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What can a celibate priest really teach us about love, sexuality, and relationships between men and women?
That's the question a Polish priest, Fr. Karol Wojtyla, addressed in the introduction to his revolutionary book, Love and Responsibility. Published in 1960, this book on sexual ethics was the fruit of Fr. Wojtyla's extensive pastoral work with young people and his philosophical reflections on this topic while serving as a priest and university professor in Krakow—long before the world would come to know him as Pope John Paul II.
In Love and Responsibility, Fr. Wojtyla argues that while a priest may lack direct experience in marriage and sexuality, he has something that gives him an even wider perspective on these matters: a broad "secondhand experience." As a spiritual advisor who worked closely with many young adults and married couples amidst their struggles in love and sexuality, Fr. Wojtyla was able to draw from the experiences of a wide range of personalities, relationships, and marriages in a way that the average layman could not. Love and Responsibility is the fruit of this rich pastoral experience as well as his own philosophical and theological reflection on love, sex, and marriage.
Indeed, Love and Responsibility provides insights on male-female relationships that are truly life-transforming —and desperately needed today. Growing up in the aftermath of the sexual revolution, the younger generation is hungering for any wise guidance they can get on how to navigate their relationships with the opposite sex. Single people, engaged couples, and married spouses alike will find in Love and Responsibility not only a very different perspective from what the world tends to offer, but a view that, once encountered, cannot help but have a positive impact on the way we relate to one another.
In this short series of articles, my goals are modest. I do not intend to offer an academic analysis of this book or enter scholarly debate about sexual ethics. Rather, I simply aim at making some of the insights from this challenging philosophical work more accessible to the average lay reader and offering some of my own reflections along the way with the hope that readers may benefit from the Pope's vision for love and sexuality and find personal application for their own lives.
Pope John Paul II explains why this is so. Human persons are capable of self-determination. Unlike animals that act according to their instincts and appetites, persons can act deliberately. Through self-reflection, persons can choose a course of action for themselves and assert their "inner self" to the outside world through their choices. To treat a human person merely as an instrument for my own purposes is to violate the dignity of the person as a self-determining being. "[E]very person is by nature capable of determining his or her aims. Anyone who treats a person as the means to an end does violence to the very essence of the other" (pp. 26-27).
This utilitarian view affects the way we relate to one another. If my main goal in life is to pursue my own pleasure, then I weigh my choices in life in light of how much they lead me to this goal. Hence, many people today—even good Christians—may evaluate a relationship in terms of how useful a person is for me to achieve my goals or how much "fun" I have with this person. Pope John Paul II says that once these utilitarian attitudes are adopted, we begin to reduce the people in our lives to objects to use for our own pleasure (p. 37).
This helps explain why many friendships and "dating" relationships (and even marriages) today are so fragile and so easily dissolved. If I value a woman only insofar as she is advantageous for me to know or only to the extent that I derive some pleasure from being with her, then there is not much of a foundation for the relationship. As soon as I cease to experience pleasure or benefit from my time with her—or as soon as I can find more pleasure or benefit with someone else—she no longer is valuable to me. This view is quite far from the personalist principle and even farther from a relationship of committed love.
For Aristotle, there are three kinds of friendship based on three kinds of affection that unite people. First, in a friendship of utility, the affection is based on the benefit or use the friends derive from the relationship. Each person gets something out of the friendship that is to his advantage, and the mutual benefit of the relationship is what unites the two people.
For example, many work-related friendships fall under this category. Let's say Bob owns a construction company in Boston. He has a friendship with Sam in San Francisco because Sam sells the kind of nails that Bob needs at the best price. For their business exchanges, Bob and Sam see each other a few times a year, talk on the phone about once a week, and email each other regularly. Over the years of doing business together, they have learned about each other's careers, families, and interests. They get along together well and sincerely wish each other all the best in life. They are friends, but what unites them is the particular benefit they each receive from the friendship: nails for Bob and sales for Sam.
Second, in a pleasant friendship the basis of affection is the pleasure one gets out of the relationship. One sees the friend as a cause of some pleasure for himself. This friendship is primarily about "having fun together." The friends may listen to the same music, play the same sport, enjoy the same form of exercise, live in the same dormitory, or like to hang out at the same nightclub. The two people may sincerely care about each other and wish each other well in life, but what unites them as friends is primarily the pleasure or "good times" they experience together.
Similarly, in the pleasant friendship, when one person's interests change or they move away and are no longer around to share "good times," the friendship is likely to fade. This helps explain why friendships among young people shift so often. As they move from high school to college to the professional world, they mature and their interests, values, moral convictions, and geographical locations tend to undergo many changes. If their friendships in these transitional years are not based on something more profound than simply the fact that they happened to live in the same dorm, play the same sport, take the same class, and have a lot of fun together, their friendships are likely to dissolve over time.
Such friendships based on having "good times" together are unlikely to continue when those pleasurable experiences are no longer able to be shared.
The problem with useful and pleasant friendships is that the emphasis is on what I get out of the relationship. However, in the virtuous friendship, the two friends are committed to pursuing something outside themselves, something that goes beyond their selfinterests. And it is this higher good that unites them in friendship. Striving side-by-side toward the good life and encouraging one another in the virtues, the true friend is primarily concerned not with what he gets out of the friendship, but with what is best for his friend and with pursuing the virtuous life with his friend.
Especially in marriage, there is a temptation to be self-centered, to want our spouse and our children to conform to our own plans, schedules, and desires. For example, when the weekend approaches, I may focus on the things I want to do—house projects I want to get done, work I want to get caught up on, sporting events I want to watch—without giving priority to what my wife and children may need from me. When it comes to family finances, I may joyfully agree to spend money on things that are important to me, but strongly resist my wife's desire to invest in something that may not benefit me directly, even though it may be important for our family.
However, Pope John Paul II reminds us that true friendship, especially friendship in marriage, must be centered on the bond of a common aim. In Christian marriage, that common aim involves the union of the spouses, the spouses' serving each other and helping each other grow in holiness, and the procreation and education of children.
Our own individual preferences and agendas should be subordinated to these higher goods. Husband and wife must be subordinate to each other and to the good of their children, working to prevent any selfish individualism from creeping into their marriage. As a team, husband and wife work toward this common aim and discern together how best to use their time, energy, and resources to achieve those common goals of marriage.
The Pope explains how spouses' being united in this common good helps ensure that one person is not being used by another or neglected by the other. "When two different people consciously choose a common aim this puts them on a footing of equality and precludes the possibility that one of them might be subordinated to the other. Both . . . are as it were . . . subordinated to that good which constitutes their common end" (pp. 28-29).
Without this common end, our relationships inevitably will fall into some form of using the person for our own benefit or pleasure. In the next article, we will consider how crucial these foundational points from Love and Responsibility are for navigating the emotional and physical attractions we often experience when we encounter people of the opposite sex.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Rachel Mcadams recorded a love poem for her About Time co-star Domhnall Gleeson to get him in the mood for intimate scenes with her on the set.
The actor reveals he listened to her poetry reading every morning in a bid to get all loved-up for the day's romance.
He tells WENN, "I spent some time creating the romance... I got Rachel to record a poem for me and I would listen in the morning before I'd go work. I'd also listen to the song Mid Air by Paul Buchanan every morning when I got up and I spent a lot of time just thinking about love. That got me in the mood."
But that was all destroyed by director Richard Curtis the minute he and McAdams started shooting.
Gleeson adds, "Richard was in the corner like some pervert looking at us saying, 'That looks great, guys'. I'm like, 'Jesus, don't say that Richard!'"


