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News on Politics and Religion with Rants, Ideas, Links and Items for Liberals, Libertarians, Moderates, Progressives, Democrats and Anti-Authoritarians.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
More Texas Republican Voter Fraud
I am turning over my post today to Jacob Limon of the TDP.
True the Vote and the King Street Patriots Get Caught With Their Pants Down - Confirm They Are Only Concerned With One Kind of "Voter Fraud"
The Republican candidate for County Commissioner in Fort Bend County voted in the general elections in both Texas and Pennsylvania in 2006, 2008, and 2010. In all three cases, he voted by mail in Pennsylvania and then fraudulently voted in person in Texas.
Bruce J. Fleming of Sugar Land, age 60, is the Republican nominee for County Commissioner in Precinct 1 in Fort Bend County. His financial disclosure records show that he owns a homesteaded property in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, along with his homesteaded property in Sugar Land, Texas. Records from Bucks County show that a Bruce J Fleming with the same birth date and property address as the Bruce Fleming in Fort Bend County voted in Bucks County in the last three general elections with a mail ballot. He also voted in person in Fort Bend County in those same three elections.
Bruce Fleming is running against Fort Bend County Democratic incumbent county commissioner Richard Morrison. Fleming remains on the voter rolls in Pennsylvania although he registered in Texas in July of 2006. It also appears that Fleming's wife, Nancy, voted in both elections in 2010.
Ironically, Catherine Renee Engelbrecht, President of the radical rightwing True The Vote and King Street Patriots lives and votes in the commissioner precinct in which Fleming is running. Fort Bend County records show that Engelbrecht voted in the Republican primary and in the runoff election that gave Fleming the Republican nomination. Obviously, Engelbrecht and True the Vote are unconcerned about the most common form of voter fraud – ballot by mail.
Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said, "Here is Ms. Engelbrecht gallivanting around the country drawing attention to herself about imaginary voter fraud while her own Republican county commissioner candidate is a serial fraudulent voter. This is not voter fraud in her backyard. This is voter fraud in her living room."
"Why should we take True the Vote seriously when they are not at all concerned about real voter fraud? They simply want to deny voting rights to Democrats. Ms. Engelbrecht needs to true the vote in her own house before she attempts to deny votes to honest voters across America," Hinojosa continued. "We do, however, take True the Vote seriously. We believe they are seriously dangerous to democracy."
"Additionally, I call on Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to quit wasting taxpayer money on wild eyed conspiracy theories about voter identification and pay attention to real voter fraud in Texas by Republicans. This is a third degree felony, and would be a second degree felony under current Texas law. Let's see if Greg Abbott has any money left after his losing battle in Texas courts to restrict honest voters. I challenge Abbott to prosecute this crime against the decency of the State of Texas," Hinojosa concluded.
Unfortunately we know by now that Abbott is not interested in voter fraud. Abbott is only interested in suppressing the voter of students, the elderly and minorities.
The Texas Democratic Party sued King Street Patriots after the 2008 election for their illegal tactics and won. The case is on appeal now before the Austin Court of Appeals. It is a shame that only one political party, the Texas Democratic Party, will stand up for all voters in Texas no matter how they want to vote. Nevertheless, TDP will continue to pursue vote suppressers in public and at the courthouse until we leadership in state government that believes in democracy.
Jacob Limon
I see that Juanita Jean's first broke the story.
UPDATE - Flemming confesses to committing a felony - voter fraud. He didn't mention the tax fraud of claiming two homestead exemptions
Monday, October 01, 2012
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subset: commoncrawl


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2008 Delicious Living Reader Recipe Contest: RUNNER UP, Desserts
Makes 36 / Not too sweet but pleasantly spicy, these shortbread-like cookies go well with tea.
1/2 cup (1 stick) Organic Valley Unsalted Butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoon Rachel's Vanilla Chai Yogurt
2 Organic Valley large eggs
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized pineapple
1. In a large bowl, mix butter, brown sugar, and yogurt until well combined. Add eggs and mix. In another mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients except pineapple. Add wet ingredients plus pineapple to dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Roll dough into a log. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 375˚. Cut chilled log into 1/4-inch slices and place on a baking sheet. Place in oven for 8-10 minutes. Remove cookies to a rack to cool. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
The 2008 Recipe contest is sponsored by:
Blue Diamond • Crown Prince • Myenberg • Imagine • Kikkoman • Organic Valley • Mori-Nu • Rachel's Dairy


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We created a group for every session and invited the presenters to post their presentations, handouts, polls, etc to the group. Then attendees were invited to join before, during and after the conference. It was a huge success. The beauty of it was that even if I didn't attend a particular session I could still take part in the conversations around that session because of the group. And these are groups that will stay open throughout the year so anyone can visit and have a taste of what the learning was like and, again, continue on those conversations.
So you might be asking yourself, what is Edmodo?
Edmodo is a social network designed for education. While it looks like another popular social network the differences are clear.
See for yourself.
Look like something you've seen before?
Here is how it works. You sign up for a free account. Really all you need is a name and an email address. Once created you can then create groups. Groups can be used for all sorts of things. A group could be your class or it could be literature groups, project groups or anything you can really think of.
When you create a group you get a alphanumeric code. You give this code to your students. Here is where the beauty of Edmodo comes in. The only way that students can connect to Edmodo is through the group code you give. They register for a free account (no email required) with the group code and they automatically become a part of it.
So lets say I am teaching Chemistry. I give all my students the group code for our Chemistry class. All the students join. From here I can post class updates, discussions, lessons, quizzes, handouts, really anything. Any discussions we have are all threaded and the newest information appears at the top each time you log in.
Worried about how you will keep up with all this on the go? No worries. There are mobile apps that give you the full capabilities of the site right in the palm of your hand. So whether you are an iOS user or an Android user you can download the Edmodo app so you are always connected.
My favorite part of Edmodo are the parent codes. Whenever a student joins a group a parent code is generated. This then allows the parents to sign up for a free account and they can go in any time to see what their student is saying/doing. This also gives them access to the gradebook (if you want to use that feature.)
There is so much more to Edmodo. Here are some places to go to learn more:
- Edmodo Help Center-If you are new (and even if you aren't, you will want to spend some time in the Help Center going over the different parts and making sure you understand how it all works.
- Edmodo Livebinder-This is a comprehensive resource with lots of ideas for use and other places to get more information.
- Seven Reasons Edmodo Is Great-In case you need more than 6 reasons...
- Educating With Edmodo-This is a wonderful Google Site put together by my friend Paula who uses Edmodo in her classroom everyday. You'll find all sorts of valuable information there.
- 20 Ways To Use Edmodo-This slidedeck has some interesting ideas on how you can start using it today.
We use Edmodo in our district and our teachers are loving it. But not only are we using it with students we are using it with our teachers as well. We have several PLC groups that use Edmodo and many of our user groups for Promethean, Smart and other technologies also are using Edmodo as a way to share the wealth of knowledge. So it's not just for kids.
How are you using Edmodo? What advice do you have for those who want to get started? What do you wish you had known when you started. Leave some comments below.


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Friday, September 11, 2009
Unexpectedly Serious Games
Throughout the discussion, I felt as though most folks were resigned to the idea that we are probably years away from realizing a widespread social commentary in games. While I definitely think that game development and analysis will become increasingly sophisticated in the years to come, I believe there is another movement underway that is already laying the groundwork for the way we examine how even the most popular games interact with complex social issues.
First, it is important to think realistically when forming expectations for how games should tackle serious social and cultural issues. Simply put, it is difficult to create a work of art that is both commercially successful and thematically challenging; take a look at the 2008 top grossing films in the U.S. versus the ones that won Oscars. The point here is not to damn video games to the trajectories of other mediums, but to temper our expectations for mass acceptance of difficult games.
That being said, I believe we are in the midst of an exciting trend within the critical game analysis community. A group of dedicated writers is taking the initiative to extract socially meaningful content from games that were not necessarily designed to convey any specific social message. Instead of waiting for developers to create "message" games, a growing number of folks are mining some of the most popular games for commentary on many of the issues raised in thePAX panel:
- Justin Keverne and Travis Megill have engaged in a cross-site conversation about the portrayal of mentally ill people in the recently-released "Batman: Arkham Asylum." Both authors raise valid points about the ways in which the game taps into the often-sordid history of mental health care.
- Sparky Clarkson reviews Red Faction: Guerrilla, and finds that it does little to mimic the ways in which an actual insurgency functions.
- Simon Ferrari examines the stereotypical portrayals of gender roles and racial constructs in the Gears of War universe.
- Duncan Fyfe writes about the "entertainment wars" found in Call of Duty 4 and Far Cry 2. Without any real consequences, these games are absurd idealizations of what happens on the battlefield.
These are only a few of the many folks actively expanding the discussion of some of the most high-profile games. Most striking is the fact that the conversations are sparked by the games' omissions or deficiencies, and what these oversights imply on a societal level. in the games leading to broader societal implications. It is the lack of humane mental health treatment, the sterilization of warfare, and the lack of progressive gender and racial portrayals that has catalyzed these writers to explore the serious content these games posses.
