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Late yesterday, the Washington Post editorial board determined that the "Opening bids on 'fiscal cliff' talks are too small". After spending most of the opening part of the editorial attacking John Boehner's opening bid (surprising, eh?), we learn
What's worrisome, though, is that the two sides are slipping into a kind of tacit agreement to scale back the size of an ultimate debt-reduction package. The president billed his plan as $4.4 trillion worth of debt reduction over 10 years. But $2.4 trillion of that comes from lower interest payments, alleged savings from winding down overseas wars Mr. Obama never planned to fight and discretionary cuts that were legislated a year ago. Mr. Boehner's letter similarly identifies only $2.2 trillion of new revenues and cuts.
Well, I'm glad they finally told us that Obama's plan, which he has been playing with for over a year now (and which he formalized once the presidential debates were over with) is a load of mule fritters chalk full of imaginary savings and cuts already planned. The rest of Obama's plan pretty much comes from tax increases, from raising the marginal rate on "the rich" (which starts with the upper middle class), taxes through Obama(not)Care (which will also hit the middle and lower classes), raising capital gains, and many others. We'll supposedly get a whopping $2 trillion in debt/deficit reduction out of it over 10 years. Which we all know will never be used for that purpose. Boehner's is not much better, but at least the plan actually reduced the debt/deficit.
It will take more than that to dent the debt. A new report from a Bipartisan Policy Center task force headed by former senator Pete Domenici, a Republican, and former budget director Alice Rivlin, a Democrat, suggests that it would take $2.8 trillion in fresh cuts and revenue to stabilize the debt at 69 percent of gross domestic product by 2022 – above historical levels but sustainable. It would appear that Republicans and Democrats must not only come together but also raise their sights.
What we have is a spending problem, not a revenue problem. The government spends too darned much, and wastes it. Government is inherently wasteful. They fail to treat the money as their own and spend it wisely. The whole system is foolish. Yet, if we want to increase revenue, the best way is to get the economy roaring, to get people working, and to get those "evil rich" people to spend their money, which would mean more money ending up in governmental coffers after it has flowed through the private economy.
Crossed at Pirate's Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.


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K 1100|1200 LT - Wunderlich Perfect Suspension
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Here you can configurate your suspension components to your individual needs. Just click on the button "Configurate your suspension now" , you will be redirected to the configurator.

subset: commoncrawl


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Look up in the sky its a bird, its a penalty ... no ... no ... its Obamatax!
After the initial shock of disbelief, most of us who treasure the Constitution and our Republic went into a period of depression. Not that the certification of another tax was a surprise; weve all come to expect that from this gang. No, it was the twisted logic of a supposed legal expert that was the shocker.
I believed that the imposition of a penalty for not engaging in commerce would and should be found unconstitutional. Taxation was never considered, at least not publicly. Obama and his cabal of czars was careful never to use that term. Obama denied that description at least seven times on television interviews. His appointed minions slithered around behind him, reinforcing the idea that if you did not buy the mandated insurance you would pay a fine/penalty for your flagrant disobedience. At least we wouldnt be sent to bed without supper! So for as long as this mandate has been discussed, the anointed one, his appointees, and the sycophants in the media have been lying to us!
And then, holey moley, Batman, the Supreme Court after two days of argument hears the word tax and then proceeds to craft an almost undecipherable decision that avoids ruling on the constitutionality of a penalty imposed for not buying a product. I had a picture of the Wicked Witch of the North sending her flying monkeys out to spread the word: Its not a penalty, its a tax; its a tax; its a tax, my pretties ha ha ha.
But wait, theres more! If you watch Princess Pelosi (House minority leader), Jacob Lew (Obama chief of staff), David Axelrod or any of the mouthpieces that prance through the Sunday talk shows, you soon realize that they seemed to have missed the courts decision. They still think the tax is a penalty; in fact; no matter how hard the interviewer tries they dont even seem to know how to say tax.
Now, I know thats not true. Under the Obamatax 2,700-page-and-growing bill, there are about 70+ new taxes. I say growing because there are 1,100 at the direction of the director phrases that allows the politically appointed director to make changes as necessary. In fact, 75 percent of the cost of the Obamatax will be borne by people earning less than $150,000 a year. What?
But that cant be. Obama promised no taxes for anyone earning less than $250,000 a year. Ha ha ha. Watch out, my pretties, here come those damned flying monkeys again: Penalties, not taxes ... penalties.
Aside from the convoluted majority opinion and the obvious refusal to rule on the constitutionality of Obamatax, Chief Justice Roberts expressed an opinion, a dicta. This has no weight; it is a personal statement. The ruling of constitutionality was based solely on the legislatures right to levy taxes. Taxes, not fines or penalties!
With the actions of one man, an existing bill (under challenge) was rewritten to allow it to pass a constitutional review. Oh, that may not be ethical after all it was challenged because it read penalty, but that would be unconstitutional. So all that Roberts had to do was rewrite the bill to read taxes not penalty. Simple huh? Ethical? Can it be challenged? No! No, because this was a ruling by the Supreme Court they decide what is allowed. The four dissenters went berserk and wrote a scathing dissent that spoke directly to Roberts revision. Alito, Kennedy, Scalia, and Thomas felt the bill should be overturned completely. So Roberts added some weasel words to prove he wasnt influenced by Obamas henchmen in the media and Obamas personal attack on the court.
What have we wrought?
We are but months away from a Socialist Utopia. Americans can now be taxed for not doing something. With the coming Taxmageddon of Obamatax, the ending of the Bush tax cuts in January 2013; the imminent implementation of the myriad taxes for medical devices, prescriptions, over-the-counter medications and others that are too numerous to count, it will be messy.
But after all, You have to pass the bill to see whats in it Princess Pelosi on the floor of the House.
Larry Tradlener lives down McElmo Canyon.


