text:
57th World Piano Competition Starts This Week
(CINCINNATI) - The World Piano Competition kicks off Monday for the event's 57th season. The event has drawn the worlds' best pianists from around the world to the Cincinnati area since 1956. This year's competition is partnered with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music.
The competitors of the competition are competing for over $65,000 in prize money. The Gold Medal winner in the Artist Division is awarded a debut recital at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York and numerous performance opportunities worldwide.
The first round of the competition kicks off Monday and Tuesday. The Semifinals are Wednesday and Thursday, while the Finals will be on Saturday. The finals will be held in Corbett Auditorium at the University of Cincinnati at 7:00 p.m.
The finalists of the competition will perform with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
The Young Artist Division (ages five to 17) takes place from July 22 – 27.


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Thefts: A Streetsboro man reported Sept. 18 the theft of a generator from an Aurora-Hudson Road construction site, and a North Aurora Road resident reported Sept. 19 the theft of prescription medications. No values of the losses were given.
Warrant pickups: A Dunbar Court woman was nabbed Sept. 19 on a warrant from Chagrin Falls police for theft. She was handed over to Falls officers.
Westlake police arrested a Cleveland man Sept. 17 on an Aurora warrant for discharging a firearm. The man was brought to Aurora and then taken to the Portage County Jail.
Another Cleveland man was arrested Sept. 19 by Lakewood police and transferred to Aurora on a warrant for drunken driving. He was taken to the Portage County Jail.
An Aurora woman was transferred from Geauga County sheriff's custody to Aurora on a warrant for failure to appear in court on a trespassing charge. She was taken to the Portage County Jail.
Vandalism: A Moneta Avenue woman reported Sept. 17 that her father's car was keyed. No estimate of damage was given.
Identity theft: A Grandview Lane man reported Sept. 20 that someone opened a credit card account in his name and charges were made. The bank covered the unspecified charges and the man suffered no loss.
Lot collision: Police said a Chagrin Falls woman pulled out of a side parking lot on South Chillicothe Road and struck a Ravenna woman's vehicle at 3:25 p.m. No injuries were reported.
Suspended license: During a traffic stop Sept. 15 at 11:55 p.m. for a broken tail light on West Garfield Road, an Aurora man was cited for failing to reinstate his driver's license and a tail light violation. His passenger drove the vehicle from the scene.
Motorcycle-pedestrian incident: Police said a motorcyclist drove down Orchard Avenue on Sept. 18 at 10:55 p.m., swerved to avoid a pedestrian crossing the street, laid down the bike which slid into the pedestrian, and the rider then picked it up and continued on. The Aurora female pedestrian was taken to Hillcrest Hospital for treatment.
Failure to yield: A Northfield man was cited for failing to yield Sept. 22 at 9:25 a.m. after police said he turned from Pennsylvania Street onto Orchard Avenue and stuck a Twinsburg woman's vehicle heading east on Orchard. The man was taken to Cleveland Clinic-Twinsburg for treatment.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
on November 24, 2005 at 12:00 am
Story: Archive
Location: Mucho Mocha
But she doesn't deny it…
The real question in my mind is how the heck she knew??!
What, you never looked at someone and just knew they'd just recently had sex? Especially Grab The Headboard sex. I've been able to call that, like, eight times.
She has a crystal ball!
actually that was a snow globe…
Monica's magic "Eight ball". ^_^
i wonder what the aura looks like for someone who just had grab-the-headboard sex…
the happiest color in the world.
Bright gold? Pure guess there, but really golden light has always seemed joyful to me.
Endorphin-y :))


text:
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- Read More
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text:
This site does not currently take bookings here on Pitchup.com.
Find nearby sites with availability…
If you are the owner of this site, start taking bookings through Pitchup.com by adding your business details.
Camac Valley just outside Dublin is a great spot to use as a base for touring the area. The four-star campsite has 163 pitches, 24 hour security, free wifi, animal farm, children's adventure playground, fishing lake and putting green, and is popular with campers and festival goers who want to explore Dublin and the surrounding countryside. There's a bus just outside with regular runs into Dublin city centre, or spend a quiet day around the campsite and nearby Clondalkin Village.
Site type
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Languages spoken
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Find nearby sites with availability…
(2 nights)
Many sites set a maximum occupancy of 6/8 people per pitch, so try breaking your booking down into smaller groups to generate more results. For example, if you're a group of 10, enter 5 people in your initial search and then book 2 pitches.
However, where the pitch or accommodation occupancy allows it, you can now make a booking for up to 30 adults and 30 children on one pitch.
To book multiple pitches or accommodation, use the 'Special requests' box on the booking page to ask to be sited together. Complete the booking form for the first booking (you can add a password and save your card so that we remember your details). Then click "Make another booking like this" at the top of the confirmation page to make the next booking.
Large groups: check the listing page for any group restrictions set out in the terms and section titled 'Please note'.
Large tents/caravans: check the restrictions on unit dimensions to ensure your unit is suitable for the space you will be provided with.


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text:
It's damn hot here too. About 100 today :snakeman: :snakeman: :snakeman: :snakeman:
Is it hot everywhere in the South like here? I had to quit mowing 'cause I thought I was going to start a grass fire! 100 degrees or more. Please let it rain. And I know it's hotter in the city. Good grief will it ever end. I hope this is not really summer yet. What will it be in August! :snakeman:
It's damn hot here too. About 100 today :snakeman: :snakeman: :snakeman: :snakeman:
It's been downright hot up here, mid 90s and a very high dewpoint for a good couple or three weeks. Finally, Friday, somebody opened the refrigerator door and it cooled down so much that we had to dig out our jackets!!! Some light rain has helped, too. I've debated actually turning on the heat !! :smt103
95 is pretty warm for MN. I have a co-worker that rides his BICYCLE from here to Minnesota every ten years! He did it last summer just after he turned 45! He's from there and visits his mother. Hell of a feat but I think he's nuts. Wonder if he can do it when he's 55?
I miss bike riding - with 2 knee surgeries on the same knee, though, I can't ride a bike. I can finally do stairs w/o too much difficulty (compared to what I used to be) - injured my knee years ago working loss prevention - kept banging it up while trying to handcuff people who were fighting.Originally Posted by Charlie
74* here today and cooled off to 46* last night. :-D
Think I'll go outside and do a dance for the rain Gods. :smt026
Yea, no kidding. I am tired of watering the yard everyday.Originally Posted by Charlie
Can't afford to water my dust and rocks here. I just got in from another bout with the mower, etc. I think someone called in on me for having a fire (we're under a burn ban) 'cause of the gigantic dust cloud I was making while mowing. A deputy drove by real slow. It's probably a little bit less humidity here than College Station but that just makes for more dust. :smt096 :smt096 :smt096 :smt096 :smt096 :smt096
Rain dance didn't work. But the mowing is done! Mower did not live through this one. I bought it 16 yrs. ago so I guess I got my $99 worth. I was gonna' buy a new engine but it costs more for an engine than to buy the whole thing. I buy cheap and take my chances (who knows, maybe it'll last another 16 yrs.). One thing about it, the grass is not going to grow any as long as this heat continues.
Well, I am allergic to grass. So, I can never cut it myself.
My parents are retired, and my father moved near us last year.
We went 1/2 and 1/2 on a self propelled lawnmoer, and he comes and cuts it. He cuts his more often, but what can I say - he does it for free :-D
SOon, however, since he is getting older, I will have to start paying a service.
My wife tried it 2x, and discovered that she is allergic to grass too...
I'm not allergic to the grass, just allergic to mowing the grass. :-D
+1Originally Posted by Charlie
Thats why if I live long enough to retire Im getting a gravel yard and paint it green :-D
Hot, hot, hot...
The temp here at my house....
I just finished weed eating, believe it or not.
1st time in years - I wore a mask over my face to stop the pollen. Hopefully I won't get sick.
My father has been doing such a bad job of it (cutting so low that he kills the grass) that I told him to skip the weedeating, and I would try it.
Cut high. Works better. Low will kill the grass, especially in this heat. I wear a mask quite often. Beats blowing dirt out of my nose with this dust I've got.
Yuck!! If fiber is what you want then just stick with metamucil. :P :wink: :-DOriginally Posted by Shipwreck
Been real nice weather out here in Cali. Love the warm nights because I can swim before bed and then I sleep real good.


text: More people in Colorado than ever before are attempting to legally carry a concealed gun, and by no small margin. It's 87 percent more. And while 2012 saw a sizable increase from 2011 of permit seekers, that figure pales in comparison to this year.From January to June, 31,518 background checks were processed for concealed carry permits by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, according to bureau data. For the same period last year, there were only 16,886 processed.


