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It was almost a year ago when I had my first experience with Hearthstone during its closed beta period, which led to me writing this post. At the time, I'd only ever played the game's draft format – the Arena. I enjoyed it a lot at first but quickly lost interest as the drafts and gameplay both felt repetitive very quickly. I ended up putting the game down entirely, and didn't play again for a very long time.
During that time, Hearthstone exploded. It attracted not only a huge number of players, but spectators as well. The viewership numbers of the game on Twitch have regularly surpassed everything except League of Legends and major eSports events. I found myself tuning in now and then to see what the excitement was about when I saw streamers like Trump or Kripp with tens of thousands of people watching them play also everybody loves playing Android games in its free time. This was clearly something a lot of people were excited about.
What really got my attention, though, was the announcement of the Hearthstone World Championship. As evidenced by my history in tournament Magic and other games like VS System, I'm an incredibly competitive person, and major events with big prizes are a good way to get me to take a second look at any game.
I didn't actually take that second look until I was in Atlanta for the Magic Grand Prix a couple months ago and I crashed with my friend Brooks on Sunday night after the tournament. Brooks had been playing a lot of Hearthstone himself, and when I told him that I found Arena to be repetitive and boring, he let me give his constructed decks a try. They were a lot of fun, and I played a bunch of different decks for hours that night.
I started occasionally playing Hearthstone when I got home from Atlanta, mostly mindlessly playing Arena on my iPad while I sat on the couch with my girlfriend watching Netflix. About a week ago – last Sunday, to be exact – I decided to open the fifty-five packs I'd earned from my arena battles and try my hand at constructed. I fired up my stream, cracked my packs, built my first deck and went right into battle.
As I'm writing this, I just hit Legend rank after exactly 175 wins, all with Shaman. I've been slowly tuning my deck as I go based on the opposition I find myself running into and experimenting with new things to see what works and what doesn't. While I haven't quite cracked the top echelons just yet, I feel like I have enough experience with both modes of play now that I can speak from an informed perspective about the game as a whole.
Since my initial review of the game, perhaps what has impressed me the most is how well suited Hearthstone is to streaming. It's incredible if you compare the viewership of Hearthstone to Magic Online. Hearthstone has only been around for a year, while Magic Online has been around for a decade (and Magic itself twice that), and yet Hearthstone streamers regularly pull five figure viewer counts while the top Magic streamers pull at most a few thousand.
Blizzard did an incredible job making the game easy to follow and fun to watch. The combination of graphics, animations, and sound effects makes the viewing experience very immersive. Not only do these make spectating more enjoyable, but it also makes it much easier for the viewer to see what is going on. Creatures in play are big, vibrant images rather than cards covered mostly in text, and key abilities like Taunt (which I will call Protector forever) are represented graphically.
Perhaps most important, though, is the built-in turn timer that pushes the action along. One of the biggest hits against Magic as a spectator sport is that the pace of play can be incredibly methodical. I remember watching the finals of Pro Tour Barcelona and at times literally not being able to tell if the stream was frozen or Gaudenis was just playing at an absolutely glacial pace. While the action in Hearthstone can slow down when players are faced with tough decisions, there is a hard cap on just how long they can take. This ensures that the game keeps moving, which makes for a much better viewing experience. Making a turn-based strategy game compelling to watch is no easy feat, and I have to hand it to Blizzard on this one.
These same elements also make the game much more attractive to audiences who would never have played a traditional TCG in the past. Hearthstone plays like a video game that happens to use a collectible card game model rather than a collectible card game that happens to be on the computer. It feels much more alive, much more active, and plays much more smoothly than other games in the space.
While Hearthstone is great for new players and for growing the audience for collectible card games, I still have concerns for its health as a competitive endeavor. When I wrote my initial review of the game during the closed beta period, there was no Hearthstone World Championships, nor any of the major third party tournaments that have cropped up since. With the amount of effort that has clearly gone into pushing Hearthstone as a legitimate competitive game, I feel like it's important to address the issues that could undermine that.
My previous major critique centered on the hero powers, and they remain my biggest concern. I don't want to reiterate the entire argument I made last time, so I suggest reading my original piece if you're interested in a more thorough analysis. Most of my reasoning there was entirely theoretical since I was just speculating on the implications of the hero powers, but much of what I predicted in that piece seems to have come to pass.
Let's take a look:
On top of this, even if you can reach a semblance of balance in a broad sense for the Hero powers, you're not going to be able to balance for all possible contexts. One decision that was made for WoW TCG (that I also disagreed with, but it was pretty much mandated from on high) is that thedifferent classes start with different health totals, because classes had varying levels of hit points in the game. The argument was made that we could just make the cards and/or Hero powers better for the lower health classes to compensate. The problem with this reasoning is that the same things don't matter in the same way in different contexts. In a battle between resource-advantage based control decks, a difference of one or two or even five points of starting health could matter very little, while an ability that, say, allows you to draw extra cards can be absolutely game-changing.
This is the state that Hearthstone lives in. There are nine classes, each with a unique, reusable Hero power. One of these Hero powers, the Warrior's, is to give you two points of Armor, which essentially prevents the next two damage you'd take. Another, the Warlock's, allows you to pay two life to draw a card. While these may be "balanced" in the grand scheme of things (though that notion is itself questionable), they are certainly not remotely close to balanced when taken in the context of different potential matchup situations. Against a deck that is trying to kill you as fast as possible, gaining Armor is clearly a powerful effect, and paying two life for a card is clearly a real cost. But in a matchup between decks that are jockeying for resource advantage and winning with individually powerful effects, the Warrior ability is borderline useless while the Warlock ability is absolutely game defining.
It was not at all a surprise to me when I learned that Warlock is perhaps the most popular and successful class in Heartstone constructed, since the hero power lets you draw extra cards. Extra cards are always going to be valuable, no matter what deck you are playing or what deck you're playing against, while the impact of an ability like that of the Warrior or Priest is highly context dependent. In fact, the Warlock ability is so distorting that it completely warps gameplay and deck building.
Let's take a look at some Hearthstone decklists:
Aggro Rogue
1 Defias Ringleader
2 SI:7 Agent
2 Argent Squire
2 Southsea Deckhand
2 Leper Gnome
2 Loot Hoarder
1 Faerie Dragon
2 Arcane Golem
1 King Mukla
2 Coldlight Oracle
1 Leeroy Jenkins
2 Shadowstep
2 Cold Blood
2 Deadly Poison
2 Eviscerate
2 Sap
1 Blade Flurry
1 Assassin's Blade
This is a pretty cool deck. It's built around using cheap creatures to flood the board and pressure your opponent's life total quickly, with spells that help push your creatures through or finish your opponent off. It uses Coldlight Oracle to refill its hand, and has a bunch of combos with Shadowstep, including the Oracle itself or a charge creature like Leeroy Jenkins.
Druid Ramp
2 Keeper of the Grove
2 Druid of the Claw
2 Ancient of Lore
2 Harvest Golem
1 Big Game Hunter
2 Violet Teacher
2 Azure Drake
2 Argent Commander
1 Ragnaros the Firelord
2 Innervate
2 Power of the Wild
2 Wild Growth
2 Wrath
2 Savage Roar
2 Swipe
2 Force of Nature
This is another interesting deck. It ramps its mana with Innervate and Wild Growth and then generates a lot of creatures with Violet Teacher or Force of Nature before using Savage Roar or Power of the Wild to pump them all and attack for huge chunks of damage. It also has a lot of generally effective utility cards like Druid of the Claw, Keeper of the Grove, and Ancient of Lore as a back-up plan
Warlock Zoo
2 Voidwalker
2 Flame Imp
2 Doomguard
2 Argent Squire
2 Young Priestess
2 Shieldbearer
2 Abusive Sergeant
1 Amani Berserker
2 Dire Wolf Alpha
2 Knife Juggler
2 Shattered Sun Cleric
2 Harvest Golem
2 Defender of Argus
2 Dark Iron Dwarf
1 Argent Commander
2 Soulfire
This isn't really a deck in the same way as the others. It's not built around particular synergies or combinations This is a pile of cards plus a hero power. The defining characteristic of almost every card in this deck is that it's cheap, which means you can flood the board and just keep using your hero power to draw cards. There are clearly important decisions about individual card choices here, like using Defender of Argus and Dark Iron Dwarf to pump your small creatures and keep them relevant as the game goes on, but more than anything else, this deck is built to lean on the Warlock hero power to keep churning out additional threats and overwhelm the opponent.
Unsurprisingly, the other popular Warlock deck – known as "Handlock" – is also entirely built around the class's hero power, using it to draw extra cards early and often to power out large Twilight Drakes and Mountain Giants.
My problem with this isn't that Warlock decks are unbeatable, or even that they're good at all, but that the nature of the hero power makes games against them play out incredibly similarly all of the time. Outside of actually killing your opponent, there's nothing you can do to stop them from drawing tons of extra cards, which engenders a frustrating feeling of hopelessness as you trade resources over the course of a game and they inevitably come out ahead.
Too much of the strength of Warlock is embedded in its hero power. While I've grown to appreciate some of the positive aspects of hero powers, like the feeling that you almost always have at least something productive to do with your mana on your turn, it's a major problem when the power itself is too strong, because ultimately it ends up being what every game is about.
There are games when Miracle Rogue doesn't draw Gadgetzan Auctioneer, or Druid Ramp doesn't draw Innervate, which gives texture and variation to gameplay. If those cards give you trouble, you can also play with cards to fight against them specifically, like Flare to bring Auctioneer out of the stealth from Conceal or Hex to kill the creature your opponent ramps out with Innervate. On the contrary, Warlock always "draws" Lifetap every game, and there's no card you can play to stop them from using it. All you can hope to do is kill them.
I don't expect any kind of major redesign at this point, but even something as simple as making the power cost three life instead of two would take it down a notch. If that change makes Warlocks too weak, buff some of its class cards to compensate. I think the game would be better off if the Warlock hero power were significantly weaker and more of the strength of the class were in its actual cards, because that leads to more varied and interesting gameplay.
As a side note, it's interesting if you look at the stats available on Arenas, there's a pretty direct correlation between success and having a proactive hero power that impacts the board. The classes at the top – Rogue, Mage, Shaman, and Paladin – all have the ability to do something that generates a persistent advantage on an empty board, while those at the bottom – Warrior, Hunter, Warlock, and Priest – all have powers that do nothing to directly advance the board state. Just food for thought about the importance of hero powers and the difficulty in balancing the game around them.
My other concern with Hearthstone as a competitive endeavor moving forward is the role of randomness in the game. I'm certainly not someone who feels like randomness is bad for games, nor that eliminating or reducing randomness makes games better, even as legitimate competitive outlets. But I think there are different kinds of randomness, some of which are good and some of which are not.
Hearthstone is built on the CCG model, which involves players constructing a deck and drawing from it as the game progresses. This means there is a level of randomness already inherent in the game. This is a good kind of randomness, because it allows games to play out differently and provides moments of drama, which is important for making the game interesting to spectators. Drawing your Big Game Hunter right when your opponent plays his Ragnaros is the kind of randomness that makes the game fun and exciting, and leads to dramatic moments.
On top of that, though, Hearthstone has added a great deal of additional randomness on the level of individual cards. This isn't inherently a problem, because there are a lot of players who enjoy that kind of thing. Cards like Warp World and Unexpected Results are popular in Magic because they do fun, wacky things that appeal to a certain segment of the audience. These kind of cards play a role, and it certainly isn't a problem that they exist.
The problem arises when these cards are the ones that are consistently showing up in competitive decks due to their power level. We saw this in Magic with Frenetic Efreet, which was an efficient creature that could dodge removal spells 50% of the time. The card was wildly unpopular among competitive players, because it could very explicitly reduce the result of a game to a coin flip. I actually lost seven consecutive flips against an opposing Frenetic Efreet back at Pro Tour Chicago in 1997. Suffice it to say that I was not happy.
Hearthstone – and Magic – have a lot of implicit randomness, seeing as you're drawing cards from a shuffled deck, and it is the task of any competitive player to work to manage this. Magic has largely moved away from explicit randomness – cards that have an unknown effect once you actually play them – at least on cards aimed toward the competitive scene, while Hearthstone has embraced it.
As a player, I have certainly found this to be very frustrating. It's possible that my view is particularly colored because I've spent most of my time in the game playing Shaman. One of the best Shaman cards is Lightning Storm, which deals 2-3 damage to all opposing creatures. It also has the Overload ability, which means casting it reduces your available resources the following turn. This leads to a number of situations in which casting Lightning Storm either wins or loses the game based on whether you deal two or three damage to a particular creature, because you've invested so much into its success. Unsurprisingly, this can lead to some serious frustration when it goes wrong.
There are some cards, like Thoughtsteal, Sense Demons, or the new Deathrattle effects from Naxxramas, that have to be random simply due to the way the game works. There are others, like Knife Juggler, Master Swordsmith, or Young Priestess, that could be targeted, but are random largely for game flow reasons. I can appreciate the desire to avoid mucking up the game with stops and target selection, but question whether there ought to be as many cards with random elements that are as strong as they are impacting competitive play.
We already saw Blizzard take some steps against cards with random elements that were widely viewed as negatively impacting gameplay – Nat Pagle and Tinkmaster Overspark. This is a good sign, in my mind, since it shows they recognize the perception problem that comes with random effects and are willing to address them.
I have heard similar frustrations expressed by many top streamer and players, and I imagine it's something that's on the Hearthstone team's collective mind as the game matures. The original design of the game clearly targeted a much more casual audience than the eSports crowd that has since embraced it, and I would not be surprised to see a different philosophy take hold as the games moves forward.
Overall, Hearthstone is clearly a huge success. It has been exciting to me as both a player and a game designer to watch its trajectory. I look forward to seeing what Naxxramas brings, both in terms of the single player experience and how it shakes up the constructed metagame. As someone who has played and worked on collectible games for my entire adult life, it's been awesome seeing the genre getting the attention that it is these days outside of traditional hobby circles, and Hearthstone is the biggest reason for that. I hope to see it continue to grow and thrive in the future, because that only means good things for players like me and other games in the space, like SolForge.


