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What should you expect at this week's "CITIES FOR CYCLING" events?
Check out the STREETFILMS coverage of C4C in Boston!
Don't forget to RSVP on SOCIALIZR
Making Biking Better for Baltimore
What should you expect at this week's "CITIES FOR CYCLING" events?
Check out the STREETFILMS coverage of C4C in Boston!
Don't forget to RSVP on SOCIALIZR
First, I'd like to thank the many bicycle traffic verifiers that stepped up and helped collect this data! So many people signed up that I was able to match up 2 people per location and time in most cases. This not only helped get more accurate numbers, but helped build the bike community of Baltimore.
OK, the numbers:
1. Overall, 1354 bikes were counted over a 4 day period between September 7th and September 10th!
2. The highest bike count occurred at Falls Rd & Maryland Ave where 82 bikes rode by on Wednesday, Sept. 8th between 6:30 and 8:30 am.
3. During the same week in 2009, counts showed an average 250 cyclists a day. In 2010, 339 cyclists a day were counted! That's a 35.6% INCREASE!
In addition to the numbers, I got to hear some cool stories from those counting. Tiffany James told me a lady rode by her shouting "I'm being counted!" Brian Laird also indicated that several cyclists acknowledged his efforts in the counts. I also had quite a few folks upset that we weren't counting in their area. Not to worry, as the bike network expands, so will our count locations. If you have a spot that could use some counts, just comment below. Extending the morning counts to 9am was also recommended as many cyclists were observed after 8:30.
We're going to perform bike counts again in January. Yes, January. If we're seeing an increase during the fair weather, let's set the baseline for the foul weather.
Thanks again for everyone that helped out and made this increase in bike traffic verifiable!
Today's blog comes from Renee Samuels, who works with Mayor's Office of Neighborhood & Economic Development. Renee has been helping me promote cycling in Baltimore by setting up bike tours & presentations.
When I traveled to China in early September, I jumped at the chance to see Shanghai at night, by bicycle. I have never enjoyed a guided tour as much as I have by bicycle!
First, it's so fast for getting around. You see everything around you up close (including pink scooters). You'll get off the main roads, travel the side alleys and still manage to work off all the extra calories you've taken in eating the local food. We only had full days in the city, and limited touring time, Elizabeth and I wanted to make the most of it. Everyone bikes in Shanghai. It's eye opening.
I've never seen so many bicycles on the road nor amenities for cyclists. Real parking. Real biking lanes. Roadside bicycle repairs. And no helmets to mess up your hair. Babies and children on the backs of bikes. Or, in between their parents legs on the scooter. People rode side saddle on the backs of bikes and scooters too.
In Shanghai, we used China Cycle Tours for a 3:00 pm. to 10:00 pm night tour. This gave me enough time to go fabric shopping at the cloth market in the morning and let the humidity and heat cool off. Plus, Shanghai is beautiful at night. We went through Wen Mia, the only Confucian temple in Shanghai; Xintandi which is a former Jewish settlement and now eight acre shopping center (think the small streets of Prague); the Dong Tai Road Antique Market, and the Bund.
The Bund makes NYC's skyline look like a nightlight.
It's remarkable simply the way a city of 20 million moves people around the area. Traffic would be completely gridlocked if everyone on bicycle, electric scooter, e-bike or mass transit decided they should have a car and drive. There are totally separate and protected bike lines all over the city. There is bicycle parking everywhere. And, I mean everywhere you look. Scooters, cars, bikes and pedestrians truly share the road. What I found most enlightening is that bicycles are an absolutely common form of transportation and way to move cargo.
The best part though? My new bicycle parka! I became obsessed with getting one of these after seeing them in a photo there. It covers both you and the bike and has holes and cuffs to keep our hands dry over the handle bars. It has little clips to attach to the bike to prevent it from riding / blowing up in your face.. I actually kind of want it to rain so I can wear it out now that I'm back home in Baltimore:).
Last night, 50 or so cyclists took to the streets of Baltimore for a relatively peaceful ride. I have avoided Critical Mass in the past as it took on a confrontation tone with motorists. Those who generally organize the event went so far as to release flyers to help improve the ride's image stressing "keeping it tight" and "ride like grandma." OK, so I'll give it another shot.
The normal starting place of the Washington Monument was unavailable due to the Book Festival. So we meet a couple blocks north at Charles and Read where the street was still closed for the event. Even before the ride started, hecklers from both sides of the deraileur started up. Riding up Charles St. was fairly peaceful and cars were allowed to pass the group. The highlight of my evening occured when a young, male driver in a BMW "had" to run a red light without yielding the right of way to the bike that was in front of him. I was riding that bike!
From there, we went up Falls Rd to the switchbacks and up around Druid Lake. The ride went by the Keswick, Sission, Wyman Park intersection where it appears I need to go measure the bike box. (It doesn't appear to be as big as it should be. If anyone can get out there before Monday and do a quick measure between the bike stop bar and the vehicular stop bar, I would appreciate it.) We continued around Hopkins over 33rd to St. Paul where the group ditched my wife and I at 32nd St. So much for the "mass" part.
I think its going to be awhile before I participate in another Critical Mass ride, although I do have another ride in the works: B'more Spooky Halloween Ride, Saturday October 30th! Same rules as the Moonlight Madness Ride
Last night the Baltimore City Council moved forward on 3 of the "Bike Bills":
Tonight, the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Committee meets in the city's Planning Department (8th Floor, 417 E. Fayette St.) at 6pm for the September meeting. All are welscome to attend!
Tomorrow, September 22nd (Carfree Day) Bikestravaganza: Off the Chainring Tour comes to Baltimore for 2 gigs! Elly Blue and Joe Biel bring an interactive, multimedia traveling roadshow bike summit with bikes, movies, zines, books, debate, and problem solving.
From 1pm – 2pm Rangos Building (855 North Wolfe St), Room 490 on the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus
From 6pm – 8pm at The Windup Space, 12 W North Ave ($3-10 sliding scale at the door)
As much as I would have liked to have blogged from Chattanooga, it just wasn't possible. If ever you get a chance to attend ProWalk ProBike, you'll find that it packed with good stuff! I could go on about all the rich education I picked up in conferences, but I'll stick to the city. (Besides, who wants to see pix of lecturers etc.)
I took one mobile workshop in Chattanooga which gave a good overview of some of the things they're doing to make biking easier. I noticed several comparisons to B'more as they're most notable path runs along the waterfront and a moderately industrial town with little to no population after working hours. (Jane Jacobs would not be proud.) The Riverwalk is a gorgeous promenade along the Tennessee River some 13 miles from downtown to Bluff View and into upstream residential areas. Well engineered switchbacks and glass bridges connected the Aquarium to the Art Museum and even a wastewater treatment facility.
Chattanooga capitalized on its PWPB status by having numerous vendors descend on the city and install their products to showcase in the field. Automated counters, green bike lanes and textured bike lanes were shown off, but only in short segments and conveniently close to the convention center. I was impressed with two features that would be useful in Baltimore.
The Walnut Street Bridge is a truss bridge originally used for vehicular traffic but converted to pedestrian use 10 years ago. The bridge spans the Tennessee linking downtown to parks and commerce on the north shore. I couldn't help but think of the CSX Bridge over the Middle Branch (or any pedestrian bridge spanning the Jones Falls Valley)
The other cool feature was an activated alert to vehicular traffic that bikes were present in the Cherokee Blvd tunnel. Cyclists rode by, hit the signal which was at the curb and continued pedalling thru the 100′ long tunnel. This would be incredibly useful on the Hanover St bridge!
Then there was this other sign, not unique (quite standard in the MUTCD) but still useful
The SAVE A LIMB BIKE RIDE & FESTIVAL comes to Oregon Ridge Park, Sunday October 17th! A 6, 15, 30 mile or metric century ride takes you though Maryland's countryside while raising funds for someone with limb or joint deformity!
Register online and visit www.savealimbride.org
Baltimore's DOT is fortunate to have Mark Brown as a transportation planner. Mark's dedication to creating a more vibrant and livable city goes beyond the 9-5. He recently went car-free and now he's blogging about his experiences at www.carfreebaltimore.com What pushed him to this decision? Here's what he says…..
I'm not a typical bicyclist. I used to scowl at those sweaty heathens in traffic and think, "Who the hell do they think they are?". I grew up in the back of a station wagon in the NJ suburbs. I drove my car a mile to work everyday and laughed as I saw bicyclists caught in a downpour, my fingers comfortably gliding along a curvy steering wheel, the other hand exploring the radio dial, catching radio waves as they traveled hundreds of miles directly to my car. I was a god.
I no longer have a car. It's not because I'm trying to save the world, or had an epiphany that my 4 minute commute was contributing to congestion, polluting our air and water, or causing the downfall of civilization. It was because my car, just out of warranty, needed a new water pump. $450 gone. Handing the cash over to the mechanic, I felt betrayed. Defeated. And angry. I also felt hungry because the repair took 4 hours. I could have gone to a junk yard, bought a pump and tried to put it in myself, but it would have taken a lot of time which I didn't have. And I don't know how to use a wrench. The $450 I spent was also not increasing the value of the car – in fact, the car was losing value every single day. Over time, the cumulative money spent on maintenance, gas and insurance didn't justify the benefit I derived from driving. That's right. It was all about me.
So I sold the car. Nate was nice enough to give me a bike the day after I sold it. It was an easier lifestyle change than I thought – mostly because I live and work in the city. For all of you drivers on the fence, this is what it took:
So try ditching the car for awhile. It's good for you.
ProWalk ProBike is a conference for bicycle & pedestrian planners, engineers, advocates where we trade ideas & stories for making America better through active transportation. At today's lunch session, it was announced that Baltimore was named a BRONZE LEVEL BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMUNITY by the League of American Bicyclists!
After two Honorable Mention awards, Baltimore joins the ranks of Philadelphia, Washington DC & Charlotte as a bronze level bike friendly community. To put it in perspective, Portland is plantinum, San Francisco & Seattle are gold, and Chicago & Arlington, VA are silver.
We still have a long way to go, but as a community of cyclists, we can become even more bike friendly! Thanks to everyone who helped bring this award to B'more!
There's been buzz around DOT Planning about putting some forums up on this blog. Yesterday, talking with Penny Troutner & Penn Wilbert about the need for forums, DOT's marketing coordinator Paul Day made it so.
At the top of the page, we've added a FORUMS tab! There, you can comment on Infrastructure, Policy, Community and Events. I'll be blogging from the ProWalk ProBike Conference next week, but the conversations can keep on rolling!
See you all next week!


