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So now that Ant-Man has come out I think we can officially say Phase II is over and now that we are entering Phase III...its still blowing my mind how diverse the MCU is. I am watching Thor now as he is destroying the Bifrost and I can't help but think that's the same universe where Daredevil is. Two different settings but still in the same universe lol
In the comics Odin has command over vast amounts of magic and was even capable of taking on several big players in the Marvel Universe at the same time.Now based on what we have seen MCU Odin isn't near as powerful but still capable of stripping Thor of his powers and enchanting Mjnoljr with the Worthy restriction. Plus with everything else Asgard has it isnt really unlikely for him to use 'dark energy' to send Thor to Earth bit the strain may have weakened or even prematurely place him in the Odinsleep.It was mentioned briefly by Odin the Aether was capsble of taking on a crystalized form i would however like to know how they contained it. Its a minor plot hole and not really relevant to the big picture but i would like to know.So lets talk Spidey for a moment gang besides the Civil War appersnce what do you want to see. (If anyone elses says older Spidey Deadpool will Slater kill you lol) Personally I want to see Black Cat she is 10 years overdue an apperance and would be a great opportunity to explore with Spidey chasing her and constantly getting into trouble thanks to her bad luck ability.
For a stand alone Spidey film? I would like to see the Silver Sable make an appearance.... For the age maybe they are trying a Harry Potter approach? You know get the young Spidey so they can age him as the movies go?
They've made more casting announcements. Mr. Terrific has been cast in Arrow. Rumors flying about that Diggle's costume has similarities to The Guardian. The Flash is adding more speedsters, Zoom, Wally West, and Jay Garrick. Guggenheim debunked rumor that Green Lantern will appear on Arrow. Since I guess they announced a Green Lantern Corps movie. And Supergirl is adding Lucy Lane and possibly she will be in the role of Superwoman?
Rumos are flying that Rachel McAdams is a frontrunner to play the female lead in the Doctor Strange movie. There are two possibilities. The strong one being Clea, the daughter of Dormoruu (sp?) and the other being Morgana who was a writing a book about Doctor Strange. But, that character seems unlikely due to the minor subplot she was involved in and the fact she was involved with Doctor Strange's vampire brother Baron Blood.
It would make sense to use Clea and Dormammu in the film as he was a primary antagonist within the Doctor Strange comics. Wasn't Clea at one point an apprentice to Doctor Strange as well as lover? Plus, it would open up alot more possibilities for films down the road and events for the tv shows.On the DC side, rumors surfaced that Tyrese Gibson was in talks to join the Green Lantern Corps film. I just hope they do a proper Green Lantern suit, not the CGI one.
It was not revealed what Maria Hill divulged to Tony Stark when she went to work for him. And, it is doubtful that most of Coulson and his teams activities have not gone unnoticed either. Especially with the revealation about the Inhumans. It is entirely possible that Gonzales's S.H.I.E.L.D. 2.0 team could have reported information to Tony Stark. There are still those who were with Gonzales who are still around, Mockingbird for one.Black Panther might not side with Tony, he could see him as similar to Klue. Tony was responsible for events in Age of Ultron by creating Ultron. Black Panther could be the wild card sought by both sides.
Coming back to the discussion...So, it seems that Ant-Man is a success? If it truly is a good movie, then I must say that Marvel seems to be capable of doing wonders even with their bad properties.If so, I hereby issue a challenge - I want to see an MCU movie featuring these guys:Hey, if Marvel managed to make Ant-Man work..!
Hmmm. Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel McAdams. Yes, yes that works. :Kinda ironic that Cumberbatch played Sherlock while McAdams played Irina Adler in another version of Sherlock Holmes that starred RobertDowney Jr. LolSo now that Ant-Man is out its going to be till May 2016 we see the next movie in the MCU but we should have the Netflix series to hold us over in the meantime. So that said thoughts on the new Fantastic Four movie? No doubt Fox is going to push for sequels but I'm kinda curious as to what the FF movie rights include character wise outside of the main cast, Doom, Silver Surfer, and Galactus. Namor had a thing for Sue Storm but his movie rights are not included. Thoughts?
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Man who slaughtered family apologizes, avoids death in Indiana County
Police: Girl playing with Barbies was Lewis Beatty's first victim
Lewis Beatty could have faced the death penalty if a jury found him guilty of killing his 6- and 11-year-old daughters and his estranged wife.
Instead, the 41-year-old Indiana County man pleaded guilty Friday and was sentenced to three life prison terms -- one each for 6-year-old Sara and 11-year-old Amanda, and one for the girls' 33-year-old mother, Christine.
"This should have never happened," said Beatty, his voice quivering as if he was crying. "I'm very remorseful and I'm sorry."
Defense attorney Fred Hummel said Beatty is not a monster, and went for help because he knew his separation from his wife was making him unstable, but he didn't get what he needed.
"He told the medical professionals that he was having homicidal thoughts toward his wife. Fifty six minutes later, after walking in, he was discharged and put back out on the street," said Hummel.
Hummel said Beatty tried to commit suicide after the murders and is upset that the fire was discovered before he could kill himself.
Later, at a news conference with District Attorney Patrick Dougherty, the mother of Christine Beatty became too upset and had to get up and leave the room with her husband.
"I hope I never know what went through his head. I am at a loss as to how you can do such a thing to your own children," said Dougherty.
State police said Lewis Beatty used a hunting knife to slit the throats of his girls at home June 1 in South Mahoning Township, then followed their mother home from work and did the same to her in East Mahoning Township, and set both of their homes on fire with the victims inside.
At a court hearing in August, a state police investigator read the following information from the transcript of an interview with the suspect:
- The youngest daughter was slain first. She was playing with Barbie dolls and talking with her father when she brought up that her mother was seeing another man. He then choked the girl and slit her throat.
- The older daughter came home and asked to see her sister. Beatty grabbed the girl, choked her and cut her throat.
- Beatty said he also killed their goat, pony and dog because there would be no one to take care of them any more.

subset: commoncrawl


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Courgette salad
Prep: 10 mins
This courgette salad is the perfect barbecue accompaniment
Nutrition and extra info
- Easily doubled / halved
- Vegetarian
- kcal-
- fat-
- saturates-
- carbs-
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- fibre-
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- salt-
Save to My Good Food
- 2 large courgettes
The courgette is a variety of cucurbit, which means it's from the same family as cucumber,…
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Olive oilol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- 1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
- 1 tbsp clear honey
- 2 tsp poppy seeds
- 1 small garlic clove, crushed
- salt and pepper, to taste
Also known as capsicums, bell peppers, sweet peppers or by their colours, for example red and…
Grate the courgettes on the coarse side of your grater.
Toss them with the olive oil, lemon or lime juice, clear honey, poppy seeds and the crushed garlic clove. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve as soon as possible (or it will get too watery), with sizzling barbecued chicken or lamb, kebabs or burgers.
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Comments, questions and tips
24th Jun, 2019
I like courgette so I was surprised that I didn't like this, when it was highly-rated by others. I definitely recommend you salt and squeeze the courgettes to get water out of them before making the salad, but I won't be trying it a second time, I thought it was textureless and weird. One for people who have a glut of courgettes and are getting desperate.
23rd Aug, 2016
I don't have these supermarkets close by. I would love the choice. There are some local independent suppliers with quality products, at a price, and I use them occasionally.The Co-op has a bit of a monopoly, I guess that I am not allowed to say that? I love cooking and your recipes but get continually sent off in different directions, 0 found, or onto the never ending "Register for our recipes" all of them great, I am sure. Will you sign me up to do a market research project on this? I have the time and the interest, 43 countries, worked, lived, visited, !84 major cities at last count, and stopped when I decided that, I was reasonably, widely travelled, educated, experienced and love life. get on with it. contact me firstname.lastname@example.com thank you. to all of you and have a great day.


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How to Create Family Jingles With Your Kids
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In this article, I'll show you how to create simple, fun and entertaining songs with your kids to make your own family songs.
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Is there music from your childhood that bring back special memories, emotions and experiences? Would you like to give your children similar feelings when they look back on their youth?
Creating songs together—whether they're used as art or as information—will give your family something unique to them, something truly memorable and special.


