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This one is for the fellas.
About three years ago, I received an invite to go to a bar trivia night in downtown Portland. I usually got the call when a group of friends required a "guy-that-knows-useless-shit"; that was me. Need someone that knows the composer for the "Death of Optimus Prime" scene in the '86 animated Transformers: The Movie? I'm your man. I am a fountain of frivolous knowledge.
Our track record this night was fairly steady. I was contributing answers to about a third of the more non sequitur questions – a little off my game but not too badly. A question came up that I wasn't expecting, one that I thought I instantly had in the bag.
The Q/A emcee asked, "What group of people has better sex? Coffee drinkers or tea drinkers?"
My primary geek hobby – tea – started because of sex. There were at least three-to-four blends and tisanes I knew of that were beneficial for…er…"blood flow". That and normal tea was a primary ingredient in many male enhancement products. (Don't ask me how I know that.) Tea also made for a great conversation starter; plus, the rest of the world drank tea. It was a given.
The answer? Coffee drinkers.
I cost us the game.
How could I have been so wrong? All my perusals – scholastic and palate-related – pointed to tea as being the clear victor. How could the swill of Satan be the better boffing brew? The question plagued me on the drive home.
It hit me when I was in the shower the next day.
First off, tea was not a ubiquitous beverage in the United States, not since we dumped crates of it over a perfectly good harbor. Coffee dates were considered the universal icebreaker, almost to the point of cliché. If a guy wanted to get to know a potential…um…playmate, there were only two viable routes – coffee and alcohol. In some cases, both if the conversation went really well.
I looked back at my track record with tea dates. The first one I ever went on was with a girl from Craigslist. She was older than me by a month. Other than showing complete uninterested in me, she also related how she answered an ad to be an old man's "sugarbaby". In short, it was a bust.
The next – oh – several attempts ended one of two ways. The less common occurrence was that we hit it off in terms of conversation, trading barbs like old friends. But that was it, "friends". Either one didn't feel that mandatory "oomph" or the other – or both. The outing was so completely non-threatening and informal that any tension from the event was rendered impotent.
The more common outcome? The girl never showed up. Seriously.
A last attempt at a tea date was in March. I considered it the make-or-break for this anti-Friend Zone field test. In theory, tea dates should work, especially if one had some knowledge of the beverage prior. It was classy. Girls dug classy…right? Well, apparently not.
While it may be a sad conclusion – and one that most bros of brewdom don't want to hear – tea dates don't work. At least in my experience. It might be just an American conundrum; it may even be that I'm no good at dating in general. The simple summation is that tea and dating are a one-way ticket aboard the HMS Platonic. That isn't to say, however, that there aren't ways around that.
Just because you, fellow steeper, have this one peculiar hobby doesn't mean you have to be ashamed of it. You can mention it in passing on a normal-ish date. Once an actual rapport and/or relationship are established, then you can let her into your wulong-rich world. A second – more lowbrow – approach would be to find establishments that serve tea-infused alcohol drinks. In my neck of the woods, I know of five. Can you think of a better gateway to "Awesome!"? I can't.
I'm almost certain this entry will garner some amount of, "You're wrong! My wife and I are the exception." In statistics, you would be known as an "outlier". For you to be an exception, there first has to be a general rule. Of course, I could be completely wrong on this. So, please, do relate your success stories if you have them. Prove me wrong, I beg of you.
And while you're at it, kindly tell me where you've parked your unicorn.
Awesome Doodles by Aaron Grayson


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this tutorial also helped me a lot. For a smooth result it's really important to apply top coat! I applied the water decal over two coats of OPI - Mod About You. I'm wearing Essie - Sew Psyched and studs on the rest of my nails.
Djasa (a Dutch webshop).
The studs (gold ones, but I painted them silver) come in a wheel from Born Pretty Store.
Thanks for watching!
*The water decal set and the studs were sent to me for reviewing purposes.
For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

subset: commoncrawl


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References from David Greene on the Baja British Columbia controversy
Alternative hypotheses for the mid-Cretaceous paleogeography of the western Cordillera, Darrel S. Cowan,GSA TODAY: JULY 1994; Vol. 4; No. 7
Geologic Tests of Hypotheses for Large Coastwise Displacements -- A Critique Illustrated by the Baja British Columbia Controversy, Darrel Cowan, Mark Brandon, and John Garver, AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE: February 1997, v. 297, p. 117-173; color figures from this article are available at http://love.geology.yale.edu/~brandon/Cowan_etal97/index.html
Wanderlust on the Western Margin, Kerr, Richard A., Science, 2003, vol 302, p. 1889. Summary of some current issues that contains the following quotation: "We contend that our results, while robust and reproducible, are tectonically unreasonable." (from Enkin)
A moderate translation alternative to the Baja British Columbia hypothesis, Butler et al, GSA Today: June 2001.
Neogene tilting of crustal panels near Wrangell, Alaska, Butzer et al, Geology, 2004, v 32, no 12, p. 106 -1064.
On the Baja BC hypothesis, Brandon, Mark T.; Cowan, Darrel S., Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America. Vol. 34, no. 5. p.17. Boulder, CO : Geological Society of America (GSA), Apr. 2002.
Paleomagnetism of the Mount Stuart Batholith revisited again; what has been learned since 1972?, Housen, B. et. al., American Journal of Science. Vol. 303, no. 4. p. 263-299, Apr. 2003.
Evaluation of the Baja controversy using paleomagnetic and faunal data, plume magmatism, and piercing points, Keppie, J. Duncan; Dostal, Jarda Tectonophysics. Vol. 339, no. 3-4. p. 427-442. Amsterdam : Elsevier, Sep. , 30 2001.
Archean zircons in Cretaceous strata of the western Canadian Cordillera: The "Baja BC" hypothesis fails a "crucial test", Mahoney, Brian, et al., 1999, Geology, v. 27, no. 3, p. 195-198.
Testing terrane transport: An inclusive approach to the Baja B.C. controversy, Housen, Bernard and Myrl Beck, Geology, 1999, v27, no. 12, p 1143-1146.
"Regional tilt of the Mount Stuart batholith, Washington, determined using aluminum-in-hornblende barometry: Implications for northward translation of Baja British Columbia", Jay J. Ague, Mark T. Brandon, GSA BULLETIN: APRIL 1996; v. 108; no. 4; p. 471-488; See also Discussion and Reply, GSA Bull, May, 1998.
Provenance of Albian-Cenomanian rocks of the Methow and Tyaughton basins, southern British Columbia: A mid-Cretaceous link between North America and the Insular terrane, Garver, J.I., Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 1992, v. 29, p. 1274-1295.
"Discordanat paleomagnetic poles from the Canadian Coast plutonic complex: regional tilt rather than large-scale displacement?", Robert E. Butler, George E. Gehrels, William C. McClelland, Steven R. May,David Klepacki, GEOLOGY: August, 1989; v. 17, p. 691-694.
"Geometric test for late Cretaceous-Paleogene intracontinental transform faulting in the Canadian Cordillera", Raymond A. Price,Dugald M. Carmichael, GEOLOGY:June, 1986; v. 14, p. 468-471.


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(CNN) -- Worried whether your kids are being safe when they're on the internet?
So, apparently, are Facebook and the PTA.
The national education group and the social-media giant announced a long-term partnership Thursday aimed at teaching children, parents and teachers about responsible internet use.
The collaboration, set to be announced at the Parent Teacher Association's national convention in Memphis, Tennessee, will establish a comprehensive program, on both Facebook and the PTA's website.
Topics that will be addressed include cyber-bullying, internet safety and security and "citizenship online," according to a news release.
"Nothing is more important to us than the well-being of the people, especially the many teenagers, who use Facebook," said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer.
Facebook, the No. 1 social media site by a longshot with more than 500 million accounts, requires users to be at least 13 years old. But with no practical way to check the ages of that many people, it's widely acknowledged that pre-teens use the site.
That is one of the factors that has left many parents debating whether to allow their children to break the rules and use Facebook, and other social-media sites.
According to a PTA report released this week, many children aren't learning online literacy in their schools, and parents say they don't know enough to help them.
"Unless new media are used in schools and within families, youth are on their own in figuring out the ethics, social norms and civil behaviors that enable good citizenship in the online part of their media use and lives," reads the report, from a PTA Online Safety and Technology Working Group.
Under the agreement, Facebook and PTA also work to bridge what's called the digital divide -- helping minority and low-income families gain access to the tools to become digital-savvy.
"Our vision is that each child, parent and teacher will have the knowledge and tools they need to harness the power of the internet effectively and safely," said Charles J. Saylors, that National PTA president.
Facebook said its commitment of resources to the project on its pages amount to a $1 million investment.
The PTA also will be reaching out to the 24,000 local PTAs across the United States, with the goal of reaching every student in the nation as part of the program.
In the coming months,Facebook and PTA will be consulting child-safety and technology experts to collect education resources. Kids, parents and teachers will be surveyed for their thoughts on what's needed.


