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Escape to the Movies: Spring Breakers
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Always beware the dreaded Poe's Law.
Wow! Thanks. I was already having doubts about labeling it as an art film. Much appreciated.
Fun fact: The New York Times gave this film a perfect rating.
This movie sounds flat out depressing, like The Laramie Project except not based on a true story. I may watch it once, but any more than that and whatever message it's trying to get across would be lost.
Funny enough this is exactly what I expected. After hearing nothing about the plot I just googled the director. Seeing he was one of those artsy types, The actresses talking about how they want to be taken more seriously, and James franco being in it and having a pretty good track record on choosing projects (I didn't even know there was hate for him until Bob kept saying it) just gave me this feeling it was a surprise gem.
Is that me or bob spent five minute telling us it was great, but never actually explain why its great?
Oh God. Even that (mostly) secondary exposure to Trash Humpers makes me want to NEVER see a Korine film.
What is the obsessino with Spring break? theo whole culture of spring break is some sort of abomination that should not even exist. and now they make mvoies gloryfying it....
Seriuosly, bob, you have a lot of knowledge, btu when it comes to comedies you just cant be trusted.
There is nothing that could possibly make me want to avoid watching or attending a movie or event more than the promise that it is going to be "important" or "defining" for my generation.
On a more personal note, although I never much identified with this "Generation Y" I am apparantly a part of, I really don't think I need some patronizing Gen Xer like Korine to explain to me what is right and wrong with me and my peers. Especially since said Gen Xer was also the writer of the cringeinducingly chummy-yet-condescending "Kids", a movie which missed the point of the subculture it was trying to depict so spectacularly that it is almost on par with 50s PSAs in it's moralizing datedness.
I suspect, that if there ever emerges a movie that can be generally considered a "defining film" of the Generation Y (and there probably will be, since there has been at least one for every generation of the last 60 years), it will probably be written and directed by members of that geneneration.
Yeah, Stoker came out at my art house/local theater down the road from me. I'll go see that. I have a feeling I'm not the right mind set for something like this.
If I had an opinion on this movie (before even watching it) as strong as some of the people on this thread (be it positive or negative), I would definitely go see it.
Art is meant to be provocative/evocative.
I mean I think Picasso's Guernica is an awful pile of wank but it does upset me a little (Provocative) thus I would (begrudgingly) have to label it as art.
Monet's water lilies actually made me cry when I first looked at them IRL they were so beautiful.
Also Art.
However I haven't seen it either so what the fuck do I know?
But the simple fact it is drawing such attention to itself I am finding interesting.
I heard a lot of creepy rumors about this.
Ah, generation Y. The generation I supposedly should be a part of. But refuse to be tainted by any form of it's substance (aside from the cartoons because well, they rock mostly) as far as it goes, this film is coming out 10 years too late. Why Korine decided to bring this to the table I will never know. But I won't care either.
How can one make a film that should supposedly have any depth and complexity when it's about a character (Franco) who thinks he is the illegitimate son of Marshall Bruce Mathers the III. Like many kids in those days were. Norman Mailer would crank one out if he would see James Franco's character.
But the candy wrapped just-out-of-high-school girls like Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashly Benson are a big stay-the-fuck-away hanging sign over it. No Bob, you are suffering (again) from the Sucker Punch syndrome. Looking for substance where there is not. I am looking forward to your 3 part explanation in the Big Picture where you still think it's a good film and people still will say no against it. And for those who think this film goes right over the head over everyone: then you are right. Even the top critics at RT don't get it. *coughs*
It's funny because according to the director himself, there is no deeper meaning to this movie. The guy just shot a movie.
"I never wanted to know why I did anything," Korine says. "I have no desire for any type of introspection at all. I don't ever ask myself any questions. I don't want answers."
I'm gonna see it since I read somewhere that its kinda like Hotline Miami in some way. The choice of soundtrack and the visuals make that comparison seem valid.
Interesting, might actually give it a look see.
I also find it funny how many people are dismissing the movie without even seeing it because of their own hang ups about dubstep and anybody that has the audacity to enjoy partying and drinking, THE HORROR. Everyone should be into MLP and being alone.
Anyways, thanks Bob.
I was quite ambivalent of the movie and cosidered watching some time, but after that, I just wanna kick korine in the balls
Which might very well mean that everyone loves it, for vastly varying reasons. Those mythical "generation Y" kids love it for exactly what they perceive it is: a movie about barely-legals on spring break, while the slightly older audience likes it for its social commentary.
That right there, is filmmaking genius.
Doesn't mean though I'll be watching it anytime soon. Maybe later, probably never.
I honestly can't tell if this is a joke review or not.
I have a feeling that Bob is reading too much into this movie, seeing substance where there is none as he did in the Sucker Punch review. I definitely won't be seeing it at the cinema, but I might pick it up later. Also, the fact that there are ponies in it came as a bit of a surprise, but now that I think about it, it makes sense. Its presence has become too large to ignore.
For some reason, this movie reminds me of the awful 2001 movie "Sugar and Spice".
He did thought, liked because it's trash but unapologetic about being trash even tough fully conscious of it and because the characters are dumb enough to truly believe the "MTV american dream".
I think this reasons are terribly dull, but seeing how involved Bob is with pop american culture (and has a weakness of sorts for kitsch aesthetics) I can see how it would be attractive to him.
Okay bob, first thing's first. How high were you when you saw Spring Breakers? I'm pretty sure you're looking way too deep into it. Now, I haven't seen it so, it just might actually be the masterpiece you're proclaiming it to be... That being said, I'm calling bullshit.
EDIT: Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to still laughing my ass off that Spain tied Finland 1-1 in the WC Qualifiers even though those bastards had 82% possession, 19 corners, and 29 shots. It's made only richer by the fact that Finland only had 1 shot on target, and it turned into a goal.
I saw Trash Humpers on the big screen at a film festival, was just video of people screwing around in fake old people masks for the entire movie. The idea of it and clips were better to watch than the movie.
I have also seen the movie Kids that he wrote which was OK I guess.
Ken Park was banned in Australia.
Some of the promotion for Spring Breakers has been the fake viral photo of the girls in bikinis getting arrested.
thank for explaning, I guess I didn't catch the explanation cause for me as well that'sactually a reason to stay away
I think it's a sort of acquired taste, like how I grew to like moldy super strong cheeses, or how people get a taste for that bitter stuff called beer. I can say for example that a manga called "Even a monkey can draw manga" is one of my favorites for the meta humor and manga references, without that is a very poor work.
And Redtails. Though at least this time, this movie is also picking up decents scores from others reviews too, 61 on Metacritics, which isnt terrible.
Also Satan isnt in the Old Testament, Bob.
Okay, something amazing has happened:
This movie, the trailer and previews sickened me. I can watch stuff like A Siberian Film, Saw, ridiculous movies which have simply horrible or retarded ideas. But seeing a preview of teen girls being slutty and gang wars and drugs and shit, I actually feel ill.
Maybe I'm jaded, but I don't find under-dressed teenage girls appealing. Especially if it's a commentary of teenagers of this generation. If I want to see stuff like this, I can go to Youtube or even the news. Normally I'm not bothered by anything. But seeing girls just being...teenagers mixed in with sex and drugs and gangs is just gross to me. The mindless orgies and stuff is just...eh...it just seems like such a pointless film to me. It can agree with my stance, sure...but I won't be watching it.
Seeing the mentioned Disney actresses like this makes me feel dirty... Am I alone in this?
Hey Bob, Listen to your stuff, think it's great, and was wondering if you've ever thought about reviewing TV shows. Just a thought. Stuff like House of Cards, Walking Dead, or any show your interested in reviewing. Of course, watching a single movie versus an entire season may be the reason why it might be more difficult to review, but its just a thought.
Its even more disturbing when you realize a lot of those people are supposed to be college students.
The future generations idolize this shit?
Damn kids these days!
A pretentious, vague existential statement buried beneath gelatinous yards of skanky teens, dubstep, unconvincing gunfights and aging spring break movie stereotypes? Yep, that about defines this generation.
Him, it appears you are rapidlley aging into an old man. now don't panic! this symptom is affecting alot of people online, quickly turning bright, nice young college students, into old crotchety grandpas who hate everything now.
here is a transcript from one of our patients in our ward:
Yeah....so much like others on the comments...I cant tell if Moviebob is just blowing it out his ass or this is a good movie...all honesty...I wouldnt see it...
And the whole ponies....Are your views down?
I was all on board with this, right up until the pony mention.
Even if this film was fine-tailored to be the greatest cinematic experience that the cosmos itself manifested as a gift to all mankind, I would still go to great lengths to avoid this for that simple fact.
Am I a prude?
Fuck you.
No, you're not alone. The entire idea just feels "icky" to me, like people are fantasizing about underage girls but pretending it's all OK because they're legal now. Yes, technically it's OK, but if your only reference point for these girls are from Disney shows, what does that say about you? :P
Every review I've read, even the positive ones, indicate that this film is a glorification of debauchery shot like a pornographic film while trying to convey a greater social message. Take that for what you will.
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By Larry Fine
(Reuters) - On the four-year anniversary of a nationally televised special called "The Decision" where LeBron James announced he would sign with the Miami Heat, the NBA world was in a holding pattern for the free agent's next decision.
James is expected to meet with Heat president Pat Riley about re-signing with Miami, while widespread reports say the league's four-time most valuable player feels a tantalizing tug to return home to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
When James declared in 2010 that he was going to "take my talents to South Beach" and leave behind the Cavaliers after seven seasons to form a Big Three with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, an instant contender was born.
After four successive trips to the NBA Finals and a pair of National Basketball Association titles, James is once again a free agent, thus putting the balance of power in the world's top professional basketball league at play again.
The complicated puzzle of NBA free agency could set off a domino effect across the league once teams are able to sign players starting on Thursday.
Reports that free agent Bosh was offered a massive four-year $88 million deal to join the Houston Rockets and their tandem of Dwight Howard and James Harden further stoked the imagination.
High-scoring forward Carmelo Anthony was told he could get a maximum deal from the Los Angeles Lakers worth some $95 million for four years, though the New York Knicks, where he has played since early 2011, under NBA rules could give him $129 million for five seasons.
The Chicago Bulls, a threat to contend in the NBA's Eastern Conference, are also in the hunt for Anthony, but have less money to offer given their salary cap situation.
Bosh, believed to prefer to remain in Miami if James re-signs, is being asked to take a pay cut by the Heat in order to keep the Big Three together.
Should Bosh leave for Houston, however, the door could be open for the Heat to find enough money in the budget to lure Anthony to Miami, where he would get a longed-for chance to partner up with James.
The Heat may well remain an NBA force after this suspenseful free agency period, but if James leaves for Cleveland that could lead to Bosh joining Houston and put an emphatic end to Miami's magnificent run.
Meanwhile, fans in Cleveland who felt jilted after their bitter divorce from James four years ago were dreaming of a heartwarming homecoming for the Akron, Ohio, native.
With a promising core of young players that includes premier point guard Kyrie Irving and last month's first overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins, James can contemplate leading the Cavs on a quest to end the state's 50-year professional sports title drought.
Not since 1964 when the Cleveland Browns and famed running back Jim Brown won the National Football League crown, has a team from Cleveland claimed a major North American sports title.
The Cleveland Indians last won Major League Baseball's World Series in 1948 and the Cavaliers have never won an NBA title in 44 years of existence, reaching the Finals once when James and the Cavs were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in 2007.
(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