text:
|Camp, S.
|Foote, P.
|Strausbaugh, Carl
|Gillen, Anne
Submitted to: Biological and Cultural Tests for Control of Plant Diseases
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/12/2005
Publication Date: 4/1/2005
Citation: Camp, S., Foote, P., Strausbaugh, C.A., Gillen, A.M. 2005. Evaluation of commercial sugarbeet hybrids for resistance to beet curly top in Canyon County, ID, 2004. Biological and Cultural Tests for Control of Plant Diseases. 20:FC023. Available: http:/www.apsnet.org/online. Interpretive Summary: Beet curly top virus (BCTV) is widespread throughout the western United States. The virus results in dwarfed plants with distorted rolled leaves and yield loss. The primary means of disease control is the use of disease resistant cultivars. In an effort to identify commercial hybrids with acceptable levels of resistance, we evaluated 29 hybrids for resistance to BCTV based on natural infection. Most of the hybrids had acceptable levels of resistance based on visual symptoms. However there were considerable differences between hybrids based on root yield and estimated recoverable sugar.
Technical Abstract: Twenty-nine commercial sugarbeet hybrids submitted to the official variety trials were evaluated for resistance to Beet curly top virus (BCTV). Hybrids were planted in a commercial sprinkler-irrigated sugarbeet field and exposed to a natural epiphytotic of BCTV. Experimental units were arranged in a randomized complete block design with eight replications. Plots were evaluated for BCTV based on a Disease Index (DI) scale of 0 to 9 (no symptoms to dead) on Sept 14, 2004 by three raters. The moderately severe epiphytotic resulted in uniform disease pressure and significant differences between hybrids for DI, root yield, sugar content, and estimated recoverable sugar. Our disease ratings were positively correlated with (r = 0.913, P < 0.0001) ratings from the 2004 Curly Top Nursery. As expected, there was a inverse relationship (r = -0.737, P < 0.0001) between DI and estimated recoverable sugar.


text:
Von Metzke "groomed" underaged girls by texting
Teens reported him, but theatre slow to act
Don Bauder 2 p.m., June 25
It's been 13 years since I crash landed in San Diego and in that time I have yet to witness a more unexpected choice of a movie to screen outdoors, let alone in conjunction with a museum exhibition.
The Invention of Glory: Afonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries, now through September 9 at the San Diego Museum of Art, features the recently restored set of four monumental tapestries that commemorate the deeds of Afonso V, King of Portugal.
Robert Taylor stars opposite Elizabeth Taylor (no relation) in Richard Thorpe's Ivanhoe. The only things the former matinee has in common with these late 1400s tapestries is they can fill a wall and are good to look at.
Still, who in San Diego is rushing to screen Ivanhoe? I can't urge you enough to bring lawn furniture and picnic baskets to Balboa Park this Saturday night when Screen on the Green kicks off its summer season with action and romance in Ivanhoe.
The following week brings John Huston's caper comedy Beat the Devil, starring Humphrey Bogart, Gina Lolobrigida, and Peter Lorre. Note to SDMA programmers: BTD has fallen into the public domain and most DVD copies are muddy dupes. May I suggest this pressing.
The series wraps on August 4 when SDMA teams with the San Diego Asian Film Festival to present Love Aaj Kal. Never one for Bollywood -- it all looks like a 2-hour commercial for Yardage Town -- I still feel it my sworn duty to promote anything SDAFF gets behind.
All showings commence at sundown, but you are advised to arrive early. Admission is free. Movies screen on the East lawn adjacent to the museum.
Click for more information.
Scott, can we still park in the Plaza de Panama? Even if I have to by-pass the historic Cabrillo Bridge and go into an underground pay-for-parking lot and then schlepp over, it will be worth it to see Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Taylor.
Park in Santee and take the free shuttle to Balboa Park. Hey, better yet stay home and park yourself in front of a copy of Norman Panama's "How to Commit Marriage." That's entertainment!


text:
Healthy smiles abound at Ballard NW Senior Center
By Deanna Duff, contributor
Ballardite Jan Loder is creating happy, healthy smiles at the Ballard Northwest Senior Center. Loder, a registered dental hygienist, founded Healthy Pearls for Seniors in 2010, which is a mobile dental care unit that provides accessible and affordable dental care to seniors 60 years and older.
"People are now often 80 years old with all their teeth," said Loder. "It's even more important to think about long-term care. Yet, about 80 percent of my seniors don't have a dentist."
Upon retirement, medical coverage is often reduced or eliminated for many seniors. Budget cuts to senior services have further reduced options. To address the need, Washington State approved legislation in 2009 allowing dental hygienists to offer limited services in senior centers. The program has grown from two sites to over 50 statewide including Loder's work in Ballard.
"A patient's first appointment is about an hour and a half," said Loder. "You can't usually do that in a private practice, but that's what it typically takes to accommodate their needs."
Patients must first receive a medical clearance from their physician and once they're approved, Loder provides a full head, neck and intraoral exam, teeth cleaning and extensive education. While she cannot diagnose, she frequently refers patients to senior-friendly dentists for followup. Most importantly, Loder charges only $85-$100.
"Since the cost is considerably less, we can have our teeth cleaned three times a year instead of twice," said Ken Kack, 88 years old. Kack and his wife, Helen, live in Ballard and are able to walk to the Senior Center for their appointments.
Ideally, seniors need more frequent cleanings - about every three to four months - so Loder's affordability goes a long way towards encouraging frequency. Medications can affect dental health and unattended problems lead to trouble eating and often pain.
"She really takes her time and doesn't waste a minute," said Helen Kack. "We also appreciate the suggestions on what we need to do every day to maintain good oral health."
Equally important is the sense of community Loder creates. A Ballard resident herself, she works one day a week, every other month at Ballard's Senior Center and has developed ongoing relationships. She'll treat about 30 patients this year.
"I had a woman that it took two appointments to fully clean her teeth and the goal was to get her out of feeling discomfort. She was so grateful that she wanted to overpay me. I was so touched," said Loder.
As Beatrice Ruhli, 80 years old, rises from the patient chair, hugs are exchanged and congratulations are in order. Ruhli is celebrating her 55th wedding anniversary that day. Her smile is wide and bright and ready for an evening on the town.
"I love working with the seniors and hearing their stories. The entire experience is really a privilege," said Loder.
We encourage our readers to comment. No registration is required. We ask that you keep your comments free of profanity and keep them civil. They are moderated and objectionable comments will be removed.


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How I spent my summer vacation (from TV blogging), and my plans for fall
- September
- 1
Summer's over, and school is back in session.
Well, not school so much as TV blogging, which I took an unexpected hiatus from doing about a month ago. But things seem to be settling down and I'm ready to get back into a rhythm of watching, recapping and generally rambling about the shows I like watching most.
At least that's how it starts out. Why blog about shows you don't like, right? Well, you don't plan on a 30 Rock to turn stale in its third season after two spectacular ones, and you don't expect a Parks and Recreation to be so uneven despite a solid pedigree. You sure don't expect NBC to keep milking Heroes long after every viewer and half the cast seemed to stop caring.
No, no one makes me stick with shows that I no longer have the passion for, but it's hard to give up on a show. That said, taking a few weeks off before a new season allows me to do a reset. And here's how my blog-sponsibilities shape up for the immediate future.
Curb Your Enthusiasm returns for a seventh season on Sunday, Sept. 20. And since Larry David has never to my knowledge been involved with a bad episode of television, I'll be right there for every Susie Essman F-bomb.
Chuck is my Monday night mainstay, but it's slated for a March debut because NBC is stupid has other plans for that night. Still, I have about five more episodes in my Season 1 Look-Back to recap thanks to my recent hiatus, so I may begin filling the gap with that. Might not have enough weeks to plow through Season 2 before the show returns, but who knows?
Thursday night means The Office, and season 6, which debuts Sept. 17, means a Jim-Pam wedding and a smirky-faced bambino on the way. The Office is why I watch TV at all — until 2005, practically all I watched was the news and the Mets — and it's why I blog. The show has drifted further and further from Season 2, chronologically and in spirit. But I'm a Dunder-Mifflinite for the long haul. Why? It's nebulose.
Thursday also means Community, the new Joel McHale comedy that looks pretty hilarious. It also starts Sept. 17. I plan to give that a gander. If it's as good as its pilot, I'll stick with it.
But Thursdays have been a pretty hectic night for me. Actually, Fridays were really hectic as I tried to recap three shows from the night before. I don't plan on doing that anymore. Which leads me to: Shows I No Longer Plan to Blog About.
Heroes — Seriously, was I the only one watching last season? It is so far off the rails I don't believe it can recover, no matter how many mid-season corretions. Kristen Bell was a great addition, for example, so naturally they killed her off. The new Nathan is the old Sylar? No thanks.
Parks and Recreation — I'll keep watching Amy Poehler's show about a misfit municipal official, and I'll comment on it occasionally. But I can't dedicate time and blog space to it anymore. The funniest characters were minor ones: Chris Pratt as Rashida Jones's boyfriend and Nick Offerman's parks department boss. I don't expect Jones to be funny, but when Aziz Ansari isn't making me laugh, something is very wrong.
30 Rock — Jack's daddy issues and Liz's boyfriend/baby issues sucked the life out of me. If not for Tracy Morgan, Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski and all the minor characters who get too little screen time, I'd have given up sooner. Again, I'll keep watching, because this show is still the funniest on TV. But in trying to make it a show worth caring about, they've made me stop caring about it.
(Photo Derek Davis/The Journal News)


text:
Burton remembered for service, loyalty
By JOHN KOZIOL
Sunday News Correspondent | April 12. 2014 7:24PM
Joe Kenney, who recently won a special election to fill the remainder of the late Ray Burton's term as the District 1 Executive Councilor, showed attendees at the recent Granite United Way Northern Region's annual meeting a Burton campaign sign that he brought with him on his own campaign stops as a way of honoring Burton. (JOHN KOZIOL/Union Leader Correspondent)
Bald conceded that there were "many times when I was pleased to help him."
Echoing Henderson, Ayotte said Burton was present for many events in District 1.
U.S. Rep. Ann Kuster, through Brian Breshnahan, the constituent service representative for her office, said Burton would want everyone to carry on Burton's legacy of helping others.
Mike Cryans, whom Kenney defeated, accepted the GUWNR's Advocate Award for Burton on behalf of his three surviving siblings.
* e-Edition subscription required


