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Senator John McCain addresses a panel of top military officials Tuesday on Capitol Hill regarding reports of sexual assaults in the U.S. military.
Sen. John McCain, who built a potent political career on his record as a Vietnam veteran and ex-prisoner of war, on Tuesday told the leaders of every military branch he could not unconditionally advise women to join the service as the military grapples to contain and curb its sexual assault epidemic.
"Just last night, a woman came to me and said her daughter wanted to join the military and could I give my unqualified support for her doing so. I could not," McCain, an Arizona Republican, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing examining whether all serious sexual crimes should be removed from the chain of command. "I cannot overstate my disgust and disappointment over continued reports of sexual misconduct in our military. We've been talking about this issue for years and talk is insufficient."
McCain also said: "At its core, this is an issue about defending basic human rights but it's also a long-term threat to the strength of our military. We have to ask ourselves: if left uncorrected, what impact will this problem have on recruitment and retention of qualified men and women?"
The pivotal hearing follows numerous calls for a military-justice overhaul amid a recent barrage of sexual misconduct allegations in the ranks — including separate sex-assault charges against two branch leaders tasked with preventing rapes. In May, the Pentagon released an annual report estimating as many 26,000 military members faced unwanted sexual contact in 2012 — an increase from 19,000 cases the previous year. The numbers were based on an anonymous survey of military personnel.
And while he and his fellow four-star generals and admirals said they remain open to any idea to help stem the crisis, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, maintained that discipline and punishment of sex offenders in the ranks must stay inside the chain of command.
"The role of the commander should remain central. Our goal should be to hold commanders more accountable not render them less able to help us correct the crisis," Dempsey said. "The commanders' responsibility to preserve order and discipline is essential to effecting change."
Under questioning from McCain, however, Dempsey acknowledged that the armed forces allow, albeit unwittingly, some people with histories of sexual bad acts to enlist and serve.
"There are currently, in my judgment, inadequate protections for precluding that from happening," Dempsey said. "So a sex offender could, in fact, find their way into the armed force of the United States, and in fact there are cases where a conviction (of a sex crime committed while in the service) wouldn't automatically result in a discharge."
"Obviously," McCain responded, "we have to fix that."
Dempsey — again at the behest of senators — also agreed to launch an immediate change in how the Pentagon tracks sexual misconduct within the ranks by dividing its accounting of such offenses between rapes and sexual harassments.
Despite the Pentagon's own analysis that some 26,000 military members faced unwanted sexual contact during 2012, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said nobody at the Department of Defense can offer an accurate number on how many women and men in the service are raped. Her reason: in its annual report on sex assaults, the Pentagon combines criminal attacks and unwanted gazes in the same column of numbers.
"You have all mushed together two issues," McCaskill said. "You have two problems: one, you have sexual predators who are committing crimes and two, you have work to do on the issue of a respectful and healthy work environment. These are not the same issues.
"'Unwanted sexual contact' (as the Pentagon report defines it) is everything from somebody looking at your sideways when they shouldn't to pushing you up against the wall and brutally raping you ... We need to know how many women and men are being raped on an annual basis and we have no idea right now," she said.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, put it to assembled leaders of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard this way: "Not every single commander can distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape."
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the armed services committee, instructed Dempsey to have the Pentagon install a system that surveys and calculates sexual misconduct by both the frequency of rapes and of sexual harassments.
Dempsey agreed.
"Here's how we got here," Dempsey said. "Ten, 12, 15 years ago, there was a conversation about whether we should separate these categories. Because in separating them, (some felt) you could encourage some to ignore the unwanted sexual touching or the sexual harassment and focus in only on the sexual assault.
"It was our view 15 years ago, this problem was a continuum, not individual acts. I'm suggesting to you we didn't get to this point by being stupid," Dempsey added. "We actually got to this point because we were trying to do the right thing. Looking back on it, it's probably time to adjust it."
Editor's Note: This story has been revised to clarify Sen. McCain's remarks.
- Facebook shutters page that taunted lawmaker's push to curb military rape
- Male rape survivors tackle military assault in tough-guy culture
- Gillibrand leads Senate charge for protocol changes in military sexual assault cases
- US military faces historic tipping point on rape epidemic
This story was originally published on Tue Jun 4, 2013 5:31 PM EDT


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John Wesley Anderson was born in 1888 in Montgomery, AL. He was the son of Lucy Crowell Anderson and William Anderson. He was raised in Union Springs, Bullock County, AL.
Disclaimer: This site displays old photographs, tintypes, illustrations, and antique images of ancestors, relatives, kinfolk, family, and other folk and the places where they lived. All photos are the property of the submitter. If a submitter's name is not included on the page with the photograph, the picture is copyrighted by this site. You may not use the photos elsewhere, whether in print or electronically, without written permission from the submitter or this site. Compilation, design, artwork, and concept covered by copyright. Copyright © 2006, All rights reserved.

subset: commoncrawl


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Well, the short answer is .093 seconds. That's about the shortest amount of time mathematicians need to generate a full analysis of a sound's component frequencies.
On an even smaller scale, computers typically store sound information in 44100 samples per second. This makes up the typical waveform view of sound that most are accustomed to seeing. However, each sample only gives information about amplitude (or volume), which is a pale portrait of sound. Sound in the physical world is essentially an unfolding of waves over time. Therefore, when translating from physical to digital, frequency information over time is essential to give a meaningful atomic definition of any sound.
Armed with the calculus technique of the Fast Fourier transform, mathematicians typically take the amplitude values from a mere .093 seconds of sound and draw a complete audio portrait. This portrait consists of the volumes of each component frequency that makes up a complex sound.
Thus, the Fourier transform is the key tool for spectralists, a loosely related group of composers and scientists whose goal is to analyze and resynthesize sound using sound's most basic digital elements. Spectralists literally rip apart sound into its tiniest grains and develop diverse strategies to reconfigure those microsounds into a new sound barely resembling its original form. Between the two poles of granular analysis and synthesis, musicians have only begun to chart a new world of expression.


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The Australian Open champion managed the two wins she needed in the round robin competition to end 2012 in top spot by beating Germany's Angelique Kerber on Wednesday and then Li.
Azarenka now faces world number two Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals with the Russian, who beat Sam Stosur 6-0 6-3 on Friday, having already sealed first place in Group B before playing the Australian who could not reach the last four.
Poland's fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska will play Serena Williams in the semis after overcoming seventh-seeded Italian Sara Errani 6-7 7-5 6-4 in the longest match ever played at a WTA Championships which lasted three hours, 29 minutes.
Azarenka becomes the 11th year-end number since the WTA began its rankings in 1975 and the fifth this century.
"It's kind of difficult to believe that a little girl from Belarus is on that list," the 23-year-old said. "But it's really an incredible achievement.
"When I started to play tennis I had this big picture in my head that I want to be there. Back then it was so far away. It was like pretty much touching the sky," added Azarenka.
The Belarussian broke Li when the eighth-ranked Chinese served for the first set at 5-4 and was forceful in the tiebreak, winning it 7-4.
Azarenka dominated the action off the ground for much of the second set and sealed the match after forcing Li into a forehand error in a hard hitting rally.
Radwanska next faces 15-times grand slam champion Williams, who has yet to drop a set at the tournament.
Radwanska, who had lost to Sharapova in a three-hour and 12 minute marathon on Wednesday, had to pull out all the stops to get past the determined Errani.
The Italian won the first set 8-6 in the tiebreak after coming out ahead in a 34-ball rally and pumped her fist in delight while Radwanska angrily threw her racket to the ground.
Errani fought off four break points to hold for a 5-4 lead in the second but Radwanska responded brilliantly, winning 12 of the next 13 points to take the set 7-5.
"When I'd played for so long already I was thinking, just pretty much fight until the end," Radwanska said.
Errani troubled the Pole with a mix of heavy topspin and relentless retrieving but was unable to stay as mentally focused as the 2012 Wimbledon finalist, who nearly squandered a 3-0 lead in the third set but finally managed to defeat the Italian.
"She's a big fighter so she didn't give up," Radwanska said. "So I really had to play my best tennis until the end of the match."
(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports)
© 2010 Ahram Online.


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Thursday, June 14, 2012
Cotton Candy Martini
It's Ladies Night Slow Roasters! Tonight we are bringing a carnival favorite home in an incredible cocktail. This mouthwatering pink cotton candy martini is the perfect summer drink.
The scent of the cotton candy stand at the fair can just about lift you up and carry you across the fairgrounds and deliver you to the heavenly cloud of spun sugar in pink and blue. The mere sight of cotton candy gives me butterflies.
Chad has taken a summer carnival treat; Cotton Candy, and transformed it into a martini like you have never tasted before. I have never been a big cotton candy lover, I would eat a handful or two. Well after the fantastic flavors that Chad came up with... I am a Cotton Candy convert!
If you missed the announcement yesterday, we are so excited to share with you that Chad and I are writing for allParenting.com. This article and yesterdays Fully Loaded Tex Mex Turkey Slider can both be read in their entirety on the magazines website.
Check this article and the recipe out at allParenting.com.
Posted by Donna Elick at 7:00 AMPin It Now!
Labels: Cocktails, CustomCocktails, TSRISummer, Vodka
2 comments:
I know several people, in my own family, that would go crazy for this beautiful drink! I'm like you with cotton candy. Take or leave it - but my daughter and husband, it's like a favorite thing! I'll pass this on to them :)ReplyDelete
I love cotton candy! It brings me right back to my childhood. This adult version of my childhood favorite looks great!ReplyDelete
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Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Barboza will talk about the business beat in China and his extensive experience as a business reporter based in Shanghai. David will share a behind-the-scenes look at chronicling the world's second-largest economy.
David Barboza is a correspondent for The New York Times, based in New York. In 2013, Mr. Barboza was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting "for his striking exposure of corruption at high levels of the Chinese government, including billions in secret wealth owned by relatives of the prime minister, well-documented work published in the face of heavy pressure from the Chinese officials." He was also part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. Mr. Barboza was a freelance writer and a research assistant for The New York Times before being hired in 1997 as a staff writer. For five years, he was the Midwest business correspondent based in Chicago. From 2008 to 2015, he served as the paper's Shanghai bureau chief.
Mr. Barboza won two awards in The Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) 2007 Best in Business Journalism Contest, one for a New York Times article, "A Chinese Reformer Betrays His Cause, and Pays." He was also part of the team that won the 2008 Grantham Prize for environmental reporting for the series "Choking on Growth: China's Environmental Crisis." In 2002, he was part of a team that was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Enron scandal. In 2008, Mr. Barboza won The Times's internal business award, the Nathaniel Nash Award. He has twice won the Gerald Loeb Award for business reporting. Mr. Barboza graduated from Boston University with a bachelor's degree in history and attended Yale University Graduate School.
5:30—6:00 PM Registration
6:00—7:30 PM Talk with Q&A
7:30—8:00 PM Networking Reception
**This event is off-the-record**


