text:
All the films that fall into that general category of "cool when I was in elementary school" have this common peculiarity. I, as well as most of the people with whom I saw them, remember one or two particular scenes from each movie, and not much more up until we start watching again, at which time the floodgates of memories both shameful and grand are thrown open. With Sword and the Sorcerer, for example, everyone remembered the slimy wizard making the witch's chest explode, and everyone remembered the steamy bathhouse scene, but not much else. In the case of Beastmaster, another classic from a bygone era, we each remembered some green guys who wrapped their leathery wings around people and dissolved them, and we remembered Tanya Roberts bathing nude under a waterfall. In Revenge of the Ninja it was a tremendous spray of blood as Sho Kosugi kills the villain at the end, and two naked people getting killed in the middle of having sex in a hot tub.
There may be a pattern here. I'm not sure.
In the case of the oft-forgotten Indiana Jones rip-off, Treasure of the Four Crowns, all anyone could remember was "something about a lot of flaming rocks swinging around on really obvious wires." There's a good reason this is the thing we all remember. We remember it because nothing else really happens in the whole damn film. Sure, it claims to be action-packed, in the tradition of course of the recent hit Raiders of the Lost Ark, but unless you count among the action sequences the scenes in which a middle aged man struggles to grab hold of a floating key that makes electronica music play, then the truth is that action scenes are few and far between. Specifically, there is one at the beginning of the film, one at the end, and neither are really worth a damn for anything beyond the sheer hilarious incompetence on display.
Although few people seem to remember this little gem of a film, and by gem I mean small chunk of gravel, it caused a minor stir upon its initial release, and I have fond memories of the day we all loaded up for our friend Jason Morgan's birthday party (I think it was his) after school and went to see this film, which aside from promising us nonstop action both bigger and better than what we'd so recently enjoyed in Raiders of the Lost Ark, was also shot in glorious 3D! Back in the 1980s, let me tell ya, we knew how to live. Sure our music sucked and we all wore those tan Bass dress shoes with the backs squashed down for no real reason. Sure, we made stars out of Nu Shuz and Rockwell, but we also braved bold, new paths forever etched in the annals of history. One of the biggest was probably the flight of the first space shuttle, but only slightly below that in terms of global impact was the explosion in the popularity of 3D movies that failed miserably to be good movies or look very 3D.
I can't remember if the trend started on television or the movie houses, but my first 3D memory was the groundbreaking broadcast of Creature from the Black Lagoon in dramatic 3D. You had to go down to the local Convenient food mart (now called something else, I think) where you could get a free pair of the red and blue cardboard glasses that sawed into your ears. Then you, your family, and your friends could all huddle around the television and watch this historic event. It's weird in this day of twenty-four hour media saturation, to think of anything on television being a national event, but these were simpler times. When a miniseries like The Day After promised to blow our minds, the nation ground to a halt in order to watch. It's a curious thing I don't think could be recreated today. Sure, there were lots of people excited about the final episode of Seinfeld, but it just wasn't the same.
The biggest thing I remember about that night spent watching Creature from the Black Lagoon in dimension-bending 3D was how amazingly un-3D it looked. For starters, it aired on local channel WDRB-TV 41. This was a time before cable, so we all had to struggle with the rabbit ear antennae as best we could. The end result was that there was no such thing as a clear picture, at least not on a local independent channel like 41. Thus much of the potential 3D effect was no doubt watered down by the snow and occasionally weak and wavy signal. Plus, the 3D technology just sort of sucked. But it was still sort of cool, so they did it again a little while later with that movie about the gorilla that escapes and spends a lot of time reaching at the camera. Now, I know many of you out there are younger than me and can't clearly remember a time when gorillas were terrifying beyond the scope of mere words. But for those of you as old as or older than me, you remember – if you dare. Rampaging gorillas were a huge deal back then, though not as much so as they had been in the 1940s when every other movie featured the Bowery Boys and Bela Lugosi being chased by a gorilla and every other television show was another episode of The Little Rascals in which Spanky and the gang try to scare Buckwheat with a fake gorilla, only a real gorilla escapes and causes all sorts of hilarious escapades. If it wasn't that episode, then it would be another one where they have to defend their fort from other kids by dressing up like pirates and flinging Limburger cheese at them.
I know it's a level of sophistication to which many of you young kids can't fully relate, and I pity you that the world has become so dumbed-down that it no longer appreciates the subtle humor of black guy whose afro stands up or a scene in which a drunk guy sees a gorilla run by him in downtown New York, causing him to look at his bottle of ripple, look at the gorilla, look at the ripple, then throw the bottle away as he proclaims, "I gotta lay off this stuff!" I weep for a generation that cannot see the humor in Ruth Buzzi's strained-voice, purse-swinging, crazy woman character.
Okay, so I crossed the codger line there. Even I didn't find Ruth Buzzi funny. I don't think anyone did, with the possible exception of the people on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast, and they were all plastered anyway. Existing parallel to the 3D rage on the television was a growing revival of 3D movies on the big screen. In the span of a few short years, or possibly even months, we were hit head-on with films like Spacehunter, Friday the 13th Part III, Weird Al Yancovich's ground-breaking In 3D album, and of course the film we're here to discuss today, Treasure of the Four Crowns. The main problem uniting all these movies was that, while every producer knew he wanted to cash in on the trend, no one really had much imagination when it came to taking full advantage of the potential of 3D effects. Thus you get scene after scene of a guy reaching toward the camera or pointing a speargun at the screen (I think that was done in all three films I mentioned). In the case of Friday the 13th Part III, it was especially sad how little they came up with. I mean, it's a movie about a crazed invincible killer, and besides being the movie that introduces the hockey mask (I think), the best 3D effects they could come up with were the chilling "here comes some popcorn!" scene or the shocking "Watch out! I'm doing yoyo tricks!" scene. Not exactly what fans wanted.
Pretty much every other scene in the action-adventure disaster that is Treasure of the Four Crowns involves a guy sticking something toward the camera in an exaggerated manner and for an unrealistically long time. Pretty much anything that isn't bolted down gets picked up and waved into the camera. Keys, sticks, guns, fingers, bottles of booze, skeleton arms, spears, dangling bits of string, even a squirrel. You name it, and someone held it in front of the camera in a very unnatural looking way. It is, in many ways, the least ludicrous thing about this movie.
The movie opens with Star Wars like scrolling words on a space background. They explain to us that some things, like this movie, simply cannot be understood. These things include, aside from the movie Treasure of the Four Crowns, the actual four crowns, which contain gems that, when united by a man in a windbreaker, can either usher in an era of peace of prosperity or unleash a world where good is forever entangled in battle with evil, which I guess would be, well, the current world. I've never quite understood how a couple little gems or amulets or anything could usher in an era of anything. Just because you can shoot some animated beams out doesn't really translate into changing the world. Sure, both Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Lord of the Rings featured magic items with the power to change the world, but that was only if they were used as weapons by a guy who already had a pretty big army beforehand. If Sauron had just been some lonely wizard living in a cave, it's unlikely the One Ring would have changed much of anything, and if Hitler didn't already have his army in place, he wouldn't even be able to lift the Ark of the Covenant. But, for the sake of this movie, let's assume that these jewels do have unspeakable powers. The opening narration then goes on to tell us that, even as we are reading this, a soldier of fortune is seeking out artifacts that will unlock the power of the crowns. That soldier of fortune, that man, is JT Striker.
JT Striker sounds like one of those TGI Fridays rip-off restaurants where you are served potato skins by an overzealous waitstaff all named Josh or Justin or Megan. In a way, this image is not so far off from the image we see of JT Striker, a rugged man of the world, an adventurer, rogue, international soldier of fortune who has come to raid an ancient castle while wearing a Members' Only jacket and a pair of Haggar slacks. I was immediately reminded of the "greatest athletes in the world" from Gymkata, most of whom were very pasty, doughy middle-aged guys in jogging suits who looked more like used car salesmen than they did the greatest athletes ever known to man. I would find, as Treasure of the Four Crowns progressed, that it in fact had far more in common with Gymkata than it did with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sadly, in my twisted, sick universe, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Anyway, JT Striker, exuding all the manly ruggedness of a guy who puts on a nylon warm-up suit and power-walks through the mall for exercise during his lunch break, is busy attempting to pick his way through a jungle cave filled with booby traps that result in a lame 3D effect at every step. Spears, vines, JT's ass and crotch, and at one point something resembling a squirrel, or possibly a woodchuck, gets thrust toward the camera to provide thrill-a-minute action. JT, of course, being one of the greatest soldiers of fortune ever to step out from behind the counter of a Rexall Drugstore, manages to evade even the deadly spring-loaded squirrel and soon finds himself shoving his crotch into the camera as he shimmies down a space-age looking corridor while weird Forbidden Planet type music plays. What the hell???
At the bottom of the shaft, he lands inside what looks to be the basement of one of those King Henry's Feast type themed restaurant where all the community theater people go on the rare days when a Renaissance Festival isn't within driving distance of their homes. I thought he was in a jungle just a second ago, but whatever. I suppose there could be castles full of medieval artifacts in the middle of the Amazon. Can you prove otherwise? Have you ever been on a treasure hunting expedition to the Amazon? Well, JT Striker has, and he didn't even have to buy safari clothes. He just wore some slacks and a red warm-up jacket. He didn't even bring a burro or treacherous Hispanic sidekick. Heck, he didn't even bring a sack or a backpack or anything.
The aim of his edge-of-your-seat adventuring is to retrieve a magic key that has a tendency to make electronic "whoo whee woo" music play as it levitates around aimlessly, causing things to blow up. Picking up the key triggers about a million booby traps, each one deftly foiled by Striker using the method known in the business as "dumb luck." Most of the booby traps cause something to fly toward the camera. Now, "seeing the string" is a staple of any bad movie filled with even worse special effects. We all know that there are multitudinous sci-fi films in which you can spy the wires holding planets and spaceships in place. Treasure of the Four Crowns takes this to a bold new level however by refusing to include even a single shot where you can't see the string that the various items wobble around on. You might be saying to yourself, "Yeah, but I bet it was less noticeable in 3D," and I would then have to laugh at you. Even as a ten year old who could be dazzled by something as obviously shoddy as Thundarr the Barbarian, seeing the historically incompetent effects in this movie truly astounded me. I mean, how many decades have they been doing the levitating shtick in movies? And they can't even get that right? Hell, I was able to do a better job in high school video productions we made for English and history classes. It also causes a crossbow to levitate through the air, or at least to wobble precariously on the end of a wire. Striker chooses to stand motionless, directly in front of the crossbow, waiting until it begins to fire bolts at him before he dives to safety in the nick of time, providing us with much tension and rousing action, or at least an excuse to ask the question, "Why would anyone stand motionless, directly in front of a levitating crossbow?"
All sorts of stuff starts to explode while ghost noises tease us that the moldy old skeletons lining the walls will spring to live and deliver some serious undead action. Sadly, that is beyond the scope of the budget, so some of them just sort of fall over a little. Striker escapes out a nearby window, which begs the question why didn't he just come in that way to begin with instead of dealing with that out-of-place jungle cave full of traps? As he runs, or lumbers I suppose, over the lawn in dramatic slow motion, things blow up for no reason and showers of sparks rain down from strategically placed flashpots. If there was any doubt that this movie would not live up to the promise of out-adventuring Indiana Jones, I think we had them addressed during that riveting opening action sequence, and I use the term "action" in the sense that it means a middle age man in Members' Only jacket running in slow motion through a field of exploding flashpots. Some people call that action. I call it a Billy Squires concert.
Back in civilization, which begs the question of just where the hell this castle was in the first place, Striker sells the key to the nutty Professor Montgomery, who does what all professors do in movies like this, which is rant incoherently about a relic possessed of unspeakable power. Basically, he recites that bit of scrolling text from the beginning of the film. You know, I may not have gone to Harvard or Oxford or Cumberland Community College, but I did go to college, where I took several anthropology and ancient history classes. At no point in my entire five years (switched majors a year from graduation), did I ever have a teacher who, on the side, quested after ancient relics of unspeakable power. In fact, they didn't even hire people to quest for relics, and with all due respect to Indiana Jones, I tend to doubt the existence of these adventuring professors who have magic amulets and scepters lying about in their office. Like I said, maybe I just went to the wrong university, because never did I have a class with a nutcase professor with some cockamamie theory about the lost Amulet of Zag-nalthriglil that would allow the possessor to conquer the world. I did, however, have a film theory teacher who used to jump up on the table during class and do suggestive interpretational dances to film noir music.
Montgomery uses the key to unlock one of the three sacred crowns. I know, I know. There are four sacred crowns. There's actually only three. One apparently got destroyed a long time ago, which would seem to render the whole threat of uniting the crowns somewhat moot. Inside the crown is a slip of paper. That's about it. Oh yeah, the key makes some stuff pop and fly at the camera because it's been a few minutes since anything was flung at us through the miracle of 3D technology. The professor and his little buddy, an incredibly grating smarmy guy, want to hire Striker to obtain the other two crowns, which are in the possession of a really lame religious cult. Montgomery promises that those two crowns have treasures in them slightly more interesting than a scrap of old paper. Personally, I'm thinking the whole treasure of the crowns thing is going to be as anti-climatic as the safe of the Andrea Doria or Al Capone's secret vault. Striker is apparently on my side, as he delivers the "bunch of superstitious mumbo jumbo speech" and combines it with the "I've got better things to do than get killed," though apparently he doesn't since when we first met him he was braving the menaces of a dead squirrel and a persistent buzzard. Some more swinging the key about on a string and the promise of a lot of money eventually convince Striker not to return to his job as manager of the Airway men's department just yet. And I say Airway because they didn't have Target back then.
To pull off this task, Striker insists on assembling his team of seasoned adventurers. First there is Rick, the alcoholic mountain climber. Here the movie really misses a golden opportunity to exploit the "drunken double take" joke of which I spoke earlier. Just as Striker is about to give up on the drunken Rick, the key starts doing that flying around thing. This scene goes on for what must be ten minutes, and it would have been a perfect opportunity to have Rick do the thing where he looks at the bottle then throws it away. Instead, Striker manages the awesome feat of eventually catching the slowly drifting key after a lot of stuff explodes, and Rick, figuring that this asshole just let a little magic key blow up his whole cabin, decides he's game for some adventure. Next up is Socrates, who is working a shameful gig as a clown in some back alley vaudeville show. Like Rick, Socrates is initially hesitant to risk his life and give up all the prestige and public adoration that comes from being a clown in a failed vaudeville show. But he'll come along so long as Striker agrees to also put Socrates' dearest Liz in mortal peril as well. Liz, aside from being something of a knockout, is a trapeze artist.
So, the world is going to be saved from the clutches of an evil cult by a guy in a Members' Only jacket, a vaudeville clown, a trapeze artist, a drunk, and a grating yuppie. Oh, do I ever wanna get my hands on the guy who decided to entrust my fate to a washed-up clown!
This whole sequence has gone on for a very long time, and most of it has been comprised of scene after scene of the key flying around and making glass and steam fly toward the camera. The movie is well over halfway finished at this point, and we've had one dull action sequence, an abbreviated clown act, some goofing off on a trapeze, and a bunch of exposition and shots of a key levitating to and fro. Maybe the people who were going to out-adventure Indiana Jones missed the part where, by the halfway point, they'd had about a dozen fist fights, shoot-outs, car chases, sword fights, funny monkeys who do the Seig Hiel salute, explosions, a froggy looking guy named Toht, and we've been to America, Nepal, and Egypt. Somehow, Treasure of the Four Crowns' procession of scenes involving Striker attempting to convince a clown to help him raid this fortress aren't quite the same. Indiana Jones gets Sallah, a barrel-chested hero of a sidekick with a booming voice, while Striker has a guy who, on a good day, reminds you of some sleazy coke-snorting disco yuppie who drives a Corvette.
I mean, even Gymkata had a bunch of fight and chase scenes by this point. Sure they were lame beyond mortal comprehension, but at least they were there. Treasure of the Four Crowns is only a step above what real archeology would be like, which is sitting in a room reading books for two years before you go out to the Gobi Desert to brush rocks with a cotton swab. But hey, now that we have the impressive action team assembled, I'm sure the pace will pick up. No wait, first they have to spend some time going over the various traps and security devices that pepper the cult's compound. The crowns are in a room protected by dozens of those laser beam security devices, a big metal cage, and a floor that causes a piercing alarm to go off if you so much as drop a feather on it. And then the statue upon which the crowns themselves rest is packed with assorted booby traps as well. Since they can't get in through the front door, so to speak, their only option is to use a series of ropes, pulleys, and trapeze contraptions to crawl across the ceiling! And luckily, Striker just happen to assemble a team containing a mountain climber and a trapeze artist. I'm not sure exactly where the aging clown with a heart condition comes in. Then there's one of those scenes where the magic key flies around for about nine hours as everyone grimaces in slow motion as stuff explodes and flies into the camera. Apparently, this is how the movie defines scintillating action, but I guess I've been spoiled to the point where watching someone whiz a key around on the end of a string simply fails to impress me anymore.
While the leader of the cult holds one of those, "I shall heal this sickly woman" meetings to impress new recruits, Striker and his team go into action, or as much into action as this leisurely paced film will allow. It occurs to me that this cult doesn't seem especially interested in using the power of the crowns so much as they just like having them locked away in the big secure room for no real reason. It's not like they were actively trying to use the crowns for evil, nor were they actively pursuing the key that would unlock their allegedly awesome power. In fact, if Professor Montgomery wouldn't have started this whole mess up, it's probable that this cult would never to anything more dastardly than shanghai the occasional homeless guy and indoctrinate him to love "the master" as he wears a burlap sack and picks potatoes for the Rapture.
