text:
"Thank you for the quick repair you did on my iPad screen, I am very pleased with the service and will certainly recommend you."
Being without your iPhone for any length of time can be a real inconvenience; after all, some people run their businesses and even their lives from their mobile. But what if it has become damaged and in need of an iPhone screen repair, an iPhone screen replacement or other type of iPhone 3Gs, 4, 4s, 5, 5c, 5s, 6, 6s, 6 Plus, 6s Plus, iPhone 7, 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X or SE repair? That's where the iTechnician network in St annes, Lancashire can help – just visit the site and you can quickly contact a local expert iPhone repairer who can get your iPhone back into perfect working order.
Many things can go wrong with an iPhone, from physical damage by dropping, scratching or water ingress, to component failures which can stop the iPhone from working. Luckily, the iTechnicians in St annes, Lancashire are fully trained and can carry out many and varied iPhone repairs, including:
Your iPhone can be back in working order again in under an hour (for something straight forward like an iPhone screen repair), if you choose the walk-in service. Here are your options:
The iTechnician network provides rapid repairs at reasonable rates, so to get a free quote for your iPhone screen replacement or other iPhone repair, complete our simple form:
The iTechnicians in St annes, Lancashire are waiting to carry out your iPhone repair now.
iTechnician is a network of likeminded iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and Apple Watch repairers covering England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The technicians have a combined experience of over 400 years in repairing Apple devices. iTechnician was formed with one vision, to provide an affordable, reliable and honest Apple device repair service to private and commercial customers in the UK. Our technicians provide just what you need - professional, local repair service at low prices and a free smile on all jobs .
Whatever your needs, we have rapid and affordable iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and Apple Watch repair services near you.
iPhone repairs iPad repairs Mac repairs iPod Touch repairs iPod Nano repairs iPod Classic repairs
With the iTechnician network covering the whole of the United Kingdom our trusted, local teams are able to repair or buy back your Apple device at the right price. Contact your local iTechnician for fast and cost-effective iPhone, iPad, iPod or Mac repairs.
Aberdeen | Belfast | Birmingham | Brentford | Bristol | Cardiff | Edinburgh | Glasgow | Lancaster | Leeds | Leicester | Liverpool | London | Londonderry | Manchester | Milton Keynes | Newcastle | Nottingham | Oxford | Poplar | Sheffield | Thames Ditton | More iTechnician Locations...
"Thank you for the quick repair you did on my iPad screen, I am very pleased with the service and will certainly recommend you."
"Had an iPhone 6 screen replaced at Stotfold Services. Quick and friendly service and the phone's as good as new."
"So helpful and friendly when I took my iPad in, as far removed from the stereotypical stand-offish techy type as you can imagine."
"I had an excellent experience with iTechnician. They fixed my iPhone and it is now as good as new."
"I contacted iTechnician on my dad's recommendation, and I'm glad I did. Totally professional and would recommend!"
"Increased the memory on my Apple iMac, when I approached iTechnician they offered to do it without charge."


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Tuesday it would allow a U.S. ban to go into effect at midnight on importing or selling mobile devices made by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd that infringe on Apple Inc patents.
The decision is the latest step in a patent battle between the two companies that has spread across several countries as Apple and Samsung vie for market share in the lucrative mobile industry. Samsung and Apple are the No. 1 and No. 2 smartphone makers globally, respectively.
The U.S. International Trade Commission said on August 9 that some older smartphones and tablets made by South Korea's Samsung infringed on Apple patents. It banned the importation or sale of the devices.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman could have overturned the ban - as he did on August 3 in a case where Apple was found to have infringed on a Samsung patent - but did not.
"After carefully weighing policy considerations, including the impact on consumers and competition, advice from agencies, and information from interested parties, I have decided to allow the commission's determination," Froman said in a statement.
Apple had filed a complaint in mid-2011, accusing Samsung of infringing its patents in making a wide range of smartphones and tablets.
The ITC ruled that the Samsung devices infringed on portions of two Apple patents on digital mobile devices, related to the detection of headphone jacks and the operation of touchscreens.
Samsung has said its newer models incorporate features that work around disputed technology, and that those changes have been approved by the ITC.
In the August case, when the USTR overturned a proposed ban on some older-model Apple iPhones and iPads, the patents covered were standard essential patents, while the patents covered by Tuesday's decision were not.
Standard essential patents are central to the products at issue and are supposed to be licensed broadly and inexpensively. U.S. antitrust authorities have argued that infringing on them should trigger requirements for license payments but not import or sales bans.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Ros Krasny, Gerald E. McCormick and Prudence Crowther)

subset: commoncrawl


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Federal health market surpasses one million signups (Update)
A December surge propelled health care sign-ups through the U.S. government's rehabilitated website past the 1 million mark, the Obama administration said Sunday, reflecting new vigor for the problem-plagued federal insurance exchange.
Combined with numbers for state-run markets due in January, that should put total enrollment in the new private insurance plans under President Barack Obama's health law at about 2 million people through the end of the year, independent experts said.
That would be about two-thirds of the administration's original goal of signing up 3.3 million by Dec. 31, a significant improvement given the technical problems that crippled the federal market during October and much of November. The overall goal remains to enroll 7 million people by March 31 when open enrollment for 2014 ends. Obama needs millions of mostly younger, healthy Americans to sign up to keep costs low for everyone.
"It looks like current enrollment is around 2 million despite all the issues," said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalere Health, a market analysis firm. "It was a very impressive showing for December."
The administration said that of the more than 1.1 million people now enrolled in the federal insurance exchange, nearly 1 million signed up in December. The majority came days before a pre-Christmas deadline for coverage to start in January. Compare that with a paltry 27,000 in October, the federal website's first, error-prone month.
"We experienced a welcome surge in enrollment as millions of Americans seek access to affordable health care coverage," Marilyn Tavenner, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a blog post announcing the figures.
The numbers don't represent a full accounting for the country.
The federal website serves 36 states. Yet to be reported are December results from the 14 states running their own sites. Overall, states have been signing up more people for most of the roll-out period than the federal government. But most of that has come from high performers such as California, New York, Washington, Kentucky and Connecticut. Some states continue to struggle with their exchanges.
Still, the end-of-year surge suggests that the HealthCare.Gov website now functioning better, the federal market may be starting to pull its weight. The windfall comes at a critical moment for Obama's sweeping health care law, which becomes "real" for many Americans on Jan. 1 when coverage through the exchanges and key patient protections kick in.
The administration's concern now shifts to keeping the momentum going for sign-ups, and heading off problems that could arise when people who've already enrolled try to use their new insurance.
"They've got the front end of the system working really well," said insurance industry consultant Robert Laszewski. "Now we can move on to the next question: Do people really want to buy this?" He also estimated 2 million will probably be enrolled this year.
The troubled roll-out of Obama's health care law has led to declining approval ratings for Obama and his fellow Democrats, giving new life to Republicans who appeared weakened and fractured after forcing October's partial federal government shutdown. Republican lawmakers seized on the glitches to show they were right in trying to repeal "Obamacare." Democrats hope that as enrollment figures increase more Americans will see the benefits of the program. Health care reform could turn into the pivotal issue in the November 2014 election when control of Congress will be at stake.
The new law is intended to expand coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and curb insurance industry abuses such as denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions or setting lifetime caps on payments for medical expenses. The law set up new state and federal exchanges that serve as markets offering subsidized private insurance to middle-class Americans who don't have access to job-based coverage. The law also expands Medicaid—the government program that provides health care coverage to poor and low-income Americans—to cover more people in states that accept it.
Tavenner said fixes to the website, overhauled to address widespread outages and glitches, contributed to December's figures. But the problems haven't totally disappeared. Thousands of people wound up waiting on hold for telephone help on Christmas Eve for a multitude of reasons, including technical difficulties.
For consumers who successfully selected one of the new insurance plans by Dec. 24, coverage should start on New Year's Day. That's provided they pay their first month's premium by the due date, extended until Jan. 10 in most cases.
But insurers have complained that another set of technical problems, largely hidden from consumers, has resulted in the government passing along inaccurate data on enrollees. With a flood of signups that must be processed in just days, it remains unclear whether last-minute enrollees will encounter a seamless experience if they try to use their new benefits come Jan. 1.
The White House says the error rate has been significantly reduced, but the political fallout from website woes could pale in comparison with the heat that Obama might take if Americans who signed up and paid their premiums arrive at the pharmacy or the emergency room and find there's no record of their coverage.
Officials are also working to prevent gaps in coverage for at least 4.7 million Americans whose individual policies were canceled this fall because they fell short of the law's requirements. The administration has said that even if those individuals don't sign up for new plans, they won't face the law's tax penalty for remaining uninsured.
The new enrollment figures were released Sunday while Obama was vacationing in Hawaii. Although the president has spent most of his time relaxing with friends and family, he stepped into work mode late Friday for an update from aides on his signature domestic policy achievement. The White House said Obama told his team to focus on minimizing disruptions for those switching plans.
A few states offering their own updates have also posted encouraging totals, including New York, where more than 200,000 have enrolled either through the state exchange or through Medicaid. In California, a tally released Friday showed nearly 430,000 have enrolled through the exchange so far.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


