text:
"DEAREST mother, you look most deplorably tired."
Richard sat before the large study table, piled up with letters, papers, county histories, racing calendars, in the Gun‐Room, amid a haze of cigar smoke.—"I don't wonder," he went on, "we've had a regular field‐day, haven't we? And I'm afraid Lord Fallowfeild bored you atrociously at luncheon. He does talk most admired foolishness half his time, poor old boy. All the same Ludovic shouldn't show him up as he does. It's not good form. I'm afraid Ludovic's getting rather spoilt by London. He's growing altogether too finicking and elaborate. It's a pity. Lady Louisa Barking is a rather exterminating person. Her conversation is magnificently deficient in humour. It is to be hoped Barking is not troubled by lively perceptions, or he must suffer at times. Lady Constance is a pretty little girl, don't you think so? Not oppressed with brains, I daresay, but a good little sort."
"You liked her?" Katherine said. She stood beside him, that mortal weariness upon her yet.
"Oh yes!—well enough—liked her in passing, as one likes the wild roses in the hedge. But you look regularly played out, mother, and I don't like that in the least."
Richard twisted the revolving‐chair half round, and held out his arms in invitation. As his mother leaned over him, he stretched upward and clasped his hands lightly about her neck.—"Poor dear," he said coaxingly, "worn to fiddle‐strings with all this wild dissipation! I declare it's quite pathetic."—He let her go, shrugging his shoulders with a sigh and a half laugh. "Well, the dissipation will soon enough be over now, and we shall resume the even tenor of our way, I suppose. You'll be glad of that, mother?"
The caress had been grateful to Katherine, the cool cheek page: 230 dear to her lips, the clasp of the strong arms reassuring. Yet, in her present state of depression, she was inclined to distrust even that which consoled, and there seemed a lack in the fervour of this embrace. Was it not just a trifle perfunctory, as of one who pays toll, rather than of one who claims a privilege?
"You'll be glad too, my dearest, I trust?" she said, craving further encouragement.
Richard twisted the chair back into place again, leaned forward to note the hour of the clock set in the centre of the gold and enamel inkstand.
"Oh! I'm not prophetic. I don't pretend to go before the event and register my sensations until both they and I have fairly arrived. It's awfully bad economy to get ahead of yourself and live in the day after to‐morrow. To‐day's enough—more than enough for you, I'm afraid, when you've had a large contingent of the Whitney people to luncheon. Do go and rest, mother. Uncle William is disposed of. I've started him out for a tramp with Julius, so you need not have him on your mind."
But neither in Richard's words nor in his manner did Lady Calmady find the fulness of assurance she craved.
"Thanks, dearest," she said. "That is very thoughtful of you. I will see Helen and find out"—
"Oh! don't trouble about her either," Richard put in. Again he studied the jewel‐rimmed dial of the little clock. "I found she wanted to go to Newlands to bid Mrs. Cathcart good‐bye. It seems Miss St. Quentin is back there for a day or two. So I promised to drive her over as soon as we were quit of the Fallowfeild party."
"It is late for so long a drive."
Richard looked up quickly and his face wore that expression of challenge once again.
"I know it is—and so I am afraid we ought to start at once. I expect the carriage round immediately."—Then repenting:—"You'll take care of yourself, won't you, mother, and rest?"
"Oh yes! I will take care of myself," Katherine said. "Indeed, I appear to be the only person I have left to take care of, thanks to your forethought. All good go with you, Dick."
It followed—perhaps unreasonably enough—that Richard, some five minutes later, drove round the angle of the house and drew the mail‐phaeton up at the foot of the page: 231 grey, griffin‐guarded flight of steps—whereon Madame de Vallorbes, wrapped in furs, the cavalier hat and its trailing plumes shadowing the upper part of her face and her bright hair, awaited his coming—in a rather defiant humour. His cousin was troubled, worried, and she met with scant sympathy. This aroused all his chivalry. Whatever she wished for, that he could give her, she should very certainly have. Of after consequences to himself he was contemptuous. The course of action which had shown as wisdom a couple of hours ago, showed now as selfishness and pusillanimity. If she wanted him, he was there joyfully to do her bidding, at whatever cost to himself in subsequent unrest of mind seemed but a small thing. If heartache and insidious provocations of the flesh came later, let them come. He was strong enough to bear the one and crush out the other, he hoped. It would give him something to do—he told himself, a little bitterly—and he had been idle of late!
And so it came about that Richard Calmady held out his hand, to help his cousin into her place at his side, with more of meaning and welcome in the gesture than he was quite aware. He forgot the humiliation of the broad strap about his waist, of the high, ingeniously contrived driving‐iron against which his feet rested, steadying him upon the sharply sloping seat. These were details, objectionable ones it was true, but, to‐day, of very secondary importance. In the main he was master of the situation. For once it was his to render, rather than receive, assistance. Helen was under his care, in a measure dependent on him, and this gratified his young, masculine pride, doomed too often to suffer sharp mortification. A fierce pleasure possessed him. It was fine to bear her thus away, behind the fast trotting horses, through the pensive, autumn brightness. Boyish self‐consciousness and self‐distrust died down in Richard, and the man's self‐reliance, instinct of possession and of authority, grew in him. His tone was that of command, for all its solicitude, as he said:—
"Look here, are you sure you've got enough on? Don't go and catch cold, under the impression that there's any meaning in this sunshine. It is sure to be chilly driving home, and it's easy to take more wraps."
Helen shook her head, unsmiling, serious.
"I could face polar snows."
Richard let the horses spring forward, while little pebbles rattled against the body of the phaeton, and the groom, running a few steps, swung himself up on to the back seat, immediately page: 232 becoming immoveable as a wooden image, with rigidly folded arms.
"Oh! the cold won't quite amount to that," Richard said. "But I observe women rarely reckon with the probabilities of the return journey."
"The return journey is invariably too hot, or too cold, too soon, or too late—for a woman. So it is better not to remember its existence until you are compelled to do so. For myself, I confess to the strongest prejudice against the return journey."
Madame de Vallorbes' speech was calm and measured, yet there was a conviction in it suggestive of considerable emotion. She sat well back in the carriage, her head turned slightly to the left, so that Richard, looking down at her, saw little but the pure, firm line of her jaw, the contour of her cheek, and her ear—small, lovely, the soft hair curling away from above and behind it in the most enticing fashion. Physical perfection, of necessity, provoked in him a peculiar envy and delight. And nature appeared to have taken ingenious pleasure, not only in conferring an unusual degree of beauty upon his companion, but in finishing each detail of her person with unstinted grace. For a while the young man lost himself in contemplation of that charming ear and partially averted face. Then resolutely he bestowed his attention upon the horses again, finding such contemplation slightly enervating to his moral sense.
"Yes, return journeys are generally rather a nuisance, I suppose," he said, "though my experience of that particular form of nuisance is limited. I have not been outward‐bound often enough to know much of the regret of being homeward‐bound. And yet, I own, I should not much mind driving on and on everlastingly on a dreamy afternoon like this, and—and as I find myself just now—driving on and seeking some El Dorado—of the spirit, I mean, not of the pocket—seeking the Fortunate Isles that lie beyond the sunset. For it would be not a little fascinating to give one's accustomed self, and all that goes to make up one's accepted identity, the slip—to drive clean out of one's old circumstances and find new heavens, a new earth, and a new personality elsewhere. What do you say, Helen, shall we try it?"
But Helen sat immobile, her face averted, listening intently, revolving many things in her mind, meditating how and when most advantageously to speak.
"It would be such an amiable and graceful experiment to try on my own people, too, wouldn't it ?" the young man con‐ page: 233 tinued, with a sudden change of tone. "And I am so eminently fitted to lose myself in a crowd without fear of recognition, just the person for a case of mistaken identity."
"Do not say such things, Richard, please. They distress me," Madame de Vallorbes put in quickly. "And, believe me, I have no quarrel with the return journey in this case. At Brockhurst I could fancy myself to have found the Fortunate Isles of which you spoke just now. I have been very happy there—too happy, perhaps, and therefore, to‐day, the whip has come down across my back, just to remind me."
"Ah! now you say the painful things," Dick interrupted. "Pray don't—I—I don't like them."
Madame de Vallorbes turned her head and looked at him with the strangest expression.
"My metaphor was not out of place. Do you imagine horses are the only animals a man drives, mon beau cousin? Some men drive the woman who belongs to them, and that not with the lightest bit, I promise you. Nor do they forget to tie blood‐knots in the whip‐lash when it suits them to do so."
"What do you mean?" he asked abruptly.
"Merely that the letters, which so stupidly endangered my self‐control at luncheon, contained examples of that kind of driving."
"How—how damnable," the young man said between his teeth.
The red and purple trunks of the great fir trees reeled away to right and left as the carriage swept forward down the long avenue. To Richard's seeing they reeled away in disgust, even as did his thought from the images which his companion's words suggested. While, to her seeing, they reeled, smitten by the eternal laughter, the echoes of which it stimulated her to hear.—"The drama develops," she said to herself, half triumphant, half abashed. "And yet I am telling the truth, it is all so—I hardly even doctor it."—For she had been angered, genuinely and miserably angered, and had found that odious to the point of letting feeling override diplomacy. There was subtle pleasure in now turning her very lapse of self‐control to her own advantage. And then, this young man's heart was the finest, purest‐toned instrument upon which she had ever had the chance to play as yet. She was ravished by the quality and range of the music it gave forth. Madame de Vallorbes pressed her hands together within the warm comfort of her sable muff, averted her face again, lest it should betray the eager excitement that gained on her, and continued:—page: 234
"Yes, whip and rein and bit are hardly pretty in that connection, are they? If you would willingly give your identity the slip at times, dear cousin, I have considerably deeper cause to wish to part company with mine! You, in any case, are morally and materially free. A whole class of particularly irritating and base cares can never approach you. And it was in connection with just such cares that I spoke of the hatefulness of return journeys."
Helen paused, as one making an effort to maintain her equanimity.
"My letters recall me to Paris," she said, "where detestable scenes and most ignoble anxieties await me."
"How soon must you go?"
"That is what I ask myself," she said, in the same quiet, even voice. "I have not yet arrived at a decision, and so I asked you to bring me out, Dickie, this afternoon."—She looked up at him, smiling, lovely and with a certain wistful dignity, wholly coercive. "Can you understand that the orderly serenity of your splendid house became a little oppressive? It offered too glaring a contrast to my own state of mind and outlook. I fancied my brain would be clearer, my conclusions more just, here out of doors, face to face with this half‐savage nature."
"Ah, I know all that," Richard said. Had not the blankness of the fog brought him help this very morning?—"I know it, but I wish you did not know it too."
"I know many things better not known," Helen replied. Her conscience pricked her. She thanked her stars confession had ceased with enlargement from the convent‐school, and was a thing of the past.—"You see, I want to decide just how long I dare stay—if you will keep me?"
"We will keep you," Richard said.