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The Novotel London Heathrow is located in the heart of Heathrow Airport, 30 minutes from Central London. This hotel is ideal for guests on a business trip offering high speed internet access and extensive conference facilities. Close to Stockley Park andtourist attractions such as Windsor Castle and Legoland. Enjoy contemporary cuisine in the pleasant surroundings of our Elements restaurant and lounge bar. Relax in our heated indoor swimming pool and gym at no extra charge. Onsite parking.
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Standard complaints for minor standard traffic ordinances (i.e. speeding, failure to stop at a stop sign, etc.) can be disposed of through a court appearance (marked at the bottom - front of the citation) or through payment of a fine associated with the offense (marked on back of the citation). If payment of the fine is chosen, it must be paid on or before the court date marked on the bottom - front of the citation.
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Could Andrew Symonds' Exit Spark the Fuse for Future Leavers?June 6, 2009
Andrew Symonds has been sent home; and his offer of a new 12-month contract with Cricket Australia withdrawn, after an alcohol incident while on tour with the Australians in England.
Symonds has been in good form of late in the shortest form of the game, after a string of good performance for the Deccan Chargers in the IPL 2009.
Symonds had been sidelined for most of 2009 after the "gone fishing" incident, and had just managed to win back his place in the Australian squad for the World Cup T20.
Things were looking up for the English-born cricketer, who would have liked to win the only trophy Australia has yet to add to their cabinet, but also seek revenge of an Ashes series (if there were injuries to any of the current Test squad).
Symonds was caught drinking with fellow teammates in an English pub, while supporting his local rugby team—days before the beginning of the tournament. This was in breach of his Cricket Australia contract, where he was not aloud to drink alcohol in public.
Observers and former players are predicting that the 33-year old is likely to exit the International scene, and concentrate on his current contract with the Deccan Chargers.
Yet could his exit spark the fuse that send more players packing from playing international cricket?
The IPL doesn't hold the pride of playing for one's country, but also doesn't carry the burden of failing under one's flag.
Former Australian players such as Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, and Shane Warne have made the IPL a lucrative investment after their retirement from the international scene.
Hayden has gone as far as saying that he would not pull on the "baggy green" again, because he wouldn't carry the freedom which he does with his IPL contract.
But who would blame him? He get's to hit the surf in the morning, and destroy inexpereinced Indian bowlers in the afternoon.
Along with this, one month of cricket, four hours a day (max), brings in enough money for him and time to support his family, as well as his hobbies. Same can be said for Warne and Gilchrist.
What would stop Symonds from doing the same? He could have a few beers the night before a game, and recover from his hangover a few hours before the start of play.
Deccan Chargers have announced that they would back Symonds, and they were happy to have him if Cricket Australia were to scrap his contract.
Yet what happens if Symonds doesn't want a contract with Cricket Australia? Would he want to have to keep looking over his shoulder every time he did something he enjoyed?
Only the pride for playing one's country, and the meaning behind it, will make Symonds decision for him.
After numerous situations, maybe it's time for him to hang up the baggy green, and relax a while.
Yet what could stop current players from doing the same?
Chris Gayle is suggesting that he could be following the same path. What could stop the Kevin Pieterson's and Virender Sehwags's of the game from doing the same?
As much as the idea of making millions playing in the IPL is great, we must remember that those who perform, and those who earn the money they do, have put in the hours and years into their game.
Being able to repeat the form of Gilchrist and Hayden, it must be remembered that playing their natural game was perfected through international cricket, and is now prospering for them on the IPL scene.
One must first prove on the international scene that they are up there with the world's greatest, before they can start believing that they are bigger than the international scene. Gilchrist and Hayden are the exception, not the rule.
Remember that players who don't perform are unlikely to have their IPL contracts renewed. Could Symonds repeat his current form in eleven months time?
Only time will tell whether Symonds walks, or he stands his ground for the CA's decision. If he's given out, and loses his contract, he falls back on minimum cricket until April 2010.
If he's given "not out", he will have to change his attitude, his goals, and his views on the 'green and gold' of the Australian strip.
Do you think the IPL could end the future of international cricket for various cricketers?


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Diane's Top Ten Favorite Book Couples
Happy Valentines! Time to do a list of my favorite literary couples!
I've made sure to include all different kinds here, from fantasy and classics to the actual romance genre. Some are from novels where there is very little focus on romance, but what's there I adore. My criteria was simple, I couldn't just have loved the couple while reading. These are the characters that stayed with me long after I finished their stories.


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May 6, 2014
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BEIJING, July 27 (UPI) -- Chinese authorities have arrested 18 GlaxoSmithKline employees in a bribery investigation, official Chinese media reported.
China National Radio said the city of Zhengzhou has taken steps to "hold 18 GlaxoSmithKline employees and medical personnel," The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Authorities did not respond to request for comments, the Journal said.
China has previously said it was investigating the company for allegedly bribing doctors with kickbacks and sexual favors to get them to prescribe their products and raise prices of drugs.
It was already known that China had detained four GlaxoSmithKline executives.
Chinese authorities said Friday a fifth executive, Mark Reilly -- the company's former general manager for China -- would return to China to assist in the investigation.
China's officials Xinhua News Agency had reported several company employees have confessed to bribery, The New York Times said.


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I am a bald eagle.
Proud and strong and free.
Angered when provoked.
Flying over thee.
I am a fundamentalist Christian.
I worship during the Super Bowl.
Fighting for family values.
Praying for your soul.
I fight for your gun rights.
Buy an assault rifle if you wish.
It's your right as a citizen.
To hunt big game and fish.
I am closed minded and just fine.
With my choices that keep me blind.
About what the rest of the world thinks.
Because the strong should never apologize.
I listen to hate mongers each day and don't blink.
I hang on each and every word to get me through the week.
I want my old country back, that is so close to the brink.
I believe fully in troop surges to fix any leak.
I gathered at town halls to yell and scream and shout.
I was a sleeping giant who could not speak out.
Now I am an awake giant who can not think.
I am a true patriot waiting for the call.
I put social issues before it all.
If government doesn't line up with what my Bible teaches.
Then it must fail or fall or bust, it must.
If you are not a pro-lifer then you will be libel it preaches.
I am amassing weapons for the end times.
My 10 year old can clean and shoot a rifle in no time.
That knowledge is the best present you can give them.
Cause this world is headed for Armageddon.
I am an American.
(In honor of the paranoid minority who claim to be the majority.)


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In the far side of Xbox 360's booth we recently put in some hands-on time with Taito's World Airforce. The game combines near photorealistic visuals with high speed combat in the world's most deadly aircraft. Ace combat has taught us how much fun can be had in a fighter jet and it looks like this title might follow suit.
The mission we jumped into provided players with five minutes to intercept a number of bogies. The HUD includes all of the information one would expect from a flight simulator including altitude and fuel as well as some indicators showing the position of nearby enemies. Locking on to a target was as simple as placing them within range, waiting for a reticule to lock-on and firing off a missile. Of course the targets can fire back, so keeping track of your position is critical. Flying aimlessly will allow enemy craft to get around behind you and launch some of their own attacks. Our first experience with the game ended with such an experience, leaving nothing left of our jet but a cloud of smoke and falling debri.
Players have the option of a few cockpit views including one that is mostly just the heads up display and a seat inside the plane. It was difficult to keep our eye on the target while admiring the pretty visuals of our surroundings. The level starts as players shoot over the ocean towards a coastal metropolis. Almost everyone we witness playing immediately dropped their altitude to get a closer look at the sparkling water. It wasn't until we took a nose-dive into the city that we noticed some blurring of textures on the ground surrounding the buildings.
The navigation system issued warnings for improper flying methods like buzzing the tops of buildings and taking the jet straight up towards the sun. The controls were mapped to the left analogue stick and required players to bank the plane by pushing left or right and then accelerate into a turn.
World Airforce appears as though it will include realistic aircraft and arcade influenced combat. Keep your eyes on the sky for more information about this title.


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I haven't done this before, though I LOVE lists, so I'm surprised I haven't. Here's a list of books I am definitely going to read in 2015. A lot of these just showed up on 'Best of 2014' book lists (which I can't get enough of) but some of these are books that have been on my to-read list on Goodreads for a long time. I set a goal of 12 books this year, which seems really low compared to the enormous goal lists I'm seeing out there. I don't really care. I'm finishing my last semester of college. I have two kids. If I can read a book a month, I consider myself a smashing success. I may bust through this list with lightning speed, who knows. Anyhow, here it is:
1. The Art of Asking, Amanda Palmer – disclaimer ( I am already cheating. I got this book for Christmas but am only about 1/2 way through. I'm counting it for this year. It's pretty good.)
2. Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson
3. Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One with the Universe, Yumi Sakugawa
4. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, Anne Lamott
5.Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
6. Father of the Rain, Lily King
7. We Are Water, Wally Lamb
8. White Teeth, Zadie Smith
9. Yes Please, Amy Poehler
10. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry
11. Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls, David Sedaris
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
What an odd list, eh? If you know me you're probably like, "Where's all the horror and murder?" Truth be told, I've kind of lost my taste for it lately. I've been super into biographies and memoir. Novels. Less violence. Also, as you can see by my last entry, I have a renewed interest in reading the classics. True confession, I am woefully, woefully lacking in classical reading. Thanks to a set of 'Read The Classics Comic Books' my grandmother gave me when I was about 10, I at least have a pretty good idea of the major plot points of all the greatest hits. I have never read the Brontes, either one. No Dickens. No Tolstoy. Moby Dick? Nope. I know. I'm a horrible creature. Luckily I can get most of them for free on my Kindle. Well, that's the list. I have no idea what order I will read them in. Oh, well actually I take that back. I am currently reading The Art of Asking, and next will read Traveling Mercies because I just got it at the library. Other than THAT I have no idea what's next. Probably I'll work my way through depending on what's at the library – aka free.


text: Permanency and Stability in Out of Home Care We recently had the opportunity to submit to the Victorian Enquiry into the Implementation of the Children, Youth and Families Amendments (Permanent Care and Other Matters) ACT 2014 (Permanency Amendment Inquiry). In the submission, we highlighted our experience working with children placed in Out of Home Care in Victoria, as well as our strongly held belief that permanence promotes stability. Posted on Dec 05, 2016 Read more


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Is "license tool for device group" available only to E10A-USB emulator
Yes, it is. The license tool for device group is available for only one E10A-USB emulator. So if you want to install an additional device group on the several E10A-USB emulator, you need the license tool as many numbers as the E10A-USB emulator that you want to use the license tool for. A seal printed device group names on (such as "SH-4" and "H8S".) comes with a license tool for device group. Please put it on the backside of E10A-USB main unit as shown below when it is used. Moreover, when the emulator software bandled with E10A-USB emulator is installed, cross a box of the installed device group on the backside sticker of E10A-USB main unit.
In case that a device group crossed on the list and a sealed device group are different from which are actually installed on the E10A-USB emulator, the product may be not under warranty.


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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first SILive.com user to add photos or videos of Unlimited Painting By Danny
Unlimited Painting By Danny is located at Po Box 8620, Elizabeth, NJ. This business specializes in Painting Services.
Unlimited Painting by Danny can be found at Po Box 8620 . The following is offered: B2B Contractors. The entry is present with us since Sep 7, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 12, 2013. In Elizabeth there are 60 other B2B Contractors. An overview can be found here.


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Cal State Long Beach, UCSB differ on Israel divestment resolutions
The topic of Israel divestment and higher education returned, front and center, last week as students at two Southern California universities voted on the issue — with differing results.
The student government at Cal State University Long Beach on May 10 voted in favor of Israel divestment while students at the UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) voted against it a day later.
Associated Students Inc., an advocacy group at Cal State Long Beach, passed a resolution calling on the university to divest from companies that the resolution alleges perpetuate Israeli oppression against the Palestinians, citing such companies as Caterpillar, General Electric and Hewlett-Packard. The vote was 15-7, with one abstention.
"I was very disappointed with the passage of the bill," Jeffrey Blutinger, the Barbara and Ray Alpert Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and the director of the Jewish studies program at Cal State Long Beach, told the Journal. "While I'm not going to say [all] anti-Zionism is anti-Semitic, this one is."
The resolution is titled "Suggestions for Socially Responsible Investing: Companies Complicit in and Profiting from Palestinian Oppression." General Electric, according to a draft of the resolution, has provided supplies to the Israel Defense Forces "used in violent attacks on people living in Israel and Palestine."
The vote followed an April 26 statement by Cal State Long Beach President Jane Close Conoley expressing opposition to the resolution. She said she could not support it despite her reservations about the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians.
"A careful study of the BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] movement illustrates to me that this movement is opposed to the existence of the State of Israel," Conoley said.
Blutinger, faculty adviser at Beach Hillel, which serves Cal State Long Beach, said Conoley's opposition to the resolution garnered criticism from pro-divestment faculty members.
"I thought that was nonsense. The fact that she spoke out does not prevent them from speaking out, and the fact she is the president of the university does not mean she doesn't have the right to express herself," he said. "If she was supporting them, they would have been happy."
While the passage of the resolution at Cal State Long Beach is more symbolic than practical — it will not impact Cal State Long Beach investments — Beach Hillel Executive Director Rachel Kaplan said last week's events reinforced the unwelcoming environment facing pro-Israel students. "In terms of campus climate, we have a lot of work to do," Kaplan said.
Further north, the Associated Students of the University of California, Santa Barbara, the UCSB student senate, voted 16-0 with seven abstentions against an Israel divestment resolution, according to the Daily Nexus, the campus newspaper. The vote followed an all-night debate that concluded at 4 a.m. with more than 400 students and observers attending. Among them was Rabbi Evan Goodman, the Edgar M. Bronfman Executive Director at the Santa Barbara Hillel.
"Resolutions like this are symbolically attempting to destroy Israel, so I don't stand for it and our students don't stand for it," Goodman said in a phone interview on May 12.
This was the fourth time in five years that a resolution calling for divestment in Israel has come before the UCSB student senate. Goodman described last week's meeting as more agreeable than previous ones.
"It was a pretty civil discussion overall, and the comments made [on both sides of the debate] were by and large appropriate," he said.
Rose Ettleson, a sophomore and president-elect at Santa Barbara Hillel, said a familial atmosphere galvanized the pro-Israel side.
"On our side, it really felt almost like a family gathering. There were lots of rabbis from the local Chabad. And the local Jewish Awareness Movement, JAM, they brought food for everyone. Hillel staff brought food. People were studying. People were writing what they were going to say," she said. "Some people were sleeping in some moments."
The campus group Students for Justice in Palestine on April 23 proposed the UCSB resolution, titled "Divest From Companies that Profit From Human Rights Violations in Palestine/Israel."
The university "has the highest percentage of Jewish students in the UC system and probably the largest total number of undergraduate Jewish students," Goodman said.
In statements released May 11, pro-Israel organization StandWithUs, which works with college students to combat anti-Israel sentiment, hailed the UCSB vote while condemning the vote at Cal State Long Beach.
Tali Shaddaei, a fifth-year Cal State Long Beach student from Pico-Robertson, said the intention of the resolution's supporters at her school was to quiet pro-Israel advocacy on campus. But the 22-year-old founder of 49ers for Israel, a pro-Israel education club at Cal State Long Beach, said the passage of the resolution could have the opposite effect.
"My hope is it ignites a fire within the pro-Israel community to fight stronger and be more united in our efforts," she said.


