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Amid the chaos of Kiev unrest, protester proposes to girlfriend... while wearing a helmet, balaclava and bullet-proof jacket
- Man proposes to girlfriend on street in Kiev near Independence Square
- Gets down on one knee with megaphone as comrades light smoke flares
- Another man also proposes today to girlfriend having met during rallies
- Jenya, 23, now plans to marry 17-year-old Nastya on Ukraine barricades
Amid the destruction and devastation as Ukraine is gripped by widespread anti-government protests, love is clearly in the air.
One demonstrator wearing a helmet, balaclava and bullet-proof jacket proposed to his girlfriend on a street in Kiev close to Independence Square today, where the deadliest clashes have broken out.
In a set of images taken by photographer Oleksandr Stashevskiy, the man was seen professing his love for the woman with a megaphone - getting down on one knee as his comrades lit smoke flares.
Scroll down for video
Will you marry me? A protester proposes to his girlfriend on a street close to Independence Square, Kiev
Put a ring on it: The proposal took place on a street where the deadliest clashes broke out last month in Kiev
Unusual scene: The demonstrator was wearing a helmet, balaclava and bullet-proof jacket during the proposal
Also today, photographer Anastasia Vlasova captured Jenya, 23, proposing to 17-year-old Nastya, having met during rallies earlier this year. They plan to get married on the barricades.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's president is to return from a short sick leave that had sparked questions over if he was taking himself out of action in preparation to step down or for a crackdown on the protests.
Viktor Yanukovych's office made the announcement about the president's return tomorrow the same day as protesters seeking his resignation held one of their largest gatherings in recent weeks.
About 20,000 people were at the main protest site in Kiev's central square today. Mr Yanukovych's sick leave was announced Thursday, with his office saying he had an acute respiratory illness.
Flowers: In a set of images taken by photographer Oleksandr Stashevskiy, the unnamed man professed his love for the woman through a megaphone - getting down on one knee as his comrades lit smoke flares
Love: Also today, photographer Anastasia Vlasova captured Jenya, 23, proposing to 17-year-old Nastya, having met during rallies earlier this year. They plan to get married on the barricades
Troubled: A barricade in Kiev. Ukraine's opposition held a new rally today amid concern about military intervention in the country's worst crisis since independence
But some opposition leaders believed he was vanishing from the limelight in advance of imposing a state of emergency amid the deepest turmoil in Ukraine since the Orange Revolution in 2004-2005.
'Repression works in reverse. More people are coming to Maidan'
Tamara Tribko, demonstrator
The protests, which are heading into a third month, began in late November after Mr Yanukovych backed away from a long-awaited agreement to deepen ties with the European Union.
They quickly grew to encompass a wide range of grievances after police violently dispersed some of the early gatherings.
During Mr Yanukovych's sick leave, a sense of stasis set in and neither side showed signs of movement. But his return to work could bring new action.
Violence: The Ukrainian flag flies above an anti-government barricade that faces a cordon of riot police in Kiev
Epicenter of Ukraine's unrest: An opposition supporter uses his mobile phone outside Independence Square
Food to eat: A woman distributes homemade cakes to opposition supporters guarding a barricade outside Kiev's Independence Square
'Repression works in reverse. More people are coming to Maidan,' said demonstrator Tamara Tribko, using the abbreviated name of the square where an extensive tent camp has been established since early December.
Top opposition figures spoke to the rally to urge supporters to push forward with their demands.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, one of the protest leaders, emphasised the importance of obtaining the release of all people arrested during the protests.
'We must free all,' Mr Yatsenyuk said, adding that there were 116 people being held. 'Freedom to every hero.'
Protection: A cordon of riot police face a barricade set up by anti-government protesters in central Kiev
Making their stand: An opposition supporter guards a barricade outside Kiev's Independence Square
In a line: Riot police officers take positions outside Kiev's Independence Square as the country's crisis deepens
Mr Yanukovych's sick leave was announced the morning after the parliament voted to offer amnesty to many of those arrested during protests.
'We must free all. Freedom to every hero'
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, protest leader
It was on the condition that demonstrators vacate some of the buildings they occupy in Kiev and government buildings elsewhere in the country.
The measure was greeted with disdain by protesters, who characterised it as the Government essentially taking hostages and then using them to try to negotiate concessions.
Kiev's city hall, which protesters have seized, is being used as an operations centre and dormitory key to supporting the extensive protester tent camp on the nearby Independence Square.
Creativity: Anti-government protester Anna paints a hardhat at the Kiev City Hall, which has been occupied by opposition forces
Opposing sides Tents of anti-government protesters are pictured at Independence Square in Kiev
Another protest leader, former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, showed that opposition hopes for cooperation from abroad are high.
'The crisis will end at last when under the auspices of the international community we will hold new elections that will stop the regime of Yanukovych,' he said.
On Tuesday, parliament is expected to consider reforms to the constitution that would reduce some presidential powers and allot them to the prime minister.
Mr Yanukovych last week accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, but has not appointed a new one.
Misty skies: Ukrainian riot police stand in position opposite an anti-government barricade in Kiev
Cold: A group of anti-government protesters warm themselves around a barrel near a poster of famous Ukrainian football coach and player Valeriy Lobanovskyi. The text on the poster reads: 'Lobanovskyi forever'
Armed: A uniformed protester carries a baseball bat near a barricade in central Kiev, the capital of Ukraine
Also today, authorities granted permission to a prominent opposition activist to leave Ukraine for treatment of injuries he sustained after allegedly being kidnapped and tortured.
Dmytro Bulatov went missing on January 22 and resurfaced a week later, heavily bruised and with part of an ear cut off.
The incident, along with the beatings of other activists, one of whom died, raised fears that government supporters are using brutal hirelings to intimidate the opposition.
Police had sought Mr Bulatov for questioning on suspicion of organizing mass disorder, but prosecutors said he was free to go today.
He was taken to an airport and Mr Klitschko said he would be flown to Latvia for treatment.
Taking a break: An anti-government protester is pictured having a snack on Grushevsky Street in Kiev
Preparing themselves: Members of Ukraine's nationalist movement Right Sector practice hand-to-hand fighting at a tent camp in Independence Square
Keeping out the cold: Anti-government protesters warm themselves around a bonfire on a barricade
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After my father returned from retrieving my errant throw that resembled a poor and weak nine-iron golf shot, my anxiety rose as I anticipated my father's comments. He simply said, "Just step and throw." He then tossed the ball in my direction once again.
As I caught the next ball my confidence grew. With some hesitation I did as my father suggested and stepped and threw the ball. To my surprise the ball found its target. I found myself stunned, not only because of my accuracy but at how nonchalantly my father caught the ball with the best softball bat he found on www.softballbatsunlimited.com . No worry on his face, no concentration in his eyes–clearly, he had been here before–several times before. His one-handed back hand grab just about left me speechless until I finally stuttered the question. "Dad, how'd you learn to play softball so well?"
His answer was one that encompassed not only every sport ever played, but it was an answer that would have left Greek philosophers cheering in the stands and embodied the golden rule of every twelve step program. His response: "One throw at a time."
Of course, puzzled by this, and not knowing how to respond, I tossed the ball back to my father, this time with a bit more velocity and accuracy. Again catching the ball as if he hadn't a care in the world was amazing to me. This time he paused for a moment after catching the ball as if the pace and accuracy of the ball surprised him. I asked my father once again, convinced he didn't understand my question. His answer came right before he tossed the ball: "One throw at a time."
Now frustrated at my father's profound stance on softball, I caught the ball and immediately hurled the ball in his direction with all the fury a skinny seven-year-old could muster. He caught the ball, sensing my frustration. He then looked at me as if I were challenging him. It was too late to take it back; the gauntlet had been thrown. My father decided that it was time to graduate from catching soft arching tosses to screaming missiles firing out of a cannon. Unbelievably, I caught the apocalyptic sphere that was hurtling towards my frail and frightened body.
I contemplated taking off my glove and running into the house. Something about "Death by softball" did not sit well with me. At the same time there was something about catching and throwing the ball that felt good…. empowering, dangerous, and magical.
I chose to stay in the game and with my wiry frame hurled the ball back at my father. He quickly caught it and threw it back. His quick catch and throw was beautiful to watch. His feet were light and agile, his head steady, and his hands so fast I almost didn't see the ball coming. I cataloged every one of his movements in my head and used it to mimic my father as I collected and returned each ball.
The balls were coming faster and faster, and I could hear the ball hissing as it pushed against the air. My index finger throbbed with pain each time the ball snapped into the leather glove. It didn't bother me. I was trading thunderbolts with my father. I was a Spartan boy being shown the ways of a warrior by his father. A feeling of elitism radiated through me. As we kicked up dust in our magical exchange I threw one final ball and readied myself for yet another thrilling, stinging catch.
My father just held the ball. He held the ball and stared at me. It was more than a stare. In his silence, and in the look in his eyes, he had claimed me as his son. I was beaming, and I know at that moment he saw the light in my eyes and I saw it in his. He was my father and I was his son. As my father stared at me he didn't say a word. His placid, proud gaze spoke to my soul and it told me that I had become battle tested and my time had come.
Run with the wolves, catch bolts of lightning, tackle waves from the ocean and under no circumstances do you dare sail a ship of safety. Be a boy. Be one who seeks adventure and courage.
But just as quick as that proud gaze came to my father's face, it suddenly disappeared. My father's reverent stare turned into a look that only a little boy gets after he finds out he's in trouble. He quickly took off his glove, put his arms at his sides, and I felt as though he was afraid to look at me.
I didn't understand my father's pain, but in that moment of time I sensed it was there. I felt it in my heart. I felt I was losing him and my heart was breaking. Out of desperation I asked once again how he learned to play softball so well. His answer to this day kept my heart from breaking and confirmed his love for me when he said, "One Root Beer at a time."
We jumped into that '72 Chevy pickup and drove into town where softball was discussed over more than one can of root beer (please don't tell my mom). I remember asking him why he stopped playing softball and he said something so pointedly true about anyone who has a love affair with a sport. "I've never stopped playing ball, I just watch more than I actually want to."
I know there are many like me who wonder what happened to the light in their father's eyes, a light that confirms a father's love for his son. What many of us don't know is who the thief is that stole the light in our father's eyes. Was it a traumatic childhood experience? Time spent in a war as a young man? Or perhaps he was forced to grow up too fast and later saw the unavoidable sinkhole that kept him from being a kid. I will never know.
For several years I have worked in youth soccer and in every coaching lesson I prepare I write "Find the Light" at the top of the page. It reminds me to find that place that feeds a young soul, a realm with elements of curiosity, anxiety, danger and fun. A realm where time ceases to exist because of the fun they experience and the victory of accomplishing something that feeds their soul. And in that realm there are bright eyes, smiles and a look of victory.
When I see it, I say a little prayer. "Lord, feed the light within them, and show them to find the light in others."
Now that I'm older, I realize that we need to have that same eye contact with our Heavenly Father as well as our earthly fathers. We need to know that He looks at us with eyes of love and acceptance. And because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, that's exactly how He does look at us.
I often get accused by colleagues, friends and even family of my apparent refusal to grow up when it comes to coaching. The time is my time playing with kids could be better served in some other endeavor. I respectfully disagree (as I stick my tongue out). My response; nah, nah, nah, you can't make me and you're not my dad.
Donovan Gibson is a featured children's author for Halo Publishing International. His current picture book "The Ticker That Needed a Fixer" was scheduled for release in September 2011. His work has also been published in Celebrate Life magazine, Children's Ministry Magazine, and several others.

