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These eleven masterful stories – the first collection from acclaimed author Jennifer Egan – deal with loneliness and longing, regret and desire. Egan's characters – models and housewives, bankers and schoolgirls – are united by their search for something outside their own realm of experience. They set out from locations as exotic as China and Bora Bora, as cosmopolitan as downtown Manhattan, or as familiar as suburban Illinois to seek their own transformations. Elegant and poignant, the stories in Emerald City are seamless evocations of self-discovery.
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Jennifer Egan is the author of four novels: A Visit from the Goon Squad, The Keep, Look at Me, The Invisible Circus; and the story collection Emerald City. Her stories have been published in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, GQ, Zoetrope, All-Story, and Ploughshares, and her nonfiction appears frequently in The New York Times Magazine. She lives with her husband and sons in Brooklyn.Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
WHY CHINA?It was him, no question. The same guy. I spotted him from far away, some angle of his head or chin that made my stomach jump before I even realized who I was looking at. I made my way toward him around the acupuncturists, the herbal doctors slapping mustard-colored poultices on bloody wounds, and the vendors of the platform shoes and polyester bell-bottoms everyone in Kunming was mysteriously wearing. I was afraid he'd recognize me. Then it hit me that I'd still been beardless when he'd ripped me off, two years before, and my beard--according to old friends, who were uniformly staggered by the sight of me--had completely transformed (for the better, I kept waiting to hear) my appearance.We were the only two Westerners at this outdoor market, which was a long bike ride from my hotel and seedy in a way I couldn't pin down. The guy saw me coming. "Howdy," he said."Hello," I replied. It was definitely him. I always notice eyes, and his were a funny gray-green--bright, with long lashes like little kids have. He'd been wearing a suit when I met him, and a short ponytail, which at that particular moment signified hip Wall Street. One look and you saw the life: Jeep Wrangler, brand-new skis, fledgling art collection that, if he'd had balls enough to venture beyond Fischl and Schnabel and Basquiat, might have included a piece by my wife. He'd been the sort of New Yorker we San Franciscans are slightly in awe of. Now his hair was short, unevenly cut, and he wore some kind of woven jacket."You been here long?" I asked."Here where?""China.""Eight months," he said. "I work for the China Times."I stuffed my hands in my pockets, feeling weirdly self-conscious, like I was the one with something to hide. "You working on something now?""Drugs," he said."I thought there weren't any over here."He leaned toward me, half smiling. "You're standing in the heroin capital of China.""No shit," I said.He rolled on the balls of his feet. I knew it was time to bid polite farewell and move on, but I stayed where I was."You with a tour?" he finally asked."Just my wife and kids. We're trying to get a train to Chengdu, been waiting five days.""What's the problem?""Mei you," I said, quoting the ubiquitous Chinese term for "can't be done." But you never know what, or which factors, if changed, would make that "no" a "yes." "That's what the hotel people keep saying.""Fuck the hotel," he said.We stood a moment in silence, then he checked his watch. "Look, if you want to hang out a couple of minutes, I can probably get you those tickets," he said.He wandered off and said a few words to a lame Chinese albino crouched near a building alongside the market. China Times, I thought. Like hell. Heroin pusher was more like it. At the same time, there was an undeniable thrill in being near this guy. He was a crook--I knew it, but he had no idea I knew. I enjoyed having this over him; it almost made up for the twenty-five grand he'd conned out of me.We set off on our bicycles back toward the center of town. With Caroline and the girls I took taxis, which could mean anything from an automobile to a cart pulled by some thin, sweating guy on a bicycle. It pissed me off that the four of us couldn't ride bikes together like any other Chinese family. ("Since when are we a Chinese family, Sam?" was my wife's reply.) But the girls pleaded terror of falling off the bikes and getting crushed by the thick, clattering columns of riders, all ringing their tinny, useless bells. Secretly, I believed that what really turned my daughters off were the crummy black bikes the Chinese rode--such a far cry from the shiny five-and ten-speeds Melissa and Kylie had been reared on.In our previous encounter, his name had been Cameron Pierce. Now, as we rode, he introduced himself as Stuart Peale, shouting over the thunderous racket of passing trucks. The names fit him exactly, both times; Cameron had had the impatient, visionary air of a guy who thinks he can make you a shitload of money; Stuart was soft-spoken, a sharp observer--what you'd expect from a reporter. I told him my name--Sam Lafferty--half hoping he'd make the connection, but only when I named the company I traded for did I notice him pause for a second."I've taken a leave while they investigate me," I said, to my own astonishment."Investigate you for what?""Messing with the numbers." And unnerved though I was by what I'd revealed, I felt a mad urge to continue. "It's just internal at this point.""Wow," he said, giving me an odd look. "Good luck."We dismounted in front of a large concrete kiosk teeming with several lines of people all shoving and elbowing one another goodnaturedly toward a ticket counter in a manner I'd decided was uniquely Chinese. Stuart spoke to a uniformed official in vehement but (I sensed) broken Chinese, gesturing at me. At last the official led us grudgingly through a side door and down a dimly lit corridor that had the smudged, institutional feel of the public schools I'd attended as a kid and made sure my daughters would never go near."Where is it you're headed--Chengdu?" he called.We had entered a shabby office where a military-looking woman sat behind a desk, seeming thoroughly disgruntled at Stuart's intrusion. "Yes--for four people," I reminded him.Within minutes, I'd handed Stuart a wad of cash and he'd given me the tickets. We reemerged into the tepid, dusty sunlight. "You leave tomorrow," he said. "Eight-thirty A.M. They'd only sell me first class--hope that's okay.""It's fine." We always rode first class. So had Stuart, I guessed, in his prior incarnation. "Thank you," I said. "Jesus."He waved it away. "They don't want Americans having a lousy time over here," he said. "You point out that it's happening, they'll fix it."He handed me his card, the address in English and Chinese, the China Times logo neatly embossed. Still a pro, I thought."You live in Xi'an," I remarked. "We may go there, check out that clay army."Look me up," he said, clearly not meaning it. "Thanks again.""Forget it," he said, then mounted his bicycle and rode away."A total stranger?" my wife said, back in our hotel room, where I'd surprised her with the train tickets. "He just did this, for no reason?""He was American." I was dying to tell her he was the cocksucker who'd conned me, but how could I explain having hung out with the guy, having accepted a favor from him? I knew how Caroline would see it: one more incident in the string of odd things I'd been doing since the investigation began, the most recent of which was to beg my family to drop everything and come with me to China. It wasn't depression, exactly; more a weird, restless pressure that made me wander the house late at night, opening the best bottles of wine in our cellar and drinking them alone while I channel-surfed along the forgotten byways of cable TV."Where are the girls?" I said. "I got them each a little knife to peel pears with.""You bought them knives?""Just little ones," I said. "Have you noticed how the old ladies are always peeling pears? I've got a feeling there's something on those skins they shouldn't be eating."Caroline had washed her bras and underpants and was hanging them on the open dresser drawers to dry. In the late seventies, before we married, we'd spent a year in Kenya with the Peace Corps. Caroline washed her clothes the same way over there, hanging them on strings she tied across our tiny room. I used to watch her through the web of strings and underclothes--her reddish brown hair and deep, peaceful eyes that made me think of amber. I always liked remembering that time, knowing the money and houses and trips we'd gotten our hands on since hadn't washed it all away. We're still those people, I'd tell myself, who helped the Masai to repair their houses made of cow dung.Caroline opened a window, and instantly the sour, bodily smell of China poured into the room. "A perfect stranger," she mused, smiling at me. "Must've been that sweet face of yours."My daughters give me away. They are blond, expensive-looking creatures whose soft skin and upturned noses I used to take credit--wrongly, I know--for having procured for them at great cost, as I had their orthodontically perfect smiles. In Kenya the Masai children had dry lips and flies in their eyes. Memories of their deprivation had overwhelmed me in recent months, for reasons unknown. l'd find myself staring at my daughters accusingly, awaiting some acknowledgment from them of the brutal disparity between the Masai kids' lives and their own. Instead, I found in their beauty a righteousness that galled me. The Avenging Angels, I'd started calling them, which perplexed my wife.Not that my daughters were identical. They were ten and twelve years old, the younger one deeply in awe of the elder, Melissa, whose figure-skating prowess had lent her a kind of celebrity at their private grammar school. Melissa was also, the world seemed to agree, fractionally more lovely. Determined to correct this imbalance, I had lately become the fervid champion of Kylie, my youngest, a campaign my wife deplored and begged me to abandon. "Picking favorites is awful, Sam," she told me. "Melissa thinks you hate her.""The world picked. I'm just evening up the balance."But there was something heavy-handed in the sudden barrage of affection I lavished on Kylie. She rose to the occasion, gamely enduring our "special" trips to the zoo and the Exploratorium and Ocean Beach, where we stumped through the damp, heavy sand, both wishing (or I was, at least) that Melissa--whom I'd bluntly excluded, whose skating competitions I often pretended to doze through--were with us.But now their hatred of China, their deep resentment at having to spend the best part of their summer in a land where people blew their noses without Kleenex, had united Melissa and Kylie in steely mutiny against me. "Daddy, why?" had been their refrain from the moment the trip began: the boat from Hong Kong into Canton, the days of waiting for a plane to Kunming that, when it finally arrived, could not have inspired less confidence had we assembled it ourselves. "Why, Daddy?" With time the object of their query had grown more and more diffuse: Why here? Why any of this? They were asking the wrong man.The buildings of Chengdu were newer, and therefore less pleasing, than those of Kunming. I roamed the streets impatiently, my wife and listless daughters in tow. We drank green tea in a moist enclave beside a Buddhist temple. The fog smelled of chemicals. An Asian girl with strange pale-blue eyes kept staring at us. "Do you think she might be crazy, Dad?" Melissa asked."She's admiring your haircut."Melissa glanced at me, thinking I might be serious, then recognized the acid sarcasm that had become my preferred mode of speech with her of late."Probably had you for a dad," she muttered."Probably wasn't so lucky."My wife sighed. "She's blind," she said. And instantly I saw that Caroline was right; the girl was drawn by our unrecognizable voices, but her eyes were empty."Let's go to Xi'an," I said. "It's supposed to be fascinating."Melissa opened our guidebook, scanned the pages, and read aloud: "The Qin Terra-Cotta Warriors are one of the few reasons to visit Xi'an, an urban wasteland of uniform city blocks and Soviet style apartment buildings, but they are a compelling one."That's not what I heard," I said, suppressing an urge to knock the book out of her hands."Terra-cotta worriers?" Kylie said."Heard from who?" my wife asked."The guy who got us the train tickets.""They're thousands of clay soldiers as big as real men," Caroline explained to Kylie. "A paranoid Chinese emperor had them built underground to protect him after he died.""Neat," Kylie said.Caroline looked at me. "Let's go there.""Why?" Melissa asked, but no one answered.Looking downtrodden, Melissa wandered out first from the tea shop. As we followed her, I turned to glance behind me, and sure enough, the Asian girl with the pale-blue eyes was still gazing blindly after us.I knew--and Caroline knew--that since the investigation began, my status had slipped--or risen--from that of her husband and equal to that of a person she indulged. Gratitude and guilt played a part in this. I'd worked my ass off at the office for years while she puttered away in her sculpture studio. Then, three years ago, Caroline hit the jackpot, landing a piece in the Whitney Biennial. This led to more exhibits, one-person shows in several cities, including New York, and dozens of studio visits from thin, beautiful women and their sleek young husbands who smelled (like me, I suppose) of fresh cash, or from scrawny, perfumed old bats whose doddering mates brought to mind country houses and slobbering retrievers. Everything my wife had yet to sculpt for the next three years was already sold. We'd talked about my quitting, pursuing anthropology or social work like I'd always said I wanted to, or just relaxing, for Christ's sake. But our overhead was so high: the house in Presidio Terrace, the girls in private school heading toward college, skating lessons, riding lessons, piano lessons, tennis camp in the summers--I wanted them to have all of it, all of it and more, for the rest of their lives. Even Caroline's respectable income could not have begun to sustain it. Then let's change, she'd said. Let's scale back. But the idea filled me with dread; I wasn't a sculptor, I wasn't a painter, I wasn't a person who made things. What I'd busted my chops all these years to create was precisely the life we led now. If we tossed that away, what would have been the point?We were still chewing on this when I found out about the investigation. Its architect, the aptly named Jeffrey Fox, had been after my scalp for years because his wife, Sheila, was a ball-buster, whereas mine was lovely and terrific. He was always sniffing around Caroline's studio, and had bought three of her pieces the year before. "That little turd!" Caroline had shrieked when I told her about the investigation, and night after night we'd sat awake long after the girls were in bed, holding whispered conferences on how I should respond: Write a letter to the board proclaiming my innocence? Mount a counteroffensive against Fox? But no, we decided. The best thing to do, for the moment, was nothing. Let the investigation run its course, and when it turned up nada, question the legitimacy of its having been started at all. In the meantime, take a leave, clear my head, get some sleep. Ha-ha.
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Book Description 2007. PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from US within 10 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # VR-9780307387530
Book Description 2007. PAP. Condition: New. New Book.Shipped from US within 10 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # IB-9780307387530
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Book Description Penguin Random House. Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 0307387534
Book Description Anchor Books, United States, 2012. Paperback. Condition: New. Reprint. Language: English . Brand New Book. These eleven masterful stories - the first collection from acclaimed author Jennifer Egan - deal with loneliness and longing, regret and desire. Egan s characters - models and housewives, bankers and schoolgirls - are united by their search for something outside their own realm of experience. They set out from locations as exotic as China and Bora Bora, as cosmopolitan as downtown Manhattan, or as familiar as suburban Illinois to seek their own transformations. Elegant and poignant, the stories in Emerald City are seamless evocations of self-discovery. Seller Inventory # ABZ9780307387530
Book Description Anchor. PAPERBACK. Condition: New. 0307387534 Brand New! Not overstocks or remainder copy!. Seller Inventory # OTF-S-9780307387530
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Book Description Anchor. PAPERBACK. Condition: New. 0307387534. Seller Inventory # Z0307387534ZN
Book Description Anchor. PAPERBACK. Condition: New. 0307387534. Seller Inventory # Z0307387534ZN
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Welcome to Kitchen Galerie
Founded in 2014. Kitchen Galerie is a growing Melbourne based company that offers a full building service with custom joinery & stone capabilities, specialising in both new-builds and renovation projects. Under new guidance and a strong business vision. Kitchen Galerie is poised for growth within the domestic and commercial markets.
Our-in-house stone manufacturing facility gives Kitchen Galerie the ability to be a 'one stop shop' for all your joinery and stone masonry needs.
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Are you looking to update your kitchen or cabinets in Melbourne? Since 2014, Kitchen Galerie has been your go-to company offering a full service with custom joinery for apartments and stone bench top capabilities. Specialising in both new-builds and renovation projects for kitchens in Melbourne, our dedicated builders can provide joinery, cabinets, and stone services for residential apartments, no matter the size of the project. Talk to the experts here at Kitchen Galerie today, about adding one of our masterpiece bench tops or cabinets, to your apartment kitchen.
When your home needs stone, cabinets, or joinery in Melbourne, speak with Kitchen Galerie.
Kitchens are often the first rooms we want to update, because we know that new bench tops and cabinets in our Melbourne homes, can make a world of difference. Established in 2014, Kitchen Galerie has grown to become the chosen joinery company providing custom bench tops, cabinetry, and joinery for apartments, townhouses, and homes. Including domestic new home builds and renovations, Kitchen Galerie can also assist you with any commercial cabinets and commercial joinery needs. Our retail showrooms provide a fantastic opportunity for clients just like yourself, to speak with one of our Kitchen Galerie design consultants, and view display suites of our fantastic kitchens in Melbourne, including all samples and finishes.


