text: Online pricing is after $2000 cash down or trade equity. Buyer must present price to dealership to receive online pricing. All pricing is plus all dealer and port installed options. Prices may include $300 military discount for qualified buyers or KMF bonus cash. Must finance through KMF. Some restrictions may apply. See dealer for complete details.


text: compiled by Charlie Camino, Christopher Ferris, and Marc "Sparky" Schmalz, with assistance from Adam Conus, Eric Gum, Rich Redman, JD Wiker, and Tom Wylie. Q: Who designed HomelandsTM? A: Kyle Namvar and Scott "Scooter" Hungerford are the creators. Full credits were published on p. 13 of Duelist #7. Q: What is the Homelands expansion symbol supposed to be? A: It's a globe representing the world of Ulgrotha, the setting for Homelands. Q: Does Didgeridoo let me bring an Anaba Bodyguard into play? A: No. Didgeridoo states that it will let you bring minotaurs into play. Anaba Bodyguard is a "Summon Bodyguard" card, not a "Summon Minotaur" card. Q: Can Abbey Matron use its ability to give other creatures a +0/+3 bonus? A: No. That ability only works on the Abbey Matron since the description of the ability doesn't mention a target. Q: An-Zerrin Ruins affects creatures of a certain type. What is a valid creature type for An-Zerrin Ruins? A: Anything following the word "Summon" on the card type is a valid type. Choosing "Rat" would affect Bog Rats, Pestilence Rats, and Plague Rats since they are all "Summon Rat" cards. Choosing "Spirit," on the other hand, is not enough to affect Blinking Spirit since it is a "Summon Blinking Spirit" card and not a "Summon Spirit" card. Plurals of a creature type are also affected, so if you choose "Goblin," neither "Summon Goblin" nor "Summon Goblins" cards would untap. Currently, the only exception to this general rule is that choosing "Legend" would affect both "Summon Legend" and "Summon Elder Dragon Legend" cards because "Summon Elder Dragon Legends" cards, through errata, are now referred to as "Summon Legend" cards. You can't use other descriptive words with An-Zerrin Ruins--for example, colors of cards, special abilities, "artifact," and "land"--because these aren't summon types. Q: Who controls the Shadow token created by Broken Visage? A: Regardless of who controlled the target creature that was buried, the player casting Broken Visage controls the Shadow token. Q Chain Stasis taps or untaps a target creature, and the controller of that creature can pay [2][Blue] to tap or untap an additional creature. After Chain Stasis has been cast, can I use Ley Druid to help generate the mana I need to untap additional creatures with Chain Stasis? A: No. Chain Stasis will allow you to use interrupts that directly generate mana, and that's all. This includes tapping cards to produce mana and casting Dark Ritual, but does not include untapping land. Since the Ley Druid doesn't directly produce mana, you cannot use its ability to generate mana for Chain Stasis. Q: How much mana does it cost me to Spell Blast my opponent's Holy Strength when I have Irini Sengir (white enchantments and green enchantments each cost an additional [2] to cast) in play? A: Irini Sengir (like Gloom) imposes an additional cost to the caster of spells without changing the actual casting cost on the card. This means that, despite the caster having to pay an additional [2] it would still only cost [1][Blue] to Spell Blast the Holy Strength, as the casting cost of Holy Strength is still just [White] (not [2][White]). Q: If my opponent and I both have Sengir Autocrats in play, when one of them leaves play, whose Serf tokens are buried? A: Any time any Sengir Autocrat leaves play, bury all Serf tokens, no matter who controls them or whose Sengir Autocrat produced them. Likewise, when Drudge Spell leaves play, all Skeleton tokens are buried. Q: If my opponent attacks with her Grizzly Bears, and I play Shrink (-5/-0 until end of turn) on it, are her Grizzly Bears 0/2 or -3/2? If later in the turn my opponent plays Giant Growth on the Bears, what is the creature's power and toughness? A: The creature is -3/2, but any time a creature has a negative power, you simply treat it as 0 for all purposes except modifying its power. If Grizzly Bears has Giant Growth (+3/+3 until end of turn) cast on it later, it would be 0/5. Q: I tap my Aysen Bureaucrats to tap my opponent's Dragon Whelp. My opponent responds to this fast effect by pumping up the Dragon Whelp's power to greater than 2. Does the Dragon Whelp become tapped? A: No. Remember, fast effects resolve "last in, first out," and the target of the effect must be a legal target, both when the effect is declared and when it resolves. If a spell or card is not a legal target when the effect is declared, the effect cannot target it. If it is an illegal target when the effect resolves, the effect simply fizzles with regard to that target. Q: If I target a green creature with Terror and my opponent responds by using the ability of the Willow Priestess ([2][Green] : Target green creature gains protection from black until end of turn), will the Terror work? A: No. Again, spells fizzle if they do not have a valid target when they're declared and when they resolve. In this case, when Terror resolves, it's targeting a creature with protection from black. Since creatures with protection from black cannot be targeted by black spells, Terror fizzles. Q: My opponent has Æther Storm in play, and I want to cast a summon spell, so I say I'm going to pay 4 life to bury Æther Storm. My opponent responds to this by using Boomerang to return Æther Storm to her hand. When the effects resolve "last in, first out," the Æther Storm returns to my opponent's hand before my effect can destroy it. Do I still lose the life? A: Unfortunately for you, yes. Paying 4 life to bury Æther Storm is a cost that was paid as soon as you declared the effect. Just like mana spent on a spell that is countered, you can't get the life back even though the effect fizzles. If you respond to Boomerang by spending another 4 life to bury Æther Storm, your last destruction effect will resolve before Boomerang, but you will have spent a total of 8 life. Q: For Giant Albatross, when do I pay the cost to bury creatures that damaged it? A: The effect of Giant Albatross is a triggered effect. The last sentence on the card explains that the only time you can use the effect is when Giant Albatross is "put into the graveyard from play." Going to the graveyard triggers the ability, and you must pay the [1][Blue] then, or you cannot use the ability. Q: If my opponent controls one of the Homelands "multilands" such as An-Havva Township and I control a Fellwar Stone, what colors of mana can the Fellwar Stone produce? A: Your Fellwar Stone is capable of producing all the types of mana that your opponent's multiland can produce, including colorless mana. Q: I control An-Havva Township while Mana Flare is in play. If I spend o2 and tap the land to get oR, will Mana Flare force it to produce a second point of [Red]? A: Yes. If a land is producing mana, Mana Flare causes one more of the appropriate color to be added, no matter the activation cost or whether the land could produce other types; Mana Flare just duplicates the type produced. Q: With Retribution, when does my opponent have to choose which creature is destroyed and which gets a -1/-1 counter? A: All choices concerning a spell's targets are made when the spell is played, even if the opponent is choosing the targets; therefore, when you play Retribution, you choose the two targets and your opponent chooses which one will be destroyed and which one will get a -1/-1 counter. Q: If I enchant Autumn Willow with Instill Energy, will the enchantment disappear at the end of the turn since the card cannot be the target of spells or effects unless I spend [Green]? A: Once Instill Energy has resolved, it is a permanent (a creature enchantment) and is therefore unaffected by Autumn Willow's ability. When Instill Energy is cast, though, before it resolves, it is still considered a spell, and Autumn Willow's controller must spend [Green] in order for Autumn Willow to be a legal target. © 2009 Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a division of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
MADNESS Autoworks is your One Stop Shop for customizing, accessorizing and servicing your favorite ride.
After spending over a decade customizing countless vehicles and working with many local and international suppliers we have been fortunate to be able to offer a very large inventory of products to our fellow enthusiasts. However, at times we have found that what was available was not good enough or perhaps other options were also needed. When this happens we either design and manufacture the product ourselves or tap one of our manufacturing partners and ask them to assist and make a product to our specs.
Over the years that we have been in business we have formed a number of partnerships with our most trusted manufacturing partners and suppliers to help us produce products that we felt were needed and not available. At times we have also invested in infrastructure, manufacturing equipment and have recruiting some of the best talent that could help us design and build superior products and make them available to our fellow drivers.
Our goal at MADNESS is to provide top quality products that has been tested and used in our own vehicles and have proven to last and provide a good value for the investment. We do not design and build our products to be the cheapest, we design then to be the best value for the money and stand behind them the same way we stand behind our work.


text:
Living with World Heritage Conference examines sustainability and local involvement
The conference Living with World Heritage, held in Røros, Norway from 13 to 16 May 2012, was part of Norway`s official contribution to the celebration of the World Heritage Convention`s 40th anniversary. Almost 140 persons from 28 countries participated.
The themes of the conference were sustainable development and the role of local communities, with a primary focus on the latter in both presentations and discussions.
An important goal was to create meetings and platforms for dialogue between experts on all levels, especially between people living with World Heritage properties and those working with the subject from an academic angle.
