text:
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
71 comments:
iyiyiy... this is even more cryptic than the last one! lol Hope it means something good.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 20, 2016 at 12:37 PM
Well, Welll, Welll! Now this is interesting!! Those with a skill set in Espanol will be able to find some revealing information, in terms of explaining the abbreviation/code. Now We're moving!ReplyDeleteReplies
Hope that is good news brother!ReplyDelete
The Breakthrough is near!ReplyDelete
what is the integration going on?ReplyDeleteReplies
So many aspects , government, financial.secret space programs , disclosure , food ..... All being changed ( ready to change)Delete
Arrests , displacement of dark with light, underground bases distroyed or iberated , intergration of all these brances of the tree of life are being transformed into a completely new existence
Listening to alot of rob potter interveiws they have been very goid.ReplyDelete
Cobra cory goode interview part 2 was extremely informative.
And that was an older interview put covered very up to date subjects.
There is SO MUCH going on and intergrating there is a full disclosure and it CAN NOT. Ne stopped the snow ball has been pushed down the mountain, the launch sequence has been initialized ,
Light workers we still have so much ahead to help freinds and family wrap their thoughts about all sci_ fi is true and all they know and have known was the matrix that kept them in slavery
We are already Victorious there is so much in place so much in the wings .
Victorious we are already , Now the work we were put here for will begin . Light warriors we are the true golden threads that will bind the new global matrix of galactic freedom
Victorious is the lightReplies
Tell them about "this sci fic things"?Delete
Haha. Good luck.
I did my best already with all the people that i know, and all i got are the same hive mentallity responses, same stupid reactions, same blindness again and again! So f'n incredible!!! It looks that we are still living in the same middle age. So i dont even bother with that anymore. Good luck to you.
If the so called Event comes, and with it the Disclosure, they are doomed to be shocked. They actually deserve it.
I hear you. Once it happens they will be ready to listen. Until then try not to get so frustrated.Delete
I prefer to spend my energy in better things.Delete
Exactly people ready to receive will ... People that arent open yet , will be numb and in shock and awe ....then you can stand before them calmly and ask "any questions?"Delete
The Event itself will up grade their consciousness the AI will be removed from all of us and they will be less fearful, less close minded .remember some sheeple are deeply weighted down in AI programimg.Cobra repeatedly says this AI programing will be removed thru all plains of existance the compression break thru with the anomaly removed the octopus removed the dark , industrial vacuumed into the central sun.
Yes we have alot of work to do but it will be a lot more joyous with the new mind set sheeple will have from the event.
Banking system fixed free energy rolled out , money and the uplifted mentality on a global scale like never before seen .
You will not , we will not be in the negative laden old ways we will be in the all new improved new world .The age of Aquarius !
Love and light yeaaah!ReplyDelete
We have switched on the Bright Lights and hit the Fast Lane.
Please fasten your seat-belts and put your back-rest into an upright position.
To the Left: Are You Ready? *nod*
To The Right: Are You Ready? *nod*
Let's Get It ON!
Haha, I love you! You have the best comments. Let's hang out :)Delete
That is so nice of you to say that - Thank You, Leah.
When all of this is over and We have defeated the dark Once And For All and I've got My Girl back in my arms I'm sure we can meet up for a vegan pizza and some cold drinks.
First round's on Me - as long as Dini gives me some pocket money to spend 'cause I ain't got any :-)))
Speaking of The Love Of My Eternal Life:
Just like She has from the first time I saw her, She reaches in and grabs right hold of My Heart.
Genesis Wusterhusen
It was Love At First Sight, and EVERY SIGHT since then.
Ich freu mich so sehr drauf Dich wieder zu sehen, Süße. Du bist die Beste, die Schönste und die Einzige für mich. Ich liebe Dich.
Pedal To The Metal und Vollgas ab nach hause, alle miteinander.
We are old, we are young, we are IN THIS TOGETHER
This one I did not expect and did not see coming. Yet it was presented to Me and I want to share it. Ülease don't ask Me what the code in the URL means, I don't know either, but it's important.
A few years ago an online mate of mine and his friends went to one of Prince's club gigs when he'd play to shows a night at the same venue.
So, how was it?
"Well . . . we paid 275 dollars each for a ticket, he played for two hours. And when it was over we all felt that we owed Prince money."
Ooo-Kay... colour me impressed.
So on that note, here's what just showed up right out of the blue. Or is it out of the purple in this case? ;-)
It is quite the festival of Love and Light:
Prince at the SuperBowl
Love And Light And Peace It Will Be Forever.
...OF THE LIGHT!!Delete
And The Song will begin Once Again.
It starts NOW
Victory Of Love And Light
This ain't Prince - but it's from the Prince's Trust, and it's from 1987, the year Dini was born.
"When you walk into the room you hold me close and we start to move
And we're spinning with the stars above
And you lift me up in a WAVE OF LOVE
Ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth?
Ooh, Heaven is a Place On Earth
They say: In Heaven, Love comes First
We'll make Heaven a Place On Earth"
Working on it, my Love. I'm really really working on it.
Almost there.
On The Air
Love And Light
This one just beacuse I had it in my head all night long last night.
"The hardest thing I'll ever do is watch My Leading Lady kiss some other guy while I'm bandaging my knees."
No shit . . Fuck those guys!!! ;-)
Greetings Family of Light . I am integrating a deeper feeling of the Souls Presence in my mental and emotional states . The programing , perceptional awareness , beliefs that are limited are arising to be dealt with. Seen acknowledged forgiven blessed . Manifestations are notably quickened . The compression break through Event is tangibly more accessible energetically ,,,feelings , vision ,,,,manifestation in my other realms of unfolding events is confirming the quickening for All . Angelic's Abound .ReplyDelete
Yon Mee Shee Haah
Hee Mee Shee Shee.
Thanks Cora for the info.,ReplyDelete
Looking forward to hearing how successful last week's (9/16) meditation was. Or is L1ASCVTX1V integration in progress a result of the meditation.
Power & Victory to the Light
L1 Ascesion Vortex 1(first/only)version?
Victory of lightReplies
The link is to the post about the veil, Monday, June 18, 2012.Delete
At that time Cobra didn't know that an octopotus as a living negative entity surrounding the earth, with its tentacles full of strangelets and toplets reaching the entire solar system, and even the galaxy, was preventing any action for good, and until it will be completely removed nothing tangible for good will be possible...
Nice, sounds correctDelete
Please let LOVE defeat the EVIL HATEFUL DISHONEST ways of people I am having to deal with in my life. Something needs to CHANGE very quickly or I may be going home before my contract expires . . .ReplyDeleteReplies
Isolate urself from those toxic ppl as much as possible. It is not ur obligation to be next to them. If necessary, kick their asses.Delete
Hi David M Lowe,Delete
there is a spiritual teacher of "Mastering Alchemy" named Jim Self. He says: Every day imagine a rose in front of you. Then put these EVIL HATEFUL DISHONEST people in the rose and let explode the rose.
Hmmm I don't know what that's code for BUT the feeling i get from this update is that it's not a reaction or counter measure but instead we have achieved enough success for the implementation of this program- again that's just pure intuition I haven't a clue as to what the program itself is.ReplyDelete
Thank YOU Cobra!ReplyDelete
This one is really very inspiring!
As soon as i read it, this is what was put in my mind:
ALL LOCAL and GALACTIC LIGHT FORCES are integrating, co-operating together to bring the FREEDOM as soon as possible.
The button of the Victory of the LIGHT has been pushed, and nothing, or nobody in the Universe, can stop it from happening!
Blessings and gratitude to the RM, and to ALL Light Forces for the job well done!
Everyone remember to do the extra ascension meditation tomorrow.ReplyDelete
I somehow remembered to do the one on the 16th also, just like 1 hour before it happened. It was like a spirit guide tapped me on the shoulder just in time to do it.
All is so filthy,... and so disgusting,... All that is related to do or to experience something... Anything!ReplyDelete
Cobra, at least after the Event will it somehow be an 'office' hosted by the Light forces, or at least by RM where we are allowed to declare all what we 'fuck', but without to be considered rough or impolite?ReplyDelete
For instance, if we need to declare 'I fuck...'.
But, until then, would you please allow it here on this friendly blog? Of course without being us judged as impolite.
Please Cobra... Be our friend once more.Replies
Gosh, not sure what you're getting at here....Delete
Finally there is a progress on L1ASCVTX1V integration... thank you Cobra!ReplyDelete
What ever happens on this planet i am here and will stand with the light and the freedom of all life forms and this planet.ReplyDelete
I have broken my soul contacts.
No once owns me in this planet or the next.
I am a sovereign being i take back my power and my energy...
To the controllers here your next steps determines your fate make the right one....
Can you talk about this? According to Corey Goode and his intel only 300,000 people will ascend at the time of the event.
"Corey: Well, it's quite a sight to behold. My heart was beating faster. I was breathing faster. And it didn't help my anxiety - the next thing that Tear-Eir communicated.
He communicated that if at this moment this event occurred, less than 300,000 people from the planet would be harvested or ascend.
David: And the word 'harvested' is a Law of One term.
Corey: Yes.
David: And was he using that term?
Corey: Yes, he was using that term.
David: Really? So that's very, very small. And tell us again what the criteria is for Ascension in the Law of One? It's very simple, right?
Corey: Right, to be 51% service-to-others."Replies
That "information" is completely false.
"Corey Goode" has admitted to have been MK-Ultra mindprogrammed in the past, and while he claims to have overcome that he still is. He is in desperate need of help and is in no position to make claims like the ones you mentioned.
At this point in time he is a tool of the dark, mixing real facts with fear-based mis- and disinformation. I read the above quote, and it made My Heart cringe so badly it nearly made me throw up 'cause it is just so wrong.
Ascension will happen to the entire Planet and all of us, not just 300k people.
Please do yourself a favour and listen to your Heart and ignore misinformation like that. Don't be afraid, my friend, you won't be left out of the Ascension Process. It will be All Good for All Of Us.
And that's not just a Promise. That's a FACT.
Love and Light and Peace For All
i dont know where he he gets his numbers.. probably from an out of space small colony sample.... is me guess :)Delete
especially since this game has been played out so horribly on Gaia and expect 51% of service? Does he take into account past lives, contracts etc etc...
1 dimensional number...
does it mean 300,000 will star glowing before our eyes ?:)Delete
I am not even concern who gets to ascend or not... what I would like to see is that everyone gets out of jail.
"to Glow or not to Glow" it matters not as we all have different paths but at least experience true free will not this fools gold or fake free will.
Your fear got you.Delete
Your mind stopped and hammered away those words to you and you need to go back and listen , after he made that statement , continue he said at that " particular point in time".
I say Dont worry about the details stop the AI in you that feeds you fear , understand we all are infected with AI. , see it kbow it , shed your inner light on it say" I see you artificial inteligence , you have no control over my free will , I dont fear your small mind , my soul is untouched by you go away."
I also need you to start a steady mind meld by listening to this when you let AI influence you again to the piint of freezing your thoughts on the negative.
Here is simple effective medicine very powerful antidote
I totally agree with Rajah. I don't think Corey Goode is a bad person, but the things he says just don't sound right to me. Maybe he is indeed being manipulated by the dark. Anyways, it's up to you to identify what resonates with your inner truth.Delete
I don't consider myself to be an "Inpath". But the fact is I do feel people. I can feel their feelings.Delete
I have a VERY hard time even getting through....I've never gotten through one of corey's "sessions". I'm just being honest. BULLSHIT always comes to mind. Am I wrong guys?
Yep, most of Earth is riff-raff. That's how the Dark can maintain control without doing much.Delete
Every single person I've ever known is at least 90% service to self. All the "generous" things people do is really self serving BS. This number is totally accurate and won't ever include the majority.Delete
This is why the good aliens are so quick to say "we'll intervene IF the majority want it." They know perfectly well there isn't and will never be a majority; they'll do it for their own reasons in the end. Why do you guys think after the Event people will suddenly stop being themselves and be all happy and kind. Have you guys been to major cities? This planet is covered in sprawling hell holes with seriously shitty people. If they're left to their own devices (which they will), they'll still suck. Maybe our systems will be fixed, but ascension. LOLDelete
Patrick u really crack me up, but in a good way. You are a lucid observer of reality.Delete
@Kenny Gerces:
You may be more empathic than you give yourself credit for; you are spot-on with your feelings about "Corey's" messages.
His Soul means well but due to the dark's evil mind-control mechanisms the poor fella doesn't know whether to crap or wind his watch.
But I don't think it's his fault.
I personally know at least three peole who are very similarly controlled, and it is not pretty.
Hang On - HELP IS ON ITS WAY!!! :-)
Love, Light, Unity, Peace, Freedom and Ascension for All
I AM RaJah
I think there has been some misunderstanding about Ascension and the Event. We don't all have to be ascension ready at the event, it is just the beginning, one layer of 3rd density will be shed, the whole earth Ascension will happen over years or decades. It is ridiculous to think we were going to have some ascension event in the near future where God would need 5 billion or so suffering and deceived humans to suddenly be Christ-like perfect to qualify, that's just absurd.Delete
@Rajah. According to Cobra,asscension will not happen to the entire planet at the time of the event. The event will eliminate the dark forces (Primary anomaly) and allow us the freedom for us to accend at our own individual pace. Reguardless of wether you assend or not, the Event is about freedom.Delete
So let's just agree to disagree on the details and focus on the Big Picture.
Lots Of Love And Light ANd peace Forever
In Love and Light
i agree :) yes i love it also.ReplyDelete
love n light. :)
Try our bestReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
Hey Rajah what's new? I always enjoy reading your insights. I usually skim through Corey's information when I'm bored at night. I wondered why he would post that and was curious to what Cobra would say about it.ReplyDelete
Bornoflight, thanks I'll check that out. :)
Crazy stuff going on where I live. I live near Charlotte where the rioting and police are acting out. All of last week it has felt like a huge attack here.Replies
Hi golly,
Thank You for your kind words of support, they mean a lot to me.
I know the question was directed at Cobster not me, and my Brain didn't necessarily want to respond at first - but My Higher Self and My Heart said in unison "The heck you will respond, dude! That's far too important to be left unanswered." And I've been doing this long enough to know better than to argue with those two :-)
So you live near Charlotte, NC?
Wow. Just yesterday, before your comment was published, I was thinking about that town and the beautiful scenery there when I listened to The Ric Flair Show podcast. That is quite astonishing Synchronicity once again.
It is All Coming Together :-)
The SnowBall is turning into an Avalanche, and is picking up Speed fast. We Will Not Be Stopped :-)
Victory Of Love And Light. And Peace For All And Forever
To Golly,Delete
Whether the number is correct or not, it's secondary. The 300,000 number was a real eye opener for me. It has completely transformed me. Since then, I'm consciously aware of all my intentions towards other people. Look into yourself and ask if there is any room for improvement? I started to pray again, asking for guidance to show me the path how to be 51% service to others. Each planet stays in 3D only for 3x25920 years. Every cycle ends with an inevitable adjustment. We are already + 3 years over at the end of the 3rd cycle. "No one knows the day or hour" Jesus said. That's why it couldn't have happened on 2012.12.21 I believe that the worst of us must experience a cataclysmic event while in their physical forms, to pay back their karmic's debt for all the crimes against humanity. David Wilcock is connecting the dots brilliantly in Wisdom Teachings # 152-154.
- AnonymousSeptember 22, 2016 at 9:37 PM
It may indicate lv1 ascention integration.ReplyDelete
Not only had I seen the public awareness raised but also the celebrities in the world.
This article explains a lot why it seems like all hell is breaking loose...and why Sheldan Nidle makes more sense to me right now than Ben Fulford...which likely means we are very close to the Paradigm Shift. It's been a roller-coaster, glorious heights and dark depths, everyone and everything seems surreal lately. Patterns and anything obsolete getting triggered for release, revelation, revolution...multidimensional aspects shifting before our eyes. Alice in Wonderland meets Dorothy on her way to Oz.ReplyDelete
I'm going outside in nature as much as possible.
LISA RENEE (Energetic Synthesis): "Passing by Black Hole Systems"
...and in case her site gets taken down again, you can read it here, and see a nice black hole animation to boot!:
Ascension Hang Over – The Blues, the Rage and the FluReplyDelete
By Vera Ingeborg
Not only had I seen the public awareness raised but also the celebrities in the world.ReplyDelete