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Article contents
How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2013
We offer the first large scale, multiple source analysis of the outcome of what may be the most extensive effort to selectively censor human expression ever implemented. To do this, we have devised a system to locate, download, and analyze the content of millions of social media posts originating from nearly 1,400 different social media services all over China before the Chinese government is able to find, evaluate, and censor (i.e., remove from the Internet) the subset they deem objectionable. Using modern computer-assisted text analytic methods that we adapt to and validate in the Chinese language, we compare the substantive content of posts censored to those not censored over time in each of 85 topic areas. Contrary to previous understandings, posts with negative, even vitriolic, criticism of the state, its leaders, and its policies are not more likely to be censored. Instead, we show that the censorship program is aimed at curtailing collective action by silencing comments that represent, reinforce, or spur social mobilization, regardless of content. Censorship is oriented toward attempting to forestall collective activities that are occurring now or may occur in the future—and, as such, seem to clearly expose government intent.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- American Political Science Review , Volume 107 , Issue 2 , May 2013 , pp. 326 - 343
- Copyright
- Copyright © American Political Science Association 2013


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Popular Science
Popular Science gives our readers the information and tools to improve their technology and their world. The core belief that Popular Science and our readers share: The future is going to be better, and science and technology are the driving forces that will help make it better.
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There's a reason the top 3-star hotels in Lenggeng, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia are so incredibly popular: They combine comforting amenities and just-for-you service with some of the best rates and discounts the area has to offer. When you book a stay at a three star hotel in Lenggeng, you'll get affordable rates at these mid-range properties. Check through our listings and you'll find some hotels may even give you access to perfect little perks like on-site restaurants and cocktail bars, well-appointed fitness centres, and spacious rooms.
Search for a cheap deal on a 3 star hotel in Lenggeng for the most elegant experience, or grab a low rate on one of the cheap 3 star hotels in Lenggeng near the local attractions, if you want something a touch more unassuming. Whatever your travelling style, make sure to use the search tools at Expedia to track down prices, read more about amenities, and score a few local discounts.
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Infant and junior schools under Gloucestershire local education authority control, as well as privately run primary schools.
Community primary school for children aged 4-11 years.
All pictures and content on The Gloucestershire Oracle are © of their respective owner (either us or the business itself) and must not be copied for use on any other website or publication.
Design © Photon IT 2013
GlosOracle Media, Greencroft, Drews Court, Churchdown, Gloucestershire, GL3 2LD


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Ella and Kayden's story continues in
Demand by Lisa Renee Jones
Where's Ella? Find out TODAY!
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1TohGlA
Amazon UK (paperback): http://amzn.to/1XzQlyt
iBooks: http://apple.co/1R8DPyl
Nook: http://bit.ly/DemandBN
Kobo: http://bit.ly/DemandKobo
Audible: http://amzn.to/1TfCWf9
Still struggling with amnesia, Ella questions everything she's known about Kayden Wilkens—the alluring stranger who claims to have found her unconscious in an alleyway a month earlier. But was he truly a stranger—or did Kayden know her before his supposed rescue? Tormented by the potential betrayal he denies, with fleeting memories of a bombshell in her recent past, Ella must face a hard reality. Every action has consequences . . . and trusting Kayden, the one thing she most desires, might result in the direst consequences of all.
Crossing behind the couch toward the kitchen, I find myself remembering those naked, intimate moments with Kayden only a short time ago. The passion. The trust I'd felt for him. And then his words: "We both want more. Until we don't." The words send a surge of adrenaline and nerves through my body.
The scent of freshly brewed coffee teases my nostrils as I reach the kitchen, where I immediately find Kayden standing behind the island. But it's not him that makes my heart lurch, as usual. It's my gun that's lying on the counter between us.
And when I should perhaps step backward I find myself charging forward to claim the other side of the counter.
"What is that for?"
"You thought you needed it earlier," he says. "I want you to have it now."
My fingers curl on the tiled counter. "Do I need it?"
"That's for you to decide."
"That isn't the answer I want."
His jaw sets hard. "If you're expecting an answer you'll want, you'd better pick up that gun."
We stare at each other, a push and pull between us that has nothing to do with fear or intimidation, and everything to do with a bond we both know is being tested. "I know what you're doing."
"What am I doing?"
"The same thing you did outside that church, when you helped me hold the gun to your chest."
"Which is what?"
"Offering me the façade of control."
"You holding a loaded gun on me in no way equals a façade."
"I know you now," I counter. "You don't give up control, even when you say you are."
He rests his hands on the counter, one turned just enough for me to catch a glimpse of the hawk inked on his wrist, its wings spread, the mark of a man whose rules of many must dictate his actions. "There are two sides to this coin," he says, his words drawing my attention, his pale blue eyes piercing mine. "The me with you, and the me with everyone else."
"We barely knew each other at the church."
"I'd already decided you were mine. You just didn't know it yet."
Book Trailer
Share link: https://youtu.be/i4-uhayc5r4
Although the Careless Whispers series is a continuation of Lisa's Inside Out series, the books from Inside Out do not have to be read first. However, Denial, Demand and Surrender, must be read in order.
Book one, DENIAL, is available NOW!
More buy links: www.lisareneejones.com/books/Denial
More buy links: www.lisareneejones.com/books/Denial
Book three, SURRENDER, coming January 2017
More buy links: www.lisareneejones.com/books/Surrender
More buy links: www.lisareneejones.com/books/Surrender
B&N and Audible coming soon
About the Author:
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is the author of the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series, which is now in development for a television show to be produced by Suzanne Todd of Team Todd (Alice in Wonderland). Suzanne Todd on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense. Sara's character is strong, flawed, complex, and sexy - a modern girl we all can identify with. I'm thrilled to develop a television show that will tell Sara's whole story - her life, her work, her friends, and her sexuality.
In addition to the success of Lisa's INSIDE OUT series, she has published many successful titles. The TALL, DARK AND DEADLY series and THE SECRET LIFE OF AMY BENSEN series, both spent several months on a combination of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling lists. Lisa is presently working on a dark, edgy new series, Dirty Money, for St. Martin's Press.
Prior to publishing Lisa owned multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by the Dallas Women's Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine.
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From: http://www.iamanatheist.com/16_things.html
I found this on Reddit and thought it was good enough to pass along. Enjoy!
1. Please stop hedging when you mention our lack of belief. Atheists are atheists. We're not "self-described," nor do we "claim" to be atheists. You don't want us to start saying things like, "This is my friend, Julie. She calls herself a Christian," do you? Then man up, brace yourself, and use the a-word all by itself. Practice in front of the mirror if you need to. You'll know you have the proper calm, factual tone when the glass doesn't shatter.
2. Please stop capitalizing the word "atheist." Unless it comes at the beginning of the sentence, you're just wasting ink. We know you're probably trying to be polite, but it doesn't work that way. There is no guy named Athe.
3. Some of you keep insisting that we're angry at your god. And then you laugh at us for being so silly ヨ being angry at someone we don't even believe in. Well, you're right. That would be pretty darned silly. That's why we don't do it. Are you annoyed at Zeus? Do you have a grudge against the faerie folk? Of course not. It's the same for us ヨ how could we feel anger or hatred toward a non-existent being? (Some of his followers cheese us off, but that's another story.)
4. Stop saying that deep down inside, we really do believe in your deity. Belief in the kind of guy who can create an entire universe with the force of a few well-turned phrases is not the sort of secret that fits neatly into a back pocket, as it were. If we thought this fellow was real, we'd be the first to know. And people don't tend to keep that particular nugget of information to themselves. Ever notice that?
5. Please understand that "You're such a nice person! I can't believe you're an atheist!" is not a compliment. More importantly, please understand that we understand that. Believe me, every single one of us has considered replying, "And you're so smart ヨ I can't believe you're a Christian!" How about we all agree to not go there?
6. The only thing all occupants of foxholes have in common is access to weapons and a willingness to fight. It might be the better part of wisdom not to provoke them by insisting that you know more about their beliefs or lack thereof than they do.
7. How can our lives have any purpose without God? One word: chocolate.
8. It's sweet of you to worry about us, really it is. But it's not terribly helpful to tell us that we should go ahead and believe in your particular faith "just in case." Just in case what? In case a deity who can't distinguish heartfelt faith from apple-polishing affectation happens to be running the show?
9. Let's make a deal: we promise to stop asking that stupid question about whether God can make a rock so big he can't lift it. In exchange, please stop saying, "Well, God doesn't believe in atheists!" and then laughing like Shakespeare came back to life just long enough to write one last comedy.
10. Please quit asking us how or why we "turned our backs" on God. The whole point of being an atheist is that we don't see any reason to think we did any such thing.
11. Anyone who was born in an English-speaking country and is more than two minutes old has heard about God and Jesus. It's annoying when you assume that atheists just haven't heard enough about them, and that's why we're still atheists. Many of us have done extensive research on the subject of religion. Many of us credit our atheism to exactly that.
12. Please stop telling your atheist acquaintances that you'll miss us when you get to heaven. No, you won't. If you turn out to be right, you'll be in heaven ヨ the place where, by definition, people don't feel sad. And if we're right ヨ well, guess who won't be feeling much of anything?
13. If you've ever said, "You can't prove there isn't a God" ヨ first of all, congratulations. You're officially four years old. Second, we never said we could. But until you can show some serious proof that there is one, we see no reason to believe. There's nothing wrong with taking a leap of faith, provided you acknowledge that's what you're doing. Atheists simply prefer other forms of exercise.
14. Stop asking us how we can be moral without God. It's simple. We're awake, and we're not idiots. That's all it takes to figure out that sharing the planet with so many other people is a lot more pleasant when we also share some basic ideas about acceptable behavior. I don't like being stabbed; therefore I support laws against stabbing and promise not to stab anyone myself, no matter how much I may feel like doing so. See how easy?
15. So far as being a Christian is concerned, you're either a member of a persecuted minority, or part of a solid majority. Figure out which one of those is the case, and then live with it. You don't get to switch back and forth depending on whether you think you can smother dissent better at any given moment by either whining that everybody's always being mean to you, or bellowing that this is your house and you make the rules.
16. Speaking of persecuted minorities: Christianity used to be one. Did you fight your way to freedom of faith just so you could treat nonbelievers the same way they used to treat you?