subset: commoncrawl


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Habitat for Humanity of Sangamon County is a community-driven nonprofit organization that develops working partnerships with local businesses, churches, community organizations and other individuals to build simple, decent and affordable housing for all people in need.
Kick off the year by volunteering with the H4H Club at UIS. The is first build day of the year is August 31. Morning and afternoon shifts are available (... and yes you can sign up for both shifts) Register at: https://habitatsangamon.volunteerconnect.com/uishabitatclub/full
If being a member of H4H@UIS interests you, don't miss the information session on August 29th in the LRH Great room from 7-8 pm. You will learn about what Habitat is and what it does. There will also be free pizza and soda, and dont for get to stop by the H4H table at the UIS Invovlement Expo.


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SSIS Dimension Merge SCD v1.6 – Duplicate Rows OuputOctober 18th, 2011 | Posted by in Integration Services
Recently, a couple of people I'm working with came across a strange issue using the new version of the Dimension Merge SCD component. During the first load all rows would be output as new records (as you'd expect), but when running the same load again all rows would be output as both unchanged and new (not as you'd expect!). The behavior seemed very strange, only a couple of packages exhibited the issue.
Initially I had little joy trying to replicate the issues with Adventure Works, but found the source of the problem after chatting to Bhavik Merchant about it. The problem arose due to two main reasons…
- Effective and expiry dates were being managed externally of the Dimension Merge SCD component.
- The default for the last records expiry date in the Dimension Merge SCD is the SQL Server datetime maximum value, while the warehouse was using 2199-12-31.
So, in the initial load the records where being inserted with an expiry date of 2199-12-31 which from the Dimension Merge SCD components point of view means the records aren't current until the end of time. For the second load the Dimension Merge SCD would assign an expiry date of 9999-12-31 to the same source records, making them more recent than those inserted in the first load. So the second load would result in all the records being output again with the different active to date. Since the effective and expiry dates were then managed externally this resulted in two identical records being inserted into the destination table.
The "fix" was simple. Either change the default for the last records expiry date in the data warehouse to 9999-12-31, or set the last records expiry date in the Dimension Merge SCD to the same value being used in the data warehouse. The screenshot below shows where to change this value in the component.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback.


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
With Independence Day right around the corner, it's important to keep safety a top priority during the upcoming holiday celebrations. The Firemen's Association of the State of New York reminds residents that fireworks are illegal to own or use by anyone other than licensed professionals in New York state. FASNY also urges families to learn more about the harm that fireworks can cause to people and property.
"Leave the fireworks to the professionals and attend a locally sponsored display in your neighborhood," said FASNY President Jim Burns. "Attending public fireworks displays is the safest way to celebrate the Fourth of July."
According to the National Fire Protection Association, thousands of people are injured while using consumer fireworks every July 4. The risk of fireworks injury is two-and-a-half times as high for children ages 10-14 as for the general population.
Even sparklers can be dangerous. The tip of a sparkler burns at a temperature of more than 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit - hot enough to cause third-degree burns.
Always make sure to follow these safety tips:
•Obey and respect any and all public safety barriers set up around the site of a professional fireworks show.
•Stay away from the firing site. Often, the best view of a professional display is from a quarter of a mile or more away.
•Leave your pets at home - the loud noise can scare animals and damage their hearing.
•Do not pick up or attempt to re-light used fireworks - they may still be active and cause serious burns or injury.


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The Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed forward Alex Killorn, a homegrown prospect and key member of the team's recent youth movement, general manager Steve Yzerman announced Thursday.
Killorn, 24, signed for two years and $5.1 million.
In his first full NHL season, Killorn had 17 goals and 41 points last season as one of three Lightning players to appear in all 82 regular-season games. In his NHL playoff debut, Killorn scored a goal and had an assist in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against Montreal.
A third-round pick by the Lightning in the 2007 draft, Killorn (6-foot-1, 200 pounds) has 24 career goals and 60 points. He has played 120 NHL games, all with Tampa Bay the past two seasons.


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If you've been using Twitter, you've likely checked out an app or two to make your Twitter experience more robust, or even just a bit easier. TweetDeck, Twitpic and Tweetie are all examples of Twitter apps.
What if I told you there was a magical place that could easily be your one-stop shop for all your Twitter needs? Yes, this place really does exist. It's called OneForty.com, the Twitter equivalent of the Apple App Store.
Twitter Still Rocks for Businesses
Before I jump in to tell you about all the benefits of OneForty, I want to point out that in recent months two reports have surfaced that show Twitter being the #1 choice of all social sites for professionals.


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In his mug shot, Joseph Liebl's eyes are swollen shut, the injuries just hours old, his sockets turning deep purple. His nose is cut, his face is scuffed red. His bottom lip is swollen.
In his mug shot, Joseph Liebl's eyes are swollen shut, the injuries just hours old, his sockets turning deep purple. His nose is cut, his face is scuffed red. His bottom lip is swollen.
Pasco deputies did this to him Feb. 17 and said they were justified in doing so. Liebl, 35, had "super human" strength from narcotics, they said, and it took three deputies to handcuff him. They said he fought, reached for a knife, threatened to murder them and spit blood in a deputy's face — then declared he is positive for Hepatitis C.
"It can turn quickly from trying to handcuff an individual to fighting for your life," said Pasco Sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin.
As he tried to spit again, a report states, a deputy punched him in the face, even though Liebl was already handcuffed.
• • •
It started about 5 p.m. Feb. 17 at 3133 Dole St., a canary yellow home in Holiday where deputies responded to a domestic battery call. Because of prior experience with people at that address, additional deputies arrived: Brian Spiegel, 40, Matthew Abare, 25, and Samuel Perez, 55. Earlier that day, Spiegel had been there to help one of the adults in the house return to get some clothing. He said Liebl was "irate" and appeared to be drunk and on drugs. Spiegel had to tell Liebl several times to calm down, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office report states.
And now they were back at the house.
Deputies found Kaley Price, Liebl's 25-year-old girlfriend, who was bruised and bleeding and too scared of her boyfriend to tell deputies what happened, authorities said.
"He will hurt me again," she said, according to the report.
As Liebl was taken outside and told he was under arrest, he bolted, deputies said.
Spiegel grabbed the back of Liebl's shirt as Liebl toppled a motor scooter in the deputy's path, the report states. Spiegel and Liebl both fell onto the concrete driveway, with Liebl's face taking the blow, the Sheriff's Office said. The impact was so severe that it broke Spiegel's right ring finger in two places and tore a tendon.
Spiegel said in the report that when the two were on the ground, Liebl "tried to climb on top of me" but he was able to knock him on his back. Deputies Perez and Abare helped try to restrain Liebl, whom they said had an "unusual" amount of strength. To get Liebl to stop resisting, Spiegel said he hit him twice in the face "as it was the only location to strike him, in an attempt to get him to stop his physical and violent resistance," the report states.
A knife fell out of Liebl's pocket and the deputies said Liebl tried to reach for it, while saying, "I am going to kill you, mother f------."
Spiegel punched him in the face again "which stopped him reaching for the knife," he wrote. Spiegel was able to toss the knife out of reach and the three deputies got Liebl handcuffed.
Spiegel said he noticed Liebl's face was bleeding and asked Abare to call for paramedics. Spiegel continued to restrain Liebl by holding him with his knees and his hands. Liebl said he couldn't breathe, so Spiegel rolled him partly on his side.
"Joseph immediately and purposely spit his blood onto my face," Spiegel wrote. "He then exclaimed he was Hepatitis C positive. It was clear to me he was attempting to spread a communicable disease."
As Liebl spit again, Spiegel "redirected his face by striking him with my right hand in the face." The spit missed Spiegel a second time.
"That final strike to Joseph's person had positive results," Spiegel wrote, "because Joseph stopped resisting and stated, 'Please let me breathe. I am done.' "
• • •
Liebl, with a history of drug and traffic offenses dating to 1996, told authorities he had been drinking alcohol and taking PCP. While being treated at the scene, he "kept stating he was punched in the face while handcuffed, you can not do that," the report says.
Liebl is charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, battery on a law enforcement officer, two counts of resisting arrest with violence and domestic battery. He's being held at the Pasco jail in lieu of $65,500 bail. He declined an interview request by the Times.
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office also declined the Times' request to interview Spiegel about the incident.
Spiegel, who has been with the agency since 2009, has no prior disciplinary problems, according to agency records. Tobin said Spiegel has been on medical leave since the incident.
A use of force investigation is underway, as is protocol any time a deputy uses force in a situation, Tobin said. The agency's policy on use of force states that it is to be used when necessary — and that type of force has a wide range, fists, pepper spray, baton, Taser, gun.
"In this particular case (Spiegel) chose to use the physical use of force," Tobin said.
After Liebl was restrained, his girlfriend thanked deputies profusely. She said this wasn't the first time he beat her, the report states.
"Now he knows what it feels like," she told deputies.
Times researcher Natalie Watson contributed to this report. Erin Sullivan can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or (727) 869-6229.