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Dedicated to the preservation and promotion of vintage Spartan trailercoaches
Follow the restoration of a Spartan Manor from the first year of production. Learn the history of how famed oil tycoon, J. Paul Getty, turned an aircraft company into a luxury trailer manufacturing enterprise. View a photo database of various model Spartan trailers categorized by year. See some beautiful interior shots. Review resources on Spartan trailercoach documentation. Read and enter in on discussions related to this subject. Link to other sites with vintage trailer related material. Purchase a vintage Spartan trailer. View frequently asked questions.
As an owner of a Spartan and enthusiast of Spartan trailercoaches I have created this site so that everyone can share this resource. If you have any information on this subject which you would like to contribute or repost information from this site please contact me David Pumphrey .
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all wordsany wordsphrase
n. any organization which provides services to the general public, although it may be privately owned. Public utilities include electric, gas, telephone, water and television cable systems, as well as streetcar and bus lines. They are allowed certain monopoly rights due to the practical need to service entire geographic areas with one system, but they are regulated by state, county and/or city public utility commissions under state laws.


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Malaysia's Lotte Titan to shut its Pasir Gudang PP line
The company initially planned to shut the plant in March, but delayed the shutdown because of healthy economics. Lotte Chemical Titan's No.2 PP plant at the same site has a production capacity of 240,000 tons/year.
More free plastics newsPlastic resin (PP, LDPE, LLDPE ,HDPE, PVC, GPS; HIPS, PET, ABS) prices, polymer market trends, and more...
- Supply constraints spark stronger PE trend than PP in global markets
- ABS, PS uptrend falters in China after H1 2020 ends at multi-month highs
- Stats: China's total PP imports spike in May; Vietnam and India's rising shares shine out
- Tight supply drives HDPE, LLDPE gains in Southeast Asia
- European PE markets set for 2nd bullish month on rising costs
- Turkey's PP and PE markets propelled to a firm start to H2 despite vulnerable conditions
- Asian PVC sees V-shaped recovery in Q2, what will Q3 bring?
- Will capacity additions cast cloud on ethylene upsurge in Asia?
- US PVC offers in Egypt rise steadily but resistance grows in tandem
- PE buyers' resistance grows in SEA; duty-free origins more competitive than Mid-East


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One of my favorite things in the word has to be fashion. I absolutely adore it! The creativity is what I love. It's all about the art of you and your specific personality. Imagine my excitement when Nola Fashion Week (NOLAFW) got started in 2011. NOLAFW is the next best thing to getting to the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, but probably with a little more flavor.
Nola Fashion Week was the brainchild of the Nola Fashion Council, whom work to connect designers with resources and exposure throughout the South and beyond. The Nola Fashion Council puts on NOLAFW biannually not only to showcase Southern talent, but to offer industry based education workshops as well as access to local designers and retailers.
Southern born and /or based designers come together to show their greatness and to in my opinion put a smile on my face. From the efforts of Nola Fashion Week, we've come to know and see the rise of phenomenal designers such as Amanda deLeon, Andrea Loest, Matthew Arthur, Jolie & Elizabeth and more. It's quite amazing to watch the talent right here at home doing innovative things.
Happening this week is Nola Fashion Week A/W 13' showing. Showcasing this year is 17 designers which include Amanda deLeon, Andrea Loest, Anthony Ryan, Blackout, By Smith, Ella ose, Fair Fit, Hazel & Forange, Iacono, Izavel , Jolie Elizabeth, Libellule , Loretta Jane, Matthew Arthur, Noel Martin, The Dope.Game and Tallulah's Designs. These designers will not disappoint with great pieces you will daydream about for days as well as ready to wear pieces you will probably find at local stores this year! Also on the schedule are several cool workshops such as Sustainable Dyeing so you can get your learning on.
The great thing about NOLAFW is there is something for everyone! In whatever way you want to get involved from financial support to volunteering, to retail therapy and more; its something for you with NOLAFW. Not only are our brightest designers showcased, but also all the amazing individuals based right down in Louisiana making things happen behind the scene from makeup artist to stylist, to bloggers and more. This state produced a talented bunch and NOLAFW proves it just by the high value production put on since the beginning.
I don't co-sign most events, but I look forward to NOLAFW each year and can't get enough of the Nola and Southern Talent.


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Emergency Preparedness Resources
Know Your Risks. Make Your Plan. Improve Your Outcome.
Prepare for emergencies before the crisis or disaster impacts your family or the community. The links to resources below can help your family properly prepare for natural and human caused disasters we could possibly face in El Paso County.


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Dancing with the Stars Season 15: Comparing the Cast to the Polls (from June)
Back in early-June I had a couple of polls up that asked who your favorite male and female stars were…
Since the first week just completed I figured we take a look back and see how many of your favorites are actually in the cast of Season 15…
First off let's look at the guys:
Well only four of the six male celebrities were some of your favorites from those early polls. Emmitt Smith and Helio Castroneves never even made this Top 12.
Now for the gals:
Interesting, of the seven women that is in the Season 15 cast, two were not in the original polls: Pamela Anderson and Bristol Palin.
What does this mean?
Well I was curious and as thus decided to cross reference with my prediction analysis of who would be eliminated when and I came with a few interesting conclusions. Below is a cross-reference table between the scores prediction post for Week 1 and the elimination predictions:
For some reason I have a sneaky suspicion that a few of these stars are being set up as elimination fodder in the guise of being an "All-Star". Yeah, I know… TPTB are always trying to set up storylines in an effort to propel others…
Right now, Pamela was the most obvious as elimination fodder…. if the first four eliminations include at least two of the above… if not three… well let's say I wouldn't be surprised.