subset: commoncrawl


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BUSINESS BRIEFS — Sequim shop announces new hours . . . and other items
Marcus Buren of Anytime Fitness in Sequim has attained his Personal Fitness Trainer Certification.
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New fitness coach
SEQUIM — Marcus Buren of Anytime Fitness, 10131 Old Olympic Highway, recently passed all the requirements for his Personal Fitness Trainer Certification through the American Council on Exercise.
He has been employed at Anytime Fitness in Sequim for the past 18 months as an assistant manager and said he looks forward to his expanded responsibilities as a fitness coach.
Buren has a bachelor's degree from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, where he studied sustainable business and played college basketball.
Anytime Fitness of Sequim is owned and operated by Jay and Heidi Bryan of Sequim.
Last modified: May 22. 2014 7:17PM


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Okay, so I haven't been spending too much time gaming lately. Here's an update on how I've been doing.
I'm about seven and a half hours into Mass Effect for this go-round. After completing Citadel Station, I remembered reading something about the right order in which to do the three missions that open up, difficulty-wise. I looked around, and the common advice seemed to be to go and pick up Liara, but the gunfight in the second part of that mission was just kicking my ass.
I decided to do all the side missions I possibly could first, to earn some money and upgrades and level up a bit.Thinking about it, this is also what happened last time, although I got frustrated with a certain mission and just stopped playing. That was about 11 hours in, but I remember taking much longer with Citadel Station.
The first side mission I did was Bring Down the Sky, which I'd never done before. A pretty impressive mission for DLC, quick, fun, with some moral choices and a nice reward at the end. It was a bit odd to be able to walk through the DLC -- which, classically, has been additional end-game content -- but fun nevertheless, and gave Shepard some class IV armor much earlier than I'd've been able to afford it.
Messed about a bit more, uncovering some of the collection quests, doing various news-related items, finally being nice to the fan and so on. Now, however, I'm at the mission which so frustrated me before, the first one where you're on the trail of Cerberus. I remember an endless array of buildings using the same floorplan, frustrating fights against mutants, and feeling like I was just marking time. Hopefully, this time around my increased level and armaments will mean a different experience.
I have been somewhat distracted, though, by a Russian game called The Precursors. The game is from 2008, and the developers recently made arrangements to use a fan translation patch to release an English version.
It's a gonzo sci-fi open-world game with more systems than it probably should have and a zillion and one quests of all types. I've been playing quite a bit and I'm probably not 1/5 of the way done with the missions on the first world. After you're done there, there's apparently a tactical space-battle layer to the game for voyaging between worlds. The translation is off-kilter, sometimes charmingly so, sometimes annoyingly. Oddly compelling, and easy enough to take in bite-sized chunks. Sometimes it's fun just to jump in my dune buggy and go shooting bugs.
Except for The Precursors, I haven't bought any new games recently. It's been hard to stick to my guns on that one -- I'd really like to get Dragon Age 2, but I have to keep reminding myself that I can't buy sequels until I've finished the earlier games in the series. I downloaded DA:O Ultimate last night so I'd have it installed -- almost 13GB download! -- but I really want to finish up Mass Effect first, and then there's The Witcher 2 coming soon, which means I'd have to finish up The Witcher, and I'd really like to play Drakensang: The River of Time, and and and...


text:
Derek Mason's busy schedule included a brief stop to speak to Vanderbilt fans at the Commodore women's basketball game Sunday afternoon.
Click here for the original story.
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Aug 13
PSYCHOSTICK returns to New York on the Evil Dumb Tour! Special guests: Wolfborne Proxima Control https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXHZuWxmEF0 One Day Waiting Sol Ardour
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Sol Ardour is back with our first show of the season. This time alongside hard hitting acts like Tracings, and The Chimpz. The Official Lineup 3:00 pm What Doesn't Kill 3:45 pm Frogg Party 4:30 pm Run For Your Lives 5:15 pm Tracings 6:00 pm The Champz 6:45 pm Sol Ardour Tix: $8 in advance $10 the day of
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Sol Ardour @ Coco66 [winters breath tour]
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SOL ARDOUR and Dialogue From a Silent Film @ Matchless
Jun 14
PUI TRIBE X SOL ARDOUR At Webster Hall Grand Ballroom June 14th The descendants of the Sun will meet the people of the Moon for the first time live. This powerhouse could only be contained in the largest night club in NYC. Webster Hall New York City. Fire Dancers, Tribal Drums Circles, Breakout Performances in the crowd. This is the visual Art/ Rock event of the season.
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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Lorraine Stenovic Metzler, 77, of Grand Rapids, Mich., died Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011. Memorial services were Oct. 6, 2011, in St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, Mich.
WILMINGTON, Del. - Dorothy Louise Jackson, R.N., 64, of Wilmington, Del., died Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Memorial services will be at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in Brandywine Valley Baptist Church, 7 Mount Lebanon Road, in Wilmington.
Gary D. Roberson, 62, died Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. Memorial services will be at 3 p.m. today in South Georgia Baptist Church with the Rev. Bob Miller officiating. Arrangements are by Schooler Funeral Home, 4100 S. Georgia St. Master Sgt. Gary D.
Virginia Louise Elkins, 97, of Amarillo, formerly of Tulsa, Okla., passed away Oct. 19, 2011. Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Monday in Craig Methodist Retirement Center Chapel, 5500 W. Ninth Ave., with the Rev. Steven Teel, Mrs.
CLOVIS, N.M. - Robert Rolland Lusk, 82, of Clovis, N.M., died Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011. Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday in Living Stones Community Church of the Nazarene.
Services Pending Alta Jean Fraley, 83, of Fritch died Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. LaGrone-Blackburn-Shaw Coulter Chapel. Virgil Raymond Higgins, 79, of Guymon died Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, in BSA Hospital. Henson-Novak Funeral Directors, Guymon.
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LAKE BROWNWOOD - Billy Ed Vernon, 81, of Lake Brownwood died Thursday, Oct. 21, 2011. Services will be at 3 p.m. Sunday in Rocky Creek Baptist Church with the Rev. Rick Justice and Ron Miller officiating. Burial will follow in Rocky Creek Cemetery.
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text: I used to be able to choose which image was my thumbnail for my posts to facebook. Now I can't. It only takes the featured image which looks weird on facebook because it's not the right size. I could attach another image and choose it, but that option is gone. I never changed any settings.


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GPN-2002-000059 is an elegant black and white shot of the Apollo 17 spacecraft descending via parachute over the Pacific Ocean in 1972. Apollo 17 was the final mission of the Apollo program, missions 18 through 20 were planned but then cancelled to free up funding for the then-in-development space shuttle program. The three astronauts onboard Apollo 17 were returning from a lunar landing that, to this date, still stands as the last one ever conducted.
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Hi all
Tried to upload a theme, went to activate it and got this message:
Fatal error: Cannot redeclare my_init() (previously declared in /home/myname/public_html/mysite.com/wp-content/plugins/pixopoint-menu/index.php:33) in /home/myname/public_html/mysite.com/wp-content/themes/OptimizePress1.45/functions.php on line 340
Now I cannot access anything.
How can I fix this... i'm not that techie :)
I am with hostgator if that helps.
I really need to fix this pretty quickly so anyone that could help me would be appreciated.
I have latest WordPress theme installed. Not that techie so was totally surprised when I accessed Zip folder then pressed activate and from there it went to the above message. Cannot access anything now.


