text:
I've worked in PR for nearly 26 years. For most of that time I studiously avoided joining the CIPR (or any other PR related membership body). Rightly or wrongly, I perceived the CIPR to be an organisation that didn't really have much meaning for me personally or indeed properly represented the industry I worked in.
My attitude to the CIPR hit rock bottom around 2006 when an impression of lofty disdain was given out by the then leadership towards social media and digital communication (go here for a flavour of the times).
However, around 2010, things changed. The arrival of Jay O'Connor as President in that year seemed to signal a sea change in attitude. Initiatives like the CIPR Social Media panel were indicative that there was a far higher degree of relevance of the organisation to the wider world.
Since then, I have become a fully paid up member and have become much more actively involved in the organisation. The CIPR today appears to bear no resemblance to the body that I viewed as an irrelevance in the past.
So what has this got to do with the current CIPR Presidential election?
Well, a lot.
The person who takes over the presidency in January 2014 will be assuming the position at a significant inflexion point in the development of the PR industry.
Quite simply, if there is to continue to be such a thing as a PR sector, then it's main trade body has to also justify its existence in terms of leadership, vision, meaning and value.
The CIPR President should have a key role in leading and representing PR professionals to the world. One of the key challenges for anyone coming into this role is that I believe there are many PR practitioners who hold a view of the organisation similar to the one I held in 2006 – namely, they can't see the value of being a member – or that the body doesn't properly represent the PR sector as a whole.
If the CIPR is to continue to have meaning and relevance then it must also seek to bring in more of these unrepresented practitioners.
So what does this mean in of terms of the two candidates – Stephen Waddington and Jon White?
Both are worthy of the job. Both have excellent credentials. Both have put forward good cases so far.
But on balance, I have to say it is Stephen Waddington who (for me) would be the best candidate to represent the CIPR given the context above. Someone who will continue to keep the rapid momentum going behind the CIPR that has only really developed in the last 3 years.
If you are a CIPR member, then clearly I think you have a duty to examine the arguments of both candidates – and to vote.
But also, even if you are not a CIPR member, seriously consider joining now and have a real say in this election.
Even if you aren't a member, you almost certainly know someone who is. Why not quiz them on their views of the election – and encourage them to vote. That way at least you have a proxy input to the process.
In summary, I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that this is a pivotal election – both for members and non-members of the CIPR.
The winner of this election will not only play a big role in determining the future of the CIPR, but will also be a bell weather indicator of how the PR sector is likely to go over the next several years.
Voting begins on May 7th and closes on May 21st.
If you have the power to vote, then you should exercise it. And think about the implications for the future of PR when considering who you cast that vote for. There is a lot at stake.


text:
On the 4th of October 1978, the Iraqi government forced Imam Khomeini to leave Iraq for Kuwait. However the Kuwaiti government did not give refuge to Imam Khomeini due to the Iranian regime's request. Consequently, Imam Khomeini flew to Paris.
The Imam himself explains this event: "They (the Iraqi government) said that: 'due to the fact that we have certain agreements with the Iranian government and the actions of you and your companions do not observe these agreements, we can no longer have you here.' I answered that you have made agreements, I haven't. I have a religious duty, which I will carry out, and I will pay no attention to your agreements. I will preach on the Manbar [1] issue statements and make recordings on tapes and send them. This is my duty. Whatever duty you have, carry it out… I then got ready to leave… under strict Iraqi supervision I went to the Kuwaiti border and the same pressure that was put on the Iraqi government was also put on the Kuwaiti government (and so refuge was not given to the Imam)…from there we returned to Basra and then we went to Baghdad. I realized that whichever Muslim country we go to it will be the same. It was for this reason that, without any previous thought on the matter, I decided to go to France."
During this time, the Shah found himself in a crucial situation where the foundations of the regime were very shaky. He tried to carry out various different measures but they were not successful and angered the people even more. For instance he made it the responsibility of different prime ministers to supposedly change the government. News of the people's anger and of an upcoming revolution spread throughout the world and grabbed Media attention.
On 12th of October 1978 Imam Khomeini said the following to a BBC reporter: "This regime must be overthrown and then…When the parliament is sworn in people's opinion should play the main role." On other occasions, Imam Khomeini explained what he intended to do after the downfall of the Shah's regime.
Replying to one of the Iranian politicians, who claimed that the Imam had endured great difficulties and this revolution or rise was more personal rather than for the people, the Imam said: "I have not been tortured….. So my opposition to this man (Shah) is not due to me being tortured…My suffering is the suffering of this nation. When I remember the faces of people who have lost their children and sons, I am tortured… What tortures me is the tragedy that has consumed this nation. "
One of the most important decisions made by Imam Khomeini in Paris was deciding to form a revolutionary council. The events in the autumn of 1978 made Imam Khomeini think of changing the regime. Thus on the 11th of November 1978, he assigned the job, of finding suitable and good people to make up the revolutionary council, to Ayatollah Beheshti and Ayatollah Mottahari.
According to the Imam's words, he worked more than sixteen hours a day. He did interviews, gave speeches, read reports, analysed letters and telegraphs and replied to them. The first apparent outcome of the Imam's resistance and permanence was made clear to the world on January the 3rd 1979. On that day the Shah left Iran for an unknown destination. This shocked the world and the Iranian nation were one step closer to victory.
At 20:30 on the same day, the Imam issued a short statement informing the people of three important points:1- The Shah's exit from Iran is the first step in ending the domination of criminals. It means the end of many years of rule by the Pahlavi regime ... This is due to the heroic campaigns of the Iranian nation. I congratulate this first phase of victory and I will issue a statement regarding it.2- Soon we will introduce a temporary transitional government in order to carry out parliamentary elections and approve the constitutional laws.3- I will return to Iran at the first suitable opportunity."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
– Cesium over limit found in tea using Saitama, Chiba leaves (Japan Times/Kyodo News, Sep. 4, 2011):
Radioactive cesium exceeding the legal limit has been detected in four tea products that reached the market and were made with tea leaves from Saitama and Chiba prefectures, a recent health ministry inspection showed.
One of the products, using tea leaves from Chiba Prefecture, contained 2,720 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, far above the government-set limit of 500 becquerels, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday.
The three other products, made with tea leaves from Saitama Prefecture, were found to contain between 800 and 1,530 becquerels of cesium. It is the first time cesium exceeding the maximum limit has been detected in Saitama tea leaves.
The cesium levels were recorded during snap inspections of farm products by the ministry.
The Chiba and Saitama prefectural governments plan to recall all the products from store shelves. A ministry official said the products do not pose an immediate health risk to consumers.
Fukushima not peachy
FUKUSHIMA — The average wholesale price of peaches harvested in Fukushima Prefecture, the country's second-biggest producer, plunged about 55 percent from August last year due to the Fukushima nuclear crisis, according to a recent survey.
The average price at 13 markets in Tokyo and neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture was ¥195 per kilogram, compared with ¥437 in August 2010, the Japan Fruit Growers Cooperative Association said.
Farmers in Fukushima Prefecture — which is renowned for the sweetness of its peaches — have been badly hit by the price drop, said a 54-year-old farmer in the city of Fukushima.
Farmers only make a profit if the price is more than ¥200 per kilogram, an official from the fruit growers association said, expressing hope that consumers' concerns over contamination from the leaking Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant will have eased by next summer.
The price of Fukushima peaches lowered the average price of peaches on the market to ¥295 per kilogram, down from ¥453 a year earlier.


text:
Colleges and Universities in Oklahoma
The Sooner State is a beautiful place to call home. The growing economy and friendly atmosphere make Oklahoma an ideal place to study and grow. Ohio has eighteen public universities, thirteen community colleges, and seventeen private universities and colleges. Some of the top schools here include Oklahoma State University and the University of Tulsa.
Living in Oklahoma
Oklahoma has just fewer than 3.7 million residents. The population is relatively diverse. The people here are about 71% white, 8% Hispanic or Latino, 8% black, 8% American Indian, and 2% Asian. 81% of Oklahomans over the age of 25 have their high school diploma, and 20%have their bachelor's degree or higher. The median household income is on the low side at just under $43,000. However, the Oklahoma economy is on an upward trend and costs of living here are very low. The median value of a home is just $70,700, making Oklahoma a great place for a student to become a home owner.
Featured Online Colleges
There was an error loading the featured schools for this state
No featured schools for Oklahoma


text:
Each month, 25,000 people from around the globe arrive in the United Arab Emirates, seeking jobs, contracts, and political stability. Walk past the gleaming new skyscrapers, government buildings, fountains, and shopping malls that line the immaculate tree-lined corniche in Abu Dhabi—or those in neighboring Dubai, only a 90-minute drive away—and you'll hear dozens of languages. Most people wear Western clothes; you see relatively few dishdashas, the flowing white robes usually worn by Arab men in the Persian Gulf. There are no bearded mullahs on the streets or on the far more crowded highways. There are lots of women drivers, though, some with headscarves, some without.
Only two decades ago, few foreigners would have viewed this loose federation of seven independent sheikhdoms, strung out along the southeastern corner of the Persian Gulf, as a land of opportunity. But thanks to the world's fifth-largest reserves of crude oil and natural gas, an estimated $1 trillion of investment abroad, and plans to spend at least $200 billion over the next decade on infrastructure and other grandiose projects in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the two most dynamic emirates, the UAE has burst into the world's—and belatedly, America's—consciousness.
Most Americans had heard of Dubai, the most frantic of the seven emirates—and especially of its over-the-top city of the same name: Disneyland on steroids, or "Donald Trump on acid," as one writer called it. But far fewer knew much about either the emirate of Abu Dhabi or its eponymous capital city (also the capital of the federation as a whole). Recently, however, Abu Dhabi—with 95 percent of the UAE's oil, 85 percent of its land, and over half of its gross domestic product—has emerged from the shadow of its more flamboyant neighboring sheikhdom and friendly rival. In late November, the normally risk-averse emirate's Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the world's largest and most secretive sovereign wealth fund, bought a 4.9 percent share of troubled Citigroup. That was just one of hundreds of American and other foreign companies in which the diversifying emirate has invested in recent years.
While the Citigroup purchase highlights its growing financial clout, Abu Dhabi's most remarkable investment is in human development. The emirate is determined to modernize its young, traditionally conservative, underskilled population—to mold future citizens secure in their Islamic heritage but able to flourish in an increasingly globalized and diverse world. Radical Islamists want to drag Muslims back to the Dark Ages; Muslim Abu Dhabi is racing into the future. True, Abu Dhabi, like the UAE as a whole, has a system of government that is tribal and undemocratic, blending family, business, and administrative interests in inseparable and impenetrable ways. But the emirate's commitment to the education and cultural advancement of its people makes it a relatively bright spot in the Arab Middle East, where oil wealth has too often brought conflict and misery.
Talk with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and members of his brain trust of young advisors, and you'll hear a lot about cultural transformation. "We're in a war with those who have hijacked our religion," the 46-year-old crown prince tells me. "To succeed, we must also eradicate concepts like wasta and baksheesh—family influence and bribes," both widespread Middle Eastern traditions. "And we are succeeding."
To make itself the region's true cultural hub, the emirate has forged surprising partnerships, and is negotiating others, with some of the world's leading cultural and academic institutions, several based in New York. In 2006, for instance, Abu Dhabi commissioned the Guggenheim Museum to construct a vast, 450,000-square-foot branch in the emirate. (Abu Dhabi shares Dubai's obsession with gigantism: having the world's "tallest" skyscrapers, the "best" hotels, the "largest" shopping malls, and so on.) This past November came the announcement for New York University–Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), which will be the first comprehensive liberal arts campus that any major American research university establishes abroad. The emirate has also recruited the Sorbonne to create a French-language university and inked a whopping $1.3 billion deal with the Louvre to use its name, build a classical art museum, and share and jointly acquire art. Further, Abu Dhabi is talking with the New York Public Library and several other great libraries about opening branches, and it has approached New York's Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center about a partnership, though executives say that no deal is imminent.
The home for these projects will be a spectacular 640-acre cultural complex on Saadiyat ("happiness" in Arabic) Island, just off the coast of the capital. Abu Dhabi is investing $27 billion in the development, with some of the world's most influential architects, including Frank Gehry, designing its landmark museums and other new buildings. "This is a hugely exciting project on so many levels," says Mubarak Hamad al-Muhairi, the 38-year-old director general of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, which oversees the complex.
This ambitious venture raises difficult questions. Did Dubai's unsuccessful 2006 effort to buy a company that operated six U.S. ports, which infuriated many American politicians, increase Abu Dhabi's emphasis on cultural outreach? Further, culture has always followed money—where would Florence have been without the Medicis?—but can money really buy culture? That is, will the museums and campuses and theaters edify and enlighten not only the 3 million yearly "cultural tourists" whom Abu Dhabi hopes to attract by 2015, but also the UAE's 825,000 citizens? The government promoters have no doubt. The complex, they feel, is essential to closing what one advisor calls the "knowledge gap" between Abu Dhabi and the West and countering Islamist extremism. "We want an impact on our society, not just on visitors," says the American-educated al-Muhairi over cappuccinos topped with chocolate and gold flakes at the majestic Emirates Palace Hotel. "We are younger than Cairo, Beirut, or Baghdad. We can take a new vision forward and hope that what our people see in these museums will inspire them to produce their own art. So we are not 'buying culture.' "
"It's better for all of us that Saadiyat be a cultural complex than a naval base," agrees Bassem Kudsi, who went to college in Oregon before returning to Abu Dhabi to work for its Authority for Culture and Heritage. "My jihad is culture: let's let a thousand festivals bloom! What our region needs is more culture and less conflict."
Abu Dhabi's rise—and the UAE's transformation from one of the world's poorest, most forlorn strips of desert to the supercharged society it is today—has to do with oil, of course. Yet while oil was a necessary condition, it wasn't sufficient. Many other oil-rich societies, after all, have failed to achieve such staggering prosperity.
Historian and businessman Mohammed al-Fahim remembers a time only 40 years ago when Abu Dhabians were dirt-poor, though oil had begun to flow and the ruler's coffers were filling. In his book, From Rags to Riches: A Story of Abu Dhabi, al-Fahim recounts living hand to mouth, working in pearl fishing and the declining Bedouin livestock trade. As recently as 1962, Abu Dhabians resided in palm-frond huts that lacked clean water, toilets, and electricity. There was one paved road. Few could read or write. Al-Fahim's younger sister died of burns sustained in a fire, and his 30-year-old mother died in childbirth, because his town had no doctors or nurses.
Abu Dhabi's turning point, al-Fahim observes, was August 1966, when Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan came to power with British support. Two years later, when the British, largely for financial reasons, announced plans to withdraw from the Trucial States—the Persian Gulf sheikhdoms, including Abu Dhabi, that they'd controlled for 170 years—Zayed doggedly sought an alliance with the other sheikhs. Bahrain and Qatar opted for independence, but Zayed wooed the others into a federation by promising to share oil with the five emirates that had none, by granting their ruling families considerable autonomy, and by promising to divide key federal posts among the families. So while his clan, the al-Nahyans, continues to rule Abu Dhabi (the sheikh himself died in 2004), the Maktoums have long presided over Dubai, free to pursue their own economic vision (which has been to turn their emirate, producing fewer than 100,000 barrels of oil per day to Abu Dhabi's 2.7 million, into a world-class financial hub). Zayed's commitment to his pledges gave the UAE political stability; Emiratis today revere him as their George Washington. And that stability in turn helped Abu Dhabi and the rest of the UAE make effective use of the area's abundant oil and grow very, very wealthy.
The tiny native population—Emiratis are just under 20 percent of the UAE's 4.5 million people, with the rest of the population made up of guest workers—has fully shared in the prosperity. Per-capita income for the 420,000 or so Abu Dhabians, for instance, is a healthy $52,500. And until the 1980s, when land finally ran out, Abu Dhabi gave each citizen free property to develop as he saw fit. "For Emiratis, there is free education, free health care, and many other benefits," notes Yousef al-Otaiba, 34, the director of international affairs for the crown prince's office.
Not that there aren't problems, including a bloated state sector. But Abu Dhabi's "Policy Agenda, 2007–2009," prepared by the emirate's executive council, would on paper please Milton Friedman. Privatization, for example, is one of the agenda's major "pillars" of reform—a sensible priority, since the private sector today accounts for only 17.8 percent of GDP. Competitive bids are now flooding in to provide the goods and services that have been the government's responsibility, though foreigners still need Emirati partners to do business here. Even the fire department is up for outsourcing. The emirate wants to slash public-sector employment from 65,000 to 18,000 by the end of 2008, while helping ignite an explosion of private-sector jobs, especially for women and younger nationals, among whom unemployment rates are high. (Paul Dyer, of the Dubai School of Government, a partner of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School, puts unemployment among young UAE citizens at 60 percent.)
In all its joint ventures, Abu Dhabi has been exacting in its choice of partners. "We've learned from watching others," said Ahmed Ali al-Sayegh, a crown prince confidant who founded Abu Dhabi's largest land-development company, Aldar Properties. He doesn't mention (though he clearly has in mind) Dubai, with its sinister underbelly of Russian mafia, drug lords, militant Islamists, and other trouble seekers who call that city-state home. "We don't want to tie up with the wrong people," he says.
Improving health care is a second reform pillar. It may be free for Emiratis, but the UAE's health-care system remains substandard. By 2004, for instance, Abu Dhabi was spending a quarter of its total health-care dirham (the UAE's dollar-pegged currency) on subsidizing advanced medical treatment abroad for citizens who couldn't get it at home. Nearly 85 percent of breast-cancer cases are diagnosed and treated "at a very late stage when the chance for a cure is low, compared to only 20 percent in the USA and 30 percent in Europe," the policy agenda states. Rates of Type II diabetes in adults and of obesity and asthma in children are among the world's highest. To help improve the level of care, Abu Dhabi is paying renowned Western health-care providers Johns Hopkins and the Cleveland Clinic to build new hospitals and to manage its existing medical institutions, as well as to train more Abu Dhabian doctors and nurses: at present, only 10 percent of Abu Dhabi's doctors are nationals.
Abu Dhabi also faces a housing shortage, which is driving up rents—some 20 to 30 percent last year alone. Foreign workers and even some Emiratis are feeling the squeeze. Last October, the emirate capped rent hikes at 7 percent per year, but as more units come on the market, it expects inflationary pressure to ease. Last year, Abu Dhabi also began to permit foreigners essentially to own apartments within certain zones, and so escape the skyrocketing rents. But the vagueness of property titles and transfer provisions has made buyers wary, reports the Financial Times.
The UAE's importation of millions of foreign workers, the majority from India and Pakistan, is generating tensions, too. Human Rights Watch accuses both Dubai and Abu Dhabi of looking the other way when some employers confiscate workers' passports (technically against UAE law) or force potential hires to hand over exorbitant fees to land jobs paying only $150 to $200 a month. In its latest report, Human Rights Watch suggests an even more troubling possibility: unreported worker deaths at Dubai construction sites.
Hadi Ghaemi, a human rights advocate who helped write the report, attributes the labor problems to conflict of interest. When the UAE's current minister of labor ruled that none of his employees could have an interest in more than ten companies, Ghaemi points out, the decision provoked mass resignations. "The ministries responsible for [workers'] well-being should not also be owners of the companies that employ them," Ghaemi says. Since Abu Dhabi and the rest of the UAE are marketing themselves as enlightened modern societies, he concludes, "it's time they recognized that workers' rights are part of such a culture."
There are signs, however, that quiet prodding from Abu Dhabi's Western cultural partners is having a beneficial effect. In his discussions with government officials, Frank Gehry, the architect building the gigantic Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, has insisted on the need to respect workers' rights, Human Rights Watch reports. "While nothing we do guarantees that workers will be well treated, Sheikh Sultan has said he agrees with us," Gehry tells me, referring to Sultan bin Tahnoon al-Nahyan, who chairs the tourism authority overseeing the project. A "gentlemen's agreement" is now in place on workers' rights, Gehry says. And since human rights monitors are now "on the ground" in Abu Dhabi, he adds, "if rights are violated, I assume we'll know about it."
The labor problems have complicated Abu Dhabi's outreach to Western institutions, despite its seductively deep pockets. Cultural and political differences have raised obstacles, too. Earlier this year, for example, more than 4,600 French academics, archaeologists, art historians, and others signed a petition opposing the Louvre partnership, saying that France's cultural patrimony was "not for sale." Ultimately, the $1.3 billion package proved irresistible to the cash-strapped Louvre. To assuage concerns about artistic censorship, the French government created a special advisory panel to ensure that the Louvre Abu Dhabi observes its Parisian parent's artistic standards. Still, the UAE has reserved the right to refuse art that offends local sensibilities and religious or cultural norms.
American critics have usually been more discreet. But then, Abu Dhabi's American partners have also been less transparent than their French counterparts about the size, value, and precise content of their deals. Guggenheim director Thomas Krens, who has promoted his museum as a brand and spearheaded the creation of four more Guggenheim museums at home and abroad, was recently quoted as saying that Abu Dhabi had agreed to give the museum $600 million over the next ten years to acquire art. But neither he nor Gehry would comment on the size of the entire package, rumored to be well over $1 billion if the cost of the new museum on Saadiyat is included.
New York University has refused to disclose how much Abu Dhabi will pay it to build, staff, and operate NYU–Abu Dhabi, which will serve at least 2,000 undergraduates and 800 graduate students. Nor will it disclose the nature of the ill-defined "investment in faculty and programming" that Abu Dhabi will give to NYU's main campus at Washington Square. We do know that classes at NYUAD, which plans to open in 2010, will be coeducational and in English. Mariet Westermann, the campus's new vice chancellor, says that the agreement gives NYU "full control" over student affairs, academic standards and content, and faculty and student recruitment. "But entry regulations and visa policies are set by the foreign government, not by us," she adds.
Those policies may prove controversial. And there may be cultural and legal challenges as well. In early November, the international press covered the alleged rape of a 15-year-old French male student in Dubai by three men. Press accounts said that local officials tried to discourage the boy from pressing charges and pressured him to say that he was homosexual. In 2006, again in Dubai, 12 gay Arab men were arrested at a secret gay wedding, imprisoned, and threatened with forced hormone treatments. Such incidents led several gay students to challenge NYU president John Sexton about the partnership in November.
Of greater concern to some Jewish NYU students and faculty is the UAE's behavior toward Israel. According to the Forward, recent U.S. Commerce Department figures show that in 2006, American companies reported 486 requests from UAE-based companies to comply with the Arab League's boycott of Israel—more than three times the number reported from any other Arab state. But when one NYU trustee reportedly objected that the Abu Dhabi deal would appear to condone the policies of a state that boycotts Israel, Sexton produced a letter of support from Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, a leading Jewish organization. "Abu Dhabi and Dubai are moving towards greater openness and tolerance," says Foxman. "While they haven't come far enough, bringing American institutions into close contact with them can only strengthen that trend."
American Jewish groups have generally been reluctant to criticize the UAE, convinced, like Foxman, that this wealthy young country, unlike some of its neighbors, is trying to promote greater tolerance and pluralism. They were silent when Israeli delegations of baggage handlers and dentists were not permitted to attend their associations' annual meetings, held in October in Dubai. Nor did they or the Israeli government protest when, after Egyptian filmmakers complained, an Israeli film invited to be shown in Abu Dhabi's first international film festival in October was disinvited. After two delegations of Jewish organizations traveled to the UAE in 2007—in a tour that also included Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain—the American Jewish Committee's Jason Isaacson praised Abu Dhabi and Dubai. "We feel we have a good line of communications with the UAE on a range of issues and can express our views to policy makers," he said.
Some experts think that Abu Dhabi is pushing its outreach campaign so hard because the need for educational reform is so urgent—as it is throughout the UAE. "The UAE has the best indicators for economic growth, and some of the worst for educational growth," says Christopher Davidson, a UAE expert at Durham University in Britain. Budgets for teachers and campuses have been frozen for years, he asserts; expatriate teachers have been paid 10 to 50 percent less than their counterparts elsewhere in the region. And teaching, he says, is not a high-status job within the UAE.
The government apparently agrees with at least part of his assessment. The new federal budget unveiled in late November, says the Economist Intelligence Unit's David Butter, provides a 70 percent salary increase for civil servants, including many teachers. And at the college level, Abu Dhabi is pouring money not only into its partnerships, but also into its existing colleges, where women greatly outnumber men. A visit to the women's college at the Higher Colleges of Technology, a largely British-staffed technical school with separate campuses for men and women, shows how progressive Abu Dhabi is compared with Saudi Arabia and some other neighbors. Though the young women wear traditional dress—black fitted abayas (cloaks) and jewel-encrusted shaylahs (black silk scarves)—all say that they want and expect to work alongside men after graduation. All speak good English, the college's teaching language. All drive cars. All are outspoken about their political views—strongly opposing the U.S. invasion of Iraq, for instance, but often adding that they have visited America or want to. And most feel that they will be able to fulfill their professional and personal dreams. "There is nothing to stop us here, except our own limitations," says Souad al-Housari, a business major.
For all Dubai's glitz and Abu Dhabi's more controlled frenzy, this is a tough neighborhood. With Wahhabi-dominated Saudi Arabia to the west and Iran just across the Persian Gulf to the north, the UAE's prosperity, and even its survival, are by no means guaranteed. Despite close trading ties between Iran and the UAE, many Emiratis have not forgotten that Iran occupies three islands that both countries have claimed since Iran first grabbed them in 1971, on the eve of the UAE's independence.
The United States, which has replaced Britain as the federation's unofficial guardian, has adopted a low profile at the UAE's insistence. While America does not station troops in the emirates (as it does in neighboring Qatar) or base ships there (as it does in Bahrain, long the home of the Fifth Fleet), American nuclear carriers routinely berth at the Dubai port of Jebel Ali, since they are too large for Bahrain. The U.S. Navy puts more sailors ashore for more liberty days a year at Jebel Ali than at any other foreign port. The White House is selling the UAE $9.4 billion worth of state-of-the-art air defense systems and components, including the Patriot missile, E-2C aircraft upgrades, and support equipment. The federation already owns and flies the world's most advanced versions of the F-16.
Internal threats loom as well. "They know they are just one bomb away from seeing a lot of death and capital flight," says Greg Gause III, an expert on the Persian Gulf who teaches at the University of Vermont. Two of the 19 men who staged the 9/11 attacks were UAE nationals, after all. As a result, the UAE has invested heavily in border control and quiet internal security. Nationals flying back home slide smart ID cards through readers, punch in a PIN, have their irises scanned, and are through security in less than a minute—if there's no problem. Last year, former White House counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke reports in a soon-to-be-published book on how to improve American security, this system helped the UAE catch more than 20,000 people trying to enter under assumed identities.
Rifts within the federation could also threaten stability. So far, the competition between Abu Dhabi and Dubai has at worst produced some overlapping or duplicative projects that both emirates can easily afford. For instance, after Abu Dhabi invited 16 Nobel laureates and 150-odd intellectuals and journalists—including me—for a three-day Festival of Thinkers at the government's expense, Dubai responded with its own Knowledge Conference to promote education.
But some analysts fear that this friendly rivalry could turn ugly. In a forthcoming book, Davidson suggests that because Abu Dhabi and Dubai have adopted different visions of their future, the UAE may break apart. "Dubai is positioning itself to be a truly global entrepôt state and feels constrained by Abu Dhabi's caution," he says. "Dubai is run as a business that doesn't need or want a military and other trappings of a traditional state, whereas Abu Dhabi sees itself as an enlightened but still traditional Arab country and the region's cultural and educational hub—a modern Arab Manhattan with Islam at its center and where Arabic is still spoken."
Eckart Woertz, of the Gulf Research Center, a Dubai-based think tank, doubts that the federation will dissolve anytime soon. But he argues that neither Abu Dhabi nor Dubai is likely to produce a truly open, innovative society. "The liberal lifestyle needed for that to develop organically does not exist here, given the strong conservative traditions and the UAE's proximity to Saudi Arabia, where fundamentalist mind-sets are widespread," he says. Moreover, he argues, the UAE's obsessive materialism will trump its devotion to culture. "They are more about Ferrari, Gucci, and Prada than about Einstein, Plato, or Nietzsche."
Further, while the print press, broadcasters, and blogosphere are freer here than in other Arab countries—Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai recently announced that no journalists would be jailed for what they wrote—films are still heavily censored. "Borat never made it to the UAE," Woertz notes. But self-censorship, critics agree, is by far the greater challenge. One scholar summed up the unofficial taboos as "the three Is"—Islam, Israel, and internal affairs. "How can you have an open, dynamic society when none of these can be debated?" he said.
To their supporters, however, Abu Dhabi and the rest of the UAE offer the only plausible antidote to the spread of the Islamists' grim destructive militancy. "Who is more spectacular: Osama bin Laden, who destroyed two towers? Or the UAE, which has built over a thousand?" asked Jamil Mroue, a Lebanese journalist and a newcomer to Abu Dhabi, as we gazed out at the tranquil gulf from his garden over Coke and shish kebab one night last fall. "Whose road will the Arabs travel: the one paved by MBZ"—Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed—"to conquer time? Or Osama's that seeks to reverse it?"
The UAE, he continues, is "not imposing anything on anyone else. It has been plowing money into education and culture to nurture its own organic flowering of ideas and possibilities. Okay, this is not a democracy. There are no political parties, and its first election last year was only for advisory posts. But there is plenty of time for democracy—later. I would rather take my chances here than in the wealthiest of Islamic republics."
Judith Miller, a contributing editor of City Journal, is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who writes about national security issues. She has written or coauthored four books, including Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War.


text:
It is no secret that a beautiful, pleasing, healthy smile can be your most admired physical attribute. After all, people notice your smile first thing. How do you know if your smile is detracting from your appearance?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; if you look at your smile in the mirror and believe it is unattractive, it doesn't really matter what anybody else thinks. But what if you are not sure?
There are many problems that are generally considered to detract from brilliant smiles. Missing teeth is a biggie. People who are missing teeth in the back of the mouth may mistakenly believe that the gap doesn't show. They are usually wrong. When smiling, talking, laughing, or eating, a missing tooth definitely shows – even if the missing tooth is the very last molar.
Yellow or gray teeth diminish the appeal of a smile – even one that is perfectly healthy and aligned – and crooked teeth are typically considered unattractive.
There are a few unique smile characteristics that some people proudly show off and others wish to change. For instance, a gap between the two front teeth can become your trademark. True Blood star Anna Paquin, actor Woody Harrelson, and singer Seal have retained their spaces. Perhaps the most famous gap-toothed smile belongs to seventy year-old model Lauren Hutton who has proudly flashed it throughout her fifty-year career. Other celebrities such as Zac Efron, Tom Cruise, and Keith Urban weren't happy with gaps so they transformed their smiles with cutting-edge cosmetic dentistry.
If you want an objective aesthetic evaluation of your smile, how can you do this? You can't see your smile from every angle when you look in the mirror. If you want an expert opinion on the attractiveness of your smile, talk to a cosmetic dentist. There are a surprising number of design principals that are used in smile transformations. These include size, shape, alignment, proportion, color, and translucency. Furthermore, cosmetic dentists also consider the characteristics of the gums, lips, and facial features.
When you have a cosmetic dental consultation, you will be able to see how the critical elements work together to create a natural-looking, memorable smile. Bottom line? If you want to change your smile, you can! Schedule a consultation today by calling 406-586-7661.


text:
In past years I have written "The 10 Worst TV Shows of The Year" lists for this website. I now renounce that practice as wrong and misleading. Not because it's too mean, mind you; because it's not comprehensively mean enough. If TV is capable of greatness–it is, and it is proving it more than ever–then awful TV is an offense to that potential and should be called out. But if it's hubris for me to declare that I have seen the 10 best things that aired all year, it's even more so to pretend I could isolate the 10 worst, much less to rank them.
It's physically possible, at least, for a critic to screen enough of the year's good TV to identify the best of the best. But millions of hours of TV is piped over cable a year; there must be awful, awful things that I have not seen–in that vast dark matter of tiny channels, syndication, and cheapo time-filler–because they are awful, because I do not seek them out, because life is a gift that it is a sin to waste. There are others I have forgotten, because the human brain protects itself from trauma.
So the below are not the 10 Worst TV Shows of the Year. They are simply 10 of the worst things someone who watches a lot of TV for a living can recall seeing. And for now, that is good, or rather bad, enough. Alphabetically:
Dads. There have been excellent, funny shows about terrible, bigoted people–All in the Family, South Park, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This was none of those; it too often relied on jokes that could only be funny if the audience thought that cliches about Asians (or whoever else) were funny. And the show's waste of good comic actors was almost as offensive.
The Dexter finale. I'll admit that I'd given up hope that Dexter could be as good as its first couple of seasons long ago. But this finale, which went all in on implausibility and cheated any kind of real closure, must have been even rougher for loyal fans who expected better.
The Following. This wasn't flat-out the worst drama a network aired last year (see Zero Hour, e.g.) and it was enough of a hit to be returning in January. But it was a big, ponderous, increasingly far-fetched example of the growing TV cliche of the evil, nihilist mastermind.
Hemlock Grove. You've read a lot of year-end roundups about the rise of Netflix this year with House of Cards, Arrested Development, and Orange Is the New Black, and I'm betting Netflix is glad most of them forget that this goofy, laughable horror serial existed. (And Ricky Gervais' Derek must be glad for the diversion.)
Low Winter Sun, Ray Donovan, and Antihero Overload. Like The Following, a couple of not-very-good shows that fall among The Worst for embodying a bad trend: turning the antihero genre of Tony Soprano and Walter White into pain-by-the-numbers.
Ready for Love. The Bachelor meets Millionaire Matchmaker meets the slow demise of your faith in humanity.
60 Minutes' Benghazi report. The damage done by most of the shows on this list ended the moment you changed the channel. Lara Logan's credulous interview with a fraudulent "witness" to the killings of Americans in Libya further polarized a political debate and injured the credibility of a TV news institution.
Splash. Some reality shows achieve brilliance by embracing ridiculousness. This awkward, unpleasant diving competition just bellyflopped straight into it.
The View and Katie's vaccine fumbles. The View, produced by newswoman Barbara Walters, legitimized the dangerous anti-vaccine crusading of Jenny McCarthy by hiring her as a co-host and rationalizing her undermining public health as one more provocative "opinion." Later, Katie Couric, gave undue legitimacy to critics of the HPV vaccine on her syndicated talk show–and corrected it in a blog post.
Zero Hour. "Ze clocks!" This wacko supernatural thriller about apocalyptic Nazi timepieces might actually have been one of the best shows of the year, it it were a 90-second parody trailer.
Again: This is only a partial list–and thank God for that. Suggest your own Worsts of 2013 in the comments, if you can bear the memories.


text:
My attention was recently drawn to an impressively fuel-efficient turboprop aircraft, the ATR72-600, which is claimed to be about one third more energy efficient than Bombardier's Q400 turboprop, which I featured on page 35 of SEWTHA. |
I've consequently written an update on turboprops, celebrating this achievement, but in the interests of balance I feel I should also nominate the advertisers of the ATR72-600 for this year's Hot Air Oscar for the most misleading "green" infographic, for this astonishing picture [at left] showing the difference between the fuel consumption of the ATR 72 and the Q400 on a 250-nautical-mile journey. As the numbers in the picture show, the ATR 72's fuel consumption is 70% of the Q400's, but the volume of the three-dimensional blue barrel shown is 30% of the volume of the orange barrel — a 2.3-fold exaggeration! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||


text:
Whitesnake - Whitesnake (30th Anniversary Edition)
Whitesnake (30th Anniversary Edition)
- Release Date: 10/27/2017
WHITESNAKE: SUPER DELUXE EDITION will be available on October 6 for $49.98. The 4-CD/DVD collection includes the original album with newly remastered sound, unreleased live and studio recordings, classic music videos, concert footage, a 30 minute documentary, featuring a new interview with David Coverdale, Whitesnake's founder and lead singer. The music comes with a 60-page hardbound book that's filled with rare and unseen photos from the era, an extended essay based on new interviews with Coverdale, plus a booklet of the album's lyrics, handwritten by Coverdale. The audio will also be available via digital download and streaming services.
Three other versions of WHITESNAKE will also be available the same day. A Deluxe Edition will be available in both 2-CD ($19.98) and 2-LP ($29.98) versions, each including the newly remastered album expanded with a selection of unreleased bonus recordings. A single-disc version of the newly remastered album will also be available.
This also marks the first release under a newly signed catalog deal with Whitesnake and Rhino Entertainment, the catalog division of Warner Music Group. This new deal includes both the North American and Japanese rights, marking the first time a substantial amount of the Whitesnake catalog will reside under Warner Music Group worldwide.
"It gives me great joy to finally have so much of my Whitesnake catalog all under the same roof with the Warner family and I'm thrilled to be now working with this tremendous team on a worldwide basis," says Coverdale. "I have great memories of being with Warner back in my days with Deep Purple then when I was with Geffen, when they were distributed by Warner, so it feels like coming home to now have Whitesnake there. This elaborate reissue is the perfect project to kick off the new relationship."
"Whitesnake is one of the all-time great rock 'n' roll bands, with David being an absolute icon as a vocalist and front man," says Rhino President Mark Pinkus. "We are absolutely thrilled to now have so much of the Whitesnake catalog with Warner on a global basis and are excited for the fans to see what great releases we have planned for the coming years."
Soon after its release in April 1987, WHITESNAKE became a huge success around the world, selling multi million copies. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard album chart and spawned four popular singles: "Still Of The Night," "Give Me All Your Love," "Is This Love" (which reached #2) and the #1 hit "Here I Go Again."
WHITESNAKE: SUPER DELUXE EDITION comes with an entire disc of unreleased live performances featuring Adrian Vandenberg, Vivian Campbell & Tommy Aldridge, recorded during the band's 1987-88 tour. The music includes live versions of several tracks from "1987", plus Whitesnake classics "Slide It In," "Love Ain't No Stranger," and "Slow An' Easy."
An additional disc spotlights the creative process behind WHITESNAKE with a selection of 11 unreleased demo and rehearsal recordings, including early versions of nearly every song on the album called 87 Evolutions. The final disc introduces newly remixed versions the album's four singles, and includes rare radio mixes, as well as songs from 87 Versions, an EP released exclusively in Japan.
The DVD from WHITESNAKE: SUPER DELUXE EDITION includes music videos for the four singles, all of which have been carefully restored and remixed in 5.1 Surround Sound for the first time ever. In addition, the DVD also features a new 30 minute documentary about the making of WHITESNAKE, a new promo video made especially for this set of the 1988 version of "Here I Go Again" and unreleased live footage from the 1987-88 tour.


text:
Please note that this is only a preview and some information is blurred. Please Register or Login to view the data.
Social Profiles
Profile Not Found
Profile Not Found
Profile Not Found
Profile Not Found
Reviews In case of a business with multiple locations, we will return a random location.
Not Found
5 (3)
Not Found
You can find KTAOW in these locations.
Name KTAOW
Website http://ktf8ecffaom
Mobile Friendly
Facebook Pixel
Google Analytics
SEO Schema
Wordpress / Shopify /
Online Since 16th Jan 2018
Advertising Data
Here is the information we have found scanning the web.
Service | Answer |
Yelp Ads | No |
Facebook Ads | Not Detected |
Messenger.com Ads | Not Detected |
Instagram Ads | Not Detected |
Facebook Pixel | No |
Google Pixel | No |
Google Analytics | No |
Linkedin Analytics | No |


text:
These are the ramblings of Matthijs Kooijman, concerning the software he hacks on, hobbies he has and occasionally his personal life.
Most content on this site is licensed under the WTFPL, version 2 (details).
Questions? Praise? Blame? Feel free to contact me.
My old blog (pre-2006) is also still available.
See also my Mastodon page.
Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
(...), Arduino, AVR, BaRef, Blosxom, Book, Busy, C++, Charity, Debian, Electronics, Examination, Firefox, Flash, Framework, FreeBSD, Gnome, Hardware, Inter-Actief, IRC, JTAG, LARP, Layout, Linux, Madness, Mail, Math, MS-1013, Mutt, Nerd, Notebook, Optimization, Personal, Plugins, Protocol, QEMU, Random, Rant, Repair, S270, Sailing, Samba, Sanquin, Script, Sleep, Software, SSH, Study, Supermicro, Symbols, Tika, Travel, Trivia, USB, Windows, Work, X201, Xanthe, XBee
Since ages, I've been using switched power bars to connect my computer equipment. Originally, I used a normal outlet to connect my PC and a switched bar to connect my monitor, speakers, printer, etc. This allows me to actually completely switch off everything when I'm not using it, saving a couple of Watts of leakage power and removing the need to switch all of my equipment off separately.
Since then, the amount of electrical stuff on my desk has increased a bit, now also including quite some stuff unrelated to my computer. I now count: a laptop adapter, an USB hub, speakers, a printer/scanner, an external hard disk, a battery charger, a phone charger, a charger for my shaver, some soldering equipment, a pile of wireless access points (my work for Fon).
Plugging in all this stuff in a single power bar wasn't very helpful: I would have the bar turned on most of the day when working on my laptop, so all the other devices would be leaking power as well.
It thought I found the perfect solution when I found this power bar with five individually switched outlets from Brennenstuhl. However, because both the switches and the outlets need some space, this power bar is pretty huge (±60 cm long), making it pretty impossible to give it a useful place on my desk (without taking up too much desk space), so I would have to think of something else.
I have been thinking about building a nice cabinet to put on top of my desk to put my laptop, speakers and printer on top of and to put various paperwork and other misc items in (to replace the cardboard boxes that kept my laptop at an ergonomical height until then). In the design of that cabinet, I realized that I could just as well include some power switch panels in the cabinet.
After a few iterations of the design, I ended up with the following result:
As you can see, there's two switch panels with eight switches each in the lower corners. Each switch controls one or two outlets, most of which are hidden behind the panels. Since most of the devices don't move around much, it's perfect if the outlets and plugs are hidden inside the cabinet, since that means less cluttering of my desk.
However, I also have some devices (mostly wireless access points, settopboxes and monitors that I use for my work) that are not fixed all the time and regularly change. If I would need to get behind the switch panels everytime I wanted to change a device, I would get tired of that real quick. I could of course have used a completely separate outlet bar for those devices, but I still like to make those devices individually switched (since most of them have power adapters, which are prone to leak power, and I hardly ever use all of the devices at the same time).
So, I ended up making five of the switches in the right panel control outlets in a separate power bar, which I put on my (second) desk instead of behind the panel. To be able to do this, I had to get a length of thick power cable containing 12 separate leads (two for each outlet, plus one for the earth terminal). Also, since I didn't want the cable to be fixed onto the switch box, I got a humongous power plug, containing 10 contacts (plus chassis earth).
I designed these boxes for a current up to 10A. All components should be able to handle 16A, except for the power inlets, which contain a 10A fuse. Each switch panel contains 8 switches, for controlling 9 outlets (theres one switch in each box that controls two outlets).
I used two-pole switches, which can switch both the line and neutral terminals of each outlets. In theory, it should be sufficient to only switch the line terminals and leave the neutral terminals always connected, but since the boxes are connected to a wall socket using a normal power plug, there is no way to tell which incoming power wire is the line terminal and which is the neutral terminal, so you have to switch both of them.
One thing I had not accounted for in advance, is that the switch boxes themselves also draw a bit of power. The power inlets I used contain some filtering circuitry, which should improve the stability of the power delivered. However, these inlets also draw about 50-100mW (hard to measure since it's so little and has a low power factor) each, when there is nothing else connected. On yearly basis, this would amount to about one kWh, so that's not really a problem.
In addition, the lights in the switches also draw around 300mW, but since that only happens when a device is switched on, that power draw is negligible compared to the power usage of the connected device.
I started out building the cabinet, which took me just under a day (I just screwed all the panels together, not bothering with fine dovetail joints or other fine woodworking details, since I mostly wanted this cabinet to be functional without costing too much time. Then I started on the switch boxes, which took me three or four days in total, which seems really out of proportion :-)
I started out preparing the front panel, using an oldschool fretsaw. Fortunately, the switches have a small front panel that covers up a few milimeters of the hole, so I didn't have to get perfect cuts (though a few mm of space is still not that much room for error).
The switches are mounted in the panel by just snapping them into the holes cut out of the panel.
For the outlets, I was considering to use these power sockets or standard wall sockets, with the big downside of them being fairly expensive (± €8, I would need 20 of them). Fortunately, I found a box of old wall outlets at van Altena, local second-hand hardware store that has all kinds of old and new tools and equipment at cheap prieces. I ended up paying €0,75 per outlet, which reduced the total cost of the project quite a bit (though it still cost me around €175 in materials).
To save a bit of space and make everything fit better, I ended up cutting off the top of the outlets, so the outer mantle would come off and the outlets could be placed closer togeter. After doing the first one with a saw, I ended up doing all the others using a belt sander, fixed upside down in my vice creating an ad-hoc stationary belt sander.
Next, I created a base for the boxes and constructed the boxes on top. Apparently I didn't take any pictures of the process (I remember doing so, but perhaps I somehow lost the pictures, not sure). The base plate is thick (18mm) MDF, on which I've used my router to route out a 10mm deep "trench" in the wood through which the cabling can be put (so it can go underneath the outlets). You can see one of the trenches on the left of the right box below.
Most of the rest of the construction is 15mm plywood, except for the top plate (with holes for the outlets), I used 6mm MDF for that.
To connect the incoming power lines to each of the switches, I had a bit of a challenge. The switches have blade connectors, onto which blade receptacle connectors can be attached. These blade receptacles are "crimped" onto a cable. I tried to find some component that I could use to connect all a dozen of blade receptacles onto, but I couldn't find any of those. There are special blade connectors that allow daisy chaining each switch onto the next, but I didn't like the idea that the last switch would be connected through two dozen of crimp connections (and I did not have those daisy chaining connectors when I was working on this).
I also could not use a Twist-on wire connector, since that only works with solid cable (and the crimped blade connectors need stranded cable).
In the end, I just settled for soldering all these cables together. It's not very elegant, but I'm confident that this soldering connection should be capable of easily handling 16A of current, which is the most important in the end. I used two layers of heat-shrink tubing to insulate the big lump of soldering tin.
The last picture shows the end result: four cable octopusses that connect with one wire to the power entry point, and with eight wires to each of the switches. There's four of these in total, for both the line (with the brown marking tape) and neutral (with the white marking tape) connections in both of the boxes.
The line and neutral connections of each outlet need to be connected to a single switch. I first connected wires to all of the outlets, with a blade connector crimped onto the other side. I used wires cut from the multicable I bought, which are conveniently numbered. Since the line and neutral connections are interchangeable in the European outlet system ("Schuko"), I didn't need to add labels to distinguish both cables coming from the same outlet.
The earth terminals do not need to pass the switch, these need to be always connected. In the bigger box, I used an earthing terminal block (which is intended to be used in a breaker box) to connect the outlets in a "star" topology. For the smaller box, I couldn't find a smaller earthing terminal block, so I just daisy chained the outlets together. Since there's only a few outlets and there should never be much current through the earth terminals, this shouldn't be a problem here.
I also connected the multicable connector in the same way, but those wires are already covered by a MDF plate in the pictures.
The end result is 32 cables sticking out from each box, four cables for each switch.
Connecting the switches was a matter of connecting all the 32 wires I prepared to the switches in the panel. After connecting the switches, I glued the front panel onto the box (so there would not be any visible screws on the front panel).
Now the boxes are assembled and ready for use, time to build the external outlet bar.
Note that the outlets seem a bit randomly placed, but I've tried to leave as much room available for power adapters to stick out in different directions, without blocking other outlets.
For the external outlets, I got an old powerbar (again at van Altena), which has each outlet individually connected internally. I connected the big multicable to all of the outlets on side and to the big connector on the other side of the cable
The old powerbar also had a single powerswitch to control all of the outlets. Since I couldn't find any use for this switch, I just removed it. To cover up the hole that it left, I used two rectangles cut out of an old plastic cable conduit. The smaller rectangle exactly fits in the hole, the larger rectangle just serves to glue the smaller one in place. The result is a cleanly covered switch hole.
After installing the boxes into the cabinet, it turned out the front panels weren't glued on properly, the left one came off. Since I was already doubting if they would hold, I settled for a less elegant, but more secure solution: I just added some screws in an angle from the back, making them just long enough to not stick out at the front.
So, here's the finished thing. I really like the contrast between the green buttons and the red mahogany finish I used, it gives the thing a very classic look.
To be able to plug in devices, I can pull out the boxes towards the front. This is not very quick to do, but since I do not need to switch devices very often, that works out just fine.
I also added labels to the various switches, so I won't have to remember where I plugged in every device.
And just for historical reference, here are the design drawings I created during the process. If they look fuzzy to you, that's probably because I erased every part of the drawings probably at least once...


text:
Available in versions: Dev (3.20) | Latest (3.19) | 3.18 | 3.17 | 3.16 | 3.15 | 3.14 | 3.13 | 3.12 | 3.11 | 3.10
Catalog and schema expressions
Applies to ✅ Open Source Edition ✅ Express Edition ✅ Professional Edition ✅ Enterprise Edition
Most databases know some sort of namespace to group objects like tables, stored procedures, sequences and others into a common catalog or schema. jOOQ uses the types org.jooq.Catalog
and org.jooq.Schema
to model these groupings, following SQL standard naming.
The catalog
A catalog is a collection of schemas. In many databases, the catalog corresponds to the database, or the database instance. Most often, catalogs are completely independent and their tables cannot be joined or combined in any way in a single query. The exception here is SQL Server and Sybase ASE, which allow for fully referencing tables from multiple catalogs:
SELECT * FROM [Catalog1].[Schema1].[Table1] AS [t1] JOIN [Catalog2].[Schema2].[Table2] AS [t2] ON [t1].[ID] = [t2].[ID]
Some dialects, including MariaDB, MemSQL, MySQL, use catalogs (databases) and schemas as the same thing. jOOQ treats databases in those dialects as schemas instead.
By default, the Settings.renderCatalog
flag is turned on. In case a database supports querying multiple catalogs, jOOQ will generate fully qualified object names, including catalog name. For more information about this setting, see the manual's section about settings
jOOQ's code generator generates subpackages for each catalog.
The schema
A schema is a collection of objects, such as tables. Most databases support some sort of schema (except for some embedded databases like Access, Firebird, SQLite). In most databases, the schema is an independent structural entity. In Oracle, the schema and the user / owner is mostly treated as the same thing. An example of a query that uses fully qualified tables including schema names is:
SELECT * FROM "Schema1"."Table1" AS "t1" JOIN "Schema2"."Table2" AS "t2" ON "t1"."ID" = "t2"."ID"
By default, the Settings.renderSettings
flag is turned on. jOOQ will thus generate fully qualified object names, including the setting name. For more information about this setting, see the manual's section about settings
Do you have any feedback about this page? We'd love to hear it!


text:
This was after Josh's third trip to dump money backstage
Last night was Broadway Bares: Solo Strips at XL in NYC, which is a sort of appetizer for the main event, Broadway Bares on June 17 @ Roseland. The concept is that 10 Broadway dancers do brief striptease routines for a paying crowd and then shake their literal moneymakers afterward, being generous with at least their tips in search of generous tips in order to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
The new WTC building had nothing on her
Waiting for my sidekick, I watched a 6'4" (guessing) drag queen sashaying in and wondered if she could touch the ceiling inside. Just was hoping she wouldn't be standing in front of me; tall people can be such (high) heels about that sort of thing.
When I went in, I was crestfallen to hear a woman at the door reminding everyone not to take any pictures. If something happens and no pictures are taken, did it really happy at all? She didn't tell me, so that was my out, but I was kinda worried until the show began and nobody seemed to care.
These events can be aspirational, considering all the ridiculously built men milling about (onstage and off), and yet when I hugged charming (and single, boys!) Matt Skrincosky, who has to believe I'm a stalker by now and who was one of the perfect specimens selling raffle tickets, it had the dual effect of motivating and making me think, "What's the use?"
He swore my raffle ticket would win!
I was at the stairs so had a fairly good view. There was, of course (as there always is) one tall asshole (kidding, but I've always found vertically gifted people to be a lot more entertaining horiztonal) in the exact spot where some of the down-and-dirtiest grinding was happening, but overall I was happy to capture a few sizzling moments. I ran into my Broadway Bares bud Andrew Glaszek, who is apparently at every event in existence and has already slept with everyone I have a crush on; he's younger, but could be my mentor. Or maybe my chorus-boy rabbi.
A reminder: Be sure you donate $ to this worthy cause if you're gonna ogle my pictures and videos, 'k?
Preparing to toss Cesar's salad
First up was Cesar Abreu, working an ambitious James Bond number that included a gorgeous chick (whose name someone will probably send me) and Josh Buscher, who popped up later in the show. The great thing was that he had a gun in his pocket AND was happy to see us.
I wanna say I'm just a little stuck on Nick
Evita's Nick Kenkel had a leisurely routine centered around a studios type with a harness under his clothes and a penchant for whipping out Madonna fetish gear during a Janet Jackson number. One of the evening's best bodies on an evening when all of the bodies were simply the best.


text:
Owning a house is a never-ending adventure in investing your heart and soul into a wholly unique structure. Some homeowners have great big budgets for massive changes or enhancements to their home, others are working with a shoestring. If you're in the second group, you can still put your mark on your house. There are plenty of ways to personalize it without spending a lot of money.
Even Simple Changes Create Huge Home Impacts
After the stress of moving is over and the dust has settled, you may start to ponder other ways to enhance your new home. When you moved in, it was pretty generic, with cream-colored walls, light brown carpet and an outside paint job that absolutely no one could find offensive. A lot of houses end up in this generic state when the owner is wanting a fast sale, but that doesn't mean it has to stay that way!
Take a look at these small projects that can really make your home pop:
Replace the front door. According to Remodeling Magazine's 2018 Cost Versus Value Report, replacing your front door is one of the most value-packed changes you can make to your home. A new door not only creates a new focal point, it allows you to really get personal. These days you can special order doors in nearly any size with exquisite touches like frosted or stained glass, as well as bigger units that have full size windows on either side.
Remodeling Magazine ranked front door replacement third in cost recuperation; the best value return on the list was also a door. Consider your garage door while you're upgrading. Like front doors, garage doors are becoming increasingly detailed, with lots of options for personalization. Because they take up so much real estate on the front of your house, a new garage door can make your home look completely different.
Choose a paint scheme with more than two colors. That's not to say that you should go wild and paint your house in every color of the rainbow, but by using at least three colors, you can draw attention to the neat little details instead of letting them get lost in a monotone trim color. For example, if your post-World War two era home has neat porch brackets and dentils, you might paint those features to match the front door so they pop out from the trim. Just don't go crazy with color or the effect will be lost in the cacophony.
Add shutters and window boxes. On the right house, shutters or window boxes can pack a huge visual wallop. Choose shutters that are appropriate for the style of your home, even if you need to special order them. You can keep them seriously low-maintenance by selecting vinyl shutters in the color you're after — just hang them and forget it. The same goes for window boxes. Low maintenance boxes with colorful flowers can help perk up plain windows.
Relight the night. Details matter and that includes your lighting. Get rid of those generic carriage lights and clunky motion detecting flood lights and install some impressive lighting on the outside of your home. There are lots of styles to choose between, many with motion detection built-in, and several sizes. Lighting that fits in the space appropriately, provides lots of light and matches your home's outer theme is an important element in a total shoestring makeover.
Raise some flower beds. Growing plants on your lawn can become a messy proposition as the summer's heat starts to bear down. Built-up beds are easier to maintain than patches in the grass and they lend a bit of formality to the space. Choose a location that makes sense, like along a walkway or up against the porch so visitors are greeted with your cheery plants.
It doesn't take a huge budget to make changes to the outward appearance of your home. Planning colors and accessories strategically makes all the difference, especially when you're on a limited budget.
Not Sure You're Ready for Painting or Installing Fixtures?
Not everyone is handy or inclined to find out if they can paint by doing it, and that's ok, too. These inexpensive projects can be tackled by a home pro easily. Just log in to HomeKeepr to find a painter, electrician, landscaper or general handyman that your Realtor has already recommended! Your house will be refreshed and renewed in no time.


text:
If you've ever wondered what it takes to be an ASE-certified automotive technician, consider this: In the span of one career, automotive engine technology alone has advanced from purely mechanical devices that need periodic adjustments to sophisticated, computer-controlled systems that can actually compensate for normal wear.
The same can be said for virtually every major system on today's vehicles, from brakes to transmissions. And the technicians who service and maintain our vehicle fleet have had to learn it all. In fact, to be an ASE-certified automotive technician today is to commit to a lifetime of training just to keep abreast of changing technology.
Maintenance more necessary than ever before
Modern vehicles are wonders of engineering. In just the past decade, maintenance intervals for things like spark plugs, emissions and cooling systems have been stretched out to 100,000 miles in some vehicles.
But the need for periodic maintenance hasn't changed. In fact, given the longer life expectancy of today's vehicles, the need for periodic maintenance has never been greater if you expect to get the most from what has become the second biggest investment most individuals will ever make.
To protect this investment and to get the maximum reliability and safety from the vehicle you depend upon daily, you need to establish and follow a maintenance plan. The best place to start a maintenance program is by reading your owner's manual. In it you will find the manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule.
This schedule is based on "normal" driving, but remember that very few of us drive "normally." The roads are typically dusty and strewn with potholes and speed bumps. Look at the manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule as a starting point for your vehicle maintenance plan, not the final authority.
The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), the non-profit organization that tests and certifies the competence of individual automotive repair technicians, knows a few things about vehicle maintenance too. ASE offers some general recommendations, which apply to all types of cars and trucks, to help you build a comprehensive vehicle maintenance plan.
Lube for life
The engine is the heart of your vehicle and probably the most costly to repair when something goes wrong. Modern electronic controls have eliminated a lot of adjustments, and what we used to call a "tune-up" has evolved into something akin to a complete physical, where most of the work involved is designed to verify proper operation of computer control systems.
While it's true that new cars and trucks run cleaner than ever before, the engine and all its related control systems must be kept operating exactly as designed to prevent increased engine emissions and a host of driveability problems.
The one thing experts agree on that you can do to add many miles to your engine is regular oil and filter changes. Most auto manufacturers recommend oil and filter changes every 7,500 miles or six months under "normal" conditions, but repair experts believe a better interval is every 3,000 miles or three months. By changing the oil regularly, the inside of your engine will stay clean, and you'll avoid damaging sludge buildup.
Keeping cool
Today's cars also tend to run hotter than previous models. With the trend to downsize vehicle components to save space and weight, cooling system components are being asked to do more than their older counterparts.
The best thing you can do to maintain the cooling system at peak efficiency during the life of your car is to replace the coolant according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Although some of the newer coolants last longer, antifreeze does wear out. By replacing the coolant periodically, you insure that the corrosion inhibitors are fresh and are helping to eliminate the scale and corrosion that builds up inside the cooling system.
Fluid facts
Probably the most ignored fluid in the car — and the most important — is the brake fluid. Brake fluid is not a petroleum-based product, so it does absorb moisture from the air. This hygroscopic quality diminishes its effectiveness and lowers braking performance.
Sludge will also build up over a period of time, blocking the valves inside antilock brake (ABS) units and resulting in costly repairs or replacement. In addition, this sludge may cause calipers and wheel cylinders to leak, also resulting in repairs or replacement. Experts recommend having the brake fluid flushed and refilled periodically, although manufacturer recommendations vary as to how often.
The transmission fluid also needs to be changed on a regular basis to help keep the transmission in tip-top shape. Here again, some manufacturers have increased maintenance intervals to 100,000 miles for transmission fluid changes, but these systems still need periodic maintenance. Most transmission failures can be directly traced to a lack of maintenance. When planning your maintenance schedule, consider that even one transmission replacement will probably greatly exceed the cost of all the fluid and filter changes for the entire life of the car.
Power steering is another fluid that is often ignored. It is recommended that it be flushed and refilled at least as often as you replace the brake fluid.
Replacing the differential fluid is something that is most often overlooked. A regular fluid change will help the differential last the life of the vehicle. If your vehicle is four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, change the transfer case fluid as well.
Get out the grit
Filters play a critical part of a regular vehicle maintenance plan. Air and fuel filters keep dirt and abrasive grit out of the engine. Problems arise when these filters get dirty and start to clog up. Many driveability problems, such as hesitation and rough idle, can stem from dirty air and fuel filters. For maximum effectiveness, they should be replaced about every 15,000 miles, but driving in dusty conditions can require more frequent air filter changes.
A filter that is often overlooked is the carbon canister filter. It is an important part of the emission control system and filters the incoming air that this system uses. The canister is an integral part of today's engine management system, and a clogged canister filter can also result in driveability or emissions problems.
Some cars still have a positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) filter, also called a breather element. This filters the air for the PCV system to ensure clean air enters the engine crankcase. Most cars today draw air for the PCV system from the air cleaner housing so this filter is not needed, but if your engine has one, replace it at 15,000 mile intervals as well.
Speaking of the PCV system, the PCV valve (if equipped) should be replaced on a regular basis, too. When you put the new PCV filter in, replace the PCV valve as well. Many cars now use a metered orifice instead of a PCV valve and this should be checked periodically for free flow.
Today's 'tune-up'
Ignition systems have become much more reliable over the years. Many engines don't even have distributors anymore; they use a DIS or Direct Ignition System. These systems can either mount one ignition coil on each spark plug, or share one coil for two plugs, thus eliminating the need of a distributor.
On engines that still use a distributor, it is a good idea to replace the distributor cap, distributor rotor and ignition wires according to the manufacturer's recommendations.
The spark plugs need to be replaced on a regular basis as well. Even though some manufacturers have extended those intervals to 100,000 miles, this doesn't apply to all engines. The best plug to use is the one the manufacturer recommends. This information is usually found on an engine decal located under the hood.
Belt basics
Perhaps the most critical engine component these days is the timing belt. Most manufacturers suggest replacing the timing belt every 60,000 miles.
Not all engines use a timing belt, but on those that do, it's critical that it be replaced before it breaks. If your car has an interference engine where the valves and pistons occupy the same place in the combustion chamber at different times, serious engine damage can occur if the belt breaks while operating. If your car has a non-interference engine, the worst that will happen is you get stranded somewhere.
Other engine drive belts should be checked on a regular basis — about as often as you change oil. In general, you should look for excessively cracked, glazed or frayed belts. Many accessories — including the alternator, power steering pump and coolant pump — are operated by drive belts. If these belts break or slip, the components they drive will fail to work, leaving you stranded.
One more thing to check while you're looking at the belts is the battery. Virtually all batteries are maintenance-free these days, except for a periodic terminal cleaning and inspection for cracks or leaks. In addition, ensure the battery is mounted securely.
Tire tips
Tires are one of the most important maintenance items under your car. The best way to get the most out of your tires is by having them rotated and balanced on a regular basis, about every 7,500 miles. This ensures they wear evenly and last as long as possible.
Balancing is important to eliminate vibration at road speeds, and a properly balanced tire reduces the stress and strain on shocks, struts and steering parts. Keeping the tire pressures set to specification will also go a long way in extending tire life and fuel economy.
Seeing clearly
Finally, you should get in the habit of replacing your wiper blades once a year. The Car Care Council recommends replacing them each spring, when you set your clocks forward for Daylight Savings Time.
Wiper refills are the most inexpensive safety feature on your vehicle. And if you doubt having good wipers is a safety feature, try driving with bad ones in a downpour at night.
If you live in an area that suffers cold and snowy winters, you may want to change to winter blades in the fall and go back to regular blades in the spring.
Following a regular vehicle maintenance program is the best insurance you have against unexpected breakdowns and expensive repairs. It also pays dividends by allowing you to get the most out of your transportation investment


text:
Written by Andy Slack, David Thomas, and David L. Pulver 147 pages. PDF.
Price $9.99
Stock number FFE30-6607 144 pages. Softcover.
Suggested Retail Price $9.95 The Aslan want your planet . . .The warrior Aslan revere honor and glory; their traders and mercenaries are found throughout the Spinward Marches and the Solomani Sphere. Their wanderlust and combative nature make them well-suited to adventuring, while their habit of blatantly grabbing land when no one is looking makes them good recurring foes in a campaign. The K'kree want to kill you . . .The militant vegetarian K'kree are driven by their faith to rid the universe of all meat-eaters. Players may join this effort, fight against it, or simply try to make a living amidst the crusade. The K'kree are constantly clashing with the Vargr, and keep and uneasy peace along their borders with the Hivers and the various human client states in the region. Good thing they don't get along.The biology, homeworlds, culture, and society of the fierce Aslan and the centauroid K'kree are examined in detail. Alien Races 2 covers their historical involvement with the Imperium, from first contact to the present, and supplies racial templates, rules for playing alien characters, and examples of unique technologies and ship designs. Two new minor races are also presented here:
| |


text:
CPU-370 Water Block, Rev1.1 (AMD/Intel Processor)
The CPU-370 contains an advanced microfin cold plate (0.25mm fins, 0.30mm channels), o-ring sealed impingement plate, and an optimized flow path minimize coolant restriction.
The CPU-370 contains a copper cold plate with brass top. As with all Koolance products, nickel plating is added to improve corrosion resistance. Two universal steel mounting brackets are included for mainstream Intel and AMD processors. The CPU-370 has standard G 1/4 BSPP threading for any Koolance fitting diameter. Fitting sockets are placed far apart to allow for extra wide compression fittings. Please select the desired fitting type for this base model (it does not include fittings).
The CPU-370 supports most boards using the following processors:
- AMD socket AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1, FM2
- AMD socket 1207(F)/C32, 939, 940 (with separate BKT-CP021K)
- AMD socket G34 (with separate BLT-CPAMDG34)
- Intel socket LGA 2011
- Intel socket LGA 1155/1156
- Intel socket LGA 1366 (may require BLT-CPASZD12 if motherboard back plate is fixed)
- Intel socket LGA 775
Hybrid Thermal Solution: ready for air and water cooling
With its sharp ROG style, the ROG Hybrid Thermal Solution is more than just a VRM cooler: it combines a 100% copper watercooling channel with electroplated nickel barbs and an integrated heatpipe, all wrapped in air-cooling fins. With the choice of both water-cooling or air-cooling, Hybrid Thermal Solution delivers the ultimate add-on to achieve that OC advantage.
General | |
Weight | 0.80 lb (0.36 kg) |
Wetted Materials | Nickel-Plated Copper, Nickel-Plated Brass, Stainless Steel, EPDM |
Dimensions | ||
Diagrams / Models | (See Files Tab for Diagrams and 3D Models) |
Liquid Coolants
Koolance's product warranty does not cover the use of 3rd-party coolants, coolant additives, or corrosion. Koolance LIQ-702 or LIQ-705 coolants are strongly recommended to help avoid issues with mixed metals or biological growth. Additionally, do not use aluminum with bare (unplated) copper or bare (unplated) brass in the same system. Do not use silver with nickel in the same system.


text:
In relation to the question of when should you skin your application (desktop apps, not web pages, which are almost always customised), it seems a real fact, that sometimes you just have to do it, whether you like it or not.
In these cases, it might help to peek at some beautiful, specially well designed or just functional custom UIs. Do you have some examples of any of these? Do you use them in your daily life? Had you noticed that the UI was customised?
I'm looking for good customised UIs you can learn from.


text:
You know, this feels really...awkward. I mean, I know I ordered a different party clown -- I'm sure it was the booking agency that screwed up, not me -- but Cliff is here already, and it's too late to get a replacement, so maybe we should just let him do his act, and then once that's out of the way, we can bring on the lizard and cut the cake...
The "people's lawyer" is a criminal
In a sympathetic profile just before his resignation, Politico said Eric Holder's biggest legacy may be "his quiet dismantling of the War on Drugs...." How he could have "accomplished" this without legislative authority from Congress – which is supposed to make and pass laws – is never really explained.Except for the part where they explain it, but in Cliff's defense, the explanation is hidden way at the other end of the same paragraph, and he's a busy media critic who doesn't have time to play Where's Waldo? with words.
He was an Attorney General described by President Barack Obama as "the people's lawyer." Anybody familiar with Marxist jargon knew exactly what Obama meant.Join us for Marxist Jargon and Bolshevik Justice every weekday at 5 PM on KCAL, Channel 9. Or check local listings for the Stalinist Show Trial in your area!
At home and abroad, the Obama administration distributed weapons to America's enemies.Because every day is Christmas for American defense contractors, and the Pentagon is Santa Claus. Wait...the Obama administration distributed weapons to America's enemies at home? How come I didn't get one? The Joint Chiefs of Santa didn't send me so much as a Super Soaker or a high-powered T-Shirt cannon! But more to the point, why is Obama arming American enemies of America? Clearly, it's to fight a War on Christmas, which means that thousands of small brown children will not be getting bombs for the holidays.
Hm...I wonder if there's a photoshop of Obama as the Grinch, or if I have to make one myself...
Yeah, that literally took a nanosecond to find.
Holder's area of expertise was facilitating weapons shipments to Mexican drug cartels, in a scandal that came to be known as "Fast & Furious."You gotta admit, that's pretty amazing. Considering that "Fast and Furious" was a Bush Administration program, it's like walking into the copy room your first day on the job, finding all the lights blinking on the Xerox machine, and being told that "obviously your area of expertise is jamming up the copier!"
John Fund, co-author of the book Obama's Enforcer, about the Holder record, told me the other day that "No cover-up is perfect,"He was talking about John Boehner's spray tan. Still, he makes a good point.
and that it appears a batch of incriminating documents in the scandal will soon be released, thanks to legal action from Judicial Watch.Actually, it appears the court has ordered the DOJ to furnish a list of documents it doesn't want released, along with arguments for keeping them confidential. Still, Cliff makes a good point, assuming you don't click the link.
Equally scandalous, the Obama/Holder administration made an announcement that it wouldn't enforce money-laundering laws against banks doing business with marijuana stores.Or, put another way, the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued guidelines to banks to prevent marijuana businesses from being used for money laundering.
Providing clarity in this context should enhance the availability of financial services for marijuana businesses. This would promote greater financial transparency in the marijuana industry and mitigate the dangers associated with conducting an all-cash business. The guidance also helps financial institutions file reports that contain information important to law enforcement. Law enforcement will now have greater insight into marijuana business activity generally, and will be able to focus on activity that presents high-priority concerns.
Still, Cliff makes a good pointer, in that he's at least as smart as a medium-sized dog, and could probably be trained to sniff out small game.
But Politico insisted that Holder's criminal approach to the enforcement of drug laws was something in his favor, because the "Reagan-era crusade" against drugs that he opposed at every turn "hasn't eradicated drug use...."
Have laws against murder eradicated murder? Have laws against shoplifting eradicated shoplifting?And that quitter FDR never really gave Prohibition a chance! Anyway, it's sad to learn that our prisons, thanks to Reagan, are overflowing with shoplifters.
Politico goes on, saying those Reagan policies "filled U.S. prisons past the breaking point and wrecked the lives of millions of Americans, a disproportionate number of them African-American." So Reagan is blamed for blacks using drugs and going to prison."What? All we did was declare war against our own citizens, militarize the police, and spend $51,000,000,000 a year locking up mostly poor and minority Americans until our prison population exceeds that of Communist China or the old Soviet Union, and suddenly we're the jerks?!"
Ethan Nadelmann followed up with a Politico column entitled "Eric Holder Was Great on Drugs."Well, to be fair, he was probably great without drugs. You know how those people are...gifted.
The title has a double meaning, which was apparently lost on the editors who came up with that clever use of words.Sort of like the word "Teabagging."
It must be noted that Colorado and Washington violated national, and even international, drug control laws, also known as treaties. That didn't bother Holder.Any Attorney General who ignores treaty violations should be impeached and prosecuted, unless it was a treaty outlawing torture, because we might want to torture him for ignoring that treaty about pot.
Despite what Politico says, real conservatives oppose the Soros-funded drive to legalize drugs. At the recent Values Voter Summit, Rep. John Fleming (R-LA), a medical doctor...mentioned two cases out of Colorado – one in which a husband stoned on marijuana shot and killed his wife, and another involving a student who jumped to his death after getting high.I've never seen a stoner jump off the couch, let alone a building, even when the doorbell rings and they're pretty sure they're expecting a pizza. I'm also disappointed that Dr. Fleming didn't mention all the four-year olds who've shot people while high on dope. But I am a classicist, and have to give props to the Doc for continuing to mine his anti-drug anecdotes from episodes of Dragnet 1967.
Fleming didn't mention it, but an Alaska television reporter just announced on the air that she ran a marijuana club that she had been reporting on. She used an obscenity on the air and walked off the set.I'm not one for glamorizing drugs, but that was pretty awesome.
This was a vivid example of the dangers from the marijuana industry and the media that promote it.
"Hehehehe..I am sooo fucking high right now...!"
As the Joel Gilbert film "There's No Place Like Utopia" shows, the game plan behind marijuana legalization has been to create another "progressive" constituency in need of something government can provide – in this case dope to "cure" problems like high arches.I think you've been misinformed, Cliff. Dope doesn't cure high arches. Dope causes the munchies, which are cured by the golden arches. However, I thank you for pointing me to Mr. Gilbert's documentary, which makes Dinesh D'Souza look like Robert J. Flaherty. (If you've got a moment, click the link and watch the trailer. It delivers a surreal experience that will save you thousands of dollars in drug money.)
It is a terrible scam that results in many wrecked lives. Holder has helped make it possible.Eric Holder. History may remember him as America's first African-American Attorney General, but to Accuracy in Media, he'll always be Superfly.
Anyway, please join me in wishing Jay a very happy birthday. We close now with the traditional...