demise of Britney Spears' Manhattan restaurant, NYLA, took less than six months. NYLA (a combination of New York and Louisiana) opened in June 2002, focusing on Cajun dishes from Spears' home state of Louisiana. The chef had other ideas, however, and began to swap out the menu for more Italian-style food. The reputation of the restaurant quickly plunged, but the death blow was the chronic health code violations. Although a new chef was brought in to turn the place around, it was too late and Spears bailed on the whole venture. At 21 years old, she did not have the experience to manage the restaurant in any meaningful way.
The Bottom Line
An instantly-recognizable face and a throng of adoring fans doesn't ensure the success of celebrity products. Like any other business, these products need consistent management, a clear business plan and a workable growth strategy.
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0.037336 | <urn:uuid:d11c9f83-aa93-45a5-a29c-cd193d312c16> | en | 0.759892 | Who Wrote This Contemporary Text?
From Everything is Illuminated to The Sabbath, see if you can name the authors of these contemporary texts.
Question 1 of :
Qustion 1. Who is the author of Portnoy’s Complaint?
Philip Larkin Philip Roth Saul Bellow Cynthia Ozick
Qustion 2. Who wrote Bread Givers?
Anzia Yezierska YL Peretz AB Yehoshua Rahel
Qustion 3. Who wrote the poem The New Colossus?
Rahel Yehuda Amichai Emma Lazarus Emily Dickinson
Qustion 4. Who wrote the poem Kaddish?
Woody Allen Adrienne Rich Allen Ginsberg Samuel Menashe
Qustion 5. Who wrote Tevye the Dairyman and Other Stories?
Chaim Nachman Bialik Sholem Aleichem Ahad Ha’am David Grossman
Qustion 6. Who wrote Everything is Illuminated?
Nathan Englander Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Franzen Rivka Galchen
Qustion 7. Who wrote The Sabbath?
Leo Baeck Moshe Soloveichik Abraham Joshua Heschel Louis Jacobs
Qustion 8. Who wrote As a Driven Leaf?
Louis Jacobs Akiva Tatz Norman Lamm Milton Steinberg
Qustion 9. Who wrote I and Thou?
Martin Buber Abraham Joshua Heschel Elliott Dorff Leo Baeck
Qustion 10. Who wrote Night?
Primo Levi Elie Weisel Cynthia Ozick Roman Polanski
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0.019735 | <urn:uuid:971c9b82-cb1a-49e7-ae3b-8ee36e7644ca> | en | 0.880648 | Erythromycin Pills Sale
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Dallas Loses But Learns At Preseason Game 1
August 16, 2009 by
I didn’t watch the game. I was spending time with two buddies whose interests are not those that relate to a pigskin ball.
However, we are in the day and age where TiVo exists and I recorded the game in its entirety.
And I did what some of my colleagues do not do. I watched 3 hours worth of film.
Stats are facts written on a piece a paper that tell one the end result of a certain play. Basically like a plot summary of a movie that you find on its back cover.
When David Tyree made the most amazing catch in Super Bowl history, a statbook will tell you if the catch made a first down or how many yards were gained.
However, film tells a story, and the film will portray how awkwardly the ball was held against his head, and how it almost touched the ground or how Rodney Harrison, the safety, could have taken it away.
I don’t know about the majority, but I prefer film because I can eat some popcorn while watching.
Now… I’m going to tell you, the fans, what I saw from the film and give you my analysis of what Dallas learned thus far.
To start off, the Cowboys had a little trouble on special teams. Running Back Tashard Choice was called for holding on the opening kickoff which started the first drive backed up in their own territory.
Matt McBriar had a lucky first punt, but its hangtime was not what new special teams coach, Joe DeCamillis, was looking for. McBriar showed more improvement later on though. He is looking good after coming back from a season-ending injury he suffered last year against the Cardinals.
Special teams coverage looked much better from what I could see. Linebacker Victor Butler made a beautiful tackle with other linebacker Justin Rogers.
The starting offense was brilliant. I loved every bit of what I saw except for a holding penalty on guard Kyle Kosier. They had a little problem when the Raiders blitzed a corner that stopped Barber behind the line, but overall, this team still has a great offensive firepower even without Terrell Owens.
Don’t get too excited though. This is the Oakland Raiders we are talking about. We’ll find out soon if this can be done against tougher teams.
Tight End Martellus Bennett will be a focal point of the offense, I guarantee it. If anyone plays fantasy football, I’d get Martellus Bennett because the Cowboys will be using him quite often.
He made a couple of good catches and shows that he will definitely be a target in the future.
Tony Romo looked wonderful, let’s hope this is a habit this year, and he even showed that he is more protective of the ball, which was one of his problems over the past three years.
Even though he was in trouble, he managed to get a very good pass to Tight End Jason Witten for a touchdown.
The second string offense still played at an elite level minus a few bonehead plays like Miles Austin dropping a pass or Center Cory Proctor messing up a shotgun snap.
Despite these bloopers, I feel comfortable with these backup players in case one of the starters goes down, especially at running back or quarterback.
I even think Stephen McGee was impressive.
Defensively, the Dallas Cowboys have highlights and lowlights.
Keith Brooking made a tremendous sack in the first quarter, and I felt that is solidified him as the right choice for the team. A lot of people are saying how the Cowboys need a younger guy in the middle to compliment Bradie James, and we already messed up with the veteran approach with Zach Thomas.
Well, let me tell you something, Zach Thomas never truly felt comfortable with his position here as the right inside linebacker.
Keith Brooking fits right in though, and after listening to an interview of him, he’ll be a great character addition to the locker room.
Other linebackers: DeMarcus Ware, Anthony Spencer, and Bradie James looked elite, so the linebacking corp looks very solid and strong.
Jason Williams was pretty good in the spotlight, but I have to see a bit more before I give him a real grade.
The defensive lineman all looked solid (backups included) and Jay Ratliff looks like he may just repeat his Pro Bowl performances from last year. Igor Olshansky is the best replacement for Chris Canty and even made a tackle.
Now for the lowlights. The Dallas Cowboys really had horrible performances from two players; Mike Mickens and Courtney Brown.
Both play cornerback, a position where a mistake is like a gunshot wound and enough of them will kill you.
Mike Mickens is a seventh round pick from Cincinatti and he was a dice roll that turned up snake eyes last week.
I counted at least three big screwups in that game. He had one good deflection, but he even forgot about the new rule which is that a receiver, in the NFL, is not down unless someone touches him. He most likely assumed that since his guy fell to the ground with the ball in his hands that he must be down.
Not so, and Mickens paid for it when the receiver got some more yards out of it.
He and DeAngelo Smith both goofed when the Raiders scored a touchdown by throwing it to Will Franklin over both of them.
However, the biggest egg laid that night was done by Courtney Brown. That egg was as big as James’ peach.
It seemed that every major catch the Raiders had was made by a guy covered by Courtney Brown. Miller’s tremendous catch that placed the Raiders on the goal line and Murphy’s out pattern were both black eyes for him.
He did have two good tackles, one on a receiver that forced the Raiders to kick a field goal and he did keep Running Back Darren McFadden from scoring on that major run he had.
Those two guys were the weak spots and I only hope they either improve or we never have a secondary injury.
Preseason is boring for fans, but it is necessary to watch because it shows the entire team and not just the starters. Intelligent fans need to know who is the team’s insurance and how good he is, so watch the game no matter how dull it gets.
I’m hoping we win the next game though.