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A Poem of One's Own
A.M. Klein: The Letters
By A.M. Klein
Edited by Elizabeth A. Popham
University of Toronto Press, 504 pages, $85
Those of us involved with Jewish life and culture in the Diaspora must often ask ourselves a fundamental question: Do we view ourselves as one among many minority cultures that comprise our larger society? Or do we think of ourselves as heirs to a separate, millennia-old tradition that travels along its own trajectory?
These are broad designations, and not mutually exclusive. The problem could be phrased 100 different ways, as it has been for 100 years. In the American context, we might ask it like this: Are we the American wing of the Jewish people, or are we the Jewish wing of the American people? The answer is not either/or, and it inevitably involves qualifications, explications and exceptions.
Yet the question confronts us today as strongly as ever. While it applies to all Diaspora Jews, it is especially difficult for artists and writers who don't just situate themselves within a culture, but contribute to that culture's creation. To whose culture do they contribute? And to whose should they? Among Jewish writers of the past century, no one was more sensitive to this question than A.M. Klein.
Klein was a Canadian-Jewish poet best known for his foundational role in Canadian modernism as well as in the creation of Jewish poetry in English. Though he is barely remembered today outside of Canada, there he is celebrated for both achievements and has been honored with a series of collected works covering his poetry, journalism, criticism and fiction. The final volume, "A.M. Klein: The Letters," was published late in 2011 by the University of Toronto Press.
Literature was only one of Klein's pursuits. By profession he was a lawyer, and from 1938 to 1955 he served as editor of the Canadian Jewish Chronicle. He was a speechwriter and publicity consultant for whiskey magnate Samuel Bronfman, and for three years he was a lecturer in poetry at McGill University. After visiting Israel in 1949, Klein became a popular speaker on the Jewish lecture circuit, addressing audiences across the continent about the newly created state. He was even a political candidate on two occasions for the socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a forerunner of today's New Democratic Party.
Klein's letters reflect all these activities and give the impression of a conscientious, busy, talented writer. His correspondents included fellow poets like A.J.M. Smith and Karl Shapiro, and longtime friends like Henry James biographer Leon Edel. He wrote to employers like Bronfman and to editors and publishers at the Jewish Publication Society, New Directions press and Poetry magazine. He was often compelled to defend his professional and creative interests, and sometimes he took on the peeved tone of a writer not being given his due. He was also, frequently, very funny.
"As to my book — may my publisher be drowned in ink, may he be crushed between presses, may the printer's devil take him — he is giving me the runaround." So he wrote in 1938 to Joseph Frank, an old friend from his days in Canadian Young Judea. To Solomon Grayzel, his editor at JPS, he directed a similar complaint: "Is there anything new, or does your committee insist that the book be published posthumously?" Advised by James Laughlin at New Directions to turn the other cheek to a hostile reviewer, he replied, "I turn him all four."
The letters bring to light lesser-known aspects of Klein's career, such as his English adaptation of a Brazilian play for Yiddish actor Maurice Schwartz (the performance was savaged by critics, and the play closed after four shows), and the fact that he turned down the editorship of Commentary magazine upon its inception in 1945. Among his many interests, Klein was a devoted reader of James Joyce and spent years working on a comprehensive commentary to "Ulysses." The manuscript was never completed, but it put him in touch with Joyce scholars around the world. In their tapering off the letters reflect Klein's mental breakdown and gradual withdrawal from public life, starting in the mid 1950s and lasting until his death in 1972, though they do not illuminate the tragedy of his final years beyond the little that is already known.
The collection takes on its greatest emotional and intellectual heft when Klein was induced to defend or advance his creative vision, particularly the Jewish nature of his work. Like many writers before and since, Klein was unwilling to be pigeonholed as an ethnic sideshow, and he objected to critics who read him in only a Jewish light. (In a letter to Smith, he complained: "Why did they… have to go flaunting my circumcision? It's an adolescent trick — this whimsical opening of another man's fly.") But unlike many authors who have rejected the "Jewish writer" designation — Philip Roth once said that he instead considers himself a "writer who is a Jew" — Klein took his Jewishness and the Jewish content of his work as given. The question for him was not whether he was a "Jewish writer," but how to be one.
Fluent in Yiddish and well versed in Hebrew and the rabbinical canon, Klein was fully at home in the Jewish literary tradition, and he believed strongly in its value. In a 1940 letter to Yiddish critic Shmuel Niger, he described his resentment over Yiddish literature being "treated as a series of curiosities" and over anyone being surprised that it was "mit leiten gleich," or equal to the best. As a cultural Zionist in the vein of essayist and editor Ahad Ha'am, Klein was much enamored of the renewed vigor of Hebrew literature, and he translated the poetry of Chaim Nachman Bialik.
Yet Klein chose to write in English, a decision that created its own difficulties. For Hebrew or Yiddish writers, their very language made them part of the Jewish tradition, whether they wrote about Hasidism or Hegel. Once writers like Klein stepped into English, could they continue to claim a place in that tradition? What would define their work as Jewish?
For Klein, the answer lay not only in subject matter — his upbringing in the Montreal immigrant community was a frequent theme — but also in a Jewish sensibility that he experienced not as choice but as fact. Writing to Laughlin in 1944 regarding his mock epic poem "The Hitleriad," which he felt had been unfairly ignored by Jewish critics, he distinguished himself from Jews who tried to hide their Jewishness as well as from those who declared it too much.
Let me make myself clear. I am not one of those I-am-proud-to-be-a-Jew Jews. A Jew I am; the whole world knows it, and I accept that fact like the fact that I have two arms… As for myself, I believe I still have a contribution to make as a Jew, a contribution to the culture of the group — the whole group — in which I dwell… Other cultures, therefore I meet as an equal, not as an interloper. I travel on my own passport.
It is worth noting the courageousness of Klein's position. For an ambitious, creative writer, the Jewish road could seem constricting. Few Diaspora authors of Klein's time, writing in English, were as overt about their Jewishness, or as compelled by it. But for Klein it was the most important project he could think to undertake. "The continuation of our own culture stands before the Jewish writers as the challenge," he wrote to Shapiro in 1948. "One can either… associate one's Jewishness with all the negativism [that] history like a mad Rashi, has appended to it; or one can feel oneself, and develop oneself as part of a great tradition, a tradition whose fruitfulness is by no means exhausted."
Through his work, Klein demonstrated how that tradition could be pursued in English — how to "bring to the well of English that mineral content… which is my heritage from my biblical forefathers." Just as important was the boldness he displayed in doing so, a boldness still called for today. Authors of the past century have earned a place for Jewish experience in mainstream literature, and Jews in general have achieved success in all streams of Diaspora life. But that has not yet eliminated the strain of Jewish self-contempt that treats our own culture as worthy of attention or respect only when it is also recognized by non-Jewish society. As I once heard a prominent community activist remark, "Jews love what non-Jews love about Judaism." Though he meant it as strategy rather than as criticism, it remains one of the saddest observations about the Jewish community I have ever heard.
Klein himself craved broad recognition, and he rebelled against parochialism wherever he found it. His writing embraced themes beyond the Jewish frame, such as the multilingual culture of Montreal and the lives of rural Quebecois. He considered himself possessed of "true patriotism" when it came to Canada, and participated fully in the social, political and literary life of Montreal. He can be read today as a Canadian, a modernist and a Montrealer, as well as a Jew. But at the core of Klein's public, private and creative self was a belief in the Jewish cultural tradition and the desire to continue it. In the end, he traveled on his own passport.
Ezra Glinter is a staff writer for the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter @EzraG


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Deflated: Balloon Boy's the Story of Our Ugly, Sorry Era
Richard Heene has spoken out after Sheriff Jim Aldernan's press conference. He's currently "seeking counsel" and got teary as he told the AP that "this thing has become so convoluted." He's pretty on point in that regard.
Who knows how this thing's going to play out. A verdict, a penalty, there's really no telling at this point how Richard Heene's going to handle the charges against him or the social and emotional tax on the Heene family. But what we do know is that the story of the boy in the balloon, filled as it was with real feelings of terror and relief, is a painful illustration of the sorry state of a reality TV-addled culture.
Blame the Heenes, of course, but who else? Just them? We could blame the rest of us glued to 40" hi-def images, waiting for the latest fix of manufactured conflict and emotion to get us through to the next blog post. Yes, Gawker is as bad as everyone else. We were part of the assembly line. But we also know that the page view counts on our reality show recaps dwarf anything we put up on, say, the death spiral of the publishing industry.
The only thing I've really home taken from this sad story, besides the fact that reality television is bad for people—literally, people, children: from the Gosselins to the Heenes—is that the harder you try to set the truth adrfit, the more obfuscation you bury it under, and the more piles of bullshit you throw on top of it, the more gravity is strippped from it, so that, like that goddamn balloon, it rises up, up, up and out of plain view, for everyone to see, completely out of reach of the person from which it had to come from.
The first bit of truth that will be lost, no doubt, is that some of us were complicit in this thing's makings. If we and you hadn't tuned in on Thursday afternoon (or clicked through on Saturday), if we weren't conditioned to lap up whatever reality freak show Richard Heene wanted to give us — or the one he delivered on — would this have happened? Not sure.
But fame — and what passes for genuine drama — is a hell of a drug. So this sad story (that I'd rather someone had have written before it happened, mostly, because kids were involved, and they shouldn't have been) is about the image of a balloon that might've had a kid in it and was terrifyingly captivating. If you watched, you felt terror, and you felt like shit for watching it. Between Wife Swap and the video of Falcon Heene may or maybe not being on the balloon, there's no question that America's got strong, strong voyeuristic impulses. How do you think we turn a dime around here?
As quickly and as easily as this website purchased the proof that Heene's story was a load of shit, you're left with no good angle to go at this from. We've entered the vindictive phase of the story as we wait to see just how dearly Richard Heene will pay for wasting the time of the Fort Collins sherriffs, the FAA, the media and — perhaps most importantly — all of us who bothered to watch his hoax unfold this past Thursday.
It seems all too easy to paint Heene as the crazed villain; then again, it's perfectly sensible. But truth: it's stranger than fiction. In this case, it's the story of a guy with a dream that's become too common: quickfire fame, notoriety, a reality television show. Heene had tasted that nasty once-forbidden fruit of easy notoriety on Wife Swap. Twice. And the Heene family didn't look great then, either: Heene was a father with a short temper who couldn't discipline his kids. He was eccentric and a guy of questionable stability, but when you score it with music, sound effects, and frame it between commercials, it looks a lot less harmless than it actually is. We want to think all reality television is edited down to make some of these people look like more exaggerated characters than they are. In some cases, that's absolutely the case. In the case of shows like Wife Swap, it isn't.
Last night, at a bar — where all good points are made — someone put it out there: If this guy loved his wife, would he have swapped her on TV? Nobody can speak for Richard Heene, but you know: this thing goes deep into murky waters, to say the least. Here's a guy who wanted fame so badly, he'd make America think his kid was on a balloon. He was okay with the perception — even if it was just for a moment — that he'd somehow neglected to keep his kid from floating away. I don't have kids, just parents. And if I thought they felt that way for a second, I'd probably hate them for a very, very long time.
If what Robert Thomas says is true, it's also the story of guy who is, on some level, ill. The desire and availability of fame fed into that. Which goes without saying: Robert Thomas got in on it, too. For a price.
And again, the kids are now the victim. Heene shouldn't have put his family on TV in interviews. He shouldn't have kept making them provide cover for him. When Falcon Heene said "You said we did it for the show," it was that moment of truth: the innocent one can't lie. You can't teach a kid how to be that deceptive, you can't instill that kind of strength. It doesn't work. Under enough pressure, it breaks. And Heene didn't even bother to work hard enough to get it right, or instill enough paternal love to the point where Falcon couldn't do anything but tell the truth: they did it for the show.
As for us, how culpable are we for the damage Falcon Heene's gonna experience? My bosses beat someone else to the punch and got a good story that turned out to be true. If it wasn't us, at that point, it would've been someone else. And from what I understand, there were others in line. Not a shocker. We're about as culpable as Wolf Blitzer, Nancy Grace, Shep Smith, the wires, the papers, magazines, and whoever else covered this. Media blackouts on breaking, exploitative news are rare (which is what makes cases like David Rohde's so interesting). The starter pistol was fired, we just got there first. It happens.


