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Research shows that gay men don't like their bodies very much. That might seem surprising, given the amount of time many of us spend at the gym. We probably devote more time and effort to cultivating our physical selves than any other demographic group. Just the same, research indicates that straight men like their bodies most, followed by gay women; straight women like their bodies less than these first two. The group that likes their physical appearance the least is gay men.
Why is this? Gay men spend a lot of time in places that place a premium on physical appearance: bars, gyms, sex clubs. We live in a sexualized subculture that places a premium on physical beauty, and media and advertising bombard us with images that reflect an impossibly high standard of physical beauty. Under circumstances like these, it's easy to confuse who you are with how you look.
We all like to see attractive men, of course. Still, more and more men – even men with bodies that most of us would agree are muscular and very attractive – find themselves very dissatisfied with how they look. At it's most extreme, this situation is called body dysmorphia – a preoccupation with some imagined defect in appearance when the person involved is actually very normal looking. This problem can lead to depression and trouble forming healthy relationships.
Research indicates that eating disorders and body image problems are linked with public self-consciousness, social anxiety and feeling dishonest about who one really is. Men with internalized homophobia who have difficulty accepting themselves as gay are probably especially likely to develop a distorted body image or eating disorder.
Compared with women, who generally only worry that they are too fat, many gay men worry that they are either too fat or too thin. This misperception can become a genuine distortion disorder that could be called "reverse anorexia" or "bulkorexia." Even when dramatically muscular, men with this misperception feel they are too small or thin.
It's easy to see how men who have grown up with images of limp-wristed, reed-thin gay men form this sort of reaction and seek to show that they don't fit the stereotype. Preoccupation with muscles becomes a way of relieving fears about our masculinity.
Places where gay men socialize especially bars, gyms, and sex clubs, often emphasize physical attributes or make those the first criterion for checking someone out. It's difficult for someone who is older than a certain age or different from the prevailing cultural standards of beauty to catch someone's eye in a bar or club.
This has the sad and unintended consequence of leaving some gay men in the social binds most familiar to teenage girls – obsessed about their appearance and feeling like their locus of control lies completely outside of themselves.
If you have trouble accepting your body, there are steps you can take to improve the situation. First, take the concern seriously. Don't confuse who you are with how you look. Develop a sense of identity based on all of your attributes and on your values.
Put your body back together. Consider stretching, yoga and massage as ways to help yourself feel like more than just "skinny legs" or "love handles." Indulge in body pleasures – long baths, massage, good sex, a walk in the park on a sunny day. Make your own list.
Learn to appreciate body types in all shapes and sizes. Stop trashing men who don't conform to the "buffed" image. Seek alternative role models. Don't emphasize body size or shape as an indication of a man's worth or his identity as a man. Learn to value the person inside.
And finally, confront homophobia, including internalized homophobia. Don't accept being treated as a second-class citizen by straight society or by other gay folks.
John R. Ballew, M.S. author & contributor to GAYTWOGETHER, is a licensed professional counselor in private practice in Atlanta. He specializes in issues related to coming out, sexuality, relationships and spirituality. If you have any questions or comments you can submit them directly to GAYTWOGETHER or John R. Ballew, M.S. - www.bodymindsoul.org. or at (404) 874-8536.


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Hey joonies,
We know Saaghi really hates on them, but today we have a special guest post from Sienna. We thought it was time to show Iranian girls everywhere: White girls struggle with some of the same issues that we do and Sienna is a true testament to that. So read on and be enlightened:
When it comes to sex, Catholics and Muslims are NOT THAT DIFFERENT. Surprised? Both religions place virginity on a pedestal.
Both religions teach women that if you lose it:
(1). you've committed a seriously immoral act (meaning you're now a WHORE).
(2). you HAVE to marry him or your life will be over.
Trust me– I've seen it. My Catholic friend entered college convinced she'd save it for her wedding night… and two years later drunkenly had sex with her boyfriend. Now she's forcing herself to stay in a horrible, unhealthy relationship because she's convinced she HAS to marry him.
I understand the reasoning behind this religious pressure — who wants to teach their kids its okay to bang every piece of ass that walks by? But shame will not (and never has) deterred people from shacking up… all the religious pressure just makes sex LESS HEALTHY and MORE DANGEROUS.
Case in point:
My Catholic university did not hand out a single condom in the health center, never breached the topic of sex in our mandatory health classes freshman year, and anyone caught having sex would be kicked off campus. But do you think that the threat of being thrown out of school ever deterred COLLEGE KIDS from having sex? NO F*CKING WAY. We just didn't talk about it and judged everyone who did it (even if we were doing it, or were just jealous). And that is NOT HEALTHY.
Here's why —
First reason should be a no-brainer really: condoms prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancy- and no one really wants to get screwed in THAT way… just sayin'.
And the second reason pisses me off even more: making sex such a TABOO topic, such forbidden act, teaches people to be ashamed.
For too long I lived with this GUILT stemming from everything sexual… making out with my high school boyfriend in the backseat, going to second base with the cute guy from that dorm party, and heaven forbid… MASTURBATING. If you're reading this and laughing, thinking how prude I am… well you might be right. That's what sucks the most. Along with the guilt of being sexual, comes the JUDGEMENT from others.
Get this: I'm a virgin (no shame either– ladies give it up when you want to, no sooner and no later). And yet, I've been called a whore and a slut (stories for a different time).
It took me way too long to realize that I have nothing to be ashamed of. I'm 22 and just becoming comfortable with my sexuality, and that sucks. I wish I would've realized sooner because all of that shame and religious pressure made me really INSECURE. Its inevitable really: When your parents, your priest, your friends are teaching you to keep it in your pants till you're married, to reject what is NATURAL and HEALTHY and FUN… well you'll end up not knowing up from down.
Religion has always been a part of my life, not through force or pressure, but because I think it is important. And I used to think that sex was something special — something to be saved for marriage. My boyfriend thought the same thing, so it was never an issue. But as the years passed, I met people who exposed me to a new, radical idea: sex isn't always sacred.
Yes it certainly can be. And at times, it should be. But I've come to realize that sex doesn't mean everything, and neither does my virginity. So I no longer plan on waiting for marriage, but I also don't plan on losing my virginity to a guy I meet at 3 am in a seedy bar. I'll never be the type to sleep around, and I know that. But I also know that my first time, while not meaning everything, doesn't mean nothing. So until I find someone I want to share that moment with, I'll wait. And that's MY choice.
Here's the bottom line: SEX and RELIGION are NOT incompatible.
You can be religious, you can believe in God and be a good person, you can go to Heaven and still be sexually active. Whether you think you were created by an act of God, Allah, or your parents and a bottle of wine, you shouldn't be ashamed of your body and how you were created. NO religion should make you feel bad about yourself and your sexuality.

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in salat taraweeh/fajr can you read in 1 rakah warsh and 2nd rakah hafs?.
in salat taraweeh/fajr can you read in 1 rakah warsh and 2nd rakah hafs?.
i read that hafs has 50+ secondary turuq, does this mean that hafs taught his students 50+ turuqs and how did imam asim teach quran to hafs. did he tell him about all the turuqs, it sounds confusing?
Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh,
Yes, in any salah you can pray one rakah in one way of reading and the next rakah in an other way.
Yes, Hafs 'an 'Aasim has over 50 turuq, but that doesn't mean that all of his students learned all 50+ plus ways. Some most definitely did, or we wouldn't have them today, but it is not a requisite that you have to learn everything your sheikh has learned. Some only ask for one way from their sheikh. These different turuq have minor differences are all transmitted in authentic chains from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah upon him to the sahabah, to the taabi'een, to those after until those who read them this very day.
So, these turuq would not have reached us if they had not be transmitted from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, down through the chain to 'Aasim then to Hafs, then on through the qurra' in solid chains until we have them today.
insha' Allah it isn't confusing. Plesae see the following links for more information:
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Convert a Template to a Website
Budget $10-30 AUD
I need someone familiar with Wix to check my site. It is a basic site of eleven pages with 1 image per page and words embedded in Photoshop on each image. This has been done. The only addition is a short music track which is on each page. This has been done [url removed, login to view] problem is in the sizing for the screen resolutions, and it seems many people have this problem with Wix. I'm using an Imac with a 27inch screen. It may be easy, may be difficult, but I'm not having much success. The website is [url removed, login to view] This is a private non-commercial site.
3 freelancers are bidding on average $33 for this job
check plz my last website through wix, [login to view URL] for more information about my work at wix platform!
I am the best man for wix projects. I am lojal and working fast. I hope you choose me for a good job. Best regards: Joran


