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Top 10 SearchesA man-made disaster, a global sport, pop culture's leading ladies (and one young gent), and gadgets starting with an "i."
Since 2001, Yahoo! has been tallying up the top searches of the year, providing a snapshot of a culture in motion. Over the past decade, the No. 1 slot has been occupied by companies (music download service Kazaa), TV shows ("American Idol"), and celebrities (Britney Spears, often). In 2010, some 631 million people checked in. Among the billions of queries they pursued, the story of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill led the year's top 10 -- the first time that a news story has taken the No. 1 slot.
Following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that killed 11 on April 20, the gushing crude took 86 days to cap. The live feed from the ocean floor became must-watch viewing, as massive online scrutiny monitored best (and not so best) efforts to kill the well and stop the worst spill in marine history. Besides igniting the issue of workplace safety, the disaster became a lightning rod for people's feelings about America's energy policies, big government, billionaire CEOs, environmental protection, and technological safety.
Another event did distract from the drama 5,000 miles deep in the Macondo Prospect. South Africa, the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup, welcomed 32 nations in a global tournament of men's soccer. People took an online crash course in the sport, learning about the rules of the game, the major players (and outrageous referees), the octopus oracle, and native horns that just wouldn't quit. The summer break brought productivity to a standstill and landed the World Cup in second place on our top 10 searches.
Dizzying tech advances belied a bad economy. The iPhone's fourth coming captivated naysaying geeks and covetous consumers alike, and beat out the iPad in searches. An accidental sneak peek unfolded like a joke ("So this engineer walks into a bar..."), but ended in record lines at stores. High-tech drama stimulated an already frenzied Mac cult (which was also tracking the Apple iPad), and pushed the iPhone into the No. 6 slot.
Filling out the other top 10 spots? Guilty pleasures like "American Idol," the Web-spun music artist Justin Bieber (in his first top 10 appearance), and a bevy of pop culture's young leading ladies -- Megan Fox, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga -- who could give lessons in the art of the manufactured self.
What's notable isn't just what commanded people's online vigilance the most, but who almost dropped from the list. For years Britney Spears dominated the top 10, but she tumbled from her No. 1 spot to No. 5 in 2009. This year -- a relatively quiet one for the music superstar -- she hung in at No. 10.
Is the end near for Spears? Don't count her out yet. Dive deep into the top searches and stories of 2010, and get a glimpse at what lies ahead.
--Vera H-C Chan
Yahoo! Year in Review editorial lead for four years running, Vera H-C Chan dissects news events and search trends to share the why behind what's hot online and in the media. On Yahoo! her writing can be found all over, including in Buzz Log, TV, Movies, and her Shine blog Fast-Talking Dame.
- On April 20, 11 workers went missing after an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon, a BP-leased oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Their tragedy, though, was soon overshadowed by the ensuing BP oil spill, which threatened U.S. southern shores.
As BP struggled to control nature, technology, and the ire of humankind, forces converged to assist the multinational company in containing the mess. Still, the horror seemed to unfold in slow motion, as the spill approached the ecological disastrousness of the 1989 Exxon Valdez crash and became the most searched term on Yahoo! in 2010 -- a first for a news story since we started compiling Top 10 searches a decade ago.
Spill cam: must-see video
The techie Obama administration, as part of its usual modus operandi, made updates on its site and YouTube channel. Against BP's wishes, U.S. senators insisted on the live camera to show ocean-floor operations. That underwater camera turned out to be the most compelling programming decision of 2010: Viewers obsessively tuned in on their computers and mobile phones to see the best -- and not so best -- efforts to contain the mess.
Searches on all aspects of the crisis, investigation, and damage surfaced daily. People went online to study vocabulary like "junk shot" and "top kill," words that sounded like shade-tree mechanic jargon for improvised solutions. By June, the public anger against BP and its bumbling CEO reached a crescendo and was mercilessly parodied (as in the Upright Citizens Brigade viral video). In July, a cap at last brought some resolution to the leak, but no relief from the devastation that ground industries to a halt, killed wildlife, and shifted political tides.
Rorschach oil blot
At its core, the BP oil spill was about workplace safety and America's energy policies. But the longer the saga unfolded, the more the spill became a kind of Rorschach blot where people could project their present-day anxieties (and a few age-old ones as well):
--- Texas representative Joe Barton's flip-flopping apologies (first to then BP CEO Tony Hayward for the "shakedown" compensation fund, then a mea culpa for that apology) reflected the grumpy tea-party mood about big government and the need for governmental pressure and oversight.
--- Billionaire CEO Hayward's own gaffes (especially his plaintive words to "The Today Show" about wanting to get his "life back") galled a nation already crabby with bosses who earned big bonuses or parachuted out of failing companies with million-dollar compensations. The galling didn't end: He got the boot after 28 years on the job, and received a $1 million severance and a pension plan worth $17 million.
--- There was even a whiff of colonial resentment, as a few English people took offense at the insistence in calling BP by its old name, British Petroleum. (It was probably for the best that few took notice of BP's original names, Anglo-Persian Oil Company and Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.)
--- The specter of Katrina hovered over all this: The hurricane's fifth anniversary was only months away, and many were watching to see how the Obama administration would avoid the missteps of the Bush White House in dealing with disaster.
--- At a time of instant gratification and technological marvels, the wreckage reminded people of the limits to humankind's ambitions.
In crisis, American ingenuity
The story wasn't all hand-wringing and finger-pointing. Gulf residents queued up to find clean-up jobs, partly because the spill had disrupted their livelihood and partly because they wanted to help.
Spectators learned about deep-sea science -- and about how much we didn't know. Yet, typical of the American spirit, people sought out and offered up YouTube theories and volunteered to craft homey remedies (pantyhose stuffed with donated hair proved especially popular).
Then emerged the surreal Hollywood moment when actor Kevin Costner stepped up with a centrifuge oil-cleanup machine. He wasn't the only contender for hero: Robert Bea, a University of California, Berkeley, engineering professor, turned out to be the Chesley Sullenberger of the oil industry as he helped the White House and the public understand what was happening. On the government side, U.S. Geological Survey scientist Paul Hsieh convinced his skeptical team from yanking the last containment cap, thanks to his overnight calculations that proved it would hold.
Out of about 123,000 ideas that poured into BP, more than two dozen were implemented. Within six months, 154 million gallons, an estimated 75 percent of the spill, had been dispersed.
A long aftermath
The cap killed the gushing crude, and the World Cup took the BP oil spill out of the headlines, though by no means out of people's minds. By November, most of the gulf was open for fishing, but worrying signs of deep-sea damage -- such as a die-off of bottom-dwelling coral -- warned of many uncertainties ahead.
The U.S. presidential commission's investigations into the circumstances leading up to the disaster earned criticism, then praise for calling out issues such as BP's "culture of complacency." Its final report is due out in January 2011, but the National Academy of Engineering's interim report, which named names, cast BP as bearing the brunt of responsibility.
For its part, BP has so far repaid the government $520 million in spill costs, although likely more bills will come -- and likely will be paid without too much trouble, since the company returned to profit by its third quarter. A "demonized" Hayward continued to gather more wincing news coverage: The former CEO told students in November, "All of the oil is now gone" (no mention of oil that's buried) and also said, "The biggest lesson I learned was how to manage expectations."
Hayward, who started his own consultancy, may not have to worry anymore about American expectations, but BP still will. No matter the outcome, the oil company's fortunes will be tied to the Gulf of Mexico for a long time to come.
--Vera H-C Chan (a version of this article originally appeared in Fast-Talking Dame on Shine)
- Hail the vuvuzela!
Productivity nearly ground to a halt when those horns starting buzzing, signaling the FIFA 2010 World Cup. As predicted, 2010 emerged as an incredible sports year. For 30 days in summer, men's soccer (aka football) became the world's sport.
South Africa was hosting, and the African continent -- so often tied to colonization, poverty, and apartheid in headlines -- could show how far it had come, as well as what still needed to be done. The country cleaned up well: It built five stadiums for the event and fixed up another five for the 32 guest nations who converged on June 11.
Culture cram
People not so familiar with the World Cup were speed-learning online, absorbing everything from the vuvuzela tradition to the Jabulani (ball) controversy. Then there were those brackets and rules (and who might break them) to track. In the first days, the focus was on past and present players like hotheaded Argentinian coach Diego Maradona, Zidane (whose infamous head butt made his bald pate familiar among online sports fans), Wayne Rooney, and Christiano Ronaldo.
Soccer jerseys became summer wear and a point of national pride. Viewers wondered, "What is that buzzing noise?" And players and commentators bickered over whether Africa's long horn should be banned from the stands. In defense of haters, a single vuvuzela registered 127 decibels, louder than a drum (122 decibels) or a referee's whistle (121.8).
Upsets, heartbreak, and an octopus
By week two, the vuvuzela buzz had became part of the online buzz; and the World Cup, part of daily life for millions around the world. People were glued to live streams and catching up on "basic soccer rules." More players became household names: Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Piala Dunia, Fabio Cannavaro, Iker Casillas.
For a game in which points scored can be counted on one hand, a surprising number of upsets kept the crowds entertained. At one point, the FIFA president offered apologies to England and Mexico for referee errors. The drama with Ghana, the only African semifinalist, ended in heartbreak when Uruguay, the only South American finalist, scored a penalty shoot-out to break the 1-1 tie.
The only reliable oracle turned out to be an octopus: Paul, an English expat making his home in Germany's Sea Life center, "predicted" the winners in eight games. (Paul ended his two-year cephalopod lifespan on October 26 at the aquarium, which planned a shrine to mark his cremains.)
Finesse over fouls
By the end, finesse won out over fouls when Spain's Andres Iniesta shot a goal in overtime, winning 1-0 over the Netherlands. The winning team's bounty was $30 million (not including the $1 million that all 32 teams received for preparations), while the Netherlands contented itself with $24 million for second place. Teams that made the group stage or higher got consolation payouts ranging from $8 million to $20 million.
But most of all the 2010 World Cup came down to pageantry. The year was already primed to be one of the greats for international sports. The soccer tournament had its running theme of competitive machismo, but it was also about cultural exposure and shared pet peeves (that buzzing noise).
People exulted over wins, scrutinized the parade of flags, learned the "Waka Waka" song, added a few choice words to their vocabulary, and even learned to love the vuvuzela -- at least, they did if that's what searches on the horn's history and "where to buy the vuvuzela" indicate.
Anticipation has already built up for 2014, which will be held at 12 cities in Brazil, where soccer is the nation's most popular sport and all its players are known by a single name. No vuvuzelas there, but the world will expect a party from Carnival country.
--Vera H-C Chan
- Few can boast membership in the The Year's Most Searched Person on Yahoo!. In fact, since 2001, it's been Britney Spears' club, although she let Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson step in front in 2004, and Megan Fox in 2009. (Michael Jackson's death propelled him to the No. 1 slot.)
Now it's Miley Cyrus's turn. She has been working hard for the distinction, as she celebrated her last year as a minor. Or, more accurately, she was mapping a shortcut to adulthood in 2010: She scored the cover of Harper's Bazaar, played the romantic lead in a Nicholas Sparks movie, and taped the end of her Disney show, "Hannah Montana."
Growing pains and gains
