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Laputa: Castle in the Sky (UK - BD RB)
Marcus goes in search of a flying island with a girl who just fell out of the sky...
Escaping from a skyship, Sheeta (Anna Paquin) is on the run from the sky pirates and after meeting Pazu (James Van Der Beek) the pair struggle to stay ahead of their pursuers and begin to learn the secrets about Sheeta's mysterious necklace and the mysteries of Laptua the castle in the sky.
Laputa: Castle in the Sky is one of those animated titles that looks and feels exactly like the sort of stuff I picture in my head whenever I think about classic anime. The approach to characters and adventure this movie has is precisely what makes Miyazaki's work so timeless and his approach to the world of Laputa is Miyazaki fully unleashed.
Not only is the world fully established very early on, what with its flying contraptions and the steam driven mining town, but the magical element and the legend of Laputa the flying island feels perfectly rounded and offers up the kind of adventure that we don't really see on our screens anymore. I suppose the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are still waving the flag for good ol' adventure tales but Castle in the Sky offers up the kind of adventure I want to revisit (sorry Pirates sequels, but you killed that desire), which seems to be a rarity on our screens nowadays.
The action sequences are also top notch. The stuff on the rail tracks, with the pirates chasing down the small train and the tracks getting destroyed behind them is an absolute thrill ride. The animation sells every energetic beat, the pacing is absolutely perfect and the pure sense of fun with every chaotic turn is yet another thing Studio Ghibli does better than most.
On a personal note, I've always got a little disconnected from Laputa around about the time Colonel Muska (voiced by a very Joker-esq sounding Mark Hamill) turns up. The journey to find Laputa feels a little over long for me but watching the movie again I got the same reconnection as soon as Sheeta and Pazu arrive at their destination and everything finds its feet again as we head into the last half an hour and the sense of wonder and grand adventure returns.
This is certainly the best I've ever seen Laputa look and despite slightly showing its age animation wise the presentation here is almost perfect. The image is fantastically clean and colours have never looked so bold. Reds are especially vibrant, with Sheeta's headband always popping off the screen and the colours in the daytime chase scenes are all particularly impressive. Of course the turquoise glow of Sheeta's necklace was also a real highlight and in my experience of viewing the movie over the years, it's never looked that bright and alive.
There's an ever so slight wobble to the image that I think is inbuilt into the cell animation, but there were only a small number of times it was really noticeable without purposely looking for it. It's not enough to distract from rest of the fantastic presentation and when the movie reaches the castle in the sky in the finale the presentation of the exquisite artistry on show here really does look fantastic. The Miyazaki visuals really come to life and the twenty five year old animation looks like it has a whole new life in HD.
The fairly confined track can still feel quite energetic in places. The mix of score, dialogue and sound effects feels effectively layered and lively and despite not playing in a wider field the action sequences in Laputa can still feel pretty dynamic. A stronger level of bass is really the only thing missing here. Some of the explosions can sometimes feel a little too weak without a separate bass element but really that's about it.
The best part of the track for me has to be the score and Joe Hisaishi's work here is absolute class and really is the emotional core of Laputa. The English track presents it very well but on a side note, I checked out the original Japanese track from time to time while watching and I have to say it sounded much stronger and noticeable better.
The storyboards are presented picture-in-picture and every one of them is great. The 'Promotional Video' (12:38 SD) is a sort of original making of if not a brief introduction to the film and seeing a younger Miyzaki really made me realise just how old Laputa is now.
'Behind the Microphone' (04:09 SD) is the Disney voice work video with the redub done for the 2003 US re-release.
'Behind the Studio' is split into four sections, 'The World of Laputa' (02:18 SD) which has Miyazaki telling us his inspiration for the movie (and its English/Welsh roots), 'Creating Castle in the Sky' (03:40 SD) expands on Miyzaki's childhood fascination with flying, 'Character Sketches' (02:39 SD) has Miyazaki talk us through the characters and shows off some original designs and finally 'Producers Perspective: Meeting Miyazaki' (03:14 SD) has Toshio Suzuki telling us the story of when he first met Miyzaki. Incidentally these featurettes show the movie in uncleaned standard definition and it all makes the new HD presentation looks even better.
The 'Textless Opening and Ending Credits' (04:45 HD) has those old worldly book illustrations from the film presented without text all over them. Good stuff, especially with the movie's themes playing over the top.
The 'Original Japanese trailers' (04:05) are so much fun in their oddness and the Studio Ghibli trailers comprise of Nausicaa, Ponyo, Howl's Moving Castle, Earthsea, My Neighbours the Yamadas and Spirited Away.
Lastly there's a DVD copy included with the release.
Without taking anything away from the fantastic movie itself, I have to admit Laputa: Castle in the Sky isn't a personal favourite of mine in the Ghibli movie line up (mainly due to its slightly over long runtime I think) but it is certainly one Ghibli movie that shows just how good the studio can be. The sense of adventure is up there with the best and as always, Miyazaki's characters are just great to be around (especially the cool Laputa robots). As for the animation, nobody does it better and some of the location artwork here is simply stunning and has to be considering as some of Ghibli's best.
The transfer here is a delight and makes Laputa look brand new, so in that regard the HD upgrade is a must for fans. The audio is also good but could have done with a bit more bass in places. As for the extras, there's some good stuff here but not a lot that hasn't been available elsewhere. Still this is another great Ghibli release and what with this and recently reviewing My Neighbours the Yamadas I am itching for stuff like Spirited Away, Monoke, The Cat Returns and even more so My Neighbour Totoro to arrive on Blu-ray soon!
* Note: The images below are taken from the Blu-ray release and resized for the page. Full-resolution captures are available by clicking individual images, but due to .jpg compression they are not necessarily representative of the quality of the transfer.
Review by Marcus Doidge
As nice as this might look, I can't help looking at screenshots from the Japanese BD and wondering why all of the grain has yet again been scrubbed from this release, as it was with Nausicaa etc. It gets on my nerves.
Marcus1138 Contributor Join Date: June 2008 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 910
I'm not sure it bothers me as much with animation.
Just Passing Member Join Date: September 2006 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 37
I wouldn't say it was completely scrubbed of grain. The Optimum release has what I would call a fine layer of grain to it. But I agree that in comparison with the JP BD screencaps, it may as well be non-existent.
hogaburger Contributor Join Date: April 2007 Location: United States Posts: 1,153
Doesn't bother me in the screen caps, but in motion it might be another story.
Anyone know if this one is region-locked? The Japanese BD costs some serious money to import, and I'd prefer to go with this one.
Anyone know if this one is region-locked? The Japanese BD costs some serious money to import, and I'd prefer to go with this one.
I believe it is, although I must confess I didn't actually test it before I sent it to Marcus. I might end up getting a copy and if so I'll check it then.
hogaburger Contributor Join Date: April 2007 Location: United States Posts: 1,153
Cool, thanks. I might just order it regardless of region. I found that its very easy to change region as many times as I want to with blu-ray software, and I do most of my viewing on the computer anyways.
Yep, locked to B.
General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children
Disc Details
Release Date: 9th May 2011
Discs: 2
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 1.85:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: LPCM 5.1 English, LPCM 2.0 Japanese
Subtitles: English
Extras: Storyboards (PiP), Promotional Video, Behind the Microphone, Behind the Studio, Textless Opening and End credits, TV Spots, Original Japanese Theatrical Trailers , Studio Ghibli Collection Trailers
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: James Van Der Beek, Anna Paquin, Mark Hamill
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family and Fantasy
Length: 124 minutes
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The deeply touching and evocative music of Ludovico Einaudi has kept him among the best-selling and most requested recording artists.
A special edition Moleskine notebook has been created for his latest released album, Nightbook.
"Between darkness and silence, between dream and desire, between sweetness and mistery". With these words the author introduces his last work.

