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A Snowman's Worst Nightmare: Calvin & Hobbes in Real Life [PICS]
- Tagged art, bizarre, Calvin & Hobbes, Calvin and Hobbes in real life, comics, snow, snowman, snowmen, twisted, winter
For 10 winters from 1985 to 1995, snowmen met with murder and mayhem at the hands of 6-year-old Calvin in the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Watterson. The hilariously horrific snowmen scenarios depicted by Calvin still continue to inspire fans who create snowman scenes straight out of a snowman's worst nightmare. Got snow? Why not brave the cold and craft your own Calvin and Hobbes-esque snowmen creations to keep your neighbors wondering and a bit worried about you? Think dark humor such as stabbing, melting, maiming, murdering, or other mayhem. Think snowman + nightmare = snowmare. Your twisted snowy tribute is on the right track so long as your snowman will definitely not live happily ever after. Calvin specialized in wicked plots to bring about snowman suicide, a snowman cannibalizing another snowman, and a Snowman House of Horror. Snow sharks around the world have been seen attacking horrified snowmen. Here's some really good snow art tributes, by people deeply inspired by Watterson, but it speaks loudly of the world in which we live . . . where a photo depicting a famous comic strip and turned into snowmen nightmares and Calvin and Hobbes in real life must be qualified as a 'reproduction.' Perhaps SOPA will move beyond trying to destroy the Internet and making websites disappear, to making houses and yards go poof? As sad as this fact is, we're claiming 'fair use' for Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes comics in this tribute and 'fair use' for the the imaginative people who reproduced Calvin & Hobbes in real life snowman scenes. [63 photos, 1 video, and snippets of Calvin & Hobbes comics]


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Dear Ones,
On November 30, 2010, our beloved Sri Daya Mataji, president and sanghamata of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, peacefully left her mortal form. Her life, so radiant with the light and love of God, has joined the vast ocean of His omnipresent love. How grateful we are that Divine Mother allowed her to stay for so many years to bless this world with her motherly love and compassion, which have touched the lives of us all. Our hearts long to have her with us still. Yet we would not mar with grief the heavenly joy of the divine welcome she has received in the realm beyond this world, or begrudge her the bliss beyond imagining that her soul knows now for having so nobly, courageously, and perfectly fulfilled the vast spiritual responsibilities Gurudeva placed on her shoulders.
From the very beginning when she came to the ashram as a shy young girl of seventeen, Guruji saw in her a disciple in whom he could place his utmost trust — a true devotee who yearned for God above all else, who would be the "nest egg" of his work, and mother to countless souls on the spiritual path. Through her heart's receptivity, he guided the unfolding of her life, infusing in her the spiritual strength that enabled her to face every challenge the years would bring with utter faith in God, and with the sole desire to do her Guru's will. Through the years, she laid a firm foundation for his work in both East and West and guided it from her complete attunement with his intent and spirit. She faithfully recorded his words of wisdom and steadfastly upheld the purity of his sacred teachings for all the generations of devotees to come.
Our beloved Daya Mataji stirred our hearts with yearning for the Divine, as Gurudeva stirred hers, by living to the fullest his words: "Be so drunk with the love of God that you will know nothing but God; and give that love to all." Immersed in that joyous consciousness, she felt for all of God's children. Souls from around the world poured out to her their deepest feelings and cares, and with the tender love of Divine Mother she held them in her thoughts and prayers. Through her outreaching heart many experienced, perhaps for the first time, what it meant to be loved unconditionally. She wanted only to serve, and her thought was never of self, but "How can I help that soul?"
The essence of her being was love itself and our souls deeply responded. In reverent thankfulness for the blessed gift of her life we bow to God and Guru. And we invite you to join us in prayer as we inwardly strew her soul's path with flowers of gratitude for all that she has given to each one of us, to our blessed Guru's work, and to this world. Let us honor our beloved Ma by going forward with courage and with the divine enthusiasm she instilled in us, laying at her feet the greatest tribute — our resolve to follow her example by living divinely, loving God selflessly, and loving one another as part of Him. With invisible bonds of purest love, we will keep her close in our hearts until one day we meet again in His boundless joy.
Yours in divine friendship,
Mrinalini Mata, Vice President
For the Board of Directors of SRF and YSS

subset: commoncrawl


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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — An air search in the southern Indian Ocean for possible objects from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane described as the "best lead" so far ended for the day without success Thursday but will resume in the morning, Australian rescue officials said.
The four planes were checking to see if two large objects spotted in satellite imagery bobbing in the remote ocean were debris from Fight 370 that disappeared March 8 with 239 people on board.
One of the objects was 24 meters (almost 80 feet) in length and the other was 5 meters (15 feet). There could be other objects in the area, a four-hour flight from Australia's southwestern coast, said John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's emergency response division.
"This is a lead, it's probably the best lead we have right now," Young said. He cautioned that the objects could be seaborne debris along a shipping route where containers can fall off cargo vessels, although the larger object is longer than a container.
A statement from the authority said the four planes searched an area of 23,000 square kilometers (8,800 square miles) about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth on Thursday without success. The area is about halfway between Australia and desolate islands off the Antarctic.
"The search will continue on Friday," it said. It earlier said the search had been hampered by low visibility caused by clouds and rain.
News that possible plane parts had been found marked a new phase in the emotional roller coaster for distraught relatives of the passengers, who have criticized Malaysia harshly for not releasing timely information about the plane. While they still hope their loved ones will somehow be found, they acknowledged that news of the debris could mean the plane plunged into the ocean.
"If it turns out that it is truly MH370 then we will accept that fate," said Selamat Bin Omar, the father of a Malaysian passenger on the jet, which carried mostly Chinese and Malaysian nationals.
But he cautioned that relatives still "do not yet know for sure whether this is indeed MH370 or something else. Therefore we are still waiting for further notice from the Australian government."
Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference Thursday that "for all the families around the world, the one piece of information that they want most is the information we just don't have — the location of MH370."
Malaysian officials held a meeting Thursday night with the relatives in a hotel near Kuala Lumpur, but journalists were kept away. The family members walked into the meeting with sad faces and one Malay man with two children said "no pictures please." No details of the meeting were released. A group of officials also flew to Beijing on Thursday night to meet families there.
Young said the depth of the ocean in the latest area, which is south from where the search had been focused since Monday, is several thousand meters (yards).
He said it may be difficult to spot the objects as they "are relatively indistinct on the imagery … but those who are experts indicate they are credible sightings. The indication to me is of objects that are a reasonable size and probably awash with water, moving up and down over the surface."
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority released two images of the whitish objects. They were taken March 16, but Australian Air Commodore John McGarry said it took time to analyze them.
"The task of analyzing imagery is quite difficult, it requires drawing down frames and going through frame by frame," he said.
An Australian C-130 Hercules plane dropped marker buoys in the area to aid in the search.
But some analysts said the debris is most likely not pieces of Flight 370. "The chances of it being debris from the airplane are probably small, and the chances of it being debris from other shipping are probably large," said Jason Middleton, an aviation professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
The hunt for the Boeing 777 has been punctuated by several false leads since it disappeared above the Gulf of Thailand. Oil slicks that were spotted did not contain jet fuel. A yellow object thought to be from the plane turned out to be a piece of sea trash. Chinese satellite images showed possible plane debris, but nothing was found.
But this is the first time that possible objects have been spotted since the search area was massively expanded into two corridors, one stretching from northern Thailand into Central Asia and the other from the Strait of Malacca down to southern reaches of the Indian Ocean.
Hishammuddin made clear that although international search efforts are continuing both on land and in sea in the northern and southern hemispheres, the effort is mostly concentrated south of the equator over the vast Indian Ocean.
Out of a total of 29 aircraft, 18 ships and six ship-borne helicopters deployed in the operation, only four aircraft are now scouring the north.
Norwegian cargo vessel Hoegh St. Petersburg was rerouted and arrived at the area in the Indian Ocean where the possible wreckage was spotted.
"They (the ship) have been asked to continue the search tomorrow and they will continue tomorrow morning," Olav Sollie from Hoegh Autoliners told a news conference in Oslo.
The Norwegian ship, which transports cars, was on its way from South Africa to Australia Sollie said. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said another commercial ship and an Australian navy vessel were also en route to the search area.
Flight 370 disappeared on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation, but have said the evidence so far suggests the plane was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.
Police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board.
Malaysian authorities have said that files were deleted Feb. 3 from the home flight simulator of the missing plane's pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, and Hishammuddin said he had no new information on efforts to recover those files.
The FBI has joined forces with Malaysian authorities in analyzing deleted data on the simulator. It was not clear whether investigators thought that deleting the files was unusual. They might hold hints of unusual flight paths that could help explain where the missing plane went, or the files could have been deleted simply to clear memory for other material.
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May 2, 2012
Interview with Odopod's Creative Director: Jason Hardy
Odopod is one of the best and most awarded agencies around, It's based in San Francisco and is formed by top designers, developers, strategists and in general very inventive people. They're responsible for works like: IWC, Sony Tablet S and many more amazing works. We've had the pleasure of talking to their creative director, Jason Hardy.
InterviewAwwwards: Please tell us a little bit about yourself: who are you, where do you come from and where are you going?
Jason Hardy: My name is Jason Hardy, I am a Creative Director at Odopod in San Francisco. I originally come from Nebraska. I'm not really sure where I'm going, probably to get a sandwich or some coffee.
Awww:What did you do before becoming a designer / developer?
JH: I went to school for Journalism and intended to be a writer. When I graduated there were no writing jobs where I lived (surprise!) so I took a basic design job instead. I had always been interested in design, mostly through skateboard magazines and album art, the typical influences, but never really thought of it as an option for making a living. Once I went down that path, I became pretty driven to learn as much as I could and never really looked back.
Awww: In your opinion, which is the future of the Web? (HTML5, Responsive Design, Mobile...)
JH: I tend to be technology agnostic in how I think about the future of the web. I think it'll be something that we haven't seen yet. Or at least, that I haven't seen yet. So I try to remain open to wherever the web goes. It's more fun that way.
Awww: Where do you turn for inspiration?
JH: It's hard for me to shake my journalism/print designer background, so I'm always buying magazines. I often turn there for layout and typography inspiration. When it comes to digital, I stay up on the usual blogs and whatnot, but a lot of inspiring work catches my eye because someone sends me a link or references it in a meeting. That being said, I also try to cut the cord and find inspiration in "non-graphic-design" things, like photography, music and film.
Awww: Which are your favorite studios, designers or agencies?
JH: I've always admired Nessim Higson's work as well as JD Hooge's work. I'm always impressed with Code and Theory and have been stoked on the work that Ian Coyle and Duane King are doing. I like a lot of work that isn't strictly digital as well, stuff by National Forest and Official MFG. CO. In my spare time I am a freelance designer for The Criterion Collection and through that I've been exposed to a lot of amazing designers, one of which is Neil Kellerhouse who's work I greatly admire. The people who tend to inspire me the most are my friends and the people I work with. There are too many to name, so I'll just leave it at that. You know who you are.
Awww: Tell us about a unique story or funny anecdote related to your work.
JH: When I first started playing around in Photoshop, back in the day, I remember applying a bevel and emboss effect to some type and thinking, "This looks so real!!!"
Awww: Which are you for: Mac or PC?
JH: Mac.
Awww: Which is your favorite software?
JH: Hmmm, not sure. I guess Photoshop? I don't really LOVE any software, but I probably use Photoshop the most. That and my RSS reader.
Awww: Which city do you live in? Is it a good place for designers?
JH: I live in San Francisco, and yeah, I think it is a great place for designers. There is a lot of cultural inspiration and opportunity out here. One of the things that I really value is variety of people. You meet people who are into all sorts of stuff. I've learned so much by working with user experience designers, writers, developers, musicians and just generally creative, open-minded people. It changes the way you think, which for me, has been a good thing.
Awww: Which technologies are you excited about?
JH: I tend to get excited about any new technology that makes its way into what I do. When HTML5 and web fonts became more prevalent I was super stoked on what that enabled us to do. Now with responsive design and mobile platforms, there are new opportunities emerging, which is pretty exciting. I'm also enjoying the shift that a lot of clients are making from focusing on "marketing" to focusing on utility. But honestly, I'm most excited about the fact that I don't know what's around the corner. It keeps you on your toes and makes things interesting.
Awww: Tell us about your latest project.
JH:We're doing a lot of cool stuff for Tesla Motors right now. I wish I could tell you more, but its top secret.
- Jason Hardy
- Odopod, a Nurun company
- Odopod Office
- Odopod Team