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0.048843 | <urn:uuid:a458c604-481a-47dc-a651-c93536d522e8> | en | 0.993984 | Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 13:05:02 -0800 (PST) From: Pete Brown Subject: Story: A Slave's Life, Part 8 A SLAVE'S LIFE, Part 8 By Pete Brown petebrownuk @ Read all of Pete's stories at There was a change in our work routine the next day, as we'd finally finished digging out the trenches for the foundations of the new building, and it was time to start filling them with cement. I'd though that they'd use a cement mixer, or perhaps have it delivered ready-mixed, as you would in England, but I'd forgotten, I suppose, that part of the purpose of having us slaves was to enable our owner to have the pleasure of seeing naked men hard at work on tough physical tasks. Just as we'd run up to the site as usual and were getting our shovels out, there was the sound of lashing and shouting and a cart came into view - a cart pulled by six sweating naked men, who were being heavily lashed by an Overseer. All the men were black, and they were all exceptional specimens, well over six two. It looked just as if they'd been chosen to be clones of each other and this effect was heightened as they were all totally shaved all over - there wasn't a hair between them - and their skins shone under the sun just as if they'd been oiled (as I later learned they had been!). In addition to their neck chains with the locator mechanism, they were cinched, like us. But welded around their shoulders and chest were harnesses of chain, and these were in turn attached to the cart by further chains. Their Overseer walked alongside the men "encouraging" them with his whip, and, again like us, these seemed to be designed to stimulate and urge the men onwards, rather than do permanent damage to their bodies. The cart drew to a halt, and our Overseer told us to unload it - it was full of the 100lb sacks of cement, and we had to put them on our shoulders and carry them to where a neat pile was being made. The six blacks stood there panting and recovering whilst this was going on, but the instant we had the last sack off their Overseer "drove" them away. We scurried around "preparing" things - using shovels to clear a flat area of the coarse scrub that covered the ground, and so on. We even had the totally unexpected luxury of doing nothing for several minutes, as it seemed we were waiting for the cart to return - which it eventually did, full of sand and aggregate. We had to start work in earnest then, firstly unloading the cart into a big heap, and then working away at mixing cement manually - we had to measure precise numbers of shovelsful of sand and aggregate, add the requisite number of shovelsful of cement powder, then thoroughly mix it with water before loading it into barrows and taking it over to be tipped into the trenches we'd dug the previous days. After the wait for the load of cement and aggregate initially, the team pulling the cart managed to keep up with us, so we never stopped for the rest of the morning, and after our break, resumed the backbreaking shovelling and stirring once more. During the afternoon we saw a light rickshaw arriving, and the Overseer called to us that it was our owner who had come to survey progress, and that on no account were we to stop work - indeed, he "encouraged" us a little with his whip. "Your owner needs to see that you're properly stretched", he told us. "Keeping a big slave operation like this going is an expensive business, and he needs to know he's getting his value for money out of you slaves." Value for money? What the fuck was it costing him, after he'd paid for us to be captured and enslaved? No clothes, the slave biscuits, no proper housing other than the bare pen.... I suppose he had costs for Overseer and guards, but then he'd have some of that anyway, wouldn't he, if he had to supervise paid workers? We worked on, but I saw that the owner's rickshaw was pulled by the slave Karl that I'd met the first day, and I remembered that Stu told me that he was the owner's favourite "pony". Karl was totally naked except for the security chain around his neck, and he wasn't even cinched - as he moved, his cock and balls were bouncing up and down in line with his motion, and now I was used to being cinched, I thought how uncomfortable it must be for him - although I suppose he'd be used to it. Unlike the blacks pulling the cart, he wasn't even chained to his rickshaw - I guessed it was the ultimate in control for the owner, to have this magnificent naked man so in his power that he could be allowed total freedom like this and be secure in the knowledge that Karl would perform his assigned role. The rickshaw pulled up, and the owner sat there for a couple of minutes watching us. Now that I could observe him more closely I could see that he was probably in his late forties, big and powerfully built, and with an air of authority about him. He was wearing a kind of traditional long Arab robe in white, but his face and head were uncovered and he had short, iron-grey hair closely cut. He got out of the rickshaw and came over to speak to the overseer, who in turn came to me. "Your owner wants to inspect you now that you have been here for two weeks. Go over to him, and kneel. And remember, if he speaks to you and requires an answer, you use the correct mode of address. If you fail in any of this, the whole team will be punished when he has gone. Do you understand?" "Yes." "Careful, slave! Is that the proper mode? Try again... Do you understand?" "Sir, yes, sir!" "Good. Now go over, kneel, and make obeisance to your owner. Remember, he totally controls your life, and if he is displeased with you things can become very unpleasant, and he can even decide to sell you on to the mines..." Once again, I felt a chill run through me - not only because I'd heard bad things about the miens, but primarily because the idea that the owner could sell me was so wrong: I was a man, not an object like a car. You couldn't - or shouldn't - sell men. But what could I now do - nothing! So I jogged over to stand in font of my owner - yes, I did think of him as this, even though I found it difficult still to get used to the concept of "owner" and "slave" - and remembering what the Overseer had told me I knelt on the hot ground, and bent forward to touch my head to the ground. It's so utterly humiliating to do this in front of another man: you demonstrate your complete subservience to him. And touching your forehead to the ground means that your ass is raised in the air, and your whole body is exposed to his gaze as he looks down at you. "On your feet, slave, and stand with your hands behind your neck." His voice was deep and calm, and you could tell that he was used to being obeyed. So I scrambled to my feet, and clasped my hands behind my neck - I realised that when you stand like this your chest is almost automatically thrust out to display your pecs to their best advantage, and, of course, there's absolutely no possibility of concealing any part of your lower body My owner said "Turn around - rotate slowly", and I kind of shuffled my feet to do a complete turn in front of him. "Good", he said, to himself. Then to me "Excellent. When I saw you I knew that you would have a pleasing body, and now that that silly white band where you hid it from the sun has been obliterated, I can see that I was proven right." He mover closer to me, and ran his hands over my pecs, then to my waist, where he probed his fingers into my muscles quite hard. He moved around behind me and I could feel his strong hands running over my shoulders, then down to my waist again. It was as if he was inspecting some show animal - which, I suppose, that's what I was as far as he was concerned. "Excellent, too. Much increased muscle tone. And our regime has got rid of that thin layer of fat that your idle Western lifestyle was starting to lay down." He reached down to take my cock in his hand, and I started backwards as I still wasn't used to having my intimate parts touched, except in the context our sex at night. "Easy, boy. This cock belongs to me, remember!" He rolled my cock around in his hands, and I tried as hard as I could not to get an erection. I failed the moment he started to 'skin me back, exposing my moist cock head in the palm of his hand and stroking it with his thumb - I'm so sensitive there that there was just no way I could avoid getting completely hard, and I knew that small trickles of pre-cum would be forcing themselves out of my piss slit. "Hmmmm....", he was musing to himself. Then he addressed me. "I allowed you to keep your 'skin initially - normally all of my slaves are of course cut as no part of their bodies should be hidden from their owner. And I think those long 'skins that some men have, tailing past the end of their cock heads, really spoil their general look and appearance. But I left yours, as an experiment, as there were intriguing glimpses of your piss slit even when you were 'skinned fully forward. But, on reflection, I have decided that I was wrong - you're far too sensitive with a 'skin, and your head needs constant exposure. So my veterinarian will 'skin you shortly." "Now, slave", he went on, "Are you adjusting to life here? I have seen the tapes from your holding pen, and you seem to be partaking fully of sex with your fellows..." I was so astonished to think that anyone could have been videoing our actions at night and viewing them, that all I could think of to say was "Sir, yes, sir!" "Good! Losing your 'skin won't affect sex - indeed, you'll be less sensitive and so you'll be able to fuck away for longer. Does that please you?" "Sir, no, sir... I like it the way I am, I....." "Silence! You do not have opinions, You neither like nor dislike things. You are a slave, and slaves accept whatever their masters command for them. If I consider that sex will be better for you as you will be able to fuck longer, then that is as it will be. Now, perform your obeisance again, and return to work!" I knelt humiliatingly again, but my owner called me