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The OneCare Collaborative is a group of hospitals, primary care physicians, nurses and other care professionals in the Tri-state region who are committed to improving the health of our community through high-quality, coordinated care.
Deaconess is proud to have a such a well-rounded Pediatric Endocrinology team who sees patients for consultation and follow-up for the following endocrine problems:


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Product 11/30
RF9U-1 Riccar vacuum filters ONLY fit the Premium Radiance model RADP upright vacuum.
This set includes a HEPA PLUS filter and a Charcoal filter.
Universal replacement for Riccar Radiance filter SF9U-1 (SF9U1).
Our Riccar parts are made by Tacony. Tacony owns and makes parts for Simplicity and Riccar. We sell the Simplicity brand. Riccar and Simplicity vac parts are of equal quality.


text:
Area shelters offer pets for adoption
Several dogs and cats are available for adoption from the Indiana County Humane Society's animal shelter along Rose Street and from Four Footed Friends along Beck Road.
The following are available at the Humane Society:
Percy, 2, neutered brown tabby and white shorthair.
Tony, 3 months, male gray and white shorthair.
Ruby, 2, female terrier/miniature schnauzer mix.
Kya, 5, female chow/rottweiler mix.
Call the humane society at (724) 465-7387 or Four Footed Friends at (724) 349-1144 for more information.


text:
Find your voice. A home for original thinkers, Essex gives you the skills and knowledge to succeed and make a difference.
Is there more to be said? Take your knowledge further, gaining the skills demanded by today's global employers.
Let's have an argument. Fuelled by powerful ideas, we have a global reputation for pioneering research which helps change lives.
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Specialist resources and state-of-the-art facilities in the heart of a vibrant and exciting seaside town.
Home to East 15 Acting School, offering a wide range of theatre and dance studios and facilities.
Home to students from 130 countries, we're one of the most international universities in the UK.
We're close to London with quick access to major airports and perfectly located for visiting Europe.
Innovative undergraduate and postgraduate courses and support to improve your language and study skills.
Scholarships are available for international students and we give advice on budgeting for life in the UK.
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Our leading academics are available for media interviews and consultancy across our subject range.
We're in the UK elite for social sciences, best in Britain for politics and top 20 for research excellence.
Our first TEDx event tackled issues from the rise of robot warriors to how we can save the planet.
If you're looking for a vibrant research environment and outstanding postgraduate training, welcome home.
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Find out how we achieve our mission of contributing to society through excellence in education and excellence in research.
We started small, but with big ambitions. Over five decades we have become one of the UK's leading academic institutions.
Chancellor, the Senate of the University has resolved that
the degree of Doctor of the University be conferred upon THEODOROS
It is fitting that only a few months ago The Guardian called Theo
Angelopoulos "one of the few great directors who are still with us," implicitly
placing the legendary Greek film maker in the company of other notable leaders
of the European cinema, many of whom are no longer with us: Federico Fellini,
Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Andre Tarkovsky. Like these
directors, Theo Angelopoulos has created a body of work that defies the
conventions of mainstream cinema while expanding the field of vision of his
audiences. And like these directors, he has managed over his thirty-year
career to achieve what only a handful of others have been capable of doing: to
create lasting and transforming works of cinematic art.
The films of Theo Angelopoulos are often hypnotic, dreamlike, otherworldly.
Contrary to the logic and conventions of most Hollywood movies, which are rolled
out and consumed so readily at our local Odeons, Theo Angelopoulos has always
taken his time, so much so that he has become renowned for his use of the long
take. The shots that make up his films are lengthy and sustained: artfully
yet minimally constructed. This has been a consistent practice since some
of his earliest works, like 1974's 'The Travelling Players', which lasts almost
four hours but is comprised of merely 80 shots altogether. Yet these
lengthy shots are far from static. Within them are striking images that
cling to ones memory. Monumental images, such as an open ship carrying the
massive remains of a statue of Lenin up the Danube in 'Ulysses Gaze'; enigmatic
images, such as a horse wandering an abandoned town, reflecting the displaced
and homeless figures that populate 'Landscape in the Mist'; images of horror,
like the frozen refugees clinging to a mist-shrouded border fence in 'Eternity
and a Day'.
His special interest in film began when he was a child, but he experimented
with other subjects such as law and literature before embarking on his life's
work. Born in Athens, his childhood memories are of war and occupation.
He later began studying law, but after military service he decided to go to the
Sorbonne University in Paris to study philosophy and cinema. After briefly
attending the School of Cinema (IDHEC) in Paris, he found himself at odds with a
certain Professor and this is a story he just told me this morning over coffee.
He was accused of being a 'non-conformist'. His approach to film was too
unusual. Dr Angelopoulos was not willing to change and this certain
Professor demanded that he leave the school. The Professor said it's
either him or me. Facing this kind of demand, Theo Angelopoulos decided he
had better go. He returned to Greece, working as a journalist and critic for
the newspaper Demokratiki Allaghi, though this career was cut short by the
democratic change and the military coup d'etat in 1967. Soon afterwards he
completed a short film, 'Broadcast', in 1968, and in 1970 his first feature, 'Anaparastassi'
[or Reconstruction], appeared. Already he had established a close
relationship with key collaborators, including the cinematographer Giorgos
Arvanitis; these relationships would guide his vision and these relationships
continue to the present day.
The numerous honours he has garnered over the years are only a small
indication of his lasting contribution to the art of cinema. His films
have been awarded major prizes at the Berlin International Film Festival, the
Venice Film Festival, the Sao Paulo International Film Festival, and the
Thessaloniki Film Festival, to name only a few. He has won Best Film at
the European Film Awards, Best Foreign Film from the French Syndicate of Cinema
Critics (who are, no doubt, a very difficult group to please). He has
received a number of awards at Cannes, most notably the much-coveted Palme d'Or
in 1998 for his haunting 'Eternity and a Day', a meditation upon the passage of
time and the search for resolution and re-affirmation in the face of impending
Such praise might lead to overconfidence, but Theo Angelopoulos is never
fully satisfied, constantly striving for greater clarity in his work. In a
recent interview he stated that he is the kind of film maker "who is never sure,
not even when the film is finished". "I am always, without stopping,
searching, searching", he noted, "my films never really end. To me they
are all works in progress".
If it is possible to isolate two recurring themes in his films, they are the
passage of time, on the one hand, and the visual and psychological impact of
landscapes, on the other: not merely natural landscapes, but the man-made cities
and towns and the unnatural, in-between spaces that we inhabit every day.
In these two themes, Theo Angelopoulos addresses two basic elements of human
experience - our perception of time, and space – and captures and even
restructures them through the magic of cinema.
Time becomes malleable in his films, which interweave present and past,
experience and memory. In 'Eternity and a Day', the central character (who
is played by Bruno Ganz) literally confounds human time by meeting his dead wife
as she was thirty years earlier; in 'Ulysses Gaze', the character of 'A' (who is
played by Harvey Keitel) meets his mother in 1945 as a young woman, and she
becomes one of several guides on his long journey through the tragic history of
the Balkans. Space, on the other hand, is reconstructed within
Angelopoulos' frame by emphasising the relationship of human figures to the
landscapes that surround them. This is a space held for the viewer's
careful contemplation by sustained shots; this space of contemplation can then,
over time, welcome the audience into the frame. It is this viewer that
Theo Angelopoulos depends upon to create meaning in his films: "I need to
see through the eyes of the others", he once stated. "Only in the regard
of the viewer do I recognise what I have made."
Though Theo Angelopoulos' work is very much that of a Greek director, at the
same time it seems to defy national borders, seeking to embrace the universally
experienced complexities of modern European life. Yet he also reminds us
that, in these unstable times, it is not easy to escape these borders. At
the beginning of 'Ulysses' Gaze' he repeats the lines from his previous film,
'The Suspended Step of the Stork': "We've crossed the border, but we are still
here. How many borders do we have to cross before we reach home?"
Unlike most films one sees these days, an Angelopoulos film is not about
surfaces, but about unseen depths embedded behind the images that flee past us
at twenty-four frames per second. He has rightfully been likened to a
modern Homer, making visible the physical and psychological journeys of every
day life, forging links between the geographically dispersed and often
spiritually displaced inhabitants of the late-twentieth and now the early
twenty-first century.
Chancellor, I present to you THEO ANGELOPOULOS.
Orator: Dr Jeffrey Geiger


