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This is the first post of my Taipei series. I believe it's a good idea to share some basic information that can be useful for first time visitors.
"Basic things anyone should know before traveling to Taipei"
Prepaid sim card with unlimited data: The first thing you might want to do after landing is get yourself a sim card. Mobile service provider counters can be found before the immigration. Just have your passport and cash ready. Then choose the mobile package that suits you best. (I bought package B from Chungwha telecom 300 NTD "5 days pass with 5 days unlimited data")
Bus From Taoyuan airport to the city: Follow "Bus to the city sign" Then you will find many bus information counters where you can buy the ticket to the city center. It takes about 50-60 minutes from the airport to Taipei city center. Most people usually get off at "Taipei main station" then continue taking MRT to the nearest station to your accommodation. I bought "Evergreen Bus" ticket since the bus will be stopping at MRT Zhong Xiao Fuxing station just one stop away from Zhong Xiao Dunhua (East district area) where my accommodation "Vendome East Inn hotel" is situated. Take Evergreen bus if your hotel is in East District. In case you have a huge luggage, you might want to consider taking a cap to your destination. It didn't cost that much for a short ride.
Taxi meter fare: Starts at 70 NTD. Make sure you have your hotel name and address written in Chinese just to prevent miscommunication. Remember they don't speak English! Tips to avoid getting ripped off by taxi driver is to study the map a little, so you know a bit about what direction taxi is going.
|click on this picture to get the larger image
Getting around in Taipei: MRT is the cheapest and easiest way to get around in Taipei. Purchase EasyCard at your nearest MRT station. EasyCard can be used with Taipei MRT and bus services. With this card, you will receive 20% off on all rides. Once you return the card at the MRT station you will get both initial deposit and unused value back. (500 NTD can covered my 5 days trip in Taipei. Already included 100 NTD deposit)
I didn't do anything much on the first day as I arrived Taipei in the evening, so I was spending a couple of hours having dinner with my Taiwanese friends and walking around East district which I'll be blogging about in the next few posts. Anyhow, this post will be focusing on my 2nd day trip to Jiufen.
Travel to Jiufen: Take exit 1 of MRT Zhongxiao Fuxindng Station then walk straight to the corner of the street, you will find the bus stop where many people are lining up in less than a minute. Wait for Bus #1062 (Taipei-Jiufen-Jinguashi). It comes every 15-20 minutes.
Trip length: Approximately 1 hour ride from Zhongxiao Fuxing bus stop to Jiufen.
You will see view of a coast right after you step out of the bus. If you're planing on visiting Jiufen in spring or winter, make sure to bring coat or jacket. It could be really windy and cold since it is located on the hill.
Jiufen is number 1 place to visit on my Taiwan attractions list. Why? I've seen pictures of this beautiful place in the mountain for a long time. Everyone I know went there and said it was the best place in Taiwan, but most importantly it is believed to be Hayao Miyazaki's inspiration for his magical animated film "Spirited Away". It's my favourite animation of all time and I am such a huge huge fan of his work.
The Dragon architecture on the roof of this temple reminds me of "Dragon form of Haku" in Spirited Away.
Two sides of the street filled with vendors selling traditional food and snacks. Now I totally understand why Chihiro's parents were eating like a pig! There's a place to stop and eat everywhere!
The famous Taro dessert,
Stinky Tofu is really stink and not really my thing!
I am not sure what is the name of this snack, but they will put an ice cream on top of peanut and sugar then wrap them up together. It's too sweet for me and I am not a fan of nuts.
Street was packed with tourist. Many people were queuing to buy something along the way. I was there weekday. Can you imagine coming here on weekend?!
There're many tea houses and cafes near the end of the street and on the hillside.
House of Ghost Masks a cool spot to stop by.
These weird spooky masks give me real-life Spirited Away experience!
Outfit Details
Jacket from Chicago in Harajuku / The Kooples shirt / Chaps Skirt / Mirt Denim Coat / Vintage Beanie / Zara Shoes / Vivienne Wesrwood Bag
A peaceful residential areas of Jiufen is located along the hillsides where you can take a deep breath of fresh air, wandering through mysterious alleys and enjoy serenity of nature and beautiful panoramic view of the coast.
Hillside view
Jiufen's residential area.
Stopped for a hot drinks at this lovely cafe on the hill side before leaving to Taipei
Hot Matcha Latte
If I have a chance to visit Taiwan again, I would love to come back to explore this mysterious yet charming little town again.
Stunning view of Jiufen at night.
Are you a fan of Spirited Away? Is it the kind of place you would like to visit?


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Can you wobble your way to buns of steel?
The popularity of "toning" shoes, whose unstable soles require you to work muscles harder to stay balanced, suggests consumers are banking on it.
Sales of toning shoes, which cost from $70 to upwards of $200 and have enlisted celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Wayne Gretzky to tout their fitness benefits, soared to $736 million in 2010 from $145 million the year before thanks to the entry of more than a dozen brands into the market, according to market research firm NPD Group.
The ads for many of the shoes, showcasing women with enviably sculpted legs (there are toning shoes for men but the customer base is overwhelmingly female), say that wearing them will help you burn more calories, tone muscles and improve posture. Most manufacturers compare the experience of wearing their shoes to walking on sand.
Foot doctors for years have been prescribing shoes with unstable soles to help patients with foot or ankle arthritis, but can they also get you a few steps closer to firmer thighs?
A closer look
Peer-reviewed studies on shoes made by Masai Barefoot Technology, pioneers of the rocker-bottom shoes that are beveled at the heel and toe, have found that standing and walking in unstable shoes can strengthen neglected foot muscles and provide some knee and low back pain relief, along with other therapeutic benefits. Studies on FitFlops, which use Microwobbleboard technology in the midsole, have found they reduce foot pressure by an average of 25 percent and can absorb 22 percent more shock in the lower legs.
Whether that translates to a better backside is sketchy.
Skechers, whose Shape-ups have a rocker sole and an "ultra-soft Resamax kinetic wedge" for a squishier cushion, points to a study published last year in the journal Clinical Biomechanics that found that people who walked in MBTs burned more calories than while walking barefoot or in normal walking shoes. Previous news stories have cited studies funded by Skechers that found people lost more weight and body fat wearing Shape-ups than flat shoes, but those studies were criticized as being poorly controlled (Skechers declined to provide the studies).
Reebok, whose EasyTones use balance-ball-inspired pods and "Moving Air Technology" to create instability, commissioned a study that found electrical activity was 28 percent greater in buttocks muscles and 11 percent greater in calf muscles for wearers of EasyTones versus a regular Reebok walking shoe.
Neither company provides guidelines for how long or frequently people should wear the shoes to see benefits. They say the shoes are not meant to replace the gym, but rather help people "get more out of every step," said Leonard Armato, president of Skechers Fitness Group.
In search of an independent assessment, the American Council on Exercise last year sponsored a study that found that walking in Sketchers Shape-ups, Reebok EasyTone Reenspire or MBTs was no more effective at burning calories or working muscles than walking in a regular New Balance running shoe. The researchers, from the Exercise and Health Program at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, tested muscle activity in the calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus, abdominals and lower back.
Even if muscles do work harder at first to overcome the instability, the effect dissipates as muscles adjust, said Cedric Bryant, chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise.
But there could be an indirect benefit if toning shoes are encouraging people to walk more, Bryant said. Almost all of the test subjects in the ACE study told the researchers that the toning shoes were more comfortable than traditional running shoes, he said.
In fighting form
Toning shoe companies can cite thousands of testimonials from happy customers, but not everyone's satisfied.
Several lawsuits claiming misleading advertising have been filed against toning shoe manufacturers from Reebok to New Balance, and last summer Skechers was named in a federal class action lawsuit alleging Shape-ups offer no health benefit beyond what regular sneakers provide and can cause injury. This February, an Ohio woman filed a lawsuit claiming that wearing Skechers Shape-ups led her to develop hip fractures.
In a review of injury reports on SaferProducts.gov, a site run by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Consumer Reports identified 36 complaints between March and May associated with toning shoes. Most of the reported injuries were minor, including tendinitis and foot, leg, and hip pain, but 15 involved broken bones from falls, some requiring surgery.
No studies have suggested that toning shoes are dangerous or cause pain, according to an article this summer put out by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine.
Manufacturers say their shoes are safe if used properly.
"Just as the millions of pairs of high-heel shoes that are sold annually aren't suitable for everyone, Shape-ups may not be either," said Skechers' Armato. Shape-ups come with instructions and users are advised to limit wearing them to 25 to 45 minutes per day for the first two weeks, increasing usage time in 5- to 10-minute increments thereafter only if they're comfortable doing so. They should not be used for running.
Podiatrist Paul Langer of Twin Cities Orthopedics in Minneapolis said that although muscles likely do work harder to overcome the instability of the shoes, he is skeptical that it's to the extent that it will actually burn fat and boost muscle tone.
What they can do, Langer said, is redistribute the pressure on your foot, alleviating stress and strain on the joints, which is helpful for people suffering from arthritis in the foot. People should treat the shoes like fitness tools, Langer said. The most problems he sees are from overuse.
If you're in the market
Podiatrist Paul Langer offered these tips if you plan to buy toning shoes:
•Don't wear them if you have poor balance.
•Try on different kinds to assess which are most comfortable and suitable to your needs.
•Avoid cheap knock-offs, which tend to be flimsy on the sides.
•The shoes can be heavy, some weighing more than 16 ounces per shoe. Take that into account when buying, as heavier shoes can cause more muscle soreness.
Can you wobble your way to buns of steel?

