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Chapter Five
The small military base nestled in the mountains of central Maryland had sprung back to life. Fort Ritchie at one time housed training groups for the OSS, which was the World War Two forerunner of the current day CIA. However, due to budget cuts and consolidations, the small north-central Maryland base had closed and their operations moved to Langley, Virginia. Now it was re-opened as a regional intelligence unit and forward UAV base. Although the UAV's or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were launched and serviced from this location, the pilots that flew the missions by remote control were sitting comfortably one thousand three hundred miles away in Eglin AFB, Florida.
"Room A-Ten-Hut!" The Lieutenant had barked the order in the meeting room. Twenty indolent soldiers sloppily rose and stood as their new commander entered. The impeccably uniformed officer marched into the room and with a practiced eye, looked over the unmotivated men in his charge.
"Good afternoon, my name is Colonel Mohammed Farzhi. Please be seated. I am your new Commander and I have been sent here to put an end to this unit's miserable performance." The Colonel paused to allow his words to be fully understood. "This unit has the worst capture and processing record of any in the region. As of today gentleman, that will change! I have reviewed your past action reports and I want to find out why we are not performing as expected." The Colonel stopped speaking and looked each of the Staff Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers directly in the eye. "I would like to hear from you why this is."
At first nobody moved or made any effort to respond. A senior NCO slowly raised his hand, was recognized and then stood at attention. "Sir, it might be best if you would tell us exactly what our mission is here. Please let me explain; when we first volunteered, our orders were to quell any rebel activity as World Police Units. Now it seems that we are nothing more than baby-sitters to these unmanned aircraft. What is our real mission here?" The Sergeant then sat down.
"Good question Sergeant. Our number one objective is to eliminate the enemy. We are the World Police Force and are given authority over everything in this country." The Colonel paused as the group in front of him started to pay attention. "Lately you have spent a great deal of time and manpower making the Predators combat ready. Although they are piloted from Florida, we do maintain them and arm them from here. From now on; we will use them in our own operations and we will not be just a support service for other units. This is our primary mission."
The soldiers nodded and murmured quietly amongst themselves in agreement with their commander.
The Colonel continued "However, our second objective is one of business."
Before the Colonel could explain, the Sergeant said aloud. "Business?"
"Yes Sergeant…business. Do you think that we are here out of benevolence towards the United Nations? Where do you think that the money for your pay comes from?" Pausing again as his men were confused at his line of reasoning. The Colonel sensed this and moved closer towards the group, putting them at ease. "Listen men, the UN has no country, no sources of wealth except from what it receives from its members." The Colonel took an empty chair and turned it around sitting at the same level as his men. "When we find terrorists, we are the ones who do the fighting…we are the ones who confiscates their money, homes and anything else of value, right?"
The twenty nodded in unison.
"We do their dirty work and then the money then goes into the coffers of the UN and in turn they pay you, understand?"
Again heads nodded
"Let me ask you something…how many soldiers have given their lives over here?"
Shoulders shrugged as one hand shot up. "Sir, in the past six months we have lost four men from our unit."
"Four men…four good men, lost for what?" The Colonel paused again "Look, we all come from the same country. Most of us didn't know each other before we volunteered for this, did we?"
The soldiers shook their heads no.
"Some of us have a background that goes far beyond this…some are Al Qaeda trained and some are Taliban trained…and some are just regular Pakistani army, right?"
Heads nodded in agreement
"However we have two things in common. First we are all Muslims, we follow and worship the one true God, Allah….and his Messenger and Prophet Mohammed. Praise be unto him. Secondly we are united in that the Great Satan, America….must be destroyed."
The soldiers smiled and nodded their agreement.
"So, Allah has given over this country to us….and we will take from it as we need…starting today." The Colonel paused again as the excitement and anticipation grew, he then went on. "What I am going to tell you stays among us. I don't want the Iranians, the Arabs or the Europeans to know what we are doing…is that understood? In due time they will do the very same things, however...we will have a head start."
The room buzzed with excitement
"From now on, any money we confiscate will come to me, I will then take a portion of it and divide it amongst all of us…what is left will go to the UN. Properties will be also divided amongst us and we will then start bringing our families over here to live."
Multiple hands raised as the men now had a newfound drive and desire. "Sir, what about the people?"
"You know what to do with the Jews…as far as the infidels are concerned, you may take them and use them anyway as you see fit." The unspoken order and blessing was given for more murder, rape, robbery and now slavery.
Americanized greetings were now exchanged with high fives and subdued cheers.
Another question broke their jovial mood "Sir, we were promised that we would have control over the technical assets that the remaining infidels operate. We still don't have the training we need on the M1 Tanks and the Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The Americans are very hesitant in this area and I don't trust them having any control over their armor here." Agreements were mumbled and heads nodded.
"As I said before there are going to be changes made. Here is what I want implemented immediately. First of all; the few Americans that are in control the technical aspects of this base, the M1 Abrams and Bradley Fighting vehicles, and the Predator and Encompass computer systems housed in the bunkers beneath us, will immediately start training you on their equipment. After your training is complete, they will then be transferred to 'other bases'."
Smiles came to the faces of the Pakistani soldiers as they knew what 'other bases' meant.
"Next, on a tactical level, the patrol size will increase from the six man teams to ten man teams."
Again heads nodded in agreement
"We will integrate each patrol which will now include the sniper/spotter team, close in sub-machine gun teams and automatic weapons teams. These patrols will be data linked to the Predators that will be armed with Hellfire missiles. Although we don't have the newest model Predator which is armed with six of these missiles, they still carry two Hellfire's and we will use them." Now the room was audibly excited. "The new patrols will start tomorrow morning."
Sgt Salim Kahlil jumped up and throwing a text book British styled salute exclaimed; "Colonel you have our full support!"
Colonel Farzhi smiled as he now had twenty motivated and dedicated men to do his bidding. "I now need some one to show me how this Encompass computer system works."
Twenty hands instantly shot up.
The evening's meal would not have made the cover of Good Housekeeping magazine; as it would be next to impossible to show in photographs the incredible flavors from such a simple meal. Macs organic garden produced the sage, garlic, canned corn and winter squash; while Molly's culinary skill blended them together with Charlie's turkey to create one of the finest meals Gary had eaten. Finishing up the feast left him not only satiated but hopeful that at some point in the future he would have another meal of this caliber. Everyone helped washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, after this, the family with their new found friend, relaxed in the living room.
The living room was filled with antiques; the walls were lined with shelves which were neatly arraigned with books and magazines of all genre. This was a very cozy and enriching place to spend a cold winters evening. Mac had expertly placed a couple pieces of seasoned wood into the glass door wood stove, while Molly sat in an antique wing backed chair and started working with her needle point. April was at the end of the leather sofa, opposite of Gary; she was busy taking in the waist and seat of Gary's pants, while Charlie sat next to Gary. To Charlie, Gary represented a mix of Secret Agent Man, GI Joe and Indiana Jones rolled into one. This family represented to Gary the only sane and peaceful group he had the pleasure of meeting in over three years.
Mac had put some classical music on while King rolled over and stretched out on his side in front of the radiating fire. Gary stretched out his legs and sat on the floor between the antique oak coffee table and the rich brown and aged leather sofa. He smiled at the relaxed German Shepard, and slid over to him. King looked up from his heat induced dog trance, rolled over on his back and offered his belly up to be scratched, which Gary obliged.
"Gary would you like an after dinner smoke or a drink?" Mac said as he produced a small engraved wood box. Opening it revealed a small amount of marijuana and a few rolled joints.
"Thanks Mac, I haven't smoked that stuff in years. I'll pass on that but will take you up on the drink." Gary had given up drinking well before the troubles began, however tonight seemed like just the occasion to have a shot…or two.
Mac poured Gary three fingers of bourbon in a crystal glass. Gary took a sip and coughed from the alcohol burning his throat. "Whew! That's something I haven't felt in a while!" Everyone laughed.
Molly, who was wearing drug store bought half eyed reading glasses, looked over the rim at Mac and spoke silently with a glance.
"Ok, I know, I'll smoke this outside." Mac said as he got up and walked out on the front porch.
Gary smiled as Mac headed outside. Looking over at the mother and daughter, it was clear the genetic link between the two women, with both Molly and April having very similar facial features and skin tones. Gary tried not to stare at April as she pushed a large needle through the tough material of his pants. Gary's mind wandered as he mused over the home grown woman doing his sewing. April sat, like her Mom with bare feet cross-legged, focusing on the placement of the needle and thread, her auburn shoulder length hair pulled back with some sort of red elastic band tying it into a ponytail.
April sensed Gary looking at her, and coyly smiled "What are you looking at?"
Gary felt a flush on his cheeks from the slight embarrassment, lowered his eyes and said. "Nothing, just watching you sew." For the first time in many years, Gary saw beauty. War and the horrors of it, can decay ones mind…eroding and corrupting the things of beauty.
April smiled and went back to work, her insides tingling at the thought of somebody taking notice of her; it felt good for a change. April broke the uneasy silence between the two without looking up from her sewing. "I know why you're here Gary…It's because of the computers, isn't it?" She looked up at Gary who was genuinely puzzled.
"I don't know what you mean."
The outside door closed with a thump and Mac walked back inside and sat in his chair, next to the stove, catching the last part of the conversation.
"Here we go again. April, how many times have I told you to stop listening to those religious nuts on the short-wave radio?" Mac said dismissing her comment out of hand.
"Dad it's true. The computers that control everything we do…" April pointed to the area behind her neck where the Encompass chip was imbedded "…are supposedly in a bunker in the old Army base right up the road." April responded brusquely. "Besides Dad, you are the first one to say that there is some sort of conspiracy or government deception." April said, tossing back years of her Dad's theories to him.
Gary interjected "April, I'm not here for any computers. Right now, I'm just trying to survive…nothing more and nothing less. However, given the opportunity for any payback for what they've done to my family…" Gary paused for a moment turning off the heat to his anger, and then diverted the subject. "So you have a short-wave radio? What are these people saying?"
"They say that the World Police are murdering a lot of people; especially targeting Jews and Christians. They also say that anyone who opposes or doesn't submit to them simply disappears. They suspect that there are mass graves and that someday, someone will bring them to light. The people on the radio are also saying that it's the end of our country and the world as we once knew it." April stopped her sewing and looked at Gary "I don't know about that, but it is pretty scary stuff. They interviewed some people that had dreams that the United States is doomed."
April was very serious and Gary took notice of her demeanor which had changed from attractively confident to a palpable fear. Her comments were chilling in light of what he had seen take place over the past few years. Gary had not said or alluded to anything about the bodies he had found, Encompass chips he had with him, or about his own nightly dreams…or even the voice that occasionally directed him. This information he decided to keep to himself as he nodded and sipped the whisky.
In the basement of a non-descript gray concrete block building twenty air miles away from the farm, two men sat behind a glowing computer screen in a darkened room. "Colonel, this is the Encompass System, so let me show you how this works." Captain Ali Haki looked at the three rice grain sized chips in the palm of his hand. Taking a hand-held scanner, which was similar in looks to the type used for scanning bar codes at any grocery store, he individually scanned each one. Each produced a text message that read the persons name and ID number.
"Captain, first tell me how you came in possession of these chips." Colonel Farzhi said
"Yes sir. We had received a call from an informant in the town of Simmonsville. This informant is a pharmacist who had an individual try to purchase medications outside of their assigned location, which in this case was Philadelphia. If you weren't aware sir, no medication can be purchased outside of your assigned area. We then linked to the pharmacies camera security system and ran a facial match analysis on the individual and saw that they were interned Jews from Philadelphia. It seems that the Jews also tried to make their illegal purchase using gold. At that point we classified them as terrorists and changed their status to Code 1. The chips then began broadcasting a signal which we tracked. We caught up with this group outside of town and terminated them."
Behind the computer terminal Sgt. Salim Kahlil viewed the screens as they popped up. Colonel Farzhi stood to the side observing. "Sergeant, tell me what I'm seeing here." The Colonel, who had just arrived in the States a few weeks ago, was not well versed with this advanced system.
"Certainly Colonel. The first chip scanned is that of Samuel Greenberg. See the red bar at the top of the screen. This means he has been identified and coded as a terrorist. The Code 1 designation next to his name means that he is either a Jew or 'other High Priority' suspect. Code 1 also means that we can legally take whatever action necessary against them and that they are listed as Top Priority. Code 2 is for confirmed terrorist militants."
"I see, so what can we learn about this Greenberg?"
Captain Haki spoke "Well sir, if you look at his profile you will see the name of his wife and children. Just by clicking on their names we can also access their personal data. We can go to the business screen and see what transactions he has made through his electronic credits. Now, on this next screen we can track his movements. You see; when we give a person a Code 1 or Code 2, their Encompass chip activates and sends out a signal to the Global Positioning Satellites every twenty minutes. It's like leaving a trail of bread crumbs in the forest, so to speak. We can only go back a few days to see exactly where they have been, the system isn't capable of storing the history of everyone's movements for more than seventy two hours."
The Colonel made an observation and questioned "I see that there are four members of this group, and yet you only have three chips…where is the fourth?"
The Captain couldn't answer with absolute certainty "Sir, maybe one of the chips was destroyed or was lost, I don't know."
Colonel Haki nodded and accepted the Captains explanation "So, tell me, how can this group of dogs just go wandering about when we are tracking them?" The Colonel wanted answers on how this system was being circumvented.
Sergeant Kahlil continued "As the Captain said sir; this group was not in their assigned areas, so it would seem that they were being helped, even though everyone knows that the penalty for helping Code 1's and 2's is severe. The tracking portion of the individual's chip must be manually turned on by us, so when it is; the system itself will automatically track them until we manually turn it off." Turning it off usually meant the elimination and physical removal of the Encompass chip from the unfortunate soul's neck.
"Captain Haki, I see that this Greenberg has in his electronic bank account a little over three hundred thousand dollars. I want you to take half of their money and transfer it to our unit's payroll. The other half you will then transfer to the UN bank. This will be standard procedure for every terrorist we eliminate from here on out."
The Captain smiled at the Colonel and with a few clicks of the mouse Sgt Kahlil emptied the Greenberg's bank account.
"Now, what do you do with the person after we terminate them? I am assuming that the impotent US government still doesn't know that we are eliminating so many of their so-called citizens."
"Yes Sir, after terminating any terrorist; we take and dispose of their bodies in various locations. We also transfer their ID code to the "relocation and education camps" in other parts of the country. The Greenberg group will be transferred to Camp 12 in western Pennsylvania, the computer will show that they are all being fed and cared for. If anyone asks it will also show that they are awaiting deportation to Israel." The Captain proudly showed the creative bookwork to the Colonel.
Camp 12 in western Pennsylvania was one of many camps scattered throughout the United States that electronically showed prisoner populations in the thousands, but in reality only had a few human inhabitants.
"Very good Captain, now let's find out where this Jew has been and maybe this will tell us who helped them. I want to send a strong message to anyone in this sector who helps terrorists." The Colonel, like a shark, scented blood in the water.
With a few clicks of the mouse, a screen with red dots appeared, much like a connect-a-dot puzzle. "Sir, it looks like this group had traveled from north to south using back roads. It is here…" Captain Haki pointed to the computer monitor "…where they seem to have spent at least eight to ten hours."
"Ok, so where is 'here'"
"I can overlay the tracking screen with local land records and this should tell us where they stopped." The Captain took a moment and brought up the real estate records for their sector "It looks to be property that is owned by a Mac Finney."
The Colonel looked at the land maps on the monitor and planned his strategy for dealing with the farmer who gave Jews or possibly militia terrorist's unlawful help. "Here is what I want to do. Do you see this line of mountains? I want you to have a ten man patrol enter the woods here" The Colonel pointed to a location about one mile north and out of sight of the farm. "The patrol will travel south along the base of this mountain until they are here." Pointing to the area directly across from the farm "This is where we will coordinate our attack from."
The Captain wrote the Colonels orders down to transfer them to a paper topographic map.
"Now, what weapons do our troops use, and how do you plan on positioning them Captain?"
"Sir, we will have five assault troops who will use MP-5 submachine guns and have a full load of fragmentation grenades, CS gas grenades and incendiary grenades. The two machine gunners have the SAW M-249 light machine guns with one person carrying extra ammo. Our sniper/spotter team uses the Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle. I will be the spotter and will carry the radio and a MP-5. Now as far as positioning the assault, I think that the sniper/spotter team should be directly in front of the farm at the edge of the tree line. The assault team will be about fifty yards to the left and slightly in front of the Barrett, while the SAW teams will be fifty yards to the right and also slightly in front of the Barrett. The sniper/spotter team will remain stationary throughout the assault while the machine gunners will provide heavy covering fire on the right flank for the assault team."
"Excellent Captain. I will have a Predator tasked for this mission. Let's time this for seven A.M. The Predator attack will be the signal for the ground attack to begin. The Colonel paused and then as an after thought said. "Captain, I want the other ten team members to observe the operation."
"Yes sir" Captain Haki acknowledged the orders.
The Colonel turned to leave; as he did he turned and said over his shoulder "Let's show this Mr. Finney that helping terrorists is a very bad and unhealthy business."
Chapter Six
With a snap of a thread April proudly pronounced that the alteration on Gary's pants was complete. "Gary, try these….." April looked over at Gary who had moved up on the sofa, was sound asleep. Charlie had curled up next to his new hero and too was sound asleep. "Mom, would you look at these two." April said shaking her head and smiling. April looked over at her father and he too was asleep.
"I guess the turkey must have done them in. Let's get Dad and Charlie into bed, and if you would cover Gary with a blanket, ok? You know how early your father gets up every morning." Molly set down her needle point project in the wicker basket at her feet. "I'm going to try to get up and fix them both breakfast." Molly looked at Gary and spoke to April. "I don't know if I could have gone through what he has." Molly said, her voice full of compassion. "I hope that we never have to go through that."
"Mom, do you think that Gary was involved in those killings of the police and military families that the news talked about? I mean, he doesn't seem like he could do such a cold blooded thing like that, does he?"
"April, I don't think that Gary is a cold blooded killer, as the media has made the militia out to be. I honestly believe that we're not being told the whole story. Maybe we'll never know what actually went on with those awful events." Molly reached out and touched her daughters arm as only a Mother could do "You know, we've met quite a few people in the past three years and it seems that everyone is deathly afraid and running scared of this government and the World Police. Gary's not like that, he's the first one I've met that's not afraid of them."
