text:
create desktop apps using popular server-side technologies like PHP.
"All inclusive" demo includes everything - PHP, Perl, Python, Java and Tomcat for scripting, MySQL, SQLite, FireBird (windows-only) databases. Also it includes following Windows-only features: Portable FireFox, ASP and ASP.NET support.
"Compact" demo includes PHP, Perl, MySQL, SQLite, and the following Windows-only features: FireBird Database, Portable FireFox, ASP and ASP.NET support. Compared to "all inclusive" demo, it lacks Python and Tomcat/Java support.
evaluation notes | what is new in current version
Run your app directly from same disk on all platforms
Apps created with Web4GUI are Portable (run from any folder you put them). Upload a ZIP for each platfom to your site and let your clients download it and then use your app while offline.
Run your app directly from same disk on all platforms
Place your app to network share, and let users to run it directly from that network drive, without copying to their own computer.
Enable remote access to your app and turn them in usual web site. Then every user can access them like all other websites, even from mobile devices.
Create Installer (.EXE file) for Windows. Create Mac App Bundle (.DMG file) for Mac.
- Unlimited projects
use only
- Your app expires in 1 month
- Unlimited projects
Unlimited copies
of your app
- Your app does not expire
- Create only one app
Distribute up to 200
copies of the app
- Your app does not expire
More on pricing and licensing terms.
User can place Web4GUI based app to any folder and run it from there.
Server and all components like database server are configured each time user invokes the application.
Web4GUI-based apps can start directly of DVD/BlueRay/CD and even network drives
On Windows, firewalls typically prevent or ask user's confirmation for any network activity, even listening or connecting to local computer. This is not a problem for Web4GUI as they use HTTP over Named Pipes.
When user invokes Web4GUI-based app, a special browser without menubars and toolbars is started. It's possible to configure Web4GUI to launch system-default browser too.
Web4GUI provides GUI-based app called CDBuilder for configuring and packaging apps. Actually, that app is also implemented as Web4GUI app.
Web4GUI can serve static files from crypto container. Use encoders or obfuscators for server-side scripts.
Web4GUI provides cross-platform API required for desktop apps like picking folders, Save/Open dialogs, information about computer and about itself.
Like with normal desktop apps, several Web4GUI-based apps can be running at the same time. Free port or socket is found at startup, so each will get different port or socket.
Below are screenshots of Stunnix Stunnix Advanced Web Server CDBuilder GUI. There is a LIVE ONSITE demo of it too!
Intended uses for the product
Click on the small button "more info" below each item to expand details.
Current web technologies allow you to create advanced presentations and product catalogs - either in Web 2.0 style or with the use of Flash.
Most back ends of modern web technologies are available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, so it's an ideal and cheap way to create multi-platform products. Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CDROM and USB media is the only product that allows you to create media with web back ends and front ends that will work on these desktop platforms.
Believe it or not, there are a lot of users who have very slow or very expensive internet connections, even nowadays. Why would you limit the interactive capabilities of your web site materials (or create a specialized lo-fi version of the content) for those users? Just let them order current snapshots of your public web site pages on CDs for a couple of bucks (or let them download a big file once over a fast connection somewhere for free!) Just use Stunnix Advanced Web Server for DVD and USB media for this and users of Windows, Macs, or even Linux will be happy browsing your interactive tours, product presentations, and catalogues.
In case you don't have enough staff on hand to create such snapshots, we can do it for you. Just contact us and we'll help you. We can prepare the template of the product for you, and you'll be able to use it to create snapshots of your site as often as you need them.
Today's web technologies are very advanced and cross-platform, but on the other hand, the development of cross-platform web applications is 2-10 times cheaper than the development of the "usual" application for a single platform. The only problem with today's advanced web technologies is that they require complex configurations of the operating system, updating it with the latest patches and setting it up and configuring it to work with various web and database servers.
Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD-ROM and USB media eliminates the need to setup and configure anything completely! Applications produced with Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CDs will run from any folder or disk and on any desktop operating system. Stunnix Advanced Web Server for DVDs and USB media performs all the configurations for the web server, database server, and scripting engines upon startup.
With the use of Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CDROM and USB media, applications can be turned into multi-user (networked) applications in a single click inside CDBuilder GUI. This means an entire family or small office can share the data on a web-based application.
Have you ever needed to show current version of the website that you are developing to your customer in their office? Just use Stunnix Advanced Web Server for DVD and USB media and you'll be able to take your site with you, and show it to your customers on their computers no matter what OS they may be running. If you develop your site on Linux and one or more of your customers has only Windows installed on their computers, it will not be a problem for you. Simply copy a single folder to the USB memory stick or a CDRW and take it with you. It won't matter which drive letter gets assigned to that media. Stunnix Advanced Web Server for DVD and USB will auto tune everything once it's started.
Make changes at your customer's office, take the USB memory stick with you, and then copy the folder to your computer - and you've just synchronized it with your development environment!
Stunnix Advanced Web Server for DVD-ROMS and USB sticks can be your development web server of choice. Don't waste your time configuring the web server and database server on your development computer - just use Stunnix Advanced Web Server for removable media since it does not require any manual configurations or setup procedures.
You will have your own database and web server that you will be able to reconfigure, start, stop, or restart at your will. If you have to work on different unconnected computers during your day (especially if one of them runs Windows, another is a Mac, and the third one is running Linux), the move from one computer to another will only require the copying of a single folder.
Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD and DVD supports all major desktop operating systems (including Windows 98 through Windows 8, Mac OS X version 10.2 for PPC and Intel CPUs, and Linux Redhat 7.3) even without any OS updates installed. Our main implementation goal is to provide the same behaviors and the same set of features on all supported platforms. This is possible since SAWS is based on the Apache codebase (that is implemented in portable C). Advanced utilities used in preparing all environment and configuration files and the starting SAWS is implemented in the Perl programming language that is also available on a lot of platforms.
The wrapper auto detects free ports, finds the appropriate extensions and libraries to use on a given version of the OS, copies database files, starts MySql or Firebird database server, generates php configuration and apache-style configuration files for the codes, starts the core web server, opens the browser, and manages the shutdown of the web and database servers.
We are not aware of any other web server implementing something similar.
On Windows, frewalls typically prevent any usual web server to start up and accept connections. Making web server and browser talk over Named Pipes makes both browser and server to be unnoticable and unaffected by firewalls.
Stunnix Advanced Web Server is the only web server in the world that can communicate with browser using Named Pipes instead of TCP networking. Also a special edition of Portable FireFox is provided that can communicate with Stunnix Advanced Web Server over Named Pipes.
All server side code like PHP, Python and Perl do not notice any difference between HTTP over Named Pipes and HTTP over TCP. All browser plugins like Flash and Java use browser's functions for communication with server, so they also seamlesly work over Named Pipes!
See more details on HTTP over Named Pipes here. We are not aware of any other web server implementing something similar.
When Compressed Web Runtime is enabled, CDBuilder (GUI tool for creation CDs/DVDs) puts a zip archives with web server itself, mysql server, php interpreter and Perl interpreter (and other interpreters like Python and JRE) into special folders on CD/DVD (one direcory per each Operating System).
On first run of the CD/DVD, the zip file for corresponding platform is unpacked to hidden permament directory on user's HDD. Then web server, mysql server and all script interpreters are run from that directory on HDD. All the web content (web documents and web scripts) continue to reside on CD/DVD.
On second and subsequent run of such CD/DVD, a web server, mysql server and all script interpreters are run directly from HD (no unpacking of them from CD/DVD is required), thus starting website from CD is as fast as starting from HDD.
See more details on Compressed Web Runtime here. We are not aware of any other web server implementing something similar.
Stunnix Advanced Web Server can serve static files from the archive of proprietary format. This allows you to store all your static files (i.e. .html, .js, .swf, .pdf, .css, .png, .jpg, .gif, .flv and others) inside a single file, protecting your intellectual property. Once all your static files are inside the archive, it's much more difficult for a thief to steal your javascript and PDF files - he will have to download them one by one (so he will need to know names of all those files).
The files that are stored inside the archive (it's also called "storage") are served directly by web server from the archive, without unpacking them to temporary directory. Due to various techniques performance is not affected.
You can store any multimedia files like Flash or videos or PDFs into that encrypted storage. See more info on encrypted storage for static files here.
Stunnix Advanced Web Server uses codebase of Apache - very advanced, very flexible and the most widespread web server in the world. The syntax of configuration files and set of supported configuration file directives is exactly the same as Apache web server has.
Http core of Stunnix Advanced Web Server supports loading additional modules compiled for Apache-1.3.33 and below, meaning support for features absent in default configuration of Stunnix Advanced Web Server can be added in a minutes, such as webdav, ssl support, authentification via database and others.
Since all Apache configuration settings are supported and are handled the way Apache does, it automatically means that one can apply different settings to any single directory or to any resource whoose url matches specific regular expression; has the ability to have aliases for some documents (possibly located outside of web content root), has ability to have version of the webpage or images in several languages, advanced rewrites, advanced initialization of environment variables, precise control over headers and mime types and other features that make Apache so flexible and powerfull.
The CDBuilder for Stunnix Advanced Web Server is an advanced tool that lets developers configure all the properties of the CD using GUI, without ever touching any configuration files or using command line utilities. It creates a directory tree ready to be burned to a CDROM or copied to a USB memory stick. It can also create ISO images of the final product, using correct ISO creation settings that guarantee proper work on all operating systems.
You can see what options are available by visiting the "Site Settings" page of our on-site demo of CDBuilder.
Just create a project, specify the location of the web content and database files, choose which platforms to support, choose which scripting languages to enable and which extensions to enable in the scripts, select a database type to be used, and click "Make Prototype" and "Copy all files" to generate a working image of your compact disk!
On Windows, Stunnix Advanced Web Server supports UNC paths (\\server\share\path). This means it can run from network drives without mounting them. This is very useful for corporate environments.
Tomcat, ASP, and ASP.NET based sites appear on the same port as the main web server, allowing it to mix Tomcat, ASP, and PHP or Perl on the same portal seamlessly. Developers can specify which content is to be served by the main web server and which content is to be served by Tomcat. You can view more information on running Tomcat from CDROM with Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CDs and DVD by clicking here.
Of course, Tomcat, ASP and ASP.NET shut down along other parts of the web site (such as the database server) when the user requests to stop the web site.
Developers can save a lot of time otherwise spent on site development and debugging by enabling the Web Server Inspector - a tool that lets them to browse MySQL database, inspect web server access and error logs, and environment variables, open various special folders with a single click, and restart their web server or control their database server.
This allows the developer to run their web site under Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD and DVD and to modify it at the same time, being able to trace what is going on and reset the state of the scripting engines.
No installation is required for Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD. It runs from any location, including directories with names containing spaces. The web server, database server and script interpreters are run directly off of the CD. No hidden installation is performed on the user's computer. Everything needed to run them is present on the CD, and the user doesn't have to preinstall anything on his or her computer - no .NET runtimes, no OS patches.
Of course, it works fine from read-only media like compact discs (CDs), DVD disks, USB sticks, and shared network drives.
A smart wrapper, used for starting browser-based applications automatically, tunes the environment and computes the command line options for the database servers, generates configuration files for script engines, and then successfully runs the web server.
Information about the location of various important files and directories (like the interpreter's location, and directories of web documents), server properties (port being listened to by web server and so on), and information about the environment that the site runs in is made available via scripts that constitute web site logic. This makes it easy to adapt the web site logic to work on any of the supported platforms.
The user can copy an entire CD's contents to an HDD in order to free-up the CD tray for other discs and to improve performance.
An IonCube Loader is shipped with Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD/DVD media and is supported on all platforms that Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CDs/DVDs supports. This means you can distribute even your business-critical web site PHP code on CDROMs without any worries about code theft, or about whether or not CDROMs will be supported on various platforms.
The loader for Zend-encoded code is also provided for all platforms that Zend supports (which includes every platform Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD and DVD discs supports besides Mac OS X for Intel CPUs) - meaning that IonCube is preferred if you wish your product to support as much platforms as possible.
Of course JavaScript code protected by Stunnix JavaScript Obfuscator and Perl code protected by Stunnix Perl Obfuscator are both supported on all platforms supported by Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD and DVD disks.
Apache is famous for its flexibility. Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD and DVD is as flexible as Apache web server since its native configuration file syntax and grammar is the same as the one used by Apache.
For example, it has the ability to set options on a per-location or URLs-matching-regex basis and has parts of configuration files residing in its web documents directory.
Conditional configuration is, of course, supported (based on request properties, environment variables set, and the browser's language). The inclusion of various configuration files is supported.
URL rewriting is fully supported too. Custom error pages (localized into different languages) are also supported.
If-Modified-Since HTTP header is also supported, allowing you to use your browser's cache for static resources to speed up page rendering.
There is an advanced cross-platform support for the stopping of Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD and for the releasing of media. It's triggered by visiting a page with a special URL (refer to it with a link or button with a "quit" title). Once it's visited, Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD-ROM will serve content for a specified number of seconds (to allow that resource to refer to images, stylesheets, scripts, and even multimedia), terminate itself, database server, Tomcat (if any), and other external programs started per the developer's request, and will then release the media.
It's important to remind the user to click that button or visit the link for stopping, since on platforms other than Windows, the user won't be unable to eject CDROM by simply closing browser window.
The tray icon shown on Windows brings up a context menu with the option to stop the web site, so Window users can use the tray icon instead of visiting the special resources.
Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD and DVD and all scripts and programs that are started by it are terminated automatically without any GUI prompt when the user ends the session or reboots/shutdowns the machine on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.
Cross-platform support is available for starting additional programs with configurable delays (before and after starting the browser or before starting the http engine) and for stopping them when the server shuts down.
Of course, the starting of the browser can also be disabled, so products that use database-driven web services that draw their UI theirself can also use Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CDs and DVDs.
The names of those additional programs can be set for each platform independently. It's even possible to have a web-based UI on some platforms and an native UI on others. All additional programs are run directly from the CDROM and are stopped automatically once the web server receives the request to terminate. It's possible to specify the amount of time to wait after a such additional program is started.
All autoconfigurations and autodetections are done by a special smart wrapper utility implemented in Perl (meaning it's very easy to be modified for special needs).
As part of the startup, it finds a free TCP ports to start the web server, database servers, and Tomcat on, meaning that even on computers that have the "most convenient" port numbers occupied by other applications (or even by other instances of Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD), all servers will start successfully. The chosen port numbers are exported to web site scripts using environment variables and (for mysql server) as settings in php.ini.
Different instances of Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CDROM and USB media can run on any given computer at any given moment in time, provided the authors of the products have created different Site IDs for their products.
This means that products that rely on Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CDROM and USB media can be run on terminal servers or can be run by the same user at the same time without conflicting with each other.
Stunnix Advanced Web Server for CD and DVD-ROM media provides some information about platforms and environments being run under to the web site scripts using environment variables
This allows you to make website scripts that work on any OS supported by SAWS.


