text:
Football might be the ultimate team sport, but the NFL is dominated by larger-than-life talents -- those players who, through sheer force of skill and personality, seem able to single-handedly drive their squads. A player like that can become everything to his organization, defining its identity and dictating its fortunes. In other words, he becomes the face of the franchise. Of course, though, one man can carry the franchise torch for only so long, as time is a cruel thief. Eventually, the onus falls on someone else.
Looking ahead to the 2014 season, Bucky Brooks has identified the face of each franchise, along with a player waiting in the wings to potentially take up the mantle in the future. Below you'll find analysis for each NFC South team. Click here to access the home page of this division-by-division series.
When the Bills lavished Williams with a six-year, $100 million contract as the marquee free agent of the 2012 class, the skeptics wondered if the three-time Pro Bowl selection would be able to take the team to another level. Although the Bills' disappointing win total hasn't matched Williams' disruptive impact, his production (23.5 sacks, seven passes defensed, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries) and performance since joining Buffalo two seasons ago certainly makes him the team's biggest difference-maker on either side of the ball. With the Bills poised to make a major move in 2014, the rest of the NFL world might soon remember how dominant Williams can be off the edge.
The Bills made one of the biggest surprises of the 2013 NFL Draft when they selected Manuel with the No. 16 overall pick. While most viewed the selection with skepticism, the second-year signal-caller showed flashes of being a franchise-caliber player in limited action during his debut season. The Bills have certainly positioned their young quarterback for success by surrounding him with a talented cast of playmakers, including Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson. If Manuel avoids injury and continues to advance his game in his sophomore campaign, he could help the Bills finally end the 14-year playoff drought that's haunted the franchise.
When the Dolphins plucked the two-time CFL Defensive Player of the Year from north of the border, few observers expected him to blossom into a Pro Bowl-caliber defender. Yet, Wake has not only become one of the best players at his position, but he has also been one of the most dominant defenders in the game. He plays at a frenetic pace and intensity that overwhelms opponents over the course of 60 minutes. Additionally, Wake delivers the kind of disruptive production that elicits respect from his teammates and peers. If Wake can convince his teammates to follow his lead, this could be the year that Miami whisks the AFC East crown to South Beach.
Joe Philbin handpicked Tannehill in 2012 to be his franchise quarterback, despite the signal-caller starting just 19 games at Texas A&M. Thus, it's not a surprise that it has taken him a while to become comfortable as the leader of the offense. Entering his third season as the starter, Tannehill must take his game to the next level. Although he has gradually improved his accuracy and efficiency from the pocket, Tannehill needs to deliver more "explosive" plays to ensure the Dolphins keep pace with the AFC's high-octane offenses. If he can make strides in this area, Tannehill could enter the conversation as one of the young gunners set to take over the league.
The NFL's Lord of the Rings is the unquestioned leader of the franchise. Brady has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments in the past 13 seasons, winning three Super Bowl rings and a pair of NFL MVP awards. Additionally, Brady has won more than 77 percent of his regular-season starts and helped the Patriots keep a vice grip on the AFC East since taking over in 2001. Given his résumé, production and competitive leadership, there is no question about his status as "the man" in New England.
Gronkowski's party boy reputation and goofy antics occasionally garner national headlines, but it's his spectacular game that makes NFL defensive coordinators cringe when they study the Patriots' offense. The fifth-year veteran is a matchup nightmare on the perimeter, particularly in the red zone -- where his superior size and strength overwhelm smallish defensive backs. Additionally, Gronkowski's knack for creating separation from linebackers and safeties on seam routes has made him Brady's top target in critical situations. Although Gronkowski's latest injury (torn ACL) threatens to keep him off the field early in the season, there's no doubt his presence energizes the unit and leads to better offensive production. Simply put: Gronkowski is the Patriots' most important player not named Tom Brady.
For a Rex Ryan squad, the defense will always set the tone for the team. Wilkerson has quickly developed into one of the league's premier interior defenders, exhibiting a combination of size, strength and athleticism that makes him impossible to handle at the point of attack. In fact, Wilkerson's dominance on the field prompted his peers to place him at No. 42 on NFL Network's "Top 100 Players of 2014." Given his respected status around the league, it's easy to see how the All-Pro has quietly become the face of the Jets' menacing defense -- a unit that single-handedly kept the team in playoff contention last season.
Some would argue that Geno Smith or Michael Vick should be in the conversation as the leader of the team, but Richardson's disruptive style has endeared him to his teammates and peers. The 2013 Defensive Rookie of the Year finished the season with 3.5 sacks and 78 tackles, third-most in the NFL among defensive linemen. With Richardson also chipping in a pair of rushing scores to complement his disruptive defensive production, the feisty playmaker displays the kind of athleticism and versatility that could turn him into a household name around the league. If he builds on his spectacular debut performance and becomes a more vocal leader, Richardson and Muhammad will soon share the marquee as the Jets' premier players.