"You are very charming to me, Dick," she exclaimed impulsively, sincerely, again slightly abashed. "How long can I dare stay, I wonder, without making matters worse in the end, both for my father and for myself? I am young, after all, and I suppose I am tough. The cuticle of the soul—if souls can have a cuticle—like that of the body, thickens under repeated blows. But my father is no longer young. He is terribly sensitive where I am concerned. And he is inevitably drawn into the whirlpool of my wretched affairs sooner or later. On his account I should be glad to defer the return journey as long"—
"But—but—I don't understand," Richard broke out, pity and deep concern for her, a blind fury against a person, or persons page: 235 unknown, getting the better of him. "Who on earth has the power to plague you and make you miserable, or your father either?"
The young man's face was white, his eyes, full of pain, full of a great love, burning down on her. As once long ago, Helen de Vallorbes could have danced and clapped her hands in naughty glee. For her hunting had prospered above her fondest hopes. She had much ado to stifle the laughter which bubbled up in her pretty throat. She was in the humour to pelt peacocks royally, had such pastime been possible. As it was, she closed her eyes for a little minute and waited, biting the inside of her lip. At last, she said slowly, almost solemnly:—
"Don't you know that for certain mistakes, and those usually the most generous, there is no redress?"
"What do you mean?" he demanded.
"Mean?—the veriest commonplace in my own case," she answered. "Merely an unhappy marriage. There are thousands such."
They had left the shadow of the fir woods now. The carriage crossed the white‐railed culvert—bridging the little stream that taking its rise amid the pink and emerald mosses of the peat‐bog, meanders down the valley—and entered the oak plantation just inside the park gate. Russet leaves in rustling, hurrying companies, fled up and away from the rapidly turning wheels and quick horse hoofs. The sunshine was wan and chill as the smile on a dead face. Lines of pale, lilac cloud—shaped like those flights of cranes which decorate the oriental cabinets of the Long Gallery—crossed the western sky above the bare, balsam poplars, the cluster of ancient, half‐timbered cottages at the entrance to Sandyfield church lane, and the rise of the grey‐brown fallow beyond, where sheep moved, bleating plaintively, within a wattled fold.
The scene, altogether familiar though it was, impressed itself on Richard's mind just now, as one of paralysing melancholy. God help us, what a stricken, famished world it is! Will you not always find sorrow and misfortune seated at the root of things if, disregarding overlaying prettiness of summer days, of green leaf and gay blossom, you dare draw near, dig deep, look close? And can nothing, no one, escape the blighting touch of that canker stationed at the very foundations of being? Certainly it would seem not—Richard reasoned—listening to the words of the radiant woman beside him, ordained, in right of her talent and puissant grace, to be a queen and idol of men. For sadder than the thin sunshine, bare trees and complaint of the hungry page: 236 sheep, was that assured declaration that loveless and unlovely marriages—of which her own was one—exist by the thousand, are, indeed, the veriest commonplace!
These reflections held Richard, since he had been thinker and poet—in his degree—since childhood; lover only during the brief space of these last ten surprising days. Thus the general application claimed his attention first. But hard on the heels of this followed the personal application. For, as is the way of all true lovers, the universality of the law under which it takes its rise mitigates, by most uncommonly little, either the joy or sorrow of the particular case. Poignant regret that she suffered, strong admiration that she bore suffering so adherent with such lightness of demeanour—then, more dangerous than these, a sense of added unlooked‐for nearness to her, and a resultant calling not merely of the spirit of youth in him to that same spirit resident in her, but the deeper, more compelling, more sonorous call from the knowledge of tragedy in him to that same terrible knowledge now first made evident in her.—And here Richard's heart—in spite of pity, in spite of tenderness which would have borne a hundred miseries to save her five minutes' discomfort—sang Te Deum, and that lustily enough! For by this revelation of the infelicity of her state, his whole relation to, and duty towards her changed and took on a greater freedom. To pour forth worship and offers of service at the feet of a happy woman is at once an impertinence to her and a shame to yourself. But to pour forth such worship, such offers of service, at the feet of an unhappy woman—age‐old sophistry, so often ruling the speech and actions of men to their fatal undoing!—this is praiseworthy and legitimate, a matter not of privilege merely, but of obligation to whoso would claim to be truly chivalrous.
The perception of his larger liberty, and the consequences following thereon, kept Richard silent till Sandyfield rectory, the squat‐towered, Georgian church and the black‐headed, yew trees in the close‐packed churchyard adjoining, the neighbouring farm and its goodly show of golden‐grey wheat‐ricks were left behind, and the carriage entered on the flat, furze‐dotted expanse of Sandyfield common. Flocks of geese, arising from damp repose upon the ragged, autumn turf, hissed forth futile declarations of war. A gipsy caravan painted in staring colours, and hung all over with heath‐brooms and basket‐chairs, caused the horses to swerve. Parties of home‐going school‐children backed on to the loose gravel at the roadside, bobbing curtsies or pulling forelocks, staring at the young man and his companion, curious and half afraid. For, in the youthful, bucolic mind, a mystery surrounded page: 237 Richard Calmady and his goings and comings, causing him to rank with crowned heads, ghosts, the Book of Daniel, funerals, the Northern Lights, and kindred matters of dread fascination. So wondering eyes pursued him down the road.
And wondering eyes, as the minutes passed, glanced up at him from beneath the sweeping plumes and becoming shadow of the cavalier's hat. For his prolonged silence rendered Madame de Vallorbes anxious. Had she spoken unadvisedly with her tongue? Had her words sounded crude and of questionable delicacy? Given his antecedents and upbringing, Richard was bound to hold the marriage tie in rather superstitious reverence, and was likely to entertain slightly superannuated views regarding the obligation of reticence in the discussion of family matters. She feared she had reckoned insufficiently with all this, in her eagerness, forgetting subtle diplomacies. Her approach had lacked tact and finesse. In dealing with an adversary of coarser fibre her attack would have succeeded to admiration. But this man was refined and sensitive to a fault, easily disgusted, narrowly critical in questions of taste.
Therefore she glanced up at him again, trying to divine his thought, her own mind in a tumult of opposing purposes and desires. And just as the contemplation of her beauty had so deeply stirred him earlier this same afternoon, so did the contemplation of his beauty now stir her. It satisfied her artistic sense. Save that the nose was straighter and shorter, the young man reminded her notably of a certain antique, terra‐cotta head of the young Alexander which she had once seen in a museum at Munich, and which had left an ineffaceable impression upon her memory. But, the face of the young Alexander beside her was of nobler moral quality than that other—undebauched by feasts and licentious pleasures as yet, masculine yet temperate, the sanctuary of generous ambitions. Merciless it might be, she fancied, but never base, never weak. Thus was her artistic sense satisfied, morally as well as physically. Her social sense was satisfied also. For the young man's high‐breeding could not be called in question. He held himself remarkably well. She approved the cut of his clothes moreover, his sure and easy handling of the spirited horses.
And then her eyes, following down the lines of the fur rug, received renewed assurance of the fact of his deformity—hidden as far as might be, with decent pride, yet there, permanent and unalterable. This worked upon her strongly. For, to her peculiar temperament, the indissoluble union in one body of elements so noble and so monstrous, of youthful rigour and page: 238 abject helplessness, the grotesque in short, supplied the last word of sensuous and dramatic attraction. As last evening, in the Long Gallery, so now, she hugged herself, at once frightened and fascinated, wrought upon by excitement as in the presence of something akin to the supernatural, and altogether beyond the confines of ordinary experience.
And to think that she had come so near holding this inimitable creature in her hand, and by overhaste, or clumsiness of statement should lose it! Madame de Vallorbes was wild with irritation, racked her brain for means to recover her—as she feared—forfeited position. It would be maddening did her mighty hunting prove but a barren pastime in the end. And thereupon the little scar on her temple, deftly concealed under the soft, bright hair, began to smart and throb. Ah! well, the hunting should not prove quite barren anyhow, of that she was determined, for, failing her late gay purpose, that small matter of long‐deferred revenge still remained in reserve. If she could not gratify one passion, she would gratify quite another. For in this fair lady's mind it was—perhaps unfortunately—but one step from the Eden bowers of love to the waste places of vindictive hate.—"Yet I would rather be good to him, far rather," she said to herself, with a movement of quite pathetic sincerity.
But here, just at the entrance to the village street, an altogether unconscious deus ex machinâ—destined at once to relieve Helen of further anxiety, and commit poor Dickie to a course of action affecting the whole of his subsequent career—presented itself in the shape of a white‐tented miller's waggon, which, with somnolent jingle of harness bells and most admired deliberation, moved down the centre of the road. A yellow‐washed garden‐wall on one side, the brook on the other, there was not room for the phaeton to pass.
"Whistle," Richard commanded over his shoulder. And the wooden image, thereby galvanised into immediate activity, whistled shrilly, but without result as far as the waggon was concerned.
"The fellow's asleep. Go and tell him to pull out of the way."
Then, while the groom ran neatly forward in twinkling, white breeches and flesh‐coloured tops, Richard, bending towards her, as far as that controlling strap about his waist permitted, shifted the reins into his right hand and laid his left upon Madame de Vallorbes' sable muff.
"Look here, Helen," he said, rather hoarsely, "I am inde‐ page: 239 scribably shocked at what you have just told me. I supposed it was all so different with you. I'd no suspicion of this. And‐and—if I may say so, you've taught me a lesson which has gone home—steady there—steady, good lass"—for the horses danced and snorted.—"I don't think I shall ever grumble much in future about troubles of my own, having seen how splendidly you bear yours. Only I can't agree with you no remedy is possible for generous mistakes. The world isn't quite so badly made as all that. There is a remedy for every mistake except—a few physical ones, which we euphuistically describe as visitations of God.—Steady, steady there—wait a bit.—And I—I tell you I can't sit down under this unhappiness of yours and just put up with it. Don't think me a meddling fool, please. Something's got to be done. I know I probably appear to you the last person in the world to be of use. And yet I'm not sure about that. I have time—too much of it—and I'm not quite an ass. And you—you must know, I think, there's nothing in heaven or earth I would not do for you that I could"—
The miller hauled his slow‐moving team aside, with beery‐thick objurgations and apologies. The groom swung himself up at the back of the carriage again. The impatient horses, getting their heads, swung away down Sandyfield Street—scattering a litter of merry, little, black pigs and many remonstrant fowls to right and left—past modest village shop, and yellow‐washed tavern, and red, lichen‐stained cottage, beneath the row of tall Lombardy poplars that raised their brown‐grey spires to the blue‐grey of the autumn sky. Richard's left hand held the reins again.
"Half confidences are no good," he said. "So, as you've trusted me thus far, Helen, don't you think you will trust somewhat further? Be explicit. Tell me the rest."
And hearing him, seeing him, just then, Madame de Vallorbes' heart melted within her, and, to her own prodigious surprise, she had much ado not to weep.


