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Two Greek Words/
"Theology" is derived from two Greek words, theos (God) and logos (word). Simply put, Theology is "words about God" or "the study of God." Thinking about Theology as "words about God" will hopefully encourage you not to be afraid of it! We learn Theology first and foremost for the sake of God and His glory. This blog will talk about God and look at the doctrines of Christian Theology. I hope you will join me in learning about who God is and what He has done!
A Quote To Encourage You:
Philippians 3:7-11 "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."
Two Greek Words submitted by Carey Bryant.


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Learning The "Secrets" of Resources
If You Are Suffering From Bad Mental Health, Here Are The Things To Help You.
everyone should pay attention to their personal health. Mental health is one of the areas that many people struggle with but feel uncomfortable talking about to others. People who suffer from this problem often shy away from talking about it to others.
A stable mind is very important for your life, relationship, and workplace. Many people think that mental health doesn't matter but it does. Always ensure that your mental health is well taken care of and is stable. These tips will help you get the best mental health.
If you want to improve your mental health, you need to spare a few hours a day to meditate. Many people use meditation to clear their mind and eliminate stress. There are smartphone applications that can help you with this or you can take classes.
Handle Your Problems.
People make a mistake of relying on others to solve problems whereas they can do it too. If you have a broken down car, you can use the Buick repair PDF instead of worrying.
Eat Healthy
What you eat will reflect how you will look. The food that you eat will have effects on your mental health. Eliminate unhealthy food from your fridge and life.
If you want to eliminate your stress, you have to work out. If you feel stressed, make sure that you hit the gym. You might not feel like you want to, but you should force yourself and you will feel better later on.
Always Share Your Feelings
Many people suffer from mental health since they don't talk to other people. Find the people that you can trust and talk to them. These people will support you all the way.
Always Care For Yourself.
Make sure that you take care of yourself. Every day, you should have time to reflect on yourself. You can exercise or meditate.
Spend Time With The Right People.
How the people you surround yourself make you feel will affect your mental health. Ensure that the people who surround you inspire you and motivate you.
Learn To Control Stress.
Many people who have mental health problems are always stressful. Make sure that you know how to manage your stress and avoid things that will make you stressed all the time. Stress is the fuel of mental health problem.
It is important to understand the role of your mental health to your life. Having a stable mind can help you accomplish more than you can imagine. If you follow the above tips, you will be able to achieve the best mental health.
Suggested Article: from this source…
Why not learn more about Resources?
Go Over Your Fear Of Failing With Some Of These Easy Tips
As a matter of fact, we all acknowledge the fact that failing is never a feeling one is to get pleased by. The other fact about these feelings is that they are always born in the mind when you have the inner conversations telling you how much you are not good enough in a particular subject which essentially make the feelings of failure greatly enhanced and worsened. You are just not going to like the feeling of failure all the time in your life.
This is the reason why we need to take proactive steps to help you nub it before it assumes control of you. Your battle against fear and failure is assuredly a success with the right attitude and ideas brought to the front as you face it. You need to have a sure resolve to go over this problem patiently and never stop midway in the struggle. This article is a dedication to assist you know how to overcome this psychological condition you could be facing.
The number one idea for the dealing with your fear of failure is to take a read of the inspirational stories. Go to the online sources and get to source for these stories which will be truly inspirational getting you know all you can feel with fear and how others have been through this particular condition. These sources of information will get to you the facts about fear revealing how indiscriminate it is with its targets as it is all too well experienced by the most respected members of the society. The one result this is going to bring you is an affirmation and strengthening of your resolve to stay on the war path against this problem as you look into the successes of the people who have successfully lobbied against the problem.
Do not underestimate the power that comes with sharing the problems that you have with fear as it is another very good strategy to help deal with the problem. Consider bringing in the input of friends and family so as to help you out as you confront the giant facing you as they can come in and get you some really insightful tips. It is often said that the sharing of problems will really take you close to having it solved and this is particularly true when you look at the experience you may receive in advice and opinion from those friends and relatives who have been through the same problem before or who are possibly going through similar experiences. There is that relief that comes with the feeling when you come to know that the condition is not particular to you and you have others whom are struggling with the same conditions as you are.
Support: Continued…
News For This Month: Messaging
The Easy Guide to Finding Great Business Communications Tools
The key to success for just about any business is going to be their ability to reach out to customers who might be interested in their products. When you're trying to build your company into something that people can really become loyal to, the outreach that you do will be crucial to getting people to understand what you do. Although companies will certainly be able to boost their business by quite lot through the use of certain kinds of marketing materials, there are a lot of reasons why other types of promotion will often be a much more effective way to get people interested in products these days.
A lot of businesses who are looking for a more unique method of getting in touch with customers will discover that sending out emails or text messages regularly can help them feel encouraged to visit you. While you can benefit in a number of ways from the use of these types of communications strategies, you'll find them to be especially helpful when you want to tell people about any sales you're doing or want to remind people of their appointments. In order to do this as effectively as possible, however, you'll have to think about what kind of communications tools and software you're dealing with. With the advice below, it will be easy to make a good choice.
One thing you'll want to look for when you're choosing different types of text messaging or email programs will be the ability for this program to access your database of customer contact information. The simple truth is that it will be a lot easier for you to be able get all of your emails and text messages sent out without too much effort if the programs can pull all of the data you have on customer contact information and demographics in no time at all.
Many companies will also find it helpful to have a system that can send various message to clients at a set time. You can use this sort of a system to help you get your customers to remember all of their appointments. Companies working in the service industry will find it much easier to stay on schedule when they can ensure that customers are arriving when they expect.
You're going to find it a lot easier to build your business when you have the right text message programs to work with. By taking advantage of all these tools, it will be no trouble to build your audience organically.
Wellness Tips for The Average Joe
Five Steps to Guide You in Choosing The Best Addiction Treatment Center
People usually pray that the addict in their lives would one day decide to go to rehab on their own free will. These addicts might have reached rock bottom with their addiction and may even request for help, but it is for the family to give him that extra push to actually go through with it.
Regardless of what might have led them to ask for help, having a strategy for therapy in place is what will help them. It is not surprising to find somebody changing his or her mind as when making arrangements to go to rehab. Therefore, the family of this addict is advised to seek for good detox centers like those found in Lake Worth to treat this addiction before the addict even agrees to it.
With facilities and numerous addiction treatment programs available nowadays, how do you start weighing the options you have for this addiction problem? The following are some tips for choosing the proper program for the drug addict in your life.
First of all, find a detox center in Lake Worth that can allow you to use your insurance to cover some of the costs involved in this treatment. Some insurance firms will cover for inpatient treatment while others outpatient, but it depends whether in their assessment they find the treatment medically viable.
The next step is to find out the type of drug the addict has been using over the years. This is to give the doctors a better understanding of how to help you overcome this addiction. The doctor may recommend detox depending on his assessment with regards to the period he has been using it. Some of these drugs like heroin have withdrawal effects that can be very serious during rehab and even fatal if they are not managed well.
The next thing you should consider in some of these detox centers like those in Lake Worth is if they work with the family of the addict until he recovers. This is because addiction regardless of the family you come from is taken as a family problem. When every relative and family member is working towards recovery of the addict, the recovery in most instances is usually successful.
Before settling for particular detox center in Lake Worth for the addict in your family, it should have all the necessary certification and credentials to show they are qualified in such treatments. You should also make a point of visiting some of these detox centers in Lake Worth to find out how their services are and how the addicts are treated. Always go with what your gut says.
You should also remember to ask the exact amount it will cost for the whole addiction treatment. Find out also if they have a refund policy and also if they have warranty for their treatment in case the addict resorts to using again.
The Best Advice About Services I've Ever Written
Tips On Choosing Text Messaging And Email Marketing Services For Your Business.
Among the world's most effective marketing methods are the text messaging and email marketing services. There are tons of benefits to be achieved by use of these two techniques. Companies have positively gained from using either one or both of them to increase revenue. Choosing one over another might pose as a daunting task because there are too many services in the world. Find below a few factors to consider when selecting text messaging and email marketing services for your business.
Initially the best way to find the best service is to automatically begin with research. Delve deep and find out which are the best services there are and which one is best for you. There is a litter of information online and that is a good place to start. To be in a position that gives you fair advantage, thoroughly go through online reviews and also post a question in forums to be able to gauge how one service is better than another. Next enlist the assistance of a few friends to find out has been helpful to them in the recent past with relevance to this quest. Have all the information by carrying out a research.
A suitable budget that will work best for you is very needful. It is unwise not to create one because you will need to spend an amount for the service. Having a budget gives you the chance to consider the money as an extra expense.
Proper working budget ensures that you have exclusive and strong limits for your business. Consider the kind of services you might need for your business. The few techniques that are in existence are personalized email and SMS, occasional email and SMS, and scheduled SMS and email. For effective marketing, you will need to decide on which technique to apply, either all or some of them and ensure you choose wisely.
An in-house and outsourced marketing campaigns are the two you can go for. There are thousands of marketing campaigns in the world today and you want to have the best for your business. Choosing the right platform for this to be a reality is vital. It might be a bit expensive for you if you go this wat or you might choose to work with an outsourced team. If you outsource you will find more creative tools that will help make your goals a reality. An in-house team may put you at a loss because they will not do good work and might need extra money.
Another thing to consider is how many times you will be sending the emails and SMS to your customers.Frequency of sending the emails and SMSs to your clients is an important to think about. Ensure that you get someone who is very professional at what they do and that they should know the ins and outs of this way marketing. You don't want to irritate your clients but rather to conjure up interest and raise your response.
Finding Ways To Keep Up With Emails