Similarly, I recently spent several weeks simply analyzing what was "Missing In Action" in Call of Duty 4: the absence of civilians, the messy aftermath of battle, and the consequences of individual sacrifices acted to convey extremely powerful, if not optimistic, societal messages. CoD 4 ended up being a surprisingly meaningful game: The game's missing pieces allowed me to look outward for historical and cultural material to fill those gaps.
Again, it is not realistic to expect a drastic shift in the way major developers integrate societal issues into mainstream games. As is the case in every other medium, making something that is challenging to the audience is often at odds with making something profitable. The preponderance of innovative, thought-provoking games will still come from smaller companies that are both willing and able to take risks on something that would not get past the shareholders of a larger company. However, the video game community is lucky to have a growing number of critics dedicated to preserving their casual enjoyment of a game while simultaneously challenging its content and pulling it towards the serious end of the gaming spectrum.
Gamers have shown that they are more than willing to meet developers halfway along the path of serious, engaging games. Up until this point, the movement of analyzing serious issues in contemporary mainstream games has focused on looking at the issues games gloss over, or the topics they deal with unsatisfactorily. Clearly, there is a large group of people interested in games with thematic challenges: instead of letting the absence of serious topics stymie their analysis, they instead utilized the absence to their advantage.
These folks are doing more than waiting for developers to meet them in the middle: they are actively calling out to them.
8 comments:
Hey Scott, thanks for the link! I hadn't read about the panels at PAX, mostly because I was jealous I couldn't go. But this one sounds awesome, and it's good to hear that the subject came up at a fan-centric convention like PAX (usually the topic is reserved for the devs at GDC and the academics at Digra).
I'd say the first people who started talking about this stuff were Chris Crawford and Brenda Laurel, who were around in the early days of videogame creation and were some of the first to leave the mainstream industry to make games that were more meaningful to them. Most recently the discussion has been picked up by Mary Flanagan, Alexander Galloway, Miguel Sicart, and Ian Bogost (who I work with). If you guys are lacking something to read, all of those names have some pretty wonderful books where you can see them start to develop ways to find real-world systems and problems embedded in games that were obviously made primarily for entertainment. Over the summer we wrote a book about journalism and games, and one of the chapters I wrote for it is about journalism literacy embedded in AAA titles. It'll be free on the net when it's published, so I'll send you guys a link (though apparently publishing takes for ass ever).Nice post!, besides the difficulties of implementing serious subjects into games, there's always a hipersensitive reception of the media that dosen't help at all. Six Days in Fallujah could have taken a serious position into explaining the war in Irak and it's consecuences on the lives of thoes who were involved on it (for saying an example), but media reacted and things went downhill from then. If there were games that seriously treated subjects of social and human problematics, would they be able to see the daylight?, countries such as Germany, China, Australia and soon Venezuela with their complete censuring, seem to make things harder for developers as they probably want to stay on a low profile, rather than take the risk of getting banned.
I think the blogosphere will continue to play a big role in making a stand for videogames in the furute, but i'm not sure if it could globaly defend videogames, rather than just in a small amount of countries.Hi Simon,
Thanks for stopping by! I was very impressed with some of the panels, as they seemed to be taking some inspiration from the topics found at GDC. There is definitely a realization on the part of the PAX folks that being a "fan" isn't just about playing games. There were a respectable number of academically oriented panels.
Thanks also for the reading suggestions; that book you worked on sounds especially interesting.
Good point about the media and government's role. Really, I guess the path to "serious" games involves, players, developers, and the non-gaming public.
The censorship suggests that indie games will be even more important, since it is easier for them to slip under government's radar.@Nels
Yeah, what happened to you, man? You used to be cool; now all you talk about is having martinis with N'Gai! ;-)
But seriously, there are so many people (yourself included) talking about games in a serious way, it would be weird to only single a few out. We were just glad to be there.
But seriously though: How did Ron feel about adding a Utilikilt to Death Spank? Did he love it, or did he LOVE it?Nice post, and I definitely agree with your overall point.
However, I would like to take this opportunity to remind my friends in the gaming blogosphere that when we're talking about social issues in games it is important to include writers of color, women, and other marginalized groups.
All the writers you listed are men. I don't know if they are all white and straight as well, but I'm betting most are.
There was a heated but ultimately I think very productive conversation over at Critical-Distance at its first inception addressing this very issue. If you want to have intelligent conversations about games, you can't exclude voices of people from marginalized groups. And really, when you're addressing issues of race and gender, it's VITALLY important to go to people of color and women FIRST.
Some examples: Token Minorities (race), Racialicious (race), The Official Shrub blog (variety), Tera Kirk from GameCritics (disability), Feminist Gamers (mostly gender), the Pensive Harpy (gender). Those are just off the top of my head, and the Iris Network has a whole directory of women who blog about games (though not necessarily about gender and social issues).
I know these are just a few examples and not a comprehensive list, and I'm not just mad you didn't link to my blog, and I'm certainly not picking on just you. But maybe you should think about why all your go-to examples for social issues (including gender!!) in games are men, and mostly white, straight men at that. Its easy to slip back into that pattern of exclusion and I would hate for that to happen.Damn typos...reposting
Hi Alex,
If you're still following this thread, thanks for stopping by.
I'm glad you raised the issue of marginalized groups in the community. It is something that Jorge and I have had many conversations about when discussing the community at large, the content we create for the site, and how we personally interact as a team.
Also, thanks for the list of sites. Both these topics and these writers deserves the publicity. There were a couple of sites I had never read before, and I'm always happy to add to the ungainly mass that is my RSS reader. :-)


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Half-Life 2 - Lost Coast Guide MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMM MMiiMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMiiiiiiiiiiiM MM MiiiiMM MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMiiiiiiiiMMMMMM MiiiiiMM MMMMMMMMM MMMMaiiiiiiMMMM MMiiiiiMM MMMaMMM MMMMiiiiiMMM MMMMiiiMM MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMM MMMMiiiMM MMMMMMiiaMM MMMiMMM MMMMMMiiMM MMMiiM MiiMM MMiMMM MMMMMMMiMMM MMMiMMMMMMMMMMiMMa MMiMMM MMaiMM MMaiiiiiiiiiiMMM MMMiMM MMiiMM MMiiiiiiiiiiMM MMMiMM MMiiMMM MMMiiiiiiiiMM MMiiMM MMMiiiMM MMiiiiiiiMMM MMiiM MMMiiiiMMM MMiiiiiiMMM MMiiiM MMMiiaaaiMMM MiiiiiiMM MMiiiM MMMiiMMMMiiMM MiiiiiMMM MMiiiM MMMiiMM MMiMMM MiiiiMMM iMiiiM MMMiMMM MMiiMMM MiiiiMM MaiiM MMMiMMM MMiiMM MiiiMM MMiiMM MMMiMMM MMiMMM MMiiMMM MMiiMM MMMiMMM MMMiMM M MMiMMM MMiMMM MMMiMMM MMiiMMMMMMM MMiiMM MMMiMM MMMiMMM MMMiMMMMMMMM MMiMMM MMMiMM MMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMiMMM MMMMMM MMMMMMM MMMMM MMiMMM MMMMMMM MMMMMMM MMMaMMM MMMiMMM MMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM http://www.grawl.nl Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Guide by Grawl grawler (@t) gmail (d0t) com 10/31/05 - Version 0.1 ============================================================================== Donations ============================================================================== It seems thousands of players enjoy my guide, seeing the countless mails I receive. This makes me very happy, since it means my guide actually has some use ;p So I'm asking you, if you're enjoying this guide, could you perhaps donate some money? Heck, I'll be happy with your 2 bucks you were going to spent on a cheeseburger later ;p Thank you! http://www.donategrawl.cjb.net ============================================================================== Introduction ============================================================================== 1) Don't steal anything from this guide. This guide is copyrighted according to the DMCA (http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf) and stealing this guide and/or parts of this guide without my written permission will lead to a removal request. When this request doesn't get accepted within 48 hours, an official DMCA notice will follow. If this gets ignored, bigger steps will be taken. 2) Do you see someone use parts that look like parts of my guide? Please let me know. 3) If want this guide on your site, send a mail to me to ask permission. I have the right to reject or accept this request. I'll keep my own list of sites that are allowed to use our guide. If I find my guide on a site that's not allowed to host it, I'll ask to remove it. For more information see point 1. Once you are allowed to use the guide, you are only allowed to use this guide the way it can be found on www.grawl.nl. You're not allowed to ask money for the guide. 4) Donations are more than welcome. I need the money to buy the latest games, fix problems with my PC etc. If you enjoyed this guide, head to http://www.donategrawl.cjb.net and donate something. It's more than appreciated. 5) I have the right to answer a mail or not. Be sure you checked the latest version of the guide. You can find the latest version at http://www.grawl.nl. I won't reply when you're mailing about something obvious, something that's already covered, something that'll end up in the guide in later versions or when you're not able to write a proper mail. Use proper grammar and spelling. 6) Mailing me to tell how good the guide is, is appreciated ;p You can write in either English or Dutch. To make searching easier, I added search-codes in the TOC. Just press CTRL + F and enter the code to jump to that part immediately. ============================================================================== Table of Contents [HL.00.00] ============================================================================== * Table of Contents.................................................[HL.00.00] * History & Next Version............................................[HL.01.01] * Introduction......................................................[HL.02.01] * Walkthrough.......................................................