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WASHINGTON, June 15 - The House voted Wednesday to block a provision of the USA Patriot Act that makes it easier for federal investigators to review the records of libraries and bookstores on national security grounds.
Critics of the new federal power approved in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks said it was an excessive grant of authority to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice Department that threatened privacy and fundamental constitutional rights.
Those who challenged the provision, a coalition of liberals and conservatives, said the 238-to-187 House vote should send a message to the administration that lawmakers are leery of maintaining all elements of the law even as President Bush seeks to renew the act.
"Congress has begun to hear that civil liberties and privacy issues are important to Americans," said Representative Bernard Sanders, the independent from Vermont who led the effort to block the provision through a $57.5 billion spending measure. It covers the Justice, State and Commerce departments as well as federal science programs.
The White House has threatened to veto the measure if it impedes the Patriot Act, and Mr. Bush as recently as Tuesday personally urged lawmakers to renew the law.Continue reading the main story
"The Patriot Act is an important piece of legislation," Mr. Bush told Republican lawmakers at a fund-raising dinner. "It gives those folks who are on the front line of fighting terror the same tools -- many of the same tools that are used to track down drug kingpins or tax cheats."
Some Congressional officials said the House action could be overturned in eventual negotiations with the Senate. In the vote, 38 Republicans joined 199 Democrats and Mr. Sanders in blocking the provision; 186 Republicans and one Democrat, Dan Boren of Oklahoma, were opposed.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Representative Frank R. Wolf, Republican of Virginia, the Justice Department defended the library provision as a valuable terror-fighting tool. "Bookstores and libraries should not be carved out as safe havens for terrorists and spies, who have, in fact, used public libraries to do research and communicate with their co-conspirators," wrote William E. Moschella, assistant attorney general.
During the floor debate, supporters of the Patriot Act said that the potential privacy threats of the provision were being exaggerated and that federal investigators needed all available tools when chasing terrorists.
"I believe it is appropriate that our law enforcement agents, after the proper showing in federal court, can get these records and prevent the next attack, not react after we lose hundreds of thousands of lives," said Representative Tom Feeney, Republican of Florida.
Opponents of the provision fell just short last year in a similar attempt when the House leadership pressured Republicans to back the president. But a handful of states and scores of communities around the nation have raised formal concerns about the Patriot Act and the provision was strongly opposed by library groups even though the Justice Department said it had never been used.
Mr. Sanders said he was also able to attract more support this year through a provision that would allow the F.B.I. to access records covering Internet usage at the library.
He said that he was already working with members of the Senate on the issue and that any effort to overturn the House action would be challenged. "We didn't win this by three votes," he said. "I think that today's vote that will tell the Senate and the House that, wait a second, the American people want some thoughtful reexamination of the USA Patriot Act."
Following the vote, a Justice Department spokesman, Kevin Madden, described the provision as an "important tool for investigating and intercepting terrorism while at the same time establishing robust safeguards to protect law-abiding Americans."
The American Civil Liberties Union hailed the House action, saying "it bodes well that the first vote Congress has taken on the Patriot Act this year has been in favor of liberty and freedom."
The House is expected to approve the entire measure on Thursday. While debating the same bill, lawmakers rejected, 254 to 161, an amendment that would have prevented the Justice Department from enforcing federal marijuana laws in a handful of states that have legalized marijuana for medical purposes.
"Let's focus in on things that are real threats to the American people, not on issues that have been decided by the people of the various states," said Representative Peter A. DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon. "This is something that should be made available in a compassionate way to help a few people."
But Mr. Wolf, the subcommittee chairman, said, "I at one time supported this and changed my vote in the Congress, because I've seen the devastation that drugs can do to young people."Continue reading the main story


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Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) Report
The Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) is the authority over alcohol licenses in the state of California and currently requires a Public Convenience or Necessity Determination (PCN) for the following alcohol licenses in census tracts where the crime rate is high (120% or greater) or over concentrated with licenses:
- Type 20 (Off-Sale Beer and Wine)
- Type 21 (Off-Sale General)
- Type 40 (On-Sale Beer)
- Type 42 (On-Sale Beer and Wine)
- Type 48 (On-Sale General)
- Type 57 (Special On-Sale General)
The report below is provided to the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) on a yearly basis and is intended as a means to assist prospective alcohol license applicants in determining if a PCN is necessary. The Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) may require or waive a PCN at their discretion for any license. The Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control (ABC) is responsible for setting the oversaturation levels in an area and existing ABC Census Tract Authorizations are published on their website. Census tracts are based on population levels in a geographical area and are determined by the Federal Government. The census tract for a particular address may be determined on the FFIEC Geocoding System.
Statistics by Federal Census Tract

subset: commoncrawl


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Welcome to Podcast vs Player episode 96! This week: Death Threats over No Mans Sky delay...Man finds an unexpected guest in a Playstation 4...Xbox One 'Scorpio' rumours...and More!
Want to download the podcast, click HERE!
PvP intro and backing music created for Podcast vs Player by the incredibly talented PoundSound
|click here for more


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|"Map of Algonquin National Park of Ontario" by Department of Crown Lands and Resources Records Archives of Ontario, AO2903.
I spent a summer learning that lake,
swimming in a knot of three,
dock to buoy to buoy to buoy --
a constellation of Javex bottles anchored somehow to the bottom of the lake,
impossible to see from shore.
We measured our days in arm strokes and breaths pulled in above the surface,
tracing the triangle every afternoon
until the leaves started turning.
I love swimming and finding swimming holes, and when I'm not in the water, I'm writing love letters to cities with The Love Lettering Project and working on a novel.


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|About Us
|Start the Process
|Help Center
|Call 800 928-7713 (8am-4pm PDT M-F)
On October 1, 2015, two important changes in Maryland divorce law concerning residency and separation requirements went into effect.
While these changes won't affect couples who've already spent at least the last year living in Maryland at separate residences, for those who've only recently moved to Maryland, or are newly separated or even still living together, the new laws are quite significant as they greatly reduce the amount of time it takes for many couples to get divorced.
Until now, anyone wanting to get divorced in Maryland was required to live in-state for a full year before filing for divorce unless the grounds, or legal reason, for the divorce occurred while living in Maryland. Under the new law, however, the minimum residency has dropped to just six months. This reduced residency requirement provides a benefit to newer Marylanders whose marriages fell apart before they moved to the state.
In addition to the reduction in the in-state residency requirement, the Maryland legislature has also brought greater ease to the divorce process by adding a second no-fault divorce grounds called "mutual consent." Under the mutual consent grounds, a couple with no minor children together who sign a written agreement settling all matters concerning the division of property, debts and spousal support, and will attend a brief divorce hearing together, are able to file for divorce even if they still live together or have been separated only a short time.
Prior to the mutual consent grounds, the only no-fault divorce grounds in Maryland was voluntary separation, which required spouses to live at separate residences for at least 12 months before filing for divorce. The financial burden of setting up and maintaining two households is more than some couples can handle, forcing many to delay filing for divorce. Under the new law, however, couples with no minor children may continue living under the same roof and still file for divorce.
While the new Maryland residency law benefits couples both with and without children, the addition of the mutual consent grounds provides no relief to couples who have minor children together. For them, the 12-month voluntary separation grounds remains the only no-fault option for divorce. Because the expense of maintaining separate households tends to be even greater when the parties are also supporting minor children, many think that the 12-month separation requirement is unreasonable, especially when spouses have reached a full agreement on all terms of the divorce. However, the Maryland legislature remains unconvinced.
Apart from Maryland, only Louisiana, North Carolina and Virginia still require a full year's separation to get a no-fault divorce when the parties have minor children together. (Note: Arkansas requires an entire 18-month separation period for a no-fault divorce regardless of whether the parties have minor children.)
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Preparing for the first time to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation (also known as penance) is an exciting occasion. It is a time for focus on; God's mercy, how we forgive among our family, friends, community, and how we celebrate forgiveness. Children of the parish who are in first grade are invited to begin the formal preparation to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Children must be enrolled in RE classes the year prior to (1st grade) and the year (2nd grade) of the intended First Reconciliation date.
The focus of the catechesis for the preparation of First Reconciliation is the on healing and the resolution offered to us by God's abundant love and forgiveness. Also introduced is the topic of making choices. Children celebrate their First Sacrament of Reconciliation at a special service in February, prior to their First Communion.
Parents Responsibilities
Like First Communion, St. Norbert Parish's preparation for First Reconciliation requests parents to help cultivate their child's faith. An annual parent meeting (for First Communion and First Reconciliation) explains roles, provides discussion points and activities to be worked on with your child to help them prepare for this holy sacrament.
Of vital importance to a child's preparation is the family's participation at Mass on a weekly basis. The Mass is a revelation and the greatest expression of the Catholic faith.
|Parent/Child Meeting
|October 13
|7:00 pm
|St. Norbert Church Hall & Vineyard
|Belonging Celebration
|November 10
|St. Norbert Church
|2nd Grade Reconciliation
|February 2
|7:00 pm
|St. Norbert Church


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Yesterday, I showed you a different framed piece using this same stamp set and paper from the same collection (though different pattern). This too was one used on the display table at my Occasions Open House.
I have both of these hanging in my home now, and I love looking at them. This frame is not an IKEA one, but one I purchased a while back at Michael's.
A closer look...
If I didn't have to do anything else, I would love to sit down and make a ton of these to sell and give away.
Thank you for stopping by for a peek. Happy stamping!


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13 [Here the Edinburgh editors insert the title of this liturgy given on p. 561, supra, and add: "In the Syriac copy, 70, Biblioth. Reg., this title does not occur, the service going forward without interruption-Etheridge." See Elucidation IV.]
14 [According to Badger.]
15 [2 Cor. v. 19, 20.]
16 Intellectualibus. [This prayer not well rendered.]
17 i.e., Catholics. But the word Catholics is omitted in most mss.
18 Which is said also in the Liturgy of Nestorius.
19 In another ms. [Evidently corrupt and mediaeval.]
20 [Here begins the Anaphora.]
21 [The Preface.]
22 Spiritualibus. [Note 3, p. 545, supra.]
23 [See Hammond, p. 274.]
24 Hymnum.
25 In another ms. that prayer begins thus:-
O Lord God Almighty, hear the voice of my cry before Thee at this time. Give ear, O Lord, and hear my groanings before Thy majesty, and accept the entreaty of me, a sinner, with which I call upon Thy grace, at this hour at which the sacrifice is offered to Thy Father. Have mercy on all creatures; spare the guilty; convert the erring; restore the oppressed; on the disquieted bestow rest; heal the weak; console the afflicted; and perfect the alms of those who work righteousness on account of Thy holy name. Have mercy on me also, a sinner, through Thy grace. O Lord God Almighty, may this oblation be accepted for the entire Holy Catholic Church; and for priests, kings, princes, and the rest as above.
26 [Italics mine, conjecturally.]
27 [The Invocation.]
28 Hymnum.
29 In another ms., says the Psalm li.
30 Ps. cxxiii.
31 [From Ps. cxxxviii. 7, 8.]
32 i.e., the dead.
33 [The first words of Dr. Butler's Ancient Geography teaches that the ancients knew but three; but see p. 555, lines 7, 8.]
34 Lit "wish for wars."
35 [So the true reading (Badger), though Edinburgh editors follow the illogical emendation (jucundum) of Renaudot.]
36 [The reference to John vi. 32-40 is clear ]
37 In another ms. there is a different reading:-"Glory to Thee, O God the Father, who didst send Thine only-begotten Son for our salvation, and He Himself before He suffered," etc.
38 In the ms. of Elias, which we have followed, there is a defect, seeing that the whole recitation of the words of Christ is omitted through the fault of the transcriber, or because these ought to have been taken from another source, namely, from the Liturgy of Theodorus or Nestorius. In that which the Patriarch Joseph wrote at Rome, 1697, that entire passage is remodelled according to the Chaldean missal published at Rome, as in the mass, a translation of which was edited by Alexius Menesius. Since there were no other codices at hand, in this place it seemed good to place asterisks to indicate the defects.
39 [Renaudot supplies the Latin word hostiam. It is not the early patristic word, much less is it scriptural for qusi/a.]
40 [Renaudot supplies the Latin word hostiam. It is not the early patristic word, much less is it scriptural for qusi/a.]
41 [Renaudot supplies the Latin word hostiam. It is not the early patristic word, much less is it scriptural for qusi/a.]
42 [Ut supra, note 4, this page; also Burbidge, p. 95, note 2.]
43 In another ms.:-He signs his forehead with the sign of the cross, and says:-Glory to Thee, O Lord, who didst create me by Thy grace. Glory to Thee, O Lord, who didst call me by Thy mercy. Glory to Thee, O Lord, who didst appoint me the mediator of Thy gift; and on account of all the benefits to my weakness, ascribed unto Thee be praise, honour, thanksgiving, and adoration, now, etc.


text: The Aluminum Microplate Tray serves as a heat sink and temperature stabilizer for microwell plates. The plate has six recessed slots for microplates. Standard covered microplates incubated in the tray experience less variation due to even heat distribution. This temperature consistency will help to lower variation in cultured cells and related cell-based assay. When the tray is used with the Microplate Stability Chamber, the edge effect so commonly observed with cells cultured in 96 well plates is almost eliminated. Note that the Stability Chamber is supplied with an Aluminum Microplate Tray.


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This is a very heavy post:
First I have a card to show you that was inspired by an image Lisa posted over at
Decosse's Dynamite Doodles,
for Motivational Monday's every Monday. Lisa has just started Pinterest inpiration that will take place once a month on Motivational Monday's!
Here is the image
(the address to link the photo is: http://www.photobotos.com/romantic_night/
I would like to mention that I have upgraded the "add to cart" button in my digital store and I am very happy to say that I got my first purchase last night!!! It helps when everything works! LOL You can now pay with Paypal and Google.


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Just because your calendar is full doesn't mean that you're an effective time manager. It just means that you have a full diary. As a result you're probably stressed and running around like a maniac.
Time and calendar management can influence all aspects of your life. It's important to be on the lookout for the following seven signs that things may not be going as well as you think.
Once you become an effective manager of your schedule you won't just become a time and calendar boss. You will begin you feel more professional and you'll become more happy and satisfied in your life.


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So far things are going really well, and at this rate I'll probably be through the stash in no time. It's a bit difficult to set aside some of my favorite pieces – especially the ones that I already use to combine and bring together different designs. I can't promise that I won't cheat and pull out some essentials here and there when I need a dash of something or other.
The first combination that I wore was my new floral chevron bracelet and a fish leather pendant. Normally I don't worry much about matching color in accessories, but I like the way the reds connect these two pieces together. I'm a little sad to be putting the pendant aside as it's one of my go-to pieces when I just want to throw something on and run out the door. It goes with basically everything and it's a really fun piece to wear.
Some days I kept it simple with just a cuff or a pendant. Other days I want to experiment. A few times I went with old stand-bys.
I really like to wear a big stack of bracelets whenever I'm in a fun mood, or when I'm wearing a top that doesn't work with a necklace. I always start with 3 or 4 simple stretch bracelets and an ombre crochet chain wrap. Then I layer on some petite bangles, and maybe a leather cord bracelet. I've already used this combo twice, so I'm running low on options. Soon I'll have to discover new combinations from the bottom of my bracelet box.
One of my favorite new combinations so far was a German glass scarab pendant with a super long St.Petersburg chain necklace. When doubled or trebled, the chain creates an awesome cascade look. With the scarab at the center it looks even better. Once again this combo has a few hints of similar hues, so it really comes together.
At some point I'll have to transfer the 'used' jewelry to a new location, as my current out-box gets filled up. This will give me an opportunity to really reorganize my collection, so that's a nice bonus.
Are you sticking to your creative resolutions? What's your biggest success so far?
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February 2013 4xForwardPosted in Features on February 1, 2013
It's true. There isn't a better job than having to test 4x4s. Not that it is easy, but it sure is gratifying. Pushing a new rig to its limits and beyond is what makes our world go around.
Once a year our job description includes testing and picking a winner in our 4x4 of the Year test. That means researching what vehicles are new or substantially revised compared to a previous year's offering in a way that would make them perform differently (hopefully better!) than before. Ideally the different OEs would all have something to offer and would be willing to let us test their rigs as they should be tested: in the dirt, rocks, sand, and even snow if we could find it.
Some manufacturers are a bit reluctant to let their brand-new 4x4s be tested this way, as other magazines don't test to our high standards. They test in a way that minimizes damage and really doesn't show true off-road ability. In fact, we've been asked to water down our test to the lowest common denominator, to make sure the least capable vehicle has a chance. Our answer to that is, of course, "No way." That's like making sure everyone on opposing football teams gets a trophy and there is no winner. What the heck is that all about? Our test is a competition that stands above the others. You can rest assured that regardless of what vehicles are entered, the one that wins will be the most capable one of the bunch and entitled to wear the crown of 4x4 of the Year.
This year we had a competent group of 4x4s that we enjoyed testing the tar out of. They all survived somewhat unscathed. While we do not condone or try to damage vehicles, the only way to ensure that would be to leave them in the garage. Our judges have more years of combined experience than any other 4x4 test around, and we know how to drive and prevent damage—if the vehicle is capable.
Also, our playground is the same as yours, and it is also our testing grounds. Over the years we have refined and sculpted each area and terrain we tackle to give us real-world indicators of what you would attempt. If one vehicle can traverse a trail without damage where another tears its bumper off, then we have to judge accordingly. While other mags would change their test trail because it was too tough for the competitors, we feel that the competitors were too weak for the trail, and hence we judge them by our standards. We also know that the most new 4x4 buyers won't push their vehicle to the extreme wheeling limits we do, but that's the point. We do it for you. Somebody has to do it!


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Introduction to Complex Trauma and Trauma Informed Care
Monday, 1 April 2019
This course will give you the practical skills needed to help clients improve self awareness, build motivation and self-esteem, break free from unhelpful behavioural patterns, and take responsibility for their actions and choices.
A mixture of training methods is used on this course. You will explore typical problems faced by professionals that work with vulnerable people, such as the tendency to attribute "blame" on to others and resistance to pro-activity. The blend of approaches is designed to ensure that you will gain insights that are of immediate, practical use in your everyday working life.
- See more at: http://www.homeless.org.uk/products/training/theme-1-providing-excellent...
Delegates will also be given some practical resources for working in a trauma-informed way and will learn to recognise vicarious/secondary trauma within themselves and how to overcome it.
Who is this course for?
- Frontline homelessness workers with basic or limited knowledge of trauma
- Frontline homelessness workers with little experience in the field
- Staff from other sectors who have contact with homeless people/people with complex needs
- Organisations who are not yet, or are in the early stages of, working in a psychologically informed way
What will you learn?
This one day course provides:
- An introduction to complex trauma and its effect on attachment and the brain
- An introduction to Trauma Informed Care and practical tips on supporting clients to regulate emotion, manage behavior and risks and creating safe and empowering services
- An opportunity for you to reflect on your practice in relation to the above
- Vicarious trauma and looking after yourself
Delegates will be provided with a handbook of resources.
Please note: due to the sensitive nature of this training course, delegates might feel anxious or upset by some of the course content if it relates to their own experiences. It is essential that they are aware of the course content beforehand, in order to be emotionally prepared for the day. Please ensure that all delegates read this course outline ahead of the training. They will be able to step out during the session if needed. There is no requirement for delegates to share personal experiences on this course.
Homeless Link, Minories House, 2-5 Minories, London, EC3N 1BJ
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Submitted by CdMScott on
I totally remember seeing this move advertised in Omni [remember Omni?], and that it was a fairly big deal when it was on. It was a fairly big deal because this is a public television production, and was one of their more prominent productions of that year, meant to show you all the joy and richness that public television brings into your life. God, I so want to marry the 70s.
Anyway, immediately one [or at least me] has that feeling of being 12 and watching this public television production upstairs on the tiny TV in ones' parents bedroom, because everyone else wants to watch Dallas downstairs on the big TV. We open with this water surface that looks like space [doncha love it?], and dissolve into nuclear explosions. Then we see a guy stumbling through the postapocalyptic wasteland, and he falls down and says "yes." Then, as the credits proceed, we learn that this is based on a novel by Ursula K. Le Guin! That gave me such a hoot—I haven't heard that name in so long. She also served as "creative consultant" on this film, which is part of what I think makes it "important."
Anyway, it seems that in the post-apocalyptic future, we all have silver-foil lined ducts running through our homes, not unlike in Brazil. George Orr leaves his nasty apartment building and goes to see Dr. Haber, this bearded scientist with curly hair who pretty much embodies the sci-fi 70s. It would seem that George took an overdose, and has been sent to Dr. Haber as an alternative to community service or whatever. Dr. Haber is an onanologist, as he is fond of saying, and wants to help George with his "dream problem." It would seem that whatever George dreams comes true, and what's more, once he wakes up it has ALWAYS been true, that is, all memory of it [in everyone but George] is erased.
Let's have an example, in the form of what we are told was George's first "affective" dream. It would seem that when George was but a teenager he had this Aunt in her 30s who lived with them and who would always make joking come-ons to him. So one day George grabbed her tit and tried to kiss her, at which point she slapped him. That night he dreamed that she got in a car accident. When he woke up in the morning, not only had she died in an accident, but the part about her living with them had been entirely erased. All of this, by the way, is set to this delightfully cheesy [and SO 70s sci-fi] synth soundtrack, making these spacey "meeeww, meeeeaawww" sounds every few seconds.
So Dr. Haber's therapeutic setting consists of George lying on a couch with these clear half-spheres surrounding his head. I'm sure you can see how he'd be entirely comfortable to sleep in that. One of my favorite parts is after his first session, when George goes to see the pharmacist. George's pharmacy priviledges have been suspended post-overdose, and he has no "pharmacy card." George says "But I have a prescription from Dr. Haber," so the pharmacist says "Well okay, I'll grant you a temporary card—but DON'T ABUSE IT." I'm sure all drug addicts wish the police would let them go with a strong admonition such as that one. "Okay, here's some Crystal Meth… but don't abuse it!"
So George goes to Haber for his first session. It would seem that Haber is going to hypnotize George and suggest a dream to him. We get the idea that Haber cannot be completely trusted when he puts the Spock touch on George and makes him pass out. He makes George dream about a horse, and when he awakes, the picture of a mountain on the wall is now a picture of a horse. But Haber insists that the picture has ALWAYS been a horse, really frustrating George and making him feel crazy. This happens again, and you think the whole movie is going to be about how George slowly loses his mind as after he dreams something no one remembers how it was before, but this idea is abruptly dropped and never discussed again after Haber and co. suddenly DO remember how it was before.
In here George also meets Heather, an Uhura-like African-American lawyer [with giant man-hands] who initially tells him he has no choice but to go to Haber, but then relents and tries to help him form a case. They become more and more buddy-buddy throughout the movie, until finally love blossoms.
SPOILERS > > > Haber hypnotizes George again, saying to himself "I'm going to make the whole world right!" while we, the audience, gasp, knowing that we've got a dangerous megalomaniac on our hands, and reflect pensively on how the best of intentions can lead to the worst results. This is SO making me think. So Haber orders George to think of a world without overpopulation [and you have to LOVE these hot-button 70s social issues!]. When he wakes, 6 billion people across the globe have been eliminated. I don't see what the problem with that is, but George feels all bad about it. Then he is told to dream of peace on Earth, and what results is that mankind is united—against alien invaders who are attacking the moon. Then he dreams the aliens off the moon—and they come to Earth! But they're friendly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-type aliens, who only attack because we attack them. Drat man's warlike nature! Why must we always fear what we don't know?! [and etc.] Haber has to explain to the government that if we don't attack the aliens they won't attack us [kind of like bees], so he calls up his government contacts and says "Uh… about this alien thing…"
So Haber [who has also had George dream him a huge institute], tells George to dream an end to racism, so George makes everyone gray. But is that really the answer? Please do not watch this film lightly if you are not prepared to grapple with such provocative questions. Anyway, Haber says to the hypnotized George that "one more access and you'll be superfluous," and that Haber will no longer have to work through "that stupid chicken brain of his." Now, there has been a lot of acrimony between George and Haber growing between them, and it can get a little frustrating to watch the meek George just take it, when you want to him to say to Haber, "You know, all I have to do is dream that you're dead." But no, George is too good and innocent and full of humanity for that.
Things start making less sense toward the end. George is given a 45 of "A Little Help from my Friends" by the mutant turtle [even aliens love the Beatles!], and dreams Heather emerging from the endless sea. We also find out that when George fell down in the postapocalyptic ruin at the beginning, he had a dream that became the rest of this movie… which would explain why everything looks fine, even though it's supposed to be all post-apocalyptic. But during this time Haber has made it so that he, too, can have affective dreams, and he creates this huge laser light show that is supposed to represent… something or other. But George joins him in the dream, and defeats him [it's like a really friendly version of Scanners], and at the end everything's okay and Haber is a mental patient. Cruel motherfucking irony.
Ultimately I really liked it. It was very low-budget [in that way somehow distinct to PBS], but I got into that and liked how it wasn't afraid to focus on ideas and not worry about the visuals so much. It did kind of fall apart at the end [I read that the ending here doesn't really convey what the end of the book is all about], and Haber turns into much more of a villain than I get the sense he was in the book, in which he is supposed to be non-villanous in any way, and purely have the best of intentions throughout.
It's hard not to be reminded of The Butterfly Effect, which is also about trying to fix something and only screwing things up more in the process, although that one was unconcerned with social issues and was more about one person.
It seems that this was out of print for 20 years because in the original print they play the Beatles' "With a Little Help from my Friends," which caused copyright problems. Here the song has been replaced by another version. There is a 20-minute interview with Ursula Le Guin on the disc, and she seems like a personable woman. She said she considered this movie unfilmable because essentially nothing happens in it [not true], and that it was supposed to espouse a Taoist way of looking at the world, that is to express 'doing by not doing.' By contrast Haber is trying to do by direct means, and look at all the trouble he gets into. Anyway, awesome, fun, idea-packed sci-fi for the person who doesn't need spaceships and explosions… all the time.
Yes! Especially if you like real sci-fi that concentrates more on ideas and concepts that exploding spaceships.
LATHE OF HEAVEN [2002] is the A&E remake that is quite good, but leaves the majority of content from the book and this adaptation behind.


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Pulling the Triggers
"If someone tells me I've hurt their feelings, I say, 'I'm still waiting to hear what your point is.'" Christopher Hitchens
I don't like trigger warnings.
I know, this likely won't make me popular with all the large hairpieces of the no-god-having, leftie-leaning groups, but it's just a fact. I think they're bullshit and they're disempowering people, keeping them from actually dealing with their problems. I mean, look at this article from the New York Times in March talking about the subject of triggers, rape, and colleges. If people were "triggered" by this presentation/dialogue they could go to a set-up "safe space" described as follows:
The safe space, Ms. Byron explained, was intended to give people who might find comments "troubling" or "triggering," a place to recuperate. The room was equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members trained to deal with trauma.Sorry? I get that a small minority percentage of the audience might have to take a break and get their head out of the content for a minute, but what is with the childish nonsense? Play doh and bubbles? Are you serious? I thought colleges and universities were for young adults exploring ideas and learning about the world? Check out this quote from a person who made use of said "safe room":
"I was feeling bombarded by a lot of viewpoints that really go against my dearly and closely held beliefs,"Yeah, welcome to university. As Denis Leary once said, "I thought I was going to be the starting centre fielder for the Boston Red Socks. Life sucks, get a fucking helmet."
I'm sorry if I'm blunt and seemingly unsympathetic. I'm not unsympathetic at all. I teach first aid and CPR and recently at a course for a dental office we were going through the motions of CPR on the mannequins. We were obviously talking about doing the technique on people who present as dead - no heartbeat, no breathing - and that most of the people who have CPR done on them will, unfortunately, not make it. One of the attendees, I noticed, was welling up slightly with tears and certainly was not sharing in the occasional black humour that accompanies our presentation. At the conclusion, she quickly took her leave with moist eyes and a couple of the other office workers mentioned that she recently lost someone very close to her.
I feel for that woman. She experienced loss and had to face a short course that dealt with death in a very up-front way. She was "triggered", but she got through it and was professional about it, albeit understandably with difficulty. I would argue that the fact that she got through the class likely helped her deal with the loss.
The NYT article also makes the very valid point that:
"I don't see how you can have a therapeutic space that's also an intellectual space..."and
...it's disconcerting to see students clamor for a kind of intrusive supervision that would have outraged students a few generations ago.The former quote shows the incompatibility of the concepts we're dealing with here. "Safe" spaces just don't do well with intellectual discourse. You are going to be challenged to provide evidence for your position and if you can't, your argument is going to be thrown out with very little ceremony. You feelings be damned.
The last four paragraphs illustrate just what backwards-thinking nonsense this sort of blanketing results in: college students feeling less "safe" than an artist whose comrades were gunned down in their workplace and who was traveling with (very necessary) bodyguards. I urge you to read the whole thing.
Greta Christina (who I admire greatly but disagree with on this topic) wrote an article supportive of trigger warnings in Free Inquiry magazine (FI) (volume 35) wherein she argues that if the reader was supportive of "spoiler alerts" for movies then you should logically be in favor of "trigger warnings". In the most recent issue of FI there is a rebuttal article by Kristine Harley which echoes many of my concerns when I read Christina's original piece.
One point made is the obvious and concerning growth of what can and does "trigger" people and what the ultimate goal is for these warnings:
...the goal of preventing any kind of "trauma" has replaced the reasonable goal of heading off PTSD-related episodes.Note here that Harley states plainly that some trigger warnings are sensible and necessary to stop trauma victims from having an episode. However, Harley takes on Christina's main analogy thusly:
Triggering material, unlike spoilers, is so poorly defined that almost anything can be a trigger...Law students avoiding rape law in class neither resemble fans of The Empire Strikes Back who don't want to know beforehand that Darth Vader is Luke's father, nor do they "decide not to read [the material] on the bus to work." They rather behave like the pharmacists who do not want to dispense birth control or the Kentucky county clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.I remember listening to Penn Jillette talking on his podcast about an issue much like this. He recounted a story about him and Teller performing on stage at a theatre somewhere and one of the tricks they did was to have a large plexiglass tank, fill it with water with Teller inside, and then Teller would "drown" in it while attempting to escape. Very Penn & Teller.
A woman, during the gag, got up and left the theatre quickly. She was attended to in the lobby by an usher who asked if she was alright and if she needed anything. The woman told the usher that someone very close to her had recently drown and that she didn't know that was part of the show and it just hit a little too close to home. She couldn't stay and watch. The usher apologized and offered to refund her ticket and she refused because, she said, there was nothing wrong with the show, it was just that *she* couldn't stay because of her specific circumstance. She would go back into the show in a few minutes and all would be well. And, against all odds, it was. This woman may not have been ready to see a realistic, fake drowning at that point of her grief process, but she watched some of it. Eventually, that sort of thing won't bother her anymore and she will be able to see it for what it is: a stage gag. It brings up this point from the above article though:
According to the most-basic tenets of psychology, the very idea of helping people with anxiety disorders avoid the things they fear is misguided. A person who is trapped in an elevator during a power outage may panic and think she is going to die. That frightening experience can change neural connections in her amygdala, leading to an elevator phobia. If you want this woman to retain her fear for life, you should help her avoid elevators.Let people face their fears/triggers. Slowly at first and then they will eventually get over them. The infantilization and coddling is doing no one any favours. To put a point on the quote, ensuring that any time discussion of elevators comes up Susan is told to go get some coffee so her ears won't hear the offending syllables will only make her irrational fear persist and her social anxiety worsen to the point of paralysis.
I'll end with this.
...(W)e should choose to react to our negative experiences with reason, logic, and evidence-based inquiry...As Isaac Asimov famously said, there is "no thumb to suck" in life, and to me these growing demands for an expected outcome are beginning to sound like prayers to a therapeutic god in a feel-good church of conformity.
Labels: atheist, blasphemy, bullying, Charlie Hebdo, college, skeptic, trigger warnings, university


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dimanche 7 mars 2010
Fêtes Napoléoniennes à Fouras et l'Ile d'Aix
3 commentaires:
- The Ancient Digger a dit…
I was just reading about Napoleon in my Western Civ class. What an amusing and interesting man he must have been.
- 10 mars 2010 à 10:41
- David Waller a dit…
Hey I have been been browsing your posts, and would like some more information on a specific post that you had on http://athingforcars.com/autos/fascinating-french-classic-cars-the-magnificent-simca-oceane/
I am specifically needing information on the Simca Océane, 1958 version.
I actually would love to get permission to use a photo of this red car if possible. I was having a hard time finding a way to contact you. Would there be a possibility of you writing to me at firstname.lastname@example.com
- 19 mars 2010 à 14:36
- zoeyclark a dit…
Hi, how are you?
This zoey from Triond, a.k.a Pinar Tarhan from factoidz. just saw you had a blog.
it looks lovely. do you keep other ones?
I never quite figured out hoe blogger works and it is even harder in French:)))
- 12 juillet 2010 à 12:32


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In May 2014 – an impressive month for a number of manufacturers – new car sales figures released by industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that Ford is extending a considerable lead.
The month has been the best in terms of UK vehicle sales for close to a decade, representing a 27 th consecutive month of growth. Over a million models have been sold since January alone.
Ford's sales for 2014 to date have increased by an exceptional 27 percent, boosted by the immense popularity of the Fiesta and Focus. The Fiesta remains the UK's best-selling car for the month, at more than 9,400 sold, with the Focus comfortably in second place.
As for the manufacturer's commercial vehicles, the Transit and Transit Custom are leading the way. They're the top two vans, cementing Ford's position as the lead manufacturer for a wide variety of road models. Both retail and fleet sales for the brand have increased year-on-year.
To join the thousands of UK motorists delighted and supported by their new Ford, choose a car or commercial vehicle from Lookers Ford today.


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Americ Inn Lodge And Suites FargoReviewing: Americ Inn | Rating:
I travel a lot for business so I stay at many different hotels. Recently I stayed at the AmericInn in Fargo, North Dakota.
This is a great hotel to stay at if you are in the Fargo area. I paid a rate of $79 a night for a 2 queen bed room.
The hotel itself was very clean and the rooms were spacious. The room had a refrigerator but no microwave. I also like that the room had a pretty good size lock safe. The room also came coffee maker. The coffee was OK, drinkable in the mornings.
The hotel was in a good location. It was near a good size grocery store and many different restaurants, all within walking distance.
I have to give high reviews to the staff at AmericInn. When I got there my reservation was incorrect. I had reserved a non smoking room but they had me down for a smoking room. The hotel was fairly booked at day, but the check in staff was able to work me into a non smoking room, even with a smile on his face. Even the check out staff in the morning was very friendly.
This hotel also does have a complimentary breakfast, which is better then most hotels I have been in. They have your standard donuts, toast, cereal, muffins, OJ, milk and coffee but it also has waffles and biscuits and gravy. It was nice to have something hot in the morning for once at a hotel.
The breakfast area was roomy and clean.
My one and only problem with this hotel is the beds I had were not comfortable. Maybe it was just my room, but the bed seemed to be very worn. It made for a uncomfortable night and a sore back in the morning.
Even with the uncomfortable beds I would stay there again because over all it was a great hotel for the price.


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A mother couldn't be prouder
Nikki Dober is amazed by her son's actions after her car tumbled down a hill Saturday
BERNE — Once Nikki Dober's car came to a rest on its roof in the woods 50 feet below Joslyn School Road, the only part of her son she could see were his shoeless size 2 feet.
Standing in the snow in his socks outside the driver's side window, 6-year-old Aaron Wright told his mother he was going to kick in the cracked glass and pull her to safety.
"I told him 'No!'" Dober said. "Then he ran up the hill to get help, but I didn't really want him to do that either. He said he was OK, but I wasn't sure. I could only see that the accident had knocked his shoes off his little feet."
Dober, 28, was driving with Aaron in the back seat when she lost control of her 1999 Chrysler Cirrus just after noon Saturday, sending the sedan tumbling off the two-mile stretch between routes 443 and 85 and down the steep, snowy embankment.
"Once the wheel started to go over the edge, I said to myself, 'Oh my God, we're going to die,'" Dober said. "I was conscious through the whole thing, screaming the whole time. I was just terrified. I couldn't do anything."
Dangling upside-down in the driver's seat, Dober couldn't turn around.
She yelled to her son: "Aaron, where are you? I'm OK, Aaron, where are you?"
"I'm fine, Mom," he replied.
More Information
Seconds after the crash, Aaron quickly wiggled out of his booster seat, reached over and unbuckled his mother. But Dober was still stuck.
Aaron grabbed her purse and squeezed through a broken window in back. The first-grader rummaged through the bag for her cellphone, but it had been tossed into the snow during the crash.
After Dober talked the boy out of kicking in the window, he dashed up the hill and screamed for help. Passers-by, police, firefighters and emergency personnel soon converged.
"Aaron's kind of a wild child, so sometimes he only gets noticed for the bad things he does," Dober said. "I couldn't be prouder to say I'm his mother. I don't know what I could ever do without him. It's just been me and him for a long time. It's been tough."
His father is serving a seven-year prison sentence for a 2008 assault, and Aaron has been raised by his mother for the past four years. Dober said her son has a loose understanding of why his dad isn't around, but misses having a father figure nonetheless.
"Life is stressful for us sometimes," Dober said. "But we're best friends. We were really close before the crash, and something like this is only going to bind us closer together."
"We're lucky to be alive," Dober continued. "Sometimes life has a way of letting you see how other things you think are tough really aren't in the bigger picture."
One of the first ambulances to arrive rushed Aaron to Albany Medical Center Hospital. His mother was shuttled to Albany Med a half-hour later after firefighters pulled her out of the car. The first time mother and son saw each other's eyes after the accident was at the hospital.
"He came up and climbed into my bed with me," Dober said. "He said, 'I wasn't worried about the car, Mom, I was worried about you.' We just hugged for I don't know how long."
The accident unfolded during a trip to Dober's sister's house when Dober took her eyes of the road for one second. When she looked up, she saw a pickup truck bearing down on the opposite side of Joslyn School Road.
Dober, who was southbound, tried to swerve out of the way, but turned too fast. The car fishtailed and soared off the shoulder.
The pickup's driver stopped and ran to the crash site. No tickets or violations were issued.
"In my line of work, you don't get a chance to send out a whole lot of positive news," said acting Sheriff Craig Apple. "He's a smart little fella."
Mother and son were released from Albany Med with scrapes and bruises by 5 p.m. Exhausted, they headed home to their Main Street apartment and went to bed early. They spent Sunday baking cookies at Aaron's aunt's house down the street. On Monday morning, Aaron was back in class at Berne-Knox-Westerlo Elementary School.
"I wanted him to stay home, but he told me he was fine," Dober said. "For someone his age, he's been so strong through it all."
Aaron turns 7 on Dec. 30. At her son's request, Dober said they'll be throwing a "Dukes of Hazzard"-themed party after the madcap 1970s and 1980s television show.
"His cousins and all watch it. I don't know why, but he loves it," Dober said. "All the boys down here are that tough type that just seem to be into nothing but mud and trucks."
Reach Bryan Fitzgerald at 454-5414 or firstname.lastname@example.com. On Twitter: @BFitzgeraldTU.