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Skip to comments.One of 5 remaining Serbs in Kosovo town dies
Posted on 12/28/2011 9:16:51 AM PST by Ravnagora
DJAKOVICA -- An 82-year-old woman - one of only five remaining Serbs in the town of Djakovica in Kosovo - has died, it has been reported.
Jela Mijovich and four other elderly women were the only Serbs left in the town after the March 2004 pogrom perpetrated by ethnic Albanians.
They all lived in a rebuilt structure located in the yard of a Serbian Orthodox monastery in the town.
Prior to 1999, several thousand Serbs lived in Djakovica.
The four elderly women who still remain there live under 24-hour protection of the Kosovo police (KPS).
One of them, 64-year-old Vasiljka Perich, told reporters that she was determined to stay in her hometown and that she was "satisfied with the care" provided to her and the three others:
"Thanks to our Bishop Teodosije and the brotherhood of the Visoki Dechani monastery, we have everything: food, health care, medicine."
But she also explained that none of the Serb women ever leave the monastery compound.
Perich said they "spoke to their (ethnic) Albanian neighbors), but that they "neither went to visit anyone, nor was anyone visiting them".
"If there's something we need, (KPS) police are willing to buy it for us, only some of the new ones won't," she explained.
Perich concluded by saying that it was "beautiful and hard" to live in Djakovica, but that it was "important for a Serb soul to be present in this town".
The last remaining Christians in a Moslem area are Dhimmis.
If I am not mistaken, "ethnic Albanians" = Mooslims. Funny how that never makes it into the news stories.
We bombed the Serbs during the Clinton Administration and have been on the wrong side on this issue ever since.
There is hope yet much despair.Time will tell.Spent a year peace keeping in Kosovo(PANG).The common people are very nice and love America for the most part.The radicals are inhuman.Quite an experience.It is easy to say "we should not prevent holocaust" ,yet to see the after math of ethnic cleansing holocaust is sobering.There is evil.Thank God I am American and America keeps the torch of freedom.
Thank you for your service.
Dead Serbs don't matter to the US State Department and NATO, appeasing muslims and the Albanian narco mafia is much more desirable. What the US did in Kosovo proves what a joke the war on terror is.
Jela Mijovich is a prisoner no more...Vjecnaja Pamjat!
What you mean *We* Kemo sabe?
-the Lone Ranger's faithful Indian companion Tonto, in response to the Lone Ranger's comments following his having noticed that *We* are surrounded by Indians.
Sorry, I meant NATO.
I don't see what your comment has to do with the price of eggs in Denmark.
In other words, who do you think had the controlling influence on the decision making processes of the NATO alliance in 1999?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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Richard Browdy, a banker who lives in Davie.
"It's a time for new beginnings. For me, Yom Kippur is the most enjoyable. It makes you focus on your goal: recognize your sins and improving yourself. During the year, we don't focus on weaknesses. But when you're fasting, going to synagogue, breaking your normal routine, you focus on yourself. Yom Kippur has several confessionals during the day, and you move to a different spiritual level. You ask: What can I do this year to do and to be a little better?"
James D. Davis, Sun Sentinel
Copyright © 2018, Daily Press


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A federal grand jury in New Jersey has indicted a Fort Smith woman over accusations she engineered the theft of $42 million in a Ponzi scheme centered on a payment, logistics and shipping business.
Prosecutors say 63-year-old Shirley Sooy turned herself in to authorities Wednesday to face charges of wire fraud conspiracy and other fraud-related charges.
Sooy is accused of running a scheme for 10 years in which a business called TransVantage Group contracted with corporate clients to pay audited freight bills. Sooy converted the cash to her own use, prosecutors say.
In a civil suit last year, Sooy denied fraud allegations.
Prosecutors say she used company money to pay mortgages, buy a Maserati sports car, a share in a yacht and other items for herself and family members.