[HL.03.01] * FAQ...............................................................[HL.04.01] * Conclusion........................................................[HL.05.01] ============================================================================== History & Next Version [HL.01.01] ============================================================================== Version 0.1 (10/31/05) - Everything is new. (22,4KB) ============================================================================== Introduction [HL.02.01] ============================================================================== Valve doesn't sit still. Nothing like that at all. They developed a new lightning technology called HDR, which is truly amazing. This level they released on Steam is not really much of a game to play, but more of a tech demo. Nevertheless, it's still great stuff, and the level design is simply brilliant. I just wished that they made Half-Life 2 like this. Can anyone play this? No. You need Half-Life 2 (any version will do, as long as it's legal)... and that's pretty much it. However, if you want to play this game with the new HDR function, your card needs to be able to handle HDR (I'm not sure which one do or don't). You can still play the level fine without it though. Furthermore, I'm not going in-depth on weapons, enemies etc. For that, I suggest you to read my Half-Life 2 guide, which can be found as an exclusive guide on IGN. If you want to have the most fun out of this, and don't want to be spoiled, turn off the commentary and play on hard. You'll have a blast. Then play again on easy, with commentary on, so you can enjoy the game and look around at your own speed. Also play around with the gravity gun, it's still fun ;) So once you ready, get the files of Steam and load the thing up (you may need to set up HRD manually though - I had to). Get ready to have some fun for the next half an hour or so. ============================================================================== Walkthrough [HL.03.01] ============================================================================== Right in front of you are several audio commentary balloons (if you enabled them, that is). Press the use button on them to hear them. #1: "[Gabe Newell] Welcome to the Lost Coast. In this tour, we're going to be talking about a new graphics technology we've been developing, called High Dynamic Range Lighting, or HDR. We'll also be giving the construction of the Lost Coast. First, a quick explanation of the commentary system. To listen to a commentary node, put your crosshair over the floating commentary symbol and press the +USE key. To stop the commentary, put your crosshair over the rotating node and press your +USE key again. Some commentary nodes may take control of the game for the purpose of showing something to you. In these cases, simply pressing your +USE key will stop the commentary." #2: "[Viktor Antonov] When the art team started to think about a location that would demonstrate the power of HDR, a beach was one of the first choices we made. The visual relationship between the sky, the water, and the rocks is something we could not achieve without HDR. In order for high dynamic range to correctly simulate the light's interaction with the surfaces around you, like these wet rocks, we needed more precise information about the surfaces than we've had in the past. So now, going forward, we're modelling textures in 3D packages to ensure that the physical information encoded in the texture allows HDR to correctly bounce light off the surface. We also design the colors and values of each surface to ensure they will be correct across all exposure levels." #3: "[Gary McTaggart] With conventional rendering, seen here on the left, if something on the screen is 20% reflective, like the wet stand, then the maximum reflected brightness could only be 20% of the maximum brightness of your monitor. HDR's more accurate simulation of light ensures that the sun's reflection on this wet sand appears as it would in the real world, which could potentially use 100% of the maximum monitor brightness. HDR uses bloom to simulate light that is beyond 100% of a monitor's maximum brightness." If you have HDR on, just take a look around. Notice how the sand reflects the sun in a beautiful way. If you're lucky enough to run with high textures, the rocks will look great too. I wasn't that lucky. Before walking to the fisherman, notice there is also an area behind the rocks to the left of your starting point. You'll find a wrecked ship here, and another text balloon. #4: "[Robin Walker] The remains of the ship in front of you where once part of a puzzle we cut out of the Lost Coast. The original design of the puzzle was based on the idea of the player and the fisherman co-operating together to solve something. This was a type of puzzle we'd always wanted to attempt in HL2. Unfortunately, as development on Lost Coast neared the end, and this puzzle still wasn't finished, we decided to cut it. It's always painful to remove work, so we've tried to evolve a process for making those kinds of decisions. For example, with this puzzle we asked ourselves 'Is this puzzle actually fun?','If not, how much work does it need to be fun?','Does this puzzle fit within the purpose of Lost Coast?','Would our customers appreciate this puzzle being finished more than they would appreciate, say, soldiers rappelling off the cliffside?'. In the end, it made the most sense to put this problem on the shelf with other interesting ideas, and come back to it later." Get back to the previous area, and have a look at the text balloon in front of the fisherman. #5: "[Randy Lundeen] The process of building characters in Half-Life 2 taught us many things. By the end, we believed we'd figured out a more effective process for designing and constructing characters. This fisherman is the first character we've guilt using that process. Design-wise, the fisherman was focused on showcasing HDR, and the way light falls on human skin. The highlights on his forehead and nose are good examples of specularity on human skin. You can see how the wrinkles on his cheeks, and around his eyes, are an example of how we can use normal maps to add depth. Production-wise, the fisherman was built using a similar process to the rocks you saw on the beach. We model the 3D character at a very high detail, then extract much of the physical information and store it in the textures." The fisherman will ask if you're the real Gordon Friedman (or something), and then open the gate for you. We're almost ready for some action. Let's first check the next balloon. #6: "[Gary McTaggart] Water presents us with a lot of rendering challenges. In fact, we have to render the scene 3 times. Once for the refraction of what's under the water, once for the reflection of everything above the water, and once from the player's view. You can see the reflection $ refraction scenes in the two small windows onscreen. In the refraction, we calculate, per-pixel, how much water you're looking through to do a volumetric underwater fog, to simulate particulate matter. For our full HDR solution, we had to go through the entire engine and modify every bit of code that calculated light and color. For example, these water reflection & refraction renderings had to be improved to support the full range of contrast values." So, enough listening/reading, eh? Walk up the path, and you can start fragging the Combines. They're coming from everywhere, so watch out for that. The path isn't too big either, so don't fall of the cliff when going sideward. After some shooting, you'll notice you can't go any further. Turn around, and jump on the cliff. There is another text balloon here. #7: "[Robin Walker] The area you're currently entering is called the cliffside arena. We were particularly happy with the vertical cliffside in Half-Life 1, and regretted that we didn't iterate further on that concept in Half-Life 2. Vertical space allows us to force the player to deal with threats from above and below. We find that player focus their view on the direction they're travelling, so by using a cliffside, and having the player ascend it, we ensure the player will look up and be prepared for enemies. If the player's path was to move past the bottom of the cliffside, it would be unlikely he would notice the soldiers rappelling down from above. Dying from unknown threats never feels fair, and certainly isn't fun." Sure Robin, that's why a bit later on, you get attacked by soldier on roofs. Makes perfect sense. Anyway, continue up the cliff, and kill the Combines. After a short while you'll reach a small hall with another text balloon. #8: "[Chris Green] One of the features of our HDR solution is dynamic tonemapping. The easiest way to think about dynamic tonemapping is that it is a method of simulating the way the human eye reacts to light. In the real world, you've probably walked into a dark room and noticed your eye adjusting to the darkness, letting you see better after some time. Or you've walked into a bright day, and been blinded by the sun, only to have your eye adjust and allow you to see normally. Your iris is adjusting itself in response to the amount of light hitting your eye. Dynamic tonemapping simulates this, by automatically adjusting the exposure of the scene to mimic the behavior of your iris. You can see this as the view moves from the dark tunnel to the bright sun, and back again. Here you can see the way we calculate the amount of light hitting the player's eyes. We take a snapshot of the scene, and extract the brightness levels to get the average level of light. Additionally, we consider light at the center of the screen more important than that at the edges, to better simulate the geometry of the eye." Once you move a bit more forward, you enter up in a courtyard. The doors behind you close. Relax for the moment, though. Follow the path up into the church, reading and listening to the balloons. #9: "[Robin Walker] The courtyard in front of you is a space we call an Arena. Arenas are built to hold the player for a period of time, and usually contain combat or some other challenge. They often have multiple entry-points for enemies, along with a gate of some kind to prevent the player moving on, until the challenge has been completed. In this case, the arena is free of enemies until the player solves a puzzle, and triggers an alarm. This is a method that allows the player to explore the arena, and get a sense of its space before being forced to fight in it. It adds a sense of uneasiness to the player, who's expecting to be attacked now that they've reached the goal set for them at the start of the map. The break in action here is also a crucial part of the level's aching. It allows the player to recover and explore the world a little, after being attacked on the way up the cliffside." #10: "[Chris Green] The Source engine supports a wide variety of shaders. The refraction shader on the window here requires us to copy the scene to a texture, refract it, and then apply it to the window surface. To fully support HDR, every shader in the engine needed to be updated, so this refraction shader was improved to support the full range of contrasts." Use the door of the church to enter it. If you don't feel like it yet, you can also wander around and exploring stuff. You'll find some supplies, weapons and ammo around. Inside the church are more text balloons. #11: "[Viktor Antonov] We wanted the transition from a bright, wide-open space into a tighter, closed one to