text:
National Golden-age Narratives of the Ottoman Period
With production costs of 17 million dollars, "The Conquest 1453" ("Fetih 1453") is the most expensive Turkish film project of all time. Following its opening in the Istanbul cinemas last week, it has also become the most successful Turkish film ever.
Initially, this 165-minute epic, drenched in the blood of martyrs, by Faruk Aksoy, which opens by quoting the words of the Prophet Muhammad, seems to fit in well with the neo-Ottoman agenda of the country's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). It is a message that the sponsors, above all greater Istanbul, ruled by the AKP party, have taken to with alacrity.
National religious historians have been lavish in their praise of the film, notwithstanding their acknowledgement of some of its breathtaking factual errors and deviations from the chronology of the real events it depicts.
On a par with Hollywood
Commentators in the more religiously dispassionate popular press, however, are celebrating this most recent version of the conquest of Constantinople rather differently.
For them, it is evidence that their home-produced films are now on a par with Hollywood historical blockbusters such as "Troy". Even "Radikal" the daily newspaper, which was irritated by the characters' propensities for speaking at every opportunity "as though they were delivering a speech", managed to praise the film's "relatively successful visual effects".
Only the critics of the elitist "kültür mafyasi" website objected to what they saw as "an evening of primary-school-level entertainment".
The cult of Sultan Mehmed II, conqueror of the Byzantine capital after a six-week siege that ended on May 23 1453, has reached its climax ninety years after the dissolution of the Ottoman dynasty. The sultan, who was a mere eighteen years of age at the time, is played in the film by Devrim Evin, an actor on the wrong side of forty, who resembles the rather gaunt Mehmed of Gentile Bellini's portrait of 1480; a work that now hangs in the National Gallery in London.
The second, and by far more memorable of the main characters, is Ulubatli Hasan. According to popular tradition, he was the hero who, on May 29, became a martyr, dying after placing the Ottoman flag atop the walls of Constantinople to inspire the Janissaries – i.e. the infantry Musketeer units of the Sultan – to victory. The screenplay turns him into a sword fighting coach and confidant of the sultan.
Hasan also takes on the role of romantic lead and is used to give a face to the struggle between besiegers and besieged. Hasan's antagonist in the film is Giustiniani, a Genuise condottiere, whose archers represented the only significant reinforcement the Greeks received from the west.
Ottoman artillery innovation
The fall of Constantinople was not down to the power of prayers alone, although these were personally led by the sultan for his massive army. Decisive (and dramatically depicted in the film), was the role played by miners and by the devastating artillery.
It was a certain Master Urban, a defector from Hungary to whom the Ottoman army owed their new-found ability to cast enormous cannons, who was crucial to the victory.
In the film, Urban has an adopted daughter, Era (Dilek Serbest), a girl purchased at a slave market shortly after she has narrowly escaped the crusader attack (again, very dramatically depicted in the film) on her Kosovan village. It is only after she, dressed up as a young apprentice, discovers the proper method for the casting of cannons that a successful outcome to the siege becomes likely.
The Albanian, Era, is a character very much in the line of strong, intelligent woman, so beloved in Turkish cinema, yet she also welcomes Hasan's advances.
The wickedness of the "Byzantine whore"
The film makes good use of computer animation to give the audience a glimpse of life behind the city walls and into a historical Legoland, complete with imperial palace, Hagia Sophia and Hippodrome, that provides the backdrop to the political maneouverings of the Byzantines. Political deliberations, in Faruk Aksoy's version of events, take place in a thermal bath, where Constantine XI is seen splashing around in the company of three bikini-clad girls.
Is it the wickedness of the "Byzantine whore" that Aksoy wants to highlight, or is he parodying the Orientalist paintings of Ottoman rulers indulging in such pleasures?
The three-day sacking of Constantinople by the Ottoman army is not even hinted at. What we have instead is a Mehmed, who, upon being shown the body of Constantine XI, magnanimously orders that his vanquished foe be buried in accordance with the rites of "his own religion".
Faruk Aksoy has avoided the typical Turkish representation of a conqueror wreathed in flowers by Greek maidens in gratitude for his having saved the city from a union with the Latins. Instead, we find his Mehmed II in the Hagia Sophia, hugging a blond child, who, in response, and much to the amusement of watching Greek women, pulls the conqueror's moustache.
The rise of neo-Ottomanism in Turkey
A nationalistic enthusiasm for the might of the Ottoman Empire, and particularly for the conquest of Constaninople, has become a modern Turkish tradition. Faruk Aksoy's film has some noteable predecessors. The first black and white film on the theme of the conquest of Istanbul (Istanbul'un Fethi) appeared in 1951 and broke all box-office records. Aydin Arakon (1918-1982), the director who made his name with the film, gave thanks in the opening credits to the commandant of the city. Most of the film's extras came from the Turkish army.
The Fatih Renaissance had also paved the way in this case, thanks to the final days of Ismet Inönü, second president of the Turkish Republic. A government bill of the time allowed for the re-opening of all the mausoleums of the great men, sealed since the reign of Ataturk; the first of these to be opened was the tomb of Mehmed II. Since then, the day of the conquest has been the occasion for an annual celebration during which a large procession commemorates Mehmed II's decisive manoeuvre of transporting his ships overland into the Golden Horn.
This period has given rise to neo-Ottomanism in Turkey, albeit with a variety of functions. In the artistic circles that included the architect Ekrem Hakki Ayverdi and his wife Samiha, it was of a rather sentimental variety. The couple formed an association charged with the task of preserving the memory of the conquest of Istanbul. In the eyes of the associations members, the secularism and modernizing fervour of Kemalism were every bit as worthy of suspicion as racist Turkism was.
Turkey's politically self-confident Islam
These defenders of the Istanbul old school were distinguished from the abrasive Anatolian innovators not only through their education but also in their scepticism towards modernism. And they were to have a considerable influence on the post-Kemalist generation. It is their ideas that have been so central to the politically self-confident Islam of recent decades.
It is only in the light of this contextual background that we can understand the way in which President Turgut Özal, who died in office in 1993, used Ottomanism in his foreign policy. He argued for the creation of stronger, privileged relations between the republic and the former Ottoman citizens living beyond the country's borders. He conceived of the range of these relations as a ring, stretching from Albania over Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo to Western Thrace in Greece.
In the case of the Kurds, he made a distinction between those who lived in Syria and Iraq, and were thus former subjects, and the Kurds of Iran who, he claimed, "were of no further interest to the Turks."
With the exception of the generation born between 1908 and 1939, it can hardly be argued that the Ottoman heritage has been relinquished in modern Turkey.
Both Istanbul films, 1951 and 2012, are links in a chain of national, historical golden-age narratives of the Ottoman period. Its tendencies are at times more intellectual, at other times more aestheticized, but it is also one that is becoming increasingly populist and increasingly casual. And one point has also become very obvious; the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 2012 is clearly a more Islamic-minded one than its predecessor was.
Klaus Kreiser
© Süddeutsche Zeitung / Qantara.de 2012
Klaus Kreiser is emeritus professor of Turkish language, history, and culture at the University of Bamberg.
Translated from the German by Ron Walker
Qantara.de editor: Lewis Gropp


text:
Sorry! This item is unavailable.
Plum butterfly studs - silver square
A pretty pair of earrings hand made from anodised aluminium and sterling silver. The coloured pieces have a butterfly pattern designed by me and made into a resist which I then apply to the aluminium. The metal is then dyed and sealed and the resist removed leaving the pattern in the silver colour of the aluminium.
I then cut the shapes for the earrings and rivet them to a silver framework made from square silver wire. The ear posts are also made from sterling silver and are soldered to the silver framework.
Irregular square approx. 1.1 x 1.1cm
Presented in a recycled Kraft gift box embossed with my logo.
Please allow up to 2 weeks for me to complete your order, thank you.
1950's pattern and shapes...
Shipping & delivery
This item will be posted to you by Claire Gent within 14 days of receiving payment.
|Shipping destination
|Additional items
|United Kingdom
Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Germany, France, Spain, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Austria, Latvia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar
|United States
|Rest of the World
Returns Policy
You have 14 days, from receipt, to notify the seller if you wish to cancel your order or exchange an item.
Unless faulty, the following types of items are non-refundable: items that are personalised, bespoke or made-to-order to your specific requirements; items which deteriorate quickly (e.g. food), personal items sold with a hygiene seal (cosmetics, underwear) in instances where the seal is broken.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Forgot Password?
Forgot Password?
Treescape, a semester series for LKG to class 5, comprises a set of 14 books, 2 per class with 1 book for each semester. The core subjects are English, Mathematics, EVS/Science, Social Studies and GK. The course components derive from the guidelines provided in the National Curriculum Framework for School Education.
Aspirations is an integrated Semester book course for classes K to 5. The series is based on the guidelines given in the National Curriculum Framework for School Education. Each class has two books—Semester 1 and Semester 2. Classes 1 and 2 cover English, Mathematics, Environmental Science and General Knowledge. Classes 3, 4 and 5 have English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and
© 2018 S.Chand And Company Limited
Designed & Developed by VRVirtual.com Pvt. Ltd.


text:
7 's
Check out now. Fast, Easy, Secure Checkout.
Primary Material: Lily Pad Obsidian, Dumortierite in Quartz, Mokume Gane, Sterling
Size: 1 3/4 inch length and 1 inch width
Color: Blue
One of A Kind
Stunning pendant!! This piece is beautifully designed and crafted, and the intarsia focal is unique and really makes it a statement piece. I am very pleased with the artist's responsiveness and fast shipping. I highly recommend her work and plan to shop with her again!
Thank you for your business! If you have any questions or need more information, please contact me using the "Contact this seller" button. I am happy to assist you.
After 2 weeks your items will automatically renewed for another 60 days and $0.23 per item will be added to your billing ledger.
While you were away our TOU was updated,
read the terms of use here.
*No action is required on your part.