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The Deficit Commission co-chairs just published a severe deficit reduction plan that would save $200 billion by 2015.
Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson achieve their savings by tackling sacred cows like social security benefits and defense spending.
Consequently, this plan will be hard to stomach for politicians of any party. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex) gave a typical reaction to the AP: "It's a very provocative proposal. Some of it I like. Some of it disturbs me. And some of it I've got to study."
There are a few major differences between this plan and the austerity budget proposed by the conservative Heritage Foundation. First, Bowles and Simpson would cut from defense spending by $100 billion, while the Heritage Foundation would cut hardly anything. Second, they want to curb cost-of-living increases for Social Security, which the alternate plan does not. Third, they would withhold many cuts until 2012 to allow the economy to recover. They also don't want to repeal health care reform.


text: Digital Show Down on Spring Street: Andres Martinez Names News Room Meddlers at LA Times By FishbowlNY|March 23, 2007Share By FishbowlNY|March 23, 2007Share The newly departed LA Times editor Andres Martinez needs his own blog, but until that time, he's got LA Observed. He wrote an email about the lack of firm boundaries between news and editorial: So Sue Horton, a senior news editor, takes it upon herself to call me up to suggest greater coordination between the news report and the opinion pages, as in the old days, and Julie Marquis feels empowered to email publisher David Hiller to lobby for his editorial page to pay closer attention to the newsroom's worthy investigative series, some of which, we felt on the editorial board, already came with their own built-in editorials, so what's the point? In his resignation post yesterday, Martinez wrote: I will not be lectured on ethics by some ostensibly objective news reporters and editors who lobby for editorials to be written on certain subjects, or who have suggested that our editorial page coordinate more closely with the newsroom's agenda FBLA isn't all that shocked to learn that the LAT has some less-than-objective reporters wandering the halls.Too bad Cathy Seipp isn't here to write about this latest dustup at the paper. The NY Times piece gives some backstory, and reveals that Martinez tried to influence the paper's own coverage of the story. Around the blogosphere, Mickey Kaus wanted to read the Grazer section, which must be cold comfort to Grazer who's said to be disappointed and looking for a way to get the cancelled pieces to the public who don't seem to be panting for the section, judging by the comments at the LAT's website. Share http://adweek.it/2kjbtZH copy Adweek Adweek


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News Channel 3 was the first to uncover a backlog of thousands of untested rape kits.
Some of those kits go back to the 1980's.
It's taken three years but now Memphis Mayor A C Wharton is demanding action.
Mayor Wharton issued an executive order to make sure more kits get tested and to hold the police department and other agencies accountable.


