text:
OAKLAND — A fierce gun fight between a cadre of CHP officers and a heavily armed felon with anti-government beliefs ended with the man in the hospital and some
lanes on Interstate 580 closed for most of Sunday.
The Tuolumne County man, identified as 45-year-old Byron Williams, was wearing
body armor and was armed with a high-powered hunting rifle, a pistol and a
shotgun. He had a three-ring binder, recovered from the truck he was driving
by a bomb squad robot, with the word "California" scrawled across its cover.
Police said they believed the gunfight put an end to what might have been a
desperate mission by a left-wing hating man facing his third strike.
"There is no doubt in our mind, given the body armor and the extensive amount of
ammunition he had, that he was on his way to do a very serious crime against
either someone or a group of people," CHP Sgt. Trent Cross said.
"This was a very dramatic situation," Cross added. "To perform a routine stop
have it turn into this is basically every officer's worst nightmare."
Two CHP officers pulled Williams over shortly before midnight Saturday on
westbound I-580 near Grand Avenue when Williams alledgely opened fire.
Officers took cover and called for backup, and 10 officers returned fire for
five to eight minutes and seriously wounded him, despite body armor he was
wearing, Cross said.
Police found in the truck a suspicious object
that prompted investigators to call a bomb squad to the scene. The object was
detonated Sunday without mishap in the center divide of the freeway.
I-580 had to be closed in both directions for several hours to keep the
controlled explosion safe. The eastbound lanes were opened about two hours
later. CHP opened two left lanes of westbound I-580 around 7 p.m. All lanes are
now open in both directions.
"We understand drivers (were) getting frustrated and angry, but we need to be
thorough in this investigation," CHP officer Sam Morgan said. The CHP was
conducting an
administrative investigation side-by-side with a criminal investigation by
Oakland police and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.
Law enforcement sources said Williams has a history showing he is both
anti-government and anti-corporation, and against liberal causes.
Williams, who traveled 130 miles from his Groveland home, has an extensive
criminal history with at least two felonies and could
face life in prison, Cross said. He was arrested Sunday on suspicion of
attempted murder. He is in serious but stable condition at Highland Hospital.
His background, coupled with the presence of possible explosives, was enough to
prompt the FBI to get involved in the investigation, Cross said.
"Right now, this is not being looked at as a domestic terrorism case," Cross
said Sunday afternoon. "But there's more evidence to go through, and that could
Among that evidence was a white three-ring binder recovered from the truck by a
bomb squad robot. Scrawled by hand on the cover of the binder was the word,
"California." Officials would not describe the contents of the binder.
Williams' drivers license is suspended and he was driving impaired by
alcohol, Morgan said.
The confrontation began when a pair of CHP officers noticed a white 2006 Toyota
Tundra speeding and weaving across lane markers on I-580, Morgan said. The
officers pulled the truck over near the Grand Avenue exit and as one officer
approached the truck, Williams began firing a pistol at both officers, Morgan
The officers took cover behind their squad car and called for back-up, Morgan
said, adding that Williams continued to fire his pistol and rifle as more
officers arrived. Ten officers returned fire and Williams, wearing a
bullet-resistant vest, was shot several times, Morgan said.
The gun battle lasted between five and eight minutes on a raised portion of the
freeway above a Quik Stop on Macarthur Boulevard, Morgan said. More than 60
rounds were fired.
Two officers were hurt by shards of glass when bullets shattered the windshield
and driver's-side window of a squad car. They were treated at a nearby hospital
and released, Morgan said.
Despite the large amount of gunfire, there were no injuries or reports of
property damage from neighbors, officials said.
Mike Lozito was watching television when he heard the first shots, five loud
ones that prompted him to get low and wait out the shooting from a position
below his street-level windows on nearby Oakland Avenue.
"I must have heard 100, 150 rounds go off. It was insanity," Lozito said.
Because of the intensity of the shooting, Lozito said he was surprised to hear
it was a lone suspect.
Though police said the shooting lasted five to eight minutes, Lozito estimated
the shooting last 15 to 20 minutes.
Williams' truck was registered to his mother, Janice Williams, with whom
investigators believe he lives, Morgan said.
Dorothy Wothe, a neighbor in Groveland, a small town near the west entrance to
Yosemite National Park, said she's never met Byron Williams,
but, "When he first got out of prison, Janice had him go to church with her."
Wothe said Byron Williams had also worked on the property, building a nursery
for his mother's garden.
After being arrested in 2002 on suspicion of bank robbery, Williams told
investigators in Chowchilla that he was planning to rob a Bank of America branch
but abandoned that bank for another because of a long line and because customers
and tellers laughed at the suit and blond wig he was wearing, according to local
press reports at the time.
Williams alledgedly led officers on a wild chase at speeds of 100 mph before
crashing his truck.
In Sunday's shootout, all 10 officers who fired their guns were placed on
administrative leave, as is
standard in police shootings, police said.
Reach Sean Maher at email@example.com or Mike Taugher at


text:
Breast Augmentation Newport Beach California by Dr. John M. Shamoun. Breast Implants, Breast Implants and Breast Enhancement in California.
Dr. Shamoun graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, with Alpha Omega Alpha honors. He completed General Surgery at the University of Alabama. He then completed a Fellowship in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, one of America's finest plastic surgery training programs.
Dr. Shamoun elected to pursue several post-graduate Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowships. He completed a subspecialty Fellowship in Aesthetic and Restorative Breast Surgery at the world-renowned Breast Reconstructive Foundation Center in Atlanta, Georgia. He also completed subspecialty Fellowships in Aesthetic Surgery of the Face, Eyes, Nose, and Body at the Connell and Robbins Aesthetic Surgery Institutes. He concluded his formal nine years of training, beyond medical school, in Honolulu, Hawaii, specializing in Surgery of the Asian Face.
Dr. Shamoun's paramount goals as a physician are to "be the absolute best physician at all costs, individualize patient care, and the quality of life. " As a result, he takes great pride in being the only plastic surgeon in California triple board certified by The American Board of Surgery, The American Board of Plastic Surgery and The American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Dr. Shamoun is a member of numerous prestigious plastic surgery societies, which denote excellence in the field of cosmetic plastic surgery.
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Dr. Shamoun has been featured in the New York Post, the Dallas Morning News, the London Times, and the Sunday Mirror (U.K.). He has also been featured in the Los Angeles Business Journal, People Magazine, and Women's Journal Magazine.
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Dr. Shamoun brings to Beverly Hills, Newport Beach, and Palm Springs a unique depth of knowledge and experience that enables him to combine traditional techniques with the most recent advances in plastic surgery to achieve the most refined aesthetically pleasing surgical results. He is dedicated to achieving extraordinary outcomes in all cosmetic plastic surgical procedures and invites you to compare as you make a decision about cosmetic plastic surgery. In his office, your needs are Dr. Shamoun's most important concern, and he will strive to make your aesthetic surgery a pleasant and satisfying experience.
B.S.: University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada condemns the Algerian kidnappings, calling the attacks "deplorable and cowardly."
The minister says it's believed no Canadians or dual nationals were among the hostages and a permanent resident of Canadian who was at the site is safe and has left Algeria.
The minister says while the full scale and exact details of the situation remain unclear, Canadian officials remain in close contact with Algerian authorities to seek further information.
The Algerian government says special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert today to end a standoff with Islamist extremists that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved.
The bloody standoff erupted when militants attempted to hijack two buses at the plant, were initially driven back and then seized the sprawling refinery, which is 1,300 kilometres south of Algiers.
Foreign Affairs is looking into reports that one of the hostage takers was a Canadian.
"The thoughts and prayers of our entire country are with the families and friends of the innocent lives lost," Baird said.
"Canada remains a committed partner in the global struggle against terrorism in all its forms."
Also on HuffPost


text:
Gay marriage keeps Clinton in game
Hillary Clinton sent a strong signal with her gay marriage endorsement Monday: She may be leaving Washington for a while, but that doesn't mean she's taking a clean break from politics.
Indeed, it was a strong signal she's very much thinking about her political future, even if a decision on 2016 is not for quite some time.
Story Continued Below
But don't expect Clinton to be making the media rounds. To the extent she'll be making headlines in the coming months, Clinton showed with her six-minute YouTube announcement, it will be on her own terms.
(Also on POLITICO: Hillary Clinton announces her support for gay marriage)
Coming less than three months after she departed the State Department, Clinton's move was about as surprising as a setting sun. Her party, not to mention her husband and daughter, was already on record as backing gay marriage. Three days earlier, Republican Sen. Rob Portman — last year a leading contender to be his party's VP pick — said he was backing gay marriage after his college-age son came out two years ago.
Clinton's video, released through the Human Rights Campaign — which is run by longtime Clinton ally Chad Griffin — was clearly intended to be something of a low-key event. A week ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing, arguments in a gay marriage-related case, the announcement was well-timed.
But it also was almost an afterthought in the gay marriage debate that has gone on nationally. And it also opens the door for fresh questions to Clinton on issues of the day, such as immigration and gun control — not that she'll need to offer an opinion on any of then until she's ready.
"Hillary probably felt the same way the president did, that this was an issue she wanted to get public on to match her own private feelings," said Tad Devine, a longtime Democratic strategist. "She's in a position to kind of do what she wants on issues."
( PHOTOS: 25 gay-rights milestones)
What's more, Devine argued, she is still occupying the recent space of secretary of state, in which, by nature of the job, she did not take public stances on a number of issues. That included gay marriage, which her aides made clear she didn't feel, as the nation's top diplomat, she could take a stand on (and gay rights supporters note she was strong on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues at Foggy Bottom).
She has "kind of a good space to occupy, which is the 'I don't really need to talk about politics' space on this issue," Devine said.