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NEW YORK, NY—Private venture firm We Beat Musk To Mars inc. was under fire last week when they released images they claimed was the first person to step foot on Mars. "We were simply outraged at the sceptical response from the scientific community and the lack of support from the media when we released our first images," said CEO Igor Petruskana in an exclusive interview with The Confounding Variable. "Our venture has done the impossible by landing our first astronaut on Mars years ahead of the competition and we were met with utter disbelief. It's unbelievable!"
To substantiate their claim the company had their astronaut, a woman simply known as K307S8 (with reliable sources suggesting that she is the daughter of The Stig), to pose for the same photograph as the one released last week, but this time without her helmet on so as to validate her presence on the red planet. Due to the time delay between Earth and Mars the photo shoot took a little longer than she could hold her breath and the company admits that they have lost contact with the astronaut. Nevertheless, We Beat Musk To Mars inc. claim absolute victory in the race to Mars and are now offering development lots for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Controversy around the newly released photo of K307S8 continues as experts study the authenticity of the image. There is growing consensus that this image and the claims of We Beat Musk To Mars inc. may well be fraudulent, but a spokesman from NASA said that "it's too early to make any such conclusions."

subset: commoncrawl


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Breast Cancer Bonanza: Stop the Greed
Filed Under All Posts, Cathy Fischer, Health, Politics | 23 Comments
Cathy Fischer is wondering how a month dedicated to something so important, could have become so irritating.
I don't know what irks me more, being accosted by Christmas ads before Halloween, or being hit by the big pink tsunami that is…BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH.
Dancing reindeer or pink teddy bears? I'll take the caribou, thank you.
The brilliant Barbara Ehrenreich, also a breast cancer survivor, is passionate about pink. In her new book, Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America, she writes about how she'd rather get "hacked to death by a madman," then suffocated by the "pink sticky sentiment" embodied by ribbon-wearing teddy bears.
I've noticed that I don't' wear pink very much. Not that pink doesn't look good on me, it's that I've had an aversion to the color ever since my diagnosis. A year ago, I voiced my not-so-rosy point of view in "My Big Pink Protest," where I shared my dismay about October's pinkness, and how threads of hypocrisy are woven throughout the fabric of many a "pink" product. These so-called charitable campaigns are about as authentic as a McDonald's Shamrock Shake. Read more
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
Filed Under All Posts, Family, Humor, Prudence Baird | 10 Comments
After 15 years of marriage, and too many misplaced items to count, Prudence Baird insists her husband consider a new approach.
When I say I married a loser, I don't mean that kind of loser. I'm talking about the kind of loser who loses things. Like keys, hats, sunglasses, cell phones, parking lot tickets, wedding rings—and most of all, wallets.
Like the clueless wife who finds that her husband has a gambling problem only after the repo man takes away the family Volvo, I found out that (let's call him "Tim") was a misplacer (nicer word, huh?) after we married. The first time it happened, I had no idea that this was merely Point A in an ever-lengthening trajectory that would arc across the time grid of our marriage.
I was in my home office churning out press releases when I heard the front door slam and heavy, frantic steps on the staircase. I emerged to see a man I didn't recognize—a red-faced man, his salt-and-pepper askew; a man who hollered in my face: "My wallet is gone!" Read more
Turning Minnesotan
Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey | 10 Comments
For Christie Healey, adapting to the Midwest brings a new approach to life's challenges.
Garrison Keillor, the Upper Midwest's patron saint of wit, created a hometown for himself called Lake Woebegon, Minnesota. As the name suggests, there will always be woe, but how we respond is the key to when it will be gone. People in this neck of the woods face life's inconvenient onslaughts with equanimity and acceptance. Former wrestler for governor? Well now he may have some good ideas, we'll give him a chance. Massive influx of immigrants from Cambodia, Ethiopia, Somalia? Oh well, they've got to have somewhere to live. Message: don't panic it may turn out alright.
There are many things to dismay a single woman in this world, but walking across your fully-carpeted basement family room and getting your feet wet is way up there for me. First reaction: denial. Must have donned wet house socks when I got up this morning and only just noticed. Second reaction: Hmmm. I commenced research into the problem. The long and winding road of discovery included: 1. Accusing Frankie (the cat) of being really, really, really naughty. 2. Chimney seal failure. My good friend and marvelous boss, Dan, came over, walked all over the roof and climbed up into my dusty attic. 3. Ripping up sodden carpet and thick wet underlay. Read more
A Bird in the Hand
Filed Under All Posts, Connie Stetson, Media, Pop Culture, Travel | 12 Comments
For Connie Stetson, accompanying her actor husband to New York City was all glitz, glamour and excitement, but coming home was a true revelation.
Hi all—the lovely Mrs. Stetson here.
Lee and I had a perfectly wonderful trip to New York City enjoying the many sights (our hotel was right in the shadow of the Empire State Building) and sounds (does the horn honking never stop?) and smells (ahhh, the smell of falafel in the air….) We hit the ground running our first night there and had a great Turkish dinner with my dear old friends, Barbara and Jim. Day two we set off walking, did some shopping, and then readied for our black-tie gala celebrating the premiere of Ken Burns' The National Parks—America's Best Idea on Ellis Island.
I showed up quite glamorous in my black satin trousers, white tuxedo shirt, stiletto strappy sandals, Cathy's fabulous black and white embroidered shawl and oodles of pretty great looking faux pearls, and except for the satin, the shawl, pearls and stiletto's that's what Lee wore too (the lucky, cuz' my feet were killing me!!). He looked mah-velous, darlings. We sat at the muckymuck table with Ken Burns, Dayton Dalton, Shelton Johnson, Gerard Baker and their lovely Missesses, Roxann and Mary Kay. We enjoyed our desserts to a live performance of Alison Krauss and Union Station. Pretty darn good. Read more


