text:
Who Was Paul?
Why Does He Appear To Be Anti-Jewish?
Why Was He Opposed By The Early Ebionite Nazirenes?
To even begin to understand the Epistles attributed to Paul, you must first understand that the scriptures are not historical -- but rather, allegorical texts that use a quasi-historical garb to both preserve and conceal the sacred knowledge of the Laws and Forces of mind that the seeker/disciple must know to gain entrance to the Kingdom within (Luke 17:20-21 - http://GateOfEden.com ). In the case of the supposed conversion of Saul/Paul in the book of Acts, there were conflicts intentionally written into the text of the scriptures so that they could not be read literally. In fact, under the subheading of Intentional Conflicts in the article article The Secret Doctrine, the two conflicting accounts are presented as being purposely written into the text so that the reader would be forced to reject the historical account. And you might do well to read above that at the subheading Origen On Allegory.
What this means is that there never was a conversion story in the Book of Acts pertaining to an historical man named Paul. And many Gentiles portrayed themselves as Paul, in order to promote the new religion of Jesus. Most of these men who put themselves forth as Paul, were initiates of Mithracism -- which saw their doctrines fulfilled in the person of Jesus. How can this be? Regarding Paul, the Encyclopedia Britannica (1998 electronic edition) writes: "Some indeed assume that Paul ceased really to progress beyond the point represented by Romans, and that certain of his later writings, if they be his at all, show a certain enfeeblement of grasp upon principle"ť. What is brought to light is the fact that the theology presented in the Epistle to the Romans is very different than what is found in the other epistles that bear his name. In view of the fact that Paul was the Apostle of most of the so called heretic sects such as the Marcionites, and many of his letters we have received directly from the hands of the Marcionite Churches -- a church known for their anti-Jewish sentiment and fraudulent copies of altered scriptures -- there is good evidence to question "...if they be his at all"ť. What the biblical scholar is warning us is the fact that what we believe to be the inspired teachings of the man known as Paul, could very well be the writings of one of the many anti-Jewish churches that evolved out of the Gentile Christian world.
The Marconite Churches were ascetic -- they were Gnostic -- and in view of the fact that the Epistle to the Galatians came directly from the Marconite Churches which were extremely anti-Jewish, the author's positions are easily understood. To understand Paul, you have to understand the Gnostic foundation of many of the epistles attributed to him (see The Gnostic Paul). The original epistles attributed to Paul were not referencing Jesus -- but rather, the Christ in you. And when this was pointed out by the more Spiritual Christians to those who called themselves Orthodox, they added the name Jesus to all the places where it spoke of the Christ. As can be seen in the subheading Christ Before Jesus, it was easy for the inner core of Mithraic initiates to promote Jesus as the fulfillment of their religious doctrines.
Jesus condemned the leaders among the Jews, because they had thrown away what is called the Key of Knowledge -- and there is sufficient documentation in this article to prove that (1) the scriptures are not historical; (2) they cannot and were not intended to be read literally; (3) and that the true objectives of the Gospels is freeing the lost prodigal sons from the god of this world, and providing them the necessary knowledge to Journey in TheWay and into the Inner Kingdom. As stated in the article An Inconvenient Truth, it is impossible to convey to the organic mind of man the higher reality of the soul and what Paul portrayed as the Mysteries of the Kingdom, and the true meaning of the scriptures lies concealed within the allegorical body of what appears on the surface to be an historical cloak. Which means that even when an actual historical person, place or event is noted in the literal body, this notation is merely part of the cloak that is necessary for the body of believers to embrace the scriptures and preserve them.
The Problem With Paul
Of the Ebionites it was noted by the early Church writer Irenaeus: "Those who are called Ebionites agree that the world was made by God... they use the Gospel of Matthew only, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate from the Law." What does this mean? Did the Ebionites condemn Paul? Or did they condemn the misunderstandings of the Law that many spiritually ignorant non-Jews assumed Paul to be promoting? The problem is not so much with Paul -- but rather, the ignorance of both the Jews and the Christians with respect to why the Ebionites seemingly condemned Paul.
To begin to understand why the Ebionites condemned Paul, you must first understand that his Epistles were not only corrupted (see Orthodox Corruption Of The Scriptures), but numerous writings attributed to Paul were authored by anti-Jewish Gentiles who were members of the very Gnostic Greek Mystery religions. Yet, Paul was not wrong on a number of points -- but he espoused a very different religion than Yeshua. This fact is noted in the Encyclopedia Britannica where it writes: "In calling Paulinism 'Christocentric', one raises the question as to its relation to the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus... how far he unconsciously modified the Gospel by making Christ its subject matter rather than its revealer.... Paul... put all into so fresh a perspective as to change the relative emphasis on points central to the teaching of Jesus, and so alter its spirit. A school of writers, by no means unappreciative of Paul as they understand him, of whom W. Wrede may be taken as example, answer that Paul so changed Christianity as to become its 'second founder' - the real founder of ecclesiastical Christianity as distinct from the Christianity of Jesus. They say, 'either Jesus or Paul' it cannot be both at once'".
When Paul wrote that a ritual observance of the Torah equated to the "letter that killeth" -- that the Law is spiritual, and is not to be observed outwardly in the ritual manner of the Pharisees -- is seen in the words of Epiphanius when he wrote about the Ebionites that they "do not accept Moses' Pentateuch in its entirety; certain sayings they reject... stating Christ has revealed this to me, and will blespheme most of the legislation" (Panarion 30.18.7-9). Thus, the Law has a spiritual meaning and must be turned within using the Key of Knowledge, in order to overcome the Laws in the manner that Yeshua did. And that the literal written word of the Torah is as a cloak for the inner soul and spiritual meaning that the people of a carnal and organic mind of this world are blind to, is seen in the statement of Jewish Mysticism in the Zohar when it warns: "Thus the tales related in the Torah are simply her outer garments, and woe to the man who regards that outer garb as the Torah itself, for such a man will be deprived of portion in the next world." (see http://ebionite.com/Torah.htm ). Yet, in defiance of what Yeshua's Ebionite disciples observed, as well as both Paul's and the Jewish Mystics warning, most Christians attempt to read the text of the Old Testament literally and form an opinion about the nature of God and Creation. That they cling to the literal text to their own spiritual demise, is explored in the article An Inconvenient Truth.
It is impossible to understand both the Gospel, and those points in the original Epistles where Paul was correct (prior to being corrupted), until one begins to understand the teachings of Yeshua that the Kingdom is within -- that each of us is the prodigal son of our Heavenly Father -- and that organic man dwells in what Yeshua portrayed as the "outer darkness" of mind and being (see Outer Darkness) -- and that only by picking up one's own cross and travailing in TheWay, can the inner "narrow strait gate" be opened unto you, and can you return to your Source (see Gate Of Eden). And when Yeshua accused the very Torah Observant (carnal) leaders of the Jews of throwing away the Key of Knowledge, it was because they were interpreting the scriptures outwardly in ritual and tradition, instead of using them as the Key of Knowledge, to open the inner door to the Kingdom. That the Ebionites were enlightened to the spiritual meaning of the Torah, and did not observe it outwardly in ritual and tradition, is the reason why Epiphanius wrote that they "do not accept Moses' Pentateuch in its entirety; certain sayings they reject... stating Christ has revealed this to me, and will blaspheme most of the legislation" (Panarion 30.18.7-9). For them to be accused of "blaspheming most of the legislation", means that they did not at all observe the Torah in accordance with the letter of the written word -- but rather, they understood the allegorical symbolism that was applicable to unlocking the inner door to the Kingdom.
Many modern pseudo-Ebionites and pseudo-Nazarenes focus on the condemnation of Paul in the writings of Peter's disciple Clement, but they ignore these same writings which portray the written text of the scriptures as the "books with the power to deceive" (see Mystery Of The Books). Which means that these pseudo-Ebionite/Nazarene groups don't at all understand why both Peter and the original Ebionites opposed and condemned Paul as the proverbial Simon Magus. Yet, these same pseudo-Ebionite/Nazarenes who are themselves blind to the spiritual meaning of the Torah -- and have themselves been fooled and seduced by what Peter portrays at the "mystery of the books with the power to deceive" (see An Inconvenient Truth), remain equally blind to the spiritual meaning of the Gospels.
The problem with Paul from an historical sense is seen in the fact that a number of non-Jews authored his Epistles in his name, and many of them were hostile to Judaism. Paul, therefore, is the father of Christian Gnosticism -- which in and of itself is not necessarily bad -- but we must also remember that there were major differences in the Greek Mystery religions (Gnostic) and the system taught by Yeshua and the people of the New Covenant. But since the vast majority of modern pseudo-Ebionite/Nazarenes do not understand the meaning of the word Gnosis as being Spiritual Knowledge revealed directly to the mind of True Disciples and Seekers of TheWay (see The Reality Of Gnosis), in their ignorance they condemn and reject the Divine Manna from Heaven. And while Paul was not wrong in his assertion that it would have been a waste of time for the non-Jews to become ritually Torah observant -- much quicker enlightenment was achieved by non-Jews who converted to a spiritual quasi-Buddhist lifestyle which was what Paul promoted. But the problem worsened when the carnal non-Jewish converts who were themselves ignorant of the spiritual meaning of the Torah, started writing their doctrines directly into the Epistles associated with Paul. Many of the more anti-Jewish pro-Gnostic Epistles attributed to Paul were in fact eventually suppressed by the Church, because these writings demonstrated that they were authored by a non-Jewish Gnostic.
As an example: The second
century Church Father Clement of Alexandria writes that:
"And further, that the same
God that furnished both the Covenants was the giver of Greek
philosophy to the Greeks, by which the Almighty is glorified
among the Greeks, he shows. And it is clear from this.
Accordingly, then, from the Hellenic training, and also from
that of the law are gathered into the one race of the saved
people those who accept faith: not that the three peoples
are separated by time, so that one might suppose three
natures, but trained in different Covenants of the one Lord,
by the word of the one Lord. For that, as God wished to
save the Jews by giving to them prophets, so also by raising
up prophets of their own in their own tongue, as they were
able to receive God's beneficence, He distinguished the most
excellent of the Greeks from the common herd, in addition to
'Peter's Preaching,'
the Apostle Paul will show, saying:
'Take also the Hellenic books, read the Sibyl, how it is
shown that God is one, and how the future is indicated. And
taking Hystaspes, read, and you will find much more
luminously and distinctly the Son of God described, and how
many kings shall draw up their forces against Christ, hating
Him and those that bear His name, and His faithful ones, and
His patience, and His coming.' Then in one word he asks us,
'Whose is the world, and all that is in the world? Are they
not God's? ' Wherefore
Peter says, that the Lord said to the apostles: 'If any one
of Israel then, wishes to repent, and by my name to believe
in God, his sins shall be forgiven him, after twelve years.
Go forth into the world, that no one may say, We have not
These words attributed to Paul by Clement of Alexandria, have been suppressed by the Church, and the ignorant Christians are under the grave misconception that the Ebionite/Nazirenes opposed him merely because he condemned a ritual observance of the Torah -- which the Ebionite/Nazirenes who were Gnostic and vegetarian, did not themselves hold to.
Some of the writings attributed to Paul were outrageous, but the ignorant Christians today know nothing about these. As can be seen in the above words, Clement quotes an Epistle of Paul where he (the author) uses the Sibyl of the Greek Mystery religions as an authority. He also quotes Hystaspes -- which I will provide a research article: "According to Avestan history, Vištâspa offered asylum to Zarathustra when the latter was hunted down by his opponents, the priests of the god Mithra. Later, the king organized a debate between the prophet and the priests; when Zarathustra had proved that his doctrines were superior, Vištâspa became an adherent of the new religion. Legend has elaborated this story and added an intervention by Ahuramazda in person" (see SEARCH)
