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WHILE foreign dignitaries are treated to a glitzy Buckingham Palace reception, complimentary luxury cars and their own private Olympic transport lane – this was the scene that greeted our Hampshire troops guarding London 2012.
Drafted in at the last minute amid a security fiasco, hundreds of members of the 1st Battalion, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (1PWRR) have been billeted in underground car parks, shopping centres and deserted warehouses.
Now a Hampshire MP is demanding an investigation into their treatment – which comes just months after the regiment – nicknamed the Tigers – returned from Afghanistan.
There they had spent a gruelling six months on the frontline and have now had their leave cancelled to step in at the Games.
These pictures, sent to the Daily Echo by a parent of one of the soldiers, show troops lined up on cramped military camp beds on the bottom floor of a multi-storey car park, where the rest of the floors are still being used. The Daily Echo understands that in some places that troops are staying, the soldiers have no access to electricity and are on Army rations.
Businesses and shops have stepped in to top up the food supply – offering half-price pizzas and fast food.
But Fiona Mason, 51, from Fair Oak , whose son Paul, 21, is serving with the Tigers, says the troops should be treated with more respect.
She added: "It's absolutely disgusting. They were treated better in the desert."
Last week the Daily Echo revealed how hundreds of Princess of Wales troops had been drafted in to guard some Olympic sites, including the beach volleyball at Horseguards Parade.
Some troops have been given passes to events in an attempt by organisers to fill empty seats.
But dad Simon Lynch- Garbett, 56, from Tenerife whose son James, 28, is staying in the Tower Bridge area with the regiment. says handing out a few free tickets does not make up for the way they have been treated.
He said: "They don't even have access to electricity.
"They've spent months out there fighting for our country and this is the way they're being treated. I understand they have got them some tickets – but that's only because the seats are empty."
Margaret Powell, 67, from Hill Head, who knows several of her son's friends are staying in London with the Tigers during the Olympics , added: "They come back from Afghanistan and then they're treated like second class citizens – prisoners are treated better."
The conditions the soldiers are enduring are in stark contrast to the luxury that celebs and dignitaries will enjoy during the next two weeks.
Dozens of "superyachts" have lined up in London's docks – turning it into a "mini Monaco" for the Games.
A-list celebrities and the mega-rich are staying on the luxurious cruisers to guarantee them front row seats for the Olympics.
Dignitaries from around the world were also treated to a glamorous reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen.
Reports also suggest they have been provided with chauffeur- driven BMWs to travel around in, using the speciallydesignated Olympic lanes that are out-of-bounds for normal drivers.
So far, 17,500 troops have been drafted in to provide security at the Games, after private security firm G4S admitted it did not have the manpower to fulfil its Olympic contract.
Southampton Itchen Labour MP John Denham, pictured, has called for a parliamentary investigation.
He said: "We know that the various select committees in the House of Commons are going to look at the problems with security contracts – as part of that wider investigation, I hope they also look into how the emergency deployment of troops was handled."
"When the troops were put on standby, we were told that this was part of a contingency plan being put in place – if it was a contingency plan you have got to ask what plans did they make to accommodate the soldiers?
"Surely somebody should have been looking at it in advance to see what arrangements would be made for accommodation."
The Army said it was doing all it could to make the experience more comfortable for troops – including sending round an ice cream van to the places where soldiers are staying.
A spokesman said: "Since the uplift in the military contribution we have been working hard to ensure that our armed forces, who are of course used to living in austere conditions on operations, are accommodated appropriately and as comfortable as possible, with access to sufficient rest and recreational facilities


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Post 2014 Upfront Breakdown
While the dust begins to settle on Swim's announcements (and the eventual May 14th soiree… that we once again were not invited to), I wanted to throw in my analysis of what you can possibly expect from series/pilots announced as well as series renewed/not renewed.
There were three pilots announced this year. As always, pilots could mean anything from them showing up randomly on Swim TV at 4:30am or not at all (I'm looking at you, "Tight Bros"). I'll deal with them individually…
Untitled World Star Hip Hop Project: With shows like "The Boondocks," "Loiter Squad," and "Black Dynamite," on the network, it's safe to say Swim has an "urban" representation covered. As I said, I've not heard of the site until yesterday… however I looked it up on Wikipedia. Evidently the site is "infamous for posting videos of violent fights and public sexual acts." I could be wrong, but that sounds like a trainwreck waiting to happen. The last time a network tried making a pilot out of a website (USA Network tried a pilot to eBaumsworld.com hosted by Chris Jericho) no good seemed to come of it. But, of course let's wait and see what happens.
Dream Corp LLC: I like John Krasinski… we share a birthday (October 20th) and he was funny on "The Office." There also hasn't been a live-action/animated hybrid since Tim and Eric's "Tom Goes to the Mayor." Without too much info about the show, it sounds like the Inception episode of "Rick and Morty," which was great. Again, let's wait and see what happens.
Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter: "Delocated's" Jon Glaser as a hunter of werewolves… who wears neon clothing. I'm sold. Hands down, I think out of the three, this will be the winner (if in fact they throw up another pilot tournament that doesn't lead anywhere… Brought to you by *insert fast food restaurant here*). PFFR is also behind the pilot, and since the show doesn't have to be anywhere serious as "Delocated," I can see them getting away with mind-screwing stuff, much like they have with their previous shows "Xavier: Renegade Angel" and "The Heart, She Holler."
A few of these were announced at last year's Upfronts. Again, I'll deal individually:
Mike Tyson Mysteries: Last year, I mentioned that I felt this show was going to be the sleeper hit of year, along with "Rick and Morty." Obviously I was right on the latter, so who's to say MTM won't be this year's sleeper? What we know already: It's animated Mike Tyson with a talking pigeon, an adopted Korean daughter, the ghost of the Marques de Queensbury, and more. Clearly this show is going to be a spoof of all your favorite 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoons like Mr. T, Speed Buggy, Jabberjaw, and more. Warner Bros Animation (the folks who bring you all those cool Batman direct-to-DVD movies) are behind the animation as well, so it should look pretty awesome. Also… Mego figures. 🙂
Mr. Pickles: Also announced last year. After I gave my thoughts on the show (which were pretty much "I dunno"), I was contacted by their PR team who sent me a copy of the pilot to peruse. I sent back my feedback which was basically this: The plot is great… it's a Lassie spoof, except Mr. Pickles is essentially a demon dog who causes trouble, and then blames it on the grandfather. The one thing I didn't care for, was the fact that it seemed to take the same cues used previously by "Metalocalypse" and "Superjail"… plenty of uber-violence and shock value. Despite this… it WAS only the pilot, and as we've talked about many times on the Swimcast, pilots don't make/break the show (case in point: "Frisky Dingo" took about 3 or 4 episodes in for any of us to warm up to). I'm obviously going to give this a sporting chance… and if their PR happen upon this article, feel free to send me any follow ups to review. 😀
Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories: I still have yet to see the Halloween episode with guest star Zach Galifianakis, however it's Tim and Eric… so it'll have the T&E fans excited and the haters wishing them death by fatal disease.
Black Jesus: The Final Season of MacGruder's "Boondocks" is currently airing. Prior to that, it was announced that he wouldn't be the showrunner for this season. It's no secret that Swim and MacGruder haven't been seeing eye to eye for a while now (I believe the hiatus between seasons two and three were when the problems started). Ultimately, it seems Swim and MacGruder have made some kind of peace, with the latter giving his blessing for Swim to go ahead with the final season without him. Obviously, the trade-off is that they're allowing him a new series. Will it be as successful as "The Boondocks?" Only time will tell.
Untitled Jack McBrayer/Triumph Sitcom: Jack McBrayer and Robert Smigel/Triumph: The Insult Comic Dog in a sitcom environment. Enough Said. Unless of course you missed the video we've been posting.
There's only one special this year, but BOY is it a special:
The Venture Bros.: YES! A one-hour special from your friends Titmouse and the AstroBase. Looks like this one may not only sustain us until Season 6, but also bridges Season 5 to 6. The special is set in space, on board Gargantua-2. For you Venturoos at home who don't know the story: Gargantua-2 was being worked on by Jonas Jr. at the start of VB Season 5 (with hints of it in Season 4) as a replacement to his father's Gargantua-1, featured prominently in Season 1. Jonas calls Rusty in the first episode and asks him to build a force field (hence the Paelamon Project). Will the force field succeed? What else could happen? How will "everyone" be involved? We'll find out later this year.
Returning Shows:
Obviously, there are plenty returning. Some are already on ("Boondocks" and "Robot Chicken"). "Loiter Squad" is back next week (for some odd reason).
In terms of live-action, I'm glad "Childrens Hospital" S6 is coming (why wouldn't Swim renew their Emmy-winning bread and butter)? Also glad "Newsreaders" is getting a second run… even it it's without Louis LaFonda. Still, Alan Tudyk is a welcomed surprise. Speaking of, "Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell" getting a second season. "Hell" yes.
In addition, "The Eric Andre Show" is the perfect amount of crazy NOT to have been picked up again… likewise "The Heart, She Holler." Although I do hope in the case of the latter, they bring back Kristen Schaal as Hurshe. "Hot Package" is also returning… I have to go back and watch, but the first episode didn't really impress me that much.
At this point, "Squidbillies" and "Aqua" are always expected. I'm eager to see if they change the name a fourth time, or perhaps revert back to "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." I think the name changing shtick is getting a little old.
Can't wait for new "Superjail!" been a while since we've seen the Warden and Co. "China, IL" is still fresh in our minds from last fall, but welcomed back also. Last (but certainly not least) my pick for last year, "Rick and Morty" will indeed return. With NBC announcing today the cancellation of "Community," it should be interesting to see if Dan Harmon puts more eggs in R&M next season.
Acquired/Syndicated Shows:
As far as the rest of the lineup goes: Toonami be Toonami… I am eager to watch "Attack on Titan". The Fox stuff, I could do less with… there's only so much American Cleveland Guy of the Hill I can stomach on a weekly basis. More "Bob's Burgers," please.
What's Missing?:
Ok, well…. "Tight Bros." …Dead issue, clearly.
I think the big absence for me is "NTSF:SD:SUV::" I'd mentioned this in an earlier news post, but I feel like the cast and crew are kind of splitting off and doing other shows, etc. I do hope it comes back. "Eagleheart's" not on the lineup right now… obviously since they just came off the most recent season. Perhaps the NTSF-Eagleheart crossover people at NYCC were clamoring for is in the works?
Also missing: "Metalocalypse." We did have the "Doomstar Requiem" special last October… it was ok. Rumors were swirling by the time November hit. Co-creator, Tommy Blacha said that the "future looks bright" for the show. However, nothing further has been mentioned since then.
"King Star King," is also rumored for a June 25th release (same day as "Superjail!") Until Swim issues a Press Release, formally announcing… let's wait and see. Things do change at the drop of a hat. Even when dates are announced (Remember how they said "Boondocks" was coming in January)?
Also, has Matt Harrigan's "Untitled Cruise Ship Project" gone the way of "Tight Bros?" Because we can never have enough "What happened to Tight Bros?" jokes.
Final Thoughts:
I'm definitely sticking to my guns by saying that I think "Mike Tyson Mysteries" will be this coming year's sleeper hit for the network with the McBrayer/Triumph sitcom as my second pick. Pilot-wise, I'm going with "Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter." Do I think it'll make it to series? Not sure, especially since the horror-comedy genre hasn't worked out well in the past (Everyone loved the "Stiff" pilot… yet, no further eps were ordered).
Do you have your own opinions on the Upfronts? Chat about the shows on our forums.


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Large Moroccan Pouf Natural
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Availability: In stock
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United Blood Services of Las Vegas, Evil Dead the Musical and Cosmic Comics
Evil Dead the Musical offers two free tickets to their show at Blood Drive.
Find the hero in you! Volunteer blood donors are needed in Las Vegas year-round. All donors at this blood drive will receive two free tickets to see Evil Dead The Musical at the V Theater. As Southern Nevada's community blood provider, United Blood Services relies on blood donations to make sure blood is available for anyone who needs it. UBS currently has a need for all blood types, especially O negative. O negative is the universal blood type and the only type that can be transfused to patients with different blood types.
Donors are encouraged to make an appointment and can do so by calling 702-233-9620.
UBS is always interested in creating partnerships for new blood drive sponsors in our community. To learn more about organizing a mobile blood drive, please call 702-612-8557.
Friday, January 23, 2015
3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Cosmic Comics
3830 E Flamingo Rd #2
Las Vegas, NV 89121
Contact Alecia Warren at 702-433-4331 or 303-328-1694 for more information.
About United Blood Services of Las Vegas
Founded in 1963, United Blood Services of Las Vegas, a non-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization, provides blood and blood products for hospitals in Southern Nevada, California and Northern Arizona. Its programs exist to make a difference in people's lives by inspiring individuals to donate blood, producing a safe and ample blood supply, advancing cutting-edge research and embracing continuous quality improvement. The United Blood Services network is one of the nation's oldest and largest non-profit blood service organizations, and is a founding member of America's Blood Centers and the American Association of Blood Banks. Nationally, United Blood Services serves more than 500 hospitals in 18 states, contributing to more than 25 million people. For more information, visit www.unitedbloodservices.org.


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W3 makes it easy on businesses to empower clients with the ability to inherit their own Punchout catalog to generate & submit purchase orders, receive invoices, obtain pricing & product availability plus much more.
Using your iConnect Solution, you can empower your clients with the ability to use their preferred procurement application to Punchout and connect with your catalog via the cloud to generate orders.
W3 makes it EASY on organizations to launch their very own W3 powered eBusiness Solution without having to focus on the underlying technology, software or content to run, manage and grow their business better in the Cloud via minimal resources and at the lowest cost in the industry.


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Diving & Marine Conservation Volunteering in Thailand - Monthly Updates
- Project Overview
- Additional Project Info
- Divemaster Course Add-on
- Monthly Updates
- Management Plan, Data & Reports
Conservation in Thailand - Monthly Update June/July 2011
It's been a busy summer here at the conservation project in Thailand. So let me begin by filling you in on all the cool stuff that has been going on here…
Our full time Marine Biologist, Linnea, has been working extremely hard this summer developing our conservation projects and moving them into the international arena. She has also been working on developing partnerships within the local community aiming to utilise our skills and resources.
Together with the help of our Field Co-ordinator, Punch and her connections with the local community, our projects are having an incredible impact on the costal and marine environment around the Krabi area and are ensuring these areas will continue to be protected for future generations.
So here's a summary of the new and existing long term projects we have been involved with over the last few months:
Reef Check
Since June 2011, we have been proudly carrying out weekly Reef Check Surveys and sharing our data with Reef Check International. Given our regular high numbers of volunteers, the amount of data we collect is of fundamental importance to understanding the health and degeneration of the coral reef systems in the Andaman Sea and Thailand.
Over the next months, I will be sharing with you some interesting facts about the data we have collected, how that data is being used and what we have learned from doing these surveys.
Dive Against Debris
This is brand new international project set up by Projects Aware as a year-round data and debris collection effort, aiming to reduce the devastating impacts of trash and debris on our reefs on a global scale.
We became one of the first members of this project and have already received a letter from the director thanking us for the invaluable amount of data which we have been sharing and for our eco-diving practices, he wrote,
"Thanks for submitting your Dive Against Debris data. Your data will help prevent harmful rubbish from entering the ocean. Please pass my thanks to the whole Projects Abroad team!
Re your comment: "The fish trap was found about one month ago, but was left because of cuttlefish eggs inside it. Holes were cut in the net to let fish out. Now the eggs are hatched, and the trap brought up." - Outstanding work!
This is the sort of smart diving we love to see - well done!!"
Coral Nursery
After much consideration and consultation we have decided to postpone this project in order to allow the surrounding coral reefs to rebuild naturally. The reefs suffered tremendous damage last year due to a rise in water temperature which resulted in wide spread coral bleaching.
The nurseries and artificial reef will remain in place, and we will still visit them regularly to make repairs and clean, until such time as we decide to restart this project.
Once a month we volunteer our time at the fisheries department in order to help with the maintenance of the outdoor aquarium.
The centre breeds endangered species in large salt water lakes next to the coast, for research and conservation, so there is usually lots to be done. Most fish are eventually released back into the sea in order to boost the local populations and we will be getting more involved in the release program over the next few months.
In July, one of our volunteers was interviewed by a Chillian TV crew whilst at the fisheries; they were filming there for a documentary.
Mangrove Forest Regeneration
Our mangrove sites are coming along nicely. Over the summer we planted over 1500 mangrove saplings in our newly donated site alone! We have already seen an increase in the wildlife that is returning to the area including a number of baby sea snakes!
We have been collecting 4 types of mangrove seeds and successfully growing them in our mangrove nursery. We have all stages of seed germination and growth in operation. We have been using our very own home grown saplings to repopulate the decimated areas which are being systematically destroyed by shrimp farming and the development of the costal regions.
It has been a beautiful experience for everyone to be actively involved in the whole process from seed collection to planting the saplings.
We also have been compiling comparative studies of the healthy and unhealthy mangrove forests, working in conjunction with international Mangrove Action Project. In July, this involved a kayaking survey around the local mangroves to compare the species of flora and fauna seen in the different sites.
Beach Clean Ups
Over the summer we collected on average 175kg of trash from local beaches on each one of our clean ups! And this is low season!
We met with several local people who told us of beaches that have large amounts of trash covering them and asking for our help. We also managed to get some locals involved who regularly help us out on a weekly basis, including Poppy – a gorgeous 1 year old golden Labrador who loves to collect the plastic bottles for us!
Costal Habitats and Resource Management (CHARM)
The last few months has seen us pushing the education aspect of the project. We have been getting out and into the public realm, offering information on our conservation practices and what everyone can do to help.
Working in connection with CHARM, a European Union endorsed program dedicated to the education of Thai people about the conservation of coastal habitats, our volunteers have built information displays and designed bilingual posters which provide information to the local community.
Community and Schools Projects
Being amongst the local community and school children is always one of the highlights of the project. Over the summer we were invited to join the local villagers of Pakasai to plant over 500 mangroves.
We also, helped paint a local school and in return the school children helped us collect trash from the surrounding area.
Finally, July hosted the Projects Abroad 2 Week Special Programme. We had a total of 15 volunteers staying with us for 2 weeks helping us out on the above projects. In addition we got to go trekking through the jungle on elephants, take out sea kayaks, visit the gibbon rehabilitation centre, have picnics on the beach and so much more! A great and totally memorable experience was had by all!
So I'll sign off for now, but please keep checking out this page as I will be providing regular monthly updates on how the projects are going and giving you the news on any exciting and special events we have been involved in.
Until next month,
Ingrid Sprake
Conservation Director, Thailand July 2011


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These rock landscaping concepts how to build a rock garden will mean you can flip your backyard into a factor of magnificence in no time at all. Leave yourself some choices within the rock backyard design you select because most likely your rock backyard design shall be permanent. Landscaping river rock can become an essential part of any backyard pond design. As you proceed to create a rock garden ideas make sure you select the right soil type.
How Do I Make A Rock Garden
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Saffron & Cedar Fragrance Oil– Fragrance Oil Spotlight
Natures Gardens Saffron and Cedar Fragrance oil is a deep woody fragrance oil that makes for a perfect male scent. However, do not lock this fragrance oil in as only a male scent, there are enchanting elements of notes in this fragrance that dual well as unisex. The spicy kick makes this fragrance oil very appealing, a perfect scent for the 2013/2014 Fall and Winter Fragrance Trend.
What does Saffron & Cedar Fragrance Oil Smell Like?
A wonderful arrangement of fresh-cut cedar trees surrounded by saffron spice, violet, and geranium; all sitting on base notes of vetiver and warm musk.
How Do Our Customers Use Saffron & Cedar Fragrance Oil?
For those of you that are home scents and candle crafters; our customers use this fragrance oil in their soy, pillar, ecosoya, WOW and Joy wax candles. This scent is amazingly strong. Some of our customers even make incense and cones. Saffron & Cedar fragrance oil creates awesome aroma beads too.
On the bath and body end, there is quite a variety to choose from. The usage percent for this fragrance oil is 5%, and is used to make: Melt and pour soaps, body butters, homemade lotions, after shave butters, shower gels, cologne, body splashes, and lotions bars. Finally, for those of you that are cold process soapers, here are the official results: Some acceleration. No discoloration. Scent is strong.


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Tavis Smiley Foundation
The mission of the Tavis Smiley Foundation is to enlighten, encourage and empower youth by providing leadership training that will promote and enhance the quality of life for themselves, their communities and our world.
Live Video app for Facebook by Ustream
Our work is based on the notion that young people have the capacity to become leaders in their chosen field of endeavor if given the exposure to concepts of leadership and the opportunity to demonstrate their skills through positive social action.
Young people have been at the core of every social movement in history and through our Leadership Institute we hope to identify the next generation of social change leaders.
Tavis Smiley is host of the nightly talk show Tavis Smiley on PBS, and the host of The Tavis Smiley Show and co-host of Smiley & West from Public Radio International (PRI). He founded the Tavis Smiley Foundation in 1999.
When Cortlan Wickliff was just 11 years old he participated in the Tavis Smiley Foundation's Youth to Leaders program in Houston. Fast forward to 2013 and Cortlan made history as one of the youngest African Americans to graduate with a law degree from Harvard University at age 22. He received a bachelor's degree from Rice University when he was 19.
If you missed it here's Tavis's interview with Cortlan a few weeks before he received his degree.
Watch Education advocate Cortlan Wickliff on PBS. See more from Tavis Smiley.
Here's a recent article on Cortlan from the Boston Globe.
Harvard Law Student Graduates at 22
CAMBRIDGE — On a recent Wednesday afternoon, 22-year-old Cortlan Wickliff walks into a pizzeria looking every bit the college student, with headphones, braces, and slightly overgrown hair. Finals are over, and there's not much to do but have dinner with friends and watch movies, lots of movies, until graduation.
Oh, and start studying for the bar exam.
When Wickliff dons his cap and gown, regalia his mother had to remind him to order, the Texas native will be one of the youngest African-Americans ever to graduate from Harvard Law School.
To read the article in its entirety, click here: http://b.globe.com/148UIB8
Youth to Leaders alumni Corey Emanuel didn't know exactly how he would utilize his master's degree in Communication and Education from Columbia University Teachers College when he graduated in 2012 in the midst of a tough economy, but deciding to dust off a children's book he wrote in fall of 2008 seemed to be the best place to start.
Corey wanted to use his degree to infuse entertainment with "teachable moments", a craft he says Bill Cosby perfected during the 80's and 90's with the hit series, The Cosby Show. But instead, he took another lesson from Cosby and decided to write a book for kids. Having interned in the editorial department of CNN's In America with Soledad O'Brien as a graduate student, Corey says he gained the confidence to revisit and edit a book he had written in 2008 on the cuff of President Barack Obama's election as the 44th United States President.
Ginene Lewis of Philadelphia was recently named as one of the Ten to Watch on the On Being A Black Lawyer 2013 Power List of the most influential black attorneys in the country.
The Power List recognizes the extraordinary accomplishments of black lawyers in the legal profession and beyond. Ginene's category recognizes 10 talented individuals who while still early in their legal careers, have achieved prominence and distinction, professionally and philanthropically and represent the best talent in the legal profession
Ginene is a law clerk to the Honorable Patrice Tucker of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Philadelphia. She earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2012 and is a 2009 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Spelman College, where she majored in political science.
She is a past member of the Tavis Smiley Foundation National Youth Advisory Council and a Smiley Scholar recipient.
Empowering today's youth for tomorrow


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This Japanese Banana Commercial Is Completely Bananas [VIDEO]
This commercial for Dole in Japan features a character called Banana Man, who has bananas for fingers, and also has his namesake fruit growing from out of his nose, ears and head.
Because of this odd condition he has incredible typing skills (natch) and a mostly female fan club. Banana Man is also able to conjure bananas out of thin air, which he does to impress a corporate bigwig, resulting in some sort of business prize. Oh, and this all happens in fifteen seconds.
Japanese commercials often seem pretty nutty to those with more Western sensibilities, but this one is completely bananas.
Watch below:
[via Geekosytem via WTF Japan Seriously]


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Race Selection
There are two ways to go about race selection: Picking a strategy in advance, or keeping open to whatever the dungeon presents. You should probably pick your race considering the boss, but Halflings and Gnomes are almost always helpful.
Game Phases
One strategy that can be effective is to play the game as if there were 3 distinct phases to it: Scouting, Preparation, and Boss Battling
- Scouting: Levels 1 to 3. It's rarely possible to kill monsters of significantly higher level at this stage, but it can be useful to do some quick scouting around the dungeon and find what Gods and Runes are available, as well as what Boss spawned (If in a random boss dungeon). You can significantly speed this up if you Scout: Altar.
- Preparation: Levels 3 to 7. It's possible to kill monsters of significantly higher level during this phase, to generate more exp by using the level-up steamroll and the experience catapult. The goal is to generate enough bonus experience to be able to reach levels 9 or 10.
- Boss Battling: Levels 7 to 10. At this point, dungeon exploration likely stops (unless you're using a poison glyph against a boss or can out regen them), and the battle begins. It can be useful at this point to be almost at the next level, allowing the player to use the level-up steamroll to instantly heal to full health and mana, possibly even multiple times during the fight.
Character Builds
There are several different approaches to character builds which generally fall into one of the following categories:
Focusing heavily on attack damage and one-time buffs, Strikers are characters that attempt to end their fights quickly with a few powerful physical attacks. Strikers only use spellcasting to supplement their damage, primarily relying on physical attacks. Character classes such as the Warlord, Rogue, and Crusader make strong strikers. Strikers tend to only want enough health and resistances to survive a single attack from enemies, and put no further effort into defenses, instead focusing on offense so they only need to survive that one attack. Temporary buffs that only last for one attack are very useful to striker builds, since their battles end shortly afterwards and they can then explore to recharge their mana and re-cast their buffs. Strikers benefit enormously from any item that increases their attack damage, and greatly enjoy the CYDSTEPP, ENDISWAL, and GETINDARE glyphs which allow them to tack on a few extra attacks with little additional effort. These characters prefer to fight low-health monsters such as Goats, Gorgons, and Warlocks.
The Human and Orc are generally the best races for strikers, though strong striker strategies exist for every race except for the Dwarf.
The sister build of the Striker, the Brawler attempts to balance offense and defense to outlast opponents by sheer attrition. While they do not focus on ending battles quickly like the striker, attack damage is still the most important aspect for a brawler character. Permanent resistances are very useful to the Brawler, making deities that offer boons to that effect very valuable. Classes such as the Berserker, Monk, and Paladin make superb brawlers. Brawlers make exceptional poison fighters with the APHEELSIK glyph, and can often make great use of HALPMEH and BYSSEPS. Glyphs that deal damage directly are poor choices for brawlers, which need to use more mana-efficient options to win battles of attrition. Brawlers prefer to fight low-damage monsters such as Meatmen or Golems, but are heavily penalized for fighting monsters with debuffs such as bandits.
In some cases, the line between Brawler and Striker may become blurred. Since both builds prioritize attack damage foremost, opportunity and necessity may cause strikers to play like brawlers and brawlers to play like strikers. This overlap means you can often enter the dungeon with preparations that would suit either a brawler or striker and then develop on the build that makes most sense based on the boss and the deities, items, and glyphs available to you.
The Human and Orc make the best Brawlers, but specific brawler strategies exist for every race.
Specializing in either the PISORF or BURNDAYRAZ glyph, a dedicated caster eschews the normal focus on attack damage, instead diverting attention to max mana or other unconventional advantages. The caster will primarily rely on glyphs for damage, and survivability is largely a non-issue. This make utility glyphs that help your combat performance largely worthless, but makes the BLUDTUPOWA glyph invaluable. The Crystal Ball item is by far the best selection for a caster, although you'll need to save a decent sum of gold to abuse it. Casters can deal massive amounts of damage without ever taking retaliation from monsters, enabling them to casually ignore debuffs and massive damage that an enemy might otherwise have. The largest downside casters face is that they have trouble killing weaker monsters when performing level-up catapults, since their total focus on magic means their attack damage is going to be very low and they will either have to use mana or health resources to defeat weaker monsters that should be push-overs. This makes the swift hands class feature of the Assassin very useful for caster characters. Other strong caster classes are the Wizard and Bloodmage.
Casters should almost always play as an Elf, Gnome, or Orc. Elves and Gnomes grant additional spellcasting power, while the Orc's bonus to base attack greatly increases the damage he deals with PISORF. Orc Caster builds are very uncommon since there is no way to ensure PISORF or Binlor (without prepping him) will appear in the dungeon, and your entire character setup depends on that.
These characters, for whatever reason, do not have any particular attributes that make them well suited to one specific approach. Instead, they present a well-rounded character that alters his approach for different monsters and situations. Hybrids lack the specialization of other builds, and as a result are much weaker overall and will need to leverage their versatility to use their resources more efficiently. They also tend to suffer because they will want to keep a wider variety of glyphs, and will not gain benefits from having converted them until later in the dungeon. Classes such as the Fighter, Thief, and Sorcerer have the kind of versatility that makes for a good hybrid. The Wizard is also potentially a good hybrid choice, as he is able to carry a large number of glyphs and does not need to convert them directly in order to extract conversion points from them. Obviously your deity choice would be entirely based on your scenario.
Races that are back-loaded (that is to say, you benefit most by converting items and glyphs late), such as the Halfling, Gnome, and Goblin make for excellent hybrids. The Human and Elf are also sufficiently diverse to offer a strong option for hybrids.
God Selection
God selection is essential to victory. Nothing is worse than picking a god only to discover that the selection is going to prevent you from winning. On the other hand, getting a god early usually means more piety and access to better boons. Whether or not you should grab a god as soon as you see them is a factor of your race, class, level, items, glyphs and the state of the dungeon. Here are some general rules for each:
- Binlor Ironshield: Binlor works as a source of magic resistance and resistance reduction, and is an okay source of piety. He grants a free PISORF on worship, which may be tricky to get piety with. You can get ENDISWAL for 35 piety, or can pick one up if it spawns making Extra Glyphs a good preperation to take if you plan on worshiping him. If you have the BLUDTUPOWA glyph then you can accumulate piety with Binlor faster than with any other deity. Constantly requesting Stone Skin and Stone Heart will allow you to rack up a great amount of magic resistance. Binlor is also a good desecration target, as long as you don't have any resistances. One downside to Binlor is that if the boss has high resistance, it's important you find the boss as soon as possible, as Stone Heart works on visible enemies only.
- Dracul: Dracul is a good selection for most melee classes, due to how much health he can bring to the table. By conserving blood pools and exploiting his Blood Tithe boon, you can get the equivalent of a dozen Health Potions, even more if you're a Bloodmage. Unfortunately, he HATES all holy magic (HALPMEH and CYDSTEPP) so if you rely on these he is not a good choice. The other reason he's useful is for if Blood Shield boon, which stacks extremely well with the Dragon Shield, but has a high piety cost. His Blood Hunger boon works well for striker builds, since you can overheal using life steal.
- The Earthmother: A somewhat useful deity by herself, but a great source of piety. The exp bonus from IMAWAL can work to your advantage, and you gain piety from it! Her Plantation boon allows you to get 100 Piety extremely easily, which can be used to convert to another deity. She also works well with The Pactmaker. As for her other boons, they provide decent leverage early game, but tends to fall off late game. Vine Form is a cheap source of HP at early levels. Clearance provides a cheap source of mana for the first few requests. Greenblood is a weak boon, but it's usable if you desperately need to get rid of curse. Entanglement can be used for cleaning up, since killing slowed enemies gives you an extra experience point. The Earthmother's also an easy desecration target, since a single Burn Salve negates her punishment.
- Glowing Guardian: A powerful deity for every class except Bloodmage and Assassin, or Tri-Sword/Alchemist's Scroll builds. Worship him as early as possible to get the most piety out of him. Absolution is deceptively powerful, allowing gain a ton of max HP, although it costs 1/5 of an item slot and some potential XP. Enlightenment can be used to your advantage, providing a nice bonus to everything, plus a complete curse wipe. Unfortunately he hates potions, and converting in and out of him isn't a great option.
- Jehora Jeheyu: A very strange god. His boons can be very powerful, but will deplete your potions so they must be used carefully. Piety gain is random; if you get lucky, he can give you inordinate amounts of piety. However, punishments are also at random! Try to get the Petition boon to end his punishments as soon as possible. He can also be desecrated easily if you time your level ups.
- Mystera Annur: Mystera works well for certain strategies. Refreshment is a powerful boon, providing roughly 5-6 Mana Potions worth of mana, so saving glyphs for mana replenishment is crucial. Mystic Balance is a strong boon that allows for 5 MP fireballs and 8 MP CYDSTEPPs, although it fares poorly with other cheaper glyphs. Flames and Weakening is an option if you desperately need magic damage. Magic basically equates to 1 almost-free MP. Don't worship her if the dungeon is full of magical monsters or mana burners, however.
- The Pactmaker: Not a real deity. The Pactmaker offers 5 pacts which decrease your piety, but give you god effects when certain things happen. If you cannot pay the piety because you have no other god, nothing happens. If you have a god, but can't pay the piety, you do not invoke the gods punishment. You can also use Consensus for instant piety gratification or for converting out of a deity. Works well with "piety farms" like The Earthmother and Taurog, as well as the Stone Sigil.
- Taurog: Taurog is a good source of piety, and benefits classes that beg for physical damage, especially the Berserker and the Monk. However, the mana penalty can be crippling and his boons will fill your inventory and prevent you from purchasing other items from shops. With Taurog, you can either worship him full-time and abuse his Unstoppable Fury boon or grab a few of his items and convert out of him before the MP penalty cripples you.
- Tikki Tooki: Good choice as a later game deity, as he enjoys you slaying lower level monsters, but a big no for tanks. His Dodging and Poison boons are useful, and Reflexes gives you two powerful potions at your disposal. Tikki's Edge can also be abused if you saved a lot of low-level monsters. The best part of Tikki Tooki is that his boons give you gold, so you can afford buying powerful items and abusing gold-consuming items like the Tri-Sword or Crystal Ball.
The preparation phase for the boss battles is highly significant, as it requires maximizing exp gain, minimizing resource usage, and choosing an appropriate strategy. It's worthwhile to note that while dungeon exploration is itself technically a limited resource, it is often desirable or even necessary to exhaust all dungeon exploration during this phase to maximize exp gain, unless intending to use a APHEELSIK glyph or regen tactics to defeat the boss(es). In dungeons where there are two bosses, it can be helpful to try to leave a corridor, corner, or area unexplored to allow for regeneration between boss battles.
When reaching level 6 to 7, it's often beneficial to have explored most if not all of the dungeon, and begin creating an "exp farm." By weakening several lower level monsters to within a single hit from death, they can be finished later to gain exp for further level steamrolling. Note, it is less useful or even dangerous to leave creatures with the First Strike ability weakened as a part of an exp farm, as they will deal still deal damage to you when you come back to finish them off.
Basic Combat Techniques by Numbers
These values are with no damage powerups, and often times the disparities can be bridged with glyphs / race / class / deity bonuses, or by fighting monsters with less than the standard 100% health for their level (Gorgons, imps, wraiths, ...). The three most basic combos are the two-one, the two-two and the four-one. Some race/class/deity setups are capable of doing far more advanced combos, but these are the basic underlying methods available to all.
As a note, monsters with lower starting health can often be killed at even lower levels than the charts suggest. The example of a level 8 gorgon falling to a level 4-5 four-one attack comes to mind.
Two-One Attack
Two fireballs, followed up by a melee blow. Damage dealt is calculated by (4 x 2 x player level) for the fireball damage, and (5 x player level) for melee damage. This technique is most effective early-game.
|Player Level
|Damage Dealt
|Monster Level
|Monster Health (100%)
As the chart shows, at most early levels it's possible to kill monsters of one higher level with a simple two-one attack. An early item such as a Fine Sword can make this tactic effective well into level 5.
Two-Two Attack
This technique is similar to the one-two attack, but requires First Strike, CYDSTEPP, healing, or enough health to survive two attacks from the monster. When successful, however, it allows for easily killing monsters two levels higher. This technique is most effective mid-game, although coupled with a level-up, it can be chained into a four-two or even a four-four attack for slaying extremely high level monsters.
|Player Level
|Damage Dealt
|Monster Level
|Monster Health (100%)
Four-One Attack
By leveling up mid-combat, the player can use 4 fireballs in a single battle against a monster (even 6 or 8, through gear / deity / race / class / etc.). This technique is highly effective, but often harder to use.
|Player Level (start/end)
|Damage Dealt
|Monster Level
|Monster Health (100%)
Advanced Techniques
Level-up Steamroll
With very few experience needed to gain the next level, you can fight a tough monster, and then when you can't fight any more, kill a low-level monster in order to level up. This will restore your health and mana without healing the tough monster. You can then go back to killing the tougher monster with full strength. It is possible to level up more than once during a single fight. This usually requires the player utilizing the "Experience Catapult" strategy first (see below) so that he has a lot of low-level monsters to kill. Nonetheless, keeping track of how many experience you can get from the available monsters is always a wise thing to do.
First Strike Finisher
First strike will often allow you to kill a monster you couldn't otherwise beat. Cast it just before the final blow, and the monster gets no retaliation hit.
- Keep in mind that you still take a retaliation hit if the monster has first strike as well.
Fireball Softener
Hitting a monster with fireball before combat will often reduce the number of hits it takes to kill it. Can be used with first strike to take on otherwise dangerous foes without taking any damage.
Battle of Attrition
If you have enough attack to do more damage in one hit than your enemy is able to regenerate in the time it takes you to regenerate the damage that he does with a single hit, you can heal between attacks and still be able to have a net effect of his health decreasing. Be careful however, that it might be very exploration consuming.
- A way to determine if you are able to damage your foe quicker that he would heal, is to compare the number of tiles you would need to recover from one of his strikes (damaged caused his attack / health you recover per explored tiles), and the number of tiles he would need to recover from one of your strikes (damaged caused by your attack / health he recovers per tile you explore). If you need less tiles than he does, you will heal quicker. Don't forget to take your spells in account !
- Even if you heal slower than the enemy does, sometimes exploring one or a few blocks mid-battle can regenerate your HP/MP for additional hit/spell so that you can deal enough damage to kill the enemy.
Slow Poison
Attacking an enemy and then poisoning it and exploring (or using the LEMMISI glyph) allows you to take on enemies that would otherwise outlast you in a fight. If attacking with magic you can use this technique to beat a foe that would otherwise kill you with one hit.
- This technique relies on either of two abilities. You can last as long as you can survive a single hit, so if your HP or resistance are as high as possible, you will be able to outlast harder hits.
Death of a Dozen Flames
- Cast BURNDAYRAZ.
- Cast APHEELSIK.
- Explore until you have enough mana to cast both again.
- Repeat as needed.
Persistent Martyr
- Cast CYDSTEPP.
- Explore until you have enough mana to cast APHEELSIK.
- Attack monster until CYDSTEPP protects you from a fatal blow.
- Cast APHEELSIK.
- Explore until you have enough mana to cast CYDSTEPP.
- Repeat as needed.
Experience Catapult
Depending upon the hero's class and which glyphs and items are available, there are different ways that a low-level character might be able to take out a quite high level character. When such an opportunity arises, it is beneficial to follow through when your hero is at the lowest possible level. The experience formula greatly rewards going after creatures above your level.
- For example, a level 1 hero killing a level 9 monster gets 81 experience, and will suddenly catapult to level 6.
- A level 2 hero killing the same level 9 monster gets "only" 65 experience, and will wind up at level 5.
Single-Use Glyphs
If you know early on in the game that you will be worshipping Taurog, you can still get limited use from some glyphs. The effects of CYDSTEPP, BYSSEPS, and GETINDARE will persist after you convert them, and those effects activating will not anger Taurog (or Binlor, for that matter), so it can be very beneficial to pick up and activate these glyphs (especially CYDSTEPP for non-Fighters), before beginning worship, then convert them afterwards for piety and the racial effect.
If your vault is near empty, but you know where to kill the IN DEMAND trophy, take the bet on boss preparation, and you can score 1050 gold off the boss kill.
Prior to unlocking IN DEMAND trophies, Transmutation Seals can be used on boss trophies to convert them to their full gold value. Again, the "Bet on the Boss" preparation increases the cash gained.
Boss Battling
The ideal position to be in when starting a boss battle is at Level 7 with 34 / 35 experience, with proper runes, and all health / mana potions remaining, and an exp farm containing 96 experience worth of monsters (enough for level 10) although this is very hard to do,. The first phase of the boss battle involves the player, using all available health and mana points (but not potions) against the boss before killing weakened monsters to gain a level. This phase ends when the player no longer has enough weakened non-boss creatures to gain another level, or has reached level 10.
Phase two of the boss battle involves the player using other available resources (health & mana potions, etc.) to defeat the boss. This is sometimes called to spike the boss.
In dungeons with two bosses, it can often be effective to kill the "hard hitting" boss with magic attacks during phase one, as they usually have lower max health. This allows the player to save as many health and mana potions as possible for the "tank" boss, who generally doesn't retaliate as powerfully.


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"Is Your Company under Threat? New Digital Risks & Computer Attacks: Forensic & Data Protection Aspects" (Conference in Medellin, Colombia, Nov. 16, 2011)
"Is Your Company at Risk? New Digital Risks and Computer Attacks: Forensic and Data Protection Aspects – International Perspectives and the New Colombian Legislation." A conference (in Spanish) about the recent Colombian data protection law, on Nov. 16, 2011 at the Universidad EAFIT in Medellin, Colombia.


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Marc-André LeBlanc asks if you're a neg guy is it safer to have sex with poz guys or neg guys? Limit your condomless sex to poz guys with undetectable viral loads and avoid condomless sex with casual negative partners he suggests.
I'm talking to you, my HIV-negative brethren. Specifically, those of us who have not been able to maintain 100% condom use in the last little while. Either that is happening more and more often, or we're now admitting it more and more readily. But something's going on. The rates of condomless sex don't seem to be going down. They are either stable or even going up slightly in some places.
I'm also talking to those of you who manage to maintain 100% condom use. Keep it up! It's not easy, I know. I managed to use a condom every time for yeeeaaars. And that was not always an easy task. So kudos to you. According to some, you should get a parade, and I concur! And by the way, the message applies to you too: fuck poz guys! Keep on reading to find out why.
Now back to the first group: do you have boom-boom sex that doesn't always include a condom? Do you worry about becoming infected with HIV? Do you try to "serosort," meaning you try to only have sex with guys who have the same HIV status as you do? Maybe you only do that when you have condomless sex?
If any of this sounds familiar to you, then let me paint you a couple of pictures.
Scenario 1: You ask your prospective partner what his HIV status is, and when he was last tested. You've both just assured each other that you're negative, so you decide to proceed without condoms. In it's briefest and crudest form, this can sometimes look like the following exchange on a hook-up site or app: "r u clean? yeah? me 2. wanna fuck bare"?
That guy you've just decided to have condomless sex with could be negative, as he believes. Except there's a good chance that he's done this before. And unless he's on PrEP and adhering to it and going to his regular check-ups, he might be unknowingly positive. In fact, he could be in acute infection, with sky-high viral load. And obviously, you could be too. How many times have YOU done this "r u poz? no? wanna fuck bare" dance? Maybe YOU'RE in acute infection and don't know it, even if you get tested regularly.
Scenario 2: You ask your prospective partner what his HIV status is, and when he was last tested. He's just told you he is HIV-positive. Assuming you don't run for the hills in a moment of panic, as it happens all too often, you continue to exchange a bit of information. Turns out he is on treatment and has an undetectable viral load. You both decide to proceed without condoms.
If you ask me, in terms of HIV, scenario 2 is a hell of a lot less risky than scenario 1.
Trust me, I understand all too well the fear that goes with the idea of having sex with someone who is HIV-positive, let alone sex without condoms. I'm from the generation of gay men who were just entering adolescence when the AIDS crisis hit. This led to the unfortunate formula "Gay Sex = AIDS = Death" being emblazoned in our psyches. The message was reinforced for me when I watched my father, an out gay man, die of AIDS, gasping for breath right in front of my eyes when I was 20 years old. The fear of becoming HIV-positive was an incredibly effective motivator for me to avoid anal sex for years, and then to use condoms for anal sex each and every time, once I decided to try it.
But not all of us have managed to maintain condom use all the time. For all kinds of reasons, we have sex without condoms. Maybe rarely, maybe hardly ever, maybe sometimes, maybe often, maybe always ... And if you have sex without condoms as a negative guy, the risk is probably lower if you do that with a poz guy who has an undetectable viral load than with anyone else.
I know. STIs.
I know. Blips in viral load.
I know. Undetectable in blood does not always mean undetectable in semen or rectal or vaginal secretions.
I know. You know some negative guys that you trust are truly negative.
I'm not urging anyone to have condomless sex who doesn't already.
I'm not recommending an increase in condomless sex among those who already do it.
I'm not encouraging anyone to ignore STI risks.
I'm not suggesting you should assume that all men are liars.
And I seriously worry about contributing to the increasingly obvious "Detectability Divide," where having a detectable viral load is kind of like the new positive. Rarely acknowledged, discussed in hushed tones, and more readily stigmatized. It's kind of the reverse of what a positive guy said in a focus group I recently facilitated in Vancouver: "undetectable is the new negative." I would be horrified if I contributed to merely replacing serostatus with detectability as the new marker of stigma in our community. So let me be clear: there's no reason to avoid sex with someone who has a detectable viral load; just an additional reason to be more vigilant about reducing risk through other means, such as condoms and/or PrEP for example. All while having hot, steamy, satisfying sex.
Yet I still maintain that negative guys who don't always use condoms should seriously consider limiting that condomless sex to poz guys who have an undetectable viral load.
I understand that it takes time to wrap our heads around this. We have all been told and continue to be told so often that we should fear transmission, which is often presented as nearly inevitable. It takes a long time to wrap our heads around the fact that perhaps in some circumstances, we don't need to feel that same level of anxiety that we've been conditioned to feel.
But I think more and more of us are getting there. And I bet you if all of us neggies who sometimes have condomless sex only did it with poz guys who are undetectable, while being most adamantly consistent about condom use with other neggies and poz guys who have not yet achieved undetectability, this epidemic would be over damn fast. We would avoid the undiagnosed, including those who might be in acute infection. That's a brand of serosorting that makes sense to me.
How's that for an HIV prevention campaign?
"Wanna reduce your HIV risk as a negative guy? Limit your condomless sex to poz guys and avoid condomless sex with casual negative partners."
Go ahead, I DARE someone to promote it. :)
I want to acknowledge that the title for this article was inspired by the work of AIDS ACTION NOW and Toronto artists Allyson Mitchell and Jessica Whitbread. In honor of the Day With(out) Art 2011, AIDS ACTION NOW launched a poster series created by Toronto artists Allyson Mitchell, Kent Monkman, John Greyson, Daryl Vocat, Cecilia Berkovic, and Mikiki with Scott Donald. The posters were developed collectively with community members working to respond to HIV. An article about the project, and an image of the poster in question, can be seen here.
The content of FUCK POZ GUYS! was inspired by my reaction to a New York Times article about increasing rates of condomless sex among gay men. In this article, the author suggests that it's foolish for negative guys to think that it's relatively safe to sleep with men who have an undetectable viral load. I wrote a rant on the IRMA listserv in response to that statement, which morphed into this article.
This article was originally featured on PositiveLite.com.