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From White Sox Media Relations
The Chicago White Sox announced an expanded list of former players scheduled to appear at SoxFest 2014, which now includes special guest Bobby Jenks, the closer on the White Sox 2005 World Series Championship team.
Jenks joins an impressive list of other former Sox players planning to attend, including Bo Jackson, Ron Kittle, Carlos May, Minnie Minoso, Tom Paciorek, Gary Peters, Jim Thome and Frank Thomas, who yesterday was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. White Sox manager Robin Ventura also will be in attendance, as well as pitching coach Don Cooper and new hitting coach Todd Steverson.
Current players Jose Abreu, Adam Dunn, Adam Eaton, Avisail Garcia, Erik Johnson, Nate Jones, Paul Konerko, Matt Lindstrom, Josh Phegley, Alexei Ramirez and Marcus Semien, and White Sox prospect Micah Johnson, all are scheduled to be at SoxFest.
SoxFest 2014 is sponsored by Miller Lite, Pepsi, Comcast SportsNet and WGN-TV and will be held Friday, January 24, Saturday, January 25 and Sunday, January 26, 2014.
The special SoxFest rate for a two-night stay at the Palmer House Hilton is $278 (plus applicable taxes and fees, detailed on whitesox.com). Fans who purchase a two-night stay are eligible to also purchase up to four SoxFest weekend passes per room reservation.
SoxFest hotel packages and weekend passes are available for purchase in the same transaction at whitesox.com/SoxFest. Weekend passes only are available for purchase by fans who book the two-night stay. Friday night of SoxFest is limited to those who purchase the two-night stay and weekend passes.
Two-day passes to SoxFest 2014 also are available at whitesox.com/SoxFest. Two-day passes (good for admission on both Saturday and Sunday) are just $70.
The White Sox are once again offering fans a unique experience at SoxFest 2014 – the Premium Upgrade Package. The offering, a favorite among hundreds of SoxFest attendees, is now available to fans who have already purchased or will purchase the SoxFest hotel package and weekend pass(es) at the Palmer House Hilton.
This is the eighth year the historic Palmer House Hilton will host the annual White Sox fan gathering, now in its 22nd year.
For more information, including specifics on the Premium Upgrade Package, fans should visit whitesox.com/SoxFest or contact the SoxFest hotline at (312) 609-1915.


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Editor's Note: The following story contains spoilers regarding the show "House." If you'd rather not know what happens, stop reading now.
Kal Penn, left, with Peter Jacobson on "House," is joining the Obama White House.
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- When Dr. Lawrence Kutner killed himself on the latest episode of "House: MD," it was the beginning of a new career for actor Kal Penn.
The demise of Penn's character cleared the way for the actor to move on to another "House," the White House.
Penn, 31, will be an associate director for the Obama administration's Office of Public Liaison.
"It seemed like something I would enjoy doing," Penn said. "I figured it was something to do."
He's not retiring from acting, just pursuing a longtime desire for public service that was rekindled when he campaigned for Barack Obama's election, Penn said.
Penn played a teen terrorist on Fox's "24" before joining the network's "House" two years ago. He's also known as Kumar Patel in the "Harold & Kumar" movie series.
The White House job likely ends his Kumar roles, he said. In fact, he will not consider any acting jobs until he leaves the Obama administration, he said.
Penn will take a big pay cut to work for the government, but he has committed to at least one or two years in the job, he said.
His focus will be as a liaison for the arts community and the Asian-American community, he said. He filled a similar role in the Obama presidential campaign, he said.
"We want to make sure that everyone's concerns are heard and they are familiar with the president's plans and proposals," he said.
Penn said he spoke briefly with Obama after the election about "trying to find the right fit" for him in the administration.
He said he has bittersweet emotions as he leaves Hollywood to search for an apartment in Washington next week.
The writers' decision to have Dr. Kutner commit suicide ensures Penn will not return to the show, although he said he leaves on good terms.
He felt "more than a little bit of shock and loss" to learn that his character would die in his final episode.
Even though he spoke no lines in the episode -- and only his legs are seen when his body is found -- he was on the set for the filming, he said.
CNN's KJ Matthews contributed to this story.


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Zaczęty przez Moonmaker, Kwiecień 02, 2008, 23:51:46
CytatI know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?


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N40Details https://my.akg.com/AKG+N40.html?dwvar_AKG%20N40_color=Black%20%2F%20Silver-GLOBAL-Current
High-resolution in-ear headphones with customizable sound.
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Combining High-Resolution audio and a hybrid acoustic solution of dynamic + balanced armature drivers, the N40 in-ear headphones replicate the sound quality musicians and engineers were working with in the studio: clear, superior quality sound with a warm bass response, that is the epitome of pure sound enjoyment. Sound that is customizable thanks to three tuning filters that enable bass, mid or high frequencies to be modulated directly into your ear according to your personal preference. This ultra premium audio offering also provides listeners with a fully accessorized travel package, 2 tangle-free and easily detachable cables and soft, rounded ear tips that were crafted to follow the ear's anatomy. Elegantly accented with premium materials and a sleek black and silver color combination, the AKG N40 headphones provide a pristine sound experience you won't soon forget.
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Spec Sheet (EN)English 2 MB
- 3 x Sound tuning filters
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- 1 x Carrying pouch
- 1 x Flight adapter
- 1 x Cleaning tool
The latest owner's manuals, quick start guides, and documents.
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Purchases made from an unauthorized dealer will not be eligible for exchange.
Call us: 1.800.336.4525
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I will act as if what I do makes a difference
This Vail Symposium poster hangs in our office and we at the Antlers try to live by those words. They help guide many of our decisions, including our efforts to be good corporate citizens. We are quite proud of our record in that regard, and frankly it just got a little better. A couple months ago, Bob Bandoni introduced us to Students Shoulder to Shoulder. Their tagline is "The International School of Global Citizenship". Rather than try to explain what that entails, we just urge you to investigate their website. It's meaningful.
Although the program is five or six years old, Bob explained that they were planning their first Global Solutions Forum here in Vail, in October. The idea was to bring representatives together from the various NGO's around the world and the schools who now participate with Shoulder to Shoulder. The real purpose is simply to further their success and advance the mission. It took all of about two minutes to recognize the value and importance of this effort. In the context of our day to day preoccupation with our own lives and businesses, the opportunity to play some small part in something so meaningful was irresistible.
Last week, the Antlers was honored to host ten representatives from a number of the different schools that are now part of the Shoulder to Shoulder "alliance". Like some of the other worthy causes that the Antlers has adopted over the years, this was all done at no charge to the participants or their schools. By helping making it affordable for them to participate in this conference, we like to think that the Antlers is playing a small part in the fulfillment of their mission.
Like all great ideas, Bob Bandoni and the others behind this effort see it as something much bigger. It's not just personal growth for the students, but rather a significant step on the path to making this a better world. That's a lofty goal, but one which the Antlers is really proud to be associated with.


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SGS adaptive early phase trials support more rapid progression from first administration in human to proof of concept, helping you develop new medicines in a safer, faster and more affordable way.
There is an increasing tendency for sponsors to combine the First-in-Human (FIH) single-dose and multiple-dose trials into one design, and even implement cohorts to study the effect of food or age.
Also, other early phase investigations, such as drug interactions (DDI), pharmacogenetics, QT prolongation and proof of concept (POC), can be included at an early stage of clinical development. This leads to complex designs combining different trials under one protocol.
However, even very complex designs can be made acceptable, both from an ethical and regulatory point of view, via an adaptive study protocol, allowing for flexibility to implement gained knowledge. It is paramount that the adaptive features of the trial are sufficiently detailed, clear and systematic.
We offer combined and adaptive clinical trials with a strategic plan, resulting in scientifically solid designs that are ethically compatible and meet regulatory requirements.
Why choose combined and adaptive clinical trials from SGS?
Our complex, adaptive early phase trials support helps you:
- Make a rapid progression from first administration in human to proof of concept
- Develop new medicines safely in a faster and more affordable way
- Get better information in less time and at lower research cost
We offer:
- Development of complex designs, including adaptive protocols that focus on time saving
- Definition of study progression rules, safety boundaries and decision making
- Trial execution at our qualified clinical site – a Phase I unit in Antwerp, totaling 88 beds – and the experience to perform the appropriate actions after each step
- Data reviews and documentation at each decision-making time-point
- Regulatory support for the adaptive changes during study progression to ensure that most adjustments can be made without additional regulatory and EC submission
In the past years, over 75% of the FIH trials that we have performed have had a complex design and more than 40% had an adaptive design.
Contact us today to discuss how we can optimize your combined and adaptive clinical trials.