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United Meetings contact information
For questions or feedback regarding United's travel services for meeting and event planners, contact us using the information below. Please make sure you visit the United Meetings section of this website before contacting us.
1-832-235-2151 (Fax)
Monday - Friday 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Central time
Saturday - Sunday 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Central time
Online form for meeting registration
Postal mail
Meetings and Conventions
United Airlines, Inc.
900 Grand Plaza
Houston, TX 77067


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TOP romwe / ALIEN PATCH TOQUE brandy melville / JEANS urban planet / YIN-YANG NECKLACE eBay / PARKA costa blanca / COWBOY BOOTS thrifted (salvation army)
Post by Soyconfessions.
If you follow me on Instagram, you already know I wore these cowboy boots for an entire week. I bought them at Salvation Army for $14.99 in the summer, specifically to wear at Pemberton Music Fest (along with some other pieces that I ended up ditching, in favour of a bikini-and-shorts-combo that I wore every day during the festival).
My classes have begun, and I have a lot of reading to catch up on, mainly Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen, and Paradise Lost by John Milton. I'm in three English courses this term, and two Creative Writing classes (Intro to Screenwriting and Intro to Fiction). I'm basically taking CrWr for the credits and as GPA boosters. (Woah, fancy abbreviations!)
I will hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in May of this year.
Do you think about that sometimes? The fact that a lot has happened before you were even able to process it all?
Every night, when I close my eyes (in Avry's arms I lay), I can't help but run through the entire day of social interactions between myself and others, actions made by myself and others, words said and unsaid, and even something as trivial as how I looked as I walked through a door, stepped on the bus, did I smile? did I stutter when I replied to my professor's question? should I raise my hand less? or more?
But in the end it's all futile, because as soon as I tire myself out and fall asleep, the new day begins and everything that has occurred yesterday will disintegrate into the past.
I say, "Look both ways before crossing."


text: $75K award "patently unreasonable" says court British Columbia's Supreme Court recently overturned a damage award in one of the most noteworthy Human Rights decisions of 2014. In that decision, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (the "Tribunal") ordered $75,000 in damages for injury to the dignity of an Applicant whose medical pediatrics residency was terminated by the University of British Columbia in a discriminatory manner. That award more than doubled the previous high water-mark for damages for injury to dignity in similar cases of discrimination of $35,000. CCPartners wrote about the original decision in May of 2014 (found here). In its decision, the Tribunal based its elevated damage award in part on: The significant delay to the commencement of the Applicant's medical practice; The Applicant's suffering, which was magnified because medicine was his life-long passion; and The Applicant having experienced deep humiliation and embarrassment both socially and professionally. The University sought Judicial Review of, among other things, the Tribunal's award of damages for injury to dignity. The University argued that the Tribunal placed undue emphasis on the fact that the Applicant was engaged in medical training, that the Tribunal's award created a two-tiered system for awarding damages where professionals were given preferential treatment over "mere employees" and that the Tribunal exercised its discretion to award damages for injury to dignity arbitrarily and not based on any relevant facts. B.C.'s Supreme Court agreed with the University, holding that the Tribunal's damage award was "patently unreasonable" and that it must be set aside. In support of its conclusion, the Court found "the fact that Dr. Kelly was in a medical program is not a reasonable basis for more than doubling the previous highest award for similar discrimination". While the Court held that the Tribunal should not be bound by past damage awards, it maintained that "the decision must still be based on evidence and reason" and that in the Court's view that had "not occurred in this case". The Court added that the Tribunal's discretion "which resulted in that award was exercised arbitrarily". The Court chose not determine what the reasonable quantum of damages should have been. Instead, it has remitted the decision back to the Tribunal for reconsideration. CCPartners will update readers once the Tribunal releases its reconsideration decision. While the Court's ruling may appear encouraging for employers, it is unlikely that this decision will provide any chilling effect on the increasingly larger damage awards being handed down by Human Rights Tribunals nation-wide, as it seems each Tribunal (if not each adjudicator) is always seeking to push the envelope. The lawyers at CCPartners are well-versed in assisting employers with navigating all types of human rights issues and complaints. Click here for a list of experienced lawyers at CCPartners who can help. SHARE


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People often ask how I could possible hope to locate a bird as rare as an Imperial Woodpecker in an area as vast as Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental—that is, if there are any of them left at all. It's a fair question. Unless you're lucky enough to see one fly past close enough to make a positive identification or hear one calling or drumming, you could walk right past an Imperial Woodpecker as it clung to the other side of a tree trunk and never know it was there.
To help increase our odds, we used a custom-made device to mimic the unique double-knock drumming done by most Campephilus woodpeckers—which sounds like BAM-bam, with the second impact hitting only a fraction of a second after the first, sounding almost like an echo. Martjan Lammertink designed the device, which consists of a birdhouse-like wooden box lashed to a tree trunk to act as a resonator, and a striker, which resembles two lengths of broomstick, each about a yard long, with a pivot bolt in the center. To make the sound, you swing the striker in an arc, hitting the box hard with the first stick while the other one swings over the pivot bolt, hitting the box less than a second later, producing a near-perfect rendition of a Campephilus woodpecker double-knock.
Martjan tried out the double-knock box in Latin America and was able to draw responses from two species of Campephilus woodpeckers, the Pale-billed and Magellanic (which are relatives of the Ivory-billed and Imperial woodpeckers). To see this device in action, watch "Talking with a Pale-billed Woodpecker."
(Photo by Tim Gallagher)
Above, Martjan Lammertink uses a GPS unit to record the precise location of each double-knock session during our expedition in the Sierra Madre.