text:
Stephen Moore, of the Wall Street Journal, knows how to give a good speech
When conservative writers and thinkers come to San Francisco, it's a good bet that they're doing so under the aegis of Sally Pipes' Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a conservative think tank rather surprisingly located in San Francisco. Sally's specialty is free-market medical care, but PRI is concerned generally with free markets. Thanks to PRI, I've already had the opportunity to hear Jonah Goldberg and Michael Ramirez speak. Today, I added to my collection of scintillating conservative speakers when I attended Stephen Moore's luncheon talk and book signing. (If you want the book for yourself, it's called Who's the Fairest of Them All?: The Truth about Opportunity, Taxes, and Wealth in America.)
If you get the chance to hear Moore, seize the opportunity. He's a delightful speaker. He knows his stuff, so he doesn't bother with notes; he's not shy, so he engages well with the room; he's an organized thinker so, even when he goes off on a tangent, the tangents are interesting and still relate to the main topic; and he's quite funny. I'm still snickering over his statement that a friend of his says it's no surprise that Republicans are the pro-Life party, because they so often end up curled into a fetal position. That's too true. When the going gets tough — especially when the drive-by media gets nasty (which is always) — Republicans tend to shrink in on themselves, rather than re-taking the field with banners flying.
Moore's primary topic, which he interspersed with funny anecdotes; ruminations on the wonders of fracking, which will make America one of the giants of the energy world; and on-point (rather than name-dropping) reminiscences about Milton and Rose Friedman and other well-known political thinkers and actors (on both sides of the aisle), was the fiscal cliff. He had the room (and it was the grand ballroom, not some little back room) eating out of the palm of his hand when he said that Republicans should stop negotiating with Obama, because Obama is not negotiating with them. Moreover, to the extent there are budget talks, they should take place in the open, rather than behind closed doors, a process that invites dishonesty and corruption. (Those last two nouns are mine, not Moore's.)
Moore said that, if he had his way, he would tell the Republicans in the House to pass two bills, one of which keeps the Bush tax cuts in place for everybody and the other of which gives Obama what he told the voters he was going to get: namely, a tax increase on the top 2% (after all, elections do have consequences). Then, House Republicans should pass those two bills on to Harry Reid in the Senate and stand down. Harry Reid then has a problem, which is compounded by the fact that he's managed to let the United States go three years without a budget. If he has a brain in his head, he'll realize that the best deal for American tax revenues is to keep the Bush tax cuts in place. As John F. Kennedy (D. Mass.) said in 1962 (and Moore approvingly quoted):
It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now … Cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus.
Because Reid is long on political game-playing, but short on practical knowledge, he'll reject the reinstatement of the Bush tax cuts. Instead, he'll have to go with the tax increase. You know, and I know, and Harry Reid is quickly going to figure out that the tax increase on the 2%, the same 2% that is already responsible for paying a significant chunk of taxes for our underfunded budget, won't make a dime's worth of difference to increased revenue and, instead, will almost certainly decrease revenue. The pressure will then be on Obama to cut his beloved government or to be remembered as the president who led America into bankruptcy.
Moore also said that Republicans shouldn't fight sequestration — which was Obama's idea back during his last round of serious negotiations with the Republicans — but should, instead, embrace it. The best thing to happen to the federal government would be belt-tightening. Moore acknowledged concerns about the American military but, pointing to stream-lined American businesses, he said that there's no reason why America's public institutions can't do the same — including the military.
Overall, Moore was optimistic about conservativism's future. His advice was to bypass the Republican party, which is depleted now, both financially and ideologically, and to give any monies we still have lying around after four years of Obama to innovative, energetic organizations and think tanks, such as PRI or the Heritage Foundation. He also said that, if Republicans can manage to hold firm to true conservative values, when things go badly, as they inevitably will, Obama, not Republicans, will be on the defensive. (Can I pat myself on the back here, since I've been saying the same thing?)
Moore's message could be summed up as follows: Be of good cheer. Although things are inevitably going to get worse before they get better, they will get better. Conservative ideas are better, Progressive ideas will fail once they get out of the Ivory Towers and into the market places; and fracking (assuming that Obama doesn't put a stop to it somehow), will make us the world's leading energy exporter and will bring production costs down across the board.


text:
Why Street Vendors are Vital to NYC Food Culture
Over the weekend, the New York Post wrote about a licensed hot dog vendor on Montague Terrace in Brooklyn Heights who was pressured out of the neighborhood by anger from local residents. The reason? A hot dog vendor doesn't belong.
As far as the law is concerned, the residents were right. Montague Street between Court Street and the Promenade prohibits street food vendors (you can check out all the restricted streets in this PDF). But the story also highlights some incredibly negative attitudes and prejudices toward street food, and a case of jingoistic NIMBYism* that repeatedly finds itself at war with street vendors across the city.
* NIMBY: Not In My Backyard
When Chuck Taylor reported on Brooklyn Heights Blog that the vendor was setting up shop in the neighborhood, he received comments ranging from the annoyed to the downright vitriolic.* Among the most disturbing: "Disgusting food, served by disgusting people to disgusting people." And: "What next? A big top? Circus animals? Clowns? Cotton Candy?[...] Is there no peace for neighborhood residents who work long, hard hours?"
* There were also several comments in favor of the cart, and many commenters who defended the vendor. Yes, this piece is, in a way, a reaction to people being wrong on the internet. But this isn't the first time I've heard remarks like the above.
These aren't comments on the legality of mobile food vending on a specific street; they're combative reactions to the supposed audacity of street vendors to invade a community they shouldn't have a right to access. If he parked on a nearby street where vending was permitted (the legality of that specific street was barely actually discussed in the post), I suspect the reaction would have been much the same: that he somehow doesn't have the right to that public space.
The comments divide themselves into two main concerns: food safety on hot dog carts and the supposed "invasive" nature of street food in a community.
Is Street Food Safe?
As to the first issue, do you take a health risk eating street food? Sure. But most home kitchens wouldn't score great marks by city health codes, and restaurants of all kinds are just as bad. (Even the ultra-meticulous Fat Duck in the UK saw a food poisoning outbreak in 2009.)
Think those Health Department A grades are a free pass to safe eating? Think again. Take a look at this New York Times map of health violations in restaurants. A restaurant can still earn an A grade despite improper refrigeration, a "facility [failing to be] vermin-proof," or featuring "pesticide use not in accordance with label use or applicable laws."
All eating out poses a health risk. Licensed street vendors have to obey strict protocols for food handling, and unlike restaurant kitchens, you can see much of their food prep in public view. It's easy to denigrate a dirty water dog or a chicken and rice cart, but calling it "unsafe" or "questionable" without specific reasoning as to why smacks of unwarranted prejudice.
Street Food and Public Space
The other negative comments center on the idea that it's unacceptable for a hot dog vendor to set up shop in a ritzy residential neighborhood. The more measured commenters point out that he could have sold at the nearby Promenade, the public park that overlooks Manhattan. But the ire of other voices seems to surpass questions of legality and veers into outrage about the very nature of what street food is.
The most interesting remark to me: "Ours is a quiet residential neighborhood. This is not the place to live fir [sic] people looking for 'street life'."
Here's the thing about street food: it's not just about the food. It's about bringing a sense of life and activity to urban spaces. It's a gathering point for a community. And it's ultimately what living in cities—and frankly, neighborhoods in general—is all about: the interconnected network of public space and public activity that everyone is welcome to partake in.
That kind of culture is important, especially in New York. Street food helps transform sidewalks and public spaces from transit ways to destinations. "Street life" is just that: a manifestation of public energy. And it's a democratic energy, one that's open to everyone and treats everyone equally. In midtown, $100,000 salary-earners wait in line with bike messengers and construction workers for $5 plates of chicken and rice. That's a healthy, necessary thing in a city where it's far too easy to get siloed in socioeconomic subcultures. Street food helps to build and maintain community across economic, ethnic, and regional boundaries. It's a vital part of urban life here.
That doesn't mean every street corner in this city needs a taco truck; some neighborhoods should be quiet, residential areas. But it's the right of street vendors to sell food in public spaces where they're legally allowed and not grievously disrupting someone's quality of life. Harassing them out of that right with mean-spirited speech ruins the very idea of public space and its importance to city living.
Friend of Serious Eats and Brooklyn Heights resident Vittles Vamp crystallizes what this issue should be about, and what it isn't about:
It seems that this hot dog vendor didn't have the appropriate permit, but that didn't appear to be the main focus of commentary up on the Brooklyn Heights Blog. I have lived in the area for years—now owning my apartment, in fact—and was surprised about some of the vitriol that bubbled up. Street vendors have long been a part of the food scene in New York City. Just go to the main branch of the New York Public Library to check out the "Lunch Hour" exhibit and you'll see that these types of carts are steeped in history. Nonetheless, this vendor had no right to park where he did. That is the issue at hand. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Why Street Food Culture is Important
If you need an illustration of street food's effect on public life, check out the spiffy residential sections of the Upper East Side during the afternoon, when the streets get dead quiet. Except, of course, for the street vendors, present on many a corner, selling cheap, tasty meals to locals and passersby. It's a vitality boost to the streets, and it looks like the residential community there hasn't crumbled from the presence of some dirty water dogs.
There's also the more concrete point: street food is an awesome part of our city's food culture. It's our fast food, our on-the-go food, our daily lunch, our pre-theater dinners. People of all walks of life enjoy it and buy it regularly. Street food is an enduring New York icon because it's something everyone can—and does—enjoy regularly.
If there's a problem with street food, it's this: it's a constant thorny reminder that none of us truly owns public space, and that we as New Yorkers are forced to live shoulder to shoulder with people who may not be like us. When a community closes itself off to a democratizing influence on public life, it does so at the peril of becoming isolated from what makes New York such a great place to live: the mind-boggling diversity of human capital that our population boasts. Our best- and worst-off neighborhoods could use more of that diversity, not less. Fair, equal use of public space is one of the ways to achieve it.
Residential zoning exists for good reasons, and I'm not against community members raising complaints with city officials when business owners operate outside those zoning restrictions. To be clear, I do agree that the vendor didn't have a right to park at that spot, that he should have left, and am fine with neighbors asking him to leave. But unless a hot dog cart is right outside your window—which this wasn't (it was on a street corner), or unless it's spewing smoke or bad smells into the air (which it didn't; hot dog vendors actually can't cook on their carts without a permit, and they don't give off exhaust), the only thing harassing a street vendor accomplishes is protecting a sense of "community" from one of the very staples of New York life.
So how about this: let's not hate people for trying to earn a living by participating in a vital piece of New York culture. If exacting regulation of community is important to these critics, there are gated communities aplenty in the suburbs, where they can structure their public space however they like.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