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Snapping turtle proving: I react to the most ridiculous things!
The Third Proving:
Snapping Turtle was the third modern proving conducted at
the Northwestern Academy of Homeopathy, in 2004. Eric Sommermann, PhD, CCH, RSHom (NA) led this proving. He sent a clutch
of 10-15 snapping turtle eggs to Michael Quinn at Hahnemann Laboratories, in San Rafael, California.
What's in a Name?
Chelydra means "water turtle" from the Greek chelys, 'turtle', and hydra, 'water'. Serpentina is Latin for snakelike, and ovum indicates the egg of this creature.
Proving Mental Themes include but are not limited to:
Abandoned, ignored, left behind, left out, forsaken, and a sense of isolation or of being shunned
Anger, fury, rampage, rage, extremely ill-tempered and irritable, with unfiltered aggression
Apathy, depression, gray-minded, and sad
Aversion to company
Confusion, slow-minded
Curiosity coupled with efficiency
Deceit, lying, stealing, taking advantage of another, and treachery
Desire to, yet fear of sticking her neck out
Guilt and shame, long held
Homesickness, a sense of home, and homelessness; also, lost and trying to find her way home
Industrious, high energy
Possessiveness and territoriality
Simpleminded and direct
Speech excited, loquacity
Victim and aggressor
Yearning for protection
Proving Physical Themes include but are not limited to:
Cold weather aggravates
Head, heat (accompanying by anger)
Mouth, slurred speech
Teeth, pain
Jaw pain
Extremities, coldness, formication, and pulsation
Food cravings for raw meat
Lack of vitality
Naked, unprotected
Stomach, nausea
Tightness throughout
Vertigo, room turns in a circle
When to Give Snapping Turtle:
Snapping Turtle is given when you see a quiet person, seemingly calm, who is also hidden (believing that if they remain unseen, they won't be attacked). They have behaviors and symptoms similar to people who need snake remedies; however, their responses are slow rather than quick, demonstrating a primitive aggression toward others accompanied by jealousy and fierce independence.
This individual's reactions are often out-of-proportion for the situation. The patient appears slow, dazed and confused. The person needing this remedy is almost always defensive. They will experience tightness throughout their bodies, especially tightness of their jaws, grinding of their teeth, and have a great sensitivity on their necks. From clinical experience it has been observed that there is a long history of abuse, deceit, and treachery, as one patient reported, "no one has your back, so you've got to hunker down and protect yourself." Finally, these patients will report, "I practically raised myself…" as their parents seemingly abandon them to work, or use drugs, or are off partying.
Excerpts from the Proving that are Representative of Snapping Turtle:
Failure to Communicate and Desire to be Left Alone:
The classic, "I want to be left alone." One prover reported, "A huge communication failure; I would say that my response was that I did not even want to talk…and I didn't…I didn't say a word unless I had to." Another said, "I have very little desire to socialize, and the mindless chatter of people is aggravating me more than usual."
Slowness and Out-of-Proportion Reactivity:
In this proving of Snapping Turtle, the reaction time is slow, there is a trance-like movement through daily activities, and the reaction is often strikingly out of proportion to the actual situation. "I react to the most ridiculous things." The response to this reaction is a desire to hide and rest.
Hurried and Industrious:
With a sense that time is running out, the provers hurried themselves, only requiring themselves to slow down and do their work with carefulness and attention to detail.
"I am feeling task oriented and industrious," and "Now I must get to work. Industrious is a word I keep thinking of… I want to be industrious. If I am not I feel worthless."
Dreams of Abandonment, Being Shunned and Hopelessness:
"I was so sure I would be kicked out of the proving! I couldn't bear the sound of that. Why? Not being a part of the group. Not going to be a part of the bigger project. The accomplishment would go on without me. I would be left behind. A nothing. While they would go on to grand & great things, I would be this worm left behind. It was as if I could see them take off into the sky and I was left behind..."
"I dreamt last night of seeing an abandoned child on the street and needing to help him because his mother was sick. I felt very sad when I woke up. The feelings I had about finding that abandoned child in my dream were very frustrating, but basically protective. ...I was sad because I knew his situation was somewhat hopeless..."
Dreams of Being Lost and on the Wrong Track or Disoriented:
"At one point we were on the wrong road. I just had this sense we were on the wrong track. I went to the map and I was right. It was dark and in the middle of the night, and the road just didn't feel right. I remembered traveling that way before and the road didn't feel right…"
"Losing my way. I was going to visit my grandmother, my dad's mother. I have never dreamt of her before. Driving in this very old urban area of the town I grew up in, a very industrial area, with lots of railway underpasses, through the river valley. Turned onto what I thought was her street and parked the car. I began to walk to her house, and then remembered I brought something for dinner and had left it in the car. Tried to go back to the car, but could not find it. I had only walked maybe three houses down from my car, but I became very disoriented. I walked up and down the streets looking for the car. I couldn't even remember the name of the street. I asked this woman for help. She said I could go to her high-rise apartment to see if I could see the car from there."
Dreams of Becoming Enraged (Out-of-Proportion Reaction):
"Staying at my mother's house. I went to shower, but she had left a lampshade drying in the shower that she had washed. Water went everywhere, all over everything, and I became furious. I raged around, throwing the lampshade and the bath mat."
"I wake up thirsty – very dry in throat and mouth all the way down to my lungs. Some mucus in throat I am able to hawk up. Clear to whitish color, consistency of egg whites."
"I feel pain in my left lower jaw like a toothache. The pain goes all the way up the left side of my head. I decide to lie on my left side, the sore side. This seems to make it feel better. I feel my heart beating strongly in my body and a strong pulsation throughout."
Facts about the Common Snapping Turtle:
"The largest recorded common snapping turtle weighed 34 kg. Female snapping turtles may make considerable migrations to find a suitable nesting site, with the longest recorded round trip being a massive 16 km. The common snapping turtle's extremely varied diet makes it a somewhat flatulent species. Although the common snapping turtle prefers shallow waters, it is capable of diving to depths of 2 or 3 m or more.
The common snapping turtle inhabits a wide range of water bodies, from rivers and lakes to temporary ponds and marshes. However, this species tends to show a preference for slow-moving waterways which have a sandy or soft mud bottom and an abundance of aquatic vegetation. The water bodies inhabited by the common snapping turtle are usually shallow, but this reptile can also be found along the edges of deep lakes and rivers.
Beaver lodges and muskrat bank burrows are an important component of common snapping turtle habitats, as this large reptile often uses such cavities for shelter.
Although considered to be a freshwater species, the common snapping turtle can sometimes be found in brackish coastal waterways, including tidal creeks.
Surprisingly, the common snapping turtle is relatively tolerant of polluted waters, and is one of relatively few reptiles which can regularly be found in acidic streams.
Juvenile common snapping turtles usually occur in shallower, vegetated habitats, shifting to deeper water as they grow. This may be linked to a preference for taking larger prey as an adult."[1]
"In the beginning there was only one water and the water animals that lived in it. Then a woman fell from a torn place in the sky. She was a divine woman, full of power. Two loons ?ying over the water saw her falling. They ?ew under her, close together, making a pillow for her to sit on. The loons held her up and cried for help. They could be heard for a long way as they called for other animals to come. The snapping turtle called all the other animals to aid in saving the divine woman's life. The animals decided the woman needed earth to live on. Snapping turtle said, 'Dive down in the water and bring up some earth.' So they did…."[2]
[1] Morgana's Observatory: Creation Myths. 1997-2006. [Online] Available: www.dreamscape.com/morgana/umbriel.htm
[2] Wildscreen. ARKive: Common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina). 2003–2013. Wildscreen is a registered charity promoting conservation through wildlife imagery | UK charity no. 299450 | USA 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. [Online] Available: http://www.arkive.org/common-snapping-turtle/chelydra-serpentina/
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Closeup of turtle eggs deposited by a female snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina); Moondigger; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license
Common snapping turtle; Leejcooper; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Categories: Provings
Keywords: shunned, slowness, lost - disoriented, desire to - yet fear of sticking her neck out, homesickness, home, homelessness, territoriality, primitive, victim and aggressor, yearning for protection, desire to be alone
Remedies: Chelydra serpentina ovum


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The Portland Center for Facial Plastic Surgery
Facial Plastic Surgery Procedures in Portland Oregon
The Portland Center for Facial Plastic Surgery is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon that specializes in facelifts, eyelid surgery, and rhinoplasty.
Hillsboro ( HILZ-burr-oh) is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies, such as Intel, locally known as the Silicon Forest. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 106,447.For thousands of years the Atfalati tribe of the Kalapuya lived in the Tualatin Valley near the later site of Hillsboro. The climate, moderated by the Pacific Ocean, helped make the region suitable for fishing, hunting, food gathering, and agriculture. Settlers founded a community here in 1842, later named after David Hill, an Oregon politician.
53rd Avenue Community Park, AmberGlen, Arbor Lodge, Arbor Roses, Bethany, Bonny Slope, Brookwood Crossing, Butternut Creek by Pahlisch Homes, Cedar Mill, Central Beaverton, Clooten Commons by Riverside Homes, Crestwood, Denney Whitford, Downtown Hillsboro, Edgefield HOA


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Planning an upgrade to Windows 8 in the near future? There's a lot to like about the new operating system, but of course plenty of work to do before you can enjoy it: you'll be copying files, finding CDs and registration keys, reinstalling software and then spending an age making it work exactly how you'd like.
If you prefer an easier life, though, you could just use the O&O Migration Kit for Windows 8, which provides two excellent applications to simplify and automate the upgrade process.
O&O's DiskImage 6.8 kicks things off by providing all the tools you need to create a complete image backup of your existing system, as recommended by Microsoft.
And Laplink's PCmover Professional 8 can then assist in transferring the data, applications and settings from your old to new PC. Just connect the two systems (putting them on the same network is enough), install PCmover on each, and its straightforward wizard will walk you through the migration process.
Or maybe you're planning an in-place upgrade, installing Windows 8 over your existing Windows installation on a single PC? The program can handle this, too, whether you're currently running Windows Vista, XP or 7, and will make sure your applications, settings and data are restored after the upgrade (reinstalls are kept to the absolute minimum).
This really is surprisingly straightforward, but if you have any issues or questions then Laplink provide a free 24 hour telephone support service. Customers in the US, Canada, UK and Australia can call toll-free numbers, ask questions, and even get the technician to remotely connect to your PC and complete the migration for you.
If even this doesn't work out then O&O DiskImage is on hand to restore your original system configuration, of course.
Normally this won't be necessary, though. And while the Migration Kit licence limits you to either 1 or 3 PC migrations, once your system is up and running DiskImage can be used indefinitely to back up your Windows 8 PC.
If you'd like to avoid the usual hassles of an operating system upgrade, then, the Migration Kit is a great way to do it (and having DiskImage available afterwards as a backup tool isn't bad, either).
Note that there's no trial version of Migration Kit 8. The download here will point you to the store.
The Migration Kit contains two powerful tools which can save you a great deal of time and hassle when upgrading to Windows 8


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Elizabeth Landau
(CNN) — Everyone is familiar with Tyrannosaurus rex, but humanity is only now meeting its much smaller Arctic cousin.
Scientists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of dinosaur, based on remains found in Alaska. They are calling the species Nanuqsaurus hoglundi.
This dinosaur lived about 70 million years ago, say paleontologists Anthony Fiorillo and Ronald Tykoski, at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. Their study, published in the journal PLOS One, is aptly called "A Diminutive New Tyrannosaur from the Top of the World."
Researchers discovered the dinosaur's remains in 2006 in the Prince Creek Formation on Alaska's North Slope. At the same quarry, Fiorillo and Tykoski have previously uncovered other important finds, such as remnants of the horned dinosaur species Pachyrhinosaurs perotorum, whose discovery was announced in 2011.
"I find it absolutely thrilling that there is another new dinosaur found in the polar region," Fiorillo said in a statement from the Perot Museum. "It tells us that the ecosystem of ancient Arctic was a very different place, and it challenges everything we know about dinosaurs."
What scientists know about Nanuqsaurus hoglundi comes from just a few fragments: The top part of a skull section, part of a lower jaw, and part of an upper facial jawbone.
"Nanuqsaurus" loosely translates to "polar bear lizard," according to the Perot Museum, and honors the Inupiat people whose territory traditionally includes where the dinosaur remnants were found. The "hoglundi" part honors Dallas entrepreneur and philanthropist Forrest Hoglund.
A Tyrannosaurus rex would have weighed between 7 and 8 tons, with a length of about 40 feet. By comparison, an adult Nanuqsaurus might have been only 25 feet long, with a weight of 1,000 pounds. The head was probably about 2 feet long, CNN affiliate WFAA reported.
"There were features in these specimens that were unique; you didn't see them in other tyrannosaurs," Tykoski told WFAA.
Study authors told the Perot Museum that the dinosaur may have been so small because of how isolated the area was, and how little food was likely available. At that time, planet Earth as a whole was warmer than it is today, but this particular area in Alaska would have been dark about half the year.
"Conditions in this setting were relatively warm, but there were profound to extreme seasonal changes in light regime throughout the year that would have limited resource availability and produced substantial variance in temperatures," study authors wrote.
We know of other animals have clearly adapted to their environments by evolving in size over time, such as large Russian Arctic mammoths that evolved to be cow-sized.
But why was this particular dinosaur, Nanuqsaurus hoglundi, living so far north on the globe? Scientists have many more such questions to explore.
In terms of investigating this polar region for more clues, as Fiorillo put it, this is just the tip of the iceberg.


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A Woman's Question
Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing
Ever made by the Hand above?
A woman's heart, and a woman's life—
And a woman's wonderful love.
Do you know you have asked for this priceless thing
As a child might ask for a toy?
Demanding what others have died to win,
With the reckless dash of a boy.
You have written my lesson of duty out;
Manlike, you have questioned me.
Now stand at the bar of my woman's soul
Until I shall question thee.
You require your mutton shall always be hot,
Your socks and your shirt be whole;
I require your heart to be true as God's stars
And as pure as His heaven your soul.
You require a cook for your mutton and beef,
I require a far greater thing;
A seamstress you're wanting for socks and shirts—
I look for a man and a king.
A king for the beautiful realm called Home,
And a man that his Maker, God,
Shall look upon as He did on the first
And say: "It is very good".
Is your heart an ocean so strong and deep,
I may launch my all on its tide?
A loving woman finds heaven or hell
On the day she is made a bride.
I require all things that are grand and true
All things that a man should be;
If you give this all, I would stake my life
To be all you demand of me.
If you cannot be this, a laundress and cook
You can hire and little to pay;
But a woman's heart and a woman's life
Are not to be won that way.
Author Unknown


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Finding Forrester
Director: | Gus Van Sant |
Writer: | Mike Rich |
Columbia Pictures; PG-13; 136 minutes | |
Release: | 12/00 |
Cast: | Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin |
Finding Forrester is a conciliatory race-fantasy by Gus Van Sant, the maker of Good Will Hunting. In an odd dichotomy, the new film's execution is less manipulative than its predecessor while the plot is doubly so. Instead of Matt Damon's janitor-math genius we get Jamal (Rob Brown), a young city kid who's both a basketball star and a gifted writer. Instead of a weepy Robin Williams, we get a stony, imperious Sean Connery playing a Pulitzer Prize-winning recluse holed up in his Bronx apartment. He practices tough love and helps to hone Jamal's writing. Jamal, in turn, breaks through the old man's dusty, cynical shell. Brown and Connery work well together, and their relationship proceeds at an almost commonsensical pitch that improves upon the Hallmark trappings of Good Will Hunting's mentor-genius pair.
But there's something wrong with any film set in the South Bronx about African-American literary talent that contains no hip-hop. The South Bronx is hip-hop's birthplace, after all, and it's one of the few popular art forms that places top priority on lyrical ability. Finding Forrester prefers jazz. One oddity leads to another. Why is Forrester (Connery) living in a black and Puerto Rican ghetto? And why doesn't Jamal ever get to kiss his white girlfriend (Anna Paquin)? The little physical contact they have is mediated through basketball; Jamal is brilliant, heroic, and desexed. He couldn't be easier for mainstream America to swallow. The pacifying logic behind these decisions is supported by the absence of hip-hop: it's predominantly black music which, unlike jazz, still manages to make some folks nervous. These factors combine to suggest that Van Sant eschews historical realities, flits from the slightest sign of racial discomfort, and employs a fantasy version of black talent in America for sentimental purposes.


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The Stop Gap Conservative
Lots of people are wondering, even with 2012 years away, will the Republican Party learn its lesson? In 2008 the vast moderate (read liberal) conspiracy within the Republican Party got their preferred candidate in one Senator John McCain and he was soundly trounced because when push came to shove both he and his opponent, and now President, Senator Barack Obama, had no real answers for dealing with the tough fiscal and constitutional issues facing this nation. Outside the War on Terror, the fineries may have differed but both of these big government supporting men were close enough to being the same that in the end McCain simply could not beat the novelty of electing the first black president.
Given this less than appealing choice between liberals, one of which was certainly much more so than the other, Americans chose the novelty regardless of what you think or feel. While McCain might have been the more reasonable human being and far better capable of adapting to the current government caused fiscal crisis currently dragging America down do not kid yourself and think that we would be much better off under the man who supported the largest infringement of the first amendment in American history and who, like now President Obama, supported billions in bailouts to failing banks.
The American people spoke loudly in 2008 in that if they are given the choice between incompetent left wing boob with novelty and a somewhat less incompetent left of center boob without novelty, the electorate would choose the former even if other candidates existed that might have been a better fit. It is just too much work to think about voting for someone other than a Republican or Democrat for too many Americans after all.
So back to my original question. Will the GOP learn its lesson?
So far the signs are murky. A recent poll showed that among the leading candidates for the GOP nomination in 2012 were Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin. Gee, uh thanks I guess. Thanks as it looks like the Republican Party is well on its way to nominating, potentially, what could at best be a stop gap conservative to try and slow our march to the left when what this country really needs is someone capable of turning this whole ship around. This is of course unless the liberal wing of the party and the power elite running it don't drum up another left of center candidate like John McCain to take the lead. In that case? Well it will be full steam ahead into the iceberg that awaits.
The idea of putting up a stop gap conservative is something that might appeal to a large portion of the Republican Party who are by enlarge right leaning moderates and who turn their noses up at true conservative principles because of the inconvenience and responsibility they bring. You know who these people are. They are the "conservatives" that rail against big government and unconstitutional spending but fully support programs like Social Security which fits both categories perfectly. But because they really hate the idea of their left of center and far left brethren, who as also not adverse to ignoring the Constitution at times as they are want to do, having control they might be able to coax enough of the conservatives who call the Republican Party home to nominate a "conservative" who will turn just enough of a blind eye to their moderate ways and that the conservatives can live with it if he or she were to be elected.
Every day that goes by I wonder about what any of these three would do if nominated and even elected that would coerce conservatives to be really gung-ho to vote for them. Sarah Palin I would certainly have the most hope for as being something other than a placeholder that would simply slow the leftward march of this nation under the guise of compromise. But I also know one thing about her that is troublesome. That one thing is that she will do nothing to get control of our nation's real problems and tackle the tough subjects of unconstitutional programs such as Social Security, Welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. I know that if history is any indication she will do nothing of substance to grab hold these immense costs that are punishing the working middle class through high taxes to support them and which are such a large part of our federal budget that without hacking and slashing, and preferably eliminating, them we will never return to fiscal solvency and sound tax policy. She might give token reforms but with the size of these problems more than that will be needed.
Mitt Romney? Please. The man that brought us the "great" Massachusetts government health care plan that failed before it even really got started? Oh I know his excuses for when that issue is brought up; he had, "no choice," and the Democrats, "changed," the plan to add things that made it a failure. But that just proves to me that he is no leader and not qualified for the Presidency regardless of the experience as an executive his devout supporters tout. A real leader would have stood up and with the power of the executive said no and refused to fund the program and staff it. A real leader would have cited the constitutional problems with forcing people into contracts they do not want to be bound by. A real leader would have stood up and challenged all to take him down and stood against all comers that tried. Instead he went along to get along like so many self-professed "leaders" do.
Mike Huckabee? If you could see me you would see my eyes rolling in my head. His attempts at reviving his facade with a soft spoken talk show on FOX News is a good effort but I do not see conservatives deeply embracing a man that has already shown a contempt for the laws of this nation and our borders.
Of course, any of these Republicans would be preferable to any candidate the Democrats could muster because they would never nominate a candidate as far to the center as any of these. The problem though then becomes the same as in 2008 should the Republicans nominate a stopgap conservative in that it will remain to be seen if they are conservative enough to woo the vast majority of Americans who disagree vehemently with nearly every policy the Democrats put forth. And then that leads to another problem too in that will a stopgap "conservative" be good enough to pull America back from the gates of Hell and walk us back up the paved road in the hand basket we are currently in? Or will we just stand at the gates under their "leadership" and wait for the next liberal/progressive/socialist/Marxist President to walk us over the threshold?
J. J. Jackson
Send email feedback to J. J. Jackson
Biography - J. J. Jackson
J.J. Jackson is a libertarian conservative author from Pittsburgh, PA who has been writing and promoting individual liberty since 1993 and is President of Land of the Free Studios, Inc. He is the Pittsburgh Conservative Examiner for Examiner.com. He is also the owner of The Right Things - Conservative T-shirts & Gifts http://www.cafepress.com/rightthings. His weekly commentary along with exclusives not available anywhere else can be found at http://www.libertyreborn.com
Copyright © 2009 by J. J. JacksonAll Rights Reserved.
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Compromised WordPress sites Drive Users to Blackhole Exploit Kit
We were alerted to reports of a mass compromise of WordPress sites that lead to CRIDEX infection. To lure users to these compromised sites, the cybercriminals behind this employed spammed messages purporting to come from known legitimate sources such Better Business Bureau and LinkedIn, just to name a few. These spam use social engineering tactics to entice unsuspecting users to click the link found in the email.
Clicking this link leads to a series of compromised WordPress sites, which ultimately point users to the Blackhole Exploit kit that targets vulnerabilities cited in CVE-2010-0188 and CVE-2010-1885. This is detected by Trend Micro as JS_BLACOLE.IC.
Once users click on any of the URLs seen on Figure 3, users are redirected to sites that host the said exploit kit.
Based on our analysis, this exploit results to the installation of WORM_CRIDEX.IC on the affected system. When executed, this worm connects to a remote site http://{Random URL}.ru:8080/rwx/B2_9w3/in/ to download its configuration files.
WORM_CRIDEX.IC was also found to generate several random domains using domain generating algorithms (DGA). This is a well-known technique used by cybercriminals to evade law enforcement and to prevent botnets from being shut down. The malware also uses DGA to download its configuration file. As of this writing, the exact behavior of the sample is dependent on the configuration file. Based on static analysis, however, it is capable of executing a file, deleting a file/folder, and retrieving certificates in a certificate store. During our testing, we were unable to download the configuration file as this was no longer available.
Trend Micro protects users from this threat via its Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ that blocks malicious URLs related to this attack as well as detecting the related malware. To avoid encountering these compromised sites, users should think twice before clicking those links found on dubious-looking messages. Always verify the validity of received messages, specially those that claim to be from well-known sources.
With additional text and analysis by security evangelist Ivan Macalintal.
Post from: TrendLabs | Malware Blog – by Trend Micro
Compromised WordPress sites Drive Users to Blackhole Exploit Kit
Read more: Compromised WordPress sites Drive Users to Blackhole Exploit Kit