The meetings took place through several encounters with Røros` inhabitants, such as representatives from the municipality, museums, schools, tourist information, farmers and local and dance organizations. By presenting the Røros community as a general example on living with World Heritage, these meetings served both as social encounters and local case studies. Experience and information from other African and European cases were presented during the parallel sessions.
A 'Connecting World Heritage properties' exercise took place between January and May, creating a third platform for dialogue. At the conference the experiences and reflections from the World Heritage properties Richtersveldt, iSimangaliso, West Norwegian Fjords, Vega Archipelago and Røros mining town and the Circumference emphasized the importance of direct communication between people and properties over time.
For more information about the conference and the presentations, please see: www.livingwithworldheritage.com


text:
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text:
The Avengers Come to Manhattan!
Steve McNiven Creates Original Art for 2012 Pop Culture Event
Norwalk, CT, August 31, 2012: Officials at New York Comic Con (NYCC) have announced that Marvel Comics will provide the original poster art for the 2012 edition of the annual pop culture extravaganza. Marvel, the renowned comic books and media entertainment company, has revealed the art which will feature The Avengers in an iconic New York setting. The specially created poster will figure prominently in NYCC's advertising and promotion and will be featured at the convention as well as in comic book shops around the tri-state area and on MTA and LIRR railroads. Steve McNiven, the well-known and accomplished Marvel Comics artist, is credited for drawing the poster art which showcases Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America in the newly-designed costumes they will be sporting as part of the exciting new Marvel NOW! initiative launching in stores in October. McNiven will also be a Spotlight Guest at NYCC this year.
New York Comic Con, which will take place October 11 – 14, 2012 at NYC's Javits Center, is one of New York's largest annual events, last year attracting over 100,000 attendees. The pop culture convention draws a wide cross section of fans eager to meet and greet the creators, actors, writers, musicians and artists. As noted, the original poster art will be widely used to promote the show as well as to create a distinct identity for the 2012 edition of New York Comic Con.
Once again, Marvel Entertainment will have a 3000 square foot booth on the show floor at NYCC where attendees will have ample room and opportunity to mingle with creators and staff including Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment and Axel Alonso, Marvel's Editor-in-Chief. Other Marvel Spotlight Guests who will be on hand to greet fans will be Kieron Gillen, Jonathan Hickman, Rick Remender, Esad Ribic, Dan Slott and Steve McNiven.
Tickets for New York Comic Con in 2012 are currently available for purchase at http://www.NewYorkComicCon.com. Anyone interested in exhibiting at New York Comic Con should contact Larry Settembrini, [email protected]. Other information about the show, as well as news about ReedPOP, which organizes a range of pop culture events, is available at http://facebook.com/NewYorkComicCon and http://twitter.com/NY_Comic_Con. Organizers note that many more guests will be announced over the next few weeks and fans should keep their eyes on NYCC's website and blog for additional comics, entertainment and anime announcements.
ABOUT MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT: Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information visit http://www.marvel.com
ABOUT REEDPOP: ReedPOP is a boutique group within Reed Exhibitions which is exclusively devoted to organizing events, launching and acquiring new shows and partnering with premium brands in the pop culture arena. ReedPOP is dedicated to producing celebrations of popular culture throughout the world that transcend ordinary events by providing unique access and dynamic personal experiences for consumers and fans. The ReedPOP portfolio includes: New York Comic Con (NYCC), Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) Prime & East, Star Wars Celebration, Fantasy Football Fest and the UFC Fan Expo. The staff at ReedPOP is a fan based group of professionals producing shows for other fans, thus making them uniquely qualified to service those with whom they share a common passion. ReedPOP is focused on bringing its expertise and knowledge to world communities in North America, South America, Asia and Europe.


text:
Today Up On Christmachine Audio Reference Music Server :
Schitzo – Manifestation Of A Nomad…Jack Kerouac, Lowell's Son And Bastard Saint (Excerpts Part 2)…[Second Pass Edit]… Just so people know Part 1 has not been published yet, so we'll start here. These are excerpts from an early version of a non-fiction memoir. Again this is a true story…the caveat being that what readers take from this may have dissenting opinions of it's possibility to be true. For example, some might not agree or believe in the possibility of descriptions of phenomena described herein, and see them as delusional experiences (this is key and left for the reader to decide). Again that is the point, each reader will see these descriptions as they relate to their own personal beliefs. It is written with the highest regard to accuracy, and is in relation to the entire story, only a small piece of what the complete story has to offer readers. This is just a taste, and the final name of this memoir has not been completed as of the date of this being published. Finally, the text is subject to change with subsequent rewrites. Enjoy!
Excerpt #1: Pre-Amble –
So I want to be an author, but all I could think of is what right did I have to try and be anywhere near the caliber of a wordsmith as many of the world greats that had come before me. My writing is shit to be honest, but again it comes back to my belief that this is a long term learning process, always reaching for the sky to attain higher levels of this disciplined art. What I do have going for me is the many experiences that have been laid out before me to explore, going deeper when there was no shovel to dig. My fingernails are stained from the soil, my hands chaffed and cracked, dry to the bone from the rare earth and loam.
Each piece that I write is part of a specific set of exercises that I look to explore and hopefully master at some point in the future. The most exciting part of this experiment, that will unfold right before your eyes, is that each piece is published in relation to how I feel they belong in the overall story since the start of this process. Each piece calls to me when it is meant to be posted. What that fully means I do not know, but something prompts my conscious mind, and lets me know that this (whatever that means at that specific moment) is what is to be published next. Some might see it as just the human mind doing what it's supposed to do, others may see it as a higher calling. Maybe it is a little of both, regardless to me at least, it is an interesting look into the creative process.
Excerpt #2:
I had been brainstorming for weeks, months maybe, thinking so hard that my brain began to hurt. I was in transition from being a dreamer to a thinker and it was very very hard. I had always been a fierce dreamer, the problem being that it was taking all the brain power afforded to me. After many years, a lifetime really, the dreaming had literally taken over all of my mind. Even worse, is that through the years I did not even notice it. Then at some point dreaming became so dominant that I sometimes could not tell the difference between fantasy and reality. It was as if I lived in a cartoon or was in the throes of full fledged dissociative episode where I was often living vicariously through an outer body experience. It was not as some have described as looking down on their body's in a situation where they were close to death, it was for me as if my body was going through the actions pertinant to the life situation and my detached soul taking the ghostly human form, sitting right next to me as my unconscious mind had completely taken over. My detached self was prompting my earthly self to react as if I was a character in a video game.
I was a sleeper and I loved to lucid dream where I would drift half my life away, just as I had in a previous life as an opium addict, frequenting opium dens where I would indulge and float around, never seeming to reach a complete state of sleep. There I would explore the universe without having to get off the hard bamboo mat, where my body would lie with my mind shelved on a small pillow. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with an overactive imagination, obviously it is in part, absolutely vital to reaching our full potential. At the time, more of it the better I thought. It would help me to experience more of life with an open mind…and for the most part it did. Having an overactive imagination opened my mind to experience all that I could, and helped me to understand and accept many things that others seem to have a hard time reconciling about the human race and the breadth of differences in people. There was plenty of logic in there as well, which I now know I had confused to be a full fledged thought process, but logic is only a small part of a robust thinking mind.
I had come to the realization that I now had to rewire my neuronal pathways in my brain to be more of a thinker, and put the data stores in my mind to good use as there was no use for them in an overwhelmed dreaming mind. Too many thoughts and experiences coming into brain storage and not much of that coming back out with intelligent efficiency. Think of it like having hard disks or sets of file cabinets in your mind, and they are all overflowing with billions of separate thoughts coming and going into and out of consciousness. There is only so much space before they begin to overflow, losing and misfiling pieces of paper or data. At some point when these pieces of information are called forth by the conscious mind, the problem faced is that the data or files are now incomplete, corrupt, and damaged. You can imagine the problems this would begin to cause…wait, what were we talking about, I completely lost my train of thought.
Now all that might sound foreign to some as each person's mind learns and is wired differently, but we've all heard the old addage as well as the song "Don't fall in love with a dreamer"…as well as the part about the fool. It also happens that many people have a more healthy balance and division in their use of brainpower. For those who do not, like me, I'm apt to say that everything happens for a reason. If I had not developed the way I had just described, I definitely would not be writing all the things I am now. So what might be seen as weakness, I am now flipping on it's head (No pun intended), and turning it into a form of strength. In the extremes, It is how many people with seemingly devastating and debilitating disabilities, forge on with heroic stamina and poise. With all that said, we cannot forget that societal stigma tends to deny that hidden wounds and internal mental scars can be just as devastating, if not worse.
In being a dominant dreamer, I can now see how so many are held back by it's comforting yet deceptive charm. Also as in many cases we are not taught the difference between dreaming and thinking, that there is a huge psychological and cognitive difference. The phenomenon is often described that the affected person cannot see the forest for the trees. As I realize all of this, it's like a light switch has turned on in my brain. Spending days, months, and recently years forcing myself to brainstorm, think, and write…I can actually now, as I put pen to page, feel the physical transition and transformation taking place in my head. The dendrites and neurons in my brain are rewiring as I speak. I now regularly go in and out of what are commonly referred to as peak experiences, and reaching the tipping point the words come to the page like an avalanche. I can feel the blood pumping through my veins with excitement, my body a neuro-chemical suit. As you can imagine it is not easy mentally making that transition, I can assure you that. There is so much to tell…I cannot get the words out fast enough…It's going to take me a lifetime (which I do not have) to complete, but I will do my best.
Excerpt #3:
The people began to feel lost in the coldest and darkest period in history. Freewill was their ball and chain and again they were frightened. The sage began to speak, "Flung into the darkness", the man continued…"I was given the knowledge that is available to all men and women, all you have to do is stop and listen. My Father's Father was a great man. My Father's Father's Brother was also a great man. They recognized and chose to focus on the hope and the possibility for good in all humanity and became proprietors for the people." They knew that they could bring the people great joy and that it was good. The world had just emerged from one of the greatest threats to all humanity, the greatest war against evil, men and women had ever known. This was not about religion, or dogma, or God…far from it as a matter of fact. What is known is that in exchange for winning the most tumultuous war of all time, in defeating evil this time, that it had not under any circumstances been destroyed. There were many like my family, who had great faith in mankind as well as in the trees, sun, oceans, stones, and soil. In order for the great war to have been one, it was well known that with all good there had to great evil…thus the world was slung into the universe, and bones ground to dust.
The evil that all humans knew continued to roam the land, taking the weak to their knees as they worshipped instant gratification into a blinding obsession. The shortsighted were once again unaware and blinded by love, roaming the earth for souls to influence and nurture…but there was a catch. The catch being that the earth was now slightly more than fifty percent evil, and slightly less than fifty percent good, so evil forces would always have a stronger attraction than good. The difference seems slight but but paradoxically immense and infinite. Legend has it that Mother Nature was to watch over this split and further the wisest mind of all time. Whatever it was that was greater than the Mother was androgynous and absent of human form, and the life and energy and the future and the past and the intersection of all things, held the universe together in a balance (ebb and flow) beyond the conception of anyone on earth. The equation of this meticulous and benevolent balance (never quite reaching perfect equilibrium), proved order through chaos, encouraging expansive outward movement in the formation of the evolutionary space-time continuum. The constant tension of opposing forces is key to the development of both the universe and the species.
All that the people knew was that they were naked and flawed. They felt the urge to compete, and there were no laws. So the people had to create laws, and although unavoidably flawed, they had to be born out of protection for people who ought not be taken advantage of. There were many who wanted to be "Gods", even though there was no proof that there was such a thing. Some of these self-proclaimed "Gods" were fare and charitable. On the other hand there were many self-proclaimed "Gods" who were miserable and yearned for more and more power. They did not care about the people, drunk on the blood and tears on those they held influence and sought to destroy. This was the cost of freewill. This was not beset upon the people, the people beset it upon themselves.
The earthly gravitational microcosm was the family, and the intention was good, although flawed. There was tension, but the intention was good, although flawed. There was learning, and the intention was good, although again flawed. Until one day when the son of the Father's Father felt inferior for one reason or another, and that son took the burdens of all of his family that had come before him as personal. This son saw an opportunity to exploit a weakness, a metaphorical cancer, which he also had the choice to extinguish. Instead of stomping it out, he let it flourish because he felt slighted and inferior. At the time he did not distinguish it for a cancer that would grow and swell uncontrollably to magnanimous proportions, fed by the bitterness of his brothers scorn. There were many incidents along the way which inadvertently spurned and encouraged the disease. At some point it grew out of the control of the weaker son's hands, the point at which he had the opportunity to stop the spread had come and gone, and he was blinded by hate. Some of it was rational but more of it was not. This brother sadly believed that if he waited for just the right time, when no one was looking he could destroy his brother, the people however would be the real victims. Because he was blind, he could not see beyond his brother. If he had to spend his entire life (till his dying day) trying to destroy his sibling, he would, even if it also meant the destruction of himself as well all he held dear.
Excerpt #4:
One night as the scorned brother was sleeping, in his dreams he came upon a powerful force in the form of a spirit. It was very hard to see but he knew that it was there. He felt power and awe and riches, beyond the dreams of any man who had come before him. He felt compelled to kneel before the force to get a better look, as it was very very dark. Without a moments notice, as he tried to focus on the spiritual force, he realised he could see the massive enticing power before him if he kept his eyes closed. It was then then that the dark force seemed to reach out to the scorned brother, and the powerful said to him…
I'm pleased to make your acquaintance,
We have not met before, but you always knew I was there for you.
It was before my stay in the womb that you were conceived.
Taking the position of the blind, with one exception, the ability to feel.
Is it not so quiet with so many around.
People weakened from participating in humanity.
May I touch your face as I cannot see to well? As my fingers cross the breeze and I feel your scars…
They are smooth and rough as the result of many fine years.
With your eyes closed, is it not true that I let you see?
Does the grass not grow, as we watch, right beneath our feet?
Does the sun not feed, insatiable…Does the water not quench, parched?
It offers me a gentle and pure time, with the dearly beloved.
Wait not, come into me and I into you, let me show you the world!
And you me, know that your secrets are safe with me.
Let me do the walking as you rest, forgotten son.
As we join together in spirit, you keep what you have, and I give you the rest.
The future is yours for all eternity.
It is all about you now and forever will be. With all of us…
Excerpt #5:
I found myself plastered to my bed with fear and agitation. My musculature was tightly shaking, anchored as if taught rubber bands were wound tight around my bones. I was in the throes of an uncontrollable full body spasm with no end in sight, grinding my teeth so tight and unable to swallow. Burying my face into my pillow, I tried to meditate to calm my nerves which were exploding with sharp pains as if I was lying on a plywood bed of nails. Parts of my extremities were falling asleep and waking with no warning, just as one feels when they get pins and needles in a foot or arm from pinched nerves. Sweat leaked from my pores, although there was no sign of fever, it was in a word brutal. I did not know how long i could keep this up as my mind was anxiously suggesting that I was going completely insane.
I was lying in a bed next to the nurses station and there was only one incandescent light in that area with a single nurse doing paperwork. The room was otherwise completely dark and as my eyes were adjusted to the darkness, I could see thirty other beds in the same room all full with patients, many writhing in different states of insanity. Some were vomiting and others were screaming out loud in all kinds of noisy agony, the nurse just sat there as if this was normal. The large room was only separated by the warm humid outside air by large screens and there was no breeze. I was hoping upon deception that a cool breeze would pass over my body, but it was not to be. Out in the yard, in plain sight, there was an extremely large industrial size bug zapper where hundreds of mosquitoes and moths were electrocuted with every passing moment. With the constant biological genocide before me, I found myself wishing to be in their place…just kill me and put me out of my misery. I thought to myself that if there was a hell, this would surely be it.
My mind began to wander aimlessly, I was not being kept there against my will…mulling over the idea that I could just walk out the main screen door not far from where I was interned at any time. Then the reality of the situation would hit…where would I go? It was quite feasable and a bit calming to think that I would probably feel better just getting this out of my system, running off into the black night screaming my head off until I fell to the ground in complete exhaustion. The problem was that I did not have the energy to make this happen, exhausted from my hopeless quivering corpse. There was a clock on the far wall that would unervingly tick tick tick, every deafening second heard through the cries of despair and agony…every single moment felt like hours.
It was then that I realized, with nothing left in the tank, that before I had come to this godawful place that my father had given me a set of brand new rosary beads in a small leather pouch. They were in a drawer right near were my head was situated, but I was convinced at what help would they give…none, I'm sure. As I began to choke on the frothing saliva from my mouth and nose, I suddenly felt compelled to go for the beads. I removed the beads from the pouch and grasped them tight enough to rip them apart. After wrapping them a few times around each hand, the crucifix fell into the palm of my hands surreptitiously, as if that was the place it was supposed to be. Also inside the pouch was a small piece of folded glossy paper with prayers and a step by step method on how to use the beads. The instructions indicated what sections of the beads corresponded to each of the individual stations of the cross. I was not the praying type and did not even know if I believed in any God. Having no place to go and seeing no harm in attempting to just say the words and go through the motions, even if it only meant helping me to pass the time, anything to ride out this physically emotional and psychological trauma.
The one light in the background of the nurses station helped me to just make out the words on the paper now unfolded and laid out before me. I first said an opening prayer as instructed, and then began to go through the stations of the cross one by one…it was unintelligible, choppy, and manic, but I soldiered on. I would forget where I was and lose my spot as I mechanically moved the beads through my wiry shaking fingers. I found myself tentatively re-reading passages and sentences over and over as I made my way through the process. Sweat dripping from my hands and forehead, acidic fluid that upon contact with the print on the glossy instructions, rendered the words illegible. As I was doing all of this, I simultaneously was pleading with the universe to please let this pass, please-please-please let this pass.
At some point a few minutes later the shaking began to wane somewhat. I was ecstatic that just faking it and going through the motions was working. Suddenly stunned into a kind of stasis, In the air above the other patients right before my eyes, appeared what looked to be a hologram but it was more real than that. There in an almost indescribable full range of color and motion, appeared a perfectly symmetrical apparition several feet wide. At first there were several wrapped layers of green interwoven prickled thorn strands, wrapped around a beating heart that had flames shooting out the aortic canal at the crest. About two feet on each side of the wreath of rotating thorns, the ether seemed to produce a moving universe where time and space were flowing towards but not fully reaching me. My eyes no longer welded closed, then witnessed a woman appear above the heart in full color, while all the imagery that I just described was in constant motion all around her. I had to be hallucinating this I thought, but I've never hallucinated without drugs before. Anyway I continued to experience this phenomena as it was quite amazing and in turn began to calm my wretched frame. The woman looked only to what I could recognize as Mary the Mother of Jesus, seated and draped in a blue and white separated headdress and full body shawl, while the flames from the aortic valve flashed in her lap. She had a slight ethereal white halo rotating around her head.
All around her were what I recognized too be visions of men and women saints (if you believe in that sort of thing) and androgynous angels coming and going, propping her up in the air as I just lay there plussed. At some point her lips began to move but there was no auditory projection, nonetheless I somehow knew what she was indicating…that 'I had to make a choice'. As soon as I realized this, I could see what I can only describe as the 'forces of light' situated to her right side. For some reason I equated this 'welcoming force' with the presence of 'Jesus' although there was no sight of what I could impossibly perceive to be 'his' likeness. I actually felt a calm bliss with the 'forces of light and 'peace'. Simultaneously on her left side was also only what I can describe as the 'forces of darkness'. Similarly there was no 'demon or satan' but the 'impression was put upon me' that they were there in the same way that 'The Son Of God' was there on the opposite side. From the 'dark forces', I felt 'power and strength greater than I had ever known', and it sent shivers up my spine and riddled goosebumps all over my skin. There were no more words, but the side with the 'dark forces' was the only side trying to 'make its case to coax, convey, and convince me to come to their side'. It was 'implied' that the 'world would be mine…power and riches beyond my dreams, no more room for pain, and eternal glory'. Focussing back on the side with the 'good forces', there was no hard sell and no promises, but 'calm, peace, and eternal life'.
As I gripped the rosary tight, I thought to myself I have to make a leap, I had to make a choice (well really I did not have to, but I did anyway), even if it was going through the motions as I said before. I checked to make sure I was not dreaming…but I was wide awake. I always could tell when I was in a dreaming state and I was surely WIDE AWAKE! So I made my decision and 'click' everything went black and all the pain and shaking stopped. As I lay there for a moment, I felt a rush of adrenaline and power. I wanted to yell out what had just happened or tell the nurse but I was rendered small, minute, and humbled.
Next thing I know I was suddenly stunned and shocked awake in a pool of sweaty white sheets. The clock on the far wall revealed it was early afternoon the next day. Exactly twelve hours later from 2 a.m. when the visions occured…I was covered in itchy hives and the clock read 2 p.m.
Thanks for reading and for all your kind words and support!
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Export 4 results:Author [ Type] Year
Filters: Author is G. Verdoolaege [Clear All Filters]
Conference Paper
"Multiscale colour texture retrieval using the geodesic distance between multivariate generalized Gaussian models", in IEEE, International Conference on Image Processing, San Diego, CA, October 12-15, 2008, pp. 169-172.,
"Wavelet-Based colour texture retrieval using the KL Divergence between bivariate Generalized Gaussian Models", in IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, Cairo, Egypt, November 7-11, 2009, pp. 265-268.,
Journal Article
"Geodesics on the Manifold of Multivariate Generalized Gaussian Distributions With an Application to Multicomponent Texture Discrimination", International Journal of Computer Vision, vol. 95, pp. 265-286, 2011.,
"On the geometry of Multivariate Generalized Gaussian models", Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 180-193, 2012.,


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Cinderella is one of my all time favorite Disney movies and characters really. I have loved seeing all of the different versions out there. I can't wait to see more about this one!
The story of "Cinderella" follows the fortunes of young Ella (Lily James) whose merchant father remarries following the death of her mother. Eager to support her loving father, Ella welcomes her new stepmother (Cate Blanchett) and her daughters Anastasia (Holliday Grainger) and Drisella (Sophie McShera) into the family home. But, when Ella's father unexpectedly passes away, she finds herself at the mercy of a jealous and cruel new family. Finally relegated to nothing more than a servant girl covered in ashes, and spitefully renamed Cinderella, Ella could easily begin to lose hope. Yet, despite the cruelty inflicted upon her, Ella is determined to honor her mother's dying words and to "have courage and be kind." She will not give in to despair nor despise those who mistreat her. And then there is the dashing stranger she meets in the woods. Unaware that he is really a prince, not merely an apprentice at the Palace, Ella finally feels she has met a kindred soul. It appears her fortunes may be about to change when the Palace sends out an open invitation for all maidens to attend a ball, raising Ella's hopes of once again encountering the charming Kit (Richard Madden). Alas, her stepmother forbids her to attend and callously rips apart her dress. But, as in all good fairy tales, help is at hand, and a kindly beggar woman (Helena Bonham-Carter) steps forward and – armed with a pumpkin and a few mice – changes Cinderella's life forever. A live-action feature inspired by the classic fairy tale, "Cinderella" brings to life the timeless images from Disney's 1950 animated masterpiece as fully-realized characters in a visually dazzling spectacle for a whole new generation.
Like CINDERELLA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cinderella Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/disneypictures Instagram: http://instagram.com/disneystudios CINDERELLA opens in theaters March 13, 2015! #Cinderella


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"Facts are to the mind what food is to the body." – Edmund Burke
No wonder one third of Americans are obese. The food we are shoveling into our bodies is on par with the misinformation, propaganda and lies that are being programmed into our minds by government bureaucrats, corrupt politicians, corporate media gurus, and central banker puppets. Chief Clinton propaganda mouthpiece, James Carville, famously remarked during the 1992 presidential campaign that, "It's the economy, stupid". Clinton was able to successfully convince the American voters that George Bush's handling of the economy caused the 1991 recession. In retrospect, it was revealed the economy had been recovering for months prior to the election. No one could ever accuse the American people of being perceptive, realistic or critical thinking when it comes to economics, math, history or distinguishing between truth or lies. Our government controlled public school system has successfully dumbed down the populace to a level where they enjoy their slavery and prefer conscious ignorance to critical thought.
The next six months leading up to the November elections will surely provide a shining example of the degraded society we've become. Both parties and their propaganda machines, SuperPacs, and corporate media sponsors will treat the distracted masses to hundreds of hours of lies, spin, and vitriol, designed to divert the public from the fact that both parties act on behalf of the same masters and have no intention of changing course of the U.S. Titanic to avert the iceberg dead ahead. We will be treated to storylines about race, gun control, the war on women, energy independence, global warming, the war on terror, the imminent threat of Iran and North Korea, Obamacare, Romneycare, and of course the economy, stupid.
There are 240 million voting age Americans. About 130 million will likely vote in the 2012 election based upon recent voter participation results. This means that 110 million Americans don't give a crap about who runs this country or they've come to their senses and realize our votes don't matter. Between 1840 and 1900 voter participation ranged between 70% and 82% as Americans took their civic duty seriously and believed their vote counted. Since 1913, when the politicians relinquished control of our currency to a private bank controlled by a small group of powerful men, voter participation for President has ranged between 49% and 62%. It hasn't surpassed 57% since 1968. Now that corporations are people and our candidates are selected by a few rich men, the transformation from a republic to a corporate fascist state is almost complete. During the coming interminable political campaign you will hear about jobs until your ears bleed. I can guarantee that 98% of the rhetoric will be false. Neither party wants the American people to understand the truth about what happened to our economy and jobs over the last 100 years. It has been a bipartisan screw job and ignoring the facts doesn't change them.
The first fact that can't be ignored is how many Americans are actually unemployed today. Here is some truth you won't get from a politician or media talking head:
- There are 243 million working age Americans.
- There are 142 million employed Americans.
- Only 101 million of the employed Americans are working more than 35 hours per week. This means that only 41.6% of all working age Americans have a full-time job.
- According to the government drones at the BLS, 88 million Americans have "chosen" to not be in the labor force – the highest level in U.S. history.
- The percentage of Americans in the workforce at 63.8% is the lowest since 1980 and down from a peak of 67.1% in 2000. The difference between these two percentages is 8 million Americans.
- The BLS reports there are only 12.7 million unemployed Americans in the country, down from 15.3 million in 2009.