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Twitter: Harlequin003
Delicious: Harlequin003
Facebook: Harlequin Smith
The fictional identity I created for this assignment is serving the function of research and development for an interactive film series which I am developing for my final project at Culture Lab. This fictional identity is called Harlequin, and to properly understand her it is useful to talk about the media ecology of which she is a part. Central to this media ecology is a web based film series called Enchanted. Enchanted follows the story of Anna Sorensen: a gifted marketing specialist on a collision course with her own identity.
Anna is immersed in the world of consumer culture and her identity is inextricably sewn into it. But a deeper part of her is longing for a quality of connection which does not seem to exist in the culture which she, as a viral marketing specialist, is helping to perpetuate. Put esoterically, Anna is a Magician of the 21st Century, but instead of throwing lightning bolts, the spell she helps to cast has the effect of making people believe that the heart of their desire resides in owning the next new product. As long as she remains a victim of her own magic, Anna will continue to be deprived of the quality of connection she now desperately needs.
All of this results in a wild, hedonistic marketing specialist whose only escape from her own identity is self destruction. When her dreams, desires and self loathing do not have room to express themselves in the confines of the culture she inhabits, they spill out into the Net through an alternate person called Harlequin.
Like the Jester, the Harlequin's role was to shed light on unseen hypocrisies of society and those in power. By making people laugh, they were able to voice criticisms which would otherwise go unexpressed.
For Anna, this online persona is a way of expressing her dissatisfaction with consumer culture and her place in it in a way that allows her to connect with others who she share her longing for something more than the culture at large seems to offer.
As Harlequin, the Internet becomes a playground of possibility: a place where Anna can push the boundaries of her identity and explore parts of herself that do not fit the confines of her real world exoskeleton. Though Harlequin the wilderness inside herself is let loose. Her cynical wit and scything critiques of popular culture is balanced by a genuine compassion toward the people she engages with online. Depending on the quality of connections she forms with other (real people) on the Internet, the relationship between Harlequin and Anna will co-evolve. Anna may become more like Harlequin, sabotaging her own advertising campaigns in radical and creative ways, or Harlequin may become more violent and self destructive as this deep part of her fights to express itself. Seen through the lens of Process Oriented Psychology, this dynamic exchange between is the means by which Anna expands the "Edge" of her primary identity and becomes more like the person she wants to be.
Harlequin is presently active on Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Flavours.Me, and in the comment sections of her favourite and most despised blogs. The implications of this exchange between real people and a fictional character of this nature are important and need careful consideration. The quality of connection between Harlequin and the people with whom she interacts will, if successful, provoke strong reactions in different directions. Some people may develop a sense of kinship and admiration for her creative critique of consumer culture whilst others might feel hurt or enraged. Regardless of the quality of relationship, most people will feel betrayed if they discover she is a purely fictional character: nothing more than counter point in an experimental media ecology. The only way to resolve this problem with integrity seems to be the following:
Anna and her online persona are not fictional characters: they are true expressions of a real person. This means that our lead actress is not so much playing the role of Anna, but rather being herself. The challenge of in this is finding an actress who shares a common conflict of identity with Anna. When we find this person, the story will undoubtedly change so that the relationship between the actress, Anna and Harlequin is congruent and true.


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Imagine holding a bake sale to pay for a love one's funeral. That's just about what Brandy Rankins did after her mother passed away from lung cancer and there were no funeral and burial arrangements made in advance.
"When my mother passed with lung cancer several years ago, it was one of the most heartbreaking, difficult, and life-defining moments of my entire life. My mother not having any type of life insurance only added to that challenge," Ms. Rankin said.
Cremation was the most affordable option and despite being the youngest of my mother's four children, I fought boldly against it because I knew that option wasn't my mother's will. We held three car washes and petitioned the community for monies to help us bury our mother. Doing that was the most humiliating thing I've ever experienced. Pride, logic, and embarrassment rose up within me but ultimately I stepped out and chose faith.
Ms. Rankin, founder of Speaklife Ministries, said that in three days she raised $4,800 -- and $4,600 was the cost of the burial and funeral. She said:
Of course, I could say that if my mother had life insurance or we had made proper burial arrangements in advance, it could have made things easier -- and in many ways it would have. However, I can't negate that the aforementioned experience gave me the opportunity to feel the love and compassion of my community and to witness the impossible being done. I encourage everyone to conquer the fear of writing your will and properly planning your home-going services to prevent your loved ones from finding a way to overcome that burden later. None of us, not even my mother, wanted to accept the fact that death was coming and we endured a large price as a result.
And taking the time to plan in advance for a funeral can save considerable money in addition to heartache, experts agree.
"It's cheaper to do it in advance because you can negotiate," said Richard S. Bernstein, CEO of Rochard S. Bernstein & Associates who has advised many of America's wealthiest families and businesses, including serving as a healthcare and insurance adviser to Donald Trump and the Trump Organization. "The minute the family has to go in there, the price doubles or triples."
Mr. Bernstein said that when his mother died about a year ago, he noticed that that price was triple what he had prepaid long before her death.
Oftentimes families can disagree and, in the case of baseball great Ted Williams, leave the actual body in limbo as they bicker. "Pre-planning takes the emotional burden off of family members and gives the person who is dying the opportunity to make the decisions," Mr. Bernstein said.
And the time is now to plan for a funeral -- in part because prices will continue to go up over a lifetime and also because the unexpected can happen anytime.
"I worked with a lady for about four months on her funeral planning," said Stefan Magyar, community service counselor at Olinger Crown Hill Mortuary and Cemetery. "Then two months later, she passed away unexpectedly. She was thoughtful and got everything done and had wanted to relieve her family of that burden and she did."
TJ Panzer, a 36-year-old widow, wishes her husband had done the same, but given the couple's relative youth, he brushed it off when his wife asked him about his burial wishes.
"I remember asking him about it a few months before he died, but he said that was 'never going to happen' so don't worry about it," she said. "When you're blindsided by an unexpected death, it's extremely difficult to think clearly and make the best decision, so it would have been good to know exactly what he wanted. I hear a lot of other women in the widow community had a horrendous time with their in-laws about funeral arrangements."
Beth Anderson's family was torn apart after her mother's suicide 30 years ago, and subsequent squabbles over how she should be buried led to financial disputes that remain unresolved. "Thirty years later they still say that my brother and I should have paid our parts although they are the ones who made the decisions and kept anything of any monetary value of our mother's," she said of her two older sisters.
"With pre-planning there are payment options available, and we can arrange for affordable payments," Mr. Magyar said. There are not typically payment options at the time of the funeral and burial, and Mr. Magyar said that people tend to do "emotional overspending" when they are unprepared.
Mr. Bernstein cautions people to find a reputable funeral home to deal with that provides a contract that will be honored even in the event of the business being sold.
"Death is inevitable, and sometimes sudden and unexpected," said Mr. Magyar. "Nobody likes talking about it, but if you spend a little time dealing with it, it can relieve the stress and anxiety. It could be one of the best gifts you ever give to your family."
For more by Leann Reynolds, click here.
For more on death and dying, click here.


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Find more Haggerly relatives and grow your tree by exploring billions of historical records. Taken every decade since 1790, the U.S. Federal Census can tell you a lot about your family. For example, from 1930 to 1940 there were 2 less people named Haggerly in the United States — and some of them are likely related to you.
What if you had a window into the history of your family? With historical records, you do. From home life to career, records help bring your relatives' experiences into focus. There were 12 people named Haggerly in the 1930 U.S. Census. In 1940, there were 17% less people named Haggerly in the United States. What was life like for them?
In 1940, 10 people named Haggerly were living in the United States. In a snapshot:
As Haggerly families continued to grow, they left more tracks on the map:


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KEEN, no doubt, to stay alive, drug traffickers tend to be prompter payers than most. For software firms, this is just one of many clues that may hint at the laundering of ill-gotten money. Anti-money-laundering (AML) software, as it is called, monitors financial transactions and produces lists of the people most likely to be transferring the proceeds of crime.
Spending on this software is soaring. Celent, a research company, estimates that financial firms have spent roughly $825m on it so far this year, up from $675m last year. Technavio, another research firm, reckons the market is even bigger and will grow at more than 11% annually in coming years. This is partly because authorities are increasingly quick to punish institutions that let down their guard. Deutsche Bank, for example, has been hit with fines worth at least $827m this year alone. Governments, eager to appear tough on crime, are urging prosecutors to go after not just institutions, but also their employees.