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Color: White
Interior: Leather
Drive Train: FWD
Transmission: 6 Speed Manual
Vin: JM1NDAC71G0106508
Engine: 2.0L L4 DOHC 16V
Mileage: 31,874
Stock #: A06508
J & S AutoHaus 3
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subset: commoncrawl


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I first went to Jerusalem in 1979 to research a book dealing with Christians, Muslims, and Jews. While there I met many third generation Americans, such as Bobby and Linda Brown of Brooklyn, who together with 25 other couples — half of them from the United States — moved onto land of the Palestinians and took the land at gunpoint. They staked off 750 acres and put a strong iron fence around it. Israeli soldiers guard this settlement night and day. That is illegal under every international law.
One evening, we sat under the stars looking at the flickering lights of Palestinian villages. Bobby Brown, with a wave of his arm, said: "All the Palestinians have to leave this land. God gave this land to us, the Jews."
This incident made a deep impression on me. I knew Bobby Brown could not use an Uzi and confiscate land at gunpoint in Brooklyn. What made it all right for him to use a gun and take land from Palestinians?
And moreover, why did we, as American taxpayers, give Israel the money to pay for the weapons to confiscate Palestinian land?
Had God deeded the land to Bobby Brown?
Had the Palestinians been living there for 2,000 years, just holding it until Bobby Brown could claim it?
I had to ask myself: Did I believe God had a Chosen Land and a Chosen People?
I returned home, and the questions remained. To research these questions, and how others felt about them, I signed to go on a conducted tour of the Holy Land with Jerry Falwell.
On arrival in Jerusalem, our group went to the old City and we approached the large Muslim grounds where the Dome of the Rock and Al- Aqsa Mosque are located. "There" said our Israeli tour guide, pointing to the mosque, "we will build our third temple."
As we left the site, I remarked to Clyde, a retired Minneapolis business executive, that the guide said a temple would be built there. But, I asked, what about the mosque? It is one of the three most sacred shrines in all Islam, and holy to a billion Muslims around the world.
"Oh" said Clyde, "the mosque will be destroyed. One way or another, it has to be removed. You know, it's in the Bible that the temple must be built. And there's no place for it."
Clyde was convinced that Jews, aided by Christians, should destroy the mosque, build a temple, and reinstate the killing of animals in the temple — all in order to please God.
Many Christians throughout this land feel the same as Clyde. They have organized a Temple Mount Foundation to raise money to help Jewish terrorists destroy the Muslim mosque. I talked with several, including Terry Reisenhoover of Oklahoma, and the Reverend James deLoach of Houston's Second Baptist Church.
The Rev. DeLoach visited in my apartment in Washington, and was proud to tell me he had raised and spent tens of thousands of dollars to defend Jewish terrorists charged with assaults on the mosque. He was also pleased to relate that he had entertained, in his Houston home, Jewish terrorists charged with assaults on the mosque. He was also pleased to relate that he had entertained, in his Houston home, Jewish yeshiva students who were studying how to slaughter animals, to be used as sacrifice inside the temple they hope to build.
The Christians who want the mosque destroyed — and a Jewish temple built — follow a belief system called dispensationalism. In all the world, in all of history, they place Israel on center stage.
They contend that we must all go through seven time periods. The countdown on history began, they tell us, in 1948, with the gathering of Jews into Palestine and the creation of the modern state of Israel. The dispensationalists believe in a God not of love, but of war: they believe in what is termed Armageddon theology.
Our group also traveled to Meggido, located about an hour's drive north of Tel Aviv.
As we left the bus, I walked alongside Clyde, the retired business executive. As we looked out over the valley, Clyde exclaimed: "At last! I am viewing the site of Armageddon."
We continued to gaze at fields — that in size would be lost in any Texas ranch — and Clyde talked of a 200-million-man army that would invade Israel: "Right here!" he said. And a great decisive battle would ensue that would involve all the armies of the Earth. This battle, involving nuclear weapons, would kill most of the inhabitants of this Earth.
A couple years passed, and I received a colored brochure of a Falwell- sponsored trip. Like the first brochure, it was printed in Israel. In this brochure, Falwell did not once mention that we would be traveling to the Land of Christ. Nor, for that matter, did he once mention the name of Christ.
Once we arrived, we had no Christian guide — to any site where Christ was born, died or had his ministry. There was not a single planned visit to a Christian church — or a plan to meet any of the Christians living there, whose forebears have lived in Palestine since the days of Christ.
We had only Israeli guides, and the focus clearly was on military aspects. The Israeli guides gave us endless explanations of why the Israelis should keep all the land of historic Palestine, leaving nothing for the Palestinians.
Once we were on a bus tour, and I thought surely we would stop in Nazareth. "No" said an Israeli guide. The bus would not stop in Nazareth. No one contested the guide's decision.
On the outskirts of Nazareth, However, our Israeli guide changed his mind. "We will stop in Nazareth for 20 minutes" he announced, "to use the toilet facilities." And thus we stopped. We left Nazareth without having seen it.
We proceeded to Jerusalem, where Falwell chose to honor Ariel Sharon, the burly general who masterminded the invasion of Lebanon which injured and killed 200,000 Palestinians and Lebanese, most of them civilians.
In introducing Sharon, Falwell said that, in the annals of history, only a few great men came along. He named George Washington, Abraham Lincoln — and Ariel Sharon!
On another night, Falwell gave a big banquet to honor the defense minister, Moshe Arens. Before introducing the defense minister, Falwell, in an aside to Arens, said: "Mr. Minister, I want to thank you for that jet airplane you gave me."
Falwell, and other dispensationalists, have a working alliance with militant Jewish Zionists. My latest book, Prophecy and Politics, deals with this marriage of convenience between militant Christians and militant Jewish Zionists. Each group uses the other, gains from the other.
Christian Zionists, or dispensationalists, give Israel total support because they think there has to be an Israel there, a place — not for Jews, but for the battle of Armageddon, which they actually believe must occur. It's part of the required steps, they believe, that will lead to their Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ.
Because of their scenario, they make a cult of the land of Israel.
The seedbed for this dispensationalism is in Dallas, at the Dallas Theological Seminary. I met with John Walvoord, the president, an elderly gentleman who said God had given all of Palestine to the Jews.
In talking with Walvoord, I kept referring to the suffering of the Palestinians. "What about them?" I asked. "I am referring to land," he said at one point. And he added: "You keep talking about spirit aspects."
It actually happens: Those who make a cult of the land of Israel put this cult of land above the teachings of Christ.
Jewish Zionists such as Begin and Shamir and Sharon support the Christian dispensationalists because the dispensationalists give them total support. In dealing with the criticism of this alliance between militant Christians and militant Jews, I think it is important to know the difference between religion and politics.
True faith, whether one is Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, is religion. Zionism, whether one is Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, is politics. And it is politics because it deals with land, not spiritual values.
In closing, I want to mention a trip I made to Basel, Switzerland. I attended the first Christian Zionist Congress. I was one of 589 persons from 27 countries attending this Congress.
It was held in the same hall where Theodor Herzl had called the first Jewish Zionist Congress, about 100 years ago. Herzl had stressed that Jews were different and should live exclusively among Jews. Christian Zionists say the same. This conference was supported by the Israelis.
I listened to speakers who were Jewish Zionists as well as Christian Zionists. Rather than provide hope by suggesting steps whereby Jews and Arabs might reach reconciliation, and live together, in peace, each speaker seemed to reinforce the fears of the other. Rather than stress how much Arabs and Jews — and indeed all human beings — have in common, speakers told us: Jews are different. They must live exclusively among Jews.
Christian Zionists believe that God has ordained that the Jews control the land of Palestine, and that they control Jerusalem, and build a temple, and that they reinstate animal sacrifice.
The Christian Zionists approve every military action taken by the Jewish Zionists. If Israel bombs Iraq, as it has done, or invades Lebanon, as it has done, or shoots and kills Palestinian children, as it has done, then Christian Zionists will say: "Well, that is a Chosen Land and a Chosen People. All of that is orchestrated by God."
Although our aid to Israel is more than we give to many countries, including all India, Africa, and South America, Christian Zionists will support these billions of your taxpayer dollars going to Israel, because of their interpretation that God wants that land as the landing base for the Second Coming of Christ. It is the LAND for which they care. They want it there, in place, so that the rest of their scenario, including their Rapture, can come to pass.
Somehow, in all the sermons of Jerry Falwell and other Christian Zionists, I miss their telling us about the Sermon on the Mount. And I miss these militant Christians reminding us that Christ possessed a way that was NOT based on military strength.
His way was not to steal property and kill people for the sake of a temporary political kingdom on Earth. Rather, as we know, Christ came to advance and enhance life. He came not to speak and support a cult of land. But he came to speak for the suffering, the destitute, the oppressed.
Indeed, He has a Chosen People. We are all chosen to do good, not evil. Chosen to seek and to work for peace, in the Middle East and in the world.


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Guy Makes His Own Functional, Returning Batarang
That...does not look like Gotham.
This is a video of boomerang lover Victor Poulin testing out his newly made 25-inch Batarang. It returns and he catches it on his first try -- incredible! Did you know boomerangs were originally used for hunting? You would just cream some animal in the head with the thing then drag it off to eat. I mean, provided you were a good throw. If you were a bad throw you either made friends with a guy who was a good throw or starved to death.
Keep going for the video.
Thanks to Pair_Of_Deuces, who once knocked himself out with a returning boomerang before. Haha, I'm not the only one!
Read More: batarang, batman, boomerang, good job, having a great time, homemade, if you love something set it free if it returns it was probably a boomerang because there is no way in hell anything else would return to you, it's all in the wrist (i have no clue if it's all in the wrist or not), throwing things, weapons, whee, wood


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Think about your or your child's daily routine. For most people reading this, they are probably thinking of what time they wake, how long it takes them to drive to work, what they do during work, what they do when they get home and many other things. Now imagine your diet, or when you go to restaurants. Over all of these concepts and events, how much water do you drink? How much water do you think your child drinks throughout the day? If you cannot answer me within about three seconds, then you and your children, but more likely your children, are dehydrated.
Studies show that children and teenagers more so than adults in the U.S. are dehydrated daily. While no one really dies from dehydration until it gets to an extreme state, the amount of dehydration that people go through daily is enough to impede their quality of life. Don't believe me? Well consider the following. What happens when you come home from work, or your children come home from school, and either of you are complaining of a headache? I will tell you what happens more than likely. You end up taking some kind of headache medication or pill in hopes that it goes away. What happens when that does not work? You end up going to a higher level doctor, telling them your symptoms and demand some stronger medication. However, the doctor denies you and then asks you when the last time you drank water was. This is when you get upset with the doctor and go home to try his advice, with apprehensive or pessimistic thoughts going through your mind as you drink the water. Then you drink the water and you end up feeling better. That's usually an adult's situation. Now think of a young child or teenager. All they can think about is running around outside in the hot sun, and plain water can be hard for a child to stomach, since their used to all the sugary drinks that they consume.
Being hydrated is extremely important for many reasons that you can Google, or even if you experiment practically. I guarantee you will notice a difference in how you look at your days if you drink one water bottle worth of water every day for a week, versus the next week if you make a conscious effort to drink three liters of water a day. I admit, drinking so much plain water can be a real pain. It makes you urinate frequently, and the taste is not ideal when you're used to drinking drinks full of sugar. However, there are ways around this. You can implement more soups into your diet, you can eat more juicy fruit, you can buy powdered solutions to mix into your water to make it more enjoyable, although there are controversial views on how healthy these products are, you can put ice in your drinks and many other ways. When all of these methods are added up at the end of the day, you have consumed quite an extra amount of water. Try out these methods and let me know how it goes for you!


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Heart in Hand Spiritual Care
The Mission of the Heart in Hand Spiritual Care Ministry is to bring a presence and message of love to congregants during times of health challenges, transition, and grieving.
If you would like spiritual support during a time of health challenge, please contact us. We are happy to visit you in person, or speak with you over the phone, to provide loving listening and prayer (spiritual mind treatment). Your requests and conversations are held in sacred confidentiality among the members of our Ministry.
Call and leave a message at 707-546-4543707-546-4543, ext. 370. We check this voice mail box at least twice daily. Or visit the Heart in Hand table in the Social Hall on Sunday morning to put a written request in the box.


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In the past week, I've worked on at least seven different exhibitions. One day I had so many phone calls and e-mails that I had a hard time remembering which show I was talking or writing about. With two special exhibition galleries now instead of one, it's a little hectic. But it's a good sort of hectic. We've got a lot of different ideas in the works for you.
For Changing Landscapes, one of the current shows, I was finalizing travel arrangements with Deborah Corsini, the curator at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. She'll be here with us in the gallery on February 28th to talk about how the show came to be and what the fiber art scene in China is like. It's been a pleasure for us to show this exhibition, especially because it's the first-ever show of contemporary Chinese fiber art in the United States.
For a while, I played e-mail and phone tag with a reviewer about the Aprons exhibit, eventually providing him with information and photos that should appear soon in ArtScope magazine. Let's hope he liked the show as much as we enjoyed putting it together.
Talk about hectic! We had about fifty students here from Lynne Blake's Accessories Design class at Lasell College on February 4th. Each student had looked at pictures of all our hats online in our Chace Catalogue (available at http://www.athm.org/online_catalogue.htm) and chose one they thought they might like to use as design inspiration for a hat they'd create. At the Museum, they got to see their hats in person and examine them closely. Some were happy with their choices, and others just had to make a change—because things always look different "in the flesh" than in pictures. We're now working out the details for judging, which will determine which hats are shown in the gallery in Inspired Design beginning this May. It was a very exciting day.
In between students and reporters, we've been negotiating the terms to bring a collection of haute couture to ATHM in the fall. We haven't dotted every 'i' or crossed all the 't's, so I can't say more about it yet, but we think it will be a beautiful and fascinating exhibition. And, we're also working on an exhibition that will commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. It's still in the planning stage, but the guest curators have already found textiles with absolutely fabulous stories —like the quilt a southern family used to wrap the silver they buried to hide their family treasures from General Sherman's troops. We'll see that exhibition in 2012.
But back to the present. Right now, we're figuring out logistics and mounting details for More Than a Number, which opens April 17th. That's more challenging than you might think. This time, one of the elements in the show is colorful dance costume from Lowell's Angkor Dance Troupe. Parts of the costume are tightly wrapped around the dancers' bodies. That works best with real people wearing them, but it's not really a practical answer for us. We're used to dressing forms and mannequins, but this time, we can't use torso forms since we need solid legs, and mannequins can't assume a dance pose. So, we're working on that one. You'll have to come visit the Museum while More Than a Number is on view to see our solution. And, keep your eye on the blog for updates on some of our future exhibitions.
Diane Fagan Affleck
Director of Interpretation


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Mile High Mud
Colorado is Open for DIRTY Business!
We are not sure we can make a Mud Wall a mile high but we know you will have miles of smiles when we roll into Denver in August. Then again, we are rocking this one out at the Winter Park Ski Resort...get ready for a ridiculously fun time and help us break in Colorado to The Original Mud Run! Registration just opened and now is the time to sign up and Get DIrty with us!
Click Register Now above and come play DIRTY!


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I understand the important role a trusted adviser plays in the client/adviser relationship. Don't underestimate the value an independent set of eyes and different perspective on your affairs.
Like most of us, you get so involved and immersed in your affairs on a day to day basis that it is too hard to step back and take an objective view. An independent perspective can take on many different forms, from a detailed review of your business, to drilling down on your numbers or simply a discussion about your business
Testing your business, its assumptions and you, is what I do best.
Here are the top four reasons business owners say they failed at their business:
- Poor strategic management of the business
- Inadequate cash flow or high cash use
- Trading losses
- Poor financial control, including lack of financial and other records
If we step back in time, let's say 3 decades, the reasons cited by business owners as to the reason they failed would include the following four:
- Poor strategic management of the business
- Inadequate cash flow or high cash use
- Trading losses
- Poor financial control, including lack of financial and other records
My point is this, these reasons are always offered by business owners. We can help you work through your plans, strategy, operations, financial controls, record keeping and administration.
For example, have you considered the impact of price? Do you price according to your costs rather than value, have you considered changes in the market place or different market segments.
Have you considered how digital may impact on your business – both positive or negative?
There are so many options. You must understand where you are today and where you want to get to. It's only when we know these two reference points can we start the performance improvement path.


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Christopher Rudy
Chief Strategy Officer at Cut in Seattle, Washington
Christopher Rudy is the CSO and a co-founder of Cut.com, where he drives business opportunities at the frontiers of the digital video marketplace across the company's verticals.
Holding a JD from Boston University School of Law, Chris began his career in the entertainment industry at ICM, a top talent agency in Hollywood, and eventually served as VP of Talent Development at Collab. There, he turned Collab's long list of digital creators into their own legible, marketable brands.
With a comprehensive knowledge of traditional and new media's protocols and business networks, Rudy identifies strategic partnerships with talent, brands, and other media companies to position Cut at the vanguard of this new era in video.


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Monday, November 16, 2015
I think we can all agree that I should never open a phone sex business
Posted by Lemon Gloria on Monday, November 16, 2015
6 comments:
Ha!!!Your voice does sound very sexy. I have a feeling ANY conversation with you would be tantalizing and funny.ReplyDeleteReplies
Why, thank you, Lynn! I wouldn't mind if it never went back to super high, but it's inevitable. As for any conversation being tantalizing and funny--thanks so much! I bet someone who payed for the call would be really pissed, however. :)Delete
Bahaha! I love your videos! Want to see the boots now, please.ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you, Laura! :) I will DEFINITELY put up a post with the boots. Or put them in a pic and tag you on FB.Delete
Hahaha!!! Miss seeing u!!ReplyDeleteReplies
Andrea! I miss YOU!Delete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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I cannot start my virtual machine with the following error messages :
Unable to complete the operation for the virtual machine
The virtual machine ID is invalid. To resolve the problem, remove the virtual machine from the list and add it again.
Problem ID: 374
Open the Virtual Machines List dialog: right-click on the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock, then select Control Center (Virtual Machines list in older versions).
Right-click on the virtual machine you want to remove and click Remove then press Keep files
- Double-click on your virtual macine
.pvmfile to start it. Your virtual machine will be registered in the Parallels Desktop Virtual Machines List again.


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Computershare Limited
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Computershare - $14.12: Since our last review on December 4, 1998 (Hold - $7.15) the share price has increased by over 90% on news of a 128% pre tax and abnormal profit increase and that it has been appointed to install its automatic trading system for the New Zealand Stock Exchange. HOLD pending a full review next issue.
Latest Q&A With Our Experts
Computershare update comingQ.
Hi II, With CPU price very strong over the past few months and now above the Sell pricing, would you kindly provide an update? Thank you. Cheers, TJRead full Q&A +
When to sell ComputershareQ.
Hi James would you update us on your thoughts as to CPU now it's price has passed $16. On your most recent review you recommended phased sell as the price approached $15 for those with weightings near 7%. Has anything changed, is it now a sell? Read full Q&A +


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Looking for better sound quality or a more stylish look from your earphones? Compare some of the biggest brands in the market with our customer satisfaction ratings.
See our Ratings Methodology.
We're able to report that customers of Bose have made themselves heard the loudest, rating the brand more highly than anyone else.
If you have an active, busy lifestyle, you'll need products in your life that are able to keep up with you. And if you also happen to be a big fan of music, you'll need a pair of earphones that provide the quality and comfort to keep you moving at a fast pace. And of course, you'll want them to look good too.
Whether you're a regular walker or runner, earphones are the perfect companion to keep you company, and motivated, while you're out and about. However, not all earphones are created equal and there can be a big difference between those that enhance your outdoor experience, and those that hinder it. Earphones can be your best friend, but also your worst enemy.
So to find out which brand has struck the perfect balance between sound quality, comfort, style and value for money, we asked almost 600 consumers who have purchased a set in the last two years to rate them across a range of categories. Having "road tested" their earphones, they are well-placed to offer you some guidance for the next time you need to buy a new set. And in this inaugural year of our customer satisfaction ratings for earphones, we're able to report that Bose was rated 5 stars in Overall Customer Satisfaction by Canstar Blue for Earphones in 2015.
In this review of earphones, we're specifically referring to in-ear earphones – which include earbuds and in-ear canal earphones. Basically, any type of headphones that are placed inside your ear. Click here for our review of larger headphones.
Small earphones tend to be relatively inexpensive, but this does mean you might be forced to replace them more often than you'd like. Our survey respondents spent an average of just $49 on their earphones and 41% admitted that they tend to buy the cheapest set available and then simply replace them when they stop working. That will have an impact on the average lifespan of earphones – which was 2.8 years, we found.
They may be relatively cheap to buy, but you'll still want earphones that deliver good sound quality, comfort and style. We found the drivers of customer satisfaction to be as follows:
These findings reflect those from our larger headphone ratings, with value for money the biggest driver of customer satisfaction.
Compare Earphones
Bose is an American corporation that specialises in all manner of audio equipment, including home speaker systems, professional sound systems, automobile sound systems and various types of headphones. The company's goal, it says, is to create products and sound experiences that its customer simply couldn't get anywhere else. Founded in 1964, Bose also has a strong focus on innovation and creativity.
Philips is a Dutch technology company that makes all manner of electrical products, including TVs, DVD players, radios and other appliances. It also produces a large range of earphones and headphones – branded as Fidelio, CitiScape, ActionFit and DJ Headphones. Philips has a strong focus on comfort and style. "Carefully chosen design materials and detailing allow you to convey a sense of style while listening to your favourite tunes in cool comfort," it says.
Sennheiser is a German audio company that specialises in the design and production of a wide range of consumer and high-fidelity products, including microphones, headphones, telephony accessories and avionics headsets. It has a large range of over-ear, on-ear or in-ear headphones and says "no matter what you expect from your headphones or headset, there is a Sennheiser for you – offering high-quality design and the legendary Sennheiser sound".
Apple is an American multinational technology company that designs, develops and sells a large range of electronic devices, computer software and online consumer services. It's probably best known for the iPhone smartphone and iPad tablet computer, but the company also produces many smaller electronic products as accessories to its larger ones. Apple sells standard in-ear and noise-isolating earphones.
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, perhaps best known for its gaming and entertainment devices. The company produces all types of electrical equipment, from TVs to games consoles, and boasts an extensive range of different headphones, including overband headphones, wireless headphones, in-ear headphones and related accessories such as portable headphone amplifiers. Sony promises high-resolution audio from its headphones, which it says are "the definition of sound and style".
Canstar Blue commissions Colmar Brunton to regularly survey 3,000 Australian consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction. The outcomes reported are the results from customers within the survey group who have purchased new earphones in the last two years– in this case, 584 people.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then alphabetically. A rated brand may receive a 'N/A' (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criteria.
Appliances - July 1st
Review the most bingeworthy Netflix shows in Australia, including Mindhunter, Fargo, Mad Men, The Confession Tapes and more at Canstar Blue.
Batteries Compared - July 1st
Compare Telstra SIM Only postpaid plans with providers like Optus and Vodafone in this Canstar Blue review. All Telstra postpaid SIM Only plans listed.
Consumer News - June 18th
Whether you're at the gym, in the office or on the bus, a pair of headphones are a must. If you don't want to be paying full price, popular online retailer Kogan has some End …
Compare student phone plans and deals from Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and other telcos in this Canstar Blue review.
Appliances - June 12th
It's the battle of the heavyweights. See which provider reigns supreme in this mobile phone plan comparison by Canstar Blue.
Read More


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Custom Party Favors - Mr. & Mrs. Birds
Custom Party Favors - Mr. & Mrs. Birds
If you are having a wedding, baby or bridal shower or just throwing a personal party this is the favor for you! Your guests will delight in this charming, hand poured candle. These candles are a lovely way for guests to bring home a small part of your special day.
• 15 four ounce candles
• Each candle is hand mixed and poured using soy candle wax.
• Custom "birds" label with white ribbon.
• A variety of candle scents are offered, please select from the drop-down menu.
Add To Cart


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Women's Canvas Classics
The iconic TOMS slip-ons, these Alpargatas started the One for One® movement.
- Classic Alpargata design
- Elastic "v" for easy on/off
- Suede footbed
- Rubber outsole for traction
Category: Toms
We occasionally offer in-store promotions, coupons and specials. We would love to tell you about all of our events!


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I have also been crocheting an afghan for a baby gift. I got a bit carried away and really liked this pattern so I just kept going.....and the afghan kept growing. Most new Moms have a lot of small baby blankets anyway, right? The baby won't be able to lift this one until she is old enough to start school. I still like it because it is bright and happy and plan to give it to her anyway.
Hope you are finding some time to stitch today!!!!!


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Cute Stool Sample Nurse
Date: 2009-05-20, 4:10PM CDT
It felt like an eternity as I stood there, mesmerized, before I realized that it was just plain awkward. I promptly left the office in embarrassment and thought of you for most of that evening, graciously accepting my excretions, smiling while doing so.
I have been back but have not seen you there. I made an appt. for problems with diarrhea and when you weren�t there, I took the cup home, in hopes of bringing it back at a time when you, and your beautiful smile, were present. I wish I could find a different, and less embarrassing, affliction to be treated for, but your head physician specializes in that type of diagnosis.
If you read this, and felt same connection I did, please email me back.
- Location: San Antonio
- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1180839211
Dang it!
I spilled fajita sauce on my shirt! Tgif


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The F16V3 E131 Controller is now available in the store!! - http://pixelcontroller.com/store
Fantastic job!! I have a couple questions...Do you have a local WiFi network?How many pixels are in each run up the tree?Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
pretty stout tree construction: http://visithuntington.org/event/christmas-in-the-city-on-friday-night-this-year/Did the city do most/some/none of the construction?
very nice! what program did you use to run it?
Page created in 0.208 seconds with 27 queries.


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On a Super Bowl weekend that featured a bunch of bros engaging in embarrassing physical comedy and a never-ending hostage situation, most audiences chose to see the Denver Broncos endure all that, rather than take in That Awkward Moment or Labor Day. The movie in which Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, and Miles Teller realize they're experiencing #ThatAwkwardMoment when #RelationshipzGetComplic8d and then #BrosTotesUndergoASearchingSelfInventory opened in third place with $9 million, making it "the lowest nationwide debut yet for a Zac Efron movie," according to Box Office Mojo—even that one where he plays baseball with his ghost bro.
At seventh place with $5.4 million, Jason Reitman's Labor Day barely eked out the debuts of his Young Adult and Thank You For Smoking, even though it opened on more than twice as many screens. Its primarily older female audience may have rushed to the theaters, excited to see their fantasies of being kidnapped by a brutish yet sensitive escaped prisoner, who would then sensuously do their chores and feed them chili, realized at last. But without a similar form of Sexy Stockholm Syndrome slowly overtaking the nation, Labor Day seems destined to fade quickly.
Not so for Ride Along, which held onto its first-place spot for the third straight week, or its fellow Top 10 mainstays like Frozen—boosted by the release of a special "sing-along" version—and American Hustle, which is already officially David O. Russell's highest-grossing film ever, even before the release of its sing-along version. Meanwhile, the only two indies on a weekend devoted to mainstream consumption were the dirt-bike documentary 12 O'Clock Boys ($51,500 in 21 theaters) and Penn & Teller's art-history magic act Tim's Vermeer ($57,900 in four theaters), which had their own minor victories, like finally learning how to commit or getting your son a handsome abductor dad.
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.


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Anniversary of Historic Synagogue Move
This year celebrates 44 years since Adas Israel's original synagogue moved three blocks to avoid the wrecking ball. Moving a structure is no simple feat in the federal city.
This year celebrates 44 years since Adas Israel's original synagogue moved three blocks to avoid the wrecking ball. Moving a structure is no simple feat in the federal city.
Voices of the Vigil, the Society's new exhibition about D.C.'s Soviet Jewry movement, opened on December 8.
Exhibition preview
Archivist/Curator Wendy Turman and Community Advisory Committee member Marcia Weinberg were interviewed about the exhibition and the history it documents.
The NEH Preservation and Access Division's article "Holiday Foodway" featured Assistant Archivist Claire Uziel's article about District Grocery Stores (DGS), which was published earlier in the year by The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's Jewish Food Experience.
For the second time in relatively recent history, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah overlapped. The Society helped with a story about the occasion in 1888.
The remarks of Rear Admiral Herman Shelanski and Chaplan Arnold Resnicoff given at our annual meeting were featured in a Veterans Day story.
At the Army and Navy Club on October 11, Rabbi Marvin Bash and his son Jeremy gave our Benefactor members a unique perspectives on Jewish experiences in the U.S. military.
Interpretive Programs Manager David McKenzie and interviews from some of our members give a personal touch to the anniversary of the landmark March on Washington.
Spotlight provided by the Society's archivists on the various roles Washingtonians played in the fight to establish Israel in 1948.
WETA's local history blog, Boundary Stones, told the story of British royalty visiting a Giant supermarket in 1957, and included the Society's efforts to preserve Giant's history, including the GIANT sign that used to hang on the store's facade.
Moment Magazine's feature "Jewish Routes" focused on the history of the Washington, D.C. community and included a list of local Jewish sites and profiles of community members. Bonus content, a Jewish DC reading list, was posted on Moment's blog.
Program Coordinator Sam Bass wrote a post for WETA's local history blog, Boundary Stones, about the 1943 pageant We Will Never Die, which brought the plight of European Jews to the nation's consciousness, and our program commemorating its 70th anniversary.
A six-part series in the weekly Flashbacks comic strip in The Washington Post told the life and accomplishments of Washingtonian Arthur Welsh, the first American Jewish aviator.
Interpretive Programs Manager David McKenzie wrote a post for WETA's local history blog, Boundary Stones, about the "Four Immortal Chaplains" with a focus on Chaplain Alexander Goode, who grew up in Washington, D.C.
Express, a free daily newspaper published by The Washington Post, highlighted the Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum in its weekly "Explore D.C." column.
Brooklyn-based Ami Magazine featured a four-page spread on the Society and its Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum.
Interpretive Programs Manager David McKenzie was interviewed for a video about the experience of Jews during the Civil War.
After an extensive interview with Archivist Wendy Turman, The Washington Post Magazine's "Closer Inspection" feature highlighted objects from the Society's collections.


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Church service was beautiful yesterday, as usual. I don't normally video anything during church, only when we have special events, but I thought y'all might enjoy seeing what a normal service is like at Liberty Universalist.
It's a very small rural church where the most beautiful people you'll ever meet come to fellowship and support each other on their spiritual journey. Music is always a big part of that.
Because we're so small, we have a lay minister that only comes once every other month, on the 4th Sunday. On the 4th Sundays of the other months, when she doesn't come, a member of the congregation conducts the service. Barbara conducted the service yesterday, and it was so lovely. I hope to do half as good of a job when it is my turn (which will be this March – eek!! I'm terribly nervous). We also meet every 2nd Sunday for planning, but next month our 2nd Sundays will turn into an Adult Forum, where we learn about a different topic each month, starting with the history and merger of the Unitarian and Universalist churches.
I will take you through the service blow-by-blow. I taped some of the conversation so I could transcribe it for you, but wouldn't upload it to youtube because everyone should be able to share in church without worrying that a video of them will be plastered all over the internet. I did, however, upload the music. I hope this gives you a feel for what service is like at my church. I will be working on our church website this week and will update you when I need feedback.
Church opened with song:
We said the Affirmation of Covenant in unison, which is: "Love is the doctrine of this church; the quest for truth is its sacrament, and service is its prayer. To dwell together in peace; to seek knowledge in freedom; to serve humankind, to the end that all souls shall grow into harmony with the Divine – thus do we covenant with each other and with God."
We share joys and concerns by lighting candles. Then Barbara read the Story for All Ages, which was a Mark Twain excerpt, a story of a little girl who was asking her mother why God allows, or causes, suffering. Then she talked some about love, agape love, Divine love. It was a beautiful sermon. Some things Barbara said that hit home with me were:
We're born to love. We need to love. This human need never ends. … Our purpose in live is to embody love, to live love… But don't be upset with someone who can't seem to love; we're born to love, but taught not to. … "Love your neighbor as yourself" – this means you first have to love yourself. Sometimes this can be as hard as staring at the back of your own head.
She spoke of standing on the side of love, which has become a UU movement (see the Standing on the Side of Love site for more information), a movement to harness love's power to stop oppression.
And Jeannie played an audio clip of one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s last sermons for us, followed by a Lucinda Williams song. I began crying early in MLK's sermon and cried throughout the entire thing. I tried not to as that instinctual "Oh God, Brandi, please don't cry" feeling hit me, but as I was trying to hide my tears I noticed that Jeannie was crying too. I looked out the window the entire time and allowed myself to be emotional. I felt so cleansed afterward. Here's the clip:
I love that our church is informal enough that if one feels moved to speak or has something to offer, he or she can just speak up and start the discussion. At the end of the sermon a member of the congregation mentioned a transportation commissioner's political ad in which he stated we need to "take back America", and then several people expressed sadness and disgust with Alabama Governor Bentley's statement that only Christians are his brothers and sisters. We talked about how divisive and dangerous that is, and how that is the same rhetoric our country is sharing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We discussed the language of this country, about how we have been steadily moving toward a war rhetoric, and we use conflict-based language with ease now. We talked about how some of our children (my son Nate, for instance) or grandchildren have lived in a world where their country has been at war their entire lives. And how our national discourse has morphed into an incessant war rhetoric – as one person said, "It's not an initiative to end drug use, it's a war on drugs. It's not a campaign to help people out of poverty, it's a war on poverty; there's a war on illiteracy… it's all conflict-based," and we briefly mentioned the war, and how contradictory it is to the teachings of Christ, though the main perpetrators of the war talk about ours being a "Christian Nation".
Then we discussed what to do about it… Danny said that he thought there were more people in this part of the world that feel the way we do about that, but it's not culturally appropriate to say so. We all expressed our frustration with the fact that it is completely okay for people to insult our beliefs, but not okay to say anything contradictory to theirs because we are the minority. Basically the discussion made each of us feel less alone in our frustration, and that's one thing our church is always good for – making me feel less alone in this world.
We ended with this song:
I had already written most of this blog when my Plinky prompt for the day came through my email. The prompt was, "Describe your perfect Sunday." So here it is – every Sunday that I spend with people who love and respect each other, who support each other and each other's individual spirituality, who try to teach one another and learn from one another – that's a perfect Sunday. And the amazing music doesn't hurt!


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The friend and customer for whom I had finished a stained glass commission was extremely happy. He had brought me a small oil painting of the Holy Family and asked me to recreate it in glass for him to hang in his window for Christmas. …( read more )
Search Results for: "Isaiah 28:"
The Benefit Of Christmas
Advent begins the countdown to Christmas. In the church, Advent marks the beginning of a new year. Similarly, the Jewish new year and the Chinese new year do not align with the first of January — the new year on our ordinary calendars. …( read more )
Cross, Cleft, Rock
Many years ago, I heard a preacher present a riveting sermon on the sufferings of Jesus Christ, beginning with His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, through His trial, scourging, and ultimate suffering and death on the cross by crucifixion. … (read more)
Glimpses Of Truth
The foundation of the Christian message is the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Lord conquered death as He had promised. He was seen by a number of people on several occasions following His resurrection. One such occasion, was on … (read more)
For Zion's Sake
Current events in Israel remind me of an old cartoon I saved depicting modern day news in the language of Scripture. While the cartoon makes light of the serious ongoing conflict in the Middle East, it clearly demonstrates how little … (read more)
Blessed Are The Merciful
Through God's perfectly gracious mercy to me thirty years ago, I was given a lastingly grateful heart, ever growing in thanksgiving, praise, and worship. Through my family's godly mercy I was given their total "let's not remember" forgiveness, and shared … (read more)
The Rite Of Spring
In Ontario, as the ice-covered streams and lakes begin to melt, we call it "the spring break-up". This year, it came with ease. Many of us are glad to think, "Off with winter and all that snow!" Yet, how damaging … (read more)
It seems that the world is beginning to feel stressed out about Christmas, and there isn't any fun in it anymore. Recent news items and magazine articles appear to be bewailing the fact that Christmas is putting so much pressure … (read more)
Ploughing Ahead
Beginning in winter and continuing through until spring, the farmers in the west of Scotland plough their land. The ground is hard, but the farmers are determined to have the soil exposed to the elements, so that it will break … (read more)
Lost Sheep – Where Are Your Resting Places?
Recently I forgot where my resting place was. When Sunday came, my husband asked if I was going to church. As I had not been well all week, I felt more like staying in bed. I did get up, and … (read more)


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MILQ ApartmentsArchitecture / Built / Residential
39 Apartments
Client: Prince Group
Status: Complete
The building affectionately known as MILQ playfully draws its name from the adjacent Bulla Dairy building on Arden Street, North Melbourne and skillfully references the area's Victorian heritage.
Featuring a mix of one, two and three bedroom apartments, the development offers generous apartment living for owner-occupier young professionals seeking to live in one of Melbourne's most exclusive suburbs.
Mismatched rectangular shaped blocks slice up the exterior of the four-storey boutique apartment development creating intrigue and resulting in a visual setback on the third and fourth storeys to match the two-storey façade that lines the street.
The materiality of the façade offers this typically industrial area a contemporary twist. A modernist palette incorporates the use of timber on the balconies, to create the sense of warmth and openness against the cool concrete façade.
An innovative lobby entry features a thin glass brick box, which lines the entrance to create soft lighting in the foyer during the day and a warm glow which disperses light to Arden Street and Bulla Lane at night.
Interiors reference the industrial heritage of North Melbourne and are presented in a modern timeless way, with apartments kept light, bright and sympathetic to the building's exterior. Timber floors run throughout the apartments which create a natural, open setting.
Glass brick apartment entry lights are an attractive play on the building's modern entrance. Apartment fixtures add an additional layer to the industrial aesthetic with gunmetal coloured tapware, metallic and timber veneer finishes, bath and freestanding bedroom joinery, while a modern warehouse inspired palette and the use of stone splashbacks provide a seamless and contemporary contextual finish.


text: Kanchi Maha-Swamigal also known as Periyavaa repeatedly preached about the importance of following the Dharmic path and Advaita – non-duality. His various discourses are available in a pack of six volumes called 'Deivathin Kural' (Voice of the Divine) which have been compiled by R. Ganapathi, a devotee of Periyava. These books are available only in Tamil, however a condensed form of these books is available in English.


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February 25, 2009: Dr An Nguyen will be a visiting speaker, discussing his new book The Penetration of Online News (VDM Publishing).
An Nguyen joined the University of Stirling in 2007 from the University of Queensland in Australia, where he obtained his Master of Journalism (2001) and his PhD in Media and Communication Studies (2006). An Nguyen's research spreads across a diverse range of specific areas, most particularly (a) online journalism; (b) online news audiences; (c) online participatory media; (d) science journalism and the public's engagement in science debates; (e) professionalism in journalism and journalism education; and (f) Asian media development. He has recently published The Penetration of Online News: Past, Present and Future, a research book on the diffusion and social impact of online news. In the 1990s, he was an informal research in environmental management in Vietnam, co-authoring a few books in this area.
Room FW101, at 5pm. All welcome.


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How Social Networking Sites Can Help You Get Healthy
The Internet has come a long way from the time MIT first proposed a global network of computers in the 1960s. There are now more than 1.5 billion Internet users around the world, going online for information, communication, business, social networking and other purposes.
Internet users have ranked the Web as a more important information source than books, print media, radio and television.
Finding quality health information online can be a major challenge, which is one of the reasons why Dr. Joseph Mercola decided to devote his time providing factual medical and health articles, share his natural medicine-oriented commentary, and let the visitors and subscribers of his leading natural health website, Mercola.com, sort out the truth for themselves.
Dr. Mercola been a computer hobbyist since 1985 and first developed an interest in the Internet during the early 1990s. When he is not evaluating health products and looking for ways to help you get healthy, he usually goes online to browse the Web, and that includes maintain accounts in social networking sites. Yes, even doctors can get the social networking bug.
How social networking sites took off this past decade is nothing short of amazing. Classmates.com started the trend in 1995. The torch was passed to Friendster (2002), MySpace (2003), Facebook (2004) and now, Twitter (originally launched as Twttr in 2006).
Recognizing the impact of social networking and its amazing potential to educate people about improving their health, Mercola joined the bandwagon to show that being health conscious can be fun and exciting.
Connect with Dr. Mercola on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Eons to become part of a community of like-minded individuals – people who are passionate about their health and helping others get healthy.
Whether you're facing health challenges or simply looking for ways to help you live a healthy lifestyle, joining the online Mercola community will give you the opportunity to meet people, including health professionals, who can help you deal with the simplest to the most pressing health concerns.
Dr. Mercola is currently developing a new social network feature on his website which will help users get quick answers to their questions. Become part of the Mercola community now to take advantage of this feature in the future. If you're already a Mercola member, watch this video to learn more about how you can benefit from social networking.
This is the 21st century. Doctors have come a long way from just seeing patients in their clinics. Be part of the social network which can help you take control of your health.
Tags: Dr. Joseph Mercola, Mercola facebook, Mercola twitter, social networking


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10 Guidelines To Help You Attract Your Soulmate
In contemporary usage, Jewish singles will say that they are hunting for their bashert, which means they are seeking for that individual who will complement them completely and whom they will complement completely. All the things ready to receive my students and assistance them uncover out about their soulmate in much less than an hour. Your soulmate is something the you know the you cannot in no way see your self with anyone else no matter what. Thanks for writing such a good report, it makes me feel superior to know that all i need to have now is life partner-not soulmate.
A soulmate can be a friend, a lover, or even a loved ones member, so it is critical to let go of the notion that there is necessarily a romantic connection. Popular For: Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Ideal of Each Worlds concert flick shocked the movie market with a $31 million opening weekend. I met my soulmate 33 years ago and as you specifically described parted because of intense emotional challenges we had been unable to cope, let alone deal with at a late teen age. Give the students the following link to an interactive questionnaire which calculates the possibility of obtaining their soulmate.
But in order to attract a soulmate relationship in this post 2012 globe, it's important that you play by new rules. The principals work with each and every client to attain a consensus as to who will be a client's possible match and possible soulmate. What absolutely everyone appears to confuse with locating a soulmate is that you instantaneously somehow KNOW they are your soulmate. Soulmate Shorts by ozhawk , is a series of MCU related drabbles/ficlets showcasing this version of the Soulmate AU.
It is feasible to have your Soulmate also be your Life Companion and it is also doable that you and your Life Companion can create a deeper, soul connection- it all just depends on which direction you select to steer. Carol M Barrett is the author of The Secret to Finding Enjoy, Attract Your Soulmate in six Uncomplicated Measures in which she shares her program for attracting the man of your dreams.
I have under no circumstances believed in soulmates, till recently, my soulmate walked into my life, completely unexpected, and it's been a whirlwind of thoughts, feelings..feelings, why am I feeling like this sort of thing, I've under no circumstances felt this way about anyone ahead of, he believes in soulmates, I had to do my research, yes!! WOW…this created some factors in my life so clear…I am just 10 days away from acquiring married and usually wondered how I could be marrying him" when I had such a sturdy connection to my ex. My ex is certainly my soulmate.


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In the course of their life, the average person sleeps for more than 25 years. Along with its conservation across species, this suggests that sleep is likely to play a vitally important role in normal functioning. Great advances have been made in understanding the circadian and homeostatic factors that regulate sleep, but there is still much that is unknown about its putative functions. Although it is known to be involved with a broad range of processes (including memory consolidation, neuroprotective actions, hormonal function, and interactions with the cardiovascular and immune systems), 'sleep' is really an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of interacting processes that need to be better characterized and understood.
People vary considerably in their typical quality and quantity of sleep. On one level, brain activity as measured by the electroencephalogram (EEG) is a heritable "fingerprint", aspects of which correlate with a range of clinical, demographic and cognitive variables. On another level, individuals suffering from disorders of sleep (including sleep apnea, insomnia, hypersomnia and narcolepsy) can exhibit markedly aberrant sleep patterns. The precise genetic basis for most of this clinically meaningful variability is largely unknown, however.
Individual differences in sleep (especially lack of sleep) have been associated with a host of chronic medical conditions including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and – ultimately – with shortened life expectancy. For some disorders (e.g. major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder) sleep problems are core clinical features. However, the direction of these associations is typically unclear. Do sleep problems lead to disease, or disease to abnormal sleep? Or does a third factor – such as shared genetic basis – give rise both to the sleep and health phenotypes? Delineating these causal networks will be important because they can provide a basis for identifying targets for intervention and patient stratification.
We are initiating a Program in Sleep and Neuropsychiatric Genetics to tackle some of the questions raised above. Specifically, we will embark on pursuing three broad goals:
To complement the focus on brain activity during sleep in relation to psychiatric disease, we also aim to work synergistically with parallel efforts within BWH focused on different aspects of sleep and physical health. Reflecting this, key members and their research interests are listed below:
As a cross-disciplinary initiative, the Program spans the Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine, and is part of the Division for Sleep and Circadian Disorders. We aim to complement existing strong programs including the Programs in Sleep and Cardiovascular Medicine and Sleep Medicine Epidemiology, and the broader Division of Sleep Medicine, in order integrate a focus on neuropsychiatric outcomes, such that the resulting collaborative research will address more holistically the function of sleep in health and disease.
We will also have a close partnership with the Center for Analysis for Complex Sleep Signals, in which methodological expertise in signal processing and modeling can be brought together with expertise in statistical genetics and epidemiology.


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Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
Barry M - Dolly Mixture
Acrylic Paints
Love this, I think I recognize the scarf , is it from Tom Bakers Dr.? He use to give the heebie Jeebies but still he was th e best one from my youth! Great choice.ReplyDelete
It could be his? I just googled Dr Who and it came up with a guy in a scarf! :PDelete
The scarf is so cute!ReplyDelete
I love the new doctor who's, but I've never watched any of the old ones! I feel like I should, but just like when I tried to watch the original V series, I find it hard to get into old shows as it just looks fake!ReplyDelete
Shows from the 70's and 80's do look fake, I find them amusing as to how bad they are :pDelete
'If you can't say something nice, dont say nothing at all" - Thumper
I do read each comment, if you want a quicker reply then I suggest a tweet. I'm better at timely replies there! @enigma_rambles


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Pseudo Democrate And Autocrate Mahathirism by: Nash Ar-Rawy
When there is autocracy there is pseudo democrate premiership in a " Parliamentary Dictatoship " system of autocratic governance . Democracy could be uttered but could not be seen in practice and the application of " democracy " is only " Cosmetic , rethoric and camouflaged " ! Indeed! .
Autocatic Mahathirism has started 22 years of Mahathir premiership and continues during Najib's regime . One simple example is ISA verbally pronounced by Najib as already been eliminated. But still we have 45 detainees not being released . Thus PAA ( Peaceful Assembly Act ) is merely a cosmetic and false democratic move of the ruling party . Whereby in the act says that , " any rally on the street is considered as illegal and prone to arrest and imprisonment ! " which is worse than ISA ( Internal Security Act ) . The " Rakyat " ( massses ) has been the victims of police brutality as told by SUHAKAM which do not agree with it as in ths BERSIH 3.0 peaceful YELLOW rally.
During " operasi lalang " ( Arrest of Mahathir / PM enemies ) Mahthirism premiership have arrested all his critics without bringing them to an open court to prove them guilty and no ' herbeas corpus ' being given ! . ISA was fully utilized by Mahathir to subdue his political enemies such as from PAS and DAP and even NGO such as Aliran ( Dr. Chandra Muzaffar ) were arrested and sent to " KEMTA " ( Detention Camp ) ; " JUDGEMENT WITHOUT TRIAL " .
ISA stands as an autocrate shield to prolong the breath of the ruling party. Mahathirism autocrate abuses of the Printing Act ; did not give freedom of press when harakah applications for a dalily issue were rejected! . There were also no freedom of speech when many opposition leaders were arrested as well under his favourite ISA ( " IKUT SUKA AKU " or " My whim n fancies " ) .
When the ruling party( " BN "or National Front ) was dethroned in Terengganu during his premiership. 5% Royalty due to the new government i.e. " PAS " ( Pan Malaysia Islamic Party ) rule was totally denied eventhough it was the rights of the Terengganuians. Mahathirism over-ruled the democratic rights and federalism of the poor muslims and Malays as the " rakyat " of Terengganu ! Autocratic rule comes along with his cousin i.e. Treachery an act of treason by an autocrate premier to the people of Terengganu and against the State Agreement with Petronas! . To Mahathirism a nobel agreement became null and void because he showed his power of autocratic Mahathirism . Which is followed by his loyal student Najib such as not giving the 5% Royalty due to Kelantan and denounces the call of Kelantan Royalty to pay royalty to his subjects! Thus Umno Mahathir and Umno Najib against the Sultans of Kelantan and Terengganu over-powered and discriminated the royalties. What more the poor " rakyat " !
This is nothing new when Mahathirism autocrate went against the royalties withdrawn the Malay Sultanate immunity and could be brought to a special court for hearing. This immunity was taken by Mahathir as the " NEW ROYALTY " when even he had condemned the Malay Sultanates seditiously but he was not taken under the Sedition Act because false democracy in Malaysia does not take the IGP, Lord President, Attorney General, under the jurisdiction of the " Yang Di Pertuan Agong " ( The Federal Sultanate ) or comes under the Parliament. Even " BPR " or " SPRM" ( Malaysia Anti Corrupt Commission ) now is not under the Parliament and the Constitution has not been amended to do so .
One simple example when Rafidah Aziz ( Minister ) was brought to him with the prima facie standing ; he has utilized and abused all his autocratic power to dismiss the case ! Thus Mahathirism performs " False or Pseudo Democracy " in this country and still in practice as long as Umno and BN is not dethrone in the GE13 ! .
Autocratic Mahathirism does not tolerate justice and is very dangerous to the people and the nation. Because it creates havoc , anarchy and disharmony in this country!. One simple example is the massaces of the ' Memaly Tragedy ' which happened during the autocrate Mahathir premiership . But Musa Hitam ( Deputy ) became his ' scape goat " because he flew away to China when that event took place the same day to save his skin ! Whose murderous work was the Memali massacre! If not for his ' green-light ' ! Until now the DPP could not prove Matyr Ibrahim Libya and his students were criminals . But obviously Matyr Ibrahim 's influence was so great in Kedah and gave a great impact and political momentum as a phenomenon to oust Umno leadership . And to Umno he must be eliminated!
But now the Almighty gives Kedah to PAS ! and proven to be good govenance with a surplus budget not as the Federal Government running at deficits in seven successive years . Due to cronyism, corruptions and abuses of power! Crony first ; allocations given to Conglomerates RM19 Billion for four persons only such as Ananda Krishnan, YTL , Syed Mokhtar and the latest RM7Billion subsidy ' DONATED " to Mahathir's son Petron Oil Company ; forcing MAS to buy petrol from petron and forgo government oil company i.e. Petronas for six months. ( may be after that no more Umno in power after the GE13 by the grace of the Almighty ! ) But when " PTPTN " ( Students Loans ) is proposed by Pakatan to be given free . Umno said the country will go bankcrupcy . Whereas Pakatan said it costs only RM5Billion !
Whereas Tajuddin Ramli of MAS RM1/2 Billion bail-out and debts not recovered , Eric Chia Perwaja Steel debts not being recovered and the latest being Shahrizat Cowshit proxies debts RM250Million not being recovered back ! ; cowshit money already being spent buying condominiums in Singapore and KL etc . Usually anywhere in the world autocrates are rich such as Suharto and the latest is Mubarak good friends of Mahathir ( 2M ) who were sent to jail . Mahathir once , during his premiership ; 'bail-out' his own son shipping company according to Anuar ( Opposition Leader and former Deputy Prime Minister )) the sum of RM2Billion from Petronas money when Anuar insisted of doing so towards the national treasury because it's the public money ! But only an autocrate could do so by abuses of power and cronyism and dispelled Anuar in the final stage as the DPM ! .
Autocrate Mahathirism has also breached the Federal Constitution by withrawing the Bumi / Malays scholarships which is ordained , protected and secured by the provisions in the Federal Constitution . We do not have a Constitution Court , so it's easy for an autocrate like Mahathir with his full power more than the Malay Sultans . After the Constitutional Crisis was in favour of him with the amendments done ! . That is subdued the Malay Sultanates immunity ) And this autocrate had also withdrawn Bahasa Melayu as the National Language when he enforced English Language as the medium of instructions in schools for the subjects of Mathematics and Science. Many poor remote areas students failed these subjects because they don't understand English and their parents and family are not English educated . And they do not access coumputer and high-class tuitions which they could not afford to pay and not available in ' Kampongs ' ( remote areas and villagers )
Thus Mahathirism autocrate which went against the provisions in the Federal Constitution is betraying the poors , the not better-off and betrayed the muslims , the Malays, Chinese, Indians in the villagers! Predominatly are muslim! Mahathir even betrayed the moslems by withdrawn the money due to SAR ( Religious Rakyat Schools ) ! Is he a moslems!!! Where Guan Eng who is alleged as anti-Islam and anti – Malay of DAP has given proper allocations to SAR and religious department which increased every year in the State Budget ! Same on you Mahathir ! Betrayer! Autocrate!
Autocrate Mahathirism has denied and denounced the rights to perform Hudud Law for the moslems; where when democratically ; majority of the Rakyat wants it to be implemented in Kelantan and Terengganu ! But being an autocrate Mahathirism disrespect the moslems rights in this country even though it is only meant for the moslems and the non-moslems could just opt for the present Civil Law. Thus Mahathir's Autocracy did not respect democracy and Islam and deny democracy during his premiership when Islam is the official religion as proven in the Zakat System . Thus he has proven to have been a PSEUDO DEMOCRATE making democracy and Hudud Law as his political game and MOCKERY ! Just to fullfil the characteristics of an AUTOCRATE !
Thus democracy has come to an end in this county under UBN rule . One simple example is when the the PSC ( Parliament Selected Committee ) minority reports was rejected by the parliament and it becomes a ' MOCKERY " of UBN . And the BERSIH 3.0 had been " water canon and tear gas being shot " at the peaceful unarmed " MULTI- RACIAL " rally of 200,000 participants ! Thus the people is awaiting for the GE13 to teach a lesson to FALSE and PSEUDO DEMOCRACY and MAHATHIRISM AUTOCRACY AND FALSE DEMOCRATES UBN by dethrone UMNO in the GE13 by the grace of the Almighty! .
Kelantan is a living prove of 22YEARS of TGNA DEMOCRATIC BENEVOLENT STATE FOR ALL ! without any problem and peaceful . And yet has the guts to implement the " RAKYAT HIGHWAY " which has been financialy blocked by Umno " CAKAP TAK SERUPA BIKIN " ( UMNO NEVER KEPT PROMISES! ) and ANTI-FEDERALISM ! " This is Mahathirism and this is UBN autocracy ! and False Democracy ! . Eight Democratic claims of BERSIH 3.0 for a CLEAN, FAIR and FREE ELECTION especially pertaining to ' Clean-up " of the FALSE ELECTORAL ROLL has been totally denied by EC especially towards the Selangor Government under Pakatan rule . So as to be the SUBORDINATE of Umno ! being a " CAMOUFLAGED EC " of Umno ! .
By: Nash Ar-Rawy/19.07.12
From: nasharrawy.blogspot.com FOR: mediaperak.com


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In a post titled The Problem with the FizzBuzz Problem, Gayle Laakmann McDowell discussed the cognitive trap that a high performer can fall into when faced with a deceptively inelegant real world problem. She called it the "Smart Person's Mirage."
I was caught in this trap in an interview once myself. I was asked to write a function that took an integer parameter and wrote out an ascii art diamond pattern in the given size, like this:
* *** ***** *** *
The symmetry cried out to me. There must be some way, I was sure, to leverage it in both directions at once. It seemed like an affront to the concept of elegance if I didn't! Also, there were so many options. Use a buffer, or several, or none? Make nested loops? How should an even parameter be handled?
In a matter of minutes, I had pieces of at least three conflicting solutions scattered all over the whiteboard. That was when the interviewer let me know that that was exactly what the question was designed to test for.
The way out of this failure mode is to not try too hard. As tempting as it is to write code poetry and dazzle my interviewer, the bottom line is that it's not required. Moving forward with something, anything, that actually completes the task is. Optimizaton, neatness and elegance (and sometimes insight) can come later.
Inspired by Gayle's post, I revisited the ascii art diamond problem. By letting go of finding a "perfect" solution, I came up with a workable one in a couple of minutes. Here it is in all its kludgy, messy glory.
/* diamond.c * utility to take an integer on the command line and * output an ascii art diamond in that size made of splats */ #include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> #include <stdarg.h> #define MAX_DIMENSION 41 #define DEFAULT_DIMENSION 5 int main (int argc, char **argv) { char line[MAX_DIMENSION]; static char on_char = '*'; static char off_char = ' '; int dimension = DEFAULT_DIMENSION; int midpoint; int lineno = 1; int columnno = 1; int i, j; if (argc > 1) { dimension = atoi (argv[1]); /* even dimensions end up being treated as the * next highest odd dimension (ex. 4 makes a 5x5) */ /* if (dimension % 2 == 0) dimension += 1; */ if (dimension > MAX_DIMENSION) dimension = DEFAULT_DIMENSION; } memset (line, off_char, MAX_DIMENSION * sizeof (char)); midpoint = dimension / 2 + 1; /* print top half of lines to midline */ for (i = 0; i < midpoint; i++) { printf ("%s\n", line); line[midpoint - i] = on_char; line[midpoint + i] = on_char; } /* print bottom lines */ for (; i > -1; i--) { line[midpoint - i] = off_char; line[midpoint + i] = off_char; printf ("%s\n", line); } return 0; }


text: FAISALABAD - Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Wednesday that Tehrik Minhajul Quran chief Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri should first clarify his position whether he would contest election or not.Talking to media at the residence of Information Secretary Rashid Ahmed, after offering Fateha for his mother, he said Dr Qadri had expressed his intention of not contesting the election so he was not a stakeholder in the democratic system.He said holding of public processions and debates was the constitutional right, however, no one would be allowed to breach law.He said the government and the assemblies would complete their remaining around two and a half months constitutional term.He said tenure of the government would be completed on March 16 that would follow the formation of the caretaker government as per the Constitution.Kaira said the election process would be completed within 60 days of the caretaker government and assured that the elections would be held before May 16.Elaborating the criteria of forming the caretaker set up, he said the Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition would nominate the candidate for the prime ministerial slot and if they fail to evolve consensus, then the Election Commission would decide the same.Kaira said the government and opposition were the representatives of the people and only they had the right to decide about the caretaker set up. However, he thought that the caretaker prime minister should be a politician.Answering a question, he said there is no room for unconstitutional steps as a lot of improvements had been made in the Constitution."People would never support any unconstitutional demand of any individual as it would be treacherous," he said.Kaira said in the presence of independent judiciary, media, political parties and civil society, no one can even think about taking unconstitutional steps.The minister said that in democracy nothing could be imposed by using force. He said staging sit-ins and notions of Tahrir Square-like uprisings suited only to those countries where the people did not have any say, but in Pakistan the government and the judiciary were there to listen to their issues.He said the government had always been promoting political reconciliation and successfully restored the Constitution in its original form despite lacking majority in the Parliament. To a question Kaira said army had already clarified its position regarding the long march of Dr Qadri.He said army has played vital role for strengthening of democracy and "we should appreciate the sacrifices made by the Pakistan Army."Kaira said Pakistan People Party had always kept national interests of the country supreme. He recalled that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had been asked to withdraw atomic programme or else he would be made an example for the world, but he preferred death to any compromise on national interests.He said that Benazir Bhutto was also threatened of dire consequences for pursuing the national interests, but she also set aside any alien agenda.To a question he said PPP was the name of a movement that was never affected, if anyone deserted it.