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Create Code-Free Mashups with InfoPath and SharePoint Web Parts
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In this week's InfoPath 2010 video demo, Nicholas Lovell, a developer on the InfoPath team walks through how to create a simple portal page for processing claims at an insurance company. This claims portal includes a SharePoint Web Part with a list of all the claims, an InfoPath Web Part that displays the claim details, and a custom Bing Maps Web part which displays the location of the currently selected claim.
This video is also available on the InfoPath Team Blog.
This video is also available on the InfoPath Team Blog.
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Use Rules and Filters to Create Cascading Dropdowns in InfoPath
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Infopath 2010, OData and Cascading Filtering in Forms
InfoPath 2010 and Creating a Form that Consumes a REST-enabled WCF Service
InfoPath 2010 and REST-enabling a WCF Service for Consumption
InfoPath 2010 Data Connections and Universal Data Connection (UDC) Files
Form-Driven Mashups using InfoPath and SharePoint 2010
Create a Loan Calculator using InfoPath and Excel Web Parts
InfoPath 2010 - Manage data in your SharePoint Lists using the InfoPath Form Web Part
SharePoint 2010 FireStarter (Session 3): SharePoint 2010 Developer Tools
Peer to Peer Solutions using SharePoint Workspace 2010
Using Relative URLs with the ServerInfo Class in InfoPath 2010
The Discussion
Do you have detailed instructions on how to
Create Code-Free Mashups with InfoPath and SharePoint Web Parts
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The morning after the resounding defeat of Wildwood Equestrian Center's request for a conditional use permit by a 4-1 vote of the Congress Township Zoning Board of Appeals, the horse park's developers were examining the future of their project.
The next step, Wildwood vice-president of marketing Gerry Maibach said, is "nothing specific at this time."
"We're continuing to look at all of our options."
Contacted Wednesday morning, Maibach said "four hours" was not enough time to conduct an "adequate review" of the situation, something he said the developers plan to do.
"We're busy analyzing our options," he repeated.
Wayne County Prosecutor Martin Frantz gave a general synopsis of what two of those options could be -- a "2506 appeal" or a request for rezoning of the Congress Township area involved.
The 2506 appeal may be filed with the Common Pleas Court 30 days following the decision. It is the procedure used for appealing any type of administrative board decision -- such as commissioners or township trustees -- Frantz said, and involves a judge, without a jury trial, making a decision based on a transcribed record.
An appeal of that sort usually takes three to six months.
A rezoning request, which encompasses hearings and petitions and is subject to a possible referendum by the voters, can be done at any time and can take from six months to a year.
Wayne Development Council President Frank Beeson said he spoke on Wednesday with representatives of Wildwood and reported that they are "weighing their options."
"Obviously, they're pretty disappointed."
"I don't know what they're going to do," Beeson added. "I don't know if they are going to look elsewhere or see if there is another avenue for that area."
"I wouldn't be surprised if another community contacted them" about building the facility in another location, Beeson speculated.
Concerning the Wildwood hearings, Beeson said "it bothers me (they) got so emotional." He thinks proceedings "could have gotten way out of hand" if it weren't for the efforts of the Congress Zoning Board of Appeals chairman David Rathbone.
"I applaud that gentleman," Beeson said, "for the way he handled the meetings."
"People should give him credit no matter what side they were on. I was genuinely impressed with him. He tried to keep (the meetings) on a facts-based tour of the project."


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Have a Tax Question? Ask a Tax Expert
If the fair market value of the property is gone down than and the sale between you and your brother is at the fair market value than he will be able to take any loss that he may incurr on the sale of the rental property.
His loss will be sale price less selling expenses less( his cost basis less depreciation allowed).
You can show that property as a separate 50% property (as if a new asset) and depreciate it.
If you were to sell the property than your basis will be 50% fmv of the property plus $100000 paid to your brother less depreciation claimed by you over the period.
Let me know if you have any question.
Please note: This advice is provided with the understanding that all the relevant facts have been provided by you. Any change in facts might affect the advice given and hence may not be relied on in such cases. Nothing contained in this reply was intended or written to be used, can be used by any taxpayer, or may be relied upon or used by any taxpayer for the purposes of avoiding penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
That would be great if my brother could do that, but I'm thinking he may be considered a related party and not able to use the section 1231 loss rule. Is he considered a related party?
Yes, being a sibling his loss will be restricted. It will not be allowed to him unless the property is sold to a third party by him. You may want the sale to be structured between your brother and someone other than Members of a family( including only brothers, sisters, half-brothers, half-sisters, spouse, ancestors (parents, grandparents, etc.), and lineal descendants.)
Yes- Publication 544 addresses this issue.
Here is a link for your reference-
Similar rules apply to real property since the loss is considered as Sec 1231 loss.