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The real news of Gov. Jerry Brown's press conference (you can watch it here) Thursday morning -- his first in two months -- was not in anything he said but in the attitude of the Sacramento press corps.
Reporters very clearly were challenging, robustly and less than politely, almost every single thing he had to say.
This is a change.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
For the first six months of his administration, the press had seen Brown as a more accessible, more verbally deft improvement on former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Brown has gotten favorable, respectful coverage of his efforts -- even though he focused on a narrow budget proposal that had a Schwarzeneggerian temporary tax cut at its core and even though he refused to address the state's fundamental problem: a governing system that doesn't work. (Brown's position was that he could make it work).
Many of Brown's best lines are clever quotes, often drawn from philosophy or history, that are really dodges, a way of extricating himself from trouble by causing the questioner to stop and think (and look up the quote on Google).
But the press wasn't slowing down after his one-liners Thursday.
KQED Radio's John Myers, who has become a leader among California journalists, asked so many follow-ups that Brown cut him off and told him he had already asked too many questions.
When another reporter pressed him for specifics and numbers on his jobs and corporate tax legislation, Brown went for a dodge, calling her demand for numbers "the fallacy of misplaced concreteness."
(This fallacy, sometimes known as reification, refers to the mistake of treating the abstract as though it were real; it was developed by British mathematician turned philosopher Alfred North Whitehead).
Brown looked ill at ease at times.
He continued to defend his budget as an honest document -- even though it is full of phony assumptions and holes.
He refused to answer most specific questions, both about jobs policy and other kinds of legislation.
Yes, there are good strategic, reasons for not getting into specifics. But Brown has dodged the big specific questions facing California for so long that his political persona has started to resemble a Wizard of Oz act.
This shtick is getting old.
Photoshopped illustration by Olsen Ebright
Let us know what you think. Comment below, send us your thoughts via Twitter @PropZero or add your comment to our Facebook page.


text: What's everybody's toughest day geocaching? Mine defiantly was on the 4th. Ended up 0 for 2 and didn't have time to search for anymore caches because of time spent searching for missing caches. Looks like Quaker Ridge may have been lost to logging activity and Songo Locks got muggled. On the bright side, we enjoyed spectacular views from the top of Quaker Ridge and enjoyed watching the holiday boat traffic passing through Songo Lock. I guess that just proves that there really isn't such a thing as a bad day of geocaching.


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I am seeing consistent crashes with files containing multiple structures (e.g. multi-xyz or multi-cif files). They open fine in a virtualbox instance of crystalmaker.
The terminal shows
Before buying crystalmaker, make sure to try it extensively first as there is a free demo version available.fixme:shell:check_flags Unsupported flags: 2414
Original post:
This is a brief and somewhat incomplete post.
I recently bought a crystalmaker license, knowing that it had no support under linux. I figured that I'd live with running it in an XP VM. My allergies to all things windows made me very unhappy with that solution, however.
So I tried to install crystalmaker using wine in jessie (1.6.2) and the current (1.50.1) version of Crossover. The installation worked fine for both, but running the software lead to crashes.
I then installed the winehq-staging version (1.9):
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https wget https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/Release.key sudo apt-key add Release.key
I edited /etc/apt/sources.list
deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian/ jessie main
sudo apt-get update sudo sudo apt-get install winehq-staging
Same issue.
I then finally actually read the crash message, which mentioned that
That lead me to install vcrun2013 using winetricks:wine: Unimplemented function msvcp120.dll.?_Throw_C_error@std@@YAXH@Z called at address 0x7b83a70c (thread 004e), starting debugger...
winetricks -q vcrun2013 gdiplus
Crystalmaker now works perfectly (as far as I can see) under wine. Saving graphics as PNG works too. I haven't tried anything else as I'm not familiar with crystalmaker.
[NOTE: by running WINEPREFIX=~/.cxoffice/crystalmaker winetricks vcrun2013 I later got it to work in crossover. I haven't tried wine 1.6.2 again.]
[Note 2: gdiplus is needed to fix messages of the type
fixme:gdiplus:Gdip<...> graphics object has no HDC]


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Are These 'Scams' for Real?
Get the facts on credit card fraud, ATM debit fees and more
Maybe you missed the news, but archaeologists working in Guatemala recently unearthed a "new" Mayan calendar that goes beyond 2012, exploding notions that the world would end on Dec. 21.
Whew! But as humankind journeys on, so will other rumors, urban legends and misinformation — often shared by well-meaning friends and family — that warn of impending risk to your money, safety, privacy or identity. So before you click the email "forward" button, here are the facts on four false alarms that never die and are ever so enticing to spread.
Electronic hotel room keys contain your personal information.
Since 2003, email warnings have claimed that your credit card number and home address are stored on the magnetic strip of your hotel key — and harvested by identity thieves when you leave the card in your room or toss it in a lobby trash can.
Reality: Hotel keys contain coded information for only the room number and check-in/out dates, says Chad Callaghan of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. If you use a key to charge dinner at a hotel restaurant, it's billed to your room, but "credit card information is stored on another machine," says Callaghan.
Hide your car's VIN or thieves can get a replacement key and steal the vehicle.
Yes, the easily viewed vehicle identification number on your dashboard and doorjamb reveals what standard key will fit your car.
Reality: Reputable dealerships and locksmiths require proof of ownership to issue a replacement key. In any case, obscuring a VIN is unwise — and may be illegal, because police rely on the numbers to identify stolen cars.
Your cellphone number is being released to telemarketers.
Since 2004, emails have been warning that your number will be turned over "this month," and unless you register it on the federal Do Not Call Registry, you'll be bombarded with sales calls.
Reality: Register your cell if you want, but it's not necessary. Plans for a public cellphone directory were discussed but scrapped years ago — and even that proposal was only for folks who wanted to "opt in."
The feds are going to tax every debit card and ATM transaction (or every email sent).
False claims that a 1 percent tax is likely to be levied on all financial transactions are one of the top urban legends, says legend research site Snopes.com.
Reality: A lone congressman introduced such a bill several times as a deficit reduction measure, but it has died every time. As for a pending 5-cent surcharge on each email, that tale started in 1999. It's still spread by (tax-free) email and lists a phony sponsor and bill number.
Sid Kirchheimer is the author of Scam-Proof Your Life, published by AARP Books/Sterling.
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Mama's range..I love that! A range especially for Mummy's, not gorgeous products that are supposed to be for your little one but for me, all me, and oh how I like to indulge. So when Tina from Loved by Parents asked me to test out Shea Mooti's Mama range I happily obliged!
I got to try out Mama's soothing leg and foot cream and Mama's Everything Body Balm.
I shall start with the…
Leg and foot cream
Like most Mummy's I am on my feet most of the day. The old 'lets sit and have a cup of tea' I don't think really happens until they are about 5 and can play independently. It is constant picking up, putting down, wiping noses, bending, walking to and from pre-school, the shops, the park and to save my feet I have deserted my beautiful heels and opted for flat boots. Basically, by the end of the day my legs aches and my feet burn….and I am not even pregnant!
This product contains Aloe Vera, which as soon as you put it on has that delightful cooling effect. The Shea Butter helps to moisturise, and it really does. My feet are my worst ever feature. They area square brick, with hairy toes that I have to shave and are hard as leather with all their wear and tear. My husband takes the mickey and calls them my hobbit feet, but even he commented on their softness.
It is a beautiful consistency of cream and goes on leaving a clean rather than greasy but leaves such a soft feeling, which will be the fact that contains shea butter and it absorbs brilliantly. It has a very pleasant smell but it is kind of clinical but then I read that it contains Niaouli oil, which has antiseptic properties and this then made perfect sense. The antiseptic properties are perfect for feet that might be sore, blistered or chapped.
I have been so cheeky over the past few weeks whilst testing this cream as I keep asking hubby for foot massages, saying it is all for the blog! He hates my feet so it must be love.
When my husband finally says that the timing is ok to have another baby, I will be indulging in some more of this as my feet got so hot and swollen and also really itchy and I also suffered from restless leg syndrome. I think if I massaged this into my legs and feet it would really relieve the symptoms, but that is a guess as I am not pregnant (boo hoo – I have been told I have to wait to next year after my sister's wedding) but I really THINK it would.
Then onto the…
Mama's Everyday Body Balm
Wow what can I say…this was not what I expected. I expected another typical body butter, but no, this is a balm. Think the consistency of lip balm but a million time more supple and luxurious. I have found it to be amazing on all my dry patches, like my elbows, knees and backs of my heels, but more than that, on my scar. I had a partial thyroidectomy following the birth of Noah. Something auto-immune occurred as a result of pregnancy and caused a lump to grow in my thyroid. It got to 8cm by 8cm and so has to be removed as I could not swallow. Anyhow, I digress, basically it scarred really badly and I had to have a course of steroid injections in it, which has helped a lot, but this balm massaged into my neck every day has really reduced the redness.
Smeared over my tummy, it feels warming and indulgent and helps to tone, which considering my lack of appreciation for exercise is always a bonus. I would like to say it is good for stretch marks, but please don't hate me but I have been one of those lucky so and so's that never got any. I guess it would be because of how it worked on my neck scar.
It also contains Shea butter and a variety of seed oils and is fragranced with the beautiful smell of lavender. Due to it being so rich, you do not need to use much and as a result you get a lot of use for your money. I just love this product and shall be choosing it over a body lotion any time.
Shea Mooti can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
So you lucky lot, I have not one but two of these delightful Shea Body Balms to give away! So two winners! Woo hoo!
All you have to do is the follow the instructions below!
If you like competitions check out my competitions page and my Advent Calendar comp coming up!