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Burger battle: Flat-out legal warfare... ended
It was flat out.. legal warfare. Venerable burger bar Riverside Lunch was suing its former employee, Ryan Martin, for allegedly ripping off the Riverside concept.
The suit, filed in January 2005, claimed that Riverside's décor– as well as its methods of cooking and serving hamburgers and other fried foods– was unique and that customers might get confused if they stepped into Martin's Grill, which opened nearly a year ago at Forest Lakes.
Riverside claimed it was a victim of such "unfair competition" that it made a federal case out of it. The theory of the case, filed in U.S. District Court, rested on a special concept in intellectual law called "trade dress."
Riverside has long touted its burgers as "flat out" the best in town. But is the "trade dress" of the Riverside– including tiny disposable plates and fries served in a plastic basket– so distinctive that Martin should change the way he does business?
The question never made it to a jury. The two sides worked out a secret settlement, and the case was dismissed by the court September 15. And while both sides may have returned to slinging grease instead of mud, there was a time when acrimony ruled the Charlottesville burger world.
"I think it's frivolous," said Martin of the case in a February interview. "I think it's ridiculous."
A veteran of several restaurants including Aberdeen Barn and Ruby Tuesday, Martin said he incorporated ideas from many places into the restaurant that carries his name. "All businesses are derived from something else," he said. "This is the way the economy goes."
Opened in November 2004, Martin's Grill quickly won fans, he says, not for imitation, but for "no frills" food and atmosphere. Customer Keith Herring agreed.
"Who would want a hamburger from McDonald's when you could just go here," he said. "It's close and convenient. I like his food– I like the attitude."
As Martin revealed in an April affidavit, he served for many years as the "public face" of the Riverside, even after that eatery's 1999 move to Hazel Street when the old Long Street location was demolished for a new CVS pharmacy.
Martin had not signed an employment or non-compete contract and swore that he would never have rented the Forest Lakes location for Martin's Grill had he realized that Riverside owner Buster Taylor was serious about opening his own outpost of the Riverside in that area. (Taylor opened Riverside North in April.)
In court papers, Taylor fired back that the issue at hand was Riverside's "unique and distinctive atmosphere." Such features include an open cooking area, bar seating, light colored furniture, disposable plates and cups, advertising posters on the walls, directed lighting, large floor tile, and a large plastic tip jar by the cash register. Among other things.
"What can't you get sued about today?" asked Herring, who called the lawsuit a "crock of crap." "This is America," he added. "You should be able to start what you want."
And yet the controlling law on "trade dress" might strike fear into the hearts of potential emulative entrepreneurs. In a landmark 1992 case, the Supreme Court ruled that a burgeoning chain of brightly colored Mexican restaurants ripped off the concept of another chain of brightly colored Mexican restaurants.
In Taco Cabana vs. Two Pesos, the Court upheld a lower court that heard arguments over the alleged similarities between the two Texas-based chains. The similarities included open-air eating areas, boldly colored window awnings, umbrellas, and murals.
The court didn't say that Two Pesos used the same "festive and vivid" color scheme (it didn't) or the same "bright awning pattern" (ditto). But as the District Court instructed the jury, "Trade dress is the total image of the business." A mix of seemingly mundane design elements combined to kill Two Pesos, since Taco Cabana did it first.
As Buster Taylor told the story, he'd had his eye on expanding his burger business from its lone outpost near the Free Bridge to Forest Lakes way back in 2001. But developer delays and negotiations slowed the move, Taylor said in a faxed statement.
When Martin's Grill opened, Taylor wasn't alone in spotting similarities. Mark Tenekjian, a frequent Riverside diner interviewed shortly after the suit was filed, found a "connection" between the two restaurants. "That really can't be a coincidence," said Tenekjian, who believed Riverside had a right to defend itself against "copycat restaurants."
But in May, the two sides apparently began working toward a settlement.
Contacted earlier this week, neither was eager to speak with the media, but each claimed that no money changed hands.
"The case has been settled," said Taylor's attorney, Brian Wright. "I can't comment, but I encourage you to visit both restaurants."
A visit to Martin's earlier this week found that French fries are now served in a small cardboard dishes– no more plastic basket here– an apparent victory for Riverside's Taylor, who had made a federal case out of it.
–with reporting assistance from Meghan Moran
Note: The following correction appeared in the October 6 edition of the Hook: In our September 22 story entitled "Burger battle: Flat-out legal warfare... ended," about the lawsuit waged by the Riverside Lunch, the side order of fries at Martin's has always been served in a small cardboard dish, and the basket of fries continues to be served in a basket. So what really changed? With neither side talking, we just don't know.Read more on: Martin's GrillRiverside LunchRyan Martin


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Review and Pictures of Vera Wang Runway Show at 2012 Spring Summer New York Fashion Week
2012 New York S/S Fashion Week: Vera Wang
With an eclectic front-row crowd that included Kim Kardashian, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Serena Williams, and a dramatic last-minute arrival by Beyoncé, the Vera Wang Spring 2012 show already had a buzz going by the time the first ethereal white look strode down the runway. It was a collection inspired by Alice in Wonderland — Tim Burton's version, no doubt — that mixed Vera's skill for soft feminine touches with an edge; chiffon dresses had drawstrings, floral prints seemed to morph into something totally trippy and neon-hued, and the skirts were cut away to reveal the models' long legs clad in gladiator heels. Some of the more fanciful looks included a yellow corset with peplum boy shorts and techno cotton eyelet cropped vests layered over corsets. We remain most entranced, however, by the first series of white looks, as the play between transparency and tailoring, between softness and edge, seemed most natural and truly channeled that Alice in Wonderland magic. This can be no coincidence considering Wang's reign as one of the world's top bridal designers.
Scope Vera's Spring/Summer collection . . .


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Man fatally shot at Grand Hyatt
SAN ANTONIO — Seeing the contents of a hotel maid's cart scattered on the ground and taking a whiff of the stench of gunpowder, Beau Blackwell knew something was wrong without even setting eyes on the body.
"It was a total yard sale," said Blackwell, 27, describing the scene two hours after he and his girlfriend stumbled upon a man who was shot to death at a downtown hotel Saturday afternoon.
Police and EMS squads responded to the Grand Hyatt San Antonio at about 1 p.m. after the man, believed to be in his mid- to late 30s, was shot by another hotel guest on the sixth floor.
Chief William McManus soon was on the scene and said the incident was "very out of the normal" for a hotel he called "very safe."
The dead man, McManus said, reportedly was breaking lights in a hallway when he got into a verbal confrontation with another man, believed to be in his 40s.
The victim followed the man to his room, McManus said, where he knocked on the door until the man opened it. When he did, McManus said, the victim allegedly tried to barge in, and was met with a fatal gunshot to the chest.
Officer Douglas Greene wouldn't offer any details identifying the shooter, but said the man had a concealed handgun license.
By about 2:30 p.m., the shooter had not been arrested, Greene said, adding that the department likely would decide soon whether to treat the incident as a murder or justifiable homicide.
Blackwell, an Austin resident, said he and his girlfriend returned to their room on the sixth floor "maybe minutes after" the shooting.
"There was a guy just laying there on his back," Blackwell said. "It just reeked of gunpowder, the whole floor."


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While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.
– William Wordsworth,
Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey
Portraits often seem pregnant with speech, or as if their subjects have just finished saying something,
or will soon speak the thoughts that inform their faces, the thoughts we're invited to read.
Landscapes are full of presences, visible or unseen; soon nymphs or a stag or a
band of hikers will make themselves heard.
But no word will ever be spoken here, among the flowers and snails,
the solid and dependable apples,
this heap of rumpled books,
this pewter plate on which a few opened oysters lie, giving up their silver.
These are resolutely still, immutable, poised for a forward movement that will never occur.
The brink upon which still life rests is the brink of time, the edge of something about to happen.
Everything that we know crosses this lip, over and over,
like water over the edge of a fall, as what might happen does,
as any of the endless variations of what might come true does so,
and things fall into being,
tumble through the progression of existing in time.
But the still life resides in absolute silence.
― Mark Doty, Still Life with Oysters and Lemon: On Objects and Intimacy
Still Life
Cool your heels on the rail of an observation car.
Let the engineer open her up for ninety miles an hour.
Take in the prairie right and left, rolling land and new hay crops, swaths of new hay laid in the sun.
A gray village flecks by and the horses hitched in front of the post-office never blink an eye.
A barnyard and fifteen Holstein cows, dabs of white on a black wall map, never blink an eye.
A signalman in a tower, the outpost of Kansas City, keeps his place at a window with the
serenity of a bronze statue on a dark night when lovers pass whispering.
– Carl Sandburg
Still Life
Sublime, serene
Found arrangements
Formal compositions.
Which is which?