When you're a billion-dollar business, though, there are bound to be growing pains. The singer re-recorded Bret Michael's "Nothing to Use" as a duet, but the suggestive lyrics ("We both know better than this, still we can't resist / Slowly get undressed") set off a firestorm of criticism. Her appearance on "American Idol" as a mentor received mixed reviews. Critics were even less kind to her film, "The Last Song." Then a leaked video of her dance grind at age 16 with gay "So You Think You Can Dance" judge Adam Shankman set off another furor.
There was little doubt that Cyrus was leaving childhood without a backward glance. Her "Can't Be Tamed" video (with that $25,000 corset) raised eyebrows but also topped iTunes charts. She dished in Teen Vogue about how she and beau Liam Hemsworth were "both deeper than normal people -- what they think and how they feel." (The pair, who co-starred in "The Last Song," broke up twice in 2010.)
From Hannah to Miley
Cyrus (and those outraged parents) may not have needed to worry about offending her young fans. According to the New York Times, many preteens and teens had already moved on. One 11-year-old echoed critics when she weighed in on Cyrus's "Can't Be Tamed" video: "It was weird ... I feel like she acts 25. She looks so old. She is too old for herself."
Then again, trying to be older than your years is something only a teenager would do. Declared the Washington Post, "At some point soon, the parents of America are going to have to let Miley Cyrus go." Judging from her determination, she's not waiting for anyone's approval, but from the sales figures and her online following, she seems to have garnered some approval anyway.
Family breakup
Her biggest wish in turning 18 wasn't for a big blowout (although she had one), but for a family get-together. Just weeks before her November 23 birthday, parents Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus announced their divorce after 17 years of marriage -- a shock to a child of any age.
How much of their marital troubles was due to building their daughter's career has been a subject of a lot of speculation, including, reportedly, from Miley herself.
--Vera H-C Chan
- When Kim Kardashian hit decade No. 3, she didn't balk at coast-to-coast birthday parties. But a diamond-encrusted cake? Thanks, but no thanks.
For all her high-flying, designer-laden, uber-glam living, Kardashian kept it real ... at least real enough for her sisterhood of fans. The reality-show star declined the cake, blogging, "Making a million dollar birthday cake is just ridiculous! I'd rather they give me a cupcake and donate the rest of the money to the homeless!" Commenters hailed her as "humble" and a "humanitarian."
America's reality royal
Bejeweled cake aside, she cemented herself in 2010 as America's reality royal, along with her family, in "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." Through good looks, breeding, and a can-do spirit that has launched perfumes, boutique stores, and a MasterCard, Kim has worked all her assets to get to the top. Devoted legions follow her on her blog, Twitter, and Facebook. And the chipper brunette stayed away from petty Hollywood-style sniping: Criticism, such as the sniffy fusillade from "Project Runway" host Tim Gunn, was heard but cheerfully disregarded. (And when that prepaid Kardashian Kard turned out to be predatory, she and her sisters Killed it.)
Being "ordinary" proved the welcome counternarrative to stories of celebrity talent wasted, such as those of Britney (on the mend) or Lindsay (still a mess). Kim had the right amount of privilege, compared with, say, Paris Hilton, who was spoiled by too much of it. And throughout the Kardashian mythology is the saving grace of sisterhood.
Kardashian family values
Those family values have helped sustain the reality show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" to its five-year mark. The brainchild of Ryan Seacrest and Kardashian's mother, Kris Jenner, the show enjoyed record premiere numbers (4.7 million viewers). From family fights and cellulite confessions to romantic breakups and sibling squawking, all was fair entertainment for addicted viewers.
Although Kim is child No. 2 (she has three sisters, one brother, a half-sister, and a half-brother), she ruled the Kardashian kingdom. Older sister Kourtney's single motherhood and Khloe's whirlwind marriage provided plenty of gossip fodder, but Kim trumped them with the "newly single" card. Her breakup with footballer Reggie Bush made her TV's most eligible bachelorette.
Knowing her place
In a "Larry King Live" interview, Kardashian lay the TV series' success on the family's early commitment to the show being, as she says, "100 percent real. And I think that's what's come across to the audience." Only in America: authenticity as brand. (A case study of failure would be "Jon & Kate Plus 8," even after Jon was neatly excised.)
And Kardashian knows her role. She explained in a W magazine profile: "I play into the perception of me, but it's not really me. And the show reveals that." In that same article, the magazine sums her up: "As a celebrity, Kardashian gives good value." And 2011 will be an even better two-for-one-deal, with her spin-off "Kourtney and Kim Take New York" debuting January 11.
--Vera H-C Chan
- Lady Gaga owned 2009. The year 2010 was all about figuring out how she did it.
With hit singles, sold-out concerts, and a meeting with the Queen last year, Lady Gaga might have been excused if she had had a meltdown or just burned out this year. But while her chart success didn't top 2009's, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta cemented herself as the first lady of pop culture.
Go, go, Gaga
She lost to Taylor Swift at the Grammys (which let critics huff once more at the award show's irrelevance) but dominated the MTV Video Music Awards a few months later.
If the mainstream didn't notice her six No. 1 hits (something that took Mariah Carey 12 years to do), then it did notice the sold-out concerts, the "Glee" episode, and her rallying cry against the American military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Plus, all the wonks spilled ink studying the Gaga origin myths and authenticity.
Ultimate quick-change artist
She has survived the scrutiny well. So far, at age 24, Lady Gaga is no passing pop tart (a label plastered on fame seekers like Paris Hilton, fellow alum of the Convent of the Sacred Heart). For one thing, Germanotta actually paid attention to her cultural studies: Her credited inspirations call out rock stars (Grace Jones and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, whose "Radio Gaga" inspired her name), performance artists (Leigh Bowery and Klaus Nomi), poets (Rainer Maria Rilke), pop artists (Andy Warhol), and the gay subculture.
Also, her classical piano training and pipes, which reminded one producer of a "female John Lennon," put her in the category of serious singer-songwriter and proved her a performance artist on her own merits.
Her childhood preference for alter egos and stage names has made her the ultimate quick-change artist. Pundit analysis reckons that the manic speed of her costume changes is tailor-made for fickle Internet attention spans. Fickle? Her fans (or "little monsters" in Gaga jargon) have remained devoted all year, helping her set records in Web video viewings, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and making the year's top 10 search terms on Yahoo!.
Bending genders
Lady Gaga bent gender, too: Persistent intersex rumors (or, in search terms, "lady gaga hermaphrodite") testified to her successful devotion to androgyny. The New York Times called her the "enemy to the authentic." Really, though, the lady was the ultimate drag queen, remaking glam rock in her own image and opening a new path for female artists. As far out there as she seemed to be, underneath the fake blood and histrionics and meat dresses were reinventions of old-school acts like the Ziegfield Follies, Barnum & Bailey, and heavy-metal pyromaniacs.
Sure, a bit of Gaga overload was bound to happen, such as M.I.A. dismissing her label mate as "not progressive." Then there were some 2010 dramas, like her criticizing "American Idol" for "poorly" editing her performance, ducking into Jerry Seinfeld's empty box seats at a June Mets game, or countersuing her ex-producer (although that was resolved speedily). Keeping up with Gaga could be more exhausting than tracking Lindsay Lohan's electronic bracelet.
A moody sign of the times
But Germanotta stuck to the business of Lady Gaga (even landing a fusty job title as Polaroid's creative director), and people have been buying.
By all accounts, Lady Gaga dealt with her demons (such as they were) before achieving fame. As she told Scotland's Daily Record, "I did this [climb to fame] the way you are supposed to," playing every club with her given name, quitting school, and dabbling in drugs before becoming a superstar. An early bad break -- Island Def Jam signed her up, then broke off the relationship -- just pushed her "deeper into the parallel reality of Lady Gaga."
Tellingly, online searches for Lady Gaga in 2010 relentlessly focused on the music. In these "too much information" times, her masquerades gave breathing room to followers who didn't have to keep an accounting of addictions, breakups, or family squabbles. In fact, an album advance paid for her beloved dad's open-heart surgery.
Gaga isn't just an artist: She's a moody sign of the times and even of a place. Leave it to her to define herself best, as she told New York Magazine: "The Lower East Side has an arrogance, a stench. We walk and talk and live and breathe who we are with such an incredible stench that eventually the stench becomes a reality. Our vanity is a positive thing. It's made me the woman I am today."
--Vera H-C Chan
- Seen it. Bought it. Want it ... again.
Apple already had something "magical and revolutionary" up its sleeve with the iPad, so its fourth swipe at the iPhone seemed almost, well, excessive in these lean consumer times.
By now, the company knows that any shiny object from its dream factory will get followers queuing up. What could another iPhone iteration -- still tethered to AT&T service -- possibly offer, except to toy with loyalists' affections? Besides, wasn't CEO and cult leader Steve Jobs -- pulled from the brink of a health crisis -- too busy establishing a legacy, like saving the future of news? Yet early word of an upcoming iPhone 4 had fanboys and fangirls agog, as did rumors that Apple would start hooking up with other operators, like Verizon and Sprint.
So an engineer walks out of a bar ...
Then a strange thing happened on the way to the long summer lines. A tippling Apple engineer, celebrating his birthday, inadvertently left behind a prototype at the Gourmet Haus Staudt. And when in a Silicon Valley bar, the natural thing to do with a lost phone is to sell it to blogs for dissection.
The leak became a minor mystery (how could notoriously tight-lipped Apple lose a prototype?), a cautionary tale of limited customer service (attempts to return the phone were allegedly rewarded with a ticket number), an ethical dilemma (Gizmodo paid $5,000 for what might be considered stolen property, and an editor's home was later raided), and a story of betrayal (iPhone finder Brian Hogan's roommate ratted him out) and a near escape (engineer Gray Powell apparently still works at Apple).
The future is now
Crime or not, that sneak peek into the phone's features was enough to trigger a new degree of online scrutiny. Jobs's introduction of the iPhone 4 at the summer Worldwide Developers Conference was almost perfunctory. Its leaps-and-bounds features like video calls, HD recording, and the so-called retina display were at once otherworldly and taken for granted.
Jaded reactions to iPhone 4G spurred Salon to muse about Future Fatigue, a mindset proposed by "Neuromancer" author William Gibson, in which youngsters weaned on tech miracles "inhabit a sort of endless digital Now, a state of atemporality enabled by our increasingly efficient communal prosthetic memory." In other words, smart phone is as smart phone does. Naturally, not everyone was so blase -- presumably not those who bought an estimated million-plus on day one.
IPhone losing its grip?
So, some might have experienced a little malicious glee -- and relief -- to discover that the iPhone 4 was imperfect after all. A design flaw -- namely, lost reception depending on how one held the phone -- led people to search the Web for "death grip iphone."
People followed the back and forth, which included the staid Consumer Reports declining to recommend the fourth generation. In turn, Apple declared regretfully that it had overstated the phone's signal strength all along (which almost sounded like bragging). More condemnation and a class-action lawsuit seemed to threaten Apple's stock price. After a few weeks, the media fuss (summed up in a YouTube video, "The iPhone Antenna Song") was finally settled with free bumper cases for all.
Droid wars: This time, it's personal
The antenna fuss hid a far more seething battle. Google's Android rose up as a legitimate contender in the smart phone market. Consumers researched the merits of "iphone vs. droid," and the latter's popularity possibly accelerated Apple's hustle to get a deal with Verizon.
The New York Times, though, read something much more "personal" going on between CEOs Jobs and Eric Schmidt, a clash that "offers an unusually vivid display of enmity and ambition." If Jobs' potty-mouthed call-out of his competitor's mantra wasn't a seven-letter clue already, then look to Apple's patent infringement lawsuit against HTC, the purchase of Quattro Wireless (a competitor to AdMob, bought by Google in 2009), and Apple's backing of Microsoft's Bing as the default iPad search engine.
Android wasn't the only rival that Jobs threw jabs at in 2010. During an October earnings call, his fighting words pointed out that Apple had passed up RIM, described the Android as "very, very fragmented," and predicted that tablet challengers would be "dead on arrival." With an in-your-face attitude like that, no wonder Jobs emerged as the year's most followed CEO online.
The i's have it
