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Christmas Songs
Jingle Bells (1) by J. Pierpont
From " A Song-book of Folk and Pop Music"
by Mario Papa & Giuliano Iantorno, Zanichelli Editore, Bologna, 1977
Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh,
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way;
Bells on bob-tail ring
Making our spirits bright;
What fun fit is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!
Jingle, bells! Jingle, bells!
Jingle all the way!
Oh what fun It is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh!
(1). This very famous song, also popular in Italy, has been trans¬lated into many languages and has been sung by many an ar¬tist ; among these Frank Sinatra and Rocky Roberts.
Christmas is the happiest and busiest time of the year for millions of people all over the world. They observe the holiday with religious ceremonies and prayer. Many people look forward to happy family parties and exchanging gifts. They decorate their houses with holly (1) and mistletoe (2). The Christmas trees sparkle with bright lights and mothers are busy spending more than fathers can earn!
In Great Britaih, children hang their stockings by the fireplace or by their beds, hoping that Father Christmas will fill them with Christmas gifts. The British call the day after Christmas, Boxing Day. On this day, most families give money to the milkman, postman, and other people who have served them throughout the year. Milkmen, postmen, etc., go round with boxes in their hands, to collect money. Many special songs and carols are sung at Christmas time. Carols are traditional songs of joyful character sung during religious or seasonal festivals such as Christmas, Easter or the Month of May. The word 'carol ' comes from a French round dance called a "carole ", and was also used for an English pagan song-dance perf ormed to celebrate the shortest days of winter. The British are especially fond of "God rest You Merry, Gentle¬men" and "Silent Night". "White Christmas" and "Jingle bells" first appeared as popular songs in the United States.
(1) Holly: It is an evergreen tree with green leaves and red berries. The leaves with the ber¬ries are used to make attrac¬tive Christmas wreaths. In for¬mer times, this tree was used in houses and churches at Christ¬mas time, and was called `holy tree'. The word `holly' may have come from this name. Nowadays, both in Britain and in North America the holly is used for Christmas decoration.
(2) Mistletoe: It is another ever¬green plant used for Christmas decoration not only in Britain and North America but also in Italy and other European countries. It is said that the Druids, the ancient priests of the Celts, cut the mistletoe which grew on the sacred oak and gave it to the people for charms. In many countries, a person caught stand¬ing beneath mistletoe must for¬feit a kiss.


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A new online grocery strategy resulted in a 5% increase in sales efficiency.
A grocer's online business was underperforming against international benchmarks. Deliveries of online orders were inefficient, leading to sluggish growth and increasing red ink. The grocer needed a plan for short-term efficiency savings and a longer-term strategy to develop a more profitable online operating model.
BCG analyzed the grocer's performance and identified several efficiency initiatives, including picking (by changing cut-off times and back-room management), delivery (by smoothing demand), and the call center (by changing the substitution process). Longer term, we helped the company develop a new value proposition and operational model tailored to local markets, a dark store for fulfilling online orders, and click-and-collect models to improve delivery efficiencies. The grocer is still implementing these changes, but it has already fundamentally revamped its picking and loading processes, leading to a 5% gain in efficiency. More important, the online unit has returned to profitability.
A new online grocery strategy resulted in a 5% increase in sales efficiency.
New grocery competitors offer a much smaller range of goods than traditional chains—at far less cost. Big grocery retailers can compete by shaking up their operating models.

subset: commoncrawl


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Beautiful Day Fragrance Mist
Sold out.
Type: Unknown Type
Vendor: Bath Body & Home
- Beautiful Day
Buy direct from Australia's Leading exclusive importer of Bath and Body Works products
Lavishly splash or lightly spritz your favorite fragrance, either way you'll fall in love at first mist! Our carefully crafted bottle and sophisticated pump delivers great coverage while conditioning aloe mist nourishes skin for the lightest, most refreshing way to fragrance!
- · Lightly scented with sun-kissed apple, wild daisies & fresh pink peonies
- · A delightful blend of natural ingredients come together to produce this amazing fragrance. Perfect for use day or night.
- · Not tested on animals


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badger into(redirected from badgering into)
badger into
To pester or nag someone into doing something. A person's name or a pronoun can be used between "badger" and "into." Now that I have my driver's license, my little sister is constantly trying to badger me into taking her places. Did you get badgered into coming to this boring lecture today?
See also: badger
badger someone into something
Fig. to pester someone into doing something. Don't try to badger us into doing it. My brother and I were badgered into cleaning out the garage.
See also: badger


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Omyacare are natural calcium carbonate products that are tailor-made for the needs of the cosmetic industries. Production sites with the most stringent quality management systems ensure the supply of high-purity materials. All Omyacare products fulfil the strict microbiology requirements of the cosmetic industry.
Thanks to their natural whiteness, Omyacare products are particularly suited to providing brightness, whiteness and opacity to color cosmetics. In skin care products, Omyacare acts as a natural skin-feel modifier, enabling the control of key properties such as tack or dry time.
Omya offers a wide range of different particle sizes and has ECOCERT / Cosmos-certified products in its portfolio.
Through our R&D and technology services department, we can provide valuable development support for the Omyacare product range to our customers.
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Local Knowledge - Global Understanding


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Just because the BP Oil Spill hasn't made its way to your state doesn't mean you have to miss out on the black water that's sweeping across the gulf. Thanks to the good folks at OilSpillWater.com, you can now purchase a sealed, glass bottle of oil and water to serve as a souvenir and reminder of one of the nation's worst environmental disasters.
If you can't tell by now that the site (and our description of it) is rather tongue-in-cheek, you need only read the barely-visible print at the bottom of the site's home page: "Oil Spill Water is a novelty gift that is included with your donation."
Jeffrey and David Shiffman, according to a piece from NBC Miami, are selling these bottles for $9.99. Half of that will go to support Reef Relief, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the International Bird Research Center. Where does the other five bucks go? To cover costs, apparently.
Personally, I think this is a great way to build awareness and raise funds for some organizations that seem to be doing good things in the gulf. I'm a little curious why it takes five dollars to mix an ounce of oil with an ounce of water.
More serious collectors looking for a genuine sample of water from the gulf should look elsewhere, as these bottles contain used motor oil mixed with real ocean water. The two brothers were initially shipping oil taken from the gulf, but that got expensive. By simulating their own bottled oil spill water, they are cutting costs in hopes of passing more of the donations on to the three organizations.
We don't think the fact that the oil spill water is fake will deter many people from buying it. After all, people continue to buy bottled water from exotic springs and streams, even when 40% of bottled water is nothing more than well-marketed tap water. At least this bottled water is drawing attention to an environmental problem, rather than creating one.


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A Romantic, Whimsical Farm Wedding at Yesterday Spaces in Leicester, North Carolina
Abigail Wharff (a marketing manager) met Mark Rosenblum (in equity research) at a bar in Durham, North Carolina. She was in the middle of a heated discussion with friends after a tense MBA student basketball game between rival schools Duke and the University of North Carolina. "Mark just walked up and strategically inserted himself into our conversation," Abigail says. "He started talking about his cooking skills and, long story short, that was the beginning of forever." For their wedding, Abbie and Mark kept things light and relaxed at Yesterday Spaces, a farm in Leicester, North Carolina, about 20 minutes from Asheville. "Asheville is such a fun town, and as a new couple we visited many times," Abbie says. "We wanted to share that energy with our guests." The day's main colors were deep, silvery blue accented with pops of pink, plum and lots of greenery. When a rainstorm threatened their outside ceremony for 150 guests, the couple moved it into the property's dairy barn, which was already decorated with bunches of hanging dried flowers. The indoor reception boasted numerous greenery-rich arrangements—the showstopper was a large garland that hung above the banquet table. Abbie's advice to brides: "When you find yourself getting bogged down by something, ask yourself, Do I remember the (insert object) at any of the weddings I attended? If the answer is no, let it go." —Carolyn Meers