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Elizabeth Olsen gives a star-making performance in this taut psychological thriller about a woman who escapes from an abusive cult. Olsen's character is lost and unformed, and filmmaker Sean Durkin fills in the blanks with the exasperation of her natural family and the dangers of the cult, personified by the magnetic John Hawkes.
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson and John Hawkes
Rating: Four stars out of five
Elizabeth Olsen is known, if she's known at all, as the Olsen sister who isn't a twin. That won't last for long, and it's fitting that she is finding her own fame in Martha Marcy May Marlene, a psychological thriller about the fractured identity of a sister who is looking for family, and in all the wrong places.
Olsen sometimes has the look of a softer Faye Dunaway, an unfocused beauty that's ideal for Martha, whose similarly vague past has left her drifting through life. First-time writer-director Sean Durkin never makes this explicit -- Martha Marcy May Marlene is a film of feints and allusions -- and much of it takes place in the corner of the screen, where Martha (not to mention Marcy May Marlene) cowers under her confusions. The rest of the screen is typically taken up with blank walls.
The film begins at a bucolic farm in Upstate New York, where we see young men building and hammering while a group of women cook and clean. Then the men eat dinner together while the women wait their turn. That night, one of them sneaks out of the door and runs into the woods.
Who she is, and the reason for her flight, is the story of MMMM, as Durkin moves back and forth between the farm and Martha's refuge with her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and her architect husband Ted (Hugh Dancy) at a lakefront country home in Connecticut. "How far away are we?" Martha asks. "From what?" Lucy responds. "From yesterday."
The answer is "three hours," but in fact, it's really no distance at all. We never get all the details of what happened with Martha and Lucy, but they have had a fraught relationship into which Ted becomes the exasperated observer. The film's memories are of a more immediate sort: Martha might leap into the lake in Connecticut and surface in the waters near the farm, where we are given the bits and pieces of what happened to her there.
It's a family of a different sort, a cult under the leadership of Patrick. He's played by John Hawkes, best known as Teardrop from Winter's Bone, who has a similar lanky and frightening magnetism here: His subtle and dangerous insinuations are just hinted at in the opening sequences. "I know people have abandoned you your whole life," he says to Martha -- whom he renames Marcy May, because that's who she looks like to him -- and we sense the edge to the gentle communal life. Eventually, she is raped by Patrick. ("That was truly good. We've all been in this situation," one of the other women tells her.) And then she herself takes over the preparations of another newcomer to the farm to be similarly abused. By the time Patrick persuades her of her worth -- "You're a leader and a teacher," he says with the conviction of a demented seer -- she is on her way to being re-formed as a person.
Meanwhile, in Connecticut, Martha is having some understandable trouble fitting it. She swims naked, mindless of the fact that there are children on the other side of the lake. She crawls into bed with Lucy and Ted while they are making love. "What's wrong with you?" her sister keeps asking, and we see the contrast between the angry demands of normality and the sinister acceptance of the marginal. ("For once in her life, she deserves real care," Patrick says, an all-purpose embrace for the rootless who come into his web.) A scene where Patrick takes out a guitar and sings a post-rape ballad to Marcy May tells you all you ever needed to know about the evil men who step in to adopt the unloved.
Martha is a cipher in the mounting drama, but Olsen manages to give her real life with a sort of reverse charisma, curling her physical beauty into poses of aggression or loss. The film becomes more hallucinogenic, as the true nature of Martha's past -- remembered or dreamt -- is discovered, and eventually we're left with a sense of dramatic unease ourselves. MMMM is unresolved, with only hints of where everyone is heading. The only thing we're sure of is that Elizabeth Olsen is going places.
What's On Tonight for