text:
Even without the home team involved, the World Cup final between Germany and Argentina set a television viewership record in the United States, capping a tournament that exceeded expectations for interest on both ESPN and Univision.
An estimated 26.5 million people in the U.S. watched Germany's extra-time win on Sunday afternoon, the Nielsen company said. The game had 17.3 million viewers on ABC and another 9.2 million on the Spanish-language Univision. In addition, just over 750,000 people were watching the game during a typical minute online through services provided by each network.
In Germany, a record 34.65 million people watched Sunday's World Cup triumph -- the highest-ever viewing figures for German television.
The 2010 finale between Spain and the Netherlands, along with the U.S. team's 2-2 draw against Portugal earlier in this year's tournament, both had 24.7 million viewers.
The monthlong World Cup also was responsible for more than 3 billion interactions on Facebook and 672 million messages on Twitter, the social media companies said on Monday.
Given the growing interest in the tournament as it went along, the size of the audience for the final game wasn't that big a surprise, said Scott Guglielmino, ESPN senior vice president of programming. The tournament as a whole exceeded expectations for ESPN and surprised Guglielmino in the way it permeated U.S. culture as no World Cup has before.
The average viewership for all 64 World Cup matches was up 39 percent over 2010 on ESPN and its sister station ABC and 34 percent on Univision, Nielsen said.
"We all knew that everything was in place to be well-delivered to the audience and we needed a good performance by the teams, and that happened," said Juan Carlos Rodriguez, Univision sports president.
At least until some cautious games in the knockout round, play was more wide-open with increased scoring, which was appealing to viewers, the executives said. The event also had stories that transcended the games, with Uruguay's Luis Suarez suspended for biting another player and host Brazil's historic meltdown against Germany.
On ESPN, tournament games averaged 4.56 million television viewers, compared to the 1.04 million viewers for games in the 2002 World Cup that were in Korea and Japan.
World Cup organizer FIFA said more than a billion fans worldwide accessed information about the tournament through its digital platforms.
"This has been the first truly mobile and social World Cup," said FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Facebook said 88 million people made a total of 280 million posts or "likes" about the final game. The most social moment of the tournament on Facebook was right after Germany scored four goals in seven minutes during its semifinal victory against Brazil.
On Twitter, the Brazil-Germany match exceeded the final game for most tweets.
Both ESPN and Univision invested heavily to make the tournament an immersive experience, signing up former players for hours of discussion between matches.
Univision went high-tech, with virtual reality displays that pitted famed players from different eras against one another. The company also worked with an Israeli company to invest in technology that allowed its feed of games to appear on the network some five or six seconds before its English-speaking rival.
"We're the real home of soccer in America, regardless of language," Rodriguez said, predicting that ratings for the Copa America Centenario tournament in 2016, which will match the best teams in North and South America, will exceed this year's World Cup on his network.
The ratings performance was a little bittersweet for ESPN and Univision, however. Both networks were outbid for the rights to broadcast the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
So there was a little gamesmanship involved. Guglielmino said the intention was to create a "high bar" for Fox when it broadcasts the 2018 tournament. Given that the games in Russia will take place at inconvenient times in the U.S. market, Fox may be hard-pressed to beat these ratings.
"At the end of the day, a lot of us are just as competitive as some of the people we cover," Guglielmino said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Our Verdict
Spotify, the popular-in-Europe music subscription service has arrived in the U.S. The service is available in three flavors—free (you can listen to a limited number of hours of music per month at 160kbps), Unlimited ($5 a month with unlimited listening at 160kbps), and Premium ($10 a month with unlimited listening, 320kbps tracks where available, and support for downloads and mobile listening). I've had experience with the current crop of domestic streaming services— Napster, Rhapsody, Mog, and Rdio—and have now browsed through Spotify. Here's what I've found while using a Premium plan.
Note that the free service is invitation-only right now ( submit your email at the Spotify website to request an invite), but those willing to pay for Unlimited or Premium access can sign up immediately. Paying customers also have the ability to invite five people with their accounts, but that option wasn't enabled for me (probably because I'm using a press account).
When you receive an invitation you'll be able to listen to six months worth of unlimited Spotify music at 160kbps. After those six months expire, these invitation accounts are limited to 10 hours of listening per month and five plays per track. After the invitation period expires and everyone can simply sign up for a free account, those with free accounts can listen to up to 20 hours of music per month for the first six months. After six months, it's back to 10 hours of music per month and five plays per track.
There's nothing new or mysterious about music subscription services. They've been around for years, but other than free services such as Pandora, the play-exactly-what-you-want-to-play-when-you-want-to-play-it-services haven't caught on. Spotify hopes to change that by offering an ad-based free plan as well as heavily integrating social networking into its service. The idea is that your friends will encourage you to use the service by recommending music to you, which, in turn, may tempt you to pony up for the Unlimited or Premium plans to remove the restrictions inherent in the free plan. And, like Napster, Rhapsody, Mog, and Rdio, when you pay for the most expensive plan, you can then download any of the millions of tracks offered by the service to your iOS or Android devices for offline listening.
The application
In the world of streaming music services, having an application dedicated to the service is a big deal. On a computer, other services depend almost entirely on you accessing the service via a Web browser, which can be clumsy. Spotify has such a dedicated application and it's not bad. Similar to iTunes, you find a library pane to the left side of the window, a now playing area below, play controls along the bottom, and a main pane that displays the contents of playlists as well as Spotify content such as What's New, Top Lists, and Feed tabs.
It's within the library pane that you select what you wish to see in this main pane. For instance, click What's New and you see eight album covers from recently released (and popular) albums. You can see additional new releases by clicking a More button. Regrettably, there's no way to see a very long list of new releases—you'll only see eight entries per page. However, click on the Top Lists link and you see a list of 100 top tracks and albums. Although these lists don't necessarily contain all new releases, new popular releases are sure to find their way into these lists.
Click the Feed tab and you'll see not only news from Spotify, but also any messages you've posted as well as messages from your followers (more on the social networking aspect of Spotify in a bit).
The Play Queue entry in the library pane displays everything you've added to your Spotify queue. These can be tracks from your local music library, Spotify tracks you've added, or playlists that you've downloaded. Click Inbox and you'll see links to all the music tracks that have been sent to you.
If you have the Premium plan, you'll spy a Device entry. Select it and you'll see a message to download the Spotify app for your iOS or Android device. (Currently there's only an app designed for the iPhone/iPod touch, no iPad app, though the available app works perfectly well with an iPad, just in that smaller window, and only in portrait orientation.) When you download the app, fire it up on your device, make sure that you're on the same wireless network as your computer, and enter your Spotify user name and password, the device appears in the Spotify application on your computer. At this point you can choose the music you'd like to sync to your device and then sync that music wirelessly. This is a big advantage over the current iTunes scheme, which demands that you physically tether your iOS device to your Mac with a cable.
Finally, below this area you find your music library. This includes not only the contents and playlists from Spotify, but also the contents of your iTunes library and any other local music sources you've added (a folder full of MP3 files, for example). Note that the Spotify application can't play protected music files purchased from the iTunes Store nor will it play videos. Protected files appear as salmon-colored tracks. You can ask the application to remove them from the list of available tracks (the tracks themselves aren't deleted from your iTunes library).
Search and discovery
The Spotify application has a single Search field at the top of the window. If you choose the What's New entry in the library pane and then enter a query in this field, you'll search the contents of Spotify's library. Choose Library instead in the library pane and you search the contents of your local library (including tracks downloaded from Spotify).
When you search within Spotify's library the top portion of the results contains pictures of any matching artists as well as Artists and Albums links. For example, I searched for James Brown and saw a single image of the youthful Godfather of Soul. In the artists links I found James Brown, James Brown & The Famous Flames, and The James Brown Band. When I clicked on James Brown & The Famous Flames a list of albums appeared below (with their contents listed to the right) as well as a Top Hits entry that contained five hits by Mr. Brown and band. The Albums links works similarly. Just click on an album link or album cover and the contents appear below. You can easily create a new playlist based on one of these links by right-clicking on it and choosing Add To New Playlist in the resulting menu.
Once you've selected an artist you see Biography and Related Artists tabs. Both are welcome and useful. Not only does the biography contain helpful information, but it also has links to other artists important to this artist's career. Click one of those links and you see their artist page, complete with links to other relevant artists. As a music geek, I love the Related Artists tab. Click it and artists who influenced or were influenced by your selected artist—as well as contemporaries of the artist—appear. Click one and you see their artist page. Good stuff.
In Europe this pane also features an Artist Radio tab, where—as with Pandora and other music subscription services—you can create a music channel that plays music from (and similar to) a chosen artist. This feature hasn't yet been implemented in the U.S.
In other ways Spotify's Search feature is too limited. Say, for example, that I enter "Beethoven." What I see is a long list of album covers complete with album contents arranged in no particular order. Using the Artists and Albums links I can narrow my search somewhat and I can enter a specific work—"Beethoven Symphony 7," for example. But what I'd really like is a view—like iTunes—that places a load of album covers in a single pane with the album name and artist below. In this view I don't care so much about what each album contains, rather I want to see more choices. The iOS app works this way—presenting a list of albums. I hope to see the computer application offer this view as well. Additionally, Spotify would benefit from an iTunes-like Power Search feature where you can more carefully filter results by choosing multiple criteria such as artist, album, composer, song, and genre.
The social
When you have the ability to play any of 15 million tracks the first question that should come to mind is "What should I play now?" After you've burned through the hits from high school you need to turn to a trusted authority for recommendations. Spotify's Top Lists can help, but if you're not into today's top-o-the-pops, forget it. Instead, you turn to sites that publish Spotify playlists and your friends.
For example you might travel to ShareMyPlaylists or check out Spotiseek where, as with Pandora, you can enter the name of an artist you like and have the site generate a Spotify playlist of related music for you. Add these playlists to Spotify and you have access to the music they contain.
But some of the best recommendations you may get are from friends. Similar to hanging out at your pal's house in more innocent days and playing tracks for each other, Spotify's social services let you recommend tracks and playlists to others. You can do this by sharing tracks and playlists with friends you've added to your Spotify crew or by posting links to Twitter or Facebook. iTunes also has links to Facebook and Twitter but it's not the same thing as you can't listen to tracks in their entirety nor assemble playlists.
The future
Spotify faces the majority of hurdles that other subscription services have dealt with. Some people simply will not pay to stream music and are happy with the music they own (or are happy with the great results they get from Pandora). While other subscription services offer many of the same features as Spotify (and implement some of them better), the singular advantage that Spotify enjoys is its free plan. Rhapsody, Napster, Mog, and Rdio all offer free trials, but they expire at the end of one or two weeks.
Although limited to a certain number of listening hours per month and ad-based, Spotify's free plan lets users get an idea of what a subscription plan might mean for them over the long haul. Having the freedom to choose exactly the tracks you want to hear or play a playlist full of tracks recommended by your best musical buddies is attractive, but it may be a thrill that wears off after a month or two. We'll see if it's attractive enough to those free subscribers who have stuck it out to start paying to keep their nearly endless library of music flowing.
[Updated 7/15/11 8:40 AM Pacific to provide details regarding bit rates and free plan terms.]


text:
'Penny Dreadful' Season 2: Showtime's Horror Mash Renewed for 2015 With Additional Episodes
We haven't made very much of Showtime's "psychosexual" monster-mash drama, 'Penny Dreadful,' since its debut a few weeks ago, but it seems the network wanted to make sure that scary Victorian creatures wouldn't go quietly into the night. Showtime officially renewed the Josh Hartnett-Eva Green period drama for season 2, expanding the initial episode order for 2015, as well.
According to Showtime, 'Penny Dreadful' season 2 will bow in 2015 with 10 brand-new episodes, as opposed to the initial eight-episode run that comprised the first season, currently airing Sunday nights on the premium cable network. Helmed by 'Skyfall' duo Sam Mendes and John Logan, Showtime describes 'Penny Dreadful' thusly:
In PENNY DREADFUL, some of literature's most famously terrifying characters – including Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula – become embroiled in Victorian London. The series weaves together these classic horror origin stories as the characters grapple with their monstrous alienation.
For those unfamiliar with the series featuring '300: Rise of an Empire' star Eva Green and 'Sin City"s Josh Harnett, 'Penny Dreadful' also features Timothy Dalton as hardened African explorer Sir Malcolm on a deeply personal quest, Reeve Carney as Dorian Grey, Helen McCrory as spiritualist Madame Kali, 'Skyfall"s Rory Kinnear, and 'Doctor Who' vet Billie Piper as an Irish immigrant seeking to escape her dark past.
Well, what do we think? Are you relieved to have 'Penny Dreadful' back to scare up more monster history in 2015? What have you made if the first season thus far?


text:
Notable NYC: 4/1–4/7
Saturday 4/1: Paolo Javier and Jill Magi join the Segue Series. Zinc Bar, 4:30 p.m., $5. Sunday 4/2: Robin Myers and translator Ezequiel Zaidenwerg discuss Conflations. Berl's Poetry Shop, 5:30 p.m., free. Monday 4/3: Fiona Maazel, Alissa Nutting, Robert Lopez, Lance Olsen, and April Ayers Lawson join the Franklin Park Reading Series. Franklin Park, 8 […]...more


text:
Atacama Desert, Chile
The Atacama Desert of Northern Chile is considered to be the driest place on earth. There are parts where there has been no rain in the recorded history of man. Yet, the desert lives. It is a fascinating place with lunar landscapes, spouting geysers, a rich variety of wildlife. It is a place to be visited time and time again to appreciate its many facets.Read More


text:
No products in the cart.
in stock
Feather Boas - Approx 50g x 1.8m - Each of these Feather Boas is 1.8 meters long and covered in from end to end in high quality feathers - Feather Boas are a fun and easy way to glam up any Outfit, Cosplay...
Glam Wig is a versatile, stylish bob with a straight fringe. Ideal for a wide variety of fancy dress costumes, and available in lots of different colors!
Classic Snazaroo face and body paint is a Water-Based make-up perfect for any occasion like Halloween, Fancy Dress, Birthdays, etc - Apply to the skin using a damp sponge or brush and let you creative side go wild!! - Snazaroo Face and Body Paint is...
The use of socks Put your feet into sock therapy with bamboo socks! Bamboo is a magical material of some sort. While still managing to be toasty in the winter, it is cool in the...
Dancing Ears Hat This cute fluffy dog hat has more to it than meets the eye! Simply squeeze his paws to make his ears dance!Available choices:DogDalmatianRabbit
Angel Halo, White, Rainbow Marabou
Neon Leg warmers - Striped - These bright pink, green, orange and yellow striped leg warmers are an ideal accessory for your 80s themed costumes.
Glamourama Wig - Long straight wig with fringe, great for all your parties & fancy dress events and Halloween! .
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking "Accept", you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Privacy Policy
Please login and you will add product to your wishlist
Added to wishlist successfully!
Availability ___product_availability___