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Seattle Seniors Learn the Ropes of Online Dating
Jan is a widow, who was married for over 50 years. She now lives at Bayview Retirement Community in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood, a place that's home to hoards of women who have outlived their husbands. It's not a good place to find a date.
"There are plenty of females here. The men are mostly very old and they're not interested in women at all! (laughs)"
But some of these ladies crave companionship. So Bonsai Media Group created a class at Bayview called Social Media For Silver Foxes. Last month they learned how to navigate Facebook and yesterday they were introduced to online dating.
"I want to learn more about it because I have been avoiding it," says Rose, a senior who doesn't live at Bayview, but attended the workshop. "I'm sort of annoyed that people go shopping for mates online now, as if we were a card catalog. That meeting people isn't done the old fashioned way. On the other hand, I better get over it. I have these expectations of what it's like and I really could be wrong. I'm hoping so."
Rose says you can't meet a man like you used to.
"People would meet by reference of friends and I don't see that happening. I see people just sort of taking it easy and safe and using their computers. So I thought, whoops! I guess I'm going to have to get with it because I've got a lot of life left and I'm looking forward to meeting people."
Gus Zadra led the class and he recommends the sites www.seniormatch.com and www.ourtime.com. He says online dating doesn't have to mean a physical date, it can be a correspondence.
"You know, it's a great thing to look forward to each morning to talk to that person that you share a special bond with," says Gus. "You don't necessarily ever have to meet them. Don't worry about the geographical situation that you're in, or even physical. This is about your spirit and about the energy that you have with a person and sharing that energy with somebody else."
Gus's goal was to dispel myths about online dating, to teach the seniors how to spot and avoid scams, and to give tips on setting up a great profile.
"How to share their personality, how to pick a good profile picture, how to pick a good name, a good slogan," he says.
Dolores Rossman is in a committed relationship and doesn't live at the retirement home, but she wants to take the information back to her single senior girlfriends who are looking for love.
"Isolation, as you get older, is really a challenge. Some of the ways that they had dates, in the past, they may not be able to do anymore. Or they're just a little bit confused as to, what is the dating scene?"
Rose says she's achieved her career goals, and now it's time to find a partner.
"I want to go enjoy the world, go travel a little bit, have a lot of fun, go dancing. Someone who wants to have fun, who maybe has had hard things in their life but, get over it and have fun now!"
Jan had never considered online dating, but now her interest is piqued.
"A correspondent would be better than nothing. It would be, probably, easier. But if there was somebody, I'd give it a whirl."
Article source: http://mynorthwest.com


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The sports world is busy and diverse these times of year, with NHL and NBA in mid-to-late season form, NCAA Hoops on the precipice of March Madness, Daytona (maybe tomorrow), and lets we forget about the NFL Combine. But this week, one athlete stood head and shoulders above 63 other competitors in his contest, personally defeating six of them. While it's not a Major, the Accenture Match Play Championship is a highlight of the Golf Season, this week's Sportsman of the Week is Hunter Mahan.
The 29 year old alumnus of Oklahoma State (and Southern Cal) ended half of his matches before the 16th tee and upstaged the final day presumed stars of McIlroy and Westwood capturing the title for the U.S. for the first time since Tiger Woods in 2008. Congratulations, Hunter, you are the Longhorndave_on_sports Sportsman of the Week!


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So last week after I got the new China Glaze Lite Brites collection I just had to do a little nail art:) (see my full review here) Simple nail art is my fav, mostly because it is a quick way to up your nail game! And when you have a toddler running around your ankles quick is essential. I did a basic white base coat and then grabbed Lime After Lime, Whip It Good, None of Your Risky Business, and I'll Pink to That. I did some basic dots in different sizes, added a top coat and DONE!
See simple but beautiful!!! The more I use this collection the more I Love it!!! Hope you all have a great weekend:)
♥ Melissa


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check age WordPress Plugins
Age Verification System
A WordPress plugin to verify visitor's age before viewing the content of your site. WP Age Gate Pro plugin is used to verify site's visitor age before giving access to website's content, which typically included sex, alcoholic beverages, nudity, violence, tabacco, age-restricted youtube videos, ESRB rated content for M-rated and AO-rated video games. This is


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Need New Web Master
Budget $1500-3000 USD
I need a full time web developer/master to manage ongoing upgrades to my e commerce site at http://rocketbanner.com. Previous Webmaster was slow and mistake prone, I need a real expert that can get it right on the first try without me having to constantly point out his mistakes. I need certain tweaks to the data base, I need more pages for the site, I need some adjustments made to the Google Analytics the previous guy installed. I will pay hourly charges in $100 blocks. I will deposit in escrow and when used up I will release the escrow and deposit more.
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Get ready for summer!
New product releases always excites me a little. Just a little! Because I already own so much products, I'm more like a spectator than an actively participating customer.
Plus, Visee isn't available in Singapore.
This is a small release as there are only 3 items, 2 of which are eyebrow products. Even though we often associate waterproof and sweat resistant products to summer time, I might have taken that quality for granted because I thought that is a minimum requirement for a product to be useful. Maybe it's just me!
It's great Visee introduced a waterproof eye crayon, as I think that would be extra useful for hot summer days! Or for days when your first date brings you swimming :P
Change your eyebrow colour easily with the blendable and quick dry eyebrow mascara. Formulated with hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid and mineral oil, it is also easily removeable with warm water. It has the film formula (similar to film mascara) so yes, it's oil and sweat resistant.
Available in 5 shades.
COLORING EYEBROW POWDER | 3g | 1200 YEN
With 4 shades available, you can now mix your own personal colour to suit your hair perfectly! You're guaranteed a natural look thanks to its "slide coating powder", which increases blendability. Finally, pink eyebrows to go along with your pink hair!
Available in 3 shades.
A super blendable eye crayon that promises long lasting and vibrant colours, it can also double up as an eye liner. Formulated to be tug-free, expect it to glide on your delicate eyelids without damaging it. Did I mention it's also waterproof and sweat resistant? You probably already knew that when you saw "long lasting" colours in the first line :P
Available in 6 shades.
I think Visee is going in the right direction in terms of colour selection. They are doing something other brands aren't - releasing products in quirky colours that are rare among drugstore brands. In hindsight, they have been doing that with their eyeshadows, especially the glossy rich series.
Look. eyebrow mascaras aren't new in the market, but having a greyish brown shade is definitely a game changer since most of the other drugstore brands only produce yellowish brown eyebrow mascara.
The same goes for eyebrow powder, aren't they a genius for adding one more shade within the usual 3 colour eyebrow powder palette so that those with fancy hair colours (especially since pink hair is more common these days) can finally get a conveniently packaged product that suit their needs, instead of bringing around a usual brow powder palette PLUS a pink eyeshadow?
At first glance, I thought the eyebrow palettes are eyeshadow palettes. Which by the way, you can totally use it that way!
Eye crayons are a good product to have during the summer because they adhere to the skin better, thus reduces the chances of creasing or meltdown. They also work well as an eyeshadow base to make powder eyeshadows pop! What's not to love about them? I hope they smell pleasant though, because my past experience with eye crayons were ruined by the putrid crayon smell. It does smell like crayola, and it's not nice in my opinion.
What would you pick up if you're in Japan right now?


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An Outdoor Canopy From Sunesta Will Give You the Shade You Desire
When you think of an outdoor canopy, what comes to mind? Is it a retractable awning that extends to cover your deck, patio, window, or door? A freestanding structure that provides shade for your pool or outdoor kitchen? How about a covering for your pergola that you can extend and retract as you please? At Sunesta, we want to help you make your vision of an outdoor canopy a reality. That's why, rather than relying on mass-production, we custom-manufacture every shading system we make, catering to each of our customers' unique needs. But don't let our attention to detail fool you – we also have an efficient manufacturing process that has enabled us to achieve the fastest turnaround time in the industry. Sunesta's canopies are generally shipped within just five days after an order is received, meaning you can start enjoying your custom-made outdoor canopy as quickly as possible.
At Sunesta, we understand that every home is different, which is why every shading solution we create is made-to-order. We also offer the largest fabric selection in the industry, which includes more than 180 different options. Within our selection of varying patterns and colors, you'll be sure to find the perfect aesthetic for your home.
Sunesta's dedication to customization doesn't stop there, however, as we also offer numerous add-on features that can enhance the functionality of your new outdoor canopy. Some of these options include:
- Remote control operation
- Wind and sun sensors
- Drop down valances
- Protective casings
If you're considering investing in an outdoor canopy for your home, call 1-800-SUNESTA today for more information.


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Mothers by Stephen Fitzpatrick, March 2005
There are certain things in this world of which there are only one. One sky, one 'America', one
body. One Sri Lankan coastline. If the tsunami takes it away, it is gone, irreplaceable. One mother.
Only one. It is a fact that cannot be disputed, cannot be changed. If we remembered, honoured and
paid tribute to this, adoption would be a very different experience.
A mother does not stop being a mother because she has no money and no support. A mother does
not stop being a mother because she is not married. A mother does not stop being a mother because
forces greater than herself rape her of her child. A mother does not stop being a mother because she
has been drugged, beaten, lied to and betrayed. A mother does not stop being a mother because in
the eyes of others, she has brought shame to bear on herself and her family.
Whatever the circumstances, she is the mother. The simplicity of this fact must be very deeply
hidden however, because this fact has been murdered. Someone has slit the throat of this fact, and
whoever it is, is not at all sorry.
Outside the world of adoption, if someone's mother were to die, she would be grieved. No one
would replace her, no one could. In the fiction of adoption, however, she is not even allowed to
exist in the first place. She is "birth" prefixed, her job done. Similar in design to the "step" prefix,
which denotes a nominal relationship, it diminishes the mother to the same nominal, unimportant
place, with little room for emotional attachment or commitment. She is not allowed to be who she
is, the Mother. This is a heinous crime against humanity. A matri-genocide, adulated by a self
serving materialistic public. Upon this great lie has been built the global success that adoption has
become. Like the "civilian casualty" of war who is in truth, an innocent who has been cold
bloodedly murdered, the "birth" mother becomes the innocent of the adoption war. If we were to
call innocent murdered victims what they really are, war would not be so popular. This is why the
vocabulary is designed not to arouse emotions. Everyone has a mother, and to empathise with the
loss of a mother or a child is universal. To empathise with the loss of a "birth" mother or a "birth"
child is impossible, because they are replaceable commodities.
The fairy tale story of adoption could not have its place if facts were simply told. Just imagine if all
adoptees could see the names of our mothers, yes our Real Mothers on our birth certificates. We
might ask questions. We might make other people uncomfortable. We might demand to reclaim
our heritage and our birthrights. We might demand to have our original identities restored and
Just think, if the Mother was allowed to be Mother. If society recognized her pain in losing her
child in the same way it does when she loses a child to Death. People might wake up and see that
adoption is not to be glorified. It is based on tragic circumstances which no one wants to admit
responsibility to. I wonder if there is an experiential difference for the mother who loses her child
to Adoption, and the one whose child dies. I imagine losing a child to death to be easier. At least
there is a conclusion, a grieving, a recognition, a helping hand, the life of the child can be honoured
and recognized. None of this is allowed in adoption. Not only does it feel as if the child is dead,
the Mother has to pretend that the child did not exist in the first place. What more cruel form of
torture can there be?
Guilty without being proven innocent, trial without jury? Relegated to "birth" mother, no one
wants to know the story. It is all understood in this five letter word. It means, the Mother has been
bad, has done something wrong. She does not deserve to be a mother, no questions asked. The
nuns said so. Society said so. Peers said so. Parents said so. So then, it must be true.
Is it a crime to be poor? Is it a crime to not be married? Is it a crime to be lied to? Is it a crime to be
beaten up, tied down and drugged so that your child can be stolen from you?
The real crimes are committed by those who cover up these atrocities. The real crimes are
committed by those who refuse to help. By those who turn a blind eye. By those who falsify the
documents, under any other circumstances an offence which can result in a prison sentence. The
real crimes are committed by those who give babies to strangers and change their names.
How can it be a crime to be a mother?
Unfortunately, it seems that in many cases, this is still so. Fortunately, we are making small steps
forward. Brave mothers are coming forward and speaking their truths. Some of us are recognizing
the grave injustices that have been done to mothers. Surprisingly little support comes from those
mothers whose motherhood has not been strangled. I believe they imagine it to be something so
horrible that those poor ones must have done something to deserve it. They cannot imagine losing
their own children, but show no shock at the "birth" mothers who lost theirs. If they were not
"birth" mothers but mothers, there might be more of an emotional connection, a deeper empathy.
Perhaps, they would ask more questions. In truth, they should be screaming for the rights of the
mothers to have their children back, simply because that is what they would want, should their own
children be kidnapped. Legally or otherwise. They should be purple with outrage. They should be
empathising from the bottom of their hearts. But because they are mere "birth" mothers, no one can
empathize. The clever insertion of this vile insult has desensitized, de-empathised everyone. There
remains, unfortunately, only judgement and condemnation.
If we allow our mothers to be who they really are, then we have to look deeper at this word game.
Who created this, and why is it so convenient? Who profits, and why? And perhaps, how do we
play the same game in other parts of our lives? Certainly, the adoption industry can profit from
"birth mothers". Not so easy to profit from mothers. Adoptive mothers can profit, because of
course, they claim the title for themselves. For adoptees, it is maybe a symbol of our learned hatred
and brainwashing towards our mothers. We have been taught to hate and forget, and it's easier to
hate and forget a birth mother than a mother. It teaches us that mothers are replaceable. She didn't
want us after all, right? Wrong. Our mothers want us very deeply: however it may turn our illusion
of the world upside down, however painful it is to consider this fact, to hold this truth in our hearts,
it is the truth. Our adoptive lifestyle has not had room for this notion, but our adoptive lifestyle
ignores our genesis. The power of our creation has been extinguished. As soon as we realise –
emotionally, as well as intellectually – that our mothers were not to blame for what happened, the
sooner we are on the path to restoring the family institution and recognizing how sacred this bond
between mother and child is. There is no birth mother, this is an oxymoron. There is mother. Only
mother, and only one.
We must rid ourselves of the notion that adoption involves free choice. It is a 'choice' which is
imposed from the outside. It is therefore devoid of any freedom and can only be described as a
violation. True choice, freedom comes from the inside not the outside. Mothers do not 'freely' and
'lovingly' choose to 'offer' their children….[a better life]. It is an adoption myth. Adoption does
not listen to the mother's heart. It turns motherhood into profit. No, it is not mothers who choose
adoption, it is adoption that chooses the mothers. It chooses those which are most vulnerable, deems
them unworthy, and robs them of their flesh and blood. A crime. By causing the rest of society to
forget who the real mother is, by causing adoptees to believe in their unwantedness, the real
mothers, the grieving mothers are left hidden and forgotten.
May we love and honour our mothers. May we rid her of the guilt she has unnecessarily and
wrongly had to carry, and may we restore her to the rightful place in our lives.
© Stephen Fitzpatrick, March 2005
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These wacky and often unexpectedly wild ways to clean clothes make the tedious task of laundry far more enjoyable.
Often moving toward a more eco-conscious approach to a fresh wardrobe, innovations in laundry are amazingly creative and useful. Though perhaps not the most inherently interesting task, changes made to the way people clean clothing tend to be welcomed, provided that they make the task more enjoyable in some way. Clothing pins, detergents and washing appliances themselves have all received some fairly futuristic makeovers, leading to some fairly Jetson-esque results.
Because this is an activity that people are bound to continue partaking in for an indefinite amount of time, buyers can continue to expect to see cutting-edge changes made to the way clothes get clean.
85 Wild Ways to Clean Clothes
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Winston's Joint System Information Tabs
Along with the 24hr-per-Day website, DogsHealth.com is open for Telephone business 'normally' from 9am to 6pm (PST), Monday through Friday, except holidays. Your call, for Sales, Service, or Assistance will be answered by a person during normal business hours, except when all staff members are tied up on calls during busiest times of the day. Should that occur, please leave your message and your call will be returned as promptly as possible. Again, the website is available 24 hours per day, every day, for placing orders, reviewing past orders, using any of the helpful and informative content, or using the Contact Us option.
This new site provides a very comprehensive mechanism for viewing and managing your Order History. Whatever your question, you may find the answer via Logging In to your Account by clicking the orange Account button above the Menu bar, or click here - Account. Once there, you can View Previous Orders; and, with the list displayed, you can choose any order (click the Order # or Order Details) to see the original order summary, or even print a copy of the original Invoice. For TRACKING AN ORDER - once the order is displayed that you are inquiring about, you can slide to the bottom to see the Status, which may show Processed, Shipped, or something else.
Customs and/or VAT charges are NOT included in the PURCHASE and are the responsibility of the customer. If you have any concerns prior to ordering please contact us first. Please be aware that Customs handling can cause delays. We don't normally expect problems with customs or local shipping facilities.
Express International Mail - is the only choice since it is the only one that provides necessary tracking and guarantees contents. Normal Delivery time is 4 to 7 Days but may take longer. The only 'out of USA' Dealer locations are in CANADA or Singapore; please use our Dealer Locator to see what is available with those 2 choices.
DogsHealth is dedicated to shipping all orders as quickly as possible. ALL orders received by 3 p.m. PST, M-F (except for holidays), are shipped the same day. See Carrier options below. We have no control over shipping costs - such as POSTAL rates that seem to rise year after year.
Some patrons express concern over no availability of Standard Parcel Post. First of all, only 'Priority' shipping provides the important option of TRACKING - which has proven over the years to be a necessity. Also, it is important to note - that the cost difference between Parcel Post and Postal priority is extremely minimal - usually much less than a dollar. Whereas, the difference in delivery time is major. Priority shipping has an expected delivery time of 2-3 days; whereas, the same shipment via Parcel Post can take up to 8 days for domestic shipments.
POSTAL: USPS Priority is our default / preferred shipping method, and costs only penny's more than the much slower 'Parcel Post' (which offers no tracking). NORMAL delivery time is 2-3 Days, although this is NOT guaranteed. Again, all POSTAL orders received by 3pm PST, M-F, are shipped the SAME DAY. No orders are shipped on Saturday or Sunday.
- UPS: Many options are available - Ground, Next-Day-Air, 2nd-Day-Air, and 3-Day-Select are offered. For Ground, this choice can save cost on HEAVIER shipments, but not usually on 1-2LB packages; and, you must allow for distance - where East Coast shipments will take 7-8 days. IF Overnight Delivery is needed on a FRIDAY, you must call to place the order. Saturday delivery is only available via telephone orders. NO SUNDAY delivery is possible. Again, ALL orders received by 3pm PST, M-F, are shipped same day.


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testimonials >
We have a proven track record within the industry with many Blue Chip clients.
accreditation >
Ensuring the highest possible standard on every project we carry out.
gallery >
We provide a wide range of scaffolding solutions, view some of our recent projects.Read more ...
Independent Scaffold has a very high standard of safety, and without this the building would not have handed over to such a good standard.
So I would just like to say thank you for your hard work and constant support throughout the project and your help in achieving this goal.
Kind Regards,
Carl Edwards
Interserve Site Manager
Harvills Hawthorn Primary School - MARCH 2016
The attitude of ISS Ltd, from the management team to the lads on site was exceptional. They delivered a professional service throughout and exceeded my programme expectations with no hidden or additional cost on project completion…
All Saints Primary School, West Brom Nov 2014
With the experience of ISS Ltd they often provided cost effective alternatives to what was planned and requested of them…
Q3 Academy, Oldbury, Feb 2016
Professional attitude right throughout the organisation from the Management to the site team….
Moorgate Primary School, Tamworth, Oct 2016
ISS Ltd were awarded various monthly awards for Health and Safety & Environment status with the site team being awarded Employee of the month for sterling efforts on site.
I would definitely like to work with them again….
Health Futures, Sandwell UTC, West Bromwich, Aug 2015
Excellent Service, as always Independent Scaffolding erected the scaffold on programme, within budget and without any problems…
Jewellery Quarter, B'ham ,Feb 2015
Independent Scaffold are the best scaffolding contractor I have ever used….
Warwickshire College, Leamington Spa, Nov 2016
- I have worked with Independent Scaffold on various projects including All Saints Medical Centre, Kings Heath, Wards 3&8, B'ham Childrens Hospital and the Womens Hospital, QE B'ham. I found all members of staff both trade and management to be professional, attentive, courteous and helpful at all times especially noted due to the sensitive nature of the aforementioned projects.
Jim Keyte – Site Manager – Vinci Construction PLC
December 2011
- Excellent Attitude by management and site operatives.
Alan Paskin – Project Manager, GF Tomlinson
My Place, Lozells, B'ham
April 2012
- Independent Scaffolding have proved to be competitively priced and very professional in all aspects of scaffolding particular with regards to H&S. Their willingness to adapt to a varying construction programme has also been very good.
I would have no hesitation in recommending them to any prospective employer.
S J Owens – Construction Manager at Black Country Museum, Dudley
July 2012
- This company have always maintained high standards of Health and Safety. They are very proactive to the high demands placed upon them on all large scale projects. The contract is always adequately resourced with both labour and plant.
Malcolm Flute – Kier Central Senior Site Manager
October 2012
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As far as financial aspects your breakdowns of variations were most useful.
Dave Burchett (QS) and Dave Newman (Site Manager) – Speller Metcalfe
Edgbaston Girls School, Birmingham
19 January 2011
- Based on the involvement I have add with Independent Scaffolding on this site, I would like to point out everything I have requested has been done on time, works overall have been well managed from a contracts managers point of view, couldn't ask for more really.
Peter Laskowski - Kier Marriott, Contracts Manager
Education Centre, Kingsmill Hospital, Mansfield
22 January 2011
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Independent Scaffolding Services provide an excellent service at very reasonable prices. Their staff are a pleasure to work with and most helpful.
Joanne Brookes - Sandwell Homes Gas Dept
13th November 2012
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Gavin Ward – Mansell Construction (Contracts Manager)
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21st August 2012
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Andrew Bruton – Speller Metcalfe (Contract Manager)
Warwick College, Leamington Spa
14th November 2012
- Generally a customer focused contractor who react promptly to differing needs of timescale and type of scaffolding. Prompt invoice process also ensures seamless completion.
Mick Walwyn - Sandwell Homes Void Maintenance
January 12th 2011
VAT Reg No. 670 3994 11 Company Reg No. 3359123 UTR No. 925 200 9646


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About FaithStoriesOnline.com
The stormy wind blew in hard from the black night sky. Waves pounded the rocks around me soaking me in cold spray. I was standing on a large boulder on the shore of Lake Erie leaning into the wind and shouting. I was shouting a prayer into the wind, "Lord! Enable me to speak to my generation about faith and how you can be trusted completely!" I was battered even harder by the wind as if the enemy of our souls was shouting back at me saying, "NO!"
The memory flashed back to me from the 1980's when I'd prayed that prayer. I sat stunned because I had just launched this website, FaithStoriesOnline.com. A website devoted to some interesting faith stories the Lord had blessed me to be a part of over the last twenty plus years.
Many people over those years have asked me to write these stories down and share them. I had forgotten about the prayer that stormy night on the boulder. Now I'm seeing the answer to that prayer unfold before my eyes.
My prayer is that you will be encouraged by these stories as I have been encouraged by the faith stories of others. And that you will see God can be trusted, and trusted completely! Both in times of fair weather in our lives and in the dark stormy blasts of night.
In Him!
William D (Nick) Nichols
Proverbs 3:5&6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths."