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Dermatology Services and Treatments
Whether you have a minor, nagging rash or a worrisome mole or growth, we offer a full range of medical and surgical options to protect you and your skin.
Whether you have a minor, nagging rash or a worrisome mole or growth, we offer a full range of medical and surgical options to protect you and your skin.
Our dermatologists are specially trained in recognizing and treating health issues involving your skin.
Many skin conditions can be treated with oral or topical medications (medication applied to the skin), but in some instances, your dermatologist may recommend a surgical option to help you resolve your condition.
We can treat many types of lesions and skin conditions with laser surgery. Your doctor will decide if you are a candidate for a particular surgery. Skin conditions that can be treated with laser surgery include:
Acne is very common – nearly 80 percent of people in the U.S. between the ages of 11 and 30 will have acne at some point. With acne, the glands in our skin that secrete oil into our hair follicles become clogged, leading to pimples and cysts.
Acne most often begins during puberty when hormone levels rise. In addition, acne is often inherited. Other causes of acne include:
We can treat acne with topical or oral medication. The goal of acne treatment is to minimize scarring and improve appearance.
Birthmarks are areas of discolored and/or raised skin that are apparent at birth or within a few weeks of birth. Birthmarks are made up of malformed pigment cells or blood vessels.
Although the cause of birthmarks is not known, most of them are noncancerous and do not require treatment. If you decide to treat or remove a birthmark, medications, lasers and surgery are options.
Contact dermatitis is a skin reaction from contact with certain substances. Irritants, which cause inflammation in the skin, are the most common cause of contact dermatitis. Allergens, which cause your body's immune system to have an allergic reaction, can also trigger contact dermatitis but are not as common. Treatment may include cool cloths, dressings, skin creams or lotions and prescription medicines.
Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, is a chronic skin disorder. It causes dry, itchy, scaly patches on the skin.
The exact cause of eczema is not known. However, it tends to run in families, so there's likely a genetic link. Eczema is most common in infants and young children, but it can carry on into adulthood. Treatment for eczema focuses on calming the skin inflammation, decreasing the itching and preventing infections.
Everyone has moles. They often appear as small, brown spots that are elevated on the surface of your skin.
Moles are typically noncancerous, but it is possible that one of your moles could become cancerous. Because of this, it's important to check your moles regularly to make sure they haven't changed in shape or size. If you notice any changes, schedule an appointment with your doctor.
More than 7 million people in the United States have psoriasis, an autoimmune disorder that causes inflamed, red, raised areas on the skin. It's a chronic, hereditary skin condition.
Although psoriasis is a lifelong condition, it often can be controlled with appropriate treatment. Keeping the skin clean and moist and avoiding person-specific psoriasis triggers, like excessive stress, may help decrease flare-ups.
Rosacea is a common skin disorder that affects more than 16 million Americans. Rosacea can cause facial redness, bumps and pimples, skin thickening and eye irritation.
Rosacea can occur in anyone, but it's most common in middle-aged women who have fair skin. While there is no cure for rosacea and the cause is unknown, medical treatment is available to control or reverse its signs and symptoms.
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer. Although skin cancer is more common in fair-skinned people, anyone can develop it. The main cause of skin cancer is ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, especially spending too much time in the sun.
Diagnosing skin cancer starts with checking out a mole, bump, spot or other mark on your skin. Any area of skin that doesn't look normal and may have disease is called a lesion. Your doctor likely will take a biopsy (cell or tissue samples for examination) of any lesion that may look like cancer.
Treatment of skin cancer depends on various factors. Our treatment options for skin cancer include:
Surgery is the most common way to treat skin cancer. Our surgeons use various methods of surgery to remove skin cancer, many times right in the doctor's office. These procedures include:
Learn about skin cancer.


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Monty Python to Reunite for First Stage Show in Decades
After years of "secret talks" and fizzled rumors, Monty Python is finally, officially reuniting — for real, this time.
"We're getting together and putting on a show - it's real," Terry Jones confirmed to the BBC. "I'm quite excited about it. I hope it makes us a lot of money. I hope to be able to pay off my mortgage!"
First announced by The Sun, the reunion is expected to feature all five surviving members — Jones, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, and Michael Palin — performing their first official stage show since the '80s.
Python meeting this morning. Can't wait. Press Conference Thursday will apparently be live on Sky News. I'll get you the online URL.— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) November 19, 2013
Though the troupe is remaining tight-lipped about the specifics ahead of a planned press conference scheduled for this Thursday, rumor has it the stage show is just the beginning, with a TV and/or film deal to follow.
The five Pythons were last seen together in 1998 at the Aspen Comedy Festival, where they recorded a sit-down interview and performed a few bits.
Graham Chapman, the sixth Python, passed away in 1989 of cancer. He "joined" the other members on stage at the Aspen appearance in the form of a urn full of ashes, which Gilliam "accidentally" knocked over.
[photo via AP]


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An Energy Revolution for IsraelNovember 9, 2012
David McCormack is an International Trade Specialist in ITA's Manufacturing and Services unit.
Led by the Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce Ken Hyatt, the U.S. Commerce Department Oil and Gas Trade Mission to Israel introduced 13 companies and 2 universities to the growing oil and gas industry in Israel. The participating organizations included two premier U.S. universities – The University of Texas, Austin and Texas A&M University, Kingsville. Other Delegates included leaders in oil field services, logistics, consulting, data integration, consulting, and manufacturing.
The mission built on excellent trade relations between the countries, including America's first ever Free Trade Agreement, signed by the U.S. and Israel in 1985. More recently, U.S. Senator, Mary Landrieu brought the first ever oil and gas Certified Trade Mission to Israel in 2011, and the Government of Israel sent an inter-ministerial delegation to the U.S., earlier this year to see extensive energy development firsthand. Finally, on October 24, the US-Israel Joint Economic Development Group (JEDG) met in Washington, chaired by U.S. Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, and Israeli Treasury Director-General Doron Cohen. A main topic of discussion was enhanced U.S.-Israel cooperation for natural gas development. As the JEDG signed an agreement that will extend U.S. loan guarantees of $3.8 billion to Israel to 2016, the trade mission to Israel departed for Tel Aviv to explore the histroric opportunities to help build Israel's new energy economy.
According to a 2010 United States Geological Survey (USGS) assessment, the Eastern Mediterranean contains approximately 122 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, with a current market value of $240 billion. Industry representatives also report that they expect to discover oil in these offshore fields. Finally, exploration efforts are also ongoing onshore Israel, creating opportunities for manufacturing, drilling, pipeline installation, etc. Without a developed infrastructure to produce enough of their own energy domestically, Israel has historically been an energy importer. This will not always be the case, and many have recognized that these recent developments represent an energy revolution. Many expect Israel to become a net energy exporter, but right now, extensive infrastructure and devlopment is needed. U.S. companies are ready to deliver.
Hosted in Israel by Senior Commercial Officer Maria Andrews, the trade mission delegates attended the 2012 Israel Energy and Business Convention (IEBC), conducted site visits, attended receptions, participated in a roundtable discussion with Israel's oil and gas industry, and participated in more than 100 customized business meetings. The official program began at the IEBC, where Hyatt delivered a speech at the opening ceremony, and the U.S delegation was warmly received.
At the roundtable discussion hosted by Hyatt, Senator Mary Landrieu, and the Chair of Israel's oil and gas association, Uri Aldubi, the delegation received presentations from Noble Energy, Zion Oil, and Genie Energy. Noble briefed the delegation on their discoveries of around 30 trillion cubic feet of gas offshore Israel, and their future hopes for more gas, as well as oil, discoveries. Zion, the largest onshore petroleum exploration leaseholder in Israel, spoke about how to do business in Israel, as a U.S. company, and their optimistic outlook towards Israel's onshore potential. Finally, Harold Vinegar, from Genie Energy, shared his vision for the development of oil shale in Israel. Vinegar, formerly a Chief Scientist at Shell, stunned the crowd with his estimate of 250 billion barrels of recoverable oil in Israel's shale deposits. That evening, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, hosted the delegation at his residence for an exclusive networking reception with the leaders of Israel's new energy economy.
Thanks to the efforts of the Commercial Service in Tel Aviv, the delegation received a rare and intimate tour of the port of Ashdod, and discussed opportunities in pipeline installation and logistics with port authorities. Keeping a full schedule, they also attended government meetings in Jerusalem, and a high-level presentation and networking session, with industry and government leaders, hosted by the Herzliya Conference, and the Law Firm of Heideman Nudelman & Kalik, a CS Strategic Partner.
While in Israel, Hyatt met with several key government offices, including the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, the Ministry of Trade, and the Office of the Prime Minister
U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu highlighted the opportunities for academic cooperation between the U.S. and Israel. There are almost no Israeli born petroleum engineers still in Israel. Universities in the Gulf states represent the best programs in petroleum and gas engineering, and specialized energy MBA's in the world. The 2011 and 2012 Oil and Gas Trade Missions to Israel are laying the groundwork for Israel's energy industry by bringing advanced petroleum and gas engineering programs to Israel.
The delegates completed the mission feeling optimistic about the commercial opportunities in this sector. The companies realize that doing business in Israel is often a long-term proposition and this will be the first of hopefully many visits to Israel that the companies will make. The U.S. Commercial Service and our Strategic Partners are standing by to assist U.S. firms in accessing the historic opportunities represented by Israel's energy revolution.