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Having been longtime fans of one another's work, Michelle Blade and I thought it would be interesting to talk about our ideas, inspirations and work processes as well as our concurrent solo exhibitions at KRETS, in Sweden and Carter & Citizen in Los Angeles. The conversation, passed back and forth between email over a week, took place as follows... -Alexis Mackenzie
Blade: Okay, to get the ball rolling I think I should start with a basic, but crucial, question: I've always been curious, where do you find your gorgeous source material?
Mackenzie: It all comes from used books; here in SF I mostly buy them at Green Apple Books or Adobe Books ~ so sad they are having to close! I also have a friend who is a book reseller; he keeps an eye out for books for me, and has found me some really amazing things. Most of the books I use are topical; vintage books about botany, rocks & minerals, fashion, and anatomy mostly. Lately I've been looking more for photographic source material that includes objects, such as decorative art ~ vases, frames, furniture ~ things I can build interior scenes with.
Blade: It seems like part of your process is about balancing your intuitive response to found imagery while simultaneously preplanning abstract shapes and text. Can you describe how you move back and forth between the two? When do you know a collage is completed?
Mackenzie: You're completely right; for my text-based collages, finding that balance mostly consists of having a letter-shape in mind, and searching for an image that resonates with me, which I can twist into the shape I need and melds with everything else around it. It is a long process of searching, cutting, arranging, rearranging, searching, cutting, and rearranging some more. Generally I stop when it feels like a completed scene. I don't glue anything down until this happens, because if I decide to add anything it may change the balance of everything else, thus necessitating changes. My process for the abstract line collages is the complete opposite; everything is unplanned. I'll chose an existing cut-out silhouette from the millions I have floating around in stacks, one that has a shape which is interesting and compliments the found image I'm working on in a dynamic way (or is compelling enough on its own, for working on blank paper), and I just start cutting & pasting, working with the existing shapes and trying to create something resonant. It is a much more freeform approach; I sometimes think of it as drawing, in a way.
Blade: You have some really interesting text in some of your pieces. What is your process for finding or writing these phrases? Is there a story behind "Look Alive", the title for your current solo show at KRETS?
Mackenzie: I'm not sure I have an exact process; I think I am always just mulling over phrases in my mind, or searching them out while watching movies, reading books, observing art, listening to music, having conversations... Mostly I'm attracted to words and phrases that are sort of bittersweet; I like texts which are uplifting and thoughtful, but never saccharine, cloying, or cliched; phrases which can be interpreted as either positive or negative, depending on mood, are my favorites. They are just feelings I'm trying to capture, mostly.
"Look Alive" is one of those phrases; I love how vivid it sounds, and how it has the immediate impression of being stimulating... Under consideration, though, it is a bit of a reprimand, and a little sad ~ if someone is telling you to "look alive", it probably means you aren't really all there. So it is inspiring and depressing all at once... I think when I was working on this piece, I was telling myself that maybe it was about living in a technologically immersed culture, where many people are somewhat half-submerged in a digital world a lot of the time, and about how I sometimes miss the more analog world of not-so-long ago. But looking back, I was working on this show in the months just before my relationship with my boyfriend came to an end; so it may also have been about neither of us being really all there, and the effect that living this way was having on me.
Mackenzie: I have always admired your projects which are built around interactions among groups of people, creating these events which draw out a connectedness and collective energy/consciousness; many of your paintings also focus on subject matters having to do with reaching out and seeking connections of various kinds (physical & spiritual); with other people and other planes of thought; hands, people exploring nature together, palm readings, Ouija boards, fortune telling... Are facets of connectedness simply an aspect of human nature that you are exploring with your work, or is it more personal? Do you think that as people become more and more "connected" digitally, they are also becoming increasingly out of touch with the world, or do you think this has always been a human proclivity?
Blade: I think I wander through ideas of human connectedness in couple different ways. One side of my practice is isolated, where I paint for hours on end, focusing on my inspirations in a kind of meditative state. Working this way is great because I'm quite private and I enjoy spending time alone. The other side of my practice, where I collaborate with groups, satisfies the more socially inclined part of my personality that is interested in sharing cultural rituals and collective energy. Working creativity with a group is really different from experiencing it alone; at times it's much more rewarding and surprising. Working with a group can also open you up to a unique kind of failure which is an interesting concept to grapple with. Failure embodies so much complexity- when a project fails I usually learn quite a bit more than I would have if the project had turned out polished and perfect. I think about this in regards to technology and many of the speculative conversations surrounding how it is possibly ruining the next generation's social capabilities. I can't claim to know how it is going to affect human interaction long term, but I do feel the exposure and accessibility to information, people and culture is very positive.
Mackenzie: You are currently working on "366 Days of the Apocalypse"; when did you decide you were going to do this? What is it that attracts you to the subject of the apocalypse? Do you think there is actually some form of an apocalypse about to occur (or occurring)?
Blade: The idea for 366 Days of the Apocalypse started last year when the 2011 end times billboards made by Harold Camping started popping up all over the Bay Area, claiming that the Rapture and Judgment Day would happen on May 21st. I liked the recurring anticipation the apocalypse created among the masses so I thought it would be interesting to begin a long-term, daily painting project that would enable me to explore these themes.
As a child the fire and brimstone permeating apocalyptic Christian folklore was really intriguing to me. It's still pretty inspiring as far as image making goes, but in the past few years I've gravitated more toward the 2012 Mayan prophecy about the apocalypse occurring on December 21st, when their calendar ends. The Mayan prophecy claims the apocalypse will take the form of a giant cultural shift rather than the world physically ending. I would love to see a cultural shift occur, and for a moment I thought the Occupy Movement might have been part of the shift. Maybe it still is. Being alive when the sun finally explodes, or a meteor hits our planet, would also be spectacular to witness.
Mackenzie: The text for "Hanging Fire" feels like it has a lot to do with the anticipation of great change; are there things in the world, or in your life, that you are looking forward to, or perhaps dreading, or just wondering about? I like what you said about death being an ally throughout life, I really feel that's true and good thing when people use it.
Blade: Hanging Fire is an expression that means to delay, or to wait and see. It refers to an unexpected delay between the triggering of a firearm and the ignition of the propellant. With so many of the works in the Carter & Citizen show being centered around the apocalypse it made sense to me. The expression pairs nicely with the idea of death as an ally as well. This concept was documented by Carlos Castaneda from his studies under shaman Don Juan. Don Juan regards death as an ally who sits with us throughout our life, forcing us to consider the inevitable and live accordingly. Picturing death as a presence that literally sits next to me, helps me imagine a vision of the past, present and future in sync with the persistent and imminent transition of death. I think it's a really positive tool.
Blade: Death seems to be a repeating character in some of your collages as well. What attracts you to the idea of Death as an Ally? Do you have other characters in your work?
Mackenzie: Mortality is just an inescapable theme in some ways; I think the prospect of our own imminent deaths can be a great motivator to do and appreciate all we can, while we can, if one considers things from that perspective. It sweetens an experience, in its own dark way, by causing the moment itself to shine brighter. I guess Death is a foil. It is also the most mysterious of all life events, since there is no way of knowing what the experience of dying is truly like, or what lies on the other side of it. We have no irrefutable facts. It is the only truly unanswerable question anyone can ask; entire religions and cultures are founded upon purporting to answer the question; I think they succeed in part because of how deep our curiosity and need to know is. Anyway, I think those are some of the reasons Death as a theme is such a draw... As an ally, it fulfills my need for things to have a duality. I really believe in the need for all forms of lightness to be balanced by a darkness; there are no highs without lows, no beauty without flaws; we need sad moments to appreciate how wonderful the joyous ones are. These are just basic concepts I try to explore visually, trying to draw out nuances of feelings and highlight moments when one might consider them, in the course of living. I try to use the fear of death and the sadder, uglier moments in life to highlight everything else.
Mackenzie: I love what you said about failure; its complexities and how you learned from these experiences more than from the projects that succeeded. It reminds me of that Beckett quote, "Fail better." What is one of your favorite failures and what did you take away from it?
Blade: A couple years ago I hosted an event called the "Trust Fall / Peace Sign" at Dolores Park during a peace rally. My idea for the event was to invite people from the crowd to stand in the shape of a peace sign. Once the shape was filled in, I instructed the standing participants do a trust fall exercise; falling into the arms of the person behind them while simultaneously catching the person in front of them. In my mind this action was going to look like a beautiful choreographed human domino in the shape of a peace sign. I explained to the crowd that I was going to climb a nearby hill to shoot video and that when I got to the top I would give them a signal to fall when everything was ready. The signal would be me raising my hands above my head and letting them fall to my side. When I gave my signal to the participants people slowly started to fall in a piecemeal fashion, others flapped their arms up and down imitating me, and some looked around confused while others tried shouting directions to help recover the already failed event. I watched all of this chaos from the hill above, loving every bit of it. The event was a huge failure but what struck me in that moment was how beautiful the symbology of the event was. It mirrored so many facets of our human struggle for peace- at times chaotic and flailing, but interesting, and filled with good intentions.
Michelle Blade holds a BA from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles and an MFA from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco. Her work has been featured at Western Exhibitions (Chicago), Jack Hanley (San Francisco), Triple Base (San Francisco), the San Jose ICA, Roberts & Tilton (Los Angeles), Carl Berg Gallery (Los Angeles), Bravin Lee Gallery (NYC), Space 1026 (Philadelphia), Union Gallery (London), V1 Gallery (Copenhagen), and the Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Stüttgart, Germany). She is a 2007 recipient of the Murphy-Cadogan Fellowship, A 2X2 Pro Arts Grant, an Alternative Exposure SOEX Grant, and was a SF MOMA Seca finalist in 2011. Blade lives and works in San Francisco, Ca.
Alexis Mackenzie's work has been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions in San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. She holds a BFA from Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her work has been reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others, and has appeared in numerous publications, including Zeit Magazin, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, doingbird, and Yen Magazine.
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Communication technology provides simple, secure wireless communication
WirelessHART from the HART Communication Foundation has earned international standard status.
WirelessHART, a communication technology built on the foundation of the HART Communication Protocol, has earned international standard status and has proven its ability to fulfill users' requirements for simple, reliable and secure wireless communication in thousands of applications working in concert with millions of installed HART devices and systems worldwide, according to the HART Communication Foundation.
"Enhancing the proven HART Protocol to include wireless communication capabilities greatly shortened the time required for industry acceptance," said Ron Helson, Executive Director, HART Communication Foundation. "WirelessHART by design provides the same familiar ease of use and complements the HART instrumentation already installed in users' plants. Its secure backward compatibility, interoperability and reliability make it easy for both users and suppliers to support wired and wireless devices connected to the same automation systems, operating side-by-side and using the same tools," Helson said.
Wil Chin, Research Director, ARC Advisory Group commented: "After an auspicious start, WirelessHART has crossed the 'Chasm' and is entering the 'Early Majority' phase of the technology adoption curve. The thousands of sites that have validated the value and performance of WirelessHART in pilot programs will accelerate its adoption in mainstream applications and drive healthy growth for the foreseeable future."
The WirelessHART standard supports star, point-to-point and/or mesh topologies and requires no specialized tools or expertise for deployment. The technology is reportedly easy to implement, provides built-in reliability in all industrial environments, and employs 128-bit AES encryption, multi-tiered, always-on security to protect the network and the data being transferred at all times. WirelessHART builds on proven international standards—the HART Communication Protocol (IEC 61158), EDDL (IEC 61804-3), IEEE 802.15.4 radio and frequency/channel hopping, spread spectrum and mesh networking technologies.
HART Communication Foundation
See the Industrial Networks Channel, for related news and products
– Edited by Amanda McLeman, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com
Do you have experience and expertise with the topics mentioned in this content? You should consider contributing to our CFE Media editorial team and getting the recognition you and your company deserve. Click here to start this process.