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Around Town
Get started with Cappex to compare the The University of Montana Western weather with your hometown!Create an account now!
Not a whole lot to do in town but butte is only an hour away with tons of things to do.Read More
There are not to many fun things to do around Dillon, unless you are into the country. If you are looking for fun things to do around campus you. The groups put on activities many times during the week.Read More
You can go hiking, to the rodeo, many outdoor activites.Read More
I have kids, so fun activities revolve around them.Read More
Go to sporting events. Join Clubs. Hunt and fish.Read More
There are many things to do at UMW, the fair grounds are host to many rodeos, fairs, and concerts. The Met offers a more bar/ night club setting for those of you old enough to drink! Also our neighboring cities of Butte, Bannack, and Virginia City also offer a more metropolitan (in the case of Butte), and historical environment to visit. There is also a Hotsprings very near by that you can relax and enjoy!Read More
Dillon is a great little townRead More
having fun is basically up to you and your ability to create fun. dillon is a very small town that doesn't offer many services or activities for college-aged students, so most of the fun comes from spending time with friends and coming up with your own ways to pass the time.Read More
the metlen is a hotel/bar that everyone attends every weekend and wednesday there is swing dancing, and pool tables, but everyone just goes to dance.Read More


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Message Board
Tracie Peterson and James Scott Bell Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Bell has written!
Author Bell's Book Reviews
Angel of Mercy
Kathleen Shannon, better known as Kit, reluctantly agrees to represent police officer Edward Hanratty who is being charged with murder. She's a lawyer in a day and age when not many women were lawyers and she's a criminal lawyer to boot. Kit and her faithful friend, Corazon, investigate the murder of Jay Chausser. The most frustrating part is that the DA or someone had purposefully warned all the witnesses or potential witnesses away. No one will ...


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NEW YORK (AP) — Superstorm Sandy convinced me that I should do something new: raise money toward hurricane relief. If it weren't for the ease of nudging my friends and family to contribute by way of social media and online fundraising tools, I'm not sure I would have done it. I do know that I wouldn't have been as successful.
I have regularly donated in the past, particularly when people I know are raising money for cancer research, youth programs and other charities in connection with a marathon, a triathlon or some other big event. But I've never raised money myself. I didn't want to feel as if I had to run because I was trying to raise money, or that I had to raise money to guarantee a spot in a sold-out running event. I wanted to keep the two completely separate.
The storm that devastated my city and lots more up and down the East Coast changed my thinking.
The Sunday after Sandy made landfall two weeks ago, I was supposed to run my 50th marathon in New York, 10 years to the weekend since I had run my first marathon, also in New York. It would have been a celebratory affair. Then Sandy came along, and after days of intense debate, the marathon was abruptly canceled. I channeled my energies instead toward raising money for relief.
Of the several sites I could have used to organize my fundraising campaign, I chose Crowdrise because I could link my efforts with a broader campaign by the marathon's organizers to turn the event into a Race to Recover. These and other sites make it easy to choose a charity to support and send appeals to friends and family. The sites handle the credit card transactions and tax receipts, and they forward the money to the charities, after taking out processing fees.
After signing up for a free Crowdrise account, it became clear it wasn't just a fundraising site, but a social network for raising money. When you join a cause, you are grouped into a team with others. Those teams are grouped into larger campaigns — in my case, the New York Road Runners' efforts to raise hurricane-relief money for a dozen local and national charities.
The money I raised was added to the team totals, so I could see the cumulative impact of our individual efforts. Some campaigns let you see their totals, too. A few thousand dollars might be a drop in the bucket, but the millions collectively raised by people like me made a bigger difference. I could browse the site to see what strangers supporting my cause were doing. I could also see what other causes they were raising money for, whether related to Sandy relief or not.
If you're thinking of getting involved, for Sandy relief, cancer research or any other cause, here are some tips. Many of these steps also apply if you're using other fundraising sites, such as FirstGiving and Razoo.
To get started, I simply visited the New York Road Runners' Crowdrise page for Sandy relief. I could make a donation without signing up if that was all I wanted to do. I simply had to pick which of the dozen charities should get my funds and provide credit card information.
Because I wanted to raise money myself, I created an account and browsed through the listed charities. Some were devoted to restoring parks after the storm. Others were targeted at feeding people or rescuing animals. A few were broad relief organizations, such as the American Red Cross. I chose a local group that would disperse funds to where the needs are, The Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City.
The process is similar for other groups and events. United Airlines and the Equinox gym, for instance, are running similar campaigns for Sandy relief. You can create your own fundraising campaign as part of a 30th birthday celebration or a bike trip across the country — people you know would try to raise money for your selected cause, not your bike trip! There's even one connected to a college football game next weekend between archrivals USC and UCLA (in that case, for cancer research).
If I weren't already part of an event, I could have simply clicked "I'm a Fundraiser" to search for a cause and raise money as an individual. Crowdrise already has a list of more than 1 million recognized charities, using a database from GuideStar, a research organization specializing in nonprofits. It won't let me create and raise money for a Buy Me a New iPad charity. For that, I'd need Kickstarter, Indiegogo and others that emphasize fundraising for personal projects.
You're given a fundraising Web page, where you can describe the need and make your plea in your own words. Too lazy? Simply keep what's already there. You can also add photos — such as those showing the devastation left in Sandy's path.
Crowdrise has a bunch of tools for sending out appeals using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or plain old email. I ended up posting my own links on Facebook because Crowdrise's 420-character limit conflicted with my tendency to ramble. For Twitter posts, Crowdrise's tool would shorten it further to comply with Twitter's 140-character limit. Those limits do not apply to email, but a test message through Crowdrise's system ended up in Hotmail's junk folder. No, thanks.
I encouraged my friends and family to spread the word, even if they weren't able to give themselves. Many contributions came in that way, as people reposted links on Facebook or got in touch with others through email. I reconnected with a college classmate in the process and saw contributions from a friend's dad and from someone who used to babysit me as a toddler.
As my direct appeals (read: spamming) faded, I simply added a link to the bottom of my outgoing emails. It's there as a reminder, but also out of the way.
Donations trickled in following my various appeals. Crowdrise sent me a notification each time and recommended "dropping everything you're doing so you can send a personal thank you."
From your account, you simply hit a "Send Thank You" link next to each donor's name. There's a "Thank All Donors" list, too, if you're lazy. I preferred the personal touch. In some cases, I sent thanks through email or Facebook instead, though Crowdrise won't mark those people on your list as already thanked. (FirstGiving and Razoo send automated thank-you notices, though you may personalize those automated messages.)
I initially set a goal of raising $1,285, or $26.22 for each of the 49 marathons I had run (26.22 is the number of miles in a marathon to two decimal points). An orange bar on my fundraising page showed how close I was to the goal. I hit that in four days and increased the goal to $2,622. I returned to the site now and then to check on my progress.
Once I hit that initial goal, I started responding to other appeals on Crowdrise. I gave to one friend's campaign for the American Red Cross and to another for a Brooklyn group that was trying to recover from the storm in time to serve Thanksgiving meals to the needy.
As I mentioned before, Crowdrise is more than a one-time transaction. It gave me the option of posting a notice about my donation to my Facebook profile, so that friends seeing it might give, too. Receipts I'd need for tax deductions are easily accessible from my account.
And on each fundraising page, including mine, is a huge button inviting donors to raise money for that cause, too.
Crowdrise tries to put the "fun" in fundraising. Getting people to part with their money isn't easy, particularly for ongoing needs that aren't revolved around a crisis continually in the news. Two weeks after the storm, many people have moved on. Contributions are slowing.
But Crowdrise does make it easier. I know that I'm more likely to give — and give more — when I'm supporting a friend's direct appeal. I love seeing that orange goal bar move closer to the 100 percent mark. I can only imagine that it's influencing others in a similar way.
The catch is that Crowdrise charges a fee on each transaction, at least 5 percent of the donation amount. Other fundraising sites do so as well, and when you're giving directly to a charity, there are similar amounts taken out for credit card processing and other costs. Crowdrise gives donors the option of paying a separate processing fee — but doing so does nothing to increase the amount going to that particular charity. Rather, the for-profit startup says it keeps the money so that it can reduce fees overall.
That said, I'm reaching out to people who normally might not have given, either because they weren't thinking about it or didn't know whom to give to. Others might have given more knowing that I'm supporting the cause. So those extra donations more than cover the transaction fees.
Anick Jesdanun, deputy technology editor for The Associated Press, can be reached at njesdanun(at)ap.org.
Crowdrise: http://crowdrise.com
FirstGiving: http://firstgiving.com
Razoo: http://razoo.com
NYRR Sandy relief: http://crowdrise.com/nyrrsandyrelief
American Red Cross donation page: http://www.redcross.org/charitable-donations
Mayor's Fund donation page: https://www.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/donate/donate.shtml