subset: commoncrawl


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Obama-eligibility doubts cost paper's endorsement
'We have lost faith in him, and urge voters to consider' others
A blogger recently confirmed he's behind a website offering a $10,000 reward for specific background information on Barack Obama, because the establishment media has refused to seek out school records and other documents.
Now a prominent member of that establishment media is objecting to others who ask questions about Obama's past.
The blast comes from the Charlotte Observer, which recently retracted its endorsement of Jim Pendergraph for Congress.
The paper made its decision after Pendergraph appeared at a campaign stop with Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., whose special investigators have found probable cause that Obama's purported birth certificate and his draft registration form are forgeries.
And then the candidate personally said he had questions, too.
The newspaper, in an unbylined "Our View," stated: "What a run for Republican Jim Pendergraph. After winning the Observer's endorsement in his bid for Congress, he has done nothing but embarrass us and himself. By buddying up to one of America's more hateful egomaniacs and then joining with fringe 'birthers' to question President Obama's citizenship, Pendergraph has contradicted much of what he told the Observer's editorial board in his endorsement interview last month."
Read the preliminary findings of Sheriff Arpaio's Cold Case Posse investigation after six months investigating Obama's constitutional eligibility to serve as president in "A Question of Eligibility," co-authored by Jerome Corsi and Mike Zullo.
The newspaper suggested instead voting for Edwin Peacock or Ric Killian in the 9th congressional district race.
Only days earlier, the newspaper dismissed both candidates.
"We appreciated Ed Peacock's more progressive and moderate approach to tackling issues. As we've said in previous endorsements of him for Charlotte City Council, we appreciate his ability to focus on solutions rather than dogmatic partisanship."
And regarding Killian: "His time in Afghanistan (a West Point grad and a colonel in the Army Reserve, he returned from a six-month tour in Afghanistan in mid-March) gives him a leg up on his opponents on security matters. … He stands firmly against government spending but has not signed a 'no tax increases pledge.'"
"But we give our nod to Mecklenburg County commissioner Jim Pendergraph. We believe he has broad appeal and understands the district's needs best. He speaks with a strong conservative voice but seems pragmatic in how he would represent the district – focusing on constituent needs and getting things done."
Sign a petition to show members of Congress how many Americans demand Obama's eligibility be investigated
The endorsement continued: "Pendergraph's long experience as a public servant, especially his 12 years as Mecklenburg County sheriff, would be an asset. He understands the value of service to constituents and responding quickly and efficiently to their cares and concerns."
But not asking question about Obama.
Even though polls have revealed fully half of Americans want Congress to investigate Obama's eligibility, the newspaper's U-turn didn't take long.
"He rallied in Huntersville with … Arpaio, a Melvillian character on a never-ending crusade against Latinos. The only thing that energizes Arpaio more than stroking his ego is profiling Hispanics," editors wrote.
"Pendergraph pandered further this week by saying he has 'reason to be suspicious' about whether President Obama was born in the United States. 'Generally when there's smoke, there's got to be fire somewhere,' he said, even as he acknowledged 'I haven't seen the facts.'"
The newspaper's own writer, Jim Morrill, had reported that Arpaio campaigned for Pendergraph, who said of Obama's eligibility: "I have reason to be suspicious. But I don't know. I haven't seen the facts. I think there's a lot of smoke and generally when there's smoke there's got to be fire somewhere."
Obama a released a copy of a birth certificate through the White House one year ago, but many document experts immediately cast suspicion on its authenticity.
Pendergraph told the newspaper he's not sure but said, "I've been around long enough to know people can forge anything."
Join the billboard campaign that seeks the answer to "Where's the Real Birth Certificate?"
The Daily Caller reported the one-page site offering the reward for Obama's course transcripts from Occidental, Harvard or Columbia is run by blogger Brooks Bayne, who says media have failed to investigate Obama properly.
Bayne explained that eight individuals, including some he described as "recognizable," are behind the effort to draw out someone who may have access to the college transcripts.
"We are doing this because we are tired of the media not doing their job," he told the DC. "We are tired of the PR propaganda coming out of places like Media Matters, and we are tired of this administration stonewalling over things like Fast and Furious."
But he told the reporter the reward offer is real and will be paid to anyone who can provide verifiable documents.
"Maybe they have a copy of the transcripts laying around," Bayne told the Daily Caller. 'They can make some cash. I mean, we are just trying to spread the wealth around."
The reward website is headlined "The Trenches."
"You've failed, media," it states. "You've had over three years to vet President Barack Obama. Yet in three years in office and over a year of campaigning beforehand, you have either been oddly uninterested or purposefully ignorant of Barack Obama's educational history. You were, however, quite interested in George Bush's transcripts."
A recent WND/Wenzel Poll from Wenzel Strategies showed that almost 40 percent of registered voters think the nation is facing a constitutional crisis because of a lack of documentation regarding Obama's eligibility.
The scientific telephone survey, conducted March 10-13, has a margin of error of 3.72 percentage points.
Nearly 26 percent of respondents said they strongly agree with the statement that the country is facing a constitutional crisis on the issue of Obama's eligibility. Another 13.7 percent said they somewhat agree.
Critics long have pointed to the impact on the nation should Obama be proven to be ineligible. There would be many issues to consider: Are the laws he's signed still laws? What about the money he's spent? And how about the commitments he's made to allies overseas? What about significant social changes he's brought about, such as opening the U.S. military to open homosexuality?
The educational records are just part of the package of questions about Obama.


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Yesterday was Random Acts of Kindness day. If you're a genealogist, you've probably encountered Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. So I thought, why not random acts of cemetery kindness? What could we do to help assist, maintain, and preserve our cemeteries?
Here are just a few of the ideas we tombstone tourists could implement for the betterment of cemeteries and burial grounds.
• Help keep the cemetery clean. Pick up trash and dispose of it properly.
• Offer to take photos of gravestones for other genealogists who live far away. Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness http://www.raogk.org/ can help you get started. So, too, can your local genealogical or history society.
• Search for death records, cemetery records or wills for other genealogists in need.
• Offer to assist in documenting a cemetery for genealogical purpose. Help your local or state society put that information on the Internet so others may use it to locate their relatives.
• Offer to conduct walking tours for school groups and visitors at the local cemetery.
• Place broken monument parts by their stone. Let the Cemetery Sexton's office know about it. If they cannot make the repairs, offer to assist or find someone who can.
• Check with the cemetery sexton/groundskeeper to see if you can assist with any grounds cleanup projects. Many times small cemeteries welcome help with mowing, trimming, weeding, raking and fence repairs.
• Are you good at surveying or platting? Volunteer your services to a cemetery.
• Contact a veterans group and volunteer to assist them in placing flags or wreaths at the graves of veterans. Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Christmas are some of their busiest times.
• If you are a veteran, offer to serve in a military funeral honor detail.
• If you can play the bugle, offer to play Taps at a veteran's funeral.
• If you know of an abandoned or forgotten cemetery, contact the preservation society in your state and let them know where it is.
• Take a cemetery restoration workshop. Most states offer this training.
• We can sponsor a section of roadway in order to keep it maintained, so why not consider sponsoring a section of a cemetery? Your company, society, church, organization or children's group can assist in keeping it well tended.
And it goes without saying; if you find any signs of illegal activities or vandalism, report them immediately to the cemetery sexton and the authorities.
Contact your local genealogical society, historical society, veterans association, or cemetery sexton's office and offer to assist them in doing whatever is needed in the cemetery.
Want to do even more? Join a cemetery association locally or where your ancestors are buried. Contact your state's cemetery preservation association for opportunities and training. And consider joining a group like the Association for Gravestone Studies http://www.gravestonestudies.org/welcome.htm
According to President, Ian W. Brown, in his welcome message, "If you share an interest in art, history, genealogy, archaeology, anthropology, conservation or material culture" then you are invited to join in their efforts.
Remember, random acts of kindness make us, and others, feel good about the world. So let's offer some random acts of cemetery kindness in the spirit of giving back to those who've gone before us, to the land, and to our ancestors. You know they would be proud!
(Can you think of more Random Acts of Cemetery Kindness? Please, let's hear them!)
~ Joy


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This trophy was presented in 1981-82 by the NHL Board of Governors to honour the late William M. Jennings, longtime governor and president of the New York Rangers and one of the key builders of hockey in the U.S. It is awarded annually to the goalkeeper(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against.
Leading winners: Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy (5), Ed Belfour (4), Brian Hayward (3).
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Despite Ruling, Quinn Vows To Manage Without Pay
Gov. Pat Quinn slashed lawmakers' salaries because he wasn't happy with their inaction on Illinois' pension crisis. But these days the only elected official working without pay is Quinn himself.
A judge told the Chicago Democrat it's unconstitutional to hold back legislators' salaries. But Quinn also gave up his own paycheck and still vows not to collect it until the pension crisis is solved.
So three checks totaling about $44,000 await Quinn at the state comptroller's office.
Some Republicans challenging Quinn's 2014 re-election bid call it a populist stunt. But his supporters say he's as frugal as he's always boasted and is probably faring just fine.
But things could get tight for him if the committee charged with proposing a solution to the pension crisis doesn't come through soon.


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Mailing AddressNorth Sails Zenda
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Phone: (262) 275-9728 | Fax: (262) 275-8012
The success of North Sails Zenda is in direct correlation to the success of our clients. It is this reason that we are fully committed to improving our products while providing continual service and support. With our customer's success as our #1 priority, North Sails Zenda is working hard to improve the performance of North Sails family members.
With our wide range in inventory for all classes of scows, sportboats and skiffs, total success on the racecourseis our goal. From continually refining our sails with the latest technology and servicing every client on- and off-the-water, North Sails Zenda is committed to bringing success to our customers and growing the North Sails family.
For the latest tuning and racing information or to order sails, visit onedesign.com.
Contact Andy Burdick at or Jim Gluek at today to find out how North Sails Zenda can assist.


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ROCHESTER — Tuesday night, the School Board's ad hoc committee, charged with researching whether later school start times would have a positive impact on students, discussed a survey they would design for students to fill out by winter break this year.
Questions for students may include what time they get up and go to sleep, what afterschool activities they are involved in and whether students are responsible for caring for other siblings when they return home, though group members have yet to decide on a final layout. The final survey will be distributed to students for input in the coming weeks.
Chairman of the committee Daniel Harkinson, who proposed the formation of the group with a deadline of March 1, 2013, to make an official recommendation to the board on the subject, said parents will be surveyed separately, should the students survey indicate there is enough interest to move forward with the outside input process.
Rochester Middle School Principal Valerie McKenney said she worried about student surveys interfering with class instruction time, and the board deliberated ways to make the survey brief and efficient. They also discussed the potential for students working at a computer, one at a time, while class is ongoing to minimize the interruption.
Board member James Gray proposed reaching out to a program at University of New Hampshire for assistance in designing a proper survey, but McKenney insisted the members of the board had enough experience with students to form appropriate questions. Board member Anne Grassie also noted students should be asked what time they get up in the morning, rather than how many hours of sleep they get each night, because every person is different and functions in different ways depending on the hours of sleep they receive.
Jay McIntire, superintendent of SAU 54 which includes Wakefield students who attend Spaulding High School in Rochester, said he would like to see the survey touch on whether students believe a later start time would improve their school work and education.
Assistant Superintendent Mary Moriarty proposed the idea of focus groups after the surveys, so a "dialogue" could be had with some students on the issue. McKenney noted a discussion with students who are mostly tardy to school could shed some insight on the topic as well.
The next meeting of the ad hoc committee has been set for Tuesday, Jan. 8, at 5 p.m. Harkinson said that would leave only two months before the committee's deadline in March for a final recommendation, though he said that time could be extended.
Committee members have yet to discuss how far they would push forward school start times, though McKenney said she had already discussed some ideas with Superintendent Michael Hopkins that may work for the district. At past meetings, the committee has discussed what impact the change could have on district bus schedules as well as family life. Wakefield representatives on the committee have voiced their support, saying it would help students who leave very early in the morning to catch a bus to Rochester. Others on the committee say they worry about the impact on student's afterschool lives, including their part-time jobs and responsibilities at home.
In public comment, Rochester resident Doris Gates said she hoped parents would have the opportunity to weigh in, along with the community, to ensure everyone has a say in the idea. Gray insisted each group would be considered and questioned, should the process move forward, though the group has elected to start first with questioning students separate from their parents. After reviewing data gathered from students, the committee will go from there.
Harkinson said he also imagines if the committee recommended a move to starting school later, which the district accepted, the shift would not be adopted until September 2014.
Student survey on later school start time for Spaulding High discussed
ROCHESTER — Tuesday night, the School Board's ad hoc committee, charged with researching whether later school start times would have a positive impact on students, discussed a survey they would design for students to fill out by winter break this year.