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Hamilton Carhartt founded his namesake company in 1889 and began making work wear with a single goal in mind: Set a standard of excellence to which all others would aspire. Starting with only 4 sewing machines and about 5 employees, the first products manufactured were overalls in duck and denim fabrics. By traveling from town to town and visiting each railroad division, he was able to establish himself in the overall business. With entrepreneurial vision and determination, Hamilton Carhartt established a brand that has stood the test of time.
Carhartt grew throughout the early 1900's establishing more than 17 plants and three mills throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. From the mill to millions was the motto reflected in Carhartt's operations,which included cotton production, denim mills and apparel manufacturing facilities. Carhartt Master Cloth was designed and woven especially by our mills for use in Carhartt garments and was pledged to be the best cloth that could be produced.
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!! History Commons Alert, Exciting News
This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event August 13, 2003: Press Complicit in 'Rumsfeld Group' Efforts to Manipulate Media Messaging on War on Terror. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. The lower the scale, the more relevant the items on average will be, while the higher the scale, the less relevant the items, on average, will be.
Newly hired Defense Department public relations chief Victoria Clarke (see May 2001) begins a series of regular meetings with a number of Washington's top private PR specialists and lobbyists. The group is tasked with developing a marketing plan for the upcoming war in Iraq. It is remarkably successful in securing press cooperation to spread its message (see August 13, 2003 and After May 31, 2001). Bipartisan Makeup - Reporter Jeffrey St. Clair will later write, "The group was filled with heavy-hitters and was strikingly bipartisan in composition." The group, later informally dubbed "the Rumsfeld Group," is made up of, among others, PR executives John Rendon and Sheila Tate, Republican political consultant Rich Galen, and Democratic operative Tommy Boggs (brother of NPR's Cokie Roberts and a PR consultant for the Saudi royal family; St. Clair believes Boggs may have had a hand in the decision to redact 20+ pages concerning the Saudis from Congress's report on the intelligence failures leading to the 9/11 attacks—see April 2003 and August 1-3, 2003). The direct involvement, if any, of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is unclear. Rendon's Involvement - John Rendon, the head of the Rendon Group, is a noteworthy veteran of the 1990-91 PR efforts to market the Gulf War (see August 11, 1990), has worked for both Democratic and Republican politicians and lobbying groups, and was instrumental in creating Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (see May 1991). Rendon, already under contract with the Pentagon to help market the US bombing of Afghanistan, is one of the key players in marketing the upcoming Iraq invasion. Though Rendon refuses to discuss his work for the Pentagon, St. Clair believes he will be partially or completely responsible for some of the invasion's signature events, including the toppling of the statue of Hussein in Firdos Square by US troops and Chalabi associates (see April 9, 2003), and video-friendly Iraqi crowds waving American flags as US Army vehicles roll by. Rendon explains his role like this: "I am not a national security strategist or a military tactician. I am a politician, and a person who uses communication to meet public policy or corporate policy objectives. In fact, I am an information warrior and a perception manager." The Pentagon defines "perception management" as "actions to convey and/or deny selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning." St. Clair adds, "In other words, lying about the intentions of the US government." One of the biggest instances of Pentagon "perception management" is the Office of Strategic Influence (see Shortly after September 11, 2001), also developed by Rendon. [CounterPunch, 8/13/2003]
Entity Tags: Tommy Boggs, Iraqi National Congress, Donald Rumsfeld, Bush administration (43), "The Rumsfeld Group", Jeffrey St. Clair, Sheila Tate, John Rendon, US Department of Defense, Rich Galen, Victoria ("Torie") Clarke, Office of Strategic Influence
Timeline Tags: Events Leading to Iraq Invasion
According to the trade publication PR Week, the ad hoc government public relations organization dubbed "The Rumsfeld Group" (see Late May 2001) is quite successful at sending what the publication calls "messaging advice" to the Pentagon. Marketing a Link between Iraq, Islamist Radicals - The group tells Pentagon PR chief Victoria Clarke and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that to get the American public's support for the war on terror, and particularly the invasion of Iraq, they need to fix in the public mind a link between terror and nation-states, not just fluid and ad hoc groups such as al-Qaeda. Reporter Jeffrey St. Clair will write, "In other words, there needed to be a fixed target for the military campaigns, some distant place to drop cruise missiles and cluster bombs." The Rumsfeld Group comes up with the idea of labeling Iraq and certain other nations "rogue states," an idea already extant in Rumsfeld's mind, and the genesis of the so-called "axis of evil" (see January 29, 2002 and After January 29, 2002). Veterans of the Gulf War - The government allocates tens of millions of dollars, most of which is handed out to private public relations and media firms hired to spread the Bush administration's message that Iraq's Saddam Hussein must be taken out before he can use his arsenal of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons on US targets. Many of the PR and media executives are old friends of senior Bush officials, and many had worked on selling the 1991 Gulf War to the public (see October 10, 1990). Media Complicity Ensures Success - St. Clair will later note that while the PR efforts are, largely, failures with US allies, they are far more successful with the American population (see August 13, 2003). He will write: "A population traumatized by terror threats and shattered economy became easy prey for the saturation bombing of the Bush message that Iraq was a terrorist state linked to al-Qaeda that was only minutes away from launching attacks on America with weapons of mass destruction. Americans were the victims of an elaborate con job, pelted with a daily barrage of threat inflation, distortions, deceptions, and lies. Not about tactics or strategy or war plans. But about justifications for war. The lies were aimed not at confusing Saddam's regime, but the American people." St. Clair places as much blame on the "gullible [and] complicit press corps," so easily managed by Clarke (see February 2003). "During the Vietnam war, TV images of maimed GIs and napalmed villages suburbanized opposition to the war and helped hasten the US withdrawal," St. Clair writes. "The Bush gang meant to turn the Vietnam phenomenon on its head by using TV as a force to propel the US into a war that no one really wanted. What the Pentagon sought was a new kind of living room war, where instead of photos of mangled soldiers and dead Iraqi kids, they could control the images Americans viewed and to a large extent the content of the stories. By embedding reporters inside selected divisions, Clarke believed the Pentagon could count on the reporters to build relationships with the troops and to feel dependent on them for their own safety. It worked, naturally." St. Clair notes the instance of one reporter on national television calling the US Army "our protectors," and NBC's David Bloom's on-air admission that he is willing to do "anything and everything they can ask of us." [CounterPunch, 8/13/2003]
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, Jeffrey St. Clair, US Department of Defense, Victoria ("Torie") Clarke, "The Rumsfeld Group", Bush administration (43), David Bloom
Timeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda
'Donahue' show logo. [Source: American Renaissance (.com)]MSNBC, the cable news channel owned by NBC, cancels Phil Donahue's nightly talk show. MSNBC cites "disappointing ratings" for "Donahue." The show, originally conceived as a more liberal alternative for Fox News's overtly conservative "O'Reilly Factor," started very slow and never came close to challenging either O'Reilly's ratings or CNN's Connie Chung, whose show is also in the same time slot. But in recent weeks, Donahue's ratings have steadily increased to the point where it is the top-rated show on the network, even beating MSNBC's flagship political show, "Hardball With Chris Matthews." 'Tired Left-Wing Liberal' - An internal report commissioned by the network's executives, later obtained by media analyst Rick Ellis, calls Phil Donahue "a tired, left-wing liberal out of touch with the current marketplace." The report says that Donahue's show presents a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war.… He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush, and skeptical of the administration's motives." If the show continues on the air, the report warns that it could become "a home for the liberal anti-war agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity." As Donahue exits the lineup, MSNBC brings aboard former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough as commentators, and radical right-wing talk show host Michael Savage and libertarian Jesse Ventura, the former governor of Minnesota, as hosts. Donahue's time slot will be taken temporarily by the expansion of another show, "Countdown: Iraq," to two hours. Nation columnist John Nichols writes: "Talk about adding insult to injury. Getting canceled is bad enough; getting canceled to make way for a program devoted to anticipating an unnecessary war is just plain awful." [New York Times, 2/26/2003; AllYourTV (.com), 2/26/2003; Nation, 2/27/2003] In 2007, Donahue says he knew nothing of the internal memo at the time (see April 25, 2007). "I didn't know about that till I read about it in the New York Times." When asked: "What did you think? What does that say to you? That dissent is unpatriotic?" Donahue will reply, "Well, not only unpatriotic, but it's not good for business." [PBS, 4/25/2007] MSNBC 'Tak[ing] the Coward's Road' - A source close to Donahue says that Donahue's cancellation is "no coincidence." The MSNBC executives are "scared," the source says, "and they decided to take the coward's road and slant towards the conservative crowd that watch Fox News." Ellis, a veteran media analyst with strong connections in the TV news industry, writes that MSNBC, "[r]ather than building a unique voice, the news channel has opted to become a lesser alternative to the Fox News Channel." Interestingly, the NBC report recommended against such a course: "The temptation is to chase the audience that is already out there and play to what seems to be working at Fox. But there is another road, and if we build our unique voices from within, we have a chance to develop a loyal and valuable audience." Nichols writes, "[I]t is a pretty good bet that, now that 'Donahue' is going off the air, we will not soon see another show like the one where he featured [consumer advocate] Ralph Nader and [progressive columnist] Molly Ivins in front of a crowd of laid-off Enron employees." Nichols adds that while Donahue's show may have been conceived as a liberal alternative to O'Reilly, it was never allowed to be such: "For every program that featured Ralph Nader and Molly Ivins, there were ten where Donahue was forced to ask polite questions of second-string conservative pundits. Where his conservative competitors never worry about fairness or balance, Donahue was under constant pressure to clog his show's arteries with deadly dull apologists for all things Bush. And when that got too boring, he was pressured to steer the show away from politics and toward the glitzy and the maudlin." Only in its last few weeks did MSNBC allow Donahue to do what he does best—interview interesting guests in front of a live audience. The show's ratings began climbing rapidly. Whether the show could have challenged O'Reilly or other conservative shows' ratings can never be known. Never Trusted the American Viewing Audience - Nichols concludes: "Now that 'Donahue' has been ditched, conservative commentators and network executives will tell themselves that there is no audience for progressive voices on television. They will, of course, be wrong on the broad premise—some of O'Reilly's best shows feature feisty progressives like US [Representatives] Jan Schakowsky and Bernie Sanders. And they will be wrong more specifically about Donahue. We will never know for sure whether Phil Donahue could have seriously competed with conservative hosts like Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity. What we do now, for sure, is that MSNBC executives were never willing to trust Phil Donahue—or the American television viewing audience." [New York Times, 2/26/2003; AllYourTV (.com), 2/26/2003; Nation, 2/27/2003]
Entity Tags: Fox News, Sean Hannity, Enron Corporation, Connie Chung, CNN, Bill O'Reilly, Bernie Sanders, Rick Ellis, Ralph Nader, Phil Donahue, NBC, MSNBC, Jesse Ventura, John Nichols, Michael Savage, Joseph Scarborough, Molly Ivins, Jan Schakowsky, Dick Armey
Timeline Tags: Events Leading to Iraq Invasion, Domestic Propaganda
General Vincent Brooks briefing reporters, with a photograph of Jessica Lynch displayed in the background. [Source: Reuters / Corbis]Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, at US CENTCOM headquarters in Qatar, shows reporters a video clip of the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch (see April 1, 2003), filmed with night-vision lenses. The clip shows Lynch on a stretcher and being rushed to a helicopter. Brooks says that before the raid, the hospital was apparently doubling as a military command post for Iraqi forces. [Washington Post, 4/3/2003] "We were successful in that operation last night and did retrieve Pfc. Jessica Lynch, bringing her away from that location of danger, clearing the building of some of the military activity that was in there." Brooks says. "There was not a fire-fight inside the building I will tell you, but there were fire-fights outside of the building getting in and getting out. There were no coalition casualties as a result of this and in the destruction that occurred inside of the building, particularly in the basement area where the operations centers had been, we found ammunition, mortars, maps, a terrain model, and other things that make it very clear that it was being used as a military command post. The nature of the operation was a coalition special operation that involved Army Rangers, Air Force pilots and combat controllers, US Marines and Navy Seals. It was a classical joint operation done by some of our nation's finest warriors, who are dedicated to never leaving a comrade behind." [Editor & Publisher, 7/14/2008] Reporters Given Video - Within hours, reporters are given a slickly produced five-minute edited version of the video of Lynch's rescue, edited by a Defense Department production crew. Author and media critic Frank Rich later calls it "an action-packed montage of the guns-blazing Special Operations raid to rescue Lynch, bathed in the iridescent green glow of night-vision photography." The video vies with a still photo of a barely conscious Lynch lying on a stretcher, with an American flag on her chest, for the most-broadcast image of the day. [Rich, 2006, pp. 80-82] (In a tragic corollary to the video of Lynch's rescue, the father of James Kiehl, a fellow soldier killed in the March 23 assault, was unable to find his son in the video footage. He will eventually find a shot of his son, dead and laid out behind the hospital, in a picture on the Al Jazeera Web site. The Defense Department videographers had left footage of Kiehl on the cutting room floor.) [Rich, 2006, pp. 80-82; Huffington Post, 3/19/2006] Some Reporters Dubious - CNN's veteran war correspondent, Tom Mintier, later says, "I was a bit upset that [the Pentagon] spent so much time giving us all the minute-by-minute, this happened, that happened, she said this, we said that… and on a day when you have forces going into Baghdad, it wasn't part of the briefing. Seems like there is an effort to manage the news in an unmanageable situation. They tried it in the first Gulf War, this time it was supposed to be different." [Rich, 2006, pp. 80-82] Pentagon's Story Almost Entirely Fictitious - Subsequent interviews with Iraqi hospital staffers and nearby residents show that almost every aspect of the Pentagon's story is fabrication (see May 4, 2003, May 23, 2003, May 25, 2003, and June 17, 2003).
Entity Tags: James Kiehl, US Central Command, Tom Mintier, Jessica Lynch, Vincent Brooks, Frank Rich, Al Jazeera, US Department of Defense
Timeline Tags: US Military, Iraq under US Occupation, Domestic Propaganda
A barely conscious Lynch lies on a stretcher. An American flag is draped over her chest. This will become one of the iconic photos of the Lynch saga. [Source: Reuters / Corbis]The Washington Post prints a story purporting to detail the trials and tribulations of Private Jessica Lynch, captured in a recent ambush by Iraqi fighters (see March 23, 2003). The Post headline: "She Was Fighting to the Death." According to the story, Lynch fought valiantly to defend her injured and killed comrades, herself killing several of her attackers and suffering repeated gunshot and stab wounds. [Washington Post, 4/3/2003; Baltimore Sun, 11/11/2003] 'Talk about Spunk!' - According to the tale, provided to Post reporters by unnamed US officials, Lynch continued firing until she ran out of ammunition, and even after suffering "multiple gunshot wounds." An official says: "She was fighting to the death. She did not want to be taken alive." One military official, senior military spokesman Captain Frank Thorp, tells reporters from the Military Times that Lynch "waged quite a battle prior to her capture. We do have very strong indications that Jessica Lynch was not captured very easily. Reports are that she fired her [M-16 rifle] until she had no more ammunition." (This is not true, but Thorp will later deny that any deliberate deception occurred—see April 2007 and March 18, 2008.) Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) is fulsome with his praise of Lynch after being briefed by Pentagon officials: "Talk about spunk! She just persevered. It takes that and a tremendous faith that your country is going to come and get you." Initial reports indicated that she had been stabbed to death at the scene, but those reports were incorrect. Officials warn that "the precise sequence of events is still being determined, and that further information will emerge as Lynch is debriefed." Pentagon officials say they have heard "rumors" of Lynch's heroism, but as yet have no confirmation from either Lynch or other survivors. Eleven bodies were found at the hospital during her rescue; at least some of those bodies are believed to be those of US servicemen. Seven soldiers from Lynch's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company are still listed as missing in action; five others were captured after the attack. Iraqi broadcasts have shown video footage of the five, along with pictures of at least four US soldiers killed during the attack. Because of debriefing and counseling, it may be some time before Lynch is reunited with her family in West Virginia. [Washington Post, 4/3/2003; US News and World Report, 3/18/2008; Editor & Publisher, 7/14/2008] Other media stories add to the Post's account. The New York Daily News reports: "Jessica was being tortured. That was the urgent word from an Iraqi man who alerted American troops where to find Pfc. Jessica Lynch—and her injuries seem to bear out the allegation.… Her broken bones are a telltale sign of torture, said Amy Waters Yarsinske, a former Navy intelligence officer and an expert on POW and MIA treatment. 'It's awfully hard to break both legs and an arm in a truck accident,' Yarsinske said." The Daily News is almost certainly referring to Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief, the Iraqi who told US forces about Lynch being at an Iraqi hospital (see June 17, 2003). The Los Angeles Times reports Lynch was "flown to a US military hospital at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where she was reported to be in stable condition, recovering from injuries said to include broken legs, a broken arm and at least one gunshot wound." [Project for Excellence in Journalism, 6/23/2003] Discrepancies in Story - An Iraqi pharmacist who was at the hospital during Lynch's captivity says as far as he knew, Lynch only suffered leg wounds. He recalls her crying about wanting to go home. "She said every time, about wanting to go home," the pharmacist recalls. "She knew that the American Army and the British were on the other side of the [Euphrates] river in Nasiriyah city.… She said, 'Maybe this minute the American Army [will] come and get me.'" [Washington Post, 4/3/2003] Story Almost Pure Fiction - According to subsequent investigations by reporters, the Pentagon tale as reported by the Post is almost pure fiction (see May 4, 2003 and June 17, 2003). Author and media critic Frank Rich will later write that at this point in the narrative, "Jessica Lynch herself, unable to speak, was reduced to a mere pawn, an innocent bystander in the production of her own big-budget action-packed biopic." [Rich, 2006, pp. 82]
Entity Tags: Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief, Pat Roberts, Frank Rich, Washington Post, US Department of Defense, Frank Thorp, Jessica Lynch, Amy Waters Yarsinske
The liberal news publication CounterPunch profiles the "Rumsfeld Group," a government public relations group put together after the 9/11 attacks to manipulate the media's reporting of the Bush administration's war on terror (see Late May 2001). One noteworthy aspect of the profile is the success the "Rumsfeld Group" has had in working with the press to spread its message. Benador Associates - One of the most effective "perception managers" for the Bush administration is Elena Benador, the media placement expert who runs Benador Associates. She oversees the Middle East Forum, an organization CounterPunch reporter Jeffrey St. Clair calls "a fanatically pro-Zionist paper mill," and has close connections with some of Washington's most influential hardliners and neoconservatives, including Michael Ledeen, Charles Krauthammer, Alexander Haig, Max Boot, Daniel Pipes, Richard Perle, and Judith Miller. Benador is given the task of getting these pro-war hawks on the air and in the press as often as possible. She does an excellent job in both getting the placements and crafting the message to ensure that they all make the same points. "There are some things, you just have to state them in a different way, in a slightly different way," Benador explains. "If not, people get scared." Washington Post Particularly Compliant - Many press and television news outlets help promulgate the Pentagon's story, but, St. Clair will note, few are as reliable or as enthusiastic as the Washington Post. He mentions the example of Private Jessica Lynch, whose story was fed for weeks by an over-the-top report from the Post that was fueled entirely by PR flacks from the Pentagon's Combat Camera operation (see April 1, 2003 and April 3, 2003). In the months leading up to the Iraq invasion, the Post's op-eds ran 3 to 1 in favor of attacking Iraq. St. Clair notes that in 1988, the Post shrugged off reports of Saddam Hussein gassing Iranians and his own Iraqis as "a quirk of war"; at that point, the US wanted close relations with the Hussein regime, and wanted to play down Hussein's depredations. The Post echoed the government's lack of interest. Firing of Donahue - St. Clair points to MSNBC's firing of liberal talk show host Phil Donahue on the eve of the Iraq invasion (see February 25, 2003) as another example of the Pentagon's reach into the mainstream US media. At the behest of the Pentagon's PR officials, MSNBC fired Donahue and replaced him with a pro-war broadcast called Countdown: Iraq. While MSNBC blamed "poor ratings" on the firing, in reality Donahue's ratings were MSNBC's highest. Instead, the network did not like what it called Donahue's propensity to have "anti-war, anti-Bush" voices on his show. [CounterPunch, 8/13/2003]
Entity Tags: Michael Ledeen, Jeffrey St. Clair, Elena Benador, Daniel Pipes, CounterPunch, Charles Krauthammer, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Jessica Lynch, Max Boot, Judith Miller, Washington Post, Middle East Forum, MSNBC, Richard Perle, Phil Donahue
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George Gerald Reisman (born January 13, 1937) is an American economist and political author.
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- Roy Cohn and Joe McCarthy will be redeemed when the people have taken back their government from the criminal alliance of Communists, Socialists, New Dealers and the Eisenhower-Dewey Republicans.
- "One Enchanted Evening", Time Magazine (Aug. 9, 1954)
- If the individual is a means to the ends of the State, so too, of course, is his property. Just as he is owned by the State, his property is also owned by the State.
- "Why Nazism Was Socialism and Why Socialism Is Totalitarian," lecture delivered at the Mises Institute's "The Economics of Fascism: Supporters Summit 2005" in Auburn, Alabama (October 8, 2005) [1]
Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics (1996)[edit]
- The green movement, in other words, is the red movement stripped of the veneer of reason and science and bent on the destruction of reason and science rather than take the trouble to learn what reason and science actually are. The green movement is the red movement no longer in its boisterous, arrogant youth, but in its demented old age.
- Like the use of the word 'concupiscence' in an earlier age to describe sexual desire, the use of the word 'pollution' to describe essential aspects of the productive activities of an industrial society represents an attempt to defame an entirely proper human capacity by means of using an evil sounding name for it.
- Whoever claims that economic competition represents "survival of the fittest" in the sense of the law of the jungle, provides the clearest possible evidence of his lack of knowledge of economics.
- The truth is that economic competition is the very opposite of competition in the animal kingdom. It is not a competition in the grabbing off of scarce nature-given supplies, as it is in the animal kingdom. Rather, it is a competition in the positive creation of new and additional wealth.
- The slaves of socialism are slaves, but they are no one's property and therefore no one's loss.
- Under communism (socialism), there is no incentive to supply people with anything they need or want, including safety.