showcase HDR's dynamic tonemapping. We also like to focus on contrasting elements in our settings, like ancient human architecture and futuristic combine technology. A monastery fit these requirements perfectly. Monastery's are generally isolated, unlit, and built ages ago. They provide a great backdrop for the contrasting combine technology. When we build fictional settings, we try to ground them by basing them off a real-world location. We use this location as a design constraint that forces a logical consistency behind the art choices." #12: "[Viktor Antonov] Churches are great dramatic spaces. They're often lit naturally with extremes of darkness and brightness, which makes them a great showcase for HDR. Gothic churches are the sober, monochromatic spaces that you've been in almost every horror movie or game. Byzantine churches, on the other hand, are very colourful and have a large variety of materials. We wanted that color & material variety to show off our HDR reflections." #13: "[Robin Walker] Our games are filled with things we call "gates", which are essentially just challenges that the player must overcome to drive the experience forward. We used a puzzle here, since the player has been through combat and exploration recently. When we design challenges, we try to ensure that the player's goal and the action required by the player are both fun. It's not hard to create interesting goals for the player, like stopping this machine from shelling the nearby village. But the action required by the player to solve the challenge needs to be fun as well. So instead of something menial, such as hitting an off switch, the player gets to use physics to jam the gun's mechanism and cause it to break." So, let's listen to mister Walker. Grab your gravity gun, and shoot the plates of the machine. When the machine is going up (to shoot a shell), put something between it, doesn't matter what. Once you did this, the alarm will go off. First a few Black Headcrabs will pop in. After that Combines will rush in, and a chopper will go around. I suggest to just wait till most Combines came in. That way you can easily pop them. Head outside after that, kill the remaining Combines, and hide. After a short while, the gate will be crushed open. Move on, for a chopper fight. If you want an easy fight, you can just enable the balloon, and the chopper will stop moving. Don't be so lame though ;) Shoot the chopper down with the rocket launcher, and enable the final commentary. #14: "[Gabe Newell] This marks the end of the Lost Coast tour. This has been an experiment on our part to see if our community would find it interesting to learn more about our development process. As always, we're interested in your feedback. I can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. If people like this, we'll keep producing the kind of content for all of our games going forward. Thanks for listening!" So, that's it? Not quite. The chopper will crash into the platform, and some Combines will start shooting from above (see? told you!). Frag them down. Now all you need to do, is go down. However, the way back is blocked. Use your gravity gun to shoot down the wooden planks that are loose. This will reveal a path below. Go there, and crawl your way to the cabin. Enter it, and head to the fisherman. He'll thank you and that ends the level. ============================================================================== FAQ [HL.04.01] ============================================================================== Q: Why did you even do this guide? A: Good question... *whistles* Q: When i re-load my game, all the Combines resurrected... as dolls... A: Yea, it's a bug. As long as they don't shoot, it's fine with me ;p Q: Are there any ways to reach the parts of the level you can't reach? A: Yes, with the use of cheats. In the options menu, find the option to use the development console (~). Press ~ in-game, use the command sv_cheats 1 and then noclip 1. You can now fly there. ============================================================================== Conclusion [HL.05.01] ============================================================================== I hope you enjoyed my guide, since I put a lot of work in it. If you encounter problems, feel free to mail me. Also suggestions, feedback, comment etc. are accepted, the mail addy is on top of this file. Thanks-list: Stephen Ng And especially you, for reading this. For other guides, you can check this link: http://www.grawl.nl http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/13739.html ============================================================================== Copyright (c) 2005 by Grawl. All rights reserved.
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Long Putters (Right Handed)
Switch Hand
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Thomas Golf custom made long putters have become increasingly popular with both amateurs and pros over the last few years. The long putting style is helpful for golfers who have back pain when they bend over a traditional putter. The long putter delivers more of a desirable pendulum motion to your stroke, due to its length. Some golfers find it harder to determine the strength of the putt, however, using the long putter style makes it impossible to break down the wrists during the stroke. Below are some of the putter models that Thomas Golf offers in the long putter style. The key to Thomas Golf's superior long putters is the weighted hosel adapter that converts the lie of the club to be more upright, and the hosel weight that also increases the putters MOI. The added weight and offset of our hosel are crucial to the perfomance and feel of our long putter heads.
The AT 72 putter has an extended mallet design which offers a slightly heavier feel for golfers who prefer a more weighted putter head. The putter face features a high grade CNC milled red aluminum striking plate insert for superior feel. The silver weight arc is heavier than the rest of the putter material, shifting the weight placement to the back perimeter of the putter head for a high moment of inertia, creating even more forgiveness and truer roll.
The AT 91 mallet putter is similar in appearances to the AT 72, but drastically different in performance and feel. With the AT 91, Thomas Golf has achieved the highest level of moment of inertia for a putter by combining our extra-light aluminum body with the heavily weighted bars placed to the far perimeter of the toe and heel. These are the first ever weight bars with flat tops and sides to help improve alignment of the putt. The AT 91 is center-shafted, providing greater stability during the putting stroke.
The AT 71 mallet putter features fixed-position weight ports that create a moment of inertia by reducing club head twisting. A wide alignment channel passes across the putter from the face to the back, giving 3-dimensional visualization of direction. Splitting the top surface of the putter into two separate elevations ensures the golfer's eyes are directly over the ball. If the golfers eyes drift to the outside or inside of the ball, the bi-level alignment indicators will immediately let the golfer know.
The AT 60u is our more compact head mallet putter that still provides a solid feel. The unique linear bi-level design on the AT 60u allows for easier ball framing, resulting in more accurate and consistent putts. The AT 60u is separated by two different elevations, which help you place your eyes directly over the golf ball. If you alignment is off, you'll be able to tell by the black and gold alignment indicators.
Choosing to change your putting style radically can be a big decision. At Thomas Golf, we offer a 30 day satisfaction guarantee, in case you decide that you do not like the long putter style.
Most left-handed golfers have trouble finding the equipment to best suit their swing. Thomas Golf offers many choices, when it comes to putting, for the left-handed golfer. For golfers who prefer the long putter style, we offer AT 70, AT 71, AT 72, AT 91. There is no reason that you should adjust your game, because you swing left-handed. Check out Thomas Golf's wide variety of left-handed to take your putting game to the next level. As with all of Thomas Golf equipment, our left-handed putters are fully customizable to your body and swing type.
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Preciosa Art 2195 Medium Dome Oval Glass cabochons feature a smooth surface that is highly polished. The glass cabochon features a flat back and can be glued or set with tiffany or rim metal settings. The transparent color cabochons and the AB coated transparent cabochons are foiled on the back for reflection and shine. The jet and the metallic style cabochons, like the hematite, are unfoiled but feature extreme shiny surface.
The Preciosa Art 2195 Medium Domed Round cabochons are available in graduating sizes from 10x8mm to 25x18mm (almost an inch). A small 8x6mm is available by special order, call for details and pricing.


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Helpful Love
Hi! I'm Kim - dreamer, creator and founder behind the Helpful Love vision. Helpful Love is an online community of awesome vendors who provide unique, alternative, helpful gift ideas. It came about following the most tragic of circumstances... my friend lost her 3 year old child to a common cold. I felt so incredibly helpless. Thousands of dollars worth of flowers wilted away in their garage, as their husband had hay fever. Of course, they appreciated the gesture, but I felt that it was a waste and wanted to do more. I searched for something "helpful" and ended up jumping online and had a delivery of groceries turn up on their door step. It got me thinking, the world needs a one stop shop of quality, caring vendors who provide love, support and assistance during sad times. Then it made me think, it would work for happy times too! A new baby, a birthday, a loss... imagine, one community who could offer things like cleaning, lawn maintenance, massage, home cooked meals, fruit and vege deliveries... and so Helpful Love was born! I hand picked vendors and approached them individually, and offered to promote them free of charge until such time as I created a way to offer a Helpful Love Gift Voucher that could be redeemed with all vendors! From 1 July, the Helpful Love online store will launch, which we are super pumped about! I have plans to take on the world, but starting here in my home town of Newcastle first!


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In 1960, SeeCoast produced their first coin operated viewer. Today, you will find SeeCoast observation viewers in towers, observation decks, scenic overlooks, ships, parks, nature preserves, refuges, and other attractions around the world. So what exactly is a coin operated viewer? No doubt you have seen them. You may simply know them by some other name.
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Mertztown New Roofs and Roofing Replacements
No roof lasts forever. And even if you install a roof correctly using strong materials, it will still break down over time.
Without a roof, your home isn't protected from the elements. Keep your family safe with a sturdy new roof by Bottom Line Construction. Over the years, we've installed many roofs over homes and businesses in Mertztown. And every time, we strive to install a roof that's durable and long-lasting. You don't want to install another new roof just a few years later. And our team will help you avoid that unfortunate scenario.