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Firebeat Dancesport necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 172 diseños de 46 diseñadores freelance.
Firebeat Dancesport Studios http://www.firebeatdancesport.com
- Our trendy, chic, boutique studio in Boston offers high-end clients professional & individual instruction -- introducing them to the glamorous world of competitive ballroom dancing.
- Our professional instructor is trained from Russian, ranked top 10 in the U.S., and is colleagues with the professional dancers from the T.V. hit "Dancing with the Stars." His students are top 3 in the nation.
- The logo will be seen at all major national and international dance competitions and may be featured on television and in the press.
- Our studio is newly remodeled and equipped with top-of-the-line sound systems and dance floors.
- The studio is owned by two accomplished young professionals who care about image, design, and presentation as well as their craft.
- We are NOT your grandmother's studio that is outdated and offers high-volume group classes and social dancing.
- We ARE high-end, young, trendy, and professional.
We are targeting high-end female clients who want to be part of the glamorous world of competitive ballroom dancing
Our logo should also be appropriate for merchandising, mainstream media, tv, and commercial.
- must have words "Firebeat Dancesport Studios"
- must look artistic AND professional (but not too sterile & corporate)
- young, trendy, and contemporary
- original artwork -- NO CLIPART
- avante garde designs
- hot colors that invoke fire
- no pastel colors (no ballet pink, please!) :)
- no clipart
- no cliche' drawings of ballroom dancers
- burn effects okay, but no flame thrower effects...no racecar-esk flames
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text:
This is the place to find the Rolls-Royce Dawn car parts & car spares you need in Lyndhurst. Our online Rolls-Royce listings are full of original refurbished parts, tons of Used Rolls-Royce Dawn car parts & nearly new Rolls-Royce parts in Lyndhurst. You can expect our online Rolls-Royce Dawn car parts pages to be user friendly & secure & the shipping to be next day to Lyndhurst. If you're looking to replace your original Rolls-Royce brakes or looking to add a pick up truck cold air intake or alloy wheels you're on the right site.
Don't waste endless hours visiting Rolls-Royce Breakers yards in Lyndhurst. Simply complete the form below, give the information about your Rolls-Royce Vehicle & the car spares you require, Then you are simply moments away from finding the best prices on your Rolls-Royce Dawn car parts & car spares from Lyndhurst. All our Rolls-Royce Breakers in Lyndhurst, offer fully guaranteed used Rolls-Royce car parts and spares, with Next Day delivery across the UK


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Friday, 19 March 2010
Spring Cleaning (not really about cleaning)
But since the title mentions Spring Cleaning, I will first confess that I hired a woman from Vilnius, Lithuania to clean our entire apartment yesterday. She actually had to tell me what cleaning products to buy since we didn't own any, except toilet cleaner (hard to get along without that) and well, soap. The apartment is, at this moment, beautiful. Since I was feeling pretty down about my wifery skills, I was really glad when she said "I like make clean here. You have warm family." Wish I could say something kind in Lithuanian in return, but every time I try to pronounce from google translate, I fail miserably. For example Dėkoju už pagalbą.
As long as I am confessing, I attempted to run intervals on Wednesday and ran 3 x 1 mile, all at over 7 minutes per mile and then just gave up due to sore legs. Terrible. That 15k on Sunday took way more out of me than I or my coach, SR, anticipated. I am just hoping I have it in my legs to run a PR 10k tomorrow.
Now onto the book. Running Routes of the World (temporary title). It looks like it is happening. Here is our list of authors and where they are from and/or where they are writing about.
Olga- lives in TX (? not really sure if she is writing... pressure...)
Leslie-lives in Italy
Diana - lives in Holland
Steve - Afton State Park, MN
Marie-Aline - lives France
Ashley - lives in North Carolina
Helen - also Afton State Park, MN
Monyka - lives in France (will she write?)
Layna - also lives in North Carolina
John - has already written a poem! - lives in Montreal
Rasmus(aka SR, aka Fast Bastard) - lives in Denmark, will write about La Crosse, WI...?
Tracy(aka Sea Legs Girl, aka me) - lives in Denmark, will write about (sorry, only SR knows)
Wow! 10 definite authors, 2 potentials. Anyone else in? And I had better receive SOMETHING from the authors by the end of April! Even if it's just a sentence or a very rough draft, at least then I'll know you're in. Email address: firstname.lastname@example.com
One more topic. I have been in contact with a Danish researcher about the National Danish Birth Cohort. There are data about women who have run greater than 5 miles per week during pregnancy and all of their birth outcomes. I am soon going to be applying for the right to analyze these data. I am on the lookout for someone with experience in researching exercise in pregnancy to work with me, since I have another huge project going right now. I will keep you all updated if anything happens with that.
Finally, SR is always nagging me about what new running songs he can listen to. He apparently never reads my "Running Song of the Day" suggestions. To make it easier, I am going to insert the You Tube videos of my four current favorite interval running songs. Some of them have been mentioned before.
1. Subtlety is sometimes overrated:
2. Don't forget about the classics (sorry about the poor video quality!)
3. Danish, very Danish
4. Maybe my favorite band of the moment (from Iceland)
6 comments:
- Helen said...
I suppose I should really write about Ireland - give you another country and since Steve did suggest Afton first!! End of April it is...
Totally support the cleaning help - I can't really justify it myself given I really only sleep in my house but you have more important "wifely" duties... mostly ensuring you are in a good state of mind i.e. by running lots :)
- 19 March 2010 at 16:12
- SteveQ said...
Sorry about the Voynich wild-goose chase. I once wrote about it at: http://quicksblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/voynich-manuscript.html
It's a wonderful way to waste time, however.
- 19 March 2010 at 16:36
- mmmonyka said...
Thank you for the encouragement for my 10k on track race. I think that was the last time I did something like that:)
As for the running route story, I think I will pass but if something worth writing/reading comes into my mind, I will send it to you by the end of April.
- 20 March 2010 at 14:22
- Baby Indie said...
cleaning is an undervalued skill - nothing wrong with leaving it to the professionals
- 20 March 2010 at 18:45
- PiccolaPineCone said...
Hi SLG - although I am living in Italy, I am writing about Montreal. Thanks!
- 22 March 2010 at 09:32
- Diana said...
Whew, and here I thought I was way past a deadline to send you my piece.
Having a cleaning lady would be nice, but then I wouldn't have any excuses for procrastinating. Obviously I can't finish my chapter if the living room floor needs to be scrubbed.
- 23 March 2010 at 17:44


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Why to Feed Your Family Organic
5 Reasons to Feed Your Family Organic (and 7 Easy Ways to Do So)
5 Reasons to Feed Your Family Organic (and 7 Easy Ways to Do So)
Organic is healthier, right? That's why you and your kids should be eating organic. But is it really worth the added cost to feed your family organically? Though a study out last Fall suggested that, kids might not be healthier due to an organic diet one of the key doctors of the study, Dr. Joel Forman of the Mount Sinai Children's Environmental Health Center is convinced that developing brains are vulnerable to chemical exposure, and that eating organically can reduce their risk of coming in contact with pesticides.
I was lucky enough to hear Dr. Forman speak about the benefits of organic eating at the Mount Sinai Greening Our Children luncheon this week (I was a guest of The Honest Company, as Jessica Alba was being honored with the organization's Champion for Children Award). His reasoning, and easy tips for doing so, were enough to make me change my shopping habits. Keep reading for five reasons to ditch pesticide-ridden food and seven steps you can take to make healthier shopping choices.


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Student or Learner
Does this "bundle" mean "package" or "a very big amount"? I think the latter.
36)Making $1 million in one year, but nothing in the preceding nine, does not bring the same pleasure as having the total evenly distributed over the same period, that is, $100,000 every year for ten years in a row. The same applies to the inverse order ―making a bundle the first year, then nothing for the remaining period. Somehow, your pleasure system will be saturated rather quickly. As a matter of fact, your happiness depends far more on the number of instances of positive feelings, what psychologists call positive affect,
Yes, a bundle of money is a lot.


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text:
Does it count if you have boosters?
Free TC!
And hampa said, "Let players only earn TC from 100 wins a day".
So hampa made it so that players only earned TC from 100 wins a day.
And hampa saw that it was good.
And then the staff prepared for the inevitable debate/whining/discussion.
Please Donate


text: Can our feet really get deformed from a really cute pair of heels? Lets embrace our own height and quit trying to be someone else's height everyday. For years there have been talks on how high heels are bad for the feet but does any one really take it into account? There is that phrase "Beauty is pain", but if we are all naturally beautiful why does it have to be painful? Don't get us wrong. Here at So Worth Loving we LOVE the way some heels look with outfits. That is fashion. That is freedom of expression. But we feel we should jump on this bandwagon that the news has been confronting. High heels cause major feet issues as we age. Maybe you convinced yourself that you will just deal with it when it comes - if it comes. A question to think about is.. when we are "breaking in" heels.. are we really breaking them in or are they just damaging our feet? To you it may be a risk worth risking. If you plan on risking this that is totally your decision, but just know the problems you may be faced with. Ignorance is not so bliss sometimes… A foot surgeon Dr. Neal M. Blitz said "As people gravitate towards healthier shoes then industry will respond by producing more healthier fashionable shoe options." We've got the power to change the way this industry is. It will take a TON of us but we have that power. Read below his list of the common foot problems. After we read these we thought "Ick… we'd rather embrace our height, wear heels on special occasions and forgo the deformed feet for fashion- besides.. toe cleavage in flats we think is sexy." Three common foot problems often associated with high heels and pointy-toe shoes are: (from Huffington Post) The Bunion: This is a bony prominence on the inside of the foot at the big toe joint and looks like a knob. A bunion forms when the big toe is pushed towards the second toe. A bunion is not the overgrowth of bone, rather the subluxation of the big toe joint over time. When surgery is indicated, it typically involves the breaking and resetting the dislocated bone with a screw(s). The surgeries involves six to eight weeks of recovery. A Hammer Toe: This is a condition where a toe becomes buckled or crooked. Thick calluses may form on pressure spots. A common surgery, when indicated, involves removing the knuckle of the deformed toe. A wire holding the toe steady protrudes from the tip of the toe for several weeks. Tight Calf Muscle (Equinus): Long term use of high heels are thought to cause shortening of the Achilles Tendon, resulting in more pressure being placed on the ball of the foot. Many foot surgeons consider this an underlying cause of several foot problems such as bunions, hammer toes, flat feet and others. Stretching may help counteract the problem. When surgeons believe this problem is pathologic, they may recommend lengthening of the Achilles tendon or cutting a muscle in the calf. images found on weheartit.com March 01, 2012 by So Worth Loving


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Four "Secrets" to Maximize Your Online Job Search
By Angela Rose, Hcareers.com
Since the '90s, online job boards have grown in popularity with both employers and job seekers. In fact, according to the International Association of Employment Websites, there are now more than 40,000 job boards and employment sites connecting potential employees with hiring managers and HR professionals worldwide. While most job boards are fairly straightforward to use (you post your resume and search for jobs), they can become a bit of a time drain if you fail to use them effectively. Consider these four "secrets" to help you maximize your online job search.
1. Know what you're looking for before you start searching.
You could easily spend hours upon hours browsing open jobs that you have no interest in –or are unqualified for– unless you put some thought into the job you want and narrow your search accordingly. Think of it like shopping for anything else online –you save valuable time by searching with specific keywords. A Google search for "women's shoes" will return thousands of results, just as a search for "management jobs" will. Narrow it down to "hotel restaurant manager" (or "kitchen shoes") and you'll have a much better chance of finding exactly what you are looking for.
2. Invest in an upgraded membership.
While many job boards allow you to post your resume and browse jobs for free, some upgraded services may be worth their weight in gold. If the service you are using offers "preferential placement" of your posted resume for a small fee, it could be a wise investment. For every position posted on the job board, there is a manager or recruiter searching through resumes submitted by job seekers. If yours is near the top, and you have the skills they are looking for, you've dramatically increased your chances of winning an interview.
3. Avoid the throw it against the wall approach.
Submitting your resume for every job that sounds remotely interesting is not an effective method for finding a job. Large job boards can be overwhelming with the numbers of jobs posted. Use a targeted approach when searching and applying for jobs. Carefully review the ones you are interested in, make sure your qualifications are a match, and proceed accordingly.
Take some time to find niche job boards for your field. You will find fewer jobs posted, but they are targeted to your industry, occupation or location and you have a much better chance of getting a call for an interview when you apply. By using your time effectively, you will find that your targeted job search is much more successful.
4. There is no "one size fits all."
If you've ever purchased a "one size fits all" costume, you know there is really no such thing. A "one size fits all" cover letter is another myth. While you may begin with a basic cover letter outlining your general objective, your in-demand skills and impressive performance history, use it only as a template. Tailor that cover letter to fit each job like a glove. The hiring managers receiving your resume have at least another dozen in hand. Yours will stand out when it becomes obvious that you've taken the time to create a cover letter just for them.
While these "secrets" may seem obvious, many job seekers that you're competing against aren't using targeted job searches and personalized cover letters to stand out. When you take the time to use online job boards as they were designed to be used, you will find much more success in your job search. People are being hired every day from job board postings; make sure you're one of them.
About the Author
Angela Rose researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues for Hcareers.com.
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My head is in the hive seeing whats happening not in the sand. What ever floats your boat I just get tired of having treatment free crammed down my throat.
All beekeepers can agree on one thing, and that one thing is, that all beekeepers can't agree on one thing.
"Treatment Free"? I am certainly not treatment free, I graft larvae to grow queens. I manipulate frames and combs to facilitate growing and dividing colonies, to produce more colonies. I sometimes feed sugar syrup, and pollen substitute. I frequently open hives and examine their combs to determine how they are doing. I have and sometimes still do, used Bt to help control wax moths. I sometimes feed copper gluconate as a nutritional supplement. I've even been known to swap combs from one hive of bees to another, and vice versa. I use some plastic foundation, some beeswax foundation, and some without any foundation at all. Some have horizontal wires, some crossed wires, and some fishing line; others with no supplemental support at all. And I could probably go on for much longer, just describing the many different "treatments" I provide my bees, to help get them to perform as I'd like.
I have not, as yet, resorted to any treatments that are usually referred to as, "hard chemicals". However, I do lose colonies all the time, every time someone comes to pick up a nuc or queen to start their own colonies with, or requeen one.
48 years - 50 hives - TF
Joseph Clemens -- Website Under Constructioni
Not treating can't "make stronger bees". If your bees have a genetic hygiene trait, they have it. If they don't, they're not going to somehow develop that gene spontaneously because you let them die a long, slow, miserable death. The idea that not treating leads to "stronger bees" is an illusion, based on a misunderstanding of how evolution works.
Fair point melliferal, but most of it lies on finding a hive that does survive, then base your stock off them, which may bottleneck them but whatever floats your boat right. The way I look at it, treated or not, people select for their best hives, and even in a treatment program, you're strongest hives are probably that way because they're more mite resistant so to blindly say treating is going backwards is not very accurate. That being said, by treating you may keep a lot of dogs around that dilute the gene pool as far as resistance goes, but at least you're keeping some diversity around.
I don't deny that there are foolish and shallow people who take a simplistic view of treatment free beekeeping, and they are even more annoying to treatment free beekeepers than they are to you, for reasons that should become obvious with a moment's thought. But there are foolish and shallow people on the other side of the fence as well, who think all you have to do is hang some strips in your hives, dump in the antibiotics, and all will be well forever.
Of course there are successful beekeepers on both sides of the fence, and I certainly don't automatically think that those who treat are foolish. But I do think that trying to use bug poison to kill bugs on bugs is not a practice that can be sustained forever. The process is inherently damaging to the bugs we want, and the bugs we don't want seem to rapidly develop resistance to each new bug poison. I think most intelligent folks can see the difficulty there. I doubt anyone really likes the treatment treadmill, but many can't risk stepping off. They have families to support with those bees, and they know that developing resistant bees is a process fraught with death and destruction. When the Bee Weaver company started their program to breed resistance to varroa, they began with 1000 hives and lost most of them over the first winter. But now, many years later, they'll sell you a queen that at least in some areas, will produce a colony that can survive mites without treatment. These are not yet perfect bees, but denying that such bees exist is a pretty fair example of Head-in-Sanditis.
No they aren't, thats the point. You let bees with bad genes die.If they don't, they're not going to somehow develop that gene spontaneously because you let them die a long, slow, miserable death
Its just like playing poker. You keep the cards you want, you trade in the ones you don't. You have no control over what the new cards will be but there is always a chance that it will be better, and as long as you hang onto the best cards every time and only discard the low value cards you will eventually get a full house.
A treatment free program without any breeding program will never lead to stronger bees, but it least it won't lead to stronger mites.
Treating is like playing poker blind and bluffing every time. If the other players (mites) have crappy hands then you will win, if they have a good hand, you lose. Over time the bad players run out of money and stop playing and only the good players are left and because you never look at your cards you never become a better player. Eventually you will end up at a table facing against all the best players and they will clean you out.
Now, if treatments where like a gun and you could shoot and kill the other players any time you started losing it wouldn't matter but until the come up with a treatment that kills 100% of mites you can't do this.
I can't believe I have to try and explain this, haven't we seen every single species that we use a less than 100% effective treatment on grow stronger!? Have you never read a book on the history of parasites or disease in your life?! Why is it that Penicillin and quinine are no longer used even though at one time they where miracle drugs?
Don't they teach evolution in school anymore? Heck in my biology class we created DDT resistant fruit flies in only a couple of months! We went from 90% effectiveness to less than 1% by doing nothing but treating them and letting the survivors breed. I'm sure thousands of other classes have preformed the same basic experiment.
You breed from your best bees. Where do you think hygienic traits came from? The genes were in the pool, but the line had to be developed by someone who applied some sort of selective process to the bees.
This is basic animal husbandry; human beings have used the process for thousands of years, long before Darwin. The great thing about bees, compared to other livestock, is their high reproductive rate. This means that selective breeding of bees is a much faster process than, say, selective breeding of horses.
But if you treat, you will find it more difficult to breed for these desirable traits, because the treatment can mask the response of the colony to varroa pressure. Some scientists have chosen to breed for certain marker behaviors, but this is a somewhat artificial approach. The most direct approach to breeding for survivability is to select for survival, not for single traits such as brood removal or hygienic grooming. In my admittedly inexperienced opinion, true survivability will probably turn out to be a cluster of anti-varroa behaviors.
Nowhere in my definition of HITS is treatment or treatment free mentioned. Knowing the enemy is my point. The importance of understanding the magnitude of damage caused by varroa and recognizing the level of infestation seem to have been lost in many circles.
Survival is only one measure of success. An important one, to be sure. A heavily parasitized colony of bees may survive from season to season but no matter what else, its vigor and health are severely challenged.
I hate using percentages. I dont think I have enough hives for those types of measures to carry any real significance. Having said that .for those who insist .15% is pretty close to my year to year losses. But like many backyard beekeepers I am able to open and personally inspect every hive several times each season. If I ran 5000 hives that wouldnt be possible and surely my failures would go up. If I had 10 hives in my backyard, I would expect 0% if I teated for mites and around 30% if I didnt. In addition to survival I believe that if I didnt treat, my honey production would fall substantially and the overall health of every hive would decline. Ive run a tf yard and that is what I saw.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. - Emerson
Rhaldridge I am not necissarily pro treatment. I observe and treat when needed, just like I do with my children and pets. I think I and beemandan are on the same page. As beekeepers we are trying to keep them around. When we see a problem and do nothing and just let them die, that is not benificial to them or us. Those same bees if treated can get over thier sickness just as me or you and still be around. I am not saying by any means to just routinly treat. I am saying when theres a problem do what you can to fix it, help them don't let them die a cruel death.
All beekeepers can agree on one thing, and that one thing is, that all beekeepers can't agree on one thing.
Beeless since 2012; coming back in 2014. Suffering from apicultural withdrawal!
Simply letting unresistant colonies die isn't nearly the same thing as selection. It can't be, for the simple fact that you're not actively culling unresistant stock or removing it from the breeding population. "Letting them die" means that while you're deliberately looking the other way waiting for them to choke, they're as busy as bees ever are - swarming as much as possible, casting as many drones as they can out into the wind. Therefore, you are not in any way concentrating the mite-hygienic gene in your local breeding population; it will remain effectively status quo. There is a small change over time; but it's not large enough for you to notice, and it's not dependent on what you're doing - any more than it is dependent on what treated bees are doing. And don't forget that all this time, the mites as well will be changing to be able to survive and possibly thrive despite "mite-hygienic" behavior. There's a reason noticeable species-wide evolution tends to deal in thousands-to-millions-of-years timescales.
Even making splits from your apparently-coping stock isn't actually doing the job. Remember that all your workers are only half-sisters; if the hygiene trait came to your queen via drone, a large quantity of your eggs are actually not hygienic, and if one of those eggs becomes the new hive's queen - congrats, you have a non-resistant colony; but you won't know it, because it came from a resistant colony and therefore contains little to no mites, lending the illusion that it's resistant. And given the treatment-free philosophy of not even bothering to check because "the bees will work it out on their own", you'll never know - until in a couple of years when they finally succumb. And in that time how many swarms have they cast? How many splits or nucs did you make?
Natural selection takes eras. Anything you do to speed up that process is unnatural selection. Which is perfectly fine; but why are you making all those colonies suffer needlessly? VSH queens are available. Heck, they're even available in your favorite flavor, if like me you prefer Carniolans over Italians or (inexplicably) vice-versa? If you really want to make a short-term impact on the breeding stock you're contributing to your area, why not buy some of these queens that are observed laying VSH bees, and re-queen infested colonies with them? It will save you a whole lot of time and an immeasurable quantity of life that would otherwise be condemned to misery and empty death.
ETA: For what it's worth, hygienic traits were not discovered and cultivated by people leaving beehives to sit and then simply holding onto and splitting the hives that didn't die. People had been doing that, for decades. They even made packages out of these bees and had the audacity to advertise them as "mite resistant", based on nothing but a chain of pure assumption.
Varroa Sensitive Hygiene, and other hygienic behaviors as developed by Dr. Spivak for instance in Minnesota, were actual behaviors, and were cultivated by actually getting into the colonies, and watching what the bees were doing from hour to hour, day to day. VSH bees aren't merely "resistant" to mites or somehow just so manly-hardy that they thrive strongly despite mites just hanging off them; bees can't "resist" mites any more than humans can develop a "resistance" to dog bites. VSH bees were observed in the act of opening and removing mite-infested capped brood, and then several series of controlled experiments were conducted in order to discover whether this behavior is a genetic trait. When it was, this led to a controlled breeding experiment, which is essentially still ongoing, and involved such unnatural processes as artificial insemination. VSH could never have been cultivated by the Bond method - it would never have even been discovered, not in our lifetimes.
Last edited by melliferal; 05-20-2013 at 10:20 AM.
Beeless since 2012; coming back in 2014. Suffering from apicultural withdrawal!
A big, bodacious colony of bees in the spring will likely be a seriously infested colony in the fall.
A large cluster of bees going into winter is no assurance of survival if they are heavily parasitized.
A lack of visible DWV isnt an indication that your bees arent infested.
An empty hive at winters end is much more likely a result of varroa collapse than an abscond.
A small cluster of dead bees in an overwintered hive may appear to be starvation or exposure but the underlying reason that the cluster was small and lacked the vigor to survive is probably varroa.
Collapse by every other cause is influenced by varroa.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. - Emerson
I think the HITS rant is a direct insult to a large body of Beeks and am surprised that it is allowed.
Julysun elevation 23 feet. 4 Hives, 2 years.
I believe that Brother Adam said you really need around 100hives to make any progress on breeding because of open mating etc. I should also point out that if you do manage to breed resistant bees you may not like the result if you are not carefully selecting. Resistance could come in the form of agressivness or increased swarming or smaller populations that produce less honey etc.
In any case I think beemandan's point was varroa is a problem whether you treat or not and whether you bother to look or not.
I think for those who successfully have kept there colonies without miticides should be called MITP. (Money in the Pocket.) Maybe not as catchy but better on the bottom line.
Workin on your genetics toward coexistence is the logical choice for beekeepers now and the future generations of beekeepers.
Yes I see mites. I saw 3 in inspections yesterday. Sure keeping your head in the sand is dumb, but breeding for tougher mites using treatments is pretty..........ya.
Sure varroa is a problem but the solution is clear and chemicals natural or not are not the long term answer.
Anyone on here who thinks you can beat or out treat a force of nature like varroa is two sandwiches short of a picnic. You have to work with it, understand it, and use the bees natural tendencies to fight against it. Making a better bee.
Out of 57 colonies this winter (treatment free since 2004) I lost 5.
3 were five frame nucs, 2 were hives. Due to splitting I am up to 74 already.
Using our honeybees best defense against them "artificial swarming".
We all have a choice some will stick there (HITS) some will slow down progress treating, and others lusby, bush, Webster, Williams, and others will pave a way to a future where varroa are no longer a major concern.
(Don't get me wrong some of my best friends treat.) But who always agrees with there friends 100% of the time right?
HITS for years is short term for a winter horse show circuit ...Horse Shows in the SUN ...this is a totally new meaning but seemingly a good one.
In human and pet medicine parasitic vectors can be controlled by the HITS method but it happens when the parasite is no longer in balance with the host and the host population dies off to the point that the parasite has no host to keep it going. Then the parasite population does diminish, the host population starts to thrive and the cycle starts again. I guess it depends where in this ongoing cycle you step in, and whether you are siding with the host or the parasite, as to whether you think HITS is working or not
I am new to bee keeping...but to my mind the difficulty is that the host and parasites are both insects so what kills one tends to kill the other and that makes things a bit tricky...especially when their life cycles are so closely aligned It is further complicated when one wants to harvest honey for medicinal and food uses so contamination is also an issue.
It was mentioned that they don'y have varroa (and the associated virus) in some areas. Where did this problem start? What are the geographical boundaries of its distribution?
Can environmental parameters such as temperature, CO2 levels etc be manipulated to favour bees over mites or is the mite such a good parasite that the parameters are closely aligned?
You can't take this stuff personally, even when it's borderline ad hominem. And I can almost guarantee that if you got the worst ranters in a room together, they'd be a lot more polite than they may seem to be on this forum. The medium encourages conflict.
Anyway, even when the message is insulting, you can still make reasoned arguments against it.
How do we know this? Because we've BTDT. Varroa mites are to bees what cockroaches are to us - and as we all know, there's just no killing cockroaches. That's why pest control companies are called pest control companies, and not pest eradication companies. The fact is, although roaches can't be completely got rid of, they can be controlled to the point where they're not an issue anymore. They're definitely there, but they're not active or populous enough to spread disease.
The alternative is to let roaches flood the house and only allow people who don't get sick to breed, and...continue to live in a veritable bath of roaches. Yay.
Now of course, just like with mites, there's natural methods of treatment if chemicals bother you. They shouldn't - technically everything in the world is a chemical - but if you're concerned about chemicals that may be caustic or toxic to humans, there's chemicals that aren't. There's also mechanical treatments - for instance, roaches can be controlled by diatomacious earth. Any roach (or any insect for that matter) that walks through diatomacious earth will die, there's no avoiding it and there's no such thing as developing a resistance because its method of action is purely mechanical (can a person "resist" dying from hypovolemia?). There are such mechanical treatments available for bees as well, that mites simply can't resist or "become stronger" from as long as they're varroa mites.
Beeless since 2012; coming back in 2014. Suffering from apicultural withdrawal!
By the way, the favorite analogy used by those who think you can't breed resistance to varroa is "you can't breed sheep that are resistant to wolves." There's an interesting video here about a process that resulted in resistant bees, a process which did not involve the procedures you refer to above.
What do you say to beekeepers who claim that their bees no longer die from mite pressure, and that this was due to letting inferior genetics die out and breeding from survivor colonies? Do you think they're all lying?
In particular, I like the example of Tim Ives, who has about 150 hives in northern Indiana and does not treat. He told me that when he first began keeping bees, about 12 years ago, he used packages, and suffered anywhere from 50 to 90 percent losses every winter. A few years in, he started collecting local swarms, and splitting from the best of these. His losses over the last few years have averaged about 8 percent. He still doesn't treat and he still doesn't feed, same as he did when he had those huge losses. I'm scratching my head trying to think of some explanation other than a change in genetics for his success.
The great thing about bees from the viewpoint of animal husbandry is their very high reproductive rate. There's nothing wrong with buying in resistant stock; I've already done so, and this is my first year. But the sovereign indicator of survivor stock is survival.
We'll see.


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Absolutely Useless and Waste of Your Time
Fund: Amidzad
Posted by Anonymous on 2008-02-25
Amidzad is two people venture, not four. Guys in charge are Saeed and Pejman.
They are sleazy and try to get people to lease their Plug and Play office. My friend told me about them a while back. He also told me that they are all about bullshit. I didn't agree with him since on their website they talk about Paypal and few other noteworthy startups. Well, it's all B.S..
They first show lots of interest. Then they throw big names like: "you know Pejman, we should talk about this with Ron (Conway)" or "I think Michael Mortiz would like to hear their pitch"...
Then we went for the second time, it was supposed to be a 60 min pitch and Q&A. One was late, the other said he had to leave, we got interrupted 3 times by other people including the property manager. The whole meeting was about 20 min including all interruptions. And they never answer their email. Saeed bounces things to Pejman and vice-versa. So unprofessional and immature!
So naturally, I tried to understand more about these jerks. Here is what learned:
- they are rug dealers and not venture capitalists
- they are well-connected in the valley because they deliver rugs to rich people houses and not because they are savvy investors in technology
- their business is real estate and they will do what they can to sell you that
- they are writing checks for 25k to 75k max. In couple of cases they did 150k
- they tag along with other investors (which is very good for you and for them)
- they rented few rooms to Paypal founders and now they consider themselves original investor of Paypal.
- they are 98% talk and 2% action
- Pejman is a total jerk. Avoid him if you can
- Saeed is soft spoken and likable. But beware of appearances
Happy gold digging :-)PRIVATE: Members Only


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Pumpkin cheesecake is one of my favorite holiday desserts and marbling the pumpkin filling with a bourbon vanilla filling takes it over the top for me. The recipe is my riff on the classic pumpkin marble cheesecake from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cheesecakes book published in 1989. I found a wire bound copy years ago at a yard sale for 50 cents and picked it right up. The recipes aren't fussy, just simple and good, with a mix of baked and no-bake cheesecakes. I've made a number of cheesecakes from the book over the years and we enjoyed them all.
When it comes to baking cheesecakes, I prefer the Philadelphia brand regular cream cheese (also preferred by America's Test Kitchen) because the flavor and texture are perfect. For baked cheesecakes full fat cream cheese is the best choice unless you use a recipe specifically adapted for low-fat cream cheese, which this recipe is not. For my adaptations, I increased the amount of chopped pecans and butter in the crust, then added bourbon to the vanilla batter and ground ginger to the pumpkin batter. You can skip the bourbon if you really want to, but if you like bourbon it's worth a try because it pairs nicely with the pumpkin.
You can also make the cheesecake in a square pan and cut mini cheesecake bars and serve them in decorative cupcake papers, which make perfect little holiday party nibbles.
- 1-1/2 cups gingersnap crumbs (from about 25 cookies, run through food processor or put in plastic bag and beaten with rolling pin)
- 1 cup (50 g) finely chopped pecans
- 1 stick (113 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 (8-ounce/226 g) packages regular Philadelphia cream cheese, softened (not light cream cheese)
- 3/4 cup (131 g) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons bourbon
- 1 cup (215 g) canned pumpkin puree (not pre-made pie filling)
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons bourbon
- 6 tablespoons sifted confectioner's sugar
- Set the oven rack in the middle and preheat to 350° F/175° C.
- In the medium mixing bowl, stir together the gingersnap crumbs, chopped pecans, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom and about 1 inch up the side of the springform pan. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer, mix the cream cheese, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and vanilla. Mix at medium speed until well blended, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each.
- Set aside 1-1/4 cups of the batter and whisk in the bourbon.
- Add the pumpkin, 1/4 cup remaining sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to the batter in the medium bowl. Mix until thoroughly combined.
- Spoon the vanilla and pumpkin fillings over the crust, then use a knife to swirl through it to create the marble effect.
- Bake in the preheated oven for up to 50 minutes, but start checking after 35 minutes. The center should be slightly wobbly, but the rest of the cake should not move if jiggled. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Run a plastic knife around the edge to loosen it then allow to cool completely. Chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving.
food processor (optional)
2 medium mixing bowls
9-inch springform or cheesecake pan
stand mixer with paddle attachment (or hand mixer and large bowl)
Recipe Notes
Prep Time includes chilling time after baking.


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|STS-132 Shuttle Mission Imagery
high res (1.3 M) low res (86 K)
|ISS023-E-047828 (21 May 2010) --- NASA astronaut Michael Good, STS-132 mission specialist, participates in the mission's third and final session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 46-minute spacewalk, Good and NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman (out of frame), mission specialist, completed the installation of the final two of the six new batteries for the B side of the port 6 solar array. In addition, the astronauts installed a backup ammonia jumper cable between the port 4 and 5 trusses of the station, transferred a Power and Data Grapple Fixture from the shuttle to the station, and reconfigured some tools.
Curator: JSC PAO Web Team | Responsible NASA Official: Amiko Kauderer | Updated: 11/13/2012


text:
The ExpressVPN Future of Privacy Scholarship is now closed
Thank you for your entries! We'll be announcing the winner soon.
The ExpressVPN Future of Privacy Scholarship was created to raise awareness of internet privacy and security.
The internet is transforming our education system. The technologies used by schools across the world are not fully secure or private, and schools themselves have implemented their own surveillance systems to track what their students do online.
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Revelations over the past year have stoked concern over the power that technology companies wield globally. With net neutrality repealed in the United States, the General Data Protection Regulation taking force in Europe, and governments demanding backdoors into personal devices, one thing is certain: The battle over who controls the technology we use is far from over.
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Past winners
If you had the combined powers of all the world's leaders, what would be your 10-year plan to ensure the next generation has the right to privacy?
All of the world's leaders from a total of 195 countries arrived today in London, England, to sign what has now become known as the Carson treaty. For years countries have battled against threats to cybersecurity. Government servers are regularly hacked by malicious individuals seeking personal gain. Since the 1990s, humanity has been forced to wonder if their data was being stored on a secure, encrypted server. Citizens from around the world have been calling on their representatives for years, and today those calls are being answered. Every country in the world has agreed to uphold and fund a 10-year plan for increased cybersecurity.
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Hackers, phishers, and malware designers beware!
Published Mar 8, 2045Hide Essay
2017 Scholarship Winner
It's 2027 and government surveillance on citizens' internet activities is legal, in force, and widespread. Governments worldwide are watching everything you're doing. What happens to art, culture, innovation, scientific research, freedom of expression, etc.?
She enters the Library of Congress, heart pounding, palms sweaty, carrying nothing with her but today's paper and her life's work pressed carefully between the pages of the classifieds. She passes an old man reading the same paper she has clutched in her hands, today's date sprawled across the front page; March 18th, 2027. It's a momentous day; she hopes someday history remembers it.
It has been eight years since the government gave itself full freedom to monitor the digital activities of every citizen, including everything from your exact GPS location, to where you bought your morning coffee. She can't even check out a book here without it being tracked. So instead she had spent her days in the medical library with meticulous hand-written notes and every book she could find about cancer, each of them back on their shelves by nightfall. She had carried on this tedious work with the maddening knowledge that the information she sought was never more than a few clicks away.
Citizen's data had been used, among other things, for voter redistricting, and their democratic republic had covertly transformed into a corrupt authoritarian entity. Anything that did not help the bottom line of the corporations that now held the government's purse strings was prohibited. The simple, cost-effective cure she had discovered instead of lengthy, expensive treatments would find her in much the same predicament as Gallileo, Lavoisier, Oldenburg, and the countless others before her who had challenged the world in the name of science.
But unlike history, she is not a lone scholar, but part of a vast underground network of doctors, researchers and scientists, secretly spreading information. They have been careful to leave behind no digital foot prints, nothing but an obsolete physical paper trail no one would think to follow.
She turns down the 7th row and searches the 4th shelf, because just like any rebellion, they thrived on hope, and symbols held a certain power. She pulls down volume 17, coated in dust (it's tax code and carries little threat of ever being read on purpose), opens to page 76 and leaves a dozen or so pages of hope to be spread to millions.
As she leaves, she passes the old man with the newspaper, and he does not make eye contact, but gives a nearly imperceptible nod of his head which she does not outwardly acknowledge.Hide Essay
2016 Scholarship Winner
Picture yourself in 2050. How will the evolution of the Internet affect our social structure and/or the authority governments have over citizens?
As I step outside for the first time in days, my eyes struggle to adjust to the glare. Activated by the sunlight, the GPS in my contacts orients itself and points me in the direction of SeCUREity's Madison headquarters. Thanks to the incessant growth of technology and the Internet, much of a middle-class urban resident's daily life occurs online. It's 2050 now, and I'm on my way to an in-person meeting that could shape the next few years of my life.
2045 was the year everything changed. For decades, scientists had been relentlessly working towards more interactive and collaborative technologies. Although they'd been struggling since the mid-2030s, June 13th, 2045 marked a breakthrough. A leading technology company, Eyeful, Inc., released their incredible "WorldView" Internet-enabled contact lenses. These were created to project the online world into the air before a user, enabling them to navigate through the resulting holograph using their hands. Unfortunately, for the contacts to work, users had to temporarily upload their minds' content to the Internet, with the optic nerve as the lenses' link to their brain. But because the technology had not advanced enough to support a complete upload, users would have to sync and take down their brain content every day. The necessity of this coming and going, along with the inadequacy of the existing security made established protection for the digital brains impossible, leaving them vulnerable to private agencies and individuals trying to reap information. Nevertheless, school and work could now be easily attended online and at home. With so much ease and relative convenience, contact usage quickly encompassed almost everyone's lives.
But it didn't take long for the government to realize that the contacts posed a huge security risk. Masquerading as a reasonable effort to safeguard citizens everywhere, the Digital Brain Activity Protection Act was passed on September 6th, 2045. Under this act, WorldView contact users would be required to install government-issued firewalls around their digital brains. Although these firewalls worked well to keep prying companies and criminals at bay, they were hiding something--a filter heavily censoring a variety of sites deemed "suspicious" by the government. This news emerged after 6 weeks of firewall use, and a public uproar ensued. Most people agreed that the firewalls themselves were reasonable, but undisclosed censorship was reprehensible. As a result, curious citizens were unable to do non-work-related research. Families were unable to connect with children on the other side of the world because the only permitted communication sites weren't available in some other countries. But no matter how much picketing, protesting, and petitioning occurred, the government refused to back down.
The proceeding uproar has continued for almost 5 years, but an alternative has finally arisen. SeCUREity is a company dedicated to providing Internet privacy, safety, and freedom all in one package. Their protective Internet service acts as a flexible, filtering shield around a user's brain as they navigate the web, keeping potentially harmful people and information out. Because it travels with the user, SeCUREity allows people to freely explore the Internet without concern for their privacy and safety. It's easily added as an implant to the WorldView contacts, where it encrypts each piece of data from a user's brain as it uploads to the Internet. With this technique, SeCUREity provides a convenient opportunity for the government to ease up on restrictions and resume protecting instead of controlling its people. That's why I set out this morning on my way to obtain SeCUREity's service with a hope that I, and surely many others, haven't felt in a long while--that soon, I could be free.Hide Essay
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Mike Pence's Koch advantage
If Mike Pence decides to run for president, he could enter the race with a big advantage from a very important place: Koch World.
The Indiana governor is getting a closer look as a potential 2016 presidential candidate, and there's a growing sense among GOP operatives that he has a leg up over other contenders when it comes to winning the favor of the political network fronted by the billionaire conservative megadonors Charles and David Koch.
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A number of Pence's former staffers from his days in Congress have assumed major roles in the brothers' corporate and political spheres. And Americans for Prosperity, the Kochs' top political group, has been holding up Pence's work in Indiana as emblematic of a conservative reform agenda they're trying to take nationwide.
( Also on POLITICO: Dems paint GOP as shutdown party)
Pence will have an opportunity to make an impression Friday, when he addresses a national summit of Americans for Prosperity activists in Dallas. The AFP event runs through Saturday and will also feature appearances by GOP potential White House hopefuls Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas.
Pence, whose office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday, has had preliminary discussions about exploring a presidential run. But his moves towards a campaign have been cautious relative to other prospective candidates who are further along in their preparations, and who are courting the Kochs' deep-pocketed political operation ahead of an election in which billions will be spent trying to influence the outcome.
An alignment between the Kochs and Pence could be of great benefit to both headed into 2016. It dovetails with a concerted move by the Kochs' allies to mold the brothers' political vision into a strategy intended to win elections and policy debates, rather than merely wage quixotic campaigns at the margins of wonky debates.
( Also on POLITICO: Exclusive: GOP poll of women: Party 'stuck in past')
Pence may just be among the best — or, at least, the more electable — messengers for this new Koch brand in a field of prospective candidates who fit some portions of the brothers' political bent but not others.
For Pence, Koch World offers entrée and credibility with major donors whose views on social issues skew less conservative than his own, and who don't know him as well as they know some of the other potential hopefuls. It would be a huge psychic boost if he were perceived to have even unofficial support from a vast network of advocacy groups and companies that spent more than $400 million in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election and is among the most robust forces in politics today.
"Indiana is one big free market, [and] much like Koch Industries, Mike Pence … picks the right fights," said Kellyanne Conway, a Republican strategist who has polled for Pence and at least one Koch-backed group. "He doesn't pick a fight for fighting's sake, but he engages on the front lines when it's a matter of principle or when something of great consequence is on the line," said Conway, who also has appeared at Americans for Prosperity events.
A former talk show host who led a crusade to defund Planned Parenthood in the House, Pence has worked to spotlight the fiscal issues that animate the Kochs' political giving. People close to the brothers say he first earned their network's admiration during the George W. Bush years, when he opposed what he deemed Big Government policies backed by his own party, including No Child Left Behind and a Medicare expansion, and repeatedly warned that the GOP was veering off course.
( QUIZ: How well do you know the Koch brothers?)
"There's ideological alignment between those two universes," said Matt Mackowiak, a Texas GOP consultant who was hired years ago to work as press secretary for former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) by Marc Short, who was then her chief of staff. Short went on to become Pence's chief of staff in late 2008 and now runs the Kochs' political umbrella group Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce. "They wouldn't have plucked Marc out of that world if they didn't have confidence in not only Marc, but also Pence, who occupies a unique place in conservative politics right now," said Mackowiak, who considers Short a mentor and still talks to him.
Corporate spokesmen for the Koch brothers declined to comment for this story. The Kochs and the donors in their network have relationships with a number of prospective 2016 GOP contenders, including, most notably, Paul and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the 2012 vice presidential nominee for the Republicans, has also had a relationship with the Kochs. And David Koch invited New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to one of the brothers' secretive donor seminars in 2011, introducing him there as " a true political hero," and teasing "someday we might see him on a larger stage where, God knows, he is desperately needed."
Conway stressed that a number of Republicans in the loosely formed 2016 field could be good fits with Koch World, and that Pence is one of many. The Koch brothers also are not always equally enamored of the same candidates. While David Koch urged Christie to run in 2012, Charles Koch is said to have bonded with Rand Paul over a shared leeriness of military intervention abroad — making any discernible clues about the organization's leanings all the more noteworthy.
( PHOTOS: Republicans, 2016 contenders)
The Kochs and their donors could play a key role in sorting through the GOP field and should expect to be courted heavily during the early jockeying, asserted Minnesota media billionaire Stan Hubbard, who attends the Koch donor summits and contributes to AFP.
"The Kochs, of course they'd be important," he said. "If I were running, I'd love to have the Kochs' backing. Wouldn't you?"
While in Congress, Pence was invited to address at least one of the seminars the Kochs hold twice a year for elite megadonors. And, as governor, he endeared himself even more to Koch allies by successfully pushing for aggressive tax cuts even after initial objections from fellow Republicans in the state Legislature. His willingness to jet to Dallas for only a few hours to talk to AFP activists in a breakout panel about his tax-slashing record in Indiana hints at the clout of the Koch operation.


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The Review at a Glance: (max score: 5 )
Audio/3D Video total rating:
( Max score: 100 )
Studio and Year: Paramount - 2011
MPAA Rating: PG
Feature running time: 126 minutes
Genre: Drama
Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC/MVC
Video Aspect: 1.85:1
Resolution: 1080p/24
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio, French/Spanish/Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kinglesy, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer, Jude Law
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Music by: Howard Shore
Written by: John Logan based on the book "The invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick
Region Code: A,B,C
Blu-ray Disc release Date: February 28, 2012
"Films have the power to capture dreams"
Film Synopsis:
Welcome to a magical world of spectacular adventure! When wily and resourceful Hugo discovers a secret left by his father, he unlocks a mystery and embarks on a quest that will transform those around him and lead to a safe and loving place he can call home.
My Take:
The teaser trailer for Hugo, which seemed to be the one that I saw most, revealed very little about it which always elicited the same reaction from me, what is Hugo about? I heard positive things about it from those that saw it but never investigated further. It arrived and I went into it knowing nothing more than the fragments I recalled from the trailer. Hugo wasn't at all what I expected. Based on the book "The invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick, Hugo is the story about a lonely boy trying to find his way "home" and how he helps a "lost" man by guiding him back to life. Hugo is an orphan living in the cat walks/crawl spaces/inner walls of a train station in Paris during the 1930s. Having learned from working with his father he maintains the large clocks within the station while constantly dodging the station inspector who would gladly turn him over to the local orphanage. The only remaining connection Hugo feels to his father is a rusted non-working automaton his father found in the attic of a museum which they had begun to restore. Hugo spends his days searching for food and the spare parts needed to continue with the repair. One day he encounters the owner of a toy store in the station who discovers that Hugo has been pilfering parts from his store front. He takes something very near and dear to Hugo in exchange. Desperate to get it back Hugo befriends the man's god daughter who agrees to help him in the hopes of experiencing a bit of adventure in the process. Together they make several discoveries the most astounding of which is a link to the mysterious automaton that bridges not only the past but Hugo's future was well.
This is a wonderful dramatic film that like the book is in part an homage to the early days of cinema, specifically the work of George Melies, as well as the timeless portrayal of rediscovery with the help of and seen through the eyes of children. I wouldn't describe Hugo as a children's movie per se but its sense of adventure and fantastical world easily appeals to them. Brian Selznick's story is built around the real events in George Melies' life and references his spectacular work. The integration of Hugo Cabret's story as well as his appreciation for cinema as an art form compliments the proceedings nicely. The film captures this beautifully and makes for a fitting and moving tribute while providing a magically entertaining and visually arresting theatrical experience. The character of Hugo anchors the story and Asa Butterfield does a terrific job in the lead. The host of acting talent that support him, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kinglesy, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer, and Jude Law are pitch perfect. Martin Scorsese takes the imaginative world created in the book and expertly translates it into a tangibly rich environ that leaves an impression. Hugo may not strike a chord with everyone, especially those expecting a "typical" fantasy/fairytale, however if you open your mind and heart you are in for an wonderfully "cinematic" experience.
Parental Guide:
The rating is for mild thematic material, some action/peril and smoking.
AUDIO/VIDEO - By The Numbers:
REFERENCE = 92-100 / EXCELLENT = 83-91 / GOOD = 74-82 / AVERAGE = 65-73 / BELOW AVERAGE = under 65
**My audio/video ratings are based upon a comparative made against other high definition media/blu-ray disc.**
(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)
Audio: 92
- Dynamics:
- Low frequency extension:
- Surround Sound presentation:
- Clarity/Detail:
- Dialogue Reproduction:
3D Quality: 96
(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)
- Depth (Onscreen):
- Dimension (Beyond the screen):
- Realism:
- Clarity/Detail:
- Color reproduction:
Hugo 3D comes to Blu-ray Disc from Paramount HE featuring 1080p MVC encoded 3D video and lossless DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio sound that has an average bitrate of 5.1 Mbps.
I have watched a variety of 3D high definition video both animated and live action. Prior to experiencing 3D in the home environment on Blu-ray, 3D wasn't something that appealed to me. I had always found the gimmicky nature of 3D off putting and the imagery combined with the uncomfortable glasses always seemed to give me a headache. Predominantly speaking I have enjoyed its implementation on Blu-ray and the better quality releases have elevated the experience. I am pleased to report that Hugo is just such an example and ranks among the more entertaining 3D presentations that I have seen. Detail is well preserved as the image retains its high level of clarity as objects within the frame are delineated and sharp. I was mesmerized by the depth and realism of the three dimensional imagery. The separation of objects or people in the foreground/background is incredibly lifelike which serves to visually draw you in by creating a more discerning sense of virtual space occupied by things of various sizes and shapes. This is done to superb effect. Shot in high definition 3D there is an incredibly natural sense of dimension and the use of screen popping effects never feels overtly gimmicky but rather serves to enhance the storyline. Fidelity is intact as the film's gorgeous array of colors, defining contrast and rich blacks bring Hugo's world to life with visually arresting results. If I had to describe the experience of watching Hugo in 3D I would describe it as natural and completely involving. I noticed some instances of ghosting here and there but it never proved overtly distracting.
The DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio soundtrack is equally impressive. This is not an in your face type of sound mix but its refined and silky smooth delivery is not to be underestimated. This film uses a complex sound design that has to maintain a delicate balance so the plethora of sound effects, music and dialogue within the soundtrack can be clearly and easily interpreted by the audience. Dialogue is clear and well articulated so that even subtle inflectional changes in voices are perceptible. Sound effects are accurately placed within the sound field which establishes a tight correlation between the onscreen information and what was being heard within the room. This creates an immersive and engaging soundscape that isn't overly aggressive but abundantly rich in detail. The sound mix delivers rich, well extended bass response that provides tactilely dynamic impact where appropriate (there is a great sequence involving a runaway train). This is a great audio presentation that accents the film while providing an enriching home theater experience.
2D Video Quality:
Video: 96
(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)
- Resolution/Clarity:
- Black level/Shadow detail:
- Color reproduction:
- Fleshtones:
- Compression:
Hugo comes to Blu-ray Disc from Paramount HE featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 24 Mpbs.
This is a stellar high definition presentation that boasts rich, delineated primary colors, beautifully lush pastels and vibrant hues that are vivid, bold and striking in high definition. The video quality is nothing short of mesmerizing in its depiction of the film's digitally crafted images. Objects onscreen are exquisitely detailed with a luminous and sparkling clarity that seems infinitely lucid and three dimensional. It never left me wanting for fine degrees of subtle refinement and texture. The attention to detail in the construction of train station/clocks/Paris is truly impressive and can be fully appreciated thanks to the video's exquisite level of definition. Contrast is strong and blacks are deep without compromise to delineation. Shadowy areas exhibit excellent depth of field and visible gradational stages. Flesh tones are not overtly complex in tone but appear diverse in subtle structure and complexional makeup. This is a sophisticated visual design that uses real imagery mixed with CGI. The end result is a superlative video presentation that truly evokes the spirit and emotion of the film.
Bonus Features:
Disc 1:
- 3D Blu-ray - Hugo
Disc 2:
- 2D Blu-ray - Hugo (plus the following bonus features) :
- (HD) Shoot the moon: The making of Hugo – 19 minute featurette
- (HD) The cinemagician George Melies – 15 minute documentary/featurette
- (HD) The mechanical man at the heart of Hugo – 12 minute featurette
- Big effects, small scale – 6 minute featurette
- (HD) Sacha Baron Cohen: Role of a lifetime – 3 minute feature
Disc 3:
- Bonus DVD of Hugo
- Ultraviolet Digital Copy
Final Thoughts:
Based on the book "The invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick, Hugo is a grandiose and rewarding cinematic gem that has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards. It doesn't ask but that you sit back, take it in and try to see it in the spirit from which it is intended. Martin Scorsese is such a master craftsman. Hugo comes to Blu-ray Disc from Paramount Home Entertainment in this Limited Edition 3D offering that features superlative high definition audio/video including one of the more entertaining 3D presentations I have seen. The supplemental package isn't an abundant one however what's there is well worth watching. Hugo is also available in a two disc standard Blu-ray version for those who aren't 3D ready. Either way you're in for a treat. Enjoy!
Ralph Potts
AVS Forum Blu-ray Reviews
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Just one correction on the "Final Thoughts" section. The author of the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is Brian Selznick (not Zelznick).
Thanks for the review. I'm looking forward to this on Blu-ray. I recently upgraded to a 3D projector and a 7.1 audio system. This one should demo those features well.
Just one correction on the "Final Thoughts" section. The author of the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is Brian Selznick (not Zelznick).
Got it. Thanks..
Very few movies anymore seem to have a plot line that is believable, or changes, or the movies ends horribly. Hollywood definitely has trouble telling a believable story anymore.
This movie deserves your attention if you really like movies that tell a good story and finishes that story correctly. IMHO
Must..stop...buying...every bluray release...
It had all the elements to it as far as the cast, characters, story, plot and scenery. I was very intrigued when i first saw the automaton and it's inner workings and especially when it started moving.
The ending was just magnificent and how it blended beautifully all together. Definite collect.
Good review Ralph , as usual, you nailed it. I just watched last night and although I don`t have a 3D projector yet and had to settle for 2D I have to say it was excellent all around.
Very few movies anymore seem to have a plot line that is believable, or changes, or the movies ends horribly. Hollywood definitely has trouble telling a believable story anymore.
This movie deserves your attention if you really like movies that tell a good story and finishes that story correctly. IMHO
Humm....now I'm even more intrigued
The review is spot on. Either way, go see this if you love movies.
There's a saying about "everything in moderation". If only it was applied to well, you know...
God Bless!
Equipment: Bose Soundbar; 1951 Philco Model 50-T701 Black and White tabletop TV;Projection :HANIMEX ZOOM 8 MM PROJECTOR
Must..stop...buying...every bluray release...
Must..stop...buying...every bluray release...
I was surprised, however, to find that Scorsese succumbed to the current fad for cyan colored blacks (often referred to as 'teal'). I now groan when I see this distortion of the color palette. In a few years time it will be a way to date the films made in the current era, and will appear 'quaint'. A minor quibble though in an otherwise superb film.
I think it would look amazing on my Sammy 64D8000 but would want him to watch too. So for people that have seen it should I buy or not?
This film is an example of the finest Hollywood can produce. And although it did mediocre business in the theaters I hope it is not overlooked by the Oscar crowd like Get Low was in 2010.
Would a 5 yr old enjoy this movie? Was thinking of purchasing this to watch with him but want to make sure he wouldn't be bored or its too much for someone his age.
I think it would look amazing on my Sammy 64D8000 but would want him to watch too. So for people that have seen it should I buy or not?
I would say that most five year olds would be bored but it may be dependent on their level of maturity.
at least not as lame as immortals with only 1 worthy to watch scene (the ending)
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Must..stop...buying...every bluray release...
As Ralph has pointed out, this is a great film in many other regards as well. Highly recommended!
I think I might wait and give this a rent. I was going to blind buy it but I've been stung before.
God Bless!
Equipment: Bose Soundbar; 1951 Philco Model 50-T701 Black and White tabletop TV;Projection :HANIMEX ZOOM 8 MM PROJECTOR
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David Bowie and Justin Timberlake aren't the only musicians returning to active duty this spring.
Just days after debuting two new songs at a show at the Glass House in Pomona, New York's Yeah Yeah Yeahs announced Monday that they'll release an album, "Mosquito," on April 16, the post-punk band's first since "It's Blitz!" in 2009.
Like "It's Blitz!," the upcoming disc was produced by Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio and Nick Launay, who's also worked with Nick Cave and the Cribs, among others. LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy oversaw one track, and rapper Kool Keith makes a guest appearance in his Dr. Octagon guise.
"We took a more playful, lo-fi approach to songwriting," singer Karen O said in a statement. "Much of the music was demo'd in our little basement studio in Manhattan with drum machines, a ... sample keyboard and tons of delay, which we called 'the soup.'
"I think this record has more moodier and tripped-out songs than you've ever heard from us," she added. "You might catch some roots-reggae and minimalist psychedelia influences in there."
Karen O, guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase have spent the last few years pursuing interests outside the group.
In 2011 the frontwoman premiered a rock opera, "Stop the Virgens," at Brooklyn's St. Ann's Warehouse, then collaborated with Trent Reznor on a Led Zeppelin cover for David Fincher's movie adaptation of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." Zinner worked in orchestral music, showed photographs and co-produced Santigold's "Master of My Make-Believe." And Chase wrote about pizza on his website.
"This is a feel-good, food-for-the-soul, chicken-soup-for-the-ears Yeah Yeah Yeahs record," Karen O said. "Which doesn't mean easy listening. It means kind of raw, kind of chaotic, kind of dreamy. Very us."
Watch a short video about "Mosquito" below.


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Posts Tagged 'public goods'
Government - Written Friday, July 23, 2010 by Thomas Gegenhuber - 6 Comments
Ride and surf
A world without the web is getting unimaginable. It is our access to the world. Already, we hate to be unplugged, like when we're commuting on public transport–time we could use to read the news, update our twitter status and check the e-mails. While many people have mobile data on their cell phones, it's often slow, so why not make busses internet hotspots? In addition to simply being useful, doing so would make public transportation more attractive. In a move to make wireless access ubiquitous, some cities in Ohio have done just this, and are making wireless available en-route on city busses. Continue…


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What's more important? The quantity of your Twitter following or the depth of your relationships with your followers?
The answer is BOTH! Having hundreds of thousands of followers must be nice. But we all know that the depth of the relationships you maintain with your tweeple is paramount.
This article will reveal five great Twitter tools that will help you find and engage with quality Twitter followers.
Continue Reading about Top 5 Most Indispensable Twitter Tools for Marketers →