text:
VF-171EX Nightmare Plus Alto Saotome Custom
Review by VF5SS
The ever progressing Macross universe is filling up with even more Valkyrie designs. Not only do they serve as the machines employed by the characters, they also convey a sense of progression from one series to the next. The venerable VF-1 from the original Macross is considered a classic in-universe by the time of Macross 7 and has found its way into the hands of enthusiasts, space pirates, and an irate space Amazon mayor. Likewise, the VF-11, introduced at the beginning of Macross Plus, is shown to be outdated during the course of that OVA/movie and by the time Macross 7 rolls around it can barely keep up with all the stock footage. Even during a brief fling with prequels Macross used the real life Valkyrie inspiration, the F-14, to transition from conventional aerial warfare to the age where all jets have arms. To link Macross Frontier with its chronological predecessor, Macross 7, the striking black Valkyrie piloted by the cool soldier became the one that gets blown up by the bad guys to show how serious space war can be. Enter the VF-171.
The VF-171EX Nightmare Plus is a tuned up version of the standard VF-171. This particular unit is used by dashing young ace pilot Alto Saotome towards the end of the series. There was much talk during the airing of Macross Frontier on whether the Valkyrie with the most screen time (a lot of which is stock footage) would be getting a DX Chogokin toy so it could stand beside its series mate, the VF-25. In a strange case of life imitating art, the announcement of the VF-171EX toy was practically out of nowhere. Normally we would see a teaser, followed by CAD pics, and then a gray painted prototype over months of development ,but the VF-171EX was revealed with a fully painted prototype with preorders going up less than a month after it was announced. This preorder panic caused much grief to an already taxed western fanbase who cursed the shortage of Valkyries in the Frontier toy line. The first Valkyrie to be seen in the opening episode to Frontier became a highly desired piece for people hammering their keyboards searching for a preorder to secure.
The VF-171EX was fortunate enough to be developed after Bandai started bringing their A-game to the Macross Frontier DX Chogokin toys. It is a sight to behold both in terms of looks and in much of its engineering. Alto's Hikaru Ichijo-inspired color scheme is perfectly represented on this figure through the use of numerous paint apps and tampo printed markings. Like the YF-29 and Renewal VF-25 toys, the VF-171EX is solidly locked together in fighter mode and sits stably atop a set of diecast tricycle landing gear with rubber tires. The VF-171EX is slightly shorter in length than the VF-25 Renewal version and seems to weigh a smidgen less.
Some may argue that Alto gets more a raw deal in the Frontier TV series because in the movies he works his way up to the bleeding edge YF-29 Durandal instead of a brief affair with this stealthy lass. His use of a character-specific VF-171 did increase the chances of a toy being made, because character units always sell more than generic mass production models. This is especially true for Macross toys.
The Macross 7 fleet was in the process of transitioning from outdated VF-11 Thunderbolts to more advanced VF-19 Excaliburs. For the first half of the series, their singular elite special forces unit, "Diamond Force", employed the striking stealth styled machine designated VF-17 Nightmares (as seen on the right). As a way of connecting Macross 7 to Frontier, the main fighter of the Frontier fleet was the VF-171 Nightmare Plus. It is common in real life for military forces to eschew a top of the line fighter in favor of a retooled version of an existing one. As Yamato toys continued their foray into the Macross 7 license with their VF-17S Diamond Force Color, the speculation over a VF-171 from Bandai became much more fervent. The relative quickness of the release lead to many rumors that the two toys shared some developers. There are many similarities between these two toys, although I am not sure how much can be attributed to the fictional lineage of the VF-17 to VF-171 and how much may be direct inspiration at a design level. The VF-17 is noticeably heavier than the VF-171EX.
Hey look it's the Yin-Yang Diamond Force.
A lot of people ask if, by the end of the Macross 7 era even the space kangaroos are upgrading to VF-19s, why is the Frontier fleet using what amounts to a souped up VF-17? I mean, 19 is greater than 17, right? The answer from Shoji Kawmaori is that the VF-19 was too heroic looking to be relegated to a supporting role. Much to my chagrin I understand the VF-17 was always more a secondary hero and the importance of distinguishing the common soldiers from the heroes. Otherwise this would be a confusing mess of similar looking badasses like in Muv-Luv.
This F-117-inspired machine is far more sleek and graceful than its real life counterpart. Many have joked that Alto's preference for stark white Valkyries turned a once stealthy craft into a bright beacon in space.
Much like other modern Valkyrie toys, the VF-171EX has an opening canopy with a removable pilot figure for the cockpit.
One oddity between the two Alto units I own is that their respective pilot figures are painted differently. The one that came with my YF-29 (right) lacks the black paint on its hands and feet. Kinda makes it look like Alto is feeling catty. This appears to be the case in all the YF-29 reviews I have seen. The VF-25F Renewal version also has the correct paint apps so it appears the YF-29's pilot is an anomaly for what should be the same character.
As I mentioned before, the toy has numerous tampo markings and paint applications that tastefully accentuate the graceful curves of the fighter without looking too busy. Unfortunately, due to the transforming nature of the toy, stuff can be unintentionally weathered through handling. The shiny hard ABS that Bandai uses is usually more prone to scratches and chips than, say, the more matte finish plastic Yamato used for their VF-1 toys.
The interior of the feet show a simple engine nozzle and some tread patterns along the soles, all rendered in diecast metal.
Much like Yamato's VF-17, the VF-171EX comes with a pair of covers for the hand ports. These do not retract or store anywhere and are for aesthetics only. They simply plug into the cuff of the wrist area. One thing I like about the VF-171EX's design that the toy highlights all the little details from the VF-17 that are carried over to the new fighter, such as the thrusters at the base of the backplate. The VF-171EX has these as permanently exposed gray vents, unlike the VF-17's subtle opening panel setup.
Unlike the VF-17, the VF-171EX stores its gun pod externally along the center line of the fighter mode.
The gun pod attaches with a simple tab that plugs into a slot on the dorsal plate. There's also a flip up bracket on the stock of the gun that gets sandwiched between a pair of tabs on the legs. The legs on my VF-171 don't quite come together flush so the front tab does most of the work. It still keeps the gun pod securely attached by itself.
The VF-171EX comes with a five part plastic display stand that is similar to the one with the VF-25 Renewal and YF-29. It is likewise very simple yet functional. The two piece adapter plugs into slots near the gullet and a slot in each leg.
Sometimes it can be difficult to leave the gun pod plugged underneath the fighter mode while attaching it to the stand. I found that leaving the gun pod on the stand and then attaching the fighter to the adapter tends to work better. You can fiddle the gun pod back into place after the fighter is secured to the stand.
Rather than a giant New UN Spacy logo, the VF-171EX's base is detailed like a launching hatch on a space carrier. I did supply my own NUNS sticker just to keep it more in line with the VF-25's giant SMS logo bearing stand. Oddly enough, Yamato's VF-17 comes with a complete set of NUNS marking stickers.
Alto isn't fast enough to fly with Diamond Force.
He isn't as much of a maverick as Ozma either.
A FlightPose stand helps me show off the fighter mode without the clunky default stand. She's a beautiful girl in flight.
And the VF-171 is pretty too.
The transformation of the VF-171EX toy has left me with mixed opinions on the overall handling experience. While the overall motions of the conversion process are rightly similar to the VF-17 toy, there are many places where Bandai tried to one-up Yamato with more fidelity while sacrificing ease of use. This area pictured above is perplexing in its execution. This small black piece hinges in the middle to allow the shoulder pauldrons to swing forward for arm deployment. Its purpose is to smooth out the space between the chest plate and the underside of the shoulder pauldrons. It isn't too hard to handle going from fighter to Gerwalk to Battroid, but going back sometimes requires small fingers or a tool to position it the right way as there's little to grab onto when manipulating it.
Almost all of the major transformation joints are made from diecast metal, such as the main backpack hinges. The biceps are also made of diecast, with many of the joints being very tight out of the box. Trying to loosen the main bicep required me to disassemble the arm and rotate the inner joint with a pair of pliers. You need the arms to rotate with some degree of smoothness, as they need to be in a certain position for fighter mode.
After you deploy the legs, those little black parts can be pushed farther inward so that they rest behind the calves. Be aware of their position when changing back to fighter mode so that they are not accidentally crushed or left in a position when you cannot pull them out because the shoulder pauldron is in the way. Ideally, for going back to fighter mode, these black parts should be pulled outward with the widest part at the end bent outward. See my videos for more information.
Also be aware that the wings are designed to be removable. The large white pivot point pops off intermittently during handling. It feels like it locks in when turned a certain way so I am currently omitting pictures of this feature for my own sanity. The upcoming Super Parts set has a new set of wings with hard points for missiles.
The piece of curved white plastic above these black streamlining piece is unnervingly thin. In Battroid mode this area is left without the black parts underneath to support them so an errant pinch might snap off the curved portion of the piece. This area is different on the base VF-17 design and Yamato's toy does it with a simple hinged part that is not fragile. I feel as though Bandai should have eschewed anime accuracy for something more durable or at least made this part out of PVC or diecast metal if this is how they wanted to engineer this area.
The hands normally stored inside the forearm in this position with the flat part of the hand matching the flat part of the arm. The index finger and thumb fit inside the slot at the bottom of the wrist socket. A flip out lock latches over the hand to prevent it from moving.
Flipping the lock up and pushing the elbow in until it clicks will expose the hand just enough so you can pull it out by the fingers. After this you flip the lock back down and it secures the sliding wrist socket in place. This is so you can swap between the default articulated hands and the set of six fixed pose hands. On the right wrist of my figure it is very difficult to get the lock to latch down so that it secures the sliding wrist socket. I find this to be an odd case of quality control as I can barely tell there is anything off from one arm to the other.
You get a pair of fists, relaxed hands, and gun pod holding hands in addition to the two articulated hands. Only the articulated pair can retract inside the arms.
The articulated hands look eerily similar to the kind Yamato has been using on their Valkyries since their second 1:60 scale VF-1. I know there's only so many ways to do a robot's hand, but this is an interesting detail to me.
The VF-171EX's gun is probably meant to be the same model as the VF-17's, although it is slightly smaller. It's interesting to see how all of the details carried through to the Bandai toy with a few extra notches along the barrel. The stock and handle do not collapse on the VF-171EX's gun, which appears to be accurate to the show.