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November 4, 2013 Posted by admin in Model Trains
HO scale model railroad update 6 - Switch machine with LED's
A little update on how I wire LED's to indicate the turnout direction with cobalt and tortoise switch machines. Hope you find the information helpful.
My friend and I rode by on the Sunday of the Corn City Festival and we saw the door open. We went inside to see what they were running and it was a Great Nor...
HO Scale Model Train 31Build a model train layout: Model railroad introduction with Michael Gross WGH

subset: commoncrawl


text: Indigenous communities represent almost 5% of the world's population – nearly 400 million people. Increasing international interest in the health and socio-political needs of Indigenous peoples was reflected in the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Therein lies recognition that Indigenous people represent some of the poorest and most marginalized communities within nation states. The International Diabetes Federation's 2013 World Diabetes Congress in Melbourne, Australia has for the first time created a specific Stream dedicated to in-depth discussion of Indigenous issues. Underpinning the Stream is the objective to promote action to overcome the appalling burden of diabetes on Indigenous people.


text:
Log In now to add this Gigapan to a group gallery.
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About This GigapanToggle
- Taken by
- Michael Karavanov
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- 1
- Size
- 0.09 Gigapixels
- Views
- 1420
- Date added
- Aug 05, 2011
- Date taken
- Jul 12, 2011
- Categories
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- Tags
- taormina, italy, sicily, castelmola, villa_sonia, etna
- Description
July 13, 2011. Castelmola, Sicily, Italy. Made from 73 pictures.
Castelmola in Sicily is a beautiful village perched almost precariously above Taormina. Spectacular panoramas characterize the village. Castelmola offers a balcony over Taormina and the bay of Giardini Naxos and is framed by the mysterious and beautiful active volcano, Mount Etna. Its narrow winding streets and Olde world charm make Castelmola a destination for anyone wishing to experience the enchanting beauty of Sicily from one of its most spectacular villages.
Castelmola is an interesting and picturesque settlement, where a certain rugged authenticity mixes with tourist-oriented craft shops. Signs lead you uphill to the thirteenth-century Castello, which is dramatically situated to command the hills and valleys. The little streets and alleys are worth exploring before you make your way back down to Taormina. The little town has a surprisingly imposing Duomo, and several smaller churches, including the Chiesa di San Giorgio (1450).
Hotel Villa Sonia is a historic rural home situated in Castelmola. A charming residence surrounded by green vegetation and having as much tranquility as one would desire, ideal for romantic escapes or family holidays. The hotel is set in a unique and silent natural environment, yet just a few kilometers from Taormina and the sea.
Most of the rooms have a balcony with a splendid view of Etna. Villa Sonia promotes the slow traveller who loves walking among nature with the splendid view of Etna, who adores tasting/savouring the culinary delights of this splendid land, who is able to stop and contemplate and capture this magic countryside of the Taormina/Etna area in his memory.


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Abrash Gallery is a fabulous little shop, specializing in stunning Miri rugs. This is the Dubai arm of a family enterprise that has revived some of the traditional tribal designs of Iran. All carpets sold at Abrash Gallery are modern, but made entirely according to traditional methods. Somewhat expensive, but beautiful and unique.
Address: 1st floor, Holiday Centre, Sheikh Zayed Rd.
Open: Saturday to Thursday 10:00 to 13:15, 16:30 to 21:30, Friday 16:30 to 21:30.
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Last Modified: Monday, March 25, 2013 2:49 PM
COVINGTON (AP) — Two Covington Police officers have been arrested on charges of simple battery and malfeasance in office.
Monday's arrest of former Officer Anthony Adams and Officer Nicholas Harper came in connection with the alleged use of excessive force on someone being arrested at the police department. The alleged incident was uncovered in January however the department's Internal Affairs Unit said it occurred in November.
Adams, who was on the force for four years, resigned when the investigation began.
Harper has been with the department since June 2011. He is currently on unpaid leave.
Both men were booked at the St. Tammany Parish Jail. Bond was set at $7,500 for each.
It was not immediately known whether Adams had an attorney; Harper's lawyer, Christina Voelkel, was in court and unavailable for comment.


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Get the kids in the kitchen to help with this easy Chex mix recipe for Santa's reindeer. To make Reindeer Feed, melt white chocolate in the microwave and stir in Chex cereal and crushed candy canes. Save some for the reindeer!
To make feed bag, cut two 6 1/2 x 5-inch rectangles from a piece of muslin-type fabric. Using a hot glue gun, run a bead of glue on edge of three sides of one rectangle. Top with other rectangle to form pocket. Turn pocket inside-out. Roll down top opened edge to create a cuff.
Cooking Gluten Free? Always read labels to make sure each recipe ingredient is gluten free. Products and ingredient sources can change.
© 2017 ®/TM General Mills All Rights Reserved


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Britons must be allowed to vote on whether to leave the EU
Fourth, Britain has changed in unpredictable ways. The recent census [pdf] revealed a country where 7.5 million people are foreign-born, an increase of 2.6 million since 2001. The country is more diverse, less white, less Christian, less religious overall, less hidebound, more open. In theory these changes should favor Europe, but I am not sure: The Jessica Ennis generation, named for the popular gold-medal winning athlete of mixed Jamaican and English descent, does not look to Brussels with the reverence that will be on display at the Franco-German celebration on Jan. 22 of the 50th anniversary of the treaty cementing their postwar reconciliation. Europe's agony and rebirth as a Continent whole and free are not its concern.
For these reasons, continued British E.U. membership should not be taken for granted, even if Britain would be mad to leave Europe. Little-Britainism does not suit a globalized world. Business would suffer, influence diminish, and the special relationship (such as it is) with the United States would not fill the gap. Nor would the new ties to emergent economies that euro-skeptic Tories are keen to talk up…
Cameron should go ahead with his referendum plans. The democratic deficit of the European Union is real. It is a core problem. Precisely because the British debate is serious and deep-rooted this time, it has to be played out. A vote is needed. And I believe that, as in 1975, British good sense would prevail.


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| BOOMERANG has flown around Antarctica in
two separate flights (the first in 1998, the second in 2003) to map the
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The first flight measured the CMB
temperature anisotropies; the second measured both temperature and
polarization anisotropies.
The CMB maps made by Boomerang tell us about the conditions in the very early universe, when it was only a few hundred thousand years old. Using these data, we test and constrain models of cosmology, measuring such fundamental properties as the overall density (which describes the geometry of the universe, ie curvature of spacetime), and density in various components (normal matter, dark matter, and dark energy).
2003 Boomerang flight:
In this flight we measured both temperature and polarization anisotropies of the CMB, using a bolometric polarimeter.
Papers from the 2003 Flight can be found
at our "Papers"
CMB power spectra (including polarization) can be found here.
Notes and pictures from the 2003 Antarctic campaign:
(Ted Kisner's Web
Log )
Or, go to the Rome site for more pictures and information.
1998 Boomerang flight:
This flight measured the CMB temperature anisotropies with high signal to noise, determining that the geometry of the universe is "flat" (just like you learned in high-school). For more information, see:
Final B98 power spectrum data files (from Ruhl etal 2003) ,
Pretty pictures and other information from the first two data releases, from: Spring 2001 and Spring 2000.


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"Save America's Treasures" has been totally eliminated—the largest Federal program supporting preservation of such treasures as the original Star Spangled Banner and George Washington's tent.
65% of Americans don't know what happened at the Constitutional Convention, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
The "Teaching American History" grants—the largest Federal program supporting history education—have been completely eliminated.
Visits to the Top 20 Civil War battlefields have dropped in half from 1970 to 2009 according to official National Park Service statistics.
40% of Americans can't identify whom we fought in World War II, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
A quarter of Americans believe Congress shares power over U.S. foreign policy with the United Nations, according to a recent Annenberg survey.
"There is little that is more important for an American citizen to know than the history and traditions of his country," John F. Kennedy wrote in American Heritage.
The "We the People Program," which touched some 30 million students and 90,000 teachers over 25 years, has been completely eliminated.
Two-thirds of Americans could not correctly name Yorktown as the last major military action of the American Revolution, according to a recent national Gallup survey.
The National Heritage Areas and Scenic Byways program, the only major Federal program encouraging visits to historic places, has been completely eliminated in Congressional committee.
How the U. S. military reinvented itself after Vietnam
It's hard to remember now, but the outcome of the 1991 Persian Gulf War stunned the world. Few people even at the Pentagon expected it to be as one-sided as it was. Before Operation Desert Storm, Iraq's armed forces were widely seen as a formidable adversary, hardened by years of war against Iran and supplied with the best equipment Saddam Hussein's oil riches could buy. Iraq had 900,000 soldiers—more than the U.S. Army—and they had had months to entrench themselves in Kuwait and southern Iraq.
© Copyright 1949-2016 American Heritage Publishing. All Rights Reserved.