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We first caught Top Gear USA shooting Hyundais in California. Now they've been spotted in Georgia filming a Dodge Viper trying to outrun a Cobra... attack helicopter. Maybe there's hope for Top Gear USA after all. Photos and video below.
In our exclusive interview with the show's executive producer he told us the "action film" segments from the British Top Gear will be a big part of the made-in-the-USA version. That explains whyTop Gear USA was spotted in Georgia filming at the Griffin Spalding County Airport yesterday with hosts Tanner Foust, Rutledge Wood, two Vipers and a Cobra attack helicopter.
The video and photos from Drew over at the MX5Atlanta forum clearly show Foust and Rutledge racing around the track at high speed as the AH-1 Cobra gunship attempts to keep up with them. No clue who wins here, but notice what's in the background of the last shot.
**Spoiler Alert** It's a Dodge Viper ACR.
(Hat tip to Drew for the pics and John for the tip!)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
News Releases
The long-awaited report into the expansion of hog production in Manitoba, based on the findings of last fall's citizens' hearings in Brandon, will be released Thursday by the Canadian Centre for...May 23, 2000 | Manitoba Office
Ottawa--Poverty is still a women's issue - even though people no longer seem to be talking about it. Almost 19% of adult women in Canada are poor. That's the highest rate of women's poverty in two...April 5, 2000 | National Office
Program spending is not the cause of Nova Scotia's deficit problems, and cuts to spending are not the solution according to the inaugural publication of the Nova Scotia Branch of the Canadian Centre...April 3, 2000 | Nova Scotia Office
(Vancouver) A new report released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives--BC Office says the services British Columbians depend on are seriously threatened by calls for further public...March 22, 2000 | BC Office
OTTAWA--Today, as the Liberal Caucus meets to discuss the upcoming federal budget, national and community organizations released an Alternative Federal Budget, calling on the federal government to...February 1, 2000 | National Office
OTTAWA—Tandis que le caucus parlementaire du Parti libéral se réunissait à Ottawa aujourd'hui, une coalition d'organismes nationaux et communautaires lançait un budget alternatif, sommant le...February 1, 2000 | National Office
The Manitoba government's post-secondary education policy over the past decade has made access to university much more difficult and much less equitable, and is jeopardizing Manitoba's place in the...January 31, 2000 | Manitoba Office
Ottawa; January 24, 2000--The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives today released a report, The Missing News, which documents and analyzes recurring blind spots in news coverage by Canada's print...January 24, 2000 | National Office
(Vancouver) A stronger economy in 1999 will mean a much smaller deficit for 1999/00, creating room in the 2000 Budget for progressive policy choices, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said...January 20, 2000 | BC Office
(Vancouver) The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives--BC Office (CCPA-BC) is calling on Finance Minister Paul Martin to reject calls for across the board tax cuts in this year's federal budget....November 23, 1999 | National Office, BC Office
Ottawa: Alternative Federal Budget 2000 today released its Alternative Fiscal and Economic Update: Policy Options for the Federal Government. The main findings of the report are as follows: Under...November 1, 1999 | National Office
In a brief delivered yesterday to Social Development and Economic Security Minister Moe Sihota, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives urged the provincial government to re-instate the flat rate...October 13, 1999 | BC Office
As the last labour day of the millennium approaches, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is calling for a substantial increase in the minimum wage. In a major new study released today, the...September 2, 1999 | National Office, BC Office