Other than those fragile feeling areas under the armpits, the figure achieves a very solid Gerwalk mode. One thing you may notice during transformation is that the extra leg swivel below the knees does not move while the legs are fully extended for Gerwalk mode. This is so you can just use the swivel above the locomotive knee joint for a stable A-stance.
I saw Wings of Goodbye so I know Alto's pretty leggy.
The bulkier VF-17 toy isn't as solidly locked together in Gerwalk mode as the VF-171EX. the VF-17 is easier to switch between modes, though. Regardless of their differences, I feel both figures complement each other quite well.
Despite not having any pullout arm guns, the VF-171EX's double jointed elbows do allow it to mimic the VF-17's unique primary Gerwalk mode.
Again you can see many little details shared between the two Valkyries such as rows of nosecone verniers and the single piece canopy setup. Gamlin does have a much more distinctively 90's color palette on his flight suit though.
Swapping out one piece of the fighter mode stand adapter lets you mount the VF-171EX to the display base in Gerwalk mode. Again the simplicity of the stand limits how dynamic it can look, although I did find that you can totally prop up the base at an angle with the unused stand parts. That's something I guess.
The NUNS forces always lend a helping hand. It's a good break for Alto who used to hang out with those uncouth SMS private military contractors. Civil service builds character in a young man.
During transformation into Battroid mode you will come to loathe this little door that hinges at the top of the collar area. In fighter mode it rests between the white part of the head and the back of the neck. This door swings freely once the head is moved out of the way. It will often get stuck facing forward or on the top of the cockpit as you try moving the chest plate into position. Be patient and don't force anything. Once everything is in place the back plate locks into the dorsal plate using a tab on top and the gun pod slot. The base of the neck swivels around and rests above the troublesome door without locking into it in anyway. Everything is more or less secured by the two tabs in the back.
The VF-171EX is as equally beautiful in Battroid mode as it is in fighter mode. While far more svelte than its predecessor, it still looks like a capable craft with all the earmarks of a Kawamori mechanical design. The red and black striping all over its body is quite striking, while the clear green plastic visor draws the eye up to the top of its sleek silhouette. I've been told the colors on the feet make the figure look as it is wearing comfortable sneakers.
The back plate of the VF-171EX has extensive paint work that is very eye-catching without being too gaudy. Unfortunately, the red paint near the top is prone to chipping as that is where the arms rest in fighter mode. The edges of the elbow joint rub against that area and can take paint off. I don't want to think about potential paint chipping caused by the upcoming Super Parts set.
The head is absolutely gorgeous. The paintwork is crisp and the clear green double visors gleam as they catch light around them. You get two pairs of head lasers for the monitor turret: one hard ABS and one soft PVC.
I switched mine to the hard ABS set as the soft PVC one did not want to rotate smoothly and I feared I would sheer off the ball-joints.
The flip out verniers on each shoulder pauldron are difficult to manipulate without some kind of tool. The fact that they're easy to forgot about is totally not the reason you might notice them retracted in several pics. No sir.
The chest mounted guns are attached with ball-joints just in case you feel like playing with Alto's nipples.
While in the NUNS forces, Alto studied CQC under the mysterious master Machida.
The VF-171EX is a well articulated figure with none of the limbs being impeded by airplane parts. The ball-jointed hips can be really tight out the box to the point of annoyance, though.
You are not Klan Klan...
Kneeling is doable with some careful manipulation. I always take up the challenge of not using the extra Gerwalk joint when posing a Valkyrie in Battroid mode.
Just a single adapter part is needed to mount the VF-171EX to the stand. It cups around the diecast hip swing bar and supports the toy adequately.
The toy is fixed in place on the stand so you have to get fancy with camera angles.
As Yamato and Bandai have become somewhat like anime rivals in the Macross toy business, there was much discussion on how the VF-171EX would compare to the VF-17. This not the first time Bandai made a toy of the same or similar Valkyrie design that Yamato already covered. From the brief time of the VF Hi-Metal line to the Frontier version of the Koenig Monster, Bandai seemed to be playing catch up with Yamato in terms of high end Valkyrie toys. The VF-171EX and the VF-17 are very similar in terms of their basic design, with the VF-171EX toy mimicking a lot of details in terms of how the arms are stored in fighter mode and even how the hands deploy. Other things like the base of the neck rotating around for Battroid mode and the use of a support arm for the rear of the Gerwalk mode walk the line between necessary developments and direct inspiration.
In comparing the two toys one has to acknowledge that their original mechanical designs come from different eras. While the VF-17 was planned out using a Lego model as was done with many Valkyries since then, its ultimate end as a 2D mechanical design brings along all the inherent inconsistencies of that medium. As such, there are several engineering challenges when it comes time to produce the definitive high-end toy rendition.
For some Yamato's VF-17 toy is both amazing in its sheer presence and feel, but a step back from their VF-19 toys due to its simpler transformation and distinct lack of solid locking supports for Gerwalk and Battroid modes. With certain parts being held in place by friction tabs or just being positioned the right way, the VF-17 feels more like a garage toy made by a small manufacturer. While Yamato is nowhere near the size of Bandai, their Macross 7 era VF-19s feel much more traditional toy-like with numerous locking tabs and a very solid design. While the VF-17 is much simpler in terms of complexity, its compactness does not allow a lot of room for bulky locking tabs, and its minimalist transformation relies on many small joints that cannot really be reinforced without interfering with the overall shape of the fighter mode. There is also the issue of its high price, as it is the most expensive Valkyrie to date at MSRP. The strong Yen only compounds this issue for foreign buyers. Its price is nearly twice as much as the VF-171EX. The VF-17 design predates the VF-171EX by over a decade and doesn't generate as much fervor as a result, so it comes across as more niche in an already niche market.
The VF-171EX and other modern Valkyries benefit greatly from the advent of computer modelling. Now there was much less discrepancy between the on screen designs and what ended up as a toy.The fast pace of anime production still leaves room for cutting corners, however, especially when it comes to supporting machines in a robot show. I get the feeling from how Bandai handled the main body transformation for the VF-171EX and other tiny details that the design itself was probably not as lovingly planned out as the main star of Frontier: the VF-25. It does benefit from being a three dimensional construct, and the overall figure feels more like a traditional toy with numerous locking tabs that audibly snap into place. If the areas around the armpits felt less fragile, and if the chest came together with fewer hangups I'd place the VF-171EX ahead of the VF-17. Those factors, however, combined with the scarcity of the toy itself places the two on a more even keel in terms of design and price. In my opinion, the VF-171EX is the most difficult to handle during transformation of any of the 1:60 scale Valkyrie toys in my collection. I have most definitely warmed up to it over time, but there is something to be said about how much easier the VF-17 is to transform.
In the end I would like to sidestep the issue of comparison as I feel both toys more than adequately fulfill their role as the best toy rendition of their respective designs to date. In a perfect world it would be more about which Valkyrie design do you prefer. The VF-171EX is a beautiful looking toy with some grating flaws to its engineering. Overall it's a satisfying purchase for someone such as myself who seeks to achieve Valkyrie nirvana. As long as you understand its quirks it's definitely part of the upper echelon of modern Macross toys.
Comments8 comments posted
Kawmaori is correct with the upgrades of fighters.
A Bi-plane was remade into the Grumman Wild Cat which became the Hell Cat, then the Tiger Cat and Bear cat.
You can see the design similarities between all the different versions yet basically they all came from a Navy Bi-plane.
You don't see that a lot in anime or Sci-fi.
...the Tigercat, for example, was a *twin*-engined design and was almost certainly planned that way from the beginning, rather than being an upgraded Wild/Hell/Bearcat etc.
IIRC, Milia still managed to kick ars - I mean, posterior, in her "standard" VF-1 in Macross 7, though... :-)
I was thinking more like Hornet to Super Hornet or Su-27 to Su-35.
whats the red mech from? its been bugging me for ages now!
That's Yamato's 1/60 scale Queadluun Rau from Macross.
The 1/55 reissues ended up being real shelf warmers in Japan so I think they're less enthusiastic about putting out a product if it just sits on the shelves.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Alan Wood's Unicode Resources
Large, multi-script Unicode fonts for Windows computers
The number of Windows TrueType and OpenType fonts that support Unicode is slowly increasing. One of the first was Lucida Sans Unicode from Bigelow & Holmes, supplied with a pre-release SDK for Microsoft Windows NT 3.1 in March 1993. Bitstream also had an experimental Unicode font, CyberBit, freely available from Netscape for several years. The core fonts (Arial, Times New Roman and Courier New) for Windows platforms were converted to Unicode even before Microsoft changed to the 16-bit WGL4 character set (652 characters) in place of the 8-bit ANSI character set (256 characters), and the numbers of characters in these fonts has continued to increase. Many of Microsoft's operating systems and applications come with additional Unicode fonts, and Office 2000 onwards includes Arial Unicode MS, which includes all of the characters in version 2.0 of the Unicode standard. There is also a large shareware Unicode fonts, Code2000.
You need Unicode fonts to display many of the characters for which there are HTML 4.0 character entity references, and to display the Unicode test pages.
With the latest core fonts for Windows, you can add a suitable keyboard layout (from the Language tab in the Keyboard section of Control Panel), and then select a layout from the icon tray in the taskbar and start typing in a different language – without needing to change fonts:
You can find out if your Windows fonts support Unicode by using the extensions that Microsoft supplies for the Properties tab that is available when a TrueType (.TTF) font file is right-clicked in Windows Explorer. Amongst other things, these extensions provide statistics on the number of glyphs and on the Ranges and Code Pages that are supported. The extensions are available from http://www.microsoft.com/typography/property/property.htm.
The Fonts and products page on Microsoft's Web site provides access to information about many fonts, including where to obtain them, and also provides lists of fonts that are supplied with many products.
The following list of large Unicode fonts is probably not comprehensive, it is just the ones that I have acquired with various operating systems and applications, or found while learning about Unicode from the Web. It does not include Unicode fonts from commercial suppliers. Not all of the characters in a given range will always be present in a font; you can use a utility such as Babel Map to see exactly which characters are included.
Large, multi-script fonts (more than WGL4)
Suppliers of commercial Unicode fonts
Links to font-related and language-related Web sites
Copyright © 1999–2011 Alan Wood