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Southeast Asian Rainforest Introduction:
|South East Asian Rainforest Location Map
In the south east asian rainforest the biotic factors interact with the biotic factors. The biomes biotic factors like the bengal tiger, and the bengal bamboo both rely on the suns heat to stay warm. The sun is a abiotic factor and gives heat to the biomes biotic factors. Water is another abiotic factor that interacts with the biotic factors in the biome. Water falls from the sky as rain and the biotic factors like the slender loris and silvery gibbon drink the water to survive.
Table of Contents
Video 1:This video shows what it would be like to go through parts of the Southeast Asian Rainforest and a few of the animals that inhabit it. It also shows scenes from the Jungle Book which takes place in part of the Southeast Asian Rainforest. It shows the animals from the movie in there habitats and also consuming food.
|southeast asian rain forest
AbioticAbiotic factors that can be seen in the Southeast Asian Rainforest are the leaf litter and dead trees that are in the soil that is on the ground. These abiotic factors are then decomposed by insects, fungi, and other decomposers. The climate of Southeast Asia is a tropical wet climate in the Köppen climate zone system. The climate is influenced by wind systems which start in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. The sun also shines on the upper canopy and below. The rainforest is always very humid, and the temperatures are always high.
BioticLike most tropical rainforests the Southeast Asian Rainforests' biotic factors a very diverse. The animals in this biome range from the great Bengal Tiger to the shy and innocent Slender loris. The Bengal tigers will eat mammals big or small whether it be a Rhinoceros or a Musang. The Rhinoceros is a herbivore so it consumes producers like the fig's of a fig tree and Bengal Bamboo. Musang's are omnivores and will eat ripe fruit like the Durian fruit and will also eat small mammals like the Slender Loris. Then the Slender Loris being a herbivore will eat the leaves of the Tualang Tree.
Food Web:
Energy Pyramid
Energy Pyramid Trophic Level
Bengal tigers - 5th trophic level - 0.01% energy
Waglers pit viper - 4th trophic level - 0.1% energy
Musang - 3rd trophic level -1% energy
Slender Loris - 2nd trophic level -10% energy
Tualang - first trophic level -100% energy
Paragraph Form:
1)One of the disruptions that effects our ecosytem that we chose to write about was acid rain. Acid rain is a very destructive force that brings much damage to the rainforest's. It has many causes by different factors. To get information on how acid rain effected our biome we asked ourselves questions like what animals would be directly affected by it, and how our biome overall will be affected. We wanted to know what types of acid rain there were, what makes acid rain, and what ways people can stop acid rain to save the rainforest. We got all our acid rain thoughts down then we went and looked up information for our questions we had which helped lead us up to this.
2)Acid rain is is another way to describe the many ways that acid rain falls out of the atmosphere. A better term is acid deposition which has two parts; wet and dry. Wet deposition refers to acidic rain, fog, and snow. As acidic water flows over and through land, it affects many of the plants and animals in that ecosystem. Dry deposition relates to acidic gases and particles. About half of the acidity in the atmosphere falls back to earth through dry deposition. The wind blows these acidic particles and gases onto buildings, homes, and trees. Dry deposited gases and particles can also be washed from trees and other surfaces by rainstorms. When that happens, the runoff water adds those acids to the acid rain, making the water more acidic than the falling rain alone. ("What is Acid")
3)In general for tropical rainforests' they are effected heavily by acid rain.Because it is mainly caused by industrial processes, automobiles, and power plants, countries that are developed have the most acid rain problems. But, as the undeveloped nations begin to industrialize, acid rain will increase even more. Determining how much the planet is being hurt by acid rain is very difficult because the strength of the effects depend on many things, including how acidic the water is, and the types of fish, trees, and other living things that rely on the water. In a rainforets the effects would be disasterous. Acid rain comes down to the earth in form of rain, snow, hail, fog, frost or dew. Once it reaches the ground, the acidity in the substance can harm and even destroy organism's living in the biome. Acid rain causes leaves on plants to lose all its nutrients, so plants like the Tualang would be hurt by acid rain. This would cause a chain effect for organisms if their food dies, and animals from all parts of the food web would be endangered.
Video 2:
4)Acid Rain kills off the first level of organisms first, which would devastate the food web from the bottom to the top. Many organisms would die if the problem continues to worsen. The cities around the rainforest must reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide that they release into the air. To reduce the amount of these gases that are let into the air, that area around Southeast Asia must find cleaner ways of producing energy. Some ways of doing that are, by using solar and wind energy. These methods create no waste and don't run out over time. They are unlike fossil fuels that create a lot of waste and break down the ozone layer. Cars must reduce emissions by burning fuels cleaner so fewer acids reach the atmosphere. Planting and growing additional plants and trees would also help take away some of the emissions, and release more oxygen.
5)The Southeast Asian Rainforest is the oldest representative of rainforests in the world, and losing organisms from this rainforest would be a tragedy. Acid rain can be limited and prevented by humans, so it would be sad to lose organisms to a cause that can be prevented. The Southeast Asian Rainforest took millions of years to get to this point, but could be ruined by us in the near future.
WORKS CITED:"Global envirormetal Issues." Enviromental information system centre. envis, 28
Apr. 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://envis.mse.ac.in/
"Acid Rain - Causes." The Environment A Global Challenge. N.p., n.d. Web. 28
Apr. 2010. <http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/Environmental_Problems/
"Biodiversity." Global Environment. Global Environment.co.uk, 2003. Web. 13 Apr.
2010. <http://www.admwebstudios.co.uk/Biodiversity12.htm>.
F., Lydia. "Southeast Asian Rainforest." Blue Planet Biomes. Brynn Schaffner and
Kenneth Robinson, 7 Nov. 2006. Web. 6 Apr. 2010.
"Information on Tropical Climates." Kbears. KnowledgeBears.com , 2005. Web. 14
Apr. 2010. http://www.kbears.com/climates/printtropical.html.
What is acid rain and what causes it?" policyalmanac.org. Almanac of policy
issues, 6 Aug. 2002. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://www.policyalmanac.org/


text:
Sep 14
MR. UNLOVED live @ The Sidebar Saturday Sept. 14th MR. UNLOVED @ The Sidebar Also appearing: The Stents, The Improbables, The Tritons Saturday Sept. 14th at: The Sidebar 218 E Lexington St. Baltimore, MD 21202 date: Saturday Sept. 14th time: Doors open at 9:00 $8 for 21 and over, $10 for under 21 info: (410) 659-4130 http://www.reverbnation.com/#!/mrunloved http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mr-Unloved/118323018608 https://www.facebook.com/SidebarBaltimore Get yourself an official Mr. Unloved patch at the show
Sep 14
Baltimore Surf and Turn Guitar Hoedown! Baltimore's deluxe surf band The Tritons and Washington, DC hard-hitting alt country roots rockers The Highballers take over Federal Hill for a night of reverb, vintage Fender guitars and high-energy twang. Mum's, 1032 Hanover Street, Federal Hill, Baltimore, MD.
Oct 11


text:
Two Systems of Justice Paper Highlighted in Voxxi and the Huffington Post
Published on Thu, Mar 21, 2013
The IPC and LAC's Special Report, "Two Systems of Justice: How the Immigration System Falls Short of American Ideals of Justice," was highlighted in a piece by Voxxi, which was then reposted by the Huffington Post:
"The United States' justice system is supposed to operate equally for all defendants, but a new report reveals that the immigration system operates under a different set of rules for immigrants facing deportation.
The American Immigration Council issued on Tuesday a report that reveals the immigration system fails to provide "a fair process" to immigrants in removal proceedings and "lacks nearly all of the procedural safeguards we rely on and value in the U.S. justice system." The report, titled "Two Systems of Justice: How the Immigration System Falls Short of the Ideals of Justice", also explores the major operational differences between the criminal justice system and the immigration removal system."
You can read the full report here.
Published in the Voxxi | Read Article
Make a Difference
This is your chance to take a stand and help us fight for immigration laws that respect fundamental constitutional principles of fairness and reflect our proud history as a nation of immigrants. Please support us today.
In The News
Read Our Blog
Read the latest in immigration news at ImmigrationImpact.com, with new articles published every weekday.
Text FACTS to 51555 to get the latest posts sent right to your phone.