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The Project American Heroes II '69 Camaro built by Route 66 Motorsports (New Lenox, Illinois) exceeded our wildest expectations at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction this past April in Palm Beach, Florida. Associate Editor Patrick Hill of Super Chevy tells the story: "We anticipated PAH II making an impressive splash at Barrett-Jackson, but we about lost our minds when the gavel banged and the auction ended. Before we knew it, the bidding price was at $100,000 and starting to slow down. But the various bidders regrouped and the bidding took off like a rocket.
In the blink of an eye the selling price hit $250,000 and had everyone stunned with excitement. After some more encouragement from First Lt. Mark Little from the podium, the price eclipsed $400,000 and had the arena buzzing. When the gavel banged and all was done, the price on the screen was $500,000.That's right, half-million dollars to benefit the Armed Forces Foundation."
Hats off to the new owner, Dave Parker, of Los Angeles, for his love for our country and our military personnel. A Vietnam veteran, Dave is now enjoying his incredible and historic PAH II '69 Camaro. Knowing the ways in which many military families have already benefitted from the Armed Forces Foundation with funds generated through the sale undoubtedly makes that LS7 motor sound even sweeter slicing up those California canyon roads.
Some of you may be unfamiliar with the Armed Forces Foundation. Through a multitude of programs the Armed Forces Foundation assists military families with transition and career counseling, everyday living expenses, rent, travel costs, holiday gifts for military children, therapeutic recreational activities, and counseling for those affected by emotional and mental trauma. Coming alongside of families who have lost their loved ones to war, the Armed Forces Foundation helps with funeral arrangements.
Amazingly, 94 percent of all donations go directly to military members and their families. The Armed Forces Foundation has been recognized by the President of the United States, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Education and the Department of Energy for its dedication to America's Service men and women. More information can be found at their website (www.armedforcesfoundation.org).
As this missive is being penned, U.S combat troops are withdrawing from urban areas in Iraq, but the fight against terrorism still rages in Afghanistan. Tragic life-changing injuries, traumatic experiences, and the invisible scars that remain from battle require that those of us who enjoy our freedom stateside need to do all we can to support our newly arrived heroes. That's why organizations like the Armed Forces Foundation are so critically important. And that's why we're building another hot rod to raise money for the Armed Forces Foundation.
Project American Heroes III is a '70 Chevelle that will get the full monster treatment from Bill Jelinek & Company at Route 66 Motorsports. The Chevelle will feature an LS-series motor, six-speed automatic transmission, tricked out suspension, and appropriate killer wheel and tire combination.
As the stinger hood on the PAH II Camaro hearkened back to a '60s element, so too the Chevelle will lean on strong heritage by featuring a killer L-88-style hood and signature Project American Heroes patriotic graphics.
Imperial Blasting has invested countless hours of research and in-shop testing to develop its own proprietary media called IB Mineral. The IB Mineral used on Project American Heroes III produced a clean, undamaged surface with zero warpage and no damage to the metal. Tested on hundreds of cars, the IB Mineral has been found to deliver optimal results.
Imperial Blasting has stripped cars for some of the top builders in the country, including Troy Trepanier and the Ring Brothers.
Rather than attempt repairing the tired sheetmetal, the driver¿s quarter was removed. Believing that factory metal should be saved if at all possible, Jelinek decided to keep the passenger quarter in place during the blasting to see if it was worth saving.
Stripped to bare metal, the car sits at Route 66 Motorsports awaiting reconstructive surgery. The Imperial Blasting process removed the surface rust safely, leaving us with a satin smooth, undamaged surface suitable for body work and paint.
Both floors and rocker panels were in very good condition. Properly able to assess the condition of the passenger side quarter-panel, Bill decided to simply replace both driver and passenger sides.
Bill Jelinek's son Nick is put in charge of the metal replacement. The passenger side quarter is carefully cut free from the factory welds and removed.
Nick takes out his trusty hammer and dolly and carefully straightens out the mating surface for the new quarter-panel.
The door jamb and window ledge areas receive special attention. In the process of preparing the surfaces, the new quarter is mocked up and removed to insure perfect fit.
The rear windsow channel is cleaned up with the high speed grinder for a nice clean edge for panel installation.
Having received equal attention from Nick for the new National Parts Depot quarter-panel, the driver side is fitted for the new metal. Satisfied, Nick removes the mocked-up panel in order to prepare the edges for welding.
A pneumatic hole puncher is called into service to create holes approximately two to three inches apart for welding.
The door jamb area is also punched to accommodate the MIG welds. The welds will be ground smooth and produce an OEM quality finish.
The NPD quarters are clamped in place and ready for final welding. Body lines are checked and lined up for perfect trunk and door gaps.
MIG welds in the hands of young Jelinek are clean and strong. Although the panels are only tack welded to the car at this point, Nick later repented for not wearing proper welding gloves.


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The State of Arizona focuses on the controversial "papers please" law, SB1070. The feature-length, verité documentary interweaves the volatile themes of immigration and race portrayed through a mosaic of characters and their responses to the law. The film's three-act structure is built around the turbulent arc of the law, from the Governor's signing the bill in 2010 to the Supreme Court's June 2012 pronouncement on its constitutionality. Through the personal stories of individuals impacting and impacted by immigration policies, the film explores the social and political circumstances that gave rise to SB1070, examining the roles played by government and business, as well as the human consequences of the policy.
All Documentary Films


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You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2016.
Insurance, insurance, insurance.
These days, there are so many insurance choices available that they seem to cover EVERY possible issue that may arise in your life. There's Whole or Term Life Insurance, Death Insurance, Auto/Motorcycle/Boat Insurance, Home Owner's Insurance, Mortgage Insurance, Renter's Insurance and a host of others. Even if you own a spaceship, there is undoubtedly a policy out there to insure it. You may not be able to afford it, but it's out there.
The trouble with having so many insurance options presented, however, is that the rules, as well as the differing levels of coverage that exist from state to state, are, for the most part, profoundly unclear. And, if you aren't up to date on the constantly changing procedures, you can quickly become overwhelmed and/or be cheated out of a lot of money due to unnecessary or overlapping coverage.
If that isn't enough, even if you manage to pay the fees and avoid the pitfalls, the insurance companies have other ways to cheat you. For instance, you can pay full monthly premiums for life insurance for 30+ years only to turn 74 or 75 years of age and have your insurance benefits suddenly cut in half. That's right. Despite being up to date on your premiums, you are not safe! Apparently, the reality of your possible death and/or associated withdrawal of monies from an insurance company is just too much for them to handle.
So, incredibly, insurance companies are legally able to cut your benefits without any explanation or legitimate reason!
Things like age and uncovered illnesses (the parameters of which are, of course, determined by the insurance company) can easily get you a fast trip to the poor house. Even with some covered illnesses, the copays and deductibles can decide and/or limit care options. On some level, simply not having any insurance at all does away with the stress of dealing with unexpected costs and forms. But then, you have to bear the weight of the full costs of treatment, which—as has been seen with antibiotics for cancer patients and the Epi-Pen—are artificially high in the first place. You lose one source of problems only to fall into an entirely different set. You just can't win.
And it's not just health insurance either. Likewise, you can pay for Auto Insurance only to be penalized or even dropped by the insurance company for using it. They accept payments from you month after month, year after year but, once you call them with a problem in need of service, your coverage is in jeopardy.
Again, the law of the land dictates that the insurance company has all the power. Thus, they are well within their rights to alter or cancel your contract!
So we, the consumer, are truly at the mercy of the insurance company. We, the consumer, are tasked to pay for insurance but never use it or risk expulsion.
As such, those of us who actually have insurance do everything in our power to avoid using the service that we are paying for. To dodge excessive fees or hassle, we find ways to ignore health problems or patch things up on our own, which is not only ridiculous, but the very opposite of why insurance exists.
Could you imagine the power company dropping your service because you demand electricity at night? Or, the gas company cancelling your contract because you asked for too much heat during the winter?
We need to band together as a society to force our representatives/government to step in and regulate insurance companies. As it stands, they are the only ones benefitting. Can anybody hear me?


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Wharfedale Links
- Wharfedale Links 966
- Wharfedale Links 966
You now must wear a face covering on all buses
15th Jun onwards
You now must wear a face covering when using the bus. More information and details on how to make a covering, or buy one from us, are on this link.
Route map
Sorry, this service does not run in this direction on the provided date.


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ESSAY- Hidden fees: Getting rich fooling customers
The printer: It's one of the most common peripherals in the computer age and so cheap– at first blush, anyway– that stores often give them away when you buy a PC. Yet how many people realize, when they walk out of CompUSA, a nice $99 inkjet model tucked under their arm, that it's likely they've just committed themselves to spending nearly $1,500 on ink cartridges over the next four years? (In fact, only about 3 percent realize it, according to Stanford economist Robert E. Hall.)
We're living today in the hidden-fee economy. Printers come with a particularly hefty and devious add-on fee in the form of those cartridges, but they're just one of many products with a sneaky price structure. Cellphones, of course, have deadly "overage" charges lurking behind the attractive monthly rates, while credit card companies lure customers with low annual fees then hit them with late fees and higher interest rates if payment is even a day late. (In 2001, banks pulled in $7 billion in late fees according to one study.)
Comically pricey phone calls and outlandish minibar tabs pad the balance sheets of hotels whose affordable basic room rates serve as a come-on. Low weekly fees for rental cars attract customers, but they get you on the insurance, car seats for the kids, and $6-per-gallon gas.
Getting nailed by a hidden fee is one of the great annoyances of modern life. But, if it's any consolation, the fees have also raised fascinating questions for economists: Why, for example, don't companies compete on all costs, including the ones in fine print? According to classical economic theory, it shouldn't be possible to conceal price information that's important to the consumer: Competing firms will educate consumers about the other guy's high hidden prices in order to win business.
"We don't think that's right," contends David Laibson, a professor of economics at Harvard and coauthor, with MIT's Xavier Gabaix, of an article on hidden fees that appears in the latest issue of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. "We think there are robust market forces that serve to suppress that information, and keep it suppressed."
Laibson and Gabaix aren't conspiracy theorists. Their explanation for the persistence of hidden prices, laid out in "Shrouded Attributes, Consumer Myopia, and Information Suppression in Competitive Markets," describes a complex balancing act in which companies must weigh the costs of educating consumers against the benefits of duping them. And their work relies on the insight, now common in what's called behavioral economics, that many consumers are far less rational than economists used to think.
. . .
Laibson and Gabaix's explanation relies on a good bit of math, too, but it can be summarized pretty simply using a hypothetical example. Imagine two hotel chains. The first, Hidden Price Inn, has a very low room rate of $80 a night, but makes liberal use of high ``shrouded" fees: Three bucks for a minibar Coca Cola, $25 for parking, $12 for eggs at breakfast. The unsophisticated traveler cheerily (if unwittingly) forks over the fees, all the while patting herself on the back for getting a cheap room.
Now imagine a second chain, Straightforward Suites. It charges much more reasonably for the extra costs ($1, say, for that Coke), but because it makes less on the extras, it has to charge slightly more for the room-$95, instead of $80. Even an unsophisticated traveler can tell $95 isn't as good as $80.
Through an aggressive ad campaign, Straightforward could try to point out how devious the approach of Hidden Price Inn is and how much less deceptive its own prices are. But Laibson and Gabaix show that there's a catch in this strategy: Hidden Price Inn actually has two key types of customers. Yes, there are the clueless consumers (the economists prefer to call them ``myopic"). But there are also the sophisticated ones, who know that if they avoid the hotel restaurant, take a taxi instead of using the parking garage, and call home with a cellphone, they'll actually get a better deal at Hidden Price than at Straightforward.
Straightforward Suites's ad campaign, then, might just end up increasing the ranks of sophisticated consumers who will in turn dial up Hidden Price Inn for a cut-rate room. Rather than play this self-defeating game, Straightforward will most likely just lower its own room prices and stick it to the customers on the extras.
The specifics may vary from industry to industry, but Laibson and Gabaix argue that this basic dynamic helps explain why we see so many shrouded fees. Regulations requiring companies to be more up-front about their prices might help in some cases, they say. But, being economists, they distrust regulation. As long as these games exist, they conclude that your best bet is to be a sophisticate. Laibson offers this tip in particular: ``Print in draft mode, don't gratuitously print things that you don't need, and when in doubt, print at work. Those simple pieces of advice will save you about $500 a year."
But not all economists think it makes sense, even in self-interested terms, for companies to embrace the hidden-fee economy. Barry Nalebuff, a professor of business strategy at the Yale School of Management and author of ``In Praise of Honest Pricing," which appeared in the MIT Sloan Management Review in 2003, says Laibson and Gabaix's article fails to consider that annoying consumers has a cost: It drives them away.
``In the end, you don't fool the customers with the hidden price," he says. ``They know they've paid it even if they didn't know they were going to pay it." And if they feel ripped off, they won't come back. In the cellphone industry, he says, carriers lose 40 percent of their customers each year, a tremendous ``churn" rate that industry players are starting to take note of. Sprint, Nalebuff points out, recently began pushing what it calls its ``Fair and Flexible" plan, which adjusts customers' calling plans to minimize overage charges. Sprint is betting, in other words, that customer loyalty is worth more, in the long run, than sneaky fees.
Laibson, though, has his doubts. Companies that hide fees ``may lose some customers," he says, ``but along the way it's a good ride."