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The art of stereotyping: Have Southerners gotten a fair shake from pop culture?
Times may change, but stereotypes tend to linger.
Venturing into the off-color humor and often offensive images of Southern culture portrayed by cartoonists throughout American history, Western Carolina University will address the issue head-on in its newest exhibit opening next week.
"Comic Stripped: A Revealing Look At Southern Stereotypes In Cartoons" will open at the Mountain Heritage Center Feb. 7 and run through mid-May. The traveling showcase was created by the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte.
"This provides a fun way to explore a serious subject — how public perception has historically been shaped and continues to be influenced by mass media, how stereotypes can sometimes be true and sometimes misleading," said Pam Meister, curator at the Mountain Heritage Center. "Visitors will enjoy the wit and humor of this exhibit while coming away with some new insights into their own perceptions of 'Southern.'"
Cartoon images of the South, for good or ill, have been a mainstay in the pop culture history of this country. The displays ranges from the Thomas Nast drawings for Harper's Magazine, which shaped American's perception of the South following the Civil War and during Reconstruction, to Snuffy Smith to Kudzu and the eccentric array of characters in the adult cartoon sitcom "King of the Hill."
Related Items
"Stereotypes help shape the way we see the South, whether we see it as a land of nature and tradition or the land of moonshine," said Dr. Tom Hanchett, staff historian and curator of the exhibit at the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte. "Whether you grew up with Lil' Abner and Pogo, or with today's 'King of the Hill,' I think you will be surprised by the power of their Southern images."
Southerners are chronically painted as simpletons, an image that persisted into modern pop culture with "King of the Hill," boasting beer swigging men in white undershirts with Southern drawls, often engaged in banal conversations while standing around their trucks or riding mowers.
Meister first came across the exhibit in her previous role as the executive director of the Upcounty History Museum in Greenville, S.C. She was impressed with Hanchett's work in putting the theme together. It was a popular showcase when it came to Greenville, something Meister knew would transition well to the audience in Western North Carolina.
"One of the things I like best is that it speaks both to native Southerners and to newcomers to our region, and that both adults and children enjoy and relate to it," she said. "So many visitors recognize old favorites while young visitors enjoy interactive stations that encourage them to explore their ideas about Southern stereotypes."
The exhibit is comprised of loaned original art and artifacts, including rare vintage comic books and memorabilia. There's an authentic moonshine jug, a comical hillbilly coat and hat worn in parades by the "Hillbilly Clan" of the Shrine Club, collections of the artwork from Snuffy Smith creator Billy De Beck, and background art and storyboards for an episode of "King of the Hill" that explores youth and religion in the Bible Belt today, amongst other items.
"Exhibits like this illustrate how much we are affected by popular culture," said Christopher Cooper, professor of political science and public affairs at WCU. "Public opinion isn't just affected by schools, families, and friends, but also by media, both high brow and low brow. A full understanding of public opinion requires a serious consideration of popular culture."
Meister is looking forward to seeing how others interact and react to the exhibit. For her, it's about the younger generation of students, and the public at large, being able to compare and contrast the views they, and others from around the country, have of the South.
"As a native Southerner, who has spent most of my life in the South, but also worked in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., I can testify that many people still believe traditional stereotypes of Southerners," she said. "'Comic Stripped' uses the larger issues of class, race and cultural heritage in a fun, accessible way, and allows visitors to think about their own perceptions and stereotypes in a series of clever interactive stations located throughout the exhibit."
Cooper notes that though a lot has been written about the "Southernization of America" or the "Americanization of the South," there is a general belief that the South is becoming more and more like the rest of the country.
"I'm particularly looking forward to seeing how these stereotypes have changed over time, as I believe that popular culture affects what we believe about a variety of political and social phenomena," he said.
Cooper said he particularly interested in the political consequences of being perceived as a Southerner. He hopes students go to the exhibit and ask themselves to consider how these depicted stereotypes affect Southern politics and Southern candidates running for national office.
He points to Bill Clinton or Newt Gingrich as prime examples of a "Southern candidate" and how they were viewed in the minds of the country. Cooper asks if certain barriers existed that each could have faced, were there also benefits from being a Southerner, too?
"Southerners still identify with the region in large numbers and the media still tends to portray the South as somewhat distinct from the rest of the country," Cooper said. "The examples may not be as stark as Snuffy Smith or Andy Griffith, but they do remain and certainly help paint a picture of the South for many in and outside of the region."
Want to go?
"Comic Stripped: A Revealing Look At Southern Stereotypes In Cartoons" will open Feb. 7 at the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee and run through May 14. The center is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and until 7 p.m. on Thursday. The exhibit is a free and open to the public. 828.227.7129.


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Plastic pollution: Scientists' plea on threat to ocean giants
- Published
- comments
Scientists say there needs to be more research into the impact of plastic pollution on sharks, whales and rays.
A study, in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, says the creatures may be swallowing hundreds of tiny bits of plastic a day.
Microplastic pollution has the potential to further reduce the population sizes of the large filter feeders, they say.
Yet, there is very little research being carried out into the risks.
Researchers from the US, Australia and Italy looked at data on threats to large filter feeders from microplastics. These small plastic pieces less than five millimetres long can be harmful to the ocean and aquatic life.
The Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Coral Triangle are priorities for monitoring, according to a review of studies.
"The full magnitude of risks of ingesting microplastics are yet to be fully investigated," said Elitza Germanov of Murdoch University, Australia, and researcher at the US Marine Megafauna Foundation.
Possible risks include reduced nutritional uptake and damage to the digestive system when microplastics are ingested, she said.
In addition, toxin exposure through plastic ingestion could affect many biological processes, such as growth and reproduction, putting filter feeding populations "under even more strain", she added.
Flagship species
The study argues that large filter feeders, many of which are "charismatic and economically important species", should be prioritised for further research into risks from microplastics.
Filter feeders swallow hundreds of cubic metres of water a day to capture their food from water, and may take in microplastics during the process.
Microplastics are similar in size and mass to many types of plankton.
Studies have shown chemicals associated with plastics in the bodies of whale sharks and fin whales.
"Our studies on whale sharks in the Sea of Cortez and on fin whales in the Mediterranean Sea confirmed exposure to toxic chemicals, indicating that these filter feeders are taking up microplastics in their feeding grounds," said co-researcher Prof Maria Fossi of the University of Siena in Italy.
"Exposure to these plastic-associated toxins pose a major threat to the health of these animals since it can alter the hormones, which regulate the body's growth and development, metabolism, and reproductive functions, among other things."
Whale sharks feeding in the Sea of Cortez off Mexico's Baja Peninsula, which is an important breeding ground, are estimated to ingest under 200 pieces of plastic per day.
Fin whales in the Mediterranean Sea are thought to be swallowing closer to 2,000 microplastic particles per day.
The researchers say there have been reports of 800kg of plastic found in the carcass of a stranded whale in France and another in Australia contained six square metres of plastic sheeting as well as 30 whole plastic carrier bags.
The report highlights several key coastal regions for research and monitoring within the habitat ranges of the animals, including the Coral Triangle, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, the Bay of Bengal and other areas that have high microplastic concentration levels, such as the world's five oceanic gyres.
Whale sharks and other flagship species may act as a focal point for research, especially in countries that rely on wildlife tourism, say the researchers.
"It is worth highlighting that utilising these iconic species, such as whale sharks, manta rays and whales to gain the attention of and engage with communities, policy makers and managers will go far to enhance stewardship of entire marine ecosystems," said Ms Germanov, who is a PhD student at Murdoch University.
A number of filter-feeding sharks, rays and whales are on the edge of extinction. Many are long-lived and give birth to few offspring during their lives.
The whale shark, for example, is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Found in tropical and warm temperate waters, it is the largest fish in the world, yet feeds on tiny plankton, crustaceans and small fish.
Follow Helen on Twitter.


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Comfort food encompasses more than just traditional American favorites like mashed potatoes. The basic tenets of comfort food have been embraced by cuisines from around the world, including Italy, France, Morocco, and Japan. The only requirements are that the flavors are familiar and the food fills you up like a hug from mom. The following categories contain a few tempting examples of the global comfort-food phenomenon.
Cheesy Comfort Foods
United States: Mac and Cheese
Homemade macaroni and cheese top the list, especially when the sauce is made with a mix of fine cheeses, such as extra-sharp cheddar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Gruyere, and Asiago. A buttered breadcrumb topping and chopped prosciutto stirred into the cheese sauce will kick this comfort food classic over the top. We like our mac & cheese with truffles, thank you very much.
Switzerland: To Fondue With Love
It doesn't get much cheesier than cheese fondue or raclette. Fondue distills cheese eating to its essence: cheese melted with various seasonings and white wine to form a dippable (though thick) sauce. Prepared by heating a half wheel or wedge of Raclette cheese until it melts, then serving with roasted new potatoes and pickled vegetables. Occasionally, raclette is also served with thin slices of ham or lean, aired-dried beef.
Italy: Home Slice
Pizza has become almost as American as apple pie, but this popular bread-and-cheese treat has its roots in southern Italy – Naples to be exact. Prepared with a thin, wood oven-charred crust, Italian-style pizza puts the spotlight on fresh mozzarella cheese and a thin swath of fresh tomato sauce.
Fork-Tender Meats
Morocco: Clay Pot Cooking
Made in a clay pot and chock-full of meltingly tender lamb or beef, potatoes, spices, and often fruit and olives, tagine is the epitome of comfort food from the African continent. This recipe for lamb tagine is smoky and fragrant and could well become our new comfort food favorite.
France: Praise the Braise
France is responsible for a long list of tender meat dishes, including pot au feu (braised beef stew), confit or preserved duck, coq au vin (chicken stewed with wine and vegetables, and cassoulet, a white bean-based dish studded with chunks of sausage and preserved duck legs.
United States: From BBQ to Pot Roast
Beef pot roast, barbecue pork ribs, and golden roast chicken all aptly fit this category. Served with mashed or roasted potatoes, these dishes hit a comfort food high point.
Italy: No Bones About It
Starring slowly braised veal shank, osso buco is cooked with olive oil, white wine, stock, onions, tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, carrots, celery, and lemon peel. Upping the comfort food appeal, osso buco is often served with creamy risotto.
Noodling with Noodles
Japan: A Slurp Heard Round the World
Though the noodle originated in China, we have Japan to thank for some particularly choice noodle soups: ramen and udon. A far cry from the packaged pre-cooked noodle and seasoning packets we find in grocery stores, real ramen noodles are made fresh at the moment of service and are hand-pulled to a glorious state of elasticity. Udon features thicker ropes of noodles that are often made from buckwheat flour (soba). Both soups are traditionally served in fragrant soy- or pork-based broths and served with vegetable and meat garnishes.
Italy: A Combination of Magic and Pasta
When it comes to pasta, Italian cuisine can satisfy almost any craving. Whether you choose an oven-baked version, such as lasagna or stuffed manicotti, or a sauced pasta in strands or shapes, the ingredient options are limitless. Always remember that the Italians prize high-quality ingredients prepared simply, so stick to pasture-raised meats, free-range chicken, and seasonally available vegetables. These ingredients will be more flavorful and require less effort to make the pasta dish taste truly exceptional. Try this stuffed pasta recipe with foie gras, artichokes, and truffles.
Germany: So Special
Rustic German cuisine is the birthplace of spaetzle, a flour-based pasta created by scraping dough over a colander or slotted spoon. Spaetzle is usually served tossed with butter and garnished with chopped chives or parsley, a comforting accompaniment to most meat dishes, including classic wiener schnitzel (breaded and fried thin-pounded veal and sauerbraten (pickled beef pot roast). We like pork schnitzel, too.
What are your comfort food favorites? Tag @dartagnanfoods on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, and tell us what you're eating!


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Network: TBS
Episodes: 10 (hour)
Seasons: One
TV show dates: November 10, 2012 — January 19, 2013
Series status: Cancelled
Performers include: Brian Austin Green, Derek Miller, Harold Perrineau, Jenny Wade, Kathryn Fiore, Melora Hardin, and Peter Cambor.
TV show description:
This TV series follows the lives of four friends who spend their spare time performing in a wedding band called "Mother of the Bride."
A perennial bachelor and the band's lead singer, Tommy (Brian Austin Green) is sexy and stylish. He's the life of the party on stage and in the bedroom. A bad boy with a good heart, Tommy's philosophy and band credo is "Make it the big night, not just for the bride and groom, but for everybody." He sometimes goes a little too far so it helps to have a great band to back him up.
Stevie (Harold Perrineau) is the new bassist in the band, but he's also a seasoned vet who's rubbed shoulder with all the greats in the music industry. A session musician for more than 20 years, Stevie has recorded with the who's who's of the music business. However, he's never seen on an album cover because he's never been an "official member" of a band — until now. He still records with today's hit-makers, but he feels like a real rock star when he plays with these guys.
For every guy with a wife, kids and career, Eddie (Peter Cambor) is their guitar hero. Monday thru Friday, he's a responsible dad and husband who juggles PowerPoint presentations, playdates, and occasional date nights. On Saturdays, he packs the amps and band gear into the mini-van and becomes a weekend rock god. He's the one guy in the band who has to do the "check-in call" with his wife between sets. Eddie's only solo time is when he gets to jam on stage. Once off-stage, he has to help his best friend, Tommy, get out of his own jams.
Barry (Derek Mille) has always been behind his brother Eddie -– on stage, in looks and popularity, even in age. Barry's five months younger. From laser shows to pyrotechnics to rotating drumkits, he's all about bringing the arena rock experience to black-tie events.
Ingrid (Kathryn Fiore) and Eddie's two kids love it when their parents tell the story of how they met — she fell in love watching him perform at the first wedding the band ever played. The part of the story they leave out, however, is how they hooked up in the coat-check room during the father-daughter dance. Ingrid is willing to give Eddie a "hall pass" to play in the band on weekends, but he has to be careful about straying too far. She's Seattle's most-decorated CSI detective, which means her forensics skill set can pick up microscopic evidence of the raucous out-of-control situations Tommy often pulls him into.
Roxie Rutherford (Melora Hardin) owns Seattle's premiere wedding and events planning firm, Rutherford Events. There's nothing she won't do for a client -– including shipping sand in from Fiji for an island-themed party. Roxie's the person behind the most important moments and best nights in people's lives. Roxie and Tommy are two strong alpha personalities constantly struggling over who gets their way.
Rachel (Jenny Wade) is the junior wedding planner who can't seem to plan her own wedding. Despite being recently promoted, Rachel is still treated like Roxie's personal assistant. With an unorthodox mix of neuroses and earthy sexiness, Rachel is torn between Rutherford and Tommy. She's often forced to carry the stress from the band's antics on her slender shoulders. And since Rachel has a hard time saying no, she tends to service everyone else's life before dealing with her own.
Episode #10 — End of the World As We Know It
After a falling-out with Rutherford, the guys are recruited by Roxie's rival event planner (and former assistant) Emily Corgy (guest Erinn Hayes) to play an "End of the World" party. The guys don't feel good about the career move after learning Tommy and Emily have started dating. Worlds collide when they learn the event they're scheduled to play has been double-booked with another "End of the World" party thrown by Rutherford. Even worse, it's headlined by Mother of the Bride's rival – the Def Leppard tribute band Armageddon It (fronted by guest Ken Marino). It's a recipe for disaster.
First aired: January 19, 2013
What do you think? Do you like the Wedding Band TV series? Do you think it should be cancelled or renewed for another season?


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Part IX of the SoundCloud Sessions with Beach Fossils
While the Brooklyn-based band, Beach Fossils, was touring between Hamburg and Berlin, they stopped in at SoundCloud to play a quick session for a small group of people from the team. Due to the November weather, they played inside on our comfy couch.
Listen to the tracks below and you know the drill — head over to the SoundCloud Sessions blog to watch the live video recordings. Also, be sure to follow Captured Tracks and TheArtOf for more!
SoundCloud Sessions are always recorded in audio and video, and each session is added to the SoundCloud Sessions tumblr. Keep yourself updated on our sessions by following us on Twitter, Tumblr and/or subscribe to this WordPress blog!
Calling all musicians coming to or already living in Berlin! Send us a track via our DropBox below!
Send me your track


text: If you've read this blog over the past couple of years, it should be no surprise that I am a huge advocate of the theories of Clayton Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma." Christensen and his book were brought to mind this \n\nweek by the cover story in Forbes about his severe health problems, his experience with the U..S healthcare system, and his prescriptions for how \n\nto fix it.Slideshow: What is Cloud Computing?Christensen posits two type of innovation: sustaining and disruptive. Sustaining innovation is that which extends existing technologies, \n\nimproving them incrementally. As an example, at one point auto manufacturing moved from body-on-frame to unibody construction. Christensen \n\npoints out that it is very difficult for a new market entrant to gain traction with an incremental innovation, since the market incumbents can easily \n\nincorporate the new technology while maintaining their other advantages like brand awareness, cost efficiency, and so on.By contrast, disruptive innovation represents entirely new technology solutions that bring a new twist to an existing market \u2014 typically at \n\na far lower price point. Christensen offers numerous examples of disruptive innovation; for instance, transistor radios disrupted the existing market \n\nfor vacuum tube-based radios. Christensen notes that typically, disruptive innovations come to market and are considered inadequate substitutes for \n\nexisting solutions by the largest users of those solutions. Tube radio manufacturers evaluated transistor capability and found that transistors could \n\nnot run table radios with large speakers that required significant power to generate sound volume.Consequently, disruptive innovations must seek out new users who are, in Christensen's term, overserved by existing solutions and are willing \n\nto embrace less capable, cheaper offerings. Transistor radios were first embraced by teenagers who wanted to listen to rock and roll with their \n\nfriends and wouldn't be caught dead listening to it in the company of their parents, at home, in front of the vacuum tube-powered table radio. They \n\ndidn't mind that their cheap transistor radios sounded tinny. They were affordable and allowed teenagers to listen to their music in the company of \n\nfriends.Sending Old Solutions PackingThe denouement to this dynamic is that disruptive innovations gradually improve over time until they become functionally equivalent to the \n\nincumbent technology, at which point they seize the market and consign the previous champion to the dustbin of history. One of the most poignant \n\ncomments about this process I've ever read was the statement by a former Silicon Graphics executive lamenting how SGI was put out of business by \n\nthe shift to x86-based graphics systems \u2014 he said that everyone at the company had read The Innovator's Dilemma, but, even knowing the \n\nlikely fate of their company if they didn't dramatically change direction, were unable to do so, and inexorably found themselves in bankruptcy.So is cloud computing a sustaining or disruptive innovation?At first glance, one might evaluate it as sustaining. It is, after all, built upon the foundation of virtualization, an existing and widely applied data \n\ncenter technology. Cloud computing builds upon that foundation, adding automation, self-service, and elasticity. Certainly the plans by many existing \n\nvirtualization users to create private cloud environments in their current data centers argues that cloud computing sustains existing solutions.On the other hand, the initial entrant into the field was Amazon, via its Amazon Web Services offering. The fact that a new player \u2014 one not \n\neven considered a technology vendor \u2014 brought this capability to market might indicate that the technology should be evaluated as \n\ndisruptive. Moreover, Amazon brought an entirely new payment model \u2014 the pay-per-use, metered approach \u2014 along with its offering. \n\nAnd it delivered the offering at heretofore unimaginable pricing levels \u2014 mere pennies per hour for computing capacity. Amazon has since \n\nbeen joined by other cloud service providers offering similar cloud computing capabilities.And, as Christensen notes about disruptive innovation being considered as incapable of meeting incumbent requirements, the AWS offering is \n\ncommonly described as insufficient for enterprise needs, lacking security, compliance certainty, strong enough SLAs, and other shortcomings as well. \n\nDisruptive To IT UsersMy own view is that cloud computing is disruptive \u2014 but to the users, not the providers of the technology. Organizations that run data \n\ncenters and plan to implement private clouds will find that it is not enough to provide automated, self-service virtualization. Private clouds will need \n\nto offer the same level of scalability and platform services (e.g., highly scalable queuing functionality) as their public counterparts \u2014 and will \n\nneed to deliver it at the same kind of price points as they do.A telling analysis of the primary cited shortcoming of public clouds \u2014 security \u2014 was shared with me by a cloud analyst at a leading \n\nfirm. User concern about public cloud security, he said, drops away dramatically at around the two year mark \u2014 once the user gets familiar \n\nenough and comfortable with the security capability of the public provider. At that point, he stated, the user organization begins to strongly embrace \n\nthe public option due to its ease of self-service, vast scalability, and low cost. Those organizations that reach that two year milestone quickly turn \n\ntheir back on previous private cloud plans, concluding they are no longer necessary, given the increased comfort with the public option.This tells me that the benchmark for private cloud computing will not be, is it better than what went before \u2014 the static, expensive, slow-\n\nresponding infrastructure options of traditional data center operations. The benchmark will be the functionality of the public providers \u2014 the \n\nagile, inexpensive, easily scalable infrastructure offered via gigantic server farms operated with high levels of administrative automation and powered \n\nby inexpensive commodity gear.The challenge for internal data centers will focus on whether they can quickly enough transform their current practices, processes, and cost \n\nassumptions to meet the new benchmark offered by public cloud service providers.SGI itself once dismissed the x86-based graphics offerings, characterizing them as slow and low quality; when they improved enough to meet the \n\nSGI offerings, the company had no response other than to gradually shrink and finally declare Chapter 11. Symbolically enough, the former Silicon \n\nGraphics campus is now home to Google, a leader in the new mode of delivering computing services. It will be interesting to see if internal data \n\ncenters can avoid the fate of SGI and avert eviction by Google and its brethren public cloud providers.Bernard Golden is CEO of consulting firm HyperStratus, which specializes in \n\nvirtualization, cloud computing and related issues. He is also the author of "Virtualization for Dummies," the best-selling book on virtualization to \n\ndate.Follow Bernard Golden on Twitter @bernardgolden. Follow everything \n\nfrom CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline


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B.C.'s firefighting resources are stretched thin and without the help they usually get from international crews.
Traditionally, the BC Wildfire Service has been able to enlist the help of firefighters from other provinces and countries, but right now infernos from Greece to California are keeping them busy.
This means relief is not easily accessible for B.C.'s firefighters
B.C. firefighters work 14 days straight before they take mandated rest days for operational safety. This means the wildfire service may be forced to have fewer firefighters on each of the fires in B.C. while crews get some rest.
"We are working to get in more resources to replace those folks and reassess between fires," said fire information officer Claire Allen.
On top of the fires within B.C., destructive and deadly wildfires are burning in Ontario, California and Greece, just to name a few.
"It is certainly a crazy time for wildfires, not just in B.C. and Canada but across all of North American and even globally," said Allen.
"Resources are stretched pretty thin across the world. The European Union is very tried up in Greece and Sweden, Australia has been called on pretty heavily for fires throughout the northern hemisphere."
This global problem of destructive wildfires is not new in 2018, it is an ongoing pattern of increasing fire activity that has been called the "new normal".
Studies worldwide have shown that wildfires are increasing in number and scale, and becoming increasingly an urban problem.
According to a U.S. study, the National Climate Assessment, climate change is increasing the vulnerability of many U.S. forests through fire, insect infestations, drought, and disease outbreaks.
With global temperatures rising, the consensus from scientists is that wildfires are likely to become increasingly frequent and widespread.
"The effects of global warming on temperature, precipitation levels, and soil moisture are turning many of our forests into kindling during wildfire season," wrote the Union of Concerned Scientists.
"As the world warms, we can expect more wildfires."
2017 was one of the three hottest years on record, with especially warm conditions in the high latitudes of North America and Russia. #StateofClimate2017 pic.twitter.com/MnLcjHoM2V
— NOAA Climate.gov (@NOAAClimate) August 2, 2018
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The old merit badge blue card;
The new merit badge blue card;
This announcement from the latest Advancement News is self explanatory:
Merit Badge Blue Card Revised
A new version of the "Application for Merit Badge," No. 34124, commonly referred to as the "blue card," is being released later in January 2013. The
availability of the new card will vary locally, and the old cards are still acceptable as councils exhaust their inventories. The new version will remain the old familiar
blue and the change is a small one, but as it takes effect it will make a significant difference in the process.
On the front side (first tri-fold portion) above the unit leader's signature line, the statement with the word "qualified" is being changed to: "I have discussed this merit badge with this Scout and recommended at least one merit badge counselor." The wording change has been made due to confusion over the interpretations of "qualified," "approved," and "approval," as applied to when a Scout could begin work on a merit badge. With the new statement, the unit leader's signature indicates that he or she and the Scout have talked about the Scout's desire to work on the merit badge and that a merit badge counselor has been recommended.
The intent of the modification is to give the unit leader the chance to offer counseling as to whether or not the merit badge is a good choice for the Scout, based on his abilities and any prerequisites. The terms "qualified" or "approved" were never meant to indicate that the Scout needed to pass some sort of pre-qualifying test before pursuing a merit badge, or that the unit leader had pass/fail authority to allow—or to not allow—the Scout to undertake work on a badge.
Other than this single change, the good old "blue card" is the same as before. Unit leaders are requested to use this new approach now. With release of the revised Guide to Advancement 2013 during the first half of the New Year, the practice will become mandated.
I certainly applaud removing the ambiguity of the widely misunderstood term 'qualified'. This actually does not represent a change in policy, just better wording to reflect existing policy. Scoutmasters were never intended to decide what merit badges a Scout could challenge or when and this change to the wording makes that clear.


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Read help info
You can send and retrieve email messages from a web-based email account, such as Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail. Follow these instructions to set up your phone for web-based email.
Before you can set up your phone for web-based email, you need an account with the required email provider. If you don't have an account, you can set one up on the web page of the email provider.
Please note that the steps below are based on a web-based email account. If you have a POP3 email account, you need to use the settings for POP3 email. Click here for information on how to set up your phone for POP3 email.
Find "Mobile Data Network"
Press Settings.
Press General.
Press Network.
Press Mobile Data Network.
Enter APN
Press APN below Mobile Data.
Key in live.vodafone.com
Key in live.vodafone.com
An APN (Access Point Name) is used to establish a connection from your phone to the internet.
Find "Mail, Contacts, Calendars"
Press Network.
Press General.
Press Settings.
Press Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
Create new email account
Press Add Account....
Press the required provider.
Enter sender name
Press Name and key in the name you want to use as sender name in your email messages.
Enter email address
Press Address and key in your email address (such as email@example.com).
Enter password
Press Password and key in the password for your email account at your email provider.
Enter email account name
Press Description and key in a name for your email account (such as "Private" or "Work").
Press Next.
Choose synchronisation settings
Press the indicator next to the required data type to turn synchronisation of the specific data types on or off.
Press Save.
Select setting for retrieval of new email messages
Press Fetch New Data.
Press the indicator next to Push to turn the function on or off.
If you turn off Push:
Press the required period or Manually.
To select settings for a specific email account:
Press Advanced.
Press Advanced.
Press the required email account.
Press Fetch or Manual.
Press Advanced.
Press Fetch New Data.
Press Mail... to save the settings.
Press the Home key to return to standby mode.


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ROME – Italian officials say the shipwrecked Costa Concordia will be removed from its watery graveyard off Tuscany in June and taken to a port to be dismantled, the final phase of an unprecedented 600 million-euro ($817 million) salvage effort.
Officials gave the timetable and the rundown of what was needed for the ship to be refloated at a press conference Friday that came just days before the second anniversary of the Jan. 13, 2012, grounding that killed 32 people.
A handful of Italian ports — including Piombino, Genoa, Palermo and Civitavecchia — are bidding to take in the wreck, but there are also international bidders in France, Turkey, Britain and even China.
Italy's environment minister and the head of Costa Crociere say the preference was to keep the project in Italy.


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Big Dick Ginger Gets A Blow Job And Gives A Huge Cum Facial
If you like watching big ginger cocks shooting big loads of cum, you are going to love this new video from our friends at Cum Club. Alexander is a sexy ginger with a big cock that always loves getting sucked. Our cocksucker Aaron's mouth was watering just thinking about that big ginger dick. The video starts with Alexander on the couch as Aaron moves in to take off the ginger's pants and underwear to release the big ginger cock. Aaron starts with some ball licking and teases Alexander's cock before deep throating it. Alexander is very vocal when he is getting a blowjob and instructs Aaron to go fast, deep and hard. Neither the cocksucker or Alexander could get enough of what was happening. Alexander start's fucking Aaron's face really hard and really puts the cocksuckers mouth through the wringer. The hot blow job keeps going until Alexander gets close and our cocksucker doesn't stop under he gets his reward. Aaron keeps on stroking and sucking until Alexander shoots a huge load of cum all over Aaron's face. Aaron has the boys cum all over his face and in his mouth. He takes the cum dripping cock back in his mouth and sucks every last drop like a good cocksucker does. Fuck yeah!