text:
Today's AM fix was USD 1,756.75, EUR 1,344.31 and GBP 1,081.81 per ounce.
Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,767.25, EUR 1,349.36 and GBP 1,089.42 per ounce.
Silver is trading at $34.16/oz, €26.24/oz and £21.10/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,662.00/oz, palladium at $673.60/oz and rhodium at $1,350/oz.
Gold fell $14.00 or 0.79% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,757.60. Silver dropped to as low as $33.806 before it rebounded back higher, and finished trading with a loss of 1.76%.
Cross Currency Table – (Bloomberg)
Gold inched lower in quiet volatile trade on Tuesday after equity and commodity markets pulled back overnight and investors booked profits from the recent rally created by the US Fed's QE3 launch.
However the current monetary climate of central bank money printing will cause inflation and this is increasing the appeal of gold for investors.
Platinum also fell, as news announced about Japanese closures of car plants in China due to the escalating territorial dispute between the two nations.
The China Japanese tensions have been simmering for some time and this largely unacknowledged geopolitical risk is a real risk to markets.
The tensions have led to protests and attacks on Japanese companies such as car makers Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor, forcing them to cease operations and there have been hints of trade sanctions.
Platinum is used as an auto catalyst and is necessary part for production in the automotive industry.
Central banks are pursuing quantitative easing, in effect, printing and electronically creating money which is extremely easy for central bankers to do.
Conversely, gold is called a 'precious metal' for a reason. Gold remains very precious, finite and very rare. All the gold in the world if made into one large gold bar (0.9999 pure) would be 21 metres cubed and would fit on the centre court of Wimbledon.
Gold needs to be extracted from the bowels of the earth in a gold mine. It needs to be found and it needs much capital and technology and specialist labour to get small amounts of gold out of the ground.
Lessons of QE: Printing Money Is Easy, Mining Gold Is Not
The process of development can take a very long time and many gold mining companies become insolvent and are not successful in producing even one ounce of gold. When companies are successful, it is often only many years later that one ounce of gold is produced.
This difficult task means that while U.S. money supply in the form of M2 has risen by 30% since June 2008, gold production has fallen by 1.7%, despite rising gold prices.
While the concept of "peak oil" has been widely debated in markets, that of "peak gold" is less well known. This will change in the coming years.
Cash Costs Are Rising for Gold Miners as Grades Are Declining
Rising cash costs have been fuelled by declining ore grades and higher raw material costs – especially with regard to higher oil and energy costs. Mining remains a very energy intensive business.
Ore grades have declined 8% annually, while cash costs have had a 14.1% CAGR since 2005 for senior producers.
Cost inflation has been driven by fuel, labour and key consumables, which have only been partially mitigated by the rising gold price.
Gold Production Stable Amid Decade-Long Price Surge
Global gold production remains at its level of the late '90s, even though prices have risen to over $1,700 per ounce from $252 per ounce in 1999 or roughly 16% per annum in dollar terms.
Only Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe's Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia stand out as a major new gold mines expected to begin production in the near future.
Bulls note that global production has remained impervious to the price of gold. This may continue to be the case due to the increasingly obvious geological constraints being seen in the gold mining sector.
Resource nationalism is beginning to become an important factor again. This will also almost certainly affect supply at a time when demand is increasing from people throughout the world and many hedge funds, pension funds and central banks' due to geopolitical, systemic and monetary risks.
The lesson of QE is that fiat currencies increasingly grow on trees. Gold does not.
This is the primary reason that gold will continue to protect investors in the coming months.
Charts and data courtesy of Bloomberg Industries Kenneth Hoffman and the Precious Metal Mining Team
(Bloomberg) — Gold ETP Holdings Climb to Record for 10th Straight Session
Gold holdings in exchange-traded products backed by the metal rose to a record for the 10th straight session.
The amount increased 2.69 metric tons, or 0.1 percent, to 2,506.29 tons, data tracked by Bloomberg showed.
(Bloomberg) — South Africa's ANC, Unions Blame Mine Owners for Violence
South Africa's ruling party and biggest labor group blamed mining companies for labor unrest that has crippled the world's biggest platinum industry, saying they failed to pay their employees enough.
Workers at shafts owned by Lonmin Plc, Anglo American Platinum Ltd. and Gold Fields Ltd. have embarked on a series of illegal strikes over the past month. At least 45 people have died at Lonmin's Marikana mine, 34 of them killed by police on Aug. 16 when they opened fire on protesters.
"The socio-economic conditions of the mine workers at Marikana and other areas are part of what led to the human tragedy that continues to haunt our nation," the African National Congress' National Executive Committee, the party's top leadership structure, said in an e-mailed statement today. "Mining remains the bedrock of the South African economy and yet the abject poverty and squalor surrounding mining areas remains a matter of deep concern."
The ANC has ruled South Africa since all-race elections in 1994 in alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party. While the striking workers have accused the Cosatu-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers of failing to represent their interests, the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union has gained recruits.
Lonmin has blamed union rivalry for igniting tension at Marikana.
Lost Revenue
The strikes at gold and platinum mines this year have cost the economy 4.5 billion rand ($547 million), President Jacob Zuma, who is also leader of the ANC, told unionists in Johannesburg today. The government has lost 3.1 billion rand in revenue as a result of the labor unrest, he said.
South Africa is the world's biggest producer of platinum , chrome and manganese and mines gold and coal. Anglo American Platinum Ltd., AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Xstrata Plc operate in the country.
"Workers in the mines are rising against their continued exploitation by employers," Cosatu President S'Dumo Dlamini said in an e-mailed copy of a speech he was to deliver today at the federation's annual congress in Johannesburg. "The problem in Marikana is not rivalry between unions nor can it simply be put as being a widening gap between leaders and members."
Dlamini accused a "right-wing clique" of seeking to destroy the alliance and undermine its efforts to redistribute wealth and create jobs.
Julius Malema
"We need a response that will draw everybody's attention and energy on the total restructuring of our economy, so that it can be placed on a labor-absorbing trajectory," he said. "We need a response that will focus the country on the distribution of wealth and nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy, and as well as for effective land redistribution."
Cosatu has blamed Julius Malema, the youth leader who was expelled from the ANC this year, for inciting some of the illegal strikes. Police today prevented Malema, 31, from entering a stadium near Marikana where striking workers had gathered. That comes two days after the government deployed army personnel to assist police in seizing weapons from striking miners in Marikana.
(Bloomberg) — Roads Barricaded by Protesters Near Lonmin
Trenches were dug and large rocks were laid down on the dirt roads leading into the shantytown bordering Lonmin Plc's Marikana mine after South African police raided the area and confiscated spears and knives.
The barriers were put up less than a kilometer (0.6 miles) from Wonderkop hill, where 34 people were shot and killed by South African police on Aug. 16.
(Bloomberg) — Rhodium Climbs to Highest Since May on Mine Production Concern
Rhodium climbed to the highest price in 16 weeks on concern unrest in South Africa's mining industry will cut production and as the Federal Reserve said it will expand monetary stimulus.
Strikes over pay and working conditions in South Africa, the biggest rhodium producer, shut down operations at Anglo American Platinum Ltd., Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., Lonmin Plc and Gold Fields Ltd. Other precious metals jumped to the highest levels since at least March last week after the Fed said it will buy more debt to bolster the labor market.
Rhodium, usually found alongside platinum and palladium, and mainly used in catalytic converters, fell 87 percent since reaching a record $10,100 an ounce in 2008 as carmakers cut the amount used in each autocatalyst and increased recycling to reduce costs. The surplus will drop 62 percent to 52,900 ounces this year, the least since 2008, Morgan Stanley estimates.
"The riots in South Africa led to an increase," Hanau, Germany-based trader Heraeus Metallhandelsgesellschaft mbH said in a report e-mailed today.
Rhodium gained a third day, climbing 4 percent to $1,300 by 11:12 a.m. in London. That's the highest since May 28, according to London-based Johnson Matthey Plc, the maker of one in three autocatalysts. Prices fell to $1,100 last month, the lowest since January 2009, and are down 7.1 percent this year.
South Africa deployed about 150 army personnel to help police quell violent protests at Lonmin's Marikana mine as the government pledged to crack down on illegal strikes. The month- long standoff between police and thousands of strikers at the Lonmin mine has left at least 45 people dead, including 34 miners shot by police on Aug. 16.
The Fed said Sept. 13 it will buy $40 billion a month of mortgage debt to bolster the labor market and probably hold the federal funds rate near zero until at least the middle of 2015.
Rhodium is used in canisters with honeycomb-like surfaces that transform car emissions. Global sales of cars and light commercial vehicles will rise 5.5 percent to a record 81.1 million units this year, according to LMC Automotive Ltd., a research company in Oxford, England.
(Bloomberg) — Gold-Borrowing Costs Decline to Lowest in Six Months in London
The cost of borrowing gold fell to a six-month low in London at a time when prices neared the highest since February and holdings in bullion-backed exchange- traded products climbed to a record.
The three-month lease rate fell to minus 0.0559 percent yesterday, the lowest level since March 14, from minus 0.0547 percent on Sept. 14, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The rate is derived by subtracting the gold forward offered rate from the London Interbank Offered Rate. A negative reading means banks have to pay to have their gold deposits lent.
"Plentiful availability of metal for leasing usually implies low lease rates," according to the London Bullion Market Association's guide to precious metals markets on its website. "A sudden increase in the supply of gold liquidity to the market will push lease rates down."
The six-month lease rate for the metal increased to 0.1669 percent yesterday from 0.1662 percent on Sept. 14, when it fell to the lowest level since March 15.
"Lease rates are an indication only of bank-to-bank borrowing charges," analysts at Hyderabad, India-based Karvy Comtrade Ltd. wrote yesterday in a report. "The degree to which lease rates may be displayed as negative, would suggest the degree to which there is a lack of demand to borrow the metal."
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Gold slips after commodities sell-off, off seven-month high – Reuters
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Last year, a senior executive in charge of customer satisfaction at his company opened an email with the subject "customer complaint" that appeared to be sent from the Better Business Bureau. He followed a link to see details of the complaint. "If he had stopped to examine the URL carefully, he would have seen that it was a trap" -- known as a whaling attack and based on spear-phishing techniques -- intended to gather information about the company, says Jonathan Gossels, president of SystemExperts, a security consulting firm. "But during a busy work day, that hardly happens."
In another recent case, an attacker researched the background of a systems administrator, then sent him an email about a reduced premium health care plan for families of four or more. This appealed to the administrator, who has five children, and enticed him to open the attached form. The form had embedded malware that compromised the target's computer and gave the attacker a foothold into his corporate network. It also allowed the attacker to impersonate the administrator and garner sensitive information about the company's operations, says Rohyt Belani, CEO of Intrepidus Group, a security consulting and training firm.
[ Master your security with InfoWorld's interactive Security iGuide and our Deep Dive PDF guides on browser security, Windows 7 security, and malware defense. | Stay up to date on the latest security developments with InfoWorld's Security Central newsletter. ]
These whaling attacks are a form of personalized phishing, or spear phishing, aimed at senior executives or others in an organization who have access to lots of valuable or competitive information. While phishers generally go after consumers for bank account data, passwords, credit card numbers, and the like for financial gain, whalers most often target people who have inside information or can provide ongoing access to systems. Thus, the cost of being harpooned can be huge.
Whaling attacks are harder to detect than phishing expeditions. There's no obvious signature to detect as in phishing, such as seeing hundreds of copies of a phishing email enter your server. Whaling attacks are also hard to defend against because they often play on executives' feelings and sense of self-importance.
And security experts say these types of attacks are on the rise.
"As more private information becomes public, through social media sites and otherwise, targeting specific individuals within companies has become easier for hackers and thus a preferred method of attack," says Kim Peretti, a director in the forensic services practice at the PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting firm.
"This proliferation of information on individuals -- where they work, with whom they interact socially and professionally, what conferences they attend, when and where they vacation -- has enabled hackers to determine not only which individuals at companies may hold the keys to the kingdom, but also to which messages these [people] are most likely be duped into responding," Peretti says.
What can you do to protect your corporate whales from getting harpooned? Follow these five best practices, experts tell InfoWorld.
1. Learn what a whaling attack is and how to identify actual threats and attacks.
How do you know if you're the target of a whaling attack? Unfortunately, if the whaler has done lots of research and effectively copied the signature and other known characteristics of your email, you generally won't know you're being attacked because there really aren't any obvious tell-tale signs, says Robert Siciliano, a security consultant and identity theft expert.
Still, there are things you can look out for, Siciliano says. Watch for odd requests, links that don't make sense to normal everyday communications, and attachments that are not generally sent by the purported sender. If you get an email that appears to be sent by a colleague but seems suspicious, check with the person to make sure he or she actually sent it, says Intrepidus's Belani. And keep in mind that some of the most common whaling techniques involve emails purportedly sent from one member of the executive management team to another.
In general, always be suspicious of unsolicited email. "Never click through links in an email message from someone you don't know -- unless you initiated the email exchange," says SystemExperts' Gossels. "You should be suspicious when an email message sender knows too much about you."


