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When you visit Mooloolaba, you can simply leave all your cares at home.
Mooloolaba is only a little over an hour's drive from the Brisbane Domestic or International Airports, and only 25 minutes from the Sunshine Coast regional airport, making it a very accessible destination for either a short weekend stay, or a once in a lifetime Sunshine Coast beachside holiday.
Raffles Mooloolaba apartments is just a short stroll to some of the Sunshine Coast's best dining and retail shopping, and you'll enjoy the array of cafes that dot the Mooloolaba Esplanade, with breathtaking views overlooking the Mooloolaba Bay all the way to Noosa.
The dining at Mooloolaba is something that has to be experienced, with a wide selection from popular takeaway restaurants, through to 5 star a-la-carte and al fresco dining that offers unique tastes as well as the unique views to match. You really won't find a spot like this anywhere else in the world.
From your Mooloolaba apartment, you'll be able to enjoy a pleasant relaxing stroll along the popular Mooloolaba esplanade and visit the endless fashion boutiques, exquisite galleries and other speciality stores that line the street, as well as the peaceful and picturesque beachside walkways that run parallel to the beach.
Mooloolaba has become one of Queensland's great beachside shopping destinations, offering a wide array of fashion styles from designer fashions and swimwear, through to exotic jewellery, as well as a wide assortment of unique giftware, healthcare and other shopping that will make your Mooloolaba holiday a memorable one.
Raffles Mooloolaba apartments are just a few steps from Mooloolaba Beach, one of Australia's safest swimming and surfing beaches, with is lifesaver-patrolled most of the year, ensuring an ideal safe place for the kids and adults to swim, as well as the calmer waters of the Mooloolaba Spit just a few minutes away.
Mooloolaba also offers some of the Sunshine Coast's best attractions nearly, such as exploring the Ex-HMAS Brisbane warship, where you can enjoy a day diving the ship, or maybe a spot of deepsea fishing is more your thing.
Mooloolaba is also just a short drive to many of the best spots on the Sunshine Coast, such as Noosa, Fraser Island and the Sunshine Coast hinterland, as well as the Sunshine Coast's best attractions including Australia Zoo, Eumundi Markets and many of the Sunshine Coast's popular golf courses.
Whether you come from the Sunshine Coast for a relaxing holiday or maybe looking for a little adventure, you'll find your stay at Raffles Mooloolaba apartments is sure to be enjoyable for all.
For Mooloolaba Accommodation deals & specials contact Raffles on 07 5444 0077


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Obama's audacity-free campaign
Audacity is so 2008.
Barack Obama, reconciling the contradictory realities of Mitt Romney's hard fall with a race that remains stubbornly inside the margin of error, is running as the kind of careful, poll-watching politician he disdained the first time he ran for president, according to Democratic and Republican observers.
Story Continued Below
Obama 2012 has become the silver-templed soul of caution, embracing Napoleon's dictum of "never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake," in the opinion of one veteran Obama campaign aide.
In doing so, Obama's campaign team is seeking to take advantage of Romney's own well-chronicled reluctance, at least so far, to release a slate of policy proposals comparable to the detailed blueprints put forth by Obama and other candidates four years ago.
( Also on POLITICO: Veterans retreating from Obama)
At the moment, both candidates have a bad case of the vagues heading into their trio of debates — but the dangers of an audacity-free campaign may have especially nasty consequences for Obama, whose calling card, even now, is boldness and transformational change.
"I see elements of caution, no doubt about it, and it's as wrongheaded as a basketball team that's up by 17 or 18 points trying to hold onto the ball," said Clinton-era Democratic National Committee Chairman Ed Rendell, a former governor of Pennsylvania.
"And the only reason they're up anyway is not because of anything great they did on offense or defense, but because the other side keeps making mistakes. The implosion had nothing to do with the Obama campaign, really, so they can't afford to lay back at all or it will depress turnout."
A veteran Democrat with close ties to the Obama campaign was a little more charitable: "This is not an easy environment, and taking a lot of risks is insane," the person told POLITICO.
( Also on POLITICO: POLITICO's Swing-State Map)
Steve Schmidt, John McCain's 2008 campaign senior strategist, said Obama's team would be wise to get more specific and less cautious in a race that is still within Romney's reach.
That would be closer to the strategy Obama used to beat Schmidt's former boss: Take calculated risks that define Obama as a candidate who breaks the mold of a conventional politician.
"It's very clear they're playing prevent defense. … That defense has been a road to many a ruin," said Schmidt, who dismissed the notion that the race is over. "The race is structurally very, very close. There are many chapters yet to be written in it, and if you look at the last series of interviews, you see why Romney [could] be able to get his momentum back at some point. … The criticism of Romney's campaign — his lack of specifics — are absolutely legitimate points. So is the criticism of the administration for essentially the same thing."
A president who once criticized Bill and Hillary Clinton's "poll-driven" calculation — and the slice-and-dice approach to electoral targeting adopted by Clinton pollster Mark Penn — brushed off Democrats who suggested that Obama outline a detailed policy vision for his second term at the Democratic National Convention earlier this month.
That's not the only area where Obama is playing it safe.
( PHOTOS: Obama's not so public schedule)

subset: commoncrawl


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how do i mute the clip audio?
Asked by ariel ortmann on 2011-05-14
I'm trying to make a video for youtube.. how do i mute the volume on the clips that i have.. so i just hear the music audio? (from the mp3 only!)
Question information
- Language:
- English Edit question
- Status:
- Answered
- For:
- Ubuntu pitivi Edit question
- Assignee:
- No assignee Edit question
- Last query:
- 2011-05-14
- Last reply:
- 2012-02-23
|Jeff Fortin Tam (kiddo) said :
Select the clip on the timeline, click the unlink (or ungroup?) button on the timeline toolbar, then select only the audio part and delete it.
Make sure you have some other audio track though, as pitivi will not really cope well with rendering only video.
|Jeff Fortin Tam (kiddo) said :
Jean-François Fortin Tam suggests this article as an answer to your question:
FAQ #1599: "How to remove the audio part of a clip?".
|mfauzirahman (mfauzirahman) said :
Please update back if the issue is solved
Can you help with this problem?
Provide an answer of your own, or ask ariel ortmann for more information if necessary.
To post a message you must log in.


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Muscular Dystrophy NSW accepts applications for essential equipment funding required by Muscular Dystrophy NSW members, funds permitting.
Applications are considered where the equipment is not eligible for funding through ENABLE or the timeline for provision by ENABLE is not realistic for our members' quality of life. Equipment must always be prescribed by an occupational therapist.
Members must provide Muscular Dystrophy NSW with a copy of the original application to ENABLE, along with their response letter and an occupational therapists report, quotes and any other relevant information.
Applications for equipment and vehicle modifications are considered on a case by case situation and are also dependant on funding availability. Funding amounts are capped.
For more information on Muscular Dystrophy NSW, click here to download our brochure


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Follow Us
We Feel your Pain & We've Done Something About It
It used to be that if a person wanted to get Dublin homeowners insurance quotes, they had to book off the greater part of a day just to compare prices. This is perhaps one of the biggest frustrations people have with the insurance industry and why so many people end up spending more than they need to on insurance.
At the Columbus Insurance Market, we've listened to insurance shoppers' complaints and decided to do something about it: we've created one, easy-to-use site where people can receive Dublin, OH homeowners insurance quotes from top providers in Ohio, simply by submitting filling out our online quote form. We know you don't have time to sit on the phone on hold or to fill out dozens of online forms for insurance quotes. That's why our team of experienced, licensed agents do all the work for you.
When you're ready to compare some Dublin homeowners insurance quotes, just log on to our site and send us your basic name and information where we contact you. During regular business hours, one of our team members will call you within a mere five minutes of receiving your details. We will then find all of the Dublin homeowners insurance quotes that relate to your insurance needs and will get them to you immediately. No time wasted, no hassle and we will always find you the lowest possible rate!
Don't let the thought of a lengthy insurance finding and buying process prevent you from buying the insurance you need or from getting the price that will suit your budget. There is a way, a much easier way, and it's with the help of ColumbusInsuranceMarket.com.
Start saving on homeowners insurance in Ohio.