subset: commoncrawl


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The Lone Tree Civic Center is used for many City events including City Council, Municipal Court hearings, and most Commission, Boards and Committee meetings. The community rooms may also be reserved to provide a public meeting space for Lone Tree residents and groups.
The Lone Tree Civic Center may be reserved to provide a public meeting space for Lone Tree residents and groups. It is located at:
The Civic Center is only available for use by non-profit organizations that have at least one Lone Tree resident as a member. The Civic Center is not available for private use such as birthday parties, wedding receptions, retirement parties, or other events of that nature. View the Community Room Use Policy for complete information.
There are two community rooms available that may be reserved to provide a public meeting space. Each room has a maximum occupancy of 50 people. Community Room A has a carpeted floor finish, and Community Room B has a concrete slab floor finish.
Lone Tree Civic Center
8527 Lone Tree Parkway
Lone Tree,CO 80124
Contact Us
City of Lone Tree
9220 Kimmer Drive
Suite 100
Lone Tree, CO 80124
Ph: 303-708-1818
Fax: 303-225-4949
Meeting Room Location
Civic Center Room A & B
8527 Lone Tree Parkway
Lone Tree, CO 80124
Reservation Hours
Monday - Friday
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
9220 Kimmer Dr., Suite 100
(303) 708-1818
© The City of Lone Tree


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Missing keys
"the loss of two keys – exclamation mark and apostrophe"
Don't know whether to be happy or sad. On the one hand it might help curtail exclamation mark abuse, but on the other...!!!!11
It might look like Nokia's high-powered, business-centric E72, but the C3 offers a stripped-down spec with a price to match and the emphasis on social networking with a full, hard-key Qwerty keyboard. Nokia C3 Key feature: Nokia's C3 The Nokia C3 isn't exactly tiny at 116 x58 x 14mm and 114g but its tapered edges mean it …
Mr Oliver,
Er, I know I'm not always quite sane but aren't those two 'missing keys' perching like parrots on the shoulders of the 'Question Mark' and 'L' keys, eh? Come on, tell me they're not.
They are not missing, they just need the shift key. And claiming that "Handy punctuation like @ and the full stop have their own keys" is not true because they are also shared.
which is like an E71 without the GPS, and it's no great loss - I've got Google Maps working as a pedestrian navigation aid, and triangulation of location using mobile transmitters has done the job for me so far.
I'd say this looks like a decent little handset, probably would have tempted me if it had been £30 cheaper.
The use of S40 instead of S60 on this kind of handset seems entirely sensible. I have a fairly low-end S60 handset (Nokia 6210) and it really doesn't add much to what S40 brings for things like simple browsing, email etc. But the lack of 3G seems a real loss for a data-centric handset. Seems to limit severely what you can do with that impressive keyboard. I guess it keeps the price down, though.
Possibly people like me. I don't need ultrafast mobile internet, as I would only use it every now and then. I don't want to spend more than £80 on a phone, I don't need a fashion accessory, I need something that wil llet me make and receive phone calls and send the odd text. I also need something that will synch with Outlook, something Nokia's do very easily. I've tried Samsung, never again, Apple? Far too expensive, a cheap Android? From what I can gather, no synching without selling your soul to Gmail first. If someone out there could create an app that works as well as Nokia PC Suite has for me over the years, I'd think about going Android.


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FRANKLIN, Ind. (Sept. 22) - Franklin College put 56 points up on the Faught Stadium scoreboard before halftime and went on to rout Earlham 70-20 in its homecoming football game today.
The Grizzlies, ranked 25th this week in the D3football.com Top 25 Poll, improved to 2-0 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and evened their overall mark at 2-2. The Quakers fell to 0-2 in the HCAC and 0-4.
Franklin's 70 points were the most scored in a single game in the 112-year history of the program.
The previous best points output by a Grizzly team was 69 points scored at Anderson in 2010. Prior to that game, FC tallied 68 points in a single contest twice. In 1960, the Grizzlies scored 68 vs. Navy Pier. The 1989 Franklin team matched that mark against Manchester.
How long did it take for Franklin to strike?
On the first play of the game, FC junior quarterback Jonny West combined with junior split end Kyle Linville on a 69-yard touchdown pass play.
Then Franklin scored twice more before the first five minutes of the game elapsed.
West hit Linville on 3-yard scoring toss on a fourth-down play to put FC up 14-0 after the Grizzlies got the football by blocking a Quaker punt. Then sophomore running back Joey Pasquale scored on a 12-yard run after the hosts recovered a fumble.
Franklin forced five Earlham fumbles and recovered them all.
The Grizzlies added one more TD in the opening period when West hit senior split end Ben Hamlin with an 11-yard strike a little more than two minutes later.
Franklin simply overpowered Earlham's defense with its rushing attack all day, totaling 380 net yards on the ground and seven touchdowns in all.
Three of those rushing scores came in the second quarter when sophomore backup quarterback Grant Welp broke loose for a 58-yard touchdown run, junior running back Kyle Holzbog ran in from 11 yards out and sophomore running back Micah Hatch rushed for a 26-yard TD.
The Grizzlies added their last two scores on the ground in the third quarter when sophomore back Sam Otley bulled in on a 1-yard run and freshman back Cody Hess broke through and sped away on a 53-yard dash to the end zone.
Earlham avoided a shutout by scoring on a 13-yard pass from backup quarterback Matt Couch to wide receiver Marcus Coby later in the third period.
The Quakers added a pair of touchdowns in the last quarter when running back Tre Stephens rushed for a 9-yard TD and Couch scored on a 1-yard keeper as time ran out.
West completed 10 of 13 passes for 160 yards and three scores. Hamlin caught four passes for 36 yards and a TD and Welp led FC's rushing effort with 81 yards and two touchdowns on five carries.
Franklin rolled up 554 yards of total offense to Earlham's 320 yards, winning its homecoming game for the sixth straight season.
Sophomore defensive back Cory Schrader and junior linebacker Alex Van Cleve made five total tackles each to lead the Grizzlies' defense.
* * *
Former Franklin football player Jim Plummer, who was inducted in the FC Athletic Hall of Fame this week, played as a senior on the 1960 Grizzly team that tallied 68 points against Navy Pier.


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Contract negotiations ground to a temporary halt today, as New York Times management, with poorly disguised contempt, dismissed a counteroffer made by the Guild. In a world-turned-upside-down moment, management characterized its small, grudging and insufficient proposals of last week as "significant movement," and suggested that we should keep bargaining against ourselves on salary and benefits.
An example? The Guild agreed today to reduce its first year wage demand from 4 percent to 3.5 percent, a concession valued at approximately half a million dollars. And what is management's current first-year wage offer now that we're 20 months into negotiations? Zero, 0, nada.
The Guild also moved on its proposal for a bonus plan, including cutting its maximum potential payout in half, far below the management maximum. Management negotiators derided this as unrealistic in the extreme. Bernie Plum, the Times's outside lawyer (his law firm, Proskauer, represents the NFL against game officials, and we've seen how well that's turned out), suggested we waive collective bargaining rights if we want to enjoy the financial benefits of managers. The Guild offered movement too on freelance fees; management said nothing, which, given the tenor of their comments, probably was just as well.
From beginning to end – the planned four-hour session lasted about a half-hour – management's team did its best to look and sound mightily annoyed at our "lack of movement." It is important to keep in mind, though, that however tightly Bernie Plum and Vice President for Labor Relations Terry Hayes hold to this fantasy, Guild members know better. For months we have taken the role of adults. We agreed to change our existing pension, perhaps our most valuable benefit, and put a sophisticated proposal on the table that saves the company millions of dollars in future costs. We have made $5.5 million worth of concessions, including on the company's health care contributions, and now on salary, and yes, even on pension contributions. We embraced one unified contract for the newsroom and for digital, and we've made many compromises to get there. Despite all this, and after Guild negotiators had just moved further in his direction, Plum responded: "You're not going to see further big movement on our part at this time."
We, of course, want to engage in further constructive negotiations, at any hour on any day. But to continue to reduce, say, our wage demand, even as management insists on keeping a big, fat zero on the table, is a mug's game.
As to management's pension proposal, please keep in mind that The New York Times now pays about 10 percent of payroll (a little more than $10 million) into our pension to fund its ongoing obligations. They want to reduce that payment to 5 percent, and they pretended that even that was a great concession. As Guild President Bill O'Meara said in response, "It's like asking us to cut our wages in half."
The bottom line? Management's current proposal would render immediately insolvent our existing pension plan, our proposed plan and more or less any plan we could devise.
The Guild remains ready, willing and able to negotiate. The key word is negotiate, not surrender. We will assume for now that management's ill temper will pass. But we advise members, strongly, that only our concerted efforts and actions will make clear to The New York Times owner and management just how painfully far short their current proposal falls.
The next scheduled negotiating session is set for Thursday at 10 a.m.
# # # # #


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1. Subject: Policy Guidance on Employer Liability under Title VII for Sexual Favoritism.
2. Purpose: This policy document is intended to provide guidance on the extent to which an employer should be held liable for discriminating against individuals who are qualified for but are denied an employment opportunity or benefit, where the individual who is granted the opportunity or benefit received it because that person submitted to sexual advances or requests.
3. Effective Date: On receipt.
4. Expiration Date: As an exception to EEOC Order 205.001, Appendix B, Attachment 4, § a(5), this Notice will remain in effect until rescinded or superseded.
5. Originator: Title VII/EPA Division, Office of Legal Counsel.
6. Instructions: File after Section 615 of Volume II of the Compliance Manual (Harassment).
7. Subject Matter:
The Commission and the courts have declared that sexual harassment violates Section 703 of Title VII. Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 64, 40 EPD ¶ 31,159 (1986); EEOC's Guidelines on Discrimination Because of Sex, 29 C.F.R. § 1604.11(a). EEOC's Guidelines define two kinds of sexual harassment: "quid pro quo," in which "submission to or rejection of [unwelcome sexual] conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual," and "hostile environment," in which unwelcome sexual conduct "unreasonably interfer[es] with an individual's job performance" or creates an "intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment." 29 C.F.R. §§ 1604.11(a)(2) and (3).
Subsection (g) of EEOC's Guidelines provides:
where employment opportunities or benefits are granted because of an individual's submission to the employer's sexual advances or requests for sexual favors, the employer may be held liable for unlawful sex discrimination against other persons who were qualified for but were denied that employment opportunity or benefit.
As discussed below, sexual favoritism in the workplace which adversely affects the employment opportunities of third parties may take the form of implicit "quid pro quo" harassment and/or "hostile work environment" harassment.
A. Isolated Instances of Favoritism Towards a "Paramour" Not Prohibited
Not all types of sexual favoritism violate Title VII.1 It is the Commission's position that Title VII does not prohibit isolated instances of preferential treatment based upon consensual romantic relationships. An isolated instance of favoritism toward a "paramour" (or a spouse, or a friend) may be unfair, but it does not discriminate against women or men in violation of Title VII, since both are disadvantaged for reasons other than their genders.2 A female charging party who is denied an employment benefit because of such sexual favoritism would not have been treated more favorably had she been a man nor, conversely, was she treated less favorably because she was a woman. See Miller v. Aluminum Co. of America, 679 F. Supp. 495, 47 EPD ¶ 38,112 (W.D. Pa.), aff'd mem., 856 F.2d 184 (3d Cir. 1988);3 DeCintio v. Westchester County Medical Center, 807 F.2d 304, 42 EPD ¶ 36,785 (2d Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 108 S.Ct. 89, 44 EPD ¶ 37,425 (1987).4 But see King. v. Palmer, 778 F.2d 878, 39 EPD ¶ 35,808, reh'g denied, 39 EPD ¶ 36,036 (D.C. Cir. 1985).5
B. Favoritism Based Upon Coerced Sexual Conduct May Constitute Quid Pro Quo Harassment
If a female employee6 is coerced into submitting to unwelcome sexual advances in return for a job benefit, other female employees who were qualified for but were denied the benefit may be able to establish that sex was generally made a condition for receiving the benefit.7 Thus; in order for a woman to have obtained the job benefit at issue, it would have been necessary to grant sexual favors, a condition that would not have been imposed on men. This is substantially the same as a traditional sexual harassment charge alleging that sexual favors were implicitly demanded as a "quid pro quo" in return for job benefits.8 For example, in Toscano v. Nimmo, 570 F. Supp. 1197, 1199-1201, 32 EPD ¶ 33,848 (D. Del. 1983), the court found a violation of Title VII based on the fact that the granting of sexual favors was a condition for promotion. Although the individual who was granted preferential treatment was engaged in a consensual affair with her supervisor, there was evidence that the supervisor made telephone calls to proposition several female employees at home, phoned employees at work to describe his supposed sexual encounters with female employees under his supervision, and engaged in suggestive behavior at work.9
Many times, a third party female will not be able to establish that sex was generally made a condition for the benefit in question. For example, a supervisor may have been interested in only one woman and, thus, have coerced only her. Nevertheless, in such a case, both women and men who were qualified for but were denied the benefit would have standing to challenge the favoritism on the basis that they were injured as a result of the discrimination leveled against the woman who was coerced. See EEOC amicus brief (filed Sept. 30, 1988) in Clayton v. White Hall School District, 875 F.2d 676, 50 EPD ¶ 39,048 (8th Cir. 1989), in which the Commission argued that a white employee had standing under Title VII to challenge her employer's decision to deny her an employment benefit pursuant to an employment policy which it allegedly enforced for the purpose of denying the same benefit to a black employee; although the plaintiff was not the object of racial discrimination, she was injured as a result of the race discrimination practiced against the black employee.10 See also DeCintio v. Westchester County Medical Center, 807 F.2d at 307-08 (by implication) (male plaintiffs' claims of favoritism rejected not because of lack of standing but because the woman who received the favorable treatment was not coerced into submitting to sexual advances); EEOC v. T.I.M.E.-D.C. Freight, Inc., 659 F.2d 690 n.2, 27 EPD ¶ 32,202 (5th Cir. 1981) (white plaintiffs could challenge discrimination against blacks provided that they could establish a personal injury); Allen v. American Home Foods, Inc., 644 F. Supp. 1553, 42 EPD ¶ 36,911 (N.D. Ind. 1986) (males who lost their jobs due to their employer's discrimination against female co-workers suffered an injury as a result of the discrimination, and therefore had standing to sue under Title VII).
C. Widespread Favoritism May Constitute Hostile Environment Harassment
If favoritism based upon the granting of sexual favors is widespread in a workplace, both male and female colleagues who do not welcome this conduct can establish a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII regardless of whether any objectionable conduct is directed at them and regardless of whether those who were granted favorable treatment willingly bestowed the sexual favors. In these circumstances, a message is implicitly conveyed that the managers view women as "sexual playthings," thereby creating an atmosphere that is demeaning to women. Both men and women who find this offensive can establish a violation if the conduct is "sufficiently severe or pervasive 'to alter the conditions of [their] employment and create an abusive working environment.'" Vinson, 477 U.S. at 67 [quoting Henson v. City of Dundee, 682 F.2d 897, 904, 29 EPD ¶ 32,993 (11th Cir. 1982)].11 An analogy can be made to a situation in which supervisors in an office regularly make racial, ethnic or sexual jokes. Even if the targets of the humor "play along" and in no way display that they object, co-workers of any race, national origin or sex can claim that this conduct, which communicates a bias against protected class members, creates a hostile work environment for them. See Rogers v. EEOC, 454 F.2d 234, 4 EPD ¶ 7597 (5th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 406 U.S. 957, 4 EPD ¶ 7838 (1972) (discriminatory treatment of medical patients created hostile work environment for plaintiff employee); Commission Decision No. 71-969, CCH EEOC Decisions (1973) ¶ 6193 (supervisor's habitual use of racial epithet in referring to Black employees created discriminatory work environment for White Charging Party); Compliance Manual Volume II, Section 615.3(a)(3) Examples (1) and (2) (sexual harassment of females may create hostile work environment for other male and female employees).
Managers who engage in widespread sexual favoritism may also communicate a message that the way for women to get ahead in the workplace is by engaging in sexual conduct or that sexual solicitations are a prerequisite to their fair treatment.12 This can form the basis of an implicit "quid pro quo" harassment claim for female employees, as well as a hostile environment claim for both women and men who find this offensive.13
The case of Broderick v. Ruder, 685 F. Supp. 1269, 46 EPD ¶ 37,963 (D.D.C. 1988) illustrates how widespread sexual favoritism can be found to violate Title VII. In Broderick a staff attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that two of her supervisors had engaged in sexual relationships with two secretaries who received promotions, cash awards, and other job benefits. Another of her supervisors allegedly promoted the career of a staff attorney with whom he socialized extensively and to whom he was noticeably attracted. In addition, there were isolated instances of sexual harassment directed at the plaintiff herself, including an incident in which her supervisor became drunk at an office party, untied the plaintiff's sweater, and kissed her. The court found that the conduct of these supervisors "created an atmosphere of hostile work environment" offensive to the plaintiff and several other witnesses. It further stated that the supervisors' conduct in bestowing preferential treatment upon those who submitted to their sexual advances undermined the plaintiff's motivation and work performance and deprived her and other female employees of promotions and job opportunities. Broderick, 685 F. Supp. at 1278. While the court in Broderick grounded its ruling on the hostile environment theory, it is the Commission's position that these facts could also support an implicit "quid pro quo" harassment claim since the managers, by their conduct, communicated a message to all female employees in the office that job benefits would be awarded to those who participated in sexual conduct. See also Spencer v. General Electric, 697 F. Supp. 204 (E.D. Va. 1988).14
Example 1 - Charging Party (CP) alleges that she lost a promotion for which she was qualified because the co-worker who obtained the promotion was engaged in a sexual relationship with their supervisor. EEOC's investigation discloses that the relationship at issue was consensual and that the supervisor had never subjected CP's co-worker or any other employees to unwelcome sexual advances. The Commission would find no violation of Title VII in these circumstances, because men and women were equally disadvantaged by the supervisor's conduct for reasons other than their genders.
Even if CP is genuinely offended by the supervisor's conduct, she has no Title VII claim.
Example 2 - Same as above, except the relationship at issue was not consensual. Instead, CP's supervisor regularly harassed the co-worker in front of other employees, demanded sexual favors as a condition for her promotion, and then audibly boasted about his "conquest." In these circumstances, CP may be able to establish a violation of Title VII by showing that in order to have obtained the promotion, it would have been necessary to grant sexual favors. In addition, she and other qualified men and women who were denied the promotion would have standing to challenge the favoritism on the basis that they were injured as a result of the discrimination levelled against their co-worker.
Example 3 - Same as Example 1, except CP's supervisor and other management personnel regularly solicited sexual favors from subordinate employees and offered job opportunities to those who complied. Some of those employees willingly consented to the sexual requests and in turn received promotions and awards. Others consented because they recognized that their opportunities for advancement would otherwise be limited. CP, who did not welcome this conduct, was not approached for sexual favors. However, she and other female and male coworkers may be able to establish that the conduct created a hostile work environment. She can also claim that by their conduct, the managers communicated to all female employees that they can obtain job benefits only by acquiescing in sexual conduct.
1/12/90 Approved: /s/ Date Clarence Thomas Chairman
2 See Benzies v. Illinois Dept. of Mental Health, 810 F.2d 146, 148, 39 EPD ¶ 35,870 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 107 S.Ct. 3231 (1987) (denial of promotion to woman is not violation if motivated by personal or political favoritism or a grudge); Bellissimo v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 764 F.2d 175, 180, 37 EPD ¶ 35,315 (3d Cir. 1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1035, 39 EPD ¶ 35,875 (1986) (discharge of female employee violates Title VII only if it is done on a basis that would not result in the discharge of a male employee)
3 The plaintiff in Miller alleged that her supervisor treated her less favorably than her co-worker because the supervisor knew that the co-worker was engaged in a romantic relationship with the plant manager. Miller, 679 F. Supp. at 500-01. The lower court held that in order to establish a Title VII claim, the plaintiff would have to show that her employer would have or did treat males differently. Id. at 501. Since the plaintiff's male co-workers shared with her the same disadvantage relative to the co-worker who was engaged in the affair with the manager, the plaintiff could not show that she was treated differently than males. Id. On appeal to the Third Circuit, the Commission filed an amicus brief supporting the ruling of the district court on the basis that favoritism toward a female employee because of a consensual romantic relationship with a male supervisor is not sex discrimination against other female employees within the meaning of Title VII. The Court of Appeals summarily affirmed.
4 In DeCintio, seven male respiratory therapists claimed that they were unlawfully disqualified for a promotion that went to a woman who was engaged in a romantic relationship with the department administrator. The court held that the department administrator's conduct, though unfair, did not violate Title VII. DeCintio, 807 F.2d at 308. The court reasoned that the prohibition of sex discrimination in Title VII refers to discrimination on the basis of one's sex, not on the basis of one's sexual affiliations; the therapists' claims were not cognizable under the Act since they were denied promotion because the administrator preferred his "paramour," rather than because of their status as males. Id. The court distinguished EEOC's Guidelines by stating that they address the granting of employment benefits because of an individual's "submission" to sexual advances or requests, and the word "submission" connotes a lack of consent. Since the department administrator did not force anyone to submit to sexual advances in order to win promotion, his conduct was not within the purview of the Guidelines. Id. at 307-08. Accord, Handley v. Phillips, 715 F. Supp. 657, 675 (M.D. Pa. 1989).
5 In King, the plaintiff claimed she had been denied a promotion that went to a less qualified co-worker who was engaged in an intimate relationship with the selecting official. Although the issue of whether Title VII applied to preferential treatment was not raised on appeal, the court stated that it agreed with the lower court's conclusion that the case was within the purview of Title VII. King, 778 F.2d at 880. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff on the basis of its finding that her co-worker was promoted because of the sexual relationship. Id. at 882. In a concurring opinion to the decision denying a suggestion for rehearing en banc, it was emphasized that the issue of whether Title VII applied to the facts of the case was not raised on appeal or in the petition for rehearing. 39 EPD ¶ 36,036.
6 Although this Policy Guidance uses female pronouns to refer to individuals who are treated favorably because they engage in sexual conduct, it also covers situations in which men are granted favorable treatment based on sexual conduct.
7 The employer would also be liable for "quid pro quo" harassment with regard to the individual who was coerced into submitting to the advances.
8 See Section 1604.11(l) of EEOC's Guidelines on Sexual Harassment, which states that a violation will be found when submission to unwelcome sexual conduct is made "either explicitly or implicitly" a term or condition of an individual's employment.
9 See also DeCintio v. Westchester County Medical Center, 807 F.2d at 307, in which the court stated that the claim in Toscano was premised on the coercive nature of the employer's acts, and therefore that the case lent no support to the contention that a voluntary amorous involvement may form the basis of a Title VII claim.
10 In Clayton, the court ruled that the plaintiff did have standing, but it based that standing on her allegation of a hostile work environment. 875 F.2d at 679.
11 See EEOC's Policy Guidance on Current Issues of Sexual Harassment (10/25/88) at 13-18 for standards governing the determination of whether a work environment is "hostile". That Policy Guidance makes clear that the Commission will evaluate the totality of circumstances on a case-by-case basis, employing the objective perspective of a "reasonable person" in the context in which the challenged conduct took place. Some factors that could be considered in determining whether a hostile environment is established are the number of incidents of favoritism, the egregiousness of the incidents, and whether or not other employees in the office were made aware of the conduct.
12 See, e.g., Priest v. Rotary, 634 F. Supp. 571, 39 EPD ¶ 35,897 (N.D. Cal. 1986), in which the defendant gave preferential treatment to his consensual sexual partner and to those female employees who reacted favorably to his sexual advances and other conduct of a sexual nature, and he disadvantaged those employees, including the plaintiff, who reacted unfavorably to his conduct. The court found a violation of Title VII in part because the defendant's conduct implied that job benefits would be conditioned on an employee's good-natured endurance of his sexually-charged conduct or sexual advances. Id. at 581.
13 In Miller v. Aluminum Co. of America, 679 F. Supp. at 501- 502, the court rejected a claim that sexual favoritism based on a consensual relationship can create a hostile environment for others in the workplace. The court found that the favoritism itself did not violate Title VII since it was voluntary, and that "[h]ostile behavior that does not bespeak an unlawful motive cannot support a hostile work environment claim." Id. at 502. However, it is the Commission's position that had the sexual favoritism been widespread, the fact that it was exclusively voluntary and consensual would not have defeated a claim that it created a hostile work environment for other people in the workplace. As indicated above at n.11, the question of whether actions complained of are sufficiently widespread or egregious to constitute a hostile environment must be decided case-by-case.
14 In Spencer, the supervisor of an office engaged in virtually daily horseplay of a sexual nature with female subordinates. This behavior included sitting on their laps, touching them in an intimate manner, and making lewd comments. The subordinates joined in and generally found the horseplay funny and inoffensive. With the exception of one incident (which may have been time-barred and was not critical to the court's decision), none of the horseplay was directed at the plaintiff. The supervisor additionally engaged in consensual relations with at least two of his subordinates. The court found that the supervisor's conduct would have interfered with the work performance and would have seriously affected the psychological well-being of a reasonable employee, and on that basis it found a violation of Title VII. 697 F. Supp. at 218. Although Spencer did not involve sexual favoritism, the case supports the proposition that pervasive sexual conduct can create a hostile work environment for those who find it offensive even if he targets of the conduct welcome it and even if no sexual conduct is directed at the persons bringing the claim.
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Page content
Primary Source of the Month
"High Life Below Stairs," by John Collet, London, England, 1763.
From the collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Accession #G1991-175. Gift of Mrs. Cora Ginsburg.
John Collet's High Life Below Stairs satirizes the behavior of servants in their own quarters (below stairs) imitating the fashionable attire and behavior of their masters.
In the center of the image, a lady's maid is having her hair done by a footman. She wears fashionable clothes, particularly the fine apron of cotton lawn over her skirt, red shoes, and a ribbon around her neck, but she sits beside a table with a torn and tattered cloth and rests her foot on a broken earthenware basin. The man dressing her hair wears a fashionable ring on his little finger, which contradicts the suit of livery that clearly identifies him as a servant. The woman standing at the table wears a plain striped scarf fastened around her shoulders with an artificial flower ornament. Perched on her nose is a pair of spectacles, available to a wider variety of customers—even servants—with the eighteenth century growth of the precision optical trade in England. The couple on the left takes advantage of what the market has to offer in the way of leisure activities. Most conspicuous here is the English guitar, an extremely popular instrument for genteel ladies during this period. Collet's use of the instrument hints at the pretension to gentility that the availability of such goods could bring to the lower classes. The buckles on the man's shoes and breeches also point to relatively easy access to consumer items. Collet satirizes the musical couple by depicting the dog "singing" along with them. The dog stands on several pieces of music and print, ironically titled "Solomon in all his Glory." The little girl's doll rests on a copy of Samuel Richardson's popular novel Pamela in High Life. She looks up at the adults, while placing a fancy feather in the simply dressed hair of her doll. Even though the primary purpose of the painting is to mock those who aspire to genteel behavior and appearances, High Life Below Stairs provides visual documentation of the ways the eighteenth-century consumer revolution made material goods available to people lower on the social and economic scale.Source: Buying Respectability: The Consumer Revolution in Colonial Virginia (Staff Resource Manual developed by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Department of Historical Research, 2000), p. P-5.


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June 20, 2013
City News Service
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined other city leaders Monday June 17 to open a new pocket park in downtown Los Angeles, while announcing the purchase of a two-acre lot for another park near City Hall. The Spring Street Park, sandwiched between two loft buildings in the "old bank" district near Fourth and Fifth streets, measures a little less than an acre and features a grassy lawn, walking paths and a children's play area. It is the 16th park to be built atop "under-utilized" property as part of the mayor's 50 Park Initiative that started in August of last year.
"Spring Street Park is an example of how the 50 Parks Initiative is bringing green space and recreation facilities where they're needed the most," Villaraigosa said.
With the downtown population growing in the last decade from 10,000 to 50,000 people, "one of our greatest needs is additional park space," according to Councilman Jose Huizar, whose district includes the new park. Quimby Act funds — money subdivision developers pay to local agencies for parks — were used to build the park, which also includes an irrigation system and native plants. The mayor announced the $7.5 million purchase of a vacant lot at First Street and Broadway from the state. Part of the purchase price came Quimby Act funds and the rest from the city, officials said.
The lot was vacated 37 years ago after a state-owned building, damaged by an earthquake, was demolished. The city plans to "remove blight and build more healthy public space" on the site, Villaraigosa said. Homes will be found for several dozen stray cats living on the lot, city officials said.
"This property has sat idle for far too long, needlessly costing taxpayers for maintenance and security," said Fred Klass, director of the state Department of General Services.


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|2012-04-24, 21:17
|Link #803
ANEGO Worshiper
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: By the vending machine, drinking tea.
Spoiler for Wafuuuuuu:
And about Komari...well from what I've noticed, people have a different perception of her role in the whole thing. Komari is no more or less important than the other girls (Rin not included) she is as much a heroine as the others. Some people usually think of her as the second main heroine mostly due to:
- Komari apparently being a bit closer to Rin than the others (or rather, Rin being more at ease with her);
- and pictures like this one
Spoiler for Pic:
No route (Rins and Refrain not included...again) is more or less important than another...aside from EX but then again I haven't played it so I have no connection with the girls. For example, Mio is my least favorite, I found myself skipping through bits of her route even the first time I played it because to me both character and route were boring compared to others. However! Taking out her route in the anime would be a colossal mistake.
But I tell you what...the biggest mistake they could make would be taking out Kuu's route. Why?
Well simple, though she's not the main heroine, Kuu's popularity by far outclasses all the other girls (enough to give Kuu her own afterstory game). It's strange how Rin is the main focus of the overall plot yet Kuu has the most fans.
I still love my Anego!
PS: Futaki...is the only one of the EX girls that I wish was in the original game when I played it. She just seemed like she fit into the plot perfectly. Then again her route would be too similar to Haruka (only another point of view) so keeping it to the "expansion" wasn't a bad idea.
|2012-04-24, 21:33
|Link #804
Good OP Hunter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Argentina
Futaki's route is vastly different from Haruchin's AFAIK.
Granted, it's the same "overall" plot, but it shows a lot of different stuff. I mean from Haruchin's route we find out about Futaki's life, but not as in depth.
|2012-04-24, 21:41
|Link #805
Aesop's Fox
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Age: 37
|2012-04-24, 21:42
|Link #806
Assistant Professor
Join Date: Jul 2011
Age: 44
Pretty much everyone outside of Saya, yes, that includes Sassy-chan and Kanata, are within the circle of the Little Busters! towards the end of EX. Would it then be more fitting to the game veterans then, that the extra two are included in the uh... "incident"?
Without spoiling too much, Sassy-chan's route is magical in itself, although if the story had to be modified, then a core component of her route would have to be modified too. For Kanata, it'd be good to show her side of the story they expanded in EX, only without the "feeling of regret" the others have towards her being a technical outsider.
|2012-04-24, 21:44
|Link #807
Good OP Hunter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Argentina
I believe that sasasasasasagesasawami is the most fit for an OVA. Saya can be fit into the anime, as well as the rest of the heroines.
Due to the nature of sasasasasami's whole story... it's just not fit for the story.
|2012-04-24, 21:50
|Link #809
Assistant Professor
Join Date: Jul 2011
Age: 44
But they could go on a total limb and modify Sassy-chan's route accordingly to allow her that, it's not too far-fetched in scope than Kud's or Mio's. We could call it - her "unconscious guilt" manifesting.
I say Saya won't fit because a VERY major part of her route is "Guild hijinks" a la Angel Beats! and so is quite an abrupt shift in mood and tone compared to the rest of the narrative.
Edit: And yeah, Sassy-chan has Common-route level comedy at the start, it was so refreshing to see Masato like that.
Also, does anyone have any outstanding fan-made videos pertaining to Little Busters! they can link? Or is the well really that dry....?
|2012-04-24, 21:52
|Link #810
Good OP Hunter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Argentina
Spoiler for Uguuuu:
So yeah... played for laughs if you ask me.
EDIT: And just for laughs... http://youtu.be/uC2YPHTfI5k
|2012-04-24, 21:56
|Link #811
Join Date: Mar 2012
Komari is also on the EX box art along with Rin. The only returning heroine to show up there. That's kind of why I think Key intended her to be viewed as a little more important than the others.
From the little I know of Sasami's route, it just doesn't fit into the arc. That said, I'd love to read it even though I find the idea of a Riki/Sasami romance completely lacking in credibility.
Spoiler for Kurugaya ending spoilers:
|2012-04-24, 22:39
|Link #813
Assistant Professor
Join Date: Jul 2011
Age: 44
That was a funny video. Did I spy Fuuko (Clannad) in there somewhere?
I've some time, so here's a top of my head Masato moment I recall from a scene in Sasami's route. Very memorable "laugh at Masato" moment.
Spoiler for Setting: Cafeteria:
Sasami had the flimsiest excuse for falling in love and an even flimsier one for having sex. Then again, most other heroine H scenes were that way too
|2012-04-24, 22:44
|Link #814
Good OP Hunter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Argentina
Don't get me started on the H Scenes. Besides being horribly drawn, having Sha la la extacy playing on the background...
Is it so hard to learn from Yuki Sakura... or School days? or any other eroge that actually does great H scenes? Even Innocent Gray does more decent...
PS: Key, I'm dissapoint.
PPS: You did spy Fuuko. Not only her, check out Someone delivering a flying kick... with long gray hair...
|2012-04-24, 22:44
|Link #815
ANEGO Worshiper
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: By the vending machine, drinking tea.
Spoiler for Wafuuu:
On another note (to clear up the air from the anime business):
Who's your favorite character? Out of all of them!
Mine is Masato (I love Anego but bros before hoes). He's hilarious but quite epic when it counts. There is no bro like Masato!
Also...Muscles! Muscles!
|2012-04-24, 22:49
|Link #816
Join Date: Mar 2012
Yeah, I'm not expecting much in the way of a believable romance from Sasami and I'm certainly not expecting good H scenes from Key. I would just like to see more of her. Then again, from those few plot elements I know I guess I probably won't get to see her interacting with others as much as I'd like.
Perhaps it's a bit of a shame that Key only seems to feel comfortable writing romance. It seems like their stories would be even better without limiting themselves like that. Granted, I've purposely avoided finding out anything about Rewrite so I don't know if's true there, but it just didn't seem like Little Busters should have been written as a romance.
Spoiler for Refrain spoilers:
Edit: Kurugaya is my favorite. After her is probably Mio. The only person I don't like is Komari. The route, voice and personality all teamed up and conspired to make me utterly loath any scene she was a part of.
|2012-04-24, 22:53
|Link #817
Good OP Hunter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Argentina
Hmm... Favorite character? That would be a tie between Rin/Riki. The rest of the original LB! come close later.
For reasons related to spoilers I won't say why Rin/Riki, but the rest of the LB! cast didn't appeal so much to me.
I don't know what people see in Lolis, particularly Kud. She even got a sequel done. Kurugaya has been copied since Kanon AFAIK, and has been done again in Rewrite for what I can see. Mio... wasn't that appealing to me, but I did end up shedding some manly tears. Haruchin? The bad end surprised me, just because I was looking for the CGs, but wow, was that surprising; besides that she seemed rather normal and spoiled for me.
Who else... Komari. Komari is actually the most likable of the girls besides Rin if you ask me. She is the one that
Spoiler for Spoilers WARNING:
The EX girls I've not played, but I read about Saya and she seems like a really likable character.
But yeah, my vote goes for Riki/Rin And the rest of the LB!, which really is what the story is all about.
|2012-04-24, 23:30
|Link #819
ANEGO Worshiper
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: By the vending machine, drinking tea.
But in all seriousness.
Spoiler for Wafuuuuuu:
And now...for some wild speculations cause I'm just soooooo bored
Spoiler for Wafuuuuu2:
|2012-04-24, 23:37
|Link #820
Assistant Professor
Join Date: Jul 2011
Age: 44
My only recent experience in anime is Angel Beats! episode four, but what would be "awesome" ways of doing the final baseball match? And should they win or not?
Also: romance is a staple when you're in this business. It's either that or create big, overarching "plots" involving outer space, magic, or whatever supernatural brouhaha to justify the hentai. On the opposite side of the spectrum sits the extreme slice-of-life, of which most Key games sit at the upper end of. Yet they are somehow able to make it work, making their games be a big impact in the visual novel world, and that's why they're one of the big names - a titan.
Another also: reading all the other impressions, plus my own and those of the other posters many pages before, has led me to conclude that there are no real consensus with regards to the heroines. Personally, without going indepth, I have Rin>anyone else. Because she is that awesome.
|bishoujo, ero-game, eroge, key, pc game, visual novel
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Bar-none the easiest way to move in Golden Beach is to hire professionals to do the move for you. This is the certain way to correctly finish the job. Even when you use this method there are still more steps you can take to make an easier move.
The Best movers in Golden Beach
Lots of people assume if they are only moving a short distance in Golden Beach , they can automatically move the contents of their house to their new home. Size differences between your new home and old may make this impractical anyway, but it is probably not a good choice either way.
Local Movers Offer Quality At Fair PricesMoving locally may not require quite as much preparation, or be quite as stressful as moving long-distance, yet how ever far you're moving you still have a huge upheaval to live through and local moving companies are there to help you.It's not how far or near the place. You will still make the necessary arrangements and preparations. The only difference is the distance.You should also condition yourself and your family that you are really moving in a few days time.When you're moving locally it's quite tempting to consider doing the move yourself. There may be any number of reasons why you think moving yourself would be better than hiring professional movers... Perhaps you think it's easy to rent a van or truck to move yourself; perhaps you believe you would save money; perhaps you think your friends and family can help you: perhaps you think you can save money moving yourself.But, no matter how attractive the idea of saving yourself money sounds, we can tell you from experience that moving yourself is no fun - it's more stressful and extremely tiring on the whole family. It takes so much of your time just in planning, what more for the moving day itself?Whether or not you decide to use a local moving company, why not find out all you need to know about moving both locally, and long distance. Our Moving Guide is a great place to start, plus we have many Moving Tips.Here are just a few reasons why we recommend you use a professional moving company:1.Professional moving companies are just that - Professional! They move people like you every day and they know exactly what they're doing. They know what and what not to do. They are trained and skilled to do the moving for you. They also have enthusiasm and discipline. 2.Professional moving companies can pack your belongings for you so your things will be packed the right way - or you can choose to pack them yourself but use their packing materials.3.Professional moving companies are insured - this means that all your worldly goods will be protected should something go wrong. No need to worry about your beloved things on how they will reached your new home.Hope these tips will make you decide how to make your transferring. The idea is to make you feel good about moving and to have wonderful experience and memories about it.
Moving Companies Make Your Move SmoothColor Coded Moving Labels that Can Be CustomizedFind Color Code Labels for Moving to help you be more organized, come moving day. Moving can be exciting and fun, or not. Either way, the boxes still need to get packed and unpacked. It's amazing how much help colored labels give. Having your labels be color coded, helps you to identify a specific type of box, without having to get up close to read it, which can help both you and the movers. At the end of the trip, it's easier to know where to take each box without having to open it first. The best area to add your labels:This will require some thinking ahead, but helps out big time. Most of your boxes will probably be stacked, meaning that a side or even multiple sides might be the best area to place your labels. You can easily see from the side what types of content are inside the various boxes. It is also best to place the labels near the top of the box. That way if other boxes are placed in front of the first box, you can more easily move the next box a bit to see the label behind it. How best to stack your boxes:Try to stack your boxes with the labels facing out. If some boxes can't be placed that way, it's a good idea to have extra labels on hand to identify these boxes at a glance too. The general rule is that larger and heavier boxes go on the bottom. But also keep in mind what is inside the box. For instance, if it is fine china, although heavy, you may not want to stack other items on top of it. Also, be sure to have Fragile labels on hand to identify the boxes to take extra precautions with. Be sure that heavy boxes are not placed on top of boxes labeled Fragile. Custom Moving LabelsWant to pick your own colors? Order specific colors for the rooms that you need. Each colored label can be customized. The label to the right is a sample of a custom moving label. These are called shipping labels and they measure 2 inches long by 3.75 inches wide. You can type in your own text and or choose from Fragile, Open First, Heavy, Storage, Pet Supplies, Living Room, Dining Room Kitchen, Bedroom 1, etc. already on various colored labels. You can type in your own special description on the template that is provided. There are currently 19 colors to choose from. These custom moving labels are ordered from Zazzle.com, a print on demand company. Remember to let friends and family know your new address.These postcards are easy to customize. Tip: type in your new address and message on the We're moving postcard before placing your order. The only thing you'll need to fill in later will be the send to addresses, or: You can also type in the addressees addresses online, and add each postcard, one at a time to your cart. The typed print will be easier to read, and may also make adding addresses go faster, if you are a pretty good typist. You'll find these postcards included as an option in the link provided in the Custom Moving Labels, above. Learn Packing Tips - Wrap and Pad...*Stand wrapped dishes on end. *Place lighter dishware on top. Be sure to wrap dishes and glassware individually. Savings tip: If there is a local newspaper company near by, they may allow you to take an end of roll of newspaper to help with your wrapping and packing needs. We have gotten an end of roll from out local newspaper company and have also known of others that have done so as well. An end roll goes a long way. Our local newspaper company gives the end rolls away free of charge. Get a variety of packing boxes.You can get extra boxes from your local grocery store; they can be a big help. They can also be ordered online. I've noticed though, that the packing boxes that one purchases, are usually sturdier. An assortment of sizes comes in handy.Little things, like the contents in desk drawers, in the medicine cabinet, and bathroom cleaners, are easier to locate when they are in their own separate box. You can use shoe boxes and other small packing boxes for this. These smaller boxes can be packed inside of larger boxes, and helps you to be more organized and efficient when unpacking and putting items away in your new home. I hope that you have found this information useful.I have had the experience of moving five different times, sometimes in state, and sometimes out of state. Anything you do to help the labeling and packing process in the beginning, really helps in the end, when you are ready to unpack it all. May you have an enjoyable move and also easy unpacking at your new location.
cheap movers Golden Beach, Florida
cheap movers Golden Beach, Florida


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Dear rockers,
There has been some delays on my posts, I promiss I will update my blog as soon as I can!
Thank you for all of your support, views, likes, and comments. I'll keep on posting every concept behind every piece of work I do.
Stay tuned for more shit.
Rock on!


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NRA joins spy lawsuit, says NSA creating gun registry
Group joins lawsuit seeking end to spy agency's collection of Americans' phone records.
The National Rifle Association has joined a lawsuit against the federal government's sweeping surveillance program, claiming the collection of phone records and other data violates First Amendment rights and amounts to an illegal gun registry.
In supporting the American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit, the NRA on Wednesday filed a supporting brief arguing the National Security Agency's datamining "could allow identification of NRA members, supporters, potential members, and other persons with whom the NRA communicates, potentially chilling their willingness to communicate with the NRA."
The NSA's phone database would let the government track whether gun owners called the NRA, gun stores, shooting ranges or others.
The brief also says the database "could allow the government to circumvent legal protections for Americans' privacy, such as laws that guard against the registration of guns or gun owners," thereby creating an illegal "national gun registry."
The ACLU welcomed the gun group's support.
"Americans from across the political spectrum value individual privacy," ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer told Reuters. "The philosophical roots may differ, but I think that is a widely shared American value."
In addition, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and several news organizations — including Fox, National Public Radio, Bloomberg News and The New Yorker — and Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin filed supporting briefs. Sensenbrenner is a co-author of the 2001 Patriot Act, which the NSA has cited as the basis of the surveillance.
"The defendants attempt to justify their practice of collecting the records of every telephone call made to or from the United States, including purely domestic calls, by claiming that Congress intended to authorize precisely such a program," Sensenbrenner's brief argues. "But Congress intended no such thing."
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, seeks to halt the NSA's phone-tracking program and have the agency delete all call records.


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Reading Reggie Middleton's latest blog here on RGE (he looks much younger than I'd have guessed!) reminded me of a metric which is critical to assessing the velocity of a financial crisis as it affects a financial institution. In looking at American Express, he highlights (among a lot of other useful data) the extent to which charge-offs on credit cards are exceeding the growth of reserves. Both numbers are moving. Charge-offs are going up. Reserves are going up too to cover the losses from charge-offs, but are not growing as quickly.
As we all know, it is liquid reserves that enable a credit institution to cope with periods of uncertainty, underperformance and/or illiquidity. In the banking industry, the relationship between losses and reserves is referred to as the "coverage ratio" and it is a critical indicator of stress.
Those with too low reserves must borrow or recapitalise just at that point in the cycle when lenders and investors become wary sceptics as they contemplate the worsening business climate in general and deteriorating performance of the needy in particular. Those unable to secure credit or attract investment must look to official liquidity facilities, if available, and/or face forced asset liquidations and/or insolvency. Those who can secure credit or attract investment typically do so at a cost which impairs future profitability and so undermines future reserve growth (see From Capital-ist to Capital-less Economies).
It occurred to me to examine the coverage ratio in another context that I already planned to write about today: the FDIC.
For the past month or so, I haven't been able to look at the FDIC without seeing a big, undercapitalised, monoline insurer. I didn't want to see the FDIC that way, especially since Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England and normally a very sensible bloke, is a huge admirer of the US deposit insurance system and wants to import FDIC principles here to the UK. If the FDIC is fundamentally flawed, then the UK may once again follow the US over yet another cliff with too little reflection of our inherent self-interest in avoiding yet another public policy disaster.
Facing my fears, as we all should if we aspire to be rational and make superior judgements, requires assessing the facts.
The following excerpt from Wikipedia describes the characteristics of a monoline insurer:
Monoline insurers (also referred to as "monoline insurance companies" or simply "monolines") guarantee the timely repayment of bond principal and interest when an issuer defaults. They are so named because they provide services to only one industry.
The economic value of bond insurance to the governmental unit, agency, or company offering bonds is a saving in interest costs reflecting the difference in yield on an insured bond from that on the same bond if uninsured.
So what is the FDIC then? The FDIC "guarantee[s] the timely repayment of [deposits] when a[n insured financial institution] defaults." The FDIC "provide[s] services to only one industry. The economic value of [FDIC deposit insurance] to the [insured banks] offering [deposit accounts and certificates of deposit] is a saving in interest costs reflecting the difference in yield on an insured [deposit] from that on the same [deposit] if uninsured."
The similarities are too great. The FDIC is a monoline insurer in all the ways that matter.
Taking that as a starting point then, what makes the FDIC better able to withstand the rigours of a financial crisis than its private sector monoline brethren? Let's look at the advantages the FDIC has over lesser monolines.
Regulatory Powers: The FDIC has the power to compel banks to increase their capital, limit their riskier business activity, and otherwise intervene to curb management's rush toward bank failure.
Mandatory Participation: American banks have no choice but to buy their deposit insurance from the FDIC, and are obligated to do so. They have no choice but to pay the premia assessed by the FDIC when due if they want to remain in business. With more than 6,000 banks participating, the risks should be diversified (except, of course, that banks are herd animals so that risk outcomes are highly correlated for the sector as a whole). Risk-Weighted Premia: Theoretically, the FDIC's risk-based CAMELS rating system should require riskier banks to pay more. It would be interesting to apply rigorous market backtesting methodologies to see whether CAMELS is performing as expected in this downturn, or whether like so much else, CAMELS has been distorted by forbearance and crony capitalism into another tool for industry concentration and selective competitive advantage favouring well-connected big banks during the M&A boom years.
Statutory Receiver of Failed Banks: When a bank fails, the FDIC takes over the assets and liabilities, and is able to rapidly arrange for bridge banks, purchase and assumption transactions to healthy banks, and otherwise realise value from failed banks while minimising systemic disruption to retail and commercial account holders. This is a critical function as the surest way to prevent draws of deposit insurance is to compel a work out that secures depositors unimpaired access to their accounts.
Treasury Credit as a Backstop: If it runs into trouble, the FDIC can borrow from the Treasury (just like everyone else in corporate America, it seems).
This is a formidable armory of powers and privileges. And we know the FDIC is experienced at using its powers to good effect, having proven itself several times through the past 75 years. Nonetheless, these powers may be insufficient if the scale of losses insured by the FDIC overwhelm the capitalisation of the insured banks and the resources of the FDIC.
This is where Reggie's test of losses relative to reserve growth becomes a telling indicator of future problems.
Looking at the most recent Quarterly Banking Profile from the FDIC, we see an ugly picture:
Net Charge-Off Rate Rises to Highest Level Since 1991
Loan losses registered a sizable jump in the second quarter, as loss rates on real estate loans increased sharply at many large lenders. Net charge-offs of loans and leases totaled $26.4 billion in the second quarter, almost triple the $8.9 billion that was charged off in the second quarter of 2007. The annualized net charge-off rate in the second quarter was 1.32 percent, compared to 0.49 percent a year earlier. This is the highest quarterly charge-off rate for the industry since the fourth quarter of 1991. At institutions with more than $1 billion in assets, the average charge-off rate in the second quarter was 1.46 percent, more than three times the 0.44 percent average for institutions with less than $1 billion in assets.
Note that big banks – those presumably with favourable CAMELS ratings in years past, allowing them to gobble up their less favourably rated peers – have much worse charge-offs than smaller banks.
Large Boost in Reserves Does Not Quite Keep Pace with Noncurrent Loans
For the third consecutive quarter, insured institutions added almost twice as much in loan-loss provisions to their reserves for losses as they charged-off for bad loans. Provisions exceeded charge-offs by $23.8 billion in the second quarter, and industry reserves rose by $23.1 billion (19.1 percent). The industry's ratio of reserves to total loans and leases increased from 1.52 percent to 1.80 percent, its highest level since the middle of 1996. However, for the ninth consecutive quarter, increases in noncurrent loans surpassed growth in reserves, and the industry's "coverage ratio" fell very slightly, from 88.9 cents in reserves for every $1.00 in noncurrent loans, to 88.5 cents, a 15-year low for the ratio.
I had to smile at the heading. The clumsy phrasing of "Does Not Quite Keep Pace" has been carefully drafted in preference to the less wordy but more apt "Lags".
The bottom line is that the "coverage ratio" is worsening for the FDIC flock, and the coverage ratio for the FDIC is not looking too healthy either. At the end of the second quarter, the FDIC reserve fund was down to a mere $45.2 billion after just 9 bank failures this year. While it does not publish a coverage ratio in respect of itself, IndyMac alone will require an estimated $8.9 billion of FDIC reserves to resolve, almost twenty percent of remaining reserves. The FDIC intends to raise reserves through a premium increase in October, but a lot can happen in two months in these febrile times.
So the FDIC may well become yet another troubled monoline insurer. Indeed, Sheila Bair, serial forbearance artiste chairman of the FDIC (formerly a Treasury official and Republican congressional aide), conceded as much when she raised the possibility this week that the FDIC might be joining the queue for a Treasury hand out to see it through short term liquidity problems.
"I would not rule out the possibility that at some point we may need to tap into [short-term] lines of credit with the Treasury for working capital, not to cover our losses," Bair said in an interview.
The FDIC is too critical to the fabric of the US banking system to become another monoline casualty of the forbearance backlash crippling the banking industry. If there ever was a case for "systemic risk" deserving a bailout, the FDIC would get my vote (and presumably every Congressman's too). But an FDIC bailout would be yet another signal to international creditors of America that the financial methods and models so widely exported and extolled over the past quarter century were fundamentally misguided and dangerous.
If the FDIC model fails, then what are the alternatives for deposit insurance? An intriguing idea floated in the Financial Times a couple weeks ago was to partially privatise deposit insurance through the excess liability reinsurance markets, allowing Warren Buffett to run his sliderule over the regulatory and risk management profile of banks to set a market price for insuring a failure.
Excess liability insurance would spread deposit insurance risk beyond the UK banking sector to global catastrophe insurance markets, reducing the pro-cyclical liquidity impact of any deposit insurance claim. In normal circumstances it should cover the risk of a large UK bank failure at a cost well below pre-funding, particularly in upswings of the economic cycle, while spreading the costs in a managed way if claims are sustained during downswings. Periodic tendering would ensure that market pricing reinforces discipline in the banking sector toward better management throughout the business cycle, co-operation on rescues of troubled banks and efficient resolution processes. The capital efficiency of these flexible arrangements should give UK banks a competitive edge.
In globalised markets, with globalised banks, perhaps globalised deposit insurance through excess liability insurance and/or catastrophe bond finance is not such a bad option. It may not be popular, however, with the crony capitalists and their political clientele who prefer the cheaper option of socialising losses via the Treasury to taxpayers and global public creditors, but at least it's an alternative to the US model for the UK and others to consider.


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McHugh carves up 12 in dominant Astros debut
SEATTLE -- All that Collin McHugh knew when he boarded a flight from Memphis late Monday was that he was getting called up by the Astros from Triple-A Oklahoma City. He made an effort to stay away from social media because he wasn't interested in knowing why or even if he was starting.
It wasn't until he bumped into pitching coach Brent Strom in the team's hotel lobby in Seattle later that night that he found out he was indeed going to start Tuesday against the Mariners at Safeco Field.View Full Game Coverage
SEATTLE -- All that Collin McHugh knew when he boarded a flight from Memphis late Monday was that he was getting called up by the Astros from Triple-A Oklahoma City. He made an effort to stay away from social media because he wasn't interested in knowing why or even if he was starting.
It wasn't until he bumped into pitching coach Brent Strom in the team's hotel lobby in Seattle later that night that he found out he was indeed going to start Tuesday against the Mariners at Safeco Field.View Full Game Coverage
"I was like, 'OK, here we go,'" he said.
The laid-back McHugh delivered one of the Astros' best pitching performances in recent memory, striking out 12 batters and allowing only three hits and no walks in 6 2/3 scoreless innings to get his first Major League win in a 5-2 victory over the reeling Mariners.
McHugh, called up after ace Scott Feldman was placed on the disabled list Monday, became the first Astros pitcher to record 12 strikeouts with no walks or runs allowed since Randy Johnson in 1998. It was the most strikeouts in an Astros debut since J.R. Richard fanned 15 in 1971.
Not bad for a guy who entered the game with 13 Major League strikeouts in 47 1/3 career innings. He was 0-8 with an 8.94 ERA in 15 career games (nine starts) prior to Tuesday.
"It was good to get the proverbial gorilla off your back with a 'W,'" McHugh said. "[Catcher Jason] Castro had a great game plan coming in. Between him and the coaching staff, they did a real good job of preparing me. I didn't know a lot of these guys in the lineup, so I was going to go with him, whatever he had. We were fortunate enough to execute pretty well and play some great defense, and getting some early offense really takes the pressure off."
The Astros led, 4-0, in the seventh on the strength of three homers and tied a season high with 10 hits. Castro went to the opposite field with a two-run shot in the first inning, Chris Carter blasted a solo homer in the second -- his first of the year -- and Matt Dominguez homered for the second game in a row in the seventh.
Anthony Bass and Josh Fields combined to close out the Mariners with 2 1/3 scoreless innings, with Fields getting his second save. The Astros took the series from Seattle and won consecutive games for the first time since starting the year 2-0.
McHugh, claimed off waivers from the Rockies in December, was pulled with two outs in the seventh inning after throwing 89 pitches, which were 16 more than he had thrown in any of his four outings this year for Oklahoma City.
"You want to be mindful and know that it's just one start and he's going to have to make more starts and you don't want to have to push him too far," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "We pushed him to a good point. He felt fine and he did a tremendous job for us."
When McHugh arrived at the clubhouse on Tuesday, he and Castro had a crash course on how to pitch against the Mariners. That was challenging because he hadn't faced most of the hitters, and Castro had only caught him a little bit during Spring Training.
"It's a little difficult because you don't really know and don't have a feel of what he has been doing, what's been working for him," Castro said. "You have a short amount of time to get on the same page. I think I only caught him once or twice in Spring Training. I was familiar with the type of stuff he had, but tonight everything was clicking and he was firing on all cylinders. It was a fun game to catch."
The plan was to pitch up in the zone more to change eye levels and establish the inner-half of the plate with his 94 mph fastball and cutter, Castro said.
"It was a little different than the scouting report we got," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. "He was throwing 94 with a pretty good cut slider or cut fastball in. He commanded the strike zone pretty good. He was exceptional tonight."
The strikeouts came as a surprise to pretty much everyone.
"I don't think anybody prepares to go out and strike out a bunch of people," McHugh said. "I knew that I had pretty decent command with two or three pitches, and any time you can go out there and compete with some of your off-speed pitches as well, you have a pretty good chance to be successful."
Veteran left-hander Raul Valdes replaced McHugh in the seventh and promptly walked Kyle Seager before giving up a homer to Justin Smoak that cut the Astros' lead to 4-2. The Astros finally strung some hits together in the seventh getting singles by Castro, Jesus Guzman and Alex Presley to load the bases with one out for Carter, who stroked an RBI single to center to put the Astros ahead, 5-2.
"Smoak hit the two-run home run and they were down two and had the momentum, and I think us getting that run late in the game was big for our team and the momentum," Carter said.
McHugh, 26, was drafted by the Mets in the 18th round in 2008 and had pitched 15 games in the Majors during the last two years with the Mets and the Rockies. Needless to say, it was a long road to his first Major League win.
"I've had a lot of people encouraging me the last few years, just kind of bouncing around a little bit and not really knowing where home is going to be," he said. "For my wife, who couldn't be here tonight, and my family back in Atlanta, this is kind of for them."
Brian McTaggart is reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, Tag's Lines. Follow @brianmctaggart on Twitter.


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Urgent! Dog in need! Please help! What an adorable boy:
Sammy is a 7 year old, devoted and loving Dalmatian mix and is facing forced euthanasia unless he finds the right home. His favorite things are tummy rubs, naps in the sun, bones and a stroll through the neighborhood to sniff. He is a mellow dog, but is always up for a hike. He gets along great with other dogs and with children. He is a sensitive and gentle guy. Originally rescued off the streets he was probably badly abused and has a broken tail to show for it. Rambunctious behavior and loud noises make him nervous. So do men in general until they offer lots of love and affection. He is afraid of teenage boys and men in uniforms and hats. He is NOT an alpha dog. He is very happy at the bottom of any pack. He is trained in all basic commands, is neutered, micro-chipped and up to date on all his routine care. His owners' job forces them to leave the state for half the year which makes for a lonely home for Sam. He has lived with his litter mate for the last six years. At her instigation he has nipped in the past which is why he is looking for a home without her. His has only nipped from fear triggered by the other dog. Alone he looks to human leadership for his instructions. Multiple trainers' assessment is that he is NOT an aggressive dog, but could require management in certain situations. We can help arrange this. This is a great, loving, sweet dog who deserves the right home. He is looking for a best friend! Please help him!
Call 213-434-1196 or e-mail email@example.com


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Weed Control Authority
Welcome to the Lancaster County Weed Control Website
Our purpose is the control of Noxious Weeds in Lancaster County and the control of Overgrown Weeds and Worthless Vegetation in the City of Lincoln.
We do this by educating landowners to make them aware of the legal requirements and benefits of controlling Noxious weeds, Overgrown Weeds and Worthless Vegetation on their property.
- Noxious Weeds of Nebraska
- Sericea Lespedeza
- Leafy Spurge
- Purple Loosestrife
- Japanese & Giant Knotweed
- Spotted & Diffuse Knapweed
- Noxious Weeds of Lancaster County
Popular Links:
- Weed Complaint Form
- Current Weed Inspections
Possible Weed Special Assessments
(Title Companies check here)
Mailing and Physical Address:
444 Cherrycreek Rd, Bldg B
Lincoln, Nebraska 68528
Phone: (402) 441-7817
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Went to program a different tone in one channel and half way through, it failed with a message asking if I wanted to send an Error Report to Microsoft. Now the radio has a constant Beep, Beep, Beep when on and I can't Read/Write to it. Talked to Vertex and they no longer support this Legacy radio. Any suggestions??
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General Banter / Re: Olathe Lake Course?!?!« on: January 22, 2013, 04:17:00 PM »
The Olathe Lake course is something that has been presented a few times over the years, and is something that is being explored. More information will happen as those that are working on the project feel comfortable sharing.
Ok, that makes sense... the way Keith made it sound, some one was actually starting work on this "project" but the only Lake Olathe news I could find online was on a proposal to revamp the old Lakeside Hills Golf Course into a teaching course back in 2010?


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Steve Watson
June 8, 2011
Radio host Alex Jones is calling on all activists worldwide to descend on the site of the 2011 Bilderberg conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland and stage a massive protest against the criminal global elite that have wrecked the global economy, plunged the United States into another unaffordable war in Libya and are now scheming to start yet another war and hike oil prices to levels where Americans will be paying $7 dollars a gallon for gas.
We are urging all demonstrators to make their way to the Suvretta Hotel in St. Moritz this Saturday to force upon Bilderbergers what they fear the most – the spotlight.
As the 2011 Bilderberg meeting kicks off in St. Moritz Switzerland, syndicated radio host Alex Jones has called for activists the world over to descend on the luxury Suvretta House hotel this Saturday at 12 noon local time to protest the secretive global confab.
As the Bilderberg group operates behind closed doors and under Chatham House rules, it attracts very little mainstream media attention, despite the fact that hundreds of the worlds most important CEOs, banking elites, politicians and influential media figures annually attend to discuss policy.
A large scale peaceful protest would draw media attention to the gathering and help further expose the group's history and previous actions.
Jones is particularly calling on Swiss nationals to bolster the numbers by joining the small gathering of alternative media journalists and activists that are already on site.
below is a map of the St Moritz area with the Suvretta House hotel pinpointed.
For continuous updates on the Bilderberg meeting and live video reports visit Prisonplanet.com and Infowars.com.
Infowars.com and Alex Jones would like to give a special thanks to Midas Resources for its generous support of our Bilderberg 2011 coverage.


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MUSE/IQUE Set for The Castle Press, 2/11
MUSE/IQUE, an innovative cross-genre music organization curated by its noted artistic director/conductor Rachael Worby that embraces the unexpected, continues its popular Uncorked series with "Jazz Laid Down" on Monday, February 11, 2013, 7 pm. Featuring legendary bassist Charlie Haden as special guest along with the electro-acoustic jazz, funk and world music of TriTone Asylum and original choreography by Joffrey Ballet choreographer Alice Alyse, the event takes place at a fascinating "pop up" venue, The Castle Press in Pasadena, one of the nation's busiest printing studios. Amid, cocktail rounds and chairs scattered among the machinery for seating, the evening begins with complimentary wine and tours of the printing studio followed by the performance.A 46-ton press serves as the stage as the worlds of music, dance, printing and motion intersect in an unusual setting where ultra-high tech digital presses and an 1850 Columbian Hand Press still in daily operation sit side-by-side, creating brochures and fliers for everything from sandwich shops to symphonies. Special guest Charlie Haden, in an appearance the day following his receipt of a prestigious Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award from The Recording Academy, dazzles with his virtuosic and revolutionary jazz chops that have netted a 2012 NEA Jazz Master Award, 16 Grammy nominations, 3 Grammy Awards, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Bassplayer magazine and kudos as "one of the most restless, gifted, and intrepid players in all of jazz" (Time Magazine). TriTone Asylum, comprised of Andy Waddell, guitar, Jamieson Trotter, keyboard, Peter Sepsis, bass, Allen Mascari, saxophone, Philip Topping, EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument) and Mark San Filippo, drums, draws from the music of MiLes Davis, Pat Metheny and Freddy Hubbard and also performs original compositions. Alyse adds original choreography to the mix. Worby, who ties it all together with distinctive insights and commentary, says, "We are using the raw environment of a working print press, the juxtaposition of contemporary artists with a jazz icon, and a deconstructed presentation of mid-century masterworks to take the audience back to a time when jazz was on the dangerously exciting lead edge of culture and thought."Susan and George Kinney are the proprietors of Castle Press, which partners with MUSE/IQUE for this presentation.The Castle Press is located at 1222 North Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena, California 91103. Tickets are $60 per person. Tickets are also free with MUSE/IQUE membership, which ranges from $250 to $1,000 and includes a variety of special benefits. For tickets and membership information, please call 626-539-7085 or visit www.muse-ique.com.Choreographer Alice Alyse is the Artistic Director of Joffrey South and Joffrey West Programs, and the founder of the American Ballerina Foundation. Her career includes contemporary principal lead roles with the San Francisco Ballet Company, over 300 performances in the Broadway musical Movin' Out, top-awarded ballet graduate of Miami's New World School of the Arts in 1994, first place winner of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and the Outstanding Performance Diploma at the 16th International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. She has been featured in Vogue, People, Harper's Bazaar Australia and Dance Magazine. Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, St. Petersburg, Russia, Kirov Theatre and Paris Opera Garnier are among some of Alyse's top stage credits. The career of jazz legend CHARLIE HADEN has spanned more than fifty years and has encompassed such genres as free jazz, Portuguese fado and vintage country, featured on his recent CD Rambling Boy (Decca), not to mention a consistently revolving roster of sidemen and bandleaders that reads like a list from some imaginary jazz hall of fame. States the Atlantic Monthly, "No other instrument in jazz is more essential than the bass, both backbone and heartbeat, and Haden is its master." As an original member of the ground-breaking Ornette Coleman Quartet that turned the jazz world on its head the late 1950's, Haden revolutionized the harmonic concept of bass playing in jazz. "His ability to create serendipitous harmonies by improvising melodic responses to Coleman's fee-form solos (rather than sticking to predetermined harmonies) was both radical and mesmerizing. "He is a master of simplicity, which is one of the most difficult things to achieve." (The Jazz Book). Haden played a vital role in this revolutionary new approach, evolving a way of playing that sometimes complemented the soloist and sometimes moved independently. In this respect, as did bassists Jimmy Blanton and Charles Mingus, Haden helped liberate the bassist from a strictly accompanying role to becoming a more direct participant in group improvisation. In addition to his hugely influential work with Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell and Dewey Redman, Haden has collaborated with a number of adventurous jazz giants, including John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Chet Baker and Joe Henderson. Other artists with whom he has collaborated over the years include Keith Jarrett, Paul Motian, Guilherme Franco, Carla Bley, Gato Barbieri, Roswell Rudd, Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Jack DeJohnette, Ernie Watts, Alan Broadbent, Rodney Green, John Scofield, Tom Harrell, Hank Jones, Kenny Barron, Shirley Horn, Ginger Baker, Bill Frisell, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Abbey Lincoln and Stan Getz. In 1982, Haden established the jazz studies program at California Institute of the Arts, which is unique in that it emphasizes smaller groups and the spiritual connection to the creative process and helps students discover their individual sound, melodies and harmonies. For his educational work, he was honored by the Los Angeles Jazz Society as "Jazz Educator of the Year." Over the years, Haden has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and several NEA grants for composition as well as three Grammy awards and more than fifteen Grammy nominations and countless international awards. His love of world music has also seen him teaming with a variety of diverse international players, including Brazilian guitarist Egberto Gismonti, Argentinean bandoneon master Dino Saluzzi and Portuguese guitarist Carlos Paredes and even players outside the jazz genre such as Rickie Lee Jones, Beck, the Minute Men, James Cotton and Ringo Starr. Along with a few rare concert reunions with Ornette Coleman, Haden has made a specialty of performing and producing intimate duet recordings with such jazz greats as Hank Jones and Kenny Barron. Haden has been honored with the 2012 NEA Jazz Master Award, the nation's highest honor in jazz, which will be presented at a ceremony at Lincoln Center. TRITONE ASYLUM serves up some of the tastiest electro-acoustic jazz in Los Angeles. The combination of the two words, tritone and asylum describes the group's approach to making music. They are at home creating a mosaic of notes that is influenced by jazz, funk, as well as world music. TriTone Asylum is a collective of Los Angeles musicians who bring together years of experience and collaboration. The instruments at their sonic core are the electric valve instrument (EVI), keyboards, guitar, electric bass and drums.EVENT:
"Jazz Laid Down"
Rachael Worby, curator
Charlie Haden, bass, special guest
TriTone Asylum, electro-acoustic jazz
Alice Alyse, choreographerWHEN:
Monday, February 11, 2013, 7 pmWHERE:
The Castle Press
1222 North Fair Oaks Avenue
Pasadena, California 91103TICKET PRICES:
(includes wine reception, printing studio tour and concert) Tickets are also free with MUSE/IQUE membership, which ranges from $250 to $1,000 and includes a variety of special benefits.TICKETS/INFORMATION: