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|Jane Bowles and Cherifa
"It is through the imagination that the immediate passage from error to crime is established."—Miklós Vetö
One photograph of the writer Jane Bowles, walking arm in arm with her Moroccan lover Cherifa through the sun-bleached marketplace at Tangier, remains burned into my memory. And this, for its several incongruities: Jane's white tea dress, her thin, tan limbs, her eyes peering in the light and heat; Cherifa, in her niqab and dark glasses, slightly bent, and her arms caught, oddly, behind her back, as if she were being led in handcuffs; and finally, the bystanders, enjoying the camera as if witnesses to an arrest.
The first image of Chris Marker's Sunless, "of three children on a road in Iceland, in 1965," is what fictitious cameraman Sandor Krasna says to be "the image of happiness." And so, for me, the photograph of Jane and Cherifa in Tangier must be the image of unhappiness.
And indeed, many years later, Paul Bowles would suspect Cherifa of having poisoned Jane, of having induced the stroke that would leave her mentally and physically handicapped until the end of her life. Whether Cherifa did poison her or not, it is certain that she left little parcels, containing herbs, menstrual blood and pubic hair, in her houseplants so as to put curses upon her. Paul believed Cherifa capable of anything, especially where his wife was concerned, and fired her several times over the years from her position as housekeeper. But Paul lived far from Tangier and returned only briefly, if periodically, to visit Jane. And however forcefully and permanently he dismissed Cherifa, returning to Tangier, he always found that Jane had taken her back.
When Millicent Dillon, Jane's biographer, visited Cherifa in the seventies—the latter by then an old woman with bad, yellow teeth—she laughed about Jane's stroke, her subsequent condition, and her eventual death, alone, in a Spanish convent. But Cherifa had also led a very hard and lonesome life. Before meeting Jane, she was the only woman in all of Tangier to manage her own market stand. She was still a teenager then, with no family. She refused to go with men, and, according to some accounts, carried a knife in her coats at all times to castrate any one who might dare make advances upon her.
Jane Bowles met Cherifa in Tangier in 1948, when she moved there with her husband Paul, a writer, composer, and all-around travel enthusiast. As for Jane, she hated to be displaced. It distressed her. But then, a great many things distressed her, and often to the point of real fear and panic: bats, bugs, elevators, new places, water, fever, all manner of tropical illness, and, truly, the possibility of any sort of sickness or injury.
It would seem as though the vast majority of her anxieties had their root in some deep fear of pain. In one long and honest journal entry in 1954, Jane wrote:
A play. There comes a moment when there is no possibility of escape, as if the spirit were a box hitting at the walls of the head. Looking at the ocean is the only relief. I have trained my eyes to look away from the beach where they are going to build the new docks. I cannot look at that part of the beach unless I think of my own end, curtail my own sense of time, as Paul says that we must all do now. I can do it, but it's like: "You too can live with cancer." When I was little I had to imagine that there was some limit to physical pain in order to enjoy the day. I have never yet enjoyed a day, but I have never stopped trying to arrange for happiness.
Perhaps, what she feared, in part, was loss of self-sovereignty, of freedom? This may have stemmed from any one of several unfortunate events: her father's sudden, incongruous death from "hypertension"—he had never been ill before—when Jane was thirteen; her fall from a horse at the age of fifteen, resulting in a broken leg; then tuberculosis in the broken leg, forcing two-years' confinement in a French sanatorium, far and away from her family home in Woodmere, Long Island.
But, how bitter!—that the possibility of just such a loss of actual freedom should be the root of her fear, as it was precisely this fear that crippled her, that rendered her, by all accounts, a complete dependent upon her husband, her mother and stepfather, her friends, the Moroccan women whom she loved (who despised her in return). And the irony that she should die finally confined to a bed, cared for by Spanish nuns. All this makes little sense: fear that harm might limit one's freedom compels one to limit one's own freedom to avoid harm.
By all appearances and for those who knew her and spoke of her to Millicent Dillon, she was as free as wanton winds, adventurous to the point of recklessness, mischievous, brash: "an imp," in the words of Truman Capote. She was wild, then, but also babyish, nervous, panicky, fragile. It was perhaps not only or even principally the curtailment of her personal freedom that she feared, but freedom itself. She agonized over the simplest decisions: where to go for dinner, what to eat, etc. Her fear and pain, so unfathomable, were seemingly two-fold. There was the fear of freedom, but also the fear of never claiming it. The result was a paralysis that kept her from working. In fact, her whole oeuvre consists of only a novel, a play, and seven short stories, as well as a few other bits and pieces. A great many of her stories remain incomplete.
But it would be wrong to regret this scarcity. What she wrote could not have been written in any greater quantity. Her prose was not troubled by darkness, as houses are by bad weather. Darkness was, unfortunately, the territory. In 1954, in the same entry, Jane wrote:
Nothing has changed. My father predicted everything when he said I would procrastinate until I died. I knew then it was true. In America it was terribly painful to know this as a child. Now that I am nearly forty and in North Africa it is still painful. [ . . . ] A play. Is it writing I'm putting off, or was it always something else – a religious sacrifice? The only time I wrote well, when I passed through the inner door, I felt guilt. I must find that again. If I can't, maybe I shall find a way to give it up. I cannot go on this way.
Her fear of pain also represents the fulfillment of a certain, inscrutable, perhaps spiritual longing, for the pain that abolishes personality. I speak not of the chronic, tedious pain that she would suffer trying to spell the simplest words in the simplest letters to friends after her stroke, but of the so-called pure and total pain of 'religious sacrifice'. Indeed, describing the essential, unwitting decision of any personality, Millicent Dillon writes of "sin" and "salvation", in which sin would be something like self-indulgence, dependency, parasitism, and salvation would be utter detachment: freedom from fear and even, perhaps, from love or—at least—from self-interested love.
In these same terms, Simone Weil writes:
We love as cannibals. [ . . . ] Beloved beings [...] provide us with comfort, energy, a stimulant. They have the same effect on us as a good meal after an exhausting day of work. We love them, then, as food. [ . . . ] We love someone, that is to say, we love to drink his blood.
And indeed, in an early letter to her friend Miriam Levy, Jane writes: "I'm tired of loving and being loved. I'm sick of my own voice and I hate books. I'm not even hungry." Perhaps this was depression, but it's also true that she had read Simone Weil obsessively, had wanted, as a child, to be "a religious leader" herself, before deciding finally that she had "a sensual side." Even Dillon, in her 1998 biography A Little Original Sin, recognizes some dark thread between sex and eating in Jane's fiction. At least insofar as the 'metabolization' of loved ones is concerned, Jane seemed to love in precisely Weil's terms:
I love Tangier. But like a dying person. When Tetum and Cherifa die I might leave. But we are all three of us the same age, more or less. Tetum older, Cherifa a bit younger. I'd like to buy them meat and fish and oil so that they will stay alive longer. I don't know which one I like best, or how long I can go on this way, at the point of expectation, yet knowing at the same time that it is all hopeless. Does it matter? It is more coming home to them that I want than it is they themselves. But I do want them to belong to me, which is of course impossible . . . If I have broken through my own prison—then at the same time I have necessarily lost whatever was my place of rest—Tangier cracks—I love it—But it can no longer contain me . . .
So that they will stay alive longer. A strange manner of speaking. Wouldn't one say rather: so that they will live longer? "Stay alive" seems to describe less the perpetuation of life than the procrastination of death. Peculiar, too, given the vitality of the two women in question. But, as Jane says, there is no greater procrastinator than she. To procrastinate the eventual deaths of her two lovers, however distant those deaths may have been, was to procrastinate her own independence, her own freedom from them. She does not love them as persons but as sources of "supplementary energy". Her own need, "the attachments of self", makes human relationships into idols, as Miklos Vetös explains in The Religious Metaphysics of Simone Weil:
Motives fill the imagination and cause supplementary energy to flow. Idols, those motives solidified, give permanence and generality to our energy, which, deprived of them, is suddenly unoriented.
Cherifa and Tetum were not kept alive for their own sakes, but for Jane's, because they were her sustenance. And again—necessarily—pain, an appreciation of the impossibility of having and of keeping, steals away her "place of rest", frees her, if only briefly, from her "own prison". And it is precisely such complications concerning the scales of imagination, fancy, necessity that her two serious ladies fail to resolve in Two Serious Ladies. Truly, Christina Goering and Frieda Copperfield seem, as writes Alec Irwin on Simone Weil, "condemned to reproduce the same roles in the same monotonous cannibalistic dramas".
But, despite her own seeming epiphany, "Tangier cracks", Tangier was a city, or "prison", that she would never freely, or properly leave. Only her stroke—for medical and financial reasons—would budge her. At the time that she wrote the entry in question, Jane had been courting both Tetum and Cherifa. Cherifa was younger, more resistant. She had been with other women before Jane—Moroccan women.
Why did she insist on loving those persons least likely to love her back, to understand or appreciate her? Some explanation exists already, to be sure, according to which she is a tourist woman who covets the "native other" as an exotic object. Such shades in her work should not be ignored. Millicent Dillon considers that perhaps in the person of Cherifa "this wild creature, this illiterate but powerful peasant girl nineteen or twenty years old, a descendant of the patron saint of Tangier"; with "beautiful shining black hair" Jane recognized possibilities of freedom, of escape. Cherifa drank openly and was known to be a lesbian.
Notwithstanding, the same structures of dependency, of "eating", persist throughout Jane's work, much of which treats western interfamilial relationships. The not infrequent choice, then, of "exotic" subjects seems more often a means of deepening private impossibilities. In "Everything is Nice", Jane writes of an American woman visiting a Moroccan town—of her day spent in the company of one Zodelia, and finally, of her walk back, alone, through the town at dusk:
Although the sun had sunk behind the houses, the sky was still luminous and the blue of the wall had deepened. She rubbed her fingers along it: the wash was fresh and a little of the powdery stuff came off. And she remembered how once she had reached out to touch the face of a clown because it had awakened some longing. It had happened at a little circus, but not when she was a child.
For Jane, misunderstanding—failing to understand or to be understood—was all part of being "out in the world", and not only in the non-western world.
In Two Serious Ladies, both Frieda Copperfield and Christina Goering meet briefly at a cocktail party, before going their very separate ways. From that moment, Frieda Copperfield seeks above all her own comfort, happiness and pleasure, as she relocates to Panama with her husband. A study in contrast, Christina Goering resolves to strip herself of all loving contact, of all desire for loving contact. The first step, then, is to sell her parents' beautiful, Victorian home for pennies and to purchase with those pennies a "little house"—which is to say, a fishing shack. Quite often the many forces for misunderstanding at work in Jane's writing are to comic effect:
"Where is your little house Miss Goering?" Arnold asked her, trying to introduce a more natural tone into the conversation. "It's on an island," said Miss Goering, "not far from the city by ferryboat. I remember having visited this island as a child and always having disliked it because one can smell the glue factories from the mainland even when walking through the woods or across the fields. One end of the island is very well populated, although you can only buy third-rate goods in any of the stores. Farther out the island is wilder and more old-fashioned; nevertheless there is a little train that meets the ferry frequently and carries you out to the other end. There you land in a little town that is quite lost and looks very tough, and you feel a bit frightened, I think, to find that the mainland opposite the point is as squalid as the island itself and offers you no protection at all. … " Arnold shifted about uneasily in his chair. . . . "I am sure that the island has certain advantages too, which you know about, but perhaps you prefer to surprise with them rather than disappoint us." "I know of none at the moment," said Miss Goering. "Why, are you coming with us?" "I think that I would like to spend quite a bit of time with you out there; that is, if you will invite me."
Jane Bowles's prose is terrifically funny, managing even to make light of Simone Weil. This is important: it makes light, but it never makes fun. She believes too deeply in her own "sin" for mere mockery. When things are unpleasant, tragic even, all remains kind and bright: "everything is nice." Nor does her writing ever practice violence (actually, the deepest and most startling act of violence therein is inflicted upon a mannequin.) Jane's fiction is always sociable, sometimes silly, but even so, it has a dark and fearful heart. In some sense, its comedy always involves evasion or prevarication. Often agitated, fitful, and suffering seeming glitches, it is as if there was sand stuck within its machinery. Indeed, Jane' prose is scandalizing insofar as it eludes true comprehension, while, in principle, making perfect sense.
Jane suffered terribly in her writing, spending days on a page, on a sentence. Very little came easily or naturally. Her prose is so absolutely contrived, so smooth, as to seem counterfeit. There were many who did write weird and snappy burlesques of the same order. What distinguishes her work is its sense of "sin", something Bowles detected in herself, even as a child. Psychic dependency became the matter of her fiction: how to gratify it, how to control it, how to cope with it.
