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Budget Accommodation Asia China
Dunhuang, China
When we booked, we had great expectations as this is a four star hotel and the photos shown on the website were exceptional. However, upon arrival, we were given a nasty surprise.
The 'standard' room assigned to us was located in a separate wing (called professional quarters) from the main hotel building. We felt let down, as it was a far cry from the standard room in the main building. It was also a 200m walk away, and we had to be ferried out to and fro the main building.
Both the 2-storey building and the room was shabby and badly maintained and looked like old communist school/barracks. The furniture show much obvious signs of wear and tear. The kettle wasn't working, and they had to change it twice before they found one that was working. The light fittings were dim, wardrobe doors were falling off its hinges. A strange and unpleasant odour emits from the bathroom gutter even though the bathroom appeared to have been cleaned. We assume they were facing a sewage problem because this wing is actually an old building and they only gave the building a facelift to blend in with the main building. Needless to say, we had to carry our numerous heavy luggages up one floor.
When we spoke to the duty manager to sound out our unhappiness, she explained that the room assigned was due to the price we paid through travellerspoint and suggested that we feedback to travellerspoint accordingly. She also explained that the rooms in the professional quarters are usually meant for longer term guests with tight budgets such as students and staff of the art institute. In this case we fail to see how these guests with 'tight budgets' can pay the not exactly cheap price of RMB320.00 per night. We had thought that the lower price offered were due to early booking for low season. We were also shown the standard room in the main building, and it was beautiful, with expensive and tasteful wooden furniture, with rich persian carpets, and patchwork quilts as currently advertised over the website.
We definitely felt ripped off, and would like an explanation from travellerpoint as to why such a crummy substandard room was offered over the website.
Haikou, China
I'm a 66 year old American business man who has worked on Hainan Island in the past. My stay at Twinstar was nice. It is quaint, quiet, and close to most required necessities. Able to walk 1 block and dine at 4-5 star hotels and not pay their room rates. KFC/Pizza Hut only 5-6 blocks away when you desire less formal food. Used Twinstar Hostel as a base of operation as I traveled throughout the island. Supervised wood framed construction site near Foushon Oil fields in 2012. Twinstar provides a nice service at reasonable price and friendly staff.


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Bill Johnston@ChargersPRguy Another signing ... LB Jarret Johnson, former starting LB for Ravens agrees to 4-yr contract. Gotta like this one for the defense. And they sign Kory Sperry 1 yr deal
ProFootballTalk @ProFootballTalk Chargers sign outside linebacker Jarret Johnson to four-year dealhttp://wp.me/p14QSB-1CKy Chargers sign linebacker Jarret Johnson for four years Posted by Evan Silva on March 14, 2012, 2:08 PM EDT Getty ImagesThe San Diego Chargers announced Wednesday that they have signed linebackerJarret Johnson to a four-year contract. Johnson isn't a dynamic pass rusher, but he's long been one of the better edge-setting, run-defending outside linebackers in the game. Johnson can play several linebacker positions. If the Chargers are seeking a sack specialist, however, they will need to turn to April's draft. Johnson turns 31 this summer and has never recorded more than six sacks in a season. He only has four sacks over the past two years, a 32-game stretch.
If the Chargers are seeking a sack specialist, however, they will need to turn to April's draft. Johnson turns 31 this summer and has never recorded more than six sacks in a season. He only has four sacks over the past two years, a 32-game stretch. Yeah!
UTKevinAcee @UTKevinAcee Chargers did not tender TE Kory Sperry as an RFA but brought him back on one-year contract.
I don't like the signing.. but we'll see.. He'll just turn into another LaBoy, if Perry falls to us and we don't select I will go ape ****. Jarret Johnson is nothing without a Suggs type player lineup up on the other side..
Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter Three teams having early conversations with Giants free-agent WR Mario Manningham: SF, MIA, BUF.
He's a rotational player - put him in on obvious running downs to keep Barnes fresh for passing downs. Tough,d illigent, focused, durable, all things Chargers lacking. I'm still thinking Chargers go OLB, but maybe not 1st round any longer
Likely our OLB corps at opening day will be Starting: Phillips & Draft Pick (perry/mercilus/etc) Backups: Barnes & Johnson
He is coverage liable.. but a 4 year contract? really? I want to know the numbers, I rather of brought back Garay or Tolbert before Johnson.. We'll see once again.. if Perry is passed up again I will go ape ****, he is a pass rusher to the t.. that opens up Phillips, Barnes, English, Johnson, and LaBoy all getting to the QB. Perry is no English thats for sure.. PICK PICK PICK
for some odd reason I really see us trading up if Poe is still around at 11-12-13, and if Perry is rumored to go earlier than our picks.. doesn't look as if Garay will be back
If the Chargers don't pick Perry but pick Ingram or Mercilus or Branch, will you still go ballistic? I see Johnson as nothing more than a depth player, didn't Laboy sign a similar deal (3yrs) and he might not survive past one year? And there's still a possibility that Garay returns
UTKevinAcee @UTKevinAcee Agents who despise AJ Smith are calling, texting to praise the Jarret Johnson signing.
Branch doesn't have the potential Perry does, and Mercilus I'm afraid might be a one year wonder.. Ingram might be a good pick, might not, he'll most likely play in the 4-3, Perry is fit for the 4-3 but can certainly play 3-4 now that we have a coverage guy like Johnson.. Johnson also tough on the ground, I don't see room for LaBoy/English anymore really..
English's salary is 1 mil. My guess is he'll come into camp with one chance to make it right and if he doesn't he's cut early. 4 OLBs with the potential to get another in the draft, but maybe not first round. Chargers stated publically they thought one of the biggest problems was that Phillips/Barnes/Laboy played way too many snaps. As such bringing in durable guy who specializes in run stopping makes sense - Chargers will put Johnson in on obvious run downs, let the other guys rest and keep them fresh (esp Barnes) for the passing downs.
Sweet - now I can get a Chargers jersey with my name on it without being douchey THANKS AJ!! p dot s - I actually like the pick-up, solid rush defender and a durable guy. Not a big splash kind of move but a good one. Definitely worth holding off on slashing my wrists over the lack of acceptable FA activity in SD. Whew!
Chargers pursuit of pass rusher not going well by Dan McLellan, CBSSports.com The Chargers have said bolstering the pass rush is a primary concern this offseason, but quality free agent options are rapidly disappearing. LB Ahmad Brooks (49ers) and DE Jeremy Mincey (Jaguars) have resigned with their teams. While the Jets have placed a first-round tender on DE Aaron Maybin. If the Chargers want a quality pass rusher they may have to pony up the money for DE Mario Williams (Texans).
You'd think a "professional" sports writer would know the Chargers do not have the cap room to sign Mario.... you'd think.
I'm passing this on because it sounds too good for me not to pass it on, even if it turns out to be wrong based on the source. Hacksaw claiming the Chargers are trying to set up a visit by NT Paul Solali - that'd be awesome
For your reference http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/55276/losing-lb-johnson-is-big-hit-to-ravens About an hour after defensive end Cory Redding went to the Indianapolis Colts, the Baltimore Ravens took a harder hit when linebacker Jarret Johnson agreed to a four-year deal with the Chargers. Losing Johnson is a bigger blow than many think because he was the most underrated player on the Ravens' defense. Baltimore will likely try to replace him with Paul Kruger, but I'm not sold on that. Kruger is a pass rusher who will have trouble setting a physical edge against the run. The original plan was to eventually replace Johnson with Sergio Kindle, the team's top draft pick in 2010. But Kindle fractured his skull when he fell down two flights of stairs before his rookie training camp, and he's never been the same. I believe the Ravens will have to go in free agency to find someone who can do the same things as Johnson. Never a Pro Bowl player, Johnson was tough and dependable, playing in 129 straight games — the longest streak in team history and the fourth-longest currently among linebackers. His ability to rush the passer declined the past two seasons, but his impact against the run shouldn't be overlooked. Johnson is headed to the Chargers now, but he will always be an AFC North-style player.
Why? Our local radio guys aren't smart enough to know that. In fact, one of the local guys, i am sure most can guess, has been claiming we had $35 mil available under the cap. No wonder the average fan gets pissed when we don't make a big splash, they think we have the cap room to do so when in reality, we don't
CHARGERS: Fixing the roster — nose tackles BY SCOTT BAIR firstname.lastname@example.com | Posted: Sunday, March 11, 2012 5:00 pm Quality nose tackles are hard to find. The position might be the most important in a 3-4 defense, the lynchpin that allows other players to thrive. Without a solid push up the middle or the ability to attract double teams, a consistent pass rush is harder to generate, which in turn forces the secondary to cover for too long. The Chargers are once again in need of a stout nose tackle, something that never a concern when Jamal Williams wore lightning bolts. Antonio Garay rose from the scrap heap and played well at times, but he proved to be a two-down player and is headed for free agency. The search for a quality nose tackle could prompt the team to re-sign Garay and add young depth, or let him go in favor of a top-tier free agent. Here's a look at some options from a relatively shallow free-agent pool: Best available Paul Soliai The Miami Dolphins love this 6-foot-4, 355-pound mauler, but they're expected to switch to a 4-3 and don't have a true spot for him anymore. That should lead him into free agency, where he'll have plenty of suitors. The Chargers will probably be among them. He has moved into a starter's role during his five-year career and proved himself so valuable that the Dolphins placed a franchise tag on him last season. Only 28, he could be productive in the middle of the Chargers' defense for a long time. At the right price Soine Pouha The New York Jets' 6-3, 325-pound nose tackle is 33 years old, which means the Chargers might find him attractive as a short-term option while developing others behind him. The Jets were stout up the middle last season, especially against the run (an area where the Chargers have been lacking), and Louha was a big factor behind that. The Jets might try to re-sign him at too high of a price, but if the market falls, the Chargers should consider him strongly. The incumbent Antonio Garay The Chargers value Garay's production over the last two seasons. He had a career year in 2010, proving that injuries had hindered his potential and value. He's better served as a two-down tackle in a rotation, but he loves San Diego and could return to the Chargers at the right price. That wouldn't be a bad thing, as it would allow Cam Thomas to develop as an understudy and keep the defensive line chemistry intact. Feeling a draft Dontari Poe (Memphis) Poe has all the measurables one would look for in a nose tackle. He's huge at 6-4 and 346, and flashed surprising speed at the NFL combine with a 4.98-second 40-yard dash. He'd be a solid pickup at No. 18, and could use his physical tools to help the Chargers right away despite the fact that he's a raw talent.
Johnson isn't a pass rusher though, and none of the coaches or front office think he is. He is brought in here to help on 3rd downs and be a leader in this locker room and defense. Good move, I'm biting my words now. I thought he was a rushing OLB, which he can be schemed in but wasn't too much in BAL but I really hope the Chargers don't scheme him to be, because what he does best is line up over the TE stuff the holes, which painfully were open almost all year in that SD defense and drop back in coverage and keep guys fresh. The draft is where we HAVE to draft a pass rushing specialist. If we can't get Garay back or Solali, My guess is we'll look at Poe if he is still around at 10-11-12-13-14 and trade up and take an OLB in the 2nd round.
Brandon Carr a Cowboy: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ign-brandon-carr-for-five-years-50-1-million/