text:
GMO Reality Check
Recent news and telling signs that more people are moving away from genetically modified foods
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
For nearly 20 years, most Americans have been in the dark about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the foods that contain them. But that is changing. Growing numbers of people are learning that we are the first generation to have these untested, unlabeled substances imperceptibly (yet pervasively) hidden in our foods.
According to surveys, ninety percent of Americans-which includes an almost even split among Democrats, Republicans, and Independents-want genetically modified foods labeled. More than a million people have signed the Just Label It! (justlabelit.com) petition that asks the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implement mandatory labeling of genetically modified (GM) foods, with a bipartisan group of 55 members of Congress agreeing that labeling would "prevent consumer deception."
Last May, nearly one million voter signatures were submitted in California to place a GMO labeling initiative on the ballot in November. It's largely believed that such a law in California could help convince companies to switch to non-GMO versions of their products nationwide to avoid disclosing information about GMOs on their labels and risk turning off consumers.
Growing Movement
But even without such laws in place, more people individually and collectively are turning away from GMOs. The Non-GMO Project Verified label is the fastest growing label claim in the natural foods industry, and sales of Non-GMO verified products increased 219 percent from 2010 to 2011. In addition, the number of local chapters in just one of several non-GMO activist groups-the Institute for Responsible Technology's Tipping Point Network-has tripled in the first half of 2012.
"The number of people who have taken a position against GMOs is greater than ever," says Jeffrey Smith, the author of Genetic Roulette, who has been crisscrossing the United States speaking about the dangers of GMOs since 2003. "Their commitment to that position is greater than ever, and I would say that millions of people, in my judgment, are actively seeking to reduce the amount of GMOs that they eat."
One telling example of increasing non-GMO activism occurred after a study by the Cornucopia Institute, an organic and agriculture policy group, found that certain brands of cereal contained GM ingredients. Some natural food stores acted on that information, pulling those cereals off their shelves. Consumers responded, too, writing a flurry of angry website and Facebook comments to the manufacturers of the offending products. The public outcry prompted at least one cereal company to pledge that beginning in 2015, all of the new foods that it introduces will be Non-GMO Project Verified and will contain at least 70 percent USDA organic certified ingredients.
GMO Basics
Why the protest against GMOs? Unlike food that has been grown from seeds that have been handed down through generations, genetically modified foods are created in a laboratory. Genetic engineers artificially insert genes from bacteria, viruses, animals, or humans into the DNA of a food crop or animal to create an organism that would never occur in nature. Biotech companies do this for two main reasons: to make crops that are tolerant to herbicides such as RoundUp that kill other plants, and to make crops that produce their own insecticides.
The FDA's own scientists actually warned that these never-before-seen foods could create new toxins and new allergens and needed to be more thoroughly tested, but their concerns were largely ignored. Instead, the US government took the official position that GM foods were "substantially equivalent" to conventional foods and didn't require safety testing or labeling-in sharp contrast to 40 other countries that require such foods be clearly labeled. Commercial planting of genetically modified seeds in the United States began in 1996, and soon after, food products containing GMOs began appearing on store shelves, mostly without our knowledge.
By 2011, 94 percent of all soybeans and 88 percent of all corn grown in the United States was genetically modified. Soy and corn, along with other common GM foods (including canola oil, cottonseed oil, and sugar from sugar beets), are used as ingredients in countless other products, so many Americans-including health food shoppers-likely have been eating GM foods without realizing it.
No Benefits, Just Risks
What we didn't know about what we were eating may already be harming us. Based on animal research with GM foods, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) says that there are serious health risks associated with eating GM foods, including infertility, immune system problems, accelerated aging, disruption of insulin and cholesterol regulation, gastrointestinal issues, and changes in organs. In 2009, the AAEM urged doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets for all Americans, saying that doctors are probably seeing negative health effects in their patients right now without realizing that GM foods are major contributing factors.
Genetically modified crops pose risks to the environment, too, including the serious threat of GM seeds spreading to and contaminating both organic and conventional crop fields. Plus, the biotech industry claims that genetic engineering reduces the use of pesticides, but research shows otherwise. According to a 2009 report by the Organic Center, overall pesticide use dramatically increased-about 318 million pounds-in the first thirteen years after GM crops were introduced.
Herbicides sprayed in high amounts on GM herbicide-resistant crops have led to the development and spread of so-called "superweeds"-weeds that are able to adapt to and withstand typical herbicides. And the biotech companies' proposed solution to this problem? Create new GM crops that are resistant to ever more toxic chemicals, including 2, 4-D-a major component of Agent Orange. It's a "crazy" idea because weeds would eventually adapt to that herbicide and any others, says Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety and author of Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food.
The most important thing to know about GM foods is that they benefit only the chemical companies that produce them, says Kimbrell. "[The biotech companies] have yet to produce anything that benefits the consumer. There's no better taste, no better nutrition, no lower price. That's the dirty little secret that's hardly ever reported. That's why those companies don't want GM foods labeled. They don't want the consumer to be able to have the choice to say, 'I want the same price, less risky version.'"
The Power to Change Our Food
Both Kimbrell and Smith believe that passing the California GMO labeling initiative will be a critical step in the movement to convince food companies to create more GMO-free products. But even before the law is passed, consumers can help change the marketplace by exercising their power as shoppers.
Smith has estimated that if as little as 5 percent of the population starts consciously avoiding genetically modified foods, it can create a tipping point-a moment when major food companies realize that using GMOs is a liability and start pulling such ingredients from their products. Many recent signs-the amount of Internet traffic, attention by social media sites, coverage by mainstream media, and the increase in sales of non-GMO products-"all suggest that we're on the doorstep of that tipping point," says Smith.
So, if you don't like the idea of eating genetically modified foods, get educated and shop non-GMO. You and others like you just might change the future of our food.
How to Say No to GMOs
Tip #1: Buy Organic Certified organic products cannot intentionally include any GMO ingredients. Buy products labeled "100% organic," "organic," or "made with organic ingredients." You can be doubly sure if the product also has a Non-GMO Project Verified Seal (below).
Tip #2: Look for Non-GMO Project Seals. Products that carry the Non-GMO Project Seal are independently verified to be in compliance with North America's only third party standard for GMO avoidance, including testing of at-risk ingredients.
Tip #3: Avoid At-Risk ingredien.t Even if it's not labeled organic or verified non-GMO, you can still avoid products made with ingredients that are likely derived from GMOs. The eight most common GM food crops are:
- Corn (as in corn oil, cornmeal, cornstarch, and other corn-based ingredients)
- Soybeans (as in soybean oil, soy protein, soy lecithin, soy milk, tofu, and other soy-based ingredients)
- Canola (as in canola oil)
- Cottonseed (as in cottonseed oil)
- Sugar beets (the "sugar" listed on food labels is almost always derived from sugar cane and GM sugar beets).
- Most Hawaiian papaya
- A small amount of zucchini and yellow squash.
- Also, beware of dairy products, which may come from cows injected with GM bovine growth hormone, and meats from animals (including farmed fish) that have been fed GM foods. Look for dairy products labeled No rBGH or rBST, artificial hormone-free, or organic; wild-caught fish; and meat labeled organic or 100% grass-fed.
Tip #4: Use Non-GMO Shopping Guides Download either the new Non-GMO Shopping Tips brochure or Non-GMO Shopping Guide at nongmoshoppingguide.com to help identify and avoid GM foods and hidden GM ingredients on food labels. If you have an iPhone, download the ShopNoGMO guide for free from the iTunes store.
Melissa Diane Smith, our regular Go Gluten Free columnist, is a leading health writer and nutritionist, and an Institute for Responsible Technology-trained GMO speaker.


text:
Obama Says Christmas for Him Is a 'Time to Celebrate Birth of Christ'
In his weekly address to Americans on Saturday, President Obama extended a Merry Christmas, thanked U.S. troops and remembered the birth of Christ as the reason for the season.
"For my family and millions of Americans, it's a time to celebrate the birth of Christ, to reflect on His life and learn from His example," Obama, a self-professed Christian, stated.
"Every year, we commit to love one another. To give of ourselves. To be our brother's keeper. To be our sister's keeper. But those ideas are not just part of our faith. They're part of all faiths. And they unite us as Americans."
The weekly address became available Saturday morning and features both President Obama and First lady Michelle Obama wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
The theme for this year's holiday season at the White House was "Joy to All," where families could spend time with their loved ones. That especially goes for military families.
"You see, the war in Iraq is over. The transition in Afghanistan is underway. After a decade of war, our heroes are coming home," said the president. "And all across America, military families are reuniting."
He added, "So this week let's give thanks for our veterans and their families. And let's say a prayer for all our troops – especially those in Afghanistan – who are spending this holiday overseas, risking their lives to defend the freedoms we hold dear."
The Obamas also mentioned those devastated by Hurricane Sandy and the Newtown, Conn., shooting.
A total of 28 people died in Newtown last Friday including the gunman, Adam Lanza. Lanza shot 26 people, mostly first-graders, at Sandy Hook Elementary School as well as his mother in his home before turning the gun on himself.
"In this country, we take care of each other," said the First Lady. "And in this season of giving, it's inspiring to see so many people all across America taking the time to help those most in need."
The president added, "That's part of what makes us such a compassionate nation. And this year, I know many of you are extending that kindness to the families who are still picking up the pieces from Hurricane Sandy and your prayers to the people of Newtown, Connecticut."
The Obamas are in Hawaii for their Christmas vacation.


text:
Subtotal: Label
Proceed to Checkout
Brighten up any party with this pack of 6 latex balloons!
Each metallic blue balloon features a smooth finish. They're a fabulous decoration for special celebrations.
Can You Inflate My Latex Balloons?
We will deliver your pack of balloons deflated but latex balloon inflation is available in our stores at a cost of 75p per balloon. We use HI-FLOAT, which gives latex balloons extended float times.
If you'd like us to inflate your latex balloons, simply take your delivery note and balloons to your nearest Card Factory store and we'll inflate them for you. Please remember to take your delivery note as you'll need to show this to a member of our team as proof of purchase.
When purchasing a helium balloon, priced over £2.49 and to be inflated in-store, you are required to purchase a foil weight. The same applies to any Helium Displays to be inflated in-store. Such weights can be added to your web order or purchased in a Card Factory branch upon taking your balloon for inflation. We will provide a free weight when inflating any helium balloon at a cost of £2.49 or less in-store.
Please note that to avoid disappointment, and to ensure we deliver a quality service, our stores require a notice period of 24 hours to prepare balloon displays.
Finish: Metallic
Colour: Blue
Dimensions (approx.): Inflated balloon: 27.5cm
Material: Latex
Please note: This balloon is suitable for helium inflation. Not suitable for children under 36 months, children under eight years can choke or suffocate on deflated or broken balloons. Keep balloons at a safe distance from your eyes. Always use a balloon pump for inflation.