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I have a male british lab and was just wondering if anybody out there has used this dvd?
I have a male british lab and was just wondering if anybody out there has used this dvd?
In order to save a lot of posts - please use the search function at the top right. This topic will lead to another more general one that is always a "Hot Button".
My understanding of Wild Rose is that it is a Positive Reinforcement training program. What you want your dog to do (results) and how you go about it (method)should determine how you train.
Yes check with Bubba I hear he is a disciple of the program.
I have learned I need these dogs much more than they need me. Tim Bockmon
The Wildrose Way is not used by very many people here. A quick look at the banners of some of the supports will point you in the directions many use. A search of old threads will give you an idea of the type of discussion that may develop on your thread. Please don't let that discourage you. Some people can be very passionate about theirs dogs and training methods.
I think only using positive reinforcement training may limit your training tools. There are methods in dog training that may, may not seem logical at first.
Ultimately, you want ot have fun with your dog. Don't lose sight of that.
Tom Wall
I thought the DVD well worthwhile, but wouldn't consider it a stand-alone training tool.
If you think I'm wrong, you might be right.
(And to see just how confused I really am, join us in my online blind at: 2016-2017 Season Log
"The Wild Rose Way" sounds like a rather thorny subject.
Raina Anderson WWW.FIREHOUSELABS.COM
According to this BMI chart, I am too short !!!
HRCH Scaupgetters Tarnation QAA
HR Blackie 2 CGN, WCI
Hashtag Mickey
"Dont cry because its over. Smile because it happened."
Dr. Seuss


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Summer is upon us, and it's time to start thinking about shorts. Depending on where you live, chances are good that you're getting ready to pull out that bin full of your shorts from last summer (and probably many summers before). As you do that, allow me to make a suggestion: consider throwing out at least half of them. If they have pockets that you don't use, if they are past the knee, or if they have embroidered whales or lobsters, it's time to say good-bye.
Luckily, I have five of my favorite new shorts waiting in the wings, and there's a little something for everyone. (Even you, Dad.)
MORE FROM Vanity Fair:
I'm just going to assume that you have already gotten rid of your pleated khaki shorts years ago. If not, here is the Barneys Web site. You are going to need a lot more help than just this one pair. If you are, however, now growing bored of your plain-front khakis, then why not add a little color blocking to your life? Fun, no?
Jack Spade Cole shorts. $165, jackspade.com
I have been looking for a pair of shorts just like these. They're short enough to show off a little leg without being short enough to make me look creepy. I plan on getting them in every color. This is going to be my short for the summer.
J.Crew 5" Staton shorts. $64.50, jcrew.com.
O.K.—I know that I said to ixnay the shorts with the embroidered whales, but these are not whales. They are sailboats. And they are Band of Outsiders, so it's a very different thing. I feel that these shorts are almost poking fun at the Nantucket preppy trend.
Band of Outsiders boat-print shorts. $225, mrporter.com.
Saturdays has perfected minimal beachwear, and, quite frankly, everything they make is heaven. These Tommy chino shorts are the perfect length and fit. I suggest getting a pair in green or navy, but I love them in every color offered. They're a new classic, and you will live in them all summer long. You may even be tempted to wear them to the office. Don't.
Saturdays Tommy chino shorts. $98, saturdaysnyc.com.
Orlebar has already become the swimsuit of the moment—you'd be hard-pressed to go to the Hamptons without seeing all of the chic men wearing these. I love the idea of cutoff sweatpants; they are super-comfortable and great for lounging around the house but unfortunately too casual for much else.
These Orlebar Brown sweat shorts are the perfect solution: they, too, are incredibly soft and comfortable, but the finished hem makes them acceptable to wear outside the house.
Orlebar Brown Lab Sweat Shorts. $200, orlebarbrown.com.
More from Vanity Fair:
Kate Middleton: Best-Dressed Pregnant Lady?
Roman Holiday: Audrey Hepburn in the Eternal City
Wedding Belles: 10 Best-Dressed Brides
*Yahoo! Shopping was not compensated by any brands listed within this article.
- Arts & Entertainment


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Acreage: 13,000 Acres
Owned: State of Louisiana
Parish: Vermilion Parish
Office: New Iberia
2415 Darnall Road
New Iberia, LA 70506
Phone: (337) 373-0032
Email: email@example.com
State Wildlife Refuge, owned and maintained by the state of Louisiana, is a 13,000-acre tract of marshland located on the southwestern shore of Vermilion Bay. It is located approximately six miles southeast of Intracoastal City, LA and is bordered by the Audubon/Paul J. Rainey Wildlife Sanctuary to the west and the Marsh Island Wildlife Refuge to the east.
The refuge was donated to the state in 1911 by Mr. Edward McIlhenny and Mr. Charles Ward for use by the public. Natural resource conservation has been the primary management objective since the inception of the refuge. Instrumental aspects of the management plan included the trapping of over-abundant marsh rodents and controlled burning. Additionally, fixed-crest weirs have been used as a technique to deter highly saline waters from entering the marshes and prevent total retreat of water at low tides.
State Wildlife Refuge is an important waterfowl wintering area. Marsh management techniques (controlled marsh burning, water level management, etc.) provide prime waterfowl habitat in the form of enhanced food sources and habitat conditions. A multitude of waterfowl species utilize the refuge due to the enhanced habitat as well as for a refuge area due to hunting pressure in the adjacent marshes and neighboring rice fields.
In addition to wintering waterfowl, a multitude of other wildlife species utilize the area, including many other avian species such as shorebirds, wading birds, colonial seabirds and neotropical migrants . Alligators as well as many marine species such as shrimp, redfish, spotted seatrout and blue crabs are common. Mammals such as raccoons, muskrats, nutria, mink, and white-tailed deer are also present in good numbers. Marsh damage from over-grazing by herbivores, such as Muskrat and geese, (also known as ?eat-outs") has been a moderate problem at the refuge.
Management is provided by Fur and Refuge Division biologists and wildlife technicians stationed at the LDWF New Iberia office and the Marsh Island Refuge. Additionally, the LDWF Enforcement Division has an active presence at the refuge. The rules and regulations of the area can be obtained from the LDWF New Iberia office at 337-373-0032.
Although no hunting is allowed on the refuge, opportunities for recreational activities such as fishing, shrimping, and bird-watching abound. Approximately 13,000 visitors per year take advantage of these opportunities.


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Hands-On Learning
Students who choose to major in music performance at the University Mount Union have ample opportunities to showcase their talent outside of the classroom. By getting involved in these extracurricular opportunities and student organizations, you can strengthen your musical abilities and get valuable performance experience, both of which are critical to finding a job after graduation. All majors and minors are encouraged to participate actively in extracurricular activities and performance groups.
Student showcases, held on designated Thursdays at 11:15 a.m., give students a chance to perform in front of an audience filled with faculty members, students and other members of the Mount Union community.


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Web Stories
Physicist David Wilkinson wins James Craig Watson Medal
Posted January 11, 2001; 12:55 a.m.
The National Academy of Sciences has awarded Princeton physicist David T. Wilkinson its James Craig Watson Medal in recognition of his major contributions to the field of astronomy.
Wilkinson, the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics, has been a central figure in measuring "cosmic background radiation," a faint after-glow of energy from the first moments after the Big Bang. Measuring and analyzing this radiation has become an important pursuit in astronomy and is expected to answer fundamental questions about the history and fate of the universe.
In its award citation, the National Academy recognized Wilkinson not only for his direct contributions, but also for his mentoring of generations of students who have made significant advances in the same area.
The James Craig Watson Medal is awarded once every three years and has been given since 1887. It includes a cash prize of $25,000. The award will be presented April 30 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., during the Academy's 138th annual meeting.
Contact: Marilyn Marks (609) 258-3601


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If you have used the UTL_HTTP package in PL/SQL to call upon external web pages or services, you might have seen following error message come by:
ORA-29273: HTTP request failed
ORA-06512: at "SYS.UTL_HTTP", line 1130
ORA-29024: Certificate validation failure
It indicates that the web site you are trying to access is in fact SSL encrypted and requires a valid certificate to read.
Most modern browsers download this automatically when visiting any encrypted page, but to do this in a PL/SQL procedure, a couple of manual steps need to be taken.
This is where Oracle Wallet Manager comes in. It is shipped with the DBMS software and can typically be found in the $ORACLE_HOME/bin folder.
What this program does, is to facilitate the process of storing certificates in a single file in PKCS #12 format, called a Wallet.
Next, it suffices to simply add a reference to the wallet in your PL/SQL code to be able to use these certificates when accessing SSL encrypted content.
Sample case
Let's take the following piece of PL/SQL code:
DECLARE lo_req UTL_HTTP.req; lo_resp UTL_HTTP.resp; BEGIN lo_req := UTL_HTTP.begin_request('http://www.google.be'); lo_resp := UTL_HTTP.get_response(lo_req); dbms_output.put_line(lo_resp.status_code); UTL_HTTP.end_response(lo_resp); END; /
This will output the status code "200". This implies the page returned HTTP 200: OK, indicating the request succeeded.
If you change the URL from http://www.google.be to https://www.google.be, the same command would raise exception "ORA-29024 Certificate validation failure" as mentioned earlier.
Wallet Manager
From the command line, start the wallet manager by simply entering 'owm' after having set the correct Oracle environment parameters.
In Windows the program can be found in the start menu under /<oracle version folder>/Integrated Management Tools/Wallet Manager.
First, let's create a new wallet.
From the menu, select Wallet, New…
A prompt is shown to enter a password for the Wallet. For this example, we'll use "test1234".
After entering the password, a prompt asks to create a new certificate request, which we will not do for now.
By default, a number of trusted certificates are created within the wallet. These can be seen in the overview screen.
Now, let's focus on our google.be website.
First thing to do, is to export the actual certificate from this website, together with the rest of the trust chain. The easiest way to do this is by using a regular browser application. Following screenshots are from Firefox, but a similar approach can be taken with Internet explorer or Chrome.
Go to the website, and click on the padlock in front of the URL.
Click on "More information" and then "View certificate". In the Details tab, export each of the certificates in the hierarchy (3 in this case).
Then go to the Wallet manager, and import all 3 trusted certificates.
Finally, save the wallet to a desired location. Make sure it's a folder that can be accessed by the Oracle user, and is preferably not accessible by unauthorized users!
In this example, /home/oracle/Wallet/ is chosen.
Now we can return to our SQL*plus session. One extra statement should be added to the script:
UTL_HTTP.SET_WALLET ('file:<path to the wallet folder, don't include the filename!>',<the wallet password>);
This statement should be executed before the begin_request step.
Here's the full output of the script:
[oracle@myorcl12c ~]$ sqlplus / as sysdba SQL*Plus: Release 220.127.116.11.0 Production on Tue Aug 27 14:11:43 2013 Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle. All rights reserved. Connected to: Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 22.214.171.124.0 - 64bit Production With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options SQL> SET SERVEROUTPUT ON SQL> DECLARE 2 lo_req UTL_HTTP.req; 3 lo_resp UTL_HTTP.resp; 4 BEGIN 5 UTL_HTTP.SET_WALLET ('file:/home/oracle/Wallet/','test1234'); 6 lo_req := UTL_HTTP.begin_request('https://www.google.com'); 7 lo_resp := UTL_HTTP.get_response(lo_req); 8 dbms_output.put_line(lo_resp.status_code); 9 UTL_HTTP.end_response(lo_resp); 10 END; 11 / 200 PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. SQL>
In a follow up post, I will explain how to achieve the same result using the orapki command line utility instead of Wallet manager.