text:
KidzTable makes 6K healthy meals for city's kids
Larger facility means more for those in need
The kitchen at KidzTable is bustling, making 6,000 healthy meals a day.
"KidzTable provides healthy, nutritious meals to a variety of students and populations throughout the city of Baltimore. We currently serve two-thirds of the Head Starts in Baltimore City, and to them we provide breakfast and lunch and a healthy snack every day," said Laura Spada with KidzTable.
Until recently, they were only able to distribute about 2,500 a day -- that is, until they moved out of a church basement and into a brand-new 10,000-square-foot facility in east Baltimore. They've now got a ton of storage space, more room to work and a kitchen with state-of-the-art equipment.
The food at KidzTable is made by the students and staff of a food service training program. The additional space has allowed them to expand that program and do much more.
"It makes my job easier because now we have everything, all the tools," staff member Todd Rice said.
"I don't have to wait for someone else to finish using something. I can be in the comfort of my own space, cooking my food," staff member Lavonda Brooks said.
The new building also has separate classroom space for food service classes and to be able to take on more students. They've also been able to hire many of their own graduates, going from a staff of five to 26. More staff means more meals and an impact on more young lives.
"We know the impact of quality and nutritious meals on a child's ability to learn, so we want to be a part of making sure children in Baltimore City are growing up healthy, and our contribution to that is the healthy meal," Spada said.
Now that they have more space, KidzTable hopes to expand their program even more in the future.


text:
First, I'm honestly blown away. I'm so damn happy to hear that any of this stuff I've been doing for the last few years means anything to anyone. The positive feedback in this blogging/writing world is rare and I'm humbled and reinvigorated as I'm reminded of why I'm doing this.
As an academic and a scientist putting yourself out into the public at all--especially when you use your real name--opens you up to a lot of criticism. Academic researchers think you're wasting your time when you could be doing "real work". The Internet snark machine is happy to jump on any error you make and let you know how stupid you are. And you can easily fall into the page-view trap of writing pieces just to drive traffic, moving you ever farther from useful, constructive scientific discourse.
People often ask why I do this. I've summed it up thusly over on Quora:
Social media is a way for me to continue sharpening my understanding of difficult concepts. The time investment isn't important to me--my job is to learn and discover, and this is another aspect of that. And if in the process I make something more clear and accessible to a possible future scientist, all the better. No scientist achieved their breakthroughs because they communicated less.This whole public communication thing helps me find holes and weaknesses in my thinking. Sure, it's also fun sometimes. And I like to know that people think the stuff I know is interesting. But deep down it's about continuing my training and making my thinking less lazy.
As for the letter, the why of that is summed up in my associated statement to the hiring committees that I'm including along with the letters themselves:
Much of my outreach and education efforts exist in an invisible space where metrics and assessments cannot easily reach. To try and give an index of my extracurricular outreach, education, and science communication efforts I reached out to my digital network of people who read my blog, watch my videos, and follow my writings on twitter and other social networks. I asked them to submit to me a statement of what—if anything—my blogging, public speaking, etc. has meant to them. Below is an unedited collection of the comments I received: some anonymous, some pseudonymous, and some signed.As I said above, many academics think this online social media stuff is, at best, a waste of time and at worst an exercise in the narcissistic pursuits of an egotistical sell-out.
What I'm trying to do is provide some metric that shows that any of this might be useful or helpful, and to show that it does have some positive impact that can be wrapped up nicely into a metric that can be easily referenced.
As of today I have about 20 letters from people ranging from a C*O of a huge tech company, Quora as a company, clinical workers, undergrads, PhD students, post-docs, and a tenured faculty member, a health care professional, and others.
Some are hundreds of words, some are tweets. This process has itself spawned a meta-article about the process.
But I've still got a few more days before I hand everything over the the search committees. And it will be many months before I know if they even give a shit. In the mean time I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing armed with the knowledge that maybe it matters to someone out there.
Thanks everyone.


text:
Tenby Harbour is a picturesque sight, its sheltered sands redolent of Devon or Cornwall with its moored pleasure boats and fishing craft beached at low tide or bobbing when the water is high.
Seen from the High Street above North Beach it is like a film set, backed by Castle Hill, with the remains of its Norman castle, now housing the resort's fascinating private Museum.
The hill was originally the site of a hill fort, but although it was difficult to attack, the Norman Earls of Pembroke built a stone castle there which proved its worth against attacks from the warring Welsh princes in 1187 and again in 1260, when Llewellyn the Great tried to seize it. The town's defences were strengthened further when William de Valence, the 1st Earl of Pembroke, built the stout town walls later in the 13th century, many sections of which survive to give Tenby its distinctive ambiance and to justify its Welsh name Dynbych y Pysgod (Little Fortress of the Fishes).
Castle Hill is the springboard for the Tenby Lifeboat where a new boathouse was built recently and the old accommodation was converted into a residence. Just around the corner Tenby Pier jutted out from Castle Hill, but this Victorian structure was demolished in the fifties as unsafe and uneconomical to repair. Paddle Steamers sailed from the pier, taking passengers around the coast and paying visits to Ilfracombe and Lundy island. In more recent years they had to berth on the stone quay. Because of its valuable strategic position, Tenby was awarded many Royal grants to finance the maintenance and improvement of the harbour and the town walls. An arched gateway off the Castle Square leads down to Castle Beach, a sheltered sandy cove between the North and South beaches. There just a few yards offshore is St Catherine's Island, with its Palmerston fort on the top. Tenby has 40 hotels and many guest houses and a wide range of cafes, restaurants, pubs and shops. Almost hidden under the harbour wall at the top of the sands is the little seamen's church of St Julian, which once stood on the old stone pier but was moved to its present location in 1878. It is still used for worship, although some of the rooms in which social events took place have now been converted into flats.
All kinds of activities for tourists are provided in the vicinity of the harbour. Tuition in surfing, sailing, swimming and other sports are available, as well as rockpool exploration and other diversions for children, organised by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, who regard Tenby as one of the jewels in their potrfolio of tourist attractions. All these things are well publicised in the authority's literature, including the all-inclusive newspaper "Coast to Coast" which is freely available in Tourist Information Centres and shops.
Tenby has had its ups and downs, but perhaps its blackest time was in 1650 when a plague epidemic came via the harbour killing half the population.


text:
Murwillumbah High School
A series of events falling like dominoes turned my world on its head. When my methods of coping proved futile I fell victim to the mind's tyranny; a destructive party raging within. The mind hungered for control, while the heart sickened for freedom. Like tooth decay, the subsequent pain eroded the physical body. With my diminishing frame classified under a title, giving a sinister condition an undeserving grandeur. Art medicated this raging party. The Monsters no longer live inside me. Instead they are imprisoned upon paper. Like a bird from a cage I fly, never to return to darkness.


text:
Seeing E. Faye Butler — a Chicago musical-theater diva of the first and most ebullient rank — walk out on stage in prison stripes and headscarf, with a ball and chain around her ankles, is quite the jarring sight. And although Frank Higgins' "Black Pearl Sings" is a play with music, Butler is required not to raise the roof of the Northlight Theatre (a feat she could complete before breakfast) but to free the natural voice of a woman whose song has been worn down by days on a chain gang.
One suspects this play was selected as a vehicle for Butler — and given the rich detail and emotional honesty of her performance, especially when Pearl does indeed sing old, old songs from Africa days, it's not hard to see why. Butler is paired in Steve Scott's production with Susie McMonagle, another formidable performer with a deep core and big heart. You just wish both of these remarkable actresses were in a less clunky play and a more free-wheeling production.
"Black Pearl Sings" is one of those affordable-to-produce, two-person plays that have been knocking around the regional circuit for a couple of years. It's loosely based (including a switch in gender) on the work of the great musicologist and folklorist John Lomax who, while working for the Library of Congress in the 1930s, figured out that the best way to find African-Americans in the South with memories of fast-disappearing songs was to haul his 315-pound recording device to state penitentiaries, given the ease with which an African-American could find him or herself incarcerated in that particular time and place. One of Lomax's big finds behind bars was a guitar player named Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter. Lomax pulled the strings only a white man could pull, helped Lead Belly get out of prison and proceeded to travel with him around the country, making live appearances and basking in the reflected glow of his find. At a later point, Lead Belly even performed in his old prison stripes, just to add to the exotic effect.
In Higgins' play, Lomax becomes Susannah and Lead Belly becomes Black Pearl. To its credit, the play certainly explores the price that Pearl has to pay for her freedom, not least of which is the way in Act 2 that she is paraded about for New York liberals as a kind of noble-savage "other," without regard for her own need to find a missing daughter and get on with an actual life that had been taken from her. But Higgins clearly didn't want to write too bleak a piece — even though bleakness was probably the truer way to go — and thus he pairs Pearl's struggles with the frustrated Susannah's attempts to be taken serious as a female intellectual within a male-dominated academy. The sexism that such a researcher would have encountered in this era has veracity, of course, but the play's constant parallelisms start to feel like thematic over-reaching, given that one of these women is in prison and the other is swanning around the country on a nice grant. There's rough, and there's rough.
Time and again, you feel pulled out of the compelling inter-personal situation by things that are tough to believe, starting with the way Susannah is constantly left alone with her prisoner (there's a price to be paid for keeping the cast down to two) and extending to the way Pearl's need to find this missing daughter in Houston is juxtaposed against Susannah's insistent desire to start her tour. Surely, you keep thinking, a nice woman like Susannah would have gone to Texas for a day. Things reach a nadir when the fate of this daughter, which Higgins uses so shamelessly to inject tension, is revealed in, of all things, a letter arriving out of nowhere. Even here, Pearl is not allowed to immediately ask the most obvious question.
With that kind of play to deal with, you need a more risk-taking production that the straight-up affair mounted by director Steve Scott, which is certainly competent and clear but, in the final analysis, overly contained and predictable. The same could be said of the visual look of the show, which is etched in broad strokes.
Subtlety certainly emerges in the stretches when McMonagle and Butler pull up close to each other. At Saturday's matinee, these justly well-loved actresses formed a warm bond with an audience that was clearly appreciative of how deep Butler was willing to dig. The piece is at its best when the title character finally sings the songs that Susannah thinks she wants to find — you start to see the reluctant performer overtaken by the painful beauty of her heritage and a musicologist's thrill of discovery — even if she has missed the most important truth of all. You just wish all the other vexing stuff would just get out of the way and lay all that bare.
When: Through Feb. 19
Where: Northlight Theatre at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie
Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
Tickets: $25-$60 at 847-673-6300 or northlight.org