to back to my feet. "One more thing - I know your cock is in good form, but I have not had an independent verification of your ass hole. He turned towards his rickshaw, and called "Pony, over here!" Karl came towards us, and I saw his huge cock swinging in front of him. "Kneel slave", the owner snapped at me, indicating that I should do so in front of him, "touch your head to the ground, and raise your ass high in the air." I could guess what was going to happen to me, and I wanted to scream at him that I wasn't a salve, that I was a free man really, and that I wasn't going to be raped by Karl! But I knew that there was nothing I could do about it now - there was no way I could escape the estate, with my security chain around my neck. And if I dared disobey my owner, it would not just be me that would suffer, but all the other guys in my group as well. So I gritted my teeth and knelt there, starting to sweat with dreadful apprehension about what was going to happen to me. It came soon enough - Karl knelt behind me, and I felt his strong hands pull my ass cheeks apart, then I flinched as something hit my sensitive pucker - Karl had spat a big gob of saliva at my hole, and his finger was now probing me and almost massaging it in. But it was a very cursory attempt at lubing me - nothing like the prolonged, gentle massage that Craig had done. And I heard him spit again, and, looking back, saw him rubbing his big, engorged cock with his saliva . Then it was pressing against me, and he really pressed hard. He forced himself forward, and put his big arms around my waist d I knelt there, to hold me back against him. My sphincter still resisted him, and I was really hurting. I was starting to panic, and sweat was pouring out from all over me. I felt him pull away slightly, and thought that it might be over, but it was only so that he could gather a little space so that he could thrust forward at me.... And his cock head did now penetrate me. It was so painful, though, that I gave a scream, but Kurt didn't seem to care: once through my ring of muscle, he carried on thrusting forwards until I could feel his hot belly pressed against my ass. I was sobbing now, as I was in such agony and distress from this brutal entry, but my owner shouted "Silence, slave, else I'll order a whipping for your fellows." So I gritted my teeth, and tried to restrain my lungs from providing air for my cries. "Well, pony, how is the slave?" "Master, very tight, master. Almost as if he is a virgin." Kurt was almost grunting as he said this, so I knew he'd found it difficult. "Interesting. Proceed to fuck him to completion, and make it quick as I have other things to do today." "Master, yes, master!" Kurt started to fuck me, and unlike Craig's gentle slithers in and out of me, this was just hard and fast - Kurt withdrew almost the entire length of his cock, then slammed it back into me in one quick movement with no consideration at all for what it was doing for me. Was he doing this because he liked hard, rough fucking like this, or because he was obeying our owner's order to get it over with quickly? I didn't know, and, frankly, I didn't care - all I knew was that it was hurting like hell, and I wanted him out of me. My body reacted almost automatically and I tried to buck and wriggle to get him off me and put an end to my torture, but Kurt evidently had done this before as his arms gripped me tighter and tighter, making it impossible for me to escape. On and on it went, harder and harder and faster and faster, and I could hear Kurt's breathing change to harsh gasps with the effort he was making, and little low grunts were coming from deep inside him. Then, suddenly, he cried "Yesssss....", and he slammed into my ass one last time and then remained completely buried in me up to the hilt of his cock, as he pumped his cum up into me. Even though he must have been in that state when you've just cum and you need a moment to recover yourself, there was no respite for Kurt: the owner had no consideration for him, and told him to get to his feet as they needed to be off. Kurt pulled out of me, and stood there - his chest was heaving up and down from his exertion, and there was a slick of his cum hanging from the end of his deflating cock. His cock was covered in cum, sweat and my ass juices, and the pungent smell drifted to me on the still air. "Get up", the owner commanded me, and I got to my feet and stood looking at Kurt. I could feel his cum gently trickling out of my ass hole and running down the inside of my thighs, and when I instinctively reached down to touch it, and then pulled my hand up I saw there were traces of blood, too! The owner saw me looking with horror at this, and said, almost kindly, "Don't worry - that often happens with you new slaves as Kurt is so big and there can be a little tearing. You'll be sore for a few days, but there won't be any permanent damage as he knows what he's doing." As he finished speaking, he called for the water boy, and Stu came running over with his water sack slung over his shoulders. "Clean the cock of my pony", the owner told him. "I can't have him going around all day stained like that." Stu looked at Kurt and me, and he knew what must have happened. He looked at me almost in desperation, but did as he'd been instructed - he splashed water out of his water bag onto Kurt's now semi-flaccid cock, then reached down and rubbed his hands all over it to clean it. It only took a few moments, and the owner then commanded Kurt to bring the rickshaw over. He looked arrogantly proud, standing there between the shafts, completely naked and unadorned except for his security collar, and the owner climbed aboard. He flicked idly at Kurt's magnificent ass with his whip - not hard, but almost as if he was using it as a means of giving orders, rather than as a punishment or "encouragement", and Kurt jogged off, gradually getting faster as he took the strain of the owner and the light carriage. It looked as if Stu wanted to say something to me, but he couldn't, of course, and so he gave me a look of encouragement, then loped off to water the men who were still hard at work. There was nothing else for me to do but to return to my mates and carry on with the gruelling mixing of the cement, and so, in spite of the pain from my ass, that's what I did for the rest of the afternoon. When we were at last in our pen that evening, all the guys crowded around me and asked how I was - they'd all seen Kurt fucking me, although they had not been allowed to stop work. And some of them had been "tried out" in the same way after they arrived, and remembered how painful it was to have Kurt's enormous cock thrust into them that way. Craig was extremely concerned, and when we lay down whispered that he wasn't going to fuck me that night as he knew I must be hurting. However whilst we were kissing and gently stroking each other pleasurably, the gate was unlocked and Stu came in again. He picked his way across the heaped bodies, playfully fending off the approaches and touches of the other guys until he saw me. He came and crouched by Craig and me, and grinned. "The owner's friends want to play with Kurt again tonight - although I doubt he'll be much use after that epic fucking of your ass this afternoon - so I asked to be put in again with you guys. Can I ride your cock again, Jon, please...?" I wasn't used to such a direct approach, and was anyway very tired. "No, you can't! I told you last time that I didn't do things like that." "Yes, but it's all different now, isn't it......" "How?" "Well, Kurt's fucked you. And he fucks me all the time. So we've got something in common - Kurt's big cock has been up both of us.... So it must be OK for your cock to go up me...." I almost laughed at his twisted logic, but, all the same, I did remember how pleasurable it had been when he rode me. I looked at Craig, and saw him smiling... "Go on, Jon - give it a go! The lad wants you to fuck him, so why not try it?" Well I suppose some part of the "old" me was still saying that it wasn't right, that I shouldn't be even thinking about things like this. But after having been fucked by Craig and Kurt, being "ridden" by Stu, and spending all my time humiliatingly naked with an almost constant erection from the cinch ring, something else inside me was saying "why not?" I smiled back at Stu, and went to start wanking him for a supply of lube, but Craig pulled me closer to him. "Not so fast, Jon! I'm going to lose out here - if you're going to fuck the lad, I want you to wank me first - I want those big strong fingers of yours around me, else I'll have to do myself and it's not the same." It wasn't as good, of course - both guys really need to be wanking each other, don't they, for the best sex? But it was interesting all the same - as I kissed and stroked Craig, I had time to focus on what was happening to him in a way that I couldn't when he was doing equally pleasurable things to me. I saw how his breathing changed, how he sighed and moaned as I varied my grip on his cock, how he moved his body closer to mine then further away as I stroked his balls and scratched at his pucker, and how, as he was ready to cum, his breathing almost froze and his whole body arched in anticipation of the giant splash of hot cum that shot out of him. He was panting afterwards, and I smiled down at him and said "So was that OK? Worth giving up a fuck for?" He grinned, and said "No way!", but I knew he was joking and reached down and playfully gave his cock a couple more strokes, causing him to almost double up with the discomfort, as I knew he had an incredibly sensitive cock after he'd cum. "Hmmm. Craig.... Perhaps I'd better keep stroking you, get you erect again, and let you in my ass then...." I took hold of his cock, and he gasped "No.... Bastard.... You know what I'm like when I've cum..." We both collapsed into helpless laughter, and it was one of the best moments I've ever shared with another guy - we were so relaxed, so happy, so completely unconcerned about what anyone else thought, and were only focused on what happened between