If the Ebionite/Nazirenes would have accepted the Greek Gnosticism that was promoted under the authorship of Paul, they would have totally undermined their own position among the Essenes and Hebrews -- and would not have been able to guide carnal Jews in TheWay. While I understand Gnosticism, these writings of Paul, and most other religious paths as alternative paths for people of different paths, I was forced to take a different position back in the first century (see Brother Of Yeshua/Jesus). Because few Jews today understand the Inner Spiritual Revelation of the Torah, the great majority of modern Jews have been alienated from their own religion. And because most non-Jews are too carnal to comprehend the very Gnostic Epistles of Paul -- and in not understanding the inner meaning of the scriptures (see An Inconvenient Truth) -- and have themselves thrown away the Key of Knowledge -- they falsely believe that Yeshua did away with the Law. This condition of profound spiritual ignorance is responsible for the greater number of Christians and Messianic Jews that have in fact alienated themselves from the teachings of TheWay that they claim to champion.
In the book Christ or Paul?, the Rev. V.A. Holmes-Gore wrote: "Let the reader contrast the true Christian standard with that of Paul and he will see the terrible betrayal of all that the Master taught....For the surest way to betray a great Teacher is to misrepresent his message....That is what Paul and his followers did, and because the Church has followed Paul in his error it has failed lamentably to redeem the world....The teachings given by the blessed Master Christ, which the disciples John and Peter and James, the brother of the Master, tried in vain to defend and preserve intact were as utterly opposed to the Pauline Gospel as the light is opposed to the darkness."
The theologian Soren Kierkegaard, writing in The Journals, echoes the above sentiment: "In the teachings of Christ, religion is completely present tense: Jesus is the prototype and our task is to imitate him, become a disciple. But then through Paul came a basic alteration. Paul draws attention away from imitating Christ and fixes attention on the death of Christ The Atoner. What Martin Luther. in his reformation, failed to realize is that even before Catholicism, Christianity had become degenerate at the hands of Paul. Paul made Christianity the religion of Paul, not of Christ Paul threw the Christianity of Christ away, completely turning it upside down. making it just the opposite of the original proclamation of Christ"
The theologian Ernest Renan, in his book Saint Paul, wrote: "True Christianity, which will last forever, comes from the gospel words of Christ not from the epistles of Paul. The writings of Paul have been a danger and a hidden rock. the causes of the principal defects of Christian theology."
Albert Schweitzer, winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, has been called "one of the greatest Christians of his time." He was a philosopher, physician, musician, clergyman, missionary, and theologian. In his The Quest for the Historical Jesus and his Mysticism of Paul he writes: "Paul....did not desire to know Christ....Paul shows us with what complete indifference the earthly life of Jesus was regarded....What is the significance for our faith and for our religious life, the fact that the Gospel of Paul is different from the Gospel of Jesus?....The attitude which Paul himself takes up towards the Gospel of Jesus is that he does not repeat it in the words of Jesus, and does not appeal to its authority....The fateful thing is that the Greek, the Catholic, and the Protestant theologies all contain the Gospel of Paul in a form which does not continue the Gospel of Jesus, but displaces it."
William Wrede, in his book Paul, informs us: "The oblivious contradictions in the three accounts given by Paul in regard to his conversion are enough to arouse distrust....The moral majesty of Jesus, his purity and piety, his ministry among his people, his manner as a prophet, the whole concrete ethical-religious content of his earthly life, signifies for Paul's Christology nothing whatever....The name 'disciple of Jesus' has little applicability to Paul....Jesus or Paul: this alternative characterizes, at least in part, the religious and theological warfare of the present day"
Rudolf Bultman, one of the most respected theologians, wrote in his Significance of the Historical Jesus for the Theology of Paul: "It is most obvious that Paul does not appeal to the words of the Lord in support of his....views. when the essentially Pauline conceptions are considered, it is clear that Paul is not dependent on Jesus. Jesus' teaching is -- to all intents and purposes -- irrelevant for Paul."
Walter Bauer, another eminent theologian, wrote in his Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity: "If one may be allowed to speak rather pointedly the Apostle Paul was the only Arch-Heretic known to the apostolic age."
George Bernard Shaw, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925; in his Androcles and the Lion, we read: "There is not one word of Pauline Christianity in the characteristic utterances of Jesus....There has really never been a more monstrous imposition perpetrated than the imposition of Paul's soul upon the soul of Jesus....It is now easy to understand how the Christianity of Jesus....was suppressed by the police and the Church, while Paulinism overran the whole western civilized world, which was at that time the Roman Empire, and was adopted by it as its official faith."
Will Durant; in his Caesar and Christ, he wrote: "Paul created a theology of which none but the vaguest warrants can be found in the words of Christ....Through these interpretations Paul could neglect the actual life and sayings of Jesus, which he had not directly known....Paul replaced conduct with creed as the test of virtue. It was a tragic change."
Martin Buber, the most respected Jewish philosopher of this century, wrote in Two Types of Faith: "The Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount is completely opposed to Paul"
In one of the best books on early Christianity, Those Incredible Christians, Dr. High Schonfield reports: "It was not only the teaching and activities of Paul which made him obnoxious to the Christian leaders: but their awareness that he set his revelations above their authority and claimed an intimacy with the mind of Jesus, greater than that of those who had companied with him on earth and had been chosen by him....It was an abomination, especially as his ideas were so contrary to what they knew of Jesus, that he should pose as the embodiment of the Messiah 's will....Paul was seen as the demon-driven enemy of the Messiah....For the legitimate Church, Paul was a dangerous and disruptive influence, bent on enlisting a large following among the Gentiles in order to provide himself with a numerical superiority with the support of which he could set at defiance the Elders at Jerusalem. Paul had been the enemy from the beginning. and because he failed in his former open hostility he had craftily insinuated himself into the fold to destroy it from within."
It is important to understand the relationship between the teachings of Jesus, and the theology that has been created from the perspective of the Epistles of the Apostle Paul -- a man who never met Jesus in his lifetime. Under the heading of Jesus and Paul, the Encyclopedia Britannica writes: "In calling Paulinism 'Christocentric', one raises the question as to its relation to the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus... how far he unconsciously modified the Gospel by making Christ its subject matter rather than its revealer.... Paul... put all into so fresh a perspective as to change the relative emphasis on points central to the teaching of Jesus, and so alter its spirit. A school of writers, by no means unappreciative of Paul as they understand him, of whom W. Wrede may be taken as example, answer that Paul so changed Christianity as to become its 'second founder' - the real founder of ecclesiastical Christianity as distinct from the Christianity of Jesus. They say, 'either Jesus or Paul' it cannot be both at once'".
When Prof. John Allegro was quoted as saying that what has been revealed in the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is a great amount of overwhelming evidence that "...may upset a great many basic teachings of the Christian Church. This in turn would greatly upset many Christian Theologians and believers. The heart of the matter is, in fact, the source and originality of Christian doctrine" (August 1966 issue of Harpers Magazine); what he was in fact stating is that, everything that we now know about Christian beginnings demonstrate that the Essene/Ebionites were not the heretics, as they were falsely portrayed by the later Gentile church, but were in fact the body of genuine believers that held fast to the authentic teachings of Yeshua/Jesus and the New Covenant.
The Counterfeit Structure of Modern Christianity
The profound long-suspected truth about Christianity became an indisputable fact when Dead Sea Scroll expert and biblical scholar A. Powell Davies expressed the immortal words when he said: "Biblical scholars were not disturbed by what they found in the Dead Sea Scrolls because they had known all along that the origin of Christianity was not what was commonly supposed to have been" (quoted by Millar Burrows in More Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls). Worse yet, Edmund Wilson, an expert who worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls further raised the question as to what difference it makes if "Jesus... had been trained in the discipline and imbued with the thought of a certain Jewish sect, and that he had learned from it the role that he afterwards lived..." (The Scrolls From The Dead Sea). To the uninformed and unknowing believer, it made all the difference in the world!
What did the Dead Sea Scrolls prove beyond any doubt? That the Ebionits who were condemned by the Gentiles and later Roman Church were correct -- and that the Gentiles were too heathen to comprehend the teachings of Yeshua and TheWay. Thus, the Encyclopedia Britannica writes: "Most of the features of Ebionite doctrine were anticipated in the teachings of the earlier Qumran sect, as revealed in the Dead Sea Scrolls. They believed in one God and taught that Jesus was the Messiah and was the true "prophet" mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:15. They rejected the Virgin Birth of Jesus, instead holding that he was the natural son of Joseph and Mary. The Ebionites believed Jesus became the Messiah because he obeyed the Jewish Law. They themselves faithfully followed the Law, although they removed what they regarded as interpolations in order to uphold their teachings, which included vegetarianism, holy poverty, ritual ablutions, and the rejection of animal sacrifices. The Ebionites also held Jerusalem in great veneration. (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online)
At about the same time the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a cave, a library of early Christian scriptures was uncovered at Nag Hammaddi in upper Egypt. Because of the nature of these writings, our scholars believe that these scriptures belonged to a sect of Gnostic Christians. Yet, the understanding that was engendered from the study of these writings was profound, even from a purely historical perspective. What they learned from the study of these writings again confirmed that the faithful flock had once again for a very long time believed a lie with respect to the first Gentile Christians -- a lie that again had been published by the Church of Constantine. In the words of Prof. Elaine Pagles in her book, The Gnostic Gospels, the condemnation of the early Gnostic Christians by the Roman Church had "political implications". What she said was that the denunciation of the Gnostic Christians was "crucial to the development of Christianity as an institutional religion. In simplest terms, ideas which bear implications contrary to that development come to be labeled as heresy; ideas which implicitly support it become orthodox". What this meant was that what is today considered traditional Christian doctrine, was formed in the fourth century for purely political reasons in order to support the Church that the Roman Emperor Constantine authored and founded.
Proof of just how far the Christian Church has deviated from its original spiritual path known as TheWay, is seen in the fact that throughout most of the Christian world today the words mysticism and gnosticism are words more appropriately used to describe heresy and heretics -- and yet, in the words of Dead Sea Scroll expert Prof. John Allegro in is book, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of Christianity, he writes: "It is a fact that the Qumran Library has profoundly affected the study of the Johannine writings and many longheld conceptions have had to be radically revised. No longer can John be regarded as the most Hellenistic of the Evangelists; his gnosticism, and the whole framework of his thought is seen now to spring directly from a Jewish sectarianism rooted in Palestinian soil, and his material recognized as founded in the earliest layers of Gospel traditions." What these words mean is that such common phrases as faith, belief, born again, and even the manner in which Christians worship, must be radically altered and turned back onto the original course that Yeshua/Jesus ordained, in order for the modern believers to even be considered followers, and inherit the promise of Eternal Life.