April nodded at her Mothers assessment of Gary "Mom, do you remember Mrs. Miller, my High School History teacher? Her husband, Jack is in the Navy. Gary reminds me of him. Mr. Miller isn't afraid of anything."
The subject had shifted to something less ominous. "Whatever happened to Mrs. Miller? I really liked that woman, she was a good teacher."
"Mr. Miller was transferred to Georgia, a place called Kings Bay. I think he is in submarines or something. Anyway they moved last year. Mrs. Miller was telling me about Kings Bay, it sounds really nice. They have beautiful beaches and warm weather, along with a real history of pirates and battles and stuff like that." April paused as she thought of one of her most favorite people. "I really enjoyed her classes and I sure would like to see her again."
Flying over a suburban neighborhood Gary looked down and saw six black clad commandos perform a dynamic entry on a two story brick home. One man using a steel pipe, smashed in the door and the five others stacked behind him, charged into the house. Screams were heard and the men exited carrying the kicking and screaming woman and two children with them. A black government Suburban with darkened windows pulled up and the woman and children were forced into the vehicle which quickly and without sirens sped away, never to be heard from again.
The scene quickly changed as Gary zoomed to another part of the country and found himself in an huge underground facility. This expansive area was filled with people busily working at computer stations and scurrying about carrying printed documents, similar to any large corporate office. Separate from the main area, a glass enclosed executive suite commanded a view of the entire work operation. Inside the secure room, a meeting was being held.
"Madame President it seems that the tactic you've decided on, the kidnapping and holding for ransom the suspected terrorist's families has backfired on you. The terrorists are now attacking the police and military families with a brutality never before seen in your country. The morale and desertion rate of your forces is at a critical level and it won't be long before you have no forces loyal to your cause." General Santana knew he was one step closer to his goal.
"General Santana, I don't see how we can disarm the terrorists without some blood shed. We knew that starting out; however I didn't think that they would attack our soldier's families. That's just plain wrong and we are going to step up our campaign against these murderers." The President didn't see that by her authorizing the initial attacks on the militia's families that they would respond in kind. She still didn't see the country dissolving day by day, as her inflated ego held out hope that her vision of this country was still obtainable.
"President Chase, I have an idea that might work. The terrorists know that your soldier's families are very important, right? It is your armed forces Achilles heel. So let's take that out of the equation. Why don't we trade military forces? Let's take the best of the World's Police, bring them here and take the US forces that have families and swap them. Your forces will become World Police forces and will go help in other parts of the world, while you retain control of your country and can finally see it grow. Our World Police force will enforce the law and do so without repercussions on families."
President Chase thought about this proposal and as long as she had control of the country, it seemed logical and workable. "General, I like the idea. Let's do it. I'll issue the orders immediately. General, I would like to you oversee this change."
General Santana and his aide left the meeting with President Chase at the Mt Weather, Virginia underground complex. The President, her advisors and government officials had gone underground for their protection and were conducting what they thought was business as usual; 200 feet under the ground in a solid granite bomb shelter.
General Santana, sitting comfortably in his personal executive helicopter transport, turned and spoke to his Nigerian assistant, Kendai Obama. "Here is what I want Obama. First make a call to the countries that we have a working relationship with for volunteers. I want only highly trained and motivated military or police personnel sent here. Next, you are to have all of the experienced and skilled US soldiers shipped out. They are to be shipped everywhere and spread out so thin that they will never be a problem to us. I only want the dregs of the US military left behind." The General paused so that Obama could jot down his commanders notes. "The men and women left behind will also need to be skilled on their complex systems. We will institute a training program where they will train us on their technology." Pausing again and smiling to his aide "Eventually, we will have control of their nuclear submarines and missile silos…but first we need to control and eliminate any civilian resistance."
Obama smiled at the Secretary Generals success." Yes sir, I'll get started on it right away."
Gary again found himself soaring through the air. Sitting on the deck in his back yard as he had done hundreds of times, he saw his tall green tomato plants caged in their raised beds; the large green fruits were just staring to ripen. Hickory smoke was drifting up from the barbeque grill and he could smell the perfectly seasoned baby back ribs that were slow cooking. Sipping a tall glass of ice water and enjoying a cigar while listening to jazz on the satellite radio broadcast, Gary was at complete peace. Louie, the Golden Retriever was laying on his side, taking a nap in recently scooped out cool brown dirt. Ruthie, his four year old daughter walked up to him and climbed up on his lap.
"Daddy, see my piscada?" Ruthie held out a large red eyed bug
"Honey, it's called a Cicada, not a piscada. He looks like a nice bug." Gary stopped and looked at his daughter "I thought you were afraid of bugs."
"I'm not afraid of him and I like him a lot." Ruthie looked at the creature in her hand. "Can I keep him as a pet?"
"Fine with me, just don't hurt him, ok?"
Ruthie promised that she wouldn't then turned and looked up to her father "Daddy, Mommy and I are alright. We miss you a lot."
"I miss you two a lot, Ruthie. You know I love you and Mommy."
"Yes Daddy, I know. Oh Daddy, guess what? I'm learning to dance!" Ruthie was very excited about this. "Mr. Weiss is teaching me. He dances great and I like him a lot."
"Mr. Weiss?"
"Yes Daddy, Herschel Weiss. He really like to dance and sing songs to me, he is my friend." Ruthie paused and took her Daddy's face in her small hands, turning it forcefully towards hers. "Daddy, today's going to be very busy for you…it is going to be a hard day, so it's time to get up…get up Daddy and get moving." Ruthie reached over to give Gary a kiss on the lips.
Gary sat straight up and his lips and face were wet. King sat beside him wagging his tail, he had licked his face. "King," Gary sighed as he was awake "I thought you were my daughter." Gary looked at his watch and saw that it was early morning, 4:15am to be precise. Gary swung his legs off the sofa and put his head in his hands thinking about the dream and his daughters warning. Speaking softly to himself. "Ok, let's think this through for a minute. These dreams started when I holed up in the cave…they have always been in the past…so why am I being warned?" Gary's thoughts ceased when he heard someone stirring in the kitchen. The sound of water running combined with the audible metallic clank of some sort of pot. Soon thereafter, the aroma of fresh coffee cooking wafted out to the living room. Gary got up, checked to make sure he was dressed, and followed his nose to the origin of the delicious smell.
"Good morning Mac, that coffee sure smells good."
Mac sat at the kitchen table, dressed in his faded work jeans and well worn sweat shirt. "Morning Gary, it'll be ready in a few minutes. You're up early."
"Yeah, King thought I was fair game for a face licking." Gary laughed and bent down to scratch the Shepherd's ears, not mentioning the dream or his daughters warning. "I'm an early riser anyway."
Mac went the back door and let out the antsy King.
The first cup of coffee in the morning is always the best. Gary savored the steaming full bodied strong brew and then went into the den to change into his now cleaned and altered camouflage clothes. Somebody had thoughtfully placed the basket which contained his grenades, knives and other stuff that filled his pockets next to the sofa. Gary took his time, dressing and arming himself. Every morning he ritually checked the magazines and chambers of both the .45 and the silenced Ruger pistol. It would not be a good thing to need to use one of these pistols and have the chamber empty or the magazine half full. Lastly he slid the bolt back, ejected the chambered round of the Garand. The Garand didn't use a magazine like a regular battle rifle. The clip, which held eight rounds, needed to be removed from the rifle in order to refill it, which Gary did daily. Finally, Gary loaded up his jacket and pants leg cargo pockets, emptying out the once filled basket.
Mac came into the living room "Are you leaving?"
"Yeah, I've got some things that I have to take care of today." Gary didn't know what the day was to bring, but Ruthie made it sound as if he needed to head out as soon as possible. If trouble was coming his way as Ruthie had clearly warned, then the last place he wanted to be was near his friend's home.
"Gary, you've got to have some breakfast before you head out. Molly just got up and it will be ready on just a bit. I know that Charlie and April will be disappointed if you are gone before they get up." Mac didn't beg or plead; he just made the thought of hanging around for a while longer sound so very inviting. "Hey I've got something to show you, come out to the barn with me."
As the men walked outside the house and headed back to the barn, a cold humid blast greeted them "It smells like snow today. Isn't it funny how you can smell a snow coming? These late winter/early spring snows can be pretty nasty." Mac's mental weather station was usually right. Entering the barn Mac led Gary over to the far side where his workshop was and turned on the overhead florescent lights. Mac moved some scrap lumber and pulled out the rifle that Charlie had used to take the turkey.
"That's a nice rifle Mac. I'd say it looks to be about 70 to 80 years old" Gary took the brown patina covered rifle and read the model. "'Winchester Model 60, single shot .22, shorts, long and long rifle'. Well, this certainly will feed your family in the right hands." Opening the bolt and removing it Gary looked inside the barrel. "You really need to clean this. If you have some brake cleaning fluid, that'll work pretty well, then just run some cotton patches through it, and lightly oil it. You need to be careful that you don't use a hard steel rod when you do this as it will damage the rifling." Gary handed the rifle back to Mac and looked him directly in the eye. "Mac, you've got a real nice family. I just want to say that I really do appreciate all of the kindness you've shown me." Gary reached out his hand to shake Macs, when Mac took his hand Gary pulled him close and gave him a brotherly bear hug.
Mac was not ashamed or embarrassed by Gary's show of affection. "You're welcome, bro. Do you see anything here that you might need?"
Gary looked around saw boxes with all kinds of dusty clutter. Mac was a collector of junk and Gary loved junk. Spying a few rolls of duct tape. "I could use a roll of that duct tape. I see that you also have some army surplus trip wire, I could use a couple of rolls of that too."
"Help yourself man, help yourself."
Gary took what he needed and remembered the dream conversation with his daughter. What stuck out in his mind was that Ruthie couldn't pronounce the name of a bug, yet she pronounced a complex personal name very well. "Mac, does the name Herschel Weiss mean anything to you?"
Mac turned and looked at Gary as if he had three heads. "What did you say?"
"I said, does the name…"
"I heard you. Where did you hear that name?" Mac was definitely flustered
"I'll tell you where I heard it if you'll tell me what it means."
Mac thought for a few moments and was visibly upset. Taking a deep breath "Herschel Weiss was my Grandfather. He's been dead for over 20 years now."
"Go on" Gary still was confused, however the confusion wasn't brought on by him knowing the name of Macs Grandfather, but why was it important. Gary had given up on thinking about the other world-ness or supernatural knowledge that he was somehow privileged to be given glimpses of. The real brain teaser came with the question of 'why him?'
"My Grandfather was the kindest and nicest man you would ever meet. There wasn't a mean molecule in his body. Anyway, he was in Germany during WW2 and spent years in a labor camp. My Grandmother and Grandfather were taken to different camps, one to a labor camp and one to a death camp. My Grandfather never saw her again. Grand-papa Weiss never said anything about his time in those camps, until I was sixteen." Mac paused for a moment to gather his thoughts "I remember he took me for a walk and we sat down under this tree and he showed me his tattooed number and told me about the Nazi's and the camps. That was the only time he ever talked about it." Mac again paused and wiping a tear from his eye "Gary I've got to tell you something. I've never told anyone, not even Molly. My name is Weiss…not Finney"
Gary didn't say a word he just listened for the explanation.
"In 1974 I joined the Peace Corp and went to Zaire to help with a water purification project. When I was there, my best friend got Yellow Fever and died. His name was Mac Finney, mine was Joel Weiss. We buried Mac in Zaire and I came back after my service was over. When I went through Customs I inadvertently handed them Macs passport and since Mac and I looked a lot alike, they waved me through. I didn't have any family left here as my folks had moved to Israel and were killed in a bombing attack. Mac had no family to speak of either, his mother and father had split up and moved on with their drunken pathetic lives." Mac again paused and looked at Gary "I didn't want to have my name be a noose around my neck like my Grandfather did. Grand-papa Weiss told me that there was no shame in surviving."
"Damn man, that's some heavy shit you've been carrying around." Neither man spoke for a few moments. "I can't say what you did was wrong, because you are alive…unlike those guys that are across the ridge over there" Gary pointed to the ridge where he found the mass grave. "It seems that admitting you are Jewish, is a death sentence like Nazi Germany."
"What do you mean 'those guys across the ridge'?" Mac asked
Gary explained to Mac what he had found not only across the ridge, but the other mass graves as well. Mac was at a loss for words and seemed genuinely scared. "We just saw that family a few days ago. They stopped here for some food and Molly washed some of the baby's clothes. They stayed for the day, then left and headed in towards Simmonsville. I wonder how they got caught."
"Maybe someone turned them in. I understand there are rewards for turning in illegals. The rewards would have to be good, because these traitors also have a way of disappearing, if you know what I mean."
"So, now it's your turn, how do you know my Grandfathers name?"
"I guess we both have secrets. My daughter told me."
"Your daughter?...your daughter that was killed?" Mac seemed somewhat skeptical about this piece of news.
"Yeah. Ok, remember last night when April said she heard on the short wave radio that some people are having weird dreams? Well, I'm one of those people. I don't know why, or how, but I just do. Mac, I have seen everything and everyone that's caused our country to be where it is today. For some reason I am…" Gary made the bunny ears motion and said somewhat sarcastically "blessed…to know this. I've asked myself a million times, why me? All I get is more dreams…so; I've accepted it and go on." Gary paused for a moment. "Ruthie said that Herschel is a good dancer. Mac, she didn't say 'was' she said 'is'...present tense, she also said that he is her friend, again present tense."
Mac was at a loss with the realities of the afterlife; to him it was just religious mumbo-jumbo. He recalled "My Grandfather told me that he loved to take my Grandmother dancing. It was their escape from the reality of their world at that time."
Both men stood still and were quiet, the conversation was over. Mac was crushed and spoke first "I'm going to tell my family today. I don't know how they'll react, but today I have to come out of the closet with this." Mac smiled at Gary "Let's eat, this touchy feely stuff is making me hungry!"
Stepping out of the barn and taking the short walk back to the house; Mac saw that the goat pen's door was open. "Crap, the goats have gotten out again. These guys are sneakier than thieves. We've seen more coyotes around here recently; I hope the pygmy goats are alright."
The entire family ate a hearty breakfast of fresh eggs and pancakes. Goodbyes were said and Gary slung on his backpack and the Garand and walked out of the house. Walking out to the front yard, Gary made a cautious and thorough look both ways, not for approaching cars, but for any indication of danger.
Two miles to the north, two Humvee's had unloaded the ten man assault team which promptly entered the woods making their way to the base of the ridge. Once there, they headed south towards the Finney's farm.
The airstrip at Fort Ritchie was buzzing with activity as camouflage clad aircrews were busily preparing for the day's mission. Opening the small hangar doors the crew pushed the lightweight Predator out into the open. Refueling and arming the craft was the first order of business, followed by connecting the power cable from the portable power generator to the ungainly looking craft. The MQ-1 Predator is identical to the RQ-1 Predator with the exception that the designation MQ meant that this craft was armed and could be used as a combat support aircraft, in addition to its original duties as a reconnaissance aircraft.
The overall number of personnel that were part of the overall mission for a Predator was eighty five. Sgt Saddiqi was the Ground Control NCO in charge of today's mission. Speaking to one of his crew "Airman, let's power up and contact Flight Control."
Airman First Class Mohammed Ravi was excited as this was his first mission without the American's help. The American's had recently finished training their UN Iraqi and Pakistani replacements and were being transferred to another part of the country to train other Ground and Support crews on the Predators. The replacements had also assumed the American's corresponding rank as part of the assimilation. "Yes, Sergeant." Airman Ravi plugged in the power connection from the gas operated generator and once that connection was made, turned on the main power switch of the ungainly bird. Successfully completing his task, he gave the thumbs up to the Sergeant.
"Flight Control, this is Predator Ground control, Fort Ritchie. Power is on and we are awaiting your pre-flight check." Sgt Saddiqi spoke into his microphone which transmitted to a satellite uplink and to Flight Control 1,300 miles away.
The only indication of what was taking place inside the Flight Control building at Eglin Air Force Base was the unit insignia on the front door. The insignia was of a cartoon snarling Coyote surrounded by lightning bolts and read "12th Reconnaissance Squadron, No Place To Hide" Inside of the building sat twenty four Flight Control Operators, or pilots, which controlled the two dozen US operational Predators. "Ground Control Fort Ritchie, this is Flight Control Eglin, transmission is good and I'll begin the pre-flight checks now. Ground Control who is our Forward Observer on this mission?"
"Flight Control the FO is call sign 'Navajo'" The UN occupying force in its entirety was fascinated with American history, especially the history of the Old West. The World Police force looked at the American Indian with reverence and awe, as they felt that the Native American Indians were the first of many group to be destroyed by the infidel Americans.
"Navajo, this is Flight Control Eglin, do you copy?"
The assault team was strung out at 5 meter intervals and making their way to the base of the ridge, once there the group would turn west to take their positions. Capt Haki was the only team member to have radio communications and received the signal on his satellite radio headset. Halting the team with hand signals he spoke to the Florida Flight Controller. "Flight Control this is Navajo. We are approximately one and a half miles from our target position, over."
"Navajo, I am looking at the weather forecast for your location and see that a strong low pressure front moving in your direction. It says that later today you'll have snow and approximately 15-30 mph winds out of the northeast. Navajo, this is outside of our operational envelope, so I can help until the weather degrades."
Sergeant Saddiqi and Airman Ravi were listening to the conversation between the FO and Flight Control. "Sergeant, will there be a problem today?" Ravi asked
"Ravi, you know that our Predator is a medium altitude lightweight reconnaissance craft. This means that it isn't able to operate in winds over 35 mph. The clouds will have to make us operate at lower altitudes than we would like. It could also interfere with the laser targeting system for the Hellfire and with the Forward Looking Infra-Red and optical surveillance systems. This might not give the assault team the ability to have real-time battlefield information as they would like."
"Sergeant, will the missiles be able to engage the target through the clouds?" Ravi asked
"Yes and no. The laser from the craft paints the target and the missile sees the point where it is to impact. If the Predator were miles away from the target then the missile would travel horizontally upward and downward, like a bullets trajectory, to impact the target." The Sergeant gave a visual demonstration to the wide eyed Airman. "This type of flight path would have problems with clouds, as the missile would lose contact with the laser and go out of control. I would think that today's mission against a stationary target would be an attack from directly overhead, and should present no problem, except to the terrorists on the ground."
As the Ground Crew was talking amongst themselves, the Predator remotely came alive. First the sound of the electronic servo motors which are attached to the control surfaces started to move and then the FLIR and optical pod under the nose of the craft swiveled around. Finally, the rear mounted Rotax snow mobile engine cranked, sputtered and finally started firing all four cylinders. The Ground Crew disconnected the umbilical power cable and the Predator was under total control of the Flight Controller. With a chain saw like noise the Predator increased power and sped down the runway, taking flight into the pre-dawn gray sky.