text:
round-the-clock care
As an Asklepios Clinic,
we've signed
up to the Green Hospital Program. For this reason, in our hospital corridors, we use a modern LED lighting solution that's both energy efficient and durable, provided by our partner Philips. It's very important to us, as all corridors must be lit around the clock."
-Stefan Tefke, Hospital Manager, Technology-Purchasing-Logistics-IT
We began by replacing the 3,600 flourescent tubes installed in the corridors with MASTERLED tubes. These fixtures aid navigation in the corridors with bright, comfortable light. In addition, the tubes offer flicker-free performance, consume minimal energy, and last three times longer than fluorescent ones. We also installed 944 LuxSpace and 577 Luxspace mini in the corridors.
The new fixtures will deliver ongoing energy savings for many years without maintenance.The upgrades continued in the bathrooms and toilets, where we installed 78 LuxSpace Compact Power downlights. For general lighting in other areas, we installed 1,000 MASTER LEDspot GU 5.3 lamps. The new fixtures deliver the high quality light needed for staff visibility, while providing a comforting ambience for patients and visitors. With all requirements met, hospital lighting is helping the healing process for people every day.
Since making the switch to LED, energy consumption in the refurbished areas has fallen by a substantial 1,172,290 kWh annually (21%). Overall savings for the hospital are in the region of €164,120, and CO2 emissions have been greatly reduced. In addition, with LED lamps offering 50,000 hours use, maintenance costs are lowered and disruptions minimized.
Bergmannsheil Buer Clinic
Bergmannsheil Buer Clinic, healthcare lighting, pleasant lighting for patients and staff
Altona Children's hospital
Find out how healthcare lighting is improving comfort in Altona Children's hospital, Germany.
DiVoCare center
Find out how DiVoCare is reducing patient anxiety through examination room lighting
Lindehof Health Center
Find out how light is helping staff to stay alert at Lindehof Health Centre
Birmingham Children's Hospital
Find out how hospital lighting is helping to reduce anxiety at Birmingham Children's Hospital, UK
Ronald McDonald VU
Find out how LED hospital lighting is cheering up sick children at Ronald McDonald VU