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Network Security
Information Technology Security is charged with safeguarding the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all information processed, stored or transmitted.
It is incredible to learn the percentage of businesses that are unaware of the threat they are faced with on a daily basis. On many occasions, I've walked into a business to resolve security related issues, and to my surprise, found their Information Technology Security status to be extremely vulnerable.
I once recovered a company's server that was hit by a ransomware attack. Not only did they lose production time and other business opportunities, but unfortunately lost a few of their current clients in the process. In order to restore the office back to operation and bring their security status to standard operation condition, they were faced with a financial set-back.
What can you take away from this?
Imagine losing your business operating data to some hackers in a foreign nation. Failing to properly protect your asset could cost you substantially. There is no end to what you could lose- losing customer data could have some serious consequences, losing your own data to the wrong hand could cost you your identity.
Innovative Technology
Although we focus in three major areas namely; VoIP, Security and Business Recovery Plan. We have several other expertise we are not majored in at the present, although we have the skills required to build a domain controller, Domain Names Services Server, DHCP, VPN servers among others. We believe our efforts will be better at being the experts in the market for the services we advertise.
Although we don't mention of providing other miscellaneous IT services like building a Windows Servers to include services like DHCP, DNS, Active Directory, VPN etc. We realize almost everyone is capable of setting up a simple wireless LAN within a small office, but not everyone have the enterprise skill of setting up an enterprise Wireless LAN in a corporate organization that are either collocated or geographically dispersed, we have the skills to plan an RF planning to determine what type of hardware will be appropriate and how to cover RF blind spots before an actual implementation.
We also offer site to site or Hub and Spoke DMVPN - Dynamic Multipoint Virtual Private Network.
DMVPN technology typically connect each remote site to the headquarters; the DMVPN essentially creates a mesh VPN topology. This means that each branch can communicate directly with each other over the public WAN or Internet, such as using voice over IP (VOIP) between two branch offices, but doesn't require a permanent VPN connection between sites.
Why DMVPN?
Lowers capital and operating cost.
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Improves business resiliency.
DMVPN eliminate additional network delays.
DMVPN deployment eliminates additional bandwidth requirements at the hub router.


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I had never blanched an almond in my life before I discovered Maida Heatter. Many of her recipes call for blanched almonds, which are simply peeled almonds. It is as easy as 1-2-3-4-5-6 but it can be a little time consuming if you need lots of them.
|Step 1: Place the almonds in a bowl - use a good-sized bowl so that the almonds are not piled up on top of each other.
|Step 2: Add boiling water, just enough to cover the almonds. Let this sit for 1 minute. However, if your almonds are not the freshest, let them sit a little longer (1.5 to 2 minutes).
|Step 3: Drain the water off the almonds
|Step 4: Rinse the almonds
|Step 5: Spread the almonds out on a paper or cloth towel to dry
|Step 6: Hold the almond between your thumb and finger and squeeze at the tip. The skin will peel right off. (Sometimes you may have to slightly scratch the tip to break the skin if they are tough)


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The expert committee for property values in Berlin is responsible for creating transparency in the capital city's real estate market. The foundation for this is an automated system for collecting sales prices, with more than 35 million individual records. This data originates from a variety of sources and is recorded by numerous people according to categories such as "site" or "residential building". How can this data pool be modernized, when the technical basis dates back to 1995, especially when modification is made more difficult by the fact that several tools are no longer executable?
Our idea: to create a completely new, modern basis and migrate the legacy data. Users should be able to access the database using a platform-independent browser-based user interface in compliance with data protection guidelines.
Our solution: the new sales price collection system is state-of-the-art, scalable for future needs, technically stable and user-friendly. The updates and improvements not only help the committee internally, but also facilitate external interaction. Officials from the Finance Ministry, courts of law, job centers and independent experts can quickly find the relevant information for their queries. Furthermore, private citizens can monitor market developments via a web site - a simple, and free, approach.
Petra Bautsch, Group Leader for the Collection of Sales Prices in the Senate Department for Urban Development and Environment


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The Insider begins with a man, 60 minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), being whisked blindfolded in a car to a secret powwow with an Islamic terrorist. Bergman is there to set the stage for a forthcoming interview with Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer), and he's in his element: Boasting of the "integrity" of 60 Minutes, he's a muckraking freewheeler par excellence. When Wallace finally comes on the scene, Bergman pampers and cajoles him as if he were a diva. The film appears to be saying: Forget the Hezbollah, this guy can handle Mike Wallace.
The real terrorist in the film is, of course, Big Tobacco; this prologue in Lebanon is like a featherweight preliminary bout before the main bone-crusher event. Early on, Bergman's stage-managing is intercut with unrelated scenes depicting the abrupt departure of Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) as chief of research at Brown & Williamson, the nation's third-largest tobacco company. (Wigand was fired as a probable consequence of his outspoken in-house concerns about the product's health risks.) Like gunslingers at high noon, these two men are fated to meet -- except, of course, they end up slinging for the same side. Bergman at first is interested in Wigand's expertise in deciphering a load of clandestine tobacco-related documents, but he quickly sizes up the racked, somnolent scientist as the "ultimate insider" who can, with careful coaxing, deliver a whopping scoop for CBS and, incidentally, become the point man in the war against the tobacco industry. (He became the key witness in legal action taken by seven states seeking reimbursement of Medicaid expenses for smoking-related illnesses.)
With its big, gleaming righteousness and gangster-movie undertow, The Insider is like an elongated cross between Silkwood or All the President's Men and the sort of hyperbolic, noirish stylefests peculiar to its director, Michael Mann (Thief, Heat, TV's Miami Vice). As a filmmaker, he's a lot like Lowell Bergman here -- driven and messianic, and hammy. The fact-based story he's telling, derived primarily from Marie Brenner's 1996 Vanity Fair piece "The Man Who Knew Too Much," is essentially in the standard ripped-from-the-headlines glamorama-Hollywood-thriller mode, but he gives it a doomy largeness. We're on a holy crusade here, with a full house of tormented souls and ogres and ordinary people made extraordinary by a higher calling.
As substantial a subject as Big Tobacco is for The Insider, the lying and evasions of Brown & Williamson aren't its real meat. Neither is the humiliating backdown of 60 Minutes, which initially nixed the full airing of a damning interview between Wallace and Wigand for fear of being massively sued by B&W -- and also, perhaps, for fear of derailing an impending sale of CBS to Westinghouse. (The interview finally aired on February 4, 1996, after much of Wigand's testimony was already a matter of public record following a suit against the tobacco companies, and after the New York Times and Wall Street Journal had detailed the cave-in at CBS.) The film's real subject, instead, is how the stakes have become so high in modern corporate culture that the whistleblowers end up playing by the same rules as the ones being whistled at. They all kowtow to the same greenback god.
Except for a chosen few, of course. Bergman rages against his superiors at CBS to get the incriminating interview aired while Wigand, his life a scary funk of harassment and recrimination, is left twisting in the wind. These two are portrayed as temperamentally opposite yet united by a passion for payback. Bergman, his hair blow-dry-shaggy in a most uncorporate way, still trails fumes of his counterculture past as a writer for Ramparts; he's the last best hope of his generation, and when the creator and executive producer of 60 Minutes, Don Hewitt (Philip Baker Hall), accuses him of being a "fanatic, an anarchist," the sanctification is complete. Bergman is enough of a political animal to respect compromise, but his vainglory is that, when the screws are put to him, he refuses to back down.
Mann and his co-screenwriter, Eric Roth, are so busy propping up Bergman as an authentic hero out of his time that about halfway through this 155-minute movie, they lose sight of Wigand's story, which, at least the way it's been done here, is more emotionally complex, if less flamboyant. Al Pacino gives a real showboat performance, with full-body shimmies and burning stares and foursquare speeches, and Mann makes everything even more florid by positioning the actor against wide-screen, Valhalla-size backdrops as the overwrought soundtrack swells. (In one dark-lit long shot, Bergman stands knee-high in the ocean as he converses with a distraught Wigand on his cell phone).
By contrast, Wigand is a stolid sufferer for much of the movie, but Russell Crowe gives him a seething core. With his hair lightened and thinned for the role, and a paunch added, Crowe is hardly recognizable from the bully-boy cop he played in L.A. Confidential. Wigand may have believed himself to be a man of science who could devise a "safe" cigarette, but he also wasn't above self-aggrandizement; as Marie Brenner wrote, "It is conceivable that B&W had sized Wigand up psychologically. He surely appeared to be highly ambitious, money-hungry, a potential captive to the firm." What gives The Insider its power, despite all the glossiness and excess, is that Wigand's dispossession and retribution come across as a key drama for our corporate-circus times. For Wigand, the price of reform is catastrophic. Testifying against B&W, he enters a night-world where his family is endangered and everything becomes commodified, including himself; he's a potential ratings-grabber for CBS until the network figures out it has more to lose than to gain from his appearance. Even iron-faced Mike Wallace -- splendidly played by Plummer, with each syllable honed to a cutting edge -- doesn't stand up for him. (Later, according to the film, Wallace sees the light.)
At one point, Bergman tells Wigand, "We're running out of heroes. Guys like you are in short supply," and the line has a hollow ring because it seems to come out of a movie about old-style heroism, and what we have with Wigand is something new. (Bergman's heroics, as depicted here, are something old.) Wigand's rage at B&W is more about pride than about doing good; if the company, after terminating him, hadn't insulted him by pressing for a more severe confidentiality agreement, he probably would have clammed up forever. Wigand as a hero feels right to us, more contemporaneous, precisely because, for a long time, he doesn't act on principle. He acts on pique and fear and gall. And yet he seems stunned -- hollowed out -- by his betrayal at the hands of B&W, and then again by CBS. This ultimate insider becomes the ultimate outsider. We're accustomed to the bland facelessness of the Corporate Man, but this film gives that anonymity a darker twist: When the first, bowdlerized 60 Minutes show is aired, Wigand sees himself being sound-bited on TV with his face blanked out and his voice patterns disguised. What should be his coming-out party is instead a sick joke, a further retreat into nowheresville.
It's a good thing Wigand isn't a conventional, come-to-the-rescue hero in The Insider, because, although Michael Mann tries for a victory dance, there's ultimately little cause for cheer. A few good men here got out with their honor intact, but Big Tobacco is still Big: In September, the Justice Department, after five years and millions of dollars spent, acknowledged that its criminal investigation of the tobacco industry was closed, opting instead for a civil lawsuit accusing the companies of racketeering and fraud. "It was a case," a Justice Department official was quoted in the Times as saying, "that the criminal division decided it was not likely to win." This is the real-world backdrop against which the righteous theatrics of The Insider play themselves out. It's a world in which there are many whistleblowers and yet the tune remains pretty much the same.


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*Base pricing not including options or delivery.
The DaVinci 35E is a classy, modern motoryacht with an open cockpit with level, self-draining floors. It includes a U-shaped sofa which creates a comfortable, spacious seating area for you and your guests. The dashboard is modern and organised, and the steering position offers ample seating for two. The spacious interior is equipped with cooking facilities, a U-shaped sofa, a bathroom with shower and toilet and two double cabins. Whether with one or two engines, an excellent performance is assured and the DaVinci 35E makes for an impressive sight on all types of water. From the very first sketches to the finest detailing onboard, the DaVinci 35E is design and craftsmanship in its truest form.
Stainless Rubrail and Handrails
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Double Helmeseat
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Ample Cockpit Storage
Self-Draining Teak Cockpit Floor
Cockpit Refrigerator
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Swim Platform
Teak or Faux Teak Decks
Wood-Accented Dashboard
U-Shaped Dinette
Electric Head, Shower, Stainless Sink
(2) Double Berths
Stainless Kitchen Sink
3 Lockwood Drive
Suite 302B
Charleston, SC 29401
United States


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Package Sets
TaylorMade M2 2017 Graphite Complete Set 11 Clubs and Bag RH
Set Includes:
- TaylorMade M2 2017 Driver - 10.5 Regular.
- TaylorMade M2 2017 #3 Fairway Wood Regular
- Taylormade M2 2017 #4 Hybrid Regular
- TaylorMade M2 2017 Graphite Irons - 5,6,7,8,9,PW,SW
- TaylorMade EST 79 Putter
- TaylorMade Curve 5.0 Cart Bag or Stand Bag
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Bag - TaylorMade Curve Cart Bag or Stand Bag


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Thank you for good ideas naming the hexagon quilt top in my previous post. Now you have me thinking of caramel, butterscotch toffee, honey, cafe au lait, hot chocolate and more...
Really cold weather can do that to you, don't you think?
; )
Wish you a lovely last day of january!


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So the festival is being celebrated and the trend for sharing Happy New Year Cards is stile alive. Good to see people give importance to each other and exchange love with each other. Such occasion could make brotherhood more stronger. Happy New Year 2013 Cards is an effort to add into the trend of wishing Happy New Year and to create more fascinating moments of this awesome day.
People looking for Happy New Year Wallpapers 2013 have the same taste to collect some Cards and use them for the great purpose. Wallpapers and Cards have great sense in them if notice with keen interest. This is the reason I have collected many Happy New Year Photo Cards for this New Year 2013. Though simpler but full of love and sympathy.


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HAGERSTOWN - A New York City man faces up to 50 years in prison after he pleaded guilty Monday morning to second-degree murder in the May 2007 shooting death of Christopher Jason Ayala at a local bar.
Stephen Lamar Urquhart, 27, was charged with first-degree murder in Ayala's death. A warrant was issued for Urquhart's arrest, and he was captured in August in New York City.
Ayala, 23, of Greencastle, Pa., was found on the floor of Zipper's bar on North Jonathan Street suffering from a gunshot wound around 11 p.m. on May 22. He was taken to Washington County Hospital, where he died.
Police have said Ayala and Urquhart were acquaintances before the shooting.
On the night of the shooting, Ayala walked up to another man in the bar and punched him, Assistant State's Attorney Viki Pauler said Monday in court.


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There is something about a vintage pantry that makes one feel at home. Especially when it is stocked full of yummy food. I created my pantry using several options of cans, containers and bottles from Alpha Stamps.
I covered my pantry with wood printed paper. After trimming and attaching the paper, I rubbed the edges with some brown ink to blend it all in.
These are all of the items that I created on my own. I used blank containers and the cool collection of goodies from various collage sheets from Alpha Stamps. There are so many miniature images to choose from!
I most enjoyed creating my jelly, pickle and plum jars. They were super easy to make as well.
First, I put about three drops of clear glue into my jar.
Next, take whatever ink or paint you like and get a drop onto the end of a pin.
Jab the color down into the glue and work it into the bottle. The color will stay in one general spot so it creates the effect of something being in the jar.
Clean the inside top with a qtip and then place the cork inside the jar.
Use scissors or an exacto blade to trim the top of the cork off, file it smooth, and add a touch of silver paint or a few dabs with a silver ink pad. Your bottle is complete.
These tea and cocoa containers were even easier to do. Just pick your labels, cut, and glue.
The more you create, the fuller your pantry will be.
I grew up in a Victorian house with my mother's prized cabinets. I always loved the wobbly glass. I wanted my "glass" to look more authentic.
I went back to my trusty bottle of clear glue. I squeezed on three or four strips and spread with a q-tip. The result, wobbly, thicker glass.
Now I've worked up an appetite. I need a snack. Maybe some cereal or a juicy pickle. Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I have inspired you to create something. We all need a little "me time" to do our own thing. Enjoy, whatever that may be!
Supplies Used:
White Oatmeal Box
White Resin Cocoa Container
Fern Park Vintage Canned Food Set


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- Members
- Discover Jonesboro
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ALDI Opens In Jonesboro
Submitted by svance on Tue, 02/03/2015 - 14:12
ALDI recently held a grand opening at their new store located at 2610 S. Caraway Rd. This is their first location in Northeast Arkansas. At ALDI, they do everything possible to give you incredibly high quality at impossibly low prices. For more information about ALDI visit their website at www.aldi.us.
Recent Posts
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As you're putting together your new catalog order, make sure to check out this great special that Stampin' Up! announced today! Get 25% off these popular greeting stamp sets until June 30th. No minimum order required and no limit -- buy them all if you want!
Sassy Salutations (my favorite!)
Sweet Essentials
#132085, Wood Mount,
#126457, Clear Mount,
Petite Pairs
#128706, Wood Mount,
#122497, Clear Mount,
NEW!! 2013-2014 Annual Stampin' Up! Catalog:
View Online (.pdf) | Shop Now
Use Hostess Code 93F23JNWwhen you order $40 or more from my Online Store between May 31 – June 9 and get a FREE In Color Mini Sampler -- a $10 value.