subset: commoncrawl


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End of the World PartyFriday, December 21, 2012
Hosted byThe Devil from Acapulco
The Devil's performance started more than twelve years ago, in Mexico City, where the original show featured a character based on the mystic dancers of the Aztec culture. It was not long before the mystique and appeal of El Azteca captured the attention of club goers and music lovers and spread in popularity. Soon after, the Devil was invited to perform as the permanent main attraction in Mexico's most famous and highly-frequented nightclubs. For years, tourists, vacationers, spring breakers, and club goers from all over Mexico and around the globe have traveled to Acapulco by the thousands and found their way to Palladium and Mandara to experience these amazing nightclubs, every night with an eager anticipation of the arrival of the man known as the Devil…
For bottle service and guest list requests, please call 609-345-3875.


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The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series on Tuesday moved another step closer to defining their upcoming merged series. The two organizations announced they have hired SME Branding "to develop the new identity ...
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The Spice Girls have reunited in London to launch their own musical, revealing they cried when they saw some of the songs being performed.
Viva Forever debuts at the Piccadilly Theatre in the West End in December and will feature songs from the band's back catalogue.
Jennifer Saunders is behind the script, while Judy Craymer, the lady behind Mamma Mia, has produced the show.
"When we watch the workshops, each time the songs started we got goosebumps, it just brings back so many memories," said Melanie C.
Victoria Beckham revealed seeing Mama performed would be the most emotional.
She said: "We've all got children and being mums is all of our priorities."
Viva Forever charts the tale of a young girl and how overnight fame impacts her relationship with her mum and best friends.


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This remarkable Cord Front Drive L-29 has had only four owners from new and its history is exhaustively documented. It was purchased new by... More
Auburn, Indiana was home to three of the most distinguished American automobile manufacturing firms from the late 1910's through the middle 1936's. These were... More


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Available in a variety of sizes, colors, and formats, these realistic scenery pieces have been designed to meet the specialized needs of architectural modelers, as well as students of architecture, landscaping, and interior design. Bushes — Use this modeling medium for creating high ground cover such as bushes, shrubs, and trees. It can also be attached to tree armatures with adhesive to make |
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Two US chains are hoping to take a big bite out of Britain's £2.8bn posh-beef-in-a-bun market
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Des McDonald's name is legendary in the food business – the legends in question being Midas and Croesus. When Nick Lander published The Art of the Restaurateur last year, McDonald was one of its stars. An Irish baker's son, he opened two restaurants in the City of London by the age of 22 and become executive chef of Caprice Holdings, founded by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, the chaps who triumphantly revamped The Ivy, Scotts of Mayfair, Le Caprice and J Sheekey.
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text: I was wondering if anyone on here has these and if you could give a quick review. I heard that they are not durable, but that's mostly coming guys who only play ice. I want a real review from a guy who plays inline. I was thinking of trying them out since they are on sale for only 300, can't beat that. Anyways, thanks!