text:
NCAA scoring champion Gustafson leads loaded No. 13 Iowa
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Coach Lisa Bluder has had plenty of good teams in her 18 seasons in charge at Iowa. This year's group might end up being the best she's ever had.
The Hawkeyes, who are ranked 13th in The Associated Press women's basketball preseason poll , return six of their top seven scorers from a year ago — including NCAA scoring champion Megan Gustafson (25.7 points per game). Guard Kathleen Doyle, a preseason All-Big Ten pick, will be joined by Tania Davis, who missed last season with a knee injury, to form one of the best backcourts in the Big Ten.
Iowa, which finished 24-8 a year ago and was upset by 11th-seeded Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, opens the season against Oral Roberts on Nov. 9.
"It's easy to be enthused about this group of women," Bluder said. "They come every day to practice with great energy, with a positive attitude. They have a tremendous focus."
The biggest reason the Hawkeyes are so excited for this season is the 6-foot-3 Gustafson, who also led the nation in shooting percentage (67.1) and made baskets (320).
Snubbed by nearly every outlet for first-team All-America honors, Gustafson is primed to compete for national player of the year honors this winter. She is just 300 points shy of the school record and 89 rebounds from the team mark. She was the unanimous pick to repeat as the player of the year in the Big Ten.
Bluder said Gustafson might not be able to replicate her monster numbers from a year ago because she's no longer a secret.
"I think every coach in America is planning on how they're going to control Megan," Bluder said. "With that, the rest of our team is going to reap the benefits of that focus."
Getting back Davis to pair with Doyle, who led the Big Ten in assists with 7.5 per conference game a year ago, should take some of the pressure off Gustafson in the paint. Davis, who has averaged 9.3 points a game and 3.9 assists in 68 career games, is coming off surgeries for torn ACLs in each knee in back-to-back seasons.
"If you don't double (team Gustafson), you're going to give up 2s the entire game and she's going to score 50 and we're going to get 50 assists," Davis said. "We're fine with that."
With Gustafson, Doyle and Davis expected to serve as Iowa's so-called Big Three, Makenzie Meyer might be poised for a breakout season on the perimeter.
Meyer, a 5-foot-9 junior and the 2016 Iowa Miss Basketball for Mason City, averaged 10.8 points a game last season with 51 3s and a 37.8 shooting percentage from beyond the arc. She also shot 91.2 percent from the line and dished out 111 assists.
"She's a sniper out there," Doyle said.
Iowa has long been a competitive team in the Big Ten under Bluder, but greatness has eluded the Hawkeyes during her tenure. Just one of her 13 NCAA Tournament teams reached the Sweet Sixteen — and none beyond that.
These Hawkeyes, whose goals are to win the Big Ten and reach at least the Elite Eight, could help cement Bluder's legacy.
"I have unbelievable confidence in them. I believe this team can be very good," she said. "We're challenging ourselves, there's no doubt about it."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
On Playwright Yusuf al-Ani
Celebrated Iraqi playwright and actor Yusuf al-Ani (1927-2016) is at the center of the latest issue of the Journal of Contemporary Iraq and the Arab World, which has — in addition to scholarly work on al-Ani's oeuvre — translations by Salaam Yousif of al-Ani's poem 'Pride' and three scenes from his play Awailakh (Woe Unto Us):
"Not all the doors are closed yet, not all the roads are blocked. We can start again, start by changing ourselves from within." – The Key, Al-Ani, translated by Salwa Jabsheh and Alan Brownjohn
The translations of al-Ani's work in the new issue of Journal of Contemporary Iraq and the Arab World, published by Intellect Books, bookend four scholarly articles by Muhsin al-Musawi; Tareq Y. Ismael; Tahrir Hamdi and Tayseer Abu Odeh; and by Hadeel Abdelhameed, as well as three articles translated from Arabic by Aqeel Mehdi, Fadel Soudani, and Yasen Al-Nasayyir. A table of contents is online. The articles look at al-Ani's dissident women characters, how he fits into popular Iraqi theatre, and his "living ghosts."
Translations of al-Ani's creative work are rare; the only other English translation of al-Ani's popular theatre work seems to be of his The Key (tr. Jabsheh and Brownjohn), which appears in Modern Arabic Drama: An Anthology, co-edited by Roger Allen and Salma Khadra Jayyusi.
This Editor's Introduction is a pre-typeset version and appears here with permission.
By Shereen Ismael and Salaam Yousif
The October 2016 passing of playwright, writer and actor Yusuf al-Ani saw him mourned as a national icon of the arts by a wide cross-section of Iraqis. As with his artistic work, his legacy was quickly cemented as that of a commitment to comity amongst Iraq's social cleavages and classes in the face of the post-2003 mobilization of such divides in the drive for political power. Public sentiment overcame any such posturing and instead saw even sectarian or otherwise particularist political actors expressing the eminence of al-Ani and the vision of Iraq he brought into existence through his many works on the stage and screen. This challenge his legacy posed to contemporary Iraq's sociopolitical divides culminated in a state funeral where large crowds gathered to mourn his passing and celebrate his challenge to the oppression and daily tests confronting average Iraqis.
This special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Iraq & the Arab World is dedicated to the life and works of al-Ani. It can be said that every day begins like any other, until someone close dies. The passing of Yusuf al-Ani was felt far beyond his family and friends, however, as it represented an opportunity for many to reflect on the immense impact his lifelong commitment to the theatre and its power in giving voice to messages of emancipatory potential held. While the absence death brings stays with us for the rest of our lives, al-Ani is to be enduring through the many Iraqi writers, directors and actors in theatre, television and film who have in some way been given inspiration, moulded or provided opportunity through the efforts of al-Ani. While remembrance often forces those left behind to be invested in the impact the deceased have on the living, the al-Ani legacy has been noted without dissent across the many obituaries, remembrances and reflections that appeared in the Arab press.
The central themes that emerge are al-Ani's role as an organic intellectual who championed the dispossessed and identified with the left across his roles as theatre practitioner, playwright and actor. This came to see him identified as 'the people's artist' during his ownlifetime, expression and function of his artistic craft merging into a coherent approach. Al-Ani's significance to Iraqi theatre cannot be overemphasized. While his characters were predominantly from the common folk, later joined by Iraq's emergent intelligentsia, the subject matter of his plays and dramas was serious and committed. Moreover, he pursued accessible productions that would not skimp on sophisticated ideas, firmly committed to a belief that most Iraqis were more than capable of accessing the messages he crafted to challenge traditional authority, gender relations and the tyranny of everyday state oppression. In doing so, al-Ani lifted Iraqi drama to a higher plateau, while at the same time expanding its appeal beyond elite audiences. His works stand today as sketches and frameworks for contemporary expression. The challenges and tribulations faced by most Iraqis have not yet been left to history as they faced ever-increasing authoritarianism, war-induced depredations and the indignity of foreign occupation. Al-Ani'sworks demonstrate how such large injustices are meted out in the everyday lives of many people. In addition to his artistic legacy stands that of his professionalization of the theatre. This came through his training, demonstration of techniques and work with his comrades in the Modern Artistic Theatre troupe, where many talented playwrights, directors and actors joined him before moving on to populate Iraq's theatre, film and television.
As with our collection in this special issue, many of the materials written on al-Ani manifest both considered examinations of his professional and artistic contributions alongside reflections on his person. Al-Ani's presence within Iraqi arts and letters has proven impactful and far-reaching, leading to previous publication's aimed at bringing his work to English-language scholarship (Yousif 1997). As an object of scholarly enquiry al-Ani is replete with suggestive avenues for exploration. Our contributors here have engaged him on such hopeful grounds, yet alongside such analysis those who never met al-Ani in life see the man and his work come together in the vignette's and memories of those who were fortunate to have made his acquaintance. As co-editors we discovered we straddled this demarcation. While devoting his scholarship to examining Iraqi culture, literature and theatre, including those of Iraqi artists and writers, while researching and writing on al-Ani, Salaam Yousif never had the opportunity to meet al-Ani in person. Chance opportunity, however, afforded such happenstance to Shereen Ismael. When she was all of 5 years old, al-Ani joined a social gathering where she was in attendance and that meeting has remained alive over the subsequent years. Al-Ani was enjoying playing with a group of children while their parents were engaged in a dinner party, with his joy at playing with the children evident as he lingered, prompting the adults to come and pull the children away in an effort to see al-Ani rejoin their conversations and revelry. That meeting became an event of some note in the Ismael family, however, as al-Ani expressed that his joy in play with the children and desire to spend time with them was due to the fact that they were 'free' young girls. This led al-Ani to expound with the adults, following the children's withdrawal to an appropriate bedtime, where he explored an idea many others have noted in other interviews and even contributions to this collection. In the face of wider social oppressions, al-Ani spoke often that whether in the context of social issues, politics or creativity in the arts such freedom should be cherished and deemed a goal of a healthy society. His point being that such freedom was not solely the result of the good parenting of any individual family, but also the society in which we all lived. Being able to be allowed to reach our full potential – 'flowering' was the word he used – was a foremost objective for social development. Similar anecdotes and reflections on his expression of al-Ani's depth of consideration of the human condition jump from the page and bring his thoughtfulness alive in the contributions which follow.
This special issue is comprised of al-Ani's poem 'Pride', three scenes from al-Ani's play Awailakh ('Woe unto us') that have been translated and provided introduction by Salaam Yousif. We would like to acknowledge and thank Dr Hamdi al-Toukmachi for granting us permission to translate scenes from the play, while also thanking Dr Salwa Zako for her support for this project and for aiding us in communicating with Dr Toukmachi. Touqmachi's 2014 edited book on al-Ani, entitled Youssuf Al-Ani: Fanan Al-Sha`b, stands as an indispensable work for the scholar of modern Iraqi theatre broadly and al-Ani in particular. These translations of al-Ani bookend four scholarly articles by Muhsin Al-Musawi, Tareq Y. Ismael, Tahrir Hamdi and Tayseer Abu Odeh, as well as Hadeel Abdelhameed. They are followed by three additional articles by Aqeel Mehdi, Fadel Soudani and Yasen Al-Nasayyir that have been translated from their Arabic original and appear in English for the first time. We would also like to thank Fadhil Thamir, president of the Union of Iraqi Writers, for facilitating our communication with the Iraqi scholars.
Muhsin Al-Musawi's 'In remembrance of human glory: Yusuf Al-Ani's living ghosts' examines al-Ani's commitment to have artistic expression play a leading role in the effort to raise popular consciousness. Al-Musawi demarcates al-Ani's accurate portrayals of the social and political conditions of Iraq and the wider Arab world and places them in the context provided by his remembrances of contributors he witnessed over his long career. This exploration highlights al-Ani's career-long effort to promote Iraqi theatre, cinema and the arts.
Notably, al-Musawi investigates the role of collaboration and the acknowledgment of al-Ani's stylistic and intellectual influencers, exploring both through the prism of his 1999 volume Shakhsiyyāt wa dhikrayāt ('Personalities and memories'). In this collection, al-Ani investigated a wide array of voices through a memorialization of Iraqi and other Arab intellectuals, artists and educators. Al-Musawi's close examination of al-Ani's chosen vignettes of these varied influences establishes a sensibility in which to better appreciate the contributions and interventions made in the past for their impact(s) on artistic expression in the present. The depth of his analysis and the layered portraits he provides of his subjects drives home the vast assemblage of al-Ani's friendships, engagements and correspondences with both Iraqi and Arab intellectual milieus. Through personalized portraits and laser-like identifications of individual contributions al-Ani provides a focus on the opportunity Iraqis were afforded to embrace and develop their talents in the arts, a period of development al-Musawi highlights for its role in expanding artistic expression in the early post-monarchical era. Al-Musawi notes that in spite of his indefatigable efforts and consistent humour al-Ani's volume supports a critical conclusion of the role of the state and political power for its stifling of artistic expression and social advance through the arts.
Tareq Y. Ismael's contribution, entitled 'Legacy, legitimacy and compromise: Baghdad's visionary Yusuf al-Ani and post-colonial Iraq', adopts a more hands-on recollection of the era when al-Ani rose to prominence. Ismael surveys al-Ani's influence on the development ofpopular theatre and his desire to convey his art through a deliberative expression of contemporary popular understandings of how Iraqis saw themselves. Through his own interactions with al-Ani in the years following the 1958 revolution, as well as his experience as a witness to the impacts of al-Ani's plays during this period, Ismael provides insights into al-Ani's interactions with the Iraqi intelligentsia. Moreover, during the period prior to the overthrow of the monarchy, Ismael sketches the social milieu of the period, establishing a way for the reader to explore the social context in which al-Ani worked. Reflections on the devastation of Iraqi civil society broadly – and its intellectuals in particular – emerge from Ismael's reminiscence of al-Ani's insights into the social and political demise of the Iraqi state under the Ba'ath and Anglo-American occupation and this later era as compared with that of the overthrow of the monarchy. Relying also on formal interviews conducted in 1986, 2005, 2007 and 2008 the reader is introduced to al-Ani's impression of the broad swath of modern Iraqi experience, with direct acknowledgement of how these events fed into al-Ani's artistic creations and therefore his impact.
Tahrir Hamdi and Tayseer Abu Odeh's 'The intellectual resistance of Yusuf Al-Ani' delves into al-Ani's preternatural determination that Iraqi and Arab society could change, principally through one of his most intellectual characters, Nouar. In al-Ani's al-Miftah (The Key), Nouar states that 'Not all the doors are closed yet, not all the roads are blocked. We can start again'. Hamdi and Abu Odeh suggest that this encapsulates al-Ani's innovative people's theatre, which never shied away from starting anew, introducing new themes and styles. Their article focuses on the intellectual and artistic resistance embodied in al-Ani's life and work, which, they argue, prominently exhibits the most important elements of Edward Said's concept of the intellectual. Hamdi and Abu Odeh articulate for the reader al-Ani's people's theatre as a revolutionary force for necessary change, with the connection to anti-colonial resistance examined in some detail. They identify important Saidian and postcolonial themes, such as speaking truth to power, secular criticism, representing the oppressed and a refusal to surrender in the face of death and desolation, all of which are located and analysed in al-Ani's work. Al-Ani's break with tradition, in their accounting, is not only thematic, but also aesthetic and imaginative, exhibiting an irreconcilability that can perhaps be best described as Saidian 'late style'. The essential role of al-Ani's people's theatre in igniting resistance and change is highlighted through examination of two of al-Ani's longer plays, 1968s The Key and 1970s al-Kharaba ('The ruin'), providing considerable terrain on which Hamdi and Abu Odeh explore the sophisticated ideas conveyed by al-Ani's apparently straightforward dramas.
In her article, 'Staging women's implicit dissidence in Yusuf Al-Ani's The Silk Thread', Hadeel Abdelhameed presents an overview of the intellectual atmosphere that shaped the Iraqi theatre during the period of the 1980s Iraq–Iran war. She focuses on al-Ani's 1986 play Khayt Al-Breesam ('The silk thread') to demonstrate how Iraqi theatre-makers struggled under the oppressive restrictions on expression imposed by the former Ba'athist regime. In particular Abdelhameed explores how playwrights and directors presented anti-war viewpoints though indirect means, including theatrical representations of female characters, playing on societal views of women to open portions of dialogue that audiences would grasp and censors not always immediately identify for attention. In her article, Abdelhameed examines Khayt Al-Breesam as an example of what she identifies as deliberate disassociation from the dominant war narrative of the period. In this space created within dramatic presentation, they could express common views about the war without outright expression of opposition and the reaction of the state it would necessarily bring about. Moreover, Abdelhameed notes the ability of Iraqi dramatists' tacit representation of dissident Iraqi women for its emancipatory potential within a patriarchal society then steeped in state-sponsored renderings of 'appropriate' gender roles.
Following these four scholarly contributions from academics now based in the west, the special issue turns to three Iraqi commentators through works they wrote on al-Ani's contributions prior to his passing in 2016. All three appear in English translation for the first time and provide unique perspectives from their interactions with al-Ani and his work as they appeared for the first time onstage and screen. Aqeel Mehdi's 'Yusuf al-Ani's dramatic journeys and his theatrical cane', translated by Ghyath Manhel Alkinani, provides an account of al-Ani's artistic development as both actor as well as playwright and his experience in the Iraqi theatre. Mehdi explores the role of folklore and theatrical realism in the manner developed by Bertolt Brecht, alongside progressive social and political concepts that influenced al-Ani's works. Mehdi finds that the harmonization of experimentation between the native expression evident in al-Ani's writing as well as his dramaturgy, that is, the combination of originality and the folkloric aspect that captures the essence of the experience of the Iraqi individual, altered the potential for Iraqi theatrical expression. Moreover, Mehdi notes that the connection between this and al-Ani's commitment to see such conceptual commitments be expressed through an Iraqi idiom, provided the theatre with intellectual respect amongst Iraqi intellectuals. The author also notes that al-Ani's efforts to professionalize and develop Iraqi theatre troupes and production capacities led to a growing regional and global reputation for both al-Ani as well as the wider Iraqi theatre. This provided great opportunity not only for al-Ani, but also for the Iraqi arts broadly and the theatre in particular. As Mehdi persuasively considers for his reader, by developing deep roots withinIraq's emerging public culture, al-Ani supported Iraqi theatre-makers who followed to be afforded considerable opportunity. He concludes that the debt modern Iraqi theatre owes to al- Ani, through his enormous talent and prodigious efforts to elevate the art form to the highest levels to connect the artist to his society, is considerable and Mehdi suggests long-lasting.
Fadel Soudani's article 'Yusuf Al-Ani and the concept of Iraqi popular theatre', translated by Wadhah Hasan Muhi, provides the reader with an examination of al-Ani by placing his creative efforts and intellectual influences of his works within their contemporaneous context. Soudani accounts for both sociopolitical as well as the roles played by al-Ani's professional colleagues in the theatre. The article examines how al-Ani provided a unique adaptation and popularization of the concepts made famous by Bertolt Brecht, bringing concept to form within the Iraqi theatre community. Soudani examines al-Ani's The Key, The Ruin and The Spinning Wheel for their themes and effective deployment of 'epic theatre', the routine development of an Iraqi popular charter, as well as al-Ani's focus on presenting characters who evidenced the lived reality of Iraqis from across all social classes. Soudani notes al-Ani's ability to mobilize well-known folklore and classic tales, with which all Iraqis would be familiar, before examining them for the effective manner in which al-Ani was then able to recast such characters and themes in a way that challenged conventional ideas and social mores.
Finally, Yasen al-Nassayyir's article 'Yusuf al-Ani: Working without rules', translated by Falih Hasan Al-Sudani, examines al-Ani's creative development within the context of his collaborators and intellectual influences. Al-Nassayyir places special emphasis on al-Ani'sorigins and motivations for the posture of his acting, writing and direction in the formative period of the Iraqi theatre. His article then turns to al-Ani's influence on the modern Iraqi theatre. Al-Nassayyir examines al-Ani's collaboration with an array of other directors and performers, analysing such relationships for their impacts on the development of al-Ani's work, especially in the absence of theatrical training amongst Iraqis then working in the professional domain. Al-Ani's Firqat al-Masrah al-Fanni al-Hadith troupe is also analysed by al-Nassayyir for these relationships in light of how many Iraqi directors, actors and writers emerged from its success over subsequent years. Notably, al-Nassayyir identifies al-Ani's deployment of 'The Little Man' and Iraqi folk tales, weighing them for their innovative ability to allow his work to speak to all social classes. Al-Ani's considered iterative development of his writing and style, al-Nassayyir finds, led to a sophisticated portrayal of such grounded characters on both stage and screen. This saw al-Ani's works take the familiar found in many Iraqis' lives and carry that to the stage, encouraging new perspectives that audience members would necessarily then apply to their lived realities outside the performance venue.
Touqmachi, H. (ed.) (2014), Youssuf Al-Ani: Fanan Al-Sha`b, Amman: Adib Books.
Yousif, S. (1997), 'The people's theater of Yusuf Al-Ani', Arab Studies Quarterly, 19:4, Fall, pp. 65–93.
Salaam Yousif received his BA in English from the University of Baghdad, Iraq, and his Ph.D. degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Iowa, USA. He teaches literature at California State University, San Bernardino. He has published articles on Iraqi culture and literature and translated contemporary Iraqi poems into English, including Iraqi poet Jamal Juma's collection Letters to My Brother: A Handshake in the Dark, which was set to music as a choral piece by Michael Nyman and premiered by the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra in 2007.
Shereen T. Ismael held tenure as an Associate Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada (2006–13), prior to which she held an Assistant Professorship at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, Canada as well as a SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada (the first Post-Doctoral Fellow in Social Work), following completion of a Ph.D. in Social Policy in 2002. In 2013, she made the difficult decision to resign her position in the Faculty of Public Affairs at Carleton to relocate to care for family. Her most recent publications include the forthcoming: The Destruction of Iraq: A Critical Examination of the Documentary Record (Routledge, 2020) with Tareq Y. Ismael and Jacqueline S. Ismael, 'Captured by the Quagmire: Iraq's lost generation and the prospects for children across the Arab region today', Arab Studies Quarterly (2019), 'The Arab Spring and the uncivil state', Arab Studies Quarterly (2013) and 'Children of the occupation: A decade after the invasion', International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies (2013), both with Jacqueline S. Ismael.