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Photographs: Soo Hoo Zheyang/Reuters Jonathan Stempel
Chinese Internet company Baidu Inc won the dismissal of a US lawsuit by pro-democracy activists who complained that Baidu illegally suppressed political speech on China's most widely used Internet search engine.
Eight New York writers and video producers had accused Baidu of creating search engine algorithms, at the behest of China, to block users in the United States from viewing articles, videos and other information advocating greater democracy in China.
The plaintiffs said this kept Baidu users from seeing their work, unlike users of other search engines such as Google and Microsoft's Bing. They sought $16 million in damages for violations of their civil and equal protection rights.
(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington, D.C. and Paul Carsten and Ben Blanchard in Beijing)
China's Baidu defeats US lawsuit over censored search results
Photographs: Soo Hoo Zheyang/Reuters
US District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan, however, concluded that the results produced by Baidu's search engine constituted protected free speech under the U.S. Constitution, warranting dismissal of the May 2011 lawsuit.
"The First Amendment protects Baidu's right to advocate for systems of government other than democracy (in China or elsewhere) just as surely as it protects plaintiffs' rights to advocate for democracy," the judge wrote.
Furman likened a search engine's "editorial judgment" to that of a newspaper editor who decides which stories to publish.
He also said there is a "strong argument" that the First Amendment immunizes search results from "most, if not all" kinds of civil liability and government regulation.
"To allow plaintiffs' suit to proceed, let alone to hold Baidu liable for its editorial judgments, would contravene the principle upon which our political system and cultural life rest: That each person should decide for himself or herself the ideas and beliefs deserving of expression, consideration and adherence," the judge said.
China's Baidu defeats US lawsuit over censored search results
Photographs: Reuters
Stephen Preziosi, a lawyer for the activists, said his clients will appeal.
"The court has laid out a perfect paradox: That it will allow the suppression of free speech, in the name of free speech," he said in an interview.
Preziosi also criticized Furman's newspaper editor comparison, calling Baidu "more analogous to a town square, where pretty much anyone can go and say what he wants."
Baidu declined to provide immediate comment.
China's Baidu defeats US lawsuit over censored search results
Photographs: Reuters
The import of the decision is that Baidu, along with other search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Corp's Bing, has the same editorial rights as print publications and can choose whether or not to publish people's writings, said Carey Ramos, of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and Baidu's lead attorney for the case.
"That rights extends to Internet media as well as print media. And it protects Chinese media as much as American media," said Ramos.
"The plaintiffs sued Baidu saying, 'You're violating our first amendment rights because you don't include our writings in your search results,' but the court said, 'No, you've got it backwards, your lawsuit violates Baidu's first amendment rights by asking the court to penalise Baidu for not returning the results you want.'"
China's Baidu defeats US lawsuit over censored search results
Photographs: Reuters
China's Foreign Ministry also responded to a question on the lawsuit.
"The Chinese government consistently guarantees in accordance with the law Chinese citizens' freedom of speech, and consistently demands that Chinese internet companies strictly enforce relevant Chinese laws and rules," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei.
"The relevant judgement just so happens to affirm Chinese government policy," he said.
The lawsuit had been filed one year after Google pulled its search engine out of China after hitting censorship problems. China has also blocked Google's YouTube service, and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
In March 2013, Furman had dismissed the lawsuit on procedural grounds but later allowed the case to resume.


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GetHuman tries to provide resources for best framing your problem in a way that it can be communicated to companies like Hallmark.com effectively using over 10 years of experience helping customers. We also help you then get in touch with companies and get attention for your issue. Lastly, we make sure customers can connect and learn from other customers in case the issue is a common one that has been solved before. If you are a Hallmark.com customer and are running into a problem, GetHuman could be the fastest and most effective way for you to solve the problem.
GetHuman does more than just help you work through your problem, get Hallmark.com to look at it and take it seriously, and connect with customers facing a similar issue. We also catalog the biggest, most common issues and research how to solve them. We of course share this information with you. We may not have a lot of that type of documentation for Hallmark.com at the moment, but if you have a problem with any major brand, it's likely we have some step by step instructions that help you through resolving it.
Our free concierge service can find the best deals across telecom providers in your new zip code and making sure your services arrive on the same day. Talk to a live person seconds from now who can do price comparisons for you and get a date that works for you!Call Toll-Free: 888-959-6783Our service is unaffiliated and thus can compare plans across many providers and schedule multiple technicians