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Subliminal advertising has gone mainstream - fake news, mind control scripts, propaganda and stealth voicemail are in wide use by corporations, government bodies and industry groups.
Martin Howard
May 23, 2007
Some of the biggest advertisers are taking their advertising away from full page ads and television spots and spending up on hidden persuasion. You won't find these secret messages in ice-cubes or flickering film footage like they were in the sixties. Subliminal advertising has gone mainstream - fake news, mind control scripts, propaganda and stealth voicemail are in wide use by corporations, government bodies, and industry groups. Have you spotted any of these?
1. Point of Sale Mind Control Scripts
Clothing store staff and car salesmen use them to close the deal - carefully planned questions and subverbal cues to get you to sign. If you've ever walked out of a store, after spending twice as much as you wanted to, chances are you've fallen victim to one of these scripts. The GAPACT is used by Gap staff to upsell you. Other salesmen use word techniques to make you buy, even when you don't have the money - because they make more by selling you 'easy' finance. When a car salesmen takes you on a test drive and asks you "Is this the type of vehicle you would like to own?", he is using a subtle mental framing trick - it can create an embarrassing distraction while you drive. The technique is called disassociation - which is the ideal state for mental manipulation.
2. Doctor-Patient Drug Kick-backs
When a doctor recommends a certain heart medication or an antidepressant, chances are he has been paid a cash bonuses and perks by the manufacturer, making it difficult to give objective advice. Some pharmaceutical firms have gone so far as to invent and promote a new syndrome in order to create a market for a new drug! Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) was devised in 1998 and publicised by planting fifty press stories and quizzes such as: "Do you have social anxiety disorder?". Soon after, Smithkline Beecham released Paxil - the 'cure' for SAD.
3. In-Store Sensory Manipulation
Scientifically tested visual displays, Muzak tapes, and even mind altering scents combine to maximize impulse spending. Specially designed music loops can keep shoppers in the supermarket for 18% longer. One study into use of airborne aromas, pumped into a Canadian mall, resulted in an increase of over $50 per customer that week. In supermarkets, scientifically generated Planograms create the ideal shelf arrangement for certain products, skewing the shopper's eyes towards high value items. Companies pay slotting allowances for favoured placement. Aisle layout are change regularly - which prevents systematic shopping - forcing extra trips past the impulse item displays.
4. Private Conversation Rental
Positive buzz can be triggered artificially for a price. Marketers now recruit secret 'buzz agents' to promote to their friends and family. One buzz agency claims to have an army of agents in every major US city. Their job is to mention or display certain products as they go about their day, using their relationships as marketing channels. Music labels, book sellers, entertainment venues, and fashion outlets are using this method to establish new brands. Today's billion dollar 12-16 year olds are so immune to traditional advertising, mass media is no longer a reliable persuasive device - so the alternative is a 'synthetic grapevine.'
5. Neuromarketing
Corporations are going to enormous lengths to probe the minds of consumers - literally tapping into their brains. The Brighthouse Institute for Thought Sciences, in Atlanta, is one lab that is scanning people's brains with MRIs, in an effort to decode and record our subconscious thoughts and devise more seductive advertising. The process is being called neuromarketing. They are hoping to determine specific biological triggers that can be used by language engineers to stimulate purchases. This is the hi-tech fulfilment of pioneer psychologists Freud and Jung who established the connection between language and behaviour.
6. Chatbots and Stealth Voicemail
Personal phone messages from businesses or political campaigners can turn up in your morning voicemail, having been delivered late the previous night. Voicemail broadcasters like DialAmerica uses massive computer installations to deliver identical copies of spoken messages to millions of householder simultaneously. On the internet, chat room 'bots' masquerading as personal real buddies are actually distributed simultaneously by powerful computers 24 hours a day. Virtual word-of-mouth communication is replacing other promotional technologies because of its speed and price.
7. Real-time Bugging of Personal Data
Your browser is probably revealing more than you might want: your location, the software and hardware you are using, details of other links you clicked on and your browsing habits. Many third party dataminers use 'cookies' to track your path across the web. Extensive realtime information is processed to target you. Larger databases harvest your personal medical and financial records to be bought and sold by interested companies and government departments. Datamining is a fuzzy science that filters you personal information for links about your personal behaviour and finances. These details are used in turn to create elaborate marketing campaigns to sell you more stuff.
8. Sidewalk Stalkers
The public space of streets, neighborhoods and communities is being mapped and targeted by viral marketers and fake grassroots organizations. In some cases the campaigns are overt but, increasingly, street 'agents' are making unannounced social approaches. Fake tourists flash around the latest camera-phone to passing crowds. 'Product seeders' circulate at sports events to find influential young players to wear their gear. Others wander the street wearing colored corporate tattoos. Personal space is the last frontier for commerce. As citizens attempt to retreat from the deluge of media advertising they can now be stalked when they step out the door.
9. Planted News Stories
Industry front groups, public relations firms and government departments are planting news stories on TV, radio, newspapers and the web. Those 'miracle drug' stories or research reports are often Video News Release (VNRs). TV newsrooms love these prepackaged news items that are distributed across the networks. It saves them time and money but it is killing community news and genuine investigative reporting. Real news items are being replaced by slick corporate promotions and political messages. According to one Nielsen Media Research Survey, about 80 percent of U.S. news directors air VNRs several times a month, and all American television newsrooms now use VNRs in their newscasts.
10. Government Propaganda
When it's time to launch a war or promote an unpopular policy, the government needs special help to sell the idea through the media. Opinion engineers are paid to "manage" public perception of inconvenient facts, and turn them around for better. Using the universal tools fear, patriotism, and phrase repetition, these high flying spin doctors can easily sway the population. The most successful public relations campaigns aim to change public perception without our awareness of the campaign. They are typically launched by governments, institutions and countries who need to change their public image, restore their reputation or manipulate public opinion. There are PR firms today who advise dictatorships, dishonest politicians and corrupt industries to cover up environmental catastrophes and human rights violations.
Martin Howard is a media researcher and author of "We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind"