text:
- This event has passed.
Do You See YOU in Youngevity?
January 13, 2021 @ 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
An event every week that begins at 3:30 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, repeating until December 31, 2021
Don't miss this Zoom training with Black Diamond Ambassadors, Tom and Denice Chenault.
Are you serious about your business? Then join Tom and his team to learn, learn, and earn!
Every Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at 3:30pm PT, 4:30pm MT, 5:30pm CT, 6:30pm ET
To join, visit: TomChenaultZoom.com
OR iPhone one-tap (US Toll): +14086380968, 4704342570#


text:
The five-time NASCAR champion taking a big leg up on Number Six (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
By Mike Mulhern
POCONO, Pa.
In the NASCAR world at the moment there are two types of people: those who are Jimmie Johnson, and those who are not.
And the gap between those two worlds appears to be growing much wider.
As the stock car tour crisscrosses the country and heads toward the halfway mark in a few weeks, Johnson is chewing up rivals, as he did here Sunday in winning the Pocono Party 400.
Not only that:
-- It looks like Toyota rivals are taking a step off their game, in the wake of a key management shakeup, and with quality control problems and blown engines at issue.
-- It also looks like Ford rivals are a step slow too, for unclear reasons.
Ford's Carl Edwards, second in the Sprint Cup standings, started next to Johnson on the front row, led nine laps, and looked to have a good shot at a top-three finish...until a late race pit stop proved costly, with loose lug nuts dropping him back in the pack. He wound up 18th.
Toyota's Clint Bowyer, third in the standings, never challenged, never even got close to the front, and finished 15th.
Only Dale Earnhardt Jr., Johnson's teammate, had any decent chances of tripping up Johnson.
The upshot of all this is that Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus head up the road this week to Michigan having padded their already comfortable points spread.
Johnson could even take a week off...which he joked about, with a nod toward the Richmond-September playoff cut .
"If Channy goes into labor early, then we don't have to worry about Richmond," Johnson says with a laugh.
Jimmie Johnson, Chandra and daughter Genevieve Marie...and another one on the way (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
Was the Dover loss still on his mind here?
"I wanted to prove a point, in that restart zone," Johnson said. "But I couldn't do it to a teammate (Dale Earnhardt Jr., his toughest competition here).
"So I'll save that for another day."
The win wasn't vengeance. But Johnson did make a point.
"It doesn't make up for much," he said. "But we know we are a great race team. Things won't keep us down."
However bright things appear right now for Johnson, Knaus and Team Chevy, there are storm clouds on the horizon -- Ford's Greg Biffle is firing them:
"This car (the 2013s) likes clean air. We've really struggled this season, but once we got some track position we were pretty good.
"Jimmie was definitely in a league of his own.
"We need a couple more weeks before we're going to run like that."
Ford's Greg Biffle: not pleased at getting outrun by Chevy guys (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
On the final restart, with four to go, Biffle, starting third, outside behind Johnson, made his bid:
"Once I shoved Jimmie and got him going, I was hoping he would do what he did the last restart -- when he went to the bottom to block Junior....and I could have pulled up beside him.
"But I shoved him too good.
"The only thing I could do was give him a little shove, and wiggle him. That's the only way somebody was going to beat him.
"I was willing to try anything I could, but I just didn't get close enough."
Most of the afternoon Biffle didn't appear to be a factor.
"It was definitely a struggle for us," he said. "We had two pit stops that weren't the greatest. We hung a lug nut.
"And we were struggling for track position all day.
"We were really, really good in turn one, and really good in the tunnel turn -- it's been many, many years since I've been that good across the tunnel.
"But I was terrible in turn three.
"Anything I would gain in those two corners, I would lose back all the way back down the front. And then I couldn't get beside him to pass him in one and two.
"Most of the top-five cars were probably a little faster than we were on shear speed. But it's track position -- and you've got to pass the guy.
"Clearly we're not celebrating that we finished second, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. We certainly ran better here than we have been all season, and that's a positive.
"It's frustrating as a driver to not have maybe the equipment or downforce or whatever that the other guys do. But I don't work on them; I don't build them. All I do is drive them.
"I wish our cars were as good as those guys right now. But we keep working on them every week and make them better.
"They clearly have the best cars in the garage. They're going to show up in Michigan and be fast.
"When you're on a roll, you're on a roll."
At the other end of the emotional spectrum was Kasey Kahne. He's been hot at several tracks this spring, but his luck has been erratic. And Sunday he was out of the game right at the start. He spent 20 laps in the garage for repairs.
Something went wrong with his transmission: "We have no idea yet. When I took off, in second gear, I had no power, and it was just vibrating like crazy... and then in third and fourth.
"The faster I went, the worse the vibration was.
"I came in, and they changed a bunch of stuff, and I went out and was perfectly fine and had a lot of speed.
"They changed a lot of things, but nothing was wrong. In looking at everything, it all looked fine."
Kurt Busch again had a fast car, at least top-five. "But a mistake on my part on pit road stalled our momentum," he said, of the point where he overshot his pit box on lap 126 of the 160-lapper. "But we battled back with a solid finish. To win you have to be perfect out there and we weren't today."
NASCAR's low-tech solution to drivers not seeing exactly where the restart zone is (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
© 2010-2011 www.mikemulhern.net All rights reserved.
Web site by www.webdesigncarolinas.com


text:
Browsing by Subject "Zidovudine/therapeutic use"
Now showing items 1-1 of 1
Zidovudine adherence among individuals with HIV infection (Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions, 1995-)The objective was to investigate the relationships among health beliefs, attitudes, and zidovudine compliance in individuals with HIV infection. A survey was administered to 52 individuals with HIV infection. The survey ...


text:
Twitter Won't Disclose Their Diversity Numbers
Silicon Valley famously spent years refusing to talk about its diversity problem. But in the last month, some of the nation's biggest tech companies became more transparent about their demographics: Google, Facebook, Yahoo—even LinkedIn—all released diversity reports. However, Twitter is refusing to get with the times.
When approached by SFist, Twitter spokesperson Jim Prosser simply stated "We're not announcing anything at the moment." Which left SFist to ask: "Why won't Twitter announce its diversity numbers?"
It's an apt question: Twitter took extensive heat during their pre-IPO roadshow for not having a single woman amongst their board, investors, and executive team (save for Vijaya Gadde, who had been hired only five weeks prior). The situation led Claire Cain Miller to skewer the company in The New York Times, writing:
The reasons [for the male-dominated culture] are many. The tech industry has an image problem — think geeky man alone at a computer — that repels girls from pursuing it. A sexist engineering culture often dissuades young women in the field, as does the small number of women role models. Venture capital tends to be an old boys' club.
Having women executives matters not just for purposes of equality, business analysts say, but for product development and the bottom line. More women use social media than men, according to a study last month by the Pew Research Center; men and women use Twitter roughly equally. Twitter earns revenue from advertising and women are the chief consumers.
Op-eds such as Miller's helped force Silicon Valley to talk about diversity. While the released numbers have been disappointing—women represent around 30 percent and African Americans rarely exceed 2 percent of the workforce at all companies—corporations are now trying to address the issue.
We emailed Twitter's Jim Prosser to reiterate the question, but are yet to hear a response. What does Twitter have to hide?


text:
|Page tools: Print Page
Price impacts on the living costs of selected Australian household types
The indexes have been constructed to cover the period from June quarter 1998 up to and including the June quarter 2003.
The estimated number of households in each of these household types and their relative significance based on the 1998-99 HES is shown in table 28.6.
These indexes represent the conceptually preferred measures for assessing the impact of changes in prices on the disposable incomes of households. In other words, these indexes are particularly suited for assessing whether or not the disposable incomes of households have kept pace with price changes. The CPI, on the other hand, is designed specifically to measure price inflation for the household sector as a whole and, as such, is not the conceptually ideal measure for assessing the impact of price changes on the disposable incomes of households.
Background and methodology
The differences between indexes designed to measure price inflation and indexes designed to measure changes in living costs lie only in the item coverage. The items included in the living cost indexes are determined by reference to all the amounts actually paid by households to gain access to consumer goods and services, while the item coverage of inflation indexes is defined as all those goods and services actually acquired by households in monetary transactions.
The most notable differences are that living cost indexes include interest charges but do not include house purchases, while inflation indexes do not include interest charges but do include house purchases. Insurance (other than health insurance) is also treated differently in the living cost indexes. The weight for insurance in the CPI relates to the net value of the service provided by the insurance company (the amount of premiums paid by households less the amounts reimbursed by way of claims). In the living cost indexes, the weight relates to the gross value of insurance premiums paid by households.
For more detail on the methodology used to construct these indexes, see the article Analytical indexes measuring the price impacts on the living costs of selected Australian household types in Year Book Australia 2002.
The index series and quarterly percentage changes for the various household types from June quarter 1998 to June quarter 2003 are shown in graphs 28.7 and 28.8 respectively. The average annual indexes and percentage changes are shown in table 28.9.
Between 2001-02 and 2002-03, changes in living costs were similar across the population subgroups ranging from a low of 3.1% for other government transfer recipient households to a high of 3.3% for self-funded retiree households. This contrasts with the range of changes between 2000-01 and 2001-02 when employee households showed the lowest increase (2.1%) and age pensioner households showed the highest increase (3.3%).
Between 1998-99 and 2002-03 the increases in the population subgroup indexes ranged from 14.3% for employee households to 15.3% for age pensioner households. The increase in the CPI over the same period was 15.1%.
These analytical indexes have been designed specifically to answer the question:
The key issues these indexes can address are whether there are significant differences in the living cost experiences among household types and whether the CPI is an adequate proxy for changes in living costs.
In previous studies it was concluded that changes in living costs had been broadly similar across the different household types. The extension of the analysis to June quarter 2003 is generally consistent with those earlier conclusions, although perceptions as to what are significant differences may vary between analysts. Further, it could be argued that the CPI provides a reasonable estimate of changes in living costs for each of the selected household types over this period.
In considering these results it is important to recognise that these indexes have been constructed to reflect the experiences of population groups as a whole, and they may not reflect the experiences of any individual household. In this regard it is particularly important to note that no such index can be expected to reflect the changes in living costs experienced by households as a direct consequence of their moving through the life cycle (e.g. as a result of family formation and ageing). However, it would be reasonable to say that these indexes do provide reliable estimates of the change in living costs of households at an equivalent point in the life cycle during each period.
Document Selection
These documents will be presented in a new window.


text:
top of page
For a period of almost seven years during the 1970s, Wong Shue focused his attention primarily on drawing. In the ensuing decades, right up to the present, the artist has consistently explored a vast range of subject matter with the use of pencil, charcoal, ink, and pastel. For the first time, Nosnevets Productions is offering a selection of drawings from different periods of the artist's work which have never before been exhibited.
bottom of page


text:
The probe of Europe's largest bank by market value focused on the transfer of funds through the U.S. financial system from Mexican drug cartels and on behalf of nations such as Iran that are under international sanctions.
Regulators worldwide have put banks under greater scrutiny since the financial crisis and a string of banking scandals highlighted lax practices and a culture of arrogance and entitlement. Money laundering by banks has become a priority target for U.S. law enforcement. Since 2009, Credit Suisse, Barclays, Lloyds, and ING have all paid big settlements related to allegations that they moved money for people or companies that were on the U.S. sanctions list.
HSBC said in a statement that its anti-money laundering measures were inadequate and it had since made strides in beefing up its controls. The bank also said it has reached agreements over investigations by other U.S. government agencies. It also expects to sign an agreement with British regulators shortly.
"We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again," HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said in a statement.
A U.S. law enforcement official said the investigation by federal and state authorities will result in HSBC paying $1.25 billion in forfeiture and paying $655 million in civil penalties. The $1.25 billion figure is the largest forfeiture ever in a case involving a bank. Under what is known as a deferred prosecution agreement, the financial institution will be accused of violating the Bank Secrecy Act and the Trading With the Enemy Act.
Under the arrangement, HSBC will admit to certain misconduct, the official said, but the details of those admissions to be made in a New York court were not immediately available. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the source was not authorized to speak about the matter on the record.
The agreement means the bank won't be prosecuted further if it meets certain conditions, such as strengthening its internal controls to prevent money laundering. The Justice Department has used such arrangements often in cases involving large corporations, notably in settlements of foreign bribery charges.
Experts said banks such as HSBC have a strong interest in settling out of court to limit damage to their reputations. On Monday, Standard Chartered, another British bank, signed an agreement with New York regulators to settle their money laundering investigation with a $340 million payment. The bank was accused of scheming with the Iranian government to launder billions of dollars.
"These banks are operating in an environment where you can't afford to have uncertainty attached to your name, and they are dependent on confidence from their investors. And that makes them keen to get past such events very quickly and settle," said Sabine Bauer, director of financial institutions at Fitch Ratings.
Among other European banks to have settled money-laundering cases with the United States:
- Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-largest bank, agreed to pay $536 million. The authorities said the bank violated U.S. economic sanctions by hiding the booming illegal business it was doing for Iranian banks.
- Barclays paid $298 million. The big British bank allegedly engaged in $500 million in illegal transactions with banks in Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Myanmar for more than a decade.
- Lloyds, another major British bank, agreed to forfeit $350 million for allegedly helping customers skirt U.S. sanctions on business transactions with Sudan, Iran and Libya.
- Big Dutch bank ING paid $619 million to settle charges that it secretly moved billions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Cuban and Iranian customers.
Last summer, the Senate investigation concluded that HSBC's lax controls exposed it to money laundering and terrorist financing.
In regard to HSBC and Mexico, the Senate investigative committee reported that in 2007 and 2008 HSBC Mexico sent about $7 billion in cash to the United States. The committee report said that large an amount of cash indicated illegal drug proceeds.
HSBC affiliates also skirted U.S. government bans on financial transactions with Iran and other countries, according to the report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. And HSBC's U.S. division provided money and banking services to some banks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh thought to have helped fund al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, the report said.
The report also blamed U.S. regulators, claiming they knew the bank had a poor system to detect problems but failed to take action.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the committee chairman, cited instances in which HSBC had promised to fix deficiencies after being sanctioned by regulators but failed to follow through.
Levin also said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S. agency that oversees the biggest banks, tolerated HSBC's weak controls against money laundering for years and said agency examiners who had raised concerns were overruled by their superiors.
HSBC had a 2011 net income of $16.8 billion and operates in about 80 countries around the world. It grew quickly in recent years by acquiring banks around the world that became its affiliates. Its far-flung affiliates operated with a degree of autonomy that left top bank officials with less than full authority and control, experts say. Each affiliate had its own officer to oversee compliance with laws to prevent money laundering.
Nigel Morris-Cotterill, head of the Anti Money Laundering Network, a consultancy, said international banks face conflicts between laws and regulations in different countries. "There are times when the lines are blurred, when you're not clear exactly where the edge is," he said. "If you step over the edge you get slapped, but often you don't know where the edge is."
HSBC, which changed its senior management last year, said it has taken actions to strengthen and centralize compliance with anti-money-laundering laws.
"The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organization from the one that made those mistakes," said Gulliver, the bank's CEO. "Over the last two years, under new senior leadership, we have been taking concrete steps to put right what went wrong and to participate actively with government authorities in bringing to light and addressing these matters."
On Monday, HSBC announced that Robert Werner, a former head of the Treasury Department agencies responsible for sanctions against terrorist financing and money laundering, is taking a new position in HSBC as head of group financial crime compliance and group money-laundering reporting officer. Werner has been head of global standards assurance since August.
In January, HSBC hired Stuart Levey, a former Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, as its chief legal officer. And a former policy adviser in the Obama administration, Preeta Bansal, in October became HSBC's global general counsel for litigation and regulatory affairs.
Associated Press writers Marcy Gordon in Washington and Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.


text:
Caramel Sauce Cockaigne
10 comments:
Waahhhhh! I don't wanna try making caramel again! I have never had it turn out. Pure torture I tell you. Alton Brown's dulce de leche - yes - simmering milk on the stove for hours I can do. Keeping caramel from crystalizing, I cannot do. But, I must try again after seeing your post. I need to find my copper lined pan out in the garage. Maybe that will make a difference (fingers crossed). Anyway, I'm making your pumpkin roll this weekend so I'll report back when I give the caramel a go!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 27, 2012
Hi there,ReplyDelete
I was wondering if you think this would be a suitable caramel for making caramel apples. Every caramel apple recipe I find has corn syrup and I'm wondering if that helps the caramel set up differently. Any thoughts? Thanks!!
Would this work with non-dairy ingredients like coconut cream and coconut oil?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousNovember 04, 2012
How long does this last? If I were to give it as a gift do you have any recommendations on how I store and present it?ReplyDeleteReplies
It will keep in the refrigerator for up to one month. To give as gifts you can present it in canning jars that you can find at your local grocery or hardware store. For more decorative jars you can find some at places like Crate and Barrel or The Container Store. Including a baked good, fresh fruit, or a favorite recipe to use the caramel sauce with would also be well received by the recipient.Delete
Any advice regarding re-crystallization?? I got to the allowing it boil it part twice and the sugar syrup thickened and then turned back into sugar crystals. Totally ruined it all and made it grainy. I have made caramel before before with no issue but can't find the recipe anymore.ReplyDeleteReplies
It is very important to make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved before bringing to a boil. You can wash down the sides of the pan lightly with a wet pastry brush before placing the lid on. This will help dissolve any crystals that may have formed.Delete
Very good, kids love it for dipping apples and their finger in.ReplyDelete
Thanks for visiting my blog! I love hearing from family, friends, and bloggers, so please leave a comment. Happy cooking!


text:
Particle physics professor Brian Cox of the University of Manchester has pretty much the final word on Large Hadron Collider fear-mongering with the above quote. What prompted such an outburst? Death threats against scientists working on the LHC. Perhaps an even better question - what does "t***" stand for?Numerous studies have found that the LHC poses no risk of creating reality-devouring exotic matter or world-shredding mini black holes, but still the messages of anger and concern pour into CERN headquarters. Mixed in with the hand-wringing have been a few actual death threats, notably directed at physicist Frank Wilczek of MIT. Scientists have noted that cosmic particles bombard the Earth constantly, yet they haven't caused an apocalypse yet, so there's really nothing to worry about. I guess "the potential end of the world" sticks in people's minds better than "the search for the Higgs Boson." Of course, when the Telegraph quoted Professor Cox's vitriolic paroxysm, they used asterisks to disguise the word he actually used. So what's a t***? Some obscure physics term, no doubt. Image by: xkcd. Scientists get death threats over Large Hadron Collider. [Telegraph]
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
Meet Microsoft's New Surface Laptops


text:
My friend needed to lose 25 pounds in a month without dieting. He had to lose at least 20 pounds in less than 30 days or he would be off the team. Here is what he did.Learn More
Paleo Podcast, Fast Fat Loss, Free Paleo Recipes, and the Fat-Burning Man Show from Abel James


text:
|Table of Contents
Long Term Support
Stable, tested ServerTemplate assets
Application code is typically downloaded at boot time when an application server is launched. However, you can manually update the application code on a running server by executing an operational script. For example, you may want to retrieve the latest version of your application from a different branch in your software repository.
Warning! If you stop the application from running, a client will see receive a '503' error message in the browser if the request is routed to the application server. Therefore, before you perform this action you may want to remove the application server from the load balancing pool/service.
If you stopped the application, you can start it again by running the following script.
To restart the application on the server, run the or app::do_server_restart operational script.
This ServerTemplate supports several load balancing options:
Define values for the required inputs depending on the chosen load balancing option. See the tables below for details.
Define the following inputs at the deployment level.
|Input Name
|Example Values
|Load Balance Provider
|Select lb_client if you're using RightScale's "Load Balancer with HAProxy" ServerTemplate.
|text: lb_client
Load Balancing Pools
Specify the load balancing pool to which the application server belongs. Typically, an application server will belong to one load balancing pool, however an HAProxy load balancing server can service multiple pools. An application server can also connect to multiple load balancing pools, if desired.
Specify the load balancing pool that the application server will connect to or disconnect from by using one of the following types:
text: default
text: test1.example.com
Define the following inputs at the deployment level.
|Input Name
|Example Values
|Load Balance Provider
|Select lb_elb to use Amazon ELB.
|text: lb_elb
Load Balance Service ID
Load Balance Service Secret
|For ELB, specify the Amazon access key ID and secret access key for authentication purposes.
cred: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
cred: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
|Load Balance Service Name
The name of the Amazon Elastic Load Balancer.
text: my-elb-name
Warning! When using Rackspace CLB, you must wait until after launching your first application server before setting up your load balancer via the Rackspace API or control panel. This is because you cannot create a new CLB without at least one running cloud server or external node associated. Also, you must create the CLB in the same datacenter as your running servers; Rackspace randomly assigns you to one of their datacenters (e.g. ORD, DFW, etc.). For example, you cannot use a CLB created in ORD to load balance across servers in DSW. If you want to change the datacenter that you were assigned to, you must contact Rackspace.
To configure application servers to work with Rackspace CLB, set the below input values at the deployment level. Since you will configure these inputs before setting up your new Cloud Load Balancer on Rackspace, carefully note each entry so that your Rackspace configuration, upon setup, will match these values exactly.
Define the following inputs at the deployment level.
|Input Name
|Example Values
|Load Balance Provider
|Select lb_clb to use Rackspace CLB.
|text: lb_clb
Load Balance Service ID
Load Balance Service Secret
|Rackspace username and API key to use for authentication.
cred: RACKSPACE_USERNAME
cred: RACKSPACE_AUTH_KEY
|Load Balance Service Name
The name of the Rackspace Cloud Load Balancer.
text: my-clb-name
|Load Balance Service Region
Choose the Rackspace region where you will deploy your Cloud Load Balancer: either "ORD (Chicago)," "LON (London)," or "DFW (Dallas/Ft. Worth)." In general, it is best to create your CLB in a region as close to your application servers as possible.
|text: ORD
Once the inputs are set, run one of the following scripts to add/remove an application server to/from the load balancing servers/service.
Warning! DO NOT RUN the following operational scripts because they are designed to be run as a remote recipe by a load balancer server and not as a manual operational script on an application server.
If you are performing upgrades to your application servers, you may want to inform your users by putting up a temporary maintenance window. Use the scripts below to turn on and off a basic Apache maintenance window. The default maintenance page is shown below however you can create your own custom maintenance page, if desired.
When you enable the maintenance mode, the contents of the maintenance tarball is unpacked and saved into a new directory. The content for the maintenance page is retrieved from the 'web_apache' cookbook (rightscale_cookbooks/cookbooks/web_apache/files/default/maintenance.tar.gz), and saved to a newly created maintenance directory (/home/webapps/system).
Note: By default, the application root directory (/home/webapps) defined by the Project App root input is different than the maintenance directory (/home/webapps/system) used by Apache.
Customize the Maintenance Page
Follow the steps below to replace the default maintenance page with your own custom message.
Apache will look for the maintenance page in the location specified by the default attribute file in the 'web_apache' cookbook: /home/webapps/system/maintenance.html
Note: The location is defined in the following attribute file: rightscale_cookbooks/cookbooks/web_apache/attributes/default.rb
Typically, an application server has a script (e.g app::do_loadbalancers_allow) listed in the 'Reconvergence List' input that tries to attach itself to the specified load balancer servers or service based on its tags. By default, all scripts listed in the Recovergence List input are run every 15 minutes unless otherwise specified in the 'Interval in Minutes to Run Reconverge List' input.
Note: This functionality only applies to Chef recipes. RightScripts are not supported in the Recoverge List.
|Input Name
|Example Values
|Reconverge List
|Comma-separated list of Chef recipes to periodically run.
|text: app::do_loadbalancers_allow
Interval in Minutes to Run Reconverge List
|Defines the interval in minutes to run recipe(s) of reconverge list.
|text: 15
When iptables is enabled, which is the default behavior in all Linux-based v13 ServerTemplates, TCP ports 22, 80, and 443 are configured to be open to any IP address in order to enable minimum functionality and access. If you want to add or remove a firewall rule on a running (operational) server by opening or closing a port, you can set the following inputs accordingly and run the sys_firewall::setup_rule operational script.
If you want the firewall rules to be set at boot time, you can either add the Chef recipe to the end of the boot script list or update the sys_firewall::default recipe to change the list of default firewall permissions by explicitly opening up additional ports. However, you should only consider overriding the default recipe if you want to change the default behavior for all of your servers that use that cookbook.
Note: If the cloud provider supports security groups, you must also open or close the appropriate ports in the security group resource.
|Input Name
|Example Value
|Firewall Rule Port
|Specify the port number to open or close.
|text: 8080
|Firewall Rule
Defines whether you are creating or removing a firewall permission for the specified port (Firewall Rule Port) over the specified IP protocol (Firewall Rule Protocol), as restricted by the specified IP range (Firewall Rule IP Address).
|text: enable
|Firewall Rule IP Address
Use CIDR notation to define the range of IP addresses that will either be allowed or denied access to the specified port (Firewall Rule Port) over the specified IP protocol (Firewall Rule Protocol).
Leave this value set to "any" (default) to allow access from any IP address (0.0.0.0/0). Use an exclamation point (!) before the IP address specification to deny access (i.e. "blacklist") from a specific IP address (e.g. !220.127.116.11) or IP range (e.g. !184.108.40.206/24)
text: any
text: 220.127.116.11/24
|Firewall Rule Protocol
Specify the Internet protocol for the specified port (Firewall Rule Port).
|text: tcp
For troubleshooting and security purposes, you may want to list a server's current firewall rules to make sure that a server has the expected IP/port permissions. This script is especially useful if you want to check the firewall rules across all servers in a deployment to validate that all of them have the same iptables rules.
22:25:03: ==================== do_list_rules : Firewall rules Begin ================== Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT) target prot opt source destination FWR all -- 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT) target prot opt source destination Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT) target prot opt source destination Chain FWR (1 references) target prot opt source destination ACCEPT all -- 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 ACCEPT all -- 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 state RELATED,ESTABLISHED ACCEPT icmp -- 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 ACCEPT tcp -- 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 tcp dpt:22 ACCEPT tcp -- 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 tcp dpt:443 ACCEPT tcp -- 10.123.456.22 0.0.0.0/0 tcp dpt:8000 ACCEPT tcp -- 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 tcp dpt:80 REJECT tcp -- 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 tcp flags:0x16/0x02 reject-with icmp-port-unreachable REJECT udp -- 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 reject-with icmp-port-unreachable ==================== do_list_rules : Firewall rules End ====================
If you want to perform the same action via SSH, follow the steps below.
Note: When using newer images (>5.8/13.4), ensure that you have the 'server_superuser' permission to the Rightscale account where the server is running in order to gain root privileges using the sudo command (Settings > Account Settings > Users).
# sudo -i
# /sbin/iptables -L
Iptables is typically enabled by default ('Firewall' = enabled). However, you can use the following script to enable or disable Iptables on an instance.
Warning! You should only perform this action if you fully understand its implications. For example, if the cloud provider does not support cloud-level firewall services such as security groups, you could permanently lock yourself out of the instance if you disable Iptables.
To enable Iptables, follow the steps below.
To disable Iptables, follow the steps below.
Typically, ServerTemplates are configured with frozen software repositories that are locked down to a specific date to ensure that the same versions of software and packages are installed on a server at launch time. You also have the option to configure the server so that you can easily apply security patches from one of the related system software repositories as they become available. (Currently, only the Epel and Ubuntu Precise (v12.04) repositories are checked for security updates.) System security updates are disabled by default at the ServerTemplate level, as defined by the 'Enable security updates' input. As a best practice, you should determine whether or not you want to reserve the ability to apply security updates as an operational script before you launch the server. Changing this setting after a server is operational is not recommended.
To enable security updates, follow the steps below.
Warning! Once security updates are enabled, they cannot be disabled.
If the server is enabled for system security updates (Enable security updates = enable), a server tag will be added to the server when a security update becomes available ('rs_monitoring:security_updates_available=true'). By default, a triggered alert sends an email notification to the account owner as a reminder that a security update is available on a particular server. If a security update is available, follow the steps below to download and apply the security update.
© 2006-2014 RightScale, Inc. All rights reserved.
RightScale is a registered trademark of RightScale, Inc. All other products and services may be trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners.


text:
little owl turning head
This a high definition photo called "little owl turning head". It is one of the images in the Owls photo gallery. This and numerous other galleries are featured in the Animals and Birds section(s) of the photorasa.com website. They contain many birds images of various types and styles. Tap or click anywhere on the photo to see a better quality version in a lightbox popup. The image is available for download to your laptop, computer, tablet or other device by tapping on the green button below it. A higher resolution version of the photo, minus the watermark, is available upon request.


text:
"Why Don't I Receive Much Attention From Men?"
If you're out with friends, do you look warm and inviting, like you're having fun and hoping to meet people? Or do you look like you're stuck someplace you don't want to be, with people you don't want to be with?
Start paying attention to your friends who do get attention from guys. How do they stand when they're out? What sorts of facial expressions are they wearing? Are they smiling and laughing? Or do they stand there with a half-scowl on their face? If they catch a cute guy glancing at them, do they look back and smile? Or do they turn away without acknowledging the guy?
And, oh yeah, stop judging your friends because you think you have the goods and should be the one getting approached. Because, seriously, that's not attractive.Read more


text:
Rita, Sue and Bob too at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton
We're treated to a brilliant opening, and a taste of what's to come, as the Eighties soundtrack is used to great effect to initiate scene changes.
By The Newsroom
Published 12th Sep 2017, 11:21 BST- 1 min read
Updated 27th Sep 2017, 11:36 BST
That first song turns out to be entirely appropriate as we bear witness to some of that "Tainted Love." Under-age sex, parents out of their depth and a wife desperate to hang on to an unfaithful husband, doesn't make this easy on the senses and it won't be to everyone's taste.
Much will depend on your own experience of life as to how alarmed you will be and how uncomfortable it may make you feel but what is not in doubt is the quality of the production and the terrific performances of Taj Atwal (Rita), Gemma Dobson (Sue) and James Atherton (Bob).
The production runs until September 23rd and tickets are available on 01204-520661.


text:
On Monday county employees aired their complaints to the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners about proposed contract terms for 2013 and beyond. Some took issue with commissioner salaries. They asserted commissioners continued to take pay increases, even as their own wages have remained frozen since 2009 due to the county's economic woes.
Under state laws, a sitting commissioner cannot reduce his or her own salary, but the board since 2009 has taken steps to offset automatic raises for their positions that were established by earlier resolutions. To clarify, the only time a commissioner can vote on adjustments to "his or her" own salary in the upcoming four-year term of office is when he or she is up for re-election.
All three sitting commissioners (and former commissioner Steve Bauer) have paid out-of-pocket toward medical benefits that the county otherwise would have covered. County records show commissioners have saved the county the following amounts from 2009 through 2011: Charlotte Garrido ($23,202), Josh Brown ($14,206), Rob Gelder (in 2011, $3,772); Bauer (2009 and 2010, $16,129).
In 2010, the board passed a resolution freezing the position 3 (Central Kitsap) salary in 2011 through 2014 at $112,053 (the 2010 rate). Brown's first term as CK commissioner ended in 2010, and he was re-elected, starting a second term in 2011.
In 2011, the board passed two resolutions accepting donations to the county from District 1 and 2 commissioners (Garrido and Gelder) in amounts equivalent to the difference between their salaries and the frozen position 3 salary (Brown's).
The 2011 resolution was intended to at least partially offset a resolution passed in 2007 that established the position 1 and 2 salaries from 2009 through 2012. The 2009 amount was $119,064, with 2 percent raises in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Voting for the resolution were Brown and Bauer. Jan Angel voted against it.
In a 2010 article, I erroneously reported that the district 1 and 2 commissioners would get a 9 percent raise in 2012. The 2012 salary, $126,353, was nearly 9 percent higher than the initial year's salary. But to repeat, the 2012 increase was to have been 2 percent, not 9 percent. I have made a correction to the online version of the story, and I apologize for the error.
In April this year, with Garrido and Gelder up for re-election, the board reduced salaries for the district 1 and 2 positions in 2013 and 2014, to bring them in line with the position three salary of $112,053. The resolution calls for 2 percent increases to the district 1 and 2 salaries in 2015 and 2016.
The wages of other elected officials, including the assessor, auditor, clerk, coroner, sheriff, treasurer, prosecutor, have been frozen since 2009.
Perhaps you're wondering how salaries for elected officials are established. Kitsap County in 2003 adopted a method to set their salaries as a percentage of superior court judges' salaries, which are set by the Washington State Citizens Commission on Salaries. Each position is calculated as a percentage of the judges' salaries, and resolutions dating from 2005 and 2007 established salaries under the new system. The commissioners' percentage is 80 percent. In theory, having a set formulas takes the potential for politics out of the process.


text:
Album Review – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's "The Nashville Sound"
Hey, so which Presidential candidate did everyone vote for, and how do you feel about the Russian investigation? Let's just all use Jason Isbell's new album as a battlefield to flamethrow each other over these matters and stray off on unassociated political tangents since one of his songs has "white man" in the title, and his wife flashed a pro Hillary t-shirt for 2.5 seconds in a lyric video.
– – – – – – – –
Look, if Jason Isbell had asked my advice—which if he ever had the notion, I'm sure he'd glance over to the mantle where the Grammy Awards sit and consider himself good—then I would have told him what I would tell any music artist: you're better off not broaching overtly political subjects with your music because ultimately all it will do is alienate 50% of potential listeners, and do little to no good for whatever ideology you're attempting to espouse. And it doesn't matter what your political stripes are, that assessment would be the same.
That's not to be mistaken with the idea that musical artists don't have a right to espouse their political ideologies through their music. Of course they do. In certain musical disciplines such as folk and reggae and punk, it's almost required, and has been a long-standing element of those musical mediums. It's the job of artists to act like mirrors and sound boards of their time, and our current time and place is a highly-charged political environment.
Still, why go there? Why ostensibly withhold your music from so many people just because you want to attempt to slide even some passing political message across? And specific to the premise Jason Isbell's song "White Man's World," I guess I just don't understand why we constantly have to identify ourselves and others through their race, gender, sexual orientation, et al. Perhaps it's just the Gen X'er in me that was taught to see through race and gender. Now all of a sudden it's hip to classify everyone, and systematically downgrade the Caucasian experience as incapable of understanding the true struggle of others.
All that said, all of those qualifiers out of the way, if some little thing about this album bothers you from a political standpoint to such a degree that you've sworn off all of Jason Isbell's music and the music of his Hillary-supporting wife, and you pretend you didn't cry like a a little girl with a skinned knee the first time you heard his song "Elephant," then you just need to get the fuck over it. Grow up. I'm tired of seeing people get ticked off at folks they label "snowflakes" when they're the ones freaking out over one or two stupid little things in someone's music. You don't like "White Man's World"? It offends your sensibilities? Then skip it. Because if you're boycotting Jason Isbell's music, you're putting an undue limitation on your musical experience, and you're missing out on one of the most important artists of our time.
Guess what, there are people in this world that you don't agree with. I know that social media and slanted news has mostly sheltered us from that fact, but it's true. People in your community may have different political stripes than you. Some of your neighbors may have different political stripes from you. Some of your immediate family even might, maybe even your mother, father, brother, sister, son or daughter. And you deal with it, because that's what we do. And if there's any underlying message in this new Jason Isbell album, it is that. It's to be understanding to those who you may disagree with.
Jason Isbell didn't politicize this album. Ultra-sensitive wing nuts and political opportunists looking for any opening to assert their slanted political views on the rest of us, they're the ones who politicized this album. And that is a much bigger offense to the idea of keeping music a political-free space than anything Jason Isbell has done here.
Jason Isbell's The Nashville Sound is a career record. Put it right up there with his 2013 breakout, Southeastern. It is an important record for our time, and not because it relies on raptly polarizing political ideologies as the basis for its message and creative assertions, but because Jason Isbell, a native of Green Hill, Alabama, who is as Southern as the day is long, who is as sharp and in tune with the rhythms of culture in his time as anyone, is like a living, breathing embodiment of the modern day American experience, with all the dichotomies, guilt, glory, fortitude, humility, fears, and vices we all face encapsulated into one perspective, all capped off with his newly-found illumination via fatherhood.
It's not just talent that sifts certain artists to the top of the heap of their discipline, it is timing. And Jason Isbell is one of the defining artists of our era because he is Southern, and enlightened, and can understand the perspective of the poor Southern man, as well as the faraway intellectual, and resolve those differences through sharing stories of characters and experiences. Yes, his perspective is slightly skewed to the left, like I don't know, just about every folk rock musicians in history. But unlike many of them, Isbell knows this, and knows the best way to a man's heart is to make him feel instead of pounding him with politically-charged rhetoric.
If all you did was read the headlines ahead of this release, you would think politics is all this record is about, and how it was conveyed through hard rock that leaves any notions of Jason Isbell being considered country behind. But similar to political stereotyping and judging books by their covers, what The Nashville Sound delivers is something entirely different than expected, or sold to us from slanted perspectives.
Any polarizing political moments are isolated and fleeting at best, even to the most sensitive of ears. And despite the warnings to steel yourself for a more rock affair cover to cover, The Nashville Sound is incredibly diverse, with folk acoustic and country songs, along with some rockers to create contrast. When we first heard "Cumberland Gap" ahead of this release, a grade was left off the review. As was theorized at the time, the reason for the track's rawness and dissonance was a purposeful effort to punctuate the desperation of the character of the song, and to create contrast with the other textures of a record which refuses to be typecast into any particular genre or tone. The Nashville Sound still is a bit burdened by unclean signals and lack of vibrancy in the separate tracks, but this shouldn't be misunderstood for when a song is purposely discordant. Isbell and producer Dave Cobb did a good job on this record making a collection of songs that keep you enthralled from beginning to end.
What was the prevailing concern for Isbell's last album Something More Than Free? It was that it was a too sleepy. And as time has gone on, and especially now that The Nashville Sound has graced our ears, that previous assessment seems even more fair and warranted. But like all great artists, Isbell espied this assessment himself, and reared back, called upon his Southern rock roots, and put a little panache behind this new effort. The Nashville Sound is incredibly rangy and diverse, satiating many sectors of the musical palette, including rock, country, acoustic singer-songwriter material, and stuff in between.
In fact the album begins and ends with what are arguably two of the most country tracks Jason Isbell has ever released—the remorseful "Last Of My Kind," which is about the world leaving you behind, and the reflective, "Something To Love." If anyone questions the roots of authenticity of Jason Isbell, this final song drives home just how crucial the Southern experience has been to his life.
I was born in a tiny southern town
I grew up with all my family around
We made music on the porch on Sunday nights
Old man with an old guitar smoking Winston Lights
Old women harmonizing with the wind
Singing softly to the savior like a friend
They taught me how to make the chords and sing the words
I'm still singing like that great speckled bird
But The Nashville Sound is not a country album. It's a Jason Isbell album. We want to claim it as country because it's just so damn good regardless of what you call it. Country music should be proud to have Isbell within its ranks, and that's the same reason so many try to extract an artist like Sam Hunt. A track like "Anxiety" isn't really country at all. It's not like any song we've heard from Isbell in the past. But it's good, and most every roots-based genre will look to claim it.
Same goes for "If We Were Vampires," which might be one of the best songs released in any genre this entire year. Jason Isbell isn't hard to define because his influences are nebulous, or because he efforts to appeal to as many people as possible by making his music from a hodgepodge of catchy elements. His music doesn't have a proper home because it's transcendent, defying genre, despite a strong tie to American roots.
We have lost so much in the last 18 months in the United States and beyond, even those of us who may have won political victories. The polarization and vitriol has inflicted its acrid state of mind on nearly every sector of life, including sports and leisure, and things that are supposed to take our minds off everyday trouble and conflict. At some point there must be a firewall, and music not meant as political insult shouldn't be taken as such, or characterized so. Especially music that carries such enjoyment, wisdom, and is able to evoke emotions like The Nashville Sound does.
Two Guns Up (9/10)
– – – – – – – – – – –


text:
Fairy Island
Fairy Island was a magical place untouched by human hands. But when Pirates wash up on shore, it spells trouble for everyone. Now the poor fairies are trapped inside magic crystals, and it`s up to you to break them out. On your quest, you`ll travel across the enchanted forests of Fairy Island, collecting golden acorns along the way. Then visit the Fairy Fare, where a golden acorn can buy unique fairy magic.