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A 15-year-old student opened fire with a handgun inside his rural Kentucky high school Tuesday, killing two classmates, injuring 19 others and sending hundreds fleeing for safety.
Police were seen leading a teenager away in handcuffs. It was the nation's first fatal school shooting of 2018.
The shooter will be charged with murder and attempted murder, Kentucky State Police Lt. Michael Webb said.
"He was apprehended by the sheriff's department here on site, at the school, thankfully before any more lives could be taken," Webb said.
Police did not release any identities, nor did they describe a motive. Webb said detectives are looking into his home and background.
Students ran for their lives as the student began shooting inside an atrium just before morning classes would have begun at Marshall County High School. Many jumped into cars or ran down the highway, some not stopping until they reached a McDonald's restaurant more than a mile away. Parents left their cars on both sides of an adjacent road, desperately trying to find their teenagers.
"They was running and crying and screaming," said Mitchell Garland, who provided shelter to between 50 and 100 students inside his nearby business. "They was just kids running down the highway. They were trying to get out of there."
A half-dozen ambulances and numerous police cars converged on the school, along with officers in black fatigues carrying assault rifles. Federal authorities responded, and Sen. Mitch McConnell sent staffers. Gov. Matt Bevin rushed from the Capitol to the scene.
Two 15-year-olds were killed: A girl died at the scene, and a boy died later at a hospital, the governor said, adding that all of the victims are believed to be students. He said 15 of those injured suffered bullet wounds. Five were flown about 120 miles (193 kilometers) to Nashville, Tennessee's Vanderbilt University Medical Center, spokeswoman Tavia Smith said.
"This is a wound that is going to take a long time to heal," Bevin said.
The attack marked the year's first fatal school shooting, 23 days into 2018, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, which relies on media reports and other information. The anti-violence group Everytown for Gun Safety has counted at least 283 shootings at schools since 2013.
Bevin said earlier in a statement that "It is unbelievable that this would happen in a small, close-knit community like Marshall County."
Marshall County High School is about 30 minutes from Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky, where a 1997 mass shooting killed three and injured five. Michael Carneal, then 14, opened fire there about two years before the fatal attack at Columbine High School in Colorado, ushering in an era when mass school shootings have become much more common.
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Meanwhile, in the small North Texas town of Italy, a 15-year-old girl was recovering Tuesday after police said she was shot by a 16-year-old classmate in her high school cafeteria on Monday, sending dozens of students scrambling for safety.
Tuesday's shooting happened as students gathered in a common area, just before the day's first classes. Sixteen-year-old Lexie Waymon said she and a friend were talking about the next basketball game, makeup and eyelashes when gunshots pierced the air.
"I blacked out. I couldn't move. I got up and I tried to run, but I fell. I heard someone hit the ground. It was so close to me," Waymon said. "I just heard it and then I just, everything was black for a good minute. Like, I could not see anything. I just froze and did not know what to do. Then I got up and I ran."
Waymon did not stop running, not even when she called her mom to tell her what happened. She made it to the McDonald's, her chest hurting, struggling to breathe. "All I could keep thinking was, 'I can't believe this is happening. I cannot believe this is happening,'" she said.
It was chaotic outside the school as parents and students rushed around trying to find each other, said Dusty Kornbacher, who owns a nearby floral shop. "All the parking lots were full with parents and kids hugging each other and crying and nobody really knowing what was going on," he said.
Barry Mann said his 14-year-old son was put on a bus and taken to another school to be picked up.
"He gave me a call as soon as he run out the door and I didn't know what was happening to him," he told the AP. "It sounded like his heart was in his throat."
Garland said his son, a 16-year-old sophomore, jumped into someone's car and sped away before joining others inside his business.
"Everyone is just scared. Just terrified for their kids," Garland said. "We're a small town and we know a lot of the kids."


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Madonna and Lourdes to Outfit Teens, Possibly in Ed Hardy
You're never too young to have a personal brand. Madonna and her precociously stylish 13-year-old daughter are co-designing Material Girl, a teen clothing line that will hopefully resist the urge to stamp "Material Girl" on the seats of gym shorts.
Material Girl will debut at Macy's in August. Women's Wear Daily speculates the Ciccones' deal with brand management company Iconix could signal "endorsing other Iconix brands, such as Ed Hardy, which the singer has often worn in the past." Madonna : Ed Hardy :: Ashton Kutcher : Trucker hats? [NYPost] [Racked] [WWD subscription req.]


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Grayson Spencer is hellbent on killing the dark mage who destroyed her life. But when her attempt fails, she is forced to turn to Durian, a feared demon and expert assassin. Newly armed with powerful magic she's barely able to control, she'll do whatever it takes to complete her mission–even surrender to a dangerous fiend whose eyes promise unimaginable pleasure.
Sworn to protect all mages, Durian can't let Gray threaten the uneasy peace among demons, humans, and mages. So he proposes a deal: He'll train Gray to master her gift if she'll bind herself magically to him, submitting to his control. As Gray's powers intensify, so too does Durian's hunger for this fierce, irresistible woman. When the dark mage makes a final play for Gray, will the passion she and Durian share be the key to their survival or the seed of their destruction?
About the Author
Carolyn Jewel lives in northern California with her son, three cats, a border collie, several chickens, and some sheep. Also the Fudgester. Writing about the characters who keep visiting her imagination is a dream come true. Ms. Jewel has an MA in English and is also a database administator who specializes in, um, administering databases. It's not quite as exciting as writing. She loves to hear from readers, so please e-mail her at email@example.com. You can also visit her Web site at www.carolynjewel.com.
- Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Forever; Original edition (January 1, 2011)
- Language: English
Carolyn Jewel has been a guilty pleasure of mine for several years. She was one of the first paranormal authors that I ever read and helped introduce me to the genre. I was lucky to have started with her. This is the third installment of the Witch series and it doesn't disappoint. I really enjoyed the interplay between Gray and Durian. It is a real pleasure to watch the love between them develop and grow. There are some real page turning moments that are action packed.
Contest is open to anyone with a US or Canadian mailing addresses (no PO Boxes)
Contest ends on 2.2.11 Winner will be chosen by Random.org on 2.3.11
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This giveaway is sponsored by Hachette Book Group and up to 3 books will be available.
Only one winner per household address!
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Spotted owl or red herring?
Pretty much everyone agrees that logging on federal lands in the Pacific Northwest has declined by 80 percent since its heyday in the mid-1980s. Job losses in the region's timber sector over the past two decades number in the tens of thousands. But don't blame the critical habitat rule, or even the Endangered Species Act.
In fact, the downsizing of the region's timber industry was driven by many factors, including mill automation, log exports and the overcutting of private lands. The seeds of the industry's demise were sown in the 1970s and 1980s, when timber companies, having cut their own old growth at unsustainable levels, put pressure on Northwest lawmakers to hike logging on federal land.
Near-record levels of federal logging came to a halt in 1989 with court injunctions meant to protect the northern spotted owl. But those lawsuits were brought under the National Forest Management Act, which requires the Forest Service to assure the viability of vertebrate species on national forest land. And even before that, forest plans prepared for the 1990s already called for sharp logging reductions to slow the decline of fish, wildlife, soils and streams.
It's true that the owl has played a central role in forest management in the Pacific Northwest, but the critical habitat rule was a bit player in this drama.
In 1990, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the owl a threatened species, conferring ESA protection on a bird whose range spanned tens of millions of acres of federal land across California, Oregon and Washington. The agency held off on designating critical habitat for the owl, saying it needed to do more research. But environmentalists, who had petitioned for the owl's listing, sued again in 1991, to force the agency to give the owl's habitat legally binding protection under the critical habitat rule. A federal judge ruled in their favor.
The Service's first rough maps, released that spring, were a public relations disaster. They carved out 190 large blocks of the Northwest's most productive older forests, covering 11.6 million acres of public and private land, an area larger than Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island combined. In their haste, mapmakers included parking lots and other developed areas in the owl reserves. Timber communities exploded.
Timber companies were incensed as well; the first draft included 3 million acres of private land. George Weyerhaeuser, president and chief executive officer of timber giant Weyerhaeuser Co., went to Washington, D.C., in late July of 1991 and met with members of the Northwest delegation and top officials in the administration of George H.W. Bush. Critical habitat designation, he said, would shut down logging on 190,000 acres out of the 2.9 million acres the company owned in Oregon and Washington. Two weeks later, the Service dropped all private timberland, all Indian reservation land and some state land — 3.4 million acres in all — from consideration. The final rule, published in January 1992, whittled critical habitat protection to 6.9 million acres.
Agency economists at the time predicted that critical habitat protection would cost only about 2,500 more jobs than an owl conservation plan already in effect. The estimate might well have been accurate, but we'll never know, because critical habitat was never actually implemented.
Instead, U.S. Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan invoked the "God Squad," a process under the ESA that allows a panel of Cabinet-level officials to overrule the act's protections. The process, political from the outset, ended in a debacle and opened no owl habitat to logging.
The injunctions remained in place until 1994, when the Clinton administration adopted the Northwest Forest Plan, a landmark blueprint that aimed to protect habitat on federal land for the owl, the marbled murrelet and wild Pacific salmon while providing enough timber to keep some mills open (HCN, 9/27/04: Life after old growth). A federal judge ruled that the Northwest Forest Plan adequately protected these species and their critical habitat. But it did not cover state and private lands. And though it called for spending $1 billion over five years on economic assistance to timber towns, job retraining and watershed restoration projects, Congress never fully funded those programs to help the region through a painful transition.
Occasional lawsuits, brought under state forest practices laws, have served as reminders to private timber companies that, even in these times of environmental rollbacks, they cannot ignore the owl altogether. Meanwhile, owl numbers continue to decline.
The author, a Portland-based journalist, wrote Tree Huggers: Victory, Defeat and Renewal in the Northwest Ancient Forest Campaign.