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I've been struggling to figure out how best to showcase my Comic Con shenanigans because I have over a thousand pictures taken over the course of 3 days. I did a post dedicated to the Panels and thought I might do posts dedicated to Costumes, Celebs, Exhibition Floor, etc. but no matter how I worked it, it just wasn't coming out right. So I decided to showcase each day individually starting with Friday.
Holy craparoni there was a ton of people. I knew there would be, and yet, nothing can prepare you for the experience the first time you go. I used to celebrate Halloween in the Castro, I know what it's like to be surrounded by a shit ton of humans dressed in crazy costumes, but I'm also used to smaller conventions where it takes less than 45 minutes to walk from one end of the Exhibition Floor to the other.
In the past I've discussed my extreme shyness and social awkwardness. They go hand in hand and it's something that I'm constantly fighting with, especially as the blog grows. This trait o' mine can be particularly frustrating to my family and friends when they're with me at conventions and events and are promoting me. I have a tendency to panic and retreat whenever I hear my name mentioned so by the time they turn to introduce me to someone I'm nowhere to be found. For Comic Con it was decided that they were going to liquor me up.
I'm dead serious.
And they came prepared. My sister-in-law, Troi, brought disposable flasks. My NBFF (Nerd Best Friend Forever), Geek Outlaw, made a delicious alcoholic concoction in his CamelBak each morning. I was ordered to sip from one of these two vessels throughout the day so that I would be less likely to panic and run. To be clear, I was never once intoxicated or even slightly buzzed, but I will admit that it took the edge off a little. A few people were even surprised when they were told how well I was doing at being social.
Geez, I totally sound pathetic haha. The point is, it helped and I probably had my most socially successfully convention ever.
I needed that little bit of liquid courage because I made buttons to hand out to the people I met. Lots and lots of gloriously nerdy buttons. Despite the liquor I was pretty shy about handing these out but there were a few times when they caught on like wildfire and I actually had a line of people waiting to dunk their hands in the giant bag of buttons. I made these in the 1.5 days between getting home from my Grandma's funeral in Cincinnati and the first day of Comic Con so hopefully the next batch of buttons will be better.
I was lucky enough to meet up with some friends throughout the day including one of my best buds Brett (he zombifies all my pictures for me), Aaron who I hadn't seen in at least a couple of years, and Eddy who I hadn't seen in 10 years.
While on the Floor I headed over to the DC booth to visit Tre' Ridings, a fabulous photographer who I met at WonderCon and have kept in touch with. If you haven't yet, check out DC's We Can Be Heroes campaign. While there Eddy and I got our pictures taken.
I'm an insanely devoted Trekkie and have been collecting signatures in my TNG The Continuing Mission book for about 15 years now starting with John de Lancie. So I was super excited to see Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton at Comic Con! But super sad that I didn't have my book on me. I got their signatures and pictures with them anyways.
The next day I brought my book but Brent was gone. So I've added LeVar's signature to the book. Hopefully Brent's won't be far behind!
My sister-in-law and I ran into Colin Ferguson from Eureka on our way to the Roddenberry After Party. He was super nice.
Lou Ferrigno was huge! And also very nice.
Todd Stashwick is officially my new favorite celebrity. I didn't recognize him at first with his hat and glasses. He was there promoting the printed trade paperback of his online comic book The Devil Inside and we started chatting it up about all kinds of random stuff like Chicago and the Secret Service. It wasn't until about 10 minutes into the conversation that it even came out that he was an actor (trust me, you know who he is). We ended up talking for quite a while and I left with a copy of his book and a promise that I'd return the next day to show him my Thor costume and get Dennis Calero's signature on my book.
Some other randomly awesome stuff from the Floor:
And Michael from Knight Rider.
Awesome Indiana Jones booth complete with live snakes.
Optimus Prime is the shit.
Zombie mobile from The Walking Dead.
I don't know why but the Batpod looked kind of small to me in real life but looking at it in comparison with the people in the picture it looks like a decent size. Weird.
Troi is obsessed with zombies.
Who's scruffy-looking??
The Captain's chair was blocked off but they let this guy take a picture in it. Love the Roddenberry folks!
Troi got the greatest LEGO set ever for my brother and my nephew. It has working electronics. Frak, I'm jealous.
Time for costumes!
We were behind some Avatar: The Last Airbender fans in a panel line.
And also ran into some Legend of Korra peeps.
My best guess is GI Joe. Correct me if I'm wrong!
Saw a ton of Poison Ivy's and Harley Quinn's per usual.
This guy was a big hit with Troi.
A towering inferno of physical perfection.
Awesome AT-AT.
Remember this girl?
Her name is Jennifer Landa and she's super sweet and she put together another spectacular Star Wars costume, this time of the Millennium Falcon.
Everyone needs a little bit of Tusken Raider in their life to keep them on their toes.
This Prometheus promotion calmly and silently walked through the Exhibition Hall while his lovely ladies passed crap out.
Best. Penguin. Ever.
What's up Doc?
And a couple after my own heart.
At the end of the day we headed over to Fluxx for the Roddenberry Trek Nation Party. (Friendly reminder that my interview with Rod Roddenberry will be coming to you soon!) On the way there we ran into the zombie walk. Depending on how long you've been reading you may or may not know that zombies are my biggest fear. Needless to say, I snapped this picture and then walked very briskly to the next street over.
Me and Mom waiting to be let in to Fluxx. Apparently I was supposed to go through the Media/VIP line. Oops. I'm still getting used to being considered Media :/
At the club we met up with friends Joy and Darcy (yes, he's really that tall).
And watched a circus performer lady.
There was a super creepy Tron dude who just stood there and never took his motorcycle helmet off.
Hanging out with Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Entertainment. He's super awesome.
This was some kind of Jägermeister concoction that Geek Outlaw ordered for me.
We left the party at 10:00pm (around the time the geeks left and the usual clubbers started showing up) to try and get some sleep before Day 2 of the Comic Con craziness.
Stay tuned for "Part 3 – Saturday Shenanigans" in the next couple of days!


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Welcome back! Every Wednesday, Callie Beusman heads to the newsstand so that together we may dissect the celebrity tabloids, In Touch, Life & Style, Us, Ok! and Star. This week: Bruce Jenner is "stealing Kim's look"; Beyoncé is losing her curves; and Selena Gomez told folks in group therapy that Justin Bieber cheated on her with Miley Cyrus. Sigh. Here we go.
In Touch
Faith Hill and Tim McGraw's marriage is in crisis because he's going on tour with Cassadee Pope, who is an attractive young woman. As everyone knows, being in proximity of a good-looking person literally always ends in infidelity and ruin. How will their 17-year marriage weather this storm? In other news, InTouch has outdone all of its competitors and published the most wildly offensive story about Bruce Jenner possibly being trans. The magazine accuses Bruce Jenner of "stealing Kim's look" (Fig. 1), by wearing lipgloss and a ponytail. Bruce's family members are characterized as "mortified" and "embarrassed" by the rumors that he's trans. Once again, being trans is very wrongly equated with a sordid bit of gossip or a dirty secret: "These poor girls already have enough issues in that family — they don't need him adding to the crazy chaotic family drama," says a source. Are you kidding me? Next: people are worried that Juan Pablo might end up "getting played and looking like a fool" by one of the contestants, Nikki, who is reportedly mean. Uh, well, after his homophobic comments and his decision to chastise and shame a woman for having sex with him, I really don't think he has to worry about someone else making him look stupid. Moving on: this is really horrific — former Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham says that she was regularly beaten by her mother as a child. She also claims that she was "drugged and raped more than once" at appearances following the release of her porn. It's beyond disturbing to see her alleged abuse and sexual assault dealt with so glibly, in a one-and-a-half-page spread titled "FARRAH'S STUNNING CLAIM." Even worse, her multiple rapes are mentioned in an aside, as evidence of her harmful tendency to consort with "unsavory men" and put herself in "unsafe situations." Seriously, what the fuck. Oh, and there's more garbage still: "Oh no! Beyoncé's losing her famous curves!" the mag laments, going full-on concern troll about Bey's body (Fig. 2). Good grief.
GRADE: F- (vivisection)
Please be advised that the story inside is NOT an interview with Christina Aguilera and she is NOT quoted as saying "yes, I'm pregnant." The cover is a falsehood. The article claims tha tshe and her "beau," Matthew Rutler, are "working on" her second child. The copy goes on to point out that she was seen in a book store wearing an "uncharacteristically baggy" sweater and "cradling her stomach." Sounds like bloating and cramps to us! Moving on: Janet Jackson "appears to have gained 40 lbs." according to a picture taken in an airport in which she is wearing a coat and harem pants. "Insiders" blame marriage trouble but she could also be living a chill as hell honey-dessert-filled lifestyle with her Qatari businessman husband. In Kardashian news, Khloe and The Game are fucking each other senseless and "it's been going on for months." Taylor Kinney has asked Lady Gaga to marry him more than once but she never took him seriously, however, a she recently had a pregnancy scare and decided she would like to get hitched; he's turning to the Haus of Gaga for wedding ring ideas. Finally: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard will get married on his private island in the Bahamas where no paparazzi can see and planes are not even allowed to fly over without permission. Johnny affectionately calls it his "Fuck You Island." Jealous.
GRADE: F (smelly whale necropsy)
Portia de Rossi walked the dog without wearing her wedding ring and thus we are treated to a story about how it was a message that the relationship with Ellen Degeneres is "hanging by a thread." The couple may have looked joyous at the star-studded birthday party Ellen threw for her wife, but "the happy couple act is just that — an act," according to someone who accuses them of "media manipulation." The copy in the article goes to great lengths to tear down Ellen, calling her controlling, claiming that "her staff says she is one of the meanest people" and then this damning sentence: "Ellen often drinks at home." BURN HER AT THE STAKE. To be clear, though: No actual divorce. Let's move on. Amanda Bynes is having a "secret relapse" because she bought Zig-Zag rolling papers at a gas station and "smoking marijuana while on medication for her mental problems is not a good idea." Rob Kardashian is "fatter than ever," and Kris Jenner has informed him that he is an embarrassment and she's sending him to fat camp. Jesus take the wheel for this family! Matt Lauer is pissed that there will be a Lifetime movie made based on Brian Stelter's best-seller Top Of The Morning: "He's worried that his reputation will never recover." In crotch-watch news, David Beckham's package was "enhanced" for his Super Bowl ads: Stuffed and padded for just the right kind of bulge. What else? Harry Styles has been cheating on Kendall Jenner. Kelly Osbourne doesn't want Emma Roberts to marry Evan Peters because they're too young. Sofia Vergara and her fiancé Nick Loeb had a "Miami meltdown," which is not a coconut popsicle but a fight in an airport. Selena Gomez went to rehab because she'd been smoking weed, doing Ambien, Xanax and Molly, and it was all Justin Bieber's fault — he got her into drugs and then cheated on her — WITH MILEY CYRUS. Rocked her world, poor thing. A source says she checked into the facility — The Meadows in Arizona — under the name Ashley Cane, and then talked about her heartbreak from her boyfriend cheating on her with a girl named Miley in group therapy. Eesh. Last, but certainly not least, Remember how Cara Delevingne and Michelle Rodriguez got sloshed at the Knicks game back in January? Afterward, they held hands as they got IV fluid hangover helpers. So romantic. True Love. (Fig. 3)
GRADE: D- (human autopsy)
Us Weekly
"Virgin" Bachelor Sean Lowe and his new wife called Us Weekly on the last day of their honeymoon. The conversation was weird. When asked about their experience in the "Consummation Station" ( :( ), Sean replied, "Fantastic! Thank you for asking. I think we both performed extremely well." Also, later in the honeymoon a stingray tried to bite Sean's penis. So romantic. In other news, Justin Bieber and his team of bodyguards are terrorizing the NYC nightlife scene. The honorable goblin prince reportedly points to women in whom he is interested and then has his security guards go up to them and shine flashlights in their faces, marking them as chosen. He also had his security team clear an aisle in the middle of a Super Bowl party so he could skateboard around. Meanwhile, in England, Queen Elizabeth has blown through all but a mere $1.6 million and all her palaces are leaking. WHAT IS SHE SPENDING IT ON? (A beautiful spectrum of tasteful skirt suits and matching hats, probably.) Finally, the mag published a bizarre and very propagandistic spread entitled "10 Reasons to Love the Olympics!" Reasons include: "A new ski sweetie" and "The curling!" Not mentioned: Russia's insanely oppressive anti-gay laws, the fact that Sochi is wildly unprepared to host the Olympics, those weird double toilets.
GRADE: D- (fetal pig dissection)
Life & Style
What is being alive but being locked in an interminable competition with one's sibling's for the elusive and objective title of "Hottest One"? Khloé is now the hottest Kardashian, illustrated by the fact that she wore an outfit that Kim once wore and also looked good in it. That's not the only way she's winning: She also goes to the gym better than Kim, has highlights better than Kim, and owns the same bag as Kim but without a conceptual painting on it (Fig. 4). Furthermore, she no longer has a husband, whereas Kim's fiance Kanye West is controlling, which has caused her to gain weight, "especially in her legs." (WHAT.) According to sources, Kim intends to get back at her by getting pregnant at the same time as Kourtney, thus making Khloé feel left out. Great story! Moving on:Ryan Gosling is single again — he and Eva Mendes have split amicably because they don't see a future together. Sadly, Ryan went back to Canada so you might not be able to have a meet-cute with him :( We'll trade you Bieber for Gosling? Guys? In other news, Angelina Jolie is in a jealous rage over Brad Pitt's relationship with Lupita Nyong'o. Brad lavishes praise upon Lupita (as we all do) and he bought her a congratulatory Cartier cuff, none of which Angelina can tolerate. Okay. Next: Taylor Swift is jealous of Kacey Musgraves because Kacey Musgraves is an up-and-coming country star. Apparently there is only room for one successful female country singer at a time. Is Life & Style getting its intel about the country music scene from Hayden Panettiere's plot art on Nashville? Elsewhere in the mag, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel are ready to have a baby (their marriage isn't "on the rocks," after all). Jessica Biel likes wearing pajamas and cooking, which will prepare her well for motherhood or something.
GRADE: D (frog dissection)
Fig. 1, from In Touch
Fig. 2, from In Touch
Fig. 3, from Star
Fig. 4, from Life & Style