text:
The Loop Loft has announced the release of the Blues Drums Vol 2 ReFill, a sample library featuring a collection of authentic blues grooves.
From classic Bo Diddley-esque boogies, to sparse and slow 12/8 back beats, to Chicago-style shuffles, Blues Drums Volume 2 will round out your Reason groove arsenal with the 100% natural drum sound (and feel) the Loop Loft is famous for.
Each session contains dozens of groove variations, fills, and transitions, allowing you to easily build a custom drum track in seconds. We also meticulously sampled every drum and cymbal on a multitude of kits (Ludwig, Gretsch and Slingerland), giving you incredible flexibility for layering and designing your own grooves.
The Blues Drums Vol 2 ReFill costs $44 USD.
The Loop Loft is offering a 25% discount on all its ReFill libraries and bundles until June 10th, 2013.
More information: The Loop Loft / Blues Drums Vol 2 ReFill


text:
Are you an Appliance Repair Technician in Garwood looking for more appliance repair jobs in Union County? Whether you are looking for full-time, part-time, weeknight, weekend work or just a couple jobs per week. You have come to the right place.
We have Appliance Repair Jobs Garwood for the below appliance brands for residential and commercial customers:
Amana Appliance Repair Jobs, Bosch Repair Jobs, Dacor Repair Jobs, Electrolux Repair Jobs, Frigidaire Repair Jobs, GE Monogram Repair Jobs, GE Repair Jobs, Haier Repair Jobs, Hotpoint Repair Jobs, Jenn-Air Repair Jobs, Kenmore Repair Jobs, Kitchenaid Repair Jobs, LG Repair Jobs, Maytag Repair Jobs, Miele Repair Jobs, Roper Repair Jobs, Samsung Repair Jobs, Sears Repair Jobs, Sub Zero Repair Jobs, Thermador Repair Jobs, Uline Repair Jobs, Viking Repair Jobs, Whirlpool Repair Jobs, Wolf Repair Jobs, Danby Repair Jobs, Broan Repair Jobs, Speed Queen Repair Jobs, LG Studio Repair Jobs, Marvel Repair Jobs, Lynx Repair Jobs, American Range Repair Jobs, Bertazzoni Repair Jobs, Asko Repair, Vent a Hood Installation, Waste King Repair, Liebherr Appliance Repair, Dryer Repair, Dishwasher Repair, Fisher & Paykel Repair, Traulsen Repair, Siemens Repair, DCS Repair, Crosley Repair, Gaggenau Repair, Bluestar Repair, Southbend Repair, Hobart Repair, Imperial Repair, Dynasty Repair, Volcan Repair, Kelvinator Repair, Brown Five Star Repair, Scotsman Repair, Zephyr Repair, Equator Repair, Estate Repair, Sharp Repair, AGA Repair, Electrolux Icon Repair, Summit Repair, Big Chill Repair, NXR Repair, Gladiator Repair, Carrier Repair, Goodman Repair, Heil Repair, Janitrol Repair, Panasonic Repair, Lennox Repair, Tempstar Repair, Frigidaire Affinity Repair, Whirlpool Gold, Whirlpool Energy Star, Whirlpool Smart, Whirlpool Sidekicks, Frigidaire Gallery, Frigidaire Professional, Kitchenaid Architect, Bosch Benchmark , Liebherr Premium Plus, GE Cafe, GE Monogram, GE Profile, GE Artistry, Kitchenaid Architect, Kitchenaid Superba, Kitchenaid Pro Line series, Kitchenaid Architect C series, Kitchenaid Architect S series, Kitchenaid Classic Series, Bosch 500 series, Bosch 800 series, Kenmore Elite, Sub-Zero Pro 48, Sub-Zero BI-30U, Sub-Zero BI-30UG, Sub-Zero BI-36F, Sub-Zero BI-36R, Sub-Zero BI-36RG, Sub-Zero BI-36S, Sub-Zero BI-36U, Sub-Zero BI-36UFD, Sub-Zero BI-36UG, Sub-Zero BI-42S, Sub-Zero BI-42SD, Sub-Zero BI-42SID, Sub-Zero BI-42UFD, Sub-Zero BI-48S, Sub-Zero BI-48SD, Sub-Zero BI-48SID, LG Studio, LG Turbowash, LG Stackable, LG Steam, LG SteamDryer, LG French 3-Door, LG French 4-Door, Samsung Chef Collection, Samsung Aquajet, Samsung Superspeed, Maytag Maxima, Maytag Bravos, Whirlpool Duet, Whirlpool Cabrio, General Electric Monogram, Bosch Axxis, GE True Temp, GE Triton, GE Triton XL, Bosch Ascenta, Bosch Nexxt, Bosch Exxcel, Bosch Sensotronic, Bosch Classix, Coin Operated Appliance Repair, Bosch Logixx, LG Studio, GE Profile Advantium, Maytag Atlantis, Bosch 500, Bosch 800
Are you an Appliance Repair Technician looking for washer repair jobs Garwood?
Are you an Appliance Repair Technician looking for dryer repair jobs Garwood?
Are you an Appliance Repair Technician looking for refrigerator repair jobs Garwood?
Are you an Appliance Repair Technician looking for dishwasher repair jobs Garwood?
Are you an Appliance Repair Technician looking for stove repair repair jobs Garwood?
Please send us your resume and/or experience to email@example.com. Please make sure you provide your experience, availability, contact info and best time to reach you. We will have someone contact you within 24 hours.
Other Communities serviced: Fanwood , Garwood, Kenilworth , Mountainside, New Providence , Roselle Park , Roselle , Elizabeth , Linden , Plainfield, Rahway , Summit , Westfield, Berkeley Heights , Clark , Cranford , Hillside , Scotch Plains , Springfield, Union , Winfield ,


text:
If the U.S. Supreme Court rules that streaming video provider Aereo violates the copyrights of TV networks, it may also put cloud storage services at risk, a lawyer for the company argued Monday.
Aereo does not trigger the so-called public performance clause in U.S. copyright law, and should not have to pay royalties, because it gives subscribers access only to TV stations that are available over the air for free, David Frederick, Aereo's lawyer, told the panel of Supreme Court justices. And unlike cable and satellite TV services, which pay royalties to some networks, Aereo does not give thousands of people access to the same TV show at the same time, he said.
Instead, 2-year-old Aereo—which has been sued for copyright infringement by ABC, CBS and other broadcast TV networks—rents each subscriber an antenna and a DVR service, and customers individually choose what TV programs to watch, Frederick said.
While copyright law requires royalties for public performances, defined as a performance "at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered," Aereo provides a personalized service to each subscriber, he said.
"There's no [television] content being provided," he told justices. "There's equipment being provided."
Aereo's service is similar to cloud storage services, where a user stores videos, Frederick said. If the court determines that the act of sharing individual copies of a copyright-protected video is a copyright violation, then cloud storage providers will be the next target, he said.
If a cloud service has multiple copies of the same video, then the TV networks that have sued Aereo might argue that the cloud's service of making that video available to multiple users is a copyright violation, he said. "There's a reason the cloud community is freaked out in this case," he said.
However, the lawyer for the TV networks maintained that the Supreme Court doesn't need to deal with cloud storage services in the case. A cloud storage service is different from Aereo because users are providing content they've obtained, while Aereo gives subscribers access to content, argued Paul Clement.
Aereo is acting much like a cable TV service in delivering TV signals to a mass audience, Clement said.
The justices had questions about how they could rule against Aereo and not affect cloud services. If Aereo violates copyright law by providing a public performance without paying royalties, then "1,000 people who have the same content" in the same cloud locker may also be considered a public performance, said Justice Stephen Breyer.
Several justices seemed unconvinced by Aereo's arguments, however. Aereo gives subscribers access to potentially millions of TV programs and is "essentially selling them to the public," said Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Chief Justice John Roberts also questioned if Aereo supplied each subscriber with her own small antenna "solely to circumvent" the public performance provision in U.S. copyright law. Aereo's service looks in many ways like a cable service, which has to pay royalties to networks, he and other justices said.
"You're saying your copy [of a TV show] is different than my copy," Roberts said. "There's a reason they're called copies. They're all the same."
Aereo, like cable providers, is serving "legions of subscribers," added Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
But the Supreme Court wouldn't be having this debate if Aereo rented subscribers a DVR service and TV antennas that were located at subscribers' homes, Frederick countered. The Supreme Court has ruled that DVRs do not violate copyright, and no one would argue that TV antenna makers are responsible for paying royalties for free, over-the-air TV programs, he said.
Aereo is essentially providing the same service, only the antennas and DVRs are located in the company's facilities, he said. The geographical location of the equipment Aereo is renting "can't change the copyright analysis," he said.