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You want to sell your boat successfully?
Here on the website easy and free.
Later it is possible to make changes.
For the successful display, it is recommended to load large meaningful images.
All information should be accurate and correct. Helpful for the sale is also a short history.
Visit the Playstore and download our APP.
To search for ships and advertise.


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I am wondering if there are "elementary" ways to check for $n$-connectedness of simplicial complexes in terms of simple conditions on vertices.
For example
Let $X$ be the curve complex on a surface $S$ (the exact type of curve complex does not matter). That is, the vertices of $X$ correspond to curves on $S$. A $p$-simplex of $X$ consists of $p+1$ distinct, disjoint curves.
I am hoping to get conditions like the following examples:
$X$ is connected iff given a curve $c$, and any other curve $\gamma$, there is a sequence of curves $\gamma = \gamma_1, \ldots \gamma_n = c$ such that $\gamma_i$ is disjoint from $\gamma_{i-1}$ and $\gamma_{i+1}$. ie. This is just the saying there is a path from any vertex to the vertex corresponding to $c$.
For $1$-connected, it might look something like this: $X$ is $1$-connected iff for a fixed curve $c$, given an edge in $(a,b)$ in $X$, ie two disjoint curves, there is a sequence of disjoint curves (edges) $(a,b) = (a_1,b_1), \ldots ,(a_n,b_n)$ such that
EITHER ($a_i = a_{i+1}$ and $b_{i+1}$ is disjoint from both $a_{i-1}$ and $b_{i-1}$) OR ($b_i = b_{i+1}$ and $a_{i+1}$ is disjoint from both $b_{i-1}$ and $a_{i-1}$)
$b_n = c$ OR $a_n = c$
For a picture of what the $1$-connected argument is trying to achieve imagine a closed path and slowly filling in with triangles. For each edge $(a,b)$ we get paths $a_1, \ldots, a_n$ and $b_1, \ldots, b_n$ which bound a disk (the disjointness conditions ensure we can fill in with triangles). Actually, this doesn't quite work completely, since edges $(a,b)$ and $(b,c)$ might give rise to different $b$ paths, so one has to ensure that there is a disjointness condition for adjacent vertices also.
So can anyone point me in the right direction if such conditions exist? While I am not sure about the exact form of the answer I want, it would be good if it were something concrete like my above examples to work with. Or could it just be that this is this not really the right question to consider for connectivity arguments?


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Dog Insurance – Puppy Insurance
Posted by dog trainer
Why having dog insurance is important
To have a proper insurance for the dog is a very important issue for every new dog owner.
While most dog owners firstly think about health insurance plans, good public liability insurance, covering every kind of accident or injury is much more important. Even the smallest dog may cause a car accident by running on a road, make somebody fall and break his leg, damage someone else's property, or bite the postman to defend his home.
Make sure the maximum cover is high enough to pay even for a heavy car accident and long term rehab. Most insurance plans have a very low coverage that is no help at all. There is many insurance companies specialized on pet insurances, so take your time to compare their plans and packages.
Posted under General


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This 16th century icon is a part of a celebrated set of festal icons showing important events in the life of Jesus plus a few other renowned feasts of the year. It was painted by George the Cretan for the Holy Monastery of Dionysiou on Mount Athos, and together they are known to be great examples of Post-Byzantine Greek iconographic art. This icon is the eighth of that set of icons.
Christ dies on the Cross in the midst of two thieves, in the most humiliating form of execution the Roman Empire saved for criminals of the worst kind. Paradoxically then, this symbol of shame and degradation becomes, through Christ, the sign of victory over death and suffering and humiliation by willing participation of all Christians into its life. It is the Door to Paradise, and the footstool of the Throne of God triumphant in Heaven. This is a great and solemn Mystery that can only be understood by entering it ourselves. Christ conquered Death by willingly accepting death Himself, even though He was always above it in His Divine Nature. It was and is a great and continuous act of love for us, opening true life in Him Who is Life Itself. May we always live in Him!


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The entire Intrepid Museum family would like to thank all those who have reached out to us following Hurricane Sandy. We hope you and your family are safe and our thoughts and prayers are with all those in the affected areas.
We are extremely grateful to a dedicated team of staff who remained onsite during this incredible storm to keep the Intrepid safe.
The rise in the Hudson River due to Hurricane Sandy caused flooding and damage to our Welcome Center and Intrepid's power sources. While the pier was designed to withstand the 100-year flood, the unprecedented levels of water flooded the entire pier including the main electrical transformers and our backup generators. As a result, loss of all power caused the Space Shuttle Pavilion to deflate. The space shuttle Enterprise sustained only minor damage. The Intrepid, Growler, Concorde and balance of our aircraft collection were not damaged.
Our team has been working 24/7 on remediation and will return to working on site as soon as power is restored.
We are eager to reopen our doors to the public, but as of now, the Museum is temporarily closed. We will update you periodically on our progress, and you can visit our website or follow us on Facebook or Twitter for updates.
We will update you periodically on our progress here on our website as well as on Facebook or Twitter. And for those who have purchased tickets online, we will contact you shortly regarding the museum's re-opening and refund policy.
Thank you again for the great outpouring of support!


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It has been a winter of assassination here in Sweden. Almost 27 years ago, Prime Minister Olof Palme was gunned down on a Stockholm street as he walked to the movies with his wife. The case has never been solved and draws comparisons with the assassination of JFK for its notoriety and legion of conspiracy theories; 130 people have confessed to the murder, about 12,000 have been accused, and 450 possible murder weapons have been tested.
In the past few months, Palme has dominated the headlines of Stockholm's afternoon tabloids as if he was still in power. First came Call Girl, a political thriller set in the 1970s in which a Palme-like politician buys sex from an under-aged girl, leading Palme's family to report the film for slander. Then there was a feature-length documentary, Olof Palme: Loved and Hated, on Palme's entire life and career. The police have also appointed a new "supercop" to lead the still open investigation, and there have also been a run of new "revelations" in the media on the murder.
To top it all off came A Pilgrim's Death (En pilgrims död)—a four-part miniseries on the main state channel based on three novels by Leif GW Persson. The first episode drew 1.8 million viewers in a country of 9.4 million. In the novels, two rouge former members of SAPO, the Swedish security police, lie behind the assassination, and the first episode was full of allusions to Sweden's precarious position in the 1980s as a neutral country torn between the US and the USSR, when people feared Palme was paving the way for a Soviet takeover even as he embraced secret military cooperation with NATO and the US.
But Sweden was not just any neutral country and Palme not just any prime minister. Sweden in the 1970s and 1980s embodied both the elusive promise of the Middle Way between capitalism and communism, and it also stood for a brave, human and provocative leftist politics that gave it far more influence than normal—a strong independent voice in a bipolar world.
That's why the Palme conspiracies are so far reaching and so morbidly entertaining. Was it Kurdish guerrillas? An Indian arms deal gone wrong? South Africa apartheid supporters or maybe the Yugoslav secret service? Or maybe it was the CIA trying to cover up some facet of the Iran-Contra fallout?
And those are just the international ones. Could it have been right-wing police officers? Or disgruntled industrialists or a secret "stay behind" army organized by, again, the CIA?
The only person actually charged in the killing was Christer Petterson, a drug addict and petty criminal who was convicted but later released for lack of evidence. Yet Palme's family is convinced he actually was the murderer.
In 1998, Warren Hoge wrote in the New York Times:
Arne Ruth, an author and former editor in chief of the newspaper Dagens Nyheter, was more blunt. 'After the assassination,' he said, 'the total failure of the judicial system to handle the case was in a way an even worse disaster for Sweden.'
Palme's murder in Sweden symbolizes a greater loss of innocence and presaged a dramatic fall from grace. For just five years after Palme's death, Sweden's banking system essentially collapsed. The country acquitted itself magnificently in crisis, by most accounts, making it a trendy model of success when financial crises swept the world in 2007 and 2008.
But, regardless of Sweden's current economic health, the crash in the early 1990s was the end of decades of almost euphoric economic development and social advances. Sweden adjusted its expectations and got in line—it joined the EU, increased cooperation with NATO (even if it won't join … yet), sends soldiers to Afghanistan and warplanes over Libya, and has cut the welfare state to below the OCED average by some measures.
The country is more about branding and business these days, and it's all working, with Sweden near the top of indices on gender equality, happiness, innovation and competitiveness, to name a few. And now this new Sweden is the focus of a glowing special report in the Economist on the redefined—meaning more conservative and more modest—Nordic model.
But, clearly, the murder of Palme haunts Swedes with the loss of their utopian glow and the shredding of their sense of safety. You see this in the way that Stieg Larsson mined dark Sweden to create Lisbeth Salander's ordeals in the Millennium trilogy and also in the defeated gloom of Henning Mankell's Wallander books and movies. So if Swedes can't get the satisfaction of finding the real killer, more than 20% of the entire population still tuned in on Feb. 3 to the see the final episode of a TV show that will give them some kind of answer, and closure, even if a fictional one.


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Born in Moscow. In 2003, on completing her training at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography, she joined the Bolshoi Ballet. Her coach at the theatre is Svetlana Adyrkhaeva.
Spanish Doll (Nutcracker, Yuri Grigorovich production)
'Two pairs' in Part 3, Soloist Part 3 (Symphony in C)
1st variation in The Shadows (La Bayadere. Yuri Grigorovich production)
Part in the ballet Passacaille to music by Anton von Webern (Roland Petit production)
Fairy of Audacity (The Sleeping Beauty, Yuri Grigorovich production)
1st pas de trois (Agon)
Girl (Magrittomania. Music by Yuri Krasavin. Yuri Grigorovich production) - creation at Bolshoi Theatre
Guadalquivir (La Fille du Pharaon. Production by Pierre Lacotte after Marius Petipa)
Grand Pas variation (Raymonda. Yuri Grigorovich production)
Friend to Shireen (A Legend of Love. Music by Arif Melikov. Yuri Grigorovich production)
Typist/Typists (Bolt. Music by Dmitry Shostakovich. Alexei Ratmansky creation)
Temptation (Les Presages to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Choreography by Leonide Massine)
Friend to the Prince, Polish Bride (Swan Lake. Yuri Grigorovich production)
Soloist Part 4 (Symphony in C)
Dryad/Three Dryads (Don Quixote. Alexei Fadeyechev production)
Friend to Giselle (Giselle. Yuri Grigorovich production)
Sylphide/Sylphides (La Sylphide. Choreography by August Bournonville)
Soloist (Jeu de cards. Music by Igor Stravinsky. Alexei Ratmansky creation)
Princess Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty)
Autumn, Waltz Soloist/Soloists, Cinderella (Cinderella. Yuri Possokhov and Yuri Borisov production) - creation
Lyuska (The Golden Age. Music by Dmitry Shostakovich. Yuri Grigorovich production)
Title role (Cinderella)
In 2002, she won 3rd prize at Vaganova-Prix International Ballet Competition "Ваганова-prix" (Saint-Petersburg).
In 2005, she won 2nd prize at International Ballet Competition in Moscow.


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(CNN) -- Argentina became the first Latin American country on Thursday to legalize same-sex marriage.
Lawmakers in the Senate passed the bill after 14 hours of debate that began Wednesday and carried well into early Thursday morning, the state-run Telam news agency reported.
The bill had already passed the lower chamber of Congress.
It gives same-sex couples equal marriage rights, including the ability to adopt children.
The law was backed by the center-left government of President Cristina Kirchner, who has said she will sign it.
The majority Roman Catholic country follows a few others around the world where same-sex marriage is legal. Among them are the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.
Last month's congressional vote and Wednesday's Senate vote are the latest moves in a pro-gay marriage trend in Argentine politics.
Last year, a judge in Buenos Aires ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage was illegal, paving the way for such marriages in the capital of Argentina.
An injunction by another judge stopped what would have been the first same-sex marriage there.
Ultimately, Latin America's first same-sex marriage happened in Argentina in a southern state with a pro-gay marriage governor.


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"Time Capsule" demonstrated how far this show has come in such a short amount of time. It was only mid-season two when Parks & Rec started producing episodes where Pawnee residents showed up two, three, or more at a time—and contributed to the larger town mythology. Much like the excellent "94 Meetings" from last season, "Time Capsule" shows Pawnee as a town made up of crackpots (some recurring, some not) who love their town and pick highly specific ways of showing it.
On The Office, Michael Scott's small-time problems are treated as if they're the most important things in the world. There's a bit of that sort of heightening on Parks & Rec—it's just the parks department, and Pawnee, after all—but some of the strongest episodes of the show are the result of parks-only business getting picked up by the larger community. (Recall "Sweetums.") In this case, Leslie's decision to put together a time capsule attracts the attention of Kelly, a die-hard Twilight fan played by the always spot-on Will Forte. He makes a compelling argument—starting with the birth of Stephenie Meyer, and including a shot-for-shot description of the films—but Leslie remains unswayed. Kelly, therefore, handcuffs himself to a pipe in Leslie's office, refusing to leave unless the parks department puts copies of all the Twilight books in the capsule.
His plight affects many facets of Parks & Rec, reflecting some savvy writing on the part of showrunner Michael Schur, who penned "Time Capsule." The newspaper picks up on Kelly's story, meaning Leslie is forced to snap into damage-control mode—a favorite of mine, always played well by Amy Poehler. Kelly also catches the attention of Tom, though it's probably more the other way around: Tom has just been dumped by Lucy, and Kelly senses the sadness in the little guy's eyes. He recommends Twilight, another story of heartbreak and longing, and soon, Tom has a million things to discuss with Kelly and apparent super fan Donna. ("Five minutes with me, Robert Pattison would forget all about Skinny Legs McGee.") Then, Leslie learns that Kelly wanted to get the Twilight books into the capsule so he could be closer with his estranged daughter. And when she decides to tentatively grant Kelly's request, she opens a Pandora's box of local kooks vying to get their Bibles, doggy paintings, and cat ashes included as well. ("Except for Turnip! Except for Turnip!")
What I love about Parks & Rec is that it has a memory. The insane religious family council woman who chastised Leslie for her gay penguin marriage can make another appearance as the leader of an anti-Twilight movement, and it makes all the sense in the world. I interviewed Mike Scully for another publication, and he pointed out that in the course of the early episodes of Parks & Rec, the writers established the presence of four different gay bars in Pawnee. Not sure that would happen now (though kudos to the writers for sticking to what they've already established, without commentary); they're paying insanely good attention.
That's also why the show excels at pairing off two different characters each episode as if they've been best friends all along. Parks & Rec knows its characters inside and out, even the new ones. Tonight's friendship between Chris and Andy is proof of that. There's nothing about Chris' character that would indicate he'd feel threatened by Andy at all (not that he would, being the chiseled microchip he is), and vice versa. Mark was far more composed than Andy, but in Andy's eyes, they were in the same league, vying for Ann's affection. Chris has transcended the battle, in Andy's eyes. He has properly won Ann, and Andy is down-in-the-dumps enough that he'll take advice from the man who's swooped in. The two were made to hang out, and their bonding in "Time Capsule" feels almost cathartic—from Chris' sweet smile after Andy lists only "nice" and "band" as his positive traits, to his exuberant fist-pound when Andy tells him, "Nice and band totally worked."
The way Chris and Andy's friendship clicked matched the way the town hall meeting spiraled into a multiple time capsule affair: There was a sharpness in the way the writing came together and an eventual method found in the madness. The effect, though, cheapened all the stuff surrounding Twilight. The episode was made a while ago, and even then, Twilight was pretty overdone. Tom's sudden infatuation with the series is a story we've seen all over the place, and the pay-off was only a short scene with Lucy, providing a little bit of closure to his break-up. The rest of the episode clicked wonderfully, and given how close the writers are paying attention, I look forward to the day we see someone order the "Four Horse Meals Of The Egg-pocalypse."
Stray observations:
- "Pawnee: It's safe to be here now."
- "That's the coolest sentence I've ever heard someone talk."
- "I have every bass tab to Dave Matthews Band ever."


text:
Labor activists call on Apple to stop squeezing suppliers
Groups critical of Apple and its manufacturing partner Foxconn say Apple can afford to pay suppliers more. That, in turn, could lead to improved working conditions at factories in China.
WASHINGTON, D.C.--A panel of labor activists called on Apple today to increase the amount it pays for devices from suppliers such as Foxconn in order to improve working conditions for employees that make the gadgets.
Apple has come under intense fire for the excessive overtime and low wages of workers at Foxconn's Chinese factories that make its popular iPhones and iPads. One reason is that Apple presses suppliers such as Foxconn to meet tight production deadlines and do so on razor-thin margins.
"It does not encourage the factories to pay decent wages," said Debby Chan, project officer of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, a Hong Kong-based watchdog group that's focused on workplace rights at Foxconn. "The profit margins of Apple keep rising. Apple has the capacity to increase the unit prices" it pays suppliers.
Her comments came during a panel, sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute here, looking into labor practices at Foxconn factories that produce Apple products. The panelists all said that Apple shouldn't hide behind Foxconn and be absolved of responsibility.
"If we want any change at supplier factories, Apple has to change first," said Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch, a New York-based monitor of working conditions in China. "Apple has the money to do so. It has the capacity to make the changes. Apple has to take the lead."
Apple didn't immediately reply to a request for a response. The company has said that it's working "to educate workers, improve conditions and make Apple's supply chain a model for the industry."
Last month, the Fair Labor Association, a monitoring group of which Apple is a part, released an audit of three Foxconn factories in China that produce Apple products. It found widespread problems including excessive overtime and wages that don't meet workers' basic needs.
While the audit found disturbing problems, they're not particularly new, said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, an advocacy group that monitors working conditions at factories around the world. In fact, Apple has documented many of the same issues around excessive overtime since 2006, saying then that it would hold suppliers accountable. But Apple continues to work with Foxconn.
"The absence of accountability is not a positive sign," Nova said.
And yet Nova sees some reason to believe meaningful change will come. The intense spotlight on the working conditions in China has already pushed Apple to address the issue, he said. And it will only continue to do so as long as that pressure is maintained.
"Apple is about as image-driven a company as there is," Nova said. "The company will move only as far as it believes is in its interest to move."


text:
Events archive
East Asia Seminar
Nan Li (Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
24 October 2017 - 5:00pm
Dahrendorf Room
THIS TALK HAS BEEN POSTPONED Please email firstname.lastname@example.com to be notified once it has been rescheduled. Nan Li is an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute... Read more
East Asia Seminar
Jennifer Lind (Dartmouth)
17 October 2017 - 5:00pm
Dahrendorf Room
Observers argue that in recent years, particularly under the Shinzo Abe government, Japan has grown more nationalistic. At a precarious time in East Asian international relations, such a trend would... Read more


text:
American Physical Society Sites|APS|Journals|Physics Magazine
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"Investigations of Memory, Entanglement, and Long-Range Interactions Using Ultra-Cold Atoms"Background:
Yaroslav Dudin was raised in Saransk, Russia. He studied Physics at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, graduating with honors in 2007. While there, he joined Prof. Vladimir Velichansky's group at the Lebedev Physical Institute where he investigated effects of coherent population trapping in atomic vapors and developed compact atomic clocks and magnetometers. He spent the summer of 2006 in Boulder, CO testing the local position invariance using the NIST-F1 cesium fountain under the guidance of Dr. Steven Jefferts. In 2007, Yaroslav moved to Atlanta to pursue his Ph.D. under supervision of Prof. Alex Kuzmich at Georgia Institute of Technology. There, Yaroslav developed optical-lattice-based quantum memories, employing them for demonstration of a deterministic source of single photons based on quantum measurement and feedback, entanglement of light at near-infra-red and telecom wavelength with long-lived atomic memories, and in the process extending memory lifetime up to 16 seconds. He also studied the behavior of a cold atomic gas with strong many-body interactions introduced by highly-excited Rydberg electronic states. His experimental results in this area include the first realization of a Rydberg-atom-based single photon source, initial observations of many-body Rabi oscillations in a mesoscopic atomic ensemble, and deterministic generation of entanglement between an optical atomic coherence and a light field. Yaroslav presently works on metrological instruments for KLA-Tencor.


text:
Goa seeks to boost tourism with beach improvements
With the peak tourist season beginning this month, Goa Tourism is striving to put better facilities and infrastructure in place to ensure that tourists have a great experience in the state.
One of the projects under this is the modernisation of south Goa beaches.
Goa Tourism, with finance assistance from the India ministry of tourism, has decided to take-up a Rs17.23-crore project to develop the Colva costal circuit.
The timeline allotted for the completion of this project is 180 working days.
Tenders for the above development work have already been floated.
The Colva, Gonsua, Betalbatim and Benaulim beaches in south Goa are located in the Salcete Taluka.
These beaches are very popular with the domestic and international tourists all through the year.
Dilip Parulekar, tourism minister, government of Goa said: "All South Goa beaches are internationally famous and attract a lot of tourists.
"Considering the present scenario, these areas demand development, upgradation and a facelift, which can help accommodate more tourists and provide better facilities to them that will help boost tourism in south Goa."
The infrastructure development project that would be implemented along the beaches in south Goa will include creating and improving various facilities like parking of vehicles, children park with play area, changing rooms, toilets, seating, pathways and beautification of strategic parts and places of interest in along this coastline, which would help in attracting more tourists to the state.


text:
John Grisham summons you back to Clanton, Mississippi where a Judge's mysterious legacy hides a dark secret – a secret you'll never guess.
The Summons
Chapter 1
It came by mail, regular postage, the old-fashioned way since the Judge was almost eighty and distrusted modern devices. Forget e-mail and even faxes. He didn't use an answering machine and had never been fond of the telephone. He pecked out his letters with both index fingers, one feeble key at a time, hunched over his old Underwood manual on a rolltop desk under the portrait of Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Judge's grandfather had fought with Forrest at Shiloh and throughout the Deep South, and to him no figure in history was more revered. For thirty-two years, the Judge had quietly refused to hold court on July 13, Forrest's birthday.
It came with another letter, a magazine, and two invoices, and was routinely placed in the law school mailbox of Professor Ray Atlee. He recognized it immediately since such envelopes had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember. It was from his father, a man he too called the Judge.
Professor Atlee studied the envelope, uncertain whether he should open it right there or wait a moment. Good news or bad, he never knew with the Judge, though the old man was dying and good news had been rare. It was thin and appeared to contain only one sheet of paper; nothing unusual about that. The Judge was frugal with the written word, though he'd once been known for his windy lectures from the bench.
It was a business letter, that much was certain. The Judge was not one for small talk, hated gossip and idle chitchat, whether written or spoken. Ice tea with him on the porch would be a refighting of the Civil War, probably at Shiloh, where he would once again lay all blame for the Confederate defeat at the shiny, untouched boots of General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, a man he would hate even in heaven, if by chance they met there.
He'd be dead soon. Seventy-nine years old with cancer in his stomach. He was overweight, a diabetic, a heavy pipe smoker, had a bad heart that had survived three attacks, and a host of lesser ailments that had tormented him for twenty years and were now finally closing in for the kill. The pain was constant. During their last phone call three weeks earlier, a call initiated by Ray because the Judge thought long distance was a rip-off, the old man sounded weak and strained. They had talked for less than two minutes.
The return address was gold-embossed: Chancellor Reuben V. Atlee, 25th Chancery District, Ford County Courthouse, Clanton, Mississippi. Ray slid the envelope into the magazine and began walking. Judge Atlee no longer held the office of chancellor. The voters had retired him nine years earlier, a bitter defeat from which he would never recover. Thirty-two years of diligent service to his people, and they tossed him out in favor of a younger man with radio and television ads. The Judge had refused to campaign. He claimed he had too much work to do, and, more important, the people knew him well and if they wanted to reelect him then they would do so. His strategy had seemed arrogant to many. He carried Ford County but got shellacked in the other five.
It took three years to get him out of the courthouse. His office on the second floor had survived a fire and had missed two renovations. The Judge had not allowed them to touch it with paint or hammers. When the county supervisors finally convinced him that he had to leave or be evicted, he boxed up three decades' worth of useless files and notes and dusty old books and took them home and stacked them in his study. When the study was full, he lined them down the hallways into the dining room and even the foyer.
Ray nodded to a student who was seated in the hall. Outside his office, he spoke to a colleague. Inside, he locked the door behind him and placed the mail in the center of his desk. He took off his jacket, hung it on the back of the door, stepped over a stack of thick law books he'd been stepping over for half a year, and then to himself uttered his daily vow to organize the place.
The room was twelve by fifteen, with a small desk and a small sofa, both covered with enough work to make Ray seem like a very busy man. He was not. For the spring semester he was teaching one section of antitrust. And he was supposed to be writing a book, another drab, tedious volume on monopolies that would be read by no one but would add handsomely to his pedigree. He had tenure, but like all serious professors he was ruled by the "publish or perish" dictum of academic life.
He sat at his desk and shoved papers out of the way.
The envelope was addressed to Professor N. Ray Atlee, University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Virginia. The e's and o's were smudged together. A new ribbon had been needed for a decade. The Judge didn't believe in zip codes either.
The N was for Nathan, after the general, but few people knew it. One of their uglier fights had been over the son's decision to drop Nathan altogether and plow through life simply as Ray.
The Judge's letters were always sent to the law school, never to his son's apartment in downtown Charlottesville. The Judge liked titles and important addresses, and he wanted folks in Clanton, even the postal workers, to know that his son was a professor of law. It was unnecessary. Ray had been teaching (and writing) for thirteen years, and those who mattered in Ford County knew it.
He opened the envelope and unfolded a single sheet of paper. It too was grandly embossed with the Judge's name and former title and address, again minus the zip code. The old man probably had an unlimited supply of the stationery.
It was addressed to both Ray and his younger brother, Forrest, the only two offspring of a bad marriage that had ended in 1969 with the death of their mother. As always, the message was brief:
Please make arrangements to appear in my study on Sunday, May 7, at 5 p.m., to discuss the administration of my estate. Sincerely, Reuben V. Atlee.
The distinctive signature had shrunk and looked unsteady. For years it had been emblazoned across orders and decrees that had changed countless lives. Decrees of divorce, child custody, termination of parental rights, adoptions. Orders settling will contests, election contests, land disputes, annexation fights. The Judge's autograph had been authoritative and well known; now it was the vaguely familiar scrawl of a very sick old man.
Sick or not, though, Ray knew that he would be present in his father's study at the appointed time. He had just been summoned, and as irritating as it was, he had no doubt that he and his brother would drag themselves before His Honor for one more lecture. It was typical of the Judge to pick a day that was convenient for him without consulting anybody else.
It was the nature of the Judge, and perhaps most judges for that matter, to set dates for hearings and deadlines with little regard for the convenience of others. Such heavy-handedness was learned and even required when dealing with crowded dockets, reluctant litigants, busy lawyers, lazy lawyers. But the Judge had run his family in pretty much the same manner as he'd run his courtroom, and that was the principal reason Ray Atlee was teaching law in Virginia and not practicing it in Mississippi.
He read the summons again, then put it away, on top of the pile of current matters to deal with. He walked to the window and looked out at the courtyard where everything was in bloom. He wasn't angry or bitter, just frustrated that his father could once again dictate so much. But the old man was dying, he told himself. Give him a break. There wouldn't be many more trips home.
The Judge's estate was cloaked with mystery. The principal asset was the house–an antebellum hand-me-down from the same Atlee who'd fought with General Forrest. On a shady street in old Atlanta it would be worth over a million dollars, but not in Clanton. It sat in the middle of five neglected acres three blocks off the town square. The floors sagged, the roof leaked, paint had not touched the walls in Ray's lifetime. He and his brother could sell it for perhaps a hundred thousand dollars, but the buyer would need twice that to make it livable. Neither would ever live there; in fact, Forrest had not set foot in the house in many years.
The house was called Maple Run, as if it were some grand estate with a staff and a social calendar. The last worker had been Irene the maid. She'd died four years earlier and since then no one had vacuumed the floors or touched the furniture with polish. The Judge paid a local felon twenty dollars a week to cut the grass, and he did so with great reluctance. Eighty dollars a month was robbery, in his learned opinion.
When Ray was a child, his mother referred to their home as Maple Run. They never had dinners at their home, but rather at Maple Run. Their address was not the Atlees on Fourth Street, but instead it was Maple Run on Fourth Street. Few other folks in Clanton had names for their homes.
She died from an aneurysm and they laid her on a table in the front parlor. For two days the town stopped by and paraded across the front porch, through the foyer, through the parlor for last respects, then to the dining room for punch and cookies. Ray and Forrest hid in the attic and cursed their father for tolerating such a spectacle. That was their mother lying down there, a pretty young woman now pale and stiff in an open coffin.
Forrest had always called it Maple Ruin. The red and yellow maples that once lined the street had died of some unknown disease. Their rotted stumps had never been cleared. Four huge oaks shaded the front lawn. They shed leaves by the ton, far too many for anyone to rake and gather. And at least twice a year the oaks would lose a branch that would fall and crash somewhere onto the house, where it might or might not get removed. The house stood there year after year, decade after decade, taking punches but never falling.
It was still a handsome house, a Georgian with columns, once a monument to those who'd built it, and now a sad reminder of a declining family. Ray wanted nothing to do with it. For him the house was filled with unpleasant memories and each trip back depressed him. He certainly couldn't afford the financial black hole of maintaining an estate that ought to be bulldozed. Forrest would burn it before he owned it.
The Judge, however, wanted Ray to take the house and keep it in the family. This had been discussed in vague terms over the past few years. Ray had never mustered the courage to ask, "What family?" He had no children. There was an ex-wife but no prospect of a current one. Same for Forrest, except he had a dizzying collection of ex-girlfriends and a current housing arrangement with Ellie, a three-hundred-pound painter and potter twelve years his senior.
It was a biological miracle that Forrest had produced no children, but so far none had been discovered.
The Atlee bloodline was thinning to a sad and inevitable halt, which didn't bother Ray at all. He was living life for himself, not for the benefit of his father or the family's glorious past. He returned to Clanton only for funerals.
The Judge's other assets had never been discussed. The Atlee family had once been wealthy, but long before Ray. There had been land and cotton and slaves and railroads and banks and politics, the usual Confederate portfolio of holdings that, in terms of cash, meant nothing in the late twentieth century. It did, however, bestow upon the Atlees the status of "family money."
By the time Ray was ten he knew his family had money. His father was a judge and his home had a name, and in rural Mississippi this meant he was indeed a rich kid. Before she died his mother did her best to convince Ray and Forrest that they were better than most folks. They lived in a mansion. They were Presbyterians. They vacationed in Florida, every third year. They occasionally went to the Peabody Hotel in Memphis for dinner. Their clothes were nicer.
Then Ray was accepted at Stanford. His bubble burst when the Judge said bluntly, "I can't afford it."
"What do you mean?" Ray had asked.
"I mean what I said. I can't afford Stanford."
"But I don't understand."
"Then I'll make it plain. Go to any college you want. But if you go to Sewanee, then I'll pay for it."
Ray went to Sewanee, without the baggage of family money, and was supported by his father, who provided an allowance that barely covered tuition, books, board, and fraternity dues. Law school was at Tulane, where Ray survived by waiting tables at an oyster bar in the French Quarter.
For thirty-two years, the Judge had earned a chancellor's salary, which was among the lowest in the country. While at Tulane Ray read a report on judicial compensation, and he was saddened to learn that Mississippi judges were earning fifty-two thousand dollars a year when the national average was ninety-five thousand.
The Judge lived alone, spent little on the house, had no bad habits except for his pipe, and he preferred cheap tobacco. He drove an old Lincoln, ate bad food but lots of it, and wore the same black suits he'd been wearing since the fifties. His vice was charity. He saved his money, then he gave it away.
No one knew how much money the Judge donated annually. An automatic ten percent went to the Presbyterian Church. Sewanee got two thousand dollars a year, same for the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Those three gifts were carved in granite. The rest were not.
Judge Atlee gave to anyone who would ask. A crippled child in need of crutches. An all-star team traveling to a state tournament. A drive by the Rotary Club to vaccinate babies in the Congo. A shelter for stray dogs and cats in Ford County. A new roof for Clanton's only museum.
The list was endless, and all that was necessary to receive a check was to write a short letter and ask for it. Judge Atlee always sent money and had been doing so ever since Ray and Forrest left home.
Ray could not see him now, lost in the clutter and dust of his rolltop, pecking out short notes on his Underwood and sticking them in his chancellor's envelopes with scarcely readable checks drawn on the First National Bank of Clanton–fifty dollars here, a hundred dollars there, a little for everyone until it was all gone.
The estate would not be complicated because there would be so little inventory. The ancient law books, threadbare furniture, painful family photos and mementos, long forgotten files and papers–all a bunch of rubbish that would make an impressive bonfire. He and Forrest would sell the house for whatever it might bring and be quite happy to salvage anything from the last of the Atlee family money.
He should call Forrest, but those calls were always easy to put off. Forrest was a different set of issues and problems, much more complicated than a dying, reclusive old father hell-bent on giving away his money. Forrest was a living, walking disaster, a boy thirty-six whose mind had been deadened by every legal and illegal substance known to American culture.
What a family, Ray mumbled to himself.
He posted a cancellation for his eleven o'clock class, and went for therapy.


text:
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Definition of tell someone off
tell off
verb - transitive
- to admonish.
Citation from "The Cabin Show", Arrested Development (TV, 2005), Season 3 Episode 1 censored in hope of resolving Google's penalty against this site.
I'm gonna tell her off.
Last edited on Apr 16 2013. Submitted by Walter Rader (Editor) from Sacramento, CA, USA on Nov 30 2010.
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|Definitions include: what was previously expected to happen may not.
|Definitions include: large buttocks.
|Definitions include: to move away from.
|Definitions include: to masturbate.
|Definitions include: to get out of a prior obligation by asking.
|Definitions include: to take on a situation one can't master.
|Definitions include: to reprimand.
|Definitions include: to ignore another person(s) in a rude manner.
|Definitions include: to get rid of aggression or anger.
|Definitions include: to do something to get rid of negative emotions.
|Definitions include: to cheat on one's spouse.
|Definitions include: to bore one.
|Definitions include: to suggest ideas to another person to get feedback.
|Definitions include: annoyed, very cross.
|Definitions include: to end a relationship.
Other terms relating to 'tell':
|Definitions include: acronym for "as far as I can tell".
|Definitions include: a revealing characteristic, especially in poker.
|Definitions include: to tell the truth.
|Definitions include: acronym for "to tell the truth".
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text:
Tips for Traveling Alone
Going solo requires some planning.
Whether you're single or married to a homebody, being a solo traveler on a group trip—where coupledom is often the norm—can leave you feeling like a third, or thirteenth, wheel. But that's changing as more travelers hit the road by themselves. In 2009, 22.2 million out of 170 million Americans traveling for leisure purposes traveled alone, according to the U.S. Travel Association. As a result, more travel companies are marketing to the solo crowd with offers on everything from dropping the dreaded "single supplement"—a surcharge on top of published double-occupancy rates—to matching single travelers up with like-minded companions.
Tauck World Discovery, for example, has more than 40 tours and cruise departures where the single surcharge is reduced. On top of saving anywhere from about 60 to 80 percent off the normal single supplement, the special pricing virtually guarantees that other solo travelers will be on those trips. Country Walkers offers private tours that can be made up of women only, many of whom are keen to avoid the meat-market mentality of some "singles-only" tours and cruises. Absolute Travel provides a service that pairs compatible clients who would prefer not to take a trip alone. Even adventure outfitters are gearing expeditions to solo travelers: kayak specialist H2Outfitters plans paddling excursions along the coastline of Montenegro for "like-minded singles."
While many singles-only departures aren't intended as matchmaking opportunities, some are. The important thing is to quiz the outfitter. Even for regular departures, a good company should be able provide you with a breakdown of the group by gender, age, singles, and couples. And if you decide to go it alone, ask the operator if it will match you with a roommate to avoid the single-supplement.
- Nat Geo Expeditions