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Schools Near Me - Virtual Earth
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In Singapore's Microsoft Innovation Centre, we have been innovating on Virtual Earth. In this quick chat, I caught up with Alvin Poh, to find out what innovation he has been working on. Dubbed "Schools Near Me", the application allows us to use a Postal Code, retrieve a set of GPS coordinates and pulls a map from Virtual Earth and overlay data onto the map to provide meaningful services and information. As the name suggests, this applications allows us to find all the schools around where I stay.
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Silverlight and RIA - Projects in Singapore
The Discussion
I love it. Didn't know i have so many schools around where i stay...
i would like to know how and where will i be able to use this service because recently i saw from a Mircosoft talk there is this function so i would like to try out this serice. is there a link to it or it is not publish out???????
Hi 3vild2vil,
the site for this is at http://labs.innovativesingapore.com/SchoolsNearMe/
Its not a released service. But its a site where we demonstrate what is possible with Virtual Earth.
So there are times where we take down the services for revamp, integrating new codes. Mash different things up etc.
I like the school prototype app.. Is it possible to get a copy of the website app so that I can contribute to its develpment?
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Will to power
Author: Fenella Souter
Date: 26/05/2012
Words: 4488
Source: SMH
Publication: Sydney Morning Herald
Section: Good Weekend
Page: 10
Her uncompromising opinions and confrontational style have made Sophie Mirabella the new poster girl for the Liberals' hard right, but her rise risks being overshadowed by a row with her former lover's family. Fenella Souter meets her.Sophie mirabella looks harried.
She bustles up the stairs of the Greek Orthodox church in South Melbourne for an Orthodox Good Friday service with the pained look of a woman with too much on her plate, two small children to wrangle, an agenda not going quite to plan, and possibly a scandal still to be faced down. She's running behind schedule and by the time her party has swept into the courtyard, most of the congregation is inside.
Mirabella, eager to introduce her daughters to Greek Easter, had rushed away from our interview an hour earlier to "make sure the girls are ready". The scale of the task is now apparent. The little girls are turned out as splendidly as Velazquez infantas - their pretty blonde and ginger locks flowing, 21-month-old Katerina dazzling in a dress of cream taffeta, sturdy 3 1/2-year-old Alexandra in green. Both wear smart little dark-blue velvet boleros and - since it's never too soon for the Liberal Party's sorority accessory - pearls.
Mirabella, 43, has on a black suit, silky blouse and low heels. Her hair is swept into a smooth bob; her wide, elastic mouth freshly crimsoned. Compared to the collection of small, working-class Greeks who filed in earlier, the triptych of Mirabellas has the glossy look of minor European royalty, if not the unflappable demeanour. Herding one of the children is an unsmiling woman with a scrubbed face and a wiry grey bun pulled tight on her head, her thin frame hung with the shapeless black garments and flat shoes of a village widow. This, surprisingly, turns out to be Sophie Mirabella's mother, Barbara.
The tableau captures the two worlds of Sophie Mirabella (nee Panopoulos): the modest, milk-bar-migrant sphere of her childhood and the blue-
ribbon universe she has struggled her way into, relying on brains, a spiky refusal to be thwarted and a clamorous allegiance to the driest of politics.
Elected as federal MP for the north-east Victorian seat of Indi in 2001, she sat on the backbench for six years under John Howard, loyal but unanointed. In 2009, after a year in an outer ministry, she was appointed shadow minister for industry, innovation and science. Mirabella's stroke of great good fortune has been a shift of power within the Liberal Party: now in the ascendancy is a NSW-spawned species of hard-line social conservatives whose politics fit with hers.
"Mirabella has been loyal to the social-conservative right of the Liberal Party," says Monash University political scientist Nick Economou, "and the leading light of that group is Tony Abbott. She's been rewarded."
She diligently pursues all the party's usual suspects - climate change, carbon tax, mining tax, refugees, welfare, gay marriage, hijabs - but her other trademark is the caustic, confrontational manner she slips into as easily as a Greek colonel into a coup. Her public reputation is as an inveterate scrapper, whether she's hectoring some hapless opponent on Q&A, smiling all the while, or piercing an ALP jugular across the parliamentary floor.
Says prominent Liberal MP Christopher Pyne, who first knew her through student politics, "Sophie hasn't changed much. She's always been hard at the ball. She takes the fight right up to the Labor Party ... and she's loathed by them." Mirabella was one of only five Liberals who stayed away from Parliament in 2008 during the national apology to the stolen generation, declaring she didn't like being cornered by Kevin Rudd and wasn't convinced any Aboriginal children had been "stolen" from her state of Victoria. Between March and August last year, in the space of 36 parliamentary sitting days, she was ejected from the House five times. In October she was unable to vote against the carbon tax she has so stridently opposed because of a 24-hour suspension for defying the Speaker. It was, she says, "unfortunate".
"I had a chat to Tony and he was pretty good about it," she tells Good Weekend, her lipsticked mouth shaping one of the perfect, velvety red Os it can form in an assortment of sizes. Tony Abbott says his recollection is that "she didn't miss any particularly important vote because of that suspension".
Early last year, Mirabella accused Julia Gillard of being "as deluded as Colonel Gaddafi" when it came to the popular view of the carbon tax. In June 2008, she made a reference to Gillard's childlessness - saying Gillard wouldn't be needing Rudd's "taxpayer-funded nanny" - but was outraged the next day when then Labor MP Belinda Neal, on the receiving end of a remark by Mirabella about being a "man-hater", muttered in Parliament that the pregnant Mirabella's "evil thoughts" would make her child "a demon" (a comment made more offensive, one imagines, if you happen to believe in demonic possession).
Back in 2005, Mirabella famously hurled the term "political terrorists" across the party room at Petro Georgiou and fellow moderate Liberals when they threatened to cross the floor over Howard's mandatory-detention policies. In 2010, she called Malcolm Fraser a "frothing-at-the-mouth leftie" for questioning the so-called war on terror. In February, she told colleague Bill Heffernan to "pop his Alzheimer's pills".
Yet Mirabella insists she distinguishes between "attacking the personal and the political". It's why she doesn't find the bearpit of Parliament brutalising: "Over time I've learnt to distinguish between the people and the issue. The strongest feeling I would have [for someone else in politics] is contempt, because you see people, day after day, their human frailties, their insecurities, the twitch of their eye or the shake of their hand, so it's far more humanising than people think. So at worst I might think they're weak and spineless."
Those who dislike her politics and her style are blunt: comments range from "a truly appalling woman" and "sneering, rude, nasty" to "relentlessly aggressive" and "totally lacking in human empathy". Zuvele Leschen, the ALP candidate in Mirabella's blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Indi at the 2007 and 2010 federal polls, says of her, "She seems incapable of common decency. She can't put aside politics long enough to have a human conversation. All the other local MPs, Nationals or Liberals, past and present, there's no difficulty talking to them, no difficulty sitting down for a coffee or ringing their office and asking if they can chase things up. I do that to Sophie's [office], too, but I just get a very different kind of response when she's involved."
Her supporters favour terms like "committed", "fearless", "vibrant", "true to herself" and "passionate". She describes herself as passionate, Abbott describes her as passionate, and when NSW MP and fellow hardliner Scott Morrison rings Good Weekend unsolicited to praise Mirabella, he gives the word a bruising workout, reaching for it 10 times in 13 minutes. He says Mirabella "cops a lot of abuse" - they swap hate mail - and speaks highly of her ability in her shadow portfolio, working hard behind the scenes. "She has got herself into every boardroom, every factory floor, every small business she could ..." Abbott, who regards her as a friend as well as a colleague, concurs: "She's done a really good job in the industry portfolio, which is not typically a 'women's' portfolio. It's at the interface of economic theory and practice and she's done extremely well."
Before she agrees to an interview, Sophie Mirabella wants to meet for an off-the-record "chat". We go to an unassuming cafe in Port Melbourne, where, trying to lose weight, she orders the burger with bacon, egg and cheese, hold the bun and chips. She is short, with rounded limbs and neat little starfish hands, nails worn down to the quick. Her skin is fine, her eyes dark. She is more attractive than she often appears in photos, as well as more pleasant company than her public persona suggests.
Mirabella is wary because of the story that ran in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald last September, revealing her relationship with the late Colin Howard, distinguished law professor, and the circumstances surrounding his will,
in which the father of two adult children and
five grandchildren, and a man suffering from Alzheimer's, left his entire estate to Mirabella. His children say he also gave her more than $100,000 to help her get elected to Indi in 2001.
At lunch, Mirabella gives nothing away but cries when the subject of Colin Howard comes up. It seems she is prepared, reluctantly, to correct some aspects of a story she calls "gutter journalism".
We meet the next day and begin with the milder subject of her background. Mirabella's parents left their rural Greek village in 1956 to come to Australia as economic migrants. Settling in South Melbourne, they worked for 20 years in factories. Her mother, married at 16, worked shifts at Kraft (the Panopouloses may be one of the few migrant families convinced of the health benefits of Vegemite). Her father, Peter, who died in 2004, eventually scraped together the money to buy a milk bar at Laverton, in south-west Melbourne. Sophie worked there regularly on weekends and during the holidays.
"I had a great choice: do you want to do housework or work in a milk bar? I'd be left there at the age of 12 to run the milk bar by myself if my
father needed to go and do something." She
absorbed the individualist work ethic early on. "If you want something, you've got to do it. No one is going to do it for you. That's what I grew up with."
Yet for all her admiring remarks about her
parents' by-the-bootstraps pragmatism, Mirabella gives the impression - a tendency to teariness, the furious emotions, the knee-jerk defensiveness - of a child who had to learn to toughen up. A more fragile, uncertain self seems to dwell fretfully below the belligerent public image (friends insist a more caring self lives there, too). Later she tells me that when she was dux of her final year of high school, her father gave her a quick hug and said, "Now you have to complete the degree." "I was like, 'Yeah, right, can you be a bit more enthusiastic?'"
She won't agree that it's the kind of parental attitude that can lead to a lifetime of approval-seeking. "No, it's a reality check," she says crisply. "You're only as good as your next gig."
Either way, she was a precocious child. At 12, planning a career as a barrister, she decided that Albert Park High School was not sufficiently
academic. "So I opened up the Melways, found where we lived and thought, 'I can't travel too far, it's got to be on these two pages.' I did some research about private schools and I enrolled myself in a couple. I was really offended when I got a phone call from St Catherine's saying, 'Do your parents know about this?'"
She was accepted into St Catherine's, Toorak, a tony school she insists was "more diverse" than Albert Park, which was almost "monocultural" because 75 per cent of the kids were from non-English-speaking backgrounds.
At 13, a curious Sophie Panopoulos borrowed a book from the school library called "something like A Beginner's Guide to Communism". Marx and Engels didn't take, however, and Ayn Rand won the day. Her elder brother, Mario, now an economist, had already embraced conservative politics and her parents, while not political, she insists, were very socially conservative.
"I started off as a socialist and sort of progressed, so by the time I finished school I was still the same person, a rugged individual. I appreciated the impracticalities of socialism and the strength of individuals, whether it's to build an economy or make choices about their lives."
After St Catherine's, it was on to law at ivy-clad Melbourne University, where she cut a memorable figure on campus as a student activist, president of the Melbourne University Liberal Club and vice-president of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation, and was very vocal about issues like voluntary student unionism as well as more
out-there causes. Journalist David Marr recalls Panopoulos enthusiastically arguing for the abolition of the United Nations during, he believes, a 1988 campaign for constitutional reform. "I think she was exercised by how dreadful any kind of rights regime is," he says drily. "I vividly remember how beautiful and dynamic and nuts she was." (Mirabella says she doesn't recall the occasion.) In the late '90s, she was admitted to the Victorian bar.
Despite this textbook rise - and this hunger, perhaps, to fit in - her natural home was not to be within the bosom of the elite Melbourne Liberal establishment. Says Labor Senator David Feeney, who knew her as a student from the other side of campus politics, "The Liberal establishment in Victoria has never owned Sophie. She has always run with a different herd: the Abbott/[Bronwyn] Bishop hard-right group, which is mostly a NSW phenomenon ..." She's also from the wrong side of the class divide? "There's a bit of that, but I think her failure to crack that crowd was complex. She is a very confrontational and aggressive partisan politician and she rubs people, people within her own party, up the wrong way."
Still, it was on the back of that quintessentially establishment figure, the Queen, that Panopoulos first rode into view. She burst into the public arena in the 1990s as an unlikely champion of the constitutional monarchy in the republican debate. Says Monash's Nick Economou, "She got noticed because she didn't conform to the stereo-typical monarchist ... [people like] Kerry Jones, rolling through the north screaming about government conspiracies, or David Flint, longing for the good old days when Charles I was on the throne. Here was this young, good-looking woman who looked like she ought to have been a republican."
Shoulder to shoulder with her at the 1998 Constitutional Convention in Canberra was Colin Howard, a debonair Englishman who had previously been a dean and professor of law at Melbourne University. He was also a QC and a noted constitutional lawyer who had served as adviser to the Whitlam government during the dismissal in 1975.
Panopoulos and Howard met in 1994, when she was 26, and became involved the following year. Few people, not even Panopoulos's parents, knew that she and Howard, 40 years her senior, were lovers and living together. There was a degree of subterfuge involved in keeping it that way. For example, she co-signed a lease on a flat with Howard's daughter, Lesley, with whom she was friendly, to provide another address. For a political conservative, it was a surprisingly unconventional relationship.
By all accounts, Howard was besotted with Panopoulos and proud of her. In a letter to his son, Mervyn, in 2000, he described her as starting out as a "brave but stranded young political fringe dweller" who, with a "touch of political genius", had become a "Liberal legend". "As she said to me the other day," he wrote, "if she wins this election [for Indi in 2001], she is made for life."
Colin Howard is said to have told his children that to help her win, in the face of some internal opposition to her preselection, he gave her more than $100,000 in the lead-up to and during the campaign. Mirabella denies this. (Other substantial funding came from a small, Mirabella-focused group called Friends of Indi, which passed on a $15,000 donation from British American Tobacco, a donation Mirabella was slow in declaring and that arrived six months before BAT closed
tobacco-growing operations in the electorate. BAT's withdrawal had faced opposition from local growers but Mirabella helped drive a settlement.)
In 1997, colin howard had made a new
will naming Panopoulos executor and sole beneficiary of an estate that is now worth more than $1 million, and the will remained unchanged after their relationship waned in 2002. Panopoulos had moved to Wangaratta after her election victory and was seeing other people; the job she was to have given Colin in her electoral office didn't eventuate. They remained friendly, however, and stayed in touch.
In 2008, Howard was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's, the early symptoms of which had become apparent perhaps as early as 2004. In 2006, Panopoulos married Greg Mirabella, and
at Christmas that year Howard told his son, Mervyn, he had given the couple a large sum of money - believed to be in the tens of thousands - to help them buy a farmhouse in Wangaratta for $695,000.
In early January 2007, Mervyn wrote and questioned Mirabella, pointedly but civilly, about the appropriateness of the Mirabellas accepting such a gift, worried that it was eating into his father's source of future income. A UK-based fund manager, Mervyn made it clear he "had no need of Colin's money". Mirabella fired off a scorching reply, which read in part, "The words you have chosen are both incorrect and insulting. I do not expect that you ever did or ever will understand Colin's relationship with me." She said she had not "solicited" any gift, nor did she believe the money came from his capital resources. Within days, Mirabella travelled to Melbourne and she and Howard went to have documents witnessed that assigned her power of attorney and enduring guardianship.
Relations with the children deteriorated. In March 2007, Colin Howard sent a letter to Mervyn breaking off all contact. The letter was typed above his signature, now grown quite childlike. An extract: "No one who has had the misfortune of seeing any of your recent explosions into vindictive hypocrisy would ordinarily risk seeing another. But I am not writing on behalf of myself. I am writing to correct an obvious and indefensible injustice to another ... Any further such correspondence to Sophie or me will be ignored. I wish never to hear from you again, on any excuse at all."
The Age and Herald have sighted letters, "warm, loving and intimate", over the previous decade that show how out of character the correspondence was. Howard was said to adore his son.
Howard began spending time away from Melbourne and told his daughter Lesley, with whom he dined regularly, that he'd "promised his new friends not to say where he was". Later, he disappeared altogether. Much later, in September 2008, after Mirabella called Lesley to tell her Colin had been hurt in a fall and was in intensive care, the children learnt he had been living in a farmhouse on the Mirabellas' Wangaratta property, 400 metres from their house. Greg Mirabella had been caring for him, visiting during the day.
After his official diagnosis of Alzheimer's later in 2008, Howard was placed in a home. Mervyn Howard visited and says his father, somewhat confused, was pleased to see him: "It was very
emotional. He thanked me for finding him." Colin Howard died in September last year, aged 83.
Mirabella had engaged lawyers earlier in 2010, after the Howard children had again queried matters. Wrote Mirabella, "I have been advised that family members sometimes feel that they have a right to ask about a parent's affairs but in fact they have no formal legal right to do so." The year before he died, Howard's affairs were put in the hands of the State Trustee and a public guardian. There are now confidential proceedings before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Mervyn and Lesley Howard say they want to pursue all avenues to discover details of their father's later years. They have also said that if they were to contest the will and win, any money will be donated to a charity or foundation.
If Mirabella did receive $100,000-plus in election contributions from Howard, the issue of whether she breached the Electoral Act by not disclosing it remains unresolved, partly because the Australian Electoral Commission has a three-year limit on investigating such matters. Mirabella has said simply that "all declarable items have been declared".
Mirabella falls unusually quiet when we turn to the subject of Colin Howard. She gives clipped "yes" and "no" answers or delivers a kind of steel-tipped, head-girl stare. She and Howard met, she allows, at a conference. No, she didn't know him at university. What attracted her? "Colin was a fiercely independent intellect, disarmingly honest whilst being an absolute gentleman. He was a very easy man to admire and to love."
Referring mainly to The Age/Herald story, she had told me earlier not to "believe everything you read in the papers". Now she seems reluctant to support the charge. "Oh look, there are matters subject to legal proceedings. Secondly, I wouldn't stoop to ... even respond to some issues."
Isn't she concerned that people might draw certain unfortunate conclusions, about the age difference and so on, unless she gives her version? "People have relationships where there are age differences. It's not unusual. These age differences can be tragic because obviously one person is not going to be around ... but it's really ... it's still quite ... I'm still coming to ..." Her eyes well with tears and her voice grows unsteady. "I'm still grieving so I'm not really ready to ..."
Having said the story was misleading, however, could she at least suggest which parts she meant?
"I'm a public figure, I can understand an interest in the lives of public figures, but it is appropriate at times to draw the line," she says evenly. But later she can't help erupting: "Colin deserved better than a gutter journalist hiding behind tombstones at his funeral." (For the record, senior Age journalist Michael Bachelard, who wrote the Mirabella piece, wasn't at the funeral.)
One of the people on Mirabella's suggested list of colleagues and friends to contact is Susan Bruce, a former John Howard staffer and now private secretary to NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell. Susan Bruce and Mirabella met at university, where Mirabella struck her as "one of the smartest girls I knew", and they have remained friends. Bruce seems happy to talk about some aspects of Mirabella's relationship with Colin Howard - she sometimes stayed with the couple at Howard's terrace house in Carlton. This is the house Howard bequeathed to Mirabella, along with some $38,000 in cash, plus furniture and personal effects.
"It was a very private relationship," Bruce says, "but having said that, they were obviously a very committed and loving couple." They shared a strong intellectual connection, she says, as well as a physical relationship. "They were totally relaxed in each other's company. Sophie is a very lovely, affectionate person and takes care of the people that she loves and that was quite apparent ... A lot of boys her age were either intimidated or no match. Here was this man who wasn't afraid to take her on and have these heated and passionate intellectual conversations."
Can Bruce see how the matter of the 40-year age gap, a will that disinherits two children, and a man with Alzheimer's being cared for in a remote farmhouse by the will's beneficiaries, might be read?
"What you read in the paper isn't always the truth," she says, echoing Mirabella's words. Which parts are untrue? "That sense that this is something that Sophie drove. To me, it doesn't do justice to the relationship the two of them shared."
Does she think the bequest came as a surprise to Mirabella, or had her friend known about it since the will in 1997?
"My understanding is that she didn't know about it at the time and found out about it much further down the track ... I guess it's just been a fact for so long I can't really comment on it."
on a brilliant winter's day in june 2006, Bruce was one of the bridesmaids at the marriage of Sophie Panopoulos
to Lieutenant-Colonel Greg Mirabella in Wangaratta's Anglican cathedral. Liberal Party luminaries like Tony Abbott and Bronwyn Bishop were among the guests. So was Colin Howard.
Mirabella seems rather surprised, and pleased, to find herself with a husband and two small children in her 40s. (Greg Mirabella also has two teenage daughters from a previous relationship, one of whom lives with the couple.) Mirabella's mother moved in for two years when the first baby was born and for some time after the second arrived, for which Mirabella is grateful while also rolling her eyes at the memory.
Greg Mirabella resigned his commission so his wife could manage her parliamentary work and is now the girls' primary carer, helped by an au pair five days a week. Sophie tries to get home between parliamentary sittings, "even if it's just for a day".
When I suggest that her public image is of someone very socially conservative, she says sharply, "Yeah, very socially conservative and who's got her husband looking after the children!" Earlier, Mirabella had summed up her ideology thus: "I'm an individualist free marketeer who believes the best unit in society is a strong family." Yet such are the realities of political life and parenthood that Mirabella gets to spend little time with the children she adores.
For that matter, she's a "realistic" free marketeer, which seems to mean that sometimes she's not one. She presides over an electorate with both agricultural and manufacturing interests. In January, it was Mirabella who urged the Coalition to rethink its plan to cut subsidies to the car industry by $500 million. In early 2007, she supported the Howard government's $16.8-million package to buy out tobacco growers in the Wangaratta/Wodonga region when British American Tobacco wanted to shift its operations overseas. The government money boosted a $10-million buy-out package offered by BAT and saved the multi-
national corporation $30 million on a new two-year contract with growers.
in the south melbourne church, mirabella's
little daughters soon grow restless as the chanting drones on. Alexandra takes to swinging athletically off the back of a pew. Mirabella looks furious, or perhaps it's disappointed. As we leave, she thrusts the littlest one into Greg Mirabella's arms at the door of the church and again seems on the brink of tears. Perhaps it's all been too much: the Colin Howard matter, one of her junior staffers making headlines for spending $906 on a taxi from Wodonga to Melbourne because he "didn't do buses", plus the usual exhausting juggle of work and family and, in her case, politicking.
Still, the future looks assured. "She's going to make a very good minister for industry in the next Coalition cabinet," Abbott declares to Good Weekend. Her rise beyond that is anyone's guess. Party leader? Prime minister?
"I can't see her going that far," Nick Economou hazards, while acknowledging she's good on her feet. What's going to stop her? "Probably Scott Morrison, someone from NSW. They hold the whip hand at the moment." Or will it be Mirabella herself who proves the obstacle?
"I think it's, 'Watch this space'," says one Liberal Party member. "She's so mercurial, that might get her into trouble. Will she end up like Margaret Thatcher, or will she be like other people who have spun up like fireworks and crashed? It will be interesting to see, because for certain she ain't no Mother Teresa."
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The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which had been called "more dangerous than SOPA," at one point had support from many governments around the world, including the U.S., the UK and Japan. For this, back in January, 22 European Union states, and the EU itself, signed the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) treaty. But a strong public movement against ACTA, a law that can lead to severe restrictions on freedom and civil liberties on the Internet, raised the awareness of its dangers. After some governments decided not to ratify the agreement, members of the European Parliament finally rejected the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement on Wednesday.
This was the first time where the European Parliament exercised its Lisbon Treaty power to reject an international trade agreement. Beyond the EU and 22 of its member countries, eight other countries – the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea – signed the ACTA agreement. But, lobbying against ACTA was high. The European Parliament even received a petition which was signed by almost 3 million people asking for the agreement to be rejected. The final vote in the European Parliament was actually one-sided. 478 MEPs voted against ACTA, 39 MEPs voted in favor of ACTA and 165 MEPs abstained to vote.
The MEP supporters had mentioned that ACTA was needed to standardize the different national laws that protect the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion goods and other products and often fall victim to piracy and intellectual property theft. But on the other side, opponents feared the treaty would lead to censorship and snooping on the Internet activities of ordinary citizens. Alex Wilks, who directed the anti-ACTA campaign for the advocacy group Avaaz, said that the agreement would have permitted private companies to spy on the activities of Internet users and would have allowed users to be disconnected without due process. In addition Wilks said that the agreement did not properly balance the rights of private citizens and those of copyright holders/companies, though their ranks also include individual authors and musicians of modest means.
Jim Killock, executive director of the UK's Open Rights Group (ORG), said, "This is a tremendous victory for the movement, for democracy and for every European citizen that has demanded that their rights be respected."
Source : Europa Press
Thanks To : National Post, ZDNet
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The Religion of supporting Arsenal – From Jerusalem to Mecca to Toronto!!
Today I am delighted to welcome Adam Carter for some 'Global Gooner Passion' from Toronto Canada. Slightly different as Adam is an "Englishman abroad' but equally interesting.
Being a Gooner is no different to being part of any of the globe's major religions. We give ourselves over to godly creatures we can't touch or control, we argue insentiently within our own people about the right way to move our religion forward, we tolerate other religions out there while thinking they are wrong, and we all pray for the salvation that is Arsenal being successful.
And in the same way that a Jew in the Old City of Jerusalem or a Muslim in the heart of Mecca, gain greater spirituality from proximity to their most sacred sites, you would think it'd be easy or natural to drift from the Gooner religion the further away from North London you get.
But nothing could be further from the truth, and I should know!
As a 32 year old Gooner I've experienced both sides, the side where I went home and away every game and laughed off the opinions of others that don't attend (how arrogant was I!), to the last 4 years as a Gooner in exile, living with my young family in Toronto, Canada, where at times I've had to hold my cell phone up against the window of my office to get enough reception to reload my twitter feed during a champions league game. If nothing else, living further away requires greater reserves of ingenuity, deception, and commitment to get your fix, but I'll get to this later.
And that's why when the chance to share the experience of being a Gooner in Canada was offered, I felt obliged to offer up a blog post. And in so doing, I hope to bring you the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a Canadian Gooner
There is so much football on Canadian TV that it's very rare that Arsenal are not on live, and for those times that they are not, the specialty sport channels tend to stream the games for free on their associated websites. Often when I have guests from the UK staying, they can't believe we have 4 of the 3pm Saturday games live across the different channels.
We have a dedicated pub here in Toronto called the Fox and Fiddle, and if you are ever in town when a game is on, it's a must visit. Atmosphere is good, food and booze equally, and you get a real sense of being in a boozer back home. There are other "Arsenal" pubs across Canada and the official website posted pictures from a couple of these of fans celebrating our cup final win. There is an Arsenal Canada website (www.arsenalcanada.ca) which runs fantasy competitions for prizes (jerseys and such) and does a good job of uniting us across Canada (which as the second largest country in the world is no easy feat)
Weekend games are on nice and early in the morning, which means you can get your fill and still be the family man your wife wants you to be (although I have spent many a morning at the Zoo, Aquarium, or Canada's Wonderland frantically updating twitter to keep up to date with the score) It also justifies drinking at 7.45 in the morning, which is actually frowned upon in North America. While that is all positive, it should be noted that for those on the west coast of Canada, games often start at 4.45am which may not seem as great as it does for us!
Craig Forrest! Seriously, Craig bloody Forrest!! The Canadian equivalent of the FA (called the CSA) has been around since 1912 and the best player they've produced, and thus who we have to suffer as the main TV pundit, is Craig Forrest. For those too young to remember, he's the bloke who conceded 9 goals at Old Trafford while playing for Ipswich. More recently the main channel here (Rogers Sportsnet) added Danny Dichio which has improved the standard of punditry but he's no Gary Neville. I laugh when people back home complain about Shearer, Hanson etc – you don't know how good you've got it!
So I mentioned that there is lots of football on TV which is great, but the fact you have to sell one of your kidneys to afford the subscription is decidedly less so. There are 4 channels, each with their own subscription fee and with no guarantee that the boys will be on any one of them more/less, you kinda have to pay for all of them. Its fine, not every one of my kids needs to go to college right?
You have to deal with the butchering of everything we hold sacred, in that way only North American's (bless them) can. The Premier League for a long time was known as the BPL (with sports casters unable to decide if this is for Barclays Premier League or British Premier League), a red card can sometimes be referred to as a game misconduct penalty, and penalties are known as PKs. I love following @usasoccerguy on twitter, in part because the way he talks about football is actually reflective of people here (FYI – I know he is on the wind up)
You don't find that many likeminded fans when you're out and about. Ice hockey is king in this part of the world, and thus a sport that involves actual skill and where the vast majority of players have a full set of teeth doesn't seem to appeal. What you do get is a lot of people who have no idea, or those who think they do but don't. Lot's of "I'm a Red Devils" fan. Erm, no you are not…just because you liked "bend it like Beckham" does not make you a fan. Of course, there are many genuine football fans here (both Canadian and ex-pat) but it's hard to find that real, honest banter in the office after a big game on the weekend. We beat Spurs three times this year and each time I had no one to brag about it to the following Monday!!
By far the ugliest part of being a Canadian Gooner is the effort I must take to watch champions league games (something of course our dear Tottenham supporting friends are spared) and other week day games (thank goodness we don't play on Thursdays!). Owing to the fact the games are on at 2.45pm (the worst time in that it's too late for lunch and too early for the work day to be done), as I've alluded to, my ingenuity and deception has been tested to the limit in pursuit of watching the boys. This is of course where our friends out west get pay back, as games there are on at 11.45am/12.45pm meaning they can make a nice work lunch out of it!
Some examples of what I've done to watch midweek games include:
- Working from home – amazing if you can do it, but on a random Tuesday it's hard to sell. My boss right now thinks my kids have a really poor immune system
- Setting up meetings with myself from 2.30-4.30 so I look like I'm busy in my calendar. This allows me to either book a meeting room to follow the game or get over to the pub to watch it.
- Trying to get into work early so as to have more of an excuse to leave by 2.30pm. Rarely works owning to the fact I sleep through my alarm
If I really can't get out, I must resort to some expert yoga poses in my office in a desperate hope to get reception (I work in an old building) to update my twitter feed on my phone. Note when Ramsey scored against Dortmund I cheered so loudly the entire office turned around.
And speaking of twitter, what a truly awful place to watch a football match that is, but to get the fastest updates it's the only place to be. I'm sure other exiled Gooners can relate, but why why why can't people be more specific with their updates! Tweets like "Giroud!!" tend to mean goal, but can also mean "missed a five yard sitter". I "watched" the penalty shoot out against West Brom on twitter and it was impossible to tell who scored, missed, or what the score was.
So there you have it, the life of being a Gooner in Canada. Jokes aside, Canada is an amazing country, with everything you could want for your life and where people are extremely friendly (you have to be when it gets to -40C outside). And thankfully, Canadian's take pride in their religious tolerance which allows me to openly display my Gooner side, even if most people have no idea what that is!!
Thanks Adam. Top stuff and you can follow him at @adamcarter05 as I know he would love to widen his twitter base. And here he is but don;t let it put you off!
Agree/disagree? Leave a comment below or follow me or comment on this blog on Twitter – http://twitter.com/goonerdave66
Please also check out the website for the new tribute book to Geordie Armstrong available to pre-order now


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Football Friday: Episode IIJune 20, 2008
Time now for Episode II of Football Friday. As promised in Episode I, I will be going over the NFC this time around. But, first, my rants regarding the NFL...
Nope, couldn't do it, couldn't go a whole week without an NFL player getting arrested. Daren Stone, a safety for the Falcons, was arrested for DUI. I think it's getting to the point where the league should require the players to hand in their drivers licenses until they are no longer in the league. Again, I will say this again to all the NFL players, "YOU CAN AFFORD TO HIRE A DRIVER!!". If you are an NFL player reading this and don't understand what I mean, please send me an email and I will explain it to you free of charge.
J.J. Arrington, arrested for disorderly conduct for being in a fight in a night club. Hey, it's cool if you want to go out, have a few drinks, hang out, whatever, but, getting into a fight? Come on, give me a break. Unless it's self defense, there's no excuse.
Speaking of having a bad time at the club, Javon Walker apparently ran into the wrong people in Las Vegas. The Raiders hope that the mugging that he received in Vegas will not be repeated on the field by a band of nasty corner backs.
Ok, who was puckered up when they heard T.O. didn't show up to a mandatory Cowboys camp? He was excused. However, that part seems to have been missed or wasn't revealed when the news broke.
To end the rant, looks like Pacman Jones gets a double whammy this week. First, the woman who was involved in the fracas in Vegas with Jones was found dead in New York and now it looks like Mr. Jones' house is in foreclosure. Hey Pacman, remember all of those hundred dollar bills you were throwing at the strippers in Vegas? Maybe you should have used those to pay your house note?
Now to my NFC review.
NFC West:
St. Louis Rams - A 3-10 team last season that drafted DE Chris Long and Rams fans hope that he will have some impact sooner rather than later. The Rams have a ways to go before being a challenge for the rest of the teams in the NFL.
49ers - I just don't know where to start with this team. The quarterback position is a huge question and I wasn't really impressed with their draft picks either. Running the ball seems to be a problem too, so, I have to say, 2008 isn't going to be their season either.
Seattle Seahawks - Shaun Alexander is gone. He wasn't really there the last 2 seasons anyway, so I'm not sure if he will be missed. Although to be fair, he was hurt and I don't think his foot was completely healed (no pun intended) when he came back. The Seahawks can win the division again as long as they can keep Arizona from emerging as a threat. I think Seattle will have to win both games against Arizona this year in order for them to take the West.
Arizona Cardinals - 8-8 last year, not bad for the Cardinals. Then they go and draft Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in hopes that lightning will strike twice (Pun intended) in the Cromartie family. Arizona has a good chance of pulling a Wild Card birth if Cromartie performs like his cousin did for San Diego last year, but, I don't see a rookie corner back doing that right away in the NFL.
NFC North:
Green Bay Packers - Well, Brett Favre finally said goodbye to the NFL and all those crazy playoff interceptions. See you in the Hall of Fame in 5 years Brett. Aaron Rodgers, hey man, no pressure. The Packers will have a hard time repeating last seasons 13 win performance. Nothing against the Packers, it's just not going to be 'easy' this season.
Vikings - Adrian Peterson, wow, is all I can say. He stays healthy, Vikings have a chance at the playoffs this season. They do need QB Jackson to step up his game though to help take the burden off of Peterson. Hopefully their drafting of DB Tyrell Johnson will improve on the 32nd ranked pass defense, if not, the playoffs just might elude the Vikings again this season.
Detroit Lions - What is Jon Kitna's prediction this year for the Lions? If he's smart, he won't say how many wins this time around. Matt Milen didn't draft a wide receiver until the 5th round this year, yay! Lions won't be in the playoffs this year though, sorry.
Chicago Bears - 12 drafts picks, not one quarter back picked. Chargers had Michael Turner, you need a running back and no trade was made. The Falcons have Turner now. Then Cedric Benson forgot that the Bears drafted a running back early in the second round and decides that he can drink and drive on land and water. It's going to be a long cold winter in Chicago. Oh yea, Urlacher is mad too.
NFC South:
Tampa Bay - Maybe Tampa will win the division again, maybe they won't. This is another team that should be good, but, is just only o.k. Lucky for them the Saints had some jinx show itself and that Carolina kept getting quarterbacks hurt. I don't see much improvement from last year unless their draft picks can make an instant impact.
Carolina Panthers - It was nice seeing an 80s quarterback play in 2007. Vinnie did an alright job, but, the Panthers problems were beyond him being able to help. This isn't a bad team over all, they need a solid, consistent leader though or they won't make the playoffs this year either.
New Orleans Saints - Dang, what happened guys? The thought of having to perform to the level you did the season before get to you? Drew Brees was doing all he could to keep the team from missing the playoffs, it's just too bad the Saints defense didn't feel the same. Step it up on defense this year and I don't see why the Saints should not be in the playoffs.
Atlanta Falcons - Well, they got Michael Turner which was a good move. They drafted QB Matt Ryan in the 1st round and then drafted OT Sam Baker also in the 1st round. I think Baker is going to help before we see Ryan helping. This is not the Falcons year, though I think they will show some improvement as long as their head coach doesn't decided to abandon them again.
NFC East:
Eagles - Will he stay or will he go? I say keep McNabb, he's a good quarterback, but, needs to stay healthy. He stays healthy all of 2007, it's the Eagles in the playoffs and not the Redskins. Time will tell though on their draft picks, nobody really sticks out as an immediate impact player.
Redskins - I'm sorry, but I feel that they fell backwards into the playoffs last year. Great end to a tragic season for the 'Skins, but I'm not sure rookie coach Jim Zorn will send this team to the next level. If Jason Campbell can come out firing, they just might sneak back into the playoffs this season.
Dallas Cowboys - Romo is married, T.O. is still there, Pacman Jones is now there and they have a not so intimidating schedule for 2008. They should be fine this year barring any injuries or strip club incidents.
New York Giants - Is Tiki Barber still kicking himself? The champs will not be champs again this season. They will be good, they play with fire and I like that. If Eli doesn't go back to the Old Eli, they should go deep in the playoffs again, but, I just don't think they will get to the big one. Strahan is gone now, which should not be a huge overall loss. They have a good defensive front, so that will minimize the impact of Strahan's retirement.
That's it for my NFC assessment. Next weeks Football Friday, I will give my predictions for the coming 2008 season.
Thanks for reading.


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Manuals and DVDs
20m Shuttle Run Test
The 20m Shuttle Run Test is one of the best methods for testing aerobic fitness and is suitable for athletes in active training, coaches with large groups to teach and people exercising to improve general well-being. It contains scores which have been obtained by a wide range of groups of children and adults. All you require is a CD player and two markers placed 20 metres apart. On the CD it is possible to repeat individual tracks quickly and with great precision. It also contains additional tracks for performing constant paced interval training and a sub-maximal aerobic test. 1997 | CD
Beginning Coaching Manual
Beginning Coaching targets the beginner coach with a focus on the 'soft skills' of coaching including: group management, communication, risk management, planning and ethical responsibilities of the coach. Inclusive practices have been emphasised throughout the manual, so that coaches are better able to apply information on how to work with specific population groups such as athletes with a disability and indigenous athletes. Current information regarding ethical issues such as child protection, drugs in sport and working with officials/coaches and parents are included. Information in each chapter is more 'reader friendly', incorporating a range of case studies to demonstrate how to apply theoretical concepts, and 'tips' to summarise key 'take home' points. 2006 | 4th edition paperback A4 144pp
Intermediate Coaching Manual
Intermediate Coaching is for the coach that has moved beyond the beginner level of coaching and wants to improve their skills and knowledge to improve athlete performance. The manual supports the Intermediate Coaching General Principles and includes a simple introduction to sport science concepts and the essential coaching skills of planning, management, safety, learning and teaching processes and individualisation. The manual is written in an applied manner with a range of case studies and examples that will assist coaches in their understanding of the principles outlined. 2008
Better Coaching Manual
This second edition of Better Coaching reflects the changes in sport since the first edition, showing the increasing focus on legal, ethical and behavioural issues in sport and including new information on drugs, and information technology in sport. The first section covers the roles and responsibilities of modern coaches, their methods and management. The structure and function of the athlete is covered in section two. The third section discusses how performance can be improved with appropriate training principles and methods. The final section presents a holistic view of sport programs and the role of the coach. 2001 | Paperback A4 264pp
Mentor Training Manual
This manual has been produced by the Australian Sports Commission to develop and enhance the skills of mentors working with coaches and officials. Topics covered in the manual include the mentoring process, knowing your mentee, setting up the mentoring relationship, skills of mentoring, communication skills, and managing and resolving conflict.
Coaching Athletes with Disabilities
This manual provides general information about coaching athletes with a disability in an easy-to-read and informative format. It has been designed to highlight the commonality of coaching an athlete with a disability and able-bodied athletes and to provide specific strategies and techniques. The manual has been written specifically to help coaches who have sport-specific knowledge and experience to increase their understanding of the capabilities of athletes with a disability and the most appropriate coaching methods. 2005 (reprint) | Paperback A4 168pp
Coaching Juniors DVD
This DVD highlights some skills coaches of juniors can develop, including group management and communication, and issues coaches may face on game day.
Intermediate Coaching General Principles DVD
This DVD can be used in conjunction with the delivery of the Intermediate Coaching General Principles. It includes a series of short videos covering the following areas:
Skill acquisition - Decision-making and anticipation skills, along with implicit and explicit learning. Duration: 4.41 minutes
Sport pyschology - Goal setting and managing emotions. Duration: 3.42 minutes
Physiology - A basic introduction to the energy systems, componenents of fitness and principles of training. Duration: 4.18 minutes
Basic biomechanics - This video covers components of biomechanics that coaches need to apply to enhance performance, these include; motion, force, momentum, levers and balance. Duration: 3.49 minutes
Coaching processes - Meeting individual needs, problem solving and questioning, giving instructions and feedback. Duration: 4.25 minutes