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Jeanette Galloway
Jeanette Couturier- Galloway
Jeanette "Cap" Couturier, Galloway, was born in a log cabin on the north edge of Sleepy Eye. Jeanette's parents were Hyacinthe Couturier (Also known as French Cap) and wife Rosalie De Merce (chief Sleepy Eye's niece). They were French-Canadian and Indian.
(Rosalie De Merce and Hyacinthe Couturier)
Hyacinthe was known as "French Cap" by the early settlers in and around Sleepy Eye, came from Quebec, Canada, when he was a young man. He met and married Rosalie Demarce, who was part Sioux Indian girl.
The reason why the Couturier's went by "Cap" was because the Germans living in Brown County could not pronounce Courtier so they began calling Hyacinthe as "French Cap"; as time passed the name stuck.
At the time of the Indian outbreak the Couturiers left their home and moved in with a French family by the name of Revier at New Ulm. They didn't return for three years, but the log house was still standing. The Indians had tried to burn it but the green logs wouldn't burn.
Rosalie liked chickens and such, but there were none on the place, so one day on the way back from New Ulm where she had purchased her monthly supply of groceries she stopped at a home and asked if she could buy a few chickens. She traded a calico dress for a rooster and two hens. She took them home and put them in a small shed near the log house.
Next morning when she went to feed the chickens there stood a big white cow. When she reported her find to French Cap, and asked where it could have come from, since there were only a few houses between Sleepy Eye lake and New Ulm, it was stated that it was a "a Gift from God; keep her, take care of her." so Rosalie kept the cow. Two weeks later the cow gave birth to twin heifer calves and the little farm had its first herd of cattle.
"Believe it or not, in just such a way a month later a pig came to the place, from where no one ever knew. Shortly afterward she had a littler of twelve pigs." French Cap made a living mostly by hunting and fishing but they also raised some crops. Wheat was hauled to New Ulm by oxen to be ground for flour. Corn, potatoes and beans were stored for winter.


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A Casual Brutality By Neil Bissoondath 376 pages. Clarkson N. Potter. $18.95.
Neil Bissoondath's voice suggests that of his generation. The 33-year-old novelist, who moved from Trinidad to Toronto when he was 18, is now a settled Canadian. Because he is 20 years younger than well-established Caribbean-born writers - the most prominent is his uncle, V. S. Naipaul - his ties to West Indian towns and his Indian ancestry are that much more tenuous. In this thoughtful, ambitious first novel, he examines what this heritage means now, when it often seems easy and desirable to homogenize ethnic culture. Like many characters in Mr. Bissoondath's deft story collection, ''Digging Up the Mountains,'' the novel's narrator, Raj Ramsingh, discovers that the past has an irresistible pull that is both comforting and destructive.
Born on the fictional island of Casaquemada, north of Trinidad and quite similar to it, Raj has a history that subtly mirrors the recent past of his homeland. ''On the day that Marilyn Monroe died and Nelson Mandela was arrested, Casaquemada received its independence,'' Raj says. Nine years old when the island gained its freedom from British rule in 1962, Raj grows along with Casaquemada, their early promise giving way to chaotic, violent maturity. Neither can escape the multicultural confusion that comes from the historical moment when Marilyn Monroe, Nelson Mandela and colonial rule converge.
This island's convulsed politics gives ''A Casual Brutality'' the trappings of a political thriller. After going to college and medical school in Toronto, Raj returns with his Canadian wife and baby son to set up practice in Casaquemada. He finds that the quiet island he left behind is now on the edge of social collapse. Made prosperous by an oil boom, the islanders are deprived after an economic crash. They are impatient with the dictator, always referred to as ''the old man,'' and fearful of the lawless, army-trained police. Everyone knows of their brutality, which the newspapers never mention.
Almost at the novel's start, the police drag a man they have obviously beaten, a mechanic from the garage across the street, into Raj's office. ''Don't worry, man,'' says a policeman who recognizes Raj from their high school days. ''We're professionals, we ain't want to kill him.'' Raj's knowledge of the incident and of the man's identity places his family in danger.
The tension in this lucid, leisurely novel does not come from its plot, however, but from Raj's confused emotional past, from a life dominated by the family Mr. Bissoondath draws with complexity and precison. Raj's gun-running cousin, Sulein, denies his middle-class education. His kind, civil-servant uncle, Grappler, sees violence as a sad necessity. His beloved grandparents are a tenuous link to the past.Continue reading the main story
Raj's grandmother had kept her eyes lowered during their Hindu wedding ceremony and could not tell her husband from his brothers when she finally looked at the man she had married by arrangement. In old age, she still wears an armful of silver bangles and a veil ''pinned tightly to her hair by a golden butterfly.'' His grandfather is a quiet shopkeeper who wears a dignified white shirt and tie to the store each day.
They represent vestiges of a past that fails to touch Raj. ''As his faculties slipped from him, my grandfather began occasionally to speak to me in Hindi, the language of his childhood,'' Raj says. ''I understood none of it, this my ancestral language, but I felt no loss, no nostalgia, little curiosity.''
Rebelling against the one tradition he is expected to follow - taking over his grandfather's store - he flees to Canada, where he avoids other Indians and blacks. With painful honesty, he admits, ''I saw myself in these people, saw the admission of weakness and loss implicit in their stares of racial inclusion, their searching for comfort in the simplest of ways.''
Despite a rigid, placid routine of study in his quiet room and occasional escapes to a strip club, Raj's life in Canada ends haphazardly. He drifts into marriage with a woman he hardly knows. The decision to return to Casaquemada seems just as offhanded. His grandfather was ill; his wife wanted adventure. Underneath those reasons, though, was the need ''to seek a safety net'' in his family, to return to the simple comfort he had been rejecting for years.
Those unconvincing, abrupt turns are the novel's weakest spots, though they are clearly part of a pattern. From Raj's casual decision to study medicine - in order to be different from Sulein, who had chosen law - to the troubled independence of Casaquemada itself, Mr. Bissoondath is concerned with the unforeseen, uncontrollable consequences of half-understood actions. Raj's world is filled with casual gestures and sudden brutalities that lead to the island's state of emergency and to the violence that consumes many in Raj's family.
At times Mr. Bissoondath strains for poetic effects that are out of place in this solid, straightforward novel. On a torrid day the sky is a ''cerulean crucible.'' And Raj's bloodless marriage is too often defined by the hackneyed way his wife lights a cigarette as a sign of annoyance.
But few first novels have the depth and reach of ''A Casual Brutality,'' and fewer have the honesty to leave the character's major conflict in an ambivalent state. Though there is an exceptional scene of Raj taking part in a Hindu funeral ceremony, he knows he must ''go, like my forebears, to the future.'' Leaving the past behind becomes a version of continuity, one of the many paradoxes that make Mr. Bissoondath's novel so astute.Continue reading the main story


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We've all heard about the return of the Start button. We've all weathered the disappointment of learning that, while the button is coming back, the Start menu will prolong its absence in Windows 8.1.
But we haven't actually seen the darned thing yet.
Well, get your tiny bags of popcorn ready, because a video of the reimagined Start button has popped up on YouTube. The video was apparently shot by NetworkWorld at a Microsoft event at Computex in Taipei, and the interesting bit starts at about 1:15. Take a look:
Yep. It's just the new Windows logo. And a purple rectangle that appears when you mouse over it. Woo! Cue enthusiastic clapping from the crowd, which was presumably blitzed on Taiwan Beer.
If you're thirsty for more Windows 8.1 footage, be sure to check out that video preview Microsoft posted earlier this week. The new Start button was absent from that production, but there were plenty of other tweaks and additions on display, including the improved Modern UI multitasking and the refined Start screen app management. (Thanks to The Verge for the link and to NetworkWorld for sharing its video.)