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We've recently received our first shipment of KRK's brand new third generation Rokit monitors! These new models retain the huge bass response that made the generation 2 monitors so popular, but they significantly improve their high-frequency response, allowing you to make more detailed mix decisions across the entire frequency range. However, if you ever want to revert back to the characteristic duller sound of the G2s, the G3s feature controls on the back that can be used for just this. As you get both high and low level controls on the rear, you can also refine the sound of the G3 monitors in order to customise them to your own listening environment by counteracting unwanted acoustic artefacts that your room might impose on your sound.
Oh, and one more thing! We've also put together some super money-saving bundles that include KRK RP G3 monitors so be sure to check them out!


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Expresso Store: UPS Shipping
3rd Party (Commercial)
EE Version Support
- ExpressionEngine 2
If an item is crossed out, it might be untested, not applicable or incompatible. Contact the developer to be sure.
- Updater
- Multi Site Manager
- Stand Alone Entry Form
- Low Variables
- Content Elements
- Better Workflow
- Matrix
- Grid
- Webservice
- Publisher
- jQuery for the Control Panel
Add-On Type(s)
Automatically calculate shipping costs for your customers using UPS.
This entry was created September 12, 2013, 11:02 am.
This entry was last updated October 3, 2019, 4:19 pm.
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Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter
A Rare Visitor
When that person brought up imperial daughter Ji An, everyone fell silent. They were the family members of officials that had come from out of the province. Their knowledge could not compare to those that lived in the capital. In regards to Feng Yu Heng, they had only heard about her; however, they had never personally seen her. It was even less possible for them to have interacted. This was also the first time that they had ever seen this imperial carriage.
But with these thoughts in mind, the people began to look back at the imperial carriage before them. Looking more carefully was fine, but everyone inhaled sharply.
"Are the jewels inlaid on her carriage real?"
"That bright and sparkly stuff should be crystal. Last year, my father gave me a small crystal pendant for my birthday, and it looks very similar to what's on the carriage. Its quality just wasn't as high."
"How could we compare the things that we have to the imperial family?"
"What imperial family, she's just an imperial daughter with a different surname. She was conferred the title later on."
"An imperial daughter with a different surname is so arrogant. So many nice things are just inlaid on the carriage. If they're taken by anyone, the price would be extremely high. She really has grand plans."
Feng Yu Heng heard these things through the window and could not help but laugh internally. It was no wonder why the court would need to improve security every time there were officials that came from out of the province. Just based on the experience of these people, perhaps they would cause a stir over anything that they saw. Her imperial carriage was not considered much inside the capital. Moreover, Xuan Tian Ming's carriage was far more excessive than her carriage. The people in the capital treated it as if it was only natural. Why was it that when it came to these young misses and madams, it became her having grand plans?
However, just a short discussion about the imperial carriage was not enough. When women gathered together, they loved to gossip, and the topic very quickly began to change. This time, the topic became about Xuan Tian Ming.
"Did you guys know? Not only has the ninth prince's leg injury been healed, but his face that had also been ruined had returned to normal without any blemishes." These words were filled with envy.
Feng Zhao Lian's eyes became sharp, as he occasionally said to Feng Yu Heng: "Hah, there are people looking at us sideways. The jealousy can be smelled through the carriage's walls."
Immediately following this came a voice: "Hah, put plainly, that imperial daughter Ji An is lucky. Being engaged to the ninth prince from a young age, we do not have that sort of luck."
"How can we compare to the people of the capital. People in proximity to those with power will reap some benefits. Speaking of, I have seen the ninth prince once before. At that time, he was a youth, but his appearance really was… absolutely amazing."
"Even better than his Highness the seventh prince?"
"They are at two extremes. His Highness the seventh prince is refined like a deity, while the ninth prince is a ruler that is proud and aloof."
These descriptions caused these young miss' pure hearts to shake. Feng Yu Heng could practically feel the envy wafting over. She was feeling irritated and patted Feng Zhao Lian: "Put down the curtain." She then hurried Huang Quan: "Go and have the people outside open up a path. This imperial daughter's carriage will be given the same treatment as palace princess Wu Yang, and it can be driven straight to the Rui Gate. There is no need to continue lingering here. Have them all move. Who knows what those imperial guards are doing?"
Huang Quan knew that she had heard someone outside yearning for his Highness the ninth prince, and she laughed internally; however, she did not point it out. Lifting the curtain of the carriage, she caught hold of an imperial guard and gave the order. Very quickly, there was movement outside. It was clear that the people outside were heeding the instructions of the imperial guard to move. Not long later, a path for her imperial carriage was opened up.
When Huang Quan returned inside the imperial carriage, the vehicle had already begun moving. She said to Feng Yu Heng: "I really wonder if the imperial palace will burst from squeezing so many people inside."
Feng Zhao Lian was puzzled, "Is Da Shun's imperial palace very small?"
Huang Quan rolled her eyes at him, "I am just making a conjecture. Do you know what a conjecture is?"
Feng Zhao Lian's ignorant look left Huang Quan feeling very helpless. She simply decided not to speak to him and silently sat to the side until the imperial carriage stopped once more.
Outside, the driver lifted the curtain: "Young miss, we've arrived at Rui Gate."
Feng Yu Heng nodded and got up to get out of the carriage. Just as her two feet touched the ground, the female official in charge that was waiting went forward to salute and pay her respect, saying warmly: "This old servant has specifically been waiting for imperial daughter's arrival. Would imperial daughter come ahead with this old servant."
Feng Yu Heng gave her thanks then told her that Feng Zhao Lian was someone that she had brought along. The female official expressed that she understood and just had the workers take some simple notes before bringing them inside the palace. As for the madams and young misses still waiting to be let in, they could only sigh.
The days around the middle of Autumn were cool, but since the day had just passed noon, it was at its hottest. They had all come after getting dressed up in meticulous clothes, but they never thought that there would be so many people. After standing in line for such a long time, they felt that the makeup on their face had already burned.
In the group lining up, Feng Fen Dai was still waiting. Although there was a relationship between her and the fifth prince, she received an invitation into the palace; however, she did not get the same treatment in being able to avoid the line as Feng Yu Heng. Of course, the number of people on the ladies' side that did not need to wait in line could be counted on one hand. Princess Wen Xuan, palace princess Wu Yang and imperial daughter Ji An were the only three. The others could only wait anxiously while feeling envious.
But the people that concerned themselves with many things would be lacking in restraint, as one directly asked Fen Dai: "Younger sister, just now you said that you are the future official princess of the fifth prince. I recall that the person engaged to the fifth prince was the Feng family's fourth young miss, right? If it's as you say, Imperial Daughter Ji An would be your elder sister. Why is it that your own elder sister went into the palace first without taking care of you?"
It would have been better if this matter was not brought up. When it was brought up, Fen Dai became filled with anger. When had Feng Yu Heng taken care of her? Not directly opposing her was already good enough. She immediately snorted coldly and said: "So what if she's my elder sister. At present, her standing is high, and she has ability, and she is someone with merits. How could she be someone that this sister of a concubine could get close to. It's already good enough if she does not cause me trouble. I don't dare cause her to to become annoyed." She had completely forgotten that every time that she had conflicted with Feng Yu Heng, she was the one that looked for trouble with Feng Yu Heng.
Fen Dai's words were spread forward and back as if it was the truth. The madams and young misses from the capital that knew the situation might laugh or feel helpless, but the madams and young misses from out of the province had found something to talk about.
In an instant, Feng Yu Heng's image suffered a drastic decline. It had become one of someone that had received glory from the entire world yet treated her younger sister of a concubine terribly.
Fen Dai was very happy to hear this and looked back. She then saw Xiang Rong standing in the crowd with a look of wanting to refute things but had nobody to listen to her. This made her even happier.
On the other side, Feng Yu Heng had already been led toward the garden by the female official. The official walked while saying to them: "Her Highness the Empress is feeling quite well today. She is also in good spirits. Princess Wen Xuan was the first to come into the palace, and the two have been chatting the entire time."
Feng Yu Heng asked further: "Has Palace Princess Wu Yan already arrived?"
"She has, she has." The female official was quite kind, quickly saying: "Palace Princess came early and went to find Their Highnesses to chat and play around. Thinking about it, she should be returning shortly."
Feng Yu Heng nodded and did not ask any further. Xuan Tian Ge's status was different from other people. This imperial palace was partially her home. Who could do anything about her if she wanted to go anywhere. Also, she was familiar with the place, thus she would naturally run off on her own.
Very quickly, they arrived in Jing Ci Palace. When the group first set foot in the yard, they heard the sound of quiet laughter. It was not just one or two people. she was clear that there were at least four people.
When she entered to take a look, it was the Empress, Princess Wen Xuan and Xuan Tian Ge. There was also another person that caused her to feel a little surprised, but she did not act too shocked. She just steadily walked over to the Empress and bowed: "A-Heng pays respects to Your Highness the Empress. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival."
When the Empress saw Feng Yu Heng, her eyes became squinted from smiling. She quickly gestured for Fang Yi to help her up. At the same time, she said to Princess Wen Xuan, who was seated at her side: "To be able to attend today's banquet in such good spirits is truly thanks to A-Heng. You know, a while back, this One's illness did not show any signs of improving, as I spent a few months laying in bed without any strength. Later on, it was A-Heng coming back from the North who specially came to examine this One, and she gave me one of her specialty medicines. After this One took them, I have improved greatly."
Feng Yu Heng courteously said: "Your Highness' foundation is steady. A-Heng just put in a small amount of work is all." After saying this, she very intimately called out to Princess Wen Xuan: "Aunty Lan, are you well today?"
Princess Wen Xuan also looked at her with a smile, "Good, good, everything is well." In her heart, however, she was sighing over Yao shi. She did not know what she was thinking, leaving behind such a good daughter and causing such a rift. Instead, she turned her head and wanted the one of unclear origins. She had already decided that she would go and try to advise her some more after the palace banquet ended. After all, she could not bear to watch this mother and daughter pair continue to act so distant.
While she was thinking, the Empress was already about to introduce Feng Yu Heng to another person. At this time, Feng Yu Heng nodded and greeted Xuan Tian Ge before turning to look at the other person and said with a smile: "Seventh princess of Gu Shu, you've come quite a distance. You really are a rare guest."
The Empress was stunned, "You two know each other?"
Feng Yu Heng nodded, "Back then, the sixth prince of Gu Shu brought the seventh princess to our Da Shun, and they especially came to our Feng manor. At that time, my father was still the left prime minister, and he was taking care of Qian Zhou's eldest princess Kang Yi and her daughter. Gu Shu's sixth prince and seventh princess came to the manor together. That sixth prince had visited to speak about marriage with eldest princess Kang Yi."
After she finished speaking, the Empress nodded, saying: "If you say it like this, this One is able to remember it. There was something like that."
The seventh princess of Gu Shu also smiled at this time then said to Feng Yu Heng: "Imperial daughter really has a good memory. I had nearly completely forgotten about that matter. I never thought that imperial daughter would still remember. You really are considerate."
The girls born in the South were charming, and while she spoke, her expression did not change. It also carried a bit of a foreign look that was very beautiful. But Feng Yu Heng saw a bit of anger in her eyes, thus she said: "It can't be considered considerate. Two countries being joined by marriage is a big matter. Who could forget about it? Didn't her Highness also say that she remembers?"
With the Empress being placed out so openly, the seventh princess could not say anything further. It was the Empress that picked back up on the conversation, saying: "Seventh princess is a beautiful person, and her mind is agile. This trip into my Da Shun alone was not easy, thus enjoy this palace banquet today fully."
Princess Wen Xuan also added: "That's right, the girls born in the South are beautiful. Their noses are high and eyes are round, and all are beautiful girls, much less a princess of the imperial family. I heard that seventh princess' appearance is enough to be considered the best in Gu Shu's imperial family. You'll be able to get the attention of those men today."
This was originally meant to be a joke, but this seventh princess clearly had a great deal of confidence in her own appearance, and she could not help but raise her chin confidently; however, she immediately caught a glimpse of the woman in red behind Feng Yu Heng.
That red was immediately noticed by her when it came into the room, but she had no choice but to speak with Feng Yu Heng first, given her identity. Now, however, she had a chance to find out the situation. She pointed at Feng Zhao Lian and asked: "Who is that? Why is she wearing a veil? Could her face be…"
Feng Yu Heng smiled slightly, "That's right, her appearance is a bit hard to deal with. I fear that having the veil removed will frighten princess."


text:
Qauy-GET RIGHTRegular price $60.00 Sale price $36.00
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text:
Movie fans have not outgrown the "Toy Story 3" gang.
The animated sequel about toys that come to life leaped to the No. 1 spot with a $109 million opening weekend.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: To Infinity & Beyond! Pixar's Biggest Films
U.S. & World
"Toy Story 3" became the third animated film to top $100 million in the first weekend, joining "Shrek the Third" at $121.6 million and "Shrek 2" at $108 million.
It was by far the best debut for a film from Disney's Pixar Animation, topping "The Incredibles" at $70.5 million.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Taylor Lautner's Sexy GQ Spread
"Toy Story 3" took over the No. 1 spot from Sony's "The Karate Kid," which pulled in million to raise its 10-day total to 6.3 million.
The weekend's other new wide release, the Warner Bros. action tale "Jonah Hex," bombed with just $5.1 million.
Copyright 2010 by Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Rising Star: 'Eclipse' Wolf Pack Newcomer Julia Jones
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Generations Collide At LA 'Karate Kid' Premiere!
PLAY IT NOW: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen & Friends Hit 'Toy Story 3' Premiere
PLAY IT NOW: Movie Mantz Weekend Review: 'The A-Team' & 'Toy Story 3' (June 11, 2010)
More from Access: [ 'Toy Story 3' Pixar Box Office ]


text:
Career Profile: Josh Chamot
Media Officer for Engineering/SBIR/STTR, National Science Foundation (and occasionally, freelance science writer)
Education: B.A. Geology, College of William and Mary; M.S. Geology, University of Tennessee—Knoxville.
Jump down to: Description of current position * Career path * Advice for graduate students
Description of current positionI split my time between writing news stories and press releases, interacting with the media, coaching NSF staff and awardees on media relations, overseeing webpage development, and other sundry tasks. Every day, I enjoy learning about a wide variety of cutting-edge research projects. I'm always learning (and I get paid to share this sense of discovery with others—I love it). The most challenging aspect of my job is that it is extremely difficult to juggle a dozen tasks at a time and try to placate many people at once.
A critical skill for this job is the ability to understand science, both the discoveries and the process. Most science journalists enter the field with an interest in science but a journalism training. Having conducted geoscience research I entered the field with many advantages: a perspective for understanding research, experience interacting with scientists, ability to present my thoughts in a coherent text (or oral presentation, for that matter), etc. The geology knowledge I gained was not as important for my current career as the ability to think like a geologist. One aside, my experience as a student-educator helped me learn to communicate complex thoughts in a simple way. This is a skill everyone can appreciate.
What do you see as the future of this career field?Tough call. The future of journalism is in flux as web material takes greater market share. I work as a public information officer for a federal agency—more fact-oriented than a PR job, but still somewhat focused on the Foundation's mission. As such, there's demand for Public Information Officers to carry the agency message and communicate with the world at large. I would encourage everyone to learn good communication skills (written and oral) so that science journalism remains an option, but I'm not sure I'd recommend a student get a degree in science journalism. Good communication skills keep the resume a bit more flexible.
Are there any myths about your job that you would like to help dispel?I'm not a flak officer. I don't peddle a message at the expense of the research discovery. In fact, our agency gets very little mention in our releases -- the text is devoted to the research. People need to recognize that public information officers (at both agencies and universities) are there to help communicate research back to the public that funded it. We want to get the story right, and the researchers need to help us do this. Ask to see the press release before it goes out. The better we tell the story, and the more open a researcher is to media training, the less chance that research will be mis-reported to the public.
Career pathI always kept options open—variety of different courses in different fields, internships at any agency I could talk my way into, etc. Keep every door open. That said, never think that where you land is your career. Worry about you, not the job. Both of my parents had major career changes and are happier for it. Through high school I wanted to be a veterinarian or musician, then a paleogeneticist, then a paleontologist, then a geochemist, then an environmental geologist, then a science writer. And I still don't feel like I'm at an "end point."
My specific path went from student-freelancer with Geotimes (always freelance before leaving school—great experience, wealth of clips!), editor for a Federal contractor, PIO at a Smithsonian museum, PIO at NSF. I've been freelancing since 1998 (Geotimes launched, and maintained, my career) and actively interacting with researchers since an internship (1996 and Summer 1997) at the Smithsonian negotiated by Dr. Gerald Johnson at the College of William and Mary. One of my current mentors, Rick Borchelt, helped me with advice, contacts, recommendations -- the works—which helped me land my last two jobs. Always be good to your mentors; they are very, very good to you.
What made you more competitive to get your job?I've always been competitive because of my strong science background, good writing skills, and motivated, while somewhat social, attitude. I had done good work; had extensive clips; had recommendations from good people at the Smithsonian and elsewhere; and was motivated and excited by the described work. It always helps to have contacts. It helps set you out from the other 185 applicants.
I don't consider myself a geologist, but I had the training and a "beginner's" experience, and that goes a very long way in my field. My teachers went way out of their way to counsel and guide me, giving me the best experiences for my interests at the time (from long talks at the College of William and Mary with Jonathan Filer, to work on whales with Dr. Johnson, to thesis work and many of my writing experiences in grad school which were recommended by geo profs).
My writing background extends to high school (or even earlier), when teachers emphasized written and oral communication. College reinforced this (as did grad school). Teachers should never let someone leave their class unless the student really knows how to communicate.
Internships are also key. I interned at big-name places: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Space.com, NASA, American Geological Institute, National Research Council, Virginia Department of Mineral Resources. Both family and professional contacts helped get me there. One should pounce on just about every opportunity. Oh, one other thing—professional societies. Get in on this as early as possible—contacts, contacts, contacts! Not just job hunting tips, but actual tips on the job itself.
Advice for graduate studentsStudy science first, preferably through grad school. Enjoy teaching. If that works, but there aren't jobs in science or teaching, then be a writer.
On personal choices and careersWhile I was single during school, friends with spouses/families actually were more stable than the rest of us—they knew there was more to the world than the lab and classroom. Family is first. A job is just a job. Want less, live more.
I stressed out my whole life thinking if I worked hard I'd get a high-paying job and be this great success. I make a good $10,000 less than my peers outside of science writing (and my computer programming friends make even more), but I have enough for my mortgage, my MINI, and my dog, and I'm pretty happy. My definition for success has changed drastically as I've moved further along. One other thing -- no one decision (or many) that you choose will make you a failure unless you give up (and even then, support is there for you if you welcome it). Work diligently and give the job/field of study/whatever a couple years and take from it what you can. If it ends up settling well, then good. If not, that's also good. You can always rebound and do something else—just be happy.


text:
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text:
British Go Journal No. 11. March 1970. Page 5.
John Barrs
Many members who are keen to raise their playing strength are puzzled as to which course to adopt. By constantly playing games with club-mates it is possible to make some measure of slow improvement, but rapid and appreciable gains in playing ability come only as the result of study or personal instruction combined with actual playing experience.
The problem for the new player of a few months' experience, who has reached the strength of (say) 15kyu is which books to study. One of the most valuable is Go Proverbs Illustrated by Segoe (35/-) [£1.75], not only for beginners but for stronger players too. This is an execellent book for learning basic tactics (katachi and tesuji).
Another book which all members are advised to posess is Joseki by Sakata (12/-) [£0.60]. This gives 106 main handicap and even game joseki with many variations. Atthough the text is in Japanese, the diagrams with the plays clearly numbered are easy to follow. the adantage of studying joseki is not only in improving your opening corner play but also, as a bonus thrown in so to speak, you will be subconciously acquiring knowledge of good form (katachi), without which appreciable progress is impossible.
The third book for new players to consider is Basic Techniques of Go by Haruyama and Nagahara (37/6) [£1.87½]. This deals very fully with the fundamentals and the chapter on tesuji with questions and answers and the section on yose (end game play) are especially valuable.
The foregoing threee books are the most important for new players. For the really ambitious player, of course, there is no substitute for a subscription to the Go Review (4 guineas [£4.20] for 12 monthly issues) which gives analyses of master games, instruction on fuseki (full board openings), joseki (corner play),katachi (good form), tesuji (key plays), yose (end game), tsume go (practical problems) as well as world Go news.
For a complete course in Go there are the Matsuda Go Letters (216 quarto pages for £5), while players of 8kyu and upwards will find Takagawa's Vital points of Go (35/-) [£1.75] most helpful. Those aiming at a master degree will need the new Modern Joseki and Fuseki by Sakata, though players below 10kyu may find this too advanced.
The important thing about studying any kind of Go instruction, whether books or master games, is not to rush through the material but to examine each play carefully before passing on to the next. Acquire as thorough an understanding as possible of each stage and use your book and Go set together. And don't be afraid to seek the advice and opion of stronger players.
Go Review may be obtained from :- [address omitted ]
The other literature may be obtained from the BGA at the address on page 1.


text:
Belle Isle Kayak Adventures is a full service kayak rental provider.
We are located just outside of Boston in Winthrop, MA with easy access to the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation and numerous other Boston Harbor sites.
In addition to the local adventures we can provide, we are able to deliver kayaks to your desired location. This provides you with access to a wide variety of environments to explore. Whether you want to sight see, bird watch, fish, or scuba dive we will work with you to provide you with the right kayak for your needs.
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For more information about our kayaks and services please call us at (617) 719-2036 .


text:
time, sequential arrangement of all events, or the interval between two events in such a sequence. The concept of time may be discussed on several different levels: physical, psychological, philosophical and scientific, and biological.
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- Psychology of Time
- Philosophy and Science of Time
- Biological Time
- Physical Time and Its Measurement
- Bibliography
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Physics


text:
SetupBuilder 2015 Version 8.5 Build 4738 Release Announcement
We are pleased to announce the availability of SetupBuilder 8.5 Build 4738.
This release is available, free of charge, to all SetupBuilder customers who
have an active SetupBuilder maintenance subscription plan.
The update contains important bug fixes and minor enhancements. We strongly
recommend that all customers upgrade to the new version of SetupBuilder 8.5
as soon as possible to maintain the highest level of support, performance
and reliability.
We encourage customers to review the release notes.
To get the latest product version, select "Check for Updates" from within
the SetupBuilder 8 IDE.
To get the latest documentation, select "Check for Documentation Updates"
from within the SetupBuilder 8 IDE.
If you do not have an active SetupBuilder maintenance subscription plan,
please contact your account manager at firstname.lastname@example.com.
For more information, please visit:
SetupBuilder 2015 Version 8.5 Build 4738 (March 30, 2015)
NEW : [SB#5-03111] IDE: The "If..." and "ElseIf..." Statements did
not accept more than 40-50 characters in "The Value" entry
NEW : [SB#5-03112] Installer: Minor modifications in the internal
Custom Dialog event message management to fix a window handle
NEW : [SB#5-03231] IDE: Increased the width of the "Search" entry
field in the Script Editor.
NEW : IDE: Add "Build | Compile Mode | Enable File 'Dummy' Mode"
feature to create an installer without adding the real files
to be installed. This lets you upload your install stub image
to virus scanning sites for virus analysis.
NEW : [SB#5-03281] IDE: The 'Script Structure Validation' function
can detect and repair damaged "Windows 10" File properties.
NEW : Updated online help (CHM and PDF).
FIX : [SB#5-03181] IDE: The "Add/Delete Firewall Exception" function
did not display the "[Any]" marker in the Script Editor.
FIX : [SB#5-03282] IDE: Adding files via drag-and-drop or the "Add"
button in the Files and Folders Visualizer (upper left window
to lower left window) damaged the File properties (Conditions
CHANGE : [SB#5-03181] Removed support for SoftDefense from Lansrad. When
Digital River removed Armadillo/Software Passport from the
market, they killed the SoftDefense product.
The full history list can be obtained through the following link:
Best regards,
Friedrich Linder
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text:
There's lots happening on Fox this week: Tuesday brings the long awaited (two weeks!) return of "Glee" with a heavily hyped "Rocky Horror"-themed episode, just in time for Halloween.
If campy musicals aren't your thing, then there's the World Series, which starts Wednesday and marks the last gasp for those of us who believe football season doesn't really start until the final out of the Fall Classic. Speaking of football, how about those Jets, who are set to play the Green Bay Packers on Fox Sunday?
But whether 3.1 million New York metropolitan area Cablevision subscribers – denied local Fox stations for more than a week, thanks to a pricing dispute – will get to see any of it is anybody's guess.
Even if Fox is the apparent bad guy in this case – reportedly demanding an $80 million a year increase in fees – there's no one to root for in this moronic morass.
Which huge company is in the right doesn't really matter to frustrated customers: At a time when network TV is losing viewers, it's in nobody's interest to drive more away, especially with the Internet already drawing folks from the tube.
There's no direct online relief, either: those of us who also get our broadband from Cablevision can't access Fox shows via Hulu. Buying an antenna means more expense and aggravation, and makes feel like we're living in, well, a time warp.
This is not just a New York problem – other cable outfits also have fought similar battles elsewhere, but nothing quite this drawn out and infuriating. Depending on how the Fox-Cablevision fight plays out, we could be in for more of this nonsense.
The feds haven't been much help, amid competing interpretations of the scope of Federal Communications Commission's power, as The New York Times points out. The mess is spurring calls for reform. Still, Monday began with an FCC dictum to both sides to negotiate in good faith and ended with the same loop of blame-Fox messages on Cablevision channels instead of the latest "House."
Meanwhile, as The Wall Street Journal reported, the latest front in the skirmishes affecting how we get programming is Google TV: ABC, CBS and NBC turned off full access to web videos via the service, which lets viewers access Internet video through television sets.
All of this is dangerous game of chicken – which reminds us of the giant chicken who occasionally battles Peter on "Family Guy," another top Fox show we'll be without if the Cablevision impasse drags out.
We've gotten to the sorry point where consumers get less service, in some respects, paying for TV than when it cost nothing. That's a real rocky horror picture show – without any glee to be found.
U.S. & World
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NY City News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


text:
7th suspect charged in border agent's slaying
Slaying is at the center of a scandal over a botched U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious
Associated Press
TUCSON, Ariz. — A seventh suspect in the 2010 killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent has been charged in the slaying that is at the center of a scandal over a botched U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious.
Federal prosecutors say 30-year-old Rosario Rafael Burboa-Alvarez faces charges of first-degree murder and other crimes. He is already in custody for immigration-related crimes.
Burboa-Alvarez is accused of assembling the armed crew that was supposed to steal marijuana from smugglers when they encountered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and others on Dec. 14, 2010.
A gun fight between the so-called "rip-off crew" and border agents ensued. Terry was killed. Authorities later discovered that two of the guns found at the scene of the murder had been part of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation in which the federal government allowed criminals to buy guns in Phoenix-area shops with the intention of tracking them once they made their way into Mexico. But the agency lost track of more than 1,400 of the 2,000 guns they allowed smugglers to buy.
The scandal resulted in the resignation of top officials. The country's chief law enforcement officer, Eric Holder, was held in contempt after he refused to divulge documents for a congressional investigation.
Since then, authorities have focused on arresting and trying all suspects involved.
The first of those was Manual Osorio-Arellanes, who was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in February after pleading guilty to first-degree murder. Osorio-Arellanes was wounded in the shooting and maintains that he was not the shooter. Prosecutors agree that he was likely not the one who shot Terry, but say he should still be held accountable for his role in the agent's death.
Two others who were at the scene of the slaying are facing charges in Arizona after being extradited from Mexico.
Jesus Leonel Sanchez-Meza, also known as Lionel Portillo-Meza, was extradited in June. Ivan Soto-Barraza, 34, was captured in Mexico last September and was brought to the U.S. on July 31. Two others remain fugitives: Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga and Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes.
The suspects in custody are being prosecuted in federal court in Tucson by prosecutors from San Diego.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press


text:
Whither Incandescence?
Professor Noah Feldman has written a column at Slate that asks whether the reputations of Justices Sotomayor and Kagan will one day occupy the same rarefied air as those of Justices Black and Frankfurter. The comparison, extrapolated from a single Sotomayor dissent from denial of certiorari in a habeas case this term and nothing at all from Kagan, seems little more than an attempt to peddle his new book, Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices, in which he explores the rivalries and relationships of Justices Black, Frankfurter, Douglas, and Jackson.
I am eager to read Feldman's book–I just badgered Georgetown's law library today about when it is slated to arrive–because I have long been fascinated by the Court's primordial ideological oozing between 1937 and 1954. FDR appointed nine justices, all supporters of the New Deal's constitutionality. They helped vanquish conservatism as it was known and realign partisan politics such that both Republicans and Democrats would support, or at least did not reject, the New Deal for the next half-century.
Beyond burying Lochnerism, however, the nine "young" men were left to their own devices in molding a jurisprudence for the modern era, when end of the Depression began the fraying of FDR's big tent. World War II led to questions about executive power. The start of the Cold War returned to the Court's docket questions of free speech rights of political dissidents. And postwar America, after destroying the Nazis in Europe, was finally forced to reckon with its own racist regimes.
The greatness of these questions required great answers. And those answers, from judicial restraint to strident activism, from originalism to living constitutionalism, all variations on even older themes of principle versus pragmatism, remain with us today.
So I found myself puzzling over Feldman's concluding paragraph:
[O]ne lesson of Roosevelt's court—more relevant than ever—is that strong rivalries and personalities make great justices. No fewer than four of Roosevelt's appointees—Black, Douglas, Frankfurter, and Jackson—became towering figures in judicial history. In recent years, we have had on the left and center polite justices who do not vie for leadership—and who do not produce comparably incandescent constitutional ideas or judicial opinions. As we are beginning to see, the new justices on the Roberts Court have the chance to do better. The first move was Sotomayor's. Will Kagan go next?
Strong rivalries and personalities are not enough to make great justices. The times must also require greatness. And greatness does not come by playing defense, for which the Court's liberal wing has been increasingly relegated since the 1970s. Meanwhile, the left's big offensives are towards full gay equality and death penalty abolition, and getting there depends, at least for now, on Justice Kennedy's sense of his own greatness.
It's hard to see right now when, if ever, the next great political realignment will occur. History says such realignments revolve around one great issue, and we've had only three: Revolution, Civil War, Depression. Gay rights and the death penalty, however huge they are for those in the arena now, are not epoch-defining issues that, once resolved, will bring us into a brave new world both politically and jurisprudentially. For his part, Feldman, in a New York Times Magazine article over the summer, proposed the "rediscovery" of liberal economic jurisprudence as a way to create room for the left's greatness on the Court, but there's a difference between quoting Holmes and Brandeis and being Holmes or Brandeis. Similarly, the conservative justices will be revisiting history, not writing it anew, if they follow the right's flirtation with neo-Lochnerism into the death of Obamacare, and finally achieve the end of affirmative action and the reversal of Roe.
This is not to say that Sotomayor and Kagan, or Roberts and Alito, will not rise to the greatness of their most incandescent predecessors. But I'd rather have a bench full of moderates often politely–and, on occasion, forcefully–making inevitable progress in our imperfect, somewhat stable society than suffer through the doom and gloom that gives birth to a few squabbling greats.
This piece is cross-posted at The CockleBur.


text:
Archive for the 'Ageing Couple' Tag
Mavis And Ted *8*
Unfathomably Deep…
"You can see the sea from here…"
"Of course you can Ted!"
"No! I mean you can really see the sea!"
"Er… yeh… I see what you mean."
"You do?"
"Sort of…"
"Deep and unfathomable…"
"The dark heart of an awesome primeval power…"
"You okay Ted?"
"If I was to go down the end of the pier and pee in it, then that would really be a drop in the ocean!"
"You have the fishcakes at lunch Ted?"
"You silly man, you know what greasy sea food does to your equilibrium"
"Doesn't do much for my Irritable Bowel Syndrome either…"
"Deep and unfathomable?"
"More like awesome primeval power!"
"Oh dear…"
Mavis And Ted *7*
Old Film…
"What you thinkin' Ted?"
"Eh? Wot?"
"I said… what you thinkin' Ted?"
"Oh, just that when I was young I used to see life in technicolour… now it's all grainy black and white…"
"Yeh, I know what you mean… everythin' in life's a bit like a foreign film these days… reality TV, internet shoppin', same sex marriage; girls wiv tattoos…"
"What girl in the news?"
"I said… girls wiv tattoos!"
"She got married in some foreign film you say?"
"That girl in the news…"
"I wish life was a foreign film sometimes…"
"Coz they got ruddy subtitles… that's why!!"
Mavis And Ted *6*
Junk In The Trunk…
"Do you still love me Ted?"
"I said, do you still love me Ted?"
"Er, yeh… of course… yeh…"
"Same as when we first met?"
"Same as when we first met…"
"As deep as the deep blue sea?"
"As deep as the deep blue sea?"
"As deep as the deep blue sea…"
"More and more each day?"
"More and more each day…"
"With every beat of your heart?"
"Yeh, with every beat of my heart…"
"Do you still fancy me though?"
"Yeh, I still fancy you…"
"Have I still got it?"
"You've still got it…"
"How about the junk in my trunk?"
"You been hangin' around them kids at that burger bar on the front again?!"
"In all the right places?"
"Yeh, in all the right places… mind you, there are places on your places now…"
"What was that Ted?"
"In all the right places…"
"So I'm still your girl then?"
"You're still my girl…"
"All the fun of the fair?"
"All the fun of the fair…"
"Forever and ever?"
"Forever and ever…"
Mavis And Ted *5*
Magnum Force…
"Good grief Ted!"
"What? What's up?!"
"You… have you finished that ice cream you bought already!?"
"Yeh… well?"
"You'll have indigestion again you greedy guts and you know who'll be kept awake all night don't you? I've barely had the chance to lick me cornet!"
"Er, sorry Mavis, but you know I always eat quickly when I'm stressed."
"The sky's blue, the sea's calm and we're havin' a luvly time watchin' the world go by… so what on earth would you be stressed about?"
"It was the guy in the ice cream van…"
"You got your ice cream alright, didn't ya?"
"What was it?"
"A Magnum."
"Your favourite… so I don't see…"
"Well, when I asked the guy in the van for it he goes to me… 'Do you feel lucky punk? Do you?' I said at my age I'm lucky to feel anything…"
"Then what'd say?"
"He then says… 'How old are you granddad?'"
"What did you say Ted?"
"Seventy-three! What do you think I said!"
"No need to take it out on me!"
"Sorry gal… I'm a bit upset… see – I'm tremblin'…"
"So you are Ted… then what did he say?"
"He goes… '1973 – that's the year when the film came out so you are lucky – you punk.'"
"What'd he mean by that?"
"Well, he goes on to tell me he's a big Clint Eastwood fan and he watches all his movies on his i-pad apple thingy in the cab between being disturbed at the best bits by havin' to serve old gits like me with no teeth – ice-cream!"
"I tells him… I'm no ruddy punk and he says…"
"What'd he say?!"
"Only that I looks more like Clyde the ruddy gorilla in Every which way but loose – cheeky young sod!"
"Too right Ted – If me memory ain't playin' tricks though, it was of them Orang-utans…"
"Does it matter?!"
"Sorry, what'd you do Ted?"
"I says – I may be old but I'm mainly good… but I can be bad so you'd better watch out! Then I says… sometimes it's been known for me to be downright ugly!"
"Ooh, what'd he say to that?"
"Not a lot… by then I'd tipped his rack of cornets any which way I could, squirted his raspberry juice on his Bronco Billy and shoved some of his 99 flakes right up his Eiger Sanction!"
"Oooooh Ted! Play misty for me tonight?!"
"Only if me indigestion ain't playin' up. Yer right, I did put that Magnum down me throat with too much force…"
Mavis And Ted *4*
Weather Girls…
"Aaah, that's better… weight off me feet, a bit of sun and we've beat the Bank Holiday rush."
"Yeh – it was a good idea to come a few days early."
"Nice to get away from all the stress…"
"Aaah; just smell that sea air…"
"Weather looks set fair… at least according to Carol on that BBC Breakfast."
"Only until Sunday."
"High pressure in charge she said… a bit of cloud driftin' in from the Continent but temperatures above average for the time of year…"
"That's not what Kirsty said on Channel Five…"
"What does she know?! This was Carol on the BBC… nice lady… always laughing…"
"Listen; they all get the same weather information."
"Why is it always different then?!"
"It's a question of interpretation – I expect Kirsty and Sian are more up to date with them satellites than your Carol…"
"Sensationalism – that's all you'll get from that channel! Anyway… they're weather girls… Carol's experienced – she's been forecastin' for years!"
"Weather woman? – Weather girl? – I'll have you know Kirsty's had two babies…"
"Well, unless they were baby satellites I don't see your point."
"Meteorological Bureau's near Reading – right?"
"Channel Five is in London… "
"The BBC has moved to ruddy Salford so I doubt if Carol commutes on a daily basis!"
"I don't blame 'er… I went there once – didn't like it…"
"I never knew you'd been to the Meteorological Bureau?!"
"No… Reading! It's a bit like London – only smaller. Too many people for me…"
"I expect the Meteorological Bureau's the same."
"What – small?"
"No too many people – just look at all the weather girls that are on all the channels…"
"I see what you mean… I'll bet the corridors are full of these young women with big hair, bodycon dresses and high heels – don't you Ted?"
"Er; yeh…"
"So Kirsty's your favourite?"
"Not likely – I prefer that wots 'er name – Lucy Verysamey on ITV; you know… the one who used to be on Daybreak…"
"I know who you mean… she's very samey alright – all seductive shoulder, spray tan, tight blouses, pert breasts and pout: don't think I haven't seen you lookin'!"
"Yeh… doesn't matter what the weather is when she's on…"
"You don't look at me like that anymore."
"Cold front, lingering depression and too many isobars…"
"What'd you say Ted?"
"Er; nuthin'…"
"Don't you go all Michael Fish on me and deny it!"
"I said it's cold on the front so let's enjoy it while it lasts up here behind the bars."
"Hmmm – yeh… that's what I thought you said."
Mavis And Ted *3*
First Love…
"Oh Ted… it's wonderful to be back again."
"To think it was 1963 when we first came here!"
"Our first time away together… our first ever holiday…"
"My Mum was against it – she told me I could do better – do you remember?"
"Oh yes…"
"I remember Dad wanted to chaperone but we made it clear we'd be staying in separate rooms and getting married later that year."
"My Dad was glad to get rid of me for a week."
"Funny isn't it… how times change? Especially when you see what the kids get up to on the beach now… all those girls with next to nothing on throwing themselves at the boys… it's terrible."
"We stayed in that little B&B off the front next to those lovely gardens."
"The one next to the pub."
"The landlady was lovely."
"Her daughter was up for it."
"She did gorgeous cream teas."
"The local beer was great."
"I got so full I felt sick!"
"I got so drunk I was sick!"
"I had to go and walk it off on the beach."
"She wanted me to meet her by the pier."
"A good constitutional does the world of good – as Dad used to say."
"She asked me to run away with her."
"At least we never broke that promise to Dad."
"I… I just couldn't."
"Mum and Dad had their doubts about our feelings… thought I didn't really love you… an 'infatuation' Mum called it… she wondered whether what we had would last…"
"It was love at first sight."
"I guess we kind of grew into each other so to speak…"
"Never saw her again."
"We're living proof that – given time – affection can grow into something else."
"She had the most beautiful blue eyes…"
"We've always been steady though haven't we?"
"I can still see them now…"
"We've had a wonderful fifty-odd years."
"It's been a long time."
"Wish I could find the photos I took by the pier… me in that dogs tooth two-piece – you in your leather jacket."
"She wrote to me for six months."
"Never find them now…"
"I threw her letters away ten years ago…"
"Must have lost them in the move…"
"If only…"
"Still… No regrets – eh Ted?"
"I said – no regrets?"
"Me?! Of course not…"
"You want a ninety-nine?
"Hmmm… That'd be nice."
"Two flakes?"
"Yeh… You know me…
"I should do by now!"
Mavis And Ted *2*
Mavis And Ted *
Yellow Bikini…
"What are you looking at Mavis?"
"That girl there… down on the front in the yellow bikini… She's very pretty…"
"Beautiful blonde hair…"
"She's got a lovely figure…"
"A perfect 36-24-36 I'd say; just like mine used to be… eh, Ted?"
"I said 36-24-36! Just like mine used to be!"
"Sorry dear – but it's a bit like when you find an old phone number… you know it was important once – but I'll be damned if I can remember why!"


text:
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Canucks in giving mood, downed by Sharks
Antti Niemi #31 of the San Jose Sharks blocks the shot of Zack Kassian #9 of the Vancouver Canucks in the third period of their game at HP Pavilion on January 27, 2013 in San Jose.
Photograph by: Thearon W. Henderson , Getty Images
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Against a team that gives up almost nothing, the Vancouver Canucks surrendered far too much Sunday.
Needing to protect the puck, the Canucks instead tied ribbons and bows to it and eventually finished themselves off with a needless penalty in a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks, who improved to 5-0-0 and look every bit the National Hockey League superpower.
The Canucks look like a 2-2-1 team, superb Friday in Anaheim, ordinary two nights later. The discipline and special-teams execution that allowed them to shoot down the Ducks 5-0 did not make the charter to Northern California.
Vancouver's power play was 0-for-7 and awful at a critical stage early in third period, failing to score when San Jose forward Ryane Clowe went nutty, earning a double-minor and game misconduct penalties at 19:33 of the second period. The Sharks' power play finished 2-for-8 and sealed the game with a goal that made it 3-1 at 14:27 of the second period – 1:51 after Max Lapierre killed Canuck momentum by taking a reckless cross-checking penalty 190 feet up ice.
The Canucks made the return trip to SoCal after the loss and need to beat the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings tonight to make their California trip a success.
Sunday was a major step back for a Canuck team that had worked hard to put its dismal opening weekend of the 48-game regular season behind it.
"If we get a win tomorrow, it's a good road trip; that's the way we've got to look at it," Canuck winger Daniel Sedin said. "The start (against the Sharks) shouldn't happen. It's tough to beat any team in this league when you're down 2-0, especially this team in their building.
"When you give those type of guys those kind of chances, it usually ends up in the back of your net. We stepped up and played pretty good after that. But a 2-0 lead, like I said, it's tough to come back against any team."
If you arrived four minutes late, you missed the kind of chances Sedin referred to: turnovers in the slot by Canuck defencemen Alex Edler and Jason Garrison that led to point-blank scoring chances that a couple of Joes – Thornton and Pavelski – buried at 0:43 and 3:26 of the first period.
Garrison cleared a rebound straight on to Thornton's stick, while Edler, who unlike his defence partner had plenty of time to assess his options with the puck, half-fanned a pass to Pavelski.
Canuck goalie Cory Schneider had no chance against Thornton, but guessed correctly on Pavelski and had the Shark's high wrister go in off his catching glove.
"If I make that big save on the second one, maybe it turns out differently," Schneider said. "You give them second opportunities or chances in front of the net, they're going to do some damage. But I'm sure they were just honest mistakes. That's just how the game works sometimes."
The game rarely works well when you give away the puck in front of your net.
"I was trying to go higher, saucer pass, and just missed it completely," Edler lamented. "It's a tough start and not the start we wanted, obviously."
Garrison said he didn't have time to look around before clearing the puck to Thornton.
"I didn't see him and definitely fanned on it," he said. "I was just trying to clear the front of the net and, unfortunately, it just popped on his stick. You can't give easy goals like that to those guys. They make you pay for it and it's hard to come back. We didn't put ourselves in a good position from the first few minutes."
The final 56 minutes actually weren't too bad for the Canucks, although the Sharks always looked comfortable with their lead.
San Jose goalie Antti Niemi faced few quality chances and the only shot that beat him, from Alex Burrows, bounced back into his net off Sharks' defenceman Dan Boyle at 11:05 of the middle period.
Two shifts later, Lapierre cross-checked Andrew Desjardins into the Sharks' net on a Canuck scoring chance. And less than two minutes after that, the Sharks restored their two-goal lead when Logan Couture's shot pinballed off players from both teams before finally striking Marleau and trickling past Schneider.
Lapierre lacked discipline and accountability, bristling at a reporter's question regarding his obvious penalty.
"You've seen it, so why do you want me to explain it?" he said. "Make sure you have a good story tomorrow? I think it was a hockey play. I was trying to cut to the net. That's it."
Canuck coach Alain Vigneault didn't think it was a hockey play and has the option to cut Lapierre from the lineup tonight to make room for Manny Malhotra. Vancouver's top faceoff man was scratched Sunday on a night when San Jose dominated the faceoff circle 42-20.
"A couple of unforced errors that landed right on their tape and ended up in the back of our net," Vigneault said of the start. "For us, what was important was how we responded and I thought we responded real well. The second half of that period and the second period until Max took that penalty, we had total momentum. It was a one-goal game and then their power play – it's one of the best right now I've seen in a long time – came out and they got momentum back.
"It's disappointing you take a penalty 200 feet from your net, but it's behind us now and we'll get ready for tomorrow."


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Whether or not you loved The Road, most people seemed to feel it captured Cormac McCarthy's novel. Sadly, most adaptations do violence to the original books, but not all. Here are 12 SF/fantasy adaptations that did right by the books.
The Lost World (1925)
There have been many movie adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel, but for our money, the original is still the best, thanks to some pretty amazing stop-motion animation showing dinosaurs trashing London. The groundbreaking special effects, by Willis O'Brien, gave rise to later classics like the original King Kong — and O'Brien trained Ray Harryhausen. This is also the only Lost World adaptation that Conan Doyle seems to have approved of personally. The whole thing is on Youtube, and here's the climax — skip to about 4:58 for the beginning of the dinosaur-rampage awesomeness.
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
Sure, it's a Disney movie, and it's got Kirk Douglas singing "A Whale Of A Tale." But it also has James Mason's understated, creeptastic performance as Captain Nemo, full of subtle menace. And the special effects still look pretty breathtaking, even 55 years later. Most of all, it captures the wonder and boundless curiosity of Verne's book.
Fahrenheit 451
The original film version of Ray Bradbury's book-burning classic is a vivid, lurid masterpiece — I saw it as a kid, and it still sticks in my mind. But what did Bradbury think? He wrote, in the introduction to one edition of the novel:
And what do I think of the film?
I have heard those cries in the past of outraged authors whose books have just been gang-raped by a studio.
Such is not the case, luckily, with me.
I think that Truffaut has captured the soul and essence of the book. He has been careful and subtle in his shadings and motions. He has escaped making a technological James Bond film, and made, instead, the love story of, not a man and a woman, but a man and a library, a man and a book. An incredible love story indeed in this day when libraries, once more, are burning across the world.
I am very grateful.
Clockwork Orange
According to Wikipedia (although it's not sourced), original novelist Anthony Burgess felt Stanley Kubrick's film was brilliant — but almost too brilliant for our own safety. Whether Burgess really said that, he'll get no argument from the hordes of people who've loved this uncompromising, brutal look at hooligans and social control in a dystopian future. It's Kubrick at the top of his game, honoring and transforming the source material. (Note: We considered including 2001 as well, but since the book was written after the movie, we decided against.)
Blade Runner
Yes, this film takes some liberties with Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" But it's also one of the best reflections of Dick's constant paranoia and flood-of-weirdness storytelling methods. And of course, Dick himself wrote an ecstatic letter praising this film's vision and his belief that it would re-energize science fiction altogether.
1984 (1984)
It was almost required that this year would see a movie based on the famous George Orwell novel. Thank goodness this one didn't commit the thought crime of bastardizing Orwell's story of a totalitarian society that controls its subjects with constant surveillance and "newspeak." It's worth tracking the director's cut DVD which restores Michael Radford's original bleak color pallette and the original orchestral score (with no Eurythmics.)
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Of all the Dracula films throughout the years, Francis Ford Coppola's version came closest to capturing the original novel's darkness, with Gary Oldman making for a captivating Dracula. The whole affair drips with sensuality, thanks to some incredibly beautiful designs. (Screencaps from DVDBeaver.)
Handmaid's Tale
This was a troubled production, in which the original director dropped out and screenwriter Harold Pinter washed his hands of the thing. That meant that original novelist Margaret Atwood, among others, stepped in to revise the screenplay. Despite the problems, the resulting film preserves the key themes of Atwood's novel, about a fundamentalist culture in which many women are infertile and the few fertile women are given to high-ranking couples to give birth to their heirs. More importantly, it's a harrowing, weird epic.
Lord Of The Rings
Peter Jackson takes some liberties with J.R.R. Tolkien's epic three-volume novel, but nobody would deny that the resulting movie trilogy really is epic, and really does convey just why so many of us fell in love with these books in the first place. The full-length DVD versions of all three movies will take you the better part of a day to watch, but it's an absorbing story and never loses the feeling of great events taking place.
Call Of Cthulhu
This 2005 silent movie comes the closest of all the many H.P. Lovecraft adaptations of doing a straight-up recreation of Lovecraft's world. The campiness and cheekiness are kept to a minimum, and in their place, you see only the pure majesty of Cthulhu. The Old Ones are, the Old Ones were, the Old Ones shall be, indeed.
Children Of Men
We debated whether to include this one, since it makes such a radical alteration to the book's storyline — in the book, it's men, not women, who are infertile. But this, and several other drastic changes from P.D. James' book, don't detract from the fact that director Alfonso Cuarón crafts a pretty gripping film in its own right, which preserves the dystopian feel and obsession with reproduction from the book. And the film's use of long, single-shot sequences in which huge events feel like they're happening all around you, makes it hard to forget afterwards. Here's a video about the making of the film, including those amazing long takes. And apparently, James herself was happy with it.
A Scanner Darkly
Philip K. Dick has probably had more of his books adapted to films than any other SF author — but Richard Linklater's film version of his undercover narc tripfest does the best possible job of giving you an audiovisual tour of Dick's universe. Watching this film, you feel as though you begin to understand what it might have been like to be Philip K. Dick — which is terrifying in itself.


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Projects Abroad Pro – new website online now
Seventeen years after we founded Projects Abroad, we have started Projects Abroad Pro. We are bringing all our experience and expertise, and all our contacts and influence, to ensure that volunteers with recognized skills and qualifications can contribute meaningfully in a wide variety of placements all over the developing world.
There is a great need for nurses, teachers, musicians, lawyers, doctors, archaeologists, journalists, physical therapists, and people with many other qualifications and skills in all the countries where we work. We realize, as do our partners in the developing world, that many professionals don't want to turn their life upside down and volunteer for years, so we will welcome you even if you can only join one of our programs for a month or a fortnight.
Join for a fortnight, a month or a year, Projects Abroad believes in responding to each volunteer's commitment. Our job is to match his or her skills, qualifications, experience and preferences to the real needs of real people in developing countries. With Projects Abroad Pro, no volunteer's time or talent will ever be wasted.
Please see our new page at www.projects-abroad.org/volunteer-projects/projects-for-professionals/.
I hope you decide to join us.
Peter Slowe
Projects Abroad


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By Therese Poletti, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella made a good impression on Wall Street analysts in his first appearance on the company's earnings conference call Thursday, especially with some broad statements on the need to innovate.
But he scored the most points with his statement that he sees "a gold rush" for the software giant in cloud computing.
"The growth of that [the cloud] matters to us the most in this time where I think there's just a couple of us really playing in this market," Nadella said in response to a question about the company's cloud products, such as Office 365 for consumers and its platform for services to corporate customers.
"I mean, this is gold-rush time in some sense in being able to capitalize on the opportunity," he said.
One corroborating piece of evidence was the addition of 1 million new Office 365 Home subscribers, for a total of 4.4 million.
Nadella, a 22-year veteran of Microsoft /zigman2/quotes/207732364/composite MSFT -1.79% who replaced long-time CEO Steve Ballmer in February, said he would be joining the quarterly investor calls. He also repeated a phrase he used when speaking to employees after he was named to be the third CEO of Microsoft. "Our industry does not respect tradition, it only respects innovation," he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Microsoft reported a drop in its fiscal third quarter results, but one that still topped the consensus estimates of Wall Street analysts, buoyed in part by better than expected sales of its Surface tablet. It also got help from upgrades to Windows 8.1, in part boosted by the expiration of its support for the older XP operating system, which fueled a surge in sales of the newer operating system.
Still, Microsoft's efforts into mobile phones and its acquisition of Nokia's handset business could hang over the company until that deal is fully integrated. Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said the deal will close on Friday, but she did not plan to update the company's guidance to reflect any contributions from Nokia.
Investors seemed pleased with the results, with shares up around 2.5% in after-hours trading. But some may have also been a bit tired of jargon repeated on the call, such as the often-used industry phrase "pivoting" to mean a shift in strategy, as well as Microsoft's new mantra "mobile first, cloud first."
Now they will wait to see how Nadella continues to execute on his strategy.
More from MarketWatch:
U.S. stocks end choppy session higher
Dunkin' vs. Starbucks shares: Dunkin' has roasted its rival recently


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Ghost Tour
August 2, 2019 @ 7:00 pm
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An event every week that begins at 7:00 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, repeating until December 29, 2019
Hear the legendary stories and get a look into the more haunted sites, including the rarely visited Stony Point Mansion.