us. "Now you've exhausted me, get to work on young Stu whilst my cum's still fresh to slick his hole", Craig went on. "I can see he's desperate to have that cock of yours up him again - but do it properly this time, like I fucked you. Or do it 'doggy', as Kurt did." Stu was kneeling now, and it was he who took some of Craig's cum and started eagerly rubbing it into his hole. Craig was watching, and pushed sideways, forcing some of the other guys even tighter together and so making a small space on the floor. "Come on, lad - lie here beside me", he said kindly, and moved his arm out sideways to make a pillow for Stu's head to lie on. Stu sank down and lay beside Craig, and I knelt between them and started to massage Stu's hole, just as Craig had done to me. He started to moan, and at first I thought I was hurting him, but I realised that it was just the pleasure he was feeling from the tender way my finger was working him. Again, in a kind of detached way, I was interested to observe how I could almost "play" his body - as my finger went in and out of him he moved sensuously, his breathing changed, his eyes closed, and a smile played all over his handsome face. I know you have to do it, but after a time massaging a guy's hole gets a bit boring, doesn't it? As soon as I thought I'd relaxed him enough, therefore, I moved so that I was between his legs, then picked them up and put them on my shoulders, as Craig had done to me. Then I entered him, ever so slowly, ever so gently, just nudging his sphincter with my cock head at first, and teasing it so that Stu's body writhed with pleasure. I knew he was ready, and so was I - pre-cum was pouring out from me, as the touch of the lad's pucker on my sensitive cock head was almost more than I could bear. So I thrust my hips forward, and my cock head went in that vital first inch or so. Stu moaned deeply, and I continued to push until I was buried inside him as far as I could go - the cinch ring got in the way a bit, as you'd expect, so I couldn't get that wonderful feeling of having my body in complete contact with his ass. And then, as they say, I fucked him - long and slow, short and fast, I forget how many times I varied my stroke, changed my pace.... I was carried away, and so was Stu. We both were laughing, grunting, moaning and shouting as the fucking went on, and his body was responding perfectly to me. Even though I was in some sort of sexual ecstasy, another part of me was in control: I was watching, observing, and even experimenting, to a certain extent, to see what happened as I modified the way I fucked him. It couldn't go on for ever of course - the more I tried to be detached, the more excited I became, and then the inevitable happened - that roaring, raging, rampaging feeling exploding through me as my balls pumped my seed along my cock and deep into him. I was absolutely the best feeling I'd ever had in my whole life. Better even - much better - than any of the women I'd fucked. So this is why men went with each other: now I knew. And something inside told me that this was how it was meant to be for me, that this is how I was always going to have sex in future. The world seemed to have stopped for me for a few moments, but I came back to reality as Craig gently shook me. "Are you OK, Jon, mate?" "OK? Are you kidding? I'm fantastic!" I gently pulled myself out from Stu, and leant forward over him, being careful to take most of my weight on my elbows. I kissed him, deeply, and he put his arms around my neck and pulled me close to him "Oh, Jon..... That was amazing. After Kurt.... Oh Jon....." A tear had formed at the corner of Stu's eye, and as I watched, it rolled down his cheek. "Jon... Don't make me go back to Kurt... Keep me here with you...." Craig was listening to this, and cut in "Don't be so stupid, lad! You know that's not possible. Even if Jon wanted you with him, he has no choice: we're all slaves, and it's the owner who decides who's allowed to be with whom. He's decided that you're going to be with Kurt, and so that's your life: you have no choice, Jon has no choice, and neither does Kurt! So stop being like some stupid half-baked love-sick school kid: you're a slave, and for the good of all of us, you do what you're told." After that outburst Stu just lay there quietly, but I knew that Craig must have thought that he'd been unnecessarily harsh with the lad as he joined me in wrapping ourselves around Stu so that we all slept companionably close together. In the middle of the night we were all awake, though, and we were all erect. I wanted to fuck Stu again, but I also knew that Craig had been very good in letting me do it earlier instead of spending my time with him. It seemed to be the classic "love triangle", and I didn't know what to do. Craig had so much more experienced, of course, and neatly solved the problem - he started to gently wank me, then used his other hand to move my hand onto Stu's erect cock, and then to get Stu to wank him! The following day it wasn't just my ass that was sore from the brutal fucking that I'd received from Karl - my legs and back ached, too. As I tried to stand up in the morning I almost groaned, and I thought it was just from the incredibly hard work we'd been doing - although I'd mostly got over the sheer muscular ache that I'd experienced when I first arrived. Craig saw me and laughed - "You've got fucking pains, Jon", he told me laughingly. "When you fuck a guy in the missionary position, as you did young Stu last night, you use your body differently from when you're working, and so you can get sore the following day. It'll soon wear off - and if you carry on fucking, as I suspect you will, as I can see you're a top, like me, then it will go away as your muscles get used to it. Stu was taken away as we all crouched there crapping over the grille, and we did our usual morning run out to the construction site. Half way through the morning the owner appeared again, with Karl pulling him in his rickshaw. I was almost glad to see that Karl was really working hard - his chest was heaving up and down as our owner had evidently run him fast on their journey. The owner said a few words to our Overseer, and he in turn came over and told me to go and stand behind the rickshaw. I did as he told me, and the Overseer pulled a short chain out of a small box on the back of the rickshaw, and clipped the end to my snout ring! With a tiny crack of the whip, the owner urged Kurt into motion, and I was forced to follow if I wanted to avoid excruciating pain from my nose. After we'd been running for a few minutes I saw that Kurt's job was not as easy as I'd thought - the ground was sharp and hot under my feet, the owner set quite a fast pace for the run, and it was a bit of a struggle for me to keep up even when there was only me to move. Kurt must really have to work hard to make himself and the rickshaw and the owner go along at this pace! Still, I didn't feel all that sorry for him really - he wasn't cinched, he didn't have a humiliating snout ring, and he was able to choose to have young Stu with him most nights - I think I'd have willingly treaded places with him, if that had been on offer. We stopped outside one of the buildings in the central complex, and at once a guard ran out. The owner said something to him (he mostly spoke in some strange foreign language, unless he was addressing us slaves, when he used English), and the guard came around and released my snout ring from the chain, that he then neatly coiled back into its box on the back of the rickshaw. The guard led me in to the building, and along a corridor and back into the "veterinarian's office" that I'd been in on my first day. The same white-coated man was standing there, and he consulted something on his PC screen. He came over and read my name from my shoulder, and said "Right, Jon, you're here for the circumcision. I thought the owner wouldn't delay it for long - he has all his slaves done routinely, you know. It's not usually a problem for the Americans, but as we get more and more men coming from Europe - especially Eastern Europe - I get more and more little operations like this to do." "I heard all that nonsense about leaving you whole as you only had a short 'skin and your piss slit was mostly uncovered, but I knew the owner wouldn't leave it like that for long. It spoils the symmetry, don't you think, when there's a whole gang of slaves and one of them still has a 'skin?" I went to answer, but realised that he was just musing and I wasn't required to say anything. "Still, you're lucky", he went on, "On another estate where I work fairly regularly, the owner there doesn't like the slaves to get much pleasure from sex. So when I 'skin the new slaves, I have to cut away the little piece of skin underneath the head, too - that's what gives you most pleasure, you know. And e even has it removed from slaves that come ready 'skinned! Your owner is more sensible - he knows that a big group of men kept together would turn unruly and fight, unless they were getting plentiful sex. So he instructs me to let you keep your pleasure point, so you'll enjoy sex more, and so you'll do it more often, and so you'll be less likely to cause other problems. Clever guy, really - you can see why he's made so much money." I desperately wanted to ask about the owner - how had he got to this position of absolute power over other men? But I supposed I was still under the injunction to stay silent at all times, and just stood there. "Now", the veterinarian went on, "Don't worry! Although it says 'veterinarian' on the door, that's only a bit of 'window dressing' - I'm a fully qualified doctor really. They wouldn't trust extremely valuable property like the slaves here to an unqualified hack, would they? And I've done hundreds of 'skinnings - it's not difficult, after all, as even medically untrained people, like rabbis, can do it. Well, at least on little babies and kids - with a fully mature cock, it's a tad more difficult, but the principle's the same. Now.... Lets' get on with it..... Sit down on that chair..." Well, he was right. It actually