text:
Just Add Light and Stir
Inspiration and Encouragement for Unschooling Parents
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Clarify / "Why?"
One of the finest ways to clarify a concept is to explain it to someone else. It's one thing to passively understand
(at least momentarily in short-term memory) how to tie a clove hitch or to make waffles, but to really know the thing you need to have done it so much you can do it while you're sleepy, in the dark, in a wind storm. Or so much that you could pass the secret skill on to another person. Be prepared for the most important question of all: "Why?"
photo by Sandra Dodd
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
It's been such a long time since I've blogged that my blog address is no longer stored in my web browser. I need to do something about that.
One of the downsides of being a published author is that people assume you love writing (I do) and must be good at it (er...) and therefore you would love to write the roadshow this year. And having written it, obviously you have a vision for how it would look, so you should also direct it. Every Tuesday and Friday night, and Saturday mornings for the month leading up to it. And any problems with a costumes, sound, arguments between actors, are also yours to deal with. I have now written and directed four roadshows, all of them terrible, and I really don't want to do this year's. November is the date written in for our Stake. I'm going to try to protest that I'm really too busy with my latest book, but naturally this will just remind people that I am a published author, and therefore love writing and must be good at it.
I haven't read the book but Branden Bell (what an amazingly James Bond name) has received stellar reviews for The Road Show over on Anne Bradshaw's blog (annebradshaw.blogspot.com) so you might want to go over to Ann's place and enter her competition to win a copy. This blog gives me two entries, but as luck would have it the competition is open to USA and Canada residents only, so I'm not eligible. That's OK, I've had enough roadshow trauma in my life that I don't need any more.


text:
hi everyone!
( also tried more body mist's samples but didn't get any as you can see above HAHAHAHA )
after that we went to search for some phone cases for jy at switch and went to brown pocket for tea. Jy belanja-ed tung and I to a triple choc waffle and she had a random latte.
jy & her latte
Also, did I mention that brown pocket has amazingggg service? well, they have AMAZING service. The staff was so friendly and they were so polite and patient and were just so kind overall omg 10 thumbs up for their service man, they were so nice.
"so hot la jy faster take the picture"
then as we stepped out of brown pocket we saw this
it doesn't look as nice in the picture as it does in real life!!
lol whut I don't do ootds but whatever
after that we headed back to h&m where tung changed her shirt for a smaller size and then my dad called and was kinda pissed since it was already pretty late and it was dark out and he didn't want me taking the ferry when it was so dark so we took a cab for rm20 from gp to the ferry terminal ( which to me was a rip off. I mean his meter wasn't even working wtf.
but I was desperate to go home lolz
which is how and where my trip ended. It was a lovely day and I look forward to more outings like this w them.
ok bye for now!
I'm currently typing this in mw because I don't have wifi till 12pm on my laptop but I have nothing to do so I just decided I'd blog about yesterday's events. Basically a bunch of us from school decided to have an outing which we have been planning since before pt3. From escape to the 'hop on hop off bus', none of those plans worked out. Seeing as we are all from butterworth, it was also quite a hassle to just get transport to the island but we managed to do so anyway.
Kirtisha's mum fetched me to Penang around 11am while jy, tung, munira and manvinder took the ferry to gurney. The main planner ( looi ) couldn't make it at the last minute which was slightly annoying not gonna lie LOL cause we were all quite clueless of what we were suppose to do in penang. Originally, we were meant to board the hop on hop off bus since it was cheap ( myr 19 only HAHA ) and it would be adventurous but in the end all of us just ended up having some retail therapy at paragon and plaza.
[ fun fact : I have never been to gurney paragon so it was much more fun for me lol ]
kirtisha and I arrived earlier ( as expected ) so we decided to shop for a little while. As we roamed around we passed a "spongebob mini theatre" where they were showing, I presume, snippets of spongebob episodes. There was a show at noon which was just a 5 min wait and kirtisha wanted to go but no I stopped her HAHAHA.
We then went to h&m and got superrrr excited because they were having a sale. The majority of dresses there were selling ONLY FOR RM 25 ????? and there were even rm 10 muscle tees and skater skirts which aren't my forte but still???? Rm 10 in h&m????? damn. HAHA soon after we were over our shock of how cheap the clothes were the others arrived and jy was so hungry that she literally dragged us out of h&m to find a restaurant for brunch
we had breakfast+lunch @ miam miam as suggested by jy since she wanted to try their famous french toast which I have seen 837792739 pictures of on instagram. I didn't mind going there too so that was where our first stop was. ( all photos are taken on that day through our phones so please mind the quality )
they had pretty deco but it was so awkward to take pictures LOL so I made jy go and take some but she didn't do that great of a job HAHA ( look below lmao ) but A+ for effort jy!! HAHAHA
the bottomless ice water which I appreciated so much because most restaurants only serve super sweet drinks which I don't like at all.
|"i am fantabulous bow before me u peasants"
[ all smiles but we were actually starving and were mad because the service was really slow ]
despite that, they were nice enough to tell us that the restaurant is non-halal so it wouldn't be suitable for munira. We wanted to get up and leave but munira repeatedly kept saying that it was fine and she didn't want to eat which was so irritating because she clearly was hungry -_- if you want to eat you don't have to be shy dafuq. I was fed up so I just decided to keep quiet and sit there and enjoy.
anywho, tung's food came first. Not sure what it was but it was some kind of lobster soup with a side of french/italian bread idk. She said it was super salty and she didn't really enjoy it.
tung's soup and bread
[ buy one christmas tree get one free salty soup set HAHAHA jk ] but she does look like she's promoting the tree AM I RIGHT AHAH
a little later mine and jy's spaghetti arrived ( we decided to share a plate of spaghetti and french toast but they came in HUGE portions so we ended up not being able to finish the french toast )
the bacon = 9000000000 thumbs up man
the spaghetti as a whole was OK.
Kirtisha's chocolate souffle thing idk HAHA fancy food ain't up my alley
omg manvinder's was heavenly!! I have no idea what it was but damnnnn it was good. I only had a bite but I loved it. It was like bread covered with cheese and bacon, simple peasant food but absolutely scrumptious!!
tung's dessert, it was soooo weird. idk it was crispy at the top and moist at the bottom THAT SOUNDS WRONG HAHAHA ok im sorry it just tasted awfully weird, in a nice dark choc kinda way
and finally....
THE EVER SO FAMOUS FRENCH TOAST WHICH I HAVE NO IDEA WHY IS FAMOUS because it tasted like regular 'ol french toast I have every sunday morning at home lol, the cream was a nice touch though! might try it home made.
[ lets all take a moment to appreciate how perfect the above photo would've been if it weren't for the half eaten spaghetti so disgustingly sitting there at the side HAHAHAH crap ]
as I previously mentioned, jy and I wanted to share both the french toast and the spaghetti but we both have reallyyyyyy miniature appetites so we ended up forcing ourselves to finish the french toast which in the end we failed to do HAHA
"you better eat at least two or I will murder you", I said as I grabbed another fork and stabbed the french toast and forced it into jy's hand
in the end we tried but this was what was left >:(
the bill came up to just about myr150.10 which to me was really reasonable!! all of us divided it and payed rm30 each which was ok I feel.
then, we proceeded to h&m where the girls went on a shopping spree HAHAH I tried on a few clothes but I only liked one and it wasn't even on sale!! D: I was devastated. It was rm 60 and it was a minnie mouse sweater thing. It was so cute and I was in loooove but the price was ridiculous. I contemplated so long and finally made the decision to get it because well I would've remorsed if I didn't. I absolutely do NOT regret my purchase.
IT'S CUTE AMIRITE ok I don't care I find it cute and it was worth rm60 HAHA idk it is really really cute.
I was also looking through the accessories section of h&m to find that they were all also on sale! I found a set of 6 pairs of earrings only for rm10. Wanted to buy it but decided not to because I only really liked 2 out of the 6 pairs lol
After the rest made their purchases, we headed to the washroom because jy wanted to change into her new clothes ( I admit I was half tempted to do so too but I didn't because kt said we were to go back in a couple of hours, so what was the point right? haha )
annnndddd... this happened
"let the selcas in the toilet begin"
w/ kirtishaaaa
munira has perfect teeth man
as we were taking this we didn't realise that jy was out of the bathroom andddd she snapchatted
...this HAHA
After that, we walked to gurney plaza. ( as we were walking also I managed to take pics lol wtf I am obsessed )
"ok smile"
"brader I wasn't ready"
When we reached plaza jy went to meet up with her friend while tung and I went to padini while the other three ie. manvinder, munira and kirtisha wandered off without us gossiping about who knows what at who knows where HAHA. We finally all met up at chatime where kt said it was time for us to leave but I rly wanted to shop more so I asked my mum if I could come back with a ferry and she said ok!! I was overjoyedddd. Munira, manv and kirtisha then went back with kt's mum while Tung, me and jy went to the milkshake factory as tung wanted a drink.
She got a ferero rocher one but she said the tiramisu one tasted nicer. I would've gotten the bounty, nutella or maltese's one tbh HAHA but I was superrrr full.
tung looking satisfied af with her shake HAHAHA
the service @ the milkshake factory was great!! the guy was so friendly and allowed tung to try some samples before her purchase.
then we went to mango where I changed into my minnie mouse sweater thing that I got @ h&m a few hours ago ( lmao ) and headed back to gurney paragon.
There, jy went to naraya where she bought a bag and tung and I proceeded to bath and body works. It smelled heavenly in there omghiuwsjkaew. I wanted to get their pink chiffon body mist which smelled just idk IT WAS SO DELICIOUS but I had a budget so I just ended up getting a small bottle of warm vanilla sugar room spray which I sprayed ytd in my room and it smelled like a christmas cookie ok yumz.
after that we went to search for some phone cases for jy at switch and went to brown pocket for tea. Jy belanja-ed tung and I to a triple choc waffle and she had a random latte.
the triple choc waffle! ( it is unbelievable that this was taken with an ip5 cam and not a dslr right HAHA ) please do not steal this photograph.
( these were taken with a redmi. also not bad right HAHA )
jy & her latte
Also, did I mention that brown pocket has amazingggg service? well, they have AMAZING service. The staff was so friendly and they were so polite and patient and were just so kind overall omg 10 thumbs up for their service man, they were so nice.
"so hot la jy faster take the picture"
then as we stepped out of brown pocket we saw this
it doesn't look as nice in the picture as it does in real life!!
lol whut I don't do ootds but whatever
tung & jy
tung & I
jy & I
but I was desperate to go home lolz
[ on the ferry ]
ok bye for now!


text:
Here's the thing, we need a new kind of data store, a new kind of SQL, something that does for storing and querying large amounts of data what SQL did for normalized data.
Sure you can store a lot of data in a relational database, but when I say large, I mean really large; a billion or more records. I know we need this because I keep seeing people build it.
All this talk about making SPARQL behave like SQL maybe for nothing if people realize that's not what they need after all.
The back of the envelope scalability for an RDF store would be potentially 100s of billions of statements.
The key requirements highlighted are: distributed, joinless (no referential integrity at the store level), denormalized and transactionless.
I was aware of this because a comment linked to one of my previous posts about Kowari scalability (which I must of snuck through at some stage). Kowari got up to 10,000 triples/second later on its life.


text:
While Barry is on vacation, the views contained in this blog do not represent Barry, or those of the Allen Americans Organization.
If you were one of the 4328 in attendance on Saturday, you saw a slow start for the Americans. But Allen came back fighting in the 2nd and 3rd periods earning them a 3-1 victory over the Gladiators.
Game Recap:
- Gregor Hanson started the scoring at 3:31 of the second period on a rebound of a slapshot from the left circle
- Spencer Asuchak scored his first goal of the season at the 12:06 mark of the second
- After a goal by Atlanta in the 3rd period, Asuchak closed the scoring with an empty netter with only 5 seconds left in the game
- Fan favorite Tudor Floru called a total of 20 penalties resulting in a league leading 68 total penalty minutes
- Riley Gill earned the game's first star by stopping 39 of 40 SOGs giving him a SV% .954 thus far, followed by Hanson (1G, 1A) and Chad Costello (0G, 3A)
- Allen stopped all 5 Atlanta power plays extending their PK streak to 26. So far this year, they have yet to allow a power play goal.
- With his 3 assists, Costello is 2nd in the league with 5
- With a +1, Joel Chouinard leads all ECHL defensemen with a +6
This was no press conference Friday evening due to jersey auction.
Linesman Erik Contino, assisted off the ice during Wednesday night's game, has suffered a broken leg and ankle injury. Surgery will be necessary this week.
Meet Joel Chouinard:
|Joel Chouinard #72
|C'mon guys dig a little deeper for my jersey!
(photos courtesy of Diane Webster Photography)
I am from a small town Sherbrooke, it's in Quebec Canada. I speak French and my whole speaks French. I moved here in 2010, met my wife in Cleveland, Courtney is American from Erie, Pa. We've been married 4 months, moved to Texas this past May, my wife works here.
Did you have a pet growing up, now, and is it coming with you?
My family has a fierce Siamese cat, she is 16 now, she is beautiful with blue in her coat. She is stuck in her old ways. It really is my parents' cat so it will not be coming.
What are you planning to do during the summer?
I plan on working next summer, could not work this past one since I did not have my visa, but am all set now.
Describe you training regimen, type, and with who?
Started working out with Cosmo Clark athletics, stay in shape, try to prevent injuries.
What is your favorite number?
I used to wear 27, a couple of years ago it was not available so I just switched to 72, now I like it.
Do you have a nickname, and how do you properly pronounce your name?
My last name is hard to pronounce, the proper way to say it is Schwinard. Since it hard to pronounce someone came up with "Chewy" (as in Chewbacca).
Do you have a sports hero?
Do not have one hero, always admired Mario Lemieux. I really like Roger Federer, he is always humble, successful, finds a way to win.
Your earliest hockey memory?
My earliest is actually a funny one. My parents never played hockey, really did not know how it worked. My first time on the ice I had the right skate on my left foot, I started skating like a penguin, it did not take the coach long to figure out what was wrong.
At what age did you start skating?
Probably 4-5 years old.
Describe your style of play:
I would have to say puck moving defenseman. Pass in all zones, bring a little bit of everything, offensively, defensively.
Favorite actor/actress?
Denzel Washington, he is just a stud, like every movie he makes
Favorite singer or group?
I've always been a huge Eminem fan.
What song or artist you hope your teammates never catch you listening to?
Listen to a little bit of everything, almost all goes today,
If you could have lunch with someone, not part of your family, who would you choose?
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla motors, read his biography and he is a genius. Very interesting man.
What is one thing people would find surprising about you?
I am pretty stubborn, try not to be, sometimes I argue over nothing.
What chore do you hate doing?
Pretty much any chore, do not mind cooking, but don't like cleaning up after myself.
Who do you admire as a leader? (hockey or non hockey)
Jonathan Toews, what he has done with the Chicago Blackhawks, obviously, he is a silent leader. Not the loudest or screamer in the locker room, he leads by example. He is a huge winner, 3 Stanley Cups in 6 years.
Where is the most interesting place you've ever visited?
Hockey has taken me to many places, have to be biased here, my home province, Quebec, is just beautiful, there is a huge river, St. Lawrence, I am not a fisherman, just love the nature stuff.
If you could live in another country for 2 years where would you pick (other than US or Canada)?
I have only been to France and Mexico, but I would like to go to Germany. Have heard many people say they love it there.
If you could be something other than a hockey player, what would you be?
Entrepreneur - have my own business, or Coach hockey!
Any pregame rituals or superstitions?
Not superstitious, don"t like to do the same things so I don't forget something, grab a coffee, get here early, stretch out,
How are you going to spend your time on "Big Red"?
First I will have to increase my data on my phone, I take classes, half way done an on-line degree, Netflix, hang out with the guys
Favorite childhood toy?
Not really. We had a rink in our back yard, so I was always out there.
Favorite motto or saying?
"Never forget where you're from"
Favorite TV show?
Breaking Bad
If you could choose someone as a mentor, who would you choose?
I already have him, my dad, he has always been
Did you know anyone from Allen before coming here?
Played with Gensy in Cleveland 4 years ago, did a short stint with Costy the year before, and went to camp with Eberle.
What do you like to do when away from the rink?
Spend most of my time in the books so I can finish my degree as soon as possible.
What do you know or have been told about the Allen fans?
They're loud, and very, very passionate. They're great!
How did you wind up in Allen?
My wife got a job here totally unrelated to me, after college she picked Dallas and has been living here for a year. I called Marty and told him I would really like to play here, it is a great organization.
Did you know: No matter how many renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner you've seen, there's a good chance you've never witnessed a national anthem like the one performed by Joe Everson before the Toledo Walleye game on Saturday. Take a minute to check out the video below.
UPDATE: This video has been removed but can also be found at Walleye National Anthem
Next blog will be Tuesday with pregame preview and another player interview.


text:
Evaluating gray literature
The criteria you would use to evaluate gray literature are the same as those used to evaluate any kind of information. Consider:
- Authorship: Not all gray literature will have a named author (or authors). If it does, you will want to consider whether the author or authors are knowledgeable in the field and whether they have any affiliations that might bias their views. If no authors are named, you will want to carefully consider the organization that produced the report.
- Source of the Report: This information should be obvious and easy to locate. See below for more information on evaluating agency and organization websites.
- Transparency of Methods: It should be clear where data and other types of information came from, how it was analyzed and how the final report was compiled.
- Currency: The date a report was issued should be easy to find. If a report is older, try to find a more recent version or an update.
Evaluating agency and organization websites
Although it is often suggested that searches for gray literature be restricted by domain, do not rely on the .org or .edu domains when evaluating websites. The .org domain no longer only applies to non-profits. A lot of gray literature is generated by companies that use .com for a domain - it would be foolish to exclude it. Also, don't count on the professional look of a web page to indicate quality. Some very reputable sources of information can have websites that look dated. Some less reliable sources of information, on the other hand, are beautifully designed so make sure that you are evaluating content and authority independent of appearances.


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i just got a note from jay cross that along with harold jarche and judy brown, he will be moving forward with the unworkshop project that he and i piloted back in march. right now, you can sign up for their frist offerings at www.informl.com.
the beta test of the unworkshop was a tremendous experience both for the participants and jay and me. jay's dedication to the open and learner focused approach was something to behold. despite some stumbling out of the blocks, jay finished off the beta in a blaze of glory that truly showed how and why a format that truly expects participants to create their own learning is so powerful. if you have the opportunity to sign up for an unworkshop, take it. You'll have a learning experience that will change the way you think about your own learning.
technorati tags: web 2.0, informal learning, online classes, jay cross


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A substantial undertaking to remodel its tasting room, restaurant and inn is now complete at Justin Vineyards & Winery Paso Robles. The new facilities, at 11680 Chimney Rock Road, will be open to the public Friday, officials said.
The newly renovated, two-story tasting room was redesigned to make its indoor and outdoor spaces larger in the former farm-house style building. The changes add nearly 2,000 square feet to the original footprint, according to a press release. The new design is described as "clean (and) contemporary," featuring higher ceilings and large windows framing the winery's estate vineyards. A tiered patio was also added for seating, a new outdoor tasting bar and a gourmet outdoor kitchen for a picnic lunch or food and cheese pairings outside.
The estate's small restaurant and three-suite inn at the same site also underwent changes. The eatery, which is in the same building at the tasting room, was repositioned for better views and the guest suites received new furniture, style and amenities.
Construction began in January. The company didn't respond to requests for the cost of the renovations.
The tasting room is open daily from 10 a.m. to the last tasting at 4:30 p.m.


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Now I am always intrigued at those more recent photographs of where we live.
So while pictures from the late 19th and early 20th centuries are fascinating often everything is so different that it is almost looking at a different landscape.
But those from say the 1960s onwards are often almost the same but not quite, and with this in mind here over the next few days are some from the camera of Jean Gammons all taken in the late 1970s.
And that is all I shall say,
Picture; Blackheath, 1977 from the collection of Jean Gammons


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Seen and overheard at a guitar shop, where I spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon:
"I don't need to plug it in" (A 40-something man to his wife. But just how do you evaluate an electric guitar without plugging it in, hombre?)
"So tell me, what's the deal with Fenders?" (Soul-patched rich banker type who probably hadn't touched his guitar in 10 years but was ready to plonk 3000 dollars right there and then, to an over-tattooed salesperson.)
"Can you show me that one?" (a serious 12-year old, dressed in a standard-issue black Iron Maiden shirt, pointing at a Sunburst Gibson Les Paul on the wall that costed about 4000 dollars. Who buys a 12- year old a Gibson Les Paul?)
"Brother, can you give me the high E?" (Meek, soft-spoken man with a really jagged haircut, to me)
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Minor Key Afternoon
1 comment:
- inspirational said...
Happy Money Making Famous Quotes.... Waste your money and your only out your money,but waste your time and your out part of your life... Michael Leoboeuf
Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten dollar hair cut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair... Sam Ewing
If You Find a need to become part of the inspirational so you make a few extra bucks.. go to http://7day2success.com/ ....inspirational...inspirational....
Live a better life today..
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"Planning to write is not writing. Outlining--researching--talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing."
(E. L. Doctorow)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Plant that knife
Once upon a time, I was writing stories. I was trying to make them memorable. Things were exploding. People were dying. Knives were used. Guns were fired. Laser thingies were disintegrating aliens. Blood was splashed against stainless steel walls. Tears were never far.
But alas, no matter how many amazing tools and situations I was using – nothing felt truly dramatic. Every explosion, every knife planted in poor schmucks' backs, every laser thingies looked like armless plastic artifacts.
And then… Bingo! I discovered the power of PLANTING AND PAYING OFF.
From that day on, using a knife, squashing an alien, or blowing a head felt great!
The concept is easily understandable and magical to use: If you're going to use any dramatically charged tool or skill (a knife, an ability to throw things, a gun, a bomb, Aunt Liza apple pie), you need to plant it casually earlier in your story.
In other words...
If you're going to kill the landlady with an axe, better present this axe way before splitting up the landlady's head with it.
If Cathy Ames is going to shoot Adam Trask in the shoulder, it will work as a dramatic jackpot if you already clearly established that Cathy was a monster and a time bomb ready to explode.
Easy, isn't it?
Planting and paying off: use it. And killing stuff will never feel so fine.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
There are three rules for writing. Unfortunately, no one can agree what they are. - Somerset Maugham
Happy writing!
Happy writing!
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It's earnings season. While the story behind Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit's resignation captures the headlines, CNBC and their competitors continue their breathless ritual of reporting the latest quarterly figures, comparing actual results with "expectations," and driving short bursts of buying and selling with predictable shifts in stock price.
Those of us in the business of influencing practice and protocol of public companies know better than to reach our friends in business this time of year. It's a lot like what I remember about cramming for midterms in college -- just let me get through this week, then I will have my life back.
To what end? Citi's stock is up a fraction; Goldman, which had a great quarter, is down, ostensibly because the company beat forecasts by something less than the bookies anticipated. The game is reset for the next quarter; the big winners, in addition to the business news channels, are sell-side analysts who are incentivized to produce trading volume. Both are looking for stories to sell every 90 days.
If you "google" earning reports, or earnings guidance (what the Street calls forecasts), you'll see how embedded EPS noise is in the psyche of the markets. NASDAQ, in its own analysis of the reporting season underway, strangely makes the story about the reporting and forecasting itself, rather than the underlying performance of the business sector. This makes sense -- the players glued to their screens -- TV and other sorts -- are traders and gamblers. One could hardly call them investors with real concern for the underlying drivers and risks. There are two games being played here, as Roger Martin always points out, and the one that CNBC is announcing has little to do with business fundamentals or long term trends.
Over the next few months, the Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program will convene a group of experts in New York and London who deal with both the sending and receiving of news. We will hit the pause button and consider what might constitute good practice in the realm of transparent and useful "guidance" and market communications. What is the experience of companies that have moved away from forecasting EPS, choosing instead to offer up metrics that say more about predictors of long term success? What is the role of both forwarding looking metrics, and backward looking results in promoting long-term orientation to the markets? What constitutes long term in the communications business and whom are we trying to reach? What can we learn from practices in specific industries?
In some cases, taking a fresh look at Wall Street communications might mean abandoning the tradition of providing earnings guidance, like Unilever and GE have done -- or learning from companies like Dow and Nestle, and upstart Google, that have never offered quarterly earnings forecasts.
In all cases, it means more useful information to those who hold your stock -- real investors -- and greater honesty about guiding market behavior. It means moving from earnings guidance as the default practice on Wall Street, and freeing up time and resources to develop and execute long term strategies that result in stable, consistent growth over time.
More research here would be a good thing, but there is ample evidence that managers who spend more time focused on meeting or exceeding the quarterly earnings spend less time on the decisions that are long term critical and reduce investments in R&D and LT capital expenditures. In other words, companies fixated on the quarter abandon, or give short shrift to, investments that ensure a publicly traded company's long term survival.
The main argument against companies providing guidance is that without such information, stock prices will be even more volatile, with analysts and investors left to their own devices, and besides, the more information provided to investors, the better.
There's no doubt that publicly traded companies have a fiduciary responsibility to provide investors with all the information that the SEC requires. But shareholders are not all the same, and other constituents also require attention: customers, employees and host communities. Surely these constituencies benefit from a company that's spending most of its time focused on producing high quality goods and services rather than maximizing profits, or the appearance thereof, to fulfill the short-term interests of traders and CNBC hosts.


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Some people are addicted to love. Others are addicted to drugs. I'm addicted to Target. Seriously....
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Double-Take: Serena & Lily vs. Threshold
It's time for another double-take, where we take one item from Tar-shay and match it up against a lookalike (yet pricier) designer piece. Today we're looking at two coral & cream herringbone throw blankets. Only one of them is from Serena & Lily and will set you back a whopping $295, whereas the other is from Threshold (at Target) and costs just $19.99. Which one is which? The answer appears in the comments section below.
Posted by Target Addict at 3:01 PM
2 comments:
- Target Addict said...
The throw on the left is from Threshold, and the one on the right is the budget-blowing one from Serena & Lily.
- June 3, 2014 at 3:02 PM
- katy said...
I was completely wrong. The one one the left looks softer and more luxurious then the one on the right.
- June 14, 2014 at 6:29 AM
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Last week I hopped on a plane and left Colorado. The weather was beautiful. The clouds were puffy, and the view was gorgeous.
What made traveling even more fun was that I got to fly with good friends. (I stole this photo from Heather's Facebook.)
Entertainment was never a problem since we are magazine crazy gals. The flight attendants coveted our magazine stash while we planned out crafting projects for the rest of the year, or tried to plan some anyway.
Our plane touched down in the beautiful state of Texas, where I thought I'd sweat my entire body away from the sweltering heat and humidity.
We drove until we arrived at this breathtaking place, Cotton Gin Village. It was so green and gorgeous!


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In its first major effort to show that it can be a viable political force, the newly formed Syrian opposition coalition started talks in Egypt on Wednesday aimed at forming an alternative to the government of President Bashar al-Assad and paving the way for more international acceptance and aid.
The coalition, whose official name is the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, was formed at a meeting in Qatar this month and has been recognized by Britain, France, Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council. To win further support from foreign capitals, it must tackle the broader problems of uniting the many opposition groups in exile and the rebels on the ground in Syria.
Delegates were expected to hold their second day of talks in a Cairo hotel on Thursday against the backdrop of a 20-month civil war in which about 40,000 people have been killed in clashes between armed rebels and jihadist fighters on one side and Mr. Assad's forces on the other. The rebels appear to be gaining in their strategy to challenge the air supremacy of Mr. Assad's military.
There were reports on Wednesday that for the second successive day, insurgents had shot down a government aircraft. Video posted on the Internet by rebels showed an airplane tail assembly jutting out of debris. Such videos are difficult to verify, but the episode on Wednesday seemed to be confirmed by other witnesses.
"We watched a Syrian plane being shot down as it was flying low to drop bombs" on the town of Daret Azzeh, 20 miles west of Aleppo and close to the Turkish border, said Ugur Cuneydioglu, who said he saw the aircraft being downed from a Turkish border village in southern Hatay Province. "It slowly went down in flames before it hit the ground. It was quite a scene," Mr. Cuneydioglu said.
The video said the plane had been brought down by "the free men of Daret Azzeh soldiers of God brigade."Continue reading the main story
On Tuesday, Syrian rebels said they had shot down a military helicopter with a surface-to-air missile outside Aleppo.
The violence on Wednesday also included car bombs in a Damascus suburb that killed dozens of people.
In their first meeting since their umbrella organization was created in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 11, coalition delegates confronted the realities of the political terrain. Disagreements emerged over the coalition's composition when one member, the Syrian National Council, tried to increase the number of its representatives.
"Nothing will proceed until we work this out," said one council member who spoke on condition of anonymity, according to Reuters.
The focus also seemed to be more on deciding how leadership candidates should be chosen rather than on who they might be. "I don't think we'll be discussing the election of a transitional government during the meeting today," said Khaled Khoja, a coalition member. "We're still discussing whether to have a government or to have committees instead."
While the group, and the talks, are in their infancy, members appeared to recognize that world supporters were watching for results. Mr. Khoja said that while the group was discussing the coalition's structure, it wanted to "see the outcome of the meeting in Morocco before deciding on the government."
He was referring to a meeting planned for next month in Morocco of the so-called Friends of Syria group of nations, which includes the United States. At a meeting in New York City in September that included foreign ministers and Syrian opposition leaders, the group offered modest pledges of support for opponents of the Assad government. The opposition had unified under international pressure to give provinces better representation, and ideally, to oversee the disparate rebel factions while also providing a counterweight to the well-armed jihadist groups in the country.
The conflict has also flared along Syria's borders with Lebanon, Israel, Turkey and Jordan.
In Turkey, which was once an ally of the Assad government, a team of NATO inspectors visited sites on Wednesday where the alliance might install batteries of Patriot antiaircraft missiles.
Another video on Wednesday showed a rebel fighter holding what appeared to be a complete SA-16 heat-seeking, shoulder-fired missile.
The man claimed to have shot down both the airplane and the helicopter, and said the missiles had been captured by rebels when they overran Base 46 outside Aleppo earlier this month.
High-profile tactical successes in the war have often been followed by videotaped claims of responsibility, and in part are seen as fund-raising opportunities for the fighters. Many claims, including those by the rebel fighters, are impossible to verify immediately.
But it was significant. The SA-16 is more modern and capable than the more commonly seen SA-7. It flies at a faster speed, can be used against aircraft at a much wider range of attack angles, has a longer range and is promoted by its Russian exporters as being more resistant to an aircraft's efforts to thwart it.
Its presence suggested that the rebels had been acquiring more weapons and could be mounting a more meaningful challenge to the Syrian Air Force.
State news media said on Wednesday that two car bombings struck Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus that is populated by members of the Christian and Druse minorities.
The SANA news agency said the death toll was at least 34. An activist group based in Britain, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said 47 people were killed.Continue reading the main story


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Nabil Ayouch
Why Is Banning "Much Loved" The Best Thing Ayouch Could Have Hoped For?
Amidst heated debate, the ministry of communication has decided to stand on the side of the critics of "Much Loved" and ban the screening of the movie in Moroccan theaters. Ayouch said he was "shocked" to receive the news, but he should probably be happy as the ministry did him a huge favor.
Apparently, universally acknowledged truths exceed a man's want for a wife to a want for anything that is banned. Human history is rich in examples that illustrate this claim. For instance, the prohibition of alcohol in the U.S. during the 1920's did the country more harm than good. On the other hand, legalizing Marijuana in the Netherlands has been proved to be a healthier choice.
Therefore, banning the screening of "Much Loved" is the most powerful and effective advertising campaign Ayouch could have dreamt of. This ban will certainly generate unprecedented interest in the movie and widen the circle of debate to larger scales. It will also make people even more excited to watch "the movie that scared the ministry!" especially that the ban isn't based on solid grounds and many people think it was just a response to the public outroar.
Furthermore, it is inevitable that people will find ways to watch the movie just the way they managed to watch banned movies and read censored books before. The highly-wired world we live in, and the accessibility to different media outlets make it really challenging for governments to conceal information, unless North Korea is a role model that we're looking up to!
Worrying when you put that way, right? But what's even more worrying is that the ministry decided to ban a movie that they had allowed to be made and filmed in Morocco and with a (mostly) Moroccan team! So, to think that all of these points have gone unnoticed by the ministry leaves much room for interpretation… and WORRY!
Thus, due to this "banertisement," Ayouch has now become the most famous movie director in Morocco. The ministry has now given him something to brag about and present himself in the image of the liberating hero of Moroccan cinema. In fact, many Moroccans with libertarian mindsets think of him as a hero who should be celebrated. To these people's joy, Ayouch's film was invited to premiere at the acclaimed Cannes festival in France. This event didn't go unnoticed as many of the movie's supporters interpreted it as a triumph of art and freedom of speech over oppression.
So, Ayouch has now become a renowned director at an international level thanks to a) his gift as a director, and b) the ministry's gift of baning his movie.
In short, if the ministry is afraid the movie would give a bad image about Moroccans, the ban isn't going to help alter that image, either. So, instead of thinking of Morocco as a country with many prostitutes, foreigners would now think of Morocco as an oppressive country that doesn't tolerate freedom of speech and arts. sounds better now? Naah, it's a lost war!
Ranting About the Rants About "Much Loved"
Even though I have been trying to keep my mouth shut on the topic, there was a time when I felt a need to have my say on Nabil Ayouch's "Much Loved." So, although I know that this post will probably get me more hatred and cynicism than respect and empathy, I just can't resist the urge to voice my opinion on this matter.
If there's anything my father taught me as a kid that I could never forget, it was the fact that we can't judge a book by its cover. Now, what can be said about books can also be transferred to other areas where many people find it comforting to spit out their judgments before they even make informed opinions about those matters. Ask any university professor about the usefulness of making judgments and coming up with conclusions without carrying out any type of research, and you'd probably be asked to review your primary school materials!
With this in mind, I just can't figure out why so many people are angry because of "Much Loved." I find it very appalling that people from different walks of life are jumping to conclusions about a movie they haven't even watched! Making judgments based on leaked out excerpts is the same as reading a few passages from a book and coming up with conclusions and judgments about the book and its writer. Just unbelievable!
In general terms, bashers of Nabil Ayouch's movie base their opinions on many assumptions, the most recurrent of which are as follows:
- The movie gives a bad image of Moroccan women
- The movie encourages sex tourism
- Nabil Ayouch is supporting and is supported by a foreigner agenda
- The movie is a threat to our identity and religion
- We should keep our problems to ourselves
- etc.
None of these reasons are valid. If we'd find it odd that a movie that addresses education isn't filmed within the confinements of educational settings, then why would we find it insulting that a movie about prostitution is filmed in casinos and whorehouses? The problem here is that most Moroccans are used to discourses where "la langue de bois" reigns. Thus, most people were shocked to see a film using the language that many Moroccans use on a daily basis. Oh, the irony!
Furthermore, what most critics fail to understand is that the movie is not representative of EVERY single Moroccan woman. The movie deals with prostitution and sex tourism, and it has, thus, limited itself to that particular context. However, people seem to forget that a movie, just like a novel, should be seen under the light of its context.
Taking these points into account, I don't seem to agree with people who claim that the movie encourages sex tourism. It's actually quite the opposite. "Much Loved" could be an eye-opener and a call for action so that we put an end to this phenomenon. Sweeping our problems under the rug and turning a blind eye doesn't exempt us from our role in addressing these controversial issues.
As for those who claim that the movie represents a real threat to our religion and identity, I can't but think that their identities and religious beliefs are weak already. If a movie succeeds to alter one's beliefs, then the affected person didn't really have any belief in the first place. Therefore, one has to be either ignorant or hypocritical to pretend that this can be regarded as an argument against the movie. Moreover, times change and it's difficult for some people to embrace that change. For instance, in the recent past, men couldn't accept the idea of women working outside. They saw that as a challenge to their status and presented arguments such as "a woman's place is inside her house," while others went to greater lengths by claiming that working women is the sign of the nearness of Doomsday! I think it's all about NOVELTY. New things scare us, but shouldn't we have learned from the past?
Finally, playing the "foreigner agenda" card has always bugged me. Most of us try to shift responsibility by putting the blame on other people and circumstances. Many of us justify failures by external factors that might, or might, not be responsible for those failures. On the other hand, very few of us face their problems and try to work them out the way they should.
To cut it short, prostitution, like many other social ills, is rampant in our country, and being in denial won't do us any good because for a problem to be fixed, it, first, needs to be diagnosed and analyzed. If one has cancer but is in denial, the cancer doesn't fade away, it just gets stronger and stronger.
PS: I know many will say that the cancer that needs to be eradicated is Ayouch and his likes. (Me included? I hope not! 🙂 )


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Latest news spotted by Total Telecom in the field of network management
Alcatel-Lucent gets $1 billion Reliance Communications contract
Indian company outsources management of fixed and mobile networks to vendor, including transfer of thousands of staff.
AsiaInfo-Linkage Advances Nepal Telecom Software Upgrade
This first phase of a comprehensive software upgrade for Nepal Telecom was completed within only 4 months from the project kick-off, providing fully convergent billing and real-time online charging for pre-paid and postpaid subscribers on the CDMA network. http://goo.gl/6NYLs
Easynet customers invest in their future
Evidence is emerging that this is the year in which purse strings will be loosened, says Easynet, as its customers invest in its integrated networks, hosting and unified communications to ensure their best position for the economic upturn.
MTS Deploys ECI Telecom's Apollo 100G Solution in Russia
Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) is the leading telecommunications group in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central…
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RotopaX 15Ltr Pax Mount Extension
The 15Ltr pax extension enables you to double or tripple stack any combination of tanks together when a 15ltr is used on the bottom.
When you want to double or tripple stack tanks the RotopaX extensions make the job a easy task.
A Pax, Lox or DLX Pax mount is still required on top of the extension for the final lock down.
Note - when selecting your extension the tank that is going to be used on the bottom is the extension required.
The unique designs adds strength and provides extra tightening power when securing.
DLX Pack Mount weighs - 0.790kg (1.75lbs).


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A Muse Studio is celebrating their 2nd Birthday in May, and we've got something for everyone!
In May, Amuse Studio is offering a gift with purchase that all customers can take advantage of! With every purchase of $35 or more,(in a workshop or an online order) you will receive a pack of Onyx notecards for free. These stylish notecards make it easy to get that "chalkboard" look everyone's talking about.
The fine print: One gift with purchase per order. Gift will automatically ship with order. $35 qualifying purchase is before tax and shipping. You will receive eight A2 notecards per pack.
We have a very special perk for Hostesses in May! You can earn an exclusive Hostess stamp set - Eat Cake - by simply having a qualifying workshop.
The fine print: A qualifying workshop is at least $150 before tax and shipping and has four unique customers. The customer count can include the Hostess. Stamp set will automatically ship with workshop order. The stamp set is a $24.99 retail value.
Book your workshop NOW so you can take advantage of this May Birthday special and receive this exclusive stamp set FREE! Contact me today to get your May Workshop scheduled!


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Authorities in Austin are investigating claims that black, Hispanic and Asian students at the University of Texas have been attacked with balloons full of bleach — but many at the school are insisting that it's not a hate crime.
"A bleach-bomb fell and hit me, my roommate; well almost hit us. It barely missed us," student Jaysen Runnels told KVUE. "It's very frustrating to know that it's 2012 and that stuff like this still happens."
Several students, however, told the station that the attacks had nothing to do with race.
"I see it from my balcony," student Pete Desai explained. "I think it is just who ever happens to walk by at the time."
Sophie Weiner recalled that she had seen the attacks happen "for the past three years, all the time."
Austin Police Department Officer Steve McCormick said that the allegations were being investigated, but hate crimes were difficult to prove, according to KVUE.
"It can be difficult to prove because it is motivation," Steve McCormick pointed out. "Motivation can be very subjective."
A "bleach bomb" attack is considered an assault, regardless of whether a hate crime can be proven, police said.
Watch this video from KVUE, broadcast Oct. 4, 2012.
(h/t: Gawker)