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Stuff by Woody
So Survivor are back in business, they have recruited new young vocalist Cameron Barton, who has big shoes to fill replacing Jimi Jamison who sadly passed away last year. Barton joins Survivor originals Dave Bickler and Frankie Sullivan and plans already in motion to get back on the road.
Geoff Tate's Operation Mindcrime have announced a European tour this autumn and a couple of UK dates are trickling through including a midlands show at The River Rooms in December on the 10th December.
Nathan James classic rock band Inglorious who have been pushing themselves into our attention for a while now have officially announced been signed by Frontiers Records and will release their debut album in February. To coincide with the album release the band plan to hit the road including a date at The Robin in Bilston on 24th February.
AOR Heaven will release the new album For The Greater God from Saffire in late November. It will include the tracks 'The Great Escape', 'Heartless', 'As Promises Burn' and 'Blame It On The Rain'.
If you have already checked out Major Instincts video for 'High Five' it's highly likely, you'll be looking forward to their album hitting the shelves. You don't have long to wait as AOR heaven release their debut album Roots and Wings in late November. It will include the following songs 'One In A Million', 'I Need A Drink', 'Don't Come To Me' and 'Kicked To The Ground'.
Billy Sherwood has released an official audio video for 'Just Galileo and me' which is from his new concept album 'Citizen' which is out now on Frontiers Records.
Vanden Plas have released another official audio video to promote their forthcoming album Chronicles Of The Immortals: Netherworld II. Check out 'The Last Fight' here.
and another for 'God makers Temptation'.
Melodic Rock Records will release the debut album All About Living from Amboaje in late November. Singer Toni Amboaje was featured in the Spanish version of the voice and was a founder member of Hard Spirit who some might remember from the not too distant past. For a taste of what to expect you can enjoy the video to their first single 'Over and Over Again' below.
UK melodic rockers Serpentine have released a brand new video for the track 'Where Does Your Heart Beat Now?', enjoy it below. It's taken from their latest album Circle Of Knives which is out right now on AOR Heaven.
PJ Zitarosa will be a known name to fans of Danny Vaughn as he has played lead guitar with Danny's solo band on his first two album's and live dates and even deputised with Tyketto on a couple of occasions. Well PJ is back with his new band Two Thousand Feet who will release their debut album via Z Records next Spring.
Cats In Space, the pop rocking super group have released another official video to accompany their recently released debut album Too Many Gods which is out now on Cargo/Harmony Factory records. Check out 'Last Man Standing' here.
Find Me the AOR project featuring Robbie Le Blanc on vocals have released a new lyric video for the track 'Nowhere To Hide' ahead of the second album from the project Dark Angel. Which is set for release in early December on Frontiers Records.
and here's an audio video for 'Let Love Rule'
UK newcomers Blood Red Saints who feature former In Faith vocalist Pete Godfrey have released a couple of video's ahead of their debut album Speedway release in December. Here's an audio video for 'Kickin' Up Dust'.
and here's a lyric video for 'Best of Me'. Enjoy!
Khymera have just released an official lyric video to accompany their song 'A Night To Remember'. It's taken from their soon to be released and much anticipated new album 'The Grand Design' on Frontiers Records. Enjoy it below.
and here's an audio video for 'Never Give Up On You'.
The remaining members of Legion have decided to continue on following the departure of vocalist Phil Vincent, but have decided to start the new chapter under a new band moniker. The album is already recorded and details about it and the singer will be released shortly.
Primal Fear are set to return with a new album Rule Breaker on Frontiers Records in January. It will feature the tracks 'Angels Of Mercy', 'Bullets and Tears', 'In Metal We Trust' and 'The Devil In Me'.
Swedes MarysCreek will release their new album through Escape Music in January 2016. Infinity will include the tracks 'Buried Deep Within', 'My Confession', 'Blinded By Darkness' and 'Forever Lost'.
Rising Swedish rockers Reach have released a 'Coming Home' tour video. The song is lifted from their debut album released earlier this year on Cargo / Sun Hill Records. Enjoy it here.
Multi-national melodic metallers Eden's Curse have finished recording their fifth album, the band are very excited and have lots of plans which will be revealed in due course.
Welsh AORster's Serpentine have announced a temporary hiatus following the departure of Keyboardist Gareth Noon. The band are taking some time to weigh up their options before moving forward. The band have dealt with a few line-up changes in their short lifetime so it'll be interesting to see where the band go from here – I know many fans will be keen for them to continue once they find a suitable replacement for Noon.
Super group Resurrection Kings will release their debut album through Frontiers Records in January. Based around Giuffria and Dio guitarist Craig Goldy the band also features Sean McNabb, Vinny Appice and Chas West on vocals. The album is produced by Alessandro Del Vecchio and features the tracks 'Livin' Out Loud', 'Fallin' For You', 'Path of Love' and 'Had Enough'.
Tyketto and Dan Reed Network are hitting the road for some co-headline shows next spring, but their Midlands show will be solo headline shows at The Robin in Bilston. The Network play on March 9th and Tyketto on March 12th. Both bands are set to play the HRH AOR festival in North Wales too.
Finland's Kings Company Formerly No Man's Land have signed with Frontiers Records with their debut album scheduled for release in the summer of 2016.
Frontiers Rock Festival III which takes place in Milan, Italy next April have announced the first four bands on the bill. Treat and Trixter are set to headline with Shiraz Lane and the UK's Inglorious also taking lower positions on the bill.
Supremacy the new band featuring former Bonfire vocalist Claus Lessmann have changed the name of the band to Phantom 5. The name change is to save confusion with other bands using the Supremacy moniker.
Northern Ireland's No Hot Ashes who reformed a few years back have been on the comeback trail release an EP of re-recorded songs from the bands early days as well as playing the HRH AOR festival and touring with FM earlier this year. They have now signed with Frontiers Records for their first album in Thirty-Three years next spring.
Well that's all the juicy bits of news from the past month; I'll be back in a month's time with even more news and gossip from the world of AOR and melodic rock.


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from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A man who harvests.
- n. See daddy longlegs.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A field-worker who works to gather in the harvest.
- n. An order of terrestrial, non-venomous arachnids with often very long legs: Opiliones.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A man engaged in harvesting.
- n. See Daddy longlegs, 1.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A laborer in harvest.
- n. A harvester, shepherd-spider, gray-bear, or daddy-long-legs; an arachnidan, such as those of the genus Phalangium, having a very small globose body with long slim legs. Also harvest-spider.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. spiderlike arachnid with a small rounded body and very long thin legs
Sorry, no etymologies found.
The daddy long-leg spider (Pholcidae) is often confused with the "harvestman" (Opiliones) which can also be called a daddy long-leg.
A number of other invertebrate species, including beetles, harvestman, spiders, millipedes, and freshwater mussels are specialists on habitats modified by old Redwood and other conifer forests and maintain very local distributions.
Several of the only known localities for endemic harvestman, spiders, land snails, and other invertebrates have been heavily altered or lost through logging within the last decade, and the current status of these species is unknown.
The first "daddy long-legs" is actually a harvestman, or Opilione.
Fact: There are several spiders that have been branded with this nickname—the harvestman, the crane fly and the pholcid house spider.
Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
It dropped into the mist: a large chrome harvestman spider … a dead one.
And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Reph'a-im.
Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
Having heard that Daddy Longlegs was a harvestman, she urged him to go to work for Farmer Green at harvest time.


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Peel Session: Melys (2004)
This was the last of the Melys gang's appearances on the Peel show, their eighth in fact, recorded in June 2004, which also makes it one of the last sessions to be recorded for the show, although not their last at the BBC; as they've continued to record new BBC sessions at the Maida Vale studios for other Beeb radio shows. This sesh was recorded between the releases of their Casting Pearls and Life's Too Short LPs, both of which are mighty fine and deserving of your attention should these songs inspire you to seek out some more stuff. Hope everyone's weekend is going well, enjoy.
Melys - 01 Treading Water (Peel session)
Melys - 02 Casino El Camino (Peel session)
Melys - 03 Once Around Again (Peel session)
Melys - 04 Girls On Film (Peel session)


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21/03/2014 News
Total Sponsors a "Cultural Corridor" in Morro dos Prazeres
Art produced by 45 national and international artists has transformed houses and walls, while creating a new tourist trail leading to Campo da Colina, the community's highest point.
The Campo da Colina overlook on top of Morro dos Prazeres, which has one of the most spectacular views of the city, is now reached by a stunning path, whose walls and façades have been transformed into artworks by 45 national and international graffiti artists as part of a project sponsored by Total E&P do Brasil and carried out by Santa Prazeres Tour and Galera.com.
Part of a project sponsored by Total to restore and revitalize Morro dos Prazeres, the "Graffiti Path" will be delivered to residents on Saturday, March 22, at 4:30 p.m., by the company's Chief Executive Officer in Brazil, Denis Palluat de Besset.
The works were curated by guest graffitist Márcio SWK, who was born in Morro dos Prazeres and still lives there today. He invited accomplished professionals he has met during his 15-year experience, each of whom was responsible for one work. To foster graffiti's characteristic creativity and freedom, the artists were not given any previously agreed subject matter. They also selected the creative sites. With the delivery of works, residents and tourists alike will be able to appreciate graffiti along the path leading to the overlook.
"We want the improvements to have an impact on community life, on the actual environment and on the aesthetics of public spaces in the region," explained Mr. Palluat de Besset, who added that Total's initiatives in Morro dos Prazeres are focused on education. "What is being done with the Graffiti Path will boost the community's self-esteem and tourist activity, but the main objective of our project is to raise the inhabitants' awareness of themes such as environmental protection." For this purpose, educational initiatives are planned, such as workshops for the community's children and teenagers.
Recreational Area Restored
This is the second major project sponsored by Total in Morro dos Prazeres since October 2013. The company restored the João Tuteia Square, a recreational area that is one of the main meeting points for residents and has a spectacular view of Rio de Janeiro. Now, the square has gardens and a climbing wall, besides other improvements.
Total's partner in the project, Santa Prazeres Tour, is an initiative dedicated to sustainable tourism in Morro dos Prazeres and is maintained by community tourist guides trained to welcome visitors.


