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Like plenty of music fans, Sam Broe jumped at the chance to join Spotify two summers ago, and he hasn't looked back.
Spotify, which began streaming music in Sweden in 2008, lets users choose from millions of songs over the Internet free or by subscription, and is increasingly seen as representing the future of music consumption. Mr. Broe, a 26-year-old from Brooklyn, said that having all that music at his fingertips helped him trim his monthly music budget from $30 to the $10 fee he pays for Spotify's premium service.
"The only time I download anything on iTunes is in the rare case that I can't find it on Spotify," he said.
A decade after Apple revolutionized the music world with its iTunes store, the music industry is undergoing another, even more radical, digital transformation as listeners begin to move from CDs and downloads to streaming services like Spotify, Pandora and YouTube.
As purveyors of legally licensed music, they have been largely welcomed by an industry still buffeted by piracy. But as the companies behind these digital services swell into multibillion-dollar enterprises, the relative trickle of money that has made its way to artists is causing anxiety at every level of the business.
Late last year, Zoe Keating, an independent musician from Northern California, provided an unusually detailed case in point. In voluminous spreadsheets posted to her Tumblr blog, she revealed the royalties she gets from various services, down to the ten-thousandth of a cent.
Even for an under-the-radar artist like Ms. Keating, who describes her style as "avant cello," the numbers painted a stark picture of what it is like to be a working musician these days. After her songs had been played more than 1.5 million times on Pandora over six months, she earned $1,652.74. On Spotify, 131,000 plays last year netted just $547.71, or an average of 0.42 cent a play.
"In certain types of music, like classical or jazz, we are condemning them to poverty if this is going to be the only way people consume music," Ms. Keating said.
The way streaming services pay royalties represents a major shift in the economic gears that have been underlying the industry for decades.
From 78 r.p.m. records to the age of iTunes, artists' record royalties have been counted as a percentage of a sale price. On a 99-cent download, a typical artist may earn 7 to 10 cents after deductions for the retailer, the record company and the songwriter, music executives say. One industry joke calls the flow of these royalties a "river of nickels."
In the new economics of streaming music, however, the river of nickels looks more like a torrent of micropennies.
Spotify, Pandora and others like them pay fractions of a cent to record companies and publishers each time a song is played, some portion of which goes to performers and songwriters as royalties. Unlike the royalties from a sale, these payments accrue every time a listener clicks on a song, year after year.
The question dogging the music industry is whether these micropayments can add up to anything substantial.
"No artist will be able to survive to be professionals except those who have a significant live business, and that's very few," said Hartwig Masuch, chief executive of BMG Rights Management.
Spotify has 20 million users in 17 countries, with five million of them paying $5 to $10 a month to eliminate the ads seen by freeloaders.
In a recent interview, Sean Parker, a board member, said he believed Spotify would eventually attract enough subscribers to help return the music industry to its former glory — that is, to the days before Mr. Parker's first major enterprise, Napster, came along.
"I believe that Spotify is the company that will make it succeed," said Mr. Parker, who is also a former president of Facebook. "It's the right model if you want to build the pot of money back up to where it was in the late '90s, when the industry was at its peak. This is the only model that's going to get you there."
As the largest music market, the United States has been a critical proving ground for streaming companies, but competition is also quickly spreading globally. Deezer, a French on-demand service, has announced plans to be in more than 100 countries. And localized streaming services have also sprouted up: Anghami, for example, serves listeners in the Middle East, and the Indian music market has Dhingana and Saavn.
For the biggest pop stars, hit streams can provide substantial revenue. Last week, a Google executive said in a company earnings call that Psy's viral video sensation "Gangnam Style" had generated $8 million from YouTube, where it had been watched 1.2 billion times, yielding a royalty of about 0.6 cent a viewing.
Many musicians whose work does not reach the top of the charts, however, are not as sanguine.
Complicating the issue, each type of service pays different rates. Pandora's are set by law. Spotify declined to comment on its rates, but according to a number of music executives who have negotiated with the company, it generally pays 0.5 to 0.7 cent a stream (or $5,000 to $7,000 per million plays) for its paid tier, and as much as 90 percent less for its free tier.
The companies behind streaming are ballooning quickly. Pandora, with 67 million regular users, is publicly traded, with a market capitalization of nearly $2 billion, and Spotify's investors have reportedly valued the company at $3 billion. Yet so far they have contributed relatively little to the American recording industry's $7 billion in annual revenue.
In its last four reported quarters, Pandora paid $202 million in "content acquisition costs," including licensing fees, and Spotify recently announced that it has paid $500 million in royalties since its inception. Downloads, by comparison, had $2.6 billion in sales in 2011, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
For those whose income depends on royalties, the biggest concern has been whether streaming cannibalizes CD and download sales by offering a cheap or free alternative.
Cliff Burnstein, whose company, Q Prime, manages Metallica and other major acts, said that even if streaming hurts sales, all is not lost as long as the number of paying subscribers continues to climb rapidly.
"There is a point at which there could be 100 percent cannibalization, and we would make more money through subscriptions services," Mr. Burnstein said. "We calculate that point at approximately 20 million worldwide subscribers."
Metallica recently announced an exclusive deal with Spotify.
If those subscriber ranks grow, royalty rates will also climb, recapitulating a process seen whenever new technologies have been introduced, said Donald S. Passman, a top music lawyer and the author of the book "All You Need to Know About the Music Business."
"Artists didn't make big money from CDs when they were introduced, either," Mr. Passman said. "They were a specialty thing, and had a lower royalty rate. Then, as it became mainstream, the royalties went up. And that's what will happen here."


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The Morenci Education Foundation is seeking nominations for this year's Distinguished Alumni Award, and the committee in charge is hoping to make the process easier.
Foundation board member Barb Vallieu worked with students from the high school Volunteer Club to streamline the process and create a nomination form. The form will soon be available as a PDF document to download from the Foundation website (www.morencieducationfoundation.org). Copies are also available at the Observer office.
Vallieu is hoping the online option will broaden the geographic area of people participating in the nomination process.
The committee has set a Jan. 31 deadline for nominations. Three or four alumni will be honored at the annual dinner and auction in the spring.
There was no formal set of selection guidelines in the past, Vallieu said.
"Our goal was to set up a system that would honor the process and endure across the years," she added.
A team of 10 Volunteer Club members will make the final selection from nominees submitted.
"I think the students have done a fine job and have a handle on the responsibility they have undertaken," Vallieu said. "It's been a pleasure working with them."
The nomination form lists as the purpose of the Distinguished Alumni Award program to recognize the outstanding achievements of graduates of Morenci Area Schools.
To be eligible, an individual must have graduated from Morenci Area Schools at least 10 years ago; should have become outstanding in his/her profession; and should have made significant contributions benefiting his/her community, state and/or nation.

subset: commoncrawl


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A student registered in an undergraduate division of The University of Alabama who has earned fewer than 45 semester hours may transfer to another undergraduate division. A student who has earned 45 or more semester hours may transfer to another undergraduate division according to the rules established by the division to which he or she is applying. Credit will be given for courses in which a passing grade has been earned, provided the courses transferred are appropriate to the new curriculum. Credits accepted for graduation are determined by the academic division into which the transfer is made. Check the DegreeWorks audit at myBama.ua.edu to determine how credit is being applied in the new program of study.
Changes in the student's major(s) and minor(s) must be registered with the new academic division immediately following the transfer. Transfers between academic divisions will not be permitted once the registration process has been completed for a given term. At the discretion of the school or college concerned, a student may, upon entering another division of the University, petition to discard all credit previously earned. This recourse is limited to students who have attempted no more than 20 semester credit hours.


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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Since implementation of its diversity strategic plan in 1998, Penn State has made considerable strides and continues working toward being a leader in higher education for fostering diversity across the University. Findings from the University's comprehensive external assessment of its diversity and inclusive excellence goals and their implementation — outlined in "A Framework to Foster Diversity at Penn State" — will be presented from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, in 508 Rider Building in downtown State College.
The "Diversity and Inclusion at Penn State: Where Are We Now and What's Next?" workshop will feature Rona Halualani, principal and founder of Halualani and Associates, who recently completed the outside assessment of the University's progress toward its diversity, equity and inclusion goals. Halualani also is a faculty expert in institutional planning, inclusive excellence and intercultural communication at San Jose State University and previously served in the capacity of its chief diversity officer. She has completed diversity and inclusion assessments at more than 50 colleges and universities.
The workshop and Halualani's report will:
-- Quantify how Penn State has incorporated key proven factors and high-impact practices associated with diversity excellence;
-- Document the extent to which Penn State has fulfilled its commitment to diversity and inclusion;
-- Reveal how the University stands in relation to national benchmarks; and
-- Offer recommendations to further advance the effectiveness of the University's diversity and inclusion goals.
"The findings are similar to what we know, but they show us more visibly our areas of strength and the areas that we need to continue to work on," said Terrell Jones, vice provost for Educational Equity. "The University has worked to be in the forefront of implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives, and we want to continue that work to make sure our efforts become fully institutionalized."
The workshop, presented by the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity and the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment, is open to all Penn State students, faculty and staff members. To register, call the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment at 814-863-8721 or email email@example.com. Penn State campuses interested in participating via videoconference also should contact the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment. The full report and a video of the session will also be available on the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity's website, http://www.equity.psu.edu.
In October, Penn State was selected as a recipient of the 2013 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award by INSIGHT into Diversity magazine. The University was one of 56 higher education institutions in the nation to be recognized for exceptional having strategies and programs in place to help achieve diversity and inclusion across campus.