Apple also freshened up a posse of other products in 2010: iPod, iTunes, Apple TV, and MacBook Air. Only the iPad came close to the iPhone in generating rapturous anticipation for its Zen template of possibility.
The one thing people have still been clamoring for (besides the "verizon wireless iphone") is the white iPhone, as elusive as a unicorn. The date, Apple announced apologetically, will come sometime in spring 2011.
--Vera H-C Chan
- In her quick rise to fame, Megan Fox has been notably savvy in the celebrity arts. At the end of 2009, the New York Times dubbed her a "devoted student of stardom, past and present" who "talked her way into the limelight." After all, the starlet utters virile poetry, bragging she has the "libido of a 15-year-old boy" or proclaiming "[actress] Olivia Wilde is so sexy she makes me want to strangle a mountain ox with my bare hands" -- lines that were often better than her scripted ones.
But critical drubbings tarnished her glow in 2010, even as they upped her buzz.
The starlet vs. the auteur
The year started with the artistic tussle between her and "Transformers" director Michael Bay. Anonymous crew members posted a defense on the action auteur's site, branding the femme as "dumb-as-a-rock Megan Fox." An apology from Bay came shortly, but it took another few months before Fox backed out of the third installment.
While the Bay camp claimed she had been "axed," the actress once again cited Bay's notorious temper. While her earlier comparisons to dictators might have sounded histrionic, industry insiders did note the director had "a history of demeaning his leading ladies." In any case, they didn't do much for each other: Both got Razzie awards.
Panned but scanned
The box-office thud of "Jonah Hex" made a dismal follow-up to the panned "Jennifer's Body" (2009). Even her thumbs came under scrutiny, as rumors (and resulting lookups) of a double for a Super Bowl ad brought attention to her wide right thumb, a condition known by the prehistoric-sounding name brachydactyly.
Fox had revelations further up her sleeve: her modesty (well, in Hollywood terms), a Funny or Die video supporting California teachers, her obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the Eminem video for "Love the Way You Lie," and Hawaiian wedded bliss with former "Beverly Hills 90210" actor Brian Austin Green.
Wait, OCD? Could that be true? Actually, Fox copped to dropping quips and sometimes outright lying to a celebrity press that takes her every utterance a wee bit too seriously. In an Interview magazine chat with Zach Galifianakis, she said, "Almost everything I say, no matter how innocent my intentions are, seems to get sort of manipulated and sensationalized and turned into some ridiculous news story."
But at 24, a "sly" Fox may have tired of the game: "I have said some things to throw people off the scent of what's really going on in my life. So I have sort of aided the media in printing these misconceptions, which I regret."
What she didn't do
As for her work product, the verdict may still be out on the so-called transforming starlet. She knew to keep herself in good company: Her movie "Passion Play" co-starred Mickey Rourke and Bill Murray, but the story of a musician who falls for a carnival act didn't receive a warm reception. Her next project may have promise: "Friends With Kids" puts her with co-stars Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig.
Still, Fox may be best known in 2010 for what she didn't do: take part in the "Transformers" third installment. Then again, she didn't have to deal with the free-flowing derision about the movie's title. Said one E Online blogger, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" sounded "even worse than just calling it 'the one without Megan Fox.'" And not as buzzy either.
--Vera H-C Chan
- Pattie Mallette thought her teenage boy's musical talents were good enough to put online. Two years later, she and her son, Justin Bieber, flew -- his first time on a plane -- to meet his future manager. Later, they moved from their hometown of Stratford, Ontario, on the strength of a record deal with Usher's music label.
Bieber Fever? Raging. By the start of 2010, Bieber's first album, "My World," had gone platinum. In keeping with today's hyperspeed stardom, his second album followed within five months, and he embarked on a sold-out, six-month concert tour. (During the rush, Universal wisely snagged him in an exclusive agreement.) Somewhere during all this, he turned 16 and got a Lamborghini from Diddy. Sweet.
Web-spun hero
Canadian roots aside, Bieber proved a top product in the American teen-idol pop factory, and without a Disney or Nickelodeon contract -- a positively anarchic notion these days. Still, adult critics dubious about his Internet rise were swayed by his vocals. One L.A. Times critic wrote, "His ascent story ... belies a jackpot voice." The same review rapturously described "melismatic trills, sassy street inflections and coffeehouse acoustic pleas."
Bieber worked overtime factory hours. He made multiple award-show appearances (including a bonus, self-mocking MTV Movie Awards promo), a slew of commercial deals (get a special Justin Bieber "One Less Lonely Girl" bouquet for Valentine's Day), quaint throwback contests (win Justin Bieber as Principal for a Day), and merchandising (Toy of the Year-nominated singing dolls and, peculiarly, nail polish).
He also stuck by his online video roots. After catching a viral video of a 3-year-old fan weeping (as millions of others did), he paid a surprise visit to the family on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." No wonder his mentor Usher dubbed Bieber a "hero."
Bieber domination
Bieber saturation worked: In 2010, he has made musical history as the youngest solo artist to have two albums in the U.S. Billboard Top 200 and the youngest solo male to hit the top spot since Stevie Wonder. To help adults confused by his sudden ubiquity, articles like "The Justin Bieber Guide for Old People" helpfully explain his bona fides as the "first 'YouTube Sensation' to make it big." (Sorry, Kimbo Slice.) His "Baby" video ranks as the most-watched single video on YouTube, bypassing Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" (although Lady's collective work beats the teen). And don't forget his influential 'do.
Oh, and then there's credibility: He swept the American Music Awards in four categories, beating his own mentor.
The real secret: The tireless self-promoter has stayed close to his followers -- 6 million on Twitter alone -- although that may backfire. Jealous girls don't like it when a teen idol makes out with someone other than them. (Then again, Twitter power helps when you're turning the tables on a hacker.)
Bieber didn't stick to just 140 characters: He also released a coming-to-fame-please-don't-call-it-a-memoir tale revealing the Bieber backstory. (For shorter attention spans, there's a comic book.) He even made moves to conquer television, from sketch comedy on "Saturday Night Live" to bad-boy bomber drama on "CSI."
Is there anything left for 2011? His 3D biopic is next. And then there's finishing puberty. Luckily for Bieber, he's ready for it.
--Vera H-C Chan
- Season 9 of "American Idol" embraced a grand social experiment. For the first time ever, the Fox singing factory allowed its contestants to break the online cone of silence, granting them their own Facebook pages and Twitter feeds.
Three months in, the experiment collapsed: The contestants' pages were shut down, and the singers got herded into the official "Idol" Facebook page. In the meantime, ratings dropped steadily from the show's 29.7 million season debut.
"Idol" tweaks
Not that the reality show wasn't a ratings behemoth. Still, the backpedaling reflected the constant tinkering with the show's format -- and the tweaks weren't working. "American Idol" took quite a few arrows in its hide this year, not all aimed at the singers.
One target: the judging panel, which had lost the ditsy charm of Paula Abdul. The promising prospect of likable Ellen DeGeneres fizzled out, her appeal lost in a foursome. Then there were questions about host Ryan Seacrest's "bizarre" behavior. The imminent departure of co-creator Simon Cowell cast a shadow over the show, especially as the lame-duck judge tuned down his lacerating charm, possibly because he'd tuned out.
As for the contestants, viewers complained of a lackluster crew. It didn't help that the stage looked more like a sick ward, what with the competitors' diabetes complications, laryngitis, and walking pneumonia. When the finale rolled around, 24.2 million tuned in -- eminently respectable, but an 18% drop from 2009. Even online curiosity took a dip -- never a good sign for one's water cooler buzz.
Impressive guests, predictable outcome
"Idol" did showcase an impressive slate of guest musical acts, including Ke$ha, Lady Gaga (annoyed tweet aside), Perez Hilton protege Travis Garland (his former boy-band brother is Kevin McHale, the wheelchair warbler Artie in "Glee" ), and Janet Jackson. More importantly, "Idol" flexed its philanthropic arm and raised more than $45 million for charities worldwide.
To no one's surprise, Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox made the top two, and, repeating the patterns of seasons past, the dark horse (DeWyze) beat out the frontrunner (Bowersox). By now, though, contestants and the audience were wise to the power of "Idol": You don't need first place to land a contract.
Judgment day
The real suspense lay in which judges would be voted out, and who could possibly replace the appealingly dour Cowell. First up: Short-timer DeGeneres got the show to unshackle her from her five-year contract. Kara DioGuardi, the Abdul threat, lost her slot next. That left Randy Jackson to be joined by Season 10 saviors: Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and (could it be) Jennifer Lopez.
For all its critics, "Idol" remains an industry machine, finding new acts and reviving old ones. But after an anticlimactic farewell, the big buzz will be how about the show will survive in a post-Cowell climate. And in the end, for a show that depends on viewers to choose their own idols, the audience gets the season they deserve.
--Vera H-C Chan
For 10 years, Britney Spears ruled the Internet. In the annual Yahoo! top searches list, she played second fiddle to PlayStation 2 in 2001 and 2002, and fell to fourth place for the next two years. But then Spears rallied in 2005 and stayed put at the No. 1 slot through good times -- and one mighty bad year for the pop princess.
The 2009 death of the King of Pop, and in some measure her own return to superstar normalcy, knocked her off the Yahoo! Search perch to fifth place. In 2010, leading a scandal-free life has dropped her all the way to No. 10 ... but it may prove to be a sweet spot for Spears.
The girl next door moves back in
This year the Spears comeback has proven lucrative, with estimated fiscal year earnings of $64 millionproposed California legislation might have had something to do with that). (less than Oprah and Beyonce, more than Lady Gaga). Life has been comparatively paparazzi-free (although
Is the decline due to Britney fatigue? Maybe. But even the superstar herself is tired of her press coverage: Last December, her site listed the 75 "most ridiculous" stories. Then again, if public fatigue includes 13 million TV viewers for a Britney-themed "Glee" episode and 5 million Twitter followers (a first), imagine what a little pep can do.
Britney's message in 2010 has been about turning back into the girl next door. She signed up with Candie's as an exclusive but affordable designer for department store Kohl's. Before the clothes and handbags hit the shelves, she released both original and retouched photos of herself from her ad campaign shoot, and reportedly insisted that no digitally altered pics should be used. The move was a canny one, given the continued uproar over scrawny supermodels, and was a sound declaration that she'd be transparent with fans (and by the way, a recovering Spears looks just fine, thank you).
Apart from continued conservatorship (or perhaps because of it), her personal life seemed mercifully in order. Spears even fired her agent to focus more on their romantic relationship, a move that any advice columnist or employment lawyer could approve. True, a former bodyguard accused her of sexual harassment (disputed) and bad mothering (cleared yet unresolved), and a former manager accused her mother of defamation, but at least that wrangling was done in a civilized court setting.
Rivals and returns
The only rivalry Spears engaged in was with Ashton Kutcher for the title of Twitter leader ... and that competition was the impish work of blogger Perez Hilton anyway. (Hilton, in congratulating Spears as Twitter queen, also predicted correctly that Lady Gaga would soon overtake both Britney and Ashton.)
Many starlets have been swarming into the void she has left behind. Miley Cyrus has been compared to her, for better and for worse. (In a strange twist, Spears's parents were rumored to be reconciling, weeks after Cyrus's parents announced their split.)
Spears won't be quiet for long. Her first album since 2008 is set to come out early next year. She tweeted eagerly about "recording a monster song" (no, Lady Gaga doesn't quite own that word yet) and told her followers, "Get Ready."
Truth be told, they've been ready. Now it's up to her to deliver.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
MOST SEARCHED ON YAHOO 2010 : Britney's still on Top 10 for 10 years now
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Puzzle Platforming Party Animal!
Ollie the happy-go-lucky party planner is on an adventure through the colorful world of Flip-a-doo! Create a path for Ollie by swiping and sliding tiles in over 180 head-scratching puzzle levels.
Try to make it to the end in as few flips as possible and collect precious coins to spend on awesome party costumes. Also keep an eye open for special gifts so you can throw the perfect party for all your animal buddies!