text:
Hurricane Preparedness Center - Oxnard, CA
- WebMD Physician Directory of Oxnard Doctors
- Related Hurricane Preparedness Articles
- Oxnard Emergency Contacts
- Nearby Oxnard Hospitals
- Find a Local Pharmacy on RxList - Oxnard
Oxnard Doctors and Specialists for Hurricane Preparedness
Hurricane Preparedness
Introduction to preparing for a hurricane
All Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastal areas are subject to hurricanes. A reliable estimate of expected annual property loss due to hurricanes is $5 billion. The Atlantic hurricane season lasts ...
Other Related Hurricane Preparedness Articles
Emergency Contact for Oxnard
- In case of Emergency, call 911
Nearby Oxnard Hospitals results
- 1Saint John's Regional Med Ctr
1600 N Rose Ave
Oxnard, California 93030
(805) 988-250
- 2Pacific Shores Hospital
2130 N Ventura Rd
Oxnard, California 93036
(805) 604-121
- 3Community Memorial Hospital
147 N Brent St
Oxnard, California 93003
(805) 652-501
- 4Ventura County Medical Center
3291 Loma Vista Rd
Oxnard, California 93003
(805) 652-600
- 5Aurora Vista Del Mar Hospital
801 Seneca St
Oxnard, California 93001
(805) 653-643
- 6St John's Pleasant Valley Hosp
2309 Antonio Ave
Oxnard, California 93010
(805) 389-580
- 7Santa Paula Hospital
825 N 10th St
Oxnard, California 93060
(805) 933-860
- 8Los Robles Medical Center
215 W Janss Rd
Oxnard, California 91360
(805) 497-272
- 9Ojai Valley Community Hospital
1306 Maricopa Hwy
Oxnard, California 93023
(805) 646-140
- 10Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital
401 Rolling Oaks Dr
Oxnard, California 91361
(805) 777-775
- 11Simi Valley Hospital
2975 Sycamore Dr
Oxnard, California 93065
(805) 955-600
- 12Motion Picture Television Fund
23388 Mulholland Dr
Oxnard, California 91364
(818) 876-188
- 13West Hills Hospital & Med Ctr
7300 Medical Center Dr
Oxnard, California 91307
(818) 676-400
- 14Woodland Hills Medical Center
5601 De Soto Ave
Oxnard, California 91367
(818) 719-200
- 15Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital
2415 De La Vina St
Oxnard, California 93105
(805) 682-711
- 16Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital
400 W Pueblo St
Oxnard, California 93105
(805) 682-711
* Provider Directory Terms of Use:
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By using the WebMD Provider Directory, you agree to these Terms and Conditions.


text:
Hint: Lillia card at beginning:
After defeating the final Boss and completing Arc
The Lad: Twilight Of The Spirits, save your game. Once you
start Arc The Lad: End Of Darkness with that memory card,
you will be prompted to load from Arc The Lad: Twilight Of
The Spirits. Respond "Yes", and after it loads you
will receive the Lillia card.
Adrienne G..
Hint: Better than Cure:
Once you become a apprentice, make sure to have two
Cures and four Magical Stones. Both can be bought in town of Yewbell
for 200 gold each. Synthesize the Cure and Magical Stone to make
Cure 2. Then, use Cure 2 and a Magical Stone to make Cure 3. Once
you have done this, put the Cure 3s together to make Healing Card.
The Healing Card will refill your HP at a rate of 10 every three
seconds without wasting your card points. This will make the capture
missions very easy, because you will be able to heal yourself
just by moving to someplace where you will not get attacked for
a bit. Also make sure that you use the Magic Expert to make the
Cures and the Special Parts expert to make the Healing Card. Also,
once you find a Universal Cloth, synthesize it with the Healing
Card to make Healing Pygmy. It will heal 10 HP every two seconds.
You can also make the Healing Card and then sell it repeatedly
to make a profit of 300 gold each time.
mark rivenburgh.
Hint: Defeating Malademons:
You can defeat a Malademon by dodging its attacks (press
Square to dodge), keep attacking it (press X andb
dodge). Then keep doing this in a pattern: attack once, dodge,
attack once, dodge, etc.
Hint: Defeating The Chalice:
To defeat both forms of The Chalice, repeatedly use
Thunder Storm 2. However, be careful with the second form. You
must protect Ursula, and watch out for when it jumps up and starts
spewing blood then slams down onto you. Also make sure that Ursula's
Exorcist's Gun shoots it to stun it. The stun lasts about five
Hint: Get desired cards at lottery:
When you are going to use the lottery, first save your
game. When at the lottery if you do not receive the desired card,
then reload and try again. This is a good way to get all the character
Aria Monroe.
Hint: Overcome dizziness:
If you get hit with a Dark Sphere 2 and get dizzy,
the best way to overcome it faster is to repeatedly move the Left
Analog-stick in a circular motion until you overcome the affect
of dizziness. You can also get dizzy by "monsters" hitting
you frequently, For example, If you get hit a lot by a Dark Dweller,
Giant Slime, Giant Ooze, Ooze, and Giant Desert Devils (only be
found in online mode).
Hint: Attack interrupts and knockdown/stopping
Each character has different knockdown and/or stopping
power. Some are so strong they can stop almost any attack. Others
have none, so monsters can hit them even if they are being hit.
Also, some characters are able to interrupt enemy attacks. Whether
or not they can do this depends on the character. These effects
also apply to magic and special moves.
Hint: Winning with Paulette:
If another player is using Paulette online and you
are also using Paulette, a good way to win is with Heat Cyclone.
If another player tries to Cyclone you, quickly step out of the
way and Cyclone them. They will not be able to escape. Try to
learn all of the characters' strengths and weaknesses.
Hint: Mission Person tasks:
To get past Missing Person tasks easier, avoid all
dangerous creatures (not when there are only Malademons in the
"room"). When you are at a "doorway" as well
as a creature, run against the invisible wall until it loses
interest in you. When you have found the missing person, you must
escort him or her to the beginning of the area. Make it past the
"room" quickly. Once there, he or she will be there
beside you with full health. Continue to the start to complete
the task.
Hint: Easy gold:
An easy way to get a 500 gold profit each time is as
follows. First, buy a number of Fighting Travelog (300 gold each).
Then, buy the Survival Guide in twice the amount that you bought
the Fighting Travelog (600 gold each). Combine the Fighting Travelog
and Survival Guide to make Complete Combat. Again, combine Complete
Combat and Survival Guide to make Tome of Five Rings. You can
sell the Tome of Five Rings for 2,000 gold each for a 500 gold
Toan 2.
Hint: Character cards:
mark rivenburgh.
Lottery in Dilzweld
Alec: Seventh card to appear; must have the other six first.
Camellia: First card to appear.
Delma: Second card to appear; must have the first card.
Diekbeck: Eighth card to appear; must have the other seven first.
Iga: Fourth card to appear; must have the other three first
Lutz: Third card to appear; must have the other two first
Shu: Fifth card to appear; must have the other four first.
Tosh: Sixth card to appear; must have the other five first.
Main quests
Note: If you miss one of the mission cards you can get them
from the lottery once you have all of the other lottery cards.
Bebedora: From the "Wanted Exorcist" quest.
Cheryl: From the "Wanted Master Hunter" quest.
Darc: From the "Urgent Manhunt" quest.
Ganz: From the "A Favor to Ask" quest.
Kukuru: From the "Find the Missing Person" quest.
Leeza: From the "Help my Fathert" quest.
Maru: From the "Find my Husband Demill" quest.
Paulette: From the "To Anyone Who'll Believe Me" quest.
Tatjana: From the "Find Our Teacher" quest.
Theo: From the "Find Our Teacher" quest.
Arc: Complete the game and then complete the Arc Hunter exam.
Choco: From a Mofly in a hole in Rueloon market once you have
completed the monster book.
Elc: From a molfy in a hole in Milmarna Palace after you wake
up at the start of the game.
Kharg: Found in the last dungeon, the Cathena Lab at the end of
the game on your way to fight the final Boss.
Lilia: Load Arc The Lad Twilight Of The Spirits cleared
save game; may also be obtained from the lottery.
Volk: Defeat him after you complete the game when Orcoth opens