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Yoko Ono Designed a Fashion Line and It's Nuts…and Butts…and Crotches
Some people have never forgiven wealthy widow, artist, musician, and all-around kook Yoko Ono for supposedly "breaking up" The Beatles, but what will they think of her new menswear line for avant-garde retailer Opening Ceremony? It's um, well, it's pretty different.
The collection is based on illustrations Ono gave John Lennon on their wedding day, which will also be collected in a book published by Opening Ceremony. The clothes feature, well, it appears to be a hand grabbing the crotch. And let's not forget about the pants with a sheer panel where the butt cheeks are. There is a sweatshirt with what appears to be balls (the euphemistic men's kind, not the kind you play a sport with or that 19th century socialites threw in their homes) but is actually a drawing of a butt. Same difference. A sheer pink top is, um, interesting and I don't know what to make of a "bell board," which is a clear plastic square with two bells attached to it. Does Yoko think that a guy looking like a desk in a hotel lobby is chic?
Yeah, some of this stuff is completely off the wall, but if it was boring, it wouldn't be Yoko Ono. The clothes went on sale today in the company's US stores. Now, who has $335 for a pair of those pink junk grabbing trousers? Or maybe I should just add it to my Christmas List.
Follow Brian Moylan on Twitter @BrianJMoylan
[Photo Credit: Opening Ceremony]
Lindsay Lohan Called on Yoko Ono for Support amid Death Threats
Yoko Ono's artwork graces newspaper front page
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KNF Neuberger GmbH
Alter Weg 3, D-79112 Freiburg
KNF Neuberger GmbH was founded in 1946 as the first KNF Group company. Since its creation, it has been responsible for sales in Germany as well as for the development, production, sales and marketing of diaphragm pumps for air, gases and vapors.
Phone: +49 7664 5909 0
Fax: +49 7664 5909 99


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A smooth, dense, yet soft feel describes our Allure T, "to a T." Our new, softer cotton jersey fabric is the same weight as our classic cotton jersey, but has a softer feel, and and a shapely fit that doesn't look or feel too tight all day long. Now with our studded boat pattern. 100% Cotton Jersey, conservative v-neck neckline, slightly fitted body with great drape, short sleeves. Made in the USA.
Model dress size: 14
Model height: 5'10"
Size on model: 1X
Model Dress Size: 14Model Height: 5'10"Size on model: 1X
About Our Color - Garment DyeGarment dye is the process that makes Fresh Produce clothing look and feel sun washed and beach worn. We sew up the style and dip it in a big vat of Fresh Produce color. The dye process creates natural variations in the depth of color throughout the garment. It's especially noticeable on the seams of garments where there is thickness, and the dye is harder to penetrate. The process requires heat so all of our garment dyed clothing is pre-shrunk, soft, and fabulous! This is also why size specifications can be slightly different.
We use both reactive and pigment dyes in our garment dye process. Reactive dyes are liquid in form, and fully saturate the fabric. This is the most common dye process. Pigment dyes are in powder form, applied and typically washed in a silicone bath to bind the color to the fabric. Pigment dyes (such as Peri, Flamingo and Sunkissed) give a more worn, sun-bleached appearance allowing for slight variation of color between each garment. Color tends to fade quicker in pigment dyed styles due to the dye's inability to fully penetrate the fabric. White is the only color dyed optically which increases the brightness of our whites.
Wash & Care - Keep Your Colors BrightAt Fresh Produce we're all about keeping it easy. Unless otherwise noted in the description, all of our products can be machine washed in cold and tumble dried on low. We recommend our garment-dyed pieces be washed separately and inside out before wearing. Please avoid contact with light colored fabrics and upholstery as there might be some color rub. Do not use detergent bleaches, stain removers, or fabric softeners. For stains, we recommend using a mild dishwashing detergent (Hint! DAWN) directly on stains, let sit for 15-30 minutes, then wash as usual.
- - Wash garments in cold water before wearing
- - Separate colors before washing
- - Avoid using detergent with bleaches, stain removers, or fabric softeners
- - Do not scrub fabric
- - Check the care label inside garment for optimum results


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You don't have to be an adventurer like American writer Tom Coyne to turn your golfing trip to Ireland into a voyage of discovery, writes Brian Keogh
Take just a few pointers from New York Times bestselling author and you can make your holiday an unforgettable life experience.
Intent on designing a golf trip to end all others, Coyne looked to Ireland – the place where his father had taught him to love the game years before. He quickly realized that the island was ringed with golf holes making it one huge, gigantic golf course. In his 30s and married, the Philadelphia native set off to play every single seaside links course he encountered…on foot.
With just eight clubs in a light bag and with little more than a change of underwear in his backpack, Coyne trekked over 1,500 miles around the rim of the island, playing every links course in his path over a 16-week period. It's an experience that has marked him forever.
Coyne chronicled his experiences in the hilarious and uplifting book, A Course Called Ireland, which the cover aptly describes as "A Long Walk in Search of a Country, A Pint and the Next Tee".
The long way round
Along the long road he says: "I faced off against a gang of galloping livestock, went toe to hoof with a mountain goat... climbed my way out of sandy pits and thorny ditches, scrambled up stone walls, splashed my way through deep and icy waters... and felt speeding cars brush the hair on my knuckles."
He also made a lot of new friends.
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Don't just play golf
If you're a golfer, the only walking you're likely to do is on the golf course – and unless you're a super tourist like Coyne, you usually plan out a meticulous itinerary before you even pack your clubs and suitcase. But Coyne believes you should sketch out only the bare bones and leave the rest to chance. After all, there's a surprise around every bend in the road.
"I get a ton of emails from people asking me where they should go," he says. "They're not going to do what I did, so I tell them to get lost! Go find some town you didn't expect to find. Go have lunch or have a pint somewhere. Don't spend your time in a car, staring down at a map. Don't get too stuck to your itinerary. Let it come to you."
Aside from the golf courses, Coyne believes you should "get off the beaten path. Go and see Croagh Patrick and Yeats Country; or go and check out the 'Forgotten County' of Donegal, not only because it is so far off the beaten track, but because the people there are so special.
"Even though an Irish welcome is always warm, some of the pockets where people don't often visit are even warmer and the conversation even easier. You get that 'What are you doing up here?' reaction."
Some favourite spots
If you've never been to Ireland, Coyne reckons "you can't beat the southwest," where you can stay in Killarney or Kenmare, play Ballybunion, Tralee, Dooks or Waterville, and still see Dingle and the Ring of Kerry.
"People say, 'Well, I've done that trip three times, where next?' And I usually tell them to go up into the northwest, go to Mayo and up to Sligo and Donegal. Those are places that I really loved. That to me is the Ireland of the imagination. It's like you're going back in time a little bit."
Naturally, Coyne walked around the stunning coast of Northern Ireland, too, and found his new favorite course: Ardglass in County Down.
"It is overshadowed by Royal Portrush and Royal County Down, but it is so much fun to play," he says. "Ok, I might be biased. I made such great friends there, they made me a member!"
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On the island of Ireland, we appreciate the craft of a great golf caddy and the edge they bring to a game.
Going off the beaten track to take in the sights and sounds of Ireland isn't just highly recommended, it's a must, says...
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A half-billion eggs have been recalled in the nationwide investigation of a salmonella outbreak that Friday expanded to include a second Iowa farm. More than 1,000 people have already been sickened and the toll of illnesses is expected to increase.
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Rates of women who are opting for preventive mastectomies, such as Angeline Jolie, have increased by an estimated 50 percent in recent years, experts say. But many doctors are puzzled because the operation doesn't carry a 100 percent guarantee, it's major surgery -- and women have other options, from a once-a-day pill to careful monitoring.
- Larry Page's damaged vocal cords: Treatment comes with trade-offs
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Iowa's Hillandale Farms said Friday it was recalling more than 170 million eggs after laboratory tests confirmed salmonella. The company did not say if its action was connected to the recall by Wright County Egg, another Iowa farm that recalled 380 million eggs earlier this week. The latest recall puts the total number of potentially tainted eggs at over half a billion.
An FDA spokeswoman said the two recalls are related. The strain of salmonella causing the poisoning is the same in both cases, salmonella enteritidis.
The eggs recalled Friday were distributed under the brand names Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms, Sunny Meadow, Wholesome Farms and West Creek. The new recall applies to eggs sold between April and August.
Hillandale said the eggs were distributed to grocery distribution centers, retail groceries and food service companies which service or are located in fourteen states, including Arkansas, California, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin.
A food safety expert at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., said the source of the outbreak could be rodents, shipments of contaminated hens, or tainted feed. Microbiology professor Patrick McDonough said he was not surprised to hear about two recalls involving different egg companies, because in other outbreaks there have also been multiple sources.
Both plants could have a rodent problem, or both plants could have gotten hens that were already infected, or feed that was contaminated.
"You need biosecurity of the hen house, you want a rodent control program and you want to have hens put into that environment that are salmonella free," McDonough said.
The salmonella bacteria is not passed from hen to hen, but usually from rodent droppings to chickens, he added. This strain of bacteria is found inside a chicken's ovaries, and gets inside an egg.
CDC officials said Thursday that the number of illnesses related to the outbreak is expected to grow. That's because illnesses occurring after mid-July may not be reported yet, said Dr. Christopher Braden, an epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control.
Almost 2,000 illnesses from the strain of salmonella linked to both recalls were reported between May and July, almost 1,300 more than usual, Braden said. No deaths have been reported. The CDC is continuing to receive information from state health departments as people report their illnesses.
The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within eight hours to 72 hours of eating a contaminated product. It can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems.
The form of salmonella tied to the outbreak can be passed from chickens that appear healthy. And it grows inside eggs, not just on the shell, Braden noted.
Thoroughly cooking eggs can kill the bacteria. But health officials are recommending people throw away or return the recalled eggs.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Canadian thrash metal legends SACRIFICE have returned, bringing brutality to your iPhone and iPad. Manipulate the original vocal recordings of Rob Urbinati and scream your way through the demo recording of "Hiroshima" from the album "The Ones I Condemn".
For more information, go to MalSoft.net.
SACRIFICE played its first-ever shows in Japan as the headliners of the True Thrash Fest 2012 in Osaka. The two-day festival took place on February 18-19 at the Osaka Esaka Muse and featured additional performances by WITCHBURNER, JURASSIC JADE, REMAINS, RIVERGE, DORAID, WARGASMATRON, FASTKILL, VAULT, ABIGAIL and IMPALER.
SACRIFICE released a vinyl-only demo anthology titled "198666" on October 28, 2011 through Canadian label War On Music Records. The limited double vinyl release includes the legendary "Exorcism" demo tape (featuring tracks which would later be included on "Torment In Fire"), the 1986 "Forward To Termination" demo sessions (including a rare cover of DISCHARGE's "Possibility Of Life's Destruction"), and the full 1989 "Soldiers Of Misfortune" demo sessions. This is some of the best early recordings of any classic thrash act; the tapes sum up the raw power that was early SACRIFICE and showcase the bands evolution from album to album through the '80s. The double LP release was strictly limited to 666 hand-numbered copies on blood-red vinyl in a gatefold jacket featuring the stunning artwork of Hans Memling.
For more information, visit www.waronmusic.com.
War on Music Records released SACRIFICE's latest work "The Ones I Condemn" on vinyl in 2010, as well as a limited split seven-inch with PROPAGANDHI featuring a timeless cover of RUSH's "Anthem".
SACRIFICE is currently working on new material which has been described by drummer Gus Pynn as "VERY RUSH-influenced."