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The American War for Independence as a Revolutionary War
Michael A. McDonnell
The American War for Independence lasted eight years. It was one of the longest and bloodiest wars in America's history, and yet it was not such a protracted conflict merely because the might of the British armed forces was brought to bear on the hapless colonials. The many divisions among Americans themselves over whether to fight, what to fight for, and who would do the fighting often had tragic and violent consequences. The Revolutionary War was by any measure the first American civil war. Yet national narratives of the Revolution and even much of the scholarship on the era focus more on simple stories of a contest between the Patriots and the British. Loyalists and other opponents of the Patriots are routinely left out of these narratives, or given short shrift. So, too, are the tens of thousands of ordinary colonists—perhaps a majority of the population—who were disaffected or alienated from either side or who tried to tack between the two main antagonists to make the best of a bad situation. Historians now estimate that as many as three-fifths of the colonial population were neither active Loyalists nor Patriots.
When we take the war seriously and begin to think about narratives that capture the experience of the many, rather than the few, an illuminating picture emerges. The remarkably wide scope of the activities of the disaffected during the war—ranging from nonpayment of taxes to draft dodging and even to armed resistance to protect their neutrality—has to be integrated with older stories of militant Patriots and timid Loyalists. Only then can we understand the profound consequences of disaffection—particularly in creating divisions within the states, increasing levels of violence, prolonging the war, and changing the nature of the political settlements in each state. Indeed, the very divisions among diverse Americans that made the War for Independence so long, bitter, and bloody also explains much of the Revolutionary energy of the period. Though it is not as seamless as traditional narratives of the Revolution would suggest, a more complicated story also helps better explain the many problems the new states and eventually the new nation would face. In making this argument, we may finally suggest ways we can overcome what John Shy long ago noted as the tendency of scholars to separate the 'destructive' War for Independence from the 'constructive' political Revolution.
The Creek Confederacy
Andrew Frank
The Creek Confederacy was a loose coalition of ethnically and linguistically diverse Native American towns that slowly coalesced as a political entity in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Its towns existed in Georgia, Alabama, and northern Florida, and for most of its preremoval history, these towns operated as autonomous entities. Several Creek leaders tried to consolidate power and create a more centralized polity, but these attempts at nation building largely failed. Instead, a fragile and informal confederacy connected the towns together for various cultural rituals as well as for purposes of diplomacy and trade. Disputes over centralization, as well as a host of other connected issues, ultimately led to the Creek War of 1813–1814. In the 1830s, the United States forced most members of the Creek Confederacy to vacate their eastern lands and relocate their nation to Indian Territory. Today, their western descendants are known as the Muskogee (Creek) Nation. Those who remained in the east include members of the federally recognized Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians who live in Alabama.
The Enlightenment and America
John M. Dixon
The Enlightenment, a complex cultural phenomenon that lasted approximately from the late seventeenth century until the early nineteenth century, contained a dynamic mix of contrary beliefs and epistemologies. Its intellectual coherence arguably came from its distinctive historical sensibility, which was rooted in the notion that advances in the natural sciences had gifted humankind with an exceptional opportunity in the eighteenth century for self-improvement and societal progress. That unifying historical outlook was flexible and adaptable. Consequently, many aspects of the Enlightenment were left open to negotiation at local and transnational levels. They were debated by the philosophes who met in Europe's coffeehouses, salons, and scientific societies. Equally, they were contested outside of Europe through innumerable cross-cultural exchanges as well as via long-distance intellectual interactions.
America—whether it is understood expansively as the two full continents and neighboring islands within the Western Hemisphere or, in a more limited way, as the territory that now constitutes the United States—played an especially prominent role in the Enlightenment. The New World's abundance of plants, animals, and indigenous peoples fascinated early modern natural historians and social theorists, stimulated scientific activity, and challenged traditional beliefs. By the eighteenth century, the Western Hemisphere was an important site for empirical science and also for the intersection of different cultures of knowledge. At the same time, European conceptions of the New World as an undeveloped region inhabited by primitive savages problematized Enlightenment theories of universal progress. Comparisons of Native Americans to Africans, Asians, and Europeans led to speculation about the existence of separate human species or races. Similarly, the prevalence and profitability of American slavery fueled new and increasingly scientific conceptions of race. Eighteenth-century analyses of human differences complicated contemporary assertions that all men possessed basic natural rights. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the American Revolution focused international attention on man's innate entitlement to life, liberty, and happiness. Yet, in a manner that typified the contradictions and paradoxes of the Enlightenment, the founders of the United States opted to preserve slavery and social inequality after winning political freedom from Britain.
Alison L. LaCroix
Federalism refers to the constitutional and political structure of the United States of America, according to which political power is divided among multiple levels of government: the national level of government (also referred to as the "federal" or "general" government) and that of the states. It is a multilayered system of government that reserves some powers to component entities while also establishing an overarching level of government with a specified domain of authority. The structures of federalism are set forth in the Constitution of the United States, although some related ideas and practices predated the founding period and others have developed since. The balance between federal and state power has shifted throughout U.S. history, with assertions of broad national power meeting challenges from supporters of states' rights and state sovereignty. Federalism is a fundamental value of the American political system, and it has been a controversial political and legal question since the founding period.
Fur Trades
Carolyn Podruchny and Stacy Nation-Knapper
From the 15th century to the present, the trade in animal fur has been an economic venture with far-reaching consequences for both North Americans and Europeans (in which North Americans of European descent are included). One of the earliest forms of exchange between Europeans and North Americans, the trade in fur was about the garment business, global and local politics, social and cultural interaction, hunting, ecology, colonialism, gendered labor, kinship networks, and religion. European fashion, specifically the desire for hats that marked male status, was a primary driver for the global fur-trade economy until the late 19th century, while European desires for marten, fox, and other luxury furs to make and trim clothing comprised a secondary part of the trade. Other animal hides including deer and bison provided sturdy leather from which belts for the machines of the early Industrial Era were cut. European cloth, especially cotton and wool, became central to the trade for Indigenous peoples who sought materials that were lighter and dried faster than skin clothing. The multiple perspectives on the fur trade included the European men and indigenous men and women actually conducting the trade; the indigenous male and female trappers; European trappers; the European men and women producing trade goods; indigenous "middlemen" (men and women) who were conducting their own fur trade to benefit from European trade companies; laborers hauling the furs and trade goods; all those who built, managed, and sustained trading posts located along waterways and trails across North America; and those Europeans who manufactured and purchased the products made of fur and the trade goods desired by Indigenous peoples. As early as the 17th century, European empires used fur-trade monopolies to establish colonies in North America and later fur trading companies brought imperial trading systems inland, while Indigenous peoples drew Europeans into their own patterns of trade and power. By the 19th century, the fur trade had covered most of the continent and the networks of business, alliances, and families, and the founding of new communities led to new peoples, including the Métis, who were descended from the mixing of European and Indigenous peoples. Trading territories, monopolies, and alliances with Indigenous peoples shaped how European concepts of statehood played out in the making of European-descended nation-states, and the development of treaties with Indigenous peoples. The fur trade flourished in northern climes until well into the 20th century, after which time economic development, resource exploitation, changes in fashion, and politics in North America and Europe limited its scope and scale. Many Indigenous people continue today to hunt and trap animals and have fought in courts for Indigenous rights to resources, land, and sovereignty.
Genocide and American Indian History
Jeffrey Ostler
The issue of genocide and American Indian history has been contentious. Many writers see the massive depopulation of the indigenous population of the Americas after 1492 as a clear-cut case of the genocide. Other writers, however, contend that European and U.S. actions toward Indians were deplorable but were rarely if ever genocidal. To a significant extent, disagreements about the pervasiveness of genocide in the history of the post-Columbian Western Hemisphere, in general, and U.S. history, in particular, pivot on definitions of genocide. Conservative definitions emphasize intentional actions and policies of governments that result in very large population losses, usually from direct killing. More liberal definitions call for less stringent criteria for intent, focusing more on outcomes. They do not necessarily require direct sanction by state authorities; rather, they identify societal forces and actors. They also allow for several intersecting forces of destruction, including dispossession and disease. Because debates about genocide easily devolve into quarrels about definitions, an open-ended approach to the question of genocide that explores several phases and events provides the possibility of moving beyond the present stalemate. However one resolves the question of genocide in American Indian history, it is important to recognize that European and U.S. settler colonial projects unleashed massively destructive forces on Native peoples and communities. These include violence resulting directly from settler expansion, intertribal violence (frequently aggravated by colonial intrusions), enslavement, disease, alcohol, loss of land and resources, forced removals, and assaults on tribal religion, culture, and language. The configuration and impact of these forces varied considerably in different times and places according to the goals of particular colonial projects and the capacities of colonial societies and institutions to pursue them. The capacity of Native people and communities to directly resist, blunt, or evade colonial invasions proved equally important.