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Dell to Recall Millions of Laptop BatteriesBy John G. Spooner Print
Dell is recalling more than 4 million notebook PC batteries—an action it says is the largest battery recall thus far in computer history—following a small number of fires.
Dell is recalling more than 4 million notebook PC batteries—an action it says is the largest battery recall thus far in computer history—following a small number of fires.
The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker on Aug. 14 announced that it was working with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commissionand other agencies worldwide to recall 4.1 million lithium-ion laptop batteries, sold between April 2004 and July 2006.
The company is suggesting customers whose laptops contain the batteries should discontinue by ejecting the packs from their laptops and to operate the packs using AC power until a replacement is received.
Dell issued the voluntary recall following its investigation into several fires involving its laptops.
The investigation—including a post-mortem on the now-famous machine that caught fire at an Osaka, Japan, business conference—led to the discovery of a manufacturing defect inside the cells, which were used to assemble battery the packs involved in the recall.
Notebook batteries and charging systems have historically been sensitive areas of the machines.
Improperly manufactured battery packs have lead to the recall of hundreds of thousands of battery packs by the likes of Apple Computer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM in recent years.
"We are erring on the side of safety" by recalling a large number of packs, said Anne Camden, a spokesperson for Dell in Round Rock, Texas.
"The affected batteries could overheat as a result of a short circuit," she said. "But the opportunity for the short to happen is very rare."
Read the full story on eWEEK.com: Dell to Recall Millions of Laptop Batteries
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Friday, June 17, 2011
The Imaginal is All For You
Here's a mini essay I just posted at RI.
Strieber (like Castaneda) had some profound personal encounters with Imaginal forces. When I read his books (and Castaneda's), the accounts resonated, profoundly, with my own, forgotten or fragmented experiences with the Imaginal. In a word, I recognized "truth" in them (I use "'s because I'm at RI, normally I wouldn't bother).
I am and always have been a very credulous and impressionable person, and as is my wont, I took both these authors' accounts literally, at face value - as they themselves seemed to - even knowing (at least later on) that Imaginal experiences aren't "literal" so much as metaphorical (but then, so is ordinary reality once we scratch the surface, right?). Point is, Whitley's and Carlos' experiences were filtered through their individual psyches and written out in linear (literal) language, so those are the versions of Imaginal reality which we got "fed." And then, insofar as we are left-brained and literal-minded creatures, we can only take them at face value, or reject them in the same way. (For the left-brain something is either true or false, it cannot be both/and. First mistake.)
The point is that these writers share their truth, not the Truth, but as readers, if we identify with and relate to the stories (while taking them at face value), we are going to try and make it our truth – more or less in the same way that people who follow gurus try to twist themselves into the right shape to match their guru's truth. If we do this, then sooner or later we are going to get disillusioned – as soon, in fact, as we realize that the other guy's truth, however good it might have seemed, it's not gonna be our truth. Why? Because it's not our experience of the Imaginal, divine, or whatever. Sooner or later, something in there is going to "not fit," because the only reality that fits us is, you got it, our own. So that's the test and the opportunity of every "guru" - and every literary genius or rock n' roll idol or whoever we look up to & whose ideas or work we follow, whose path we wind up trying to walk down or whose "being" we want to emulate. It never works.
The test and the opportunity is to save the baby and toss out the bath water. If we wind up rejecting everything about the person, IMO, we've missed the opportunity and flunked the test – maybe (I don't want to impose my version of reality on anyone, but for me that'd be true, though God knows it's tempting). True skepticism is learning to discern truth from delusion, starting with our heroes or teachers, and ending up with our own. The "believer" swallows the story (aliens, sorcerers, democracy, whatever) whole, gets drunk on it, becomes sick, and then the "skeptic" comes to the rescue and tries to vomit everything back up and swears never to touch the stuff again (but usually he finds another vice). This isn't skepticism so much as cynicism, overcompensation for feeling like a sucker. It denies whatever is in us (or in Strieber, or whoever) that responded to truth, and focuses only on the part that managed to turn a little bit of truth into a great big delusion. It's not lies that fool us, IMO, it's truth taken too literally, or too quickly to heart. It's truth which we invest in and build a whole edifice of delusion out of.
Imagination – that's the key, but not in the way most people think of it, as a polar opposite to reality, so much as what underlies all of our experience. Keats compared the imagination to "Adam's dream: he awoke and found it truth." Blake believed the imagination was "not a State: it is the Human existence itself." These guys weren't slouches. They were as rigorous as they were intuitive. Personally, I'm willing to take their word on that.
Like Castaneda, Strieber got abducted by his own unconscious, whether it was aliens or elementals, angels or demons or govt mind control operatives. Whatever the agents that "came for him," that's not a desirable state of affairs. What's desirable is for us to venture willingly and open-eyed into our unconscious, exactly like the Poets did.
I admit (I already did) that I'm a credulous person. (That's why I'm an odd fit with RI.) There's no way to be open-minded without being credulous (or if there is, I haven't found it). I am susceptible to the spells cast by other people's convictions - and/or delusions - ask my wife if you don't believe me (rhetorical suggestion). But the alternative to being credulous isn't being cynical (which is what most skeptics are, IMO), because that just amounts to being closed-minded. The solution is to learn discernment about what we let all the way in and take to heart, what we take as our own truth, as opposed to what we let flow through us and out again, checking it thoroughly on the way. To quote Keats again: "The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." That means to believe without believing, to disbelieve without dismissing, to make up one's mind about nothing. In the words of Whitley, it means we get to "Learn to live at a high level of uncertainty." (Bleh)
Who the hell wants to do that? In this world, certainty is power. We're taught and bred to make up our minds about everything, and dismiss anything we can't make our minds up about. The trouble is we are also told, subtly, which conclusions to reach (drink Coca Cola), so then, when we make up our minds, we're really giving them over to someone (or something) else's influence.
For me that's the proof that Strieber's doing something that's worth paying attention to: he raises a lot more questions than he provides answers.
That, and I have a big soft spot for the guy.
20 comments:
- Ezra Sandzer-Bell said...
This reflection has less to do with Strieber and more to do with the sentiment of your article, as I perceived it.
What came up for me was a deep insight into my own process around NOSTALGIA. There are certain media forms that soften me up every time I make contact with them. If I lose track of a part of my soul, it's likely that I can return to these books, songs, movies and remember.
I wonder - is it possible to open up deeper levels of heart-knowledge through mental analysis of media that touches our heart?
If nothing else, your text felt like a tribute or shrine to these influential books in your life, and I enjoyed sharing in that energy of Honoring what you love.
- 12:57 am, June 18, 2011
- Jasun said...
"I wonder - is it possible to open up deeper levels of heart-knowledge through mental analysis of media that touches our heart?"
"Mental analysis of media that touches my heart" would be a good description of several books I've written - whether writing them has opened up deeper levels of heart-knowledge I can't say with certainty but my guess is that it has served that purpose, even if it wasn't conscious. Certainly it helped me to discover why those works meant so much to me which may have allowed me to "own" whatever it was in me that i was using them to mirror back at me. (Same way people use gurus & celebrities, provided they evolve beyond the worship stage.)
- 3:34 pm, June 18, 2011
I've been in a warm state of in-between lately. Knowing both (or more) sides of any story, or person. Opening spaces for perpetual contradiction, or trying to.
Anyway, great essay, I connected, and I connect also with these comments. I've been watching a few movies I watched in youth again, this time while high, and so... young again. Also, I revisited family I haven't seen in years, and neighborhoods I haven't seen in even longer. It was all a dream! And the dream still unfolds. I took a road trip across most of the country, through mountains and plains, etc. There were some very dreamlike moments along the way.
I've helped a little (accidentally, of course) in undoing a Guru Twist in someone close, now they're chasing their own ghost...
I still have a reaction internally as I suppose it's a little depressing in some ways that my imaginal experiences can't be fully shared with another. I don't know if we're totally alienated islands in that sense yet, but I know we might be...
Maybe the truth is somewhere between each of our individual experiences and beliefs. Perhaps we need to study Voltron!
My word for word verification is 'fibled'.
- 8:22 am, June 19, 2011
- Jasun said...
Hi again Eos - a very timely reappearance, may I say!
there is one way those islands can meet - go deep enough down where it's just one land mass.
Alternatively - get abducted together! (or maybe that's the same thing?)
isn't that what we are all yearning for with every cell of our bodies and why sex is both the prison that traps us and the key to freedom?
- 8:53 am, June 19, 2011
- pueokeokeo said...
dude, you tell me where and when we'll get abducted together and I'll be there.
- 10:37 pm, June 19, 2011
- Jasun said...
Married couples only!
- 4:24 pm, June 20, 2011
The prison and the key...yes! Perhaps there's no escape from that process, especially if that is the only *material* key, but is it? I sometimes think the same way of psychedelics and meditation techniques, both a prison and a key...
But then, what is escape anyway? Is it ultimately inevitable?
Yesterday I was looking through some old pictures and came across some photos of a room that hosted one of my more bizarre, and 'sober', imaginal experiences. I felt a little fear and anticipation just looking at the pictures. I didn't expect that. But was the anticipation I felt an awareness of the inevitable resolution and integration, while the fear was a brace? Is the same true of the buzzing felt before a psychedelic encounter? The nerves before sexual encounters?
Isn't every reappearance, or even every appearance, timely?
So going deep enough so that it's one landmass would enable us to know that we are all each other and that every occurrence and experience is synchronous because everything is dynamically one...constantly becoming one?
- 11:24 am, June 21, 2011
Just now got around to reading some of your stuff on Strieber (mostly the RI posts), really compelling. I hesitate to venture into that territory though. Why (I don't really know)? I feel a strange gravity pulling on me and, in the interest of not neglecting daily affairs, I resist. I keep feeling the crest of resolution, the allure of integration, but I'm not sure it can be found outside of myself...
I'm tempted to create an RI account, but I don't really know if I have anything to add, as it seems self-interest is behind that temptation.
I like everything you're saying though, and it's good to read something I can actually relate to again!
Would it be blind of me to ask what, exactly, makes my 'reappearance' so timely to you?
- 2:11 pm, June 22, 2011
- Jasun said...
Hi Eos, glad you posted again as I meant to respond to your last one. Is this really you? It's a very different "voice" to the one I got used to, but maybe I've changed too (no doubt about it) and so I am picking up a subtler and soft signal?
It wouldn't be blind to ask, why would you know what I'm talking about? I didn't mean to leave that out there as a tantalizing tidbit either. Things are morphing so fast I have to really think to remember what I was referring to; it related to a dream I had of my brother, the night before you showed up, and the context that fell into, which was to do with my putting certain "warrior" tendencies to rest in my troubled soul.
I'm also in two minds about encouraging you to join RI, remembering how voluminous your posts tended to be! I'd say, FWIW, that if it'll help you work out stuff that's causing tension in your psyche, go for it; but if it's just to join the intellectual debate, don't bother. I try and follow this advice myself - and fail, of course.
Just the last post I made today (the longer one), I had to edit to remove a pompous know-it-all tone that had crept in. The format of forums (or maybe RI esp?) seems to subtly encourage it, at least in me.
Man, is is only me or do you get tired of being forever reminded of your incapacity to ever be really, truly authentic?
- 2:31 pm, June 22, 2011
I am always and constantly tired of that incapacity to be truly authentic! Words simply don't permit it, and neither does my ego. For instance, right now I feel a sort of blossom, tempered by a feeling of being on the verge of tears, not only of despair but of union. And even as I type I become slightly less aware of it...
And it is me, and me has changed as well, so it's probably a combination, hence tears of union. Some husks and scars and facades have fallen away...
The main reason I want to join RI is to ask questions rather than run my mouth-fingers to the bone! The self-interest I speak of is more like a self-obsession since I'm not certain I can resolve my inner tensions in that way. I actually find myself really bored with the idea of any prolonged intellectual debates. I'm a lot more interested in...basically what SWEDA was! I know it may not have seemed like it then but I took a lot away from that experience and I thank you for that!
Also, for what it's worth I definitely noticed a difference in your writing as well (at least from what I recall, so the difference may have been there all along)! It's more like you're laying down in the sun while you write rather than sitting hunched over a glowing screen.
I don't have too many more worldly pronouncements to make, or at least I don't have a strong desire to do so. I have begun to confront the emptiness of myself and the fullness of that emptiness. Now I just have a longing for communion, which is also pretty fitting.
I'd like to know more about your dream and how I relate, and I'd like to ask some questions and share experiences and ideas...
I have worldly matters to take care of though and have procrastinated long enough as it is!
Thanks for being welcoming, I appreciate it.
- 3:04 pm, June 22, 2011
- Jasun said...
Namaste, soul-brother
I'll send the dream to your yahoo email
- 3:23 pm, June 22, 2011
I had a few remarks to share responding to Jason's original post. I hope they don't sound too stark in the midst of all the warmth and personal insight that's being passed around.
I also don't mean to succumb to the "pompous know-it-all tone" referred to above.
Just hoping I could offer something of value or, at the very least, of interest.
I think Jason's remarks about the imaginal are well put. It's as though the light of higher reality must pass through the kaleidoscope of one's psyche.
But, as Kant demonstrates, the problem is much broader than that. The whole nature of the world as we experience it is dependent on the mental and sensory apparatus through which we perceive.
Consider the consequence: if all experience is given shape by the mind's subjective structures, then we can never know what reality is like in itself.
On this basis one is tempted to conclude that, like a perpetually receding horizon, the goal of final knowledge lies forever outside our reach.
And yet, The Master of The Key promises that "a fully self realized being understands the whole creation, for it is completely present everywhere."
He makes the extraordinary claim that "anyone can become God," explaining that we are withheld from doing so by the imperfections in our "vision."
Interestingly, tibetan buddhism takes a similar view, both of the potential inherent to every sentient being, and of that which holds us back.
On this view, we are prevented from achieving a god's eye perspective on reality by what are called "obstacles to omniscience" - subtle predispositions in the mind that force us to divide reality into the phenomenal and the noumenal, the relative and the ultimate.
So, although tibetan philosophy makes a considerable effort to articulate the problem of appearance and reality, it concludes that this distinction only pertains to unenlightened beings, and that it can be surpassed by any sufficiently dedicated practitioner.
The imperfections in our vision are innate, in the sense that we have them since birth, but they are not inherent, in the sense of being permanent properties.
The point I'm driving toward is that it might be misconceived to say we can only ever access our truth, and that we cannot hope to access the truth.
If we label our personal convictions as a species of "truth" on the grounds that all reality is interpretive, then we create a false equivalence between different epistemic strategies.
The way Jason's employing the term "truth" makes it difficult to distinguish between the degrees of truth present in opposing pictures of the world.
- 1:55 am, June 23, 2011
"Because it's not our experience of the Imaginal, divine, or whatever. Sooner or later, something in there is going to 'not fit,' because the only reality that fits us is, you got it, our own."
Many of the most important truths don't fit personal experience. Relativity and quantum mechanics are profoundly counter intuitive, they make claims about the nature of reality that contradict the entire range of mundane human experience.
There are certainly cases where a teaching doesn't fit because it is false, or because it isn't right for us. And yet, there are other cases where what does not fit reveals where we ourselves need to expand and evolve.
Even our own reality may never fit in this way. Every revelation contains the seeds of it's own contradiction; that contradiction is the doorway to a further revelation.
The Master of the Key says "there is something missing in all of us" and that "what is absent within, is God."
As I read the text, this doesn't mean that God is absent, but that God is the absence. God is a radical incongruity, an irreconcilable mystery.
And it's precisely because our innermost questions have no final answer that we continue to evolve toward the infinite.
"The "believer" swallows the story (aliens, sorcerers, democracy, whatever) whole, gets drunk on it, becomes sick, and then the "skeptic" comes to the rescue and tries to vomit everything back up and swears never to touch the stuff again (but usually he finds another vice). This isn't skepticism so much as cynicism, overcompensation for feeling like a sucker."
This reminds me of a wonderful passage from Nietzsche. In it, he gives eloquent expression to the state of mind you describe, but goes on to cheer the aspirant forward.
"Alas, I knew noble men who lost their highest hope. Then they slandered all high hopes. Then they lived impudently in brief pleasures and barely cast their goals beyond the day. Spirit too is lust, so they said. Then the wings of their spirit broke: and now their spirit crawls about and soils what it gnaws. Once they thought of becoming heroes: now they are voluptuaries. The hero is for them an offense and a fright.
"But by my love and hope I beseech you: do not throwaway the hero in your soul! Hold holy your highest hope!"
Anyhow, it's good to see you folks in virtual space again!
- 1:57 am, June 23, 2011
- Jasun said...
"The point I'm driving toward is that it might be misconceived to say we can only ever access our truth, and that we cannot hope to access the truth."
I didn't ever say that, or if i did, I didn't mean it.
But I think we need to have a pretty firm grasp on what our truth is before we are ready to speak with any authority about The Truth - or to distinguish between our conditioned imprints and our unique soul's eye vision.
If becoming One with God meant that we all see things the exact same way, what would be the purpose behind fragmentation?
- 8:20 am, June 23, 2011
- pueokeokeo said...
JK said:
If becoming One with God meant that we all see things the exact same way, what would be the purpose behind fragmentation?
Cuz teasing is too much damn fun, you jack-nugget.
Becoming One with God probably means that we all get see through things the exact same way -- with the singular "I" still there as clueless as ever and adorable as ever, but now more forgiving than ever knowing that there is at least One other seeing things through -- the exact same way.
- 1:05 pm, June 23, 2011
- Jasun said...
which would make a multitude of slightly different perspectives together forming a unified perspective - which would never remain the same for even an instant, because that multitude is constantly moving, changing, and evolving through its interactions?
- 1:22 pm, June 23, 2011
So, to unify (?):
"So going deep enough so that it's one landmass would enable us to know that we are all each other [i.e. God] and that every occurrence and experience is synchronous because everything is dynamically one...constantly becoming one?"
"which would make a multitude of slightly different perspectives together forming a unified perspective - which would never remain the same for even an instant, because that multitude is constantly moving, changing, and evolving through its interactions?"
"On this basis one is tempted to conclude that, like a perpetually receding horizon, the goal of final knowledge lies forever outside our reach.
And yet, The Master of The Key promises that 'a fully self realized being understands the whole creation, for it is completely present everywhere.'"
And thanks for the dream Jason. Very fitting for me now as well, including the comments...more on that later!
- 2:10 pm, June 23, 2011
- pueokeokeo said...
If there is a unified perspective then wouldn't perspective die leaving a "never the same" like a flickering flame -- ever the change within "ever the same". There would be no One to blame. There would only be sadness and grace. I could drink to such a unified perspective. ;)
I have felt a unifying of perspectives happening within the inner community -- the inner multitude. Boundaries are still crossed and there are still flare ups in that inner world but there is a natural return to balance when the unifier of the perspectives (the I) steps in and lays down with his scrub brush and works without asking questions. That I (which is the unifier) is no longer the mediator or peacekeeper, as he inevitably dreams and wishes himself to be at times, but simply a dude with a scrub brush willing to clean until perception dies.
- 1:50 pm, June 24, 2011
- Jasun said...
Put down that beer and get scrubbing!
- 2:56 pm, June 24, 2011
I recognize this response is rather late, but, timely appearances, right?
I read a majority of the other comments here and something Aoelus said seemed fruitful to capture and reanalyze:
"If becoming One with God meant that we all see things the exact same way, what would be the purpose behind fragmentation?"
I think this is particularly fruitful because I think it's representative of a prevalent misunderstanding of the nature of reality (not to say that its author is): "dissolving into unity", "killing the ego ("slaying the slayer")".
It brings to mind an appropriate mahayana saying, a sort of koan: "Nirvana is samsara".
This is where enlightenment happens. One doesn't shed the ego upon enlightenment, one very skillfully speaks and acts and looks through it (from what I've discovered), so that the light of awareness shines through it like through glass.
To answer the question of the original quote, I would say: there would be no fragmentation, and there would be no point! I feel that was the sort of rhetorical answer the question demonstrated.
The alternative might be a sort of unified differentiation. Two individual hemispheres of the brain; one conscious experience. Many individual words (any one of which whose individuality harkens to the sum total of an infinite dictionary); one overall message. Many individual organs; one human body.
Maybe what would be unified in a society of people who are one would god would be a focused attention towards the ascension of complexity, subtly, consciousness, and a celebration and appreciation of differences.
Great blog, I look forward to future entries discussions.
- 8:54 pm, July 13, 2011


text:
Shirtless Bono and George Clooney in Lake Como Pictures
Shirtless Bono Lets Loose in Lake Como With George and Rande
Shirtless Bono Lets Loose in Lake Como With George and Rande
George Clooney was joined by friends Rande Gerber and Bono in Lake Como this week. Bono stripped off his shirt and went for a walk around the property while George and Rande spent their afternoon touring through Italy on motorcycles. Biking and shirtless boating are among Mr. Clooney's favorite vacation activities, and soon we'll see more of his golden tan when he returns to work. George's next film, The Ides of March, is opening Venice's Film Festival on Wednesday. He directs and stars opposite Ryan Gosling in the political drama, though Ryan might miss out on the film's first premiere. Ryan's currently shooting The Place Beyond the Pines, but there's a strong chance he could meet up with George in September at Toronto's International Film Festival.


text:
Instead, I trailed him into an alley. My nose wrinkled at the sour scents spilling from the big garbage bins lining one brick wall. I listened for his steady footsteps. Nothing.
What the hell are you doing? Get out of there!
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as his cool breath caressed me. "You wanted to speak to me, Bianca?"
I swallowed, shaking a little, glancing back at the street to gauge the distance. Could I make a run for it? Then my eyes narrowed. "Don't play with me, Cyrus. I own you. You can't control me."
"I just did." He chuckled and put his hand on my hip, turning me to face him. "But I won't have much fun if I hurt you, will I?"
"No." Damn it, why haven't I killed this guy off yet? I did not like him touching me. "So enough with the bullshit. I have some questions for you."
"Do you?" His tone softened as he circled me. "Then join me for a glass of wine—or maybe whiskey? I won't have . . . a conversation with you here."
His eyes drew me in, had my mind grasping for the words to describe them. Which words had I used? Sky? Summer sky . . .
"Come, Bianca." He held out his hand. "I promise you'll enjoy yourself."
A wavy strand of black hair spilled over his cheek and I caught myself reaching up to touch it, knowing it would be so soft, like his skin. From the corner of my eye I saw his lips curling and snatched my hand back.
"I'm not going anywhere with you." I shoved my hands in my pockets and took a big step back. "Actually, you know what? Forget it. I'll talk to Joe. Or Vince. There's nothing you have to say that the readers want to hear."
"Are you sure about that?" He shrugged and hooked his thumbs to his belt loops, rocking a little on the heels of his Italian loafers. "Then kill me since I have no story to tell. What's the point of keeping me around?"
Good question. I frowned and looked him over, trying to decide if staying was worth the risk. Cyrus' strength hadn't diminished since the last time I'd written his words, but he had changed. His outfit seemed very modern. Expensive, a perfectly tailored fit, yet, somehow wrong. His arrogance was still obvious in his posture and tone, but it was . . . less pompous maybe?
"So what's your story, Cyrus?" My lips curled a little—I wanted to make it clear he didn't frighten or impress me—but my voice sounded like half my volume was stuck somewhere in my chest. Maybe under my rapidly beating heart, or lower, where I was . . . aware of him.
Why must so many psychos be sexy?
"Would you like to know about my first time?" His gaze drifted down my body and he ran his tongue over his teeth as I squirmed. "The situation fits your topic."
"You mean when you lost your virginity?" I wrinkled my nose. I didn't really want to hear about him doing his daddy's mistress when he was fifteen. "Nobody—"
"No, sweetheart." He moved a little closer to me, forcing me back until I was trapped between his body and the alley wall across from the garbage bins. "Let me tell them how I lost my soul."


text:
Someone asked me last week if there was anyone more popular than Jennifer Lawrence after she charmed the world during Oscar season. The answer seems obvious, though it didn't come to me immediately:
Robert Downey Jr.
Most celebrities are polarising. And even the popular ones have their detractors. Even, for example, Sandra Bullock has been criticised by judgy bitches for, I dunno, something. We are very, very, very hard to please. Increasingly. Even Johnny Depp, once considered almost untouchable, is now that guy who keeps shoving bandanas into his pocket. I was actually half expecting him to show up to Coachella.
Sure, there is Cate Blanchett. With Cate though it isn't so much love as...awe. Affection seems too silly an emotion to offer at her altar.
But we LOVE Robert Downey Jr, don't we? We LOVE him.
Could Brad Pitt get away with confirming that, yes, that report in THR last year -- click here for a refresher -- was indeed accurate? Yes, he confirms that he made at least $50 million off The Avengers. And without hesitation too. And accompanied by a laugh. Like he can't believe it either and yeah, they're f-cking pissed, but I'm not giving it back.
Maybe that's why. It's all in the delivery.
This is just one detail in RDJ's dozen detail a minute interview with GQ. Which is standard. Unlike the lesser movie stars, the biggest movie star in the world -- by box office, you can't argue this now, can you? -- also doesn't hold back when he commits to a profile. In his case though, what's left to hold back? You already know that story. The new story then is how the wasted talent who woke up after a bender in some stranger's house became the Establishment, and, incredibly, not only do we not hate him for it, we might even adore him even more. Even RDJ's defence -- at least I think that's what it is, you never know what he really means, do you? -- of his selling out reads like the manifesto of an outcast.
As I've said before, the best interviews should not be excerpted. They deserve to be read as they are presented, entirely, so that you can appreciate the flow of the person's thoughts, and then assessed as a whole as opposed to a fragmented extraction of only the most salacious details, like what he had to say about winning an Oscar. When you read it in full body, you'll understand why this is not the same as As IF-ing Ashley Greene. When you read it in fully body, you're OK with him comparing Miro and Picasso as ordinarily as salad dressings whereas his friend, Gwyneth, for example could never get away with it. When you read it in fully body, it's even funnier what he says about his boy Jude Law.
Avoid the excerpts then and set aside 10 minutes later to read it from start to finish. Click here for RDJ's complete new interview with GQ. He's your favourite.
PS. Is there something subversive about the way he's holding up his pinky finger to his mouth in that picture? It's a gesture he must have performed a hundred times, probably more, in private, and now he's lived to recreate it in a photo shoot. Come ON!


