text:
Image Comics Event Night at Forbidden Planet NYC 10/7/14
Yes, ALL of those folks.
Get ready! Forbidden Planet NYC will have the following
stellar bodacious lineup of guests appearing at the shop on Wednesday 10/8 at 6pm:
Yes, ALL of those folks.
Get ready! Forbidden Planet NYC will have the following
stellar bodacious lineup of guests appearing at the shop on Wednesday 10/8 at 6pm:
I'm writing this while the Seahawks are winning the NFC championship game, and even in my quiet neighborhood I can hear my neighbors yelling and fireworks being set off. Or people are rioting and looting, which would be way more fun. But if we get too crazy, they might have to send a lawman up here to care of all our post-football crime. I wonder if there's any type of West Coast police enforcer that could handle and entire city rioting….?
Oh man, I've been waiting on pins and needles for this release since the first pages started to surface like 3 months ago. I've even been waiting weeks to write this silly write-up on it because I'm so excited for people to read it. The West Coast gets their judgment day when Dredd is sent the Cali-forni-way, and is left to tackle a sprawling 5,000 square mile Mega City Two. Each neighorhood has its own laws, and Dredd is left with no time to figure out the new rules. Writer Douglas Wolk is a Judge Dredd historian by his own right, and never forgets the tongue-in-cheek humor that makes Dredd such a great character. The subtle humor is driven home by fan favorite artist, Ulises Farinas. He creates a chaotic city that is full of traffic, people, traffic, and enough background signage to make you feel like there's a second comic happening in background. If you're not convinced by my description (if you're not, we're not friends anymore) check out the preview pages posted on Comics Alliance. You're a fool if you don't buy this comic, creep.
Do you guys remember the show "Clone High"? It was an awesome cartoon comedy that parodied shows like Dawson's Creek, but with the angsty, horny, teenage clones of famous people from history like Abe Lincoln, Joan of Ark, and Mahatma Gandhi. My point is that this new comic from Rick Rememder reminds me of that show; that show was awesome, thus logic dictates that his new comic will be awesome. The main character, Mark Lopez, goes to a high school that is designed to train the descendants of the world's top assassins and crime families. Combine highly skilled killers, mid-'80s underground culture, and way-too-intense teenage emotions and this book spells DRAAAMA. Remender is on a Rick roll, that is for certain.
Ryan North is known around these Seattle parts for his syndicated comic strip, Dinosaur Comics, that runs in our weekly alternative newspaper, The Stranger. So when I found out North was going to be doing a "kids comic" (Adventure Time), I was a little surprised, but never disappointed. But then more and more people begin to take his humor seriously (is that an oxymoron?) Anywho, his new series, Midas Flesh, is everything I want a monthly comic from North to be: slightly philosophical, hilarious dialogue, sci-fi, and a dinosaur that's a doctor. Awesome. This journey is just getting started, but it's already entertaining the entire way.
The creative team of Antony Johnston and Christopher Mitten (Wasteland) should be enough to drag anyone into this dark fantasy book. Magic is outlawed in this world because it messes with everyone's lives, and invites bad things. Rascal, a thief, witness the murder of the King and Queen by some freaky demons. But their magic is incomplete, and Rascal realizes the bottle of mist around her neck is what the demons need to finish their magic incantation. There's a lot of cool fantasy art, a lot of murder, and freaky demons (aforementioned).