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Continued from here!
All seems well at "The Steamy Grotto"...
Sigh...I got more to clean up...
Talk to you soon.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
"I Keep Tripping Over Loose Ends"!
Posted by Jeff Overturf at 6:47 AM
Labels: A'S'HGACBSH, Jeff Overturf, Jeff Overturf cartoons, Jeffy's Angels, Mark Crowley, Mike Crowley, Scott Campbell
6 comments:
- Lysdexicuss said...
Brabhur brabhur !
- Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 7:53:00 AM PDT
- Jeff Overturf said...
Saep dna storrac,
saep dna storrac!
- Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 8:57:00 AM PDT
- Lysdexicuss said...
Why would the Hamburglar be saying ruhbarb backwards ?
- Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 11:52:00 AM PDT
- Jeff Overturf said...
sigh!...and I try so hard, too. XP
- Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 1:48:00 PM PDT
- KW said...
I love pictures like your last one. I like when there are several layers of deepness, and the far back characters are as easy to see as the guys in the front. Perspective messes up comics. It's more funner without it.
- Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 11:13:00 PM PDT
- Jeff Overturf said...
I agree...comics/cartoons are 2 dimensional, why fight it?
- Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 3:05:00 AM PDT
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Tell us about your backgroundand your family. How did you get started in the art of filmmaking?
I come from a small town called Einbeck, Lower Saxony, and grew up with two siblings, me being the middle child.
My parents were always very concerned with us choosing a profession that would give us security, which is why they were wary about me deciding to go away and do film studies. Those academic exploits were my first formal education in film art, but it took several more years until I got hands-on in an internship on the set of a small television show.
What was your inspiration for your film, The Golden Bough (Der goldene Zweig)? Not only the genesis for the original idea but the style, score, and graphics as well as they all flow together beautifully.
The inspiration was of course Salman Rushdie's brilliant short story. Once I had read it, it never let go of me. I simply had to turn it into a film. As it happened, I myself was out-of-work for about a year after I had completed my studies. It was that feeling of being on the margins of society (which is the impression you get after a certain time spent on welfare money) that informed my writing of the screenplay adaptation at that same time. I wanted the film to feel bleak and dystopian in all its aspects because the bureaucratic system that is at the heart of the narrative is precisely that: a nightmare that is, in a certain way, all too believable. We chose locations accordingly, and Germany's Ruhr Area offers plenty of ruinous 1960s architecture to convey just that. The direction I gave the production designer for our constructed sets was to make everything look like the "decline and fall of the Soviet Union." The score, I felt, should incorporate mostly electronics and a lone acoustic instrument to mirror the lonely position of our protagonist in this single mindedly work-oriented world. Dissonance and a disturbing atmosphere was key in all these aspects of production.
What type of equipment did you use on your film? (Cameras, dollies, etc)
The film was shot with an Arri SR3 Super16mm camera on Kodak Vision 3 film stock. The lenses used were old Carl Zeiss Cine Primes. Equipment (including a MovieTech Magnum dolly) was on loan from the producing film school. But to be honest, I'm not a very technical filmmaker. I think that the technology involved matters much less than the story and what it tries to say about the world we live in. You want to find and record the evocative image, but the technical specs of the equipment used to do so are ultimately interchangeable as long as they do the job right.
How do you budget your projects? Are they volunteer based (actors, makeup, locations, etc)?
In student filmmaking and particularly in shorts, which have no tangible commercial potential and thus limited budgets, there's no way around using talent on a volunteer basis. In addition, The Golden Bough was a very ambitious project financially because the script called for a total of thirteen locations, all of which had to be built and/or dressed, thirteen speaking parts and a somewhat long running time. Thankfully, the film board of North Rhine-Westphalia funded the project with £20,000. Had it not been for this support, the film could not have been made, at least not in the present form.
For the future, I intend to look more closely at crowd funding options in addition to the film board variant because if there is a thing to be learned from this project, it is that there can never be enough money for the making of a film, even if many people and organizations so generously make their talent, time and facilities available as e.g. the Ruhr-University Bochum and the Knappschaft Bahn-See have done.
The lead actor, Alex Ritter, gave an impressing performance. How was it directing Alex? How did you two meet?
We met in 2006 through mutual friends. He was in acting school at that time. I became friends with most of his class and it seemed inevitable to me that at some point I wanted to write material for these very talented people. The Golden Bough ultimately became that chance. Aside from Alex, two other actors from the class were in the film: Magdalena Helmig (the gold-dressed receptionist in the opening scene) and Kristina Peters (the blonde secretary).
Directing Alex was a breeze. Since we produced the film together and his character was very much the heart and soul of the picture, all our preproduction work and script rewrites prepared the performance in more or less direct ways long before shooting began. On set, our close personal relationship laid the groundwork for a director-actor relationship in which there were no limitations on what could be said or tried. Alex embodied the essence of the character, the tragicomic demeanor, the meek yet fierce spirit of David Gularski, from day one, so there weren't many adjustments to be made. Having this basis made Alex' performance the touchstone for all the other actors as well: playing off him naturally created the level of intensity and the slightly 'German expressionist' slant of the film as a whole.
What was the most interesting thing that happened while on the set of The Golden Bough?
Oh, plenty of things were interesting! But when asked about standout moments, the first thing that comes to mind is usually the amusing anecdote of the dolly that crashed into a wall and broke on the final shot of the shooting day (in a location we only had for the day, too). The crew had to improvise and used a shopping cart they had brought to the location for supply transport. DP Etienne Kordys sat in it operating the camera while actor Alex Ritter pushed it, effectively making him double as a dolly grip for this traveling shot of him striding towards his final encounter with the villain. The sight of it was so ridiculous that I stayed in an adjoining corridor doubled over with laughter while the camera rolled for the shot.
What was interesting in the sense of challenging were on-set rewrites. On two occasions, it turned out that the script provided too little dialogue for the scene to play well, so I had to come up with additional material between camera setups. One such example is nearly half of the scene in which David practices his interview skills with an imaginary interviewer. The entire sequence that spins from the variations of his "CEO, you say?" line was scribbled on the back of a call sheet in a matter of minutes.
What is your ultimate goal in film? Do you consider it just a hobby or do you wish to pursue a professional career in the film industry? What would be your dream job?
A complex question. Here's the deal: It's not just a hobby, that's for sure. Film is a passion of mine, one that I've had for as long as I can remember and that I turned into an active pursuit with The Golden Bough, my first film as a director. There's no doubt that I want to and will make another film. I'm hooked now.
That said, I've not looked at the possibility of pursuing a professional career for a while now. My day job, as it were, is teaching American Studies at the university of Bochum, which I also find extremely gratifying. In a certain way, this duality of professional interests gives me a doubly beneficial position: In my teaching, I can and do incorporate film wherever I can. So I'm never far away from the subject matter. At the same time, having the security of that job frees me from a number of difficulties I imagine full-time filmmakers face. So I can choose what project I want to do next and when, and, financing provided, I have enough liberty concerning my schedule to be able to actually do it. Right now, this is a pretty appealing proposition for me.
Still, one always dreams. Say for example I was offered the chance and funds to direct a new adaptation of "Flowers for Algernon", one of my all-time favorite stories – would I accept that offer? For sure!
Did you attend film school? Student filmmakers are faced with this decision each year. What did you do and why?
I wanted to attend film school when I was eighteen. I applied, but was rejected. I then did film studies at a regular university. Which was theory-oriented, but ultimately still helpful in building skills that I could later put to good use.
What's next? Do you plan on making another film? If so, tell us about it.
I will make another. There is also a firm story outline in place. But I always try not to jinx it, so I can't really talk about it yet. But I do think it's strange and fun, the way I like my stories to be. Hopefully, it will get made soon.
What has been your biggest obstacle with The Golden Bough or filmmaking in general?
The biggest obstacle may have been scheduling. The disadvantage to volunteer-based filmmaking is that you need to find ways to work around everybody's other engagements (including even my own): earning a living is of course a priority no matter the level of enthusiasm for a project like ours. Since there were a lot of actors and key crew to juggle, this resulted in a very fractured shooting schedule for The Golden Bough (fourteen days distributed rather unevenly over a six-week period) and a somewhat similar situation in post-production (which, with all its forced breaks, dragged on for almost a full year). In the final analysis, that proved to be a drain on the budget and turned the making of the film into a marathon that it didn't necessarily have to be.
There is probably something to be learned from this experience, which is to plan very, very far in advance once you enter preproduction. If your financing materializes late, as it did, and you schedule dates on rather short notice as a result, as we did, of course people will have other things to do that need to be taken into account. But if you take your time and let everybody know what's going to happen (and when) a few months more in advance, all of these problems may not even emerge to begin with. Lesson learned: Better to plan for a long haul and end up going faster than to plan a sprint, yet end up crawling over the finish line.
What advice do you have for students and teachers who are either just getting involved or are just developing an interest in film?
Watch a lot of movies. In my experience, one can learn a ton about how to create the effects you feel while in a movie theater (whether it's an emotional, visceral or intellectual impact) by analyzing closely how they are constructed: Where's the cut to the reaction shot? When does the music cue set in? How is the image framed? Being able to identify all those things are all-important both for a purely academic investigation of film as well as for the practical application of these principles on the set.


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Bombay, Mumbai or whatever name you address this city by, is constantly on the run. Floods, blasts, strikes have failed to bring the city to a standstill. Everyone is trying to get someplace and they want to get there fast! I am not talking figuratively, nope, I mean literally. Life is all about catching the bus, train or a cab and beating the traffic. Time my friend, is priceless. And yet you spend so much of it just traveling around the city.
Every city has a peculiar cab driver. The New York cabbie is shrewd and the London cabbie is full of wisdom. Welcome to Mumbai, our cabbies are rude, full of unnecessary wisdom, have an attitude and they are doing you a huge favour by taking you from pt. A to pt. B. It doesn't matter that he didn't know the way, it doesn't matter that the jerky ride killed your back and it doesn't matter that the cab almost hit almost 10-15 pedestrians, 25-30 cars. What matters is that he got you there and you are intact (oh thank God).
So why am I writing his? Well because, I am angered by their arrogance, dishonesty and lack of integrity. I want to relieve myself of the anger, or I might just end up being the serial taximan killer.
I work in an area full of swanky offices and parking is an issue. My relationship with BEST buses is another story altogether. So, I hold on to my dear life and make a run for the nearest taxi. I happily chat with Sneha on the phone or read the papers and voilà, I am at work!
Cut to the evenings. I get out of the office, aching to go home in time to watch friends. I flail my arms at every cab but all are taken. A few empty ones slow down for just a minute, I ask then if they'd oblige and take me to Dadar. They shake their head, give me a sad look and zoom off!
Yes, they refuse to take me where I want to go!
This is a day when the rain isn't threatening to drench me and believe me, its a happy situation. When it rains, the traffic is worse and I am flailing my non-umbrella wielding arm to stop any cab I see. I see a lot of them empty, but with their doors locked and windows rolled up. They refuse to take any of the passengers, gape at drenched women in a vulgar manner and make their way out.
Some of the ones forcibly opened, claim they are running out of gas. But happily accept a fare for Andheri after you curse and get out. This has happened to me not once but about 10 times and I don't know how to get some authority to punish them for such unprofessional behaviour!
Now, today there's a brand new reason I'm pissed with the men in balck and yellow. It's their job to take me to my destination and their job profile requires them to know the friggin' roads! But fine, I'm ready to show them the way but the dude must ask! He takes a turn he does not need to, takes me on an extra long ride! When I argued with him, he said that I was mistaken and that his way was the right way. Okay whacko! On reacing the destination i can't believe that the meter reads almost twice the amount I usually pay. I ask for the tariff card. He merrily shows me the October 2000 card which is the wrong one. A brand new tarriff card has come into being from 2007 and acording to that card the price I need to pay is 10 bucks lesser. I am irrtated. I am convinced he has tampered with the meter. Consumers forget to ask them questions and these guys try and make that extra buck by cheating them.
"Why do so much natak (drama) for 10 rupees?" He shamelessly asks me. How do I explain this stupid man that it's not a question of those 10 extra rupees but that of integrity. I want to ask these questions even if it means 10 minutes of my precious time is wasted. There are a number of times my female friends have had horrifying experiences on account of their taxi drivers. Some have even been sexually harassed. If all of us bother asking, maybe they will start behaving themselves.
Filed under: babble, opinion, People | Tagged: awareness, cheating, consumer, driver, honesty, ideas, india, integrity, money, Mumbai, opinion, random, safety, taxi, thoughts, travel |