Nowhere is this dependency more clearly defined than in the novel Two Serious Ladies, when Frieda Copperfield, who cannot swim, is taken into the water by Pacifica:
Mrs. Copperfield held onto Pacifica's hand very hard. Soon the water was up to her chin. "Now lie on your back. I will hold you under your head," said Pacifica. Mrs. Copperfield looked around wildly, but she obeyed, and floated on her back with only the support of Pacifica's open hand under her head to keep her from sinking . . . Pacifica started to swim, dragging Mrs. Copperfield along with her. . . . The touch of her hand was so light underneath the head of Mrs. Copperfield was very light—so light that Mrs. Copperfield feared being left alone from one minute to the next. She looked up. The sky was packed with grey clouds. She wanted to say something to Pacifica, but she did not dare to turn her head. Pacifica swam a little further inland. Suddenly she stood up and placed both her hands firmly in the small of Mrs. Copperfield's back. Mrs. Copperfield felt happy and sick at once. She turned her face and in so doing she brushed Pacifica's heavy stomach with her cheek. She held on hard to Pacifica's thigh with the strength of years of sorrow and frustration in her hand. "Don't leave me," she called out.
There are a great many moments in Jane's fiction in which one character takes another into water. At the start of Two Serious Ladies, Christina Goering, a small child, closes a yet smaller child in a burlap bag for a game called "I forgive your for all your sins". Christina rolls the girl in the bag in mud, and then submerges her in a creek, despite the little girl's frightened protests. In the short story "A Day in the Open", during a picnic Senor Ramirez carries the sick prostitute Julia over slippery rocks:
"If I let you go," he said "the current would carry you along like a leaf over the falls and then one of those big rocks would make a hole in your head. That would be the end of course." Julia's eyes widened with horror and she yelled with the suddenness of an animal just wounded.
In fact, Senor Ramirez does drop Julia, moments after, and she cuts her head rather badly: "She was not sure that she was not dying, but hugged him all the more closely." Millicent Dillon suggests that all such moments are—to an extent—baptismal, especially where one considers Jane's own peculiar fixation upon "sin". But I think that sin is perhaps rather a secondary concept, just a word to contain all the impossible wickedness of dependency. But it is not only that little Christina and Senor Ramirez enjoy the pain and fear of their own captives, dependency proves much darker still. Because meanwhile, Mrs. Copperfield's swimming lesson with Pacifica had "very strongly reminded [her] of a dream that had recurred often during her life:"
She was being chased up a short hill by a dog. At the top of the hill there stood a few pine trees and a mannequin about eight feet high . . . fashioned out of flesh, but without life. Her dress was of black velvet . . . Mrs. Copperfield wrapped one of the mannequin's arms very tightly around her own waist. She was startled by the thickness of the arm and very pleased. . . . Then the mannequin began to sway backwards and forwards. Mrs. Copperfield clung all the more tightly to the mannequin and together they fell off the top of the hill and continued rolling for quite a distance until they landed on a little walk, where they remained locked in each other's arms. Mrs. Copperfield loved this part of the dream best; and the fact that all the way down the hill the mannequin acted as the buffer between herself and the broken bottles and little stones over which they fell gave her particular satisfaction.
The wickedness, the sin that Bowles fears is precisely this: impossible to shortly synopsize, and still so cleanly contained within the one, strange image. It is an image which serves, imaginarily, to qualify the "imaginary act" itself, not only as sinful, but also perverse, uncreative:
An imaginary act is necessarily an unreal act, for it meets only shadows . . . not to see obstacles is the terrible secret of the carnage of the victorious warrior and of the misdeed of the criminal; victims are in their eyes only shadows without substance, inert and inanimate objects. Thus an imaginary act is sinful because in being unaware of them, one violates the boundaries of another being.
To imagine is to exploit the living substance of other beings toward the fabrication, the 'fashioning', of lifeless, 'pleasing' objects. These objects are precisely the "idols" that Vetö describes. According to Simone Weil, imagination never creates: it fabricates. And indeed, over time, Jane had crowded her life with so many unnatural beliefs and attitudes. She was an atrociously imaginative woman. It would seem that to renounce her imagination would entail relinquishing her own voice, her own heart. And yet, it was, finally, her extraordinary imagination that prevented her from understanding and loving others. It was her secret sin. It was not apathy or indolence, as is commonly thought, that kept Jane from writing, but her conviction that the imaginary act was, fundamentally, wicked. Vetö explains:
Ordinarily one understands by the imagination the discovery, or rather the invention of new things; that is to say, an imagined being has the "vocation" of becoming a real thing. For Weil the imagination takes on another meaning. It changes its objects into imaginary things . . . [they] become, as it were, unreal; they serve only to maintain that precarious balance we call personality. Once that balance has been shattered by the blow of external reality, all our desire tends toward reestablishing it.
While reading, one cannot but feel a creeping intuition that Jane's fiction is, despite its stylishness, very deeply defective, unnatural. A reader feels the 'inertia' of imaginary objects. And Jane's characters, always 'imagining' each other, are often struck suddenly by "the blow of external reality" and so shattered.
In "Camp Cataract," Sadie has gone to retrieve her runaway sister Harriet from the vacation retreat after which the story takes its name. The compound consists of cabins and canoes built around a very loud waterfall. Sadie searches the camp for her sister and finally approaches an Indian selling trinkets at a souvenir stand. She understands of a sudden that he is in fact a man in costume:
She stared intently at his Irish blue eyes, so oddly light in his brick-colored face. What was it? She was tormented by the sight of an incongruity she couldn't name. . . . "Listen!" she clutched his hand. "We must hurry . . . I didn't mean to see you . . . I'm sorry . . . I've been trying not to look at you for years . . . for years and years and years . . . "
But Sadie is delirious. She dreams that she's taken her Indian's hand and that she's led him across a rope bridge and behind the falls:
Her heart almost burst for joy, because she had hidden the Indian safely behind the cascade where he could be neither seen nor heard. She turned around and smiled at him kindly. He too smiled, and she no longer saw in his face any trace of the incongruity that had shocked her so before. The foaming waters were beautiful to see. Sadie stepped forward, holding her hand out to the Indian.
Sadie's own fall is not explicitly written. Later, Harriet hears from the Indian that a "Polish woman" had lingered more than an hour before his stand, without moving, and then gone behind the falls. But the 'incongruity' Sadie has tried for years—"and years and years"—not to look in the face falls with her, hand in hand to death. It would seem that for Jane only the "cataract's deafening roar" can still fear.
In 1942, Jane wrote a short lyric "Farther from the Heart" for her husband Paul:
Oh I'm sad for never knowing courage,
And I'm sad for the stilling of fear.
Closer to the sun now, and farther from the heart.
I think that my end must be near . . .
Here, relief entails, as above, the "stilling of fear", but also a parting with the heart. When she wrote these lines, Jane Bowles seemed really to believe that only the renunciation of her own heart could absolve her—could still her fear and solve her darkness. But there is one last fall described in a play started in 1954 in New York, while she was at work on In the Summer House. Also involving hearts, the fragment describes, in some measure, the incongruity of her characters and the seeming fundamentals of "dependency":
She believes that she has a second heart and because she believes this she can accept a lie and protect it. Her wild clinging to this false trust is a result of her not wishing to discover that she has only one heart after all . . . She protects her lie—she guards her false trust in order not to fall into her single heart— . . .
Sadie's Indian is her imagined second heart: the false trust, the incongruity, the lie, the dependency she's formed upon her sister Harriet during "years and years and years" in order that 'she' might keep from falling into her single heart. As Vetö writes "'the void-filling imagination' rushes forth to supply the self with lies, consolations, little tasks to carry out." The false trust, the second heart, is her imagination. And, as "Farther from the Heart" would seem to suggest, there was a time when she thought that this imagination, "the lie" she must protect, was her only heart.
In her journal, in 1954, Jane writes: "the only time I wrote well, when I passed through the inner door, I felt guilt. I must find that again. If I can't, maybe I shall find a way to give it up." Was writing only ever an imaginary act? Was it only ever sin? She writes of an "inner door", of guilt. Could it have been that writing was, and only rarely—when she passed the "inner-door"—absolution?
In order to achieve perfect obedience, one must exercise one's will; one must strive until one has exhausted in oneself the finite quantity of the kind of imperfection that corresponds to effort and will. The effort of the will must wear down this imperfection in finite quantity in the way a wheel wears down a piece of metal. After this, there is no more effort or will. All that appears to be resistance is overcome, inertia, fatigue, inferior desire on the level of will—all of that, when one has passed beyond a certain threshold, becomes suffering passively undergone; and movements are no more action than is immobility. When one is at that point, there truly is obedience.
Obedience is the experience of the void and redemptive suffering. It implies pure relationships, consent, and freedom. After all, the single heart is: "herself—it is suffering—it is God it is nothing— . . . " It is a place of salvation, but, again, of much suffering. She has spent her life stealing away from this place, from this single heart. Then, writing is also an effort to wear down imperfections, the second heart, just as "a wheel wears down a piece of metal".
The exercise of the will is "attention". According to Weil, one can "pay attention" only to that which exists, which is real. Just as, Vetö writes, one gives one's full attention to a difficult mathematical problem or Latin translation. Attention is purifying in that it involves total psychic devotion and the temporary suppression of the self. Weil considers that there are two kinds of attention: "intellectual attention" (attention given to, say, Latin or mathematics) and, more importantly, "superior attention":
. . . in the beautiful—for example, the sea, the sky,—there is something irreducible. Like physical pain. The same irreducibility. Impenetrable to the intellect. Existence of something other than myself . . .
And this attentiveness can be creative. Often enough in Jane's writing, imagination is pierced through by attention: " . . . and she remembered how once she had reached out to touch the face of a clown because it had awakened some longing." It is at such a moment that Sadie notices the Indian's "Irish blue eyes", and understands that he is not as she had imagined him.
In "Going to Massachusetts", Bozoe is departing for Massachusetts by bus, and leaving Janet behind. The exact nature of their relationship is unclear, but they have apparently lived together unhappily for some years. Janet owns a very profitable garage; "her sense of responsibility was overdeveloped, but she was totally lacking in real tenderness." Bozoe cries "in earnest" at the bus stop. And sometime after Janet receives a letter from Bozoe:
. . . The truth is that I am only twenty-five miles away from the apartment, as you have probably guessed. In fact, you could not help but guess it, since you are perfectly familiar with Larry's Bar and Grill. I could not go to Massachusetts
In her letter, Bozoe proceeds to explain exactly why she could not go to Massachusetts. She feels largely that it is her God-given duty to prevent Janet from sinking "into the mire of contentment and happy ambitious enterprise." Bozoe is "against happiness", though she loves it. She feels that she and Janet must suffer together. The letter is very funny, but also wicked, delusional. The last remark cited from Bozoe's letter is also incongruous:
The room here over Larry's Bar and Grill is dismal. It is one of several rented out by Larry's sister whom we met a year ago here for a meal. You remember. It was the day we took Stretch for a ride and let him out of the car to run in the woods, that scanty patch of woods you found just as the sun was setting, and you kept picking up branches that were stuck together with wet leaves and dirt . . .
The image of Janet walking in the woods and, for no apparent reason, picking up stuck branches, is beautiful because irreducible, because it is an image of perfect attention. It is Bozoe's first image of Janet, containing nothing of Bozoe. For Simone Weil, full attention is "love and free consent." However, the letter goes on, it would seem, and we don't know how it ends (whether Bozoe starts to imagine things again . . . )
Jane Bowles's power of imagination is her "false trust", her "sin", her imaginary second heart; and in her fiction, it is constantly at odds with her power of attention, her single heart. To pass through the "inner door", over "a certain threshold", was to vanquish the "false trust" by means of attention. Then, it is from this first, private "sin" that spring all the psychological strangeness, the astonishing originality of her prose. Millicent Dillon, in her research, unearthed a short and teasing rhyme that Jane wrote in Miriam Levy's autograph album at age twelve:
To Mir—
You asked me to write in youre book
I scarcely know how to begin
For there's nothing orriginal about me
But a little orriginal Sin.
Loads of genuine love
Youre best friend
Her "sin" was the reason she wrote and why, finally, she could not. It defined her life and her work; it was at once the source of her suffering and of her strangeness. And as Jane, still a child, surmised, it was an "orriginal Sin" that would give rise to the astonishing singularity of her prose.
Christiane Craig is an American student of literature living in Paris. She has worked as a proofreader and assistant on several of The Cahier Series'projects.