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{my graphics are free goodies for you}
I retreat to an empty corner of the room for a moment and take a deep breath. Whew. I'm in the middle of a marathon of social events and like a runner pausing on the course I suddenly find I can't take another step without a drink of quiet. But into the very place I've sought for peace come the lies, quick and condemning.
"You don't really love people."
"Something is wrong with you."
"You should be ashamed of yourself."
These phrases are familiar—I've heard them from the time someone first said to me as a little girl, "You're so quiet" and what I heard was, "You need to be different than you are."
I imagine you have your own set of lies that sometimes surround you like a pack of barking Chihuahuas. Yours might be different than mine…
"You're too loud."
"Why can't you stop talking?"
"If you cared about people you'd listen more."
It's a side effect of being human to have our own set of growling, snapping little lies. When they're loudest I know I can't trust my own mind to hear the truth above them. So I've made it a habit to reach out to a friend I trust. I walk out of the crowded room and pull out my phone. "SOS" I type and tell her what's happening, what I'm hearing. She offers encouragement and prays I will know what's true.
Her prayer is answered later as I read this verse, "We are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands" {Isaiah 64:8}. I have an ah-ha that has simply never occurred to me before. I have been telling myself, "It's all your fault. You need to fix it." But the truth is, "Who I am is God's doing and it's not a mistake—it's His making."
Being an introvert and having a highly sensitive nervous system makes crowds uncomfortable for me at times. But those parts of who I am also enable me to write for hours or to coach one individual with intention and intensity. Maybe your outgoing personality shines in a group or from a stage. In other words, the Potter made us each for specific purposes. If we are a pitcher for pouring then we don't need to feel shame because we are not a cake stand or soup bowl.
After a few more deep breaths I'm ready to go back into the crowded room. I push open the door. At first the Chihuahuas try to follow but I turn to them and declare, "Stay." They obey. Because here's the secret: They only have as much power as we give them.
And here's what's true no matter how we may feel or what others may try to tell us: We are all the work of an Artist. We have a purpose. He has a plan. So let's place ourselves in His hands. Let's never be ashamed of His work, of who we are. Instead let's say, "I praise You because You made me in an amazing and wonderful way" {Ps. 139:14 NCV}.
p.s. I have a new devotional releasing soon called Coffee for Your Heart! It's an updated edition of God's Heart for You and is full of truth and encouragement. If you're willing to write a blog post about it as well as share about the book on social media, then fill out this form by June 5th and I will get a FREE copy to you. Only the first 50 to submit the form will receive a copy of the book.
{If you're linking up be sure you don't miss the note above about how you can get a free book!}
Welcome to the Coffee for Your Heart weekly link-up! You're an encourager so I'm asking you to pour out a little love with your words every Wednesday {link-up goes live at 5:30am CST}. Simply write an encouraging blog post and then share it here. Don't have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you're reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too.
Pretty please use this button in your blog post so others can easily join in with us {html code in right sidebar}. And when you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that's linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!


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Horsepower Direct has been working with aftermarket companies for almost 20 years, we have only started selling the parts for about 7 years now.
We are one of the fastest growing companies in the automotive aftermarket, and we do this not from a huge marketing budget, but rather from working with the manufacturers directly, so the customer knows when he or she is buying products from Horsepower Direct, that it is 100 percent actual products, no knock offs here.
Horsepower Direct has worked with manufacturers developing products, SEMA project vehicles, test fitting new applications, and new product design for a lot of manufacturers we purchase the product from.
We prefer to buy Direct from a Manufacturer and have a direct relationship other than drop shipping from 3rd party places, that is what sets us apart from all of our competition.


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Summer Dates 2020
Registration: April 1st – April 30th
Session 1 Classroom Phase – June 8th – July 1st
Session 2 Classroom Phase – July 7th – July 30th
Students enrolled in a year-round school must register for Session 1 and for the high school in their home school district.
Students who register for Summer School are not eligible for this driver education course.
The Classroom Phase of the Driver Ed course will be conducted Monday – Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Behind-the-Wheel Phase: Students who are enrolled in Summer Session 1 will be driven in July and August. Students who are enrolled in Summer Session 2 will drive when school starts in the Fall.
When choosing a session consider all the summer activities (time frame of camps and vacations, when sports practice will start, etc.) that would conflict with taking Driver Education during the time requested.
Students are expected to attend all class meetings. Any student that misses over one class session runs the risk of being dropped from the program. Arriving late to class or leaving early will not be tolerated. You must be in attendance for 30 hours of class and complete and pass all assigned coursework in order to pass the classroom phase of the course and complete 6 hours of behind-the-wheel. There are no excused or unexcused absences in Driver Education.
A fee of $65.00 or a reduced fee of $32.50 shall be collected from each student. The fee must be in the form of a money order made payable to Cumberland County Schools (Personal checks will not be accepted). Please, No cash!
To qualify for the reduced fee you must be enrolled in the free-and-reduced meal program with the Cumberland County Schools Child Nutrition Department. The student must bring a Letter of Approval from Child Nutrition along with the fee of $32.50. The Letter of Approval MUST be requested prior to the last day of school. The Letter of Approval CANNOT be printed after the last day of school. Any student who does not have the Letter of Approval by the start of class will be issued a "Student Eligibility" form which must be completed by a parent/guardian and returned to the Driver Education Instructor.
This fee will be collected by the driver education teacher on the first day of class. There are no exceptions or refunds! If the student does not bring the required fee on the first day of class, he/she will not be admitted to class.
Students must attend the 30-hour classroom phase, complete the 6 hours of the behind-the-wheel phase and be 15 years of age before they can apply for a Learners Permit..........................................................................................................................................
Published by Linda Fay Davis on October 29, 2019
Summer Session Dates


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I LOVE Autumn. I love Spring with the new growth and the promise of what is to come; I love Summer for the sun, sea and sand; I even like winter – the crisp cold days when everything is sparkling and long dark nights tucked up safe and sound indoors listening to the wind howling (don't like the rain!) but Autumn is my very favourite time of year.
Can you honestly beat England on a dry Autumn day when the sun is out, the trees are all shades of red, orange, yellow and green and the smell – yes the smell of Autumn is wonderful. There is something very special about it. I know I'm a bit crazy but I just love Autumn and this Autumn is really good as we've had very little rain.
We went out geocaching, but I took so many photographs of the landscape, season, fruits that it was like Autumn Watch. Out of the blue we decided to attempt a series of caches around Finchampstead, FU Finchampstead Undulations – 19 caches along a roughly 5km walk along the footpaths around – you've guessed it – Finchampstead, which is under 5 miles away from our home.
I read quite a few blogs, my Twitter feed and Facebook and realize that many geocachers go out much more prepared than we do. They've checked the map, decided where to park, organized the route they are going to take, the caches they can attempt, where to cross fields, footpaths etc. and everything in-between whereas Cockrobbinn and I see a series of caches on the map and just head happily off in that direction – perhaps I should say I see them on the map, decide, and Cockrobbinn gamely follows. The only thing I do before we go is to download the area and caches to his Garmin and usually decide which cache to do first. I hate to admit it but we have sometimes gone out in a different direction and the caches are not on Cockrobbinn's Garmin but I am teaching him to use his iPhone in emergencies! Personally, I love the iPhone as I don't download anything – just tap the icon and all the nearby caches show up. Strangely enough, in everything else I am extremely organized. Nevermind, that is the beauty of geocaching – do it however you want to.
The nearest cache to our home was surprisingly not one of the FU series but Welcome to Wokingham which was only a few metres from where I decided to park, on a grass verge at the side of the road. I'd pulled up to see if we were close to the series as I guessed we should be, picked up this cache quickly and found a footpath which led to FUXtra2 An Alternative Start to the FU Series. It was an amazing spot to start our walk as it was right by a working quarry and I was fascinated watching the diggers and moving gravel and was really pleased when I saw that our route took us along the beautiful lakes created by the digging.
I am not going to bore everyone with list of all the caches we found but the majority of the containers were 'specimen' bottles mostly wrapped in black tape (unused, of course).
These little containers really kept the contents dry – well, I suppose they are 'water' tight !!!!! I've carried a full one in my handbag before now just praying that it didn't leak……… and it never has done!
Following the route, we quickly found another FUXtra and then just a few hundred metres on came to FU7. It was here that we could choose either to turn left, or right. Either count up, or count down as the series was a loop. We decided to count up and headed left towards FU8. On seeing that FU7 was called Big Oak, and FU8 was Three Oaks it didn't take us long to realize that we were surrounded by oak trees and many of the caches were placed in or around large oaks. As we walked on in the glorious sunshine we suddenly realized that it was getting quite difficult to avoid being hit by falling acorns. I don't think I have ever seen so much autumn fruit as I have seen this year.
Finchampstead is a place we hadn't visited before and we were pleasantly surprised to come across a wonderful horse farm very reminiscent of where my son lives in Kentucky, except they always have white fence posts. KY is real horse country with mile upon mile of rolling paddocks surrounded by white fencing as far as the eye can see and the most superb horses imaginable. Oh well, back to good old England.
Shortly after the horse farm we emerged onto a very small road looking for a beech tree of all things. It was here we decided we really needed hard hats as the acorns, conkers and sweet chestnuts were falling all around and the noise was something to hear. It was like gunfire. I think the heat of the sun (it really was warm) was the final touch to make all the fruit decide it was time to leave its parent tree.
This is a lovely easy series with caches placed between 250m and 350m all the way along. We were rattling around it and soon came to FU16.5. I was so pleased there was no-one around as I let rip with excitement when we eventually found the cache – to see it was an AMMO CAN. My very first Ammo Can and there was even a spade hidden with it. I danced a dance of sheer joy – how sad am I???
I am not unused to Ammo cans as I grew up with them but I have so often read about other geocachers finding one hidden in the woods that I have been quite envious.
At last I had found one and was only a tad disappointed that there was no travel bug inside. It was really well hidden and we left a badge that we had found on the ground earlier in the series.
A short while later, at a crossroads of footpaths we decided to take a very brief detour of about 50m to find Take a Seat which was located at nearly the highest point in Finchampstead. As you can probably guess from the name, this was a bench in the middle of a country footpath with the most lovely view, and it was here that we saw our first and only Muggle of the day. She was jogging along holding onto a long, long lead and a few seconds later a dog came into sight looking as if to say, hurry up.
Absolutely typical, the photograph I took of the view didn't come out but the name-plate on the bench did. I thought it was a lovely inscription and we sat a while admiring the stunning views.
It really was a very warm and sunny day and perfect for this stroll.
By now I knew Cockrobbinn was starting to get hungry and I had left our flask and food in the car. I encouraged him along by mentioning that soon we would be finding a cache at the local church and very often there was a pub close by, and I wasn't wrong. But before that, we had some more excitement.
As we walked along the footpath, which gave way to a small track we could see the Church in the distance and this beautiful tree in the drive up to the church.
We were looking for a cache called The Queens Oak and I kept looking at this tree saying it wasn't an oak, which of course it wasn't.
Then we looked at the hint 'No Exit from Here' and twigged (oh dear, with all the trees about – the joke just slipped in) that it was near an exit sign. Couldn't find anything on the sign then Cockrobbinn scrambled about in the undergrowth and came up with our second enormous AMMO CAN. Our delight knew no bounds.
I grabbed the can and we sat in the sunshine to discover what treasures were within.
This time I was lucky and found a Hippy Van travel bug which wanted to get near to Swindon so we retrieved it and will help it on its way. Cockrobbinn was still hungry and so we replaced the cache carefully and strolled out of the churchyard to find what really was The Queens Oak.
It was about 2.30pm and we really hoped they were still serving food – which they were until 3pm – so Cockrobbinn and I enjoyed a really pleasant hour reviving ourselves on a rather nice cafetière of fresh coffee and a bowl of the best chips we have tasted in ages (naughty us). Delightful pub – almost empty except for one 'old' regular who was probably a bit deaf as he talked so loudly everyone could hear him, and every time his phone rang he jumped a mile.
Almost at the end of our route, we walked through the churchyard once again to find the cache at St. James' Church which happened not to be on the church grounds but onwards down a little footpath heading towards the sports fields.
We collected up a further three in the FU series and were nearly back at our car when we saw that we could easily get Broadmoor Siren at Finchampstead Allotments. Strangely enough, this cache was the only one of the day which we nearly gave up on as we just couldn't find it. Our GPS kept pointing us to a large oak tree overhanging a stream but we eventually found the cache some 20m away in a hollow branch.
Our car was now in sight and it wasn't until we got home that we realized that we had MISSED two of the series. Perhaps, with planning, I would have known there were two more but we will collect these another day.
This little adventure took place on Tuesday, 20th October 2015 when we found a total of 24 caches.


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Our Curriculum - Year 3
Year Three is an important year for your child where they are transitioning from the Junior School to the Middle School. We support the students to make this transition as seamless as possible. Year Three is a year where there are increased leadership prospects such as becoming a Green Team member or Junior School Council leader. As well as this, there are many additional sporting opportunities available for your child such as cross country, swimming trials and house athletics.
Many Year Three students enjoy the optional dance group that runs weekly. This is a unique opportunity for Year Three students. Children who have learned to read now read to learn in a range of inquiry topics. Numeracy skills learned in the early years of schooling are now applied to solving problems.


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Alzheimer's Disease Research Summit 2015
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.
09 – 10 February 2015
The National Institutes of Health hosted a meeting earlier this month as leaders in Alzheimer's and other diseases met in Bethesda, Maryland, for the AD Research Summit 2015. The first such meeting since the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease was put into action in 2012, the summit served to spur the field on toward the goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer's by 2025. Over the two-day meeting, researchers proposed ways of finding therapeutic targets outside of the familiar Aβ and tau fields. Data sharing was a big theme for this goal. Speakers also weighed in on how to enlarge patient cohorts, capture better phenotypic data, engage minority communities, and harness citizen science to analyze vast quantities of data.


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Hana Mari appears to have entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca at approximately sunset, and is now altering course easterly. Raindrop appears to be next to come around the cape, followed by Night Runner and Blade Runner.
There is still A LOT of time left in this long distance endurance race! Anything can happen!


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Today we have three (3) musical recommendations that will entice your brain and body for the week. All have been released this year, so do not worry about being out of the circle with this one. We have on the table today the fun hip-hop/trap electronics of blank body, the "hellscape" of samples from DJWWWW, and the SEGA bliss of Christa Lee. Go down below and have a good time reading about a few wonderful releases.
Possibly the most complex-sounding instrumental hip-hop and trap release so far, blank body's EASY PREY hammers some gleeful beats that will coincide to any great party playlist. There is a playful and deep trap vibe reminiscent of a Young Thug/Lil Yachty/Travis Scott production any beat-oriented listener will enjoy.
"SKIN MISSING" by blank body (2016), courtesy of his Bandcamp.
Listen to "SKIN MISSING" and tell me that wouldn't blend right in to a trap party playlist. While the intro does encompass an ambient vibe, it quickly becomes apparent the massive layers of chaos to ensue on top of it. Booming percussion and a rattling one will enjoy on repeated listen. Get their release HERE.
Up next on our light list is the bizarre world of Arigato from DJWWWW, an underground electronic and conceptual artist who formerly founded the then-known HiHiWhoopie blog. With a set of fifteen tracks as a thank you to the internet support, Arigato is a beautiful and hectic release that explores sampling with just the simple power of Audacity. A feature from budding artist, toiret status, is included into the curated mix as well, rounding out the release with the sparkling entrance of "Friends" that's chaotic as Giant Claw's Deep Web.
"School" by DJWWWW, courtesy of Orange Milk Records.
Take a peek at "Schools," a head-educing ensemble of cinematic curation with a main chopped loop as the beat and obscurely placed hip-hop and soundtrack references. Find their release HERE.
The last (and never the least) item to round off things is the all-too beautiful debut from Christa Lee, titled Welcome to the Fantasy Zone. Taken from a deep and philosophical inspiration from the marvels of which are the games of the SEGA franchise and the numerous soundtracks within it, Christa Lee embarks to the mysticism, the inner core, of SEGA music and reflects the results right back with a nostalgic listen that not only mimics a time when SEGA Saturns and Mega Drives were on the rise but tells her listener that such an era never actually left.
"Magical Sound Sailor" by Christa Lee, courtesy of her Bandcamp.
Listen to "Magical Sound Sailor," a track dedicated to iconic racing games like Outrun and SEGA Rally Championship. If you really want to hear the real beauty of the subtle bass in this track, play this on your car speakers. Trust me, it will sound amazing. Find her release HERE.


text: Hello! Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for NotesFirst! We are collecting this information to choose a select few medical mission doctors to receive a complete NotesFirst platform package (eg. 2 iPad minis and a 1 year subscription to the NotesFirst application) to take with you on your journey.


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Truth, Justice and the Curious Case of Chris Kyle Part Two : The Reaction/
"To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction." - Sir Isaac Newton
**Estimated Reading Time: 22 Minutes**
On August 3, 2014, in the wake of the defamation verdict in favor of Jesse Ventura against the late Navy SEAL and "American Sniper" author, Chris Kyle, I wrote an article titled "Truth, Justice and the Curious Case of Chris Kyle". Since the release of the film American Sniper on Dec. 25, 2014, and its incredible success, my article has received a significant spike in readers and has gotten some attention from news outlets as well. Due to this, I thought it might be of interest to share some of the reactions to the piece and my further thoughts on it.
First, I want to thank all of the people who read the article. I am well aware that it is considered "long" by many, and "too long" by some, so thank you for putting in the time and effort to read it. And thank you very much to all of those who took the additional time to comment, especially those who diligently and effectively defended me against critical attacks by other commenters. I would even like to thank those who were not fans of the piece (or me) for taking an interest and sharing your perspectives in the comment section. I also would like to thank all the folks who emailed me with encouraging words of support. It meant a great deal and I truly appreciate it. And, while I am at it, I'd also like to thank those people who took the time to write to me and vent, rage and spew vitriol upon me. Even though your thoughts carry the intellectual heft of a bumper sticker, I am glad to have been of service to you, and consider your anger to be a sign of you being just another satisfied customer.
As I mentioned, the article has been well received by some, and not so well received by others. The comments section in and of itself is a pretty fascinating petri dish of people's thinking, or 'not-thinking' as the case may be. As I said to close the original piece, this is a topic that gets emotions running pretty high, and sure enough there have been a lot of emotional responses to it, both in the comments section and by email. I strongly encourage you to go and read the comments section in it's entirety to get a taste of what I am talking about. As commenter John Cramer wrote,
I love how the comments section is a complete mirror to your post Michael. It points out clearly the point you were trying to make about humans, beliefs, cognitive dissonance, Manichean philosophy, and truth. Your piece is amazing, thought provoking and informative; but it reaches a next level meta spectacular when you read the comments sections. Well done sir!
Well said, John, "next level meta spectacular" indeed. The comments section in many ways proves the exact point I was trying to make in the piece.
The Media Reaction or: How in the Land of the Blind, The One-Eyed Man is King
The mainstream media has, for the most part, been right on schedule with it's uselessness on this subject. Here is a clip from the NBC Nightly News (ironically enough hosted by fantasist Brian Williams) about the film American Sniper. It is just the worst, most insidious kind of unthinking propaganda. A puff-piece through and through. Notice how they never even mention the defamation suit or the verdict against Chris Kyle, which are pretty important facts.
No offense to Mrs. Kyle, but to say Chris Kyle never sought attention when he wrote a book about himself in which he declares himself to be the "Most Lethal Sniper In US Military History" and then sold it to a movie studio, is a bit tough to swallow. It is even harder to swallow when you call that humility. What that really is...is false humility.
Speaking of propaganda, Fox News personality Sean Hannity recently dedicated an entire episode of his show "Hannity" to the topic of the film, he titled it "American Sniper: Patriotism Under Fire", not to be confused with the version on his website titled, "American Sniper: Patriotism Under Attack". I shit you not. The tv show was an hour long infomercial for a film which had already made over $200 million in just a few weeks in wide release (it is now past $300 million). Thank God Sean Hannity is there to defend 'patriotism' when it is under such brutal attack by evil hordes of green-eyed dead presidents. If my memory serves me, I believe Hannity has already been awarded a much deserved American Flag lapel pin for his bravery in action during the hellacious "War on Christmas", I am sure his heroic efforts in defense of 'patriotism' during this 'money attack' will be similarly rewarded.
There is one notable exception though to the endless mainstream media blindness. I am not on Twitter, but someone emailed me this tweet from CNN host Michael Smerconish from January 23, 2015.
"I've seen and enjoyed American Sniper and now I've read this (A link to my article http://mpmacting.com/blog/2014/7/19/truth-justice-and-the-curious-case-of-chris-kyle) - I recommend people do both."
The day after Smerconish tweeted my article, he went on his tv show, and without any mention of my piece, used it to absolutely obliterate Chris Kyle's co-writer on the book "American Sniper", Jim DeFelice. Please watch this video (the relevant section is the first 6 Minutes and 15 seconds)
Notice how DeFelice is expecting this to be another patty-cake interview and puff piece, but Smerconish has something else in mind. Smerconish did what every single journalist out there should have been doing from day one of this story. While Smerconish may not have credited my article on air, he obviously used it to bludgeon DeFelice, and I tip my cap to him for doing an outstanding job in this interview. Just as Smerconish used my article as a blueprint to eviscerate DeFelice, other tv "journalists" should use Smerconish's interview as a blueprint to bring the truth about the Ventura court case and Chris Kyle, to the American public. Smerconish was respectful but firm, thoughtful yet persistent. I was not aware of Smerconish prior to seeing this, but having watched that interview, I now know he is a powerful interviewer and potential forceful voice for truth, and I hope he continues to be loyal to Truth above all else.
Common False Beliefs About the Ventura Court Case
Some people who commented or emailed were uninformed about the very basics of the Ventura lawsuit, but that didn't stop them from thinking they were very well informed. The National Review Online had a great rundown of things which I linked to in the original piece, and strongly encouraged you to read it, and I do so again here. LINK . Here are some other things that people were adamant were true but simply aren't.
Ventura waited until Kyle was dead before ever filing the lawsuit and did so against Kyle's widow or, Ventura refiled the lawsuit against Taya Kyle (Chris Kyle's widow) after Chris Kyle was killed. WRONG. Kyle was killed well after the lawsuit was filed and when he died his estate automatically became the defendant in the case. Taya Kyle is the executor of the Chris Kyle estate.
Ventura was the first to out himself as being the person named 'scruff-face' in the book "American Sniper". WRONG. Chris Kyle named Ventura as 'Scruff-face' on the Opie and Anthony Sirius radio show and the O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel.
There is video of Chris Kyle punching Ventura. WRONG. Ummm…no…obviously there isn't any video.
The defamation verdict did not decide whether or not Ventura was punched, only if his reputation was harmed by the story. WRONG. If Kyle actually hit Ventura, then telling the story is not defamation (or slander or libel). The truth is a defense against defamation/slander/libel charges. So, yes, the jury decided they didn't believe Chris Kyle about the fight he claimed occurred. The damages awarded Ventura are not entirely a result of the punching story being false, but are also due to the statements attributed to Ventura by Kyle that were also deemed to be false.
Kyle never got a chance to defend himself. WRONG. Kyle videotaped a deposition a year before he was killed. According to reports, this deposition was very damaging to his case since Kyle had a hard time keep his story straight. Star tribune story link.
Ventura just wanted a pay day. WRONG. Ventura was very clear early on that he just wanted the story retracted. Chris Kyle and the publishers offered to pay Ventura to drop the suit, but Ventura refused, demanding an apology instead. Kyle declined and the case proceeded. Ventura then had to pay his attorney fees, which are substantial, out of his own pocket.
Carjacking Story
The carjacking story is one that has gotten a lot of attention for obvious reasons. It is a story that is pretty easy to check on considering law enforcement was allegedly called and there were two dead bodies and the paper trail you would expect to find when those two things are involved. Some have commented that the story is just hearsay and that there is no proof that Chris ever said it. Well, Michael Mooney at D Magazine 'confirmed' that Chris told him that story, of course some have interpreted Mooney's "confirming" the story to mean that it is "confirmed" to be true. It isn't, it is only "confirmed" that Chris Kyle was telling this carjacking story. Marcus Lutrell, another highly decorated and famous Navy SEAL, put the carjacking story in one of his books and said it came from Chris Kyle. So if you think Chris Kyle never claimed to have killed two carjackers, then you think Navy SEAL Marcus Lutrell is a liar. Some people's heads may explode if the only choice they have is to decide which one of those two Navy SEALs is lying.
The New York Times and WMD
There were many commenters who were critical of my questioning Chris Kyle's claim to have discovered WMDs in Iraq. Many linked to a New York Times article that came out on October 14, 2014 (nearly three months after I wrote the original piece). As was almost always the case, other commenters quickly and ardently pushed back against these claims of vindication by those that believe the Kyle story regarding his discovery of barrels of wmd's and the Bush rationalization for going to war with Iraq. Commenter James Aragon (an Iraq war veteran) wrote in reply to another commenter who asked if I would be editing my article based on the NY Times story,
The most relevant point in the NYT piece is here:
The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program. Instead, American troops gradually found and ultimately suffered from the remnants of long-abandoned programs, built in close collaboration with the West.
Key in on the 'remnants of long-abandoned programs.' These incidents were (not) hidden to hide an active WMD program, but to shelter the lack of intelligence we had on these sites.
Another commenter, Eric A. Smith, got even more specific in his counter argument with someone who used the NY Times piece to claim that WMDs were found.
...although there were a few spent rounds and canisters which had been aged beyond usefulness, these weren't stocks the Iraqis were holding back. They had been forgotten.
Do you want to know why the Bush clan - and especially Rumsfeld - were so certain that Hussein must have had some WMD stocks left over?
Because they gave them to him. And Rumsfeld personally brokered the deal. What's more, I've got the proof. Read it here: http://aliberaldose.blogspot.jp/2006/02/how-we-came-to-own-iraq-repost.html
The UN inspectors did a damned thorough job of destroying anything that could have been of use to him though. The Bush clan knew without a shadow of a doubt that not only was Hussein not even the tiniest threat to the US, he couldn't even threaten the countries neighboring Iraq. How do I know? Powell told me. So did Rice. They told you too, but I bet you weren't paying attention. But here, they'll tell you again, so you can have no doubt whatsoever that Bush Jr. and his bumbling gang of psychotics invaded Iraq KNOWING 100% THAT HUSSEIN COULDN'T ATTACK ANYONE, INCLUDING AND SPECIFICALLY US:
You were duped man. Played for a sucker. Cheney and Rumsfeld have been doing it since the Nixon era, when they started the Cold War:
This whole debate feels so 2002-2003. What struck me about the use of this New York Times article as proof of Kyle's claims was that it seems as though the people linking to it have not actually read all of it. The New York Times article actually further undermines the very specific claim by Chris Kyle that "At another location, we found barrels of chemical material that was intended for use as biochemical weapons." The Times piece never once mentions any "barrels of chemical material" being found. It does mention that degrading and degraded munitions from the Iran-Iraq war from the 1980's were found though, which is a very significant difference from what Kyle describes. These now-degraded weapons were procured by Iraq in the 1980's while they were a client state of the U.S. and a proxy for America in the war against Iran. The Bush administration kept the discovery of these degraded weapons a secret not because, as Chris Kyle speculated about his alleged barrel find, it would embarrass the French and Germans, but rather because it would embarrass not only the United States, but the people who were serving in high levels of the government in the U.S. at the time Iraq procured the weapons in the 1980's and also at the time the U.S. invaded in 2003.
Another commenter stated that Iraq had used gas on its own people, the Kurds, and offered this as proof that they had chemical weapons in 2003. While it is true that a genocidal attack on the Kurds by Iraq with chemical weapons did occur, it happened on March 16, 1988, again, while Iraq was a client state of the United States of America. The weapons were dropped from U.S. made helicopters, using U.S. intelligence information gathered by U.S. intelligence and military assets.
There was a joke going around in the debate leading up to the 2003 Iraq invasion that went something like this, "How do we know that Saddam has chemical weapons? Because we kept the receipts when we sold them to him." That joke only has a chance to be funny if you're not a Kurd or someone who had to go fight in that awful war.
The United Nations Inspectors, The Iraq Survey Group and finally the Bush administration itself, have all declared that there was no active weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq post-1991. Here is a solid rundown that dismantles the 'wmd dead-enders' and their claims of vindication for Bush and company. LINK .
"You Didn't Prove He Lied"
I got some comments and a few emails from people who made the argument that I "didn't prove that Kyle had lied". Along the same lines I got some comments/emails saying that "I wasn't there so I couldn't know what happened" and should "keep my opinion to myself". Or that I wasn't a Navy SEAL so I should just "Shut.The.Fuck.Up." A commenter, J.R. MacDonald, took this line of thinking head on when another commenter claimed I "failed to prove Chris Kyle's stories were lies" and then said I was a "coward who hides behind his keyboard", Mr. MacDonald answered this charge better than I could ever hope to, so I quote him at length here:
"Failed to prove his stories are lies." Therein lies the problem. Your approach is flawed...You cannot prove a negative. If a complete lack of evidence exists to support a particular claim, logically, one can conclude that the claim is false.
For example. Right now, prove to me that reindeer can't fly. When you come back and cite the complete lack of evidence for flying reindeer, I can easily point out that you just didn't look hard enough, do your research, etc. You can't prove to me that there aren't reindeer flying right now and we just haven't observed them. This is what you've done with Chris Kyle's stories. The proof then, must come from the positive claim. If you want to prove that reindeer fly, it's very simple: Just show me one reindeer flying. The end. There's the proof. But, since there have been zero documented cases of a dang flying reindeer, we can conclude, logically, that reindeer do not fly.
Now... it would be easy to prove Chris Kyle's stories as true. There'd be paper trails, there'd be witnesses, there'd be SOMETHING. But there isn't. There would have been some story somewhere talking about two dead carjackers. There might even be a video of it. But there isn't. Therefore, just like the flying reindeer, we can conclude that they never happened. Ever.
Whether you like it or not, Kyle lied about a number of things, embellished a number of things, but he also DID do a bunch of incredible things. I was in Ramadi in 2006 at the same time as Kyle. The possibility exists that one of the American lives he unquestionably saved was either mine or that of one of my Marines. His service record could have easily spoken for itself, and it's always been my opinion that he should have hired a biographer and let someone else tell his story. The exaggerations could have been filtered out, the lies could have been filtered out, and we'd have been left with just Chris Kyle as best to remember him. He had no need to embellish a single solitary detail. He could have just told the stories exactly as they were and they'd still be incredible. Hell, simply being a SEAL at all with no combat added in is a tremendous accomplishment.
Also, if the author of this blog is a "disgrace" to America, what exactly does that make you? Your basic premise here is, "if you disagree me with me, you're a coward." Is this what being a "good" American is? Is no one allowed to do their own research and come to their own conclusions? Why should Chris Kyle be allowed to make up whatever story he wants and that just be "ok?" Is THAT being a good American? I'm a veteran too... do I get to make up all kinds of stories as well, or is that honor reserved for only certain veterans?
"Confirmed", "Official" and "Officially Confirmed"
The word "confirmed" has been kicked around a lot in regards to this story, and there has been and remains a great deal of confusion in the media over the claim by Chris Kyle that he had 160 confirmed kills in the Iraq war, and what the term "confirmed" actually means. As I stated in the original piece, "confirmed kills" means "kills witnessed by another person besides the shooter". As Chris Kyle himself explains in his book, a "confirmed kill" means you see the person die, not that he is assumed to have died from his wounds at a later time. The confusion starts when media outlets say that the Navy has "confirmed" Kyle's 160 kills. This is untrue as far as I have been able to gather. "Confirmed" is being confused here with "official". A "confirmed kill" is a very specific thing (as stated above), the Navy officially confirming the number of kills Chris Kyle has is another. From what I have been able to ascertain, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of Defense do not keep official "confirmed kill" numbers for individual servicemen. The Navy and Pentagon have not "officially confirmed" Chris Kyle's "confirmed kill" number. I am not saying that his "confirmed kill" number is a lie, I have absolutely no insight into that subject. But as far as I have been able to determine, the U.S. Navy and the Department of Defense have never commented on Chris Kyle's alleged "confirmed kill" statistic one way or the other.
Brian Williams, Dead-Enders and the Art of the Bullshit Detector
Brian Williams, the aforementioned anchorman on NBC nightly news, has recently been suspended for six months without pay for telling tall tales about his experience while reporting in Iraq. Personally I think Mr. Williams should be permanently unemployed from this point forward, but as we all know, telling the truth is not exactly a major requirement in order to be a news anchor. Besides the 'Iraq helicopter missile attack' story he told, Williams also told another story that has come under scrutiny, where he claimed he saw a bloated, dead body float by his French Quarter hotel room in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. People have challenged this story because apparently, there was no flooding in the French Quarter during Hurricane Katrina. Maybe, just maybe, we have a 'magic bullet' here which ties together both Williams and Kyle's fabulist Katrina stories. Maybe Williams saw one of the people Chris Kyle sniped from atop the Superdome float by his hotel room. Maybe? That sure would one hell of a story so…IT MUST BE TRUE!! This whole thing begs the question, why is Hurricane Katrina such a flame for moth-like fantasists? I guess it is, pardon the pun, a perfect storm of chaos, lawlessness and public attention that makes it such an easy target for bullshit.
In all seriousness regarding Williams, he is a symptom of a much larger disease. The story he told about his helicopter coming under attack, and the Katrina story, were a way for him to feed his audience the narrative that they demanded. Brian Williams was simply doing what he thought his job was…telling the people what they want to hear. Williams told people a tale, glorifying himself in the process, that people believed because they wanted to believe it. This is the same thing Chris Kyle did in his book and elsewhere. It is the same thing Clint Eastwood has done with the film American Sniper. All three of those men have made a pretty penny telling these tales, and while they are most certainly the ones to blame, we have some culpability as well. Whenever we hear a story that confirms our bias, that is when we must be more vigilant than ever. If a story feels too good to be true, it most likely is. Some on the right have blindly embraced the Chris Kyle story just like some on the left once blindly embraced the Rolling Stone UVA and the Duke Lacrosse rape stories. As I said in the original piece, cognitive dissonance is blind to political party or ideology.
That doesn't mean these types of stories are always false, just that we cannot take for granted that they are true, no matter how tempting that may be. As a personal example, just the other night I watched the Academy Award nominated documentary Virunga, on Netflix. This film is about the struggle to protect the last remaining mountain gorillas in the world, who happen to live in Congo, while a civil war rages around them and valuable oil and natural gas percolate under their feet. I really enjoyed the film a great deal. It touched upon a number of issues that I am deeply interested in, such as government/corporate corruption, colonialism, environmentalism and things of that nature . The thing about the film though, is that it left me feeling a bit…odd. What made my bullshit detector start to go off was that it all just seemed too perfect. The film was so aligned with what I believe about the world that when it ended I couldn't help but wonder if it was on the up and up. Was this all true or were parts of it manufactured? Was most of it manufactured? So instead of me embracing this film that confirmed my biases, I was wary of it, and wondered if it was deceptive. That may not be the most enjoyable way to experience the world, but I think in the long run, it is a much wiser and healthier way to approach information that is being presented to you.
I will say this about Virunga, I certainly hope it is true, but my hoping it is true doesn't make it so. Just like many people who desperately cling to the Bush administration pre-war WMD program claims, even after the administration itself has abandoned those claims, and some people cling to the tales Chris Kyle, aka "The Legend", told as being true, even though it is obvious to most observers that these tales, and "The Legend" itself, is much more complicated than we've been led to believe. These 'dead-enders', to borrow a phrase from Donald Rumsfeld, who hang onto these stories do so because of the frightening prospect that in order to embrace the truth one must release the previously held belief that conflicts with that truth. Letting go of anything, be it a belief, a grudge or a favorite t-shirt, is difficult for people to do because it brings with it the possibility that we will lose our identity. Our ego will have nothing to grasp onto and we will be obliterated or thrown into the dark abyss if the familiar belief is released. This is why I hope Virunga is true and also why I fear it is not. The fear is not just that I would be wrong about my beliefs, but that I wouldn't know who I really was if I had to abandon my perceptions of the world. But for me, the greater fear is to be lost in one's own illusions and self deceptions. I can understand when people or institutions lie to me, they are trying to manipulate me for their own benefit, but what I cannot tolerate is when I lie to myself. To lie to oneself is the act of a fool or a coward, or in some cases...both.
The Manichean, Projections and Scapegoating
When my original article was first posted it got a lot of readers linking to it from a variety of websites of which I had never heard. Many of these websites were gun enthusiast websites. My initial reaction was …"uh-oh". I was not raised in the gun culture, it is totally foreign to me. Gun enthusiasts are 'the other' for me. That is not to say that I am against gun rights, quite the opposite actually, as I am a staunch defender of gun rights (and all of the rights declared in the constitution). My basic approach to life is that just because I don't do something doesn't mean I should keep someone else from doing it. For instance, I do not drink alcohol or caffeine, do drugs, smoke cigarettes or have gay sex, but, call me crazy, I don't believe those things should be outlawed just because they aren't my thing. I feel the same way about gun rights. Back to the point, the important thing is that gun enthusiasts and that culture are alien to me. So it is easy for me to label that group of people and assume a bunch of things about them without any first hand experience. Much of the media is more than happy to help in that regard, so gun enthusiasts were 'gun nuts' in my mind, and the fact that they were reading my article was something very unsettling to me because I assumed they hated it and me for writing it. My reaction was that things were going to get bad and quick. Then I actually went and surreptitiously read the discussions about my article on those websites and I am ashamed to say that I was really surprised to see that not only were these people not 'unhinged', as they are so frequently labelled, but rather they were extraordinarily thoughtful. That is not to say they all agreed with the article, just that they were having a calm discussion based on reason, logic and rational thought, which is not something you come across very often in our culture in general and on the internet in particular. I was really glad to have had the opportunity to get a quick glimpse of some 'gun people' as they really are and not as they are portrayed to me in the media and I won't soon forget it or the lessons I learned from it.
My intellectual laziness in regards to gun enthusiasts was a reminder that it is never wise to assume things about a large group of people (or one single person for that matter). For example, it is common to make assumptions about people who serve in the military as well, lumping them all in the same category. This can be done in both a positive and negative fashion. For instance, some commenters were angry with me for daring to question Chris Kyle because to them veterans are beyond reproach due to the belief that they "fought for my freedoms". According to these commenters, anyone who served is a "hero". The problem with that though is, like any large institution, there are both good and bad people who serve in the military. A perfect example of this is that Eddie Ray Routh, the man accused of killing Chris Kyle, is a former Marine. So who decides who the good and bad veterans are? Does Eddie Ray Routh deserve the same kid gloves people tell me I am supposed to use with Chris Kyle? Or should we just judge people on the content of their character and not on whatever career choices they have made or service they have performed?
Another example of this is that some of the most vociferous and diligent defenders of me in the comments sections, people like the humorously named but incredibly astute, knowledgable and insightful "Huck Mucus", were often veterans themselves (to be clear, they claimed to be veterans but this is the internet and I have no way of knowing if that is true or not). In response to a commenter that chastised me for not "thanking Chris Kyle" and other military members for fighting for my freedoms so that I could "sit on my ass" and write my article, Huck Mucus wrote,
I never met a vet who wanted to be thanked. If I did it would certainly raise an eyebrow; kind of like those guys who write books and toot their own horn. For me, if the U.S. honors any deal it cut with me (pay, VA, etc.) then that is all that is sought. Again, for me personally, I want this guy to sit on his ass behind a desk chipping away at your cognitive dissonance. I thank him for that. He doesn't have to thank me for my service. Just my opinion.
I most certainly do thank Huck Mucus for his well stated opinions, and everyone else as well. I also hope this brings to an end any discussions where "my ass" is on the list of acceptable topics. But seriously, what the comments section does show is that the service men and women of this country are a very diverse group with a multitude of opinions on a wide array of topics including Chris Kyle. This is an obvious statement which is all to easy to forget. So often we project all sorts of simple feelings and beliefs onto groups of people, be they veterans or otherwise, which just don't conform to the more complex reality.
In psychology, projection is defined as "when humans defend themselves against unpleasant impulses by denying their existence in themselves, while attributing them to others." Scapegoating is "the process in which the mechanisms of projection or displacement are utilized in focusing feelings of aggression, hostility, frustration, etc. upon another individual or group: the amount of blame being unwarranted."
Those who disagreed with my article often projected upon me all sorts of attributes that, when they didn't mystify me, made me laugh. For instance I got a series of emails saying I was a "Libtard" who "loved Hillary Clinton", and "hated the truth", and that I would "never be taken seriously as a writer" (oh no!! Not THAT!!) because I had written an article about "Chris Kyle and not Benghazi", which is sort of like calling Clint Eastwood a racist because American Sniper is not about Muhammed Ali. That logic boggles the mind.
A large part of the projections thrown upon me are a result of the Manichean philosophy. When you have a clear black and white perspective on the world, if someone disagrees with you on one subject, then you can fill in the blanks of all the things you don't know about them with all sorts of other attributes and beliefs that you find repellent. Because the perceived opponent has proven themselves 'wrong' /'bad' /'evil' with their original contrary belief, they must be the 'the other' and holder of all beliefs the Manichean finds repulsive. Hence, my being a "libtard-Hillary-Clinton-loving-Benghazi-denier".
This is also a form of scapegoating, where all the negative aspects of a self described 'good' individual, group or community are projected upon an 'evil' select group or individual. These negative aspects are projected in order to consolidate all of the blame and hate into one person/group and then to finally purge that 'evil' person/group in order to relieve the individual/group/community of those negative ('evil') feelings or beliefs. Of course, the problem is that many, if not all, of those 'evil' projections that are thrown onto the scapegoat are creations of the scapegoating 'good' individual/group/community, and not the scapegoated 'evil' individual/group. That is how projection works, we throw our own worst aspects onto another and do not take responsibility for them ourselves. So while the scapegoating and purging will have the momentary effect of avoidance, eventually those negative 'evil' aspects will be front and center once again because they have not been released through genuine reflection and a true catharsis on the part of the scapegoater, so another scapegoat must be found to relieve the psychological pressure and continue the cycle.
This projection/scapegoating is what I did with gun enthusiasts, this is what some readers did to me, it is what Chris Kyle did to Muslims/Iraqis and it is what some readers have done to Chris Kyle. Projecting/scapegoating is a very human, unconscious impulse, but the key to overcoming that impulse is to become conscious of it. Sadly, we usually want to take short cuts to thinking so we do not want to put in the effort to become aware, self aware, or informed enough to be conscious of what we are doing and why.
Death Threats?, The Temptation of Embellishment!! and What the Hell Do You Know?
Interestingly enough, I have had a number of people ask me if I have received death threats as a result of the original article. I will say this about that…I certainly got a good number of aggressive emails and comments (the worst of which I did not let pass moderation due to inappropriateness of language) and a lot of vitriol spewed at me. I am sure that some other people might even consider those emails and comments 'threatening', but if I am being honest I have to say that the correspondence I received never reached the level of threats. For me to consider something 'threatening', I would have had to feel threatened, and I never for a moment felt truly threatened. Sure, some of the emails I got were very aggressive, but at the end of the day, it is just people writing nasty things, so who gives a rat's ass? I'm a big boy, people calling me names isn't something that is going to strike fear in my heart. Maybe I am just delusional or oblivious, but I was not alarmed at all. In the final analysis, really positive emails outnumbered negative ones by three to one at least, so I never spent much time dwelling on the school yard taunts thrown at me.
But here is the thing….I was talking to a good friend about all of this the other day and he asked me if I had received any death threats and in that moment I quickly realized how really tempting it is to embellish the story. It is a much better story to say I did receive death threats. It is considerably more interesting, more dramatic and more impactful (and self aggrandizing) if I say I was threatened for writing an article some deem challenging or disrespectful to a 'hero' (this also would be me embracing the "Truth-teller archetype", in contrast to Chris Kyle embracing the "Hero archetype" which I will expand on later in this piece). In fact, I am pretty sure I could have made a big deal about some of the emails I got and claimed I actually did receive death threats, or what I perceived as death threats, and that would have brought me some attention. The reason? Because that is what some people want to hear. There is a segment of the population that if they heard I was receiving death threats, it would confirm what they already believe, that their ideological opponents are violent and unhinged. See, this is how the game works in our culture today, regardless of political affiliation. I tell people how scared I am and how crazy the 'pro-Kyle' people are, then I become a cause celebre and get my fifteen minutes of fame (and maybe make some money in the process). This is Victimhood and Media Manipulation 101. Then I could get myself out there as an important person because I am someone people want to shut up…well…someone the right people want to shut up. This stuff happens all the time (see Mr. Hannity's "Patriotism Under Attack" as just one example). This is what Chris Kyle did with the Ventura story and all the others, he gave his target audience what they wanted to hear, regardless if it was the Truth.
This brings up another complaint that people had of the original piece, namely that I was the person who wrote it. People would say, "who the hell are you?" "You're not a journalist! You're a nobody!!" Or "you are an acting coach what could you possibly know about anything?" This is a common approach to undermine the merits of an argument by attacking the authority or credibility of the person making the argument as opposed to looking at the merits of the argument itself. I do understand the criticism though, and believe me, I wouldn't have written the piece if someone who is paid to do these things would have done it. That is one of the things I was writing about, namely that the information I cited in my article was in the public sphere, and not just on some outer fringe of the internet, but in the Washington Post and The New Yorker magazine, and yet not a single media figure brought these issues up when the defamation verdict came out. People in the media were either being intentionally obtuse or were just plain ignorant. That is what frustrated me so much and that was the impetus for me to write the original piece.
That said, due to my profession there are some things I know a great deal about, one of which is the eternal quest for fame and the machinery that makes it happen. I am surrounded by both all day long. Hollywood is one of the three great bullshit capitals of America, with Wall Street and Washington, D.C. the other two. Out here, embellishing, massaging or just completely making stories up in order to create and control impressions and perceptions is business as usual. You see and hear it happening incessantly. An age old example would be the well-worn story of the beautiful young woman who is "discovered" while waiting in line at a grocery store. This story is nonsense meant to generate interest in a particular ingenue, to give a fantasy for other young women to root for this ingenue because they too could be "discovered at the grocery store", to give the impression for men that this beauty is really attainable because she is just the "girl-next-door", and to create a way for shady guys to inappropriately approach beautiful young girls in public under the guise of "discovering" them.
Same thing with the many stories about actors going to great lengths to physically morph into a character. For instance, did Bradley Cooper really gain forty pounds to play Chris Kyle? Or is it more likely he gained twenty pounds, which, by the way, is one hell of an achievement for a forty year old man and I am sure he gave a Herculean effort to do it, but twenty pounds doesn't sound all that Herculean to the average Joe, whereas forty pounds sounds incredibly remarkable, almost otherworldly. Hollywood will always go with the incredibly remarkable otherworldly story, every…single...time.
One other thing I know about as an acting coach is how to create a believable narrative and a sympathetic character. This is why my spidey sense started going off when I read the "American Sniper" book. It is filled little stories, that are really just throw away little tales, but they are so sculpted as to manipulate the reader to believe that Chris Kyle is everything they want him to be (not to mention they are 'unverifiable' to borrow a phrase from the Washington Post). I work with actors and scripts all day long searching for these minuscule little triggers that are so essential to creating a massive unconscious effect in the reader/viewer. It is a credit to Kyle's co-authors how subtly their work has been done. The "babykiller" sign story and the "discovering barrels of WMD" are two stories that stood out to me because of how quickly and quietly they are dropped into the narrative. The book expertly creates a character that is humble and sincere, even in his faults, all the while he is actually bragging (he is writing a book about himself!!) and bullshitting you (Scruff-face/Ventura etc.). You know what they say, once you can fake sincerity, then you've really got it made. In that sense, "American Sniper" is an absolute masterpiece and I genuinely credit Kyle and his co-authors for the craft displayed in making it.
Musings on "The Legend" as The Hero Archetype Runs Amok
The reason some react so strongly to my article is that the topic touches a nerve deep within the personal and collective psyche. The Hero Archetype is not only something that Chris Kyle needed to believe in, it is something we all need to believe in, as evidenced by the enormous success of the film American Sniper, which is as full blown an homage to the Hero Archetype as it gets. We all project these archetypal images onto the voids of our psyches and our realities. So when our heroes are challenged, that means the Hero Archetype, an entity in and of itself, is challenged as well. The archetype resides deep within our unconscious, both personal and collective, and it will instinctively defend itself, and for our own psychic self defense we will jump to it's defense as well.
It is my belief that Chris Kyle was under the spell of this Hero Archetype. Chris Kyle's psyche was split in two, there was Chris Kyle the man, the father, son, husband, brother, and then there was "The Legend". Maybe that happened as a defense mechanism for him to be able to survive both physically and mentally in a war zone, and then to be able to maintain a sense of emotional and mental equilibrium upon his return home. This is completely understandable. And when other people projected upon him the collective Hero Archetype, this empowered "The Legend" side of things, and then there was no way for 'Chris' to escape this alter-ego, so he unconsciously, or consciously, embraced it. As I said in the original piece, 'Chris' knew the things he said were not true, but the Hero Archetype, "The Legend", overwhelmed that mindset and what became important wasn't what was true, but what could be true. In reading Chris' tales, I get the sense that those images, of him hitting Ventura, of the carjackers, the looters, etc. are creations of the Hero Archetype "The Legend" which had him under its power. In the final analysis, Chris Kyle is totally responsible for the tales he told, but the people and media who fawned over "The Legend" also have a share in the blame for the fantastic tales as well. Living a life where people project tremendous amounts of archetypal energy onto you must be a terribly exhausting existence. There are many examples where it has destroyed people, think of Marylin Monroe and all of the archetypal sexual energy directed at her and how it eventually annihilated her. At some point, being "The Legend" was no longer a choice, but rather the cross 'Chris' had to bear, albeit an at times very prosperous one.
To me, this hypothesis is the only way to make much sense of what has become the most interesting question of all…why? Why would a guy with such an apparent stellar resume as a warrior (two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars), feel the need to make up stories in order to sound tougher or more heroic? I can understand why Brian Williams would make up stories, his claim to fame is reading a teleprompter every night for twenty two minutes while maintaining impeccable hair. But Chris Kyle is allegedly the most lethal sniper in US military history, isn't that an impressive enough calling card for that line of work that you don't need to pad it with bullshit? Apparently not. Obviously, the preceding thoughts are just my opinion on why he lied about the things he lied about, and since I never met Chris Kyle, take them for what they are worth.
Final Thoughts
As usual, a commenter had some great insights into what all of this means. Andie Howe wrote...
Thank you for this great article. I can't imagine it will make any difference. Those who believe Chris Kyle will continue to believe Chris Kyle and will vilify you for having written it; and the rest of us will continue to think his devotees are deluded….
I think Andie Howe is probably accurate in that statement. I will say this though, from all of the insightful emails and great comments I received it is pretty obvious to me that there are many fellow travelers out there, much more than I previously thought, who actually 'get it'. And I don't mean agree with me on the Chris Kyle issue. What I mean is they 'get' what I was really saying and the problem I was trying to describe. I think it is a result of my deficiencies as a writer that I was unable to more clearly communicate what exactly I was trying to say. But I am grateful for those that were able to find the true meaning hidden beneath the morass of the Chris Kyle story. For at the end of the day, thanks to the Clint Eastwood film American Sniper, Truth has gone out the window, and the Chris Kyle story and the debate swirling around it have devolved into nothing more than a political football being vacuously tossed around with each side reflexively opposing the other and mindlessly clinging to their beliefs. The story itself will dissipate just like all the others, and something more pressing, and ultimately just as foolish, will take it's place. And this seemingly endless cycle of nonsense and bullshit will keep the media, our politics, our culture and ourselves chasing after our tails (and tales) until we simply collapse from exhaustion or boredom, whichever comes first. It was Shakespeare's MacBeth who said it best...
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
and then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
Such is life…and so it goes.
© 2015


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Skins Movie
oh that is just hi-larious
DiScussion and suggestions of plotlines please.
they all die
the end.
same plot as the rug rats movie
complete with musical interludes and reptar
Gay-Jay takes up running
Cook gets a thai bride only for it to turn out that she's a man
they all go to an STI clinic
and the drama unfolds...
I hate it when they make western versions of asian films.
Why can't they just leave Battle Royale alone?
I opened this thread just to say that
great minds think alike.


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As far as many basketball fans are concerned, Steve Nash's defense couldn't possibly get any worse. To those folks I say, never say never.
Playing in a pick-up game that was the most important Canadian hoops action in years, the two-time NBA MVP was crossed up and beaten baseline by teen pop idol Justin Bieber.
It's one thing to struggle keeping world class point guards like Chris Paul or Tony Parker in front of you. But, it's another thing for Bieber to make him look like a turnstile. Perhaps preoccupied with someone setting a pick to his left, Nash froze as Bieber flashed a nifty crossover move en route to the rack for a reverse layup.
It's possible, and perhaps even likely, that the 37-year-old Nash wasn't trying to show up the 17-year-old, but this won't stop Nash's critics from connecting the dots between his lackluster one-one-one defensive skills and this clip. Thankfully, Nash has plenty of fans who will rush to defend him, notably the commentariat at The Basketball Jones who are fairly certain that Bieber should have been whistled for a carry on this play.
Coming in a casual game, odds are that Nash didn't think much of the play at the time. Big mistake. Once Bieber shared this video clip with his more than 12 million followers on Twitter, it was everywhere.
http://t.co/Qn1ZB00 - hold up though...is that the REAL @SteveNash - yes...yes it is...#crossover. @ludacris we comin 4 u! #TEAMBIEBER
At the end of the brief clip, the camera pans beneath the basket where Bieber's girlfriend, Selena Gomez, is looking on. The 19-year-old actress squeaks with delight as her boyfriend gets his shot to drop.
That Bieber has game couldn't have come as a complete surprise to Nash as the teen heartthrob was named MVP during the NBA's celebrity game during the 2011 All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
RELATED VIDEO: China bans contracted NBA players.


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A difficult to name feeling, that is shared by many of us. We may be unable to explain it to others, or even to ourselves. Sometimes, we believe that we know the reason, but later realize that it is something else.
This feeling comes in different forms. It could be ongoing, or repeatedly waxing and waning. It may be gone for several years and then come back. It may feel like seeking, disconnectedness, loneliness etc'.
Consider this;
There's a word: 'I'. We use it all the time: I work… I am reading… I wish… Etc'. Words are labels for mental concepts. It doesn't mean that what these concepts represent is Real, only that we – both as a society and as individuals – have created them and now use them. The moment that we use the word 'I', we create separation.
If there's an 'I', than the 'I' stands separate from everything else.
When there's a word for 'I', and there another word for 'God', God and I are separate. We use language so automatically that most of us are oblivious to the finer "side effects" of language, and yet subconsciously, the emotion that we experience by such use, is that of separation. Many of us make significant efforts to be closer to God or the spiritual, or "the beyond" – or whatever word one wishes to use. At the same time, only very few of us experience proximity or unity with a higher spiritual essence. 'I' and 'God' remain separate, by virtue of our existence as separate manmade concepts.
This being the case, separateness can be substantially reduced through some personal work, though perhaps of a somewhat unfamiliar kind.
Below, is a practice that may change all that.
We are trying to become aware, of ourselves using the word 'I'. As soon as we realize that we have just used the word 'I', we should do the following:
- We may experience a sudden inner silence. When this occurs, we allow the silence to be (without any doing, acting or interfering on our part) for as long as it lasts. There's a consciousness shift taking place at this time, one which is beyond words, concepts, thoughts, emotions or sensations.
- Once the experience of silence has ended, we move on with whatever we were doing previously, as if nothing happened.
There's no need to avoid using the word 'I', although that may be an added layer to this practice, one which some of us may wish to try.
This practice takes some patience and perseverance. There is no end result, only an increasing sense of connectedness, relief and liberation.
When we begin this practice, we are likely to be using the 'I' without noticing, practically all the time, which is completely understandable. Gradually we become more aware and notice our use of 'I' more and more often.
This is an exercise in awareness. We increase our awareness to include something which has previously been below the radar of our consciousness. Each time that we do this practice, we create a tiny hole in the wall of separation. Tiny enough that we may not notice anything. Continued patiently over a period of time however, we will notice several things:
- We will be noticing our use of 'I' more and more frequently.
- We will become aware of being about to use 'I' even before we actually say it.
- We will begin to have an experience of increasing unity with all things: known and unknown, familiar and unfamiliar, physical non-physical and spiritual, inside of us and outside of us, of this world and beyond. It is a very powerful experience, awe-inspiring, amazing, uplifting and liberating and certainly not of this world.
When we begin, It would best serve us to put our expectations away. It will allow us to stay with this practice over an extended period of time – long enough to reap its remarkable benefits.


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Unafraid, Playful and Daring.
The bold woman is a true individual.
Unafraid and playful, your style makes a statement as strong as your personality.
Confident and daring, you are the shining lights at every party.
The car you drive should tell the world as much about your personal taste as your wardrobe does. With its unique design, the Hyundai KONA hits the mark. With the eye-catching sweep of its daytime running lights, the compact SUV will put you at the centre of the action - just the way you like it.
For the bold style, Tangerine Comet is the ideal shade to complement your daring personality and help you stand out from the crowd. Complete with high-contrast fender cladding, this is a car for people who don't shy away from attention. Are people staring? Let them.


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In the previous section, instead of actually measuring using scientific equipment the "boiling wave" that arrives to the ear cochlea and makes us hear microwaves as clicks (something that would require using a hydrophone inside the brain tissue) we presented a model that calculates this.
We assumed that it is enough to calculate the wave generated in the head and not in the rest of the body. Is this valid? Another group of scientists say that this would suffice if you have a source of electromagnetic radiation close to your head, like a mobile. If this is not the case, but instead radiation comes from a distance, then you need to consider the whole body.
We will present the following study:
Yitzhak NM, Ruppin R, Hareuveny R.
Bioelectromagnetics. 2014 Oct;35(7):491-6. doi: 10.1002/bem.21869. Epub 2014 Aug 6.
So as mentioned previously, first you have to calculate how much of the energy carried by the electromagnetic wave will be absorbed by the human body. You will calculate the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR).
Then you will find the temperature rise induced by the energy absorption. Afterwards, you will calculate how much pressure is induced in the tissue by this temperature rise. In order to do that you need to know the elastic properties of the tissues (such as the coefficient of linear expansion and other elastic parameters).
Engineers could measure chunks of tissue e.g. epithelial tissue/skin and determine those values. In the absence of measurements, approximate values for soft and hard tissues could be used based on different materials. For instance as mentioned "For the Lamé elastic parameters of the soft tissues, the values λ=2.1 GPa and μ=22.3 kPa will be employed [Margulies and Meaney, 1998]. These are pressure values; temperature rise will cause pressure in the tissue.
But how do you put all the tissues together or how do you know where is where in the body order to model it?
Similarly to what was mentioned previously, you go the REMCOM site and you get a whole body mesh, which the company has created using MRI data from the Hershey Medical Center of the Penn State University.
Here is again the relevant link:
One of the REMCOM models used by the scientists is that of "male body, with height of 1.875 m, resolution of 5*5*5mm3 and 39 different tissue types". As mentioned in the study, "the meshes of these models were converted directly from the data generated by the Visible Human Project sponsored by the U.S. National Library of Medicine."
Following this approach, the scientists used an power density of 1mW/cm2 for modelling the incidence of electromagnetic radiation of different frequencies (note: they also took into account incidence from the front side or the backside, and polarization either vertical or horizontal).
As they increased the frequency they noted that the human body absorbed differently in different frequencies. In particular, it must be mentioned that for vertical polarization only, there was one peak of absorption at 60MHz and for both there was a peak at 200MHz and 750MHz. The frequencies where maximal absorption of electromagnetic radiation by the body occurs are termed resonance frequencies. As the authors suggest, modelling of the head only without taking into account how much the body absorbs cannot lead to accurate results.
The calculated using the model the acoustic pressure in the cochlea after determination of the generated pressures and thermoelastic waves as shown in the following figure. Their conditions are: 915MHz pulse of 70μs width.
2/2 FranceInfo105.5MHz,SFR 900MHz |70µs pulse of 915 MHz on a human?Acoustic pressure 500-1000µPa #MicrowaveAuditory
Note that in the case of the microwave auditory effect we have a pressure wave and we therefore need to be searching about mechanosensitive targets which are molecules responding to stress by conformational change e.g. actin, adhesion molecules, extracellular matrix proteins. Upon conformational change or unfolding they can expose domains that can be bound by other proteins and initiate signaling cascades or they can change their binding affinities or they can become stable or unstable and influence related pathways.
The synapse is very rich for instance in actin and other mechanosensitive molecules. It has also been mentioned that tension can increase vesicle density at the synapse.
Other mechanisms including the soliton model of action potentials are mentioned at this page https://www.tylerlab.com/neuromechanobiology/ at the last figure.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliton_model_in_neuroscience


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Charles Gunst QC
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Charles took Silk in 1997. He practises in the Victorian Supreme Court, the Federal Court and High Court and in other jurisdictions including New South Wales, the ACT and South Australia.
He appears as a specialist advocate before courts and tribunals, both at first instance and at appellate level. Charles has had extensive experience with Boards and Commissions of Enquiry. He was Counsel Assisting the Inquiry into the collapse of the Pyramid Group, and has more recently prepared several investigative Reports for Victorian public authorities.
Charles has been a member of the Victorian Bar Council and the Editorial Committee of the Victorian Bar News. Since 1982 and continuing to date he has been a Bar appointee to the Council of Law Reporting in Victoria.
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I'll have a private booth at Art on the Prairie. Come See me!
Art on the Prairie is one of the most wonderful art shows of the year. Approximately 75 artists from all over Iowa and beyond, gather to put on an amazing 2 day show. The creators of this event make it even more amazing and the whole town of Perry, Iowa opens it's arms to welcome the public into historical buildings, including the beautiful Hotel Pattee. I look forward to sharing my love of glass with you.


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Aspartame is an artificial sweetener, commonly used by people who are trying to cut down on sugar consumption. Aspartame may cause an allergic reaction in some people, resulting in gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin complications. If you develop an adverse reaction after consuming aspartame, you should stop using the sweetener and call your doctor immediately. If you are diagnosed with an allergy to aspartame, you will need to avoid consuming all products that contain the substance.
Allergic Reaction
An allergic reaction to aspartame occurs when you ingest the substance, and your immune system identifies it as a threat to your body. Although the FDA has approved aspartame as safe for human consumption, in certain people, the body mistakes the chemical as harmful. As a result, the body creates various chemicals that attack the aspartame, which cause common side effects of an allergy. Most allergic reaction symptoms develop within minutes of consuming aspartame.
Gastrointestinal Problems
The gastrointestinal system is commonly affected by an allergic reaction to aspartame. Inflammation in the lining of the intestines often leads to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, stomach pain, gas and bloating. During the allergic reaction, your body produces histamine in the soft tissue of your intestines, which produces swelling. Gastrointestinal symptoms will subside after the substance is expelled from your body.
Respiratory Issues
Your respiratory system can be affected within minutes of ingesting aspartame. Common side effects include shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, swelling in the throat, wheezing, coughing and chest pain. Your sinus cavity can also become congested, leading to further complications. Sinus congestion can cause sinus headaches, postnasal drip, facial pressure and sneezing. If you develop the sensation of a lump in your throat along with facial swelling, call 911 because you may be experiencing a severe allergic reaction.
Skin Reactions
The most common skin side effect is the development of hives, which can form anywhere on your body. Hives are characterized by a rash that is itchy, causing welts to form in clusters. Hives, which appear in different shapes and sizes, can move from part of your body to another for no reason. They typically go away within a few hours and are harmless, unless they form in your throat or inner ear. Treat this condition with hydrocortisone cream to reduce inflammation and swelling. You may also develop eczema or general skin inflammation from an allergy to aspartame.