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The House of Horrors is a stake driven, instant win game that allows players to choose from four different stakes. The game consists of four levels, each with a unique game per floor. Stakes £2, £5 and £10 may offer upgrades to the next floor up. Due to the upgrades, it is possible to win prizes greater than the max win for the current stake.
The stake value is set for each card level, with its associated win rate and maximum prize. By adjusting the stake, the player can play on 1 to 4 levels. On level 4, the player can play all the cards. The stake value is shown on the left. The stake is deducted from the current balance, which is located on the bottom of the scratch card interface.
Start the Game
The player is presented with 4 floor levels of a haunted house. Each level contains scratch card games. There will be a tutorial presented on first load of the game. The player can read the game rules and how to play by pressing the 'Cog' button on the right of the UI. Pressing the flashing 'BUY CARD' button, located to the right, will start the game. Once the 'BUY CARD' button has been selected, the player will be taken to the first floor of the house. The player can begin scratching the windows or press the 'REVEAL ALL' button.
When the 'default' scratch card interface is displayed, (before the game has started) there is a 'BUY CARD' button flashing on the top of the card. Once 'BUY CARD' has been pressed, this button changes to a 'REVEAL ALL' button. Pressing the 'REVEAL ALL' button reveals each of the window scratch areas in turn, from left to right.
Once a game has started, the user can 'swipe' the windows from each of the areas on the card by holding and dragging over the relevant area. As the user 'swipes', the values/icons in the area are revealed.
Over 80% of each window panel must be 'scratched', (95% on a winning panel), for the window panel to be considered complete. Each panel must be completed before the card itself can be considered complete and any win awarded or the game ended. Alternatively, pressing the 'REVEAL ALL' button automatically reveals the window area simultaneously.
There are four Crypt Bonus of six items. Each Crypt Bonus awards a mystery prize on completion. Each card, (floor level), contributes to one Crypt. From low stakes, the higher Crypts can only be won by achieving upgrades. The trails are presented to the player as four different Crypts. Each relate to the floor levels of the haunted house.
Arrow: During the revealing process, should the player reveal on the scratch card panel an 'arrow', then this is the trigger for an 'upgrade'. In this situation, the player would play out the scratch card as usual and, once all the outcomes have been processed, the screen will then move up to the next floor/level, so the scratching can start again on the next floor, (i.e. a free go on the next level).
Key: During the revealing process, should the player reveal on the scratch card panel a 'Key', then this will allow the player access to the bonus game. There are different keys for each floor per scratch card level. It is possible to get more than one key if playing higher than the lowest stake.
Card One: Has two panels which are presented as windows on the first floor. Grid 1 is a simple 'Match 3 Of A Kind' game. Grid 2 has a fixed £5 prize value which can be won by getting three coins in a row, (tic tac toe).
Card Two: Has two panels plus a clock which are presented as windows and a haunted clock on the 2nd floor.
The first grid is a trigger for the activation of the clock. If the player gets three clock icons 'tic tac toe' in a line, then the clock feature is triggered. The clock will then activate. Once activated, the clock's minute hand will rotate, (moving the hour hand to a random position), then stop at a number from 1 to 12. The numbers where the two hands land will be added together and paid to the player. The player can win between £2 and £13 .
Grid 2 has a fixed prize value which is picked from £4 to £50k. This can be won by getting three coins 'tic tac toe' in a line.
Card Three: Has three panels which are presented as windows on the third floor.
Game 1a and 1b is a simple drawing up of a window blind. If the player selects a blind, they get a chance to win the prize offered in the top half circular window. The prizes on offer will be £10 on both Grid 1a and Grid 1b.
Grid 2 is a 'Find 3 Matching Symbols' game. The player has nine picks to find three matching values from a grid of 20. The matching value will be paid to the player. Wins are between £4 and £100k.
Card Four: Has three panels plus a clock which are presented as windows and a haunted clock on the fourth floor.
Grid 1 is a simple 'Match 3 Of A Kind' game. However, if the player reveals a multiplier within the grid, the top window does a scatter on its segments and lands on a multiplier between x2 and x5. Any wins will be multiplied by that value. Wins vary from £20 to £1,000.
Grid 2, (same as above). A simple 'Match 3 Of A Kind' game. However, if the player reveals a multiplier within the grid, the top window does a scatter on its segments and lands on a multiplier between x5 and x50. Any wins will be multiplied by that value. Wins available from £20 to £5,000.
The third grid is a trigger for the activation of the clock. If the player gets three clock icons 'tic tac toe' in a line, then the clock feature is triggered. The clock will then activate. Once activated, the clock's minute hand will rotate, completing a full revolution.The hour hand will step on one position for each revolution completed. The numbers where the two hands land will be added together and paid to the player. The player can win between £2 and £24 .
In the event of a win, (once the card is complete), the total win value from all panels is displayed briefly in a pop-up, centrally on the scratch card interface. The total win value is also displayed in the 'Total Win' field, located at the bottom right of the scratch card interface. Any win on each panel is also highlighted.
In the event of a loss, (no win on any panel), an 'Unlucky Better Luck Next Time' pop-up is displayed centrally on the scratch interface.
Once the appropriate message has been displayed, the 'default' buttons return to allow the user to play again. Pressing the 'BUY CARD' button will reset the panels for the new game.
All currencies are expressed in GBP. The amounts stated will apply in the user's own currency and will vary if not played in GBP.
Bonus Feature
During the revealing process, should the player reveal on the scratch card panel a 'Key', then this will allow the player access to the bonus game. On finding a key, the screen will zoom through the window, into the house at that floor level where the key was found.
There are a total of eight rooms hidden within the house, two rooms per level. The aim of the bonus game is to find items hidden within each room. These items are dedicated to each level and accumulate towards a mystery win. The player needs to find six same items to win a mystery prize. The player on each entry into the house can find one to three items. It is also possible not to find any items at all. The items on the Crypt mystery win are persistent between card purchases. The higher the stake, the more chance of a room entry and a higher percentage of finding one or more items. If the player finds an item, then this is added to the Crypt and a summary panel will be displayed to the player to show their status within the game.
During the process of pressing parts of the room in search of items, if the player doesn't find an item, then there is a good chance that a ghoul or monster will jump out of the screen. If this happens, the rumble feature on the relevant devices will activate and the health meter, ('Scare Meter'), increases.
Once the 'Scare Meter' increases, the bonus game ends and any outcome is shown to the player. The player will be shown the amount of items collected and their progression towards the Crypt Bonus wins.
Progressive Feature Bonus
Win Values Range
Crypt Bonus 4 - Diamond
£50 - £5,000
Crypt Bonus 3 - Emerald
£20 - £1,000
Crypt Bonus 2 - Ruby
£10 - £500
Crypt Bonus 1 - Coin
£4 - £200
In the event of a game in real play being interrupted, (i.e. started but not completed due to connectivity issues or accidentally closing the browser etc), any winnings will be correctly credited to your account and will be exact according to the result prior to the game being interrupted.
The sequence and values of events leading to the display of the total award may vary from the animation prior to game recovery. This will not affect the result of the game after the game has recovered.
This game has a theoretical Return to Player (RTP) of 90% to 95% depending on stake.
The maximum payout in this game is £250,000 on maximum stake.
4 Crypt Bonuses which are persistent between plays.
System malfunction voids all pays and all plays.
Due to high production values of this game, lower-tier hardware may run into compatibility issues and, in certain instances, you will not be able to play.
© Copyright 2016 CORE Gaming Limited – All rights reserved.
Unauthorised copying of any images, icons, layout or content by any means is not permitted.
Our help guides will answer all the questions you may have about playing games here at Sky Vegas as well as useful information.
Frequently asked questions


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Diane Setterfield Quotes About SoulQuotes about: Soul
I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life and there has never been a time when reading was not my greatest joy. And yet I cannot pretend that the reading I have done in my adult years matches in its impact on my soul the reading I did as a child. I still believe in stories. I still forget myself when I am in the middle of a good book. Yet it is not the same.
Diane Setterfield
- Born: August 22, 1964
- Occupation: Author
- Cite this Page: Citation


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Create lyrics explanationSelect some words and click "Explain" button. Then type your knowledge, add image or YouTube video till "Good-o-meter" shows "Cool" or "Awesome!". Publish your explanation with "Explain" button. Get karma points!
Mortuary of the crippled bodies
Is the place for making love
To lie next to you
The cold box of the excitement
Eternalize a pleasure and lust
Touch of the naked bodies
Touch of the dead lips
Lyrics taken from http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/p/purulent_spermcanal/masturbation_in_the_mortuary.html


text: |Sherif Fahmy On Scalable Synchronization for Distributed Embedded Real-Time Systems Weconsidertheproblemofprogrammingdistributedembed- ded real-time systems with distributed dependencies. We show that the de facto standard of using locks and condition variables in conjunction with threads can have significant overhead and semantic difficulty and suggest alternative programming abstractions to alleviate these prob- lems. We also discuss several alternatives for implementing these pro- gramming abstractions and discuss the algorithms and protocols needed.


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Last Night on Late Night: Kevin Spacey Drops More F-Bombs While Picking Up His 'Oscar Winner F-Bomb Hall of Fame' Award on Conan
Plus, Stephen Colbert risks his life eating Taco Bell, on our regular late-night roundup.
Last night on Conan, Kevin Spacey used some very appropriate language when he dropped in to pick up his award for being inducted into the show's "Oscar Winner F-Bomb Hall of Fame," Stephen Colbert discovered the secret to consuming 100 percent beef while dining on Taco Bell, and Jay Leno displayed a frightening composite of what Hollywood plastic surgeons believe the "perfect woman" looks like, on the Tonight Show. Wrapping things up on The Late Late Show, Craig Ferguson and guest Adam Goldberg attempt to conduct a "real" talk-show segment, only to be foiled by Craig's robot sidekick. Watch our compilation to see what you missed.


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Addis Ababa, 30 November 2013 (WIC) – This year's celebration of nations, nationalities and people's day should be an occasion that Ethiopians reaffirm their commitment achieve the ongoing development, democracy and god governance works, the Ministry of Trade (MoT) said.
Employees and heads of the MoT yesterday marked the 8th Nations, Nationalities and People's Day yesterday under the theme "Our Constitution for Our Renaissance." Trade State Minister, Ali Siraj, on the occasion said all Ethiopians need to express their genuine promise to attain Ethiopia's renaissance while observing the day.
Ethiopian nations, nationalities give special place for the event as it is a day the guaranteed the human rights and self administration, the state minister said. Ethiopians, along with the government are currently exerting relentless efforts to alleviate poverty and problems of good governance as well as to attain nation's renaissance, he said.
Accordingly, employees of the ministry need to contribute their share in the efforts underway to ensure modern and fair trading practices, the minister concluded. Ethiopia will mark this year's Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Day for the 8th times in Jijjiga town, Somali Regional State next week.