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Jeffrey Morenoff and David Harding of the University of Michigan examined the association between neighborhood context and the outcomes related to recidivism and employment among a cohort of prisoners released from Michigan state prisons in 2003 (award number 2008-IJ-CX-00018).
Returning to a more disadvantaged neighborhood was associated with higher risks of absconding and returning to prison for a technical violation, a lower risk of being arrested, and more adverse labor market outcomes, including less employment and lower wages. Cumulative exposure to disadvantaged neighborhoods was associated with lower employment and wages but not related to recidivism. Returning to a more affluent neighborhood was associated with a lower risk of being arrested, absconding, and returning to prison on a technical violation, and more positive labor market outcomes, including greater employment and wages. Being employed substantially reduced the risk of all recidivism outcomes, but there was no evidence that employment mediated the association between neighborhoods and recidivism.
Taken together, these results suggest that the neighborhoods parolees experience during parole were strong predictors of recidivism and labor market outcomes, but there is not a simple answer to the question of what neighborhood characteristics constitute "risky" environments for parolees. This project was the first to assemble and analyze a rich dataset of administrative records on individual parolees and to link these records with data on neighborhood context.
Read an abstract and access the final report, Neighborhoods, Recidivism, and Employment Among Returning Prisoners.
Finding employment after being incarcerated can be an important step in a former inmate's reintegration into the community. Yet this is frequently one of the most difficult tasks former offenders undertake. Survey results suggest that between 60 and 75 percent of ex-offenders are jobless up to a year after release.
Most employers are reluctant to hire applicants with criminal records. NIJ-funded research has shown that most employers are reluctant to hire applicants with criminal records. In a study conducted in New York City, for example, a criminal record reduced the likelihood of a callback or job offer by nearly 50 percent (28 percent for applicants without a criminal record versus 15 percent of applicants with). The negative effect of a criminal record was substantially larger for black applicants. The penalty for having a criminal record suffered by white applicants was approximately half the size of the penalty for black applicants with a criminal record.[2]
Employment prospects improve when applicants interact with the hiring manager. In the New York City study, employment prospects for applicants with criminal records improved when applicants had an opportunity to interact with the hiring manager, particularly when these interactions elicited sympathetic responses from the manager. Although individual characteristics of employers were significant, the researchers concluded that personal interaction between the applicant and prospective employer was in itself a key factor in a successful hiring.[3]
Devah Pager of Princeton University was competitively awarded funds to conduct a randomized field experiment in Milwaukee to identify the barriers that former offenders face when seeking employment shortly after their release from prison (award number 2002-IJ-CX-0002). Pager and her colleague Bruce Western of Harvard University were awarded funds to replicate the study in New York City (award number 2005-IJ-CX-0019). Both studies produced similar results.
The researchers sought to determine how employers responded to applicants who were equally qualified but varied by race, ethnicity and criminal record (assigned randomly by the researchers). Matched teams of testers applied for hundreds of entry-level jobs. Testers were matched according to a number of criteria (e.g., verbal skills, physical attractiveness and interaction styles). They were assigned fictitious resumes and passed a common training program to ensure uniform behavior in the interviews.
In 2010, Scott Decker of Arizona State University (award number 2010-MU-MU-0004) was funded to replicate the experiment a third time, with several enhancements, including testing the online application process.
It can be difficult for someone with a criminal record to find employment. More than 80 percent of U.S. employers perform criminal background checks on prospective employees.[4]
Is there a point at which a former offender should be considered "redeemed" for employment purposes and relieved of the handicap imposed by his or her stale criminal record?
Researchers Al Blumstein and Kiminori Nakamura believe there is and that when that point is reached, a potential employer should no longer consider an ex-offender's record relevant. Why? Because at that point, an ex-offender is no longer more likely to commit a crime than other similar individuals of the same age in the general population.[5]
The concept of redemption or the expungement of a criminal record has important implications beyond employment. A redemption date or expungement of a criminal record may be relevant to other aspects of daily life, such as the ability to get public housing, receive certain public benefits, and obtain admission to and financial aid for college.
Blumstein and Nakamura's method for estimating when redemption occurs depends on two factors: the arrestee's age at the time of the first arrest and the type of crime committed. In their first study, based on an examination of 80,000 rap sheets for individuals first arrested in 1980 and after in New York, they found that, in general, the younger an offender was when he or she committed the first offense, the longer he or she had to stay "clean" to reach that redemption point.
The actuarial model created by Blumstein and Nakamura provides empirically based guidance for employers and others to help them determine the point at which a former offender poses no greater risk of recidivating than any other demographically similar person. At that point, Blumstein and Nakamura argue, the ex-offender's criminal history is no longer relevant.[6]
Results from the Redemption Follow-up StudyBlumstein and Nakamura's first study demonstrated that redemption time estimates could be calculated for former offenders. The question then was how accurate these estimates were.
The team engaged in a second study to test the estimates. This research effort involved analysis of New York data from two additional sampling years, 1985 and 1990. Rap sheets from two other states, Illinois and Florida, were added and analyzed from the same sampling years. The results confirmed that original redemption time estimates, based on the 1980 New York rap sheets, held and were reasonably accurate. Not only were the earlier results confirmed, but this effort permitted the researchers to build on the initial findings in other ways.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued guidance for employers on how to use criminal records to screen job applicants. Employers must demonstrate that a criminal record is "job related." This suggests that employers must understand whether the prior crime type is a meaningful indicator of the type of crime that is of most concern in the context of the job opening. Focusing particularly on violent and property crimes, often an employer's primary concern, this research provided empirical evidence that prior crime type is associated with recidivism type. This was particularly true for violent offenders, and the association was more prominent for older offenders. The association diminished as time since the prior offense increased. That is, a redemption estimate can be calculated based on the amount of time "clean" since the prior incident. These findings provide support for employers who, when making a hiring decision, must evaluate the likelihood that an applicant will commit a job-related offense.
Finally, researchers explored another aspect with policy relevance. Because of racial differences in arrest rates, employers' use of criminal background checks as a screening tool is of great concern to the EEOC. The arrest prevalence for blacks is more than four times higher than the arrest prevalence for whites. In contrast, the risk of rearrest for blacks is about twice the risk of rearrest for whites shortly after their first arrest. So the racial rearrest-risk ratio is about half the arrest-prevalence ratio. Thus, it is important that employers recognize that the arrest prevalence difference does not provide a meaningful estimate of risks posed by white and black applicants with a criminal record, and that, after a long period of time clean, their risks become similar.
Learn more:
Further Reading
Next section: Evaluation of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative.
[note 1] See Petersilia, J.,
When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 2003; Travis, J.,
But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry, Washington D.C.: Urban Institute Press, 2005.
[note 2],
[note 3] Pager, D., and B. Western, "Investigating Prisoner Reentry: The Impact of Conviction Status on the Employment Prospects of Young Men" (pdf, 136 pages), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, October 2009, NCJ 228584. The report includes several related articles published in academic journals.
[note 4] Burke, M.E.,
2004 Reference and Background Checking Survey Report: A Study by the Society for Human Resource Management, Alexandria, Va.: Society for Human Resource Management, 2006.
[note 5],
[note 6] Blumstein, A. and K. Nakamura, "Potential of Redemption in Criminal Background Checks" (pdf, 58 pages), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, November 2010, NCJ 232358.
National Institute of Justice, 810 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20531


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Donald Bravo taught bassoon in NEC's Preparatory and Continuing Education programs from the early 1990s through 2015.
Bravo has performed with the U.S. Army Band, Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, New England Opera Company, Opera Company of Boston, and Metropolitan Opera; soloist with the Detroit Symphony, Collage New Music, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, Montreal Symphony, and Library of Congress. He has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch, Musical Heritage Society, Delos, CRI, and with the Marlboro Festival Orchestra under Pablo Casals.
Bravo has been principal bassoonist with Harvard Chamber Orchestra, Boston Musica Viva, Boston Ballet, Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera; and a featured soloist in Turin, Italy and Israel.


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The most popular self-storage unit is the 5x5 storage unit.
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An Arkansas-based gay right's organization is claiming discrimination after the owner of a restaurant cancelled the group's reservations.
"It was a bump in the road, but it wasn't a slap in the face," River Valley Equality Center Director Erin Fowler tells ABC 4029, explaining that they had hoped to host a fundraiser at the restaurant.
Fowler claims Sisters Gourmet Bistro in Van Buren, Ark., cancelled their reservations after its owner discovered what the group stood for.
"I called them and told them that I — we're not going to have that at Sisters, we had no plans for that and there were no reservations to hold any kind of fundraiser or anything like that," said owner Richard Hodo.
"I told them that I do not support their cause, that if they want to do that that's their business. I do not care, but I don't support their lifestyle and their cause," he added.
Hodo told an organizer with the River Valley Equality Center that he runs a private business and that he reserves the right to deny any group or person service — whether that means saying "no" to white supremacists or a gay rights group.
"What I told the lady on the on the phone, look I said if the KKK came here and wanted to hold a fundraiser rally and all that, I wouldn't allow that either," said Hodo.
"It felt like he was comparing us as equals with the KKK and we're about completely opposite things," said Sarah Sarrubbo, an organizer with the River Valley Equality Center.
Hodo says he refuses to back down.
"This is a private club and I have the right to refuse service to anyone," he said.
The River Valley Equality Center says that because of this incident, and the dent it has put their fundraising efforts, they will stage an "awareness event" nearby.
Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter
Featured image courtesy ABC 4029.


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-Vega- wrote:
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide
0nly0ne wrote:
-Vega- wrote:
0nly0ne wrote:
-Vega- wrote:
0nly0ne wrote:
-Vega- wrote:
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide
0nly0ne wrote:
-Vega- wrote:
0nly0ne wrote:
-Vega- wrote:
0nly0ne wrote:
-Vega- wrote:
How does it feel like to a sociopath? I find sociopaths fascinating.
Wouah! I'm flattered. . . Well, it feels nothing but relaxed
That doesn't sound bad at all. Why is it a personality disorder? I think modern psychiatry is BS.
I don't know . .
I've never consulted a psychologist or whoever and I don't tend to
Do you often not feel an emotion and you are neutral to most things?
Yup, that's it
You sound more like a schizoid.
Well, I'm neutral to most things, I think that's what you've just asked and I'm not a schizoid . .
What else do you do as a psychopath?
What else! I live. . .
What!? That's it? You're not a psychopath.
Of course, I'm not. You're the one who said so
What do you want to blog about?
I don't know, i just wanna say something
i accessed a porn site back in highschool and i got caught. srsly i was such a noob.
watching Kill la Kill
Dark secrets are dark. Mine are so dark.
No longer a kid
Iggy is Asian, yo`.
No longer a kid
untainted_devastation wrote:
U little muffin. How do you know ? Ninja.
That's a dark secret I can't tell you.
No longer a kid
From afar, people think that I have one glassy light blue eye and my other eye is dark brown -.- they stare
Actually it's not freaky, I have blue in both brown eyes just that one of my eyes has a lighter shade of blue -.-
I cant control my temper. It will be the end of me i know.
Trust me, I'm a nurse. ;)
1. I have a gambling problem but I never have lost once
2. I used too run my very own snack shop back in high school because our school took away all our snacks. I would make 600 dollars a week! I know it doesn't sound bad but it came with a few "perks" that I took advantage of that I should not have. I am not going to discuss the details but lets just say it was not smart too cross me...
3. I sleep with a teddy bear
I will look for you, I will find you, and I will raid your fridge.
i use to run a group of highschooler bodyguards for hire under a club name called "The Cooks"
Made a nice profit but it got hectic so it was shut down.
All I wanted was to start over.. miserable and alone.
Not entirely confident I should post that here..What the hell can't hurt much right. I got banned from the local gym (REDACTED). This happened of about two years ago. You know how they are 24hr gyms well I like to go early like 0230-0300 less people to annoy me there you see. It usually is a graveyard at this time. However this night his fuckin smokin hot chick walks in and as a typical women at the gym hits the bikes. Of course like a chick would use the free weights right right. So I'm sitting there using the Pec Fly machine. Fortunately or unfortunately it faced the bikes so I'm sitting there doing my reps and watching her ass move up,down,up,down it's hot you see. This goes on for a few it's like I'm in a damn trance or something. Then it got bad, this chick must have had Jedi training or some shit she spins around and looks straight at me. I'm like FUUUUUUU. However I can't look away that would be worse. So I put on my best blank stare. You know the one where you zoned out in class or later in life in board meeting where your boss won't STFU. Well she gets off the bike in a huff and storms out casting me one final burning look on the way out. Fuck what ever it was fun while it lasted and she had a great I mean great ass. This would have ended there but it didn't. The next day I got an email from the gym saying I need to come in. I'm thinking like what the fuck man. Well I go in the day after. I'm escorted to the managers office. The manager is there and a bloody cop. I'm thinking I'm boned. I briefly contemplate cracking the cop a good one and making for the border despite that im in NY and the border is along way off. Then I think fuck I can talk my way out of it I sure as hell get enough practice talking my out of all kinds of shit. So i'm told to sit down so I do. I ask him what is this about. (PRO TIP ACT INNOCENT) the cop says we'll get to that shortly take a look at this first. I gestures to the CCTV monitors and a video starts to play. As soon as it starts the ass that escorted me scoffs. I'm thinking F#%K just skip to the bad bit. Obviously the cop and manager look PISSED the idiot that escorted me to the office has a shit eating grin on his face. I'm thinking real funny [email protected] So it plays and shows the girl leaving the gym. Now. Damn I wanna stop here now. But it is much to late for that. I get up and look around there is no one there. I wander around like a kid about to do something he knows he shouldn't. Now I don't know why I did it I really don't maybe the extra testostrone from the workout or the damn Cell-Tec (good stuff for workouts). I walk over and start to sniff the seat at this point I just want to DIE and ask if they can stop the tape. I'm told no I have to be aware of the evidence to be used against me. So after I stand up (it smelled like perfume thats it) the girl comes storming back in like hell on wheels straight for me screaming at me and trying to sctatch me (I found out later that she has been assaulted earlier and had joined the gym to reclaim some normalcy) Well I grab her arms to defend my self and we go down. I land on top of her and and she screams WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING. So I grabbed her and pushed her off and said
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-air
In west Philadelphia born and raised
On the playground where I spent most of my days
Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool
And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school
When a couple of guys, they were up to no good
Started making trouble in my neighbourhood
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared
And said "You're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-air"
I whistled for a cab and when it came near the
License plate said "fresh" and had a dice in the mirror
If anything I could say that this cab was rare
But I thought nah, forget it, yo homes to Bel-air!
From a place you will not see, a sound you will not hear.
Oh so you raped her^
From a place you will not see, a sound you will not hear.
kamaitachi5587 wrote:
Did you read the spoiler? If you did and spend any time on the internet you should have gotten it.
Regarding 4-chan, no.
I did read the entire thing and near the end my imagination likes to take a hold of me I suppose.


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Hermès Dives in to Furnishings
I have a confession: I am absolutely terrified of going into Hermès, the ubiquitous French retailer of $10,000 handbags named after chic actresses. My fear is two-fold: First, that the handsome security guards at the entrance will instantly know I don't belong and throw me out (the shame!) and second, in an effort to "blend in" and not attract the attention of the security guards, I'll end up overcompensating and walking out with a handbag that is more expensive than my car--and will take me longer to pay off!
Because of this crippling phobia, I have never really considered going into an Hermès--until I saw this photo of the latest flagship store on the Rive Gauche, that is.
This new Hermès store was built in a swimming pool from 1935! Pretty cool, huh? The wooden structures by Denis Montel of Rene Dumas Architecture Interieure serve to highlight the company's home furnishings with clothes and leather goods lining the pool area.
I think it may be time to get over my fear.
Click on over to Trendland to get the full scoop and check out some more amazing pictures!
Image Credit: Trendland