text:
Welcome to Dancing with the Stars, minus an intro! At first I thought it was my DVR messing up, but then it was revealed to be all their fault. Tom says, "That was the MOST amazing intro ever - especially when the space shuttle landed." I have to get my "I LOVE HIM SO MUCH" out of the way early tonight.
Shawn Johnson & Derek Hough
Viennese Waltz
Derek is back, YAY! Oh, Lordy. So this Viennese Waltz is about all the servicemen that have been in war zones and had angels looking over them. Let me call my dad the Navy veteran who was sent up rivers in Vietnam and see if this is exactly what he was thinking about at that time.
Oh, and it's the Sarah McLachlan "These puppies are going to be killed if you don't give us money" song. If Mark were still dancing with her, it would be all the things that make me throw things at my tv in one neat package.
Len says that "sometimes a whisper is louder than a scream" and would have liked a little bit more in hold, but overall it was fabulous. Bruno calls it "heavenly perfection." And then says she was "touched by an angel." (RIP Natina Reed) Carrie Ann says it was was magical and she got the chills.
While waiting for the judges' scores, Tom welcomed the members of the armed services that are in the ballroom, including former DWTS champion, JR Martinez.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10; Len: 9.5; Bruno: 10
Apolo Anton Ohno & Karina Smirnoff
Apolo and Karina have decide to "not play it safe" anymore and this involves a zipline. Of course it does.
So, all the zipline ended up being was Apolo's entrance, which wasn't that big of a deal. However, he's wearing a flak vest with no sleeves and I approve of his arms, so I'm giving him half a point just for that. Also, they're dancing to "Holding Out for a Hero," one of my favorite songs. I'm not sure, but the songs feel shorter than usual tonight.
Bruno loved it and loved Apolo's arms. It worries me when Bruno and I are simpatico. Carrie Ann thought his lines were "ridiculous" - in a good way. Len says he danced with verve and passion, but his frame got a bit wide sometimes. Oh, ugh. I just noticed that Apolo is wearing dog tags. I find that tacky. And then they show Maks backstage wearing them too.
Let me explain myself here - it's because I'm patriotic and proud of our country and its armed forces that it makes me touchy when their heroism and nobility are co-opted for cheesy entertainment purposes.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10; Len: 9.5; Bruno: 10
Kirstie Alley & Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Viennese Waltz
I think Kirstie is supposed to look like she's wearing an Army uniform but with a long skirt. Instead it's creating a sort of demented Robin Hood effect. Maks is in a white undershirt, with military uniform pants and I'll get past the tacky to admire the good looking man in half uniform, half undress.
The judges are vaguely complimentary. As Tom pitches to commercial, Maks starts fingering Tom's ear. It's exactly as gross and titillating as it sounds.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9; Len: 9; Bruno: 9
As Kirstie thanked the veterans when talking to Brooke, the camera cut away to those six servicemen (Marines) in the front row. You know what would have been even more awesome, DWTS? Filling the whole ballroom with servicemen and servicewomen and their families.
Oh hey, Tom calls out a couple of Marines who are going to be guest starring on "The Middle" this week. I love that show. If you aren't already watching it, give it a try. I'm president of the Sue Heck fan club.
Kelly Monaco & Val ChmerkovskiyViennese Waltz
Kelly's confidence is waning and she's looking very fatigued and frustrated in rehearsals.
I think they're both in yellow as sort of a tribute to the "yellow ribbon." It's a beautiful routine and when they both end up lying on the floor at the end, Val gets very handsy with Kelly.
Len said it flowed nicely, but the movements were sometimes a little bit sharp and he would've liked a little bit more... but he's cut off. Bruno compliments her shapes and blames any "sharpness" on Kelly feeling the emotion of the dance. Carrie Ann says Kelly is "the spirit of the show" because of her improvement from week to week.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9.5; Len: 9; Bruno: 9.5
Gilles Marini & Peta MurgatroydQuickstep
In rehearsal, Gilles and Peta talk about how they've been sliding down the leaderboard and they want a perfect score this week. Peta says that the quickstep should play to Gilles's strength in his good frame.
Gilles is wearing a flight suit, mostly unzipped and they are doing the quickstep to "Danger Zone" from Top Gun. Now I've seen it all. This song is really sped up from its normal version. Peta's wearing pants too and it's interesting to see the female part of the quickstep with that kind of definition instead of when the legs are under a long skirt.
Bruno talks about a section in the middle of the dance that was "absolutely fantastic" and crows about how fast it was. Carrie Ann says it was so close and Len and Bruno both react like she's insane. She insists that he was wobbly during some of the fastest steps. Len agrees with Bruno.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9.5; Len: 10; Bruno: 10
Gilles says "67 years ago the American army came to Europe to free my country or today I would speak a very different language. So, I owe you the world and I'm in the best place ever." Gilles is such a class act.
Emmitt Smith & Cheryl Burke
Viennese Waltz
Cheryl makes a point of working on Emmitt's upper body in rehearsals this week. Emmitt talks to his old buddy and teammate Daryl Johnston, in a bit of rehearsal montage filler.
Emmitt and Cheryl aren't dressed in any sort of quasi-military garb and their song isn't military related either. Did they miss the memo or just choose to ignore it?
Carrie Ann says it was smooth but that Emmitt did slip a little bit during part of the routine. Then she gets into a spat with Len about whether or not Len was mumbling during her comments. Carrie Ann wants to see more improvement from Emmitt. Len liked his balance in and out of hold, but would've liked more fluidity in his arm and does note the slip. Bruno liked it as well, but is in agreement on the slight stumble.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9; Len: 9.5; Bruno: 9.5
Melissa Rycroft & Tony DovolaniQuickstep
Oooh, Tony's in a sailor suit. I might've let out a "Well, helloooooo Sailor." They're dancing to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" which is a proper quickstep song. It's a fun, fast routine, with a lot of energy and pep. Tony is so PSYCHED this season. It's a great thing to see.
Len said it was "quick with a lot of steps" and Tom chuckles, "Thanks for breaking it down for us." Bruno says it was like watching Anne Miller and Gene Kelly in "On the Town." I wonder if Melissa has ever seen these wonderful classic dancers Bruno keeps comparing her to. (Previously it was Cyd Charisse.)
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10; Len: 10; Bruno: 10
And now it's time for the "Trio Dances." But first Tom gives us a rundown of the leaderboard. Apparently tonight's scores will be combined with last week's judges scores and all the fan votes to produce the double elimination tomorrow night.
For the trio dance, each couple will work with an already eliminated pro to do a three-person dance. As Tom is trying to explain the concept, Mark, Shawn and Derek ride behind him on tricycles while dressed like cavemen, naturally.
Shawn & Derek with Mark BallasSamba
They've decided to go "tribal" and we see Shawn standing in front of the two of them (all three facing forward) and then Derek and Mark execute some "Magic Mike" worthy pelvic thrusts. When they stop Derek chides Shawn that she can't just stand there and look "scared and confused." Honey, if I saw the two of them behind me in the mirror doing those pelvic thrusts I'd absolutely be scared and confused.
Derek says they're going to mix samba elements with "tribal elements." I'm pretty sure Len's not going to be a fan. But they're not worried about that and they totally play to the audience.
It's certainly different than a lot of what we've seen on DWTS. I really liked it but I'm not sure how "samba" it was.
Len says "if I was sitting in the audience I'd be cheering along. But I'm not; I'm sitting up here and I've got to judge a samba." Len then calls them "self-indulgent" and criticizes the lack of samba content. He adds that it's a critical week and says "Shawn, if you go home tomorrow, don't blame me, blame those two [indicating Derek and Mark]."
Bruno calls them "naughty" and says "as a piece of dance as art it was absolutely fantastic" but even he has to admit that it wasn't really a samba. Carrie Ann disagrees with both of them, saying that they had to take risks and what samba they did do was executed perfectly. And then Derek and Mark do these really gross pelvic thrust moves at the judges and it's really immature and awful and they're both "On My List" now.
Derek claims that they went risky with the routine for the fans at home because they audience is bored of seeing the same old dances over and over. NO, WE'RE NOT. Do you think us old people make NCIS the number one watched show on TV because it's DIFFERENT EVERY WEEK? Ditto: the CSI franchise, The Mentalist, Castle, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, etc. Leave innovation to the cable channels - we want familiarity from our network offerings.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10; Len: 7; Bruno: 9
Way to stick with your principles, Len. Bruno should have done the same. Otherwise you're just telling Derek he can keep getting away with this. Especially after you judges didn't ding them overmuch for their "Screw your 'no lifts' rule" routine earlier in the season.
Karina & Apolo with Sasha FarberJive
Apolo explains that they chose another male dancer so that he'd have a pro to emulate during the routine. Smart thinking, especially if Sasha doesn't show him up. During rehearsal, they're doing this crazy double leap thing over and under Karina and it looks like a neck injury waiting to happen.
They're dancing to "Greased Lightning" and Karina is wearing a red spandex bodysuit. It's something only someone that looks like her can pull off. And hey! There's the leap from rehearsal and they mostly nail it. The dancer that went through her legs (Apolo, I think) didn't go through as far and fast as he maybe should have.
Bruno says they took a "huge, huge risk" because all the way through Apolo was mirroring a pro, but he conquered it. Len says it was fast, sharp, tight, and together and that's what you want from a jive.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9.5; Len: 9.5; Bruno: 10
Kirstie & Maks with Tristan McManusPaso Doble
They're all going to be angels which means wearing giant wings, of course. Kirstie notes in rehearsals "You guys are of similar height and both hot" and whatever she says after that is bleeped and blurred. Kirstie then gets in a nice self-deprecating joke about her being a man-hater.
Those wings come off pretty early in the routine, so all that was for not much. Shoe Watch: both men are wearing shoes but Kirstie is not. She's also wearing a dress/tunic thing that splits at the empire waistline to show a black bodysuit/leggings - not terribly flattering.
Carrie Ann loved the theme, costumes, presentation, and hot guys but said the actual dancing was sloppy. And then she says some of that might be attributable to Kirstie being barefoot because it's hard to do the paso doble lines without the shoes. Well, praise be. Len compliments her on there being "no incidents" but says it did lack definition. Bruno compares it "Valley of the Dolls" - so basically it was a visually interesting mess.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 8; Len: 8; Bruno: 8
Kelly & Val with Louis van AmstelJive
Louis was on Season 1 with Kelly, though not as her partner. As Kelly points out, he's taught a lot of the current pros at some point.
The storyline of the dance is Kelly playing the two guys for her affection, and it's really well choreographed to be fun, fast and flirty. It also makes sure both men end up shirtless. Although I'm slightly afraid with Kelly's low neckline and generous, ahem, assets that we might see a little more Monaco than we're meant to. At the end of the routine, Kelly leaps onto the judges' table and kisses Len. It's the end of the story - she rejects both Val and Louis in favor of Len. Then Val jumps up as if he's going to deck Len and while Bruno can reach Val's butt, he smacks it for all he's worth. Things have gotten a little crazy!
Len said it was fun, fast, flamboyant, and fabulous. Bruno says a lot of innuendo-laced things then concludes by complimenting Kelly on the section where she was leading with the two male dancers behind her. Carrie Ann says the transitions were fantastic and seamless, but sometimes Kelly could've pointed her toes a hair more.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9.5; Len: 9.5; Bruno: 9.5
Gilles & Peta with Chelsie HightowerSalsa
Gilles and Peta chose Chelsie because of her choreography abilities. Their storyline is similar to Kelly's in that the two women are fighting for Gilles' affection.
The routine starts with a mini-solo from Gilles and then continues like that for a little bit before they're all three up and dancing. It's bold for the star and not the pro to be so isolated like that. They repeat it a little later in the routine and I'm super impressed with Gilles. There is one little spot where he's supposed to pull both women up off the floor, one with each arm, but there's a little hesitation with the dancer on his left arm. Still, a routine that was mostly Gilles and it's impressive.
Bruno mentions some timing problems and Carrie Ann agrees, but still say he took over the dance floor. Len points out how exposed Gilles was by the routine and says "well done."
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9.5; Len: 10; Bruno: 9.5
Emmitt & Cheryl with Kym JohnsonSalsa
Cheryl wants to show that Emmitt can lead two women. Emmitt says, "A man trying to give a woman what she needs, what she wants, that's really what I'm trying to do." Oh, Mrs. Smith, you lucky wife.
Y'all know how much I love Gilles, and it's good for him that he want before Emmitt rather than after because this salsa is blowing his out of the water. It really IS a three person dance and impressive for its intricacy. Len says it was like "working two yo-yos at the same time."
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10; Len: 10; Bruno: 10
Melissa & Tony & Henry Byalikov Paso Doble
Melissa says she has to be a "dominatrix" and if this is a show that, as Emmitt suggested earlier, is one the whole family can watch together, well, have fun explaining that to the kids, parents.
During the middle of the dance, Melissa lets out some "HA!" martial arts type yells and it's weird to hear a contestant's voice during a routine. The dancing was great, but I'm not sure she nailed the character.
Len liked the seamlessness of her transitions from Tony to Henry and back. Bruno says that some of the moves were "astonishing" and talks about the ronde de jombes into drops.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10; Len: 10; Bruno: 10
Scoreboard: Including last week's and tonight's individual's routines, and tonight's "Trio" routine
Melissa & Tony: 99
Shawn & Derek: 93.5
Kelly & Val: 92.5
Emmitt & Cheryl: 92.5
Gilles & Peta: 92
Apolo & Karina: 91.5
Kirstie & Maks: 79
So, Kirstie has to be gone tomorrow, right? And Melissa & Tony should be safe, but all the others, clustered there together at 91.5 to 93.5? I'm not sure who goes - Apolo? Gilles? Kelly? I think Emmitt has the fan base, as does Derek.
- Entertainment
- Dance
- Music
- Crime, Law and Justice
- Justice System
- Dancing With the Stars
- Heroism
- Satellite and Cable Service
- CSI (tv program)
- Two and a Half Men (tv program)
- NCIS (tv program)
- The Middle (tv program)
- Gilles Marini
- Kelly Monaco
- Karina Smirnoff
- Maksim Chmerkovskiy
- Kirstie Alley
- Melissa Rycroft
- Cyd Charisse
- Gene Kelly