Haiti and the Early United States
Philippe R. Girard
Haiti (known as Saint-Domingue until it gained its independence from France in 1804) had a noted economic and political impact on the United States during the era of the American Revolution, when it forced U.S. statesmen to confront issues they had generally avoided, most prominently racism and slavery. But the impact of the Haitian Revolution was most tangible in areas like commerce, territorial expansion, and diplomacy. Saint-Domingue served as a staging ground for the French military and navy during the American Revolution and provided troops to the siege of Savannah in 1779. It became the United States' second-largest commercial partner during the 1780s and 1790s. After Saint-Domingue's slaves revolted in 1791, many of its inhabitants found refuge in the United States, most notably in Philadelphia, Charleston, and New Orleans. Fears (or hopes) that the slave revolt would spread to the United States were prevalent in public opinion. As Saint-Domingue achieved quasi-autonomous status under the leadership of Toussaint Louverture, it occupied a central place in the diplomacy of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The Louisiana Purchase was made possible in part by the failure of a French expedition to Saint-Domingue in 1802–1803. Bilateral trade declined after Saint-Domingue acquired its independence from France in 1804 (after which Saint-Domingue became known as Haiti), but Haiti continued to loom large in the African-American imagination, and there were several attempts to use Haiti as a haven for U.S. freedmen. The U.S. diplomatic recognition of Haiti also served as a reference point for antebellum debates on slavery, the slave trade, and the status of free people of color in the United States.
Ideas of Race in Early America
Sean P. Harvey
"Race," as a concept denoting a fundamental division of humanity and usually encompassing cultural as well as physical traits, was crucial in early America. It provided the foundation for the colonization of Native land, the enslavement of American Indians and Africans, and a common identity among socially unequal and ethnically diverse Europeans. Longstanding ideas and prejudices merged with aims to control land and labor, a dynamic reinforced by ongoing observation and theorization of non-European peoples. Although before colonization, neither American Indians, nor Africans, nor Europeans considered themselves unified "races," Europeans endowed racial distinctions with legal force and philosophical and scientific legitimacy, while Natives appropriated categories of "red" and "Indian," and slaves and freed people embraced those of "African" and "colored," to imagine more expansive identities and mobilize more successful resistance to Euro-American societies. The origin, scope, and significance of "racial" difference were questions of considerable transatlantic debate in the age of Enlightenment and they acquired particular political importance in the newly independent United States.
Since the beginning of European exploration in the 15th century, voyagers called attention to the peoples they encountered, but European, American Indian, and African "races" did not exist before colonization of the so-called New World. Categories of "Christian" and "heathen" were initially most prominent, though observations also encompassed appearance, gender roles, strength, material culture, subsistence, and language. As economic interests deepened and colonies grew more powerful, classifications distinguished Europeans from "Negroes" or "Indians," but at no point in the history of early America was there a consensus that "race" denoted bodily traits only. Rather, it was a heterogeneous compound of physical, intellectual, and moral characteristics passed on from one generation to another. While Europeans assigned blackness and African descent priority in codifying slavery, skin color was secondary to broad dismissals of the value of "savage" societies, beliefs, and behaviors in providing a legal foundation for dispossession.
"Race" originally denoted a lineage, such as a noble family or a domesticated breed, and concerns over purity of blood persisted as 18th-century Europeans applied the term—which dodged the controversial issue of whether different human groups constituted "varieties" or "species"—to describe a roughly continental distribution of peoples. Drawing upon the frameworks of scripture, natural and moral philosophy, and natural history, scholars endlessly debated whether different races shared a common ancestry, whether traits were fixed or susceptible to environmentally produced change, and whether languages or the body provided the best means to trace descent. Racial theorization boomed in the U.S. early republic, as some citizens found dispossession and slavery incompatible with natural-rights ideals, while others reconciled any potential contradictions through assurances that "race" was rooted in nature.
Indian Slavery
Christina Snyder
The history of American slavery began long before the first Africans arrived at Jamestown in 1619. Evidence from archaeology and oral tradition indicates that for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years prior, Native Americans had developed their own forms of bondage. This fact should not be surprising, for most societies throughout history have practiced slavery. In her cross-cultural and historical research on comparative captivity, Catherine Cameron found that bondspeople composed 10 percent to 70 percent of the population of most societies, lending credence to Seymour Drescher's assertion that "freedom, not slavery, was the peculiar institution." If slavery is ubiquitous, however, it is also highly variable. Indigenous American slavery, rooted in warfare and diplomacy, was flexible, often offering its victims escape through adoption or intermarriage, and it was divorced from racial ideology, deeming all foreigners—men, women, and children, of whatever color or nation—potential slaves. Thus, Europeans did not introduce slavery to North America. Rather, colonialism brought distinct and evolving notions of bondage into contact with one another. At times, these slaveries clashed, but they also reinforced and influenced one another. Colonists, who had a voracious demand for labor and export commodities, exploited indigenous networks of captive exchange, producing a massive global commerce in Indian slaves. This began with the second voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1495 and extended in some parts of the Americas through the twentieth century. During this period, between 2 and 4 million Indians were enslaved. Elsewhere in the Americas, Indigenous people adapted Euro-American forms of bondage. In the Southeast, an elite class of Indians began to hold African Americans in transgenerational slavery and, by 1800, developed plantations that rivaled those of their white neighbors. The story of Native Americans and slavery is complicated: millions were victims, some were masters, and the nature of slavery changed over time and varied from one place to another. A significant and long overlooked aspect of American history, Indian slavery shaped colonialism, exacerbated Native population losses, figured prominently in warfare and politics, and influenced Native and colonial ideas about race and identity.
Infrastructure: Streets, Roads, and Highways
Peter Norton
By serving travelers and commerce, roads and streets unite people and foster economic growth. But as they develop, roads and streets also disrupt old patterns, upset balances of power, and isolate some as they serve others. The consequent disagreements leave historical records documenting social struggles that might otherwise be overlooked. For long-distance travel in America before the middle of the 20th century, roads were generally poor alternatives, resorted to when superior means of travel, such as river and coastal vessels, canal boats, or railroads were unavailable. Most roads were unpaved, unmarked, and vulnerable to the effects of weather. Before the railroads, for travelers willing to pay the toll, rare turnpikes and plank roads could be much better. Even in towns, unpaved streets were common until the late 19th century, and persisted into the 20th. In the late 19th century, rapid urban growth, rural free delivery of the mails, and finally the proliferation of electric railways and bicycling contributed to growing pressure for better roads and streets. After 1910, the spread of the automobile accelerated the trend, but only with great controversy, especially in cities. Partly in response to the controversy, advocates of the automobile organized to promote state and county motor highways funded substantially by gasoline taxes; such roads were intended primarily for motor vehicles. In the 1950s, massive federal funds accelerated the trend; by then, motor vehicles were the primary transportation mode for both long and short distances. The consequences have been controversial, and alternatives have been attracting growing interest.
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Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest. Nature's core building blocks-its elements- are fused into this refined furniture set. Tightly woven wicker forms comforting, back-to-basics bodies and arms, while sophisticated stainless steel legs add style and strength. A wide variety of unique pieces offer a wealth of customizable options, exclusive to the Elements Collections.
Our welded all-aluminum frames are corrosion-resistant and extremely durable. These frames require minimal maintenance and should retain their finish after years of use. The wicker will not absorb moisture, thus will not expand or contract which can result in weakening and rotting and can be cleaned with warm water and a mild detergent. The wicker has a unique coating called Durium ® Modified Polyester Enamel which is a melamine cross linked thermoset backing polyester modified with an acrylic co-polymer to enhance performance requirements such as exterior durability and chemical resistance.
*The pictures of each individual furniture piece are in the raw form before the Durium ® finish. Please refer to the swatch color and the lifestyle picture for final wicker color.
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Parenting.com is teaming up with TODAY Moms to find out how Valentine's Day has changed—or hasn't—for parents. We want to know: How have your traditions changed? How much do you plan to spend celebrating this year? What do you hope to get from your partner? And more…
Plus: Easy Valentine's Day Recipes for Kids
Take our quick survey and stay tuned to see the results!
And while you're at it, if you and your kids are getting into the Valentine's Day spirit, ask your kids, "What is love?" and capture their answers on camera. Send the video to firstname.lastname@example.com—we'll choose our favorites and put them together in one super-cute video! We hope you'll join us!