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Somers Town, Shane Meadows' latest film was released on Friday. Despite being a Eurostar-sponsored affair the film has received good reviews and stars Meadows' protegé Thomas Turgoose. This is a great excuse to whip out some images from Turgoose's first film appearance in 'This Is England'. Rolled up jeans, white socks, braces and loafers make up a trademark Rudeboy look and are all key trends for this Autumn. Have a look at some stunning stills from the film and take note.
Click on image to start gallery[Everett Collection/Rex Features]


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Words: John Cavan, Rome film director and team manager
"15 minutes"……There were a lot of bets rolling around the van as to just how long Lazz would last once Marius arrived before he got his ass kicked by the Norwegian Hellstorm. I had figured about three hours would be the breaking point, I think Rob had chosen about five to six. The French Canadians had said he'd make it till the next day in Revelstoke, and I believe our BC rep Derek said something like "Oh don't worry he'll be fine, they'll get along great." Well, we were all wrong because it took Marius a grand total of 15 minutes of sitting on the van before he jumped over a seat and kicked Lazz's ass. They seem to be getting along fine now so perhaps Marius was just asserting his dominance over the young lad, but either way it was funny, and the Hyena (what we've taken to calling Lazz) has been a little more mellow with Marius around.
I'm getting ahead of myself, though. We awoke early on Day 3 in Vancouver, packed the van, and set out on the five hour drive to Kamloops, BC. After about a half an hour, the entire team was asleep in the van and I was left to pilot the hurling beast through the rolling hills and sketchy mountain passes of the Canadian Highway. We arrived in Kamloops and hooked up with Coach and Tye from the local shop Oronge. They showed us some cool street spots, we assessed the snow and drop in situations, built some run-ins and landings, left them good to go for the following day, and then made the 45-minute drive up to Sun Peak, a local resort that was hosting us for the night.
Sun Peaks was rad. We may not have had a chance to ride the resort, but we more than made up for it by riding with the locals at a backyard party. A local shred house heard we may be coming and planned a big party in their backyard for us. They built a super fun snake run, had a cool box set up, built a big bonfire, were hurling fireworks around the place like it was the 4th of July, had about a billion beers, and invited what seemed like the entire local shred scene. Will, Yan, Justin, and Lazz rode with all of the crew. Everyone sessioned all of the obstacles together and had a blast, but the crowd favorite and workhorse award by far went to Max who rode the place until the very end. Even when the party was in full mode, he was the only person riding by himself and was trying to teach himself a new trick—something that a bunch of the kids were super stoked to see. One thing that was pretty cool that we kept hearing about was that another team had advertised they were coming a couple weeks back, and when they arrived it was only regional ams, so the locals were a little skeptical to say the least when they heard we were coming. So when Max, Yan, Will and the guys showed up at the party, everyone was super stoked to see the team. The fireworks and bonfire were a real added bonus. I mean, who doesn't like fire? And Lazz made several new friends there, including two twins.
"The Bell"—After the party, everyone spilled into the local bar, where a rowdy group of mountain locals, shredders, and loose tourists were on a tear. One of the funniest things I've seen go down in a bar transpired there, I hope I do the story justice, so here goes. At this locals' spot they have a bell hanging from the ceiling and basically they have a house rule that if anyone hits the bell they have to buy a round for waiting for a drink (basically anyone touching the bar). It's a locals' game designed to weed the tourists out and drink off them for the night. One of the kids from the party had told me about it, and Max and I were determined to catch Yan with it. We lined him up later in the night and as we were talking about it, all the locals in earshot ran to the bar to be there when Yan hit the bell. Well, Yan either didn't understand us or just didn't care and walked away, but Lazz who had managed to sneak his way in looked right at the bartender and tapped the bell. Instantly the place went insane—people were screaming, patting him on the back, and he had no idea what he had just done. The poor kid turned white as a ghost when he realized he had to pay for probably 60 shots. Meanwhile Max, Will, Derek, and myself slipped the bartender the money and told him to be unmerciful on Lazz, so in front of the entire bar the bartender berated Lazz about needing to pay for the drinks and he wasn't getting out of the bar alive until he made good. It was all time. Finally we told him the bill was paid, and the whole place went crazy again laughing. Lazz was the most popular person in that place, hands down…..especially with those twins.
The next morning we played Van Jenga with packing the beast, and then said our good-byes to Sun Peaks and headed to a down ledge with a big drop we had set up the day before. It was good to get a good session going on a big feature, and Will and Lazz walked away with some really cool stuff. I have to admit not to sound like a nerd or anything but it was pretty epic to get to shoot a street feature with Rob Mathis, someone whose photos have inspired me for years (in case you don't know he's a long time photographer who has shot photos for movies like "The Resistance" and "True Life"). Needless to say we are so stoked to have him along on this trip.
Just as we were finishing up shooting the ledge, Marius got dropped off by a cab straight off an around-the-world flight that had him snowboarding in Iran. We loaded up and headed to Revelstoke, crammed in the van listening to Marius' stories of Iran. It was interesting to hear how nice he says the people were there, how good the snowboarding was, and how the US perception of Iran may not be entirely true. Definitely food for thought. The guys also crowded around a computer and watched "Mind Field" the new Alien Workshop video for like the tenth time.
Check back in a day or so for the next update as we return to our home away from home from last season; Revelstoke. We're looking forward to seeing our friend Karl from Society, hanging at the Regent, seeing our friends at "Stokers", although we hear it has a new name now. And we look forward to hanging with all of the other friends who are with crews that have posted up in Revy this year.


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The governor general is commander-in-chief of Canada. This role has been expressly conferred on the governor general as per the Letters Patent Constituting the Office of Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada (1947). As such, the governor general plays a major role in recognizing the importance of Canada's military at home and abroad.
As commander-in-chief, the governor general performs many duties:
Upon appointment, the commander-in-chief receives the Canadian Forces decoration and becomes a colonel of the Governor General's Foot Guards, the Governor General's Horse Guards and the Canadian Grenadier Guards, as well as chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit.


text: Well , I'm going to be away for the rest of the month and won't be able to answer any more posts 'till after the first week of July . I'll post any other stories and such on the regular board , but thanks for having me around 'cos it's been a lot of fun !!!! Peace Shipley


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Arsenio Hall returns to latenight TV tonight after almost two decades away. And, after all that time, he will still be one of only two African-American show hosts occupying that culturally influential space on a nightly basis.
The other, comedian W. Kamau Bell, host of "Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell," launched last week in a Sunday-through-Thursday 11 p.m. time slot on the brand-new cable channel FXX.
The diversity that Hall brings to the time period — simply with his presence in a syndicated show airing in 85 percent of the country — would be reason enough for rooting him on.
But I have also long felt that Hall didn't get anywhere near the credit he deserved for opening up late night to younger viewers and some new voices on his show that ran from 1989 to 1994. Everybody knows about "Sesame Street" and the road it helped pave to a multicultural America. Well, "The Arsenio Hall Show" did that too in its own smaller way.
Hall's show, which was produced by Paramount in Los Angeles, helped change the culture in large part with music presented as entertainment. But the music he delivered was often packed with cultural and political messages, like the appearance by presidential candidate Bill Clinton wearing sunglasses and playing a saxophone to Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1992.
But that's only the most famous and widely remembered moment. There were lots of other ones with performers and producers such as Bobby Brown, Prince, Lil' Bow Wow and Robin Thicke.
"Music was complicated for that show," Hall said during an interview in a conference room at WBFF (Channel 45), the Sinclair station in Baltimore airing the new version of "The Arsenio Hall Show" weeknights at 11:35.
"It was complicated, because when you first come into the situation [as a new host], they tell you what the demographics say about music," he explained. "And what they say is that it doesn't hold numbers [viewers] as well as talk."
Because of that, Hall said the brass at Paramount told him to put musical guests on only at the very end of a show just before you say good night — when tune-out wouldn't hurt the ratings as much.
But Hall says he wasn't buying it, and so, he started pushing back his first week on the air.
"I said, 'You know what? I got young college students who can stay up late on Friday, so let's start there.' I was betting on having an audience that behaved a little different than the traditional late-night one. And, by the way, it wasn't only a black-white audience thing, because don't forget I broke Trisha Yearwood and Billy Ray Cyrus."
His first Friday on the air, Hall decided to showcase Bobby Brown.
"I said, 'He has two new singles, and I want to break them both tonight. I want to be greedy,'" the 57-year-old Kent State graduate recalled.
"So, he had this new song, 'Don't Be Cruel,' which I had gone to the studio and listened to, and it was on fire. And he had a song called 'My Prerogative.' And I put one at the beginning of the show and one at the end, and Lucy Salhany, who was running Paramount, was like, 'We're gonna die. We're gonna die. You're doing two R&B songs on a Friday night. And we're dead.'"
But Salhany was wrong.
"We did music our way, and the numbers held really well," Hall said. "In fact, on that first Friday, we kept Bobby Brown and the band vamping through the first commercial, so that when we came back he was still on. And I found out I had an a different audience, a younger one that would put up with more music and was open to new performers and voices."
One very young member of that audience was Robin Thicke, son of actor and talk-show host Alan Thicke with whom Hall had worked before getting his own show.
"Robin was this little kid who came to the show the first time with his parents," Hall said. "But when he got me alone he asked, 'Mr. Hall, can I come back sometimes when you have singers here?'"
Hall said he asked the child, "Like who? Who do you like, son?"
"And this little kid in this little baseball cap, says, 'Oh, I like, um, Gerald Levert and I like Johnny Gill,' Hall said, mimicking the tiny boy's voice. "And this little white child is throwing out the names of all these black R&B singers."
Pausing for a moment and smiling at the memory, Hall said "Today, brothers call Robin the 'white Marvin Gaye.' And to know that little kid came to my show to watch these R&B guys. But even then, he knew who he wanted to be artistically."
That hybrid of black and white culture and identity was at play with the appearance by Clinton on Hall's show as well, a moment that most analysts believe changed presidential campaigning profoundly. Clinton took a great risk, but he gained a great reward symbolized by the iconic photo of Hall pointing sideways to the saxophone-playing candidate in a gesture of cultural affirmation.
"I love that he chose me," Hall says of Clinton coming on his show. "But my biggest element of respect for him was the fact that they were ahead of the curve."
Hall compared the experience of getting Clinton to come on his show to "a guy asking a girl out and you're expecting a no, but you get a yes."
"That's what it was like for me with Clinton," he said. "And you're so pleasantly surprised, you start asking for more and more. 'Will he wear my glasses? Will he wear my tie?' I'm sure you know he had on my tie that night, right?"
Clinton playing sax was not part of the original invitation, according to Hall.
"Once he said yes, then we started wondering what we should do in the segment. Well, we know he plays sax, so we asked for that. And he says yes," Hall recalled.
"Some things only happened when he got there," Hall continued. "We said, 'You know what would be funny is if you had on sunglasses.' And so, we gave him a tie and sunglasses. And I think the secret is they didn't have time to think about it for weeks."
As for the music Clinton chose to play: "We knew it was about a rusty sax player deciding what he was going to attack," Hall explained diplomatically.
"I have a picture of Bill Clinton and he's on the balcony of the hotel we put him in the night before. He's on the balcony playing his sax, and you can see the ocean out beyond. It's one of my favorites. He practiced hard to get this done."
By the time Hall's show ended in 1994, I was troubled by the way many of the TV critics, who were mainly white, male baby boomers like myself, worshiped David Letterman and often seemed to ignore what was happening with pop culture on Hall's show.
"I kind of understood it, because I'm the same age as you and a certain generation of journalists, and I grew up on Dave," Hall said when I asked him about it at WBFF.
"As a kid staying in a dorm, I was watching Dave. So, it was easy to understand. And you can't expect people to all of sudden be different than what they are — or what I am myself. It was generational … and it's not going to change overnight."
It would be nice to think 20 years later, there might be a lasting place in late night for what Hall brings to the time period.
On TV
"The Arsenio Hall Show" will air at 11:35 on weeknights on WBFF (Channel 45). First week guests include: Angela Bassett, Ice Cube, Chris Tucker, Mark Harmon, Lisa Kudrow and "Magic" Johnson. The musical lineup features: Mac Miller, Earth, Wind & Fire, Emblem3 and Nas.


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Man charged with killing UKC registered coon dogs
LEFLORE COUNTY, Okla. —
According to the Leflore County Sheriff's Department, a local man has been arrested and faces animal cruelty charges after they say he shot and killed three "coon dogs."
Undersheriff Kendall Morgan says the United Kennel Club was hosting a raccoon hunt near Monroe, Okla. Morgan says three dogs wandered onto Douglas Frerich's property. Morgan says Frerich shot and killed the three "coon dogs" valued at approximately $50,000.
Morgan says the dogs had GPS tracking collars and name plates. He said the dogs weren't any threat to Frerich, his property or livestock.
Frerich is being charged with three felony counts of Cruelty to Animals, and his bond was set at $15,000.


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday eased restrictions on exports to opposition-held areas in Syria to help rebuild shattered infrastructure in a move U.S. officials said will help facilitate oil sales from rebel-controlled areas.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry signed a limited waiver of the Syria Accountability Act, allowing companies to apply for export license for such things as software, technology, water purification, food and agricultural equipment, and construction materials to opposition-held areas.
A senior U.S. official said the decision was aimed at enabling the opposition to work with companies and international organizations to rebuild areas, including damaged energy infrastructure such as oil pipelines and power lines.
"These items are intended to help address the critical needs of the Syrian people and facilitate reconstruction in liberated areas," the State Department said in a statement.
The U.S. Commerce Department will immediately begin accepting license applications for the export of items covered by the waiver, the statement added.
A senior U.S. official declined to speculate how much oil could be exported from Syria. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has estimated that average oil production in Syria from 2008 to 2010 was stable at about 400,000 barrels a day. But output fell to about 153,000 bpd in October 2012, a nearly 60 percent decline from March 2011.
Most of Syria's existing oil fields are located in the east near the border with Iraq or in the center of the country, east of the city of Homs. Reports indicate that special security units are deployed at many of the country's oil fields and facilities to protect them from sabotage, the EIA said.
A senior U.S. official said Wednesday's decision had no effect on the provision of arms to rebels.
The Obama administration is meeting this week to discuss whether to arm the rebels ahead of a summit of G8 leaders hosted by Britain next week.
The summit is expected to discuss the arming of rebels by the United States, France and Britain, while also pushing for a peace conference to bring the warring sides together.
Backed by Hezbollah and Iran, President Bashar al-Assad has been gaining the upper hand in the two-year conflict, which has seen at least 80,000 people killed and sent hundreds of thousands of refugees into neighboring Turkey and Jordan.
Kerry met with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in Washington on Wednesday ahead of the G8 summit. Hague said Britain, the United States, allies in Europe and the region - a group known as the London 11 - may need to step up their efforts to help the opposition.
(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Sandra Maler)


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Widely considered one of the most versatile and thrilling Freeskiers on the planet, Richard Permin has decided to join the Atomic family. Atomic is incredibly excited about the addition and will work closely with Richard to support his tremendous progression.
We are stoked to see Richard making the move. I am guessing he is going to destroy his film segment this season on a pair of 2013 Atomic Automatic Skis. For now check out this little video from the 2011 season.
Richard has been hard at work over the past couple of years solidifying his place at the top of the freeski world. From inner-city big airs and double corks to forty foot double-stagers and huge floaty threes, Richard can do it all with power and style. His high-performance versatility, infectious smile and boundless energy have quickly helped Richard become a powerhouse with Matchstick Productions. Look for a huge segment from him this year as MSP celebrates their 20th anniversary.
A rider like Richard Permin would be a huge asset for any freeski team and Chris McKearin, International Freeski Sports Marketing Manager for ATOMIC is beyond stoked about the addition: "We are very happy that Richie decided to join our team. His unmatched energy and passion for
skiing flawlessly aligns the ATOMIC family and we cannot wait to see where his skiing will go." About the partnership, Richard had this to say: "It is a dream come true to belong to this team. Some of the best riders in the world belong to the ATOMIC family and I am really happy to team up with them and continue to push the sport."
This year Richard Permin's calendar will be packed full of trips and filming projects. He will be jetting across the globe searching for ideal shredding conditions with his new set up in tow: the new and improved ATOMIC Bent Chetler, the ATOMIC Burner 130 Boot and the FFG Team 16 Binding. The busy schedule does not bother Richie, he relishes in it: "I've already had a chance to get used to my new equipment and I couldn't be more stoked on how it performs. This winter has already been incredible and if it continues like this it could be the best winter of my life. I couldn't imagine a better time for me to change to ATOMIC!" Welcome to the team, Richie!
His life is a story that moves from the city to the mountains and then from freestyle to freeride. Richard Permin was born 26 years ago in Paris, and was raised a good hour away from the Alps, in the French city of Lyon. He started skiing at a young age and at fifteen went to La Plagne for a season with the goal of becoming a ski instructor. However Richie, as his friends call him, did not complete his instructors course as he spent most of his time in the park and the pipe. Instead Richard Permin firmly established himself in the French freestyle scene. He moved to La Clusaz and soon after was considered a freeski pro of international caliber. The rock-fan developed a keen interest in the Backcountry and today is considered one of the best Big Mountain riders in the world. With a win at the "King Of Style" in Stockholm as well as third place finishes at both the "Red Bull Linecatcher" and the "O'Neill Big Mountain Pro" one can consider Richie as one of the few Freeskiers with top results in all three disciplines of the sport: Park, Backcountry and Big Mountain. Since then he has further demonstrated his multifaceted talents in impressive video parts with MSP in the past two years. Richard Permin has truly reached the pinnacle of the sport!


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JERUSALEM (AP) — President Barack Obama is coming to town, and it seems like everyone in Israel wants to be a part of the historic visit.
From West Bank settlers to peace activists, universities to municipalities, Israelis of all stripes are sending out invites to lure Obama their way in bids to bend his ear on the issues that could decide the fate of the region.
Obama's visit, his first to Israel as president, comes during rising tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, years of deadlocked peace efforts and a tense relationship between the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Just beneath the surface is the feeling of many Israelis that up to now, Obama's administration has been unsympathetic to Israel, frequently criticizing its policies toward the Palestinians. The U.S. considers its policies balanced, noting that it has opposed resolutions critical of Israel at the U.N.
Despite the differences, the U.S. remains Israel's main world ally.
While Obama's schedule has not been made public, officials and ordinary Israelis alike appear eager to exploit the upcoming tour, also expected to take him to the West Bank and Jordan next month. The Israeli government has released a logo and slogan for the trip, naming it "Unshakable Alliance," and is scouting places for Obama to visit.
Mixed feelings are coloring the invitations.
One has come from Benny Kashriel, mayor of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim, near Jerusalem. Kashriel wants to host Obama in a contested area known as E-1, where Israel envisages construction of more than 3,000 apartments.
Building in the area is contentious because the Palestinians say it would hinder movement between east Jerusalem, their hoped-for capital, and the West Bank. Kashriel said he would take Obama to a hilltop overlooking the area and rebut the Palestinian argument.
"I have no doubt I will convince him to see the truth," said Kashriel, who delivered an invitation through the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Israel revived the E-1 plans late last year in response to the Palestinians' successful bid for U.N. recognition of a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. The announced plans, on the back burner for years, drew unusually sharp criticism from some of Israel's staunchest allies — including the U.S.
The issue of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank in general has drawn much criticism from the U.S. and stands at the heart of a four-year impasse in Mideast peace efforts. The Palestinians have refused to negotiate while Israel continues to build in settlements on the lands they seek for their state. Netanyahu says talks should resume without any preconditions.
Obama has rejected settlements as illegitimate but has done little to force Israel to halt construction.
Appealing to Obama to restart the peace talks, Israelis on the dovish end of the political spectrum have put out a plea on Facebook for Obama to deliver a grand "Speech for Peace" in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, where then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the first interim accords with the Palestinians, was assassinated by an ultranationalist Israeli opposed to his peace moves.
Yaniv Shacham, a manager of the page, which has attracted more than 21,000 "likes," said Obama's ability to reach out to the people, both in his public appearances in the U.S. and on visits abroad, could resonate with Israelis.
"If he knew that he could fill the square with hundreds of thousands of Israelis ... he would see there are many Israelis who support the ideas and ideals he represents and certainly the renewal of peace talks," Shacham said.
Academic institutions have been vying to host the prestigious guest. One is Bar-Ilan University, the site of a landmark 2009 speech by Netanyahu in which he declared his support for a two-state solution with the Palestinians. That speech ended years of Netanyahu's opposition to Palestinian independence, but his policy offers less than earlier Israeli proposals that did not result in a peace accord.
The mayor of Haifa, a mixed Israeli-Arab port city in northern Israel, has invited Obama to see "the only city in the world where Jews and Arabs have had peaceful relations for more than 100 years," setting an example for Israelis and Palestinians.
At least 20 Facebook groups — each called "Obama come to..." — have sprouted up, inviting Obama to different locations. Some are cheekier than others, like a sports stadium that hosts a team known for its anti-Arab fans, or a Palestinian town in the West Bank that holds weekly protests against Israel's separation barrier.
Neither the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv nor the White House responded to questions about Obama's schedule and whether he might accept any of the invitations pouring in.
One likely venue could be the Knesset, Israel's parliament, where high-profile visitors including Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Anwar Sadat, the late Egyptian leader who reached a historic peace accord with the Jewish state, all delivered addresses. Israeli media have said officials are undecided because of the possibility of hard-line lawmakers heckling the president, but the acting speaker has asked that Netanyahu invite Obama anyway.
The visit appears to be generating less excitement in the West Bank. Palestinians believe peace efforts are doomed unless the U.S., as Israel's closest ally, pressures Israel to make concessions. The White House has said Obama is not planning any major peace initiative on this trip. The Palestinian Authority refused to comment on the trip on Monday.
Eytan Gilboa, an expert on Israel-U.S. relations at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, said Obama is unlikely to accept the invitation of the settlement mayor. A speech aimed at the Israeli public is more likely, but it probably won't happen in the open-air Rabin Square because of security concerns, he said.
"Everything has its connotations and constellations and contexts, so the choice of locations is made very cautiously," said Gilboa, noting that every place Obama visits will be watched carefully and interpreted endlessly. "The purpose of the places he visits will be to leave with an improved image."
Follow Tia Goldenberg on www.twitter.com/tgoldenberg


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Kodak EasyShare Sport C123
The Kodak EasyShare Sport C123 is a rugged, budget-friendly point-and-shoot usable up to 3.0 meters underwater with a fixed focus, 5x digital zoom lens.
- Tough
- Can be used underwater
- Right price
- Very slow between shots
- Small, dull LCD screen
- Terrible battery life
Quick Take
The Kodak EasyShare Sport does'nt offer much other than its ability to take a beating, but satisfactory performance makes it a viable option for the clumsy or outdoorsy who need a budget camera.
Read Our Full Review: Kodak EasyShare Sport C123 Review


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Hey Everyone – SQL Rally Voting opens today for the BI Track. There are lots of good sessions and at the risk of being self promotional I thought I would share that my Summit spotlight Zero to Cube session was top five in it's track and the 23rd session overall at the summit. IT is a LOT of fun and the way I present it is like NOTHING you've ever seen!. We'll have some real fun. Here are some real comment from folks who attended my session at the Summit:
"Best Session at the Summit So Far" (Second Day)
"Most I've learned in a single session"
"Did not know Analysis Services was this cool"
"Wow he is ruggedly good looking" – Yes Brian Knight said this one ..
The session and I received over 200 comments and the overal rating was over 4.85 (the first place session was rated 4.92). I know it's like the Olympics :)...
Most importantly please vote!! AND Register!!!! Until then - See you out there!


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By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There is not enough support among top U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officials to advance a proposal that would require companies to disclose their political spending, a Republican commissioner said on Wednesday.
Daniel Gallagher said the agency had other priorities, and said the two Republican commissioners would not back such a measure.
With the SEC currently divided between two Democrats and two Republicans, the lack of support effectively kills for now the measure which has been pushed by disclosure activists.
"That should not be one of our priorities," Gallagher told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "That is just a political wish list."
In his first public speech of 2013, Gallagher said he sees other issues as more important, including money-market fund reforms, Dodd-Frank Act rules, and capital-raising regulations required by the 2012 Jumpstart our Business Startups, or JOBS, Act.
Gallagher's comments will be a blow to supporters of political spending disclosure, who had been heartened by a federal notice in December saying a rule was under consideration.
The call by some for more disclosure on campaign spending comes after the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" ruling in 2010 that found independent expenditures by corporations are constitutional.
That decision paved the way for a dramatic increase in political action committees known as Super PACs, which played a major role in the 2012 presidential campaign.
While Gallagher was not enthused about the idea of a political spending disclosure rule, he was more optimistic on a proposal to reduce the risk of runs on money market funds.
Former SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro last year had sought to propose a series of potential reforms. But she could not muster the votes from Gallagher, his fellow Republican commissioner Troy Paredes, or Democratic commissioner Luis Aguilar.
She also faced staunch opposition from the $2.6 trillion fund industry.
Schapiro said more reforms were needed to prevent a repeat of the Reserve Primary Fund incident during the financial crisis. Heavy exposure to collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers caused the net asset value (NAV) of the Reserve Primary Fund, a large money market fund, to fall below $1 per share, or "break the buck" in industry parlance.
That had a ripple effect that destabilized global markets.
Schapiro, who retired in December, had suggested capital buffers coupled with redemption hold-backs. Another option involved moving from a stable $1 per share net asset value to a floating NAV, so that investors would not get spooked by the prospect of funds breaking the buck.
After the SEC hit a stalemate, the newly created Financial Stability Oversight Council stepped in late last year and issued a similar proposal in an attempt to pressure the SEC to act.
Gallagher has previously said he could be open to the idea of floating the NAV, as long as the tax and accounting issues were properly addressed.
On Wednesday, he told the Chamber he is optimistic the tax and accounting issues can be resolved, saying the SEC has authority over accounting standards and hopefully can "figure something out there."
(To watch Gallagher's remarks, go to http://reut.rs/UQJttn)
Gallagher on Wednesday also blasted the proposed Volcker rule, a Dodd-Frank requirement that would ban banks from proprietary trading.
He said the rule, which was jointly proposed by the SEC and banking regulators, needs to be scrapped and re-drafted. He also lamented that the SEC is "playing second fiddle" to the banking regulators in how it is crafted.
The SEC has been far behind in completing many of the rules required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street oversight law to regulate the roughly $640 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market.
However, Gallagher told reporters on the sidelines of the event that a critical proposal on how derivatives regulations will be applied overseas could be unveiled as early as next month.
(Reporting By Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Gary Hill, David Gregorio and Tim Dobbyn)


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Think your small business has what it takes to be next TV reality star?
Shows featuring small company owners, such as A&E's "Duck Dynasty" and History's "Pawn Stars," are hits, turning nearly unknown small businesses into household names. The shows give them exposure that most could never afford to pay for through advertising or public relations.
So you want your own show? Here's a guide:
Production companies are always on the lookout for businesses to film. That's how "Pawn Stars" came about. Brent Montgomery, the owner of production company Leftfield Pictures, was at a bachelor party in Las Vegas. The limousine he was in passed by a pawn shop and he came up with the idea of a reality show that took place in a pawn shop. Montgomery told his staff to find a family-owned pawn shop in Las Vegas that they could shoot. The producers found Rick Harrison of Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, who had already been pitching a reality show idea to other producers. Harrison went with Leftfield Pictures, which sold the show to History. It's been on the air since 2009.
Many production companies accept pitches for reality shows. If a production company likes the idea, they will be able to bring it to networks. Do an online search for reality TV producers and call to see if they accept pitches. The Idea Factory, which has produced reality shows for Spike and Discovery, accepts pitches on the company's website (http://tiftv.com/ ). Darryl Silver, the owner of the Idea Factory, says that he usually first meets people who pitch shows through webcam chats. Silver usually asks what major events they expect to happen in the next year that could be filmed.
You can also film the business, and the people you think will be on the show, and upload it to YouTube so that you can send a link to the production company.
Robbie Montgomery, who stars in "Welcome to Sweetie Pie's," says that her son pitched their show idea to a St. Louis-based production company and then sold it to OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, where the show now airs.
Your business must be in good financial standing. No production company wants to start filming a show that centers around a business and then have it close down during filming. Production companies will check to make sure your business is on solid footing.
Family-owned businesses are favored by producers because it adds "an extra level of story," says Silver. Audiences love seeing people and relationships on TV that they can relate to. "Duck Dynasty," which features a family-owned duck-call business, is the most watched documentary-style reality series on TV right now, according to Nielsen, which provides information and insight into what consumers watch and buy.


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New York
About Hiro Yokose
Hiro Yokose's lyrical depictions of nature feature big, pale skies floating over silvery lakes or rivers lined with trees. Rendered in a subtle palette that captures the quietude of dawn or dusk, his minimal landscapes have a dream-like quality. Each canvas consists of as many as six layers of oil paint and beeswax; in describing his process, Yokose says he never begins with a particular image in mind: "It's like air or a cloud—there is no shape. If I were to chase my imagination, I would probably never finish, never even start a painting." His work has been said to hover "between a Zen-like minimalist abstraction and a traditional landscape." Besides the landscapes for which he is best known, Yokose also paints flowers and completely abstract canvases.
Japanese, b. 1951, Nagasaki, Japan


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Cherokee Set Concealed Carry Lock and Key Hobo with Matching WalletNavy Navy -
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It leads you out of the maze into a new gaudy lecture-room where MacCann, with one hand on The Origin of Species and the other hand on the new testament, tells you that you admired the great flanks of Venus because you felt that she would bear you burly offspring and admired her great breasts because you felt that she would give good milk to her children and yours. —James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The appeal of evolutionary psychology is easy to grasp. Just think of Annie Hall. The last few decades have left us so profoundly disoriented about the most urgent personal matters–gender roles, sexual norms, the possibility of creating lasting romantic relationships, not to mention absolutely everything to do with family structure–that it's no surprise to find people embracing a theory that promises to restore order. Once we had religion to tell us who we are. Then, for a while, we had Freud. Now we have evolutionary psychology, which, as an attempt to construct a science of human nature on Darwinian principles, marshals two of the most powerful ideas in contemporary culture: science, our most authoritative way of knowing, and nature, our highest ground of moral appeal. No wonder the field is catnip to journalists and armchair theorists alike. Equip yourself with a few basic concepts–natural selection, inclusive fitness, mating choice–and you, too, can explain the mysteries of human existence. That evolutionary psychology has no real intellectual credibility, that mainstream biology regards it as a house of sand, rarely seems to come up. EP is the Malcolm Gladwell of science: facile and glib, but so persuasive and charming that no one wants to ruin the fun.
To be fair, the problem lies less in the field's goals than in its claims. Much of its opposition is misguided and out-of-date. For a long time, evolutionary approaches to human behavior were discredited by the specter of Social Darwinism. More recently, the concept of a unitary human nature has been condemned as a form of bourgeois universalism–that is, of disguised ethnocentrism. But those who reject the notion of human psychology as a product of evolution (that is, of nature rather than culture) would undoubtedly recoil at the idea that human physiology is not a product of evolution. The only alternative is creationism. And if our bodies have evolved, then so have our minds, which a materialist philosophy (one that doesn't depend on supernatural entities like the Christian soul) must regard as products of our bodies–of our brains, nerves, sense organs and so forth. Surely no one would dispute that there is a universal bee nature or dog nature or chimpanzee nature. Why not then acknowledge, at least in principle, a universal human nature, however various its elaborations in culture?
The question is, What does it consist of, how did it arise and can we discover it? Here is where evolutionary psychology falls down. EP claims that the human mind evolved in the Pleistocene, the 1.6 million years during which Homo sapiens emerged on the African savanna. EP seeks to identify apparently innate and cross-culturally universal aspects of human behavior (like speech), then tries to construct scenarios to explain why such behaviors would have been adaptive–would have promoted individual or collective survival and reproduction–in the Pleistocene environment. This all sounds reasonable until you discover that: (1) we don't actually know what the Pleistocene environment looked like; (2) we don't know how our Pleistocene ancestors lived; and (3) we now believe that evolution might happen a lot faster than we used to think, so much of our psychology may not be a product of the Pleistocene at all but of the 10,000 years since the emergence of civilization. There are other problems with the stories that EP likes to make up about how we got to be the way we are. They still have no support in genetics. If something's not genetic, it's not evolved. Also, not all behaviors (or physiological structures) are the result of selection pressures. Some are byproducts of other capacities, as literacy clearly is. Some are the result of functional shifts (insects' wings, for example, seem to have developed at first to regulate heat). Finally, there are some deeply ingrained human behaviors that seem very hard to justify in adaptive terms.


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In an informal poll over various years, I asked some of the more successful first year law students about their study habits. I defined this group as those in the top 15%, following their first semester exams. Here are some of their hints:
Understand the difference between law and undergraduate exams.
A top student noted the difference: undergraduate exams assume 100% - until the professor deducts points when something is wrong or of no value, while professors in law school exams only give points when there is some value in the answer.
This is a huge distinction. The top law students explain their analysis because better analysis means more points. Similarly, this group of students focus more on the "why" and "because" and less on the bottom line - because those portions of exam writing equal more points.
Prepare your cases for the next class!
While a simple majority continued to brief cases using the technique taught during orientation (facts, issue/rule, reasoning), every student made sure he/she understood the pertinent rules, facts, and reasons of the court. Some used alternative methods, but all students were faithful about preparing for the next class assignment.
Besides briefing, I would also suggest you take just a few minutes to review the previous lesson. Initially, during the first month or so, you might want to see if your brief included the same points as covered by the professor. This can be your daily check to improve the quality of your briefing, so that you will become more efficient as you go along.
In addition, start reviewing the substance of the class. Note the relationship between that and prior classes, highlight the professor's hypotheticals, and note your questions. Significantly, studies have shown that information reviewed and learned immediately after class is retained longer and with greater effect. So take at least a portion of the hour you have between classes to synthesize and learn the rules from the day's class. Ask the professor any follow-up questions that you did not have time to ask during class. Discuss answers to the day's hypotheticals with your classmates. All of this will make outlining and exam preparation go much smoother.
Discussion groups have a valuable place in preparing for exams.
While slightly more than half the students used study groups, it's clear that study groups alone are no guarantees of good grades. So meeting together to review legal rules is not an essential component of doing well in law school. If you always study alone - and feel like groups break your concentration - that's fine. Equally valid are groups where together you clarify the legal rules and exceptions. Preparation within that group is the key to a successful study group. A number of students indicated that study groups (or a "study buddy") were valuable tools because the members were always prepared.
However, no matter how you study the basic components of the law, discussion groups can be invaluable to students. A discussion groups focuses on problems from hypotheticals, secondary sources or fellow students. One person is designated the writer for the group and a leader keeps the group on track. The goal is to decide how the question is answered, with specific legal analysis. All members need to participate - adding their "take" on the analysis, as well as any differing opinions. The idea is to facilitate a strategy of how to answer legal problems. After all, exam-taking in law school is problem solving. These discussion groups can review various issues throughout the semester and assist the group members in deciding how best to approach different legal problems. Your group can then supplement their respective outlines (or create one together), as well as decide appropriate approaches to the various issues in a course. Why not practice what you want to write regarding that area of law before the exam?
Therefore, think about meeting on a regular basis for a definite period of time, with a specified topic. Probably you should have discussed all subjects within a two-week cycle. Moreover, make sure fellow members are serious about discussing the law. Select them by observing how prepared they are in class - or encourage your friends to be ready for the group. Don't be afraid to enforce a rule that the members must be prepared.
If you don't want to discuss with a group, remember to study with a purpose. During a typical study session, don't just look at your outline/notes. Know what your specific goal will be during that period of time. Good students are effective students and understand that the purpose of studying is to understand what the law is, what it means, and how to use it.
Outline your courses in a timely fashion: it's the organization, not the length that is important.
While preparing their outlines, these students utilized a number of strategies. Some began outlining after the professor finished a topic. This is one good method, once you are comfortable with the area of law. Until you know what the professor is talking about - and how the particular topic fits in the overall scheme of the course - it's better to wait. You can't outline what you don't understand. Once these students started outlining, they added to each section as another area of law was completed.
On the other hand, very few waited to do their outlines over Thanksgiving - and all regretted waiting too long to begin. Trying to do most of the outlining, as well as learning the material from late November until the end of classes makes for a nerve-racking experience. You want to go into exams feeling prepared, not harassed and anxious.
More importantly, try to end up with a very short "checklist" or exam strategy of all the essential points that you have covered in the course. This "big picture" outline should trigger all the details necessary for a good analysis.
Commercial outlines and outlines prepared by other students can serve a purpose - just remember not to rely too heavily on them.
While outlining, most students were not averse to using commercial outlines and/or outlines prepared by past students. However, most of these high-ranking students did not primarily rely on those outlines. Instead, they tended to use those prepared outlines to help organize the necessary headings and sections and/or to fill in gaps where their notes proved to be sketchy.
Outlining is a waste of time, however, if you merely copy your notes in a more organized fashion. (see, The Outlining Process). A good outline incorporates the rules, the explanation and policy for the rules, the elements and exceptions, as well as noting case examples. Outlines also demonstrate the relationships between the topics, noting the effect of one rule upon the application of another. A very good outline provides the exam strategy for a student. How the exam question should be answer is vital to a good testing experience.
Finally, nearly all the students made sure they incorporated their professor's hypotheticals into the outlines. These hypos can be very valuable because they might indicate how a professor views the ruling in a case. You also might discover how far the rule and reasoning can be extended. Or you may get an idea of how the professor structures his/her questions. In any instance, these students felt that their inclusion was helpful to exam preparation.
Practicing on past exams can be the most helpful tool you use to prepare for exams.
Interestingly, all the top students. who I have talked to about their preparations, looked at all available past Saint Louis University School of Law examinations in their courses. While some only spotted issues and outlined their answers (or discussed the answers with fellow students), some took them under examination conditions. This latter group timed their answers and wrote out a complete discussion. All the students found that practice exams were a valuable experience. They got good experience answering the type of questions their professor asked, and structuring their answer in a timely manner. Some even commented that they learned to write/type faster - a very useful skill during an essay examination!
You cannot wait until the reading days to learn the law and prepare for exams.
Unlike the horror stories that are told about examination preparation - cramming, staying up all night, living on caffeine - the best preparation is to "overly prepare" gradually. While some students could not articulate an exam-taking strategy, some gave very cogent advice. One rule of thumb is to prepare so that you are confident and relaxed during the exam. Get enough sleep; eat healthy. Make sure your preparation is focused and detailed.
Once at the test, WATCH THE TIME. Bring a watch and stick to the given time allotments. Think about answering the question as a legal memorandum. Identify the issue; state the rule of law (and explain what this means); apply to the case (and explain why); note any problems and conclude. In addition, don't be afraid to use some of the time to think. Re-read the facts, organize some type of outline, noting priority of issues and the time allotment. Remember that you may need to state the obvious rules at times: don't assume too much. Go through the facts and ask yourself how you would legally handle them and how it affects the solution to the problem. If you need to make certain assumptions, state them. If you need to decide which of two rules apply, tell the professor why you chose one over the other. Adjust your technique to the specific professor's preferences (and you will know this because you practiced on old exams and asked questions during the review sessions).
So what should you do?
- Brief your cases before class.
- Review after class, or at least once a week - note questions - think through the analysis.
- Outline after you feel comfortable with the course, and after the professor has finished with a topic.
- Use commercial or other student-generated outlines only as a tool to organize or fill gaps: don't rely too heavily on them.
- Consistently prepare - consistently review.
- Memorize the rules of law - that's the minimum.
- Understand the rules and reasons - don't just memorize.
- Discuss hypotheticals or other legal issues with fellow students to insure better legal analysis skills.
- Use past examinations to help you prepare - try to take them under examination conditions.
- Get enough sleep and eat healthy during examinations: you won't do better if you are sleep-deprived.
- Remember, the professor wants to see your work: make sure you explain why you came to the conclusions you did, and state your assumptions.
- Think of the examination as a test of your ability to do legal analysis - not to give the "right answer."
- Go in confident - after all, someone has to be in the top 15%!
© 2009 Joyce Savo Herleth


