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versión On-line ISSN 1870-9044
Polibits no.44 México jul./dic. 2011
User Preference Model for Conscious Services in Smart Environments
Andrey Ronzhin1, Jesus Savage2, and Sergey Glazkov3
1 St. Petersburg State University, 11, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia.
2 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City, México (email: firstname.lastname@example.com).
3 Russian Academy of Sciences St. Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation RAS, St. Petersburg, 39, 14 Line, 199178, Russia (email: email@example.com).
Manuscript received June 29, 2011.
Manuscript accepted for publication August 25, 2011.
Awareness of user preferences and analysis of the current situation makes capable to provide user with invasive services in various applications of smart environments. In smart meeting rooms contextaware systems analyze user behavior based on multimodal sensor data and provide proactive services for meeting support, including active control PTZ (pan, tilt and zoom) cameras, microphone arrays, context dependent automatic archiving and webtransmission of meeting data at the interaction. History of interaction sessions between a user and a service is used for knowledge accumulation in order to forecast user behavior during the next visit. The user preference model based on audiovisual data recorded during interaction and statistics of his/her speech activity, requests, movement trajectories and other parameters was implemented for the developed mobile information robot and smart meeting room.
Key words: User preferences, context awareness, action recognition, mobile robot, smart meeting room.
This work is supported by SaintPetersburg State University (project # 22.214.171.1241), the Russian Federal Targeted Program (contracts #P876 and #14.740.11.0357) of the Ministry of Science and Education of Russia.
[1] T. Laakko, "ContextAware Web Content Adaptation for Mobile User Agents," in Studies in Computational Intelligence, R. Nayak et al. (Eds.): SCI 130, Evolution of the Web in Artificial Intelligence Environments, 2008, pp. 6999. [ Links ]
[2] C. Bolchini, CA. Curino, E. Quintarelli, F.A. Schreiber, and L. Tanca, "A dataoriented survey of context models," SIGMOD, 36(4), 2007, pp. 1926. [ Links ]
[3] A. Boytsov and A. Zaslavsky, "Extending context spaces theory by proactive adaptation," S. Balandin et al. (Eds.): NEW2AN/ruSMART 2010, LNCS 6294, Springer, 2010, pp. 112. [ Links ]
[4] B. Schilit, N. Adams, and R. Want, "Contextaware computing applications," in Proc. of the Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications, Santa Cruz, CA, USA, 1994, pp. 8590. [ Links ]
[5] D.R. Morse, N.S. Ryan, and J. Pascoe, "Enhanced reality fieldwork using handheld computers in the field," Life Sciences Educational Computing, 9 (1), 1998, pp. 1820. [ Links ]
[6] B. Moltchanov, C. Mannweiler, and J. Simoes, "ContextAwareness Enabling New Business Models in Smart Spaces," S. Balandin et al. (Eds.): NEW2AN/ruSMART 2010, LNCS 6294, Springer, 2010, pp. 1325. [ Links ]
[7] K.H. Goh, J.Y. Tham, T. Zhang, and T. Laakko, "ContextAware Scalable Multimedia Content Delivery Platform for Heterogeneous Mobile Devices," in Proc. of MMEDIA 2011, Budapest, Hungary, 2011, pp. 16. [ Links ]
[8] P. Dai, L. Tao and G. Xu, "AudioVisual Fused Online Context Analysis Toward Smart Meeting Room," J. Indulska et al. (Eds.): UIC 2007, LNCS 4611, Springer, 2007, pp. 868877. [ Links ]
[9] Computers in the human interaction loop. Ed. A. Waibel and R. Stiefelhagen, Berlin: Springer, 2009. [ Links ]
[10] G. Garau and H. Bourlard, "Using Audio and Visual Cues for Speaker Diarisation Initialisation," in Proc. of ICASSP'2010, 2010, pp. 49421945. [ Links ]
[11] Y. Rui, A. Gupta, J. Grudin, and L. He, "Automating lecture capture and broadcast: Technology and videography," Multimedia Systems, 10, 2004, pp. 315. [ Links ]
[12] C. Zhang, P. Yin, Y. Rui, R. Cutler, P. Viola, X. Sun, N. Pinto, and Z. Zhang, "BoostingBased Multimodal Speaker Detection for Distributed Meeting Videos," IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, Vol.10, No.8, 2008, pp.15411552. [ Links ]
[13] V. Rozgic, C. Busso, P.G. Georgiou, and S.S. Narayanan, "Multimodal meeting monitoring: Improvements on speaker tracking and segmentation through a modified mixture particle filter," in IEEE International Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processing (MMSP), 2007, pp. 6065. [ Links ]
[14] V.C. Raykar, B. Yegnanarayana, S.R. Prasanna, and R. Duraiswami, "Speaker Localization using excitation source information in speech," IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing, Volume 13, Issue 5, Part 2, 2005, pp. 751761. [ Links ]
[15] T. Habib and H. Romsdorfer, "Concurrent Speaker Localization Using MultiBand PositionPitch (MPoPi) Algorithm with SpectroTemporal PreProcessing," in Proc. of Interspeech2010, Makuhari, Japan, 2010, pp. 27742777. [ Links ]
[16] J. Voordouw, C. Yang, L. Rothkrantz, and M. Capg, "A Comparison of the ILD and TDOA Sound Source Localization Algorithms in a Train Environment," in Proc. of EuroMedia 2007, Delft, 2007. [ Links ]
[17] A. Brutti, M. Omologo, and P. Svaizer, "Comparison between different sound source localization techniques based on a real data collection," in Proc. of HandsFree Speech Communication and Microphone Arrays (HSCMA '2008), Trento, Italy, 2008. [ Links ]
[18] C. Datta, A. Kapuria, and R. Vijay, "A pilot study to understand requirements of a shopping malí robot," in Proc. of HRI'2011, 2011, pp. 127128. [ Links ]
[19] M. Makatchev, I. Fanaswala, A. Abdulsalam, B. Browning, W. Ghazzawi, M. Sakr, and R. Simmons, "Dialogue Patterns of an Arabic Robot Receptionist," in Proc. of HRI'2010, 2010, pp. 167168. [ Links ]
[20] M. Nieuwenhuisen, J. Stuckler, and S. Behnke, "Intuitive Multimodal Interaction for Service Robots," in Proc. of HRI'2010,2010, pp. 177178. [ Links ]
[21] A.C. TenorioGonzález, E.F. Morales, and L. VillaseflorPineda, "Teaching a robot to perform tasks with voice commands," in Grigori Sidorov, Arturo Hernández Aguirre, Carlos Alberto Reyes Garcia (Eds.): Proc. of the 9th Mexican International conference on Advances in artificial intelligence: Part I (MICAP10), SpringerVerlag, 2010, pp. 105116. [ Links ]
[22] G. Carrera J. Savage, and W. MayolCuevas, "Robust feature descriptors for efficient visionbased tracking," in Luis Rueda, Domingo Mery, and Josef Kittler (Eds.): Proc. of the Congress on pattern recognition 12th Iberoamerican conference on Progress in pattern recognition, image analysis and applications (CIARP'07), SpringerVerlag, 2007, pp. 251260. [ Links ]
[23] A.C. RamirezHernandez, JA. RiveraBautista, A. MarinHernandez, and V.A. GarciaVega, "Detection and Interpretation of Human Walking Gestures for HumanRobot Interaction," in Proc. of the 2009 Eighth Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (MICAI '09), IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC, USA, 2009, pp. 4116. [ Links ]
[24] V. Budkov, M. Prischepa, and A. Ronzhin, "Dialog Model Development of a Mobile Information and Reference Robot," Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis, Pleiades Publishing, Vol. 21, No. 3, 2011, pp. 442145. [ Links ]
[25] V.Yu. Budkov, Al.L. Ronzhin, S.V. Glazkov, and An.L. Ronzhin, "EventDriven Content Management System for Smart Meeting Room," S. Balandin et al. (Eds.): NEW2AN/ruSMART 2011, LNCS 6869, SpringerVerlag, 2011, pp. 550560. [ Links ]