- The BLS reports the unemployment rate has dropped from 10% in late 2009 to 8.3% today. Over this time frame the working age population grew by 5.7 million, while the number of employed Americans grew by 3.6 million. Only a government drone could interpret this data and report a dramatic decline in the unemployment rate.
Any critical thinking human being would examine the data being reported as fact by our government and regurgitated without question by the corporate mainstream media and conclude it is false, misleading and manipulated. The economy was booming in 2000 and 67.1% of the working age population were in the labor force. Today the economy is in much worse shape. More people need to work in order to just make ends meet, but according to the government, 8 million Americans have chosen to not work. Only an Ivy League economist or CNBC pundit would believe such a blatant distortion of reality. A comparison to prior decades provides all the evidence you need:
- In 1980 the working age population was 168 million and the labor force totaled 107 million.
- By 1990 the working age population grew by 21 million and the labor force grew by 19 million.
- By 2000 the working age population grew by another 23 million and the labor force advanced by 17 million.
- Since 2000 the working age population has grown by 30 million, but shockingly the labor force has supposedly grown by only 12 million.
This data is so twisted that there is absolutely no doubt the Federal Government is purposely manipulating the numbers to make the economic situation appear better than the reality. During the Great Depression propaganda and spin had not been perfected. There weren't multiple definitions of unemployment designed to confuse and mislead the public. The peak level of unemployment in the 1930s was 25%. The current reported level is 8.3%. On a comparable basis to the 1930s, including short-term discouraged workers, those forced to work part-time, and the long-term discouraged workers which were defined out of existence in 1994 by the BLS, the real unemployment rate is 22% today. It feels like a depression for millions of Americans because it is a depression.
The rhetoric from the Obama administration about a jobs recovery is laughable. Full time employment peaked in July 2007 at 122.4 million. Today there are 113.9 million people classified as full-time, with only 101.3 million working more than 35 hours. There are 8.5 million fewer people with full time jobs today than there were in 2007. That fact is even more disheartening considering the working age population has grown by 10.5 million over the same time span. Taking an even longer term view provides the perspective needed to assess our true economic state. Total nonfarm employment hasn't grown in twelve years, while the working age population has grown by 30 million people.
Obama will tout the fact that we've added 3.6 million jobs since the bottom of this recession. What he won't tout is that hiring of temporary workers surged by 37% and accounted for 25% of all the jobs added since 2009. I'm sure these temporary workers, with no health or retirement benefits, are confident about their future. The facts about jobs and employment are consistent with the 47 million Americans on food stamps (up from 35 million when the recession supposedly ended). It's a sure sign of recovery when spending on food stamps doubles in the last two years. No depression here, just move along.
Record numbers of Americans being added to the SSDI rolls for depression and other illusory disabilities is surely a positive development pointing to a strong economic recovery. In just the first four months of this year, 539,000 joined the disability rolls and more than 725,000 put in applications. "We see a lot of people applying for disability once their unemployment insurance expires," said Matthew Rutledge, a research economist at Boston College's Center for Retirement Research. The number of applications last year was up 24% compared with 2008, Social Security Administration data show. Why participate in the labor market when you can collect a government check for life because you are obese or depressed. These are the people no longer in the labor force. Once they go on SSDI, they rarely go back to work again.
The government reported figure of 12.7 million unemployed Americans is an utter falsehood. There are in excess of 30 million Americans that are either unemployed or working part-time that want full-time jobs. Government propaganda doesn't change the facts.
"Facts don't cease to exist because they are ignored." – Aldous Huxley
Would You Like a Side Order of Facts with That Propaganda?
When you watch the Wall Street scam artists paraded on CNBC declaring the number of people not in the labor force is going up due to Baby Boomers retiring, you should understand they are propagating a falsehood. They are either intellectually dishonest or too lazy to do the most basic of research. They are paid millions to impart false storylines to anyone dumb enough to watch CNBC expecting facts or a smattering of truth. If you want some truth, turn to John Mauldin and John Hussman. CNBC doesn't invite these outstanding honest analysts on their station when they can roll out a shill like Abbey Joseph Cohen or James Paulson. They wouldn't want some factual analysis when they can have Becky Quick do one of her frequent handjob interviews with that doddering old status quo fool Warren Buffet.
A critical thinker might wonder how could real disposable income be dropping over the last three months and only have risen by 0.3% in the last year if we've had the strong job growth voiced by Obama. Could it be the jobs being created are extraordinarily low-paying? There are signs of desperation everywhere you look. The two charts below, from one of John Mauldin's recent articles, reveal the truth about the Baby Boomers retiring storyline. The first chart shows the employment level for those over the age of 55 since 2007. There were 25.3 million people over the age of 55 working in 2007 and there are 30.1 million working today. People over 55 have seen their total employment level rise by 4.8 million jobs since the beginning of the recession, and over 3 million jobs since the 3rd quarter of 2009. Total employment is down by 4 million since 2007, while employment among those over 55 is up 19%. John Hussman described the reality about employment in his recent weekly article:
"If you dig into the payroll data, the picture that emerges is breathtaking. Since the recession "ended" in June 2009, total non-farm payrolls in the U.S. have grown by 2.32 million jobs. However, if we look at workers 55 years of age and over, we find that employment in that group has increased by 3.04 million jobs. In contrast, employment among workers under age 55 has actually contracted by nearly one million jobs, regardless of which survey you use. Even over the past year, the vast majority of job creation has been in the 55-and-over group, while employment has been sluggish for all other workers, and has already turned down."
I wonder how Larry Kudlow will spin this.
Now for the really eye opening facts. While the labor participation rate has been plunging, the Boomer participation rate has been skyrocketing. The participation rate for the over 65 age group is now at an all-time high. Do you think this has anything to do with home values dropping 36% since 2005, gasoline prices doubling since early 2009, food prices surging by 25%, the 1.4% annual return of stocks since 1999, or the .15% senior citizens can earn on their money today versus the 5% they could earn in 2007?
Paul Krugman had this to say about Ben Bernanke's zero interest rate policy on senior citizens:
"Finally, how is expansionary monetary policy supposed to hurt the 99 percent? Think of all the people living on fixed incomes, we're told. But who are these people? I know the picture: retirees living on the interest on their bank account and their fixed pension check — and there are no doubt some people fitting that description. But there aren't many of them."
It must be comforting living in an ivory tower or penthouse suite and looking down upon the ignorant masses while caressing your Nobel Prize. The millions of senior citizens with 0,000 of savings could earn ,000 of interest income in 2007 to supplement their ,000 of Social Security income. Today, they can earn 0 while the Wall Street banks receive the benefits of ZIRP by borrowing for free from the Federal Reserve and earning billions risk free. Paulie doesn't think the ,850 reduction in income and the 15% increase in inflation since 2007 had a negative impact on senior citizens. They must be pouring into the work force because they are just bored, after working for the last 45 years. John Hussman has a slightly different viewpoint, based upon facts rather than a false disproven ideology:
"Beginning first with Alan Greenspan, and then with Ben Bernanke, the Fed has increasingly pursued policies of suppressing interest rates, even driving real interest rates to negative levels after inflation. Combine this with the bursting of two Fed-enabled (if not Fed-induced) bubbles – one in stocks and one in housing, and the over-55 cohort has suffered an assault on its financial security: a difficult trifecta that includes the loss of interest income, the loss of portfolio value, and the loss of home equity. All of these have combined to provoke a delay in retirement plans and a need for these individuals to re-enter the labor force.
In short, what we've observed in the employment figures is not recovery, but desperation. Having starved savers of interest income, and having repeatedly subjected investors to Fed-induced financial bubbles that create volatility without durable returns, the Fed has successfully provoked job growth of the obligatory, low-wage variety. Over the past year, the majority of this growth has been in the 55-and-over cohort, while growth has turned down among other workers. Meanwhile, broad labor force participation continues to fall as discouraged workers leave the labor force entirely, which is the primary reason the unemployment rate has declined. All of this reflects not health, but despair, and helps to explain why real disposable income has grown by only 0.3% over the past year."
Do you believe Krugman or Hussman? The key takeaway from the data is the desperation exhibited by average Americans, while the political governing elite and Wall Street bankers continue to gorge themselves at the trough of free money provided by the Federal Reserve, while paying themselves obscene bonuses for a job well done buying the corrupt Washington politicians.