subset: commoncrawl


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Former child star Jonathan Taylor Thomas reunited along with his former Home Enchancment" castmates recently at a photograph shoot for Entertainment Weekly , Folks stories. The episode additionally featured another nod to Residence Enchancment: Baxter talks to his neighbor, Chuck Larabee, from reverse sides of the fence, obstructing the view of the latter's face, just like Taylor and neighbor Wilson W. Wilson's earnest chats.
Earlier than playing the Taylor's beloved neighbor Wilson – whose face we by no means saw – the actor was identified for villainous roles, because of components in two 1974 films, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and The Parallax View, and for half as Bob Reid on the cleaning soap Ryan's Hope between 1975 and 1989.
Dan Aykroyd makes a visitor appearance as a blues-loving minister, the character he was currently enjoying at the time within the series Soul Man , a collection that was additionally created by the creators of House Improvement. Listed below are 10 surefire ways to keep away from the highest DIY dwelling improvement errors in the future and ensure success. It can be obvious both to a possible purchaser and to your pocketbook if a house improvement mission is made up as you go.
It isn't rocket science, what I'm doing ," Allen stated just earlier than Final Man Standing's premiere in 2012, openly acknowledging that his latest function—a sporting goods salesman whose masculinity puts him at odds with the world, an idea he developed with Home Enchancment producer/director John Pasquin—barely qualifies as an concept.
We were hoping to avoid wasting our exclusive photograph shoot of the Residence Improvement forged for our Reunions Situation on newsstands Oct. Reasonably priced Price – A solid kitchen sink is reasonably priced for most people as you may easily get one at a low value of $a hundred. He obtained pushed pretty laborious as a kid, including by his of us, to behave, and he grew up and actually reached the age of purpose whereas a part of the House Improvement forged. Debbe Dunning turned a one-day guest appearance on Dwelling Improvement right into a six-12 months job.


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I ordered this along with my most recent order … mostly because I was curious, because I seem to focus primarily on the flavored and more unusual teas from Butiki, but, overlook something that seems a little more commonplace even though I acknowledge that certainly not all breakfast blends are created equal and as Stacy at Butiki is brilliant at what she does, I should have known that her breakfast blend would not be something so ordinary.
I LOVE this. It is certainly one of the more robust, thick, hefty English Breakfast blends I've come across. I taste the rich malty tones of Assam, the evenness of the Ceylon, the delicious, toasty flavor of the Java tea and the lightness from the Darjeeling helps to keep this tea from being too thick or heavy. It's got just enough tooth to it to be a really good, solid breakfast blend – better than most out there, to be sure! – but, light enough so that I don't feel weighed down after I've had a cup.
I've enjoyed this so much I'm actually on my second cup today.