didn't take long, and it was painless - I'd been worried that he'd do it without anaesthetic, as when he'd punched the hole for my snout ring. But once I was sat down he gave me an injection into my cock, waited for a couple of minutes for it to take effect, then it was over before I even knew it. Look, I didn't want it done, as no mature man wants to lose a part of himself, but I recognised I had no choice - the owner had decreed it, and there wasn't a blind thing I could do about it without risking terrible punishments for myself and my comrades. He mopped at the cut ends of my skin with something that stopped the bleeding, and put a kind of giant sticking plaster around the end to cover the wound. "Don't go fucking, or even wanking, for about a week", he told me. "You can't help getting erect, of course, especially as you're cinched, but friction on the wounds would definitely b e a bad idea. But after a week, you can go at it gently - I'd wank at first, rather than fucking.... you do fuck, don't you?" I realised he was expecting a reply, and it was OK to speak, so I muttered "Sir, yes, sir...". "Good. We need more men who fuck here - a lot of the guys like taking it, but there aren't a lot of us who give it. So it's always good when one of the new slaves turns out to be a 'top' - it's more difficult when he has to be fucked, of course, but the rest of the time it really helps to keep the rest of the slaves happy. Anyway, keep that cock of yours out of your mates' asses for a bit longer, but then you'll be fine." Actually, I hadn't thought of it like this before. I'd realised that I did like fucking, after my experience with Stu, and I could see that there were probably more guys that liked to take it, rather than give it. Perhaps I was in for interesting times in the slave pen at night. End Of Part 8 | http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/authoritarian/a-slaves-life/a-slaves-life-8 | dclm-gs1-249200001 | false | false | {
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0.142423 | <urn:uuid:6f6b6425-e67c-443e-a13e-2f997df9645a> | en | 0.994298 | Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:50:30 -0500 From: Subject: The Mentor The Mentor by K. Nitsua. Copyright 2008 by the author. He hadn't wanted to come to this conference, but when he saw the hotel they had booked for the event he started to change his mind. When the bellboy opened the door for him and they walked in the room he had to force himself not to gape. As far as he was concerned it was a palace. There was almost too much space for one person. He felt guilty about the expense and reminded himself that it was the university's bill, not his. The bellhop was chattering on about all of the luxury features of the establishment. He didn't pay a whole lot of attention until a phrase caught his ear. "And if you want to keep in shape, there's our state-of-the-art fitness center, complete with sauna. Great place to relax and unwind after a workout." "Sounds good," he replied. He made a mental note to check it out. After he'd tipped the bellboy and ushered him out he flopped onto the bed with a sigh of relief. There wasn't going to be much to do until tomorrow, when he was to give his presentation. He'd already had dinner. He ought to call his wife. He knew that conversation could easily turn into a half hour, though, and he just wasn't up to it. She'd probably already left a message on his cell phone, which he'd deliberately turned off. He'd give her a quick call in the morning, when he'd have an honest reason to cut things short. It would be easy to spend the rest of the evening vegging out, looking at the TV. But something in him couldn't get what the bellhop had told him out of his mind. Work and travel had knocked him off his regular exercise routine and he should try and get back on. Before he got too sleepy and lazy to move he willed himself off the bed. He peeled off his street clothes and reached into his carry-on for his workout gear. Dressed in t-shirt, jock and nylon shorts, he put on his Nikes and headed to the elevator. The fitness center was on the second floor. He opened the door and saw that the corridor straight ahead of him led to the pool. To the right were the men's and women's locker rooms. The exercise room was on his left. It wasn't quite as large as he had thought it might be, but it was clean and well lit, with a nice assortment of treadmills, stairmasters and weight machines. A TV screen on one wall was playing a sports channel with the sound turned off. He decided to have a go at the treadmill-cardio was a priority after days of inactivity and plane rides. It took a minute or two to get the speed and intensity adjusted to his liking, but pretty soon he was jogging at a good pace. It felt good to be moving. He touched a button and jacked it up a notch, fast enough that he really had to concentrate on keeping up. Soon he was panting and sweat was running off his brow and into his eyes, making him wish he had a headband. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that someone else had come into the exercise room, an older man who was working one of the weight machines. At last he put the treadmill into cool-down mode and slowed to a walking pace. He pulled his t-shirt up and wiped his dripping face. "How is it?" He looked up, startled. The other man had stopped lifting and was sitting up, looking at him. He had silvery hair and a neatly trimmed beard of the same color that set off a pair of twinkling blue eyes. His chest and shoulders filled out the t-shirt he was wearing in a way that wasn't common in men his age. "You mean this machine? Fine, I guess." "Looks like you had a good run." "Yeah...yeah, I guess I did." He was a little unnerved that this stranger was so intent on conversation. "I might try that thing myself." "I'm done. Be my guest," he said. All he wanted to do was get out of there and back to safe solitude. The other man didn't seem to notice his discomfiture. "Nice talking to you," he said, standing up and extending his hand. "I'm Al." There wasn't anything he could do except take it and say his name. "Doug. Listen, I'm going to hit the showers. I've got a big day tomorrow." The other man smiled slightly, as if to acknowledge the brush-off. "Take care." Relieved, he picked up a towel from the stack by the entrance and headed into the men's locker room. As he stripped off his sweaty gear and wrapped the towel around his waist he wondered what had gotten into him. The man after all had been perfectly pleasant. Nice body too, for an older guy. He'd especially admired Al's muscled legs, the thighs filling out the legs of his nylon gym shorts, the bulge between them... Doug shook his head. Men weren't supposed to notice things like that about other men. He stalked off toward the showers. The marbled bathroom had sinks, urinals and toilets at one end. At the other were two private shower stalls next to a frosted glass door that led into the sauna. He opened the door to the first stall. It was divided into two spaces, the shower stall and a dressing area with a hook on the wall and bench beneath. He left his towel on the bench and stepped into the shower, turning on a blast of cold water. It made him gasp and his heart race. He could feel his cock shrinking. After a while he added some hot water, soaped up and rinsed. As he dried himself off he found he didn't want to get dressed and leave just yet. It had been a long time since he'd had a sauna. The heat would get him relaxed so he could get a good night's sleep. The sauna was tiny, the box of hot rocks in one corner taking up a lot of space, two sets of benches along one wall barely long enough for two to sit side by side. Doug sat on the lower bench, away from the door. He stretched his arms out, leaned his head back and closed his eyes, letting his mind drift. He opened them again just as a shadow passed in front of the frosted glass of the sauna door. A moment later he heard the sound of rushing water. Al must have finished his workout. Doug sat and listened, hardly noticing that he was hoping Al would join him. The shower stopped and there was silence. Doug held his breath, straining to hear. The shadow passed by the door again, without stopping. Doug's shoulders sagged. He closed his eyes again and leaned back, expelling his breath in a sigh. He started up as the door opened, letting in a blast of cooler air. "Hello again," Al said, standing in the doorway naked, holding a towel. "Mind if I join you?" "Not at all." It would be nice to chat more with this pleasant stranger. Al climbed onto the bench and sat on the upper board, so that his left leg was next to Doug's right shoulder. He spread the towel loosely on his lap and leaned forward, elbows on his thighs. "So did you do the treadmill?" Doug asked. Al looked up and smiled. "Yep. Not for long, though. I'm pretty beat. Long plane ride today. I take it you're here for the conference too?" Doug nodded. "I'm presenting a paper tomorrow. I should be going over it right now, but obviously I'm not." He laughed. "Playing hooky." His companion smiled. "We should all do more of that." "Not if you're junior faculty coming up for tenure." Doug caught himself, a bit embarrassed. "I'm sure it's been a while since you've had to worry about that." Al shrugged. "I see it from the other side now." "So you're a chair?" "Dean." "Well," Doug said, only half joking. "I'm honored that you're even talking to me." Al snorted. "I'm not one of those. You know, most of us want to help. We want you to do well." He leaned his head back against the wall. "Don't worry about that now. Relax and enjoy." Doug closed his eyes and tried to take his advice. At that moment he noticed that Al's leg was barely touching his shoulder. He stiffened and was about to shift his body away, but something stopped him. Instead he remained where he was, and leaned very slightly to the right. In another moment he felt Al's leg shift in response. Now there was no doubt that it was pressing against him. His heart was pounding with excitement and the sweat trickling off of him wasn't just