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Random Maps 13
Gregory Miermont
Mon, Jun 25, 2012
PIMS, University of British Columbia
PIMS-MPrime Summer School in Probability Abstract:
The study of maps, that is of graphs embedded in surfaces, is a popular subject that has implications in many branches of mathematics, the most famous aspects being purely graph-theoretical, such as the four-color theorem. The study of random maps has met an increasing interest in the recent years. This is motivated in particular by problems in theoretical physics, in which random maps serve as discrete models of random continuum surfaces. The probabilistic interpretation of bijective counting methods for maps happen to be particularly fruitful, and relates random maps to other important combinatorial random structures like the continuum random tree and the Brownian snake. This course will survey these aspects and present recent developments in this area.
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You know you might be in trouble when a film's open credits "poems by." To be sure, the domestic melodrama of Home is weighted down by some heavy-handed hanky bait -- breast cancer, alcoholism, drug abuse, impotence and the copious tears of an adorable little girl - but it is saved by devastating performances by the mother-daughter combo of Marcia Gay Harden and Eulala Scheel.
Set in 1969 in a predominantly Amish area of Pennsylvania, this modest indie concerns the challenging relationship between Inga (Harden) and her young daughter, Indigo (Scheel). A breast cancer survivor with the psychological and physical scars of the ordeal, Inga finds an outlet in writing poetry. She desperately needs the outlet. Inga is neglected by her workaholic husband, Herman (Michael Gaston). The couple spend their nights boozing and fighting viciously. For Inga, the circumstances are reminiscent of when she was a child watching her own late mother (Candy Buckley) waste away from cancer and morphine addiction. For young Indigo, the situation is a nightmare.
Days are decidedly more upbeat. When Inga is sober, she and Indigo have a close-knit, nurturing relationship. They fly kites and gaze up at clouds, but Inga's most dogged activity is dragging her daughter to visit a nearby old house that reminds the mother of her childhood home.
Home might be where the heart is, but this Home is more about housing heartache. The movie suffers from a bit of overripe melodrama -- and Michele Mercure's Lifetime-friendly music score does it no favors -- but writer-director-editor Mary Haverstick is fearless about examining her characters, figurative warts and all.
It can be emotionally harrowing, particularly when it comes to Inga's ugly drunken tirade against her 8-year-old daughter. But you never get the impression that the film is ever dishonest or straining for its dramatic punch. It feels, pardon the murky word, truthful. Home's autobiographical nature is evident -- and not simply because the poems it uses were written by the filmmaker's late mother, Mary Stuart Haverstick.
Harden is an amazing actress, and her performance here -- loving, brutal and unyieldingly ambivalent - is typically superb. But the greater discovery is that her 10-year-old daughter, Scheel, apparently inherited mom's thespian skills. Together, they exude the chemistry you would expect from a real-life mother and daughter.
The review screener, a check disc, does not reflect what will appear on the DVD. Video, audio and any supplemental material (if, indeed, there is any) cannot be fairly judged. The picture and sound quality were fine, but that doesn't necessarily have any bearing on what will be on the DVD. If and when final product is provided to DVD Talk, this review will be revised accordingly.
See above.
See above the "see above."
Final Thoughts:
Cancer, drug addiction, alcoholism, impotence and shrill domestic strive all bubble up to the surface in Home. While not immune to some trappings of turgid melodrama, it boasts superb acting and unusual depth that put it several notches above many works of its ilk.

subset: commoncrawl


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5th edition - March 2011 (Informa Telecoms and Media (Dario Talmesio))
The MVNO business model has proved hugely successful in developed markets with over half of the subscribers coming from Europe, but emerging markets have remained largely immune to the MVNO hype until now. However, this is changing as Latin America and Africa emerge as potential growth markets. The report highlights this and other emerging trends in the sector including data- only MVNOs, ethnic MVNOs, and retail. We also provide detailed analysis on the future of MVNOs from a service perspective, as well as discussing how the sector is moving towards consolidation. For the first time, the report includes detailed forecasts by country and covers 60 of the world's key markets. In addition, it contains several detailed Case Studies covering the key players across different regions.
The MVNO Whitepaper


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Aerial Adventure Of Carlotta, The Lady Aeronaut Or Sky-larking In Cloudland,
BEING HAP-HAZARD ACCOUNTS OF THE Perils and Pleasures of Aerial Navigation.
August 1966 | Volume 17, Issue 5
The spectacle will long be remembered as the I finest… in this region," the reporter wrote. I "The lady was dressed in a jaunty suit of blue flannel trimmed with gold braid, her short skirts revealing neat-fitting gaiters. A nobby sailor's hat of plaited straw crowned the whole and gave her face a boyish piquancy. She stepped lightly into the frail contrivance which serves Carlotta in lieu of a basket. This consists of a thin wooden platform suspended by hammock twine to the concentrating ring of the balloon, and as the Aerial gently arose, the entire proportions of her youthful figure could be plainly seen, apparently standing on the very air itself as she waved her hat in salute. The Aerial glided slowly northeastward rising to a height of about a mile, then it retraced its path, passing quietly directly over the public square, and drifting westward toward Lake Ontario."
The reporter, writing for the Watertown, New York, Daily Times on a July day in 1882, was apparently so carried away by the lady's "proportions" that he failed to realize what an extraordinary scientific feat he had witnessed. In order to make a balloon ascent and bring the craft safely down again (which she did, out of sight of reporters), Carlotta had to estimate and control with split-second accuracy wind drift, rate of fall, and amount of sideways glide, and make them all come out even at just one point. She was not only daring and pretty; she was something of a genius.
Carlotta, the Lady Aeronaut, would never have gotten off the ground if a lively young New England girl named Mary Breed Hawley (a descendant of the Breeds of Boston's Breed's Hill) had not fallen in love with an itinerant photographer, inventor, and selftaught scientist named Carl Myers. The two were well matched in their interests and enthusiasms; in November, 1871, they were married and within a short time settled down in the little town of Mohawk, New York. After a few years as a portrait photographer, Carl turned to a new interest: aerial navigation. It was a challenge that held many separate problems to be solved, just the kinds of problems he liked: how to make a balloon fabric that was impervious to hydrogen gas, exceedingly light in weight, flexible so it could be rolled up and packed, and riot gummy, so it would not stick together; how to make a portable hydrogen generator to inflate the balloon, so that a flight might start from any point desired; and lastly, how to make a basket that was even lighter than the usual wicker kind.
After many experiments, with Mary helping by keeping records, sewing and testing fabric segments, and studying the rather meager literature on meteorology and ballooning, Carl patented a process for making a light but durable balloon that could weather hundreds of ascensions and rough landings. The balloon fabric was dipped three or four times in a mixture of boiled linseed oil and turpentine, so that every pore was sealed and yet the fabric remained thin and flexible.
At first Mr. and Mrs. Myers hired a professional aeronaut to take up their balloons. Then, one day in 1880, Carl decided to see whether a tapered, pearshaped balloon would go through the air more easily than a sphere and hold its shape when travelling very rapidly. As the hired balloonist declined to take part in this experiment, Carl went aloft himself. He sat astride a folded band of cloth below the gas bag, with the balloon neck tied down beside him. At a height of two miles, he opened a valve and within one minute he had plummeted halfway to earth. About a thousand feet from the ground, he dropped ballast and released the balloon neck, which flew upward and checked his speed. He then (as he described it later) "slid downward into a cornfield without shock." The experiment convinced Carl that a properly tapered gas bag, provided with motive power of light weight, would be an ideal solution to the problem of aerial navigation. On this basis he started experiments on horizontal movement.
Having seen her husband careening through the heavens, Mary Myers was determined to emulate him. On the Fourth of July, 1880, àcrowd of 15,000 gathered in Little Falls, New York, to witness her maiden flight. "Mary" seemed too dull a name for so daring a young woman, and, for the occasion, she called herself "Carlotta." From that day on, few knew Carlotta's real name. Carl made a change that day, too: he supplied himself with the title of Professor.
In a now-rare pamphlet called Sky-Larking in Cloudland , Carlotta described this first flight. She rose to an altitude of about a mile, where a brisk wind carried her eastward. For a while she was lost in a cold, damp cloud—"the lonesomest place I was ever in." After emerging, she dispatched several homing pigeons which she had taken along in a basket, with a message to the folks back home in Mohawk, telling of her good flight and where she was about to land. As far as she knew, she said, this was the first time pigeons had ever been dispatched from a balloon aloft to report the progress of the flight. After floating in the air for thirty-five minutes, she made her descent and landed on the farm of a Mr. Davis, about twenty miles from her starting point. Farmer Davis remarked that she was "most too young a girl to be trusted so far from home," and sent her back to Little Falls by horse and buggy.


