text:
PSP Movie Creator Download Page
Contacting download site... please wait
Windows XP SP2 Users
Click here to start your download manually.
- PSP Movie Creator
- Version: 1.0 File size: 6900 (KB)
- Create your own PSP movies. This software converts DVD movies and video files for optimized playback on PSP.
- If your download does not start automatically, click here

subset: commoncrawl


text:
By Dragonfly Training, @Dragonfly_Edu
Professional development is a key area within teaching and it's something that's always on the mind. As a teacher, you're always striving to maximise your teaching potential to get the most out of your pupils and achieve the best standards for your school.
So, how do you get inspired to want to learn and develop, and how do you fit it into your busy schedule? No doubt it is tough, and exhausting, but it's important that you keep on your toes and maintain that fresh approach to teaching development. Below we've looked at a few resources to help you get the most out of our CPD:
Teachmeets – a cost effective method of CPD!
Teachmeets are great for teachers; they give a real opportunity for all teachers to get together and discuss ideas, lesson plans and classroom stories! Although they are often only a few hours long they do give a real opportunity to dust up on anything you're unsure about within your profession.
They're also really simple to set up and organise so if you've got an idea for a TeachMeet then why not speak to some colleagues and get the ball rolling?
Keep an eye on twitter for updates (#teachmeets) and don't forget to visit TeachMeet and Teacher Toolkit on a regular basis to see if there are any events running near you!
We often look to sponsor TeachMeets by offering free places on courses through competitions and supporting teachers with the same goals as well so if you're interested, drop us an email and let us know!
Twitter – The social hub of teacher CPD
It's fair to say that most teachers now get a lot of their information, whether it be teacher related or not, on twitter. It's a quick and easy way to keep up to date with any educational related news and after a long day of teaching, Twitter is definitely the place to head to for your bite size CPD info!
Some must follow twitter accounts:
@TeacherToolkit – Influential, reliable and frequent teaching updates
@LearningSpy - Honest and frequent updates on educational issues
@ukedchat – Don't miss out on the #ukedchat every Thursday between 8-9pm for educators.
@InnovateMySchl - Innovation and inspiration for teachers
@Ofstednews - Always good to keep up-to-date with the lovely Ofsted team
Don't forget that you have access to the best type of CPD on your doorstep - your staffroom. Don't ever stop sharing ideas and practises with your colleagues. Your colleagues and you will be the best people to speak to as you all know the school inside out – what will work, what won't work. Should I try something new with my year 8 class, or shall I change the marking and feedback for one class and not the other? Also, the teachers at your school will share a wealth of knowledge on a variety of areas and topics so you'll never be short of new ideas and information. Maybe look into setting up weekly, casual meetings to discuss CPD, or start up a group on line where you can all share ideas and resources.
We don't need to tell you that the educational industry is always in flux, and sometimes we wonder how any of you keep up to date with constant changes! One thing we do know though is that teachers are ready to learn and ready to expand upon their fountain of knowledge. CPD courses are a great way to re think your teaching style and develop as a teacher. Sure, there'll be things you already know or even disagree with, but there will also be those 'I've never thought about that' methods that you can take away and implement immediately.
To view our latest CPD courses that focus not only on generic teaching and learning but also subject specific, courses from some of the most experienced trainers in the UK, please visit Dragonfly Training today!


text: No matter whether you're new to the scene or simply a seasoned professional, There are several standard policies that each electrician really should Are living by. The foundations are simple, However they'll aid you work smarter, more quickly and safer – and increase the caliber of your workmanship also. So http://www.johnstoneelectrics.com.au/electrician-tullamarine.php


text:
Adding wordpress website /taxonomy filter
Proračun €30-250 EUR
I need to add custom filter with checkboxes to my website. I will prepare the text and layout.
For example I have different categories like marketing education and science. Depending what the people will click on I want to show the results on one another page.
Something similar to that search but with more options to click on. I need to understand the process as I need to amplify my website constantly myself
33 freelancerjev ponuja v povprečju za €143 na tem delu
Hello! I am an expert WordPress developer, having 12+ years experience and designed and developed 2000+ websites. I have checked your requirement for adding the custom filter with checkboxes on your website. Please Več
Hello there, Myself having has 10 + years experience of web site development. Expert in Custom programming in php / Mysql / Jquery / Wordpress/ Joomla / OSC / Magento /OpenCart / Android / Mobile development / Resp Več
Hello. how are you? Nice to meet you , i have rich experience in wordpress fliter working i specialized in this working , i will provide you good result . please contact with me
Hi I can make options / filter as you want. Please hire me. I'm an expert in customize WordPress. Thank you !
Hello, I can complete this for you as a plugin. Would you want the filter to appear as a widget, or as a shortcode that you could put in content? Could you please send a link to your site, in particular the page Več
Hi There, I've carefully read your project description. I am a WordPress & Shopify expert. I am very interested in doing this project. I will build your E-commerce/Online shop By WordPress Premium theme(70% E-com Več
Hi, I will add the custom filter. categories with checkbox filter so user will direct to next page according to filter they have choose. Let's discuss further. Thanks
Thanks for your project. I am very experienced in Wordpress/CSS. Let's discuss in detail on chat. Let me provide your good result with fast speed. I am ready to work right now. Thanks.
Hello mate, I checked requirement and i think this is you need: + you need to add custom filter with checkboxes to your website I have ability to do this project: HTML, CSS, WordPress,PHP I always: -Do proj Več
Hi, Greetings from Dotfusion Technologies!! We have seen your requirements that you have mentioned. we can help you to add your custom filter in your website as per your requirements. Please Give Response For Več
Dear hiring manager I am really interested your job, so I want to work with you. I am a senior Wordpress developer, so I have developed many websites using Wordpress. Of course, I have worked with many jobs such as Več
Hey I am a WordPress developer and willing to customize your site and implement functionalities to work accordingly so feel free to contact and share more details


text:
In light of the increasing redeployment of cruise liners to Southern Hemisphere waters, New Zealand has emerged as the latest country to embrace the fantastic benefits of holidaying on the high seas. According to the 2013 Cruise Industry Source Market Report, the number of New Zealand cruise passengers hit an all-time high of 59,316 last year, a number that represents a huge 23% increase on 2012 statistics.
Ships to NZ shores
The redeployment of ships is largely due to Americans and Europeans feeling the pinch of the global financial crisis, resulting in cruise lines being forced to take their services elsewhere. New Zealanders are more than happy to fill the gap, Brett Jardine, Australasian General Manager of Cruise Lines International Association explaining, "We've kept filling the ships and they've kept sending them."
Kiwis know a great deal when they see one!
And with an increased number of on-board services and budget friendly package deals on offer, it's not hard to see why. As well as seasoned sailors, the numbers are also made up by a significant number of first time cruisers and families on the search for an easy, relaxing and cost effective holiday. With vessels now boasting attractions such as ice skating rinks, rock climbing walls, zip lines and an impressive selection of dining options, cruise ships offer all the perks of hotels and resorts without the hefty price tag.
Jardine maintains that while the cost of cruise holidays hasn't changed much in the past decade, the value for money has skyrocketed and seen a notable rise in the number of Kiwis jumping at the chance to snap up incredible value holiday deals.
Aussies join New Zealanders in embracing the cruising trend
New Zealanders aren't the only ones welcoming the increase in Down Under deployments, with Aussie cruise passenger numbers increasing by a huge 48% since 2012. The South Pacific is by far the most popular destination, its tropical climate, dazzling blue waters and postcard perfect beaches attracting an estimated 31% of passengers.
Are you thinking about spending your next holiday enjoying the unparalleled comfort, exceptional service and unmatched entertainment options of a cruise ship? If so, check out some of the fantastic cruise package deals on offer from Cruise 1st. Whether you want to sail around the stunning coastline of New Zealand and Australia or explore somewhere further afield, Cruise 1st have flexible, budget friendly deals to suit all holidaymakers.
Images sourced via Flickr Creative Commons. Credit:Sumeet Mulani


text:
http://soundscapes.us/thoughtradio/playlists/2015/150103.html Thought Radio is the Saturday edition of The AM/FM Show hosted by Bill Fox. You can expect to hear electronic, ambient, spacemusic, Progressive Rock, and an eclectic mix of other genres. The show airs from 6:00 am to 8:00 am EDT/GMT-4 on WMUH Allentown, 91.7 FM and streaming on the internet. Bill also hosts Afterglow every Thursday from 8:00 am to 9:30 am. Show #305 January 3, 2015. Recap: In Phase 1, I continued the special on Sequences electronic music magazine. In Phase 3, the Artist of the Month is Echolyn. I played music from "Jersey Tomato Volume 2." Phase I/Space: ARTIST TRACK ALBUM (label) ==================== ===================== ============================== Chuck van Zyl Saturn Rituals (Synkronos) VA [Solar Fields] Universal Dust Greatest Electronic Ambient Works Vol.1 (Ultimae/Spotted Peccary) VA [Andy Pickford] Binarhythm Sequences No. 29 (E.M.M.A.) Neuronium Mellomoog Runaway Etykagnostyka (Neuronium) Darshan Ambient Star Born Songs from the Deep Field (Spotted Peccary) Phase II/Eclectic: ARTIST TRACK ALBUM (label) ==================== ===================== ============================== Michael Dulin She Walks In Beauty My Beloved (Equity Digital) Rick Sparks Endless Endless (none) Carmen Rubino Perfect Harmony Aquarian Dream (Riga) Trevor Gordon Hall Entelechy Entelechy (Candyrat) Phase III/Progressive Rock: ARTIST TRACK ALBUM (label) ==================== ===================== ============================== Echolyn Sweet Thing Jersey Tomato Vol. 2 (none) Echolyn Never the Same Jersey Tomato Vol. 2 (none) Echolyn Sweet Thing Jersey Tomato Vol. 2 (none) Heliopolis Take a Moment City of the Sun (10t) Alan Morse Cold Fusion * Four O'clock and Hysteria (InsideOut) * = excerpt ++ = Advanced CDR from artist VA = Various Artists (compilation) x = Aborted by CD player On the next show, I will continue the special on the sampler CDRs that came with each issue of Sequences electronic music magazine. The Artist of the Month is Echolyn. Bill Fox ======================================================================== Host of Thought Radio, the Saturday edition of The AM/FM Show every other Saturday at 6:00 am. Phase 1: Electronic, ambient, and space music. Phase 2: Mixed bag of acoustic, electric, pop, or New Age. Phase 3: Progressive rock from past masters to contemporary releases. Website: http://soundscapes.us/thoughtradio MySpace: http://myspace.com/thoughtradio Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/thoughtradio Facebook Group: http://facebook.com/groups/thoughtradio Listen to WMUH Allentown locally at 91.7 FM or on-line at http://www.muhlenberg.edu/wmuh/stream.html Playlists are also published at http://billfox.blogspot.com RSS (2.0) feed from http://billfox.blogspot.com/rss.xml Atom (0.3) feed from http://billfox.blogspot.com/atom.xml ======================================================================== Timezone information - [ Winter: EST/GMT-5 / Summer: EDT/GMT-4 ] Daylight Saving Time in the US (2015) begins at 2:00 AM on Sunday, March 8 and ends at 2:00 AM on Sunday, November 1. ========================================================================
Saturday, January 03, 2015
Thought Radio Playlist for January 3, 2015.
Posted by Ultramusicman at 10:45 AM
Labels: Electronic Music, New Age, playlist, Progressive Rock, radio, The AM/FM Show, Thought Radio, WMUH
No comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Actually I guess that title is wrong. It should read "It's amazing what printers can do these days". Gone are the days of the 5 colour print. Digital printing onto fabrics has revolutionised the role of the print designer. Our days used to be spent trying to get a print to look as good as possible with a limited number of colours that were dictated by the cost of screens and the limitations of the factories. Don't get me wrong, there's still a lots of that going on, especially in kidswear, but with the price of digital printing slowly coming down and the quality constantly going up, I wonder how long the old fashioned screen and roller printing factories have left. The images below are all prints produced in photoshop for Yumi and Uttam Boutique, some are more obviously digital then others.
And Keeping With The Palm Springs Theme…
It used to be that girlswear themes were about a year behind womenswear. That has changed over recent years and trends tend to run across all areas now. (obviously there are some trends that are not appropriate for girls) As well as coming up with Palm Springs inspired prints for Uttam Boutique, I also used the trend in my Uttam Kids range. Adding in the flamingo garden ornament to the cactuses, helped make them a bit more girly and added a lovely highlight to the sun faded brights palette. The boss hated pastels, so the only way I could get them into the range was by mixing them with brighter colours.


text:
Darren Aronofsky is a visionary amongst directors. While I am ashamed to say that I have not yet seen all of his features, the ones that I have seen, I have loved. Requiem for a Dream would convince me to see anything that Aronofsky does. This, I just don't understand, though. Noah is a movie not without promise. It's not a terrible movie. That being said, it's not something I want to see again. The complexities I feel concerning Noah bother me greatly. I would compare it to a train wreck, but there were a number of decent things about this film. Still, it is far from perfect and for me, it's far from likable.
I watched the controversy surrounding Noah from the beginning. Is it going to be Christian enough? Will it be Christian, at all? The religious folk seemed to want an actual retelling of whatever Bible they fancy. The non-religious folk didn't care either way and would probably prefer it didn't stick to Biblical canon, at all. I am one of the ones that knows of Noah, but not enough about the story to care whether or not it was 100% accurate to the Biblical retelling. I figured since I view The Bible as a work of fiction, it did not matter to me how Aronofsky chose to interpret an incredibly old fable. I'm all for artistic integrity and was looking forward to seeing what he could do with the source material that he was working with. Apparently, in the end he leaned towards the Jewish retelling of Noah and I'm told he stuck to the basics, while obviously adding in enough supplementary material to make a full movie.
It seems odd to explain the plot for a movie like Noah, but for those not overly familiar with the story, the gist of it is that Noah is a humble, religious man that receives a calling from God to build an ark. The idea is that God is going to wipe the world clean of the unholiness in a great flood and Noah and his family, along with two of every animal need to be on that ark. The animals need to be protected, as they will be able to have the land back, and Noah's family needs to be on the ark to see to the safe transport of the animals. They will be the ones that end and restart civilization.
The problems I had with this film was not in the story itself, at least not completely. Many of the problems come with the acting. This is a film with some considerable acting talent, but I felt like everyone had fallen asleep on the job. Russell Crowe leads the film playing the titular character, Noah, and Jennifer Connelly plays Noah's wife, Naameh. Crowe was all over the place. He was contemplative and he was insane. He was focused and he was deranged. It was maddening to watch his descent into inconsistency. Connelly on the other hand was unremarkable in the most plain of ways. Either her presence was easily ignored on screen or she was so emotionally over the top it was distracting. She was also so thin, I couldn't help but wish that Noah would fire up one of the animals in storage because she needed to eat something. Not even Noah's grandfather, Methuselah, played by the incomparable Anthony Hopkins, made any sense. He just comes across as a senile old man that babbles about berries. Whether or not any of this was in the original tale doesn't matter, because Hopkins' performance was nothing short of a man missing from an old folk's home.
Noah's children, Ham (Logan Lerman), Shem (Douglas Booth), and adopted daughter Ila (Emma Watson) are the stars of the show, though there are some issues here, as well. Lerman starts strong, but fizzles once he's on the ark. Aronofsky would have been better served creating a movie about Shem and Ila because Booth and Watson were the most entertaining and well-acted part of this film. They truly saved this from being an unwatchable film. That being said, I kept asking myself how Watson ended up here. Luckily, she was though because her class act saved me from wanting to turn this off early.
The cinematography for Noah was gorgeous. Obviously there was a certain amount of CGI work done here, but it really did look lovely. Aronofsky worked with his frequently used DP, Matthew Libatique (Requiem, Iron Man) and the result was spot on. In order for Noah to work, at all, there had to be enough going on in the visual department to allow you to suspend disbelief; seeing the rushing waters, creating the water world, and making the ark float.
While the cinematography really helped the movie along, the choice of adding the watchers (fallen angels that watched over Noah's ark) and designing them the way that they did was bothersome. I think the idea of the watchers makes sense. However, these watchers ended up looking sort of like massive rock Transformers. They were so odd that they perfectly fit into this movie and yet added to all of the things that make it so hard to watch.
I wanted to be able to say that this movie was worth watching, but I would be lying if I told you that. If you like Emma Watson you may be able to sit through this, but you'd be better off with a Harry Potter marathon, instead. While I love Hopkins, Watson, and Booth and generally tend to enjoy Connelly and Crowe, nothing in this movie makes enough sense to classify it as entertaining.


text:
For many mountain bikers, the mere mention of 'power meters' is enough to make our eyes glaze over. As Rachel Sokal discovered though, there's a bit more to these 2INPower cranks from Rotor.
It might be a bit odd to start a review of the only two-sided MTB power meter by talking about a chainring but that's exactly where Rotor started out with its development.
Rotor was the first company to bring oval chainrings to the market (successfully that is, anyone recall Shimano's ill-fated Biopace system?) and their power meter followed as a way to accurately measure the ring's effect.
The concept of an oval chainring is that it effectively reduces in size at the weakest point of the pedal stroke, and increases at the strongest. This means that your legs have most to do when they're most effective and least to do when they're in their weakest position. The theory is that this will reduce fatigue and increase power output compared to riding a round ring.
The majority of oval chainrings have a fixed orientation due to their crank mounting. But of course different riders don't have the same pedalling dynamics so only if you're dead-on average will your strongest and weakest points reflect the shape of the ring.
To address this, Rotor's chainrings are designed that their orientation can be adjusted – either by a direct mount fixing or multiple positions to mount to a spider – to match your pedal stroke. Whilst you can do much of this by feel (an optimally positioned oval ring shouldn't feel oval) Rotor's power meters were developed to calculate the best position with a lot more accuracy.
The Hardware
The Rotor MTB 2INPower DM is the only two-sided mountain bike specific power meter currently available.
There are a couple of advantages of a two-sided meter over a single-side one. Firstly, by measuring the power from each leg separately, a two-sided meter is more accurate than a single-sided one, which takes one reading and simply doubles it. Secondly, measures from each side will highlight any imbalances between legs and how these change in different circumstances.
The 2INPower's right-side meter is housed in the crank arm, while the left power meter sits inside the axle for protection against the elements. Unlike Rotor's one-sided INPower cranks the 2INPower is only available with a 30mm axle and with Boost spacing.
Cranks are available in three different lengths: 165mm, 170mm and 175mm. They're pretty stealthy looking in matt black and come with coloured rubber boots to protect the ends.
Our 165mm test set came with a 32t oval direct mount chainring (the DM in the name – both round and oval rings are available) and weighed in at 684g (and an additional 17g for the rubber boots). This puts them in line with Rotor's claimed weight of 695g for a 170mm set.
Fitting the two piece crankset is straightforward once you've sussed out what bottom bracket and spacers you need. For the ten months I've been using these cranks, I've had them fitted to two bikes – one with a PF92 shell, and one with a regular threaded shell. Rotor offers a range of BBs to fit most mountain bikes on the market, but they don't supply one with the crankset. I used a Hope BB in both cases, and no issues.
Still, it's worth taking a bit of care with installation as there is a specific sequence and torques for the pinch and centre bolts, and I can tell you that getting this wrong leads to much cursing and swearing whilst trying to tease them back out.
The 2INPower is powered by an internal rechargeable battery rather than a disposable coin one as with many other power meter cranks. The charge port sits under a thin plastic cover on the drive side axle and has a magnetic cable attachment which makes for easy charging.
One potential issue is the thin cover seal, which on a couple of occasions popped off its fixing screw when I moved it to attach the cable. This was solved with a bit of electrical tape, but isn't really something you should have to do with a £1k crankset.
On the note of sealing, Rotor states the 2INPower cranks are rated to an IPX-7 level, which means you could dump the whole crankset under a metre of water for up to 30 minutes, and the electronic gubbins will apparently survive. I had no issues throughout testing in typically wet and muddy UK conditions, but for anyone looking to ride underwater for longer than half an hour though, these might not be the cranks for you.
The Software
The 2INPower uses ANT+ or Bluetooth to connect with your bike computer, home computer and phone. Calibration is just a matter of pressing a few buttons on your device(s) and a quick spin of the pedals.
Slightly different data is collected and analysed by different devices. A bike computer (in my case a Garmin 1000) will record the usual power metrics including left / right balance without any additional software.
Rotor's phone app (Android and iOS) covers the standard power data metrics, but also analyses your pedalling dynamics in much greater detail. This includes torque graphs and calculation of the optimum angle and position of your oval chainring – this data is only available through Rotor's software.
Finally there's a desktop program that will display and analyse the standard power data, live torque data and chainring position data. You can connect the cranks to your computer using Bluetooth or an ANT+ dongle.
On The Trail
'The On The Trail' section of this review is for members only. If you have an account, please log in. If not, you can get access by registering here for free.
Members get access to exclusive content like this but they also get..
- Fewer ads
- Post comments to stories
- Join in forum discussions
- Sell unwanted kit for free in our Classifieds
- Automatic shop discount on Singletrack merchandise
- Access more members only content
Premier members get more
- Magazine content in print 6x/year post free
- App access to every new issue of Singletrack
- Ad free website
- Big discounts on shop merchandise
- Access downloads like GPX files, PDFs and even iBooks
- Full mag archive access to all Singletrack back issues
Premier membership starts at just 1.99
Review Info
|Rotor Components
|2INPower MTB Cranks
|Rotor, rotorbike.com
|£999 for power meter, £59 for chainring
|by Rachel Sokal for 10 months
Comments (2)
Excellent review.
Question is do I upgrade from my inpower rex crank?
Be interesting to compare the two .
@rone – thanks 🙂
Comparison-wise the 2IN gives you two sided meter, direct mount ring and rechargeable battery over the Rex. Plus they look ace.
As to whether you upgrade, I guess that depends how much Christmas money Santa brings you.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.


text: Discover your perfect race day outfit with Christian Alexander's Race Day collection. Shop polka dot, floral, and embroidered midi dresses ideal for your race day look. And complete your outfit with suede heels, envelope clutch bags and elegant fascinators that we can get dyed to coordinate with your dress, jumpsuit or two-piece.


text:
Emile Hirsch is Having a Baby With an Ex-Girlfriend
Been a while since you thought about Emile Hirsch? Us, too! Well is appears the Into the Wild star has been spending at least part of the time since we last saw him impregnating women (well, just the one that we know of), because Emile Hirsch is apparently gonna be a dad.
Hirsch, who is 28, is expecting a baby with a non-famous woman from Florida whom he apparently had a fling with. They're not together romantically, but the woman is five and a half months pregnant and Hirsch has made it known that he does intend to be a part of the baby's life.
Hirsch tweeted about having a "baby announcement" to make yesterday, joking "I am in fact @RonanFarrow's biological father." Other than that, the star's camp has stayed relatively quiet, with multiple unnamed sources being the ones who talked to The Daily News and Us Weekly.
"He's trying to be a good guy in the situation," one source told Us. "He still has love for the girl -- it's just his schedule and life did not fit in with having a relationship."
Yes, Emile Hirsch, congratulations on not abandoning anyone!


text:
Kiev Yoga studio owner Ludmila got word I was going to be close by in Poland in September and sent me an invitation to teach at her studio in Ukraine. I happily accepted! More info and registration link coming soon.
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: September 21Wroclaw
Later Event: October 12Prague, Czech


text:
Quick Thoughts: The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Andy Dufresne is wrongly sentenced to two life sentences in prison.
An indisputable classic, The Shawshank Redemption is widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. Whilst I don't agree with such an idea – in fact, I don't think Shawshank Redemption even comes close – what makes this film so iconic and widely revered is very clear.
In short, it's all about the strong thematic projection of catharsis and freedom. Shawshank Redemption is then all about imprisonment and its impact on the human mind. We see this through the journey of Andy and the constant looming presence of a very dismal fate that hangs about him. Through all kinds of abuse, violence and coincidence, Andy is seemingly dealt bad hand after bad hand, descending from a seemingly normal and perfect life into the depths of hell. And its here, in hell, where he learns what freedom and happiness truly is – the cold beer scene being a perfect symbolic representation of this. However, this is something that many people around Andy learn; most people in the prison system, by virtue of their predicament, understand better than most the joys and ecstasies of, say for instance, a cold beer on a hot summer's day. However, this knowledge gained in hell is apart of its biggest trap; this understanding of the highest forms of pleasure makes you comfortable in your cage, it leaves you institutionalised. In such, the cage gives you incite into life's blisses that can be gained nowhere else, but it keeps you from actually experiencing them – from enjoying that cold beer every hot summer weekend.
This idea is encapsulated by the character arc of Brooks. Because he is so deeply institutionalised by this cage, he doesn't know what to do with freedom when he is given it. The greatest challenge presented by the walls of Shawshank is then stepping into this hell, consuming its lessons and then escaping with them; an age-old and archetypal story. And so it's Andy who becomes our co-hero, the one who confronts his fate, steps into hell and emerges with a better life than any of us could ever possibly imagine thanks to his hard-earned perception of the world. The same opportunity is afforded to Red, and so it is us, who go on this journey into the depths of hell with these figures, that are granted a taste of their catharsis as they step out onto that beach to meet one another having been granted fatal redemption by a harsh and unforgiving world.
Previous post:
Tron – Criticism & Context
Next post:
Monsters, Inc. – Inter-Narrative & Super-Narrative
More from me:


text:
"The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind." — Caroline Myss
It was a Sunday.
I was lying face down on the window bed when my housemate came downstairs.
She laughed, because I was likely a comical sight.
"I thought I was going to be productive today," I groaned. "I meant to get all of these things done, but then I had this hour and a half long conversation and it took it out of me."
She reassured me that I had at least walked the dog (which I don't usually count as productive because I always do), I had spent some time preparing food in the kitchen (the bare minimum, though it was at least a nutritionally sound meal), and I had laundry in the washing machine (long overdue).
She also acknowledged that I was getting ahead of myself.
Some days are meant for catching up on tasks. And some days are just meant for catching your breath.
Neither is less productive, because as long as you're acting in service of your own needs, you're nurturing yourself and your goals in the right way.
"You are being productive," she said. "It just happens to be a different kind of productivity."
Sometimes our best laid, well-intentioned, constructive plans are not what happen to be in store for us.
Integration is productive.
From the outside, there doesn't appear to be much activity going on.
But your body and your brain is recuperating.
What is so important that it takes priority over your wellbeing?
That afternoon, instead of checking off items on my to do list, I left my phone downstairs. I kept my planner tucked deep in my bag.
I drew hot water for bath, pouring in epsom salts and a sprinkling of essential oils. I sipped on coconut water and lime. I took time to lather my hair. I slowly shaved my legs—quite the stark contrast to my usual hurried sweeps of the blade across my legs.
I let the heat envelop me.
And when I got out of the tub, I wrapped myself in thick blankets, promptly curled up on the couch and fell asleep.
It was a langourous afternoon.
And that in itself can be productive.
If you are lazy for the sake of avoidance, then sure, that can be lacking in productivity.
But so can burnout.
What is a bigger waste of your time? A couple hours here and there to properly recharge...or weeks (maybe even months) of recovering from pushing yourself too hard?
Rest is just productivity at a different speed.
If you are taking much-needed time to land, you're doing it right.
Just because you need to take extra time for rest does not mean you are shirking your responsible activities.
When it is time, you will return to busy activity.
But your brain can't properly function if you're not sleeping.
Likewise, your mind, body and spirit won't feel in alignment until you're taking productive rest when you need it.
Open yourself to the idea of slow productivity.


text:
Remote Technical Writer
April 12th, 2013
The Marlin Company is the leading digital workplace communications company in North America with digital products used or viewed by over 500,000 people daily.
They are currently seeking a Technical Writer/Documentation Specialist to work closely with the product development / management, support, training, marketing and sales departments for writing, editing, and producing in various output formats the technical and functional documentation/content for all ECS products.
- Work with all the departments to gather technical material for all the needed documents.
- Individually develop and update technical documentation/content adhering to format, content and style guidelines.
- Develop and update online Help
- Produce content in desktop publishing, online help, and multi-media formats.
- Research, evaluate and recommend new documentation tools and methods.
- A pertinent Bachelor's Degree in Journalism, English, Technical Communications, Computer Science or related field with an emphasis on technical documentation, and at least five years work experience. An equivalent combination of relevant education and/or experience may be considered.
- High level of expertise in technical writing software and Microsoft Office suite including, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, Visio.
- Advanced capabilities in screen capture and graphics modification software (e.g., Photoshop, Jasc, Paint Shop Pro).
- Proven ability to self-edit work effectively as well as to write clear, concise and comprehensive documentation on complex, multi-level technical issues, including storyboard creation and development
- Excellent organization, strong written/verbal communications and writing styles with an eye for detail.
- Ability to grasp complex software, learn quickly and work within tight deadlines.
- Sample work will be requested.
This is a 2-3 month Contract position, $25-35 per hour based on experience.
Apply by emailing your resume to: email@example.com


text:
Alicia Augello Cook Date of Birth is January 25, 1981, referred to professionally as Alicia Keys, is a Hollywood American artist, Singer The Weeknd Photoshoot Pictures HD Images Gallery lyricist, record maker, piano player, and performer. You are here for Alicia Keys Pictures and Latest Sexy Bikini Images Gallery then you are the best place.
Alicia Keys Pictures
Keys' introduction collection, Songs in A Minor was discharged in 2001, delivering her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single Fallin, and offering more than 12 million duplicates around the world. The collection earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002.
Adele Pictures Hot Bikini Photoshoot HD Images Gallery
Keys discharged her introduction collection with J Records, having had past record bargains first with Columbia and after that Arista Records.
Shakira Photoshoot Hot Bikini Pictures HD Images Gallery
Her sophomore collection, The Diary of Alicia Keys, was discharged in 2003, generating effective singles You Don't Know My Name, On the off chance that I Ain't Got You and Journal", and offering 8 million duplicates worldwide.
The two part harmony tune My Boo with Usher scored her a moment number-one single in 2004. The collection gathered her an extra four Grammy Awards in 2005.Later that year, she discharged her initially live collection, Unplugged, turning into the main lady to have an MTV Unplugged collection make a big appearance at number one.
As I Am was discharged in 2007, delivering the Hot 100 number-one single "Nobody", offering 5 million duplicates worldwide and gaining an extra three Grammy Awards. The Element of Freedom was discharged in 2009, turning into her initially diagram topping collection in the UK, and offering 4 million duplicates around the world.
Keys also worked together with Jay Z on "Realm State of Mind" as her fourth number-one single, and won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2010. The young lady on Fire was discharged in 2012 as her fifth Billboard 200 garnish collection, bringing forth the effective title track.
Hi, if You Like Alicia Keys Pictures Gorgeous Sexy Photoshoot In Bikini Latest Sizzling Spicy Wardrobe Malfunction Latest HD Hot Images Gallery Swimsuit Showing Hair or Beauty New Naval Cleavage or Sexy Near-Nude Legs Swimsuit Cute Kissing Pics Siblings or daughter, Son and, children, Husband wedding New Unseen Makeup Pic Smoking In Bra-Panties In HQ Wallpapers then share now.


text:
Darryl + Paige | Mexico Wedding | Winnipeg Destination Wedding Photographer
Darryl + Paige | Mexico Wedding | Winnipeg Destination Wedding Photographer
I met Darryl + Paige a few years ago through Danielle and Ryan, Darryl's sister and brother in law. I was honored to be asked to travel with them and their family and friends as they said their 'I do's' at the Dreams Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa. What an unbelievable week of celebration as Darryl + Paige became husband and wife. It definitely was a pleasure to witness their love and capture their unforgettable memories. Darryl + Paige, thank you for the honor of traveling alongside not only you both, but your wonderful family and friends to share in this special occasion.
Darryl + Paige could not have chosen a more beautiful and exotic location to get married than the Dreams Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa, Cancun Mexico.
Paige getting ready with the help of her adoring mother Michelle and bridesmaids Carley, Nicole, Ceilidh and Candice.
Darryl having the final touches done with the help of his best man and brother Mark.
The guy's just couldn't resist.... I barely got the shot because I was laughing so hard.
Darryl's mum Muriel makes the final adjustments before sending him off to await his beautiful bride to be.
Paige's dad, Dean, couldn't have been more proud walking his daughter down the aisle...
Darryl + Paige married on the beach at Dreams Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa, Cancun on a truly stunning day...
Just after the ceremony, the couple snuck away for a few photos alone...You really can feel the love Darryl + Paige have for each other.
''When you say you love me, know I love you more. And when you say you need me, know I need you more....Boy, I adore you.''
And then came the most epic first dance I have ever seen....wow well done guys!!!
''From the first breath she breathed, When she first smiled at me, I knew the love of a father runs deep.''
''Take your time... Don't live too fast, Troubles will come and they will pass. Go find a woman and you'll find love.''
..and the party had officially started.
Darryl + Paige. Your day was beyond perfect and I wish nothing but the best to you both on the path that lies ahead. May God be with you and bless you. May you see your children's children. May you be poor in misfortunes and rich in blessings. May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward. - Michael


text:
One of the more popular questions I am asked recently is "does it cost money to lock your loan?" and the truth is -- there is not a right answer.
The reason there isn't any one answer to this question is because each lender handles loan locks differently. Some lenders lock you early in the process before sending you the initial disclosures and charge a fee that appears to be a "lock fee" but is really a "commitment fee". The normal "commitment fee" is somewhere between $300 and $600 from what I have seen.
The lenders who I have seen charge a "commitment fee" are typically large, national lenders who have call centers and your loan officer is really a call center employee who only locks you in and then lets someone else take over your file once locked.
Some lenders don't charge a fee at all to lock your loan - these are typically traditional mortgage shops where the loan officer is a true outside sales person and is generally a professional who is being a loan officer as a career. Most often, these lenders will have you complete the initial disclosures and then once completed, they will work with you to decide the optimal time for you to lock in at the lowest possible rate.
Typically when you lock - the initial lock period will be for 15, 30 or 45 days. Each lender has different lock possibilities, but these are the general timeframes that lenders offer for locking. Unless your file is already through underwriting, I would caution you about locking for 15 days -- turn times are usually just not short enough for you to get your file done in less time.
IF -- you get to the point where your lock is about to expire, then it is usually possible to extend the lock - at a fee. Who pays the fee -- you or the loan officer? From what I have seen -- usually the loan officer will pay the fee and take it out of his commission - but if the lock is going to expire because you were late getting something needed to complete the loan, be ready for the loan officer to ask you to pay it.
A typical lock extension costs about .25% of your loan for a 15 day extension -- but again, this amount will vary by lender.
So back to the original question: does it cost money to lock a loan? It depends on the lender and yes, it usually costs money to extend the lock on a loan no matter who you are working with.
No Comments
Use our FHA Guide to find answers to all questions related to FHA loan.


text:
Jeff Utecht has a post about a session by Mark Wagner called Video Games as Constructivist Learning Environments. Jeff has his session notes posted on his site. I just was reading about a conference sponsored by MTVu looking at games and gaming and asking the question Can Social-Change Video Games Tackle Divorce, Poverty, Genocide? It is an interesting article and points to a forum where developers demonstrated several games that have been developed or are underdevelopment, dealing with social issues.
Examples include Disaffected, which parodies the employment experience of a Kinko's worker; Peacemaker, "a one-player game in which the player can choose to take the role of either the Israeli Prime Minister or the Palestinian President." and Darfur is Dying a simulation where the user takes on the persona of a displaced Darfurian and tries to negotiate forces that threaten the survivial of his or her refugee camp. Quite an interesting take on using games and gaming to discuss social change.
Technorati Tags: Darfur, necc, necc06, necc2006, video games


text:
The winter 2019 installment of "Eat Your ART Out!" supported the Asheville Symphony on Monday, January 28th at 6pm in Blue Spiral 1 gallery.
This dinner SOLD OUT and was a great success! Stay tuned for news about how much we raised!
__________________________________________________________ _________ Help us support our local symphony! We will begin the evening with music from Upland Drive. Dinner will be filled with solo cello tunes by Franklin Keel.
We are thrilled to also partner with pl?b urban winery who will be donating wine for the event!
Limited seating available. Each ticket includes champagne, 5 course dinner from Chef Jacob Whitman, and wine from pleb urban winery. ___________________________________________________________________ Eat Your ART Out! is a biannual charity dinner hosted by Blue Spiral 1 in downtown Asheville. Each winter and summer, the gallery hosts a dinner that donates proceeds to a local non-profit. Blue Spiral 1 works with local chefs and each dinner features a multi course "blind" menu, adding a little mystery to the event. The theme and other elements of the dinners vary depending on the non-profit, the galleries current exhibitions, and the time of year.


text:
Katherine McAuliffe
Project Co-Leader
Born in Italy and raised all over the world, Katherine began her academic career interested in evolutionary anthropology, but quickly became fascinated by the cooperative behaviors of children. Her work aims to understand the uniqueness of human cooperation and how it varies between different human populations and different species. Katie has studied meerkats, dolphins, capuchin monkeys, dingos, gorillas, cleaner fish, and many other species.
Liane Young
Project Co-Leader
Having majored in philosophy with an interest in bioethics as an undergraduate, Liane became a student of moral psychology in graduate school. She has always been curious about how people make moral decisions, and how people judge others. Currently, Liane uses methods from social psychology and neuroscience (i.e., functional neuroimaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation) to explore questions about human virtue and the role of reason and social cognition in moral thinking.
Justin Martin
Postdoctoral Researcher
Justin graduated with a Ph.D. from Harvard University, working with Fiery Cushman. Justin's research focuses on the ways in which humans regulate each other's behavior. In particular, his research has focused on how humans use punishment to change others' behavior, and how this adaptive purpose has shaped the processes underlying punishment. In tackling this question, Justin has employed online, in-lab, developmental, and neuroimaging studies. During his postdoc, Justin will apply this same approach to understanding how humans make partner choice decisions.
Laurent Prétôt
Postdoctoral Researcher
Laurent graduated from Georgia State University with a Ph.D. in psychology, working under the supervision of Sarah F. Brosnan in the CEBUS Lab. The overarching goal of Laurent's dissertation project was to investigate the relative roles of cognition and ecology in shaping decision-making. To do so, he compared the performance of various primates (including human children, orangutans, gorillas, drills, macaques, and capuchin monkeys) with cleaner fish in tasks designed to be ecologically relevant to fish. For his postdoctoral project, he will investigate children's cooperative decision-making in socially valid context.
Rick Ahl
Postdoctoral Researcher
Rick received his B.A. from Brown University and is a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University. His dissertation research, with Frank Keil, explores how children reason about complex artifacts; despite ignorance regarding how complex artifacts work, children nonetheless know which artifact functions imply complexity. Rick also works with Yarrow Dunham and studies children's expectations regarding the giving of resource-rich and resource-poor people. He will be continuing this line of research during his postdoc.
Dorsa Amir
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dorsa is an evolutionary anthropologist interested in the plasticity of human behavior across diverse contexts. Her research adopts a cross-cultural and developmental perspective to explore the role of the local environment in adaptively shaping behavior and preferences. Currently, she is investigating cross-cultural variation in the development of risk and time preferences, early life socioeconomic effects on behavior, and the role of scarcity in cognitive development.
BoKyung Park
Postdoctoral Researcher
BoKyung is a postdoctoral scholar in the Morality Lab. She uses fMRI approaches to investigate how people perceive others with shared and non-shared group memberships and values, and the consequential behavior toward others. She received her B.A. and M.A. in psychology from Seoul National University, and received her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University.
Melisa Kumar
Graduate Student
Melisa received her B.A. in psychology from Sabancı University in Istanbul and is now a first-year graduate student. She is broadly interested in the development of cooperation and morality with a focus on how justice norms are acquired and enforced in early childhood.
Minjae Kim
Graduate Student
Minjae is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Morality Lab. She is interested in how we update our moral trait inferences of other people when their behaviors violate our predictions, and which properties of moral behaviors are tracked by the neural regions for person perception. She received her B.A. in neuroscience from Swarthmore College, and worked as a research assistant in the NeuroCognition of Language Lab at Tufts, before joining the Morality Lab as a graduate student in Fall 2017.
Lily Tsoi
Graduate Student
Lily is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Morality Lab. She studies the cognitive and neural bases of moral judgment and social decision-making, focusing on people's capacity to infer, attribute, and reason about people's minds.
Gorana Gonzalez
Lab Manager
Gorana is a lab manager for the Cooperation Lab. She received a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Florida and has been part of the lab since May 2016.
Michael Bogese
Michael is a lab coordinator for the Cooperation Lab. He is interested in how cross-species cooperative behavior, such as between humans and canids, might model human perspective-taking and cooperation within groups in our own species. Michael received a B.A. in Anthropology from Yale University in 2014 and worked at the Canine Cognition Center at Yale prior to joining the lab in 2019.
Josh Hirschfeld-Kroen
Lab Manager
Josh is the lab manager in the Morality Lab. He is interested in how people perceive the minds of others depending on their group membership, and how we extend our capacities for mind perception to non-human entities. He received his B.A. in psychology from Pomona College in May 2017, and joined the lab starting June 2017.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Kyleigh Leddy
Kyleigh is a senior thesis student at Boston College majoring in English and psychology with a clinical concentration. She has been a lab member since Fall 2017 and is currently researching how and why partner choice and punishment decisions develop in children and at what age these behaviors first begin to appear.
Quinlan Taylor
Quinlan is a senior thesis student at Boston College pursuing a psychology B.A. with a clinical concentration and a minor in English. He has been a member of the Cooperation Lab for two years and will be continuing in the fall with his own research. He is interested in seeing how social partner identity impacts the cooperative tendencies of children within the context of an economic game. Through this, he hopes to begin to discern how aspects of in-group and out-group biases may grow to influence social interaction on a broader scale.


text:
The Inaugural Post
Great adventures should begin with some ceremony, yet I don't want to be too grandiose on this occasion. I've seen many people begin blogs, and neglect them utterly before two weeks are out. Perhaps I should call this "The Disillusioned Post" instead.
I'm starting this page knowing that I probably won't be the most diligent or popular writer, but I do hope that this will give me some accountability to write and encourage me to improve my art. I figure it will be convenient to have a place ready to post as I find things worth saying.
Stay tuned for additional portfolio content and posts as they come.
1 comment
The blog looks great Michael, keep up the good work!


text:
Can You Be "Low-Cost" When You Tack On High Fees?
At the same time, the airline's fees are among the highest in the industry, as I explained yesterday.
Can Spirit -- or any other business, for that matter -- call itself "low-cost" and then tack on high fees?
Sure. But is that good service? Is it even a sustainable business model?
A Spirit executive who responded to yesterday's post insists the answer to both questions is: yes, absolutely.
"Our core customers like what we provide -- a low fares and the ability to add on extras if they want them but not force them into paying for options they don't want or need," says Barry Biffle, Spirit's chief marketing officer. "Unfortunately, many people can't get over their availability bias and thus don't like our model. These people generally don't understand our model."
Biffle explains Spirit's core customer is looking for low fares. By offering what's called an "unbundled" price, or a ticket that doesn't include the ability to check a bag, bring carry-on luggage, reserve a seat or order a drink, Spirit is just giving customers what they want.
And the industry, and snarky customer-service bloggers like me, should just respect that.
"Isn't it better that we have a free market where customers can choose?" he asked. "I would argue that it is better to have McDonalds and Ruth Chris rather than pundits telling everyone that chooses McDonalds that McDonalds is bad."
Clever marketing?
As someone who writes about both customer service and air travel, I agree with Biffle -- to a point. For a very small segment of air travelers, Spirit's model works, and it works well.
But Spirit model has succeeded, at least so far, because most air travelers check luggage, carry a bag, order a drink on the plane, and do any number of other things that cost extra. One you add all of those up, Spirit makes more than it would have if it bundled the price into an "all-inclusive" one.
In other words, the low cost/high fee problem isn't a business paradox; it's brilliant marketing.
It's also risky, especially when you're as aggressive with fees as Spirit. I receive plenty of complaints from readers about being nickeled-and-dimed by the airline. A good number of them are brushed off by an offshore call center.
The airline knows that could hurt its business eventually. In its Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission prior to its public stock offering, it said as much.
Our reputation and business could be materially adversely affected if we fail to meet customers' expectations with respect to customer service or if we are perceived by our customers to provide poor customer service.About that survey question
I asked Biffle about the survey question that emerged yesterday, in which Spirit was considering a new fee for passengers who checked in at the airport. He told me the questions were written by Spirit personnel and reviewed by senior management.
"This is a data gathering process that helps shape our opinion of our customers views on this subject," he says. "We believe the questions are worded in a way that accurately and factually reflect the economics of our business."
Except for the last one, maybe, about raising the federal debt ceiling. He says the airline included it "for fun."
Taken to an extreme, the Spirit model would cut the price of an airline ticket to zero and then charge extra for fuel, crew expenses, insurance, airport fees, taxes, luggage, and executive salaries.
Is that "low cost"? From a certain perspective, definitely.
Do customers want it? If you asked them in a certain way ("Do you want to fly for free today") then of course they do.
Is it good customer service? I have my doubts. But ultimately, that's something the market will have to decide.
Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate, syndicated columnist and curator of the On Your Side wiki. He also covers customer service for the Mint.com blog. You can follow Elliott on Twitter, Facebook or his personal blog, Elliott.org or email him directly.


text:
Introduction to Digital Art, Adelphi University, New York, 2019
Studio course focused on the technical and conceptual aspects of digital media, exploring imagery, photogrammetry/3D printing, vinyl cutting, animation, and the internet.
Science Technology and Art, Adelphi University, New York, 2018-19
Using the campus as a classroom, students explore science, technology and art intersections while experimenting and inventing in response to real world challenges.
Photography and Truth Telling, Adelphi University, New York, 2017-19
The course examines the complex relationship between photography and reality from the nineteenth century to our current age of Instagram and "alternative facts."
Introductory Art Seminar, Adelphi University, New York, 2017-19
Students discover challenges and question common assumptions about contemporary art and design. Essays, films, and art objects are considered and discussed...
Critical Practices Seminar, Washington State University, Washington, 2015
Graduate course co-taught by professors Squeak Meisel and Teresa Miró, placing emphasis on cross-disciplinary thinking, process, and developing a studio practice ...
Professional Development, Washington State University, Washington, 2015
This course addresses the relationship between the first year graduate students´ studio practice and their professional one.
Drawing I, Washington State University, Washington, 2013-15
Introduction to the process and vocabulary of drawing. Students learn problem-solving, observation skills and how to translate the 3D world into a 2D surface.
Visual Concepts I, Washington State University, Washington, 2013-15
FINE ART 102 is an introduction to critical thinking and visual and conceptual two-dimensional studio art practice through an interdisciplinary approach ...
2D Design, Mesa Community College, Phoenix, Arizona, 2012-13
This course in an introduction to 2Dl design, covering conceptual and composition concepts, principles, elements and how they apply to photography, printmaking, drawing ...
Beginning Drawing (ART111), Mesa Community College, Phoenix, Arizona, 2012-13
Students examine fundamental principles of representational drawing using a variety of techniques, black and white, color and digital media ...
2D Design (ART112), Arizona State University, Phoenix, 2012
Through hands-on projects, lectures and demostrations students are introduced to the principles and elements of design, a variety of techniques and 2D art forms.
Intro to Digital Media, Arizona State University, Phoenix, 2009-12
Students learn the basics of creating digital media art by utilizing typography, imagery, sound, video, animation & the Internet. The class covers technical, conceptual and ...


text:
Hello blog! I have finally made it to Amsterdam after months of anticipation and stressful applications. When I first entertained the idea of going on exchange, I always thought that as soon as I arrived in the foreign destination of my choosing I would be happy and it would be easy as pie. Now that I have been here for about five days, I have come to realize that this isn't the case at all. I knew that I would miss some people, but I did not know that it would be to this extreme.
I did not know that I would get this homesick and actually want to buy a plane ticket almost as soon as I arrived to return to Canada. I did not know that things like getting a SIM card for my phone or buying a train ticket would make me so anxious. I did not know that I would feel this lonely, even after spending a whole night out with one of my room mates. But even after all of those things, I am learning to cope. I have to, or else my whole stay here will be absolutely miserable.
It has only been a few days but already I am feeling better. There are still ups and downs, but I am hoping that the downs will become very spread apart soon and that the ups will be even better. Already I have gone to central Amsterdam and found where all of my classes are. I wandered the streets and saw the canals. The architecture is amazing and definitely something you could spend all day looking at. I even accidentally wandered into the red light district, but quickly left. It felt weird to be walking there by myself and I also had my camera out (you're not allowed to take photos there).
One of the things on my Amsterdam List was to 'be bold, be adventurous.' And I think I am managing that quite well so far. I am learning to say yes to more opportunities and not only hide in my room.
The other night I went out with one of my room mates to a gay bar called SOHO in Amsterdam. It was fun and my first experience clubbing. I find it rather amusing that my first experience clubbing was at a gay bar but what the heck. Good times!
I road on the back of a bicycle for the first time! This I think is something that might occur a lot in this country of bicycles.
I went to my first borrel, which is a Dutch event where you go drink and chat with people. Quite lovely for just a quiet evening out, and the perfect end to my first day in Amsterdam.
I went shopping with my room mate and we made dinner together and chatted over a glass of wine.
Everyone here has been so comforting and kind. I think I can learn to love this place, even with all the ups and downs.
Until next time x


text:
Contemporary Design,
Innovative Neighbourhood
855, boulevard du Curé-Labelle,
Blainville (Québec) J7C 2L1
Monday to Wednesday: 1 pm – 7 pm
Thursday: 1 pm – 5 pm
Friday: By appointment
Saturday and Sunday: 12 pm – 5 pm
Station 56
The Project
A step up in comfort!
Lovers of wide open spaces will be delighted with this project, which includes seven 8-story buildings built with reinforced concrete, each comprising 33 condos and 2 penthouses as well as an underground parking level. Careful thought went into improving your daily quality of life, from the gas-burning fireplace to the indoor parking and the impeccable detailing.
The large outdoor rooftop terrace is a veritable observatory, offering spectacular views of the Lower Laurentians and Montreal. Add to this a fireplace, outdoor furniture and a spa to complete the picture of what is bound to become your outdoor living room.
A swimming pool will also be built at the heart of the project, as well as a pavilion equipped with bathrooms, changing rooms and a gym so you can maintain an active lifestyle in the comfort of your own home.
Your dream is now within reach.
Building Characteristics
- Reinforced concrete structure with 9'' thick structural slabs
- Masonry exterior siding with metal cladding
- Distinctive entrance hall
- Heated in-ground pool with common central pavilion equipped with changing rooms, bathrooms, showers and a gym
- Elevator and 2 stairwells
- Central gas-powered hot water system for the entire building
- Waste chute and recycling chute on every floor
- Communication system (intercom and cameras) as well as a building access control system that uses smart cards
- Rooftop terrace with hot tub, outdoor furniture and gas-burning fireplace
- Non-combustible building equipped with sprinklers, with complete fire alarm system connected to a generator for emergency services
- Soundproofing superior to current standards confirmed by a reputable acoustical consulting firm
- Your investment is protected by the Plans de Garantie ACQ Inc.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD Out of 201 Canadian cities, 2014's MoneySense magazine names Blainville as the best place to raise a family, enjoying an enviable geographic location halfway between Montreal and the Laurentians. Blainville harnesses this tribute in its Quartier de la Gare with TOD: transit-oriented development. Wooded areas and paths line the Nadon and Lockhead Creeks, creating beautiful, natural spaces for walking, jogging, cycling and other physical activities. Outdoor enthusiasts will be well-served in every season, thanks to nearby Parc du Domaine Vert..
SERVICES Thanks to its strategic location in the heart of Blainville, at the crossroads of Curé-Labelle and De la Seigneurie boulevards, Station Blainville offers homeowners short commutes and easy access to amenities. By the time this development is completed, the neighbourhood will be home to a wide variety of new services accessible on foot, as part of a veritable 'downtown' for residents. The proximity to the train station is another big plus, making public transport a breeze for running errands or getting to and from work.
514 212-9837


text:
May 10, 2011
Science Daily/Brown University
The brain changes during the teen years, for instance by pruning away connections that no longer seem needed. By measuring the brainwave signals of sleeping teens ages 15-16 and again a few years later, researchers found that the process does not appear to slow as teens approach adulthood.
Boys and girls have put many of the trappings of teenagerhood behind them by the age of 18 or 19, but at least some of the brain resculpting that characterizes the decade of adolescence may still be going as strong as ever, according to findings in a new study that measured brainwaves of subjects in their midteens and again in their late teens.
"The unique feature of this study is that it puts together these EEG measures of power and looks at these sleep stages longitudinally (in the same people over time) and across several regions around the brain," she said.
Carskadon said that sleep is a convenient time to take long-term, well controlled measurements of neural activity, but that the study does not show the role sleep may play in neural renovation among older teenagers.


text:
What Is Biodiversity?
Biological diversity — or biodiversity — is the term given to the variety of life on Earth and the natural patterns it forms. The biodiversity we see today is the fruit of billions of years of evolution, shaped by natural processes and, increasingly, by the influence of humans. It forms the web of life of which we are an integral part and upon which we so fully depend.
This diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms. So far, about 1.75 million species have been identified, mostly small creatures such as insects. Scientists approximate that there are actually about 13 million species, though estimates range from three to 100 million.
Biodiversity also includes genetic differences within each species — for example, between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock. Chromosomes, genes, and DNA — the building blocks of life — determine the uniqueness of each individual and each species.
Yet another aspect of biodiversity is the variety of ecosystems such as those that occur in deserts, forests, wetlands, mountains, lakes, rivers, and agricultural landscapes. In each ecosystem, living creatures, including humans, form a community, interacting with one another and with the air, water, and soil around them.
It is the combination of life forms and their interactions with each other and with the rest of the environment that has made Earth a uniquely habitable place for humans. Biodiversity provides a large number of goods and services that sustain our lives.
Biodiversity to serve humanity
Protecting biodiversity is in our self-interest. Biological resources are the pillars upon which we build civilizations. Nature's products support such diverse industries as agriculture, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, horticulture, construction and waste treatment. The loss of biodiversity threatens our food supplies, opportunities for recreation and tourism, and sources of wood, medicines and energy. It also interferes with essential ecological functions.
Our need for pieces of nature we once ignored is often important and unpredictable. Time after time we have rushed back to nature's cupboard for cures to illnesses or for infusions of tough genes from wild plants to save our crops from pest outbreaks. What's more, the vast array of interactions among the various components of biodiversity makes the planet habitable for all species, including humans. Our personal health, and the health of our economy and human society, depends on the continuous supply of various ecological services that would be extremely costly or impossible to replace. These natural services are so varied as to be almost infinite. For example, it would be impractical to replace, to any large extent, services such as pest control performed by various creatures feeding on one another, or pollination performed by insects and birds going about their everyday business.
Protecting Biodiversity
The current decline in biodiversity is largely the result of human activity and represents a serious threat to human development. Despite mounting efforts over the past 20 years, the loss of the world's biological diversity, mainly from habitat destruction, over-harvesting, pollution and the inappropriate introduction of foreign plants and animals, has continued. Biological resources constitute a capital asset with great potential for yielding sustainable benefits.
Urgent and decisive action is needed to conserve and maintain genes, species and ecosystems, with a view to the sustainable management and use of biological resources.
>> See more information in the guide to the Convention
Facts and Figures
- 70% of the world's poor live in rural areas and depend directly on biodiversity for their survival and wellbeing.
- The average abundance of species is declining — 40% loss between 1970 and 2000.
- Unsustainable consumption continues as demand for resources worldwide exceeds the biological capacity of the Earth by about 20%.


text:
Dr. Carlino really listened to my concerns. He was kind and patient, and he is exceptionally skilled. I am four months out and the contracture or bottoming out has not returned.
Great outcome
All my experiences with Dr. Carlino have been exceptional. Not just in results but in my trust, faith and confidence in Dr. Carlino and his staff. Amazing humans that care!! Manage expectations completely!
Quality of front staff service. Surgery outcomes and follow up care. Dr. Carlino is personal and I am convinced he is personally invested in me as a patient and customer. [Single best thing is...] Dr. Carlino's personal attention to my desired outcome and his attention to detail.
Overall the process was handled with great care and respect. Dr. Carlino is very warm and caring in his interactions and manages expectations well regarding what he can and cannot do from a surgical perspective. The staff the day of the surgery were top notch! I was not nervous at all and felt I was in the best of hands.
I felt comfortable at every visit and was able to communicate my needs. Most importantly, the results were exactly what I wanted. I am very satisfied with my new appearance. My clothes fit much better now, and I feel more confident. It is also more comfortable to exercise.
So comforting, professional, calming, clinically the best, felt right at home and knew i was in the best of hands...:))) [Single best thing is...] Rich Carlino and his amazing staff!!!
My result from my Brachioplasty surgery was just what I have wanted after my weight lost.Dr. Carlino done an excellent job. I would highly recommend him to friends and family members etc.. My scares healed perfect
Surgeon great, staff great, love the results.
I could not have asked for a more pleasant experience... thank you to Dr. Carlino and the entire team! My self esteem, everyday activities and other aspects of my life have improved dramatically! I wish I had done it years ago!
Extremely happy with the entire surgical process. I felt all of my questions were answered by Dr. Carlino and the Nursing team. At no point did I ever feel nervous about my procedure. I was allowed ample time to make decisions and ask all questions I needed answered prior to my surgery day. The nursing staff was absolutely wonderful and understanding with all of my questions. This helped so much to calm any fears on the day of surgery. My anesthesia provider explained everything that would happen and before I knew it I was in the recovery room. The entire staff is A+!My pharmacist seemed concerned about the use of all of the medications I was taking together, i.e. muscle relaxers and pain medications, so she further went over the medications which is helpful since there are so many after surgery. I would recommend maybe a bit more patient teaching or info regarding the medications.
Dr. Carlino made me extremely comfortable and gave me the results I was looking for in my breast augmentation. They turned out fantastic! I have more confidence and can more clothes that previously I couldn't' without a bra.
Best experience. Fantastic practice
I was comfortable, confident and at ease with the decision to have the surgery and these feelings remained constant throughout the entire surgical process.I felt safe in the hands of Dr. Carlino.
Outstanding from start to finish. Answered all questions, gave realistic expectations and outcomes. Great bedside manner.
Dr Carlino and his staff exceeded my expectations! I am happy with every aspect of my surgical experience. Love the feel of silicone versus saline implants
the results are excellent, I'm happy with the surgeon and staff, and I will return if I need further surgeries.
My breasts and arms look beautiful--exactly the way I imagined they would look. And I will be back for a tummy tuck after I have cataract surgery later this year.
Dr. Carlino and his staff are excellent. All through my procedure, before and for the weeks following, he and his staff were always willing to address my concerns, listen intently and help facilitate my recovery. I cannot speak highly enough about my experience with your practice.
Great overall experience. Staff was helpful, friendly and efficient. Dr Carlino was outstanding from answering questions to what he was able to do surgically. Life changing and great overall experience.


text:
Some of you may or may not know but my sister B was in town for 2 weeks. I always love it when she comes to town because we always have so much fun and it is a time where I get to go out and do some kid free stuff. Most of the first week she was in town she working from my couch and when she wasn't we were taking the kids out to the park to get their wiggles out. I was lucky enough to get my husband to take a day off work to watch them so she and I could get out and have some sister time.
With only 1 day to do most of what we wanted I crammed as much stuff into it as I could. Here is part 1 of that day which consists of what we did in the morning. Part 2 will be posted shortly after this one. If we missed something or you have any suggestions on what we should do next time, feel free to leave it in the comments below. Both of us are always trying to find fun things to do.
Our morning started out at 9:15 at Pike Place Market for some breakfast. We wondered the market for about 15 minutes so we could see all our options before we decided on a place to actually eat. While we were wondering we stopped at the original Starbucks to grab a coffee. My sister got her usual peppermint mocha while I got my usual iced white mocha and needless to say it tasted like Starbucks. The service was faster and more efficient but other than that it was more of a check off the list kind of thing. After getting coffee we deliberated on where to eat. We couldn't pick just one place so we went Le Panier, a french bakery, for a shared savory treat and then Prioshky Prioshky for a sweet Russian treat. After that and a few failed selfies in front of the Pike Market sign we headed off to our next destination, the Space Needle.
The walk from Pike to the Space Needle was only about 15 minutes. We had to climb one giant hill in the beginning but once that feat was accomplished it was flat sailing from there. We decided to skip waiting in line to buy tickets and went to one of the many ticket kiosks and payed for both the Space Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass for $39. Once the tickets were paid for we just headed indoors and to the elevator. The ride was up was a short 41 seconds up and we got to stay as long as we liked. The views were amazing. You got the view of Elliott Bay that slowly mortified into downtown Seattle, then into South Lake Union which turned into Queen Anne and then you were back at Elliott Bay. Surprisingly it was nice and warm up there that day and we hung out for awhile. Once we absorbed as much of the view as we could we decided to head back down. Waiting in line was a little bit of time but that was okay because our next destination was only a few feet away.
Now, if you live in Seattle or plan to come you must go to Chihuly Garden and Glass. I have lived in Seattle for almost 2 years and I hadn't gone until that day and I am kicking myself for it. If you buy tickets the way I did then you get to just walk in with no waiting at a ticket counter. For us, it was very fast and easy. Once you actually get inside the exhibit you start at the beginning of Dale Chihuly's career and slowly work through the years as he progressed. I can't even explain the amazing things I saw there. It had to be the most exquisite, vibrant, beautiful, intricate glasswork I've seen in my life and I've seen German glass blowers in the black forest before. They were all amazing and every room you walked through had a different theme. While we were there we were lucky enough to stumble upon a high school choir that was singing in the Glasshouse. They were amazing as well. It really made the whole thing an extra special experience for myself and my sister. After watching the choir sing a few songs we had to rush a little through the garden because we had to be at our harbor tour early so we didn't miss the boat.
After pulling ourselves away from Chihuly we decided to walk down to Pier 56 to catch our Argosy Harbor Tour instead of taking the monorail. The walk was a little further than Pike was but all downhill so not bad. Once we got down to the pier all we had to do was find the Argosy kiosk which I would have missed if not for my sister. We gave them our names and they directed us to a staff member that would show us to our boat. Once on the boat we immediately decided it was 5 o'clock somewhere and grabbed a drink at the bar. My sister got a Dark & Stormy while I got the Mariner's Margarita. Both were very good strong but very good. With drinks in hand we headed to a window seat while our bartender turned himself into a tour guide of sorts. He told us all about Seattle and Elliott Bay while we sailed through the water. He had a plethora of corny jokes, that I personally liked, and a lot of really interesting facts from wildlife to water depth and more. I really hated getting off the boat, mostly because I was walking weird from having sea legs. HEY! It was sea legs not the margarita… fine it may have been the very strong margarita I had. Anyways, I had to sober up so we headed off to lunch.
Catch part 2 in a few days! We did a lot more fun stuff so stay tuned.


text:
Apartment on the slopes
Apartment 32m2:
1 bunk bed
1 bedroom with double bed
Living room with terrace
Independant kitchen with oven, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, hot plate
1 bathroom with bath tub
1 seperate toilet
Free parking
Ski inn ski out apartment Les Menuires
Les Menuires is a ski resort located in the famous Three Valleys Area. It provides vast variety for skiers and snowboarders alike of all levels. Other villages in the ski area are Val Thorens, Meribel and Courchevel.


text:
Movie Review
Most of Samir Horn's past is classified. FBI Agent Roy Clayton knows this because he's trying like mad to track the guy down.
As a child, Samir saw his Sudanese Muslim father obliterated by a car bomb. He and his American mother moved from Africa to Chicago, where Samir earned high test scores but got kicked out of school for fighting. He joined the military and became an explosives expert. After a tour of duty in the Middle East, Samir stayed on and "got in touch with his Muslim roots." Then he disappeared.
Now Agent Clayton and his U.S. government colleagues aren't sure whose side Samir is on. It certainly seems he's gone rogue and that he's supplying terrorists with explosives and the best U.S. military training on how to use them. When a U.S. consulate bombing in Marseilles is traced back to Samir, the FBI stops giving him the benefit of the doubt. Trouble is, Samir's extensive training makes him awfully hard to find. When the government agents do finally find him, it's only because Samir wants them to.
He's got a big surprise waiting for them.
[Note: To explore this film's spiritual, political and moral themes, the following sections contain plot spoilers.]
Positive Elements
In a prison camp, Samir risks his life trying to give another prisoner food. Samir's mother and a former girlfriend are loyal to him even when given many reasons to doubt his character.
OK, here's where the spoilers start: Samir is spying for the U.S. by immersing himself in a Muslim terrorist cell. His placement there requires him to at least seem to advance the terrorist cause on both American and foreign soil. His dubious occupation stretches him in ways he never imagined, but he never surrenders his desire to protect life. He is adamantly opposed to shedding innocent blood, and he repeatedly risks everything to avoid doing so any more than he feels he has to.
He finds ways to make it appear as if he is killing American civilians though that is not actually what's happening (for the most part). When he's told by his government handler that some collateral damage is necessary to accomplish their mission, Samir bristles. And when it happens, he's horrified. In the end, he sacrifices his career to prevent becoming party to the loss of more innocent lives.
Spiritual Content
Traitor at times plays like a primer on Islam, repeating and defining words and phrases commonly used by adherents. Allahu akbar ("God is great" or "God is the greatest"), shahid ("witness" or "martyr") and fatwa (a religious pronouncement or judgment) are among the terms audiences learn over the course of this film. Viewers are given a window into the lives of religious-minded terrorists who hate their enemies so much that they will sacrifice their own lives if only they can also kill "infidels" in the process.
Muslim radicals greet one another in the name of Allah, give glory to Allah for a successful attack on their enemies and discuss the benefits of a life fully submitted to Allah's will. They pray aloud before committing suicide bombings, and they rejoice when American death tolls rise.
As it turns out, this broad brushstroke picture of militant Islam is presented only to provide a foil for Samir's commitment to the Muslim faith and his belief that that commitment means he must protect life, not destroy it. The film's true purpose, then, is to make the statement that both good and bad actions can come from one's personal interpretations of teachings from any given religion.
Samir is devoted to his Islamic faith and maintains that those who would commit terrorist atrocities are not true Muslims, but instead have "hijacked" Islam for evil purposes. Similarly, Agent Clayton talks about the "Christian" roots of the Ku Klux Klan, then states that when crosses were burned on the lawns of townsfolk, his father, a preacher, would rally his congregation to extinguish them.
When Samir's handler tells him to "remember who you answer to," Samir shoots right back with, "I answer to God. We all do." Later, putting a gun to Clayton's head, he forces the man to recite the Lord's Prayer.
Sexual Content
Muslim men discuss (without going into graphic detail) the temptation presented by women in their lives. But when one of them thinks Samir has given into sexual temptation, he excuses his actions: "We're only men, Samir." He goes on to say that overcoming temptation and living rightly is "the great Jihad."
FBI agents discussing terrorism wonder aloud at a culture in which "you blow yourself up to get laid," referring to the promise made to young Muslims that if they die as Shahid, they will be rewarded with virgins in paradise.
Violent Content
Traitor is not nearly as violent as a film about terrorists and suicide bombers could be. Still, it has its fair share both of explosions and brutal beatings. We watch as a young Samir watches his father die in a car explosion. We hear that Samir put some of his high school classmates in the hospital after a brawl. In prison in Yemen, Samir is attacked by a gang of fellow prisoners. He puts up a vicious fight, head-butting his attackers and breaking one man's fingers. He's eventually knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked.
For making a small mistake while in the terrorist cell, a young man is thrown from a highway overpass into oncoming traffic below. (We see a police photo of his cleaned up corpse.) In an ambush, police fire machine guns through the windows of a building, killing terrorists inside. Guards shoot and kill prisoners to prevent them from escaping. There are a handful of pistol whippings and point-blank shootings. After he's shot in the back, a man is seen lying in a pool of blood. Another plants explosives in a building and runs. We see the explosion and hear that eight people have been killed.
Muslims—both men and women—prepare to die as suicide bombers. We see three or four of them accomplish their goal. In one particularly sobering and almost eerie instance we watch as a plot unfolds to simultaneously blow up 30 busses in the U.S. Onscreen, one bus erupts in a ball of fire.
Crude or Profane Language
About a dozen s-words and one f-word are accompanied by a half-dozen milder profanities ("h---," "a--") and a handful of crude words such as "p---." God's name is carelessly interjected once.
Drug and Alcohol Content
As part of the terrorist cell, Samir complains when the leader and Samir's friend drink wine with dinner, even though Muslim law prohibits it. The leader, Fareed, excuses their actions, saying they must become like their enemies in order to defeat them. Samir argues that that's not what the Islamic law of Taqiyya means.
Cigarettes put in numerous appearances.
Other Negative Elements
Collateral damage obviously disturbs and distresses Samir more than it does his handler. But even Samir ultimately weighs the many against the one and decides to sacrifice the one (or maybe even a few more than one) for the sake of pushing back the terrorist threat.
One of the FBI agents plays fast and loose with the law. Once, preparing to use his fists to get Samir to talk, he cracks wise: "I must have forgotten my Bill of Rights at home."
In its trailers, Traitor comes off as a straight psychological thriller that asks audiences to spend most of the film trying to guess whose side the main character is on. But by the time the credits roll, you realize that this movie is about way more than just a cat-and-mouse spy game.
Traitor means to make its audiences think in between bites of popcorn—and not just about whodunit. Leading man Don Cheadle says so himself in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News: "Look, this movie isn't like Paradise Now. We don't go into the minds of suicide bombers and try to understand their psychology. But it is a little deeper than, I think, The Bourne Identity. We're dealing with something that is actually out there. Hopefully, while it's entertaining you, you're thinking about stuff."
So exactly what kind of stuff does it want you to think about?
We get a small clue from Cheadle's response to what it was like to play a Muslim: "Once I started reading up on the faith and reading the Quran, it's amazing how similar the monotheistic religions really are. Islam, Judaism, Christianity; they all come from the same root and from the same place, the same small area of land."
Traitor doesn't directly teach that all the major religions of the world are equal, but Cheadle—and many moviegoers—will be forgiven for thinking it's headed that direction. What it really wants to do is illustrate the truth that bad apples don't have to always spoil the whole barrel. All Muslims don't despise Christians just because some do. And all white Christians don't claim racial superiority just because the KKK did (does).
Still, movies have trained us to see individuals as representing groups. A gentle and kind prostitute in Pretty Woman, for instance, helps to soften people's opinions of prostitutes in general. And an endearingly goofy Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of the Caribbean movies makes us feel, at least on some level, that pirates might not be so bad after all—maybe they're just misunderstood softies. And because Samir takes his heroic steps not so much for his country but because of his faith, his faith is put in a very favorable light.
That brings us back to Cheadle's Islamic research which led him to think of that religion as equivalent to Judaism and Christianity. Just because every religion has followers who honor it and every religion has followers who pervert it doesn't mean that every religion espouses the same spiritual values. And it certainly doesn't mean that every religion points to the true God.
Samir is an honorable man in this story. And he is a Muslim. He serves his country well and he saves the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of innocent people. And he worships the Islamic Allah. But the one does not necessarily support the other. Traitor won't show you that.
A postscript: In Focus on the Family founder James Dobson's October 2006 newsletter, he wrote about the "burgeoning threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism." He said, "Let me make one thing clear as a place to begin. All evidence indicates that the vast majority of Muslims wish us no harm, and are decent and peaceful people. Unfortunately, millions of extremists do exist among them, and they hate us with a vengeance. Remember that a small percentage of a very big number is a very big number. There are, according to several estimates, more than 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, representing almost a fifth of earth's population. Some estimates indicate that from 10 to 15 percent of them hold to the view that infidels ("non-believers" in the Islamic faith) deserve to die. That would mean 120 to 180 million people are committed to our destruction."
Pro-social Content
Objectionable Content
Summary Advisory
Plot Summary
Christian Beliefs
Other Belief Systems
Discussion Topics
Additional Comments/Notes
Readability Age Range
Don Cheadle as Samir Horn; Guy Pearce as Roy Clayton; Said Taghmaoui as Omar; Neal McDonough as Max Archer; Aly Khan as Fareed; Archie Panjabi as Chandra Dawkin; Raad Rawi as Nathir
Jeffrey Nachmanoff ( )
Overture Films
Record Label
In Theaters
On Video
Year Published
Lindy KefferSteven Isaac


text:
Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres held many top leadership roles including Prime Minister and retired after the end of a 7-year term as President. He was one of the founders of the State of Israel and was instrumental in establishing the Israel Defense Forces and was one of the founders of Israel's high-tech industry. Peres said serving the Jewish people was the most important service for one to do. Peres indicated that the Middle East was fractured. "The malady stems from pervasive violence, shortages of food, water and educational opportunities, discrimination against women and - the most virulent cause of all - the absence of freedom," he said. As much as he wanted peace, he wanted all people to experience democracy.


text:
Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability fellow Lura Limani reflects on what stories of migrants, as collected by Professor Luisa Passerini's Bodies Across Borders in Europe project, can teach us about European identity.
During an informal talk with Oral History MA students, visiting Professor Luisa Passerini, who received a European Academies award by the European Commission in 2014, was asked whether she identified as European. She sighed before explaining how her identification with Europe had more of an utopian tint - she did not identify with Europe as it was, but she was European in as far as she was convinced that a better Europe was possible.
"I've always worked, like many other Europeanist activists...to imagine a different Europe," said Passerini, before adding that these days, however, she was pessimistic about its prospects.
The feeling of pessimism about the future of a European Union, an idea which was born in the ashes of the Second World War, is far too familiar to me. As a Kosovar, I'm used to the feeling of liminality: although part of the European continent, Kosovo is not a member of the European Union and I cannot even travel to EU countries without a visa. Nevertheless, like its neighbors, Kosovo's development strategies aspire to bring the country as close as possible to EU standards with the hope of some time in the future becoming a full member. EU officials have waved this so-called 'carrot' for years at the Balkans countries in order to maintain peace and stability in a region that came out ravaged from the 1990s wars.
But those hopes of EU enlargement are diminishing day by day. I woke up on June 24 of last year to find, to my horror, notification upon notification with the Brexit referendum results (51% of the UK had voted leave). With Euroscepticism experiencing a rise in the past few years, a looming hard Brexit, and with the right-wing and Eurosceptic party Alternative for Germany, AfD, becoming the third largest party in Germany's federal parliament, it is difficult to imagine anyone uncomplicatedly identifying as European even in its capital, Brussels.
Passerini might be right, though: Perhaps being European entails striving for a better Europe. an active identification with the ideals of the union that in fact might resonate most with those who are stuck outside of Fortress Europe: those fleeing war, famine, and environmental disasters. And it is exactly these people that Passerini and a team are interviewing for the ongoing project titled Bodies Across Borders in Europe. While, until the findings are complete next year, we can only speculate on what the project's final results will reveal, from the details discussed during Professor Passerini's informal talk and lecture at the Oral History MA Workshop Series, it seems very likely that the stories of migrants and their unfinished journeys to Europe can teach us a thing or two about what sustains hope in face of disaster.
The ongoing project seems almost a natural extension of Passerini's body of work, since 1999: she wrote on love and the idea of Europe (1999, 2002, 2009), as well as on European identity (2012), and even looked at stories of women migrants from eastern to western Europe (2010). In the latter, titled Women Migrants from East to West: Gender, Mobility and Belonging in Contemporary Europe, Passerini suggests that interviews with women from both western and eastern Europe elucidate the oscillation between the Europe representing certain values (civilization) and the European Union (p. 257). But at the same time, how these women identify with Europe also is telling of the "artificial nature of a European identification" and this is what opens up the potential of "de-territorializing" Europe and "envisaging its connections with Mediterranean, African and Middle-Eastern countries" (p.261).
BABE might be the next step in the direction of 'de-essentializing European values' and possibly discovering the plasticity of Europeanness once again by looking at identity from a new angle.
During the talk, Passerini modestly admitted that interviewing refugees was not really an original idea - after all a record 1.3 million refugees arrived in Europe in 2015 and many have interviewed them. (Some have had remarkable results in capturing their experiences of trauma, alienation as well as struggles to break free from their social restrictions and adapt to the new context.)
But, unlike others, Passerini's team asks migrants to tell their history of migration, and even try to draw and respond artistically to this experience. This has proven to be somewhat of a problem - the project will be archived, but as oral historians they are having to develop new tools to archive videos, photographs and art pieces, likes drawings, alongside interviews.
What Passerini revealed about the project is indicative of a future trove containing narratives of terrifying journeys that reveal a stratified world, fragmented by political, social and economic conditions. Furthermore, by being inter-subjective, oral history interviews might also enable us as scholars to reconstruct a shared vision, built within the ephemeral encounter between the interviewer and interviewee, recorded in the dialogic interview itself. As such, the migration crisis, and this engagement with it, have a lot to teach us about Europe and what it means to arrive on the European shore, carrying most of the time no belongings and a lot of illusions about the safe haven that Europe ambivalently is (the surge of migrants has also been met with attacks).
Being at a turning point, Europe might not live up to its own dreams. These interviews and collected materials made in such a pivotal moment might be a journal of not of only individuals in flux, but a continent in an upheaval. The oral and visual materials that Passerini's team are currently collecting are important exactly because they represent an ongoing discussion about Europe's nature: whether it's an idea, a territory, a civilization, or a mere apparition of any of these.
To learn more about BABE project and follow their work in progress click here.