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Bullish sentiment rose to its highest level since August, while bearish sentiment remained above its historical average in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey.
Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, rose 2.8 percentage points to 38.5%. Optimism was last higher on August 23, 2012. The rise puts bullish sentiment close to its historical average of 39%.
Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, declined 1.7 percentage points to 21.6%. The last time neutral sentiment was lower was October 6, 2011. The historical average is 31%.
Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, declined 1.1 percentage points to 39.9%. This is the first time in four weeks that pessimism is below 40%, though the current reading is admittedly just barely below that mark. This is also the 11th consecutive week and the 27th out of the last 31 weeks that bearish sentiment has been above its historical average of 30%.
Bullish sentiment came in above 38% for the just the second time since April 5, 2012, a sign of just how much this year's rally has been mistrusted. Bullish sentiment has been below its historical average of 39% during 31 of the past 32 weeks. Whether this week's numbers mark a turning point or just a temporary blip remains to be seen. It is worth noting, however, that it is not just our survey that has shown an improvement in individual investor sentiment. Data published by the Investment Company Institute shows that the amount of weekly estimated outflows from domestic equity mutual funds has decreased during four out of the past five weeks.
Due to the survey's period of Thursday through Wednesday, the impact of the election's results are only partially reflected in the survey's results. Many individual investors are also cautiously watching Washington to see what will be done about avoiding the fiscal cliff, reducing the debt and aiding stronger economic growth.
This week's special question asked AAII members how much the European sovereign debt crisis is influencing their six-month outlook for stocks, especially relative to six months ago. Responses varied, though about half of the respondents said Europe's debt crisis was not having much of an impact or that their sentiment has not changed because of the crisis. About a third of the respondents said they have a negative outlook or their sentiment has worsened because of the crisis. A smaller group said the crisis has not changed their outlook.
Here is a sampling of the responses:
- "Not a lot. I'm more concerned with our do nothing Congress and the fiscal cliff."
- "Less than six months ago. I think we are suffering from impending-crisis-fatigue."
- "A lot less. I don't know why, because the problem has not gone away, but the anxiety about the situation is gone."
- "I'm not sure that the European Union has the problem solved and wrapped up in a bow, but it's out of the headlines as the fiscal cliff is the worry du jour."
- "It's having a greater influence because the actions thus far have just put off an inevitable disaster."
- "It does cause me to have a concern about how this is going to affect our own markets in the future."
AAII Sentiment Survey:
- Bullish: 38.5%, up 2.8 percentage points
- Neutral: 21.6%, down 1.7 percentage points
- Bearish: 39.9%, down 1.1 percentage points
Historical averages:
- Bullish: 39%
- Neutral: 31%
- Bearish: 30%
The AAII Sentiment Survey has been conducted weekly since July 1987 and asks AAII members whether they think stock prices will rise, remain essentially flat, or fall over the next six months. The survey period runs from Thursday (12:01 a.m.) to Wednesday (11:59 p.m.) The survey and its results are available online at: http://www.aaii.com/sentimentsurvey