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I used to love the Ferris Wheel. Well, I used to love ALL the rides, but every year as I've gotten older my tolerance has gotten less and less. I had NO tolerance this year at ALL.
But it's not so much the ride that bothers me. It's the shaking of the cart. It's the thought that any moment my cart is going to come unbolted and send us crashing to the ground. Its the thought of getting stuck and having to be rescued from the very top. It's the thought...well, I'm sure you get the picture.
I was excited for my ride on the Ferris Wheel as it was the only ride I was going to go on. I hate the sick feeling and headache I get after the rides and was just going to stick to taking pictures this year. Started feeling anxious as I got on the cart and by the first half turn I was panicking. No really---I have pictures:


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Monday, April 25, 2011
Full to the Brim - Kid's Book Giveaway List (4/25/11)
My giveaway(s):
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (Blu-ray Combo Pack) - Ends 4/25
signed copy of Good Night, Little Sea Otter by Janet Halfmann - Ends 5/9
Other book giveaways:
Mary McKenna Siddals - Book Giveaway Ends 4/25
Earth Day Giveaway: Compost Stew by Mary McKenna Siddals and 2 art prints from the book, autographed by illustrator Ashley Wolff
Katie Davis - Book Giveaway Ends 4/25
Little Chicken's Big Day onesie, plus a signed copy of Little Chicken's Big Day by Katie Davis
My Busy Children - Book Giveaway Ends 4/29
Rocket Town by Bob Logan
My Four Monkeys - Book Giveaway Ends 5/2
National Geographic Baby Animal Pop!
My Four Monkeys - Book Giveaway Ends 5/2
Rocket Town by Bob Logan
My Four Monkeys - Book Giveaway Ends 4/25
Press Here by Herve Tullet
Busy Working Mama - Book Giveaway Ends 5/3
Cheerios Prize and "Create-your-own" book kit
Susan Heim on Parenting - Book Giveaway Ends 5/3
Pirate vs. Pirate by Mary Quattlebaum
Visit Author Joan Holub's Goddess Girls: Athena the Wise Blog Tour for a list of giveaway sites for her newest Goddess Girls book, Athena the Wise. (early elementary, tweens)
Goddess Girls: Athena the Wise / Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Blog Hop giveaway
DisneyNature African Cats book giveaways:
Green Mama's Pad - Ends 4/25
Diaper Swappers - Ends 4/25
Movie Mikes - Ends 4/25 (noon)
Resourceful Mommy - Ends 4/27
LaRue Across America Giveaways:
The Dirty Shirt - Ends 5/2
5 Minutes for Mom - Ends 5/2
MomStart - Ends 5/9
Susan Heim on Parenting - Ends 4/28
I like it Frantic - Ends 4/28
The Klutz Guide To The Galaxy Giveaways:
The Dirty Shirt - Ends 5/4
GeekDad - Ends 4/25
Fish for more children's book giveaways at Lori Calabrese's Fish for a Free Book linkup each Friday
I Am A Reader, Not A Writer also has a new book giveaway linky http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/ with lots of YA and some other kid's books.
4 comments:
- BusyWorkingMama said...
Thanks for linking up my book giveaway :) Happy Wednesday!
- April 27, 2011 at 1:06 PM
- Tina said...
I have books to giveaway on Family Literacy and You:
iColor 3D Coloring Book, 5/15, US
4 Great Books to choose from, ends 5/8, US (something for everyone)
- May 7, 2011 at 4:20 AM
- Cheryl said...
I have a new contest that I'd love to have you list:
Win 1 of 10 signed copies of YA novel SCARS, 1 of 3 $10 Amazon gift cards. Open worldwide. Ends June 15, 2011.
Thank you!
- May 15, 2011 at 10:57 AM
- Marina at My Busy Children said...
Hi, I have a new book giveaway -
Discovery Girls magazines and books(4 Survival guides for Middle School girls, Special collector's edition, One Year Subscription to the Magazine)
- May 15, 2011 at 10:05 PM


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King "Deals" Up Ancient World Mystery and Magic with its First Card-Based Mobile Game, Pyramid Solitaire Saga
04 Jul, 2014, 13:26 BST
LONDON and NEW YORK, July 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Is unraveling the secrets of the ancient world in the cards for you? King Digital Entertainment plc (NYSE: KING), a leading interactive entertainment company for the mobile world and creator of global sensations Candy Crush Saga and Farm Heroes Saga, presents this exciting challenge to players as it launches its popular Facebook title Pyramid Solitaire Saga on mobile. King's first ever card-based cross-platform game is free-to-play and available to download now on iOS and Google Android devices.
The exhilarating card-based gaming adventure sends players on an epic journey to explore the lost relics of the ancient Egyptian world. They must conquer an array of card matching, arranging and collecting quests to help unravel the mysteries and magic of the bygone culture and find the hidden treasure. The treasure hunting storyline behind Pyramid Solitaire Saga offers rich and exotic graphics that immerse players in the wonders of ancient Egyptian culture, with 140 captivating levels that are not to be missed.
Throughout Pyramid Solitaire Saga, players are transported to magical new worlds with the treasure hunter, Helena, and her cunning gerbil companion, Kingsley, to discover ancient Egypt. Helena's epic adventure takes her and players to lost worlds such as The Hidden Tomb, The Emerald Dream, the Garden of Osiris and the Depth of Nautilus.
A free-to-play mobile game, Pyramid Solitaire Saga will challenge players with an array of game modes that test their ability to move, arrange, collect and match cards in distinct ways - keeping the gameplay, exciting, fresh and challenging. Each level calls for players to unveil all the Scarabs - which are hidden underneath the final layer of cards - before their deck runs out. When each episode is completed, a new unique hidden treasure will be revealed that gets players closer to the ultimate mission: reigniting the Egyptian god Khepri's prophecy. As a means to help them on their quest, players will be able to find and unlock powerful boosters that will help them overcome complicated game situations.
"We're excited to launch our popular card-based Facebook title Pyramid Solitaire Saga on mobile platforms and offer players a new cross-platform gaming format to enjoy," says Tommy Palm, Games Guru at King. "This fun new card game has a strong storyline that we think players will love exploring, as well as leaderboards where they can watch and compete against their friends."
About King
King Digital Entertainment plc (NYSE: KING) is a leading interactive entertainment company for the mobile world. It has a network of 352 million monthly unique users as of first quarter 2014, and offers more than 180 exclusive games in over 200 countries through its king.com and royalgames.com websites, Facebook, and mobile distribution platforms such as the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store and the Amazon Appstore. King has game studios in Stockholm, Bucharest, Malmö, London, Barcelona and Berlin along with offices in San Francisco, Japan, Korea and Malta.
© 2014 King.com Ltd. King, the King crown logo, Pyramid Solitaire Saga, Farm Heroes Saga and Candy Crush Saga and related marks are trade marks of King.com Ltd and/or related entities
SOURCE King Digital Entertainment PLC