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The search for alien intelligence has mostly centered on waiting to hear any interstellar radio signals, but we might now have a way to see aliens as well. We just need to look for mega-engineering projects on alien asteroid belts.
The idea is the brainchild of Duncan Forgan of the University of Edinburgh and Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist Martin Elvis. Asteroid belts like the one between Mars and Jupiter are the debris fields left over from failed planet formations, and the countless rocks that make them up are full of precious elements and minerals. Based on meteorite samples, we're already pretty certain that our own belt has abundant quantities of gold, platinum, iron, nickel, and silicon, amongst other valuable elements.
And we also know that our asteroid belt is far from unique. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has already detected a bunch of asteroid belts around other stars, including three nested belts around the star Epsilon Eridani. An advanced civilization - but perhaps only a thousand years more advanced than our own - could mine these asteroids as the raw material to build space colonies and solar power satellites, not to mention provide fresh resources vital for more earthly technologies like computers, cell phones, and high speed networks. They could even do their best Larry Niven impression and go ahead and build a Ringworld.
But could we actually detect a civilization mining its asteroid belt? Forgan and Elvis admit this would be very tricky, but not impossible. We might be able to pick up on an unusual chemical imbalance in the belt caused by the removal of certain desired elements. The alien miners would likely pull apart the larger asteroids in search of vital materials, which would throw off the size distribution of the asteroids. The mining operations might also create huge amounts of dust, which would throw off our temperature readings.
The problem is that any or all of these clues could also be created by natural forces, so just finding these signs wouldn't be proof of alien engineering. However, it would give us somewhere to look. Our exoplanet-hunting telescopes could investigate a solar system with an unusual asteroid belt for signs of a habitable planet, and SETI could sweep the area for potential telecommunication signals. It's a long shot - everything that involves hunting for alien life inevitably is - but for now asteroid engineering might just be our best chance at finding signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.
arXiv via Discovery News. Image via Swimming in the Primordial Soup.


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Hi there i'm making a webapp for showing some graph (using d3) for the last exam of my school (it's not for money, just for didactical use).
The problem is that i must get a file from another pc and they told me "use uVNC, it's open source so you can use it in your software", but how ?
I don't have to use nothing of graphic, just getting the file from the uVNC server when i ask it.
Thanks for help.


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Smokey eyes are one of the easiest looks to achieve. I can't say this enough: blending is the key to achieving this look. I know I sound like a broken record, "Blend, blend, blend!" - but so many people forgo it and end up with a mess. Smokey eyes can be as subtle or dramatic as you want, but the lines should be diffused - hence the name, smokey. For this Makeup Monday, I decided to give you a step by step guide to achieving a simplistic smokey eye:
1) Prep your lids with a neutral base or primer. I used MAC Bare Study paint pot, all over my lids and up to my brows.
2) OPTIONAL: Using a soft black eyeliner, color in your lids (only up to the crease), following the natural eye shape. Blend with your finger or a sponge tipped applicator.
3) Apply a soft black eyeshadow (I used MAC Carbon) to your lids and up to your crease, following your natural eye shape.
4) Using a more concentrated crease brush (I use either the MAC 219 - my favorite - or the E.L.F. crease brush), pack the same black eyeshadow into your crease and on your outer lids. You want the pigment a little darker here.
5) Blend like crazy, up and out. You want this to look diffused, with no harsh lines. This is going to bring the softened color above your crease and extended a bit in your outer lid. To blend, I use a MAC 224 in small, circular motions. If you don't have a brush like this, you can use a regular eyeshadow brush (same small, circular motions) or even your finger.
6) Put a little bit of shimmery white/silver/pink or whatever light color eyeshadow you want on the very outside of the black. Blend it into the shadow. This will make the outside even softer.
7) Add a little more of that shimmery shadow in the inner corners of your eyes, and on your brow bone (I skipped the brow bone because my base was already shimmery).
8) Line the top and bottom lash line. Smudge with a brush or sponge applicator.
9) OPTIONAL: Go over the bottom lash line with black shadow and blend.
10) Add mascara. Done!
Love love,
Keiko Lynn


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Puddle (iPad)
Published by
Developed by
Also For
DescriptionPuddle is a reworked version of the 2010 student game of the same name largely by the original team. Just like the initial title it is a physics-based game where the player indirectly controls a different type of liquid in each environment. Control is indirect as only the screen can be tilted left or right to change the liquid's flow. It needs to be guided to the end of the level with a certain amount of liquid left inside the puddle to complete the stage. Parts of the liquid can be lost through various hazards and the player needs to avert it with quick movement to make it flow safely. Compared to the original game, much of the initial visual style is still present but many more environments have been added or reworked. These include a Nursery set of levels in the woods and some take place inside a human body, a laboratory and a sewer. Liquid can be used to open up platforms with its mass.
Fire is the main enemy as it causes evaporation, but each environment has its own hazards such as venus flytraps that slow the liquid down or rotating blades that cut it in half. At times it is required to slow down to make sure the different drops stay together, as the ones that stay behind eventually disappear out of view, cannot catch up, and become lost permanently. Some levels have shorter, time-based challenges where a passage needs to be opened up by pushing against a lever. Not all levels are entirely based around liquid. In one the player controls a burning of pot of sodium chloride to activate a sprinkler system. In another a glass snowball needs to be guided around without causing it to break. In yet another a metal, triangular shape needs to be moved around. In some levels typical characteristics of liquids are used, such as yellow jodium chloride that turns black and burns through organic tissue or ammonium nitrate that is used as a fertilizer to make plants grow. Later levels are set in the stratosphere where gravity is different as the liquid floats upwards and needs to be guided through air control.
Lives are called "whines" and come in a limited number. The game contains secret levels that can be unlocked.
There are no iPad user screenshots for this game.
There are 35 other screenshots from other versions of this game or official promotional screenshots.
Promo Images
Alternate Titles
- "Puddle THD" -- Android title (for the NVIDIA Tegra 3/4 chip)
Part of the Following Groups
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There is no trivia on file for this game.
Kabushi (244729) added Puddle (iPad) on Aug 04, 2013
There are no game credits on file for this release of the game. Everything in MobyGames is contributable by users.


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KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer
Easily make your favorite cakes and multiple batches of cookie dough with the 5-quart stainless steel mixing bowl with comfortable handle. With 10 speeds, the standmixer will quickly become your kitchen's culinary center as you mix, knead and whip ingredients with ease. And for even more versatility, the power hub fits optional attachments from food grinders to pasta makers and more.
Power Hub: The power hub turns your stand mixer into a culinary center. With more than 15 optional attachments use the power of your stand mixer to help you make fusilli pasta from scratch, shred a block of parmesan cheese in seconds and so much more.
5-Qt. Stainless Steel Bowl with Comfortable Handle: 5-Qt. stainless steel bowl with comfortable handle offers enough capacity to mix dough for 9 dozen cookies, 4 loaves of bread or 7 pounds of mashed potatoes in a single batch. The bowl is also dishwasher-safe for quick and easy cleanup.
59-Point Planetary Mixing Action: 59-Point Planetary Mixing Action means 59 touchpoints per rotation around the bowl for thorough ingredient incorporation. The beater, dough hook or wire whip rotates around the bowl, giving incredible bowl coverage for comprehensive mixing.
Tilt-Head Design: The tilt-head design allows clear access to the bowl and attached beater or accessory so you can easily add ingredients for a recipe. Locking the head into place during operation keeps the beater-to-bowl contact close and efficient.
10 Speeds: Powerful enough for nearly any task or recipe, whether you're stirring wet and dry ingredients together, kneading bread dough or whipping cream.
Model KSM150PS Includes: Everything you need for recipes from cookies to ciabatta bread, with a coated flat beater, coated dough hook, 6-wire whip and 1-piece pouring shield. The flat beater and dough hook are dishwasher-safe.
Configuration and Overview
- Bowl Capacity (Quarts): 5
- Bread Yield -Loaves: 4 1/2
- Cookie Yield - Dozens: 9
- Mash Potato Yield - Pounds: 7
- Wattage: 325
- Mixing Speeds: 10
- Bowl Finish: Polished Stainless Steel
- Bowl Handle: Comfort Handle
- Hub Cover: Non-Hinged
- Pouring Shield: 1 Piece
- Dough Hook: C - Nylon Coated
- Flat Beater: Nylon Coated
- Wire Whip: 6 Wire Whip
Dimensions & Weight
- Weight: 26
- Depth: 14.3
- Height: 14
- Width: 9.3
CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS ONLY - WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov


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ITHACA, NY—For the second consecutive year, Ithaca has been named the best college town in the country by the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), which recently released its 2013-14 College Destinations Index.
The annual index compares destinations for college students around the country based on 12 categories, grouped within the themes of academic environment, quality of life and professional opportunity offered to students. The destinations are separated based on population size as major metros, mid-size metros, small metros and college towns.
According to AIER, the "college experience" is about more than attending a top-tier university. Where the school is located, the people students meet, the places they go and the jobs they may hold are all of equal importance.
The home of Ithaca College and Cornell University tops the list of college towns for a number of reasons. AIER ranked Ithaca #1 in the categories of research capacity, percentage of residents with at least a bachelor's degree, percentage of creative-class workers and percentage of workers traveling by public transportation.
AIER is an independent institute that publishes unbiased research and critical analysis based on the principles of scientific inquiry and positive economics.
A detailed profile about Ithaca's #1 ranking from the AIER is available here.


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Having just played Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite back to back, I was prepared to be underwhelmed with games for a while. The aforementioned titles really raised the bar of what games can accomplish, and both totally blew my mind. I had visions of me falling into a gaming slump or at least a chance to play catch up with my DVR until Naughty Dog's The Last Of Us releases. Actually that's kind of ridiculous considering how much I love gaming but the thought of bitter disappointment on my next gaming excursion did cross my mind.
Luckily for me, the fine folks at Deep Silver hooked me up with a copy of their game Sacred Citadel. Described in a press release as an action adventure hack and slash with RPG elements. I love a good hack and slash but throw in the added bonus of RPG characteristics and well, color me intrigued!
Sacred Citadel is part of the Sacred game series, and intends to serve as a prequel to the upcoming Sacred 3. If you haven't played any of the Sacred games, fear not, Sacred Citadel is perfectly fine to dive right into for the uninitiated like myself.
Upon starting the game you are asked to choose a character class to represent you. There are four, Warrior, Ranger, Mage, and Shaman. Each has unique abilities and characteristics.
Sacred Citadel is presented in four acts and takes place in the world of Ancaria where the evil Ashen empire has enslaved the population. Their henchmen are the Grimmoc, whose job is to wipe out the Seraphim. It's your duty to help defeat the evil Ashen empire, and that's when the fun begins!
You start off with lowly weapons and very few skills. Throughout the game as you progress so does your character and weapons. Dual wield with a variety of artillery including Swords and axes, better weapons become available for purchase in the towns or are often dropped along the way by enemies. I found that every weapon dropped by enemies were always better than anything you already owned, which was nice unlike in Borderlands where often I discarded a gun only to find what I left behind was much better than the new one.
Speaking of Borderlands I often found Sacred Citadel to resemble the shooter, only without guns. That comparison also extends to the style of art used in Sacred Citadel as well as the RPG leveling up of characters and weapons. Sure it's not as dynamic of graphics but this game is much smaller scale and is download only across multi platforms. With that being said, I am in no way implying that Sacred Citadel is not top-notch quality and I had a ton of fun playing it.
Sacred Citadel offers co-op for up to three players. Do your self a favor and bring along a friend or two because it really is much more fun. However, if you are a lone wolf type of gamer, Sacred Citadel still has much to offer. Co-op can be played locally or online. I did experience a bit of lag playing online co-op but nothing too tragic.
Gameplay is very fluid and combos are pulled off with a smoothness and ease that is essential to the brawler genre. Sacred Citadel does run a little short but considering you can purchase it for $14.99 on Steam and PSN which translates to 1200 Microsoft points, it's a deal.
Sacred Citadel is available now on PSN, XBLA and Steam and was developed by SouthEnd Interactive with publishing rights being handled by Deep Silver.


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Organizers introduce high schoolers to biathlon
Hidden Valley Nature hosts biathlon for second consecutive year
Hidden Valley Nature in Jefferson has dedicated part of its 900-acre facility to host a biathlon for the second year in a row.
Regardless of skill level, a big part of Sunday's event was to get kids outdoors and introduce them to the sport, which combines the endurance of cross-country skiing with the accuracy of target shooting.
The group Teens to Trails encourages kids to get involved in outdoor activities. Organizers with the group saw Sunday's event as a chance to get high school outing clubs involved in the sport. Those at Hidden Valley were more than happy to host and help.
"We actually had a ski clinic and a couple of ski instructors to help those people who didn't know how to ski before," said Hidden Valley Nature owner Bambi Jones.
This wasn't the first time for some attendees to cross country ski and target shoot. David Morris of the Hall Dale Outing Club was among those who participated in the event.
"Well, I fell six times and I missed one of the targets, but I did pretty well," Morris said.
Hall Dale High School in Hallowell, Maine, sent a few members from its outing club to Sunday's event to experience the sport first hand and promote it to a new generation.
"I had no idea what this was, but I said, 'Sure, I am up for anything," said Hall Dale senior Dana Ramsey.


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Press Release
KAPALUA RESORT, Maui – December 6, 2010 –The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay is pleased to announce the expansion of their Member experience programs with the appointment of Silla Kaina as cultural ambassador. With Kapalua Resort's long history of preserving native Hawaiian customs, the new programs offered to Members, Owners and Guests of The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay are an exciting new addition to the already exceptional residential development.
As cultural ambassador Ms. Kaina will lead and develop new programming designed for individuals who wish to gain knowledge about the surrounding Hawaiian culture. Through working closely with Clifford Naeole, cultural advisor at The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, the new programs will aim to enrich the experience of Members and Owners whether it is through participating in one program or many.
"With Silla as our cultural ambassador, the commitment we have as a resort to our host culture is only strengthened," said Doug Chang, general manager for The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay. She will work with both our Ladies and Gentlemen and our Members and Owners as we extend the wisdom and beauty of our host culture to others. Our native Hawaiian culture is one of the many things that makes Kapalua both a beautiful place to call home and to visit."
Ms. Kaina's connection to Kapalua Resort is both a combination of family lineage and employment. Having previously served as cultural advisor for the former Kapalua Bay Hotel from 1998-2007 and with Maui Land and Pineapple Co. from 2007-2009, Silla joined The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay as a member experience concierge before the property opened. With an educational background in Pacific Asian Studies, Hawaiian Studies/'Olelo (language) and Education, Kaina has applied her passion to teaching Hawaiian Studies and Hawaiian Immersion for the Department of Education island-wide and in Maui for over 15 years at King Kamehameha III School.
"Having grown up in Kapalua, the stories and lessons taught to me by my kupuna (elders) give me a perspective that few others possess. I love to share the beauty and knowledge of my culture with my community and I am honored to be able to share it with the Members and Owners of The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay," says Silla Kaina.
The programs include hula dance lessons and interpretation, lei making and "Talk Story" sessions. These activities are offered daily to encourage guests to participate in as many programs as desired throughout their stay.
About The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay
The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay offers 84 private ownership Residences, along with 62 Ritz-Carlton Destination Club residences sold in deeded, one-twelfth fractional ownership interests. Residents enjoy membership in The Kapalua Club, featuring exclusive access to a private 6,100 square-foot beach club and 8,500 square-foot lagoon-shaped pool with indoor/outdoor grill and bar. Ownership amenities also include privileged access to the new 25,000 square-foot Spa at Kapalua being built on site, and extraordinary golf and dining benefits at Kapalua Resort, including cart fee only play and advanced tee times at the renowned Bay and Plantation Courses. The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay was developed by Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc., The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. and Exclusive Resorts. For more information, please visit http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/residences/kapalua.