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Episode 43: eXtreme Programming Pt.2
Recording Venue:
Host(s): Arno Alexander
Recording Venue:
Host(s): Arno Alexander
This is the second part of our two part discussion of the eXtreme Programming development methodology. While the first part introduced the values, principles and basic practices, this time Arno and Alex speak about the practices that set the context for an XP project and how to get started, and they discuss some FAQs they often get when introducing XP.
- Extreme Programming Wiki
- Martin Fowler's article on XP
- Kent Beck, Martin Fowler: Planning Extreme Programming, Addison Wesley, ISBN 0-201-71091-9
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Tags: agile, extreme programming, processes, Technology Talk


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For some, the keyboard has replaced the pen. Of course, the ball point has long since replaced the plume. Fortunately, for you retro folks, you can still enjoy the lovely plume of the orange sea pen (Ptilosarcus gurneyi – "Ptilo" is Greek for feather or down) gracing the subtidal (if you're a diver) or in sand or mud of the the lower intertidal. On the Kitsap Peninsula, I've only seen them intertidally at the Southworth ferry dock. In fact, I dropped a camera in the drink trying to take a picture of it. That salt encrusted camera carcass now hangs in my office. … My new camera is waterproof. … I wonder if they're higher in the intertidal at the ferry docks because the ferry wash kicks them up and they reroot at a shallower depth? Hmm, need more info for that question. Let me know where you find it intertidally.
When exposed on a low tide, this beauty squeezes out its water and recoils into something resembling a small orange brain. Add a little water though, and presto! They expand to a lovely plume, feeding on the plankton that wash past. Now for the even cooler part… They aren't really a single living creature with a body and some sort of feathery feeding appendages (like a feather duster worm or plumose anemone).
They're related to corals, which have many tiny polyps that build and add onto the calcium carbonate base they all share. The hundreds of polyps in a sea pen have different functions but work together as a single organism. The big "stem" of the pen is made up of one enormous polyp that no longer has tentacles and formed a big bulb at the bottom that it uses to fix itself in the sediment. The feathery parts of the pen that branch out from the stem are made up of tiny polyps that feed on plankton, intake water or produce sperm and eggs.
Orange sea pens may fall prey to several species of sea stars, but are the primary prey of the striped nudibranch (Armina californica). Alas, the pen is not mightier than the slug.
Oh yeah, touch them at night … They're bioluminescent! We'll probably see these during a beachwalk at the Southworth ferry dock on Thursday, February 25th (7:pm). We'll see if we can coax them to illuminate the tide. Hope that splash of color brightens your day, JEff
Jeff Adams is a Washington Sea Grant Marine Water Quality Specialist, affiliated with the University of Washington's College of the Ocean and Fishery Sciences and based in Bremerton. You can follow his Sea-life blog, email to email@example.com or call at 360-337-4619.


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KIEV (Reuters) - Elton John used an AIDS charity concert in Kiev on Saturday to make an emotional appeal to Ukraine to stop what he called persecution of gays.
The 65-year-old singer broke off during a two-hour performance, part of the Euro 2012 soccer tournament co-hosted by Ukraine, to speak about reports of physical attacks on members of the former Soviet republic's gay community.
John, a regular visitor to the country, drew cheers from thousands of Ukrainians watching his performance on huge street screens when he described Ukraine as "my second home".
"Recently I read about violence against gay people in Ukraine. Beating up gay people is wrong. This for me does not symbolize Ukraine," he said.
"I plead with you: Stop the violence against gay people."
Ahead of the European soccer championship which began on June 8 and ends on Sunday with the final in Kiev, a gay pride march in the Ukrainian capital was called off and one of its leaders was beaten by assailants.
Last Saturday, another leading Ukrainian gay rights activist said he had received hospital treatment after being beaten in Kiev by a group of assailants, who screamed homophobic insults at him.
John, who entered a civil partnership with David Furnish in 2005, regularly champions respect for gay and lesbian rights.
(Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Ralph Gowling)


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This event has passed.
Rock City's Summer Music Weekends
August 26, 2022 @ 8:30 am - August 29, 2022 @ 5:00 pm
| $3 – $27.95
|Recurring Event (See all)
every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday including the full week of July 1st-10th
Summer Music Weekends – Live music, Southern food and Birds of Prey Shows!
Fridays-Sundays & Holidays
(May 27-September 5) and the week of July 4th (July 1-10), 8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.
High atop Lookout Mountain, delight your senses with delicious food, soft breezes, and live country, folk and bluegrass music! Sip fresh-squeezed lemonade in a rocking chair, cool off with a milkshake and see the Rock City Raptors soar above in Critter Classroom. Inside Rock City, the outdoor restaurant Café 7 serves up delectable southern favorites. More info to come! Leashed pets welcome! This event was selected as a recent Top 20 Event by Southeast Tourism Society! www.seerockcity.com/summermusic