text:
|By PR Newswire
Article Rating:
|August 29, 2014 08:24 AM EDT
SHIJIAZHUANG, China, Aug. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- AutoChina International Limited ("AutoChina" or the "Company") (OTC: AUTCF) announced today that it has been selected as a featured company at the second annual MarcumBP China Best Ideas Investment Conference on Tuesday, September 16th, 2014, at the St. Regis hotel in Beijing.
Senior executives from AutoChina, including Mr. Jason Wang, the Company's Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. Spencer Li, a Company Director, are scheduled to present to investors at 10:00 am and will also be available for selected one-on-one meetings with investors. A power point presentation is available for download at www.autochinaintl.com.
About MarcumBP 2014 China Best Ideas Investment Conference
The conference, hosted by Marcum Bernstein & Pinchuk LLP, is designed to highlight those Chinese companies that have demonstrated strong financial performance, robust business models, and excellent corporate governance. The conference will showcase companies ranging from large-cap to small-cap in growth sectors including internet, IT, consumer, media, healthcare, and education. The conference also provides a forum for investors, senior management, and professionals who desire to enhance the practices and market quality for Chinese companies listed overseas.
The conference provides the opportunity for group presentations, which last year averaged well over 50 participants, and a full day of one-on-one meetings. The conference is free to attend for all institutional investors, who can register at http://www.marcumbp.com/CBIIC/registration.htm. For information about sponsoring or attending the event please contact Summer Chen at [email protected] or +1(646) 472 1876.
About AutoChina International Limited
AutoChina International Limited focuses on providing innovative financing solutions for China's transportation industry. Founded in 2005, we are China's largest commercial vehicle sales, servicing, leasing, and support network. As of June 30, 2014, the Company owned and operated 554 commercial vehicle financing centers in 26 provinces across China, and primarily provides sales-type leasing and support services for local customers.
For more information please visit: www.autochinaintl.com
See more at: http://www.marcumbp.com/CBIIC/presentingcompanies.htm#sthash.k6jQ2iWu.dpuf
At the Company
Jason Wang
Chief Financial Officer
(858) 997-0680 / [email protected]
Investor Relations
The Equity Group Inc.
Carolyne Y. Sohn
Senior Associate
(415) 568-2255 / [email protected]
Adam Prior
Senior Vice President
(212) 836-9606 / [email protected]
About Marcum Bernstein & Pinchuk LLP
Marcum Bernstein & Pinchuk LLP is a recognized leader in providing SEC accounting and advisory services to companies with significant operations and financial interests in Asia. Ranked #4 in the top 20 SEC Practices in China Audit Firms by Audit Analytics, MarcumBP offers a full range of audit and assurance, tax and transaction advisory services for clients in a variety of industries throughout the world with the full resources of its parent company, Marcum LLP, a top-ranked accounting and advisory firm with 23 offices in the U.S., China and Grand Cayman. For more information, please visit: www.marcumbp.com
Marcum Bernstein & Pinchuk LLP
Andrea Cheng
Marketing Director
Marcum Bernstein & Pinchuk LLP,
[email protected]
SOURCE AutoChina International Limited
Redis is not only the fastest database, but it is the most popular among the new wave of databases running in containers. Redis speeds up just about every data interaction between your users or operational systems. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Dave Nielsen, Developer Advocate, Redis Labs, will share the functions and data structures used to solve everyday use cases that are driving Redis' popularity.
Jul. 25, 2016 08:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,550
Enterprise networks are complex. Moreover, they were designed and deployed to meet a specific set of business requirements at a specific point in time. But, the adoption of cloud services, new business applications and intensifying security policies, among other factors, require IT organizations to continuously deploy configuration changes. Therefore, enterprises are looking for better ways to automate the management of their networks while still leveraging existing capabilities, optimizing perf...
Jul. 25, 2016 08:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,026
SYS-CON Events announced today that Venafi, the Immune System for the Internet™ and the leading provider of Next Generation Trust Protection, will exhibit at @DevOpsSummit at 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Venafi is the Immune System for the Internet™ that protects the foundation of all cybersecurity – cryptographic keys and digital certificates – so they can't be misused by bad guys in attacks...
Jul. 25, 2016 08:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,254
SYS-CON Events announced today the Kubernetes and Google Container Engine Workshop, being held November 3, 2016, in conjunction with @DevOpsSummit at 19th Cloud Expo at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. This workshop led by Sebastian Scheele introduces participants to Kubernetes and Google Container Engine (GKE). Through a combination of instructor-led presentations, demonstrations, and hands-on labs, students learn the key concepts and practices for deploying and maintainin...
Jul. 25, 2016 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 679
Ovum, a leading technology analyst firm, has published an in-depth report, Ovum Decision Matrix: Selecting a DevOps Release Management Solution, 2016–17. The report focuses on the automation aspects of DevOps, Release Management and compares solutions from the leading vendors.
Jul. 25, 2016 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,643
"Avere Systems is a hybrid cloud solution provider. We have customers that want to use cloud storage and we have customers that want to take advantage of cloud compute," explained Rebecca Thompson, VP of Marketing at Avere Systems, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 18th Cloud Expo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Jul. 25, 2016 07:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,995
"We formed Formation several years ago to really address the need for bring complete modernization and software-defined storage to the more classic private cloud marketplace," stated Mark Lewis, Chairman and CEO of Formation Data Systems, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 18th Cloud Expo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Jul. 25, 2016 06:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,483
Large scale deployments present unique planning challenges, system commissioning hurdles between IT and OT and demand careful system hand-off orchestration. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Jeff Smith, Senior Director and a founding member of Incenergy, will discuss some of the key tactics to ensure delivery success based on his experience of the last two years deploying Industrial IoT systems across four continents.
Jul. 25, 2016 06:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,458
When it comes to cloud computing, the ability to turn massive amounts of compute cores on and off on demand sounds attractive to IT staff, who need to manage peaks and valleys in user activity. With cloud bursting, the majority of the data can stay on premises while tapping into compute from public cloud providers, reducing risk and minimizing need to move large files. In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, Scott Jeschonek, Director of Product Management at Avere Systems, discussed the IT and busin...
Jul. 25, 2016 06:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,752
There will be new vendors providing applications, middleware, and connected devices to support the thriving IoT ecosystem. This essentially means that electronic device manufacturers will also be in the software business. Many will be new to building embedded software or robust software. This creates an increased importance on software quality, particularly within the Industrial Internet of Things where business-critical applications are becoming dependent on products controlled by software. Qua...
Jul. 25, 2016 05:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,352
SYS-CON Events has announced today that Roger Strukhoff has been named conference chair of Cloud Expo and @ThingsExpo 2016 Silicon Valley. The 19th Cloud Expo and 6th @ThingsExpo will take place on November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. "The Internet of Things brings trillions of dollars of opportunity to developers and enterprise IT, no matter how you measure it," stated Roger Strukhoff. "More importantly, it leverages the power of devices and the Interne...
Jul. 25, 2016 05:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,010
Machine Learning helps make complex systems more efficient. By applying advanced Machine Learning techniques such as Cognitive Fingerprinting, wind project operators can utilize these tools to learn from collected data, detect regular patterns, and optimize their own operations. In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, Stuart Gillen, Director of Business Development at SparkCognition, discussed how research has demonstrated the value of Machine Learning in delivering next generation analytics to imp...
Jul. 25, 2016 04:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,398
Most organizations prioritize data security only after their data has already been compromised. Proactive prevention is important, but how can you accomplish that on a small budget? Learn how the cloud, combined with a defense and in-depth approach, creates efficiencies by transferring and assigning risk. Security requires a multi-defense approach, and an in-house team may only be able to cherry pick from the essential components. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Vlad Friedman, CEO/Founder o...
Jul. 25, 2016 04:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,825
"We host and fully manage cloud data services, whether we store, the data, move the data, or run analytics on the data," stated Kamal Shannak, Senior Development Manager, Cloud Data Services, IBM, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 18th Cloud Expo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Jul. 25, 2016 04:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,184
As organizations shift towards IT-as-a-service models, the need for managing and protecting data residing across physical, virtual, and now cloud environments grows with it. Commvault can ensure protection, access and E-Discovery of your data – whether in a private cloud, a Service Provider delivered public cloud, or a hybrid cloud environment – across the heterogeneous enterprise. In his general session at 18th Cloud Expo, Randy De Meno, Chief Technologist - Windows Products and Microsoft Part...
Jul. 25, 2016 04:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,839


text:
The concept of team and belonging to something bigger than you
is a rapidly deteriorating concept. Pensions are now the exception rather than
the rule, "job for life´ is a fading dream and "mastery" of a job or profession
is no longer possible. Company ideals and objectives are continually changing.
Anyone that claims that know what lies ahead is kidding themselves and skills
are constantly being challenged and re-invented as the business world continually
evolves. Yesterday's corporate giant is today's dinosaur and accepted concepts
of leadership and general business knowledge and best practices are being
chipped away every day. Retiring at sixty-five is becoming less and less
attainable for the majority of the workforce and college degrees are becoming
obsolete at a much more rapid pace. If you are in sales, you are competing
daily with a myriad of other sales people that are selling the same or similar
products or services. Contracts are made to be broken" and prices are
continually compared and negotiated.
Today's "hot product or service" is tomorrow's afterthought.
As a leader, you have to step in and build a team and
environment that has the desire, skillsets and attitude to thrive and succeed in
today's combustible business environment. Be honest with yourself and your
team. Don't "paint a picture" of an environment that really doesn't exist.
Success is hard. Building a winning team is challenging and never ending. The
team is only as good as every single member of that team. People can't "hide"
in today's lean, multi-tasking environment. You have to become a master of
evaluating talent, identifying the required training and development needed and
be prepared to effectively implement and continually adjust the training and
development process as required.
- Start by understanding that an employee's first
obligation is to themselves and their family
- Ensure your company and team goals align with an
individual's personal goals and obligations (in other words, hire and retain
the individuals who align with your organization's goals and values. If they
don't align, everyone is wasting their time).
- Clearly communicate your goals and expectations.
- Accept that there is more than one way to
achieve specific goals and successes.
- Provide opportunity for growth and advancement.
Whenever possible, promote from within.
- Set goals and expectations that are clear,
simple, realistic, achievable, valid, provide growth and expansion and meet the
needs of the company and the individual. Goal achievement should signify a win
for the individual, the team and the organization.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate
- Celebrate victories
- Share information ("information is power" is a
losing attitude and approach)
- Don't insult good employees. People see through
B.S. Be honest and shoot straight
- Provide regular feedback on performance,
strengths and areas of development, and actionable "next steps" for improved
performance and success
- Provide an environment that encourages two way
constructive feedback. If someone has a complaint or concern, require them to provide
recommendations to correct the concern and improve the work process and
- Remember that impatience, frustration and desire
for success is a two-way street. Employees are also in some state of "what else
is out there"?
- Finally, understand that building a successful
team takes time. Have a plan, share the plan, collaborate on the plan and write
it in pencil, because it will evolve and change.
Chris Nemeth


text:
Morning Mindbender
Question: The average one of these weighs 7 pounds. What is it?
Answer: A PURSE!
Congratulations to Joe from Fall River!
Read More »
The Cat in The Hat for Prez!!
If you don't like either of the choices for president there is another candidate…The Cat in the Hat. He held a press conference outside Dr. Seuss' childhood home in Springfield,...
Read More »
Question: The average one of these lasts between 5 and 20 minutes. What is it?
Answer: A DREAM!
Congratulations to Kim from N.Kingstown!
Read More »
Question: 55% of men say they keep this in the car. What is it?
Answer: COLOGNE!
Congratulations to Jay from Warwick!
Read More »
Question: A new survey says that 11% of people eat this every day. What is it?
Answer: ICE CREAM!!
Congratulations to Taylor from Pawtucket!
Read More »
The lighter side of Game of Thrones!
A funny blooper reel featuring outtakes from Game of Thrones was shown at Comic Con on Friday!
Read More »
omg...Omg...OMG! The new Walking Dead trailer is here!
Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead is October 23rd, and we will finally find out who Negan beat to smithereens with his bat Lucille. We'll also be introduced to the residents of The Kingdom....
Read More »
Once Upon a Time to tell story of Aladdin
Actress Karen David, who was on the musical comedy show Galavant, will play Princess Jasmine on Once Upon a Time as the show gets ready to explore the story of Aladdin. Turkish-Australian...
Read More »
Question: The average person will forget this at least once a day. What is it?
Answer: WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK IT IS!
Congratulations to Bill from Coventry!
Read More »
Question: Over 40% of women say they find it very attractive when a potential mate can do this. What is it?
Answer: IRON!
Congratulations to Tony from Berkley, MA!
Read More »