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|Up a level
Muthiah, P and Chandrasekar, N and Victor, A C C and Easterson, D C V and Rajkumar Rajan, R and Jawahar, G and Gopinath, Radhika (2003) Observations on the recruitment of the Scleractinian coral in the Gulf of Mannar, India. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India, 45 (2). pp. 235-237.


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23 November 2009
Bloom County: The Complete Library
Most of this battered stack of paperbacks is about to become obsolete and I couldn't be happier.
Those are my old Bloom County and Outland books, collected over the years. Some at the time of publication, others purchased as used copies later on. While they were entertaining at the time and contained humorous extras like a copy of the fictional newspaper (The Bloom Picayune) and the Billy & the Boingers 45, these books were incomplete. Days and weeks were missing, entire plotlines were excised, and in the early ones, Sunday strips were printed in dull black and white. That has finally changed with the recent release of...
Bloom County: The Complete Library, Volume 1. This is one of those collections I thought would never happen, as Berkeley Breathed had no desire to dig back through shoeboxes full of original drawings to piece together nine years of work. Fortunately a publisher was willing to do all the hard work on its own, even going back to old newspapers to collect missing strips where necessary.
This volume includes all of the strips from the debut in the winter of 1980 through the fall of 1982. If one only started reading the strip in the mid-80s, the early years may look unfamiliar. Milo Bloom and Steve Dallas were the only survivors from those early months, while a host of other interesting characters (The Major, Rabies the dog, Limekiller) disappeared as the artist honed his direction and allowed the characters to find their voices.
I started reading it around 1982 when I was six; it wasn't a soap opera strip like Mary Worth or Apartment 3-G, nor was it as confusingly political as Doonesbury, but it was obvious that there were multiple layers of humor involved. And it was the only non-soap opera comic strip in the paper at the time that had long-running storylines that lasted weeks or even months. Such long-form writing was common in the golden age, but has been replaced almost entirely by one-off strips that require no knowledge of what happened yesterday, much less a year or more ago.
It's printed in hardback on full 8.5"x11" sheets with excellent detail, even a classy red ribbon for marking your place. (I don't necessarily want a ribbon in all of my books, but I appreciate it in archival works.) 3 strips per B&W page and the Sunday strips fill up an entire sheet. Commentary is sprinkled throughout the margins, either giving insight on the creation of a particular storyline or explaining a controversy.
Volume 2 is available for pre-order now, should be shipped in April 2010, with five total volumes planned in the series. I don't know if there's a similar plan for Outland, but I had to include those books in my top photo for sentimental purposes.
Where am I going with all of this? Have I just gone off on one of my endless and usually pointless digressions on minutiae? Am I just trying to move a few books to make a little scratch for the holidays? Keep reading...
I've gotten a lot of e-mails from eager new winebloggers, and most of them petered out after a couple of weeks or months. I'm not at the top of this field, but I've been at it for a while and have had many successes and failures along the way. I've seen lots of examples of what works and what doesn't.
Ask most people about Bloom County, and if they're even vaguely familiar with it they'll say, "Opus the penguin!" Indeed, Opus became the star of the strip and later migrated to Outland, the Sunday-only project that ran for a few years, followed by his own eponymous strip, Opus. But Opus didn't even show up in Bloom County for six months, whereupon he was forgotten then reintroduced six months later. It was only with a a strip joking about Hare Krishnas that the character became popular, and things took off from there. To be honest, Opus is barely in this book covering the first two years, and certainly not in his fully-formed charismatic version. Still, it would have been insane not to put that big-nosed penguin on the front cover.
Likewise, if you're starting a wine blog, you might not know what works right off the bat. I started out with long, boring laundry lists of stuff I tried at tastings, no photos. It's a wonder that anyone read it, but some did. After a while I noticed that those lists of 15 brief reviews got no comments, but when I'd spend the time with a single wine, that got attention. Or when I cooked something, or tried some bizarre wine or ingredient. Telling deeply personal stories was a big step for me. And pictures obviously helped a lot, even if you can see the odd dog poking a nose or tail into the frame (in my opinion that's a feature, not a bug).
If I'd drawn up a plan in late 2004 for the blog, stuck to it and marketed it as such, it would have been a colossal failure and I'd have given up. But instead I responded to my changing tastes, listened to criticism both positive and negative, and tried to spend more time reading other, bigger wine blogs. Am I huge and successful today? No, but I'd like to think that I have a fairly decent reputation, and a solid backlog of work that is purely my own. Just my words, my photos, my opinions. I have no idea where this will go in the future, but I'm proud of what I've accomplished and the work that I've put into it.
So for you, budding wineblogger, starry-eyed with visions full of Bordeaux and Champagne showing up at your house and offers for luxurious trips to Italy... all these things can be yours, but bear in mind it might be a long time before you even discover your penguin.
8 comments:
- Samantha Dugan said...
Very sweet Benito, you have always been a great help to me.
- 22 November, 2009 16:14
- Benito said...
It's been a blast and I look forward to many exciting years of reading Samantha Sans Dosage!
- 22 November, 2009 19:17
- fredric koeppel said...
wine words, my friend, fellow blogger and winetaster.
- 23 November, 2009 05:59
Being an perfect example of the faded blogger, used in your post, this commentary is wise, and filled with really solid advise to anyone looking to do what you do. They can only hope to get as good at it as you are my friend. Keep up the good work and I promise to keep reading!
- 23 November, 2009 06:23
- Benito said...
I wasn't singling anyone out, but I'd say you and Fredric are two guys who worked hard and learned a lot about wine over the past couple of decades, and did it before the internet and when Memphis was less of a wine town than it is today.
There are folks out there that are trying to go from zero to Robert Parker in one month, and get frustrated when it doesn't happen. Everybody wants overnight success like Britney Spears; nobody wakes up one day and thinks, "I want to slug it out for years and years, slowly building my craft like Eric Clapton."
- 23 November, 2009 12:30
- Benito said...
I should also note that this is the third or fourth blog I've had over the past decade, depending on how you define "blog". The others (not about wine) withered and died without being read at all.
- 23 November, 2009 13:10
You are very kind thanks.
- 24 November, 2009 14:47
- Sheila said...
Ben, this is wonderfully encouraging, even to a non-wine blogger like me. Patience and persistence are terribly undervalued in our time of instant everything.
Of course anyone who loves wine should know how important time and waiting are!
Happy Thanksgiving, a little late!
- 27 November, 2009 20:14