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Gonzaga opens the 2010 season at the Cactus Classic in Arizona
SPOKANE, Wash. - The defending West Coast Conference champion Gonzaga University baseball team has announced its 2010 schedule. The Bulldogs 2010 slate features four teams that appeared in last season's NCAA Tournament along with a number of matchups against teams from the Big 12, Big West and Pac-10 Conferences.
"We are really looking forward to getting out, playing one of the nation's toughest schedules and building off of last year's success," commented 2009 WCC Coach of the Year Mark Machtolf. "Once again we have put together a very challenging schedule that will help us prepare for an always competitive WCC schedule later in the season."
The Bulldogs, coming off of their third consecutive 30-win season and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1981, will open the season Feb. 19-21 with the Cactus Classic held at Tucson Electric Park, the Arizona Diamondbacks spring training complex, in Tucson, Ariz. There the Zags will match up with NCAA Tournament participant Missouri twice and also play single games against New Mexico State and Washington.
Complete 2010 Gonzaga Schedule (PDF)
The following weekend will see Gonzaga return to Arizona, this time for the Peoria Spring Training Classic held at the San Diego Padres spring training home field in Peoria, Ariz. The Bulldogs are scheduled to meet up with NCAA Tournament participant Kansas and Western Athletic Conference member Sacramento State each twice throughout the weekend.
The first weekend of March the Zags will begin a stretch that will see them play 11 games in 12 days, starting with a trip to Shreveport, La. for a three-game series with Summit League member Centenary. Following the series with the Gents, Gonzaga heads to Lubbock, Tex. for a two-game series with Big-12 member Texas Tech Mar. 9-10. GU then travels to San Antonio, Tex. for the Irish Baseball Classic where the Zags will face Pacific, Bradley and Notre Dame.
"The early season tournaments always provide some good challenges and this season will be no different," commented Machtolf. "The trips to Louisiana and San Antonio will be exciting because it gives us a chance to play a couple different teams in a different region of the country."
Mar. 15-16 will be the first set of home games for the Zags as they wrap up the 11 games in 12 day stretch with a two-game set against BYU. The ensuing weekend has the Bulldogs traveling to southern California for a three-game series against 2009 Big West Conference champion and NCAA Regional host UC Irvine Mar. 19-21. This will be the first year of a home-and-home series with the Anteaters who will come to Spokane for a weekend series in 2011.
"The series with UC Irvine will be a very tough competitive series against a very good ball club that was the top-ranked team in the country at one point last season," stated Machtolf. "That weekend will be a difficult test that will get us ready for WCC play."
Gonzaga continues on the road the following week facing in-state rival and 2009 NCAA Tournament participant Washington State in Pullman, Wash. Mar. 23 before traveling to face Utah Valley Mar. 25-27. Following a midweek home matchup with WSU Mar. 30 the Zags will head to Honolulu for a three-game series with the University of Hawaii.
After the Hawaii series, the Bulldogs welcome another in-state rival out of the Pac-10 in Washington for a two-game midweek set at the Patterson Baseball Complex and Washington Trust Field Apr. 6-7.
Apr. 9-11 the Zags begin defense of their conference crown at San Francisco. They then play six of their next seven games at home, starting against Arizona Apr. 12. Following at trip to WSU to close out the season-series with the Cougars Apr. 14, GU opens up its WCC home schedule with a three-game weekend series against Pepperdine . The Bulldogs then close out the home stand with a two-game set against another Pac-10 opponent in Oregon Apr. 20-21.
"Those midweek matchups with the Pac-10 teams are always exciting," stated Machtolf. "All of the Pac-10 teams on our schedule have really improved from last season and will provide us with some tough tests."
The weekend of Apr. 23-25 will provide a showdown between the past two conference champions as the Zags head to San Diego for a weekend series with the University of San Diego. Gonzaga will wrap up its non-conference schedule at Washington Apr. 27-28 before returning home for a conference series against Santa Clara Apr. 30-May 2.
Following a conference series at Saint Mary's May 14-16, the Zags are slated to close out the regular season playing their final six games at home, hosting a pair of WCC foes in Loyola Marymount May 21-23 and Portland May 28-30.
"Playing four conference series at home is a huge advantage for us," explained Machtolf. "We were very tough at home in WCC play last year and playing those last two conference series in front of our home crowd here in Spokane could really help us down the stretch."
The Bulldogs are coming off of arguably the best season in school-history, posting the sixth most wins in program history (36), capturing the school's inaugural WCC Regular Season and Championship Series crowns, earning the program's eighth trip to the NCAA Tournament, finishing with a No. 22 national ranking and having a program-best five players drafted by Major League Baseball.
(Press Release)

subset: commoncrawl


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The Humble Bundles are now something of an institution. Indie games are bundled up, released on a cross-platform basis, and sold for whatever price you're willing to pay. None of the games are shackled by DRM, the customer support usually comes from the developers themselves, and the response from gamers has been amazing: the latest bundle has been up for around a day and has already taken in over $1 million, with over 190,000 bundles sold. That's not surprising, as the games included in the Humble Bundle 4 are universally amazing, including Super Meat Boy, Jamestown, and Shank, among others.
We talked to Richard Esguerra, whose job title is listed as "Bundle Advocate," to talk about how this latest bundle was put together, and how the ideas behind the Humble Bundles are growing.
Esguerra was happy when I told him how amazing this lineup of games looked, and he explained that the team has been working on putting this bundle together for half a year. "We're pretty active in contacting game developers, but the conversation is usually pretty mutual," he said. "Jamie from Klei Entertainment caught us after last year's GDC talk, and that is how Shank's epic journey onto Mac and Linux—and ultimately into HIB 4—began. On the other hand, we have been pestering Edmund about Super Meat Boy via AIM since before it was even released."
One of the most exciting aspects of the bundles is that they mark the first time many of the games have been ported to platforms other than Windows, with each title offering full support for play on a Mac or on Linux. "The most ambitious aspect of a Humble Bundle is definitely the cross-platform porting," Esguerra agreed. "Some developers are ready for it from day one, but usually a game is Windows-only and needs to get ported to Mac and Linux. Ryan Gordon and Edward Rudd have been instrumental in this, but a lot of developers will do ports internally as well."
The Humble Bundles have done more for gaming on the Mac and Linux than maybe any other single thing in the past few years, as the team can go to developers who may be leery of cross-platform work and both provide talent to help with the porting and point to a proven business model so the developers understand that porting their game is a winning strategy. Many of the games can also now be activated via Steam, adding another layer of value for gamers.
There is always the question of how many bundles the market can support, and the Humble team has experimented with developer-specific bundles. "The Humble Frozenbyte and Introversion Bundles were anchored around a particular developer's catalog. The Humble Voxatron Debut featured a brand-new game that hadn't been available to the public before," Esguerra explained. "All year, we grappled with an age-old bundle question: is it better to release bundles more frequently, or is it better to release a few monumental bundles every so often?" They've been trying to do both, and so far the strategy has proven to be a success.
The team is thinking about what dream games they'd like to see in future bundles, they're looking for software engineers to hire so they can grow, and there is talk of the "Humble Store," a series of tools provided to independent developers in order to make it easier to sell games through their websites. There are also some projects that everyone would keep secret... for now. The core values of the Humble Bundles will never change, however.
"The goal is always to make a promotion that gets gamers excited, while supporting charities and giving indie developers their due," Esguerra said.
The Humble Bundle 4 is available now.


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LEO will be performed at 8 p.m. Oct. 19 at Sangamon Auditorium, UIS, as part of the Visiting Artists Series. With no spoken words, the one-man show relies on physical theater to portray the story of Leo, a man who has found the physics in his world have been altered. The audience views Leo and a live video feed portrayed as life size and turned at a 90-degree angle so the floor becomes a wall and the wall, the floor. The video feed and the real Leo are viewed side by side. Produced by Berlin-based production company Circle of Eleven and featuring German performer Tobias Wegner, LEO uses music, dance, acrobatics, lights and the audience's imagination to create a new, funny and surreal experience.
Friday, Oct. 19, 8pm
Sangamon Auditorium, UIS


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Ever the defender of the laptop as a gateway to more accurate and speculative expressions of the self, Herndon goes for the throat of the issues of our contemporary future with her second album, Platform.
Having gathered together several collaborators with varied abilities and perspectives, she holds a sort of speculative symposium in the form of ten audio tracks. Her focus is the "exit" to a new "platform," a collaborative space in which possible futures may take shape. There is a brighter future ahead in Herndon's world; technology has the effect not of separation, but of creating a deeply intrinsic closeness and intimacy strewn through collapsed spaces. The laptop: the medium is the message, is the massage.
Drawing on the work of philosopher of design Benedict Singleton, Herndon is proposing a mechanization of "platform dynamics theory." Traditional planning for the future will always fail in the face of complexity and contingency, the theory goes, so instead we should focus on the design of platforms—the material and social infrastructures we inhabit, which have certain affordances and limitations and therefore open the way to different kinds of futures.
Herndon's album, as a collaborative space for development, is offered as one such platform. The future is cooperation; Herndon has moved on from thinking about the laptop as an extension of the body to thinking about it as a platform through which a superstructural, collective experience can be had. Along with "platforms," the album's other essential keyword is "exits," signaled by the title to Track 06, "An Exit." Exits leading from our present situation to new platforms, that is, rather than escapes to impossible utopias.


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Gel Manicure NYC.No-chip manicure in Manhattan NY.No-chip Gel manicure and pedicure in Manhattan New York.Gel Nails Salon in Manhattan NY.OPI Gel Manicure NYC.Shellac Manicure NYC
Treat yourself to a no-chip manicure and pedicure in Manhattan, NY
If you are as busy as most women are living in the city, it's time you treat yourself to a no-chip manicure and pedicure in Manhattan, NY. With Dyanna Spa's gel manicures and pedicures, your nails will retain their shimmer without chipping, cracking, or smudging for up to fourteen days.
What is a gel manicure and pedicure?
A gel manicure and pedicure is very similar to, yet very different from a regular mani/pedi. After our nail technician cleans, files, soaks and buffs your nails, and after she pushes back your cuticles, she applies a gel substance that looks very similar to nail polish.
At our professional salon, we offer several gel manicures and pedicures:
· Shellac Gel Manicure — $30
· Shellac Gel Pedicure — $40
· OPI Soak-Off No-Chip Gel Manicure — $35
· OPI Soak-Off No-Chip Gel French Manicure — $45
· OPI Soak-Off No-Chip Gel Pedicure — $45
· OPI Soak-Off No-Chip Gel French Pedicure — $50
She does the same for the "OPI Shellac Gel French Manicure and Pedicure" except she uses two coats of the OPI Shellac Gel French Pink, with a strip of OPI Shellac Gel French White across the nail tips.
For a fast and even finish, an ultraviolet light dries the nails in just a few minutes in between each coat. The UV light cures the no-chip polish, making the nails stronger and glossier, while ensuring the mani/pedi lasts longer than regular nail polish.
Just think – with these fashionable high-gloss manicures and pedicures, you won't have to worry about your nails for at least two weeks. Just be sure to come to our NY nail salon with bare nails, without polish or anything else on them.
Removing Gel Nails
We do not advise that you remove your gel nails by yourself. One of our nail technicians can easily remove them without soaking, filing, or drilling.
She simply wraps your nails in our specially formulated cotton wraps, precisely tailored to fit just your nails.
Our Shellac / OPI Gel Soak-Off Manicure or Pedicure costs $10.00 each.
Get your fingernails and toenails looking gorgeous in our NY nail salon, with one of our shellac gel manicures and pedicures.
Just give us a call, schedule an appointment online at our website, or simply stop by Dyanna Spa & Nail Salon.
For more information, visit our site at www.dyannaspa.com
| Dyanna Body & Nail Salon Spa
40 East 21st Street Manhattan, NY 10010 – (212.995.2355)
Monday-Friday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
150 East 39th Street Manhattan, NY 10016 – (212.213.0011)
Monday-Friday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday: closed
Check out our new Facebook page! We redesigned our Facebook page to make it easier for you to link to our current spa specials, website, blog, and more. Please take a minute to look at our great new design.
Keep up with Dyanna Spa NYC news, specials, and promotions.


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- We are serving you a free transportation service with under vehicle as follows;
- We have a Big Van 12 seat. ( New Toyota Comuter )
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- we have a bus for taking group. ( Our Bus contracted )
- we have professional staff more than more than 1000 peoples.
We have a lifetime gaurantee with a certificate from our shop, we received the international ISO 9002 and ISO 9001:2000 certification, we have a certificate of GIA also.
We are a leading Gems and Jewelry store company providing the best service and quality of all gems That's why World Gems Group have win in this business and the customer around the world trust us. We act the business likes your partner, we reach more people all the corner of the world and the leading companies visit us every year. World Gems Group has become the best place where visitors to Thailand do not miss to visit our gems and jewelry store.
Our service providing creation of piece such as necklaces, bracelets, rings, pendants, earrings etc. Some other piece is a master piece including a high quality of precious stone such as diamon, sapphire, ruby, emerald etc and we have the craftmanship on duty to create your instant design so that you would be accept a high impress with our service and product.
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Also called "Thermiá" on account of its thermal springs, Kýthnos is very close to Attica; still, it is one of the less visited islands of the Cyclades. The island's harbour (Merihas) and capital (Hóra) as well as Loutrá and Dryopída are located in the North. In the south, only the areas by the bay of Ayios Dimitrios and Panayia Canála are inhabited (where a famous monastery is situated within a pine forest).
The most impressive of the 65 sandy beaches of the island is Kolóna, where a lane of sand connects the islet of Ayios Loukas to Kýthnos. Low stone fences run for many kilometres on bare Cycladic hills with 350 white country chapels here and there. The typical Cycladic style equally appears in the villages: cobbled narrow streets, white houses, squares, chapels and windmills. Follow the paths that connect the villages to each other and taste apricots and wild mulberries on the way to Katafýki cave, one of the biggest caves in Greece with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites.
Kýthnos is definitely the place for thermal tourism. A modern spa centre is in operation in Loutrá, with two hot springs in the area. The following springs have been famous for their therapeutic effectiveness since the ancient times, namely the spring of Ayioi Anárgyroi, inside the spa facilities, and the spring of Caucasus, at 50 m. from the first one, with a temperature reaching 52 degrees Celsius.
The festivals on Kýthnos have maintained their traditional character. All the locals take part, singing to the rhythms of the violin and the lute.
Website: www.kythnos.gr
Visitgreece.gr is the official tourism web site for Greece, run by the Greek National Tourism Organisation, where you'll find information on the main tourist destinations, such as cities, beaches, as well as activities, events and much more!
All content included on this site consists intellectual property of GNTO and you are not allowed to reproduce the whole or part of this work in any way.
For information please contact: firstname.lastname@example.com. All Rights Reserved. GNTO © 2020.


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The Sierra Madre Fire Department hosts an annual Fire Prevention Festival, at the Sierra Madre Fire Station, 242 West Sierra Madre Blvd. Join us for hot dogs, popcorn, bounce houses, balloons and prizes for children. Hang out with real firefighters and learn about fire trucks. There will be fire safety and prevention demonstrations from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. For more information, call 626-355-3611.
232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA 91024 | 626-355-7135
Sierra Madre | All Rights Reserved | Powered by CivicLive | © 2020 Intrado Corporation.
City of Sierra Madre


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Jacqueline Lebaron Sentenced to Prison
|U.S. Attorney's Office September 08, 2011
HOUSTON—U.S. District Court Judge Sim Lake has sentenced Jacqueline Lebaron, 46, to three years in federal prison for conspiring with other members of her family to obstruct religious beliefs, United States Attorney Jose Angel Moreno announced today.
Originally indicted in 1992, Lebaron was a fugitive for almost 20 years before being arrested in May 2010 in Honduras. Lebaron was thereafter deported by Honduran authorities to the United States and in June 2011 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct religious beliefs arising from her role in murders committed in June 1988 in Houston and elsewhere by members of her family. At her re-arraignment, LeBaron admitted that in May 1988 acting on the instructions of Heber Lebaron, her brother, she provided $500 to her sister, Cynthia, and instructed her to travel to Houston to begin to prepare for the murders of the "Sons of Perdition."
In the 1970s, Ervil LeBaron created a church called the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God, while simultaneously declaring himself to be a prophet of God. As the leader of this church, Ervil's directives and orders were considered the word of God. Ervil LeBaron taught his followers that anyone who was a traitor to his teachings or left the church should be put to death. These individuals were referred to as the "Sons of Perdition." Duane Chynoweth, Mark Chynoweth, and Ed Marston were members of the church. However, Duane, Mark, and Ed left the church to pursue their own religious beliefs after Ervil LeBaron was convicted in the state of Utah for murder. While serving his prison term for murder, Ervil drafted a document which he named the "Book of the New Covenant" in which he stated that the Chynoweths and Marston had betrayed the Kingdom of God and had become "Sons of Perdition." Ervil ordered his remaining followers to murder the Chynoweths and Marston for betraying the Kingdom of God. The vast majority of Ervil's remaining followers consisted of his wives and many children. Ervil LeBaron died in prison in 1981; however, his orders to murder the "Sons of Perdition," contained in the Book of the New Covenant, were preached and taught to his followers after his death.
As leader of his father's church, Aaron LeBaron ordered that the "Sons of Perdition" be killed. Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron was also one of Ervil's children and believed that the teachings of her father should be followed. In preparation for the killing of the "Sons of Perdition," Douglas Barlow and Richard LeBaron stole pickup trucks from the southern United States, and Natasha LeBaron, Nicole LeBaron, Cynthia LeBaron, and Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron would drive the vehicles across the border into Mexico where they would be sold. It was with the profits from this venture that the execution of Aaron LeBaron's order to kill the "Sons of Perdition" was financed.
At her re-arraignment hearing, Jacqueline Lebaron admitting having instructed her sister, Cynthia, to travel to Houston and begin to prepare for the murders of the "Sons of Perdition" in May 1988. Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron provided Cynthia with $500 to finance her trip. Cynthia met William Heber LeBaron and Patricia LeBaron in Houston and ultimately located victims Mark and Duane Chynoweth. Subsequently, William Heber, Cynthia, and Patricia traveled to Dallas, Texas, where the group met Douglas Barlow, Natasha LeBaron, and Richard LeBaron. Natasha LeBaron provided the group with approximately $2,500 derived from the group's auto theft activities to assist in the planning of the murders. In the Dallas area, the group located Edward Marston. While planning the murders, the group stole pickup trucks and license plates from the Dallas area. They purchased suits, false beards, three handguns, holsters, marine radios, and costume makeup. On June 27, 1988, William Heber LeBaron, with the direct assistance of his siblings Cynthia LeBaron and Natasha LeBaron, entered a business located at 2102 Blaylock in Houston and shot Mark Chynoweth three times, killing him. At approximately the same time, Richard Lebaron, with the direct assistance of his sibling, Patricia, traveled to the 6000 block of Rena Street in Houston, where he met with Duane Chynoweth and Duane's 8-year-old daughter, Jenny Chynoweth, and killed both of them. At approximately the same time, Douglas Barlow entered an appliance business located in Irving, Texas, where he shot Edward Marston, who subsequently died of those injuries approximately four hours later.
After hearing from family members of each of the victims in this case, Judge Lake further ordered Jacqueline LeBaron to pay $134,000 in restitution to the victims. Jacqueline Lebaron is the last defendant to be convicted in this case.
The investigation leading the charges in this case was conducted by the Houston Police Department and the FBI with substantial assistance from the Phoenix, Ariz., Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Ted Imperato and Richard D. Hanes prosecuted this case.


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Experts cite political turmoil in Iran and a preoccupation with nuclear weapons outside of it. But there's hope.
Protesters at the Tehran University campus in 2009 / AP
The human rights situation in Iran has worsened since the government's crackdown on anti-government protests following the disputed June 2009 presidential election. Political activists, lawyers, journalists, students, women's rights activists, and ethnic and religious minorities have been increasingly targeted. A September 2011 report by a UN Special Rapporteur notes a sharp increase in executions. Prominent opposition political leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi were put under house arrest in February 2011 after calling for protests in solidarity with pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the region. Amid an increasingly repressive regime focused on survival amid internal strife and external pressures, experts say prospects for reform are bleak, and urge the international community to keep the spotlight on Iran's human rights violations.
Structural Obstacles
Iran has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights without reservations, committing itself to the protection and promotion of civil, political, economic, and social rights including freedom of expression, assembly, association, and religion. The Iranian Constitution also guarantees these freedoms.
But Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Mehrangiz Kar says several articles of the constitution guaranteeing specific liberties suffer from ambiguity and are often restricted by various conditions and provisions. For instance, Article 24 on press freedom states: "publications and the press are free to express their ideas unless these contravene the precepts of Islam or harm public rights. These conditions will be defined by laws."
Since the precepts of Islam and public rights are not clearly defined by legislated laws, Kar writes, the authorities are free to interpret the "article in support of their own political and factional interests."
In the aftermath of the June 2009 disputed presidential election and the ensuing mass protests, the Iranian government has severely limited citizens' rights to many of the freedoms it ratified under international covenants. In October 2009, even after security forces killed dozens of protesters, arrested and detained thousands of demonstrators and opposition figures, and reportedly tortured and mistreated detainees, Iran submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Committee claiming it was in compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Independent group Human Rights Watch said the report "does not begin to adequately address allegations concerning violation of core civil and political rights." While the report makes references to legal provisions in the country's constitution and criminal and civil codes, the watchdog group said it fails to show how the authorities are complying with these provisions.
International organizations have accused several branches of the Iranian government of human rights abuses, particularly security forces like the elite Revolutionary Guards and the volunteer paramilitary force the Basij, as well as the judiciary. Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, writes that after the 2009 protests, the "judiciary has emerged as a key instrument to intimidate protestors and remove many leading activists and opinion makers, steps that were both critical to the regime's survival." The judiciary, he notes, also implements the Islamic penal code, including stoning, amputations and flogging, all considered torture under international law. Plus, Iran has separate Islamic revolutionary courts whose legal standing has been repeatedly questioned by rights groups. Formed after the 1979 revolution to prosecute government officials of the previous regime, they are primarily charged with trying offenses involving acts against national security, drug smuggling, and espionage.
Areas of Concern
Recent reports from international organizations and Western governments have slammed Iran's rights record. The 2010 U.S. State Department report notes the role of Iran's regular and paramilitary security forces in cracking down on protestors and how they have committed serious human rights abuses, including torture and murders, with impunity. Tehran rejects these claims. Rights groups point to some particular issues of concern:
- Arbitrary arrest and detention: More than four thousand people were arrested in connection with protests over the disputed 2009 elections. Hundreds more were arrested following anti-government demonstrations in 2011. Rights groups say the government denies due process and fair trials to detainees and uses systematic torture in its prisons and detention facilities.
- Capital punishment: Rights groups accuse the Iranian authorities of imposing the death penalty and using execution as a political tool. A 2011 report by the UN Special Rapporteur notes an increase in executions, both official and secret. According to Amnesty International, Iran executed 177 people in 2006, and over three hundred every year since then. In 2010, according to the group, this number rose to 552 if secret executions were included. The UN report also notes more than 100 juveniles on death row in 2010, stressing that enforcement of the death penalty for those under the age of eighteen is incompatible with Iran's international obligations.
- Women's rights: The Iranian constitution allows equal rights for men and women "in conformity with Islamic criteria." According to the World Economic Forum's 2010 Gender Gap report--which compared disparity between men and women on economic participation, access to education, health, and political empowerment--Iran ranked 123 out of 134 countries. This was better than most countries in the region, ahead of Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and even Turkey. However, the UN report notes that the application of certain laws is a barrier to gender equality in Iran. For instance, a woman's worth and testimony in a court of law is regarded as half that of a man's. Women do not have equitable inheritance rights, nor can they be granted guardianship rights for their children, even upon the death of their husbands. The report says female activists who try to address gender equality issues are often targeted.
- Religious, ethnic, and other minorities: There are widespread abuses against members of recognized and unrecognized religious and ethnic minorities such as Arabs, Azeris, Baloch, Kurds, Namatullahi Sufi Muslims, Sunnis, Baha'is, and Christians. Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority, the Baha'i, has historically been discriminated against and continues to be denied jobs and educational opportunities, and face arbitrary detention and unfair trials. Human Rights Watch says Iran also engages in systematic discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. "Iran is one of only seven countries with laws allowing executions for consensual same-sex conduct," it says.
Prospects for Reform
Most human rights abuses are political in nature and closely linked with establishing the regime's control over its population. The regime's crackdown since the 2009 protests and its growing insecurities in the wake of the Arab uprisings have made many experts skeptical of prospects for reform within the current political system. "The government realizes the potential for such uprisings in Iran" says Ghaemi, "and it has made the regime and the security apparatus even more repressive and intolerant."
"I don't see a kinder, gentler Islamic republic happening anytime soon," says CFR's Isobel Coleman. Iran experienced a period of reforms and relative improvement in human rights under President Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2004. But Coleman says she is doubtful of another period of reforms under an elected official, saying the human rights situation will remain "grim" unless there is a fundamental change in the regime. Kar says there must be separation between the state and Islam in politics and governance.
The reform movement suffers from its own weaknesses. Ghaemi says it lacks leadership and a political vision. In this video for CFR's Iran Crisis Guide, Vali Nasr of Tufts University says that for the Green Movement to become a regime-changing factor, it will have to build coalitions among a broad spectrum of the Iranian public "and, in a way, that can defy regime pressure and suppression."
The ongoing power struggle between Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made prospects for reform even more uncertain. Speaking at an academic gathering in October 2011, Khamenei went as far as proposing the possibility of eliminating the position of the president and moving toward a parliamentary system. Eliminating the presidency will enhance the powers of the supreme leader, but either way, Khamenei will seek to ensure that the next president or prime minister is under his control, experts say. The tipping point, Ghaemi says, could be the 2013 presidential elections, which may allow Khamenei to reshape the political landscape in his vision or he may face greater resistance from competing centers of power in Tehran.
"Many Iranians would like a more progressive and democratic government," says Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who spent four months in the notorious Evin prison in Iran in 2009. But she says it is not clear how many of them prefer an Islamic or a secular government. A March 2011 paper in Political Research Quarterly based on a 2005 and a 2008 survey in Iran argued that popular discontent with the regime's performance had a strong and positive correlation to greater support for democracy.
Kar says for any meaningful change, there must be reforms in election laws that grant the Guardian Council of twelve Islamic jurists, six of them appointed by the supreme leader, the right to veto parliamentary and presidential candidates. Ghaemi calls for reform of the judiciary and greater accountability for the country's security forces.
Policy Options
The Corrective Revolution
Questions for Pakistan
Rights activists in and outside Iran have repeatedly said the international focus on Iran's nuclear program--which many Western states believe is cover for a weapons program-- has hampered efforts to advance human rights reforms. Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, says "unfortunately, the nuclear energy issue has stalemated many issues in Iran, the most important being the issue of human rights."
But global attention to Iranian human rights has been on the rise. In March 2011, the UN Human Rights Council appointed a special rapporteur for Iran to investigate the country's human rights violations, the first since 2002.
The United States imposed the first sanctions on Iran for human rights abuses in September 2010. Ten Iranian officials were barred from travel to the United States, and financial restrictions were imposed. The European Union also sanctioned thirty-two Iranian officials in April 2011 and another twenty-nine in October. These include senior members of security forces and the judiciary.
While the impact of sanctions remain uncertain, experts say targeted sanctions are effective tools for naming and shaming Iranian authorities and keeping the spotlight on human rights abuses. "It's the best way to show that the international community cares," says Ghaemi, urging for sanctions that target private sector and government companies that enable repression, such as those that censor mobile, satellite, and Internet communications. Coleman says the United States must be more consistent on human rights in Iran.
Some experts have also called for the United States to support greater openness in Iran by providing Iranians with improved access to technology. The U.S. State Department will continue efforts to train and provide tools to Iran's civil society activists to counter the government's widespread Internet surveillance and censorship efforts. In a May 2011 testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee, Assistant Secretary Michael H. Posner said the State Department plans to "support more advanced counter-censorship technologies, including circumvention tools in Farsi, secure mobile communications, and technologies to enable activists to post their own content online and protect against cyberattacks."
Some Iranians have also questioned what they see as lack of adequate U.S. support for the Green Movement in 2009. Others caution any direct U.S. involvement, arguing it would delegitimize the opposition movement. In an October 2011 interview with BBC Persia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said if the Green Movement or some other opposition movement gained strength and decided that they wanted U.S. support, they should ask for it more directly.
Saberi says the international community should also find a way to "help exiled journalists and human rights defenders who have fled Iran to continue their education and their work, and lead by example by observing human rights ourselves." There are efforts by the U.S. State Department to expand cooperation with the Iranian people. Clinton said by the end of 2011, Washington will have a "virtual embassy in Tehran." It will be aimed at connecting with the Iranian people by answering their questions on the web, such as how to travel or apply for studying in the United States.
This article originally appeared at CFR.org, an Atlantic partner site.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Finger Pointing Worker; video still of performance by Kota Takeuchi.
In the three years since a 9.0 magnitude earthquake tore apart infrastructures and livelihoods throughout eastern Japan, there's been a surge of international interest in any sign of the island country's recuperation. But Japan is no stranger to the process of recovery; its historical timeline is fractured by a variety of disasters. In the last hundred years alone, there were more than 40 recorded earthquakes which surpassed a 6.0 reading on the Richter scale, in addition to 6 major military operations.
This component of Japan's past is unfortunately, and often, mistaken as a component of Japanese identity in part because of its recurrence in national art and pop culture. Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave (c. 1833), a painting that depicts a frothing tsunami wave in the process of swallowing a row boat, is arguably the most recognizable piece of Japanese fine art. In another medium, and arriving nearly 100 years later, is Ishiro Honda's Godzilla (1954), the monster cinema star often understood as a metaphor for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Because of their central quality of immense power and their appearance alongside Japanese disasters, both of these works are often regarded by the Western world as reflections on the peculiarities of Japan's geological and political timeline, yet rarely as explorations of the kind of natural and man-made events any country is liable to experience at any moment. (Especially significant is the fact that both "Tsunami" and "Godzilla" are Japanese words, transliterated to English only from their kanji and ateji phoneticizations, respectively).


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May the Fourth Be With You, Yo.
If the proliferation of "May the fourth be with you" tweets and status updates weren't enough of a clue, be aware that today is Star Wars Day — and no matter how fans feel about Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm or its plans for the next three "Star Wars" movies, movie marathons and geeky costume parties abound, along with the inevitable merchandising (20 percent off all "Star Wars"-themed products at Hot Topic!).
The holiday was first celebrated in 2011, but the phrase and the date itself has an interesting history — on May 4, 1979, Margaret Thatcher became England's first woman prime minister, and the Conservative Party placed an ad in the London Evening News that read "May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations."
The date is also shared by MCA Day, a celebration of the life of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, who died one year ago today, and by Free Comic Book Day. It is not, however, shared by Star Wars Day for the San Francisco Giants, George Lucas's hometown team — that's on September 8.
Below, some of the best memes of the day, plus a Star Wars Day attack ad, paid for by the Emperor's Committee to Destroy May the Fourth:


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It has been a while since I have recovered from a surgery. The tonsil surgery went well yesterday, but naturally there is pain. In adults, recovery apparently takes longer. Even so, I felt so bad for the two babies in recovery who had their tonsils out as well. How horrible not to know what is happening to you. I am not supposed to lift heavy things or drive machinery or eat solids or anything. I am pretty drugged up, so my thoughts are kind of random. I have no compuction using pain killers. Bring 'em on. Last night was a little rough as the stitches tickled, forcing me to cough. New adventures in pain. With each hour today, things got better.
Jello is the real joy. It soothes and moistens. Lance made me a bowl of Jello last night and Dot brought over some Jello bars this morning which I immediately devoured.
I also ate four cherry popsicles in the middle of the night, then panicked when I spit out some deep red. Thought I would have to call emergency, as the biggest risk with tonsil removal in adults is bleeding. Took me a little while to figure out that it was red dye #34, not blood.
The hardest part of the surgery was the part I dread the most...the putting in of the IV. The nurses have never had difficulty finding my veins in the past, but even when it goes well, the procedure makes me nauseated.
So, this time they couldn't find a vein. "Whoa!" The nurse said, "you're going to have a bruise there!" I got green. "That vein just exploded!" I got greener. Four pokes on the left hand, two on the right. Then finally, one didn't collapse. By then I was green, boy was I green. So they stuck some anti-nausea stuff right in me. The nurse that finally found a vein was a customer and we talked plants. "All you need is some distraction," she said, as if the onus of finding a vein was on me! I guess the mental state of the pokee actually does make a difference for the poker, but I wasn't too keen on accepting blame for all the holes in my arms.
I had planned to have my last words before going under be "Jimmy Hoffa is buried...." However, they put me under with a mask, so my profoundity was limited to muffled gasping. Imagine my surprise when I read the news this morning that they are digging up another field in search of Jimmy Hoffa. It wasn't me!
No privacy in the recovery room. As Lance and I waited for final instructions, the woman in the next bay, who had obviously had a very intimate (although minor) procedure, was given detailed instructions on which intimate activities she might engage in and exactly how. I am no prude, but the loudness of it in a full room was a bit much. Lance buried his head in his hands until it was over. I admit to some very painful supressed laughter at the absurdity of it all. Poor lady. The doctor (a female, thank goodness) was tactful, beginning her sentence..."It would be best if you could make yourself happy by..."
Oh, I can't wait until I am old enough for the colonoscopies to begin.


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TeraByte Support wrote in viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2326#p12342:
> This is a user supported help group, not official support
Thank you for the info. That was new to me. There are certainly very valuable contributions by members. But there are also problems and questions put forward that would need answers by Terabyte Support. I would like to invite you to provide further assistance in this forum and to thank you for your assistance so far and hopefully in the future.
> and your questions and issues are outside use of the product itself.
That worries me and makes me uncertain because I had thought there are implications in the problem put forward that are related to Terabyte products. But I cannot possibly argue with you on that and have to rely on your goodwill.
> You're probably looking for something like
> http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=327
Thank you very much. This appears to be exactly what I was looking for. Perhaps this KB 327 may also be the solution to my related thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2257 (wrt the lost Win7 partition on HD-0, which had been overlapped by the 100 MiB partition created when trying to upgrade Win7_Koy to Win10).
I will report back on the outcome in both threads. But I will first create backups before I proceed with this KB instruction.


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Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus防撞殼
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Across the ranges we offer a variety of camisoles, nightshirts and pyjama tops that you can mix and match with shorts, long PJ bottoms or a chemise to create your perfect combination. We also have several kimonos and of different lengths and weights, for elegant breakfasting.
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Class of 2017: 99% Job Placement
According to a new report, 99 percent of recent Augustana grads seeking employment are employed in a position related to their major or chosen field.
Orlando International Airport Unveils 'Wellness Garden' Designed by Augustana Art Professor
In December, the Orlando International Airport unveiled new artwork by Augustana's Scott Parsons, associate professor of art.
Director of Athletics Search Underway
Augustana University has named members of the Director of Athletics Search Committee. The national search for this important role is now underway.
Volunteers, Fans Represent Augustana at Super Bowl 52
The 2018 Super Bowl features several alumni in volunteer roles, plus a staff family member playing for the Eagles.
Herseth Sandlin: $30 Million Scholarship Gift 'Has the Power to Truly Change the World'
Thanks to a transformative $30 million endowment gift from South Dakota entrepreneur and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, students who choose Augustana will soon be eligible to receive a scholarship through the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to helping youth to pursue their dreams through higher education.
Augustana Names Bill Gross Interim Director of Athletics
Augustana University has announced that Bill Gross has been named interim director of athletics.
Q&A with Allison Koehn: Chocolatier
Augustana senior Allison Koehn interned in a chocolate factory and museum in Peru last summer. We caught up with her to learn more.
Fall 2017 Dean's List Announced
Augustana University congratulates the students named to the Dean's List for the fall semester of the 2017-18 academic year.
Slade Larscheid to Step Down as Augustana Director of Athletics
Augustana University today announced that Slade Larscheid has decided to step down as director of athletics in order to spend more time with his family and pursue other opportunities.
Q&A: Augustana Peace Scholars Reflect on Experience
Junior Jessica Ruf and senior Tia McKillip, both of Sioux Falls, reflect on their experiences in Norway last summer as part of the Peace Scholar program.


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USCIS Temporarily Delays Issuance Of I-129 Receipt Notices
Submitted by Editor on
Due to the high number of recently filed I-129 petitions with USCIS, customers may experience a longer than usual period of time to receive a receipt notice from USCIS. Usually, customers can expect to receive their receipt notice within 30 days of delivery confirmation. However, due to an unexpectedly high volume of I-129 petitions, it may be an additional two to four weeks before customers receive a receipt notice.
Customers who do not receive notification of receipt of an I-129 petition within 60 days of their delivery confirmation date may contact the appropriate Service Center via the email addresses listed on our Contact Us Web page. This is a temporary situation and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
For further information on contacting USCIS, see the Contact Us link under Related Links to the right.


text:
By PETER ATKINSON, Deputy Editor
Outside, NYNM Chief Yeoman
John M. Smith and Boatswain's Mate
2nd Class James Belfiore help guide
the boarding team members — fully
outfitted in assault gear — off the PB
440's bow and up onto the rope-and-rubber ladder, which leads to Maersk
Georgia's gangway, and stand ready
to pull them back if rough seas or
separation between the two boats
jeopardize the transfer.
Once one boarding team member
reaches Maersk Georgia's deck, the
next one begins his ascent. It takes
about five minutes to get the entire
team up the ladder and onto the
fully loaded container ship to begin
the operation. While the team conducts its business, the
PB 440 — now joined by a Coast Guard long-range interceptor boat — moves a few hundred feet away and circles, awaiting the call to retrieve the team.
Depending on the nature of the operation — a full
security sweep, engineering check, safety/maintenance
check or passport/manifest check — that can mean up to
several hours. In one instance earlier in the year, the captain of a merchant ship was suspected of being drunk
and a boarding team stayed on-station for 14 hours.
During that time, the PB 440 made five trips out to the
ship and back to the Coast Guard station at Fort
Wadsworth on Staten Island, where the boat is berthed
and boarding team members gather, according to Smith.
This time, however, the four-man NYNM crew is
still catching its collective breath when the call comes
over the radio after just 20 minutes that the operation
is complete and the Coast Guard team is ready to leave.
Then it's back alongside Maersk Georgia for a transfer
operation in reverse.
"It was an American-flag ship with a mostly American
crew, so all we really had to do this time was check paperwork, make sure the crew list matched up with their
The New York Naval Militia (NYNM) is one of about a half-dozen
state naval forces in the United States.
■ NYNM's 10-vessel Military Emergency Boat Service was created following the 9/11 terrorist attacks to bolster homeland security
and maritime domain awareness in New York state waters.
■ The militia maintains a close working relationship with U.S.
Coast Guard Sector New York out of Staten Island.
■ NYNM's new Patrol Boat 440 provides a fast, stable platform
from which Coast Guard security teams perform boarding operations on merchant vessels.
As dawn breaks over the Atlantic on a chilly late-November morning, the New York Naval
Militia's (NYNM's) 44-foot Patrol Boat (PB) 440
bobs in the water alongside the nearly 1,000-foot-long
container ship M/V Maersk Georgia, at anchor near the
Ambrose Light about 10 miles out from New York Harbor.
Aboard the PB 440, six members of U.S. Coast
Guard Sector New York Safety and Security Team 3
await their turns to scamper up Maersk Georgia's
Jacob's ladder for a boarding operation. This morning,
waves present but a light chop as the icy wind that was
howling down from the north just a few hours earlier
had subsided, but that still can make for some anxious
moments getting aboard.
"This is where it gets tricky," notes NYNM Chief
Master-at-Arms Richard Raynock, chief of the boat, as
he maneuvers the PB 440 into position using its fly-by-wire steering system, a joystick-and-mouse setup more
akin to a video game than the traditional steering wheel.
"When they've got one foot on the ladder and one foot
on the deck, you don't want any sudden movements," he
said. "The guys can get tangled up, or worse, go over into
the water."


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What this world talks about is my past and other stories on my life. Boring to some people...I can almost guarrantee that, but if you're interested, feel free to look.
- Created By Sanku12
My Swing with Death
My Swing with Death
Why did it have to happen to me?! What did I do to deserve it? Me, hanging upside down, tied up in rope to the highest bar of the Spider, with my three kindergartener friends trying to cut me down, telling me I did the most stupidest thing in my young, kindergartener life: I made a high school senior very mad.
I was six years old at the time of the incident. Me and my friends, Maximillian "Max" Liefly, his twin sister Roserade "Rose" Liefly, and Darrell Moreli, all who were also six years old, were having fun at the local park in our apartment complex, swinging on the swing set. Max and Rose were having a competition to see who can swing higher, those two always had competitions, so Darrell and I were used to it. Darrell and I were just swinging, but we soon got into our own little competition, and pretty soon, we all got into it.
Three minutes into the "game", as Max calls it, Rose ended up having to quit. Two minutes later, Darrell gave up. It was down to Max and me. However, Max jumped off the swing. I thought he was just trying to show off, as usual, but he ran behind Darrell, who had ran all the way to Old Tree Top, our tree house. I saw fear on all of their faces, and I looked around the swing. We all had arachnophobia back then, now I'm the only one that still has it, severe, might I add.
Suddenly, I stopped moving, well, sort of, the swing stopped. I looked behind me and saw a boy, an older boy, looking at me with a mean look, the kind bullies give off to install fear into innocent, little children. He pointed away from the swing.
"Off the swing, you little twerp!" He barked.
I had a bit of stupid courage running through me that day. So, I talked back.
"I don't take orders from you! Go bother someone else, this swing's taken." I turned my head to my friends. "Come on, you fradycats!" I called, but they shook their heads and stayed put.
"I'll ask you one more time, twerp, off the-"
"You didn't ask, you're trying to order me around." I interrupted him.
He moved right in front of me and pulled out a gun. He pointed it in my face.
"Move you dumb idiot, or say "Bye-Bye" to your head!"
Being a six year old, you don't really know about this kind of stuff. I actually thought he was trying to make it up to me by giving me some fancy lollipop, so, I put it in my mouth and started to suck on it. The boy had a really weird look on his face after I did.
"I don't think you want me to pull the trigger." He said confused.
I quickly took it out of my mouth and started spitting to the side. "Eww! Nasty!"
"Well, what did you think it was?!" He yelled. "Now get off the dang swing!"
"Make me!" I replied and stuck my tongue out at him.
He then grabbed me by the hair and dragged me to the Spider, which was a bunch of monkey bars all aligned. He grabbed out some rope, wrapped it around me, and tied the end to the very top bar of the Spider. I was then hanging upside down.
"There, that'll keep you busy. At least until your folks can get you down, which I doubt!" The boy said laughing, and then he walked off.
I didn't know what kind of rope it was, but it made me itch like crazy. Unfortunately, my hands were all tied up so I couldn't scratch it.
Max was the first to walk up to me. He was being cautious, just in case the boy would come back and hurt him if he was found there.
"Boy, you sure know the wrong time to get stupid, don't you?" He asked.
"Sucking on a gun?" Rose asked, "I'm not even that stupid."
"Gun?" I asked confused, "What's a gun?"
"Are you serious?" Max asked shocked.
"You've never heard of a gun?" Rose inquired.
"Come on, guys. Give her a break. Her parents don't tell her anything dangerous." Darrell said as he walked over. "She's, uh, protected."
Protected?! I took that as an insult, but I didn't really have time to complain. I started crying just after he said that. Being upside down wasn't fun.
"We should probably get her down." Rose said in a paniked voice, although, I don't know why.
"Good idea, Sis. C'mon Darrell!" Max said motioning Darrell to fillow him.
I continued to cry while the boys were trying to cut me down. Yes, cut.
See, Max and Rose's parents were pretty messed up people. They didn't care about the siblings like me and Darrell did, so we kept them on the good side of the law, I guess.
Well, Max finally cut the rope, but held on. Darrell came right down and extended his arms, then nodded. Max released the rope and I fell into Darrell's arms.
I'll say it now before I forget to. I've had a crush oon Darrell since kindergarten, so I didn't mind ending up in his arms, but no one knows.
Max jumped down through the opening between bars and joined us, his usual show offy smile on his face.
Once they untied me, we left the park, and went anywhere that boy wasn't. That's when they explained a gun to me. I was terrified! I became a paranoid freak after that, but it only lasted four weeks. I was back to my normal self.


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The Orange County Business Journal is a weekly print and online newspaper covering business in Orange County, California. The paper is the second largest business journal in California after the Los Angeles Business Journal.
In February 2017, the City of Brea celebrated its first 100 years and was featured in the OCBJ. Click here to view the Brea's Centennial feature.


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This news story first appeared on May 22, 2013. For more information click here.
To what extent is the French republican model still viable in debates over immigration and integration in France today? Viewed from the perspective of the last thirty years, which saw the rise of a powerful anti-immigrant political movement, the Front National, one might conclude that immigration in postwar France has been raging out of control. Yet despite the remarkable showing of the Front National in recent presidential elections, France has remained a relatively open immigration country, a tradition which dates from the middle of the nineteenth century. Annual levels of immigration have not fallen much below 100,000 since the early 1950s, the right to asylum has been respected by every postwar government, and France has maintained what is arguably the most liberal naturalization policy in Western Europe. How can we explain this continuity in the midst of crisis? I argue that the continuity in the principles and outcomes of French immigration policy is closely linked to the power of the republican model and to the limits of control that are a function of rights-based politics.
To listen to the audio recorded lecture, click here.
James F. Hollifield is Ora Nixon Arnold Professor of International Political Economy in the Department of Political Science and Director of the Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University (SMU). He received his PhD in political science from Duke University in 1985. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he has worked as a consultant for a variety of governmental and intergovernmental organizations, and has published widely on international political and economic issues, including Immigrants, Markets, and States (Harvard UP, 1992), L'immigration et l'Etat Nation (L'Harmattan, 1997), Controlling Immigration (Stanford UP, 2nd Edition, 2004), Migration Theory: Talking Across Disciplines (Routledge, 2nd Edition, 2008), and International Political Economy: History, Theory and Policy (Cambridge UP, forthcoming) along with numerous other books and scientific articles. Hollifield has been the recipient of grants from private corporations and foundations as well as government agencies, including the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Social Science Research Council, the Sloan Foundation, the Raytheon Company, and the National Science Foundation. His current research looks at the rapidly evolving relationship between trade, migration, and development with a special focus on human capital and how states use migration for strategic gains. He sits on several boards and is currently Chairman of the Owens Foundation and the Dallas County Historical Foundation, the governing body of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.


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|editTaisa Amagiri
|天霧タイサ Amagiri Taisa
|Naruto Shippūden: Kizuna Drive
|Appears in
|Voice Actors
Taisa Amagiri (天霧タイサ, Amagiri Taisa) is a ninja from Yumegakure's Amagiri clan and the son of Gensui Amagiri that appears in Naruto Shippūden: Kizuna Drive.
A loyal and proud shinobi of Yumegakure, Taisa was dedicated to avenging his comrades after the attack of the Fake-Nine-tails and supposed death of his father. He is headstrong and confident, shown by his willingness to rush into battle alone, and is also a highly skilled shinobi for his age, as he is able to use advanced techniques.
Taisa was good friends with both Yomito Hirasaka and Ryuka Tenrō. There seems to be no mention of his mother or any other family.
Aside from his feelings towards his comrades and family, Taisa was shown having a certain territorial streak, refusing defeat in the Forest of Mythic Beasts, referring to it as his "garden".
Taisa is a young boy with short brown hair and several pinkish-red markings on his face. He is dressed in a samurai-like getup of the same colour as his markings and some purple and white. He has two purple shoulder-guards that echo those worn by other Amagiri. He wears loose, dark grey pants with some yellow on the left leg tucked in bandages wrapped around his lower legs and wears the unique sandals of the Amagiri. On his head he wears a loose, dark grey cap on which there is a golden, crescent moon-like ornament.
Taisa's techniques mostly revolved around poisons, seen with his use of Poison Mist. He is also fairly skilled in taijutsu.
He possibly used the Summoning Technique to summon insects, giving him a slight similarity to members of Aburame clan, though his insects would be much larger. The insects also had the ability to burst out poison upon defeat, requiring enemies to attack from a distance to avoid being poisoned.
Like his comrades Yomito and Ryuka, Taisa used a powerful combat Transformation Technique to turn into an armoured beetle similar to a kabutomushi. While in this form, he is immune to normal attacks except for his stomach (underside), he is also capable of using a lightning atack in this form. The player must attack him to "make him angry", at which point he will do a charge attack and flip over, allowing his vulnerable underside to be damaged.
Plot Overview
He first appears in the game after Naruto defeats Yomito. While Yomito wishes to stay and fight, Taisa objects, asking Yomito to leave and avoid death. Taisa then retreats to the Forest of Mythic Beasts, beckoning Naruto and his team to follow and fight.
Later, when Naruto discovers that Gensui is in fact alive, Taisa (along with Yomito and Ryuka) refuses to believe him. When Gensui reveals himself, he orders Taisa to kill the injured Yomito and Ryuka, and join him in his plan to re-establish the Amagiri clan. Taisa objects, saying that he cannot kill his "precious friends". Gensui then rejects his son, stating that he now "has no use" for Taisa, and uses Tailed Beast Replication to turn him into a false Two-Tails. After Naruto defeats him, Taisa returns to his original form.
After Gensui merges with the Three-Headed Guardian Beast, Taisa tries one more time to appeal to him. The beast tries to kill Taisa, but Naruto saves him. Taisa then reluctantly trusts Naruto to defeat his father "for the sake of the village." After the beast is defeated and Gensui is returned to his original form, Taisa leans over his injured father, where the Tenrō and Amagiri clans agree to work together for the sake of the village.
- During the cut-scenes, he is shown to be shorter than other characters, consistent with his age. His in-game model, however, is roughly the same height as Naruto.
- Gensui emphasises the hardships that the Amagiri clan had to endure, being outcast from the village. Taisa, however, seems to be an equal member and is not shown as being outcast or oppressed in any way.


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0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Do u happen to have an idea of how much the fee is?
I don't think that we do membership cards any longer Kevin.....FWIW
Hello~ If you pay in one of our partner stores, the online fee ($1.00) is waived. $20 for a year, new or renewal, and bag tags are always $5.
Rob, I believe the grey line through a member means they have passed on to a place where every drive is in the fairway, and the first putt goes in.Yeah I've got a somewhat complete listing of when each member entered the database. I'll add that to the page.It's a lovely compilation of history data. 3 cheers for the KCFDC!


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"A lovely, funny girl" … Amy WinehouseShe sang about having to wake up alone, but tragically that is how she died instead.
Famous for the defiant song, 'Rehab' Amy Winehouse died alone, at home, watching YouTube clips of herself after drinking two bottles of vodka.
An inquest into the troubled singer's death found what has already been widely reported; that the 27-year-old died of alcohol poisoning in her London home on July 23, 2011.
Miss Winehouse drank so much that she stopped breathing and fell into a coma, The Daily Mail reported.
While her live-in body guard was home and had seen the Grammy-award winning singer earlier in the evening, he insisted to the courts that she was her 'usual, bubbly self' and while he could tell she had been drinking, she 'wasn't completely drunk'.
According to the body guard, Winehouse, who was struggling with alcoholism, bulimia and who was a recovering drug-addict, spent the night watching television and listening to music in her bedroom.
In a statement read out at court, he said he had left her around 2.30am before checking on her again at 10am. Lying fully-clothed, face-down in bed, he believed she was sleeping. He realised there was a problem when he found her in the same position at 3pm that same day and alerted emergency services.
She was pronounced dead shortly after paramedics arrived.
Pathology tests showed she had 416 mgs of alcohol per decilitre in her blood – 350mg is enough to kill.
The death was described as a 'misadventure' by the coroner.
This was in light of a statement by Winehouse's doctor, who said: "In the course of the last consultation, Amy did not appear to be depressed at any stage… She specifically said she did not want to die."
This was the second inquest into the singer's death. The first inquest was rescheduled after it was found the original coroner was underqualified.
Winehouse wrote her first song as a 10-year-old and learned to play guitar when she was a teenager.
She went on to win six Grammys from her album Back to Black which documented her personal problems.
Her father Mitch has previously said she was working hard to overcome her troubles and described his daughter as "a lovely, funny girl."
The original release of this article first appeared on the website of Shanghai Night Net.


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"The Power Of Christ Compels You!;" Pope Benedict XVI exorcizes George W. Bush. Photo Courtesy of the Vatican Archives.
(Take A Stand News Reports)–After much outcry and the aftermath of when Brannon Howse first outed Former False President George W. Bush using these terms:
"I was one of the first conservative talk show hosts to refer to George W. Bush as a socialist and a globalist. Both parties are destroying our country."
Sources close to the Former Bush Administration say that these charges brought major concerns for the image of the Administration and Inside Sources say that in fact Bush was possessed and inhabited by Red-Letter Christian demons—which seduced him into implementing "socialist and globalist" policies in order to taint the Pure Doctrines Of The American unBiblical Gospel Of Reaganism. These Sources corroborate their conspiracy theories, non-factual findings and painstakingly misresearched incriminating evidence to point to the case that Bush was possessed and in need of an exorcism based upon Bush's interactions with Emerging/Emergent Church "leaders."
Doug Parris in True Sedewhitehousist fashion is on record as saying that "this is what happens when people don't admit that the White House has in fact been vacant since Final President Ronald Reagan left the Office back in 1989 and that the White House since then has been occupied by False Presidents or Anti-Presidents." (We of God's Only Inerrant Party are hoping to remedy this by running a Presidential ticket of Brannon Howse/David Barton in the near future so that we can return America back to it's unBiblical roots of Absolute Theocracy, God and the Bible, militarism and imperialism, military security, nationalism, patriotism, unregulated greed Capitalist Materialism Capitalism and Reaganolatry Ronald Reagan.)
Eric Barger reports that "things seem to have gone from bad to worse" so much so that Bush indeed had an Exorcism earlier this weekend to return him to the Reagan fold. Discernmentalists were hoping to get a Protestant exorcist in hopes of having a Pure Exorcism but none could be reached so the Pope had to do despite the clear teachings of Ken Silva against such. Discernmentalists are still waiting to see if the Exorcism did any good.


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We're now up to our 11th contest of the series. It's been fun so far, and I hope that continues on. This time our theme comes from Week 10's winner, Eldritch. In her own words:
Our next theme will be the most awesome of mix tape fodder, 80s music! The 80s were an amazing time for music, with creative explosions in every single genre of music. For this theme, please include the year your song was released. Come on Eileen, it's time to get those seagulls to flock again!
So there we go. It's time to think back to a different time. A time when Eddie Murphy still made good movies. A time when there was no such thing as too embarrassing when it came to clothing decisions. A time when big hair and a synthesizer was all you needed to rock! It's time for the 1980s to return.
Eldritch has requested that you include the year of the song's release in your list. Otherwise the same rules apply. You have until Tuesday, July 15 at noon to get your playlists turned in. I expect great things.


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Welcome to
For the visitor we offer boat hire, tuition and a cafe. We have lots of nice walks on the doorstep and are also on the Keswick Launch route. We are particularly family friendly, and we cater to passing walkers and families on holiday as well as the more usual groups - every year we welcome numerous group of all ages including schools, youth clubs, scouts, church outings, stag parties and large family groups, who return year after year. We are licensed by the AALA and have many experienced instructors available, should your group require tuition. You can also arrange a fun day (or longer) with various activities including raft building, sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and canoeing. In the holiday periods we try and ensure that there is always an instructor available to take last minute bookings from families on holiday.
For the boat owner we offer permanent moorings, holiday moorings, a chandlery, rigging service, engine and boat repair workshop. We are an authorised Suzuki dealer. The cafe and boat hire is very popular with boat owners as well!
Nichol End is open every day (apart from Christmas Day) for home cooking and baking. We also open late in the summer months so you can enjoy a relaxed supper after a day's activities, or even a relaxing paddle on the lake in the evening when (almost) everyone else has gone home.


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What did we learn from Sunday's Emmycast? We learned who won the Emmys, of course. But there were other lessons to be gained from the three-hour trophy handout, aired on ABC from Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre.
For instance, when you win 10 Emmys in a row, you apparently get license to drop an F-bomb. Jon Stewart did, on accepting his annual statuette for "The Daily Show." But it was bleeped. Social media yawned. Life went on.
A seismic shift could be felt by the audience as terrorism thriller "Homeland" seemed to shove aside "Mad Men" as TV's reigning prestige drama, winning four trophies while "Mad Men" was shut out.
Though the Emmycast moved briskly, its efficient pace was partly explained by the trigger-happy music cues applied to acceptance remarks. This led to one act of defiance, from "Homeland" executive producer Alex Gansa accepting the award for best drama.
"I don't know when they're going to cut me off," he said, "but this is the biggest night of my career. I'm going to keep talking until they do."
Cheers from the audience as a new movement was born: Occupy Podium.
We learned for sure what we had previously only suspected, thanks to the gown worn by Kat Dennings that exposed much of what is only hinted at in her "2 Broke Girls" waitress uniform. Her bustline had viewers' jaws dropping and tweeters madly tweeting.
Speaking of Twitter, we learned that fans of social media are game for a prank — and also are ripe to become victims of it.
Midway through the show, host Jimmy Kimmel instructed people to go on Twitter and Facebook and post "OMG, Tracy Morgan just passed out at the Emmys. Turn on ABC right now!" It was a joke, just to see how swiftly the alarm would spread (and maybe bring in new viewers). "30 Rock" star Morgan, who was in on the gag, complied by lying on the stage for several minutes. The message went viral, and presumably loads of bemused followers tuned in to check on Morgan's condition.
And what of Kimmel?
Presiding over the glitz and tributes, he didn't break a sweat. Nor did he break any records for laughs or memorable moments.
His opening monologue was routine, with a few political jokes not quite hitting the mark.
He compared the proper, regal world of "Downton Abbey" to "what it must have been like to grow up in Mitt Romney's house," and cracked that "being a Republican in Hollywood is like being a Chik-fil-A sandwich at the snack table at 'Glee.'"
Later on, he offered up a spoof of the "In Memoriam" fixture that's a part of all awards shows. This one, Kimmel explained, was meant to pay tribute to someone still living — "to the life and work of someone everyone in this room admires, respects and loves."
That person, of course, was Kimmel, who was displayed in slow-motion video clips while Josh Groban sang "What Makes You Beautiful." It was amusing.
But overall, to his credit, Kimmel kept the Emmycast focused squarely on the Emmys, resisting the urge as host to make the show about himself. His jokes weren't standout, his comedy bits mostly felt pedestrian. But he got the job done in professional style.
And he seemed to have fun — especially when ousting his parents from the auditorium.
He had warmly introduced his mom and dad, telling viewers they had always been supportive of their son.
"They always told me I could do anything I set my mind to," he said, "and this year I set my mind to winning the Emmy. And guess what? I didn't.
"You told me I could, and I didn't, and I'm devastated," he said, addressing his parents. "You lied to me!"
With that, Kimmel summoned security to remove Mom and Dad.
"It's OK if you Taser them if you need to," he told the security men.
Kimmel set up the night's funniest filmed bit by musing on what "Breaking Bad" would have been like had it been on the air in a G-rated, pre-cable era.
The answer: a spoof of the opening to "The Andy Griffith Show," with "Breaking Bad" stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, fully suited up to cook crystal meth, out at the lake with their fishing poles as the "Andy Griffith" whistling theme song was heard. As a punch line, they shot dead an unexpected witness: a friendly deputy billed as co-star Don Knotts.
And there was one final thing we learned: Don't dismiss Kimmel's skill at prophecy, even when it's inadvertent.
In his monologue, he hailed "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm, once again nominated for best actor.
"You gave a tremendous performance this year," Kimmel said, "and I for one am shocked that you did not win tonight."
As a star who has been jilted by Emmy year after year, Hamm cracked up, along with everyone else. Maybe by the end of the show he didn't find it so funny.


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World premiere February 26, 2011
Dance. "More Stijn Celis for the people of Gothenburg" GT wrote in 2009. Now he's back in a double program with acclaimed Norwegian choreographer Jo Strømgren.
Dance program in two parts by Jo Strømgren and Stijn Celis.
The Outskirts by Jo Strømgren.
"First class!" The review by DN refers to Norwegian Jo Strømgren's internationally successful dance production Herzschmerz at The Göteborg Ballet in 2009, in which he once again created a harmonious production at the intersection between dance and theatre. Strømgren's sometimes ingenious, sometimes laconic understatements give the performance a sudden and poetic edge that verges between laughter and tears.
Strømgren consciously appeals to the common as well as the playful and intellectual. A quick glance at his long list of productions, that encompass all spectra from terrorism to romantic triangles, nuns on the verge of nervous breakdown and a closed society for coffee drinkers that's infiltrated by an Asian teabag, gives an idea of the possibilities that open up with this new production. The starting point is a play on the meaning of theater.
Watch a movie from the performance.
Watch an interview with the choreographer Jo Strømgren.
Looming Sky by Stijn Celis.
Within dance there is a phenomenon called "The Belgian Wonder". It is a group of contemporary choreographers who have created some of the strongest dance productions of the last few decades. Stijn Celis is one of these. In 2006 he was awarded the "Most Promising Choreographer of the Year" by famous magazine Tanz International (previously Ballet Tanz).
Celis has also performed at The Göteborg Opera previously, presenting his production Your Passion is Pure Joy to Me, a part of the dance triple act In memoriam. GT's critic wrote "I am continuously surprised by the strands of contact improvisation that reoccur; I flutter inside over the original lifts and am fascinated by the slightly nerdy clothes in wonderfully bright colours. More Stijn Celis for the people of Gothenburg!" We would therefore like to bid you all welcome to a long awaited new meeting with Celis and a completely new production created especially for our dancers.
Watch a movie from the performance.
Watch an interview with choreographer Stijn Celis.
The Outskirts by Jo Strømgren
English translation of swedish voiceover.
The year was 1964. China tested its first atomic bomb, The Beatles went to America, and 300 people were trampled to death at a football match in Peru. But all that was in the outside world. In our little suburb, not mentioning where of course, there was just peace and quiet. It had been a good Summer. Not much rain and not too many tourists. But Autumn was approaching and residents were gradually beginning to have doubts about various matters.
What felt safest was watching what others were doing. That didn't involve any personal risk. Some even watched those doing the watching. On the whole it was rather unlcear – just like when one season ends and another begins.
Carl Gustav Fredriksson worked in the local bank. Not a manager exactly, but he did his job well. He lent money, but not to everyone. For example, when Gustafsson came to take out a loan for his new roof. Fredriksson knew that there was nothing wrong with Gustafsson's roof – after all they were neighbours. The problem was elsewhere – in a house with children's toys on the steps. It's often said that money talks, but from time to time you have to take moral action.
This is Gustav Fredrik Carlsson. He grew up in an orphanage. He's done well for himself but how he came to be stuck slightly in the past no one really knows. Right now he has made a mistake. A crowd of people is gathering in the public square. "I'm running out of question marks" says one. The others think. The blood was one thing. An even stranger thing was the person who lay there lifeless – a Catholic. Someone says: "It must be a sign." And everyone looks to the heavens.
When you live opposite the public square, as Mr and Mrs Gustafsson did, you unfortunately can't choose what you see through the window. There was good reason why Magdalena mostly stayed indoors. It was safer. She didn't know where the nocturnal screams came from, but they sounded slightly alien. She knew the sound of Finnish bastards, that was different. But now a stranger lay out there dressed like a ghost – and it was silent as the grave.
Of course they had seen pictures of Catholics in the paper but their local presence was surprising. They weren't many and a church wasn't even an option. But elevated for sure. And with a good view over the mysterious ways of the suburb. Now the only thing missing was a miracle – then the wheels would start turning.
One should never trust what's seen on a public square but sometimes it's impossible to doubt. They deliberated and – yes, it was a miracle and nothing less. The Catholic wheel was practically burning the asphalt.
Now, things don't always turn out as expected. Gustav Fredrik's mistake was, luckily, already forgotten. One cannot shoot Catholics, at least not these days. But he still didn't feel happy. He realised, of course, that he now had to go further into the wilderness to fullfil his bipolar inclinations.
It wasn't only in Constantinople that a schism took its time. Even in our little suburb they were, at first, a little unused to all the new things. However, once blessed with a miracle, there is no room for hesitation. With houses full of new appliances, people started living their lives at the public square instead. It was a wonderful new behaviour. Silly and strange, yes, but the joy of being together spread and everyone gave a lot of themselves. Pleasant surprises were simply queing up. Carl Gustav and Johanna Fredriksson, for instance, never wanted to share their secret happiness with anyone. Now all people got to enjoy their generous openness.
Neighbourly love blossomed. Every word and every gesture became a caress and they felt that now there really was a meaning to it all. At night and during rainy days, when they sat indoors waiting for good weather and morning rosy skies to continue their good deeds, they sent kind thoughts to each other instead. Even those with children's toys on their steps had time for quiet prayer.
Now the nocturnal screams weren't as frightening as before. All places find their own sound, their own voice. The Pacific islands have the waves, the Nordic mountains the wind, and Venice the songs from its gondolas. Now our suburb had found its voice too. And it could be heard high up in the heavens.
The only one who didn't have a voice was Johanna. She was different. Not just the ugly foot, the disgusting eye, the greasy hair, the different sized ears, and the fact that she spoilt the Lucia celebrations last year. No, she kept her mouth shut. For good reasons.
Yes, they could laugh. But within herself she laughed as well. "What silly fools", she thought, "Father, do not forgive them for they know what they are doing." The spit from Mrs Gustafsson, or according to Johanna – the sloppytitted dry cunt, ran down her neck. "Well, well", she thought, "there's a lot of spit in Mrs Gustafsson's coffee as well." But that was something only Johanna knew. She also knew that the dark force had come to the suburb. No golden calf had been made yet but that was just a matter of time. Evil was there, in every corner, in every shadow.
Of course Hell existed. Here as anywhere. "Hell is not the real threat", Johanna thought, "but the coward inside each one of us. Look Satan straight in the eye!"
"Yes it hurts when bodies burn", said the cardinal during mass, "Why else would the thighs fry? Why would all our heat be bound in what is frozen?" What the church preached was far from comprehensible, but at least they understood that money alone wouldn't keep the sin away.
Johanna thought: "We'll all burn." She took the bus and met with her friends in town instead. They appreciated other qualities in her. And she got what she wanted. Later they asked themselves if it was Johanna who bit the apple. In reality it could have been anyone. But the sin came and the sin stayed. Seven days with stormy weather and seven days with stomach bugs. They thought of snakes, Egyptians, burning bushes, and greasy lads from Sodoma. Someone even came up with the idea of building a great big boat for everybody, just in case.
Suddenly the storm calmed down. Gustafsson was standing in his kitchen with both arms stretched out and with a strange thought in his head. One says "the calm before the storm" but in this case it was "the calm after the storm". Something was about to happen. God's wrath was definitively not over.
And then, it was as if the Red Sea opened. Yet again, in our little suburb, a miracle was unfolding. Not big, not dramatic, but still, it was true love of the old kind. Nursery school teacher Magdalena Carlsson and Fredrik Fredrik Fredriksson, the silent loyal worker with holes in his pockets and no money left, felt a knot in their stomachs. They could barely breathe.
"Stop!", screamed Carlsson. "What in Mary Magdalene's and Saint Jesus' and the Three Spirit Apostles's name!!!" However it happened. It was now that the worst thing took place. A murder. In the middle of the square, in full public view. Saint Pauls insight on his way to Damascus was nothing compared to this. The cardinal was no real cardinal. He was just a fortune hunter from Örebro who had read a few pages in the Bible. And now he was also a murderer. A nefarious person craved a nefarious punishment. It was as simple as that.
The time of miracles was over. Death was just death and nothing else. If anything could be done, it would be to remember those who'd passed away. Little Lajka, born in 1958, whose name was a tribute to the first creature to ever leave the earth for real was now also ready for space travel. Not to Heaven, nor to Hell. Maybe to another body?
Returning to normality was not an easy task. Surely the rubbish bins were filled with things but the houses were empty. People had to pursue new meanings to life and underwent a period of alternative research. Existential experiments on a sophisticated level they were indeed. There were no answers to be found, however. The questions were too big. Earth, air, and sunlight were the only solid proof of an existence. The flowers didn't need to worry about anything. Should then people go around screaming in the night without even knowing why? "The flowers", thought Gustafsson, "what new thing is it that bursts and wears?" One thing was for certain. For some people children's toys on the steps really hurt. A scumbag was now nothing more than a scumbag.
Mrs Gustafsson thought: "No! Damn it. That's enough." And then she rode her bike into town. "I'm a woman and I know what I want!" It's not always easy to know exactly what one wants, and especially not what Mrs Gustafsson desired in life. Nevertheless, she returned the same day as a new person. She had finally taken the big step. "Now everybody!", she screamed. "Now everybody…." Mrs Gustafsson wasn't used to speaking in public. But she didn't need to say anything. The accordion spoke for her. And an accordion always says the same thing – sometimes you just have to not give a damn about everything. "Now! Everybody!", she sounded a third time and then the stiff bodied suburbians reacted.
Autumn 1964. When Mrs Gustafsson started playing. That was the end. No one knows what happened thereafter. Or where they all went. My toys on the steps were gathered and we left. To new houses, new cities, and new countries. "Don't stay too long", my angry mother always said, "never stay too long." But I couldn't help missing the suburb. I don't remember the dull grey, only colours. Mad, crazy, and wonderful people, surreal incidents and small miracles. If I close my eyes I see small houses with little windows. And they are all still there, inside.
Biblical quotations are deliberately rephrased. Likewise with quotations from the famous Swedish poem below by Karin Boye.
Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking.
Why else would the springtime falter?
Why would all our ardent longing bind itself in frozen, bitter pallor?
After all, the bud was covered all the Winter.
What new thing is it that bursts and wears?
Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking, hurts for that which grows and that which bars.