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The Abbey and the Royal Family
From the moment King Edward the Confessor decided to build his church at Westminster in the 11th century, the story of the Abbey has been woven into the history of the British monarchy.
From coronations to weddings and burials, every British monarch has forged a strong bond with the Abbey. Two centuries later Henry III built the Abbey church you see today. Since 1066 all British monarchs except two [Edward V and Edward VIII] have been crowned at the Abbey.
Queen Elizabeth I, who succeeded her half-sister Mary I, founded the present Collegiate Church of St Peter Westminster (the formal title for the Abbey) in 1560. The Abbey is a Royal Peculiar responsible not to the Archbishop of Canterbury but to the sovereign alone.
Thirty kings and queens are buried here, starting with King Edward the Confessor himself whose magnificent shrine stands just behind the High Altar. Five monarchs are buried in the royal tombs surrounding his shrine.
The Abbey has also hosted 16 royal weddings, including the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011.


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Thursday, January 28, 2010
Author Q & A: William L. Shea
DW: Prof. Shea, since your earlier Pea Ridge study is a personal favorite, I'd like to start with a question about the co-author process. How did the partnership with Earl Hess develop? Also, how did you divide up the research and writing duties for that project?
WLS: We discovered by chance that we were both preparing books about Pea Ridge. Since neither project was very far along, we agreed to merge our efforts. Dividing up research responsibilities was easy. He searched archives in his half of the country; I searched archives in mine. Dividing up writing duties was more challenging. We settled on a process in which one author wrote a chapter (any chapter, no particular order) and sent it to the other author, who reworked the chapter and sent it back. Some chapters went back and forth several times before both of us were satisfied. The result was a manuscript with a consistent style from start to finish.
DW: Interesting. I've come across others that utilize a similar system, and it seems to work well in many cases. Let's now dive into Prairie Grove and your new book Fields of Blood. You did an earlier interview with historian M. Jane Johansson [link to interview] that covered much of the background and research, as well as various leader assessments from both sides, so I thought I would avoid covering the same ground. I apologize beforehand for the scattershot format this will cause.
Fields of Blood is the second Prairie Grove Campaign study to be published, the first being Michael Banasik's Embattled Arkansas (Broadfoot, 1996). Can you describe where your interpretations of the campaign and battle differ significantly from Banasik's?
WLS: Our books are so different in conception and execution it's hard to make comparisons of that sort. We both give Hindman a lot of credit for creating an army from scratch.
DW: The controversial James Blunt is a major figure in your book. Although Nathaniel Lyon's brief career secured Missouri more or less permanently, do you believe a case could be made that Blunt (with issues of politics and corruption aside) was the most effective Union military leader in the Trans-Mississippi?
WLS: Samuel Curtis was the most effective Union military leader west of the Mississippi, and he would have been even more effective had the Lincoln administration not put him on the shelf for most of 1863 and part of 1864 because of politically motivated trumped-up charges of corruption. Blunt was an effective leader of troops at the brigade and division levels but I doubt whether he had the capacity to handle an army or theater command. His combative personality made it difficult for him to get along with people, though he managed to stay on good terms with everyone except Salomon during the Prairie Grove campaign. But despite his flaws (or maybe because of them), he was a fascinating figure who deserves a first-rate biography. I hope somebody is considering such a project.
DW: Getting back to the Prairie Grove battlefield, the Confederate position along the ridge at Prairie Grove is fairly well documented, but others seem to remain a mystery. Did you ever come across a drawing or description of Frost's blocking position astride the Fayetteville Road? Along with the earlier cavalry battle at the crossroads, it seems to be one of the fuzzier deployments in terms of available information.
WLS: I couldn't find any useful information about Frost's position along Muddy Fork. No maps, no sketches, no detailed descriptions. Nor could I find any obvious terrain features where a line of battle might have been located. It's a mystery. When I lead tours to that part of the battlefield I wave my arms vaguely and say that Frost was deployed "around here somewhere."
DW: It's no secret that many of the Arkansas regiments were filled with large numbers of unwilling conscripts, and it's even been alleged that an entire regiment deserted en masse during the Prairie Grove battle [unfortunately, I can't remember which unit]. Did you find any evidence of this unique and incredible circumstance in your research?
WLS: That is one of the enduring myths of Prairie Grove. Charles Adams's Arkansas Infantry was one of the regiments with a large number of unhappy conscripts in its ranks. During the fighting around the Borden house the regiment disintegrated. Nearly everyone, officers included, fled to the rear. Many did not stop running until they were miles away. Over the next few days a large number of these men made their way to Union lines and turned themselves in. This appears to be the source of the incredible story that a Confederate regiment switched sides in the middle of the fight. Other Arkansas regiments with large numbers of conscripts performed well during the battle. Another regimental commander, Alexander Hawthorn, publicly commended his conscripts on their behavior in combat. The problem with Adams' regiment seems to have been Adams.
DW: That certainly wouldn't be unusual. In both your Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove studies, you represent those campaigns as pivotal moments in the yet undecided contest for control of Missouri, Arkansas, and Indian Territory, with the understanding that Confederate victories could have opened up vast strategic possibilities. In my mind, given the extreme logistical constraints, both battles (win or lose) better reflect the very limits of Confederate power projection in the region rather than possible starting points to even greater gains. What are your thoughts on this contrary view?
WLS: You're right. The Confederates had no realistic chance of occupying Missouri and Kansas in the usual sense of the term. But let's remember that the Union armies at Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove represented nearly all of the available manpower in the Trans-Mississippi. (This was especially true of the Army of the Frontier at Prairie Grove in late 1862.) Had either Union army been defeated and driven north in disarray—losing men, guns, ammunition, stores, wagons, and animals in the process—there was nothing to stop the Confederates from re-establishing themselves in the granary of western Missouri, which included "Little Dixie" and its hordes of irregulars. From there it would have been a relatively simple matter for the Confederates to seize the depots at Fort Scott and Rolla and continue on to threaten Kansas City and St. Louis. The presence of a rampaging Confederate army in western Missouri, however logistically challenged, would have been the military equivalent of a "fleet in being" (see Alfred Thayer Mahan). The Lincoln administration would have had no choice but to respond by rushing additional resources to Missouri and Kansas. This, in turn, would have affected the scale and scope of operations in Mississippi and Tennessee. I am convinced that a Confederate push into Missouri and Kansas in 1862, when the outcome of the war was still uncertain, would have had a significant impact not only in the Trans-Mississippi but across much of the West as well.