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Open Thread: It Happened to You
This is your place to talk about the funny, sad, outrageous things that are happening in your life -- whenever you're ready.
An artistic representation of child!me and my father. He never actually had a goatee.
When I was seven years old and my sister was five, we came to what seemed to us to be a very logical and obvious decision -- for the rest of our lives she could belong to our mother and I could belong to our dad.
Now, this was long before the first whispers of their impending divorce, which didn't happen until I was in fifth grade. Nonetheless, I was older than my sister and manipulative, and I wanted to be certain that I got the best share of the familial love in our household. After all, my mother had this heinously evil tendency to not let us eat skittles and chocolate milk for supper, and she never brought us to carnivals. My dad was the obvious choice!
Time passed and my parents actually split, and I spent a lot of time trying to think of how I could move out of my mother's house to go live with my dad.
It wasn't really her fault. I only saw my dad for a couple of weeks each year, and he knew how to make every visit a nonstop party. When I was obsessed with Star Trek at 13, he rented every film for me, and never once complained about my tendency to go into monologues about how Janeway and Chakotay (Voyager ftw!) were meant to get married and be sooo in love forever.
When I decided at 14 that my new obsession was Cats: The Musical, he arranged tickets for me to see the show on Broadway. We sat in the cheap seats at the back of the theatre where he fell asleep, but I still thought it the most perfect night of my young life (except for the snoring).
At night, we'd go back to his filthy apartment in my grandma's basement, and he would drink and tell me about my family history, but only the bad parts. Mostly the parts about my mom.
He said he still loved her, but it seemed like what he loved most was to list off every "bad" thing she'd ever done. He'd follow that up by telling me about every bad thing that he'd ever done, just to be fair. I held no illusions as to my father's sobriety, but his brutal honesty about everything appealed very much to my teenage sensibilities.
The older I got, the less I saw of my dad. I never knew where he was and how to contact him, and nobody else did either. He'd show up, at first a couple of times a year, and then once every couple of years. I thought he was a hero just for coming.
I have two strong memories of my dad from when I was in college. During my sophomore year, my school clumsily threw together a production of the Rocky Horror Show. I had been in contact with my dad for several consecutive months at that point, and I was to play Eddie. We shared a common love of all things Rocky Horror so I invited him to come watch. He showed up with disheveled hair and a beaten-up wheelchair that he'd "found somewhere" and asked if we had a Doctor Scott. We didn't, and my dad was welcomed into the show. There are photos floating around Facebook of him onstage amongst a group of my underwear-clad friends.
The other memory isn't as nice. I was at a friend's party, and he called me after over a year of radio silence to say that he was in my city and wanted to hang out. I was having a great time, and wasn't about to leave it behind for him. My friends and I joked at the nerve of him trying to break up my plans after not talking to me for so long. I tried to call him the next day, but got no answer. I found out about a week later that he'd tried to kill himself by jumping off a bridge, but somebody had called the police.
I moved to China to work as an English teacher after graduating, and, to my dad's credit, he did make some attempts to stay in touch with me. He sent me a long letter from a homeless shelter where he was living (to save money for a trip to Jamaica, he said), but by the time my reply reached him, he'd already moved on.
He sent me another long letter one Christmas telling me about how he'd gotten his life together, and had taken in a homeless cat with two missing legs and nursed it back to health. He gave me a phone number and I called it. It was four AM where he was living, but he told me how happy he was to hear from me before the phone cut out. I was never able to reach him using that number again, and it was the only time I heard his voice during my time abroad.
In July of 2011, I was making plans for my first trip back to the States in three years. At this time, I started to get e-mails from my aunt telling me that my dad was not doing well. One day I was told that if he gave up drinking he might have two years to live, the next he was in rehab and then just a couple of weeks later the news was that he'd gone on a drinking binge and was in the hospital.
I started to make plans to visit him in the hospital, and the last thing I was told before getting on the plane to the USA was that I should come a week or two into my trip instead of right away, to help him make the transition into assisted living after his condition stabilized.
A 12-hour plane ride later, and I was told by my mother upon meeting her at the airport that I needed to get to a hospital in the far-off city of Seattle right away if I wanted to see my father before he died.
The next day was one of the strangest of my life. By the time I made it to the hospital, my grandma, two of my aunts and my dad's girlfriend were already waiting there. My dad was waiting, too. He was on his way out, but the doctors had been giving him blood to keep him alive for me. His skin had turned a sort of fluorescent yellow like Frankenstein's monster, and he was clad in a diaper that he was bleeding out into. He looked a thousand years older than when I'd last seen him.
He'd been awake the day before, and had a nice long conversation with hallucinatory versions of my mom, my sister, and me. Hallucinatory me had told him I loved him and that I forgave him for everything. I'm glad, because he never woke up to hear it from my own mouth. My father passed away less than 48 hours later.
This is the version of my father's life that I use to teach ESL lessons on how to introduce family members. More or less true of him in his glory days.
In a way, it could be said that his dying didn't change my life very much. I went from never seeing to never seeing him.
There will never be another surprise letter, though, and I'll never again find a phone number that will let me hear his voice. He'll never know that I'm living successfully half a world away from where we started, and he'll never know how much I wish he'd taken the two years of life offered him instead of drinking them away in a single night.


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Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (2012)
Gone Girl, David Fincher (2014)
It's at the top of everyone's reading list and with all the excitement of David Fincher's adaptation of it, how could it not be? Gone Girl piqued my interest because of the Fincher name. This man knows how to make a good film, from dramatic thriller, Se7en, to ingenious storytelling in The Social Network, Fincher gets it right pretty much every time he takes on a new project.
I figured I'd read the book first, that's usually how I like to go about adaptations that I'm interested in. So I picked up a copy of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, which I had seen in the hands of many bloggers and vloggers, and on the public transport around my city too. I was ready to get ready, ready to be delved into a the crime thriller this book promised to be... and it delivered. I'll say this, it didn't take long for me to be hooked in turning the next page and pushing my bedtime further and further away with the promise of new answers.
As I went through the book, and the two storylines unfolded, that of Nick in present day dealing with the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Amy, and Amy's diary entries of the past and how she and Nick got to the five year point in their marriage. The structure of the book is that of any crime thriller, elements are untold, we can never entirely rely on the narrator, and slowly important details are realised and we grasp on to those like little moments of truth throughout a book that just seems to keep lying to us. I was loving this book through each divulgence of new information. For me, it was building up to this amazing climax that I thought was going to blow my mind away. Obviously, I'm not going to reveal plot detail in this, because if you haven't read the book, I highly suggest you get your hands on it. Having said that though, the ending was not as effect as I hoped it would be. I don't know what more I could have asked for, their was resolution, I understand character actions, it all makes sense, relatively. It couldn't have ended any other way, not really, but I wanted more, I wanted more closure, perhaps. I've had some time to think about this book, I finished a few weeks ago, but I still don't know what it is I'm wanting, I just know it was somewhat disappoint of an end, for all the build up in the book itself.
The film on the other hand, gave me everything I wanted and then some. True, the endings are practically the same, but the small Fincher moments that he introduces to the original Flynn story work so perfectly that I couldn't ask for anything else. Fincher flawlessly blends the actual and the symbolic, following a similar sense of the cult favourite, Fight Club, and beautifully stylised violence flows through his style once again.
Let me leave you with this, if you haven't had a chance to either read, or see, Gone Girl, I highly suggest you get on it, and quickly! For this adaptation, I actually cannot recommend which to go for first, whether you read the book and then see the film, or see the film and then leisurely get through the book, you'll enjoy it either way.
Let me know if you've read through Gone Girl and what your experience with it was, and if you've seen the film, where you as thrilled as I was?
Stacey-Lea x