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Looking At Allusions In The Seagull By Checkov And Death In Venice By Mann English Literature Essay
Published: Last Edited:
This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers.
Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and Anton Chekhov's The Seagull are both noted for their extensive use of allusions to Greek mythology and Shakespearean drama respectively. Allusions are an effective technique used by known writers to present characters and themes. As a result, the interpretations of these works are influenced by the extent to which the underlying allusions are understood in terms of the effects their authors intended to Achieve.
Death in Venice is about the emergence of erotic love in Aschenbach's life in his middle age. His admiration of Tadzio "a long-haired boy of about fourteen" with a "countenance, pale and gracefully reserved" recalls "Greek sculpture of the noblest period" [3] . This can be viewed as a sincere appreciation of beauty, as later solutions suggests it to be a homosexual attachment to a child; at a degree level, it depicts a situation with conflicts between Intellect and Passion.
In part 2 of the novel we are informed that Achenbach was too rigid and disciplined as a writer. Due to which he has had an unbalanced life in which he had only been expressed rationally through his writing. However as shown in the novel, hidden below repressed and unconscious till it bursts forth unexpectedly laid his suppressed desires and passion. His life changes irreversibly when he sees Tadzio. The change is foreshadowed earlier in part 1 when he sees a red-haired man while travelling, who stared at him "so aggressively, so straight in the eye, with so evident an intention to make an issue of the matter and outstare him". The boy could have been referred to a devil or an evil element, but he represented passion. At this moment Aschenbach's passion overtakes his intellect; he feels "an extraordinary expansion of his inner self, a kind of roving restlessness, a youthful craving for far off" [4] .
The idea of play within the play in the seagull reminds the audience of the same technique used by Shakespeare in the play Hamlet. This technique evokes a source of the conflicts. The allusion is made more explicitly by having mother and son quote lines directly from Hamlet. Irina accuses Treplev of hurting her by quoting "O Hamlet, speak no more: Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul; And there I see such black and grained spot, As will not leave their tinct." To which Treplev retorts by saying lines from the same play. "Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love over the nasty sty" [5] . Though Treplev is not a tragic hero like Hamlet, the audience notices his need for appreciation from his mother, who finds his play "terribly modern" [6] Â
Aschenbach's life is unbalanced since it has no room for passion. He changes completely when "In a rising ecstasy he felt he was gazing on beauty itself, on form as a thought of God, and the sight of the boy filled him with fire and hope" [7] . A reference is made to yet another Greek myth, that of Socrates "instructing Phaedrus on Desire and Virtue on the burning terror of fear which the lover will suffer when his eye perceives a likeness of eternal beauty." [8] Aschenbach thinks of Tadzio's smile to be similar to the 'smiles of Narcissus' [9] . This represents Tadzio's beauty in the eyes of Aschenbach. Who dies at the end of the novel because he is unable to control his obsession with the boy, this is referred to another myth which mentions the incident when "Phaedrus is lead to intoxication and lust; which lead a noble mind into a terrible criminal emotions, leading to abyss" [10] . This shows Aschenbach's decline. The death comes as a shock to the world that is "respectfully shocked to receive the news of death" [11] . The decay and disease of the city can be drawn parallel to his own moral decay. In The Seagull, Treplev's death is foreshadowed by the earlier reference to Hamlet. As in Death in Venice, Aschenbach's death occurs at the climax of the play and its manner suggests that it is difficult to overcome these conflicts once they erupt. This tragedy occurs because both these characters had noble intentions but they still could not resolve their conflicts using Reason alone another similarity between the two characters as well as with Trigorin, is that all three of them were writers who were influenced by writers before them. Exactly the way in which the Indians are greatly influenced by the epics Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Europeans or Germans are influenced by Greek mythology and Greek classics. Chekhov was not only influenced by Russian writers but also by English and French writers as made known to us in the play when he talks about Maupassant's, a French writers book 'on the water, darling' [12] . Trigorin also refers to other writers like Turgenev and Tolstoy who according to readers are fine writers but that's not the same way in which Trigorin thinks of them, this is clear when he says "but not a patch on Tolstoy .' Or: 'Marvelous stuff, but Turgenev's father and children is better.' [13]
The third role that allusion plays in these two works is to show how mythological elements can be present in a modern setting. In this sense, mythological motifs are universal in time and place. However, their presence may not be detected by Intellect alone. At no point in Death in Venice does Aschenbach show any insight into his condition. The boy becomes an infatuation for him while Aschenbach considers him to be Eos [14] , the god of dawn and later also as Eros [15] the god of love, looking at whom playing, dressed in white with a colorful sash, in his mind came thoughts of Hyacinthus who was doomed to perish cause two gods loved him [16] . Ironically he is perceived as a threat. In The Seagull what the allusion to Hamlet does is to intensify Treplev's guilt. The conflict is therefore the result of incestuous sexual feelings that originate internally. These are feelings that he cannot acknowledge. His one chance lies in finding love through Nina but when she rejects him and prefers Trigorin, his emotions overwhelm him and he commits suicide but the fact is that, Treplev had shot himself [17] . Â
The literary treatment of myth differs in the two works. In Mann's work, the references are direct but the meaning has to be inferred. In Anton Chekhov's they are direct. The characters share a common literary background. The third-person narration is omniscient in Death in Venice and the references to myth follow from Aschenbach's internal thoughts.
The two writers have provided us with a vast knowledge about the cultural aspects of the two books namely about the culture of Russia and Germany. In Death in Venice we discover that the German culture believed in life after death. What we see in Seagull is that the society is very narrow minded and stereotypical which is in contrast to the society portrayed in Death in Venice. To conclude, we can say that Mann's exploration of internal conflict through myth makes use of the differences between Reason, Passion and emotion. Making it clear for the readers that life lived rationally without joy and beauty can become unbalanced by its experience. On the other hand Chekhov uses the myth of Hamlet in a modern setting to show that there exists a sexual impulse that cannot be controlled easily. Thus we can say that the conflicts represented by the two writers in the characters of the two books leads to their decline and their moral decay.


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beta alanine?
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Does anyone on here take beta alanine, I was debating adding it to my new supplement stack which consists of stim x and whey protein. I am not sure exactly the best way to take it but it seems fairly cheap in bulk.
also is there a difference between cheap pure beta alanine like gnc's brand and some of the more expensive ones like biotests' beta 7??
I am not sure if there is any research on beta alanine and I have never taken the pure form, does anyone have any info on beta alanine?
I did an article on beta alanine. I know that the results reveal that it is most effective when taken longer then 10 weeks...so basically, long term it's benefits look somewhat promising.
Here's a a comment from the article I wrote:
Studies show that beta-alanine raises muscle carnosine composition. During exercise, beta-alanine produced carnosine assists the body in buffering acid in muscle tissue, delaying fatigue and improving performance.
Current studies indicate that beta-alanine increases muscle mass and strength. It has also been shown that beta-alanine increases aerobic and anaerobic endurance. Simply put, beta-alanine allows you to train longer with more weight.
Beta-alanine appears to be most effective after 10 weeks of continuous supplementation.
Personally, beta alanine is a fairly straight forward supplement. I would be leery of a brand that has too many bells and whistles, or that costs too much.
Link =>
Primordial Performance sells 300 grams for only $12.99 at BB.com
I check IPYU, but can't find a lower cost brand.
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ralph lauren womens Beaming video from a computer to a television
19th March 2014 02:47 | #1 |
Regular User
ralph lauren shoes Beaming video from a computer to a television is possible: Apple and other firms are starting to sell the necessary gadgets. But until it becomes much easier to connect televisions to the internet, big media companies are likely to "wait and see" before committing to Joost, says Jeremy Allaire, the boss of Brightcove, a rival internet video firm based in Massachusetts. In the meantime, thinks Mr Allaire, media firms are mainly interested in building their own brands, so Brightcove provides content owners with technology to show television on their own websites, syndicate their shows to other websites, track audiences and collect advertising revenue.There is, in short, no consensus about the best way to combine television with the internet. ralph lauren hats While in theory, it seems like a prediction race is a great opportunity to take it easy on yourself and pick a relaxed pace, I've found when I do that I tend to be too relaxed and run even slower than my already conservative prediction. So I usually go with a solid race time and push myself hard, and find I wind up relatively close. Having already run two 3000s on the track this summer in 9:41 and 9:43, I went with a prediction of 9:45, factoring in the variables of cross country terrain and the fact that is was a mid week evening.. ralph lauren sale We can have "Super Pool Play" where the top teams play one another, knowing every team in that "super pool" will automatically qualify for the top tier tournament no matter their record to be played at the end of the event. Depending on the size of the field of teams and the event, those teams in "Super Pool Play" will play two, three or four games leading up to the tournament. The remaining teams (the second tier of teams) play in their own pools, with the winner of those pools advancing to the top tier tournament to join the "super pool play" teams. ralph lauren womens As for shoes that again everyone is different. For me I only wear Nike walking shoes and that is every minute I am on my feet. So for ex if I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night I have to put shoes on. Already Denver and Sacramento have lost their leading nike free v3 scorers when Carmelo Anthony and Mike Bibby were ejected nike free xt motion fit within the season opening game. Billy Hunter says that it really is okay to attempt and curb a specific form nike free run 2 shield of conduct on court. Will be the sixth largest city in Japan and nike free run wiki lies inside commuting distance of Osaka nike free xt quick fit and in simple reach of Kyoto, Sannomiya has large department shops, Placing your orchids close to the window is suggested. |
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text: Diversity Is Good For Business Maybe the Court (and the American people) will listen to these guys: From Business Week: The Bush Administration is poised to weigh in, opposing the school's right to consider race in its admission process. But the companies, including Exelon, Microsoft, Bank One, General Motors, and Steelcase, plan to advocate for the defense with a new brief in mid-February. The Administration and the justices should take heed of Corporate America's argument. These corporate chieftains are speaking out about such a hot-button social issue because they believe that as minorities' share of the U.S. population has mounted, diversity has become a critical workforce requirement. The nation's colleges are an essential part of the pipeline that feeds new hires to large companies. On a campus where diversity thrives, students develop an understanding of different cultures. That enables them, as tomorrow's business leaders, to "appeal to a variety of consumers" and work with colleagues and clientele from many ethnic backgrounds, the companies argued in their amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals. It also creates a more competitive workforce that can "facilitate unique and creative approaches to problem-solving," the brief said. Simply put, says Bank One Corp. Chief Legal Officer Christine A. Edwards, "diversity is good business." [...] "A diverse college environment is a much better setting for preparing graduates for life in business," says Steelcase Inc. CEO James P. Hackett. Or, you can send a bunch of morons who think that having a "Ghetto Party" on Martin Luther King Day is good clean fun, out into the workforce. digby 1/19/2003 04:09:00 PM