text:
Latest book reviews of 1 December 2008
BOOKS REVIEWS BY JOHN ELBURG.Wilhelminalaan 33John Elburg
The Netherlands.
This ChessBase Extra
Magazine comes with a collection of 38255 clean games all played
between Enschede 1/8 and Can Picafort Masters Can Picafort of
I can guarantee you between these 38000 there is allays something of your interest.
Personal I am very interested in Latvian games and I was very pleased to find in this master file 14 Latvian games.
As the following games show us you are never to old to pick up the Latvian Gambit!
Gensch,Manfred (1725) - Aufmwasser,Guenter (1632) [C40]
GER-ch Seniors-B 20th Erfurt (3), 07.08.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Nxe5 Qf6 4.d4 d6 5.Nc4 fxe4 6.Nc3 Qg6 7.Nd5 Qf7 8.Nde3 Nf6 9.Be2 Nbd7 10.0-0 Nb6 11.Nd2 Be6 12.c4 Qd7 13.Qc2 d5 14.c5 Nc8 15.f3 Ne7 16.b4 Nf5 17.Nxf5 Bxf5 18.Qc3 Be7 ½-½
All together there where six black wins and that is not bad for the Latvian Gambit!
GM Ftacnik is responsible for two video files one with the best game of the Tal Memorial 2008 and a tricky line in the English opening,1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6! Yes the knight would like to go to d4!
Conclusion: A mass of latest games!