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A bulletproof vest saved the life of a second Metropolitan Police Department officer who was struck by gunfire while responding to last week's mass shooting at the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard.
Chief Cathy Lanier said the officer took two rounds to the chest. Another officer, identified as Scott Williams, was shot in the legs and treated at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.
"In terms of the heroism that was displayed by the officers, we now know that not only was one of our officers shot in the building but another one of our officers actually took two rounds to the chest. It was stopped by his vest,'' Lanier said, adding, "We are extremely lucky that we didn't lose a police officer in there as well.''
Lanier said she hopes Williams will be released from the hospital this week.
The chief did not identify the officer who was shot in the chest or reveal whether he sustained any injuries.
The FBI is continuing to investigate why Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old former Navy reservist and IT contractor with past mental health problems, gunned down 12 workers inside a building on the sprawling Navy Yard grounds. He used a valid badge to gain access to the property and opened fire with a shotgun before being killed by a police officer during a shootout. No motive has been revealed.
Funerals for four of the victims were being held Tuesday.
Lanier said she was satisfied with the police department's response to the shooting, especially since the building where it took place - the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command and home to about 3,000 employees - presented a logistical nightmare, encompassing nearly one million square feet of office space and thousands of high-wall cubicles.
"It's an absolute worst-case scenario for law enforcement to confront a gunman in that environment,'' she said.
Department of Defense officials have acknowledged that a lot of red flags were missed in Alexis' background, allowing him to maintain a secret-level security clearance and have access to a secure Navy facility despite a string of behavioral problems and brushes with the law.


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Sunshine Locksmith Team LLC
The Rekey Experts of Oldsmar
Sunshine Locksmith Team Secures Protects Rekeys Services Locks Up Fortifies Unlocks Oldsmar
Searching for a "Locksmith Near Me"?
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Indeed, we welcome the opportunity to protect you and your family or place of business from theft and loss.
Why Choose Us As Your Local Oldsmar Locksmith?
- Fast 60 minute service or 10% off guarantee
- You can rest assured, knowing our work is guaranteed
- Up-front pricing, free of hidden charges
- An unrivalled two year warranty on most parts and labor
- Our deadbolts and knobset/leverset locks have a lifetime warranty (certain brands only)
- Because we pin up new locks and most rekeyed locks with spool pins, picking your locks will be tougher for the next person
- We use nickel-silver keys which are much stronger than simple brass or nickel-plated brass keys
- A lifetime warranty on our nickel-silver keys
- We have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau of West Florida
- Our locksmiths have an average of 37.1 years of experience
- Fully insured
- Local locksmith near me
Rekey Experts
Local Oldsmar Locksmith Near Me
We are known as "The Rekey Experts of Oldsmar" for good reason.
In fact, Sunshine Locksmith Team is truly a full-service locksmith company — for your business locks, as well as your home or auto. We'll earn your stamp of approval by providing the finest locksmith service in the Pinellas County and Tampa Bay Area.
As a matter of fact, our highly skilled and trained Oldsmar locksmiths perform most jobs on-site by bringing the shop to you through our convenient and professional mobile service, 24 hours a day.
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Above all, we don't compromise your security by skipping corners. We compete on service, quality, and customer satisfaction.
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If you prefer to telephone, our number is 727-216-7912 or toll-free 1-888-8-SUN-KEY (1-888-878-6539).
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Ulmo's Adventure
Help Ulmo evade enemies, collect coins and find his way to the end of an amazing (but short) adventure.
Sam Eldred
Help Ulmo evade enemies, collect coins and find his way to the end of an amazing (but short) adventure.
This game started life as an experiment to see if I could implement a pseudo 3D gameworld in a top-down 2D style - you can see this in the way that sprites can move behind or under stuff. Following that, I had lofty ambitions to turn it into a Zelda-style RPG, but I soon realised that I didn't have the necessary time or talent! Nonetheless, it's a playable game and the gameworld itself has a pleasing physicality to it I think.
Graphics were created in Gimp, sounds in CFXR and soundtrack in Pxtone. I also wrote a map editor for it in Java SWT which is available from the project site.
Use cursor keys to move, space to do stuff, X to toggle sound and ESC to quit.
- Home Page
- http://code.google.com/p/rpg-world/
Ulmo's Adventure 0.92 — 9 Oct, 2011
Ulmo's Adventure 0.93 — 19 Dec, 2011
Ulmo's Adventure 0.93.pi — 4 Sep, 2012
Ulmo's Adventure 1.0 — 27 Nov, 2013
Pygame.org account Comments
Ragd 2011-10-09 16:15:05
Great game ! I like it !
Naugle 2011-10-10 15:51:24
This game is definitely Super Nintendo quality. It serves as an example of what can be done in Python/Pygame.
cornelius 2011-12-03 22:31:40
i keep dying on this game.
Juan 2011-12-05 04:09:50
is a good game! tansk!
Python NooB 2011-12-07 18:59:22
What a great game! definately one of the best i have played created with
python, reminds me of my SNES days :). I can't wait until i am able to
make something like this ... definately inspiring.
James Conner 2011-12-19 15:45:54
Love the game Completed it fully, well done. I think once you have completed it it then becomes easy so i suggest more levels getting harder as they go on.
kay 2011-12-21 18:35:55
i love this game
catmanjon 2011-12-22 00:28:30
Great game, I'm loving the transitions and different maps.
WoofWoofDude 2011-12-30 02:32:08
It's for what version of python ?
spamatica 2012-04-06 09:32:25
Awesome game! From a brief look it looks nicely coded too. It was too hard for me so I hacked the sprite collision of the enemies to be able to get to the end :D
This would definitely be possible to use as a startingpoint for a bigger zelda-like game.
Bullets! I'm missing bullets. Please add them ;)
234 2012-07-16 16:26:39
the row of bees is kinda game ruining. id at least put a checkpoint after it
Wow. that was cool.
Mike Doty 2012-07-31 20:20:51
This is a fun little game! I kept trying to push the rocks to find secret areas. The enemies definitely move pretty fast; I'd love to see some sort of "easy" mode for lesser players like me. :)
Alvaro 2012-11-26 07:20:28
So good! Inspiring.
trock 2013-05-06 05:26:56
second cave?
Mekire 2013-11-28 12:11:21
Always loved this project and very happy to see that it is still on going. Great work.
NeedHelp 2013-12-01 00:02:42
Can anyone help me? I'm planning to make an pygame rpg. When I was thinking on the code it would require, I would enemies to come after you. I don't understand the A* Algorithm so can someone point me to a place or email me a tutorial? My email is email@example.com
Mekire 2013-12-01 12:16:42
Check out the information here:
Also depending on your complexity you might not even need true pathfinding. You only need pathfinding if enemies intelligently navigate around obstacles. If the most complex thing your enemies do is try to get closer to the player when no obstacles interpose, it might not even be necessary.
Aat Karelse 2015-02-14 19:28:07
I have played this one, and out of most pygames that are meh at best this one is a winner.
I works !, great graphics !, enemy's do their thing !, music !, GREAT STUFF
Super Nunb 2019-06-02 21:16:03.270637Just finished with 10/10 coins. That was fun!


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The Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council are independent human rights experts, appointed to monitor and report on human rights violations and to advise and assist in promoting and protecting rights.
ISHR works closely with the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders and other mandates directly related to the concerns of defenders, such as the expert on freedom of assembly and association. We also advocate to ensure attention to human rights defenders by all experts, and to strengthen the overall work of the special procedures, including by advocating for the appointment of highly qualified, independent experts and by pushing States to implement their recommendations.
Photo credit: Front Line Defenders


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Robert Taylor Vintage Sepia 6x8 Photographic Print
6x8 inches. Near Mint condition. These are not 6x8 glossy photographs but are paper prints that were made to sell in 5 and 10 cent stores during world war II. Look Excellent framed.Will be shipped flat in a protective sleeve. Never hung, framed or used. Have been stored flat.
More from this collection


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It may seem crazy to talk about $8.8 billion as a sideshow, but in the case of the alleged fraud perpetrated against Hewlett-Packard by Autonomy, that's exactly what it is. No matter how this plays out in court, which is where it's certainly headed, HP will be the same troubled company.
Like the red, swollen surface of an abscess that covers a pocket of infectious pus (apologies for the metaphor), the Autonomy debacle is a symptom of underlying rot in both HP and Wall Street -- more precisely, the nexus of accounting firms and investment banks that call the plays when technology firms engage in M&A.
[ At the time, HP's Autonomy purchase looked smart to InfoWorld's Eric Knorr. | Bill Snyder on why HP CEO Meg Whitman may be steering HP into the rocks. | Get a digest of the key stories each day in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter. ]
HP: A crisis on every front
Let's make one thing clear. I've been critical of HP CEO Meg Whitman in the past, but this one isn't on her. It's the last remnant (one hopes) of the miserable reign of her fired predecessor, Léo Apotheker, truly the gift that keeps on giving.
Whitman has a huge job ahead of her, not the least of which is making sure that Autonomy continues to function within HP and that the technology for which HP paid more than $10 billion in 2011 is not wasted. Whitman's spokesman, Michael Thacker agrees, telling me, "We are 100 percent committed to Autonomy; we're going full-steam ahead with our plans for it."
Autonomy aside, consider the mess Whitman inherited that has nothing to do with Autonomy:
- HP's cash cow, the market for printers and ink, is shrinking.
- The PC market is declining as the old desktop-centric computing model takes second place to mobile hardware and applications.
- HP's mobile strategy has been entirely unclear since it killed WebOS.
- The services business that is supposed to be the other main revenue driver is in questionable shape.
Autonomy: World's most expensive turkey?
When I said Autonomy is a sideshow, I meant the accounting issue. The Autonomy unit itself is not. It was meant by Apotheker to be a cornerstone of a software strategy, and it's unclear if HP can make that strategy work. Indeed, there's an argument to be made that Apotheker may have purchased the world's most expensive turkey.
Before HP bought it, Autonomy was facing challenges after years of fast growth but poor customer relations, says Leslie Owens, an analyst at Forrester Research. "They didn't invest in R&D. They didn't have regular software releases. They weren't transparent with a road map of where they were going. They didn't seek customer feedback," she said. "Customers complained, but the promise of managing all their information and making better decisions was so attractive. So they bought more."
Soon after the HP acquisition 18 months ago, Owens said Autonomy announced a new version of its core product: "We asked for a demo; we're still waiting." In a blog post at the time she said, "But far from the integrated and complete EIM [enterprise information management] solution that HP laid out for investors, Autonomy represents a pile of technology that HP will need to make sense of." She also noted that Autonomy's IDOL (Intelligent Data Operating Layer) technology "is stagnant. There hasn't been a major release of IDOL in over five years."
Trip Chowdhry, principal analyst of Global Equities Research, is even harsher, saying when HP purchased Autonomy, "it was buying old, obsolete technology at an exorbitant price."


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Floral Voucher
The 'Floral Voucher' is a floral gift card that can be exchanged at one of the 320 Fleurop-Interflora flower shops in Belgium. This plastic credit card that has no expiry date is sent in a luxurious envelope.The value of the voucher is fully or partially exchangeable for flowers or plants offered by the local florist. The design and value of the Floral Voucher are determined by you, starting with a minimum value of 10 euros. You can choose from a selection of designs provided or you can provide an image yourself. There are endless possibilities…
Custom price must be higher then the minimum price
Please enter a price to continue
Delivery today is not possible This product can be delivered from the selected date .


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Phoenix, Ariz., Dec 20, 2013 / 02:32 am
A Phoenix, Ariz., priest has invented a computer system intended to help Catholics who are deaf, hearing-impaired or speech-impaired to make their confessions.
Father Romuald P. Zantua, the system's inventor, told CBCP News that his invention will help increase the practice of confessions, especially for deaf people who have limited access to priests who know sign language.
The website for the system, called St. Damien's Confession Box, says it is primarily aimed at the deaf and those with speech impediments who may not be able to communicate well to the priest hearing their confession.
"Most priests are also not trained or proficient enough in sign language conversation," the website said.
About 500,000 Americans use sign language as their principal means of communication.
The system runs special software that uses two dedicated, secured computers. All network connectivity options are disabled except for an Ethernet connection, which connects the devices with a network cable.
The penitent and the priest each have their own computer. They communicate through typed messages on a chat program. The messages are erased at the end of each confession.
The system is still awaiting approval from the Holy See. The National Catholic Office for the Deaf and the National Catholic Partnership on Disability have helped assess and revise the system in its development.
Church law recognizes that the deaf may confess through written communication or an approved interpreter, though all confessions must be made in person.
A video presentation for St. Damien's Confession Box said there will "always be a need" for priests who know American Sign Language, but the system provides an alternative in the absence of such priests.
The system is named for Saint Damien of Molokai, a priest who ministered to Hawaiian lepers and contracted leprosy himself. He was forbidden to leave the island of Molokai and faced great difficulty making his own confession.
The St. Damien's Confession Box website is http://stdamien.org.


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Mohammed Rasoulof's ''Manuscripts Don't Burn''Iranian Agents as Killers
This is a film about murder. You can sense it from the first scene. A gaunt man with a full beard and blood on his fingers runs to a car where a man with a paunch and a leather jacket is waiting. The setting is ominous: dusty and desolate with the outlines of a dilapidated ruin emerging in the background. The two men speed away.
The initial developments are baffling. In this new film by Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, which has just been premiered in Cannes, it takes a while to realise the motives of the two perpetrators, as well as who is pulling the strings.
The men might just as well have been Mafiosi despatched by a crime syndicate baron. But they are agents working for the national intelligence service. They are pursuing a domestic adversary: Writers and intellectuals accused of treason and links to foreign enemies. The viewer discovers incidentally that the men are acting upon a Sharia judgement. From their perspective, they are not committing murder, but carrying out a legal execution order.
Mirror of the past
The film "Manuscripts don't burn" (dastneveshteha ne-misuzand) is based on a chain of contemporary historical events that shook Iran in the late 1990s, but that has largely been forgotten today. In its conflict with the Writers' Association, the last institution to demand free speech and insist upon its political independence within the authoritarian state, the intelligence agency resorted to increasingly brutal methods.
Some literary figures – such as Hushang Golshiri – were detained, while others were killed – for example the poet Mohammad Mokhtari and the writer Mohammad Dja'far Puyandeh. The series of killings – known as the Chain Murders of Iran – also targeted Parwaneh and Dariush Forouhar, a married couple active in politics linked to intellectual circles and espousing the spiritual teachings of former democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. They were assassinated in a knife attack in their home in November 1998.
None of these historical figures are redrawn exactly in Rasoulof's film. But the action bristles with allusions to actual events. At the heart of the story are recollections of the attack on a bus carrying 21 Iranian writers to a poetry congress in Armenia. As it was travelling through the mountains, the driver attempts to plunge the bus over a cliff. He jerks the steering wheel and jumps out. But the attack fails when the bus hits a boulder. The driver was a secret service agent.
While we don't see any images of this event, it is recreated through the recollections of the film's protagonists. It provides a resonant backdrop that underpins the entire film. The writer Kasra was on the bus and wrote an eyewitness report of what happened. Because he knows that the intelligence agency could find the manuscript and destroy it, he distributes copies of it to friends to hide.
Trying to extinguishing memory
Khosro was the intelligence service agent driving the bus at the time. Now he and his boss are under orders to find all those with a copy of the report and neutralise them – thereby preventing any publication and extinguishing all memory of the failed bus attack.
"This is the first time a director has dared to make a film about the intelligence service murders. For the first time in Iranian cinematic history, a film unmasks the secret service. From the regime's point of view, this is more serious than criticising the Supreme Leader," says literary critic Faraj Sarkohi. He was one of the first people to see the final version of the movie.
Sarkohi was in fact a passenger on the bus that was very nearly driven over a cliff, and did in fact write an eyewitness report of what occurred that day. Not only did Sarkohi survive this assassination attempt, he also survived detention and torture in a secret service jail. He was released thanks to the efforts of human rights organisations and European governments, and now lives in Frankfurt, Germany. Rasoulof's movie serves as a memorial to his suffering, and the lives of those who were murdered.
Not that the film is a piece of documentary-style fiction. It dismantles reality and presents it in a new guise, just as any good artwork must do. It is not always clear in which era the action is set. On the one hand, the viewer feels transported back 15 years to the period c. On the other hand, he could just as well be in the present because the film's protagonists are not experiencing the bus attack 15 years ago, they are simply "recalling" it.
Also, the discussions that take place among the intellectuals about the point of resistance and substantial criticism of the regime in the age of Twitter and the "network generation" trigger associations with the here and now.
Precise psychology analysis
The film's strength lies in its precise analysis of the psychology of the relationship between perpetrators and victims. The director's own first-hand experience of repressive action taken against him by the regime in recent years has certainly given him a key insight into this. During work on a film project in 2009, the set was stormed by security service agents and Rasoulof's office in Tehran was searched. In early 2010, he spent several weeks at Evin prison, in the block reserved for political prisoners. "Of course, these experiences have left their mark on me," says the director.
The movie portrays agent Khosro as a man from a humble background who barely has enough money to fund treatment for his sick child. He earns money by carrying out jobs for the secret service. Any niggling doubts he may have over the legality of his actions are swiftly dispelled by his boss Morteza. Despite the suffering they inflict on their victims, both perpetrators are convinced they are on the right side of the tracks.
A change of heart such as that experienced by the lead protagonist in the German film "The Lives of Others", when a Stasi agent questions his actions, feels empathy for the artist he is spying on and finally sabotages the orders of his superior, does not feature in "Manuscripts don't burn".
Rasoulof's movie shows the obduracy and the perfidy of the intelligence service in a dictatorship: how it eats away at the self-esteem of critical intellectuals and saps the trust of those who criticise the regime. In the end, the writer suspects his long-time friend is working as a spy for the secret service.
"The characters of the two secret service killers are very well drawn," confirms Faraj Sarkohi. "When I saw the scenes featuring the two perpetrators, all the memories flooded back and I saw the guys who tortured me back then."
The cinema of others
The director has pulled of a real coup. Unlike the artists in his film, he was able to conceal his work from the spies in Iran and even smuggle it out of the country. Now he is presenting it to international audiences at the Cannes film festival, and the Iranian intelligence agency will also be aware that the film is being premiered there.
But in Cannes, Rasoulof stands in the shadow of his better-known compatriot and Oscar prize-winner Asghar Farhadi, whose new film "Le passé" ("Gozashteh") has been nominated to win a Golden Palm. Farhadi's family dramas have won him favour in both the West and with the rulers back home in Iran. The culture ministry in Tehran has already authorised the screening of "Gozashteh".
As far as Rasoulof is concerned, these are movies for a different kind of audience. "My film certainly won't be screened in Iran," he says tersely. That's the price you pay for making a political movie.
Stefan Buchen
© Qantara.de 2013
Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de
Stefan Buchen works as a television journalist for Germany's national television ARD. He is the author of the documentary film "Die Lügen vom Dienst – der BND und der Irakkrieg" (Intelligence Service Lies – the German Federal Intelligence Service and the Iraq War).


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Carbo Creation Smoothie
serves 3 - 5
1 cup apple juice
1 cup sliced peaches
¼ cup blueberries
½ strawberries
1 cup vanilla yogurt
2 ½ cups ice
Pour liquid ingredients into the blending jar.
Add all frozen ingredients.
Blend at "PULSE" setting for 30 seconds; then blend at "LOW" setting until smooth. While the machine is running, move the Stir Stick around counterclockwise to aid mixing. Serve immediately.
- West Bend Admin


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Workshop Answers Questions From Expectant Parents About Raising a Jewish Child
Los Angeles - Feb. 9, 2012 – Every year, 7,000 babies are born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center – many of them to Jewish parents who have questions about the role of Judaism in their new families.
Why, some may ask, do Jews circumcise baby boys? Are parents required to name children after long-gone family members? What exactly is a Simchat Bat ceremony for a baby girl?
Now Cedars-Sinai is providing answers in a novel workshop for expectant couples seeking to navigate Judaism's ancient traditions in their modern lives.
The March 14 session in the medical center's chapel, one of the first of its kind, is open to all Jewish couples preparing to deliver at Cedars-Sinai, including those who are unaffiliated with Jewish institutions or who are in interfaith relationships.
The one-time workshop – to be repeated in subsequent months for additional parents -- is a pilot effort that could eventually be expanded to families from other religious and cultural traditions.
"We're providing the ideas and resources and information on how to raise a Jewish child," said Cedars-Sinai Senior Rabbi Jason Weiner. "We hope to convey the beauty and to inspire, giving parents the knowledge and capability to make decisions they may not have thought about until this point in their lives."
About 1,400 Jewish babies are born at Cedars-Sinai annually, accounting for roughly 20 percent of births at the medical center. Architects of the Jewish Expectant Parent Workshop said they want to give interested parents guidance as they begin to think about the kinds of Jewish homes they might create.
During the three-hour workshop, couples will explore customs for welcoming boys and girls, along with family rituals and routines that help reinforce Jewish identity. Parents-to-be also will discuss naming traditions – some time-honored, others contemporary – and the likely changes that will occur in their family lives with the addition of newborns.
Weiner said the makeup of the workshop team itself is designed to reflect the diversity of Jewish life in Los Angeles. He is an Orthodox rabbi, while his co-teacher, rabbinic student Ilana Mills, is studying at one of Reform Judaism's flagship seminaries, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. Both have children born at Cedars-Sinai.
Jewish educators and communal leaders say the inaugural session – with room for 12 couples -- comes at an important moment for expectant parents who may have limited connection to their culture or tradition. Many do not belong to synagogues, or live far from immediate family who might otherwise support Jewish values.
"We want anyone who is bringing a Jewish child into the world to face questions with confidence," said Jonathan Schreiber, the medical center's director of community engagement who initiated the idea for the workshop. "There's more to parenthood than just the physical act of child rearing."
Expectant parents can learn more about the workshop online at www.cedars-sinai.edu/prenatal. Information also is available by calling the Prenatal Education Office, (310)-423-5168, or the Spiritual Care Office, (310)-423-5550.


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Popup Magento 2 Extension
Create popups with any HTML content, image or form when pages load for grab customer attention.The Popup Magento 2 extension is a great solution for those who want their visitors to be aware of all the latest and hot stuff on your store.
This is a universal extension to create popups with any HTML content, image or form when pages load for grab customer attention. Promote your products, news, ads and events or collect information from users by any kind of form (newsletter or any custom form) through an attractive popup window.
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Gothic Stole in Comper Purple 'Bellini' with Blue 'Bellini' Orphreys
Gothic Stole in Comper Purple 'Bellini' with Blue 'Bellini' Orphreys
This Gothic style stole is made in our Comper Purple Bellini Silk Damask, with Sarum style orphreys of Blue Bellini Silk Damask, edged with Black & Gold ½" Dice braid. The stole ends are trimmed with Bellini Blue 2" Diamond & Lay fringe, headed with Black & Gold ½" Dice braid. It is lined in Blue cotton sateen.
At the neck of the stole is a 2" x 2" gold appliqué cross, edged all around in Japanese gold thread.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss designing your own bespoke stole.
Ordering Process
Step 1. Choose your stole shape
The first step in creating your bespoke stole is to choose the shape.This can be done to complement the style of a chasuble, or chosen as a stand-alone item. We can advise on the shape, length, fabrics, orphreys, braids, cords and fringes. Our most popular stoles are the Tufton, Gothic, Romanesque, Roman, French and Spanish. Whether you already have a stole design in mind, or are unsure where to start with the design, we are here to help. We can also add bespoke design elements and embroideries to commemorate a particular occasion. Contact us to start the conversation.
Step 2. Choose your fabric and braid combinations
We are pleased to offer over 200 exclusive fabrics, as well as a wide range of braids, cross appliqués, fringes and cords. Our experienced design team is on hand to guide you through the possible combinations, and to help with decision making if needed. For deacon stoles, a cord tie is sewn in on one side, which can later be removed after ordination.
Below is an example of another shape we offer, the Sarum stole, showcasing various elements you can choose.
This bespoke stole is in Watts Cream 'Gothic' silk damask, with contrasting Red/Gold Holbein orphreys, edged in Red/Gilt 'Diamond & Lay' braid, with a 2" Red/Gilt fringe, interlined and lined in dark red cotton sateen.
Additional extras are also available, such as a gold applique neck cross, or a matching cord in the centre of the stole for a Deacon stole. Shaped neck available on request.
Step 3. Enquire to receive a quote
If you would like to commission a bespoke stole, please use the contact form below:


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Go ahead; Jump Right In!
Overheard at a Keeping Score workshop: "I love classical music, but my students are just learning the basics. It'll be a while before they know enough for me to use a complex symphony in the classroom."
Have you ever hesitated because, like this teacher, you were worried that your students didn't have enough knowledge to learn from a work like Beethoven's 5th? It's only natural – after all, we generally think about curriculum as a step-by-step process in which simple materials gradually build a platform for more complicated ones. That's true in many subjects – but the great thing about classical music is its ability to reach children at all levels. Sure, we know that there are complexities that need time to learn, but you can still make effective use of classical music right from the beginning! Here are some ways to get started:
- if your students are learning to count, have them clap along to a piece of classical music
- use a piece of classical music as a writing prompt
- use a piece of classical music to build vocabulary by asking your students for descriptive words
- use a composer's biography to get students interested
- use the families of instruments to teach concepts such as comparisons, proportions, acoustics, voice
But don't take it from me – take it from KS teachers. Fourth grade teacher Tasha Guess: "I realized that although Beethoven's 5th symphony is one of the most familiar pieces in the world, I might be the first one to share it with my student. They look forward to hearing the piece everyday." Kindergarten teacher Clare Andrews writes: "I am so shocked and surprised at how much writing I got from my kindergarteners in the second month of school!!!!!! Also how much they were interested in the music and in Beethoven!"
Denise Heredia sums it all up: "Children are not afraid like their teacher. They take it all in."
So relax, pick the piece of classical music you love the best, and take a great journey with your students!


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LA-based Martine Syms is many things—a graphic designer, a "conceptual entrepreneur," a net artist—but most importantly, a thinker who examines the assumptions of contemporary America and ways that identity and memory are transformed by the shifting boundaries of business and culture. Her work explores themes as varied as Afrofuturism, queer theory, the power of language, and the spiritual nature of the color purple. The topic of her recent SXSW presentation, "Black Vernacular: Reading New Media Art," asked the questions: "What does it mean for a black woman to make minimal, masculine net art? What about this piece is 'not black'? Can my identity be expressed as an aesthetic quality?" From 2007 to 2011, Syms was codirector of the influential Golden Age project space in Chicago, where she organized dozens of cultural projects and initiated a publishing program of young, emerging artists. She has collaborated with artists Paul Chan and Theaster Gates, created web design for fashion retailer Nasty Gal, created a branding and marketing strategy for nonprofit group Summer Forum for Inquiry + Exchange, and runs Dominica Publishing in her spare time. Her work has been exhibited at venues such as the New Museum (New York), MCA Chicago, Capricious Space (Brooklyn), and the Soap Factory (Minneapolis). Syms is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a degree in Film, Video, and New Media. In her new Insights talk "Black Vernacular: Lessons of the Tradition," Syms will describe her connection with the black radical tradition, using poet Kevin Young's ideas as a framework to understand her own design practice and strategies of code-switching.
Copresented by the Walker Art Center and AIGA Minnesota.