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Name/Phone | Type | Location |
A.J. Palumbo Center
(412) 396-5140 |
Ace's Breakaway & Play
(412) 434-0202 |
Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon
412-586-7785 |
Dirty Harry's
412-594-7337 |
Golden Triangle Bike Rentals
(412) 600-0675 |
Heinz Field
(412) 323-1200 |
Highmark Stadium | ||
Just Ducky Tours
(412) 402-3825 |
Kayak Pittsburgh
(412) 969-9090 |
Pittsburgh Paddleboard Shop
412-860-3737 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | ||
PNC Park
(412) 323-5000 |
PPG Paints Arena (formerly Consol Energy Center)
(412) 642-1800 |
The Great Escape Room
(412) 467-6785 |
YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh
412-391-5100 |
Home of the six-time Super Bowl Champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. Within Heinz Field is the Coca-Cola Great Hall which serves as a multi-purpose meeting facility and showcases the storied history of the Pittsburgh Steelers including Super Bowl trophies, uniforms of past legends and other artifacts. http://www.Steelers.com/HeinzField.
FUN is our middle name. Sharing the paddle love with Pittsburgh since our humble beginnings in 2011, the Northeast Paddleboard Company is the perfect place to enjoy the fastest growing sport, ever! Stand Up Paddling (or SUP for short) has exploded in popularity, and we're so happy to share the SUP love with you. We really want you to have fun with us - we specialize in smiles. We laugh, we teach, we share; we do our very best to create the perfect on-board experience for each of you - our wonderful customers. Give us a call, we'd love to help you get the most out of your "board meeting"!


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This bike actually started out as a Tronish bike. But when I was building, it progressed more to look like the bikes from the movie Priest. I messed around with several color highlights, but it just looked better in one uniform color.
Crusader; a motorbike inspired by 'Priest'.
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Comments and critisiscm welcome.


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Nursery Rhymes After a bath Songs with lyrics video
You will not get any earning on this video Nursery Rhymes After a bath Songs with lyrics, After a bath I try, try, try. To wipe myself till I'm dry,dry dry. Hands to wipe, fingers and toes. Two wet legs and a shining nose. Shemrock is a very special place for children where they come happily and learn a lot. It has maintained its standard of excellence. Every part of it is a valuable arena of learning and a sense of balance permeates in every aspect of life. It has a very colorful & child friendly environment. The Thematic System provides learning by doing step by step. It stimulates and satisfies child's curiosity and enlarges child's mental horizon. http://www.shemrock.com/
Tags After a bath, Nursery Rhymes, After a bath nursery rhymes, Nursery rhyme songs, Kindergarten rhymes, preschool rhymes, Shemrock English kid song, Baby rhymes, Indian kid song, Shemrock school, After a bath rhymes, After a bath poem, After a bath i try try
Uploaded 2010-05-01 09:45:13


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ADRIAN - A 61-year-old Onsted, Mich., man was charged yesterday in Lenawee County Circuit Court with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Ronald Parkhurst is facing four second-degree criminal sexual conduct charges, one count of child sexually abusive activity, and one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes.
Sheriff's deputies said Mr. Parkhurst offered the girl money in exchange for sexual favors. The alleged incidents began in November and ended Jan. 17.
Mr. Parkhurst is free on a $300,000 bond. His trial has been set for April 13.


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Oh, I might have dreamed of - and gotten - a mild Christmas, but I also got a calorie-laden one. I dunno about you, but this year, there was no piece of Cashel Blue too far for moi. No glass of white wine I wouldn't drink and no Rose I would I baulk at eating. Even the caramel barrels. Yes. EVEN those.
It's safe to say my main resolution is to go on a diet, toot sweet.
What about you? Got anything lined up on your list o' things you intend to do for 2012? Get fit, learn a new language, master the art of driving a car, learn cordon bleu cookery, ditch cleansing wipes, learn how to blend, get a new hobby, find a new job, achieve a work/life balance (I might look into this one meself), quit the shopaholia, start a savings account, investigate a pension, buy a house, save and splurge on your first designer purchase, go on an amazing holiday, write a book, start a blog - oh, the possibilities are endless.


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The once rare possibility of a federal government shutdown has reared its head again — this time over House Republicans' desire to offset spending for disaster relief with money for other, unrelated projects.
A clean car loan program has become a key battleground. The House spending bill would take $1.5 billion from the program for disaster relief. Democrats say that would be a huge mistake.
The Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program was created by Congress and President Bush in 2007. The program lends companies money to retool their plants to manufacture clean car technologies. It received bipartisan support, and according to the Department of Energy, it has saved or created 39,000 jobs — most of them at Ford.
The company's state-of-the-art Michigan Assembly Plant reopened in May with help from the loan program. It used to produce SUVs; now it's set up to assemble the Ford Focus.
"These retooling loans made it possible for Ford Motor Company to save 1,900 jobs at their Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich., so they could build the all-new Ford Focus electric and the battery electric Ford Focus in America," says Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who represents Michigan.
Ford officials say 11 plants in five states benefited from the program. The company even moved a hybrid battery facility from Mexico to Michigan to take advantage of it.
Four other companies have received more than $2 billion in loans through the program so far.
Stabenow took to the Senate floor Friday to protest the proposed cuts.
"To me it is outrageous that the House of Representatives — the Republicans in House — have included a job-killing offset to pull a rug out from and put up to 50,000 American jobs at risk," she says.
That's not how House Republicans see it.
"We're doing everything that we can to find every dollar that we possibly can to insure that our fellow Americans who are suffering due to these disasters are able to have the resources that are necessary," says Rep. David Dreier, whose district is in Southern California. "Of the $1.5 billion which is utilized in the offset, it's been sitting in the coffers for three years."
Dreier and other House Republicans insist that even disasters shouldn't get funding without cutting spending from somewhere else. They also say this advanced vehicles technology program is a fine place to cut because the program has spent less than half of the $7.5 billion it received three years ago.
"So to act as if somehow we're going to see some great loss of jobs is, again, a mischaracterization of what is happening. We're establishing priorities," he says.
Dreier was one of more than a dozen Republicans who voted to cut funding to the program — yet also in recent years sent letters to the Department of Energy pushing for clean car projects in their own states. The letter Dreier signed suggested a California company would create more than 2,300 jobs making lithium ion batteries if it got the money.
Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) said on the House floor there are 18 loan applications in the pipeline now that could create another 50,000 jobs.
"Some of these jobs will be at risk because of this offset. This is not the time to put American manufacturing jobs at risk," Dicks says.
It's not just Democrats in Congress who are saying this. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the House highlighting the value of the program. The National Association of Manufacturers sent letters too. Chip Yost, a vice president for the association, says they're trying to spread the word that they support the program.
"We just think these are the kinds of programs and partnerships that work really well between business and government," he says, "and we think that this is a program that's in place, it's operational, and we'd like to see it continue to move forward."
Just how much money the loan program has going forward will depend on what happens in Congress next week.


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UPDATE 1-Saudi Arabia sweetens huge Aramco IPO with tax cut
* Tax cut brings Aramco in line with global standards -CEO (Recasts with implications for Aramco IPO)
PARIS A French parliamentary committee drawing up laws against tax evasion will hear testimony on Tuesday from an ex-HSBC (HSBA.L) employee wanted in Switzerland on charges of stealing data on bank accounts, parliamentary sources said.
They were confirming an article published on the Mediapart website quoting Herve Falciani as saying he would be interviewed at a closed-door session. He added he had been in France for several days and had already testified in French tax inquiries.
One such inquiry is examining whether HSBC offered illicit products to help French clients avoid tax in Switzerland. France is also investigating Swiss bank UBS over whether it offered to help clients evade tax.
Governments across the world are cracking down on tax evasion in the wake of the financial crisis. France's Socialist government is under pressure to act after its Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac quit over an undeclared bank account in March - a story initially broke by the Mediapart website.
Falciani's move to France came after a Spanish court ruled against Switzerland's request he be extradited to face charges including unauthorized obtaining of data, breach of trade secrecy, industrial espionage and violation of banking secrecy.
(Reporting By Christian Plumb and Emile Picy; editing by Mark John)


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Almost Speechless Sunday - Picture from Trip(Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Anderson Properties)
Almost Speechless Sunday - Picture from Trip We were fortunate enough to get away for a vacation trip and got back to Katy TX. late on this past Wednesday. Below is one of my favorite photos I took during our journey. Note Above picture taken by and copyrighted by Bob Gilbert with all rights r...
Resilience Workshop at Houston Methodist West Hospital Katy(Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Anderson Properties)
Resilience Workshop at Houston Methodist West Hospital Katy I think this specific workshop being held at the Houston Methodist West Hospital in Katy sounds very intriguing. Sometimes I fear many hospital sponsored seminars or workshops are only trying to convince the general public they need so...
Charity Garage Sale in Katy The National Charity League Katy Chapter is holding it's annual garage sale on Saturday October 5, 2013. The sale will be at St. Peter's United Methodist Church. The church is located at 20775 Kingsland Blvd. Katy TX. 77450 with being being 281-492-8031. Email the ch...
19934 Sable Stone Circle, Katy, Texas 77450(Liz Carter & Team Realty-Your Real Estate Resource For Life!)
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19827 Sable Stone Circle, Katy, Texas 77450(Liz Carter & Team Realty-Your Real Estate Resource For Life!)
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Tripoli's new rulers take over govt, oil websitesA self-declared government set up by an armed group that seized the Libyan capital in August has taken over the websites of the state administration and the national oil company, adding to confusion over who is running the country. More… |
Hackers launch fresh attacks on Bahrain websitesHackers have launched a fresh series of attacks on government websites after the country was granted the right to stage the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. Officials say cyber criminals in Iran and Saudi Arabia, with the support of local grou More… |