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We already love Gwen Stefani tons, but when we noticed her wearing the same yellow flats over and over again, we fell even more in love with her. Because think about it: celebs have tons of shoes at their disposal. But when a star wears the same ones over and over again it's a nice reminder that this lady just loves her comfy, flat shoes.
As for those awesome yellow loafers, they're the Gucci 1953 Horsebit Loafer ($575). And if yellow isn't your color, they come in red and fuschia, too. Score the exact same pair below.
Gucci 1953 Horsebit Loafer ($575)
Don't miss Kendall Jenner's floral sunglasses, January Jones' perforated loafers and Sarah Jessica Parker's $159 dress.
[Photo: Splash News]


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Spartan Games announces that Halo: Ground Command will be shipping in Summer 2016!
Take it away Spartan:
The first iteration of the game is set in the year is 2552, with humanity forced to the brink of extinction by the fanatical alliance of alien races known as the Covenant. These human forces have fallen back to the fortress world of Reach, prepared to give their lives to protect Earth and buy time for a desperate gambit that could change the outcome of the entire war. This last bastion of humanity will see countless bloody engagements take place, and you will now be able to command these ground forces in titanic conflicts.
Halo: Ground Command is a massed battle game using highly detailed 1:100th scale infantry, armoured and aerial models and has been developed in close cooperation with 343 Industries.
"We're pretty stoked about the arrival of Halo: Ground Command and we can't wait for players around the world to experience the fun we have been having as we created the models and core rules," explains Spartan Neil Fawcett, Creative Director of Spartan Games. "Halo fans are used to seeing ground warfare from a first person perspective, but with this game we step back and embrace the whole battlefield where we see entire Battle Groups engaging with each other. Players can deploy units of Troopers, Grunts, Elites, ODST, Elite Rangers, Warthogs, Scorpions, Wraiths, Ghosts… the list goes on!"
Expansion plans for the game will see some of the most iconic vehicles from the Halo Universe realised in superb detail at 1:100th scale.
"UNSC Pelicans, Covenant Phantoms, anti-air variants of the Scorpion and Wraith tanks, Banshees, Falcons and even giant machines like the Covenant Scarab. At 1:100th scale we have been working with the actual video game assets to make our models as accurate as possible. They are still designed to be gamed with, but we are sure fans of Halo will see just how much attention to detail we've lavished on these models,"
explains Spartan Chris Peacey, Lead Designer for Spartan Games.
In much the same way as our spaceship combat game, Halo: Fleet Battles, was created to allow Halo fans to readily embrace wargaming in the Halo Universe, so the ground game is built around smooth and intuitive game mechanics.
"This is a true wargame that brings together tanks, soldiers and flyers in a hobby format we are sure will see gamers create stunning battlefields upon which they can fight epic games using their stunning armies," added Spartan Neil. "As we created the rules we made sure that the Halo canon was adhered to, generating those cinematic moments of excitement, and always looked to keep the gameplay fast, intuitive and bloody."
A key part of the game play is the Reaction Engine, which means a unit is never safe from harm by an enemy unit. Players will need to keep their wits about them when deploying their forces and constant vigilance as a battle unfolds will be rewarded by victory!
Come and check out the Halo: Ground Command game and models which will be on display at the Salute 2016 wargames show in London. And keep an eye out for some exciting news about two of our coolest [and largest] Halo flying models: the UNSC Pelican Dropship and Covenant Phantom Dropship.
The initial release of Halo: Ground Command will see a 2-player Battle Box launched, along with the first upgrade boxes for the UNSC and Covenant.
~ I have a feeling this one may be big.


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Heald College-San Jose 341 Great Mall Pky Milpitas, CA 95035 Phone: (408) 934-4900
General Information About Heald College-San Jose
Heald College prepares students for academic, personal, and professional success through quality career-focused programs that develop skills to last a lifetime.
Institutional statistical data was gathered from the U.S. Department of Education - Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 2009-2010.
Institution Type
- 2-year, Private for-profit
Special Learning Opportunities
- Distance learning opportunities
- Weekend/evening college
Student Services
- General Education Courses
- Career Services available upon completion
Credit Accepted
- Advanced placement (AP) credits
- The acceptance of credits for work experience or military experience are subject to review by the school and cannot be guaranteed.
Religious Affiliation
- Not applicable
Federal Aid
- Eligible students may receive Pell Grants and other federal aid (e.g. Direct Loans).
Degrees/Certificates offered
- Less than 1 year certificate
- 1-2 years certificate
- Associate's degree
Campus Setting
- City: Small
Disability Services Student
- 3% or Less
Admission Total Applicants Full Time Retention Rate 66%
Student Demographics Total Enrolled 1,797 Native American 18.0 Asian 449.0 African American 92.0 Hispanic 733.0 Enrolled FullTime Undergraduates 1,128 Enrolled FullTime Graduates


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Welcome to the Perinatal Education Webpage of Cape Fear Valley Health System. This page is dedicated to providing educational and patient care information for staff working in the perinatal and neonatal areas of Southeastern North Carolina.
Please note, the activities are formatted for use with Windows operating systems. Difficulties may be encountered with Apple operating systems.
When Mother-Baby University began over 10 years ago, it was started as a regional neonatal/perinatal outreach project. Over the years, learners from all over the country and world have used this website for care information and free nursing contact hours. I am proud that we have been there for so many people. However, this truly was supposed to be outreach to staff working in Southeastern North Carolina.
The website has spurts of intense labor for myself and the planning committee. Countless hours go into the development of lessons. They also are reviewed and updated at least every 2 years to make sure that information is current. Quarterly reports are also done on the 20 lessons. It is much larger than it ever was intended to be.
With that said, March 1 will mark a change in the Mother-Baby University website. The information in lessons will remain available to anyone who wants to use the site. However, only employees from facilities in Southeastern North Carolina will be able to take the tests for free contact hours. Also, some lessons that do not see much activity from quarterly reports will be retired.
It has been a pleasure to serve everyone, and I hope that you may still find the website as a useful resource!
Lisa Fikac


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Pope Francis, in Laudato Si, insists that, "Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion." And "How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties?" See here.
And what of the homosexual question? Isn't it also true that concern for the protection of nature is incompatible with the justification of homosexual acts?
Today so many, even within the Church, seek to justify homosexual acts. But, as the Roman barrister and statesman Cicero reminded us, "right is based, not upon men's opinions, but upon Nature. This fact will immediately be plain if you once get a clear conception of man's fellowship and union with his fellow-men. For no single thing is so like another, so exactly its counterpart, as all of us are to one another…And so, however we may define man, a single definition will apply to all." [Laws I x 28-30]
Cicero goes on later to draw two conclusions of critical importance, namely that laws exist for the common good, and laws that deny fundamental human rights are not valid laws at all: "It is agreed, of course, that laws were invented for the safety of citizens, the preservation of States, and the tranquillity and happiness of human life, and that those who first put statutes of this kind in force convinced their people that it was their intention to write down and put into effect such rules as, once accepted and adopted, would make possible for them an honourable and happy life; and when such rules were drawn up and put in force, it is clear that men called them 'laws'. It may thus be clear that in the very definition of the term 'law' there inheres the idea and principle of choosing what is just and true."
Vatican II stressed that the moral goodness of the acts proper to conjugal life, ordered according to true human dignity, "does take only the good intentions and the evaluation of motives into account; objective criteria must be used, criteria drawn from the nature of the human person and of his acts, criteria which respect the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love" (Gaudium et spes, n. 51).
This teaching is emphasized in the Declaration Persona humana: "The use of the sexual function has its true meaning and moral rectitude only in true marriage" (n. 5).
Homosexuality is objectively incapable of achieving "the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation". In this regard the above-mentioned Declaration Persona humana says: "According to the objective moral order [Natural Law], homosexual relations are acts which lack an essential and indispensable finality" (n. 8).
May we not say that concern for the protection of nature is incompatible with the justification of homosexual acts?
Of course. So why doesn't Pope Francis say this in his Encyclical?
Related reading here.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Pope Francis, isn't concern for the protection of nature incompatible with the justification of homosexual acts?
2 comments:
Hypocrisy as Francis enjoys benefits provided by the sort of corporation he condemns:
The fruit of Marxist ideology.
And Catholics remain asleep. Pretty soon we will be rounded up for re-education or to be murdered.
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Beautiful home site in the Deer Pointe section of Brick Landing. The only one left so don't miss it! It is in a peaceful setting with lovely homes all around just minutes from Ocean Isle Beach.
Brick Landing offers a world class golf course and beautiful clubhouse, restaurant, and pro shop on the IntraCoastal Waterway – and also a large pool with lots of decking, tennis and bocce ball courts. Build your permanent residence or terrific beach home in this unique area – priced to sell!
Please call with any questions: 910.619.7673
Priced to sell! $17,500 | Contact Martha Pope For More Information About This Property


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Discussion in 'Suggestion Box & Feedback' started by lunatic59, Sep 27, 2012.
I noticed the favicon for AF was missing this morning. I seeing the vBulletin default.
I saw this ever since the main AF site had a big update and a change of style.
Ah, I'm glad it's not just me.
I thought it was just me because no one said anything here about it and its been like that for months now lol..
It just changed for me here this morning. ???
Old favicon was stuck in cache...
Just as a test, I logged into AF from a machine that has never been there before and the icon showed up using IE8 and chrome. To further test, booted into linux and checked from Firefox, chrome and Opera. All showed the favicon.
EDIT: It's something with the new version of Chrome. My desktop is running v22.x. My laptop had 21.x and the icons were displaying properly. After updating to the latest version of chrome, I started getting the vBulletin icons on my laptop as well.
Woah, that is weird... hmm..
vBulletin icon on Chrome, AF icon on Firefox for me. Win7.
This seems to be something specifically with Android Forums and Chrome v22. Other vBulletin site display the favicon correctly.
I'm seeing it sometimes, and not others.
It's not just vBulletin, it's vBulletin 3.x . Phases, this is a known bug, it sort of defies logic, because the correct favicon is in place but vBulletin keeps spitting out their own. I experienced the same thing with my forum a couple of months ago. If you have active ticket support, you can file one with the VB guys.
I wonder if this will work:
Sorry, fixed.. You may need to clear cache and give it a bit..
Yep. Working now.


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Creative law firm representative attorney
Representative Lawyer of So Law Office
Lawyer, New York State Attorney. Graduated from the University of Tokyo law school, New York University law school. In 1999 he joined Nishimura Asahi Law Firm (Former Nishimura General Law Office) and engaged in financial product development and financial regulation such as securitization, funds, derivatives, Islamic finance. In the summer of 2013, he encountered bitcoins, after Mt Gox incident in 2014, involved in bankruptcy processing and the launching of voluntary restraining organizations. Launch the current law office in 2015 and deal exclusively with virtual currency, the blockchain, FinTech deals. He also serves as an advisor to the Japan Block Chain Association and an outside director of bitFlyer Co., Ltd.
Litecoin Haus
Franklyn Richards


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I promised you some time ago to share some statistics regarding the data we currently have. Since the crawlers are (almost) always running, this is just a snapshot and by the time I commit this article, it should already be different.
So as of day, there is 155 152 313 links proposed to the distributed crawlers! All those links are extracted from the 8 426 912 pages we already have received and processed.
The process performances to parse a page was running at 268 pages/minute when the project started some time ago. With some new improvements and new servers, it'S now processing more than 800 pages/minute. The goal is to reach 1000 page/minute in the next few weeks.
Today, the number of pages waiting to be processed is 0 since we are processing the pages faster that what they are submitted.
We still have in mind the project of adding some RRD graphs to display the size of the tables. We might have to time to complete that in the next few weeks too. Today's efforts are concentrated on the client side where we found some memory leaks preventing the client to run for more than few days in a row.
As soon as this memory leak is identified (we found and fixed one, seems that there is another one), we will post the new client. It will be coming with a LOT of improvements. We will talk about that in another post.