subset: commoncrawl


text:
If you provide any service, be it web software or even gas distribution, 24/7 is an undeniable competitive asset.
For online software it translates to zero downtime.
Zero downtime is made possible thanks to one technique: load balancing. While load balancing was initially meant to distribute load it has also proven useful for failover and maintenance. It allows one instance under upgrade/maintenance to rely on other instances to provide the service.
While you can achieve the process manually for small apps, it's not even conceivable if your application consists of many instance (many ranging from 3 to hundreds, even thousands).
Therefore the zero downtime (roll) process is almost always associated to automation.
The repetitive nature of automation makes is reliable: regardless the process trigger (manual red button or each SCM change) and frequency (once a year or several times a day) it should lead to the same result.
But it's not all pink (never is in software) because load balanced application come with their own set of design constraints related to concurrency.
In this post we'll assume that all design constraints are satisfied.
In this post I share one implementation of the zero downtime among many others. It is not rocket science by itself but some unexpected issues always pop up.
The goal
We want to deploy a new version of an application while the previous one is still running.
The application is written with Spring-boot, load balanced with fair, and runs on digitalocean cloud instances. The process is orchestrated by ansible.
I must admit, I've been lazy, I could have taken the opportunity to learn a new language/framework as rails or django would have been equally suitable for the process. I feel at ease with java and Spring-boot. The framework provides many operation ready features which is invaluable when you consider the time spent on designing/developping/configuring operation ready platforms.
Digitalocean is a linux boxes cloud provider. I chose a cloud provider because I wanted the process to be self contained and isolated. Also I don't have that kind of power at home. I did not go for docker just because it hides all aspects related to ssh and authentication. It's indeed not the philosophy behind docker. Docker makes my process implementation less close to the typology we deal with on a day to day basis. I did not like the idea. In addition, Docker does not play nicely with Ansible (it's doable but not natural) when it comes to orchestrate many instances which should share a common config. Docker has its own tools (docker-compose) for doing so and I did not want to give up on ansible.
Last but not least: digitalocean is supported by Ansible, my orchestration tool.
It is the tool that makes it possible, orchestrates the process: creates nodes on digital ocean, installs software and runtimes, start stops services, etc. Don't ask me why I chose ansible. I just love the tool and therefore I'm completely opiniated. Discovering ansible had the same impact as when I discovered Maven. It's a conventional and natural way of managing nodes just by discribing our intent and not the low level implementation details.
I initially started with HAproxy and realized that HAproxy config is extremely sensitive to configuration issues. Also the load balancer will refuse to start if no member is up. I think it was not initially designed for such dynamic activity on the configuration, even with new ability to reload it without restarting it.
Fair came handy because it decouples the balancing in 2 roles: caroussel (which would be the equivalent of frontend in HAproxy) and transponder (which would be the equivalent of backend in HAproxy). The carrousel listens to incoming requests and transfers them to transponders. The very nice feature is that the transponders register/unregister themselves to the carrousel without impacting any other transponder. It's not the other way around, it's not the carrousel who includes/excludes member. I find it way more suitable for scripting purposes.
Enough theory now the practice.
Our goal is to run something similar to
ansible-playbook -i /etc/ansible/hosts -e "app_rev1=8e4accb app_rev2=54783ce" roll-update.yml
I guess the intent could not be clearer: ansible please upgrade my application from revision 8e4accb to revision 54783ce.
To do so ansible will execute the logic described in roll-update.yml:
spin-up nodes install + configure software and runtimes deploy app nodes in revision 1 test revision 1 deploy app nodes in revision 2 test revision 2
Let's review the various steps. I only picked relevant snippets of the main playbook but if you are interested in the full playbook you can take a look at this repository: https://github.com/lgueye/ansible-rolling-update
Create Nodes
# Sequence: # - create instances # - register instances in groups # - register new instances in the known hosts files for flawless authentication - hosts: "localhost" connection: "local" vars: ssh_known_hosts_file: "~/.ssh/known_hosts" tasks: - name: droplets | create digital_ocean: state="active" command="droplet" name="{{ item }}" size_id="62" region_id="2" image_id="13089493" ssh_key_ids="625455" wait_timeout="500" unique_name="yes" with_items: - "rolling-update-app-1" - "rolling-update-app-2" - "rolling-update-app-3" - "lb" register: droplets - name: droplets | register app IP add_host: name="{{ item.droplet.ip_address }}" groups="rolling-update-app" when: "'rolling-update-app' in item.droplet.name" with_items: droplets.results - name: droplets | register lb IP add_host: name="{{ item.droplet.ip_address }}" groups="lb" when: "'lb' in item.droplet.name" with_items: droplets.results - name: make sure the known hosts file exists file: path="{{ ssh_known_hosts_file }}" state="touch" - name: droplets | remove from known hosts shell: "ssh-keygen -R {{ item.droplet.ip_address }}" with_items: droplets.results - name: droplets | add to know hosts shell: "ssh-keyscan -H -T 10 {{ item.droplet.ip_address }} >> {{ ssh_known_hosts_file }}" with_items: droplets.results
The digital_ocean module will instruct ansible to connect to digialocean API and create an ubuntu 14.04 instance (13089493) of size 2MB (62) on Amsterdam data center (2). The authentication mechanism is ssh key with private key.
The process will wait until the instance is active or will fail in timeout after 500 s.
The instruction repeats for each item listed in the with_items section.
Once done, we need to register our instance for further reuse in the process (destroy them for example). That's the purpose of the register keyword. It saves the outcome of the digital_ocean execution. The structure contains a lot of useful information among them the IP Address of each node.
From here we have 2 options for the rest of the process:
- reference the structure and, each time we want to spot an instance's properties, iterate through it => NOT recommended
- use a much more powerful Ansible feature which will register the freshly created instances in the groups they belong to. This approach is favored because, as we'll see later in this playbook, when we want to apply instructions to all host belonging to the same group then it's just a matter of spotting them either with the add_host module, or the hostvars magic variable available out of the box
About idempotency I faced 2 issues:
- The first time I re-ran the digital_ocean module I ended up with duplicate instances but with different IPs in my digitalocean dashboard. It is the default behavior. The unique_name property set to yes fixed the issue.
- The second idempotency issue you might face is the fingerprint handling. When dropping an instance, the IP address remains available for a while to your account. It's a digitalocean feature. While the IP address remains the same, the fingerprint does not. Therefore ssh complains about having same IP but with different fingerprint. This fails ansible authentication via SSH. You could disable strict SSH checking in Ansible but this is not recommended. Is chose to delete any stale information present in my known host file (ssh-keygen -R) and add them again (ssh-keyscan -H -T 10)
Finally my instance creation process was idempotent.
As you already guess, digital_ocean module will only work if you have a digitalocean account. It provides a client/key pair if you use API v1 or an access token if you use API v2. Digital Ocean supports both (for now) but at the time I started investigating the ansible module, only API v1 was supported by ansible.
The difference between the 2 API is that v2 is more REST oriented and more convenient. It allows to specify instances with their human readable properties instead of ids which is way more robust since the ids often change. For instance my build regularly fails because the image_id, which is currently associated to ubuntu 14.04 x64, will change next time digital ocean decide to support other types of images.
Delete nodes
# Sequence: # - drop instances - hosts: "localhost" connection: "local" tasks: - name: droplets | delete digital_ocean: state="deleted" command="droplet" id="{{ item.droplet.id }}" ssh_key_ids="625455" wait_timeout="500" with_items: droplets.results
We can notice that the same module is used to create and drop instances. The only relevant parameter is the state. While it needs to be active for the creation, it needs to be deleted for the deletion.
Create then drop is the basis for our self contained playbook, we can safely proceed.
Next step is to secure our nodes.
Secure nodes
# Sequence: # - register sudo user to operate with the instances - hosts: "rolling-update-app:lb" remote_user: "root" roles: - {role: "security"}
With these instructions what did we just ask Ansible to do: Please ansible apply the security role to all hosts members of rolling-update-app group and lb group. If you followed, members of rolling-update-app group are rolling-update-app-* instances and members of lb group are lb instance. Therefore the security role will apply to all 4 nodes.
I could have used the "all" keyword. But then ansible would have try to apply the security to localhost as well because localhost is included by default in the inventory. Another way of including all hosts but localhost would be "hosts: !localhost"
But what's in the security role ?
--- - name: create nodemanager user user: name="{{ node_management_user }}" shell=/bin/bash - name: add authorized key to nodemanager authorized_key: user="{{ node_management_user }}" key="{{ lookup('file', '~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub') }}" - name: add nodemanager to sudoers action: lineinfile dest=/etc/sudoers regexp="{{ node_management_user }} ALL" line="{{ node_management_user }} ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" state=present
I will not go through the details of a role structure but below is the main tasks executed by the security role. Basically I create a user, associate it to an ssh key which will be copied on the node and add the user to sudoers. Without ssh key method (by opposition to username/password) it's completely impossible to automate. It's really the next steps to have perfectly working before proceeding.
We're all good, we can now proceed with installing and deploying applications
Build app
# Sequence: # - clone to assess if deployment is required (check install revision against required one) - hosts: "localhost" connection: "local" roles: - {role: "clone-app", rev: "{{ app_rev1 }}" }
The clone-app role mostly executes the following steps on the control machine (localhost):
- Test clone dir existence to delete it if need for idempotency reasons
- Clone the application in the required revision thanks to the git module. In a real example you don't need to specify the revision, it will assume the latest revision of the branch. If you specify a tag, it will pick the tag. If you specify a branch name it will pick the latest revision of the branch. To finish, you can specify the sha1
- Build the application with maven hence the mvn clean package ….
- Configure logging, application, tests (test config needs to be aware of the load balancer address and port) and unix services (need to be aware of spring-boot management port for clean stop).
Now that the application is built and the various configuration file properly interpolated, we can deploy on the nodes
Deploy and start apps nodes. Register them as cluster member
# Sequence: # - deploy app if required # - start app # - register app as lb node - hosts: "rolling-update-app" remote_user: "{{ node_management_user }}" sudo: "yes" roles: - {role: "deploy-app", rev: "{{ app_rev1 }}"} - {role: "start-app", rev: "{{ app_rev1 }}"} - {role: "add-lb-node", rev: "{{ app_rev1 }}"}
In this section we mostly do the following on the apps nodes:
- We are supposed to deploy the java application built just before by invoking the deploy-app role. So prior to any deployment task we need to install the java runtime. It is the purpose of the java role referenced by the deploy-app role (meta/main.yml file, dependencies section: it's the convention for roles to reference dependencies in ansible). Then A unique path is created on the node. The executable and its configs are copied to the host. One valuable feature to note about the copy directive is its idempotency against the md5 sum. Unfortunately in java even if you build the same revision of the artifact the md5 sum changes, mostly due to build information (like timestamp) included in the artifact being built. It's really sad because it breaks idempotency. Why is it so important ? Because java apps are usually fat and take time to transfer over the network, slowing considerably my process. It's really annoying while my build could have avoided that transfer cost. Be warned.
- Once deployed we can apply the start-app role. That role first kills any running instance of the application. Killing is needed because the recommended "service state='stopped'" failed from time to time. It is also responsible for switching (unix symlinks mechanism) the active revision to the one being installed. To finish the unix scripts are copied to the host. Only then can we start the application as a service and wait for the port to be up.
- Then we can apply the add-lb-node role. The role takes care of configuring the node balancing information: the load balancer to which it should register as member and other config specifics.
Install and start the load balancer
# Sequence: # - install fair carrousel - hosts: "lb" remote_user: "nodemanager" sudo: "yes" roles: - {role: "lb"}
This section only installs fair package, configures it and starts it on the load balancer node. The configuration involves 2 important information: the members port to forward to and the balancer port to listen to.
Test the whole cluster
# Sequence: # - test cluster - hosts: "localhost" connection: "local" roles: - {role: "test-app"}
The test was configured earlier to contact the lb host on the lb port. This role simply runs it on the manager node.
Roll update to revision 2
# Sequence: # - clone to assess need deployment (check install revision against required one) - hosts: "localhost" connection: "local" roles: - {role: "clone-app", rev: "{{ app_rev2 }}"} # Sequence: # - unregister app as lb node # - stop app # - deploy new app revision # - start app # - register app as lb node - hosts: "rolling-update-app" remote_user: "{{ node_management_user }}" sudo: "yes" roles: - {role: "remove-lb-node"} - {role: "deploy-app", rev: "{{ app_rev2 }}"} - {role: "start-app", rev: "{{ app_rev2 }}"} - {role: "add-lb-node", rev: "{{ app_rev2 }}"} # Sequence: # - test cluster - hosts: "localhost" connection: "local" roles: - {role: "test-app"}
You might notice that the steps are the same than the build/deployment/start/test steps. It's actually the same process except for one step: before installing the new application revision we need to remove it from the load balancer pool which is reflected by the remove-lb-node role. I really loved the fact that I was almost done when I created my cluster because the very same roles would be used for the rolling update process, only with a different revision of my application. You now understand that roles promote modularity in ansible.
You might also notice that here and there I left some sequences about "checking the revision on the target node". This is because I wanted true idempotencey for my playbook. I wanted to avoid deploying and starting the application if it was already up and running in the required revision. I started and it turned out to be more complicated than expected … I need to check executable, configs, active revision and running state before safely skipping the steps. I find it a bit brittle. I will think about a smarter way to do it.
To conclude
I really appreciated implementing this process because it was really challenging and I really learned a few things:
- How to use make better usage of local connections, local_action and delagate_to
- How to target multiple groups in ansible
- How to make good usage of roles composition via dependencies
- How to enforce roles reusability and lisibility by explicitely bringing out the role's parameter
- How to transform a java process in a java unix service
- How to configure fair components for load balancing
- How to configure the digitalocean module for ansible
I implemented a much more complex process that involved database dump from "prod" to "test" env, database migration, elasticsearch migration just before migrating the instances but I found it too long and not relevant for the purpose of the post as each of the migration steps deserve a dedicated post (maybe some day when I feel courageous enough to share it).
Also this implementation uses IP addresses instead of domain names: resolving hosts is not the responsibility of this playbook.
To be fully dynamic, a system should implement the following features:
- Abstract IP address from host aliases, so that the host alias never changes accross environments
- Dynamically register/unregister new instances of a service via any Service discovery/registry technique. Consul would be my tool of choice but I need to be sure that it covers my use cases
I hope this post was helpful, specially if you go for ansible and spring-boot. To me, modern project template should somehow include the orchestration tool and infrastructure code in the testing process because it makes the shipment to production a breeze. Instead of having a local vision on the product we build, we should have a broader vision on the product we ship and the various steps needed from the commit to production. You have a new definition of done: when your artifact can smoothly be promoted throughout the environments pipeline.
Without even going with the immutable server strategy, which is almost 100% defect-free guarantee, it still brings quite a good level of confidence to continuously ship reliable products in production.
Ansible documentation
Ansible hyper reactive community
Spring-boot as a service
Dynamically remove fingerprints from known hosts
SSH Keys setup on Digital Ocean
Initial server setup