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So far June is playing out as expected. Stocks are see-sawing in a trading range that is driving day traders crazy. Hopefully, you are not one of them. This week was almost a carbon copy of last week. For two weeks in a row the averages tested the 1,600 level on the S&P 500 Index and then bounced higher. That was also the level where technicians predicted the market would find support (at what is called the 50-day moving average). Don't worry; I'm not going to get all technical on you. It is sufficient to note that buyers stepped in at the same level that they did last week. And that is understandable since there really is no reason to go much lower than that. I
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If you are a bond holder, the last few weeks may have come as a shock. Ever since the Fed raised the possibility of tapering their stimulus program, interest rates have spiked higher. For the first time in years, bondholders actually saw bond prices decline. Get used to it. If you are a baby boomer, the price declines in all things that yield interest or income since May 22 might have you wondering what happened to your "safe" investments. All our professional lives we were told that bonds were "safe" for "conservative" investors, widows and orphans and for those among us that find the stock market too risky. That was sage advice, if somewhat
Over the last month, the interest rate on a 10-year, U.S. Treasury note has risen half a point. That may not sound like much in a market that has seen nothing but declines in Treasury yields for years, but investors fear it is simply the start of something big. By now readers should know that we are in the ninth inning of a thirty year bull market in U.S. Treasury bonds. Everyone (including me) has been warning investors to liquidate their Treasury bond holdings. It is a case of when rates will rise (not if). No one knows exactly when that will happen, but why wait around until they do? But many bond investors have stubbornly refused to listen. They are driven by fear. They are
Most Americans' retirement savings are under $25,000. That's old news. The new news is that with Social Security in jeopardy, medical costs skyrocketing and the chances of living longer better than ever, how do you expect to retire in the years ahead? The short answer is most of us won't. But no matter how long you intend to remain on the job, at some point your legs, knees, back or brain will give out, whether you like it or not. For many baby boomers that time is right now, just when the politicians are telling us the country can't afford to continue funding Social Security and Medicare. It isn't fair but those are the facts. Honestly, this boomer


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This presentation template simulates a book's cover and pages with its brown textured title slide and white content slides. It works especially well for students or teachers, but could be used in other contexts. This educational presentation contains multiple slide layouts in widescreen format (16x9) and includes a sample table, chart, and SmartArt list that you can easily modify to suit your needs.


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Code: Issoy
The Tour Price displayed here is for the tour only and does not include international flights. Our flight prices are very competitive, please ask for a quote when making your booking
This trip is an overland trip run in an overland truck. In addition to paying for your trip, you're require to make a separate payment to your tour leader at the start of the trip, usually in USD. Kitties are flexible and change as prices are updated. Therefore you should check the latest kitty amount on this website before you depart.
A kitty is a group fund which covers all accommodation, meals while camping (not in hotels) and activities listed as included. It's a system unique to overlanding to provide the maximum flexibility and best value on the road (you get everything at cost price!). The kitty is your money, not ours, so any amount left over is divided among the group as a refund.
CloseTrip Code | Start Date | End Date | Currency | Kitty |
SSOY | Saturday 01 Jun 2013 | Friday 21 Jun 2013 | ||
SSOY | Saturday 29 Jun 2013 | Friday 19 Jul 2013 | ||
SSOY | Saturday 13 Jul 2013 | Friday 02 Aug 2013 | ||
SSOY | Saturday 17 Aug 2013 | Friday 06 Sep 2013 | ||
SSOY | Saturday 24 May 2014 | Friday 13 Jun 2014 | ||
SSOY | Saturday 07 Jun 2014 | Friday 27 Jun 2014 | ||
SSOY | Saturday 21 Jun 2014 | Friday 11 Jul 2014 | ||
SSOY | Saturday 28 Jun 2014 | Friday 18 Jul 2014 | ||
SSOY | Saturday 12 Jul 2014 | Friday 01 Aug 2014 |
Soak in Takhini's mineral springs, Spot grizzly bears and beluga whales, Get swept up by the beauty of the Kenai Peninsula, Be surrounded by the continent's biggest collection of glaciers in the Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Admire mammoth Mt McKinley in Denali National Park and Reserve, Traverse Canada's spectacular Yukon Territory, Have a close encounter with America's feathered emblem at the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve`
Take a journey into the expansive beauty of Alaska and Canada's Yukon Territory in this overland adventure. Formidable mountains, impressive glaciers and magnificent national parks all flourish in North America's nature utopia. Visit some of the continent's highest peaks and glimpse its iconic inhabitants including moose, grizzly bears, elk, caribou, wolves, bald eagles and beluga whales. By day, explore by foot, raft and dog sled then at night, camp surrounded by some of the most magnificent scenery on the planet. Embrace the great outdoors on this awesome adventure though a truly remarkable region.


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Born in September 1964, Anthony Weiner grew up in Brooklyn, New York. After receiving his B.A. at SUNY Plattsburgh in 1985, he worked as an aide for then-New York congressman Charles Schumer from 1985 to 1991. In 1991 Weiner was elected to the New York City Council, where he served until Schumer gave up his House of Representatives seat to campaign (successfully) for a spot in the U.S. Senate in 1998. That year, Weiner secured the Democratic nomination to succeed Schumer in the House, and he would serve as the Representative for New York's 9th District for the next 13 years. In 2005, Weiner campaigned unsuccessfully to become the mayor of New York City. That same year, he was fined $47,000 by the Federal Election Commission for having taken "excessive contributions from 183 individual contributors for the 2000 primary and general elections."
From the time he first entered politics, Weiner was an advocate for Israel. He criticized such entities as Amnesty International and the New York Times for their bias against the Jewish state.
In the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, Weiner was an avid supporter of then-candidate Hillary Clinton. He traveled with Mrs. Clinton on the campaign trail and eventually revealed that he was romancing Clinton's personal aide, Huma Abedin, to whom he became engaged in July 2009. The couple married in July 2010.
A proponent of universal health care, Weiner was a prominent backer of the United States National Health Care Act, a bill (introduced in the House of Representatives by John Conyers in October 2009) calling for the creation of a single-payer health care system. During the health care debates of 2009 and 2010, Weiner was one of Congress' most vocal proponents of a public option -- i.e., a government-run health insurance plan, like Medicare, that would compete alongside private insurers in a new Health Insurance Exchange. Angry at Republican opponents of healthcare reform, Weiner -- from the House floor on February 24, 2010 -- derided "every single Republican I have ever met in my entire life" as being "a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry." It was later reported that the healthcare industry had been the second-biggest contributor to Weiner's congressional campaign in 2008.
In March 2010, Weiner accused "right-wing" media of having disseminated "an enormous amount of disinformation" about the recently passed healthcare legislation.
Weiner is a supporter of "Net neutrality," a policy that would give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) power to regulate the Internet. In April 2010, broadcaster Glenn Beck was one of the most vocal opponents of Net neutrality, depicting it as a "government takeover" connected to the Marxist group, Free Press. When a federal appeals court ruled in early 2010 that the FCC lacked the authority to penalize Internet providers, Weiner -- who was vice-chair of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet -- stated: "This is a bad day for innovation and a sad day for consumers. Congress should now act to establish that the FCC has the power to enforce Net neutrality."
In May 2010, Weiner -- also a member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection -- wrote letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission requesting an investigation into the "unholy alliance" between Goldline International (a precious-metals dealer with an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau) and a number of conservative commentators on whose programs Goldline advertised. Alleging that Goldline "grossly overcharges" investors for gold coins and "takes advantage of fears about President Barack Obama's stewardship of the economy," Weiner particularly targeted Glenn Beck, depicting the broadcaster's "dishonest business practices" as "an unfortunate by-product of the Tea Party movement."
Weiner's campaign against Goldline and Beck also extended to prominent conservative media personalities such as Fred Thompson, Dennis Miller, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larson, Monica Crowley, and Mike Huckabee. Beck posted a website, weinerfacts.com, to keep track of Weiner and his allegations.
In November 2010 Weiner spoke out in favor of the DREAM Act, which would allow illegal-alien students to attend college at the reduced tuition rates normally reserved for in-state legal residents, and to earn conditional permanent residency and a path to citizenship. Said Weiner to a gathering of DREAM Act supporters: "[W]e have something that all the Teabag [Tea Party] Movement in the world doesn't have. We have justice on our side, and we're going to fight for it every single day."
In a December 2010 interview with Megyn Kelly of Fox News, Weiner was asked how he could justify the imposition of an estate tax (a.k.a. "death tax") on the assets of a deceased person – assets that already had been taxed during that person's lifetime. He replied, "You aren't paying anything in that case, because you'll be dead." Ms. Kelly then reminded Weiner that the dead person's estate was in fact paying the tax, thereby leaving "less for [his] children." Weiner replied that it was unjust for "people who inherit money" to be "taxed at a lower rate than if they worked 70 hours to earn it" -- likening such heirs to people who "get very lucky at the casino."
In March 2011 it was reported that Weiner was seeking to obtain a health-law waiver that would exempt his constituents in New York City from the mandates of the health-care reform plan which he had so ardently supported a year earlier.
On May 27, 2011, the seeds of an enormous controversy were sown when a photo of a sexually aroused man in his underwear was sent, via Weiner's Twitter account, to a 21-year-old Seattle woman whom the congressman followed on Twitter. But the photo was also posted to Weiner's public Twitter account; it was then removed almost immediately thereafter, and Weiner tweeted that his account had been "hacked." On May 28, 2011, a Twitter user who had seen the photograph during its brief posting, shared it with his followers and alerted the conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, whose website, BigGovernment.com, published it.
When reporters asked Weiner about the incident, the congressman denied that he had ever sent that particular photo to anyone, though he conceded that he "can't say with certitude" whether or not he himself was the person in the picture. Claiming that a hacker was to blame for the entire incident, Weiner told reporters that he had hired a private security company to look into the matter – rather than ask the FBI or the Capitol police to investigate the alleged hacking.
After the scandal initially broke on May 28, 2011, former porn star Ginger Lee, who had exchanged scores of sexual emails with Weiner over a long period of time, began receiving calls from the media. Weiner counseled Lee to lie about the matter, offering to have a "professional PR-type person" from his "team" call to give her "advice." The congressman also sent Lee a proposed statement for her to give to the press: "... I have never met Rep. Weiner and he has never sent me anything innappopriate (sic) ..."
On June 2, 2011, Weiner announced that he would not answer any more media questions about the matter.
On June 6, 2011, BigGovernment.com posted additional photographs and e-mails which had been sent by Weiner to an unidentified woman. Moreover, Radaronline and Star published transcripts of sexually explicit conversations that had taken place between Weiner and young women he had met online through Facebook. One recipient of Weiner's illicit communications was a 17-year-old high-school student who had met the congressman on a school trip to Washington.
Unable to ignore the new revelations any longer, a tearful Mr. Weiner held a press conference where he acknowledged having sent the original photograph, and he confirmed that it was in fact a picture of him. He also admitted to having sent other inappropriate and explicit photos and messages to women he had met over the Internet. "I came here to accept the full responsibility for what I've done," he said. "I am deeply regretting what I have done, and I am not resigning."
Also at the press conference, Weiner said: "At no time did I or any member of my staff try to do anything to cover anything up. There was no coaching of any sort going on." In light of his documented coaching of Ginger Lee, however, the congressman's statement was untrue.
One of the women with whom Weiner had engaged in sexually explicit text-messaging and phone conversations, 40-year-old Lisa Weiss, reported that most of the pair's communications had occurred during Weiner's work hours -- and that Weiner had used his office phone for at least some of those correspondences.
In the days subsequent to the June 6, 2011 press conference, additional explicit and inappropriate photos of Weiner, which the congressman had sent to at least one woman, became public. These included photos which he had taken of himself at the House of Representatives' gymnasium. Another young woman told liberal Vanity Fair magazine that ten years earlier, during her days as an intern on Capitol Hill, Weiner had hunted down her email address, told her boastfully that he had flown on Air Force One, and invited her to visit his office in person.
On June 11, 2011, Weiner checked into a rehabilitation center for an unspecified form of "treatment." But a growing number of fellow high-ranking Democrats, including President Obama, suggested that the congressman should resign. Finally, on June 16, 2011, Weiner announced his resignation at a televised New York press conference.
Weiner's Congressional Voting Record
For an overview of Rep. Weiner's voting record on key legislation during his Congressional career, click here.
Return to Politics
At midnight on May 21, 2013, Weiner posted a two-minute, 16-second YouTube video formally announcing his candidacy for the office of New York City mayor. "I made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot of people down, but I have also learned some tough lessons," Weiner said in the video. He added: "I am running for mayor because I have been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life, and I hope I get a second chance to work for you." Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, offers a testimonial to her husband, declaring, "We love this city and no one will work harder to make it better than Anthony."


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In comparison with other HIE Reward Nights, this hotel seemed to be lacking. It's location was over 4 miles from the Interstate. We were offered a bottle of water but no other amenities. The pool was closed. The scrambled egg pan was empty and no one seemed to be in charge of breakfast. But, it was quiet.
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Preview of Flow n' Go - Vinyasa Flow - August 28, 2011
Flow n' Go
Vinyasa Flow - Mixed Levels - 98 minutes
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Angela's love for yoga began in 2003 after a car accident challenged her to find a way to rehab her knees.. Successfully rehabbing both knees her curiosity grew, realizing the powerful healing properties of yoga. Her interest led her to enroll in the Teacher Training with Yogaworks. She was drawn to this program because of their emphasis on anatomy, alignment principles, and proper sequencing. She was fortunate to have been paired with the very well respected, much loved, 'teachers teacher' Annie Carpenter as her mentor. She is now a strong believer as well as a student of Annie's "smart flow" yoga; a strong vinyasa flow yoga style that brings together intelligent sequencing with emphasis on safety, and proper alignment. This type of yoga strengthens tones and tightens the body, focuses the mind and allows the body to open in a safe and logical way. Angela's classes are playful, fun and sweaty vinyasa flow sequences. Much more than simply stretching and strengthening, yoga enlivens and awakens every cell in the body creating muscles that work together harmoniously. Regular yoga practice improves posture, relieves stress, creates powerful core strength, and integrates the body and mind creating wellness in all parts of your being. Angela constantly strives to offer her students fresh perspective, creativity and inspiration in their yoga practice. She invites you to join her in a fun expressive exploration on your mat! "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." - Oliver Wendell Holmes


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Maryland senators met Friday and passed the governor's bill to expand gambling as delegates prepared to begin reviewing the matter during a special session.
By a 28-14 vote, the Senate passed the governor's proposal that would allow table games like blackjack and a new casino in Prince George's County. Two senators did not vote, and three senators were excused.
- See how your senator voted
- The bill | The governor's frequently asked questions
- The Republican job creation plan
Earlier Friday afternoon, senators rejected some amendments, including one that would have lifted a provision in the bill to ban political contributions from casino owners.
Gov. Martin O'Malley included the ban in the measure he has submitted to the General Assembly on the basis that he wanted it to apply to contributions from casino owners and certain employees of gambling companies. A Senate committee changed the provision to include people with 5 percent ownership in a casino.
Eastern Shore Sen. E.J. Pipkin, R-District 36, wanted to remove the ban, questioning why other groups with large financial interests before lawmakers should be able to donate money while casino owners couldn't. He also noted that the Democratic Governors Association, a national group headed by O'Malley, has accepted large contributions from gambling interests.
"I think it's an imposition of the executive branch as far as the campaign issues are concerned, and again it gets into a question of one dollar versus another dollar, a question of who this restricts and doesn't restrict," Pipkin said.
But Montgomery County Sen. Richard Madaleno, D-District 18, said the ban was needed.
"What we are trying to do is make sure, as many other states have, that gaming interests don't have any way to infiltrate and potentially warp the political process," Madaleno said. "I think our constituents are concerned about the undue influence that this industry might have for us."
"This is not a pot of gold that everyone can go and dip in and take something out for very meaningful causes," said Howard County Sen. Jim Robey, D-District 13.
The Senate did approve two amendments.
Western Maryland Sen. George Edwards, R-District 1, pushed for a change that would allow Evitts Resort LLC, which is putting a casino at the Rocky Gap Lodge and Resort in western Maryland, to keep an extra half-percent of revenue generated by its casino to pay for infrastructure to accommodate its machines.
The company told regulators last month it could not find financing to add on to the lodge to hold 500 slot machines. Instead, the company is putting the machines in meeting space in the lodge. The company has three years to create new meeting space at the lodge.
Another amendment -- sponsored by Sen. J.B. Jennings, R-District 7, which encompasses portions of Harford and Baltimore counties -- will allow the Rocky Gap casino and a casino near Ocean City to buy or lease their own machines. The measure initially allowed the state's larger casinos to keep 6 percent more revenue, if they relieve the state of the expensive responsibilities of owning the machines.
House convenes, delegates missing


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Here's a bunch of stuff that caught my eye around Europe in the last few months. Click the image for details on where it was spotted.
A month ago I took an unannounced, largely unplanned vacation with the family to Caribbean Costa Rica. We were there for a week and had less internet connectivity than we expected, but that was made up for by the over abundance of stomach viruses we picked up. I read a lot of books and wrote down a lot of notes. Getting in the place back to LA a week later I felt invigorated and wondered how I would get anything else done with all the writing I planned to do. I was exploding with ideas, and happy to no longer be exploding in other areas.
That was 3 weeks ago.
I've barely written a word.
I feel overwhelmed.
Everytime I sit down thinking now I'm going to write some of this stuff I realize I have other deadlines, something else that someone is waiting on, an ever growing todo list.. Then I get stressed and give up on being creative and try to get something else done. Which I actually do, things are getting done, just not the writing I was so excited to get started on several weeks ago. My notebook is sitting there untouched, scowling at me.
I haven't been entirely unproductive though. I've been playing with datamoshing, databending, glitch inducing, pixlesorting, photosounding and a bunch of other weird graphic beautiful errors. Some of that will find it's way into cmhhtd stuff, so I am glad to have that outlet and looking forward to what may come from it.
I know I juggle a lot of things, and it's hard to fit everything in. This one is just annoys me because for the first time in a long time the thing I really want to do I can't. Or rather, I can't figure out how to. Just yet anyway. I'm confident that I'll eventually figure out where all the puzzle pieces go, how they fit together. But in the meantime it sucks. I've mentioned starting a writing group to a few people – largely in passing, not in any real actionable invitational way – kind of hoping something like that would guilt me into getting something done, but I don't even know how something like that would work.
I don't know why I'm even writing this blog post honestly, I just wanted to see some words fill up the screen to make myself feel better before I go back and fold some laundry and figure out how to hang those sun sails outside to block the early morning rays from being converted into laser heat death by our kitchen window.
I often say that music has been and continues to be incredibly important to me. All of the crucial moments in my life have a soundtrack, either what I was listening to before they happened or what I turned to after the fact to help me get through them. Music has been my rock and my salvation. It's the only thing I could always count on – no matter what. Lots of people say music is important to them, but without a doubt music changed my life. No, fuck that – music saved my life. I can say with full assurance that if it weren't for discovering a handful of bands in my early teenage years I wouldn't be the person I am today. I might not even be here today.
I'd always liked music and as early as 3rd grade I can remember recording songs off the radio with my tape deck so that I could listen to them repeatedly, though admittedly those songs were probably just catchy musically but lacking in substance. Getting a "Weird Al" Yankovich tape for my birthday one year got me listening to lyrics. Before that I think I'd just thought of vocals as another musical element, but trying to understand all the references and jokes "Weird Al" was making made me realize the depth of the content that could be there as well. Discovering Run DMC, Beastie Boys and Public Enemy would take that interest in lyrical content to an entirely new level.
But there was still a disconnect in that those people were rock stars. What they were talking about was obviously important to them, which made it interesting to me. And educational on many levels. But there was always a bit of voyeurism because I could tell from their lyrics and photos that these people were from totally different worlds that I was, and lived very different lives. I didn't know anything about parties or girls or global politics. I moved around a lot so I didn't have many close friends and my family didn't have a lot of money. And as a kid too young to get a job, I had even less. Which is probably why discovering punk rock a few years later was so powerful for me. These people were not rock stars. They didn't have gold chains, fancy cars, airplanes.. they had jack shit. Just like me. And they often talking about how important friends were, which is something I wanted so much to believe in.
My list of "influential" bands would take days to read though (in fact very early version of my old website had a soundtrack section that listed out just a few of them) but the ones that really grabbed me, changed my world view and pointed my in the right direction is probably three. Three bands. I could easily make that ten. Or twenty without much effort. But if I'm honest about it, really honest about what were the watershed moments, which songs really made a earth shattering difference to me, there's three of them. Of course that those three existed inside of an ecosystem absolutely bursting with awesomeness helped a lot too.
I've written before about trying to kill myself when I was very young, and made references to a whole host of things that kept me mopey and depressed for solid chunk of my childhood. I don't bring that up to get all emo, but to make the point of just how much impact a few kids in garages out in the world putting words that ment something to them to music, and risking humiliation sent them out into the world could have on me. Continue reading »
Like anyone with any taste in film I love The Evil Dead. That series is as close to perfect as movie making can be so so many reasons, not the least of which is the obvious fact that the filmmakers (actors included) approach a completely absurd plot as if it's completely absurd. It works because it's campy. The horrific gore is kept in check by the humor laced all the way through it. I could watch those films over and over again, enjoy them every time, quote them repeatedly. They are fantastic.
Like anyone with any taste in film when I heard they were going to remake the original Evil Dead I wanted to die before it was released so I wouldn't have to suffer through seeing yet another classic destroyed by soulless studio execs who have no understanding of what made the original so great and just want to capitalize on an existing brand and a built in fanbase.
And then I started hearing all the whispers. This was not being made by some soulless studio execs who have no understanding of what made the original so great and just want to capitalize on an existing brand and a built in fanbase, but rather the original producers. Both Sam and Bruce were on board with it. It would be faithful to the original. Hell, it might be one of those rare cases where the remake is better (or at least as good) as the original. Could that be true?
I didn't want to be a jaded fuck and just write it off, even though the trailer was telling me to just write it off. I told myself that maybe that was just the marketing department cutting something together to try and sell it to a different audience who just wanted another boring torture porn flick and would have been just as happy going to see SAW 27 or whatever. I kept telling myself Sam and Bruce say it's faithful to the original. I kept telling myself to ignore my gut and give it a chance.
So when I heard the other day that a specific screening of the new Evil Dead at Arclight (the best theater ever) would have a personal introduction by Fede Alvarez (director of the new version) I thought, if I'm going to see it this is the time to do that. See what Fede has to say. Keep an open mind. Allow myself to get won over. So I grabbed tickets and went.
I should have trusted by gut.
Fede's introduction was useless. He could have been introducing 2 hours of static and been more passionate. He didn't seem to care about the movie, other than saying he made it and that it was really scary. So, right away off to a bad start. It got worse from there.
OK, let's keep something in mind here: Since Evil Dead came out 30+ years ago in 1981 there have been a lot of movies riffing on the "cabin in the woods" theme. Not the least of which is The Cabin In The Woods. Given how satirical the original is, you can't remake this film without having some self awareness of how much of a joke the theme is to begin with. Or maybe you can, because that's what was done here. The things that made the original so great are completely stripped out of this version. There's nothing funny about the new one. There's no humor. There's no soul. It's a completely run of the mill torture porn movie all the way down to a heavy handed dramatic storyline transparently devised to make you really care about the people, but falling short because it's so poorly constructed. The "junkie/withdrawal" set up is tossed out the window as soon as they find the book, which makes that entire thing a waste of time.
Now all of this wouldn't have been so terrible if they had just used the name, a few plot points, and then just made a totally new movie. But instead this is peppered with visual references so you can't escape the fact they they are shitting all over the genius of the original. I am disappoint.
I don't know why Sam and Bruce made such a big deal publicly about how "true" this version was, other than to assume they just wanted the paycheck. But that's a small price to pay for their trust. I certainly won't believe anything they say about movies again.
And truthfully, I don't know much my take on this even matters. The theater was filled. People cheered at the gore and blood. They applauded the ever so crappy references to the original – although maybe they did that because they also desperately wanted this to be that, and would jump at any morsel handed to them. I guess time will tell, but I thought it was a piece of crap.
Last week Tara and I had the pleasure of grabbing lunch with Bryce Roberts while he was in town scoping things out. Today he posted some notes about Los Angeles and it's tech scene(s) that I wanted to follow up on because, well, you know I have a lot to say on the subject. If you haven't read that post you should do that now, as what I have to say will make much more sense given that context.
So just a bit of credentials for anyone who stumbles across this and isn't already familiar with my LA dedication – In 2003 I, along with Jason DeFillippo, launched Blogging.LA which was certainly the first group blog specifically about Los Angeles, and arguably one of the first group blogs about anything. (It's funny because it's common place now, but in 2003 finding a blog with more than one author was rare.) That would morph into Metroblogging and I spent a lot of time over the following years talking to VCs about funding for it. In 2006 I along with a few friends put on the first Barcamp in Los Angeles because we knew there was a vibrant and active tech community here that we felt didn't know about each other. It was a massive success and there would be 6 successive Barcamps over the next 4 years before it got too big and fragmented into several smaller and more manageable events. In 2009 I instigated the opening of the first public hackerspace in LA which 3 years later is world renowned, award winning, nearing 100 members and has events almost every night of the week. Last year, along with Alex & Tara I help build Represent.LA to once again try and solidify, or at least put a face to the LA tech scene.
I also have 213 tattooed on my finger and LA on my foot.
Somewhat related, I spent much of 2010 on the other side of the VC table, working closely with Neoteny Labs – a fund led by Joi Ito and Reid Hoffman – which gave me a considerable amount of insight about how VCs look at companies, locations, and how they approach deals.
That out of the way – I'm really excited that Bryce has taken an interest in LA. As you can see, I've been thinking highly of the place for quite some time. The truth is, the people here in LA know how awesome it is. That's why we're here. But most people outside of LA have no idea what is going on here. LA has an image problem in that Hollywood has been really good at making up a fictional version of itself and painting that as LA. I guess people outside of LA don't understand what fiction is, and assume that the LA they see portrayed on TV and in Movies must be real. It's not. Hell, Hollywood "the place" doesn't even have anything to do with Hollywood "the industry." But, that's beside the point. Point is if you've never spent any time in LA chances are your impression and opinion of the place are dead wrong – but the vast majority of people are happily uninformed. So it's refreshing to see someone take more than a passing interest.
Bryce spends the first part of his report making LA/NYC comparisons. Which neighborhoods match up and things like that. Which places he thinks are similar is up for debate, but that's hardly the important part. The gem here is the comprehension that LA is not just one thing. Not just one place. But lots – and I mean a lot – of smaller places with their own personalities all nestled up next to each other. Santa Monica is not LA. Venice is not LA. Hollywood is not LA. Downtown LA is not LA. Silver Lake is not LA. Pasadena is not LA. But the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This place is giant and every step in every direction is different. This is a good thing and something you have to understand to begin to understand LA.
He notes that there are some great incubators, not a lot of local funding here. Bingo.
This is an excellent observation. In my time hunting for funding for Metblogs I met with a wide variety of both angels and larger VC funds in town – as well as out of town. Not all, but vast majority of VCs and Angels I met with in LA were aggressive, greedy, and very interested in seeing just how many hoops they could get you to jump through. The term sheets I was offered were outright hostile. I met with a lot of people who liked to talk about how much they invested in the local tech scene to try and take credit for anything and everything happening here. Turns out by "investing in the local tech scene" many of these people meant throwing parties or comparing bank accounts with other local investors who valued cashing checks more than investing them.
Needless to say those were not positive experiences. Years later when working with helpful, excited and positive VCs at Neoteny Labs I'd realize just how bad those other deals had been. When I spoke with VCs out of LA I was repeatedly hit with "there's nothing happening in LA, you'd need to move closer to us before we could consider investing." Immediate deal breaker.
LA really needs investors who are supportive of both the growing scene and LA itself. There's a unique atmosphere here that, if nurtured, could produce some incredibly awesome companies. I have no doubt about that at all. Some of the most creative and driven people I've met in my entire life have been in LA.
As for the disconnect between Hollywood (the industry) and the LA tech scene, I agree completely that this relationship is underdeveloped. I think a lot of that blame lies on the shoulders of super conservative business advisors, hired by people and companies with expendable income and charged with doing something/anything with that money except losing it. Which makes investing in tech start ups less than attractive. There's also the thing – when you are a hammer everything looks like a nail. A lot of people in Hollywood (the industry) think the whole world is struggling to be them. So any intermingling with other industries would really just be showing those folks how Hollywood does it. This is where a lot of the content crossover comes from.
That's not everyone of course, there are some very smart people in Hollywood that have made moves into technology, but largely this has been driven by one person who really gets it, not an industry that understand it. It's progress, but it's slow. I think there will need to be some very noteworthy success stories coming from these partnerships to convince others to get their feet wet. I think this will happen, but it won"t be the result of parties, mixers, or networking events. It'll be because awesome people working on awesome projects get together and do awesome things.
Hollywood (the industry) has the reputation for seeing on failure as a condemnation of an entire theme. If a movie about earthquakes flops, no studio is going to make another one for long time because it can't be that the movie just sucked, it has to be that people don't like that theme. And similarly if a movie about zombies does well, you can expect a hundred more zombie movies any minute now – because it can't be that it was just a good movie, but that people want that theme. We suffer from the same problem in tech. If a site fails – lets say a local product that raised a mountain of cash before even launching a site – then obviously local isn't viable. It can't be that it was jut a crappy idea, or poor implementation – it has to be that the theme is bust. And likewise, if something works, get ready for a million copycats. This quickness to accept or reject an idea is harsh on it's own, but put the two industries together and you get lot of skepticism. Which is why I think when this happens – and I again, I firmly believe it will – it'll be individual driven. It's just a question of who those individual will be.
Bryce says that he "can see LA really stepping into it's own over the next few years" and I think he's right. I've been championing this place for over 10 years now and while I've always really liked what was happening here, what I see happening right now is the most exciting it's ever been. And if people like Bryce and the folks at OATV (among others who have been here recently) are noticing that too, I think it's more than just local hope.
"Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in…"
I'll save you the epic backstory and just say that when I walked away from the music industry in the late 90′s one of the many reasons I chose to do so was because, frankly, it had gotten boring. People (and bands) were just running through the motions. They were executing a prescribed set of actions because that's just what you do. I missed the days of people doing things because they loved them. Because they thought they were awesome. Because they wanted to be proud of what they were doing. Doing the same thing that you've already done, that everyone else has already done, over and over again, isn't at all fulfilling or interesting to me.
So I left the music world and went to work at this exciting new place, the internet. The music industry had a lot of perks, but it never had lolcats. In the years since then I've helped a few friends out with the occasional music project here and there, but I've always kept things at arms length because on some level it was the same old thing. It's was a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
These frustrations were echoed in a conversation I had with a few friends last year. We went on to ask ourselves, what does success mean, or even look like if it's not just living up to someone else's metric? Obviously if we were going to spend time working on something we want it to be successful, but maybe more importantly we talked about how we wanted it to be something we were proud of working on. If the absolute worst case scenario is that we spend some time working on something we think is awesome, how bad is that? And anything above and beyond that is even better. So, thinking about a music project from that perspective, what would we want to address? What would we want to do differently?
Turns out, a lot. Continue reading »
I really like the idea of 30 day challenges. But then again I really like the idea of self challenges in general, which should be no surprise to anyone reading this. I try, fail, restructure, try again – things all the time, but putting a "30 day" cap on it turns anything into a great bite sized goal that suddenly becomes attainable. Do one new things for 30 days? Simple.
I sent out a link to my email list from a friend who spent January detaching from digital stuff when around family. The TL;DR is that he restricted when he would look at email, restricted how much time he'd spend on it, and completely cut out phone/laptop stuff at home around family (mornings and evenings). To very positive results.
I always have my iphone near by and wonder how that translates for Ripley. His parents are always staring at these little devices. So reading Javaun's account was relevant to my interests and I may try something similar. His jaunt into the 30 day challenge was so successful that he spent February catching up with old friends/family – each day contacting someone new.
This is another great idea that I would love to try out because I'm really horrible at staying in touch with anyone. Truth – if we're friends and you don't see me on a regular basis and we talk at all frequently that is huge. More commonly when I stop seeing people in person regularly they just fall off my immediate radar, but when I do see them again I'm excellent about picking up exactly where we left off. Even if it's been years, when I see old friends I feel like I saw them just yesterday. Not everyone is like that however which has led to a lot of people who I think of as important to me, and important to my life – being out of touch. Of course, the problem with talking about something like that is if I say "hey for the next month I'm going to make a real effort to call people that are important to me but I haven't talked to in a while" and then some people who I know but haven't talked to in a while read it and don't get a call they will be all WTF OMG and shit. And rightly so. Or they could call me FFS. But whatever.
I like the idea of constantly improving yourself and just deciding that you are going to make a change can be scary. Saying you are going to make a change for a short amount of time is much less scary. A week is too short to see a difference, but a month is just long enough to get in the habit and see some results. At the end of 30 days if you like the results it's probably easy to keep going, if you don't it's no big deal because it was just a 30 day experiment to begin with.
I've talked about trying to do things every day before as well, and I can tell you that making it open ended is much more intimidating, and comes with an unavoidable sense of failure because inevitably you will miss a day and then you broke the streak. But if the streak is never ment to be more than 30 days. That's cake.
So tomorrow is the 1st day of March. A new month. A new 30 days. Well, 31 technically.
What should I try?
I quit Facebook – quite publicly – in April of last year. Here's the article I wrote about it explaining my reasoning. It hasn't been a full year yet, but this week Douglas Rushkoff announced he's quitting Facebook and several people have pinged me for thoughts so I thought I'd just put them all here in one place. I'm not going to spend any time on reasoning as I think between the two posts I just linked that is more than covered. What I will talk about is what this decision has been like to live with.
The truth is, I've hardly noticed it. That's not to say I haven't missed anything, rather I havent missed anything I've missed.
I'll tell you when it has been obvious to me – when I try to sign up for a service or website and the only option they offer is Facebook connect. I'm a self diagnosed web addict and terminal early adopter so I check out and sign up for a *lot* of stuff. And in a years time I can only think of 3, maybe 4 times this issue has come up. This was actually the thing I was most worried about and it's clearly not the issue I thought it would be at all. And actually, all of those examples have been opportunities to tell the founders (though they haven't always listened) that only offering one way to sign up for their service, and an unreliable 3rd party option at that, isn't such a hot idea. One of those products that I couldn't sign up for was just a few weeks ago, but all the others I've never heard about again. I'm not saying that only offering Facebook Connect as the way to sign up for their service was suicide for them, but feel free to make that assumption. I won't name names out of respect for the dead.
It's also been a little noticeable when using things like Kickstarter – which I use all the time – I can no longer see what my friends are backing. I miss that, not enough to regret quitting Facebook, just to realize I would like Kickstarter to develop their own way to do this in house.
There have been a handful of things where someone has said "Oh, ________ posted this to Facebook, I know you aren't on it so I'm forwarding it to you."
There have been a handful of things where someone has said "I posted it on Facebook" and I've said "I'm not on Facebook so I can't see it" and they've said "Oh… I'll post it somewhere else too, hold on.."
Have I kept in touch with all the people who I was connected to on Facebook? No. Have I missed them? Not really. In 2010 I wrote that Facebook made me feel like a shitty friend, in part because it was maintaining (or recreating) connections with people that under any other circumstance would have fallen out of my life. That kid I sat next to in one class in 10th grade. That girl I had a crush on for a few months in 9th grade. That guy that is friends with one of my cousins that I met one time at a wedding or something. Without Facebook normal people in these situations never would have stayed in touch, with Facebook it was nice to connect but we never really had anything to say to one another other than "oh so nice to reconnect" then just flooding each other with random status updates. 100% of those people that I had very weak ties to I lost touch with. But I also no longer feel bad about not caring about their updates, I don't feel bad that I don't have more to say to them, and I don't feel bad that they aren't a part of my life. So I'm not convinced those loses are really a bad thing.
I will say that leaving Instagram was tougher. I had a group of people that I really liked and it was a way to connect with them that worked. I'm still in touch with many of them on other services though it's not the same intimacy or personal kind of connection that Instagram was. Maybe Vine will fill that gap to some extent, maybe not. But leaving Instagram was definitely harder, but I do feel like it was the right choice. It's important to stand up for what you believe in. Someone had to.
But with Facebook specifically, have I felt the need to go back? Not at all.
Not even once.
Am I any less worried about people relying so much on it? Nope.
Do I wish more people would leave it in the dust? Yep.
Do I think people are starting to figure it out? Still up in the air.


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The All Blacks won the Webb Ellis Cup, but France were victorious (kind of). It was a Final worthy of the name and while England couldn't play a part in this one, Rugby Rugby's Howard Johnson reckons we'll be roaring at the next one!
So as expected New Zealand are World Champions, and good luck to them. But for me the real heroes 24 hours after the Final are in the team that lost. France started their World Cup campaign as chumps, but ended it as champs in all but name after a fantastic performance against the All Blacks that merited much more than a one-point defeat.
If France played against 14 players in their stuttering semi-final win against the Welsh, then it certainly felt like they were playing against 16 at Eden Park on Sunday. No-one is suggesting that South African referee Craig Joubert was deliberately biased in favour of the All Blacks. But his performance in a stadium where most people had come to see the home side fulfil what Kiwi supporters clearly felt was their 'destiny' left an awful lot to be desired.
The French are World Champions when it comes to blaming referees instead of looking at their own failings. But it was hard not to sympathise with them over Joubert's performance when he seemed to have eyes only for French transgressions when New Zealand were clearly offside, entering rucks from the side and playing the ball on the floor on numerous occasions. French coach Marc Lièvremont refused to lay into Joubert, which was far more dignified than his daft moustache. But the ref's undue influence on the game certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.
France's performance, which was based on magnificent individual efforts from one to 15, has also forced a number of critics to eat humble pie. I myself had cross words with both Brian Moore and Phil Vickery earlier in the tournament when they openly ridiculed the French and suggested that it would be a cold day in hell before they beat either England or Wales and that New Zealand would win the Final at a canter. Well Les Bleus proved otherwise, backing up my not-very-complicated theory that form is temporary and class is permanent. How knowledgeable rugby folk could dismiss completely out of hand a team featuring players of the calibre of Dusautoir, Harinordoquy and Bonnaire is beyond me. France had far too many classy operators ever to merit being down so completely.
Anyway, none of this will matter in the long term. The scoreboard doesn't lie and New Zealand are engraved on the Webb Ellis trophy as 2011 winners. I'm not as infatuated with them as everyone else seems to be, though. They are very good side, of course, but the cult of the All Blacks does get on my wick. They played some great rugby during the tournament, but to my mind they play the game with the attitude that they have something of a divine right to win. From the moment they take to the field and do that silly haka there's an arrogance about them that I find unappealing. And while we're on the subject of the haka, what happened to Richie McCaw's threat to "do it in the shed" when the Welsh aired the view not so long ago that it was all about gamesmanship rather than culture? The IRB should step in and put a stop to this farce once and for all.
But I shouldn't be entirely mealy-mouthed about New Zealand's win, of course. After all, the country suffered badly after the earthquake and an All Blacks win in their home country will certainly unite the nation like nothing else and give all Kiwis a much-needed feelgood factor. Some things are more important than sport and we'd all do well to recognise that from time to time. The general feeling is that this 2011 World Cup was a good one, well-organised and played in the right spirit. I think the IRB need to look at some organisational issues for the next edition in England in 2015, especially the scheduling of the games for the so-called lesser nations in the pool stages, where the big boys clearly had advantageous recuperation time. But the gap between the powerhouses and the minnows appeared to be getting a wee bit smaller, which has to be good for the evolution of our sport. It's not healthy to have the same five countries at the top of the tree all the time and greater competition at the World Cup would do much to attract and then retain those casual supporters who only tune in for the big event.
So everyone can pack up and go home now, another tournament under collective belts and just the four years to wait until we do it all over again on the other side of the world. As an Englishman 2011 won't go down as a vintage campaign, but I'm not as gloomy about our prospects as many critics appear to be. We've got a good manager and a strong core of young players who will all be at their peak in four years' time if they keep developing the way they have so far. This World Cup came too early for the men in white, but I have a sneaky suspicion that in four years' time it may well be a different story.
Gilbert has released a new line of rugby cleats. The Gilbert Virtuo 8S is part of the exciting new product. Check it out.
The entire All Blacks apparel line has been updated for 2013/14. Check out the New Zealand All Blacks polo.
The Nike Tiempo is a solid rugby cleat and one of few styles still made from full-grain natural leather.
The Gilbert Blitz 8S rugby cleat is a great cleat at a great price of $69.99. Get a new pair of cleats today.
A cool looking all black rugby cleat with the high performance adidas is known for. Get in the Gear!
Wear the crest of the British and Irish Lions on your t-shirt. A great look for the summer.
The All Blacks Performance t-shirt is black with hints of blue from the training jersey. Very Cool.
The New Zealand All Blacks training jersey for 2013/14. Get in the Gear!
The USA Rugby Pro Alternate rugby jersey is perfect for any fan of the Eagles. Get yours to wear during the summer Test matches.
The NEW All Blacks 2013/14 jersey has arrived at World Rugby Shop. Dare to wear the colors of the All Blacks.


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W2, Marble Arch |
I am an international student in London. And we did the project about the area where we live. My area is from Marble Arch to Edgware Road is in the end of the Oxford street and near the Hyde Park. This is a very special place in London. The Londoners call this area <Little Beriut>. Because there are a lot of business Alrabian and people from Middle-Estern lived here and there are variety of shops, cafes, and restarauts in middle-eastren style ,such as Lebarnese ,Iran,Alrabian,ect. Therefore, you can have a lot choices for meals.And the most famouse is <Shisha> ,it's kind of somke with hooken pies.There are many people have shiha on the outside table. By the way, you can find the cheaper item , product, and food, etc here. |
On the other hand,you can many different kinds of casino on Edgware Road,for example the sport casino, table poker Casino, etc. All in all,this area is a nice place and little town. As if you are in Beriut. |
Disclaimer The Postcodes Project includes material submitted by users of the website. The Museum accepts no liability in respect of any of this material, and we are not responsible for its content and accuracy. |


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A new Plan for Kettle's Yard
A message from Director, Andrew Nairne
about the new plans for Kettle's Yard.
Kettle's Yard Gallery is a landmark centre for modern and contemporary art. Built in 1970, it was designed by architects Sir Leslie Martin and David Owers. It has since been extended three times, most recently in 1993-94. We are currently preparing to extend again, during the this period we will not show major exhibitions as the main gallery space will be partially closed.
The gallery shop and facilities will remain open, and we will present a series of small 'Artist in Focus' displays from our collection in the entry gallery. We began with Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, followed by Alfred Wallis and Winifred Nicolson. Four Associate Artists have been appointed to work with us throughout this period. They are: Matei Bejenaru, Matthew Darbyshire, Lorna Macintyre and Jeremy Millar. There will be opportunites to find out more about them and their work onsite and online in the coming months.
DEVELOPMENT News
For the latest on what's happening, what's on and what's open during the building work see this mobile friendly web page.


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2011-Melissa Mora. This is my original work unless otherwise indicated. If you want to use photographs from this blog, please use only one photo, link back and give photo credit. Please ask permission before using other content or designs. Patterns/tutorials are for personal use only.
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Parish Life
Welcome to our website! Please look around to get a taste of what we have to offer. We are much more than a place for Mass or go to Confession! We offer opportunities for service to the poor, to fellow Catholics and to members of civic and universities communities; we offer sacramental preparation for children and adults, as well as comprehensive religious education from 1st grade through high school; we offer educational, social and spiritual opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students as well as post-collegiate young adults to name only a few.Our main mission is to serve as the parish home for Catholic students, faculty and staff at the University of Utah, Westminster College and Salt Lake Community College. However, anyone from the larger community wishing to be a part of this unique and dynamic ministry to the academic community is a welcome parishioner.
We are often known simply as "the Newman Center." This honors the commitment and zeal of Blessed John Henry (Cardinal) Newman, who was pivotal in the Catholic Church's ministry to higher education. We have St. Catherine of Siena, the 14th century Dominican mystic and one of the first female Doctors of the Church, as our patron. Friars of the Western Dominican Province have served as Pastors and Associates here since 1981, when we were established as a parish of the Diocese of Salt Lake City; prior to that, many esteemed priests of the Diocese served as chaplains including Rev. Msgrs. Robert Servatius and Terence Moore.
The Newman Center is the University of Utah, Westminster, and SLCC college students Catholic parish. It's a home away from home for students and a thriving center of Catholic Christian spirituality.
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Spring Fling 2013 |