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Challenges of being a disruptive company…
One of the hardest things that we are confronted with is convincing offices "that have not used us", of the quality of our lenses and coatings. We have fantastic lenses and coatings and we are not afraid to put them against anything you are currently using. We try not to sell on price, we try to communicate that we level the playing field and allow you to determine how you want to leverage the value we offer. The challenge we have is when our prices show that we are $100 less expensive on a high index progressive lens with premium Non-Glare coatings. How do we explain this? We try to do it honestly… The reality is our labs use the best optical equipment available, have extensive quality programs, and have proven themselves with millions of RX's. Our costs are similar to many large production labs globally, only we pass on the savings. Large vertically integrated retailers do not pay what you do for similar products.
For the recent launch of our newɛpɪk™ Lens Series we also partnered with one of the world's best lens designers. People are "honestly" saying wow, both when they wear our lenses, and when they look at the value we bring. Are we perfect? No, we are not… but we are really good, and we continue to work hard to get better. We love independents, and we are setting out to prove it. We can't thank our supporters enough for helping us. Thank YOU… and we truly wish everyone the best Holiday Season ever!
October 2019


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"The outstanding range of interesting and stimulating extra curricular activities provide excellent opportunities for pupils to take initiative and extend their capabilities. Throughout the school the personal development of pupils is exceptional."Independent Schools' Inspectorate, 2010 (Girls' Division)
"The outstanding range of interesting and stimulating extra curricular activities provide excellent opportunities for pupils to take initiative and extend their capabilities. Throughout the school the personal development of pupils is exceptional."
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Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Over 350 pupils and staff took part in a colourful and spectacular world-record breaking African dance in the School's Centre Quad, sealing a day of fundraising activities at Bolton School. Meanwhile in Africa, Maasai warriors also danced at the same time and each event was relayed on a giant outdoor screen via a Skype link-up.
The day saw over one thousand pupils and staff dress in reds and oranges in respect of the Maasai tribes, who they were raising money for. A range of activities took place, including a 10 mile charity walk to Rivington Pike, to raise funds for LivLife, which provides free education and vocational opportunities to children and adults in Tanzania. The charity's Meserani Centre helps local tribes, many of which are Maasai, giving them a hand-up rather than a handout as they learn a variety of skills ranging from literacy to IT to tailoring to English.
Max Griffiths, an Old Boy and one of the founders of LivLife said: "We've been absolutely bowled over by the support that the whole school has shown to LivLife. A huge, huge thanks for raising such a phenomenal amount of money. I know there's a buzz around the school about this event and your incredible efforts will be felt by a huge number of Tanzanians living below the poverty line."
Sue Hincks, Headmistress of Bolton School Girls' Division, said: "It has been a wonderful day. Older pupils have endured the rain and walked up to Rivington Pike and back, where we feel we have a connection as Lord Leverhulme gifted the land at Rivington to the people of Bolton and he re-endowed our School back in 1915. We have almost 2,400 girls and boys here and almost all of them have been involved in fundraising in some way. Junior Girls circled their playground with money and took part in a number of charity stalls run by Year 7 and 8 girls. The Junior Boys' School raised over £5,000 in their fun run earlier in the summer, whilst Infants and Nursery children have enjoyed their dress in red day today. The Skype link-up was a little temperamental to start with but we got there in the end. It was lovely to see the Tanzanian Kindergarten children singing a thank you message to us."
The total money raised so far is £11,239.75.
You can watch videos of the link-up here (filmed from the turret tower) and here (filmed from Senior Girls' Library) and view a gallery of photos from the day.
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Tanzanian Kindergarten children sing their thank yous via Skype. Click on a photo to enlarge it.
Pupils dressed in red and took part in a record-breaking largest African dance
RT @MrsALHough: A glimpse of Year 3's tree at the Barrow Bridge Christmas Tree Festival. To see the whole tree and all the others, the festival is open: Friday evening, all day Saturday & Sunday afternoon. BL1 7ND https://t.co/YvJfTPH7Dh