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It's hard for me to believe this little mustang adventure was twelve years ago. But when I look at that picture of the mountain, I realize I ain't ever climbing it again. Below the lower V are the mustangs and below the upper V is where I took the pictures.
I had to do quite a bit of belly crawling to get close to that bay stud. Even when I started slowly getting up, he didn't really panic.
By the eighth picture I was standing. The big eared deer seemed to ignore the whole process.
Just one of many experiences confirmed with the aid of a camera. It is a real joy to have these pictures to refresh my memories.


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Pembina Highway Rehabilitation and Buffered Bike Lane Project
The City of Winnipeg is rehabilitating Pembina Highway travel lanes and sidewalks, and adding buffered bike lanes between Arbuthnot Street (just south of Grant Avenue) and Osborne Street. Portions of Corydon Avenue and McMillan Avenue are also included. View the project map here.
- Timeline
- Background
- Documents
- Engage
- FAQs
- Maps
Project Timeline
This project is a component of the overall Pembina Highway resurfacing and buffered bike lane project. The City of Winnipeg is rehabilitating Pembina Highway and adding buffered bike lanes between Arbuthnot Street (just south of Grant Avenue) to and including a portion of, Corydon Avenue at Osborne Street.
In 2013/2014, this process was completed between University Crescent and Markham Road and between Plaza Drive and Chevrier Boulevard. A future project will complete the connection between Grant Avenue and Chevrier Boulevard. This is currently planned to be completed as part of the proposed BRT extension project, which will include a new underpass of the CN rail line.
- Public Engagement Summary 2016-06-21
Open House:
- Information boards 2016-04-21
- Newsletter 2016-04-21
Media releases:
- News release Winnipeggers invited to an open house about the rehabilitation of Pembina Highway from Osborne Street to Grant Avenue 2016-04-07
We want to hear from you!
An open house was held on April 21, 2016. View the open house presentation boards.
Stay in touch
If you would like to stay updated on City of Winnipeg public engagement events, follow the City on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for the City of Winnipeg public engagement newsletter.
For more information:
Contact 311 or email David Jopling at firstname.lastname@example.com
Frequently Asked Questions
The City attempts to mitigate construction impacts as much as possible. To expedite construction activities:
- When southbound construction is taking place, only one southbound lane of traffic will be closed.
- When northbound construction is taking place, only one northbound lane of traffic will be closed.
- Fast curing concrete (24hr or 72hr) will be used where a quick cure time will expedite activities and reduce impact to the public.
Access to businesses will be maintained as much as possible throughout the project. Approaches may be closed for short durations (less than 1 week) to facilitate construction. Parking will be restricted on the side of Pembina under construction.
As a general rule, on-street parking is being maintained where businesses fronting Pembina Highway do not have surface lots. Within the limits of the project there will be a loss of 26 parking spaces out of a total of 61 spaces. All the areas where parking is being removed were found to have an average utilization of less than 10%.
The City is committed to developing a pedestrian and cycling network that is safe and accessible for people of all ages and abilities. This project will lead to a smoother ride for motorists as well as increased safety for cyclists with the addition of a buffered bike lane and new, improved sidewalks for pedestrians.
$11.7 million is budgeted in 2016 for 2016/2017 design and construction.
Construction of the northbound lanes on Pembina Highway between Grant Avenue and Jessie Avenue is underway and is expected to be completed later this fall. Due to the timeline for land acquisition for the project, the northbound construction from Jessie Avenue to Osborne Street is expected to be completed in 2019.


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"She was struggling with thoughts and searching for words to embody then."
~ Frank Peretti
"She was struggling with thoughts and searching for words to embody then."
~ Frank Peretti
"Regardless of what the others thought, felt, were doing, or were going to do, what was he going to do? Where did he stand on all this? He had to sort it out before going one step further."
~ Frank Peretti
"If Truth is taken away from us, then Right and Wrong are taken from us as well. If we don't know Right and Wrong, then we can't, we won't control ourselves, but will look to someone else to bring order through brute force and raw power. We will be controlled by a tyrant, and we will no longer be free…"
― Frank E. Peretti, Nightmare Academy
"His heart heard them. His humanity heard them. Every fiber within him that could mourn – but also hope – heard them. He welcomed the knowledge, the awareness of their cries."
Frank Peretti, The Prophet


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Douglas Johnson
- Napoleon: Master of Europe 1805-1807 by Alistair Horne
Weidenfeld, 232 pp, £6.95, September 1980, ISBN 0 297 77678 9
- Napoleon's Diplomatic Service by Edward Whitcomb
Duke, 15/5/81 pp, June 1981, ISBN 0 8223 0421 X
- Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars by David Chandler
Arms and Armour, 576 pp, £12.95, November 1980, ISBN 0 85368 353 0
- Napoleon, the Jews and the Sanhedrin by Simon Schwarzfuchs
Routledge, 200 pp, £5.50, March 1979, ISBN 0 7100 8955 4
- Auguste de Colbert: Aristocratic Survival in an Era of Upheaval, 1793-1809 by Jeanne Ojala
Utah, $15.00, February 1979, ISBN 0 685 95370 X
It would appear to be difficult to write a book about Napoleon without apologising for it. Alistair Horne talks about the three hundred thousand which have already been devoted to this one man, but Edward Whitcomb brings about a substantial (and welcome) reduction by referring only to some two hundred thousand. David Chandler explains that ever since he wrote his excellent book on the campaigns of Napoleon ten years ago, he has been inundated by requests for further information coming from the widest possible variety of people, all of whom are, as he puts it, 'caught up by the awesome range of Napoleon's attributes and talents', while Simon Schwarzfuchs, in his more specialised study of Napoleon and the Jews, refers to a change in Napoleon's reputation and to his recent loss of repute among historians.
Perhaps there is a significance in the public modesty which precedes such acts of writing. One would not expect an author to apologise when he sets out to tell a romantic rags-to-riches epic which ends up with defeat, exile, loneliness and an early death. A biographer such as Emil Ludwig revelled in the symmetry of a life which began on a small island, overran the whole continent of Europe, and ended on another small island. No writer is normally hesitant when he has to write about the drama and glory of past battles, even when the subject loses its glamour and war has to be seen as a sorry tale of marching, waiting, freezing, starving, dying. The problem is only to decide which moment of Napoleon's career is the most attractive to describe. Was it the young general of the Italian campaigns? Or was it the First Consul who provided France with institutions which had an unexpected longevity? Was it the almighty Emperor who met the Czar at Tilsit? When he abdicated in 1814, he reviewed his guard at Fontainebleau and set out for the humiliation of Elba. He had, in Chateaubriand's words, struck his tent, his tent which had covered the world. But then there was the adventure of the Hundred Days and what Michelet called 'the towering stage of St Helena'. Surely no writer should be embarrassed by having to choose a moment from within this compact legend?
Since historians nowadays are concerned with the trivia of the past, and believe that it is through them that they may find deeper understanding, they ought to be interested in Napoleon, because we must know more details about his daily life than about anyone's. We know what he liked to eat and when and how he ate; we know about his dreams and superstitions, how he behaved when angry, how he could be flattered, what he played on the piano with one finger. And we could well build up a new interpretation of Napoleon by asking linguists to comment upon a man who governed by talking and dictating, and who thus endeavoured to escape from the tyranny of the written word and revelled in the freedom and magic of the spoken word.
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Vol. 2 No. 2 · 7 February 1980 » Douglas Johnson » Napoleonology
pages 19-20 | 2938 words