text:
It's official: Fiat is building a new Cinquecento (500) minicar with an unlikely partner. As you may remember, Fiat showed an updated 500 in the guise of the Trepi no concept in Geneva this year. Now, the company has announced it will develop a production version of the Italian icon — the cultural equivalent of the New Beetle — with Ford, which will rebadge the product as its new European Ka. The companies will use Fiat's Panda small-car architecture to underpin the new models, which will be launched in 2007 (Fiat) and 2008 (Ford). Italian-languant fluents can read more at Autoblog.it. [Update: CNN/Money picked up the story. Thanks, Chris.]
Fiat May Roll Out New, Nostalgic Cinquecento; Fiat Group Goes on Product Rampage [internal]


text:
Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and lyricist who has been the lead singer for the rock band AC/DC since 1980. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 along with the other members of the band.
In 1972, Brian Johnson became one of the founding members of the glam rock band Geordie. After a few hit singles, including UK Top 10 "All Because of You" (1973), the band split up in 1978 then to be reformed by Johnson in 1980. But after signing a new record deal, Johnson was asked to audition for AC/DC, whose charismatic frontman, Bon Scott, had died on February 19, 1980. A fan in Chicago sent a tape of Johnson performing with Geordie to the band's manager Peter Mensch. Mensch recommended him to the band. AC/DC lead guitarist and co-founder Angus Young later recalled, "I remember Bon playing me Little Richard, and then telling me the story of when he saw Brian singing." He says about that night, "There's this guy up there screaming at the top of his lungs and then the next thing you know he hits the deck. He's on the floor, rolling around and screaming. I thought it was great, and then to top it off—you couldn't get a better encore—they came in and wheeled the guy off!'" Later that night, Johnson would be diagnosed with appendicitis, which was the cause of his writhing around on stage. The band agreed immediately that Johnson's performing style fitted AC/DC music. Johnson's first album with AC/DC, Back in Black, became the second best selling album of all time, and the best selling album by any band.
Brian Johnson was born in Dunston, Gateshead, England. He is of English and Italian descent and is the eldest of four siblings, including his brother Maurice and sister Julie. His brother Maurice works for AC/DC as the cook. Johnson's father, Alan, was a Sergeant Major of the British Army's Durham Light Infantry and a coal miner; he died during the Ball Breaker tour. His mother, Ester De Luca, was an Italian from Frascati. When he was young, Johnson performed in various shows with the Scouts, and appeared in a play which aired on television, and joined a local church choir.


text:
Kensington VeriMark™
Protect your Accounts With VeriMark™
Fingerprint & Security Keys
|Windows 10 Setup
|Manual Driver Install
|Windows 10 Setup
|Windows 7 & 8.1 Setup
|2nd Factor Authentication (U2F) Setup
|Manual Driver Install
Answer: No, currently we only support Windows 10, 8.1 and 7.
Answer: Yes, one Windows account can register more than one fingerprint including that of multiple users, the maximum fingerprints eligible to register is 10 fingerprints.
a) You can login to your Windows account through your regular password or pin code as the backup until you are able to replace or find your VeriMark™ Fingerprint Key.
b) For U2F login, you can still use your regular password with OTP phone messages to login into your Google, Dropbox and other accounts.
c) Your fingerprint image/file has been changed into an encrypted file through a secure algorithm so that it can be stored in your laptops settings so you can purchase another VeriMark™ Fingerprint Key to continue use.
Answer: U2F is the term from FIDO alliance, U2F (or Universal 2nd Factor) is an open authentication standard that enables keychain devices, mobile phones and other devices to securely access any number of web-based services. For more information, see U2F – FIDO Universal 2nd Factor.
This user experience allows online services to augment the security of their existing password infrastructure by adding a strong second factor to user login. The user logs in with a username and password as before. The service can also prompt the user to present a second factor device at any time it chooses. The strong second factor allows the service to simplify its passwords (e.g. 4–digit PIN) without compromising security. With this product, your 2nd factor would be your fingerprint.
During registration and authentication, the user presents the second factor by simply pressing their fingerprint on the USB dongle sensor area. The user can use their FIDO U2F device across all online services that support the protocol leveraging built–in support in web browsers.
Answer: No, currently IE edge and Firefox have not implemented the FIDO framework. So you can currently only use the U2F process through the Google Chrome browser. In the future, if IE edge or Firefox supports FIDO U2D framework, then Kensington will consider supporting driver updates. Please continue to check the product page on the website for updates and more information.
Answer: Based on the current FIDO U2F framework and the VeriMark™ Fingerprint Key, you must register your fingerprint data through your Windows account and then you need to register each computer with your VeriMark™ Fingerprint Key (with your own fingerprint) for the U2F account. This means that if you have two or more laptops/devices then you must register your U2F key through the same accounts on each laptop/device. If you are using a public computer, we suggest using SMS messages for your password when you try to login your personal account.
Answer: Your VeriMark™ Fingerprint Key can be registered again through the same account on a different device. Or it can be registered again with the same account and the same device with different fingerprints. Make sure you continue to use the same account with your VeriMark™ Fingerprint Key.


text:
A Mississippi jail is on lockdown today after a Sunday night riot left one prison guard dead and as many as 20 inmates and guards injured. According to sheriff's reports, the violence began as a gang feud and soon engulfed the privately operated facility, which holds 2,500 non-citizens incarcerated for reentering the United States after deportation and for other charges. But the fragments of information that have emerged from inmates and advocates suggest that the violence had more to do with a pattern of abuse and neglect that has emerged at privately run, for-profit prisons. The Adams County Sheriff's office and the Corrections Corporation of America, the behemoth prison company that operates the facility for the federal Bureau of Prisons, have tightly controlled news of the riot and what caused it. In statements, officials say the violence emerged out of thin air and soon "turned into a mob mentality," according to Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield. "This could have happened anywhere, anytime," Mayfield told [the Associated Press](http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/21/us/mississippi-prison-disturbance/index.html). Prison watchdogs say that's not necessarily true. What little independent information that has emerged from inside Adams County Correctional Center suggests a different story–one of mistreatment and abuse at the hands of guards that may have reached a breaking point. At 5 p.m. on Sunday evening, an i[nmate reportedly phoned](http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2012/05/21/prison-riot-leaves-one-dead-others-injured/2/) a local TV station with a cell phone, sending photos to confirm that he was indeed held inside the facility. "They always beat us and hit us," the prisoner told the local reporter. "We just pay them back. We're trying to get better food, medical (care), programs, clothes, and we're trying to get some respect from the officers and lieutenants." According to the [news repor](http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2012/05/21/prison-riot-leaves-one-dead-others-injured/2/)t, the prisoner said that nine guards had been taken hostage. In an interview with Colorlines.com, Patricia Ice, who directs the legal program at the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, said that her organization has heard reports of neglect and abuse inside the Adams County facility. Ice said she received a call last month from a California woman who reported medical neglect of a family member in the jail. "I got a complaint from a family member saying that a man had lung cancer and was being ignored," Ice said. "Three weeks earlier, he was examined by a doctor and diagnosed with lung cancer but had not received any treatment at all." Prisoner's rights advocates say that the accounts of these inmates are consistent with documented conditions in private prison facilities around the country. "Private prisons have a financial incentive to spend as little as possible in order to make a greater profit," said Bob Libal, of Grassroots Leadership. Libal is a longtime advocate for the rights of prisoners held in private facilities. "They skimp on staff salaries and training, which leads to high turnover rates. They spend as little as possible on services in order to maximize profit. This mentality leads to poorly run facilities where abuse, neglect, and prisoner uprisings are common." The Corrections Corporation of America operates over 60 jails and detention centers in 20 states with the capacity to hold over 90,000 people. The facilities have a track record of violence. The [Associated Press ](http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/sheriff-gang-started-prison-1442842.html)reports: > In 2004, inmates at a different CCA prison in Mississippi set fire to mattresses, clothing and a portable toilet. No injuries were reported. The company announced after that disturbance that it would add about 25 guards at the Tallahatchie County facility. > > In Idaho, violence at a CCA-run prison has prompted federal lawsuits, public scrutiny and increased state oversight. In 2010, Vermont inmates being held at a CCA prison in Tennessee were subdued with chemical grenades after refusing to return to their cells. Reports of medical neglect inside Corrections Corp. facilities have piled up in recent years. [The New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/us/10detain.html?pagewanted=all) in 2010 reported that federal immigration officials attempted to cover up numerous neglect-related deaths inside CCA jails, which hold immigration detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as thousands of Bureau of Prisons inmates incarcerated on immigration-related charges like "illegal reentry." In increasing numbers, the federal government now prosecutes border crossers who previously would have been quickly deported. Patricia Ice said the man whose family member called her is serving a three-year sentence for illegal reentry. Ice told Colorlines.com, "I did try to contact to the jail and I never got anybody on the phone. There was nothing I could do." An ACLU spokesperson wrote in an email that the organization is "engaged in an investigation of a handful of privately-run facilities in Mississippi," including a CCA facility."[C]onditions of confinement are often woefully inadequate and levels of violence can be higher at for-profit facilities," an ACLU statement said. Catlin Carithers, 24, had worked in the prison since 2009. He died from blunt head trauma, according to the county coroner. By yesterday afternoon, news reports said all of the 2,500 inmates in the jail were locked inside their cells as officials investigate the guard's death and identify the perpetrator. Federal and local authorities are working with Corrections Corp. to investigate the violence. The sheriff's office [told the Natchez Democrat](http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2012/05/21/sheriff-inmates-could-face-capital-murder-charges/) that it is on standby waiting for word from the FBI on how to proceed.
What Started a Mississippi Prison Riot? Depends on Who You Ask
A for-profit, Corrections Corporation of America facility holding non-citizen inmates is on lockdown after a weekend riot. Officials insist it was a gang feud. But reports from inside suggest a pattern of abuse and neglect that has recurred at privately run prisons.
By Seth Freed Wessler May 22, 2012


text:
Code-In time!
27. October 2011
It is time for Google Code-In again! In short, this is the little sister of Summer of Code for high-school students. Instead of one big task for a student it consists of many small tasks that can be finished in a couple of hours/days. From the experience of the last years we can expect highly motivated and skilled students there, that are eager finishing as many tasks a possible.
This is a great opportunity for GNOME to invite new contributors and it also helps us to fix all these small things we don't have time for usually.
We need tasks!
In order to participate we need to provide
at least 5 tasks in all of the 8 categories sorted by difficulty level
and therefore we have already setup a wiki page that is slowly filling up with tasks. There are categories for Code, Documentation, Outreach, Q&A, Research, Training, Translation and UI therefore everybody should be able to contribute something.
Deadline is Monday, 2011-10-31!
For more details, please check Andre's post on DDL and if you have any questions, please ask Andre, me or preferably post on gnome-soc-list.