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I'm still not sure how I feel about this drama, and whether I want to recap it through the end. I enjoy watching it, and I will keep watching it, but… I was kind of bored this episode. After a nice beginning, this episode felt like a re-cobbling together of shows I've seen before. (I've seen Alias, I've seen 24.) For all the excitement of the plot — spies, plots, assassins, secret missions — it felt kind of ordinary, in a way. On the upside, it looked great and the plot unfolded smoothly. Which is why I think it's interesting that I felt let down.
IRIS OST – "잊지 말아요" (Don't Forget) by Baek Ji-young [ Download ]
Breaking free of his restraints, Hyun-joon pounds on the reinforced one-way glass with a chair. A medic enters to administer a sedative, but Hyun-joon turns the tables and sticks him with his own needle. The NSS director Baek San watches stoically (as does Seung-hee) from the other side, waiting to see how this scenario will unfold. This is why he lets Hyun-joon escape his holding room, fight off guards, and head out into the hallway.
Hyun-joon finds Sa-woo half-unconscious in another room and frees him, dragging him along to seek freedom. But they come to a dead end and are cornered by a trio of armed agents. Trapped.
The two men are brought before Baek San, and coerced into remaining calm by the presence of shadowy figures pointing guns at them.
The director explains that they have been tested by the NSS. Now that they have passed the trial, they have the opportunity to join the NSS as agents fighting to preserve national security. He assures them, "The country has chosen you, but you have the right to decline. If you want to give up here, you may go back." If they choose to join, however, they will undergo training with the agency and be made into agents.
They accept.
On their first day inside the NSS offices, they are both shocked to be introduced to two of their superiors. First is the head of their counterterrorism unit: Park Sang-hyun, Sa-woo's sunbae. Second is profiler Choi Seung-hee: the girl both fell for, who soon disappeared.
After shock comes anger: Sa-woo wants to know if this was all part of Sang-hyun's plan — did he call him out for drinks just to scope him out? Hearing that yes, Sang-hyun was intending to recruit him, Sa-woo feels used. It's a further abuse of his trust to subject him to such a painful test — but Sang-hyun tells him that he went through it, too. They all did.
Hyun-joon also wonders if his meeting with Seung-hee was orchestrated ahead of time — did she plan everything, down to the classroom interaction? She answers yes; she needed to profile him.
Both men feel peeved, although Sa-woo is quicker to get over it. Or rather, his romantic admiration of Seung-hee helps him accept her apology more readily, and he tells her that he understands.
The new recruits are taken to a lunch at Baek San's house with Seung-hee and Sang-hyun, and afterward, the four agents head out for drinks. There, Sang-hyun admits that it's incredibly difficult to keep this secret from his own wife, although the director seems to be doing just fine. That just goes to show how cold he is.
All this time, Hyun-joon has been quietly seething, sending hard glances Seung-hee's way, as though trying to figure her out. When she steps aside to take a phone call, he follows her outside. He wants to know what her profile of him says and demands an apology, but she doesn't feel the need to give one, since she's done nothing to apologize for.
However, she does decide to reveal, in a hard tone, what her profile turned up: He acts big to disguise a troubled and painful past. She even profiled the fact that he fell for her, and adds sardonically, "But what can you do? Dating is strictly forbidden among our employees, and even if it were permitted, you're not my type.' She warns him that she's his superior — just as he suddenly reaches for her and kisses her. She breaks free angrily and slaps him. He grabs her in another kiss.
Again, Seung-hee struggles, but this time, she gives in after a few moments and starts to kiss him back.
It's for this reason that Hyun-joon feels rather proud of himself when Seung-hee calls him aside at work, especially when she assures him that the roof is the only place at the NSS without surveillance cameras. His self-satisfied smile fades when she warns him again that she's his superior, once again cool and removed. Also, does he think her so insignificant that he can act this way?
Having put him in his place, she's about to stalk off, but he stops her. Surprisingly, he admits openly that he's not really in this job for the loyalty or patriotism. He just thought it would be fun, and he figured, "Ah, this must be my fate." He'd seen NSS — "this dangerous, complicated organization" — in very simple terms: "If I risk my life, I can do this fun work that I consider my fate."
Still, even if he isn't motivated by deeper loyalty and isn't a patriotic agent, he commits fully to his choices. Also, he adds that he's never thought her insignificant, and this time he's the one to excuse himself first. After the exchange, Seung-hee regards him in a new light, perhaps pleasantly surprised that there's more to him than she may have seen.
Justin James – "Love Me More." This is the song prominently featured in the following scenes.
[ Download ]
And so, over the course of the following days, their dynamic undergoes a shift. Seung-hee eyes him with newfound interest, and the two engage in subtle worktime flirting, trading small glances and keeping their smiles from being noticed by their colleagues.
Seung-hee even initiates a game of footsie during a group briefing, which takes Hyun-joon off-guard. Both maintain composed expressions, not betraying the fact that he's teasing her foot under the table…
…and certainly nobody catches on to the fact that he has retaliated by handcuffing her foot to the table. Ha.
They also meet their support staff, such as the eccentric older Oh Hyun-kyu who works in crime-scene investigation and forensics. (This drama seems to have adopted the Alias theory that wacky support staff is jokey and funny. I'll just say that every time Marshall appeared onscreen with his "quirky" and oddball behavior, I felt the urge to spork him.)
After meeting the new recruits, Oh Hyun-kyu imparts the men with some Nietzchean advice: "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster." He explains to Seung-hee later that he read Hyun-joon's file, and has seen that he has the makings of becoming a monster.
Also: Hwang Tae-sung is another member of the support staff; Yang Mi-jung (singer-actress Juni) is the resident computer programmer/hacker.
We don't specifically see how Hyun-joon and Seung-hee's romance starts, but by this point they're dating, albeit secretly. Hyun-joon slips away from home (which he shares with Sa-woo) and heads over to Seung-hee's house for a date. The moment he leaves, however, Sa-woo also gets spruced up and heads out — and arrives at her place unannounced, just ahead of Hyun-joon.
Luckily, Hyun-joon sees his friend at the door and hides out of view. Seung-hee is surprised, and Sa-woo hems and haws in a cutely insecure way. Fumbling for a reason to explain his presence, he asks about profiling. Thankfully (?), both men receive calls at the same time — it's the office.
The counterterrorism team reconvenes for a briefing: their target is a Japanese man with Syrian citizenship named Yamamoto Takashi, who is wanted not only by the NSS but also Japan's security agency. They have intelligence informing them that Takashi will be arriving at Incheon Airport tomorrow, and he is a known terrorist.
However, they can't merely prevent his entrance to the country, because if he has an act of terror planned, it's more important to suss out what he's working on. It also means that his accomplices have already bypassed security to slip into the country. Therefore, it's imperative that they survey Takashi and find out what he's up to. This will be Sa-woo and Hyun-joo's first mission.
The team is deployed and follows Takashi from the airport to an outdoor plaza (Cheonggyecheon), and then to a casino. Hyun-joon takes a seat a few tables away, where Sa-woo joins him, eager to get their first mission into action.
Until, of course, they both take note of an unexpected figure sitting at Takashi's table: an undercover Seung-hee, decked out in her Austin Powers glitz. She flirts lightly with Takashi in Japanese, complimenting his gambling. She bets based on his actions, and happily cheers on as he wins them both money. The guys watch grimly, not liking this at all, especially when Takashi invites Seung-hee up to her room for champagne.
Because she's wired, the guys can eavesdrop on her interactions, but both really hate seeing her put herself on the line like this. (I think Hyun-joon particularly hates how comfortable she is in this role.)
She defers the man's advances by asking to shower first, and lets him use the bathroom first. When she hears the sound of the shower, she gets moving, and uses a special device to transfer all the data on Takashi's cell phone to headquarters. There's a moment of tension as the device slowly transfers its data and time ticks down, but she finishes just in time and leaves before Takashi catches her. He finds a note scrawled on a napkin, which asks for a postponement of their date till tomorrow.
For this second date, Hyun-joon and Sa-woo act as her backup team, monitoring her conversation while waiting in a nearby car. Seung-hee and Takashi go on a seemingly normal date as they browse the stores and she tries on clothing.
She keeps an eye on him, and her ruse seems to be going well… until he suddenly grabs her roughly and pulls her aside to a deserted storage area. Slamming hear against the wall, Takashi demands to know who she's working for, and yanks off her earring (thankfully a clip-on), which contains her bugging device. He crushes it, and the transmission to headquarters fuzzes out.
The instant the conversation turns dire, both guys race out of the car and head toward the department store to intervene, now that Seung-hee's in trouble and her cover blown. She fights back but he's a lot stronger, and he manages to get a firm grip on her throat and chokes her. At the approach of Sa-woo and Hyun-joon, however, he runs away while Sa-woo chases. Hyun-joon's first instinct is to check on Seung-hee, but she demands that he hurry and chase Takashi.
Using satellite tracking, the support staff relays Takashi's movements to the two agents, who follow on foot. When Takashi grabs a delivery scooter, the agents follow by car, again guided by their backup staff.
The pursuit takes them to the subway station, where Takashi buys some time by blending with the crowd. The guys maneuver through the throngs of commuters, and Hyun-joon spies his target slipping onto the subway car. Shoving people aside, he gets on and races from car to car, his eye fixed on Takashi.
But when he catches up to him, a shocked murmur rises from the crowd. On the ground is Takashi, unmoving, with blood pooling around his head.
They're too late: someone else has gotten to Takashi first. As the subway starts to move, Hyun-joon sees a man in black, who has just stepped off the subway, walking away on the platform. They don't know who he is, but we do, since it's North Korean agent Park Chul-young from Episode 1.
Examination of the body shows a clean, single shot through the back of the head — definitely the work of a pro.
NSS deduces that Takashi's motive was terrorism, but the target of the act remains unknown. In a meeting, the likely possibilities are discussed — the South Korean president, an American ambassador, and the like — but that's still too vague. They need to narrow down the search.
Hyun-joon speaks up about his own hunch about Takashi's motives, but he's unable to provide proof. His speculation comes from a feeling he got during his pursuit and he's just putting out another possibility — but the agent leading the meeting angrily cuts him off. They have enough trouble with the info they do have; they don't need to be mucking up the investigation with one agent's gut feelings.
As a result, Hyun-joon and Sa-woo are taken off the mission and told to stand by. Seung-hee actually defends him, saying that a field agent's hunch could be more accurate than data analysis — but Sang-hyun shushes her. She is also told to stand by.
They're all irritated to be taken off the case, but Seung-hee and Hyun-joon don't let this stop them from continuing to work on it (separately). Seung-hee analyzes her map for clues, while Hyun-joon asks for the schedule of a politician, Jo Myung-ho, who is running for president.
Scanning the agenda, something catches Hyun-joon's eye. He recognizes that one of the locations on the schedule, Cheonggyecheon, was one of the places Takashi had been. Could this be coincidence?
Working on their own (without authorization), Hyun-joon and Sa-woo check out Cheonggyecheon, which is a large public square in Seoul. Jo Myung-ho is delivering an election speech here, and a large crowd has gathered to participate in the rally.
The agents scope out the surroundings, wondering where they would set up their hypothetical base if they were working on a terrorist operation. They both come to the conclusion — a balcony in one of the adjacent buildings — and Hyun-joon sends Sa-woo up to investigate, while he'll keep an eye out on the ground.
Sa-woo calls Mi-jung in their tech team, who is reluctant to bend the rules to help him on an unauthorized job. However, he persuades her to go to Seung-hee, who takes responsibility and instructs Mi-jung to use the satellite tracking system to zoom in on the spot the guys picked out. To her surprise, they see a man setting up a rifle — it's a sniper.
Sa-woo races to stop him, and shoots the sniper. But they know that there should be a second sniper setting up in another location, and Hyun-joon looks around trying to figure out where.
Indeed there is a second sniper in another building. Hyun-joon spies him just as Jo Myung-ho takes the podium to deliver his rousing stump speech. There's no time for either Sa-woo or Hyun-joon to make it up to the second building to stop him, so Sa-woo grabs the first sniper's rifle and takes aim at the second sniper. Hyun-joon races toward the stage to get to the politician in time.
(How badass does Jung Jun-ho look?)
Sa-woo spots his target and shoots, but it's a split-second too late and the sniper gets off a shot. Lucky for the presidential candidate, Hyun-joon arrives in the nick of time and launches himself at him, knocking the man to the ground just a moment before the bullet rips through the banner behind him.
In the crowd, a familiar black-clad man watches over the proceedings. He'd been watching from a position on the ground, in the midst of the crowd. Now that the plan is thwarted, he walks away unnoticed.
Now for TOP. Dressed in crisp black and sporting a badass scowl, we know very little about him so far but his profile tells us this is "Vic," an assassin with the shadowy organization called "IRIS." (I suppose the name could be "Big" (빅), but I'm going with Vic.)
He hangs out in a dark graffiti-decorated den and is shown a video clip by an English-speaking colleague. It's the footage of Hyun-joon saving the politician, and as soon as he watches it, he gets a call from a "Mr. Black." Vic answers the phone in his gangsta English, "You got it. I'm on my way."
Despite the fact that our agents acted without permission in a dangerous and highly visible mission, at the end of the day they prevented the assassination of an important politician, and Sang-hyun says that what's important is that the job got done. The team heads out for drinks and celebrates. The two best friends indulge in a shameless round of karaoke singing, while the forensics guy Hyun-kyu again cautions Seung-hee that Hyun-joon may turn into a monster.
Afterward, a slightly tipsy and very cheery Seung-hee prods the guys to join her in another round of drinks, and they end up continuing the celebration at her place.
Seung-hee is in a particularly lighthearted mood and invites her two subordinates to use common banmal speech with her. She's younger than both of them, but because of her higher rank, she typically gets to use banmal with them while they have to use the elevated polite speech with her. But in the spirit of the moment, she urges them to drop the formalities.
Hyun-joon tests it out first, enjoying the sound of the informal words. Sa-woo is more bashful, and has to be urged by Seung-hee to go ahead. He can barely bring himself to say it, but once he does call her "Seung-hee-ya," he really enjoys the intimacy of calling her by her name rather than the strictly professional "team leader."
The three pass out on the floor. They start out lying in fairly close proximity to each other, but by morning the bodies have shifted in sleep and Sa-woo wakes up on the sidelines. Perhaps acting unconsciously, Seung-hee and Hyun-joon are now sleeping in each other's arms. I'm not sure if Sa-woo suspects more to their relationship, but he doesn't mention it.
Later, Sa-woo and Hyun-joon are called to the Blue House (Korea's White House), presumably in response to their service. Their posture above should tell you all you need to know about their respective personalities. For instance, Hyun-joon eats a cookie that's been set out for them, while Sa-woo nervously tells him to wait until after their meeting.
But something else catches Hyun-joon's eye: a painting hanging on the wall. He approaches it.
As he stands looking at his own reflection, he starts to hear echoes of the past, of a little boy named Hyun-joon standing here in this room and exclaiming to a man — possibly the then-president — that when he grows up, he wants to be a Superman who protects the earth.
At Sa-woo's curious inquiry, Hyun-joon answers, "I think I've been here before."
But that's not the end of the memory, because there are flashes of the scene afterward, when his happy parents had been driving that night, a happily gurgling young Hyun-joon playing in the backseat. Out of nowhere, a truck had slammed straight into their car. The boy had cried in fear while his parents lay injured in their seats.
And if that weren't bad enough, a dark figure had come up to the car and fired a bullet through the windshield.
All right, let me start with the positive. The pacing is good, and the music definitely a standout feature (I don't mean the soundtrack, although that's fine, but the background score). Acting is solid, and the series continues to have the high-quality visual look of a film more than a television series. The subject material is certainly dramatic, and there is a lot of room for an exciting blend of mystery, intrigue, and action.
On the other hand, it's a little too… slick.
It has all the makings of something interesting, but I felt this episode really showed that IRIS is merely utilizing the spy cliches rather than moving past them. What I mean by that is, this episode had high stakes and exciting setups, but the story was told in such a familiar way that everything was rather expected. Seung-hee's disguise and cell-phone tapping was not particularly ingenious, and the sting operation to catch Takashi was — if you really look at it — kind of laughably simple.
Here's the problem: IRIS doesn't seem to be making its own mark on the genre, and seems to instead be borrowing someone else's clothes. This episode could have been an Alias episode, circa Season 1. Now, I loved Alias Season 1, but that was eight years ago, and I think a show that airs now has got to offer something new. If you're a new show that repackages the same old cliches (albeit in a well-made, good-looking way), it actually comes off rather silly, so I cringed a bit in some of the chase scenes. And particularly whenever a spy touched his finger to his ear to "communicate" via his high-tech communication device. No wonder Takashi caught on to Seung-hee's act. The team was practically screaming, "Look at me! I'm a spy cliche!"
(Counterargument: But you say, JB, what about all those cliched romantic comedies you seem to love so much? Are THEY "making their mark" on the genre, or are they just copying the formula too? Why don't you hold them to the same standard you're holding IRIS to?
My answer: IRIS is probably the biggest-hyped show of the year, perhaps even more than East of Eden, definitely more than Cain & Abel, Hero, and the rest. It has a ridiculous amount of money poured into it and filmed months in advance. It was so hyped that there were licensing agreements to produce a movie and a manhwa even before the drama aired. It was supposed to be the newer, better, badder Swiri, which practically created the blockbuster genre in Korean film and was the highest-grossing film of its time, at the time. A fluff romance or a simple family drama — say, Smile or Sol Pharmacy — isn't aiming to reinvent the genre so I'm pleased when it does its thing well. It's like this: If you order mac n' cheese, and you get a damn good mac n' cheese, you're going to be comforted and pleased. If you order some fancy haute cuisine and it comes out mac n' cheese, you're going to (1) feel cheated, and (2) say, "Bish plz, that's a damn good mac n' cheese but don't try to sell it to me as gourmet reinvention.")
I don't need a drama to be realistic, but I do need it to speak to me. I don't really mind that IRIS feels Western, but I do feel a little disappointed that it seems to have (voluntarily) ditched all semblance of a kdrama. I don't mean I want melodramas and makjang plots (secret babies, adultery plots, switched-at-birth shenanigans), but I wish it didn't feel like it was trying to be an American show. It wears the trappings well, to be sure, but I'm sorta sad that it's not more… I dunno, taking ownership of itself?
(Example: Horror films. There are amazing examples from both the West and in Asia, but Asia has managed to carve out its niche and put its stamp on the genre.)
Okay, I think that came out a little harsher than I intended, because I enjoyed the episode. But when something is close to being good, it frustrates me more than if it were outright bad — because it was so close. But I feel like the writer is sorta half-assing the story. It sounds like people really loved Episodes 3 and 4, so I'll give it another shot, because the North Korean political stuff is where I think the drama can set itself apart.
On a completely separate note, I find the romance between Seung-hee and Hyun-joon interesting in that the initial stages are glossed over in a music-video-like montage and suddenly they're dating. Maybe it's their way of sliding past Seung-hee's change of heart from being a cool, distant professional to being won over by Hyun-joon's charm. As we see, Hyun-joon surprises her early on with his frank admission that he's no great hero; I wonder if she admires his openness or sees a hero inside anyway. (Or, as Hyun-kyu says, a monster.) It's ironic, then, that she sold him short initially based on her profiling, because as a profiler she has all this insight into people's characters and delves into their inner lives, even the parts that they keep hidden from others and perhaps even themselves. Yet she was swift to size Hyun-joon up and reduce him to his profile. In a way, in Seung-hee's mind, people fit into profiles, rather than profiles fitting people.
- Iris bed scene too hot for broadcast television
- IRIS: Episode 1
- Iris's strong start endangers Heading's ending
- Iris and Chuno run into production disputes
- Iris gets explosive
- And now for Iris's Le Byung-heon
- A look at Iris's supporting cast
- Iris's profiler Kim Tae-hee
- Iris releases its newest poster
- Iris to be produced as a manhwa