text:
An adventure in Proverbs - Chapter 5/
I've been sitting on this one for a while because, well, you'll see.....
Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man's wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
It always catches me off guard when I'm reading the Bible and things get overtly sexual. It doesn't bother me, quite the opposite, it reminds me that sex is good, and should be discussed by people who follow Christ, because it is discussed, quite openly in the scriptures. I think th reason we don't discuss sex more openly in the Christian community is because we mistakenly confuse Victorian era shame about sex with scriptural teachings. More plainly, we think the Bible says not to discuss sexuality or sexual things, when it doesn't. This has caused the church to avoid discussing sexual matters, and has lead to it's lack of relevance in such area's. The good news is, I think we are moving beyond that and the Chrisitian community is beginning to realize how important it is for us to engage in good, honest, forthright dialogues about sex and sexualtiy.
As for this passage. Why would you need to cheat on your wife if you're enjoying her? The answer is you wouldn't, so go enjoy you're wife! Translation, have sex and plenty of it, while you're young and you can. Or at least that's my common sense interpretation.
PS - the Proverbs are littered with references of how cheating on your wife will wreck your life, and basically every movie and book I've ever seen or read that contains adultery in it always ends extremely badly for the adulterers. It's such a universal truth that even people who don't believe in the anything recognize the destruction that infidelity brings upon a life, a relationship and a society.


text:
Who is this guy?
Bennett Cain, b. 1979 Toledo, Ohio, USA
I'm a video / photo professional who after a decade working on set, shifted my professional focus to post production in order to expand my knowledge base and get a more complete picture of the entire media ecosystem. I'm now working in HBO's department of Post Delivery, Planning, and Operations. Image-making and storytelling are the backbone of all my personal and professional pursuits.
I cut my teeth in the early days of the digital filmmaking revolution, shooting nonfiction content for the Travel Channel, Discovery Network, History Channel, VH1, and others. A little further down the road, I extended this experience into the emerging field of on-set image development, a.k.a. "DIT," contributing to the look of popular shows like HBO's Girls, Starz' Power, and FX's Louie.
If you were looking for the blog "NegativeSpaces," you've found it though I'm no longer using that name. The content is all still here and can be easily accessed on my Projects / Technical Writing page.
Thoughts / questions / comments?
Find @bennettcain on:


text:
Hungry pupils face an uncertain future
Teachers in England are witnessing increasing numbers of pupils coming into school "hungry", "dirty" and "struggling to concentrate" since the economic crisis began, according to a Prince's Trust and Times Educational Supplement survey. Interviews with over 500 secondary school teachers painted a bleak picture.
Almost half regularly witnessed pupils coming to school showing signs of malnutrition or hunger, and a quarter of these saw this more frequently since the economic downturn. Some teachers bought food for pupils with their own pay.
Some teachers had seen a "marked" increase in depression and emotional problems as joblessness affected family life. And seven out of 10 of those surveyed were "increasingly worried" that their pupils would end up on benefits, while more than one in three felt that their own efforts were "in vain" due to rising unemployment.
In some instances, of course, pupils go to school without enough food or clean clothes because of parenting problems other than extreme poverty. However the likelihood of this increases as children's services, and adult social care which is supposed to support parents with mental health and other problems to carry out essential daily tasks, are slashed amidst heavy public sector cuts.
But in many cases now, sheer lack of money means that, even when parents do their best and make sacrifices themselves to feed and clothe their children, this is not enough.
Such findings highlight the value of support for poorer pupils and families, including adequate school meals. But they also raise serious questions about the ethical values of a society in which some prosper – including many of the architects of the current economic crisis – while others go short of the necessities of life.
(c) Savi Hensman is a widely-published Christian commentator on politics, society, religion and LGBT issues. An Ekklesia associate, she works in the care and equalities sector
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text:
ICANN 57 brings in thousands of noobs
ICANN 57 set new records in terms of attendance, with a large majority of participants total newbies who'd never been to an ICANN meeting before.
The meeting, held in Hyderabad, India last month, had 3,182 attendees, and first-timers outnumbered veterans over two-to-one.
The previous record was 3,115 total participants, set at ICANN 50 in London two years ago.
Over two thirds of participants — 2,180 people or 68% of the total — were noobs, according to ICANN statistics released last night (pdf).
That compares to 344 newcomers at the abbreviated June meeting in Helsinki.
The massive turnout in November appears to be due to huge local interest.
Over 72% of attendees — 2,306 people — were from the Asia-Pacific region. ICANN does not break down attendance by nationality, but I suspect the large majority will have been Indian.
Only 200 people from Asia-Pac showed up in Helsinki.
Of the Asia-Pacific participants in Hyderabad, 2,056 were first-time attendees.
For context, there were hundreds more first-time Asia-Pac participants in Hyderabad than there were total attendees at the Helsinki meeting, when 1,436 people showed up.
There were also slightly more Asia-Pac attendees at ICANN 57 than total attendees at ICANN 55 in Marrakech this March.
The significant local interest appears to have tilted the gender balance in favor of men, who represented 74% of the total. Women were 20%. The remainder did not disclose their sex.
That compares to 61% and 32% in Helsinki.
UPDATE: This story was updated with better gender mix data a few hours after publication.
Who are the five new ICANN directors?
Almost a quarter of ICANN's board of directors were replaced at the organization's annual general meeting in Hyderabad last week.
Five of the 21-strong board are fresh faces, though many will be familiar to regular ICANN and industry watchers.
They hail from five different countries in four of ICANN's five regions. One is female.
They replace Bruce Tonkin, Erika Mann, Suzanne Woolf, Kuo-Wei Wu and Bruno Lanvin, each of whom have served terms between three and nine years.
The newcomers all get initial, renewable, three-year terms.
Here's some abbreviated bios of the newly appointed directors.
Maarten Botterman
Appointed by the Nominating Committee, Botterman is an internet governance consultant with strong historic ties to the registry industry.
From the Netherlands, he was chairman of .org manager Public Interest Registry for eight years until July 2016 and served as its interim CEO for several months in 2010.
Prior to that, he held advisory roles in the Dutch and European Union governments.
Becky Burr
American Burr replaces term-limited Bruce Tonkin as the GNSO contracted parties representative to the board. Since 2012 she's been chief privacy officer of Neustar. Before that, she was a lawyer in private practice.
There are very few people more intimately familiar with ICANN. In the late 1990s, while working at the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration, she was a key player in ICANN's creation.
Khaled Koubaa
Koubaa, a Tunisian, is founder of the Arab World Internet Institute, a non-profit dedicated to improving internet knowledge in the Arab region, and until recently head of Middle-East and North Africa public policy at Google.
He was selected by the NomCom. He is also a former member of NomCom, having sat on it during its 2008/9 session. He's also been a volunteer adviser to PIR in the past.
Akinori Maemura
Hailing from Japan, Maemura works for IP address registry JPNIC. He was selected for the ICANN board by the Address Supporting Organization.
Until recently, he was chair of the executive council of APNIC, which is responsible for distributing IP addresses in the Asia-Pacific region.
Kaveh Ranjbar
Iranian-born, Netherlands-based Ranjbar is chief information officer of RIPE NCC, the European IP address authority.
He was appointed to the ICANN board by the Root Server System Advisory Committee.
Verisign and Afilias in open war over $135m .web
Two of the industry's oldest and biggest gTLD registries escalated their fight over the .web gTLD auction this week, trading blows in print and in public.
Verisign, accused by Afilias of breaking the rules when it committed $130 million to secure .web for itself, has now turned the tables on its rival.
It accuses Afilias of itself breaking the auction rules and of trying to emotionally blackmail ICANN into reversing the auction on spurious political grounds.
The .web auction was won by obscure shell-company applicant Nu Dot Co with a record-setting $135 million bid back in July.
It quickly emerged, as had been suspected for a few weeks beforehand, that Verisign was footing the bill for the NDC bid.
The plan is that NDC will transfer its .web ICANN contract to Verisign after it is awarded, assuming ICANN consents to the transfer.
Afilias has since revealed that it came second in the auction. It now wants ICANN to overturn the result of the auction, awarding .web to Afilias as runner-up instead.
The company argues that NDC broke the new gTLD Applicant Guidebook rules by refusing to disclose that it had become controlled by Verisign.
It's now trying to frame the .web debate as ICANN's "first test of accountability" under the new, independent, post-IANA transition regime.
Afilias director Jonathan Robinson posted on CircleID:
If ICANN permits the auction result to stand, it may not only invite further flouting of its rules, it will grant the new TLD with the highest potential to the only entity with a dominant market position. This would diminish competition and consumer choice and directly contradict ICANN's values and Bylaws.
Given the controversy over ICANN's independence, all eyes will be on the ICANN board to see if it is focused on doing the right thing. It's time for the ICANN board to show resolve and to demonstrate that it is a strong, independent body acting according to the letter and spirit of its own AGB and bylaws and, perhaps most importantly of all, to actively demonstrate its commitment to act independently and in the global public interest.
Speaking at the first of ICANN's two public forum sessions at ICANN 57 in Hyderabad, India this week, Robinson echoed that call, telling the ICANN board:
You are a credible, independent-minded, and respected board who recognized the enhanced scrutiny that goes with the post-transition environment. Indeed, this may well be the first test of your resolve in this new environment. You have the opportunity to deal with the situation by firmly applying your own rules and your own ICANN bylaw-enshrined core value to introduce and promote competition in domain names. We strongly urge you to do so.
Then, after a few months of relative quiet on the subject, Verisign and NDC this week came out swinging.
First, in a joint blog post, the companies rubbished Afilias' attempt to bring the IANA transition into the debate. They wrote:
Afilias does a great disservice to ICANN and the entire Internet community by attempting to make this issue a referendum on ICANN by entitling its post "ICANN's First Test of Accountability." Afilias frames its test for ICANN's new role as an "independent manager of the Internet's addressing system," by asserting that ICANN can only pass this test if it disqualifies NDC and bars Verisign from acquiring rights to the .web new gTLD. In this case, Afilias' position is based on nothing more than deflection, smoke and cynical self-interest.
Speaking at the public forum in Hyderabad on Wednesday, Verisign senior VP Pat Kane said:
This is not a test for the board. This issue is not a test for the newly empowered community. It is a test of our ability to utilize the processes and the tools that we've developed over the past 20 years for dispute resolution.
Verisign instead claims that Afilias' real motivation could be to force .web to a private auction, where it can be assured an eight-figure payday for losing.
NDC/Verisign won .web at a so-called "last resort" auction, overseen by ICANN, in which the funds raised go into a pool to be used for some yet-to-be-determined public benefit cause.
That robbed rival applicants, including Afilias, of the equal share of the proceeds they would have received had the contention set been settled via the usual private auction process.
But Verisign/NDC, in their post, claim Afilias wants to force .web back to private auction.
Afilias' allegations of Applicant Guidebook violations by NDC are nothing more than a pretext to conduct a "private" instead of a "public" auction, or to eliminate a competitor for the .web new gTLD and capture it for less than the market price.
Verisign says that NDC was under no obligation to notify ICANN of a change of ownership or control because no change of ownership or control has occurred.
It says the two companies have an "arms-length contract" which saw Verisign pay for the auction and NDC commit to ask ICANN to transfer its .web Registry Agreement to Verisign.
It's not unlike the deal Donuts had with Rightside, covering over a hundred gTLD applications, Verisign says.
The contract between NDC and Verisign did not assign to Verisign any rights in NDC's application, nor did Verisign take any ownership or management interest in NDC (let alone control of it). NDC has always been and always will be the owner of its application
Not content with defending itself from allegations of wrongdoing, Verisign/NDC goes on to claim that it is instead Afilias that broke ICANN rules and therefore should have disqualified from the auction.
They allege that Afilias offered NDC a guarantee of a cash payout if it chose to go to private auction instead, and that it attempted to coerce NDC to go to private auction on July 22, which was during a "blackout period" during which bidders were forbidden from discussing bidding strategies.
During the public forum sessions at ICANN 57, ICANN directors refused to comment on statements from either side of the debate.
That's likely because it's a matter currently before the courts.
Fellow .web loser Donuts has already sued ICANN in California, claiming the organization failed to adequately investigate rumors that Verisign had taken over NDC.
Donuts failed to secure a restraining order preventing the .web auction from happening, but the lawsuit continues. Most recently, ICANN filed a motion attempting to have the case thrown out.
In my opinion, arguments being spouted by Verisign and Afilias both stretch credulity.
Afilias has yet to present any smoking gun showing Verisign or NDC broke the rules. Likewise, Verisign's claim that Afilias wants to enrich itself by losing a private auction appear to be unsupported by any evidence.
Get ready for thousands of new two-letter domains
New gTLD registry operators have been given the right to start selling two-letter domains that match country codes.
Potentially thousands of names could start being released next year, resulting in a windfall for registries and possible opportunities for investors.
Some governments, however, appear to be unhappy with the move and how ICANN's board of directors reached its decision.
The ICANN board yesterday passed a resolution that will unblock all two-letter domains that match country codes appearing on the ISO 3166 list, most of which are also ccTLDs.
While the resolution gives some protection to governments worried about abuse of "their" strings, it's been watered down to virtually nothing.
In the first draft of the rules, published in July, ICANN said registries "must" offer an "Exclusive Availability Pre-registration Period" — a kind of mini-sunrise period limited to governments and ccTLD operators.
In the version approved by ICANN yesterday, the word "must" has been replaced by "may" and the word "voluntary" has been added.
In other words, registries won't have to give any special privileges to governments when they start selling two-character names.
They will, however, have to get registrants to agree that they won't pass themselves off as having affiliations with the relevant government. It looks like registries probably could get away with simply adding a paragraph to their terms of service to satisfy this requirement.
Registries will also have to "take reasonable steps to investigate and respond to any reports from governmental agencies and ccTLD operators of conduct that causes confusion with the corresponding country code in connection with the use of a letter/letter two-character ACSCII domain."
This too is worded vaguely enough that it could wind up being worthless to governments, many of which are worried about domains matching their ccTLDs being passed off as government-approved.
The Governmental Advisory Committee is split on how worrisome this kind of thing is.
For examples, governments such as Spain and Italy have fought for the right to get to pre-approve the release of "es" and "it" domains, whereas the governments of the US and UK really could not care less.
The most-recent formal GAC advice on the subject, coming out of the July meeting in Helsinki, merely said ICANN should:
urge the relevant Registry or the Registrar to engage with the relevant GAC members when a risk is identified in order to come to an agreement on how to manage it or to have a third-party assessment of the situation if the name is already registered
"It is our belief that that our resolution is consistent with GAC advice," outgoing ICANN board member Bruce Tonkin said yesterday, noting that nobody can claim exclusive rights over any string, regardless of length.
Before and after the resolution passed, the GAC expressed "serious concern" that the board had not formally responded to the Helsinki communique.
In its Hyderabad communique, issued after yesterday's vote, the GAC advised the board to:
- Clearly indicate whether the actions taken by the Board as referred to in the resolution adopted on 8 November 2016 are fully consistent with the GAC advice given in the Helsinki Communiqué.
- Always communicate in future the position of the Board regarding GAC advice on any matter in due time before adopting any measure directly related to that advice.
ICANN staff are now tasked with coming up with a way to implement the two-character release.
My sense is that some kind of amendment to Registry Agreements might be required, so we're probably looking at months before we start seeing two-letter domains being released.
Ship explosion cost ICANN $700k
An explosion on board a cargo ship set ICANN back $700,000, the organization has revealed.
The September 1 blast and subsequent fire, which we blogged about two weeks ago, cause equipment heading to ICANN 57 in Hyderabad to be detained by authorities.
The explosion, at the port in Hamburg, was reportedly caused by a welding accident and nobody was seriously hurt.
Now, in a blog post, ICANN said the cost of replacing the detained gear and shipping it to India was $700,000.
Hyderabad is due to kick off next week.
The ICANN blog post, from CIO Ashwin Rangan, reports that all the equipment required to run the meeting has already arrived safely.
The meeting has also been plagued by widespread reports of difficulties obtaining visas. Many have complained on social media that the process is unnecessarily unpredictable and complicated.
Many of these complaints have come from regular ICANN attendees from North America and Europe, unaccustomed to having to secure visas for international travel.
But the level of complaints has been sufficiently high that ICANN has been talking to Indian government officials about ensuring everyone who wants to attend, can.


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Real to Reel Film Festival - The Life and Death of an Unhappily Married Man
A man disillusioned with his failing marriage and dead end career abruptly decides to visit his past to figure out where it all went wrong.
Interview with Writer/Director Josh Hope
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I had gone through a couple serious breakups as an adult that obviously had a pretty big impact on my life, and I knew I wanted to try to tell a story that would get inside the mind and thoughts of a guy who was basically going through a quarter life crisis and wondering where it all went wrong in his life. My goal was to use my personal experiences to make something that was hopefully touching and weirdly funny at the same time.
Imagine I'm a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The main thing I have discovered since the film has been playing on the festival circuit for this past year is that a lot of people can relate to a guy who has hit rock bottom. I think it's just a universal theme of being a human. We've all been there one way or another, so it's nice to have that connection with other people, and to realize that life gets better if you give it another chance.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The story is almost completely autobiographical, so they played a huge part in the film. I think there's nothing more interested than real life so I tried to incorporate things that actually happened to me along my journey and be as painfully honest as possible.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
I think the script always evolves once you start hiring actors to come in and bring your characters to life. I like working with actors who really dig into the material and make it their own. I really enjoy handing off the original script and seeing how it becomes a different reality on the big screen.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We've now played at over 50 festivals in 7 different countries, and so far the film has been received very positively. We've won over 20 awards for Best Film, Actor, Director, Editing and Score. I know a dark comedy/drama film like this it's not exactly everyone's cup of tea, but for the most part audiences seem to connect with the honesty of it, and enjoy the comedic ride of our main character.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I'm actually quite surprised by the amount of positive feedback. When I first finished the script and decided to try and make the film I didn't know if anyone would every actually watch it or connect to this guy at all. The film starts off showing the main character at his worst, in the lowest point of his life. I've realized that you can tell an anti-hero story if you do the scary part of exposing yourself and all your flaws.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I think all indie films that have a tiny budget like ours are always looking for more exposure wherever we can find it. Any chance we get to play in a new city at a new festival allows us to find an audience that normally wouldn't ever even hear about the movie.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film's message?
At this point in the process we're simply looking to continue to build on our audience. The film will be released through various VOD (video on demand) sites this fall, so positive word of mouth is a huge part of helping us get the film out there as much as possible.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I first hope that people are entertained by it. If it helps certain audience members to feel less alone seeing someone else who has hit rock bottom…than that's a nice bonus.
What's a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I purposely wrote it in a way that if 2 people watch the film together…one a pessimist…one an optimist…that they would leave the theater debating how certain things in the film will turn out down the line. I would love it if they are talking about the film hours later over coffee.
Would you like to add anything else?
If anyone wants to learn more about the film they can find us on facebook and twitter, or they can check out our website at www.OliveEntertainment.com for all the latest news.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I have several new projects in the works that I'm excited to get going in the upcoming year.
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
The Life and Death of an Unhappily Married Man
A man disillusioned with his failing marriage and dead end career abruptly decides to visit his past to figure out where it all went wrong.
Length: 85 minutes
Director: Josh Hope
Producer: Josh Hope, Chris Hong, Mikki Rosenberg & Tommy Beardmore
Writer: Josh Hope
About the writer, director and producer: (25 words each)
Key cast: Tommy Beardmore, Rusty Schwimmer, Robyn Coffin, Sean Patrick Leonard, Kate Froehlich, Kurt Conroyd & D'arcy Fellona.
Made in association with:
Release date: 2016
Where can I watch it in the next month? Real to Reel Film Festival


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Subject: I have found a DVD that I think you would enjoy
|Karaoke / Classic Rock 505
Genres: Music Video & Concerts
Classic Rock Hits made popular by artists such as: Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John & Kiki Dee, I Feel The Earth Move by Carole King, Nobody Does It Better by Carly Simon, How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) by Ja... more »
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Movie Details
Movie Reviews
Good Place to Start Your Karaoke Collection
Jeffrey L. Ogrisseg | Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa-ken Japan | 10/16/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If you are wondering whether to add karaoke to your list of DVD fun activities, then this disc, with all familiar titles, is a great way to experiment in that direction....,you can get the feel for singing at home with 12 well-known hits. The vocals are close enough to the real thing and the arrangements are pretty easy to follow. The background videos also seem to fit the songs and aren't distracting. Of course a lot of your enjoyment depends on the performance of your DVD player. Mine has a little trouble switching between the settings for the vocals (on, off, all, background). The experience is worth it. And living in the Land of Karaoke -- Japan -- I finally have some English songs to entertain my party guests. But this one and you'll be back online shopping for more."


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As an archangel, St. Michael is not truly described to have been "born" in the human sense. Instead, God created the angels before time and outside of its confines.
It is difficult to determine from scripture exactly when God created the angels. Time itself began existing as a human construct with the creation of humans. Angels, created by God, existed before time itself did, according to GotQuestions.org.
St. Michael is described alternatively as an archangel or as a prince of angels. The Epistle of St. Jude indicates that St. Michael leads God's army in the battle against Satan's army in the final fight for humankind and the Earth.


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Guest ListNo Guest List Available
TicketsNo Tickets Available
Bottle Service
Table Reservations are closed for this event.Bottle Menu Unavailable
Back Wall Table8 GUESTS | $1,000.00 MIN
Tables 400-401. VIP table located on outer section of VIP area.
2nd Tier Table10 GUESTS | $1,500.00 MIN
Tables 100-104, 500-503. Table located inside main VIP area.
Dance Floor Table (Side)10 GUESTS | $2,000.00 MIN
Tables 200, 204, 300, 304. VIP table located on dance floor.
Dance Floor Table (Center)10 GUESTS | $2,500.00 MIN
Tables 201-203, 301-303. Prime table located inside main VIP area.
Stage Table8 GUESTS | $4,000.00 MIN
Table 600. VIP Table on stage next to DJ.


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How to Give a Donation
The Pascack Mental Health Center receives no federal, state or county grants or funding. The Center is a 501(c)(3) organization and donations are fully tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. We are very dependent upon the generosity of our donors to continue providing service to the community.
All donations are appreciated.
Donate by check
Checks may be made payable to Pascack Mental Health Center.
Please mail your donation to:
The Pascack Mental Health Center
P.O. Box 126
Park Ridge, NJ 07656
Donate by credit/debit
If you wish, you may now donate easily and safely by credit card. Please use the link below.


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I recently encountered an article in a certain publication, where the author was trying to figure out whether or not to let his kid start playing computer games. From the tone of it, the article as clearly written by one of those prima donnas, who imagine that the world revolves around them, and who tend to turn simple issues into highly complex conjectures. As I read the article however, I did find myself thinking about the question of funny computer games. I found myself wondering whether such funny computer games should be installed on kids' computers, and the upside and downside to installation of such funny games on kids' computers.
It occurred to me that, on the upside, the funny computer games can offer unparalleled entertainment to the kids.
It also occurred to me that through the funny computer games, you can get kids who were previously uninterested in computers to start getting interested. It turns out that there are certain kids, admittedly few, who show no interest whatsoever in computers. These are the sorts of kids for whom mechanisms have to be crafted, to get them interested in the machines. And that is where the funny games come into the picture: as such funny games can be very effective at getting kids to be interested in the computers.
On the downside, it occurred to me that funny computer games can lead to computer addiction on the part of the kids, which can be a very troubling thing. It specifically occurred to me that the funny computer games are not things you undertake on a one-off basis: like the Papa survey carried out at www.papasurvey.com, and which is a one-off affair. Rather, the funny computer games tend to become obsessions, which can lead to computer addiction (this being an addiction which is just as unhealthy as any other addiction).


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R. is talking a bit more all the time. Her requests are becoming more natural. For nearly a year we had to verbally prompt each word. Last month she started saying some words if we held the item she wanted up and waited. Now for most items we just have to wait. At mealtime she is just speaking up and saying what she wants. It almost feels normal. E. and I will be talking and she'll just interrupt with her demand. It is just one word, but I'll take it.
She is also self correcting herself. She'll say cookie, bagel, or open, cookie. She's saying more words in response to situations, oh no, wow and after years of me working on it – she is saying hey. I know that sounds like a silly word to be excited about. But I've been trying to get her to say hey or stop instead of crying.
Her echolalia seems to be changing slightly. Sometimes when she echoes she changes her intonation. It is subtle, but definitely deliberate.
She is very into spending time with E., and she wants him all to herself. She's been saying Hey! What you doing? When I come into the room. If she is being nice she will hand lead me into another room. But often she just gives me a shove. I'll say, you want me to go away? And she will say go away! I think this is really funny, and it doesn't bother me at all.
I feel like I'm documenting every second of potty training. She is up to sitting for eight seconds. The therapists tell her she will sit for eight, and they say only the first, middle and last number. R. counts on her own, and insisted on staying until the count of ten once and twenty another time. Nothing happened, but she was and is happy to sit there. I'm almost looking forward to summer so we can devote more time to this.
I do have to say that I really hate pull-ups. They leak like crazy, and trying to do up the sides makes me feel like I'm all thumbs. Maybe it is because I have so many years practice with diapers.


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1998 Saturn SL 1.9 from North America
Great value for the money, safe and dependable
In almost three years of owning my first Saturn, I only encountered two problems. The first minor problem was a faulty dome light inside the cabin which was replaced under warranty.
The second, around 18,000 miles I had the ignition control module replaced under warranty. Other than that, it was near perfect.
General Comments:
After my own experience with my 1998 Saturn and after seeing further proof, 1998 was Saturns best year for quality. I had essentially no problems with the car and felt secure in its reliability.
The seats were a bit low to the ground, and the engine did have some vibrations at idle, was very inexpensive to maintain however. My retailer has been excellent and due to excellent lease/finance rates I leased my second Saturn last week (2001 SL1).
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 17th May, 2001


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Elaine Brooks: Brooks Family Threads
Elaine Brooks is a weaver in the Southern Chester County Pennsylvania area. She hand looms home goods like table runners, pillows, wine bottle bags as well as personal items: small purses, totes and iPad covers. Her style traditional rag weaving with a unique twist using upholstery fabrics and remnants. The result is striking patterns, textures and colors that provide a unique look to an age old craft.
Website not available yet.
Facebook page: Brooks Family Threads @facebook


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Ciclismo Classico Joining Farm to Fork Fondo in Maine
Tyler Wren
Ciclismo Classico, the award winning adventure traveling company, is joining forces with Wrenegade Sports at the Farm to Fork Fondo - Maine event, a cycling event like no other. Ciclismo Classico is sponsoring one of the seven aid station on the course of the Farm to Fork Fondo - Maine event on August 27.
Listed as an essential event by the likes of Outside Magazine and SELF Magazine, the Farm to Fork Fondo series has been praised for its dedication to food and fitness. Participants enjoy a ride filled with winding country roads and locally produced treats served at local farms. "Farm to Fork brings together in the U.S. everything that embodies the Ciclismo Classico experience in Italy and beyond." says Brandon Gurdack of Ciclismo Classico, "We knew it was the right place to be."
The series was founded by Tyler Wren, who cycled professionally for 13 years before starting the series. Wren also joined Ciclismo Classico for a tour in Italy. "I had a great time on my tour of Italy and I'm thrilled to be partnering with them," said Wren. "We hold similar values and Farm to Fork Fondo really compliments the cycling tours Ciclismo Classico offers."
While this is Ciclismo Classico's first time at Farm to Fork Fondo, the adventure company is no stranger to cycling tourism. Ciclismo Classico has received international recognition for its biking, hiking, and photography tours through Europe and South America. The pairing of authentic cuisine and expertly planned rides is one of the many reasons Ciclismo Classico has been included on National Geographic Traveler's annual list, "50 Tours of a Lifetime", three times.
Farm to Fork Fondo - Maine is expecting to have more than 450 participants ride the course on August 27. Ciclismo Classico will be at the Pineland Farms aid station at mile 29.
Farm to Fork Fondo is a series of non-competitive cycling events in iconic farmland regions throughout the Northeastern United States. The mission of the Farm to Fork Fondo series is to highlight and support the symbiotic relationship between cyclists, farmers and beautiful landscapes. Ride options range from 10 to 100 miles, and include several on-farm aid stations where participants sample chef-prepared treats made from each farm's ingredients. For more information, visit FarmForkFondo.com.
Farm to Fork Fondo partners include Colavita, Bianchi, Elite Performance Team, Maple Hill Creamery, GU Energy Labs, Vittoria, Stages, Silca, Stans No Tubes, Bar Mitts, Tetra Bike, Drink Maple, Ride With GPS, Velofix, CyclOps, Pactimo, and Rudy Project.
Everyone at Ciclismo Classico shares la passione for cycling, for Italy, and for life. They pride themselves on their attention to detail and our ability to make your vacation truly special. Whether you need help sorting out travel logistics, creating pre- or post-tour itineraries, or just deciding what to pack, their teams in Boston and Tuscany are happy to help.
June 11: Farm to Fork Fondo – Hudson Valley
June 25: Farm to Fork Fondo – Finger Lakes
July 16: Farm to Fork Fondo – Vermont
July 29: Farm to Fork Fondo – Pennsylvania Dutch
August 27: Farm to Fork Fondo – Maine
September 24: Farm to Fork Fondo – Berkshires
Wrenegade Sports produces the Farm to Fork Fondo event series. Wrenegade Sports was founded by former professional cyclist Tyler Wren with a mission to whip up perfect combinations of health, social good, community and fun into unique and awesome events. Wrenegade Sports' guiding principles are: to promote physical activity in a fun and supportive environment; to create achievable challenges for people of all ages and physical abilities; to leave our event host communities better than we found them and to use our events to do social good.
For more information, visit WrenegadeSports.com.
Tyler Wren
Founder & Principal, Wrenegade Sports


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Divergent hopes to be the next big young adult novel series turned blockbuster movie franchise, following in the wake of Harry Potter, Twilight and current box office Juggernaut, The Hunger Games. Adapted from the novel series by Veronica Roth, the film imagines a future Chicago where society is run on a caste system of 5 personality types: Abnegation (selflessness), Amity (peacefulness), Candor (honesty), Dauntless (bravery) and Erudite (knowledgeable). At age sixteen, all citizens take an aptitude test to determine their personality type, and subsequently, their place in society.
The twist comes when young Beatrice "Tris" Prior's (Shailene Woodley) test reveals that she is selfless, brave AND knowledgeable, marking her as "Divergent" - i.e., not fit for any one of the personality groups. This turns her upcoming training into a deadly game of secrets and survival; if she is exposed as Divergent, Tris will become the target of clan leaders like Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet), who do not tolerate anomalies within their "perfect" system of societal control.
A somewhat obvious metaphor for the challenges of self-identity in adolescence or teenage years, Divergent seems to (thankfully) back-burner the sappy tween romance angle for more interesting and philosophical sci-fi tale in the tradition of Phillip K. Dick; albeit, softened for the younger crowd. Interesting ideas (as seen in the first trailer) will hopefully bolster the film, because the visual composition by director Neil Burger doesn't seem to be the primary draw - possibly part of the reason why Burger is NOT returning for the sequel film, Insurgent.
Half of the cast is made up of promising up-and-comers like Shailene Woodley (The Descendants), Ansel Elgort (Carrie), Theo James (Underworld Awakening), Zoe Kravitz (X-Men: First Class) and Miles Teller (That Awkward Moment); the other half is held up by veteran actors like Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney (Die Hard 5), Ray Stevenson (Thor 2), Maggie Q (Nikkita), Mekhi Phifer (Dawn of the Dead) and Ashley Judd (Kiss the Girls).
Divergent will be in theaters on March 21, 2014.
Source: Summit Entertainment


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IGSplineSeries Class Reference
|Inherits from
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|Declared in
IGSplineSeries displays a curved line that passes through each of the series data points, with string labels along the X axis and numeric values along the Y axis. This series uses IGCategoryXAxis or IGCategoryDateTimeXAxis and IGNumericYAxis. The data source for this series is a collection of single value, single label points. IGCategorySeriesDataSourceHelper can be used as the data source for IGSplineSeries.
Multiple series of the IGSplineSeries type are handled the same, regardless whether or not they share the same X axis. The line series with the higher index will be drawn in front of the previous series.
Markers, when enabled, are placed at the locations of data points.


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Reconciliation: Utopia or necessity in a peace process. The Colombian experience
Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio is a Colombian politician, former senator and anti-corruption activist. She was kidnapped by FARC on 23 February 2002 while campaigning for the presidency of Colombia and was rescued by Colombian security forces six and a half years later along with 14 other hostages. She has received multiple international awards.


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For those of you who may not think stationery is interesting, this post is for you. Stationery, and office supplies, in general, have earned a reputation for being boring or "every day" and the staff here at Envelopes Ltd. want to change that.
Here are some interesting facts about stationery and office supplies and perhaps you might learn something new today. Don't miss the last one; it's something you'll really like!
- In the middle ages, a stationer was a person licensed to sell books and paper at a fixed place or 'station' at a university. The term stationery later came to be applied to all writing materials.
- Paper was invented by a Chinese eunuch and court official named Ts'ai Lun around AD105.
- In the 16th century, the first graphite deposit was discovered in Northern England, so the pencil was created.
- Edwin Hill and Warren de la Rue were granted a British patent for the first envelope making machine in 1845. It took almost 50 years before a successful machine was built and commercialised for the purpose of producing pre-gummed envelopes.
- Envelopes containing windows were patented by Americus F Callahan of Chicago in 1902.
- The first patent for a ballpoint pen, designed to mark leather, was given to John Loud, in 1888.
- It would be another 50 years before László Bíró patented his re-invention of the ballpoint in 1938 making it more useful for the "common" man.
- Research in 2008 showed that the average Bic ballpoint pen can draw a line two miles long.
- Using just commonly found Sellotape, you can create an interesting phenomena known as triboluminescence. This is where light is generated during the breakage of chemical bonds in materials when they are subjected to forces such as being pulled apart, ripped or crushed. The effect can be seen as flashes of blue light when peeling the Sellotape in a darkened area.


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Innocence comes, return to what's spoken
Between now and future entities
Should we speak unaware in somnolent passes
Or let all that we're made of come from the sea?
Beautiful communion to all that would look-
We can make time and stretch it until no end
The king of reality should thereby encompass
Can you not feel the level raise? The essence of me?
I ask of no timesphere
I need nothing from that
Line of coarse redundant telepathy
I am not that choker
Dog walks near the curtain
Lift not the quick fall back
Making nothing we see
I think you are so natural
You kick back the door frame
You throw the blank page back
Through water soaked keys
How can I meet this?
Show me some gridlock
And I'll show you how two-
Electricity can please


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Lluna, impeccably stylish, was designed by Joan Gaspar for Serralunga. It's multi-functional design with its carefully balanced proportions serves as both vase and outdoor lamp. Perfect for roof gardens, terraces, public places or alongside a beautiful pool, the result is true design. Speaking about design, Marco Serralunga says: "Our project of illuminated vases continues, my company was the first to create this innovative concept with this added value. In designing Lluna, the basic idea was to create a vase-type lamp taking into consideration both the notion of space and ambiance. I firmly believe in the practicality of plastic and together with the functional aspect of the lighting Lluna is a product that is both innovative and unique. In the late hours of the evening one can relax and enjoy an atmosphere of intimacy created by this complementary piece of outdoor furniture."
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|Plena Small Pot 40w x 40d x 66h cm
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I have heard somewhere that there really are only about seven ideas for stories, and the rest are variations on them. I can well believe it. I think most novels are written by someone thinking "I can tell that story better" or "I know something more about this". In that sense I think literature is a slow conversation between writers, who are, in essence, readers who wish to respond.
I´m not sure why this leads up to the latest of my reads. I was recommended Håkan Nesser´s "Himmel över London" (= sky over London). He is not someone I would read, as I have not liked his crime novels about van Veeteren (these are translated to English) much. Or at all. However, I started it, and really, I find the story fascinating.
|The sky over London.
It reminded me of a funny film I saw, "Stranger than fiction" where Emma Thompson plays a depressed writer trying to find a good way to kill her main character. He finds out what she is doing and tries to stop her. What is real? What is not? I think most serious readers would find this interesting.
I also can´t help thinking what another writer than Nesser could have done with this idea. I know it´s unfair to compare every novelist to Tunström, Coetzee or Kundera, but I can´t help myself. There is something about the way Nesser writes that makes me feel that he is too much in a hurry, that he does not take the time to really, really write well. Not as well as he should, with his experience, anyway. But perhaps it´s just a matter of taste. Bottom line: I heartily recommend it.


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Working on a new project now, it's a friendly gift to Darkezekiels soon-to-be-famous Pirate Oger Army!
Link (warning! this is german ;))
I converted an Oger Firebelly (is that it's name?) into a creepy black voodoo priest, standing in a swamp, surrounded by a horde of zombies, spitting green toxic stuff toward his enemies.
I tried some desaturated dark brown colours on the skin, highlighted with Space Wolves Grey...


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Dan Nicholas came to White River Valley before many other settlers were here. He came from Moroni, Utah before the turn of the century.
Before colonizing, he worked for wages and was a big help to the pioneers that came. He knew much of what was going on and who was here.
He drew with others for land and since there was a mix-up he was a big help in helping to straighten them out.
He had a home made of logs which was built on the land just north of where Christian Jensen built his house.
When Ed Funk and his family moved out they lived in this house the first year while they built one in Clog Holler.
Dan later moved it to his property in the north end of town near a spring which later became known as the Nicholas Spring. When he decided to move he told the Funks that he wanted to move in March as there was always plenty of snow to skid the house on.
Dan, for some reason of his own, never married; but was such a man that he was considered a good "catch" by many. He was not backward but still remained single.
He took an active part in the Church. He was a member of the Priesthood, a ward teacher, and held other offices in the Church.
In 1898 the first Christmas in Preston was celebrated in his home. He was very progressive and was always in favor of doing things to better the community as well as himself.
He was one of the founders and officers of the Preston Irrigation Company, Preston Potato Association, and the Preston Light and Power. He was always interested in dairying and at one time went into the dairy business on his own.
There was never a social or outing that Dan didn't participate in. For many years the town went to Berryman's Meadows for May Day or White River for a picnic and to gather pine nuts. Dan was always there with his team and wagon to help those who had no way to go. He also had the first truck that came to town. From this time on he and his truck was always ready to take as many as possible on any occasion.
He was a good farmer and always kept his machinery, buildings, fences, etc. in good condition. He was proud of all he owned and of his town.
He was also one of the founders of the Preston Creamery Company. This company operated for several years. This was a result of the town going in for dairy cattle. The first ones were from Jim Gianopolous and later they purchased a herd from Wisconsin.
His home was always open to those who wished to go and visit with each other, and also used for many meetings. Quite often someone was "going thru", and most of them found a place to put up their team and stay for the night.
Dan liked children and was always willing to do what he could for them. He was a source of spending money for many of us, as he would hire us to weed, plant cabbage, cultivate, and irrigate. This gave us a chance to make a little money for the twenty-fourth of July and other celebrations.
He went in the store business in the late 1920's and ran it together with a gas station for about ten years, then sold out to Hy Whitlock.
He moved into the store building and from then on he rented his farm letting the renters live in his house. He was still active in all town activities and helpful to get the light plant for thetown.
He sold the ranch to Charles Funk in 1944 and moved back to Moroni where he died some years later.
Gomer Nicholas, a nephew of Dan Nicholas, came out from Moroni in 1903 to work for Dan. He worked for him and others and was deputy sheriff for a time.
In 1907 Gomer married Etta Mathis and they lived in "Clog Holler" where two daughters were born, Edna and Dora. They attended school in Preston for a time, then the family moved to Lund where LaRue and Faye were born. Faye died in infancy. The family moved to Ely, but later when Dan started up his own milk business, Gomer came back again to help him.
Written and submitted by:
Charles Funk


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2010 – The Year of Craft Beer Success
2010 was a banner year for craft brewers all across the nation, according to data recently released by the Brewers Association. Most small craft breweries are represented by the Brewers Association, and the BA has become one of the foremost authorities on the industry in general. According to new information, craft brewers saw an increase in both retail sales and volume sold, something that the big brewing companies have not been able to match.
During a year where companies like Budweiser and Busch posted declines in sales, craft brewers in general enjoyed an increase of 12 percent in retail sales dollars, and an 11 percent increase in the volume of beer sold. That equates to a significant amount of growth year over year, and shows just how many Americans are now finding their love for craft beers of all types. The combined growth percentages represent about 14 million more cases of craft beer sold in 2010 than in 2009 – certainly not figures to sniff at!
In addition, the Brewers Association has also confirmed that the number of American breweries now in operation is the highest of all time. Not since 1900 have there been this many breweries creating their own beers across the country. 1900 saw 1751 breweries in the US. That dropped to 0 in 1930, when Prohibition went into effect and the nation's breweries fell away. It took a very long time for that number to grow.
In 1936, there were somewhere around 1,000 breweries operating. That number dropped over the years. 1980 marked the lowest point since Prohibition. After 1990, things started looking up dramatically. Today, there are 1759 breweries operating throughout the country, which is the most at any point since records first started being kept.
The craft beer industry was responsible for almost 8 percent of all retail dollars in the beer industry – about $7.6 billion. As an interesting side note, about 3 percent of those breweries are putting out their brews in cans, which is a new trend but one that is growing quickly throughout all breweries as the cost effectiveness and other benefits become more apparent (and as consumers become more welcoming of the move).
2010 was an incredible year for craft breweries of all shapes and sizes. However, 2011 is shaping up to be an even better year, as sales are already off to an incredible start. Hopefully 2011 will trump the records of 2010.


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'Geese' Painted Handpulled Drypoint Print. Edition of only 12
'Geese' Painted Handpulled Drypoint Print. Edition of only 12
Geese are such amazing creatures, elegant and loyal, so much so that a group of them can be used as guard dogs!
I love to draw them, especially together. This piece is a painted print, which means that I have coloured the paper before printmaking onto it. Painting the paper can be super tricky due to the paper not going through the press correctly, for each one that works there is at least one that hasn't!
This piece of work is titled, numbered and signed in pencil by me.
This print is also available on non-painted paper too. You can find them here.
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Someone Please Check on Pig
By Justin Franz // Mar 13, 2018
1:24 a.m. A Kalispell woman called 911 because her husband and his buddy were drunk and being loud. She wanted advice on how to deal with them.
7:39 a.m. A Columbia Falls deer was paralyzed on the side of the road.
11:09 a.m. A Columbia Falls resident called 911 to complain that his neighbor's goat keeps walking in his yard. The owner of the goat was confronted with this news and said he never knew his goat friend left the property.
2:30 p.m. A Kalispell resident was worried about her neighbor's pig named Pig. Apparently, Pig has not left his little pig house in a number of days.
2:33 p.m. A Columbia Falls man met a woman online who convinced him to send her money so she could visit him. Not long after sending her the money, the woman told the man that she had been kidnapped on her trip to visit him and that she needed more money so that she could be freed to continue her journey. The man called 911.
3:11 p.m. A Somers resident moved out of their rental and left three cats behind, much to the dismay of the landlord.
8:29 p.m. A private investigator had secret documents to deliver in Columbia Falls.
11:17 p.m. Someone was being rude on social media.
11:41 p.m. A Kalispell woman setting the alarm on her phone accidentally called 911 instead.


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|barack the house (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore
|Tue Jul-29-08 04:39 AM
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|1. To be fair she came across well here. Probably a career saving moment...->>
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CANNES SHORT FILM CORNER - Fever
Logline: A man is forced to navigate through a series of feverish nightmares to find his identity in relation to his parents, his wife, and his gay lover.
Length: 19 min 6 sec
Director: Shu Zhu
Producer: Mary Kerrigan
About the director and producer:
Shu is a recent graduate from NYU with a BFA in Film and TV Production. He is a freelance director, producer and cinematographer based in NYC.
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Looking for buyers, festival programmers and bloggers.
Funders: Self financed
Made in association with: New York University
Release date: January 2016
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
This film was made as a project for an experimental film class where I was toying with different narrative structures inspired by Lynchian dream logic. I was very inspired by the surrealist movement and Freud's theory about the erotic psyche and subconsciousness.
I felt there was a lot of turbulences with my relationship with my parents and realized how it had transcended into my relationships with other people and making this film was a cathartic experience very necessary for myself at that period of time.
Imagine I'm a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I hoped people would love this film because it is very different from the films that we are accustomed to watching. The story centers on a man named Stanley Foster, whose abused childhood from his unloving parents transcends into madness in his adult life. Stanley is struggling between his relationship with his pregnant wife and his lover, as he perceives himself as a helpless victim, unable to pursue his true happiness.
The film employs dream logic, in that the events are all loosely threaded together, however, a hidden narrative is slowly unveiled through the recurrence of characters and symbolic objects. The film itself is the "feverish dream" of Stanley Foster, as an "undesirable child", moments before his untimely death.
In making this film, I attempt to explore thematic elements such as Freudian subconscious, Oedipus complex and maternity. I think there were a lot of very striking imageries in there that would captivate people.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The film has a lot of subconscious and primitive images centered on the erotic psyche, which Freud believed to be quite universal and I hope it would communicate with the audience on a subconscious level. On its core, it is a story about a gay man's struggle to understand himself and deal with his sexual identity in relation to his parents, his wife, and his gay lover.
Who he is is different from what his mother hopes him to be and it causes a constant conflict in himself. It's always been a personal struggle for me and I think it is a sentiment shared by many people with similar experiences.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
The original script was centered on an artist who is deprived of good ideas and meets his younger self in a feverish dream, who he then falls in love with. However, it felt very impersonal and was not the story I necessarily wanted to tell. It provided the basic structure for the film following dream logic but then I changed the story to something about a man dealing with sexuality, which is what I was dealing at the time.
What type of feedback have you received so far? Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I have received a lot of positive feedback in regard to the structure and imageries, but I have also received a lot of criticism on its length as well as its ''incomprehensibility'', which doesn't really bother me. Some have pointed out that it is too much of a derivative of David Lynch's work, which I cannot deny -- I made it at the peak of my David Lynch fan-boy period.
But I was only a third year film student when I made the film, and I do believe there is no fault to copy a master you admire in student works – it is how you grow and will eventually find your own voice. I see it purely as a practice in style and I am content with how it turns out, for exactly what it is intended to be.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I'm hoping to get more attraction for the project and show more people a piece of my work that I am very proud of. I'm hoping it could be exposed to more festival programmers.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film's message?
I'm looking for festival programmers to make Fever more visible and future collaborators to find new ways to innovate the language of film.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I hope it could serve as a (subconscious?) catharsis for people with similar experiences, and in recognizing certain feelings in a surrealist setting, they can start thinking about their relationships with people around them and make peace with themselves.
What's a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How do we break free from people's expectations of us and commit to what we truly desire without fearing the judgment of people?
Would you like to add anything else?
I'm always on the look out for future collaborators to make projects that are different and exciting. You can reach me at firstname.lastname@example.com
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I'm currently wrapping up another project titled A Man who Fell From the Sky, it is a magical realist tale about the relationship between a lonely hunter and a man who is transformed from a bird.
Mary is working on her thesis film at NYU titled Geeze Louis. You can read more about her project here https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/geez-louise#/


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