text:
This garment is available in one size:
S-M fits up to chest 42 inches and measures 44 inches (112cm) from the neckline to the hem at the back,
Made of lightweight polyester satin, which offers the soft appearance and lustre of silk.
A matching woman's version can be found in the women's nightwear section.
Full care instructions included and completely machine washable.
For more information about Satin Kimono with Embroidered Dragon from our Kimonos range, please contact us by filling out our online form and starting the enquiry with Satin Kimono with Embroidered Dragon


text:
The release Tuesday of the federal oil spill commission's report into the Deepwater Horizon disaster raises further questions about when Halliburton Co. will be added to the list of defendants in the federal government's civil complaint filed last month.
The Justice Department named nine defendants, including BP PLC and Transocean Ltd., when it filed its lawsuit in the Eastern District of Louisiana, but Halliburton, which played a major role in the Deepwater Horizon drilling operation, was conspicuous by its absence (Greenwire, Dec. 15, 2010).
The government is expected to announce criminal charges relating to the spill at some point, but so far, the focus has been on civil enforcement under such statutes as the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act. All the parties involved are also named as defendants in hundreds of private lawsuits filed by individuals and businesses affected by the spill.
The report from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling found that Halliburton, along with BP and Transocean, were all guilty of "errors and misjudgments" in relation to the April 20 explosion and resulting spill (Greenwire, Jan 11).
A key example of Halliburton's role was highlighted in the report's fourth chapter, which focuses on the use of cement when drilling the well, which BP subcontracted out to the firm.
One of the report's findings is that Halliburton had conducted tests in February 2010, two months before the disaster, that indicated the foam cement slurry used on the well was unstable.
The tests "should have prompted the company to reconsider its slurry design," the report says.
In highlighting "root causes" of the subsequent explosion and spill, the commission refers to "insufficient controls in place" at Halliburton that would have ensured that "test results were vetted rigorously."
"On the cement, they did the test, but they didn't communicate the result of that test," commission member Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an interview. "There were some real communication gaps, a lot of management errors, a lot of lack of information offshore and onshore, and among contractors."
Wyn Hornbuckle, a Justice Department spokesman, declined to comment on the government's plans in relation to Halliburton, noting that the release of the commission's report would not directly affect the government's investigation.
"The Justice Department's investigation is ongoing, and we continue to examine all relevant facts and evidence as to what caused the spill and all parties that may be responsible," he said.
At issue: liability under Oil Pollution Act
Lawyers familiar with the various lawsuits filed over the oil spill say Halliburton may have initially been omitted from the government complaint because of uncertainty over whether it could be held liable under the Oil Pollution Act, which imposes stiff penalties for spills but only on parties defined as "owners or operators." As a subcontractor, Halliburton could argue that its conduct is not covered by the law.
Brendan Cummings, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity, which has filed its own lawsuit over the spill, conceded that government lawyers may be concerned on that point, but he thinks it is still possible that Halliburton could be deemed an "owner or operator" under the Oil Pollution Act.
"One could argue that their involvement in the cementing rises to that level, so it is not out of the question that the government would add them as a defendant under the existing claims," Cummings added.
The Oil Pollution Act also imposes "joint and several liability" on those who are responsible for a spill, meaning no single entity foots the bill, which could work against Halliburton, noted Rena Steinzor, an environmental law professor at the University of Maryland School of Law.
Aside from the Oil Pollution Act and Clean Water Act, the government could look to other statutes with damages provisions, including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, legal experts noted.
Under all three, the damages would be significantly less than what is available under the Oil Pollution Act.
Cummings suggested that Halliburton could also face common law claims "if the government chooses to enter that realm."
Ultimately, Halliburton's toughest fight could be with BP, several lawyers speculated.
The report's clear statement that blame should be distributed among the three companies potentially bolsters BP's legal position because, for example, it could make the argument that it was Halliburton's gross negligence, not its own, that led to the explosion, Steinzor said.
That could lead to BP suing Halliburton and could also implicate the indemnification agreement between the two firms signed when Halliburton agreed to work on the well.
Patti Goldman, vice president for litigation at Earthjustice, speculated that all the companies involved in the litigation could end up at each other's throats.
"I would expect more infighting among the various entities who are potentially liable," Goldman said.
Halliburton declined to comment on what civil claims the government might file.
Reporter Katie Howell contributed.


text:
Attack of the Clones
A potent and malicious new virus is making its way around the Internet. Brace yourself for a long, hot summer of annoyance and computer meltdowns.
With self-help book titles like Manifest Your Destiny, Wayne W. Dyer has cultivated a loyal following of New Age needniks. But in early May the e-mail list hosting company that manages an unofficial Dyer fan club smelled big trouble when, in a single week, 384 unwitting new subscribers e-mailed in to sign up for hokey messages with headers like Seeds for the Garden of Your Mind. A week before there had been only 5.
Blame Dyer's overnight celebrity on an eight-month-old virus named Klez, a nasty bit of self-replicating software currently making the rounds on the Internet. (The word "klez" is written in the code, hence the name.) Its modus operandi is to blast e-mails to all the names in Microsoft Outlook's address book, infecting random files on the hard drive and attaching them to outbound messages. The Dyer fan site had to send e-mails to all its new subscribers to confirm their interest.
No one knows yet who wrote Klez. Its first outbreak was in Asia last October. But it is the latest--and potentially scariest--of about 200 worms and viruses circulating on the Net. Klez's newest strains, discovered in mid-April, quickly topped the watch lists of anti-virus software firms like Symantec and Sophos, which say Klez caused 85% of all infections in April.
It's still too early to estimate the cost of Klez, but it is proliferating quickly, thanks in part to its nearly 30 possible subject lines. Some ("A IE 6.0 Patch" and "Your Password") are hard to resist. Others ("How Are You" and "Congratulations") are ridiculously mundane. The last four big epidemics--Nimda, Code Red, Sircam and the I Love You bug--racked up a combined $13 billion in lost productivity and labor costs for cleanup, according to research firm Computer Economics.
While just about anyone can write a virus, teens and college kids on break from school are the most frequent perps. "Kids have more free time on their hands," says April Goostree, virus research manager for McAfee.com.
Sharpei, a new virus Web cops have been tracking, was written by a 16-year-old European cyberchick nicknamed Gigabyte and is thought to be the first to exploit a hole in C#, Microsoft's new programming language. Viruses, worms and other so-called malware exploit programming blunders in software.
At their most benign, viruses eat up precious storage space, slowing or crashing computers. More severe ones destroy or randomly distribute potentially sensitive files. At their worst, viruses are a useful tool to commandeer computers as part of a distributed denial-of-service attack, which paralyzes a site with a barrage of useless data packets. Yahoo and Ebay were downed by such attacks two years ago.
The first Klez strain manipulated a hole in Internet Explorer and tricked the browser into launching infected Outlook e-mail attachments by fiddling with the message's header or instructions for encoding and decoding messages. Klez is so nefarious that you don't have to click on anything to launch it. Simply viewing an Outlook message in the preview window will set it off.
No need to worry about getting blamed, though, since Klez steals names from the address book and sends e-mails under those names and even the anti-virus vendors' names, a trick called spoofing. Microsoft promptly issued a patch, and the virus-scanning firms followed suit with their own updates.
But some Klez strains are so shrewd they can disable virus-scanning features. Open an infected attachment, and you're screwed. Klez also plants another file-damaging virus that targets file-sharing networks. Because of its multiple methods of infection, Klez is considered a "blended threat," one of the most lethal types of viruses. Klez is the first virus since the Nimda worm to reach level four out of a possible five on Symantec's severity scale.
Broadband has increased the speed of infection. Hackers target broadband connections because their IP addresses don't change, making them easier to pin down. High-speed links can send and receive large data files, ideal for sophisticated virus programs. And because broadband is "always on," it often automatically previews e-mails, launching the virus. In the first weekend of May, Symantec received 10,000 Klez alerts from its customers, twice as many as on a typical weekend.
Viruses have come a long way in the last few years. In 1999 the Melissa virus was the first to replicate itself globally via e-mail. (Its 33-year-old creator, David Smith, scored a 20-month prison sentence in early May.) A year later the I Love You virus became the most expensive one to date--$8.7 billion in estimated damage--partly because it quickly organized massive denial-of-service attacks.
Last year's Nimda, a blended threat like Klez, boasted four different ways to invade computers. The greatest fear among virus-busters is what's called a metamorphic virus. These could have the ability to change their code after each time they infect yet another computer, mutating around obstacles much like HIV. Such shape-shifters would evade many virus scanners, which look only for signature chunks of code within an already discovered virus.
Like Klez, future viruses will exploit known security flaws. And there are plenty of those. Last year CERT Coordination Center, the security watch group in Pittsburgh, reported 2,437 security vulnerabilities in software products, up from 171 in 1995. "There's too much pressure on software vendors to get to market quicker," says David Evans, a computer science professor at the University of Virginia. "And there's not enough pressure from the government or legal system for them to get it right."
Some 95% of corporate networks have anti-virus tools in place, but consumers are easy prey. The majority of the 69 million Americans surfing the Net from home do not regularly update their anti-virus scanners (if they even own one) with the latest security patches, despite getting alerts from their anti-virus vendors. Security is only as good as its last update. Research firm Gartner predicts that through 2005, 90% of cyberattacks will exploit security holes for which patches have already been issued.
"If you are in a big company, you have a full-time professional who is actively pushing the patches on users. At home there's nobody pushing you. You don't even know you need it," says William Orvis, a security specialist with the Computer Incident Advisory Capability team, a unit of the Department of Energy.
It is frighteningly easy for aspiring hackers ("script kiddies") to compose viruses from available code, thanks to the estimated 30,000 Web sites offering how-to guides. "You can practically go to Barnes & Noble and buy a book on virus writing," says David Perry, director of education at Trend Micro, an anti-virus software vendor. Used copies of the virus bible, The Giant Black Book of Computer Viruses, are still available online. "Fun for hackers," says one review.
Companies are reluctant to admit they've been victims of cyberattacks, forcing cybercops to play catch-up. One deterrent to companies giving access to investigators is that they don't want them sniffing around corporate documents and hard drives. "The scope of the problem is huge, and law enforcement can only do as much as it gets access to," says Gregory Schaffer, a former Justice Department prosecutor of cybercrime, now head of the computer crime division of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
It gets worse. Viruses have a whole new breeding ground in cell phones and handheld computers. Two years ago Spain's wireless carrier Telefónica suffered the first cellular virus when a worm hit random phones with mean-spirited short messages. Later that year a Trojan horse, a seemingly innocuous program with a built-in backdoor for attackers, caused several of NTT Docomo's cell phones to flood Japan's emergency phone line with calls.
Four known Palm-plaguing threats roam the wild today, spreading by way of synch and beaming features. Some just hide or delete applications, while a Trojan horse called Palm.MTXII will replace notes with gobbledygook. Wi-Fi local area networks are also vulnerable.
"In a doomsday scenario, we could see a threat to tens of millions of PCs that carries over to hundreds of millions of wireless devices," says Stephen Trilling, director of research at Symantec. That scenario isn't far off.


text:
PyDev - Python IDE for Eclipse
Add this URL to your Eclipse Installation to reach this solution's update site.
2023-06 (4.28)
2023-03 (4.27)
2022-12 (4.26)
2022-09 (4.25)
2022-06 (4.24)
2022-03 (4.23)
2021-12 (4.22)
2021-09 (4.21)
2021-06 (4.20)
2021-03 (4.19)
2020-12 (4.18)
2020-09 (4.17)
2020-06 (4.16)
2020-03 (4.15)
2019-12 (4.14)
2019-09 (4.13)
2019-06 (4.12)
2019-03 (4.11)
2018-12 (4.10)
2018-09 (4.9)
Photon (4.8)
Oxygen (4.7)
Neon (4.6)
2023-09 (4.29)
Learn more...
Details Group Tabs
Reviews Sign in to post reviews
PyDev not available for Eclipse 2022-12 (4.26.0)
Submitted by Ramiro Arias on Tue, 2023-05-09 18:27
I have Eclipse 2022-12 (4.26). I went to marketplace and asked for PyDev. It appears as "PyDev - Python IDE for Eclipse 10.1.4". I proceed to install. Then I clicked on Confirm. Then the following message appeared: "The following solutions are not available: PyDev - Python IDE for Eclipse 10.1.4" Proceed with the installation anyways? Of course I clicked No. How can I install PyDev then?
Re: PyDev not available for Eclipse 2022-12 (4.26.0)
Submitted by Scott Case on Thu, 2023-06-15 13:48
I had the same error until I unselected the optional "mylyn" item before continuing - so only the single required pydev option was selected.
Pydev not available in eclipse 10.0.1
Submitted by Shivamdeep Garg on Thu, 2022-12-08 04:38
When i try to install pydev on eclipse 2022-09 or 2022-06. I'm getting the error - Pydev not available in eclipse 10.0.1. Even if I install python editor is not working fine.
PyDev in Eclipse 4.24 prevents double-clicking to open Java file
Submitted by Maxwell Ma on Fri, 2022-06-17 15:43
In Eclipse 4.24, if PyDev is installed, it is not possible to open Java files in Project Explorer using double click or F3. And the right-click menu will also have problems, the 3 menu items copy, paste, delete will appear 2 times.
Re: PyDev in Eclipse 4.24 prevents double-clicking to open Java
Submitted by Maxwell Ma on Fri, 2022-06-17 15:50
To add:
macOS 11.6.7
New Eclipse(eclipse-jee-2022-06-R-macosx-cocoa-x86_64.dmg) and new workspace
Only pydev was installed, and during installation "pydev mylyn integration" was not installed because of unmet dependencies.
Regarding version of eclipse
Submitted by Amritpal Singh on Sat, 2019-11-09 09:52
Which eclipse version supports python live coding
pydev does not support eclipse 4.13
Submitted by Longyi Gu on Wed, 2019-10-02 03:16
when does pydev support eclipse 4.13?
Re: pydev does not support eclipse 4.13
Submitted by Fabio Zadrozny on Wed, 2019-10-02 10:13
It should actually be supported already. I've just updated the listing (the other times the marketplace did this automatically, not sure why this didn't happen this time around).
Bug tracker link in description is broken
Submitted by Roger Duthie on Fri, 2018-07-06 04:44
How can users report broken features?
Are any of the other links in this description broken?
Patreon Suuporter
Re: Bug tracker link in description is broken
Submitted by Fabio Zadrozny on Fri, 2018-07-06 08:08
Thank you!
Submitted by Trevor Robertson on Tue, 2018-03-13 08:27
Easy interface; Formatting of code a highlight. Still my first choice.
Wow. Huge improvements
Submitted by Tim Richardson on Fri, 2016-04-15 22:17
I normally use Pycharm but I decided to have a look at Pydev again in eclipse 4.5.2.
Wow. pydev is really good. Pycharm has lots of added value features like managing the python interpreter modules etc, but for coding and debugging pydev is good. It seems so much slicker now, good inspections, debugging, code completion.
Error with scroll when open file if you install in Eclipse Mars
Submitted by Quan Vu on Tue, 2016-04-05 02:46
I get a error with scroll bar when I install PyDev plugin in eclipse mars.
I recommend you íntall PyDev in eclipse luna. The eclipse luna very stability
Won't install on Eclipse Mars
Submitted by Chris Nasr on Mon, 2015-10-19 09:58
I tried dragging it from this page, and I tried finding it in the market place, either way I get the same error:
Unable to read repository at dl.bintray.com/fabioz/pydev/latest/content.xml.
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Re: Won't install on Eclipse Mars
Submitted by Fabio Zadrozny on Tue, 2016-02-16 10:54
The problem is that the update site: https://dl.bintray.com/fabioz/pydev/latest is no longer valid. Remove that one and use http://www.pydev.org/updates/ instead.
Issue in Eclipse?
Submitted by Fabio Zadrozny on Tue, 2016-01-12 12:26
This is really weird, Eclipse shouldn't ask for content.xml, but content.jar, which is there... (I just tested it and it worked for me).
As that didn't work, try following the instructions from http://www.pydev.org/download.html (and use http://www.pydev.org/updates as the update site) or use LiClipse (http://www.liclipse.com) which has PyDev preinstalled.
I want to like this a lot...
Submitted by Nir Friedman on Wed, 2015-05-06 16:35
As Eclipse is already my tool of choice for C++, and I really enjoy many other Eclipse plugins, I really wanted to like this plugin. Unfortunately, PyDev just pales next to the Community Edition of PyCharm. I could probably ignore the extra functionality if PyDev had comparable type inference, but it does not. I also filed a bug against the tracker, which was confusing compare to more modern trackers, and I haven't heard anything back.
Type inference
Submitted by Fabio Zadrozny on Fri, 2015-05-08 09:20
Well, I think I answered that already in the tracker (https://sw-brainwy.rhcloud.com/tracker/PyDev/573), which should be solved in the next release... related to the PyCharm comment, I'll refrain from answering -- thankfully there are lots of happy PyDev users around (and the type inference on PyDev is getting some special attention on the next releases, although I'm sure right now it's already pretty close in terms of what it can infer related to PyCharm -- I'll fix the use-case you provided on the tracker, but if there are more, please submit there too).
install failure , why don't update the install url??
Submitted by Wu Zhihui on Sun, 2014-11-02 23:35
the install url has updated.
old: pydev.sf.net/updates
new: pydev.org/updates
more detail: www.pydev.org/download.html
Great plugin
Submitted by Tom Mising name on Wed, 2014-04-02 20:21
A very nice plugin for Python on eclipse. Does it all really.
i like it
Submitted by Liu Xue-yan on Wed, 2013-11-06 02:02
it is a very nice IDE for python developers!
just one question...which
Submitted by Arinjoy Basak on Tue, 2014-01-14 11:36
just one question...which version of eclipse were you using? I can't seem to install pydev on mine...i am running 3.7 on a 64bit ubuntu machine....
PyDev requirements
Submitted by Fabio Zadrozny on Mon, 2014-01-20 04:48
PyDev now requires Eclipse 3.8/4.3 onwards. You can check LiClipse (commercial): for a standalone version with all requirements bundled.
Good tool for Python
Submitted by Igor Vinnykov on Tue, 2013-07-30 05:43
I like this tool. It offers good features usable for Python development. Thank you, guys!
Submitted by Tim Richardson on Mon, 2013-06-17 16:23
pydev and Eclipse continue to surprise me; it's a great development environment and enhances Python for large projects.
Submitted by Seodon 111 on Sat, 2012-09-08 01:56
I enjoy working on Python projects in Eclipse with Pydev very much. It's free, platform independent and integrates so well with the whole Eclipse universe. The Mylyn integration is particularly useful for me. The feature set is awesome, and Fabio is still continually improving it. Hats off!
Submitted by Diego J{acome on Sat, 2012-03-17 09:44
Dowload this
PyDev makes the world of python development a better place
Submitted by Yoni Tsafir on Thu, 2011-06-02 06:40
Fabio, keep up the good job.
I must say python development is a different experience from what it was a year ago, all thanks to the great improvements in the latest PyDev versions.
Pydev gets my highest recommendation
Submitted by Christoph Zwerschke on Thu, 2011-03-03 07:19
I enjoy working on Python projects in Eclipse with Pydev very much. It's free, platform independent and integrates so well with the whole Eclipse universe. The Mylyn integration is particularly useful for me. The feature set is awesome, and Fabio is still continually improving it. Hats off!
Submitted by Carlos Curia on Fri, 2010-11-26 14:57
Keep going, please. It changes the way i program in python
Pydev rocks
Submitted by Joseph Mising name on Sun, 2010-10-17 00:47
Python just got even better with Pydev.
Thank you sooo much - keep up the great work!
how to do download it
Submitted by Xiuxiu2779 Mising name on Fri, 2010-10-01 13:59
I need the tools pydev ! but I don't know that how to do download it.
I really like PyDev
Submitted by W.J. van der Laan on Sat, 2010-09-18 05:50
I just installed PyDev for eclipse and I must say it is impressive. This is Python development, the 2010 way :) This pretty well might be the first Python IDE that sticks, usually, I go back to old-fashioned text editor after a while because the overhead of the IDE just doesn't warrant the bit of extra convenience.
Keep up the good work!
PyDev Rocks!
Submitted by Rahul Pilani on Mon, 2010-09-06 03:02
PyDev guys have really done an awesome job integrating with Django and making python dev almost comparable to Java development on Eclipse. I haven't used any ActiveState's IDEs but I tried to use the latest Netbeans for python, and it doesn't even come close to what PyDev can do. You guys are awesome!
If you are not on Mac
Submitted by Karsten W. Rohrbach on Mon, 2010-07-12 09:01
...thus, TextMate is not an option, Pydev is the way to go.
Submitted by Bee678 K on Wed, 2013-04-10 03:40
I hope these techniques to provide features such code completion and code analysis, while still providing many others such as a debugger, interactive console, refactoring, etc. will be helpul for my project.But can you please post me some more knowledge regarding this.
good for newbies, too
Submitted by Aluis Mising name on Sun, 2010-07-04 13:48
I'm new in python development. I'm wondering how easy Pydev is. It is very easy to run with Python 2 or 3 and you don't need any freak knowledge. Thank you guys!
Reigning champion for FOSS Python IDEs
Submitted by Jens Knutson on Tue, 2010-01-26 10:33
Among all the FOSS Python IDEs, PyDev has an unbeatable feature list, and wonderfully active, highly transparent development thanks to Fabio Zadrozny, the lead developer. If you're looking for a Python IDE, you owe it to yourself to try PyDev. Be sure to check out Fabio's great "quick reference" sheets for PyDev common keybindings, too -- I have them printed out and pasted right next to my monitor!
A huge thanks to Fabio for his awesome contribution to the community!


