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When Good Corporations Go Bad
When Good Corporations Go Bad
The modern corporation is the dominant form of business organization in the world today. Corporations' reach, however, is not limited to the business world. As they have multiplied in number, size, and power, corporations have also begun to exert extraordinary influence over the civic, economic, and cultural life of the human societies which host them. Although corporations are effective mechanisms for generating certain kinds of wealth, much of their influence can rightly be regarded as pernicious and even dangerous.
The term "hosts" hints at a biological metaphor-symbiosis-that is useful in describing the relationships between corporations and the societies in which they are embedded. This article explores the metaphor and lays out a general view of the problems that have arisen from the destructive evolution of corporations. Future articles will discuss ways to address these problems.
Varieties of Symbiotic Experience
The corporate form of ownership dates to the European Middle Ages, when it applied mostly to towns, universities, and religious orders. Business corporations, when they arose much later, were initially established for specific purposes. Designed in order to raise larger amounts of capital than limited joint-stock ventures, they could be used to create new industries, colonize far-off continents, build new canals and railroads-all of which would benefit the overall public good. While allowed to benefit themselves (by earning profit), corporations were intended to exist in a mutualistic, symbiotic relationship with human society.
Nature invented such relationships and has evolved a great many of them. Living examples include Egyptian plovers, which eat the leeches off the gums of Nile crocodiles. A certain species of aphid excretes honeydew, a delicacy to its ant protectors. Rhizobia bacteria live in the roots of legumes and convert atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form while receiving energy in exchange.
Interestingly, mutualistic relationships are not stable endpoints in evolution, according to Clark University biologist David Hibbett, "but are inherently unstable and can be disrupted by conflicts of interest among the partners. The breakdown of mutualisms can lead to parasitism or even the complete dissolution of the symbiosis." Several species of yucca moth, for example, have evolved from pollinators of the yucca plant to non-pollinating seed-eaters. And some plants have changed from being mutualistic traders of sugars for minerals with their fungal symbionts to energy-sucking parasites that draw both resources from fungal-plant networks.
The same dynamic-mutualism turned parasitism-can be seen in the relationships between corporations and human society. Originally this symbiosis was designed to be mutually beneficial. Evolving out of traditional business partnerships, early corporations were given limited mandates, primarily to serve particular societal or economic needs (for example, to provide a specific good or service) and in exchange were offered access to human energy (capital and labor). But the relationship has evolved into an increasingly parasitic one, in which corporations have seized more and more control of human society's energy and, while still providing goods and services in return, are also excreting toxins into its host organism-very much like the Glomus macrocarpum, a fungal species that provides phosphorous to the tobacco plant (like other Glomus species) but also stunts the plant's growth. Of course, not all corporations (just as not all species of fungi, moths, or plants) have become parasitic. But many have, and some are having a devastating effect on their host.
Parasitism itself is no more stable an endpoint than mutualism, however-perhaps less so in the case of corporations and human society, whose current relationship could lead to the destruction of one or both symbionts. If corporations keep defiling the environment-producing toxic chemicals, changing the climate, razing ecosystems-they could cause irreparable damage to the Earth and thereby trigger a major decline of human society (and thus the dependent corporate system as well). Or the societal host, infuriated by looming ecological collapse-not to mention the many ongoing abuses of workers, consumers, and communities-could revolt and purge the corporate parasites from its body. This too would be costly.
Many, even most, corporations produce valuable goods and services and make possible a complex and highly technological social system that has extended life spans, allowed global communication and travel, and provided cheap, abundant, and diverse goods to many around the world. While some activists advocate the complete revocation of all corporate charters, neither the collapse of human society nor the dissolution of the corporate system seems preferable to the intentional redesign of this symbiosis to be more mutualistic.
Experts on corporations have advocated this stance for decades. In Concept of the Corporation, his 1946 classic analysis, Peter Drucker argued that while corporations should be allowed to profit from their activities-profit is essential to their survival-"this does not mean that the corporation should be free from social obligations. On the contrary it should be so organized as to fulfill automatically its social obligations in the very act of seeking its own best self-interest."
Partners or Parasites?
An important milestone in the history of corporations was passed in 1600, when Queen Elizabeth of England granted a charter to the East India Company. The new company enjoyed the relatively new privilege of limited liability: investors would be liable only for the amount they invested in the company, even if total debts exceeded total investments. Limited liability attracted much greater investment, which was the goal as England strove to create the means to establish colonies and extract wealth from the New World.
Led by the Dutch and British East India companies, corporations gained significant power to shape world trade and transport, the governance of colonies, and even the creation of new laws to benefit their interests-one reason Thomas Hobbes likened them to parasitic worms in the bowels of the body politic in his 1651 political treatise Leviathan.
By 1776, however, one host population was ready to purge its system of parasites. A series of laws, including the Townshend Acts and the Tea Act of 1773-which essentially granted the East India Company a tax-free tea monopoly in the American colonies-helped incite the colonists to revolt against England and form a new republic in which the role of corporations was significantly constrained. In the newly minted United States, state legislatures imposed tight limits on corporations' purposes, the amount of capital they could procure, even how long they could exist. As corporate law expert Robert Hinkley observes, "These restrictions ensured that there was very little corporate abuse of the public interest in this country from the American Revolution to around the time of the Civil War."
But over time this civic leash on the U.S. corporate system began to loosen. The birth of new industries, such as the railroads, demonstrated how important the corporation was in mobilizing the huge amounts of capital and labor such endeavors needed. Corporate influence was further strengthened during the U.S. Civil War, when the Union government leaned heavily on private industry to produce war materiel. Together, these established corporations as an increasingly influential, even essential, part of the economic and political landscape.
In order to attract these increasingly wealthy corporations (and secure the tax revenues they generated), states made their incorporation laws more lenient. New Jersey was one of the first to act, by removing limits on capitalization and allowing corporations to own stock in other companies. A race to the bottom ensued, in which other states weakened their laws even further. By 1899 Delaware's General Corporation Law had made it the most attractive state in which to incorporate by removing many of the remaining limitations on corporations, including the clauses that limited the lifespans and purposes of corporations. Other states (and countries) eventually adopted similar laws, solidifying corporate privilege throughout the United States and the world. And while on occasion the American host population once again rebelled against corporate abuses-Theodore Roosevelt and the trustbusters, and Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, for instance-corporate power is now stronger than ever.
Parasite Power
In 2002, over 61,000 transnational corporations (TNCs) with over 900,000 foreign affiliates conducted operations around the world. According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development, just the foreign affiliates of these TNCs produced $17.6 trillion in sales and employed 54 million people. The largest 100 TNCs accounted for 14 percent of the sales and 13 percent of the employment.
The wealth of the largest corporations rivals or exceeds that of many national governments. One comparison measures the revenues of corporations against national output expressed as gross domestic product. Of the 100 largest economies in 2002, 50 were corporations. But much of the wealth measured by GDP is produced by private interests. Perhaps a better relationship is the one between corporate revenues and government expenditures. By this measure the discrepancies are even starker. Of the world's largest 100 national governments and corporations in 2002, 76 were corporations. The largest, Wal-Mart, had revenues higher than the expenditures of all but six national governments.
There are two linked problems with such concentrations of corporate power. First, that power increases corporations' ability to influence societal affairs, from fixing prices to altering laws. Second, while corporations and governments may have similar amounts of power, the latter are designed-at least nominally-to serve the public interest, and many are accountable to these publics. Because of shareholder pressures and other demands, most corporations today focus almost entirely on maximizing profits for their shareholders-and they do so primarily by externalizing as many of their social and environmental costs as possible.
In his book Tyranny of the Bottom Line, Ralph Estes examined the extent of this cost externalization in the case of U.S. corporations. Factoring in workplace injuries, medical care required by the failure of unsafe products, health costs from pollution, and many others, Estes found that external costs to U.S. taxpayers totaled $3.5 trillion in 1995-four times higher than the profits of U.S. corporations that year ($822 billion). This sort of externalization toll is routinely evident in hazy skies, injured consumers, and impoverished workers in the United States and elsewhere.
According to a 2004 report released by U.S. Representative George Miller, one 200-employee Wal-Mart store may cost federal taxpayers $420,000 per year because of the need for federal aid (such as housing assistance, tax credits, and health insurance assistance) for Wal-Mart's low-wage employees. Moreover, many corporations fill their labor needs offshore in order to exploit unorganized workers in low-cost and politically friendly countries. Over 40 million people now work in export-processing or "free trade" zones. These areas, often exempt from national legislation, allow manufacturers to demand long hours, pay lower wages, and ignore health and safety regulations.
Corporations have achieved considerable freedom to act in ways that harm the host on which they depend. They have done so primarily by means of regulatory capture, the redesign of societal laws by vested interests for their preferential benefit. This is not new; corporations have always sought to influence lawmakers. TNCs' current levels of power, money, and freedom are unprecedented, however, and regulatory capture has become widespread. The results can be seen in the scores of laws and court rulings that now protect corporations' right to profit, right to pollute, right to patent intellectual property-at the expense of citizens, farmers, workers, consumers, communities, and indigenous peoples. As U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes once remarked, "This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations." That was in 1884; it's truer now than ever.
Parasite hosts are generally helpless to alter the destructive behavior of the parasites that have invaded their systems-a limitation that is often fatal. Humans, in contrast, can regain control and shape the role of the corporation to benefit the host rather than destroy it.
Shaping the Co-Evolution of Symbionts
In his first annual message to Congress in 1901, President Teddy Roosevelt explained that "great corporations exist only because they are created and safeguarded by our institutions; and it is therefore our right and our duty to see that they work in harmony with those institutions." Today a wide range of societal actors is using a variety of strategies to reshape the current corporate/societal relationship to be a healthy and harmonious one.
One strategy is to recapture the regulatory machinery. Many policymakers and activists are fighting to strengthen environmental and labor legislation, reform campaign finance laws, and even in some cases revise corporate charters by means of changes in state laws. Robert Hinkley, a leading advocate of charter reform in the United States, is trying to implement a simple change in state corporate charter laws that could radically transform the role of the corporation. This simple clause would alter the corporate mandate from the unqualified pursuit of profit to its tempered pursuit: "...not at the expense of the environment, human rights, public health and safety, dignity of employees, and the welfare of the communities in which the company operates."
Shareholders are also becoming a force for change by shifting their investments away from irresponsible industries like tobacco, weapons, and gambling. By 2003, over $2.6 trillion had been invested in socially responsible funds around the world. In the United States, which accounts for over 80 percent of total socially responsible investments, more than one of every nine dollars invested that year went into such investments. In addition, these investors are using their shares to press companies to change their policies on everything from climate change to CEO compensation.
Activist groups are also pressuring corporations to reassess their role in society by targeting some of the most powerful and best-known firms with demands that they adopt more socially and environmentally responsible practices. Corporations that ignore these ultimatums are often subjected to organized protests, boycotts, and other forms of embarrassing publicity.
And of course, savvy corporate leaders are working to be more responsible themselves. Some do so because they truly care about the long-term stability of the global environment, or because they want to conduct business ethically. Others recognize that unless they appear "socially responsible" they will soon be targets of activists, irate shareholders, or government officials. But whether out of self-interest or broad concern, a number of corporations is starting to move towards a more mutualistic relationship with society. The CEO of BP, John Browne, has been one of the most vocal corporate proponents of becoming more socially and environmentally responsible, despite running the largest oil company in the world. In a debate at the World Economic Forum in January, Browne argued that corporations must determine how they can strike a "bargain of mutuality" with everyone they affect. Browne and others like him, from whatever perspective, recognize the importance of true mutualism for corporations and society. Future articles in this series will detail the many new efforts that may make this harmonious relationship possible.
Erik Assadourian is a staff researcher at Worldwatch.


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bcchurch needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 203 designs submitted by 55 freelance designers.
Beaumont Community Church requires a SIMPLE Logo to be used for Website and Letterhead. Desiring to convey FRIENDLY, WARM, AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY in our name.
Beaumont Community Church
Desired Color Scheme:
Open on color scheme - warm relevant (needs to be able to work in black & white format as well)
Desired Style:
Non Institutional
Accepted File Formats:
Vector Formats (.eps, .pdf or .ai); Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff)
The Logo should represent:
The words "Beaumont Community Church"
Authentic Community
We're not looking for strange or liturgical graphics
Non Institutional - in other words "more informal"
Family Oriented
Our church family is located in a prairie commuter town of 10,000. The name Beaumont is French for 'beautiful (handsome) hill.' Emphasis could be placed on the word Community. The logo will be used for our website and for letterhead.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.

subset: commoncrawl


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Sideshow Collectibles have announced a Crimson Strike Team version of the Baroness Premium Format Figure!
One of the most nefarious and recognizable icons in the ranks of Cobra, the Baroness made her first appearance in Marvel Comics' G.I. Joe #1, in June 1982. Although it took two more years for the dynamic villainess to join the toy line as part of Series Three, by 2002 Hasbro was proud to release a third version of the Baroness figure during the G.I. Joe "Legacy of Valor" Convention in Norfolk, Virginia.
Crimson Strike Team
Traditionally known for her seductive appearance with a tight black suit, long black hair and spectacles to match, the all-red version of her costume was quite a departure, and aesthetically well received. Boasting a new file card that would elaborate on her devious motives, the Baroness took charge of the Crimson Strike Team in a boxed set, which also included the Crimson Twins - Tomax and Xamot, and an army builder selection of twelve Crimson Vipers. The Baroness continued to make appearances in her scarlet uniform, ruling alongside the Crimson Cobra Commander, commanding the Crimson Guard - or Siegies, and starring in a 2009 Kansas City convention exclusive G.I Joe VS Cobra comic book titled "Crimson Reign."
Following Sideshow's premiere black, and 'Classic' blue releases of the Baroness Premium Format Figure, Cobra's chief intelligence officer shows her true colors in the debut of the Crimson Strike Version!
Fueled with an insatiable lust for power, there is no stopping the beautiful, yet deadly Anastasia Decobray, as she takes command of the elite infantry of Viper soldiers known as the Crimson Strike Team.
Primed with an assault rifle and ceremonial Cobra dagger at her hip, the Baroness is dressed to kill in a blood red variation of her traditional form-fitting fabric uniform, featuring sculpted armor details, bright silver accents and a gold aiguillette denoting the height of her military rank and honor.
Expertly crafted in 1:4 scale, the stunning Baroness Crimson Strike Version Premium Format Figure stands over 22 inches tall, an outstanding addition to any G.I. Joe or Cobra collection.
The Baroness Crimson Strike will be available ONLY through the SideshowCollectibles.com website! She will be priced at $359.99, with incremental payment plan options available. Keep an eye on the weekly Sideshow Newsletter for her pre-order announcement on Thursday, December 5th!


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In a widely expected decision, the Luna Community College Board of Trustees named Las Vegas City Schools Superintendent Pete Campos as the school's new president.
The board voted 6-0 in favor of Campos, with Trustee Levi Alcon abstaining. The trustees must still negotiate a start date and salary for Campos, who is also a state senator.
Campos couldn't attend the meeting because the City Schools board meeting was at the same time, but he got word of the decision through a text message.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Las Vegas Optic, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
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Schroders Quickview: Important decisions for Japanese Prime Minister Abe
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has postponed a planned consumption tax increase and called a snap general election. While this has caused further market volatility, we still see a number of positive factors supporting the equity market.
The decision to postpone a further consumption tax increase, originally planned for October 2015, comes amidst negative growth for the Japanese economy. His decision to call a snap election in the lower house has been a concerted effort to gain public support for the consumption tax postponement and to reinforce the popular mandate of 'Abenomics' as a whole.
We can see government debt problems and a potential exit of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) huge monetary easing posing issues for the Japanese economy over the mid- to long-term.
The election will be held on 14 December and Abe is committed to presenting his case to the public on his plans to revitalise the Japanese economy. The consumption tax increase from 8% to 10% will be postponed to April 2017 to allow more time for Abenomics to have its desired effect, and he has stated that there would be no further delay to this date. His speech on Tuesday evening was well received and it looks likely that he will win a majority.
We feel there is no justification to call an election at this point other than purely political reasons in terms of timing, given Abe's dominant majority in both the upper and lower houses. We are also concerned about the uncertainty ahead of 14 December as well as the delay in the progress of Abe's growth strategy. Having said that, if Abe wins the election then his party will be given another four years of political stability. Despite this, we think it is imperative that he focuses on economic policy and executes his growth strategy in the coming years.
The decision to postpone the consumption tax increase can be justified by the much weaker-than-expected GDP data for the third quarter as well as other poor consumer spending data. Two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, which Japan has experienced since the increase of consumption tax last April, had not been expected.
With Abe's decision to postpone the next consumption tax increase, there will be time to see the benefits of higher wages over the next two years and we expect Japan's economy to pick up steam next year. We can see government debt problems and a potential exit of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) huge monetary easing posing issues for the Japanese economy over the mid- to long-term, but they will not add immediate risk to the market.
The market has been volatile since the BOJ's surprise announcement of additional easing at the end of October, and Abe's consumption tax decision and election have added further volatility to the market. This has primarily been driven by short-term investors and therefore the risk of short-term profit-taking towards the end of year may need to be monitored carefully.
However, we have seen solid growth of corporate earnings in the six months from April to September when GDP fell sharply, and we expect further upward revisions in corporate earnings with a large push from the recent yen weakness. Given the robust corporate fundamentals, the valuation of the Japanese equity market is not expensive – even after the strong rally since the end of October. More importantly, we have been encouraged by the strong momentum in improving corporate governance in Japan. We have seen an increasing number of companies announcing share buybacks to reduce their cash pile and improve return-on-equity.
Another positive for the market is the turnaround of the Japanese institutional investors' holdings of Japanese equities as GPIF (Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund) has made the decision to substantially raise its allocation to Japanese equities


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks stepped back Thursday in light trading, with the S&P 500 retreating from 2,000 and halting its three-day winning streak. Many market watchers blamed the decline on fresh Russian aggression toward Ukraine.
Kiev said Russian forces had entered Ukraine and seized the coastal town of Novoazovsk, and a NATO official said Russia's actions in Ukraine are "more overt now." A stronger-than-anticipated reading on U.S. economic growth failed to push equities higher.
The S&P 500 SPX, +0.00% fell 3.38 points, or 0.2%, to close at 1,996.74. The index had been down 0.5% intraday, but lifted up from its session lows.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.19% shed 42.44 points, or 0.3%, to end at 17,079.57 after being down almost 104 points, while the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.07% lost 11.93 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 4,557.69.
Total composite volume was at its lowest level of the year for a full trading day, and market action is likely to be light again Friday ahead of the Labor Day weekend.
All three benchmarks remain on track for weekly gains, as well as monthly advances of more than 3%. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Dow both closed higher for a third straight session, with the S&P holding above 2,000 and nabbing its 31st record close this year.
GDP beats forecasts: The second estimate for second-quarter U.S. gross domestic product indicated expansion of 4.2%. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted 3.9% growth in GDP, down from an initial read of 4%.
Weekly jobless claims came in at 298,000, a slightly more encouraging result than expected, and an index that measures how many U.S. homes are ready to be sold jumped to its highest level in 11 months.
What strategists are saying: The U.S. stock market dropped partly due to Russia-Ukraine concerns, but a bigger driver could be the upbeat GDP report putting further pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates, according to Doug Coté, chief market strategist at Voya Investment Management.
He said it's "dangerous" to have a zero-interest rate policy when growth is at 4.2%. "We need to get off a zero-rate policy as soon as possible," Coté told MarketWatch.
Expectations of higher rates could increase volatility for stocks in the near term, but the Voya strategist still recommends buying equities and other risk assets "because ultimately what's raising the prospect of rising rates is strong economic growth," he said.
The latest flare up in the Russia-Ukraine conflict "could blow over quickly as both sides pull back from the brink," said analysts at Capital Economics in emailed comments. "But for now it may be time for the markets to batten down the hatches again, especially ahead of the long weekend in the US (Monday is Labor Day)."
Movers and shakers: Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF, -0.93% and Williams-Sonoma Inc. WSM, -0.32% finished down 4.8% and 12%, respectively, after their quarterly earnings reports, while Signet Jewelers Ltd. SIG, -0.98% rose 7.7% in the wake of its results.
Visa Inc. V, +0.38% fared worst among Dow components, falling 1.2% after Raymond James analysts downgraded the credit-card giant to market perform, citing a lack of positive catalysts. TripAdvisor Inc. TRIP, -1.66% was the S&P 500's biggest decliner, closing down 2.4%.
Read more about Thursday's jumpiest stocks in the Movers & Shakers column
The PowerShares QQQ Trust QQQ, +0.17% closed down 0.1%, snapping an 11-session winning streak. The big ETF that tracks the Nasdaq 100 NDX, +0.17% last achieved an 11-day winning streak in 2010. Read more: One streak you didn't notice suggest there's room to run
Other markets: European stocks closed lower as the first country-specific reports on August consumer prices fueled deflation fears and renewed Russia-Ukraine tensions weighed. Asian markets finished mostly in the red.
Oil prices gained, while gold also moved higher. The dollar advanced against most of its rivals.