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Recently, a piece of very detailed, very expensive linkbait I helped create and market – failed.
It shocked the heck out of me since I followed the exact same process I always do when promoting content like this. I really wanted to know what went wrong so I went back over every step of the campaign to make sure I hadn't forgotten something:
1. Research topic thoroughly – check.
2. Find cutting edge images to use – check
3. Hire well known expert to provide quotes – check
4. Hire industry related writer – check
5. Target sites to host content – check
6. Develop link incentive – check
7. Pitch media on story outline – check
I've used that outline for a long time and never had it bomb like this so I figured it had to be either a content issue or an issue with the expert I hired. After hitting a dead end in my quest to find out why the piece failed, I filed it away and focused on a different tactic. About a week later I came across this quote in an article by Ben Horowitz:
Some people are so belligerent in their communication style that people just stop talking when they are in the room
Wham! That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. I know a woman like that but I never thought about the dynamic around the actions until I read the quote. I always assumed people stopped talking when she came around because they wanted to hear what she had to say, not avoid conversation with her. Thinking back I realize that's exactly what happened, they didn't like her so they didn't want to engage in any means of personal interaction, even conversation.
Suddenly, a link light bulb went off and I realized why my linkbait went belly up: it wasn't the content, or the images or the expert I hired to write it that failed, what failed were the links in the article.
I spent a lot of time researching the topic and host sites but I didn't spend time researching the demographic the content was supposed to reach. If I had, I would have been aware of major negative buzz within certain factions of the industry. In an effort to be informative and support data within our content, I linked frequently to the very controversial sources industry leaders were criticizing. I was pointing my readers to the handful of "belligerent" sites the majority of my targeted demographic was trying to avoid.
No wonder the article didn't go viral or attract links, even with the incentives we offered; I broke the cardinal rule of linkbait:
Know the emotional motivation of your target audience.
Links are content and while the content might define the article, the links are its soul. They support content and reinforce the credibility of the piece, they verify what you're saying. If you link out to belligerent sources, your audience will ignore your content the same way they stop talking when a belligerent person is around.
The next time I do a large, complex linkbait campaign, I'm adding two steps to my checklist:
8. Research emotional range and motivation factors of demographic
9. Avoid linking to sites the majority of your audience hates
Check and double check. 🙂


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Muay Thai Weekly Recap: March 24
- Written by Rian Scalia
Monday, March 18
Ponmongkol K.T. Gym def. Songkom Sakhomsin by decision.
Kangwanlek Petchyindee def. Thepnimit Sitmonchai by decision.
Petchinarath Sor. Sommai def. Rungrit Sor. Phenprapa by decision.
Nongyot Sitjekarn def. Phettai Kiatnadee by TKO in Round 4.
Tuesday, March 19
Uiseeopor Sujeebameekeow def. Rungrat Tor Pitakkonlakan by decision.
Sangdao Sor. Kittichai def. Phetbaankek Sor. Sommai by decision.
Wednesday, March 20
Fahpennuang K.R.S. Gym def. Phetaik Sor. Meanut by decision.
Mongkolkaew Sor. Sommai def. Binbon Sitdanai by decision.
Rungphet Por. Rungsiri def. Nuanglanlek Sitporjo by decision.
Wansodsai Sit. Jor def. Panpet Pethuaytaptan by TKO in Round 1.
Thursday, March 21
Thaksinlek Sitprakaifar def. Methee Sor. Jor. Toipedrew by decision.
Yodmongkol Muangsima def. Chofah Tor. Sangtiennoi by decision.
Nongmai Teded 99 def. Komean Sor. Worachot by decision.
Friday, March 22
Serkim Sitjetaew def. Satarnfah Zakami by decision.
Muangthai Sor. Boonyiam def. Ongbak Sitsarawatser by decision.
Mafuangnoi Chor. Rothsurang def. Singdam Sakrangsit by decision.
Overall, the past week was much quieter than previous ones this year. As a result, there are a lot less videos available than usual. Everything though is, as usual, well worth checking out.
Ponmongkol continues to roll while Songkom has dropped two in a row now. Kangwanlek also continues to defy age in beating a surging Thepnimit Sitmonchai. Nongyot's stoppage win on the same Monday card is also vicious and a must watch.


text:
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GigapanMagazine.org vol 1 issue 3 Tavazo-e-Bustan Nut Store is located in Bustan shopping center near Punak Square. I was walking in Bustan shopping center that I found this beautiful store. At first I thought maybe it is not a good place for a panorama because of the little space and distance from the camera...
Juice Bottle


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Presentations to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.
Binghamton University will honor the late Martin Luther King, Jr. with two performances of the acclaimed "Dream Alive" program featuring Joe Rogers, former Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. The presentations, which are free and open to the public, will begin at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 31, in the Mandela Room of the University Union. Both presentations will be followed by a reception in the Old Union Hall.
The "Dream Alive" program, which is dedicated to the memory and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, has been presented at colleges, corporations and conferences throughout the United States. Joe Rogers, through a live commentary, will take audience members back in time to the renowned 1963 march on Washington, DC, where King delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech and to his final words delivered in 1968 in Memphis, TN.
In 2003, Rogers completed a history-making term as the Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, where he held the distinction of being the youngest in America's history to have served in this role and only the 4th African American ever elected as Colorado's #2 executive. Now a practicing attorney in Colorado, Rogers has been widely recognized for his work and commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all Americans.
For more information, call Binghamton University's Multicultural Resource Center at 607-777-4472.


text: First heard the bird at 2:40PM yesterday afternoon. Started calling and he came into within 100 yards and hung up. He must have gobbled 15 times during the next two hours. I made a little move and changed some things up and he came in after a little more then three hours. 40 yard shot.


text:
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About This GigapanToggle
- Taken by
- Tom Stepleton
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A view from the mezzanine of the main staircase of the City Museum in St. Louis, MO. I had to stitch this panorama with the old stitcher since the new one kept running out of memory---the result is a big black band on the edges where there is actually photo data. I will probably restitch this image later.
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text:
Main Content
This item ships within one business day.
$4.99 flat rate shipping and handling. See other shipping options.
This comfy tank from O'Neill will feel like the Cherry on top for your awesome style. It features a V-neck collar with tie strings, a cut-out racerback and hem, and spaghetti straps over the shoulders.
- Metal brand tag
- Imported
- Tie front
- 100% Rayon
- Racerback
- V-neck
- Sleeveless
- Imported
- Brand: O'Neill
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Manufacturer direct items are shipped directly from the manufacturer. These items are not available for international or expedited shipping.
Customized items can be personalized with options such as your name, your favorite number, and/or designs. Some options may be limited by league rules.


text:
Does Rashad Jones have a tattoo of a dolphin under his eye?
I believe any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle...Victorious
We beat two teams that we should have beaten, and beat them soundly. Lets see if we can take this momentum into Foxborogh and upset the Patsies.
Pats suck. They're not going to the SB this year. We should have beaten them and I hope we go to Foxboro and humiliate them. That will be my SB. I hate them btw.
I love Philbin as our coach. I believe in his leadership and direction. However, his post game speeches needs something. Maybe it's just me


text:
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waltervilleor416 wrote a new post, Mothers day is coming soon!, on the site Walterville Grange 416 2 days, 4 hours ago
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As you may have seen the Grange is celebrating its 150 years of service. We at Beach Community Grange have been doing it in style this month during Grange Month. We have had a Fools Raffle, to a health fair, to […]
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In a Mass Knife Fight to the Death Between Every American President, Who Would Win and Why?
Read this Bloggers predicition > http://faceintheblue.wordpress.com/2...d-win-and-why/
My money would be on Teddy for sure, with Jackson, Grant, Washington, Lincoln making the Top 5.
Also will say that Hayes and Pierce and maybe even Ike could crash into the Top 5 unsuspectingly.To begin, here were the original conditions of the hypothetical, as suggested by the redditor Xineph:
o Every president is in the best physical and mental condition they were ever in throughout the course of their presidency. Fatal maladies have been cured, but any lifelong conditions or chronic illnesses (e.g. FDR's polio) remain.
o The presidents are fighting in an ovular arena 287 feet long and 180 feet wide (the dimensions of the [1] Roman Colosseum). The floor is concrete. Assume that weather is not a factor.
o Each president has been given one standard-issue [2] Gerber LHR Combat Knife , the knife [3] presented to each graduate of the United States Army Special Forces Qualification Course. Assume the presidents have no training outside any combat experiences they may have had in their own lives.
o There is no penalty for avoiding combat for an extended period of time. Hiding and/or playing dead could be valid strategies, but there can be only one winner. The melee will go on as long as it needs to.
o FDR has been outfitted with a [4] Bound Plus H-Frame Power Wheelchair, and can travel at a maximum speed of around 11.5 MPH. The wheelchair has been customized so that he is holding his knife with his dominant hand. This is to compensate for his almost certain and immediate defeat in the face of an overwhelming disadvantage.
o Each president will be deposited in the arena regardless of their own will to fight, however, personal ethics, leadership ability, tactical expertise etc., should all be taken into account. Alliances are allowed.


text:
Major: Social Work
Year of Graduation: 2000
Current Job: Social Worker, St. Cloud Veteran's Medical Center
What makes you look forward to coming to work each day?
I am fortunate to have an opportunity to make a difference in someone's life every day. My clients are people who are looking for someone to weave strands of hope into their lives. My clients are people who have reached a point in their lives where they are reaching out to someone for help. I consider it a great privilege to be a person they can confide in as they try to make changes in their lives. It takes a lot of courage for someone to allow themselves to be vulnerable and ask for help. I don't take that privilege for granted.
What are some of the things you were involved in during college that helped you initially begin your career?
I volunteered as a mentor for elementary students in Saint Cloud during my first year at SJU. I was also involved with the Admissions Department in recruiting more students of color. I was a member of the Cultural Affairs Board, Social Work Club, and the Chicano-Latino Student Organization. The combined involvement with the central Minnesota community and the university contributed to my desire to do more. As a sophomore, I began to work with the Admissions Department in developing an outreach program for Latino youth in central Minnesota. By my senior year at SJU, with the support of the university, I had developed the Fast Forward Youth Program (FFYP). We had procured an endowment for the program, utilized over 100 CSB/SJU students as volunteer Tutor-Mentors and enrolled more than 60 Latino youth from the Willmar, St. Cloud, and Rocori school districts. Over the past ten years, FFYP has had more than 500 CSB/SJU students serve as volunteers and worked with hundreds of youth. Today, the program is still running strong and has expanded to serve other populations.
How has the liberal arts education you received at CSB/SJU helped you?
The education I received inside and outside of the classroom at CSB/SJU has helped me to become the good man I am today. There was an exceptional staff in the Social Work Department who provided me with guidance and nurtured my passion for social activism. I still recall many of the lectures with Dr. Ralph Holcomb which focused on exploring the strengths of a person instead of their weaknesses. It was through my Social Work education at CSB/SJU that I learned the importance of empathy, humility, compassion, and hard work.
Describe a typical day at work.
My day at work begins at 7:30 a.m. with our "Morning Report". All of the mental health staff in our building meets each morning to discuss the previous day and night with our patients. The morning involves meeting with the veterans in a large group, individual therapy sessions, and facilitation of a therapy group. I may also have consultations with other members of our staff such as nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, additional therapist, etc. The afternoon usually consists of another therapy group that I facilitate as well as miscellaneous meetings or doing progress notes on my clients. Most days I'm done by 4 pm, but sometimes I will meet with clients beyond that time if necessary.
What advice would you give to students as they contemplate their major and/or career choices?
Pursue your passion! If you are as fortunate as I am, your passion will be something you are good at doing on a daily basis. If you don't know what your passion is, try a variety of things until you find something that invokes passion from you. It should be something you look forward to doing more often than not. It should be something that makes you feel good about yourself. You'll know when you find it. I took courses in many of the social sciences before I decided on Social Work. Once you find your passion, work hard and invest yourself in learning as much as you can about the subject. Challenge yourself by doing something that you haven't done. You'll find it's easier to get motivated about working in a particular field or subject if you are passionate about it. Lastly, I would encourage you to remember a quote I refer to often in my life. It is a quote by Pericles which states, "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."


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Crunchy almonds provide a crunchy contrast to rich, fudgy chocolate bars.
Much like the center of a pecan pie, the center of these bars is very moist and may even look raw. Not to worry—that's how they should look.
Dark corn syrup has color added and a caramel flavor, which gives it a darker color and a stronger flavor than light corn syrup.
© 2017 ®/TM General Mills All Rights Reserved


text:
Diana Markosian is a freelance photojournalist and multimedia producer working out of Russia and the former Soviet Union. Her work has appeared on The New York Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, ABC News, The Washington Post, The Times of London, The Guardian, Reuters, Observer, Vanity Fair Italy, Slate, MSNBC, and Human Rights Watch.
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Assembly passes strict rules for observers
New rules approved on a 59-37 vote
MADISON, Wis. - Visitors who come to the Wisconsin state Assembly to watch debate won't be allowed to use cellphones, eat or wear a hat.
Those are some of the restrictions the Republican-controlled state Assembly approved Thursday.
The rules also disallow using computers, reading newspapers or other printed material or carrying bags. They also bar disrupting the Assembly in any way or expressing opinions.
Democrats argue the restrictions are an unconstitutional restriction on the public's right to view their government in action. But Republicans said they're meant to bring more decorum to the galleries.
"You are making a mountain out of a molehill," Republican Speaker Robin Vos said. "All we're saying is, people, if they chose to fill up these galleries, are welcome to observe but they can't continue to try to disrupt in the hopes that that disruption stops the will of the people, which is what happens here on the floor."
Violators can be removed for the day or the entire two-year session if they violate the rules three times.
Democrats said it doesn't make sense that visitors are allowed to carry concealed weapons into the gallery but they can't look at their cellphone or read a newspaper.
"The absurdity of what's being proposed here today in these rules befuddles me to say the least. We're going to say that kids with books or vets with hats, 'no.' But you want to bring your gun in? That's just fine," said Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine.
Another new rule requires male lawmakers to wear a coat and tie and female lawmakers to be appropriately attired. Those in violation would not be allowed to participate in debate that day.
The new rules were approved on a 59-37 vote. One Democrat voted for it.
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Family: Centrarchidae, Sunfishes view all from this family
Description Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (family Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie. The common name crappie (play /ˈkrÊpiː/ or /ˈkrɒpiː/) refers to either of the Pomoxis species, both of which are popular game fish.
Both species of crappie as adults feed predominantly on smaller species, including the young of their own predators (which include the northern pike, muskellunge, and walleye). They have diverse diets, however, including zooplankton, insects, and crustaceans. By day, crappie tend to be less active and to concentrate around weed beds or submerged objects, such as logs and boulders; they feed especially at dawn and dusk, moving then into open water or approaching the shore.
The Pomoxis species are highly regarded game fishes and are often considered to be among the best tasting freshwater fish. Because of their diverse diets, crappie may be caught in many ways, including casting light jigs, trolling with minnows or artificial lures, using small spinnerbaits, or using bobbers. Crappie are also popular with ice-fishers, as they are active in winter.
The genus name Pomoxis derives from the Greek πώμα (cover, plug, operculum) and οξύς (sharp). The common name (also spelled croppie or crappÈ), derives from the Canadian French crapet, which refers to many different fishes of the family Centrarchidae. Note that the plural form of the name, crappies, tends not to be used, by analogy with fishes, except to refer to types of crappie. Other names for crappie are papermouths, strawberry bass, speckled bass or specks (especially in Michigan), speckled perch, calico bass (throughout New England), sac-au-lait (in southern Louisiana, lit "bag of milk") and Oswego bass.
Dimensions Up to 16" (41 cm); 5 lbs (2.3 kg).
Habitat Lakes & ponds, Rivers & streams.
Range Plains, Great Lakes, New England, Mid-Atlantic, Rocky Mountains, Southeast, Southwest, Florida, Texas, Eastern Canada, Western Canada.


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Look Out For Hicham El Gaoui
- Written by Rian Scalia
There are many talented kickboxers that are seemingly hidden in obscurity. Fighters often fly under the radar. Basically, if you're not fighting on the biggest stages of the sport, not many people know who you are or have heard of you. Enter Hicham El Gaoui.
The lanky Dutch-Moroccan fighter has been flying under the radar now for a while, slowly building his resume. This past weekend he defeated Alexander Stetsurenko, a top fighter around the 80kg range at the Tatneft Cup 2011 Finals. That's not all. Last month, he beat L'houcine "Aussie" Ouzgni, one of the more popular fighters in his weight class. He also holds a win over Sahak Parparyan, the current It's Showtime 85MAX World Champion. I'd say it's time Hicham El Gaoui gets some recognition.
On first look, I wasn't that impressed until I stumbled upon his more recent fights. He's improved a lot and the results are showing on his record. El Gaoui uses his quick kicks, especially the teep to find his range and offset opponents. His hands aren't bad when he opens up with them either, something I think he should do more. You wouldn't really think he's all that if you watched him but he manages to win, and in the ends that's what matters.
El Gaoui is at somewhat of a crossroads. His past two fights have been at 80kg. To fight in bigger shows, he can move down to 77kg or move up to 85kg. I'd honestly think he would suit 85kg quite well. He has the frame to fill in the weight and at 77kg he just seems too lanky. Other tall fighters in the past have been around 77kg and moved up like Ondrej Hutnik, with success.
I don't know what's next for El Gaoui, but I'd hope he gets a shot on a bigger stage. The Tatneft Cup is a start and if he enters next season's tournament, he'd be facing some high level competition often. It's Showtime is probably the most likely, being a Dutch-based organization. A lot of fighters float around on the Dutch scene for quite a long time before getting their shot and El Gaoui just has to keep doing what he's doing and he'll eventually end up on the big stage.


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From Betty's Soul Food Collection... A real peach of a recipe, with tender chicken drenched in fruit preserves and flavored with piquant chopped green chiles. Add fresh green beans and cornbread for a primo dinner.
To broil chicken, place on broiler pan; broil 4 to 6 inches from heat using times above as a guide, turning frequently and brushing with preserves mixture during last 15 minutes of broiling time.
Apricot preserves can be used in place of the peach preserves.
To add some heat to this recipe, add 1 to 2 teaspoons chopped fresh jalapeño chiles or a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes to the preserves mixture.
Any combination of chicken legs, thighs or breasts can be used in this recipe. Or simply use one type of chicken piece.
Serve fresh green beans and cornbread as accompaniments to the chicken.
© 2017 ®/TM General Mills All Rights Reserved


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Today's TVs are light years ahead of the ones many of us grew up with, but they still present us with one very important problem: How to mount them. Sam's Club offers affordable mounting systems that fit TVs of up to 52", with space for your cable or DirecTV box and game system to rest easily.
You'll also find some beautiful media cabinets with Sam's Club, cabinets that would look great in any room and can provide a great showcase for your DVDs, CDs, videogames, or whatever you choose to store. You'll also find functional and stylish TV consoles, beautiful wood bookshelves, and a lot more, all for much less than you would expect to pay at a retail store for such items.
Don't let your TV sit in an old countertop and your painstakingly collected assortment of movies, music or games lie spread all over the floor. There's a better way, and Sam's Club is on hand to help you get there. If you're ready to create the perfect media experience in the perfect media room in your home, let Sam's Club help with affordable, functional and beautiful entertainment furniture today.


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Elektron Machinedrum SPS-1
The Machinedrum SPS-1 is an advanced drum machine and drum synthesizer. It can synthesize wonderfully convincing analog sounds from the classic drum machines as well as crisp electronic and acoustic drum sounds, and they can all be tweaked and morphed into unique and dynamic new sounds! It has 39 drum sounds ready to be played or tweaked and customized by you! Its eight real-time control knobs offer total hands-on synthesis and control.
At the core of the Machinedrum are four separate percussion instrument synthesizers. They include a TRX synth that emulates Roland's classic TR-series drum machines. An EFM synth that uses FM synthesis to create crispy percussion sounds. The E12 synth is a sample-playback synth using sounds from the E-mu SP1200 and Simmons electronic drum machines. The PI synth uses physical models of acoustic drums for realistic acoustic drums. Each of these synth engines give you excellent quality drum sounds and you can mix and match sounds from all of them among the 16-voice polyphonic drumkits. Your custom 'Kits' can be saved in any of the 64 memory locations. This will also store any custom tweaks you made to the individual drum sounds in each of your kits.
Drum editing features include amplitude modulation, a 1-band EQ, multimode resonant filter, distortion, sample-rate reducer and effects (delay, reverb). All of these parameters are available on each drum sound independently for total control of each sound in your kit! There's also a compressor and 3-band EQ to process the overall mix. Stereo plus four assignable outputs give you plenty options where to send your sounds and the stereo inputs let you trigger drum sounds or process external sounds as a drum voice.
The built-in sequencer offers two programming methods: Classic and Extended. Classic is a pretty limited mode. It works like the classic TR-series in which you assign a drum tone to a 'step' in the pattern using the 16 buttons along the bottom of the instrument. You can store your patterns but the 'Kit' associated with it and any tweaks you do are not stored. Extended mode is more in-depth and stores 'Kit' info with patterns. Extended mode has real and step (grid) time editing, supports odd time signatures, and patterns can have up to 32 steps. Also on-board is an Accent assignable to any step with 15 levels of intensity, and continuously variable swing and slide, assignable to the whole pattern or individual steps within the pattern.
MIDI is fully implemented and can control the sequencer and synthesizer functions of the Machinedrum. Trigger sounds or entire patterns synced to MIDI clock. All edit parameters can be controlled by continuous MIDI controller numbers. This machine has it all, giving you total control and the flexibility to create your own unique drum sounds across a wide range of sonic percussion possibilities!
Lookup Elektron Machinedrum SPS-1 Prices
The link above will take you to an eBay search for this synth to see active listings with more images, specs and information. If you don't find it there, try looking in our forum marketplace. Our marketplace gets thousands of visits every week so make sure to check back often if you want to buy or sell a synth.
Related Forum Topics
User Comments & Reviews
Are you looking to buy or sell a Elektron Machinedrum SPS-1? Post an ad in Gear For Sale or a request in Gear Wanted. For spare parts and repair services check out Gear Services & Other Goods. Our forums also has a Buyer's Guide section where you can ask for advice on buying synthesizers.
- Demos & Media
Elektron Machinedrum SPS-1UW+ MKII Drum Synthesizer and Sampler - Part 2
Audio Clip 1 - The mp3 doesn't do these two demo patterns justice...but they still show you why this could be the last drum machine you'll ever buy! Pattern 1 is retro but house oriented. Pattern 2 is an electro-break-beat sonic-scape.
- Specifications
- Polyphony - 16 voices (each voice is a single drum sound)
- Oscillators - Sample Playback and Synthesis; 39 drum sounds via 4 synthesizers: TRX (12 instruments), EFM (8 instruments), E12 (16 instruments), and PI (6 instruments).
- LFO - 16 (2 per voice); dual-waveforms assignable to various destinations
- Filter - 1 Multi-mode resonant filter per voice 24 dB/oct (4-pole)
- Effects - 4 Master Effects: Rhythm Echo reverb/echo, Gate Box reverb, 3-band EQ, Dynamix compressor. Each drum sound has 2 independent echo and reverb Sends.
Instrument effects: Amplitude Modulation, 1-band EQ, Sample-rate Reduction, Distortion.
- Keyboard - 16 Trigger pads for triggering sounds and/or programming patterns
- Memory - 64 Drumkits, 128 Patterns (up to 32 steps each)
- Control - MIDI IN/OUT/THRU, External Audio Triggering
- Date Produced - 2001
- Websites of Interest
- Shop for Keyboards, MIDI & Gear
Guitar Center: Synths and MIDI
Sweetwater: Hot items in Keyboars section
The Musician's Friend: Keyboard gear
AMS: Brand synths and accessories
The Woodwind & Brasswind Store
music123.com: Synth Blow Out Deal Section
zZounds: Keyboards and MIDI equipment
- Resources & Credits
Images from MachineDrum.com.
Errors or Corrections? Send them here.


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Cyberbullying is another hazard now appearing on social networking sites. Kids no longer need muscles to bully and torment their peers. An overwhelming majority of harassment incidents were occur on social networking sites. What may start as a joke, once launched into cyberspace, can be very serious. The impact on the victim can be devastating and even tragic.
Cyberbullying is highly varied and hard to define. Parents can no longer count on seeing the tell-tale physical signs of bullying - a black eye, bloody lip or torn clothes. But the damage done by cyber bullies is no less real, and can be infinitely more painful.
At its core, it is sending or posting derogatory or hateful material on the Internet with the intent to harm another. Cyberbullying can be defamatory to a group, a team, a race or target a single victim. Bullies employ any or all cyber communications, including posts to social networking sites, texting, chat rooms, email, instant messaging and blogs, to harass, threaten, spread lies or distribute embarrassing pictures. The Internet gives bullies a worldwide audience for taunting their victims while maintaining some anonymity.
Cyberbullying Tips for Parents (Cyberbullying Research Center, 2014):
Make sure your school has Internet Safety educational programming in place. This should not solely cover the threat of sexual predators, but also how to prevent and respond to online peer harassment, interact wisely through social networking sites, and engage in responsible and ethical online communications.
Educate your children about appropriate Internet-based behaviors. Explain to them the problems that can be created when technology is misused (e.g., damaging their reputation, getting in trouble at school or with the police).
Model appropriate technology usage. Don't harass or joke about others while online, especially around your children. Don't text while driving. Your kids are watching and learning.
Monitor your child's activities while they are online. This can be done informally (through active participation in, and supervision of, your child's online experience) and formally (through software). Use discretion when covertly spying on your kids. This could cause more harm than good if your child feels their privacy has been violated. They may go completely underground with their online behaviors and deliberately work to hide their actions from you.
Use filtering and blocking software as a part of a *comprehensive* approach to online safety, but understand software programs *alone* will not keep kids safe or prevent them from bullying others or accessing inappropriate content. Most tech-savvy youth can figure out ways around filters very quickly.
Look for warning signs that something abnormal is going on with respect to their technology usage. If your child becomes withdrawn or their Internet use becomes obsessive, they could either be a victim or a perpetrator of cyberbullying.
· Teach and reinforce positive morals and values about how others should be treated with respect and dignity.
Cyberbullying Tips for Kids:
· Tell an adult you trust about what's going on.
· Don't delete any of the emails, texts, or messages. They can serve as evidence.
· Keep a record of incidents.
· Don't forward any mean messages that spread rumors about you or someone else. Don't cyberbully back. Revenge is never the best answer.
· If possible, report the incident to the administrator of the website. Many websites including Facebook and YouTube have safety centers to report cyberbullying.
· Recognize that you don't deserve to be treated that way, and you deserve respect.


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|>> Archive: Warmwater Gamefish Flies Freshwater Bass, pike, muskie?!?
|Topic Review (Newest First)
|John Desjardins
the Albino Dragon Fly (Swap Entry)
The flies for the fly swap are on their way to Jeff so here is the recipe.
The origin of the Albino Dragonfly, a gurgler influenced egg-laying dragonfly, goes back a couple of years. One bright and sunny July day my son and I were at West Washacum pond fishing while the sunfish were going nuts over dragonfly's that were making egg laying runs. Repeatedly fish would hurl themselves 6 inches out of the water chasing after the flies. This was accompanied by cries of "wow" and "again" from my then three-year-old son. I hope to help my son catch his first fish on a fly rod with this fly some time this summer.
After several attempts I came up with this pattern to imitate mature dragonflies. Because it is tied entirely with white materials I christened it the albino dragonfly. On bright, summer days, this fly has been very successful on sunfish and bass. I fish it by slapping down the cast and then letting the fly sit for 10-15 seconds. If nothing hits pull it a couple of feet and then let it sit for another 10-15 seconds. On darker days use a pantone marker to color this fly like the naturals.
Hook: Orvis #1638, size 6 (2X long, 1X fine dry fly hook)
Thread: White
Tail: White 2 mm thick craft store foam cut 3/32" wide
Back: White 2 mm thick craft store foam cut 5/16" wide
Hackle: Large white strung saddle hackle
Tying instructions:
Wind a base of thread on the shank of the hook from about the point of the hook to slightly behind the eye.
Apply Zap a Gap to the thread and then bind the tail on top of the hook leaving 1/8" clear at the front of the hook. Cut the tail off 7/8" beyond the hook bend.
Apply Zap a Gap to the tail and then bind the back (pointing towards the on bend of the hook) on top of the tail.
Tie in the saddle hackle at the rear of the body and palmer forward.
Cut a V out of the hackle on top of the fly, fold the back over the body, and bind it down, behind the hook eye.
Whip finish, and then apply Zap a Gap to the threads on top of the back.
Remove the fly from the vise and trim the hackle off the bottom of the fly. I leave a little stubble there to suggest legs.
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|Now: Nina Sayers, "Black Swan"
Then: Mathilda, a hit-girl, in "Léon" ("The Professional")
Natalie was 12 when she made her feature film debut in the French action film "Léon" ("The Professional"), where she played—disturbingly—a 12-year-old protégé of a solitary New York City hit-man. Though it was generally well-received, the movie set off a debate about, as one critic put it, its "would-be sexy portrayal of a pre-teenage girl." Portman's breakout role was as the expressionless Padmé in George Lucas' widely derided "Star Wars" prequels. Portman is still best at playing virginal characters, but just like the feverish dancer she portrayed in "Black Swan," for which she earned a Best Actress nomination, she has learned to show her dark side.
(Image: Everett Collection)
See the Full story at The Daily Beast
|Now: Cindy, "Blue Valentine"
Then: Jen Lindley on "Dawson's Creek"
San Diego-raised Michelle Williams was not a far cry from the character that brought her into the spotlight. The young actress emancipated herself from her parents at 15, the same year she landed on the hit teen drama "Dawson's Creek." Through the series' six seasons, Williams' character was on the periphery of a legendary TV love triangle, allowing her the opportunity to appear in projects from the Watergate satire "Dick" to the acclaimed HBO movie If "These Walls Could Talk 2." "Being on 'Dawson's Creek' was kind of like being a mobster," the now-30-year-old mom told PopEater. "You set up a shop selling pizza, but in the back you're laundering money. You're doing one thing in plain sight and secretly plotting something else. I was plotting my tastes, my interests, my beliefs and hopes for what I could be." It didn't take long for the independent-film industry to recognize Williams' talent and in 2006, she earned her first Oscar nomination for her supporting role in "Brokeback Mountain," where she met Heath Ledger.
(Image: Getty Images)
See the Full story at The Daily Beast
|Now: Becca, "Rabbit Hole"
Then: Rae Ingram, "Dead Calm"
Just a year before her ill-fated marriage to Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman starred in "Dead Calm," a violent horror film about a young couple that happens upon a murderous sociopath during a sailing trip. In one famous scene, Kidman has sex with the murderer to distract him. But even amid the gore of her first big movie, there were sparks of her later critical acclaim: Variety said her performance was "excellent."
(Image: Warner Brothers / Everett Collection)
See the Full story at The Daily Beast
|Now: Rooster Cogburn, "True Grit"
Then: Dave Melkin, "The Lloyd Bridges Show"
Growing up in an acting family, Jeff Bridges was exposed to the Hollywood life at a very young age. He made appearances on his father's shows, "Sea Hunt" and the self-titled "Lloyd Bridges Show" in his early adolescent years, but it wasn't long before Bridges established himself as a credible actor, nepotism aside. His first major role in "The Last Picture Show" earned Bridges a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination in 1971 and the accolades continued to flow. His latest nod for "True Grit" marks Bridges' sixth Academy Award nomination and potential second win after taking home the Best Actor gold for "Crazy Heart" last year. It takes someone particularly impressive not only to earn such praise and maintain a career for four decades, but to manage to get the Academy to overlook something like "Tron"… twice… and appeal to the masses with films like "The Big Lebowski." Bridges "is enough to make a picture worth seeing," The New York Times once wrote of the actor. "Jeff Bridges just moves into a role and lives in it— so deep in it that the little things seem to come straight from the character's soul."
(Image: Fox Photos / Getty Images)
See the Full story at The Daily Beast
|Now: Aron Ralson, "127 Hours"
Then: Daniel Desario, "Freaks and Geeks"
As we speak, James Franco has a "Three's Company"-based art exhibition at the Sundance Film Festival, is studying for his Ph.D. in English at Yale University, stars in "The Green Hornet," and is preparing to direct a film version of William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying." At 32, James Franco has thrown his California-born-and-raised body into nearly every medium—and it seems to be paying off. Not only did Franco earn a Best Actor nomination from the Academy for his performance as a self-amputated mountaineer in "127 Hours," but he also agreed to co-host the ceremony… since apparently, he has so much free time. And though we can now applaud Franco's audacious career choices, it's hard to say many saw this professional path coming for the star of the short-lived TV series "Freaks and Geeks" in 1999. But after impressing audiences as the ultimate rebel in the 2001 TV biopic James Dean, which earned him Golden Globe, Emmy, and SAG nominations, Franco's career took off. From "Spider-Man" to "Milk," he's played it smart, despite his characters' common quality. "I think I was just, I don't know, drawing on my inner dumb guy," Franco once told NPR. "It's weird. I play a lot of dumb guys."
(Image: Everett Collection)
See the Full story at The Daily Beast
|Now: Uxbal, "Biutiful"
Then: Raul, "Jamon, Jamon"
Though director Alejandro Iñárritu recently praised Bardem as "one of the best actors in the world," the seductive Spanish star remained relatively under the radar throughout most of his career, before exploding in films such as "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," "No Country for Old Men" (for which he won an Oscar), and last year's "Eat Pray Love." He got his start in Pedro Almodovar's "High Heels" before landing the lead alongside Penelope Cruz in 1992's "Jamon, Jamon." One need only look at him to see how playing sexy, hypermasculine characters might come easily for Bardem, but he proved his versatility and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in Julian Schnabel's "Before Night Falls" (2000), when he soared to new heights as a homosexual poet dying of AIDS and fighting persecution in "Fidel Castro's Cuba."
(Image: Sofia Moro / Getty Images)
See the Full story at The Daily Beast
|Now: Mark Zuckerberg, "The Social Network"
Then: Hallie Kate Eisenberg's older brother
Jesse Eisenberg hasn't always been the most famous actor in his family. His little sister, Hallie Kate, was one of the most recognizable faces of the late 1990s as "the Pepsi Girl," and adorable child star in "Paulie," "Beautiful," and "Bicentennial Man." But while his sister was showing off her dimples to the world, the elder Eisenberg was shooting the short-lived Fox dramedy, "Get Real," which also starred this year's Oscar co-host Anne Hathaway. A decade later, Hallie Kate was focusing on graduating from her New Jersey high school, giving Jesse the opportunity to stock his résumé with a slew of indie roles, including "Zombieland," "Adventureland," and the land-less "Squid and the Whale." Eisenberg's performances led him to star as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in one of this year's Oscar frontrunners, "The Social Network." Despite his recent praise, the curly haired actor claims he's quite average. "I'm not famous," he told People magazine. "Not like Tom Cruise."
(Image: Vince Bucci / Getty Images
See the Full story at The Daily Beast
Catch "Keeping Up with the Kardashians."
The 10 worst places to start a business.
Contest winners show sky's fragile wonders.
Greatest undrafted players in NFL history.
Here are the 5 steps you need to know.


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It used to be that being a flight attendant was regarded as one of the most glamorous jobs in the world. But gone are the days of the long and leisurely stopovers for cabin crew. Here are five pet peeves that will test your hostie's smile.
"Please" and "thank you" goes a long way the world over, but all too often the steward is fobbed off with a "what ya got?" and "gimme a coke". And when a passenger is offered a meal they don't like, it's really not manners to screw up your nose and say "ewww" when a "no, thank you" will do.
Phone Addict
We've probably all been guilty of this: Those who insist they're about to turn off their phones after they've been asked numerous times. They think once the steward walks past it's okay to send a couple more texts or tweets, it's not like the plane is in the air! Beware, you are being watched.
Headset Guy
The guy who is so busy watching the movie that he doesn't respond when asked "Would you like something to drink?" Again, "would you like something to drink?" Wave in front of face. Wave in front of face again at which point he looks up confused. "Would you like a drink?" tries the hostie again. "What?" he shouts. Hostie motions to mouth to imply someone drinking. "Ahh, gimme a coke."
Rubbish Disposer
Passengers who think hosties are also the airplane cleaners and hand them rubbish during their in-flight service are a pet hate. Especially the ones who insist on wedging it onto the trolly, sometimes sticking it into glasses or the ice bucket. There are some who don't think twice about offloading dirty disposable nappies either or wiping their pits and bits with the complimentary hot towel and trying to thrust the offending cloth into the steward's hands.
Free crèche
This is also highly annoying for fellow passengers, but did you know crew are not crèche workers? Believe it or not, there are parents who let their kids run wild on the plane (shock, horror) and then expect and even ask the flight attendants to watch them, or worse, entertain them.
- nzherald.co.nz


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Feel like you're right by the ocean with the Frogskins sunglasses. Inspired by the colors of the sea, these lightweight shades feature Oakley's O Matter material, Iridium-coated lenses for glare reduction and debossed brand logos for a splash of style. They also come with a Microclear bag for storage and lens cleaning that boasts custom art inspired by the Frogskins Aquatique Collection.
- Oakley's Plutonite lenses filters out 100% of all UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light up to 400nm
- Iridium lenses reduce glare and balance light transmission
- Durable lightweight frames
- Debossed brand logos
- Made of Oakley's O Matter material
- Imported
- Oakley's XYZ Optics to extend clarity to peripheral view
- Includes Oakley's Microclear bag for storage and lens cleaning
- Imported
- Brand: Oakley
Special event items are produced by manufacturers only after the outcome of a game or event. These are advanced sale items and will ship immediately after they are received in our warehouse.
Manufacturer direct items are shipped directly from the manufacturer. These items are not available for international or expedited shipping.
Customized items can be personalized with options such as your name, your favorite number, and/or designs. Some options may be limited by league rules.


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From the NY Times today
Cuomo Bucks Tide With Bill to Ease Abortion Limits
By THOMAS KAPLAN
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is preparing legislation that would guarantee women in New York the right to late-term abortions, and remove the issue from the state's penal
How does one make a case for this? At what point does the Constitution start to step in for the rights of a human being that may be, or are, viable outside the womb?
If the life of the mother is not in danger, why not wait a few weeks longer and do a C-section?
Will the latter option cost us all money? I'd guess it would ... but if we can pay big-time taxes to save an endangered owl, crustacean or insect, what is a human life worth?
I just can't wrap my mind around a late-term abortion that is done for reasons of "convenience".