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Here are links to other sites that we like/visit or are of interest or relevance to the industry and hopefully to you as well! Please visit them when you get a chance, it's worth the effort.
Battlegames magazine - A UK based wargaming magazine
Beltane painting studio - Italian painting site.
Black Scorpion green archive on facebook.- Official Black Scorpion facebook page
Cool mini or not! - People submit their paintjobs to be voted on by others.
Dadi e Piombo - Italian wargames magazine
Felix Paniagua -Avatars of War - My good friend Felix Paniagua is a great sculptor. Here you can see examples of his work.
Frother Unite UK! - Uk miniatures forum with honest views given all round!
Jrn-works.dk - Jakob Nielsons superb painting site featuring his demon and slayer sword winners and a unique style. Few in the world can match this level of painting.
Runic Miniatures - Jakob Nielsens miniatures company!
Salute - The largest wargames show in the country! We made the 2009/2010 free miniatures.
Studio Mcvey - The painting of Ali and Mike Mcvey. Mike is the inspiration for many people entering the hobby.
Tabletop gaming news - Website with all the latest news from the industry
Tears of Envy - Tammy Nichols designed our logo and does much of our graphic design.
The Miniatures Page - Essential miniatures forum for all the latest news!
Triples wargames show. - Triples is a large show in sheffield which we attend.
Warfare Reading - A show in reading which we attend
Join us on Facebook!


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If I weren't married to this infernal line of work, boy, do I have good ideas from time to time for badly needed nonprofit outfits. Here's one of my better ones, which just struck me yesterday.
Some rich liberals need to fund a public-education group that will work full-time to make sure the liberal blocs and constituencies come out and vote in off-year elections. Think about this. Turnout was sky high in 2008. It wasn't as high this time, but by the time they count all the provisionals and absentees, and accoutning for the somewhat lower turnout in the storm-ravages areas, it won't really be off by that much. In general, presidential-year turnout is now near 60 percent.
And off-year turnout is down around 40 percent. The 20 percent who leave the system are almost entirely Democrats. This has been true all my life. It's basically because old people always vote, and I guess old white people vote more than other old people, and old white people tend to be Republican. So even when white American isn't enraged as it was in 2010, midterms often benefit Republicans.
Yes, there are exceptions...2006, most notably, and 1998, although that was sui generis, because swing voters were mad about impeachment. And when the economy is bad, the incumbent president gets it in the nose, whichever party he is. But in general, the off-year electorate is far more Republican-leaning than the presidential electorate.
As long as this is true, the country's progressive coalition will spend forever taking one step forward in presidential years, and one step back in off years. But imagine if the Obama coalition had voted, even in decent numbers, in 2010. The Democrats might still well have the House.
If liberal blocs can be conditioned in a generation's time to vote in every federal election, well, combine that with what we know to be the coming demographic changes, and the electoral pressure on Republicans would be constant and enormous. The Republican white voting pool has limits, so the GOP would have to compete even harder for brown and black votes, which would pull our politics even more to the left.
A long-term project along these lines would be $20 million (or whatever) very well spent for some rich liberal who cares about changing the country.


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Champlain County, QC
Son of Jean CLOUTIER
Olive RIVARD LACOURSIÈRE
On July 27,1899
was consecrated as the
3rd Bishop of
Trois-Rivières, QC
For more information on this
CLOUTIER lineage, click on the ORANGE title above to get to the Planète Québec website. A daily surname ancestry study may be found there. This site is bi-lingual French/English although the info is more complete in French.


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ORLANDO, Fla. – Two men were shot Thursday morning after an argument inside an Orlando club.
The men, who are in their 30s, were shot around 4 a.m. following a fight at the Royal Santa Fe Banquet Hall & Ballroom near Colonial Drive in Pine Hills.
"We discovered two black males who were the victims of gunshots, which spilled over from an argument in a club," said Lt. Paul Hopkins of OCSO.
According to deputies, shots were fired by another man into the victims' car as they leaving the club.
Orange County deputies said the shooting victims drove to another location and were taken to a hospital. Both were expected to be OK, deputies said.
Detectives were interviewing the men about the shooting and searching for a white car.
Video from the scene shows a car with at least two bullet holes in it.
No other details have been released.
Neighbors said the violence in the area isn't rare and they want to see it improve.
"We need help, I don't know the city or the mayor they need to come and fix it," said Gargield Johnson, who has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.


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Maine churches hold Mass to celebrate beginning of papal conclave
Papal conclave began on Tuesday
Two Catholic churches in Maine, including the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated special Masses on Tuesday.
The point was to celebrate the start of the conclave and offer special prayers to the collection of cardinals.
The Papal Conclave: Choosing the next Pope
After the cardinals took an oath to observe the rules and maintain secrecy, they started voting, once on Tuesday and up to four times a day until a new pope is elected.
A two-thirds majority, or in this case at least 77 electors, will have to vote in favor of the new pope.
Locally, experts said this is a chance to give the Catholic Church a new future and revitalize it.
One priest said the pope as a figurehead is what helps hold Catholicism together.
"I think that's what a lot of folks look to the church for is the difference between right and wrong and what we actually know and it's hard for the church to backtrack once it's made a decision. In reality, the church backtracks all the time. Its understanding of theology and of its role in the world does evolve, has always evolved and it can continue to evolve now," said Chris Korzen, a public theology expert.
"The pope becomes the person, the only person in the world who becomes that center, that figure person that keeps us in communion, that unites us and reminds us of our bonds of communion and love together through him," said Father Michael Seavey.
Whenever a new pope is elected, parish staffs in Maine are encouraged to put a sign out front that says, Habemus Papam Pope, to announce the new pope.
Church doors can also be draped in white, gold and yellow bunting.


text:
Registration Issues
Some visitors received a warning that they were flagged as a spammer when attempting to register. The admins fixed an error with the code on 6/24/17. If you still experience this issue, please contact the staff through the site's Contact Us form.
11 ways to become a Commissioned Marine Corps Officer:
Information on the various programs/options, their requirements, the application process (including waivers, MEPS and eye surgery), and other issues relevant to joining the Marine Corps.
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11 ways to become a Commissioned Marine Corps Officer:
I just though I would post this list in case some of you might not have heard of some of the options that might be available to you. And by all means...login to view the rest of this post
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text:
Item #6092
Perennial. Sage's flavor is bold and assertive, and considered very valuable as a digestive aid to high-fat foods, such as pork, wild game, and cheese. Often paired with stuffing, it also livens up vegetables, potatoes, soups, and stews. The plant has beautiful, edible, purple-blue flowers, and the gray-green foliage provides an excellent contrast in the garden or containers. Drought tolerant once established. Perennial in USDA zones 4-8. Deer resistant.
This packet sows up to 16 ft.
Seedling Image
Full Sun
Days to Emerge:
Seed Depth:
Seed Spacing:
Row Spacing:
When to sow outside: 1 to 2 weeks before average last frost.
When to start inside: RECOMMENDED. 4 to 6 weeks before transplanting outside. Ideal soil temperature for germination is 60°-70°F.
Harvesting: Start harvesting leaves when plants are at least 6" tall. When plants are about 12" tall, stems can be cut just as flowers are opening to be dried.
Artist: Jackie McFarland
Item #6092
30 seeds