Tension builds to a fever pitch, or at least a slightly warmer pitch than it had been watching the key fly around, as Striker and his band evade the ninja guards in novelty masks and proceed to crawl very slowly across the ceiling, stopping occasionally to nearly fall or trigger an alarm so we get scenes of incredible nail-biting suspense, or at least a lot of scenes featuring middle aged guys hanging upside down and making "hyngg!" noises. They also scream a lot when they fall, which seems not so wise to do when a ninja in a funny mask is right outside the door feeling pissed that, while he does get to wear the cool ninja soldier outfit, he has to ruin it all because the cult leader insists on the stupid big-nose masks. After about eleven hours of crawling around, Striker is finally in position to get the crowns. Then the old clown has a heart attack, which frankly serves Striker right for ever thinking that an old clown would be a good adventurer, and the drunken Rick is impaled by a bunch of spears that shoot up out of the altar in front of the crowns. Then some steam blows on Striker, and the alarm finally goes off after all this screaming and triggering of booby traps. The yuppie guy triggers yet another trap and is either bitten by a fake snake or impaled by a spear. Since whatever it is, is shooting directly at the camera in glorious 3D, it's difficult to tell. Then he gets crushed too! Man, that guy just had no luck. As the ninjas and their leader close in, Striker unlocks the crowns and grabs the jewels, which causes lights to go off while his head spins round and round in a scene that literally had me falling off the couch with unbridled laughter. And from here on out, it only gets better. As I describe the finale, you will probably write me off as having dropped acid or had one too many warm cans of Michelob, but I assure you my sobriety was intact even if my sanity was not by the film's end.
The jewels flash various colors, and suddenly Striker turns into a hideously deformed mutant with gel oozing out of the side of his face. As he growls without opening his mouth so as to avoid dislodging the shoddy latex they slapped on his face, the jewels begin spewing flame! The ninjas try to mow the mutant Striker down with machine gun fire, but it has no effect, as he swings the flame around and cooks everyone. Then he makes giant flaming rocks fly around the room on cables so obvious they might as well be glow-in-the-dark. I mean, they didn't even attempt to hide the wires! As Striker's supernatural wrath mounts, it unleashes a spinning rod covered with sparklers, which swings back and forth from more ridiculously visible wires. Then the cult leader melts in a blaze of special effects work not quite as impressive as when all those Nazis melted in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Just as the possessed monster Striker is about to shoot the flames at Liz, who has been crouching up on a ceiling beam this whole time, she calls out his name and, of course, he manages to regain control of himself just in time to hug her. Yeah, you think I'm joking, but I'm actually making it less absurd than it actually is. Professor Montgomery arrives in a helicopter to spirit them away through a nearby window. Just to make sure everything ends as stupidly as possible, Striker does his best to convey "the pain of sacrifice, and for what?" as he throws one of the jewels into the fire, presumably for one of the surviving ninjas to find and use as a relic of unspeakable power. Apparently the whole part about the jewels being able to end disease and hunger just wasn't payment enough for the valiant sacrifice of a drunk mountain climber and a washed up vaudeville clown.
With the lunkheaded script, the pathetic "action," and special effects that would even embarrass Ed Wood Jr., it's easy to say Treasure of the Four Crowns is one of the worst movies ever made. It's easy to say it because it's pretty much true. I mean, this movie is bad. Really bad. Even when I was a kid I recognized how mind-bogglingly cheap and incompetent this movie was. Few and far between are the movies that showcase so little respect for and so much contempt for their audience. They didn't even make a half-hearted attempt to conceal all the wires, figuring I suppose that we'd be so wowed by the endless scenes of keys and woodchucks and Striker's ass comin' at us in 3D that we wouldn't mind a few short-comings in the other effects. This is the movie that you need to see if you'd ever wondered if a film could make you say, "Well, it wasn't near as good as Gymkata." This movie sets it's sights on Indiana Jones but fails even to match the pommel horse fury of John Cabot. At it's highest point, this movie almost manages to attain the same level as the lowest points in Gymkata. And as you might suspect, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire mess.
Let's face it, they don't make movies this bad anymore. Sure, they make plenty of bad movies, but those movies are slick, high-tech, well-produced bores. They're not the kind of movies where the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of a clown, even if the clown is named Socrates. I guarantee you Treasure of the Four Crowns, with its three crowns in the movie, will be one of the most awful films you have ever seen, and I also guarantee you that you'd be hard pressed to have a more enjoyable time witnessing such garbage. It'd be different if they'd tried to make a comedy or a spoof, but their intention was to make one of the greatest adventure films the world had ever seen. Who are "they," you ask? What fool of a producer could possibly think this movie was more action-packed and exciting than Raiders of the Lost Ark when, in reality, it wasn't even as good as a lesser episode of Tales of the Golden Monkey? What man could be so collossally stupid as to think this movie was anything but complete and utter crap?
Golan and Globus, my friends. Golan and Globus.
Depending on who you are and what sort of movies you like, Menahem Golan and his partner in crime Yoram Globus are either geniuses who have littered the world with some of most laughable yet enjoyably lame movies ever made, or they are simply farts straight from the bowels of Lucifer himself. Under the banner of their Studio, Cannon Films, these two seem to have the career goal of making Dino DeLaurentus look like a producer of classy films. The Cannon filmography stretches back into the 1960s and includes such ground-breaking cinematic bottom-feeders as Lady Chatterly's Lovers, The Barbarians, Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, those Lou Ferrigno Hercules movies where the gods all live on the Moon, Breakin' II: Electric Boogaloo, and more Chuck Norris films than you want to know about. They gave us Bo Derek in Bolero, Sylvia Kristel in Mata Hari, and Mathilda May strutting around naked and making Patrick Stewart explode in Lifeforce. They gave us Rappin' starring a young Mario Van Peebles, and King Solomon's Mines starring a not so young Richard Chamberlain. They gave us Hot Resort as well as Hot Chili. From their horn of plenty sprung not just Cobra starring Sylvester Stallone, but also Over the Top.
I could list the films that benefited from Cannon's Midas Touch, but it would take days. Suffice it to say that any fan of the worst film has to offer owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to Golan and Globus and their complete and total lack of shame. It is with considerable disappointment in myself that I look back at the films that defined my years of pre-pubescent enlightenment and realize just how many of them came from the hallowed halls of Cannon. Scary as it is, I can safely say that without their steady and relentless stream of complete garbage, sleaze, and worthless junk throughout the 1980s, I would not be the man I am today. What really elevates these guys, what really makes them special, isn't just that they produced films like Cyborg and Delta Force. No, what really sets them apart from the pack is that not only did they produce those films, but they also produced exploitive rip-offs of their own products, resulting in films like American Cyborg and Delta Force One. It's one thing to exploit a trend, but it's operating on a whole new plane when you manage to exploit your own exploitation of a trend.
Treasure of the Four Crowns is just another jewel in their own eerie collection of crowns with the power to destroy – or heal – the world. It all depends on who wields the power of a mystic gem like Alien from LA or Goin' Bananas, not to be confused with Goin' Ape featuring Tony Danza. No, that gem was produced by the far more respectable Robert Rosen, who also gave us the gift of Revenge. Within the greater cinematic landscape, Treasure of the Four Crowns is an hilariously pathetic attempt at filmmaking that falls so incredibly short of the goals it sets for itself and the promotional bragging that it did that you can't help but love it. It's like those D&D hopeless characters with an ability score of three for everything. But the character, as weak and worthless as he may be, is still lovable, and possesses at least one really cool magic item. In the case of Treasure of the Four Crowns, the magic item is the outlandish but comptentent score by Ennio Morricone, who must have owed Golan or Globus a big favor. Within the confines of Cannon fodder, if you will, it's pretty much par for the course. As a kid, I found it amazingly stupid yet hilariously enjoyable. As an adult, I find once again that I have not advanced much beyond the level of maturity I had attained by age ten.
Release Year: 1983 | Country: United States, Spain, Italy | Starring: Tony Anthony, Ana Obregon, Gene Quintano, Jerry Lazarus, Francisco Rabal, Emiliano Redondo, Francisco Villena, Kate Levan, Lewis Gordon | Screenplay: Lloyd Battista, Jim Bryce | Director: Ferdinando Baldi | Cinematography: Marcello Masciocchi, Giuseppe Ruzzolini | Music: Ennio Morricone | Producer: Yoram Globus, Menahem Golan


text:
Presented by Enfoco's touring gallery program, on Saturday May 15th, Adriana Groisman will give an artist talk at 1 pm at the Pregones Theater in NY. She will talk about the project she has been working on for 15 years, taking photographs of Argentinian tango dancers titled Tango Never Before Midnight.
The artist talk is in conjunction with her current exhibition at the Pregones Theater, including 12 of her images from the Tango Never Before Midnight series. This exhibition runs from May 1-June 21st.