from the heat of the sauna. Without looking up Doug slowly raised his right hand and ran his fingers up and down Al's calf, feeling the hard muscle. The pressure from Al's leg increased, and Doug felt the other man's hand on his shoulder. Al moved his fingers gently, massaging the deltoid. Doug's head fell back and his mouth opened as he enjoyed the touch of another man, the first in a long time. Abruptly the massage stopped. Al stepped swiftly off the bench and pulled open the door of the sauna. Doug's heart sank until he saw the shadowy figure pause on the other side of the frosted glass. Al held his towel as he stood in profile, stroking his hardening cock. Doug's own cock leaped in response. The silhouette disappeared. The next moment one of the showers started running. He had to make his move and fast. The next second he was out of the sauna, the air cold against his bare skin. Doug pulled open the door of the shower stall. A blast of steam and the sound of rushing water surrounded his senses. Ahead he saw Al, standing under the spray, turn and smile, beckoning with one hand. Feeling like he was in a dream Doug moved slowly forward. Al left the shower and came toward him. He stiffened, not knowing what to expect. The other man smiled and pulled his towel off, tossing it onto the bench. "You won't be needing this," Al said. He took Doug's hand and led him gently into the shower stall. Al stepped back under the spray. In the small space under the showerhead there was no way their bodies could avoid touching. Doug shivered as the other man's arms went around him and pulled him close. He sighed, closed his eyes and let his body sag against Al's. Then he felt Al's lips press against his own. He started and pulled away as his eyes flew open. He shook his head. "Not here," he said. For a moment Al looked hurt, then nodded. "You're right," he said. He stroked Doug's arm. "You're the best looking guy I've run into in a long time," he said. "Come to my room?" The water pelted their bodies as Doug stood still, thinking. He was a happily married man. Or was he? Happily married men didn't avoid calling their wives on trips. They didn't go to the gym hoping to run into another lone man. They didn't get in a single shower stall naked with another man. And their cocks didn't get hard as rock when they thought about going to a stranger's hotel room. "Okay." Al's smile was so sweet and genuine that Doug felt a tug in his throat. "Great. I'll go first. I'm in Room 546. Can you remember that?" Doug nodded. "I'll see you there. Don't bother to change. Just come soon, okay? Promise?" There was no way to resist the urgency in Al's eyes. "Promise." Ten minutes later Doug stood before Room 546 in his clammy gym clothes. He was shivering, still damp from the shower. His heart was in his mouth as he knocked on the door. The door swung open into the dimly lit, spacious hotel room, even more luxurious than his. Al was nowhere to be seen. As Doug entered he saw why-his friend was concealing himself behind the door, stark naked. Doug's eyes widened at the sight of Al's erect cock, the shaft straight, roped with veins and capped with a flaring, darker head. The hotel room door fell shut with a thunk. There was no turning back. Al smiled. "Welcome," he said. Before Doug could reply Al was on his knees before him, tugging at the waistband of his shorts, pulling Doug's already half-erect cock out of the damp pouch of his jockstrap. "Sweet," Al murmured, and Doug gasped as hot slippery pleasure engulfed his organ. It quickly became steel hard as Al slid back and forth along the shaft, taking him down to the root, pressing into his pubes until he gagged. Ropes of spit leaked out of the corners of his mouth, dropping onto the carpet. Doug's brain was in total shock, unable to comprehend anything except the moment. Soon the sparks darting up from his loins began to gather themselves into a larger fire. He felt the explosion coming and was helpless to stop it-didn't want to stop it. "Oh God," he gasped, "I'm going to cum." "Mm hmm," Al said, his mouth stuffed with cock. He slid back and forth even faster as Doug reached the point of no return. He threw his head back, letting out strangled grunts, struggling not to make too much noise as he unloaded spurt after spurt into Al's mouth. His hands tightened around Al's head in a convulsive spasm. Dimly through the stunning force of his orgasm he noted with wonder that Al hadn't let go-he was swallowing every drop. Finally Doug's balls were drained and his breathing began to slow. He released his grip on his partner. Al let Doug's softening organ slip out of his mouth, taking a few last licks at the head. He kissed Doug's thighs and looked up with watery eyes, smiling. "Very nice. Thank you." Doug suddenly felt weak. He dropped to one knee, head hanging, taking deep breaths. He felt Al's hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?" He looked up into his new friend's anxious eyes and tried to reassure him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just took a lot out of me." Al chuckled. "I'll say it did. Felt like I drank a quart. Sorry I wasn't very sociable, but you got me so hot in that sauna. I couldn't wait." Doug didn't reply. "Seriously, are you okay?" He looked up again, startled. Al's look was knowing, but sympathetic. "You don't do this all the time. In fact I bet you haven't done this in a long while, if ever." A beat, then Doug nodded. "I've had guys who pulled their pants up and left without a word. One even punched me out. You're not going to do that, are you?" "No." He felt a little indignant at the thought. Al smiled. "I'm glad. You want to sit a bit, have something to drink? I have a great mini-bar." "But you didn't-" Doug hesitated. Al got to his feet. "No big deal. Maybe later." Doug stood up and started to adjust his clothes. They were damp and uncomfortable. The room was warm, and on impulse he bent and pulled his shoes off, then the rest of what he was wearing. When he was naked he looked up. Al had fished two bottles of beer out of the mini-bar and was standing, holding them. He smiled. "Come sit." They faced each other in two armchairs on which Al had spread towels, and drank their beers, not saying much. Doug swallowed his brew and leaned his head back. The tightness inside him that been there all day was gone. "Feeling better?" Al asked. "Yeah. Much." Doug opened his eyes. "Thanks." Al smiled. "Don't mention it. I always aim to please." Doug chuckled. "You're not like most deans I know." "I'm not a dean tonight. Only a man." Al's eyes were half-closed. His pupils glinted in the dim light. They were looking straight into Doug's. He sat sprawled in the armchair, his legs apart. His soft cock hung down between his balls, heavy in their sack. Al's pubic hair was light brown flecked with gray, sparse and pale on his lower belly. He reached down and gave his flaccid organ a squeeze. Doug felt his breath quicken. "What are you thinking?" Al asked. The answer rose to his lips without conscious thought. "I want to suck your cock." A smile. "I thought you'd never ask." Again Doug had that dreamlike feeling he'd experienced in the shower. He slowly moved to where Al was sitting and dropped to his knees in front of him. He put his forearms on Al's warm thighs and looked up. The other man raised his brows playfully. "So far, so good," Al said. Doug laughed, surprised and grateful. He took Al's cock in hand, inspecting the dark pink head, the neat circumcision scar, the paler, veined shaft that curved a bit to one side. Gathering all his courage he leaned forward, closing his eyes and opening his mouth. He felt the heat rising from Al's crotch, caught a whiff of cologne and male scent mixed. He closed his mouth very gently around the head and took the cock down his throat. As he slid slowly back and forth he heard Al's quick intake of breath. "Mm, nice." A hand gripped the back of his neck. Doug tasted salt and knew that precum was flowing from Al's cock. It had grown steely hard and much bigger. In fact his mouth was starting to ache from trying to stay open wide enough not to scrape it with his teeth. He let it slip out and licked at the head and down the shaft. "Oh, baby," Al breathed. Doug took him back in with renewed vigor. With a shock he realized he was enjoying this. "Cocksucker" was just about the worst thing you could call a man, but that's what he was doing and liking it. He bobbed his head vigorously back and forth, then lunged forward, taking as much of Al's cock as he could, until his nose was pressed into the other man's pubic bone. He gagged as the head cut off his breathing and surfaced, gasping for air, tears starting from his eyes. His own cock jutted from his crotch. Al caressed his cheek with his hand. "Damn, you are good," he said, smiling. "Come here." He lifted Doug up as he bent downward and put his lips to the other man's. This time Doug didn't recoil. Al's lips and tongue were soft and sensual, his breath scented with alcohol, his beard scratchy on his cheeks and chin. Every touch made Doug more aroused. He didn't want this to end, ever. "Get on the bed," Al whispered. Doug stood and went to the king-sized bed. When he lay on his back Al gestured to him. "Turn over on your stomach. Spread your legs." Doug obeyed, a bit nervous. He felt Al climb onto the mattress behind him and between his legs. The next moment he felt a soft wetness tickle his butt. Al's tongue found the crack and slid downward as his hands pulled Doug's cheeks apart. The next moment Doug moaned as Al's tongue darted and flicked into his exposed asshole. Al burrowed deeper, pushing his entire mouth against the opening, bathing it with his spit, shoving his tongue in as far as he could. His beard scratched the sensitive area behind Doug's balls. By now Doug was whimpering into the bedspread. The sensation was indescribable, even better than the blowjob he'd gotten. Finally Al came up for air. "Mm, sweet ass." A pause. "I'd love to fuck you." Doug wheeled his head around, startled. "Don't worry, I've got protection," Al said. "It's not that. I've never done that." "Oh." A pause. "You want to try?" Doug thought. The idea scared and thrilled him at the same time. He wanted to know what it was like, to be used and ravaged by another man's hard dick. When would he get another chance? "Go slow, okay?" Al smiled. "I will. I want you to like it too." He got up and disappeared into the bathroom. When he returned his erection was hooded with a rubber and he carried a small squeeze bottle. A while later Al lay on his back on the bed, one hand gripping Doug's arm as he knelt straddling his body, the other pointing his cock up at Doug's greased hole. "Just push out as you sit on it." Al smiled up into Doug's eyes. "You're doing great. Ready?" Doug nodded, his breathing tight and shallow. His heart was pounding with fear and excitement. Al had been honest and told him it might hurt a little. How much? He was a man, he could take it. He bent his knees and slowly began to let his weight down. He felt the blunt head of Al's latex-covered cock press harder and harder against his resisting ring. Then he gasped as he felt it breach the barrier. Before he knew it the head was inside him and his anus had closed around it, clamping shut. Pain shot through him as muscles not used to the invasion protested. "Shit! I've got to stop!" "Shh. It's okay." "No. Please. I don't want to-" Suddenly Al's hands grabbed Doug's arms, holding him down as he tried to rise. "Doug. Do you trust me?" Silence. Doug looked down into Al's eyes, steely with authority. He nodded. "Relax. It'll get better. I promise I won't go any further. Breathe." Doug tried to obey. The room was silent except for the sound of his breathing. His thighs were aching with fatigue. He couldn't hold out much longer. "Ohhh." A long soft moan rose from his throat as he felt Al's cock push further into him. He found himself sitting pressed against his partner's pelvis. A slow fire was burning inside him where he had never felt anything before. "Fuck yeah," Al said softly, his eyes boring into Doug's. "How's it feel now?" "I...I don't know." "Look down." Doug did, and saw his cock jutting rock hard from his crotch, leaking clear fluid from the tip onto Al's stomach. Al smiled. "Body doesn't lie." He thrust his hips upward, drawing a grunt of pleasure from Doug. "Ride with me, partner." Doug grabbed Al's shoulders to steady himself as the older man began to drill his hole from below. He raised his head, wanting to laugh with joy. It wasn't just how good it felt. It was knowing that he was flying into uncharted territory, letting himself go, surrendering control to another man. He understood for the first time what his wife must feel. The thought of her brought a fleeting wave of guilt. He brushed it aside to concentrate on squeezing every drop of sensation from the moment. "That's it, squeeze my cock, man," Al whispered. "Clamp down on it with those virgin ass muscles. Yeah." After a few moments more he sat up and drew Doug's face to his own. They kissed as Al stroked Doug's cock. Without letting go Al leaned forward, tipping Doug backward until he was lying on the bed and his legs were hooked over Al's shoulders. He could feel the other man's weight pressing on him, bending him double. His hot breath bathed his face, his musky scent filled his nostrils. He was trapped underneath Al, impaled on his cock. There was no escape. He raised his head and whispered into Al's ear. "Fuck me." Al grinned. "You got it." He raised his hips and began to drive into the younger man. His pubic bone collided with Doug's tensed butt muscles, thudding on each downstroke. Doug hung on for dear life, tossing his head from side to side, his arms around Al's neck, his eyes closed. There was nothing in his consciousness except the reality of Al's cock, invading him, splitting him open, shattering his last defenses. He felt a hand grasp his cock and begin to stroke it. The simultaneous assault on his penis and prostate finally pushed him over the edge. He groaned with delight as he came for the second time that evening, his cock spurting over his heaving stomach. "Yeah, do it," Al muttered. "I'm going to cum with you. Fuck, here I go..." His words became hoarse grunts as his face contorted in a grimace of pleasure. His body contracted in one last, huge thrust as if to pin Doug to the bed. Al raised his head, eyes squeezed shut, mouth open in a silent shout. Doug felt the cock in his ass pulsing as it emptied his load into the rubber. Al's body collapsed on top of his. They stayed joined for minutes longer as their breathing slowly returned to normal. Finally the older man raised his head and smiled into Doug's eyes. "Thanks. That was worth waiting for." He kissed Doug lightly and began to withdraw. Doug cried out as Al's cock popped out of his used, sensitive hole. He stretched out on the bed as Al disappeared into the bathroom, heaving a tremendous sigh, looking up at the ceiling, his mind a complete, contented blank. He heard water running. Al was taking a long time and Doug suddenly realized how tired he was. It had to be really late. He ought to get up and go back to his room, but it felt so good just lying here... He opened his eyes with a start. A towel had been placed on his stomach. Al was lying beside him on the bed, and had taken hold of his left hand. In the light of the lamp the circular indentation on his ring finger was clearly visible. He turned his head and found himself looking into Al's eyes. "So how long've you been married?" Doug thought a moment. What was the use of pretending now? "Eight years." "Happy?" He wondered why he wasn't offended by the question. "Yeah. Mostly." "Good for you." "How about you?" Al didn't miss a beat. "Was. Twenty-five years." "Did she know about you? I mean with other guys?" The other man looked thoughtful. "Toward the end I think so, in a general way. I didn't tell her everything when we decided to divorce. She never would have believed me." A wry look appeared on his face. "I have a hard time believing it myself sometimes." Doug felt some unexplained emotion welling in him. Before he could stop himself the words poured out. "Is this how it's supposed to be?" "What do you mean?" "Picking up strangers? Sneaking around when you're away from home? Living a lie?" Al's eyes revealed nothing. His voice was even as he said, "It depends. There's nothing to stop you from living the way you want. You could tell her tomorrow you're gay. Divorce her. Come out. Get a boyfriend." Doug said nothing. "Have kids?" "A little girl. Eighteen months." "Bet she's cute." He smiled. "Oh yeah." "That makes it more complicated. You don't want to lose her." "I don't want to lose my wife either," Doug said vehemently. "Then don't sneak around. Never do it with men again. I won't hold it against you." Al's smile was ironic. "Just so you'll know, I tried that route. Denial. Covering up my feelings, my needs." "And?" "Got migraines. Started drinking. Finally it got so bad I tried to kill myself." Doug stared. Al held his gaze without blinking, then softened his expression. "I'm making it sound too simple. It's not an either-or thing. Maybe you'll be able to live a straight life. Maybe you can tell your wife and she'll understand. Everyone has to find his own way. I can't tell you it'll be easy, though." A silence, then Doug said, "I'd like to see you again." Al's smile was as sweet as it had been in the shower downstairs. "Doug, I'm truly flattered. I'd like that too, though I don't know when." Seeing what must have been the gloom on Doug's face, he added, "You can e-mail or call me whenever you want. Talk about anything that's on your mind. Like I said before, I want to help." "Why?" Al shook his head. "I remember when I was where you are now, young, married, at the start of my career. Struggling with feelings that were ripping me apart. All alone. I don't want anyone else to go through what I did." Doug reached out and embraced him. "Thanks." They clasped each other for a long moment. Al released him and turned onto his back, stretching and yawning. "Damn, it's late. We ought to turn in. What time's your session?" "Nine o'clock. I've got to get up early though and look over my paper, make sure the PowerPoint works." Doug grinned. "I was going to do that tonight." Al smirked. "Guess we both got sidetracked. You're welcome to stay here if you like. I'm getting up early too, I'm presiding over a session at nine myself." He reached for the conference program booklet that lay on the nightstand by the bed. "Let's see, I'm in the Prothro Room-" "Prothro Room?" Doug said, surprised. "That's where I'm giving my paper." Al raised his eyebrows. "I guess I'm introducing you. Douglas Baxter, Steelman College, right?" Doug stared. "Albert Willis? The leading authority on nineteenth-century Latin American music?" He laughed, incredulous. "Al. I had no idea. Obviously." "Actually, Douglas, had I known, I might not have been quite so forward. This is a little bit unusual." "Well, I'll never tell." Though Doug wished he could, someone, sometime. "I appreciate that." Al rolled his eyes, mocking himself. "You'd never know it, but I'm actually pretty discreet." Doug nodded. "To think I had you for a whole evening and never asked you a single question about the subject." He grinned. "I did learn a whole lot about other stuff." "You're a good student, Douglas," Al leered, then added, "We can talk shop tomorrow. I'm very interested in hearing your paper." Doug blushed. "Thanks." "And now, Dr. Baxter, will you do me the honor of sleeping with me tonight?" "Sure." They got under the covers and turned out the light. Doug quickly fell asleep in Al's arms. His last thought was about the morning. He didn't know exactly what it would bring, but he was looking forward to it. END | http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/beginnings/the-mentor | dclm-gs1-249220001 | false | false | {
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0.028786 | <urn:uuid:eef87a08-981a-49e6-98e4-45cba82a2e37> | en | 0.931573 | Ask a doctor
Redistribution of fat...gaining weight due to Liposuction, is this typical?
I am a proportioned female that weighs 170lbs and is 5'3 I do have huge muffin top and lower ab fat. I wanted to have smart/slim lipo but I've been reading the study they did in Colorado about fat reemerging after lipo. Are there any other studies that prove the contrary?
Doctor Answers 3
Liposuction Results
Liposuction will effectively remove fat and fat cells from the areas that you have done. Of course, it won't remove fat from other areas of the body and if you put on weight (more than 10 lbs) than the fat has to go somewhere. Sometimes it distributes evenly throughout your body and sometimes it localizes to certain parts of your body. Each person's body is different in where the fat goes.
If you don't fluctuate in your weight too much, you should be fine after the liposuction surgery.
Good luck
New York Plastic Surgeon
3.5 out of 5 stars 20 reviews
903 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10075
Fat does not re-emerge
Typically fat does not reemerge after liposuction. You do however have to maintain healthy eating and exercise habits. Liposuction is not a free ticket to over eat.
Gary Lawton, MD, FACS
San Antonio Plastic Surgeon
5.0 out of 5 stars 46 reviews
525 Oak Centre Drive
San Antonio, TX 78258
Fat reemerging after liposuction
Following liposuction the fat cells are permanently removed. However if you eat more calories than you burn you will gain weight and weight Will distribute to where you still have an abundance of fat cells. This
Jed H. Horowitz, MD, FACS
Orange County Plastic Surgeon
5.0 out of 5 stars 30 reviews
3991 MacArthur Blvd
Newport Beach, CA 92660
| http://www.realself.com/question/redistribution-fatgaining-weight-due-lipo | dclm-gs1-249370001 | false | true | {
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0.035231 | <urn:uuid:f4568446-2f57-45fb-8a21-ae19c9d34880> | en | 0.970952 | Stories such as this don't happen often. On Sunday, January 13th, in Kershaw County, South Carolina, a man by the name of Austin Lee Westfall Presler was arrested and charged with the 2nd-degree burglary of a general store. According to reports from WLTX-TV, Preseler smashed the Cassett Country Store's front window and proceeded to snatch up beer, cigarettes, energy drinks, and various snack items. During the burglary, Presler made the crucial mistake of opening a bag of Cheetos which ended up spilling out onto the floor, leaving a very visible trail all the way up to his front porch.
Using the trail of Cheetos to guide them, it didn't take the Kershaw County police very long to find Presler and arrest him inside of his house where the stolen items were found. He was taken to the Kershaw County Detention Center and eventually released on $15,000 bond. | http://www.vladtv.com/article/137437/burglar-arrested-after-leaving-trail-of-cheetos-to-his-home | dclm-gs1-249650001 | false | false | {
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0.081433 | <urn:uuid:3b52fb36-f261-4537-9162-602220626f9b> | en | 0.912461 | The Art of Education Spending
Public school principals are getting more discretion on what subjects to spend their money on. How will the new system affect arts education now that the principals will be graded on more than just math and science? NPR Baghdad correspondent Jamie Tarabay takes calls on the state of the Iraq war. Also, we examine anonymous gay culture, and take listener calls on Hurricane Katrina, two years later. | http://www.wnyc.org/story/25752-the-art-of-education-spending/ | dclm-gs1-249710001 | false | false | {
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0.522728 | <urn:uuid:98aa3fba-155b-44b0-9aad-89327b4c2e6d> | en | 0.9124 | Aggregation (linguistics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Aggregation is a subtask of natural language generation, which involves merging syntactic constituents (such as sentences and phrases) together. Sometimes aggregation can be done at a conceptual level.
A simple example of syntactic aggregation is merging the two sentences John went to the shop and John bought an apple into the single sentence John went to the shop and bought an apple.
Syntactic aggregation can be much more complex than this. For example, aggregation can embed one of the constituents in the other; e.g., we can aggregate John went to the shop and The shop was closed into the sentence John went to the shop, which was closed.
From a pragmatic perspective, aggregating sentences together often suggests to the reader that these sentences are related to each other. If this is not the case, the reader may be confused. For example, someone who reads John went to the shop and bought an apple may infer that the apple was bought in the shop; if this is not the case, then these sentences should not be aggregated.
Algorithms and issues[edit]
Aggregation algorithms must do two things:
• Decide when two constituents should be aggregated
• Decide how two constituents should be aggregated, and create the aggregated structure
The first issue, deciding when to aggregate, is poorly understood. Aggegration decisions certainly depend on the semantic relations between the constituents, as mentioned above; they also depend on the genre (e.g., bureaucratic texts tend to be more aggregated than instruction manuals). They probably should depend on rhetorical and discourse structure.[1] The literacy level of the reader is also probably important (poor readers need shorter sentences).[2] But we have no integrated model which brings all these factors together into a single algorithm.
With regard to the second issue, there have been some studies of different types of aggregation, and how they should be carried out. Harbusch and Kempen describe several syntactic aggregation strategies. In their terminology, John went to the shop and bought an apple is an example of forward conjunction Reduction [3] . Much less is known about conceptual aggregation. Di Eugenio et al. show how conceptual aggregation can be done in an intelligent tutoring system, and demonstrate that performing such aggregation makes the system more effective (and that conceptual aggregation make a bigger impact than syntactic aggregation).[4]
Unfortunately there is not much software available for performing aggregation.[citation needed] However the simplenlg system[5] does include limited support for basic aggregation. For example, the following code causes simplenlg to print out The man is hungry and buys an apple.
SPhraseSpec s1 = nlgFactory.createClause("the man", "be", "hungry");
SPhraseSpec s2 = nlgFactory.createClause("the man", "buy", "an apple");
NLGElement result = new ClauseCoordinationRule().apply(s1, s2);
External links[edit]
1. ^ D Scott and C de Souza (1990). Getting the Message Across in RST-based Text Generation. In Dale et al (eds)Current Research in Natural Language Generation. Academic Press
2. ^ S Williams and E Reiter (2008). Generating basic skills reports for low-skilled readers. Natural Language Engineering 14:495-535
3. ^ K Harbusch and G Kempen (2009). Generating clausal coordinate ellipsis multilingually: A uniform approach based on postediting. In Proc of ENLG-2009 28:105-144. [1]
4. ^ B Di Eugenio, D Fossati, D Yu (2005). Aggregation improves learning: experiments in natural language generation for intelligent tutoring systems. In Proc of ACL-2005 pp 50–57. [2]
5. ^ A Gatt and E Reiter (2009). SimpleNLG: A realisation engine for practical applications. Proceedings of ENLG09 [3] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregation_(linguistics) | dclm-gs1-249760001 | false | false | {
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0.024865 | <urn:uuid:f69f1092-3ff3-4e9a-826d-e883ae6c4013> | en | 0.962718 | More titles to consider
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Hazel Garvey is told, not asked, to take a vacation from her job as an interior designer. Her latest work has become…lackluster and downright fugly. She’s given a month to come up with fresh and new designs or end up in the unemployment line. No pressure.
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The last thing she expects is to fall for an ambitious anti-family man. Yet he sparks something that she’s believed to be dead inside of her. Brice is not Prince Charming nor will he ever be, but there’s something about Hazel that stirs an unknown need with him.
With something just a little supernatural about the small island, will both Brice and Hazel get everything they need…and more?
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