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News Release
Wednesday, March 5, 2003
Ex-Boyfriend Shoots Girlfriend, Then Himself"Ex-Boyfriend Shoots Girlfriend, Then Self"
Los Angeles: On Tuesday, March 4, 2003 at approximately 6:00 p.m., the victim, Brenda Mahoney, a 31 year-old female, White, was sitting in the driver's seat of her vehicle which was parked in front of her residence in the 3000 block of Dennison Avenue, San Pedro. The suspect, Marcelo Lagrasta, a 38 year-old male, Hispanic and ex-boyfriend of the victim, approached the passenger's side of the victim's vehicle and fired numerous rounds at the victim, mortally wounding her.
The suspect fled the scene, left a suicide note at his residence, then went to, Point Fermin Park, located at Shepard Street and Gaffey Street. The suspect walked down a path near the cliffs and shot himself in the head. The suspect was located by the Los Angeles Police Department's Air Unit. The suspect was transported to a local hospital where he is on a life support system.
Anyone with additional information regarding this incident is urged to contact Harbor Homicide Detectives at 310-548-2835 or 310-548-7603. On weekends and during off-hours, please call the 24-hour toll free number at the Detective Information Desk, 1-877-LAWFULL, 1-877-529-3855.
This press release was prepared by Public Information Officer Renee' Montoya, Media Relations Section, 213-485-3586.
San Pedro, CA 90731
310-726-7700 Voice
Harbor Community Telephone Directory
Community-Police Advisory Boards (C-PAB) Meeting Schedule and City-Wide Minutes


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Minn. Settles Last 35W Bridge Case — Update
ST. PAUL (AP) - Minnesota's legal battle over the collapsed Interstate 35W bridge has ended with an $8.9 million settlement involving a California design firm.
A Minnesota Department of Transportation spokeswoman says a final check from Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. arrived Tuesday.
The settlement was reached in mid-October but not publicized. The Associated Press learned of the settlement through a disclosure of pending cases the state makes ahead of bond sales.
Jacobs, which acquired the original design company, previously argued too much time had passed between the bridge's construction in the 1960s and the collapse in 2007. But state courts and the U.S. Supreme Court let the case go forward.
The collapse killed 13 and injured 145 more.
Court papers say Jacobs agreed to the settlement to avoid protracted litigation and more legal expenses.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)


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Rodgers predicts quiet January
Brendan Rodgers has warned Liverpool fans not to expect a great deal of transfer activity when the window reopens in January.
• Blog: Draw tells nothing new
After becoming the club's new boss in June, Rodgers bolstered his side by bringing in the likes of Joe Allen and Fabio Borini.
The Northern Irishman also sold Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy while Andy Carroll was loaned out to West Ham, leaving the Reds short of firepower.
The failure to add another striker to his squad has resulted in suggestions Rodgers could target a forward in the New Year, alongside other recruits.
Rodgers, though, does not expect there to be major alterations to his squad in January, given the amount of money spent prior to his arrival.
He said: "I am not so sure it will be in January to be honest. This year the club wanted to balance the books and see where it was at.
"There was a big investment in the club and obviously a lot of players went out in the summer and a few came in.
"We will look to do some business in January to help and support the players here, but that is where we are at as a football club and it is something the owners trust me to grow over time. Eventually we will get there."
Rodgers was speaking after his team's goalless draw against his former club Swansea City, which sees Liverpool 11th in the Premier League table.
Reflecting on his team's development, he said: "It will evolve. The guys are working very well, they have been fantastic, but we all know you need to get in your own types of players before you can say it is your own side.
"When I came to Swansea in my first season there were 12 players that were used and six moved on. In the second year seven came in over the course of the season and there were nine who went the other way.
"Until you get that turnover of players you can only look at it then as your team. But we will work with the players we have."
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These sunglasses reconstruct a classic silhouette with a modern mix of materials. Made in durable plastic and rubber, the frame has a comfortable fit and flashes a Trefoil logo at the temple. - Bi-injected frame made with a high-resistance TR90 outside and rubber inside for a comfortable, ergonomic fit - Rubber Trefoil on temple Integrated nose pads - Adjustable temple tips, for the maximum comfort and the perfect fit - Mirrored, smoked or full lenses
Grösse: 52 MM
Steg: 22 MM
Bügel: 140 MM
Geschlecht WOMAN
Material KUNSTSTOFF
Form KATZENAUGE
Leitung ADIDAS ORIGINALS


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Pony Club Walk
- Begins in:
- Forresters Beach, 02, Australia
- Creator:
Dave Byrnes
Terrigal, Nsw
- This walk accompanies the Terrigal Trotters "Pony Club" run.
Directions / Notes
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- Map your run and get your distance
- Log and track your workout
- Plan a new place to run
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- and more...
Map markers are an MVP feature.


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Payton Rae: American Country Awards 2012
Payton Rae is pretty in pink at the 2012 American Country Awards held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Monday night (December 10) in Las Vegas.
The 17-year-old singer wore a pink Alyce Paris dress for the big event.
"I couldn't imagine working with anyone else on my first big project!" Payton recently shared about working with Bryan White on her new EP, Dare To Live.
Payton continued, "He brought something to the table that not many people could bring to me, and that was peace of mind. He loves what he does and that is so inspiring. Brian White is such an amazing guy inside and out, and there is nothing better than working with someone who brings out the best in you."
Posted to: Payton Rae


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|This article describes a concept which could impact a variety of companies, countries or industries. To see what companies and articles reference this concept page, click here.
Private label describes products manufactured for sale under a specific retailer's brand. They are often designed to compete against branded products, offering customers a cheaper alternative to national brands. Though the public generally used to see them as low-cost imitations of branded products, private labels have overcome this reputation and achieved significant growth in recent years. The most commonly known private label goods are the "store brands" sold by food retailers, though this is just one example of many. Department stores, electronics stores, and office supply retailers all offer private label products or services.
Private labels offer several benefits to both retailers and customers, driving the segment's rising popularity. For retailers, margins on private label goods are an average of 10% higher than those on similar branded products. Customers benefit from private labels' lower prices, which are often significantly less than those of national brands. This combination, while beneficial to retailers and consumers, can put substantial pressure on the manufacturers of branded goods, who have to compete against their own customers (the retailers) for market share.
Brand Loyalty
Lower Prices/Higher Margins
Everyone is actually gaining form the Private Label!