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The Net Zero Environmental Club at Fairview High School aims to create a greener school for the students and faculty, as well as set an example for other schools that are striving to make their schools more environmentally friendly.
We have planted 59 trees on campus, earned EPA awards, improved the recycling at Fairview, drastically reduced junk mail, put a fee on single use shopping bags, led the installation of 5 water bottle refilling stations, built a bio-retention cell among other accomplishments.
Fairview Net Zero Facebook Group Our Facebook page has current information on our meetings and plans, if you want to join, please join the group to get updates
We meet in room 661


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I'm thinking of buying a nexus phone in the near future although mostly the only thing keeping me from buying any phones except a samsung phone is the folder organization on the touchwiz's app launcher.
My question is if there is anything similar for stock android? (As I know I can only create folders on the home screen, not the app launcher?)
Preferably without using any third party launchers but it's no biggie.
Long time since I was using stock roms :P


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The ultimate, up-to-the-minute digital photography handbook-from the authors of the bestselling Basic Book of Photography. The Basic Book of Digital Photography is the definitive guide to the expansive world of digital photography from two of the field's most established authorities. The Grimms' classic guide, The Basic Book of Photography, has sold over 400, 000 copies since the first edition was published in 1974. Now they are steering photographers through the new era of digital imaging. This comprehensive handbook covers how to compose the best shots with cameras from point-and-shoot to the increasingly popular SLR (single lens reflex) models-and even cell phone cameras- and takes readers through the steps to improve, display, and preserve their images. The guide includes over 400 photos and illustrations, an extensive glossary and addresses everything from choosing a digital camera to storing files and printing photos. An indispensable accessory for amateur shutterbugs or dedicated professionals, this is the one handbook no digital photographer will want to do without.How to Shoot, Enhance, and Share Your Digital Pictures Tom Grimm, Michele Grimm. 8. Figuring Out Focusing Modes and Other Camera Settings FOCUSING MODES: AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL Youa#39;ll be happy to know that all digitalanbsp;...
|The Basic Book of Digital Photography
|Tom Grimm, Michele Grimm
|Penguin - 2009-10-27
You must register with us as either a Registered User before you can Download this Book. You'll be greeted by a simple sign-up page.
Once you have finished the sign-up process, you will be redirected to your download Book page.How it works:


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FREE Delivery on all UK orders - No codes necessary
Minelab's X-Terra Series of metal detectors boast a radical new single frequency technology (VFLEX) that will guarantee you success in the field, where it matters.
Minelab's VLFEX technology uses state of the art digital and mixed-signal components to enhance standard single frequency technology by replacing most of the analogue circuitry with digital signal processing. The small amount of analogue circuitry still employed has been very carefully designed and calibrated to obtain the outstanding sensitivity, stability and repeatability required to match the performance of the processing in the digital domain. This radical departure from traditional approaches to metal detector design has been made possible by advances in electronics that power personal digital assistants, cell phones and high fidelity portable audio equipment. For the X-Terra user, this precision means dependable performance and improved immunity to environmental conditions such as ground mineralisation, electromagnetic interference and temperature variations. VFLEX technology requires coils that are accurately constructed and calibrated. Every time the detector starts up, the micro-controllers in the control box and the coil establish communication through a digital data link. Information about the coil is sent to the control box, so the detector "knows" what type of coil is attached and can set the correct operating parameters. This optimises the performance and also makes the detector 'future proof' in that it will be capable of operating with different frequency coils available soon.
The X-TERRA 505 is the high performance, mid-range detector in the new generation Minelab X-TERRA Series. With advanced capability, great depth and excellent discrimination, the X-TERRA 505 is the ideal all-rounder to take your detecting experience to the next level. The X-TERRA 505 now has full frequency capability and can adapt easily to coin & treasure and relic hunting.


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ILEA NCC Gala 2016
If you work in the events industry then you are probably familiar with an organization called ILEA. If not, ILEA stands for the International Live Events Association. I joined the organization when I worked in Austin for a while and then transferred over to the chapter in San Francisco after I moved to the Bay Area.
I've enjoyed every second of being involved in this organization. There are so many educational events, happy hours, and networking events to attend. I've met so many amazing people in the industry who are now my closest friends and work partners. I've always been a fan of not only joining organizations, but becoming hands-on involved in the organizations.
This year for the ILEA NCC Gala 2016, I took on the Graphics & Marketing Chair position. I've never lead a position like this before, but I thought, what the hell? I could not have done it without my Graphics & Marketing team. It was my first time meeting this group of people, and I had no idea what their background & experience was. We would meet every month to discuss ideas and execute with each of our individual strengths. Probably by the second meeting, we became best friends! I loved this group and still meet with them just for fun. The event turned out incredible and we, of course, had a blast!
Like I said, I always recommend joining organizations and becoming involved. Whether you have experience in the committee or not, you will have a team to support you along the way. I've shared a couple images below from the Gala this past year, but feel free to check out the whole album on ILEA NCC's Facebook page.
The Event Planner
Our partner at Amazon is offering great deals just for you. Go shop our looks from the ILEA Gala.
April 2017


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Presse Commerce Corporation is a key figure in the magazine industry. With our strong expertise in the field, Presse Commerce offers various services ranging from waiting room distribution to newsstand promotional programs.
Founded in 1988, Presse Commerce Corporation has greatly diversified its activities since. Most of our divisions are related to magazines, but we also offer other products like toys and books.


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Get Out: Weaving Art with Craft
November 5, 2009, 4:49 PM
By Larry Dell
It may be time to put the spat about craft vs. art to bed. Not about the differences that at least to my mind are fairly obvious: craft being utilitarian and for the most part single minded in its intention, and art having more expansive ambitions worthy of contemplation that may yield new discoveries at multiple viewings.
No, this spat is about the confusion that occurs when artists choose to incorporate a particular craft, its materials and techniques into their work. Some people, it seems, find it hard to see the forest for the trees.
A new local exhibition "Uncommon Threads," at Seton Hall's Walsh Gallery in South Orange, goes a long way to putting the craft/art distinction to rest. There's no doubt about the intentions of the artists participating in this show. Their work is meant to engage the viewer in an open-ended dialogue that, like most serious art, provides many, many rewards.
Fiber, fabric and thread have figured prominently in recorded and prerecorded history as fashion, shelter and utilitarian objects for tens of thousands of years. By using them as a medium of expression, artists, always looking for new ways to increase the impact of their work, can tap into that broad collective experience.
That link to human experience, the touch, feel, personal history, the relationship we all have with fiber, fabric and thread, is clearly on display in the Walsh Gallery show. What's interesting is the variety of ways the artists interpret that connection.
The exhibition includes work that runs the gamut from organic abstraction to figuration and includes individual pieces that are whimsical, political and architectonic.
Some of the artists, like Courtney Puckett, Karen Ciaramella and Doris Cacoilo incorporate construction techniques often traditionally associated with fabric, while others such as Megan Piontkowski, Katie Tuck and Ryan Higgins use fabric or fabric-like materials in the creation of flights of fancy all their own.
The surprise of the show is drawing in thread, "Everyday 1" by Katherine M. Webb. Elegantly crafted and dramatic, there's a multi-level air of mystery about it.
Initially it appears to be a handsome and well-composed drawing by a talented draftsman, but closer inspection reveals it's not a traditional drawing at all but a meticulously hand stitched work of embroidery.
Then the subject takes over. Is it a mother and daughter? Two sisters? Two friends? And why is one being carried? And what are they feeling? The blank faces offer no clue.
Go take a look and tell me what you think.
"Uncommon Threads"
Walsh Gallery at Seton Hall University
400 South Orange Avenue
South Orange
Monday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Email email@example.com
Curated by Jeanne Brasile and Howard Hunt


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Emerson Family Law's connections within Australia as well those with family lawyers overseas enables us to provide sound and fulsome advice in relation to any international aspects arising out of your family law matter.
Australia's multicultural society combined with the advent of globalisation, has seen international family law emerge as a distinct area of practice.
In recent times, cases such as the 'Italian Girls' Case' presents a timely reminder of cross jurisdictional disputes in the family law context and the importance of obtaining sound advice from the outset.
Such situations generally arise where on separation, one party wishes to return to their country of origin or more commonly returns to their country of origin with the children without the other parties' consent. In such circumstances it then becomes necessary to consider this "conflict of law" and conduct a comparative exercise between the parties' respective entitlements in their country of origin as well as in the Australian jurisdiction.


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Liz Claiborne Settles Texas Trademark Suit Over Counterfeits
Tuesday Morning and Liz jointly announced the settlement on Thursday, but did not disclose terms of the settlement and said they would have no further comment.
Liz Claiborne had already settled its lawsuits against all but one of the defendants named in its April lawsuit over the alleged manufacture, distribution and sale of fake Monet-branded jewelry over a period of almost two...
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Lymphedema is a condition that arises due gathering of fluids in your interstitial tissues surrounding the lymph glands. This happens when the lymph nodes are not available or spoiled. This leads to a complication in the lymphatic system. The function of the lymphatic system is to eliminate excessive lymph from your system via the lymphatic vessels.
If this condition is persistent and ignored, other problems will arise including infection and poor recovery from wounds. Though treatment is necessary there are natural remedies required to ease the effects of lymphedema.
Lymphedema exists in two forms. Primary lymphedema which is due to lack of lymph nodes or other complications in the lymphatic system, which always happen at birth. Secondary lymphedema may be caused when the lymph nodes are removed after surgery, contagions, distortions, developments of scar tissues and even radiation treatments.
Cancer patients who undergo treatment are subject to lymphedema. This is because of the removal of the lymph nodes. If this condition is not properly treated it may lead to swelling and inflammation of the limbs and other parts of your body.
Lymphedema can also limit oxygen availability in your system. This leads to a development of a favorable environment for bacteria to flourish. This should not be substituted or confuse with edema. Though untreated edema can lead to a destruction of the lymphatic system. This condition requires the same treatment as lymphedema.
If you have lymphedema, contacting a physician is a good step in the right direction. You should avoid determining the blood pressure and use vaccinations like IVís.
Some of the best ways of treating lymphedema are to perform an exercise, having a massage, and wearing tight clothes. There are other additional things that you should consider that will help a lot if you are diagnosed with this condition. This involves the following:
Regularly perform detoxification to get rid of toxins from your system.
Do exercise and change your diet in order to help lose weight.
Be sure to adhere to the Budwig Diet, this also has an added advantage to cancer patients and have very good effects in blood flow. Hence the better flow of lymph is achieved.
Refrain from junky foods. These are a group of foods like those processed ones, fast foods, sugar sweeteners, and unhealthy oils like coconut and tropical oils. Eat many vegetables and fruits regularly. Use natural milk supplements like yogurt and probiotics. Probiotics ensure as table colony of helpful bacteria in your intestines improving your immune system and help to eliminate toxins from the system.
There are although supplements and herbs that can be used to relieve lymphedema include:
1) Bromelain.
This assists in lessening the swelling and soreness. 250 to 500 milligrams of Bromelain is recommended. While using Bromelain make sure you are on an empty stomach. Bromelain works best on a three times per day dose.
2) Butcher's Broom.
This helps the walls of blood vessels as well as relieving of edema, swelling of feet and soreness. The recommended prescribed amount of Butcherís Broom is 100 milligrams per day daily. The prescription should take at least three months.
3) Emu Oil.
This oil helps improve blood circulation around the body and relieve soreness. Apart from that, it assists cells to keep a healthy immune system. Recommended prescription is 1000 milligrams once per day.
4) Horse Chestnut
This assists in relieving inflammation and lessens phlebitis.
5) Flax Seed Oil
These should be taken at least twice a day. Recommended dose is 1000 milligrams twice per day. Flax seed oil acts as an anti-inflammatory agent.
6) Fish Oil.
Just like Flax seed oil, this acts as anti- inflammatory. Taking one to two pills before bed is recommended.
7) Boswellia Serrata
It is an Ayurvedic herb. It assists in relieving soreness.
8) Ginger Tea.
Ginger tea can be found in your local shop. It assists much in improving blood circulation and at the same time relieves inflammation. Ginger can be taken with tea or mixed with hot water before drinking. A dose of three times per day is recommended.
9) Grape Seed
Grape seed helps to excerpt a very powerful antioxidant that helps stop reduce inflammation. Take about 200mg each day.
10) Calcium and Magnesium
Ensure a ratio of 2:1 of calcium to magnesium respectively, this aid to clear radicals from the system and reduce inflammation.
11) Colloidal Silver
This help stops boost the immune system hence a better prevention from infections.


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18 Jun 6/18/17 "WHAT IS A 'GOOD' MAN?" – Pastor Shane Idleman
Complete Sermon Notes
What is a "Good" Man?
Psalm 37:23-24 (NKJV) The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.
GOOD – good choices, a productive life [lived to a good old age], gets back up though he falls.
Two extremes – I'm a worm (manure)…or God I'm so good.
"Not about perfection, but direction." John MacArthur
Come as you are – but don't stay as you are…
ORDERED – Koon – FIXED, ESTABLISHED, AND READY.
The Struggle: the enemy, or our mind, plants thoughts. We go back-and-forth on whether we should act them out. The more you fuel SIN the more you'll fight SIN.
Hollywood says a real man is the opposite of what God says:
You can be a good man today – you can turn from darkness to light. From confusion to clarity. From being foolish to being wise. From being bound to sin to being set free.
A man is often measured by who he "is", not who he "was."
We say, "This is too hard," and we give up.
Antinomianism – "against the law [nomos]."
Moralism – the Law [external] – "the letter kills…"
John 5:3 tells us, "This is love for God: to obey His commands…"
Both are grounded in PRIDE – look at how many laws I obey vs. look how many laws i break.
Willpower is good, but not enough – "do not touch; do not taste."
You exercise your will to submit to the work of the Holy Spirit – SANCTIFICATION IS SUBMISSION [a gift from God].
Spiritual Disciplines engage the Gift-giver.
A GOOD MAN – ACTS 14:23 So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Fasting shows the magnitude – "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God" (Acts 20:28).
1ST – Do you truly know the Savior???
"What is the spiritual condition of those I'm leading?"
Change the environment of your home if it's on life support.
Qualifications of a good man – Elders [normal men who have matured] – Titus 1 (NASB) 5… appoint elders in every city as I directed you, 6 namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.
Outside reputation.
Sexual purity – a one woman man.
Dissipation is a lazy partier or gamer – rebellious to the things of God.
Home Life: It's not necessarily the character of the kids that qualify the elder – but how he shepherds them. Eli did not "restrain" his sons.
A wife can't qualify a man, but she can disqualify him.
7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain. NASB
Self-willed – does what he wants in spite of the wishes of others. MUTUAL SUBMISSION IS VITAL.
Hot-tempered people hurt others.
Prov. 16:32 ESV, "Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city."
Not addicted to destructive substances: NOT in bondage.
Pugnacious – quick to argue: always right about everything.
Sordid gain is dishonest and greedy – backdoor deals, shady real estate transactions, pyramid schemes.
8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
Welcoming to others (PEOPLE PERSON) – not hard and disengaged.
Do you love what is good?
Fair and balanced…self-controlled
All elders need to be reading through the Bible once a year…
Put it on your calendar – download the App – always a student.
Different Callings – don't beat yourself up – some are deacons some are elders.
"Holding Fast the Faith": something is trying to pull it away from us!
"Having done all, stand…"
"Though He slay me…"
CLOSING: How we are made good?
Men, return to the simplicity of the gospel: 3 Nails and 2 Boards
2 Corinthians 11:3 [NKJV] But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The more complex it is the less we will follow it – 1+1 Vs. Trigonometry
Finish where we started – Psalm 37:23-24 (NKJV) The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.
MEN OF PRAYER WAS A GIVEN – Matt. 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Ask – share your heart
Seek – look for; expect God to move [this is faith at it's core]
Knock – action


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Trailer: Dominic Cooper is Our New Weapon Against Terrorism in the Action-Thriller "Stratton"
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Saturday, November 18, 2017
John M Jerva
17 Aug, 2018
Donnie Yen Talks BIG BROTHER, MULAN and SLEEPING DOGS!
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17 Aug, 2018
High Octane Pictures Acquires the Indie Action-Thriller 60 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT
I posted about the indie action film 60 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT a while back when a first trailer was released for director Neil Mackay's film about an average and normal construction worker who finds himself the unwilling participant in a very deadly game show where he is hunted for sport. The film stars Canadian based actor Robert Nolan who at first look doesn't seem like your average action hero but by judging from the trailer released, he seems to be doing just fine in that department. High
17 Aug, 2018
USA Network Orders the JASON BOURNE Spin-Off Series TREADSTONE Straight to Series
The USA Network has been developing a spin-of series centered on the JASON BOURNE franchise for a while now and it looks like things are developing rather well as the network has officially ordered the show to go straight to a series. That means that there will be at least one season of the show. The spin-off will be called TREADSTONE and it will revolve around the fictional CIA black ops program of the same name which is responsible in creating Jason Bourne and those like him. The series of
17 Aug, 2018
John Krasinski is Set Loose in the Final Trailer for Amazon Prime's TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN
It has almost been a full year since I attended the JACK RYAN panel at last year's NYCC and being one of the first people to ever see footage from Amazon Prime's new series, I feel personally connected to the show. That and I was a mere 10 feet away from star John Krasinski but I digress. Now the show is almost here as it is set to debut on August 31st and the Amazon has released a final trailer which you can see below! Official Synopsis: Up-and-coming CIA analyst, Jack Ryan, is thrust into a
17 Aug, 2018
SCORPION KING: BOOK OF SOULS Charges Onto Blu-Ray this October from Universal 1440
2002's THE SCORPION KING was The Rock's first starring role in a major motion picture and was a moderate success but the former wrestling superstar turned mega world superstar only played the role once moving on to other things. THE SCORPION KING has lived on in the direct to video market having spawn a series of lesser budgeted films including SCORPION KING: RISE OF A WARRIOR in 2008 which starred Michael Copn as a younger version of The Rock's character Mathayus. Then veteran actor and
16 Aug, 2018
Scott Adkins Comes Out Swinging in a New Image from AVENGEMENT!
Last week brought the official word that the new action-thriller AVENGEMENT from the new go to team in action of Scott Adkins and Jesse V. Johnson was now in production. Along with the news came a few behind the scenes images from the film which promises to see Scott's character behind bars for part of the flick. It was also revealed that his partner in crime from THE DEBT COLLECTOR, Louis Mandylor, was added to the cast as well. Now we have a new photo of Scott in prison and it looks like he's
16 Aug, 2018
Danny Rand is Back in the New Trailer and Poster for MARVEL'S IRON FIST: Season 2!
We got our first look at the second season of Netflix and Marvel's IRON FIST at last month;s SDCC and while we awere teased with that promo and another one which was released after, we now have a full trailer with some great looking footage along with a new poster that shows series stars Finn Jones and Jessica Henwick. Check it out below and prepare for the fury of the IRON FIST! Iron Fist Season 2 features Danny Rand (Finn Jones) as he fights against the criminal element corrupting New
16 Aug, 2018
BLU-RAY GIVEAWAY CONTEST! Win One of Two Copies of Jackie Chan's BLEEDING STEEL!
Hey Action-Flix Fanatics! Are you ready for my next giveaway contest? Well, here it is! I have gotten my hands on not one but two copies of martial arts and action icon Jackie Chan's newest hit BLEEDING STEEL courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment which hits the shelves next week and you can win one of them! I told you my next giveaway would be epic! Check out the info below and good luck to all! A special force agent is assigned to protect a scientist and his creation from a sinister gang in
16 Aug, 2018
WU ASSASSINS with Iko Uwais Adds Mark Dacascos and JuJu Chan to the Roster!
Last month, it was reported that Netflix was developing the rather awesome sounding TV series WU ASSASSINS which would star THE RAID and MILE 22 star Iko Uwais as well as Byron Mann who was recently seen in Netflix's own ALTERED CARBON. While that news was spectacular in its own right, Deadline has dropped the hammer with some more righteous news in that the show has officially added Mark Dacascos, who will also be seen in the upcoming JOHN WICK 3: PARABELLUM, and JuJu Chan (SAVAGE DOG, the
15 Aug, 2018
There's a New Breed of PREDATOR in Town in the Sci-Fi Action Film THE DAWNSEEKER!
Well, it looks like THE PREDATOR won't be the only alien hunter in town this Fall as Uncork'd Entertainment is ready to unleash the new sci-fi action-thriller THE DAWNSEEKER this September 4th on VOD and Digital. We have the official poster, stills and trailer for you to peek at below! Before we meet The Predator, come face to face with The Dawnseeker! Premiering September 4 On Demand from Uncork'd Entertainment, Justin Price's explosive new sci-fi horror actioner pits five mercenaries against


text: Clemente is one of five children in a migrant family struggling on less than $10,000 a year. He had already struggled with this significant hardship when, at age 13, he was diagnosed with Leukemia. He spent weeks undergoing chemotherapy at Texas Children's Hospital. After a successful bone marrow transplant from his sister, he began the slow road to recovery. Three months passed before he could eat solid food, and when he returned to public school after being home schooled for almost 2 years, he kept getting sick because of his compromised immune system. He later attended Eastwood Academy Charter, where he excelled and graduated at the top of his class. With the Beat the Odds scholarship, Clemente enrolled at the University of Houston Downtown.


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Glin Castle, Ireland(48 images)
The romantically titled Knights of Glin were granted extensive lands in Co Limerick in the early 14th century and over successive centuries the castle they built suffered siege, confiscation and war. By the late 17th century the family had removed to a thatched long house, which was incorporated into the west wing of the present castle a hundred years later. The present castle features a neoclassical hall with Corinthian columns and an elaborate plasterwork ceiling and has a series of...
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Under the title, "The Danger of Misguided Goodness," the central message in these sermon notes is the need for all individuals to be morally conscientious.
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QMy friend`s dog, a pedigreed black Labrador, was accidentally mated with a mongrel. Does this spoil her for future breeding with pure breeds of her own kind? We`ve both heard different opinions on this and would appreciate any help you can give.
AThere`s only one correct opinion on this: If your friend`s dog is mated with the right sire, her future litters can be 100 percent purebreds. Those with contrary opinions need a basic lesson in sex education. They need to be told that some eggs were dropped from the Labrador`s ovaries (that`s called ovulation) and were joined with the mongrel`s sperm (that`s fertilization). This in no way affects her ability to give birth to purebreds; the eggs for any future litters remain safely tucked away in the ovaries.


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- How Chambers Work
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Purchasing a liquid thermal shock chamber needs close consideration of the long term operating costs. The specialized liquids used can easily evaporate, causing the loss of thousands of dollars of fluid per year, if not properly contained. Liquid-to-liquid thermal shock testing is typically conducted to apply very strong, repetitive thermal stress to test pieces. It can model a product's ability to withstand thermally-induced size changes, crack resistance, hermetic integrity, and changes in electrical properties. This form of testing provides a very rapid temperature shock recovery of conditions, and it can significantly reduce testing time by requiring shorter soaks and less cycles. The TSB thermal shock chambers have been built to meet the demanding test requirements of Mil-Std 883 method 1011.9, which has become a defacto industrial standard for semiconductor devices.
ESPEC has led the industry in developing a sophisticated test chamber with multiple mechanisms to significantly reduce fluid usage. The new TSB-51 loses just 1.4 grams per test cycle, or less than a liter of fluid per 1,000 cycle test. The recovery system reduces fluid loss through enhanced airtightness, preventing leakage of evaporated thermal fluid from the test area. A fan draws air to a condensing coil that turns evaporated fluid into a liquid, returning it to the baths. The units also include a separation filter for removing water from the thermal fluid. A refrigerated cooling ring at the top of the hot bath helps limit evaporative losses.
The TSB models have also includes our SCP-220TS touch-screen controller, making operation clear and easy.
Compare Thermal Shock Models
Side-by-side comparison of up to three models.
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|Requires Galden or Fluorinert fluids
|5.9" x 7.8" x 5.9"
|0.15 cu. ft.
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|Test example: -65 to 150°C in 10 second transfer time with 4 lb. of IC chips
|Requires Galden or Fluorinert fluids
|Click model number for details, including metric & english units.


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The NY Times had a piece this weekend that echoes my piece in the Guardian last Friday — the double standard for female vs. male actors regarding weight.
It's pretty simple: Guys can be fat, women cannot.
Here's what I wrote in The Guardian:
Here we find ourselves in a familiar place of berating a female actor for her skinniness, but isn't that very skinniness what we demand of them? I challenge you to think of the last Hollywood film where the women looked normal. I guess a better question would be – do we even know what normal looks like any more? Judging by Hollywood standards, I don't. Thinness is what is expected and demanded of our actors – except when they get too thin, because then they get blasted like Johansson and, recently, Keira Knightley and Jennifer Connelly.
Read the full piece here: Scarlett Johansson takes on Hollywood
From the NY Times:
Based on a close look at trailers, still photos and some films already released, at least a dozen male stars in some of the year's most prominent movies have been adding on the pounds of late.
Hollywood's women may have weight issues of their own. But it is somehow less noticeable, possibly because actresses who expand do not often get roles to showcase that growth.
It's less noticeable not only because heavier actresses have less opportunities, it's less noticeable because all women have less opportunities.
I love this analysis of why we are accepting of heavier male actors:
The change in smoking habits may have something to do with it. Possibly, too, the audience has grown more tolerant of weightier men on screen as the society at large has become heavier.
Why has the audience grown more tolerant of fatter actors but not fatter actresses. Both women and men in the culture have gotten fatter. According to CNN this morning which did a story on the new airline policy on making heavier people purchase a second seat men have gained 25 pounds over the two decades and women have gained 24 pounds.
While the Times talks about the acceptance of the growing male waistline the story pretty much ignores the double standard for women. More from my Guardian piece:
For another example of the double standard, look at Russell Crowe in the excellent State of Play, which opens this week in the US. The man is not thin, in fact he's quite portly, yet no one talks about his weight as a career hindrance or a monumental issue. I guarantee that if the genders were reversed and Rachel McAdams's character was the lead, there would be no way that she would have been cast looking the way that Crowe does.
I say it again, guys can be fat and women cannot.
What's the Skinny on the Heftier Stars? (NY Times)
Scarlett Johansson takes on Hollywood (The Guardian)
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