A high-quality roof also helps property owners save money. Strong roofs won't need frequent repairs. And when your roof is always damaged, you'll spend more to have it fixed or replaced. Roofing repairs are often costly and can add up.
Poor insulation can cause energy bills to skyrocket. A poorly insulated roof allows heat to enter and build up inside your property. Therefore, your air conditioner will no longer run as efficiently. And if your air conditioner is working harder, this leads to higher bills.
Want to save money and make your life easier? Then have your new roof installed by Mertztown's experts. Reach out to Bottom Line to learn more today. We'll complete your roofing replacement and leave the property clean and free of materials. And we even inspect decking and roofing jobs. We'll ensure that the project is fully complete and meets homeowner specifications and requirements. Give our office a call at 484-798-5898 to learn more.
What Roofing Services Does Bottom Line Offer?
Every new roof is different. And at Bottom Line Construction, we tailor each project to the needs of the client. Therefore, we install many kinds of Amish roofs Mertztown. The materials we work with are:
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But don't forget about routine maintenance, either. Regularly inspect roofs for wear or damage. Thus, issues are caught early and repaired right away. To receive a roofing inspection in Mertztown PA, you can rely on Bottom Line. And if we see anything wrong during the inspection, we'll let you know your options.
Contact Bottom Line Construction for New Amish Roofing Mertztown Replacement
Anyone in the Mertztown area can come to Bottom Line Construction for roofing repair or replacement services. Our team of contractors is highly experienced in all kinds of roofing projects. Thus, we can deliver a fantastic result, each and every time.
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Do you need expert roofing repair and replacement services in Mertztown PA? You can always rely on Bottom Line Construction. And we provide a variety of roofing services to homeowners and businesses in Mertztown.
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WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund, still struggling to find a new leader after the arrest of its managing director last month in New York, was hit recently by what computer experts describe as a large and sophisticated cyberattack whose dimensions are still unknown.
The fund, which manages financial crises around the world and is the repository of highly confidential information about the fiscal condition of many nations, told its staff and its board of directors about the attack on Wednesday. But it did not make a public announcement.
Several senior officials with knowledge of the attack said it was both sophisticated and serious. "This was a very major breach," said one official, who said that it had occurred over the last several months, even before Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French politician who ran the fund, was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a chamber maid in a New York hotel.
Asked about the reports of the computer attack late Friday, a spokesman for the fund, David Hawley, declined to provide details or talk about the scope or nature of the intrusion. "We are investigating an incident, and the fund is fully functional," he said.
Because the fund has been at the center of economic bailout programs for Portugal, Greece and Ireland — and possesses sensitive data on other countries that may be on the brink of crisis — its database contains potentially market-moving information. It also includes communications with national leaders as they negotiate, often behind the scenes, on the terms of international bailouts. Those agreements are, in the words of one fund official, "political dynamite in many countries." It was unclear what information the attackers were able to access.
The concern about the attack was so significant that the World Bank, an international agency focused on economic development, whose headquarters is across the street from the I.M.F. in downtown Washington, cut the computer link that allows the two institutions to share information.
A World Bank spokesman said the step had been taken out of "an abundance of caution" until the severity and nature of the cyberattack on the I.M.F. is understood. That link enables the two institutions to share nonpublic data and conduct meetings, but users of the system say that it does not permit access to confidential financial data.
Companies and public institutions are often hesitant to describe publicly the nature or success of attacks on their computer systems, partly for fear of providing information that would be useful to the individuals or countries mounting the efforts. Even so, Google has recently been aggressive in announcing attacks and, in one recent case, of declaring that its origin was China, an accusation the Chinese government quickly denied.
But in the case of the I.M.F., officials declined to say where they believe the attack originated — a delicate subject because most nations are members of the fund.
The attacks were likely to have been made possible by a technique known as "spear phishing," in which an individual is fooled into clicking on a malicious Web link or running a program that allows open access to the recipient's network. It is also possible that the attack was less specific, a case in which an intruder was testing the system merely to see what was available.
The fund said that it did not believe that the intrusion into its systems was related to a sophisticated digital break-in at RSA Security that took place in March, which compromised some information that companies and governments use to control access to their most sensitive computer systems. RSA notified its clients of the loss of its data, and last month hackers attempted to use the information stolen from RSA to gain access to computers and networks at the Lockheed Martin Corporation, the nation's largest military contractor.
After that attack, the World Bank briefly shut down external access to its most sensitive systems, for fear that the stolen information could make it a target. But it quickly resumed its normal operations and says it has seen no evidence of any attacks.
David E. Sanger reported from Washington, and John Markoff from San Francisco.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1b91bbbbfce5d1aeee83ff42dd487707


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HP® Output Server
Print Interoperability & Certifications | Software Applications
Select Sharp MFPs are HP Output Server-certified, enabling IT managers to centrally control and manage print jobs, destinations and queues as well as easily create user and group privileges and preferences. With the ability to monitor print jobs on Sharp MFPs from the same consoles as other key IT resources, administrators can be alerted to potential problems and respond before productivity is impacted, minimizing costly downtime.
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Cluster file systems are hot. What good is 1000 processors if you can't write to a file without clogging your network or server. Learn about the issues and experiences of parallel file systems with Distinguished Cluster Monkey Jeff Layton as your guide.
- Details
- Written by Jeff Layton
- Hits: 34330
A special article for IO Knuckleheads
In my experience there are quite a few people who don't really know the IO performance of their application(s) nor the IO pattern. So rather than complain about this situation, as I'm apt to do, I decided to write a column that talks about how to capture the IO behavior of your code(s). These steps can be done for codes where you only have the binary, not necessarily the source. It's fairly easy to capture the information. Processing it is another story, however.
This article will give you an introduction in how to use strace, a commonly used debugging tool for system administrators, as a tool to gather information on the IO pattern of your code(s). I'll show you how to use and gather the information, including how you use it for MPI codes. Read on if you want to learn more about how to use this simple tool to make yourself a better cluster, well..., monkey.
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- Hits: 16275
Spinning platters is what matters
A convergence of several key technologies has begun to change some of the old assumptions about how to build clusters. These technologies are high-speed affordable interconnects, high-speed file systems and storage network protocols, MPI implementations with MPI-IO, and high performance processors. This nexus of technologies is allowing the next possible steps in cluster evolution to become mainstream - diskless nodes.
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- Written by Jeff Layton
- Hits: 14101
Benchmarking Parallel File Systems
In the last column I spent quite a bit of time explaining the design of a new set of benchmarks for parallel file systems called PIObench. I discussed critical topics such as timing, memory access patterns, disk access patters, and usage patterns. Due to constraints on how much I can write in a single column, I didn't talk about some other items such as the influence of disk caching. I won't talk about these in this column either. For those interested in things of this nature, take a look at Frank Shorter's PIObench thesis.
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- Written by Jeff Layton
- Hits: 33507
Our own benchmark, we are special you know
In a previous article I started to explore benchmarks for parallel file systems. In the article, we learned that benchmarks for serial file systems are not the best tools to measure the performance of parallel file systems (big surprise). Five of the most common parallel file system benchmarks were also mentioned, but the use of these was limited because they were only applicable to certain workloads and/or certain access patterns -- either memory access or storage access.
In this article we will take a look at a relatively new parallel file system benchmark suite that was designed to capture the behavior of several classes of parallel access signatures.
- Details
- Written by Jeff Layton
- Hits: 34476
In past columns, we've been talking about PVFS. We talked about how to configure it for performance, flexibility, and fault tolerance. If you are interested in performance, you need some way of measuring how the performance changes when you make changes. In this column, I'll talk about how one benchmarks parallel file systems. Of course, when I talk about benchmarks I don't mean comparing parallel file systems to one another. Rather, I mean the ability to determine the effects of changes on the performance of the parallel file system. This information gives you the ability to tune applications to maximize performance on a given parallel file system or to tune a parallel file system for a given set of codes.


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Bentley Intense Eau De Parfum Spray By Bentley
Bentley Intense Cologne by Bentley, Launched in 2013, bentley intense for men contains woody, spicy, and smoky tones, making it the perfect scent for masculine men who don't mind being the center of attention. This intoxicating fragrance is from the design house of bentley, and it features bergamot, black pepper, african geranium, cinnamon, and bay leaf notes that blend well together. This oriental fragrance is ideal for everyday wear, and just a few sprays will leave you smelling great throughout the day.


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Estrella Bryant was at risk of losing her San Francisco town house last year.
Bryant, 70, had not fallen behind on her mortgage payments. Instead, she owed $560 in dues to the Parkview Heights Homeowners Association. The association turned over the case to a collection agency and threatened to foreclose unless Bryant paid off her debt, which increased tenfold because of fees and interest.
"It's been a nightmare," said Bryant, a Filipina immigrant who lives on Social Security and occasional bookkeeping jobs. She said she repeatedly asked Parkview Heights representatives why she was dealing with a debt collector instead of the association.
"Aren't you supposed to help homeowners?" she asked.