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Halloween, Steampunk, Day of the Dead, clip art, activities, coloring and more
Here are our most requested, most shared and favorite Halloween pages from the immediate past! Ultimate Photoshop Halloween Masks Awesome Steampunk photo manipulations and photo-realistic illustrations! FREE Halloween Fonts . . . Halloween inspiration, art, activities and download fun for all Steampunk style, resources and amusements Day of the Dead graphics, clip art, design inspiration and fun Have fun, and don't forget to write! October 17, 2017

subset: commoncrawl


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Shakira Is a Beautiful Runaway Bride in 'Empire' Video
Shakira is a beautiful runaway bride in her video for 'Empire.' You can tell by the look on her face that she has second thoughts and cold feet as she walks down the aisle and eventually bolts, ditching her bouquet along the way.
The Latina dynamo makes a brave and scary choice, and she (and her veil) eventually catch fire, quite literally, and she ends up in the ruins of the church in which she almost exchanged vows.
Shakira, who also resembles a fairy princess a frilly gown in the clip, wasn't burying the message that she was trying to get across in the video, which is certainly and obviously a visual metaphor for starting over.
But Shak makes that often difficult scenario look sexy and empowering as she lets go and moves on. Besides, how sexy does she look in that low-cut, black dress as she twirls around and shakes those hips that famously don't lie?


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Users of this PLC simulator gain years of troubleshooting experience in just days.
St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) July 19, 2012
Business Industrial Network (BIN), a leader in Programmable Logic Control (PLC) training for engineering and maintenance professionals world-wide, announced today that BIN will provide the first PLC troubleshooting software of its kind to select clients around the world. "Troubleshooting PLC Circuits 1" has been designed for use by industrial training instructors, engineering supervisors, students, maintenance personnel and experienced trades people to learn how to effectively troubleshoot and maintain electrical equipment and systems that contain PLC controls.
"There is a real need in the market to provide instruction in the troubleshooting of PLC controls," said Don Fitchett, President of BIN. "After working with developers many months on this software, I am very pleased with the detail and accuracy the real world simulation delivers based on my decades of PLC experience. Organizations and companies utilizing this program will learn how to identify defective input, output, and PLC control modules using a variety of specific techniques for diagnosing malfunctions and troubleshooting circuits, all in a safe environment. Unlike other PLC simulators which focus on a single PLC vendor, our customers who will use the PLC Troubleshooting Software will learn how to troubleshoot PLC's from multiple vendors," he continued.
Designed by Simutech Multimedia, the software provides instruction on PLC-related safety and best practices for troubleshooting PLC's. Students will gain skill while being allowed to practice and develop effective troubleshooting techniques for PLC systems. This PLC simulation offered by BIN differentiates itself from other PLC simulations software as it actually has modules that teach about PLC related safety and best practices in test for troubleshooting skills. See details and video at http://www.bin95.com/Troubleshooting-PLC-Controls-Simulator.htm.
"Working closely with companies like BIN, we have created a product that allows for safe access to over 55 challenging malfunctions to diagnose and repair as well as three unique PLC control circuits for troubleshooting scenarios as well as more than a dozen hands-on labs to understand PLC operations," said Warren Rhude, President of Simutech Multimedia. "We are proud of our continued affiliation with BIN, and we continue to work together to bring the best possible training products to market for a variety of industries that rely on PLC's in their systems and that adhere to North American or European circuit design standards," he continued.
About Business Industrial Network
Business Industrial Network's (BIN95.com) core business is delivering world class on-site engineering and maintenance training. With over 150 facilities for local training, Business Industrial Network delivers off-site maintenance training in major cities across the United States. Working closely with their partners, Business Industrial Network offers a comprehensive suite of maintenance, management, mechanical and electrical training solutions and software. BIN has maintained an A+ rating with the BBB and is listed in the government's CCR database. For more information on Business Industrial Network please visit: please visit: http://www.bin95.com.


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Flagship Journals
Resources For
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Cite My Research?
Why do we cite sources?
- Citing your sources of information helps the reader verify the origin of your information, and it shows evidence of your research.
- The authenticity of your information is established by citing and it enables your readers to locate your sources.
- Not citing appropriately can get you accused of Plagiarism and is a serious academic issue.
A note to students about citation style guidelines: Many citation format guidelines are open to interpretation. For this reason your instructor is the final authority of the subject of citation for any given assignment.
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A recursive descent parser for Python 2.6+ (including 3!). Lepl is powerful, simple to use, and easy to extend: grammars are written directly as Python code, using a syntax similar to BNF; new matchers can be simple functions.
> easy_install lepl
easy_install command is provided by the
distribute package.
Please see distribute's
Be careful with Python 3: setuptools and distribute both provide a command called easy_install, but only distribute works correctly.
Everything here my own work, unless attributed otherwise, (c) 2009-2012 Andrew Cooke.


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Lol keyboard turner.
OK i am reporting the OP for doing this kind of thread again Hope they ban Him i am tired of his lack of skillz and claiming world firsts when it is
1. Unprovable
2. Easy as pie to do
---------- Post added 2010-08-13 at 01:40 PM ----------
I seriously cannot take reading the EU world first threads anymore,
More then this being an absolute waste of a thread and obvious troll fodder, why on earth would you feel the need to post about something you did almost a year ago? I mean the rest of the stupidity has been accounted for, but jesus, that's just uneccesarily moronic.
Wasn't it you with the screenshot of you soloing two bosses in gnomeregan at the same time?
I really don't think we're interested, mate. Take your soloing skills elsewhere
Oh, and also: raids =/= soloing. This doesn't belong here, but then again, it doesn't really belong anywhere.
These forums are for raid first kills.


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Richly diverse, innovative and research focused.
Welcome to the Department of Earth Sciences. We were founded in 2002 as part of the College of Arts and Sciences on the main campus of the University of Memphis. Our 14 full-time faculty represent the diverse disciplines of Archaeology, Geography, and Geology. Here, excellence is personal through a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to Earth Science studies and research. Faculty and students are free to pursue diverse and innovative education and research studies that might be difficult in more traditional academic departments. Earth Sciences maintains close ties to several centers and institutes on-campus: the Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI), the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER), Chucalissa Museum, and the Confucius Institute (CIUM). Our Archaeology faculty have common interests with other Archaeology-related programs at the University of Memphis.


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Casio announced today in its CES keynote that it has managed to squeeze its high-speed technology into a new compact camera range.
According to Casio, putting the tech into a compact size means that "with high-speed shooting that captures even the most fleeting moments, people can now take dramatic photos at any time, revealing a whole new world never noticed before."
High-speed Exilm
2008 was the year of High-speed Exilm for Casio. The technology was put into the company's mid-range EX-F1 and the EX-FH20, and meant that consumers could should burst speeds of 60fps, along with super slow-motion and high-speed movie recording of up to 1200 fps.
Speaking through an interpreter president and CEO of Casio, Kazuo Kashio, pointed out how Casio has helped revolutionise digital cameras with this speedy tech. Now, in 2009, consumers will be able to utilise this technology in compact form, with the 9MP EFX-10 compact and the X-FC100. The cameras will retail at $349 and $399 respectively. There's no word yet when the cameras will reach the UK.
Expect more detailed specs tomorrow, when TechRadar will get a hands-on with the EFX-10.


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Linda Leck / Special to the Daily Record
George Daman / Special to the Daily Record
Balloon Classic Live Music Line-up
May 24
Noon – 2 p.m. Fort Carson Brass Quintet. Fort Carson's own 4th Infantry Division Band Brass Quintet will perform classical, patriotic, and jazz music.
2:30-4:30 p.m. The Inman Brothers Band. Founded in the late 70's, the five-piece southern rock band is based in Colorado Springs.
5-6 p.m. Tom Hagerman of Devotchka. Tom is the magical, moody sound of the accordions and violins of Denver's own Devotchka.
6:30-8 p.m. The Haunted Windchimes-headliner. The Haunted Windchimes sound draws from traditional folk and American roots music. The songs have a vintage quality, as if they might have been written yesterday or 75 years ago.
May 25
12:30-2 p.m. Southern Colorado Community Band. Under the direction of Mr. Mike Nolan, the band's mission is to raise money through donations and award music scholarships to local high school students pursuing a degree in music.
2:30-5:30 p.m. Hammerstadt Fusion of the Soul. Hammerstadt is a four-piece electric ensemble dedicated to the performance of blues, rock, jazz and fusion music.
Excitement is ascending as time for the inaugural Create Cañon City Balloon Classic draws near.
The three-day festival is set for May 24-26 at the Abbey campus and neighboring farm fields and at the Winery at Holy Cross Abbey. Create Cañon City, a public/private partnership that completes projects of civic significance without using tax based public funding, is organizing the event with technical coordination by a Colorado Springs hot-air balloon operation.
There will be daytime launches each morning, an evening balloon glow, live music and a festival with more than 45 vendors.
Other activities include model rocket launches, skydiving demonstrations, arts and crafts, food vendors, live entertainment, children's activities, raffles and more. Rides will not be offered to the public this year.
"The initial idea was we wanted balloons here to bring people outside of Fremont County into the county and see what we have to offer," said George Daman, a volunteer for CCC. "Hopefully, they will move their busineese here, move their homes here and come recreate here."
Daman said nine hot air balloons are contracted for the event, with 12 already contracted for the 2015 festival.
Bill Freda, director of CCC, said a movie will be produced during the event and a digital magazine will be available, as well as a published version so children can collect pilots' signatures. Daman said people will be able to be near the balloons when they launch.
Larry Oddo of the Winery is releasing a wine to commemorate the inaugural event. "Ascension," a 2010 limited-edition, award-winning merlot, will be available only during the Create Cañon City Balloon Classic. .
The idea for a balloon festival was sparked when Daman heard that Colorado Springs Balloon Classic Inc., operators of the annual Labor Day Weekend Colorado Balloon Classic on Labor Day weekend in Colorado Springs, possibly was looking for a new home for the annual event. He suggested CCC host a smaller version of the event in Cañon City, which possibly could be its new permanent home. Freda said Colorado Springs event launches about 85 balloons.
On April 17, Daman took part in a test flight to evaluate the response of the 3,500 horses in the Department of Corrections' wild horse program. He and a DOC employee and a chief balloon pilot drifted above Fremont County and landed the balloon on DOC property a few hundred yards from the horse pens. He said the test was a success.
Admission to the event is free to the public, with the Create Cañon City Balloon Classic's funding coming through sponsorships and advertising.
"We have had a lot of enthusiasm in the community," Daman said. "It's been unbelievable."
Balloons will begin inflating at 6 a.m. May 24 with the festival running until 8 p.m. A balloon glow that evening will feature the lit balloons and the entire Abbey lit, as well. Also that evening, a pilots reception will include the pilots, event sponsors and county VIPs, Daman said.
The event will run from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 25 and from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. May 26. Balloon launches and the balloon glow are subject to weather.
For more information on the 2014 Create Cañon City Balloon Classic, call Create Cañon City at (855) 946-4222 or email email@example.com. More information may be found on the Facebook page, "Create Cañon City Balloon Classic."


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Washington state is home to 29 federally-recognized Indian tribes. Tribal governments are improving people's lives, Indian and non-Indian alike, in communities from Neah Bay to Usk. Learn more about Washington's tribes with oureducational brochure.
Learn more about the economic impact of Washington Tribes in the new report: The Economic & Community Benefits of Tribes in Washington.
Looking for classroom materials about Washington Tribes? Check out our 2018 Washington Indian Tribes Today newspaper insert.
Revenue from gaming and other tribal enterprises is tax revenue for tribal governments. The money is used to create jobs and business opportunities for all Washingtonians. It helps pay for housing, health care, public safety, environmental/natural resource programs and transportation.
As tribal gaming money flows through the Washington economy, it generates hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues for local and state government.
Tribal governments and their enterprises are a major factor in Washington's economy today – generating more than 30,000 jobs and investing billions of dollars in goods and services, and on capital projects.
This website shares information about how the 29 tribes in Washington State are helping to build a better future for everyone. For links, information, photos and videos click on the individual tribes on the Tribes Map. For current news, visit us on Facebook and Instagram.
The Washington Indian Gaming Association (WIGA) is a nonprofit organization of tribal government leaders of federally recognized Tribes in the state of Washington. WIGA's Board of Directors is composed entirely of duly appointed representatives of the governing bodies of the member Tribes.
The common commitment and purpose of WIGA is to advance the lives of Indian peoples - economically, socially and politically.


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H.R.2751 - FDA Food Safety Modernization Act111th Congress (2009-2010)
|Rep. Sutton, Betty [D-OH-13] (Introduced 06/08/2009)
|House - Energy and Commerce; Ways and Means
|Latest Action:
|01/04/2011 Became Public Law No: 111-353. (TXT | PDF) (All Actions)
|Roll Call Votes:
|There have been 2 roll call votes
|H.R.2751 was introduced and first passed the House as the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act.
This bill has the status Became Law
Here are the steps for Status of Legislation:
- Introduced
- Passed House
- Passed Senate
- Resolving Differences
- To President
- Became Law
Subject — Policy Area:
- Transportation and Public Works
- View subjects
Summary: H.R.2751 — 111th Congress (2009-2010)All Information (Except Text)
Shown Here:
Public Law No: 111-353 (01/04/2011)
(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the Senate on November 30, 2010. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
FDA Food Safety Modernization Act - Title I: Improving Capacity to Prevent Food Safety Problems - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) to expand the food safety activities of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), including to authorize the Secretary to inspect records related to food.
Exempts certain establishments that sell food directly to consumers, such as roadside stands, farmers markets or participants in a community supported agriculture program, from specified requirements of this Act.
Requires each owner, operator, or agent in charge of a food facility to identify and implement preventive controls to significantly minimize or prevent hazards that could affect food manufactured, processed, packed, or held by such facility. Sets forth provisions governing exemptions from such requirements for certain facilities.
Requires the Secretary to: (1) issue guidance documents to reduce the risk from the most significant foodborne contaminants; and (2) establish minimum standards for the safe production and harvesting of fruits and vegetables based on known safety risks. Authorizes the Secretary to issue exemptions and variances from such standards.
Directs the Secretary to assess and collect fees related to: (1) food facility reinspection; (2) food recalls; (3) the voluntary qualified importer program; and (4) importer reinspection.
Directs the Secretary to develop voluntary food allergy and anaphylaxis management guidelines for schools and early childhood education programs.
Title II: Improving Capacity to Detect and Respond to Food Safety Problems - Requires the Secretary to: (1) allocate resources to inspect facilities and imported food according to the known safety risks of the facilities or food; and (2) establish a product tracing system to track and trace food that is in the United States or offered for import into the United States.
Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to enhance foodborne illness surveillance systems to improve the collection, analysis, reporting, and usefulness of data on foodborne illnesses.
Gives the Secretary the authority to order a recall of an article of food.
Title III: Improving the Safety of Imported Food - Requires U.S. importers to perform risk-based foreign supplier verification activities to verify that imported food is produced in compliance with applicable requirements related to hazard analysis and standards for produce safety and is not adulterated or misbranded.
Requires the Secretary to establish a program to expedite review and importation of food offered for importation by U.S. importers who have voluntarily agreed to participate in such program.
Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) require a certification that an article of food imported or offered for import complies with applicable requirements of this Act; and (2) enter into arrangements and agreements with foreign governments to facilitate the inspection of registered foreign facilities. Requires food to be refused admission into the United States if permission to inspect the food facility is denied by the facility owner, operator, or agent or the foreign country.
Sets forth provisions governing the establishment of a system to recognize bodies that accredit third-party auditors and audit agents to certify that foreign entities meet applicable FFDCA requirements for importation of food into the United States.
Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Authorizes appropriations for FY2011-FY2015 for the activities of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, and related field activities in the Office of Regulatory Affairs of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Directs the Secretary to increase the field staff of such Centers and Office.
Establishes whistleblower's protections for employees of entities involved in the manufacturing, processing, packing, transporting, distribution, reception, holding, or importation of food who provide information relating to any FFDCA violation.


text: An Italian jewellery and luxury goods specialist, BVLGARI has the experience of over 134 years in the fashion industry. BVLGARI translates to Bulgaria in Italian; however the founder, Sotirios Boulgaris, came to Italy from Greece to realise his dream. Famous for their use of elaborate gemstones and embellishments in their products, BVLGARI gained a lavish reputation. It was recognised by the LVMH group, who eventually bought out Bulgari for a record sum in 2011. With an articulated focus on design, BVLGARI produces a range of eyewear reminiscing traditional Italian flair with modern, dependable spectacles to form a product to fall for. In reference to dazzling exuberance, urban spirit and sophistication; BVLGARI's range of eyewear oozes femininity and class. Eyewear includes beautifully crafted ornate materials like gold to stand out from the crowd. Decorated, stylish frames come in a variety of colours such as classic dark havana and sumptuous violet to project stylish product that passers by will be hooked to. With cat-eyed to square shapes crafted, BVLGARI glasses are light and comfort in fit with a look ensured to last in time as well as aesthetically. At Glasses Station we have the ideal pair of women's BVLGARI Prescription Glasses to suit your desire. Explore our broad, sparkling collection – such as the BV4121 spectacle, gorgeously crafted with golden arms and a dark blue, cat-eyed frame.Mens BVLGARI Glasses


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Wholesale cuts in the Medicare program have no political support and will backfire because that will merely shift health care costs elsewhere if implemented, several senators and health care policy experts agreed Wednesday at a Senate hearing on the issue.
Instead, the most effective way of reducing federal health care costs is moving across-the-board away from the current fee-for-service reimbursement system.
That comment, by David Blumenthal, M.D., president of the Commonwealth Fund, appeared to represent a consensus of opinion of those who testified at the hearing.
Fee-for-service reimbursement policies, he said, "encourages volume rather than value."
Instead, what should be done is "put in place policies to reduce unnecessary utilization, increase care coordination and improve outcomes."
Blumenthal said that would align "incentives for providers, consumers and payers to reward choices that lead to better patient outcomes and use resources wisely."
Blumenthal also testified that cutting Medicare spending was not a cure-all to the country's health care cost problems.
"Solutions to the larger health spending problem are not likely to be effective if pursued only in one part of the health care system rather than system-wide," Blumenthal said.
For example, "drastically cutting reimbursement rates in public programs could shift costs onto private payers and do little to solve the underlying problem," Blumenthal said.
Indeed, consistent with that analysis, even the much-criticized Medicare Advantage system, which is currently facing serious cuts, was supported.
Kenneth E. Thorpe, Ph.D, and chairman of the of Health Policy and Management Department at Emory University, said research conducted through the experiences of the Medicare Advantage program as well as other research shows that care coordination and prevention play a key role in reducing spending and improving quality of health care.
The testimony took place at a hearing of the Special Committee on Aging on Strengthening Medicare for Today and the Future.
Juliette Cubanski, Ph.D., associate director, the Program on Medicare Policy, at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, testified at the hearing that "While Medicare faces long – term financial challenges, it is also important to remember that Medicare is a vital source of financial and health security for 50 million people today, and the vast majority of seniors say that Medicare is working well for them.
"Therefore, moving forward it will be important to assess the implications of proposed changes to the Medicare program for current and future beneficiaries," she said.
At the same time, Cubanski cautioned that one of the issues Medicare beneficiaries face is significant out-of-pocket costs for both premiums and non-premium expenses to meet their medical and long-term care needs.
Another is that spending on hospital costs, Part B of Medicare, and Part D, prescription drug costs, are soaring. Blumenthal said that premiums and cost sharing as a share of annual average Social Security benefit payments has increased from 6 percent in 1970 to 26 percent in 2010.
"Overall, beneficiaries' out-of-pocket health spending has risen faster than their incomes in recent years, from around 12 percent in 1997 to more than 15 percent in 2009, and Medicare households spend three times as much of their household budgets on health care compared with non-Medicare households," Cubanski said.
Cubanski testified that recent polling by the Kaiser Foundation found that "While policymakers weigh potential Medicare savings options to reduce the deficit, the public does not perceive a need for significant cuts."
She said the polling shows that a majority of the public (75 percent) believes that deficit reduction can occur without major reductions in Medicare spending. "In fact, 58 percent of Americans say they would not be willing to see any reductions to Medicare as part of deficit reduction discussions."
She said when asked about specific proposals to reduce Medicare spending in the context of deficit reduction, a majority of Americans expressed support for two proposals:
- Requiring drug companies to give the federal government a better deal on medications for low-income people on Medicare; and
- Requiring high-income seniors to pay higher Medicare premiums; these proposals were supported by 85 percent and 59 percent of Americans, respectively.
"Notably, the survey also shows that relatively few Americans (roughly 20 percent) are aware that wealthier Medicare beneficiaries already pay higher premiums for their Medicare coverage," she testified.
Cubanski testified that other proposals are opposed by a majority of Americans, including:
- Requiring all seniors to pay higher Medicare premiums;
- Increasing the payroll taxes workers and employers pay to help fund Medicare;
- Reducing payments to hospitals and other health care providers for treating people covered by Medicare; and
- Gradually raising the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67 for future retirees.
These proposals were opposed by 85 percent, 55 percent, 51 percent, and 51 percent of Americans, respectively, Cubanski testified.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., chairman of the committee, said he had learned from visits last week to care centers in Florida, his home state, added to that by saying that incentives to increase care coordination "offers more than just savings in dollars, it saves hours of time in a Medicare beneficiary's life. Reducing hospital readmissions will not only save the Medicare program billions, it will save beneficiaries from potential infection and further out-of-pocket expense."
The issue of vouchers, a key feature of presidential candidate Mitt Romney during last fall's presidential campaign, did not come up at the hearing.
Nelson acknowledged that "Congress faces a budget crisis that once again puts the debate on exploding health costs — and by association the Medicare program — front and center."
But he said that a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office had provided some "good news," that federal spending on Medicare has been significantly lower than predicted over the past three years.
He said that Medicare spending in fiscal year 2012 grew by just 3 percent to $551 billion, according to CBO. "That represents the slowest rate of growth since 2000.
"While this is great progress, we all know financial challenges lie ahead. As more and more baby boomers retire and health care costs continue to rise, Medicare spending could reach $1 trillion by 2023. We're making progress, but we know we can do better."
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking minority member of the committee, also did not talk about vouchers.
She said she has opposed efforts in the past to restructure Medicare "in a way that could be harmful to the 50 million American seniors and disabled individuals who rely on the program.
"The real key to getting Medicare costs under control is to get health care costs under control. Today, the United States spends 18 percent of its gross domestic product on health care, more than any other industrialized country."
Yet, Collins said, "We lag behind other nations on many measures of quality. In health care, quantity does not always equal quality, and clearly there is more that we can do to reward value rather than volume and quality rather than quantity."


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Karen alerted me to news that 20 cyclists participating in one of the weekly rides in Kansas City got pulled over and ticketed -- to the tune of $95 each -- for running a stop sign, presumably all in a group.
Now, I'm not going to point fingers DIRECTLY at the weekly ride, or the nefarious behavior of the local
yacht bicycle club, but suffice it to say, I'm torn. I most certainly do not want to stand in their defense. At the same time, I can't say I feel sorry for them.
They had it coming, but their transgressions as a group aren't much different than the transgressions I witness frequently -- by motorists, cyclists and pedestrians alike. It just so happened that this group was preyed upon because it was easy, predictable pickings. Entrapment? Please.
I feel that this will give a lot of the bike haters (and believe me, there are many in this town) a reason to say "we told you so!", and that sets a bad precedent. While I don't know how the math works out statistically due to how unbalanced the transportation mode shares are, I can say that I see a LOT of motorists doing the same things that they accuse cyclists of. And I see a lot of pedestrians pulling some of the most asinine and brazen of jaywalking stunts, too (and NO ONE complains about them)
If cops are going to get into the business of camping out near intersections for the purpose of issuing "failure to stop" tickets, I would bet that Warren can think of an intersection that might be a good candidate...
Our society has become fueled almost entirely by entitlement and superlative self-importance. We're talking about a culture of individuals who in the not-too-distant future may happily throw all of humanity under the bus to spare their own existence.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Ambivalent, not apthetic
Karen alerted me to news that 20 cyclists participating in one of the weekly rides in Kansas City got pulled over and ticketed -- to the tune of $95 each -- for running a stop sign, presumably all in a group.
12 comments:
- MRMacrum said...
Our society has become fueled almost entirely by entitlement and superlative self-importance. We're talking about a culture of individuals who in the not-too-distant future may happily throw all of humanity under the bus to spare their own existence.
I often wonder if that horse has already left the barn.
I am with you on this one. No sympathy for the group. They blew off the sign and were called on it. Boo Hoo.
- August 18, 2009 7:13 AM
- Josh Mitchell said...
I, too, have to agree with your "entitlement and self-importance". It's all too true about today's society. My main regret about this particular situation is the ammunition it gives the anti-cycling crowd.
- August 18, 2009 8:33 AM
- J said...
Idaho has done a nice job of addressing this. http://bikeportland.org/2009/01/14/idaho-stop-law-faq/
- August 18, 2009 8:48 AM
A good reminder that if bicyclists want to be treated like they have all the same rights on the road, they need to obey those same rules.
Does KC have a points system? And if so, will this get reflected on their auto insurance, leading to a higher insurance premium?
- August 18, 2009 9:10 AM
- Chuong Doan said...
Those jackasses had it coming. They had been warned multiple times yet they kept making the rest of us cyclists look bad with their jackass behavior.
On the other hand, I bet over 50% of drivers roll through stop signs and red lights yet thats somehow acceptable.
- August 18, 2009 10:19 AM
- The Unabashed Blogger said...
I want to stop at stop signs and I honestly can't think of very many I have rolled through, but I have rolled through them. I mean, at 5 am, there isn't a lot of traffic to speak of. I think I will have to make sure I am more careful about making sure I stop.
What I really have a problem with are red lights. Is there a known law or ordinance about these? Whether I am on my motorcycle or bicycle I have problems with the lights not being sensitive enough to pick up either bike and commonly have to 'run' the light. Some of the lights won't even recognize my suv or car.
I don't see why we can't all (cyclists and motorists)stop at stop signs. However, something needs to be done about the red lights.
- August 18, 2009 10:32 AM
- J said...
Missouri is on it: http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1380008.html
- August 18, 2009 2:00 PM
Regarding the traffic sensors, if you are having great difficulty with them at certain sensors, contact the town and ask them to adjust the sensitivity to a higher level.
- August 18, 2009 2:29 PM
- kG said...
I think for SOME drivers and SOME cyclists, the "cop-didn't-see-it-I-didn't-do-it" mentality comes into play. The problem with SOME cyclists that do this... someone ELSE probably DID see it. The same motorists that get hacked off at bicyclists probably get hacked off at other drivers, too. Either way, these clowns suck.
- August 21, 2009 12:27 PM
- Unknown said...
I could write the same exact entry for her here in Louisville (sans tickets but certainly with similar themes).
The answers are complicated, but I'm just gonna keep riding my bike as transportation and not as a toy. That's all I can do.
- August 22, 2009 11:19 PM
I like your yacht club reference. These people usually strike me as elitists.
I thoroughly enjoy reading this blog, but absolutely hate the title. I'm sorry, but calling your personal blog "KC Bike Commuting" seems a little arrogant.
- August 24, 2009 5:06 PM
- Noah said...
Well, this was my first genuine crack at blogging. A lot of other personal blogs of bicycle commuters are _____ bike/bicycle commuter/commuting. So I'm far from alone.
And after more than 2 and a half years of regular posting, I really don't see much point in changing it. At least you seem to like what I have to say. And at least I'm still going strong on bike commuting.
Thanks, I guess?
- August 24, 2009 5:15 PM
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NBC 5 Chicago is planning live coverage of the Chicago Blackhawks Parade and Rally beginning at 9 a.m. Friday, June 28, the affiliate announced Thursday.
The parade is set to kick off at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Washington Strret and Des Plaines Avenue, heading east on Washington to Michigan Avenue where it will wind north to Randolph, jog east to Columbus Drive and from there go south to Hutchinson Field on the south end of Grant Park where the rally will take place.
Find more from NBC 5 about its coverage below. Other Chicago affiliates are likely to announce similar plans.
From NBC 5
Coverage will air on NBC 5, COZI-TV (Digital 5.2) and streamed live on nbcchicago.com and mobile applications. NBC 5's Allison Rosati, Rob Stafford and Mike Adamle will anchor from the NBC 5 studio. The NBC 5 news and sports teams will be at multiple locations from the United Center, along the parade route and in Grant Park for the rally. NBC 5's Sky Five helicopter will provide aerial views of the millions gathering for the celebration.
Viewers, no matter where they are, will be able to get a front row seat with NBC 5's multi-platform coverage to celebrate the Chicago Blackhawks—the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions.
For mobile viewing the NBC 5 News app will have a live-stream option. COZI-TV (Digital 5.2) can also viewed on cable channels Comcast 341, WOW 130 and RCN 50.
Want more? Discuss this article and others on Show Patrol's Facebook page.


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I cannot read Marxists — or, why I do not mourn Gabriel García Márquez's passing
I was so naive when I went to Cal. I didn't realize that, in my history and English classes, the material we read was either created in the first instance by Marxists or, if it predated Marxists, was first run through a Marxist analytical filter either before or immediately after we read it. All I knew was that I thought the material was nonsensical and, because of their adulatory prosing about it, that my professors were idiots.
It says a lot about the quality of education at Cal that, simply by parroting the teachers' stupidity back to them, I managed to graduate from Cal Magna Cum Laude. I even still have my little Phi Beta Kappa key hanging from a nail on the wall in my office. I offer these snippets of academic accomplishment not to boast, but to denigrate both the material used and the quality of teaching at Cal. My academic accomplishments are an embarrassing symbol of Cal's deficiencies as an educational institution. To the extent I consider myself an educated person, I attribute that to my being an autodidact, hungry for knowledge, not to being a high level graduate of one of the world's top universities.
Law school, at least, had the virtue of being nothing more than a fancy trade school. I had decent professors, wonderful peers, and enjoyed myself there. I managed for the most part to avoid indoctrination. Interestingly, in a setting in which I actually had to learn stuff and think, as opposed to just parroting back cant, I was a good, solid graduate, rather than a top one. My sub-stellar performance also resulted from the fact that I was quite ill during part of my time there, which proved to be a drag on my GPA. (And yes, my ego demands that caveat.)
When I left law school, I vowed never to go back to a formal education system, a promise I've kept to this day. I find it exhausting merely to attend Open Houses at my kids very fine public schools. I have to fight against the urge to run out screaming when I hear the nice teachers lecture the nice parents about the topics and methodology they use when lecturing our nice kids during the school day. As the old hippie would say, "That's not my scene, man."
Although I vowed never to return to school, I have been in a variety of book clubs over the years, purely for social reasons. All of them have been run by nice young or middle-aged women who trust in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and high-end fashion magazines to tell them what they ought to read. That's how I ended up having to read two authors I'd successfully avoided during my formal education: Gabriel García Márquez and Nadine Gordimer.
To say that I loathed the Márquez and Gordimer books is to speak in delicate understatement. I hated their writing style; I hated their topics; I hated their values — I hated everything from cover to cover. As my well-intentioned friends struggled to find meaning in the books, I kept saying that the books were poorly written, boring, and unreasonable, and that their principles and conclusions were wrong.
I did not say back then that Márquez and Gordimer were Marxist because, back in the 1980s, I did not know that they were. In any event, as a nicely indoctrinated party-line Democrat, it wouldn't have occurred to me to criticize anything on that particular ground.
I just knew that I hated reading these much-lauded books in exactly the same way I hated reading Supreme Court opinions (this was back in the late 1980s) by the liberal wing of the Supreme Court. I knew that I ought to admire Marshall and Stevens and Brennan, and that I should hate Rehnquist and Burger, but the fact was that the former group wrote complex, unintelligible, illogical opinions, whereas the latter (as well as all other conservative justices but for the flopsy, wobbly Sandra Day O'Connor) wrote tight, well-reasoned, easy to follow opinions. I eventually concluded that, because Marxism doesn't work in the real world, any writing advancing Marxist principles must be muddled, vague, and unreasonable to hide that fact.
Now Márquez is dead and, while an individual's death must always be a tragedy for his family and close friends, I feel no sense of loss. Instead, I agree entirely with the DiploMad, who has no problem speaking ill of the Marxist dead:
In other good news, this time in Latin America, the Nobel-prize winning novelist Gabriel García Márquez is dead.
One of the great phonies and bootlickers of leftist dictators has passed from the scene. Those who love freedom can only be grateful.
I will speak ill of the dead. It is hard to exaggerate the damage that GGM has done to the image of Latin America and Latin Americans, portraying the region and the people as some sort of quasi-magical place, a place filled with ethereal, mystical beings without logic, common sense, and ordinary human emotions and foibles. For all his "magical realist" vision, he could not or would not see, for example, the horrors brought to Cuba and Cubans by the Castro brothers. On the contrary, he had an enormous house in Havana provided by the regime, with servants and cars at his beck-and-call, and a ready chummy access to the bloodstained brothers and their rule of terror. He convinced generations of gringo academic Latin American "specialists" that the region could not be understood in conventional terms; that supply-and-demand economics did not work there; and that ordinary people did not want individual liberty and political democracy. He helped perpetrate and perpetuate a horrid stereotype of Latin America, one in which the atrocities of leftist regimes could be ignored because the region operated on another level of consciousness, one beyond our poor powers to comprehend. Good riddance to this poseur and his unreadable sentences! An enemy of freedom is gone.
Hear! Hear! Yes! Absolutely. The DiploMad is correct in every respect. I knew then that I couldn't stand Márquez's loopy, unhinged prose, nor his loopy, unhinged ideas. Thirty years later, I not only understand the problem (Marxism), I have the pleasure of reading someone who gets it and states it better than I ever could.


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The producers of The Bachelor are cracking down on spoilers.
NZK Productions and Alternative Television, Inc. are suing spoiler website author Stephen Carbone, aka Reality Steve, for the tactics he employs to get spoilers about the reality dating show, EW reports. They claim that Carbone approaches show employees or other people close to the production to "breach their confidentiality obligations."
VIDEO: Bikinis, bleeps and Ben's bare butt. Watch the preview of The Bachelor
In an email that Carbone allegedly wrote to one of those people, he says, "Let me just say, I'm very well aware of your contract. I also know that over 500 contestants have been on this show and not one of them has ever been sued for the $5 million. It's just a scare tactic. Trust me. Just like they had no idea you sent me that last email, they'll have no idea about any correspondence either. I know you're scared and a little paranoid by it, but don't be. Unless they are hacking your email or tapping your phone, there's absolutely no way for them to find out."
He's also reached out to former contestants seeking additional behind-the-scenes intel about the show.
VIDEO: Bachelorette's first pair offer their advice for being a successful reality TV couple
The producers are claiming $75,000 in damages, and the lawsuit claims that Carbone's actions "constitute unfair and illegal business acts" and are "unscrupulous, immoral, unethical, oppressive and injurious."
Carbone famously spoiled the "After the Final Rose" reunion show of The Bachelor Season 13, in which Jason Mesnick dumped Melissa Rycroft, the (un)lucky lady he proposed to in the finale, and then asked runner-up Molly Malaney to go out with him instead. Reality Steve also covers other reality show including Survivor, The Amazing Race and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Do you think Reality Steve has affected The Bachelor's performance after he's spoiled the results? What do you think about about spoilers for reality programs?


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Lisboa, Santos Ref : TDEV-397-SANTOSD-5B
248m2 T4
With large airy spaces, and amazing views over the 25 of April Bridge and the stunning Santos Garden, living at Santos Design is witnessing the dedication and expertise put into each material and equipment meant to protect and enhance all areas of the apartments. Santos Design is an innovative project, true to the neighborhood's movement. Conceived and designed by the Atelier ARX, the building offers 24 spacious units, with layouts ranging from 1 to 5 bedroom homes, a retail area and spacious common areas. The booming neighbourhoodof Santos is the crossroadof change and contrasts. This is where the traditional sits well with the modern. Set at the riverside of the Tagus, it is bathed by the intense Lisbon light and graced with magnificent views of gardens and river. Santos is the place of artists and creative minds. Where art galleries pop at each corner and traditional buildings with wrought- iron balconies and 19th-century warehouses share streets with sleek shops, hip cafes and new conversions.
Originally an industrial area due to its proximity to the shipyards, this district has been branded in 2005 the Santos Design District and has become a creative residenti...Discover more
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81m2 T2


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Fruit-Glazed Turkey
I came up with this recipe one holiday when my family asked that I make something other than the same old turkey. They loved this fruity version. —Christal Helman, Lisbon, Ohio
Total TimePrep: 30 min. Bake: 3-1/2 hours + standing
Makes12 servings (2-1/2 cups gravy)
- 1 package (14 ounces) unseasoned stuffing cubes
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 medium tart apple, peeled and chopped
- 1 celery rib, chopped
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
- 1 turkey (10 to 12 pounds)
- 2 cans (8 ounces each) unsweetened crushed pineapple
- 1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Loosely stuff into turkey just before baking. Place remaining stuffing in a greased 1-qt. baking dish; cover and refrigerate until ready to bake. Skewer turkey openings; tie drumsticks together. Place breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Bake, uncovered, at 325° for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, in a blender, combine the glaze ingredients; cover and process until smooth. Cover and refrigerate 1 cup for gravy. Brush turkey with some of the remaining glaze. Add 1/2 in. of hot water to the roasting pan.
- Bake 2-1/2 to 3 hours longer or until a thermometer reads 180° for the turkey and 165° for the stuffing, basting two to three times with glaze and occasionally with pan drippings (cover loosely with foil if turkey browns too quickly). Discard any unused basting glaze.
- Cover and bake additional stuffing, for 30-40 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until lightly browned. Cover turkey and let stand for 20 minutes before removing stuffing and carving turkey.
- For gravy, loosen browned bits from the roasting pan. Pour pan drippings and browned bits into a bowl. Skim fat, reserving 1/4 cup. In a 2-cup measuring cup, combine pan drippings and enough water or broth to measure 2 cups.
- In a large saucepan, combine the flour, salt and pepper; gradually whisk in the reserved 1/4 cup fat and dripping mixture until blended. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Stir in the reserved glaze. Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with turkey.


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I want to control the location of the context menu linked with a button in
VB.Net. The requirement is to be able to show the menu on clicking the button,
with x and y location as follows:
x: either at the left edge or the right edge of the button,
y: either starting at the botton edge of the button (for down context menu)
OR ending at the upper edge of the button (for up context menu).
Your suggestions for this would be highly appreciated


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A Golem, fired up with mystical energy.
Blocking out the pose (Using a flattened Cube to show my reference image)
Sculpting and quick texturing using UV Perspective. Also uses "Mask by Curvature" and "Mask -> Colour" to shade the corners and edges of the model a bit brighter.
Lighting and effects all completed inside Curvy. The energy effect uses the "Glow" and "Fog" Object Properties to allow the light effect to be painted on 3D surfaces in the scene.
The final render.


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The Nordic-inspired Brave the Elements Top is the ultimate piece for outdoor adventures! This functional style is designed with reflective seams, a side pocket and a cosy neckline.
Sweat-wicking and quick drying
Antibacterial and odour reducing technology
Seamless knitting eliminates side seams to reduce chafing
Zipped pocket
Reflective detailing at the seams
Fabric Composition: 90% Nylon 7% Elastane 3% Polyester
Machine Washable at 30 C with similar colours
Designed in London, made in our factory in Zhejiang Province, China
Free UK Standard Delivery for orders over £75.00
£4.00 UK Tracked 48 Delivery: Royal Mail 48 tracked delivery, usually takes 2-3 working days.
£4.50 UK Tracked 24 Delivery: Royal Mail 24 tracked delivery, usually takes 1-2 working days.
£8.50 UK Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm: Royal Mail tracked service, a signature is required upon arrival
£11.00 Europe Tracked and Signed: Royal Mail European service usually takes 3-6 working days, a signature is required upon arrival
£18.00 Rest of World Courier Delivery: Sent with DHL couriers, this service is fully tracked and requires a phone number at checkout. It usually takes 3-6 working days, a signature is required upon arrival
Free Returns for UK orders
Payment can be made online, safely and securely, on a laptop, tablet or smartphone via Klarna. You can make your payment by any major Credit or Debit card. Your card will be debited when you place the order. Transactions are fast and secure – with authorisation in seconds. The utmost care and consideration is taken to ensure that your card details are secure. This is achieved by encrypting your card number at the time when you place your order. We also enable payment via Paypal.
Fitted style
Model is 5'9", a UK size 8, and wears a size small


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DENVER — At the Ohio Department of Mental Health, Christy Murphy's days are filled with calls from people seeking help she can't seem to give.
They plead with her, but budget cuts have trimmed services so much — more than $1 billion in the current state budget — that she is not sure where to send them.
The desperation on the other end of the line hits painfully close to home for Murphy. Her 19-year-old son, Christopher, suffers from a range of mental problems, including one that's linked to a short-tempered, hostile attitude. Although he has coverage through Medicaid, he can't get the services he needs. His mother says he has no psychiatrist, no case manager and no medication.
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"I think it's 100 percent about money," said Murphy, who lives in Columbus with her son.
An onslaught of budget cuts has hit mental health services in states struggling to weather economic woes. Even in better times, help could be hard to find. Now, just as demand is soaring, billions of dollars in cuts have shuttered facilities, prolonged waiting times to get services and purged countless patients from the rolls.
"We're getting some epidemic-proportion demands for services," said Mary Ruiz, chief executive at the Manatee Glens mental health facility in Bradenton, Fla., which has had to cut charity care for the indigent by $2 million a year.
State mental health funding was on a steady upward trajectory for three decades until the Great Recession hit in 2007. Over the last two fiscal years, states have cut a combined $1.8 billion from the public mental health system, according to a recent report by the National Alliance for Mental Illness, an advocacy group that tracks mental health spending in all 50 states.
All of this comes as experts see the dueling economic stresses of job losses and home foreclosures escalating depression, anxiety and suicide. Nine state mental health agencies have reported increased emergency-room visits for psychiatric care since the recession began, and five more reported higher suicide rates, the state mental health association reported.
The cuts have hit every aspect of state behavioral health systems, which served 6.4 million people nationwide in 2009, according to the most current federal government statistics. Only four states made no cuts to mental health services between fiscal 2009 and the fiscal year that will end in 2012, according to the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. As states face the end of federal stimulus spending, mental health advocates expect the situation to get much worse this year and next.
"I'm begging for help. Begging. And there's no one who can help me," said Sandra Roskilly of Denver, whose 15-year-old son Gregory left the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan when its children's ward was shuttered last year due to budget cuts.
Roskilly's son has returned home, where his grandmother has moved in to help care for him. But she worries the boy is getting worse without residential treatment, sometimes breaking furniture and shoving his grandmother. She wonders aloud if he might pose a threat to others without the proper care.
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"What's going to happen when he kills somebody?" she remembers asking a doctor.
Mental health advocates often say every dollar cut from their budgets ends up being spent elsewhere, particularly in prisons. In some instances, violent crimes involving the mentally ill have raised new questions about the risks of funding cuts.
An Idaho man released from a state mental health program faces felony charges after a shooting last year that wounded a man walking out of a coffee shop. Emergency room nurses from Ohio to Vermont have reported being attacked by patients seeking psychiatric services in recent years.
In Arizona, 22-year-old Jared Loughner caught the attention of staff and administrators at his community college and was told he could not return until he had been evaluated by a mental health professional. There is no indication the man who is charged in the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and shot six others to death ever sought such services.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, whose adult son is mentally ill, took office in January 2009 as an advocate for mental health and persuaded lawmakers to restore $18 million in proposed midyear budget cuts to social programs, including behavioral health.
But two years later, tough times have led Brewer to call for dropping 280,000 people from Medicaid coverage, including an estimated 5,000 adults with serious mental illnesses. Over the past two years, Arizona cut counseling, case management and virtually all other services except medication for an estimated 14,000 mentally ill patients.
More than half the states surveyed by the state mental health association have cut staff at state mental health agencies and reduced funding for community mental health services. Of those, almost half closed state mental hospitals or wards. Nationwide, states closed 2,158 beds for mentally ill patients over the last three years, and another 1,772 beds may be closed next year to meet budget cuts, the organization says.
In Colorado, staffing at state mental health hospitals is so short that the state no longer complies with federal Medicaid and Medicare funding rules, putting some $14 million at risk for next fiscal year.
Colorado lawmakers responded by adding enough money to hire five nurses at two mental-health hospitals. Budget writers said they would have liked to add twice as many nurses, but the money was not available.
"They are so severely understaffed it has become a serious safety issue for patients and caregivers," Colorado state Sen. Mary Hodge said.
Texas ranks near the bottom in per-capita mental health spending, one of nine states that spend $66 or less per person, and officials there have proposed cutting an additional $134 million in mental health services in the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years.
Those cuts could mean immediately halting behavioral health services for thousands, even though Texas sheriffs have complained the cuts would mean more mentally unstable people ending up in county jails.
"Mental health is right down there at the bottom of the priority list, it seems," said Colleen Horton, policy program director for the Hogg Foundation at the University of Texas-Austin, which advocates for mental health services in that state.
In Ohio, funding for state mental health programs was reduced in the current fiscal year's budget from about $1.1 billion to just over $900 million. A separate agency that specializes in combatting alcohol and drug addiction had its budget cut by 30 percent.
Dick Paterson of Brunswick Hills, Ohio, grows emotional when he talks of the effects of the cuts. His 39-year-old son suffers from schizoaffective disorder and has lived a life marked by hospitalizations and imprisonments, relapses and stabilizations, violent outbursts and suicide attempts.
Three years ago, Paterson and his wife Marlene found their son a place at a mental health facility operated out of a townhouse about 100 miles away. The staff has kept him on his medication, away from other drugs and in the best state he's been in years.
The Patersons worry the facility could be the target of further budget cuts. They don't know where their son would go if that happened.
"I don't know what price tag you put on a human soul," Dick Paterson said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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In recent years, trade remedies - anti-dumping and countervailing duties - have increasingly been directed towards goods used in conjunction with renewable energy sources - solar panels, wind turbines and biofuels. This puts these measures at cross purposes with national and international climate and environment policies.
The geopolitics and political economy are more complicated though. The developed as well as the developing countries are using these measures. And while one can argue that a given amount of environmental expenditure would go further in the absence of trade remedies, it is not clear that the amount of public support would remain at the same level.
There can be little doubt that trade remedies are a sensitive area. Trade remedies may have a significant effect on value and job creation throughout the supply chain as a whole. Trade remedies are bound to have competitive implications. Trade remedies against renewables provide a counterpoint to the initiative to reduce tariffs on environmental goods, particularly since some of the most active users of trade remedies participate in the initiative. Trade remedies shatter the alliances among interest groups. A profound shift is under way in the new generation of "trade and environment" disputes.
Green Economy and Trade. Ad hoc Expert Group I: Domestic Requirements and Support Measures in Green Sectors: Economic and Environmental Effectiveness and Implications for Trade
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
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