From the Enfoco website:
"Tango, Never Before Midnight, is a work which records the world of the milongas –traditional Argentinean tango balls– and their patrons, the milongueros. Each night at the milonga is a dramatic cycle in itself, an erotically charged arena where issues of power and gender are played out. Fleeting relationships, alliances, rivalries, jealousies and games of seduction occur, leading to the encounters on the dance floor. These negotiations are carried out through furtive glances and minute gestures, parts of a ritual that can go completely unnoticed by outsiders.
Milongueros tend to speak very little; even if they have been dancing with each other for years they never ask each other's last names, addresses or professions. This is one of the unspoken rules of the "real" milongueros. Another implicit rule is that the invitation to dance is never verbal. Rather, this is done through a complex series of interlocking gazes and body attitudes.
At the milonga, a great social equalizer, class, age and physical appearance recede. The dancing is what counts, the body connection, the feeling for the music."
This exhibition of En Foco's 2009-2010 Touring Gallery program is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Canson Infinity, Senator José M. Serrano/Legislative Initiative Grant, Bronx Council on the Arts, Archival Methods, Loupe Digital Studio, members and friends.
To view an interview on NBC featuring Adriana Groisman and The Executive Director of Enfoco Miriam Romez speaking about the exhibition and the artist talk, click here.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Glen Frost's Fairfax office is located just 30 minutes from Dale City. Mr. Frost can represent you in a wide range of tax issues and is happy to have phone conferences if you do not have the time to meet in person. He is authorized to practice before the IRS and Virginia Department of Taxation and regularly represents Northern Virginian taxpayers.
Tax issues can be challenging, especially if you have little to no experience in resolving them. The best thing to do if you are caught up in a tax controversy is to seek the help of a Dale City Tax Attorney. The attorney will give you guidance and ensure that the matters at hand are dealt with properly and successfully. The attorney has both the understanding of tax law and the experience in this industry to be your representative.
In most cases, if you do not employ the services of an attorney, it will be hard for you to handle the case appropriately. In fact, it is possible for you to lose the case and even end up paying large penalties, sometimes even greater than the tax itself. Your tax lawyer will advise you, fight for you, and ensure that the law does not work against you. Furthermore, your Dale City Tax Attorney will ensure that you do not have to spend your time in court or in meetings with revenue agents. This is because he is your legal representative, and as such is given the authority to handle any legal matters pertaining to your case. By retaining the services of a tax attorney, you will not have to compromise your work schedule or commitments to deal with your tax problems.
In addition, your Dale City Tax Attorney will ensure that you get the best possible outcome in your case. The attorney will negotiate for the best deal so that you do not have to pay more than is necessary. If you are the one to be compensated due to an IRS or Virginia Tax error, the attorney will fight to see that you are fully paid what is due to you. Therefore, if you have any issues having to do with taxation, it is important to hire a Dale City Tax Attorney.


text:
Search results for 'Scratch code on box'
Al Alloy body,stainless steel herb chamber.
- 6 temperature settings,
- 2300mah battery support 100minutes working,
- 10minutes shut off for safty and save the power,
- 6 different color LED indicat different temperature,
- cold air in flow no inside air ,all fresh air cycle
FyHit CS Pen
kit include
- 1pc FyHit CS pen
- 2pcs FyHit CS penMouthpiece
- 1pc Cleaning Brush
- 5pcs Pipe Cleaner
Mouthpieces Packs for Herbstick Relax/Herbstick ECO/HerbstickMouthpieces for Herbstick 5pcs in a pack Mouthpieces for Herbstick Relax 12 pcs in a pack Mouthpieces for Herbstick Eco 3 pcs in a pack,only black color available, Learn More$29.99
Herbstick CS, best partner for your tobacco leaf
Starter Kit Contains:
- 1pc HerbstickCS
- 1pc Cleaning Brush
- 5pcs Pipe Cleaners
- 1pc Micro USB Charger
- 1pc Silicone cover
- 1 pc mouthpiece set
- User Manual
Tattoo – Single 18650 Box Mod
- A beautifully done box mod done by the amazing engineers at Praxis:
- The Banshee. A mod surely made to cause a riot with its fantastic new LED Display Design going up the entire height of the mod,
- ringing in 75W of power through single 18650's, the Tattoo is a new mod for the new age.
Banshee Plus– Dual 18650 Box Mod
- A beautifully done box mod done by the amazing engineers at Praxis:
- The Banshee. A mod surely made to cause a riot with its fantastic new LED Display Design going up the entire height of the mod,
- ringing in 150W of power through dual 18650's, the Banshee is a new mod for the new age.
CigGo T71 Box Mod
- VV.VW vape Mod
- Full set of vaping device
- Mini portable size
PRAXIS VULTA SPITFIRE SURVIVAL KIT Contain:
- 1 X Vulta MOD with 2500mAh built-in battery.
- 1 X Spitfire tank atomizer( 1*0.2ohm coil head+ 1* 0.5ohm coil head)
- 1 X Charger
- 1 X User manual
- 1 X Gift box
Available Color: Grey/WhiteLearn More$89.99
Praxis Decimus Box Mod
This Is Original Praxis Decimus Box Mod .We Provide 2 Versions Here,Please Choose Your Prefered Version Below.
- Version 1: Support VW MODE Only.
- Version 2: Temp. Control Upgraded. Support TC MODE And VW MODE.
Kit Include:
- 1 X Praxis Decimus Box Mod (Battery Not Included)
- 1 X User Manual
- 1 X Gift Box
Available Color: Grey / White
Extra Colored Doors Available Also, Choose Your Favorite Color For The Praxis Decimus Box Mod Below.Learn More$89.00
Herbstick Eco
- Steel mesh window can dissipate heat effectively to ensure vaporizer surface not too hot.
- 6 temperature settings, 6 different colors LED indicate different temperature.LED status lights
- Premium 2200mah battery support 100minutes working.
- Al Alloy body, stainless steel leaves chamber.
- Fresh and cold air flow.
- Silicone mouthpiece ensures an optimum temperature when using.
Herbstick Relax Vaporizer
Herbstick Relax VaporizerLearn More
Temperature Control:
Direct Temperature Control 120'C-225'C.
vibration function
Clear OLED screen
Batery Capacity: 2200mAh Samsung 18650 battery; non-replaceable
Bottom Oven: 18.85*8.6*10.3 mm , with magnetic cover.
Rotating Mouthpiece is easy
Breath LED$169.90


text:
The Clock Is Ticking on 30/30's Simple, Powerful Task Manager
May 20, 2013 5:00 AM PT
30/30 is available in the iTunes App Store for free. In-app purchases are available.
I'm a sucker for productivity management -- too much to do, never enough time, and there is always, it seems, some sort of flashing distraction. There's plenty of people out there with similar problems: Even if they survived a round of layoffs, there's usually a business need to get more done with fewer resources and people.
If the ability to avoid distraction and meter out your energy in timed sprints sounds good, you'll want to check out 30/30 by Binary Hammer, a (mostly) free app in the iTunes App Store. I spotted it after Apple made it a New and Noteworthy pick in the Productivity category. Not only does it come with a good task management metaphor -- a timer to help you focus -- it boasts a 4.5 user review rating via more than 2,500 reviews. Definitely worth a closer look, I thought.
I was right.
Timed Sprints
There's lots of problems when it comes to getting things done, particularly for so-called "knowledge" workers, and I'm certainly not an expert. But this I know: Instant messaging interrupts quality work. Email interrupts quality work. Phone calls interrupt quality work. Low blood sugar and spots floating inside your eyeballs interrupt quality work.
If you can plan for a certain amount of time each day to spend on just email, I can almost guarantee you a productivity boost.
So that's how I started. Setting a timer for 30 minutes in which I would -- heads down -- start plowing through the never ending storm of email. After 30 minutes, I'd take 8 minutes for coffee, then work 30 more minutes on a specific project. Then I added 6 minutes for a bathroom break, since I was pretty sure I'd need it after the coffee.
The nice thing about a timer is that if you mentally agree to use it, you can ignore other things while you work on what you told yourself to work on. So I plowed through email with vim and vigor, knowing that in 30 minutes I would have to move on -- and that I could move on -- to more productive projects.
However, I also knew there were some important emails that required some sort of response. The phone rang. I ignored it.
I received a text message. I summoned intense willpower and simply pushed my iPhone out of reach. I deleted email, answered questions with bright and sometimes pithy responses, made decisions, and asked for help. And then boom, 30 minutes was gone, and I felt like I had actually accomplished a few things.
Returning to the Timer
The basic premise of 30/30 is that you create a running list of tasks. You assign a certain amount of time to each task -- not necessarily a time of day, but a certain amount of time. Instead of building a calendar with a series of alarms, you build a task list.
The great thing about this is that if your day gets derailed -- say your boss gets all up in your face but doesn't stroke out -- you can return to your timer list and keep working through it.
The effectiveness in 30/30 is that it empowers you to follow your intent, to work on the things that matter to you, to stop working when it makes sense -- to just stay on track. For instance, it's easy to get lost in email. And it's easy to work on a particular project far too long by getting immersed in it, which brings up another point: If you've got some sort of mental quirk (don't we all?) 30/30 can help keep you from overfocusing.
Easy to Learn
30/30 is a flat but graphically rich app. To learn it, you start with a button-like task list of items that are named as actual instructions, things like, "Slide right to delete," "Shake to undo," "Tap the dial to start & pause," or "2-finger tap to move to top." With a few taps and gestures, you can learn to quickly manage and edit your task list.
What if you need more or less time? There's a round dial graphic that shows you how much time you have left. You can tap to add an additional increment of time, or reduce it if you're running fast and efficient.
To help you see what's coming up next and to recognize what you ought to be doing, 30/30 includes 24 icons that you can assign to tasks (or events, really, if you want to set aside time to watch TV). There is a TV icon, actually, as well as a keyboard, guitar, paper airplane, basketball, Twittery bird, bed, and steaming coffee cup -- stuff like that.
For US$.99 there's an in-app purchase option for another 24 icons. I wish there were more, but really, the 48 icons cover a lot of possibilities.
What if you leave the app? 30/30 will remind you with notifications. Handy, of course, for those times you get off track or are doing something that requires you to use or close your iPhone.
All in all, 30/30 is a well-executed handy timer-based productivity tool, well worth a look if you've got too many things to do.
Any Beefs?
Just one: The colors. Not exactly manly colors, and if I'm going to live in an app, I want strong, bold colors -- gray, black, graphite, or deep dark richness of color, not soft light greens or sickly yellows.
There's a small color palette to work with, and several primary colors that are good to use. The only trouble is that when, say, a red item enters the timer and starts counting down, the background color turns to a lighter shade of red. This is a visual cue handy for at-a-glance understanding of your particularly timer, but it's always too soft for my tastes. In the case of red, the background is almost pink.
Picky? Definitely. If I'm going to live with something day in and day out, I need to come to grips with the freaking colors. And no, I don't have any mental quirks. None whatsoever.
Just saying.


text:
Dev Tandon needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 846 designs submitted by 152 freelance designers.
Kini Consulting (consulting firm) / KiniMetrix (product)
We are a boutique management consulting firm, made up up a very entrepreneurial group of folks. We are in need of 2 logos that will be very similar in style: one for our consulting practice (Kini Consulting), and one for a cutting-edge patent-pending product we have developed (KiniMetrix). The consulting practice specializes in marketing; the product, KiniMetrix, helps business perform sales analysis in a novel way.
Kini Consulting has been in business for close to 8 years, and we are looking to re-brand -- and a new logo is the first step. We are about to launch our KiniMetrix product early next year and are looking for a fantastic logo for it to get us off to a great start! Both logos should be consistent and of a similar style, though of course not identical.
We are a professional services firm, and our clients are senior executives in companies with $200M in revenue or more. Thus the market we serve and the look we need is highly professional.
We want to be bold and memorable, yet professional. The logo should give the viewer an immediate image of a large, trustworthy firm and a solid, impactful product. There should not be too much "going on" in the design - a sleek, professional look (but not boring like simple text) is what we are looking for.
We are very open around colors, and are eager to see what you come up with; guidelines on this are the same as above -- bold, impactful, and memorable -- so for instance pastels aren't what we want. And, too many colors will probably not be appropriate.
Beyond these suggestions, the sky is the limit - use your creative potential to help us re-launch our practice and get off to a solid start with the launch of our new product!
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
Listed 12/29/2017 | Last Updated: 3/23/2019 8:23 AM
No Trespassing! Do Not Disturb Occupant! No Showings Permitted! Please call the auction company with any questions regarding the property. 3 bedrooms, 2.1 baths property, built in 1935 with 1968 square feet.Please Note for Investor or Owner-Occupant Cash Transactions Only: Buyer's Premium will not be included in the total purchase price. Winning bid equals total purchase price. Buyer's Premium equal to the greater of 3.5% of the winning bid amount or minimum of $1750 will be paid as a separate expense on the buyer's side of the Closing Disclosure.
2 Full/1 Half
0.09 Acres |5001287 Sq. Ft.
1,968 sq. ft


text:
Keeping Haiti on My Mind
The snow is finally melting in Washington, D.C. and its surrounding areas. Things seem to be on their way to returning to business as usual.
We have just gotten through back-to-back blizzards worse than most seen in a century, evidenced in part by the stunned old-timers and record-setting snowfall levels. That said, what we have recently experienced here is a far cry from the devastation and suffering caused by natural disasters in other parts of the world, such as the recent typhoon in Southeast Asia and earthquake in Haiti. But that's not the impression one would take away from the local and national news coverage of these snowstorms.
Rarely warranted hyperbole has become typical in coverage of natural disasters. Take, for example, what some print and broadcast news outlets named their snowstorm coverage: "Snowmageddon", "Snowpocalypse", and "Snowtorius B.I.G." Jon Stewart, executive producer and host of Comedy Central's fake news program The Daily Show, poked fun at these ridiculous appellations. And quite rightly, I think.


text:
Intellectual Property and Biological Knowledge
Gwen L. Williams is currently enrolled in the Master's program at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Global biological data poses particular challenges for organizing and managing intellectual property. Issues concerning the industrial property branch, such as patent protection, have generally not been the librarian's concern. However, for the librarian and information management professional specializing in the organization of biological knowledge, the knowledge domain includes intellectual resources eligible for industrial property rights protection. An intellectual resource can be deemed industrial property eligible for rights protection if the resource is a patentable invention and has an industrial application.
Traditionally, libraries and natural history museums have been concerned primarily with the copyright branch of intellectual property as it pertains to access to intellectual resources. It is primarily the first sale doctrine and the fair use of copyrighted resources that enable libraries and museums to meet the educational and information organization and dissemination goals of their charter. With respect to the organization of biological knowledge, the intellectual property issues include the traditional issues surrounding the copyright branch as well as issues pertaining to industrial property protection. Access for current and future biological knowledge management has become more complicated. This is not to say that the intellectual property questions on the immediate horizon for biological knowledge management are necessarily new questions or are necessarily unique to the library and information science discipline. But the following issues concerning access to intellectual resources are new questions for library and information management practitioners and are of particular concern for those specializing in the organization of biological knowledge.
Biological Objects: Discovery or Invention?
The definition of biological objects is important for whether an intellectual resource falls under copyright protection or is eligible for industrial property protection. In other words, is the biological object a discovery or an invention? This definitional distinction is important because it affects whether the biological object is patentable and thus eligible for industrial property protection. That is, if the biological object is considered a discovery, then the biological object is not the scientist's creation. The creation of the scientist is the publication disclosing the discovery. Hence, copyright applies to the published findings and the protection of intellectual property rights is protection of the copyright. This protection is particularly important in biology where a person's name is associated as the authority for the first published treatment of a new species.
On the other hand, if the biological object itself is considered a creation of the scientist, then the biological object is an invention and is a potentially patentable object. Whereas the scientist's publication disclosing the invention would fall under copyright protection, the issuance and protection of patents fall under the industrial property branch of intellectual property rights: the protection of intellectual property rights is protection of the industrial property, the invention.
The classification of the biological object is not simply a matter of differing epistemological positions. A May 2002 Science article, "DuPont Ups the Ante on Use of Harvard's OncoMouse," details a recent intellectual property debate between private enterprise and academic scientific research where the biological object itself is a patented "mouse engineered to develop cancers." Another Science article, "Patents, Secrecy, and DNA," published in 2001, indicates "more than 25,000 DNA-based patents were issued by the end of 2000" on various genomics inventions, including patents for gene fragments and sequences. It is, as it were, a matter of the relations between publicly supported scientific research and commercial for-profit ventures in free-market capitalist economies.
For the library and information management practitioner, the disposition of the biological object whether it be discovery or invention affects the approach to and management of access. For management of access to copyrighted creations, the first sale doctrine and fair use principle would certainly seem applicable guidelines. Although access to copyrighted creations becomes more complex when it involves property rights for physical objects in natural history museums. Museums may "own" (with caveats discussed below) the specimens in their collections but if these objects are digitized, the museums must claim copyright protection for the digital representations. Some museums may fear that even with the copyright protection regime, they may lose control over the value of their collections. In contrast, the organization of information to support patent protection of inventions would entail denying unauthorized access, as denial of access for unauthorized parties is the underlying assumption that makes patent protection possible.
Commercialization of Biological Knowledge: Findings by the Convention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity's "Report on the Role of Intellectual Property Rights in the Implementation of Access and Benefit-Sharing" (www.biodiv.org/doc/meetings/abs/abswg-01/official/abswg-01-04-en.doc) is exclusively concerned with the industrial property branch of intellectual property protection. The 2001 report makes plain that for international biological information networks, the most pressing intellectual property issues revolve around patents and patent procedures, adjudicating contesting claims for rights and protection, and trade agreements. All factor into decisions about the organization and management of biological knowledge, and all pertain to the commercial potential of biological resources.
In addition, the Convention on Biological Diversity specifically focuses their attention on and makes recommendations for addressing the often-conflicting interests between developed and developing countries with respect to commercialization of biological resources. Natural history museums hold many specimens of species from around the world, as collectors from industrialized countries have aggressively gathered specimens from developing countries over the past 300 years. The potential financial consequences are enormous as many of these materials, such as botanical pharmaceuticals, are patentable. The Convention's Panel of Experts on Access and Benefit-Sharing identified four key intellectual property issues under their auspices: prior informed consent; traditional knowledge related to genetic resources; access and benefit-sharing agreements; and scope, prior art and monitoring. Library and information management practitioners would likely be concerned with all four, as each involves questions of information and knowledge organization and management.
Prior informed consent pertains to incorporating patent application procedures for documenting "identification of the source of genetic material used in the development of subject matter which is to be protected by intellectual property rights" and "proof of the prior informed consent of the competent national authority of the provider country." Essentially, the panel maintained that holders of traditional knowledge and of the rights to innovations based on traditional knowledge must give informed consent prior to granting access to genetic resources, and that such consent must be documented.
The panel's report on traditional knowledge related to genetic resources defines "traditional knowledge," discusses the limits of property protection for traditional knowledge and proposes the sui generis model for protection of traditional knowledge. Traditional knowledge related to genetic resources is defined as "manifestations of knowledge and innovation" evidenced in indigenous creative practices, classifications systems, empirical observations and environmental management practices. Because of the collective nature of and lack of systematic documentation about traditional knowledge, the panel considered whether intellectual property rights are applicable to traditional knowledge; as argued by pharmaceutical industry interests, the panel recognized that intellectual property rights, in particular patents, could be viewed as and used toward protection of traditional knowledge.
The panel recommended implementation of sui generis systems for protection of traditional knowledge rights. Among their proposals for legislation were the recognition of ancestral community rights; recognition that intellectual property rights can be collective; and the "distinction between the rights over genetic resources (where vested in the State) and rights over knowledge associated with such resources (vested in local and indigenous customs)." Components of sui generis systems for protection could include systematic documentation of traditional knowledge, traditional knowledge registries and various patent and innovation systems, all of which present opportunities for library and information science management.
The panel discusses various access and benefit-sharing agreements at length, highlighting various possible arrangements between countries, industries, ministries and legal apparatuses. Access, for the Convention's purposes, tends to mean access to the actual genetic or biological resources for cultivation, harvesting and exploitation, and benefit-sharing means the protection of and compensation for the holders of intellectual property rights to such genetic or biological resources. In other words, access and benefit-sharing agreements pertain primarily to legal and binding financial arrangements between interested parties across the globe. How such legal and financial agreements affect library and information management practitioners seems to depend upon the particular situations as determined by employers, be they governmental, non-profit or for-profit organizations.
Related to, but different than, prior informed consent is prior art. The Convention's panel and the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore are both exploring and advocating recognition that traditional knowledge be viewed as prior art. The categorization of traditional knowledge as prior art affords opportunities for library and information management practitioners to compile existing traditional knowledge literature; create registries for and repositories of traditional knowledge; and examine ways to improve search and access to traditional knowledge documents, collections and databases. This information could be organized around the species descriptions used in western taxonomy or in the taxonomy assigned by the holders of traditional knowledge about the species in the native environment.
Repatriation: Data or Specimen?
One of the most interesting intellectual property problems facing current and future biodiversity knowledge management concerns relations between developed and developing countries and involves repatriation of biological intellectual resources. While international and national policy decisions regarding repatriation are beyond the scope of the individual library and information management practitioner, the practitioner should be aware that repatriation law, agreements and treaties will have ramifications for organizing and providing access to biological resources. The global mission of many biodiversity projects to identify, name and classify the world's species certainly warrants attention to repatriation issues. The emphasis Global Biodiversity Information Facility (www.gbif.org/GBIF_org/what_is_gbif) places on data repatriation suggests the issue is crucial for the successful organization and management of a global biodiversity information network.
The repatriation of biological intellectual resources differs from the repatriation of refugees, of human remains and of cultural heritage objects typically housed in developed countries' museums and libraries. Whereas the actual persons, actual remains or actual cultural heritage objects are returned to their respective countries of origin, the actual biological specimens are not. Rather, as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) working group on biological informatics points out, with respect to biodiversity resources, repatriation concerns the repatriation of data generated about the specimen. In other words, a data surrogate replaces the original biological specimen as the object repatriated. The original biological specimen is held and maintained by the natural history museum, organization or institution that generated the specimen data. In this manner, the natural history museum seems to serve a custodial role, as opposed to explicitly claiming ownership of the specimen, although claims for ownership seem implied through maintaining possession of the original biological specimen.
Data repatriation poses an intriguing problem not only for governors, ministers and administrators of state, but also for scholars interested in globalization, the world economy, geopolitics and post-colonialism as data repatriation makes evident the historical, political milieu in which the present state of biological knowledge is immersed, and perhaps, from whence it originates. For data repatriation to be successful, the data repatriated must conform to internationally recognized standards and exist in formats of demonstrable value to the country of origin. Moreover, the replacement of the original specimen with its data surrogate must be satisfactory to all international parties involved. This question will probably be asked of natural history museums in developed countries: if the data surrogate be the virtual equivalent of the specimen, why not repatriate the specimen to the country of origin, generally a developing country, and maintain the surrogate in the developed country? In principle, unlike cultural artifacts, it would be possible to gather another specimen of the same species from its native environment.
It is probably an understatement to remark that identifying, naming and classifying all of the world's species is a gargantuan, utopian goal. But that is the goal toward which many in the biological sciences devote their working lives. Achieving progress toward that goal necessitates significant contributions from many allied disciplines and practitioners, including those that organize and manage access to all of the actual current and possible future intellectual manifestations of biological knowledge. While much work remains to be done and many unknowns have yet to unfold, one thing is certain: where there are intellectual resources to organize and manage, there are intellectual property issues that affect how the work of library and information management practitioners proceed. We need to be aware of the intellectual property issues debated, the many parties and varied interests involved, and the organizational and managerial possibilities for enabling the desired type of access. This is part of our contribution toward knowledge of our vast world.
For Further Reading
Convention on Biological Diversity. (2001). Report on the role of intellectual property rights in the implementation of access and benefit-sharing arrangements. Available at www.biodiv.org/doc/meetings/abs/abswg-01/official/abswg-01-04-en.doc.
Cook-Deegan, R. M., & McCormack, S.J. (2001). Patents, secrecy, and DNA. Science, 293 (July 13), 217.
Marshall, E. (2002). DuPont ups ante on use of Harvard's OncoMouse. Science, 296 (May 17), 1212.
OECD Megascience Forum Working Group on Biological Informatics. (1999). Final report of the OECD Megascience Forum Working Group on Biological Informatics. Available at www.gbif.org/GBIF_org/facility/BIrepfin.pdf.
World Intellectual Property Organization. (2001). WIPO Intellectual property handbook: Policy, law, and use. Geneva, Switzerland: WIPO. Available at www.wipo.org/about-ip/en/.
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Information Science and Technology


text:
NL West foes will seek to challenge Dodgers
The National League West saw its favorite come from behind to turn the division race into a one-horse sprint to the finish a year ago, the Dodgers going on a summer spree for the ages, winning seemingly every game for about a month following the All-Star break.
Heading into 2014, there's no reason the team from Chavez Ravine should be considered anything but the favorite in the NL West race. That said, the division has a history of surprises and multiple teams jockeying for the coveted spot at the top.
The National League West saw its favorite come from behind to turn the division race into a one-horse sprint to the finish a year ago, the Dodgers going on a summer spree for the ages, winning seemingly every game for about a month following the All-Star break.
Heading into 2014, there's no reason the team from Chavez Ravine should be considered anything but the favorite in the NL West race. That said, the division has a history of surprises and multiple teams jockeying for the coveted spot at the top.
To review, the Dodgers were 12 games under .500 and 9 1/2 games out of first place three weeks into June last year before they flipped the script. Energized by the arrival of Yasiel Puig and seeing some results from a whopping payroll, the Dodgers went 42-8 for the greatest 50-game stretch in the franchise's long history. By the end of that run, the Dodgers were 7 1/2 games up and on their way to the division title.
Duplicating that kind of season is a script that would get laughed out of a Hollywood studio, although the cast of characters that made that historic sprint up the standings remains in place.
The Giants, winners of the World Series in each of the past two even-numbered years, are looking to come back from an injury-plagued season that included the first slump in a long time by one of their most prized assets -- their rotation. It turned out to be the D-backs who at least kept the Dodgers within shouting distance until mid-September while finishing at .500, with the Padres and Giants finishing 10 games under and the Rockies 14 under.
All five teams are hoping to improve in 2014. Yes, that includes the Dodgers, who put on a show last summer that wasn't held over long into October.
Here's a closer look at the teams in the NL West as they head into the regular season:
Strengths: The rotation ranks among the best in the game, led by Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke as a dynamic 1-2 -- although Kershaw being scratched from his first U.S. start on Sunday isn't a good way to start the season. Hyun-Jin Ryu isn't far behind -- he looks even better than he did last year. Dan Haren is solid and there are proven options -- Josh Beckett, Paul Maholm and Chad Billingsley -- for the No. 5 spot. The bullpen, anchored by Brian Wilson and Kenley Jansen, is deep and talented. A return to form by Matt Kemp, coming off shoulder and ankle surgeries, would make a good offense lethal. Hanley Ramirez is an MVP candidate, and Puig's superlative talent is unquestioned.
Weaknesses: The bench might not be as deep as last year with Justin Turner, Chone Figgins and Mike Baxter filling the voids left by the departures of Nick Punto, Skip Schumaker and Jerry Hairston. Juan Uribe might not replicate his excellent 2013 season. There could be a morale issue if Puig, Kemp, Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier all stay healthy and there's room for only three of them in the outfield. Truth is, this team is so deep and has such huge financial resources, it's difficult to find any serious deficiencies.
Spot to watch: Second base has been the most apparent concern with the exit of Mark Ellis and the need for Cuban native Alex Guerrero, a natural shortstop, to get more experience at a position that's new to him. Dee Gordon, with his blazing speed and impressive skills, could be the answer. If he puts the ball on the ground and uses his wheels, he can drive pitchers and catchers crazy. Turner and Figgins offer veteran support.
Sign of trouble: Puig's immaturity remains a bright red flag. It was hoped that he'd calm down and settle in after his astonishing rookie season, but the impulsive sophomore continues to make internal waves. His buddies, Ramirez and Uribe, can help straighten him out, but it's up to Puig to listen, learn and act professionally. Also, an injury to rock-solid catcher A.J. Ellis could be disruptive to the pitching staff.
They'll be rolling if ... Puig settles down, respects teammates and the game, and lets his talent speak for him. The pitching staff remaining relatively healthy and Kemp coming back with power and swagger would go a long way, too.
Strengths: Assuming a return to form and the pushing aside of some spring struggles by a couple of its members, the Giants' rotation was, is and will be the most important aspect in how they fare. With Madison Bumgarner becoming the man on the mound envisioned when he arrived in the Majors four years ago at age 20, it's up to Matt Cain to become Matt Cain again, after his first truly disappointing season. Tim Lincecum and Ryan Vogelsong look to get back on track -- but both have some struggles in Arizona to put behind them. Catcher Buster Posey seems to be the only rock-solid certainty, having established an amazing level of consistency so early in his career.
Weaknesses: Until the offense proves otherwise, it's always going to be the aspect that stands out as an area of concern for the Giants. The lineup could be better than in years past with Angel Pagan at the top and healthy again, Posey and Hunter Pence in the middle, and a lighter Pablo Sandoval lighting up baseballs again. Adding Michael Morse could boost the power at the bottom of the lineup, and the infield Brandons -- Belt and Crawford -- both are due to take their offense to the next level. Also, the bullpen, which has been huge in the team's October success in the past, could be the team's soft underbelly.
Spot to watch: The top of the lineup should be manned by two veterans coming off down years, but both Pagan and second baseman Marco Scutaro dealt with back issues this spring. With Pagan's leadoff qualities and Scutaro's never-miss swing, their ability to stay healthy and provide the kind of 1-2 catalyst to the best of their capabilities, the rest of the offense could start motoring, taking some pressure off the pitching staff. But it appears Scutaro is headed for the disabled list to start the season, so that table-setting twosome will need to wait to get things going.
Sign of trouble: Already an issue this spring, health is a big issue among the many veteran players important to the cause. Scutaro, the No. 2 hitter and a veteran presence, is in particular a concern.
They'll be rolling if ... Panda becomes dangerous again. If Sandoval can rekindle the type of dominance he displayed in the 2012 postseason, he can make the lineup a lot more exciting. Posey and Pence will be counted on, but a return to form by Sandoval is key to the Giants returning to a winning place again.
Strengths: With MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt leading an offense that added Mark Trumbo in a trade with the Angels, the D-backs have a little more pop in their lineup, and they're hoping for an upswing by Miguel Montero and a next step forward by A.J. Pollock at the top. Martin Prado is the type of player who can be a catalyst, so if he can pick up where he left off at the end of last season, he might help drive the D-backs to a more consistent offensive showing.
Weaknesses: The rotation was not the team's greatest strength before Patrick Corbin's elbow injury, and the 24-year-old All-Star underwent Tommy John surgery this week in a turn of events that damaged the rotation right at the top. Free-agent acquisition Bronson Arroyo is hoping for a healthy start and the D-backs are optimistic that Archie Bradley can make his move to the Majors sometime this season -- both would be helpful in turning this weakness into a strength.
Sign of trouble: It already happened when Corbin sustained his devastating elbow injury. It's true for any team, but the D-backs knew they couldn't afford injuries -- it was what got them in trouble last year, and they're not off to a good start in that department this year.
They'll be rolling if ... The starting rotation gets off to a good start, saving a bullpen that is experienced and upgraded with the arrival of Addison Reed from the White Sox. If veterans like Arroyo and Brandon McCarthy can hold things together, and Trevor Cahill can step up to do some of the heavy lifting with Corbin gone for the year, things will look brighter in the desert this summer.
Strengths: The Padres have several talented core players, led by Chase Headley on the offensive side and Andrew Cashner at the top of a rotation that might be as talented as any during manager Bud Black's tenure. Headley had a remarkably strong finish to the 2012 season but needs to shake off some 2013 struggles in order to reclaim a place among the elite third basemen in the league. If shortstop Everth Cabrera can be back in a productive place after his suspension in relation to the Biogenesis investigation, he can deliver a spark at the top.
Weaknesses: The question with the Padres is always: Can they score enough runs? It's a harsh call to say it's a weakness with Headley and Carlos Quentin in the heart of the lineup, but it's a tall order for any group playing half its games at Petco Park to score a ton of runs. If Jedd Gyorko can continue to deliver the type of power he did in his rookie season, he'd be one reason to believe the Friars will be able to generate enough offense, home and away.
Sign of trouble: The Padres were too acquainted with the disabled list last season, and already they'll be putting it to use as newcomer Josh Johnson will start the season on the disabled list with a flexor strain in his right forearm. That's not a good start for the guy who was going to be their Opening Day starter.
They'll be rolling if ... The rotation holds up long enough to welcome back Johnson, and if they manage to get off to a better start than their 10-16 April of a year ago, that might get them on the right track.
Strengths: The middle of the order, if healthy, has some of the game's top talent in shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, a duo that can do some damage. Last year's addition of Michael Cuddyer proved to be valuable, complete with a batting title. Health is a huge factor, in particular for Tulo, who was plenty productive last season but played in only 126 games, after appearing in only 47 the year before. As long as it doesn't become overworked, the bullpen is another area that is stacked up well, leading to Rex Brothers and LaTroy Hawkins at the end.
Weaknesses: The starting rotation, hoping for good things from newcomer Brett Anderson and a quick return by Jhoulys Chacin, out with shoulder issues, could make a move upward. But there's a great deal of uncertainty regarding the starters, with pretty much all of them having arm issues in recent years. But Jorge De La Rosa is coming off a strong season, and this is a talented group that includes Juan Nicasio, who had an impressive spring. If things go well, starting pitching could flip to being an area of strength. It won't be easy to start that quest with Chacin down, though.
Sign of trouble: As much as Tulo and CarGo and Cuddyer can be a tough row for pitchers to work through, just how productive they will be will depend on the supporting cast, the biggest question mark being at the top -- where leadoff-by-committee is a possibility, though Charlie Blackmon got the most at-bats there this spring.
They'll be rolling if ... They get quality starts coming right out of the gate, especially with Chacin unavailable. Giving the offense its best chance to find an early groove will be key for the run-prevention arm of the ballclub.
It's the Dodgers' division to lose, but if the Giants return to their top form of two years ago, it'll be at least a two-horse race with a possibility of multiple representatives in October. The D-backs' chances of being in the thick of it were hampered severely by Corbin's injury, and the Padres and Rockies both need to have a lot of things go right to push past .500.
Favorite: Dodgers
Challenger: Giants
Dark horse: D-backs
Never say never: Padres, Rockies
John Schlegel is a national reporter for MLB.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @JohnSchlegelMLB.


text:
Lemon8-XML Roadmap
From PKP Wiki
Development Roadmap
Milestone 1 - Private Alpha Release (Q3/Q4 2007)
Release Objectives: Establish a stable initial preview release.