subset: commoncrawl


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Scientists use the term "boring billion" to describe when evolution stalled and life on Earth was basically slime. more...
November 12 , 1927 : Joseph Stalin became the leader of the Soviet Union. more...
Learn something new every day
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There are a number of different ways to freeze fresh blueberries for later use, some of which work better than others. The best method of freezing blueberries can depend on what they will be used for when thawed, and how long they will stay in the freezer. Freezing any type of fruit without treating it first tends to introduce unpleasant flavors, and can also result in mushiness after thawing. One way to deal with this is freezing blueberries in a sugar solution or simple syrup. Freezing blueberries on their own can work just fine if they will be used in pancakes or other similar situations where firmness is not very important, and where any off taste is likely to be masked.
Freezing fruits and berries can be an excellent way to preserve them for later use, and it is far easier than most other preservation methods. Fruits and berries can be placed directly into a freezer, though that can lead to big ice crystals forming inside the delicate cell structure, which can result in a mushy end product after thawing. Another problem with simply placing fruits and berries into a freezer is that they tend to absorb unpleasant flavors. In order to avoid these issues, there are a few different techniques that can be used.
The first tip to freezing blueberries is to wash them off and then make sure they are completely dry. It is possible to help the drying process along by placing the berries on a cooling rack that is meant for cookies or other baked goods. Blueberries can then be placed into an airtight freezer container or bag, though there are a few ways to help ensure they are still in good condition months later.
Freezing blueberries in either open or airtight containers tends to cause oxidation, since even airtight containers have some amount of air inside. The amount of air exposure can be reduced by using a vacuum sealer, though a better way to freeze blueberries is to use sugar or simple syrup. This can be accomplished with simple syrup by placing a freezer bag into a large measuring cup and then adding an appropriate amount of berries. The syrup may then be added, after which the bag can be sealed and placed in a freezer. If sugar is used, then the berries should not be fully dried after washing so that tossing them in sugar will allow the granules to adhere.
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"To finish, first you have to get to the track."
For the longest time many of us have heard the quote, "If you want to finish first, first you have to finish." I think we need to add to that well-worn adage. "To finish, first you first have to get to the track." Let's face it most racers carry a good bit of stuff to the track and if you race in more than one class or your team has multiple cars, you have even more stuff to move back and forth to the races. More stuff piled into your trailer, van, car, or truck means that your selected mode of transportation will have to do more work just to get you there. Possibly, more work that it was ever designed to do in the first place.
Let's paint a picture all about getting to the track. You load the trailer and you think you're completely prepared. Your race car is ready to race and all of the tools and spares required to complete a full day of racing are on board, even the ice chest full of ice, nice cool drinks, and not to mention some sandwiches and potato salad. All of that stuff along with the 20 or so gallons of fuel can easily add up to 5,000 pounds of stuff.
So what's my point? The point is that, depending on what you're driving, you could have just added as much as 30 to 60 percent more than your vehicle's weight in payload.You just made every system on the vehicle work that much harder than when you're just driving it on a normal day. The added weight will adversely impact everything from handling to fuel mileage to safety.
So what's the answer? Just like you prepare your race car for the races you need to prepare your tow vehicle to get you to the races. Each system on the race car is tuned for maximum performance. Use the same systemic approach to your tow vehicle. Beefing up each system to take the total vehicle performance to a place where you have the handling, brakes, cooling system, and engine performance exactly where it needs to be. The goal is to be able to tow to the races without arriving worn out. Let's look at each system on your vehicle.
Let's start with the suspension. If your vehicle is out of warranty or approaching the end of the warranty period I will be willing to bet that your shocks are getting close to requiring replacement. You need heavy-duty shocks to help keep you under control. No matter what you're driving there are shocks designed for vehicles that will be carrying greater loads and they aren't that expensive. Consult your local auto parts store and it will be glad to help you make a selection that will suit your application. The same reasons that you change and adjust your shocks on your race car are the same reasons that you change the shocks on your tow vehicle, control. In extreme cases it may be necessary to use a heavier-duty spring package to help compensate for the additional weight you will be adding to the vehicle.
If you're pulling a trailer, you need a good, quality hitch matched to the kind and type of trailer and weight you will be pulling. A light-duty trailer will not require as heavy-duty of a hitch as a 32-foot trailer. Your trailer manufacturer can recommend a hitch rating for your trailer and vehicle. If you have a large trailer it may be a good idea to get a hitch with a trailer stabilizer or sway bar attachments. While installing a hitch isn't a complex job it's really better left to the professionals. Having a shop install it will save time and money over the long term and it'll come with a warranty as well.
Brakes on new vehicles are better than they have ever been in years gone by. But for the most part brakes were designed to stop just the vehicle and its passengers. Most newer trucks come with disc brakes on all four corners as do most cars. If you're going to be pulling a trailer and your vehicle has drum brakes on the rear you should invest in upgrading to discs on the back. Or at the very least make sure the stock units are in top operating condition.
There's nothing wrong with drum brakes, but when they get hot they don't cool as fast as a disc brake. With a trailer or the greater vehicle load, it's not too difficult to overheat the brakes in heavy traffic or in a long downhill run. Having the brakes fade pulling a 32-foot trailer heading down a steep grade will make for an exciting trip.
If your car already has disc brakes you may want to consider upgrading to a set of high-performance brake pads. Just like our race cars have different compound brake pads you can get higher performance brake pads for your tow vehicle. They're not that expensive and you never know when you may need that little bit more. It's cheaper to install a set of performance brake pads that are designed to be used in heavy-duty applications than to replace the front end of your tow vehicle after you run into the car in front of you at the bottom of a long downhill grade.
If you have a large trailer you better consider trailer brakes if they aren't already standard equipment. This is an option that can give you just that much more brake capacity without modifying your vehicle. Trailer brakes are a good option when the trailer and the contents start to weigh as much or more than your car or truck.
Cooling systems are often overlooked until they give you a problem and they never seem to give you a problem on the way home. If you're driving a truck, you may already have a heavy-duty cooling system option, but if you don't, a larger radiator is an easy install. Regardless of radiator size, you can keep the cooling system in top-notch shape by keeping the antifreeze up to date. Contrary to popular opinion the antifreeze doesn't last forever and needs to be changed at regular intervals to keep the cooling system at peak performance. Another safeguard is an additional seperate cooler for the transmission. Some automatic transmission vehicles have a trans cooler as part of the radiator. A dedicated trans cooler reduces the strain on the main system.
Tires and wheels are another area that is often over looked when it comes to trailer towing and/or just preparing a vehicle for greater loads. Tires should be matched to the loads and speeds you will be traveling. This is another place you need to consult with the tire experts at the tire store. Tell them the kind of weights you'll be dealing with and the speeds and distances you'll be traveling. Just because you will only be loading up twice a month don't think that you can you can use lighter-duty tires. Using a tire that isn't designed for heavy loads can cause some disastrous results. The same goes for wheels. Some aftermarket wheels aren't designed for heavy loads. Don't overlook the inflation levels of your tow vehicle's tires. You may have to get a different tire pressure gauge but it's critical to the performance, longevity, and safety to the operation of the vehicle. As racers, we know the value and the contribution that tires play in performance of our race car. The same level of performance while not measured in lap times is also critical in our car and trucks.
Running gear includes the engine transmission, and rearend, or transaxle depending on what you're driving. We all know the value of selecting the correct gear ratio for on-track performance. As the auto manufacturers struggle with corporate fuel economy numbers it may be that your car or truck may have the gear ratio optimized for overall fuel economy and not pulling power. You may find that the gear ratio may be too tall for pulling a trailer when heavily loaded. If you're driving a truck or a van that has a conventional rearend, the process isn't that complex to change the gear ratio. Installing a lower gear in the rearend will help keep the engine in the rpm range where it needs to be to pull a heavy load, and it can often improve fuel economy.
Transmissions take a real beating when the vehicle is loaded. If you have a manual transmission you need to make sure the oil is at the correct level and it's changed on a frequent basis. With automatic transmissions you need to make sure the fluid is clean and the temperature is kept within the manufacturers recommended ranges. As stated, an additional cooler is a wise investment. You may want to add an aftermarket pan that has a deeper sump for additional capacity as well. Some of the aftermarket transmission pans also have built-in heat exchangers for an added bonus.
When it comes to the engine you have a wide variety of options. If you have a newer vehicle with electronic fuel injection there are a wide variety of aftermarket "chips" to plug into the computer control that can boost horsepower without having to tear into the engine.
In fact, there are a multitude of products on the market today that will help engine performance without having to ever touch the engine itself. If your vehicle is diesel-powered it's possible to get some significant horsepower improvements by just adjusting the computer that controls the engine. If we just concentrate on the air induction and the exhaust systems we can get some real gains that will improve driveability.
Installing a cold air system and some better air filters than the OEM models will help reduce the inlet restriction. Getting cold or cooler air into the system will help with the quality of the air/fuel charge you will be feeding your engine. The addition of a cat-back exhaust system also allows you to develop greater power while not removing any of the emission components in the exhaust systems. These systems, both intake and exhaust, are generally better shapes and have larger freer flowing tubes and ducts.


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Iowa Insurance Defense Lawyers
Iowa insurance law attorneys
The Patterson Law Firm's insurance practice includes skilled representation in all of Iowa for matters ranging from personal injury to medical, legal, or other professional malpractice defense, to coverage opinion work. We have decades of experience at achieving positive outcomes for our clients and we represent insurance companies as well as individuals.
Insurance policies change all the time. Our lawyers are adept at staying abreast of the latest developments so we can serve you better. Our dependable staff pride themselves on being current with the latest policy information and with many types of policies. Since Insurance Law is also frequently changing, having a defense attorney that is adaptable is requisite to a successful outcome in your case. The Patterson Law Firm's lawyers are thorough in their research and investigation. They will give your matter personal attention, and will take the time to explain all steps of the process.
Our defense lawyers are efficient, handle cases in a cost-effective manner, and can handle the most complex disputes. We have a cadre of experts and investigators at our disposal, and have a successful track record in the cases we represent. We pride ourselves in taking a personal approach to every case.
Some of the areas of insurance defense that we handle include:
We will listen to your story and explain your options. We will aggressively advocate for your rights.


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Singapore -- Both the Buddha and Jesus are among the most influential of history's religious teachers. While watching the movie, I couldn't help comparing both. Please read the following with an open mind.
While Jesus is supposed to have died for us at about 33, the Buddha lived for all...till he was 80. While Jesus taught for about 3 and a half years, the Buddha taught for about 45 years. While the image of Jesus that commonly comes to mind is that of him suffering injustice on the cross, the common image of the Buddha is that of him smiling in calm meditation under the Bodhi Tree.
While Jesus suffered greatly in his last 12 hours(as portrayed in the movie) to save all, the Buddha practised extreme asceticism for about 6 years to seek the solution to suffering for all beings. Shunning proper food and emaciated to barely skin and bones and almost died. Furthermore, the Buddha went through immeasurable hardships in many past lives to perfect his compassion and wisdom. It is said that the blood that the Buddha has bled for other beings as Buddhisatta is deeper than the deepest ocean.
The is a common "3L" argument that Jesus is either Liar, Lunatic, or Lord, for voluntarily letting himself be subjected to the great pain he went through, sacrificing himself. Since it is unlikely that he is a Liar or a Lunatic, he must be Lord, representative of the greatest love possible? If this line of reasoning holds fast, how does it apply to Lord Buddha and his countless acts of selfless compassion?
There is greatness in all religions in their own ways, which is why they can inspire so many lives for the better. Let us always keep an open mind in the spirit of harmonious inter-religious dialogue and understanding.
May all religions benefit all beings unconditionally. May all be well and happy !
Pictures source: http://home.swipnet.se/ratnashri/buddhalife.htm
By Shian(Namo Amituofo), www.thedailyenlightenment.com, April 8, 2004


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KNOXVILLE – The gates of Tennessee's only death row prison opened wide for Lemaricus Davidson tonight, hours after a Knox County jury sentenced him to die for his role as the ringleader in the January 2007 carjacking, torture and killings of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.
Davidson arrived at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution's Unit 2 in Nashville around 6 p.m. local time, said Dorinda Carter, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Correction. He'll spend 23 hours per day alone in his cell every day, with just one hour of daylight in a caged yard.
That status won't change for at least 18 months, Carter said. Depending on his behavior, Davidson could eventually be upgraded to allow occasional phone calls or the chance to apply for inmate jobs such as cleaning, she said.
"Regardless of their status, they don't ever leave that building," she said.
The jury of five women and seven men deliberated about four hours before returning its decision this afternoon to a packed courtroom.
"The punishment is death," the jury foreman said.
The victims' families gasped at the verdict, but Davidson showed no reaction. Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner admonished those in the courtroom to control any outburst.
"The murder was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel," the foreman said, reading from the verdict form.
Davidson, 28, most likely will be taken to Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville where death row is housed. Some male inmates, however, are incarcerated at Morgan County Correctional Complex in Wartburg for security reasons. Two inmates with the death penalty are currently housed at that prison.
The jurors this morning heard closing arguments in the penalty phase of this 11-day trial before getting a final round of legal instructions from Baumgartner.
Prosecutor Takisha Fitzgerald told jurors Davidson killed Christian, 21, a University of Tennessee student and her boyfriend Newsom, 23, to save his own neck.
"The only thing Chris had left was the knowledge of who his attacker was," Fitzgerald said. "(Davidson) took everything else. The only thing (Channon) had left was the knowledge of who her attacker was."
Defense attorney Doug Trant asked jurors to spare Davidson's life, noting the abuse he suffered and the foster parents who still love him.
"I'm going to ask you to spare Lemaricus Davidson's life," he said. "I'm going to ask you to do it for that little boy who was sexually abused … I'm going to ask you to do it for that little boy who was whipped by extension cords and paperweights."
The jury, chosen from Knox County at Davidson's insistence, considered death by lethal injection, life without parole or life, a mandatory 51-year sentence.
Davidson's brother, Letalvis Cobbins, 26, was convicted in August and is serving life without parole. He is in a protective safety unit away from the general population at a West Tennessee prison after expressing fears for his safety.
Pending trial are suspects George Thomas, 26, who will face a Hamilton County jury Dec. 1, and Vanessa Coleman, 21, whose case is on hold pending a pre-trial appeal.
A fifth suspect, Eric Boyd, 37, remains uncharged in the killings but is serving an 18-year federal prison term for hiding out Davidson after the slayings.
Davidson is the first defendant from Knox County to be sent to death row since 1997. Executions in Tennessee are carried out by lethal injection.
Dennis Suttles, 57, was convicted of first-degree murder for cutting the throat of a woman in a fast-food parking lot in 1996.
Death row currently has 89 inmates, six from Knox County. All but two of the inmates are men.
The female inmates are housed at the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville. One of those is Christa Gail Pike, 33, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for the torture-slaying of Colleen Slemmer, then a fellow 19-year-old Job Corps student.
On Thursday, two women who offered Davidson a better life as a teenager asked the jury to spare his life.
Foster mother Flo Rudd and group home mother Alice Rhea told jurors Davidson was worth saving despite the fact that he turned to robbery and, ultimately, murder despite their efforts to rescue him from a troubled upbringing.
"He's my son," Rhea said. "I love him. He has such potential. If you put him in a structured environment, he does everything he should. I think he can be an influence to young men for years to come."
The defense called 11 witnesses on Thursday on Davidson's behalf in the wake of his convictions.
Jurors on Wednesday deemed him guilty of the top count in 35 of 38 charges, ranging from the murder of both Christian and Newsom to kidnapping to robbery. They also found Davidson guilty of multiple counts of raping Christian.
Davidson's only reprieve – and it was largely irrelevant because of the murder convictions – came in the rape of Newsom. With no DNA evidence to directly link him to a rape that forensic evidence suggested was committed with an object, jurors opted for convictions of the lesser charge of facilitation of aggravated rape.
He will be sentenced at a later date on those charges.
Davidson chose not to testify in his own behalf either during the trial or sentencing phase.
The victims were white and all four defendants are black, and that raised some racial tension, including a protest in Knoxville.
A lot was made of race on the Internet, but prosecutors and police have said race was not a factor, contending the carjacking that led to their deaths was random.


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"Literally and Figuratively" Mother's Day Card #046
$ 4.50
Forget flowers and angelic babies and serene madonnas gazing at the fruit of their loins – motherhood isn't always pretty. That's what makes what your mom has done for you all the more special. Show her you appreciate it all this Mother's Day.
DETAILSFront: "Thanks for dealing with all my [shit]. Literally and figuratively."
Inside: blank
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" folded
Paper: 100# FSC certified card stock
Envelope: A2, 80# white
Our paper is FSC Certified, which means it has been sourced in an environmentally-friendly, social responsible, and economically viable way. See https://us.fsc.org/ for more details.


text: My Cuddle Buddy broke up with me. He chose to take a chance on young love, and who am I to stand in his way? I wish him all the best, especially because he's been feeling a little lonely and stressed lately. Cuddle Buddy, aka Lettuce, aka The21yo (although I suppose I can no longer call him that since he just turned 22) pursued me online a little while back. And that was definitely flattering considering I'm literally 12 years his senior. We chatted for a long while before actually meeting, and then the first time I went over to his place, we literally just cuddled. Well, until the morning when we had morning sex. That only happened twice, and then we continued to only cuddle. So I knew very early on that this was not going to be a serious relationship. Once again, I'm not even ready for that. But it was nice NSA intimacy. But then it did start to confuse me a little because I've never really had intimacy like that with someone I wasn't interested in. I now understand why people like labels. And I'm glad that when I went over the night of his birthday, we gave ourselves a label and both agreed that we considered ourselves just friends. And then he proceeded to tell me that he's about to choose between two of his other guys. Perhaps he felt like I needed to hear that out loud, and I appreciate that. I need communication and honesty—something that's been lacking from my previous relationships. I'm glad we were on the same page, though, yet it still hurt to hear out loud. I think because it made me realize just how alone I really am. Then I realized that I no longer had my Cuddle Buddy. I need that touch from someone, but I'm so scared of it at the same time. I felt comfortable spooning with Lettuce. But oh well. I will survive. But after our conversation, we both laughed about how we'd kill each other if we were dating. Hell, we already got into an argument at the bar a couple weeks ago (I'm sure that'll be another post sometime). In a lot of ways, he reminds me of The Ex so this is all for the best.