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according to jobs, the best solution to the current problem is to have music companies allow online stores to abolish digital rights management (drm) "entirely." the apple ceo goes on to say that doing so would allow every online music store to sell drm-free music in open licensable formats, meaning every music player, including the ipod, would be able to play any music from any online store.
jobs goes on to say that perhaps some of the frustration over apple's itunes/ipod business model expressed by many european companies should be redirected to some of the music companies in its own backyard. jobs is quick to point out that universal is a french owned company, emi is a british owned company, and sony bmg is 50% owned by a german company. jobs ends his open letter by saying apple would be open to drm-free music and would "embrace this wholeheartedly."
read more from the apple website.
thanks to blrg and vikingrinn for a heads-up.
brian's opinion
steve jobs is a smart guy. it's not enough for the guy to run the quite successful pixar studios, but the guy has turned apple into a quite successful and profitable company with the release of the ipod and itunes music store. now, the guy proves he can make quite an argument.
his arguments are extremely convincing. the crux of his argument is that people are mad at the wrong company. it's not apple's fault it must protect music purchased from the itunes music store; it's the music companies that require it. even better, the music companies that require this are in some of the same countries that have the loudest critics against the itunes and ipod relationship.
another great point jobs makes is that music companies sell their music unprotected everyday. all you have to do is buy a cd to purchase unprotected music. that unprotected music makes up 90% of the music sold by music companies. well-written rebuttal, jobs.
user comments 16 comment(s)
|well-written rebuttal (8:30am est thu feb 08 2007)
well-written rebuttal, but what i think the point he chose to omit is the fact that given the choice, i'm sure apple would want to continue tying itunes with the ipod and vice-versa. ya, they have to include drm anyway, but that is part of the reason why they've been monumentally successful. the ease of use with itunes forces people who use the software to use an ipod. and the simplicity and style of the ipod forces people who don't want to buy cds to purchase from itunes.
also, without this propriety, apple would be forced to lower their prices because there are other online vendors who offer music for 79 cents each.
well done deflecting the blame, but we know that in reality, you're not complaining, mr. jobs. – by chipt
|amen (8:32am est thu feb 08 2007)
finally, some sanity in this "security is everything" nightmare we've been living in for the last several years. i am only talking about technology here, not terrorism or anything political. – by seljo_myeri
|down with drm! (9:06am est thu feb 08 2007)
of my 10,000+ song collection not a single file is drm, and i intend to keep it that way. over the years i've spent a fortune on music and yet the riaa wants to treat me like a criminal for trying to fairly use what i've bought? they basically a customer to an enemy and a pirate. – by msp
|dont be manipulated (9:25am est thu feb 08 2007)
dvd john's blog puts it best when he says :
steve jobs has written an article titled �thoughts on music� in which he blames drm entirely on the labels. steve claims apple wants to sell drm-free music but the labels won�t let them. this of course flies in the face of reality. from an article in the nytimes last month:
among the artists who can be found at emusic are barenaked ladies, sarah mclachlan and avril lavigne, who are represented by nettwerk music group, based in vancouver, british columbia. all nettwerk releases are available at emusic without copy protection.
but when the same tracks are sold by the itunes music store, apple insists on attaching fairplay copy protection that limits their use to only one portable player, the ipod. terry mcbride, nettwerk�s chief executive, said that the artists initially required apple to use copy protection, but that this was no longer the case. at this point, he said, copy protection serves only apple�s interests .
josh bernoff, a principal analyst at forrester research, agreed, saying copy protection �just locks people into apple.� he said he had recently asked apple when the company would remove copy protection and was told, �we see no need to do so.�
apple�s statement is a detailed treatise on the subject, compared with what i received when i asked the company last week whether it would offer tracks without copy protection if the publisher did not insist on it: the apple spokesman took my query and never got back to me.
actions speak louder than words, steve.
in his article �thoughts on music� steve jobs argues that people are not really locked into the ipod.
through the end of 2006, customers purchased a total of 90 million ipods and 2 billion songs from the itunes store. on average, that�s 22 songs purchased from the itunes store for each ipod ever sold.
its hard to believe that just 3% of the music on the average ipod is enough to lock users into buying only ipods in the future. and since 97% of the music on the average ipod was not purchased from the itunes store, ipod users are clearly not locked into the itunes store to acquire their music.
many ipod owners have never bought anything from the itunes store. some have bought hundreds of songs. some have bought thousands. at the 2004 macworld expo, steve revealed that one customer had bought $29,500 worth of music.
if you�ve only bought 10 songs, the lock-in is obviously not very strong. however, if you�ve bought 100 songs ($99), 10 tv-shows ($19.90) and 5 movies ($49.95), you�ll think twice about upgrading to a non-apple portable player or set-top box. in effect, it�s the customers who would be the most valuable to an apple competitor that get locked in. the kind of customers who would spend $300 on a set-top box.
microsoft�s windows media drm 10 (marketing name playsforsure) has not had more security breaches than fairplay despite the fact that it has been licensed to dozens of companies.
|amen! (11:29am est thu feb 08 2007)
wow.. i'll give jobs one thing, he really knows how to play the spin doctor. which is one of the reasons i tend to stay away from all apple products. – by kland
|kill apple (12:22pm est thu feb 08 2007)
jobs wants all his apple products to be "controlled" to insure the highest profits for apple. it's been that way as long as i can remember. he's just using this latest anti-drm rant to get out of hot water in europe. jobs won't let any of his products be set "free" in the wild, without his heavy handed control. – by iturk
|re: flyg, kland, iturk (2:16pm est thu feb 08 2007)
who wanted to lock the songs onto only one computer and one digital music audio player? it was the universal, sony bmg, warner and emi. apple was the one to negotiate to loosen the drm restriction to play up to 5 computers and on an unlimited number of ipods.
remember apple offered the itunes to sony many years ago, but sony turned apple down. – by bugmenever
|learn your facts (2:58pm est thu feb 08 2007)
try not to conger up some random statements to prove your apple bashing point. doesn't it get old fighting over which os is better already, now you have to move it to the music part of apples buniness.
first off, apple was forced to use drm. get that through your thick heads. they were not aloud to get any of these contracts unless they implemented drm.
that is what all this is about, anything they said to defend drm in the past was in order to keep contracts. learn how to be a business man before you rant like a little girl.
you think its smart to put in drm in the biginning and tell people drm sucks. no you will never get business. but when you put drm in, and sell more music than any other store and you have a lock on the market and these record companies see this now and are making a sh#@ load. apple can come out and say what they want now. one things for certain, when your making a fortune on something, you will never, i mean never stop on your own.
these record companies are not going to want to take their business away from apple now. they would be back to square one with a bunch of record executives starting to be broke, people loosing jobs and not signing any bands to contracts. apple knows this and that is why apple came out with the drm statement. – by lordross
|chipt (3:19pm est fri feb 09 2007)
"also, without this propriety, apple would be forced to lower their prices because there are other online vendors who offer music for 79 cents each.
well done deflecting the blame, but we know that in reality, you're not complaining, mr. jobs. "
well done, in your lying. chipt. remember it was steve jobs that resisted the music vendors increasing the price of downloads
remember at that time, the music industry wanted to charge on a cell phone download. $2.50. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/column
|dont be manipulated by flyg (3:34pm est fri feb 09 2007)
you are not a very good fact checker are you, flyg.
check out opening page of emusic.
take a look at what josh bernoff, the same analyst over at forrester research, is saying now.
ryssdal: which is, actually, a perfect segue to this open letter to the music industry that apple ceo steve jobs wrote yesterday — all about lifting digital copyright protections. why is he in favor of this since he's been selling so much music on itunes and so many ipods?
moon: yeah, well, you know, kai, these comments from jobs probably sounded a bit familiar to you. back in december, you might remember that you spoke to josh bernoff, who's an analyst over at forrester research. and he was advancing this idea for the music industry to dump what's known as drm � or digital rights management. that's a fancy name for anticopying technology. the problem is that cd sales keep falling and you've got the market tied up by apple's itunes. there aren't enough stores pushing the product. here's the way bernoff explained it:
josh bernoff: i think there's very little risk in selling unprotected music. whereas the reward to the music industry would be to get themselves out from under apple's thumb, have more stores selling this, and potentially attract more consumers not as willing to buy music when they have to live within the restrictions digital rights protections include.
ryssdal: alright, so that's what's in it for the music industry. but i go back to the earlier point. what's in it for steve jobs? he's got basically the world on a plate here with itunes and the ipod.
moon: yeah, that's a good question. probably the most compelling reason right now is that apple and its ipod and the itunes seem to have the critical mass to make this a good move. when you think about it, if consumers can buy music that will play on other players, besides the ipod, perhaps there's growth in that. there's a lot of debate today, really, about what motivated these comments from jobs.
i guess steve jobs letter must be working because emi is thinking about releasing their music unprotected.
|lol (8:47am est sat feb 10 2007)
they may get rid of drm but i'm positivr that jobs won't allow itunes songs to be played on any player. that would be too close to conforming to a general standard. – by kland
|kland, the usual anti-ipod liar (8:33pm est sat feb 10 2007)
"they may get rid of drm but i'm positivr that jobs won't allow itunes songs to be played on any player."
pretty dumb opinion coming from the usual anti-ipod/apple liar. that dumb opinion does not hold up to the facts.
here is how to get songs off the ipod.
how to get songs off your ipod w/ itunes
|kland, the usual anti-ipod liar (8:56pm est sat feb 10 2007)
"they may get rid of drm but i'm positivr that jobs won't allow itunes songs to be played on any player."
pretty dumb opinion coming from the usual anti-ipod/apple liar. but that is what i expect from kland and his usual band of anti-ipod/apple liars.
on itunes, i can even burn a mix cds from the mp3s and bought songs from the itunes store. oh i guess kland is doing his anti-ipod spin doctoring that isn't based on fact. – by bugmenever
|@ bugmenever (3:43pm est mon feb 12 2007)
if i've bough a song that's been infected with drm why should i have to go through the pain of burning a cd and re-ripping (with loss of quality at every step)
i don't care if it was the studios or jobs who forced the drm infection, but jobs didn't do much to use their weight in the industry to fight it (after all it does lock most people into their platform)
i'm glad you love the ipod and apple but please recognise that, no matter what jobs stands up and says (and even bill gates has been suggesting jos is economical with the truth recently) apple are still part of the problem – by offbeatmammal
|re: offbeatmammal (6:07pm est mon feb 12 2007)
"i don't care if it was the studios or jobs who forced the drm infection, but jobs didn't do much to use their weight in the industry to fight it"
if you don't care, why post your comments. to repeat, steve jobs letter must be working because emi is thinking about releasing their music unprotected.
obvious offbeatmammal does not recognize the fact that the music companies would make their music available to the itunes store only if apple agreed to protect it using drm. they can still withdraw their catalogues if the drm system is compromised. funny that you missed that you miss that.
selling digital music without copy-protection makes sense
– by bugmenever
|re: offbeatmammal (6:27pm est mon feb 12 2007)
where did you get the bill gate statement from? from your butt cheeks?
did you hear that microsoft's zune does not even support music bought from microsoft music store such as urge? obviously offbeatmammal is too busy spouting out anti ipod hate rhetoric instead of the facts.


text:
Live 8's Mountain of Bread to Fight World Hunger
We're on a festival roll, so why stop now? After commenting on the Live 8 and the Roskilde Festival litter problems, here's a very sad and ironic photograph that was brought to our attention by Treehugger reader Arseny in the comments of "UK Live 8 Location Buried in Trash". It's a mountain of bread (one of many such food piles?) that apparently went to waste. At a festival that is supposed to be about poverty and, yes, lack of food in Africa, this is a bit too much. I understand that logistics for such a festival are tough, but they could at least have given the food away at the end.


text:
See the business listing for this bass builder here
This week's bass guitar of the week is a 26-fret beauty with nice grain lines throughout.
Builder Marek Witkowski writes:
Scale: 889mm (35″) construction: neck thru body: Wenge top, Korina bottom neck: maple, strengthened with two carbon rods fingerboard: white ebony, black&white ebony radius: compound: 12″-16″ frets: 26, jumbo pickups: 5-string Dual Coil Parallel Wind set controls: Nordstrand 3B-5b, 2x 3-pos. mini switch bridge: Hipshot 5x single string bass bridge accessories: Hipshot Ultralight Tuners HB6C finish: black transparent, mat
Well done, Marek!
Want YOUR bass to be featured for Bass of the Week?
Submit yours now using our easy web form


text:
ABC Automobile is a key player in the automotive industry of Mauritius. With ABC Motors, a company listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius through the DEM (Development Enterprise Market), as flagship, the Automobile cluster earned a leadership position in key market segments.
Today, ABC Automobile has over 700 employees and its wide range portfolio features brands of world repute like Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Fiat and Nissan, which has been the leading brand in Mauritius over many years.
The cluster markets second-hand vehicles through Ginza Motors, and also assembles luxury coaches and imports UD trucks through ABC Coach Works.
ABC Automobile also imports high quality European & Korean tyres through TyreXpert, and offers a one-stop-shop vehicle maintenance service through QuikFix Service Centre.


text:
Making Clients for Life...
Having bought and sold several homes myself, I know how important it is to have an agent you can rely on. We pledge to provide our clients with a high level of service, integrity, and professionalism. Customer service is our top priority. I have built a team of professionals to assist our clients in every aspect of buying and selling.
I have over 22 years of sales experience, including 9 years in the pharmaceutical industry. I am a graduate of Sam Houston State University with a degree in Finance.
My husband and I reside in the Cy-Fair area, Copper Lakes Subdivision. We have 4 children.
My interests include: spending time with my family, traveling, reading, water sports, snow skiing and golf.
Member of the National, Texas, and Houston Assoiciation of Realtors.
Member of the Council of Residential Specialists
Member of the Real Estate Buyer's Agent Council
Member of the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing
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Broker Associate
Graduate REALTOR Institute, GRI
Accredited Real Estate Professional, A-Rep
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2014 Ranked in the Top 2% Nationwide among Better Homes and Gardens Agents
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2012- International Presidents Elite Winner
2012- Top Producer Coldwell Banker Cy-Fair
2011 International Presidents Circle Award
2010 International Diamond Society Award
Multi Million Dollar Producer
Using HAR.com App you can scan this QR Code and instantly connect with me, Jill Smith.


text:
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Police on Friday released a sketch of the man who raped a 14-year-old girl on her way to school, and asked the public`s help in identifying him.
The girl was raped at about 8:10 a.m. on May 19 near a stretch of the Florida East Coast railroad tracks in the 1700 block of North Dixie Highway, police said.
The rapist is described as a white man in his late 20s. He is about 5 feet 6 inches tall, 165 pounds with brown hair, brown eyes and dirty blond hair, police said. He also was unshaven.
Anyone with information is urged to call Detectives Ralph Parente or Sandy Memrick at 761-5552 or 761-5700.


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Melancholia Trailer: Kirsten Dunst Is Getting Married, As Long As the World Doesn't End
Lars Von Trier's latest looks fantastic.
When Melancholia cracked Vulture's 100 Things to Look Forward To in 2011, we wrote, "See if Kirsten Dunst makes it to the end of Lars Von Trier's latest, a 'psychological disaster movie,' with her clitoris intact!" Which was a funny reference to Von Trier's genitalia-mashing Antichrist — but also creepily prescient. Turns out the "disaster movie" part of the Melancholia description was more literal than one would ever have guessed with Von Trier: That means, thanks to a secret planet that had been hiding behind the sun (?) and is now colliding with Earth, everything — including, yes, Kirsten Dunst's clitoris — will presumably, by the end of the movie, not be intact. Before that happens, Dunst will possibly marry Alexander Skarsgård, quibble with her sister Charlotte Gainsbourg, get naked in a field, and shoot electricity out of her fingers. Are you confused yet? So are we! Anyway, this looks fantastic.


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To enhance the quality of life where we live, work, and play, the City of Fircrest provides its citizens with efficient, courteous, professional services
Fircrest has been a non-charter code city operating under a Council-Manager form of government since 1990.
The City Manager, appointed by the Council, carries out Council policies and administers the day-to-day operations of the City. Council is the policy-making body of the City. The seven members serve staggered four-year terms of office.
Duties of the Council include enacting legislation, establishing basic policy for the City, and adopting the annual budget. The Council also confirms appointments to commissions.
The Mayor is chosen biennially by Councilmembers at the first meeting of the new Council and is the Presiding Officer at meetings. The Mayor continues to have all rights, privileges and immunities of a Councilmember. In case of absence or temporary disability, the Mayor Pro Tempore acts as the Presiding Officer.
The City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, at 7:00 PM and holds a study session the third Monday of each month at 6:00 PM at the City Hall, 115 Ramsdell Street. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.


text:
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text: We speak one language. Reduced to the essentials. Open to the entire world. With an expressive power that is captivating. Personality with corners and edges. With forms that touch the emotions and yet can hardly be grasped. Setting the stage for individuality in life. And harmoniously melting inspiration and the source of life.


text: The Addictive Desert Design Off-road Stealth Fighter Side Steps/Rock Sliders are designed with function in mind. Beefy enough to provide protection in the most extreme conditions, yet many flexible lighting options to fit all of your rock lights. Manufactured from laser cut 3/16" plate and gusseted along the entire body, these are the toughest sliders on the market. No cutting or welding required for installation. These Steps come with mounts for Rigid Industries 6" SR, A-Series and KC Cyclone LED Lights. Up to 3 - 6" SRs and 3 - A-Series or Cyclones can be added per side! Shown on a 4-door model for illustrative purposes only.


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Nearly 26 years have passed since the last Brewers postseason. Many people, including a handful of the team roster, have never experienced the MLB playoffs in Milwaukee in their lifetime, so The Brewers have planned a major rally this evening to bridge the generational gap and to celebrate in the token Milwaukee festival style. The Brewers Postseason Rally will be held at the Summerfest Grounds from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Miller Lite Oasis, and promises a batting cage, clowns, fireworks, Bernie Brewer and the Famous Racing Sausages and live music from the Austin-based Red Dirt rockers Reckless Kelly. Let's just hope that this isn't the last Milwaukee Brewers festival of the year…
The Brewers Postseason Rally
Today @ the Summerfest grounds - 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.


text:
Cornelius Vanderbilt, who is also widely remembered by his nickname as the Commodore because of his early successes in the marine/ship trade, is the first of the great railroad tycoons. Vanderbilt is perhaps the best definition of the term entrepreneur, as he built a massive fortune on sheer determination, will, and belief (doing so with little education). However, due to his ruthless business nature, to an extent early railroad executives like Vanderbilt built the public perception that railroad barons were heartless profiteers caring for little more than expanding their own portfolios (and it was true that Vanderbilt loved to make money). Interestingly, while the Commodore is forever remembered by the railroad empire he created this career did not begin for him until very late in life, as for years he had worked in the steamboat business. Today, much of the New York Central System which he created remains an important transportation artery.
Cornelius Vanderbilt was born in 1794 to a rather poor family who lived at Port Richmond on New York's Staten Island. Perhaps most interesting, in comparison to his amazing success as a businessman later on life was the fact that he only had formal schooling through the age of 11. At that point he quit school and began helping his father who worked in the boating trade where Vanderbilt first learned about the business he would make a career for more than 50 years. At the age of 16 Vanderbilt began his own ferry service between Staten Island and New York City, with the help of a $100 loan from his mother. Understanding that offering cheap, affordable prices in the service industry could gain a lot of customers Vanderbilt's little ferry operation earned quite a tidy sum, as he quickly repaid his mother the loan along with an additional $1,000! Two years later during the War of 1812 Vanderbilt was able to secure a government contract to move supplies to military forts based in New York.
The "Commodore's" New York Central System
Daniel Drew, Speculator With Ties To The Erie Railroad
Jay Gould, Successful Businessman And Well-Known Tycoon
Jim Fisk, Speculator Involved In The "Erie War"
This enabled Vanderbilt to truly enter the maritime industry as he now had enough funds to build a few of his own ships, in particular schooners. It was at this time that he earned the title of Commodore due to the fact that he operated the largest schooner on the Hudson River. Around the age of 24 he left the ferry business and began working for Thomas Gibbons in the steamboat trade. Through virtually everything Vanderbilt attempted he was quite successful and the steamboat business was no different. In 1829 he went out on his own operating a service between New York City and Peekskill.
As usual he looked to cut rates as low as possible, often putting his competitors out of business or winning in court when they claimed he held an unfair competitive advantage (such as in the Supreme Court case of Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston in 1824, Gibbons vs. Ogden). He was worth a half-million dollars by 1834 and during the rush for gold in California in 1849 Vanderbilt made even more money in the steamboat business by offering a trip that traveled through Nicaragua, saved hundreds of miles, and cost far less. He later briefly tapped into the transatlantic steamship market but this venture was rather unsuccessful and gave up the idea around the start of the Civil War.
Around this same time Vanderbilt's legacy in the railroad industry began in 1863, near the age of 70, when he took control of the New York & Harlem Railroad in 1863, much to the chagrin of Daniel Drew. By the time Vanderbilt took over the railroad it operated between New York City and Chatham Four Corners (what is now Chatham). Overall the NY&H was a rather rundown operation although it did provide service directly to downtown Manhattan, a point not lost on the Commodore. A year later he took control of the Hudson River Railroad in 1864, which operated parallel to the NY&H between Albany and New York City.
Vanderbilt, of course, had already established himself as a no-nonsense businessman who could be ruthless in getting what he wanted. He oversaw significant growth of the NY&H and laid its future foundations as a world-class carrier. He immediately changed the railroad's name to the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad when he merged the original New York Central Railroad with the Hudson River Railroad. Later including the New York & Harlem as well, the NYC&HR held a commanding presence in New York City and after gaining control of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern it reached Chicago on a northern route that was virtually flat (late known as the Water Level Route), in comparison to PRR's main line through the Alleghenies. The NYC&HR would go on to become the legendary New York Central System.
The NYC&HR was again renamed as the New York Central Railroad when it merged with the LS&MS in 1914. Throughout the early 20th century the New York Central System continued to expand reaching Boston; Pittsburgh, PA; Wheeling, WV; the coalfields of southern West Virginia via the Toledo & Ohio Central; Columbus, OH; Cincinnati, Cleveland, and St. Louis via the Big Four Route (the Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad), Columbus, OH; Detroit (and virtually the rest of Michigan via the Michigan Central); and even Montreal, Quebec and Ontario, Canada. Through the years the railroad gained control of notable railroads to reach these markets including the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie, Indiana Harbor Belt, and the aforementioned Big Four.
In 1867 he sparked the "Erie War" with Jim (James) Fisk, Jay Gould, and Daniel Drew when he attempted to gain control of the Erie Railroad to include with his NYC&HR system. This would be the only time Gould ever bested Vanderbilt. During this time the Erie Railroad was one of the most successful systems in the country and what essentially started as an argument between the two turned into a battle of wills as Vanderbilt attempted to corner Erie's stock. In response, Gould and his associates attempted to artificially inflate the Erie's stock value (also known as "watered stock"), which is fraud and against the law. However, Gould only defeated Vanderbilt by bribing the New York state legislature, which allowed the stock to be legalized.
Over the years Cornelius Vanderbilt had entered disputes with
many in the business world such as Drew, Fisk, and others. However,
nearly all of these associates he became friends with later on in life,
except Gould who often tried to smear Vanderbilt in the public after the
Erie incident. The Commodore passed away
January of 1877 at the age of 82 amassing a fortune of nearly $100
million, which would be worth more than $143 billion in today's dollars
making him one of the richest Americans in history. In his will
Vanderbilt left $95 million of his fortune directly to his son William
with his eight daughters receiving between $250,000 and $500,000 each.
Unlike James Hill and a number of the other famed railroad tycoons
Vanderbilt was not much of a philanthropist, endowing only $1 million of
his fortune to the greater good, which went to the Central University
in Nashville, Tennessee that became Vanderbilt University.


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October 9, 2011
July 12, 2011
ShemaleClub: hot pics of Vaniity, post-op Danielle Foxxx and Elexa!
It's been a good while that I didn't blog about ShemaleClub and it's really a shame because over the years it's becoming one the best and biggest shemale porn site (actually I'd say the 2nd best and biggest after ShemaleYum!)
ShemaleClub is especially neat because it really features all kind of action: hardcore, domination, solo, threesome and orgies; but also all kind of models: asians, blacks, caucasians & latinas. This site is a great way to never get bored of shemale porn!
Anyway here are some teasers (don't forget to visit their tour for more of those) of their most recent scenes: First a scene where the (in)famous Vaniity is abusing Danielle Foxxx's mouth and pussy…
February 24, 2010
Ana Mancini amazing hour-glass figure and yummy shecock!
October 10, 2009
Some Hot Pictures From Wendy Williams
Tired of Barbie(tm)-doll looking shemales? Well, then you'll love Wendy Williams. She doesn't have that artificial bimbo look that most trannies have nowadays and genuinely look like the "Shemale Next Door" that you could meet while walking back home or shopping at W*lmart…
But don't worry, she very much have the same tool that all trannies have and she just loves to use it. Actually many trannies are 'bottoms' in "real life" and only 'top' when escorting and shooting a porn scene; however Wendy Williams is a real life top and it really show in the scene where she gets to plow her partners little hole
Anyway, don't take my words for it and watch the following sample pics (more on Wendy's preview were pics from all her previous updates are available).
September 29, 2009
At least! More pictures of Tara Emory and her amazing fetish outfits!
Ok, who among you have never heard about Tara Emory yet?
I'm sure most of you already heard about her and visited her site, but in the unlikely case you never heard of Tara, let me tease you with a first picture:
Do I have your attention now? I certainly hope so!
Tara Emory is absolutely unique because she's designing her outfits herself and as you can see, she's a great clothe designer; also the location of the shoot always matches the theme of her outfit which is why I think her content is simply the best solo shemale porn out there.
Don't believe me? Ok, her pictures and videos are so stunning that making a long article would be useless, so just watch this!Â
You don't have enough yet? We'll since you're asking, yes Tara made some hardcore scenes, but few compared to the big number of solo scenes her site contains… But that doesn't mean I can't show you some hardcore samples of one of Tara Emory's hardcore scene of course!
I Know You Want To See More So Click Here To Visit Tara Emory's Amazing Site!
January 9, 2009
TS Jesse Flores: Angel or Demon?
What kind of girl do you prefer? Angels? or Demons?
As it happens TS Jesse Flores seems to be extremely versatile because among the most recent photoshoots she released on her website she appeared as both a very cute unsuspecting girl and then as a horny demon!
I know most of us have a definite preference for shemales to be either tops or bottoms, but I gotta admit I often forget about the guys who love very versatile shemales… Those who love as much extremely "girly" shemales in lace as dominant shemales in leather…
Well, if you love both sides of transsexuality, then you'll love Jesse's site! Its about as versatile as she is… In some sets she poses like a very innocent schoolgirl, and in some other sets she just fucks the brains out of a lucky dude
But let me illustrate this post by posting some samples from 2 of her recent updates; enjoy!
TS Jesse Angel
TS Jesse Devil
Click here to visit Jesse Flores' site!
October 31, 2008
Holly Sweet getting taken care of at Shemale-Club!
I'm not talking about shemale-club often as it's a "generic" shemale site, but still I have to admit that over time this site has built one of the biggest and most diversified archive of shemale content! No matter whether you prefer asian ladyboys, black shemales, white shemales, dominant shemales, threesomes, etc…
In particular, it's not easy to find good content featuring Holly Sweet, but Shemale-Club is one of the very few sites that have over 10 videos and picture sets of this blond and hung busty beauty! Many of them only feature softcore or solo action, but there are a few hardcore gems, like the scene below
Holly Sweet isn't only the bustiest and one of the sexiest shemale I know, but she also have that special way to grab the guys' heads when they're sucking her dick that makes me melt… Now if only I could be her sex slave one day…
July 16, 2008
Ladyboy Mint now have her own personal site!
Today is a great day for all hung shemale lovers: The (in)famous Mint worked hard to shoot content to make her own website and it opened a few days ago.
I don't have much pics from her site yet, but I'll most definately post more soon. The other good news is that while the only hardcore scene she made so far involved her fucking a post-op ladyboy, on her site there's at least one hardcore scene with a guy.
Ok, here are some sample pics… I still can't believe the size of her cock…
 Click here to visit LongMint.com and download her video trailers!
July 11, 2008
A pair of dominant shemales taking care of their male slave
Apparently, the most common fantasy among males is to fuck 2 females at once. What do you think is the most common fantasy of shemale fans? Fucking 2 shemales at once… yes, that's a quite common fantasy indeed. But many shemale fans love dominant shemales… Does this make the most common fantasy among the readers of my blogs to be dominated by a couple of horny and dominant shemales (ab)using of they male slave as a live-fleshlight?
Well, it might well be and I'll innovate a bit here by linking to external galleries I've found on this topic. I must warn you in advance: there are very few sites featuring scenes with guys being submitted by a couple of dominant shemales, so the only good galleries I could find are all from ShemaleRevenge. This site have been around for some time now and they have a more than decent archive of "guys dominated by shemales"-scenes…
You're not into pictures much and prefer the movie clips? Ok, here are the teasers from the same scenes, but in video… Enjoy!
May 28, 2008
Jessica Host in sexy PVC outfit dominating a guy
It's been some time since my last post about TSSeduction, so he's a picture selection from their lastest update. For about a year now they've been updating every tuesday so they now have a very good scene archive!
Below are some pictures from the last update featuring Jessica Host. This amazing hard-bodied shemale gave that poor dude the fucking of his life… Again this scene is only for those of us who prefer the chicks to be "in charge", but I'm sure it has lots of potential to convert those who only want shemales to bottom!
Ok, time for the pictures… Enjoy