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A "Yes on Prop 8" sticker on a neighbor's house led Jaime Jenett, a non-biological lesbian mother who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, to write this letter:
You don't know me but I walk past your house three to four days a week on my break from work. Every time, I'm struck by your 'Yes on Prop 8' sticker. I'm guessing this may not be your intention, but every time I see your sticker, it feels like someone is standing in my face, yelling, 'I hate you and I hate your family.' I wanted to let you know what kind of an impact it has.
I thought the most constructive thing to do would be to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I'm guessing (maybe incorrectly) that you don't know any Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT) people and in particular LGBT parents. I have found that actually meeting or knowing about a real live person who is happy, healthy and well-adjusted AND gay can sometimes change things for people who seem to feel the way your family does about people like me.
I can tell from your house that you have children. I am also a parent and the issue of Proposition 8 has taken on a whole new meaning for me since having my son, Simon.
I have known I was a lesbian since I was 17. When I came out to my family, they were distressed because they were very concerned for my safety. They knew that people who have been taught to be homophobic do and say terrible things to people like me. However, my entire family, including my parents and grandparents, were also very clear that they loved me unconditionally and would support me in leading the happiest, healthiest, most fulfilling life I could live, even if I were gay. That meant more to me than probably anything in my life.
I met my wife, Laura, over eight years ago through a mutual friend. We were good friends for some time before we fell in love. A year and a half later, when Laura asked me to marry her on the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris with an antique diamond ring, I gleefully said yes. Our family and friends were thrilled and we had a large, beautiful wedding in Tilden Park, at the Brazil[ian Room], with over 120 family and friends.
Laura has known her whole life that she wanted to be a parent. I was a little more reserved about the idea, but after overcoming my fears that I would not be the kind of present, attentive parent I wanted to be, we moved forward with our process. A year and a half after we were married, Laura gave birth to our son, Simon.
Simon became gravely ill with a serious heart condition when he was almost four months old. He was in the ICU at Children's Hospital Oakland for four months and nearly died numerous times. One of the things that sustained us as parents through that time was love. Love for each other, love for Simon and the love that so many other people showed us. Our doctors and nurses, friends of friends and relatives of friends prayed for us, sent us emails, gave us hugs, brought Simon toys and supported us as a family.
We were later shocked to learn that many of the people who were so kind to us in the hospital were evangelical Christians. They were able to treat us with kindness, love and compassion AND be Christian. They supported us as a family even though they may have had issues with us being gay, because they knew it was the truly good and kind thing to do. They did what Jesus would have done.
Which brings me to Proposition 8.
The only thing Proposition 8 and policies like it does is hurt families. It doesn't do anything to strengthen your family or those of any other straight people. It just hurts families like mine, especially families with children.
My being gay and being in a happy, healthy relationship doesn't actually hurt other people. It won't make your kids gay and it won't make my kid gay. Anyone who has spent any amount of quality time with gay people knows this. Prop 8 isn't going to make it any less likely that someone is gay or that gay people will create families together.
Instead, it just makes us sad and feel scared that someday someone may hurt us or our families. And it makes the people that love us feel the same way. Fear and hurt are the opposite things that I would I hope loving Christian people like the ones that you seem to be, to bring to the world.
I am lucky enough to live in a state that has some policies that help me provide for and protect my family. I am the sole breadwinner right now because Simon is too medically fragile to be in daycare so Laura stays home with him. In other states with policies that seek to deny LGBT people the basic privileges straight people have, I might have been denied the right to visit my own son in the hospital while he appeared to be dying or he might be denied health insurance through me. That is simply cruel.
Denying Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people the same privileges heterosexual people have doesn't actually help anyone. It just creates a culture in which people are fired, injured, killed and isolated for being gay. I know the goal of these types of policies is to somehow strengthen society but what they really do is divide us and hurt us. All of us. It hurts my parents when someone treats me badly for being gay and it will hurt my son when someone is cruel to his parents for being who they were born to be. It hurts me and I venture to say that in some ways, it also hurts you.
In the spirit of love, I want to reach out and invite you to learn about my family. We have a blog that we started at simonlev.blogspot.com that tells our story about living as a family with a critically ill child. You will probably laugh, you will probably cry and you may find that you come to see us as three of God's perfect creatures.
Jaime Jenett
Excerpt from RHRealityCheck.org. This commentary is part of a Mama's Day series by Strong Families, published in partnership with RH Reality Check in our Mother's Day 2011 series. Follow Strong Families on Facebook and Twitter.
Photo from Flickr user andy.birkey licensed under Creative Commons.


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You're probably used to this sort of subtle cudgel being twirled at cities like New York and Boston, which tend to chew through their heroes just as quickly as they can exalt them. But Tim Keown's piece in the current issue of ESPN The Pulp-Based Periodical is one of the rare stories that quietly rips a place with normally impeccable manners: Minnesota and specifically the Twin Cities, whom Keown would like to check itself before it wrecks itself.
The subject of the story is Joe Mauer, the most gifted catcher of his generation and one of the most gifted offensive players of his generation, period. For those two people to be the same person, and for that person to be a homegrown athlete, and for that home to be a place as typically well-balanced as Minnesota should mean harp music and hosannas for the Twins from draft day till Cooperstown. Instead, as Keown intimates in ways both overt and glaring, there are problems. They arise from injuries Mauer cannot control and a frustration by Minnesota fans that Mauer is not healthier for the $184 million contract extension he signed shortly before he got hurt. In Keown's framing, Minnesota fans and media are not upholding their side of what it means to be Minnesotan; Mauer, meanwhile, through his impeccable comportment, unparalleled discipline and intense rehab regimen, exemplifies the ethos of the state as well as anyone possibly could. Keown's piece is not just a letter from Minnesota; it's a letter to Minnesota. Between the lines it reads, Get off his ass already.
It is an easy thing for a writer to side with the subject, just as it's easy to conflate a person with a place. Here, if you're willing to accept the author's premise that Minnesotans value the "humility, modesty and desire to be treated as just another guy" that Mauer exhibits, and that Mauer "is so tied to Minnesota and its monochromatic idiosyncrasies," then you can also follow that their reaction to Mauer's travails has been uncharacteristically petulant and entitled. The snitty web polls that find Mauer is made chiefly of "cheap plastic parts" or money; the message board doofus who calls Mauer a "no-passion lazy sissy"; the writers forecasting that he'd "get the sniffles and stub his toe on a feather" before the All-Star Game. Mauer gets hurt and then breaks himself down further in an effort to rush back. Guys. You're not helping.
The image of Mauer that Keown carves for the rest of the story is one of a stone-cold professional blessed with the natural ability of a stone-cold freak. Yes he was the USA Today national player of the year in football as well as baseball, and only struck out once in high school, and still walks more than he strikes out, and dominates Guitar Hero, and simply cannot be fooled by a pitch at the plate. He waits and waits and walks and grinds out singles and gently guides rookies and doesn't seem to listen to the noise. "Mauer is a fantastic player," Keown writes, "but he is far too reasoned to be a particularly exuberant entertainer. He is not a player who evokes comparisons to his predecessor as a Twins icon, the wall-crashing Kirby Puckett. Mauer is best defined, perhaps, as Minnesota's Joe DiMaggio." One day, once the prairie-dwelling yammerers look back and miss what they ripped, they'll wonder where he's gone.
The Master [ESPN The Magazine]


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We are inside a greenhouse, gazing at row after row of hydroponic tomatoes and green peppers, learning why people in this community in northern El Salvador are receiving death threats. We have been sent by The Nation magazine to chronicle the struggle by people here to protect their river from the toxic chemicals of global mining firms intent on realizing massive profits from El Salvador's rich veins of gold.
Before going to the greenhouse, we spend the morning at the home of Carlos Bonilla, a farmer in his sixties whose handsome face is creased with the wisdom, suffering, and joy of decades of struggles for justice. Over a delicious meal of local tortillas, vegetables, and chicken, Carlos and a group of eight young people tell us their stories.
These young people run a radio station, Radio Victoria, where they broadcast to a growing audience across this mountainous terrain. They tell us about giving air time to local leaders who, beginning seven years ago, found themselves facing a new threat: Mining firms, granted permits to explore for gold in the watershed of the great Lempa River (which supplies water to over half the country's 6.2 million people), entered these communities with promises of jobs and prosperity.
Gold is now selling for more than $1500 an ounce. Local organizer Vidalina Morales tells us: "Initially, we thought mining was good and it was going to help us out of poverty…through jobs and development."
But, then, a strange thing happened. A stream dried up near the exploration wells that a Canadian firm, Pacific Rim, was digging. Concerned, Vidalina and other activists traveled to nearby Honduras to meet with members of communities where large mining projects were already underway. They returned with grisly stories of cyanide poisoning the soil and water (cyanide is used to separate the gold from the surrounding rock), and people in mining areas suffering skin diseases and other ailments.
This wasn't what they wanted, especially near the Lempa River. Local people in northern El Salvador began to organize against the mining firms. First, they linked up with other groups across this province of Cabañas to coordinate opposition. Next, they found allies in other provinces and in the capital San Salvador, and they formed a National Roundtable on Mining. After discussion and debate, the Roundtable decided that the only way to save their vital water source was to organize for a national ban on gold and other metals mining.
Then, they tell us, the death threats began. Some came as anonymous phone calls, some as untraceable text messages, some as people were stopped by men in cars. In June 2009, a dynamic local cultural leader, Marcelo Rivera, disappeared; his body was found in the bottom of a well, with signs of torture reminiscent of the bloody civil war that convulsed this region in the 1980s.
Half a year later, two other people opposed to mining were gunned down. One was eight-months pregnant and held her two-year old in her arms when she was murdered. Then, two months ago, a college student volunteer with the Environmental Committee of Cabañas, Juan Francisco Duran, was found dead, two bullet holes to his head. He was last seen in Cabañas putting up anti-mining posters.
As we travel the remote roads of Cabañas with Vidalina and others here, we are struck by how their aspirations are not unlike those of people we have met in the Philippines, Trinidad, and even the United States. They want healthy food and safe drinking water for their kids. They want a vibrant local economy that provides good jobs and livelihoods. They do not want giant firms, unaccountable to them, determining their futures.
Yet in this poor country, where mining firms have spread around a great deal of money and promises, people are getting threatened and killed.
Carlos, Vidalina, Marcelo, Juan Francisco… ordinary people taking extraordinary actions as they protect their water and their democracy. And, in this case, there are simple things that people elsewhere can do to support this struggle for water over gold. To share just one: The Committee in Support of the People of El Salvador (CISPES) is asking people to write the Attorney General of El Salvador to demand a thorough investigation into the killings to find not only the killers but also the "intellectual authors" – the masterminds – behind their actions.
Our next blog will offer another chapter in this story, the fight to get the national Salvadoran government to support the proposed mining ban. And, a subsequent blog will move to the global level of this fight, as U.S. and Canadian mining firms use "free trade" agreements to bring legal cases against El Salvador in international courts.
As we leave Carlos's house that day and visit the greenhouse and communal farm lands, Vidalina entreats us not to write about their struggle as simply a defensive one: "We reject the image of us just as anti-mining. We are for water and a positive future. We want alternatives to feed us, to clothe us."
This article was originally published in Yes! Magazine.


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Quitting smoking reduces anxiety despite belief that it relieves stress
Researchers have found that smokers who successfully quit feel less anxious afterwards – despite the belief that smoking relieves stress.
The British Journal of Psychiatry study followed nearly 500 smokers attending NHS stop smoking clinics in England.
It found a "significant" decrease in anxiety levels among the 68 smokers who had quit after six months.
The effect was greater among those who had mood and anxiety disorders than those that smoked for pleasure.
The researchers – drawn from several universities including Cambridge, Oxford and Kings's College in London – said the findings should be used to reassure smokers attempting to quit that concerns about increased anxiety levels were unfounded.
However, the study did suggest that a failed attempt to seemed to increase anxiety levels by a modest degree among those who had mood disorders.
For those who smoked for pleasure a relapse did not alter anxiety levels.
The researchers said it seemed that smokers – particularly those that smoked to cope – were more likely to have a cigarette soon after waking up to stave off withdrawal symptoms, which include anxiety.
By quitting, they removed these repeated episodes of anxiety and felt less anxious as a result, they added.
It comes as the government has launched a graphic anti-smoking advertising campaign, which features a cigarette with a tumor growing from it, and as many smokers prepare to quit as part of their new year resolutions.


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WASHINGTON (AP) — Inventories held by wholesalers likely rose for a fifth straight month in May while sales are expected to post another gain as well.
Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect wholesale inventories rose 0.4 percent in May and they are looking for a similar 0.4 percent increase in sales. The Commerce Department will release the report at 10 a.m. EDT Friday.
The gains in sales and inventories would be encouraging signs that the economic recovery can be sustained. The hope is that a steady rise in demand will prompt businesses to step up orders and restock depleted store shelves. That would give a boost to factories and prompt them to increase hiring.
Wholesale inventories rose 0.4 percent in April, while sales were up a strong 0.7 percent during that month, marking the 13th consecutive increase in sales.
Inventories at the wholesale level have fallen for 13 consecutive months through last September. Businesses went through a massive liquidation of their stocks in a struggle to contain costs during the recession.
The move from slashing inventories to restocking has played an important role in supporting growth in the past two quarters. A rise in factory orders has helped make manufacturing one of the standout performers for the recovery so far.
The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew at an annual rate of 5.6 percent in the final three months of last year, a surge powered by a swing in business inventories.
GDP growth slowed to a rate of 2.7 percent in the first quarter of this year with inventories continuing to be a positive support for the economy.


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Edward Lewis Wynne was born in July of 1966 in Portland Oregon and
grew up on a 16-acre farm outside Carlton Oregon, 40 miles south-west
of Portland. After learning the recorder at age 10, he decided to play the
saxophone because it looked cool in the case . At age 12 he discovered the stage and began an interest in acting and singing at the Gallery Players Theater of Oregon. The saxophone was left in the closet for the next three years. When Ed turned 13 he began home schooling and spent most of his time riding motorcycles and performing at the Gallery Players Theater.
Ed moved to Southern California at the age of 15. He picked up the sax again and throughout high school played tenor, alto, soprano and baritone saxophone while continuing to act and sing. At the age of 16 Ed answered an ad out of a local newspaper, "oldies band looking for sax player". This band, "The Die Hards" became Eds first working situation. While singing and playing 50's & 60's music in the Die Hards he also played sax in his high school jazz band, concert band and marching band. He also joined an original ska and rockabilly band with some high school friends, The Mana Rays (see picture under "Old Pics").
After graduating from high school Ed spent part of a year at Cal. State Fullerton where he became friends with trumpet player Tony Guerrero. Tony & Ed played in a jazz and jazz fusion band called Vision. Vision worked the Orange County jazz circuit in the mid 80's and just missed getting signed. At the last minute the record company decided to sign Tony to a solo contract because he had written most of the bands original material. This experience taught Ed the importance of writing music. He began co-writing music in various styles, practicing the craft of song writing while continuing to play live. By the time he was 21 Ed had played with greats like Roy "
Gaines, Ronnie Laws, Roland Batista, The Platters and Bill Medley.
By 1987 Ed was a mainstay on the South Central L.A. Club Scene playing places like Marla Gibbs Memory Lane, The Total Experience, Freddy Jets Pied Piper, The Dodger Club and The Page Four. He spent most of his nights playing soul, funk and R&B at the Page Four in the Late Night Express band, Monday night at Memory Lane with the Whodunit Blues Band which included serious blues men Keb Mo, Charlie Tuna, Monk Higgins and Lermon Howard and Tuesday night jams at Memory Lane with Del Atkins (Anita Baker) and Herman Jackson (Whitney Houston & Stevie Wonder). The Late Night Express backed up local R&B singer Greg Rose of the Rose Brothers. Ed spent over a year in this band with fellow side man Grammy winning guitarist and singer Keb Mo.
In late 89 and early 1990 Ed toured with Vesta Williams on her For You Tour. In 1991 Ed was hired by Universal Studios Hollywood to play the part of Blue Lou in the Blues Brothers Rhythm & Blues Review. During his 7 years with the Blues Brothers Show Ed continued to find time to play various gigs and dates for T.V. including the ABC All-Star Pro Sports awards show with Buster Poindexter, a live broadcast from the Universal Amphitheater. Ed co-wrote, co-produced and sang all the lead vocals on the CD, Sneakin In for the band Bad Karma (e-mail me for a CD). Bad Karma featured Ed on lead vocals, Rick Zahariades on guitar (co-writer and co-producer), Matt Laug on drums (Slash's band Snakepit & Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill) and Lance Morrison on bass (Don Henley & Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill). Three songs from the bands first CD have been heard in T.V. movies for Disney, Hallmark and A&E. Ed played Reggae and World Music in Tropical Waves and The World Peace Posse. Ed also produced five summers of musical entertainment for Universal Studios which included everything from a 4 piece beach band to a 10 piece Blues Brothers show band. Ed produced these bands from concept to completion serving as producer, musical director, horn choreographer, contractor, payroll service, saxophonist and lead singer.
After many years at Universal Studios and other Southern California theme parks Ed decided to hit the road a little and took the job of Musical Director for the Emmy Winning performer Wayne Brady of Whose Line Is It Anyway and the Wayne Brady Show. After a year with Wayne Brady Ed joined the Frankie Valli band and then went on the road with The Doobie Brothers for their 2002 summer tour. Currently Ed Wynne can be heard as a contributing writer, saxophonist and vocalist on the weekly W.B. T.V. series Grounded For Life. Ed Wynne can be seen performing live with Al McKay & The L.A. All-Stars and Ellis Hall & The Truth.


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My Boyfriend's Birthday
Duration: 6min 01sec Views: 4 699 Submitted: 2 years ago
Description: It's latin hottie Angel Rivera's birthday and all he wants is a nice and naughty day of pleasure with real life boyfriend Ben Masters. Thankfully the sexy couple allow us into their real life romantic romp with this boner filled, ass banging birthday blowout! Be a fly on the wall with two of THE hottest boys on our roster as Ben Masters celebrates his BF's special day by giving into his every wet, b-day dream! Even though it's Angel's day, he gifts Masters' meat with a severely sexy, deep throat suckathon. Hard and horny, Ben is anxious to please his boy. He unwraps Rivera's rock hard package to give him the birthday blowy he deserves. Hot as hell and hard as nails, Angel offers Ben the best and biggest bareback seat in the house. The boyfriends clasp hands as Ben bounces his beautiful bubble butt on Rivera's raw rod while whispering "I love you." That tasty tender moment turns raunchy when it's Angel's turn. He's down for a birthday bottoming, BUT.... Our boy has some terms. Masters must fuck him rough AND eat that heavenly hole first. Ben gives his guy all he asks for and then some, tonguing Angel's beautiful birthday cake like crazy while probing his pleasure center with several fingers and cranking out a b-day spanking or two for good measure. Rivera's rump is ready to get a girthy gifting and Masters does NOT renege on his promise to pound rough. Our guys keep the fuck cumming as they flip once more. Masters' manhole needs more meat in his tight dancer derriere and b-day boy brings it hard while looking like porn perfection as his muscled backside flexes and fucks. The porny party culminates with Masters' main muscle exploding onto his tight torso and the sexy sight sends Angel over the edge. He aims his big birthday candle at Masters' mouth who eats every delicious drop like a champ. But folks, the fun does not stop there! We join the couple IN their after sex shower, AND on their b-day date! This is a true voyeuristic fantasy cum to life just for you! Thank you to our boys for the orgasmic invite, and a very happy birthday to you Angel!
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One good deed inspires another, it appears.
After Glen James, a homeless Boston man, returned a backpack full of about $40,000 in cash and travelers checks to its owner, a fund-raiser for the good Samaritan, with a goal of raising $50,000, was set up by a Midlothian, Va., man who has never been to Boston.
In under 24 hours, the "GoFundMe" website, made by Ethan Whittington, 27, raised more than $20,000.
"It started with wanting to help a someone in a small way, and now we can help them in a large way," said Whittington, who found James's story on the Internet yesterday. He set up the account around 3 or 4 p.m. After tweeting the link to the page a few times, Whittington said the donations started pouring in. He decided that because James returned $40,000, he deserved $50,000.
"It's a good amount of money to get your feet off the ground," said Whittington who is brainstorming during the next week or so the safest way to get the money to Boston. James and Whittington had just spoken on the phone for the first time around 1 p.m. today.
"He sounded happy," said Whittington. James thanked him and expressed concerns about the publicity of receiving a large sum of money.
The two are trying to devise a plan for the donations. Whittington wants James to think of what he needs, whether its medical assistance, housing, clothes, food, or furniture.
"The way fund-raising is going right now, the sky is the limit," said Whittington. Many of the donations have been sent anonymously, but Whittington is receiving huge amounts of positive feedback through e-mail.
"We've all been in that situation when we've lost something," he said.
Boston police held a ceremony to honor James yesterday, where he received a citation and praise from Commissioner Edward Davis.
James had found the backpack at South Bay plaza Saturday, and flagged down police to return it to its rightful owner.
Melissa can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or on Twitter @Melissa__Hanson