Over the next six months we will hear unceasing rhetoric from Obama and Romney about how they are going to create jobs. Neither of these government officials have a clue about jobs or desire to change the course that was set one hundred years ago with the creation of the Federal Reserve. Obama never worked at a real job in his entire life, while Romney has spent his life firing people and spinning off heavily indebted companies to unsuspecting investors. The current deteriorating jobs picture has been decades in the making and a truly bipartisan effort. The rhetoric about America being an engine of growth and the world leader in innovation and entrepreneurship is laughable when examined with a critical eye. We are an aging empire living in the past as the facts portray an entirely different reality. Our fastest growing industries include:
- Solar panel manufacturing (subsidized by your tax dollars)
- For-profit universities (diploma mills subsidized by your tax dollars)
- Pilates and yoga studios
- Self-tanning product manufacturing
- Social network game development
- Hot sauce production
The "surge" in jobs in the last three months is being driven by these industries:
- Food services and drinking places
- Administrative and support services
- Ambulatory health care services
- Credit intermediation
- Hospitals
Is this the picture of a world leading jobs machine or a delusional, paper pushing, self-involved, obese, sickly, overly indebted crumbling empire? The job openings in industries that actually produce something are barely identifiable on the chart below. Maybe the University of Phoenix can successfully retrain construction and manufacturing workers to be waiters, waitresses, and Wal-Mart greeters if the Federal government can funnel more of our tax dollars into student loans.
If you thought low wage work was only for Chinese, Indians, and Vietnamese, you haven't been paying attention. The United States is a world leader. We are by far the world leader among developed countries in percentage of low wage workers at 24.8%. I find it hysterical that the dysfunctional insolvent countries of Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy have a much smaller percentage of low wage workers than the great American empire. We have 142 million employed Americans and 35 million are slaving away in low paying thankless jobs. This explains why the half the workers in the country make less than ,000 per year.
The top three employment occupations in the country are:
- Office and administrative support work
- Sales & Related
- Food preparation and serving related
There are high paying good jobs in America, but there aren't many and on-line college graduates from the University of Phoenix aren't going to get them. The highest paying jobs today require a high level of specialization and education, especially in the healthcare and technology industries. This disqualifies the vast majority of government run public school graduates. High paying manufacturing jobs which were the backbone of the country during the 1950s and 1960s are gone forever. The reasons for this transformation are multifaceted and will be addressed in Part Two of this article. It didn't happen by accident and there are culprits to blame. The conversion of our country from making high quality things other countries needed to a debt driven service economy of paper pushers, hash slingers, and retail "specialists" has slowly but surely destroyed the middle class.
This result is not an accident. It was set in motion by the actions of a handful of rapacious, wealthy powerful men that have been calling the shots in this country for the last hundred years. It wasn't a planned conspiracy but the logical result of man-made inflation, a fiat currency not backed by gold, the craving of rich men to become richer, a willfully ignorant populace, and a slow devolution of our society into a corporate fascist state. We praise and honor psychopathic criminals while scorning and ridiculing the middle class workers that built this country. The American dream has become a nightmare for the millions of unemployed and underemployed. The acceleration of debt accumulation and money printing guarantees this rotting carcass of a country will go belly up in the foreseeable future.
"Thus did a handful of rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth controlling in America. Thus was the savage and stupid and entirely inappropriate and unnecessary and humorless American class system created. Honest, industrious, peaceful citizens were classed as bloodsuckers, if they asked to be paid a living wage. And they saw that praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed. Thus the American dream turned belly up, turned green, bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited, filled with gas, went bang in the noonday sun." - Kurt Vonnegut
In Part Two of this article I will examine how we got to this point and what is likely to happen next.


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The U.S. Department of Defense hasn't followed through on its commitment to convert to IPv6, the new Internet standard designed to make room for an explosion of new connected devices.
The DoD demonstrated IPv6 in 2008 but then disabled the technology because it didn't have enough people trained to use it and was worried about potential security risks, according to a report by the Inspector General of the department. The Inspector General issued the report internally in December and on Monday released a redacted version to the public.
The current Internet Protocol, IPv4, doesn't meet battlefield needs, according to the report. Among other things, IPv6 would let troops quickly set up mobile, ad-hoc networks in the field. In addition, the slow transition to IPv6 has left the military without the expertise to identify malicious activity that uses the new protocol, the report said.
IPv6 is meant to replace IPv4, the protocol underlying most of the Internet today. The current system only allows for about 4.3 billion unique addresses, not enough to assign one to every device on growing mobile networks and the Internet of Things. IPv6 provides an effectively unlimited number of addresses.
However, the transition can be complicated and many enterprises and service providers have been slow to adopt IPv6. The DoD has used its own stated commitment to push vendors and others to support the new technology.
The Inspector General's report suggests the DoD's effort has been half-hearted, with potential implications that extend to the battlefield. Those in the department who were responsible for implementing IPv6 didn't make it a priority, coordinate their efforts or use available resources, the report said.
"As a result, DoD is not realizing the potential benefits of IPv6, including to battlefield operations," the report said. "Furthermore, the delay in migration could increase DoD's costs and its vulnerability to adversaries."
Even though the due dates for deploying IPv6 on some parts of the department's network were pushed back into 2015, DoD officials said last July that those dates were no longer valid and new targets would depend on the results of a pilot deployment. Meanwhile, one pilot system, the Defense Research and Engineering Network, had already been fully converted to IPv6 by 2009, the report said.
The Inspector General recommended the DoD set up a department-wide IPv6 transition office and working groups and take other steps to coordinate efforts.
Actually running out of IPv4 addresses isn't what drove the DoD to start pushing for IPv6 in the first place. It built the early network that became the Internet, and it has 18 percent of the world's IPv4 addresses. But IPv6 would allow the department to redesign its address space to accommodate future networks of sensors and other devices, the report said.


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Format: Mass Market Paperback, Unabridged-CD, Abridged-CD
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: May 2018
Genre: Fiction - Thrillers - Political
Retail Price: $9.99
Pages: 368
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor comes "his latest pulse-pounding adventure" (The Real Book Spy) that follows covert operative Scot Harvath as he is called upon to stop an ISIS-led plot to destroy the Vatican.
As a storm rages across the Mediterranean Sea, a terrifying distress call is made to the Italian Coast Guard. Days later, a body washes ashore. Identified as a missing high value terrorism suspect, his name sends panic through the Central Intelligence Agency.
Where was he headed? What was he planning? In a race against time, the CIA taps an unorthodox source to get answers: Navy SEAL turned covert counterterrorism operative, Scot Harvath. Hired on a black contract, Harvath will provide the deniability the United States needs, while he breaks every rule along the way.
Packed with heart-stopping action, fascinating characters, and electrifying intrigue, Brad Thor does it again with "his best book yet. Powerful and reads like the news of what is going on today" (Glenn Beck, #1 New York Times bestselling author).


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Fanmix: Warren Ellis, Gun Machine
Fan mixes: collections of music created as both soundtrack and illustration for other works, usually works of fiction, intended as both appreciation of and enticement to read the work of fiction.
This one is for Gun Machine by Warren Ellis, who is author of, among other things, Transmetropolitan and Crooked Little Vein, and is NOT the dude who plays music with Nick Cave.
Gun Machine is a murder mystery set in New York. But not the New York you usually see on cop shows; the Financial District, which is older and darker. Down there you're off the grid. The streets are narrow and twisty and reality can be very thin. Depending on how the wind is blowing off the water, it does feel like you could walk around a corner today and stumble into the 17th century, 1926 could be tomorrow and 2018 was last week.
"Off the grid" would actually sum up the book as a whole. It is also bloody, startling, deeply lonely, occasionally bitingly funny, like watching my own city from the wrong end of a telescope, a complex puzzle, and very, very good. If you pick it up, be sure to both read and … Continue reading


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Court Orders Anna Nicole To Scram
A court in the Bahamas has ordered Anna Nicole Smith to vacate the house she's living in -- STAT.
TMZ has obtained a default judgment issued yesterday against Smith (aka Vickie Lynn Marshall). G. Ben Thompson, the owner of the home in which Smith has been living, recently filed papers to evict her. Smith was required to respond to Thompson's filing by Monday, November 27, but failed to do so.
Yesterday, the court entered a default judgment, which means Thompson can now force Smith out of the house.
TMZ obtained a letter that Thompson's lawyer sent to Smith after the default judgment was entered, demanding that she vacate within 48 hours.
Thompson was once romantically involved with Smith and claims she told him he was the father of her baby. Thompson says he put a quick end to Smith's claim when he informed her that he had a vasectomy several years ago.


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2013 Survey of Americans on the U.S. Role in Global Health
The Kaiser Family Foundation 2013 Survey of Americans on the U.S. Role in Global Health is the fifth in a series of surveys designed, conducted, and analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation in order to shed light on the American public's perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes about the role of the United States in efforts to improve health for people in developing countries. This latest survey updates trends from Kaiser's previous surveys dating back to 2009, and explores new questions including the public's perception of the "bang for the buck" of U.S. aid and its ability to promote self-sufficiency in developing countries, views of spending reductions in the context of the federal budget deficit, and more detail on people's sources of information, including how much news they report hearing about specific global health issues. For the first time, the survey also includes some more detailed questions on perceptions and awareness of polio.
A few key highlights from the survey are described here, and a more detailed set of findings and charts can be found below.
Summary Of Key Findings
As the country continues to climb out of economic recession and policymakers battle over the federal budget and national debt, Americans' basic level of support for current levels of U.S. spending on efforts to improve health for people in developing countries has held relatively steady in recent years. Six in ten say the country spends either too little or about the right amount on such efforts, while three in ten say we spend too much. While there are some partisan differences in attitudes towards U.S. global health spending, these differences are much smaller than other surveys have found on questions of domestic health care policy.
Improving health in developing countries is one of many priorities the public sees as important for the President and Congress to address in world affairs, but not the top one. Fighting terrorism tops the list of priorities, followed by protecting human rights and helping out in areas affected by natural disasters.
As previous Kaiser surveys have found, misperceptions persist about the size of U.S. foreign aid and how aid is directed. On average, Americans think 28 percent of the federal budget is spent on foreign aid, when it is about 1 percent. Further, four in ten think a major part of U.S. foreign aid is given directly to developing countries to use as they see fit, when in reality most U.S. aid is directed to specific program areas. As we've seen in the past, people are more supportive of foreign aid spending when a specific purpose is mentioned – in this case, improving the health of people in developing countries – than they are of the idea of foreign aid in general.
There are several important caveats to Americans' support for U.S. global health spending. Current economic conditions make people wary of increasing spending abroad, and when it comes to contributing to deficit reduction, larger shares of the public support cuts in overseas aid compared with domestic programs like Medicare, Medicaid, public education, and Social Security. Further, most Americans do not think U.S. aid aimed at improving health delivers a good "bang for the buck," and only about a third think it increases self-sufficiency in developing countries.
An ongoing challenge for those looking to increase the public's level of interest in and support of global health is grabbing their attention, and there are some signs that the visibility of global health issues has declined in recent years. News media continues to be the public's top source of information on global health, and there is great variation in how much people report hearing in the news about specific health issues in developing countries, with hunger and malnutrition at the top of the list. Few say they've heard much about tuberculosis or polio from the news media. Still, public awareness of the global challenge of polio is high; three-quarters are aware that the disease has not been eradicated worldwide.
Priorities For U.S. In World Affairs, Priorities Within Global Health
Terrorism, Human Rights Top Public's Priorities For U.S. In World Affairs
Improving health in developing countries is one of many priorities the public sees as important for the president and Congress to address in world affairs. At the top of the public's list, more than half see fighting global terrorism and protecting human rights as a top priority, followed by disaster relief. Following these are a cluster of issues seen as top priorities by more than a third of the public, including promoting opportunities for women and girls, protecting the environment and fighting climate change, improving education, improving health, and reducing poverty in developing countries. After two wars, these priorities rank higher for the public than promoting democracy and providing military assistance to developing countries.
Within Health, All Priorities Seen As Important; Clean Water, Children's Health, Hunger Rise To Top
When asked about a variety of different priorities for U.S. efforts to improve health in developing countries, large majorities believe each area is important, and between three and six in ten say each should be "one of the top" priorities. Highest on the list of those considered top priorities are basic needs such as improving access to clean water and reducing hunger, along with children's health and vaccinations.
Given growing attention to polio eradication worldwide, this year's survey included some more detailed questions about the disease. While eradicating polio does not rank high on the public's list of priorities for U.S. involvement in improving health in developing countries, awareness of the global challenge of polio is relatively high. Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of the public are aware that polio has not been eradicated around the world. Public awareness is somewhat less accurate when it comes to the status of the polio epidemic at home. About half (52 percent) are aware that the disease has been eliminated in the U.S., but nearly four in ten (37 percent) mistakenly believe it has not been eliminated in the U.S., and another one in ten (11 percent) are unsure.
Views Of U.S. Spending On Foreign Aid And Efforts To Improve Health In Developing Countries
Confusion About Foreign Aid Spending Persists; Providing Accurate Information Has The Potential To Change Views
Consistent with previous Kaiser polls, the 2013 survey finds that the vast majority of the public overestimates the size of the federal budget that is spent on foreign aid, with just four percent correctly saying that foreign aid makes up one percent or less of the federal budget. A majority give answers above 10 percent, and on average, Americans answer that 28 percent of the budget is spent on foreign aid.
As previous Kaiser surveys have shown, spending on "foreign aid" continues to be unpopular, and in this survey, six in ten think the U.S. is now spending too much on foreign aid, and just 13 percent say the country is spending too little. However, we also find that providing people with accurate information has the potential to move opinion significantly. When survey respondents are told that only about one percent of the federal budget is spent on foreign aid, the share saying the U.S. spends too little more than doubles (from 13 percent to 28 percent), while the share saying we spend too much drops in half (from 61 percent to 30 percent).
When it comes to the types of things U.S. foreign aid money is actually spent on, the public perceives a variety of components as making up this spending. At the top of the list, 65 percent think military assistance is a "major part" of U.S. foreign aid spending, and nearly half (47 percent) say the same about addressing health issues in developing countries. Around four in ten (39 percent) see improving education and building and strengthening infrastructure as major parts of U.S. foreign aid spending. In addition to these specific areas, 40 percent believe a major part of foreign aid is given to developing countries to use as they see fit. In fact, most U.S. foreign aid spending goes to specific program areas (such as agriculture, disease prevention, and maternal health, among others), and most aid does not go directly to governments, but rather to local or international non-governmental organizations, including to U.S.-run programs, in developing countries.1
Specificity Matters: More Support For Spending On "Improving Health" Versus "Foreign Aid"
Kaiser surveys have consistently found that Americans are more likely to support U.S. spending for global health specifically than they are when asked about foreign aid more generally. In the current survey, about six in ten say the U.S. is now spending too little (31 percent) or about the right amount (30 percent) on efforts to improve health for people in developing countries, while three in ten say the country is spending too much.
Attitudes towards the amount of U.S. spending on health in developing countries have held relatively steady in recent years over the course of the country's economic recovery and battles over the federal budget and deficit. The share who say the U.S. is spending "too much" on these efforts is somewhat higher in 2013 than it was in 2012, but is close to the level measured in 2010.
Public Believes U.S. Global Health Spending Protects Health At Home And Improves U.S. Image, But Moral Reason For Giving Trumps Self-Interest
Nearly seven in ten believe that U.S. spending on health in developing countries helps protect the health of Americans by preventing the spread of diseases, and over half believe such spending is helpful for improving the U.S. image around the world. The public is somewhat less convinced that U.S. global health spending helps U.S. national security or the U.S. economy, with close to four in ten saying it is helpful in these areas and about six in ten saying it doesn't have much impact.
While many recognize these potential benefits at home, the moral argument ranks higher than self-interest arguments among the public in terms of reasons for giving aid. Nearly half say the most important reason for the U.S. to spend money on improving health in developing countries is "because it's the right thing to do," while far fewer choose reasons related to U.S. diplomacy, economy, or security.
Most Support Participation In International Efforts
When it comes to how the U.S. should go about providing aid to improve health in developing countries, over six in ten say the country should participate in international efforts, so other countries will do their fair share and efforts will be better coordinated. About half as many (31 percent) feel that it's better for the U.S. to operate on its own, so we have more control over how money is spent and get more credit and influence in the countries receiving aid. This desire to participate in international efforts may be related to the fact that half of Americans believe the U.S. is already contributing more than its fair share to global health efforts compared to other wealthier countries, while just 13 percent think the U.S. is doing less than its fair share and three in ten say the U.S. share is about right.
Caveats To Support For Spending; Perceived Barriers
Caveats To Support For Current Level Of U.S. Spending On Global Health: Concerns About Economy, Desire To Protect Domestic Programs, Skepticism About Whether Spending Will Lead To Progress
While six in ten Americans say that the current level of U.S. spending to improve health in developing countries is either too low or about right, economic concerns continue to make the public wary of the idea of increasing spending abroad. Since 2009, a solid majority of the public has said that given the serious economic problems facing the country and the world, the U.S. can't afford to spend more money on health in developing countries, while a much smaller share have said the current economic conditions make it more important than ever for the U.S. to increase such spending.
Another important caveat to support for current levels of spending is that the public is much more likely to back reductions in spending on overseas aid in order to reduce the deficit than they are to support cuts in domestic programs like Medicare, Social Security, and public education. Nearly half say they would support major reductions to spending on foreign aid as a way to reduce the federal budget deficit, and another third would support minor reductions. While fewer say they would support major reductions in "spending to address health issues like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries" versus the generic "foreign aid," still over six in ten support major or minor reductions. By contrast, more than half say they would support no reductions to spending on public education, Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid in order to reduce the deficit.
Since 2009, the public has also been divided as to whether more spending from the U.S. and other wealthier countries will lead to meaningful progress in improving health in developing countries or won't make much difference. In 2013, 44 percent believe spending will lead to progress, while just over half say it won't make much difference.
Skepticism about whether spending will lead to progress may be related to the fact that most Americans don't believe U.S. spending on health in developing countries delivers a good return on investment, and only about a third think it improves self-sufficiency.