text:
Set your keyboard aside, put some pants on
I figured pants would be prohibited at such an event.
Well you just had to have it on a night when I had plans... next month it is!
What about my precious, sacred anonymity?
I would... But I really don't think I would be very welcomed... or expected. ;)
What, you think I'll be welcomed? I'm going to have to write "please don't punch me in the face" somewhere on my name tag.
I'm going just to see Poe in person.
Please get there early, Poe, 'cause I have to jet by 7.
hmmmm, I'm suspecting that Mr Poe will pay the Public Intern to pose as Poe.
Goddamn it. I have to work Thursdays.
Poe, you'll be fine. Your fans will (or, should at least) protect you. The numbers will favor you.
I'll be punctual, Mr. Mitchell.
And thank you, Lloyd, but I'm already bringing someone who will protect me. Her name is Sonya Blade. And she is a bitch!
I also hope Ecce is there. I want to have unprotected booty sex with him.
It's the right thing to do.
Poe. no, the numbers will not be in your favor.
Mr. Poe,
If I was going I would give you a big scary hug...
There was talk of us heading over for a Mr Chai Open-Mic performance, but that's way out west. Hopping the 43 off of Eastlake might be easier.
There was talk of us heading over for a Mr Chai Open-Mic performance, but that's way out west. Hopping the 43 off of Eastlake might be easier.
See, the Slog can't even arrange a happy hour without it turning into a big mass transit debate.
Pants? Fuck that shit. Fnarf don't wear no goddamn pants. Y'all are gettin' the speedo.
I am so lurking this event.
If the Monorail cannot take me there, then I'm not going!
should i auction off my nametag/slog rights?
chicago fan: yes.
i would also pay to see a video of you drinking liquid cheeze out of a pint glass with a packer logo on it.
Yes, Fnarf... Wear a speedo and give Poe a big huge hug on my behalf. Take a picture though and send it to me.
A Blue Hour? Mercy, spirits affect me so....
I have no cover at all, so I'll just be wearing my scooter helmet - and pants, in anticipation of teh punching.
And I suggested to Amy Kate that people should have to wear a nametag with ALL their online aliases listed - just 'cause, you know, some people have more than one (I can't WAIT to find out who the real Ecce Homo is!).
I'll miss you, MJ. You're one of my favorites. And Fnarf, a Speedo? All this time I thought I was the only French Canadian out here...
Oh man... RainMan you made my night. XO
Well, only if It's God's Will of Seattle is there - not to mention Big Sven/11.
sorry ladies. thursday nights are me time, court ordered, but i'll be there in spirit.
Bummer. The kid has a singing thing at school at that exact time. Next month!
Is it wrong that I want to go and wear a nametag that says ecce homo just to confuse matters?
No. Not at all. I think that would actually give you one interesting and priceless night.
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great shot
Yes, nice shot! It's magic Abu Simbel.
Very interesting for me. ♣ L > All the best from Iran, Mahdi ♣
Amazing. Beautiful photo! Like!. Best regards, Arno
Every soldier is unique, impressive and almost incredible.
Excellent Take! I've invited you to join the Panoramio Group Chinatowns of the World, I hope you accept the invitation.
Like + Favorite
Greetings from Peru
Bernardo Nieuwland
Well done!
'Some say that the bodies of these gods (Osiris and Isis) do not rest in Memphis but on the borders of Ethiopia and Egypt, on an island in the Nile close to the city called Philae, which because of this took the name sacred field.' From Diodoros' of Sicily Library of History. Book 1:22 (3-4).
Uhm... Yeah... Wrong location buddy!
However, Mike McAllister - it is still an active airport! Owned by Bombardier and used by DeHavilland (same company) to test fly the Dash 10 and GlobalAir series which is still manufactured right there at that airport!


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Unintended Acceleration Costs Toyota $1 Billion
And they're still not sure what caused it.
Toyota announced on Wednesday that it will pay more than $1 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit involving some of its vehicles speeding up with no warning. The settlement, which is the largest in U.S. history involving automobile defects, covers payouts to cover the loss of value for former owners, extended warranties, and the installation of brake-override systems in up to 3.25 million vehicles. Disturbingly, after several recalls and studies, it's still unclear what caused the problem, which led to several accidents and killed at least four people. Toyota, which denies that the problem was caused by flaws in its electronic throttle-control system, doesn't admit fault or unlawful conduct in the settlement. "We have not resolved the issue of is there a bug," says Steve W. Berman, a lawyer for the plaintiff.


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Skip to comments.Why Did Rome FallAnd Why Does It Matter Now? [Victor Davis Hanson]
Posted on 02/12/2010 5:58:58 AM PST by Tolik
Count the ways
A German scholar twenty years ago listed, I recall, some 210 reasons for the collapse of the Western empire. Readers, you have heard many of them, plausible and otherwisecorruption, civil strife, Germanic barbarians, Christianity, lead in the pipes of the elite, etc.
Any such discussion is also predicated on two other twists: the Eastern Empire at Constantinople went on for nearly another 1,000 years until the 1453 sack by the Ottomans. And for the last twenty years, revisionists have disputed Gibbons notion of a dramatic fall in the West, and argued instead that it was a transition as the barbarian other was insidiously assimilated into what would emerge in the latter Dark Ages as Europeans.
The East certainly had more defensible borders with the Danube and the Hellespont. Constantinople was far better fortified naturally and artificially than was Rome; the defense of Byzantium could rely to a greater degree on naval forces. And greater wealth was to be had in Asia and Egypt than in the northwestern provinces.
How could Christianity have caused the Western fall when a very Christian East survived? (So I postpone here discussion of that crux of why the East enjoyed another 1000 years (e.g., larger population, greater wealth, less civil strife, more defensible borders, fewer Germanic enemies, etc.), given it shared many of the same pathologies of culture as the West.)
Them and us
My concern, however, is instead with the indisputable decline in material culture in Britain, Iberia, Gaul, Italy and North Africa from the 4th-5th century AD onward, with the end of strong government that had resulted in everything from secure borders to internal calm (the sort of world that St. Augustine in Tunisia saw ending at his death).
Rather than rehash Gibbon, or review the spate of recent books on Romes decline and our own supposed end, I throw out a few general notions.
The Romans themselves by the first century AD (cf. Horace to Livy to Petronius to Juvenal) felt that the enormous influx of unearned wealth from conquered provinces had undermined the old republican virtues of small farmers and merchants (e.g. the old yeoman with four kids and a wife on five acres of grain now either devolved into the urban unemployed spectator in the Coliseum at Rome on the dole or evolved into the sterile estate owner with 50 slaves and 200 acres of wine grapes and an expensive pasture with a herd of beef cows.)
So the rise of latifundia, and the influx of unheard of wealth and slaves, gradually, in the ancients own view, created a dependent class on the dole and corruption among the elite. Decline as seen in the ancient mind was not inevitable, and was almost seen as a moral questionmaterial progress resulting in ethical regress.
A Pretty Slow Fall
Yet Rome did not fall for four centuries after its moralists wrote of its decadence and decline. Why the resilience?
Entitlements and official corruption were for centuries subsidized by the profits accruing from global standardization and Romanizationbrought about by the implementation and imposition of Roman law, order, and commerce throughout the Mediterranean. As long as the empire was cohesive, it brought in thousands yearly into its sphere of influence.
Those from the Black Sea to the Nile and from Portugal to Iraq were now subject to habeas corpus, a standard official language, regularization in weights and measures, and security on roads and the seas. The centuries-long result of such Romanization is easily discerned in the later historians from Ammianus to Zosimus, who remarked on both widening prosperity and a persistent moral crisis, rather than the dangers of material impoverishment.
We Are All Romans Now
So such global uniformity created real wealth in newfound places faster than such bounty could corrupt the citizens in the old Italian core to the degree to bring down what was now a world system. In other words, the creation of entirely new cities like Leptis or the growth of Asian centers such as Ephesus, brought previously unproductive tribal folk into the Roman system at precisely the time old Romans were no longer doing the things that had once created their own vibrant culture that swept the Mediterraneanthe ancient version of the Chinese youth working 10 hours in an Adidas factory while an American counterpart is still finding himself.
One can see the resultant transition in the center of power emperors mostly were born in the provinces, wealth centers were increasingly found in Asia and Africa, and good soldiers were no longer native Latin-speakers. The West taught the East, and the East soon became not only the more productive hemisphere of the empire, but also the more enthusiastic upholder of being Roman itself.
Petroniuss Satyricon (ca. AD 60) is a glimpse into the world of tough-minded Asian immigrants who had created fortunes in businessand who were desperately (and crudely) trying to buy into the snotty aristocratic and bankrupt world of fossilized Old Rome.
The point? We see something like this today. What made American culture boom through much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were traditional American values like the Protestant work ethic, family thrift, limited and stable government, equality of opportunity rather than result, lower taxes, personal freedom, opportunity for advancement and profit, and faith in American exceptionalism.
But the cloning and spreading of this system after WWII (globalization) did two things: literally billions of non-Westerners adopted the Western mode of production and began, in economic terms, becoming far more productive in creating valuable manufacturing goods, food, and exporting previously unknown or untapped natural resources; in addition, the vast rise in population added billions to the worlds productive work force.
Two, this influx of imported goods and inclusion of hundreds of millions into the American orbit enriched the United States in unimaginable ways. In my own life, the very notion that I would have a tooth implant rather than one of my grandfathers poorly constructed false teeth is mind-boggling. We once huddled around a 19-inch fuzzy black and white TV to watch 4 days of the JFK funeral in 1963 in a small 800 square foot house; now today I have 2 plasma 500-chanel cable TVs. Poverty, as I saw it as a boy in Selma in 1960, might be defined by occasional homes with outhouses in the back yard, gravel rural roads, no TVs and rampant illiteracy among those over 30.
Today, the poor as I see them daily at Wal-Mart and Food-4-Less in Selma (a poor town in a poor county in poor central California) buy blue-ray DVD players, have to buy food-stamp subsidized sirloin rather than rib-eye (as I can attest watching 5 carts ahead of me in line tonight), and drive used 2000 Tahoes and 2001 Yukons rather 2010 Honda Accords. Government subsidies for housing, food, transportation, etc., coupled with cheap Chinese and Indian imported consumer goods, have for a time been substituted for the old manufacturing jobs or resource-based work (e.g., we dont make steel, we increasingly curtail farming, we dont drill, etc.). In other words, we are enjoying a lifestyle undreamed of by our grandparents who had values quite different from our owna result of globalization, advances in technology, and massive borrowing and debt.
The Tab
But as in the case of Rome, there is a price for all these sudden riches. Just as the Iberians, and Libyans and Thracians were hungrier and more enterprising than Italians back in the bay of Naples, so too we, the beneficiaries of this wealth, lost the values that were at its heart, in a way that the Indians, Chinese, and others have notyet. Our youth in schools are not so excited by the notion of creating 100 new nuclear power plants, creating new mountain reservoirs, building new railroads and highways, or eager to rebuild the steel industry, or dreaming of increasing food production or eager to mine more oresinstead the emphasis in our schools is more on race/class/gender engineering, regulation, redistribution, etc, all of which in classical terms is not necessarily wealth creation.
We are now borrowing nearly $2 trillion a year to do things like ensure the 84-year old has a hip replacementnearly half of it from the Chinese where 400 million have never been to a Westernized doctor. We spend $45,000 to incarcerate the felon in California, to meet utopian court-ordered mandates. As imperial Romans, we are felt to be owed a standard of living, even as our own daily habits would no longer necessarily translate into such largess, even as those on the periphery have learned what made America so wealthy from 1950 to 1990.
Where does it all end? I have no idea, but offer only competing scenarios: 1) as our debt becomes unsustainable, we react and increase the retirement age, cut spending and entitlements radically, and renew our work ethic (impossible by choice, made possible by necessity), and enjoy a renaissance; 2) we become a UK-like museum, with witty cynical observers, as the new giants in Asia produce the next Microsoft, Exxon, and Ford, and we fade; 3) India and China discover that they too have a rendezvous with suburban blues, environmentalism, consumer regulation, and a pampered citizenry, and there is some sort of shared global postmodernism.
We inherited a wonderful infrastructure from our parents. A superb system of politics and economics was likewise given to us at birth. Many of us try to copy our grandparents and parents whose values and work ethic we increasingly eulogize. But against all that is that Roman notion of luxus, untold wealth and leisure that we see juxtaposed with shrill cries and accusations that we are too poor, exploited, and in need of someone elses income. The wealthier we become, the louder and angrier we become that we are not even more wealthy.
In short, what ruined Rome in the West? Lots of things. But clearly the pernicious effects of affluence and laxity warped Roman sensibility and created a culture of entitlement that was not justified by revenues or the creation of actual commensurate wealthand the resulting debits, inflation, debased currency, and gradual state impoverishment gave the far more vulnerable western empire far less margin of error when barbarians arrived, or rival generals marched on Rome. For a while the Romanization of the wider Mediterranean subsidized this ennui, but eventually the old western and southern provinces neither could protect what they had created nor could continue to be as productive as in the past nor believed that being Roman was any better than the alternative.
A State of Mind
The strange thing is that these wild swings in civilization are at their bases psychological: decline is one of choice rather than necessity. Plague or lead poisoning or famine did not destroy Rome. We could balance our budget tomorrow without a great deal of sacrifice; we could eliminate 10% worth of government spending that is not essential; we could create our own energy with massive nuclear power investment, and more extraction of gas, oil, and coal. We could instill a tragic rather than therapeutic world view that would mean more responsibilities rather than endlessly more rights. We could do this all rightbut too many feel such medicine is worse than the malady, and so we probably wont and cant. An enjoyable slow decline is apparently preferable to a short, but painful rethinking and rebirth.
Just a partial list: http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/victordavishanson/index:
Just a partial list. Much more at the link: http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/victordavishanson/index
Why Fear Big Government? The more of it, the more dangerous and creepy our lives become The Trouble With Elitist Theories. Nobody likes to be lectured by those claiming superior wisdom but lacking common sense Victory How Quaint an Idea! Defeating Islamic terrorism is not only definable and possible, but closer than ever before Partisanship, Then and Now Civilizations Lies [Victor Davis Hanson on the West embracing noble lies not squaring with reality] America Rides Off into the Sunset. The only people excited about the change in America's foreign policy are the worlds bad actors Mr. President, Words Matter. Obama, the rhetorician, forgot that people might actually take seriously what he said Our Obama Saga [Victor Davis Hanson dissects Obama, painfully, again] The Obamarang. [Victor Davis Hanson dissects, deconstructs, ridicules and demolishes Zeros lies] Trashing the Job Makers. The Obama administrations tax-talking frenzy has left business owners feeling uncertain Post-election Thoughts (Liberals do not understand populist outrage. Bloodletting will Continue) Our Philosopher-King Obama. He doesnt mind pushing noble legislation that most people oppose Why The Great And Growing Backlash? What Scott Browns election portends for the Obama agenda "Let me be perfectly NOT clear" & "Make lots of MISTAKES about it" [Victor Davis Hanson on Obama's lies] Truths We Dare Not Speak. Five propositions that simply have become taboo 2010: Our Year of Decision Beating the Dead Terrorist Horse. September 11 taught us many lessons. To our peril, we have forgotten them A Humpty-Dumpty View of the World 2009 Chickens and Their 2010 Roost Where Did These Guys Come From? The Origins of Obamism The War Against the Wannabe Rich. Why attack the productive classes who want to be rich? The Long March From California to Copenhagen [Hanson on debate between capitalism and socialism] The Palin Wonder Why Are We Tiring of Obama? If Iran Refuses To Cooperate, Block Its Ports Riding the Back of the Tiger [Victor Davis Hanson on Obama not understanding What Causes Wars...] What Bush Inherited, and What He Left Left Behind Who Are They? To Obama, they are responsible for all our troubles. Problem is, they are most of us Afghan Mythologies. We have everything we need to defeat the Taliban. The Discreet Charm of the Left-wing Plutocracy Truman and the Principles of U.S. Foreign Policy. Jimmy Carter rejected the postwar consensus. President Obama appears to be following a similar path Dr. Barack and Mr. Obama - The backlash is sharp as voters learn that Obama is not the man they thought he was Obama and "Redistributive Change". His real agenda The War Against the Producers President Palins First 100 Days. Imagine if Sarah Palin had Obamas record Thoughts About Depressed Americans Our Battered American [gets angrier - Must Read Rant]
Ping !
Let me know if you want in or out.
FR Index of his articles: http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/victordavishanson/index NRO archive: http://author.nationalreview.com/?q=MjI1MQ== Pajamasmedia: http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/ His website: http://victorhanson.com/
You might be interested - PING
Once again, outstanding insight and analysis from VDH.
Quite true. Not that the choice is "I want to decline," but rather, the choice is to abandon what should be immutable values and principles. See, in the US, the wholesale abandonment of the principles meant to be shored up by the Constitution. Rather than a weak central government, we have a strong one. See too, as James Burnham pointed out in Suicide of the West - when a civilization (and I submit this applies to countries as well) stops asserting itself as superior over other - when diversity is embraced as a strength - then there WILL be declines in order and in standard of living.
The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things - bread and circuses!
Juvenal, Satires
Roman poet & satirist (55 AD - 127 AD)
Socialism, or rather, the type of cultural thinking, decline, and weakness that Socialism brings. The Romans had their own brand of socialism. Bread and Circuses...
Great!!! I always find it interesting how the Western Roman Empire lasted so long with all the instability and deadly infighting at the top. It would be nice to be Emperor but the minute you were on the throne you had a big bulls eye on you and your life expectancy would be measured in months.
The Romans themselves by the first century AD (cf. Horace to Livy to Petronius to Juvenal) felt that the enormous influx of unearned wealth from conquered provinces had undermined the old republican virtues of small farmers and merchants (e.g. the old yeoman with four kids and a wife on five acres of grain now either devolved into the urban unemployed spectator in the Coliseum at Rome on the dole or evolved into the sterile estate owner with 50 slaves and 200 acres of wine grapes and an expensive pasture with a herd of beef cows.)
Were they more productive than we are today? Because a rancher in Texas with 200 acres is not exactly able to support 50 slaves and be a sterile estate owner.
I agree, I think this is the most insightful thing from a contemporary writer that I've read this year.
Hammer meets nail.
Thanks for posting. VDH is always a good read.
Many (especially on this forum) decry the study of liberal arts like history, literature, aesthetics, etc., but the problem is not the discipline, merely the way they are currently taught. They are in many ways the underpinnings of our civilization, and Hanson's body of work echoes Santayana's famous admonition that, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
I hope for Option 1!
But still your quotation is hundreds of years before the final fall of Rome. The Western Empire survived into the 400s because it was still Roman. It fell when the peninsula was flooded with those who did not consider themselves Roman but yet had the defacto status of freemen.
Do we have more and more citizens who do not call themselves Americans?
Good analysis, but I would quibble with one small point - "The East certainly had more defensible borders with the Danube and the Hellespont"
The Danube was no barrier. The Goths crossed it with ease, and the Bulgars used it to hit the Byzantines time and time again.
VDH does some really fine writing sometimes. This isn't one of those.
About here: "One can see the resultant transition in the center of power emperors mostly were born in the provinces..." I lost patience waiting for VDH to mention the Roman military, which deserves mention and most of the credit for the situation he's exploring (including the origins and stations of numerous emperors).
By the way, Mr. H., if you're reading: please don't preface your commentary with so much disclaimer about what you're NOT about to comment upon. We'll figure that out.
A storehouse of knowledge! Thank you, and bookmark.
There is a very ironic lesson to be learned from the Byzantine Empire, the Emperor Justinian I and Empress Theodora, the Nika Riots, that almost overthrew their empire, the factions involved, and the results of having a strong leader.
To start with, there were four major political parties/gangs/gambling leagues in Constantinople. They were called the Blues, the Greens, the Reds and the Whites. While Justinian favored the Blues, the Blues had ambitions to politically achieve rule over the empire.
In this they were joined with the more radical Greens, who wanted to violently overthrow Justinian and seize power. The Reds and the Whites were loyal to their empire and their emperor.
Justinian I was a very able administrator in running the business of the Empire, but he was not a popular favorite. In this he was complemented by his wife, Theodora, who had been a prostitute or dancer, and who had a deep understanding of the mob, and was popular in her own right. She was also a very strong person.
The Nika riots began with the arrest of some of the Blue and Green leaders for murder. And while Justinian was willing to commute their sentence, the Blue and Green factions demanded their full pardon, which would amount to royal approval of the murders they had committed, putting them above the law.
In demanding these full pardons, they laid siege to the palace for a time, and burned almost half the city, then decided to crown their own emperor to replace Justinian and Theodora, in the great Hippodrome (coliseum).
Justinian lost his nerve and decided to flee, but Theodora put her foot down and refused to leave. So other arrangements were made.
With the Blues and Greens assembled in the Hippodrome for the coronation, a single slave of the Emperor appeared, carrying a bag of gold. He went to the section where the Blue leaders were sitting, and offered them the gold. Accepting the offer, the Blues got up and filed out of the Hippodrome. They had been bought off.
Puzzled by this, the Greens attitude was "More for us! Now we will rule!", not realizing that two large military units with loyal generals had been deployed, surrounding the Hippodrome.
At a signal, then entered the Hippodrome, and the Green faction, about 30,000 of them, were no more.
By this action, the slaughter of traitorous rebels, the life of the Byzantine Empire was extended by perhaps 200 years. To this day, the Empress Theodora, this strong woman, is considered a saint of the Orthodox church.
Once again, it is interesting to imagine the parallels with today's Blues and Greens.
I'll throw out another possibility. The rest of the world became wealthier and more advanced militarily — so the Romans with a small population couldn't surpress other people as effectively anymore.
Or the Roman military, discerning a vacuum in leadership, strove to fill it and made the classic blunder of diversifying into a product line that they knew jack about.
Applying what you said to the modern world. If America's enemies become very powerful militarily, again, I am sure that it will shake us from sleeping. If the opponents become more powerful economically, but otherwise are in various form of democracy, then America can continue slumber, but the American legacy will live on through these newcomers who became rich by emulating America.
Sent me to the dictionary for that one!
When I first saw it I thought it was latintifada and Hanson was making up a clever new word, but I guess I'm the one who made it up?
America has fallen. Scott Brown has heard the call and will start on the way to recovery.
That said, it's up to the rest of us to make sure we are back on track to be the great country we were.
Great article.
What is never mentioned is that automation and computerization have made many workers redundant and not needed and I also white collar workers too such as accountants and lawyers.. Many fine and skilled people are in this category. Future development is not automatic bliss due to some capitalist theories of an ever expanding economic pie that I hear Rush Limbaugh and other talking up. Great in theory and I like it on an emotional level
We could bring back all manufacturing from China/Asia and we would still be stuck with not enough blue collar jobs by a long shot. All due to computerization, robotics and automation
So the next question is -- What to do with those who want to work and love to work but whose labor is not needed
Another problem is that wealth gets more concentrated as we have a surplus of workers because wages/salaries plummet
Only exception is gubbermint workers/layabouts and very highly skilled workers
bookmark bump
If we had even 60 percent of the productive types as ethical, strong, wise, and patriotic we would have a chance but it is very disheartening to see a Yankee state like Iowa which is still at least 92 percent White go heavy for a man like Obama. So many hardworking Whites have gone completely clueless, have no sense of self, and of course in some areas there are huge numbers of Whites on welfare.
The hillbillies of a place like Hancock County, Tennessee were poor but proud and independent in the old days. Today they have satellite dishes, food stamps, and are knowledgeable of all things Hollywood.
Sobering reading. Thanks for the post.
Yah, but now that I'm a father, I want freedom here and for my daughter, not somewhere else as a legacy of this nations impact on the world!
Amen to that!
Thanks tolik - great read.
The City Of God written as an answer to why Rome would pass into history and the world be created anew.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
The strange thing is that these wild swings in civilization are at their bases psychological: decline is one of choice rather than necessity.
Yes it is...try telling the welfare piker with an SUV, 3 squares a day, nice clothes, free rent, and a flat screen TV that they need to provide for themselves. Their answer is they deserve or are entitled to such luxury - that working will not pay as well as welfare. We are too stupid to discriminate between those that can't work and those that can but don't. We are a stupid venal people and will soon be a second rate country - just as bammy has foretold.
I think VDH is aware of some new studies that essentially pin most of the blame for Rome's fall on the decline of the military, both in terms of training, funding, and above all, cohesion by allowing in mercenary units.
I think VDH's point would be that socialism is the symptom, rather than the cause, of the decline.
In our case, there is an understandable belief that our incredible wealth carries with it a duty toward those who are less fortunate. And to an extent that is correct.
The pernicious part comes when our sense of duty is coupled with a tolerance of, and making excuses for, the abdication of responsibility on the part of those whom our duty calls on us to help. And along with that, there is the expectation on the part of those "helped," that they deserve such help, without questions or requirements.
Add in also the fact that our wealth has given us tremendous leisure time, and the ability to spend money on expensive pursuits and toys and gear for our kids ... and the kids begin to have expectations of deserving rather than earning.
Now you can add in folks who are ardent enough on the topic to make such considerations a governmental issue -- that's where the socialism comes in. But it's only enabled by that cultural sense and expectation of "deserving" help, rather than earning it.
By FReepers NattieShea and PowerBaby
How 'bout this? Within a generation of the Marian reforms, the Roman Army invaded Rome at least twice [I think three times]. The Roman Army, even with good emperors had to be bought. It both held the state together, and, increasingly, tore it apart, with various armies and legions proclaiming [for a good payday] their general as 'Caesar'.
And by the late Empire, Romans were not stepping up to serve in the Roman Army. Increasingly, barbarians were, sometimes in whole tribal units [ Alaric was a Roman general, and Chief of the Visigoths]. This had three serious effects for the Western Roman Empire. First, the barbarians learned the Roman military system. Second, the same group that defended the Empire was best positioned to bring it down. Third, they had learned the Roman Army's tradition of interfering in the government of Rome for personal benefit, and of being separate, both in allegiance and outlook, to the society they were to defend. And when the politicians didn't pony up the lands and other 'gifts' on their lists, the tribes took matters into their own hands.
VDH Bump. Always worth reading.
Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the new, wonderful good society which shall now be Romes, interpreted to mean more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
Mixed up in all of this, especially in Europe, has to be the decline in birth rate (to native stock) (which at least in part stems from a loss of serious, demanding religion). As has been observed (Mark Steyn among others), how do you convince a retired childless couple that their government benefits should be cut for the future benefit of unrelated future generations of countrymen? The US birthrate is higher than Europe's but the concept is the same. Along the same lines is the decline of the family, by which perceived obligations to future generations are also strained.
I'd agree with that. I also think that socialism eventually "creeps up" the socio-economic latter, to the point where virtually everyone believes they are entitled to things, either material goods, or "lifestyle" choices. Then decadence and sloth set in, a kind of cultural malaise. You have fewer and fewer Peters to rob from.
(And would you agree that today's parallels for the Blues and the Greens would be the Blacks and the Greens?)
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Baker Orchard Art Festival
September 24, 2016 - September 25, 2016Centuria
The Artists in the Earth Group will show and sell their works - Fine Art in many media. The Orchard and Gallery will be open to the public. Live music. Hayrides through the apple orchard, fresh apple cider and pie.
Event Date Detail
Sep 24, 2016 - Sep 25, 2016