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Water Damage
Turn to the caring professionals at ASAP Restoration when water damage turns your life upside down.
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Virtual Hosting With PureFTPd And MySQL (Incl. Quota And Bandwidth Management) On Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat)
This tutorial exists for these OS versions
- Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal)
- Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr)
- Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin)
- Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat)
- Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)
- Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)
On this page
This document describes how to install a PureFTPd server that uses virtual users from a MySQL database instead of real system users. This is much more performant and allows to have thousands of ftp users on a single machine. In addition to that I will show the use of quota and upload/download bandwidth limits with this setup. Passwords will be stored encrypted as MD5 strings in the database.
For the administration of the MySQL database you can use web based tools like phpMyAdmin which will also be installed in this howto. phpMyAdmin is a comfortable graphical interface which means you do not have to mess around with the command line.
This tutorial is based on Ubuntu 10.10. You should already have set up a basic Ubuntu 10.10 server system, as described in the first eight chapters of this tutorial: https://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-ubuntu-10.10-maverick-meerkat-ispconfig-2
This howto is meant as a practical guide; it does not cover the theoretical backgrounds. They are treated in a lot of other documents in the web.
This document comes without warranty of any kind! I want to say that this is not the only way of setting up such a system. There are many ways of achieving this goal but this is the way I take. I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!
1 Preliminary Note
In this tutorial I use the hostname server1.example.com with the IP address 192.168.0.100. These settings might differ for you, so you have to replace them where appropriate.
Make sure that you are logged in as root (type in
sudo su
to become root), because we must run all the steps from this tutorial as root user.
2 Install MySQL And phpMyAdmin
This can all be installed with one single command:
aptitude install mysql-server mysql-client phpmyadmin apache2
You will be asked these questions:
New password for the MySQL "root" user: <-- yourrootsqlpassword
Repeat password for the MySQL "root" user: <-- yourrootsqlpassword
Web server to reconfigure automatically: <-- apache2
Configure database for phpmyadmin with dbconfig-common? <-- No
3 Install PureFTPd With MySQL Support
For Ubuntu 10.10 there is a pre-configured pure-ftpd-mysql package available. Install it like this:
aptitude install pure-ftpd-mysql
Then we create an ftp group (ftpgroup) and user (ftpuser) that all our virtual users will be mapped to. Replace the group- and userid 2001 with a number that is free on your system:
groupadd -g 2001 ftpgroup
useradd -u 2001 -s /bin/false -d /bin/null -c "pureftpd user" -g ftpgroup ftpuser
4 Create The MySQL Database For PureFTPd
Now we create a database called pureftpd and a MySQL user named pureftpd which the PureFTPd daemon will use later on to connect to the pureftpd database:
mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE pureftpd;
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP ON pureftpd.* TO 'pureftpd'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'ftpdpass';
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP ON pureftpd.* TO 'pureftpd'@'localhost.localdomain' IDENTIFIED BY 'ftpdpass';
Replace the string ftpdpass with whatever password you want to use for the MySQL user pureftpd. Still on the MySQL shell, we create the database table we need (yes, there is only one table!):
USE pureftpd;
CREATE TABLE ftpd (
User varchar(16) NOT NULL default '',
status enum('0','1') NOT NULL default '0',
Password varchar(64) NOT NULL default '',
Uid varchar(11) NOT NULL default '-1',
Gid varchar(11) NOT NULL default '-1',
Dir varchar(128) NOT NULL default '',
ULBandwidth smallint(5) NOT NULL default '0',
DLBandwidth smallint(5) NOT NULL default '0',
comment tinytext NOT NULL,
ipaccess varchar(15) NOT NULL default '*',
QuotaSize smallint(5) NOT NULL default '0',
QuotaFiles int(11) NOT NULL default 0,
PRIMARY KEY (User),
UNIQUE KEY User (User)
) TYPE=MyISAM;
As you may have noticed, with the quit; command we have left the MySQL shell and are back on the Linux shell.
BTW, (I'm assuming that the hostname of your ftp server system is server1.example.com) you can access phpMyAdmin under http://server1.example.com/phpmyadmin/ (you can also use the IP address instead of server1.example.com) in a browser and log in as the user pureftpd. Then you can have a look at the database. Later on you can use phpMyAdmin to administrate your PureFTPd server.
5 Configure PureFTPd
Edit /etc/pure-ftpd/db/mysql.conf. It should look like this:
cp /etc/pure-ftpd/db/mysql.conf /etc/pure-ftpd/db/mysql.conf_orig
cat /dev/null > /etc/pure-ftpd/db/mysql.conf
vi /etc/pure-ftpd/db/mysql.conf
MYSQLSocket /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock #MYSQLServer localhost #MYSQLPort 3306 MYSQLUser pureftpd MYSQLPassword ftpdpass MYSQLDatabase pureftpd #MYSQLCrypt md5, cleartext, crypt() or password() - md5 is VERY RECOMMENDABLE uppon cleartext MYSQLCrypt md5 MYSQLGetPW SELECT Password FROM ftpd WHERE User="\L" AND status="1" AND (ipaccess = "*" OR ipaccess LIKE "\R") MYSQLGetUID SELECT Uid FROM ftpd WHERE User="\L" AND status="1" AND (ipaccess = "*" OR ipaccess LIKE "\R") MYSQLGetGID SELECT Gid FROM ftpd WHERE User="\L"AND status="1" AND (ipaccess = "*" OR ipaccess LIKE "\R") MYSQLGetDir SELECT Dir FROM ftpd WHERE User="\L"AND status="1" AND (ipaccess = "*" OR ipaccess LIKE "\R") MySQLGetBandwidthUL SELECT ULBandwidth FROM ftpd WHERE User="\L"AND status="1" AND (ipaccess = "*" OR ipaccess LIKE "\R") MySQLGetBandwidthDL SELECT DLBandwidth FROM ftpd WHERE User="\L"AND status="1" AND (ipaccess = "*" OR ipaccess LIKE "\R") MySQLGetQTASZ SELECT QuotaSize FROM ftpd WHERE User="\L"AND status="1" AND (ipaccess = "*" OR ipaccess LIKE "\R") MySQLGetQTAFS SELECT QuotaFiles FROM ftpd WHERE User="\L"AND status="1" AND (ipaccess = "*" OR ipaccess LIKE "\R")
Make sure that you replace the string ftpdpass with the real password for the MySQL user pureftpd in the line MYSQLPassword! Please note that we use md5 as MYSQLCrypt method, which means we will store the users' passwords as an MD5 string in the database which is far more secure than using plain text passwords!
Then create the file /etc/pure-ftpd/conf/ChrootEveryone which simply contains the string yes:
echo "yes" > /etc/pure-ftpd/conf/ChrootEveryone
This will make PureFTPd chroot every virtual user in his home directory so he will not be able to browse directories and files outside his home directory.
Also create the file /etc/pure-ftpd/conf/CreateHomeDir which again simply contains the string yes:
echo "yes" > /etc/pure-ftpd/conf/CreateHomeDir
This will make PureFTPd create a user's home directory when the user logs in and the home directory does not exist yet.
Finally create the file /etc/pure-ftpd/conf/DontResolve which again simply contains the string yes:
echo "yes" > /etc/pure-ftpd/conf/DontResolve
This will make that PureFTPd doesn't look up host names which can significantly speed up connections and reduce bandwidth usage.
Afterwards, we restart PureFTPd:
/etc/init.d/pure-ftpd-mysql restart


text:
Pinós & Chinchilla
In dialogue
Architects Carme Pinós (1954) and Izaskun Chinchilla (1975) meet at the offices of the Madrid-based magazine Arquitectura Viva to talk about the role of women in history and in architecture.
Carme Pinós and Izaskun Chinchilla broach issues like architecture, the ecological crisis and the future exhibition on the work of Pinós at the Museo ICO, but in their conversation the gender issue comes up insistently, and that is the part we are recording here.
Izaskun Chinchilla: To start, and if you agree, let's reflect together on how the gender factor affects architecture. I am asking first because not everyone feels comfortable discussing this issue.
Carme Pinós: Yes, I have things to say, and for several reasons, because the more you delve into history, the more you realize that it is told from a very male point of view.
IC: It's true: history has been violence and strength, but many of the other things that have happened are not part of the official history, right?
CP: Yes of course. I think we have made great progress and, in this sense, I believe that when humans became sedentary, divinity – previously represented by the mother goddess – went on to become the god of war, and this gave birth to the concept of heritage, of patriarchy. The system was turned around: matriarchy gave way to a system based on the succession of heritage conquered through violence, and this was so despite the fact that, ultimately only the woman knew for certain who her son's father was. As women were left out of war, of a world sustained by force, our gender was relegated, and the foreseeable result is that the history of humanity is written by men.
When I say that, in spite of this starting point, we have improved a lot, I refer to the fact that now war, violence, and the use of force that have traditionally sustained patriarchy do not occupy the absolute position they had before. Different aspects of women's emancipation have contributed to this, such as sexual freedom, birth control or the rise of women to prominent social positions. This is a big step, but it is only the first. Other actions must be taken, like making men get more involved so that women can step fully into world management, or simply acknowledging that this world needs women. The world needs women because we are less arrogant, we have developed a greater capacity for listening and empathy, probably because we have spent thousands of years taking care of others, something that men have a hard time doing. In traditional societies, a woman listened without being able to act; she tried to understand; if a son became a murderer, the father disinherited him, rejected him as son, but a woman would still consider that son her flesh and blood.
The world consists of many things, many contaminated things, and that attitude imposed by patriarchy, and which women had to accept, has its positive side. In my architecture, for instance, I always try to make sure there is a dialogue between two or three elements, and not just one imposed discourse. I am sure that this attitude has to do, in part, with my being a woman. I work with men, and at the studio there are more men than women, but fortunately women are occupying stronger positions at my office, and are gaining more strength in the field. In any case, the most important thing is to favor dialogue and avoid impositions.
"In my architecture, I try to make sure there is a dialogue, and not just one imposed discourse"
IC: You have said several things. The first is the vision of official history as masculine. I would put it differently. I think that male history is the official one, the history you find in books, in museums… But throughout this whole 'official' time there were changes in food and gastronomy, in people's way of dressing, sexual habits and hygiene changed, the idea of medicine also changed... and I think that in these aspects of private life women were extremely important. From writing letters to creating a comfortable home, women have played a leading role in the greatest events in the history of humanity, although the official history hasn't paid attention to them. In my view, there is a reassessment of the roles of gender in architecture, an acknowledgement of those aspects in the heritage of humanity that seem minor details in the discourse of major academies or museums, but which are essential to social progress. Those who went to war were able to go because someone had taken care of them when they were little, had provided them health, an education… In all those tasks women have played a prominent role.
That is why I think that perhaps another perspective of art and of history could make us see that we do have a female heritage.
CP: The relationship between architecture and feminity offers interesting examples. A Victorian house can seem very feminine, in the sense that it is very legible, filled as it is with human traces, footprints: you can immediately figure out where the reading, smoking, and cooking took place. It was the product, all of it, of an ethic of detail that followed a discourse, which could be linked, at the same time, to the female universe. Later on the house became more abstract: with Le Corbusier the dwelling became a 'machine à habiter,' but after that it was not even 'for living,' but simply a pragmatic way of tackling a program erasing all discourse. I would say the world has gradually given in to abstraction because the market has set more abstract guidelines and less connected to women's traditional universe, which is more specific and has to do more with caregiving.
IC: Yes, I think the market is perhaps accountable for that shift towards the abstract, but also towards the epic: that situation in which only the great possession, the great feat, the great emblem, the great achievement seem to count, and less attention is paid to the details, to the elements of everyday life. As you were saying, the Victorian house is an example, and leaves traces everywhere of its daily activities. And that is what modernity has eliminated completely. I'd say the market has managed to make the most of that trend, but this has happened in complicity with the academy, culture, and architects in the sense that we still think about Ornament is Crime: we still deny that those everyday aspects are relevant.
CP: Sometimes I ask myself why the architectures I dislike deny their ties with people and things: buildings that, not by coincidence, are photographed without people. That's why I always say that I look for a contaminated architecture, I want to photograph architecture that is alive, which reflects how people move, how they feel inside it. What's sad is that these architectures that exclude the human are incredibly successful, also among everyday people, which makes me think that perhaps people are in need of that epic you are talking about.
IC: I have the feeling that precisely that praise of the more epic aspects, that denial of the importance of details and of everyday life, is somehow the origin of that separation between civil society and architecture as a profession. There is a temporary factor – we're in an economic crisis, a crisis of the production model, an ecological crisis – and maybe the way in which women have been educated, their culture and their way of acting is part of the solution. This is not a call for protection, but a call for an opportunity and a strategy. I always say there is a first and a second feminism that advocate equal rights for women and for men: the right to vote, the right to take on public posts or the right to have a political role in society. And, next, the right to be part of an executive committee or of company management: the possibility of being part of the decision-making groups in society, but trying to make sure that equal rights involve equal roles, that is, making the woman perform like a man. We are in a situation in which there should be a revision of feminism associated to the idea that the environment and nature put us, as human species, in our place: a more vulnerable place where we might not want to be men. Perhaps I have no interest in being president of a political party or of a company if that means I won't be able to balance my private life and my public life, if that means I'll have to give up maternity…
"The way in which women have been educated, their culture and their manner of acting, is part of the solution"
CP: But society too, and not just men, maintains the traditional gender roles. Today we know what type of feminism we need to defend, but I don't want anything given to me, so to speak. I don't want to be chosen for a post just because I'm a woman. I consider myself a better architect than many other architects. I have a vision of the world that is complemented by other visions of the world. History, culture, genetics, or biology have led us to perceive things in different ways. In this context, women must claim the essential and active role of the female condition. I don't want to be given half of something: I forgo charity and don't want to be labelled or pigeonholed. I see life as a whole, and in life there are aspects that respond to a male vision and others that come from a female vision. So when you say you wouldn't want to be a company director because you would have to give up many things in life, I think no one who steps into that role should be expected to give up certain things. That's why I say that, in the end, the market is the winner in all this: the only thing that counts is productivity, short-term benefits which demand huge sacrifices… This is what we should fight for: a fuller life with multiple and complementary visions.
IC: Joining messages, I think that the transition of women into the labor market is a collective advantage, not for women, but for society as a whole. It's a matter of vindicating, reasserting the value, and placing at the service of society a series of tools – which have been acquired and naturalized – for work and for dialogue, as well as a cultural heritage which up to now haven't been part of the conversations about public life. Do we give immigrants permission just to live in our country or do we let them change the rules? Because maybe the right thing is not only letting them live like we do, but letting them change some of our rules so that society can evolve towards greater cosmpolitanism.
CP: Every time there has been a rise in knowledge, diversity, cross-cultural contamination, it has brought moments of peace and also of prosperity. But cultural exchange has always needed mutual involvement, otherwise the result is isolation, and, when you close yourself to the world and to others, prosperity ends. That's why I think exclusionary nationalisms only lead to conflict.


text:
First Curiosity Drilling Sample in the Scoop
February 20, 2013
This image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the first sample of powdered rock extracted by the rover's drill. The image was taken after the sample was transferred from the drill to the rover's scoop. In subsequent steps, the sample was sieved, and portions of it delivered to the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument and the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument.
The scoop is 1.8 inches (4.5 centimeters) wide.
The image was obtained by Curiosity's Mast Camera on Feb. 20, or Sol 193, Curiosity's 193rd Martian day of operations.
The image has been white-balanced to show what the sample would look like if it were on Earth. A raw-color version is also available.
The gray-green powder seen in the white-balanced version is from the rock called "John Klein." Red residue clinging to the scoop walls is from a sample collected earlier from a drift of windblown dust and sand called "Rocknest." The differing colors between the residue from Rocknest and the drill powder from John Klein reflect the oxidation state of iron in the samples. The John Klein powder is less oxidized and therefore has a higher potential to preserve organic compounds, if they were originally present.


text:
On Saturday, October 13, 2012, Alice Lloyd College inducted five former athletes into its Athletic Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony took place in the College's Grady Nutt Athletic Center as part of the annual Appalachia Day Homecoming activities.
This year's inductees were Jason Collins of Auburn, Alabama (graduate of Man High, WV); Amy Dixon of Johnson County ( graduate of Cumberland High); Jon Jett of Perry County (graduate of Dilce Combs High); Jeff Lovely of Magoffin County (graduate of Magoffin County High); and Elmer Slone of Auburn ,Indiana (formerly of Knott County).
JASON COLLINS was a four-year member of the Eagles basketball squad. He was an exceptionally gifted athlete who played above the rim, could score from anywhere, and was a tenacious rebounder. During his career, he was a four-year starter. As a freshman, he gave a preview of great things to come as he led the team in rebounding, finished second in scoring, and was named to the conference's All-Freshman team.
Building on his rookie successes, this young man carved out an incredible career. He is the only player in school history to lead the team in rebounding all four seasons he played, and he never averaged less than 9.2 rebounds per game. His season high rebounding average was 10 rebounds per game. He also led the team in scoring for 3 seasons, and is only the second player in school history to accomplish this feat. His high water mark was averaging 20.1 points per game as a junior. He also was named best defensive player 2 times and led the club in steals on 3 separate occasions. He was voted to the all-conference team every year he played, and was also named Honorable Mention All–American as a senior. Furthermore, he was named team MVP for three seasons and finished his incredible career with 1,808 points and 1,011 rebounds. This makes him only the third person in school history to be in the elite 1000-1000 club.
He was accompanied by his wife Holli, his son Jason Matthew, his daughter Emma, and his parents, John and Judy Collins. Currently, he resides in Auburn, Alabama, where he serves his community by working as a sales representative for Builders First Source.
His plaque was presented by his former coach and current Executive Vice President Dr. Jim Stepp, ALC President Dr. Joe Alan Stepp, and Gary D. Stepp, ALC's Director of Athletics.
AMY DIXON was a vital member of Cumberland High School's back to back "All- A" State Championship team. She attended Alice Lloyd from 1994-1998 and was a four-year member of the Lady Eagles basketball squad. She was known for her shooting ability and hard-nosed play.
She worked her way into a starting role during her freshman year and would reward her coach by hitting 4 three-pointers in her first official start. She would later earn the team's Three Point Award for three consecutive seasons and would connect on a record 10 three-point baskets in a single game. She became one of the conferences most feared outside threats, and she scored 1,089 points during her career.
Also, while attending ALC, she was selected as Alice Lloyd College's Mountain Laurel Festival Representative.
She was joined by her parents John and Shelia Dixon, her brother John Jacob Dixon, and her son Dixon Kincheloe (pronounced Ken-chlow). Currently, she is employed by the Pike County Board of Education where she serves her community as a teacher at Valley, Robinson Creek, and Virgie Elementary Schools.
Her plaque was presented to her by her former coach, Mr. John Mills, ALC President Dr. Joe Alan Stepp, and the Director of Athletics, Mr. Gary D. Stepp.
JON JETT graduated from Dilce Combs High School and attended ALC from 1990-1994. He was a four-year starter on the Eagles baseball team and was known for his speed and fielding prowess.
As a freshman, he led the club in hits and was named Conference Freshman of the Week twice for his efforts. He garnered additional Conference Player of the Week honors as a sophomore. As a junior, he earned the prestigious Gold Glove award. He closed out his career with a batting average of over .300 and led the team in stolen bases each year he played. For his efforts, he was twice selected to the All-Conference Team.
On the day of his induction, he was joined by his wife Katrina, son Tucker, his parents Eddie and Betty Jett, his sister Allison Jett and her children, as well as his mother-in-law Joan Campbell and many friends. Currently, he is employed by the Perry County Board of Education where he serves his community as the Maintenance and Transportation Director for Perry County Schools.
His plaque was presented by his former coach and Dean of Students, Mr. Scott Cornett, ALC President Dr. Joe Alan Stepp, and the Director of Athletics, Mr. Gary D. Stepp.
JEFF LOVELY is from Magoffin County and attended Alice Lloyd from 1989-1993 where he was a four-year starter on the Eagles baseball team. He was known for his hitting power and defensive work at first base.
He was team captain as a senior and also won the Scholar Athlete Award. In addition, he was named team MVP his junior and senior years. At the time of his graduation, he ranked in the top three in school history in five categories, which included on-base percentage, hits, extra base hits, RBIs, and batting average. Furthermore, he finished his career with a lifetime batting average of over .340 and was a two-time All-Conference selection.
He was joined by his wife Melissa, his children Jaren, Cassidy, and Mason, and his parents Johnnie and Phyllis Lovely. Currently, he serves his community by running the Law Offices of Jeffery Lovely in Salyersville and West Liberty, KY.
His plaque was presented by his former coach and Dean of Students, Mr. Scott Cornett, ALC President Dr. Joe Alan Stepp, and by the Director of Athletics, Mr. Gary D. Stepp.
ELMER SLONE came to work for Alice Lloyd in 1973 when he became the supervisor of the print shop. He served in that capacity until 1999. He also served as dorm director from 1996-1999. His late wife Emma Jean also worked for ALC from 1980 until her passing from cancer in 1995.
His coaching career began in 1975 at Caney Creek Elementary School. While there, he also organized the first Pee Wee basketball league in Knott County. In 1977, he became the ALC Men's Basketball assistant coach. In an attempt to enhance the athletic offering for students, he started the Men's JV basketball program and coached them from 1977 – 1982. He remained Men's assistant coach until 1988. He then coached the JBS Lady Crusaders during the 1988 and 1989 season before returning to the ALC Men's basketball program as the statistician.
This gentleman always had a love for Alice Lloyd College, basketball, and the youth in this area. That is why he has always felt that he was truly blessed to have been able to do what he loved. One of his goals in life was to always leave a positive influence on those he met.
In 1999 he remarried, retired, and relocated with his wife Ilene to Auburn, Indiana. He is now retired from basketball but continues to be a positive influence to those around him.
Currently, he serves his community by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ as an ordained minister of the Salem United Baptist Church in Rome City, Indiana.
He was joined by his three children, daughters Rhonda Gayheart and Deedra Mullins and son Daryl, along with his wife Ilene.
His plaque was presented by ALC President Dr. Joe Alan Stepp and Director of Athletics Gary D. Stepp.
Alice Lloyd College congratulates these exceptional athletes and this highly-influential coach! We are grateful for all that they've done for the ALC Eagles.


text:
Covert communications on Linux
Secret Tunnels
Moving data to and from Linux systems under the radar.
We have all been there: You plug in or connect to the wireless network, and it doesn't work right. Then you try to ssh to your server and you get "connection failed." Trying to connect to your mail server on port 25 using TLS (Transport Layer Security, aka encryption) leaves you staring at the banner for the local ISP's mail proxy, or you get another failed connection. But all is not lost – at least you can surf the web. Unfortunately, every time you mistype a URL, you end up at the ISP's search page, and anything with questionable content, such as hacking, is blocked.
At this point, you have two choices: find a good book to read, or use VPN software to get a connection to a remote host by bypassing whatever breakage or filtering is occurring. However, some of the really evil – or just plain incompetent – ISPs also block common VPN software and SSH in an effort to prevent unfettered Internet access through their networks. Much like trying to stop a cat from getting into a cardboard box, if you try to prevent geeks from doing something, the chances are they will only try that much harder.
If you can pass any form of data to a remote system (IPSec, SSH, http, instant messages, smoke signals), then you can use that channel to carry anything you want. An ISP can only block or filter so much traffic before it becomes completely unusable. The trick is to find a network protocol that is allowed and that is not modified (much) on the fly and that can do this with existing software that lets you tunnel data over the top of it.
Fortunately, three basic network protocols – ICMP, DNS, and http – are almost always allowed, as well as a wide variety of other protocols, such as SSH and instant messaging. If you are lucky, you will be able to use software such as SSH with port forwarding or VPN capabilities over an allowed port, such as 80 (http). If you are unlucky, the ISP will force you through web proxies and their own DNS servers in order to access the Internet.
Tunneling via ICMP
ICMP is a great protocol for tunneling data because it's almost always allowed (blocking it breaks a great many things) and can carry a lot of data [1]. An ICMP packet has 20 bytes of data in the header (the usual source, destination, etc.) and 8 bytes of payload data (type of message, code, etc.), plus a variable amount of other data. The amount of other data sent in the ICMP packet is generally only limited by the maximum packet size on a given network (for Ethernet, generally 1,500 bytes), which is usually true for most wireless networks too. This means that you can send a lot of data over ICMP packets with very little overhead.
When it comes to ICMP tunneling software, you have a couple of options, but your best bet is Ping Tunnel (Ptunnel) because it's the most up to date [2]. Installing Ptunnel is relatively straightforward; RPMs for the second latest release are available courtesy of Dag [3].
To install and build the source, enter:
rpm -Uvh http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/ptunnel/ptunnel-0.61-1.rf.src.rpm cd /usr/src/redhat/ rpmbuild -ba ptunnel.spec
If you want the most recent version of Ping Tunnel, you'll need to update the source RPM or build it from source. To update the source RPM:
wget http://www.cs.uit.no/~daniels/PingTunnel/PingTunnel-0.70.tar.gz tar -xf PingTunnel-0.70.tar.gz cd PingTunnel make make install
Because building it from source is a two-line example, I leave updating the source RPM as an exercise for the reader.
Running Ptunnel isn't much more difficult. On the server side (the proxy), you simply run Ptunnel with an optional network device (-c) and a password (-x). On the client side, you specify the address of the proxy server, the local port to listen on, and the remote address and port to which you want to connect. The following example assumes that a proxy server at ptunnel.example.org is connected to the Internet via eth0, with a Squid proxy running on the server squid.example.org on port 3128 and using the password blahblah to secure the connection:
Server: ./ptunnel -c eth0 -x blahblah Client: ./ptunnel -p ptunnel.example.org -lp 3128 -da squid.example.org -dp 3128 -x blahblah
Now just point your local web browser at localhost port 3128 as a web proxy, and your http traffic will be converted to ICMP traffic and then sent to ptunnel.example.org. There, it is unpacked and sent on to the squid.example.org web proxy server and then sent to the Internet at large. The squid server can be run locally on the same server running Ptunnel, which will allow you to bypass any filtering and most network breakage completely.
Tunneling via DNS
Although it is not quite as reliable as ICMP, DNS is another protocol that can be used to tunnel data. Some ISPs redirect unregistered or unknown systems to a payment gateway. To do this, they answer any DNS query with the IP address of the payment gateway. Other ISPs will simply use a transparent web proxy to intercept any WWW requests and redirect them to their payment gateway (in this case, you can probably tunnel your traffic over DNS).
DNS offers several advantages over ICMP. Although blocking ICMP does cause problems, it can be done. On the other hand, blocking DNS breaks everything. Although Ping Tunnel 0.70 now supports transmission of data over port 53 UDP, it doesn't actually send valid DNS packets, so you can't pass this traffic through DNS servers. For this, you must have a direct connection to your proxy server, in which case, you can simply use OpenVPN or OpenSSH over port 53.
For an actual proxy that encapsulates the data in valid DNS packets, you have a couple of options: OzymanDNS [4][5] and NSTX [6]. Unfortunately, the NSTX project hasn't updated their source code since 2002, and you will have to use CVS to download it because the source packages seem to be gone. Additionally, because of several design issues, NSTX is quite slow. With no updates since its initial release, OzymanDNS is also somewhat out of date.
Tunneling via Http
Your final option is to tunnel traffic over http or https [7]. Chances are pretty good that any network you are on will allow outgoing https connections. Https is better than http because https encrypts traffic, so the chance that the data will be modified is less. As with the ICMP tunneling software, you can either build Proxytunnel from source or you can download a source (or binary) RPM [8] [9].
To use Proxytunnel, simply run it on your server either as a standalone daemon or from inetd, and on the client side, add it as a ProxyCommand to your OpenSSH client (Listing 1).
Listing 1
As you can see, are a variety of options are available for tunneling network traffic over networks, depending on protocol availability. A little bit of setup in advance can save you a lot of trouble when you're stuck on someone else's broken, filtered, or otherwise not-working network.
SSH Port Forwarding and VPN Capabilities
Virtually all systems have an SSH server, and SSH clients are easy to come by [10]. If you can establish a direct TCP connection to port 80, you can simply run an SSH server on port 80 (ListenAddress 10.2.3.4:80 in sshd_config, but make sure you also define Port 22 if you also want it to accept connections on port 22 as usual) and enable port forwarding (AllowTcpForwarding set to yes in sshd_config).
ssh -L 8080:www.example.org:80 user@ssh-server
Another option with SSH is to use its VPN capabilities. The advantage of this is that you can easily route all your traffic over the connection (Instant Messenger, BitTorrent, etc.) [11].
- Project Loki – ICMP Tunneling: http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=49&id=6#article
- Ping Tunnel (Ptunnel): http://www.cs.uit.no/~daniels/PingTunnel/
- Ping Tunnel RPM: http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/ptunnel/
- OzymanDNS: http://www.doxpara.com/?p=51
- OzymanDNS HOWTO: http://www.dnstunnel.de/
- NSTX: http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/nstx/
- Tunneling SSH over http(s): http://dag.wieers.com/howto/ssh-http-tunneling/
- Proxytunnel: http://proxytunnel.sourceforge.net/
- Proxytunnel RPM: http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/proxytunnel/
- SSH Port Forwarding article: http://magazine.redhat.com/2007/11/06/ssh-port-forwarding/
- OpenSSH Layer 3 VPN: http://www.debian-administration.org/article/Setting_up_a_Layer_3_tunneling_VPN_with_using_OpenSSH
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text:
Oh My Heart Collection + Giveaway!
Thursday, January 5, 2017
65 comments
Ha! The charms OBVIOUSLY!!! The first photo reminds me a bit of the Grand Bazaar collection which was the very first collection I bought so I can't wait to see more ❤❤❤. Congratulations on your 3rd collection! XReplyDelete
My favorite is ... everything? Yes, everything is absolutely amazing! Love it, oh my heart! XoReplyDelete
Love love LOVE that book paper! I'm a complete bibliophile so I'll definitely need three of that �� Another fab collection Paige, well done! ��ReplyDelete
Oohhhh, I love your new collection just I loved the previous two! You are such an amazing designer!! And the Layout is just awesome. I love read books too and I am in love of this paper, so I have to say that my favorite are the decorated papers but I love everything!ReplyDelete
Best wishes!!
Wowzers what a beautiful collection - I love the colours. I am hoping to read more this year so these papers will be perfect to document the books read. My fave must be the puffy stickers - you can't have enough puffy stickers, right? Gorgeous collection - can't wait to see it in real life!ReplyDelete
Oh my WORD, I love this collection!! I saw an image of the sticker book somewhere and I'm super excited about that. Also the papers. I just love all the colors. :) :)ReplyDelete
Oh my heart for real!! Just looking at this my heart jumps 😍 love love love absolutely love your layout and the book paper is gorgeus, wish I could have it all 😍ReplyDelete
I think this collection is made for just for me! :) I'm always a HUGE fun of floral patterns and these are no exception! SUPER LOVE everything about your new collection Paige!!!ReplyDelete
In general, the book-themed things are what I'm most excited about! But specifically, I can't wait to get my hands on the sticker book!! Such a beautiful collection Paige! As usual, the colors are so vibrant and gorgeous!ReplyDelete
I love the charms and the patterned papers! These colors are just calling my name.ReplyDelete
I love those charms they look just gorgeous Paige! And OMG this page is amazing!!!ReplyDelete
The puffy stickers are so cute! Another beautiful collection. You are so creative. =)ReplyDelete
Hi Paige, I love the Ephemera pack. I can't get enough of all those cute pieces.ReplyDelete
Books and More Books! Love it. The charms are pretty darn sweet as well!ReplyDelete
The little charms are ADORABLE! I love the fun bright colors and patterns in the papers!!ReplyDelete
Loving the puffy stickers and charms! So cute! Thanks for the chance to win :)ReplyDelete
Everything is gorgeous! I love the book paper that you featured in your page. Cute puffy stickers and Thickers, great colors - awesome collection!ReplyDelete
Oh my goodness the cat on the gold paper!ReplyDelete
Looks Amazing! I love the books.ReplyDelete
Love your newest collection & I can't wait to get my hands on the book patterned paper & stickers. My teen daughter & I are proud bookworms & now we can document our many reading adventures. Also, love the new website!ReplyDelete
Love this! It's alwayS about the papers for me!ReplyDelete
Oh my how do you choose just 1 favorite?! I have a thicker and puffy sticker obsession, so I would have to say the thickers!!!!!ReplyDelete
Love the colour palette. My fave: puffy stickers! I can't get enough puffies ;)ReplyDelete
Thickers and the puffy stickers!!! Love!ReplyDelete
This awesome book paper is by far my favorite!! I'm a total book worm and always feel like there's not enough hours in the day to read everything I want to read! Thanks for the chance to win....those heart charms are a close second fave :)ReplyDelete
Books and florals!!! This is my most favourite patterns ever! I am in love with the chipboard stickers and papers because GIMME ALL THE PATTERNS!! :DReplyDelete
The ephemera and the charms! Love! <3ReplyDelete
What a gorgeous collection!! The "Cool Mom" puffy sticker got my eye immediately. I know I would love to create a layout with that sticker at the forefront celebrating me. I think I'm a pretty funky mom. Beautiful collection Paige! Thanks for the chance to win!ReplyDelete
Love your collections; my favorite thing about them are the color combinations. Love the patterned paper in this collection and have a soft spot for book paper. I used to read books under the covers as a kid after "lights out"....still love to read a good book into the wee hours.ReplyDelete
All I can say is wow! Thank you for including books! Any part of this collection that has books will be my favorite!ReplyDelete
Paige, the collection is just amazing .. again! LOVE IT! The best are definitely the charms i have never seen anything so sweet and cute!ReplyDelete
I would have said the heart charms until I saw the book paper. It's gorgeous!!!!ReplyDelete
This is a great new collection -difficult to choose just one favourite but the charms are gorgeous! Can't wait to play with this collection myself when it becomes available!ReplyDelete
I love the cute heart charmsReplyDelete
I love the thickers! Thanks for the chance!ReplyDelete
Making me chose one bit is hard and so not right! Because I seriously am loving everything! As I love all the embellishments I think I am most looking forward to the papers -they can double as embellishments ;) Always love your bright papers and all the colors! Your rocked this collection!ReplyDelete
This collection is so beautiful. It comes along with all the things I love. If I had to decide, I would choose the puffy stickers. I can't wait to use them on my projects.ReplyDelete
It´s so exciting ... I love your new collection! It´s perfect for me ...ReplyDelete
I´m a mum und I love (cooking)books and I love the colours of the paper.
I like the sticker book!
Oh my... i love this gorgeous kit and your layout! I love the patterned papers, stickers and embellishements from this kit.ReplyDelete
Are those book stickers on the page?! So cool! I don't think I've ever seen them before and I am such a bookworm, can't wait to use them. Plus I love the floral letters in navy. Awesome job!!ReplyDelete
I love the ephemera! Great layout!ReplyDelete
beautiful collection, as always! i'm excited for the patterned paper with the books and the sticker book!ReplyDelete
So adorable, Paige! Love the colors of the collection - my favorite things are the charms! Lovely layout!ReplyDelete
Everything is absolutely amazing! I love sticker book!ReplyDelete
Congrats on the new line! I will always and forever be a patterned paper girl!ReplyDelete
It's difficult to chosse just one, all are lovely !!! But the puffy stickers have something special. Congratulations for your work !!ReplyDelete
Gorgeous collection and layout! I love the bright colors. The puffy stickers and Thickers are my favorite - lots of cool icons!!ReplyDelete
Ahhhh! I love books too! Such fun bright colors and I'm totally crushing on the puffy stickers!ReplyDelete
This collection isReplyDelete
fabulous! Lovely
colors and I love
the charms. Thanks
for the giveaway.
Carla from Utah
Such a beautiful collection! Loving the sweet beautiful line and crushing on the charms! I can see myself using it for many different things.ReplyDelete
Hi Paige, the collection is soooo beautiful! Love the Puffy Stickers, the little bird is my favorite!ReplyDelete
Lovely and fun collection! Looking all great! I'm excited over the ephemera! But the colors in general of the collection are just so gorgeous and fun! Thanks for the chance :DReplyDelete
F.L.O.R.A.L. P.A.P.E.R.ReplyDelete
I'm super excited about the charmsReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 6, 2017 at 8:47 PM
Puffy stickers! Cool mom, yes!!ReplyDelete
Very beautiful, most of all I like the ephemera.ReplyDelete
This is one of the most beautiful collections i have seen!! I can't choose. I'm excited about everything.ReplyDelete
wooowww !! this collection is amazing!!! I can't chooseReplyDelete
WOOOOWW, This collection is amazing!! I can't chooseReplyDelete
That book paper! <3 I work in a library and it would be perfect for so many things.ReplyDelete
The colours are amazing in this collection!!ReplyDelete
So pretty. I particularly love the charmsReplyDelete
Love the colours you have used. The charms and sticker book are particularly appealing.ReplyDelete
The blue bird puffy sticker - can't wait for it to fly into my hands!ReplyDelete
I love the colors, the stickers and everything!ReplyDelete


text:
Pirates 4, Nationals 2
Francisco Liriano knows what it feels like to pitch an entire game without allowing a hit.
Good as he was Wednesday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander wasn't about to allow his mind to start wandering in that direction too soon.
Liriano did not allow a hit until the sixth inning against a struggling and depleted Nationals lineup, and Pedro Alvarez homered off an otherwise-dominant Stephen Strasburg, leading Pittsburgh past Washington 4-2.
''Everything was working the way I wanted,'' said Liriano (10-4), who wound up giving up two singles across 7 2-3 innings while striking out eight batters.
Liriano threw a no-hitter for the Twins against the White Sox on May 3, 2011, but on Wednesday, he said, ''I think (it) was too early in the game to think about it. It was the fifth inning. I just want to give a chance to the guys to win a ballgame.''
He managed to do just that on a night that Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg (5-8) was terrific.
Strasburg struck out 12 and did not walk anyone in eight innings. He gave up only one run and two hits, all in the second inning. That included a leadoff shot by Pedro Alvarez, who drove a 96 mph fastball over the wall in right-center for his 26th homer.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said the homer gave him goose bumps.
''The wind is blowing in. When that ball is hit, I'm thinking, `OK, he's on second.' And then I see some fans stand up and I go, `Wait a minute.' ... A backspin 2-iron. I've seen a lot of home runs. I've seen a lot of hard-hit balls,'' Hurdle said. ''But that one got my attention.''
It was Strasburg's ninth career game with 10 or more strikeouts and first this season. His career high remains the 14 Ks from his major league debut on June 8, 2010, against Pittsburgh.
But the Nationals fell to 0-6 since the All-Star break - scoring a grand total of 13 runs in that span - and have lost 11 of their last 13 games.
''We need to win some games,'' Strasburg said. ''It's getting to the point where our back's against the wall.''
Liriano walked the first batter he faced, then retired 11 in a row before another walk. Five more outs followed, before rookie Anthony Rendon reached on what was ruled an infield single with two away in the sixth.
Third baseman Alvarez dove to his left to stop the ball, but it popped out of his glove, and he couldn't quite corral it. The next batter walked, but Liriano struck out cleanup hitter Jayson Werth looking to end the inning.
The Pirates tacked on three insurance runs in the ninth against relievers Drew Storen and Fernando Abad, thanks to Neil Walker's RBI double and Michael McKenry's two-run single. That became pivotal when Werth hit a two-run shot, his 15th homer of the year, off reliever Justin Wilson in the bottom of the ninth. Werth is seemingly the only Nationals batter capable of producing at the moment; he's hit five homers in the past four games.
Wilson was replaced by Mark Melancon, who got the last three outs to earn his third save, ending with a double play on which second baseman Walker whiffed on his attempted tag of runner Wilson Ramos.
''Not even close. He never tagged me,'' Ramos said.
He argued the call with umpire Laz Diaz, to no avail.
''Maybe,'' Ramos said, ''he (wanted) to go home.''
Nationals spokesman John Dever declined to check whether the umpiring crew would respond to reporters' request for comment.
Notes: Melancon is filling in for closer Jason Grilli, on the disabled list with a strained right forearm. ... The Pirates play 14 of their final 59 games against the St. Louis Cardinals, the team Pittsburgh trails in the NL Central standings. ''It is unique. I think it kind of pushes you,'' Hurdle said. ... On Thursday, the Pirates will start RHP A.J. Burnett (4-7, 3.07) against Nationals LHP Gio Gonzalez (7-3, 2.89).
Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich


text:
So I wanted my dashcams to run for 12+ hours whilst parked, and I did not want them running down the main car battery whilst doing so.
There are a few commercial solutions available. Namely the Cell link B, which is basically a UPS for your dashcams. You connect the dash cams to it, and it powers them whilst your ignition is off. When the ignition is on, it charges the pack, and also powers the cameras.
Problem is, that its £180, which is too much.
So, I built a relay solution that does the same things with Ravpower USB power banks.
Here is the diagram:
It looks complicated, but it isnt. All it does, is use 2 relays to switch the USB connection from the vehicle to the powerbank, when the ignition is turned off. Keep in mind you could use a DPDT relay to do the same thing, but with one relay instead of 2.
This is what the end device looks like :
The 2 USB feeds are at the top. The output is on the right, and the two wires on the bottom left go to switched 12v. (there is a 1 amp inline fuse in these).
Keep in mind some devices support "chargethrough". They say they support charging a device, whilst itself is charged. I find this dangerous unless it bypasses the battery circuit inside, and as we cannot be 100% sure, this is much safer solution.
I get roughly 16 hours on a "20,000mah" ravpower battery pack. I also use quick charge 2.0 chargers to replenish the packs, as short journeys will not put much into them.
Time will tell how long the Memory cards in the cameras last too.
8,246 total views


text:
Supreme Court Returns Today With Gay Marriage, Affirmative Action, Voting Rights in View
The Supreme Court is poised to take the bench today and begin the second half of a term laced with hot button issues such as affirmative action, gay marriage, voting rights and government secrecy.
The justices will hear two potentially blockbuster cases in March concerning gay marriage. One of the cases - Hollingsworth v. Perry - addresses whether there is a fundamental right to same-sex marriage. The other - Windsor v. United States - deals with the federal law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
In both cases, the court will hear arguments on potential procedural obstacles that could stop it from getting to the core constitutional questions.
The court will also hear a case challenging a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Section 5 of the law says that certain states with a history of voter discrimination must clear any changes to their election laws with federal officials in Washington. Lawyers for Shelby County, Ala., are challenging the constitutionality of Section 5. The case, called Shelby County v. Holder, will be argued Feb. 27.
The day before, the court will hear arguments in Maryland v. King, a case about whether Maryland officials can collect DNA from someone who has been arrested but not convicted of a crime.
The justices are already working behind the scenes writing and reviewing draft opinions for cases they heard this fall.
Fisher v. University of Texas is a case that could further limit the use of race-conscious admissions policies at public universities. The case was brought by Abigail Fisher, a white student who sued the University in 2008, claiming she had been denied admission based on her race. Justice Elena Kagan is recused from this case, presumably because she dealt with it in her previous job as solicitor general.
They are also considering a case closely watched by human rights groups and big business that addresses whether corporations can be held liable for alleged violations of international law under a federal law called the Alien Tort Statute. At oral arguments, a skeptical Justice Samuel Alito questioned why the case was in the U.S. courts in the first place.
"Why does this case belong in the courts of the United States when it has nothing to do with the United States other than the fact that a subsidiary of the defendant has a big operation here?"
Several human rights groups want to challenge the constitutionality of a 2008 federal statute that expanded the authority of federal officials to conduct secret electronic surveillance of foreign citizens who are in other countries. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/supreme-court-hear-electronic-surveillance-case/story?id=17564982, as well as a case that considers whether the sniff of a police dog on the front porch of a person's home constitutes a search and requires a warrant.
Off the bench, all eyes will be on Chief Justice John Roberts when he administers the oath of office to President Obama. The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced last week that the president will be officially sworn in Jan. 20, which falls on a Sunday, and then again on Monday, Jan. 21, for a ceremonial swearing in.
Roberts slightly flubbed the oath in 2009 and had to re-administer it at the White House.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor will swear in Vice President Biden. She becomes the first Hispanic to administer an inaugural oath. In a statement, the vice president said that "one of the greatest pleasures of my career" was to be involved in Sotomayor's selection to the court.
"From the first time I met her, I was impressed by Justice Sotomayor's commitment to justice and opportunity for all Americans, and she continues to exemplify those values today," he said.
In the coming weeks, Sotomayor will also launch a book tour for her memoir, "My Beloved World." The Associated Press, which received an early copy, reported in December that the justice discusses her lifelong battle with diabetes, her upbringing in the South Bronx, as well as a defense of affirmative action.


text:
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text:
Thank you to everyone who called past and downloaded THE KING'S MAN. I hope you enjoy the read and I hope you will find the time to leave a rating and/or review on KINDLE and/or GOODREADS .
So often truth is stranger than fiction, coincidence happens every day in real life but put it in fiction and it looks contrived and sometimes as a writer you come across real events and people that you couldn't have dreamed up in your wildest imagination.
|Oliver Cromwell
As I started to read more about the events of 1654, I uncovered a nest of plots against the life of Oliver Cromwell.
In February, the same month as Miss Granville was hurling brickbats at the Lord Protector, a small group of disaffected royalists were meeting in the Ship Tavern in the Old Bailey, hatching a plot to seize Whitehall, St. James and the Tower and the guards about the city. Captain Dutton was dispatched to garner support from known Royalists in the country and it was decided Colonel Whiteley should go to France to get the support of the King in exile. An argument about payment of his expenses ensued with none of his co-conspirators willing to pay a farthing. One of their number (I won't say who) betrayed the plot to Thurloe and the conspirators were arrested at the Ship Inn. None of those concerned were ever brought to trial.
However during the course of examining the conspirators the existence of a more serious organisation, apparently holding the King's Commission, was revealed. Known as "The Sealed Knot", it had been formed some time in 1653. This was the only group of plotters who were to be any real threat to the Protectorate and when they eventually rose in 1655, were swiftly subdued. Charles II himself appeared to be ambivalent to much of the plotting. He did not believe that the assassination of Cromwell would necessarily result in his return to the throne and in that he was probably correct. At that time Cromwell was at the height of his power and he had able Lieutenants who would have stepped into his place.
In May of 1654 another plot headed by John Gerard was hatched. The plan was to seize Cromwell as he travelled between Whitehall and Hampton Court. Fortunately for Cromwell, his ever efficient Secretary of State, John Thurloe (see my blog on John Thurloe on Hoydens and Firebrands) through his efficient penetration of such enterprises foiled the plot. The conspirators were tried, three were transported and two executed.
Implicated in "Gerard's Plot" (as it came to be known) was an absurd character, a French emissary sent by Cardinal Mazarin to aid the French Ambassador, Bordeaux, in diplomatic negotiations with the English. De Baas was a Gascon whose brother Charles adopted his mother's name D'Artagnan and was the protoype of Dumas' hero (yes really!). De Baas was brash and overconfident and with little understanding of the English decided that Cromwell's regime was of no importance and could easily be overthrown. His arrogance was manifest in his refusal to uncover his head in the presence of the Lord Protector and his assertion that the soldiers who supported the regime were "feeble and dissipated". His grounds for this assertion? The sentinels on duty wore "nightcaps under their hats". On the discovery of the plot the arrogant Frenchman was given three days to leave the country.
With such a bizarre cast of characters, THE KING'S MAN practically wrote itself.
|John Thurloe