Two-thirds of the public rates the "bang for the buck" of U.S. spending on health in developing countries as "only fair" or "poor,", while just a quarter say it is "good" or "excellent." And while just over a third of the public believes such spending helps make people and communities more self-sufficient, an equal share believes this type of aid doesn't have much impact on self-sufficiency, and roughly a quarter say it decreases self-sufficiency.
Corruption Perceived As Biggest Barrier To Progress
Another finding that has been consistent in Kaiser surveys: The public sees corruption as the biggest barrier to progress on global health. In the latest survey, 83 percent say corruption and misuse of funds is a "major reason" why it has been difficult to improve health for people in developing countries, and nearly half say it is the most important reason. Perhaps because of this concern about corruption, two-thirds of the public (66 percent) think the U.S. should have the primary role in determining how U.S. aid is spent in developing countries to ensure tax dollars are well spent, while just about a quarter (27 percent) say it's better for the developing country governments to make decisions about how aid is spent since they know their country's problems best.
Section 4: Attitudes Towards U.S. Global Health Spending By Party Identification
As is the case when it comes to most questions involving federal spending, attitudes towards U.S. spending on efforts to improve health in developing countries differ somewhat by individual political party identification. However, these partisan differences are much smaller than we find on questions of domestic health care policy and spending. For example, Republicans are 15 percentage points more likely than Democrats to say the U.S. currently spends too much on health in developing countries, but still over half of Democrats, Republicans, and independents say such spending is either too little or about right.
|Do you think the U.S. is now spending too much, too little, or about the right amount on efforts to improve health for people in developing countries?
|Too much
|About right
|Too little
Some underlying partisan differences in perceptions of the impact of U.S. spending on health in developing countries may help explain the small but measurable differences in support for spending. For example, while a majority of Democrats believe that more spending from the U.S. and other wealthier countries will lead to meaningful progress in improving health, two-thirds of Republicans feel that more spending won't make much difference. Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to believe that U.S. aid helps people and communities in developing countries to become more self-sufficient, while Republicans are more likely to perceive a negative impact on self-sufficiency. Republicans and independents are more likely to believe U.S. spending on health in developing countries delivers a "poor" bang for the buck, though even among Democrats, relatively few see such spending as offering a good return on investment.
|In general, do you think more spending from the U.S. and other wealthier countries will lead to meaningful progress in improving health for people in developing countries, or that spending more money won't make much difference?
|Will lead to meaningful progress
|Won't make much difference
|For the most part, do you think that U.S. spending to improve health in developing countries makes people and communities in these countries more self-sufficient, makes them less self-sufficient, or doesn't have much impact on how self-sufficient they are?
|More self-sufficient
|Less self-sufficient
|Doesn't have much impact on self-sufficiency
|Next, thinking about the "bang for the buck" of U.S. spending to improve health in developing countries, that is the number of lives saved relative to the money spent. Would you say the bang for the buck of this spending is…?
|Only fair
Visibility Of Global Health Issues And Sources Of Information
Declining Attention And Visibility Of Global Health Issues
The public reports engaging in global health issues on various levels, but there is some indication that the level of visibility and attention has declined somewhat in recent years. In 2013, close to two-thirds of the public say they pay at least "some" attention to issues of health in developing countries, but just 12 percent say they pay "a lot" of attention. Each of these shares is down 10 percentage points from March 2009. About a third of the public reports having donated to an organization working on global health issues in the past year, down from a high of 49 percent in August 2010 (the year of the Haiti earthquake), and similar to the level measured in 2009. Eleven percent say they have volunteered for an organization working on health in developing countries in the past year, a share that has held steady since 2009.
Over half of the public reports hearing "only a little" or "nothing at all" about U.S. government efforts to improve health in developing countries over the past year, while a third say they've heard "some" and just 15 percent say they've heard "a lot." Visibility of U.S. government efforts in this area are similar to 2012, but still somewhat lower than 2010, when more than half said they had heard "a lot" or "some" about these efforts.
U.S. government efforts, there is variation in how much the public reports hearing in the news about specific global health issues and problems. Most prominently, nearly two-thirds say they have heard "a lot" or "some" in the past year about hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Just over half report hearing news about HIV/AIDS, children's health, and global pandemics like the flu, while somewhat fewer report hearing something about maternal health. Less visible issues include family planning, tuberculosis, and polio.
News Media Top Source Of Information
As it is on many topics, the news media remains the public's top source of information on global health, with seven in ten saying they have gotten "a lot" or "some" information about the health of people in developing countries from news media sources in the past year. Behind the media as sources of information are non-profit organizations, churches and other religious institutions, and conversations with friends and family. Social media ranks at the bottom of the list as a source of information, with just 28 percent saying they've gotten "a lot" or "some" information about health in developing countries from sites like Facebook or Twitter in the past year. Young adults are somewhat more likely than others to report getting information about global health from social media (47 percent of those ages 18-29 say they've gotten at least "some" in the past year), but news media is still the top source, far outranking social media for Americans of all ages.
With the news media as their top source of information on issues of health in developing countries, many Americans say they would like to hear more from this source. Fully half say the news media spends too little time covering global health issues, while just 12 percent say the news media spends too much time on the topic and a third say the amount of coverage is about right. When it comes to the content of that coverage, Americans report hearing a fairly even mix of positive and negative stories. Overall, 28 percent say they've heard only or mostly positive news stories about global health in the past year (such as stories about successful programs), and a similar share – 26 percent – say they've heard only or mostly negative stories (such as those about corruption).
Bill And Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, And Barack Obama Stand Out As Leaders In Global Health
When asked about various people who might be perceived as leaders in efforts to improve health for people in developing countries, Bill Clinton tops the list, with 70 percent saying the former president stands out as a leader in this area. He is followed closely by philanthropist and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Barack Obama. Fewer see former president George W. Bush or current Secretary of State John Kerry as leaders in global health.


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More evidence that the major media companies are a major driver of piracy. They could reduce piracy to if they would drop the draconian drm, forget about windowing, and charge reasonable prices.
Despite Publisher Apprehension, Good Old Games Proves A Market For Old DRM-Free Games Exists
from the build-it-and-they-will-come dept
In preparation for the London Game Conference, Edge Magazine spoke with Guillaume Rambourg about the path Good Old Games has taken on DRM and what other game companies can learn from it. While Rambourg was light on the details of just what he will be speaking on at the conference, he remains confident that other publishers can learn from GOG's experiment with The Witcher 2.
I will be sharing the sales numbers on GOG compared to the competition. I think the numbers will speak for themselves, what DRM-free sales of even a triple-A title can achieve. Our values are universal and they don't only apply to older content. They apply to triple-A, day-one releases.
I certainly look forward to learning more about what this experience has to show other developers but I am glad he still leaves plenty to glean from this interview. He continues by explaining that publishers have always had the ability to do exactly what GOG is doing, but they refused to do it, citing unreasonable expenses for low returns. In the early days of GOG, they were met with animosity from publishers over the idea of releasing older games. These publishers didn't want to dedicate time and resources to preparing these games to run on modern computers. They figured it was a losing strategy.
This is something that I have observed over the years. Very few PC game companies have released older games for any price. This led to the creation of a number of abandonware and warez websites. These sites have made available a good number of unauthorized games to the public. GOG specifically took notice of this and has actually used those sites to its advantage.
When we sign content for GOG, we contact abandonware websites and make them our affiliates. So they remove the illegal content, and instead they put a GOG banner and they direct sales and traffic to us. Step by step, we are cleaning up the market and we are making the back catalogue segment a visible, and viable, market for the industry.
This is a winning strategy. I have been to a number of these sites in the past and have observed that most of the well respected sites have policies in place to remove games that are available through legal channels and even link to that legal content when it is available. Not only does this build confidence in the abandonware site, it also builds a positive attitude toward the publisher that makes these games available.
The idea of releasing older games is a proposition that only recently took hold with most publishers. A lot of it had to do with GOG and Nintendo's Virtual Console. Prior to these two platforms, most of the work done in bringing older games to modern machines was done by the fan community through the use of emulators and cracks. Most of those efforts were either ignored or attacked by the industry. Now that the experiment has been proven a success in most avenues, I would hope that game publishers will see value in bringing their older games back. The gamers want it. The publishers just need to provide it. Not only will this move provide more legal content for the fans of the games, it will also bring in more revenue that did not exist before.
Filed Under: drm, good old games, pricing
Companies: good old games


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I have just entered a short trade on the GBP\JPY, on a descending triangle chart pattern. The reason is simple: this pattern is a bearish pattern that in 73% of the cases indicates a bearish reversal.
Moreover, price has broken downwards the support trend line and has performed 2 accurate pullbacks to test the level from below. I have entered the trade on the 2nd pullback and there is high chance price will continue downwards.
From a long-term point of view we can also see that GBP\JPY and USD\JPY are in a big Double Top pattern so this is another sign of bearish trend, which confirms this signal further.
Good luck!