text:
Since we are developing a replication for a cloud, there are a few things we have to consider:
- Servers are unreliable. We shall not trust
server, but we shall expect them to crash at the worst possible time
(Murphy is
a very good friend of mine, you know. He must be, since he visits me
very often.) This means that we need to have support to allow
statements to be sent to the slaves before the transaction is
complete, which means that we need to support
interleaving and hence both commit and
rollback events.
In order to handle interleaving, we need to have a transaction id, but in order to handle session specific data in the event of a crash (for example, temporary tables), we need to have a session id as well. However, the session id is only needed for statements, not for other events, so we add it there. This will allow the slave to expire any session objects when necessary.
Since we cannot always know if the transaction is complete when a statement has been executed, we need to have the commit and rollback events as separate events, instead of using the alternative approach of adding flags to each query event.
- Reconnections are frequent. Since masters go up
and down all the time, we have to do what we can to make
reconnections to another master easy. Among other things, it means
that we cannot interrogate the master of a slave after it has
crashed to figure out where we should start replication, so we need
some form of Global
Transaction ID to be able to decide where to start
replication when connecting to another master.
In our case, we want the transaction id to be transferable to other servers as well, so we combine the server id and the transaction id to form the Global Transaction ID for this replication.
Since reconnections are frequent, we also need to have techniques for resolving conflicts between events, and using a timestamp is such a one. To handle that, we add a timestamp to each event, and we make room for a nano-precision timestamp immediately, meaning that we need at least 64 bits for that.
- Network is not reliable. We expect the cloud to be spread all over the planet, so we cannot really trust the network to provide a reliable transport. This means that we need some form of checksum on each event to ensure that it was transferred correctly.
INSERT statement below cannot
be reliably replicated without the value of the user variable
SET @foo = 'Hello world!'; INSERT INTO whatever VALUES (@foo);This is already handled in MySQL Replication by preceeding each query log events with a sequence of context events, but for this solution there is another approach that is more appropriate: adding a set of name-value pairs to the query event. Another problem is that there are functions that are non-deterministic, or context dependent in other ways, but these can be handled by rewriting the queries as follows:
|Instead of
|...use this
|INSERT INTO info VALUES (UUID(), 47);
|SET @tmp = UUID();
INSERT INTO info VALUES (@tmp, 47);
Now, the protobuf specification for all the above items, including some events used to control the storage of the binary log, is:
package BinaryLog; message Header { required fixed64 timestamp = 1; required uint32 server_id = 2; required uint32 trans_id = 3; } message Start { required Header header = 1; required uint32 server_version = 2; required string server_signature = 3; } message Chain { required Header header = 1; required uint32 next = 2; // Sequence number of next file } message Query { message Variable { required string name = 1; required string value = 2; } required Header header = 1; repeated Variable variable = 2; required uint32 session_id = 3; required string query = 4; } message Commit { required Header header = 1; } message Rollback { required Header header = 1; }After tossing together a reader and a writer for the format, the result is:
$ ./binlog_writer --trans 1 \ > --set nick=mkindahl --set name='Mats Kindahl' \ > 'INSERT INTO whatever VALUES (@nick,@name)' $ ./binlog_writer --trans 1 \ > --set nick=krow --set name='Brian Aker' \ > 'INSERT INTO whatever VALUES (@nick,@name)' $ ./binlog_writer --trans 1 \ > --set nick=mtaylor --set name='Monty Taylor' \ > 'INSERT INTO whatever VALUES (@nick,@name)' $ ./binlog_reader # Global Id: (1,0) # Timestamp: 484270929829911 set @name = 'Mats Kindahl' set @nick = 'mkindahl' INSERT INTO whatever VALUES (@nick,@name) # Global Id: (1,0) # Timestamp: 484330886264299 set @name = 'Brian Aker' set @nick = 'krow' INSERT INTO whatever VALUES (@nick,@name) # Global Id: (1,0) # Timestamp: 484391458447787 set @name = 'Monty Taylor' set @nick = 'mtaylor' INSERT INTO whatever VALUES (@nick,@name) $ ls -l log.bin -rw-r--r-- 1 mats bazaar 311 2008-08-19 14:22 log.binProtobuf Rocks! You find the branch containing the ongoing development of this at Launchpad. Right now, there is no changes to the server, we want the format to be stable first, so the branch is merged on a regular basis to the main tree as well.
- Branch:
- Blueprint:


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Eskew+Dumez+Ripple's residential tower represents a break from the norm in New Orleans
Completed March 2010, this mixed-use residential project is designed to re-imagine the typically horizontal nature of New Orleans' dense French Quarter blocks as a vertical condition. The program includes 250 residential apartments above a 500 car garage, and is organised to create a communal amenity level at the ninth floor – reinterpreting the courtyard housing typology for urban, high-rise living. At this raised 'courtyard' level, shuttle elevators transfer from garage to tower in order to promote opportunities for residents to cross paths with one another in a shared, communal space as opposed to the typically introverted collection of experiences found in most high-rise residential developments.
As a means to recreate the social interaction found in the courtyards of the city's historic quarter, the design consolidates all tenant amenities at the ninth floor level in order to condense their programmatic force. Anchoring this level is the 'sky lobby', a dramatic glass box that cantilevers out from the façade and offers spectacular views of the downtown skyline. This double-height lounge serves as an extension of the tenant's living spaces, with coffee bar and movie screening lounge set among informal groupings of furniture. The project was described by the jury for the 2011 AIA Housing Awards as: "A new paradigm for urban living."
Outside the sky lobby is an expansive pool deck, with tiered bleacher seating rising from the pool to a sunning platform. Tucked beneath these bleachers is the facility's fitness center. A series of townhomes along the south side create an architectural edge and produce the effect of a ground level courtyard on the garage rooftop. Departing from the oppressive monotony of the commercial office towers surrounding it, the design of the exterior envelope incorporates a highly articulated metal panel and glass patterned façade. This approach affords a higher percentage of glazing at upper residential floors with minimal glazing provided at the garage to maintain a seamless – while animated – composition.


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I am lucky enough to have been awarded the Brilliante Weblog Premio 2008 by two blogs so far: first Readerville, a great blog about books and literature, and The Modern Gal, one of my favorite blogs, about life, love and all things girly. Thanks so much, ladies!
Tradition dictates that you pass this award on to seven favorite bloggers of yours. Here are my favorites:
- Crazy Days and Nights — This celebrity blog is written by an anonymous entertainment lawyer who has connections to the stars and therefore has TONS of information nobody else has. He also releases eight blind items each week and does mass blind item reveals twice a year — if you're even only mildly into celebrities, you MUST check the blind item reveals out!! They are incredible!
- On Common Ground — I got my current job because of this blog!! The writer, The Missus, and I became blog friends last fall. I told my friends that this blogger had the life I wanted to have ten years from now (great job, married, living in the South End), and boom — now I work for her! She blogs a few times a day about life, funny incidents, fashion and bikram yoga.
- Megorious — In this case, I knew the writer before I knew the blog, but this guy is so hilarious. I love his writing. He combines original writings and videos with links to politics, news and strange things. And nothing can top his Republican Chat Room Debate. It's one of the most creative and funny things I've read in a long time.
- Hot Chicks With Douchebags — because there are few greater pleasures in life than laughing at Jersey guidos and the girls who love them. I went to college in Connecticut with a LOT of guys like this. The spiky hair, the bling, the muscle tees, the faux gang hand gestures…
- Serving Up Life…One Latte at a Time — I love personal blogs, especially those that chronicle people's lives, and CelticBuffy has one of the best ones out there. She's a single mom and she's incredibly honest about her feelings, which is a rarity these days. At the same time, she keeps it totally anonymous, unlike me.
- Kate's Wedding Blog — If/when I get married, it's going to be quick, private and simple — think Vegas, courthouse or maybe a deserted beach. That being said, I LOVE the concept of wedding planning, especially fashion and decor, and Kate has amazing style. Sometimes I'll see something in a store and think of her!
- Random Ramblings About My Crazy Life — Vanessa's blog, to me, is the perfect representation of what the modern American woman's blog is today. From contests to BlogHer to recipes to wonderings, her audience always comes first. Her entries are always written with her readers in mind.
If you're looking for more blogs to add to your Google Reader, any of these would make a worthy addition.


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SUNY Canton Screens Local Movie "Dissection of an Olive" on March 27
The locally produced movie "Dissection of an Olive" will be airing at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, in the SUNY Canton Richard W. Miller Campus Center's Kingston Theater.
The showing will be free and open to the public and will be the first time the movie has been shown locally since it played at the Roxy Theater in Potsdam as part of the Cinema 10 series last fall.
Several SUNY Canton students and faculty members contributed their talents to the movie, which was written and directed by former Potsdam resident Summer Dorr.
Kamal A. Turner, an instructional support assistant in the College's Graphic and Multimedia Design program served as the assistant director and acted in the evolving story.
"I saw my parts in the movie as a way to be involved with a really large creative project right here in the North Country," Turner said. "I contacted all of the students I knew who were interested in making movies so they could take advantage of the opportunity to get hands-on experience in a real production."
Additionally, Jesse L. Clark-Stone, a mathematics faculty member, served as the executive producer for the production. Graphic and Multimedia Design students Daniel H. Grant of Miller Place and Towfiq Akhtar of Queens both played roles in making the movie.
For more about the production and the official movie trailer, visit: http://www.dissectionofanolive.com/.
Tags: Dissection of an Olive, GMMD, Jesse Clark-Stone, Kamal Turner, local, movie, Summer Dorr


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Honeywell Debuts New Payment Accessory For iPad Mini™
July 14, 2016
Retail, Hospitality and Service Associates Can Better Engage With Consumers Using the Captuvo SL62 and iPad Mini Mobile Digital Device
NEW YORK Jan. 13, 2014 Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced the debut of the Captuvo SL62 enterprise sled, an encasement that transforms an Apple® iPad mini into a customer engagement tool for retail, hospitality and field service associates, at the NRF 2014 Expo in New York City today.
Building off Honeywell's successful Captuvo line, which includes the SL22 and SL42 encasements for fifth generation iPod touch® and iPhone® 5 devices, the SL62 helps employees look up inventory, scan barcodes and securely process payments, increasing customer engagement and improving mobile point-of-sale. It gives associates access to transaction data via the Web or mobile apps, providing an opportunity to upsell products and services and keep customers more engaged in the buying process.
The Captuvo SL62 is designed for all versions of the iPad mini, which offers a larger screen size than the iPod touch or iPhones. An optional magnetic stripe reader allows associates to check-out customers on the spot, whether in a retail stores or restaurants. Additionally, the Captuvo SL62 provides power to the iPad mini when it needs it most, which reduces downtime and maximizes productivity.
"Specifically engineered for the retail and hospitality industries, the Captuvo SL62 gives associates all the tools necessary to create a customized, superior shopping or dining experience," said Peter Fehl, vice president of global marketing for Honeywell Scanning & Mobility. "Store employees can now provide immediate answers to questions about product information and facilitate an on-the-spot check-out for increased sales."
In addition to allowing associates to go "beyond the counter" and engage with consumers directly, the Captuvo SL62 can improve the gift registry process for brick-and-mortar retailers. Now, shoppers can use the device to scan products, look up information and reviews and add products to a registry as they walk the store. This customer-friendly design can lead to the potential elimination of gift registry kiosks.
"An enhanced iPad mini solution is ideal for our retail and hospitality customers that are already familiar with the Apple® iOS and iPad interface," said Robert Kilby, vice president of sales at Direct Source, a retail systems integrator and Apple Authorized Reseller. "Our customers had great feedback about the performance and experience with the Captuvo SL62 pilot units that Honeywell provided during the development process. We will be looking to deploy more of the devices going forward as mobile solutions continue to expand."
Also an ideal solution for hospitality workers, the Captuvo SL62 gives caf and restaurant owners the ability to facilitate point-of-sale transactions and manage inventory from one device. Food service staff can use the Captuvo SL62 to place orders, describe different menu options and quickly facilitate payment at the table. The Captuvo SL62 can be customized with the brand or restaurant's logo.
Equipped with second-to-none imaging capabilities and Honeywell's AdaptusTM 6.0 imaging technology, the Captuvo SL62 can accurately read most bar codes, including government issued IDs, coupons or loyalty club bar codes. The sleek and protective design is able to withstand multiple 4-foot drops.
The Captuvo SL62 will begin shipping in early 2014. For more information, please visit www.honeywellaidc.com. The Captuvo SL62 will be on display during NRF, Jan. 13-14, 2014 in booth #2831 at Javits Center.
Apple, iPad mini, iPod, iPhone, and iPod touch are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.
Adaptus is a trademark of Honeywell International Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.
Honeywell ( www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and performance materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell's shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywellnow.com?.
Honeywell Scanning & Mobility (HSM) is a leading manufacturer of high-performance image- and laser-based data collection hardware, including rugged mobile computers and bar code scanners, radio frequency identification solutions, voice-enabled workflow and printing solutions. With the broadest product portfolio in the automatic identification and data collection industry, HSM provides data collection hardware for retail, healthcare, and transportation and logistics companies seeking to improve operations and enhance customer service. Additionally, HSM provides advanced software, service and professional solutions that help customers effectively manage data and assets. HSM products are sold worldwide through a network of distributor and reseller partners. For more information on Honeywell Scanning & Mobility, please visit www.honeywellaidc.com.
This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of fact, that address activities, events or developments that we or our management intend, expect, project, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on management's assumptions and assessments in light of past experience and trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other relevant factors. They are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from those envisaged by our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are also subject to risks and uncertainties, which can affect our performance in both the near- and long-term. We identify the principal risks and uncertainties that affect our performance in our Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.


text: Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums :: View topic - New e-pals wanted Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in New e-pals wanted Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Family View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message alejandrostaubJoined: 07 Sep 2004Posts: 1 Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 7:51 am Post subject: New e-pals wanted Hi! My name is Alex. I am from Spain. I'm 12. My favorite sport is tennis. My favorite tennis player is Andre Agassi. He is from Argentina. What about you? Who's your favorite? Write soon! Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Family All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Student Forums----------------ComputersCurrent NewsCultureEnglish SchoolsFamilyFilm and CinemaFoodHealth and FitnessHelp CenterHobbiesHolidaysLearning EnglishLiteratureMaking FriendsMusicOpinionsPetsScienceSportsThe Strange and MysteriousTOEFL and Other English ExamsTravel You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Dave's ESL Cafe is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Banner Advertising | Bookstore / Alta Books | FAQs | Articles | Interview with Dave Copyright © 2018 Dave's ESL Cafe | All Rights Reserved | Contact Dave's ESL Cafe | Site Map Teachers College, Columbia University: Train to Teach English Here or Abroad Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group