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Forgotten Pop Nuggets: Caress Me Pretty Music, Part II September 22, 2010 | Steve Goss | 0 Alan O'Day's first major label release, "Caress Me Pretty Music" is reviewed in the second part of this two part article. ►
Forgotten Pop Nuggets: Songs By Alan O'Day, Part I September 15, 2010 | Steve Goss | 0 The lo-fi power pop gem, "Songs By Alan O'Day," is reviewed in the first part of this two part article. ►


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2012-03-12, 14:57 | Link #84 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Ontario, Canada
Age: 36
A trio of Total Eclipse figures on the way to North America via Kotobukiya.
2012-03-12, 22:37 | Link #86 | |
Storm Vanguard
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Type-00
The newer version of the 00F looks great. The jump units are kinda bigger than it should be, but it's in a negligible level. Also, here's a slightly bigger version of the scan that was posted previously. It includes Yuuya this time. Maybe it has something to do with the way it was colored? The line art was pretty nice and close to the novel illustrations after all. |
2012-03-13, 01:53 | Link #88 |
Prefectural Magical Girl
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Paris, France
It will likely have 12-13 episodes based on the first two-three volumes with a slow pacing. Many LN-based animes these days used that format and the story is usually rushed (there's some exceptions to this rule).
2012-03-13, 03:44 | Link #91 |
Translator, Producer
I ran into the artist who is handling the music from avex in a coffee shop in Shibuya.
No joke. I overheard some people talking about the "biz" and butted in. Consider this complete rumor at this point, but he said he was using vocaloids recently, so perhaps we could have a vocaloid opening/ending? I'll be impressed with myself if that turns out to be true.
2012-03-13, 07:02 | Link #92 | |
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: 輪廻転生
2012-03-14, 16:52 | Link #93 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Ontario, Canada
Age: 36
When Fate/Zero first aired, the pre-existing Fate/Stay Night sub-board was re-purposed as the "Fate/Series" board, so it could be used to cover both parts of the broader Fate franchise.
In a simular vein, once this anime gets closer to its air date, might it be an idea to dust off the old Kimi ga Nozomu Eien board, and perhaps re-purpose it as an "Âge-series" one? Total Eclipse is a couple of alternate universes removed from the Kiminozo timeline, but the settings are linked; not least since the original Muv-Luv (of which TE is a spinoff of a sequel) also features a number of KgNE characters (and alternates) itself. And there is a general Muv-Luv thread there already; started up by yours truly, I hasten to add...
Last edited by Nerroth; 2012-03-14 at 17:03. |
2012-03-19, 10:25 | Link #94 |
Storm Vanguard
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Type-00
^ That's a great idea actually. I really hope it will be seriously considered by the staff. Heck, there's so much to discuss since other series made by age are connected to the Muv-Luv franchise too.
A thread specifically for TDA discussions... I can only hope that day will come... ;_; Oh, here's some images from the stream. Nothing new really. It's just the colored version of the concept art that was posted a few pages back. I think this one is the Active Eagle. The head design of that unit stands out after all. Su-37UB Terminator. Really dig those chainsaw blades on it's forearm. Yuuya facepalming... I can feel the angst already. |
2012-03-21, 15:33 | Link #97 |
Prefectural Magical Girl
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Paris, France
I don't call Inia as loli because she is tall (if not on the same level as Cryska) and has big breasts. When I think of loli characters, I immediately thinks of them who has shorter than average height (usually less than 1m55). Lately, when I reading a manga called Tonari no Randsel W, the main heroine is like Inia (because of her big breasts) except she is a 11-years old girl.
Tags |
action, aliens, mecha, romance, science fiction, seinen |
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Beacon Events is pleased to announce the Myanmar Investment Summit Hong Kong 2013, to be held on the 14-15 May 2013 in Hong Kong.
Myanmar is receiving a phenomenal amount of interest from foreign investors, and the recent finalisation of the foreign investment law, further easing of sanctions and economic reform, means that investors are considering investment opportunities now more than ever.
Key opportunities for investors include:
• Accessing over 60 million potential customers in Myanmar's lucrative consumer market
• Investing in Myanmar's infrastructure projects key to the country's growth
• Development of the local banking sector and capital markets
• Myanmar's dire need for new property: office space, residential, and shopping centers
• Capitalising on the rise of oil & gas, mining and agriculture opportunities in Myanmar
• Myanmar as the next manufacturing hub of Asia
• Investment into the growing tourism and hotels sector of Myanmar
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At approximately 9:45 a.m. on Friday, August 22, the Moberly Police Department responded to a robbery taking place at Bank Midwest on North Morley Street. According to information from the police scanner, a man entered the bank wearing a Scream Halloween mask, displayed a handgun and demanded an undisclosed amount of money. The suspect then fled, getting into a silver Honda Civic that was reported stolen from Columbia. Deputies lost sight of the vehicle. There were also reports of shots fired, no injuries reported.
At approximately 10 a.m., a Randolph County Sheriff's Deputy spotted a vehicle matching the description traveling southbound on U.S. Highway 63 near MO 22 and Route F. According to a news release, as the deputy attempted to get in position to contact the suspect vehicle, it was spotted parked in the commuter parking lot south of Moberly on Route F and 22 Junction in Boone County. This is where law enforcement believes the suspect(s) fled on foot.
Moberly Monitor-Index reporter Atina Roberts was on scene near the corn field where suspects were believed to be. According to Roberts, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Boone County Sheriff's Department, Randolph County Police and Sheriff's Department, Sturgeon Police Department and FBI were on scene—Including four K-9 units and one Highway Patrol Helicopter patrolling from above. The nearby school, Sturgeon R-V, according to Superintendent Shawn Schultz, went on modified lock down around 11 a.m. due to this incident. Modified lock down means school remains in session, however, no one is allowed to leave or enter the facility.
At approximately 1:12 p.m., one black male, 25, of Moberly was taken into custody and transported to the Moberly Police Department—the suspect has not been identified. Sturgeon R-V dismissed students as normal, modifying the bus routes after contacting parents of those affected.
At this time, law enforcement is still patrolling the scene for more suspects—investigation on-going by the Moberly Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
One suspect in custody after robbery
Aug 22, 2014 at 4:40 PM


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It's been an unusual week for me. Since the publication of my first short story in a local journal in 2000, I've reached a few shortlists and won a few small writing competitions but the Man Booker Prize is a different creature altogether. In 2009 I had a baby, left my PA job in Nottingham and moved with my husband and child to a nearby village. In our new house, next but one to a sheep field, I started to write while my son, Arthur, napped – a short story first and then a novel about a man going on a walking holiday in Germany.
I finished my novel and it was accepted by Salt, an independent publisher. At the time, simply having a novel published was a big deal for me. Notes-to-self involved seeing if local libraries and bookshops might take a copy or two. So when my husband came to find me in the local park to tell me The Lighthouse was on the Man Booker Prize longlist, it was quite unreal. Six weeks later we were on our way to London for the Man Booker Prize party when my brother-in-law called to say that the shortlist had been announced and I was on it. Life's been rather different since then. The nomination has led to reviews, sales and opportunities I could never have dreamt of before. My second novel's had to go on the back burner but it couldn't be for a better reason.
After travelling home from the Man Booker Prize party last week, I spent Wednesday afternoon agreeing to headline a small literature festival in Birmingham, arranging readings and signings in Nottingham, Manchester and London, scheduling phone interviews with journalists in France and Singapore, accepting foreign rights offers from Canada, Australia and New Zealand, declining a New York agent, discussing film options, and rolling out playdough.
In the evening I went into Nottingham for a joint event hosted by World Event Young Artists and the Nottingham Festival of Words (which fully launches in February 2013). WEYA has brought together 1,000 young artists from 100 countries for 10 creative days. The evening featured a talk called "Towards a Global Brain" by Paul Anderson, author of Web 2.0 and Beyond. He showed us visualisations of internet activity which resembled astronomers' charts and maps of the synapses. The images were like depictions of WEYA's arrival on Nottingham's arts scene – hundreds of busy pathways of activity and bright moments of interconnection.
Driving into Nottingham on Saturday for our son's weekly swimming lesson, we had the radio on. The actor Charlie Higson was talking about The Enemy, his series of zombie novels for young adults, and about how horror stories can act as a safe means for children to confront real fears of adults, change, sickness and death. The Enemy is for teenagers but my three-year-old loves to practise being "frightened". One of his favourite games is for me to be a monster and to chase him. Often I can be seen doing either a classic lumbering zombie or the faster sort in Charlie Brooker's Dead Set. I have to almost catch him but when he is cornered it turns out that my monster is only trying to give him cake. Where stories of mine culminate in suggested brutality, I now like to think there is always an alternative ending in which the protagonist receives cake.
After swimming, we drove to Oxford, where my side of the family was meeting up for the rest of the weekend, for my dad's 80th birthday. The Hillsborough disaster report was in the news. My brother was at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final match between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool, watching from the Forest end. He told me about the lack of communication within the stadium that day. When the Forest fans were ejected from the ground minutes after kick-off, they had heard no explanatory tannoy announcement. It appeared as if there had been a pitch invasion and it was only when they reached the train station that they began to hear news of deaths.
The report, of course, reveals an extensive covering-up of the truth, with senior police officers changing the statements of junior officers. Thinking about not knowing what has happened, and about not being able to say what has happened, I recalled Jon McGregor's quietly powerful short story "If It Keeps On Raining" (2010). It is only by reading between the lines that we come to understand that this is the story of a man damaged by the Hillsborough disaster, a police officer traumatised by his inability to help. Living alone by the river now, the protagonist dwells on the excess of rain which causes debris to be "swept along like small children in a crowd, like what happens in a football match if there are too many people in not enough space and something happens to make everyone rush." Fiction is one way of speaking about the unspeakable.
Prompted by my publisher, I popped into Blackwell's and Waterstones and offered to sign copies of The Lighthouse. I found myself in line behind a lady who was buying all the books on the Man Booker shortlist in order to make up her own mind before the mid-October announcement of the winner. I signed her copy of my book and the staff brought out some more. I was halfway through signing them when my brother pointed out that no one had asked me for ID. On the other hand, my dad was off browsing the bookshelves and was wondering if, while he was there, he should offer to sign their stock of Brian Moore titles. If asked for ID, he would have been able to provide it.
Alison Moore is the author of 'The Lighthouse' (Salt)


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Roundtable: More On Balboa Park Flameout; Minimum Wage; Homeless Housing Under Fire
Friday, March 28, 2014
Aired 3/28/14 on KPBS Midday Edition.
Mark Sauer
Angela Carone, KPBS News
David Rolland, San Diego CityBeat
Sandhya Dirks, KPBS News
Apology For Balboa Park Debacle
Plans for a new, scaled-down celebration of the centennial of the Panama-California Exposition — perhaps including a giant sheet-cake and face-painting — were announced Friday.
But that hasn't stopped journalists and San Diego pundits from continuing to chew over the very public failure of the former very grand plans.
After spending $2.6 million in taxpayer money to plan and raise funds for an extravaganza for the 100th anniversary of the Panama-California Exposition – and having pretty much nothing to show for it – prominent San Diego lobbyist Nikki Clay and two other board members of Balboa Park Celebration, Inc., (BPCI) apologized to the public on KPBS.
Nikki, her husband Ben Clay and many others, including PR consultant Gerry Braun and the group's last CEO, Julie Dubick, received — are still receiving — verbal cream pies from all corners for dishing out money to outside consultants while lacking the fundraising and organizational expertise to pull off a $35-million party.
The captains of this Titanic endeavor have been accused of insularity, negativity, incompetence and, especially, exclusiveness. They, in turn, point out that the whole complex process was made even more impossible with first, the election of Mayor Bob Filner; second, his interference; and third, his resignation in disgrace.
Is Minimum Wage Too Minimal?
The middle class is shrinking and the poor are getting poorer.
For those working for minimum wage, even 40 hours a week does not guarantee an escape from poverty in expensive San Diego. According to a new report from the Center on Policy Initiatives, 37.8 percent of all households in San Diego County are not able to afford the basics (food, shelter, transportation) without assistance and therefore are living below the standard for self-sufficiency.
Council members Todd Gloria, Sherri Lightener, Myrtle Cole and Marti Emerald have announced a campaign to put a city-sponsored initiative on the November ballot to increase the minimum wage from the current $8 an hour to an as-yet-to-be-determined higher amount ($13/hour has been suggested) and give workers up to five paid sick days.
The state of California will raise the minimum wage to $9 per hour this summer and to $10 per hour ($20,800 a year) in 2016.
Often, proposed raises to the minimum wage meet fierce opposition from the tourism industry and retail. Jerry Sanders, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, among others, is opposed.
Transitional Housing vs. Housing First
Housing first means providing the homeless with permanent housing before addressing any other problems, such as substance abuse and mental illness. Transitional housing requires that the homeless stay in temporary housing until they have completed programs or treatment for their other problems.
There currently is a debate over which approach is the more effective.
The influential Father Joes Villages is a leader in transitional housing in San Diego, where it is the current preferred model for dealing with homelessness. The federal government, however, is looking toward housing first as the better (and less costly) of the two approaches. It is expected that soon the feds will allocate funds for homelessness only to housing first programs.
President Obama, along with many cities and states, have set a goal of ending homelessness by 2015. If San Diego stays with transitional housing, the city may not only miss the deadline, but will lose federal funds in the process.
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twells | March 28, 2014 at 12:24 p.m. ― 2 years, 12 months ago
The assumption that a single person making minimum wage should have their own 1-BR apartment is ludicrous ... if you have a skill set that only allows you to demand a minimum wage you need to have roommates. Using this as a benchmark skews the argument. Same can be said for someone raising a family on minimum wage ... minimum wage is entry level work. You should not assume you can raise a family on skills that command minimum wage.
Pat Finn, KPBS Staff | March 28, 2014 at 1:22 p.m. ― 2 years, 12 months ago
twells -- 40 hours weekly at $8 per hour is $320/week, or $1,386/month in gross income. With four in an apartment renting for $1,000/month – probably a one bedroom – that's $250/month, leaving $1,136 (or whatever is left after deductions) for utilities, food, transportation, medical care, etc. Whether people assume they can raise a family on minimum wage or not, CPI reports that 170,363 households in San Diego County with one or more children cannot make ends meet without government assistance.
DeLaRick | March 28, 2014 at 2:42 p.m. ― 2 years, 12 months ago
If a person just goes to work and doesn't get out much, that person will not understand how vital lower paying jobs are to the service/hospitality sector and our economy on the whole. Someone making $50K during the day is not going to put on a smock at night to serve someone who makes $100K. We can't have an economy like Las Vegas' where you're either getting into bed or making one to earn a living. Society benefits when people pay sales taxes, regardless of their socioeconomic level.
JeanMarc | March 28, 2014 at 3:15 p.m. ― 2 years, 12 months ago
Minimum wage jobs were never intended to provide a "living wage" for anyone. They are made for people who are in school, like a 16 year who wants to work a few hours a week or a college student working part time to have spending money. I don't know why people think that doing a job literally anyone can do deserves more pay. This is about supply and demand, and the commodity is labor. If 100% of humans can do your job, your labor is not scarce, thus it is not valuable. If you want your labor to be worth more, then educate yourself, join a trade, etc.
Peking_Duck_SD | March 28, 2014 at 4:15 p.m. ― 2 years, 12 months ago
I don't know why people think that doing a job literally anyone can do deserves more pay.
Could you spend your days cleaning public toilets? I couldn't, at least not easily. Just because a job pays poorly doesn't mean (1) it isn't a necessity and (2) it's not hard work.
And I hear people saying that bit about the 16 year olds a lot, but where do you get this from?
You say low-wage jobs were "made" by someone - by whom?
They weren't designed for a specific demographic, they are a reality of a functioning society.
Nobody is suggesting people with low-wage jobs should be living in mansions and eater lobster, but I don't understand for the life of me why so many, mostly conservatives, are so afraid of the concept of a minimum living wage.
Missionaccomplished | March 28, 2014 at 4:27 p.m. ― 2 years, 12 months ago
Ooops! I thought this article was about The Flame across from Balboa Park!!!
muckapoo1 | March 29, 2014 at 6:39 p.m. ― 2 years, 12 months ago
A minimum wage of $15/hour is an insult to those currently earning $15/hour. A person who has no skills is that way due to choices. If you have a family and are flipping burgers for $8/hour, you need a vasectomy.


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Cosplay Island Forum > General Costume Help and Critique > help with paint | Login or register to post. |
Login to reply | Page: « < 1 of 1 > » |
05 Feb 2009 - 16:25 | 10454 |
kilik_hiwatari Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 154 | help with paint Does anyone know what paints I can use with Crayola Model Magic? I really want to use the stuff in the big bottles that schools use (poster paint?) but I'm worried I might ruin my props. |
05 Feb 2009 - 16:30 | 10455 |
Captain_Marvelous Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 1510 | from what I hear acrylic paint works, also you might try a matt or gloss enamyl I always saw tobi's mask as a matt but its completely up to you. __________________ |
05 Feb 2009 - 16:52 | 10456 |
BlusterSquall Joined: 05 Dec 2007 Posts: 505 | If you're going to varnish your props then stear clear of poster paint. It WILL smear, badly, if you use varnish.
Acrylic paint is probably your best bet, because its thicker, and more robust. Thats why I've found at least. |
05 Feb 2009 - 17:29 | 10457 |
kilik_hiwatari Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 154 | Quote Silver:
If you're going to varnish your props then stear clear of poster paint. It WILL smear, badly, if you use varnish. Acrylic paint is probably your best bet, because its thicker, and more robust. Thats why I've found at least. Varnish? Well, I was gonna use PVA glue ^^;; would that make any difference? |
05 Feb 2009 - 20:35 | 10459 |
Sands Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 141 | Poster paint will probably come off with PVA as well. Use acrylic paint.
1.It looks a lot nicer 2.It lasts longer 3.You can get better colours Also you should use varnish over PVA. Varnish gives you a much neater finish, PVA has a tendency to create lumps and can dull the original colour of your paint. If your feeling really flash then use enamel paints, they give a really nice high quality finish. __________________ My God. Its full of stars |
05 Feb 2009 - 20:47 | 10460 |
Angelphie Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 88 | I'd suggest you actually avoid enamel, it may not dry properly on the clay. It certainly doesn't on other brands. You could perhaps use it if you seal the clay first with a layer of something else though.
I agree with acrylic, and coating it with varnish. |
05 Feb 2009 - 20:59 | 10462 |
Sands Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 141 | angela has a good point, it wont dry properly on clay unless you prime it.
But I would suggest priming it anyway for whatever paint you end up using. Youl get a better finish and true colour __________________ My God. Its full of stars |
06 Feb 2009 - 13:17 | 10479 |
xaerael Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Posts: 530 | acrylic. everyone else has said it, i'll chime in too.
i personally use a mix of different brands for different things. windsor and newton galeria for block colours, since you can buy most of the colours in huge 250ml squeezy bottles for around £6 citadel miniatures (games workshop) for metallics. i've really not found a better range of metals, think they are about £3 for a diddy 12ml pot, but they are good. vallejo is pretty good for metallics too, and a bit cheaper... but only if you can find them. they also have possibly the biggest colour range of any model acrylic. i'd always recomend spray priming and spray varnishing. it may seem like more expense, but they are vital supportive and protective layers, and spraying avoids nasty brush stroke lines. another tip is to invest in some tamya acrylic thinner, rather than use the water thinning technique. again, you can get other brands, but i've not found one better. if you reeeeally want to use poster paints (ew) you can mix them with PVA to get a pseudo acrylic finish, but it's really not that great. __________________ |
07 Feb 2009 - 13:40 | 10522 |
Purplefluffychainsaw Joined: 31 Oct 2008 Posts: 211 | Remember that PVA and poster paints aren't waterproof either. I made that mistake at Japanex with my sheath for Hiyori, and almost ruined my Ed coat from it. We live in England! It will rain! I always varnish my props properly now. __________________ -an Angel that didn't so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards- |
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Stocks stayed near session highs Friday as buyers continued to put money to work. The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 hit new all-time highs.
The Nasdaq rose 1.4%; the S&P 500 added 1.2% and the Dow Jones industrial average picked up 1.1%. Nasdaq volume was tracking about 10% higher than Thursday. NYSE volume rose 3%.
The economy created 165,000 jobs in April, slightly ahead of expectations. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 7.5%. Big upward revisions to February and March job growth were also welcomed by the market.
In the stock market today, several IBD 50 components made big moves, many in heavy volume. Proto Labs (PRLB) jumped 4% in nearly double-average volume to a new high. The stock tried to break out during the week of April 12 but didn't make much progress. Shares fell 9% the following week in heavy volume.
Meanwhile, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) touched a fresh 52-week high ahead of its earnings report May 8 after the close. Shares rose 2% in slightly heavier volume.
Other big percentage gainers in the IBD 50 included fracking play U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA), Worthington Industries (WOR), FleetCor Technologies (FLT) and 3D Systems (DDD).
In earnings news, Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBHS) broke out in heavy volume, rising 7%. It cleared a flat base with a buy point of 38.26. Late Thursday, the ancillary housing play reported profit of 24 cents a share, up 200% from a year ago and well ahead of views of 16 cents. Sales growth accelerated for the third straight quarter, up 11% to $890 million. The company also initiated a quarterly dividend of 10 cents share, giving it a yield of 1.1%.
Elsewhere in earnings, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) continued its recent ascent, rising 7% in heavy volume. Late Thursday, the drugmaker reported continued strong sales of its flagship drug Eylea, used to treat age-related wet macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in the elderly. First-quarter profit soared 381% to $1.78 a share. Sales rose 90% to $439.7 million. Analysts were modeling 95 cents on sales of $424.3 million. Shares of Regeneron soared 10% earlier this week after Allergan (AGN) announced a delay in an eye drug it's developing that would've competed with Eylea.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange, June gold traded at $1,466 an ounce, down $1.60. June oil traded at $95.68 a barrel, up $1.69.
In the energy space, oil and gas producer Bonzana Creek Energy (BCEI) jumped 6% in sluggish volume ahead of its earnings report May 9 after the close. Another strong quarter of growth is expected with profit seen rising 46% from a year ago to 41 cents a share. Sales are forecast to rise 60% to $79.5 million. The stock is working on the right side of a possible base and is now 10% off a 52-week high.


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Monday Minute
No. 235 | May 2, 2011
In my five decades and counting I've had the chance to witness quite a bit of history, but tonight I can say that I don't remember a moment like this. So often the most memorable events are the most tragic—the assassinations of the '60s, the Oklahoma City bombing, and of course, 9/11. There have been jubilant occasions, too—the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, the fall of the Berlin Wall—but as an occasion of justice and victory, today's news, though on a smaller scale, feels like something we may not have experienced in the United States since the end of World War II.
Osama bin Laden is dead. The news was shocking when it came—not because we'd given up the effort, but because we'd given up the thought that it would actually happen. Yet now we get to think about it differently. The effort to get bin Laden (not to be mistaken for our multiple missteps along the way) was not a lost cause, after all. Suddenly, so it seems, we got it right.
The past decade has been painful and troubling, filled with more futility and self-doubt than we ever would want to admit. The demise of bin Laden puts an end to one chapter of our recent history. Though time will tell what it means, for the moment it is reason to celebrate.
As I watched the news with my wife, who I met in the weeks following 9/11, and my son, who's approximately the age that I was watching the events of November 1963, I felt a glimmer of hope that I have not felt in a long, long while. Maybe we can move on now. It's about time.
Ding Dong! The witch is dead.
Which old witch?
The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up, sleepy head,
Rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead.
She's gone where the goblins go,
Below, below, below.
Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong the merry-oh,
Sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
The Wicked Witch is dead!
The most fitting movie for the occasion, it seems to me, is the most American of movies, The Wizard of Oz. The witch is dead! The nightmare is over. The time to leave the storm cellar has come.


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Grab your pencils! Welcome to the second installment of Adventure to Dice Castle, where we'll continue with a focus on tools and equipment.
To become a professional freelancer, there are a few tools you'll need (and some I suggest) that you'll benefit from having. If you followed along last time, the hard part of building your character sheet is over. Today, all you have to do is run through this list and assess what you need, how much you'll have to spend, and what equipment you already have on hand.
1. Reference Material – Not sure what an Oxford comma is? Need to reference the Victorian era? Reference material can take the form of non-fiction, writing resources or style guides. These books will be crucial to your assignments. For reasons I'll get into later, there are reasons why you don't want to rely primarily on internet reference material. If you're worried about cost, don't forget about your local library!
2. Business e-mail Address – I recommend keeping an e-mail address that doesn't speak of your love for Justin Bieber or your favorite anime character. Seriously. As enlightened as you may be, appearances do matter. You can either use a free account or one attached to your website's domain.
3. File Folders – You can pick up a portable, plastic filing system and some folders from your local office supply store for less than $40. The folders will allow you to easily keep track of expenses and income as well as your contracts, pitches and research.
4. Bookkeeping Method – Now, some people recommend that you set up a separate bank account right off the bat. Others suggest that if you're just starting out, the income is minimal so it's better to keep a good set of books and take those to an accountant. However you decide to do it, keep in mind that regardless of whether this is a hobby or a career for you, the money you earn is income.
5. Computer/ Internet Connection – On the cheap end, you can get away with buying a netbook for a couple hundred bucks. If you're looking for something more robust, I recommend looking for a refurbished computer to save yourself some cash or buying an new, yet older model. You will need an internet connection, too. It's impossible to be a freelancer in today's market without one.
6. Gaming Books and Dice – Once of the things I mentioned last time, was that if you want to be a designer, it's a good idea to play games. If you want to be a freelancer, it's also important to familiarize yourself with the settings and the systems you're writing for. While some companies will provide the material for you digitally, your chances of getting hired will increase if you're already familiar with the setting and the system.
7. Word Processing Software – Whether you use a branded product or something like OpenOffice, the software you use will also need to be compatible with whatever that company is using. Many businesses like to use "Track Changes" which is a feature from Microsoft Word. Others will use Google Docs or are okay with OpenOffice. While it depends on the company, I've found that "Track Changes" and "Comments" provide good communication for editorial feedback, because you can see the passages that need to be improved or altered.
8. Business Cards – You can find inexpensive business cards almost anywhere for first time buyers or through special deals. I wouldn't order a lot of them right off the bat, but having a business card is definitely better than not having one. When you give them out, try to get the business card of the person you're networking with.
9. Website – I have mixed feelings about websites, because often I see new authors and game designers take their presence to the extreme. Having something up (e.g. a few pages with information about you, the games you're playing, etc.) would be better than having a social media profile or no information. However, I feel you want to be careful about overselling yourself and what you've done. If you have little to no publications, then there's really no reason to push the envelope on a website. You can always change and grow your presence over time.
10. Nice Outfit – While some people can freelance without ever meeting a publisher, having a nice outfit you can wear to a convention can come in handy. What does "nice outfit" mean? If you're a guy, wear a polo shirt or make sure your t-shirt doesn't look like you just washed your car with it. If you're a girl? Wear an outfit that isn't skin tight or costume-related. Most of the people in the gaming industry dress business casual more on the casual side than the business side.
Next month, I will take you on a trip to the Village of No-Nos. You will have plenty of opportunities to participate in the scenario, so I hope you're ready to play! Er… Work. I mean, work really hard.
Remember, working with any business means that you'll have to practice your teamwork and collaboration skills. So don't be afraid to help out your fellow man, woman or dragon. Add your recommendations for reference material and other tools and equipment in the comments below.
About the Dice Castle Series: Adventure to Dice Castle is designed to take a budding writer and game designer from the role of "Commoner" or fan to professional "Freelancer." The series debuted July 2011. Each month, Monica will take on an allegorical role of GM to help readers understand what working for the hobby games industry will be like for them.


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Peaceful Paradise <3 DrawChat
To RATE, please download the latest Flash player.
2 Artists contributed to this DrawChat
COMMENTS ON THIS DRAWCHAT (3) - Post a comment
i love it. No more words needed :)
Duo Jan 03, 2013Great job.
SPITS9 Jan 02, 2013This is awesome, really like the pallette. And nice title too. Teamwork at its best! 5/5
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