With the help of a lawyer, Bryant worked out a payment plan and saved her home. But her ordeal reveals another dimension to the foreclosure crisis, in which homeowners associations nationwide have the same powers as banks and mortgage lenders, and they can exercise a little-known right to foreclose on homes. California law permits associations to initiate foreclosure proceedings when a debt exceeds $1,800, or if a lower amount of dues is owed for more than one year.
One out of every four California homeowners belongs to a homeowners association – entities that sell property and provide services in residential subdivisions with support from member dues. There are more than 15,000 associations in Northern California, according to Levy, Erlanger & Company, a professional services firm that caters to them.
Last year, associations foreclosed on about 300 Bay Area homes – twice as many as five years ago, according to an analysis by New America Media, a nonprofit news organization. The study used data from ForeclosureRadar.com, an independent Web site.
Association-initiated foreclosures are still a small fraction of the overall total in the Bay Area and elsewhere. But advocates for housing rights said the problem ran much deeper, as associations used the threat of foreclosure to intensify pressure on troubled homeowners. The associations often work with debt collectors who add fees and collection costs, causing the debt to skyrocket.
"People come up with money through a painful process; their home is being held hostage and the debt collector knows it," said Marjorie Murray, who directs the Center for California Homeowner Association Law, an Oakland advocacy group.
Last week, the California Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill to curtail predatory practices by collection agencies that can lead to ballooning debt and foreclosure proceedings. It would close a loophole that enables collection agencies to apply payments to their own fees and collection costs before paying down the original debt to homeowners associations. Current law forbids this, but debt collectors exploit vagueness in it to get homeowners to waive their rights.
Senator Ellen M. Corbett, Democrat of San Leandro, who co-sponsored the bill with the Center for California Homeowner Association Law, said the legislation was designed to give struggling homeowners a chance to catch up on payments to homeowners associations.
"Unscrupulous debt collectors are increasing the amount owed based on penalties and fees, and foreclosing on people's homes," Corbett said in an interview. "It's a terrible practice. The penalties are just way too harsh."
But Bay Area homeowners associations say they are feeling the same squeeze as the homeowners. Ken Johnson, president of the Eden Shores Homeowners Association in Hayward, said most homeowner associations were run by volunteers, who have neither the time nor the expertise to chase down delinquent homeowners.
Johnson said roughly half of his development's 500 tract homes are in some stage of foreclosure, primarily because of mortgage defaults. Many of those homeowners are also delinquent on their assessments, he said. That means Eden Shores has less money to provide services, including maintenance of common areas like streets, swimming pools and parks.
Johnson said associations were not interested in taking over distressed properties.
"They don't want to be liable for it; they just want the funds," he said.
Andrew Fortin, a spokesman for the Community Associations Institute, an organization that supports homeowners associations nationwide, said the ability to collect dues was essential to ensure that associations were able to provide crucial services.
"You can understand why an association would want to be on top of collecting assessments, or everyone's property value becomes zero," Fortin said.
For homeowners, however, that process can be painful.
Bryant said she got into trouble when her bookkeeping assignments started to dwindle in the depressed economy. She began to pay her assessments every other month and fell two months behind. She said she had no idea her home was at risk until she received a notice from a collection agency.
By then, the agency, Association Lien Services, had applied an additional $1,000 in fees, documents show. To stave off foreclosure, Bryant said, she was desperate to work out a payment plan, but the agency's offer required her to sign an agreement to allow her payments to go toward collection costs before being applied to her delinquent dues, circumventing a state law requiring that payments go toward the original debt before being applied to fees.
Instead of signing the document, Bryant obtained a pro bono lawyer. She recently paid the full amount she owed the association and worked out a deal to pay a fifth of the nearly $2,500 in collection costs.
Jane Fay, president of the Parkview Heights Homeowners Association, said that she sympathized with Bryant but that she believed the board acted responsibly in trying to collect the overdue assessments.
She did not agree with all of her debt collector's practices, Fay said, but homeowners associations have few options besides pursuing the debt. Delinquents must shoulder part of the blame, she said.
"You're an adult," she said. "You haven't paid, and you know you haven't paid. There are repercussions."
Fay said she was named president of the association in the middle of Bryant's dispute and did not have enough information to know "right or wrong." She said the association waived some late charges and interest.
"We don't want the association to be making money off of homeowners who are in dire financial straits," Fay said.
For collection agencies, however, the foreclosure process can be profitable.
David Swedelson is managing partner of Swedelson & Gottlieb, a Southern California law firm that operates Association Lien Services. Mr. Swedelson said homeowners associations contracted with collection agencies because the latter could cut through "government red tape and requirements" and resolve cases "a lot faster."
Swedelson's law firm boasts on its Web site that it can collect delinquent assessments, costs and fees in "90 percent of cases," and said it believed that "foreclosure is the fastest and most effective way to collect overdue assessments."
To see video and read more about homeowners in the Bay Area who were reported to debt collectors by their homeowners associations, click here.


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Virtual Assistant (VA) - "a highly-skilled, independent professional who remotely provides administrative, technical and/or creative business support services" Choosing the best Virtual Assistant Training and Certification
The ExpertRating Virtual Assistant Training Course also states that The Office of Advocacy and Census Bureau reports conclude that there were nearly 29.6 million small businesses in the United States in 2008 and small businesses make up the majority of clients for Virtual Assistants. The same office states that an average of 600,000 new businesses open each year which contributes to the positive outlook of a Virtual Assistant career. As per the Virtual Assistant Training Course, the word 'virtual' has many definitions, but for the purposes of this course can best be described as having most of the properties, the appearance, essence, or effect of something without being that thing. Virtual Assistant (VA) is defined as a highly-skilled, independent professional who remotely provides administrative, technical and/or creative business support services. A virtual office is a mobile or remote work-environment equipped with telecommunication links and basic office furniture, but without a fixed office space. Virtual Assistants are professional Administrative Assistants who work from their own home or office rather than from an employer's location, and they typically provide services for multiple clients instead of a single company. Services provided by Virtual Assistants include such things as technical, creative, secretarial and receptionist services, however some VAs also specialize in certain fields such as real estate, social media, legal, project management, event planning, ecommerce or research. Following is a partial list of typical services provided by VAs as taken from the ExpertRating Virtual Assistant Training Course: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Some Virtual Assistants choose alternate titles for themselves like Virtual Professional, Virtual Associate, Personal Assistant, Virtual Business Manager or Online Business Manager. The Virtual Assistant Training Program from ExpertRating equips you with most of the essential skills required to start working in many of the above stated job categories. Some of the key concepts covered in the ExpertRating Virtual Assistant Training Course are: * About the Virtual Assistant training Program * How to Create a Business Plan * Registration and Licensing of your business * Setting Up Your Virtual Office * Virtual Assistant Tools * Computer Skills * Introduction to SEO and what it involves * Developing Your Services * Pricing Your Services * Marketing Your Services * Marketplaces For Your Services * Social Media - The Next Big Marketing Revolution * Online Forums & Communities * Organizing Your Work Flow * Balancing Your Home Office & Family * Expanding Your Virtual Assistant Business * Business Ethics * Sample Documents How the virtual assistant course is structured - The Online Virtual Assistant training Course from ExpertRating will equip you with all the knowledge and skills that you need to start your own VA business. The VA training program is 100% online and you can read the material at your convenience from any computer with an internet connection. On completing the VA course you are required to take a small test to ensure that you have understood most of the concepts explained in the course. You will receive a certificate, logo and online transcript for you to display on your website, stationary and in your office. You can display the credentials "Certified Virtual Assistant" on all your business correspondence on completing the virtual assistant training and test at the end of the course. The Virtual assistant course includes in-depth material that covers all the concepts covered in the final test. Below is the format for the Virtual Assistant Test which must be taken at the end of the VA training program in order to be certified:
Estimating Costs The first step in setting fees is to estimate your costs. Calculate how much income you'll need to cover your regular household bills, or how much income you need to replace if your plan is to move from a current job to running your own Virtual Assistant business. Next, divide that amount by 52 weeks to determine how much you'll need to earn on a weekly basis. For example, if you are currently earning $20,000 gross per year and you'll need to make that much or more in order to leave your current job, then divide $20,000 by 52 weeks to arrive at a weekly figure of $385. Next, figure out what additional business expenses you'll also need to cover and add that amount to your weekly figure. As an example, you will be using space in your home and likely extra electricity and other utilities that you would not be using if you were working outside the home. For the purpose of this example, we will estimate 15% to cover those expenses, so $385 x .15 = $58, for a total of $443 per week. Now, if you work an average of 40 hours per week then you would need to bring in around $11 per hour. Therefore, if you are bidding on a job for a client that would take approximately ten hours to complete, you would need to bid at least $110 for that job.