text:
Hello again and welcome to the end of the month update. So what happened this month? Quite a bit it turns out. Let's have a look:
A new version of the ASMR mobile app for iOS was released. It's now up to version 1.3. I received a newsletter from Sassou Studio, the developer, at the beginning of the month confirming this.
ASMR Sounds, another app for iOS which launched last month, now has its own channel on YouTube, with a demonstration video of the app.
Th3HazySea launched a video response contest on YouTube, which received a few entries. The winner should be announced soon, probably by the time you read this.
Soothetube.com launched a poll, for people to vote for the best ASMR videos of 2012.
A small survey was drafted and put up on Survey Monkey. This survey delves in to ASMR as well as frisson and other possibly related conditions and sensory phenomena.
Whisper Hub started collecting opinions from people after drafting several questions and putting them up online in several places, with the aim of writing an eBook, which aims to answer questions people may have about ASMR, and to raise awareness. The profits will go towards the running costs of whisperhub.co.uk.
A new meetup group was started, this time in Miami Valley, Ohio. Anybody who is interested can sign up over at meetup.com.
Once again, there were no new articles online that I could find, but Nicholas Tufnell, who published an article on ASMR on the Huffington Post's website last year, recently published a post about ASMR on his own blog which might be worth a read.
I think the lack of any new articles online was surely put aside after we learnt of the long awaited return of ASMR Island!
And finally, ASMR is recognised as a meme by many people, and this helps to promote its popularity. So say hello to the ASMR Unicorn! The unicorn was chosen as a mascot (besides Bob Ross) for ASMR seeing as both have the same sort of mythical status about them – or at least some people claim ASMR to be a myth. Quite apt, I'd say. Wouldn't you?
And that is all that took place in January 2013. Judging by what went on this month alone, I think 2013 is going to be yet another eventful year!