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So you want to watch WWE's third annual Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event live tonight from the Bradley Center in Milwaukee?
The easiest, most traditional way is to order the pay-per view through your cable company for about $45 in standard definition and $55 for high-def. WWE.com has a very clear explanation of how to do it.
There's ordering info for AT&T, BrightHouse, Interactive Optimum, Charter Communications, Comcast/Xfinity, Cox Communications, DirecTV, DISH Network, Insight Digital Cable, Mediacom, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FIOS.
Of course, you can also watch the entire event live online at WWE.com.
You first have to purchase the event—and obviously be logged into the video player at www.wwe.com/ppv from within their storefront. Once you've bought the event and completely logged in, you should see the Play Now button for the event.
Per WWE.com's instructions:
"You have 30 days to begin watching the Pay-Per-View after you have purchased it. Once you've started to watch the Pay-Per-View, you have 24 hours to finish watching the Pay-Per-View. You can watch the Pay-Per-View as many times as you want within this 24-hour period."
WWE.com also has a terrific feature that allows you to search for nearby Blast Areas, or local bars and restaurants that will be showing the PPV.
You'll probably have to pay some kind of cover charge to get in, but it won't be nearly as much as ordering the PPV at home.
You'll also have to pay for whatever pizza, wings, burgers, fries and adult beverages you consume while you're there—but what better place to watch the madness of WWE than in a loud, crowded bar with loads of other wrasslin' fans?
Of course, there are other options, too, like trying to stream the PPV for free on your computer. And sure, sure, there are plenty of sketchy sites out there that offer "free live streaming" of pay-per-view events like this—but can you trust them?
Some seem mildly reliable, but you never know what you're getting yourself (or your computer) into.
The quality can be really crummy and there are often viruses, malware or pop-ups that will ruin your experience.
Just a warning for you other cheapskates (like me) out there.
I love a great deal like the next guy, but this is an event I need to see for real. I don't want to tempt fate with one of these sites.


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You'll find many opportunities to gain practical experience by applying lessons you learned in the classroom to resolve real-world problems.
Texas A&M Law now accepts the GRE. Learn more.
All applicants to Texas A&M School of Law are considered for tuition waivers at the time they are admitted to our program. There's no separate application to complete.
What does your path to success look like?
An ideal location, flexible scheduling, and an innovative academic program make Texas A&M University School of Law an excellent place for your legal studies.
Our accessible and student-friendly faculty have considerable academic and professional experience and take pride in teaching and mentoring students.
Choosing a law school means choosing your home for the next few years, and you won't find a better place to learn, live and work than Fort Worth.
Join Texas A&M Law and put the strength of the Aggie Network behind you.
Since Texas A&M acquired the law school, we've increased funding for scholarships, hired top faculty and reduced class sizes.
J.D. Application Status
Apply Now - J.D.
Coming Events
As a major public institution of higher education, Texas A&M University has both an extraordinary opportunity and a special responsibility to create and maintain a climate that affirms diversity of persons as well as diversity of views. We explicitly acknowledge that diversity, in its many dimensions, provides significant educational benefits to our students, the university, and society at large. This benefit can only be realized by strengthening and maintaining the presence of students, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds within our learning community, with full acknowledgement that this diversity enhances academic excellence. Our commitment to diversity is manifested in our partnership with institutions such as DiscoverLaw and the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO).
The rule of law serves as the foundation for our civil society. As such, the legal system affects virtually every aspect of our lives. On a very basic level, a lawyer serves as an advisor and advocate managing a client's business and personal affairs seeking to prevent complications and unintended outcomes, facilitating desired transactions, and resolving conflicts and disputes should any arise.
The 21st century lawyer has to do more than just try cases in court. You'll be called upon to provide sound advice in the interpretation of complex regulations ensuring compliance, negotiate agreements, draft contracts, mediate disputes, and craft settlements. At Texas A&M School of Law, we've got you covered. Our innovative J.D. program emphasizes the importance of real-world legal skills that will fully prepare you for all aspects of a global career.
As a practicing lawyer, you will serve a wide variety of clients in various capacities, in countless industries and in myriad locations. At Texas A&M School of Law, you can keep your options open by pursuing a broad education, or you can choose one of three distinct paths we offer. Within each of these paths, you can even choose to concentrate on a particular area of practice like intellectual property, criminal law, estate planning, or business law.
As a newly-minted 1L, you will discover a law school community vested in the development of your professional identity. Our professional development programming is designed to assist you in:
The Professionalism and Leadership Program affords you the opportunity to engage with educators, legal experts, and business professionals through a series of interactive workshops, seminars, and lectures while exploring a variety of issues relevant to the modern day professional and global citizen.
Interested in LL.M. or M.Jur. admissions? Click here for more information on our LL.M. and M.Jur. programs.


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Cash rate unchanged at 1.5% for the 27th consecutive time
As financial markets digest the findings of the Banking Royal Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia has made its first rate announcement for 2019. The RBA has decided to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 1.5% for the 27th consecutive time and I'd like to share some thoughts on why the Reserve Bank of Australia may have made this decision.
The RBA continues to balance the worrying parts of the economy – inflation dipping below its target range of 2-3%, falling house prices, a borrowing squeeze in response to the Royal Commission, slow wages growth and negative consumer and small business sentiment with the more positive aspects of strong infrastructure spending, increased export earnings and stable employment figures.
With lenders continuing to review rates independently of the RBA, it is important to review your lending options regularly to ensure they remain the most suitable for your situation. There may be different rates available from our wide panel of lenders and I'm always available to ensure you have the right financial solution for your current and future circumstances.
If you'd like to have a chat about what today's news means for you and your finances, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Any advice contained in this article is of a general nature only and does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. Therefore, before making any decision, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice with regard to those matters. Information in this article is correct as of the date of publication and is subject to change.


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Google has finally started rolling out the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update for the Nexus 4. Google had started rolling out the Android 4.2.2 update for the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 a couple of days ago, but surprisingly did not roll out the update for the Nexus 4.
The Android 4.2.2 update is mainly aimed at fixing the Bluetooth streaming issues that have been plaguing the Nexus devices since the Android 4.2 update. Other changes include new notifications sound, improved performance and battery life on the Nexus 7, the ability to directly toggle Wi-Fi and Bluetooth from Quick Settings by long-pressing them, and tons of under the hood changes.
The update for the Nexus 4 also includes a new radio/baseband and an updated kernel that should greatly help in improving the battery life of the handset. The OTA update should be available to all Nexus 4 owners over the next couple of weeks.
If you have root access on your Nexus 4, you can download the OTA manually from here, and then flash it via a custom recovery.


text: Preee 971 Posted January 28, 2012 GUIDE TO FITTING REAR PARKING SENSORS WITH WIRELESS LCD SCREEN TO A FORD FOCUS MK2.5- By Preee Download PDF- printable copy GUIDE TO FITTING REVERSING SENSORS TO FORD FOCUS MK2.pdf The sensors were £27.99 and only took one day to arrive which was great , they are 4 rear sensors witha wireless LCD 3" screen that shows which side of the car and distance. Thanks to Lenny for a small Tip which made these Sensors even easier to FIt , they are very very easy to fit to your Focus Mk2.5 due to the markings on the inside of the bumper guiding you where to drill so no measuring at all needed. This guide i hope will help other's who want to retro fit reversing sensors to their Ford Focus Mk2.5 I like to Modify my car but more importantly i like to share my knowledge so other 's out there will be able to retro fit mods to thier own cars and no better way to do that than is to do a guide with pictures , step by step. So this post is not a "This is what i have done , but i'm not telling you" .Its a full Guide. p.s Sorry about writing across the pictures but some are taking our guides and using them on other forums and not giving any credit. Guide is downloadable and printable Enjoy Regards Preee. :) 4 July9, johnson293, theduke and 1 other reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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They're people who have made a mark in SouthCoast, some in their small towns, some on a larger stage.
They're people who have made a mark in SouthCoast, some in their small towns, some on a larger stage.
And, once again, The Standard-Times/SouthCoastToday.com wants to recognize them for what they have accomplished.
As part of its annual tradition, The Standard-Times is seeking nominations for the 2012 SouthCoast Man of the Year and Woman of the Year.
The 2011 recipients were Katherine Knowles, CEO of the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center, and Dana Mohler-Faria, president of Bridgewater State University.
Along with choosing two who stand out across the region, the newspaper also will name a SouthCoast Youth of the Year — the 2011 recipient was standout Dartmouth High School student Cali Warner — as well as men and women of the year in each of towns we cover.
Please send nomination information — which cannot be returned — in writing by Nov. 23 in care of The Standard-Times, 25 Elm St., New Bedford, MA 02740; or fax to (508) 997-7491, Attention: Debra Ryan; or email it to firstname.lastname@example.com
The names of all nominees will be published.
A Standard-Times newsroom committee will make the final selections.
The Standard-Times' choices will be published during the Christmas/New Year holidays; the exact dates will be announced.
In concert with the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts, a SouthCoast Teacher of the Year will also be chosen.
More details on that will be announced soon.


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Like Toy Soliders
Is there any video?
It is an audio play.
Like Toy Soliders
Maybe the songs will be singalongable next Christmas.
Like Toy Soliders
Good idea
Be friends as LazyTown Fan: CLICK
Do your duty as a a LazyTown fan and make sure to listen before Christmas.
Like Toy Soliders
Someone down voted Christmas!
I've always wondered - do any of you guys even understand Icelandic?
I'm as sneaky as can be. None's sneakier than me.
Like Toy Soliders
Sportacus and Stephanie fit very well together as a team. Friends are friends since.
Kinda like my friend who's from the Faroe Islands. When we nag him enough and he starts talking Faroese, it also sounds jibberish. But then when he slows down, and explains a couple of the words, you can understand each and every sentence!
I'm as sneaky as can be. None's sneakier than me.
This may be the only Christmas album I ever actively want to listen to. There are some really good songs in this that I would not have heard otherwise, and I was even more surprised to find that Robbie's "Woof Woof Woof" song is based from a song that Siggi sang in this audioplay. I also recently realized that season 2 re-purposed a song that I think Goggi was leading in this, that became "Snow Give me Snow" in the TV show. Would have loved to hear a few more of the songs from this recreated on the show.