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Actor Says He Was Fired From Geico After Accusing Obama of Imposing Socialism
Actor R. Lee Ermey, who plays the drill sergeant turned therapist in a popular Geico commercial, recently revealed that he was fired for his conservative political views.
Ermey told TMZ, "Geico fired me because I wasn't too kind about speaking about the [Obama] administration."
"If you're a conservative in this town, you better watch out," he added.
Ermey stirred controversy in 2010 during a fundraiser for Toys for Tots when he blamed the Obama administration for the bad economy.
"We're having a big problem this year. The economy really sucks now. I hate to point fingers but the president and administration probably has a lot to do with that.
"We should all rise up and we should stop this administration from what they're doing because they're destroying this country. They're driving us into bankruptcy so that they can impose socialism on us."
He later apologized for the comments.
But he said he was let go by Geico, an insurance company, over those remarks.
Ermey is a retired United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant and actor known for his role in "Full Metal Jacket." Today, he may be more recognized for his role in an 30-second Geico commercial where he plays a therapist and tells a client, "Maybe we should chug on over to mamby pamby land where maybe we can find some self-confidence for you, you jackwagon! Tissue? Crybaby."


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Displaying items by tag: stories
I have decided that, having been associated with Talltree South, Maplewood Village, and what is now known as the MapleTree Pool in some way for so many years, it is now time to record some of its history and stories. I have begun writing our stories and reaching out to other people.
The stories we have are so rich and interesting, from buying a fledgling condo from developers, through changing demographics and various boards and management companies, through the real estate crisis, and beyond.
There are original owners of Talltree South who may be contacted, and others who came in the 1980s, the 1990s and pre-real-estate-crisis, those that bought in the price run-up, and those who came in more recently and picked up the pieces. It looks as if about half of those who bought at the top are now gone.These figures are not entirely complete but they begin to illustrate some of the trends we have been seeing.
I've started writing and calling people. I've also begun to reach out beyond Talltree South to the other Fairfax Heritage developments. We might also want to pull together the various communities to share stories and best practices, sometime along the way. If you can help, please let me know. Talltree South is Fairfax Heritage X Condominium. Maplewood is IX. They all were built in the 1961 - 1964 timeframe and converted to condos in the late 1970s. What are they like today?
I have recently been impressed with how well our condominium association is running. We have come so far.
I once again have had time to get back to going through the old file boxes, and have discovered more about the bad times the association went through. It is a rare chance to be an original owner and be able to see the big picture of the evolution of a community from conversion to condo in 1978 to the present -- to see that it went through two dark periods and three good periods during that time, and look at the factors that caused these situations.
One of the products of this effort is that I have begun to write up the stories and reach out to other award-winning associations for their stories, and I am in the process of building a website to reveal these to a broader audience. If this excites you, please let me know!
I am thrilled to report that I've found numerous people who remember Talltree South in the early days, and actually have uncovered a stash of records in the shed. None too soon -- the bottom boxes were damp and falling apart, the rubber bands brittle and stuck to the pages, many of which were yellow and fading.
I have talked with Chele Brown, Hugo Brandts, Bob Hennessee, and others. In so many cases, a single person determines the path of the condo for everyone in the association, because a five person board may vote 3 to 2 to make momentous decisions. I have found that Talltree South has had THREE rocky periods, and at least THREE periods of great management. History has already repeated itself.
This has convinced me that the STORIES need to be told. I believe that owners will enjoy and learn from stories even more than from admonishments to get involved. Today, the few determine the nature of the environment where the rest reside. Will those few make it a better place, allow it to deteriorate, or make truly awful, uninformed decisions (even if well-intentioned)? Will they fade away, be missing in action, or get sued? Will be boards be autocratic or humane?
As a really nice note, one Talltree South board from the past had an older woman put spray snow on her windows rather than the obligatory curtains. The board members talked with her and realized that she did it because she could not afford much. They took up a collection from the owners attending the board meeting and used it to buy her the curtains. I can tell you that today's boards would be more likely to enforce the covenants with due process: notices, a hearing, and perhaps a fine.
How did this play out in the real estate crisis? A bank, in its infinite wisdom, "secured" a Talltree South condo unit by turning off its heat, which caused the pipes to freeze and destroyed the unit and damaged neighboring units with a huge flood -- not even realizing that the heat was included in the condo fees, which had to be paid anyway, so they were not saving themselves any money anyway. They even had changed the locks, so the condo management had to break a window to get in, to deal with the flood.
The stories are so compelling! The history of Talltree South from the early days to the present becomes a case study with lessons for all condo owners and managers (not to mention being a fantastic read for those of us who live or lived there). I need your memories, records, and old photos, though! And, does anyone know how to reach Tom Kennedy, Bernard Manning, or the Seven D's?
I will continue to post progress. Call me and I'll fill your ear...
By the way, we are still urgently looking for a new site manager to start next month!!


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Musa Çelik-Potiss Paper Tissue Box
At Design Interviews
Interview with Musa Çelik : Frank Scott: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?. Musa Çelik : The idea of designing a pot shaped box was derived from the product itself. Houseplant concept was ideally suited to flower scented tissues. .Frank Scott: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?. Musa Çelik : Seeds were added to papier-mache of the cover. Thus, the box can be buried in the ground and trees can be grown. Potiss was designed not only to be nature-friendly but also to be a part of nature. .Frank Scott: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?. Musa Çelik : Online research was conducted for the project. A lot of examples related to tissue box packaging and different box designs were collected and examined. Latest trends in box design and marketing, good and bad design examples, shortcomings of the category were all noted. Thus, the design process was started with a detailed knowledge of the competitors and category. The design process finished in one month. .Frank Scott: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?. Musa Çelik : I decided to pursuit an inspiration. Potiss is an eco-friendly and unique paper tissue box. Potiss is also a stylish table accessory with its appealing look. .Frank Scott: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?. Musa Çelik : Potiss is a concept project designed for my own design office. I plan to sell or lease the production rights. .
Musa Çelik-Potiss Paper Tissue Box Images:
End of the article, click here to go back to previous page, or alternatively go back to Design Convention Magazine homepage.


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Buying clothes in an online outlet store can be convenient and practical, especially since the price of good clothes today almost borders the prohibitive. For one, an online outlet store can offer cheaper prices while you shop in the comforts of your own home. You d not have to go to stores one by one to look for particular pieces of children's clothing-all you have to do is search for a particular item and you will have all the choices available literally at the tip of your fingertips. Before, cheap children's clothes can only be found in bargain stores or secondhand shops; today, you can buy brand new clothes for your children or loved ones at a fraction of the price thanks to the existence of the online outlet store.
But buying clothes online can be tricky and difficult. You can't easily fit the clothes, so you are never sure if they will fit your child. The Internet is also home to a number of frauds and scammers, so buyers should also practice caution when buying clothes in an online outlet store.
To make sure the online outlet store you are going to do business with is legitimate, look for testimonials from its previous customers. Consider, in particular, reviews about shipping time, customer service, and, of course, overall customer satisfaction. If you see more than one testimonial saying the service of that particular online outlet store is substandard, try to look for other stores. Also, be wary of an online outlet store that does not provide a 24-hour customer service number. And although e-mails and Internet messaging correspondence are acceptable forms of getting a hold of customer service representatives, you have to make sure the store responds to queries and complaints immediately.
This is important because you are bound to inquire a lot about the sizes of the clothes you are going to buy. Sizes differ from brand to brand, so you will have to inquire regarding the standard size of their clothes. It is safe, therefore, to buy a just one specific brand you when shop in an online outlet store, especially if you plan to buy more than one piece of clothing.
Most importantly, you have to check the store's return policy. You may have to return items due to improper sizes since you won't get to try the clothes on the child. Make sure the store's return policy is flexible; for example, the online outlet store lets you return clothes that don't fit for no extra charge or clothes that look drastically different compared to its online description and picture.
But while there are of considerations involved when shopping online, it offers a number of conveniences too. You can easily canvass for clothes and compare their prices. With a little precaution, you can maximize the comforts of shopping for children's clothes online.


text: "The first great series of police thrillers. . . . Truly exciting."—Michael Ondaatje"Hauntingly effective storytelling."—The New York Times Book Review"Sjöwall and Wahlöö write unsparingly and unswervingly. . . . Their plots are second to none."—Val McDermid"It's hard to think of any other thriller writers (apart from Simenon perhaps) who can capture so much of a society in a couple of hundred pages and yet still hold true to the thriller form."—Sean and Nicci French