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The Mental Fitness Challenge has been out for 16 days now and it has gone viral. Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady have hit a home run with this LIFE changing Personal Development Program. It was designed to help educate and change people's thinking and provide a measurable way to see massive improvements in any of the areas that truly matter in our lives.
After taking a Pre-Self assessment test and establishing a base line of where you are, you embark on a 90 day challenge to learn, grow and get better in any or all areas of our lives. The testimony and feedback so far has been amazing. Claude Hamilton, one of the founders of LIFE and The Mental Fitness Challenge, has posted a lot of this testimony on his blog.
The best investment you can make is in your brain. A lot of us spend time working out and getting physically fit but not all of us have a plan to get and stay Mentally Fit. Since the body always follows the mind, this Challenge will radically change your thinking and the results in your life, whether it be a better marriage, becoming a better parent, having better finances, having a stronger faith life, developing closer friends, having a higher purpose or all the above. There are those who have experienced a major transformation in the results in their lives. I am one of them!
Watch the video and take the Challenge here!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VZwZ6lusKo]


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Naturopath Visit #2
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Well I saw my naturopath for the 2nd time last night. It was very interesting and he gave me a lot of information, too much actually I forget a lot of it. I think next time I will go prepared with a notepad to take notes lol.
First off my GP said I have non alcoholic fatty liver disease and that 2 of 6 liver enzyme tests were a bit high and I should lose weight to improve that before any permanent damage can be done. Ok that's fine, I can handle that lol. He said absolutely nothing else to me about any abnormal results.
The naturopath had lots to say from looking at the exact same results. First off he said those 2 liver enzymes were really high, not only a bit high lol. He gave me some herbal tablets to improve liver function.
He also said I have a very high red blood cell count, he said this is caused by a loss of red blood cells so the body overproduces to make up for that loss. At the time of those results I had been sick for some time and I was having blood drawn quite frequently and he agreed that could be the cause.
He said my ketones were really high as well, which happens when the body isn't getting enough energy so it burns body fat to make up for that. This is good at a low level because it happens when you are losing weight. However, I am losing weight way too fast as I've not been eating enough since June when I first got sick. Now, these results are from when I was eating about 200 calories a day so they may not be quite as high anymore. Based on that and my food journal, he wants me to consume more calories, more vegetables, more protein and less simple carbs like rice and bread. I will be working on improving that but I think it will go slowly lol.
He also wanted to do some kind of test on my urine, I can't remember now what though, but I wasn't able to provide a sample while I was there.
For some of this he made some suggestions, to increase my appetite he said things that are bitter like coffee, which I won't drink, and something called bitter melon, I've never heard of this so I will have to look it up.
Also to address the psychological aspect, I'm a bit afraid to eat as I was sick for so long I'm a bit afraid of getting sick again, I will be seeing a therapist starting tomorrow. I also deal with depression off and on and a lot of anxiety so we'll work on that too.
He said to increase energy levels I just need to eat more lol.
So this week I will be working on eating better things and more overall, I will take in a printout of my spark tracker so he can see more detail, I just wrote it all down last time and he was asking about how many calories per day. I wasn't sure as I wasn't using the spark tracker I just used the sheets he provided. I will be taking those pills to help my liver function better. Also, per my GP's request, I will be getting some blood drawn again to retest my liver enzymes so I will bring those results to my naturopath as well. It'll give a more accurate picture of what's going on as the results he looked at were when I was sick in June and July.
So I learned a lot actually, and he saw much more wrong in my results than my GP did so I think I will continue to see the naturopath and see if he can help me get feeling much better. I won't be ignoring the advice of my GP of course, I just think I need the extra help lol. I mean it's great I'm losing weight and all but I'm not really doing it in a healthy way, 5 lbs a week is a bit too fast lol.
It is fairly expensive to see a naturopath, I'm paying $65 per visit every 2 weeks so far, plus it was $35 for the liver pills which will only last about 2 weeks, plus if he does ask me to have any tests done I will have to pay for those, he hasn't asked for any tests yet other than that urine test which I wasn't able to do lol.
I will be seeing him again in 2 weeks and I will post another blog. It's very interesting to me and I just think some people might be interested to hear what the experience can be like ^_^
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Hope things get better for you and yes you need to eat more or your body will consume itself. Then you will look like those people that are just skin and bones. Not a pretty pitcher.
2311 days ago
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Great info Roxy!!! I would get that urine analysis done soon as it can pinpoint more problem areas. My Naturopath did a urine analysis for toxins and that is where I found out I was off the charts for Mercury and high lead. Toxins affect the liver big time!
You are so smart to work with your GP and the Naturopath. What one doesn't find, the other will! Keep us posted!
2312 days ago
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Wow I always envy people who have a "losing weight" problem but I can see that its actually horrible!
Your right this is so interesting!
2312 days ago
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Thanks for blogging about this! My DH has had issues on an off for several years and had every test under the sun with no results. For the last month we have been eating more "gluten free" to see if that gets us any closer to a resolution. I have added you as a friend - I would love to hear about your progress. Good luck to you and even though your weight loss has been outstanding I understand your concern about it being too fast. Best of luck to you...
2312 days ago
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In the unlikely event that the National Audit Office disagrees with the Government's claims that only 5,000 people will be affected by the £1.4m lifetime limit, taking the conversion factor for final-salary benefits of 20 to one at any age, then our pension reforms will be stalled – not finished off entirely but certainly a fair bit of smoke will be coming out the back.
While all this is more than a little on the odd side and difficult to understand, I am sure it is something we have to take seriously. There is a very real chance that the Government could simply decide it is not possible to continue with its proposals if it cannot get widespread support for them. It has nothing to gain from forcing unpopular changes on either the industry or the wider public. That all sounds pretty sensible to me and it has to be the right way to do things but I am bothered by this all-or-nothing approach.
Many of the proposals, particularly those from the Inland Revenue, are very welcome and are in line with what so many of us in the industry have called for over the years. But – and it is a big but – the proposals come packaged with things that many of us have genuine concerns about.
If it was possible for us to have just one of the reforms and give up on everything else, I would choose to keep the idea of full concurrency. It is the one thing in all this that we have always needed in the UK pension environment. It should not matter one bit how many different pension savings methods we have on the go at once, if that is what we want to do. We can have as many different investments or savings schemes as we like but up to now we have been restricted to just one pension arrangement at a time. Many problems have arisen over the years because of this arbitrary restriction.
But full concurrency would be thrown out with everything else if the whole package of reforms goes to the wall. Quite apart from being perverse, that would be a shame – a missed opportunity of achieving genuine reform.
Full concurrency is overdue and we should have had it back in 1988 when personal pensions were first introduced, or at least when stakeholder pensions came along. But what we ended up with was the nonsensical notion of so-called partial concurrency, the sort of thing that was more useful as an obscure pension exam question than as a genuine benefit to those choosing to save.
Now we are finally being offered a chance to have full concurrency although it comes packaged with proposals that could alienate a fair number of high-earners who are also decision-makers for the pension schemes of the rest of us.
That is something I do not think I have ever heard anyone ask for. Whether it is 5,000 people or 300,000 people, it seems to me that it does not really matter, it is who they are that is important. They are the ones who are most likely to decide whether their companies should bother to continue with their existing pension schemes.
It would be nice to think that people in that position, who currently encourage pension take-up in their companies, could be offered more tax-relief than they have now, not less. Enlightened self-interest is a powerful driver of behaviour.
That leads me to the things I do not think we will miss if these reforms are shelved. We will not miss the new incentives for employers to provide pensions for their staff, nor the new incentives for people to save for the future. We will not miss them because they are not anywhere to be found in the proposals.
Nor are there any worthwhile proposals for removing the severe disincentives to saving created by the spread of means-tested benefits for those currently in retirement.
But I guess those can wait until the next round of reforms inevitably comes around. For now, I suggest we take full concurrency while it is on offer.
Steve Bee is head of pensions strategy at Scottish Life


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People traveling to the OR Tambo International Airport found were stranded in traffic on Friday morning because of a protest by meter taxi drivers who blocked entrances and roads to the airport.
The strike caused some airline passengers to miss their flights. Bongiwe Pityi, General Manager of OR Tambo International Airport admits the strike was frustrating.
She says as soon as they were aware of the planned protest, the airport management centre advised all stakeholders.
Pityi says domestic flights were hugely affected but by midday operations had stabilized.
We are truly proud of how airlines had tried to make concession.— Bongiwe Pityi, General Manager of OR Tambo International Airport
Pityi added that some airlines did not charge a re-booking fee for affected passengers.
For the full interview listen to the clip: