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Let's keep politics, as much as possible, out of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. There appears to be an urge, not among five- to ten-year-olds as far as I am aware, but among belligerent religionists, to gird for backlash against the perceived Christian propaganda in the adaptation of the mythic children's book by C.S. Lewis. I suspect, though I don't fully understand these squabbles, that they are overprepared. Any nonbeliever sufficiently jaded to regard Jesus as just another myth, just one of the thousand faces of the universal hero in Joseph Campbell's oft-quoted title, will be disposed to regard the talking lion, Aslan, as just the thousand-and-first. True, the hot-potato term of "Christmas" is unapologetically, unpolitically-correctly, bandied about. (The magical kingdom of Narnia, when we first stumble into it, is a chill place of endlessly prolonged winter and postponed Christmas, a place in desperate need of deliverance.) And Santa Claus himself, temporarily unemployed, puts in a brief appearance in the role of "helper" -- in Campbell's mythological paradigm -- to dispense "tools, not toys" to the juvenile disciples of the leonine messiah. True, too, the identification of the boy disciples as Sons of Adam and the girl disciples as Daughters of Eve establishes straightaway a Biblical frame of reference. And the Medieval motif of the lion's encampment might pass very well for an encampment of Richard the Lion-Hearted on the road to Jerusalem, laden with all the volatile overtones of the Crusades. For all this Christian saber-rattling, however, the only sort of person I can conceive of who might take offense at the film -- offense at its advocacy of things like peace and goodwill -- would be the zero-tolerance fundamentalist who cannot abide a faun, for instance, on the grounds that no faun was logged on the passenger list of Noah's Ark. But that line of attack would be coming from within. An intramural holy war.
If you can stay out of the crossfire, this is a good children's film, better, for my money, than any of the four Harry Potters, better than any third of The Lord of the Rings, albeit still rather longish at two hours and twenty minutes. In the first place, and in spite of the existence of six other books in the Narnia series, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end -- and all in one film! (What a concept!) In that respect, it calls to mind the original Star Wars, not the original trilogy, much less the following trilogy, but the single, solitary film. The stand-alone film. The film that had to wait for the box-office returns before it could contemplate sequels. The ending of Narnia in particular, with all its triumphal pomp and circumstance, calls that film to mind. The beginning, on the other hand, calls to mind an even better children's film, The Secret Garden (the 1993 version at any rate), with four parentless children packed off during the London Blitz to a gloomy mansion of rigid rules ("No improper use of the dumbwaiter," etc.), where they soon discover, at the back of the wardrobe in the spare room, a portal to the alternative universe of Narnia. (The transitions between the two worlds are dreamily seamless.) A prophecy, they further discover, has foretold of their coming as well as their overthrow of the reigning Wicked White Witch, wonderfully visualized -- an icicle crown, frozen-stiff hair, snowman's lump-of-coal eyes, clammy, oystery skin -- and commandingly played by Tilda Swinton. But wait: "We're not heroes!" Well, never mind. They will need, and receive, plenty of assistance, from an equivocal faun, a bickersome couple of bantering beavers, and a self-sacrificing fox, before they meet up with the Lion King and his courtiers. And while these, along with much else, open the gates to computer-generated imagery (and some herky-jerky movement of some of the figures), the effects are never piled on to the degree of the Potter films, never overloaded. They serve, as they should, the story. (The director, Andrew Adamson, comes to his first live-action film by way of the Shrek cartoons, and he has brought along a few Sons of Shrek as extras in the crowd scenes.) The narrative incidents unfold smoothly and swiftly and at times quite excitingly, especially the assault of the wolves on the beaver dam and the ensuing pursuit through the underground escape tunnel. And the execution of Aslan, in an atmosphere that reeks of a witches' Sabbath, is about as brutal as it could be without becoming as sadistic as The Passion of the Christ. (The willing victim won't say "It is finished" till his return from the dead and his ascension only as high as the throne.) His immediate resurrection, although the logic of it had been withheld from us, and although the allegory of it cannot be ignored, is nevertheless easier to swallow than, subsequently, the prowess of the children on the battlefield or the wholesale resurrection of casualties on that field. The lesson in courage at that point, or those points, gets a bit muddied. It almost smacks of cowardice.
* * *
Brokeback Mountain should fulfill any desire for a homosexual cowboy movie, superseding all those inadmissible innuendos as to Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, the Cisco Kid and Pancho, et al. It fills out and plumps up a sketchy, skinny, yet ample short story by E. Annie Proulx, about a love that dare not speak its name in the unliberated time and place of 1963 Wyoming, a love that could not be denied despite denials ("You know I ain't queer" and "Me neither"), a love that would survive each man's marriage and fatherhood, over a period approaching two decades, but a love that could never come down from the mountain where it sprang up: "This is a goddam bitch of an unsatisfactory situation." Though the story was quite presciently written before the murder of Matthew Shepard in that same territory, the movie, obviously, arrives long after that, and with a clearer, cruder sense about it of payback, of axe-grinding, of remedial education. The cowboys, to be strictly accurate, are actually shepherds, tenders of a flock of sheep, always a symbol in Westerns of the dying of the frontier and the coming of civilization. And for the benefit of the benighted in the audience, each man is allotted an independent moment of manliness, the first a hackneyed confrontation with a pair of foul-mouthed bikers at a Fourth-of-July family picnic (an episode capped off with a low-angle shot of the clenched-fisted cowboy posed heroically beneath blossoms of fireworks), the second a sharply written confrontation with the bossy father-in-law at the Thanksgiving table.
There is also a sense about the movie of material stretched too thin, a slow, uneventful, time-biding start, working up stealthily to the moment of maximal male bonding, and then a straightforward, chronological, but time-skipping follow-through. The greater detail and delay on screen, as against the page, do not equate to greater credibility. One credible detail: the horseplay that turns rough on the eve of their first parting, the eloquent expression of nonverbal types. Contrastingly, their first reunion, a clinch of sumo-wrestler ferocity, right under the nose of one of the wives, is miles from credible. Jake Gyllenhaal, with his choirboyish pretty face and lofty voice, is the more acceptably typecast of the two. But Heath Ledger, lowering his voice to a Scott Glenn register, inside a clamped jaw, and suppressing his native Aussie accent, conveys the more poignant image of inhibition and concealment. Both actors look good in their jeans, in their hats, on their horses, and with their Marlboro Man smokes. And the voluptuous landscape is lovingly photographed. Director Ang Lee already did a lot of that in Ride with the Devil, and did it, at the time, with more impact of surprise and revelation. (Ang Lee? Man of action?) What's new here feels frankly inevitable, not at all revelatory; and the director of The Wedding Banquet, Sense and Sensibility, and The Ice Storm seems an unsurprising man for the job.
More from SDReader
- More stories by Duncan Shepherd
- I Am Not a Witch: craft and care — Sept. 27, 2018
- A Second Coming — May 21, 2008
- Critical Time — Nov. 8, 2007
- Summer Movie Review — June 22, 2006
- No Nicer Witch — June 23, 2005


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Knockin' on Heaven's Door
May 13, 2011
"Producer, producer, producer" is the advice of many experts when it comes to buying Burgundy, on the theory that lesser vineyards in the hands of a top producer will perform better than Grand Cru vineyards in the hands of a producer less gifted. You can drink pretty well following this advice, but the Burgundians themselves would be the first to protest that it is contrary to the whole idea of Burgundy. Their mantra is not "producer" but "terroir," reflecting the belief that the vineyard is paramount in determining the quality and personality of their wines.
And that's of course how Burgundy has been sold for most of its history, with the vineyard's name more prominent on the label than the producer's. For quite some time it was a canard of wine writers to remark on the outrageousness of mediocre wines selling for exhorbitant prices due to the prestige of the vineyard name on the label, when the prized character the appellation was intended to connote had been denuded by indifferent winemaking or outright adulteration. Anthony Hanson's remark in his 1982 tome Burgundy is a typical lament: "But not everything sold as Burgundy is Burgundy. . . . The good old, bad old days when any rosé can call itself Clos de Vougeot, Chambertin or Corton so long as it comes from the right soil and vines and fulfills a few conditions are still with us." Matt Kramer similarly complained in 1990's Making Sense of Burgundy that "any Burgundy sporting a famous name—Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, Puligny-Montrachet, and so on—commands a high price regardless of quality." Under such circumstances it makes sense to fixate on the most reputable producers.
Lately, however, it seems the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. The ascendancy of "producer, producer, producer" as a buying (and marketing) strategy has resulted in three-digit asking prices for all sorts of vineyards that are normally on the bargain beat solely on account of the grower's prestige. Domaine Leroy's $300-$700 (!) Savigny-lès-Beaune is surely the most obnoxious example. Then there are wines like Georges Roumier's Chambolle-Musigny which used to deliver premier-cru quality at village-wine prices (I remember buying the 1998 and 1999 for $30), but now that it runs $80 in normal vintages and almost twice that in great years, "producer, producer, producer" doesn't seem as much of a smart-money strategy.
So it behooves the savvy Burgundy buyer to experiment with other tactics for finding diamonds in the rough. One such tactic which has yielded impressive results for me over the years has probably occurred to anyone who has ever studied any maps of Burgundy, which reveal a number of affordable or even downright obscure vineyards nestled up against some of the most illustrious grand crus. Some of them clearly have some of the character of their neighbors and have even been shown to be continuations of the same geology. Others remind you why they built the wall between them in the first place. But to me the excitement of capturing the spark of an elite vineyard from a bargain-priced plot next door outweighs the periodic disappointments.
Whenever I am in Burgundy I find myself drawn to the village of Vosne-Romanée and feel a strange compulsion to walk the vineyards. I can't explain why Vosne in particular should have this effect when there are other villages whose wines I find equally compelling, but there is something religious which seems to radiate from Romanée-Conti (and which has nothing to do with the stone cross marking its border). If one starts walking from the cross up the road past Romanée-Conti, La Romanée, and the premier cru vineyard Aux Reignots, the whole distance to the top of the slope can be traversed in just a few minutes. The road continues on the left above La Grande Rue and La Tâche, from which one can follow a tractor path downhill through Aux Malconsorts to Les Chaumes and back to the village. That short distance encompasses vineyards whose prices can differ from one another by several orders of magnitude.
Aux Reignots' proximity to La Romanée and Romanée-Conti just below on the slope is the most immediately striking thing. Unfortunately the single glass of Romanée-Conti I've had the opportunity to enjoy in my lifetime is a woefully insufficient basis to speculate on any family resemblance Reignots may share with it, but I have rather more experience with La Romanée and Richebourg (diagonally below Reignots, to the north of La Romanée) and certainly see a similarity there. The best examples of Reignots, which in my experience have originated from Domaine Robert Arnoux, Dominique Laurent, and Bouchard Père et Fils (before Bouchard's rights reverted back to the Liger-Belair family—whose rendition in theory should also rank among the best but thus far has struck me as too primary to judge), have a powerful inner density to them in the fashion of Richebourg which I often find myself describing, for lack of any better word, as sheer torque. It is a muscular density, better described in terms of strength than in terms of concentration. But in other respects the physical presence of the two is different. Reignots cuts a more slender, streamlined figure with a veneer that seems to smooth out some of the underlying muscle. Aromatically, Reignots is dominated by the same Middle Eastern spice bazaar scents that characterize most of the vineyards in the vicinity. The best Reignots are certainly Grand Cru–quality. But Grand Cru status in Burgundy has at least as much to do with consistency as with the high watermark a vineyard can reach, and Reignots' premier cru classification makes sense in that light. Even in the best producers' hands, Reignots doesn't reach that high watermark as often as one wishes.
Unlike Romanée-Conti and La Romanée, La Tâche covers a large enough land mass that it manages to abut several neighbors that have benefited from the hope there might be a poor man's La Tâche, relatively speaking of course, among them. The most obvious candidate is the premier cru Les Gaudichots, or more accurately those portions of Les Gaudichots which still remain premier cru, as the majority of the vineyard was reclassified as La Tâche as the result of an epic court battle between the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and the Liger-Belair family which owned La Tâche proper at the time. The condensed version of the story, as related in greater detail in Allen Meadows' book on Vosne-Romanée, The Pearl of the Côte, is that DRC won the right to sell its Gaudichots as La Tâche in 1932, which resulted in its holdings given the official appellation of La Tâche ou Les Gaudichots when the appellations were codified under the official Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée law of 1936. Meanwhile other parcels of Les Gaudichots remained Les Gaudichots and received a premier cru designation. When DRC acquired La Tâche proper, it elected to bottle a single cuvée of both vineyards.
Meadows, one of the few people on the planet in a position to opine on the differences between pure Gaudichots and pure La Tâche based on bottles pre-dating the DRC acquisition, postulated that Les Gaudichots "appeared to bring the power, richness, muscle and fantastic depth" while La Tâche was characterized by "dazzling aromatics, silken mouth feel and the classic satin and velvet finish." That doesn't exactly sound like the strongest endorsement for Les Gaudichots standing alone inasmuch as it's the latter array of attributes more likely to whet the appetite of any Burgundy nut. Indeed, today's premier cru Les Gaudichots are firmly structured wines and I can't recall any examples—even a bottle this year from the weak 1992 vintage at age 19—that didn't put up a barrier of burly tannin seeming to need more time to resolve. Yet when a Gaudichots does offer a peek at what's underneath, the exotic spiciness for which La Tâche may be the Ground Zero is evident. It's enough to inspire hope that a La Tâche–like experience may be in store given the requisite cellar time, which could easily amount to twenty-five or thirty years. Unfortunately one can't do more than speculate, because none of the producers commercializing Gaudichots today, at least in the U.S. market, bottled any that far back. And prices have jumped to the point where many collectors will no longer find it an attractive bet.
One of the side effects of Domaine de Montille and Domaine Dujac's acquisition of plots in Aux Malconsorts in 2005, however, may be to impose a de facto price ceiling on how expensive Les Gaudichots can get, because the Malconsorts from both domaines delivers exactly what Les Gaudichots is supposed to deliver, and so far does it better. It certainly doesn't hurt that Dujac and, to a lesser extent, Montille are making the wines in a style reminiscent of DRC's, with the grapes fermented in whole bunches. Most of the attention so far has focused on Montille's special cuvée "Christiane" which comes from a parcel cradled by the original boundaries of La Tâche. The 2005, with its roomfilling spicecake aromatics, left me almost speechless except to blurt out, "We're drinking Domaine de Montille La Tâche." But none of the three vintages to follow came close to that level, leading me to suppose that the wine may succeed the most when the generosity of a naturally ripe vintage tempers the structured austerity towards which the Montille house style is traditionally inclined. Dujac, whose wines are always rich and expansive, has knocked the ball out of the park with its Malconsorts every year, and if it doesn't taste like a hypothetical Dujac-made La Tâche, it at least manages to taste very much like a hypothetical DRC-made Malconsorts, which is pretty impressive indeed.
One last premier cru vineyard in the area which has never gotten nearly the attention nor the esteem of any of its neighbors is Les Chaumes, situated just below Aux Malconsorts and La Tâche on the slope. It's true that Les Chaumes rarely performs at the level of the village's elite premier crus, as a comparison of Arnoux's Chaumes with its Reignots and Suchots can demonstrate. Carel Voorhuis, who makes a small quantity of Les Chaumes at Domaine d'Ardhuy, once told me that the vineyard requires more fussing with the vines to achieve even ripening than any of the other vineyards he works with, of which there are plenty, which may explain why many producers just can't seem to get Les Chaumes right. But there is one producer that consistently manages to achieve Grand Cru–quality Les Chaumes: Domaine Méo-Camuzet. Many examples of Les Chaumes can be coarsely tannic, no doubt due to the ripening challenges, but Méo's is always silky and finessed, with beautiful cinnamon-and-spice aromatics. A fully mature 1985 was a monumental Burgundy with a personality and level of sophistication that brought La Tâche to mind on every sip. That may have something to do with the legendary Henri Jayer's rumored involvement making the Méo wines of that vintage, but I see many of the same ingredients in recent vintages as well.
Outside Vosne-Romanée, the vineyard that cries out the loudest for some affordable alternative is surely Musigny, to the point where its most famous neighbor, Les Amoureuses, has been nearly as expensive for as long as I can remember due to its reputation for "baby Musigny" character and quality. But ironically enough, Les Amoureuses is not the vineyard in that cluster around Musigny that strikes me as most similar in character to Musigny itself. That honor might rightfully belong to the somewhat more obscure premier cru La Combe d'Orveau and the vastly more obscure premier cru Les Borniques.
La Combe d'Orveau extends from the southern end of Musigny and its peculiar gerrymandered shape actually has it spooning a piece of Musigny. A parcel of La Combe d'Orveau owned by the Domaine Jacques Prieur was actually reclassified as Musigny while other plots remained premier cru. (Another portion with a village classification is not actually contiguous and should be thought of as a different vineyard altogether.) In his new book Inside Burgundy, Jasper Morris reports that "Bruno Clavelier, who has the lion's share of the premier cru sector [of La Combe d'Orveau], feels that this vineyard could have been classified grand cru Musigny as the geology is the same as for Les Petits Musigny next door—but that his grandfather did not push for it when the decisions were being made because grand cru status would have entailed higher taxes." My experiences with Bruno Clavelier's La Combe d'Orveau bear that out. Although often sweet with primary fruit when young, a 1996 recently astonished me with knockout aromatics and a mouthfeel that was suave and streamlined while still oozing with sappy, savory flavors. I have also had impressive Combe d'Orveaus from Domaine Taupenot-Merme and Domaine Faiveley, the former fruity but energetic and the latter showing a textural finesse right out of the gate unusal for the domaine's house style which I hope will not be compromised by the recent changes there aimed at making the wines less ornery in their youth. The Combe d'Orveau, at least, never needed any such "improvement." Finally, and fortuitously, the most expensive Combe d'Orveau by far, from the Domaine Perrot-Minot, is also the only one not worth drinking. The only thing you can taste is the oak.
Les Borniques borders Musigny on the other end. I have only ever tasted the vineyard from Frédéric Magnien's négociant label, a scarcity Morris attributes to the holdings' being highly fragmented, so that it may not be worth the bother for most proprietors to bottle it on its own. That judgment ought to change as more people experience what Magnien accomplishes with the vineyard. Magnien has told critics that the soil is identical to the bordering plots of Musigny, and my tastings of the wine have given me no reason to doubt that claim. In its most successful years, it has a sumptuous richness as well as a lacey, finely knit texture to the tannins which I have always seen as one of the signatures of great vineyard sites: concentration can be manufactured in the winery, but tactile finesse can't be. Sometimes Magnien's own penchant for trying to manufacture some up-front charm in the winery results in the wine falling short in some years that should have offered the potential for greater things, but generally I have found the Borniques a purer expression than many of Magnien's other wines—either because he understands this vineyard requires a lighter touch, or because its natural delicacy perserveres through processes that might smother a less characterful wine. Interestingly, a 2002 Borniques I drank this year was legitimately Musignyesque, while Magnien's Amoureuses of the same vintage was an inexplicable disaster, sucked dry by aggressive oak.
It's a traditional practice in Burgundy to serve the whites after the reds, so that's what I'll do in this column, too. On the hill of Montrachet, the Chassagne-Montrachet premier cru En Remilly juts out from Chevalier-Montrachet like a turtle peeking its head out of its shell, while Blanchot-Dessus sits lower on the slope in the catty corner between Montrachet and Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet. En Remilly was a longtime specialty of Domaine Colin-Deléger and is now split among the domaine's heirs; a 2005 Remilly from Philippe Colin is the most Chevalier-like example I've ever tasted, with a precision and detail that always seemed blurred in the old Colin-Deléger renditions. The Blanchot-Dessus of the same year from Anglada-Deléger, another branch of the family, was not nearly as compelling and reminded me more of a California chardonnay. Unfortunately, the most reliable candidate for a Montrachet-like experience in the area is Puligny-Montrachet Les Caillerets, and it has long been priced accordingly. In his new book Grand Cru: The Great Wines of Burgundy Through the Perspective of Its Finest Vineyards, Remington Norman included Les Caillerets among the five premier crus he deemed honorary Grand Crus.
So is "terroir, terroir, terroir" a better philosophy than "producer, producer, producer"? I'll offer one final anecdote. One of the most compelling Burgundies I've had the pleasure to drink recently was the basic 2008 Chambolle-Musigny village wine from Domaine Dujac, a producer whose wines have long enjoyed trophy status. I expected it to be a high-quality Chambolle but was not prepared for the breathtaking experience that followed after about an hour's decanting time. It was packed with rich, succulent fruit that eventually became mellowed by a stony mineral base that made the wine feel like a mouthful of liquified limestone. Then this week I had the occasion to drink a dozen Grand Cru Musignys at a very special wine dinner and I am convinced that if I had slipped the Dujac Chambolle into the lineup it would have had no trouble being voted one of the top wines on the table. Here's the interesting thing. According to David Schildknecht's review of the wine, Dujac's Chambolle-Musigny blends plots on the northern side of the village nearer Morey-St.-Denis with the Argillières vineyard, which is right next to Musigny, just above Les Borniques. So is it the terroir or the producer that makes the difference? I report, you decide.
For further reading:
Maps of the Cote d'Or villages at Bill Nanson's Burgundy-Report site.
Matt Kramer's Making Sense of Burgundy (out-of-print) on Amazon.com.
Allen Meadows' The Pearl of the Côte at BurghoundBooks.com.
Jasper Morris's Inside Burgundy at New York's Sotheby's Wine.
Remington Norman's Grand Cru: The Great Wines of Burgundy Through the Perspective of Its Finest Vineyards on Amazon.co.uk or on pre-order at Amazon.com.
8 Responses to "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
May 13, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Very nice piece and I will have to think about it for a while – which is about the highest praise I can give.
I am going to have an experience which will mirror your opening statement. A trove of older wines from disrespected negoc/domaines like Pierre-Andre has come into my sphere. An '86 Côte de Nuits Villages was pristinely uninspiring, so I have very high hopes for Montrachet, Vougeot and the like. We shall see if terroir truly shines through.
May 13, 2011 at 10:47 pm
A rich and fascinating piece. Very well done and, I think, very useful. Thanks.
May 14, 2011 at 2:25 am
Top article, Keith, an excellent analysis. Have you tried the Dujac Chambolle Premier Cru les Gruenchers? They have a diminutive plot of ancient vines that produce miniscule amounts of Lilliputian berries resulting in a wine that, whilst having a positively lubricious depth of character, is utterly elegant and beautiful – it sings songs of love and allure to me with a sculpted sensuality that few other wines can manage. The 1991 (which admittedly had a slug of Bonnes-Mares in it) was possibly the greatest red Burgundy I have tried.
For Chambolle Amoureuses and Musigny Freddie Mugnier is the door to be knocking on. Not only are his wines staggeringly refined and harmonious but also his right-hand lady, Audrey, is one of the most scrumptious and totally charming people I've been lucky to lust afte… I mean, lucky to meet.
Thanks for the great post.
May 16, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Nice article. I wonder is the terroir vs producer issue could also be reframed as 'nature vs nuture'. Or the producer is the bridge player and the terroir is the hand (s)he draws.
How about as an alternate strategy for seeking out parcels neighboring famous terroir, to seek out lots declassified from famous terroir for one reason or other.
May 28, 2011 at 9:53 pm
I think you are totally misguided. Did you talk to any producers in Burgundy and I see you have but I would ask who and what is their context to the American wine industry? The idea of producer vs. terrior is interesting but I think you have misplaced the crux of the arguement. Trusted producers make terrior driven wines and that is why one picks that producer. Meo Camuzet comes to mind when discussing this idea because they have great vineyard holdings but after 2004 their oak regiment is all out of whack and has seriously muted the terrior of the wines (granted we are talking young babies.) So again it is "producer, producer, producer" since it is the steward of the wine who determines whether they let their terrior sing or mute it with their viticultural practices. I see why vignerons claim climat over producer because that is in their blood, this is what they are trained (atleast the good ones)but this is irrelevent to the American buying community

subset: commoncrawl


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BEIJING — There are many things about modern China that defy easy explanation: parents posing their children next to live tigers, the sight of grown women wearing furry cat-ear headbands while shopping, the performance-art-like spectacle of strangers napping together in Ikea display beds.
But no mystery is more confounding than that of China's most enduring case of cultural diffusion: its love affair with "Going Home," the 1989 smash-hit instrumental by the American saxophone superstar Kenny G.
For years the tune, in all its seductive woodwind glory, has been a staple of Chinese society. Every day, "Going Home" is piped into shopping malls, schools, train stations and fitness centers as a signal to the public that it is time, indeed, to go home.
One recent Saturday afternoon, as the smooth notes of "Going Home" cooed repeatedly over the ordered chaos of Beijing's famous Panjiayuan Antiques Market, hawkers packed up their Mao-era propaganda ashtrays, 1930s telephones and "antique" jade amulets while the last bargain hunters headed for the gates.
To ensure no stragglers miss their cue, the melody plays on a loop — for the final hour and a half.
According to a manager, Panjiayuan has used the tune since 2000. She did not know why.
"Isn't it just played everywhere?" she asked.
At 9:30 p.m. on Monday, the Powerhouse Gym in central Beijing was a half-hour from closing. As usual, "Going Home" began looping over the loudspeakers, sending the weight lifters and treadmill runners fleeing for the locker rooms. The manager, Zhu Mingde, followed, eager to turn off the lights and lock the doors. Mr. Zhu could not pinpoint when "Going Home" had become China's adieu anthem, nor could he identify the famous musician behind it. But despite its lack of lyrics, he understood the melody's cultural significance. "All I know is when they play this song, it's quitting time," he said.
For a generation of Chinese youth, "Going Home" has featured prominently on the soundtrack of their lives.
Mao Xiaojie, a junior at the Communication University of China in Beijing, said, "They'd play it over and over again at wedding banquets."
Her classmate Zhang Dawei had more academic associations. "This is what they put on when they're kicking us out of the school library," he said.
Emma Zhang first encountered "Going Home" in a cafe many years ago, and then at home, at school, in bookstores, shopping malls and health spas, and on the street. "I used to think the tune was really nice and catchy," she said. "But now I'm sick of it."
Decades of easy listening to this one recording, with its undertones of social engineering, have led to certain habits. "Whenever I hear 'Going Home,' I finish things faster," said Cheng Gang, 35, who works in finance.
On the popular Chinese video-sharing website Youku, "Going Home" accounts for four of the 10 most-played videos in the saxophone category, with 313,786 plays over the last three years.
"Nobody knows why the Chinese even like Kenny G so much," said Jackie Subeck, a music and entertainment consultant from Los Angeles who has been doing business in China for 12 years. She first heard "Going Home" in China in 2002, when it was blasting on her hotel television. At the time, Ms. Subeck was trying to help establish a music royalty collection process in China, so the popularity of "Going Home" was more bitter than sweet. "That song's on nonstop play and doesn't collect a penny," she said.
To add insult to injury, Ms. Subeck was once delayed for hours at the old Beijing airport, where the food court was playing a loop of Kenny G music videos. "We just sat there drinking beer and watching incessant Kenny G," she recalled. "It was terrible."
Not that Kenny G is overwrought about the unpaid royalties. Since the 1980s, he has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide. (Little-known fact: In 1997, he earned a place in Guinness World Records for playing the longest note ever recorded on a saxophone: 45 minutes and 47 seconds, in E flat.)
"Do I wish I could get paid for everything? Of course," he said in a telephone interview. "But I surrender to the fact that that's the way things go there." Touring China in the 1990s, he heard "Going Home" playing in Tiananmen Square, in Shanghai, on a golf course and "in a restroom in the middle of nowhere," he said. "It made me feel great to know there was no language barrier to connecting with music."
He has since performed in China many times, including on a five-city tour last fall. But he could provide no further insight into his music's popularity there.
"I don't ask questions because I like to leave some of the mystery," he said.
Still, Kenny G is aware of the tune's shepherding function and plans accordingly when he performs in China.
"I save it for last," he said, "because I don't want everyone going home early."


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Eleven peregrine falcon chicks are now fledging in nests high atop three city bridges.
Officials from the city Department of Environmental Protection recently banded the birds as part of a state nesting program that gives the falcons, nearly wiped out in New York during the 60s, homes atop the Verrazano-Narrows, Throgs Neck and Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial bridges. They also photographed the newest falcons.
On the Marine Parkway bridge the nest box is poised 215 feet in the air. The Throgs Neck box is 360 feet above ground and the Verrazano-Narrows box offers a view from 693 feet. The urban falcons like to nest in bridges because their height offers a good vantage for hunting prey.
"We frequently have to go to the top of the towers for maintenance work but we are very respectful of the falcons during nesting season and while the chicks are learning to fly," said Verrazano-Narrows Maintenance Superintendent Daniel Fortunato. "The mama bird in particular is very protective so for the safety of our employees and the birds, we do our best to keep out of their way."
Photos: MTA


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P is for Penguin – Maze of Penguin
Maze of cute little penguin, a flightless bird that is found around Antarctica and the north pole. The entrance of the maze is in the upper left corner, and the exit is in the lower right corner of the maze. This maze goes with the maze of the letter P for the kids book, "Learn To A Maze" Which uses mazes to teach kids the alphabet. By Yonatan Frimer.
Some interesting links for y'all to check out:
- Check out some cool mazes and maze art here.
- Check out this Zebra Maze by Yonatan Frimer
- Great optical illusion maze of a deer caught in the headlight, by Yonatan Frimer
Some fun facts from wikipedia about Penguins:
Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid, and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend about half of their lives on land and half in the oceans.
Although all penguin species are native to the southern hemisphere, they are not found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin live so far south. Several species are found in the temperate zone, and one species, the Galápagos Penguin, lives near the equator.


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Panthers stop losing skid with first LEC win
PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Senior Tom Dowd led Plymouth State University with 17 points Tuesday evening at Foley Gymnasium as the Panthers picked up their first Little East Conference victory of the season with an 81-64 decision over the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Dowd was one of four Panthers to score in double figures as PSU stopped a four-game losing streak and improved to 6-7 overall and 1-3 in conference play. Senior Bill Stowell added 13 points and three blocked shots. Dowd and Stowell combined to make 12-of-14 shots, the former making 7-of-8 from the field and the latter converting 5-of-6. Senior Ryan Lambert and junior Jesse Sabolis added 10 points apiece in the win, and Lambert handed out eight assists.
Junior Michael Mitchell led the way for the Beacons, scoring 17 points and adding four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Senior Mo Johnson made 5-of-6 shots from three-point range to finish with 15 points, but the Beacons fell to 6-7 overall and remained winless in LEC play at 0-4.
It was a close game for the first 11 minutes as the score was tied at 18-all with nine minutes to play in the first half. PSU took charge and outscored the Beacons 18-2 over the next seven minutes to open up a 16-point margin (36-20). Freshman Alex Burt, who finished with nine points, drained a pair of three-pointers in the Panther rally, and Dowd and senior Ian Dempsey chipped in with four points apiece.
The Panthers opened the second half with a 12-3 spurt to extend the lead to 25 points (50-25). PSU's largest lead was 31 points (63-32) before the Beacons whittled the margin down to 14 with less than three minutes remaining. UMB got as close as 13 points with a minute to play before time ran out.
PSU shot 56 percent from the field in the game, including 60 percent in the second half, while UMB converted at a 39 percent clip, including just 29 percent in the first half.
Plymouth State is back in action with an LEC game Saturday at Rhode Island College, while the Beacons return home to host Bridgewater State Thursday in a non-conference affair.
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HI - shot in the dark as I know FT into Kerbdog so figured some might be going to Kerbdog show at Leeds on Friday at Brudenell. I have two tickets for this show - I can't go now. £15 face value would take £10 each for them or whatever you think.
Will be a killer show as a great venue and a top band. Message me or leave details if interested.
Here is FT cover of Sally
Kerbdog Leeds - FRI 14th
Talk about upcoming shows, discuss shows that have happened, this isn't rocket science you know
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text: Here's the newest Rihanna video for "Where Have You Been." The song is what you'd expect (hear one Rihanna song, hear all Rihanna songs), as is the video (yes, Rihanna is very sexy), which is great for those of us who like what she's done in the past. As for the rest of us, we are just going to have to deal with it because I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot of this song in the coming months.


text: Alberta ATV Salvage & Repair Address: 5021 - 50 Street Po Box 1004 Elk Point, Alberta Canada T0A 1A0 Phone Number: (780) 646-0650 Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Last modified on July 11, 2019 by Town of Elk Point Return to Directory Edit Listing Submit Listing Download Contact Category: Auto Body Shop Mechanic Did You Know? Village of Elk Point Formed, 1938 In the words of J.C. Jensen "We have functioned barely a year and as the first Council we feel at this date, that justifiable pride can be taken in the solvency of the village finances, and in the local improvements that have been carried out. We do not claim infallibility but we have sincerely tried to provide the greatest good for the greatest number. We feel a pride in our village. We hope that it may grow more beautiful, become ever more conscious of the civic pride and truly be a community of which the younger growing generation can always look back to as a sphere of pleasant memories. Our aim is to foster the feeling beyond our confines, that we need them as well as their need of us."


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If you're too lazy to spend a few hours each year dealing with Christmas lights, you can shell out a few hundred dollars for the LiteLocker, which sit under your home's gutters, hiding said lights during the "offseason".
The bulbs, sockets and wiring are all built into the LiteLocker, so all you have to do is mount the casing and plug it in. But considering it costs $US70 for each 7.3m strand, is it really worth having a bunch of ugly plastic boxes stuck to your house in exchange for convenience? [Gizmag]


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Food and ingredients
Low-cost EDXRF elemental analyzer measures Na to U in solids, liquids, powders and thin-films
New 6th-generation general purpose benchtop XRD system for phase i.d and phase quantification
High-performance, Cartesian-geometry EDXRF elemental analyzer measures Na to U in solids, liquids, powders and thin-films
Benchtop tube below sequential WDXRF spectrometer analyzes F through U in solids, liquids and powders
|Ultima IV
High-performance, multi-purpose XRD system for applications ranging from R&D to quality control
|ZSX Primus
High power, tube below, sequential WDXRF spectrometer with mapping and superior light element performance
Small and wide angle X-ray scattering instrument designed for nano-structure analyses
NANOPIX mini
A modernized 2D Kratky system that eliminates data corrections required of traditional systems
XRF and XRD for elemental and phase analysis
The need for chemical analysis of food and cosmetics has increased in recent years. Increased emphasis in industry, and by government, on safety, efficacy and content labeling are the core drivers. Near line monitoring during the production process also affords long-term cost savings from decreased waste, rework and materials costs. The United States (FDA), European Union and various other regulatory bodies around the world strictly regulate the allowable concentrations of heavy metal contaminants in foodstuffs, drugs and cosmetics. In addition, much commercial food production requires careful monitoring of salt concentrations to ensure correct flavor characteristics. Cosmetics that use metal oxides for sunscreen protection factor (SPF) enhancement must have 100% quality inspection to meet U.S. over-the counter (OTC) pharmaceutical regulations. Packaging must also be monitored for contaminates that may leach into products.


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If you're using a Continuous Integration tool, you should also be using an information radiator like Pivotal Labs' CiMonitor. CiMonitor is designed to be displayed on a screen that the entire team can see. If any of your builds go red, it shows up as a big red square and the team can quickly respond.
CiMonitor has long had support for CruiseControl.rb and Jenkins (formerly Hudson). However, my CI tool of choice is TeamCity from JetBrains. We've recently added native support in CiMonitor for displaying your TeamCity build status, and I want to show you how to get it going. It's as easy as configuring a new project and pointing to TeamCity's REST API. Let's walk through it step by step.
Install CiMonitor
For native TeamCity support, you'll need to be on the latest version of CiMonitor. Follow the installation instructions on the CiMonitor GitHub page. If you already have CiMonitor installed locally, you'll have to update to the latest version.
Create a New Project
Login to CiMonitor, and create a new project.
Choose "Team City Rest Project" as the Project Type.
For the Feed URL, you'll be hitting the REST API provided by TeamCity 5.0 and newer. The correct format for the URL is as follows, with the # representing the TeamCity project number:
You can find the correct project number by clicking onto the project in TeamCity and looking in the URL. Grab the number from the buildTypeId parameter.
You will also need to fill in a TeamCity username and password that CiMonitor will use to access the REST API.
Example Settings
Once you've set up the new project, save it and you're all set.
Watch Your Builds Run!
You can now easily see the status of your TeamCity builds.
CiMonitor will also show that a build is currently in progress.
Wrapping Up
The integration is pretty solid, but there are one or two things that may seem to be odd behavior.
CiMonitor keeps track of build start times to control the size of the build dots for each project. The older the build, the smaller the dot. Currently, TeamCity's REST API doesn't publish the start time of a running build. Since this data is unavailable, CiMonitor just uses the current time when it fetches the feed. This is a minor issue, and JetBrains has already committed a fix for their REST API which will be released in the next version of TeamCity. CiMonitor will use the new field if it's present in the feed.
Also, TeamCity has a great feature that will tell you that a build is failing before it even finishes. This has an interesting effect on CiMonitor. If a TeamCity build is red, the next time it begins running, CiMonitor will show it as green until the first test fails. Once TeamCity picks up on a failure, CiMonitor will show the build as red. This can be a little confusing at first because it may look like a build-in-progress is green before it has finished.
Hopefully you find this new functionality useful!
About the Author


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Today's training camp at Dove Valley was a hot one and the boys were in pads for 3 hours. Hope they stayed VERY hydrated as a good portion of the day was spent doing red zone drills which no doubt kept attention of the full crowd.
LB DJ Williams sat out the practice for reasons unknown. He sat out the Saturday morning practice but participated in the Saturday evening walkthrough.
Both 11-on-11 scrimmage sessions were spent entirely on red zone drills and while they had some big plays throughout practice, none drew quite the cheers from the crowd than none other than a Tim Tebow play. Tebow was scrambling to his left, heading towards out of bounds going backwards when he managed to throw it long to rookie Mark Dell and the rookie came up big catching the ball over a chunk of our defensive backs. Leave it to Tebow to get the crowd going.
Rookie TE Julius Thomas also had a big day catching a big pass from Brady Quinn and holding on to it for the score after being leveled by LB Braxton Kelley. His other big catch, also a big TD score, came from Tebow in 7-on-7 drills.
In a 1-on-1 drill, it was Brandon Lloyd vs. Champ Bailey (I'm sure this was a sight to see), but Lloyd was the one that came up with the catch, reaching over Bailey to grab the touchdown.
Eric Decker looked mighty fine today as well, catching passes from fellow Minnesota teammate & QB, Adam Weber.
During the second scrimmage session, Dumervil scooped up a fumble near the end zone and took off running with a full head of steam. RB Knowshon Moreno, who wasn't in this drill, was unaware of this and wandered right into Dumervil's path. Dumervil gave him a big stiff arm as he ran by that almost knocked Moreno on his backside. (I can just picture that one going down. HA Poor kid).
Picture of the day:
And this HOT picture is for that cheerleader post you put up and thought I wouldn't notice. lol I just saw that you had put it up, not that I'm surprised. Timmy is Yummy!!! :D
Offbeat moment of the day:
The newly elected mayor of Denver visited the practice today, visiting with team officials and observing the practice from the sidelines.
Denver waived LB Dominic Douglas; and signed TE Daniel Fells to a one-year contract
In bigger news, Denver managed to get DL Marcus Thomas back and signed him to a one-year contract today. I think we really needed that; I think this was a smart move to grab him back up considering our D needs all the help it can get.
Broncos agreed to terms with TE Daniel Fells on a one-year contract. Denver's tight end picture is now crowded, which is bad news for Dan Gronkowski and possibly even reputed blocking specialist Richard Quinn. Fells is expected to get the first shot at the starting job, but he offers little blocking and even less after-the-catch burst.
Broncos agreed to terms with TE Dante Rosario, formerly of the Panthers. Reunited with coach John Fox, Rosario is expected compete with Dan Gronkowski for the Broncos' "off-the-line" tight end job. It's an indication that rookies Virgil Green and Julius Thomas won't be rushed into the lineup early in the season.
As expected, Denver restructured the contract of safety Brian Dawkins and finalized the deal for running back Willis McGahee. Both were procedural moves. The deal was completed Friday evening. Dawkins will be the Broncos' starting strong safety this year. He will help bring along rookie Rahim Moore, the Broncos' first of two second-round draft picks who is expected to start at free safety.
Meanwhile, former Denver defensive tackle Ron Fields went to Miami. He is now with Mike Nolan on his third team, joining the Broncos and 49ers. The Broncos are visiting with former New England defensive lineman Ty Warren and there is a chance he signs with them. Ty Warren, a Texas native and A&M alum, is leaving Denver without a contract to visit with the Texans.
Defensive tackle Jamaal Anderson is coming for a visit, the No. 8 overall draft pick in 2007 but who was a disappointment for the Atlanta Falcons.
Vonta Leach, in whom the Broncos had reportedly shown interest, has agreed to a 3-year deal worth a reported $11M with the Ravens.
Key notes:
Tim Tebow had a nice 7-on-7 session throwing some long TD passes to two rookies, Julius Thomas & Mark Dell.
Newly signed WR David Anderson & RB Willis McGahee just observed, they did not practice today.
Eric Decker spent some time today taking punt returns... looks like he'll be our go-to guy for that this season like he was last year. Eddie Royal also joined on the return practice.
Elvis Dumervil worked with rookie Von Miller in 1-on-1 pass-rushing drills... and Dawkins spent some time working with another rookie, S Rahim Moore, on coverage techniques
News around the league:
NFL reports that the Dolphins are looking into QB Matt Moore since talks with Denver quarterback Kyle Orton are "dead". Doesn't look promising Orton will be traded, which I'm on the fence about. I'd much rather have an experienced QB with Tebow than someone like Quinn who just never seems promising, ever. Despite what Andrew Mason may see at TC practices. No offense to Andrew. But I get why Denver is holding on to Quinn... plain & simple no one wants him yet we're stuck paying him to warm the bench.
And I just thought this was interesting since he is as former Bronco. Honestly, I think it explains A LOT about him and why he acted the way he did while in Denver. Here's the story about Brandon Marshall & his confession that he was diagnosed with BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) earlier this year.
Check this out, Matt Willis, Ninja Warrior, haha (Willis just became one of my favourite players, Aussie).


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Our Online Community is here for you, night or day. Get in touch with people who understand, share your experiences, offer your support, or just hear people's stories.
Find a support group near you and meet people to help you face cancer. You can also be there for other people who need you.
Order or download free, reliable information that is easy to understand. Our booklets cover signs and symptoms, diagnosis, cancer types, treatments and living with cancer.
Do you have a question for our cancer support specialists? If you want to, you can complete our online form to give us the information we need to answer you. We'll attempt to reply within two working days.
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Baseball coverage earns eight Sports Emmy Awards
MLB Network wins five awards, its most ever; FOX Sports wins for World Series & ALCS coverage
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences last night recognized a wide range of baseball coverage at the 35th annual Sports Emmy Awards. Overall, MLB coverage earned eight total awards, including five for MLB Network, the most in the network's history. FOX Sports also won for its coverage of the 2013 World Series, ALCS and MLB on FOX. In addition, Harold Reynolds (MLB Network & FOX Sports) and Tom Verducci (MLB Network & Turner Sports) shared the honors for Outstanding Studio Analyst, while Bob Costas (MLB Network & NBC Sports) received his 26th Sports Emmy for Outstanding Studio Host.
The full list of honors is as follows:
- Outstanding Live Sports Special - 2013 World Series (FOX Sports)
- Outstanding Playoff Coverage - 2013 ALCS (FOX Sports)
- Outstanding Sports Personality (Studio Host) - Bob Costas (MLB Network and NBC Sports)
- Outstanding Sports Personality (Studio Analyst) - Harold Reynolds (MLB Network & FOX Sports)
- Outstanding Sports Personality (Studio Analyst) - Tom Verducci (MLB Network & Turner Sports)
- Outstanding Graphic Design (Post Produced) - MLB Tonight (MLB Network)
- Outstanding Technical Team (Studio) - MLB Tonight (MLB Network)
- Outstanding Live Event Audio/Sound - MLB on FOX (FOX Sports)
Reynolds' win marks his first ever individual Sports Emmy Award and Verducci's award marks the first time someone who previously won for Outstanding Sports Reporter also won for Outstanding Studio Analyst.
Since its launch on January 1, 2009, MLB Network has won 17 Emmy Awards out of a total of 51 nominations, with MLB Tonight receiving nine Emmy Awards out of 13 nominations.


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I myself come from an extremely devout conservative family. I was raised as a Catholic and became "born again" during a Summer Vacation Bible camp when I was in the sixth grade. I made all the sacraments, went to CCD (like Bible study classes), attended Christian Conferences and week long camps, and even went to a Private Catholic College. My husband went into the military shortly after we married and I think that was the beginning of my de-conversion. I attended LSU and lived all over the deep South. This really opened up my eyes to a world very different from where I grew up. I began questioning after attempting to find a church that "fit" us. Listening to pastors talk about beating their kids, using Bible quotes to condone it, and then sitting through masses about tithing and speaking in tongues, I started to see how crazy religion was. I guess I identified as non-denominational for a while because I didnt want to have anything to do with man made religion. Then it was watching documentaries and specials on Jesus and I started questioning the Bible and whether or not he could have existed and raised the dead, and walked on water, turned water to wine, etc....My conclusion upon getting my degree in Science Psychology was no he couldnt have, those things are improbable. If that was my conclusion then every other "story" in the Bible was improbable and where did that leave me?
My de-conversion was a process and progress if you ask me. I didnt just wake up one day and say "I think I'll be an atheist". I was a long sometimes painful process that led me here. I could never "go back" EVER, too many things about this world and Universe point to happen stance, probability, and accident. We are Serendipitous, the outcome of a happy accident. I'm fine with that, I'm happy with that! I no longer need a man in the sky subconsciously re affirming my every choice and "making" me feel guilty when I make a poor decision. My brain is far evolved from the mythology and going back is no longer an option.
The repercussions from my de-conversion have been slight. My Mom cried when she found out and told me I was going to Hell, now she just tries to get me to listen to Christian radio stations and referred to my recent raise and promotion as an "answer to her prayers". I deal with the religious rhetoric because she is family. I now look back often, especially when she looks at something purely scientific and attributes it to God, and wonder how I could have ever believed such nonsense.
Views: 1253
With unlimited time and resources to 'create', your god still had to steal a rib from Adam to make Eve? It could pop a cosmos into existence purely through thought, but needed mud to fashion Adam? Let's not forget how many people died in horrible agony of their teeth before we figured out how to pull those damn wisdom teeth - that would have been a nice thing to write in the manual, don't you think?
Yeah, it's a shame God had to create dentists! I would just say that God often does things in a symbolic or parabolic way for communication purposes (and read what I said about the rib again).
When God created man "from the dust" that is actually very interesting! The Hebrew lnguage indicates pre-existing material ("dust"). And, in fact, we have the same elements as the stars! Stardust?
I'm not impressed with Hitchen's complaint about tooth decay (but I am impressed with the toothache I had 3 months ago!). In Christian theology, the fallen world predicts such things and contemplates the Problem of Evil.
I also suspect that ancient man wasn't sucking on all the sugars and crappy processed foods we do!
I haven't read what you said about the rib the first time, nor do I know where that particular line of malarkey is located. 'Parabolic', huh? Sounds a lot like inefficiency to me.
The trouble with the stardust thing is that, according to your bible, plants were created before the sun or other stars, yet they are supposed to be made of stardust as well. Oops.
Ancient man didn't need to eat sweets for his wisdom teeth to crush the other teeth in his jaw - this little 'flaw' ensured that few people lived past 35, and we have the archaeological records to prove that.
No, the plants were not created prior to the sun. Check any reputable commentary on that. If you insist, I'll spell out the chronology.
The rest is, again, the Problem of Evil.
No, the rest is the unanswered problem of 'infinite resources' and then the need for mud and theft of a rib.
I've read Genesis 1, so you had best 'spell it out' for me. We'll get the that raqia problem later.
@Kevin Harris - Markwars are things that begin to exist without being caused to exist. I've been all through this with you in chat.
Exactly! Markwars? I've acknowledged above that if a markwar is something that began to exist without being caused then it is an exception to the first premise of the Kalam Cosmological Argument.
Well, do Markwars exist? And how does one determine that they began without a cause?
Is Markwar just another name for God?
Of course Markwars exist - you've failed to prove that they don't.
They are not 'another name' for your concept of a god, because your concept of a god 'never began to exist'. Harkwars are things that never began to exist, and if your god existed then it would be a harkwar.
Yeah, I see the tautology: God is a Harkwar if a Harkwar is God.
You seem to want to take the attributes of "what everyone calls God" (Anselm) and give it another name. A rose by any other name...!
Although your god, if it existed, would be a harkwar, a harkwar is by no means a god. Harkwars are the category of things that never began to exist. Gods are one of the possible things in that category - having never existed at all - but there could be a lot of things in that category. It seems that the 11 dimensions of the super-cosmos are harkwars as well.
We have compelling evidence for the existence of the 11 dimensions of the super-cosmos, so we can be relatively confident that harkwars is not an empty set. That god of yours, however, not so much.
I was raised atheist but did some investigating into Christianity and neo-paganism as I grew up. Ultimately I found the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the gig was up. Seriously, I was touched by His Noodly Appendage and stopped apologizing for not believing in Jesus or anybody else. I also began to see Christianity in a more sinister light, recognizing the colossal amount of damage the religion and some of its adherents have done in the world.
I learned a lot more about Christianity and, especially science that proves Creationism (and its cousin Intelligent Design) untrue. I spoke up as an atheist and have not stopped since. I do not want my children, or anybody's children, taught nonsense as science. Somewhere along the line I realized the pervasiveness of Christianity's influence in my life, world history, and politics, and I got a little angry. No more Ms. Nice Lady.


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Luck takes aim at Brady, Patriots
The New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts had one of the NFL's greatest rivalries when Tom Brady was dueling against Peyton Manning.
That animosity could be rekindled this Sunday when rookie Andrew Luck and his version of the Colts takes aim at Brady and the Patriots for the first time.
Luck has guided the Colts to four consecutive wins and has won six of his first nine career starts, passing for 2,631 yards and 10 touchdowns while rushing for 159 yards and five scores, already a franchise record for quarterbacks.
Last Sunday against Jacksonville, the Stanford product rushed for two TDs in Indianapolis' 27-10 win.
"This win was huge," said Luck, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2012 NFL Draft. "We wanted to keep our winning streak going. This is a good step in the right direction, but no one looks back at the fact that you were 6-3 in the middle of the season. It's what we do at the end of the season."
The Colts used their 22-17 home loss to the Jaguars in Week 3 as fuel to start fast and cruise throughout most of the second half in Jacksonville as they improved to 5-1 under interim head coach Bruce Arians, who is piloting the team while Chuck Pagano battles leukemia.
"(Pagano) is fighting for his life and it's nothing more than asking, 'How about we go fight for every game and extend this season until he can come back?'," Arians said. "We have a date we're all hoping that he can lead us down the tunnel on Dec.30 if all things go well and if not we need to have this season extended until he can do that."
With Luck under center, the Colts have already doubled their win total from Manning's rookie season in 1998. His streak of four straight 300-yard passing games did come to an end in the Sunshine State but Luck used his legs effectively in the red zone and shook off two turnovers to guide the Colts to their first four-game winning streak since the end of the 2010 season.
Luck ended up completing 18-of-26 passes against the Jags, including eight for 96 yards to favorite target Reggie Wayne. Darius Butler, an ex-Patriot, finished with two interceptions, including one for a touchdown, in the victory.
"I'm really pleased that we have him," Arian said of Butler. "He's a playmaker and had a great game. He's obviously the AFC Defensive Player of the Week and it builds great confidence for him going up against the challenge that he has this week in coming up there."
New England is also coming off a win last Sunday, albeit by the skin of its teeth when Devin McCourty's interception of a Ryan Fitzpatrick pass in the end zone with 28 seconds left prevented a Pats collapse, as New England held on for a 37-31 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
Following a 27-yard field goal by New England's Stephen Gostkowski, the Bills took over with 2:06 remaining in the game. Fitzpatrick led a drive to the Patriots' 15 before throwing the ball directly to McCourty.
"No matter what happens in the game, there's nothing bigger than a turnover," said McCourty. "When the game gets toward the end, those big plays change the game."
Brady threw for 237 yards and two touchdowns on 23-of-38 passing versus Buffalo for the AFC East-leading Patriots, who won their third consecutive game and 11th straight against the Bills at Gillette Stadium.
Stevan Ridley ran for a game-high 98 yards and a score on 22 carries, while Danny Woodhead ran for one touchdown and caught a pass for another score for New England.
"It was tight," said Brady. "I'm glad we came away with the win. We fought hard, we certainly had more opportunities out there to score more points, but we didn't and the defense made a couple great plays there at the end."
The Patriots lead their all-time series with the Colts by a comfortable 44-28 margin and are 7-2 at home against Indy since 2000.
Luck has more than lived up to his billing as the best pure quarterback prospect since Manning or perhaps John Elway. His 6-3 record as a starter is the best a No. 1 overall pick has ever put together through nine games.
"The kid, he continues to amaze," said Wayne. "Hopefully I can help add on to his legacy that he's about to build."
A lot of quarterbacks have the arm strength or the athleticism to succeed in the NFL. Few have the intangibles, the things that are quickly recognized by most but not easily quantified. When asked to grade himself at the midpoint of the season Luck gave himself a C and he remained on more than a even keel after the Colts win in Jacksonville.
"He's gotten better each week," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "He does a real good job of avoiding the rush but also keeping his eyes downfield and not just pulling the ball down and trying to run or kind of panicking in the pocket. He has a lot of poise."
Luck and Wayne have been one of the NFL's top offensive duos in 2012. Wayne, who leads the NFL with 7.7 receptions per game and is second with 103.4 receiving yards a contest, was often dominant with Manning throwing to him and has only upped his game with Luck, something that could pose a problem for a Patriots defense which is susceptible to giving up big plays.
"I don't really see Reggie Wayne much differently than I saw him in the past," Belichick said. "He was good then; he's good now. There were some issues last year with their quarterbacking and passing game and all that but I didn't see any drop-off in Reggie Wayne as a football player. I don't know, maybe I missed it. He's always looked pretty good to me."
Fitzpatrick is certainly more experienced than Luck bur far less talented and he rang up 337 yards and two TD passes versus New England last Sunday. The embattled Pats defense also gave up a mind-numbing 35 first downs and 481 total yards to the Bills. Overall, New England has been giving up an alarming 285.3 yards per game through the air in 2012 and has allowed 19 touchdowns passes.
"I would throw the statistics out because they've got 23 turnovers," Arians said. "And when you lead the league in turnover ratio by 16, you're going to be in first place. They've always been a bend-don't-break group and feasted on turnovers ever since I could remember. There were only a few years when they were totally dominant, but they've always been as well coached as anybody in this league."
Help could also be on the way from talented but troubled cornerback Aqib Talib, who was acquired by the Pats from Tampa Bay on Nov. 1 and is expected to make his debut against the Colts.
"We're just trying to catch him up," Belichick said when asked about his new cornerback. "He's been in here every day. Three days in a row he's been in here early, working hard, trying to get caught up. We'll see how it goes."
Luck is convinced that the Patriots will go the traditional route against him and place an emphasis on hurrying him as much as possible.
"They have very good edge rushers on the sides," Luck said. "They do get to the quarterback and even if it's not a sack, they sort of harass, force a quarterback out of the pocket. That'll be a focus all week."
Offensively New England has few problems. The balanced, high-scoring Pats average an NFL-best 33.2 points per game and 430.3 yards per contest.
Brady has completed at least 60 percent of his passes in 10 straight games and All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski has really heated up recently, snaring 17 balls for 255 yards and five touchdowns in the last three games.
"Well he's a big target and he's been productive for us as well," Belichick said when asked about Gronk. "He's had some opportunities and he's done a good job of taking advantage of them. Rob works hard, he's a big, physical, tough football player, competes well. He's been productive for us as well."
Perhaps the biggest improvement for the Patriots has been their revamped running attack headlined by Ridley, who has 225 yards and two TDs in his last two contests.
Conversely the Colts defense has been stout over the past month, allowing just 14.0 points a game over its last four outings although New England's offense poses a much tougher test than previous opponents like Cleveland, Tennessee, Miami and Jacksonville.
This is the 10th consecutive season the Colts and Patriots will meet but obviously the first time Belichick and New England will get a good look at Luck, who could deliver quite a statement by finding a way to beat the game's best coach and one of the best quarterbacks of all-time.
That's unlikely in Foxboro, however. Luck will have plenty of opportunities moving forward to eventually take down Belichick, Brady and the Pats but this contest will serve as a difficult lesson for the promising young signal- caller.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Patriots 30, Colts 20


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In order for someone to be able to resolve issues that will inevitably show up they will sometimes need to have top level access to the system that is having the problem.
Therefore you will always need to have someone with full access and with that will come some risks.
Register Hereor login if you are already a member


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Santos Place is a premium A Grade tower in the heart of Brisbane CBD within the legal district.
Designed by progressive eco architects Donovan Hill and opened in 2009, Santos Place is a shining example of contemporary green commercial office space. This 38 level tower boasts a 6 Star Green Star (as built), Australian Building Greenhouse Rating of 5 Stars, and 5 Star target NABERS energy rating.
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The building boasts spectacular views from Brisbane River and Southbank up to Mount Coot-tha. The building has a direct link with the pedestrian and bicycle Kurilpa Bridge which extends over the Brisbane River to the Gallery of Modern Art and Southbank cultural precinct.
Building occupants include mining companies Santos, Aurecon and Kogas as well as Vincent's Chartered Accountants and a multitude of legal professionals and legal chambers.
In-house amenities include an onsite restaurant and café, two-level gymnasium and one of the largest bicycle parking facilities in Brisbane - accommodating 280 bicycle parking spaces along with 60 showers.
20 - 30 minutes by taxi from Brisbane Airport or 20 minutes via Air Train to Central station.
5-7 minute walk from Central Station.
2 minute walk from Eagle Street Pier.
5-7 minute walk from Central Station.
We've done the hard work for you, so for your low monthly fee your business can take advantage of our investment in:
Servcorp offices are located on level 27 of Santos Place.
Level 27 features floral themed works of art by renowned artist Evan Mackley. Born in Victoria in 1940, Evan Mackley worked as a dealer in antiques and art, and as a restaurateur before turning to full time oil painting. Mackley established his naïve-impressionist style in 1966 and paints subjects such as flowers, animals, sporting events and landscapes. The rich multi-coloured oil paintings bring a lively ambiance to the floor.
Facilities include:
Perfectly positioned in the North Quarter precinct, Santos Place is within walking distance to retail, parklands, and entertainment venues.
Tenants are only moments away from the Family Court, Supreme Court and Magistrates Court as well as the Convention Centre. There are also numerous banking facilities, restaurants and sporting venues nearby.
Located within a 5 minute walk to the Brisbane Transit Centre where there are regular bus and train services, there is also a Taxi behind the building at 40 Tank Street, this building offers excellent transport connections.


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- Meditate
- Enjoy one meal in the company of someone else
- Slow down while eating
- No multi-tasking while eating
- Sit down while eating
Rule: Sit down when I eat.
Rule: Sit down when I eat.
Oh my God, me and my fat ass are in!
burbanmom - That's awesome. Welcome aboard!
What?!? No organic corn chips by the sneaky handful in the middle of the night. No one's looking...
Allright, FINE. I'm in too. My butt says "thank you". Maybe I will add walking the dog daily to my personal goals. He needs the walk and so do my thighs. :o)
eco 'burban mom - I wish walking my dog did anything for my exercise routine. Rather than walk, she spends all her time marking every square inch. By the end of the "walk" she's dry squatting - nothing comes out, but the motion is there for show. It takes us forever to get anywhere so we usually don't make it very far. What kind of dog do you have?
Two doggies, actually. Though, Ginger - our lab mix - is 11 so isn't much for walking. However... our Dalmatian puppy is 10 months old and literally freaks out at the sight of his leash. Squeaking and whining and pacing if it's even on the counter. So, I can get quite a workout if I acutally get out there! From what I understand the breed was bred to run alongside carriages. We are not exactly sure of his lineage - we found him at a shelter at 7 weeks old. We are thinking it's due to his poor spots and funky fur. Certainly NOT a show dog!! But, the most tolerate, friendly and happy family dog. Though, his behavior is much, much better with a walk! :o)
Oh, we had a Ginger too! She was a golden retriever. We lost her last summer, but she was 16 so she had a long and happy life. I bet yours are both adorable. We treat ours like kids of course.
Update! Tahoe - the Dalmatian - got a walk today! Hooray for day one of the challenge!
Ginger is sleeping on the floor next to my feet as I write this - thankful she didn't get a walk today! :o)
Oh, and only one pasta nibble during dinner prep. It fell onto the counter - totally fair game.
Oh, I just read your response! So sorry to hear about your Ginger. Though, 16 years is a very long time for a retriever, she must have been loved much to have lived so well!
eco 'burban mom- Good for you!
I did a ton of cooking today and did indulge in a few nibbles. No grazing, but I couldn't seem to run to the dining room chair in time before I shoved those couple of bites in my face. Overall it was better, though, and tomorrow is another day...
I am such a bad grazer. I love to feed our guinea pigs basically because I get to nibble on all the veggies I'm slicing up for them. I do really want to be more mindful. So, I will join you when the calendar clicks over to July, since I promised myself a challenge-free June. And your graphic is adorable! How can I resist it!
Theresa - July sounds great! I'm just excited that I'll have company. This is a tough one for me.
I am joining and adding "sit down at dining table" when eating at home. I love the cow!
Wonderful, Beany! Having a better day today?
A bit better. I am adopting pain as part of my lifestyle.
Oh, Beany. That's no good. I know all too well what that's like. How long is it supposed to last?
I was told it would last a week. But can come back anytime I get stressed in the future. I guess its high time I make meditation and mindfulness part of my daily routine huh?
Beany - lifestyle shift coming up! I totally understand. The doctor I found that was finally able to help me (after 16 years of feeling mostly crummy and 1-1/2 years of being almost completely incapacitated) told me I was a sucky breather and that on top of the physical things he was going to recommend, I need to read some books on stress (he recommended "Why Zebras Don't Have Ulcers) as well as do either yoga or start to meditate. Rather than focusing on just my physical ailments, he looked at my whole person. I still have a lot of healing to go, but my illness has forced to to slow down and concentrate on what will make me healthy again. Obviously I still struggle immensely, or we wouldn't need a "No Graze Days Of Summer" challenge, but it has made a real difference in my life.
I know some great meditations thru iTunes if you are interested. There is also a good yoga program free on iTunes. I hope that you start finding some relief. I'm with you in spirit.
Hi! I'm new to your blog, but so far I love it. Keep up the good work!
Thanks, BBN! Glad you are enjoying the site!
I'd love to join in! I'm far from eating mindfully; at this point I am eating *emotionally* and my tight clothes are proof of that. :-(
Rapunzel - Yeah! Welcome aboard! It's so much better to do this with friends! A little love and support, sometimes is all we need.
Ooo! I'm in! I'm trying to lose some weight and I have a Farmers Market each week I can go to.
Howdy! From one Texan (new) to another!
Kim - Hi! Welcome to the group! I just posted your name on the side bar. Was there a specific blog you wanted me to link your name to? I noticed you had three.
Can't wait to hear all about your farmers market!
Please use the Midwest Musings one.
I tried to copy the link but I kept getting an error when I tried to post it. :(
Oh my, I'm so in.
Just thinking about the grazing I did today... ack! I really need to bake the last of the cookie dough so I stop sticking my finger in it every time I open the fridge.
Mama Bear - I'm bad about cookie dough too. I swear it calls to me from the fridge...
We'll have our next check in on the 10th. Happy (and mindful) eating!


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So I downloaded Norton to help protect my computer. I thought I would go all out after getting a firewall. It said it found 3 trojans which were parts of my programs. It found one which is a known trojan (syswin.exe) the other was something called "Temp2" and the last was "Winampw.exe" which is just the execution file for Winamp, which is obviously not a trojan. It automatically deleted them all. So I rebooted my computer and a warning came up when I which read "This folder (program)(which didn't exist)must be changed to Program 1 or some programs may not work", so of course I clicked ignore.
I didn't know that by some they meant all. Now none of my programs work they're all looking for .exe files, even when I'm clicking directly on the .exe files it also does not have the option to look for the files it just has a warning and nothing else. My browser is the only program that actually works. Should I just reinstall Windows? Would that help? Does anyone know how to fix this in anyway with out reinstalling all of the programs, that's my very last resort.
Example of warning
| C:\Program Files\Audacity\audacity.exe
Windows cannot find 'C:\Program Files\Audacity\audacity.exe'. Make
sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search
for a file, click the start button and then click search.