text:
Huge Animal
Hit Dice: 9d8+18 (58 hp)
Initiative: -2
Speed: 30 ft.
Armor Class: 18 (+12 natural, -2 Size, -2 Dex), touch 6, Flatfooted 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+22
Attack: Stamp +16 melee (2d6+8 damage)
Full Attack: 2 Stamps +16 melee (2d6+8 damage)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Trample
Special Qualities: Lowlight vision, Darkvision 60 ft., scent
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +2
Abilities: Str 26, Dex 7, Con 15, Int 1, Wis 8, Cha 6
Skills: Listen +11, Hide -10
Feats: Trumpeting Defense, Crush*, Improved Scent*, Stamp*
Environment: Temperate Plains
Organization: Solitary or herd (6-20)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always Neutral
Advancement: 10-18 HD (Huge); 19-27 HD (Gargantuan)
Level Adjustment: -----
*Savage Species
A huge reptilian creature lumbers forward on two legs. It noisily gets up on two legs and clumsily eats the leaves of the tall trees. Flaps of skin on their nose expand as it makes several loud noises.
Muttaburrasaurs are bizarre creatures that seem to be a mash of many creatures. While obligate herbivores, Muttaburrasaurs have been known to trample and consume smaller animals when desperate. While usually walking on four legs, Muttaburrasaurs often pick up their forelegs to run in a bipedal manner. Despite these odd seeming-contradictions, the Muttaburrasaurus is best known for its odd nose. The nose has two flaps of skin over the nostrils that seem to inflate when breathing outward. This creates a trumpeting noise that can be heard from over a mile away, and allows herd members to keep track of each other's locations. Muttaburrasaurs are adapted to live in cool weather, and can thrive in places where the sun doesn't shine for weeks at a time.
Despite their awkward appearance, Muttaburrasaurs are more than capable of fighting off larger foes. Many use their stamp ability to make their foes fall over before pinning them down to crush them.
Trample (Ex): As a full round action, a Muttaburrasaurus may move at twice its speed and literally run over any creature in its path. Any creature that has all its squares ran over by the Muttaburrasaurus must make a Reflex save (DC 22), or take 2d6+12 damage. DC is strength based.


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Content : Welcome in different languages (Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Azeri, Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Cambodian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Haiti, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Laotian, Malay, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Taiwanese, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese). Displayed in full color on black background and horizontal orientation.
Image Size : A2 ( 420 x 594 mm / 16.5 x 23.4 inch – scalable )
File Type : PDF (vector graphic)
Price : $9


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FS: Artbooks and other misc. merchandise
FS: Artbooks and other misc. merchandise
Jan 2 2017, 06:04 PM
Post #1
Posts: 11,724
Joined: 23-February 04
From: completely darkness
DJ Battle This User
Cleaning out some of the clutter around the house and found some old remnants from my Bemani days, along with a few other things. Most everything has been sitting on a bookshelf for years, so are in largely very good condition aside from a weathered corner or two, or other issues where noted.
Prices are in USD and include shipping within the USA; I'm willing to ship internationally, but it will obviously cost more and I'll have to get an estimate first. If you're buying multiple items and I can package them together, I will likely shave a few bucks off the final price due to the combined shipping. I accept payment via PayPal.
Pop'n Music card game - $15
Complete in box, with slight damage on the bottom flap due to protective seal removal. I don't think the contents have ever been taken out of the box.
Pop'n Music Character Illustration Book - $20
Covers AC 10-13 and CS Best Hits-12. Includes character art and profiles, e-amuse card artwork, promotional artwork, etc. The slipcover has slightly worn top and bottom edges but otherwise in very good condition.
Puzzle: MAYA TAKAMURA's Pieces - $50
Much larger and heavier than everything else on this list, and therefore the price is higher to cover the shipping. Complete in box, includes artbook, visual works DVD and still-factory-sealed jigsaw puzzle. The outer box has some bent corners, but all of the other stuff is protected inside and is therefore in excellent condtion.
Golializze: Goli Matsumoto Archives - $30
Hardcover artbook featuring the works of long-time Beatmania IIDX artist Goli Matsumoto. Excellent condition.
Persona 3 Official Design Works - $20
Softcover. Slight bending on the corners but otherwise in great shape.
Nov 16 2017, 04:16 PM
Post #2
Posts: 11,724
Joined: 23-February 04
From: completely darkness
DJ Battle This User
|Lo-Fi Version
|Time is now: 11th August 2020 - 01:21 PM


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So today I had the utmost displeasure of debating with someone with theistic views (although they claimed not to be a theist) about why people believe in "God". There was a forum on this on another site I frequent. This was their response to the question of why people believe in "God".
"People believe because they feel it in their 'soul', God is a part of everyone. People who say they do not believe in God are denying their own feelings and will always relate back to God when they die. Even Darwin did it. Because God has always been here, from the very start of everything which we cannot comprehend.
God is in everyone from the start. Meaning, from the moment you or anyone was born they already have the feeling in their soul. Not sure if you have the same thing or not, but even before I read the bible and researched in to God I felt something that I could not explain, something that caused me to look up at the sky and think. Yes, you can argue and say this is something else that I experienced. But as I said, I cannot explain it. And no, I was not taking anything, ill or all the other scientific explanations.
What I am saying that there might not need to be proof for God to exist, I know, it sounds absurd. If he does exist then he or it will beyond any of our comprehension, as they say, people fear what they do not understand, and human beings hate to be controlled and looked down upon. This is why they call God evil and so on. And yes, I know that others think that is not the only reason why they think God is evil. I like to see two sides of the coin. Personally I think the whole world is stuck in too deep about the whole topic and need to calm their tits.
More like religious extremists think inside the box. Religious people vary greatly, some I would say, as a religious person myself are suck up their own ass while some are extremely opened minded.
Yes, some of that is flawed, but I cannot her to argue, I've had enough of that simple minded bullshit in my life. I just want to see what other people say.
Also, fuck facts. Think outside the box."
I went on to explain to them that just because someone "feels" something, doesn't mean it should automatically be attributed to a god or supernatural being - and that a lot of what we feel and see is a result of more physiological processes than anything. Also that many people aren't "denying" feelings if they aren't currently having them. Additionally, I suggested that if religious extremists are adhering to the fundamentals of a certain religion, then maybe there is something that has to be addressed within the religion itself.
As you could probably imagine, this did not go over well and I got attacked by the poster and their "friend" over a ridiculous amount of back & forth that I'm ashamed I got so interested in being involved in. *rolls eyes extremely hard*
Anyway, what I came to ask is - what would your response be to this poster?
Views: 2554
That is priceless!
When I was young I used to watch Doctor Who and I would hide behind the sofa when the Daleks came on. I believed there were Daleks when I was six. Fortunately for mankind it did not make them real.
It would appear, and there is research to support this, that humanity is predisposed to believe in some form of higher power. It could be that it is some sort of mechanism for control built into our psyche that allows certain individuals, with the right knowledge, to be able to lead humankind.
It would make evolutionary sense for an intelligent person to take humanity forward than merely a physically strong one, as usually happens in the rest of the animal kingdom. An intelligent person can use 'god' (choose which ever you want here: Thor, Odin, Zeus, Yahweh, Innana, etc. delete as applicable) garner and control the strongest humans and make them warriors and the cleverest humans and get them to develop weapons and cures. That way you can conquer your (weaker and less intelligent) enemies to increase you lands and power. Or you can just not bother with the fighting and just use the religion in the first place:
"When the white missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land." Desmond Tutu
There is masses of evidence throughout history to support this hypothesis with Valhalla, Xanadu or 72 virgins promised to those that die in battle. Or a place in heaven for spreading the word, take your pick.
If this hypothesis is true we can only hope that as intelligence and understanding improves with human evolution then more and more people will come to realise that there is no god, just like they discovered the that sun does not orbit the earth. If you think of modern humans as being homo sapiens and being about 200,000 years old and the first thoughts on heliocentric planetary orbits being around 3rd century BC (though not widely accepted until the 16th Century AD, and in a book published by Copernicus, a Catholic cleric, no less), that took around 197,000 years give or take a millennia to gain acceptance, so I think we are slowly getting there. It just won't be in our lifetimes, unfortunately.


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Super lightweight, strong and great looking to boot, these packing cells are next generation. If you want to fit twice as much into your luggage while staying stylishly organized these travel packing cubes are a dream come true.
Arrive looking fresh by rolling your clothes into these cells to reduce wrinkling during travel. Never dig through your bag looking for something ever again. Mix and match the exciting patterns or collate a styled set.
Organise your items for seamless and easy travel packing and unpacking. Suggestions for packing cell use: Store your electronics and miscellaneous bits, pop your washing in one, underwear in another. Put your tops and bottoms separated into their own compartments. You will fit so much more into your travel bag.
The best range of travel packing cells in Australia & New Zealand (Yes we do ship worldwide too!).
Once you have experienced using these luggage organisers you will never go back!


text:
Here's a conversation I've been having over the last several weeks. Hope you enjoy it... Debra Lilley told me to put it on this blog. I always do what she tells me to do. Mogens.
Dear CEO,
We are EUWIN Network Service Co., Ltd in
Because the final registration relates to the copyright of the name, to avoid unnecessary disputes of intellectual property rights, so we want to confirm your opinion. Looking forward to your quick reply. If you have any questions, please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.
Karen Feng
Principal of Checking Department
Overseas Registration Organization
Tel:+(86)731-8187 719
Fax:+(86)731-8187 739
Mobile:+(86)158 7339 0351
Hello China-business-girl,
How much for Miracle.China.Com? Very interesting CEO happy day.
Moans Longballs Nogood.
Dear CEO,
Thank you for your reply. In order to deal the matter better, I will tell you the price now:the com.cn domain name is 30EUR per year, the aisa domain name is 40EUR per year, and the internet trademark is 100EUR per year.
During our checking period, the owner of the name has the priority to register "miracleas" internet trademark and com.cn domain name. If you want to register it, according to our dispute registration principle, please provide written document(business licence or trademark certificate registered in the local place)to prove you are the owner of "miracleas". We will keep the priority for you during the checking period.
Look forward your early reply. Thank you for your cooperation.
But how much for Miracle.China.Com??? Please email in written statement for good happyness here and everywhere for you!
Also, with respect to your irrevocable demands and undisputed popularity will we pay in Icelandic Kroner cheap cheap?
Dear Moans Longballs Nogood,
Thank you for your reply. The Miracle.China.Com is 20EUR per year. Meanwhile as the procedure of register:
.I will send a application form to you, please find the attachment.
2.Please choose the domain name and internet trademark whice you wan t to register, then fill in and fax to me as soon as possible.
Please contact with me if you have any problem, It my pleasure to help you. Look forward your early reply!
Dear Karen Fang-SAN,
Thank you much. This also will good for Miracle
I have question 100 Euro for Miracle
My pleasure your pleasure. It is very early in Dinamarca now, so very early reply! You should go home and eat your children, no?
Happy eating!
Moans Longballes Nogood.
Dear Moans Longballes Nogood,
Thank you for your reply, I am terribly sorry to bother you so early. In fact: register the internet trademark and china.com is very good and necessary for your company. You can protect your intellectul property right by it!
I hope you can fax the application to me early, so I can help you to deal the matter better. Wish you have a good rest. And now it is 9:40a.m in
Thank you for your cooperation. Look forward your reply.
Dear Karen Euwin Feng,
My Mother's name was Longballs, not Longballes. But OK. I am very tired now, but register is very important, so I must not sheep. I know I must protect intelletual property night and day, no!
You are very helpful and good with deal the matter. Thank you so much! It is now 03.42 in
Chinese love.
Dear Moans Longballs Nogood,
Thank you for your reply. I am sorry for my mistake. Register is very important, but the rest is important too. Rest good in order to work well, yes? You can raply me when you in the office, and you can have a rest now.
About the children get killed by chinese weapons, I do not know the matter at all, and I feel very sorry about it, sorry!!! Of course we all friends.
Thank you for your cooperation. Look forward your reply.
Dear Karen-SAN,
Rest is neccessary to work good, you are right. Thank you for letting me sheep.
We must both rest now with the children. I have big time thank you for your help.
Dear Moans Longballs Nogood,
In order to deal the matter better, could you tell me whether yo have received the application form from me?
If you have received it, please fill in and fax to me as soon as possible, and I ca help you to register the domian name and internet trademark better.
Thank you for your cooperation, look forward your early reply!
Dear Karin Feng -
Yes, many applications here in Danmark. CRM, ERP, backend, frontend, office, retail - MANY MANY applications! They must all protected for property now?! This is very serious. I will contact rest of Danmark NOW.
It is now 06.20 here, so early reply.
PS: My real name is Magnus Ling Ming. My father big King Ling Ming Chinese come from
Also sell mail and femail stones if interest. You have MANY stones in
Dear Moans,
Thank you for your early reply. I am sorry I do not know how to call you. I think the property's protect is become more and more important,
and we should strengthen our awareness of protecting our right, otherwise it will effect the development. I hope you can make decision early,
so I can help you to deal the matter better. Do you received the application form?
I am sorry I don't know your father, maybe I'm too ignorant, but if you tell more details maybe I can know better. Stones? yes, there are many
stones in
Look forward your early decision. Thank you for your time. Wish you have a good weekend!
PS:I'm sorry to bother your so early many times.
Karen Feng
My very dear happy Karen,
I am much pleased. My father was belonged to Muslim minority in
He is famous! I have photo of my father in front of BIG BIG unhappy tank in
I think he died later, but not sure. My mother is no big talker.
But I am very proud and happy of him and I smile with happiness when I visit his unknown grave. It has good karma. Big man! I think some things on my body are big because of him, so very very happy.
So how much money for the intellectual rights again? I have not received any papers! Must be very urgent now. Can you fax them? Or send a letter? My country blocks all emails with documents from
Just send letter to:
Moans Longballs Nogood
C/O Miracle ASS
Borupvang 2C
2750 Ballerup
and I think I will receive it. Can you send it hurry hurry urgent with jetplane, no?
PS: I am in love with you! You are very clever!
Dear Moans,
Thank you for your reply. I'm very you can tell me so many details about your father, thanks! The Miracle.China.Com is 20EUR per year, the internet trademark is 100EUR per year. I have send a application form to you, but very pity you didn't receive it. I'll send it again, I hope you can receive it this time. If you can't receive, or I will fax to you later, please give me a early reply! Thank you!
Best regards!
Dear Karen-san,
It is with love I finally write you and your all family (I hope for happiness for all and good luck for the rest! Always!).
I have been very busy in these days. I have a goat that was ill, so I have slept with it for three nights now, and it is better now (love is good healer, no?). I cannot afford to lose goat again. My father always told me to be careful with goats and chicks and not have too many babies. Hahaha. But he is not here anymore, so I do what I must do many more times.
So sorry for not talking to your many four or five emails to me so kind and so loveful.
My mother is a small talker. She say I MUST check on http://www.cnnic.cn/en/index/index.htm to find you and so you are not fake and trying to steal fortune and luck from me!
My mother not understand that I trust and love you, Karen-san, so I must ask you to tell her that it is OK that you are not offical company for me and my many wives?!
My mother's name Karin Ming, just like yours! But she is OK just not big talker. Very very secret woman.
I must protect my company!
I love you more and more and much.
Dear Moans,
How are you? We have keep the priority for you for a long time, but I don't get any reply from you about the registration.
And today our management give us the last notice, after we tell you once again five days, if we
don't get your any reply, then we will consider that you give up the owner of name "milanplast", meanwhile, we
will obey the registration principles:first application, first possession to accept the Robe company's application,
I hope you can understand our position. In our auditing period, if you have any suspect about their application,
please contact us directly both by email and by phone. Thank you.
Wish you have a nice day.
Karen Feng
My Loving Dearest Karen,
I have been very very very busy digging big holes, so no answer you in long days and nights. Sorry, sorry. You forgive me?
My love goat died suddenly. Perhaps the pressure from sleeping with many of my friends? So BIG hole for it in my garden. Big hole! It is Winter here, so ground is frozen. Very very hard work to put goat to the ground.
But also my dear mother died! Same day! She never was big talker, but now she never talks again. She small woman! So not so big hole in frozen garden this time. I decide to let her stand up in hole instead of lying flat on stomach. Much better. And smaller hole.
I am very sorry about ownership MilanPlast. I think perhaps only Miracle register, yes? Now also MilanPlast and Robe company? I'm do not like this. Can I why not just register everything in
Your Moans, My Moans
PS: I travel to
Full name
Moans Longballs Nogood
My blog


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"...For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."
Kahlil Gibran
It's the anniversary of the passing of my friend Jeff. I was present in the room when he died on 06/06/06...that's right :)This is a picture of Jeff. He was a cool dude. He had some pretty feet and he would paint his toe nails blue. I loved him.
Life is a series of deaths actually. I have always been fascinated with the topic. Well, it would be more accurate to say I've always been fearful of it. I'm not really fearful anymore. I like to stay open to the endless possibilities that await us after this life...
Friday, June 6, 2008
On Death
Posted by femme hesse at 11:24 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Music and lyrics are a big part of my life. I haven't been doing any song writing lately and I can feel it. Meg over at Pigtown Design sent me a link to a beautiful song called "Perfect Day" written by Colin Towns and performed by Miriam Stockley. I so appreciate the inspiration. Meg also designed the really stylish banner for my blog. A very talented woman...
On a side note...I'm currently being swept off my feet by a new love. Feeling a bit like a teenager. I wasn't looking, it just "happened". I see couples who have been happily married for years and I admire them. I, on the other hand, have struggled in this area. So...it's interesting to be making the attempt at love while on the verge of turning 50 (next week) time will tell...
"Maybe I get to walk the path of the damned. They say that I'm melancholy well maybe I am. I've thought about the situation and now I understand
that the river of life is not always pure. Sometimes it can be a little obscure. One thing I've found that's true as can be...I'm deep and I'm dark and I'm sad when I'm not true to me."
Posted by femme hesse at 11:35 AM 1 comments


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There was much hoopla surrounding Kids of 88 when their debut hit My House came out in 2009.
Rightly so too, because New Zealand hadn't had a pop song like that for years. And they followed it up with accomplished electronic dance pop (with guitars) album, Sugar Pills.
On second album Modern Love, there is nothing quite as addictive - and with guilty pleasure potential - as My House, because the kids have grown up. There is virtually no sexual innuendo, nor are there any "oohs" and "aahs".
For that reason it loses a bit of fun factor, but it makes up for it with star-gazing escapism on tracks like Zion, which saunters, bleeps and stomps along, the deliciously cheesy Feel the Love, and the LCD Soundsystem-meets-Madonna mood of Euphoria.
The latter is a hypnotic, rave-tastic gem with an escalating mix of woozy spectral synth, head-down bum-up beats, and thrumming bass.
One of the most appealing things about Modern Love is its lovely, self-assured pace, with most of the songs still dancey but not bombastic. Like the dreamy ebb of India and Hypno, with it 90s house-cum-M People feel, which might sound awful but it works because Kids of 88 sure do electropop with effortless and catchy ease.
It does have banging and blatant moments on La La, the most throwaway song here, but then there's The Drug, hanging out to be a feelgood hit of summer.
Stars: 4/5
Verdict: Electro dance pop, now for grown-ups


text:
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction to Computers, Programming, and Java
Introduction to Java Programming, Brief
This version consists of the first 18 chapters. It introduces fundamentals of programming, problem-solving, object-oriented programming, and GUI programming. This version is suitable for a CS1 course.
Introduction to Java Programming, Comprehensive
The comprehensive version contains all 43 chapters. Chapters 19-29 are for a data structures course. Chapters 30-43 cover threads, networking, internationalization, advanced GUI, database, Web programming, and streams. This version can be used to prepare students to become proficient Java programmers.
Bonus Chapters
Chapters 34-43 are bonus chapters for Introduction to Java Programming, Comprehensive, available from http://wps.pearsoned.com/ecs_liang_ijp_10/. You need to use the the access code and the information printed on the back side of the front cover in the text in order to access bonus chapters.


text:
- Description
- Review
- Delivery
Please note that places are extremely limited.
Admission includes catered lunch.
Cancellations made less than 1 week prior to the event will be subject to a £25.00 cancellation charge.
Cancellations made less than 10 days prior to the event are non-refundable.
This Gift Card is redeemable against our London Masterclass (subject to availability).
Please note: this gift card is non refundable.
Small Items
(E.g. Accessories, Botanicals, Kitchenware)
EXTRA LARGE PARCELS - from £27.50
Medium Items
(E.g. Lamps, Side Tables, Large Plants)
FURNITURE/HEAVY DELIVERY - from £50.00
Large Items
(E.g. Furniture, Large Mirrors, Chandeliers)
We ship AA products overseas. To change the country from which you wish to shop from, select the correct flag in the top right hand corner of the desktop. Please contact our customer services team if you require more information firstname.lastname@example.com.
If you have ordered one of our paint products, please allow 3-5 working days for delivery as this is hand-mixed by our supplier to order.
Sign up to keep up to date with the latest arrivals and exclusive offers
Get 20% OFF your next purchase when you sign up. Be the first to get the scoop on new arrivals, exclusive offers and more.---> Sign Up Here


text:
Women's 'Vive La Rock 'n' Roll ' – White Print On Black (Small) T-shirt
Small size, limited edition 'Vive La Rock 'n' Roll ' logo t-shirt – white print on Black (Womens Cut) T-shirt.
Kelli Ali presents her 'Vive La Rock 'n' Roll ' iconic T-shirts.
The design for these very cool T-shirts was based on Kelli's famous Vive La Rock 'n' Roll tattoo and at the centre of the logo is the iconic image of Kelli's face, which makes these T-shirts a must have for any Kelli Ali fan.
These quality 100% cotton T-shirts are available in Mens sizes Extra Large /Large/ Medium and Womens sizes Meduim and Small, so there's something for everyone!
Don't miss out, these lovely T-shirts are only available for purchase on this site.
Please order carefully, when choosing your T-shirt size and colour, as once you've placed your order and payment has been confirmed, it will be processed and your purchase will be sent out.
Please check the sizing chart to make sure you order the T-shirt in the right size, Measure one of your favorite t-shirts and compare (we cannot exchange it for you if you've made a mistake).
Womens Small T-Shirt
Top To Bottom: 58cm
Side To Side: 41cm
Neck To Bottom: 49cm
Arm To Neck: 28cm
Arm: 16cm
We will not be able to refund or exchange shirts for other sizes or colors, once sent out.
All Money received from these T-shirts will go towards the making of another beautiful record by Kelli Ali or making more T-shirts!
£7.00 In stock
price does not include VAT (if applicable) and delivery
Customer info
International shipping
we ship all items worldwide
Important: PayPal Error
Some customers are receiving this error message when using the shop: "We were unable to decrypt the certificate id"
Please see this forum post for further information about this error.
Pricing Policy
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Mickey Mantle Stats & Facts
Mickey Mantle Essentials
Positions: Centerfield
Bats: B Throws: R
Weight: 195
Born: Year: 1931 in Spavinaw, OK USA
Died: 8 13 1995 in Dallas, TX USA
Debut: 4/17/1951
Last Game: 9/28/1968
Hall of Fame: Inducted as a Player in 1974 by BBWAA
Full Name: Mickey Charles Mantle
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Born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma in 1951, the son of Elvin Charles Mantle (more commonly known as "Mutt"), Mickey Mantle was bred to be a baseball player. Shortly after Mantle's family moved to the nearby town of Commerce, Oklahoma when Mickey was four, he was taught to switch-hit by his father and grandfather, who pitched to him righthanded and lefthanded, respectively. Mickey developed into an outstanding all-around athlete at Commerce High School, excelling in both football and basketball, in addition to his first love, baseball. Mantle's athletic career, though, almost ended prematurely when he sustained a life-threatening injury on the football field. Kicked in the shin during a game, Mantle's leg soon became infected with osteomyelitis, a crippling disease that would have been incurable had penicillin not been made available just a few years earlier. Although the drug saved Mantle's leg from amputation, Mickey suffered from the effects of the disease for the rest of his life, and it probably led to many other injuries that eventually robbed him of much of the blinding speed he had during the early stages of his professional career.
After being signed by New York Yankee scout Tom Greenwade at the tender age of 17 in 1949, Mantle spent two seasons in the Yankee farm system before finally joining the club in 1951. The shy 19-year-old immediately had huge expectations thrust upon him by both Manager Casey Stengel and the New York media. Considered by most people to be the heir apparent to the aging Joe DiMaggio in centerfield, Mantle was built up by Stengel as someone who eventually would become DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, and Lou Gehrig all rolled into one. Observing the switch-hitting outfielder's blinding speed and awesome power from both sides of the plate, the Yankee manager proclaimed, "He (Mantle) should lead the league in everything. With his combination of speed and power, he should win the triple batting crown every year. In fact, he should do anything he wants to do." Adding to the pressures placed on Mantle was the uneasiness the insecure country boy felt over being in the big city for the first time in his life.
Unable to live up to his advanced billing early in his rookie season, Mantle found himself striking out frequently and often being booed by Yankee fans, who believed everything they had read and heard about the talented youngster. Before long, the struggling outfielder was sent down to the minor leagues, where he eventually righted himself. Returning to New York later in the year, Mantle finished his rookie season with decent numbers, hitting 13 home runs, knocking in 65 runs, and batting .267 in 341 at-bats. However, he experienced the first in a series of crippling injuries in that year's World Series that ended up severely limiting his playing time and robbing him of much of his great speed throughout the remainder of his career.
Playing rightfield in Yankee Stadium, Mantle moved towards right-center to catch a fly ball hit by the Giants Willie Mays. With Mantle all set to make the play, centerfielder Joe DiMaggio called off his teammate at the last moment. Stopping abruptly to avoid a collision, Mantle caught his right foot in an outfield drainage ditch, seriously injuring his leg and causing him to be carried off the field on a stretcher. The injury prevented Mantle from ever again playing at 100 percent capacity.
Yet, even at less than 100 percent, Mantle had enough natural ability to become a truly great player. He was thick throughout his 5'11", 200-pound frame, extremely muscular, and also exceptionally fast, even after losing some of his great speed. Although Mantle always maintained he was a better righthanded hitter, he had equal power from both sides of the plate, possessing the ability to drive the ball more than 500 feet either as a lefthanded or righthanded batter.
Returning to the Yankees at the start of the 1952 campaign, Mantle took over the starting centerfield job from the recently-retired DiMaggio. Although he continued to strike out regularly, fanning a total of 111 times, Mantle had a very solid second season, hitting 23 home runs, driving in 87 runs, scoring 94 others, batting .311, and making the All-Star Team for the first of 11 straight times. He also performed quite well in each of the next three seasons, averaging 28 home runs, 98 runs batted in, and 118 runs scored from 1953 to 1955, and batting over .300 in two of those years. Mantle led the American League with 129 runs scored in 1954, and he topped the circuit with 37 home runs, a .433 on-base percentage, and a .611 slugging percentage in 1955. Yet, disappointed by Mantle's frequent strikeouts and the slugger's inability to reach the lofty level that had been predicted for him when he first arrived in the big leagues, Yankee fans continued to often voice their displeasure towards the slugger by booing him whenever he failed to fully live up to their expectations.
Mantle finally became the darling of the fans in 1956, when he put together the kind of season most people always believed he was capable of having. Mantle won the American League triple crown by leading the league with 52 home runs, 130 runs batted in, and a .353 batting average. He also topped the circuit with 132 runs scored and a .705 slugging percentage, en route to being named the league's Most Valuable Player for the first of three times, and being awarded the Hickock Belt as the top professional athlete of the year. Mantle had another great season in 1957, hitting 34 home runs, knocking in 94 runs, batting .365, winning his second consecutive MVP Award, and leading the Yankees to their sixth pennant in his first seven years with the team. However, even though Mantle was among the league's best players in both 1958 and 1959, his numbers fell off somewhat, causing fans of the team to once again boo him at every opportunity. The attitude of the fans towards Mantle began to permanently change the following season, though, after New York's disappointing third-place finish in 1959 prompted the team to acquire Roger Maris from the Kansas City Athletics for five players.
Mantle and Maris engaged in the first of two consecutive home run races in 1960, with Mickey edging out his new teammate for the league lead, 40 to 39. Mantle also knocked in 94 runs, batted .275, and topped the circuit with 119 runs scored. But Maris finished just ahead of Mantle in the league MVP voting, winning the award for the first of two straight times. And, as the season progressed, fans of the team began to develop a strong connection with Mantle. Even though they realized that Maris's contributions were criticial to the success of the team, the rightfielder began to draw their ire as he challenged Mantle for the league lead in home runs. Since they considered Mickey to be a "true" Yankee, fans of the team rooted for the centerfielder to win the home run crown, and they correspondingly rooted against Maris whenever he stepped to the plate. Mantle subsequently became their hero, something he remained the rest of his career, while they begrudgingy accepted Maris as a necessary evil.
The feelings of the fans towards Mantle and Maris intensified the following year, when the two men waged an epic battle in pursuit of Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, en route to leading New York to its first world championship since 1958. As the Yankees systematically devastated their opponents on the way to capturing the 1961 A.L. pennant, fans of the team expressed their affection for Mantle more and more, since they felt that, as a "true" Yankee, he should be the one to break Ruth's record. Maris was cast as an interloper, while Mantle was cheered wildly every time he came to the plate. The fans also believed that Mantle was the better all-around player of the two men, even though Maris was the one who eclipsed Ruth's record, edging out Mantle for league MVP honors for the second consecutive year in the process. Nevertheless, the numbers posted by Mantle over the course of the campaign would seem to justify the feelings of the fans. He finished second in the league to Maris in home runs, with 54, placed among the league leaders with 128 runs batted in, a .317 batting average, and a .452 on-base percentage, and topped the circuit with 132 runs scored and a .687 slugging percentage.
Even the press, much fonder of the now more gregarious Mantle than the shy and, at times, uncooperative Maris, chose sides. Far more comfortable in the big city than he was earlier in his career, Mantle now spoke freely to the members of the media, fully understanding the types of answers they appreciated, and taking every opportunity to oblige them. Reporters began writing stories that praised Mantle for the courage he displayed as he continued to play through more and more pain as his career wore on. Their articles helped to make Mickey a folk hero of sorts, enabling him to reach iconic-like status, not only in New York, but throughout the entire country. In subsequent seasons, Mantle experienced the kind of popularity enjoyed by few players in the history of the game.
Mantle captured his third MVP trophy in 1962, leading the Yankees to their third straight pennant and second consecutive world championship. Although he missed almost 40 games and compiled only 377 official at-bats, Mantle's 30 home runs, 89 runs batted in, 96 runs scored, .321 batting average, and league-leading .488 on-base percentage and .605 slugging percentage enabled him to edge out teammate Bobby Richardson for league MVP honors.
Mantle's 1963 season was cut short by one of the most serious injuries he sustained during his career. Playing in Baltimore, the centerfielder ran into a wire fence in the outfield, breaking his left foot and tearing the cartilage in his left knee. Mantle appeared in only 65 games for the Yankees that year, hitting 15 home runs, driving in 35 runs, and batting .314, in just 172 official at-bats.
Mantle returned to the team's everyday starting lineup the following year, and he helped lead the Yankees to their fifth consecutive pennant. Despite limping noticeably and playing in constant pain, Mantle finished among the league leaders with 35 home runs, 111 runs batted in, a .303 batting average, and a .591 slugging percentage. He also led the league with a .426 on-base percentage. The centerfielder finished second to Baltimore's Brooks Robinson in the league MVP voting. The Yankees lost the World Series to the Cardinals in seven games, but Mantle batted .333 during the Series, drove in eight runs, and hit the final three of his World Series record 18 home runs.
The 1964 campaign was Mantle's last big offensive year. He missed huge portions of both the 1965 and 1966 seasons with injuries, and he was shifted to first base prior to the start of the 1967 campaign to alleviate the pressure on his aching legs. Playing in great pain until finally retiring in 1968, Mantle never again put up huge offensive numbers. But he remained a productive player whenever his ailing body enabled him to take the field. Mantle ended his career with 536 home runs, 1,509 runs batted in, 1,677 runs scored, 2,415 hits, a .298 batting average, a .423 on-base percentage, and a .557 slugging percentage. His 536 homers were the third most in baseball history at the time of his retirement. Mantle led the league in home runs four times, reaching the 50-homer plateau on two separate occasions. He also topped the circuit in runs scored six times, walks five times, slugging percentage four times, on-base percentage three times, and runs batted in, triples, and batting average one time each. Mantle scored more than 100 runs nine consecutive seasons, from 1953 to 1961. He batted over .300 ten times, was named to the All-Star Team in 16 of his 18 seasons, and won a Gold Glove. In addition to winning three Most Valuable Player Awards, Mantle finished in the top five in the balloting on six other occasions. He helped lead the Yankees to 12 pennants and seven world championships in his 18 years with the team.
As popular as Mantle was with the fans, he was equally beloved by his teammates.
In his book Few And Chosen, former teammate and close friend Whitey Ford refers to Mickey as: "…a superstar who never acted like one. He was a humble man who was kind and friendly to all his teammates, even the rawest rookie. He was idolized by all the other players."
Ford also says, "Often he played hurt, his knees aching so much he could hardly walk. But he never complained, and he would somehow manage to drag himself onto the field, ignore the pain, and do something spectacular."
Clete Boyer once expressed his admiration for his teammate by saying, "He is the only baseball player I know who is a bigger hero to his teammates than he is to the fans."
Roy White, who only played with Mickey during the latter stages of Mantle's career, talked about the inspiration he was to him: "I was really impressed with the way he played the game, how hard he played the game, and the way he hustled, especially with the bad legs he had. I have a vivid memory of him in DC Stadium, after a doubleheader on a Sunday. It was something like 120 (degrees) down on the floor of the DC Stadium, in July. Looking at him afterwards wrapping the tape off his legs…just sitting there totally exhausted. He had played both games. Mickey would hit a one-hopper over to second base, and he would run all-out to first base. How could you give any less watching a guy like that play the game?"
Opposing players also had a tremendous amount of respect for Mantle because they knew the effort he had to go through late in his career just to be able to take the field to start a game. They also admired his sense of fair play, which prevented him from ever trying to embarrass the opposition. Early in his career, the Yankee front office suggested to Mickey that he do something colorful, such as tip his cap to the fans, whenever he hit a home run. However, Mantle rejected the notion, preferring instead to circle the bases with his head down for fear of embarrassing the opposing team's pitcher. Explaining his actions, Mantle later said, "After I hit a home run I had a habit of running the bases with my head down. I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases."
It was Mantle's humility and courage that made him a hero to opposing players, as well as to his own teammates. Hall of Fame outfielder Carl Yastrzemski once said of Mantle, "If that guy were healthy, he'd hit 80 home runs."
Former Chicago White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox stated, "On two legs, Mickey Mantle would have been the greatest ballplayer who ever lived."
Injuries prevented Mantle from ever realizing his full potential. But Mickey's accomplishments were also diminished somewhat by the frivolous lifestyle he led, which was prompted by his fear of dying young. The men in his family had all passed away at an early age, and Mantle believed the same fate awaited him.
Stating, "I'm not gonna be cheated," Mantle lived life just as hard as he played baseball. He drank, stayed up until all hours of the night, and was frequently unfaithful to his longtime wife Merlyn, who he married in 1951. Had Mantle taken better care of himself, he likely would have been able to add significantly to the extremely impressive numbers he compiled during his career. And, as Mickey later said, "If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken a lot better care of myself."
Unfortunately, Mantle realized his transgressions too late in life. After being treated for alcoholism at the Betty Ford Clinic in 1994, Mickey discovered that the manner in which he abused his body through the years had left him with inoperable liver cancer. The idol of millions, Mantle displayed dignity and humility in his final days, telling all those fans who had looked up to him as a role model through the years, "This is a role model. Don't be like me."
Mickey Mantle died on August 13, 1995, at the age of 63. At his funeral, sportscaster Bob Costas eulogized his lifetime hero by describing him as "a fragile hero to whom we had an emotional attachment so strong and lasting that it defied logic." Costas added, "In the last year of his life, Mickey Mantle, always so hard on himself, finally came to accept and appreciate the distinction between a role model and a hero. The first, he often was not. The second, he always will be. And, in the end, people got it."