Citation Parser
Major XML refactor
Remove NLM-specific generation
Citation lookup based on UI metadata, not parsed text (eg. PMID)
Add ParaCite parsing
Handle embedded URLsand access-dates
Use author list as (additional?) Pubmed lookup method
Integrate Docvert
More informative upload/parsing messages
Milestone 2 - Public Beta Release (Current - Q2 2008)
Release Objectives: Remove legacy code and provide a stable foundation for beta testing.
Document Parser
Major XML refactor
Remove NLM-specific metadata parsing
Extract section hierarchy
Section Editor
Enable reordering sections
Enable delete section
- Change section heading level
- Add/upload new figure
Citation Editor
Enable delete/reorder citations
- Add new citation
Upgrade to CakePHP 1.2 beta
- Per-user accounts and self-signup with captcha (eg. reCaptcha ?)
- Convert incoming HTML entities in content into UTF-8
- Refactor document controller using unbinding
- Basic installer script
- Add source code to PKP CVS system
- Open Bugzilla tracker for issues
Milestone 3 - 1.0 Proposed (Q3 2008)
- Allow upload of custom XSL/CSS for preview/export
- Set default metadata values (eg. copyright statement)
Document Parser
- "Garbage collection" of content that is left unparsed
XML Export
- Move xref detection into generateOutputXML() & remove NLM schema; add superscript detection and compare to list of references
- XML pre-validation
- Add Docbook DTD export schema
- NLM: metadata generation w/full aff linking
- NLM: Improve figure/abstract/list transformation
- NLM: Add figures/tables to xref detection
- NLM: Integrate feedback from Open Medicine
- Refactor to add plugin classes: lookup, export, import, metadata schema
Reported Bugs
References with ndash don't get parsed: e.g., [1–6] will not get parsed, but [1-6] will.
A large amount of text gets missed in some documents (Peter Sefton)
Conflict of interest does not get sent to <back> matter
- Parser does not find a title in a .odt when it is in the document properties (Peter Sefton)
- Does not gracefully deal with "et al"
- Adding author or affiliation goes to error screen
- Extraneous "Aff1" with nothing attached to it - on first author.
- Affiliations are numbered by their metadatas ID, not by their sequence.
- Occasionally random "<name name-style="western">" appear when an article has many, many authors
- Does not properly output "et al" for citations with more than X authors (6?) (in HTML)
- Does not at all output <publisher-loc> or <publisher-name>
Proposed for Future Release
Metadata Editor
- Enable multiple article ID
- Add primary author selector / role-aff association
- Add acknowledgements, reviewers, review dates, etc.
- Create markup for abstract sections in XHTML
- Enable collapsable sections (authors, affiliations, etc)
Section Editor
- Enable collapsable sections
- Add/paste/edit XHTML tables and sections (TinyMCE)
Citation Editor
- Lookup/parse UI consistency
- Citation types and elements mapped to NLM?
- Refactor UI using AJAX and JSON-type methods
HTML/PDF Preview
- Investigate move to DOMPDF from FOP
- Improve PDF XSL (as per OJS development)
- Tweak XHTML stylesheets for tables/figures
XML Export
- Integrate Pubmed Central Style Checker / Article Previewer
- Add Erudit DTD export schema
- Add initial Scribus 1.5 DTD export schema
- Add form data validation
- Better error/warning messages (eg. citations, required fields, etc.)
- Full I18n and L10n to French, Spanish


text:
Hardside large wheeled suitcase with Ferrari Shield
Scuderia Ferrari Store Exclusive
Designed to deliver a top performance with the usual elegance: this is the Scuderia Ferrari large hardside wheeled suitcase.
Covered in metal polycarbonate with a chromatic effect that recalls the bodywork of Ferrari racing cars, this large hardside suitcase is equipped with four double wheels, calibrated to keep it standing in all circumstances: full or empty, stationary or in motion. The durable security zip is newly patented, whilst the handle has an ergonomic soft touch design. The inside features practical elastic bands and zip pockets. The design is completed by the Shield on the front and an inside buckle with 12 red dots inspired by the brake lights of the Ferrari Formula 1 single-seaters.
- Dimensions: 76x50x32 cm
- Fabric suitcase cover included
- External zip with patented security system
- Soft touch handle
- Closes according to USA standards
- Secret inside pocket
- Elastic bands and zip pockets on the inside
- Composition: 100% Polycarbonate
We offer both Standard and Express shipping: choose the service that best meets your needs at checkout.
We provide free pick up for your returns: you have 15 days from delivery to follow our quick and easy return procedure.


text:
- May 4:
- Hogan-Pancost developers delayed Boulder's review to wait on full board
- Apr 28:
- Boulder Planning Board again hears Hogan-Pancost, and neighbors still don't like it
- Apr 25:
- Boulder planners back annexation of Hogan-Pancost property
- Feb 3:
- Boulder seeks reconsideration of county's Hogan-Pancost decision
- Jan 27:
- Boulder County planners keep Hogan-Pancost tract eligible for annexation and likely development
- Feb 19:
- Boulder neighbors seek Hogan-Pancost reclassification in effort to block development
- Sep 25:
- Hogan-Pancost developer withdraws annexation request in light of Boulder flood
After 14 hours of presentations, comments, inquiries and debate over three days, the Boulder Planning Board voted unanimously Friday to reject an annexation agreement that would bring a controversial housing development to the 22-acre Hogan-Pancost property on the city's southeastern edge.
The board met Friday to deliberate on the Boulder Creek Commons plan following back-to-back five-hour meetings Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Despite what it saw as bright spots in the plan -- the addition of affordable housing and senior housing -- the board recommended against the property's annexation. The City Council could still call up the proposal for its own review.
Planning Board member Sam Weaver, who was among the most vocal about the project's shortcomings Friday, referred to a letter written by a nearby resident when trying to summarize the board's position.
"This is an excellent project in some ways; it's just not in the right place," Weaver said.
The plan calls for construction of 121 homes near South Boulder Road and 55th Street, including 50 "congregate-care" senior housing units, six affordable duplexes, two affordable single-family homes and 63 market-rate single-family homes.
The property, which is in unincorporated Boulder County, would have to be annexed by the City Council as part of the plan.
For decades, neighbors have opposed development of the property, fearing the impact construction might have on the high groundwater table on the site and in surrounding areas, where many homes use sump pumps to keep their basements from flooding. Neighbors also voiced concerns about increased traffic.
It was primarily concerns about the potential impacts on groundwater and the 100- and 500-year South Boulder Creek flood plains that prompted the board's rejection.
"For an annexation, I believe a project needs to be excellent ... and to come in with this level of contention and uncertainty is to me a real black mark on the whole project," Weaver said.
Board member John Putnam disagreed with the position of other members who said building a housing development geared toward seniors could create life safety risks in the flood plain. Noting the space is near the East Boulder Senior Center, Putnam said the city has already built projects in the flood plain.
Leonard May asked if it was a good idea for the board to perpetuate previous mistakes.
Although they rejected the annexation proposal, the board members did offer comments on the construction plans in the event the City Council chooses to approve them later. A hearing before the council has not been scheduled.
City staffers had recommended the Planning Board approve the plan.
Following the hearing, Bruce Dierking, an attorney for the applicant and property owner Michael Boyers, expressed optimism the City Council might see things differently.
"Obviously, we're disappointed and would have preferred Planning Board to recommend approval, but annexation is a political decision best suited for elected officials," Dierking wrote in an email. "We look forward to presenting the proposal to City Council and continue to believe this annexation would provide significant community benefits to address the critical need for affordable senior housing, together with enhancement and protection of wetlands and improved flood protection."
Jeff McWhirter, who lives in the 5400 block of Illini Way, near the Hogan-Pancost property, was among the area residents who attended all three days of meetings. He breathed a sigh of relief Friday.
"It's been a long and trying process," McWhirter said. "We feel that Planning Board made the right decision today to reject annexation. We would just hope that the City Council follows the recommendation of the Planning Board."
Contact Camera Staff Writer Joe Rubino at 303-473-1328 or email@example.com.


text: On Mon, 08 Oct 2007, Seyed Abouzar Najafi Shoshtari wrote: > Dear beowulf experts, > > we are planning to build a beowulf cluster > with 8 nodes (8xCPUs, Intel 6600 Quadcore 8MB, 8GB RAM )and > a Dell-Server as the master node (2xCPU Xeon Quad Core 1.6GHz, 4TB Hard, 18GB > RAM). > > Which linux distribution would be ideal for our case? Hi, Any distribution which support your hardware and has packages for mpi libraries and other tools you want to use will work. But you might be interested in trying IGGI : http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Releases/Mandriva/IGGI It's a distribution based on Mandriva 2006, which includes tools to ease the setup and deployement of a beowulf cluster. The full documentation is available at this address : http://iggi.mandriva.com/ regards, Nicolas