On larger jobs you might want to charge on an hourly basis rather than on a per job basis, or if your client has many different tasks for you then it may be easier for everyone involved to bill hourly for the work. In cases like this you can ask for a retainer up front based on the number of hours you expect to work each week. For example, if you charge $15 per hour and expect to spend ten hours per week for that client then you would request $150 in advance and provide billing reports indicating how much time you've spent. Research the fees that others charge for similar tasks and set your fees accordingly so that you'll be competitive in the marketplace. Check resources such as the annual "Writer's Market" digest at your local library to see what common fees are per page or per word. Look up the websites of Virtual Assistants or other businesses that provide services similar to the ones you plan to provide and find out what they are charging. Take all of the above factors into consideration when setting fees for your initial list of basic services and keep in mind that can and should revisit your price list from time to time and make any changes or adjustments that you feel are necessary. |


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Welcome to the EGMET website
This site has been financed by The Edna Grabham Memorial Education Trust
for Bath and Wells Association of Change Ringers members and for those further afield.
We hope that you will find the contents both interesting and helpful.
Edna Grabham
Born into a ringing family in Uxbridge Middlesex, bells played a large part in Edna's early life. She often found herself the only girl amongst a crowd of enthusiastic young ringers who enjoyed spending all their holidays cycling round the country ringing. Towers were selected at various intervals and, she said, "We would ride till our bottoms were sore, then ring till our hands were sore!"
Edna, who had rung with the best in London at St Paul's Cathedral, found satisfaction in more than just the enjoyment of ringing: her great love was to see people new to ringing learn a good technique and get a good grounding that would stand them in good stead wherever life took them. Whenever a group needed help getting youngsters, or newcomers, up and ringing, she would be there to support them.
Later in her life she moved to Somerset, and became an active member of the Bath and Wells Ringing Association. In her retirement Edna became its Education Officer, helping to organize and run educational weekends for beginners, and those starting method ringing. She also encouraged experienced ringers to learn the skills of calling, and the duties associated with being a Tower Captain and Steeple Keeper.
In her will, she left £3000 to set up a Trust Fund to provide educational grants to help ringers develop their ringing and leadership skills, encouraging them to become better ringers, and share with others the joys of ringing and of playing a part in the world wide family of bell ringers.
The money was invested, and ever since then the Trustees have been giving small grants to young ringers wanting to go on courses and training events, and for several years the Fund has paid for the prizes for the Young Ringer of The Year Award.
At the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Trustees, it was suggested that we should use Edna's money in a more imaginative way, that would benefit more young people. We voted to pay for a barbeque at the Association Young Ringers' Striking Competition – hoping that the promise of a barbeque would encourage lots of people to come. It must have worked – there were lots of teams! We also voted to pay towards the coach that took the young ringers to York for the National Striking Competition.


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At 91, Daniel Ellsberg is certain of many things. One of them is that unofficial leaks of government documents are fundamental to keeping a check on the most powerful operators of our society.
"Unauthorized disclosures are the lifeline of a republic," he told NPR during a phone interview from his home in Northern California.
And anyone who chooses to take on the burden of sharing such information in the public interest, "is doing this republic a very great service and helping it to remain a republic."
Ellsberg would know.
He was the person who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times (until they were blocked by the courts from publishing the documents) then sneaked them to The Washington Post.
The study – officially called the Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force – chronicled decades of failed U.S. policy in Vietnam, and laid bare the ways in which the public was misled in how the war was conducted. Ellsberg was a national security analyst at the time and gained access to the classified documents using his top secret clearances.
When he was eventually discovered, he was arrested and became the first person in the United States to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.
"They tried to put me in [prison] for 150 years," he recalled, laughing.
The charges, however, didn't stick after investigators discovered Nixon administration officials had tapped Ellsberg's phone and broken into his psychiatrist's office to obtain information that would discredit him.
'It's a very good thing that it got out'
Now, watching the fallout of the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that suggests overturning Roe v. Wade, Ellsberg acknowledges the extraordinary nature of the recent breach, which seems to have ruptured the trust between the highest court and the public.
"It's obvious why they want to keep it secret, " he said. "No organization really wants to show how the sausage is made or legislation is made, and they prefer to be the only voice on policy to the public."
Fifty years after the Pentagon Papers leak, Americans have been made privy to the internal, secretive discussions of the Supreme Court, exposing the role that politics plays in the justices' rulings.
"The Supreme Court wants to get all the authority it can from hiding the nature of dissension; the details of arguments that people have made one way or the other," Ellsberg explained. But this particular decision is so consequential for the public that it is important they know what is really driving the majority's decision, he added.
That's why, he said, "It's a very good thing that it got out. It was important to be out."
If he was in the leaker's position, Ellsberg said he'd do the same thing.
'The politicization of the court is no secret at this point'
Ellsberg empathizes with Chief Justice John Roberts, who called the release of the opinion "an affront" and "egregious," launching an investigation into the source of the leak.
"But really," Ellsberg said, "the politicization of the court is no secret at this point and for Justice Roberts to pretend there were no Democratic justices and Republican justices, that's really absurd. That notion has been demolished."
He also notes, as many others have, that after Politico published the draft, that the opinion is not a classified or secret document, meaning that no law has been broken.
"Strictly speaking, the law under which I was prosecuted, the Espionage Act, has never been confirmed by the Supreme Court to be constitutional, as applied to unauthorized disclosure to the American public, telling the truth to the public."
There are no laws preventing the release of documents from within the Supreme Court
Roy Gutterman, a communications law professor and director of the center for free speech at Syracuse University, agrees that neither Politico or the leaker will likely face criminal charges.
As of now, there is no law prohibiting such a public outing from within the Supreme Court, only centuries of decorum and unwritten internal standards. Additionally, when considering legality of the publication of the Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers under the First Amendment, the Supreme Court prepared to rule that the government could not block a publication from publishing the documents.
Gutterman notes there are fewer protections for leakers, meaning there could be more potential liability for such actors. But he said, in this case "it doesn't appear that there's a clear violation of a specific law."
He added: "When you look at leak investigations they tend to focus on National Security issues and the leaking of a draft opinion is not a matter of National Security."
That is not to say there won't be consequences for the source. Given how few people had access to the draft opinion – by most estimates that figure stands at approximately 50 people, including the nine justices – it's more likely than not that they will not remain anonymous, Gutterman said.
However, the long-term effects go much deeper than the potential repercussions on one person's career, according to Gutterman. "It's an opening for future leaks on hot-button issues ... it's a slippery slope."
"This could happen again and again, which would certainly undermine the independence of the court. And it would certainly stifle some degree of even collegiality and consensus-building among these justices," he said.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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The most recent contribution comes from Amity Shlaes (ht James Picerno). Writing for the Bloomberg View, she takes Ben Bernanke to task for not living up to Milton Friedman's counsel:
[T]he Fed chairman is abusing his old connection to the monetary master, Friedman, as a cover for a policy that Friedman might not endorse. That policy is doing anything Bernanke feels like -- dumping money in the economy, or simply scaremongering -- with the defense that doing so is honoring Friedman's desire to avoid that deflation, that recession or that Depression.
It is time to call Bernanke's Friedman bluff... Bernanke is operating with a license Milton never gave him.
David Laidler: Many commentators are claiming that, in Japan, with short interest rates essentially at zero, monetary policy is as expansionary as it can get, but has had no stimulative effect on the economy. Do you have a view on this issue?
Milton Friedman: Yes, indeed. As far as Japan is concerned, the situation is very clear. And it's a good example. I'm glad you brought it up, because it shows how unreliable interest rates can be as an indicator of appropriate monetary policy.
During the 1970s, you had the bubble period. Monetary growth was very high. There was a so-called speculative bubble in the stock market. In 1989, the Bank of Japan stepped on the brakes very hard and brought money supply down to negative rates for a while. The stock market broke. The economy went into a recession, and it's been in a state of quasi recession ever since. Monetary growth has been too low. Now, the Bank of Japan's argument is, "Oh well, we've got the interest rate down to zero; what more can we do?" It's very simple. They can buy long-term government securities, and they can keep buying them and providing high-powered money until the high powered money starts getting the economy in an expansion. What Japan needs is a more expansive domestic monetary policy.
Second, not only did Friedman call for large-scale asset purchases (LSAPs) but he also provided theoretical reasons for doing so. His main argument was that LSAPs created portfolio effects that in turn affected aggregate nominal spending. Edward Nelson, probably the foremost authority on Friedman's monetary views, has an excellent article that summarizes Friedman's view on LSAPs and its implications for the portfolio channel. Anyone who wants to make claims about Friedman's monetary views should read this article first.
Third, Milton Friedman was very clear that one should never look to the level of short-term interest rates as a guide to monetary policy. Shlaes does not do this, but others making the same claim as her on QE2 and Operation Twist often point to low interest rates as indicating the Fed has kept monetary policy super loose. Consequently, the LSAPs were unnecessary. Friedman called this the interest rate fallacy. In order to truly understand the implication of interest rates one needs to first know the level of the natural interest rate. Only if interest rates are lower than their natural rate level is monetary policy stimulative. Too many observers miss this point and thus fall prey to Friedman's interest rate fallacy.
The one point where I do agree with Shlaes is that Friedman would have preferred that monetary stimulus be done in a more systematic manner. Instead of announcing successive, politically costly rounds of QE the Fed could have announced a nominal level target from the start and said asset purchases will continue until the level target was hit. There would have been no need to announce a large dollar size of the asset purchases up front that attracts so much criticism. There would also have been no need to announce successive rounds of QE that make it appear the previous rounds did not work. More importantly, it would have more firmly shaped nominal expectations in a manner conducive to economic recovery. The question is what type of systematic level target would Friedman have supported? This 2003 WSJ article indicates he might have liked a nominal GDP level target.
My hope is that in the future Amity Shlaes and others who want to critique the Fed based on Milton Friedman's views do so appropriately. If they really are fans of Friedman, then they should come after the Fed for not doing enough in a systematic manner. Anything else falls short of the true Milton Friedman.


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Products on this page may not be available in your region.
Roscoflamex PA is a clear, un-pigmented additive for creating a flame retardant paint layer. Add one full jar of Roscoflamex PA to a US gallon (3.79L) of water based paint to make your paint coating flame retardant. Roscoflamex PA is compatible in most latex or vinyl acrylic paints but always test with your specific paint choice. Do not use Roscoflamex PA with metallic paints as the metal pigments may react and tarnish or corrode. Roscoflamex PA does NOT alter the flammability of the substrate being painted but only adds a retardant treatment that slows the spread of fire along the surface.
Using Roscoflamex PA
Roscoflamex PA has been pre-measured and should be added to a single US Gallon (3.79L) of paint. Once combined, the paint/Flamex mixture can be diluted as desired but the dry paint film must be no less than 4 mil in thickness. The effectiveness of a fire retardant barrier is dependent on both the fire retardant additive and the thickness of the coating. Roscoflamex PA is not intended to be used in place of other Roscoflamex products. Where possible, always treat the substrate material using the appropriate Roscoflamex product.
Note: When using Roscoflamex PA in Rosco Supersaturated paint add one 8 oz. jar to one quart of undiluted Supersaturated and then dilute this mixture at least 1:1 with water. Mix thoroughly before using.
8 oz. of Roscoflamex PA mixed into one gallon of paint will treat approximately 300 square feet (28 square meters) of material as per paint manufacturer's guidelines.
Applying Roscoflamex PA
Apply treated paint by brush, roller or sprayer as per the paint manufacturer's instructions. Regardless of the method of application, it is vital that a complete paint film is formed and that the dry film thickness of the finished coating is not less than 4 mil. Paint films that are incomplete, or are too thin, will not provide a barrier against the spread of fire.
Certification and Testing
Roscoflamex PA has been approved for use by the California Fire Marshall and has been tested according to ASTM E84 Class A.
Store Flamex products in non-metallic containers. When metal sprayers are used, they should be thoroughly cleaned immediately after use, including nozzles and accessories. Avoid use of metal buckets or paint containers when possible.
Read carefully the instructions supplied with any Flamex product. Rosco offers these products in good faith, but without guarantee of any type, since materials treated and methods of application are beyond the control of the manufacturer. You should determine suitability of the Flamex product for the intended use and always test before using.
Roscoflamex PA compares to original P50. Do not intermix old and new Flamex products. Use to treat:
View the material compatibility chart for more specific materials.
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Roscoflamex PA Latex Paint Additive - 8 oz. |
Roscoflamex PA Latex Paint Additive - 5 Gallon |
Roscoflamex PA Latex Paint Additive - Case 12 x 8 oz. |
Material Compatibility Chart For Rosco Flamex
Understanding Fire Retardants
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Case Study: Flame Retardant
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Release for hot, new "Vegas" Series – Are you feeling lucky?
Thank you Tears of Crimson for letting me visit your blog today and for your support in helping me spread the news about my new series called "Vegas"
This is release day for the new romantic suspense
Vegas Series by Mimi Barbour
"Partners" Book One in the new Romantic Suspense Vegas Series.
Riveting and fast-paced, this short blockbuster will introduce you to Aurora Morelli and Kai Lawson, the characters who are the stars of the Vegas Series.
In this novel, Aurora is forced to accept one very difficult fact—she's lonesome for her partner Debbie. An attack by a maniac put paid to their working together and Aurora is pissed. She's out to get the madman who hurt her friend and God help anyone who gets in her way. Therefore when a new partner is forced on her, a bloody hotshot no less, the kind of dude she always stays as far away from as possible, she's even more pissed.
This action–packed short is humorous and will sweep you into the lives of these Las Vegas Detectives.
Short Excerpt – Chapter One
So this is what missing someone feels like. Kind of sad and lonely mashed together, eating away at you all day long. Aurora had never felt this way before; wouldn't have given herself permission. This time the annoying ache refused to stop.
She seldom allowed gloomy thoughts to grab hold and mess with her head. But looking around the small office assigned to her and another, seeing the empty desk, sorrow gnawed away until she gave in. Her old partner Deb left behind a hollow emptiness, a sensation she wouldn't ever admit to anyone else. What did you expect? She chastised herself. Not having the person you trust more than anyone else in the world backing you up sucked big time.
Two weeks ago, life had been normal. She'd gone to get a cup of the sludge they called coffee and left Debbie working on their backlog of case files. Returning to their office, Lieutenant Cory Ashton had caught up with her and they'd stepped into the room together, both coming to a dead stop. Debbie, who'd lately taken to the layered look with sloppy clothes, had bent over to pick something up from the floor and everything had draped open— her pregnant belly had been revealed for all to see.
"Roll the Dice" Book Two in the romantic suspense Vegas Series.
"You shot me!" Aurora is incensed. Her new partner shrugs and answers. "I saved your life." From the very first page of this riveting story, these two battle for supremacy in trying to catch the serial rapist who ripped both their lives apart. With all her might, she fights the attraction to his baby blues that tease and start her internal warning devices humming. After all, her job is her life and determination has always been her lifeline.
Kai has a mission of honor to undertake. The man who'd raped his sister can't be allowed to live. After all, she hadn't! Revenge fills his soul while visions of his new partner fills his heart. The sassy woman rattles his calm, and he can't keep his hands to himself. Doesn't mean she has the power to stop him from doing what has to be done.
Short Excerpt – Chapter One
"You shot me!"
"You told me to."
"Dumb shit!" Aurora pushed her new partner from hovering over her so she could sit up. "I didn't mean it. I just wanted you to scare Rhondo." She felt blood poring from the wound on her arm and purposely kept her head turned away.
"Shooting you did scare him. He let you go, didn't he?"
Aurora frowned at him. Why did his voice have to sound so damn reasonable?
"What-ever!" She hoped her scorn would get to him.
"Hey! I saw his eyes, you didn't. He had every intention of using that knife. You know, the sharp one he had pressed against your throat. If I'd shot him instead of you…" He shrugged.
Aurora shuddered, fighting off nausea. She didn't want to listen to reason. Being angry made the situation a whole lot easier to deal with. Sarcasm, the best weapon she had in a macho man's environment, replaced whining.
She glared at him and saw his shapely eyebrows rise. The light of the bulb hanging from the ceiling of the cruddy apartment haloed his head making the bare skin shine. "Just my frigging luck to end up with a partner who thinks and looks like Bruce Willis."
Kai chuckled. Her glower put a quick end to his merriment. He tried changing the subject with sweet talk. "I've been told I have a nicely shaped head for being bald."
"Sure and it goes swell with your baby-blue eyes." She sneered on purpose. No way would she admit he did look good.
His response was a grunt of displeasure. "Are you always this crabby?"
Disbelief shone in her amazed expression. "Not at all…" She said, disdain evident. "…only when I've been shot."
"Vegas" Contest Rules
(Sept 15 – Sept 30th)
1. Read the book called "Roll the Dice".
2. Write an honest review for Amazon.
3. Send a copy of Amazon's notice to
you'll have a chance at being the lucky winner of a
$50 Amazon Gift Certificate
I've purposely set the price of the book down to $.99 for this contest and on Sept 19 & 20 it will be promoted in the
and will be …
…you guessed it!
Good Luck!!!


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Sound Workshop with Nicolás Jaar @ SONICA 2024
In collaboration with Kino Šiška, MoTA Museum and SONICA Festival present the Sound Workshop with Nicolás Jaar at SONICA 2024.
MoTA –
Museum of Transitory Art
MoTA is a multidisciplinary platform dedicated to advancing the research, production and presentation of transitory, experimental, and live art forms.
MoTA is a museum without a permanent collection or a fixed space. Instead, its programs are realised in different locations and contexts in temporary physical and virtual spaces.
MoTA organizes and supports transitory art in the form of continuous events, exhibitions and educational programs both locally and internationally. As its name indicates, MoTA examines what a museum can be today and in the future.
MoTA is in constant search for the new, the uncertain, and the undefined.
MoTA works on several continuous programmes & projects. We run MoTA Point – a Space for Art & Ideas, we curate and produce the annual SONICA Festival, in addition to regular music programmes such as SONICA Series and SONICA Classics.
Within the years of running our residency programme, we've established T.R.I.B.E. – a network of residency spaces in the Balkans & Eastern Europe.
We've also initiated the research and archive platforms ArtistTalk.eu and Mediateque MoTA & Tomaž Brate. Our educational programmes serve a broader audience with ongoing workshops, talks, symposia, and internships.