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|My daughter posing in front of Silver Diner at Fair Oaks, VA.
One of the toughest things about being the only vegan in the family is eating out. When I first transitioned to a vegan diet, eating out was really hard to figure out. My husband didn't understand my reasons for switching, but he, like the rest of my family, was supportive. However, they also believed they shouldn't suffer because of my decisions. I agreed. So every time we went out I ate lettuce, lots of lettuce and didn't complain.
As the years passed, my husband became more supportive, more involved and more of a foodie, always making sure that wherever we went to eat, there was a good vegan option for me to enjoy; one that didn't involve a salad. With the popularity of veganism on the rise, finding a restaurant with non-salad veg-friendly options has made his efforts increasingly easier. One of our current favorites? Locally owned, locally operated and locally sourced Silver Diner.
A little over a year ago, in one of the many newsletters I receive about the DMV area, I read about Silver Diner and their transition to become a more locally sourced restaurant to meet the increasing demand for meals made with high-quality, local ingredients. I was extremely excited to hear about this since finding such a restaurant is rare in my area - unless I travel to DC - and since eating locally first is a very important part of my philosophy when it comes to eating and living a healthy lifestyle. I want to know where my food is coming from and Silver Diner gives you all the deets. While researching more about Silver Diner, I came across their entire commitment and mission statement which you can find here. It captured my attention and left me eager to know more. With locally sourced ingredients, a chef created seasonal menu, healthy options, and a commitment to their customers, the only question that remained was, "Do they offer vegan options?"
|Michale Jackson "Thriller" : B4
When I first checked out the menu, I noticed they did offer a limited number of vegan options. Some of the non-seasonal, permanent options included a salad, veggie chili and a Mango Vegetarian Stir-Fry. It wasn't much, but it was enough for me to go.I always say, you gotta try everything at least once! The food was tasty and satisfying. Nothing "top-notch", too unique or gourmet that captured my attention; just comfort food to warm the soul. Even my husband admitted his dishes were a bit hit and miss. Would I say the food back then could be the only reason I would return? Probably not. But it wasn't the food that initially created that deep desire to come back. It was the atmosphere. The nostalgic setting, the kind, warm-hearted, always happy waiters and waitresses, the fun music, and the feeling of "home" all had us leaving with a desire to return soon. We'd pass by weekly on our way home from the grocery store and repeat numerous times, "We need to go back!" even though I knew it wasn't the food I was craving.
Then, a whole new season later, Silver Diner introduced their new seasonal menu. They had been posting pics of the new items and promoting a countdown til the release of the new menu on social media, leaving me anxious and excited to see what new menu items would be introduced. Just the promise of new "Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options" had me literally checking daily when the new menu would be revealed. As soon as it was released this past May, we automatically booked it out to our local diner and waited 30 minutes in line just to give it a whirl. The results? We were IMPRESSED! The vegan options tripled in number and my husband was head over heels to see a new, local steak available on the seasonal menu. What we tried that day was pleasing to our palates! The meals were different, captivating and good, no, great enough to say we would return for only the food! That day the place became the "perfect restaurant" for us.
So why am I blogging about it now? Well, last week, Silver Diner announced that June 19th – 22nd would be bloggers week. All chosen bloggers and a friend would have the opportunity to enjoy a complimentary meal in return for a post. Umm amazing? Yeah, I jumped quick on that one and immediately signed up! A few days later I was back at our favorite restaurant, camera in hand, ready for the ultimate Silver Diner experience! Should it have taken me this long to blog about this amazing place? No. But I'm here now ready to share with you everything that is awesome about Silver Diner.
VEGAN DISCLAIMER: Before I continue, just a note to our vegan viewers, I will be also sharing some non-vegan meals. It's part of my commitment to Silver Diner and I truly believe that it's important to share with as many people as I can about the importance of eating local and the options that are available. It still deters from the use of factory farms meats, which is one of my main goals as a vegan. I am also very supportive of my husband and his decision to eat locally raised and sourced meat as much as he supports me being vegan. I believe everyone has to choose their own journey. All I can do is influence it. I hope that you can understand where I am coming from. If you don't want to see it, I recommend that you please stop after the vegan dessert. Thank you.
As I stated before, the new menu offers a wide variety of vegan options, with nutritional info. Listed below are all the vegan options currently available and my review of the dishes I have already tried.
Black Bean Hummus - I have YET to try this. I plan on purchasing this on my next visit. I can already taste it! Cumin spiced black bean hummus sounds mouthwatering!
UPDATE 07/22/2013: My family and I visited over the weekend and I ordered the Black Bean Hummus appetizer with a side Summer Citrus Salad as my meal. Now I'll be honest, when I read "black bean hummus" I was expecting a black bean dip made with tahini, lemon, your typical hummus ingredients. Instead, what was placed before me was a unique blend of regular chickpea hummus, whole black beans, fresh herbs, and spices topped with olives and served with grilled ciabatta, cukes and tomatoes Talk about a surprise! Even though it wasn't what I was expecting, I actually enjoyed this new twist to hummus. It was like a hummus salsa/ hummus brushcetta. The combination of textures was addicting and the taste, nearly perfect. My tastebuds and tummy were both very satisfied. Would I purchase this again? Absolutely, just with a request for more veggies and less bread...or a GF bread ;)
UPDATE 07/22/2013: My family and I visited over the weekend and I ordered the Black Bean Hummus appetizer with a side Summer Citrus Salad as my meal. Now I'll be honest, when I read "black bean hummus" I was expecting a black bean dip made with tahini, lemon, your typical hummus ingredients. Instead, what was placed before me was a unique blend of regular chickpea hummus, whole black beans, fresh herbs, and spices topped with olives and served with grilled ciabatta, cukes and tomatoes Talk about a surprise! Even though it wasn't what I was expecting, I actually enjoyed this new twist to hummus. It was like a hummus salsa/ hummus brushcetta. The combination of textures was addicting and the taste, nearly perfect. My tastebuds and tummy were both very satisfied. Would I purchase this again? Absolutely, just with a request for more veggies and less bread...or a GF bread ;)
SD Veggie Chili - The chili is the only vegan soup available at Silver Diner but honestly, it's the only one they need to offer. After you taste this warm stew you'll understand that this chili can not be beat (except maybe by the chicken soup which my husband and daughter both claim to be unbeatable). What I love about this chili is that it's made with whole ingredients…no TVP in this baby! The flavor comes from three things: beans, veggies and spices. Some may disagree and think it's just a veggie tomato soup due to the "lack of real texture" but I personally find it satisfies the chili cravings just right without the "meat". Try it and judge for yourself. You may be surprised.
Fresh Salads
New, Warm Roasted Local Veggie Salad - This was my entree for bloggers week. I loved the combination of warm, roasted soft veggies combined with crisp greens, chewy, sweet dried apricots, and crunchy pecans and dressed in a sweetly tart champagne vinaigrette. A very playful combination! It's very tasty and a salad I could eat multiple times! I think it would have been perfect if it was topped with a few slices of avocado. Then we'd have all textures in one bite! Only thing is that I would ask for the vinaigrette on the side. The vinaigrette, which is more on the tart, acidic side, overpowered my salad just a bit. That's a minor quick fix, though.
Summer Citrus - This salad is the perfect salad for when you're craving something bright in both colors and in flavor. Loaded with spinach, mango, and strawberries and topped with crunchy pecans and chewy cranberries, this salad is perfect for both the summer and winter. I believe this salad used to be a seasonal and is now a permanent menu item. While it does seem pretty "typical" for a summer salad in terms of ingredients, it is a nice go to when you're craving something fresh, sweet and savory. (PS it comes with a Citrus Vinaigrette but I opted for Balsamic that day).
UPDATE 07/22/2013: I tried the Citrus Vinaigrette for the first time over the weekend and I have to say it is bursting with citrus notes. It's very bright, mildly sweet and quite refreshing. If you love citrus fruits, you'll love the vinaigrette.
UPDATE 07/22/2013: I tried the Citrus Vinaigrette for the first time over the weekend and I have to say it is bursting with citrus notes. It's very bright, mildly sweet and quite refreshing. If you love citrus fruits, you'll love the vinaigrette.
Mango Vegetarian Stir Fry - This is definitely a different kind of dish. First off, a stir-fry seems a bit out of the norm when we talk about your classic diner meals: burger, fries, flapjacks, chili, milkshakes, stir-fry..sounds odd right? It definitely sticks out, but in a good way. As one of the "Under 600 Cals" meals, the veggie stir-fry is loaded with veggie goodness. Between the tangy, oddly warm bites of mango, the crispy veggies, the hearty noodles and the teriyaki sauce, your taste buds will be having a flavor party with each bite. It was weird at first eating cooked, warm, savory mango, but I actually found it to be an enticing, unexpected twist to your typical stir-fry. It's a hearty dish so prepared to be full!
New, Pesto Veggie Pasta - I have yet to try this and while I have been teetering on the edges of "Eat" or "Don't Eat" due to my recent self-proclaimed sensitivities to gluten, I may, MAY give it a try. The question is, is it worth it to feel crappy for a day? Not sure. But the description alone has me drooling. Lemony pine nut pesto…mmm. Maybe they'll have GF noodles on hand? Hmm I'll get back to you on that one!
New, Santa Fe Roasted Veggies - This was the very first meal I tried on the new menu! It's the dish that made me stand and give a monstrous applause to Silver Diner for stepping up their game and offering some more "gourmet like" vegan meals. I mean, I went from "Everything's OK" to "I'm impressed!". This dish includes one of the newest trending ingredients: quinoa. Nestled on top of a bed of properly cooked quinoa are chipotle roasted veggies, oaxaca black bean salsa, chopped dried apricots, sunflower seeds and a drizzle of tangy salsa roja. Some of the ingredients sound similar to the roasted veggie salad right? I was a bit worried that the salad and this dish would taste the same but they proved that you can take some of the same ingredients and make something completely different! The flavors in this dish are just bursting. Root veggies plus santa fe ingredients equals must try dish - one you will truly appreciate.
Side Dishes
SW Quinoa - Now you know this stuff is good when my husband and daughter both love it. I have never been able to get either one to taste quinoa but somehow Silver Diner could. Restaurants *sigh*. The quinoa is tossed with fresh cooked veggies and black beans and lightly seasoned with aromatic, southwestern spices. I personally think it could have used some extra spice and seasoning, but overall a good and healthy side dish.
Garlic Spinach - Yeah, what else do I need to say? If you love garlicky greens then you'll love their garlic spinach!
Roasted Veggies - I believe these would be the same veggies as the ones used in the salad and santa fe dish.
Edamame Beans and Brown Rice - Haven't tried these yet!
Vegan Coleslaw - I was excited to learn on our first visit to Silver Diner that the coleslaw was vegan! It came with my husband's burger and I stole it right away to grab a taste. Crunchy, sweet and creamy…it's pretty similar to the non-vegan version. I've never been a fan of coleslaw but this one I could eat a time or two.
Shakes and Desserts
New, Soy Dream Sundae and Chocolate Raspberry Shake: For my trip on Saturday, in honor of Blogger's Week, I decided to taste the sundae first. I figured the shake would be similar (just blended) since the same ingredients are used in both. The Sundae was simple yet decadent and satisfying. I rarely buy ice cream for home and I can't remember the last time I made a sundae, so this was a real treat. The highlight of this dish was the raspberry sauce which I could easily tell was made with real raspberries due to its chunky texture. This sundae was the perfect end to my meal.
As for the two omni's... My daughter is in love with the kids pancakes, strawberries and nitrate-free, locally made maple pork sausage which her and my husband both claim to be "really good and flavorful". She devours her meal every time. She's usually the first one to ask if we can back to Silver Diner. She just loves this place!
As for my husband, he can't seem to escape Silver Diner's new Local Flat Iron Steak with crispy onion straws, mashed potatoes, scallions and sautéed garlic spinach. Without the blue cheese butter, it is, in his words, the perfect well-rounded meal. He states the steak is well seasoned and always cooked to his desires. The mashed potatoes are creamy and as he says, "just like you make them", which must mean homemade-esque and the onion straws, deliciously crunchy and always guarded by his fork. As for the garlic spinach, I think he could eat an entire plate of that stuff alone. He's a garlic addict.
And apparently a vanilla milkshake addict too.
Silver Diner has become one of our favorite places to go as a family. Everything from the atmosphere to the food to the diner's ideals and commitments always leaves us satisfied with our decision to dine at the Silver Diner. Plus, nothing makes me happier than to know that the meal I just purchased supports local farmers and not the Big Ag. Take that!
Want to meet the farmers they source their ingredients from? Check out this awesome interactive map I just discovered!
I'm curious to know which dish would YOU want to try?
Silver Diner is a locally owned and operated restaurant with a commitment to "Buy Fresh and Local" ingredients whenever possible. It started in the late 1980's as your typical modern diner and has grown into a purveyor of local food and drinks. For more information as well as locations near you, please check out their website at www.silverdiner.com. I want to send a huge thanks to the staff at the Fair Oaks location! Thank you for dealing with my photographing craziness. You guys are always the best!
P.S. Even though this meal was provided to me for free in return for my review, this in no way influences my honest opinion. Trust me.