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London Transport Road Spotters shrapnel helmet, as used during the Second World War - helmet
- Description:
- During the Second World War, London Transport introduced a system of 'road spotting'. Road spotters, who were usually employed by the Civil Defence Authority, patrolled the streets looking for bomb damage that could affect transport services. Their findings could then be reported to bus drivers and conductors so they would know which areas of London to avoid on their routes. This shrapnel helmet would have been issued to and worn by road spotters. Made of steel, it has four white hand-painted stripes, probably to make the wearer more visible at night.
- Production Date:
- 1939-1945
- ID no:
- Maker:
- Issuer : London Passenger Transport Board
- Copyright:
- Transport for London
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DARK KNIGHT RETURNS Part 1 Too Faithful, Not Faithful Enough
Rama Rating: 4 out of 10
Frank Miller's 1986 comic book masterpiece The Dark Knight Returns has been a lot of things to comic book fans: a work of art, an era-defining benchmark, the first time they may have been exposed to the power of the medium to deliver a serious, mature story and a cudgel to use against anyone who dismisses comic books as 'kid stuff.' What it has never been is a disappointing embarrassment, at least until now with the release of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1, the latest and least entry into the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series.The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 picks up Bruce Wayne's story ten years after his retirement as Batman. Gotham unfortunately remains a crime-ridden slum now terrorized by a gang called The Mutants. After a supposedly psychologically rehabilitated and facially repaired Two-Face disappears, Bruce succumbs to his inner demons and dons the cape and cowl of Batman once again. His renewed exploits earn him a lot of attention from the media and powers-that-be as well as the fandom of young Carrie Kelly who takes it upon herself to become the next Robin, a reckless decision that ultimately pays off for her and for Batman's plans to take down the Mutant gang before ending the film in an ominous cliffhanger for the events of next year's Part 2.
Just like countless thugs tricked into thinking they can handle one man dressed up in a bat costume, the filmmakers commit a critical error that robs their product of the source material's potency. They mistakenly believe that if they just made the movie look like the comic, it's gravitas would come along for the ride, and save for the customary 'smoothing' of the look to facilitate the animation, the art is a good recreation of Miller's pencils. Unfortunately this only allows the film to fall harder with the decision to excise nearly all of Batman's internal monologues. Gone are all of Bruce Wayne's personal struggles early in the book with his place in "today's" world, his obsession with death and dying and when he becomes Batman again, the challenges of middle-aged nocturnal vigilantism. The absolute barest amount of this information, which captivated the comic's readers with its look into the psychology of obsession, is instead transmitted to viewers though clumsy dialog.
The twin missteps of visual faithfulness and context exclusion combine to make The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1 almost entirely opaque to the uninitiated. The film's commitment to how the not-too-distant future would be from the perspective of the year 1986 is jarring, and that is only if the viewer knows they should be shifting their frame of reference to fit that time scale, otherwise the film's obsession with late 80s pop-psychology and punk fashions borders on parody. References to riots in Chicago in the 60s and a 70-year-old Jim Gordon recalling the Pearl Harbor attack are completely bewildering in a film that otherwise refuses to fix itself in time. On the other hand, the original comic's and the film's obsession with the concept of TV shouters/pundits seem prescient, but just as annoying and distracting in the film as they are in reality.
The vagrancies of animated movie production, the long lead times needed to create an animated movie frame by frame, most likely precluded the makers of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 from absorbing and applying the lessons learned from the critical and storytelling success of a previous DC Universe Animated Original Movie and Frank Miller adaptation, Batman: Year One. Everything Year One did right in respect to faithfulness to not only the visual look of the comic but how it handled the challenge of conveying character intent or thought without text boxes is missing from The Dark Knight Returns Part 1, creating a bizzaro-world experience that lacks the heart and timeless nature of its predecessor.
Peter Weller (RoboCop) as Bruce Wayne/Batman leads a cast of unremarkable TV stars and the usual assortment of professional voice actors well, though he lacks amount of 'gravel' one would imagine that a 50-plus year old Batman would have. Ariel Winter's (Modern Family) Carrie Kelly really doesn't have a lot to do in Part 1, but one could imagine that now that Batman has someone to talk to out in the field, the chance for some much-needed exposition will expose her talent.
What Frank Miller in his prime could do in a single page, or what (also The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1) producer Bruce Timm was able to do with just a few minutes in a classic 1998 episode of Batman: The Animated Series, is far beyond what was displayed here at near-feature length. When the Dark Knight returns again next year for the conclusion one hopes that the appearance of an old foe will give the source material the credit it deserves.


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Gwyneth Paltrow and Demi Lovato 'Best Friends'
(NEW YORK) -- Demi Lovato has two new celebrity fans: Gwyneth Paltrow and Paltrow's daughter, Apple.
"You know, my new bestie," joked Lovato on ABC's Good Morning America, as she tried a recipe from Paltrow's new cookbook, It's All Good.
"We're best friends," Paltrow joked back.
As fate would have it, the two were on the same flight yesterday wearing identical outfits: jeans, army jackets, white t-shirts and motorcycle boots.
Lovato, 20, was the first to spot Paltrow, 40, in the airport lounge on her flight to New York City.
"I've seen Contagion like, 10 times, so I was like 'Oh, God. Oh, God'," Lovato said. Then Paltrow walked by her, "And I dropped dead," she said.
Turns out, Paltrow and her 8-year-old daughter, Apple, are just as big fans.
"My daughter actually introduced me to Demi's music. And now we're all big fans our house. So I asked if I could take the picture for my daughter, who is thrilled," she said. Paltrow posted the photo on Twitter.
"So in return, I am releasing my album on Apple's birthday. May 14…Happy Birthday Apple," said Lovato.
Lovato hung out on Good Morning America while Paltrow prepared a chicken chili recipe and talked about how the healthy diet changed her life.
"I just was traveling a lot, working a lot, I wasn't looking after myself, I was eating, you know, a lot of cheese and wine, French fries," said Paltrow.
Paltrow's doctor recommended she give up foods and drinks containing alcohol, caffeine and wheat after she was feeling run down and getting a lot of headaches.
"When you have young children and you're working, you know, you never rest…It's like you're racing to get home. And my body sort of went kaput a little bit. Then my doctor said you really need to clean up your diet and we'll change all this blood work and it really worked," she said.
After eliminating all of the ingredients he suggested from her diet, she felt fantastic.
"I lost weight, I had so much energy that I thought, I'd like to make a book that's not as restrictive as that but that's a little bit healthier and really, really good comfort food so you don't feel like you're cutting anything out. You know, that makes you feel better, lose weight and have more energy."
Paltrow's children followed the diet as well, including her son Moses, who has a wheat allergy. Despite receiving some criticism, Paltrow suggests people open the book and judge it for themselves.
"There's a lot of inches of column that people need to fill. So a lot of times they just try to get attention and say things that aren't true," she said.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio


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Gagging To Be Fucked
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the guy seems seriously in love wit her n dats y this video is awsome :)
wow love that guy - lovely cock
Both are all natural. No ink, no piercings. Both have great bodies. If these two aren't a couple off screen then they are super great actors. What a great video !
that had to be the quietest sex scene ever. did either of them say a word? i loved the way she kept teasing his cock when she was blowing him by flicking her tongue around the head. liked the way she varied her technique. hot body! and he's got a big cock! and i loved the way she kept kissing him passionately while he was inside her....i find that super arousing. But jesus, did he have to pull out and stroke himself to cum? yoiu have this super hot babe and you have to jerk off to finish? WTF! WEAK
ohmy god she perfect, hot body and so sexy how she moves and kisses, I almost came when they 69 wow,im hard as hell
wow try me plx i like you
Too much kissy kissy in this one!!!
me encatan estos videos hasta ya hise sexo con mi novio amo el sexo se siente muy rico
would love to fuck with him
Either very good acting or they were genuinely into each other - possibly a couple off camera. She appeared with this guy in a few scenes. The Missionary fucking, kissing and licking was quite intense. Enjoyed it.
wow she needs to chill out a bit, she is ruining his rhythm.... very hot though
Verdammt süße Fickmaus.
Easily one of the best on here.
What a terrible lay that chick is. Hot body, but rookie.
too much kissing
Scheiß Film
At 7:35 after the 69 scene, she puts his cock in her pussy. Excellently!
i like it but she looks so stupid with what she does with her teeth. she looks like an idiot
nice chick to fuck and lick out
could eat this babe out
OK so I let my dog ,little brother,cousin do that but if u guys don't want me doing that then come fuck me
Sin duda alguna, ¡uno de los mejores!
love to eat this babe out then fuck her
love to eat her cunt out
Her Name Is Jenny Sanders...
nice porn!
The way he moves makes me Horney
geile muschi
Absolutely gorgeous blonde. Would love to taste that pink pussy and fuck the hell out of it. I wish she had some hot sexy toenail polish on, but besides that she is incredible.
die beiden ficken perfekt miteinander
ohho what afuck......
Really really really need to know her name!! Anyone..!?!
love eating chicks cunts out
Like to be deepfucked when riding a cock, also stimulate his balls at the same time
I realy love the guy. Anyone knows his name or knows more videos with him?
Amazing body, great fuck, would have been better for a nice creampie
really hot
Gagging to be fucked? More like fucking to be gagged
What a cute little girl, no piercing, no tattoo, really natural! I love her! And she looks like KE$HA! And she really knows how to fuck!
alguem sabe o nome da garota? se souber responde 'o coment...
Close ups suck!!!!!!! Whole body only!
loved it. loved the kissing, loved the missionary position. not many vids with a really hot missionary bit.
who evr she is wanna fck hr
they're enjoying it!!
Girl kinda looks like Ke$ha.
his cock is perfect....i want it!!!!!
good one. at least something real and not the standard porn production
LOL that's Kesha and Mike the Situation from Jersey Shore
Too staged, they need to keep it natural, and no close-ups, whole body only
she looks kinda like ke$ha
esta vien chido tu videoclog yo ya lo estoy practicando bye y estas vien guena mami jajajaja (0)(0) (>_
wtf is she doing with her mouth ?? she keeps showing her teeth , she looks fucking retarded, but the rest is hot tho.
His cock is huge
Nice 69 position
God damn.. shes got a foxy look on her face that could send a man to the heavens! Shes jenny sanders, a real beauty.. but i find that this is my fav vid of her :P
Kesha ?
nice and slow bj would fuck her too seems nice with her tight shaved small pussy
Yeah, Damn.
'He\'s hot'
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|Wheel Size:
|When to use them:
Small, slower wheels; stable for trick riding and smaller riders skating street, skate parks, and bowls.
Average wheel size for beginners and bigger riders skating street, skate parks, bowls, and vert ramps.
60mm +
Specialty riders skating longboards, old-school boards, downhill, and dirt boards; made for speed and rougher surfaces.
Wheel diameter affects how quickly you accelerate and how tightly you can turn. Smaller wheels result in a slower ride, whereas larger wheels result in a faster one. And because they're lower to the ground and typically easier to control, smaller wheels are ideal for technical or street skating. If you're a beginner or someone who uses a skateboard as daily transportation, you'll want to look into larger wheels instead. Their increased diameters offer speed and balance all in one, making them perfect for low-key cruising or vert skating.
Skate with confidence and style with the smooth, solid ride of Element skateboard wheels.
Skateboard wheel diameter is measured in millimeters (mm); most wheels range from 50-75 mm, and the lower the number, the smaller the wheel.


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Mon - Sat 10am-8pm
Sun 11a-6p
BUYING HOURS Mon-Sun…except last hour
BUYING HOURS - Every day till 1 hour before closing time :)
If you like to save up to 90% off mall prices then start at Runway first! Runway has been a member of the community for years now and this community is awesome. Come in to Runway to find the best styles in town. Everyone brings us clothing from all over the country so we have brands you literally cant find elsewhere in town. And we have awesome stuff at prices you love!
We have litterally thousands and thousands of items in the store. We carry so much product. We have ALL brands! Most stores carry one or two brands. We have them all and we will have the best price in town! Come in today! We can beat mall prices by up to 90%!! Some of our jeans go for $100 a pair in the mall.....at Runway....just $10! Instead of buying one pair come get 10 pairs!
Runway Fashion Exchange
1435 N Milwaukee St
Boise ID
No other traditional retail store will pay you cash on the spot for your clothes. We want to buy your clothes. If your clothes look great and are fresh and trendy then we want them. Do you like cash? Oh, good, we have thousands of dollars waiting to buy clothing now! Come in, get cash, shop around while we pay you to do it :)


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Cakes For All Occasions
As you all know, some Wrecks are only Wrecks because of what the customer ordered to be written on them.
These are those Wrecks.
Harsh reality, sweet messenger.
Submitter Dan titled it best: "Cake for a Cheerful Nihilist".
Hey, this one seems familiar...
As a Wrecktacular bonus, go back and read all the cakes in order. Freaky, eh? It's like those ransom notes made from newspaper clippings, only using cakes. Now what's crazier: the fact that these cakes exist, or that I have enough submissions to piece together almost-sentences? :)
Today's Wrecks brought to you by Amber J., Dan B., Kristen P., and James S.


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Being a college student isn't easy, but it's even harder when you commute to college. As a commuter student, you may find it difficult to keep abreast of important information on campus, connect with other students, and find accommodations on campus in between classes. The following tips should help you become more connected to your school.
Research commuter programs on your campus. Some colleges and universities offer programs specifically designed to help commuter students ease the anxiety of being disconnected to the campus. These programs offer services such as websites/newsletters/emails with current information for commuter students, commuter lounges, lockers, weekly gatherings for socialization, etc. You can check with your school's student services center to find out what programs are available for commuter students.
Get involved in student organizations. Just because you commute to school doesn't mean that you can't be involved in organizations and clubs on campus. Getting involved in student organizations is a great way to meet new people and form friendships with your classmates. Furthermore, by being involved in student organizations, you will become more knowledgeable about what is going on around campus and thus feel more connected to it.
Participate in intramurals. Become connected to your school and stay fit at the same time by participating in intramurals on your campus. Instead of driving back home as soon as your classes are over, you should get involved in your campus's intramural programs and meet new people. Many colleges offer student led intramural programs such as flag football, indoor soccer, basketball, volleyball, karate, dance, etc.
Form study groups. In order to become connected to your classmates, you should form study groups with them. Ask some of your peers if they would like to meet at the library or at a local coffee shop and go over class notes before a big test. You guys may even bond over the stress of the upcoming test and decide to hang out during free time.
Work on campus. Working on campus would give you more of an opportunity to meet people and start a campus network. By spending that extra time on campus, you would also be more aware of campus activities in which you could be involved.
Attend commuter forums. Many campuses hold forums specific to commuter issues. Forum topics can range from off-campus security to campus parking to balancing a commuter schedule. Attending these forums will help you with your daily tasks of being a commuter as well as allow you to meet other commuters.
Spend time in the residence halls. At some colleges and universities, commuter students are allowed to stay overnight in the campus residence halls. Some campus residence halls try to make one room available per semester for short-term overnight stays. Check with your school to see if this service is offered and what guidelines should be followed. Spending time in the residence halls will allow you to become acquainted with your classmates who live on campus.
When you just go to class and then go home, feeling a part of your college community is no easy task. By getting involved on campus and making the effort to meet new people, you will become more connected to your school and make commuting to college much more interesting.
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text:
websitebroker needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 174 designs submitted by 54 freelance designers.
A new logo is needed for this established website to use on the site as well as on stationary
WebsiteBroker.com was established in 1997 as a site dedicated to the buying, selling, valuation and brokering of established websites.
The current logo and color scheme has served us well but it's now time for a new logo and look.
We are looking for a new logo that will convey what we do in a fresh new way.The new logo will be incorporated into our new website design as well as stationary and other materials.
We are ready to be amazed by your talent!
The logo should:
- Incorporate or include "WebsiteBroker.com"
- It should convey what we do
- Be delivered in vector or if not possible, supplied with a very high resolution option
- Have Modern color scheme and unique- optional: a homepage page header
- optional: stationary layout
- A boring design
- A tired design
- Just words
- Cheesy gradients
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Owner Harassed Numerous Female Workers, Including Teens, and Forced Some Women to Quit, Federal Agency Charged
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The ABC Cake Shop & Bakery in Albuquerque, which is owned and operated by Early Bird Management Group, LLC, has agreed to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for $220,000, the agency announced today.
The EEOC's lawsuit, EEOC v. Early Bird Management Group, LLC d/b/a ABC Cake Shop & Bakery, 11-CV-799 JCH/RDS, charged that an owner of ABC subjected female employees, including some teenagers, to sexual harassment. The sexually offensive conduct included sexual comments, innuendo and unwanted touching. The EEOC's suit also alleged that some women were forced to quit their jobs because of the sexual harassment.
Sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
At least 19 women are expected to receive relief through the consent decree settling the suit. In addition to the substantial monetary relief, the decree prohibits ABC from further discriminating or retaliating against its employees and requires it to implement policies and practices that will provide its employees a work environment free of sex discrimination and retaliation. ABC also agreed to provide the harmed women with letters of reference and apology letters. Finally, ABCs must also provide its employees with anti-discrimination training and notice of the settlement.
"Employers cannot sexually harass their employees," said Regional Attorney Mary Jo O'Neill of the EEOC's Phoenix District Office. "They must comply with federal law that requires them to maintain workplaces where employees are not subjected to illegal sexual harassment or forced to quit because of it. Given these difficult economic times, women should not be forced to choose between intolerable abuse and making a living for themselves and their families."
EEOC Albuquerque Area Director Derick L. Newton added, "We are pleased that this employer is taking appropriate steps to assure that no further harassment occurs in its workplaces. Federal law protects a woman's right to work without harassment because of her sex. Violations of the law will be met with rigorous enforcement by our agency."
The EEOC recently updated its Youth@Work website at http://www.eeoc.gov/youth/, which presents information for teens and other young workers about employment discrimination. The website also contains curriculum guides for students and teachers and videos to help young workers learn about their rights and responsibilities in the work force.
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.


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Purging the Evil Within
There was a time when I was accused of excessive harping on the evil that is the Cupcake Cake (CCC, for short). So, I piped down (pun intended). However, since more of you newbie Wrecktators are asking me what a CCC is, I believe the time has come for a refresher course. I can't have you lackeys out there fighting Wreckage you don't fully understand, now, can I?
Now gather 'round, and prepare to have your innocence shattered.
Just look at this hulking terror, poised to pounce on common decency and smother it with its blue-smeared putrescence. Back away slowly, now, and no one will get hurt.
Remember ol' Stay-Puft? Well, he's got nothing on Blueberry Sherry here:
She looks ready to stomp her way downtown and gobble up some taxi cabs, doesn't she? I particularly like the concave face, though: it lends a little "Le Neanderthal Chic".
Since most large chain bakeries require their bakers to make CCCs, decorators have learned to cope with these horrors in a variety of ways.
Some have a blinding sense of ambition...
Others try to hide their shameful creations any way they can:
"Cupcake Cake? Where? I don't know what you mean; this here is just a simple layer cake. With candles. Yep, no cupcakes here! La Tee Da..."
A few remain in classic stages of denial:
Now hand me that bucket of 'Happy Birthday' picks; I think I missed a spot."
And finally, some decorators have clearly been pushed beyond the bounds of sanity, but at least they're having a ripping-good time:


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Gear Straps
- 5 foot lengths
- Can be cut down to size
- Matte black finish steel buckle
- Sold as pair
Orders are typically shipped one business day after the order has been placed. From time to time, we may get backed up a day or two. Please note that all of our orders are packed and sent by real people in a small warehouse in North Carolina.
Our policy lasts 30 days. If 30 days have gone by since your purchase, unfortunately, we can't offer you a refund or exchange.
To be eligible for a return, your item must be unused and in the same condition that you received it and it must also be in the original packaging.
To process a return please send an email to email@example.com
*Fabricated parts cannot be returned


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About Mike Uchima
5th only applies in criminal cases, not civil.
Which makes it all the more strange that they pled the 5th, unless criminal activity has indeed occurred.
Ahh, but has it been *proven* to be a truly random distribution, or does it just pass our current best statistical tests for being a random distribution? It's not the same thing!
No, the original article is correct. While the digits of pi do pass statistical tests for randomness, they are not truly random. If they were truly random, we would not be able to calculate them, by definition.
It is *possible* (even probable, I'd say) that it contains all possible digit sequences, but this is conjecture.
Here we go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGbSOEWRgu0
Skip forward to 1:30
I thought it was fairly common knowledge that the style of the Star Wars text crawl was inspired by the old Flash Gordon serials. (Presumably the Vogue ad was too.)
One of the local pubs recently added battered deep-fried bacon to their menu. Sooo bad for you... and sooo yummy! :D
The company that produces the "meat glue" (Ajinomoto) is the same company that invented MSG over a hundred years ago!
I suspect a fair number of people overseas are starting to view ACTA as an infringement on their national sovereignty. Once people start to perceive it as a form of US economic imperialism, they're gonna get rather pissed off...
Not only are they out of touch with reality, the very name of the organization is somewhat misleading. A fair number of people believe they are a branch of the government, instead of a lobbying organization.


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About the company
Julius Baer is the international reference in private banking, based on a solid Swiss heritage. With origins dating back to 1890, we have been dedicated to serving and advising private clients and family offices from around the world for over 125 years. For us, wealth management is about more than providing favourable returns: it is about providing a fully holistic service for our clients and building lasting relationships based on partnership, continuity, and mutual trust. Headquartered in Zurich, we are present in more than 50 locations worldwide, including Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Milan, Monaco, Montevideo, Moscow, Mumbai, Singapore and Tokyo.
Julius Baer is the leading Swiss private banking group with a focus on servicing and advising sophisticated private clients and a premium brand in global wealth management. That is why a comprehensive range of services and first-class service quality are essential – as are the committed teams that provide them.
HR Kontakt: Sarah Wildi, HR Consultant
We are looking forward to receiving your full job application through our online application tool. You can find further interesting job opportunities from the Home Page or under Similar Jobs section.


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Home / Wedge / New 8 pcs Pearl White and Purple Wedge Tiles Acoustic Panels Sound Absorption Studio Soundproof Foam KK1134
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Welcome to DorsFeline.com If you like big boobs on very pretty girls, this is the perfect site for you! Dors is a british teen who LOVES to get naughty! Her big natural titties and smooth bald pussy are waiting for you! Check her out now!
18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement.


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Genetic disorders are conditions caused by abnormalities in the genetic material contained within our cells.
Some of these genetic abnormalities can lead to cancer, while others lead to various other health conditions. Genetic disorders may be heritable and passed on from family members or non-heritable and acquired during a person's lifetime. Acquired genetic disorders refer to conditions caused by acquired mutations or changes in parts of the DNA. These conditions only become heritable if the mutation occurs in the germ line. To what extent a person suffers form a genetic condition may be determined to some degree by environmental factors.
Advances in our understanding of the human genome have led to the identification of various genes and gene products as well as improving our understanding of gene expression, its regulation and how these factors interact in genetic disorders.
Improved understanding of the human genome is also gradually demonstrating that almost all diseases have a genetic component. These mutations may not necessarily manifest as disease and may only cause symptoms in the presence of environmental toxins. For example, cigarette smoke can raise the risk of lung cancer in susceptible individuals. Other genetic disorders are congenital and affect a person from the moment they are born. Some disorders are inherited but may only affect a person later in life, such as Huntington's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder where the typical age-of-onset is 35 to 44 years.
Genetic disorders can also be multifactorial inheritance disorders, meaning they are caused by a combination of several mutations and environmental factors. Conditions as common as heart disease and diabetes are now considered to be multifactorial disorders.
Information taken from http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Genetic-Disorders.aspx


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On September 11, 2001, then-fourth-grader Joshua Habursky watched on his school library TV as the World Trade Center towers collapsed. Like most kids, he says, "I didn't really understand what was happening."
But now, Mr. Habursky, a sophomore at Washington & Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, has a deepening understanding of the events that unfolded on 9/11.
He has already watched a week's worth of 9/11 documentaries on the National Geographic Channel and organized a viewing Tuesday of a History Channel documentary about the special forces raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abottabad, Pakistan.
As the 10-year mark of the 9/11 attacks nears, Habursky and others like him in the media-literate "Generation 9/11," as it has been dubbed, are embracing the onslaught of media coverage to deepen their engagement with and understanding of the brutal day in US history.
"The sheer volume" of media has been very helpful, he says. "It has filled in details and fleshed out the day and its meaning so much more for me and my friends."
This is an extremely media-savvy generation, points out Chris Caruso, executive director of generationOn, the youth division of Points of Light Network, a nonprofit service organization. "They are extremely connected globally," and more engaged in events all over the planet than any other generation in history, he says.
Chloe Miller, a sophomore at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, says she and her mother watched a documentary on TLC this past week. "I was shocked," she says, adding that this was the first time she'd seen actual footage of the towers being hit. "I just didn't understand before how horrible it really must have been and how much it hit home with people all over the country," she says.
Her mother, Nathalie Miller, points out that she and her husband made a special effort to shield Chloe and her younger brother, Noah, at the time. "I was traumatized watching the buildings fall and all the people looking for loved ones," she says. "I didn't want Chloe to have that imagery in her mind and have bad dreams."
Others were not shielded from the immediate coverage, but may have been too young to understand the historical significance of the unfolding events.
High school senior Lizi Vidar, who attends the North Hollywood High School's Zoo Magnet Center in Los Angeles, says her second-grade teacher turned on the classroom TV on the morning of 9/11, so she witnessed the coverage firsthand. But, she says, it really didn't sink in at the time.
"I didn't understand that it was malicious," Ms. Vidar says, noting that her interest has picked up in the past year after watching documentaries during last year's 9/11 anniversary. "I'm so much more curious about it now, all the details and the way it has changed our daily life – everything from the way we act in airports to the wars our country is fighting." Vidar says she plans to watch more coverage throughout the week.
Habursky says he plans to keep tabs on media coverage all week leading up to a candlelight vigil he and friends have organized with fellow students on the Washington & Jefferson campus, which is an hour away from Shanksville, Pa., where the fourth hijacked plane went down. Habursky has visited the Shanksville site several times and plans to tour the Pentagon in October.
For Habursky, the variety and depth of coverage of the 9/11 anniversary provides the kind of detail and perspective he and his friends desire. For instance, he points to a show about President Bush's activities as the day unfolded. "He was in the only plane in the air [after the towers fell]," Habursky said. "They didn't want his plane to land, and that's just not something we knew about on the day."
He points out that while he regards the massive amounts of media coverage as "largely a good thing," it can sometimes go too far. But his generation is accustomed to a media barrage with important events, he says, and has learned to sort through varying perspectives. "We're a pretty media-literate generation because that's how we grew up," he says, adding, "There's a lot of crazy stuff on the air too, so you just have to pay attention and figure out whose biases are showing."
For engaged students like Habursky, 9/11 provides a golden opportunity for learning, says Dana Janbek, a professor at Lasell College in Newton, Mass., and author of "Global Terrorism and New Media: The Post Al-Qaeda Generation." " 'Generation 9/11' is very interested and curious about what actually happened. This makes it an excellent opportunity to engage them in a broader discussion of terrorism and political relationships around the world."
Indeed, Mr. Caruso from generationOn says his group is working with thousands of youths nationwide to turn their interest into action. "This is a generation that wants to have an impact," he adds.


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It Depends: SMF 30 Job Timings And CPU Time
MartinPacker 11000094DH Comments (4) Visits (21610)
This may be stating the obvious - but I wonder to whom it actually is obvious...
I've been doing quite a lot of work with batch job timings and CPU recently. (Everything I'm about to say is equally true of steps.) It's interesting to think about the effects of faster engines versus more engines (a question I haven't been asked recently) and whether a customer needs more capacity or just faster engines (a question that has come into play).
There's nothing very new about this but it is worth thinking about. And in particular what we can glean from SMF 30 Step- and Job-end records...
We know lots of things about a job's timing and related stuff, most notably:
Suppose we eliminated queuing (by and large). We can't really say what the effect would be - except in our example job's case it's some fraction of the 70% that isn't CPU. With the EXCP count we can "hand wave" a number, but it's precisely that: a hand wave.
Some of the above is part of why I don't like to give elapsed time speed up estimates. And why I'm not overly keen on answering the "faster versus more engines" question for batch. It's actually worse than I've stated because individual job speed is hard to factor into the overall window's outcome when migrating to a newer processor. (This same problem applies no matter which speed up you apply to individual jobs and steps, of course.)
But the "unknowable CPU queuing" fact plays into how to interpret other facts like (as in our example) the job is "only" 30% CPU. We don't know whether it would've been 100% CPU without queuing or 30%. (Probably somewhere in between.) But we can use EXCP count, as I said, to help us guess.
For what it's worth I rarely see jobs much above 30% or much below 10% CPU. I'd say it was a bell curve around 20%. If true, this means most of the leverage is either in I/O time or CPU queuing. Though as a contrary data point I hear quite frequently of customers upgrading to faster engines and seeing their overall batch gets faster.
Welcome to my world of "it depends".


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For LP mods only
This is a rebuildable atomizer, modified from mass produced atomizers. This atomizer is set up for single, dual, or triple coils and has an air flow control ring. It is for use with low profile mods only. The body and center post are stainless steel. Diameter: 22mm. Due to the complexity of the atomizer, it is recommended for advanced users only.
Disclaimer: All rebuildable atomizers must be carefully tested with a voltage meter before they are used. If it is not properly tested, it may damage the device it is used on. Reosmods is not responsible for any damage to your mod while using a rebuildable atomizer. The owner bears the cost of equipment damage.
30 in stock
For LP mods only
|.1 lbs
|.5 × .5 × .5 in


text:
aac223 needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 95 designs submitted by 19 freelance designers.
I need a logo for a brand new real estate brokerage. This agency is a brand new venture for some very familiar faces in the local real estate market. The logo we're looking for should convey an upscale luxury brand but with a modern feel or freshness to it.
Akwari & Company, L.L.C.
If you're in Miami or New York, in a brand new luxury home, the kitchen will have fantastic granite countertops, elegant 42" cabinets and some modern stainless steel appliances with a fantastic view. If the owner was going on a date the two of them might go to the hottest restaurant in town followed by a night out at the city's trendiest club. This logo should encapsulate all of that. Our market is an even split between men and women ages 25-55. The majority are professionals and we want a logo that is also approachable and warm. The idea is for it to say that we're the upscale brand you're accustomed to but with a fresh modern feel, as if it's for a new generation of homeowners. I'm open to almost anything that can convey this but I kind of like the idea of the incorporation of some wings, almost like "this is where your dreams take flight". Use of cityscapes, home(s) etc. might be nice too. I don't want to stifle creativity but you get the idea:)
- Item 1...Bold use of the company name, "Akwari & Company".
- The logo in PDF format.
- Use of a dark maroon color somewhere. Can, but doesn't nec. have to be a of it.
- Item 1...Clip art
- Too many bold colors. No pinks, or greens.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
Drama is not exactly something the networks do well any more -- especially drama that has any kind of cultural resonance.
But "Nashville," which debuts at 10 p.m. Wednesday on ABC, is the one new network drama that pretty much has it all.
In the world of fast-hit blog reviews, here are five outstanding elements that recommend it:
Callie Khouri -- The series set in the home of country music is created by Khouri, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Thelma and Louise." And the pilot has that same kind of smart, laced-wth-insight dialogue that sounds so right and righteous in its unvarvished idiom that you don't realize how poignant and profound some of it is until you think about it later.
There's also some over-the-top, melodramatic, drowning-in-soap-opera-sudsy talk, to be sure. But I'll take it to get the good stuff -- most of which is voiced by, to and about Rayna Jaymes, the fading country music singing star played by Connie Britton, of "Friday Night Lights" acclaim, who is at the center of this series.
Connie Britton -- This is one superb actress. She makes you not only believe in this character instantly, she makes you care enough about her to feel her irritation, rising anger and genuine pain as her hold on stardom starts to slip and financial worries mount. The anger is directed not just at the gods, but the young, talent-challenged, woman-child songbird who wants to dethrone Rayna and then some. The then-some part is the best.
The great thing about the character, as written by Khouri and played by Britton, is that even as you start to care about her, you have to admit she is vain, egotistical and kind of self-absorbed -- in other words a real person. And she can be phony as hell to boot. But she's better than the new model.
Hayden Panettiere -- She plays the young, up and coming singer, Juliette Barnes, with just the right arrogance and ignorance of youth. Panettiere is not as celebrated for her work in "Heroes" as Britton was for hers in "Friday Night Lights," but she seems made for this role. And she brings it from her first minute onscreen in a dress cut low enough for cable TV. (Feeling like an actor is "made for" a role is probably the best testimony to how good the performance is. No one is, of course, "made for" any role. The good actors just make it seems that way.)
T-Bone Burnett -- This gifted musician and producer, who is married to Khouri, is in charge of the music on this show, and it is terrific. It is country music at its best -- the high end of the genre -- the part that speaks to the place where tens of millions of Americans really live. It's brilliant, and it is going to be distributed to through Taylor Swift's music company, which means it is going to be one, big, fat revenue stream and promotional platform that you will be hearing every day on stations like WPOC. And that's as good as promotion gets.
Where-we-live bulls-eye resonance -- Here's the TV series that speaks to the economic worry and pain this country is feeling without being heavy-handed about it.
One of the very first exchanges in the film finds Rayna's husband (Eric Close), a businessman gone bust several times over, talking to one of their young children who wonders why mommy has to leave to go to work [at the Grand Ole Opry] just as they're going to bed.
"Why does she have to work, aren't we rich?" the child says to her father.
"We're a different kind of rich now -- it's called cash poor," he says. "And besides, don't you know it's bad manners to talk about money."
But that's all anyone in the music business of Nashville does talk about especially since Rayna isn't bringing in the kind of money she used to for her record company.
When her husband, Teddy, asks her what's wrong one night, she says, "Oh, everything. My record's a stiff. The tour's not selling, so they want me to open for Juliette Barnes."
Yes, this is the part that is absolutely going to make baby boomer viewers -- the ones who watch HBO, Showtime and AMC for "quality" drama -- fall in love with this show. Rayna is being replaced by a "new business model," and in this case, she appears to be a nasty little, emotionally messed-up, talent-less monster.
When Rayna goes to meet the new owner of the record company in hopes of talking him out of his idea of putting her on tour with Juliette Barnes, the aging singer opens by trying to remind him of all her awards and past earning power. But he politely cuts her off with, "We all wish this album was doing better."
Then, he gets to what he sees as the order of business, telling her, "Older business models are irrelevant... You've got to find your place in a new market."
That's a conversation lots of folks have had in one form or another as our nation and economy goes through an epic period of transformation. Boomers, even some longtime high achievers who haven't found new "business models," quickly find themselves redundant -- a nice way of saying professionally cooked, or, at least, greatly diminished in status and dollars.
After decades of stardom, Rayna doesn't handle those words from the new boss well at all. She has a great Callie Khouri exit line, but she looks headed for trouble in her unwillingness to re-invent her act.
Whither goes Rayna? And whither comest Juliette, who sure looks like she's moving in on Rayna's guitarist/bandleader/longtime unrequited lover (Charles Esten) in addition to her country music throne?
The one complaint I have about the series is that I wish it was on HBO, Showtime or AMC, and Khouri didn't have to go quite so melodramatic and borderline over-the-top with characters like Rayna's rich dad (Powers Boothe) in search of a mass-mass audience.
But I'll put up with a little J.R. Ewing silliness of Boothe's performance for the richly textured, instantly engaging work done by Britton. ABC is lucky to have her after so enthusiastically embracing the business model of cheap reality TV instead of the more expensive practice of trying to fill the 10 o'clock hour with quality drama.
Connie Britton, Callie Khouri make 'Nashville' network TV's best new drama
Drama is not exactly something the networks do well any more -- especially drama that has any kind of cultural resonance.