text:
New 2020 ChevroletTrax LT SUV
- Fuel Economy
- 26.0/31.0 mpg City/Hwy
- Exterior Color
- Stone Gray Metallic
- Interior Color
- Jet Black, Deluxe cloth seat trim
- Body
- Transmission
- Automatic
- Drivetrain
- Engine
- 1.4L Turbo ECOTEC 4-cylinder engine
Chevrolet Trax
Detailed Specifications
- Warranty: <<< Preliminary 2020 Warranty Note >>>
- Basic: 3 Years/36,000 Miles
- Drivetrain:
- 5 Years/60,000 Miles
- Qualified Fleet Purchases: 5 Years/100,000 Miles
- Corrosion:
- 3 Years/36,000 Miles
- Rust-Through
- 6 Years/100,000 Miles
- Roadside Assistance:
- 5 Years/60,000 Miles
- Qualified Fleet Purchases: 5 Years/100,000 Miles
- Maintenance: 1 Year/1 Visit
- Max seating capacity: 5
- Fuel tank capacity: 14 gal
- Horsepower: 138 @ 4900
- Fuel System: Electronic Fuel Injection
- Towing capacity: lbs
- StabiliTrak, electronic stability control system with traction control:
- Automatically helps enhance control, particularly during emergency maneuvers, by adjusting the brakes and engine torque to help you stay on your intended path
- Activates when vehicle sensors detect a difference between the driver's intended path and the direction the vehicle is actually travelling
- Applies selective brake pressure to individual wheels to help the driver keep the vehicle on the path being steered
- Includes Traction Control that detects wheel slippage and applies brake pressure and/or reduces engine power to help the driver maintain control when accelerating on wet or snow-covered roads
- Includes Brake Assist that senses how hard and fast a driver hits the brake pedal and gives extra braking assistance, if required
- LED Daytime Running Lamps:
- Illuminate when your vehicle is running and headlamps are off
- 4G LTE Wi-Fi® hotspot capable:
- Terms and limitations apply. See onstar.com or dealer for details.
- 6-speaker audio system
- USB ports:
1 Not compatible with all devices.
- Dual1 with single auxiliary input jack
- Chevrolet Infotainment 3 System with 7" diagonal color touchscreen:
1 Functionality varies by model. Full functionality requires compatible Bluetooth and smartphone, and USB connectivity for some devices.
- 7" diagonal color touchscreen1
- Bluetooth®2 audio streaming for 2 active devices for compatible phones
- Voice command pass-through to phone for compatible phones
- Apple CarPlay™ capability for compatible phones3
- Android Auto™ capability for compatible phone4
2 Go to my.chevrolet.com/learnAbout/bluetooth to find out which phones are compatible with the vehicle. Full Bluetooth feature functionality varies by device, model, and software version.
3 Vehicle user interface is a product of Apple and its terms and privacy statements apply. Requires compatible iPhone and data plan rates apply. Apple CarPlay is a trademark of Apple Inc. Siri, iPhone and iTunes are trademarks for Apple Inc, registered in the U.S. and other countries.
4 Vehicle user interface is a product of Google and its terms and privacy statements apply. Requires the Android Auto app on Google Play and an Android compatible smartphone running Android™ 5.0 or higher. Data plan rates apply. Android Auto is a trademark of Google LLC.
- SiriusXM® Radio trial subscription:
1 If you decide to continue service after your trial, the subscription plan you choose will automatically renew thereafter and you will be charged according to your chosen payment method at then-current rates. Fees and taxes apply. See the SiriusXM Customer Agreement at www.siriusxm.com for complete terms and how to cancel. All fees, content, features, and availability are subject to change. © 2020 Sirius XM Radio Inc. SiriusXM, Automatic, Pandora and all related logos are trademarks of Sirius XM Radio Inc. and its respective subsidiaries.
- Welcome to the world of SiriusXM1
- Enjoy your trial subscription to the All Access package with over 150 channels including commercial-free music, plus sports, exclusive talk, entertainment and news
- Plus, listen on the SiriusXM app, online and at home on compatible connected devices — it's included with All Access, so you'll hear the best SiriusXM has to offer, anywhere life takes you
- Single-zone manual climate control:
- Controls air temperature and fan speed
- Air filtration system
- Driver seat armrest
- Assist handles:
- Driver and front passenger
- Rear outboard with coat hooks
- Cargo shelf:
- Keeps your cargo hidden from view
- Offers security and privacy
- Removable and stowable for larger items
- Rear cargo area covered storage:
- Store items out of sight beneath the rear cargo floor
- Cargo tie downs, 4
- Chevrolet Connected Access capable:
- Subject to terms. See onstar.com or dealer for details.
- 8-point digital compass:
- Adds confidence when you venture into unfamiliar territory
- Located in the Driver Information Center
- Cruise control:
- Maintains a selected speed while driving
- Set and resume speed functions
- May require additional optional equipment
- Cupholders:
- 4 located in front console
- 2 in rear center armrest
- Rear window defogger:
- Helps to keep your rear view clear of fog or frost
- Utilizes a warming grid to help remove fog or frost from the rear window
- Power door locks:
- Programmable
- Allows you to lock and unlock doors easily whether it's from the driver or front passenger seat or from outside using the key fob
- Lockout protection helps you avoid locking keys in the vehicle
- 3.5" diagonal Driver Information Center:
- Provides key vehicle information, such as vehicle speed, fuel range, average fuel economy, tire pressure, oil life, trip odometer and warning
- Front and rear carpeted floor mats:
- Help protect your interior from road debris and the elements
- Engineered to fit your vehicle
- 2-way adjustable front head restraints:
- Easily adjust up or down, giving you the comfort you expect
- To use, press the button on the side while pulling the restraint up or pushing it down to find the right position for you
- Rear heat duct:
- Provide additional cabin comfort for rear occupants
- Deliver warm air to rear seat passengers
- Instrumentation:
- Includes analog speedometer and tachometer
- Keys, (2) foldable
- Cargo area lighting
- Interior lighting:
- Front reading lights and rear dome light
- Driver seatback map pocket
- Inside rearview manual day/night mirror:
- Adjust the tilt of the mirror to help reduce glare during nighttime driving
- 110-volt power outlet:
- Can be used to plug in electrical equipment, such as a cell phone or a portable device
- When not in use, the outlet's protective cover snaps into place
- Located on the rear of the center console
- 12-volt power outlet:
- Can be used to plug in electrical equipment, such as a cell phone or a portable device
- When not in use, the outlet's protective cover snaps into place
- Remote Keyless Entry:
- Allows you to lock and unlock doors of the vehicle with the key fob
- Driver's door or all doors unlock at the touch of a button
- Includes panic alarm button
- Remote Start:
- Start your vehicle remotely and step into a comfortably warmed or cooled vehicle, depending on the weather and your preset preferences
- Locks doors and turns on parking lamps while the engine is running
- Activates the climate control system
- Helps enable a comfortable interior climate upon entering the vehicle
- 4-way manual driver seat:
- Can be positioned forward or back and up or down
- Also includes a recline feature that raises and lowers the seatback
- 2-way manual front passenger seat:
- Positions the seat forward or back
- Also includes a recline feature that raises and lowers the seatback
- Deluxe Cloth seat trim
- 60/40 split-folding rear bench seat:
- Seats fold up
- Can fold one or both sides down
- Includes child seat top tether anchors
- Adds cargo and passenger carrying versatility to your vehicle
- Flat-folding front passenger seatback:
- Folds flat for a variety of passenger and cargo carrying configurations
- Front bucket seats
- Satin Silver and Chrome shift knob
- Speedometer, miles/kilometers
- Manual tilt and telescoping steering column:
- Allows the driver to adjust the steering wheel up or down, and the steering column forward or back
- Provides extra comfort when entering or exiting the vehicle
- Steering-wheel mounted controls:
- Allow the driver to easily operate the audio system, phone interface and cruise controls
- Controls are positioned intuitively to make them convenient and easy to use
- Steering wheel
- Front passenger underseat storage:
- Keeps items close at hand, but out of sight
- Theft-deterrent unauthorized entry system:
- Sounds the horn and flashes the turn signals when someone attempts to open the vehicle without the proper key or remote transmitter
- Helps deter unauthorized entry, helping to protect your vehicle
- Driver and front passenger visors:
- Color-keyed and padded with cloth trim
- Include covered mirrors
- Power windows:
- Driver with express-up/down
- Front and rear passenger express-down
- 10 airbags:
1 Always use seat belts and child restraints. Children are safer when properly secured in a rear seat in the appropriate child restraint. See the Owner's Manual for more information.
- Frontal airbags for driver and front passenger1
- Knee airbags for driver and front passenger1
- Seat-mounted side-impact airbags for all outboard seating positions1
- Head-curtain airbags for all rows in outboard seating positions1
- Includes Passenger Sensing System which automatically switches the front passenger seat frontal airbag and knee airbag on or off and illuminates a status light that indicates whether the airbags are on or off1
- Rear child security door locks:
- When activated, prevents passengers from opening the rear doors from inside the vehicle
- Allow rear doors to open from outside of the vehicle only
- LATCH system (Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren), for child restraint seats
- OnStar® & Chevrolet Connected Services capable:
- Terms and limitations apply. See onstar.com or dealer for details.
- Rear Vision Camera:
1 Safety or driver assistance features are no substitute for the driver's responsibility to operate the vehicle in a safe manner. The driver should remain attentive to traffic, surroundings and road conditions at all times. Visibility, weather, and road conditions may affect feature performance. Read the vehicle's owner's manual for more important feature limitations and information.
- When in Reverse at low speeds, provides you a view of the scene directly behind the vehicle on the Infotainment screen to help you park and avoid nearby objects1
- Seat belt pretensioners, driver and front passenger, dual
- Seat belts, 3-point rear, all seating positions
- Tire Pressure Monitoring System:
1 Does not monitor spare tire.
- Monitors the pressure in each tire and alerts you if there is a low-pressure condition in one or more of the tires1
- Body-color door handles
- Deep-tinted glass:
- Provides added protection from sun and glare
- Tint on rear side windows and rear liftgate window
- May require additional optional equipment
- Halogen projector-beam headlamps:
- Dual halogen projector lamps help provide more even light distribution
- Includes automatic exterior lamp control
- Body-color liftgate appliqué
- Roof-mounted side rails:
- Enhances the appearance of your vehicle
- With the available cross rails, allows you to secure cargo directly to the top of your vehicle
- Body-color heated power outside mirrors:
- Both mirrors are heated and are activated when the rear defogger is engaged, helping to clear them of ice, snow and frost to help improve visibility
- Power adjustments allow you to move both side mirrors with the touch of a button
- Manual-folding feature lets you fold the mirrors in
- Beltline moldings
- LED taillamps:
- Includes LED signature lighting
- Adds brightness in low-light conditions
- Compact spare tire
- 16" all-season blackwall tires
- 16" steel spare wheel
- 16" painted-aluminum wheels
- Acoustic laminated windshield:
- Helps keep out traffic and road noises
- Dampens sounds from the outside to help give you a quiet environment
- Solar-absorbing windshield:
- Helps minimize the effects of solar rays entering the cabin
- Assists in maintaining a more comfortable interior temperature
- Rear intermittent wiper:
- Variable-speed
- Washer to help keep rear window clear
- Front intermittent wipers:
- Variable-speed
- Washers to keep the windshield clean
- Alternator, 130 amps
- Axle, 3.53 final drive ratio
- Battery, 60AH
- 4-wheel antilock front disc/rear drum brakes:
- Help reduce wheel lockup and maintain steering control during hard braking on most slippery surfaces
- Chassis, front-wheel drive
- 1.4L Turbo ECOTEC 4-cylinder engine:
- Multiport Fuel Injection (MFI)
- 138 hp @ 4900 rpm
- 148 lb-ft of torque @ 1850 rpm
- Variable Valve Timing
- Mechanical jack with tools
- Skid plates:
- Help protect the transfer case
- Help provide underbody protection
- Front and rear, silver-painted
- Power steering:
- Electric, non-variable ratio
- Provides more steering assist during low-speed maneuvering, such as during parking
- Increases or decreases the amount of assist depending on the steering wheel angle
- Ride and Handling suspension:
- Tuned for a smooth ride and optimum handling
- 6-speed automatic transmission:
- Electronically controlled transmission with overdrive and Driver Shift Control
- Helps provide smooth, effortless automatic shifting
Dealer Notes
Drive this home today! You won't want to miss this excellent value!
It delivers an exhilarating ride without compromising safety and comfort! A turbocharger further enhances performance, while also preserving fuel economy. Chevrolet prioritized fit and finish as evidenced by: front bucket seats, power door mirrors, and remote keyless entry. It features a front-wheel-drive platform, an automatic transmission, and an efficient 4 cylinder engine.
Our experienced sales staff is eager to share its knowledge and enthusiasm with you. They'll work with you to find the right vehicle at a price you can afford. We are here to help you.
It delivers an exhilarating ride without compromising safety and comfort! A turbocharger further enhances performance, while also preserving fuel economy. Chevrolet prioritized fit and finish as evidenced by: front bucket seats, power door mirrors, and remote keyless entry. It features a front-wheel-drive platform, an automatic transmission, and an efficient 4 cylinder engine.
Our experienced sales staff is eager to share its knowledge and enthusiasm with you. They'll work with you to find the right vehicle at a price you can afford. We are here to help you.
KBB.com Consumer Reviews
- 5.0
So pleasantly surprised!
By Sales Girl on Tuesday, August 29, 2017I was sold on getting a Buick Encore, but this car was sitting on the used lot, and I just had to drive it before I committed to the Encore. I was so happy because 1. It drove the same,2. had almost exactly the same features 3.was 5k cheaper. I bought it and it has served me well! I am on the road A LOT for work and it has made my constant driving way more fun,
- 5.0
Underrated By KBB
By MPOster on Wednesday, May 15, 2019This vehicle is worth far more than the pricing people are paying for it. My family and I did our first 1700 mile road trip through the northwest and I found this vehicle so enjoyable to drive. The comfort, the vision, the handling, and the performance was far better than I initially gave Chevrolet credit for. We had considered the Honda CRV and the Hyundai Tucson but I am so happy we stuck with the Chevrolet Trax. We added an additional cartop carrier to the rails that was easily installed for more storage with the two kids in the back. The backup cam even looks better than my friends Lexus and we have the awesome Bose stereo system.
- 5.0
It's the cheapest price for this kind of vehicle
By Randy on Saturday, October 19, 2019I've seen other models from other manufacturers that want about $10,000 more. This is a small SUV. But it has a responsive engine. The handling is good. It's kinda of a "stiff" ride though. Perhaps it's the cheap tires it comes with. But all in all it's a good little SUV for a price of an entry level car. The gas mileage is good too. (not great, like a small car) But about the same as a Nissan Sentra, costing more.
New Arrivals
2020 Chevrolet Silverado 3500…
- $62,190
Quick Specs
- Truck
- Gray Exterior
- 6.6L Duramax Turbo-Diesel V8 engine Engine
2020 Chevrolet Equinox LT SUV
- $30,740
Quick Specs
- Gray Exterior
- 1.5L Turbo 4-cylinder engine Engine
2020 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali Tr…
- $69,540
Quick Specs
- Truck
- Black Exterior
- 6.2L EcoTec3 V8 engine Engine


text:
Can't help with tuning or mapping but you will need the large differential, output shafts and rear wheel setups unless you cut the driveshaft to work with the mid size diff.
When I was looking into this swap it came down to popping in a manual 5 or 6 speed instead of the giant torque eating 5hp-30. Same driveshaft as for the 5hp-18.


text:
Marv, The sun's bright but it's not "blown out." The sun is specular. It's always featureless in an ordinary photograph.
+1, especially #2.
Sorry Doug, but in photography "specular" refers to a light source as well as to the reflection of a light source. The sun can't be "blown" because it's a featureless light source. You're never going to reduce the brightness of the sun in normal photographic practice to the point where it's not featureless. If a cloud covers the sun, what you have is a picture of a bright part of a cloud, not a picture of the sun. And no matter how much you underexpose the foreground the sun's still going to be featureless. You can reduce it to a gray spot by reducing the highlights, but it'll still be featureless. Of course in Photoshop you could cover the sun with, say, a sharkskin or a paisley pattern, but people will laugh at you.
The dictionary isn't going to help, Doug. Fact is, usage has overcome your dictionary definition of "specular," just as usage, unfortunately, has overcome the correct meaning of "begs the question." Nowadays the dictionary is descriptive rather than prescriptive, and on this point it's a notch or two behind the degradation of the language.But definitions, dictionary or otherwise, don't really matter. The idea that a properly exposed sun is a yellow disk just doesn't fit the physics of the situation. What you're telling me is that the sun emits more green and red light than blue. The fact is that the sun emits white light, which maxes out all three color channels. It's true that red and green are transmitted through the atmosphere slightly more readily than blue, so there's a very slight yellow shift through a clear sky, but atmospheric conditions would have to be perfect for the naked sun to appear yellow in a photograph.Try paisley. I won't embarrass you by laughing in public.
Oh, by the way, the picture you're using as an avatar probably involves a copyright violation.


text:
Guru, a pioneering rapper who formed the duo Gang Starr, died Monday after losing a battle with cancer. He was 43.
The Hip-Hop legend, whose real name was Keith Elam, had been suffering from the illness for more than a year and slipped into a coma after heart surgery in February. His death was announced today by his current partner, MC Solar.
"The world has lost one of the best MCs and hip-hop icons of all-time — my loyal best friend, partner, and brother, Guru," Solar said in a statement to MTV.com. "Guru has been battling cancer for well over a year and has lost his battle! This is a matter that Guru wanted private until he could beat it, but tragically, this did not happen. The cancer took him. Now the world has lost a great man and a true genius."
U.S. & World
Guru, along with former partner DJ Premier, rose to prominence in the early 1990's with the release of their albums "Step in the Arena" and "Daily Operation."
The duo drew attention for sampling jazz melodies and blending them with the driving beats common to rap music at the time, along with sharp, socially conscious lyrics.
Guru, an acronym for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal, went on to a solo career where he collaborated with musicians like Branford Marsalis, Donald Byrd, N'Dea Davanport and Roy Ayers on a popular series of albums called "Jazzmatazz."
Solar released a letter he said was written by Guru as he neared death in which he thanked his fans, spoke of wishes for his son and tersely distanced himself from DJ Premier.
"I write this with tears in my eyes, not of sorrow but of joy for what a wonderful life I have enjoyed and how many great people I have had the pleasure of meeting," the letter reads.
"I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name likeness, events, tributes etc. connected in anyway to my situation including any use of my name or circumstance for any reason and I have instructed my lawyers to enforce this," wrote Guru. "I had nothing to do with him in life for over 7 years and want nothing to do with him in death. Solar has my life story and is well informed on my family situation, as well as the real reason for separating from my ex-DJ."
Fellow rap legends from Guru's era reacted over Twitter, paying tribute to an artist who helped define the genre.
"From Allah we come to Allah we return. R.I.P. Keith GURU. A great man, poet, and I'm proud to say friend," Tribe Called Quest front man, Q-Tip tweeted.
"In my 10 greatest voices in hip hop. Guru was easily top 5..." The Roots drummer, Questlove tweeted. "Smooth. velvet. will be missed. RIP Guru."
He was also among the chorus of voices that cast doubt over the authenticity of the purported death-bed letter.
"Not trying to bring negativity into the situation," he tweeted, "but i do NOT believe he wrote that letter. 1) he was in a coma. 2) HE WAS IN A COMA!"
"The letter just doesn't feel honest or real and the situation seems to suggest it couldn't be," Hip-Hop writer and commentator Toure tweeted. "I hate that our moment of mourning Guru is marred by this absurd letter meant to bring legitimacy to Solar."


text:
August 8, 2013
By PAUL KRUGMAN
We live in a golden age of economic debunkery; fallacious doctrines have been dropping like flies. No, monetary expansion needn't cause hyperinflation. No, budget deficits in a depressed economy don't cause soaring interest rates. No, slashing spending doesn't create jobs. No, economic growth doesn't collapse when debt exceeds 90 percent of G.D.P.
And now the latest myth bites the dust: No, "economic policy uncertainty" — created, it goes without saying, by That Man in the White House — isn't holding back the recovery.
I'll get to the doctrine and its refutation in a minute. First, however, I want to recommend a very old essay that explains a great deal about the times we live in.
The Polish economist Michal Kalecki published "Political Aspects of Full Employment" 70 years ago. Keynesian ideas were riding high; a "solid majority" of economists believed that full employment could be secured by government spending. Yet Kalecki predicted that such spending would, nonetheless, face fierce opposition from business and the wealthy, even in times of depression. Why?
The answer, he suggested, was the role of "confidence" as a tool of intimidation. If the government can't boost employment directly, it must promote private spending instead — and anything that might hurt the privileged, such as higher tax rates or financial regulation, can be denounced as job-killing because it undermines confidence, and hence investment. But if the government can create jobs, confidence becomes less important — and vested interests lose their veto power.
Kalecki argued that "captains of industry" understand this point, and that they oppose job-creating policies precisely because such policies would undermine their political influence. "Hence budget deficits necessary to carry out government intervention must be regarded as perilous."
When I first read this essay, I thought it was over the top. Kalecki was, after all, a declared Marxist (although I don't see much of Marx in his writings). But, if you haven't been radicalized by recent events, you haven't been paying attention; and policy discourse since 2008 has run exactly along the lines Kalecki predicted.
First came the "pivot" — the sudden switch to the view that budget deficits, not mass unemployment, were the crucial policy issue. Then came the Great Whine — the declaration by one leading business figure after another that President Obama was undermining confidence by saying mean things about businesspeople and doing outrageous things like helping the uninsured. Finally, just as happened with the claims that slashing spending is actually expansionary and terrible things happen if government debt rises, the usual suspects found an academic research paper to adopt as mascot: in this case, a paper by economists at Stanford and Chicago purportedly showing that rising levels of "economic policy uncertainty" were holding the economy back.
But, as I said, we live in a golden age of economic debunkery. The doctrine of expansionary austerity collapsed as evidence on the actual effects of austerity came in, with officials at the International Monetary Fund even admitting that they had severely underestimated the harm austerity does. The debt-scare doctrine collapsed once independent economists reviewed the data. And now the policy-uncertainty claim has gone the same way.
Actually, this happened in two stages. Soon after it became famous, the proposed measure of uncertainty was shown to be almost comically flawed; for example, it relied in part on press mentions of "economic policy uncertainty," which meant that the index automatically surged once that phrase became a Republican talking point. Then the index itself plunged, back to levels not seen since 2008, but the economy didn't take off. It turns out that uncertainty wasn't the problem.
The truth is that we understand perfectly well why recovery has been slow, and confidence has nothing to do with it. What we're looking at, instead, is the normal aftermath of a debt-fueled asset bubble; the sluggish U.S. recovery since 2009 is more or less in line with many historical examples, running all the way back to the Panic of 1893. Furthermore, the recovery has been hobbled by spending cuts — cuts that were motivated by what we now know was completely wrongheaded deficit panic.
And the policy moral is clear: We need to stop talking about spending cuts and start talking about job-creating spending increases instead. Yes, I know that the politics of doing the right thing will be very hard. But, as far as the economics goes, the only thing we have to fear is fear-mongering itself.
Correction: In my column on Monday, I somehow misstated the Republican plan on food stamps, which was for a doubling of planned cuts — a significant cut but not, as I said, a halving of benefits.


text:
Josh Howard and Jeri Gunn, both of West Bend, announce their engagement and upcoming marriage.
Parents of the couple are Sharon Mundus of Mason City and Jerry Gunn of Havelock and Clint and Marcia Howard of Estherville.
The wedding will take place on Aug. 10 in Estes Park, Colo. A reception will be held Sept. 7 at Fort Defiance State park in Estherville.
Article Photos
Jeri and Josh


text:
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
More From the V-Squad
The Superhero team of Merck sales reps continued to work hard to push Vioxx. The ending of this clip is definitely a cliffhanger, so be sure to tune in for the finale tomorrow! See clip 1 in my most recent post.
Posted by CL Psych at 8/26/2008 07:33:00 AM
2 comments:
Where are the Merck Reps? Probably hiding under a rock.
- Wednesday, August 27, 2008 1:11:00 PM
- Dan said...
In 1999, I launched Vioxx with Merck.
Here's the deal:
Merck's top selling statin Zocor unexpectedly lost tens of billions of dollars in market capitalization in 1997 due to the rapid uptake of Lipitor.
Furthermore, Celebrex was the first Cox II inhibitor marketed, and this occured 6 months before Merck launched Vioxx. Typically, the first in class made available achieves the lion's share of that particular market.
So Merck had amplified urgency and desperation to assure Vioxx was prescribed by any means necessary.
Pissed me off. Merck use to be perceived by me as the one drug company with microscopic ethics the culture strived for consistently. I left in 1999.
- Monday, August 03, 2009 7:24:00 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Shanghai's Newest Luxury Item: The License Plate
More In Shanghai
- Edifice Complex: China Is the World's Largest Skyscraper Factory, Again
- Shanghai Police Find Root of Rumors That Sparked Home-Buying Frenzy
- Why China Picked Hangzhou to Host G-20
- In Shanghai, Couples Rush to Divorce to Buy Property Later
- Waiting for Ice Cream in Shanghai Is So Hot Right Now
- You Can Walk in the Sky in Shanghai, Once It's Safe
A Shanghai license plate now costs as much as a new mid-range sedan.
The average price for a Shanghai plate soared to 75,000 yuan ($12,000) at the city's license plate auction over the weekend, roughly equal to the retail price of a brand new, fully loaded Geely MK-II sedan. Shanghai plates went for an average of 50,000 yuan a year ago, meaning prices have risen nearly 2,000 yuan a month.
Yolanda Dong, a market manager at a Japanese firm, paid 77,000 yuan for her plate. By comparison, her Peugeot 307 cost her 100,000 yuan.
"I had to buy the plate no matter what," said Ms. Dong, who bought her car four months ago and has been bidding to get a Shanghai plate since then. "I can't have my car sitting there doing nothing."
Getting plates outside Shanghai is a less appealing option. The city doesn't allow vehicles registered elsewhere on its elevated highways during rush hours.
"No matter how nice a car you have or how much your car is, if it can't get on the elevated highways during rush hours, it means nothing," said Ms. Dong.
Shanghai's plate-auction system is a manifestation of the congestion problems plaguing officials around China, as they grapple with increasingly affluent residents who see car ownership as de rigueur. It also plays into broader worries about China's increasing oil use and its massive pollution problems.
How does Shanghai do it? An auction is held on the third Saturday of each month, and about 8,000 plates are issued each time. This month, 9,000 plates were issued, a slight uptick.
How does someone participate in the auction? First, the applicant needs to go to a branch of Bank of Communications to register. There, the applicant puts down a 2,000 yuan deposit to get an account number and a computer disk. The disk has a program that the motorist uses to connect to the system that allows auction participants to bid, using the account number. The applicant has only three chances to bid, at 100 yuan a pop.
Sound convoluted? According to one expert, it beats the system used by Beijing. Unlike Shanghai, which auctions the plates, Beijing distributes them via lottery, with participants paying more modest administrative fees. "The Shanghai system seems more scientific and brighter," said Niu Fengrui, researcher and former head of Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies Chinese Academy of Social Science.
The difference, Mr. Niu says, is that Shanghai makes those who want a license pay for it. "The system Beijing uses seems to only rely on pure luck, and will likely result in a mismatch of resources," added Mr. Niu. Anyone can participate in the lottery, but not everyone that wins the lottery has the real desire to own a car.
"If someone who doesn't really want a car gets a free plate, he or she will very likely go ahead and buy a car," which will cause certain amount of "unnecessary" cars and that will add load to the roads in Beijing, Mr. Niu added.
If you're rich enough, you can pay 100,000 yuan to get a Beijing plate directly without taking part in the lottery system.
While Shanghai's system might improve the traffic outlook, some people they the auction system prices out those who aren't wealthy.
"I just think the government should do more in infrastructure and public transport so as to attract more people to subways and buses, instead of hitting the road in their own cars," said Zhang Zhuting, a professor from the cadre institute under the Ministry of Transport.
-Yue Li
Like China Real Time on Facebook and follow us Twitter for the latest updates.


text:
I have a master page with two contentplaceholders.
I have a default page.aspx which uses this masterpage.
In the default page one contentholder has a treeview and the other has a gridview.
Now i need to display both of them together and both require "form raunt server".
but the issue is, i cant have two "form raunt server" in a single page...
I tried putting "form raunt server" on the masterpage but then the treeview and gridview functionality stops working.....
Please help me as to what can i do to solve this.


text:
Glass Bottles - Buy From Our Large Range with Fast Delivery
Welcome to our extensive range of glass bottles. This category ranges from 5ml small glass bottles all the way up to 1 litre; from tiny lotion bottles, through to the ever popular 1 litre swing stopper bottles. No matter what you are looking for, you are bound to find it here and if not we will endeavour to track it down for you.
All glass bottles come in a range of different pack sizes and where appropriate with a choice of coloured cap or type of cap. Remember the larger the pack size you order the more economical your purchase. Click on a category below to start browsing through our glass bottles.
Looking for large quantities or wholesale glass bottles?
For bulk and wholesale orders on our glass bottles please call 01477 537224.
Our friendly team will happily prepare a bespoke quotation for you.


text:
View All
6 results
- Clear Filters
- 10
- 2
- Brown
- Orange
- Yellow
Vince Camuto Crepe Cropped JumpsuitSpecial Price $118.00
Vince Camuto High-neck Midi DressSpecial Price $84.99 Regular Price $168.00
Vince Camuto Snake-print Culotte JumpsuitSpecial Price $69.99 Regular Price $138.00
Vince Camuto Sequin V-neck SheathSpecial Price $74.97 Regular Price $188.00
Vince Camuto Embellished Jersey SheathSpecial Price $59.97 Regular Price $148.00
Vince Camuto Velvet Sequin DressSpecial Price $69.97 Regular Price $168.00
6 results
Vince Camuto Apparel and Clothing Makes Styling Easy
At Vince Camuto, we're all about stylish, versatile apparel and clothing that works with your favorite Vince Camuto shoes and handbags.
While you may know us for footwear, Vince Camuto also creates a huge range of one-and-done dresses and jumpsuits, office-ready tops, cute tees, sexy tanks, wear-with-everything pants and cool denim.
This Season's 7 Must-try Clothing Trends
Everyone needs well-crafted office to after-hours apparel: timelessly stylish clothing that includes pencil skirts, tailored trousers and flattering tops and blouses to mix and match.
But as a fashion lover, you'll want to add few directional pieces that instantly update your look. Here are some of the season's hottest clothing trends:
- Animal prints. Ease into this wildly chic look with a chiffon leopard-print top or camisole paired with khaki trousers or your favorite jeans.
- High-waist, wide-leg pants. Give your skinnies a rest and slip into the 70s-vibe, waist-cinching silhouette seen on street-style influencers everywhere.
- Jumpsuits. Your go-to, Monday morning style option. Dress up this one-piece wonder with a sexy heeled pump or dress it down with a flatform slide.
- Bold color. A bright dress, blouse or pant is the quickest—and prettiest—way refresh your look.
- Earthy neutral apparel. A color trend that dominated spring runways, the neutral clothing craze continues into this season.
- City Shorts. Crafted of silky fabrics, long Bermuda shorts work with kitten heels and an oversized blazer for a fresh office-wear alternative.
- Folkloric prints. Boho clothing with artisanal details is perfect for off-duty layering.
What to Wear Now
Need more outfit inspiration? Check out Vince Camuto's clothing and apparel now.


text:
Explainer: 10 pieces of Star Trek tech
The latest reboot of the Star Trek franchise follows the story of a young James Kirk on his way to becoming captain of the Starship Enterprise. The movie gives Trekkies a fresh dose of fictional high-tech wizardry. But is any of this possible in the real world? Click the "Next" arrow above to see how 10 pieces of Trek tech, from teleportation to warp drive, are faring here on Earth.
-- By John Roach, MSNBC contributor
Teleportation: a work in progress
"Beam me up, Scotty!" Oh, how easy travel would be if the technology existed to disintegrate our bodies in one place and nearly instantaneously make them reappear at our destination. Unfortunately, that kind of teleportation remains firmly fixed in the realm of Star Trek fiction. However, scientists are meeting with some success as they try to teleport messages encoded in beams of light across table-length distances, such as this experiment from 2002. More recent advances include teleporting information from one trapped atom to another.
Tricorder-like device scans for cancer
Star Trek fans know tricorders as familiar handheld devices that scan unfamiliar planets (and organisms). Real-world citizens, too, are becoming familiar with a host of futuristic gizmos that do everything from reading a critter's DNA to scanning patients for cancerous tumors, as shown in this side-by-side comparison of a fictional tricorder (left) and a medical scan of simulated breast tumor displayed on a cell phone.
Deflector shield envisioned for Mars missions
A so-called deflector shield surrounds the Starship Enterprise, protecting the spacecraft and its crew from lethal doses of radiation. Lab experiments now suggest that a portable magnetic shield could protect real-life astronauts on a mission to Mars. The shield would force harmful particles to curve around the ship. The engineering details remain to be worked out, and for now, the shield protects only against particles from the solar wind. Gamma rays and X-rays would remain a threat. An artistic depiction of the technology deployed on the Enterprise is shown here.
U.S. Air Force develops PHaSER
The weapon of choice for Trekkies is the phaser, a device that directs an adjustable beam of energy at its target. The phaser is capable of a range of effects, from a momentary stun to instant obliteration. The U.S. Air Force has developed its own prototype device with the Star Trek moniker PHaSER (Personal Halting and Stimulation Response). The hefty gunlike device was originally developed to blind an attacker temporarily. A second laser has since been added capable of heating up skin.
Holodeck tech emerging
Starfleet members seeking knowledge or fun can step into holodecks to experience an interactive virtual reality eerily close to life itself. Similar technologies are beginning to emerge in the real world, including this 3-D lab at Wright State University in Ohio, where businesses can use the technology to speed up and improve the designs of products. An energy company is using it to enhance their search for oil. Other firms are embracing advances in video and audio technology to make telepresence, or videoconferencing, more realistic. The most lifelike experiences, however, remain in science fiction.
Tractor beam manipulates cells on a chip
In Star Trek, tractor beams are used by starships and space stations to control the movement of objects usually to pull them in closer, tow them along, or push them away. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have used a tractor beam of light to pick up, hold and move around individual cells on the surface of a microchip. To demonstrate the technology, the researchers moved around and held in place 16 E. coli cells to spell out MIT, as shown in this image.
Cell phones are pretty good communicators
Trek-style communicators are those little devices, handheld or sometimes worn as a badge, that allow Starfleet members to speak to others in different parts of the ship or different parts of a planet. Modern-day cell phones, including the iPhone shown here, just might wow even the likes of Captain Kirk.
Universal translators making strides
In Star Trek, language is seldom a barrier thanks to universal translators, devices that allow people of different tongues to converse. Communication among cultures in the real world remains a challenge, but basic words and phrases are no longer stumbling blocks, thanks to gadgets such as the translator from iTRAVL shown here. Speak into the device, and it will translate the word or phrase and speak it aloud.
Cloaking devices coming out of hiding
Cloaking devices are rampant in science fiction, from Star Trek to Harry Potter but they are no longer confined to the imagination. Real-world scientists are creating new materials that manipulate wavelengths of light in ways that can hide objects from detection. This graphic shows the basic design of a 3-D metamaterial lined with nanocups that redirect the flow of light that hits it, making the object invisible.
Warp drive? Don't bet on it
The Enterprise can travel faster than light via something called warp drive — essentially, a device that warps the space-time continuum around a starship. Many scientists have batted around ideas about how to achieve blistering speeds in real life, but most experts have concluded that, at least for now, warping the fabric of space is beyond human understanding of the laws of physics. Among the difficulties is harnessing the energy required to kick-start the propulsion.


text:
Dear Members,
When I read this wonderful story, I wish to play this beautiful song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0TsYdlIuYs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and offer lots of beautiful fragrance flowers to show my admiration to Theri Khema (just like when Pancasikha-deva played songs to please the Buddha). I love this story very very much.
Theri Khema: The Most Beautiful Etadagga
[ Selected, arranged & written by Gaby Hollmann, June 2006 ]
The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society in London published an article in 1893 entitled, Women Leaders of the Buddhist Reformation that offered a translation of Manoratha Purani, Buddhaghosa's Commentary on the Anguttara Nikaya by Mabel Bode.Maha Buddhaghosas's Commentary on the fourth chapter of the Anguttara Nikaya tells us that:
A very long time ago Khema was born in the city Hamsavati that was ruled by the Buddha Padumuttara and – independent of all Great Arhats who had done likewise - made her first resolve to attain perfect realization then. Upon seeing one of "the two chief disciples of that Blessed One going his round for alms, she gave him three sweet meats. And that very day, she had her own hair cut off, and bartered it for gifts which she gave to the Elder, uttering the prayer: 'Hereafter, at some time when a Buddha appears in the world, may I become full of wisdom like you.'"Thenceforth, spending her life zealous in good works and wandering from world to world among gods and men for a hundred thousand aeons, she re-entered existence at the time of Buddha Kassapa in the palace of Kiki, King of Kasi, as one among seven sisters; and for twenty thousand years she lived there a life of chastity and, with her sisters, had a dwelling place built for the Blessed One."
Hellmut Hecker, a remarkable scholar on life-stories of Great Arhats, wrote, "Another time – so it is told – she was daughter-in-law of the Bodhisatta (Jataka 397), many times a great Empress who dreamt about receiving teaching from the Bodhisatta and then actually was taught by him (Jataka 501, 502, 534). It is further recounted that as a Queen she was always the wife of who was later Sariputta, who said about her: 'Of equal status is the wife, obedient, speaking only loving words with children, beauty, fame, garlanded, she always listens to my words.' (Jataka 502, 534.)
"This husband in former lives was a righteous king, who upheld the ten royal virtues: Generosity, morality, renunciation, truthfulness, gentleness, patience, amity, harmlessness, humility, justice. Because of these virtues the king lived in happiness and bliss. Khema, too, lived in accordance with these precepts. Only because Khema had already purified her heart and perfected it in these virtues in many past lives, she was now mature enough and had such pure and tranquil emotions that she could accept the ultimate Truth in the twinkling of an eye."
Maha Buddhaghosa continued: "Then, having passed the interval between that time and the birth of the next Buddha, wandering from life to life in the worlds of gods and men, she was reborn in the time of this Our Buddha in the royal family in the city of Sagala in the Maddha Country (Magadha).
"Now when she came of age, she entered the household of King Bimbisara. The king thought to himself, 'I am a chief supporter of the Master. Yet she, the consort of so leading a disciple, does not go to see him who has the ten Powers of Wisdom. I don't like it.'" So the king had an idea, a tale recounted in The Dhammapada:
King Bimbisara asked Khema to go to the monastery at Jetavana to pay homage to Lord Buddha, but she had heard that the Buddha always spoke disparagingly about beauty and therefore avoided him. Knowing this, the king asked his musicians to sing praises of the monastery. They did and their songs roused Khema's curiosity. Aware of her thoughts when she arrived, Lord Buddha created a celestial nymph who fanned him while he was teaching the Dharma. Only Khema perceived the heavenly maiden and saw her fade and wither away; in the end only a corpse was left to be seen. Khema instantly realized the truth of impermanence.
Lord Buddha then told her, 'O Khema. Look carefully at this decayed body which is now only a skeleton of bones and had always been subject to disease and decay. Look carefully at the body which the foolish cherish so much. Look at the worthlessness of this young woman's beauty.'
Having listened attentively, Queen Khema attained sotapatti fruition. Then the Buddha spoke the verse: "Beings who are infatuated with lust fall back into the stream of the craving they create, and they resemble a spider trapped in the web it has spun. The wise, having vanquished craving, go the way with determination and leave all ill behind." Having listened attentively, Queen Khema became an Arhat.
Maha Buddhaghosa wrote: "Now, he who attains to Arhatship while he is yet a layman must pass away in death that very day or enter the religious life. She therefore, understanding that the end of her days was near, thought to herself, 'I will ask permission to forsake the world myself.' And, making obeisance to the Buddha, she returned to the palace and, saluting the king, stood before him. The king, feeling from her very manner that she had reached the noble state of Arahatship, said to her, 'Queen, have you then really been to see the Blessed One?' She answered, 'Oh great king. What you have seen is of little moment. But to me the Blessed One has been fully revealed, even to the utmost. I pray you, let me forsake the world!' And the king granted her request and sent her in a golden palanquin to the bhikkhunis place, where she should dwell.
"Now afterwards, the Master, seated at Jetavana, when assigning places, one after the other, to the Bhikkhunis, gave to Theri Khema the etadagga among those who are gifted with great wisdom."
Love Buddha's dhamma,
The Most Beautiful Etadagga
Post sayings and stories you find interesting or useful.
Post Reply
4 posts • Page 1 of 1
The Most Beautiful Etadagga
Last edited by yawares on Wed Feb 20, 2013 2:14 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: The Most Beautiful Etadagga
thanks for this post,will go and start reading it now
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without
Re: The Most Beautiful Etadagga
Thank you for reading my story.
Re: The Most Beautiful Etadagga
Dear Members,
I love this 'Khema' story so much I must rerun it...I add beautiful painting too..hope you all love the picture!
I love this 'Khema' story so much I must rerun it...I add beautiful painting too..hope you all love the picture!
Post Reply
4 posts • Page 1 of 1


text:
Activists trick-or-treat for free software at Windows 8 launch event
Standing with the gnu, Libby Reinish, FSF campaigns manager, explained why it was necessary to make Windows 8's restrictions on freedom a big part of the conversation around the operating system: "Microsoft has already spent almost two billion dollars on slick advertisements to convince people that Windows 8 will revolutionize the way they use computers. The fact is, it's basically Windows 7 with new surveillance 'features' and even more restrictions on users' freedom. Whether or not Microsoft wants you to know it, it's easy to switch to free software instead of choosing a downgrade to your rights as a computer user -- for example, your rights to know what the system is doing and to change behaviors you don't like. We're here because we want people to know that they don't have to buy Windows 8 -- this is a great time to upgrade to free 'as in freedom' software."
Today's action is the beginning of a new FSF campaign around Windows 8, which will track the proprietary operating system over the coming months and continue to cut through the marketing hype to explain the problems with the OS. The FSF plans to launch a Web site with a full-scale campaign, including grassroots participation, and future physical and online actions. The initial home of the campaign is http://www.fsf.org/windows8, where visitors are invited to sign an online pledge to skip Windows 8 and upgrade their computers to a free software operating system.
FSF executive director John Sullivan discussed his plans for the campaign: "There's been plenty of talk in the media about whether Windows 8 will be annoying because it has no 'Start' button or because its Internet desktop will make it slow and glitchy. The deeper problem is that it is restrictive and damaging to your freedom as a computer user. We will make sure that, no matter what Microsoft's advertising is focused on, computer users still have a chance to learn about the fundamental issues with proprietary operating systems, and about the path to something better."
The campaign comes at a time when SOPA/PIPA and CISPA have thrust Internet freedom issues into the spotlight. The FSF applauds this focus on computer users' rights, but believes it also requires a focus on free operating systems. Even when Web sites do not restrict and spy on their users, operating systems increasingly do. A truly free Internet, they say, cannot exist unless it is accessed with a free operating system.
About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
About Free Software and Open Source
The free software movement's goal is freedom for computer users. Some, especially corporations, advocate a different viewpoint, known as "open source," which cites only practical goals such as making software powerful and reliable, focuses on development models, and avoids discussion of ethics and freedom. These two viewpoints are different at the deepest level. For more explanation, see http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html.
About the GNU Operating System and Linux
Richard Stallman announced in September 1983 the plan to develop a free software Unix-like operating system called GNU. GNU is the only operating system developed specifically for the sake of users' freedom. See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html.
In 1992, the essential components of GNU were complete, except for one, the kernel. When in 1992 the kernel Linux was re-released under the GNU GPL, making it free software, the combination of GNU and Linux formed a complete free operating system, which made it possible for the first time to run a PC without non-free software. This combination is the GNU/Linux system. For more explanation, see http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html.
Media Contacts
Zakkai Kauffman-Rogoff and Libby Reinish
Campaigns Managers
Free Software Foundation
(617) 542-5942