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June 30, 2016
The Oakmark Select Fund was up 3% for the quarter, ahead of the S&P 500's 2% return. Three quarters into our fiscal 2016, the Oakmark Select Fund increased by 4% compared to an 11% gain for the S&P 500.
Our best performers in the quarter, both up more than 60%, were LinkedIn and Chesapeake Energy bonds. Our biggest detractors to performance were Fiat convertible bonds, down 18%, and Alphabet, down 7%; we continue to believe both companies trade at significant discounts to their intrinsic values. From a sector-weight standpoint, our large position in technology stocks hurt returns this quarter, as did our underweight position in health care. The details of our LinkedIn investment are discussed elsewhere in the Oakmark Fund and Oakmark Global Fund letters this quarter; suffice it to say that take-outs of our portfolio companies at close to fair value are always welcome. The Chesapeake Energy position, however, deserves a more comprehensive discussion.
Earlier in 2016, investors were pricing in significant bankruptcy risk across Chesapeake's capital structure. At the time, we believed Chesapeake's liquidity risks were manageable given the company's ability to sell assets representing a small percentage of its future production in exchange for cash, making up a meaningful percentage of the company's enterprise value. We felt that Chesapeake's bonds at the time had a similar upside to the stock and had the added benefit of higher seniority in the capital structure, so we swapped the preponderance of our Chesapeake equity position into the company's fixed income securities. On average over the months in which we executed this trade, we sold CHK stock for approximately $4 per share and bought bonds trading for $48.
Commodity prices rose during the quarter, while Chesapeake sold assets for cash without substantially reducing its current EBITDA. We believe that the liquidity profile of the company is now considerably improved. Today the bonds are trading for $85 while the stock is at $4.28, and the relative attractiveness of Chesapeake bonds to its stock has noticeably narrowed. We are very impressed with how well Chesapeake's management team and board of directors have navigated this challenging commodity price environment, and we remain positive about the long-term prospects for this company.
During the quarter we added two new positions to the Fund, Harley-Davidson and the aforementioned LinkedIn. Harley-Davidson is one of America's great brands, yet at 11x 2016 earnings per share, it is priced as if it's a distressed retailer. The company's new CEO has increased product development and marketing spending, seeking to provide long-term benefits at the expense of current margins, and is expanding into markets such as China, India and Vietnam with encouraging early results. A pervasive concern cited about Harley-Davidson is the aging of its core Baby Boomer rider base, but motorcycle ownership amongst people ages 25-50 today is as high per capita as it was when Boomers were in that demographic. We believe the long-term future of this company is bright and that the current price of the stock will prove a bargain.
We eliminated positions in Calpine and Monsanto. Both companies' fundamental results had persistently and materially underperformed our expectations. We of course prefer to sell things because they rise to our expected values, but sometime events unfold in a way that causes us to lose confidence in our original thesis. Both of these sales fall into the latter category. Monsanto is currently involved in takeover negotiations with Bayer, which, if successful, could make our sale look foolish in hindsight.
Thank you, our fellow shareholders, for your continued investment in our Fund.
William C. Nygren, CFA
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Anthony P. Coniaris, CFA
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Win Murray
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Average Annual Total Returns (06/30/16)
Since Inception (11/96) 12.17%
10-year 6.83%
5–year 10.98%
1–year -5.46%
3–month 2.67%
Expense Ratio as of 9/30/15 was 0.95%
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. The investment return and principal value vary so that an investor's shares when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain the most recent month-end performance data, view it here.
The holdings mentioned above comprise the following percentages of the Oakmark Select Fund's total net assets as of 06/30/16: LinkedIn Corp. 5.4%, Chesapeake Energy Corp. 0.3%, Chesapeake Energy Corp. 144A 8.0% due 12/15/22 3.5%, Chesapeake Energy Corp. Convertible Preferred 5.75%, 0.3%, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. 0.3%, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV 7.875% due 12/15/16 3.2%, Alphabet, Inc., Class A 0%, Alphabet, Inc., Class C 7.6%, Harley-Davidson, Inc. 4.0%, Calpine Corp. 0%, Monsanto Co. 0%, and Bayer AG 0%. Portfolio holdings are subject to change without notice and are not intended as recommendations of individual stocks.
Click here to access the full list of holdings for The Oakmark Select Fund as of the most recent quarter-end.
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The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has released a new report detailing rates of sexual victimization in the nation's juvenile facilities.
The report, incorporating data from the 2012 National Survey of Youth in Custody, found that nearly one in 10 young people in state-operated or state-contracted juvenile facilities reported at least one sexual victimization incident last year. Approximately 2.5 percent of youth in juvenile facilities reported victimization at the hands of fellow inmates, the report states, while 7.7 percent of survey takers said they had experienced sexual abuse from facility staffers. Of the 7.7 percent, 3.5 percent of young people in juvenile facilities reported being coerced into sexual contact by staff or other facility personnel.
"Most victims of staff sexual misconduct reported more than one incident," the report reads. "Among these youth, nearly one in five reported 11 or more incidents."
The new estimates, however, represent a downturn in the national rate of sexual abuse, with the overall rates of juvenile facility sexual victimization declining from 12.6 percent when the first National Survey of Youth in Custody was conducted in 2009, to 9.9 percent in 2012.
About 8 percent of males in juvenile facilities reported sexual contact with staff in 2012, compared to less than 3 percent of female detainees. However, at 5.4 percent, more females in juvenile facilities reported sexual victimization from other inmates than boys, of whom 2.2 percent reported fellow youth victimization.
Among the young people reporting inmate victimization, two-thirds said they were subjected to sexual contact by physical force or intimidation, while about a quarter were offered "favors of protection" in exchange for sexual activity. Almost one-fourth reported receiving drugs or alcohol as "payment" for sexual acts.
White youth were found to be nearly three times likelier to experience inmate sexual victimization than black or Hispanic youth, the report states, while African-American youth reported higher staff sexual victimization rates than either white or Hispanic young people. According to the new BJS findings, LGBT youth in juvenile facilities are nearly seven times likelier to report youth-on-youth victimization than heterosexual detainees.
Nearly seven out of 10 youth-on-youth victims said they were sexually assaulted more than once, with almost two-out-of-five detainees reporting being attacked by more than one detainee. Eighty-two percent of youths who were subjected to inmate abuse, however, reported no injuries to facility personnel.
The new report, for the first time, lists state-level estimates of sexual victimization in juvenile facilities. According to BJS figures, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio and South Carolina had the highest overall rates of juvenile sexual victimization, while three states — Delaware, Massachusetts and New York — were found to have no reported sexual victimization incidents.
The rates of sexual victimization at privately operated or local facilities were nearly half that of state-operated facilities, the report reads.
In regards to individual facilities, 13 were identified as "high-rate," with sexual victimization at the facilities hovering at 35 percent higher than the national average. The BJS report singles out two facilities — Circleville Juvenile Correctional Facility in Ohio and Georgia's Paulding Regional Detention Center — as having overall sexual victimization rates in excess of 30 percent.


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Mobile may be next frontier for publishing, but readers have migrated to the platform faster than advertisers—that gap could be closing though.
Global mobile advertising revenue nearly doubled in 2013, totaling $19.3 billion, according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). That rate of growth—92 percent, to be exact—is up over last year's. Mobile ad spend grew 82 percent from 2011 to 2012.
Mobile display advertising is the fastest-growing segment, up 123 percent, which could be good news for publishers. Mobile search advertising and messaging rose 92 percent and 19 percent, respectively.
Search still commands the most dollars overall—it claims 48.9 percent of the market with $9.5 billion—but display is catching up. Display advertising grabbed 41.5 percent of the market in 2013, up from 38.7 percent in 2012. Messaging accounted for just 9.6 percent of overall spending, a percentage point higher than 2012.
Regionally, North America led the world in mobile ad revenue, with 41.9 percent of the overall market. Asia-Pacific was close behind with 38.9 percent. Latin America, claiming just 0.7 percent market share, grew its small base by 215 percent last year though-the highest among any region. The U.S. was second in growth rate at 122 percent.


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You are bright, ambitious and eager to make an immediate influence. You should be in an industry that value your work and make your talent shine. Valuation and financial advisory industry is a promising industry with all the opportunities you look for. The industry is filled with professionals and craving for talents like you.
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Join our team, and you will work with a group of the most talented and qualified professionals in the industry.
What AVISTA values the most is our young and bright professionals. Thus, AVISTA dedicates to provide our employees with the most energetic and comfortable working atmosphere. We believe that the environment and culture in AVISTA are most suitable for one who is young and aspirant and strive for success. At every stage of your career, you will have the support you need to progress and the opportunities you need to succeed and contribute in AVISTA.


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3111 Shadowlawn, San Diego, CA 92110 US San Diego Home
3111 Shadowlawn, San Diego, California
Authentic Spanish Architecture
Property Details
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- Bedrooms: 3
- Baths: 2
- Partial Baths: 0
- Lot Size: 0.15
- Garage: 2 Car
- Schools: San Diego Unified
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Property Description
SOLD BY CINDY!! Sought after Authentic Spanish Architecture with pegged hardwood floors & glass door knobs. The oversized eat-in kitchen has modern appliances including double ovens, and stainless gas cooktop. The formal dining room looks through a huge picture window to red brick patio with fireplace, BBQ and peaceful fountain. The large master has a fireplace. Great yard with gazebo. 2 car garage has laundry hook-up. Stroll the charming neighborhood.
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Todd Stroger's Problems Continue to Mount (Roller Skates)
Todd Stroger, I'm coming for you
Now its on! The odds are quite long that Mr. IcePhoenix23 will replace Todd Stroger as Cook County Board President (longer than his boxers), however, if he keeps on producing campaign videos like this, his approval ratings will exceed President Stroger's 10%!
Found on: http://chicagoist.com/2009/09/16/todd_strogers_toughest_opponent.php
Posted: September 17th, 2009 under Chicago Politics.


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Hot Shots Golf 2 (PSP)
Published by
Developed by
Also For
Critic Score
100 point score based on reviews from various critics.
User Score
5 point score based on user ratings.
DescriptionHot Shots Golf 2 is the sequel to PlayStation game Hot Shots Golf. While the sequel is in many respects similar to the original, it brings some improvements to the series.
Like the original there are several characters to choose from, and many more to be unlocked throughout the game. Each character has his or her own strengths and weaknesses, making character selection more than just choosing a skin. The character models themselves are of a more realistic style this time around, as opposed to the big-head anime style of the original Hot Shots Golf.
There are several different modes of play, from standards like stroke, match, and tournament, to the 'vs. mode', through which new characters can be unlocked. Gameplay itself is a version of the standard 'tap-tap-tap' variety used by the majority of golf games.
There are no PSP user screenshots for this game.
There are 2 other screenshots from other versions of this game or official promotional screenshots.
Promo Images
Alternate Titles
- "Minna no Golf 2" -- Japanese title
- "Everybody's Golf 2" -- European title
Part of the Following Groups
- Everybody's Golf / Hot Shots Golf / Minna no Golf series
- PlayStation the Best series
- Sony Hot Shots games
User Reviews
There are no reviews for this game.
Critic Reviews
|Gamereactor (Finland)
|May 28, 2008
|9 out of 10
|Jun 12, 2008
|80 out of 100
|May 30, 2008
|16 out of 20
There are currently no topics for this game.
Version differencesSweet Tooth (from the Twisted Metal series) is included in the US and European versions as an unlockable character. Also available in the US and European versions are Sir Dan (from the MediEvil series) and an odd choice, since the following character wasn't made by Sony: Gex (from Crystal Dynamics' Gex series).
There are no game credits on file for this release of the game. Everything in MobyGames is contributable by users.