DW: It was long rumored that Banasik was working on a history of the Army of the Frontier and Bill Gurley is hard at work on a Parsons' Brigade study. Do you know of any other individuals currently researching books about persons, places, or events directly and indirectly associated with the Prairie Grove Campaign?
WLS: News travels slowly in deepest Arkansas. I don't know of anything in the works.
DW: I like to close these Q&As with a question about upcoming projects. Do you have anything in the works that you are able to mention at this time?
WLS: A biography of Samuel Curtis is in progress.
DW: Wonderful. A scholarly full biography of the man has been absent for far too long. Perhaps we can chat about that one when the time comes. Thanks for your time.
* Other books by William L. Shea:
- Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove: A Battlefield Guide, with a Section on Wire Road w/ William G. Piston, Earl J. Hess, and Richard W. Hatcher III (Bison Books, 2006).
- Vicksburg Is the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River w/ Terry Winschel (U. of Nebraska Press, 2003).
- War in the West: Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove (McWhiney, 2002).
- Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West w/ Earl J. Hess (UNC Press, 1992).
- The Virginia Militia in the Seventeenth Century (LSU Press, 1983).
7 comments:
- AnonymousJanuary 29, 2010 at 1:54 AM
Kip Lindberg and Matt Matthews are working on a biography of Blunt, but according to Matthews "the book is a long way off. Maybe in about 3 to 4 years."
Terry Beckenbaugh is working on a study of the Army of the Southwest and its March to the Mississipi.
Stefan - Chris EvansJanuary 30, 2010 at 11:16 AM
I think the biography on Hindman could be improved on. I wish someone would really look in depth at his actions at Prairie Grove, Shiloh, and Chickamauga etc. akin to the recent work on Robert Rodes or Sam Elliott's book on A.P. Stewart. It could be very fascinating and informative.
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Inventory with Rachel Antonoff
Inventory is a project designed to feature strong, beautiful, creative and inspiring people who have an interesting story to tell. This series gives the HelloGiggles readers an inside and intimate look at the lives of the subjects, through everyday objects that hold importance and have meaning.
Rachel Antonoff is a New York-based designer whose aesthetic is girly, functional, beautiful, comfortable, colorful and basically everything you could ever want from fashion. Her collaboration with Bass is absolutely swoon worthy, and is a favorite among fashionistas and every day girls alike.
The first thing you notice about Rachel is how incredibly delicate she is. Tiny, even, and stunningly beautiful. Almost immediately after, you'll be hit with her contagious enthusiasm. She's full of smiles, hilarious jokes and is warm and kind and just plain fun to be around. She invited us into her space with open arms and was more than happy to share all of her unique and colorful odds and ends that she holds dear.
First of all, how would you describe your personal style?
My personal style revolves entirely around comfort. I LOVE COMFORT. As I type this I am working from home in cinch bottom sweatpants and my Birdie sweatshirt. I'm not saying I think everyone should run around in sweats, I just think comfy people are significantly more attractive (not to mention happier) than people who are clearly sacrificing comfort for fashion. I love dressing up, but most days I will be found in my very soft J Brand jeans and a collared shirt with a sweatshirt or sweater over it.
Two of my favorite things from the shoot were:
A. Girl Scout Handbook – tell me all about it, where is it from and what does it mean to you?
I found at a thrift store in Phoenix and loved it immediately. I have always wanted to do a scout-inspired collection. I love the classic Americana and Troop Beverly Hills implication! I also just thought the book was beautiful and I'm a sucker for pretty hardcover books.
B. Bunny headband, it's awfully cute. Where did you get it? What's your favorite memory wearing it?
So glad you liked it! The bunny headband actually means a lot to me. It was made by and belonged to my sister who passed away. Sorry to be a big bummer. I found it years ago and LOVED that she had made it. I've had it in the office for years and it feels really special to have it in there.
I love this Steel Train artwork, tell me about this photograph, when was it, where was it, what was it for? Is that you? Please tell me you still have those Docs?! Do you remember what you were thinking about? If not – take a guess.
I still have the Docs! I need to resurface those. I really love this art, too. It was for the cover of their last record, Steel Train. I was so honored to be a part of it. It was a really special shoot because we did it in my brother Jack's childhood bedroom. All of that crap is actually his and was already in there! His room is like a museum of old, weird stuff. Our friend and great photographer Lindsey Byrnes took it. She also shot a lookbook of mine that we did in that same room. I actually do remember what I was thinking because it was fashion week and was the day after my show so I was completely exhausted. I was just thrilled the shoot involved me laying down.
You were using a pumpkin as a pin cushion, which is pretty neat. How did this start? Who gave you the porcupine pin? why?
My mom gave me the pumpkin, something she does every fall. I think someone just stuck a few pins in there during a fitting and it became a thing.
Let's chat about your cheerleading trophy, what does it say on it? And, what's your favorite cheerleading memory?
I am so proud of that thing even though everyone on the squad got one. It was basically a participation trophy. I think I love it so much because it is representative of a high school experience I actually didn't have. I really sensationalize it.
On a somewhat-related note, how many times have you seen the movie Bring It On*?
*I've probably seen it 150 times.
Too many times. Too many.
How do you define success?
I define success in terms of happiness and personal comfort (not financial comfort).
Words to live by?
"When someone tells you who they are, believe them." – Maya Angelou
You can follow Rachel on Twitter @RachelAntonoff.
You should also check out The Ally Coalition, which she started with the band Fun. with the purpose of inspiring people to take action for LGBTQ equality.


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Tests that contain the draft-watermark are under development and may be incorrectly testing a feature.
Run the test. No interaction required.
The test is passed if both rectangles are green.
This tests that the getIntersectionList() and getEnclosureList() methods return NodeLists that are not live.
After loading the test, two rectangles will be presented. The upper rectangle indicates the result of testing whether getIntersectionList() returns a non-live NodeList, while the lower rectangle indicates so for getEnclosureList().


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PESHAWAR: Pakistani fighter jets carried out air strikes early Sunday on suspected insurgent hideouts killing 35 suspected militants and injured more than 15 others in Tirah valley area of Pakistan's restive Khyber tribal region, DawnNews reported.
According to security officials, during the air raid fighter jets targeted various hideouts in the Tirah valley of the Khyber Agency reportedly destroying an improvised explosives device (IEDs) making factory and a huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosive materials.
The raids came a days after at least nine suspected militants were killed when gunship helicopters pounded insurgent hideouts in Thall village in Hangu district,
On Feb 20, after consultations with the top military leadership of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gave a go ahead for the airstrikes in North Waziristan and Khyber agencies.
Khyber is part of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt on the Afghan border. The Taliban and other al Qaeda-linked groups, who stage attacks in both countries, are known to have strongholds in the zone.


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Andrew Smart
Our fantasies about becoming cyborgs are getting ever closer to reality. Recently in the resurrected version of Newsweek (which I suspect is a robot), Kevin Maney wrote an excited article on "brain apps" which monitor EEG signals and allow you to automatically detect when your brain is in a state of "peak productivity." What's more, the grandiose claim of these apps is that they will train you to be able to enter peak productivity at will. By analyzing brainwaves and teaching you how to mimic the brain activity of experts, these apps can make you into an expert with minimal training in a fraction of the time it normally takes. In a few years this type of technology may be implanted, making us truly cyborgs.
We have moved beyond creating robots and software to do work for us. We now want to become robots ourselves so that we can even more work – all the time, in a heightened state of "peak productivity." Our cyborg fantasies have been completely co-opted by the cult of productivity. The much-hyped Singularity, in which machine intelligence becomes superintelligence and surpasses human intelligence, and then merges with it (or something), is not about some deep philosophical and technological barrier—it's about becoming a superworker: a cyborg of extreme productivity.
Since the dawn of the robotic age we have dreamed of a utopian future where benevolent yet super powerful and intelligent robots do all of our menial jobs, handle our daily affairs and allow us to generally take it easy and explore the higher pleasures of leisure. Long before the digital revolution in 1891, Oscar Wilde wrote, "All unintellectual labour, all monotonous, dull labour, all labour that deals with dreadful things, and involves unpleasant conditions, must be done by machinery." Isn't this why we invented robots in the first place?
Wilde thought that the purpose of life was amusement, enjoying cultivated leisure, making beautiful things, or simply contemplating the world. He naively thought that the spread sufficiently advanced machinery would allow everyone, including and especially the poor, to be liberated from street sweeping and other degrading types of manual labor (like working at Starbucks today). Wilde continues, "On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends."
There is a cruel irony in the fact that as machine intelligence increases, as robots become more human-like, one of the only growing job sectors even for university educated people is menial labor. What's more we are busier than ever, and our working hours have been increasing. Which forces the question, what the hell are all the robots doing?
Despite this we are warned that robots will replace 70% of occupations by 2020. This is often presented as a threat, but wasn't this the intention all along? To build machines capable of doing our bullshit jobs for us?
Apparently fearing the robot takeover and the potential for a society of "cultivated leisure" we are now desperately trying to become robots ourselves in order to boost our productivity. While Silicon Valley pumps billions of dollars into realizing the Singularity, app developers, the military and many others are busy trying to decode our brains in order to hijack them into efficient robotic productivity.
Could it be that we've been tricked into pouring our innovative energy into making ourselves better slaves? If the digital elite achieves its dream of a perfect union with machines, what becomes of the rest of us who either can't afford cyborgification or who actually enjoy life as a regular human being? Would one Singularitized human be expected to handle the workload of 100 unenhanced workers? Robots will have of course taken the rest of the jobs.
Robots were ostensibly meant to allow us to work less (I write about the many benefits of working less in my book Autopilot). Yet we seem now to be attempting a fusion with robots in order brute force our brains into a persistent state of "peak productivity." Not only is this questionable from a scientific perspective, but just because we can does not mean we should.


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[Darlington] has been given the dubious honour of being named one of the loudest places in the country for traffic. With a reading of 78.3 decibels (DB), it ranks joint fourth with Doncaster in the noise table.
– Northern Echo: Being driven to distraction on the noisiest road in town
The noisiest place in the town is the junction of Alexander Street and Haughton Road. I've found that, to have a conversation with someone while walking down Haughton Road, I need to raise my voice. Hearing what my daughter is saying is almost impossible.
Professor Deepak Prasher, of the Ear Institute at the University College London, said: "Noise not only annoys, but also can raise our stress levels and associated hormone levels. It can disturb sleep and increase the risk of heart disease, and if the noise is loud enough, it can lead to permanent hearing impairment and tinnitus."
More proof that car use 'taxes' others.


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Modeling Future Climate on a Regional Scale
Some regional aspects of climate change apply to classes of regions that are found various places around the globe; others apply to specific places. Examples of the former include: land vs. ocean, at high latitudes vs. the tropics, islands, or near coasts vs. near the center of a continent. Specific places include northern Europe, western North America, the Amazon region of South America, and so on.
We'll first look at predicted trends in future climate associate with classes of regions. Then we'll examine projections for climate in specific locales.
Regional Climate Predictions: Classes of Regions
The images below show forecasts of future temperatures as predicted by climate models. The colors on the maps indicate expected temperature changes as compared to average temperatures for the period from 1980 to 1999. Green and yellow indicate smaller temperature increases, while red and purple indicate larger increases. Each map represents averages for several different climate models combined. The two maps on the left show projections for years 2020 to 2029. The maps on the right show projections for the years 2090 to 2099. Results based on two different "input scenarios" are shown. The top row shows projections based on the IPCC's B1 scenario. B1 is a relatively optimistic and "green" scenario in which population growth is low, economic and technological advancement rate is high, and energy use is low; annual carbon emission rates peak at 11.7 GtC (gigatonnes carbon) around 2040, and drop to 5.3 GtC (below 1990 emission rates) before 2090. The lower pair of images shows projections based on the IPCC's A2 scenario. A2 is a relatively pessimistic scenario in which population growth is high, technological change and economic growth is slower and more disparate (between countries and regions) than in other scenarios, and that energy use is high. In the A2 scenario, carbon emission rates reach 16.1 GtC by 2040, and continue rising to 26.2 GtC per year by 2090. Let's see what general trends these projections indicate for regional changes to climates.
Years |
2020-2029 |
2090-2099 |
Scenario B1 | ||
Scenario A2 | ||
Look at the four maps and consider whether you see any general trends with regards to the following considerations:
- Will there be more warming over oceans or over land, or will land and sea heat equally?
- Is the projected temperature increase the same at all latitudes, or is there some difference between the tropics, mid-latitudes, and/or polar regions?
- Is the temperature rise in the Southern Hemisphere likely to be similar to or different from the change in the Northern Hemisphere?
- Will coastal regions or areas that are far inland on continents warm more? Or will coasts and landlocked regions warm by similar amounts?
Take a look at the maps above in light of these questions; then read on. As you can probably see for yourself, there are certain regional trends climate modelers expect to observe as the overall climate warms:
- The oceans, due to the vast thermal inertia of the water in them, are expected to warm more slowly than land.
- High latitude regions, especially in and around the Arctic, will warm more than places closer to the equator. Climate scientists generally expect the Arctic to heat up about twice as quickly as compared to the global average temperature (for example, if the average global temperature rose 2°, we should expect temperatures in the Arctic to rise about 4°). Climate change to date has indeed demonstrated this trend predicted by modelers; observed heating in the Arctic has outpaced average global warming.
- In general, regions in the middle of continents are expected to warm more dramatically than coastal areas. Of course, specific regional topography such as mountain ranges or deserts will influence this overall trend.
Changes to global average surface temperatures during the 20th century. The graph on the left shows changes to temperature over all land surfaces combined; the right-hand graph shows changes over all of the oceans. The solid black lines show decadal averages of actual observed temperature trends. Temperatures over land increased by a larger amount than temperatures over the oceans. Climate modelers expect this difference in land vs. sea heating to continue in the future. The temperatures shown are in comparison to the 1901 to 1950 average. The red shaded region represents the range of expected temperatures generated using 14 climate models (and conditions around 1900 as the starting point for the model runs). The blue shaded region shows climate model predictions for runs in which anthropogenic influences (primarily greenhouse gas emissions) were excluded; in other words, expected temperatures based on natural influences (volcanic eruptions, etc.) only. Credits: Image courtesy of the IPCC (AR4 WG 1 Summary for Policymakers page 11 Figure SPM.4). |
Regional Climate Predictions: Specific Locales
Predicting future climate for specific geographical regions is a tricky business. This field is in its infancy, and current predictions have a broad range of uncertainty. However, with bigger and faster supercomputers and improved models, our ability to model climate on a regional basis is sure to improve in the coming years. For now, realize that regional modeling may help us see major trends (such as more warming in the middles of continents as compared to along coasts) but should be taken "with a grain of salt" when predictions about smaller areas are concerned.
Use the interactive below to read information about and view maps of regional projections of future climate. Maps include changes in temperatures and in precipitation.
Use the two popup menus along the top edge of the interactive to select a map to view. You may choose from eight different regions, and can display either changes in temperature or changes in precipitation. These projections represent averages from 21 different climate models. They show how much change is expected near the end of the 21st century as compared to late 20th century values. Specifically, the maps show the projected average values for the years 2080 to 2099 as compared to the average values a century earlier (1980 to 1999).
Credits: Images courtesy of the IPCC (AR4 WGI Chapter 11 Supplementary Materials figures S11.5 through S11.20). |
Click here if you would like to compare some of these regional temperature and precipitation maps side-by-side.
Below is the same information displayed in the interactives above, minus the precipitation maps, layed out in a table... in case you find it more convenient for printing, etc.
Click here to view an interactive map showing Future Global Warming Impacts by Region (roll your cursor over regions to read about the impacts in each locale).
Projected temperature changes during the next 150 years for eight regions and for all land surface (top, middle). Click on the image to see a larger version that includes fifteen additional regions. The emission scenario used in these model runs assumed a 1% annual increase in CO2 concentration throughout the 150 year period. In each graph, the black line represents the most likely trend; the shaded regions around the line indicate 80%, 90%, and 95% confidence ranges. Notice how:
Credits: Images courtesy of the IPCC (AR4 WG 1 Chapter 11 Figure S11.36). |


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Replace Select Tapered PMC
Replace Select Tapered is the original tapered implant. Mimicking the shape of a natural tooth root, it is designed for high primary stability in all loading protocols, including Immediate Function. The easy-to-use prosthetic connection with three interlocking channels offers a highly tactile feel for secure and accurate abutment placement. Replace Select Tapered comes with a fully machined (1.5 mm) or partially machined (0.75 mm) collar.


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How film and broadcast productions benefit from Digital 6000
Film productions have become smaller in recent years, moving faster than they have been 15 years ago. Harti Küffner, who has worked on major productions such as the German "Tatort" series, relies on Sennheiser for his daily business. Sennheiser's wide range of professional audio products provide him with the precise tools he needs, perfectly suited for each application.
With more than 17 years of experience in the film audio industry, Harti Küffner has learned the tricks and tweaks to make it through strenuous production days. Küffner has been in the business since 2003, forming a team with Vladimir Polak as a sound assistant since 2012. The switch from analog to digital transmission has been the logical consequence for Küffner; increasing quality and expanding flexibility even on the most challenging film sets.
"The SK 6212 is small, lightweight and lasts forever. The battery runtime of roughly 15 hours helps to keep all workflows relaxed," says Küffner. Annoying battery changes inbetween the recording of scenes became history. SK 6212 is the latest addition to Sennheiser's Digital 6000 series and quickly formed a new benchmark for digital transmission within modern audio productions. For both actors and directors, the SK 6212 neither adds weight, nor visibility. The transmitter is discreet, lightweight, without disturbing edges and easy to attach. Together with the mobile receiver EK 6042, the minitransmitter SK 6212 goes into action not only on movie sets.
The classical pickup of sound via microphone boom is made wirelessly as well, says Küffner. "Sennheiser goes out of one's way regarding special solutions. They provided us with a special 48 V adapter to run the SK 6212 in combination with the MKH 8050. Every gram counts on the microphone boom."
MKH 8050 and SK 6212 together form an ultralight and super compact solution for every movie set while providing a great frequency range between 30 and 50,000 Hz.
On top of that, Digital 6000 delivers a drastic improvement in quality with its increased dynamic range in comparison to analog systems. His equipment rider today only requires SK 6212 which the 46 year-old loves to use in combination with the MKE 1 lavalier microphone. The microphone lasts longer than other lavaliers especially in movie productions. This is due to its sweat resistance.
Küffner says: "In my whole movie and broadcast sound career, Sennheiser was covering my back with its products. The relationship began in the year of 2002 with the SK 50, developed further with SK 5212 and arrived in the present with SK 6212"
You can see recent excerpts of Harti Küffner's work on "Crew United". In addition, a new Amazon Prime series where Küffner and Polak took care of the audio will be launching in fall 2020.


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Jan. 13: Crop For A Cure
Scrapbooking Event
Clarion Hotel, 101st St., O.C. To benefit the American Cancer So-ciety. Vendors including Close to My Heart, Creative Memories, Claire's Scrapbooking, Scentsy, Tastefully Simple, Thirty-One Bags, Mary Kay and more. Cost: $40, to crop for the day. For more info or to reserve your spot, 443-235-2926.
Jan. 13: KC Bingo
5 p.m., doors open; 6:30 p.m., games begin; rear of St. Luke's Church, 9901 Coastal Hwy., O.C. Refreshments on sale. For more information, 410-524-7994.
Jan 13: Worcester County
Tea Party Meeting
6:30 p.m., Ocean Pines Community Center. All interested citizens are invited to attend. Speaker will be U.S. Congressman Andy Harris. The Worcester Co. Tea Party is a grassroots organization not affiliated with any political party which is committed to governmental fiscal re-sponsibility, lower taxes and restoring Constitutional limits to the Fed-eral Government. For more info, [email protected].
Jan 14: OP Anglers Club Meeting
9:30 a.m., Ocean Pines Library. Fea-tured speaker will be Roman Jesien, scientist for Maryland Coastal Bays, who will give a presentation and up-date on the Bishopville Prong Pro-ject. The goal of the project is to im-prove water flow and quality in the upper reaches of St. Martins River.
Jan 14: Star Charities Annual
Beef & Beer Fundraiser
1-5 p.m., American Legion Post #166, 24th St. & Phildelphia Ave., O.C. To benefit the troops overseas with phone cards to call home. Great food, music and dancing. Cost: $26, each. For tickets or more info, 410-208-9514 or 410-641-7667.
Jan 14: Bald Eagle Cruise
In Pocomoke
3-5 p.m. Cruise the Pocomoke River on the Bay Queen and explore the world of the Bald Eagle and Bald Cypress with a naturalist. Cost: $20, person. For more info or to make a reservations, 410-632-2566, ext. 106.
Jan 14: Quota International Bingo
5 p.m., doors open; games begin at 6 p.m.; Stephen Decatur High School Cafeteria, Rte. 50, Berlin. Cash games, Longaberger, Pam-pered Chef and Premier Jewelry games. Raffles, 50/50 and Chinese auction. Cost: $20, at the door. Food and cold drinks available.
Jan. 15: God's Country
Crossroads In Concert
4 p.m., St. Martins United Methodist Church, 10847 St. Martins Rd., Berlin. No tickets are required but a love offering will be taken. For more information, 410-641-2756 or 410-835-2265.
Jan. 16: Democratic Women's
Club Meeting
10 a.m., Ocean Pines Community Center. Featured speaker will be May-or Jim Ireton of Salisbury on "Demo-cratic Initiatives on the Eastern Shore." All women welcome. Coffee and conversation begins at 9:30 a.m. For more information, 410-641-6683.
Jan. 16: Lions Club Basket Bingo
Doors open 5 p.m., games begin at 7 p.m.; Pittsville Fire Hall. Bingo, Chinese auction and silent auction to benefit Pittsville Lions Club. Cost: $20, in advance; $25, at the door. Food and baked goods available. For more information, 410-835-2277.
Jan. 18: Arts 'R' Magic Festival
7-9 p.m., Stephen Decatur High School. Free family friendly event with an open forum with local well-know artists, Poetry Out Loud school winner's recitation, dramatic presentations, literary readings, musical arrangments, culinary samples and technology projects. For more information, 410-641-2171 or email, [email protected].
Jan. 18: Spaghetti Dinner
5-7 p.m., Community Church, Ocean Pines. All proceeds benefit Relay for Life and the American Cancer So-ciety, hosted by Decatur Diner. Cost: $8, adults; children over 3, $5.
Jan. 18: TOPS Meeting
5 p.m., Ocean City Library. TOPS, or Take Off Pounds Sensibly is a support group for weight loss and provides education on health issues. For more information, 443-365-4722.
Jan.18: Bingo
5:30, doors open; 6:30, early bird games; 7 p.m., regular games; Ocean City Elks Lodge #2645, 138th St., across from the Fenwick Inn. $1,000 jackpot available, food, snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. No one under 18 allowed in bingo hall during bingo.
Jan. 18: Delmarva Hand Dancing
5:30-9 p.m., Skyline Bar & Grille, at the Fenwick Inn, 138th St., O.C. Jitter-bug, swing, cha-cha to the sounds of the 50's & 60's. Beginner and intermediate dance lessons 5:30-6:30 p.m. Followed by dancing until 9 p.m. For more info, 302-934-7951.
Jan. 18: Survivors of Suicide
Support Group Meeting
6-7:30 p.m., Worcester Co. Health Dept., 9730 Healthway Dr., Berlin, adjacent to Atlantic General Hos-pital. Group meets the third Wed-nesday of every month and is open to anyone who has lost a friend or a loved one to suicide. Free of charge. Refreshments provided. For more information, 410-629-0164 or visit www.jessespaddle.org.
Jan. 19: Beef & Dumpling Dinner
4 p.m.-until, American Legion, Unit 123, Old Ocean City Blvd., Berlin. Sponsored by the Auxilliary. Cost: $10, adults; children 10 and under, $5.
Jan. 20: Clam Fritter Luncheon
11 a.m.-1 p.m., Bowen United Meth-odist Church, Newark. Clam fritter sandwiches or clam fritter platters with baked beans and applesauce. Drinks and desserts available. Eat-in or carry-out. To place an order call, 410-641-4634, 410-632-2508 or 410-632-1874.
Jan. 21: Building Materials Sale
8 a.m.-noon, Habitat for Humanity, Worcester Co., 301 E. Market St., Snow Hill. Every first and third Saturday. Building materials, appliances, doors, windows, cabinets, vanities, fixtures and more. Every-thing over $5 is half-off. Cash only. All proceeds from warehouse sales to fund the Flower Street, Berlin project. Please contact, [email protected].
Jan. 21: AYCE Fried Chicken
Noon-until, New Hope United Meth-odist Church, Willards. All-you-can-eat fried chicken, mashed potatoes, greens, string beans, macaroni and cheese, beets, biscuits, dessert and coffee. Cost: $11, adults. Carry-outs available. For more information, 410-543-8244 or 443-614-6285.
Jan. 24: Life After Loss
Support Group
11 a.m., The Community Church at Ocean Pines, room 38, 11227 Race Track Rd., Berlin. Life After Loss is a non-denominational support group that meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. If you would like help coping with any type of loss you are invited to attend. For more information, 410-641-5433.
Jan. 25: Let's Play Bingo
11:30 a.m., St. Luke's. Delicious lunch followed by 18 games of bingo. Cost: $25, each and include 17 games and lunch. For tickets or more information, 302-436-0351. To sponsor a game for $40 for regular games and $60 for special games, call the parish office at 410-250-0300. Your name and organization will be listing in the program.
Jan. 25: TOPS Meeting
5 p.m., Ocean City Library. TOPS, or Take Off Pounds Sensibly is a support group for weight loss and provides education on health issues. For more information, 443-365-4722.
Jan. 25: Bingo
5:30, doors open; 6:30, early bird games; 7 p.m., regular games; Ocean City Elks Lodge #2645, 138th St., across from the Fenwick Inn. $1,000 jackpot available, food, snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. No one under 18 allowed in bingo hall during bingo.
Jan. 25: Delmarva Hand Dancing
5:30-9 p.m., Skyline Bar & Grille, at the Fenwick Inn, 138th St., O.C. Jitter-bug, swing, cha-cha to the sounds of the 50's & 60's. Beginner and intermediate dance lessons 5:30-6:30 p.m. Followed by dancing until 9 p.m. For more information, 302-934-7951.
Jan. 26: Republican Women Of Worcester Co. Meeting
10:30 a.m., doors open; 11 a.m. meeting with lunch and speaker to follow; Marina Deck Restaurant, 1107 Manklin Creek Rd., Ocean Pines. Speaker will be Richard Douglas, an Iraq veteran, former American Diplomat and small business owner who is running for U.S. Senate. For reservations by Friday, Jan. 20, call 410-208-6018 or [email protected].
Jan 26: Bounce For Ava
5-8 p.m., Coco's Funhouse, Salis-bury. Open play and pizza with 100% of the proceeds going to Ava. Cost: $10. Silent auction to benefit her as well. For more info or to donate to the silent auction, [email protected].


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Sad and Useless has a collection of ridiculous pictures of figure ice skaters deformed by their crazy pirouettes at Sochi. Look at their beautiful motion getting frozen into a horrible derpy freak show, all thanks to physics.
It's a derp festival! Thank you, physics, for giving us centrifugal forces and inertia.