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20% off original gifts for original people. Use TODAYONLY
super metroid metroid samus aran samus mother brain zebes ridley kraid nintendo 16 bit snes gaming video games
Great work dude! :)
So awesome!
Why "Nostalgia" instead of Nintendo?
Anyway, this is awesome! Considering getting a poster of this.
Might as well get the T-shirt looks amazing!! great job dude!! :)
Absolutely Amazing
This is an awesome piece, I have it on a postcard and I'm sure it'll look great on my wall.
nice poster. Good contrast. :D
Your OUTSTANDING work is featured in the Sci Fi Group!
(Go HERE to see your image show-cased in our Forum & check out your fellow featured artists of the week!)
Thank you!!
Amazing. Would love to have one
As long as Michael Bay isn't involved, this poster has me PUMPED.
Awesome job. :)
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Peter Green: The Greatest Forgotten Guitar Hero.
One day, in the late 60s, a weekly music paper coined the term "guitar hero" and, amongst the handful of players deemed worthy the accolade (Hendrix, Clapton, Page...) there was Peter Green, who never achieved the same level of fame of those other guitarists...
The Green Manalish and the new tribute guitar, proof that he's still influential...view guitar
In the late 60's, a weekly music paper published an article highlighting a handfulof hot new guitarists who were setting the Swingin' London on fire. They were the original "guitar heroes", as the article labeled them: amongst them Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend...and Peter Green. A name, back them, at least as revered as "god" Eric Clapton, but whose name doesn't seem to have become as widely known as those other guitarists.
Peter Green first claim to fame was in 1966, when he had the very tough job of replacing Eric Clapton in John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers. Clapton had just recorded his legendary Bluesbreakers album, the "beano" one, which set new standards for guitar players in the UK and earned him the nickname "God" - spraypainted all over London. But he left John Mayall's band to form Cream, and a replacement guitarist was needed...but how to follow that!? Enter unknown Peter Green, who quickly earned fans of his own, thanks to his class and style as a player, and unique sound - his playing was marked with a distinctive vibrato and economy of notes, as well as a unique tone from his 1959 Gibson Les Paul - a result of the guitar's neck pickup magnet being reversed to produce an 'out of phase' sound.
Green, like Clapton, only recorded one album with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, "A Hard Road", which didn't achieve the legendary status of Clapton's album but is still something of a hidden gem waiting to be discovered.
Peter Green didn't want to be just a hired guitarist, he wanted his own band. And thus, he founded,,,Fleetwood Mac.
Yes...one thing that not everyone seems to know, is that Fleetwood Mac, one of the biggest "Middle-Of-the-Road" bands of the 70s was originally not only a cutting-edge blues rock band, but also belonged to Peter Green, and was initially called Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, eventually shortened to Fleetwood Mac.
Back in the 60s, there was no sign of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, it was all about Peter Green: he was the leader, main songwriter, leading singer and lead guitarist. Back then, when Jimmy Page was barely out of his session musician days and first achieving fame with the soon-to-be-over Yardbirds, Peter Green was the ace, ripping heavy blues player in London, adored by his fans, who saw in Feetwood Mac and band more edgy and faithful to the blues than bigger names such as The Rolling Stones.
Not to say that back then Fleetwood Mac weren't successful - their self-titled debut album was a huge success in the UK and reached #4 in the charts. It also featured hit single "Black Magic Woman", written by Green. The song was later covered by Santana and became a worldwide smash. Just like the later success of Stevie Nicks-era Fleetwood Mac eclipsed the Peter Green-fronted Mac, so the success of Santana's version of "Black Magic Woman" eclipsed that of Peter Green's...and few people realised Green had written it!
But Fleetwood Mac had more to offer. Songs like the delicate instrumental "Albatross" (Fleetwood Mac's first number one hit), "The Green Manalishi" and the proto-heavy "Oh Well" (which sounds almost like Led Zeppelin) helped the Peter Green-fronted Mac to become one of the most popular rock'n'roll bands in Europe by 1969. In fact, in July 1969 Fleetwood Mac were the headliners of a festival in Central Park, New York, playing above Chuck Berry, The Byrds and Led Zeppelin!
Even The Beatles wanted a piece of Fleetwood Mac, and invited them to sign to their Apple label, but it was not to be.
But worse was to come. Peter Green was very uncomfortable with all the acclaim, and as his mental stability deteriorated, he wanted to give all of the band's money to charity! When the rest of the band didn't agree with the idea, Peter Green decided to leave Fleetwood Mac and the music business altogether.
While Fleetwood Mac carried on, to become one of the biggest bands in the world, Green was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness commonly characterised by hallucinations and paranoia, and spent time in psychiatric hospitals undergoing electroconvulsive therapy in the mid-1970s. Like Syd Barrett, he was the great lost rock star of the 60's, burned out, forgotten by most.
Only in the late 1990s, almost 30 years after last playing with Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green surfaced again, with his Peter Green Splinter Group. Healthier, jovial and chubby like a little blues buddah, Peter Green is still out there playing the blues now. His place in rock history is undeniable. Those "in the know", still love and respect him as one of the great guitarists of all-time...and he doesn't seem to care that he never reached the same wide audience as Clapton or Page.
Many guitarists (including Noel Gallagher) still name Peter Green as their hero. Green is a true guitarists' guitarist, and this guitar is a great tribute to the legend. Vintage recently released this magnificent "Icon Series" recreation of his 1959 "out-of-phase" Les Paul, which is widely regarded as one of the best Les Pauls available at the moment - for a price that makes it possibily one of the best Les Paul deals you'll ever find! View Page
And here's a few Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac videos for you. Check how versatile Peter Green was, and enjoy!
Oh Well
Man Of The World
Like It This Way
The Green Manalishi


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Certified FEG ratings support compliance, enforcement
Many code jurisdictions are concerned about the growth and complexity of energy codes and standards, which makes compliance and enforcement difficult.
Many code jurisdictions are concerned about the growth and complexity of energy codes and standards, making compliance checking and enforcement time-consuming and difficult. Consequently, more codes and standards are being written to require certified efficiency ratings and supporting labels, stickers, or other marks that facilitate online verification and visual inspection.
AMCA's Certified Ratings Program began certifying fan efficiency grades in 2010, after the AMCA 205 standard was published. Currently, more than 40 companies and more than 250 fan models have certified FEG ratings. AMCA also certifies manufacturers' sizing and selection software to produce FEG ratings and fan-total-pressure data. Literature and software outputs that have certified FEG ratings are licensed to bear the AMCA FEG label (Figure 3). AMCA's online database of certified ratings can be searched by manufacturer and type of product at www.amca.org. For a shortcut on finding certified FEGs, visit www.amca.org/feg.
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Argento's Dracula 3D (US - BD RA)
Gabe continues to find himself baffled by his favourite director's oddball choices...
It's been 400 years since Count Dracula's (Thomas Kretschmann) beloved Countess Dolingen passed away, leaving the immortal bloodsucker forever abandoned. But, when he discovers that local newlywed Mina Harker (Marta Gastini) bears a striking resemblance to the Countess, his furious yearning is reawakened as he believes Mina to be a reincarnation of his beloved. Luring her husband Jonathan away to his castle with the help of his minion (and Mina's best friend) Lucy (Asia Argento), Dracula embarks on a bloody quest to reunite with his long-lost love and live forever with her in hellish immortality. Only the arrival of vampire expert Abraham Van Helsing (Rutger Hauer) can put an end to the fiend's unholy plan. (From IFC Midnight's official synopsis)
At this point in time, it isn't a matter of if Dario Argento started making bad movies, it's a matter of exactly when his output soured and if it's possible to evaluate his more recent work in a new context. The 'quality' of Argento's films has always been extremely subjective (as if any art criticism wasn't). Most folks tend to agree that The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Suspiria were important genre achievements. From here, Argento's fans seem to think that things were working pretty well all the way through Opera (1987), though opinions on Phenomena (1985) vary. The Black Cat (his half of Two Evil Eyes, 1990) and Trauma (1993) were problematic, especially because they represented the director's most earnest attempts at making a Hollywood-style thriller. The Stendhal Syndrome (1996) is incredibly awkward, but it is still a conceptually unique work, representing a dulling of Argento's technical skills, rather than his creative flair. It was the last time he challenged himself.
For me and likely plenty of other fans, Phantom of the Opera (1998) was the first overwhelming disappointment. From material to concept to cast and even composer (Ennio Morricone), Phantom of the Opera should've been a slam-dunk. It even had a decent budget for an Italian production. Argento wasted every ounce of that potential and devastated his fanbase. Non ho Sonno ( Sleepless, 2001) was a step up in technical quality and a perfectly entertaining film, but also represented a retreat into the familiarity of gory giallo. From here, Argento's remaining feature-length output falls into one of three categories: the unequivocally banal ( Il Cartaio/The Card Player, 2004 and Ti Piace Hitchcock?/Do You Like Hitchcock?, 2005), the jaw-droppingly daft ( La Terza Madre/The Mother of Tears, 2007), and the unequivocally, jaw-droppingly daft and banal ( Giallo, 2009). The one Argento 'film' that approached the gonzo heights of Suspiria and Inferno was Pelts (2006), his second entry in the Showtime series Masters of Horror (his first, Jenifer, was modestly entertaining). The story of haunted raccoon hides that make people do horrible physical damage onto themselves, Pelts had a campy appeal and a blazing disregard for good taste. It was the best I could hope for from Dracula, following early glimpses of the film's trailer, which looked utterly dreadful.
Unfortunately, it seems that even campy appeal was too much to ask for. Dracula looks and acts like a spoof, minus the appeal of jokes or the knowledge that the filmmakers understand that they're playing with genre conventions. It also looks like it was made for a couple of bucks in Dario's basement. The compositions are flat and dreary (ironic, since it was shot for 3D), recalling the stifled, over-produced look of a daytime soap, not a 'real movie.' The camera movements are mundane and stiff, aside from a handful of oddly endearing overhead shots. The sets are either flimsily constructed (Dracula's castle looks more like a country villa from the inside) or awkwardly extended by unconvincing green screen effects. The only thing worse than the film's excessively over-lit, unattractive look is the utterly rhythmless, sometimes downright nonsensical editing. Sometimes, Argento will cut from one location to another before a narrative thought is finished, while, other times, he's keen to linger on the most repetitive and uneventful shots as long as possible.
At a much earlier point in his career, the director claimed he was going to make a version of Frankenstein that took place in Nazi Germany. That's the kind of inventive angle one would expect a brilliant weirdo like Dario Argento to take a legendary, oft-told tale. Like his lacklustre version of Phantom of the Opera, Argento makes only minor, superficial changes, opting to follow the basic beats of Bram Stokers' already over-adapted story, leaving me to wonder what the point of the exercise was. I mean, beyond shooting it in 3D. The script, which apparently took four people to write – Argento himself, Antonio Tentori, Stefano Piani, and Enrique Cerez – is built around longstanding genre clichés and constantly hindered by stiff descriptive and expositional dialogue. The cast is forced to crawl through arthritic banality, unable to muster the kind of hammy performances that make soap operas entertaining. Argento seems to want to evoke the Hammer horror tradition with heaving cleavage and stagey gothic sets, but he somehow failed to convey these expectations to his cast. Thomas Kretschmann chews a little scenery as Dracula (he actually gets better as the movie goes on), but Rutger Hauer and Asia Argento both appear to have been rousted from naps.
Sometimes, I think that separating movies like Trauma or Non ho Sonno from Argento's legacy as a horror master would do them well, since both are generally entertaining thrillers. But even if we pretend Dracula was made by a random amateur with access to an expensive digital camera, it doesn't meet the usual standards of a 'so bad, it's good' horror film, because it's also incredibly boring. The best it can manage for unintentional laughs are some really awful digital effects and some adorable dogs that we're supposed to think are frightening wolves. Even the gory bits – the saving grace of Phantom of the Opera and The Mother of Tears – are underwhelming. These brief set-pieces are the closest Argento gets to approaching creative vigor. I will admit that the glimpse of a giant Dracula-mantis is amusing. I only wish there would've been more of that thing ( Argento's Dracula-Mantis 3D!).
Dracula is presented here in 3D and 2D, both 2.35:1 and 1080p. Because my set up doesn't support the 3D version, this review will pertain to the 2D version only. Argento and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli (who worked with Argento on Tenebre and Suspiria) shot the film using Arri Alexa digital HD cameras (in 3D, not with post-conversion), which is, I believe, a first for both men. I get the feeling that the movie's weird, unfilmic look is a result of neither man being particularly familiar with either the digital or 3D formats. I also get the feeling that these strangely flat compositions would look better in 3D.
The good news is that, even with two versions of the movie crammed onto one disc, the picture quality is spectacularly sharp with minimal compression effects during only a handful of shots. The occasional digital grain is similar to that seen in similarly shot films (I'm specifically thinking of Dredd) and never appears to be the result of a MPEG defect (some of the dream sequences are altered to appear grainier). At times, the image is a little over-sharpened, leading to haloes, while the bafflingly bright photography leads to blown-out whites that tend to bloom out into other elements. In order to make the 3D effect work, Tovoli shot with deep-set clarity, so the crisp, complex details aren't undone by stylized shallow focus. The only thing Tovoli and Argento-esque about the film is its elaborate and ever-changing colour palette, which certainly looks spectacular here as well. The vivid hues either blend gracefully into or cut crisply against each other, depending on the kind of effect the filmmakers are looking for. It's a nominally interesting look into an alternate universe, where the Argento that made Suspiria still makes wild and beautiful movies in the digital era.
Dracula is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and sounds about as good as we can expect from the material. The problems with this track are usually the result of bad mixing habits. Like Phantom of the Opera and Mother of Tears, this soundtrack is a weird mix of dry, set-captured sound and canned effects used in instances where scenes were shot without sound. The aural design wanders between utter emptiness and overly aggressive compensation (for example: a character will exit through the left side of the frame, then can be heard wandering back around to the right rear channel for no better reason than it was possible). The stereo and surround channels are given plenty to do, thanks to constant threats, like owls, wolves, and, well, vampires, but the mix sounds consistently artificial and thin, due to a lack of layering and ambience. Besides reuniting Argento with Tovoli, Dracula also sees him working with Goblin keyboardist Claudio Simonetti, though the two worked together as recently as Mother of Tears. Simonetti's score isn't among his best work, but it does have a retro appeal that adds a much-needed touch of class to this relatively classless motion picture. Unfortunately, the low budget and bad mixing leave the music thin and almost exclusively keyboard-created, despite Simonetti clearly composing for real strings (though, for whatever reason, some cues do feature real strings).
The extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette (1:03:50, HD) that is made up of raw, on-set footage and technical interviews with the cast/crew (not including Argento), a 'Kiss Me Dracula' music video, and trailers for other IFC Midnight releases.
It's heartbreaking enough to see an older Dario Argento trying and failing to make good movies in the shadows of his past greatness, but to witness his descent into movies as badly made as Dracula is a nightmare far scarier than the former master of horror ever conjured. The only consolation is that I assume Argento simply didn't care about this production. On the other hand, if, like me, you're a rabid enough fan to want to own all of the man's films, IFC Midnight has at least done a fine job with this 3D/2D Blu-ray release. It looks fantastically sharp, sounds as good as possible, based on the source material, and features a decent collection of behind-the-scenes interviews.
* Note: The above images are taken from the Blu-ray and have been resized for the page. Full-resolution captures are available by clicking the individual images, but due to .jpg compression, they are not necessarily representative of the quality of the transfer.
Review by Gabriel Powers
Bouncy X Member Join Date: March 2005 Location: Canada Posts: 1,931
wow...the dracula mantis is real and was not a joke? damn!
Chris Johnson Member Join Date: October 2005 Location: United States Posts: 1,465
Rutger looks so bored of this in his pics.
djblack1313 Member Join Date: April 2006 Location: United States Posts: 529
just stop, Argento. just stop. this man hasn't made a good film in what, 30 years? MOTHER OF TEARS as terrible as it was, had it's fun schlocky moments. i adore Asia Argento and i love Thomas Kretschmann and both of them deserve better than this dreck.
felipe-11 Member Join Date: July 2009 Location: United States Posts: 418
Argento can keep falling further into his abyss if he wants to, but please don't take Rutger Hauer down with you.
Gabe Powers Editor Join Date: September 2004 Location: United States Posts: 4,721
This implies Rutger Hauer hasn't made terrible, terrible movies before Dracula. He's not a particularly discerning dude.
Chris Johnson Member Join Date: October 2005 Location: United States Posts: 1,465
Yeah, he will do anything for a paycheck. I honestly think that "Hobo With A Shotgun" was a happy accident in his case.
This product has not been rated
Disc Details
Release Date: 28th January 2014
Discs: 0
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 2.35:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English, PCM 2.0 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Extras: Behind-the-Scenes Interviews, Music Video, Trailers
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Thomas Kretschmann, Marta Gastini, Asia Argento, Unax Ugalde, Miriam Giovanelli, Rutger Hauer
Genre: Drama and Horror
Length: 0 minutes
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Reading the forum on your cell phone? There's an easier way. We've enabled a Tapatalk app that makes browsing the forum a whole lot easier. Check it out in the iPhone or Android store if you don't own it already.
damn. It took a hell of a lot of words to say that wind resistance will keep someone from hitting terminal velocity in 240ft. you are dealing mostly with simpletons here. keeping it down to the crayon level helps get the point accross
Anyone who has ever ridden a bicycle into the wind knows how much wind resistance has to do with any kind of forward movement. even slight changes in your posture make a huge difference.
As long as the basejumper hasn't deployed the chute, then yes, I believe that is what he is saying, at least for the short fall (230') that's being discussed. The rate of acceleration is the same regardless of mass. A feather won't fall nearly as fast as a ball of the identical mass, simply because the surface area of the feather is exponentially greater, thus a lower terminal velocity. Ken, correct me if I'm wrong, but for short falls like you are talking about, surface area won't play a major factor unless the surface area to mass ratio is huge (i.e.-feather). For longer falls like skydiving, then yes, surface area will play a small part, thus the reason tandem jumpers need a small braking chute.
I have often felt that there was a risk of a cut rope on the beast flake. that thing is razor sharp down low and if for some reason your rope worked it's way into the crack i can see a scenario where it could cut in a fall by leader or 2nd. I try to sling accordingly but murphy has his ways... I have had a cam wire get sliced through in that crack simply by rotating against the edge with rope drag.
I'll be there with my calculator.
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Demand Media Threatens Critic Blog
from the are-these-lawyers-stupid? dept
However, since then, we still hear about such legal threats all the time. Apparently there are still a lot of lawyers out there who haven't received the message. The latest apparently is Demand Media, the content farm giant. Its lawyers sent a cease & desist and a takedown to Demand Studio Sucks.
Rather than a full legal threat against the site, it was focused on the fact that some users on the site had apparently uploaded a presentation in the forums, which Demand considered to be proprietary. Thus, the basis of the takedown was that it violated the company's copyrights and trademark. It appears that DSS's ISP overreacted and rather than taking down the specific content, took down the entire forum. Of course, all this has done is drive much more attention to the content Demand wants removed: a presentation slide showing how Demand is trying to increase quality (now that Google has changed its algorithm to punish crappy quality content that Demand has been associated with in the past).
Demand's lawyers claim:
Demand Media has not granted you any license to use the Demand Media trademark, to publish or copy Demand Media copyrighted content, or to publicize Demand Media's confidential and proprietary business information. Accordingly, in addition to violating Demand Media's intellectual property rights in the referenced materials, the postings are disruptive, damaging and harmful to our business practices and reputation.The intellectual property claims seem totally unfounded. There's no trademark claim. There's no consumer confusion or dilution here at all. No one thinks that DSS is "endorsed" by Demand Media. The copyright claim is dubious. Looking at the blog post in question, I can't see how it's not fair use. It's showing a single slide from a presentation that's certainly relevant, and providing significant commentary on that slide.
The "damaging and harmful to our business practices and reputation" claims are also pretty dubious, though I guess there could be some random state law claims they're thinking they could use here. But, I just don't see it. Someone reporting critically on your business may be disruptive and damaging, but is not illegal. And, honestly, the slide presentation in question is hardly some giant corporate secret. The slide is so bland and pointless and corporatey, it doesn't really give away anything.
Honestly, it's hard to believe anyone thought it was a wise move to go after DSS this way. It just gets them more attention and makes Demand look petty and silly. It's no surprise that the Forbes coverage of this story (the original link above) highlights that this happened at the same time as Demand's valuation dropped under $1 billion for the first time....


text:
Austin Butler & Ethan Peck: 'Glamour' Guys
Austin Butler and Ethan Peck are both featured in Glamour's February 2013 issue — on the hot guys list!
Check out what the guys had to share with the glossy:
Austin on his music loves: "I love music from the sixties and seventies, like the Beatles."
Ethan on his ideal girl: "Someone with passion. I like to cook, so I could meet someone at the farmers' market."
Austin on pet peeves: "My biggest pet peeve is when people aren't nice to waiters."
For more hot guys, head on over to Glamour.com!
Posted to: Austin Butler, Ethan Peck


text:
RTX Sunday Video: Turnpike Troubadours 'Gin, Smoke, Lies'
They released their debut album, "Bossier City" in 2007. By 2012, with their third album "Goodbye Normal Street" in tow, the Turnpike Troubadours established themselves as a premiere band in the Texas/Red Dirt scene. For proof look no further than that "Goodbye Normal Street" was the No. 1 selling album of the year at Lone Star Music.
Their feat was aided by a few monster radio singles. This week one of them "Gin, Smoke Lies" lands the RTX Sunday Video. And while it's not quite as sexy, they also landed my Top 10 Totally Awesome Songs of 2012, with "Good Lord Lorrie."


text:
The Center of the California Enterprise Zone Information Universe
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text:
11.19.2018 | 11 Kislev, 5779
Senior officials reject Bennett's claim IDF more fearful of law than Hamas
Palestinians: Jewish tours of Temple Mount are part of religious war by Israel
Who will Netanyahu choose for the foreign ministry portfolio?
Leaked letter by senior IDF officer hits hard at military failures
Israel high school debate team snags first place in European championships
Israel urges travelers to clear luggage of bullets before going abroad
Netanyahu, victorious, says coalition to stay intact for another year
Did Netanyahu the magician pull off another trick?
Netanyahu as defense minister is too much
Netanyahu defends Gaza ceasefire, says Hamas 'begged' to stop fighting
Liberman calls dramatic press conference; will he resign over Gaza?
Netanyahu's Gaza strategy not working, opposition says
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
'Curtain Up' premieres Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater
Ran Danker – not just another pretty face
Life is a JEWish cabaret
Mac TA, Hapoel Beersheba win
Basketball Preview: Mac TA, Jerusalem, Holon lead the pack
Mutually beneficial reunion beween Hapoel Jerusalem, Amar'e Stoudemire
Hapoel Jerusalem to host free Sukkot basketball clinic
Workers make explosive threats as massive Teva layoff strikes continue
Israel seeks to bring more women into the hi-tech industry
Nation girds for general strike today in protest of Teva layoffs
Teva Pharmaceuticals to lay off 14,000 employees worldwide, 1,750 in Israel
Can medical empathy survive the technological revolution?
Israeli-founded start-up raises $15m. to help fight heart failure
Israeli doctors are first to implant device for congestive heart failure
Rambam Hospital hosts Chinese teams, treats deformed children in Ghana
IN PHOTOS: Israel's winged winter residents
Watch: Thousands of migrating pelicans get free lunch in Israel
Pipeline failure for Tamar gas field to cause hiccup in electricity rates
Haifa Chemicals to close down two plants, layoff 800 workers
November 18, 2018: A new Marshall in Gaza?
Think about it: 'One must avoid breaking up a right-wing government'
Pastor Jentezen Franklin – One of Israel's best friends
Reality Check: Will history repeat itself if the Right brings down a Likud government?
'25 killed' as Turkey battles Syrian fighters accused of 'plundering'
Jews and Arabs develop solutions for Middle East peace in hackathon
Turkey calls U.S. support of Syrian Kurdish YPG a 'big mistake'
Analysis: The U.S. is juggling too many agendas in eastern Syria
Senior IRGC commander: Israeli agent killed in September strikes on Kurds
United States imposes second round of sanctions on Iran
Israel to help U.S. enforce Iran sanctions as Tehran, EU, China oppose them
Why is the U.S. letting so many countries get Iran sanctions waivers?
Shwarma sausage and fruity marshmallow bars – a look at Kosherfest 2018
Holocaust researcher files libel lawsuit after accused of falsifying history
Thousands of Jewish stars hung across Pittsburgh as sign of unity
UK soap 'Eastenders' tackles antisemitism
Soccer star Messi is newest ambassador for Israeli startup
Economic allies: The US and Israel's top partnerships
Teen wunderkind wows global forum with innovative app
Amazon reportedly to open up Israeli shipping center
Analysis: Election talk throws yet another wrench in U.S. peace plan rollout
Democrats push to allow religious headwear within U.S. Congress
2020 Democratic hopefuls keep distance from Israel anti-boycott bill
Protesters confront Ben Shapiro at Ohio State
Analysis: Clinton falls amid assault on establishment
Clinton concedes: 'We have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling'
Hillary Clinton and the glass ceiling: Cracked but intact
NY hassidic village loyal to Clinton despite Trump popularity among ultra-Orthodox
Trump reportedly picks friend of Jared Kushner to serve in administration
Trump calls UN 'sad,' days after Israeli settlements vote
Saddam Hussein's daughter touts Trump's 'political sensibility'
Dermer calls on Trump to move embassy to Jerusalem
This week in 60 seconds
Shabbat candle-lighting times for Israel and U.S.
Podcast: Three Ladies, Three Lattes
Podcast: Does Trump love Jews or embolden antisemitic voices?
Why Starbucks failed in Israel (and only in Israel)
Taxicab Diplomacy: Trump vs. Clinton
This week in 60 seconds: Ahed Tamimi released from prison
This week in 60 seconds: Israel evacuates Syrian White Helmets
This week in 60 seconds: Knesset passes controversial Jewish nation-state bill
This week in 60 seconds: Israel retaliates after Syrian aircraft enters airspace
Warning: Weddings can be hazardous to your health
Race for respect
Port of Tel Aviv: More than a pretty picture
Creating chaos
Moses or Aaron – justice or mercy?
A one-sided analysis of 'the occupation'
Chronicles of heartache
Waging war on our children
In search of something
A familial tragedy
Printing and popularity
The fight with my kippa
זֶה מָה שֶנִשְאַר
שִיר הַהַפְלָגָה
The Christian Edition- one month free subscription
Jews and Christians gather to sing and pray for peace in Jerusalem
Pope arrives in transformed Ireland as abuse crises rage
Protecting the persecuted
South African food security delegation visits Israel
Czech foresters volunteer in Israel's Masaryk Forest
New Jersey governor plants a tree at Yad Kennedy
Coexistence and innovation in Israel with KKL France
Pittsburgh (Part One)
Writing as a Form of Grandparenting
One Copper Coin IS Generosity
The event apparently came in protest against "loyalty bill" that passed this week in the Knesset's first reading, initiated by Regev.
By CASSANDRA GOMES-HOCHBERG
Right-wing NGO says it placed it there "in protest against the court's dictatorship."
By UDI SHAHAM


text:
Pseudopod 317: Enzymes
by Greg Stolze.
"Enzymes" is available for free on his web site.
GREG STOLZE has published several licensed novels – A HUNGER LIKE FIRE, ASHES AND ANGEL WINGS – as well as being anthologized here and there – DELTA GREEN: ALIEN INTELLIGENCE with "Don't Read This Book" & "By No Means Vulgar".
Your reader this week – Kyle Akers – is the front-man of Antennas Up, an electro-pop rock band from Kansas City. A budding voice talent, he continues to expand his reading roles across several podcasts. Antennas Up's new album "The Awkward Phase" is available on iTunes and from Antennas Up music web site. He can also be heard occasionally on the No Sleep Podcast
"Maybe I'm not human, maybe I never was. I'm pretty sure humans never feel like I do when I drink gasoline, that sweet intoxication, so pregnant with possibility and power. It's like the power of the sun, and of a great tree that drew in sunlight to grow, and of an ancient beast that ate of the tree and died, that sank into the earth and was worked on by millions of years until it turned to oil. It's like all those kinds of power, concentrated step by step, and the toil of the drillers and refineries and pump mechanics too. Gasoline is everything. Gasoline is the elixir of modern civilization and I'm one with it when I drink. All the clouds of exhaust and all the labor of machines and their men, I'm all within it.
Then I drop off and I have to crawl out, I'm man-bodied again, dressed in jeans and a denim shirt with fake-pearl snaps. My fingers are crusted with rust and black under the nails but I run them through my hair anyway. It's long hair, unkempt and black. I never get it cut, never trim my beard, but they stay the same."


text:
McMINNVILLE, Ore. - Quarterback Mickey Inns passed for three scores and receiver Deidre Wiersma hauled in a game-high seven catches for 102 yards and a touchdown to lead No. 6 Linfield to a smothering 52-3 nonconference victory Saturday over La Verne at sunny Maxwell Field.
Linfield moved to 2-0 on the young season while La Verne dropped to 0-2.
Defense set the tone for Linfield in the first quarter, pinning La Verne deep in its own territory. The 'cats began their opening drive at the ULV 36-yard line. Six plays later, fullback Bryan Anderson pounded his way into the endzone from one yard out, giving Linfield an early 7-0 lead.
Inns led the 'Cats on a seven-play, 60-yard march to the ULV 17 on the next possession. The drive was highlighted by an acrobatic catch by Deidre Wiersma on a 38-yard toss from Inns. But the Leopards were able to stop Linfield in its tracks, holding the hosts to a 34-yard field goal by Josh Kay. With 7:26 left in the quarter, the 'Cats led the Leos 10-0.
The Leopards put together a decent drive on their third possession, eventually setting up a fourth-and-goal play from the Linfield 4. Senior cornerback Nate Dixon deflected a La Verne pass and the Leopards turned the ball over on downs.
Inns opened the second quarter with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Poppen, capping a five-play, 69-yard drive and put Linfield comfortably in control 17-0.
While the Wildcat defense continued to make big tackles and clutch fourth down stops, the rhythm for the offense was up and down throughout the second quarter.
Linfield ended the half with Inns passing to Erik Koczian for a 2-yard score. The methodical drive spanned 63 yards across eight plays.
Linfield didn't waste any time at the start of the second half. Stephen Nasca returned the opening kickoff 61 yards down to the La Verne 9. The offense needed only one play to find the end zone, as Wiersma made a tiptoe catch in the endzone. La Verne remained scoreless as Linfield extended the margin to 31-0.
The Wildcat offense looked like a well-oiled machine in the third quarter. Nasca scored on a 1-yard run to complete a 59-yard drive to put the 'Cats up 38-0.
With 1:47 left in the quarter, La Verne got on the scoreboard with a 34-yard field goal by Alex Miller. The score completed a 12-play, 55-yard drive by the Leos.
With the outcome firmly in hand, reserves played out the fourth quarter. Sophomore quarterback Josh Yoder connected with Lucas Jepson for a 29-yard touchdown, then found Evan Peterson for a 30-yard scoring strike to put the Linfield up 52-3 with just over nine minutes to play in the game.
With 3:40 left to play and the La Verne offense driving inside the Linfield 10, Erik Knapp intercepted a ULV pass to put the exclamation point in the win for the Wildcats. The interception was typical of Linfield's defensive play throughout the game.
Wildcats safety Drew Fisher led the 'Cats on defense with 10 tackles and linebacker Tyler Robitaille had five tackles, including three sacks totaling 22 yards in losses.
Fillip Marcelin totlaled 10 tackles, including a 5-yard sack, for La Verne.
Inns played with precision, completing 18-of-27 passes for 210 yards and a career-best three touchdowns. Linfield's trio of fleet-footed running backs rushed for 162 yards, including a team-high 61 yards on five carries by sophomore Jordy Romick. Starting tailback Josh Hill gained 47 yards on 13 carries and Nasca finished with 45 on 11 rushes.
The Wildcats did not surrender a turnover in the game and easily won the statistical yardstick, 461-312.
NEXT WEEK: The Wildcats open Northwest Conference play Saturday against the Willamette Bearcats in Salem. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.


text:
Yoani Sanchez may be the world's best known Cuban dissident. Her blog and Twitter feed criticizing the Cuban government have won her followers and plaudits throughout the United States and Europe, and her first trip outside of Cuba was widely anticipated after the government of Raul Castro liberalized travel rules.
What perhaps wasn't anticipated was just how controversial that trip would become.
When she arrived at airports in the Brazilian cities of Recife and Salvador earlier this week, she was jeered by leftists carrying signs accusing her of being "financed by the CIA" and being an "anti-Cuban mercenary."
At a festival where she was supposed to take part in the showing of a documentary film, the protests forced organizers to scrap the plan. By her second day in Brazil, local news reports said, she'd been assigned an escort of 14 military police officers, including several who were under cover.
Yet it's what she's had to say as the world's best known critic of the Castro regime that was the most controversial, at least in the United States. She's urged the end of the U.S. government's trade embargo against her homeland, calling it a failure. She's offered praise, if only faint, for Raul Castro.
"There's a big difference between Raul and Fidel," she said. An example: the change in the country's travel rules that allowed her to leave Cuba without an exit permit.
That, she said, "would have been unthinkable under Fidel. He wanted to control every aspect of our life. Raul is more conscious of that being impossible."
On Thursday, she campaigned to be seen as a moderate critic of her country's government before a supportive audience of some 250 Brazilians in this huge financial center. The talk was organized by one of Brazil's main newspapers, O Estado do S. Paulo, which also runs her syndicated column. They gave her a standing ovation upon arrival.
In turn, she seemed intent on turning down the volume. "I've spoken a lot in Brazil," she said, "so I'm going to speak slower and lower my tone."
Her enthusiasm for Raul Castro's reforms was tempered. "The reforms are going the right direction but are very slow and not very deep," she said.
She was critical of changes in real estate law that allow people to buy and sell their residences. The result, she said, is a Cuban-style gentrification, with wealthy people moving into certain neighborhoods and "uprooting the poor."
She blasted as "totally false" the Cuban government's claim that in excess of 20 percent of Cubans have Internet access. The real number, she said, was more like 3 percent.
She also said the reforms Raul Castro was introducing really just brought to the surface how society already worked.
"You'll start to notice what always existed," she said. "Raul has a tendency to just legalize what was already happening."
She called being forced to pick between loyalty to the Castro government or hard-line views represented by some Cuban exiles as a false choice. She said she was a different type of dissident, more moderate. There were many others like her, she said, who would play a key role in a post-Castro transition.
She repeatedly said she did not think the old paradigms worked.
"When I was in Germany, I met a Cuban who asked me what kind of Cuban I was – of Fidel or of Miami. I thought that was an insult," she said.
"Cuban exiles don't just live in Miami. They live all over the world. One has to start to break down some of these myths."
Yet she said she understood the origins of some of those who support the trade embargo. "One has to recognize the pain of historic exile," she said, noting that many had property confiscated. "One has to respect that pain and look for an equilibrium. One also has to recognize the lack of rights Cuban exiles have."
But she was unmoved on her view that the embargo should be lifted, and she repeated the sentiments she expressed Wednesday before members of the Brazilian congress in Brasilia: "As a method of pressure, it is a failure."
It has been a theme throughout the week. In Bahia, she called the embargo "a fossil of the Cold War that does not have any sense in the modern world in which we live."
She added that its existence gave the Cuban government "the best argument . . . to explain its ineffective economy."
"On my dinner plate, there are not any tomatoes and there are not any potatoes," she said, "and it's not because of the embargo."
Brazilian publisher Editora Contexto paid for much of Sanchez's Brazilian trip, according to Roberto Lameirinhas, O Estado's international editor. In Sao Paulo, she stayed at the house of Editora Contexto's Jaime Pinksy, Lameirinhas said.


text: Fact: Matt Hughes loves hunting. Loves it. And whether you stand on the "hunting is for sociopaths" or the "guns are the only thing keeping giant underground worms from invading the earth" side of the issue, you gotta respect the former welterweight champion's dedication to slaying every beast this earth has to offer, except for the most dangerous game, that is. In either case, Hughes recently partook in a South African hunting expedition with his son Joey, and the results look like what you would expect an Oregon Trail novice to haul in on his first Buffalo hunt. A lot of things were killed is what we're saying. But before you jump on Hughes for blatantly wasting such delicious Zebra meat or being an ignorant redneck (we're looking at you, Dan Hardy), know that the meat from animals hunted in African safaris is often donated to local villages in need, and the hefty licensing fees guys like Hughes have to pay to legally hunt such game help fund the nation's conservation efforts. In other words: Fuck yeah guns!!


text: Having fun is great. Having fun in groups is even better. Whether you're heading to the beach, the golf course, or throwing an outside BBQ, Geiger can help enhance your next group event with fun-certified custom sports & leisure products that can capture your brand in the best light, maybe even in sunlight itself!


text:
Moderator: Cartographers
Mr. K wrote:>I think we can all agree that it looks a lot better than what we have now, so why all the extra bs?-
Mr. K wrote:as long as it's understood that if somehow there was a problem, there isn't much I can do graphically to fix it.
It looks better and no one is disputing that. As for the extra BS, why should other map makers go through a process while you get a pass?
You said that you have lost the old files, so to draw the above image you have created a new image on the old one. But this doesn't mean that now you can't change the map anymore. You need only to work on the new file/layers.
Now, althought it's clear that the version of the map you posted is more pleasing than the current one we have on the site, the foundry has its procedures. These procedures are there to ensure that all maps are up to the CC standards. The fact your map was up to the standards when it was quenched the first time doesn't mean it is up to them nowdays; the standards are subject to changes through the time and, actually, our standards are higher than in past.
1. From a objective point of view, the sea could have some more love...it's not bad but I think you can do better.
2. I see borders are more clear now, but i think you can improve some sea connnections (e.g. andros/tinos is almost invisible)
3. Personally I would go with more trasparency on the army circles.
4. Redraw this mountain...it's terrible!
I would suggest also to try to center the small temple (the one with the title) on the rectangle of the legend. I think you can easily move the rectangle to left and have the bonus numbers more close to their respective names. Also the signature can be moved to left to compensate the empty space. Or make the rectangle smaller, if you prefer.
1. Army circles, remove or reduce opacity. They are very ugly at the moment and detract from the nice new map.
2. Sea routes, all of these could do with some love. Some are hard to see (Andros-Tinos), some look badly drawn (Argolis-Kyklades) and others could do with a single line and not three pasted together (Kyklades-Krete).
3. Names, why are some bigger than others? Get them all the aem size as the larger names do not have any game play importance. Reduce the glow around them. Some could be moved into the territ proper (Phrygia).
4. I love the mountains but the one nobodies pointed out needs some love. Also, blend them into the map some more.
The reason I say I can't do much here is because I don't have the original files. I can't change, for example, how opaque the army circles are because all I have is the flattened, 1 layer image. I don't have that kind of control over the image anymore.
So what you are saying is that we can either has this, or not?
How long would it take you to get this back up and running with new files and would you be willing to do that?
AndyDufresne wrote:It would have some way to go, but if it looks snappy and people support it along the way, bananas up!
ManBungalow wrote:As you say, this is almost ready to run. Just pay attention to the next few meticulous suggestions to satisfy the stamp people and you'll be done. I don't completely agree with putting it through the foundry process again, but it should still have some external input.
Some parts of the image could be glossed over by using the clone tool, blurring, redrawing, or just copy/paste if there's a problem which can't be solved by painting over it.
Mr. K wrote:So, now that that's clear, should I take the silence to mean "abandon this ship and never return" ?
thenobodies80 wrote:Yeah, I'll contact you as soon as I can draw a black line on some items on my to-do list. Be patient, it's just matter of few days.
SaucyJack wrote:If I wanted to play a stacking game, I'd play Jenga.
in those times nobody cares about such issuethenobodies80 wrote:btw, in case people wonder, this is how it looks for colorblind people....strange it has passed unnoticed in past.
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