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Need a Gas Fitter in Pascoe Vale South, Victoria?
Gas Fitter Near Me is your local expert for all gas fitting services and we're available 24/7. We service Pascoe Vale South and surrounding areas for a range of gas fitting services, no matter how big or small the job is.
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Here at Gas Fitter Near Me, we pride ourselves on the professionalism of our gas fitters. Your satisfaction is our top priority and this means training our gas fitters in a range of customer service skills.
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For more details give us a call or fill out our online form and one of our friendly customer service staff members will get back to you.


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We've gone through a strange change, from people not realizing that they need to be their own brand, to people not realizing how being the brand impacts the way they do business. It's interesting, really. Tom Peters was the first person I recall talking about it, back in the Alan Webber days of FastCompany (The Brand Called You). Back then, we were all cubicle farmers and beige employees of the cog-world (okay, not true, but that's what it felt like). But now, we're getting the opposite, where people have all the tools to make a brand and do so, but don't really know how to leverage that brand into anything resembling a business. So, in some ways, there's been a bit of a see-saw. We used to have people that would prosper by turning their wonderfulness into a personal brand.
We Got There – Kinda
In a way, lots of us have found our way to the tools that allow us to try and build a brand. I meet finance professionals with blogs. I know videobloggers who have a day job doing research for the research and quantification sector. We have access to the tools. Not everyone's getting themselves to the promised land by blogging, but the tools are there. We CAN try and build personal brands and that's something.
But What About Business and Personal Branding?
The trick of being in a personal brand is that there's a big difference between being known, being known for something, and also being able to turn that into business.
I've got a recognizable personal brand. It took years to build it. From that, it took years to figure out how best to make business from it. Because just being known doesn't transform instantly into business.
I met Kathy Ireland a few months ago. She went from being a model into running a successful business with over $1 Billion in sales. Her speech at the Disney Social Media Moms event made no bones about the fact that it was hard going from being known for being beautiful into being respected for her business acumen. She told lots of stories about times when she and her business partner slept on the chairs in an airport to save money between business flights. The end point: no one just hands you money and business because they know you.
Your first takeaway: make sure you're progressing from being known into being known for something you've done, and then work at finding a way to build a business from that. Your second takeaway: no one wants to hand you money just because people know who you are.
It's Still Not About You
Being a personal brand isn't all that useful to anyone else, if it's just about you. It just doesn't get people as fired up to be "supporters of Chris," for instance. But instead, if you're "human business workers," all committed to improving relationship-minded sustainable human business practices, well, then I've got the sense that we'll do a lot more.
As a personal brand, it's really important to talk about everyone else as much as you can. It's just too boring and unhelpful to tell everyone about you. It's okay to "model the change you want to be," or even let people learn from the lessons you've suffered through, but make sure you bring it back to them, and be helpful. It's about the community you can touch and help succeed.
Be a Value Brand, Not a Name
I just had a great stay at the Renaissance Hotel in Las Vegas a few days back. Every single staffer treated me like I was a friend, and like they were so happy I was part of their experience. They gave me such value. They had advice for where I could go. They knew some ins and outs I needed to know. It was pure value for me as a frequent traveler.
I try to be a value brand. I try to give everyone so much more than what I ask for, that you think, "wow, I really DO want to help Chris promote Invisible People, because he's given me lots of actionable business ideas over the years." That's my angle, and it's working really damned well. Be a value.
Story Story Story
Connect folks to the story that brings them passion. I wrote about a charter school I visited, and learned tons about people's take on education in the US (and abroad). That's a story I could bring via my brand, but then let go so that it found the people who are passionate about such matters. See? I become the elbow of every "deal," where in this case, stories of meanings become the deal.
You can do that. Don't make the brand about you. Make it about the stories you can tell, adding your value and insight and passion, and then build on that. (This is where the business comes from, you know.)
Think Community Every Day
As a personal brand, it's not YOUR community, but it's a loosely joined group of people who feel affinity for some of your ideas or for the space you represent. In a way, I'm saying, "make sure you realize that it's never your community; it's a place you're privileged to access." People who throw "MY" around before the word "community" are often surprised when that community doesn't march in the same order that you intend. Surprise! The trick of this is that you have to recognize that you're in service of the community, not the other way around. You're possibly a leader, or at least someone that's known, but that doesn't make you the important part of the equation. With me?
Brands Need Refreshing
Never rest on your laurels. Madonna never did. She changed up her game every year. Soda pop companies tidy up their brand all the time. Now, think of a few brands that don't do that, who are still in the past. Where are they?
The same is true with your brand. You. Lord knows I work on my brand that way. You think I'm the social media guy? I'm building myself to be the human business guy. I used to be the podcamp guy. I used to be just a blogger. I'm always working on the angle of the brand. Now, it won't be there for you yet, because I'm talking about my planning, not my current situation. But that's the very point I'm making. This isn't accidental, or it isn't for people who use brand as part of their success.
Brand is Only ONE Asset
A brand is an asset. But it's only ONE asset. You can't feed your family on a personal brand. You have to deliver something of value. You have to have a product or a service or something else where you make the real money. The brand is just the powerful emotional flag that people can rally around. If you don't have more assets, or aren't developing the other assets, well… enjoy that flag.
What Else?
What else did I miss? What else can I help you with on this? How have you put this into service?

subset: commoncrawl


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By Laura Zuckerman
(Reuters) – Underground sensors have detected excessive radiation levels inside a nuclear waste storage site deep below New Mexico's desert, but no workers have been exposed and there was no risk to public health, U.S. Department of Energy officials said on Sunday.
An air-monitoring alarm went off at 11:30 p.m. local time Friday indicating unsafe concentrations of radiation inside the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in what DOE officials said appeared to be the first such mishap since the facility opened in 1999.
As of Sunday, the source of the high radiation readings had yet to be determined, and a plan to send inspection teams below ground to investigate was put on hold as a precaution.
"They will not go in today. It's a safety thing more than anything. We're waiting until we get other assessments done before we authorize re-entry," DOE spokesman Bill Mackie said.
The facility, located in southeastern New Mexico near Carlsbad, is designed as a repository for so-called transuranic waste, which includes discarded machinery, clothing and other materials contaminated with plutonium or other radioisotopes heavier than uranium.
The waste, shipped in from other DOE nuclear laboratories and weapons sites around the country, is buried in underground salt formations that gradually close in around the disposal casks and seal them from the outside world.
No workers were underground when the apparent radiation leak was detected in the vicinity of the plant's waste-disposal platform, and none of the 139 employees working above ground at the time was exposed, the Energy Department said.
The alarm automatically switched the underground ventilation system to filtration to keep any releases from reaching the surface, DOE officials said.
Subsequent testing of surface air in and around the facility showed the incident posed no danger to human health or the environment, Mackie said.
Air-monitor alarms at the facility have been tripped in the past by malfunctions or fluctuations in levels of radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas. But officials said they believe this to be the first real alarm since the plant began operations.
Just a few dozen essential personnel, including security officers, remained at the site over the weekend.
Inbound waste shipments had already been suspended at the plant since a truck caught fire there earlier this month in an accident that left several workers suffering smoke inhalation.
"We're in shutdown mode," Mackie said.
The facility in the Chihuahuan Desert normally receives up to 6,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste a year and employs more than 800 workers. The site is expected to continue to accept radiological materials until 2030, Mackie said.Φ
(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman; Additional reporting by Kevin Murphy; Editing by Steve Gorman and Eric Walsh)


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What Is Retinoblastoma?
Retinoblastoma is a type of eye cancer that affects the retina, the inner layer of the eye. Nerve cells in the retina sense light and send images to the brain and allow us to see.
Retinoblastoma causes tumors (clumps of cells) to grow in the retina. This happens when the nerve cells grow out of control. This means the eye can't communicate with the brain as it should.
Retinoblastoma can happen at any age, but most cases are in children younger than 2 years. Tumors can be in one eye or both eyes. They rarely spread to other parts of the body.
Retinoblastoma can be treated.
What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Retinoblastoma?
The most common early sign of retinoblastoma is leukocoria (a cloudy white pupil). In bright light, the pupil can look silvery or yellow.
Other signs include:
- eyes that are not lined up as they should be
- crossed eyes
- a pupil that is bigger than normal
- a cloudy iris (the colored part of the eye)
- poor vision
What Causes Retinoblastoma?
Most cases of retinoblastoma are caused by a genetic mutation (a change in a gene).
Heritable retinoblastoma can happen:
- when a child inherits a mutation (change in a gene) from a parent. Often, the baby will be born with retinoblastoma.
- spontaneously in a fetus during pregnancy. Most of these children will develop retinoblastoma before they are 1 year old.
This form of retinoblastoma usually affects both eyes and can cause more than one tumor in each eye.
Sporadic retinoblastoma happens when a gene mutation happens in early childhood, usually after 1 year of age and affecting just one eye. Doctors don't know why this happens.
How Is Retinoblastoma Diagnosed?
A pediatric
(an eye doctor for children) will carefully check the retina by dilating (enlarging) the pupil with eye drops. Sometimes, mostly in younger children, the doctor may give a medicine to make the child sleep during the exam.
The doctor might also order tests, like an ultrasound of the eye, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), blood tests, and genetic testing.
If retinoblastoma is found, a pediatric
(a children's cancer doctor) may do tests to see if the cancer also is anywhere else in the child's body.
- Retinoblastoma that is in the eye only is called intraocular.
- Retinoblastoma that has spread from the eye to tissues around the eye or other parts of the body is called extraocular. This type of cancer is rare, but can affect the brain, spinal cord, bone marrow, or lymph nodes. It may need many different types of treatment, such as radiation, chemotherapy, and a bone marrow transplant.
If the retinoblastoma is extraocular, the doctor will order more blood tests, a spinal tap (lumbar puncture), and a bone marrow
, taking a sample of cells from the hip bone.
How Is Retinoblastoma Treated?
The ophthalmologist and oncologist work together with a team of other experts to treat a child with retinoblastoma. The team will make a care plan based on the size of the tumor, whether it is in one or both eyes, and whether it has spread beyond the eye.
When they treat a child with retinoblastoma, doctors try to:
- get rid of the cancer
- save the eye when possible
- help the child see as well as possible
There are many treatments for retinoblastoma, and all are aimed at killing cancer cells. These treatments, or a combination of them, may be recommended:
- Systemic chemotherapy: Tumor-killing medicines are given by mouth, through an injection (a shot), or intravenously (into a vein).
- Intra-arterial chemotherapy: Chemotherapy medicines are injected into a small artery (a blood vessel that goes to the eye). This helps the medicine go straight to the tumor.
- Intra-vitreous chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is injected into the eye to treat small tumors that float in the vitreous (the jelly-like substance that fills the eyeball).
- Cryotherapy: Liquid nitrogen or argon gases are used to freeze and destroy cancerous tissue.
- Laser therapy: Laser energy is delivered to blood vessels around the tumor, causing small blood clots and depriving the cancer cells of nutrients they need.
- Radioactive plaques: Radioactive material (little rods or pellets) is placed straight into the tumor to deliver beams of radiation to specific areas. This form of treatment lessens the damage to surrounding healthy tissue.
- External beam radiation (EBRT): Beams of radiation are carefully focused onto the tumor to kill cancer cells. This therapy is sometimes used to treat aggressive tumors.
- Enucleation (eye removal): In severe cases of retinoblastoma, the whole eye is removed to stop the spread of cancerous cells to other parts of the body.
A child will need regular eye exams (usually while under anesthesia) to make sure the treatment is working.
What Happens After Treatment?
Retinoblastoma treatment can cause side effects in some kids.
- Chemotherapy can leave kids feeling nauseated, weak, dizzy, or feverish.
- Radiation therapy might make kids feel more tired. Their skin can get red or dry in the area being treated.
During this time, the doctor may order pain relievers for your child.
When treatment is over, kids can get back to normal activities if they feel well enough and if the doctor says it's OK. Recovery time can vary from one child to another.
Children who have an eye removed get a prosthetic eye in its place. Prosthetic eyes are of such good quality that most people can't tell which eye is natural and which is prosthetic.
Most children treated for retinoblastoma go on to lead normal lives.
What Else Should I Know?
If a baby's parent or sibling has had retinoblastoma, the baby should have an eye exam shortly after birth to see if there is a tumor in the eye. If a tumor is found early, the child may need less treatment and doctors might have a better chance of saving the baby's eyesight.
Kids with hereditable retinoblastoma in one eye could get it later in the other eye. So they should have regular checkups of the healthy eye as recommended by the ophthalmologist. After treatment, they should have checkups for as long as directed by the treatment team.
Looking Ahead
Learning that a child has cancer is upsetting, and cancer treatment can be stressful for any family.
But remember, you're not alone. To find support, talk to your doctor or a hospital social worker. Many resources are available to help you get through this difficult time, including online sites such as:


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Looking for Resume Writing Services? A Professional Resume Writer?
Read Actual Resumes Written By The Top 5 Professional
Resume Writers & Services
See Why ResumeWritingGroup.Com
Was Ranked
#1 Among Resume Writers In This Study!
Professional Resume Writers Were Hired By "Mystery Shoppers" To Create Resumes For The Same Person. Next, One Of The Companies Had A Completely Independent, Unbiased Panel Review Them "Blind" And Give Their Opinions Regarding Who Did The Best Job! ResumeWritingGroup.Com won!
Anyone can CLAIM to be a professional resume writer. We decided to put a number of resume writing sites to the test by having a mystery shopper hire them to write resumes for the same job candidate. Those who participated in a blind study ranking the resumes without knowing which company wrote which resume ranked ResumeWritingGroup.Com #1. Most of the other companies merely shuffled around a few words from the client's notes and then produced bland, often error-filled resumes that weren't even aesthetically pleasing. In our opinion, not only did The Resume Writing Group provide a stellar resume, they also offered the best customer service, excellent turnaround time, superior guarantees, & competitive rates. You can view the actual resumes created by ResumeWritingGroup and the 4 other top contenders (as well as our opinions) by clicking any of the links below...
Compared with all of the sites we evaluated, this one did the BEST job writing a truly professional resume. It was clear to us that much thought and a good amount of strategic word play went into their writing. A nice website, strong customer service, excellent guarantees, & competitive pricing make them our top choice.
Owned by the same parent company as us and our #1 rated site, this one's ordering format & customer service guarantees were similar. Their nicely polished work outshined most of the other competition, but while the resume they produced was very good--it lacked some of the luster of our #1 choice and they used 2 pages when only 1 was needed.
1-On-1-Resumes did a commendable job and as an Azoos company, their staff is pleasant. Turnaround is impressive. There was nothing "wrong" with their work but their resume was rather "plain" and, ironically, could've done more to "sell" the candidate. Still, it's good enough to escape criticism. They did an "average" job and earned an "average" score.
Here we considered cutting the count off at "Top 3." If ResumeMyCareer put the same effort into their resumes that they do into their website, they'd hold a higher position. Unfortunately, they were clearly more concerned with their advertising content than they were with resume content. Their work reads (and looks) far below the benchmark set by the competition.
Despite having one of the nicest looking resume writing websites, ResumesPlanet produced the most unattractive document in our top 5 (#6 was even worse though!). Their resume was riddled with errors & typos. However, even at only a 1 star rating, they still managed to outscore other sites that didn't even make our list!


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Self-isolation changes on Monday for fully-vaccinated people - full list of new rules
People who are fully vaccinated against Covid and come into contact with someone who tests positive will not have to quarantine, under new guidance.
Instead, they will have to reduce their contact with others and will be advised to wear a mask and take a PCR test.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdWhen will the new rules come into effect?
From August 16, people in England who have had both doses of a Covid vaccine will no longer have to spend 10 days in quarantine if they are in contact with a positive case.
They will be advised to take a PCR test, but that will not be compulsory and they will not have to self-isolate while they wait for the result.
If someone develops symptoms of the virus, the government says they should self-isolate and get a PCR test, and stay in isolation until the result comes back.
The new guidance will apply to people who had their final dose of an approved vaccine at least 14 days before coming into contact with a positive case.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdPeople who test positive will still be legally required to self-isolate.
The government said people will also continue to be encouraged to do rapid lateral flow testing twice a week in an effort to find asymptomatic cases of the virus.
Health and social care staff will have to provide a negative PCR test to return to work if they are a contact of a positive case, and also take daily lateral flow tests for 10 days as a precaution, while those working with clinically extremely vulnerable patients will need to undergo a risk assessment before going back to work.
People using the NHS Covid app who are identified as close contacts of a positive case will be asked to self-declare if they are under-18 or double-jabbed and will be advised to book a PCR test.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdWhat has the Department of Health said?
The Department of Health said that due to the fact even the double-jabbed are still at risk of being infected, contacts will be advised to consider other precautions like wearing a mask in enclosed spaces and limiting interactions with other people, especially the clinically extremely vulnerable.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Monday will be "another huge step back towards our normal lives".
He said: "Getting two doses of a vaccine has tipped the odds in our favour and allowed us to safely reclaim our lost freedoms, and from Monday we can take another huge step back towards our normal lives by removing self-isolation requirements for double-jabbed people who are contacts of people with Covid."
When can under 18 year olds book a jab?
On August 12, NHS England said thousands of young people approaching their 18th birthday can now book their jab.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMore than 100,000 eligible teenagers will be sent text messages inviting them to get a vaccine.
There are more than 300 sites across England currently offering jabs to 16 and 17-year-olds, after the rollout was extended to that age group last week.
When it comes to school children, the government has said it will review testing requirements by the end of September.
The new school year in England will see bubble arrangements end for pupils.
Secondary school and college students are expected to do two onsite tests on their return to education, followed by twice weekly testing at home.


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We've often heard it said that Christ should be the foundation of your life, and this is true. Remember, though, what a foundation is for – we're supposed to build on it! Each of us were created to live in this world for a reason, and our job is to build ourselves up to be the best we can be based on this solid foundation. We're supposed to construct rising layers and to build up ourselves and our presence in the world. If Christ is the foundation, then I believe it stands to reason that being authentic and honestly knowing ourselves is the ground floor. Everything else builds up from here and depends on the support of the layers beneath it. Christ gives us our spiritual roots, and knowing ourselves helps us to serve the world in the best way possible.
I truly believe that we can't relate to other people and perform to the best of our ability if we don't know ourselves. How can we? How can you get along with others if you don't know yourself? How can you do your best when you don't know where your talents and abilities lie? How can you form solid relationships with other people if you can't be honest with yourself? How can you succeed when you can't accept reality? You may be rooted in Christ, but you can still get stuck in horrible ruts if you don't take the next step to knowing yourself and to find contentment in what God made you to be.
So what is contentment? It's accepting the reality of where you are and working to strive for better. Life certainly isn't perfect, and sometimes it can take you to dark places. This is the ugly underside of reality in an imperfect world. Life is going to hurt from time to time, and we may be completely dissatisfied with where we are. I certainly understand. I mentioned that I went through major changes in my personal and work life in 2010 and believe me, that was a special kind of hell. For many months I literally had no peace no matter where I went because battles raged all around me. Change is tough. It was hard enough to face two major transitions, but add to that the fact that change makes people very nervous and irritable and you understand what I mean by facing battles on every front.
How did I make it through? First, I believed in the promises that the Lord knows His plans for me and they are for good (Jeremiah 29:11) and that all things work together for good for those who love Christ and are called to His purpose (Romans 8:28). These promises, from the foundation of my faith, gave me the courage to stand up and take charge of my life. I claimed my life as my own and acknowledged that, although I couldn't help the changes or control them, I certainly had a right to work them for the best. I sought advice from others I trusted, took advantage of every opportunity, and kept my eyes on the goal of coming through these transitions to building a life that was better than the one I had before. I wasn't happy with my life, but I found contentment in knowing that the Lord was leading me through a transition that was taking me to a better life. I can honestly say that my life is better today than it was two years ago, and I'm grateful for that. It wasn't easy – it fact, it was brutally painful in spirit– but I feel I've come out wiser and with knowledge and experience that will guide me through whatever comes next.
I believe this story shows that contentment doesn't mean that things are perfect. As I said, we live in an imperfect world, and if you reserve your happiness for that magic day when it all comes together then you won't be happy a day in your life. Contentment means accepting reality. It means resting in the Lord. It means being true to yourself. It means doing the very best you can in everything you do. And I do believe that is the secret to joy. It's not an elated happiness or a dopamine high, but rather a sense of peace in doing the best you can with what the Lord has given you.
I think we owe it to everybody: God, ourselves and the world, to be authentic. After all, we are all part of the Body of Christ. We do His work in the world now. Isn't that a job worth offering your absolute best for?


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Hilarious Examples of Why You Shouldn't Text and Walk [VIDEO]
Texting and walking has become somewhat of a bad habit to everyone who has access to a cell phone. You've done it, I've done it, and so has everyone else. There is no denying it. And chances are you've run into something or someone, tripped, or made some type of fool of yourself while doing so. And if you haven't, just ask these people if their text message was worth all of the embarrassment they suffered.


text: 100% Natural wool, in every Aran Gentle on our planet & on you Certified Authentic Aran® Made with love in Ireland Made with love in Ireland Product Description Brady Clan Aran & History Display - Reviews The Brady Clan Aran & History Display is a wonderful item of Brady heritage which can be proudly displayed in your home or place of work to demonstrate the pride your have in your Brady name. Lovingly handcrafted & using the finest 100% soft new wool, this Brady Clan Aran & History Display has been created following the historic family pattern of your clan. Display also includes decorative color print of the Brady Clan crest placed alongside a clan history featuring information on the Brady family name, it's ancient origins and even includes variants and deviations of the name. Also featured is a description of the family name's original crest along with the unique Brady Clan motto. Wonderful gift idea for family & friends who have pride in their Brady ancestry and family roots. Size: 11" x 14" This display measures: Height = 35.5cm/14" Width= 28cm/11" (frame not included) Garment Care Read more  on how to care for your garment. Delivery & Returns When you order, you automatically qualify for our flat rate shipping offer - only pay flat rate shipping on 1 item - all others shipped for Free (per order). Immediate Dispatch (usually within 24 hours) Average 2 - 3 days shipping. Secure, Fast Delivery by our Courier with excellent tracking system provided. Read more  about estimated delivery times to you. Shop with confidence with our Extended 6 Months Returns - read more


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In the late 80s and early 90s, until his health deteriorated too much, Ajahn Buddhadāsa gave regular lectures during the international retreats held at Suan Mokkh and then Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage. Ajahn spoke in Thai and Santikaro Bhikkhu interpreted into English live.
This Dhamma lecture, 2/5 of the series, was given on 3rd September 1987.


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This post is long - the type of post that it is easy to skip past. Yet, I think it has some useful information for those who have asked a question or two about how to actually motivate atheists and secularists.
A member of the studio audience wrote to me expressing disappointment that so few people seemed interested in the Pledge Project in specific - or motivating atheists in general. He wondered why this was the case, and what can be done to change it.
In light of this question, I want to say some things about what Desire Utilitarianism has to say about motivation in general - how to get people to act in certain ways. For example, how do you motivate people to put some serious effort into countering the anti-atheist propaganda that is written into the national motto and national pledge?
We start with the proposition that people always act so as to fulfill the most and strongest of their own desires, given their beliefs.
[Note: If one is interested in a more technical description; people act in a way such that, if their beliefs were true and complete, then their action will produce a state of affairs in which the propositions that are the objects of the most and strongest of their desires are true.]
So, how do you get people motivated to take on the pledge and the motto?
Answer: You make it the case that actions that take on the pledge and the motto will fulfill the most and strongest of the desires of those you are talking to - given their beliefs.
In other words, if the people you are writing to are not already acting so as to take on this task, then it is because the task does not fulfill their desires, given their beliefs. In motivating them, you must alter their beliefs, or their desires, or both, so that the task does fulfill the more and stronger of their desires, given their beliefs.
There is a moral issue here with respect to beliefs. This model suggests that one of the ways in which we can motivate people into choosing to act in a particular way is by lying to them. Since people act so as to fulfill the most and strongest of their desires, given their beliefs, if we get them to (falsely) believe that a particular act will fulfill their desires, we can manipulate how they choose to act. With the right lie, we can get them to act in ways that they think will fulfill their desires, but which will fulfill our desires instead.
For just this reason we have many and strong reasons to promote a love of truth and an aversion to deception. We have reason to praise those who strive to make sure that others have true beliefs, and condemn those who attempt to manipulate others through false beliefs.
I have mentioned in an earlier posts that liars are parasites. They feed off of the intentional actions of others – manipulating others into thinking that an acti will fulfill the agent's own desires when, in fact, it will thwart the agent's desires and fulfill the desires of the liar instead. We have reason to view these parasites with great condempt, and become deserving of contempt ourselves if we take this route.
So, let's add the moral constraints that we are going to be concerned with true beliefs, and we are going to respect a person's interest in actually fulfilling the most and strongest of her own desires.
With this moral restriction to provide true and complete beliefs in place, then the task of manipulating others is limited to the task of providing them with information that they are missing that is currently preventing them from fulfilling the most and strongest of their own desires. Belief-centered persuasion here focuses on, "Here are some facts that you seem not to be aware of. With these facts in place, you can see that the most and strongest of your desires can be better fulfilled by doing act A." This, then, motivates the agent to perform act A.
Much of what I have written in the Pledge Project fits into this category of motivation. I have sought to bring into the light some moral facts about 'under God' and 'In God We Trust' that have been buried behind an excess of interest in legal facts
Namely, that 'under God' in the Pledge adds atheism and other non-monotheist beliefs to the list of great evils that no patriotic American will support – the others being rebellion (indivisible), tyranny (with liberty), and injustice (with justice for all). It is my hope that readers will have an aversion to being classified with those who support rebellion, tyranny, and injustice, and see stronger reason to oppose 'under God' in the Pledge.
Also, I sought to point out how "In God We Trust" translates into "We Trust in God" – which means, "If you do not trust in God, then we do not think of you as one of us." This, I argue, is morally comparable to a sign that says, "If you are not hite, then we do not think of you as being one of us," since not being white is as irrelevant to matters of patriotism and moral character as not trusting in God. My hope is that people will have a sufficient aversion to this type of injustice that they would be motivated to challenge the Pledge and the Motto.
However, I could be wrong. It may be the case that opposing the Pledge and the Motto fulfills (or prevents the thwarting) of the agent's most and strongest desires. To the degree that this is the case, the person seeking to motivate others has to look towards another set of motivations.
Reward and Punishment
The next option in motivating people is to create a situation where the actions one wants them to perform will fulfill their desires. That is, to use threats and rewards in order to create a state where, "If you perform these actions that I want you to perform, you will be rewarded - that is to say, I will see to the fulfillment of other desires of yours. If you do not perform these actions, then you will be punished. That is, I will see to the thwarting of certain desires of yours."
Of course, it takes a fair amount of power to do this. In the United States today, it is those who advocate in favor of the Pledge and the Motto who have this type of power. We have seen it at work in a number of cases regarding the Pledge over at "Atheist Ethicist Journal" - people who have been subject to threats in order to get them to support or endorse the Pledge in some way.
This actually presents us ith a Catch-22. The reason that atheists do not have power, is because they are not organized. This lack of organization is caused, in part, by a lack of motivation to challenge the Pledge and the Motto. Increasing motivation will increase power, yet, to some extent, increased power is required to increase motivation.
Altering Malleable Desires
Setting this problem aside for a moment, the next option for motivation is to alter the desires that agents have. If people act so as to fulfill the most and strongest of their desires, if we can change their desires so that they have a strong aversion to any state that includes 'under God' in the Pledge and 'In God We Trust' as the motto, then they will be motivated to realize a state in which these do not exist.
Unfortunately, we have a situation where those who favor 'under God' and 'In God We Trust' have a virtual monopoly on the power to manipulate the desires of others – particularly young children. They have used this power to promote a desire to protect 'under God' and 'In God We Trust' – and to promote an aversion to any who would object to these practices. They use this power in particular on young children, where the aversions can be set deep and affect an individual long into adulthood.
We manipulate malleable desires through praise and condemnation. Those desires that we praise (particularly in children) tend to become stronger. Those desires that we condemn (particularly in children) tend to become weaker.
One of those hidden and unappreciated facts about the Pledge and the Motto is that they are instances of praise and condemnation. 'Under God' in the Pledge is a statement of praise for those who would support 'one nation under God' – just as it aims to praise those who would support union, and support liberty and justice for all.
"In God We Trust" is also a statement of praise for those who trust in God – claiming that such people deserve the honor of being included in the group known as "we"; while those who do not trust in God do not deserve membership.
When these emotional manipulators are applied to very young children, they created deep-seated desires and aversions. In this case, one of the aversions that it creates is an aversion to challenging 'under God' in the Pledge and 'In God We Trust' in the motto.
So, when I (and others) suggest that people challenge things like the Pledge and the Motto, we discover that such an act does not fulfill the desires of very many people. People, trained since early childhood to resist challenges to these practices, look on the instructions with a feeling of uneasiness – even dread. Following the suggestion thwarts basic desires planted in them at a very young age, and people will tend to avoid actions that go against their deepest aversions.
Theocratic Use of Three Tools of Motivation
In this, I want to point out how well the theocratic supporters of the current Pledge and Motto have used these three tools of motivation. They have manipulated beliefs so that people believe that support for the Pledge and the Motto fulfills desires that those agents already have. They have branded these acts of discrimination as acts of prejudice, and constantly assert that they show respect for all people who have fought for our rights.
They have power and they are willing to use it to make sure that others act so as to promote this Pledge and Motto. Let a politician dare to challenge the Pledge and Motto, and they summon their friends and neighbors to make sure that the perpetrator knows, "You will either support us on this, or you will suffer the political consequences."
Finally, they mold the desires – particularly of young children – by exposing them constantly to the idea that support for 'one nation under God' is praiseworthy, while failure to support 'one nation under God' is the same as insulting America and insulting all of those who have fought for our freedom. They expose children – and Americans in general – as much as possible to the praise of knowing that those who trust in God qualify as being one of 'us', and that those who do not trust in God are not to be counted as one of us.
Other groups that have faced discrimination have faced the same problem. Universally, it is recognized that one of the primary tasks in motivating people is to tackle these unproductive aversions that the culture has planted in people. Other groups recognize this problem as the problem of empowerment.
Gay-pride parades are not useful so much because of the effect that they have on others. They are useful for the effect that they have on those who march in the parade. This is an act of empowerment – a way of asserting oneself and overcoming the sense of shame and guilt that one has learned to associate with being gay at a very young age.
The women's rights movement instituted a ritual where women would burn their bras. What did this accomplish? What it accomplished was that it was an act of empowerment – a way of burning the psychological baggage that has been associated with a culture that has branded them as inferior and fit only to obey the rule of men.
Two rituals of empowerment have emerged in the atheist community to date. One of them was the Blasphemy Challenge. To make a video in which one denies the existence of God, and to post it on the internet, is an act of empowerment – just what is needed to throw off the yoke of aversions planted in us since childhood.
Another ritual of empowerment is Dawkins' Out Campaign. This campaign has promoted as a political act – an act grounded on the principle, "If they knew us, then they would not hate us." I have objected to this claim. History provides us with too many examples of groups easily identified yet still easily discriminated against.
However, if we take the same campaign and put it in a different context – if it were branded as an empowerment campaign, then it has merit. On this perspective, wearing the scarlet A is not a way of changing the world. It is a way of changing oneself. It is a way of taking power back from those who have claimed unjust power for themselves.
An act of empowerment is not a magic pill that instantly erases the effects of emotional manipulation through years of exposure to the Pledge and Motto as a child. It is, instead, a step. It weakens the effects of those practices, hopefully making it a little easier to perform another act of empowerment, which weakens those learned reactions even more.
Derived Lessons
Since they have effectively used these tools that secularists have ignored, we have the effect of living in a society where more people are motivated to defend these practices than to remove them.
How do we change this?
(1) Remove the Pledge (when it contains the words 'under God') and the Motto from as many places as possible – particularly from places where young children are involved. Recognize that these practices aim to manipulate the emotions (desires) of young children by praising support for 'one nation under God' and 'In God We Trust'.
(2) Engage in and promote acts of empowerment. So something to take back power from those who have been using these tools to take power for themselves for 50+ years. Wear an atheist t-shirt, attend an atheist gathering, attend a civic event just so that you can sit through the Pledge of Allegiance in full view of everybody, or just 'come out' to somebody you have not come out to before. These are all acts of empowerment. These are all acts that say, "This is my life and I am claiming it for myself. You do not have control over me any longer."
Of course, acts of empowerment are infectious. When a child sees somebody standing up to the Pledge and the Motto, the child is much less likely to see that these practices are unquestioned. She is much more likely to ask questions. "Is it the case that the Pledge unfairly brands atheists as un-American by putting them in the same category as those who would support rebellion, tyranny, and injustice.
But it has to start somewhere.


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The Climate Reconstruction webpage…
of the NOAA Paleoclimatology Program and World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, Boulder contains a number of multi-century SST anomaly reconstructions. Though I posted the AMO reconstruction dataset in an earlier thread, SST Reconstructions, I thought it deserved an individual post. So what I've done in the following is presented the write-up provided by NOAA, with graphs trailing.
A link to the paper:
Keep in mind that the AMO Reconstruction data presented at the end of this post is not the same as the AMO presented by the NOAA ESRL. The NOAA ESRL AMO data is detrended North Atlantic SST data. The long-term reconstruction of the AMO has not been detrended. It is "the 10-yr moving average of annual SSTA values. Values are reported as standard deviations."
NAME OF DATA SET: Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Index Reconstruction
LAST UPDATE: 10/2004 (Original Receipt by WDC Paleo)
CONTRIBUTORS: Stephen Gray and Julio Betancourt, USGS Desert Laboratory; Lisa Graumlich and Greg Pederson, Big Sky Institute, Montana State University.
SUGGESTED DATA CITATION: Gray, S.T., et al.. 2004.Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Index Reconstruction.IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series #2004-062. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.
ORIGINAL REFERENCE: Gray, S.T., L.J. Graumlich, J.L. Betancourt, and G.T. Pederson. 2004.
A tree-ring based reconstruction of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation since 1567 A.D. Geophysical Research Letters, 31:L12205, doi:10.1029/2004GL019932.
We present a tree-ring based reconstruction of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) which demonstrates that strong, low-frequency (60–100 yr) variability in basin-wide (0–70°N) sea surface temperatures (SSTs) has been a consistent feature of North Atlantic climate for the past five centuries. Intervention analysis of reconstructed AMO indicates that 20th century modes were similar to those in the preceding ~350 yr, and wavelet spectra show robust multidecadal oscillations throughout the reconstruction. Though the exact relationships between low-frequency SST modes, higher frequency (~7–25 yr) atmospheric modes (e.g., North Atlantic Oscillation/Arctic Oscillation), and terrestrial climates must still be resolved, our results confirm that the AMO should be considered in assessments of past and future Northern Hemisphere climates.
GEOGRAPHIC REGION: North Atlantic Ocean (0-70º N)
FUNDING SOURCES: National Science Foundation (USA), U.S. Geological Survey.
Reconstruction of North Atlantic sea surface temperature anomalies and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation index based on tree ring chronologies from eastern North America, western Europe, Scandinavia and the Middle East.
These data represent a tree-ring based reconstruction of annual sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) for the North Atlantic Ocean (0-70º) and a reconstruction of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index derived from these SSTA values. The AMO is the leading mode of low frequency, North Atlantic SST variability. Over the instrumental period (1856-Present) the AMO exhibited a 65-80 yr cycle (0.4 º C range), with warm phases at roughly 1860-1880 and 1930-1960 and cool phases during 1905-1925 and 1970-1990. The AMO appears to have returned to a warm phase beginning in the mid 1990s.
The AMO has been linked to multi-year precipitation anomalies over North America, and appears to modulate the strength of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnections over large portions of the Northern Hemisphere. Multidecadal variability in the North Atlantic is also thought to play a role in Atlantic hurricane formation, rainfall over the Caribbean and northeastern Brazil, African drought frequency, and winter temperatures in Europe. Instrumental observations capture only two full cycles of the AMO, so a need exists for developing proxies to assess low-frequency North Atlantic SST variations and their climatic effects.
These SSTA and AMO reconstructions span the period from A.D. 1567 to 1990 and were developed using 12 tree-ring records from eastern North America, western Europe, Scandinavia, and the Middle East. We first reconstructed annual SSTA values for the North Atlantic and then smoothed this time series with a 10-yr moving average to produce the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation index. Correlations between the observed and reconstructed SSTA and AMO values were high (r = 0.64 and 0.81, respectively) and numerous tests confirmed that the model has significant skill in predicting SSTA values.
North Atlantic SST Reconstruction
http://i47.tinypic.com/ekkhuc.pngAMO Reconstruction "The AMO index is the 10-yr moving average of annual SSTA values. Values are reported as standard deviations"


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Alan Young, star of 1960s sitcom 'Mr. Ed,' dies at 96
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor-comedian Alan Young, who played the amiable straight man to a talking horse in the 1960s sitcom "Mister Ed," has died, a spokeswoman for the Motion Picture and Television Home said Friday. He was 96.
The English-born, Canadian-educated Young died Thursday, according to Jaime Larkin, spokeswoman for the retirement community where Young had lived for four years. His children were with him when he died peacefully of natural causes, she said.
Young was already a well-known radio and TV comedian, having starred in his own Emmy-winning variety show, when "Mister Ed" was being readied at comedian George Burns' production company. Burns is said to have told his staff: "Get Alan Young. He looks like the kind of guy a horse would talk to."
Mr. Ed was a golden Palomino who spoke only to his owner, Wilbur Post, played by Young. Fans enjoyed the horse's deep, droll voice ("WIL-bur-r-r-r-r") and the goofy theme song lyrics ("A horse is a horse, of course, of course ... "). Cowboy star Allan "Rocky" Lane supplied Mr. Ed's voice.
An eclectic group of celebrities including Clint Eastwood, Mae West and baseball great Sandy Koufax made guest appearances on the show.
"Mister Ed" was one of a number of situation comedies during the early to mid-'60s that added elements of fantasy. Others were "My Mother the Car," in which a man's dead mother spoke to him through an old car; "My Favorite Martian" in which a Martian took up residence on Earth disguised as the uncle of an earthling; and "Bewitched" in which a witch married a mortal.
A loose variation on the "Francis the Talking Mule" movies of the 1950s, "Mister Ed" was one of the few network series to begin in syndication. After six months, it moved to ABC in October 1961 and lasted four seasons.
When the cameras weren't rolling, the human and four-legged co-stars were friends, according to Young. If Ed was reprimanded by his trainer, Young said, "He would come over to me, like, 'Look what he said to me.'"
Like many series of its vintage, "Mister Ed" won new fans in later decades through near-constant cable TV syndication and video releases.
Young also appeared in a number of films, including "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes," ''Tom Thumb," ''The Cat from Outer Space" and "The Time Machine," the latter the 1960 classic in which, speaking in a Scottish brogue, he played time traveler Rod Taylor's friend. Young had a small role in the 2002 "Time Machine" remake.
In later years, Young found a new career writing for and voicing cartoons. He portrayed Scrooge McDuck in 65 episodes for Disney's TV series "Duck Tales" and did voice-overs for "The Great Mouse Detective."
Young's sly, low-key style first attracted a wide U.S. audience in 1944 with "The Alan Young Show" on ABC radio. He also drew attention from Hollywood, but early films such as "Margie" and "Mr. Belvedere Goes to College" did poorly and in 1950 he turned to the growing new medium of TV and moved "The Alan Young Show" to the small screen, where it offered a contrast to the slapstick and old vaudeville of other variety shows.
His gentle comedy caused TV Guide to hail him as "the Charlie Chaplin of television," and the fledgling Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded Emmys to Young as best actor and to the show as best variety series.
Howard Hughes, who had seen Young on TV, hired him for the lead in a film version of "Androcles and the Lion," a comedy based on the George Bernard Shaw play. When it opened in theaters, however, nobody laughed, so Hughes withdrew the movie and shot two weeks of new sequences.
"He put in girls with gauze and a real lion, and it became a blood-and-guts film," Young recalled in 1987.
Angus Young was born Nov. 19, 1919, of Scottish parents in the north England town of North Shields. (In his later years he claimed he was born in 1924.)
The family moved to Canada when he was a child, and he began entertaining in Vancouver when he was 13. He had his own radio program, "Stag Party," on the CBC network by the time he graduated from high school. After two years in the Canadian navy, he moved to New York City.
Young was a Christian Scientist from his teen years. In the early 1970s, he left his career to work for the Mother Church in Boston. He spent three years establishing a film and broadcasting center, then toured the country for two years as a Christian Science lecturer. Disillusioned by the church bureaucracy, he returned to Hollywood in 1976.
In 1940, Young married Mary Anne Grimes and they had a daughter, Alana, and a son, Alan Jr. The marriage ended in 1947.
In 1948 he married singer Virginia McCurdy, and they had a son, Cameron Angus, and a daughter, Wendy.
There was no information on survivors.
Biographical material in this story was written by The Associated Press' late Hollywood correspondent Bob Thomas.


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SolEol has been an ongoing pet project of mine to automate some tasks I do routinely regarding subtitle download and other video treatment.
I've been asked to share what I had and after some quick clean-up I've made just that. I've disabled the screens I know would be just too buggy for general use and focused on subtitle download alone.
The tool has been designed on an Intel Mac and is compiled as a universal app, there are versions for Linux (with GTK+) Windows as well. I haven't tested in those so I'd appreciate comments on how it looks in them.
As of 2016 SolEol development is pretty much stopped. Donations never came and after a while updates are not uploaded because the extra polish needed to release is just not worth the effort. I'll probably keep updating SolEol 1 and 2 if any major problem hits the API, as I need to use it myself, but only the bare minimum. I appreciate and thank the support of all that actually decided to support the tool. Even a token donation or an email note go a long way.
–Download SolEol (test version, use at your own risk)
Changes in 1.5 – 20110404
Second-to-last version before the big Cocoa re-write of 2012!
- Corrected naming preferences when only one subtitle is selected: Language should be included in the name or not depending on the user preference.
- Fixed By-name search in OpenSubtitles. If no results are found by hash a simple name search will be executed. No subs are selected by default in this mode.
- Subtitle preview should work properly: Right-click over subtitle result to preview.
Changes in 1.4.0 – 20120126
Almost a major release but not quite there yet
- NEW in 1.4.0: Fixed bug from 1.3.5 with naming of subs.
- NEW in 1.4.0: Result groups (by link, by name, unmatched) will always show in results, even empty).
- PPC version 1.4.0 – Note PPC version will soon be de-phased
Carried over from 1.3.5, released one day before:
- NEW: Shortcut: Shift-Alt/Option upon app start: Reset preferences to default values
- NEW: Shortcut: Control upon app start: Help us help you! In case of recurring problems you can use Debug mode to log extra information visible in the console.
- NEW: Preferences: Name subs as the movie or leave original.
- NEW: Preferences: Include 3-letter language identifier in subtitles or not.
- NEW: Preferences: Save subs locally if video directory is not writeable.
- NEW: Preferences: Rename Video file too, while at it. Use at your own risk.
- Format for movies is «Movie Title ([YEAR])»
- Format for TVEpisodes is «ShowName [1]x[02] – [Title]»
- where [1] is the season, [02] (or [02-03]) is the episode number(s) and [Title] is the episode title
- NEW: Search by Name: If no results are found based on the file hash, a search by name will be made.
- NEW: Video File Contextual Menu: Search TV Series subtitles in PodNapisy by Name/Season/Episode.
- NEW: Video File Contextual Menu: Search TV Series subtitles in OpenSubtitles by Name/Season/Episode.
- NEW: If video file folder has no write permissions a padlock will be shown in search list.
- NEW: Subtitle Contextual Menu: Report feedback about the subtitle to main database.
- NEW: Subtitle Contextual Menu: Preview subtitle with local video file.
- NEW: You get to donate so we can keep working on this application! :) Links throughout.
- FIXED: weird bug when dragging and dropping multiple files for searching.
- FIXED: Long-standing bug where video files larger than 2GB wouldn't give any subtitle results.
- FIXED: Instability uploading subtitles and selecting languages.
Changes in 1.2 – 20110830
Drag & Drop bugs when uploading subs fixed
- Movies or Subs can be dropped over icon in home screen, dropped onto window's top drop zone, selected individually with the «Choose…» button or whole folders selected by alt-clicking the «Choose…» button
- Folder or moviefiles dropped over main icon will trigger subtitle search
- Movie files should show SolEol as option to «Open With…» in OSX and Windows
- New preference for searching subtitles automatically after drop/selection.
- New preference for getting checked subtitles automatically after search.
- Automatic subtitle selection is now a bit better.
Changes in 1.1 – 20110717
Stupid idiot bugs from 1.0 fixed
- Can now upload subtitle properly to OpenSubtitles
- Can now re-select language for subtitle to upload, if detection fails. Click on flag.
- Fixed bug when selecting IMDB movie for subtitle upload
- Click on chain link icon to access recently uploaded subtitle web in OpenSubtitles
- Can now open PodNapisy's web page for selected movies. Big feature from 1.0 and didn't work :-|
- Subtitle selection is way less hostile against mediocre subs, if no options exist (also for CLI)
- Movie files should show SolEol as option to «Open With…» in OSX and Windows
- Drag & Drop onto icon now works properly
- If set in preferences, auto-search of subs after drop now works
Changes in 1.0 – 2011015
- Simplified code enormously
- Laid basis for additional modules
- Rewrote subtitle download functions and window
- Better Error Management
Subtitle Download:
- Better, faster hashing
- Better at recommending preferred subtitle
- Now tries to ignore mismatched subtitles for TV Episodes
- Post-Download Summary
- Ability to preview subtitles
- Added contextual menus to report bad subtitles and preview subs
- CACHE: If you preview a sub it won't be downloaded again
- Contextual Menu to search in PODNapisy
- Better Language handling
- Better error management, so allow upload retries
- A few contextual menus added
- Fixed language reporting of uploaded subs
- OS Username/Pass not mandatory any more for downloads
- Added drag & drop to Application icon or Dock Icon to
- OpenSubtitles Username+Password not required for sub download
SolEol_CLI – Command-Line Version
- Only for searching subs
- Search single files or directories
- Automatically select and download best sub
- Multiple language support
- Get Help with SolEol_CLI –help and SolEol_CLI –helplang
Changes in 0.255 – 20100313
NOTE: OpenSubtitles has changed the API Server. New version was supposed to introduce new functionality but API server change forces a new release of the older version with the new URL in it.
- No new functionality. Just API Server change.
Changes in 0.244 – 20090717
NOTE: This is quick bugfix release before holidays, mostly for Windows users.
- Fixed stupid error in Windows which prevented users from actually using the application Sorry for that.
Changes in 0.235 – 20090712
- Mark subtitles as wrong for the movie right in the contextual menu.
- ADDED: Support for subtitle uploading! Finally, you can share back your own subs!
- Speed of hashing should be dramatically improved in almost all situations
- Removed some included apps, to prevent licensing issues.
- ADDED: Lots of caching in new local database.
- BUGFIX: Changes in OS API no longer will result in «No storage…» errors
- NOTE: Automatic Retry has been removed from this version, to return in next one.
- OpenSubtitles registration required for some of the functionality.
- Windows version includes ZIP-INFO's original ZIP.EXE executable (License) ((Other Platforms will use native ZIP support))
Changes in 0.176 – 20090608
- Preferences Engine finally overhauled. Preferences will be reset.
- FINALLY! Automatic Update Notification with Version Checking
- Infrastructure for Video Converting in Place for Mac and Windows
- MAC ONLY: Preview the subtitles before downloading
- Groundwork laid out for TV-Series Torrent Subscription and Notification
- OpenSubtitles now requires authentication. Create a user to download.
- Follow us on twitter: @SolEol
- Dropped Mac's ZIP distribution in favour of DMG. Made no sense.
- SEND BUGS and COMMENTS!
- Send over your Icon suggestions!
Changes in 0.1.60 D2 – 20090525
- Let's see if the Preferences now work properly
- Subtitle Upload pending of modifications in server
- Infrastructure for Video Converting in Place
- MAC ONLY: Preview the subtitles before downloading
- OpenSubtitles now requires authentication. Create a user to download.
- Follow us on twitter: @SolEol
- SEND BUGS and COMMENTS!
Changes in 0.1.60 D2 – 20090420
- Enhanced Error Control
- Set-up basis for Subtitle Upload
- Contextual Menus! In movie lines and in subtitle lines
- Mark Subtitles as bad or incorrect
- MAC ONLY: Preview the subtitles before downloading
- Bug Reports are actually sent now
- OpenSubtitles password saved encrypted and shown bulleted.
- Auto-Retry on errors
- Proper Credits in About Box
- KNOWN BUG: Preferences can be borked in localized systems
Changes in 0.1.34 D24 – 20090216
- Formalized a little the preferences file name
- Improved reporting of bugs
- Enhanced process information to the user
–Step 0–
These alpha versions may re-create your preferences, as the format still isn't set. Select at least your preferred language and enter your OpenSubtitles username and password, if you have them. A link in the preferences window allows you to create them if you don't.
- «Automate all process steps» – Doesn't work at the moment.
- «Rename Subtitles as Movie» – Will make sure subtitles are named properly (Moviename.Language.Extension)
- «Process all files» – Will analyze all files dropped, even those with subtitles (slow)
- «Search Better Subs» – Will select all files to check for new subtitles (slower)
Once your preferences are set you can either click on the box or drop a group of files or folders in the dropbox.
–Step 1–
Drag & drop as many movie files or folders as you want in the dropbox. The application will search in every subfolder and pick every suitable file. Only the filenames will be shown so it's important that they are named properly.
The application will automatically add known video formats for searching. You can add more files or folders to the dropbox above or use the «Choose…» button to select individual files (alt-click will allow you to select whole folders).
Keep in mind that the servers don't support searching more than a few hundred subtitles per session.
–Step 2–
Press the «Search Subtitles» button and SolEol will try and find subtitles for your movies. If there are more than one it will try to select the best one for you. If you already have it (and have checked the appropriate option in the preferences) it will let you know if you already have the best option by showing it in italics. If there is a better option it will be selected and the old one replaced.
Note that subtitles already present will be flagged with a green checkmark. Subtitles with the wrong name (without language identifier) will be flagged and corrected with a green plus sign. You'll only have the option of checking subtitles you can actually download.
Press the «Get Checked Subtitles» to automatically download, uncompress and rename the subtitles in the same location as the original files.
The program auto-selects what it believes is the best subtitle taking into the account the number of times it's been downloaded, the votes it's received and its freshness. You shouldn't need to change the automatic selection.
- Movie files without available subtitles will be deleted from the results list.
- This is a work in progress and, as such, things may break unexpectedly. Please report back any bugs you find.
Use the comments below for bug reports and suggestions, for the moment.
HdP was a proof-of-concept of SolEol and does most of the subtitle downloading. The software is currently disabled but I may re-enable it as a simpler version of the software.
–Download Obsolete HdP


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LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Mirage is about to vanish from the Las Vegas Strip. Gambling ends and the doors […]
American Airlines flew a Boeing 737 Max with paying passengers from Miami to New York on Tuesday, the plane's first commercial flight in U.S. skies since it was grounded after two deadly crashes.
American flight 718 carried 87 passengers on the 172-seat plane, and the return flight from LaGuardia Airport to Miami International Airport held 151 passengers, according to an airline spokeswoman.
Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration approved changes that Boeing made to an automated flight-control system implicated in crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people in all. In both crashes, the system pushed the nose down repeatedly based on faulty sensor readings, and pilots were unable to regain control.
The FAA cleared the way for U.S. airlines to resume using the plane if certain changes are made and pilots are provided with additional training including time in a flight simulator.
Brazil's Gol airlines operated the first passenger flight with a revamped Max on Dec. 9. Since then, Gol and Aeromexico have operated about 600 flights between them with Max jets, according to tracking service Flightradar24 and aviation-data firm Cirium.
American plans to make one round trip a day between Miami and New York with Max jets through Jan. 4 before putting the plane on more routes. United Airlines plans to resume Max flights in February, and Southwest Airlines expects to follow in March.
All three airlines say they will give customers the chance to change flights if they are uncomfortable flying on the Max.
The Max was grounded worldwide in March 2019, days after the second crash. Reports by House and senate committees faulted Boeing and the FAA for failures in the process of certifying the plane. Congressional investigators uncovered internal Boeing documents in which company employees raised safety concerns and bragged about deceiving regulators.
FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson, a former military and airline pilot, operated a test flight in September and vouched for the reworked plane's safety, saying he would put his family on it. American Airlines President Robert Isom was on Tuesday's inaugural U.S. flight, according to the airline.
Some relatives of people who died in the second crash, a Max operated by Ethiopian Airlines, contend that the plane is still unsafe. They and their lawyers say that Boeing is refusing to hand over documents about the plane's design and development.
"The truth is that 346 people are now dead because Boeing cut corners, lied to regulators, and simply considers this the cost of doing business," Yalena Lopez-Lewis, whose husband died in the crash, said in a statement issued by her lawyers. "It is infuriating that American Airlines is in effect rewarding Boeing for the corrupt and catastrophic process that led to the Max."
Zipporah Kuria, a British citizen whose father also died in the Ethiopian crash, pointed to the recent disclosure in a Senate committee report that Boeing representatives coached FAA test pilots reviewing Boeing updates to the Max flight-control system.
"Boeing leadership is still riddled with deceit. Their priorities are not on consumer safety," she said in an interview.
Boeing spokesman Bernard Choi said the company "learned many hard lessons" from the crashes and is committed to safety.
"We continue to work closely with global regulators and our customers to support the safe return of the fleet to service around the world," Choi said.
The return of the plane to U.S. skies is a huge boost for Boeing, which has lost billions during the Max grounding because it has been unable to deliver new planes to airline customers. Orders for the plane have plunged. Boeing has removed more than 1,000 Max jets from its backlog because airlines canceled orders or the sales are not certain to go through because of the pandemic crisis gripping the travel industry.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Mirage is about to vanish from the Las Vegas Strip. Gambling ends and the doors […]
Buffalo, N.Y. – The first barge carrying the Ralph Wilson Park Bridge completed the final leg of an exciting and […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon Prime Day is here, and experts are reminding consumers to be wary of scams. Deceptions […]


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Julie SamrickKid Focused
Julie Samrick is a stay-at-home mom of 4 young kids and the founder of Kid Focused, a site devoted to children and family issues. Subscribe to the free Kid Focused newsletter delivered weekly to your inbox and connect with us on Facebook too. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.


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Hi peeps. I am popping in to share a sweet Christmas card I made recently as I am being proactive with my Christmas cards this year.
In early October, I'll start my Caring Hearts Card Drive again, so I need to build up my Christmas card piles.
Crafter's Companion supplies: Moonbeam Meadow Santa's Delivery, Spectrum Noir: CG1, CG2, CT2, CR11, DR1, IG1, OR1, TN5 |
Isn't this jolly Santa just adorable? Seriously, the Crafter's Companion Moonbeam Meadow collection has the cutest sets.
Short and sweet as I am away on a long weekend trip to San Diego. May your Sunday be a blessed one.


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JFR Contracting has been providing Design-Build residential kitchen remodeling services in Southern Chester County PA, Delaware County PA, and Cecil County MD for more than 20 years. JFR Contracting is Chester County's reliable local contractor.
Whether you're looking to capitalize on the charm of your old house or expand your living space, we're here to help. JFR Contracting offers services to assist you every step of the way, not only when it comes to remodeling, but also building or buying a new home or even selling your current one. Whatever your vision for your home may be, JFR Contracting can make it a reality.
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In the Kitchen With Brooklyn's Kosher Revolutionary
On a crisp morning earlier this fall, I met chef Itta Werdiger Roth outside a small storefront in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The windows were still covered with newspaper, but inside was the beginning of Mason & Mug, a new artisanal kosher restaurant she is set to open on November 25 with her business partner, Sasha Chack. Werdiger Roth led me inside for a look at the newly installed wooden bar, which is topped with smooth white subway tiles and illuminated by three oversized Chinese lanterns. The wall across from the bar is decorated with a bright, graffiti-inspired mural. The menu concept — small bites of global street food — will feature dishes like Vietnamese bánh mì, fish tacos, spicy turmeric and ginger chickpeas, and homemade pickles. Neither the space nor the menu seemed anything like most kosher restaurants. But then again, Werdiger Roth is hardly like other kosher chefs.
If you have never heard of Werdiger Roth, that is at least in part by design. In late 2011 she launched The Hester, a popular speakeasy-style kosher supper club that she ran out of her home in Brooklyn. In keeping with the hush-hush vibe of a speakeasy, she kept her own identity semi-shrouded, sending communiqués to guests under a fictional name, Kate Hester. Now she is ready to step out of Kate's shadow.
As is the case for many food professionals, Werdiger Roth's path to becoming a chef and restaurateur was far from straight. She grew up in Melbourne, Australia, in a Hasidic family. Her father's family traces its lineage back to the beginning of the Lubavitch movement in the late 18th century.
Like her father, whom Werdiger Roth describes as quirky and creative ("the kind of guy who will wear a purple suit to shul and not care what anyone thinks"), she gracefully defies any conventional stereotypes of religiosity. Her dark-brown shaytl, the wig traditionally worn by married Orthodox women, is cut in a wavy bob with stylishly cropped bangs. She favors vintage clothes and red lipstick, and has a warm, easy wit and a fiery sense of humor.
Werdiger Roth's passion for food came in earnest when she was a teenager reading a novel set in India that described vegetable curry. "I really wanted to try something that had never been cooked in my mom's kitchen," she said. So she set about finding the unfamiliar ingredients — curry, cumin, coriander and coconut milk — and concocting a dish that was new to her. That first bite was revelatory: It was new and it was hers. "My nose was running, it was so hot. And I loved it," she said.
This thirst for new food adventures would follow her into adulthood. As a newlywed (she is married to the author and poet Matthue Roth), a recent college graduate and a brand-new resident of New York City, she took a job as a personal chef for a family in the Bronx. The mother of the family was an avid cook herself, who lent Werdiger Roth cookbooks and got her hooked on organic food.
During that time, Werdiger Roth gave birth to her two daughters, Yalta, now 5, and Freda Belle, now 3. She also took on new clients and spent a year working as a server and line cook at Pardes, an artisanal kosher bistro in Brooklyn. "I learned so much about menu creation and professional food presentation from him," she said of Pardes's chef, Moshe Wendel. "He had all of these gorgeous French purees he would keep in squeeze bottles, but could also turn out an amazingly rustic staff meal. I remember thinking, 'This guy is bloody good.'" Overtime, she began to fantasize about branching out on her own. "I was like a balloon that had collected all of these creative ideas and just needed to be popped," she said. "That was The Hester."
Over the course of 21 events — sit-down dinners and cocktail parties, always featuring live music — The Hester built up a dedicated following of Jewish and non-Jewish diners, and garnered high-profile press. About half of the attendees were kosher keepers who reveled in the fact that the meals offered access to unusual flavors and high-quality ingredients that are hard to find in the kosher world.
Werdiger Roth crafted her menus while browsing the produce section of Brooklyn's Park Slope Food Coop. "Sometimes I would snap a bunch of photos of the seasonal fruits and vegetables on my phone, then go home and mix and match them into dishes," she said. One summer spread included a watermelon rosemary granita cocktail, lentils topped with heirloom eggplant and a soft-boiled egg, and a whole lemon-and thyme-stuffed fish served along with patty pan squash filled with sheep's milk feta, capers and figs. Dessert that night was a scoop of basil ice cream served with macerated plums and crumbled halvah. These unusual flavor pairings work because, despite having no formal culinary training, Werdiger Roth is a "bloody good" chef herself. And dedicated, too. The week I attended, the menu featured a plate of Israeli-made cheeses that are not sold in the United States; she had toted them back in her luggage.
Over time, The Hester grew from a wild experiment — she was inviting total strangers into her home, after all — into a glimpse of what kosher restaurant food could and should look and taste like. Meanwhile, Werdiger Roth began to crave a better sense of boundaries between work and home. "We would literally move every piece of furniture in the living room to set up for The Hester," she said. It was time to advance to the next level.
Then Chack, a fellow Brooklynite, floated his idea for a brick-and-mortar kosher small plates restaurant. Chack had been the food and beverage director of the 92nd Street Y's Tribeca location until it closed this past summer. He got turned on to Werdiger Roth's innovative cooking style while attending an event at The Hester. Chack told Werdiger Roth that he envisioned an intimate restaurant that sold globally inspired street food along with craft beer, wine and cocktails. Like a handful of other kosher restaurants that have emerged in the past few years (Pardes, for one), he wanted it to be explicitly kosher while appealing to the neighborhood's broader community. He had experience in the world of hospitality, and he thought Werdiger Roth might be the perfect person to head up the kitchen. She agreed.
After raising nearly $25,000 of crowd-sourced funding through the website Indiegogo, and spending countless late nights working, Mason & Mug is prepared to open. Transforming the space from its previous incarnation as a non-kosher eatery was a sizable effort. As Chack put it, "There are so many aspects of opening a restaurant you would never think about."
One of those, was finding the right person to certify the restaurant's kosher status. As kosher-keeping Jews who want Mason & Mug to be accessible to friends and family, Werdiger Roth and Chack knew that certification is paramount. But they also knew that many organizations mandate more than the food, prohibiting restaurants from making certain decor decisions or from playing secular music. After several false starts, they found Rabbi Avrohom Marmorstein, who is both well respected by the Orthodox community, and was willing to accommodate their artistic vision.
Meanwhile, things continue to move along at warp speed. Chack's wife gave birth to their first child in October. And Werdiger Roth is pregnant with her third. Under such circumstances, some people might throw in the towel, but Werdiger Roth is determined to bring her dreams — as a mom, a chef and a pioneer of artisanal kosher cooking — to fruition. "Being a working mother is the hardest thing in the world," she said. "But if you want to do it, you just have to dive in."
Leah Koenig, the Forward's monthly food columnist, is a writer and cookbook author. Her new book, "Modern Jewish Cooking," will be published in 2015. Contact her at [email protected]
A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren
We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.
With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.
— Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief


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Our library options stink. We have a "city" library. It is just the HS library open to the public with some very limited offerings. The library system for the larger city next door isn't any better. It is highly censored and the only new material they buy are romance novels and PBS series a decade old.
It makes me really miss the real library system when we lived in a large city. They did have current and varied magazines, tons of newer non fiction and a decent DVD selection.


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Over the past two years I have seen some dramatic shifts in an effort to transform New Milford High School into a 21st Century institution of teaching and learning. With a change in mindset and a great deal of support, I have been able to successfully empower my staff to integrate a variety of digital tools, including social media, to engage learners. The other day USA Today writer Greg Toppo highlighted some of the advances we have made in his article entitled "Social Media Find Place in Classroom." I'm not going to lie, I was a very proud principal reading this article as it clearly showed me how far we have come in terms of creating a vision for learning and communicating that is more in line with societal shifts. This vision has now become our reality.
The problem though is that a large majority of stakeholders throughout the world think that the integration of technology is not essential in the classroom. Furthermore, the perception out there is that educators and schools who are utilizing 21st Century tools for teaching and learning are doing a disservice to learners. Here are some of the specific comments from the USA Today article:
- It is a shame they don't worry more about the kids not knowing how to read or write. Most of the high school grads don't even know their time table.
- Stupid educators teaching stupid kids, sad.
- More evidence of the "dumbing-down" of society. Stupid media like USA To-shmay buying into it, of course. Put the cell phones and calculators aways, stay off the waste-o-time websites and GET TO LEARNIN'!
- Okay, now I have heard it all. Digitally literate is not the same as having literacy skills that are useful for employment or in our greater society. This just encourages illiteracy in the skills that are most important to make these kids productive members of society.
- Lowering the bar yet again. I would say that they'll pay for it in the long run, however, I'm finding that the employers are dumbing things for the dumber workforce they are getting. And the sad thing is, they'll never know or care what they are ignorant of.
- Nothing like a digital kid showing up for a hands-on job. Makes for great humor.
Unfortunately the comments above represent the never-ending battle that passionate educators face across the world who understand the pedagogical significance of effective technology integration. I know I am preaching to the choir, but it really angers me that people who have no background in education, have never stepped foot in a school on a regular basis, and are so disconnected from the real world, can make assumptions that ultimately inhibit change. In terms of the context of the USA Today article, social media is NOT replacing anything. At NMHS we place an emphasis on sound pedagogy, and only after this is ensured technology is integrated. All one has to do is read THIS POST to see all that NMHS is doing with and without technology in order to provide our students with a quality education.
It is time to turn the tide! Technology is a tool, just like a blackboard, pencil, paper, or transparency, utilized during the teaching and learning process. The difference though is that it is a dynamic tool that allows students to communicate, connect, collaborate, and create like never before. It allows teachers to measure and schools to promote. Schools will become irrelevant unless they evolve and stay in line with societal shifts. To do so, we must open our eyes and better understand today's learners. I am proud to say that my school, and many others, are up to this challenge and will continue to ignore the naysayers. If you need even more rationale for effective technology integration in schools read this post by Scott McLeod. George Couros does and exceptional job highlighting some concrete examples of successful technology integration in his post entitled "Tell More Stories."
I hope to expand this post and submit a piece to the Huffington Post. Please consider providing a counter-argument to the statements above in the comment section. Let's collectively send a powerful message about the important role technology and social media play in preparing all students with a blueprint for success.


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LAPLACE, La. – On a cool, overcast day, the sounds of an unfolding uprising pierced the quiet of a winding country road in rural Louisiana.
"Freedom or death," the crowd chants. "We want our freedom!"
This is a reenactment of the largest slave rebellion ever seen in the U.S.
In 1811, along the Mississippi River in Louisiana, hundreds of slaves gathered in the "German Coast Uprising."
They headed to New Orleans marching 26 miles towards the city, with huge goals.
"They wanted to seize all of Orleans territory and set up an African republic in the new world. It would've been a sanctuary for Africans and people of African descent. It was the most radical vision of freedom in the history of this country," said New York City artist Dread Scott, who organized the reenactment.
Part community performance, part documented art project, the reenactors marched 26 miles on Friday and Saturday, retracing the rebellion's steps and trying to bring attention to a part of history virtually unheard of – both back in 1811 and now.
"Reenacting the slave rebellion has everything to do with excavating this history, so people know the history, but also people thinking about how we get free today," Scott said.
Jordan Rome came down from Chicago to participate in it. She is one the of reenactment's trainers, teaching participants how to move, act and speak for the event.
"I think people are really thirsty for that knowledge – for our history to present itself in a more nuanced way, not so black and white," Rome said.
Blake Gilpin is an associate professor of history at Tulane University. He's taught his students about the German Coast Uprising, some of whom were initially unaware of it.
"The German Coast Uprising is probably has a better claim to the most fully realized slave rebellion in American history – as in the one that came closest to succeeding," he said.
The uprising was eventually stopped – militias and law enforcement intercepted them before they reached New Orleans. The rebellion's leaders were beheaded, with their heads placed on spikes, spread up and down the Mississippi River as a warning to other slaves.
Gilpin said it's a part of history getting a second look, along with the fight over whether to remove Confederate monuments across the South. New Orleans removed several in 2017.
"I think it's that's the whole thing about these histories being kept very separate. You know the Confederacy has been sort of washed clean of the thing that it was actually fighting for, which was to keep enslaving human beings," Gilpin said. "That trying to connect those things actually makes us understand everybody involved so much better."
It is a renewed look at the past in the present, as history marches on.
"People are reexamining history and it's actually, you know, sort of a movement from below," Scott said, "and that's a really good thing."
For more information on the slave rebellion reenactment, click here .


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One evening in late spring, I returned home from two weeks of flitting through major airports and hurrying bare-footed through security sensors. I was bone-weary from cramped planes — the center seat too many times — and delayed flights.
Home never felt, smelled or looked so good. The cows bawled hello, my two cats joyously bounced around the garage and a lick-happy, shivering Dixie Dew, my dog, danced with delight. The world felt perfectly right and cozy.
The next morning, I awoke to birds chirping and a rabbit zigzagging across the backyard. I stepped out on the porch, felt a gentle, warm breeze and inhaled the fragrance of blooming confederate jasmine and honeysuckle. I listened, but heard nothing except for those creatures of nature and a dog in the distance. No traffic, no voices, no television, no video games, just the Lord's sweet sounds. It was music to my ears.
I decided to start my annual ritual of cleaning the back porch, turning it from winter's dark, dirty gray to bright and washed down with Clorox. I gathered the brushes and buckets and began. I scrubbed from the floor the red dirt that had been tracked in by Mississippi the cat. What a mess she had made since autumn. Every year, it is such a rite of passage for me to prepare the porch, the swing and the rockers for several months of sitting with books, coffee and friends. On nights when the moon is full and the crickets sing, the back-porch swing is the best seat in the house.
Dressed in shorts, a T-shirt and sans shoes, I padded through the grass to the spigot when, suddenly, the air lifted just a bit and, at that moment, the smell and feel of it transported me back to all those summers long ago, when I was kid. Years melted away, and though it would seem that I have come so far, I realized I was back where it all began. The ground beneath my feet these days is the same dirt of my childhood. The stream where my cousin and I fished with poles made from sticks and string runs through the front yard. In those days it was all pasture, but now there is a house and a fence made of wood instead of barbed wire.
It is home. Then and now.
I can't explain what it is about the land of our raising that imprisons us, but Southerners are held in bondage to our native soil, whether it is the orange dust of Alabama, the rich black dirt of the Mississippi Delta or even the stubborn, red clay of Georgia. That ground wraps itself around our ankles like kudzu-covered shackles and holds us captive to that place called "home."
Country singer Marty Stuart, a Philadelphia, Miss., native, once explained that when he needs to center himself and find his true creativity, he "always goes back to the dirt roads of Mississippi."
This I know: In the South, we do not possess the land. It is too strong and mighty of a force to be held by any deed-holder. The land, instead, possesses us. Try though we might, we cannot escape its hold.
So now I find myself plunked back down amidst the kudzu, blackberry bushes and maple trees of my childhood. Many days I swing on the porch, completely entertained by the simplicity of the memories that lie embedded in the hard clay or the quietness of a world far removed from city intrusion.
Truman Capote, the Alabama-raised writer, often said, "Every Southerner goes home sooner or later, even if in a pine box."
I'm glad I didn't wait for the pine box to bring me.
Rich is the best-selling author of "There's A Better Day A-Comin'."
Land is important to Southerners
Dixie diva
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Your administrators can administer your users – and assign the right privileges to the right users. External contacts can be saved in the Address book – along with distribution lists. Contacts can also be shared across users within your company.


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One of several enticements of the internet for a literary magazine, as for any enterprise, is the ease with which information may be conveyed, stored, and distributed. The era that saw pallets of magazines amassed in warehouses—or, in the case of one magazine I edited, in the copy room at the law office of its publisher—is nearing its end (another magazine I edited suffered the loss of nearly its entire first issue when it was summarily incinerated by workmen, who deemed the amount of space it absorbed, in otherwise-unused lockers, intolerable). Contemporary Poetry Review founder and publisher Garrick Davis outlined the case succinctly in his second mission statement:
The cost to produce, and therefore to purchase, a little magazine is exorbitant—it usually carries a price equal to a paperback book. Possessing a tiny readership, the little magazine cannot attract advertisers. Lacking advertisers, it cannot offset the costs of production. With no profit margin to encourage its sale and distribution, every issue of the little magazine begins its life stillborn as a commercial enterprise.
We have since discovered that the world of online publishing is not entirely devoid of hazards. It harbors its own gremlins. Buggy servers, hard-to-reach programmers, and limited budgets slowly ground the magazine to a temporary, but entirely unavoidable, halt earlier this year. In its twelfth year of publication, the Contemporary Poetry Review dedicated much of its energies to an upgrade and has now emerged from its chrysalis in superior form.
Five years is a long time, even if it is only a blip on the ever-scrolling screen of literary history. Having devoted a full half decade ministering the needs of the magazine—editing, editorializing, and chasing after all manner of loose ends—I feel I deserve some time to relax and pursue allied projects, so I now step down as editor. I will remain mixed up with the magazine, of course, and, with luck, I may even locate the energy to begin writing again myself (as evidenced by my essay on John Ashbery coming soon).
In my time as editor I have parried furious, often fanatical, correspondence, gained at least one stalker, and somehow found time to marshal a great number of reviews through press, sometimes from the merest germ of an idea. The position provided countless alarms, amusements, and diversions. Risks were rewarded. Parties were thrown, reputations challenged, ills addressed, obscurer talents hailed, cars impounded. I enjoyed interviewing a number of lively subjects, among them W.D. Snodgrass, Franz Wright, and Erica Dawson. I instituted a series of short essays focused on individual poems, "CPR Classic Readings," which yielded close readings of poems by Louis MacNeice, Yeats, Donald Davie, and Hart Crane. I arranged several special issues devoted to individual poets, including Elizabeth Bishop, Louis MacNeice, X. J. Kennedy, Tom Disch, and Philip Larkin. I applied considerable energy to recruiting new critics, a group that includes such talents as Hannah Brooks-Motl, Andrew Goodspeed, Mariana Housková, Maria Johnston, Adam Kirsch, Lorne Mooke, Rebecca Porte, and Kathleen Rooney.
Thus my farewell address. I will not warn against poetry-industrial complexes, fulminate against the party system (so rankly evident in much poetry culture), or abjure privileged monopolies. I've said enough already. The Contemporary Poetry Review will, no doubt, continue to prod, provoke, uncover, analyze, and antagonize as it has these past twelve years. So I say: Here's to all tomorrow's parties. Many thanks for reading, and welcome to CPR 2.0. Enjoy!
Ernest Hilbert: My Farewell Address