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Description:HP StorageWorks Enclosure 4314RPart Number(s)
Option Part# 190209-B31
Overview:The StorageWorks 4300 Enclosure family is the newest Compaq Ultra3 SCSI disk drive storage enclosure delivering industry-leading data performance availability storage capacity and upgradability to meet customer's demanding and growing storage needs.The StorageWorks Enclosure is ideal for data center departmental and workgroup server users who need a flexible universal storage enclosure that utilizes a common storage building block for their current and future data center. The StorageWorks Enclosure 4300 is intended for use with servers delivering business-critical data and applications with requirements for high availability and performance excellent serviceability and large storage capacity. The StorageWorks Enclosure 4300 family was developed designed and engineered by Compaq and includes innovations such as an award-winning innovative drive carrier.


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Watch The ::God Is Imaginary Videos On YouTube ::
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I forecast the weather for a living ...
Religions need books because they don't have gods.
"Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while." --Kin Hubbard
I look forward to participating in discussions with all of you.
Quote from: Vinz Clortho on July 19, 2013, 11:10:49 AMI forecast the weather for a living ...Hey Vinz, welcome. Somebody once said words to the effect: "Don't knock the weather - without it 99% of people couldn't start a conversation." Maybe we should start a Climate Change discussion thread hey?
I live in Oklahoma where weather is a BIG deal - it tends to tear off my roof and try to kill me at least once a year, so I have a great respect for weather forecasters.
Welcome! We look forward to learning all about you and about how your journey has lead you to atheism. I'm also delighted to get a new parent on the forum. The second one in two days! My daughter is almost 7. Is your daughter still in preschool?


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Galatik Relations
This is the place for Galatik Relations related information.
+++++ LOCATION: DIPLOMACY ZONE(S), CENTER OF ALL KNOWN GALAXIES++++++ Welcome to the Station. Here, various empires may: Make Alliances Merge into each other Sell territories Declare War Trade/set up trade routes **Before you post, register your empire(or whatever it is) with the registry, along with at least two(2) empires you have come into a little contact with.**
**Enter the Galatik Relations Thread [Here] .**
[[image:http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/rossvarn/OtherStuff/galaktik_relations_map.jpg width="798" height="751" caption="Map of Current Space Empires - Click link to view zoomable map" link="@http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/rossvarn/OtherStuff/galaktik_relations_map.jpg"]]
Above is a unofficial map of the current territories claimed in Galatik Relations.
Current Factions Include:
United planets - **Muffinman42** Military Arm: Multiple land based militaries that vary from region to region. Fleet Arm: A group of fleets, mainly attached to their home planets military arm. Intelligence Arm: none... or as far as you know. STANDINGS: At war against RAGE.
Rebellion Against General Equality (RAGE) - **Muffinman42** Military Arm: who ever they can get, being a rebel force, they normally smuggle bombs onto other fleets, or use other sneaky tactics. Fleet Arm: A couple of hi-jacked and junk ships. Intelligence Arm: No permanent, might send a few untrained people to spy but thats it. STANDINGS: Dislike everyone who refuse to join their force. Generally defined as terrorists due to their hi-jacking and bombings. At what could be called "war" with the United planets.
Walter Jacobi Ego Universal Trust WJEUT - **Ogel96** Military Arm: Jacobi Corporation Fleet Arm: Ego Industries Intelligence Arm: Walter Association Standings Free Enterprises Of Galaxia Abyssus: War
Free Enterprises of Galaxia Abyssus - **Ogel96** Military Arm: Nazi Zombies Fleet Arm: The Red Imperials (not chinese, chess) Intelligence Arm: The Greater Thieves Guild Standings WJEUT: War
The FELC , or the Federation of Elder Lord Conquest Prevention - **Ross_Varn** Military Arm: FELC Ground Corps Fleet Arm: The Army of Epicus Intelligence Arm: Society of Red Ninjas STANDINGS: Assyrian Empire. Wary, Limited Espionage. Minor skirmish with an Assyrian Longcruiser at the beginning of FELC colonization.
Universal Union(UU) - **501stCadians** Military Arm: Trans-Human OverWatch Fleet Arm: UU Naval OverWatch Intelligence Arm: Mossad STANDINGS: VOL: Neutral/Friendly(Little Contact) Assyrian Empire: Neutral/Friendly(Some Contact. Obtained Laser Rifles.)
Scythian Empire - The Shadowscythe Military Arm: Scythian Armed Forces Fleet Arm: Scythian Fleet Command Intelligence Arm: Scythian Office Of Naval Intelligence Standings: Vol: Limited Espionage Assyrians: Limited Espionage
Gamma Corps Protectorate (GPC) - **Elmagnifico** Military Arm: GCPF (Gamma Corps Planetary Forces) Fleet Arm: GCITF (Gamma Corps Interstellar Task Force) Intelligence Arm: The Blackavar Division STANDINGS: The Immortal Empire: Hostile. Although the Fall of Fico was five standard years ago, the Protectorate's armed forces still contain enough grizzled veterans of that conflict that any encounter between Protectorate troops and Immortals will most certainly end in bloodshed, and lots of it.
Republic of Mauros - **Cpl. Halan** Military Arm:Mauros Marine Corps/Mauran Mechanized Infantry Corps Fleet Arm: Grey fleet Command Intelligence Arm:Mauran Marine Ranger Corps STANDINGS: Minimal contact
The United Federation of Adamas Systems - **Ranger S2H** Military Arm: Adamas ranger Corpses. Fleet Arm: The Adamas Federation is still developing its fleet. currently, all space travel is performed by the Adamas federal airforce. (pilots and other airmen are known as skyrangers.) Intelligence Arm: huge network of agents, assassins, and cells all over the galaxy known as the federal network (FedNet). there is only one agency which uses and controls the net, but it is known by thousands of names. STANDINGS: The Assyrian star empire: friendly. The Ranger corps fights the renegade Czech worlds and the eastern militias who have allied with them. in turn the assyrians provide new technology. there is an assyrian platoon active in Ranger Corps Delta.
drashonian republic - **lrdofbricks** army branch: grand army of the rebellion space branch: none (assyrian ally's) dispostiron: assyrians-friendly/allied, stranians-enemies
Pirates of Charybdia - **Arkbrik** Military Arm: Rodrigo Palo and his crew Fleet Arm: The //Bloodstained Serpent// Intelligence Arm: Various drunkards, gamblers and prostitutes STANDINGS: The Brikish Empire (enemy) Ninjas (nemesis)
The Jronnikan League (JR) - **briknerd7** Military Arm: The Tylonian Military Alliance Fleet Arm: The Tylonian Incursion Fleet Intelligence Arm: The Jronnikan Elite Force STANDINGS: Nitewatchman's Army, I think that its Brikend Kingdom (neutral/enemy) The Jronnikan League generally fights against Nitewatchman instead helping the Army of The Blokbots (not official name) because apparently "the unwritten laws of the say that it must be so" as the leader of the Blokbots says .


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Desiring God recently interviewed Paul Miller, author of A Praying Life, and asked him to describe the problem of cynicism in prayer, and what is his advice to those who are struggling with it?
Cynicism is my biggest struggle in prayer. It is a quiet, cold rationalism that dulls the soul and just kills your walk with God. It is hard to even identify or name our cynicism because it just feels like being realistic. It says things like, "What good does it [prayer] do?" or "It [the answer to prayer] would have happened anyway."
I think we are particularly susceptible to cynicism in the Reformed world because we are an intellectual world. We are rightly concerned about our ideas being correct, but we don't always pay attention to our heart being correct.
I think without a doubt that the principal cure for cynicism is to become a little child and learn to cry out for help—to realize that I am a lost coin, a lost sheep, and a lost son.
One other cure for cynicism is purity of life. Any time there is a miss between how we present ourselves as Christians and what we are really like when no one is watching, that opens up a door for cynicism. So a lifestyle of repentance and confession goes a long way to cure cynicism.


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Biofuels tops in efficiency
I was interested to read Ronald Bailey's piece in the February 23 Hook ["Energy rhubarb: Biofuels lead to biofeud"]. As the events director for Public Policy Virginia, a local non-profit that has been studying the issue of biofuels for some time, I firmly believe that ethanol and biodiesel can and should be part of our nation's comprehensive energy policy.
Public Policy Virginia held an event in Danville last December that focused on the economic benefits to Southside Virginia of a local ethanol production plant. We are holding another event on Thursday, March 30, at 6:30pm at the Unitarian Church in Charlottesville that will address the environmental benefits of ethanol use– in particular, of cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass. I hope that anyone interested in learning more about biofuels will attend.
I would like to address the issue raised every time biofuels are mentioned (and which Bailey discusses)– whether ethanol production is energy efficient. Study after study has shown the net energy value of ethanol to be positive, and as technology becomes more sophisticated, the NEV continues to improve.
In addition, most of these studies are of corn ethanol which is a considerably less efficient biomass than cellulosic crops such as switchgrass. Though Pimentel and Patzek may disagree, they appear to be the only two dissenters on this issue in the scientific community.
As a nation, we must begin to take seriously the environmental harm caused by our dependence on fossil fuels. It is imperative that we look to alternative, renewable, and homegrown sources of energy for our continued economic, environmental, and national security.
David Barish
Public Policy Virginia
firstname.lastname@example.com #


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HITMC (Healthcare IT Marketing and PR Community) Awards and Ongoing #HITMC Twitter Chats
John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 10 blogs containing over 8000 articles with John having written over 4000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 16 million times. John also manages Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today, the leading career Health IT job board and blog. John is co-founder of InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: @techguy and @ehrandhit and LinkedIn.
I promise not to annoy you too much with more posts about the Health IT Marketing and PR Conference and associated awards programs and Twitter chats. However, I know that many people who read this blog will be interested in the recently announced HITMC (Healthcare IT Marketing and PR Community) Awards. This is done in conjunction with the HITMC conference and the winners will be recognized at the conference in front of hundreds of your peers.
Here's a list of the HITMC award categories:
- Best Trade Show Theme or Campaign
- Best Content Marketing Program
- Best Social Media Program
- Best Creative
- Agency or Marketing Department of the Year
- Marketing or PR Professional of the Year (an individual)
You have until the end of February 2015 to submit your nominations, so submit your own or your colleagues work today.
#HITMC Twitter Chat
After a successful first #HITMC Twitter chat, we just announced the 2nd #HITMC Twitter chat. This is a great way for the healthcare IT marketing and PR community to come together before the conference. The next Twitter chat is going to cover Making the Most of Your #HIMSS15 Experience We hope that those interested will join us on the #HITMC hashtag on Twitter.
We're also planning to hold the #HITMC Twitter chat every other week between now and the #HITMC conference. We'll post all the latest updates and topics for the Twitter chats on the Health IT Marketing and PR Conference blog.
Thanks to all of the readers for your support of these efforts. It's been fun to see this community come together like it's never done before.


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To report an emergency in progress, call 911.
November 18, 2009
District Attorney
10810 Justice Center Drive, Suite 240
916 543-8000
Art Campos
Public Information Officer
916 543-8076
Scott Owens
Assistant District Attorney
916 543-8000
A 24-year-old woman who worked as an office manager for a dentist in Roseville has been sentenced to one year in the Placer County jail for embezzling more than $47,000.
Holly Ann Keate of Rocklin was also placed on five years probation and ordered to pay back $47,431 to the dental office by Placer County Superior Court Judge Colleen Nichols. The sentencing took place on Nov. 12.
Keate's former employer, Dr. Thomas Schlehofer, wrote in a letter to the judge that the defendant deceived people "with her power of authority over patients."
"She has abused her managerial position with malicious neglect of patients, their personal files, their credit cards and their cash," the dentist wrote. "She preyed on the senior citizens of our community knowing they did not have insurance and would pay cash."
Schlehofer wrote that Keate also caused coworkers to miss out on bonuses while she lied to him about employees' performances and that the loss of the $47,431 "nearly collapsed the office."
In addition, because of the lost funds, the dental office was unable to send money to sponsored charities such as an orphanage, he wrote.
Schlehofer wrote that Keate used the embezzled money to take vacations and to have laser treatment and elective plastic surgery.
According to prosecutor Joseph Hoffmann, Keate embezzled the money from Aug. 25, 2008, until Jan. 22, 2009.
Roseville police investigated the case, obtained an arrest warrant and apprehended her on April 18 as she was about to board an airplane at Sacramento International Airport for a vacation in Hawaii.
In September, Keate entered a plea of no contest to a charge of grand theft by embezzlement.


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Truncate a string (first argument) if it is longer than the given maximum string length (second argument). Return the truncated string with a
... ending.
Note that inserting the three dots to the end will add to the string length.
However, if the given maximum string length
num is less than or equal to 3, then the addition of the three dots does not add to the string length in determining the truncated string.
Remember to use Read-Search-Ask if you get stuck. Write your own code.
Here are some helpful links:


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Summer means going outside, enjoying your friends and family, taking trips...and holing up in the dark to see exactly what your favorite stars have been working on all throughout the year. From insanely high-budget superhero flicks to subdued slow-burners, summer films pack theaters everywhere, and we're about to enter those eagerly anticipated three months of the year. Here are the 30 films you shouldn't, nay, cannot miss this season, broken down into a handy-dandy week-by-week guide.
Release Date: May 3
Movie: Iron Man 3
Summary: Tony Stark dusts off his Iron-y suit to really save the world (for real this time), with all the blasts, explosions, and RDJ one-liners you can handle. Also, expect to see about 800 extra suits.
Why We'll See It: Because Marvel films are SO fun, and we have to be caught up when Avengers 2 comes out!
Movie: The Iceman
Summary: Based on the true story of Richard Kuklinski, who managed to keep his hitman life a secret from his wife and daughter until his 1986 arrest, Iceman recounts what it takes to be a straight badass, even if that means including a James Franco cameo.
Why We'll See It: Because we haven't seen Winona Ryder get this dark since Beetlejuice.
Movie: Scatter My Ashes At Bergdorf's
Summary: An inside look into the clientele, buyers, and designers that make this iconic store an international shopping hub. Yes, there are clips of Anna Wintour.
Why We'll See It: Because it confirms our suspicion that there is at least one other person out there whose dying wish is to have their ashes spread amongst this shopping mecca. Plus, it may be Rachel Zoe's last on-screen appearance.
Photo: Courtesy of Warner Brothers; Video: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures/Marvel Studios; Millenium Films; Berney Films.
Release Date: May 10
Movie: The Great Gatsby
Summary: Do we really need to explain the plot? One of America's greatest writers crafts an impeccable character study that also manages to hold a mirror up to a rapidly evolving American society. Hollywood gets hold, amps up the love story, lands a gigantic budget. Deco decadence ensues.
Why We'll See It: As much as we love Baz Luhrmann, we can't deny that we're a little wary about this one. As a movie in and of itself, as a soundtrack, and as a visual experience, it will certainly be mind-blowing. But we're not sure if we'll ever be able to divorce ourselves completely from the incredibly complex, masterful source material. The film might add value to that, it might be considered scholarly blasphemy, but either way, this is one worth watching — if only because you know it's going to be the talk of the town all summer long.
Video: Courtesy of Warner Brothers.
Release Date: May 17
Movie: Star Trek: Into The Darkness
Summary: A former good guy goes bad, wreaking unprecedented havoc on the Enterprise and its allies. Captain Kirk does what he always does: Take it personally, seek revenge, risk his life in the process.
Why We'll See It: Though the world is tiring of endless remakes and reboots, the Star Trek franchise is easily expanded upon and, based on the last movie, seems to benefit from modern effects technology. This one has enough explosions to make you go deaf, but that won't stop us from watching Benedict Cumberbatch go on a massive owning spree (we'll just bring earplugs).
Movie: The English Teacher
Summary: Highlighting both the challenges of maintaining meaningful arts programs in public schools and the complexities of professional romances, this comedy features some of our favorite faces in the business. Oh, and it will make you remember all the ridiculous stuff you were forced to do in high school.
Why We'll See It: Because Julianne Moore channels Tina Fey in the most beautiful, self-deprecating way possible.
Movie: Frances-Ha
Summary: Girls wanna do stuff with their lives. But sometimes that stuff doesn't happen, and that's alright.
Why We'll See It: Because it transports us to Paris while making our silly, twenty-something dreams seem less foreign.
Video: Courtesy of Bad Robot Productions; Artina Films; Pine District Pictures.
Release Date: May 24
Movie: The Hangover Part III
Summary: The wolfpack returns to make another wealth of bad decisions. Except, this time Melissa McCarthy is in it.
Why We'll See It: It's the end of an era (we hope).
Movie: Only God Forgives
Summary: Both Ryan Gosling and Kristen Scott Thomas are stepping out of their usual wheelhouses in this heady action flick, which tells the tale of a man avenging his brother's seedy, twisted death in his own seedy, twisted ways.
Why We'll See It: Gos isn't the only draw here — if the trailer is any indication, this neo-noir looks like a disturbing but somehow beautiful exploration of aggression. Hopefully, it's the fresh take on this decade's many campy, violent fighter flicks we've been waiting for.
Movie: Before Midnight
Summary: We marveled at the romance of Before Sunrise, and we swooned at the promise of Before Midnight, but now that 18 years (!!) have passed since Jesse and Celine first met, we get to see that romance and promise put to the test.
Why We'll See It: Because the first two were so darn good, and were believably spaced nine years apart. This one also has the nine year gap, and we love that the film asks the audience to imagine what "passionate" love looks like nearly a decade later.
Movie: epic
Summary: Some say Ferngully, others say Avatar, and the appropriately titled epic seems to channel those films — but with a bit of a wink. We are guessing there will be lessons learned, bonds forged, battles won.
Why We'll See It: Um, the voice talent is, if we can say it, epic. Beyoncé, Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, Josh Hutcheson, Aziz Ansari, etc. etc.
Video: Courtesy of Legendary Pictures; Radius TWC; Sony Pictures Classics; Twentieth Century Fox Animation.
Release Date: May 31
Movie: The East
Summary: Ellen Page, Alexander Skarsgard, and Brit Marling star in this story of a private intelligence agent infiltrating a renegade "eco-activist group." The undercover op reveals an extensive, well-armed world of anarchists determined to take down the corporate elite — and a star-crossed love story that could derail the whole plan.
Why We'll See It: Brit Marling is probably one of the more underrated actresses in the industry today, and this looks like yet another intelligently written gem she's adding to her screenwriting and acting oeuvre. Plus, we're kind of into the idea of saying, "We knew her before..." when she gets the recognition she deserves.
Movie: Now You See Me
Summary: After all the bad things Gob Bluth did for magic's reputation, it's about time it got some street cred back. Jesse Eiesenberg and his fellow magicians — sorry, illusionists — use their other-worldly skills to rob banks and turn the world upside-down (making Morgan Freeman very upset).
Why We'll See It: Since all trailers have the exact same formula nowadays, it's hard to tell if this will be as exciting as it promises, but it will probably be fun to watch, even if it makes no lasting impression. Plus, we're huge fans of pretty much everyone on the cast list.
Video: Courtesy of Scott Free Productions; Summit Entertainment.
Release Date: June 7
Movie: Violet & Daisy
Summary: Part BFF romp, part crime drama, part who-knows-what, this elusive film follows two young girls in search of adventure with a taste for violence, who bite off a little more than they can chew.
Why We'll See It: With this incredibly varied dream-team cast, this movie promises to resist classification but win over your heart with its unexpected twists of both plot and message.
Movie: The Internship
Summary: The guys from Wedding Crashers lose their jobs and somehow get internships at Google, where everyone is better, younger, and nerdier than them.
Why We'll See It: Is this one big Google commercial? As much as we hate to pay NYC movie prices, out of sheer curiosity, this is just too bewildering not to check out.
Movie: Much Ado About Nothing
Summary: Shakespeare's play gets the Joss Whedon treatment.
Why We'll See It: For Whedon and Shakespeare fans alike, this is a must-see. For more casually-interested viewers, it's part of yet another Shakespeare vogue in popular cinema (to be followed by an upcoming version of Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet), and a bold attempt to marry modern banter and comedic timing with the original text.
Video: Courtesy of Warner Brothers; Regency Enterprises; Bellwether Pictures.
Release Date: June 12
Movie: This Is The End
Summary: James Franco, Emma Watson, Seth Rogen, and Jonah Hill are suddenly left as humanity's last hope. So, yeah, that doesn't exactly bode well for our species.
Why We'll See It: This is exactly what a summer blockbuster should be. Self-aware, not taking itself too seriously, a raucous theater experience, and aliens. Get your hidden flasks ready, this is gonna be a great night at the movies.
Video: Courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Release Date: June 13
Movie: Man of Steel
Summary: The story of Superman. Like, before he was Superman.
Why We'll See It: Because summer just ain't summer without a solid superhero movie.
Movie: The Bling Ring
Summary: Sofia Coppola nails the art of imagining what it would be like if you and your friends decided to rob the best-dressed celebrities in Hollywood.
Why We'll See It: Emma Watson throws Hermione to the wind and channels the snark and sex appeal of what we think will be our new favorite film character.
Video: Courtesy of Warner Brothers; A24.
Release Date: June 21
Movie: World War Z
Summary: Zombies take over the world at an alarming rate, and wouldn't you know, it's up to one ruggedly handsome man and his beautiful family to stop them!
Why We'll See It: This whole zombie apocalypse thing has to end sometime, but can't we just extend it for a few more gory moments (and another season of The Walking Dead)? Brad Pitt has been trying to make this movie for years, starting with a bidding war for the screen rights to the novel against Leonardo DiCaprio (we think the right man for the role won out here). Reviews of leaked scripts have compared it to the awe-inspiring Children of Men, but there's been as much doubt as there has been praise. Rewrites, re-shoots, and millions of dollars later, we can't wait to finally see the evidence.
Video: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Release Date: June 28
Movie: I'm So Excited
Summary: Airline stewards stuck on a plane flying round and round but not going anywhere, with plenty of dance numbers in between. The latest from Almodovar promises to deliver his signature "serious comedy" style to great applause.
Why We'll See It: Early reviews say this is a return to the sex-filled insanity of the director's earlier years, and we're very interested to see how he approaches that for his increasingly international audience.
Movie: Byzantium
Summary: Saoirse Ronan attempts to right the wrongs of vampires past, while seeking refuge in a dilapidated coastal resort with her mother — no underlying teen abstinence message required.
Why We'll See It: Some of us are still hankering for a vampire fix, and with Ronan on board, this might fulfill the promise made, but never quite finished, by Twilight. Plus, a non-cheese vampire film could be a blessing for the genre.
Movie: White House Down
Summary: It's official: Director Roland Emmerich has an obsession with blowing up the White House. He first did it in Independence Day, and now he's traded in aliens for human terrorists as the United States erupts in a 21st century civil war.
Why We'll See It: Channing Tatum. Okay, we also can't deny the allure of an action film, and the shock-and-awe this trailer packs. But seriously, Channing Tatum.
Video: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics; StudioCanal; Centropolis Entertainment.
Release Date: July 12
Movie: Pacific Rim
Summary: In some futuristic apocalypse, humanity is threatened by sea monsters that are destroying Earth's resources. When an army of robot weapons is developed to protect the planet's population, real live humans are enlisted to save what technology cannot.
Why We'll See It: Contrary to popular belief, this is not based on a video game. It's all straight from one man's imagination; Guillermo del Toro, the master of fantasy. If Pan's Labyrinth was any indication, this is sure to be an unnerving feast for the eyes.
Video: Courtesy of Legendary Pictures.
Release Date: July 26
Movie: Blue Jasmine
Summary: A well-off New York housewife falls into an acute life crisis and is forced to live in San Francisco to cure her of her neuroses.
Why We'll See It: Woody Allen and neurosis? Sounds familiar, but we can't deny it's a match made in Hollywood story-telling heaven. Plus, Allen has come out and said this isn't a comedy, which has us wondering what he considers to be a drama.
Movie: The Wolverine
Summary: Oh, did you think that with an Oscar nom under his belt, Hugh Jackman is just going to be doing serious flicks from here on out? No way, he's got The Wolverine, his signature X-Men character's Origins sequel (which it appears Marvel is doing instead of giving all the X-men an origin story). This one sticks closer to the comic, setting Logan in modern day Japan and letting him struggle without his superhero-clad comrades.
Why We'll See It: Because we love Hugh Jackman. And hopefully if we go to see it, studios might get around to producing an original story for other mutant bad-asses, too.
Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics; Video: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Release Date: August 9
Movie: Elysium
Summary: Neill Blomkamp, the director of the Oscar-nominated film District 9, created a legit sci-fi movie with some sharp political commentary...on a relatively small budget. Now, with star power and a bit more money, he imagines another dystopia, but alongside it he envisions "Elysium", a fantasy world only belonging to the rich and powerful. Good science fiction comments on universal, topical issues set in a world that is not our own, and that is exactly what this movie is aiming to do.
Why We'll See It: Matt Damon looks gritty, broken, demented...and awesome. And District 9 was so darn good, it'd take a pretty serious flop to turn us out of Camp Blomkamp.
Movie: Lovelace
Summary: A biopic exposing the exploitation porn star Linda Lovelace faced during her infamous career, and how she eventually broke free from the industry to help prevent other women from facing similar exploitation.
Why We'll See It: Amanda Seyfried stars in a role that — on paper — sounds perfect for Lindsay Lohan, but after seeing shots of the actress in character we're convinced Seyfried was made for this film. This doesn't look like some snuff film rooted in hedonism. It looks like a real human take on an industry that's often misconstrued and negatively judged. We're all for that.
Summary: A biopic exposing the exploitation porn star Linda Lovelace faced during her infamous career, and how she eventually broke free from the industry to help prevent other women from facing similar exploitation.
Why We'll See It: Amanda Seyfried stars in a role that — on paper — sounds perfect for Lindsay Lohan, but after seeing shots of the actress in character we're convinced Seyfried was made for this film. This doesn't look like some snuff film rooted in hedonism. It looks like a real human take on an industry that's often misconstrued and negatively judged. We're all for that.
Video: Courtesy of TriStar Pictures; Photo: Courtesy of Millenium Films.
Release Date: August 16
Movie: Kick-Ass 2
Summary: When Chloe Grace Moretz muttered a horrible word in the red band trailer of the original Kick-Ass, people were incensed: Even Moretz herself said she couldn't say the film's name at home. So, of course, the cult comic book would have to up its ante to get fans excited. And up the ante goes, with a pumping Sleigh Bells soundtrack and Chloe (as the über tough Hit Girl) showing Kick-Ass exactly how to be a superhero.
Why We'll See It: We've seen super geniuses and individuals with incredible powers. The story of some regular kids trying to do some good without a whole lot of cool gear or abilities will always be appealing.
Video: Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Release Date: August 23
Movie: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
Summary: Secret magical societies. Hot boys. Cool, paranormal fight scenes. Oh, and so, so much teenage brooding. (So much palpable brooding and angst, we are quivering just thinking about it.) Now that Twilight is over, we need another series to capture our inner adolescent, and the popular Mortal Instruments books might be just that. Lily Collins is Clary, the young girl who is drawn into a witchy world by the enigmatic Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower) and they share many, many longing glances.
Why We'll See It: Um, what about "many, many longing glances" doesn't sound awesome?
Video: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment.


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Price: $58.00 to $68.00
Published on Dec 03, 2011


text:
There are axioms in any business and a big one in farming is it is not a good idea to introduce something new in a bad farming year.
More than one new, truly promising cotton variety has been shot dead by growers at the starting gate just because it was introduced during a poor production year, regardless of the fact it may be the weather or insects that caused it to be a less than ideal season. Ditto for new production techniques or new chemistry.
Ultra narrow-row (UNR) cotton is not a new idea. It has been floundering around California and Arizona for at least three decades, stymied by the lack of an efficient harvesting system.
However, there has been a breakthrough in harvesting UNR. Its first public, commercial demonstration, though, left a lot to be desired for the innovative Northern San Joaquin Valley producer who agreed to try a large scale trial of UNR for demonstrating the unique Deere UNR picker mechanism.
It may have been a fitting end to an already challenged growing season.
The only version of narrow-row cotton in the West that has really caught on is 30-inch cotton. It has replaced considerable, traditional 38- and 40-inch cotton, especially in California and somewhat in Arizona, because it allowed growers to put about 25 percent more plants in the field and more plants usually means more yield.
Key to evolution
The key to this evolution was a pair of farmer-modified two-row, straddle-row pickers in the mid-1970s that opened the door to narrow-row cotton. At least one company later developed commercial kits to modify two-row pickers to pick narrow-cotton. Straddling one row while picking two was not very efficient, but it was good enough to win converts to 30-inch cotton and encouraged two major commercial picker manufacturers, Case IH and John Deere, to develop larger four and six-row factory 30-inch pickers. These machines propelled narrow-row to widespread acceptability.
However, any row-spacing less than 30 inches wide still had to be gathered with either a brush harvester or a finger stripper. Those things gather probably twice as much trash from tall, high yielding Western cotton as they do cotton bolls. Brush harvesters and stripper are about as welcome at a cotton gin as a colony of red imported fire ants at a nudist summer camp.
Also, any moisture from rain or heavy fog shuts down the harvester instantly. Growers who have had success with stripper or brush harvesting have had to terminate the crop very early to make sure they dodge rain or fog and that reduces yield potential. Others who have tried to cheat the rain and fog have experienced disasters.
The UNR breakthrough has been promised in the West with Deere's unique 12-row picker that gathers cotton in rows spaced 15 inches apart by slicing off plants in one row and feeding them into an adjacent machine row where they are wrapped around other plants from an adjacent 15-inch row. Twisting together plants are then fed through a spindle picking mechanism.
First West showing
It has received a lot of press and rave review in other areas of the Cotton Belt where yields increases of 100 pounds per acre have reported. Deere ran it for the first time publicly in the West this year in 15-inch cotton at San Juan Ranch near Dos Palos, Calif. where ranch manager Daniel Burns planted about 180 acres of no-till cotton, herbicide-resistant cotton in 15-inch rows in one of the worst planting seasons in recent memory.
It was so late he left one field for dead — too late to replant. However, to Burns' surprise it came up.
Overall, Burns was not totally displeased with the stands in the three fields.
The 15-inch cotton trial at San Juan Ranch was part of a large scale, University of California trail comparing single row 30-inch cotton, double rows planted 7.5 inches apart on 30-inches beds and the 15-inch UNR.
Burns has been pioneer in the double row 30-inch cotton, which has out-yielded single row 30 consistently since he started growing it in 1998. It really outperforms conventional single-row-to-a-bed cotton in a poor year like 2005. During the seven years he has grown double-row 30-inch cotton, he has averaged a quarter-bale more cotton per acre than convention, single row 30-inch cotton. However in a year like '05 Burns expects to yield a half bale more per acre with twin-row 30 than single row 30.
"Twin-row really shines in a poor planting season year like this year," he said.
600 acres
Burns grew about 600 acres of twin-row this season, which is the maximum he can efficiently plant with his Monosem stagger planting unit planter. The rest of San Juan's 2,300 acres of cotton is single row 30s
This season was one of those lousy years. It started late with cold wet weather delaying planting. The crop hit an blistering July hot spell with daytime highs above 105 almost all month long and then when the weather cooled and the crop began to set cotton in August and September, fall arrived early, precluding that late summer/early fall boll set from maturing into harvestable bolls.
Untimely rain is particularly onerous in UNR because San Juan's 15-inch cotton was planted flat and water stood in the field. The rain was not good for the other cotton on 30-inch cotton, but it was on beds and the water shed off the plant rows into the furrows.
Early in the spring Burns ran an all-in-one Eliminator cultivation implement once and pulled borders to pre-irrigate. He sprayed emerged weeds with Roundup just ahead of planting with a new Deere offset planter designed to plant 16 15-inch rows.
A week after he planted, it rained about 2 inches and the field crusted over. Burns ran a rotary hoe over it, and it started to come up when another 1.5 inches of rain fell on it.
By then he needed to replant, but Deere had already trucked the planter to another state. So, he just decided to take what he had, assuming it would emerge.
May 8 stand
"It was planted April 27 and we did not get a stand until May 8th," he said. However, it developed into a "pretty decent" stand, he admitted.
After the stand was established, it was treated for weeds twice with Roundup on May 10 and May 25.
University of California Extension Cotton Specialist Bob Hutmacher, who is doing research comparing the three narrow-row production systems along with Madera/Merced counties farm advisor Ron Vargas said, "it's amazing Daniel got a stand considering the nasty conditions he encountered."
After the cotton emerged, it never saw iron again until it was picked. His management, other than insects, was to water-run UN 32; about 125 units.
"It did not look too bad considering what we went through just to get a stand." The established plants filled in skips well.
When it came time to pick, the 12-row Deere behemoth began rolling through the three fields.
"The picker had a row guidance system, but it was not equipped with GPS and it was a bear to pick the cotton. I had my best driver on it and he had a heckuva time finding the rows. And he could not drive after dark because he could not see the rows. The picker was the biggest downfall of the whole thing," he said. There also were problems with weeds plugging the 12-heads.
The picker has operated in the South and Southeast, recording significant yield increases in 15-inch cotton. "I think the difference in the West is that we have bigger plants and that made it more difficult for the picker to operate," he said. Burns surmised that UNR cotton in the South reaches only about two feet in height while Western UNR could be twice that tall.
Lacked compatibility
He tried to mount the AutoFarm GPS guidance system he uses on tractors on the Deere picker, but it was not compatible with the harvester.
Burns said it was not a good growing season to evaluate the narrow-row cotton, but he still believes the potential is there. "We have not ginned all the modules, but it looks like one field of 15-inch cotton went one bale; another a bale and a half and another probably two and a half bales, which is not bad considering what we went through just to get a stand," he said.
"There is no question the potential is there for 15-inch cotton if it can be picked with GPS," he said. "There was a yield monitor on the picker and it went through some four-bale cotton, proving that ultra narrow row cotton can yield."
Getting a yield increase is still critical to adapting new production techniques, but parallel to that is the need to reduce costs.
"I have done some preliminary calculations and it looks like UNR was about $80 per acre cheaper to grow than conventional cotton. Twin-row 30 cotton is about $50 cheaper to grow than conventional single row cotton."
Tempered enthusiasm
Problems with the picker have tempered Burn's enthusiasm a bit on the 15-inch system. "I don't think Deere is going to come back again to our farm with the system. You need a perfect season to make this work, and this was not the perfect season."
However, the disappointing '05 experiment has not lessened his drive to cut costs to stay in the cotton business.
"We do not know what is going to happen with the new farm bill, but it seems certain support will be reduced. For us to stay in the cotton business, we have got to cut costs," he said.
The Deere 15-inch system is expensive. The planter costs $50,000 and the 12-row picker is well into six figures.
There may not be a Western market for hardware that expensive.
The picker has been tested at J.G. Boswell on Pima cotton. However, most Pima is second picked and the cut-and-twist harvesting system will not second pick, thereby excluding the Deere system from more than half the cotton acreage in the valley. Of an estimated 600,000 acres of cotton expected to be planted in the valley in '06, at least half will be Pima.
That means there will be only about 250,000 acres of Acala/upland cotton in the valley next season and there are few growers who could afford to buy the planter and 12-row picker to gather 15-inch cotton. However, Deere said the picker mechanisms for the new harvesting system can be retrofitted to existing late model picker and that may be incentive enough to buy or lease the planter and give 15-inch cotton a try by replacing heads of older machines with the UNR picking mechanism.
"I think 10 years ago something like this Deere UNR spindle picking system would have created a lot more interest in 15-inch cotton in California," said Burns. There were more than 1.5 million acres of Acala/upland cottons then.
"Unfortunately, I think this UNR picker system is about 10 years too late for the valley," he added. "It could have saved a lot of acres that are now gone" due to increasing production costs. Burns believes growers would have been willing to try the 15-inch system to stay in the cotton business a decade ago before acreage started falling.