text:
Apple season is in full flourish! If you haven't headed to the orchards just yet with your family, here are the top 3 things to keep in mind when picking apples!
1.When picking an apple off the tree, be sure to twist the apples and not to pull them. This way, you do not damage the other apples or branches, making sure to guarantee years of delicious apples for everyone!
2. The apples on the outside of the tree are the ripe ones! Always start from the outside, working your way in.
3. Once you've picked your apple, be sure to place it gently in the basket, don't toss them in. This way you will avoid bruising which will keep the apple fresh longer. Once you're home, store them in the fridge, and they'll stay delicious even longer!
4. Once you are home, visit our apple guide to find the best recipes to make with specific kinds of apples! Because after all, each type of apple has its unique taste!
The best part of apple picking isn't just about going home with yummy apples, it's about spending quality time with your loved ones and enjoying the fresh air. Make sure to take lots of pictures, that way the memories will last a lifetime.


text:
Attempts to prepare 3D (XYZ) histograms in python using the mplot3d package (part of matplotlib).
Plotting a XYZ-histogram turned out to be less trivial than anticipated. The premise: I have datasets which are scattered with over a 2-dimensional grid, and I needed the (3D) histograms. This is an exploratory effort, and we would like like to generate >150 of these histogram. This favours a programmatic approach over manually doing this with spreadsheets. (Incidentally, this is one of the few things that Excel can do that Origin can't!)
The default 3D bar plots from mplot3d (part of matplotlib) looks like:
The view presented is the best view of these graphs; at shallower angles, the infinitely thin nature of the bars becomes painfully apparent (the worse case scenario occurs when viewed directly from the Y-axis). The solution to "bulking it up" turns out to be simple.
Each of the normal bars are plotted with:
fig = pylab.figure()
ax = Axes3D(fig)
ax.bar(xs, ys, zs=z, zdir='y', color=c, alpha=0.8)
The simple workaround to giving a solid depth to the bars is by bracketing multiple bars in close succession:
barband = range(-45, 45, 5)
for modifier in barband:
ax.bar(current, occurrence, zs=duration+(float(modifier)/100), zdir='y', color=barcolor, alpha=0.6)
This generates output that looks like the following:
This generates unit blocks. The parameters here are quite carefully tuned for this view to give a solid sense while keeping the shadows light. When lines are closer (decrease spacing between steps) the shadow side appears pitch black; with further lines (or closer zoom) the individual scales become visible.
The parameter alpha is interesting. Higher values give the same blackness as increased numbers of slices, but lower values (alpha <= 0.2) give fuzzy slices, as the edges blend substantially into the white in the background.
It is useful to wrap the above into a function, and mine is shown here with the data input:
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
data = [ [0,0,0,3,0,0],
[0,0,0,0,2,0] ]
fig = plt.figure()
ax = Axes3D(fig)
def plot_xyz_histogram(data, ax, barcolor, filename):
""" Takes in a matrix (see structure above) and generate a pseudo-3D histogram by overlaying close, semitransparent bars. """
for duration, occurrence in zip(range(len(data)), data):
current = range(len(occurrence))
barband = range(-45, 45, 5)
for modifier in barband:
ax.bar(current, occurrence, zs=duration+(float(modifier)/100), zdir='y', color=barcolor, alpha=0.6)
My attempts to overlay these bar charts together to programmatically generate (4D?) histograms of this type is unsuccessful. I tried to do this by summing the overlay layer with the base data, so they would "poke through". This did not work; transparency of the base bars resulted in optical mixing. A multi-series 3D-histogram remain unique Illustrator artifacts.
Addendum: mplot3d have API for real 3D bars. See this post: here.


text:
Mon, 4 December 2017
This week! We briefly chat about video game cereals now that Super Mario Cereal is a thing. Then we spend some time talking about what we want to see from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft next year. After that, some what'cha been playing where we discuss UNO, Injustice 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Gear.Club, Grid Autosport (iOS), the trouble with Mujo, and so much more. Join us, won't you?
Links of interest:
Check out Greg's web series Generation 16 (Episode 18 now available) - click here. And take a trip over to Phil's YouTube Channel to see some awesome retro game vids. Or check out Ethan's gaming blog at gamingunicorn.com
Own an iPhone/iPod touch? We've got an app for that--the Player One Podcast player app is available now. Play shows new and old, read show notes, access the show Twitter, website, email, and more! Click here to download.
Got an Android device? You can now download our app on the Amazon Android Appstore. Find out all about it here.
Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast.
Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. Don't forget to join our forums if you haven't already!
Running time: 1:30:58
Direct download: 12_05_17-Episode578.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:06pm EDT


text:
Model: HB 1513194
Warranty: 2 Years
Case: Stainless Steel
Strap: Stainless Steel
Case width: 43mm
Fastening: Buckle
Movement: Quartz
Gender: Men
In the box: HB Watch, Manual/Warranty Booklet, Tag, Seals, Box and Box Cover.
Look after me: 3ATM Water resistant (Please refer to your instruction manual)
Hugo Boss HB 1513194 Mens Ambassador Watch is made from stainless steel and is powered by a chronograph quartz movement. It is fitted with a black leather strap and has a black dial. The watch has a date function.
Please contact us for our Delivery & Returns Policy
Payment & Security


text:
Koreans Netizens Are Stunned At How Popular This Male Group Is Overseas
It's true. GOT7 is sweeping the world off its feet with their 2018 World Tour. From Bangkok to Paris, this K-Pop boy group is on the rise beyond Korea. With the group's recent sold out concert in Moscow, Russia, GOT7 is surprising Koreans with their extreme popularity around the globe.
On June 6, 2018, GOT7's concert in Moscow, Russia was held with huge success.
Twitter blew up with #GOT7inMoscow. Let us indulge in some post-concert pictures of the gorgeous GOT7 boys on stage!
This is indeed the first Russian Sold out Kpop Concert! Amazing! GOT7 did that 👏#GOT7 #firstname.lastname@example.com/W5Xtc2WOst
— Dang ♡ 📌 1st GA (@got7jjjp) June 6, 2018
Wow so many ahgases 💚 Enjoyyyy #GOT7InMoscow pic.twitter.com/Qj6Zqt2Q3d
— 임재범's 🌴 (@defbbeoms) June 6, 2018
Fans were chanting GOT7 GOT7 outside the window where boys were doing their VLives😂💖#GOT7 #GOT7WORLDTOUR #GOT7INMOSCOW #dafBAMA2018Got7 pic.twitter.com/4u85IHv8BK
— 🦋 (@lemoonzz) June 6, 2018
Look how GOT7's arrival in Moscow flooded the streets with Russian K-Pop fans!
HERE WE GO #GOT7INMOSCOW pic.twitter.com/nSqebWUjMy
— ⋈ 💜💛💙 🦋 #BeautifulInMoscow✨ | D-84 ✈ (@sparklingkihyun) June 6, 2018
BamBam liked Jackson's IG 💕👀 pic.twitter.com/5nR5IRFJH0
— JACKBAM pics (@jackbampics) June 7, 2018
With up to 10,000 seats being sold out, the house was packed with baby birds who loved every second of the concert!
Jinyoung speaking russian. I guess you have a russian soul boy hahaha #GOT7inMoscow pic.twitter.com/90Ykc5nscJ
— Jackson's aghase 💚✨ (@bermanskaya) June 7, 2018
The members tried to speak in Russian which drove the fans absolutely mad in love.
This is so cute lmao#GOT7 #GOT7inMoscow @GOT7Official pic.twitter.com/eSON3ntFMT
— Dang ♡ 📌 1st GA (@got7jjjp) June 6, 2018
😂😂😂😂😂 SO COOL #GOT7inMoscow pic.twitter.com/GGw62jOwyK
— ₦uβi🍸| i love GOT7 (@Mental__Freak) June 6, 2018
Russian fans also put together something quite adorable for GOT7. Check out these matryoshka GOT7s!
Thank you so much #GOT7inMoscow ♥🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/6YBq8fzv6o
— ksana (@okscass) June 6, 2018
It was a wild concert with a full house that is passionate about GOT7's music and K-Pop!
Just look at the amount of ppl. Russian ahgases were so loud. They kept chanting "GOT7, THANK YOU, LOVE YOU, MEMBER's NAMES". They sang along to the songs, did special projects for Got7. The boys couldn't stop smiling & u can tell that they were so touched#GOT7 #GOT7inMoscow pic.twitter.com/yQM4G6Ebin
— 🦋 (@lemoonzz) June 7, 2018
Just look at the pure size of this concert! Korean fans at home were shook by GOT7's fame overseas.
Jaebeom said they were worried about if they can fill the concert in Moscow since its their first time, but look they actually filled up that venue and made them the first kpop group to sold out a concert in Russia. Proud! 😭💚#GOT7inMoscow #GOT7WORLDTOUR #GOT7 @GOT7Official pic.twitter.com/sZ5Kx2G0uX
— kate (@defjbums_) June 7, 2018
This is what love and family looks like 😭😭😭😭😭😭 All that green for seven boys and seven boys only 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
(source: yurigyeom on IG)#GOT7 #갓세븐 #GOT7WORLDTOUR #IGOT7 #GOT7inMoscow @GOT7Official @mtuan93 @BamBam1A @GOTYJ_Ars_Vita pic.twitter.com/txEpdq6bgo
— 야나 누나 (@haetbitmark) June 7, 2018
Russian fans will forever remember this flood of green, uniting them all with the seven boys they love and cherish.
The following days, GOT7 also shook Berlin, Germany and Paris, France with more out-of-this-world concerts. #GOT7inEurope is a whole another hashtag game. These boys are really conquering the world one nation at a time!
Ahgases in Berlin, Germany are serious about showing the utmost support for GOT7. Look how many fans gathered to rock out with the boys!
Fans in Berlin, Germany were completely touched by the concert and the "Hi-touch (하이터치, fan interaction session)". Seeing the boys in real life, in Europe became quite an emotional adventure for a lot of the ahgases.
Reactions leaving hi touch. So much crying. Never seen so much crying #Got7inBerlin pic.twitter.com/sAvZUMIXi5
— Malia (@markurheart852) June 8, 2018
The German IGOT7s mastered the fan chant game too!
ITS REAL THEYRE HERE #GOT7inBerlin pic.twitter.com/fWAf358mJ5
— ً (@angeItuan) June 8, 2018
"GOT7 are not popular" they said. Take this then.#got7inberlin#GOT7 #GOT7WORLDTOUR @BaicuRoya @got7 pic.twitter.com/nnrSvGmm1N
— park mira (@parkmira17) June 8, 2018
THE FANCHANTS 😻🙌 THIS IS WHAT GOT7 DESERVES! 💚 #GOT7inBerlin
— monica loves bam (@tuansites) June 8, 2018
The fans from Berlin weren't quite done, even after the concert. Their love for GOT7 and the boys' music is real.
After the concert ended, many stayed and sang 💚 it was so sweet ~ Ahgase are so cute and cheerful 🐥#GOT7WORLDTOUR #GOT7inBerlin #GOT7 @GOT7Official pic.twitter.com/XIRmfzOl2e
— Vee 🌻 Vero (@HamsterCheeks21) June 8, 2018
Jackson most definitely loved Paris. He uploaded a video on his Instagram and commented that he had so much fun performing for his French fans.
"Paris, today was seriously amazing. It was hot without AC, but we had the most fun! We won't ever forget. You all are so passionate! We love you. Please take care, until we meet again!" — Jackson
G O T 7 Jaiiiiiii 💕#GOT7#갓세븐#EyesOnYou#GOT7WORLDTOUR #GOT7inParis#EYESONYOUINPARIS pic.twitter.com/sxlAb8dsLH
— Aoiaoi เป็นคนช้าๆ (@myspace_bs) June 10, 2018
The concert in Paris, France was another tremendous success. The venue, of 9,000 seats, was full packed with ahgases!
Look at how many fans gathered in Paris to see GOT7 in action!
On the day of the Paris concert, the flock of GOT7's favorite baby birds stood in line patiently to enter the venue, see the boys, and have the time of their lives!
#GOT7InParis Damn.
Can't wait to see them. pic.twitter.com/pFazjl2w0O
— AmyLee_Park (@ADawoodjee) June 10, 2018
GOT7's popularity in the European countries is unmatched.
we're ready!!!!!!! #GOT7inParis #GOT7WORLDTOUR pic.twitter.com/k54MgRYA3y
— Lucy 💜 5yrs with BTS (@jhopeourhope) June 10, 2018
Ahgase Paris Beautiful night.🎉🎉
Thank you.#GOT7inPARIS#GOT7inEurope#GOT7#갓세븐#GOT7WORLDTOUR#EyesOnYou pic.twitter.com/HI9wDipKHY
— KasperGOT7 (@KasperGT7) June 10, 2018
This level of passion and pure love for a K-Pop group has the Koreans fans at complete awe.
Now you see why my Home is my fav? #GOT7inParis pic.twitter.com/5wFWUYzyay
— Malia (@markurheart852) June 10, 2018
The French ocean of green is a view worth remembering for GOT7!
FRENCH IGOT7 GREEN OCEAN 😍💚@GOT7Official #GOT7 ©hey_loudie#GOT7WORLDTOUR #갓세븐 #GOT7inParis pic.twitter.com/PdBLgEtOC2
— GOT7 Fanatic 🌴 (@fanatic_got7_) June 10, 2018
The members prepared a little something special, for their French speaking fans!
JACKSON SPEAKING IN FRENCH IS THE REASONS OF MY SMILE OCLDKD😭😭😭 #GOT7inEurope #GOT7inFrance #GOT7inParis pic.twitter.com/Pteg1xUas4
— i saw got7 (@jocysu) June 10, 2018
MARK INTRODUCING HIMSELF IN FRENCH OMG I CAN'T WITH THIS 👏👏#GOT7 #갓세븐#GOT7WORLDTOUR#EyesOnYou
#GOT7inParis #GOT7inEurope pic.twitter.com/kWml8rom4o
— alyen {{gyeomie}} (@myloveyugy) June 10, 2018
Fans can't quite get over how magical they sound!
It truly was a festival in Paris!
THANK YOU GOT7 #GOT7inParis pic.twitter.com/g8R6yOvZ52
— Christina✨ (@hoseokingofdnce) June 10, 2018
no matter where you are, with got7, you're home 💚 #GOT7inParis pic.twitter.com/HiuPBIf13H
— monica loves bam (@tuansites) June 10, 2018
Like the tweet says, it seems GOT7 boys are home no matter where they are.
With 11 more cities on the Eyes On You World Tour schedule, #GOT7WorldTour isn't falling out of trend anytime soon. One city at a time, GOT7 is preaching K-Pop and taking over the world!
Koreans expressed their amazement at GOT7's popularity overseas.
- "They were even on the cover of a Russian magazine the day after their performance??"
- "The Russian fans even knew their Korean fanchants… and when the members were doing their talk segments, they kept shouting 'saranghae' (I love you). I was so touched…"
- "The Russian Ahgases' cheers were so awesome…"
- "Seriously awesome, GOT7 you worked hard!"
- "Foreign Ahgases are seriously so funny. The German fans even brought a banner saying 'You're finally here, GOT7!' They're so serious about it, they waited so long. I hope they have fun at the concert!"


text:
My winter lip saviours by Michelle
So this is a question I get asked a LOT ~ particularly this time of year ~ 'What is good for my dry lips, nothing is working!'
Well let me introduce you to these two babies!!
This time of year plays havoc on our skin and lips! And no matter what, if you want to wear some nice lipstick it's just not going to work on dry, flaky, cracked lips ~ it just won't look good!!
So on the left is one of my fave skincare brands La Roche Posay and their fantastic Nutritic ~ transforming care for very dry lips with biolipids and Ceramide 5. It's a really handy little lipstick style moisturiser and priced around the €6 mark it's a fantastic handbag hero!
And secondly the iconic Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream ~ I picked up this handy little tin on my flight to Ibiza for just €8! Amazing value and again perfect size to pop in your handbag! This product has been around for years and years and certainly has a firm place in my own kit and my personal makeup bag too! I use this as a conditioning gloss during the day, over lippy for a gorgeous sheen and also on any dry patches of skin on my face at nighttime ~ it's amazing!
So there you are, 2 tried and tested firm favourites of mine! Not all lip products actually moisturise the lips like these do. Some feel good when you put them on but actually dry your lips out more, so you keep using the product again and again so just be careful!


text:
Cyprus police probe tossing of chickens, rabbits at school
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Police in Cyprus launched a probe Tuesday into reports that a group of students hurled live chickens and rabbits from their high school to mark the beginning of the academic year.
A police spokesman in the district of Famagusta, Andreas Constantinou, said authorities were looking into information gleaned from social media posts. The posts appeared to show some students throwing the livestock into the school courtyard from a height of at least 3 meters (10 feet) just before classes resumed Monday.
Constantinou told The Associated Press it's not clear whether the three chickens and three rabbits survived their falls.
Students celebrating the start of their final year of high school have become a quasi-tradition in Cyprus, with many holding sleepovers at their schools the night before. Constantinou said the social media posts also showed students unfurling banners and setting off fireworks.
The high school's principal filed a complaint about the actions involving the rabbits and chickens, and several students have been questioned, the police spokesman said.
Cyprus has made mask-wearing compulsory for all students over age 12 years to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The Education Ministry postponed the start of the school year by a week because of a heatwave.


text:
Sponsor a Show
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group, we are always looking for community partners to sponsor our shows. We are so thankful for businesses and individuals that have funded many of our visits to schools, churches, libraries, scouts, and other ministries and community events.
How can I sponsor a show?
Opportunities are everywhere…
- Fund a show for a group or organization that you care about.
- Fund a number of shows for every school in your school district, or every public library in your county.
- If you don't have a specific organization in mind, just make a tax-deductible donation to our outreach fund. Then we'll share your resources with a group that wants to host our show, but still needs funding.
Who can sponsor a show?
Here are a few examples of some sponsorships we've had over the years.
- Parents have sponsored classroom shows as a birthday gift to their child that the whole class can share.
- Parents have sponsored shows as a gift to the their child's school or youth group or Cub Scout pack, just for fun.
- Businesses have sponsored shows for ministries and community events that they care about. For example, every year before our show at the Chester County Envirothon, they recognize and thank their sponsors.
- Community groups have sponsored school assemblies in their communities, like when the Bernville Grange funded reptile assemblies for every elementary school within their school district.
- Churches have sponsored shows for their local schools, like a church in Columbia that sponsored our visit to their nearest elementary school as a way to show love to their community.
- Schools have funded our library shows for the summer reading program, like when York Country Day School funded our visits to all thirteen York County Libraries in 2010, and Jesse wore a "YORK COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL SCIENCE" shirt.
- Any nature-lover, business, charitable trust, or estate can direct tax-deductible donations toward our outreach fund, and we can direct those funds toward events that need additional funding.
Why sponsor a show?
- Use your marketing budget to reach hundreds of families while investing in your community.
- Invest in a conservation program that inspires children to love reptiles.
- Our ministry events give youth the positive message that every person (and animal) has unique abilities and a special purpose here on Earth.
- Your support is needed! We have hundreds of groups that invest their own dollars to schedule our show. But there are many more that tell us they can't afford it on their own, as they deal with budget cuts and rising costs. Your support will make a difference!


text:
What position did you take on when you joined SICPA and how have you been able to develop further since then?
After studying industrial engineering, I completed a management trainee programme at a Turkish company. When this company was bought by SICPA, I was given the task of setting up SICPA's entire Turkish local organization. Back then I was at the age of 26, had little international experience and faced an important challenge.
After the completion of the establishment of SICPA Turkey, I received a job offer from SICPA Switzerland to be transferred to the headquarters and to set up the local organizations in different countries; I happily accepted the offer and moved to Lausanne. Ever since, I have worked on 12 different country setups, travelled a lot, become acquainted with very different cultures and gathered valuable experience. During my career in SICPA, I had the opportunity of taking on a new role every two years or so and developing further in various fields. Up to now, no day has ever been the same as the previous one.
What do you mainly work on today?
As Corporate HR Director, I lead a team of 14 employees and am responsible for overseeing the talent management and compensation departments. One of our areas is the recruitment of specialists and young talent. It is a demanding and exciting job:
What ideas are these, specifically?
We are proud to be one step ahead with our services. For example, our security inks for banknotes play a major role in our society on a day-to-day basis. At the same time, the banking and monetary transactions environment is constantly subject to change. As a result, the working environment at SICPA is fascinating, fast-paced and requires flexibility. Whenever innovations and new developments come onto the market, a rapid change of thinking is required. It is all about optimising our services and developing it further with the best employees, whom we in HR recruit.
And how can these young talented individuals grow within SICPA?
SICPA offers a leadership programme, which has been successfully established in recent years. Young talented individuals are quickly identified, specifically stimulated by means of internal and external programmes, as well as numerous continuing education courses. I personally feel that I have been stimulated and challenged enormously since I joined. There has always been an open dialogue with my superiors and I have been able to convey my ideas and development opportunities. After all, it is very important for us in HR that our employees also take proactive actions and share with us their future development plans in order to shape their future together.


text:
Former Mayor Adrian Fenty in 2007 began referring to homeless people as "our homeless neighbors."
It was an attempt to humanize the homeless problem, although few neighborhoods then or now think of the homeless that way.
"This is the premier example of how not to care for our homeless neighbors," Fenty said in October 2007 when he began closing the bleak D.C. Village in far Southeast Washington. "It's not only inhumane but against best practices."
Fenty's administration would come to depend upon the old D.C. General as its go-to shelter for the homeless.
Now Mayor Muriel Bowser is trying to find new housing strategies to close down D.C. General. It has become its own hellhole for our homeless neighbors. Her administration is looking to provide more permanent housing than shelters, but so far homelessness has been an intractable problem.
"D.C. General is full again, and it will remain that way for another summer, another winter and beyond — all while many of the same perils there for children remain," Washington Post reporters Aaron C. Davis and Justin Jouvenal wrote this past weekend.
Still, there is a different sort of "neighbor" now filling up our neighborhoods.
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
They don't need shelters. They don't need assistance.
They are mostly youthful and white. They have money to spend, and they are changing neighborhoods in all four quadrants of our city radically.
The city's population is now 658,893 people, a historic rebound from the dire 1990s. The city has had nine straight years of population growth.
And the Post reported in a separate story that for the first time in four decades, young voters outnumber older voters who traditionally have dominated elections here.
The Post analysis documented the continuing decline in the influence of African-American voters, losing ground in both population and impact at the polls.
It's no longer news that the nation's capital, our city and our neighborhoods are changing before our eyes.
The news will be in answering the question, what are we becoming?
■ Your neighborhood streetcar? NBC4 reported in early February that the city's much ballyhooed but troubled streetcar system was likely to be killed or cut back to one or two anemic lines, compared to the originally planned 37-mile system. New D.C. Department of Transportation director Leif Dormsjo was noncommittal last week. Well, actually, he was quite dismissive of the whole thing.
And on Monday, Mayor Bowser and Dormsjo placed another nail in the streetcar coffin, promising that an independent review would be completed in time to be reflected in Bowser's 2016 budget, due April 15 to the D.C. Council.
Bowser said she had been a supporter of streetcars, but as mayor she is looking at the big picture of budgets and practicality.
"What I don't support is a system that doesn't go all the places that it should, that isn't safe or doesn't work," Bowser said in response to NBC4. "Those are the issues DDOT is studying right now."
■ Our soccer neighbors. The new soccer stadium in Southwest Washington should get under construction later this year. That means new, expensive apartments and condos nearby and threats to low-income citizens that they'll be priced out of the area.
Mayor Bowser said Tuesday she's working to protect low- and moderate-income families and will announce next month how she intends to fulfill a campaign pledge to spend $100 million a year on the issue.
The mayor made the comments while announcing a "labor peace agreement" for workers who will staff the new soccer stadium in Southwest. Construction should begin late this year.
At the event, Mayor Bowser was reunited with hotel housekeeper Juanita King, the Marriott worker who last September showed then-mayoral candidate Bowser how to clean hotel rooms and properly make the beds.
King had told reporters in September that her union job through Unite Here Local 25 was providing money to support her family, and she said she hoped to be able to buy a home in the city. On Tuesday, she told us she has been saving money and now is actively looking for her new home in Southeast Washington. With her can-do spirit, she's going to make some neighbors happy wherever she winds up.
■ Our valet neighbors. You ever wonder how valet companies can take over public space and park cars willy-nilly? You might want to attend a Transportation Department discussion on the issue. It will be held Thursday, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Reeves Center (2000 14th St. NW). Read more here.
■ Our Maryland neighbors. U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski's announced plan to not run for re-election has set off a Democratic donnybrook in the state. (In case you're wondering, Merriam-Webster says "donnybrook" dates back to the mid-1800s and refers to "Donnybrook Fair," an "annual Irish event known for its brawls.")
The early favorite is Montgomery County Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a popular state politician. He was endorsed Monday by all nine members of the Montgomery County Council. Van Hollen already had been endorsed by leaders including Attorney General Brian Frosh and Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid also has chimed in with an early endorsement, but it's unclear what impact he'll have. Van Hollen doesn't need any help raising money.
But yesterday Prince George's Rep. Donna Edwards was getting into the race, too. Edwards got her start challenging the party leaders and then-powerful incumbent Rep. Al Wynn, and she's been rising in the House minority leadership. Don't underestimate her.
Tom Sherwood, a Southwest resident, is a political reporter for News 4.


text:
July 15th, 2011
HSO Partners Launch Network Magazine for Clients
HSO Network Magazine is published quarterly by Health & Safety Ontario (HSO) as a complementary resource for Ontario businesses. HSO is the result of a bold move to reorganize the independent efforts of 12 health and safety associations into four streamlined organizations, and serves all 236,000 Ontario businesses in every industry sector and Workplace Safety and Insurance rate group. Click here to read the magazine.
If you would like to become a subscriber and have Network Magazine delivered to your inbox quarterly, please click here.
Recommended Reading
OHAO Forum – Workplace Fatigue: Occupational Hygienists Role in Preventing and Managing an Emerging Health & Safety Issue
Fanshawe College Summarizes the PSHSA WIN a Paid Internship #studentchallenge Contest
Working at heights training, certification training, basic occupational health and safety training. If you are someone who has ever read or seen these phrases before, chances are you are someone who has completed Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Awareness and Training.
PSHSA featured in June Issue of Ontario Building Officials Association Journal for JHSC Training
Article on Page 12.


text:
Vrooom! Braaap! Budda-Budda! Riiiing-ding-ding-ding! No matter what sound your motorcycle makes, it defines a large part of the unique relationship between man and machine.
As EPA, noise, emissions, and other vehicle requirements tone down those gorgeous sounds we used to hear stock from our motorbikes, aftermarket exhausts are becoming a more and more popular investment. Of the dozens and dozens of motorcycles that TeamZilla rides, I would challenge you to find more than a handful that haven't slipped-on or swapped out their exhaust system.
If you are looking at premium solutions to this problem, you have probably already stumbled upon both Leo Vince and Akrapovic and are wondering which you should choose. If you haven't, then you definitely need to be introduced to these hard core brands as they contribute a large part of research and development to the science of exhaust systems.
Before we jump right into the key differences between these manufacturers, we will start off with a very brief overview of exhausts. For a more detailed lesson, check out our Motorcycle Exhaust 101 Class.
Aftermarket exhausts are offered in a slip-on system that is meant to replace just the stock muffler(s) and is designed to work with the stock air intake and fuel mapping. Exhaust manufacturers also offer full exhaust systems - which are usually restricted to off-road and track use only - that feature a lighter weight header pipe, a mid pipe that eliminates the stock catalytic converter, and come with a less restrictive muffler. Unlike slip-on exhausts, a full system exhaust is meant to be used with some sort of aftermarket, adjustable fuel controller and will require a different fuel map to run properly due to the increased exhaust flow out of the engine.
OPINION: In my experience, a slip-0n exhaust will work fine without any adjustments to the fuel mapping, but the engine can run a little lean and backfire on the overrun in high revs. A fuel controller is not required for a slip-on, but it can help smooth out the power and torque curves.
Looking at their pedigree, Leo Vince has been around for much longer, dating back to 1954. You'll see their products used on a vast array of bikes, and they make plenty of appearances in motorcycle racing through WSBK, MotoGP, and other divisions. LeoVince is a subdivision of the largest powersports exhaust manufacturer in Europe, Sito Gruppo Industriale. Leo Vince develops new exhaust designs and fuel mapping on racetracks around the world through partnerships with teams at the highest level of motorsports. Leo Vince has seen great success in expanding into the dirt world, and Leo Vince X3 off-road exhausts can often be seen flying first over the finish line.
Akrapovic, on the other hand, has only been around since 1990, but has quickly stashed quite a smattering of championship titles under its belt. In 2012 alone, Akrapovic has won a combined 75 world championships in automotive and motorcycle racing series. In fact, this early success with manufacturer teams like Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, Ducati, and Honda is largely responsible for their quick growth.
Akrapovic was started by Slovenian motorcycle racer Igor Akrapovic. Mr. Akrapovic was sick and tired of so-called performance exhaust systems that did not deliver the gains he was looking for. As an accomplished motorcycle tuner, he began creating premium-quality exhausts that were bike-specific and fit better than anything else on the market at the time. In short order, Akrapovic exhausts took to the track, and started winning on an international level. Akrapovic's first World Superbike Championship race win came in 1997, followed by their first World title in that series in 2000. By 2002, Akrapovic began working with MotoGP teams, and by 2004 they began working with the automotive racing industry in both Formula 1 and Endurance Racing.
Akrapovic has been continually expanding, and now makes exhausts for dirt bikes, custom choppers, Harleys, scooters, and cars. Akrapovič exhaust systems are some of the finest high-performance systems available on the market and the results they deliver have been validated in dozens of independent tests carried out by motorcycle magazines worldwide.
Opinion: Both Akrapovic and Leo Vince take racing very seriously. Both have multiple motorcycle championships on-road and off. Akrapovic have applied their expertise to the automotive world and have won LeMans with Audi.
The Leo Vince exhaust family is fairly simple to decipher; you have three exhausts that are either a slip-on or a full system, and two exhausts that are slip-on only. The SBK Factory and Factory R are the head of the Leo Vince exhaust family. The Factory R is only offered for certain bikes, and is tuned to beef up the power curve, boosting power where there are dips with the stock setup. The SBK Factory R system comes straight from factory World Superbike teams. The Factory and Factory R systems are available in a Corsa version for certain bikes, which uses a full titanium construction.
The LV-One exhaust is an entry-level slip-on or full system exhaust, and the GP Pro and GP Style are exclusively slip-on options. Leo Vince also offers underbody exhausts available for certain bike that come stock with underbody exhaust systems. Depending on the application, the Underbody exhaust could be a slip-on or a full system. All Leo Vince exhausts have a removable EVO II sound insert, and are designated by the EVO II added to the end of the product name
OPINION: Akrapovic and Leo Vince both make high quality exhausts. Akrapovic exhausts though arguably deserve a display at MoMA. Don't believe me? Take a look at the Evolution exhaust for the Ducati Panigale.
When it comes to exhaust fitment, Akrapovic is even more straight forward. Akrapovic exhausts come in three flavors: Slip-on, Racing, and Evolution. The Slip-on range is exactly what it says on the box, an aftermarket muffler that replaces the stock silencer and slips right onto the stock mid pipe. This is the easiest way to get an aftermarket exhaust because of the relatively low cost of entry and simplicity of the installation. Akrapovic Slip-on exhausts come in either Titanium or Carbon Fiber.
The next level up from a Slip-on is the Racing Line. This is a full exhaust system that uses stainless steel construction for the headers and mid pipe. This significantly reduces the weight of the exhaust compared to the stock setup, and unlocks more power when combined with a fuel controller or ECU remapping. Each Racing exhaust is designed to be bike-specific to deliver the best exhaust flow, and a signature sound. The muffler that comes with each Akrapovic full system exhaust can be either Titanium or Carbon Fiber.
Taking the pole position for Akrapovic is the Evolution Line. This is the flagship Akrapovic exhaust and is similar to the Racing line in every respect except the materials used. The Evolution exhausts, like the Leo Vince Corsa systems, are made entirely of Titanium with the muffler available in Titanium or Carbon Fiber. These titanium exhaust system are the be all and end all when it comes to extreme light weight.
OPINION: You know a company takes pride in their product when they go out of their way to make sure it looks gorgeous, even though it will not be visible most of the time. When it comes to super-premium exhausts, Akrapovic gets my vote.
Buying an aftermarket exhaust is exciting, but can also be frustrating and daunting. The most important thing is to take your time and do the research. Take a look at what exhaust will fit your bike. Take into account any support modifications that may need to be done - a fuel controller to go with a full system exhaust, for example. Also, try and find photos of an exhaust mounted on your bike, as well as audio clips of the sound!
Both Akrapovic and Leo Vince are an excellent choice, but the final decision will come down to personal taste. Personally, I prefer the look of Akrapovic exhausts, but the sound of the Leo Vince is still my favorite. The new Akrapovic titanium silencers with the laser-etched Akrapovic logo are absolutely gorgeous, but I cannot get enough of the deep growl I get with Leo Vince pipes on my bike.


text:
Joey Skaggs > Works > 1983 > Windsurfing from Hawaii to California
Windsurfing from Hawaii to California
Year: 1983
Categories: Environment, Lifestyle | Culture
On January 15, 1983, at 12 noon, Hawaii windsurfer, J.J. Skaggs (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs) set out to become the world's most famous windsurfer. His objective was to become the first person to cross the Pacific Ocean on a sailboard. A crowd gathered at the Hanalei Bay Pavillion on the beautiful island of Kauai. A rock band played. A Kahuna blessed the voyage. Food was served. In the crowd were several reporters and three video crews, all invited to witness the launch.
The crowd bade him a fond farewell as he jumped onto his board and broke over a crashing wave to begin his 2,397 mile voyage (as the albatross flies) across the deep blue sea and into the history books.
J.J. wore a backpack in which he carried water, some tiger milk bars, a couple of cans of Dinty Moore Beef Stew, a compass, a fishing pole, a radio and some navigation charts. Not much for such a long and dangerous trip, estimated to take over 30 days in seas with over 40 foot waves. The decal on his board sail said CAL OR BUST.
Just one problem, J.J. or Jay J. or James J. or Jim J. (all these names showed up later in media coverage) was not who he said he was. He was actually J.J. Jones, who was indeed a world class wind surfer. His hair and mustache were cut to match Skaggs'.
The crowd cheered as J.J. sailed out to sea. A video crew in a zodiac boat followed him out of the bay into the ocean on his way to California. Once he was out of sight the reporters left. By that time, unbeknownst to them, he had successfully rounded the point and made his way to a local bar to secretly rendezvous with Skaggs and friends.
The story hit the UPI wire service and was picked up all over the country. Various television news stations from Honolulu to Denver covered the event.
For about a week, local folks talked about that crazy windsurfer. No one had heard from him or about him. After a while, there was talk of a Coast Guard rescue mission. With that news, Skaggs decided it was time to expose the hoax.
UPI and the TV networks never ran retractions. But local reporters who had fallen for the story reported that the stunt was a hoax.
- Sailboarder plans Kauai-Calif. trek, Honolulu Advertiser, January 15, 1983
- Windsurfers away!, Garden Island News, January, 17, 1983
- Long trip, Springfield, Mass News, January 17, 1983
- 3 to make ready, Garden Island News, January, 18, 1983
- Man windsurfs Cal. from Kauai, Kauai Times, January, 19 1983
- Imagine! Boardsailing from Hawaii to coast, by Tony Chamberlain, Boston Globe, January 23, 1983
- Was windsurfing event media hoax? Garden Island News, January 21, 1983
- 'Windsurfer reveals hoax, Garden Island News, January 24, 1983
- "California, here I (don't) come", Garden Island News, January 24, 1983
- Hoax misused the media editorial, Garden Island News, January 25, 1983
- Sailboard's voyage into fantasyland, Honolulu Advertiser, January 26, 1983
- Clown Prince of Headlines, National Enquirer, January 3, 1984


text:
companies matched your selections
US Synthetic Bearings
web: www.ussbearings.com
TBS O-Ring & Seal Specialist
web: www.tbsoring.com
Rubberatkins Ltd. Manufacturers to the Oilfield
web: www.rubberatkins.com
Quadrant EPP
web: www.quadrantepp.com/
PCI, ProCal Inc.
web: www.pcimfg.com
Oilfield Bearing Industries
web: www.oilfield-bearing.com
Jiashan PVB Co Ltd
web: www.oilesbearing.com
Motion Industries, Inc.
phone: 7139560150
fax: 7139564122
web: www.motionindustries.com
Madras Industrial Products
web: www.mipgaskets.com
phone: +44-1604-677240
fax: +44-1604-677242
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
web: www.igus.co.uk
1 of 15 next
Want to list your company profile?
Register with Ports.com and fill in your company information or login if you already have an account
What to expect?
More than 8.000 companies in over 400 categories.
Using the Ports.com platform you can get in touch with any of these companies.


text:
I am not the target demographic for Menopause the Musical, the show that's spent 10 years "celebrating the Change." The tour is in the midst of a three-week stop in Cincinnati, playing to largely "girlfriend" audiences at the Jarson-Kaplan Theater at the Aronoff.
As the publicity states, it's a show about "four women at a lingerie sale with nothing in common but a black lace bra AND memory loss, hot flashes, night sweats, not enough sex, too much sex and more." The show happens in a department store where each floor offers a setting for a different experience — shopping, clothing, eating, exercising, "personal satisfaction." Menopause employs a collection of familiar Pop tunes, mostly from the '60s and '70s with new lyrics — for example, "Chain of Fools" becomes "Change of Life." And on. And on. Many of these parodies are clever, but this is really a one-trick pony that becomes predictable long before the 90-minute show concludes with the audience invited onstage to dance to "YMCA."
That's not due to any shortage of energy or talent from the strong cast with solid professional credentials. Each plays a stereotyped character — Ingrid Cole is "Earth Mother," Lisa Mack is "Professional Woman" (her appearance as Tina Turner is a show-stopper), Stacy Schwartz is "Soap Star" and Monica Heuser (a Northern Kentucky University theater grad) is "Iowa Housewife." They're all great singers and know how to milk humor out of songs and situations, working a canned soundtrack for all its worth.
The knowing reactions of women in the audience are not because any of the insights are especially profound. It's more about sharing with friends the common ground, especially the pain and the joys of aging. This is an opportunity for female Baby Boomers to have fun with girlfriends. Leave the guys home; they'll thank you.
MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL continues at the Aronoff Center's Jarson-Kaplan Theater through Aug. 14. Buy tickets, check out performance times and get venue details here.