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3-Season Hybrid Sleeping Bags
The best 3-season hybrid sleeping bags, reviewed and curated by the Trailspace community. Stores' prices and availability are updated daily.
Recent 3-Season Hybrid Sleeping Bag Reviews
REI Thaw Corporation 0°F Sleeping Bag
Older heavy but very warm bag. Well constructed, but has no collar. The draft tube is upside down for some reason! This is an enigma bag to me. It says right on the label, "Down Insulated", however when you feel the bag, there is some sort of synthetic fiber inside. It must be mixed with down? The bag is very warm and worked great for throwing over another light bag in sub zero weather. By today's standards, the bag is way too heavy and big. It packs down to about 20 x 14". Weighs over 5lb. It has… Full review
Carinthia VLS Module 1 & Downmodule
It is true. The best you can get. It is my backup system when traveling with motorcycles. No room to get? No problem. The small AND lightweight Carinthia VLS Module 1+2 will serve in all circumstances. I used it under a bridge and in the woods. It works. Warm and reasonably dry. When raining you need something to cover the whole sleeping bag (like a bridge). I honestly prefer a hotel room, but if there's nothing to find: my sleeping bag has never let me down. Full review
Marmot Fusion 15
I really like the quality and the feel of this bag. But, and that's a big "but," for a "three season" bag, this is just not very warm. For a little bit of context, when at home, I am a very warm sleeper. My wife has a thick quilt on her and I might have a sheet. I've used this bag while backpacking from Montana to Utah to Japan and I'm just not impressed. I actually have a lot of other Marmot gear, tents, jackets, etc., and I love all of it. This bag, however, should be rated at 45 degrees… Full review
Big Agnes Crystal 30°
I love the Big Agnes sleep system! Man is this bag huge and comfortable. I toss and turn a lot and sleep mostly on my stomach. I used to hate how tangled I would get in a regular sleeping bag and hate falling off my mat. The Big Agnes Sleep system changed all of that. The only reason i give this 3 1/2 stars is I DO NOT trust Big Agnes' temperature rating. I took this out on a night in the desert in a nice 2 man tent where it got down to about 36 degrees, and I was very cold. I had on cotton sleep… Full review
Big Agnes Crystal 30°
This bag packs down very small, just over 2 pounds. I used it on a 4 day James Peak Wilderness backpacking trip. I put the Big Agnes Insulated Core sleeping pad in the built in sleeve. I didn't have much trouble blowing up the pad, and putting it in the bag. I did this in my tent without much issue. I do agree with other reviews that it doesn't feel quite as warm as other 30% bags. But I was comfortable on that big 2.5 inch pad. I do not like the mummy fit bags, so this bag gives you a full 6-7… Full review
Feathered Friends Great Auk
The Great Auk is designed as an overbag, but also serves as an excellent stand-alone bag. Like all Feathered Friends bags, it is superbly made from top-notch materials. There is no insulation on the underside, but a polyester sleeve that accepts a ground pad. The cut is a bit odd--roomy around the shoulders and foot, but narrower in the middle. This makes it less than ideal for its intended purpose as an overbag. It is a bit confining when used over a bulkier mummy. As a stand-alone bag, though,… Full review
Marmot Fusion 30
Used this bag over the past year and I have found that around 20-25 degrees F. it gets a little cold, almost chilly, which I expected as it is a thirty deg. bag. I put a pair of thermal underwear on over the length of my legs and I was fine. But the bottom of the bag was cold even on top of a Therm-a-rest trail pad which translated into lower back pain. I understand that I should have had a thicker pad and a lower rated bag. I am fully satisfied with all Marmot bags I have tried. This is a great… Full review
Marmot Fusion 15
I sleep like a baby while others stay awake in a cold night. Yes Fusion 15 give me the most convenience and warmth feel than other bag I've ever used. Absolutely a comfort bag. Full review
Big Agnes Crystal 30°
Wow, this bag is awesome. It is definitely three seasons only, and perhaps a little too warm for a summer bag. But, it is perfect for the spring and fall. You get the best of both worlds with the dualmax (down/synthetic) insulation. It packs down small and is very light. It is the most comfortable bag I have had in years. Combine it with the insulated air core pad and you have a killer system that is comfortable and warm. I love not waking up off my pad anymore. And because it's not a mummy and… Full review
In order to show you the most useful information, we have omitted some unreviewed products. View the complete product list »


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Holiday Greetings Quotes For 2016 That Are Perfect For Writing In Christmas Cards
Sending out last minute Christmas cards and blanking on what to write inside of them? If so, use someone else's words by copying down one of these 13 holiday greetings quotes for 2016. This round-up of quotes includes words of wisdom from some of America's favorite people and films (I'm talking The Polar Express and Nightmare Before Christmas, you guys!).
When you have twenty or more Christmas cards to send out, thinking of something unique and sincere to write in each one can be exhausting, if not impossible. Fortunately, these 13 quotes make for an easy solution. And don't think of yourself as sending a unthoughtful message to all of your friends and family if you do choose to use one of these holiday greetings in your cards, because each quote is authentic and filled with love in its own special way.
It's hard to put the reason for the season into words, so why not let the likes of Bob Hope and Oprah Winfrey do it for you? After all, there's a reason these people get paid to be public figures. If you're not planning on sending out holiday cards this season, don't let that stop you from sharing these quotes either. Your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchats are perfect places to give our holiday greetings to your loved ones.
1. "Sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see." — The Polar Express
2. "It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air." — W.T. Ellis
3. "My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others." — Bob Hope
4. "Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart." — Washington Irving
5. "Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling." — Edna Ferber
6. "Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it white." — Bing Crosby
7. "Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas." — Dale Evans
8. "Some people are worth melting for." — Olaf of Frozen
9. "May your walls know joy; may every room hold laughter and every window open to great possibility." — Maryanne Radmacher-Hershey
10. "Just because I cannot see it, doesn't mean I can't believe it!" — The Nightmare Before Christmas
11. "Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love and kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time." — Laura Ingalls Wilder
12. "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!" — Elf
13. "Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right." — Oprah Winfrey
Images: Rodion Kutsaev/Unsplash; Giphy


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Washing machine fail #3
First it was the springs. Then came the shock absorbers. Sunday, our daughter told me that the washing machine tub was full of water and wouldn't … Continue reading Washing machine fail #3
General posts
First it was the springs. Then came the shock absorbers. Sunday, our daughter told me that the washing machine tub was full of water and wouldn't … Continue reading Washing machine fail #3
We've been wanting to try out LED light bulbs for quite some time now, but the cost has always been a bit too high. We had … Continue reading Our first LED light bulbs!
A couple of weeks ago we built some planter boxes for the kids' school. I didn't take any before pictures, but the old ones were pretty … Continue reading Planter Boxes (not ours)
We recently found out that our domain hosting was compromised (by a Chinese IP address), and malware was loaded onto our site. We are in the … Continue reading We were hacked!
This is something I would never have realized without having a houseblog that allowed me to easily look back on my bold predictions, but I believe … Continue reading The Two Year Mark and an Equation for Remodelers
What a sad little outlet… I know! I'll put a bird on it! Spruce it up! Make it pretty! This is Portland, after all. Continue reading At Bungalow Insanity, we put birds on things…
A small (but very satisying) project completed this weekend was finishing up the conversion of the obsolete back steps to a hall closet. Previously, everything had … Continue reading Closet shelves
Answer: speed it up to 120x speed. That means that every 2 minutes now takes only 1 second. I am trying hard to figure out a … Continue reading How to build a deck in less than 10 minutes
Last weekend I went down to San Diego with Chloe for four days to help my brother replace their ancient, termite-destroyed deck. During the demolition, which … Continue reading My brother's deck
Or maybe it was a raccoon, an opossum and a rat. And it wasn't in a pub but actually a blue tarp that had been protecting … Continue reading A squirrel, a badger and a mouse walk into a bar…


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Will Ferrell and Steve Carell scored comic gold as co-stars in the 2006 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Now, the pair are reuniting on the small screen as Ferrell joins the cast of The Office for a four-episode guest stint. Will the results be equally hilarious?
Following in the footsteps of other notable season seven guest stars - including The Office creator Ricky Gervais who reprised his role as the original clueless office manager David Brent - Ferrell lends a heavy dose of star power to Steve Carell's final season on the show.
In related Office news: Ferrell isn't the only big name helping the show close out its season: Ray Romano, James Spader and Doctor Who's Catherine Tate will all be guest starring in the hour-long season finale.
We covered the announcement of Ferrell joining The Office back in January, but now NBC has released a short promotional video showing the actor in action as the new manager of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton office. Check out the video below.
It's not much of a promo video, but if you're a Ferrell fan, there's definitely enough in there to pique your interest. Above all else, it just looks like Ferrell and Carell are having a lot of time together, which usually means great comedy.
While Will Ferrell is appearing in four episodes, the actor will not be joining the show full time as some fans may have hoped. However, Arrested Development star Will Arnett (who also returned as a guest on NBC's 30 Rock this season) is still rumored as the lead candidate to replace Carell for the long term. THR reports that Romano, Spader and Tate are also potential candidates to replace Carell - an idea that will likely be explored in the finale episode (I'm seeing a job interview premise forming here...).
In my opinion, while he could never truly replace the lovable doofus that is Michael Scott, Will Arnett would actually make a very good permanent replacement for Steve Carell. He's a skilled comic actor with a (mostly) successful track record and he's perfected the type of obnoxiousness necessary to sustain the dynamic of the show. However, Spader would be a great dark horse pick if the showrunners are going for maximum weirdness/awkwardness in regards to the comedic tone of the show. See the movie Secretary for a good example. ;-)
In reality, however, it's unlikely that The Office will carry on much longer no matter who replaces Steve Carell. It's rare for any show to last seven seasons, and, while The Office had a great run, I suspect Carell's departure will hasten the show's demise. Maybe if he had stayed on, it could have made it to 9 or 10 seasons (Seinfeld, MASH, and Cheers territory), but that simply wasn't meant to be.
That being said, if NBC can squeeze out one or two more quality seasons of the show with someone else at the lead, more power to them. I'm a big Will Arnett fan, and I think that if he does become a series regular, it has the potential to be very funny. Do any of you Office-loving ranters agree?
The Office airs Thursdays @ 9/8c on NBC; The hour-long finale will air on May 19th.
Source: THR


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Golden Syrup Cake
Vanilla Cake Mix, Golden Syrup, Cream
Cake tin, Baking Paper, String, Bowl, Spoon, egg ring
Make up the cake mix. Grease the cake tin and then put a big lot of golden syrup into the bottom (this will be the topping) then put in half of the mix and then put in more golden syrup. Put in the remaining cake mix and then more golden syrup. Cover the top of the cake tin with baking paper and then tie down with the string. Place the egg ring in the bottom of the dutch oven, then place the cake tin on it. Fill the bottom of the dutch oven with water. Keep the water boiling. Cook for about an hour or until a knife come out clean. Tip upside down onto a plate. When serving cover in cream.
It is really sweet.
Unknown Scout
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text: Opinion Can I Just Tell You? Why My Monday Nights Are Now Football Free October 19, 2009 In a special guest commentary, Tell Me More Planning Editor Luis Clemens explains why his football viewing days are over — of both college and NFL games. Why? Simply put, Clemens says the brutal manhandling is just another form of violence. And, after a while, it just gets more annoying. Why My Monday Nights Are Now Football Free Listen · 3:49 3:49 Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/113928478/113929617" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript


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Many leadership gurus will tell you that by doing certain things you will become a better leader. To sell more books or get more speaking engagements, they develop lists to follow that help you become a better leader. While some of what they may tell you will help, I believe they miss the mark of what really helps someone become a great leader.
I have long held the belief that there are core elements of leadership that are essential and timeless and those individuals who possess these traits are the ones who really move and influence people. I am reading a book, Eleven Rings, by Phil Jackson, the most successful coach in NBA history, outlining his philosophies on leadership and the art of dealing with people. Phil Jackson is known for his ability to take a diverse group of individuals and form them into cohesive units that consistently achieve greatness. In the book, he alludes to Parables of Leadership, published by the Harvard Business Review, which attempts to "capture the unseen essence of leadership." Using parables based in Oriental culture, the authors examine leadership using a unique medium that encourages introspection and deep thought.


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"Just What I Wanted An $140 55″ Machabucha Verzino Walmart Black Friday Special TV" Said No One Ever
November 25th, 2017
Black Friday
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – Black Friday is over and with it the hope of kids all over the United States has died as parents begin to bring home cheap off-brand TVs. "I already know what we are getting. That cheap crappy TV from Walmart." 14-year-old Sophia Thomas told The Cob. "My dad thinks he is getting […]
End of Era: Millennials Will Never Know The Pain Of Being Dragged Through Peru Mall With A Mother Eager For Bargains
August 27th, 2017
Peru Mall
PERU, IL – Marking the end of an era, the Peru Mall may be on its last leg and that means kids will no longer get to experience a busy Saturday walking end to end with their mothers shopping for sales. After the announcement of two anchor stores closing earlier in the summer, many residents […]


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La Citta Vita: Flickr
Damian Gadal: Flickr
Jim Moore: Flickr
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MamaOT: Flickr
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DieselDemon: Flickr
rockmixer: Flickr
danhuse: Flickr
La Citta Vita: Flickr
Ken Lund: Flickr
La Citta Vita: Flickr
tkksummers: Flickr
Juan Carlos!: Flickr
Santa Barbara, CA, is situated along the Pacific coast about 95 miles north of Los Angeles. The city is a popular vacation and resort destination among families due largely to its spectacular weather, great beaches and wealth of dining and shopping attractions. Popular attractions include Stearns Wharf, which features an arcade and other cool kid-oriented activities, and bustling State Street. An especially popular family activity involves renting bicycles and taking a group ride along the Pacific Ocean. Architecturally inclined families will delight in the city's Spanish Colonial Revival style.


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I always share work that has been a success, but sometimes there are jobs that just don't make it to the end, direction changes, legal advertising issues, budgetary cuts, there are many things that can shut down a job. Most of the time these projects end up filed away and forgotten, but occasionally there are some that you still like anyway, this is a small snippet of one of those cases.
Can someone make me a sandwich?


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Leonardo da Vinci joins March for Science.
Let your voice be heard on Earth Day, April 22nd visit www.marchforscience.com to find an event near you.
Director: Jim Capobianco
Producer: Alex D. da Silva
Line Producer: Kat Alioshin
Animator: Tim Hittle
Cinematographer: Peter Williams
Stock Image Research: Tom Proost
Editor and VFX: Kyle Parker
Sound Design: Tom Christopher
Shot at Athena Studios
9 minute hand drawn animated short film about Leonardo da Vinci and his dream of flight. Drawn on paper and comped together in the computer with actual candle light to illuminate the animation.
Awards and Notices:
In the permanent film collection of the MoMA in NYC.
Best Film For Kids and Families - San Francisco Intl. Film Festival
Best Bay Area Short Film - San Francisco Intl. Film Festival
Audience Award - Imagine Science Film Festival
Grand Prize Film Made for Children - Kid's Eye Rhode Island Intl. Film Festival
Best Animation - Youth Film Festival Barry Wales
Best Animation - Marbella Film Festival, Marbella Spain
Special Jury Mention- I Castelli Animati
"For the way in which humour was used to attract children to art and culture."
Official Selection - Telluride Film Festival
Series of bi-lingual short films to promote and inform the benefits of breastfeeding.
Produced by - Aerial Contrivance Workshop
Client - University of California Davis
Story and Direction - Jim Capobianco
Design and Animation - Leonard Cohen and Karolien Raeymaekers
Narration - Claudia Medina
Editorial - Tom Chirstopher
Created by Aerial Contrivance Workshop and SuperMachine Studios in honor of 2010, the Galileo year. Using the actual audio, of Apollo 15 Cmdr. Dave Scott and starring The Astronauts, Revisiting Apollo: Apollo 15 was made to engage kids and adults to want to learn more about the Apollo program and space exploration in general.
Conceived and Directed by Jim Capobianco
Designed by Nate Wragg
Music by Alex Mandel
CG Modeling - B. J. Christian
Layout, Rigging, Animation - Simon Dunsdon
Falling up, tumbling sideways, profound flatness and zigzagging lines. Hey, man! Where's your cube? Welcome to Plato, somewhere between anamorphosis of reality and severity of imagination.
Directed and drawn on paper, stop-motion animation by Léonard Cohen
Main stop-motion animation: Cyril Maddalena
Production: La Ménagerie/XboFilms/Ensad
Received several awards including:
.Annecy 2011: Best graduation short & junior jury award
.SICAF 2011: Special distinction (Seoul International Cartoons & Animation Festival)
.Monstra 2011: RTP2 award (Lisbon International Animation Festival)
.Interfilm Berlin 2011: Best Animation
.Multivision 2011: Special Mention (St Petersburg IX International Festival of Animation Arts)
.Il Fiore di Ogni 2011: Special Mention (Cetraro VII International Film Festival)
Direction, animation, illustration: Léonard Cohen
Text and voice: David Castello-Lopès
Educational short about the economic benefits of funding culture and the arts.
Produced for Le Monde, France's newspaper of record, with the help of the Forum d'Avignon, a non-profit dedicated to bringing together artists, politicians and entrepreneurs to promote culture in Europe.
Made for the feature documentary by Ensemble Pictures READY. SET. BAG! about excelling at what you do. The short was made to illustrate the proper way to bag groceries.
Archival footage and Animation created in Adobe After Effects
check out the READY SET BAG website readysetbag.com/
Produced by - Aerial Contrivance Workshop
Client - Ensemble Pictures
Story and Direction - Jim Capobianco
Design and Animation - Craig Foster
Narration - Craig Good
Sound - Berkeley Sound Artists
Test walk for proposed Galileo short film.
Created by : ACW
Design : Nate Wragg
Animation : Nick Butera
Award winning Karolien's Raeymaekers graduation short. It's an autobiographical story about a young girl who has to conquer her fear for her own grandmother who is terminally ill.
Directed and Produced by Karolien Raeymaekers
-Audience award for best animated short at Intl Shortfilmfestival Leuven
- Jury award for best Belgian short at Sundance Channel Shorts – London
- Special mention at Intl Short film festival Oberhausen
Festivals (the more important ones):
Intl Student film festival Cartoonbrew (online festival)
KLIK! Amsterdam
Mostra Portugal
Trickfilm-festival Stuttgart
Animafest Zagreb
SoundTrack Cologne (as the case study for composers)
Uppsala Short Film Festival
Anima Brussels
HAFF Utrecht
Bay Area Intl Children's Film Festival
A short animation made at school. Although the assignment was a lipsync, it was actually more about developing a character. The girl is based on Karolien as a child, bringing every animal home to keep it as a pet, finding excuses to keep it. This time, it's an owl, and he's not too excited about his new owner.
Directed and Produced by Karolien Raeymaekers
Translation of the dialogue
"Look, I found an owl!
He was alone in the woods and he had no friends,
But now he's with me and we're going to be best pals!
This one will survive, I promise.
I'll care for him the whole day, I'll feed him every day, I'll walk him every day!
Look how cute he is. (laughs)
Can I please keep it?"
A short animated New Year card from Aerial Contrivance Workshop.
Produced by Aerial Contrivance Workshop
Improv animated by Tim Hittle
Camera by Peter Williams
Music by Alex Mandel


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IWitness B.V.
Standnr: E138
IWITNESS Bodycams
Reliable backup can be a matter of life and death. This is something everyone knows. Knowing you can count on professional backup provides peace of mind and makes it possible to focus on the job 100%. This is why we, at IWitness, are constantly working at innovating our products so that we can indeed be your additional backup.
Always have a witness with you!


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Elizabeth Warmerdam
Courthouse News
April 21, 2014
A police car dash cam captured Santa Clara deputies plotting to plant drugs in a woman's home after their first illegal search turned up nothing, the woman claims in court.
Allison Ross, who was arrested after the second search of her home, sued the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, its crime lab, Sheriff Laurie Smith, and 12 of her officers, in Federal Court.
Ross says that the deputies came to her home around 11 p.m. on New Years' Eve, 2009, after arresting her husband several houses down the street from their family home. When the deputies approached, Ross was outside talking with a neighbor.


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On Fire but Blacked Out: The Thomas Ball Story
Imagine, if you will, that a 16-year-old girl is denied an abortion and tries to get justice through the court system. She is jerked around and told "tough luck honey" a number of times and finally becomes distraught and sets herself on fire in front of the courthouse. Now, imagine what happens next in the media: The story becomes a firestorm. MSNBC and CNN have the incident scrolling along the bottom of the news every hour while the New York Times interviews feminists who pontificate about this brave "political move" and its implications for women's individual freedoms.
Now, on to what really happened. A 58-year-old New Hampshire man by the name of Thomas James Ball set himself on fire in front of a courthouse because he was "done being bullied for being a man" by the family court system. And despite his horrible and public death, he got little media attention. Just a few activists on the web and a few news outlets such as International Business Times and the Keene Sentinel picked it up. Even Wikipedia took his page down.
Basically, Ball's last act was treated by the traditional news media as that of a lone nutcase with no political significance whatsoever. The difference in these two cases comes down to what the American media finds relevant: girls and women, they're important; men and boys, not so much. Christina Hoff Sommers was right: the war against boys and men is still going strong.
And Thomas Ball knew it. He left a long letter to the Keene Sentinel explaining his grievances with the court system and with the society that devalues men. When often is the case when men complain, his grievances were seen as whining rather than as real problems.
As one of my commenters pointed out in a post I put up on the case, when a woman burns her husband to death in his sleep, it's seen as a major wake-up call regarding violence against women, and is immortalized in an award-winning movie starring Farah Fawcett titled The Burning Bed.
But somehow, when a man like Thomas Ball burns himself up, it is not seen as a wake-up call for how men are treated unjustly by the court system. Instead, some "compassionate souls" see his death as yet another wake-up call regarding the needs of women. Do men ever matter to these "feminists," or do they get pleasure out of men's pain? I am thinking the latter.
There are some pundits and commenters who have said that Ball does not deserve any compassion or that he should hardly be the poster boy for men's rights because he may or may not have been jerked around by the family court. He did slap his then four-year-old daughter, giving her a cut on the lip, when she refused to obey him after three verbal warnings, etc. This isn't great, but it doesn't warrant jail time, arrest, or having one's children taken away. If it does, there are so many women out there who qualify for the same treatment, I shudder to think about it.
But whether you think Ball is a good man, a bad man, or a crazy man doesn't really matter. What matters is that Ball's death -- and the reaction to it -- should serve as a wake-up call to how men and boys are being treated in a society that devalues their very existence. Males commit suicide at much higher rates than women and no one cares; they are treated unfairly by courts and no one bats an eye. They are abused by the women in their life and people say "tough shit." So they ratchet up the game a little and start setting themselves on fire to get some attention to their cause and, once again, the media and society react with: "So what?"
Can we really stand by and do nothing about the treatment of men and boys in our society much longer? When I think of the picture of Mr. Ball in flames on the steps of that courthouse, I think the only answer is a resounding, "Hell, no!"
PJM FLASHBACK: Manning Up or Wimping Out: Men Don't Exist to Serve Women's Desires


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Update in selecting the most efficient AWS EC2 instance types
We are passionate about applying math and data science to make our customers successful. We use that same intensity and focus to improve our core technology. To that end, back in May of this year, I posted an efficient frontier analysis of all Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance types to show how I assess the best technical design options for dataxu. These options are always changing as technology is always advancing. For example, earlier this week, on Nov. 7, AWS announced the general availability of the new C5 instance family.
The C5 family, which ranges from c5.large to c5.18xlarge is a compute-optimized instance family based on 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon Platinum 8000-series processors. In addition to network bandwidth and latency boosts, they claim:
"The new instances offer a 25% price/performance improvement over the C4 instances, with over 50% for some workloads. They also have additional memory per vCPU, and (for code that can make use of the new AVX-512 instructions), twice the performance for vector and floating point workloads."
At dataxu, we're running thousands of instances simultaneously. I'm always looking for a way to increase our system efficiency, so I decided to plug the raw numbers into my efficient frontier analysis from May 2017 and see if I agree with their claims. The updated chart is below. See the original article for how to interpret this chart.
For key takeaways on how the C5 instance family stacks up, check out the full post on my medium page.
P3 Introduction
In addition to the introduction of the C5 family, AWS also announced the GPU optimized P3 instance family in October 2017. The P3 family shows up in the chart this month in the bottom left corner. Since my chart only credits traditional CPU and Memory the P3 instance family presents poorly, which is not an accurate representation of this machine. I don't currently have a method to compare GPUs efficiency, if you have some thoughts on how do this properly, please reach out or leave a comment.
Interested in learning more? Read the rest on Bill's Medium page and continue the conversation.


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Hisham Said
Associate Professor, Power Systems and Sustainable Energy
Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering Department
- Power Systems and Sustainable Energy
- 1(408) 554-7156
- email@example.com
- Personal home page
- Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering Department
- 1(408) 551-7156
- 1(408) 554-5474 (fax)
- firstname.lastname@example.com
- Personal home page
Mailing address
- Santa Clara University
Power Systems and Sustainable Energy
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053
SCDI: Bergin
Dr. Hisham Said is faculty of construction engineering and management in the department of Civil Engineering at Santa Clara University. Dr. Said holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Cairo University in Egypt, and PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His previous academic positions include working as post-doctoral research associate at Purdue University and a lecturer at Cairo University in Egypt. In addition to his academic background, Dr. Said has a rich experience in the building industry as a structural engineer and contract administrator. He has authored more than 40 papers in leading research journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Said scholarly work was recognized by several awards, including the ASCE ExCEEd Teaching Fellowship, ELECTRI Early Career Award, and AGC Faculty Internship/Fellowship. His research interests include developing decision support and optimization models for modular construction, offsite prefabrication, construction logistics planning, and sustainable development of critical infrastructure systems.
Contact Hisham Said
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text:
Become a Friend of
John Constable RA
Richard Rogers RA
Sandra Blow RA
Wolfgang Tillmans RA
Cornelia Parker RA
Grayson Perry RA
across the RA Collection
or do an advanced search in
exhibition catalogues,
Francesco Bartolozzi RA
Head of a clean-shaven man almost full face, 1 March 1796
Crayon manner engraving with etching
Gerald Leslie Brockhurst RA
Adolescence, 1935
Oil on canvas
Jean Cooke RA
Et jamais je ne pleure et jamais je ne ris, ca. 1972
George Dance RA
Quiet rumination on recent events
Pen and ink on cream laid paper
Head of a ghostly figure
Pencil on cream laid paper
William Daniell RA
Sketch of a couple with an angry man in the background
Pen and ink over pencil on cream laid paper
An old man seated at a table
Pen and ink over pencil on cream wove paper
Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA
Satan summoning his Legions, 1796-1797
Richard Westall RA
Self-portrait of Richard Westall, R.A., By 1793
Francis Derwent Wood RA
Caricature portrait of H.M. Bateman., ca. 1920-21?
When should this exhibition be published?


text:
A Daughter's Deception
Evil is in her DNAMar. 23, 2019USA84 Min.TV-14
what going on?
Forced to give up her daughter for adoption when she's underage, a woman is thrilled to welcome her back into her life as an adult. She discovers her daughter is a sociopath who has murderous tendencies and poses a danger to everyone.
Original title A Daughter's Deception
IMDb Rating 7.0 29 votes
TMDb Rating 61 votes
Mrs. Hogan
Detective Banks
Eleanor Bishop
Skylar Parker
Laura Parker
Michael Parker
Bree Hogan
Jessica Hogan


text:
The Coral Island/Chapter 7
For several days after the excursion related in the last chapter we did not wander far from our encampment, but gave ourselves up to forming plans for the future and making our present abode comfortable.
There were various causes that induced this state of comparative inaction. In the first place, although everything around us was so delightful, and we could without difficulty obtain all that we required for our bodily comfort, we did not quite like the idea of settling down here for the rest of our lives, far away from our friends and our native land. To set energetically about preparations for a permanent residence seemed so like making up our minds to saying adieu to home and friends for ever that we tacitly shrank from it, and put off our preparations, for one reason and another, as long as we could. Then there was a little uncertainty still as to there being natives on the island, and we entertained a kind of faint hope that a ship might come and take us off. But as day after day passed, and neither savages nor ships appeared, we gave up all hope of an early deliverance, and set diligently to work at our homestead.
During this time, however, we had not been altogether idle. We made several experiments in cooking the cocoa-nut, most of which did not improve it. Then we removed our goods and took up our abode in the cave, but found the change so bad that we returned gladly to the bower. Besides this, we bathed very frequently, and talked a great deal—at least Jack and Peterkin did; I listened. Among other useful things, Jack, who was ever the most active and diligent, converted about three inches of the hoop-iron into an excellent knife. First, he beat it quite flat with the axe; then he made a rude handle, and tied the hoop-iron to it with our piece of whip-cord, and ground it to an edge on a piece of sandstone. When it was finished he used it to shape a better handle, to which he fixed it with a strip of his cotton handkerchief—in which operation he had, as Peterkin pointed out, torn off one of Lord Nelson's noses. However, the whip-cord, thus set free, was used by Peterkin as a fishing-line. He merely tied a piece of oyster to the end of it. This the fish were allowed to swallow, and then they were pulled quickly ashore. But as the line was very short and we had no boat, the fish we caught were exceedingly small.
One day Peterkin came up from the beach, where he had been angling, and said in a very cross tone, "I'll tell you what, Jack, I'm not going to be humbugged with catching such contemptible things any longer. I want you to swim out with me on your back, and let me fish in deep water!"
"Dear me, Peterkin!" replied Jack; "I had no idea you were taking the thing so much to heart, else I would have got you out of that difficulty long ago. Let me see;" and Jack looked down at a piece of timber, on which he had been labouring, with a peculiar gaze of abstraction which he always assumed when trying to invent or discover anything.
"What say you to building a boat?" he inquired, looking up hastily.
"Take far too long," was the reply; "can't be bothered waiting. I want to begin at once!"
Again Jack considered. "I have it!" he cried. "We'll fell a large tree and launch the trunk of it in the water, so that when you want to fish you've nothing to do but to swim out to it."
"Would not a small raft do better?" said I.
"Much better; but we have no ropes to bind it together with. Perhaps we may find something hereafter that will do as well, but in the meantime let us try the tree."
This was agreed on; so we started off to a spot, not far distant, where we knew of a tree that would suit us which grew near the water's edge. As soon as we reached it Jack threw off his coat, and wielding the axe with his sturdy arms, hacked and hewed at it for a quarter of an hour without stopping. Then he paused, and while he sat down to rest I continued the work. Then Peterkin made a vigorous attack on it; so that when Jack renewed his powerful blows, a few minutes' cutting brought it down with a terrible crash.
"Hurrah! Now for it!" cried Jack. "Let us off with its head!"
So saying, he began to cut through the stem again at about six yards from the thick end. This done, he cut three strong, short poles or levers from the stout branches, with which to roll the log down the beach into the sea; for, as it was nearly two feet thick at the large end, we could not move it without such helps. With the levers, however, we rolled it slowly into the sea.
Having been thus successful in launching our vessel, we next shaped the levers into rude oars or paddles, and then attempted to embark. This was easy enough to do; but after seating ourselves astride the log, it was with the utmost difficulty we kept it from rolling round and plunging us into the water. Not that we minded that much; but we preferred, if possible, to fish in dry clothes. To be sure, our trousers were necessarily wet, as our legs were dangling in the water on each side of the log; but as they could be easily dried, we did not care. After half-an-hour's practice, we became expert enough to keep our balance pretty steadily. Then Peterkin laid down his paddle, and having baited his line with a whole oyster, dropped it into deep water.
"Now, then, Jack," said he, "be cautious; steer clear o' that seaweed. There! that's it; gently, now—gently. I see a fellow at least a foot long down there coming to — Ha! that's it! Oh bother! he's off!"
"Did he bite?" said Jack, urging the log onwards a little with his paddle.
"Bite? Ay! he took it into his mouth, but the moment I began to haul he opened his jaws and let it out again."
"Let him swallow it next time," said Jack, laughing at the melancholy expression of Peterkin's visage.
"There he's again!" cried Peterkin, his eyes flashing with excitement. "Look out! Now, then! No! Yes! No! Why, the brute won't swallow it!"
"Try to haul him up by the mouth, then!" cried Jack. "Do it gently."
A heavy sigh and a look of blank despair showed that poor Peterkin had tried and failed again.
"Never mind, lad," said Jack in a voice of sympathy; "we'll move on and offer it to some other fish." So saying, Jack plied his paddle; but scarcely had he moved from the spot when a fish with an enormous head and a little body darted from under a rock and swallowed the bait at once.
"Got him this time—that's a fact!" cried Peterkin, hauling in the line. "He's swallowed the bait right down to his tail, I declare! Oh, what a thumper!"
As the fish came struggling to the surface we leaned forward to see it, and overbalanced the log. Peterkin threw his arms round the fish's neck, and in another instant we were all floundering in the water!
A shout of laughter burst from us as we rose to the surface, like three drowned rats, and seized hold of the log. We soon recovered our position, and sat more warily; while Peterkin secured the fish, which had well-nigh escaped in the midst of our struggles. It was little worth having, however. But, as Peterkin remarked, it was better than the smouts he had been catching for the last two or three days; so we laid it on the log before us, and having re-baited the line, dropped it in again for another.
Now, while we were thus intent upon our sport, our attention was suddenly attracted by a ripple on the sea, just a few yards away from us. Peterkin shouted to us to paddle in that direction, as he thought it was a big fish and we might have a chance of catching it. But Jack, instead of complying, said, in a deep, earnest tone of voice, which I never before heard him use, "Haul up your line, Peterkin; seize your paddle. Quick—it's a shark!"
The horror with which we heard this may well be imagined; for it must be remembered that our legs were hanging down in the water, and we could not venture to pull them up without upsetting the log. Peterkin instantly hauled up the line, and grasping his paddle, exerted himself to the utmost, while we also did our best to make for shore. But we were a good way off, and the log being, as I have before said, very heavy, moved but slowly through the water. We now saw the shark quite distinctly swimming round and round us, its sharp fin every now and then protruding above the water. From its active and unsteady motions, Jack knew it was making up its mind to attack us; so he urged us vehemently to paddle for our lives, while he himself set us the example. Suddenly he shouted, "Look out! there he comes!" and in a second we saw the monstrous fish dive close under us and turn half-over on his side. But we all made a great commotion with our paddles, which, no doubt, frightened it away for that time, as we saw it immediately after circling round us as before.
"Throw the fish to him!" cried Jack in a quick, suppressed voice; "we'll make the shore in time yet if we can keep him off for a few minutes."
Peterkin stopped one instant to obey the command, and then plied his paddle again with all his might. No sooner had the fish fallen on the water than we observed the shark to sink. In another second we saw its white breast rising; for sharks always turn over on their sides when about to seize their prey, their mouths being not at the point of their heads like those of other fish, but, as it were, under their chins. In another moment his snout rose above the water; his wide jaws, armed with a terrific double row of teeth, appeared; the dead fish was engulfed, and the shark sank out of sight. But Jack was mistaken in supposing that it would be satisfied. In a very few minutes it returned to us, and its quick motions led us to fear that it would attack us at once.
"Stop paddling!" cried Jack suddenly. "I see it coming up behind us. Now, obey my orders quickly. Our lives may depend on it. Ralph—Peterkin—do your best to balance the log. Don't look out for the shark. Don't glance behind you. Do nothing but balance the log."
Peterkin and I instantly did as we were ordered, being only too glad to do anything that afforded us a chance or a hope of escape, for we had implicit confidence in Jack's courage and wisdom. For a few seconds, that seemed long minutes to my mind, we sat thus silently; but I could not resist glancing backward, despite the orders to the contrary. On doing so, I saw Jack sitting rigid like a statue, with his paddle raised, his lips compressed, and his eyebrows bent over his eyes, which glared savagely from beneath them down into the water.
I also saw the shark, to my horror, quite close under the log, in the act of darting towards Jack's foot. I could scarce suppress a cry on beholding this. In another moment the shark rose. Jack drew his leg suddenly from the water and threw it over the log. The monster's snout rubbed against the log as it passed, and revealed its hideous jaws, into which Jack instantly plunged the paddle and thrust it down its throat. So violent was this act that Jack rose to his feet in performing it; the log was thereby rolled completely over, and we were once more plunged into the water. We all rose, spluttering and gasping, in a moment.
"Now, then, strike out for shore!" cried Jack.—"Here, Peterkin, catch hold of my collar, and kick out with a will!"
Peterkin did as he was desired, and Jack struck out with such force that he cut through the water like a boat; while I, being free from all encumbrance, succeeded in keeping up with him. As we had by this time drawn pretty near to the shore, a few minutes more sufficed to carry us into shallow water; and finally, we landed in safety, though very much exhausted, and not a little frightened, by our terrible adventure.


text:
Globalization, Culture, and Identity (GL4880A)
This course examines contemporary global cultural flows. Emphasis is placed on cultural forms and the production/circulation of identity through/within globalization. The goal is to raise questions about power, cultural interaction and change, and the nature of globalization through landscapes of popular/vernacular culture. The course will address debates concerning questions of globalization and identity, such as: What is culture? How and why does 'culture' circulate through material exchange? How and why do processes of globalization mediate the material exchange of culture, and how was this different than the era of 'national culture'? Where is the 'location of culture'?
The module will approach globalization, culture, and identity through three successive units.
First, we will develop an understanding of culture and its link to 'the national', as well as the necessary role of media in generating national culture. We will develop our understanding primarily through reading Raymond Williams and Benedict Anderson.
Second, we will turn to developing an understanding of globalization specifically through/in cultural terms. While we cannot artificially separate the cultural from the realms of economics and politics, we will foreground culture and establish common ground before moving into the third unit. The second unit will be driven by the required course text by Jan Nederven Pieterse, Globalization and Culture: Global Melange, as well as texts by Arjun Appadurai and Zygmunt Bauman.
Finally, we will explore neoliberalism as a phenomenon of cultural globalization, focusing less on its strictly economic or political aspects and more on its implications for culture, selfhood, gender, and social class. This final unit is driven by a desire to understand the relationship between self and other under conditions of a global drive towards hyperindividualism and hypercompetitiveness. This unit is driven by readings by numerous authors, including Wendy Brown, Jeremy Gilbert, Angela McRobbie, Nikos Papastergiadis, and Jim McGuigan.


text:
My name is Will Tjernlund and I am the Fulfillment by Amazon Expert. Over the last few years, I have sourced, stacked, marketed, and sold over $10 million on Amazon.com. I read all the blogs, do all the research and attend all the events and watch all the webinars, so you don't have to.
I am currently the owner of the FBA Mastermind which is an online forum of professional Amazon sellers who want to learn and grow their businesses together. Though I stay busy between this blog, speaking at conferences around the world and learning everything possible, my main focus will always be Goat Consulting an Amazon consulting agency that I co-founded.
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Best of 2013: Craig McManus' Live Music AwardsBy Craig McManus. Posted in Concert Review | No Comments »
There are only a few things in this world I love more than seeing live music. I've actually kept a list of every artist I've ever seen (the first entry is for Dino), along with a grade for the performance and a few words about the show. While I don't get to as many shows as I'd like, I was able to see 48 different sets by 46 different artists in 2013. So I thought I'd give a Top 5 live performances for this year.
Before getting into the Top 5, though, here are some other performances that I want to highlight:
Oddest Venue – Dan Deacon at the Walker Art Center on June 15, 2013: Deacon was scheduled to kick off the music for The Current and Walker Art Center's annual Rock the Garden. Just before showtime, however, a massive thunderstorm rolled through and the scheduled start time was pushed back while most of the crowd took shelter in the Walker's underground parking garage. Dan Deacon's a chill dude, though, and he decided to keep the concert on schedule by shifting his equipment to the garage and throwing a parking lot dance party. The sound was terrible (obviously), but it was still one of the coolest shows I've ever witnessed, and there is some video via Pitchfork:
Oddest Crowd – Jimmy Cliff at First Avenue on September 19, 2013: Jimmy Cliff is one of only two reggae artists in the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" (obviously Bob Marley is the other), and this fact led to an incredibly odd mixture of people at his First Avenue performance. I saw quite a few of the usual folks I see there: college kids, hipsters, and music nerds like myself. Added to these, however, were guys whose hair had turned gray (at least the hair they still had), but they were still rocking the pony tail, a large number of white people drinking Red Stripe, and more tie dye than should be legal. I found myself down front next to two couples who spent the night reminiscing about their hippie days and complaining about it being hard to find good pot anymore. It was weird. Jimmy's still got it, though.
Most Intriguing Opening Act – Twin Peaks at First Avenue on July 29, 2013: I'd never heard of Twin Peaks before seeing them open for Foxygen, but I have a feeling I'll be seeing their name again. They are an incredibly young band out of Chicago who have obviously been heavily influenced by early Replacements, and to put it simply they are a lot of fun. It's rare to see a First Avenue crowd actually getting into an opening act, but the energy Twin Peaks brought to the stage was so infectious they won over everyone who got there early enough to see them. It's a good thing too, because…
Shortest Performance – Foxygen at First Avenue on July 29, 2013: Foxygen took the stage playing "On Blue Mountain". Halfway through the song, frontman Sam France hopped up on a monitor that tipped over dumping him into the barrier in front of the crowd. France immediately stopped singing and the First Avenue staff scrambled for help while the band finished playing the song (a crowd member did grab the mic and sing a few lines). Soon the paramedics arrived and France was removed on a stretcher. Turns out he suffered complete fractures of both his tibia and fibula and had to undergo surgery the next day.
Most 'Controversial' – Low at the Walker Art Center on June 15, 2013: Despite Dan Deacon's best efforts to keep Rock the Garden on schedule, removing standing water from the stage pushed Low's set back a bit and shortened it substantially. Accordingly, the band decided to try something new: They played a single drone version of "Do You Know How to Waltz" for just under a half hour. For the first few minutes I was confused by the performance (they didn't say anything about what was about to happen before starting), but after awhile I realized what was going on and absolutely loved it. Many did not, however, as commenters on this article at The Current make clear (you can, and should, also hear the entire performance at that link).
Worst Refund – Kanye West (scheduled) at Target Center on November 5, 2013: Yeezus was supposed to make an appearance in town and I had tickets. Then his equipment truck was in an accident and the date was pushed back. Later it was cancelled outright because
ticket sales were a little soft they couldn't find a new date that would work. This is the third consecutive time Kanye has cancelled a scheduled Twin Cities date. I'm beginning to see a trend.
Top 5
5. Mike Doughty: M. Doughty (Used To Be in) Soul Coughing at First Avenue on October 25, 2013: I saw Soul Coughing at First Avenue in 1996 and that performance is in my all-time top 5. For years, however, Mike Doughty has refused to play Soul Coughing songs, and reading his book The Book of Drugs: A Memoir, made it pretty clear why. Apparently, though, writing the book proved cathartic and this year M. Doughty hit the road playing nothing but Soul Coughing tunes. My anticipation for this show was off the charts, and I freely admit that my love for the songs may have clouded my judgment of the performance, but he played absolutely everything and it sounded gooooood. Starting with "Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago" and "Sugar Free Jazz" and finishing up with "Super Bon Bon" and "Circles", it was a fantastic night of nostalgia and great music.
4. Jay Z at Xcel Energy Center on November 30, 2013: I was very nervous about this show coming off Kanye's cancellation, hearing that ticket sales weren't great, and the fact that the opening 'act' was a prerecorded DJ set, but I didn't need to worry. Jay Z is a pro with a ridiculous list of hits, and he absolutely brought it and seemed to be sincerely enjoying himself. He mentioned at a couple points that he regretted "sleeping on" St. Paul, thinking we'd get up for the hits but nothing else. It was a comment much different than the usual ego stroking of the locals, because he straight up admitted St. Paul had won respect it didn't have previously. It's really an insult, because it goes back to the stupid coastal 'flyover state' mentality, but at least he was willing to admit he was wrong. The only real negative of the show was that he turned over 10 minutes of his set (when he completely left the stage) to Timbaland who was his DJ. Timba just played some of the famous beats he's written, and generally bored the crowd (other than when he built a beat via beat boxing, which I'll never tire of seeing someone do). It almost wrecked the show, but when you can return from the break with "Somewhere in America"/"Big Pimpin'"/"Dirt Off Your Shoulder" it gets the crowd right back into it just a bit.
3. D'Angelo & Questlove: Brothers in Arms at First Avenue on June 23, 2013: Good friends D'Angelo and Questlove got together to play three "Brothers in Arms" shows and Minneapolis was lucky enough to get one of them (NYC and Philly had the other two). D'Angelo hadn't played the Twin Cities in over a decade, so the crowd was more than ready when they took the stage and explained that basically they were going to be jamming like they do in the studio and playing songs they love. The only difference with the studio was that this time there would be an audience. For most of the show it was just the two of them on stage with Questlove wearing a mic to D's earpiece allowing him to lead. Things kicked off with "Brown Sugar" and then went for two hours (a mixture of D'Angelo's originals and covers, including Prince (obviously), the Ohio Players, Sly, Terrance Trent Darby, J Dilla). The entire 2 hours was nonstop soul, funk, and R&B jams with the last 20 minutes seeing them joined by some Minneapolis Sound session players on bass and sax and the lead singer of Mint Condition for a seriously James Brownesque showstopper. Both Questo and D showed why they are at the top of their field and put on a show so fantastic, I'm just guessing there were a few babies made that night around the Twin Cities.
2. Savages at Triple Rock Social Club on July 21, 2013: I still can't get over how great this show was, but I'm not going to write any more than I already did.
1. Prince & 3rdeyegirl at the Dakota on January 18, 2013: Another one I still can't get over, but won't write more about. I actually got to witness the debut performance of a new Prince backing band. Amazing.
Craig McManus
An author and editor at MiG, Craig lives in Minnesota with his wife and son and is an attorney in his real life. Once upon a time Craig played the trumpet and spent four years in the Hawkeye Marching Band and pep band. These days Craig finds himself most often listening to experimental rock, hip hop, and post punk, but you can see everything he's listening to at: www.last.fm/user/cafreema Craig is not ashamed to admit the first concert he ever attended was New Kids on the Block.
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