text:
Editor's Note: David Frum, a CNN contributor, is a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He is the author of seven books, including a new novel, "Patriots," and was a special assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002.
Story highlights
David Frum: People often neglect the economic reasons behind the choice to have an abortion
He says those trying to reduce abortion need an answer to how to help women in need
Frum: Abortion rates fell in 1990s economic boom
Germany, which has generous maternity benefits, has much lower abortion rate, he says
When Richard Mourdock delivered his notorious answer about rape and abortion, I was sorry that the debate moderator failed to follow up with the next question:
"OK, Mr. Mourdock, you say your principles require a raped woman to carry the rapist's child to term. That's a heavy burden to impose on someone. What would you do for her in return? Would you pay her medical expenses? Compensate her for time lost to work? Would you pay for the child's upbringing? College education?
"If a woman has her credit card stolen, her maximum liability under federal law is $50. Yet on your theory, if she is raped, she must endure not only the trauma of assault, but also accept economic costs of potentially many thousands of dollars. Must that burden also fall on her alone? When we used to draft men into the Army, we gave them veterans' benefits afterward. If the state now intends to conscript women into involuntary childbearing, surely those women deserve at least an equally generous deal?"
That question sounds argumentative, and I suppose it is.
Opinion: Mourdock's rape remark and extremism
But there's a serious point here, and it extends well beyond the anguishing question of sexual assault.
If you're serious about reducing abortion, the most important issue is not which abortions to ban. The most important issue is how will you support women to have the babies they want.
Get our free weekly newsletter
As a general rule, societies that do the most to support mothers and child-bearing have the fewest abortions. Societies that do the least to support mothers and child-bearing have more abortions.
Germany, for example, operates perhaps the world's plushest welfare state. Working women receive 14 weeks of maternity leave, during which time they receive pay from the state. The state pays a child allowance to the parents of every German child for potentially as many as 25 years, depending on how long as the child remains in school. Women who leave the work force after giving birth receive a replacement wage from the state for up to 14 months.
Maybe not coincidentally, Germany has one of the lowest abortion rates, about one-third that of the United States. Yet German abortion laws are not especially restrictive. Abortion is legal during the first trimester of pregnancy and available if medically or psychologically necessary in the later trimesters.
Even here in the United States, where parental benefits are much less generous, abortion responds to economic conditions. In the prosperous 1990s, abortion rates declined rapidly. In the less prosperous '00s, abortion rates declined more slowly. When the economy plunged into crisis in 2008, abortion rates abruptly rose again.
These trends should not surprise anyone. Women choose abortion for one overwhelming reason: economic insecurity. The large majority of women who chose abortion in 2008, 57%, reported a disruptive event in their lives in the previous 12 months: most often, the loss of a job or home.
Obama on Mourdock: Male politicians shouldn't make abortion decisions
Of the women who choose abortion, 58% are in their 20s. Some 61% of them already have a child. Almost 70% of them are poor or near poor.
Three-quarters say they cannot afford another child.
Pro-life and pro-choice debaters delight in presenting each other with exquisitely extreme moral dilemmas: "Would you ban abortion even in case of rape?" "Would you permit abortion even when done only to select the sex of the child?"
These dorm-room hypotheticals do not have very much to do with the realities of abortion in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Here's an interesting example of those realities: The Netherlands has one of the the most liberal abortion laws in the world. Yet for a long time, the Netherlands also reported one of the world's lowest abortion rates. That low incidence abruptly began to rise in the mid-1990s. Between 1996 and 2003, the abortion rate in the Netherlands jumped by 31% over seven years.
What changed? The Guttmacher Institute, the leading source of data on reproductive health worldwide, cites "a growing demand for terminations from women in ethnic minority groups residing in the country." Well over half of all abortions performed on teenagers in the Netherlands are performed on girls of non-Dutch origins.
These girls and women weren't being raped. They weren't selecting for the sex of their child. They chose abortion because they had become sexually active within male-dominated immigrant subcultures in which access to birth control was restricted, in which female sexuality was tightly policed, in which girls who become pregnant outside marriage are disgraced and in which the costs and obligations of childbearing loaded almost entirely on women alone.
Abortion is a product of poverty and maternal distress.
A woman who enjoys the most emotional and financial security and who has chosen the timing of her pregnancy will not choose abortion, even when abortion laws are liberal. A woman who is dominated, who is poor and who fears bearing the child is likely to find an abortion, even where abortion is restricted, as it was across the United States before 1965.
Santorum: Mourdock criticism 'gotcha politics'
So maybe at the next candidates' debate, a journalist will deflect the discussion away from "what if" and instead ask this:
"Rather than tell us what you'd like to ban, tell us please what you think government should do to support more happy and healthy childbearing, to reduce unwanted pregnancies and to alleviate the economic anxieties of mothers-to-be?"
Those are the questions that make the difference. It's amazing how little we talk about them.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum.


text:
Duff McKagan's Loaded Readies Upcoming Film The Taking
Duff McKagan's Loaded Readies Upcoming Film The Taking
August 16, 2011
Duff McKagan's Loaded have just returned from a European trek and are about to go into production for their upcoming feature film The Taking. This rock 'n' roll flick, reminiscent of The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" and Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains The Same," is a series of "vignettes" that explores the lyrical content of their recently released studio album of the same title. A video of "Executioner's Song," shot live during their European tour has recently been released.
Grammy/American Music Award-winning songwriter/recording artist Duff McKagan has sold over 100 million albums, and ushered in a whole new generation of hard rock fans as a founding member of Guns 'N' Roses and Velvet Revolver. In Loaded, which he formed in 1999, McKagan steps up as lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist, with bassist Jeff Rouse, guitarist Mike Squires, and drummer Isaac Carpenter.
The past few months have kept Loaded busy, with not only The Taking album, released to critical acclaim, and the special edition CD/DVD re-issue of their 2009 album Sick, they also embarked on an international tour, and performed at Austin's SXSW Music Conference. Additionally, McKagan was a featured speaker, hosting the seminar "Your Financial Advisor Is Duff McKagan" (he is a graduate of the acclaimed Albers School of Business and a partner in wealth management firm Meridian Rock).
In addition to the film, fans can also look forward to a few stateside dates, including a stop at Rock On The Range Canada in Winnipeg on August 20, KISW Pain In The Grass in Auburn, WA on August 27, and PDX Rock Festival in Hillsboro, OR on August 28. More U.S. dates will be announced soon.
Video clip of "Executioner's Song," from can viewed below.
Courtesy of www.sleazeroxx.com and duff-loaded.com


text:
In this quick tip tutorial we will explain how to create a cookie text effect using layer styles and textures in Photoshop. Let's get started!
Tutorial Assets
The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.
Step 1
First make a new PSD document 1000 x 400 pixels resolution 72 Dpi. Now open the free texture Wooden Table and copy and paste it into your new PSD document. Command/Ctrl + T (transform) the texture and resize it until you are happy with it.
Step 2
Then we are going to make the texture for the Cookie style. Open the Chocolate Cookie Texture in Photoshop. Go to Image > Image Size… and fill in the setting like below. Now go to Edit > Define Pattern… name it Cookie Texture and press ok. Exit this document and go back to your document from step 1.
Step 3
Now make your text with a font of your own choice and write your text. I wrote Cookie with Arial Black 220 pt.
Step 4
Now we are going to apply some layer styles! Use the settings as shown below. We start with the texture for the cookie – Double Click on the text layer to open Layer Styles – Select Pattern Overlay – Click on the Pattern Box and choose the cookie Texture we made in step 2.
Now select Bevel and Emboss for the cookie style for a 3D look.
Next select Inner Shadow to give some more realism to the emboss.
Next select Drop Shadow to make it more real on the background
Now select Outer Glow to give it dark edges
Then select Inner Glow to make the cookie brighter
Next select Texture under the Bevel and Emboss to make the cookie more real and give it a grungy look.
Step 5
Now we are going to draw around the text to make it look more like a cookie. Select the text layer, Right click on the layer and choose Rasterize Layer, Choose the Brush Tool with size of 13 and a Hardness of 100%, Now draw around the text with the Brush tool until you're happy with it (like below).
Step 6
Now we are going to make some extra chocolate. Make a New Layer by going to > Layer > New > Layer. Double click on the layer and use the Layer Styles as shown below.
Step 7
Now draw some chocolate on the cookie with the brush tool – hardness 100%
Final Image
Now your Chocolate Cookie Style is done!