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A remarkable ting happened the other day.
While the U.S. Secretary of State was publicly cleaning his shotgun, some words dropped from his lips to the effect that he might not have to use the damn thing if some event (which he considered unlikely) were to happen.
And then, magically, the world began to shift gears and leaders started talking like (dare I say?) diplomats. Diplomats! For a while I had completely forgotten that diplomacy was supposed to be the mother tongue of people like the Secretary of State. And probably it was.
Maybe those words dropped haphazardly as if he were muttering something he remembered from an old Johnny Cash song: "Don't take your gun to town, son, leave your gun at home."
To settle a score, prove a point, corner some resources or gain an advantage we have not advanced one measly inch beyond where we were when the Boomers came of age. And we Boomers (yes, count me one) were quite certain we had answers to the problems vexing the world.
Unfortunately, we didn't. We had some fantastic musical spokespeople who created anthems we still wish we could all live by ("Give Peace a Chance," "Treat Your Children Well," etc.), but nothing was solved.
Instead, problems have multiplied, only now our arsenal of things to kill, taze and electronically obliterate has grown. Lucky us.
Stay with me; I'm going somewhere with this.
The problem is not just that the language of diplomacy is neglected. The problem is also the thought processes that get us into no-win situations in which diplomacy isn't even an option.
It's called binary thinking. It's what makes us draw lines in the sand. It's what makes Met fans think Yankee fans are evil, and vice versa. It's why the Democrats sit on one side of the floor and the Republicans on the other side, even though they are both Granfalloons.
What makes binary thinking really insidious is the way in which we can decry it and teach it to our children at the same time.
So what I want to know is this: With a world on the constant brink of violence, with our ability to govern ourselves at a 50-year low and our ability to flame each other at a 50-year high, why is our educational obsession about things like standardized test scores?
If we need to obsess over anything, shouldn't we perhaps obsess over things like our children's ability to work collaboratively, to synthesize and communicate what they know, to solve complex problems and learn the lost language of diplomacy?
Little things like that could actually change the world.


text:
This was published 7 years ago
Republican anger over Rove 'waste of money'
WASHINGTON: Karl Rove and his investors were the biggest losers on election day.
The Republican strategist created the model for outside-money groups that raised and spent more than $1 billion on the November 6 elections - many of which saw almost no return for their money.
Mr Rove, through his two political outfits, American Crossroads and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, backed unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with $US127 million ($122 million) on more than 82,000 television spots, according to Kantar Media's CMAG, a New York advertising tracker.
Down the ballot, 10 of the 12 Senate candidates and four of the nine House candidates the Rove groups supported also lost their races.
The results have angered some Republicans, who blame Mr Rove for ''sidelining conservatives''. ''Right now there is stunned disbelief that Republicans fared so poorly after all the money they invested,'' said Brent Bozell, president of ForAmerica, non-profit group that advocates for Christian values in politics. ''If I had 1/100th of Karl Rove's money, I would have been more productive than he was.''
Donald Trump posted a message on Twitter saying: ''Congrats to @KarlRove on blowing $400 million this cycle. Every race @CrossroadsGPS ran ads in, the Republicans lost. What a waste of money.''
The election day results showed Mr Rove's strategy of bringing in huge donations from a few wealthy benefactors and spending that money almost completely on television advertising failed.
The Centre for Responsive Politics estimates the two Crossroads groups spent about $US176 million, making them the top non-candidate and non-party spender of the election. ''Crossroads was a failure and Rove's core strategy of base-centric GOP politics is a failure,'' said a senior Republican consultant not favourably inclined to Rove. ''There are not enough white men for the Rove view to work any more. His time is past.''
Democrats also piled on. ''If Crossroads were a business, and Rove was the CEO, he'd be fired for getting a poor return on his investment,'' the New York senator Charles Schumer, the chamber's third-ranking Democrat, said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.
The Houston home builder Bob Perry gave $US7.5 million to Mr Rove's American Crossroads and $US8 million to Restore Our Future, a super-PAC (political action committee) that supported Mr Romney.
A spokesman, Anthony Holm, said Mr Perry had no regrets.
Bloomberg, The Washington Post


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text:
Robert Pattinson wasn't expecting to star in Cosmopolis. In point of fact, he didn't think a director like David Cronenberg would even consider him for the project.
"I never really took myself seriously as an actor before," he says, barely awake the morning after the movie's gala Toronto premiere. "And [then] you get cast in a movie like this, and it gets to Cannes and it's not a total disaster, and I haven't brought down David's entire career…"
Cronenberg's eyes crinkle. "We'll see," the director says. "That's still in the future."
On the verge of burning out after shooting the two-part Twilight finale, Breaking Dawn, Pattinson had been thinking seriously about pulling back from movies.
"I was fully intending on hiding for a couple of years," Pattinson says. "I only wanted to do small parts. The time is gone – for me, especially – when you could learn on the job. I mean, even the idea of going to a repertory company or something – everybody's going to be filming it on their phone, and it's exactly the same thing in movies pretty much. So I wanted to try to do small parts in movies I thought I could learn something from. But then this came up."
"This" was the role of Eric Packer, a billionaire financial wizard who experiences a professional and personal collapse over one very long car ride across Manhattan in Cronenberg's adaptation of Don DeLillo's allegorical novel. The way Cronenberg structured the movie – shooting in sequence, often sealing Pattinson and his co-stars into a limousine and directing them remotely – pushed Pattinson to a kind of creative epiphany.
"It takes away a lot of the problems of self-consciousness," he says. "I did a movie where a lot of it was underwater" (that'd be Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, which put him on the map as doomed golden boy Cedric Diggory), "and it kind of felt a little bit like that. You feel like you have very little to prove when you're in such a tiny space. There's very little of the outside world coming in, so it's pretty simple."
Cronenberg so enjoyed putting Pattinson through Packer's paces that he's eager to repeat the experience, possibly with another member of his repertory company.
"You meet people that you work with and you feel you'd really like to work with them again," he says. "I felt that way about Rob, and I felt that way, obviously, about Viggo [Mortensen]. And then I started to think, 'Wow, Rob and Viggo in the same movie would be terrific,' because I know they'd get along, but I also think creatively, onscreen, it'd be fantastic. But I don't have a project, exactly; we have some possibilities. So we're talking about it. It's possible it'll never happen, because it's just so hard to get things made, really – especially anything interesting. That's sort of where I am, making movies that are hard to get made."
In all seriousness, though, the two do expect to collaborate on another picture.
"We feel that fate will bring us together again," says Cronenberg.
"I'm setting up a PayPal account," Pattinson laughs.
"Yes, that's right," Cronenberg says. "We're crowdsourcing. Please, if you've got any money on you right now, just put it on the table."


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Ram Pemmaraju '84 Invents New Cybersecurity Technology
Combining technology and business, Stevens alumnus Ram Pemmaraju (B.E. 1984) embodies the Stevens ideal of cross-disciplinary innovation. From the invention of keystroke encryption to his current position as head of his own computer security company, Pemmaraju has blended his expertise in computer science and business management to succeed in both worlds.
Pemmaraju was initially drawn to Stevens because of its strong focus on engineering. But certain classes and opportunities led him down a different path. An Electrical Engineering class introduced him to microprocessors. Then, his senior project "revolved around programming a PDP-8 using switches on the front panel. That made me interested in computers," says Pemmaraju.
Due to connections made at Stevens, Pemmaraju was able to hit the ground running in his new field. A relationship started at Stevens led to his first job after graduation – a position with Codenoll, a fiber optic startup company based in New York.
Pemmaraju's next venture was launching his own company, Computer Security Systems.
"That business was started by me and two other graduates from Stevens and employed a number of students from Stevens," he said.
This first foray into owning a business allowed Pemmaraju to assume the roles of both businessman and engineer, laying the foundation for future ventures, including the development of keystroke encryption.
During his time with Computer Security Systems, Pemmaraju gained experience with cybersecurity through building and selling data encryption and access control systems.
"This background helped me with coming up with keystroke encryption as well as out-of-band authentication, which is widely used in securing access to computers," Pemmaraju said.
Keystroke encryption is an essential part of cybersecurity, used widely. CIO Magazine recently lauded the technology in an article titled "9 Unheralded Technology Innovations."
"The software is used by several million people, typically as a component of another security suite or identity theft package," said Pemmaraju.
The technology is available for PC and Mac, as well as Android and iPhone operating systems in the growing smartphone market.
Pemmaraju's passion shines through when he discusses his work with keystroke encryption and cybersecurity.
"Cyber crime has become an epidemic plaguing government and businesses," he said. "The attacker lures the victim to download malware via phishing or compromised web sites. The malware typically contains a keylogger, which grabs everything you type. This can be passwords, credit card numbers or anything else of value which can lead to the attacker stealing money or corporate and government secrets. The existing defenses such as anti-virus software and firewalls are unable to prevent this, hence the large number of data breaches."
Keystroke encryption is an elegant answer to this multifaceted problem.
"The best solution is to encrypt everything you type and transport the encrypted keys in a pathway hidden from the malware," said Pemmaraju. "The benefit is the reduction of data breaches and password theft, making the internet safe to use."
He continues to develop secure technologies at his current company, Strikeforce Technologies. Pemmaraju started the business in 2002 with a few others. Even then, Stevens continued to play a role in Pemmaraju's associations.
"My first technical hire was a Stevens graduate," he said.
Since its inception, the business has expanded to include the core team in New Jersey, offshore development in India and distribution in England, Nigeria, Australia and Dubai. Pemmaraju considers keystroke encryption part of his company's claim to fame. The second part of their specialization is out-of-band authentication. Strikeforce Technologies also offers security software for smartphones using iPhone or Android mobile platforms.
As a small cap public company, Strikeforce Technologies faces different hurdles than a private company.
"[It] has its challenges," Pemmaraju admits.
However, he is perfectly suited to handle the intricacies of a computer-based business. Pemmaraju's dual background in business and technology allow him to evaluate market demands and cybersecurity needs in order to prepare for the future of online security.
"My current plan is to stay in the computer security industry as there is a lot of growth and I can leverage my background effectively," said Pemmaraju. "Fortunately, we are in an industry which is growing rapidly and we have the right products to capitalize on this opportunity."
Pemmaraju currently lives in Old Bridge, N.J. with his wife and two children.


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Salute GangStarr
This mural was done by: ESB Crew: Snipe, Chuck, Brute, Oustem-1. It's at a hall of fame at a…
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